Chapter Text
Katsuki wakes up to too much light and a weight missing from his chest, and it’s a sensation that he doesn’t realize is unusual until the events from the night before work their way back into his memory.
Deku came home last night. He finally came home. They fought a little, someone cried (it wasn’t him), they kissed, they fucked, and they fell asleep together in Katsuki’s bed, and now once again he’s alone, and he’s just desperate enough to panic about it.
His eyes fly open at once, still blurred from sleep, and every possible worst case scenario flies through his mind ranging from Deku being a hallucination to Deku leaving him before he sees him passed out next to him just in reach.
It's so reasonable he almost kicks his own ass.
But Katsuki isn’t in the mood for reasonable. He doesn’t care that Deku is sleeping next to him like any other normal person would be in this scenario because it doesn’t soothe him in the way he needs. He is not about to long for Deku in his own goddamn house.
He slides his arm underneath his neck and hooks his other over his stomach and pulls, dragging Deku across the bed and into his arms until his back is pressed flat against Katsuki’s chest like it’s supposed to be.
There. Now he can sleep.
Deku grumbles softly, but the only movement he makes is to take both of Katsuki’s hands, locking the two of them together.
Sappy ass nerd.
What a loser.
He closes his eyes and presses his nose against his shoulder before squeezing Deku’s fingers for good measure. He just needs another hour, and then he can take on what will be his first breakfast without a pile of cold, forgotten eggs left over in a long ass time.
This doesn’t suck one bit.
Deku wakes him up at some point wiggling free to go use the bathroom, and Katsuki blinks up at the ceiling and wills himself awake. He doesn’t check his phone for the time, the noise outside enough to tell him that he needs to move his ass.
It’s weird brushing their teeth together again. They’ve shared this bathroom for years, but having it to himself for so long made him forget how it feels like to have to maneuver around someone. Deku is just as bad as he is, but instead of feeling like an omen, it just reminds him more of what it feels like to use his dominant hand again after wearing it in a cast for too long.
Deku scoops his hair back into a ponytail to wash his face, and Katsuki watches with fascination as he rakes the waves back. He doesn’t necessarily like it like this, but it’s different. He looks older now, but still small and mildly annoying. He’s also not nearly as broad as he was when he left, which is a little unnerving.
“Why are you staring at me,” Deku says into the mirror.
Katsuki spits his toothpaste into the sink. “It’s my apartment. I’ll look where I want to.”
“You can say you like me, I won’t tell anyone.”
He snorts at that and tugs at the end of his ponytail. “You still eat breakfast, or are you a coffee only loser now?”
Deku pats his face dry on a towel.
“I eat breakfast if Kacchan is making it,” he says sweetly, like he’s mocking his own tone, and the self awareness almost makes him roll his eyes.
“Yeah, I’m making it,” he says and leaves to go to the kitchen.
The sound of Deku following him never felt so good before.
“Can I help?”
Katsuki looks over his shoulder and eyes him. “You tryna show off your new restaurant skills?”
“Maybe,” Deku says, forcing back a smile.
“Alright,” he says. “Show me what you got.”
His prep work is pretty damn good, he’ll give him that. They obviously never let him cook anything, but his knife cuts are damn close to professional, and he can make hand cut noodles faster than Katsuki could open a package. He doesn’t usually do noodles for breakfast, but fuck it, if this is Deku’s specialty, then they’re having noodles for breakfast.
The difference between last night and this morning is a little jarring. Deku keeps laughing into his hand and making Katsuki drop his food, and Katsuki can barely chew from having to answer so many questions.
Damn nosy ass nerd wanting to know about how all his friends are doing and what all he missed while he was gone, and it’s hard to tell him he doesn’t know much about anyone without sounding like a pathetic loser, but Deku is happy enough with the scraps.
Talking is easier today. Deku tells him a little more about his mission, maybe more than he’s allowed to, and Katsuki fills him in on all the villain takedowns he and Eijirou handled, beefing up some of the details just to see the nerd’s eyes sparkle again.
