Archive of Our Own

“Get off me, nerd.”

Izuku is so fascinated by all the brown, red, and orange autumn leaves falling and rustling amongst the cloudy skies that he doesn’t even realize he’s walking right along Katsuki’s side. The touch is like fire despite not being skin-to-skin, both of them wearing each other’s hero sweaters. Katsuki doesn't know how to handle the contact.

Of course, it’s been years since the two of them have become closer, and they get along perfectly fine now. So when Katsuki nudges Izuku off of him, it’s playful, and it makes Izuku lightly laugh to himself.

“Sorry, Kacchan,” he says, eyes twinkling at the trees around, which are lit up with fairy lights. “The festival looks so amazing. They picked the perfect spot for it. Hey, did you know that Sero and Uraraka teamed up to hang all these lights? Oh! And Yaomomo is working at the hot chocolate and warm tea stand! And Shoto is helping Tenya make chili for the food stand!”

Katsuki grimaces. “Yeah, yeah. Icy-Hot doesn’t even know how the hell to make homemade chili, so he asked me for help.”

Izuku’s eyes grow wide.

“You’re going to be working at the food stand too?” Izuku asks as they step underneath the entrance arch of the autumn festival, covered with fake leaves and twinkling lights. Izuku looks away, looking slightly disappointed and sucking at hiding it when he lowers his head. “I thought maybe you and I could hang out before the hero signing. Guess we’ll just have to see each other at the meet and greet. Maybe I can find someone else to—”

“I’m not helping out in the damn food stand,” Katsuki lets out, rolling his eyes as Izuku’s eyes meet his in awe. “I just taught Half N’ Half how to make chili. He better make it damn good,” he grumbles. “Better not put a shame on my recipe or else I’ll cook him.”

A genuinely nervous laugh leaves Izuku. “Ah, let’s not cook people, Kacchan,” he says, as if Katsuki was serious about it. The blond once again rolls his eyes, and Izuku smiles more brightly. “I’m sure he’ll make it taste delicious! Why don’t we go try it out since we’re here early? Then you can see for yourself if anything needs to be altered before the festival opens up.”

Assured, Izuku grabs onto the sleeve of Katsuki’s black sweater and he tugs him in a direction as if he already knows the entire layout of the festival. He probably studied the damn thing before coming here.

Katsuki zones in on the light pull of Izuku’s fingers, scarred hands eager to bring him along. The sweater that he’s pulling on might be Deku merch, but it’s the only black version of this sweater; the original is green, but Izuku asked for a black one specifically because he wanted Katsuki to wear it more often, not knowing that Katsuki would probably wear whatever the fuck he gave him anyway, regardless of the color. Whatever.

“Look!”

The food stand is a little wooden square enclosure that has a cloth roof over the top of it. The cloth is red and it has a big white sign hanging from it that says CHILI. Simple enough. Bold. There’s two other food stands next to it, but Izuku only seemingly cares about this one, walking straight up to it.

There’s not many people here yet because the festival doesn’t start for another hour, so it’s no surprise that there’s no line for the stands just yet, thankfully.

Izuku and Katsuki walk up to the stand and he immediately smells the familiar scent of his recipe, spices and hunger filling the air.

Todoroki and Iida are running the booth together. While Todoroki is pointing to something on his notebook — Katsuki recognizes it as the recipe book he’d written in — Iida is idly stirring the big pot in front of him and looking at the notebook at the same time. He takes a scoop of chili out and puts it into a bowl, which they both take a spoon and dig into.

Iida grins, pushing his glasses further up. Todoroki lets out a hum and nods.

When the other two get noticed, Iida’s smile becomes wider. “Oh, Izuku! Bakugo!”

“Ah, you guys made it,” Todoroki says lightly as he begins stirring the pot again.

Iida raises his free hand. “Greetings, friends! Would you like to try a bowl of our fresh, masterful, flavorsome chili?” He once again raises his glasses and holds them in place before bowing specifically towards Katsuki. “Of course, thanks to you! Shoto told me you taught him how to create such beauty.” He lifts his head to look Katsuki in the eyes. “You have my utmost gratitude.”

Katsuki raises his brow while Izuku smiles beside him, accepting the bowl Todoroki hands over to him.

“I sure hope your rambling means it tastes just like I taught him,” Katsuki says as he accepts a bowl as well, sniffing it curiously.

It smells almost the same exact way — this is the spicy version — but he can tell something looks different upon first glance.

“The sauce is thick,” he says before taking a bite. He nods as if he’s a critic. “Tastes fine. But add more water to the next batch.”

His eyes lock onto Izuku as he sees him lift a spoonful to his mouth. Katsuki had cooked for their class over the years, and occasionally after graduation as well, so it’s not like Izuku hasn’t tasted his chili before. But he still always watches for his reaction, hoping to see that same glint in his eyes every time.

Izuku freaking twinkles with joy.

“Wow, this is amazing!” He grins back and forth to all his friends. “You’re all so great. Everyone is going to love this.”

Katsuki puffs his chest out. Of course, his food is good; the old hag taught him how to make it, after all.

“Hey,” Todoroki lets out, glancing up at them. “You two are doing the hero signing later, right?”

Izuku grins. “Yeah! I’m so excited for it!”

“What about it?” Katsuki cautiously asks.

The pro heroes all signed up to do something for the Autumn Festival. Katsuki and Izuku decided they’d do a Wonder Duo Signing Event, but the hosts went and pissed Katsuki off by changing it to an Autumn Hero Signing Event — one meant for multiple heroes, and not just the two of them.

Todoroki knows this.

He cracks a slight smile, looking at Katsuki.

“Nothing. Just hope it’s lovely.”

Katsuki snarls. “Lovely?! It’s gonna be fuckin’ amazing. All the little brats are getting autographs and hero merch.”

“Oh, yeah!” Izuku shoves his hands into his pockets and pulls out two hero Deku pins, then smiles bashfully. “I know it might be weird, but I saved you two one of the pins we’re giving out. Well, mine, at least.”

Todoroki and Iida gladly take the pins and wear them almost instantly, causing Izuku to laugh fondly at them. Katsuki crosses his arms at the sight, only slightly irritated that he didn’t get one from his friend.

“Whatever. Let’s go, Izuku. Gotta make sure the oldies brought our costumes to the signing. If they brought the wrong ones, I’ll kick their asses.”

Izuku waves off his friends, wishing them good luck on their duties before he heads off with Katsuki. Todoroki deliberately shows off his Deku pin to Katsuki, who snarls as he stomps away.

The two walk side by side, their steps in sync with the slow fall of autumn leaves. There are plenty of booths set up for the festival, like apple bobbing, candy apples, a pumpkin patch, hay ride, taste testing, and a large opening they’re setting up for the festival dance they’ll have tonight.

That’s where they find Uraraka and Sero, hanging up lights all around the opening to make it look pretty. Katsuki assumes it’ll look better when it gets dark, but even now, it already looks nice with all the fairy lights dangling from the autumn trees.

Katsuki knows that Izuku sees his friends and wants to talk to them. He notices the glint in his eyes as he observes the lights, knowing the damn nerd loves the cheesiness of the festival. So, he nudges his arm, and Izuku’s eyes gleam up at him instead.

“Go talk to ‘em, nerd.”

Uraraka and Sero are already lowering themselves onto the ground, smiling like they’re damn twins as they rush up towards the duo — although Sero’s grin isn’t as innocent as Uraraka’s.

As Izuku and Uraraka start rambling about how gorgeous the dance is going to be, Sero stands next to Katsuki, and almost as if on cue, a familiar weight rushes up behind the blond, and there’s an arm wrapped around each shoulder now.

“Dunce face—”

“Yo! Kacchan!” Kaminari basically yells into his ear. Katsuki glares at Sero, who laughs like it’s the funniest thing in the world. “I’m surprised you came, man! Whatcha up to? Hanging with Midoriya as usual?”

Katsuki pinches the electric hero off of him, earning a yelp. “The hell are ya hangin’ off my shoulder for, moron? Don’t you have something to do?”

“Oh, I already did!” Kaminari crosses his arms and gives an exaggerated, confident smirk. “How do you think all these places have electricity, my guy? You’re looking at the man who charged sixty batteries over the course of the week! Now all I gotta do is annoy you.”

Grimacing, Katsuki crosses his arms right back at him. “Annoy me and I’ll shove one of those batteries up your a—”

“Kacchan!” Izuku steps up, his expression slightly worried for Kaminari’s safety. “You can’t go around saying stuff like that! There will be kids at the festival, so could you please just tone it down a bit?”

Katsuki clicks his tongue. “Whatever.”

Kaminari and Uraraka share a raised brow at each other. Sero deadpans at Katsuki, and he says, “If we had told you to tone it down, you would’ve blasted us to hell.”

He’s right.

“And? What’s it to you?”

Sero shrugs. “I guess Midoriya really does get special treatment,” he says with that same shit-eating grin. Katsuki clenches his fists as the three of them share chuckles, and Izuku’s eyes widen at the statement. “Anyway, we’re off to continue our work! Have fun, you two! We’ll see you at the dance!”

The three walk off, giggling and snickering. Katsuki’s eye twitches.

“Hah. As if I’m going to some dance.” He pointedly looks away, only slightly afraid of whatever Izuku has to say.

Izuku steps into his field of view, though. “Kacchan, you’re not going to the dance? Why not?” he asks, his voice far too soft and eyes far too curious. Katsuki huffs.

