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Katsuki woke up uncomfortably warm.
He didn’t have a single blanket on him but something radiated heat from behind him and his neck felt like it was burning.
Katsuki, still half asleep, tried to swat the sensation away and made contact with something solid. He frowned and spent a few moments longer blinking himself awake.
Oh, he realized. That awful fucking heat was coming from Deku’s sticky, sweat-matted forehead plastered to his nape.
Katsuki rolled him away despite his boyfriend’s pitiful whine of disapproval and checked the nerd’s temperature with the back of his hand. “Tch. You’re fucking sick, Deku,” he said.
“No ‘m not,” Deku protested, squirming around to kick the last of the covers off. Katsuki sighed and slipped off the bed to retrieve them, bundling Deku up more securely. “S hot,” he whined, stray limbs easily caught and tucked beneath the blanket.
Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Gotta sweat out the fever, dipshit.”
Deku finally cracked open his eyes to glare petulantly up at Katsuki. “Don’t have a fever, dipshit.”
Katsuki smirked. “We doin’ names now? What happened to Kacchan?”
Deku groaned and shoved his face into the pillow, his following argument coming out muffled. “Kacchan’s being delusional. It’s punishment.”
“And Deku’s being a little shit,” he responded cooly, rifling through Deku’s first aid kit. “But only one of us has a fever. Where’s your thermometer?”
Deku let out another long groan but decided to table the ‘i’m not sick’ defense, at least for the time being, to sit up and glare at Katsuki properly.
Properly, as if half his hair wasn’t still matted with sweat and he wasn’t sniffling every two seconds.
Pitiful.
Katsuki was gonna be the best fucking caretaker in the world.
“Don’t have one,” Deku said, following it up with a sneeze. Then he pointed determinedly in Kacchan’s direction. “That didn’t mean anything,” he declared defensively. “I always sneeze when I wake up so don’t- achoo- don’t go making a big deal about it Kacchan.”
Katsuki raised an eyebrow. “I’m always here in Loserland when you wake up, Deku. Never heard it before.”
Deku crossed his arms and sniffed, belatedly turning his nose up in attempt to pass the whole thing off as intentional and imperious. “What can I say?” he asked. “Kacchan’s a heavy sleeper.”
Katsuki snorted.
After they had started dating properly- and Katsuki started using cuddles as a way to coerce Deku into a better sleeping schedule, unknowingly resigning himself to near-permanent residence in the All Might shrine that passed as his bedroom- it had been Katsuki who always woke up to Bird Brain’s muffled footsteps pacing in the hallway. It had also been Katsuki who kicked Deku out of bed one night and demanded he do some ‘emotional bullshit’ to solve the problem so, really, Deku’s neighbor had Katsuki to thank for dealing with his issues. Katsuki was a goddamn miracle worker and he’d relinquish that title for no one- not even the shitty nerd he’d risked his life for on multiple occasions. Some lines you just did not cross.
“Get better at lying,” Katsuki demanded.
Deku huffed and collapsed backwards onto his pillow only to immediately spring back up and wince, one hand held to his head. “I promised All Might we’d meet him for early morning training today.”
Katsuki tilted his head in consideration while he pulled out a bottle of medicine and read the little chart on the label. “Not bad.”
“No, Kacchan,” Deku continued. “I really did.”
For Deku’s weight, he’d need two tablets. Katsuki poured them out on a sheet of paper and carefully carried them over to Deku along with a bottle of water. Accidentally ingesting nitroglycerin would not do the nerd any favors, sick or not, and Katsuki wasn’t about to risk it. “Bullshit. Woulda been in the group chat.”
Deku let Katsuki tip the pills into his hand without protest. “Would have been if we hadn’t decided on it last night at dinner. I told him I’d let you know myself.”
“Take the medicine,” Katsuki ordered, mildly surprised when Deku glared at the pills like they’d caused all his problems but followed instructions. “And you’re gettin kinda good. Have you been holding out on me all this time?” he asked lightly. “Pretending to be a shitty liar just to hold it over me years down the line?”
