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Izuku woke up, as he typically did now, surrounded in warmth. A gentle warmth, not stifling, just this side of encompassing, the same golden colour as the light dappling the white blankets he lay under, its glow filling the room.
Izuku was so warm, nowadays.
It was such a stark contrast to the days during the war, when anxiety drummed under his skin insistently like an unscratchable itch, the vibrations seeping the heat out of him and leaving him cold. Always cold, down to his bones — but not anymore. Not for three years. Now Izuku woke up nestled under thick blankets and thicker arms, to golden light and golden hair.
Waking up next to Kacchan heated him from the inside out. Like Kacchan had set up a fireplace in his chest and sat by it, tended to it patiently, all the night and day. Izuku hummed, nuzzling into the shoulder under his cheek. Kacchan slept shirtless, usually, since he ran hot but stubbornly refused to sleep without holding Izuku in his arms. Izuku was entirely in favour of the compromise. He lifted his head, making Kacchan snuffle as his curls tickled his nose, in order to trace Kacchan’s features with his eyes. They were tangled up together in their big bed, so close one would think it was a twin size and not a king. But Izuku and Kacchan preferred this, preferred every inch of them touching that they could get, so that neither of them could tell where one ended and the other began. Just a lump of Izuku-and-Kacchan, warming the dip in their bed.
Kacchan was backlit by the morning light from the window, at the moment. His brows furrowed in sleep, sensing Izuku had shifted slightly away, as he had in his attempt to gaze at him, and clearly even Kacchan's sleeping self did not like that. Kacchan grumbled in his sleep, shifting closer to Izuku again, pulling him in and shoving his face in his neck stubbornly. Izuku grinned, loving how shameless even an unconscious Katsuki was. His big arms wrapped around him tightly, strong even in slumber, hugging him close. Izuku ran a hand up and down Kacchan’s back, no longer pausing at the scars. They had both healed from that, now. Even if Izuku’s heart shivered when he saw them, still, because they would always be a reminder of exactly how much Katsuki loves Izuku. How endlessly, life-givingly much. But he didn’t get sad or guilty, anymore, choosing at Kacchan’s and his therapist’s insistence to focus on all the good they represented, instead of the hurt.
Katsuki shuffled, groaning. Ah. He was waking up.
“Good morning, Kacchan,” Izuku hummed, lifting his other hand to stroke Kacchan’s hair, now. Kacchan sighed and shoved his face deeper into Izuku’s neck, loving the touch. After a moment, Izuku felt Kacchan make a long, sharp inhale and blink himself awake against Izuku’s skin. Long blink, short short short, ending with eyes still shut.
“Mornin’, baby,” Kacchan said in his sleep-rough voice. Izuku’s favourite. He shivered; Katsuki grinned against his neck. He was well aware of all the ways he affected Izuku. Choosing not to comment, though, Katsuki lifted himself up, arms caging Izuku in while he stared down at him. His eyes glowed in the morning light, impossibly warmer than even the sun. Izuku sighed. Kacchan's soft gaze struck him deep inside, warming him up from the core.
Kacchan shifted his weight to one arm as he lifted a hand to cup Izuku’s cheek, thumb passing over the softness. He leaned down to kiss his forehead; then, eyes alight with mischief, he pounced, wrapping him up and falling suddenly to his side on the bed as Izuku squealed.
“Kacchan!” He laughed, tickled. Kacchan was so silly sometimes.
They were both on their sides now. “What do you want to do today,” Izuku prompted. It was a joint day off, so they had it all to themselves.
Kacchan said nothing, just staring at him with that same impossibly warm gaze. Affectionate with a touch of something unreadable.
“Kacchan…” Izuku whined eventually, tired of the silence. He could stare at Kacchan forever, but they only had two days off this week, and he wanted to make the best of it.
“Shh,” Katsuki hushed him. He reached up to twirl a dangling curl in his finger, hand eventually sliding down and into his hair, cupping his head. Still staring, considering.
“Just let me look at you.” He said quietly, eyes blazing.
Izuku blushed furiously even as he narrowed his eyes. “Kacchan, you look at me every day.”
And he did. All the time. It had gotten to the point that if at any moment Izuku looked up when they were on different sides of the room, he had a 90% chance Kacchan was already looking at him. Ridiculous, honestly. Although Izuku was just as bad, given he’d looked to Kacchan to catch it so many times in the first place.