It’s good to see that being a hero still looks good to him, that he hasn’t lost his love for it or found a better life somewhere else. Katsuki meant his offer to get him on the job with him if Deku’s agency is cool with it.
They should be. It’s not like Katsuki and Eijirou didn’t fill in any time they needed an extra hand.
And maybe him asking is selfish because he’s just doing it for the feeling of Deku following him around again, but damn it he missed him and they work well together. Who do you think Deku got all his moves from?
“I hope you don’t mind, I kind of want to do all my laundry today.”
“Why would I give a shit,” Katsuki asks.
“It’s your day off,” he says. “I don’t want to mess up your routine.”
“Nah,” he waves before slurping up another one of Deku’s noodles. “Might need to go get more detergent though. I think we’re ‘bout out.”
“Oh.”
“I need to pick up some shit anyway.”
“Can I go,” he asks, sitting up with a little too much enthusiasm.
It’s fucking awesome.
“What? You think I’m gonna be your fuckin’ errand boy now? Hell yeah, you’re going.”
“Great,” he says. “We should make a list.”
“Are you that damn happy to go to the grocery store,” Katsuki says. “What, they didn’t have those over there?”
“Not any I could go to with Kacchan,” he says cutely.
“Oh, fuck off,” he says, and Deku laughs brightly, too delighted with himself to hide it.
He hates to say it, but might be in love with him.
Deku leans forward and smiles, curling his lips in like he’s trying to hide it. “Maybe we could get some snacks while we’re out since I’ve been out of the country for so long?”
“You’re about to make a day of it, aren’t you.”
“No,” he laughs. “Just an hour, maybe.”
“Fuckin’ liar.”
There’s no doubt about it. He is in love with him.
After they clean up from breakfast (with no leftovers, he might add), he and Deku run to the shop down the street to pick up some supplies to make their apartment a two person home again, and it takes a little longer than necessary because the woman who runs it stops them to squeeze Deku’s cheeks. It does get them a free box of fruit, so Katsuki doesn’t grumble about it.
They go back home, and Katsuki puts up the groceries while Deku drags out all of his clothes to wash, both the dusty stale shit left behind in his closet and the grimy end of the mission shit stuffed in his suitcase.
Deku really is back.
Fuck, he’s home.
The apartment is noisy again thanks to the sound of the washing machine, the TV in the background, and Deku’s constant chattering as he goes in and out of his bedroom, moving shit around and making the place just as messy as he likes it.
Katsuki can’t say he’s ever minded the notebooks or Deku’s work being spread out everywhere, and seeing them again is kind of comforting in a way he won’t ever admit out loud.
The sound of the printer cuts through everything else, and Deku darts from his place on the floor with his laptop all the way across the room to retrieve whatever he just sent to it, and Katsuki only watches because it’s disrupting his cabinet reorganization. No other reason.
Deku rushes back across the living room and slaps the paper down on the counter. “Sign, please.”
Katsuki raises an eyebrow. “What is it?”
“A legally binding contract,” he says, and Katsuki snatches it away to see what the hell Deku’s up to.
Oh.
It’s a transfer request.
“Get me a pen.”
“Don’t you wanna read it first?” Deku asks.
“No,” he says. “I’m the one who asked you to patrol with me next week. I’m good on the fine print.”
Deku squints slightly. “Maybe not that good.”
Katsuki frowns and checks it again, reading over the request until he gets to permanent transfer of contracted personnel for hero assistance, and his eyes widen.
“Deku.”
“Yes?”
“This is the wrong form.”
“No, it’s not,” he says, and Katsuki furrows his brow. “You know how I said I wasn’t coming back?”
“… yeah.”
“Well,” he says, putting his hands together. “I kind of already terminated my original contract. Kind of. They just changed my status to temporary, uhhh, like a freelancer? So I could work again if I came back, which I did, but umm, my status is still kind of weird since I still have to go in and resign with them as a hero, and I was, umm, thinking since our agencies swap out a lot, I could, just, well, resign with yours instead, as your umm, sidekick.”
