Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Izuku isn’t sure Hawks and Endeavor have ever been in their office before, at least not at the same time.

It’s his fault they’re here. He messed up, he caused a scandal, and as a hero representing this agency, they have every right to end his contract.

But that’s… not quite how this goes.

The news plays on one of the new monitors, muted with captions on, and one of the others has the photo of Izuku kissing Eijirou in front of the twenty four hour store along with a screenshot of the original tweet posted the night it happened.

It’d gone unnoticed for several days until someone who apparently was searching for Deku content specifically stumbled upon it, retweeted it to their small army of followers, and the rest was history. Or is currently now developing like a rumbling landslide, that is.

Endeavor scowls at the photo in the way no one wants their boyfriend’s dad to ever look, and Hawks scratches the hairs on his chin like he’s trying to solve a puzzle.

“Are you sure that’s Eijirou?”

They all turn to Hawks in disbelief as he squints at the screen harder. Endeavor shakes his head, but he doesn’t comment.

“Of course it’s me,” Kirishima wails.

“Alright, I’m just making sure,” he says. “You never know.”

“Hawks?!” Izuku squeaks, horrified. What kind of opinion does he have about him and his recreational activities?

“I’m just saying, it could have been photoshopped.”

“Nope, that’s them,” Bakugou grumbles. “Idiots.”

Endeavor hums at that, and Izuku winces.

Oh god, he’s gonna make me break up with Shouto for embarrassing them. The Flame Hero Endeavor hates me.

“Dad,” Shouto says, and his father turns to him.

“You know this was inevitable,” he says, his low voice like thunder in the distance, and Izuku braces himself to get swallowed up by the storm. Shouto nods silently. “I’m sorry you have to face this kind of embarrassment so early in your career.”

Izuku’s eyes prick with tears, and he angles his head away to hide them. This is it. This is all his fault. Endeavor is ashamed of him, and he embarrassed Shouto. Goodbye big dysfunctional family he’s become a bit emotionally attached to in the last decade. It’s been nice.

“Midoriya,” Endeavor says, and Izuku stands up straight, ready to be barbecued. “I was speaking to you.”

“Oh,” he blinks, one of the tears slipping out, but he’s too stunned to bother hiding it.

“And Kirishima as well, but it seems the public is still unsure of his involvement.”

“I didn’t mean to shame the agency,” he says, angry with himself. “It was a stupid mistake, and it won’t happen again.”

“It was just a kiss in front of a convenience store, and you were both off duty and not in your hero costumes,” Hawks says. “Nobody’s getting shamed here. We’re not here to yell at you. We just came down because Shouto called us, and the big guy can’t tell him no.”

Oh.

They’re here like parents.

Not like big scary hero bosses.

They came to help.

“I wasn’t sure what to do,” Shouto says. “I know this team is my responsibility, but I don’t know how I’m supposed to handle this.“

“Well, kiddo, you have three options,” Hawks says. “You can ignore it completely and never confirm or deny anything. That’s what we did.”

“You were hardly avoidant,” Endeavor says, especially gruff.

“And I did it in a way that was so ridiculous that no one believed me, which by the way wouldn’t have happened if I denied anything,” he says. Izuku can remember the flippant way Hawks referred to himself as the side piece years before they came out as a couple publicly, and it’s true. No one took him seriously because they knew what a jokester he is. “Option number two is to deny everything until you’re blue in the face, but they’re not going to listen to you anyway, and that’s a pretty nice picture of Izuku and Eijirou right there, if you ask me.”

“What’s option number three,” Izuku asks, stomach already starting to churn.

“You can make an official statement, put on the suit, and apologize for the cameras, but if you do that over something like this, they’re going to think that they have a right to your personal lives for the rest of your careers.”

Izuku doesn’t like that. He doesn’t like the idea of having to explain himself for how he lives when he’s not working, and then the image of his mom getting filmed at the grocery store comes in his mind, and he almost throws up right on his own office floor.

And that would be true for Kirishima too.

And then one day all four of them.

“What’s the best option,” Izuku asks.

“Well, that’s up to you four, but in my opinion, don’t go on the offensive. You’ve done nothing wrong, so acting like you did would just make things worse, but, uhhh, I think you should remember that relationships between hero partners are kinda normal, hence me and Enji over here, and you’re not even the first polyamorous hero team, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

The four of them look at Hawks in shock, and Endeavor nods in agreement. Who?!

Hawks makes a face like he’s not sure why they’re all confused by this. “The Wild, Wild Pussycats? Didn’t they train you?”

The lightbulb moment comes in the form of a four person gasp of realization. They didn’t think about that because truthfully no one thinks about that, and not because it’s a secret. The Wild, Wild Pussycats never hid their relationship, but they didn’t make it a big deal either. They just were, and they focused on putting their teamwork first.

Just like every hero partner couple does.

Bakugou frowns. “So, what? They just don’t say anything about it, and it’ll go away?”

“Oh no, it’s not going away,” he says. “The best you can hope for is that they stick to trying to get you to talk about it during your interviews. Worst case scenario, you get some creepy photographers hanging around your apartments all night.”

“Fuck.”

It would be pretty hard to hide a four person relationship if they’re being followed, especially at night. They’d barely make it a week.

“So what if we do say something, but we don’t make a big deal about it,” Kirishima says. “Like what if I tweeted the photo and made a joke about no one knowing it’s me, and Shouto could like it, and that way the rumors about the team breaking up would go away, and it would kind of take away from the scandal right? Kinda like how OG Hawks used to talk about Endeavor’s butt so much.”

Enji makes a short, disgruntled noise.

“Sorry.”

“It could work,” Hawks says. “You’ll get a lot of attention, which will make the press a little crazier about it at first, but you’ll pretty much ruin the scoop, and they’ll probably leave you alone faster than they would if there was anything there to expose.”

“I can do that,” he says. “I mean, it’s a little embarrassing, but it’s better than Izuku having to give a speech or Shouto having to make an official statement or something.”

Hawks turns to Endeavor, folding his arms across his chest in thought. “Well, what do you think, Big Guy?”

Endeavor nods with a slight frown. “It’s your decision. The agency can make a statement on your behalf if necessary, but I don’t disagree with this option. However, I do think it would be wise to wait until after you’ve all gone home before addressing the picture.”

“Right, jumping the gun here might make you look desperate,” Hawks agrees. “Go home, take a few minutes to calm down, tweet the photo, Shouto can like it when he’s ready, and we’ll keep an eye on the news cycle. If this backfires, we’ll have the PR team take over, but I don’t think we need to worry about getting them involved over something this small. I know you kids are stressed about it, but keep in mind what kind of stuff me and Enji have had to publicly apologize for.”

Izuku nods, understanding. Maybe in a few months, this won’t feel like anything, but it’s hard to deny that right now in this moment it feels like the world is ending.

He never meant to cause any problems with the others. Never meant for Endeavor and Hawks to have to step in because of a mess he created. He never meant for Shouto to have to put on his team leader hat to deal with a situation that was entirely Izuku’s fault.

But there are always worse things for the public to see, always worse things he might have to apologize for one day. Kissing his boyfriend while they’re both on vacation shouldn’t have to be one of them.

And the thing is, it could have been Shouto, and the reaction would have been the same. Well, they would have probably recognized his hair a little easier, but Izuku and Shouto have never publicly confirmed their relationship, and they’ve been together since they were fifteen.

They would have, but no one ever really asked.

And as unconventional as it is, Izuku wouldn’t deny his relationship with Kirishima or Bakugou either. They mean just as much to him as Shouto does, and Izuku isn’t embarrassed he was caught kissing Kirishima. He’s embarrassed he was caught kissing at all.

It was a private moment, and it isn’t fair that the world is too busy zooming in on them to try and figure out who Kirishima is that no one realizes that.

Everything was going so well…

Hawks and Endeavor leave, and so do Kirishima and Bakugou so they can prepare . Izuku doesn’t even bother changing out of his costume before gathering his things because even if this is his own agency, he doesn’t feel like risking anyone stopping to ask him about the photo.

Shouto is standing at his desk, quiet even for him, and Izuku swallows anxiously.

He walks up to him with careful steps, and when Shouto doesn’t look up, Izuku’s heart stops.

“Do you…,” he swallows. “Want me to go to my mom’s?”

“No,” he says. “I want you to come home with me to our apartment.”

