"Who was that?" Izuku asked over his shoulder as he stirred scrambled eggs in a pan with some butter. The aroma was divine, it didn't matter if the butter got too brown before he added the eggs, it should be fine. Katsuki had grimaced as he stretched to plug his phone into the port then he smiled and flinched at the same time when he saw Izuku watching him.

"That was the last time I let you-" Katsuki lifted an eyebrow and Izuku blushed, his words getting caught in his throat, "-uh, not like the last time ever, but-" Katsuki began snickering, clutching his side and huffing sharp breaths at the movement before giggling some more, "-I'm serious, Kacchan!"

"Watch the eggs, nerd." Izuku spun around and groaned as he had to scrape the eggs off the bottom of the pan where it had dried up all the butter and melded with the hot surface. "It was the agency. They're extending my leave of absence for another two months, because, you know…" Katsuki gestured at his wounds.

"Oh." Izuku scraped at one particularly stuck piece of fried egg. Guilt twisted in his gut. If he hadn't been a hero, if he hadn't just jumped in without thinking, Katsuki would be fine.

"Izuku." Katsuki's voice was gentle and Izuku looked at him, swallowing the lump in his throat. "Hey, this isn't on you."

"But-"

"No buts. I was gonna take some extra time off anyway." Katsuki patted the bed, and Izuku laughed wetly when he saw he had patted a laid out towel for them to eat on.

"Why? I thought you'd be eager to get back to work." Izuku paused and turned off the stove as the pan's charcoal remnants started smoking. He put the fan on before the smoke alarm could be alerted to his absentmindedness.

"When I have you?" Katsuki said lightly. He laughed before he patted the bed again, and Izuku startled at the sound before grabbing the plate with too dry scrambled eggs and brown toast, his finger looped around the neck of a bottle of hot sauce Katsuki liked to put on everything. Something he didn't know until he literally started spending all his time with him. "I wanted more time with you. I have savings."

Izuku was hearing him, he was; but guilt put cotton in his ears and the words held no comfort. He folded his legs under him carefully beside Katsuki, balancing on the soft surface of the bed with the plate beside him.

"Won't you lose the brand new contract that Ochako got you?" Izuku chewed on his lip instead of breakfast, his eyes focused on his hands where they lay curled on his criss-crossed legs. Katsuki took the plate of food and dragged it away from Izuku before he placed a hot palm on Izuku's bare thigh where his shorts had hiked up.

"Can you get outta that head for a sec. I said I was fine." Katsuki huffed then sighed. "That sounds like I'm mad at you, but if you could just look at me-"

Izuku pressed his lips together and pulled at a stray cuticle. Katsuki stopped him from peeling it back further, before blood could swell in a tiny droplet. "Izuku." Katsuki took his hand in his own and kissed the back of it, slow and soft. His breath puffed at his skin, tickling him. "Look at me."

Izuku brought his eyes up and Katsuki's red eyes, usually narrowed as a default, especially when thinking, were both wide and vulnerable and Izuku could sink into them like the comfort of a soft bed after a twelve hour day in the studio.

"There you are, baby." Katsuki grinned, showing incisors. Izuku wondered when he started using terms of endearment, he only noticed that it had made his heart skip a beat and sometimes jump all the way into his throat. Izuku couldn't bring himself to use any cute names on Katsuki because every time he saw Katsuki, there was nothing cute , so to speak, about him. He was just sex on legs.

"The eggs will get cold." Izuku swiped the back of his hand under his nose to wipe a tickle away, but it was just a tear that snuck there from his eyes because he hadn't realised he was crying. Katsuki swiped a thumb across his cheek.

"Here's an idea, nerd." Katsuki stabbed at the eggs before heaping it onto the toast and taking a bite. Izuku watched his cheek work the food before he swallowed. "You and I? Let's do a series. Put it out there, see how it does. And maybe you can open your studio, one just for you, before I go back out to work."

"What do you mean?" Izuku watched as Katsuki dabbed hot sauce on the eggs before taking another bite. His pulse caused his fingertips to thrum from excitement.

"I mean, you got scars, I got scars, let's do some body detail shots, I don't know, get people hyped like you did with-" Katsuki's face twisted in distaste, " -him, and then with me."

"Glitter and all?" Izuku laughed, remembering what Katsuki looked like glittering in sunlight and dripping in stardust.

"Na, not that shit again. I had glitter in my asscrack for a month." Katsuki winced at the memory.

"Then maybe you should have showered more." Izuku teased.

"I just meant like…you know….Eraserhead's style?" Katsuki tested gently, ignoring Izuku's comment; and Izuku felt a tiny jealous monster rear its head. Katsuki grinned. "You're fuckin' adorable when you're jealous."

"I am not jealous." Izuku said hastily. "Won't that be ripping him off?"

"Like you don't wanna?" Katsuki finished his toast. Izuku blushed furiously, complete with a glare. "Also, not what I meant. With your style and us as the subjects, the way you see through a lens is completely different from Eraser."

Izuku squirmed. "Sure."