Katsuki chokes on a glob of his own spit.
“Sidekick,” he coughs.
“Kacchan, I can’t very well transfer to a new agency and expect the same level of seniority I have at my old one. That’s ridiculous.”
“You think that’s more ridiculous than Deku the Sidekick,” he half wheezes in disbelief. “You ranked higher than I did last year, you can’t be my fuckin’ sidekick.”
“But Kacchan,” he pouts, and Katsuki grabs the contract and balls it up before exploding it with his palms. “Hey!”
“Go print out the right form, or I’m kicking your ass,” he shouts. “I’ll talk to Jeanist. Don’t fuckin’ worry about it.”
Deku frowns. “But then how are we gonna work together?”
“The same way me and Eijirou do, idiot,” he says. “You can’t work with him too?!”
The smile he gives him is almost blinding.
“Yeah, dumbass,” he says. “Power of friendship ass bullshit, Ei’s gonna be thrilled.”
“We should talk to him first,” he says. “Just in case.”
“Alright,” he shrugs. “Call him.”
Deku’s eyes widen. “Right now?”
“Yeah, if you wanna get this shit filed in time,” he says.
“Good thinking.”
Deku turns on his heel and darts again for his phone, and Katsuki’s heart pounds a little harder. The two of them working together. The two of them kicking villain ass together again just like they were always supposed to.
It’s a dream come fucking true.
“Hi, Kirishima? It’s Midoriya, you know from UA,” Deku says like Eijirou could forget one of his own best friends. Katsuki rolls his eyes. “Yeah! Haha, I missed talking to you too! I was, uhhh, just wondering if you would maybe be okay with me teaming up with you guys. You and Kacchan. No, like full time. Really?! Oh my gosh, thank you! Oh yeah, 8’oclock. Yep, that’s what Uraraka said. Okay, sweet! Haha, thank you! Okat, I’ll see you then!”
Deku spins around and gives Katsuki a look that makes him freeze in place before he rushes towards him, sliding on his socks around the kitchen counter before jump-floating into his arms and kissing him right on the mouth.
“I take it Ei said he’s cool with it,” he says like there was any fucking doubt in the world.
Deku nods happily. “Guess that makes us partners now.”
“Still gotta check with Jeanist first,” he says against his mouth, and Deku frowns. “He’s gonna say yes, nerd.”
“What if he doesn’t?”
“Then I’ll quit and start my own agency.”
Deku’s eyes widen. “You can’t do that.”
“Watch me,” he says, and Deku drops down to his feet. “Don’t worry about it.”
His lips thin, and Katsuki rolls his eyes before getting his phone out of his pocket.
Eijirou: 👀 ?
He swipes that message away at once before opening his text thread with Best Jeanist.
Katsuki: deku is back in town and wants to work with me and ei
Pants: Are you asking for my permission to add Deku to your outfit?
Katsuki: apparently
Pants: The two of you have been woven together since childhood. Like a fine three piece suit, I am looking forward to witnessing your teamwork with Red Riot first hand.
Katsuki closes his eyes and exhales. For fuck’s sake.
Katsuki: thanks
Pants: I’m sure you can handle the paperwork yourselves.
Katsuki: yep deku’s printing it out now
Pants: Marvelous. It’s good to see you finally buckling down.
Katsuki: the fuck does that mean
Pants: Language, Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight.
Katsuki: the heck does that mean
Pants: When you find yourself in possession of a fine, irreplaceable garment, you must handle it with care.
He should have just done the damn paperwork without asking. Of course Jeanist found a way to make it weird.
When he looks up, Deku is watching him with his hands on his cheeks in anticipation, and the bastard in his brain almost decides to fuck with him a little.
“He said we gotta do the paperwork ourselves.”
