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“We should stop.”
“Okay.”
“I gotta go.”
“Okay.”
“I mean it.”
“Okay.”
“Shouto.”
“Mm, that’s me.”
Katsuki can’t decide if he wants to laugh or growl or cuss at that. So instead he clamps his mouth shut and scowls at his lover. Shouto is unbothered as ever, pinned against the brick wall, just-kissed lips curved up in a smile in the faint glow of the moon.
His split hair is tousled, fluttering in the night breeze. The front of his embellished peacock-blue waistcoat hangs open, the shirt underneath beyond rumpled. Tie undone and thrown over a shoulder in the heat of their reunion.
Katsuki sweeps red-and-white bangs to the side, caressing the rough scar and cupping his jaw. Shouto leans into the touch with a hum, despite the hand being made of cold metal and whirring machinery. The hand—the arm—Shouto himself made for Katsuki after finding him bleeding out at the edge of the West bridge three years ago.
“You’re gorgeous,” Katsuki whispers, kissing him again, soft and lingering. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
They pull away and Katsuki does his best to keep his eyes locked on Shouto. To drink him in as much as he can. To let this be the memory he clings to should tomorrow be his last day on this earth.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Shouto murmurs, a crease forming between his brows.
“Like what?”
“Like you’re planning to die. Like this is the last time I’ll get to see you.”
Katsuki swallows thickly, letting his gaze wander around them. To the dozens of ‘Wanted’ posters plastered all over the very wall of the abandoned building they’ve been making out against. And every building and fence in Upper Mustutafu. Posters of his friends but mostly of Katsuki’s own face, sketched in fine detail all the way down to the nick in his right eyebrow.
The cost of choosing to lead a new rebellion—his arm was the price he paid for the failure of the last one.
Shouto’s warm hand turns him back by the chin. Katsuki tries his hardest not to let the burn behind his eyes manifest into something more.
“You’re going to make it back to me,” Shouto says firmly. Voice full of hope and certainty.
“I don’t wanna make a promise I can’t keep, baby.” Katsuki’s voice catches at the end.
Shouto’s mouth presses into a line; whether in disappointment or to suppress his own rising emotions, Katsuki’s not sure. Shouto joins their foreheads together. Katsuki does his best to match Shouto’s calm and steady breathing.
So much is at stake. So much could go wrong. Even if he and Izuku have reviewed the plans a millions times, set back ups for back ups. Even if he’s got Shouto, his very own inside man deep in the heart of enemy lines who will be leading their charge, this could be it. If the bastards up in their cushy towers decide to unleash their full force on them, their own goddamn people simply fighting to be treated as human beings, they might never have this chance again.
“We’re better prepared than they were,” Shouto says, “Your All Might took on too much alone. And Touya-nii was too proud to ask for help too. Went about it in all the wrong ways. And that was their downfall. But they got the spark started for us to be here. And we’re going to make it happen. Trust me. Okay?”
It’s as if he read every little doubt spinning around in Katsuki’s head. Said all the right things to comfort Katsuki despite knowing he’s about to betray the life he was brought up in for the sake of the cause. Because his Shouto’s that fucking smart and good and kind and brave.
He can’t believe there was a time when he thought Shouto was gonna be the resistance's undoing. He’s the goddamn key to a brand new world.
Katsuki exhales long, letting out the anxiety and worry until there’s none left in his body. It’s not a weight he can afford to carry with him.
He takes Shouto’s hands in his, feeling the squeeze in only one of them. Noses against his cheek then presses another kiss to his lips—a promise to trust.
“Sleep easy, we’ve got a big day,” Katsuki says as they mold into a hug as they prepare to part ways. “I’ll see ya on the flip side. Gonna make you a whole damn picnic on the rubble of this place.”
Shouto chuckles, the sound low and sweet. It continues to echo in Katsuki’s mind even as he exits the alleyway, headed back to the bowels of the city while Shouto returns to the belly of the beast one last time.