Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

On one unassuming day, as Katsuki is preparing the ingredients for their dinner and Shouto walks across the kitchen having just arrived home, Katsuki notices something different on Shouto’s messenger bag.

There’s a pin.

Of his face. Mostly.

It shows him in his hero get-up, from the top of his shoulders to the tip of his hair accessories. There’s a thick gold outline around him which glints under the light.

Katsuki immediately lunges over the kitchen island and grabs the bag strap, pulling Shouto back.

He reels, flailing his arms as he regains his balance. Then he levels Katsuki with a glare, although Katsuki just finds it cute seeing his boyfriend pout like that.

Since Shouto is simply staring at him, he definitely isn’t going to ask why Katsuki did what he did. And because Katsuki doesn’t want to speak first either—it’ll feel like he lost—he just points at the pin with the knife in his hand and raises his eyebrows.

For a moment Shouto remains silent, clearly contemplating whether it’s worth answering. When he says, “It’s from the pin set the JHA is coming out with soon. I got it pre-release,” Katsuki has to bite back a smile at his win.

He is, however, shocked by Shouto’s response. He brings Shouto’s bag closer to his face and gets a better look at the pin. It’s… nice. He doesn’t hate how it depicts him, he supposes, but seeing it only makes him want to have Shouto’s version.

“Shit. How the fuck did you get this?”

“I have my connections,” Shouto smirks.

“Fucking rich boy,” Katsuki mutters under his breath. He still has his eyes fixed on the piece of metal. He really wants the Shouto one. He wonders what it looks like, whether it instead has silver plating.

He wants to know if it shows Shouto with one of his dangerous, threatening expressions, or a softer, sweeter one complete with a gentle smile. The one that makes everyone swoon. (The one that makes Katsuki think, I am so in love with you.)

Shouto regards him with an incredulous expression when he retorts, “But you earned more than me last year?!”

Katsuki waves him off, because that’s beside the point. “Go get changed, then help me with dinner.”

In the days following, Katsuki tries to figure out how he can also get his hands on the not-yet-public merchandise.

While on patrol, he lists all the names of people who he knows work for the JHA, and whether he considers them close enough to be able to ask for a favour. Unfortunately, with his… attitude, and distaste for ‘networking’ and becoming well acquainted with everyone he meets, he can’t think of anyone in particular.

To be frank, he couldn’t list more than six names, four of which belong to people situated at the very top of the ladder. In other words, they’re his bosses, so he can’t not remember their names.

Another option he has is to just wait, purchase it along with the general populace.

Except he looked up when the collection will be coming out, and it’s still months away. He wants it now, especially when Shouto is taunting him every day by shoving that pin in his face.

Actually, he doubts Shouto is doing it on purpose, but it definitely feels that way.

The pin is always facing him whenever he sees it. When Shouto walks past him leaving for or returning home from work; when Katsuki passes by the coat rack in their bedroom; when Shouto did intentionally brag about it once, wearing it proudly on his jumper the entire day with his chest puffed out.

And that brings him to option three.

He can ask Shouto to use his almighty connections once again to get Katsuki the ‘Shouto’ pin. But he can already hear Shouto’s stupid smug voice in his head, going all, ‘Oh? You want my help, Katsuki? Suddenly being a ‘fucking rich boy’ is good now?’, and he quickly shakes that idea out of his mind.

So, he finds himself back at square one, with no leads on how to obtain the secret merch. Then he looks to the building next to him and realises he’s in front of the head office for the JHA’s marketing department.

The immediate dialogue that occurs in Katsuki’s mind is, Surely I can talk them into giving me a pin. I mean, I’m a top hero! I’ll just say I’m visiting, and since I haven’t been here in a while (actually, he’s never been there at all) I wanted to check things out and see what new goodies they’ve got in the plans. They have to at least have samples of the new collection.

At this point, Katsuki doesn’t even care if he gets one with a defect or if they retrieve it from the trash—he’ll take whatever.

Katsuki heads into the building and walks up to the first employee he sees. He introduces himself, although that’s just for courtesy since everyone knows his name, and nonchalantly asks, “So what projects are you working on right now?”

Rather than being led into the back offices or wherever they keep their secret stash of unreleased merchandise, what happens instead is that the employee’s eyes go comically wide, they bring their hands to their face, and then they blurt out, “May I please have your autograph!”

After he signs the poster and hands it back, he looks up to find that there are about five more people waiting to meet him with papers in hand.

He gets a bit worried then, looking towards the entrance of the building to make sure there isn’t a wave of fans outside ready to rush in. Maybe he should’ve thought this through a bit more, but honestly—and this isn’t him pretending to be modest, he couldn’t even if he tried—sometimes he forgets how insanely popular he is.

Yeah, he’ll boast about it to Shouto: bring home a magazine with his face on it just to brag; make comments like, ‘Careful, say any more and it’ll sound like you’re jealous of my popularity’; ask Shouto how it feels to be dating someone who’s so loved by the public and can make delicious food.

But… that’s Shouto. He’s different.

And frankly, Katsuki is just doing what he loves.

It blows his mind sometimes, thinking about how all the support and attention he gets is because of his work, when it’s all he’s ever wanted to do. While there are definitely shitty moments, he enjoys being a hero. Especially now that he’s made it to the top, his goal is no longer ‘become number one’ but instead ‘live a long and happy life with Shouto’.

When he’s suddenly reminded of the position he holds in their hero society—like at the annual JHA fansigns—and is once again faced with the adoration from people he doesn’t even know, and people who don’t know him, not really, he can’t help but feel undeserving of the praise.

Anyway.

Katsuki clears his head of those thoughts and ends up locking eyes with someone who shares the same frantic gaze. He gives them a once-over and deduces that they must be in charge here. They’re dressed a bit differently, a bit nicer, and definitely have that ‘I’m the manager, how may I help you?’ aura.

Which means, they’re the one Katsuki needs to talk to.

The impromptu fanmeet is redirected to an area that isn’t in plain view and quickly concludes once the signings are done and the head person ushers everyone else all back to work. It’s another piece of evidence for their seniority—they’re not so starstruck by Katsuki’s presence.

It’s refreshing for sure, but despite everything he was thinking earlier, Katsuki is honestly a bit disappointed by the lack of reaction.

Refocusing on his goal, he brushes his hurt feelings aside and tells them, “I was wondering if there’s any chance you had the upcoming pin collection here? And whether I could… have the Shouto one?”

When the worker’s pleasant expression doesn’t change—in fact their grin widens if anything, Katsuki can’t help but comment, “You… don’t look surprised.”

“Yeah, well,” they shrug before continuing, “Shouto-san himself came in a few days earlier.”

Katsuki is unable to stop his features from morphing into one of utter shock and betrayal.

Bastard!

He’s already come so far though, gave out free autographs and all, took pictures. He can’t go back now. He has to try harder.

“Did he now. Nothing says that should stop you from giving me one as well. Hey, it can be a marketing ploy. I’ll show it off in public and get it hyped up, then you’ll sell out in hours.” Katsuki isn’t sure how plausible that is—they must produce thousands of them, and he really doesn’t know whether thousands of people would be interested in buying a pin.

This time, the employee looked amused. “That’s… actually what Shouto-san told us too.”

Ba-s-tar-d!

Katsuki can’t believe him!

“And we said no.”