“Ha ha,” Deku said drily. “That’s not funny Kacchan, I thought you were never gonna speak to me again when I didn’t tell you about One-for-All right away!”
Katsuki shrugged. “Kinda funny. In hindsight.”
Deku practically pouted, blinking blearily, before conceding. “Kinda. But this isn’t like that! I really did promise, I just forgot to mention it last night.” Deku’s gaze got big and watery and Katsuki honestly wasn’t sure if it was from the cold or from Katsuki not believing him.
He was maybe, possibly, ready to concede that Deku hadn’t suddenly mastered the art of deception.
“Fine. I'll just shoot him a text,” Katsuki offered, snatching up Deku’s phone and punching in his own birthday for the password. Katsuki was only sixty percent sure that the nerd had used a different password before they were together. Seventy if he was feeling generous.
“Okay,” Deku said, sounding relatively appeased. “But don’t make it sound all jerky.”
Katsuki glared at the backspace button while he held it down and started over.
“Dear Mr. All Might, sir,” Katsuki voiced, tapping out a new message.
“Kacchan.”
“I am so terribly sorry but I won’t be able to make it to our nerd meeting today-”
“You go to them too, Kacchan.”
“-for I am grievously ill,” he continued, dancing out of Deku’s half-hearted reach. “Instead I will mourn the hour while I stare at each of my twenty six All Might posters-”
“Twenty-four,” Deku muttered quietly.
“-with All Mighty amounts of guilt and sorrow. This is the end for me. Sincerely, the shitnerd.”
“Kacchan,” Izuku whined. “You can’t send that!”
“Too late,” Katsuki lied, tossing the phone to Deku who fumbled with it for a moment before breathing a sigh of relief at the actual message.
Tch. Like All Might’d even blink reading a text like that from Katsuki making fun of the nerd. He might make some comment about working together though. The old man had yet to pick up on what exactly the relationship between his star pupils was and Katsuki had to stifle a snort every time he congratulated them on what good friends they were becoming.
“Okay fine,” Deku said. “But since I’m not really sick I’ll just rest now and go to class later.”
Katsuki sat heavily on Deku’s desk chair. “No.”
Deku rolled his eyes. “What if we just video call and you can carry me around on your phone all day?” he suggested. “It’d be kind of cute!”
Katsuki snorted. “Yeah, right up there with dehydration and poking wild bears.”
Deku bit his lip. “So…it’s a maybe?”
“It’s a fuck no.”
“Damn,” Deku muttered, his eyes blinking slowly at the ceiling while his exhaustion finally started to show itself. “I bet Todoroki would be willing,” he mused. “Or Uraraka.”
“Don’t even try it with that Half’n’Half bastard,” Katsuki snapped.
“Mm, but why not?” Deku asked. “He’d probably say yes.”
“I don’t give a shit,” Katsuki growled. “IcyHot and his little crush on you-”
“His nonexistent crush.”
“His very existent crush can fuck right off.”
Deku laughed and covered his fever-flushed face with his arm. “Kacchan,” he wheezed. “My jealous baby, how many times do we have to tell you it was a dare. To hold hands, that’s it.”
Katsuki huffed and crossed his arms. “Fucker looked too pleased about it.”
“And you looked homicidal when Aizawa made us do the same as a punishment before we got together,” he countered fondly.
Katsuki rolled his eyes. “That reaction was a lie, Deku, not that you know what that means.”
Deku snuggled further into his duvet. “Two- achoo- two minutes ago you thought I’d perfected the craft.”
Katsuki waved his hand dismissively. “Gave you too much credit.”
“You know,” Deku continued, finally closing his eyes. “Years down the line we’re gonna laugh at how jealous you were of Todoroki.”
“Why’s IcyHot making an appearance in our years-down-the-line fantasy?”
Deku peeked an eye open, a soft smile on his face. “You’d rather I picture something else?”
Katsuki stepped forward and swept Deku’s bangs aside to press a chaste kiss to his forehead. Deku’s eyes slipped closed and he angled his head up to give him easier access while Katsuki used the opportunity to slip the nerd’s phone out from where he’d tried to surreptitiously bury it beneath the pillow. “Picture whatever you want as long as I’m there.”