“Why would I?” he asks, stepping away and continuing on their path towards the hero signing. Izuku follows beside him, keeping up, still with his curious gaze. Katsuki sighs and unfolds his arms. “The dance is for cheesy shit like relatives or couples. Ain’t no way I’m locking hands with some extra.”

The curiosity in Izuku’s green irises flinches, along with his expression. Izuku sort of grimaces before turning his head, mumbling something underneath his breath.

“The hell you muttering about?” Katsuki asks, nudging Izuku’s arm lightly. Izuku looks up at him, waving his hand dismissively.

“Nothing, Kacchan. Just— I mean, I’m curious, is all. I know you aren’t the romantic type, I guess. You’ve never shown interest in anyone in that way, so it makes sense you wouldn’t want to dance with anyone at the festival. And you didn’t really care much for the dances at the school festivals, either, although Shoto mentioned something about you two having to learn dancing during your extra training back in the day. He said you were really good—”

“Quit rambling!” Katsuki’s ears burn red and he plans to blast Icy-Hot’s stupidly perfect hair later. “What are you tryna say, Izuku?”

Izuku tenses up. “Just wondering, is all.” His eyes meet Katsuki’s. “What would you do… if someone did ask you to dance tonight?”

It’s an easy answer.

“I’d tell them no, obviously.”

It’s such a clear answer, nothing could possibly be misunderstood about it. If someone had the balls to ask Katsuki to dance, he’d respect the effort, but there’s no way in hell he’d ever dance with someone — at least not romantically. His mom would probably pull him into a dance regardless of his answer. But someone with intent to spark some sort of love? Absolutely not.

Not unless it’s him.

The answer seems to do two things for Izuku. One; it seems to please him, eyes softening and a smile forming despite the thought of Katsuki turning someone down. Two; the smile fades just as quickly as it arrived, and the sparkle dims in his eye, staring blankly ahead.

His smile isn’t fully gone, however. He’s still slightly holding onto that pleasure, but his irises hold something less than bright, much more tense than before.

Katsuki clicks his teeth.

“Anyway. Let’s hurry up and get to the signing table. I wanna make sure they put us in the right seats, too.”

He asked to be on the end of the table, and for Izuku to be sat next to him. All the other heroes in the signing will either pester him or nag at him for not being in touch. The only person he wants by his side is right here, smiling sweetly as they approach.

“Okay, Kacchan.”

It doesn’t take them long to get to the stage where they set up the long tables.

The crowd will line up along the front of the stage and then come up the right stairs, get their autographs, and then exit left. The tables have harvest decorations, pen holders full of markers lined all down it, and little paper baskets which hold a variety of the heroes’ autumn photoshoots they took for this event. Katsuki has seven different shots, Izuku has twelve.

While Katsuki observes his photos, Izuku silently flips his own top page over, blushing at the sight of himself on the page.

“So embarrassing,” he mumbles.

Before Katsuki can scold him for hiding his photo from the world, they’re having their hero suit cases shoved towards them by a staff member. Izuku’s suit is expensive as ever. Katsuki’s is the correct one; he asked to have his winter suit for this event, considering it’ll be done in the evening and he doesn’t want to freeze to death.

After getting a rundown about how the event will go, they’re free to enjoy the festival until six in the evening. Right now, it’s three, and the festival begins at four.

Izuku decides he wants to go check out the candy apple stand, where Eri and Sato are. Katsuki follows beside him for the walk there, glancing around at all the games and attractions being set up. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t want to sit back and relax on the hay ride with Izuku, just for old time sake — they used to ride together as brats.

Matter of fact, they used to do most of these things together when they were kids. One year, Izuku dropped his candy apple on the leaves below him, which Katsuki had made fun of him for. He was a little shit back then.

When they get to the stand, there are all sorts of sweet apples lined up on the table in front. Izuku is in awe, greeting Eri excitedly as if he doesn’t see the teenager all the time because she makes a point to visit her hero.

“You guys did amazing!” Izuku eyes all the apples. “Candy, peanuts, caramel, is that chocolate?! This is sweet tooth heaven!”

“Right?!” Eri grins happily, giggling as she shows off her excellent work. She does a little happy dance which makes her thick hair bounce in its bun.

Izuku moves to dig out his wallet, but before he can, Katsuki is already holding out a bill to Eri, who smiles at the sight.

Katsuki says, “Give the nerd whatever he wants, and keep the change.” He snatches a caramel apple from the stand. Izuku peers at him with wide, sparkling emerald eyes. Katsuki has to turn away to hide how his ears begin to match the red candy apples.

Izuku chooses a candy apple and then wishes them good luck on their work. When he steps up next to Katsuki, he gently nudges his arm, smiling softly at the damn food.

“Thank you, Kacchan.” He nibbles the bright red candy, licking his lips. “Guess I owe you now, don’t I?”

Lightly scoffing, Katsuki tells him, “You don’t owe me anything. It’s just an apple.”

Izuku’s eyes burn into Katsuki. The look he’s giving him is one of determination, yet wonder. He somehow looks mischievous. Katsuki can’t prove it, though.

“It’s the principle, Kacchan.” He shrugs. “Whether you like it or not, I’ll repay you.”

Somehow, that sounds like a threat.

Katsuki eyes him in return.

“Whatever. Festival starts in ten minutes, so what’dya wanna do first?”

A grin slowly makes its way to Izuku’s face, seemingly happy that Katsuki asked such a question.

“Well, let’s start with what’s near us right now.” Green eyes glance around the area before lighting up dramatically. “Oh, look!” He points to the small table off to the side, where a woman has a face painting booth set up.

Katsuki side eyes Izuku.

“You wanna get your face painted?”

Izuku laughs out, “Not my entire face, no. But look!” He beams as he points out one of the preset paintings you can get — All Might.

“Nerd,” Katsuki lets out in a laugh as Izuku sits right down in front of the painter and holds out some cash.

“All Might, please!”

He asks her to paint on his scarred cheek, all sappy and shit when he says that All Might can patch him up.

The woman paints really well, considering her quirk is related to the hobby.

After Izuku has All Might painted on his face, Katsuki observes the art and is secretly glad that he didn’t get it on his other cheek; it would cover his freckles up, if so.

“Your turn, Kacchan!”

Katsuki tries to protest, but Izuku practically manhandles the blond into the seat, leaving him sitting there speechless.

“Whatever.” He digs the money out of his pocket and tells her, “Paint somethin’ cool.”

She blushes and gets all timid as she paints Katsuki’s uninterested face. When she’s done, Katsuki snatches the mirror from the table and deadpans at the thing.

She painted a mix of orange, red, and yellow onto his face, creating an explosion. In the center, in black bolded letters, she put BOOM! in manga style.

It’s so damn nerdy.

“It’s so cute,” Izuku says, flapping his hand beside his own cheek to try and dry it off quickly. Katsuki clicks his teeth and averts his eyes, unsure of how to feel when Izuku calls anything about him cute. Obviously, he means the painting itself is cute, but still.

The face painting took as long as twenty minutes, so the festival is swarmed with civilians now. It’s much harder to walk through the crowd as they make their way over to the next few stands, especially when they get stopped every minute by fans wanting to talk.

Normally, Katsuki wouldn’t mind fan interaction. They always praise him and wish him all the best. But right now, he’s trying to spend time with Izuku or whatever, so it’s annoying, especially considering these fans are going to the fan signing later — can’t they just wait ‘til then, damnit?

“Excuse me,” Izuku softly smiles at the teenage girl who’s yapping to him about her hero work studies; she goes to UA and is one of Izuku’s students. “We can talk about this later, yeah? Why don’t you go and have some fun at the festival and forget the work studies for now.” His smile dissipates and he eyes her heavily. “I’m enjoying the festival, too.”

Katsuki isn’t sure what alternate universe he woke up in. In what world would Izuku turn down the opportunity to talk about hero work?

The girl apologizes for intruding in on his time. Izuku says it’s no big deal before turning away, tugging at Katsuki’s sleeve to pull him along as they head to another stand.

Katsuki peels his arm away and shoves his hands into his pockets.

“Didn’t think you had it in ya,” he tells Izuku, who looks over at him curiously. “Turning away someone mid-conversation.” Katsuki whistles dramatically in awe.

Izuku lightly scoffs at the tease. “It’s because we only have thirty minutes left until the signing starts.” He stops in his tracks and turns towards Katsuki, looking down at his feet when he kicks the ground idly. “Besides, I’m trying to spend time with you, Kacchan. We rarely get to have fun like this.” He peeks up at Katsuki’s face paint. “We haven’t gone to a festival together since we were kids.”

Katsuki averts his gaze, hoping this god awful paint covers his cheeks.

“Whatever.” He also kicks the ground, a rock tumbling towards Izuku. “Let’s go do some pie taste testing. Heard my old hag joined the contest this year.”

“Mine did, too!” Izuku exclaims, but then his face contorts into something nasty. “I mean — my mom joined, too. She’s not a hag, though. And neither is auntie, Kacchan!”

Katsuki smiles, lightly laughing at Izuku’s struggle. “Yeah, yeah. Come on, we don’t have much time left.”

They greet their mothers and try their pumpkin pies, not shocked by how great they taste in comparison to all the other pies laid out on the table. Katsuki loves Inko’s and Izuku loves Mitsuki’s; they get scolded for not choosing their own mother, but are thanked gratefully for the votes regardless.

The two women gripe and complain about how ungrateful their kids are for never coming to visit (they visit literally twice a week).