Izuku stands there speechless while Shouto slings his backpack over his shoulder. He looks tired, too tired for the beginning of the week, but his face mirrors how Izuku feels, so maybe Izuku shouldn’t be that surprised about it. Maybe this whole ordeal is exhausting for all of them.

He’a a little unnerved by how quickly Bakugou and Kirishima left without stopping to talk to them, but he can’t deny the urge to go home.

So a part of him is too grateful that Shouto didn’t want him to go to his mom’s even though–.

Yes, they’ll go home together to Shouto’s place. That’s where Izuku wants to be right now the most, wrapped up to his neck in that gray fuzzy blanket and pressed against Shouto’s warm side. That would cure him.

Our apartment.

Yeah.

That’s where he wants to be.

The ride home is silent. Izuku keeps his hands folded on his lap while Shouto drives, a small frown permanently creased across his face. He’s thinking, focusing so much that Izuku is scared to startle him, but his words seem caught in his throat right now anyway. What could he possibly say to him?

When they get back to the apartment, Shouto goes in first and sets his things down before making a beeline towards the sofa. Izuku can’t tell if he’s mad or not, so once he gets his boots off and the rest of his costume parts he needs to leave at the door, he takes a right into the kitchen for a glass of water.

He chugs it down, desperate for some kind of relief, but it barely does anything for his dry, anxious mouth.

He sets his empty glass down in the sink and goes to face his problems. He happens to see Shouto texting Bakugou from over his shoulder, but he doesn’t look closely enough to see what it’s about, respecting their privacy of course, and he almost takes the second couch to give Shouto some space, but maybe he doesn’t want to be away from him right now.

They sit together in silence, the sinking pit in Izuku’s stomach growing deeper and deeper, and Shouto sets his phone down onto the cushion next to him.

“I’m so sorry,” Izuku says, voice coming out distant like someone else said it, and Shouto turns to put his arms around him.

“I’m not very good at this. I know Eijirou would be better, but I’m sorry I couldn’t stop this from happening to you,” he says, holding Izuku as tightly as he can to try to comfort him in a way he knows Izuku needs, even if this act is something that doesn’t come naturally to him. He’s stiff, but he’s trying. He’s trying for him because he loves him.

Izuku bursts into tears.

“I never wanted to cause any problems for you,” Izuku sobs. “I’m so sorry. I know how much bad press stresses you out because of your family stuff. I never wanted to be the reason it happened again.”

“Izuku, I don’t care about what anyone has to say about us. Even if they think our team is breaking up, it isn’t true, so why should that matter to me?”

“It’s not,” Izuku agrees with a sniffle. No one would have a clue that their team is the strongest it’s ever been, but now they’re speculating. There are experts.

And they’re all bleeping stupid.

“We’ll still patrol together like we always have, and we’ll still handle the same rescues and missions together no matter what anyone says. What does it matter if they talk about us if nothing changes? They’re wrong, and we don’t have to tell them that. It doesn’t matter.”

Izuku nods. He’s right, and Izuku knows it. They can spend the next six months debating when their team will split up, but it never will. After ten years of working together like this, even if a relationship break up happens within the group, they’d be stupid to try and start over in the hero world.

Nothing is coming to an end here except for maybe the illusion that they could do whatever they wanted without anyone finding out.

“I was so careful,” he whispers.

“It’s okay, Izuku, I’m not angry,” he says, and Izuku inhales a sharp breath before tucking his face into Shouto’s neck. His skin smells like the soap from the agency, and the warmth of his quirk soaks deep into Izuku’s bones. He loves him so much that sometimes it hurts, and right now it hurts so much. “Now it’s your turn to be the homewrecker.”

Izuku laughs in disbelief and sits back up, and that’s when he sees Shouto smiling. Shouto wipes away the tears on Izuku’s cheek with his thumbs, and Izuku closes his eyes to gather himself.

They can do this.

They can do anything.

Both Izuku and Shouto’s phones go off with Twitter notifications, and his stomach flips. The time has come to do whatever it is they’re about to do about this picture.

Here goes nothing.

Red Riot Official: mystery lover??? guess i’ll just have to work harder 😅 [image]

“Okay,” Izuku breathes. “So you just have to like this to show you’re okay with it and that our team isn’t breaking up.”

Shouto nods and likes the tweet, but then Izuku sees him typing something, which wasn’t part of the plan at all.

The heck is he doing?

“What are you doing?”

Pro Hero Shouto: Maybe they didn’t recognize you with your shirt on.

Red Riot Official: 😩 you may have a point

Oh, that’s a good tactic.

Deku: your signature look is too powerful 🙇

💥Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight💥: you sure that’s red? seems kinda suspicious…

Red Riot Official: BRO

Pro Hero Shouto: I’m opening an official investigation immediately. @dekusmash are you sure the man in this photo with you is Red Riot?

Red Riot Official: NOT YOU TOO

Deku: OF COURSE I’M SURE 😭?????

Izuku looks up to see Shouto smiling to himself at his phone, and that’s when he realizes he’s actually having fun with this.

And it is kind of fun…

The likes and retweets are coming in so fast that Izuku’s phone battery could fry an egg, but most of what he can see are surprised or interested reaction images, people laughing, and a lot of amused fans. If there’s any speculation happening, at least it’s being drowned out by pure confusion.

Pro Hero Shouto: I’ve decided we need another example to compare the original photo to to be sure the person in the image with Deku is actually Red Riot.

💥Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight💥: oh here we go 🙄

Izuku doesn’t have a chance to ask Shouto what he means (because as far as he’s concerned, there weren’t any other photos taken of them while they were on vacation) because the next thing he knows, Shouto is grabbing him by the chin and pulling him into a closed mouthed kiss with his phone extended out in front of them.

He stops and immediately starts typing again, and Izuku blinks at him, confused.

Pro Hero Shouto: See. [image]

Izuku looks at his screen and gasps. Shouto just posted a picture of them kissing on his own twitter account, even though they’ve never officially come out as a couple.

Does he want a scandal?!

💥Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight💥: that doesn’t prove anything idiot we all know what deku looks like it’s the other loser we’re not sure about

Red Riot Official: IT’S ME??!

💥Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight💥: no see if it was you it might look like this [image]

Izuku gasps again at the picture of Bakugou and Kirishima sharing the same kiss that’s now been added to the conversation for the whole world to see.

And boy does the whole world see it.

Everyone loses their minds over the two new editions, the world quote tweeting and liking at the speed of light, and Izuku is sure this is going to be a PR nightmare, but maybe it’s better like this. They’re all in control here. No hidden cameras or anything so intrusive.

Izuku doesn’t hate it.

💥Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight💥: well what do you know it was riot in the first picture

Red Riot Official: THAT’S WHAT I’VE BEEN SAYING 😭 COME ON MAN

Izuku leans against Shouto’s shoulder with a small excited squeak, a permanent smile tugging at his lips. He loves them all so much. He’s got three amazing partners, and he’d never trade them for anything.

Chargebolt: 🤨 y’all just gonna have your own little smoochfest then i see how it is

Hero Cellophane: 👀

Chargebolt: OH HELL YEAH

Hero Cellophane: [image]

Chargebolt: ELECTRIC TAPE HAS ENTERED THE CHAT

“What?!” Izuku shrieks, eyes bulging out of his head.

“Katsuki sent a message to the group chat before Eijirou posted the tweet,” Shouto says. “I thought you saw it.”

“No, I haven’t really wanted to look at my phone since the photo came out,” Izuku says, his eyes starting to water. “I didn’t check it because I thought they were all wanting to know what was happening.”

“They did, but he asked for a favor,” he says. “For Izuku and Eijirou.”

Oh.

Izuku’s lip starts to quiver. “That’s–.”

Their phones get another twitter notification, and they both stop to see what it is.

Official Uravity: WAIT ME TOO OMG

Official Uravity: hehe sorry @ingenium2 💖 [image]

Ingenium: It was an honor to receive such an invaluable gift from you while finishing my reports for the evening. Thank you, Uravity.

Froppy: 🐸?

Official Uravity: his office was closest >.>

Creati: 🥺 oh that looks like fun

Hero Cellophane: 👀 

Pro Hero Earphone Jack: 👀

Official Uravity: 👀 

Battle Fist: 👀 

Creati: oh my goodness 😳 

Soon their little look there’s no scandal here thread turns into a pro-hero roll call with dozens of heroes and sidekicks posting their own kiss photos. Some are known hero partners or at least heroes who work under the same agencies, some Izuku knows are just friends, and a few are either confirmed couples or speculated.

