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Everything had been going well until their sparring match two weeks ago.
Long after All Might had left, the two boys sat in the training room, teasing and cracking jokes- something Izuku couldn’t have even dreamed of not six months prior.
“I nearly had you that time!” Izuku whined, flopping dramatically onto the padded floors and putting his hand to his forehead as if to say ‘woe is me!’
Katsuki snorted. “Sure nerd, act as if I didn’t just totally cream you.”
Izuku sat up on his hands, pouting at the taller boy in front of him. “I demand a rematch! This time, no quirks, just fists! First to be pinned for five seconds loses!” He got up in a flourish of limbs, a determined glint in his eye.
Katsuki’s lips curled into a smirk. “I’ll never say no to beating your ass, Deku.”
They both took up fighting stances once again, matching expressions of determination on their faces. Katsuki attacked first, like he always does, swinging his right fist toward the crown of Izuku’s head. He dodged quickly, ducking down into a crouch and swiping his feet at Katsuki’s legs. The blonde boy let out a yelp in surprise, wasting no time in getting back up on his feet.
“Low blow Deku.” He growled at Izuku’s smirk, throwing in a kick of his own and smiling when it made contact with Izuku’s side. He didn’t allow the shorter boy to catch his breath, instead opting to tackle him to the ground, knees on either side of his hips.
“Ha! Should’ve been paying more attention shitty nerd, I wi-”
Suddenly all the air was knocked out of his lungs as Izuku planted both of his feet firmly, and used his momentum to flip their positions, Katsuki’s head harshly hitting the gym's floor.
He stared into the eyes of the boy above him, his face was flushed and he was panting, but a look of victory had settled into his smile. Katsuki found himself staring into his seemingly endless abyss of freckles, enraptured by the green of his eyes and the curve of his lips. And, those dimples! Had Deku always had those?
“-3, 4, 5! I win Kacchan!” Izuku’s grin turned even wider, his happy expression turning Katsuki’s burning retort to mush. He was suddenly very aware of their position, Izuku pinning his arms above his head, surprisingly strong thighs trapping his hips. He felt like he was combusting, all of his blood rising to his cheeks as he felt his hands get surprisingly sweatier. He was vaguely aware of Izuku sitting above him, a worried expression on his face as he placed a hand on Katsuki’s forehead, muttering about fevers.
“Kacchan you're worrying me. Do you want me to help you to Recovery Girl?”
Katsuki stared up at Izuku’s blindingly cute face for a second longer before finally realizing how royally fucked he was. He was in love with Deku. What the fuck.
As quickly as possible, Katsuki pushed the smaller boy off of him and stood up, angry at the blush still adorned on his cheeks. Fuck, he was so totally in love, how did he let this happen?
“I don’t need your help, you damn nerd!” He stormed out of the room, his inner monologue of ‘what the fuck what the fuck what the fuck’ still plaguing his mind.
***
Needless to say, Izuku had been panicking for the past two weeks. He just had to mess up everything with Kacchan. They had been real friends for the first time in over a decade and he had gone and made it weird. He hoped his blatant feelings for the other boy hadn’t pushed him away, but Izuku was not naive, and Kacchan was not stupid. He was bound to figure it out sooner or later.
You see, Izuku had always been in love with Kacchan. He’d been his first and only friend for the first 14 years of his life, despite the bullying he endured for half of it. He was totally enamored with Kacchan the moment their four year old selves promised to be friends forever.
They had been sitting in Izuku’s backyard, leaning on each other as matching popsicles dripped down their hands when Katsuki had asked him.
“Izuku, do you think you’ll ever get married?” Izuku tilted his head, lost in thought for a moment.
“I don’t know Kacchan. Mommy’s not married anymore and she seems happy!”
Kacchan huffed at him, reaching down and entangling their tiny hands together. “Yea but… Don’t you wanna be friends with someone for ever and ever?” He asked, red eyes staring imploringly into green.
Izuku only giggled. “Of course Kacchan, I wanna be with you forever!”