Mitsuki slaps Katsuki’s good shoulder as a goodbye and Inko looks so broken as she waves Izuku off.

They’d stay longer if they could, but they’re already cutting time close. The hero signing starts in two minutes, and it’s across the festival, which is still crowded despite a lot of people lining up at the stage now.

When they get to the stage, they rush to go throw their costumes on. Izuku takes a bit longer to get his on, but Katsuki waits outside the door for him. The sight of Izuku walking out in his hero suit makes Katsuki’s heart do something weird, and he’s warmer all around. The two of them standing side by side in their hero costumes means everything to him.

“Ya ready?”

Izuku nods, smiling up at him.

“Ready when you are, Kacchan.”

Truth be told, Katsuki hadn’t really cared to learn which other heroes would be sitting next to them in this event. He’s not surprised at all when they come back and Best Jeanist is sitting in the very middle of the table, giving Katsuki a direct look once he enters the stage along with Izuku.

There’s two other heroes next to Jeanist, but Katsuki pays them no mind.

The event begins before he even has a chance to get his head in the game. The first fan comes up on his side of the stage, an excited little boy who eagerly tugs at his mother’s hand, jumping up and down to see over the table as Katsuki signs his photo big and proud.

The kid reminds him of Izuku, so it’s no shocker that he geeks out over Hero Deku! as well, moving the line along. Izuku seems so content with the acknowledgment.

Most fans are the same over and over: excited, nervous, rude, sweet, repeat. Next, next, next.

A little girl dressed in all white comes up, her mother standing idly behind, looking out over the stage in awe and not even paying attention to Katsuki; he shrugs it off.

“Hey, brat.” Katsuki greets the little girl, already signing her poster and sliding it over.

“Dynamight!” The girl looks so innocent dressed in all white, smiling sweetly up at him. She looks like an angel, her white eyes holding nothing but the truth behind them as she claims, “I love you so much! I’ve always wanted to meet you.”

Katsuki lets out a short laugh. “Love? You don’t even know me, kid.” But he supposes he loved heroes when he was that age, too. Especially All Might.

“Yes, I do!” The kid giggles. “You remind me of me, Dynamight. You’re so honest with how you feel. It’s amazing.”

Humming, Katsuki crosses his arms and observes the little girl. “So you’re a blatant little one, huh? Speak your mind a lot?”

“Sure do!” She giggles, puffing out her chest proudly. “Never told a lie in my life!”

The staff get a little impatient with their conversation, wanting the line to move along faster. Katsuki sighs and hands over the poster, forcing a smile at the kid.

“Well, I also like to speak my mind,” he says. “But… I’m not always the most honest. Sometimes keeping your mouth shut is good for the people around ya, kid.”

At this, the kid frowns.

“You aren’t honest?” she asks quietly, seemingly broken by the concept. Katsuki blinks down at her, wondering why she looks so dejected by such a thing.

“Well…” He glances at Izuku, who just finished up with the person he was talking to. “Sometimes it’s for the best, ya know?” He forces another smile. “It’s fine, kid—”

“No, it isn’t!” The little girl seems upset, snatching the poster from Katsuki and then practically hopping onto the table, placing her tiny hands over his and looking him straight in the eye. He swears her white eyes glow as he looks into them, like magic. “Dynamight-san, please tell me, do you enjoy being a hero?!”

Katsuki furrows his brows, thinking how odd of a question this is. Before he can even think of his answer, he’s already blurting it out.

“Course I do, ya damn kid. I wouldn't be here if I didn’t.”

Relief settles over the kid’s features and she lowers herself from the table, nodding to herself.

“I like honesty,” she says. “It’s my quirk, after all.”

As she says this, Katsuki can’t help but think of honesty as a curse more than a quirk. He’d hate to go around always speaking the truth, especially about other people.

He glances at Izuku again as the girl makes her way over to him, finding that those obnoxiously sweet green eyes are already on him. If he spoke the truth about how much he loves those eyes, he isn’t sure how long his and Izuku’s rekindled friendship would last. The truth would go and ruin everything. The truth is the last thing he needs right now.

“Kacchan,” Izuku lets out, nudging his arm. “Your next fan is coming. Look.”

A few minutes pass just like fans do, and Katsuki’s skin tingles with each person. He greets the fans blatantly, which isn’t out of the ordinary or anything, but Katsuki isn’t too much of a talker when it comes to these things. Greeting each and every single person feels a bit forced at this point. Why is he speaking his mind so much right now?

“Your name Windex or somethin’?” he asks as a person with a spray bottle quirk steps up to him. He slaps his hand over his mouth as the person frowns heavily, like they’re disappointed in him; fuck, he hates disappointment with a passion. “Uh, sorry. Anyway. Ya enjoyin’ the festival?”

He can feel Izuku’s eyes on him. Shit.

The spray bottle guy shrugs as if he’s unsure whether or not he’s having fun anymore.

Katsuki really should shut his damn mouth sometimes.

Next, a little boy comes up with his father behind him, and Katsuki eyes the father’s face for a split second before spotting the biggest wart he’s ever seen in his life.

Stupidly enough, he says this out loud.

Except, he says it much worse.

“Damn, look’a the size of that thing—”

Immediately, Katsuki suppresses his mouth with both of his hands this time, eyes growing wide at his own words. He hears Izuku’s little gasp and scolding from beside him, but doesn’t dare look at anyone right now, knowing the father probably looks either like a kicked puppy or an angry bear.

With his lips sealed shut, however, his chest begins to surge with sharp pain, as if a thousand tiny needles are stabbing him there. He quickly leans back into his chair for comfort, hating the feeling — it’s probably because the guilt swallowing him whole.

“Sorry,” he quietly lets out, still not making eye contact with the father. “I, uh, wasn’t tryna be rude.”

The father laughs proudly. “It’s all good, Dynamight! It’s not the worst thing anyone’s ever said about me! Haha!” He gently places his hand onto the table as his kid gets all jumpy and excited, bright-eyed at the sight of Katsuki merely sitting there. “Give my kid his autograph now before the little guy passes out. He’s your biggest fan, ya know.”

Katsuki signs extra big for the kid and gives him two hero merch items, feeling disappointed in himself for being rude just now. He thought he’d worked on it since high school, but it feels like he’s been thrown back to his roots all of a sudden. Why?

“Kacchan..?”

Izuku’s brows are pulled together in worry. His eyes are all over Katsuki, examining him like he’s hurt.

The blond sighs to himself.

“Ignore me,” he tells Izuku. “Just keep your pretty little eyes on the citizens—”

His own eyes grow wide at his words. He forces himself to turn his head and look away, hiding his shock and embarrassment instantly, but not before catching a glimpse of Izuku’s own shock.

‘Pretty little eyes?’

Are you fucking serious?!

“Kacchan, are you— are you alright? Um. You seem to be acting weird.”

“I’m fine.”

His chest bursts with flames, and it’s not because of embarrassment. It physically pains him, making him double over the table and groan to himself.

The teenage girl who just walked up to him gasps at the sight. Izuku immediately places his warm hand on Katsuki’s shoulder, reassuring and oh, so tender. The staff behind him asks what’s wrong, rushing up next to him in alarm.

Katsuki’s chest rises and falls with heavy breaths, which only makes the pain even worse, coursing throughout his entire body. He curses to himself as his heart rate monitor beeps on his wrist, alerting him that something is wrong; no shit.

“Just give me a second,” he tells the worried eyes all on him. “Chest’s actin’ weird.”

“Kacchan?!” Izuku peels Katsuki’s wrist from the table and lifts the sleeve of his hero costume, assumingly looking at the monitor band, but Katsuki is too busy focusing on looking at his own lap to care. “What do you mean by ‘acting weird’? Do you need to go to the hospital? Have you been having problems all day, or just now? Have you been taking your medicine properly? Did you take it this morning? Do you need some water? Let’s get you off stage so—”

“No,” Katsuki lets out in a demand, grimacing as he pushes himself to raise back up from his slumped form. “These people paid to meet me, Izuku. Ain’t gonna rip ‘em off.”

Izuku’s fingertips brush lightly against his wrist, making Katsuki shudder.

The chest pain comes to an abrupt halt, which is odd. Usually, the pain lasts a while and it lingers throughout the day. But the only explanation for his chest to be hurting is because of all the shit he’s been going through the past several years, so why would it be any different now? Maybe he should check with his doctor – ew – tomorrow.

“Dynamight,” the familiar tone of Best Jeanist’s voice echoes down the table, “I assure you that your heart is much more important than this hero signing.”

Katsuki rolls his eyes and sits up just fine. “I feel better now, ya morons. It was just a little pain, is all.” He picks up his marker and eyes the teen in front of him. Her eyes are wide open and unblinking. “Ya gonna sit there like a bobble head or say somethin’?”

He closes his eyes momentarily, sighing to himself as he realizes he’s seriously got no cap on his damn mouth today. The girl doesn’t seem to mind, however. She just tells him that she’s glad he’s feeling better and not in pain anymore, to which he grunts in response.

When the hero signing comes to an end, it’s already seven in the evening. The festival dance begins at eight, but there will still be stands open. Hopefully, everyone will be going to the dance so that Katsuki and Izuku can finish up all the other activities with no long lines to wait in.

Izuku is weirdly quiet as they make their way back to where they changed clothes before, and somehow even quieter after they change back into their sweaters.

Katsuki breathes out into the orange sky, his gaze set on the clouds above.

