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Middle school was a horrific experience for Izuku. To witness his only childhood friends drift away from him and to experience quirkless discrimination day after day with no sign of teachers trying to help was excruciating for Izuku. The bullying became so bad that he'd constantly have to hide the injuries from his mom when he came home.
The day he left Aldera was one of the best days of his life. The day he joined UA with a power of his own also joined the list. The list of bad days heavily outweighed the good days but fortunately, the majority of the days in the recent months have been some of the best days in his life.
Throughout the few months Izuku has been at UA, he managed to rekindle his and Katsuki's friendship into something stronger, despite their messed up history. It wasn't an easy task.
Firstly it started with small acts like, Katsuki not pushing Izuku away as much or not threatening to blow him up.
Then their friends started to hang out together, forcing them to interact more. This helped them understand each other better and additionally helped reduce the awkwardness between them.
One of the main reasons they were able to do this was because of all the traumatic events over the school year, most recently when the villains kidnapped Katsuki at their summer camp as it caused them both discover how much they actually cared and protected each other and they both individually realised a lot of important things about each other.
They were currently friends which was a massive step for them and was the result of a lot of anger management therapy and Katsuki eventually apologising for everything he'd done to Izuku during middle school and how he treated him up to this point.
Izuku had forgiven him way before he apologised but that didn't diminish the immense appreciation he felt.
The thing is, Katsuki never before had said sorry, even when he was in the wrong. So to hear those two words come out of his mouth with true earnestness made Izuku's heart squeeze in his chest. Not only was he glad that they could finally be friends. Equals. But he could also leave behind everything that happened between them during the hell that was middle school and try to move on.
Today was Saturday and as it was the weekend and sunny outside, class 1A decided to use their free time to go round the mall nearby (yes, the same mall where Shigaraki threatened him). It had had a few renovations and new shops moved in over the past few months and as they had been so busy recently they haven't had the time to visit it.
The good news about the mall being so large is that they had shops for the wide range of interests their class had, like: music, clothes, food, and hero memorabilia (that last one was specifically Izuku.) This meant that they were able to bring the whole class along as usually someone will want to stay home as it wasn't something they were interested in, but now they had no excuse not to come.
In the dorms, everyone was bustling about trying to get ready for the day out. Izuku had just come out from a quick shower and was putting on his favourite clothes.
When Izuku was younger he never hung out with people so he was definitely looking forward to a day spent with his friends.
Once he was ready he headed down the stairs to the lounge area and found that many of his classmates were already there either eating breakfast or just chatting. It was a calm atmosphere and the peaceful environment brought a small smile to Izuku's face.
In the kitchen he got a bowl from one of the cupboards (it was one of the higher up shelves causing him to reach up on his tip toes to be able to grab it) and made some cereal. He passed Kirishima on his way out who was making a protein smoothie (he watched one video of a gym guy saying how good they are for you and has been trying to force everyone in the class to drink one but to no success.)
He sat next to his friends and listened to them talk about the latest news while he ate his breakfast. They only had a few people that needed to come down now.
Once he finished eating he saw a familiar head of ash blond hair walk down the stairs in his peripheral vision.
Katsuki walked past everyone in order to sit on the couch near his friends, but he stopped in his path when he caught Izuku in the corner of his eye.
With a bewildered expression on his face, Katsuki asked, “T-shirt?”
“What?” Izuku was now confused too, what did he mean by that? Yes Izuku was wearing a t-shirt but he didn't think that it was necessarily a bad thing.
“Your t-shirt says t-shirt,” Katsuki said slowly as he tried to understand Izuku's fashion choices.
“Ohh” Izuku forgot about the shirt he was wearing, he liked it because of its simplicity and he found it absolutely hilarious. In fact, he has many t-shirts that say things like ‘sleep shirt’ or ‘gym shirt’. Also, it was either this shirt or the one with All Might’s face plastered across it and Izuku had been told numerous times (by his friends and his mom) that it was an ‘indoor shirt’. He was always getting scrutinised about his fashion choices, but it never stopped him from buying the clothes he liked, much to the disapproval of his mom.
Before Izuku could explain, Denki (being the last person ready like always) had finally come down and everyone began to leave. Izuku felt someone tugging on his arm and he looked to see the familiar face of Ochako. He quickly said his goodbyes to Katsuki before he walked to where his friends were as they made their way out of the school.