Deku hummed happily. “Kacchan’s always- hey wait give that back!” he cried.
Katsuki ignored him and switched off Deku’s alarm. “Not a chance in hell. Sleep,” he ordered. When Deku didn’t move from his upright position Katsuki added, “Dream of me?”
Deku’s stony expression melted a little but he pretended not to have heard Katsuki all the same. “I’ll probably wake up in time for class naturally anyway,” he said to himself. Then, “Kacchan, has All Might responded yet?”
Katsuki tapped the home screen and was met with the wallpaper photo of the two of them. “Nope.”
Katsuki thought better of his actions a moment too late.
Deku suddenly tugged the covers off of himself again and made for the door. “I have to go then,” he said.
Katsuki stood up and easily shoved him back on the bed. “No, you don’t.” Fuckin weak ass sick body betrayed the nerd’s condition whether he tried to hide it or not.
“But-” Deku’s big ass eyes were already starting to water again. “Kacchan you know how he sometimes doesn’t take his phone places and he’ll go there and we won’t show up and he’ll wait there the whole hour just in case we do show up instead of going back to check his phone and he’ll feel stood up and Kacchan I can’t do that to All Might, I-”
“Fine!” Katsuki shouted. “Fine. I’ll go let him know in person,” he assured. “Was gonna grab you a cool washcloth from downstairs anyway so you’ll just have to wait a little longer, asshole.”
Deku curled back into his pillow with a relieved sigh. “Kacchan’s the best. Thanks, love.”
“Damn right I am,” Katsuki replied. “If you’re not fucking in that bed asleep or trying to get there by the time I get back I’m murdering you.”
“So sweet, Kacchan,” Deku teased. “But I’m not sick.”
Katsuki thoroughly tucked him in again and pocketed Deku’s phone just in case. “So funny, Deku,” he shot back, leaning down to peck his forehead. “Be back soon. Don’t die.”
“Not sick!” Deku called.
Katsuki flipped him off from the doorway. “Not an idiot!”
Katsuki pulled on a jacket as he stepped outside, shooting a quick warning text off to the class and making a mental note to stop by Recovery Girl’s office to ask for a thermometer.
Katsuki finished up his rounds quickly, which included asking- for Deku’s sanity- if All Might would start carrying around his goddamn phone and ended with a proud comment about Katsuki’s consideration for his childhood friend and a dodged attempt at a head pat.
Katsuki pulled his hood up as he walked back to the dorm and felt his phone vibrate. Again. He pulled out the offending device and sneered at the number of unread messages.
Class 1-A group chat
Blasty: dekus fucking sick, dont go near him
LightOfYourLives: :0 sacre bleu!
VenmoMe: oh no! is he ok??
Im-Not-High-U-R: dekuus sacred blu e?
DancingQueen: jesus christ its 7am
Im-Not-High-U-R: deku is jessus??
MusicMaster: someone pls go check on him
EndeavorSucks: i will do that
EndeavorSucks: please recover soon midoriya
VenmoMe: should we make him soup? is it too early for that?
VenmoMe: is there such thing as breakfast soup??
RockHardAbs: uh…toast? Sorry to hear you’re sick mido :(
Ingenium: wishing you a speedy recovery midoriya!
Pikachu: sucks dude. do you need extra blankets?
DancingQueen: wow, kami, didnt think youd be awake this early
Pikachu: *freezes in insomniac*
MusicMaster: also im pretty sure he owns every single AM blanket ever produced so…
Poison Dart: ill make u a copy of my notes mido
FlyingSouth: i must inform you that i knocked on his door and he greeted me enthusiastically…
Dojiro: no ‘reveling in the dark’ for him, huh?
FlyingSouth: im afraid he is as sunny as ever
EndeavorSucks: that is good
Ingenium: perhaps bakugou was mistaken?
Pikachu: psh
Pikachu: try suggesting that to bakugou
VenmoMe: wait, so is deku sick or not?