All of Katsuki’s anger is now confusion. “But—”

“He, uh,” they scratch their head, “ended up just taking it before he left without us noticing.

“He stole it?!” Katsuki adds internally, I am dating a criminal.

“Well, he left us a couple thousand-yen bills.”

Katsuki mutters under his breath, “Are you serious. Unbelievable.” And then, louder, “So can I also—”

“No, please don’t,” the worker waves their hands in front of him. “The amount we received from Shouto-san is more than enough to cover the price.” They then rush somewhere out of sight and come back to bestow a small packet upon Katsuki’s hands. “Just take it this time.”

Katsuki stares down at the item in his hands with wonder. It’s even better than he could have imagined. The colours are absolutely perfect and there is in fact a silver trim around Shouto’s figure as opposed to gold, but it shines brilliantly all the same when catching the light.

And Shouto’s expression.

He’s smiling.

And he looks so good.

His eyes aren’t even fixed on the viewer, they’re looking off to the side, yet Katsuki can feel his heartbeat picking up at the sight, as if the real Shouto were smiling so sweetly at him.

There is no way this pin won’t sell out immediately.

When the person who’s saved his life—not an exaggeration—coughs politely, Katsuki’s quickly brought out of his stupor. He reluctantly tears his eyes away from the Shouto in his hands and glances up to meet a smiling face, but there’s something more to it, which makes Katsuki blush from the embarrassment at the realisation that they just witnessed his entire unfiltered reaction.

He then remembers the last words they said and pulls out his wallet, reaching for a few notes. He places them on the nearby counter, and gazes at the employee intently before declaring seriously, “Nah, I won’t lose to him.”

And then he runs away before they can chase after him and try to return the money.

That was the first time Katsuki and Shouto bought matching merchandise for themselves, with their own money. Previously, it’d all been gifted to them.

Katsuki hadn’t questioned anything, didn’t think anything was out of the ordinary, but then it happened again.

Shouto greets him at the door one night bouncing on his toes, hiding something behind his back, looking at Katsuki with glee. When Katsuki raises an eyebrow in question, Shouto brings his hands to the front in a dramatic fashion and displays his newly acquired item.

It’s a coaster with a minimalist design of Katsuki’s hero costume.

“Look at this!” Shouto says excitedly.

“Oh… nice,” is Katsuki’s response. It’s somewhat of a lacklustre one, given how Shouto’s mood visibly deflates, but Katsuki can’t think of anything else to say. He just got home, he hasn’t even taken his shoes off. He wasn’t expecting to have a coaster shoved in his face rather than a kiss on the lips.

Shouto trudges away, obviously upset, but Katsuki can’t comfort him right now. He needs to shower and make dinner. Then he’ll be a bit more energised, and he can give Shouto the proper reaction he wants.

When he returns to the main living area Katsuki finds Shouto leaning over their kitchen countertop, turning the coaster with his index finger before letting it go and watching it spin. At least he’s having fun with it, regardless of Katsuki.

Feeling refreshed and mischievous, Katsuki sneaks up behind Shouto on the tips of his toes, and once he’s close enough, jabs his fingers into Shouto’s sides.

Shouto jerks up immediately and bangs his knee in the process. He shoves Katsuki’s shoulder and grits out, “I hate you,” but Katsuki just laughs.

As Shouto rubs his knee and recovers, Katsuki goes over to get a closer look at the coaster. It’s nothing out of the ordinary—just a black circle with Ground Zero’s trademark orange stripes making an ‘X’ across the middle. Honestly, it’s simple enough that if you didn’t know anything about Katsuki you wouldn’t recognise it as hero merchandise.

What confuses Katsuki though, is how it’s the only one.

On their kitchen island presently are: mini-Shouto and mini-Katsuki, flowers from Rei, the ingredients for their dinner which Shouto kindly prepared as Katsuki requested, and a singular coaster.

“Why didn’t you get yours so I would have one too?” Katsuki asks Shouto, holding up the Ground Zero coaster.

Shouto replies simply, snatching the item back, “I’m not gonna buy my own merch.”

Katsuki is ninety percent sure the attitude is because of his surprise earlier (Shouto will later correct him and call it an attack). The other ten percent is just plain truth.

As much as he hates to admit it, Katsuki wouldn’t have bought his version for Shouto either. There’s just something extremely cringey about purchasing something you know is based on yourself.

“I see how it is then.”

Katsuki is going to have to search for ‘Shouto’ merchandise again. Hopefully it’ll be easier than the last time.

Later that night he finds out, much to his delight, it is.

The coasters have already been out for a while, meaning they’re not scarce and are in stock at most shops Katsuki looks at online.

Within the week, a new object joins the kitchen island. Placed next to Shouto’s newest purchase is a coaster of the same size, and its design?

Two semicircles—white on the left, red on the right.

And again.

Sometimes, if it’s been a really long day or week, Shouto will dump himself on Katsuki after arriving home.

Rest his chin on Katsuki’s shoulder and wrap his arms around Katsuki’s waist and just sink his weight into Katsuki.

He’s not exactly light, so Katsuki has to exert some effort to keep them both upright, but rarely does he actually want to do that, so instead he just lets Shouto drag them both onto the floor and they’ll just lay there, or if Katsuki can manage to make Shouto budge, he’ll bring them both to the couch or their bed.

It’s clear today that Shouto is tired—his feet are literally dragging across the floor—and yet he walks past Katsuki. He doesn’t even greet him, which makes it all the more obvious he’s out of it, but then why wouldn’t he come recharge with Katsuki?

Not that he’s upset about it, or anything.

Still, he feels he should check up on his boyfriend, so he quickly finishes scaling the fish before poking his head into their bedroom.

What he finds is Shouto collapsed on the bed, diagonal to the actual orientation of it, holding something close to his chest.

Katsuki approaches, curious, and takes a peek.

It’s…

He doesn’t know what it is, actually.

It’s Ground Zero merch again, first of all, but it’s… fucking weird.

Secondly, it’s cartoonish, which isn’t terrible. Katsuki’s not mad about it.

But then there’s—

Looking beyond the round head, it’s like his body has been shoved into a fucking tube. He’s a cylinder. He’s a sausage. He’s a fucking slug!

What kind of fucking merch is this?!

He’s not so horrible as to just pull the object from Shouto’s arms and wake him, but it’s a close thing. Katsuki is incredibly confused, if a bit concerned.

The image of cocoon-Katsuki remains in his mind as he cooks their meal. Given previous patterns, it means Katsuki must go buy a Shouto cocoon as well. But frankly, Katsuki doesn’t know if he wants to own something like this. The proportions are all weird and he can't see the appeal to it.

Shouto clearly does though, because he walks into their kitchen having been roused by the smell of food, toy tucked under his arm.

Is he gonna carry that thing everywhere?

Even though Katsuki already saw it before, he’s still shocked by it. It’s just so… round. His head is pretty much connected to his body. He’s like a bee without any wings.

“What is that?” Katsuki can finally ask.

“It’s called a mochimochi mascot,” Shouto says, as if that explains everything.

Katsuki has more questions, but then Shouto starts shovelling food into his mouth, essentially cutting off any chance of further communication.

In the end Katsuki decides this is for the best. The less he knows about this monstrosity, the better. Shouto seems content enough, munching happily with the merchandise situated under his armpit, so Katsuki won’t say anything more on the matter.

Except, later that night when they’re under the covers ready to go to sleep, Shouto is still holding it.

