Izuku dropped his bags onto the floor of his new apartment. It was freshly cleaned and emptied, completely bare. He would need to furnish it. In the meantime, he had a sleeping bag which he unrolled and looked at proudly. A space to call his own. He had refused a ride from either Katsuki or Eijirou, not wanting either of them to know his new address. He feigned shyness.
His phone rang loudly, snapping him from his thoughts and he smiled as Kacchan lit up his screen. He answered.
"Hey, Kacchan." His voice came out like he was relieved, sinking into a bath at the end of a day. He felt his cheeks burn with the realisation.
"Hey, nerd. Can I pick you up?" Izuku could tell he was smiling by the sound of his voice.
"No need! I'm already in the building. I'll see you in a second, okay?" Izuku grinned. He almost slipped by saying our building, but was proud he hadn't. He was looking forward to bringing Katsuki up and to bask in the surprise Katsuki would undoubtedly be.
"Are you okay with makin' some omurice today?" Katsuki was sounding nervous, it was pretty cute, Izuku fidgeted, his cheeks hurting from smiling too much and blushing.
"Are we going to make it together?" Izuku thought about the small kitchen and sharing that space with Katsuki, all the opportunities to brush against him just a little.
"Like if you know what you're doin' when I leave you to yourself." Izuku could hear his eyes roll and see Katsuki's grin like he was standing right there in front of him.
"I do just fine, thank you very much." Izuku retorted. "Bye." And before Katsuki could respond he hit the red button.
With one last sweeping look at his apartment, he envisioned Katsuki on his balcony and then in his kitchen before he got onto the elevator and hit '4'.
The kitchen was already smelling gloriously from all the herbs and spices Katsuki had pre prepped. He must have been hungry if he didn't wait to teach Izuku knife skills. When he answered the door, he had a towel on his shoulder and a toothy grin on his face.
He had never seen Katsuki this smiley, not even with Ochako, and that warmed him from the inside, and he ignored his pettiness to grab his tiny victory. Izuku wanted to lean into him and kiss him, but resisted the urge, instead he brushed his fingertips onto Katsuki's bare forearm and rejoiced in the tightness of his jaw. He loved being a tease.
"You did all the hard work, Kacchan." Izuku pressed his back to the counter and smiled as Katsuki followed him into the kitchen and resumed chopping chives into tiny little rings.
"I wanted to treat you today." Katsuki smiled with one side of his mouth. "To celebrate your new apartment." Izuku moved next to him and bumped his shoulder which only reached his triceps.
"About that. I want you to be the first to see it. Even though there's no bed." Izuku tilted his head up and was tempted to rest his chin there, just to breathe him in.
"I think because there's no bed, that's the best time to see it." Katsuki looked at him, their faces inches apart. Izuku grinned and Katsuki smirked, still cutting chives on the board without looking. Izuku was always impressed he could do that, because he would cut himself before the chives if he ever attempted the same.
He inhaled and withdrew from being so close. It had been a hard five weeks since they had agreed to three months. They had seven more weeks to go. It had become bearable, but just barely. Katsuki would tense at physical contact but never push him away, and they had not groped at each other, grinding in the club weeks ago didn't count.
"Break about eight eggs into that bowl over there, and throw that stuff into it, then give it a whisk." Katsuki jabbed Izuku away with his elbow.
"Yes sir." Izuku chirped and retreated to do as he was told. He almost had a hard time with the eggs, some shell falling into the mix, but he fished it out; when he looked up to see if Katsuki had noticed, Katsuki was watching him with his eyebrows raised and humour on every inch of his face.
"This is why I said you don't know what you're doin'." Katsuki laughed as he clicked the stove burner until it caught. He placed a pan and came up beside Izuku to grab the bowl from his hands. He held Izuku's hand instead, then turned it on his own. Izuku saw his eyes trained on the lines like thick stripes up and down his arm. Scars from a long time ago, a time Izuku knew Katsuki didn't like to talk about.
"Should we do the shoot we talked about?" Katsuki asked him, his thumb stroking his skin and sending little jolts of electricity through Izuku. Izuku couldn't breathe or think about anything other than the point of contact. "Izuku?"
"Sorry, what?" Izuku looked up from Katsuki's thrumming thumb to his red eyes with blown pupils and tried to pay attention.
"We should rent a better studio or use your place or mine, and do the shoot and focus on your scars." Katsuki's eyes had unfocused, Izuku knew when he was lost in his thoughts.
"Kats-" Izuku reached to touch his cheek but held back.
"I knew we never talked about- we didn't have any reason to." Katsuki turned Izuku's hand over again and then grabbed his other to look at the unscarred skin, like he was comparing them. "But I think we should. And I want to shoot them."
Izuku felt his chest tighten, because the way Katsuki was looking at him was exuding remorse enough to fill the room and thicken the air. His throat ached.
His phone's shrill tone made Izuku pull his hand away and he was suddenly aware how hard his heart was beating in his chest. His heartbeat skipped when he saw Todo light up his screen and he spun, hoping to hide it from Katsuki but realising he had seen it anyway, he smiled with a shrug and answered. Katsuki looked at him for a beat, then turned to the now hot pan and started cooking.
