Hidden behind a mask, shades and a cap, Katsuki was looking around with purpose and Izuku was completely mesmerised by his elegance. All his movements were measured; they elongated his neck and tensed the muscles he had gained from years of training.
"Uh, Kacchan?" Tentatively, he touched Katsuki's shoulder to get his attention. Katsuki looked down at him and smiled.
"Sorry, I was looking for the good food. I remembered your mom used to pack you the most elaborate meals growing up and I was a little jealous. My ma was never that good at cooking, and dad tried his best." Katsuki resumed his search, his eyebrows pinching adorably above the rim of his shades; almost unnoticeable between where the rim of the cap dipped down and where the rim of his shades met the underside of his brow.
"Kacchan, it's fine. I'll eat whatever, I love carnival food!" Izuku looked around and saw popcorn, butter drifted in the cool breeze of the fast falling twilight. He tugged Katsuki by his wrist, afraid to hold his hand because honestly, he had no idea what he was doing with Katsuki Bakugou in a carnival on a Friday night. This was just a joke, wasn't it? Well, not a joke, but a one time thing, a jest Izuku meant as revenge in the way that forced Katsuki to spend time with him when Katsuki hated him before.
Katsuki pushed an unidentifiable amount of bills into the booth worker's hand who studied him a little too carefully before they hurried off, popcorn in hand. Izuku grasped a handful of kernels, popped it into his mouth and crunched happily.
"If we go on the ferris wheel, you'll get to eat your popcorn without spilling it." Katsuki guided Izuku toward the towering, twinkling, rotating circle bright against the darkening sky. Izuku felt his heart flutter against his ribcage. The ferris wheel would be close quarters; it was particularly odd of Katsuki to suggest it, he never had the impression of Katsuki ever wanting to be intimate with him beyond fulfilling their bargain.
"You sure, Kacchan? That's uh- you'll be stuck with me." Izuku eyed him as he threw more popcorn into his mouth.
"More like you'd be stuck up there, 'cause I could just leave." Katsuki said seriously.
"Oh." Izuku stopped chewing.
"I'm kidding, nerd." Katsuki teased as he gave a prepaid ticket to the man who chewed gum like a masticating cow as he looked at the line with a bored, unconcerned expression. Katsuki and Izuku bumped shoulders as they clambered clumsily into the thinly padded swinging bench before Katsuki pulled the barrier keeping them safe into place with one arm; Izuku didn't miss the way his muscle flexed with the effort.
Izuku shifted and his hip bumped Katsuki's, then he immediately retreated to his end of the unstable swinging bench held by two hinges with a sideways, entertained glance from Katsuki's hidden red eyes.
"If you shift anymore away from me, you'd find it's a long way down, dummy." Katsuki grinned at the sky and inhaled deeply, letting out a long, happy breath. "Oh man, this is the first time in weeks I just get to breathe for once without fucking thinking about image and shit."
Air combed its way through Izuku's curls and he realised Katsuki had his cap on, mask, and shades. He sniggered. "You can't breathe with a mask on, can you?"
Katsuki quirked an eyebrow. "Tryna revamp your popularity are ya? Wanna get caught with the number five hero again?"
"No!" Izuku immediately went pink. "I was just-"
"Teasin', nerd." Katsuki slid the loop of the mask off one ear and let it hang, then inhaled through his nose in a satisfied way. The stars had begun to twinkle merrily above them and Izuku couldn't see past Katsuki's face. He shifted in the seat and the entire thing rocked.
"Do you want some popcorn?" Izuku offered the half eaten buttery mess and Katsuki side eyed it.
"You really like that shit, huh?" Katsuki obliged by blindly putting his hand in and grasping a fistful of which he used one hand to throw singular kernels into his open mouth, the mask blowing gently in the wind. Izuku tore his eyes from Katsuki's working jaw and looked up to the sky finally and audibly gasped at the size of the moon now rising above the horizon and looking like a bonafide wheel of cheese.
"What were you lookin' at this entire time?" Katsuki nudged Izuku's knee with his own. Izuku's face was on fire and he was glad for the semi darkness and half hearted attempts of string lights around the frame of the ferris wheel. Their thighs had slid solidly against each other and Katsuki made no move to distance himself.
"Uh-the city?" Izuku's tongue fumbled and Katsuki laughed to the sky, unabashedly. He looked free and honestly, nothing like the stressed out, high strung, concentrated Dynamight on tv.
"We should get some of those disgusting slushies. And let me win ya something from the stupid gun thing. My aim is exceptional." It was Izuku's turn to laugh.
"You are exceptional, yea." They fell into a comfortable silence and Izuku's hand finally found the bottom of his bag. He noticed every time they had neared the base of the ferris wheel on their five rotations, Katsuki had ducked his head so his cap hid his face, but he didn't put the mask back on; it mysteriously disappeared from hanging idly on his ear. Izuku would be lying if he didn't want everyone to think they were together, but that was fuelling his crush, and he couldn't deal with those feelings comfortably, since this was a one time thing.