Ingenium: google how to delete message
Ingenium: fuck
DancingQueen: BAHAHAHA
Pikachu: are you using text to speech?? im DEAD
RoyalTea: oh no! midoriya, do you require anything? some herbal tea, perhaps?
RockHardAbs: just ran into mido in the bathroom
RockHardAbs: says hes not sick and bakubro took his phone bc hes “just being a mother hen” over some allergy sneezes
DancingQueen:…
VenmoMe:...
JohnCena:...
MusicMaster: has he ever ~met~ bakugou??
Im-Not-High-U-R: have e WE evr met bakugou???
Pikachu: *wiping a tear* our boy’s so grown up. takin care of his man
Dojiro: ur boy exploded u in the face yesterday
PoisonDart: mido, since when do u have allergies
Pikachu: now we’re askin the real questions
EndeavorSucks: midoriya has never disclosed having allergies to me
Ingenium: nor i
EndeavorSucks: i am in distress at this lack of trust between us
Blasty: EVERYONE SHUT THE FUCK UP AND STOP FALLING FOR HIS MANIPULATIVE BULLSHIT
Pikachu: he lives!
Blasty: AND YOULL ALL BE DEAD IF YOU LET HIM TAKE ONE STEP OUTSIDE THAT BUILDING
Blasty: IM COMING BACK RN
DancingQueen: [img.-Deku sending a peace sign at the camera while eating a bowl of cereal]
RockHardAbs: [img.-Deku’s red shoes sitting on Kirishima’s balcony next to a ceramic shark and a blurry thumbs up]
Dojiro: [img.- Deku fiddling with his backpack on the couch, practically dozing on top of it]
Katsuki kicked open the door with a bang and his gaze zeroed in on Deku. His head shot up from where it’d been resting on his backpack and it took Katsuki a second longer to realize he was dressed in full uniform. “Kacchan!” Deku shouted nervously, picking at the yellow straps.
“Deku,” Katsuki growled. “What the hell are you doing?”
Deku sniffled, then smiled brightly to try and downplay it. “I’m getting ready for class,” he said enthusiastically. “Are we all good now? Time to go? Let’s get this show on the-”
“Deku.”
“Hm?” he said. “Yes, Kacchan?”
Katsuki walked a few steps closer and crossed his arms, keeping himself placed between Deku and the front door. “What did I tell you to do?”
Deku laughed nervously and looked around the room for an escape route. “Well, uh, Kacchan wasn’t thinking straight this morning because he told me to skip class.” Deku seemed vaguely frustrated when no one immediately jumped to his aid, or made any comment at all, and he suddenly clocked the phone poking out from Katsuki’s pocket with an irritated huff. “It’s just allergies,” he continued. “I appreciate your concern Kacchan but it's nothing to get so worked up about. I’m fine!” he finished brightly. It might have even been convincing if Katsuki hadn’t already felt his fever.
“Apparently you didn’t appreciate my threat.”
Deku sighed heavily and started walking closer. “Haven’t we decided that murder isn’t the proper solution to anything?”
“We haven’t decided shit,” Katsuki shot back, holding a palm flat across Deku’s chest to stop him from moving any further. “You’re sick. Go lie down before I shove this thermometer down your throat.”
“I’m not sick,” Deku argued, and when he tried to move around Katsuki he tightened his grip, twisting the material of Deku’s school shirt in his fist. “Kacchan-”
“If you’re not sick then kiss me,” Katsuki said, bringing up his free hand to tap his lips twice in quick succession. “Right now.”
Deku’s eyes grew wide and he fought a little harder against Katsuki’s grip, his limbs lethargic and weak. “But we can’t!”
“Because you’re sick,” Katsuki agreed.
“Because- because PDA!” Deku protested.
“I don’t think we have any rules about that Midobro,” Shitty Hair said. “Do we class pres?”
“We do not,” Glasses agreed, chopping his arm down in the air like a robot. “We are simply concerned about your wellbeing, Midoriya.”
