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It had been All Might’s idea to allow young Midoriya and young Bakugou to have one-on-one training sessions together after school, at least once or twice a week. The reasoning behind it was that if they were hitting each other in a controlled environment, they wouldn’t fight outside of it. You know, to avoid destroying Ground Beta again or anywhere else on school grounds.
With permission to use the gym with some prior notice, and heavy promises of not injuring the other or damaging the area too much, the two students made the most of it. It seemed to be a good arrangement, one that helped them improve their fighting styles and also motivated them to beat the other. It let them blow off some steam, too. But looking back, they all should have expected that something was gonna go wrong. Although, no one expected this type of wrong.
Today, once their last class of the day was over, Katsuki purposely bumped into Izuku and said, “See you at the gym, nerd. I’ll kill you.”
With no qualms about Aizawa being within earshot, by the way. Everyone was way too used to Katsuki’s exaggerated threats and antics by now. This was just a regular Tuesday at class 1-A.
Izuku blinked twice before he replied, “See you, Kacchan.”
Realistically, they could have walked together to the gym, but Katsuki was still unfriendly like that. Whatever, Izuku would see him soon enough, anyway.
Five minutes later, the pair of problem teens had changed out of their uniforms and into more suitable clothes for fighting.
“What the hell is that?” Katsuki spat out when he saw his classmate.
“What?” Izuku said, unsure of what he meant.
He pointed an accusatory finger. “Why the hell aren’t you wearing a shirt?”
Indeed, Izuku is only wearing some workout shorts and shoes. He failed to understand why his choice of attire mattered, though.
“Ah. Because your explosions heat up the room too much,” Izuku explained. “I end up sweating a lot. Less clothes to wash this way.”
Katsuki scowled. “Isn’t it against school regulations or something?”
Katsuki is wearing a tight sleeveless shirt that Izuku considers should be against school regulations. Way too revealing, not much left to the imagination. (Not that Izuku would know, of course not!)
“Since when do you care about school regulations, Kacchan? It’s outside of school hours and there’s no more people here, it’s fine.”
“Tsk, whatever.” Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Let’s go.”
That reaction left Izuku really confused, but he had no time to dwell on it. The moment they stepped into the gym, Katsuki yelled, “Think fast,” and immediately threw a punch his way. Izuku barely had time to dodge.
“You really don’t hold back, eh? Then I won’t either!”
He countered the attack with his foot, but Katsuki evaded him too.
“Less talking, more dying.”
Despite their words, they both kept their powers to a minimum, since they weren’t allowed to go overboard. But they still packed quite the punches. Or in Izuku’s case, mostly kicks.
Lightning and fire lit up the room in a green and orange haze, the colors swaying with their movements. Katsuki punched him in the face, Izuku kicked him in the ribs. Katsuki used the heat of his explosions to keep his opponent away, but Izuku used Full Cowling to evade them and close the distance between them again.
Instead of trying to predict Katsuki’s rapid attacks, it was better to attack fast as well. The second Katsuki got distracted, Izuku kicked him in the legs to unbalance him.
Katsuki fell to the floor on his back. Izuku was quick to (not so gently) fall on top of him, restraining him with his own legs and pinning down his arms. The rule was that if they had to immobilize the other for at least ten seconds to win a round, so Izuku started counting.
“One, two—”
That was fast, Izuku thought to himself. Despite being the first to strike, Kacchan was pretty distracted the whole match.
“Three, four—”
Weird. He is not resisting. Katsuki stayed still, trying his best to keep a neutral expression. Usually, he would try to break free.
“Five, six—”
What’s this hard thing in his pocket? Izuku cast his gaze down. Then he realized he was sitting on Katsuki’s crotch. Like, right in the middle. And that the shorts didn’t even have pockets.
“S-seven—”
There’s no way, right?
“Eight—”
Kacchan is blushing. Something inside Izuku’s brain short-circuited. WHY IS KACCHAN BLUSHING?!
“Nine, ten!”
Izuku let go of his grip like he was on fire and threw himself to the floor beside Katsuki with a yelp.
“Um, what was—”
Katsuki brought a hand to cover his red face. “You know damn well what that was, idiot.” He got up quickly, not daring to face Izuku.
“Obviously, but—well, I mean…” Izuku trailed off as he got up on his feet as well.