“Yes!” Deku says, jerking his arm back victoriously. “Gonna be hero partners with Kiri and Kacchan.”
“Why the fuck did his name go first,” he scowls.
Deku flashes a cheeky grin. “Rolls off the tongue better.”
“Oh, I’ll show you what rolls off the to–,” he says, before the dryer buzzer cuts him off, which for some reason the nerd finds especially hilarious.
He’s going to kick his ass.
He’s going to kick his ass.
Deku turns and bolts before he can get his hands on him.
“Oi!”
“I have to switch my clothes!”
Doing a year’s worth of laundry is not how he wanted to spend his day off, but sitting in front of the television all day with Deku with absolutely no surprise guests is a whole lot better than the miserable day of scrolling on his phone for hours that he originally had in mind.
They find a drama rerun starting on the first episode and both half pay attention to it while sorting a dozen different piles. Deku puts them away and comes back with more, and a few hours pass before they see the end of it.
He hasn’t felt good like this in a long ass time.
They finish shoulder to shoulder with the day gone, the sun already starting to set through the living room window.
If he was smart he would have taken next week off just to stay with him in here where they can readjust at a decent pace, but at least work next week will include Deku. At least he doesn’t have to spend any time away from him.
When did he become the kind of clingy loser he makes fun of, and why doesn’t he hate it more?
“Kacchan?”
“Mm?”
“I, umm, told everyone I’d meet them for drinks tonight,” he says awkwardly.
“Yeah, I got the group text.”
Deku sits up and turns towards him. “Is that okay?”
“The fuck are you asking me for,” he frowns.
“I mean I didn’t want to–,” he says, before biting his lip. “Do you wanna go with me?”
“Oh, I’m invited to hang out with my own friends? That’s so nice of you.”
“Kacchan,” he whines into a laugh, taking his hand with both of his. “You hate going out. I didn’t wanna make you, but I didn’t want you to feel like I was ditching you either.”
“You ditchin’ me?”
“No,” he shakes his head. Katsuki squints. “Come with me, please?”
Katsuki hums and leans forward for a kiss rather than doing some loser shit like saying yes, and thank god Deku kisses him back like this wasn’t a last night only thing.
He moves him back until Deku is pressed against the sofa, and Deku’s head tilts back in a silent, blissful exhale.
“Kacchan,” he scolds weakly. Katsuki hums, kissing down his throat. “We still have to go…”
“You can’t get one out first?”
Deku pauses. “Oh.”
“Yeah. Oh.”
“I didn’t think about that,” he says as Katsuki moves back up to his lips.
Katsuki pushes him back more until he gets Deku on his back, and he’s sure this is the exact reason why they bought this couch in the first place. This was advanced planning if he’s ever seen it because there’s plenty of room to get a knee on either side of him without slipping off.
He crawls over and kisses him, free hand moving down his body and feeling him beneath his clothes until he gets to the waistband of the shorts Deku had to borrow.
Deku fills into his palm easily, instantly hard like he’s never been touched before.
Katsuki sucks a harsh bruise against his throat as he palms him through his shorts, lining the curves of the length and tip with his fingertips, and Deku makes a small gasp.
“Is that okay before starting at a new agency?”
“Your costume’ll cover it,” he says, before kissing over it. “Tell me to stop.”
He doesn’t.
Katsuki slides his hands down his pants, and Deku moans softly at the contact, pulling him up to his mouth and not because he’s worried about bruises.
Looks like the nerd likes being touched.
Katsuki rolls him in his fist, giving Deku the friction he needs but never at the pace he wants. Deku wraps his arms around his neck and pants softly against his lips, and it’s all fucking awesome.
“K-kacchan,” he manages.
“Hm?”
“Don’t be– ah– mad at me, but I– shit– don’t want to keep this a secret.”
“Okay,” he says.
“Okay?”
“If you wanna tell everyone I’m jerking you off right now, that’s on you,” he says with a light squeeze.