Kacchan smiled. “We should get married then, okay?”
Izuku laughed again. “Okay Kacchan!”
Much like four year old Izuku, sixteen year old him was still very much in love with Kacchan. Although their bond had stretched and nearly almost broke in middle school, Izuku couldn’t bring himself to resent his childhood friend. Sure he’d been furious with the other boy for his treatment of him, but he had long ago forgiven him, despite his lack of apology. Call him stupid or whipped, but Izuku could never stay mad at Kacchan.
Which leads him to his current predicament. No matter how bad things got in middle school, Kacchan had never been completely out of touch. Their parents were still best friends after all, and weekend family dinners were a mandatory occasion. But now, it was like Kacchan had gone completely MIA. He refused to talk to him, train with him, hell, he had even been avoiding looking at him!
Izuku flopped down onto Uraraka’s bed as he finished explaining all of this to his group of friends, taking in their fond yet exasperated expressions.
Uraraka giggled at his dramaticness, elbowing him in the side until he looked at her.
“Deku, we all know that you’re hopelessly in love with Bakugou.”
Izuku let out a squeal of outrage. “There’s no way I’m that obvious!”
Tsuyu rolled her eyes at her friend’s antics. “On the contrary, you’re very obvious, I’m pretty sure Bakugou himself is the only one who doesn't know, kero.”
“That is correct. Your romantic feelings towards Bakugou are very apparent!” Iida said, chopping his left arm up and down like a robot.
Izuku wailed. “Please Todoroki tell me I am not that obvious!”
Todoroki gave him a sheepish look and began to pet his hair consolingly. “Sorry Midoriya, but even I knew and I’ve been told that I have the emotional capability of a rock.”
Izuku snatched the nearest pillow, covering his face in embarrassment.
“Whatcha doin’ Deku?” Uraraka asked with a smile.
Izuku only groaned. “Just leave me here to die!”
“Uh-Uh.” Uraraka began, snatching the pillow away from his face and pulling it protectively to her chest. “Let me come up with a plan. If you confess to Bakugou maybe-”
Izuku sat up so quickly he nearly knocked Todoroki off of the bed. “I’M NOT CONFESSING ANYTHING!” He yelled, his pupils blown wide.
Uraraka pouted. “But honestly Deku, I’m pretty sure he feels the same anyw-”
“I agree with Midoriya.” Iida interrupted her. “Perhaps we should focus on getting them on friendlier terms before we do anything drastic.”
“Thank you Iida!”
“After that is settled we can come up with a plan for the confession!”
Izuku groaned as Iida and Uraraka high-fived each other, his entire friend group breaking into a fit of laughter.
Tsuyu was the first to come to her senses. “How about we figure out Midoriya’s plan later. For now I was promised a slumber party.”
Todoroki brightened. “Yea! I wasn’t allowed to have sleepovers before I met you guys, what should we do first?”
Unbeknownst to Izuku, all other occupants of the room shared a knowing look, and in a matter of seconds four different pillows were being thrown at him at rocket speed.
It was the most intense pillow fight he had ever had.
***
Katsuki sighed from his seat in the corner of the common room, his chin cradled in his hands as he pretended to listen to his frien- the extras surrounding him. They had been blabbering on for minutes about Kaminari’s most recent rejection, something Katsuki did not give a damn about. Besides, he was far too occupied, decidedly not staring at the green haired ball of energy animatedly talking to Shinsou one couch over.
He came to his senses when he felt a nudge to his shoulder, turning his head to see Kirishima’s wide smile.
“Hey Bakubro! Hate to break it to you but I’m afraid if you continue to stare at Midoriya you might start drooling, which would be totally not manly.”
“Shut up Shitty Hair!” Katsuki whisper- yelled, pushing down on his spiky head harshly.
Kirishima just laughed, his eyes sparkling with amusement. Kaminari walked over to the two of them, slinging his arm around Katsuki’s shoulders.