But the result is that the news cycle shifts completely from Izuku and Kirishima’s exposed moment to the absolute chaos that comes out of it. No one cares about the original photo of Deku off duty kissing his hero partner anymore because now everyone is.

It’s incredible.

He can’t thank them enough.

Although it might be nice to try.

Izuku pulls up his class’s group chat and ignores all the notifications to send his message to them. He’s still not ready to really face the stress of his photo yet, but he can at least do this.

Izuku: thank you guys!!! ;-;!!!!

Hanta: we got your back man

Ochako: it’s no problem at all deku 💚

Mina: i’m out of town rn this SUCKS i wanna kiss somebody 😩

Tooru: ;-; i tried to do it, but i didn’t show up in the picture

Kyouka: noooo 😭 

Denki: so uhhh no sweat ofc but who wants to tell us why deku got caught kissing santa claus 🤨

Eijirou: …

Katsuki: what? can’t a guy kiss eijirou just cause he feels like it?

Denki: can i? 👀

Katsuki: no lol

Denki: this feels like favoritism why does only midoriya get to kiss kirishima is this because you’ve known him the longest because i don’t think that’s fair at all

Shouto: I get to kiss Eijirou

Denki: OH COME ON

Katsuki: yeah he can but that’s it

Shouto: :-)

Eijirou:  🙈

Denki: 😩 damn it’s a sad day for gentlemen everywhere

Mina: lol gentlemen where

Denki: everywhere 😏

Eijirou: sorry y’all i’m booked 😩

Katsuki: quit gigglin asshole i can hear you from over here

Mina: that only works when you don’t live together

Katsuki: fuck off pinky

Mina: 😘

Hanta: so why were midoriya and kirishima making out in front of a 7/11

Eijirou: we were on vacation bro

Hanta: i mean i guess

Denki: you know what that’s fair

Tenya: I commend your group’s constant efforts to improve your teamwork even when you’re off duty.

Izuku: thank you iida

Katsuki: i’m turning my phone off

Shouto hums quietly, a small noise he does sometimes when he wants attention, and Izuku sets his phone to the side so he can give him all of his.

He settles at his side, resting his head on Shouto’s shoulder and winding their arms together.

“Thank you.”

“I told you we would take care of it.”

Izuku closes his eyes and exhales a deep breath as the knot in his stomach finally loosens. “I wish you didn’t have to.”

“We’ve fought worse villains than this and still had homework due the next day,” he says as he tilts his nose into Izuku’s curls. “Can you eat?”

“I think so,” he says. “I’m not so sick about it anymore.”

“I’ll order something for us then.”

“That sounds good to me,” Izuku says. “I need to wash the patrol funk off of me first, I think.”

“Yes, you do smell like you were just on patrol.”

“Shouto!” Izuku cries out with a laugh and kisses his cheek, overwhelmed with affection for this secretly mischievous person. He’s such a good boyfriend, a good friend, and an excellent partner, and he’s–.

Really nice to share a home with.

Izuku kisses his cheek again, not even sorry for the sweat and dirt it transfers, but he’s so happy and grateful and couldn’t love him more if he tried.

“Let me get dinner this time.”

“No,” he says, earning a pout. “Do you want what you usually get?”

“Yes, please.”

“I’ll ask for two then so you can have more later if you want it.”

“Oh,” Izuku gasps with a hand over his chest.

“To celebrate your first scandal.”

Izuku deflates like a balloon.

“Shouto, please,” he says distressed, and Shouto only grins about it, the demon. “And that wasn’t my first scandal, but we don’t have to talk about that.”

“You mean the time you were wanted for murder.”

Izuku winces. “You know what, I think I’m gonna go take that shower now.”

“I will be here for the next scandal.”

“I really hope me taking a bath doesn’t cause one.”

“You buying chips did.”

“Why are you doing this to me,” he laughs. “I’m not Kacchan!”

“Are you implying I’m different with him,” Shouto says, innocence dripping from every word, and Izuku has witnessed them enough together to know better.

“Oh no, I’m pointing it out directly,” he says, taking his face in his hands. “Are you trying to cheer me up, Todoroki?”

“Is it working?”

Izuku bites back a smile. “Maybe.”

“Then, yes, that’s what I’m doing.”

“I thought you were upset with me.”

Shouto shakes this head. 

“I’ve never been upset with you,” he says, and Izuku frowns, unsure. He looked pretty not happy just a few minutes ago to him. “I don’t want you three to get hurt, and I didn’t know how to fix this.”

“You didn’t have to, Shouto.”

“I disagree,” he says. “Go shower. I’m hungry.”

“Alright,” he concedes. “Can we watch a movie tonight?”

Shouto’s eyebrows raise. “Are you asking for my permission?”

“I’m asking if you want to.”

“We can watch a movie,” he nods.

“Great,” Izuku smiles, excited. “Okay good.”

He leaves to go shower, trusting Shouto to handle the food while he scrubs the patrol sweat off of himself, but the longer he stands under the water, the more the regret sinks in.

Even if he can laugh a little now thanks to the relief their friends’ bought them, he’s still mad at himself. He’s mad at making more trouble for Shouto because it seems like that’s all he’s ever done for him, and beyond that, now he’s forced Kirishima and Bakugou into an uncomfortable situation because their relationship is the closest to being public of all of theirs.

What if people accuse Kirishima of cheating? What if his ranking drops? What if he loses a sponsorship because of him?

Izuku has never considered himself a selfish person, but he wasn’t thinking. He was so overwhelmed with how much he adored Kirishima that he popped up off of the ground for one kiss to get it out of his system. He’s so cute and nice and so full of warmth, and Izuku loves him. He didn’t mean anything by it.

And maybe it was a little more than it was supposed to be, but he didn’t think it was raunchy or debauched, and the angle made it worse, and Kirishima’s mouth was open because he was talking, but Izuku is actually pretty darn careful with Kirishima.

And maybe he’s too careful with him because he’s Bakugou’s special person, and he was so good to Shouto when Izuku was split into a million pieces, and he’s never asked for anything this whole time, and Izuku is so grateful for him, and maybe there’s some hesitation because a part of him is scared that Kirishima only took him as a partner because he felt like he had to for everyone else to be happy, even though Izuku knows that’s not true. They’ve talked so much about it privately that Izuku knows better, and Kirishima confessed a thousand thoughts Izuku never knew he had, and he knows in his heart that they’re all in this for real.

But still, he can’t help but be careful with him.

Not careful enough, it seems.

But there was no one there. 

He checked. 

The street was completely abandoned, there were no parked cars around, and he never so much as got a flicker of danger sense. 

They were all so careful to make sure nothing ruined their vacation, and Izuku still managed to expose them all. What if Kirishima won’t want to be close to him in public anymore? What if Bakugou decides that this was unforgivable?

What if things become weird with them now? 

What if they decide to break up with him? Stay as three and kick him out?

Izuku’s heart aches in his chest so much that it becomes hard to breathe.

He doesn’t want to lose them for anything in the whole world. He loves them, all three of them. If he could spend the rest of his life with them, it would be the greatest gift in the world, and he’s never going to be ready to lose that.

It was just one kiss that no one was ever supposed to see…

With a loud huff he turns off the water and gets out of the shower. He dries himself off and squeezes the water out of his hair before absently wondering if he could get Bakugou to cut it for him. Maybe he’ll ask after this all blows over, if it ever does.

He wraps his towel around his waist to go get dressed, but when he opens the door, that’s when he hears voices coming from somewhere inside the apartment. Izuku freezes, realizing how naked he is with an internal uh oh.

He tiptoes down the hall until he’s far enough to crane his neck to look, and that’s when he sees Kirishima and Bakugou with a big white box of something in the kitchen.

Izuku walks out, curious. “Guys?”

The three of them stop to look at him, and Shouto has a bright pink doughnut pinched between his fingers. “You said you wanted to watch a movie.”

Izuku puts his hands to his face, immediately tearing up. They came to watch a movie with him.

“Go put some pants on, idiot,” Bakugou says. “Food’s almost here.”

“Oh right,” he says before hurrying off to the bedroom. He grabs some underwear and pajamas out of the drawers and dresses as quickly as possible so he can run back to them.