“Shouto.”

“Mmh?”

“Are you bringing that to bed too? You were sleeping with it earlier as well.”

“What, do you feel threatened?” Katsuki is glad he can’t see the stupid smirk that is undoubtedly on Shouto’s face right now. “Anyway, if I sleep with mochimochi-Katsuki instead of you, that way we can still eat dinner. Sometimes when I come home like this we don’t get to eat at all.”

“So what, I’m just your personal cook?” He reaches out to poke it, and he will admit—it is squishy. But… “I seriously can’t believe this.”

“It’s nice to hold,” Shouto whispers, and then his hand brushes against Katsuki’s. Katsuki thinks he’s going to take it (he wants him to take it, big sap he is), but Shouto instead moves it aside to smooth out the plush or something.

Katsuki is immensely disappointed, which isn’t made any better when Shouto gently presses the object against Katsuki’s chest and asks, “You wanna try?”

“Ew no.”

The reply is instantaneous. The last thing he wants to do is touch the thing that’s caused Shouto’s betrayal.

“Suit yourself then,” Shouto retaliates, before turning his fucking back to Katsuki and facing the other way.

It leaves Katsuki utterly flabbergasted, it takes him a moment to actually comprehend what has just happened, and when he finally does, he adamantly shifts onto his other side as well.

Two can play at that game.

However, unlike Shouto who has cocoon-Katsuki to hold, all the real Katsuki has are his own two hands.

Despite all his mumblings and grumblings and dislike towards ‘mochimochi mascots’ or whatever they’re called, Katsuki finds himself stopping by a store during a particularly slow patrol to buy one.

Looking at everything on display Katsuki thinks they are ugly, but as it usually goes, once he has Shouto’s version in his hands he changes his mind entirely. And if Katsuki sleeps holding mochimochi-Shouto instead of the real Shouto for the next couple of nights, well.

Shouto started it first.

And again.

The next time Shouto decides to buy Ground Zero merch he doesn’t even show it off.

Katsuki wakes up on a boring weekday when Shouto has already left for work, and sleepily makes his way into the kitchen. He goes to grab some fruit from the fridge but instead finds himself standing in front of it, staring.

Something is off.

They don’t keep many things on their fridge—just bills, notices, invitations.

But now there’s… a magnet.

A Ground Zero magnet.

While Katsuki knows Shouto must’ve put it here, it wasn’t him after all, he’s having trouble comprehending it simply because it’s not often that Shouto purchases something and doesn’t at least offhandedly point it out to Katsuki.

After pondering this fact for a bit, Katsuki starts to wonder whether Shouto did this on purpose.

He knows Katsuki has been buying the matching item for whatever he brings home—maybe he wanted to challenge Katsuki with this one.

Katsuki wouldn’t put it past him.

Well, if that’s how Shouto wants to do it this round, he’s game.

If Shouto won’t acknowledge it, then Katsuki won’t either.

He goes out, finds the Shouto magnet—this time the merchandise is based on their quirks, it doesn’t show themselves at all, just an explosion or ice and fire—and places it on their fridge when Shouto isn’t there to see.

Some time later when Katsuki is lounging on the couch, he hears the fridge door open and then, “Was this always here?”

Katsuki pokes his head up and sees Shouto pointing to the new addition and smirks. He’s sure he won. Katsuki thinks there can’t have been much time between when Shouto put his magnet up and when Katsuki discovered it. On the other hand, Shouto’s aversion to cooking and their kitchen in general means he didn’t notice nearly as fast.

Shouto continues, “Why didn’t you tell me?”, sounding a bit upset, and Katsuki frowns.

“You didn’t tell me about your magnet,” Katsuki argues.

“I did,” Shouto states plainly.

“When?”

“Before I left for work.” Katsuki regards him with confusion. “I woke you up, remember. And then I said ‘Hey, by the way, I got a magnet for our fridge,’ and you responded, ‘Urmbumhem’. Not sure what that means, but I assumed you got the message.”

“Uh…” Katsuki did not get the message. He doesn’t even remember the conversation happening. “You should know better than to try talk to me in the morning.”

Shouto shrugs. “You never said anything about it later or questioned it.”

Ah. That… makes sense, actually.

“Sorry. I just thought we were being subtle about it. Because I didn’t realise you actually told me you bought it.”

“Not sure why you would think that, but okay. Subtlety achieved. I think they look pretty good together, don’t you?”

Katsuki looks past Shouto to the front of their fridge, where are two new magnets made of black rubber, filled with colourful oranges, red, and blues, and concurs, “Yeah, I think so too.”

Until finally, Shouto comes home with an entire bag of Ground Zero items, and Katsuki just has to ask, “What are you doing?!”

He isn’t even being inconspicuous about it. He has the new black bag slung over the same shoulder carrying his usual bag, making it protrude outward. That in itself is fine, no one would be able to guess what’s inside. What makes it not okay is that the entire front of the bag is transparent, and that is where Shouto has displayed various items—badges, pins, keychains—all either of Katsuki’s face or relating to his hero costume or quirk.

Shouto stops, looks down at his brazen collection, which Katsuki now horrifically realises everyone Shouto passed on his way home would’ve seen, and then back up at Katsuki as if nothing is out of the ordinary.

“Where the fuck did you get that?!”

Other things he considered saying: What were you thinking? Why would you do this? Do you know what it does to me seeing you with all that? Carrying it so casually like you’re a salesman making an advertisement?

(The answer to the last two: it simultaneously makes him feel so fucking embarrassed yet so incredibly enamoured. He both wants to cry and kiss Shouto silly. The fact Shouto has his merch on display like that as if he’s so proud of being Katsuki’s other half and is showing it off makes Katsuki so, so happy.)

“Ah, the store clerk recommended it when they saw I was buying so many items.”

“You got witnessed doing this?!” Scratch that earlier thought. It doesn’t matter how many people saw Shouto from a distance when this store employee had a front-row seat to Shouto picking out and purchasing a plethora of Ground Zero items.

“Yes? How else was I meant to pay for it? They helped me organise all this too. Look at how nicely everything fits together.”

Katsuki does agree everything is displayed nicely; every item can clearly be seen even though it may partially be construed by another. There’s such a variety of Ground Zeroes too, all sorts of expressions ranging from happy to sad to angry to… scared? Fuck off, that’s wrong. Katsuki is never scared. Nor does he blush like that, for the matter.

It’s inaccurate, but Katsuki can see the appeal to it, he guesses. If Katsuki could see Shouto with expressions he normally doesn’t wear… Well, he will. He has to go get an equivalent Shouto… all of this now.

“I can’t believe I’m going to have to buy a bunch of Shouto shit and shove it in a bag too.”

“It’s called an ita bag, first of all,” Shouto corrects him. Katsuki rolls his eyes. Ita bag, mochimochi mascot… He doesn’t have the brain space to learn these new names. “Secondly, no one asked you to keep getting my version.”

“Yeah, but how could I not.”

“Because it’s always a competition with you?” Shouto puts a hand on his hip, jutting it out in a teasing manner.

“Of course,” Katsuki responds with no shame. Anything less and he wouldn’t be Bakugou Katsuki. “Plus… I thought your version would be cute.”

Shouto smiles at this, and then he approaches Katsuki to give him a hug and say, “I think you’re cute too.”

Katsuki shoves him off, “That’s not what I said, ass.”

