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Yousuke peeked around the corner, eyes peeled for the green monster that had been haunting his nightmares since the day of their fateful encounter. He let out a sigh of relief when he only saw Bakugou-senpai. Yousuke had been plagued by guilt since the day that he had gone off on Bakugou. He really wanted to apologize, but he also didn't have a death wish. He never even got the chance to get close to Bakugou-senpai because Midoriya-senpai always seemed to be lurking around. So he may or may not have taken to spying.
Don’t get him wrong, Yousuke knew that spying was unheroic, but was struggling to process the feelings of guilt that he had and seeing Bakugou-senpai sparring with his various classmates really taught him a lot about him.
He had always imagined Bakugou-senpai as a bad sport. But that couldn’t have been farther from the truth. After watching him give his classmates helpful, if not a little harshly worded, advice; help classmates up; laugh off his losses; and be humble in his victories, Yousuke felt like he needed to apologize. It was his mission. The only thing hindering it was Midoriya Izuku.
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He spotted the little twerp again. Personally, Izuku liked to think that he didn’t hold grudges easily, but this kid—Nishimura Yousuke—had hurt Katsuki… his Kacchan…and Izuku didn’t take kindly to people who hurt the ones he loved. He glared menacingly as the first year crept nervously towards Kacchan. If the bastard took another step, Izuku would not hesitate to end his bloodline.
He was about to intercept the kid, but then Kacchan noticed the nervous first year. Katsuki looked hesitant which made Izuku scowl. He beelined to the first year before Kacchan made it to him, “Why, Nishimura-kun! We meet again!” Izuku imbued all the false enthusiasm he could into his voice. If he didn’t, he was going to tear this kid to shreds. “Don’t you have places to be? I heard the first years are training at Ground Beta?”
Izuku got extreme satisfaction from the fact that Nishimura looked like he was going to wet himself from fear before a warm palm landed on his shoulder. His smile became genuine as he turned to face Kacchan—but…Katsuki was scowling at him. Izuku was confused as Katsuki shot him a glare before turning to Nishimura.
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Katsuki was gonna kill Deku—but that could wait for a moment while he dealt with a traumatized first year.
To clarify, Katsuki had been expecting Beach Day’s apology for weeks. What he didn’t expect was for his boyfriend to be scaring the younger boy away. Izuku had been bullied himself, so Katsuki hadn’t expected him to take a similar route simply just because the victim was someone who had said some ill-inspired words to Katsuki once.
Apparently, Katsuki had underestimated Izuku’s protectiveness.
He sincerely hoped that Izuku had never gotten physical in the pursuit of keeping Beach Day away from Katsuki, and he was pissed that Deku had even sunk as low as verbal or psychological harassment. Has their years of development and Katsuki’s atonement and apology taught him nothing?
Katsuki couldn’t stand bullies. The weight of his past actions sat heavy on his shoulders, but he had spent almost three years atoning and planned on many, many more. As long as he was alive and kicking, Bakugou Katsuki was not going to be a bystander or a bully ever again.
That being said, as a former bully himself, Katsuki knew that aggression was not the way to solve his problems. Bullies were bullies because they were lacking something—attention, support, direction, self-worth—and fighting fire with more fire never got anyone anything—it just scorched things to nothingness.
Beach Day had been in the wrong when he had harassed Katsuki and the things said had hurt, but that doesn’t mean that the 15-year-old standing in front of Katsuki was irredeemable. If Katsuki could redeem himself after several years of bullying, then Beach Day should get the chance to apologize for some unkind words.
Katsuki offered a forgiving smile to Nishimura and spoke.
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“Long time, no see, Beach Day. What’s up?” Bakugou-senpai asked him.
Yousuke was astounded by how casual he was. It was as if Yousuke had never said anything and he and Bakugou-senpai were merely friendly peers. But Yousuke wouldn’t be fooled. He knew that he needed to apologize for his actions, so he cleared his throat quickly and awkwardly, plowing forward before he lost his nerve or Midoriya-senpai decided that he was being a nuisance again. “I-I’m really, really sorry, Bakugou-senpai. I shouldn’t have said those horrible things to you. There’s no excuse, but I guess it just astounded me that you could be so hostile but still be such a successful hero. I wanted to apologize sooner, but I was scared.
