Work Text:
It’s late when Katsuki and Izuku finally make their way home, tired and battered and a little stinky. Probably even more than a little.
The elevator’s busted – Katsuki doesn’t even need to imagine why – so they end up having to climb the never-ending stairs to reach the attic.
Izuku sends him a few glares, lifting his eyebrows to make sure Katsuki notices. Katsuki pretends not to, trying his best to keep his breathing controlled despite the heavy bag he’s carrying over his shoulder. It was his idea to live this high up, and like hell he’s ever going to admit it’s anything less than a great one, because that’s what it is. They get the prettiest sunrises and sunsets and some good fucking privacy, which is hard to come by this deep in the city.
If only their partners could keep their pretty, grimy hands from tinkering with anything that meets their eyes, then maybe he wouldn’t have to do that every couple of weeks.
They tiredly work through the security measures – a necessity for four people of their caliber living under the same roof, Katsuki thinks smugly – and then finally, they’re home.
He lets the bag hit the ground, ignoring the annoying clinking sound it makes, and removes his boots. His feet hurt like hell, and he can’t wait to take a shower and claim Melissa’s massaging machine for himself.
He’s so lost in relief and bliss that it takes him too long to take in his surroundings, but when he does, he curses.
It’s too damn late for this many lights to still be on. There’s too much noise, machines still whirring and working despite the fact that they should have been turned off hours ago.
Katsuki sighs.
They have one last mission to complete.
He turns to look at Izuku, whose eyes are obviously shining already. He’s not only a sap, but also the most incurable nerd.
Katsuki braces himself for the first negotiation of the night.
“We’re gonna bring this stuff to the workshop and then go straight to bed. All of us. Quick shower, and then off to sleep. All of us. Right?”
“Right,” Izuku says.
“Great, now say it without lying.”
Izuku’s brows furrow, his mouth curling into a pout. “But what if they’re working on-”
“I don’t care. It’s late, we’re both tired. They’re probably exhausted, too. So don’t you dare turn on me now.”
Silence, and then:
“Fine. But the deal is off if it’s my-”
“Gloves only. Anything else we can look at tomorrow.”
They stare at each other. Katsuki is just as excited about Izuku’s enhanced suit and all the shenanigans they’ll be able to get up to together, but he’s also exhausted. That shit can wait. He’s not going to budge, and Izuku knows.
In fact, Izuku eventually agrees with a small, “Fine.”
“Fine,” Katsuki repeats, and that’s a nice win.
They turn off everything that needs to be turned off on their way to the workshop. It’s at the very end of the apartment, so Katsuki pushes Izuku inside the living room while he takes care of the kitchen. Some machines get switched off, others they put on what Melissa calls a standby mode. They’re back to doing it manually at night and in the morning because Mei’s last attempt at an automated schedule almost set fire to the entire building – and they sure don’t need to be blacklisted in the registry for something that dumb. There’re enough eyes on them already for everything else they do.
Katsuki sets the coffee machine to go off a little later. Melissa will wake up too early like she always does, there’s no helping that, but Katsuki hopes Izuku will convince her to stay in bed with them. He’s good at that, all octopus arms and sweet words.
Katsuki can’t get distracted. There is one more obstacle to overcome, perhaps the biggest one.
One very stubborn girlfriend and her pure obsession with – probably unhealthy attachment to – whatever new invention is keeping her awake so late at night.
Melissa has her own special tactics she employs whenever it gets this bad, which is often, and is generally the most successful out of the three of them, but the only foolproof method is physically dragging Mei away from whatever baby she’s working on, and that is a three-person job.
Katsuki underestimated Mei’s strength once, and it got him thrown off an airship and sporting a nasty bruise on his stomach for weeks. Never again.
He braces himself, hoping Melissa didn’t fall into Mei’s seductive trap, but when they enter the workshop, they’re met with an unusual sight. Melissa is standing over a lying down Mei, a thick, soft blanket covering Mei’s body. Melissa is tinkering with a weirdly shaped apparatus wrapped around the upper half of Mei’s head, from right under her eyes. There are a bunch of tools spread out on a too-tiny pillow.
“Oi,” Katsuki calls out.
“Hello!” Izuku greets at the same time, his voice definitely sweeter than the situation requires.
“Oh, hi. Welcome back! Didn’t expect you until- ah, sorry about this- I- I can explain?”
