Epilogue

Izuku had been back for a day and was fighting jetlag in his apartment. He'd only been gone a month, but it somehow felt like much longer.

He hadn't even bothered unpacking yet, and instead, sat on his couch, catching up on his work emails on his phone, fighting sleep.

Just when sleep was winning, there was a series of sudden, loud, violent bangs on his door.

Izuku jolted awake, on his feet, and opens the door. He didn't even have time to process the shock of seeing Kacchan there before the man violently pushed his way past Izuku and into the apartment.

"You haven't changed either!" he yelled. "You're still a crybaby, shitty nerd, can't do anything Deku who has the nerve to force people to chase him across the world!"

Izuku just stood there, still staring at Kacchan, trying to figure out if he was hallucinating. He must be more sleep deprived than he thought.

"Kacchan?" Izuku closed the door and hesitantly stepped close to the illusion.

Kacchan followed him with his eyes until Izuku was close, and the green-haired man slowly poked at one of his pecs.

His eyes widened when his finger met actual flesh. This was real!

Kacchan seized Izuku by the hand before he could back away, and pulled him almost flush against his body..

"Why do you still have that moronic look on your face?" he was crushing him under the weight of his gaze, "Haven't you figured it out by now?"

Clarity finally undertook Izuku, whose heart began to race wildly. He wouldn't even allow himself to hope, on the chance that he was mistaken.

"Figured what out?" Izuku his voice was shaky.

"You little—" a vein bulged on Kacchan's forehead, but he caught himself.

He angled himself so that he and Izuku were forcing each other head on, and their faces only inches apart.

"I'm only ever going to explain this once," he said, "so listen good, and burn it in that useless head of yours."

Izuku tried not to get swept up in Kacchan's intoxicating aroma in order to do just that.

He nodded.

Kacchan took a sharp breath.

"As soon as I heard about Auntie's injury, I visited her every day because I knew that eventually, you'd show up. I made up some fucking excuse to bring food over every night, just to be able to see you. I kept asking about Melissa because I wanted to know if I still had a chance. I told Auntie the truth about her, because I can't even stand the fucking lie of you being with someone other than me."

Izuku was feeling his face flush with every word coming out of Kacchan's mouth.

"And yesterday," he went on "I went to Auntie on my knees and asked her to give me the chance to make things right with you, and begged her for your address."

Izuku couldn't even imagine Kacchan doing anything like that. But how else would he be here? He hadn't given him his address.

"R-really?" Izuku struggled to keep his voice even.

"Yes, idiot," he was quieter now, "because I love you, and if you ever run away from me again, I'll kill you."

Izuku watched Kacchan scowl, but saw his face tint a light pink he'd never seen before. He cupped both sides of Kacchan's face and leaned in for a kiss.

Kacchan responded immediately, pulling Izuku flush against his and deepening the kiss in a way that made Izuku's head spin.

When they finally parted, Kacchan rested his forehead on Izuku's.

"Kacchan," he whispered, "if you really felt like this, why not just say so?"

"I underestimated how fucking dense you can be," he knit his brows slightly. "Do you really think I'd fuck just anybody?"

Now it was Izuku who flushed.

"Well, what about all those years ago?" he asked, "Why did you change our plans?"

He frowned deeply, looking away.

"I knew about your job offer in Hokkaido," he said. "And I knew that you were going to turn it down because of me."

Izuku stood straight up, mouth hanging open. He knew? He thought back to the day's events, Kacchan's weird behavior and sudden change of heart.

"You…you wanted me to break up with you?"

"If you'd stayed with me, you would've been holding yourself back." There was another emotion on Kacchan's face that Izuku had never seen before: regret. "Besides, I didn't think you'd leave the whole fucking country for 5 years."

When he thought about Kacchan's explanation, combined with his personality and actions, it made sense.

A potent mixture of relief, joy, and unrestrained love swelled up in Izuku, as well as one other emotion. He couldn't believe it. All these years, it hadn't been one sided at all.

The green-haired man slowly leaned his head back, before swiftly slamming it forward into Kacchan's nose.

Kacchan stumbled back a couple of steps, looking more shocked than anything at the sudden attack. It was the first time Izuku had ever hit him unprompted.

"Don't make those kinds of decisions by yourself anymore!" tears started streaming down his face. "I would have become Number 1 no matter what, and I would have been able to celebrate it with you!"

The anger that had initially sprouted on Kacchan's face instantly dissipated. He walked back up to the sobbing Izuku and wrapped his arms around him, letting him bury his teary face in his neck.

Kacchan leaned down and kissed the top of his head in the gentlest way he ever had.

"Come home, nerd."

Izuku considered everything that had happened, and then realized that it wasn't much of a consideration at all.

"Yeah."

Whew! This is the longest oneshot I've ever done, which I guess technically became a 3.5 shot? Did I scare you into thinking it wasn't a happy ending?

I always do happy endings!

If you've made it this far, I offer you my sincerest thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed.