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1.
He couldn’t be sure when it all started, but Izuku first noticed while he and Katsuki were training together. He’d managed to land a pretty decent hit on Katsuki, and it sent him crashing down too fast to make a proper landing. Following a quick gasp in his throat, Izuku felt his power sizzle to a calm and lower him down, so he could check on Katsuki. Katsuki let out a rough groan as he began to prop himself up on his hands.
“Hey, are you okay?” Izuku asked on reflex as he stepped towards him to offer his right hand.
Katsuki froze suddenly and his eyes shot wide to stare intensely at him as he approached. Izuku nearly took a step back at Katsuki’s sudden reaction, and he wondered if he should retract his hand as it may have caused some sort of distress. However Izuku recalled a memory of Katsuki simply slapping his hand away when he didn’t want to take it which only made him more concerned at his odd response. Freezing up like this, not lashing out, staring so intently at his hand; it was all very unlike him.
“Are you hurt? You didn’t hit your head did you?” Izuku asked, leaning in closer with his extended hand. At his questions Katsuki’s brows shot up impossibly higher and his eyes rose quickly to meet Izuku’s own. The intensity of the stare rattled Izuku, then he noticed Katsuki’s eyes getting a little watery. Katsuki took a deep breath to keep any tears from falling as his gaze fell back to Izuku’s hand, then he lifted his left hand to meet Izuku’s right.
Izuku let out a breath of relief as he shifted his weight and pulled Katsuki up. He tried to meet his eyes again to make sure he was okay, but Katsuki kept his gaze down on their hands—not releasing his grip on Izuku’s even as he became level with him and their hands fell to their sides.
Izuku followed his gaze to where they were now holding hands but didn’t see anything noteworthy to garner this much attention from Katsuki. He looked up again at a still bewitched Katsuki softly regarding their hands with one of his rare, small smiles.
Izuku supposes he can’t blame Katsuki for getting emotional over nothing; that is, he’s definitely not one to talk. And if anything it just shows how much Katuski’s grown. Izuku shrugs off the instance and continues on with his day, smiling down at his hand whenever there’s a lull in his schedule.
2.
A few days later, after Izuku and Katsuki finished up their private training, they headed out to the common room to find all the furniture floating. Izuku’s eyes quickly found Ochako’s as Katsuki grumbled off to the kitchen looking for a snack.
“What’s going on here?” Izuku asked, lifting a finger to poke at a chair that was in his walking path.
“Hey, Deku!” Ochako greeted before continuing. “I’m trying to increase the amount of objects I can float at once!”
“I see that’s going well.” Izuku chuckled, dodging a coffee table as he moved closer.
“It is! I haven’t even–” Ochako lurched over suddenly “crap.” Realizing what was happening Izuku ran to the kitchen to grab the nearest trashcan, darting past Katsuki as he did so, who scoffed at the sudden intrusion. He raced back to Ochako just in time to offer her the trashcan as she got sick. He patted her on the back as she groaned and worked to slowly lower the objects down.
Izuku made his way across the room, straightening out the objects and furniture to their original position as she lowered them. By the time everything was in order and he looked back to Ochako, she was lying on the ground holding her stomach.
“Are you in any pain?”
“I’m fine. I can just go to Recovery Girl and get some nausea medicine.” Izuku nodded along at her plan.
“Here, take my hand.” Izuku offered with his hand extended towards her.
At that Katsuki shot up to attention. Where he’d previously been leaning against a wall reading something off his phone (appetite sorely ruined), his eyes were now blown wide and his neck nearly snapped as he turned to face the scene.
Izuku caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and turned his own head towards Katsuki to see what happened.
Katsuki was focused so solely on Izuku’s hand and Ochako grabbing it, it took him a second to even notice Izuku’s eyes on him. Once he did he coughed dryly into his fist and began scrolling rapidly on his phone.
Izuku brought his attention back to Ochako as he helped her up and placed his other hand around her waist, leading her to Recovery Girl. He didn’t notice how Katsuki watched him as he left, or how he continued watching long after.
3.
It’s become more common to plan out dinner all together or for one of Class A to make a big meal for the lot of them. Their family style meals had become a highlight of Izuku’s day, right along with hero training, and hanging out with Katsuki and all his other friends. He couldn’t believe how lucky he was.