"Hey, Mido?" Shouto's voice was a stranger in his ear. Izuku felt his chest tingle, residual fondness for Shouto made him miss him, just a little. His voice was familiar, like reminiscing in a good memory.
"Hey, Todo." Izuku looked at Katsuki's back and the way he moved stiffly.
"How are you?" Shouto's voice sounded strained, Izuku could feel his awkwardness seeping through the phone.
"I'm fine." Izuku shifted uncomfortably. "I would ask how you are, but you have two studios and a job. So you can't be that bad." Izuku's chest constricted, he hated being petty but he didn't know why Shouto was calling him out of the blue and making small talk, when he was supposed to be spending time with Katsuki.
"I deserved that." Shouto's breath came in a sigh. "Listen. I packed up all your stuff and moved into storage. I don't know where you're staying, but I wasn't about to throw it all out."
"Oh." Izuku wondered what exactly was in storage because he needed to furnish his apartment, and he didn't want to buy anything he already had.
"Yea, so, if you want…" Izuku still knew him well enough to tell when he was fidgeting and nervous. He sighed like he was building courage. "I can pick you up and show you where the unit is. Give you access."
"That sounds nice, Todo. Thank you." Izuku was already planning how to place things in his apartment, like a simulator in his mind. He was grinning and when his eyes refocused, he saw Katsuki scowling at him from the kitchen. Not his angry scowl, but a yet indiscernible scowl.
"I was thinking maybe we should talk." Shouto seemed to have found his courage and said it in a rush. Izuku was focusing again on Katsuki and needed to quickly explain that this was nothing like he could be thinking.
"Uh huh." Izuku said without really hearing Shouto. "Yea, I'll see you soon, okay?"
"Yea, text me when you're free!" Shouto sounded too happy and Izuku didn't care. The phone beeped indicating the end of the call. Izuku stepped back into the kitchen and approached Katsuki carefully.
"It's not what you're thinking." Izuku tried to hold his hand but Katsuki was turning the omurice onto a neat pile of rice.
"Nerd, you're your own person. And we're not together." Katsuki said with his back to Izuku as he sprinkled chives across the top. "You don't owe me anythin'."
"But I want-" Izuku wanted to explain. He wanted to un-hurt Katsuki.
"It's fine. That's why I wanted the three months anyway, right?" Katsuki turned and smiled at Izuku, but it didn't go to his eyes. And then the thought of holding Katsuki and melding together with him, in the only way it wasn't sex crossed his mind. And he wanted to show Katsuki that he only wanted him. Katsuki's eyes watched Izuku's facial expressions change.
"UA?"
"Wanna go UA?"
They asked at the same time and Izuku smiled shyly at Katsuki who was grinning back, finally his eyes crinkled in the corners.
"Let's fucking do it." Katsuki turned and balanced the two plates on one arm while holding two glasses in the other. Izuku grabbed juice from the fridge and settled into the chair beside Katsuki.
Izuku contemplated blurting out that it was just about the remainder of his stuff, but he wanted to respect Katsuki's decision not to hear about it, plus, Izuku thought he liked jealous Katsuki. Three months of jealous Katsuki would equal to mindblowing sex, probably. Izuku shifted in his chair and focused on the smell of the omurice.
"This is amazing. I haven't had home cooked omurice before." Izuku broke the top of the runny omelette with his chopsticks and it flopped open covering the rice.
"Did you want to go tonight?" Katsuki stared intently at his plate, balancing a careful bit with his chopsticks.
"UA?" Izuku enjoyed watching him nervous and he grinned at Katsuki when he looked up and caught him staring.
"Yea." Katsuki lowered his chopsticks. "I mean, it's a Friday night, it might have a different vibe. And you're still unpacking, so I don't know if you want to-"
"I'll happily wear your clothes." Izuku shovelled another bite of food into his mouth because damn, it was good. Katsuki choked on air and he poured himself some juice before gulping it back.
"You'll drown." Katsuki laughed, and Izuku knew he was picturing him in his oversized clothes on his smaller body. He wanted him to think about sheer oversized clothes instead, so he swallowed his food.
"I want one of those see through shirts." Izuku smiled as he chewed on another mouthful.
"You're gonna attract all kinda dudes if you wear that." Katsuki shook his head slightly.
"You don't!" Izuku almost spat a little rice in his excitement, he swallowed. "No one ever comes up to you."
"I have a resting bitch face, no one would dare talk to me unless I approach them first." Katsuki finally took his first mouthful.
"You get stared at from across the club, no matter what your face looks like." Izuku chimed. "The deal is, I wear one of those shirts, and we go tonight. If not, we can wait until tomorrow-"
"Fine." Katsuki growled. "You can borrow one."
"And a towel." Izuku said to his plate, imagining walking through Katsuki's apartment naked and dripping, wondering if that was beyond teasing and straight up torture for either of them.
"A towel?" Katsuki raised his eyebrows.
"I'm not going all the way back to my place to shower, I might as well wear my own clothes then." Izuku said as though it was the most obvious thing in the world. Katsuki grunted. "Plus, a man's gotta do something if he wants to get naked in your apartment."
Katsuki's face went such a bright red, Izuku almost doubled over laughing.