“Spit it out,” he tells Izuku, then sighs once more as Izuku stares him down, giving him a knowing look. He doesn’t even have to say anything because the blond already knows. “I told you I’m feeling fine, now. It was just… I dunno. Whatever it was, it’s gone now. So stop looking at me like I’m dyin’ or something.”

Izuku gasps. “Kacchan, don’t say that!” His hand doesn’t hesitate to find Katsuki’s wrist again, pulling at the sleeve of his black sweater and lifting it, taking a look at the monitor. Once he sees that everything truly is fine, he lets out a relieved sigh. “If it happens again, please let me know, Kacchan. I… I don’t like when you’re in pain. It scares me.”

The honesty in Izuku’s voice always has Katsuki rendered speechless.

He grunts in dismiss.

“I’ve had worse shit happen,” he states matter-of-factly. Izuku frowns at the reminder. Katsuki eyes him. “Quit thinking ‘bout it. Let’s go enjoy the damn fest before it ends.”

That’s how they end up wandering around the festival once again. The sun is setting, dark gold and orange shimmering amongst the red and brown leaves falling from the trees around. Katsuki eyes the people all around them before locking onto Izuku beside him. Right now, green eyes are shining gorgeously at something in the distance.

Katsuki follows his trail.

“A maze?” the blond questions, giving his friend a concerned gaze. “Really?”

Izuku grins wobbily. “Yeah! Doesn’t it look fun, Kacchan?”

Katsuki shrugs. “It looks like a maze.”

“Just a maze, huh?” Izuku’s grin becomes a little more devilish, crossing his arms as he looks at the entrance of the place — since when were they walking up to it? “I bet I could make it out faster than you.”

At the challenge, Katsuki’s face also stretches into a smile. “Like hell you’d ever beat me.”

Once they get to the entrance, the man guarding and running the maze tells them that they have to go into it together. Katsuki curses him and asks why the hell he can’t go in alone, and the guy explains that it’s to keep from anyone getting lost by themselves.

“Whatever,” he says, rolling his eyes.

“Let’s just go in anyway, Kacchan.” Izuku gives him a lighthearted smile. “It’ll still be fun. We can test our problem-solving abilities in the maze.”

They go in together, Katsuki kicking the ground with his feet often. They bump shoulders a few times, which makes Katsuki feel all weird inside. Working together, they make it out in no time, but it still leaves them with no competitive wins.

“Let’s try apple bobbing instead,” Katsuki tells him, pointing into the distance, where a tin tub of water is set up. “Bet I could catch more apples than you, just like when we were kids.”

Izuku lights up like a flame.

“Yeah, right! I won’t let you beat me, Kacchan!”

They race to the stand, and Katsuki wins by getting there point-two seconds before Izuku does. The lady running the stand is surprised by their sudden appearance, but she sets up the apples nonetheless.

“We’re gonna race, lady,” Katsuki tells her. “Put a million apples in and I’ll still get ‘em all out before he even gets two.”

The lady smiles as politely as she can. “I’m afraid I don’t have a million apples,” she tells the men who are giddy like children. “I’ll put in five apples. Whoever comes up with the most wins. Sound good?”

Katsuki huffs. “Five isn’t nearly enough, but whatever. Get to puttin’ the apples in.”

After she puts them in the water, Katsuki lowers himself on one side of the tin while Izuku lowers to the opposite side. The woman does a countdown from three, and once it’s go time, the two men thrust themselves into the water, splashing it everywhere, including on themselves.

Katsuki has always been the best at this game when it comes to the two of them. He moves faster than Izuku’s thinking brain can keep up, allowing him to just sweep apples before anything else. He gets three before Izuku dives in for his second one.

Both going for the last apple in the tin, they manage to bite onto it at the same time. Once they come up from the water, they’re still holding on, and neither of them will let go.

Izuku, oddly just as red as the apple, mumbles over the fruit, “S’mine, K’ch’n.”

Katsuki bites harder onto the apple, pulling it towards him along with Izuku’s upper body.

“I had it first,” he lies, knowing damn well they both grabbed it at the same time.

It seems his little lie has consequences, however, because a sharp pain bursts through his chest, making him gasp out and let go of the apple. He leans over the tin of water, eyes wide open as he stares at his reflection in the ripples.

What is up with his chest today, damnit?

“Kacchan?” Izuku lowers the apple and questions him, “Are you alright? Did something happen? Was it the apple? Was I too rough and broke a tooth? Oh my gosh, please tell me I didn’t break your tooth—”

“It’s not my damn tooth, nerd.” Katsuki sighs, slowly leaning up to test whether or not his chest will hurt again. It still stings a little, but he seems to move just fine. Just in case, he lifts his sleeve and looks at his wrist band.

Izuku gasps and dramatically holds onto the sides of the water tin. “It’s your chest again?! Kacchan?! Let me see!”

He has to fight off the rambling monster from his side, telling him he’s fine and proving it by showing him the damn monitor.

Still, it’s odd.

Something is definitely wrong.

After Izuku calms down, they decide to get on the hay ride as their last event of the night. Then, they’ll go say bye to everyone who is dancing away at the Hero Fall Dance.

The hay ride is simply a little truck with a trailer hitched to the back, which has haystacks lined across it. There are fairy lights tied along the railing of the trailer for people to see since it’s getting darker now; it’s pretty considering it could’ve looked lame, had anyone else done it, but Ochako seemed to refuse lame aesthetics.

They fill the ride as full as they can because the night is coming to an end and the rides will be ending soon. Katsuki sits on the floor of the trailer so that Izuku can sit on the haystack, telling him not to bother with thanking him. Izuku does anyway. Of course, he does.

Rather than sitting there uncomfortably, Katsuki barely allows himself to lean against Izuku’s legs, hoping he doesn’t notice.

However, Izuku notices everything.

Before he knows it, Izuku is spreading his legs apart to allow more room. His rough fingers dig into Katsuki’s shoulders, pulling him back and making him rest against the hay, prickling into his back. The prickles taunt him, like they’re poking at him and making fun of the way his cheeks heat up. Even worse, Izuku’s legs trap him in, warm against his sides — comfortable, even.

Katsuki silently rests, staring blankly ahead.

His eyes meet white.

White dress. White hair. White eyes, even. It’s the little girl from earlier. The one who was rambling about honesty and shit. She’s looking at Katsuki already, smiling to herself and then smiling wider as he notices her.

She’s sitting between her mother’s legs across from Katsuki, in the same position, except hers it more family-like relaxation, while Katsuki is panicking because he wants to relax against Izuku in a stupidly romantic way — ugh, shit.

“Psst,” the little girl whispers to Katsuki, though she isn’t quiet at all. “How’s honesty treating you, Dynamight-san? Hehe.”

Katsuki grimaces.

“The hell you talkin’ bout, kid?”

The girl giggles as she looks up at Izuku, who nudges Katsuki’s arm and tells him not to curse at children. Of course, the nerd apologizes to the girl and asks her if she remembers him from the hero signing — who could ever forget someone like him?

Izuku rambles with her for half the damn ride about her quirk, in awe as she explains that she can touch someone physically and make them tell the truth whenever they’re speaking.

After Izuku asks what the drawbacks are, the little girl gets distracted by her own gasp, jumping and pulling at her mother’s sleeve as she points off into the distance at a hero she seemingly likes.

Izuku leaves the girl to be, but still mutters a few possible theories under his breath, which just so happens to be right into Katsuki’s ear. Katsuki doesn’t say anything, but rather leaves it to happen. It’s not the worst thing in the world to hear Izuku get excited over his hero study-mutters, considering he hardly ever has time to do it nowadays.

Gently leaning into Izuku’s inner thigh, dismissing the heat that he feels all over his body, Katsuki nudges his friend.

“Look,” he says, nodding off into the distant sky. The dark orange sky is now lacking a sun, and soon it’ll be turning to dark blue and black before they know it. For now, it seems like golden hour has taken Izuku’s interest, and Katsuki has to peer up at him to get a glance at his soft smile.

“It’s beautiful,” Izuku quietly lets out.

Rough fingertips glide across the back of Katsuki’s neck, earning a shudder in reaction. He inhales a soft gasp as Izuku’s skin meets his, sliding over his shoulder, his finger getting caught just underneath his hoodie and allowing him to press into Katsuki’s bare skin.

He gently presses down, meaningful. Katsuki doesn’t know whether to relax or freak the fuck out. Either way, he finds himself sinking into the feeling, mesmerized.

Worst part about it is that Izuku doesn’t mention a single thing. Doesn’t speak, doesn’t elaborate at all. He simply sits there and digs his fingers underneath Katsuki’s hoodie, his touch feeling like fire and poison and every other thing that could possibly put Katsuki on high alert. His senses are bursting, going wilder than any villain attack has ever made him feel — Izuku Midoriya is fucking touching him, for fuck sake.

Katsuki’s entire body surges with shivers as Izuku’s hand trails up to the baby hairs on his neck, scratching gently like he’s a fucking puppy or something.

“Fuck are you doing?” Katsuki asks abruptly, causing Izuku’s fingers to seize.

Izuku quickly pulls away and Katsuki wishes he could kick himself in the face for depriving himself like that. It’s not that he didn’t like Izuku’s touch, it’s just that Katsuki isn’t used to it, especially not like this. He doesn’t know how to handle gentle caresses and shit.

“Sorry, Kacchan,” Izuku mutters quietly so that nobody else can hear them. Only bad part about that is that his words are right in Katsuki’s ear, which makes his hairs stand up involuntarily. Shit.