“So you don’t want this ass tonight?”

“... That’s not what I said either.”

Following the ita bag challenge—which didn’t end up being a challenge, Katsuki managed to weasel the name of the shop from Shouto and went there to ask the employee to make one for him; they now have two bags decked out with Shouto and Ground Zero items resting in their study—Katsuki decides he should finally make the first move.

Unlike Shouto, he wants to go for something more practical.

More practical than the coasters and magnets, that is.

Because while it still makes Katsuki’s heart skip a beat to see Shouto wearing his merch so proudly in public, Katsuki prefers to keep things a bit more on the down-low.

(More down-low than carrying his Shouto keychain around everywhere and occasionally updating his social media with posts of the two of them to prove a point, at least.)

Also, Katsuki found kitchen towel merch—who comes up with these ideas, he has no clue, but: 1) it’s excellent because he can use it to fulfil a purpose and 2) Shouto hates the kitchen which means there’s a chance he either won’t even notice the addition or will refuse to buy it. Either way, Katsuki wins.

Being the owner of more merch than he ever would’ve thought in this lifetime, Katsuki has started noticing some patterns. Mostly, that the association with Katsuki is usually his quirk or the colour palette of his hero costume whereas Shouto’s defining feature seems to be his red-white hair.

As Katsuki is waiting in line to pay for the split-colour towel in his hands, he wonders whether this is a good way to be spending his hard-earned money. Granted, part of all earnings for their merchandise comes back to them as royalties, but Katsuki looks back at the display where there are plain red and white towels neatly folded, the combined price of them costing less than the single item Katsuki holds in his hand, and thinks, Would it be cheating if I got that instead?

Two is better than one, right?

But, Katsuki is not a quitter.

So he pays the insane amount for the kitchen towel and heads home.

Once inside, he spots mini-Katsuki on the kitchen island. He listens out for where Shouto is, hears the shower running, then decides he can quickly put the towel out before Shouto’s done.

Katsuki places mini-Shou next to his counterpart then pulls out the dishtowel. He says to it as he hangs it over the handle of their oven, “You bet I’ll be making sure you’re worth your price tag.”

Which of course, is when Shouto asks from behind, “Who’re you talking to?”

Katsuki jumps and whips himself around. Then he just stops and stares.

Because Shouto is naked.

Semi-naked.

He has a towel wrapped around his waist and his hair is dripping wet and, “What the fuck are you doing.”

Shouto is getting water everywhere and— Yep. As Katsuki predicted, there’s a trail of water leading from their bedroom to where Shouto stands, a puddle forming at his feet.

“You’re not a fucking mermaid. Get out of here already, shoo.”

Shouto shakes his head petulantly. “I heard you come home and wanted to say hi.”

Katsuki stares again.

This man.

(The man whom he is so hopelessly in love with.)

Katsuki sighs, then leans forward to give Shouto a kiss on the lips.

Shouto smiles into it and lazily wraps his arms around Katsuki’s waist. Since Shouto hasn’t dried himself off in the two minutes that have passed since he just walked out of the shower, Katsuki’s shirt gets dampened.

It feels gross, like Katsuki has just sweated through it, so he pulls back— Or tries to.

Shouto keeps trying to come back for more, and he looks so cute with his lips puckered and Katsuki could never say no to a languid makeout session, but at this rate Shouto will probably catch a cold.

Katsuki reaches behind him for the new fluffy dishtowel he just put out and drapes it over Shouto’s head.

He then dries Shouto’s hair for him, something Katsuki thinks happens way too often. Shouto obediently stays still, ducking his head and letting Katsuki do as he pleases.

Once Katsuki is done, Shouto gently lifts the towel with a hand and looks up.

This makes Katsuki huff out a laugh, because he wasn’t looking when he put the towel on and the colours are on opposite sides. So right now, Shouto’s white hair is connected to the red on the towel, while the red is connected to the white.

It’s a pretty striking image, like one of those tessellations.

When Shouto then looks at Katsuki, it catches him breathless.

Because there’s a kind of innocence in Shouto’s expression right now, and he’s still holding the towel over his face and it quite honestly, truly, looks like he’s lifting a veil.

The thing is, Katsuki has been thinking about getting married for a while now.

It’s something he’s known for ages, that he will want to marry Shouto one day, but lately it’s been occupying his mind more. When he’s not doing much on patrol he stops in front of jewellery stores and looks at the rings on display; when he passes a park and sees parents playing with their kids, he thinks about how he wants a family of his own, with Shouto, in the future.

Seeing Shouto like this makes Katsuki imagine what he might look like on their wedding day, and that’s as far as he can go before he feels tears prick at his eyes.

“Alright,” Katsuki tries to kick Shouto out again—this time because he also wants some alone time to gather his thoughts, “you’ve said hi, now go get dressed.”

“Is this merch?”

“Huh?” Katsuki is still distracted by marriage thoughts.

“The towel.”

“Oh, right.”

There goes his plan of not having Shouto notice it.

“Yeah it is.”

“Nice.”

Katsuki raises an eyebrow.

“I was actually thinking of getting this next as well.”

“You what?” Katsuki can’t think of a reason Shouto would willingly buy something that belongs in a kitchen.

“Yeah. I mean, our old ones were getting old and I thought that since you’re going out and buying everything I buy, it means you can have two new ones.”

Two new— That means Shouto never had any intention of making use of the towels. He was going to get it for Katsuki.

He.

Katsuki needs to start looking seriously at rings.

As Katsuki is scrolling through an online catalogue of rings, he remembers something.

Some time ago, a jewellery company in collaboration with the JHA put out something more ‘sophisticated’, more for adults. It wasn’t even really merch—just ‘inspired by pro heroes’.

Nevertheless, Katsuki thinks it would be a good idea to get a Shouto piece.

It’s not that their current merch was lacking or even childish, but wearing something a bit more high-end has a different feel to it. Maybe it can even become his signature piece.

Katsuki does a quick search to find the online store and looks through the collection.

He doesn’t even bother glancing at the whole thing, just filters by ‘Shouto’ and only views that set.

Interestingly, Katsuki finds, it’s one of the rare times that the reference in the merchandise is to Shouto’s hero costume, rather than his hair. Katsuki is intrigued by the anklet in particular—it has a gold band with a single stripe of navy blue. The chord that holds everything together is a burgundy red, similar to the one that accents Shouto’s costume.

There are other options too—bracelet, necklace, rings—but Katsuki thinks the anklet is something new. Fashionable. He’s sure his parents would approve.

Without glancing at the price he adds the item to his cart and pays for it, opting to have it delivered to him.

Since Katsuki is buying something different this time, he may as well change his methods too. He’s probably been spotted way more times than he’d like purchasing Shouto merch, he doesn’t need to add this to the count.

Work has gotten busy all of a sudden too, so even if he wanted to visit the store he wouldn’t have the time. And he doesn’t want to wait until things settle to get his new accessory.

(In reality, Katsuki is just a bit afraid of what being inside a jewellery store with rings on display might do to him. He doesn’t want to impulsively buy a ring and propose to Shouto that same night—he wants to think this through. Because of these recent developments he doesn’t trust his self-control right now.)

Katsuki received an email following his purchase saying that he can expect the item to arrive within a week, so he’s surprised to receive a notification from apartment security saying that he has a package to sign for a mere two days later as he’s on his way home.