After plating his meal, Izuku went and sat next to Katsuki who avoided his gaze to stare resolutely at his own food. Izuku laughed to himself at his stoic response and turned his attention to the conversation taking place across the table.
He had been absorbed in a story about his classmates meeting villains on their way back from the grocery store, when he felt something tickling his left fingers. He spared his hand a pacing glance in time with him shaking it off and noticed Katsuki quickly move into a closed off position. When he turned fully to face him and see what had startled him, Katsuki was aggressively shoveling food down his gullet.
After watching his side profile long enough to be nudged by Tokoyami on his other side, Izuku returned to the story at hand as his classmates finished explaining why they hadn’t brought all the intended groceries home.
After a few minutes had passed he felt that same pressure on his hand again. Instead of shaking it off, this time he turned to see Katsuki’s hand casually pressed against his own with his pinkie hovering over Izuku’s.
Izuku blushed to himself and looked up to Katsuki for an explanation, only for him to be facing the opposite side of the room. He thought about verbally asking him, but he didn’t want to draw attention from their other classmates. Izuku figured it was fine, and if Katsuki was bothered by it he would move his hand, so he left it be and returned once more to the conversation.
A few more minutes passed and as everyone else got up to clear their dishes from the table, Izuku’s attention was drawn once again to their hands. Katsuki hadn’t moved much closer, but his pinkie had fully wrapped around Izuku’s, so they were now interlocked at a point.
Izuku couldn’t help but smile at the contact, and oddly enough when he glanced at Katsuki’s face he found a smile there too. It was hidden by his left hand, his chin resting on the palm of his fist, but the gentle creases in his eyes made the expression clear.
4.
The next day they were back to training; they found themselves together like this a lot, even on days when All Might couldn’t make it. Most of the time when they train alone it consists of a brawl between them, but today Katsuki seemed insistent on trying to work out how they should fight together. Though Izuku wasn’t the least bit opposed to fighting together, he thought they did it naturally well enough, and was more so eager to practice fighting one on one, so he could surpass Katsuki.
“Easy. Anytime we’re about to crash into each other we… take each other's hands and can use that momentum to our advantage.” Katsuki explained with his eye contact wavering near the end.
“Right,” Izuku affirmed, almost waiting for something else, “we’ve done this before, Kacchan. I don’t really think we need practice.” Izuku argued, eager to brawl.
“You idiot! Of course we need practice, we’re trying to turn this into a finishing move!” Katsuki exclaimed as he held his fist up threateningly. Izuku wasn’t convinced, but ultimately figured that the sooner they satisfy this move to Katsuki’s desires, the sooner they could fight.
“Alright, let’s do it.” Izuku conceded with a begrudging sigh, though any disappointment he felt was quickly mitigated by Katsuki’s sudden smile and relief. He’d been smiling a lot more lately. Izuku couldn’t be happier.
5.
“You can’t yell at the reporters, Kacchan!” Izuku pleaded as he wrapped his arms around Katsuki’s chest to keep him from advancing forward—to no avail as he plowed ahead, dragging Izuku easily.
“These idiots were in my way! They ought to know better than to try and interview someone in the middle of a battle!”
Katsuki had managed to shake Izuku off, but before he could go for any sort of attack on the quivering reporters Izuku tried again to hold him back by grabbing his hand.
Izuku was surprised to see that as he pulled on Katsuki’s hand to restrain him, he came willingly. Izuku froze for a second to look up at Katsuki who no longer looked hell bent on murder and was now staring at him in what must have been shock.
They stared at each other for a while, no longer paying any mind to the reporters. As the shock wore off, Katsuki’s features softened and his gaze lowered to their hands. Izuku kept his eyes on Katsuki’s face, and he noticed it sporting a light blush and the beginnings of a smile. He found his own face heating up in adoration for the moment and the man before remembering they were not alone.
Izuku looked towards the reporters, predictably taking a lot of pictures and felt his face suddenly redden even more. Katsuki didn’t seem to notice the cameras going, instead fully absorbed in staring at their hands with that gentle expression he’d been carrying.
“Let’s go home, Kacchan.” Katsuki could only nod in response, but he followed Izuku easily as he led him away by the hand.