They had begged for Aizawa to give them permission to leave. The school had become much stricter recently about leaving the school grounds due to the extreme amount of villain attacks they'd faced. After almost the whole class spent a week constantly asking and promising they would be responsible, Aizawa finally agreed on the sole condition that they stick together and call the school if anything goes wrong.
They strolled through the streets of their town hoping the civilians wouldn't stop and ask for a selfie or an autograph if they couldn't recognise them out of their hero costumes.
However, with all of them together and some of them having very noticeable features – for example Mina being pink, Shoji being incredibly tall and Tokoyami being having an actual bird head – someone is bound to connect the dots.
A few people stopped them on their way but otherwise they had a peaceful and uneventive journey.
Once they arrived at the mall they gazed at the humongous building and peeked inside and saw how busy it was. This was probably because it was the weekend, hopefully everyone is so immersed in their own lives that they won't notice an entire class of heroes in training.
They decided to split up (ignoring Aizawa's only request, if he found out they would all be in detention for a month. Minimum.) as everyone wanted to visit different places for example; Denki and Jiro wanting to check out the music store or some other going to the food court to have lunch before properly exploring the vicinity.
Izuku personally wanted to go see the shop that sold collectables as he wanted to see if there was anything he could add to his own collection. Katsuki wanted to go there too as he'd always loved the figures of his favourite heroes. Unfortunately for him, his friends wanted to go clothes shopping first so they dragged him along too with the promise that he could do what he wanted after.
Mina had wanted to get Katsuki to get more clothes as all of his were either tank tops or his five t-shirts with a skull on the front of them. Katsuki only agreed to go with them and try on new clothes because they promised to leave him alone afterwards.
Due to everyone splitting up and going to their favourite shops first, Izuku ended up alone. He wasn't the only person alone as Shoji was headed towards a special clothes shop that sold items for people with multiple limbs and he had been needing more for a while. He was so happy when the mall opened up this shop as places for people with multiple limbs were rare and for the last few months he'd been asking Momo to create some clothes for him.
The good news is that his friends promised to meet him there after they were done buying their own stuff as everyone wanted to have a look at the new posters released. Therefore, he just had to stay there for a while, that's not a problem though because he spends plenty of time analysing the accuracy and how cool everything is under his breath and time often flies by when he's in his own world.
He walked into the magnificent store with his eyes wide with awe. It was a large shop with shelves lining the walls, the shelves were filled with figures of famous heroes from the past and present. All Might had a whole entire shelf dedicated to him. Above the shelves were posters, some limited edition and some fairly common ones. Izuku always enjoyed going to shops like these to see if they had stocked up something he hadn't seen yet.
“Oh wow, that's a new Kamui Woods figure, and it's him doing his famous attack Lacquered Chain Prison, I've not got that one and it would be nice to increase the variety of my collection as about 99% of it is just All Might,” Izuku mumbled to himself, getting carried away with his thoughts.
“And that's the Mt Lady poster that just got released, maybe I shouldn't get it though because of the inappropriate quote on it.” Mt Lady was also posing in a way that accentuated some of her features in a mildly inappropriate manner and Izuku would be horrified of what his mom would think if she found it in his room.
He continued to thoroughly look around the shop, however he knew he wasn't going to buy anything as he doesn't have the money to add anything to his collection right now. That won't stop him mentally taking notes of what he would like to have in the future.
When he gets money from his job as a hero in the future he's going to spend all of it on hero memorabilia. Maybe he'll even have some figures of his own one day, the thought of a child like him being excited to buy a Deku figure almost brought tears to his eyes.
He's also thought about when he retires, he would love to open a shop similar to this one and spend the rest of his days helping people with the same interests as him and his extensive hero knowledge would surely come in handy. Or maybe he'd be a teacher, helping the newest generation, passing on his knowledge of the world.
Izuku is too busy stuck in his own head, mumbling about who knows what when he hears a voice he hasn't heard in a very long time, the same voice that brought a shiver down his spine. He never thought he would ever confront someone from his middle school ever again, but here he was.
“Is that you, Deku, ” The voice chuckled in disbelief. There was a hint of malice laced in his words that Izuku didn't miss.
The identity of the voice was further confirmed when Izuku turned round and was faced with someone with a pair of dark mangled antlers protruding from the person's head.
It was Kentaro, one of his most prominent bullies in middle school. He was well known at their school for targeting those who were quirkless as he viewed them as weaker and he found a sick pleasure in hurting them.
