Chapter Text
He barely enjoyed coffee, maybe not as much as he should as an adult. Izuku started drinking coffee when he started teaching – he managed to blend in with the staff at UA perfectly. ‘Coffee hour’ was the perfect strategy to get to know his peers. It was the perfect half-hour to share experiences, teachings and student gossip (“I think those two like each other,” Present Mic pointed out “I’ll pair them up for an assignment, class has been quiet enough.”). In conclusion, coffee became a part of his routine because he wanted to be liked by his peers.
Unfortunately, he has become slightly addicted to it.
“It’s barely 11 AM and that’s your second coffee, dumbass.” Katsuki complains.
“Kacchan, you’re also drinking coffee.”
“Shut up.” He leans against the counter and takes a sip “I took it upon myself to wake up late today, this is my first and only coffee.”
Izuku gets up from the table, drinking the remains of his coffee that is basically half sugar. Contrary to Katsuki, who drinks a double espresso in one go if he has a long day ahead, today seems to be one of those days. He looks at the schedule on the fridge, right next to the photo of them at the beach in Okinawa for their 6th anniversary. It seems like Katsuki has a 14-hour shift today starting at midday after having a 12-hour shift the day before, that explains the double shot of pure darkness. He kisses his cheek, caressing his boyfriend’s side.
“You have a long day today Kacchan, any special requests for dinner?”
Katsuki taps his gloved finger against his chin, pretending he’s in deep thought. His Pro-Hero uniform was starting to look a bit tight, he’s been picking up a lot of shifts lately, so his physical exercise has doubled too. With the number of hours he’s been accumulating, they’ll be able to take a good vacation at the end of the month as soon as Izuku’s responsibilities at the school end. Their 7th anniversary was coming up very soon. They’ll be heading to the United States this year, New York, specifically, where they had met when Izuku was finishing college.
“Yeah, don’t burn the house down.” He hands Izuku his empty mug and kisses the bruise he had left on his shoulder “That’ll make me very happy.”
Izuku chuckles and walks to the sink, placing the mugs next to the dishes from last night’s dinner. They had gotten too… distracted to do them properly. He curses himself, he hates doing the dishes, but their dishwasher is broken and Kacchan has a long shift ahead, so he doesn’t want to burden him with chores that he can do easily.
“So, what are your plans for today?” Katsuki crosses his arms, looking at him. Izuku tries to not get distracted by his huge biceps.
“Well, I’ll be meeting Ochaco later, and I think that’s pretty much it. We’ll probably spend the day together.”
Katsuki scoffs “No homework from the brats?”
Izuku shakes his head as he starts washing the dishes “Not really, I gave them a weekend off. Exams are coming up and they need to study.”
Katsuki wraps his arms around his waist, his chest pressing against Izuku’s back. Izuku leans into the touch, feeling warm and fuzzy even after all these years. The blond kisses the back of his neck and makes him shiver. He smiles at ease knowing his lover holds him like he’s the most precious thing he has.
“Yeah, well, you deserve one too. You work too damn hard.”
Izuku dries his hands and turns around, wrapping his arms around Katsuki’s neck. He looks into his eyes and smiles softly. He leans in and presses his lips against the taller one’s. Their height difference is barely noticeable, but when they’re close like this, they can really feel it. Katsuki tightens his grip around Izuku’s waist, kissing him back. What started as a loving kiss turned into making out as soon as Katsuki slipped his tongue past Izuku’s lips. He puts his hands on Izuku’s thighs, lifting him up effortlessly and placing him on top of the counter. Izuku’s cock twitches as Katsuki manhandles him and presses their hips together, kissing him with the same intensity as the previous night (on the first round). Katsuki kisses his neck and grinds slowly, but strongly, against him, earning a quiet moan from Izuku, who felt his lover’s hard-on clearly pressed against his.
“K-Kacchan…” he starts, his words disappearing when Katsuki lifts his shirt and starts playing with his nipples “We-we can’t, you have to leave soon.”
“Don’t care, crime can wait.”