“You better,” Katsuki grunts, dropping the load of old parts and shit they plundered from an old-fashioned ship in the drop-all-plundered-shit corner.
Melissa’s eyes seem to shine at the sight, but Izuku walks over and hugs her with his one good arm. She meets Katsuki’s eyes, he nods, and then she’s leaving a loud, wet kiss on the nerd’s lips, followed by a mean pinch on his cheek. Oh, and does she pull.
“Ow?! Wha-”
“I remember telling you to be careful, didn’t I?” she admonishes, pulling his cheek again. She lets a hand slide under his clothes and pinches his hip, too.
Izuku pouts, his lip pulled in a funny shape. He says nothing, because there’s nothing to say. Katsuki goes heh, because that nerd deserves it for being a careless little bastard, and should have learned to get his clothes properly fitted by now, but that just makes Melissa’s unimpressed look fall on Katsuki.
“Don’t look so smug, Katsuki. It’s your fault he got hurt.”
“Hah?!”
“Shouto sent me a flymail-”
“That fucking- ugh, don’t try change the subject, you know it doesn’t work on me.”
Melissa smirks and lets Izuku go. “Thought you might be tired enough for it tonight.”
“You mean today, since it’s so damn late.”
“That was… not a good comeback, Kacchan,” Izuku says.
“It really wasn’t, but baby’s had a long, rough day,” Melissa teases, walking up to him. “Right?”
A hand on the back of his neck pulls him down, just slightly, so that Melissa can leave a kiss on his forehead. She tries to flick it right after, but Katsuki catches her hand – if he squeezes it as a greeting, that’s for the two of them only to know.
“Fuck off, you two. We are going to bed,” he says, approaching Mei’s sleeping body.
Despite all the time they’ve spent together, this kind of casual affection outside of their bedroom times is still hard to accept without a blush rising up his face. How pathetic.
Melissa scrambles back to the table, hands grabbing his and pulling him away. “Wait, wait- I need to- ah, patience, please! I didn’t even get to explain!”
Katsuki pretends not to listen as she mutters her way into finally taking the apparatus off of Mei’s head and explaining what it’s for – some really mind-blowing stuff about the use of quirks inside of dreams. There are many little hatches to open and tinker with and it’s a genuinely impressive design, which Katsuki only secretly admires, unlike Izuku who is clearly dying to ask complicated questions. Thankfully, he limits himself to the very basic ones.
Mei gets woken up with an electric zap. Katsuki has to shut her up with a kiss, then five more, which is not the best experience because of Mei’s slight sleep breath, but it still feels really fucking good. Melissa quickly jots down some notes with Izuku peeking over her shoulder, going ooh and aah at Mei’s sleepy tale of her dream experiment.
Fuck, Katsuki loves being home.
He drags his lovers to bed, too tired to initiate anything or let them initiate, either. He and Izuku are too sore, Mei is hiding her dizziness really poorly, and Melissa is focused on not babying any of them too obviously because they will get prickly if she does. Katsuki would feel guilty about it if he didn’t have to deal with her stubbornness and failed prototypes every day.
“Shower tomorrow,” he says, because everyone stinks enough for it to not be an urgent matter.
He says nothing about the unmade bed – a classic whenever he’s gone – or the toys scattered all over the floor, or even the worrying amount of empty soda cans stacked on one of the bedside tables. He doesn’t even complain when clothes are dropped directly on the floor, he simply kicks them out of the way for when Mei will inevitably wake up to go pee in the middle of the night. Truthfully, he’s a little distracted by the hands taking said clothes off his body, gently assessing his damage and pulling him blissfully close. He doesn’t even think to grab the massage machine he fantasized about on the way home. His shoulders get grabbed and squeezed, his body relaxing by reflex.
They climb on their two-mattress-monster of a bed one by one, naturally falling into place in a way Katsuki always thinks but never voices. He might, one day. Maybe when they’ll be living on their own airship.
Izuku recounts their adventure, leaving out the most exciting details to avoid keeping them all awake longer than they should, which Katsuki appreciates. Stuck between Izuku’s back and Mei’s front, Katsuki’s eyes are growing heavy, his thoughts thick and disgustingly warm.
He’ll get too hot soon, and the too many limbs around him will make him squirm and try to get away – in vain – but for now, Katsuki can let himself drift off to the feeling of Melissa’s hand in his hair, the smell of Izuku’s sweat, and Mei’s warm skin against his.