“If anything, it’s your fault!” Katsuki snapped. He grabbed Izuku by the shoulders and pushed him to the nearest wall, like he’d done countless times before in middle school. But this time the air between them felt vastly different.
Izuku put his open palms on Katsuki’s chest, to try to keep some distance.
“Huh? How could it be my fault?”
“Tsk. Damn nerd, you got hot!”
“Wait—what?!”
Katsuki had to be talking nonsense. He must have hit his head on the floor. There was no other plausible explanation Izuku could come up with.
“Yeah! Not only you have a super strong quirk now, but you’re hot as fuck too! Stop rubbing it in my face, it’s so annoying,” Katuski complained through gritted teeth. “And stop looking down at me! I hate that.”
“Kacchan, I think you hit your head. We should go see Recovery Girl.”
“I didn’t hit my fucking head, Deku! I just—I can’t take it anymore.”
Katsuki punched him in the chest, but it lacked strength. Izuku’s brain couldn’t catch up with anything. He didn’t know how to read or analyze this situation.
Without warning, Katsuki smashed both of their mouths together. The correct term for what they were doing is kissing, but it was so rough it certainly didn’t feel like anything Izuku would have expected for a first kiss.
Izuku had no idea what was happening or what he was doing, but he reciprocated the kiss, which by now was full-blown making out. He let himself un-tense his shoulders and melt into it, tugging at Katsuki’s shirt by the collar. One of Katsuki’s hands was lightly pulling Izuku’s hair, the other hand was still pining him to the wall.
The kiss felt so Kacchan. Bullish and brash. Impulsive, yet calculated. The sensation itself was rough as well, given that both of their lips were kinda chapped and Katsuki was perhaps applying too much pressure. Izuku couldn’t really breathe, both from the surprise and the lack of breathing room.
Izuku decided it was perfect anyway.
As abruptly as Katsuki started the kiss, he also ended it. Izuku filled his lungs and groaned at the loss of contact. He had been waiting forever for that moment, he didn’t want it stripped away so quickly. And he hadn’t even known five minutes ago that he wanted this.
“Ah, fuck. I shouldn’t have done that,” Katsuki said severely as he let go and stepped away.
“Kacchan! Wait!”
But Katsuki flew out of the gym with his explosions. Izuku had to shield his eyes from the smoke.
Izuku’s legs didn’t respond. He was too startled, flushed and lightheaded to even think. So he let himself collapse to the floor, bringing his knees to his chest and wrapping his arms around them.
He still struggled to catch his breath. His heart was racing like he’d done a full-on cardio session. It definitely felt like the equivalent of that, except it must have lasted less than three minutes. Not that his perception of time was kicking in right now, though.
What on earth had happened? That did happen, right? And most importantly, wasn’t it extremely rude of Kacchan to leave him all hot and bothered? What a dick.
Izuku took a cold shower in the gym’s bathroom. It did very little to relax him, but at least it fixed one of his problems. He stayed in the dressing room, sitting at a bench. No clue how long he’d been in there for.
He ran through his mind again and again, as if on loop, that heated kiss and the prior moments that built up to it. Izuku wasn’t sure how long this had been building up for. He thought back on the interactions with Katsuki at U.A., and at middle school, and even as kids when they were still friends.
(Well, they were still friends, but they were friends-friends back then. The best of friends. Would they continue to be friends after this? Or more than that?)
Izuku found no answers in reminiscing, only more questions and the realization that there had always been a tightness in his chest that he could never understand.
Despite their strained friendship, Katsuki had always been and will always be his Kacchan. He knew that. But what was this want that suddenly invaded him? Had it always been there, lying dormant, and now awakened with an earth-shattering kiss that came with a world-eating hunger?
And had Kacchan always felt like this? If so, Izuku could kind of understand why the boy always seemed so angry. The feeling was unbearable. He wanted to scream, but he couldn’t because the weight of it was so crushing it died in his throat.
Had he, Izuku the overanalyzer, been ignoring this ache in his heart everytime Kacchan was near? The wanting, the losing. Goddammit, the losing was the absolute worst. He either sucked for not having a quirk or he sucked for having too good of a quirk. He could never win with Katsuki. Always a lose-lose.
And it was scary knowing that Katsuki could just come to take him to the sky for a few minutes, then drop him back down like nothing had happened between the two of them. Like Izuku wasn’t filled with endless love and loss because of him.