During the elevator ride with the newly delivered box in his hands Katsuki wonders whether they expedited his order because they saw it was his name on the form. He isn’t exactly opposed to that, but he thought shopping online would leave less of a trace.

Shouto is sitting at their kitchen island on his phone when Katsuki walks in, and following all his previous failed attempts Katsuki decides there’s no point in trying to hide his latest purchase.

So he plops the package in front of Shouto and after an ‘I’m back’ kiss, goes to retrieve a knife.

Standing across from his boyfriend, Katsuki cuts straight through the cardboard—he couldn’t care less about preserving its original shape—and rips it apart to reveal a second black box inside.

There’s some lettering on the front that spells out the company’s name in gold, and in all capital letters underneath: INSPIRED BY PRO HERO SHOUTO.

Shouto’s interest is visibly piqued after his eyes scan the words, and Katsuki is smiling as he pulls off the lid to reveal his new piece of jewellery inside.

“Is that a bracelet?”

“No, it’s an anklet.”

“Why would you buy an anklet?”

Katsuki resists the urge to roll his eyes. “Why do any of us do anything?” He pulls the anklet out of the box to inspect it, “I thought it looked nice.”

“It does, just…” When Katsuki meets Shouto’s eyes, he continues, “When will you ever wear it?”

“Um, always? I’m not just gonna let it sit there and collect dust.”

“Even with your hero costume? Won’t that be uncomfortable?”

Katsuki raises an eyebrow. Shouto is acting weird. If he wanted to insult Katsuki he would do it straight-out. He’s annoying like that. So… Katsuki moves his face closer, and Shouto breaks eye contact, instead focusing on the accessory in his hands.

Then he realises, “You don’t want me to wear it.”

Shouto stays silent.

“You… Don’t tell me, you think I would look too good in it.”

“You never look good,” Shouto retorts, but that’s a defensive tactic.

Katsuki fakes a gasp and Shouto looks up, already annoyed at what he’s about to say. “Are you turned on by this?”

Shouto mumbles, “Shut up,” and that’s all the confirmation Katsuki needs.

He follows up with a shit-eating grin, “My, Shouto, if you’re all riled up like this just from me holding it in my hands, what’ll happen once I actually put it on? I can’t have you melting into a puddle or something, I need you!”

“I said shut up,” Shouto tries again, pushing himself off the stool and walking away.

Katsuki chases after him, and puts on his best pleading voice after he catches Shouto’s wrist, “Come on, I’m just saying that I’ll miss you! Look, I won’t wear it if it’ll bother you that much.” Shouto turns back to look at him, and Katsuki grins, “Gimme a kiss?”

When Shouto concedes and steps towards him, Katsuki closes his eyes and sets the anklet down, before bringing his arms up to rest around Shouto’s shoulders.

Later that night, Shouto stops Katsuki as he’s getting into their bed. He doesn’t say anything and Katsuki just waits. Then, he brings out the anklet, and on his knees, slowly, carefully, clips it onto Katsuki’s left foot, his fingers cold against Katsuki’s skin.

Katsuki is only looking at the top of Shouto’s head, but the gesture is so tender that it almost scares Katsuki, for reasons he cannot name. It feels like his chest is constricting and he realises, belatedly, that he felt something similar the very first time he ever told Shouto, ‘I love you.’

And every time after that, when he is hit with an overwhelming sensation of, This man—this handsome, strong man—is all mine. As I am his.

Like now, in this silence that conveys more than words ever could, it surges within Katsuki, and he can’t help but blurt, “I love you.”

Shouto looks up, smiles, and responds, “I love you too. And I’m expecting you to do the same for me, when mine arrives, by the way.”

Katsuki does. He sits at Shouto’s feet then presses his lips to bone at his ankle, then gently clasps the anklet on. Afterwards, Shouto pulls him up to kiss his mouth, and they fall backwards into bed together.

Whenever they go out now, they make sure their pants are short enough or that they’re cuffed so their latest matching piece—catching everyone’s eyes when the metal shines under the sunlight—is on display for all.

PRO HERO COUPLE GROUND ZERO AND SHOUTO’S DAILY ACTIVITIES REVEALED?

LATELY THE TWO HEROES HAVE BEEN SPOTTED INDIVIDUALLY ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS BUYING MERCH OF THEIR COUNTERPART. THERE HAVE BEEN NO EXPLANATIONS FOR WHAT THIS IS ABOUT—A COMPETITION? MERELY A WAY FOR THEM TO EXPRESS THEIR LOVE? THE FEW BLURRY IMAGES OF JAPAN’S FAVOURITE PROS CIRCULATING AROUND ONLY LEAVE FANS TO WONDER: WHAT IS GOING ON?

It all started back when Ground Zero—real name Bakugou Katsuki—and Shouto—real name Todoroki Shouto—were still fresh graduates of the prestigious U.A. high school.

No one can forget the day an extremely observant fan found a Ground Zero keychain dangling from Shouto’s utility belt alongside the famous “pee-pees” (which are actually capsules containing medical supplies—talk about well-rounded!).

The extremely zoomed in image immediately spread like wildfire, and with that, questions.

Everyone wanted to know what it meant: whether it was just as everyone was assuming—that two of the hottest and most anticipated new heroes were in a relationship—or perhaps it was a dare?

It didn’t help that neither Ground Zero nor Shouto put out a statement that day, immediately falling silent and hiding from the public eye.

Meanwhile, the public made more speculations. Were they avoiding the event together? Or maybe they wouldn’t talk about it at all? But then when would they get back to their work?

Finally, after what felt like aeons, at precisely twelve in the afternoon on a Tuesday, Bakugou Katsuki and Todoroki Shouto posted identical statements to their personal social media accounts confirming their relationship.

The message simply read:

Hello, everyone. This is [Bakugou Katsuki/Ground Zero]–[Todoroki Shouto/Shouto]. It is true that I am in a relationship with [Todoroki Shouto/Shouto]–[Bakugou Katsuki/Ground Zero]. We are sorry to have kept this from you, however we would like to keep this part of our life private. We ask that you understand, and hope you can continue to support us. Thank you.

The couple have continued to go strong since then, and although they have definitely kept their personal lives out of the private eye, the public is occasionally treated to sugary sweet images of the two pros together—more often shared by their friends rather than either man themselves, and of course, there are the grainy but much-appreciated photos taken by fans during the rare times the couple has been spotted out in public.

Recently, however, there are more images surfacing of the two heroes on their own, carrying just as much weight as those of them together.

Why?

Because they’re buying the others’ merchandise, of course.

When the first image of Shouto with an unreleased pin of Ground Zero on his bag surfaced, no one believed it was real. ‘This has to be fake!’ the people cried.

And then, a store employee claimed they sold Ground Zero a red-and-white coaster—we all know what that represents.

Next: an extremely shaky video of Ground Zero picking up a mochimochi mascot and scrutinising it with a disgusted expression.

After that, the thing that threw everyone in for a loop: Shouto was carrying an ita bag.

There were multiple images of this one, the pro seemed to show it off proudly on his commute home. Dozens of photos were shared capturing the assortment of Ground Zeroes on the bag, and just a few days later the same thing happened with Ground Zero and a Shouto ita bag.

No one knows what’s going on, and no one dares to ask—at least not in public. All of the replies under Ground Zero and Shouto’s social media accounts right now are asking what this is about, and they are yet to receive an answer.

