The soup on the desk has lost its heat by now, but the same couldn't be said for Midoriya's face.
"-probably the first time I saw your mom mad, god, I almost felt bad for you." Bakugou snickered quietly.
"Y-You s-should've!" The smaller boy stuttered, beet red as he felt the other's chest rise with the exhale, "It was your f-fault the window b-broke anyway!"
They've been reminiscing over childhood memories for the past hour now, Izuku doesn't know how the conversation started-or how they ended up in this position, with him snuggled into Katsuki's side while the blonde slung a protective arm around his shoulders-what he does know was that this was not good for his heart. At all. The change of topic had been nice at first; it distracted him from the unsettling nightmare he had, but now he was way more distracted by the husky breath in his ear to actually focus on the words being said.
"You're the one who wanted to see how far I could throw." Katsuki rebutted, a fond smile forming on his handsome features, "Don't act like you were completely innocent Deku."
Izuku gulped, his thoughts were far from innocent as he felt the hold on his shoulder tighten. Warmth bloomed throughout his body and he pressed further into his crush to hide the furious blush on his cheeks.
This is strange… He thought to himself.
The usually explosive teen was treating him so delicately, like he was made out of glass or paper. The kind, gentle touches, the soothing tone...it was odd. Kacchan could be sweet at times but never to this degree, never to this level of caring, open, tenderness. It almost felt...
...intimate.
B-BUT THAT'S NOT IT! The green haired boy reasoned with himself. He's just being a good friend and comforting me after my nightmare-!
"You okay Deku? You're shaking." Worry was clearly evident in his voice, a stark difference from the usual 'just beneath the surface concern'. It left Izuku stammering,
"Y-yeah! I'm okay, j-just a b-bit cold..."
Bakugou scoffed, "You're a terrible liar." He shifted in his seat to see the other better.
"Something's obviously bothering you, what is it?"
Izuku turned his head to the side. His gaze landed on an All Might figurine he'd bought that somehow ended up on Katsuki's night table.
Well let's see-I have a fever, I'm still not sure whether that was a nightmare or a repressed memory, and a little more than an hour ago I realized my feelings for you run wayyy deeper than a simple crush and there's no way those feelings are requited.
But instead of saying all that, he responded with a clipped, "I'm fine. Just tired."
The muted vibrations of the radiator in the hallway were suddenly very clear. Soft whirs of generating heat filled the quiet, vapors seeped under the door and into the bedroom, creating a stuffy humidness in the air.
"...You can talk to me Deku." Katsuki finally said in a hushed whisper. "I promise I won't get mad."
Izuku clamped his eyes shut, heart thumping hard against his chest. There it was again. That misleading care. It was messing with his brain, feeding him false hope.
'It's not impossible he likes you back.'
Yeah right.
What gave Kaminari that idea? Kacchan could never feel the same. He frowned sourly, about to dismiss the opinion when Todoroki's words sprang to mind.
'You should tell him how you feel.' The solemn boy said as they climbed the mountain.
Then Kirishima's.
'Don't sweat it, it's probably not as hopeless as you think.' Eijiro assured after Izuku admitted to having a crush on their friend. 'I'm sure Bakugou's got a thing for curly haired, freckled guys.' The redhead winked good naturedly.
Izuku blinked. It just occurred to him that three of his classmates knew about his crush and didn't think it was futile, in fact, they thought it was plausible and actually encouraged him to go after Kacchan.
If Kaminari and Kirishima-two of his closest friends-think I have a chance, then...could it possibly be true? Could Kacchan maybe...perhaps...like me back? He wondered, the tiniest bit of hope beginning to bubble within him.
'It's better to know than to always wonder 'what if', right?'
"Deku?" Bakugou called out, bringing him back to the present.
With a spike of determination, he swiftly turned towards the blonde. He flinched momentarily when he found Kacchan's face only centimeters away, but immediately gained his courage back when he noticed the other struggled to keep eye contact too.
'You should definitely ask Bakugou how he feels.'
"Kacchan, what do I mean to you?"
Katsuki was caught off guard.
He had been for a while now, ever since he came back into his room and found Deku crying, he's been at a total loss for what to do. He's acted mostly on instinct up until now, hugging the boy, pulling him close, talking about calming memories, anything to keep that god awful expression off his face.
He hadn't been thinking about how much his actions actually gave away.
DAMN IT! What the hell was I thinking!? Of course Deku would realize from all that! He thought with rapidly pinkening cheeks. Shit shit shit what do I say?
His mouth opened but nothing came out. Luckily he was saved by Izuku, who grew anxious from the lack of response.
"I mean like-! I'm just wondering! First we were childhood friends, then we...weren't. Then we became rivals, and then friends again! And now…" Izuku hesitated, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt.
"...We're still friends but, sometimes…" He trailed off uncertainly.
Katsuki watched the nervous face in front of him.
Maybe Deku hasn't figured it out…well that's good. He almost let out an audible sigh, glad his newly discovered feelings weren't found out so soon. He considered the question asked after his relief subsided.
'Kacchan, what do I mean to you?'
The blonde furrowed his eyebrows in thought. He didn't wanna label them as friends-Kirishima was a friend, Kamanari was a friend, Deku wasn't as low down on Katsuki's list as those two losers. Deku was...special.
