*Izuku*
"You snore." Katsuki swallowed his food and didn't look away from Izuku as he stabbed at his plate.
"I do not!" Izuku almost knocked over his orange juice as he gestured wildly.
"Did ya mother tell ya that?" Katsuki rolled his eyes.
"Wait. Does that mean you watch me while I sleep?" Izuku teased. He decided to take the offensive. And Katsuki was right. His mother, nor Shouto ever told him he snored. So obviously, Katsuki was wrong.
"Dumbass. You slept drunk on my bed and kept me up half the night, and I wish I meant that in a good way." Katsuki grinned. Izuku had come to realise that no touching or kissing didn't mean no flirting. They flirted more than they talked sometimes. The conversations hardly ever made sense.
Eijirou never asked questions, but he now watched them like a man being entertained by his favourite sport on television when they stayed in his apartment for his television. Katsuki and Izuku had taken to spending time together outside of the red head's apartment and line of sight.
It had been a week and the landlord was expected to get back to them today with all the possible listings. Izuku got his pick of the litter. They (just Katsuki) cooked at Katsuki's apartment and were eating, waiting for the call.
Izuku was embarrassed about that night like it happened yesterday.
"I was drunk! Cut me some slack. If I'd have known you wanted to be kept up, I'd have told you to come to bed." Izuku put another bite sized chunk of food in his mouth. It was spicy and sweet. The chicken was soft and succulent. The sesame seeds were nice and toasty, little crunchy bits among all the sauce.
Katsuki was the chef today. Izuku merely watched . The food tasted as good as Katsuki looked.
"Then you slept at Kiri's and you snored then too." Katsuki followed the food with his eyes as it disappeared into his mouth. Izuku smiled. He liked knowing Katsuki wanted him.
"I don't believe you." Izuku said simply.
"Next time, I'll record ya." Katsuki poked the air with his chopsticks in Izuku's direction. "See if ya could deny it then."
"You plan on sleeping next to me soon, do you?" Izuku raised an eyebrow.
"A little under three months; and there ain't gonna be sleepin' happenin'." Katsuki smirked. Izuku blushed.
They both jumped when Izuku's phone rang loudly and vibrated roughly on the table top. Izuku ignored his heartbeat and answered it.
"Hello?" Izuku's voice was too loud.
"Midoriya?" The man's voice was gruff and annoyed. Izuku said yes, his own voice cowering now. Katsuki lifted an eyebrow teasingly. "Tell that brat I emailed him a list. And consider us even."
The phone hung up in three angry beeps.
"He emailed you the listings." Izuku stated simply.
"Good t'know that old shitbag can use email." Katsuki smirked. "I was beginnin' to think he was gonna list them off on the phone."
"What did he do to you that he owes you?" Izuku's curiosity getting the better of him. Judging from the old man's gruffness and general dislike for interaction or mention of Katsuki, Katsuki was his usual self.
"Ah, don't worry about it. Did he say we were even or some shit?" Katsuki looked at Izuku and narrowed his eyes.
"Yea, and this is a pretty big favour." Izuku tilted his chopsticks at Katsuki.
"Nah. He ain't done shit. He owes me at least three times more than this measly shit." Katsuki leaned back, his plate empty and face smug and satisfied. "He thought he'd get away with that comment if he jus' passed it through you, huh?" Katsuki chuckled.
"I brought my laptop, can we look at the listings?" Izuku twisted to open his backpack on the floor beside him.
"I'll forward it to ya." Katsuki shrugged.
Izuku deflated. Katsuki begun to cut off their time together by just doing their given task for the day before dropping him back to Eijirou's. He was purposefully limiting their time together. It was probably for the best, because when they fell into comfortable silences, they would lock eyes and Izuku would imagine the things Katsuki had in his mind.
The tension in the air between them often choked him. It was all he could see, all he could breathe, or taste, or smell. He could touch it if he wanted to. He just wanted to melt in Katsuki's hands, be putty to his touch.
"I rented a studio," Katsuki stared at Izuku, whose mind had glazed over with the thought of Katsuki's lips against his neck, collarbone, and rib cage. Izuku didn't hear him. "Izuku."
"Hmm?" Izuku's eyes refocused and Katsuki filled his blank stare.
"I rented a studio for two hours. You're gettin' outta practice." Katsuki repeated and elaborated.