And how could we forget the seemingly latest item: the anklets? Talk about making a statement!

It’s not something the heroes are unfamiliar with.

Ground Zero in particular seems to enjoy teasing fans with images of him and his beau, especially after rumours about a potential breakup emerge.

Fans are hoping Ground Zero will do the same to explain these recent events (his account @bakukatsu420 can be found here), but until then, they are only left with their guesses.

Katsuki falls onto the hotel bed with a heavy thump and feels for his latest purchase. He smiles to himself and snuggles closer to it, slowly drifting off until his phone vibrates and makes him flinch.

He grumbles—he really does want to just rest, but at the same time he hasn’t gotten to talk to Shouto at all today so he begrudgingly opens his eyes and brings his phone to his face.

Katsuki sits up so he can take a picture of his new favourite thing in the world, and sends it to Shouto.

The image shows part of a pillow, but what’s important is that the pillow has Shouto’s face on it. In fact, Shouto’s entire body has been printed on the body-length pillow, and Katsuki has found these past few nights that it’s not a bad substitute for the real thing.

What.

Katsuki drops his phone and stares at his pillow. Pillow-Shouto looks very normal, he has no idea what real-Shouto is talking about.

But wait, didn’t Shouto say the second side?

Ever since he bought it at the store, Katsuki hasn’t bothered turning the pillow around or anything. He just chucked it onto his bed and has been holding it close ever since. The idea that there could be an inappropriate rendition of his boyfriend on the other side that’s being sold to the masses—

It makes his blood boil and he sees red.

He flips the pillow around aggressively, ready to tear the fabric apart, and pay a visit to the store he bought it from tomorrow, but stops short when he sees that the other side is just Shouto in his civilian clothes.

The sigh of relief Katsuki breathes out cleanses his being, and he holds a hand to his heart as he recovers from what could’ve been the most angry he’s gotten in a very long time.

Katsuki has half a mind to chastise Shouto for scaring him like that, before he has the thought of, Hang on. What has Shouto been looking at that his first impression was this?

He’s not sure he wants the answer.

When he reads over the texts his boyfriend sent to him as he was preparing to launch an attack on what he now knows for certain is his innocent pillow, he rolls his eyes and gives an exasperated sigh. Shouto’s imagination can sure run wild sometimes.

Katsuki tries to pull down the brim of his cap further, feeling anxious amongst the crowd of people waiting for their loved ones at the airport. He’s dressed inconspicuously and he has a mask on too—you could barely see his eyes if you looked at him, though he still can’t help but be paranoid.

He doesn’t want to cause a scene, and he’s sure Shouto will be tired. He just wants to take them home as soon as possible. He just wants Shouto in his arms again.

It’s never easy, when one of them goes overseas. Unlike an interstate trip, if they’re separated across countries their timezones usually don’t match up. Even if they are close, overseas business trips often mean something serious, some big mission, so they’re too busy to talk anyway.

The last time Katsuki had a proper, sustained conversation with Shouto was probably a week ago. He misses his voice. He misses the way he puts together words.

He just misses Shouto.

When people from Shouto’s flight start coming through the doors and into the waiting area Katsuki’s heart rate picks up. He searches desperately for Shouto, watching with excitement every time the doors slide open, and trying not to feel dejected when his love doesn’t walk through them.

Eventually the numbers start to dwindle, but Shouto still hasn’t appeared. Katsuki starts to worry, and is just about to send him a text when two arms wrap around his waist, and hold him close.

Katsuki relaxes into the touch immediately, closing his eyes to savour the moment. He breathes in and smells, well, home. His comfort.

Shouto whispers into his ear, “I’ve missed you,” and squeezes him tighter.

“Welcome back,” Katsuki says, still smiling.

They remain in that embrace for a while longer, ignorant of the world around them, but that’s okay.

Time stops, for the two of them.

When Shouto yawns though, Katsuki carefully extracts himself from his hold and turns around to face him. Shouto is dressed similarly to him—a hat pulled down to cover most of his upper face, and a mask to cover the lower half. Katsuki puts his hands on Shouto’s cheeks and leans up to kiss him through the fabric.

He grabs Shouto’s suitcase with one hand and takes hold of Shouto’s fingers with the other, before leading them to the carpark.

“Come on, let’s go home.”

Shouto is evidently sleepy in the car but for some reason keeps trying to fight off the urge. Katsuki tells him to just nap but Shouto shakes his head, despite the fact his eyelids keep drooping down.

Katsuki rolls his eyes, but it’s incredibly fond.

Since Shouto is so determined to stay awake, Katsuki decides to start a conversation.

“So how did you know which one was me?”

Shouto scoffs. Actually scoffs, then looks at Katsuki like he was insane to ask such a thing.

“How were you planning to find me?” he retorts.

“Well I’d just know,” Katsuki answers. He doesn’t know how to explain it. Even if Shouto was completely covered up, even if there were a thousand lookalikes, he would still know.

“There’s your answer then,” Shouto responds, and how could Katsuki argue with that?

“You didn’t have to be so smart about it.”

This time Shouto rolls his eyes. “Fine,” he drawls, “I looked out for your waist.”

“My waist?”

“It’s tiny.”

“It’s—” Katsuki throws a glare at Shouto before turning his eyes back to the road. “It is not tiny!”

Shouto ignores him. “And your bum.”

“My bum.”

“It’s perky.”

“You—” Katsuki gives an exasperated sigh. “We need to find you some better adjectives.”

Out the corner of Katsuki’s eye, he sees Shouto smile.

“I’m happy to be home,” he says, and Katsuki’s heart fills with joy.

He continues driving.

They don’t unpack Shouto’s things that night. They make it home in time for Katsuki to cook them dinner and then they go straight to sleep. Katsuki hadn’t even done anything tiring, but he supposes the exhaustion of being away from Shouto and all the worrying has finally caught up to him because he falls asleep in moments.

The two of them also take their time getting up the next day. It’s been too long since Katsuki last woke up with Shouto beside him—he wants to enjoy it for as long as he can.

Shouto is already awake and watching him. It’s the best thing to open his eyes to, and he smiles. He brushes back Shouto’s long hair, tucks it behind his ear and greets, “Hey beautiful.”

“Hi,” Shouto responds, and it’s just one simple word, but Katsuki has missed him so much, has missed hearing his morning voice so much, that it’s everything to him.

He leans in for a kiss and Shouto reciprocates eagerly. They melt into each other, arms and legs becoming tangled. Their sheets are twisted between them but Katsuki doesn’t care, doesn’t care how it’s uncomfortably pressing against his hip, doesn’t care for anything except the feel of Shouto’s lips on his.

It’s been too long, really, so he has no qualms about spending the morning making out lazily with Shouto. He took the day off, he has nothing to do today. Nothing that doesn’t involve Shouto, at least.

Shouto eventually rolls them over so he’s on top, and he’s kissing Katsuki’s forehead, cheek, and jaw, and then he’s no longer kissing Katsuki at all, instead looking at something in the corner, before lighting up and getting out of bed.

Well, he tries to get out of bed.

What actually happens is that he knees Katsuki in the groin and then trips over their covers to face-plant on the floor.

Katsuki swears, then sits up to ask Shouto if he’s okay.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine!” is what Shouto replies, but he’s clearly preoccupied by whatever caught his attention in the first place, because he doesn’t even try to pick himself up before pulling his suitcase to him and opening it up.