They’re all here.

They’re okay.

Everything’s going to be fine.

“I called them,” Shouto says, pleased with himself.

“We were already on the way,” Bakugou says.

“I still called you.”

“Whatever.“

“Sorry we didn’t get to go where you wanted for dinner, Kiri,” Izuku frowns.

“Oh no, it’s cool,” he smiles. “I’d rather be home tonight anyway. Just knew none of us had food in the fridge, and I wanted to eat with you guys.

“And it’s not like any stupid extras are gonna let us eat in peace right now if we did. Nosy asses.”

“So what are we watching?” Kirishima asks.

“We haven’t picked yet,” Izuku says. “I was gonna wash up first because Shouto called me stinky.”

“I did not.”

“Don’t pick something too long,” Bakugou says. “I don’t wanna be up all night and feel like shit tomorrow.”

“Maybe we could start a series none of us have seen before,” Kirishima says. “Like something we only watch together, unless we’re, like, committed to the whole movie thing.”

“No, yeah, that’s a great idea,” Izuku says. “We can watch a couple of episodes of something tonight to see if it sticks, and Kacchan won’t be cranky in the morning.”

“You little–!”

Bakugou’s sentence gets cut off by the notice that their food is here, and they all spring into action.

The first bite of Izuku’s favorite katsudon almost brings tears to his eyes. Dinner with his boyfriends, and his favorite food, and the possibility of a large futon pileup in his immediate future? There’s no better form of healing.

If he cries a little bit, that’s nobody’s business.

After they eat and clean up, Kirishima sits on one of the sofas first, and when Izuku goes in with him, unsure of which couch he should take, Kirishima pulls him onto his lap and wraps his arms around him.

All Izuku can do is think thank god.

Shouto comes in next, and Izuku pulls him onto his lap too, earning a giggle against his back from Kirishima, and when Bakugou follows, ready to call them all idiots, Shouto pulls him onto his.

“This is so fucking stupid.”

“Quiet, Kacchan, we’re stacking.”

“The fuck does that mean,” he barks, and Kirishima lets out a delighted hehehe from beneath them all. “Shut up, Ei, I’ll come back there and kick your ass if I have to.”

And it’s this moment, this strange seating arrangement and their combined refusal to let Bakugou get off of it is what finally reminds him that there’s not a force in the world that could damage his team.

Not any villain and certainly not an unfortunate picture.

This is his life now.

Bakugou was scared to death.

The picture of Deku and Kirishima sent a flash of cold through him so strong he could have sworn Todoroki had iced him again. Nothing bad is supposed to happen to them. Not them. Not those three.

When Todoroki looked at him like he was supposed to fix it, Bakugou’s heart sank, because he knew he had to. He knew he was going to have to put himself between them and the rest of the bullshit in the world, and he was ready to, but not having to do it alone was kind of awesome.

They didn’t have long to come up with a plan, but when they figured one out, the rest was history. Bakugou will never admit this, but his brain kind of works the best with Todoroki. And yes, the guy’s about two wrenches short of a toolbox, but he loves the bastard and they make a good fucking team, alright?

And they made a promise to each other a while back that the two of them would keep Kirishima and Deku safe together, and that means something to him. He takes that shit seriously.

For me, Katsuki. So I can sleep at night.

Good luck getting that memory out of his brain. He’s never wanted to crawl inside another person’s chest so bad in his entire life, and if it hadn’t been a half a step away from the crack of dawn, that’s exactly what he might have done.

He would do anything for them.

Including asking the idiots they went to school with for help, and honestly, he didn’t expect them all to go balls to the walls about it, but when have those fuckers ever really let him down before?

It kind of worked better than any PR bullshit he’s ever seen in his life, because after about two hours of every damn active hero in the country kissing every other damn active hero in the country, no one gave a shit about Kirishima and Deku anymore.

No stupid apologies, no interviews, no swarms of reporters bugging the shit out of them, and most importantly, no big relationship announcements.

None of them want that right now, if ever. Their private life is their private life, and the last thing Bakugou wants is his relationship with Kirishima, Deku, and Todoroki, dissected for sport.

All that matters is the four of them found something that works for them, and no shitty extra is ever going to understand that in the right way. No one knows the shit they’ve been through but them, and that’s the way Bakugou likes it.

And they’re still figuring things out. They all made it clear that they’re only interested in the other three bastards. Kirishima, who’s been trying to learn all the technical parts of this since he first told Bakugou that he set him up with Deku, says they’re doing something kinda like polyfidelity, whatever the fuck that means. All Bakugou knows is he’s got his three dumbasses, and that’s enough for him.

One night while Kirishima was googling shit, he giggled and told Bakugou he was his nesting partner, and Bakugou almost kicked his ass for it before he explained he wasn’t calling Bakugou a chicken.

That was more to see what other people do. They're not quite so specific, sticking with the word partners as a default or boyfriends when someone’s feeling sappy. Anything more technical than that makes Bakugou feel like they’re following someone else’s instruction manual, and fuck if he’ll have a bunch of sappy extras he doesn’t know telling him how he’s supposed to act with his own goddamn teammates.

They don’t do it as heroes, and they’re not about to do it at home either. Good for everybody else or whatever, but their system works, and it kind of came natural once the barriers came down. He knows how to act with Kirishima, what he’s okay with, and what he’s not. It’s the same with Deku and Todoroki, and they’re all kind of into watching each other take care of who’s getting taken care of. He thought something was wrong with him for that at first, and Kirishima told him there’s a word for that too, which Bakugou immediately told him fuck off, I don’t wanna know what the stupid happy love word is.

So yeah, what they’ve got is fucking awesome, and he doesn’t wanna have any losers try to put words or rules to it when they didn’t fucking ask.

Well how do you handle alone time with three partners? It’s called patrol, idiot. You think they can’t make walking in a big goddamn circle for five hours a day work for them? They’ve been doing this shit for years. It just now comes with bonus activities.

Leave them alone, let them do their jobs, and everyone else can worry about their own pathetic lives.

But the hero PDA train cut that shit short pretty quick, and it’s all good now. Although now some of the fans keep making romantic edits of Kirishima and Deku, which both of those losers think is absolutely delightful. 

Bakugou thinks it’s disgusting.

Todoroki doesn’t really get the point of it, but the idiot still likes every edit he’s tagged in because it has Izuku and Eijirou in it. What the hell is Bakugou supposed to do with him?

Another result of the PDA train is that all the idiots they’re friends with got some kind of rush out of it.

And he means all of them.

For some, it boosted their popularity in a weird way, and others considered it, well, adventurous in the way only nerds can, as proven by the notification Bakugou just received from their class group chat.

He swipes the message open just to make sure it’s not life or death with absolutely no intention of responding. These losers should try paying him for his participation if they want it so bad.

Momo: 🥺 this week was a lot of fun

Momo: it made me realize how much i missed having us all together so i was wondering if maybe this weekend we could have a nice dinner at my house to celebrate

“Ponytail, you never learn,” he says under his breath.

Denki: OH HELL YEAH PARTY AT MOMO’S

Sero: thank GOD i thought she kicked us out for good after deku broke her bedroom

Izuku: 😭 it was an accident and it’s fixed now and maybe we shouldn’t linger on the past so much

Denki: ehehe you shot right into momo’s sock drawer like a rocket

Momo: :/

Denki: sorry

Sero: we’ll be good

Katsuki: don’t fucking lie you animals

Kyouka: maybe we should skip the nice glassware this time 😬 

Momo: 😞 

Iida: It was so thoughtful of you to extend an invitation to all of us, despite some of our classmates’ histories with your flooring. What good character you have, Yaoyorozu.

Momo: thank you iida

Denki: sooo 👀 party at momo’s?

Momo: yes party at momo’s

Sero: WOOOOOOO YEAH

Bakugou looks up to see Kirishima at his desk gnawing at his bottom lip and looking at his own phone, probably at the same message Bakugou is.

“We don’t have to go if you don’t want to.”

Kirishima’s head pops up, eyes wide like he forgot he was in the room. “Oh no, I want to. We haven’t been spending as much time with our friends lately, and I don’t wanna be a party pooper, and I really think I’m okay now. The beer last week didn’t wig me out at all.”

“You wanna sniff some tequila before we go to see if it rocks your shit first?”