Izuku bites his lip and grabs Katsuki’s head, pulling him into a passionate kiss. Wanting, loving, needing, it feels desperate every time they have sex. Katsuki kisses him with the same intensity, teasing his fingers on the waistband of Izuku’s shorts. Izuku lowers his hand and undoes Katsuki’s pants.
“I wanna make you feel good baby, fuck…” Katsuki mutters against his neck, kissing up to his ear “Use me, do whatever you want with me, please. I need you.”
As soon as he’s getting his hand where he wants to, Katsuki’s watch goes off.
“God fucking dammit-“ he curses at the interruption.
Katsuki lifts the hand resting on Izuku’s waist and growls at the watch. Izuku giggles, a hero’s duty never stops.
“I have to go, some dude is trying to blow up a building or something.”
“He’s got nothing on you, Kacchan.”
Katsuki chuckles, rubbing their noses “That’s right, baby. ‘Cause I’m the best. And this…” He grabs Izuku’s ass and grinds against him “This is what I want for dinner, got it?”
“Hmhm, got it, Kacchan.”
Katsuki kisses him and pulls away, walking towards the door. Almost immediately, Izuku misses his familiar warmth and endearing touch. He’s still sitting at the counter as he listens to Katsuki grab his keys and leave.
“I love you, my hero!”
“I love you too!”
And the door slams.
The house is quiet, suddenly. The green-haired steps down from the counter, flinching at the pain on his lower back. It’ll pass during the morning, for sure. He reaches for his phone and unlocks it, opening his text chat with Ochaco. They had been friends since college. She enrolled in the hero course at UA, but felt like there was something missing, so she decided to pursue a degree in Biology focused on Quirk Analysis and Anthropology, that’s how they met. Nowadays, she does hero work but manages a quirk-counselling initiative for children and teens, who share their worries and struggles with her. As for adults, she helps unemployed people find jobs according to their quirk. It’s safe to say that her counselling agency has been a safe space for many, and it currently holds a 93% success rate, becoming the most prominent in the quirk counselling field.
She was inspiring, truly.
She was his best friend.
CHACO: hiya there
CHACO: what time are we meeting today
IZUKU: what time are you done?
CHACO: maybe 1pm? I don’t have any appointments for the afternoon so we’re good
CHACO: we could get lunch in Shinjuku
CHACO: there’s a new Yakisoba place that we absolutely HAVE to try
His mouth waters, Yakisoba sounds nice.
IZUKU: okay, I’ll meet you at the station
Izuku goes into the bedroom and looks at the undone bed. He’ll take care of it later. He looks around and locates his target, one of Katsuki’s orange t-shirts that he barely wears and Izuku claims as his, for the most part. He puts on a pair of dark blue jeans and grabs a green jacket that sits on a chair on his side of the room. When Katsuki started going up in the rankings, paparazzi started following him around too sometimes and unfortunately, Izuku was also dragged into it. He thought no one cared about Dynamight’s long-term boyfriend, until he was on his way to class and saw an issue of Hero Starz that displayed a photo of him on the cover wearing ducky socks with sandals and shorts at the grocery store when Katsuki was on a mission abroad once (“Is this what you wear outside when I’m not here?!” Katsuki growled, hitting his shoulder with the rolled-up magazine “I’m burning those fucking sandals today. And the damn socks too! Take care of yourself!”).
Izuku heads to the door and grabs his signature red shoes, that have been replaced repeatedly by the same model. He notices the cotton ball next to the umbrella vase and sighs, he hasn’t done a deep clean in a while, it would be a nice surprise for Kacchan, who has been working so hard to compensate for the extra vacation days he’ll be taking at the end of the month. Maybe tidying up the place after meeting Ochaco wasn’t a bad idea.
Izuku grabs his keys and leaves their home, pulling out his phone as he heads to the train station. He sends a quick text to Katsuki, telling him once again that he loves him. He probably won’t be a reply for a few hours, but it’s something Izuku feels the need to say whenever he thinks about it. Surprisingly, Kacchan replies quickly, sending him an orange heart with an explosion emoji – he’s probably in the middle of something. Izuku flushes when he feels Katsuki’s perfume on his shirt, missing him in a heartbeat. Nearly seven years and they haven’t spent more than a week away from each other unless work (Katsuki’s work) called for it.