Obviously. Katsuki wanted to roll his eyes at the fluttering in his stomach.
The freckled boy had been with him through everything, good times, bad times, the worst of times...no matter how much their relationship's changed throughout the years, Deku's always stayed the same. Patient, kind, understanding...right by his side. That's because he was...
"...You're Deku."
"Huh?"
"You're Deku to me."
"Oh." Izuku frowned at that, like that wasn't what he wanted to hear. Katsuki quickly clarified,
"Not useless Deku!" He said hastily, moving away so that they sat facing each other. "Or round face's version of Deku, or your hero name Deku or whatever. You're just…." He stopped and gestured a hand in the air, hoping Izuku would get it.
Green eyes looked at him expectantly, waiting for him to finish.
Guess not. Bakugou internally groaned. His cheeks burned as he looked away and murmured,
"You're my Deku."
…..
…..
"Eh!? I'm-what?! You can't just-!" Izuku squeaked, high pitched and flustered. The sound almost made Katsuki feel proud of himself, except he was just as embarrassed at the moment.
"That doesn't answer my question! You can't just say I'm 'yours'-"
"Why not? You basically called me yours a while ago. Remember 'give Kacchan back'?"
"T-that was different!" Izuku spluttered, incredibly red now, "You were being kidnapped! I wasn't thinking about phrasing-"
"I'm not saying I own you or anything," Katsuki interrupted, "You asked me what you mean to me and that's it. You're my Deku."
My first friend. Rival. Crush.
"That-that still doesn't.."
Bakugou poked his forehead, pushing Izuku's downcast face up until he was forced to look at him.
"Don't think too hard about it 'kay? You're my Deku and I'm Kacchan to no one else but you, got that nerd?" Katsuki asked, a confident smile in place this time.
Izuku was sent into orbit by the last sentence, higher than Uraraka's quirk could ever take him. Did Kacchan just say he belongs to me? He wondered fuzzily, mind clouded by the rush of dopamine. What does he mean by that though? Are we friends? More than friends?
There were an endless amount of ways that could be interpreted. However, despite the vagueness of it all, Izuku thinks he somewhat understood. A small smile subconsciously made its way to his lips.
"There's no other way to define us really." Katsuki added, feeling a weight off his shoulders now that his Deku seemed happy again.
Izuku beamed at his Kacchan.
"Yeah, that's true." He agreed in a daze.
He might not be sure exactly where he stood with the blonde, but one thing was for sure.
They weren't leaving each other anytime soon.
Mitsuki arrived home at twelve o' clock that night, jiggling her keys softly so as to not disturb anyone sleeping.
It turns out she didn't need to worry about that.
In the dark of the living room, she spotted her son and Inko's on the couch, faces only visible from the dim glow of the television. She doesn't know why they even bothered to turn it on though, seeing as they were completely ignoring the movie being played.
"Whaaat? No way Todoroki did that!"
"I shit you not, he legit blew up the restaurant's trash can when you and Kirishima were in the bathroom!" Katsuki howled with laughter, gasping in between breaths, "He said-he thought-it was his dad!"
"Oh my god!" Izuku giggled uncontrollably.
Mitsuki crossed her arms and leaned against the wall that separated the living room from the entryway of the house. Normally she would've yelled at them to go to bed and turn off the TV if they weren't using it-their electric bills were high enough dammit!-but she found she didn't have it in her at that moment. She actually felt a rare pang of motherly affection as she watched the two boys, wrapped around a blanket and laughing carelessly about random events, just like they did as children.
"And you know what else?" Katsuki asked, the crevasses of his dimples illuminated by the blue light-jesus when was the last time he smiled? Fuck did that make her nostalgic.
"What?"
She watched as her son leaned over and whispered something in the others' ear, making him laugh loudly. She took in the way Katsuki's eyes lit up at the sight, looking at Izuku like he was the most precious thing on this planet.
It was then she realized.
Ha, who would've thought the brat would fall for sweet little Izuku? She smirked.
It didn't surprise her really, she saw how possessive he was of him when they were kids, it was bound to happen sooner or later. Yet she couldn't help the sense of pride swelling up in her. She smiled at the expression on her sons' face; it was the same look she gave her husband when they first started dating.
Her baby was growing up.
She left the corridor then, going up the stairs. As much as she would love to pry in and maybe secretly record them for future blackmail-she knew that was wrong and so forced herself away. Before she went to bed though, she wondered,
Did Masaru give him the talk?
Well. That was a conversation for another day...
My headcanon is that "Deku" means first or my number one priority to Katsuki :)
I just wanna apologize for this late chapter, somehow I'm even more busy in quarantine -.- And I also wanna thank you guys for all your wonderful reviews! It honestly makes my day when I see such nice comments about my work, which speaking of, I've published 2 short fics a while ago-Datte Atashi No Hero and The Disastrous Life of Bakugou K., a lot of u have read them already but I'm just letting the rest know in case u wanna read more of my writing but don't wanna wait forever for another update :P (I'm really, really sorry) I'll try my best to get it up in under a month
Edit-NEW FANFIC-The Talk, now available to read on my profile page :D