“My being is well,” he countered. “I just…I just…Kacchan,” he said suddenly, twisting up his face so that he looked like a kicked puppy. “I- I don’t want to disappoint you but I’m really not comfortable kissing in front of the whole class.”
“Low blow dude,” someone murmured.
Katsuki narrowed his eyes but Deku kept up the act surprisingly well. “Everyone turn the fuck around,” he barked, and Katsuki didn’t have to turn his gaze from Deku’s shocked face to know that instructions were followed. “Kiss me.”
“I have morning breath.”
“Don’t care.”
“I bit my lip earlier and it hurts,” he tried instead.
Katsuki raised a brow at his uninjured lips.
“It hurts on the inside?” Deku amended.
“That would be the cold. Just admit that you’re sick fuckface.”
“Kacchan,” Deku groaned, “this is ridiculous. Just because I don’t want to kiss you with everyone listening in doesn’t mean I’m sick.”
“So you’re ashamed of me,” Katsuki surmised, putting some fake hurt into his tone that he was sure Deku could see right through and was positive the nerd was weak to anyway. As expected, Deku’s expression wavered just a little.
“Kacchan stop it,” he whined. “We don’t have time for games, we have to get to class.”
Katsuki pulled Deku even closer, his other arm circling around the nerd’s back and he watched in exasperation as Deku turned his head to keep them from sharing his germ-ridden breath. “Kiss me or go lie down,” he said again.
“Kacchan I-” Deku started. “We have a pop quiz today! We have to get going.”
“Fuck the pop quiz,” Katsuki replied easily. Fucker was just lying out of his ass at this point.
“Guys, please don’t play with me like this,” Sparky complained from somewhere within the ring of spectators.
“I- sorry, Kaminari,” Deku said apologetically. “I think I misspoke-“ Katsuki scoffed. “-it’s- achoo- not a pop quiz but it is very important information that we really should be there for.”
“Take another step towards that door,” Katsuki warned, tightening his grip on Deku’s shirt, “and the only place you’re gonna be is six feet under.”
Deku’s mouth dropped open, head still craned away from Katsuki’s. “You’re really gonna…and no one else will…” He glanced around the room one more time, casting about for some reasonable excuse or maybe just a window he could jump through, before letting his burning forehead fall on Katsuki’s shoulder. “Ugh, fine,” he moaned. “You win.”
Katsuki kissed him on the temple in victory before sliding his grip up Deku’s back and letting go of his shirt with the other hand to lift Deku into a bridal carry. “You’re damn right I won.”
Pushing his sweaty face into Katsuki’s neck Deku muttered, “Love you too, stupid Kacchan.”
Various shouts of well wishes and promises of notes and soup followed them down the hall until the elevator door shut squarely behind them.
“Was that really so hard?” Katsuki asked softly.
He could feel Deku nod.
“Kacchan, what if I fall behind now?” he asked in a trembling voice. “I don’t feel so bad that I couldn’t have gone and- and I have certain responsibilities as All Might’s successor and I already feel like I’m not cut out to live up to his reputation and if I don’t work as hard as I possibly can I’m not sure if I’ll ever be enough.”
Katsuki listened to Deku unload his worries in a contemplative silence, lowering him onto his bed once they reached the second floor. “Deku,” he said slowly, tracing Deku’s feverish cheekbones with his knuckles. “You’ve…always been like this when you’re sick,” he started, uncertain if he should really broach the subject.
“I’m not-” Katsuki narrowed his eyes menacingly. “...that sick,” Deku finished petulantly.
“And you’ve already accomplished far more than All Might ever did at our age,” he continued, choosing to act as if Deku hadn’t interrupted him. “So what gives?”
Deku shut his eyes, a crease appearing between his eyebrows that had Katsuki double checking that he wasn’t accidentally using his quirk. Deku chewed on the inside of his lips a moment longer before saying, haltingly, “I’m not…like them, Kacchan.” The words looked like they pained him to admit and when he finally peeked at Katsuki his usually bright eyes were tired. Resigned. “You know that,” he whispered, followed by a sniffle Katsuki couldn’t confidently attribute to the cold.