He arrives in Shinjuku 20 minutes later. His phone buzzes with a call from Ochaco.
“Hey ‘Chaco! I just got here, are you at the restaurant?”
“’Zuku, I’m so sorry, but I had a last minute appointment!” She says, concerned “This client is really struggling, and I can’t bring myself to tell her to come back on monday. We can have dinner instead if you want to!”
“No, don’t worry! I’m not that hungry.” He looks at the time, it’s nearly 1 PM “How long will you take?”
“Well…” she sighs “Probably an hour or so. A little more.”
“I’m not that hungry, it’s okay. I’ll be walking around for a while so just call me when you’re ready.”
It’s a sunny day, but Izuku can still feel a small breeze passing through him. He runs into a few heroes who are patrolling around the area. Shoto, one of Katsuki’s friends who Izuku quickly became very close with, must be here on patrol. At first he suspected that Katsuki sent him to be Izuku’s guard dog whenever he was working late into the night, back when their first apartment was on a risky neighborhood – it was all they could afford at the time, before Izuku had a full-time job as a teacher instead of tutoring occasionally and Katsuki was saving up as much as he could. It wasn’t all that bad, and they only lived there for ten months, but he wanted Izuku to feel safe at night, so Shoto would often keep him company. They became close friends, and today he considers Shoto one of his best friends.
“Are you lonely tonight?” Shoto asks, unaware of how inappropriate the question sounds.
“Sh-Shoto, don’t say it like that!” Izuku blushes, “Kacchan’s shift ends at two in the morning, I’ll just wait for him.”
“Okay, if you want company let me know. My shift ends at six. I’ll bring dinner.”
Izuku waves as Shoto leaves for the rest of his shift. He looks around at the different stores around Shinjuku - he wants to get Katsuki a nice gift for their 7th anniversary, it’ll be a meaningful one. Katsuki offered him the tickets to New York a few months ago as a surprise after winning a company bonus. He said it was for both of them, and Izuku only had to plan some places for them to visit so they would be even. It will be a full week of them and only them, but Izuku doesn’t know what to get him yet, something that screams “7 YEARS OF US” and, most importantly, that doesn’t get barred from entering a plane.
His eyes wander and drift through the stores and the crowds. His gaze lands on an antique store, one that he had never seen before, so it must be new. Izuku stops in front of it and stares at the name (“Timeless” he thinks “That’s a pretty nice name.”). Something about this store tells him to go in, it’s like an unnamed force pulling him inside. He pulls out his phone and checks the time, it’ll be a while before Ochaco is ready. Checking out a new store could be nice to stall for some time. He sends her his location, adding a quick “I’ll be here”.
Izuku walks in and is happily welcomed by the door chime and the earthy smell of old furniture and books. It was empty, except for a couple checking out the book section on the east corner of the dim lit room. The store had enough natural light to see the inside, it reminded Izuku of the apothecary stores people on the internet idealized. He turns around and notices the fresh-paintings on the ceiling that remind him of the fresco works he had seen on his and Katsuki’s trip to Italy, where they encountered a man whose quirk was turning water into wine, and became a target of many of their friend Denki’s jokes. To this day, Izuku believes Denki would be banned from the Vatican if they were ever leaked.
“Hello!” He jumps at the female voice echoing throughout the store and looks in its direction.
The owner, he assumes, stands behind the counter. She seems to be in her mid-30s, her dark-brown hair is pulled into a bun. Izuku corresponds to her smile.
“Good afternoon.”
“Are you looking for anything specific?”
Izuku likes her friendly attitude. He decides to approach her, clutching his over-the-shoulder bag.
“I had never seen this store before, have you been here for long?”
“No! We opened last week. Please feel free to look around.” She gestures to the store.