“Oooh are we talking about your blatant crush on Midoriya? Y’know you could just go over and talk to him right? I'm sure he’d love hearing from his Kacchan after you ignoring him these past two weeks.”
Katsuki growled but didn’t push away from the boy squashed beside him. “I haven’t been avoiding him Dunce Face! I just haven’t wanted to listen to the stupid nerds muttering, damn.”
“Oh so we’re ignoring the fact that you’re completely in love with hi-” Katsuki elbowed Kaminari in the ribs, grinning in satisfaction as the other boy started coughing.
“Not nice Kacchan.” He said with a pout.
“Oh go cry about it.”
Kirishima laughed at his best friend’s antics before making eye contact with Mina and Sero from the kitchen and waving them over.
The two of them happily obliged, Sero moving over to sit next to Katsuki (effectively having sandwiched him in between two idiots) as Mina wrapped her arms loosely around his shoulders from behind the couch.
Her eyes sparkled. “Oooh are we making fun of Blasty?”
Katsuki reached up to blindly swat at the arms encasing him. “Shut the fuck up Raccoon Eyes, it’s none of your business.”
“If we’re talking about your huge man crush on Midoriya it is very much our business thank you very much.” Sero began with a smirk. “After all, you were the one to burst into Denki’s room and loudly exclaim your feelings, don't you remember?”
Katsuki gritted his teeth but remained silent. He had actually stormed into Kaminari’s room way later than his usual bedtime, loudly complaining about his shitty feelings and how his life was over.
“It’s whatever there’s nothing I can do about it.”
His extras shared a look.
“There is something you can do about it, Bakubro. You could stop avoiding him and, you know, actually talk to him? Feelings are manly!”
“Yeah!” Mina said, patting his hair affectionately. “Honestly he probably feels the same way anyways!”
Katsuki huffed at that. “Yeah right, not after I made his life a living hell in elementary and middle school.”
Kaminari frowned. “Look dude, I don’t know about all your guys history but that,” He points to Midoriya “Is not the face of a man who hates your guts.”
“Yeah, Midobro doesn't have a mean bone in his body, I’m sure you’re just overthinking.”
Katsuki tried his best not to shout at his stupid group of friends. “I bullied him for years, Kirishima, I made him feel like shit. I don’t think my sudden desire to kiss him in the moonlight is going to fix the decade of putting him down.”
Sero frowned. “I don’t know man, I think that might be up to him to decide. He’s been acting kinda withdrawn ever since you stopped talking to him, he might be sad.”
“Well then he’s fucking stupid.”
MIna groaned loudly. “Come on Kat! Just go over there and flirt with him!”
“Abso-fucking-lutely not.” He deadpanned.
“Bakubroooooooo go apologize to Midobro and then flirt with him so hard you knock his socks off!”
“What the fuck does that even mean?”
“It means!” Kaminari started pushing him. “That we’re all gonna force you to face your feelings!”
Katsuki sighed but did not move from his spot on the couch.
“Okay.” Kirishima sighed. “You don’t have to do it right now. But think about it ‘kay?”
Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Whatever.”
After that, Katsuki made a brilliant escape to his room (it was almost 8:30 after all) and tried really hard not to think about stupid freckles and stupid green eyes.
He failed of course.
Shit. He’d have to apologize.
***
Izuku grimaced as he heard his phone ping, stuffing his face further into his pillows in an attempt to block out the noise.
He had just begun to fall back asleep when it pinged again, and Izuku rubbed his eyes, grabbing his phone roughly as he frowned. Who in their right mind would be texting him this late?
“I swear to god if it’s Shinsou sending me cat pics again…” Izuku grumbled as his eyes adjusted to the light of his screen.
“Wait a minute- KACCHAN!?” Izuku scrambled to open his messages.
Kacchan :D
deku, are you awake?