Later when Izuku opened up his computer, he was bombarded with images of him and Katsuki holding hands from that day. He promptly wrapped his arms around his blushing face to hide his embarrassment, despite the fact that he was alone in his room. After squeezing himself into the darkness of his arms for a minute, he peeked open his eyes to see the image of them holding hands still glowing on his screen.
He found himself drawn to Katsuki’s face and its gentle expression. Izuku prided himself on how well he knew Katsuki, but this side of him was something he was unfamiliar with. He was desperate to know what it meant when he calmed down and behaved so tenderly. He’d tell himself that’s the reason he saved every photo of them he found.
+1
Since the reporter incident, Izuku’s been taking Katsuki’s hand a lot more. He was thrilled at any contact he could have with Katsuki, so knowing he was okay with something so intimate made Izuku unyieldingly happy.
It was easy to do it when Katsuki was on the cusp of lashing out, but he didn’t get mad too often anymore, so it was getting harder and harder to find excuses to take his hand. The last time he did it was under the excuse of examining how his quirk affects the skin of his palms. But that was the third time he’d done that in as many days, and he was getting the sense that Katsuki was catching on.
It all came to a head when Izuku took Katsuki’s hand to “see whose was bigger.” It probably would’ve been more convincing if he hadn’t interlocked their fingers to do so, but Izuku had no regrets.
“You’ve… been holding my hand a lot.” Katsuki commented, not fully meeting Izuku in the eye, but not letting go of his hand either. While that was true, Izuku still felt oddly tricked by the accusation, considering this all started with Katsuki anyway.
“I–I haven’t! I mean… you didn’t seem to mind it?” Izuku nearly questioned, wondering now if he had read Katsuki wrong and he’d been bothered this whole time. Katsuki turned fully to face him and tried searching his eyes for something.
“I don’t. Mind it that is. I…” Katsuki lowered his gaze and bit his lip as he seemed to be wrestling with what he was about to tell Izuku. “Do you remember when we were kids and used to cross that creek? That time when I fell down, and you tried to help me up?” Izuku felt a wave of nostalgia as he thought of the creek. He remembered feeling anxious anytime they were looking to cross it; he remembered how brave Katsuki was, never hesitating for a second; he remembered being absolutely terrified that one time Katsuki fell down it; but he couldn’t remember much else about that time.
Katsuki watched his face make connections, but Izuku never responded to the question. Katsuki sighed and steadied himself.
“It was a little after we learned you were quirkless.” Katsuki informed him. It took Izuku a second to process before he shook his head in surprise. That couldn’t be right. Izuku remembers how they stopped hanging out when they found out he was quirkless.
“I thought I was the greatest person alive,” Katsuki started, “everyone always told me so. And then you were there, and people—and I—kept saying how worthless you were. But you… were just so much better than me. It killed me, Izuku. I couldn’t even take your hand, ‘cause that would mean admitting you were better. I don’t want to do that anymore. When it comes to acting like a hero, you’ve always been way ahead of me. And I want to get better. So I’m gonna take your hand whenever it’s offered, got it? You damn nerd.” Katsuki cussed out at the end, hiding his face a little in his shoulder as a blush settled on his face.
Izuku stood still, letting the weight of his words sink in. The last time they had a conversation like this was when Katsuki apologized, and he never even expected or required that much. To think that he could have more of his words, that he could have his hand too when he wanted it… Izuku teared up.
“I knew you’d be like this.” Katsuki grumbled, shaking off his blush. “Always crying, you shouldn’t let these things get to–” Katsuki was cut off by Izuku falling on top of him in a hug.
“If I can hold your hand, does that mean I can hug you too?” Izuku asked into Katsuki’s shocked frame. He stood still holding Izuku for a minute, waiting for his brain to catch up to what was happening.
“Tch! No! Fuck off!” He growled as he tried to pry Izuku off. Izuku went willingly and with a smile.
“Then I’ll take your hand instead.” Izuku responded happily with tears still in his eyes, and he extended his hand. Katsuki let out a deep sigh as he focused in on Izuku’s hand, before letting his own fall on top of his and bring their hands down to their sides.
“Better not make this a thing, nerd.”