Chapter 28: It's a Feeling You Cannot Miss/I Just Wanna Hold Your Hand

I'm an idiot. Granted, Asta was generally known to be not the brightest person in the world, but he usually was very good at reading other people and their emotions. He was people-smart, not book-smart. But right now, any emotional intelligence fled him as he watched Izuku stare at Asta in utter shock.

"Well," said Asta, awkwardly. He needed to change the subject quickly. "What do you want for dinner later?" Asta turned to run back to the kitchen, but Izuku grabbed his arm.

Izuku sputtered. "Um, no, no, let's go back to the part where you confessed to me?"

"I'd rather not," said Asta, shortly.

"Asta," said Izuku, who was red-faced and twitchy. "Do you mean it?"

"I don't say things I don't mean," said Asta, softly. "I never meant to tell you. I know how you feel about your Kacchan and I know…"

Izuku interrupted him. "I will always love Kacchan, that's true, but he and I agreed that we were better as friends. I love you too."

Asta stared at Izuku and could sense no lie from him. "What does that mean?"

"I don't know? We already live together and act like a married couple, according to Shinsou. How do you feel about kissing?" Izuku asked, shyly.

Asta grinned and said, "I like kissing. Holding hands, especially. And hugs and cuddling. Not so much the other stuff."

Izuku smiled, "Me too. So, uh, you said you made lunch already? You know what I would like for dinner, though, chicken and rice."

"Okay, that sounds good," said Asta. "I'm still annoyed that you went off on your own without telling me, but let's eat lunch and you can tell me what you found." Asta took Izuku's scarred hand into his and squeezed his hand. "I love you."

"I love you too."

With great ease, Izuku and Asta fell into a new pattern. They held hands when they sat outside after meals, just chatting away and talking about things like chores. At night, Izuku and Asta share a bed, sometimes with Asta as the little spoon and sometimes Izuku, holding each other through the nightmares. They took baths together.

There were many surprise kisses, in between meals, chores, and their daily walk. More importantly, they went even deeper with their conversations-about the fears, nightmares, worries from life, and worries about the afterlife. Izuku admitted that he needed something productive to do, which is why he was so interested in finding out who ran the Heroes' Afterlife in earnest. Asta admitted that he was worried that he'd get bored with farming and miss fighting.

Izuku was happy.

It wasn't the ecstatic kind of happiness, but quiet, content happiness, one that he never really felt before. Comfort wasn't the right word to describe it. It was like he started all over again. There was no baggage between them, no shared histories, only similar stories of being a hero to all and dying young. Neither had expectations of the other.

They also had an agreement that when Yuno, Noelle, and Kacchan came to the Heroes' Afterlife (because they were definitely bound to come here), that if the familiar heartbeats towards the love of their living lives grew great, they would part on good terms with no hard feelings. They were adults who had faced great adversity all their lives, so it was a practical decision.

Izuku should have been more insulted so that no one was surprised. Shinsou laughed and laughed at Izuku. Yagi and the other OFA holders were just happy for Izuku, not to mention the other heroes. Izuku found that Zora was quite intimidating when he wanted to be and told Izuku in no uncertain terms that if Izuku made Asta cry, Zora would make Izuku cry. He also found that Kirsch had no interest in holding Zora back at all and just looked so fondly at the red-head. Asta scolded them both. Naruto, Ichigo, and the others were not surprised either.

Ichigo had scratched his hair and said, "Well, you two were taken with each other from the get-go and strangers couples have sprung up. I mean, Gintoki and Ace for once, you know."

Naruto laughed and patted Izuku and Asta on the back.

Tsuna smiled happily and congratulated them.

All in all, Izuku had no complaints.

Except,

"Asta, please, no more tatoes, no more. I'm sick of tatoes."

"How can you be sick of tatoes, 'zuku?" Asta asked, munching on fries. "You could always cook."

Izuku sighed, "No. I'll stay with the house cleaning, thank you very much. Make me katsudon at least."

"Yes, dear."

Really that was the extent of their arguments, which just meant that to any visitors they sounded like an old married couple even more than they originally did.

Izuku was not offended. Not at all.