2:23 am
Kacchan :D
shit nvm forget you saw this
2:29 am
You
i’m awake now sorry
what’s up kacchan?
what happened to being a grandpa and sleeping at 7 lol
2:31 am
Kacchan :D
shut the fuck up deku you know it’s 8:30
anyways that's not the point
2:32 am
You
then what is the point?
you haven’t even looked at me in 2 weeks and now you’re texting?
2:34 am
Kacchan :D
deku are you mad at me?
2:34 am
You
what do u think kacchan?
we were finally good with each other
i thought maybe we were friends?
and now suddenly you won’t even look at me
after 2 weeks of radio silence i figured you hated me again
2:36 am
Kacchan :D
fuck
we are friends
ugh i can’t do this over text
can i come down to your room?
2:37 am
You
kacchan it’s 2 am
2:37 am
Kacchan :D
is that a no?
2:38 am
You
no
2:38 am
Kacchan :D
ok on my way
2:39 am
Izuku sighed as he put his phone back on his nightstand, anxiety welling up inside him at the prospect of speaking to Kacchan again.
In all honesty he was heartbroken. He had lived practically his whole life with his unrequited love for Kacchan, but never, not even when he was his bullying victim, did Kacchan blatantly avoid him.
Especially not after they had just mended their relationship! They trained together everyday and had just begun hanging out over the weekends again, and then suddenly Kacchan goes and pretends he doesn’t exist.
Izuku was pissed. But he was mostly just sad that he was losing his best friend again.
He rubbed the budding tears out of his eyes. At least Kacchan was trying now.
An uncharacteristically soft knock came from his door.
“Come in.” Izuku called quietly.
***
Katsuki willed himself to calm down, his anxiety causing him to pop small explosions from the tips of his fingers.
It’s just Deku, relax. He repeated to himself, there was nothing to be nervous about.
Once he reached his door he took a deep breath, stalling a moment before knocking.
God, he didn’t even know what he was gonna fucking say to him. Oh sorry I realized I’ve been hopelessly in love with you my entire life, I’m sorry for being a dick please don’t decide you hate me didn’t exactly cut all that he was feeling.
No. He wasn’t going to confess. He couldn’t do that to the nerd. But, he was well overdue for an apology.
Katsuki rubbed his sweaty palms against his sweatpants. He knocked softly.
“Come in.”
As soon as Katsuki was in and had closed Izuku’s door, he chanced a look at him.
Izuku sat in the middle of his bed, curly green hair a mess with a slight pout on his face, his arms crossed over his stupid ‘sleep shirt’ shirt. His curtain was open, allowing the moonlight to steep in and cast him in an unearthly glow. Katsuki wanted to kiss him. Fuck.
“Um, hey.” He said eloquently.
Izuku snorted, rolling his eyes up at him.
“Hi Kacchan.”
Katsuki looked away for a second. “Uh can I, um sit next to you?” He asked awkwardly, pointing to Izuku’s bed.
Izuku stared at him for a second too long that had Katsuki freaking out, but eventually nodded.
Katsuki sighed in relief, dropping down on the edge of Izuku’s bed and staring blankly at his hands.
Izuku allowed him to think for a second before seemingly having enough. “Look Kacchan I said you could come over thinking that we would actually talk but if you’re just gonna sit there you can go.” He said coolly.
Katsuki instantly recoiled at his tone, not used to being the on at the receiving end of it.
“Look Deku I… Shit. Fuck.”
Izuku raised an eyebrow at him. Katsuki wanted to die. Why was Deku so fucking cute. Why was he so fucking bad at apologizing. Why was he so fucking whipped.
“I know it’s late. You’re probably mad at me. You should be mad at me, fuck.”
He took a deep breath, mentally preparing to do the thing he should've done a long time ago.
“I haven’t been avoiding you. Well, I have, but it's not your fault.”
He heard Izuku scoff.
“Fuck, I’m bad at this. Ok I realized something. It’s not important, at least right now, but it made me think about us.” Katsuki gulped. “About our past… I need to tell you that I’m…”
He forced himself to look into Izuku’s eyes.