“Quit yappin’ your apology and just chill with the touching. Dunno how to deal with it.”

The fuck is up with the sudden honesty? Katsuki didn’t mean to say that shit out loud — that’s his feelings. Gross.

“Oh. Sorry,” Izuku repeats, this time setting his hands by his sides and leaning back a little more to give Katsuki space. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable, Kacchan. I know you don’t like being touched. It was just… something I did by accident.”

“No, idiot, I didn’t say I didn’t like it—” Katsuki pauses, his body freezing up. He blinks at the snickering little girl from across the hay ride, narrowing his eyes at her because she’s obviously laughing at his distress. Katsuki groans, crossing his arms and leaning further into Izuku’s lap. “What I meant to say is I liked it.”

Katsuki stares blankly ahead.

“I liked it,” he effortlessly repeats again, then growls as he physically forces himself to say, “No, damnit, I hated it!” and then his chest bursts with fucking atomic bombs which makes him double over in pain and wince.

“Kacchan?!” Izuku worries, quickly putting his hands right back on the blond. “Are you okay? You’re acting weird, repeating stuff like that. And… you’re in pain. Are you sure we don’t need to take you to the doctor?”

To Katsuki’s horror, the innocent little girl is very menacingly laughing at his genuine concern and pain. Screw That Child.

Katsuki flips a child off for the fourth time in his life. Izuku gasps and smacks his finger away as the girl giggles in joy as if they’re playing a game or some shit.

“Get me off this damn ride,” Katsuki demands. “Something’s wrong with me.”

He supposes he can’t live within this little dream bubble for much longer. There’s obviously something wrong with him and he needs to figure it out, even if it means worrying Izuku in the process.

“Chill out,” he tells the man behind him who’s bouncing his knee and practically trembling. “It’s nothing like you’re thinking. I think it’s got nothin’ to do with my health, actually.”

Katsuki scowls as Izuku looks at him in wonder. Now that he’s tested out repeating his words earlier and knows that the chest pain only happened during a certain period, he can guarantee he knows what happened. Not only that, but the little girl dressed in white was giggling at his struggle, which really pissed him off, but also opened his eyes.

What the hell did that little girl do to him?

Once they get off the hay ride, Katsuki makes sure to keep an eye on where the little girl and her mother head off to — they go to the dance area. Izuku asks him a million questions, but he’s busy trying to think of something to do about the situation.

He sighs, knowing that little girl probably would laugh in his face if he asked her to fix whatever the hell she did to him.

Katsuki turns to a rambling Izuku.

“Where’s the cocoon teach at?”

Izuku’s eyes stare hard into him, wide and curious. “Aizawa? He should be on duty at the dance right now. Why?”

Upon hearing so, Katsuki beelines for the bustling of music coming from the circled area of fairy lights and pumpkin patches. Izuku follows closely, asking questions that Katsuki doesn’t seem to register right now; all he can think about is how fucked he might be if he keeps answering Izuku all night.

Shit.

It’s fairly simple to find Aizawa — all he has to do is look anywhere where the dance isn’t happening, specifically the outskirts of the awkwardly swaying citizens.

Sure enough, the pro is sitting down at a small table, his eyes hardly open as he watches people mingle about.

“Hey, cocoon-head,” Katsuki calls out as he marches up to his former teacher. Aizawa peeks up at him and sighs as he notices not only Katsuki, but Izuku following behind. Never one to waste time, Katsuki gets to the point: “I need you to arrest a child for me.”

Izuku gasps at the sudden statement, halting in his steps just beside Katsuki. He looks horrified as he searches his friend for answers, but to no avail. Aizawa simply rubs his eyes and sighs to himself once again, yet he somehow doesn’t seem surprised.

“What could the problem children possibly be up to this time?”

Izuku frantically waves his hands in front of himself in defense. “I- I never said I wanted to arrest anyone! Especially not a child! Kacchan?!” He nudges the blond and demands, “What are you talking about?!”

“That brat!” He gestures with a flick of his wrist off into the distance where they’d just come from. “I think a truth quirk was used on me earlier.”

Like clockwork, Katsuki can practically see the twinkle in Izuku’s eyes — the same twinkle he always gets when he starts to analyze quirks. He lifts his hand to his chin, furrowing his brows as he recalls everything to himself in flying mutters.

“The girl? She used her quirk on Kacchan? Is that why Kacchan has been acting so weird all evening? Maybe she used it on him at the hero signing. I never got to learn what the drawbacks of her quirk was, or anything else for that matter. Maybe if I had spoken to her more, I could’ve figured out some way to help Kacchan right now—”

“Oh my goodness!” The shrieking-pitched, familiar voice of Pinky immediately alarms Katsuki, making him jump in both annoyance and flight-mode. Usually, she’s up to no good. Katsuki snarls as he turns back to look at her excited grin. “A truth quirk?! I’ve gotta tell everyone! That’s priceless!”

She throws an arm over Katsuki’s shoulder and he grumbles about it, of course.

“Get the hell off, you smell like my old hag’s perfume.”

Pinky giggles with joy. “It’s a new scent! And stop trying to change the subject! You were hit with a truth quirk, hehe.”

“Why the hell were you listening to our conversation?!”

“I just came to ask if you were gonna start dancing! Kyoka and I didn’t make this dance happen for nothing, you know!” She laughs evilly. Katsuki swears she’s a demon in disguise. “But somehow the dance just got even better! Tell me the truth, how’s the dance looking, Blasty?”

The blond rolls his eyes and glances at Izuku as he nudges Pinky off his shoulder.

“It’s just a dance.”

“Boooooringgg.” Pinky’s next target is Izuku, who is wide-eyed and focused on whatever nonsense she spews next. “You should get out there and dance, Zuzu! It’s so fun! I’m gonna go talk to everyone else and see what they’re doing.” She steps away hastily, grinning from ear to ear towards Katsuki. “Don’t worry, I’ll get them to bother you, too.”

Sometimes, Katsuki wants to blast that girl up into the stars.

“Count your days, you damn Barbie!” he threatens, but she laughs it off. Damn her.

When he turns back to Aizawa, the man looks unamused. Katsuki waits for an answer, knowing damn well the teacher already has a plan laid out for him.