Izuku was especially targeted because he was quirkless but also because he would always try his best to defend Kentaro's other victims. Izuku's determination to help as many people was countered regularly by Kentaro's determination to beat all quirkless people into a pulp.
The teachers would always ignore whatever Kentaro was doing because his parents always gave extremely generous donations to the school. The school definitely needed the money so they painted a halo on their son to not risk them withdrawing the money.
There were two boys standing on either side of Kentaro, Izuku recognised them as Kentaro's ‘side kicks’ from middle school. I guess some things don't change. Both of the boys had a sour expression on their faces just at the sight of Izuku. Both of the boys had quirks, but many people didn't consider them useful as they were simple changes in physical characteristics, therefore to avoid themselves being bullied they did some of Kentaro's dirty work. It also gave them a power trip as they found and hurt the only people weaker than themselves.
Instead of cowering in fear like he would have done in middle school, Izuku took a deep breath to remind himself of where they were. They were no longer in middle school where the bullies could do whatever they wanted to whoever they wanted. They were in a mall where they would probably be arrested for assault if they tried anything. There were also nineteen heros-in-training who would hopefully defend Izuku in a worse case scenario.
Additionally, with being a hero-in-training himself. He had to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they've changed and they're looking to apologise and catch up after the time apart.
Or not.
With a smug smile across his face, Kentaro condescendingly said “Still, obsessing over all these stupid collectables, are we?” Which confused Izuku for a few seconds because, why was Kentaro in this shop if not to buy collectables?
“Yes,” Izuku responded. He made sure to keep all of his responses short and simple to end the conversation as soon as he can and also to not fall for any of Kentaro's potential mind games. Kentaro would always try his hardest to hit his bully where it hurt, both mentally and physically.
Despite what Izuku said being completely normal, Kentaro and his friends took it as an opportunity to laugh at him. However he's determined to not let them get under his skin as easily as they used to.
“We haven't seen you in so long,” Kentaro said with a smirk. He obviously didn't miss Izuku for the company, he probably missed having such a stubborn target who refused to back down.
“Are you still pretending that you're going to be a hero or have you woken up yet,” He said, making his sidekicks laugh in the background.
Still ignoring their snide comments, Izuku tried to respond as if they were having a normal conversation in hopes of stopping anything bad happening.
“My quirk developed just after I left Aldera and I managed to get into UA with it,” Izuku managed to keep his voice calm and steady and he could tell that Kentaro was getting frustrated at his lack of fear or any other negative responses, if this was in middle school Izuku probably would have cried by now.
Kentaro and his lackeys laughed in disbelief. “So you really are delusional,”
“What?”
“There's a snowball chance in hell that the best hero academia would let a quirkless loser into the school,”
“I’m not quirkless anymore, I told you it developed just after middle school,” Izuku stated. His voice became slightly more strained as he tried to get his point across.
Kentaro seemed unimpressed with his answer. “Yeah right," he said sarcastically. “You’re still wearing those hideous red shoes because of your extra toe joint. Having an extra toe joint literally means you're quirkless. You were medically diagnosed! You can’t just develop a quirk after that,” he spat out.
Before Izuku could respond, Kentaro continued his ranting.
“Maybe you're not lying about going to UA.Maybe they just gave you a job as a janitor out of sympathy or to make them look better- y’know like for quirkless inclusion. They must not be paying you much or you wouldn’t be wearing that fucking ugly shirt,” Kentaro snarled, looking down on Izuku.
Izuku forced himself to take another deep breath, all the meditation he's been doing for training to get him to concentrate better is working very well for him right now as it's preventing him from punching his former bully square in the face.
If Katsuki was in this situation he probably would have blown Kentaro up ten minutes ago.
“If you don't believe me then you can watch the sports festival, I got far so you'll see me,”
“Yeah, whatever. You know I think you're lying, I think you are so desperate to be anything more than a pathetic waste of space that you've started to imagine yourself as anything more than that!” Kentaro bellowed as he practically shouted at Izuku in the middle of a shop.
Izuku heard a familiar voice come from the entrance to the shop.
“Midoriya, what's going in here,” Todoroki's voice was stern and protective of his friend. He'd probably heard the last end of their ‘conversation’ and took the hint that it wasn't a friendly one.
One of the sidekicks gasped at the sight of the two toned hair causing Kentaro to sharply turn his head towards him in confusion. The lackey then whispered something into his ear that Izuku couldn't quite hear but he did make out the words ‘Endeavor’ and ‘UA’.