"You didn't need to do that." Izuku pushed his plate away, took Katsuki's and stacked them. "We could have used here. You get some great morning sun."
"You think us bein' in a room together, early in the morning- in this room- is a good idea?" Katsuki got to his feet, grabbed the dishes, and walked past Izuku who resisted the urge to pass his palm alongside him as he did.
"It's not a terrible idea." Izuku turned in his chair to look at Katsuki expertly balancing dishes and glasses in his palms and arms. And the way his sweatpants hung low on his hips.
"A minute for three months." Katsuki placed everything into the sink and looked over his shoulder. "That was the deal, right?"
"Yes, I'm not suggesting we do anything other than take photos." Izuku said innocently, not bothering to take his eyes off Katsuki's ass.
"You better count yourself lucky nerd. You took at least three minutes instead of one." Katsuki turned back to the dishes in the sink and began to wash them. "It could have been easily nine months instead of three if I did a proper conversion."
"Like if you could wait that long." Izuku said quietly enough so that the sound of water drowned his words.
"I'd wait as long as I need to." Katsuki raised his voice louder than the falling water. Izuku blushed. Katsuki glanced over his shoulder and grinned.
When Izuku was back at Eijirou's, his laptop on his folded legs, he opened Katsuki's forwarded email and found himself grinning like an idiot at just his name, printed in bright letters at the top of his inbox.
He wanted to find an apartment as quickly as possible so he perused the list of thirty available units, prices varying from dirt cheap to ridiculous.
One address looked familiar.
It was Katsuki's address.
There was a unit available at Katsuki's apartment building. It was apartment 715, three floors above Katsuki's 420. It was a one bedroom, like Katsuki's but the bedroom was separated from the kitchen and dining room. The floor space was a little bigger.
And it was so cheap, Izuku could only think yes!
But Izuku wanted to do this together with Katsuki, which would pose a problem. Izuku needed to find out how to claim this apartment before Katsuki even saw it as an option and told him no. Izuku knew Katsuki would be firmly against it, because if they lived in such close proximity to each other, they would most definitely not make it to three months.
Izuku kind of hoped they wouldn't, but he wanted it to be Katsuki's fault, and not his own, if it could be anyone's fault.
The landlord's email address smiled at him in the details of the forwarded content. Izuku stared. He thought.
And with only one moment's hesitation, he copied and pasted it, listed the apartment and the address, said who he was, mentioned Katsuki Bakugou, left his contact information, then pressed send.
Izuku was bursting to tell him when he slipped comfortably into the passenger seat beside Katsuki, the familiar scent of him encapsulating him. The landlord had said yes, happy to release that apartment to Izuku who would see it later that week and sign the papers that same day. But he didn't tell Katsuki.
Two weeks into their agreement and Izuku was incapable of thinking of anything or anyone else. Shouto felt like such a distant thing in his past that sometimes guilt wrestled with his growing affection toward Katsuki. Guilt that sometimes urged him to mourn but he refused to because he didn't like that he couldn't get off the couch on those days and enjoy being around Katsuki.
The studio Katsuki had rented was small. The equipment was sub par to One for All, and the natural light was abysmal. Katsuki was more frustrated than Izuku was.
He was balancing on a rickety stool, the background was lit in a halo behind his head, his curls were wild. He wore a long willowy sleeved blouse that closed tightly on his wrists with all but three buttons done so that his chest peeked through. The pants he was wearing began to feel uncomfortable and sticky, the space was small and humid.
Impulsively, he began to slide it off as Katsuki's attention remained focused on the camera's settings.
"If I put it on fucking flourescent light, it's not counterbalancing it enough and you're still fucking blue. If I put it on cloudy, you're fucking orange. I don't get-" Katsuki looked up at Izuku who was standing and folding the leathery pants in two and draping it delicately onto the stool. The blouse fell to the higher parts of his thighs, hiding the fact that he was wearing boxer briefs. "What are you doing?"
"It's gross and sticky, Kacchan." Izuku folded his arms across his chest and he felt the fabric hike higher up his thighs. Katsuki's eyes drank him in, whatever words he had in mind were completely gone.
Izuku grinned. He walked toward Katsuki who stumbled back.
"No, don't come here." Katsuki's back met a wall.