“So,” Aizawa pinches the bridge of his nose. “What does the girl look like?”

~~~~~

Once the little girl is in his sight, Katsuki stomps right up to her, ignoring Izuku’s plea to go easy on the kid. She may be dressed in pure white and look all innocent, but she’s far from it. Katsuki can’t help but remember her giggling at his struggle earlier.

“You!”

Aizawa steps in front of him, nearly covering the sight of the shocked little girl and her alarmed mother, who tries to hide the child behind her. Once the little girl realizes who’s coming after her, she snickers behind her mother, which makes Katsuki’s ears burst into flames.

“She’s making fun of me!”

Aizawa holds his hand up as if to stop Katsuki from speaking. “Bakugou, I understand you’re upset, but please. Let me handle this.”

Just as Katsuki is about to say something more, he feels a light tapping on his arm. He should be paying attention to Aizawa confronting the girl, but Izuku has always easily distracted him. So he turns to his friend, furrowing his brows in question, but all he gets is a warm smile in return.

“He’ll fix the issue, Kacchan. I’m sure the little girl is in for a scolding. And hopefully she’ll reverse the quirk on you, right? If you’re nice to her, that is.”

Katsuki deadpans at him.

“Are you tryin’ to scold me or something?”

Izuku’s smile becomes a little unsure, giving him a nervous laugh.

But, since Katsuki went through the effort to get Aizawa to handle the situation, that’s exactly what he does. He stands there with his arms crossed, listening along with Izuku as the little girl admits Aizawa’s confronting questions, saying that she did indeed use her quirk on Katsuki at the hero signing earlier.

Aizawa sighs as the mother gasps and scolds her daughter, who frowns instantly and whines about how she just wanted her favorite hero to be honest since he said he wasn’t always. Somehow, Katsuki blames himself for letting his walls down and telling such a stupid thing to a little girl — but hey, he can’t take it back now.

“What is your name, miss?” Aizawa questions as he crouches down to the child’s level. She pouts, looking down at her shoes.

“Amina. A-Am I in trouble?”

Aizawa glances up at Katsuki, who stares him down before rolling his eyes and looking away. “You won’t be in any trouble if you apologize to Dynamight and never use your quirk against anyone else without asking first, Amina. And tell us how to reverse the quirk.”

The little girl gives Katsuki puppy-dog eyes, scrunching her fists together. “I’m sorry, Dynamight-san. Please forgive me!”

Katsuki deadpans at the child, then scoffs at the brat. “Just tell me how to stop this quirk crap so I can go on with my day.”

Amina pipes up. “Well, it’s easy, Dynamight! Just tell the truth until it wears off!”

“What?!”

“Two hundred times!” Amina grins from ear to ear. “Two hundred truths and it’ll all be over with!”

Katsuki’s eyes widen. “Two hundred?!

Even Izuku and Aizawa flinch at the amount. They look at Katsuki and then at each other before looking back at the girl. She nods her head enthusiastically.

“Don’t worry, though! All truths count, which means you can say easy stuff like favorite food, favorite color, or even your favorite person! Hehe!”

Katsuki would rather poke his own eyeballs out than admit who his favorite person is.

“Shit.”

“Kacchan!” Izuku frowns. “Don’t curse.”

Katsuki groans. “How in the hell am I supposed to tell two hundred truths?” He walks off as Aizawa continues to talk to the mother, and Izuku follows, catching up to him and offering his support.

“We can do something simple, Kacchan. Like—” Izuku points to his own face, pointedly looking at Katsuki. “What color are my eyes?”

With a light huff, Katsuki averts his gaze. “Green, idiot.”

“See! There’s one truth added to the many others you’ve already done before now! It’ll be easy to—”

“There he is!”

Katsuki halts in his steps, fingers clenching in his pockets as he sees his friends and former classmates practically emerging from the dance entrance. He turns away and heads towards the exit of the entire festival, but knows damn well everyone is following him.

Before he even makes it past the chili stand, where Todoroki and Iida are no longer serving, he realizes he’s done for — they’re too fast and he can hear their footsteps and murmurs of endless questions already.

Damn it.

“Yo, Kacchan!” Kaminari’s voice playfully calling him that name always makes Katsuki grit his teeth together in pure distaste.

Just as he thinks he’s hurried far enough, Katsuki is shoved from both sides, two awfully strong arms draping across his shoulders and intertwining behind his head — stupid dunce face and tape dispenser.

“Hey, man! We heard you got quirked pretty good today.”

Sero grins wide, as does Kaminari, and Katsuki groans as more footsteps come up behind him. He groans even louder once a familiar shade of pink steps in front of him, followed by another familiar shade of pink and earphone jacks as well.

Katsuki turns to look for help from Izuku, only to find him standing by damn Icy-Hot, Glasses, and Kirishima. He shrugs the two morons off of his shoulders and swats at them.

“I’m not a damn exhibit, y’know!” He turns to look at Iida, who is standing proudly next to Todoroki. “Get rid of these losers.”

Iida fucking laughs. “Sorry, I’m no longer in charge of this bunch! Besides, Midoriya just told me the side effects and cure to ending the quirk, so I believe it’s best to let their questions come at you, full force!”

“Yeah!” Mina cheers brightly beside Ochaco, who is smiling somehow mischievously despite how innocent she always acts. “Come on, Blasty! Who else do you plan on asking you for two hundred truths?”

Ruby eyes flicker to green, knowing damn well that Izuku could probably ask about a trillion questions if he truly wanted to. However, Izuku is the last person he needs to be asking him truthful questions right now.

His face lingers on an apologetic-looking Izuku before he sighs and turns to Mina.

“Ask me somethin’ stupid and I’ll blast you all to hell and back.”

Katsuki shoves his hands into his pants pockets and averts his gaze, seemingly uninterested in everyone’s excitement to ask him questions. The first person to truly step up to him is Mina, the culprit of this particular situation. Katsuki tsks at her cheeky grin.

“Sooo, Blasty!” Her voice is full of wonder, and it’s got a devilish undertone to it. She steps up, hands behind her back as she flaunts her question. “Do you secretly love all of us? We’re your bestest friends, right?”

Katsuki rolls his eyes at the dumb question, always refusing to share his thoughts on their friendship. Usually he’d say something like No, you guys just won’t leave me the hell alone and you’re lucky I let you stick to me like leeches, but this quirk has other ideas. Before he can make any sort of remark like that, he’s instantly answering with the truth.

“Yeah, you morons are my friends.” He crinkles his nose as Mina squeals in delight and half of them look to be in disbelief.

Kirishima immediately steps up, curiosity written all over his face. “Hey, man, I’m glad you secretly love us as your friends and all, but, uh… Am I your best friend..?”

He looks hopeful and Katsuki nearly bites his tongue. In all honesty, Katsuki has two best friends; he considers Kirishima and Izuku. If Kirishima had asked who his best friend was, that would’ve been his answer. Instead, Katsuki lets out a little “Duh,” which is the truth. Kirishima is one of his best friends and people he can talk to about anything.

Kirishima does some sort of weird excitement-fist-dance-thing, which could jolt him around enough to fling the damn dye out of his hair. Katsuki lightly chuckles as his friend gets all teary-eyes and looks up at him.

“That’s so manly, Bakugo! Thank you!”

Again, Katsuki scoffs, averting his gaze. Somehow his eyes land on Izuku. He’s standing there idle, watching and listening, but not saying a single word. Now that Katsuki thinks about it, since when is Izuku ever quiet? Isn’t he the one who thought it was a good idea to ask him questions like this? Shouldn’t he ask something? Not that Katsuki wants him to or anything—

“Hey, so, what’s your favorite music genre? For realzies,” Jiro quietly asks, pointing a curious earphone jack in his direction.

Katsuki shrugs at the easy answer. They should all know this by now. “It’s rock, obviously—” His mouth moves on its own— “and sometimes classical.”

The entire group of friends, other than Kirishima, let out small gasps at the mention of the second genre. Even Izuku’s eyes grow wide with curiosity. The only reason Kirishima already knew Katsuki listens to classical is because they lived together for a few months after high school and his dad would come over, giving him recommendations, and Katsuki would play them weekly.

“Why are you all so damn surprised?!” he asks, looking around at everyone and lingering his gaze on Izuku before turning away. “My dad and therapist told me to listen to classical because it calms me down! Make fun of me and I’ll kick your asses. All of you.”

“We’re not making fun!” Mina says, giggling. “We’re just shocked, is all!”

“Never expecting something like that from you,” Jiro says.

Iida pipes in, “How wonderful! I’d love to see your playlist and share songs, Bakugo!”

Kirishima is still sniffling. “So manly, even with his music taste.” Jiro tells him to get a grip.

When Sero steps up is when Katsuki knows the questions are about to start getting unhinged. He sighs, knowing something’s coming. If not from him, then Dunce Face.

Sero asks, “So what was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you? I’m curious, man.”

Katsuki can recall a ton of embarrassing moments, but he specifically remembers back in first year when Best Jeanist had styled his hair down and it stayed that way for days, which led to so many people saying things about him.

He tells this to Sero, who immediately laughs along with Kaminari, just like they had back then. Katsuki’s hands sparkle and suddenly they stop laughing and hide behind the three girls.

Katsuki gets distracted from his anger when he hears a familiar monotone voice go, “So, Bakugo.” He turns around to the culprit, seeing Todoroki pull his hand up from his jacket pocket and offer an inquiring hand gesture. “Was the chili we made good? Earlier, you said it was fine, but I thought it looked like you enjoyed it.”

The question makes Katsuki snarl. “Damn Icy-Hot, you just want praise. ‘Course the damn chili was good, but it’s only because I had to teach you how to make it seven times.”

Uraraka speaks up, questioning Todoroki. “It took seven tries? Wow. I’m surprised Bakugo had enough patience after the first try.”

“I’ve got tons of damn patience!”

Quite literally every single person says in unison, “No you don’t.”

The blond growls. “Whatever. Just hurry up and ask me your questions,” he says, pointedly looking at the ones who haven’t asked anything yet.

Iida asks him what his favorite part about the festival was, to which he answers “Hay ride” with no further explanation, though he glances at Izuku and nearly bursts into flames as he recalls their position earlier. Izuku doesn’t seem to notice the reasoning for this answer because he looks at him in question, but doesn’t pry — thankfully.