“No thanks, I’m good,” he laughs happily. “Do you wanna go? I mean would you rather stay home?”

Bakugou shrugs. “I don’t mind going. It’s just Momo’s.”

“We should check in with Zuku and Roki too to make sure.”

“Nah, Deku’ll wanna go, and Half and Half goes where he goes.”

“It’s cute that you know the answer to that.”

“Shut up,” he says, and Kirishima breaks out into a wide smile. “So what were you being weird about?”

“Oh,” he flushes. “Trying to figure out how we’re all supposed to get there, I guess.”

“Same as usual, I guess. We’ll go, they’ll go. It’s easier since we go home in two different directions.”

“Ah, yeah, you’re right,” he says, and then he makes a face that activates Bakugou’s fight or flight response. “Oh shit, none of our friends know we’re–.”

“Oh fuck.”

The office door opens, and Deku and Todoroki walk in, both just back from their patrol, and he doesn’t have to ask if they saw the message or not yet.

Deku’s face breaks into a bright smile. “Guess we’re going to a party!”

This is going to be weird.

Being around a whole bunch of people who aren’t supposed to know they’re all rowing the same boat for a night is going to be the ultimate test of self restraint, and it’s not Bakugou who’s going to be the one to worry about.

Deku is insane and thinks Kirishima’s lap is free real estate, and Todoroki thinks Bakugou’s his own full time napping post. They’re all hopeless, and if they make it to the end of the night without someone accidentally mouth kissing someone else in front of Mineta, it’ll be a goddamn miracle.

The good news is, it’s not like anyone would believe him if he told them.

The bad news is, the little creep would be into it.

They go separately because that’s the least conspicuous option, and Bakugou and Kirishima don’t rush to be the first ones there. He sees Todoroki’s car parked down the street, and Kirishima nudges him, excited, because that means they’re already here. God, they’re both obsessed. It’s embarrassing.

But if they have to go to a party, at least it’s at Momo’s. Her house is big enough for the whole class to spread out in, and she’s got a shit ton of furniture.

Also they won’t have to stay all night. They’ll show up, Kirishima will give Momo the fancy ass tea Todoroki said she liked, Bakugou will have a beer with Sero, Mina, Jirou, and Kaminari, and then they’ll bail, and depending on the kind of night Deku and Todoroki have, they’ll probably all end up back at their place for the night.

Their place meaning Bakugou and Kirishima’s. Because it’s their turn, and they’ve got the big bed.

But Todoroki does have the good shower…

Shit, I’m gonna have to think about this.

They go in, and of course it’s loud as hell. One day Momo’s gonna figure out that these idiots can’t be wrangled, and that at the end of the day, they might be pro heroes, but none of them got to experience that whole party your life away college arc the rest of the world gets.

So when there’s a chance to cut, up they will. 

“Quit scowling,” Kirishima sings under his breath.

“It’s just my face,” he says, and Kirishima grins at him knowingly. Bakugou relaxes his forehead, but he refuses to do it when he’s looking because fuck him if he thinks he’s getting any credit here for helping him relax. He does reach out and slap him on the ass though. “Let’s go.”

They get separated pretty quickly. Uraraka gets Bakugou’s attention because the outdoors company sponsoring her gave her a shit ton of climbing equipment (she can float, idiots), and she took a bunch of pictures of it all to show him so he could get what he wants from it. It’s a goddamn goldmine, his birthday, and Christmas all at once. Hell yeah, he wants it.

He sees Todoroki briefly, already separated from Deku, and the bottle of water in his hand sends a shiver down his spine. That means Todoroki is the designated driver this time, and Deku has been left unsupervised with the biggest group of clowns in the city.

When he finally finds the nerd in question, it’s just in time to see him swiping his tongue around the bottom of a neon yellow jello shot with two floating ones right next to him. Hagakure probably since Cheeks just went upstairs with Tsuyu.

That means Mina’s nearby, and–.

“Ba-ku-gou!”

Bakugou grimaces as she slings her arm around his neck, already tipsy, and she curls a plastic cup filled with neon green jello towards his face.

“Open up, sourpuss, it’s a party!”

He takes the cup from her hand, not about to lick the jello out of it like a goddamn dairy cow and he slurps the inside with a wince. Fuck, that tases like vodka and lime hard candy.

“Who made these,” he says, disgusted.

“Me,” she sings. “You like?”

“Fuck no,” he says, shaking his head with a grimace. She replaces the empty cup with an orange one.

“Party pooper.”

Bakugou sucks down the contents and wanders off. He caps himself there, but it’s enough to give him the slightest buzz where all he wants to do is sit down and relax.

A chair appears like a gift from god.

It’s a beefy armchair, and it’s perfect for him, and when he sinks into it, he feels like a king. They’ve gotta get one of these, and he knows if he says that it front of Momo, she’s gonna lose her shit and get all excited about it and whip out a bunch of interior design magazines she’s got stuffed around here somewhere, and Bakugou won’t say shit because he might be an asshole, but she’s one of the least annoying people in this building and maybe he’s into that kind of shit too a little. Maybe he does care where she got the stupid armchair and which curtains go with it.

He just has to make sure Todoroki isn’t in earshot because that little weirdo will go out and buy it the first chance he gets. No, he’ll buy two because he’s developed a track record.

Bakugou exhales and leans back into the seat.

Fuck, this is a good chair.

Suddenly the music changes to something bass heavy, and one of these losers turns it up so loud he can barely hear himself think. He looks up to see who it is, and the loser in questions wiggles his finger at him.

Oh.

Oh no.

Deku prowls towards him, eyes heavy like he’s trying to look sultry, and Bakugou isn’t sure if he should straight up shoo him away or pretend like he doesn’t see him. Either way, he doesn’t think quick enough because the next thing he knows, Deku is swinging a leg over his lap and making himself right at home.

Bakugou looks up at him with a mixture of shock and horror as Deku begins to wiggle and gyrate along with the music, and in that moment, he can’t be more sorry for how he treated Todoroki when he did this to him about a year ago.

That fucker deserves a gold medal and some kind of trophy for having nerves of steel.

Deku raises his arms above his head, twisting and swaying with the music—allegedly.

No sense of rhythm whatsoever. He thought Mina fixed that years ago.

Bakugou has to keep his hands on Deku’s waist to keep him from falling, and unfortunately, that only encourages him more. He can’t believe he spent the last ten years secretly pissy that the nerd is good at everything, when he clearly learned how to dance from a rogue fire hose.

Good god.

“Mmmm, Kacchan, I love you so much,” he slurs. “You make me sooooo happy.”

Bakugou’s eyes widen in horror. He’s so loud. “I know, Deku, but–.”

“Say it back,” he pouts.

“Idiot, we’re in public,” he grits, and Deku sighs loudly and throws his head back for dramatic effect. “Fine, I love you too, dumbass.”

Deku breaks out into a bright, flushed smile before throwing his arms around his neck and practically slurping Bakugou’s ear. Bakugou’s eyes widen in disbelief. This is absolutely ridiculous. This is so bad?!  “Call me, Izuku.”

“No,” he says, holding him in place because at least like this he doesn’t have to worry about him falling and breaking his neck, and that’s when he happens to look up to see Kaminari and Sero looking at them like they’ve lost their minds. “The fuck are you idiots looking at?”

Sero blinks in disbelief, and Kaminari gestures vaguely at Deku.

Yeah, he sees him, and what about it?

Kirishima comes over because he’s got a built in save the day alert system, and Bakugou couldn’t be happier to see him.

“Uh oh! Somebody’s had a little too much to drink,” he says, scooping Deku up like he’s an unruly toddler. “Let’s get you some coffee and something to eat, okay, buddy?”

“I’m not drunk,” Deku pouts.

“Haha, whatever you say,” he laughs, and the nerd seems pretty damn happy about being bridal carried away.

Bakugou slumps back in his seat and exhales an exhausted breath. Deku is a handful, Todoroki is a saint, and Kirishima is a knight in shining cargo shorts.

At least there isn’t a hole in Momo’s floor yet. Maybe between the three of them they can keep Deku from causing any real trouble.

Why does he suck so bad at lap dances? Who taught him that?

And then, with a slight twinge of horror, he realizes he probably learned from Todoroki, and the idea of that absolutely unnerves him. With those moves plus those long limbs, he’d look like a charged bowl of spaghetti.