Understanding suddenly hit Katsuki like a slap to the face. He let out a slow, uneven breath and shifted down the bed to lie on his side, facing Deku. The alarm clock behind his head ticked out the seconds like a bomb and Katsuki gave himself till the count of five, doing his best not to explode at the end of it.
“I do know you, Izuku,” he finally managed, slapping a hand over Deku’s eyes in a silent gesture of ‘shut the fuck up’ when they started to spill over with tears. Katsuki didn’t have the presence of mind to wonder if they were happy or sad tears right now. It didn’t matter, anyway. He had shit to say.
“I do know you,” he repeated. “And I’ve always known you didn’t need a goddamn quirk to blow people outta the water.”
Deku’s mouth wobbled as tears ran silently down his face. Katsuki couldn’t tell if he was fighting a smile or a frown. “But Kacchan-” he protested.
“I always knew you were more heroic than me,” Katsuki continued, undeterred. “I knew you’d find a fuckin' way to be a hero with that head of yours. Hell, I wasn’t even surprised when you showed up in class that first day and I hadn’t even seen your quirk yet, remember?”
Deku’s brow furrowed and Katsuki reluctantly removed his hand, twisting his restless fingers in the edge of Deku’s blanket instead. “I…I didn’t…” he stammered, eyes so unfocused Katsuki wouldn’t be surprised if he was actually trying to analyze his own memories. Katsuki had been angry, certainly, but not surprised.
Katsuki decided to finish the thought for him. “Didn’t know I believed in you even when it was the last thing I wanted to do?”
Deku’s eyes cleared instantaneously, looking at Katsuki with nothing short of awe. “Kacchan,” he breathed. Then the tears really started to fall. “Kacchan,” he blubbered, squirming closer until he could press his face to Katsuki’s collarbone. “Kacchan.”
Katsuki moved to rake his hands through Deku’s hair. “I know,” he murmured, voice thick with emotions he was unwilling to name. “Fuck, I know.”
The repetitive motion seemed to soothe them both, dragging them from the brink until they were breathing steadily, eyes dry and hands clutching less desperately. Deku’s ceiling fan rattled softly above them and Katsuki tracked one of the spokes with his eyes as he laid in the quiet. He…hadn’t expected Deku’s insecurities to run quite so deep. In hindsight, he’s not sure how he missed it. At any rate, he was glad Deku had been upfront about his feelings, the way Katsuki was still struggling to be. Fuck it though, Katsuki didn’t need words to make Deku feel the full force of his affection and admiration. He was glad to have a new goal to work towards that was so unlike his others-
Number one partner.
It had a nice ring to it.
“Are you asleep?” Katsuki murmured, stretching to grab the thermometer he’d tossed onto the desk when he received a mumble in the negative. “Good.” Deku detached himself just far enough to shuffle back up to the pillow and blink up at Katsuki with a gentle smile, a few tears still stuck to his eyelashes. “Now open up,” Katsuki ordered gruffly, waving the device in front of the nerd’s face, “I wasn’t joking earlier.”
Deku chuckled and wordlessly opened his mouth to let Katsuki take his temperature. It beeped a moment later and Katsuki examined the readout- high, but not concerningly so- while Deku reached around him to drain the water bottle Katsuki had placed on the nightstand earlier.
“Thank you, Kacchan,” he croaked.
Katsuki got the sense he wasn’t talking about the temperature. “We’ll check again in a few hours and get you something to eat,” he replied.
Deku sighed his begrudging agreement and wormed his way beneath Katsuki’s arm. When Katsuki didn’t disentangle himself, Deku blinked up at him, tired but curious. “Kacchan’s staying?”
Katsuki pulled out his phone and set a timer for a few hours. “In sickness or in fucking health, nerd,” he grumbled.
Deku hummed happily, turning his head to kiss the skin at Katsuki’s shoulder with bruising intensity and retreating with a loud smack.
“Til Kacchan’s murderous habits do us part.”
Class 1-A group chat
Blasty: get us two sets of notes