For some insane reason, Uraraka decides to ask him the worst question of all.

“If you could date any of us, who would it be?”

Everyone gasps at the question before going completely silent. Katsuki stares with his lips parted in utter disbelief, and just as his mouth moves to speak on its own, he swallows down the truth, gritting his teeth.

“No- Nobody— The hell—?”

He grits his teeth even harder as pain surges throughout his body, hitting him hardest right where it hurts in his chest. Grabbing onto his sweater just above his chest, Katsuki hisses and squints at the ground.

Every other time he’d been hurt by the quirk, Izuku would rush to his side and ask him if he’s okay and ask if he needs to go to the doctor or some shit. Oddly enough, Izuku doesn’t rush over this time. Katsuki can see out the corner of his eye, how Izuku is standing there completely unmoving, yet staring Katsuki down like a hawk.

Fucking hell.

“Your question’s stupid,” he hisses at Uraraka, who holds her hands up in defense.

“Looks painful to lie, Bakugo.”

Katsuki would blast Uraraka to hell if it weren’t for how damn scary she can be in battle.

Damnit.

“Whatever.” Katsuki stands up straighter, ignoring the lingering pain in his chest and gulping it down. If he has to lie one more damn time, he might just die.

“Okay, so how about this instead,” Kaminari steps up, a smirk on his face already. There’s no way in hell this could be good. “What’s your favorite sex position—”

“Kaminari!” Iida cuts him off, but the yellow moron thinks it’s the funniest thing in the world, laughing his ass off.

Honestly, he answers, “I don’t have one, moron.” Katsuki has never had sex, nor has he ever wished for something like that with anyone… besides… well…

Katsuki’s had many explicit thoughts like that, and it’s always been with the same person and nobody else. However, he doesn’t have a favorite position; he’s never experienced it. Not that he’d tell them this, though.

“Lame ass question. Can we get some decent ones? You all suck at this.”

Izuku steps in, face a bit redder than usual, and he’s using his teacher-voice when he tells the others to stop asking weird things that might make Katsuki uncomfortable. Thankfully, this leads to some better questions, but it doesn’t lead to Izuku asking any of them, though. He’s still silent.

Despite how Katsuki would rather choke himself than be interrogated by Izuku, it somewhat bothers him how silent he’s being. It’s simply not normal. The fuck is he doing?

“Who’s your favorite hero?” Todoroki asks for some damn reason.

“The hell? You already know it’s All Might.”

“Just thought I’d ask.”

“Moron.”

Izuku laughs lightly at their conversation, which makes Katsuki look at him once again. Honestly, Izuku is always who he looks at. Him and his stupid ass suit and ties he wears to teach those damn kids every day. Him in his damn Dynamight sweater, which he looks so good in—

He swears they go through a million questions, yet he still keeps telling the truth before he can even think about saying anything else. This quirk has lasted far too long already, damnit. He was supposed to have a normal day with Izuku for once.

At least he has the option to lie, if Izuku did plan on asking him some weird shit — it just hurts like hell, if he does lie.

But why the hell hasn’t he asked anything?!

“Hey,” Jiro suddenly says, pointing with her earjack to get Katsuki’s attention. “What’s the most regrettable moment you’ve had?”

Memories of a familiar river flashes through Katsuki’s mind, and he can already feel the pain in his chest before he even holds back the truth — because he definitely is going to.

“N—” The pain is so harsh that it makes him fist at his chest in anger, and he can hardly breathe, as if the air was punched from his lungs. “Not sayin’. Fuck.”

He hisses. It feels like a trillion tiny needles are poking through his heart in every direction. The pain is almost too much of a reminder of all the past events he’s been through. It fucking sucks that it makes him feel this way, especially in front of everyone.

Just as the pain is eating him away, he feels a soft, gentle palm rest on his shoulder. He flinches, looking up to see that it’s Izuku and not someone there to harm him.

Izuku, with his worried, gorgeous eyes.

“It’s getting late,” Izuku says as he glances around to their friends, still with his hand on Katsuki. His voice is stern, like he’s scolding them for this. “I’ll ask Kacchan the rest of the questions. Thank you guys for helping.”

Katsuki gapes up at Izuki from where he’s bent over in pain, but the pain is slowly dissipating. The touch of Izuku’s hand is enough to ease it away.

Jiro apologizes for asking that last question. Katsuki shrugs it off and tells them to go back to dancing with that god-awful music Mina chose for the festival. She sticks her tongue out at him as they all scurry off.

Once Izuku says bye to his friends, he turns to Katsuki, giving him a soft smile.

“I’m sure you’re ready to go home.”

Katsuki scoffs. “Damn right, I am.”

Despite Izuku saying he’ll ask the rest of the questions, he’s completely silent on the walk out of the festival. Katsuki stares him down, watchful of his distant gaze and the way he bites at his inner lip, just as he always does when he’s thinking and analyzing.

“So—” The second Izuku’s voice rings in his ears, green eyes meet red, and Katsuki flinches like a kid caught peeking into the cookie jar. Izuku’s curious eyes soften, like they’re seeping into Katsuki’s soul. Katsuki pouts and looks away.

“So what?”

Izuku pushes his hands into his pockets and smiles ahead, towards the moon. “I’m going to walk you home. If any fans see you on the street and ask you questions, you might accidentally say something mean.”

“Since when have I ever accidentally said something mean?” Katsuki asks, crossing his arms over his chest. “Besides, is that all? Thought you were gonna ask me questions?”

Izuku shrugs. “I only said that to get rid of everyone. You were hurting yourself.”

Katsuki would normally deny that he was hurting earlier, but he can’t exactly lie right now and say “Like hell, I was hurting.” So, he stays silent, pouting to himself.

They walk together in silence for a while. When they get into the main part of the city, fans try to walk up to Katsuki and Izuku, but before they even get the chance to, Izuku holds his hand out to them and uses a strict, yet somehow comforting tone as he tells them to… well… fuck off.

One girl dressed in a tight skirt and reeking of alcohol tries to push her wobbly ass way onto Katsuki. His eyes genuinely grow as wide as golf balls when Izuku firmly places his hands on her shoulders and nearly makes her trip over in her drunken state as he guides her away from the two of them.

She wails and calls Izuku an asshole for getting in the way of her and Katsuki’s love, and all Katsuki can do is call her a weirdo before Izuku is dragging him away from the situation as a whole.

Living in the city is such a curse sometimes. Damn weirdos.

After what seems like forever of walking in silence, the two come up on Katsuki’s apartment building. Sure, he’s a well-known Pro Hero and all, but that doesn’t automatically make him rich or anything; so, Katsuki’s home isn’t exactly a mansion or anything, but it’s still a nice place.

When they get to the entrance, he turns to Izuku. His eyes are fixated on nothing and everything all at once, gaze set on the ground and lip pulled between his teeth. After skimming over the freckles on his unscarred cheek, Katsuki huffs and eyes him even harder once Izuku looks at him in question.

“Come inside for a while,” he practically demands as he goes through the doors of the building. He knows Izuku wanted to ask, but didn’t know how, so he offers instead.

After a silent elevator ride and a seemingly awkward walk to Katsuki’s apartment door, he’s had about enough of this.

Katsuki opens his door and steps through into the spotless entrance, kicking off his shoes.

“Alright, nerd,” he says softly, somehow affectionately — ugh. “What the hell’s got you actin’ so weird for?”

Izuku slips his god-awful red shoes off as well, glancing up at the blond in awe.

“What—?! I didn’t even—”

“You didn’t have to.”

Katsuki likes to think that he knows Izuku better than anyone else does, and it’s true. He knows damn well that Izuku is being weirdly quiet and that it has something to do with the quirk. He’s not dumb.

“You were perfectly fine before I told you I got quirked. So what is it? Scared I might say something that’ll hurt your feelings?”

Izuku’s eyes soften, but not with affection. Rather, he looks slightly tired or maybe even disappointed. He sighs, stepping past Katsuki and towards the living room as if he owns the place — he’s been here many times before, enough to basically own it if he wanted to, because Katsuki would let him.

“I’m perfectly fine. Not scared at all,” Izuku says, his voice low and quiet, barely a mutter. Katsuki rolls his eyes and follows him into the living room, where they decide to sit on opposite ends of the sofa.

“Hah. Then how come you haven’t asked me any questions?” he asks, placing his elbow on the armrest and chin on his palm. “Thought you were supposed to help me narrow down this stupid truth count or whatever?”

Izuku rests his hands oddly stiff onto his lap. “It’s just…” He glances. “I don’t know, Kacchan.”

He looks away, clearly not wanting to make eye contact for a reason. Katsuki sighs and spreads his leg out just enough to reach his foot out and nudge Izuku’s.

“Ask whatever you wanna. You’re obviously just as curious as those other morons were.”

Closing his eyes, Izuku slowly inhales and then releases. “Kacchan…” He locks eyes with the blond, an unsure expression on his face. “I probably have a million more questions than our friends had. It’s just— I couldn’t take advantage of a quirk without your consent. It would be wrong.”

Katsuki can’t force back the small curve of his lips forming into a smile.

“Without my consent, huh?” he asks, eyeing Izuku dead on. “And what if I do consent?”

The space between them right now is bothering Katsuki. Why keep at arm’s length when they could be sitting with their legs touching or something? Why so far apart? It’s weird and feels awkward when they’re looking at each other from a distance.

Or maybe… the distance is bothering him because Izuku’s long-distant gaze is heavy. His usual bright green eyes are darker, duller, and staring right through Katsuki from so far away. Too far away. It’s like he’s digging through Katsuki’s mind and trying to read him from inside out.

But as if it never happened, Izuku’s gaze finds something else more interesting: the open window which shows a view of the city they’re in.

“No,” Izuku says, seemingly making Katsuki’s mind up for him. “You wouldn’t like the questions I’d ask you, Kacchan.”

Katsuki scowls. “And why the fuck not, exactly?” he asks, knowing damn well that Izuku could ask him the most basic shit right now and it wouldn’t matter. All he wants is for him to ask something, maybe show that he has at least a little bit interest in him— in the quirk.

Izuku chuckles.

Fucking chuckles, god damnit.

Damn him and his damn voice, soft yet acidic.