“That’s not what I meant,” he slurs. “I’m talking about you and me.”
“Yeah,” he says, looking down at him. “What about us?”
“That we’ll both be working with Best Jeanist next week,” Deku says with a grin.
Katsuki sucks his teeth. “Cheeky little shit.”
Deku pulls him back to his mouth, slipping his tongue between his lips like that’s supposed to distract him from what a little bastard he is, and it only does because Katsuki lets it. “Your hand feels good.”
“Yeah?” Katsuki says against his lips, and Deku nods. He rolls his wrist in a way that makes a small squeak slip out. “Quirk perks.”
“It’s not going to explode, is it?”
“Nah,” he says. “Want me to stop?”
Deku shakes his head that he doesn’t, and Katsuki grins against his mouth.
“You want me to keep going then?”
“Please,” he says, and Katsuki does, and there’s a certain level of power that comes from jerking him off while hovering just far enough away from his mouth that Deku isn’t quite sure which way he wants to arch his body, so he just ends up squirming for him helplessly.
Deku gasps, a broken noise catching in his throat, and Katsuki swoops down to his lips, catching the cry that follows as Deku bucks up into his hand.
He picks up his pace from pushing strokes to quick, pointed shakes, his own quirk aiding with the glide.
Deku moans against his mouth, head rolling back and eyes squeezed shut in reverence as his hands clutch onto Katsuki’s shirt.
“Ka–Ka–Ka–oh shit,” he pants out. “Shit, please, don’t stop. Oh fuck!”
The searing burn in his arm is a hundred percent worth it.
He sighs hard and high when he finally comes, and Katsuki only stops when he feels him jolt away.
“Oh god,” he says quietly. “Fuck.”
“You gotta mouth on you, don’t you,” Katsuki sneers.
Deku covers his eyes with both hands in shame. “Shut up.”
“Nuh uh.”
“Yours is worse,” he shouts.
“Yeah, and yours makes me wanna fuck you, so what’s your point,” he says and sits back. “Go get cleaned up if we’re going. Don’t wanna show up with cum dripping down your leg.”
Deku gasps in disbelief once he realizes what Katsuki just made him do.
Heh.
“Kacchan, that’s mean!”
“Hell yeah, it is,” he says as he gets up. “I’m gonna go wash my hands. Good luck with that.”
“Hey!”
The bar they’re meeting everyone at is only a couple blocks away from their apartment, so he and Deku walk there.
Katsuki keeps his hands in his pockets, shoulders hunched from the evening chill, but Deku is so fucking happy he doesn’t actually mind the cold that much for once.
It really looks like he wants to be back here, that Katsuki isn’t going to close his eyes for too long and lose him or something else shitty like that. Deku is back, and accepting that won’t be the equivalent of letting his guard down.
He made him text Jeanist for fuck’s sake.
“I’m so excited,” he says, floating a little as he walks like he’s roleplaying the moon landing, and Katsuki strolls alongside him because even this feels like it’s supposed to. “I wonder who all’s coming?”
“Who’d you invite?”
“I just sent a message to everyone,” he says. “Very casual.”
Katsuki’s temple throbs. “You’ve gotta be kidding me.”
Deku flashes a smile that could only be described as one degree past shit-eating. “I’m sure it won’t be that bad.”
Everyone Deku knows fucking shows up at the bar. They get there to the whole damn building packed with every hero and support nerd Katsuki’s ever met in his life and a dozen more he hasn’t, and he immediately regrets leaving his apartment.
This is loud. This is bad loud.
His ears ring from the noise, and the feeling of bodies surrounding him from every direction makes him sweat in a way he doesn’t like, and it’s too crowded to fire off a warning blast.
Oh he hates this.
He big time hates this.
“Ayeeeee!” Katsuki and Deku both turn to see Eijirou coming for Deku with his arms stretched out. “Get over here, partner!”
Eijirou flings his arms around Deku and gives him one of his best bear hugs, the kind where the two of them end up rocking side to side together that makes Katsuki seasick.