Wait, where did the L-word come from? Not loss, the other L-word. Izuku never allowed himself to think like that before. The weight of it was too heavy to carry, he never felt ready for it. But his heart had been holding the weight all this time.
The door snapped open. (Not figuratively, literally).
“Young Midoriya?” All Might called.
Startled, Izuku jumped up from his seat. “Yes?”
“What are you doing here? It’s late, all your classmates are having dinner.”
“Dinner?!” Izuku checked the time on his watch. 7:21 p.m. “Sorry, I lost track of time.”
“That’s fine, but you should get to the dorms before curfew,” All Might advised.
“Of course.”
“Are you okay?” Noticing Izuku was acting weird, All Might looked at him worriedly. “Please tell me you didn’t have a fight with young Bakugou.”
“No. Yes.” Izuku stopped to consider it again, rubbing circles with his fingers on his forehead. “I don’t know! Maybe? Everything is a fight for him, anyway.”
All Might looked around. “The gym looks intact.”
“It wasn’t a physical fight,” Izuku clarified. “Well, maybe it sort of was…”
“Wh—”
Izuku recalled the rough kissing and he could feel his face heating up. “But not the way you’re thinking!”
“I didn’t even say anything,” All Might interjected. He raised a finger to his chin and tilted his head. “In what way, then…?”
“Nothing! Sorry, forget it.”
“So, was it a verbal fight?” All Might pressed for information.
“Nothing out of the ordinary. You don’t have to worry.”
All Might put a hand on Izuku’s shoulder and motioned for them to sit at the bench. “Of course I worry. What is the problem, then?”
Izuku hid his face in his hands and sighed. “I guess I… understood something today. About my friendship with Kacchan. Something I should’ve realized a long time ago. And it—it shifted my whole world. And I’m not sure what to do.”
“Did it change for good or for bad?” his mentor asked.
“I don’t know. I think it’s up to Kacchan.”
“Any relationship operates from both sides, young Midoriya. So it’s up to you, too.”
Izuku nodded. “Yeah, you’re right.” He stood up. “I’m gonna do something about this. For good. Right now.”
All Might pumped his fist up. “I’m still not sure what this is about, but that’s the spirit!”
It turns out doing something about it was way harder than Izuku expected. Katsuki managed to avoid him like the plague.
That night, Izuku had gone straight to the kitchen dorms, where most of his classmates were still eating. But as soon as Katsuki saw him, he chomped the remaining of his food and bolted straight out of there. Rude.
The next morning, he tried to find Katsuki before class. Iida and Uraraka wanted to walk with Izuku to class, but he made a lame excuse about forgetting something in his room, telling them that they should go without him. In a few minutes, the whole class had left for first period and Katsuki was nowhere to be found.
When Izuku got to class, just before the bell rang and Aizawa came out of his sleeping bag, he realized Katsuki was already there. Clearly, Katsuki had gone to class inexplicably early just to avoid Izuku. Rude again.
Lunchtime was out of the question, too noisy to have a private conversation. Plus, one cannot interrupt Katsuki’s mealtime and expect a favorable response. So Izuku just stared at Katsuki basically the entire hour. Izuku maintained conversation with his friends during that time, and he saw from the corner of his eye the weird glances they were giving him, but they didn’t dare say anything.
His luck didn’t improve the rest of the school day. Amazing how Katsuki could pretend Izuku didn’t exist when he was sitting right behind him. Back at middle school, Katsuki couldn’t seem to be able to leave Izuku alone for an hour. Katsuki was always saying mean things, which Izuku knew he didn’t mean. But would it be completely messed up to say that he missed Kacchan’s attention? Wow, it hadn’t even been a full day since The World Changing Incident and Izuku had already lost his mind.
The next day went pretty much the same. Izuku stopped trying to actively seek out Katsuki, and instead hoped an opportunity would arise by itself. It did not. He also tried to make it less obvious that he was staring at Katsuki all day long. Izuku is not sure he succeeded at that, but perhaps Katsuki noticed the insistence stopped, so he lowered his guard a bit.
Walking back to the dorms, Izuku decided he’d had enough. Desperate times need desperate measures. He picked up the pace to catch up to Katsuki, who was with Kirishima. Before making his presence known, he grabbed Katsuki by the arm.
“I’m gonna borrow Kacchan,” Izuku announced.
“Okay?” Kirishima said, though it sounded like a question.
