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Katsuki had been overjoyed when Shouto was dismissed from the hospital. It was hard for him to show it or put his feelings into words, but the aftermath of the villain fight and Shouto’s hospitalization was terrifying. Katsuki went to see Shouto every day. At first he wasn’t always awake when Katsuki showed up, but even after he woke up, he was very quiet.
Shouto would be off the field for a couple weeks while he fully recovered and would need a crutch during that time. Overall, things could’ve been worse. Although Katsuki was still on the clock, he spent as much time with his boyfriend as he could until the two of them got into a little spat a few days after Shouto was discharged from the hospital. It was dumb and pointless, but Katsuki didn’t return the next day.
Katsuki wasn’t used to dealing with Shouto while he was in a bad mood. His boyfriend was generally rather calm, snarky but without malice, but right now he was taking the lost battle hard. Reasonably, Katsuki knew that Shouto was frustrated with himself and had simply lashed out, but it was still several days before he returned. At first, he grumpily waited for Shouto to talk to him, but his love for Shouto beat out his pride and he decided to go over to Shouto’s apartment after work.
Katsuki swung by his own place, cleaned himself up, and gathered up a couple days worth of prepped meals for his kitchen-inept boyfriend he so graciously didn’t throw in the trash out of spite. He didn’t feel like he was at fault for their fight, but hopefully this peace offering would suffice should Shouto want an apology.
Another ten minutes and finally Katsuki was slouching at Shouto’s door. It wouldn’t do to look like he’d completely gotten over their ordeal, after all.
The blond knocked once, then waited with all the patience he could muster for Shouto to hobble over from wherever he was inside. After waiting a solid five minutes, yes he timed it, he knocked a little more ferociously, ignoring the panic that bled into his lungs.
What if he’s hurt, what if he’s been attacked, what if he’d fallen and hadn’t been able to get up again, how long could he have been lying there why hadn’t he sucked up his pride and come over sooner—
The door yanked inwards revealing a disheveled, blank-faced Shouto. For all the placidity of his expression, the way he venomously snapped, “ what ”, was anything but.
Katsuki, baffled, annoyed, and embarrassed at his previous panic, snapped right back, attempts at half-apologies completely forgotten. “What? What do you mean ‘what’? Why didn’t you answer the damn door—“
Katsuki stopped, eyes suddenly locked onto the hair brush lodged in the snowy tangle of Shouto’s hair.
“You look like shit.”
Well, that wasn’t exactly what he wanted to say, but it’s not like he was known for watching his mouth.
Shouto rolled his eyes. “Thanks,” he said dryly, but genuinely seemed a tad bothered by Katsuki’s remark.
Without further explanation, Katsuki let himself into Shouto’s apartment and made his way to the kitchen. The dishes, mostly bowls, had piled up in the sink. Idiot was probably only eating cereal and noodles at the moment.
“When’s the last time you had a proper meal?” Katsuki asked, turning around to see a still grumpy looking Shouto hobble into the kitchen. He really didn’t look that great. Even ignoring his tangled hair, he looked so disheveled and exhausted.
Shouto gave a mere shrug in response. He just watched as Katsuki moved about the kitchen and put away the food he’d brought over. For a moment, Katsuki almost started on the dishes before pausing. Shouto got so snappy in the first place because he didn’t want Katsuki’s help. Well, maybe he did, but he didn’t like needing it.
With a sigh, Katsuki looked at Shouto. “Do you want me to go?”
Shouto seemed taken aback. For a second, his face hardened and his mouth opened, like he was going to say yes, go. Then his face fell and his body sagged. With a heavy breath of defeat, he shook his head. He looked too tired to put up a fight.
“Do what you want,” Shouto said, shrugging a shoulder as if he could care less. But his eyes darted in Katsuki’s direction as he attempted to finger comb the unkempt mop masquerading as his hair. Unsuccessfully.
Katsuki’s fingers twitched, wanting to help but not knowing how it’d be received. He didn’t want to fight with Shouto again when he was trying to be kind.
Shouto made the decision for him. Letting loose a frustrated hiss of steam before wobbling away on his crutches, a muttered, “I’ll be in the bathroom,” thrown over his shoulder.
Katsuki watched him go. This felt like one of those times he should go after him, and his body even started to move. Then he thought of the tense line of Shouto’s shoulders and the agitation that always simmered beneath his own skin and sighed.
Maybe he’d clean up a bit first. Work off his own nervous energy and give Shouto a little time to unwork the emotional knot he was struggling with.