“I’m so fucking sorry. I was an absolute asshole to you, for years, shit I am so sorry De- Izuku. I’m sorry for hurting you, for making you feel worthless. You’re not fucking worthless. You- you mean so much to me, Izuku. And I’m so fucking sorry for being a dick and hurting you. You never deserved that, you could never deserve that. I… fuck! I am so fucking sorry.” He stopped his tirade, wiping angry tears away from his face. Fuck himself for crying, he had no right to feel bad.
Izuku was silent for entirely too long. Katsuki didn’t dare look at him until he heard a soft sob.
He stared at the boy in front of him with wide eyes, taking in his shaking form, his face a mess of tears.
“Kacchan…” Deku sobbed. “I, wow, I never thought you’d apologize to me.”
Katsuki instantly shrank in on himself, flinching when he felt a scarred hand on his arm.
“Thank you Kacchan. For apologizing. But… you should know you didn’t have to.”
Katsuki’s head snapped up quickly at that. “I- fucking- what?” He spluttered incoherently.
Izuku let out a wet laugh. “I forgave you forever ago Kacchan.”
Katsuki stared at him. “But… why? I was a dick, I didn’t think you’d ever forgive me, I don’t even fucking deserve your forgiveness.”
Izuku looked confused. “Hey, that's not up to you to decide.” All of his mad feelings melting away. “You were still there for me through everything Kacchan. When my dad left, when you found out about my quirk- you always had my back. I could never stay mad at you.”
Katsuki stared at him, dumbfounded. “But why?”
Izuku smiled, letting out a deep breath in preparation. “Because I love you, Kacchan.”
Katsuki felt like he was frozen. This had to be some sort of alien universe because there was no fucking way he just heard what he thought he heard.
There was a poke on his arm. “Kacchan?”
“What the fuck.” He whispered.
Deku moved a bit away from him. “I know that’s probably not what you were expecting to hear Kacchan, but it’s true. I- I’ve loved you for as long as I can remember. Since we were little.”
Katsuki was reeling in shock. “Don’t worry, I know you don’t feel the same. But I figured it was about time you knew.” Deku chuckled awkwardly.
And ok- that brought him back to the present. “What the fuck do you mean I don’t feel the same?”
Izuku’s eyes widened before he laughed for real this time. “Kacchan, you’re so amazing! And I’m just… me, y’know.”
Katsuki frowned. “No. I don’t know. This fucking sucks because I know it’s entirely my fault that you have a huge fucking inferiority complex, but FUCK Deku, you are perfect.”
It was Izuku’s turn to freeze. “What!?”
Katsuki turned completely to him, gripping the smaller boy's shoulders tightly in his hands. “You’re fucking perfect Deku. God, I haven’t been able to look at you for these past two weeks without feeling like I’m dying. This is gonna sound so gross but your freckles, your curly green hair, your huge fucking eyes, and your fucking dimples are so fucking cute. I love them all- fuck! I’m in love with you, Deku.”
Izuku was freely sobbing now. “I- really Kacchan?” He asked finally, hope shining in his eyes.
“Fuck yes.” He breathed, feeling a tremendous weight life off of his back. “I love you. I’ve always loved you, damn.”
“Can I- can I please please please hug you Kacchan?”
Katsuki snorted. “C’mere nerd.” He opened his arms wide, Izuku immediately snuggling up into his chest, resting his forehead on Katsuki’s shoulder.
Katsuki wrapped his arms tightly around his waist, burying his nose into fluffy green hair. They sat like that for a while, breathing in each other’s scents. Katsuki knew they still had a lot to talk about, but for now he was content to hold Izuku in his arms forever. Well, he would have if it wasn't the ass-crack of dawn and he was six seconds away from crashing.
So instead, he gently pried Izuku off of him, sighing as he did so.
Izuku whined at the loss of contact. “Why Kacchan?” He asked with a pout.
God Katsuki wanted to kiss him. “It’s like four am nerd. I gotta go and you gotta sleep.”
“Ugh sleep is overrated.” He said, stifling a yawn.