“…watching you spend time with your classmates opened my eyes. You’re so kind and helpful to them despite being outwardly gruff and unapproachable. A heroic heart is heavily protected inside your chest and I really admire it. I-I don’t expect forgiveness—” Yousuke bows to Bakugou-senpai, “but I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I hadn’t apologized to the most heroic student I know!”
Yousuke keeps his eyes shut tightly and remains bowed while he waits for Bakugou to tell him that what he did was unforgivable, but is surprised when only hears a calm, “Stand up, Beach Day.”
Yousuke rises hesitantly and glances warily between Bakugou, who looks calm and friendly despite his scowl, and Midoriya-senpai, whose judgemental gaze makes Yousuke want to sink into the floor. Yousuke’s bottom lip wobbled from the fear he felt at Midoriya’s intense gaze, “W-w-well…I should pr-pr-probably be going now…sorry for bothering—”
“Doing a bad thing doesn’t make you a bad person,” Bakugou said simply. Yosuke gaped at him, but Bakugou continued, “I’ve made a fuckton of horrible mistakes and thought myself irredeemable for a long, long time. You hit me right where it hurts, but—” Bakugou’s gaze went far off and he smiled fondly. “If I can be forgiven for years of mistakes,” he reset his eyes on Yousuke with a kind yet barely perceptible smile that made Yousuke think that he was lucky to see it, “then you can be forgiven for a moment of weakness.”
Yousuke teared up and he placed a hand over his mouth as he began sobbing. Bakugou-senpai placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and the action gave him the courage to softly ask, “Can..can I have a hug…please?”
Bakugou rolled his eyes but still opened his arms, and Yousuke felt extremely happy despite wetting Bakugou’s shirt with his tears. He awkwardly apologized for it as he pulled away, but Bakugou only responded with an annoyed, “Fucking…call me Katsuki if you’re gonna use fucking honorifics, Beach Day. Now that we’re done with the sappy shit, you can show me what Eyebags-sensei has been teaching you this year. You wanna spar?”
Yousuke wanted so badly to scream yes. Sparring with a third year student, especially one as skilled as Ba-Katsuki-senpai, would be an invaluable experience—but he hesitated when he felt a familiar glare boring into the side of his head. His excitement dimmed when he glanced over and noticed Midoriya-senpai staring intensely with his broad arms, that could easily pluck Yousuke’s head off of his body, crossed over his chest.
Yousuke opened his mouth to refuse, then Ba-Katsuki-senpai turned to Midoriya with a scowl.
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Izuku had been shocked and kind of annoyed by the whole encounter, yet he still shrunk into himself a little when Katsuki turned another glare on him, “What the hell, Deku?! Stop fucking tormenting him! I will not fucking hesitate to revoke cuddle privledges,” his boyfriend said, much to Izuku’s horror. “In fact, I’m really fucking disappointed that you would sink as low as terrifying a kid because they made a mistake, so they might already be revoked for the night.”
Izuku’s immediate reaction was to fall on his knees and beg for forgiveness, but then he caught a glimpse of the little bastard that just hugged his boyfriend and his resolve returned. “I acknowledge that you’ve forgiven him, Kacchan, but I’m finding it hard to forgive someone for hurting somebody I love. I won’t apologize for it.”
Katsuki seemingly glared harder at him, but Izuku could recognize the undertone of hurt in his expression. He reached out to put a comforting hand on Kacchan, but his boyfriend pulled away. “I didn’t fucking say you had to forgive. I just resent that you’ve fucking turned to scaring the people that you don’t like just because they hurt me. Do you not think that I’m strong enough to fight my own battles? Or is it that making a simple fucking mistake immediately condemns a person—a child ? Because let me tell you, Midoriya Izuku,” Katsuki’s voice almost imperceptibly cracked there, and Izuku’s heart was in agony, “we are going to have some fucking problems if you think either of those things are true.”
Kacchan’s pointed look told him that he didn’t want to believe that Izuku would think such things or that he would be such a hypocrite to treat others with blatant contempt without a chance to even apologize when the favor was extended to Katsuki. The hurt that Izuku still saw on Kacchan’s face tugged on his heartstrings, and even though he had not abandoned his resentment towards Nishimura-kun, he turned and slightly bowed to the first-year.