Izuku ignored Katsuki’s thrashing and cursing, as well as the few curious stares from their classmates. Izuku took Katsuki to one of the green areas on campus, just far enough so that they weren’t easily seen. Then he pushed Katsuki against a tree. This maneuver took quite the effort, but it was worth it, because Kacchan is finally looking him in the eye again.
“Deku, wait a minute,” Katsuki protested, his tone equally angry and alarmed. Izuku’s hands were pining his shoulders, so Katsuki put his own hands around Izuku’s biceps, attempting to put some space. From the distance, it probably looked like they were wrestling.
It was no use. Izuku didn’t let him get another word out and closed the distance anyway. He kissed him senseless, leaving them both out of breath and probably out of cohesive thoughts, too.
It was less rough than last time, given that Izuku was trying to be gentle, but it was still as needy and hungry and desperate. Izuku kissed him like the world was gonna explode in the next few minutes. Depending on Katsuki’s reaction, it definitely could.
Yet the world remained in its orbit, rotating imperceptibly, though for Izuku it was spinning out of control. A meteor could’ve striked next to them and he wouldn’t even notice.
Eventually, Izuku broke it off, but kept the other boy in place.
“What was that?” Katsuki muttered, thoughtlessly. Izuku noticed how pink his lips were.
“A kiss,” Izuku replied like it was obvious. To be fair, it was. But to Katsuki, it didn’t seem to make sense.
“You kissed me,” Katsuki said, like it hadn't been established just now.
“Yeah.” Izuku’s chest was heaving up and down. He could feel the heat on his face.
“I thought you were gonna fight me.”
Izuku scoffed. “Why would I do that? We’re even, I guess. And I think I get it now, Kacchan.”
Katsuki pondered for a second. “Get what?”
“Why you act like that. You want me so bad it makes you act stupid.”
Katsuki looked really offended for a moment. He opened his mouth to speak, but shut it again at a loss for words. He wasn’t insulted, just taken aback at how Izuku suddenly grew a backbone.
“When you’re ready to admit it, I’ll be ready to hear it,” Izuku stated. He released his grasp and stepped back. Katsuki groaned. “Up to you. You know where to find me.”
Then he walked away, letting the other boy stew with his thoughts.
Eight hours. It took Katsuki eight hours to come to his senses and knock on Izuku’s door. He had a bit of a mental breakdown and an identity crisis in the process, but here he was.
Honestly, Izuku thought it would take longer. Like at least a day or two. So he was startled by the sudden knocking.
It was past 11 p.m., so no one in their right mind would knock this late under normal circumstances. Of course, Katsuki was losing his mind and these weren’t exactly normal circumstances.
Izuku opened the door to find a disheveled Katsuki on the other side of the frame. He didn’t ask to come in, Katsuki simply barged in.
He looked around the room, then at Izuku. “Of course you’re wearing All Might pajamas.”
“Hey,” Izuku protested. “You used to wear ones just like these.”
“Yeah, when I was five.”
“Kacchan, did you come here to critique my sleepwear choices?”
“Of course not, that would be stupid,” Katsuki replied.
Izuku raised his eyebrows. “Then why are we talking about this?”
“‘Cause I don’t know where to start!”
Izuku tried to suppress a laugh, but he still huffed.
“Tsk, if you’re gonna laugh at me I’m leaving!”
“No,” Izuku demanded, grabbing Katsuki by the arm. “I wasn’t laughing at you.” He thought very carefully about his next words. “I was laughing because that was so Kacchan. It’s—it’s cute.”
Katsuki’s posture went stiff. He looked down to hide the blush, but Izuku saw it anyway. He had Kacchan right where he wanted him.
“How long have you known?” Katsuki asked.
“That you’re cute?”
“No!” Katsuki shook Izuku’s grip off. “That I’m—that I have…”
Seeing that he was struggling to say the words, Izuku filled in the blanks. “Like three days ago. You know, when you kissed me.” He pointed at Katsuki and then at himself.
Katsuki gulped. “Okay. And how long have you…”
“Same time.”
Now Katsuki looked confused. “You started liking me three days ago?”
“No, I realized I liked you. Oh no, wait, I wanted you to say it first.”
Katsuki covered his face with his hands and started cursing under his breath. Izuku gently took one of Katsuki’s hands and led him to sit on the bed. His childhood friend wouldn’t meet his gaze, but he didn’t run away either.