“Missed you big time,” he says. “Good having you back.”
“Me too,” Deku says.
“Not as much as Kats did,” he sings, and a wave of heat shoots up Katsuki’s neck.
“Oi!”
Eijirou throws his head back and laughs, and Deku turns back and gives him this look that Katsuki has to turn away from.
Yeah, he missed him. So what?
Deku gets swallowed up by the crowd, everyone too happy to see him and eager to get their hands on him, and Katsuki isn’t about to stand around like a loser who doesn’t belong here when they’re all his friends too.
He looks around until he sees Sero and Kaminari at one of the booths with the wall side still empty, and he breathes out a sigh of relief. Those are two idiots he can deal with.
He works his way towards them and slides in, and they both make way too big of a deal about him being there but in a way he can tolerate, so he grits his teeth and deals with it. Deku being back is a big deal, and the thought of him being here without him while Katsuki sits at home like an asshole is a thousand times worse than all of this.
It’s not bad.
Kaminari and Sero are talking about some villain they took down last week, and Katsuki likes these stories more than any interpersonal bullshit, so he listens and, he doesn’t hate it.
“And then Denki fuckin’ zapped his balls while he was running away,” Sero says through a fit of laughter while he wipes away the tears from his eyes. “You shoulda seen it, man! Dude went cross-eyed!”
“I was just trying to slow him down,” Kaminari says. “Not my fault he kept a knife down there.”
“For fuck’s sake,” Katsuki laughs before a warm presence slides into the booth next to him, stopping once he’s flush to his side.
“Hey, guys,” Deku beams.
“Midoriya,” they both shout at the same time, giving him a couple of fist bumps from across the table that Deku only flubs a little bit.
Fuckin’ nerd.
“Haven’t seen you in a minute!”
“What’s good!”
Deku then goes through the motions of greeting them the same way he has for everyone else before sliding a bottle towards Katsuki. “Brought you a beer.”
Katsuki raises his eyebrows, and Deku leans in close for an explanation.
“The bar was crowded,” he says into his ear, mouth too close to be a coincidence, and Katsuki puts a hand on his thigh for it. “Figured you might get stressed out and not wanna deal with it.”
“You tryna babysit me, nerd? Think I can’t get my own drinks?”
The usual bite isn’t there, and he might feel a little pathetic for it.
“No!” Deku laughs. “I just know how much you hate crowds, and I thought you might be thirsty.”
Katsuki only hums in response. He’s sure Deku can’t hear him, but he’s too busy looking over his face to say something better out loud. He stops when he gets to his mouth, full and perfect and now a little familiar, and reaches for his beer to have something to swallow.
“Kinda liked getting to buy you a drink like that,” he says, leaning in to lower his voice. “Might have been a little fantasy of mine.”
“Oh yeah?” Katsuki says, and Deku curls his lips inward to keep from smiling. “You coulda led with that.”
“No way.”
It takes everything he has to not kiss him right there in front of the whole goddamn world.
“Did I get the right kind?”
“Yeah, you got the right kind.”
“Guess this means I know my partner,” he grins, rubbing his palm along his thigh, and Katsuki feels that heat making its way back up to his ears.
“Fuck off, nerd,” he says before taking another sip, and Deku looks pretty damn pleased with himself as he turns to talk to the others.
Anyone Deku didn’t meet when they came in eventually stops by their booth to say something to him, and Deku stays glued to Katsuki’s side the whole time while Katsuki keeps his arm on the booth back behind him.
He doesn’t give a shit who sees them like this. Maybe they’ll stop making weird jokes that freak Deku out if they figure out that maybe there’s a reason Katsuki wasn’t bringing people home.
This isn’t as annoying as he thought it would be.
Everyone is happy to see Deku as expected, but no one is lingering too long, and the few people who do sit down with them skip the small talk and go straight for the mission info. Deku is significantly less forthcoming than he was with Katsuki, which makes him pretty damn happy, but he’s also friendlier, and that still stings a little.