He digs through its contents, throwing his clothes all over—which Katsuki is definitely going to make him pick up and put in the laundry machine before anything else—until he finds what he’s looking for.

Then he holds it out proudly for Katsuki to see.

It’s a drink bottle. One of those sturdier ones, would probably hurt if you were hit over the head with it. The body is white, but when Shouto rotates it Katsuki sees his hero name written in black, with a heart underneath.

Shouto bought Ground Zero merch overseas.

Overseas. Another country. How the fuck is Katsuki meant to get the counterpart? Will he have to frantically search the internet for the place Shouto went to that sells these bottles? What if he’s unable to? Does this mean he’s going to lose this competition? All because Shouto pulled this dirty, dirty trick?

As he’s contemplating all of this, Shouto throws something at him which he catches instinctively.

The object is round and cold. Katsuki looks down to find his hand wrapped around the neck of another water bottle.

This one is black, and it has Shouto’s name written in white, although it’s in katakana so it’s evidently meant to be his hero name. There is, also, a heart below the last character.

It’s really nice, honestly, however Katsuki can’t help but wonder, “They sell merchandise of us over there?”

He’s not expecting Shouto to shake his head and respond, “I had them custom made.”

He’s even less prepared for him to smile and add, “They’re one of a kind.”

One of a kind.

Just like him and Shouto. Like their relationship, their bond.

Katsuki holds up the bottle again. It’s clearly complementary to Shouto’s one. A matched set. Two halves of one whole.

Once again, just like him and Shouto.

“Hurry up, or we’re gonna miss it!”

“Scoot over, let me sit.”

“I thought you were going to go to the other corner of the apartment in case the connection is better there?”

“Why would I do that?”

“What if the internet drops out here!”

“Our apartment is only so big, Shou, I doubt it would make a difference.”

Shouto lowers his phone and levels Katsuki with a very serious and disappointed expression. “Do you even want to get this item Katsuki? Because you’re not acting like it.”

The accusation shocks Katsuki. How could Shouto think that— “Fine! Fine. I’ll go to the genkan. See you soon, and good luck, I guess.”

He picks up his things and leaves the study, heading for their front door. Shouto doesn’t even respond, and Katsuki mutters grumpily to himself about how unreasonable Shouto is being right now.

It’s just preordering a new release item. How hard could it be?

When the clock hits the hour and Katsuki tries to refresh the page but it freezes, his heart starts to sink.

He’s tapping his finger against the side of his phone frantically, but nothing happens.

He stares at the spinning circle, debating if refreshing the page again will be better or worse. He opens up a new tab and types in the address again, but it’s slow as well.

Wait.

If he has two tabs open trying to access the same website, will that make it even slower?

Somewhere in the distance he hears the sound of frantic clicking, and wonders if Shouto is having better luck.

Finally, his screen changes, but not for the better.

He wants to pull out his hair in frustration.

Why has it turned out like this?

He thought it would be as simple as opening the page, scrolling down to find Shouto’s item, then pressing ‘Place Order’.

He wasn’t expecting the website to crash and tell him to try again later.

He’s never read anything more patronising.

Please try again later.

Why can’t he try now?!

He refreshes the page again, and finally, finally, he gets in.

Only to see the images greyed out, and a big red SOLD OUT slapped across the top.

No way.

It’s barely been two minutes, how have they all sold out already?

Katsuki hears a cry—he has no way of discerning the emotions behind it—and looks up just in time to catch Shouto who comes tumbling into his arms.

He collapses his entire weight onto Katsuki, toppling them over, and wails into his chest.

“Katsukiiiiiiiiiiii. I’m soooo sad, I couldn’t get it.”

Katsuki smooths down Shouto’s hair, “Even you couldn’t get it? But you were using both your phone and the computer!”

Shouto looks up and pouts. “Don’t remind me. I’m so sad,” he says, and Katsuki just wants to hug him so tight.

“Don’t worry babe, we’ll get another chance later.”

Shouto buries his face in Katsuki’s hoodie again, “It was a preorder only item.” His voice is muffled but Katsuki can hear him pouting even through the distortion. “Even if they did put it up for general sale there’d be a very limited quantity.” He sighs into the fabric.

It sounds like he’s given up, which Katsuki won’t stand for. He holds Shouto closer, and makes a mental note to keep track of this oh-so-exclusive item. He’ll fight the manufacturers to get one for Shouto if he must.

He’d do anything for him.

“Oi Deku,” Katsuki jerks his head to the side, “you can put your stuff in the study.”

His childhood friend nods, and disappears into the corridor. Katsuki continues peeling the carrots, but nearly slices himself when there’s a sudden gasp from the other side of the house.

Katsuki drops everything immediately and runs toward it.

What he finds is Deku, standing in the middle of their study, with a hand over his mouth and the other holding his phone with the camera open.

“What the fuck happened?!”

Deku jumps but shakes his head, assuring Katsuki that nothing is wrong. Katsuki doesn’t believe him, but decides to let his friend be weird, and calls him into the kitchen.

Except when he tells Deku to help himself to drinks in the fridge, the bastard gasps again, and this time Katsuki isn’t going to have any of that ‘nothing’s wrong’ nonsense.

“The fuck is wrong with you?”

“I—” Deku points at their fridge door and then their oven. Katsuki frowns. He doesn’t see anything worth gasping over. Then Deku points that finger at him, in an incredibly accusatory fashion. “You—! This is merch! Your merch!”

“Yeah? So what?”

“Oh my god. You seriously don’t see it?”

“See what!” Katsuki is losing his patience. He lets out a frustrated noise and then says, “If you’re not going to be useful then just get out.”

Deku immediately holds his hands up in surrender, “Sorry, sorry! I’ll shut up. What do you want me to do?”

Katsuki points at one of the cupboards with his foot. “Grab the big pot and fill it with water.”

They don’t mention Deku’s outbursts again. Katsuki almost forgets about it, until his phone lights up with a notification as he’s getting ready for bed, saying he was tagged in a social media post. When he opens the application and sees what it is, his anger flares. This explains it.

Deku’s odd behaviour, why he kept taking photos of Katsuki’s house.

That bastard, he’s definitely going to get him back for this.

“Katsuki, we have a problem.”

Katsuki hums noncommittally. Shouto doesn’t sound distressed, so whatever it is must not be that serious.

And then he turns to find Shouto holding, like, seven plastic balls.

“Uh… Are they those gacha things?”

Shouto nods.

“Why do you have so—”

Shouto cuts him off, completely deadpan, “Why do you think.”

Katsuki’s expression brightens and he can feel a nasty grin make its way onto his lips. “HAH! Of course it’d take you seven tries until you could get me. Bet I could get it first go. Come on,” he gets up, heading for the front door.

“Wait no I already got mine before I got yours.” Shouto holds the capsule out, “Just take it.”

Katsuki shakes his head, “No what’s the fun in that?”

So that’s how the two of them end up in the streets at midnight, dressed in sunglasses with their hoods up so they won’t get recognised. They end up looking like a pair of hoodlums instead, but that’s the better outcome.

They squat in front of the gacha machine Shouto visited earlier in the day and Katsuki puts in a coin before spinning the dial.

The plastic ball rolls down to the flap and Katsuki retrieves it, untwisting the cap to reveal: Red Riot.