Katsuki rolled his eyes, smiling softly despite himself. “Get your ass under the covers, shitty Deku.”
Izuku grumbled but did as he was told anyways. Just as Katsuki was turning to leave and go back to his room, Izuku grabbed his hand.
“Kacchan?”
“Yeah?”
“I love you.”
Katsuki’s chest felt warm. He squeezed Izuku’s hand. “I love you too, Deku.”
He couldn’t resist planting a kiss on Izuku’s freckled cheek before he turned and left.
***
When Izuku woke up the next morning (actually afternoon, he was so thankful it was a Saturday), he was scared it was all a dream.
There was no way Kacchan had apologized and said he loved him, right? He looked down at his phone, noting last nights texts.
He buried his blushing face into his covers, oh my god Kacchan loves me!
Izuku turned around and squealed into his pillow. He couldn’t wait to see Kacchan.
He navigated through his phone screen quickly, pulling up Katsuki’s contact and hitting call before he could think better of it.
He picked up almost immediately. “Deku?”
Izuku’s breath hitched. “H-hi Kacchan!”
Katsuki laughed at his tone. “Suddenly stuttering now nerd?”
Izuku blushed. “Shut up Kacchan.”
He heard Katsuki laugh from the other end of the line. “Ok Deku, are you gonna get your ass up here or do I have to go down to your room again?”
“ON MY WAY!” Izuku never ran so fast in his life.
He didn’t even bother knocking when he reached the fifth floor, just shoved the door open and practically threw himself on top of Katsuki, who fell over backwards on his bed from the sudden impact.
“Hi.” Izuku whispered into his chest.
Katsuki snorted. “You’re such a fucking nerd. Hey Deku. I love you.”
Izuku squealed and pressed himself impossibly closer. “Ugh I love you so much I missed you!”
“I saw you like 6 hours ago Deku.”
“Yeah! Entirely too long!”
Katsuki squeezed his waist. “Definitely.”
Izuku giggled pulling away just enough to look into soft red eyes. “Hey Kacchan guess what!”
“Fuck no.”
Izuku pouted.
“Ok what is it, nerd.”
“I said I loved Kacchan first! That means I win!” Izuku said mischeviously.
Katsuki blanked. “FUCK!”
Izuku only laughed at him.
Katsuki pulled a little bit more away from Izuku, instead opting to grip his hands. “Fine. But guess what? I’m gonna ask you to go out with me first.”
Izuku stared up at him in shock. “Damn it why didn’t I think of that.”
“I win!”
“Yeah okay Kacchan. I’ll go out with you.”
Izuku suddenly started blushing. “Ok so. Now that you’re my boyfriend…” Katsuki quirked an eyebrow up at him.
“Can- can I kiss you?”
Katsuki turned beet red in a matter of seconds.
“FUCK!”
Please say yes please say yes please say yes Izuku chanted in his mind.
“Ok look nerd, I’m only saying yes because I’ve wanted to kiss you so bad these past two weeks that-“ his sentence was cut off short by Izuku crashing his lips onto his.
It was awkward at first, teeth clashing at the sudden contact, before Izuku tilted his head and slotted his mouth more firmly against Katsuki’s, soft lips sliding against each other.
When they finally pulled back both had matching blushes on their faces.
Izuku stared into his boyfriends (boyfriend!) eyes, and couldn’t help the ginormous smile spread across his face as he buried his head once again into Katsuki’s chest, sighing contentedly as he felt soft fingers begin to curl through his hair.
The two stayed there for a moment, perfectly content to bask in their newfound relationship, when suddenly Katsuki’s dorm door opened with a bang.
“Hey Kat can you help me with my calc homewo-“
The two boys looked up just in time to see Mina scream, running out into the common room to exclaim about what she just saw.
Well, Izuku supposed that everyone would find out about their relationship a bit sooner than he had hoped.
But, as he sank more into Katsuki’s arms, he couldn’t find it in himself to care too much.
***