Katsuki tucked his head to Izuku's ear as they exited the ferris wheel platform, and Izuku reminded himself it was just to hide his face. He sort of wished Katsuki didn't but he was blushing so furiously and enjoying the proximity, he couldn't object. Katsuki breathed and Izuku realised he was chuckling.
"You're blushing, nerd." And Katsuki pulled Izuku into the crowd where he resumed the distance between them, but somehow, their fingers were intertwined as Katsuki tugged him through the crowd. Izuku yelped in protest at his comment but the chatter drowned him out and soon, Katsuki paused at the rifle station where balloons were tacked by their tails to the wall, and stuffed bunnies, hero figures, and a big panda lined the top on a shelf as incentives.
"Okay, I'm gonna win you that All Might." Katsuki jabbed his finger at the biggest plushie and Izuku opened his mouth to protest, but Katsuki bit down on his lip, picked up the rifle with a bright red tip and offensive green body where he could see the plastic darts in the clip. "Oi, old man, how much balloons I gotta bust to get that one?"
The 'old man' was maybe mid thirties, with a dishevelled bun, grumpy demeanour, and looked very uninterested in being there; his eyes roved Katsuki's face with a flicker of recognition before he grunted in monotone. "You hit five in a row, you get that plushie."
"Kacchan, the balloons won't pop cuz they never blow them up with enough tension-" Izuku wanted to touch his shoulder but Katsuki had already propped the gun to his eye and, one, two, three, four, five.
" Ha! Suck it!" Katsuki grinned around and found Izuku staring at him, so he bumped him with his shoulder. "Told ya, I was gettin' you that plushie."
The old man, disgruntled, handed Katsuki the gigantic plushie which Katsuki promptly spun around and thrust into Izuku, almost toppling him. Izuku laughed and hugged it, instantly nearly dropped it as Katsuki tugged him again by his hand, pushing people out of the way now and grinning so brightly back at Izuku, Izuku wanted to kiss him again. He looked like he was having fun .
"How did you do that?" Izuku had to yell to be heard over the chatter, laughter, clapping, and various game noises. They came to a stop at the slushie station and Katsuki was already paying the man, who had started pouring bright red and blue mush into a clear plastic cup before sticking a thick straw into the mess and doing it again.
"Do what? Pay?" Katsuki took his from the man and slurped on it, then winced from obvious brainfreeze. The expression on his face was utterly adorable. Izuku laughed and pushed him slightly on his bicep which was solid under his palm.
"No! The balloon game is rigged so people lose!" Izuku leaned in closer to Katsuki to make sure he heard him and the slight tinge of glycerin wafted up to his nose; Izuku narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Katsuki's body spray did not cover it and Katsuki was grinning a little devilishly.
"You just aim for the part by the tail where it's pinned on. It's most stressed there, pops easy. Y'know, I'm a pro hero, Izuku. I know how to find the weak spots." Katsuki said as if he were explaining it to an audience. Suddenly, Katsuki slung his arm around Izuku's shoulder and pulled him into a sideways hug before whispering in his ear, his breath cold from the slushy, his lips tinted blue. "And, I knew the stupid things were rigged. What's the point of havin' my quirk if I don't use it to make my one-time boyfriend happy, huh?"
Izuku's ears probably turned bright red with the way they tingled from Katsuki's nearness. Katsuki released him, Izuku hugged his All Might plushie with one arm and sucked on the straw of the slushy in his other. They walked in comfortable silence, something Izuku realised Katsuki enjoyed, while his head twisted left and right as he observed the carnival. Like a kid.
On account of their too filled stomachs, Izuku and Katsuki left the carnival and the air immediately rushed into roaring silence and calming coolness around them.
"Y' up for a lift? Or d'you wanna take a car?" Katsuki looked around into the mostly deserted and dark parking lot, the noises and smells of the carnival had followed them, seemingly calling them back.
Izuku stared up at him, with his giant plushie in tow and blinked. He wanted to be close to Katsuki again, to soar with him into the night, to trust him completely with his safety. But the damned plushie.
"You worried I'd fuck up the thing?" Katsuki pointed at the oversized prize and tilted his head to observe Izuku. "Or ya don't want me touchin' you?"
"Uh-" Izuku blushed and was again grateful for the dark. "No! It's just big and I don't know how I'd hold on to you and this."
"I'll show ya." Katsuki came up to him after hesitating briefly waiting for Izuku's wordless consent, and in one smooth movement, his arm came up around Izuku's back and his forearm became taut and solid against his ribcage while his hand held onto the plushie just under Izuku's grasp of it. Izuku's free arm unconsciously linked behind Katsuki's neck on reflex of his previous experience and he could smell the cologne dabbed against Katsuki's neck, mingling with the glycerin smell of his palms.