Izuku looks at the objects under the glass counter, a collection of watches and cloths embroidered with foreign phrases that have been preserved with time. There are a few coins on display, some appear to be from Australia and New Zealand, others Izuku recognizes as English coins, but from another time. Those History classes he took in college for extra credits have been paying off until this day.
His eyes drift to the top of the counter, where two cardboard boxes rest with a sign that says “40 yen each”. He hums and his hand hovers tentatively, worried that he might ruin whatever they old by simply touching them.
“This is our old photo collection.” The owner chimes in, noticing his slight nervousness “I’ll be in the back, you can look through them.”
“Thank you.”
She waves and disappears into the back, to what Izuku assumes is the storage room. He takes out a collection of black-and-white photos and looks through them, noticing how the edges are a bit roughed up and the photos themselves have a few fold marks - to him, it adds charm to the piece. He holds the photo of a dog laying on the grass next to his owner, who might have been the one to write “Ponzu’s first trip to the park (1932)”. It warms his heart to know humanity has loved for a long time, enough to capture a moment so they would never forget it.
The next photo was turned backwards. The description on the back was, of course, handwritten in black ink, and the message said “Our wedding day, our first house. Yukiko, I love you. You are my sun. (1936)”. He smiles lovingly at the description of a man’s love for his wife and turns the photo around. Back at him, a woman and a man dressed in wedding attire appear laughing in front of an old house, as expected. Despite their laughter, their eyes show a message of true love, the kind you find once in a lifetime, the kind you don’t put down. Izuku’s eyes fill with tears at the memories he has with his boyfriend. He remembers that Katsuki and him have a photo just like that, in front of their first apartment in the risky neighborhood. It feels like it was yesterday.
(6 years ago)
“Kachan…” Izuku drags out and lays down on the couch “I’m exhausted, can we stop for a bit?”
“Hell no.” Katsuki spats out as he carries the last box into the house. “It’s almost night time, and I’m not letting you go out there alone to carry some boxes.”
Izuku huffs. They had been carrying boxes and unpacking all day, his back hurts and his arms feel sore. He’s also hungry which is bothering him. Ochaco promised to stop by after they finished moving, so he should probably text her soon. He looks around at the boxes and whines, who told him to have such a collection of merchandise? Actually, he should have left it at his mom’s house. She doesn’t need a sewing room, his merch room (previous play room) was perfect to hold all of this. Was his love for All Might and Dynamight worth all this wild work? He has Dynamight at home!
“Come on Kacchan, just a little.”
Katsuki gives him a striking look, the kind of look that threatens him to get to work.There are only a few boxes left, he knows, and their bed frame. Kyoka had been nice enough to lend them her band’s truck as long as they brought it back before dinner. Izuku was so grateful he offered to clean her guitars for a year.
He groans as he gets up from the couch, walking outside. They lived on the first floor of the building, which was good, since the elevator has been broken for 11 years. The ground floor seemed too intimidating, and this one was available, so it was good enough, plus the rent was cheaper because the apartment itself was smaller.
Izuku steps outside and takes in his surroundings. The buildings around the neighborhood were in serious need of repairs. The graffiti with lewd words was freshly-made on the side of one of them, and one of the cars had been painted on too. Probably some teens who decided to rebel. Before moving they had been warned, the neighborhood had a few problems, even Katsuki’s sidekick colleagues warned him about moving to some place not too far away from the red light district, but the couple only wanted to move in together as soon as possible.
Katsuki had initiated the conversation. Emphasis on the ‘initiated’, because he was too nervous to properly ask Izuku, so the smaller boy accepted before the other could finish the question. They had spoken about it before, but neither of them were financially stable enough to take that step. Izuku was waiting for a new teacher job to appear for UA so he kept tutoring and Katsuki wanted to have more experience before opening his own agency. But still, they couldn’t wait to take that step, they knew they were right for each other since the very beginning.
“Izuku!” Ochaco yells from the end of the street as she runs towards him with a big smile “Izuku! I’m here! I’m so sorry!”
