Izuku's ears were ringing. The eruption of questions from the reporters, the clambering over each other, noises of chairs scraping as people stood up, the endless clicking of the shutters in every camera, the whiny charging sound for the flashes were all an overload to his senses. Did Katsuki just say he was stepping down? But becoming the number one hero was his dream…
"What brought about the sudden change, Dynamight?" Katsuki had called on someone to ask their question, and it sounded like the man had broken a dam, the question burst out of him and echoed loudly as everyone settled into restless whispers to hear him. Katsuki smiled a little wistfully, his mouth lifting higher on one side.
"I wanted to take time to focus on myself." He said after a second. The crowd laughed, some nervous, some disbelieving, most genuine. Katsuki was making people laugh at his press conferences. He still didn't know why Katsuki would want to take a break. Katsuki pointed at someone else and the reporter stood stock still as though at attention.
"Whenever a hero says that, it's because they've done something controversial. What's the real reason?" He sat abruptly, camera shutters clicked prematurely.
Katsuki just cocked his head and narrowed his eyes, pressing his lips together a little. He sucked at his teeth making a tch sound. He sighed. "I recently discovered my goals have changed, and I thought it was a good opportunity for me to figure out how to accomplish my new goals."
There was a healthy murmur at that as everyone wondered aloud what that meant. What was the old goal, being number one? Everyone already knew that, he used to yell it to the cameras all the time. Why was it now an old goal and what was the new one? Izuku was going through conversations in his head, a sparring match of words between himself and imaginary Katsuki. He was willing Katsuki to stay, to not let his ranking slip.
"What was your previous goal?" Izuku snapped out of his mind monologuing when there was a high screech the mic made as the reporter asked her question. She sounded a little timid, but it might be because Katsuki looked very unlike himself. And in a lot of ways, that was terrifying. Angry Katsuki, angry Dynamight was the normal man everyone was used to. A grinning, at ease Dynamight had everyone tense.
Katsuki scratched his neck and grinned "To be number one hero of course. To follow in All Might's footsteps and be the best." Izuku found himself nodding to that statement. Katsuki pointed into the crowd again.
"You're number three. If you leave now, your ranking might drop!" Izuku nodded again. Everyone understood! They were with him, on his side, they could all tell Katsuki he is capable of doing it. Don't walk away now.
Katsuki laughed. A short huff of laughter that sent butterflies and warmth through Izuku all the way to his toes. "I know. And it's not the end of the world." Izuku saw his mouth say the words. Those actual words come out of his mouth on that stage with hundreds of witnesses. These people who had no idea they were witnessing the most baffling, amazing, mind blowing thing ever. The Katsuki Bakugou is okay with not being number one. The blond seemed to be getting into a rhythm and he pointed at another tall hand in the crowd.
"When are you coming back?" She asked. Voices erupted around her to echo her question.
"Are you coming back?"
"How long are you going to be gone for?"
Katsuki looked surprised, his eyes widened slightly which rarely happened. He broke into a wide, genuine smile because, and Izuku hoped it was because of this, but because he was going to be missed. The public loved him. He had succeeded in turning that angry image around into someone loveable. Sure, he was covered in blood, damaged, angry, yelling in every newspaper article. But there hadn't been a single person who had not known to rely on him when they were in trouble. Him being the third ranked hero was a disservice. Anyone who needed rescuing asked if Dynamight was on his way. Izuku needed him to know that they would miss him.
Katsuki, being as dramatic as Izuku had ever seen him, stroked his chin and smiled. "Depends."
"On what?" The crowd had hushed and the one man who could speak asked the question everyone wanted to ask anyway. Katsuki inhaled deeply and exhaled so completely, his body sagged as though he sighed. But he hadn't sighed, it seemed like he was putting order to his thoughts. It reminded Izuku of how he would calm himself when he had too many things, too many ideas bouncing around inside his head.
Katsuki smiled into the sea of faces, they were all enraptured. "The thing about being number one, or wanting to be number one for as long as I have been pursuing this dream… is once you get a little bit of this fame, you either want more of it, or you want it to stop. I wanna keep saving people but, I can't be number one like All Might. I can't smile and save everyone, I can do one of those things but not both. I wanna take time away, train, become better, re-center myself." Katsuki was rambling. Izuku stared at the man he loved as he swung an arm bashfully back and forth, shifted from one hip to the next, cataloguing his nervous smiles. He was baring it all, how he felt about his own goals and now who he was aiming to be. "I have one person to thank, he gave me clarity to make the choice."
Izuku thought his lungs might have given up mid breath. He thought he should feel guilty that he thought it was him, that Katsuki was doing this for him. But his heart grew so big and light, that there was no room for it. Someone in the crowd asked the question to get to the answer everyone wanted but Izuku suspected he already knew. "Are we to credit All Might with this too?"
"Na. It's 'cause I fell in love." Fell in love. With him? Katsuki was in love with him?
Izuku watched him form the words and his own heart exploded in his chest. It felt like a goddamn movie. He was experiencing someone else's life, there was no way this was real. He glanced sideways at his friends who had brought him here and they were all staring at Izuku, open mouthed, or grinning or all out whopping with the crowd who clambered to find out who the lucky person was. He didn't think.
He stepped forward in the aisle and called him. "Kacchan." It wasn't loud, it wasn't a yell or anything he thought would get Katsuki's attention. But-
Like magic, Katsuki's eyes locked onto him. Even in the din, and surrounded by taller people, people yelling his names, Katsuki found him. He had heard him. They gazed at each other for a long time, the world around them seeming to slow to a still, the sounds falling into silence. Katsuki grinned, that blow-you-away grin that made Izuku's insides twist and burst outward from sheer happiness. Katsuki was about to say something, his mouth already open and forming the word but a reporter shouted a question that stopped him.
"Is it Izuku Midoriya?" And without waiting for a response, "Who is he?"
Katsuki looked at Izuku and said in a level voice, very clearly into the microphone; it didn't echo or distort. "Izuku is a childhood friend. I've known him since we were four. We grew up together." Katsuki's voice was warm with affection.
"Just friends?" The reporter laughed a little, he sounded unconvinced. Katsuki blinked away from Izuku to look at the reporter who stopped chuckling under his gaze. Then Katsuki's red eyes returned to Izuku and he jerked his chin up, telling Izuku to ask his question.
Heads turn to look at him, Izuku could feel the nerves that came when one was stared at by many pairs of eyes. He focused on Katsuki's face and tried to make his sentence make sense before speaking out loud. "Is there a chance-" All eyes were on Izuku now, then the camera shutters clicked and the flashes blinded him. He blinked the white balls from his vision away and he saw Katsuki up there, waiting patiently, love beaming off his face, beckoning Izuku, calming him. This was his shot. "Is there a chance that you and Izuku Midoriya can be more than friends?"
The crowd had certainly realised who he was. His green curls were on full display, he wasn't wearing any shades or beanies, and the whispers began to build. Katsuki grinned; as in his face full-on split into two. Izuku counted the beats of his heart as he waited with bated breath, knowing he had just put everything on the line for the world to see. And Katsuki said, "Yea, nerd."
Izuku hadn't realised he was crying. He wiped at his cheeks furious with himself. Because all the photos of this moment would now feature his rivers for tears. Katsuki stepped away from the podium just as Izuku walked up to the stage, climbed the five steps and strode toward him with purpose. And kissed him.
It was Katsuki Bakugou's body and lips pressed against him. Breathing him, tasting him. In front of the entire world. The white noise was nothing compared to the feel of Katsuki kissing him again. He couldn't care less about anything else.