And after about an hour the excitement dies down, and the only people sitting around them are the people they’re closest to, minus Half and Half, who hates crowded places more than Katsuki does and can’t stay up late for shit. He’ll probably come over tomorrow with Eijirou, Katsuki will have to feed them, and Deku will be over the fucking moon. Fine. He’ll let it happen.
Deku turns to him with flushed cheeks and tucks his nose into his neck. “I can’t believe I get to go home with you.”
“We live together, dumbass,” he grumbles, curling his arm around him.
“I know, but it’s been a long time,” he says. “And it’s different now. We’re gonna get to go home together. You know?”
Alright. He’ll give him that.
He looks up and sees Eijirou and Kaminari watching them with wide eyes, their eyebrows raised as high as possible, and he shoots them both a warning glare. Eijirou makes a dramatic show of looking away that Katsuki will give him hell for later.
Right now he’s busy.
Now with a little privacy, he gives Deku a little kiss on the top of the head. “You say the word, and we’re outta here.”
“Five more minutes,” Deku hums.
“How drunk are you?”
“I’m not.”
“You lying?”
“No,” he says, reaching up to rub his thumb down Katsuki’s neck. “Just really happy.”
Katsuki hears a small choking sound and looks up to see Cheeks’s eyes bulging out of her head. “What.”
“Nothing,” she coughs, flustered. “I didn’t see anything.”
Deku laughs and sits up.
“Sorry,” he says to her before turning back to Katsuki. “Kacchan, you can’t be like this with me and then scare everyone off if they see us.”
“Yeah? And why the fuck not?”
“Because it’s mean!”
“So? I am mean. Get with the program.”
Deku hums and smiles, shaking his head. “You want everyone to see, don’t you?”
“The fuck I do,” he says, and Deku nods, biting his lip. “You’re outta your fuckin’ mind. That’s the last thing I want right now.”
“Oh really? So… if I kiss you, are you gonna freak out and get mad?”
Katsuki’s eyes flicker over him. “You won’t.”
“What makes you think that,” he smiles.
“‘Cause you’re chicken shit, and I know you.”
“I’m not chicken poop,” Deku says and leans in, eyes flickering to his mouth with a mischievous smile, but Katsuki doesn’t back down. When he says he doesn’t give a shit who sees them, he means it. “See.”
“Liar.”
Deku pops a quick peck on his lips and jerks back like he just did something downright naughty.
Nerd.
“That it?” Katsuki raises his eyebrow. “That the best you got?”
“No,” he pouts.
“Chicken. Shi–.”
Deku surges forward, a little baited and a little angry, and kisses him again the right way, and it reaches straight into his chest and squeezes until something pops. He tastes a little bit like the lemon drop he’s been sipping on, and Katsuki takes it all, greedy and at the same time content.
He feels Deku’s exhale over his upper lip and smiles against his mouth. Damn nerd got himself worked up. Serves him right.
He cups his jaw in his hand and kisses him again, relishing just how much Deku likes it, and for that moment they’re the only two people in the world.
And that lasts for about three seconds.
Loud applause erupts in the bar along with the roar of hoops and hollers, and they break apart to see all of their fucking loser ass friends clapping and cheering for them, like anyone asked them to do that.
Deku sinks down in the booth, pulling his shirt over his face to hide, and Katsuki reaches for something to throw at them.
He’s gonna kill every last one of them.
“Will you fuckers knock it off?!”
Deku slides down further, and Katsuki chugs the rest of his beer with a stern look of bemusement.
“Good work, man!” Kaminari shouts from the bar door.
Eijirou leans forward and bats his eyelashes
“Oh don’t you fuckin’ start.”
“I’m really happy for you guys,” he says.
“Thank you, Kiri,” Deku says, his voice muffled by his shirt.
Maybe he should have considered that being seen would have consequences.