“Ochaco!” he hugs her “What are you apologizing for? You’re here!”
“I could have helped you move! So many things to carry, moving is awful.”
Izuku lets go of her and heads for the remaining furniture. For some reason (he knows which), he’s floating.
“No no no! I’m moving the rest, let it be my gift before my actual gift arrives next week.”
Ochaco touches the furniture and boxes, activating her quirk. Izuku sighs, he should have asked for her help sooner. The objects, boxes and Izuku follow her as she walks towards the building.
“Oi! Cheeks!” Katsuki yells from the window “What have I fucking said about putting my boyfriend on zero gravity?!”
“Well, Bakugo, he’s my best friend! And I’ll do what I want with him!” she yells back, entering the building.
Izuku flushes “W-Well, not-”
“What?!” Katsuki yells through the house. The walls really are paper thin “Put him down now!”
“I won’t! He likes to be up!”
“He’ll float away! Don’t get him away from me, ass-face!”
“Hey, you have a boyfriend because of me!”
Izuku laughs as he enters the house hovering through the hair. He pecks Katsuki, who holds a scolding stare, on the lips, as he passes by. Uraraka deactivates her quirk and looks around.
“How long are you staying here?”
“A few months, until we find something better.” Izuku says “But it’ll be quick.”
“Make sure to leave soon, please.”
“You insulting our house?” Katsuki slaps the back of her head.
Izuku admits, maybe he overpacked for the size of the house. It was a simple apartment: the bedroom was in a separate division, as well as the bathroom, but the kitchen and living room were in the same space. He liked it, it was cozy and small, the perfect first apartment for them. It wasn’t a mansion, but it was theirs.
Ochaco slaps his head back “No, Kats. But it’s not a good neighborhood.”
“Well, they’ll be protected by the future Number One Hero.” Katsuki stands proudly at the unacquired title.
Izuku smirks “Shoto is going to be here?”
Katsuki glares at him and he laughs, kissing his cheek.
“Okay, let’s get out of here!” she grins as she pulls out her camera “This is an important memory! I want to take a picture of you outside!”
Izuku hums and Katsuki blushes, holding him close. They follow to the front of the building, holding hands as they walk through the steps of their first-ever apartment. Ochaco walks back, testing angles and distances so the photo comes out exactly as she wants. Exactly as they want to remember it.
“Hey,” Katsuki starts, his arm around Izuku’s waist. Izuku looks up at him, staring right into his red eyes “I’m happy we’re doing this.”
Izuku nods “Me too. I want this.”
“I love you.” Katsuki breathes out “This… this is forever for me. I want you to know that.”
Izuku smiles and grabs his face, pulling him in for a kiss. In seconds, both his and Katsuki’s cheeks are wet with his own tears. Despite his agitated persona, Katsuki is soft and romantic with Izuku, a side of him they only see when he’s present. He might snap at this friends, but he loves them dearly, and he shows it in his own way. With Izuku things are different, he might argue and bicker but love lies underneath it and, most times, love is right on the surface. Izuku is the one who sees it, and Katsuki shares that he has become more soft over the years, but that when Izuku arrived his world turned upside down.
And well, he turned his world too.
“I got it! Now give me a smile!” Ochaco says.
They stare at each other and chuckle. Izuku can’t wait to frame this one.
(Present)
He holds the picture to his heart and closes his eyes, cherishing the memory close to his heart. It’s unbelievable how after 7 years and 3 houses they’re still here, and they’re about to look for a home together. A forever home.
This happens once every few lifetimes, Izuku thinks. It’s haunting how he feels like they’ve known each other in their past lives, how they’ve known each other forever. Izuku puts the photo back and takes out his phone, opening his chat messages with Katsuki. The villain attack seems to have ended, he’ll have a quick break sometime soon.
IZUKU: just saw a picture of a couple moving into their first house
IZUKU: reminded me of when we moved into our first apartment
IZUKU: i feel like i’ve loved you forever
A quick notification comes through. It seems Katsuki really was taking a break
KACCHAN: hell, in another life you still would have turned my head