"Yea?" Katsuki bounced a little on the bed and Izuku stopped his excitement with his hand because he sometimes forgot or pretended he wasn't injured.

"Yea, Kacchan." Izuku leaned in to kiss him on the mouth. Heat bloomed on his lips, and he blamed it on the hot sauce. "Don't you know I'd do anything you want at this point?"

"Even in the shower-" Katsuki said against his lips as his fingers dug into the fleshy part of Izuku's ass and squeezed.

"Behave!" Izuku yelped. Katsuki grinned as Izuku squirmed in his palms.

"When the month of your rest is over, we shall rent a studio and go nuts, okay?" Izuku said into Katsuki's neck, his eggs forgotten and cold, his body held and warm.

"You got it, babe." Katsuki said against Izuku's ear, warm and breathy, driving blood to his groin. Izuku wiggled away to look up at him and blushed. Katsuki met his eyes unblinkingly, and after a few beats of silence, Izuku's heart thundering in his ears and Katsuki's against his chest, Katsuki raised an eyebrow and his mouth revealed a sharp toothy one sided smirk. "What?"

Izuku's blush blazed brighter and he buried his face into Katsuki's neck and shoulder. Katsuki's arm cupped him firmly, holding him there in security that reminded Izuku of his fingers around his wrist in the marketplace, guiding him through the floodgates of people. "Are you a pervert, Izuku?" Katsuki said into his hair; it tickled his scalp pleasantly and still, turned him on more.

"You haven't even had your breakfast yet." Katsuki kissed him, then tilted his chin up after bringing his head out from hiding and slipped his mouth to Izuku's. It was spicy from the pepper sauce on his eggs and he found himself doing what he had told Katsuki they shouldn't be doing. Their kiss deepened and Izuku craved Katsuki's body against his own.

Because Katsuki was like breathing. Breaking through the surface of water and inhaling so deep, afraid it was his last breath. He was sleepwalking with Shouto before. Going through motions to do things that made him happy then, but happiness then in relation to his happiness now was a drop compared to the ocean that Katsuki became.

All consuming, turbulent and calm, violent as rip tides and warm as a hug, a safe haven from the fast moving life, healing, vast, deep, undiscovered…

Izuku was content to float there and discover all of it.

"Izuku." Katsuki whispered against his neck. The chill of the morning crept through the apartment, seeping in under the covers with any shift in their bodies. Izuku stirred and gave a little moan of protest. Katsuki had been trying to wake him at six every morning to get back to their regular schedules. They both used to be early risers. Early to the gym or to the studio.

Something like an ordered life in all their chaos. Between the endless nights of staying up and talking about nonsense and Katsuki attempting to seduce Izuku or vice versa before stopping short of pulling stitches, their days made no sense. They ate, they slept, they entertained each other, they took walks.

Izuku and Katsuki both lost their toned edges to their well-tended to muscles, and while they weren't soft yet, Katsuki had begun to pinch at Izuku's sides before biting into him teasingly.

"You have your planking to do, Izuku." Katsuki murmured into Izuku's neck, his teeth scraping skin to earn himself a lazy groan.

"Who does planking on a Tuesday morning, Kacchan." Izuku complained into the pillow.

"Don't you want to be in shape for our shoot in a month?" Katsuki gripped his hip with his fingers and pulled Izuku onto his back before kissing his jaw. Izuku laughed sleepily because Katsuki's morning scruff tickled him. He turned his face to bury it into the nape of Katsuki's neck before carefully wrapping his limbs around Katsuki, warm against the coolness of the bedroom.

"Mmm. Kacchan, that's a whole month away." Izuku kissed the skin there, smelling of musk and sleep, smoke and maple.

"Well get up then, let's at least get breakfast at the vendor's." Katsuki was inhaling Izuku like he was oxygen in space. Izuku could feel him smiling against his skin and he couldn't help but grin in response. Had he ever been this content to lay there with Shouto?

He blinked hard, he had to stop comparing. There was no comparison. Guilt be damned, he was happier than he had ever been, and he deserved happiness. Didn't he?

"Nerd, you mutterin' away in your head again?" Katsuki pulled away to look at his face and he frowned before grinning. "That means you're awake enough. Up'n'attem."

"You're ridiculous!" Izuku kissed him on the mouth, soft and innocent before he extricated his limbs and rolled away.

Izuku had spent a total of twelve hours in his own apartment since Katsuki had come back from the hospital. And some of that was bringing his clothes down in a bag which he lived out of, afraid to unpack, and crying the night the nurses told him to go home and rest. It wasn't until two hours had passed that he realised he had Katsuki's keys with his clothes when they took him into surgery that he sauntered down to Katsuki's apartment, showered, slipped into Katsuki's sweats and slept for two hours curled in his sheets, inhaling the scent of him as a lullaby.

Moving in was never the plan, but leaving didn't feel like an option either.

He watched patiently as Katsuki rose from the bed, careful with his wounds and sore limbs, stiff from cold, before they both stood shoulder to shoulder, brushing their teeth, bare chests and legs, happiness rebounding off the mirror like a fucking disco ball.