"Why not, Kacchan?" Izuku lifted a hand to his forehead and swiped his curls back, knowing the motion would lift this blouse higher yet. Katsuki's eyes didn't disappoint as his gaze settled onto his exposed boxer briefs before going back to Izuku's face.
"I shoulda known bein' alone with you was gonna be like this no matter the space we're in." Katsuki dragged a hand across his face and left his eyes closed. Izuku leaned into him, careful not to touch him.
He said into his ear, "You're the photographer, Kacchan. You can't shoot your subject with your eyes closed."
"You're tryna kill me." Katsuki clenched his jaw and then peeked at Izuku who grinned widely, bounced back two steps, turned slowly for the one man audience to his show and made his way back to the stool. He sat, wide legged, elbows on his knees, and cocked his head to the side.
"Put the ISO up, it's okay if it has noise. It'll add to it. Put the white balance to Auto, we can edit it in post. And widen the F stop, let in as much light as you can. Make me look the way you see me, Kacchan." Izuku said patiently and slowly enough that Katsuki could follow his instruction as he said it.
"I knew how to do that." Katsuki narrowed his eyes at Izuku then lingered on Izuku for too long before he lifted the camera to his eye and snapped.
Izuku lifted a knee to his chest and lowered his heel to the floor. He hugged his knee and smooshed his cheek against his knee cap and looked wide eyed at Katsuki, feigning innocence. He used his hand to bring the collar of his shirt to his mouth and bit on it letting cool air seep against his skin for relief from the heat, then grabbed a fistful of the hem and exposed the cut of muscles at his hips, directing any onlookers' gaze downward.
Izuku could see the visible strain in Katsuki's pants as he moved, revealing then hiding parts of his body as the shoot went on. The lights, though feeble, threw heat into the enclosed space, and Izuku was soon coated in an even sheen of sweat. His hair had begun to stick onto his temples and forehead and the shirt was becoming damper and more transparent.
"I think we should call it a day." Katsuki's voice almost disappeared in his throat.
"Okay." Izuku yanked off the blouse and walked through the studio in his boxer briefs in search of his clothing.
"You're such a fucking tease." Katsuki turned on the light overhead, a sad fluorescent thing that was somehow dimmer than the studio lights. It took a bit for Izuku's eyes to adjust.
Izuku clutched his t-shirt to his chest.
"Me?" He bent forward to pick his track pants off the floor before standing again. "Says Mr I-wear-lingerie-to-go-out."
"Lingerie? What the fuck are you on?" Katsuki got the lens off the body of the camera on his second try and was now covering the lens and body with their respective caps.
"The clothes you wear are all just lingerie. Haven't you ever noticed?" Izuku pulled his t-shirt over his head and stood, yet again in an oversized shirt and boxer briefs. Katsuki's eyes lingered on him long enough to make Izuku feel both bashful and utterly unstoppable.
"The clothes I wear are all local designers." Katsuki snapped back to focus and placed the camera and lens into their compartments within the bag.
"Lingerie, Kacchan. Lingerie. Anyone who's seen you in it has thought about fucking you." Izuku pulled his pants on one leg at a time, almost losing his balance once which thankfully Katsuki didn't see.
"Funny. I don't remember needing to see you in lingerie to think about that." Katsuki said with his back to Izuku. Izuku took the opportunity to walk barefooted and stealthily up to him.
He bent forward and said into the shell of his ear, breathy and soft. "Only in damp white blouses." Katsuki almost fell over and Izuku stood up and closed the laptop while unplugging the various cables.
"Izuku." Katsuki said firmly.
"Yea?" Izuku hiked the laptop under his arm and looked up.
"Nothing." Katsuki sighed and opened the laptop bag so Izuku could deposit it and the folded cables. "I'll see ya Saturday? I'll pick you up. Kiri won't be comin', I wanna take you to this other place."
"Oh! That sounds like a great idea." Izuku hiked the laptop bag onto his shoulder as Katsuki did the same with the camera bag.
"Wear somethin' sparkly." Katsuki said over his shoulder. Katsuki saw the receptionist in the lobby and he shot her a glare. "Tell your boss that this place sucks!"
"Kacchan." Izuku scolded. He gave the lady an apologetic smile. "Sorry about him, he's not house trained!"
Izuku dodged a jab at his ribs and giggled into the open air.
He was feeling more and more like himself. And he liked it.