“Kacchan?”
Katsuki only groaned in response.
“I think it’s your turn,” Izuku said.
“Can’t we just skip to the part where we’re making out?” Katsuki asked hopefully, looking up with half closed eyes.
“Do you only want me for that?”
“No, obviously not, idiot.”
Izuku let go and crossed his arms. “Well, I’m not kissing you again until you tell me how you feel, Kacchan.”
He sighed. “Deku—no, sorry. Izuku.” The name felt strange on his tongue, but he savored it anyway. “I’m in love with you.” Izuku beamed, but Katsuki panicked. “Shit, I meant like.”
“You’re in love with me?” Izuku smiled brightly.
“Like. In like,” Katsuki corrected.
Izuku’s grasp on Katsuki’s hand intensified. “I’m in love with you too, Kacchan! I only said ‘like’ to not come off as too strong. You know, I didn’t want to scare you off. But now that I know you’re as in deep as I am, I know I have nothing to fear. We’ve always been obsessed with each other, and now I understand why. Honestly, I should’ve seen it sooner. You didn’t make it easy, though. Lots of mixed signals there. But I’m glad you finally did something that helped me understand. We can start again.”
Katsuki thought it was impressive how Izuku said that in one breath. He had no idea how to respond to any of that, though. Thankfully, his wide smile told Izuku everything he needed to know.
“Can I kiss you now?” Katsuki urged.
“Yes, please.”
For the first time, this kiss was actually tender. Emotional vulnerability will do that to even the most explosive of hearts. Well, at least it started tenderly, like a proper first kiss. Full of anticipation beforehand, slow and attentive.
Then it turned into lowkey aggressive making out, how could it not. At some point they fell into bed, laying sideways. Katsuki snuck some bites into the mix, so naturally, heat erupted. It was messy, but Izuku didn’t mind. In fact, he probably liked it more that way. It was a win-win.
It halted eventually. Lips bitten and swollen, faces full of red, but lungs out of breath.
“Izuku,” he called.
“Mm?” was the dazed response.
“I know I haven’t been a good friend to you. Not in years, maybe not ever.”
“Kacchan—”
“Shh, I’m not done. Izuku, if you let me, I’ll figure my shit out. Get my act together. I’ll be the best damn boyfriend.”
Izuku smiled. “I like how that sounds. We’ll figure it out, boyfriend.”
“Ugh, it sounds so cheesy.”
“You asked me!”
“It sounds fine when I say it.”
They both cackled quietly, as to not wake up their classmates.
“Kacchan,” Izuku said after a pause. “You know I’ve always looked up to you, right?”
“No.”
“What do you mean no?”
“No. I mean, you’re like a ray of sunshine,” Katsuki admitted, sounding defeated. “If anything, I should be looking up to you. It’s super fucking annoying how perfect you are.”
“I’m not! And who cares who’s looking up at who.” Izuku winked. He crawled on top of Katsuki, his full weight on him, to snuggle.
Katsuki spun him around on the bed, effectively switching their positions. “I think I like it this way better.”
Izuku stifled a laugh. “Kacchan!”
Then they bickered and made out some more for good measure before falling asleep.
They were very sleepy when they woke up together the next morning, but nothing a good cup of coffee couldn’t fix (They made sure Katsuki came out of Izuku’s room without no one noticing. That would’ve been awkward to explain.)
In the evening after class, they went to All Might’s office for the weekly reunion.
All Might was surprised to see them come in together. Katsuki had been coming to these reunions for a while now, mostly against his will. Except this time, he entered the room hand in hand with Izuku. And Katsuki, for once, seemed at ease being here, sitting next to Izuku on the couch.
“Good evening, Young Midoriya, young Bakugou.”
“I followed your advice, All Might! Thank you,” Izuku said.
“Glad to see you boys made up,” their teacher said. “So you’re friends again?”
“What? No,” Katsuki spat out.
All Might was visibly confused. “Then what…?”
“What Kacchan means is that we’re dating now,” Izuku explained, a bit shy, but still proud.
All Might took this information in and processed it for a few moments. “Oh. Oh! A lot of things make more sense now.”
“Do you… support us?” Izuku asked nervously.
“We’ll have to talk about this more, but yes, of course.” The students smiled. “But for future reference, maybe go to Aizawa for love advice, okay?”