After hearing that, Kentaro's confidence seemed to disappear entirely, a sheepish grin on his face and he rubbed his neck with his hand.
Kentaro blurted out, "Nothing's going on here, just a simple misunderstanding. Now if you'll excuse me I've got somewhere very important to be right now.”
He then turned and walked away so fast his friends had to lightly jog to catch up to him.
However, unfortunately for them. A certain spiky haired blond stood at the entrance to the shop with his arms crossed and a very unimpressed look on his face.
The three boys halted quickly, Kentaro looking almost relieved to see Katsuki, he was probably under the impression that Katsuki hadn't changed like him and he was still a bully.
“Hey Bakugo, remember me. Your buddy from middle school, remember?” Kentaro voice became quieter and more high pitched as he stared at Katsuki's unchanging expression, he was clearly losing his confidence and became more desperate
Kentaro then slid his arm around Katsuki's neck and played his final card in a last ditch effort to get out of this situation.
“It's such a coincidence seeing you here Bakugo, but y'know who you'd also be surprised to see here,”
He then leaned in close to the blond with a smug smirk, “Deku,” he said enunciating the cruel nickname they used to call him as if that would trigger Katsuki into some sort of rage.
Katsuki shrugged his shoulders to get Kentaro's arm off of them and simply replied, “I know.” Katsuki said while moving his head to dodge the antlers on his head.
“You may know he's here but have you heard that so delusional now that not only doesn't he think he'll be a hero one day but also that he goes to UA,”
Katsuki gave no verbal reply but he did raise his eyebrow in intrigue.
“So I was thinking as a way to bring him back to reality, it would be great if you –a real student at UA– to prove that he doesn't go there and he'll never be a hero,”
Kentaro was acting as though everything was going his way. But his arrogance was a major flaw of his, his other greatest flaw is how little he was punished as a kid led him to believe that there were little consequences for his actions.
Katsuki sighed deeply as if to say he's had enough of Kentaro's antics. “Izuku does go to UA.”
A few seconds of silence passed by until Kentaro but out into a full belly laugh. “Oh wow what a hilarious joke.” He stopped laughing. “Seriously though, tell him the truth, he needs it. Someone needs to put this worthless Deku back in his place.”
Suddenly, Todoroki spoke up. “I can also confirm that Midoriya goes to UA. If you don't believe me then you can watch the sports festival, we fought in it.”
“Shut up!” Kentaro shouted in frustration. His sidekicks seemed to have sneaked out of the store at some point, leaving Kentaro to fend for himself and he was getting more irritated by the second.
Because of all the commotion, Kirishima, Mina, Ochako, Iida and Jiro were now standing cautiously at the side of the shops waiting to see if they should intervene. For now they decided they should wait as the strongest people in their class were in there so hopefully they could fix whatever is going on.
Kentaro began to look a little manic as he slowly saw more people from UA arrive and it must have clicked in his head that maybe Izuku wasn't lying and he does actually go to UA. In a last ditch attempt to hurt Izuku, he made his antlers grow bigger and more mangled. He bent his knees and before Izuku could process what was going on, he jumped at Izuku.
Seeing Kentaro go to attack him, Izuku put one foot back and placed his arms up in a defensive position to block his attack as much as possible. He closed his eyes and waited for the impact to hit him but it never came.
When he opened his eyes he saw fear in Kentaro's eyes, he then looked further and saw that Katsuki was holding the boy's antlers in a firm grim that allowed him no room to move his head. What was very noticeable was the fact that Katsuki’s hands were glowing and a small amount of smoke was rising.
Kentaro's hands flew up to try and pry Katsuki's burning grip off his antlers. Unfortunately for him, the hands wouldn't budge one bit and seemed to heat up even further.
“Wait wait wait! It was just a joke, just a joke I swear. Just let me go now!” Kentaro wailed desperately.
Katsuki pulled him in close, “When I let go of you, you better apologise to Deku and run out of here. And if I ever see your fuck ugly face ever again than I'm going to melt the antlers out of your fucking skull,” Katsuki said surprisingly calm which made him seem scarier than usual.
“You got that?” He asked and Kentaro frantically nodded. Katsuki held on to his antlers for a few more seconds before releasing him with a push in Izuku's direction.
“I'm sorry, it was all a joke I promise,” Kentaro pleaded. He was probably afraid of someone from UA hunting him down. Izuku knew his apology was fake, he could hear it in his voice. Kentaro was just looking to escape the situation as quickly as he could.