Even when washing by hand, it didn’t take long for Katsuki to blow through all the dishes. There was something methodical about it that helped him ease his nerves. If Shouto wanted him gone, he would’ve said as much. No matter how tired he was, no matter who it was to, he always spoke his mind. Which was something Katsuki admired until it was directed at him.
After wiping down the counters, Katsuki made his way to Shouto’s bathroom.
While Shouto seemed to have managed to get the hairbrush out, he hadn’t made any other progress. There was a particularly bad mat on the back of his head, and one of his arms trembled hard. It had been banged up pretty bad in the villain fight, although not broken. Shouto seemed to be getting angry, glaring at his own reflection.
“Do you want help?”
Shouto let out a heavy breath. “Probably gonna have to cut all of it off. What’s the point?” his voice fell into a bitter tone. Even if Shouto had never particularly cared about his appearance, he did seem to take special pride in his hair as it grew out longer and longer. When combed out, it looked beautiful.
“I’ll just take that as a yes,” Katsuki said, forcing himself not to call Shouto overdramatic, even if meant in a lighthearted way. Likely the tease would just be taken as a jab. “Give me a moment.”
Katsuki grabbed a chair and brought it back to the bathroom and placed it in front of the sink, the back facing away from him. “Sit,” he gestured towards the chair as he turned to grab shampoo and conditioner from the shower.
For a moment, Shouto hesitated before sinking down without a fuss. His hands folded in his lap, lightly curled, as if relaxed. As if Katsuki couldn’t feel the chill and heat coming off him in waves. Definitely more upset than he would let Katsuki know.
At least Shouto’s expression was more open now. The slant of his brow bemused and the line of his mouth curious. Katsuki probably wouldn’t accidentally start a spat by tugging too hard, then. Not that he would, of course. This would be the gentlest, most soothing detangling of his stupid, drama queen boyfriend’s life.
Gently, Katsuki guided Shouto to lean his head back into the sink, supporting his neck with one hand while the other pulled Shouto’s hair back from his face. Kastuki began wetting it in the sink, getting it just damp enough to work in some conditioner afterwards. It would do in place of a proper detangler. He grabbed a towel to soak up excess water and replaced the hand under Shouto’s head with it just when he looked ready to protest needing help keeping his head up.
With both hands free, Katsuki rooted around for a wide toothed comb, half surprised he actually found one, then began to work on the tangled mass from the bottom up. Absolutely pretending he didn’t notice when Shouto started to relax, expression nearly begrudging about it.
They really were too similar, sometimes. Both of them were stubborn to a fault, and yet they always seemed to manage to work around it.
For a moment, Katsuki stopped combing through the knots and made a guise of working the conditioner through Shouto’s hair. His lips twitched in a smile as Shouto practically melted as his fingers rubbed into his scalp. For all his current stubbornness, Shouto liked physical affection. Katsuki knew he could keep his boyfriend in one spot all day if he only stroked his hand through Shouto’s long hair.
Shouto’s eyes peaked open after a moment.
“What?” Shouto said without the earlier attitude, his voice softening up.
Katsuki was never good with his words. In his head he was fucking fantastic, but things never seemed to come out the right way or were misinterpreted. All he could do in response was slightly shake his head and lean down to kiss Shouto. They hadn’t had a proper kiss in a good couple weeks, so it felt so good to have this brief moment.
They didn’t say anything as their lips parted, and Katsuki got back to work on Shouto’s hair. The mood in the room seemed to change, both of them much more relaxed. Dumb bastard literally just needed to sit down and get some affection.
(Katsuki was the exact same sometimes. Though he’d never admit it, it was safe to assume his boyfriend knew based on how many times Shouto had all but bullied him into cuddles.)
Katsuki moved on to a fine-toothed comb, slowly drawing it from scalp to ends. He caught a few more hidden snarls, teased them out with a couple of sympathetic winces when the comb caught too hard, then rinsed out the conditioner. Next came the shampoo and another round of scalp massage that would’ve had Shouto purring if he were any more cat like.
Feeling a bit more playful and mischievous now that the mood had lightened, Katsuki not-so-accidentally dabbed some soap suds on the tip of Shouto’s nose. Then returned to his soap lathering as if nothing had happened.
Shouto wrinkled his nose and with one smooth motion reached over to the sink, scooped up some bubbles and smacked his palm across Katsuki’s cheek. Not hard enough to hurt, but enough to get the side of his face coated in suds.