Bakugou isn’t sure he could handle that.

He takes another breath, and that’s when he finally notices Sero and Kaminari staring at him, waiting for an explanation. He ducks his head silently and pushes himself up to head towards the kitchen. Like hell he’s giving those two idiots one.

The kitchen is empty except for Kirishima and Deku. Deku is on the counter eating a banana, and Kirishima looks to be throwing a sandwich together for him. Bakugou stands in the doorway for a moment and just watches them. He’d like it better if this was a complete picture, but knowing it could be if he shouted loud enough soothes him.

This is a good thing, the four of them. They make sense. All of them make sense.

He walks over to them to see if Kirishima needs any help.

“Want me to take over?”

“I got it,” he smiles.

“Where’s Half and Half?”

“Upstairs, I think,” he says as he builds Deku’s sober up sandwich. Bakugou squints at the tiny pot of artisanal mustard. What the fuck, Momo. “Hey, Momo’s got a nice place.”

“Yeah, I guess.”

“It’s big,” he says, and Bakugou hums. “Can fit a lotta people in here.”

Bakugou looks at him and raises an eyebrow.

“Just an observation…”

“Uh huh.”

“Mmm, I wanna live with you guys,” Deku grins. “I wanna see you every day.”

“You already see us every day, dumbass.”

Deku pokes his bottom lip out and waves his banana towards him. “You know what I mean.”

Bakugou grabs his wrist and bites the end off of it before realizing that that was kind of gross. He grimaces and smacks his lips together at the shared mush. 

Not doin’ that again.

“I dunno, it might be kinda nice,” Kirishima sighs to himself. “We could have the big kitchen of your dreams with an oven and shit, and we could have our workout space we won’t have to share with a bunch of other people. And our shower kinda sucks, but maybe we could get a place with one of those big soaking tubs, you know? Oh, and we could have a place for movies and gaming, definitely, and a whole bunch of those big glass cases for Izuku’s stuff, and maybe an outdoor space for Shouto to have his tea, and–.”

“Ei,” Bakugou says, cutting him off.

“What?”

“How long have you been thinking about this?”

Kirishima laughs nervously. “Thinking about what?”

Bakugou squints.

“Ah. That. Since I went furniture shopping with Shouto, I guess. You know.”

Kirishima furrows his brows at the cutting board in front of him, and Bakugou can’t stop himself from frowning. That wasn’t recently. “Why didn’t you say something?”

“Didn’t wanna get shut down,” he sighs and hands Deku the finished sandwich. “Kinda like what’s happening right now.”

“That’s not– I didn’t say–.”

“What’s going on,” Todoroki asks, appearing behind them like a ghost in the night.

“Nothing. Izuku had a little too much to drink,” Kirishima says casually. “We’re good here.”

“Mm’fine,” Deku says, gnawing on the corner. Bakugou tuts at him, and Todoroki walks up to check on him. Deku smiles at him lovingly with both cheeks stuffed full. “Eiji made me a sammich.”

“Do you need to go home?”

“Which home,” Deku asks.

“Ours, I mean my apartment,” he says with a quick glance at the others. “Unless you would rather go to your mom’s.”

Deku frowns and shakes his head. “I don’t wanna go there. You aren’t there.”

“He can go to ours,” Kirishima offers helpfully. “I mean we all can. He’s gonna have a nasty hangover, but Kats makes some killer soup for that.”

“Our home,” Deku nods. “I wanna go to our home.”

Bakugou’s stomach twists with guilt. He knows how sensitive Todoroki is about their weird Deku not living there thing, which is bullshit because Deku hasn’t gone back to his mom’s in months, and Bakugou would know because he went over last week to drop off some cucumbers he made, but Deku thinks if he admits it out loud, some crazy villain is gonna appear out of nowhere and eat his mom like Moby Dick.

They get it. Deku thinks he woke up one day and painted a target on his mom’s back the day he ate All Might’s hair clippings without thinking about what it meant, but their parents are safe. State of the art security and close enough that Deku could zoom over before the bad guys figured out whose house they broke into.

He’s just scared.

Deku puts his hands to Todoroki’s face and smiles warmly, cheeks still flushed from the drink, but at least he’s got something in his stomach now to soak it up. “Eiji said we’re gonna have a big kitchen for gaming just like Kacchan‘s always wanted.”

Shouto looks at Kirishima and Bakugou for an explanation, and Bakugou scratches his head and looks off, because don’t look at him. He didn’t start this.

Kirishima laughs nervously. “Oh, I was just thinking out loud. He must have misunderstood me.”

“No, I didn’t,” Deku says, as a matter of fact. “You said we’re gonna have a bug bathtub, and Shouto can drink his tea outside.”

“Why do I have to be outside?”

“That’s not what– Deku, eat your sandwich.”

“What were you talking about,” Todoroki frowns.

Ah fuck.

“It’s nothing, really,” Kirishima says, embarrassed. “Just thought it might be cool to have a house one day. Deku just got some of the details mixed up, but yeah. House stuff.”

Todoroki blinks. “Are you moving?“

“Jesus Christ,” Bakugou says. “He’s talking about a house with you losers. Living together full time. No more apartment hopping. No more cramped ass futons.”

Kirishima looks at him surprised. Alright, so maybe he’s not the only one who’s thought about it, but it’s just thinking. It’s not like it’s gonna happen, so there’s no point in Deku hurting Todoroki’s feelings over it.

“That’s what I was trying to tell you,” Deku slurs. “But no one was listening to me.”

“We’re listening, Zuku,” Kirishima smiles.

“This sandwich is really good,” he says. “You’re such a good boyfriend.”

“A good what?” Uraraka screeches from behind them.

Shit.

“He’s drunk,” the three of them say at the same time.

Yeah, fuck it.

Bakugou turns around and squints. “You got a problem with my boyfriend being a good boyfriend to Deku, Cheeks?”

Uraraka’s eyes widen and shakes her head. “Nope! Do you guys know where Momo keeps her spoons?”

Kirishima opens the drawer for her with an awkward smile.

“You four make a–,” she pauses and shifts her eyes over them. “Cute couple.”

“Thanks, Chako,” Deku grins. “So do you.”

They’re going to have to get his ass home immediately.

Home this time is Todoroki’s place. The four of them say goodbye to Momo because they’re not dicks, and Todoroki asks them if they want to come over.

Like they’d say no.

Like they’d want to.

By some miracle, Deku doesn’t get sick, but he does wake up in the center of the futon pile with the headache from hell and no recollection of the night before.

That might be for the best considering what their conversation was about.

Bakugou and Todoroki go to the store early in the morning to get what he needs to make his killer hangover-killer soup. Todoroki makes him kiss him on the elevator, he makes his soup, everyone cries that it’s too spicy, and it’s a good fucking morning.

No need in getting stressed out over a house.

Not like they need one anyway.

Fucking house.

Sounds like some loser shit to him.

Fuck, he wants one.

“Zuku, you busy?”

Eijirou has been staring at his computer for the last ten minutes, not wanting to bother Izuku because he knows he has his own paperwork to take care of, but he’s never been good at adding editions to agency reports, and the villain they encountered, Soap Box, has apparently had some kind of quirk evolution happen, and Eijirou said he would take care of it so Izuku could see the medic, but now he’s pretty sure he just erased the whole file.

He hates this.

He hates feeling stupid.

He hates feeling useless.

All he needed to do was take care of this one thing so Izuku could worry about getting his leg checked, and he fucked it up.

“What is it, Kiri?”

Izuku walks over to his desk and leans over to look at his screen.

“I think I fucked up.”

“Mm, mind if I take a look really quickly?”

“No, sure, dude, please, let me just–,” he starts before Izuku plops down on his lap rather than letting him roll his chair away to make room. Of course. He should be used to this by now.

“Oh! I see what happened. One second.”

“Did I break it?”

“No, umm, there’s this thing where our servers don’t like sharing data with the other agencies,” Izuku explains. “If you try to save twice, it gets confused, so all we have to do is duplicate your report so that it’ll make a copy on your computer only, and then we can close the program without losing anything, and then when you open it, you should be able to save the new version without a problem.”

Eijirou puts his forehead to Izuku’s back. “You saved my ass, bro.”

“It’s no problem,” he says. “The first time it happened to me, I had a meltdown in the bathroom. Let me go ahead and save this for you, so you don’t have to worry about it.”

