Izuku didn't see Katsuki for another two weeks. Ochako acknowledged the receipt of the photos and asked to be given time to review them. It was part of the contract, so Izuku and Shouto agreed, crossing their fingers that it was a complete project. They were quite enjoying the return to normalcy in their schedules and being able to spend time together again.

The ache Izuku gained from daily exercise was what he needed to sleep soundly at night. He missed it, it was pleasant and made him feel a sense of accomplishment when a busy day at the studio oftentimes didn't. He had work fulfillment issues, because now that things had picked up, he began to feel a little fraudulent.

What made him think he could just become some amazing photographer in a world that was literally a sea of photographers. Some amazing photographer that could just take photos of Katsuki Bakugou and hope that he could boost his already surprisingly successful career so far.

Those were his thoughts before falling asleep, sometimes. Shouto's peppered kisses and warm arms were enough to keep the thoughts from drowning him.

"They loved it, Ochako loved it." Shouto whispered whenever Izuku tried to voice it out loud. Any doubt Izuku ever displayed was met with warm affection to combat the feelings of inadequacies, and it was one of the many things Izuku absolutely loved about Shouto.

Izuku wasn't someone who thought 'this person completes me' in the way that he didn't think people needed others to complete them, but Shouto certainly did help him be better. Better than the mumbling mess he often became in the past whenever his insecurities writhed to the surface and threatened to drag him to the bottom of the newly borne sea of tears from his eyes.

One night, the two weeks passed by pleasantly uneventful and Izuku was home alone. Shouto had gone to spend the night with his family at his sister's insistence. His mom was missing him and Izuku had encouraged him to go. Izuku missed his own mom, but he sees her once a month for a Sunday lunch with Shouto and messages her often. Rei was a little introverted, so nights when she wanted family night were usually welcomed and snatched at.

But because Izuku was alone, his mind spiralled and the fourteen days that had passed without anything from Ochako had begun to pile heavy thoughts together. Izuku grabbed his phone and opened WhatsApp. He clicked on Shouto, his most recent interaction and his fingers hovered over the keyboard.

Shit, I don't want to bother him on family night, Izuku thought. He locked his phone and dropped his hand and phone to the bed in a poof .

His mind wandered to Katsuki, how he hadn't seen him since going to the gym for the first time a couple weeks ago. He wondered if he was okay, but he was probably busy with some shoot or commercial or something and it wasn't Izuku's business anyway. He groaned in frustration. He really needed friends. Venting to Iida would probably be inappropriate, about work anyway.

Instead, latching onto the idea that he had no friends of his own other than those he had pulled into One for All's studio, his mind spiraled into his past to pinpoint when he had stopped making them. He was always an easy going kid, but, when Katsuki bullied him all through school, no one wanted to join him on being the receiving end of Katsuki's explosive anger, so he was ostracized.

It's Katsuki's fault, Izuku pondered. He shook the thought from his mind and remembered that it didn't matter in the present anyway. He was happy. Shouto was right for disliking Katsuki though. And Izuku didn't understand himself defending him so much, but, then again, Izuku defended everyone. He was the quintessential anti-bully .

If he had been bigger than the bullies anyway.

So, he worked out, as soon as puberty had caught up to him and his body was capable of building muscle, he gymed. Izuku felt a swell of pride with how far he had come and in a huff, he got off the bed, his phone in hand and dropped into the chair before his computer. He opened Katsuki's photos that remained on the desktop until the job was closed and stared at the red eyes that had a softness to them that would never naturally look at Izuku like that.

Deku, Izuku heard Katsuki's voice in his head. Izuku shivered. He scrolled through the photos, even the untouched ones and stopped at the photo of Katsuki with his tongue out, middle finger in center frame and in focus. Izuku's vision went out of focus as his mind wove together a string of thoughts.

I could text him and ask him what Ochako thinks. He's my childhood friend, it's not inappropriate. Not really. Wait, do I have his number? I have his number from when we were 14, would he still have the same number? I don't, so what's the odds. Probably none, right? So what's the harm?