Izuku glared at Kacchan playfully through his eyelashes, unable to hide his smile, faux-upset with his boyfriend for getting him flustered. Kacchan’s eyes widened almost imperceptibly and Izuku heard his breath catch, for some reason. Kacchan’s hand in his hair tightened, cradling his head, arm slung around Izuku’s shoulder, legs tangled, their faces so, so close. Izuku was so warm.
“I want…” Kacchan started, eyes darting between Izuku’s.
His face settled with resolve. “Marry me.”
Izuku’s heart stuttered, leaping impossibly. He gasped, blood buzzing, mind blank. He looked at Kacchan, whose face was tinted with nervousness, eyes brimming with earnestly hesitant hope.
“Wh—” he managed, wheezing. Heart soaring.
“I want to wake up next to you for the rest of my life,” Kacchan said confidently, with the same assured air he conducted every part of his life with. Except Izuku, with whom he was first and foremost gentle. Besides when they were in bed, including now, it seemed.
Izuku didn’t know it was possible to be this happy. He looked into Kacchan’s eyes and his heart skipped a beat at the veritable ocean of love he saw there, of trust and confidence and devotion.
He let out a shaky breath. His cheeks hurt from smiling.
“You mean it?” He ventured, just to make sure. As if they hadn’t been heading down this path since the beginning. As if they weren’t inevitable.
“I don’t say things I don’t mean, nerd,” Kacchan said, gruff, clearly still a bit nervous. It was unbearably cute.
Izuku wanted to spend the rest of his life with him.
“Okay,” he whispered, buoyant.
The sun rose over Katsuki’s face. He was practically glowing. “Yeah?” He said back, hushed. Voice tinged with disbelief. With careful, brimming joy.
“Yeah,” Izuku said, giggling, then outright laughing as he leapt into Kacchan’s arms, the force pushing Kacchan onto his back on the bed, with Izuku squeezing him from on top.
“Really,” Kacchan whispered. It wasn’t a question. It sounded like he was trying to get himself to believe it. Izuku laughed, crying in Kacchan’s chest. He’d never felt so light.
“We’re getting married,” Kacchan said, squeezing Izuku tighter, voice full of awe.
If Izuku got any happier, his heart would burst.
“We’re getting married!” He cheered, sitting up on Katsuki’s torso. He almost fell off at the look he was blasted with, devotion and pure, simple happiness practically exploding from Katsuki’s eyes. Izuku shuddered, heart full with it, even as he bounced, unable to contain himself.
“Oh my god…” he mumbled, mind whirring. Kacchan. Him. Engaged. Fiancés. Married. Husbands. Hus—
Izuku’s brain shorted out. Okay. Revisiting that word later.
Katsuki’s face was stretched in the biggest smile Izuku had ever seen on it, even bigger than when he and Izuku had decided to start dating, than when they’d submitted their official hero partnership paperwork. Izuku flopped down on him, beaming, hands tucked under his chin so he could still look at Kacchan, who was propped up slightly on their pillows. Kacchan reached around him mindlessly to grab the duvet they had kicked off in the commotion and pull it up around Izuku’s shoulders.
Izuku hadn’t even realized he had been a bit chilled from the cool morning air. And now he was warm again. Like always, with Kacchan. Izuku could cry.
Instead of crying, the emotions pulsing and whirling and glowing in his chest, Izuku ventured to scoot up instead, bringing the blanket with him, face next to his fiancé’s.
Oh, god. They were fiancés.
He pressed his cheek to Kacchan’s, arms draped on his chest and shoulders.
“I love you,” Izuku told him, eyes squeezed closed, right in his ear. Hunching a bit from how much he meant it, voice dripping with it. Kacchan shivered. Izuku pulled back, bringing his hands up to cup Kacchan's jaw, to look his future husband in the eyes. Eyes that were smiling at him.
Warm. So warm.
“I love you too,” Kacchan said in his deep voice, arms now looped loosely around Izuku’s waist.
“We still have to make breakfast,” Izuku reminded him, because he needed time to process and if they stayed on the subject any longer his brain would overheat and his heart would give out.
Kacchan rolled them over, tangling the blankets around them and enveloping Izuku in his body heat again.
“Let’s stay here a while,” Kacchan suggested instead, eyes already closed. Wrapped up in Izuku. Izuku conceded, heart full, still smiling.
After all, now they had all the time in the world to spend together. Izuku didn’t think he’d ever be cold again.