“You’re too nice.”

“You did stop a car from landing on me today,” Izuku says. “Paperwork is nothing.”

“I’ve never seen someone yell a Fiat at someone before.”

“You know, he made some good points, though. I do think we as a society don’t spend enough time questioning why– whatever it was he said before he threw the Fiat.”

Eijirou laughs and wraps his arms around him. “You gotta respect his passion.”

Izuku sighs and leans back against him, and Eijirou is happy to support his weight. “Is it too soon to take another vacation again?”

“Yep,” he says, and Izuku groans with a tired laugh. “You should join me and Roki one of these nights. We just opened up the Forsaken Temple which would be really good XP for you.”

“I thought I was supposed to be the nerd here.”

“Hey. Being a dragon hunter is cool.”

Izuku laughs brightly. “Alright. I gotta hurry up and fill out my injury report so they don’t bench me tomorrow.”

“If Kats gets stuck with an intern in the morning, he’s gonna kill both of us.”

“Right, we’ve got the morning shift,” he says, hurrying up off of his lap. “Better not mess that up then.”

“Nope,” he says, amused, and looks back at his screen, less sick than before. It kind of sucks that Izuku had to fix it for him, but he at least knows what to do next time if it gets stuck again. Kind of a stupid thing to feel useless over…

“Do you care if I read your report? Eyewitness accounts of quirk evolutions are so fascinating to me.”

“No, dude, go ahead,” he says. “Fix anything if you need to.”

“Oh no way! Your quirk observations are usually on point,” he says. “I think the only exception was with mine, but it’s not like All Might gave me the instruction manual before handing me the keys.”

“Black Whip shocked the hell out of me.”

“Shocked the heck out of everybody,” he mutters and types away. “Oh? You don’t think Soap Box’s quirk uses soundwaves?”

“Nah. You know when Present Mic or Jirou use their quirks? I can feel them like a really intense bass right down in my Christmas ornaments, but his was… chesty? I don’t really know how frequencies work, but it was like what happens when you punch the air really hard.”

“Amazing,” he says in awe. “I’d love to ask him about it.”

“Looks like he just got some extra free time on his hands.”

Their office door swings open, and Kirishima startles before seeing that it’s just Bakugou, and then after he gets through that hell yeah, Katsuki is here! surge he always has when he sees him, he has a small heart attack.

What the hell is he holding? What the hell is Shouto holding?

“We’re home, fuckers,” he says, strutting in with a tiny but quite round orange kitten in his arms, and Shouto follows him holding a gray one with white stripes.

“Kats, what is that?”

Bakugou blinks at him. “What? Ain’t you ever seen a cat before?”

“Well, yeah, but–.”

“Meatball had kittens,” Shouto says.

“Meet Beef and Tuna,” Bakugou says. “I got two of ‘em for balance or some shit. This one’s Beef. That’s Tuna.”

Shouto holds up a sleeping Tuna for emphasis.

Izuku gets up to greet Beef, who somehow has the same exact scowl on his face about it that his… owner… does.

This is not good.

“Hi, Beef,” Izuku says in a soft voice and scratches the top of the kitten’s head. 

“There were only two kittens left in the box, and Katsuki didn’t want one to be left alone,” Shouto explains, and Kirishima’s heart drops.

Katsuki’s big heart… it’s so big… and it’s going to break so bad today.

Izuku makes his way to Tuna, who is not at all concerned about anything going around her.

“Hi, Tuna,” he whispers, and yep, Kirishima is having the worst day of his life.

They’re all so happy.

“The fuck is wrong with you?”

Maybe he misunderstood. Maybe they’re just planning to deliver them to someone else. Maybe he doesn’t have to fuck Bakugou’s whole day up.

“Wh-what are you planning to do with them?”

“I dunno,” he says. “Take ‘em home. Teach ‘em how to scratch my enemies. You know, normal cat shit.”

Time to be the bad guy.

“We can’t bring them home…”

Bakugou furrows his brows. “Why the fuck not?”

“Babe, our apartment doesn’t allow anyone to have pets,” he says. “The landlord is super allergic, and we signed an agreement when we moved in.”

Bakugou blinks a good three times before reacting.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

Kirishima shakes his head, more sorry than he’ll ever know. “I think we’re not even allowed to have a fish tank.”

“I’m so fucking sick of this shit,” he says, quiet enough that he doesn’t scare Beef or Tuna. “Can’t make noise. Can’t repaint the bathroom. Can’t fucking replace the shitty ass stove top. Can’t have a cat. God, what the fuck is wrong with this bastard?!”

“You can keep them at our apartment,” Shouto says. “My landlord won’t care.”

“Yeah, cause you’re a Todoroki, and you can do whatever the fuck you want,” he says. “The rest of us have to put up with these fuckin’ losers living out their goddamn power trip fantasies. Jesus, I’d rather move back in with my parents. Fuck it, I’m taking them back. I’m not gonna make you watch my cats because my stupid ass landlord cut my fuckin’ balls off.”

“Don’t take them back,” Shouto frowns and holds Tuna close to his chest. “The kittens are not at fault here.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to–,” Eijirou starts before Bakugou cuts him off.

“Fuck this shit, I’m–.”

“I love cats,” Shouto says, voice flat but eyes strained in desperation. Eijirou’s only seen Shouto cry, like, one time, but he’s pretty sure if he has to give up his kittens, they might be approaching a second. “Why do we have to take them back?”

“Because I can’t keep ‘em.“

“I can,” he says. “I said you can keep them at my apartment. I don’t want to give them back, they’re ours.”

Bakugou snaps his mouth shut.

“That could work,” Eijirou says. “I mean Shouto loves cats, and his landlord isn’t the devil.”

Bakugou frowns at Shouto while Beef climbs up the front of his costume, unconcerned with the conversation around him. “You sure about this?”

“They would still be your cats,” Shouto says. “You can train them to kill your enemies, but I would like to keep them.”

“You guys are there half the time anyway,” Izuku helps. “Just keep them at our place.”

The our doesn’t go unnoticed, but none of them point it out, too scared of frightening Izuku into taking it back.

“Would you be okay with that?” Eijirou asks. “I mean, keeping them there instead of at our apartment.”

Bakugou scrunches his nose, and the sight of the orange kitten perched on his shoulder is all the convincing Eijirou needs that Beef and Tuna cannot be taken back to live with anyone else. That’s Bakugou’s cat, no doubt about it.

“I guess.”

Tuna wakes from her nap and starts to meow.

“I think she’s hungry,” Shouto says.

They put the kittens on the office floor to roam around a bit, and Izuku heads down to the agency cafeteria to see if he can find anything safe for kittens to eat.

They’re so tiny, Eijirou can hold one in each palm. 

Izuku comes back with some salmon cut into small pieces for them, but they know they’ll have to get them some proper kitten food as soon as possible. Bakugou will accept nothing but the best for his two children.

Eijirou is so relieved for him that they don’t have to give them up. That might have been his final straw, and truthfully, all he wants is for him to be happy. The pet rule wasn’t a big deal when they moved in, and honestly neither of them expected to stay in that apartment as long as they have. It wasn’t like they thought it mattered.

But at least Shouto’s apartment is safe. That’s better than not having kittens at all, he supposes.

“If you guys wanna take these little dudes home with you, me and Katsuki can drop by the store and get all the things they might need and bring them over,” Eijirou offers from his place on the floor, Beef curled up in the center of his chest for a nap.

Shouto reaches for his wallet and hands Bakugou his card. “Get everything they have.”

He actually takes it this time.

They might have gone a little overboard.

He and Bakugou find a pet store close to Shouto’s apartment, and the second Bakugou grabs a cart, Eijirou knows they’re about to blow a small fortune.

And he would feel terrible about that if it weren’t for the fact that he knows that this is going to be a dopamine boost straight into Shouto’s brain. He’s probably pacing his apartment right now just thinking about it.

And Bakugou takes get everything they have literally. Two of every cat toy so they don’t have to share. Multiple climbing towers. Two beds. The fancy kitten food. Bowls for food and water. Two collars with little skulls on them. Two scratching posts. A self-cleaning litter box. And the litter to go in it.

It all completely fills the back of their car. 

When they finally get to Shouto’s, he’s in the kitchen making something for dinner, and Beef and Tuna are napping on the couch next to Izuku, apparently pooped out from exploring their new home.