He didn't deserve Izuku's forgiveness, he never would. And Izuku knew that Kentaro would never try to make up for what he's done. That's why he just waved his hand and said, “Go,”. As he watched Kentaro scramble to get away, Izuku hoped that he would never see his face again.
Soon after, Mina walked into the shop after standing outside of it for the majority of the altercation. “Wow, I definitely didn't expect him to just give up so easily. Now I'm sorta disappointed that you guys didn't fight, Kirishima and I brought snacks that we could eat if you beat him up.” She said, nudging Katsuki in a subtle gesture to ask about his wellbeing. He nodded slightly to reassure her.
“Yeah dude, we wanted to see you fight. But it's very manly of you to take the high ground,” Kirishima joined in, giving a hard pat to Katsuki's back.
“Tch, whatever,” Katsuki brushed off the attention and made his way towards where Izuku was still trying to figure out what just happened.
“Hey nerd,” Katsuki waved his hands in front of the boy's face to snap him out of whatever he's thinking about.
“Huh, oh hey Kacchan,” Izuku said with a bright smile.
Katsuki gestured at the shelves lining the store, “Pick something out and I'll get it for you,”
“No way! There's no need for you to do that, anyway I've nearly saved enough money to buy one myself,” Izuku blurted out, his cheeks a slight tinge of red at the generous offer.
“No, there is a need for me to do this, I should have done this to him years ago. Let me at least start to make it up to you,” Katsuki sighed in regret as he thought back to all the previous incidents with Kentaro where Katsuki didn't discourage him and sometimes joined in himself. He knows he's changed for the better, but his past actions still haunt him. He'll do anything to make up for all he's done over the years.
“O-oh okay then,” Izuku said, shocked at Katsuki's persistence. He then began to look for what he wanted to get. It took him a few minutes to pick one and indecision has always been his worst feature, but eventually he chose an All Might silver age figurine (that glows in the dark too!)
“No surprises here,” Katsuki said when he saw All Might, it was extremely well known that was his all time favourite hero and most likely will be for the rest of his life. “Don't you already have a trillion All Might's in your room?” Katsuki asked.
“Yeah….do you think I should choose a different one?” Izuku asked meekly.
“Nah, get this one nerd, it's perfect,” Katsuki responded while directing Izuku to where they pay.
Katsuki watched with a fond expression as Izuku went over to his friends and joyfully showed them the figure while explaining the background behind it with extreme hand gestures. He was glad to see that his actions brought such joy to someone he cared about.
He was broken out of his trance by Mina teasing him, “Come on loverboy, we're all going to get something to eat,”
The class split into groups based on where they wanted to eat and Katsuki ended up in a group with Ojiro, Hagakure, Koda and Izuku. Because of the seating arrangements in the restaurant, Izuku and Katsuki sat with each other and the other three sat in another part.
It was just him and Izuku, and the All Might figure that he put on the table ‘so he wouldn't be alone in the box’. Katsuki offered to order the food for them and left before taking Izuku's order leaving the boy confused.
When Katsuki returned they talked to pass the time while they waited for their food. Well, Izuku talked a lot about his favourite shows and games and that new movie that just came out that Izuku has been dying to watch. On the other hand, Katsuki mainly listened to him ramble. Occasionally, they passionately debated about something random.
Izuku was shocked when the waiter placed a bowl of katsudon in front of him. He looked up with eyes filled with shock and saw the blond avoid eye contact. He almost looked bashful.
“Kacchan, thank you. But how did you know this was my favourit-”
“It's not that hard, nerd. You practically eat the same thing every time we all go out and this place is famous for their katsudon so I figured that's why you chose to eat here. Also, it was your favourite when you were younger,” Katsuki explained whilst poking his chopsticks at his noodles. He said the last sentence a lot quieter than the rest.
Izuku felt his chest warm after realising the attention that Katsuki had paid to him. He felt cared about and he couldn't help the small smile that crept up on his face.
The both of them talking together while eating felt very domestic (which was very normal for them now but when looking back to where they started, it's a stark difference.)
If you add the fact that throughout the meal they kept catching each other staring while the other wasn't looking. Or that they shared parts of their lunch with each other, Izuku didn't have too much due to his spice tolerance being much lower than Katsuki’s. Or that they were sitting separately from the rest and it was just the two of them. If you were someone looking from the outside, It looked like they were on a date.