“Nishimura-kun. I cannot forgive your actions yet, but I was in the wrong for purposefully scaring you away from your pursuit of an apology. I’m truly sorry.”
Izuku rose, barely sparing Nishimura a glance, and turned to Kacchan, grabbing his lover’s hand before speaking once more.
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Katsuki's heart was still burning with Deku’s betrayal—yet he loved the greenet standing in front of him. Green eyes shining with determination and a little regret, enough to make Katsuki’s stomach do somersaults. “Kacchan, I’m sorry for seeming so hypocritical…I-I know you can take care of yourself. I was overprotective and it caused problems for both you and Nishimura. I cannot guarantee that I will ever like him, but I know that I need to let you forgive him if you so choose to. It would be unfair to you and the work that you put into our relationship if I did otherwise.”
Deku looked up at Katsuki imploringly with his signature puppy dog eyes, and Katsuki would be hard pressed not to forgive him if he hadn’t partially done so already, “I accept your apology, you fucking nerd. Show me, okay?”
Izuku fucking melted at his words like the dumbass that he is, but the fact that his eyes lit up in determination proved to Katsuki that Izuku had understood his last question: Show me that your apology wasn’t empty. Deku’s peppy smile was infectious. Katsuki found himself grinning as Izuku lifted the hand that he had yet to let go of and planted an affectionate kiss on it, murmuring a simple, “I love you, Katsuki,” into the skin.
Katsuki pulled Izuku’s head down to kiss his cheek and whisper a reciprocating, “I love you, Izuku” in his ear. Then he turned back to Beach Day, who had a blush high on his cheeks from witnessing the affectionate touches his upperclassmen gave each other. Katsuki smirked, “Are you still up for a short spar, or should we postpone?”
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Katsuki-senpai’s words pulled Yousuke out of his stupor, “Ah! I would love to spar—but…my class is having a movie night tonight…is it okay if we—”
“What-the-fuck-ever,” was Katsuki-senpai’s response. “Get outta here and spend time with your extras—actually, wait a minute” Katsuki-senpai turned to Midoriya-senpai, “Give me a page from one of your shitty notebooks.”
Midoriya-senpai smiled fondly while he dug a notebook out of his bag and handed it to Katsuki-senpai. Yousuke thought that a fond smile looked much more natural than the fake smiles he’d been getting over the past few weeks, which made more of his lingering apprehension from being near Midoriya-senpai dissipate.
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Izuku watched as Kacchan chuckled before scribbling down his number and a short note, neatly tearing the page out of the notebook and handing the page to Nishimura. “Text me when you wanna spar, no promises that I’ll have time every fucking time you ask, but I wanna see this light manipulation quirk that Deku apparently knows you have. Now, get outta here, Beach Day.”
Izuku feels a little sheepish at Katsuki’s amused look, but the smile on the blonde’s face and the little chuckle that had left his lips made it worth it. Nishimura-kun hightailed excitedly out the door of the training room before Izuku decided to defend himself, “I speak with Aizawa-sensei whenever I go to see Eri-chan,” Katsuki’s pointed look prompts him to continue, so he embarrassingly adds, “...and Nezu gave me access to the student quirk records when I asked to analyze the younger hero and general classes.
“Fucking Deku,” Kacchan laughs. The sound is rough and harsh, intermixed with snorts and gasps in a way that other people might find ugly, but it’s probably Izuku’s favorite sound. Thus Izuku moved to wrap his lovely, gorgeous boyfriend in a hug so he could be closer to the joy that Katsuki was exuding.
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Katsuki’s laughs died down as Deku pressed their foreheads together. He blushed at the close proximity, but he said nothing as Izuku connected their lips. They spent a blissful few moments trading kisses before Katsuki’s stomach betrayed him with a growl.
Katsuki growled back which made Deku laugh and pull away slightly, leaving his arms wrapped around Katsuki’s waist but breaking the veil between them and the world that they created with their brief makeout.
“How about I make you dinner, Kacchan? What sounds good?”
Katsuki leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Izuku’s neck. “What sounds good,” he started lowly, his face sitting a breath away from Deku’s, “Is you carrying me to the kitchen so we can make dinner together, you big dummy.” Katsuki smirked at the light blush sitting high on Deku’s cheeks and he waited a beat before adding, “And maybe one more kiss before we go.”
Izuku smiled and obliged him.