Thirty minutes later, he and Deku are walking back to their apartment, and the night is finally over. It’s late, later than he likes being out, but since it’s just the two of them now, he figures he can live with it.
It looks like he was right about Eijirou and Half and Half coming over tomorrow, but he wishes that confirmation didn’t come with so much winking about not showing up until noon.
At least everyone’s happy for them. He didn’t have to deal with any weird looks or suspicious questions like Katsuki’s not good enough for Deku, and fortunately for both of them, we just missed each other a lot was a good enough answer for how did you two get together?
Everything that really happened is staying between them for a number of reasons. The misunderstanding, the worries, the tears, the mutual assumption that they’d both unknowingly ruined everything in some obscure way, nobody needs to know any of it.
He hopes one day Deku will forget he’s a bastard, and he hopes that one day he’ll stop being one.
And for fuck’s sake, their friends better not make one more stupid joke about Katuski having the apartment all to himself or he’ll kill every last one of them. If Deku ever feels bad again for any reason, he doesn’t know what he’s going to do, but maybe the truth is enough to erase any doubts he might have had that Katsuki has always been a little bit obsessed with him.
He’s in this shit for real. He’s going to make his nerd happy, and they’re going to kick ass together again like they’re good at, and he’s not going to have so many leftovers after every meal anymore. Deku better keep up.
“Hurry up, I’m cold!” Deku shouts.
“You hurry up!”
He half jogs after him, annoyed that he has to, but soon they’re back in their building, shaking off the cold in the elevator and getting closer to the finish line. As soon as he gets inside, he’s going to wash the bar stink out of his hair and then pass the fuck out, he knows it. His bed is just in reach.
Katsuki is the one who unlocks the door, but somehow, somehow Deku slips in first.
“Wow, you’ve really got the place looking all nice now, don’t you, Kacchan,” Deku says, and Katsuki looks up with a furrow to his brow as he toes his shoes off. “It’s so clean.”
“Yeah, what’s your point?”
Deku bites his lip and pulls his jacket off, sliding it down his shoulder in a way that makes Katsuki’s eyes widen. “It sure would be a shame if someone… messed it up.”
He holds his jacket out, pinched between his fingers for a moment before dropping it to the floor and taking a step back into the apartment.
“Deku…”
Deku takes another step back and bites back a smile before reaching for his shirt, lifting it up just enough that Katsuki can see the washboard hiding beneath. “Don’t you just hate messes, Katsuki?”
“Fuck,” he swears, moving forward like a moth to a flame as Deku tosses his shirt over the fucking kitchen counter.
“Whoops!”
He might look insane for this, but there is no power, law, or quirk strong enough to keep him from chasing Deku to the back of their apartment, tossing his clothes as fast as he can get them off while Deku fucking skedaddles ahead of him.
Alright, so maybe Deku had a point about going home together, that it’s not just them living together at the same place again.
This is their apartment, the one they’ve had since they graduated that Katsuki hated living in by himself but refused to leave, and Deku is hightailing it into Katsuki’s bedroom and not his own.
And then he wonders what would happen if it somehow stops being Katsuki’s bedroom? If that becomes their too?
He could live with that.
He swings in by the doorframe, crashing right into Deku who pulls him in at once, and he almost drops to his knees just from the feeling of Deku’s hands on his chest, searching, and feeling, and taking all at the same time.
If this what happens after coming home after a night out, what the fuck is getting off of patrol together going to be like?
They should have started this years ago. He’s a moron for keeping his mouth shut.
“Hey,” he says, squeezing Deku’s cheeks with one hand. “I’m real fuckin’ happy you came back here.”
“Yeah?” Deku says up to him with a playful smile. “Prove it.”
“Oh you’re fucking in for it,” he says and lunges, earning a loud shriek.
That might be something he’s been waiting his whole life to do, but it’s not like Deku needs to know that.
But then again, maybe he’ll tell him when he’s finished proving it.
Maybe.
It might take a lifetime for what he has to show him.