Once they finished eating, Katsuki went to pay. “Hey! Wait Kacchan! Let me pay, you already bought me my All Might Figure. And let me repay you for stopping Kentaro earlier,” Izuku begged, feeling guilty about Katsuki spending more than necessary.
“Hell no Deku. I got this, besides I get way too much pocket money from my parents, save your money for helping auntie, I know she's taken up a few extra shifts lately. Let me do this for you,” Katsuki said before turning around and paying. Izuku once again felt that warm feeling in his chest and butterflies fluttering in his stomach. It shocked him that Katsuki knew so much about him and cares about him and his mom.
He also realised that he felt the same way about Katsuki.
As they went to leave, Izuku turned around and looked inside the restaurant and saw no sign of Ojiro, Hagakure, or Koda at all. Huh, maybe they've already left.
“Whatcha looking at nerd? Did you forget your phone again? I told you last time to check your pockets before leaving,” Katsuki huffed out.
“Huh, no Kacchan I have my phone. But did you see Hagakure, Koda or Ojiro leave?” Izuku asked, still curious about the disappearance of his classmates.
“First off, I wouldn't be able to see the invisible girl even if she was here. Second, no I didn't see them go, I don't care about the extras enough to keep tabs on them,”
“Hey! Be nice, they're our classmates,” Izuku scolded. He often felt bad for everyone who Katsuki passed off as extras.
“Tch, whatever,” Katsuki said before they both walked out side by side. When they got out they saw that it was raining quite heavily, luckily Izuku always carried an umbrella in his bag. As he went to get it, Katsuki checked his phone.
“Hey Deku,” Katsuki said, not looking up from his phone.
Izuku also didn't stop what he was doing either, “Hm?”
“Mina said that their group had already finished eating and they started heading back when the rain started and they said to just go back to the dorms whenever,” Katsuki said.
He was secretly happy about this arrangement, the original plan was for them to all meet up and go back together but Katsuki doesn't think he couldn't stand everyone asking him about his day and engaging in small talk with him. He was glad that he could listen to Izuku talk while they walked back together.
Katsuki was broken out of his thoughts by Izuku celebrating after he finally managed to get his umbrella to work. It was an old umbrella that he had no doubt the nerd had carried on him for years. It also wasn't a large umbrella so they had to stand pretty close to each other to both be sheltered from the rain.
They walked home in the rain, Izuku rambled on and Katsuki listening, it was a pattern they were used to and a pattern they both liked.
Once the handle of the umbrella had hit Katsuki's head for the third time, he snapped. “Alright nerd, I better not find out that you're hitting me on purpose!” He said while sparks flew from his hands.
Izuku looked sheepish as he rubbed a hand on his neck. “Sorry Kacchan, I promise I'm not doing it on purpose. It's just my hands hurt and they ache and I can't feel them as much, I think it's to do with the nerve damage I sustained when I broke my arms too much. That and the cold weather, Recovery Girl did tell me that certain types of weather –especially cold– can have a negative affect on my nerves, and also-” Izuku was cut off.
“Alright, I get it, stop mumbling so much. I'll carry the umbrella from here,” As Izuku passed it to Katsuki, their fingers brushed for a second.
As they continued walking, Katsuki could see out of the corner of his eye, Izuku was rubbing his hands together and massaging his hands in order to warm them up and reduce the pain as much as he could.
Katsuki eventually decided that he couldn't handle seeing Izuku struggle for any longer so he directed them under a tree for shelter, placed the umbrella on the ground before taking a deep breath. “Give me your hands,”
“What?” Izuku looked incredibly confused.
“Give me your hands,” Katsuki repeated, this time sounding more demanding.
Izuku quickly complied, placing his hands in front of him. Katsuki gently placed his hands around them and heated his hands up, the glow it produced lit up both their faces.
Izuku looked at him with awe as his pain faded away and warmth quickly replaced it. When they made eye contact, Izuku gave him a smile to show him how much he appreciates the act.
When his hands warmed up enough he was disappointed when Katsuki slid his hands away back into his pockets. However he felt a wave of confidence fill him as Katsuki looked at him with soft eyes.
“My face is cold too,” Izuku said softly, hope laced in between his words. For a second, his stomach dropped as he suddenly got scared that he had misinterpreted where their relationship was going. He felt his fear dissipate when Katsuki chuckled under his breath.