"You can't blast off with one hand!" Izuku squirmed, his mind not able to understand the physics of it.
"Not if ya keep squirmin' like that." Katsuki held him tighter and Izuku stilled. "There ya go. Now turn into me a bit," Izuku did as he was told and the plushie was now squished between them, a blessed barrier between their bodies. "I was gonna use one arm, cuz I can since I'm amazin', but , since you're so ridiculous, I'll use both. Just hold on tight, alrigh'?"
Izuku's cheek was pressed to his clavicle and he nodded, intoxicated and trying not to show it. The plushie was not enough space. His crush was growing exponentially out of control and he needed to put a lid on it.
Loud bangs erupted into his eardrums, but they seemed muffled somehow and they were off in a rush of cold air. Izuku's eyes were shut tight, scared to look down as his stomach swooped into a mixture of weightlessness and slushing contents.
"You doin' alright?" Katsuki's voice was in his ear, a soothing, comforting tone. Izuku nodded, the muscles in his neck tight, his jaw hurt from being shut so tightly, he couldn't' say a word. "Open your eyes, nerd."
Izuku did.
He almost shut them again, except it was such an exceptional view of the cityscape, he couldn't look away. "You see this every day?" Izuku half yelled into the wind, he was afraid his words would be lost being that his mouth was nowhere near Katsuki's ear.
"Yea. The best parta my day." Izuku could tell he was grinning by the sound of his voice.
Somehow, Izuku found himself standing outside his front door with Katsuki hovering as he fumbled his keys; his heart was pounding from the adrenaline rush of just flying through the air and he didn't think his heart would calm down tonight. His lips were tingling with the memory of their kiss and he chastised himself for thinking about it; his ears turned bright red when he remembered Katsuki's mouth so close to the sensitivity of his lobe mere minutes ago and he dropped the keys.
"Uh-" he stammered to the floor as he stooped to retrieve the keys, the plushie absurdly in the way like a gigantic baby, "you can leave. I mean, I'm okay, I'm home. Thanks."
"You could be datin' anyone, y'know. Why aren't you?" Katsuki pulled the plushie out of Izuku's awkward hold which allowed him to grab the keys and stand; they were too close again.
"Who said I wasn't seeing someone?" Izuku thought the air was sucked out from around him, the scent of faded explosives wafted around him, a faint tinge of smoke and all of Katsuki's cologne. Katsuki laughed.
"Alright, nerd. Choose someone better for a date next time, okay?" Katsuki looked as though he was about to turn, but he hesitated and Izuku thought it might have had something to do with the look on his over expressive face. Then he held out the plushie and Izuku was blushing. "I almost took this, sorry. I'll get ya that meeting with All Might, okay? The old man has- uh, a special schedule."
"Thanks, Kacchan." Izuku's eyes dropped to the plushie and his grip tightened onto its soft surface making it pucker. "I had a really nice time."
"It was nice, wasn't it?" Katsuki's voice was closer and Izuku lifted his eyes and met Katsuki's red eyes, exposed now as the shades now hung onto the neck of his sleeveless t-shirt. He had spun his cap around, but Izuku probably didn't notice since his head was so tightly tucked into the nape of his neck.
And Katsuki lowered his head and his lips fell gently onto Izuku's slightly parted in surprise mouth, but he responded. It was sweet, and short, and Katsuki was grinning because Izuku was flustered and almost dropped his keys again.
"There ya go, one perfect date." Katsuki looked pleased with himself, but his cheeks had gone a little pink and Izuku wondered if they were pink like that before the kiss because of the cold night air, or… Izuku cleared his throat.
"Thanks?" Katsuki chuckled, a rumbly sort of laugh that Izuku hadn't heard before. He really needed to get rid of this crush because his mind was melting or it might have been left somewhere in the clouds on his way home. This was a pretend date, as part of a deal. He needed to remember that. "Consider that part of your word fulfilled I guess?"
"Hey, do you think ya mom would mind me coming for dinner on a weekend? I remember her stir fry was amazing." Katsuki's hand was dragging through his hair nervously now as he flipped his cap in his other hand in small acrobatic movements. Izuku's scrambled brain struggled to understand. But then he did.
"Sure. She cooks for me on a Sunday, it's our family time!" Word vomit. It was word vomit. He couldn't stop it. "Come over at six, you remember where I live right? Mom would be so happy to see you!"
Katsuki grinned and placed his cap back on his head. "Alright then, I'll see ya then, nerd."
"Right." Izuku turned to place his key finally in the keyhole. "See you." And the books on the shelves of Bookmarked all collectively sighed at Izuku's complete stupidity.