“Hey!” Katsuki protested, immediately trying to wipe his cheek off on Shouto who let out a snort and kept him at bay with one arm.
On the list of undignified things Katsuki had done, juggling wrestling Shouto with one arm and Shouto’s hair with the other—in a terrible attempt to keep the bathroom floor from becoming a soapy, sopping mess—was definitely high up there.
They were evenly matched, one good arm against another. Katsuki refused to lose, even in this, however. So with great cunning, instead of trying to push the flailing limb away, he tugged it forward. Shouto’s fist nearly flew into Katsuki’s nose from the unexpected change, an inconsequential side effect to getting the back of Shouto’s hand in kissing range. One short peck there was enough for one mismatched boyfriend to freeze in flustered surprise, allowing Katsuki even closer. Another kiss to the tip of Shouto’s nose, carrying the unfortunate aftertaste of shampoo, then a slower, softer, and altogether sweeter one to his forehead.
His boyfriend melting, Katsuki promptly used the distraction to dump a sink load of sudsy water down the back of his shirt.
“You are the worst!” Shouto cursed, kicking Katsuki in the shin.
Katsuki just snickered and got out of swatting range. “I bully you because I love you.”
“No, you do it because you're an ass and I currently can’t chase you,” Shouto huffed, not looking at all angry, but a little flustered with the drop of a casual I love you. It didn’t seem to phase him for long. With a flip of his soaking wet hair, Katsuki got an arc of water sprayed against him.
“Hey! I just brushed that hair!” Katsuki moved in and grabbed the comb again. “Got a damn long range attack,” he grumbled, “maybe we should cut it off.”
Shouto just smiled, looking pleased with himself as Katsuki ran the comb through his hair a few more times. He took a towel to it, then finally the hair dryer, until red and white ran down Shouto’s back in a silky waterfall.
Seemingly awed, Shouto combed fingers through the hair that looked over his shoulders. “Ah, it’s so soft now…”
Katsuki snorted. “Like it isn’t soft all the time.”
“Hadn’t been for a while,” Shouto murmured, twirling snowy white around one finger. He didn’t look back up at Katsuki. “I'm sorry. For snapping at you the other day. I was...frustrated and I took it out on you and I shouldn’t have.”
Something settled in Katsuki at the words, it had felt like they were okay but sometimes he needed the words. Just like Shouto sometimes needed action instead.
Still, better at showing than telling, Katsuki cradled Shouto’s face in his hands, kissing him firmly and sweetly. Only after he felt the line of tension leave Shouto did he pull back.
“You’re fine, I should’ve backed off,” Katsuki assured, pressing his forehead to Shouto’s. “I’m going to clean up, think you can handle heating up some leftovers?”
Shouto immediately scowled at him. He hissed, “Katsuki, that was one time .”
Kastuki patted his cheek. “One time I’ll never let you forget.”
Shouto heaved an aggrieved sigh as he stood to wobble towards the kitchen. But there was a smile curling the corners of his lips he couldn’t quite hide as he left.
“Don’t take too long.”
“Mhm.”
True to his word, Katsuki made short work of mopping up their battlefield, tossing the sopping wet towels into the washer for future him to deal with.
When he made it to the kitchen, Shouto glanced up at him with stuffed cheeks. Then, because his boyfriend was an animal , Shouto pointed his fork at the microwave and said through a mouthful of food, “Yours is heating up still.”
Katsuki dead-eyed him until Shouto had the grace to at least look sheepish. Watching the mismatched man swallow all that food with minimal chewing was another horror altogether.
“It’s good,” said Shouto defensively under Katsuki’s judgmental stare.
“You can still have manners —“
The microwave going off interrupted his scolding, but it didn’t stop him from pulling an ugly face at Shouto. Shouto pulled one right back, complete with raspberry. Abruptly turning about to keep himself from laughing and encouraging the bastard, Kastuki snagged his portion and joined Shouto at the table.
Comfortable silence settled around them as they dug into their meals. Little smiles and gentle looks exchanged between bites, though neither would admit if asked outright.
“Oh, right,” started Shouto with a soft noise of realization. With an inward eye roll, Katsuki prepares himself for whatever on brand chaos his boyfriend was about to spew— “Welcome back.”
Well, it wasn’t chaos but it was out of order and backwards. Something equally characteristic of Shouto. It made Katsuki’s heart do something terribly athletic in his chest.
He smiled, a small genuine thing, and said, “I’m back.”