“Oh really,” Katsuki responded, a knowing a mischievous glint in his eyes as he pulled his hands back out of his pockets and cradled Izuku's face with both his hands, once again using his quirk to warm them up.
Katsuki's heart melted when he saw Izuku lean into his hands. The light emitting from his palms lit up Izuku's face and hair, highlighting his beauty.
All of a sudden, Katsuki spoke, unable to stop the words from tumbling out of his mouth. “You're beautiful,” Izuku's eyes widened in shock but before Katsuki could take back his words and pretend nothing happened, Izuku replied.
“You too,” Izuku says, he looked at Katsuki's with adoration in a way that made his heart strings pull.
They both leaned in closer to each other till their foreheads were touching and they were breathing the same air. Izuku was the first to break the silence.
“I like you,” He blurted out uncontrollably.
Katsuki smiled, “Yeah?”
“Yeah,”
“I like you too,” Katsuki said before leaning closer, allowing Izuku time to move away and when he didn't, Katsuki moved to connect their lips in a kiss.
The kiss was short but it carried the emotional weight of the last few months of yearning. When they pulled back, Izuku asked, “Does this mean we're boyfriends?”
“Is that what you want?”
“Yeah, that's what I want,” Izuku's cheeks were flushed. Katsuki thought he'd never seen someone so beautiful before in his life, he hopes that he can see this beauty every day for the rest of his life.
“Good, that's what I want too,” Katsuki responded. He felt his chest blossom with warmth as he felt content with his new relationship with Izuku.
They picked the umbrella back off the ground and walked back to the dorms hand in hand with Katsuki continuing to warm Izuku's hand as they made their way back in comfortable conversation.
When they arrived at their dorms they were shocked to see Kirishima, Sero and Denki struggling to walk in what looked like Mina's high heeled shoes. Well, except for Kirishima, he seemed to be a natural.
Mineta was dangling from the ceiling in a web of Sero's tape, so nothing unusual there.
“What the fuck is going on here!” Katsuki shouted in confusion. His friends could never be trusted alone. This isn't the first time he's come home to them doing something stupid, last time they all tried to see who could do the most backflips in a minute and that ended with Denki making an emergency visit to Recovery Girl in the middle of the night.
Mina turned around to greet them, “Hey guys, you're finally back. We got bored waiting so we dared those three to try on my heels to see who could walk the best,” Her eyes then trailed down to where the pair were currently holding hands, her eyes immediately widened before she turned towards where the rest of the class were sitting.
“Oh my god! Guys it finally happened!” The whole class immediately snapped their heads in their direction and started cheering before a few of them started to groan and pull something out of their pockets.
It looked like they were all paying Todoroki, Tokoyami and Tsu.
“You all bet on us!” Katsuki shouted furiously.
“Yes, ribbit” Tsu responded simply.
Kaminari was next to answer, “Of course! When we noticed how close you were getting we knew we had to bet when you would get together. Shame I lost though,”
Katsuki was about to explode them all when he heard Izuku chuckling, “I can't believe you all had money on us getting together,” Izuku said between laughs.
Katsuki and Izuku split into their respective friendship groups with each of their friends gushing over the development in their relationship.
Kirishima patted Katsuki on the shoulder, “I'm happy for you man, Izuku's good for you,”
Katsuki acted as if he didn’t care about what Kirishima said but in reality he took the words to heart. Kirishima seemed to recognise his act as he smiled at him before backing away.
On the other side, Ochako was asking a trillion questions in the span of thirty seconds and Izuku couldn't catch up.
“So how long have you liked him? Is he romantic? When are you getting married and am I your maid of honour?”
“What?” Izuku asked, confused about both what she's asking and also trying to listen to what she's saying, not even he talks that fast. She's surely breaking a record for how fast humans can speak when it's not a quirk.
“Are you going to grow old and play bingo together?” She asked clearly not getting the hint that she's asking too many questions.
Izuku laughs at the absurdity of what he's been asked, “I don't know the answer to half of those questions, we have literally been together for around thirty minutes, so no I don't have wedding plans currently,” he said still smiling at the situation he's in.
All of their friends responded positively to the news and Izuku felt content to enter this now chapter of his life.
Now that he thinks about it, Izuku would be perfectly happy to grow old and play bingo with Katsuki. He's willing to follow Katsuki to the ends of the earth because he knows he is the most amazing person he's ever met. He'd love to spend his future by Katsuki's side, forever.