“Okay,” Izuku lets out, shrugging and crossing his arms over his chest, right over the Dynamight crossings on his sweater.

“Okay,” Katsuki repeats, then tells him, “No more dumb shit like ‘What color are my eyes?’ I want you to ask real shit.” He doesn’t mean to say that last part out loud, but he does anyway. He can’t stop himself from speaking his truth. It’s like a damn curse.

Izuku must notice this, evidently, because he glances at Katsuki and stares him down for a few seconds in awe before humming and nodding to himself.

“I’ll start with some easy ones, then.” Izuku looks him right in the eyes, slightly tilting his head as if he’s analyzing the hell out of him. “Do you think I’m a good hero, Kacchan?”

Easy ones.

Katsuki gulps, but doesn’t hold back. He practically begged Izuku to ask questions, so he won’t back out on the first one.

“Yes,” he says truthfully, “the best hero.”

This earns an immediate change in Izuku’s expression, a smile so big that even All Might couldn’t compare. Katsuki rolls his eyes at the cheesy question. Izuku relaxes back into the sofa with a nod, tapping his finger.

“Okay, then next question: how do you truly feel about wearing each other’s hero merch? Earlier, you said it was weird, but if you really thought so, you wouldn’t be wearing it.”

Katsuki bites his tongue. Then he groans.

Easy questions, my ass.

“It’s- It’s cute—” The blond shoves the back of his hand to his mouth and sinks further into the sofa, cursing under his breath. Izuku turns to him, eyes widening in response.

“Really?”

Izuku scoots towards Katsuki, beaming like a damn kid in a candy store as he crosses one leg under the other and faces him.

“Cute? Kacchan thinks something’s cute?”

“…Yes. Just— Ask something else, idiot.”

Though Katsuki averts his gaze, Izuku never takes his glistening eyes off of him. “Okay. The other day, Wednesday, at three o’clock in the afternoon, you told me that someone was teaching you how to punch more stealthily in fights; who is teaching Kacchan?”

Why does the nerd remember the specific day and time of this conversation?!

Katsuki wouldn’t tell him who he’d gotten to teach him because, for some reason, he was told by her not to say anything.

He sighs, though. He can’t lie.

“Fuckin’ Pink Cheeks.”

Izuku’s glistening eyes grow wide and his lips part in surprise. Then, his face turns an odd shade of red as he asks, “Ochaco? She doesn’t talk about me, does she? She likes to… tease me a lot.”

Katsuki shrugs. “She only mentions your fighting moves. What do you mean, she teases you?”

“Nevermind that.” Izuku clears his throat, looking away. “Anyways. Next question: Earlier, you told Kirishima that he’s your best friend. Um…”

He twiddles his thumbs and lowers his head.

“If that’s the case, then what am I to you, Kacchan?”

Fuck.

You’re Everything.

“You… You’re much more than just a best friend to me, Izuku.” The rawness in Katsuki’s voice is so intense that even he doesn’t know how he’d respond to his own answer. He cards his fingers through his hair and sighs, pointedly not looking over to witness the expression behind Izuku’s silence. “That’s a stupid question. Next—”

Katsuki is cut off as he feels a soft, yet ragged finger tapping underneath his chin, pulling him around and forcing him to exchange gazes.

Izuku’s eyes are wide and curious.

“What am I to you, Kacchan?”

Though he should be answering, Katsuki can’t pay attention to anything else besides the finger lifting his chin and the forest irises staring him down so intensely.

“Izuku,” he says, light and airy. “You’re… You’re everything to me, moron.”

The loss of Izuku’s finger underneath his chin is somehow worse than anything ever. He wants to follow Izuku’s hand. He wants to beg him to stay, but simply can’t. Instead, he lets Izuku gently place his hands beside himself as he stares Katsuki down.

“Everything, huh?” Izuku quietly questions, smiling softly as his eyes shine. “Kacchan means everything to me, too.”

With a shutter, Katsuki finally turns his body towards Izuku, resting his back against the armrest. “You don’t have to admit anything else in return, you cheesy nerd.”

Izuku lets out a small laugh. “Heh, yeah, but I wanna. Hey, Kacchan? If I mean everything to you, what happens if you find a girlfriend? Does that mean… they’ll be your everything instead of me?”

Katsuki nearly fucking bites Izuku like a damn dog for even slightly thinking such things.

“Fuck a girlfriend. And fuck anyone else too, for that matter,” he spits out, furrowed brows so deep it nearly gives him a headache. He glares at Izuku. “Why the hell would I want anyone like that? Especially a girl — Damnit, Izuku. That was your worst question yet.”

Izuku frowns. “But I just wanna know if I’ll always be everything to you, Kacchan…”

“Of course you’d be, you idiot.”

“But what about love?”

Katsuki grimaces. “What about it?! Ain’t no extra ever gonna come in and steal my damn heart or some shit, it already belongs to you—”

His eyebrows pinch together so tight and his eyes burn into Izuku’s wide, shocked ones so hard he might leave an imprint somehow. They both freeze, both look at each other, and Katsuki curses.

“Fuck.”

“Kacchan—”

“Nope.”

Katsuki goes to stand up, but just as quickly as he moves, Izuku does as well. He fists his fingers into Katsuki’s sweater, holding him down onto the sofa and not letting him go.

“Kacchan!”

“No, I don’t wanna hear you scold me.”

This quirk is a fucking CURSE.

Katsuki genuinely feels like he might die right now with how his heart bursts.

He tries to get up again, but Izuku grabs onto his wrist and pulls him back, making him sit even closer to him than before. The touch feels like fire and ice at the same time. He definitely does not need to have this conversation right now. Fuck.

“Kacchan, please!” The desperation in Izuku’s voice is the only reason why he stops resisting. He looks at Izuku, noting the plea in his gaze. “Please, just tell me what you meant by that. Tell me the truth, Kacchan.”

There’s honestly no point in hiding it now. Izuku heard what he heard. He knows what he knows. All he wants is confirmation, for whatever reason. Just to make sure what Katsuki said was real, perhaps.

Katsuki sighs.

“I meant it when I said you’re my everything, Izuku. That’s the damn truth.”

Izuku’s lips part and he inhales sharply. His eyes not once leave Katsuki’s, and they well up with tears. Before Katsuki can even question what’s up with his reaction, Izuku surges towards him.

Thinking he’s about to get attacked or something, Katsuki raises his arms in defense, but then his eyes grow wide in confusion as Izuku’s palms smoosh his face in and—

And then Izuku Midoriya is kissing him.

Lips on lips, warm, soft, and sweet. Izuku’s hands hold his jaw, pulling him forward and ruining the dry facepaint on his cheek. Katsuki sinks into the armrest, letting his hands fall limp by his sides in astonishment.

His eyes are wide open because he’s never kissed anyone before and he’s so stunned, honestly probably dreaming at this point.

Well, if he is dreaming, he might as well indulge in it.

Katsuki closes his eyes and meets Izuku with a kiss of his own, heart monitor beeping once Izuku presses his thumb into his cheek and dives in for more, pecking endlessly.

His kisses are so kind and sweet, just like him. Life has never felt better.

When Izuku pulls back, he immediately smiles, letting out a soft laugh.

“So Kacchan, do you like me?”

As if offended by the question, Katsuki scoffs. “Obviously. I don’t kiss random people.”

Izuku laughs again, breathless.

“Good. I like Kacchan, too.”

Izuku’s words make Katsuki’s heart beat so fast that his monitor gives him another warning. He pointedly ignores it.

Izuku thumbs at his lips, making him shudder. “Tell me the truth again, Kacchan. Did you like it when I kissed you?”

Katsuki is almost certain that the quirk has worn off by now. He doesn’t even have to lie when it comes to Izuku.

“I did,” he admits, gaze dropping to Izuku’s lips. “I liked it a lot—”

His words are cut off by yet another kiss. Izuku pulls him in by his waist this time, leaning over him and looming. His body traps Katsuki against the sofa and makes him hum at the feeling, melting against his lips.

Shivers run up his spine as Izuku digs his fingers into his waist. A soft gasp leaves his lips, causing him to open them. Izuku takes the advantage and slips his tongue between Katsuki’s lips, licking and tasting whatever the hell he wants to because Katsuki lets him.

Izuku has always been curious about everything. If he could, he’d be taking damn notes on Katsuki’s mouth right now. Since he can’t, he takes it all in, kissing Katsuki as if he’s learning him for later.

Katsuki shudders as he thinks about Izuku learning him well enough to kiss his fucking brains out.

“Zuku—”

When Izuku pulls away, there’s a string of saliva stretched out between them and it makes Katsuki stare in awe, even when it breaks off. Izuku licks his own lips, eyes heavily set on Katsuki’s.

“The hell, Izuku, you tryin’ to eat me alive?!”

He swears Izuku’s eyes darken along with that smirk on his lips. “Kacchan… Do you like it when I kiss you?” he once again asks, and Katsuki’s entire body surges with heat.

“Yeah? And? What about it?”

Leaning in, Izuku places a kiss on Katsuki’s jaw. Then he lowers himself to his neck, earning a genuine gasp from the blond as the touch meets.

“Wait, wait, wait— Oh, god.” Katsuki hisses when Izuku nibbles at his neck, warm and devilish. His kisses are like fireworks against his skin. “You- You’re supposed to be a nerd, not a damn— Izuku.”

When Izuku pulls back, he’s already left a red spot beneath his ear from where he’d sucked on his skin a little bit. Katsuki glares at him in shock. He knew he’d be a freak, but damn.

“Get your horny ass off of me and explain this shit. Since when do you like me?!”

“Since always, Kacchan. It’s always been you.”

“You cheesy loser.”

Izuku chuckles. “I can be your cheesy loser… if that’s what Kacchan wants, anyway.”

Katsuki tugs at the Dynamight sweater covering Izuku’s chest, pulling him closer.

“Kiss this stupid quirk out of me and then I’ll let you be my cheesy loser.”

Judging by the grin on his face, Izuku seems perfectly fine doing just that. He leans right in and attacks Katsuki with sweet kisses.

Maybe the quirk wasn’t a curse, after all.

They kiss for what seems like ages. At some point, Izuku pulls his phone out and plays classical music for Katsuki, grinning from ear to ear as he asks, “Do you know this song?”

Katsuki pecks his lips.

“Yeah.”

Izuku pecks his lips as well, then dives in further as he gets distracted away from their conversation. He gently bites Katsuki’s lower lip and drags it as he pulls away.

“Kacchan,” he lets out against his skin. “You wouldn’t dance to Mina’s music, but what about this? What if it’s just us?”

Katsuki gives Izuku a soft smile that is only reserved for loving him.

“You moron. Fine. I’ll dance with you.”

It takes them another five minutes of kissing on the sofa before they get up and sway together, Izuku pulling Katsuki in by his waist and still managing to steal kisses even when they’re dancing around the living room.

The real truth is, Katsuki can’t get enough of his beloved Izuku Midoriya.

~~~~~