Katsuki looks up at Shouto who, although is wearing sunglasses which obscure his eyes, Katsuki just knows is giving him an ‘I told you so’ look.

He tries again: Sugarman.

And again: Tsukuyomi.

And again: Uravity.

Until finally, Katsuki swallows his pride (also because he’s super tired—it’s way past his bedtime), and concedes, “You were right.”

Shouto surprisingly offers him a consoling pat on the shoulder. “You tried your best. The box looks a bit empty, anyway. They might not have had the chance to refill it. There might not even be a Shouto in there right now.”

Katsuki sighs, and they get up. They walk home hand in hand, Katsuki’s four capsules stuffed into his pockets.

When Shouto walks out of the bedroom in his costume, Katsuki can’t help but laugh. The orange and green clash so badly with his hair, it’s kind of horrible.

“Hey, I didn’t laugh at you,” Shouto protests.

Katsuki stands up and runs his hands down his body as he says, “That’s because I look good in anything. The blue suits me well, doesn’t it?”

Shouto stops and observes him for a moment. Then he shakes his head.

“No. It looks wrong on you.”

“Oi!” Katsuki thinks he looks great. But there’s no use arguing about it now, they’re going to be late if they don’t leave soon. “Ground Zero-san,” he says, holding his arm out for Shouto to take, “shall we go?”

“Of course, Pro Hero Shouto,” Shouto replies, “I was just waiting for you to ask.”

A few weeks ago Katsuki had been shopping for some items when he came across a replica of Shouto’s hero costume. He was surprised by the detail, it even had the utility belt and pee-pees! He knew he had to buy it, if only because he thought it’d be hilarious for Shouto to come home and see him in it.

He should have expected Shouto to purchase a Ground Zero costume and surprise him in turn.

It was then that they came up with the genius idea of dressing up as each other for their friends’ annual Halloween party. They garner a bout of laughter from everyone when they walk through the doors, but Katsuki takes it in stride.

They’re going to win the costume competition, he’ll make sure of it.

Other than that, it’s fun to catch up with people they don’t usually see throughout the year.

Like Jirou for example, who has taken one from Shouto’s book and dressed up as a half-angel half-devil. The white gown on her right side reaches her feet, but a black playsuit covers her left. She has half of a halo with a red devil’s horn on her head.

Shouto is already talking with her when Katsuki walks over, adjusting one of Shouto’s headpieces which has started toppling over before sliding a hand around his waist and resting his head on his shoulder.

Jirou takes one look at the two of them together before scrunching up her nose and commenting, “That’s so embarrassing.”

“Fuck up, Earphones. We’re adorable as fuck.”

Shouto turns his head and smirks at him. “‘Fuck up’? Did you try to mix ‘fuck off’ and ‘shut up’?”

It makes Jirou laugh, and Katsuki throws them both a glare. Fuck Shouto, he’s pulling their team out of the contest. Katsuki will win on his own—that’ll teach Shouto to make fun of him when Katsuki is defending their honour.

The voting for best costume soon begins, which begins a debate on whether Katsuki and Shouto should even be nominated.

“They’re literally just wearing each other’s hero costumes! They didn’t make it or buy it, I say it doesn’t count.”

Katsuki argues, “Hey! I spent good money on this.”

In truth it cost less than some of the other merchandise he’s bought this year, but the point still stands.

“Wait, these aren’t your actual costumes?” someone asks.

At the same time, Shouto questions out loud, “Wait why didn’t I think of that?” Then he turns to Katsuki. “Katsuki, why didn’t you think of that? If you wanted the costume you could have just worn my actual one.”

“You think I’d fit into your costume?” Katsuki scoffs. “Please.” Their chest sizes are different. The fabric would be stretched thin. There’s also the issue of their heights, but Katsuki doesn’t want to acknowledge that. “Also, there’s no way I’d let you wear my real costume. Especially not to a party.”

Shouto hums. “You’re right. Besides, they’re a good addition to our collection.”

Deku overhears that last part and groans out loud. “Please,” he says, “don’t remind me. You two are the biggest hypocrites I’ve ever met.”

Shouto pokes out his tongue and Katsuki gives him the finger.

All in all, it ends up being a great night between friends, and although neither Katsuki nor Shouto win the costume contest (much to Katsuki’s disappointment), it’s still a good memory for the both of them.

The first time Shouto comes home wearing winter accessories, Katsuki doesn’t notice.

The second time he does, but Shouto’s head is turned so Katsuki just assumes it’s a plain beanie and scarf.

The third time is when they’re about to go on a late night stroll, and Shouto walks out dressed head to toe in Ground Zero merch. Katsuki recognises the beanie and scarf—but this time sees the explosion and gauntlets stitched into them.

What’s new is the black hoodie, with a big orange X across the front, as if emulating Katsuki’s hero costume.

From what Katsuki can see, Shouto’s pants are the only thing that aren’t branded, but Katsuki wouldn’t put it past him if they were.

Katsuki wants to ask him why he thinks it would be a good idea to go out looking like that but the words falter on his tongue. It looks… really cute, actually. Almost like Shouto has borrowed something of his and is wearing it.

The hoodie is big too, and it makes Shouto look so cuddly and soft.

Katsuki’s feet take him to Shouto, where he then pulls off the beanie and unwinds the scarf. He ignores Shouto’s protests and questioning, and instead plants his mouth on Shouto’s.

They kiss gently, slowly with tongue, and Katsuki confirms that Shouto feels just as good as he looks.

“I love this,” he whispers, when they come apart for air.

“I love you,” is how Shouto responds, and Katsuki brings him closer.

They don’t make it out for that late night walk, but Katsuki finds that he enjoys this much more. Being in the warmth of their home, feeling Shouto’s heated breath on his skin.

Katsuki wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.

When Katsuki buys his own Shouto-themed clothing, he really has to commend his boyfriend once again for his ingenuity. Although Katsuki can and does steal Shouto’s clothes to wear sometimes it feels different when the item belongs to him, but has Shouto written all over it.

He feels like a fan supporting their favourite sports team.

He buys everything else he can find too—scarf, beanie, gloves, earmuffs. God knows he’s so fucking cold all the time in winter, at least now he can represent his boyfriend whilst all decked out in winter gear.

Once he puts on the entire get-up and looks at himself in the mirror at home, however, he starts to have doubts.

Maybe it’s too obvious to wear only Shouto merch? He takes off the beanie and starts looking for his usual one instead.

Except Shouto comes up behind him and shoves something over his head, taking the beanie from his hand. Katsuki pushes the hat up so it’s not covering his eyes and looks at his reflection to find that Shouto has put his own newest beanie on Katsuki’s head.

“I’m not going to wear my own merch out,” Katsuki points out.

Shouto is adjusting his beanie—Katsuki’s beanie, with the Shouto design—when he responds, “Why not?”

“It’s embarrassing!”

“Is wearing your hero costume embarrassing?”

“No, why would it be?”

“Exactly. Like your costume, the beanie is just representing you, isn’t it? It’s your brand. Nothing embarrassing about that. Besides,” Shouto tilts his head towards Katsuki’s, “we match like this.”

And… Katsuki can’t argue against that. They do look really cute. It’s awfully coupley of them, but Katsuki loves it. Their relationship is amazing. People should be jealous.

And he’s proud to show it off. He’s proud of their love and he’s proud to be Shouto’s.

And what better way to tell the world that than by wearing clothes with his designs and displaying his merch everywhere?