Izuku's hands had been working while he thought because to his surprise, he had unlocked his phone and was staring at the search bar in WhatsApp, Jastuki typed in. Izuku made a sound with his tongue and retyped it, Katsuki. Still nothing

Did I not transfer his number when I switched? No, I copied all, Izuku thought, chewing his lip. Oh!

His fingers deleted Katsuki and typed Kacchan . The number appeared as a result, an angry looking pomeranian as the icon. Izuku's heart dropped, he remembered that being his profile icon since they were 17. Likely he didn't have that number anymore. He opened the chat anyway.

Kacchan
'last seen today at 18:03'

"Oh, it's active!" Izuku said out loud in a hushed voice. His fingers hovered over the keyboard. Hey? Is this Kacchan? No, play it safe with hey. His fingers typed the three characters and pressed send before he could hesitate. Clock. One tick. Two ticks.

Fuck. Izuku stared at the simple word, the lone word in the chat panel and his heart dropped. Fuck , he thought, What did I do? Shit, shit.

The ' last seen today at 18:03' blinked and switched to ' online' . Izuku felt his head swim and he took a breath, realising he hadn't been breathing. Two blue ticks. Fuck.

'What the fuck do you want?'
-Kacchan

"Oh, shit. That even sounds Kacchan." Izuku said. "Is this how he talks to people?" Izuku typed, hesitantly, the name strange at his fingertips. 'Katsuki Bakugou?'

'You messaged me, fucking nerd. Why would you message someone you don't know?'
-Kacchan

Izuku's breath hitched. Shit it was him. Izuku didn't type anything for a while, staring at 'nerd' and waiting for his heart to slow down.

'Sorry, I didn't think you had this number anymore.'
-Izuku

'You messaged someone at 2 am and didn't know if it was the person you intended to message? Are you dumb?'
-Kacchan
'What am I saying, of course you are. What do you want?'
-Kacchan

Izuku looked at the bottom right of his computer at the clock, and it shone brightly 2:09 am. His mind took a nosedive and everything went white for a moment before he glanced at his phone. He always forgot there was a clock on his phone too. Shit, fuck, shitfuckity shit.

'It's nothing. Sorry, I didn't see the time, goodnight.'
-Izuku

Safe, Izuku thought, He won't continue the conversation.

'You didn't wake me. What's up"
-Kacchan

Izuku looked at the message and blinked. Was he imagining this? Why was he up? Why was he being nice?

'Worried about what Ochako thinks about the photos is all.'
-Izuku

Izuku wondered why he was still talking, he wanted to end the conversation but he was intrigued by Katsuki's sudden… interest?

'She loves them, dipshit. After all, I'm the subject.'
-Kacchan

Izuku laughed. Katsuki's middle finger on the computer screen with his wicked grin perfectly encapsulating that message. He turned off the monitor and climbed back into bed. The fatigue from gyming was not nearly enough to let him drift to sleep earlier tonight, but it was creeping through his muscles now and pulling him into the softness of the bed.

'There might be talks about maybe doing one more stylized shoot, but don't tell Ochako I told you that'
-Kacchan

Izuku read it twice and a small breath of oh! escaped him. Then he groaned. That meant more extra hours and he and Shouto were both just enjoying normalcy. But he was relieved, nothing was wrong with the photos. Yay.

'Oh, thanks Kacchan. I'm relieved'
-Izuku

Izuku smiled at the screen, saw ' typing…' and his eyes closed. His phone dropped to his chest and he fell asleep before he knew. He dreamt peacefully of days at the riverside and a laughter that was familiar, but he couldn't find who it belonged to. It was still a blanket of warmth and Izuku was happy for it anyway.

He found his phone under him when he woke up the next morning. When he unlocked his phone, the events of last night flooded back to him and woke him up. No new message.

Kacchan
'last seen today at 2:31'