“Did you get everything,” Shouto asks seriously.

“Yep. Two of each cause there’s two of them.”

“Good,” he says, satisfied.

Eijirou takes over to make sure the food doesn’t burn so Shouto can help Bakugou set up the kittens’ new towers. He puts the beds in his bedroom, but everything else gets spread out evenly over the rest of the apartment. The tower looking out the window in the back is going to be the height of luxury. These kitties have no idea how good they’re going to have it here.

By the time the food is ready, Shouto and Bakugou have the whole apartment set up the way they want it, and the kittens are awake to explore again.

The four of them crowd around the table to eat, and Eijirou is actually so relieved no one had a bad day today, except for Izuku getting his ass kicked a little bit. It happens.

“When is your lease up,” Shouto asks.

“I don’t know, but we’re just gonna stick with the same place when it does,” Bakugou shrugs..

“Why would you do that if you hate it so much?”

“What else are we supposed to do? We ain’t got time to go apartment hunting, and I hate that shit anyway. Make you wait two weeks to walk around while they convince you not having any power outlets in the bedroom is a good thing. No fuckin’ thank you.”

“Our rent is locked in where we live too, so it’s been easier to save for our own place,” Eijirou adds.

“You’re saving for your own place?” Izuku asks.

“Yeah, I’m fuckin’ tired of living on top of people I don’t know and having some stupid asshole who can’t even fix the handle on the sink tell me what I can and can’t do all the damn time, but we gotta wait until we have enough saved up first so I don’t have to ask my parents for help. We’re getting there, though.”

“Five year, tops, and the house is ours,” Eijirou smiles. “Ten if we wanna go crazy, but those last few endorsements we’ve gotten have really helped a bunch. I keep saying the day Katsuki does an underwear ad, we’ll be set for life.”

“Oh wow, you’re actually saving up for a house,” Izuku says, his eyes wide. “That would be so nice! You’d have so much room for activities. I think it’s a great idea.”

“We should get a house,” Shouto says, and they all freeze and look at him.

“You… and Izuku?” Eijirou asks.

“No, I meant us,” he says and turns to Bakugou. “How much more would you need for a house big enough for all of us?”

Bakugou’s eyes widen. “Like… double what we’ve got right now, so a fuck ton.”

Shouto nods. “I can match what you have and cover what else you might need.”

“I’m not having Endeavor foot the bill here,” he says. “No parents. It’s us or nothing.”

“He wouldn’t be,” he says. “My father divided his assets up years ago between my mom, my siblings, and myself. He transferred a third of the agency to me when we graduated, and Izuku and I mostly live off of our endorsements, while the rest goes into savings.”

Eijirou gapes at him. “I bet your bank account looks like a phone number.

“A third of the agency,” Bakugou says. “What the fuck, Shouto.”

“If you would be interested in living with us too, I hope you wouldn’t consider my contribution an imposition.”

Bakugou sits back in his seat with an exasperated huff, and Eijirou looks at him hopefully. They could do it. The four of them could get a house, and they wouldn’t have to live in their nightmare apartment until their thirties. All that stress he’s been carrying of being trapped in a place he hates because he thinks he has to put up with it to get something better for them would be gone, and they could live with Shouto and Izuku, and he knows they want to.

Even if he refuses to admit it, Eijirou knows him.

“It would save us a lot of trouble, you know, from having to go back and forth all the time…”

Bakugou turns to Kirishima, furrowing his brow. “Ei?”

“I’m just saying,” he says. “It’s kinda hard to keep up with our costume pieces like this, and we have to buy double the hair products.”

“And who’s fault is that,” Bakugou says, and Eijirou pouts. Okay fine.

“You don’t want to,” Shouto says.

“I didn’t say that,” he says, and Shouto only looks at him. “It’s just– are you sure about this? A house is a big fucking deal, Shou. It ain’t just picking up an extra couch.”

“I know that,” he says. “But you and Eijirou must have had these plans for a while. It was rude of me to insert myself.”

Bakugou squeezes his eyes shut and waves his hand. “It’s not like that. This moving in together shit. That’s like, permanent. All four of us have to be on board, or it’s not gonna work. Me and Eijirou are used to each other. He’s good with my bullshit, and I’m good with his. Asking you two to just get used to it too because it would save us travel time isn’t gonna work for me.”

“We want to,” Izuku says, and Kirishima and Bakugou look at him, surprised. “We… talked about it already. If that helps.”

“You talked about it,” Bakugou says.

“After the party, Shouto filled in some gaps for me, because, well, you know, and so we talked about it a little. What that might be like. We both want to because we like being around you guys, and we talked about maybe all of us staying here since we don’t have the same issues that you guys do, but we didn’t know you guys had real plans to get your own place, and we obviously don’t wanna mess that up.”

Bakugou takes a sip of water and twists his mouth. “Still our own place, I guess. Just with you two losers in it all the time.”

Tuna yells at him from the floor.

“You already pickin’ favorites, asshole?” Bakugou pretends to shout and reaches down to give her a head scratch. Tuna rubs her body against his pants leg before wobbling over to Eijirou to do the same.

“You would get to see Tuna more,” Shouto says.

“Oh now he’s playing dirty,” he says to the kitten before sitting back up. “I don’t know why you’re all looking at me like I’m the one who’s gotta say yes or no here. I’m not the only one who’s gonna be living there, and I’m not saying no, damn it. Bunch of goddamn kicked puppies looking at me like I’m ruining the party. I didn’t say no to any of you. Eijirou, would you fucking say something?”

Eijirou tries his best to force back how excited he is, because he knows what it means when Bakugou is like this.

Preemptively embarrassed.

“It’s… a house with them.”

Bakugou looks back at Shouto and takes a deep breath. “We’re gonna need a really big fucking house.”

Shouto nods with a small smile. “Considerably.”

After dinner, they convert the living room into their house hunting base command. Bakugou has a pen and paper and his glasses on, and Izuku has the laptop connected to the big TV so they can search for what’s available.

“We’re gonna need three bedrooms,” Bakugou says. “I love you fuckers to death, but we’re gonna need some space every once in a while, and if one of us gets sick or needs some time to fuck off, we’re gonna need that extra bed.”

“I agree with that,” Izuku says. “Shouto and I are used  to sleeping together, and you and Eijirou are used to sleeping together, but four people in one room is a lot to ask for full time.”

“I’m good with this,” Eijirou says. “And we can switch off, right? Like whenever you and Shouto wanna go to bed early, me and Izuku can take the other room.”

“I think three bedrooms is a good idea,” Shouto says. “And that will give us a place for Eijirou’s moms to stay when they visit.”

“And if we don’t wanna hurry up and buy another bed, we could use Shouto’s futons in that one,” Eijirou says. “Keep it kind of like his dorm room was.”

“Okay, three bedrooms,” Bakugou says, writing that down in his notebook, and Izuku changes the settings in the house search filter to match it, cutting their results down by three thirds. “And we need more than one bathroom.”

“At least two,” Eijirou says. “We’ll kill each other.”

“Okay, two or three bathrooms,” Izuku says, bumping up the little slider.

“I think we need a bathtub in at least one of them,” Eijirou says. “It’ll help after bad fights.”

“Good idea,” Izuku says and clicks the bathtub box.

“We’ll need a large kitchen for Katsuki,” Shouto says. “But if the appliances aren’t what he needs, we can always replace them, but it will have to be big enough.”

“And room for a kitchen table we can all sit at,” Eijirou says. “And Shouto wants a dojo.”

Bakugou’s eyes widen. “A dojo.”

“I prefer training in one, but it’s not necessary.”

“Well fuck it, might as well write that down too. And Eijirou needs room for his weights, and me and Deku need treadmill space anyway.”

“Oh my gosh, we’ll get to work out together at home,” Izuku says, excited.

Eijirou’s eyes water. “That’s, like, a dream of mine.”

“Okay, fuck it. Work out space for the meatball and the side salad.”

“And we’ll need a big living room with one of those big couches,” Izuku says. “The kind that goes around the whole room.”

They all nod in agreement.

“Oh! We could put the futon on the floor in front of the big wrappy couch and watch movies or play something together,” Eijirou adds.

“So big ass living room,” Bakugou says. “Go ahead and bump up the house sizes so we don’t waste our time with these loser shacks.”

“That’s pretty much it, right?” Izuku asks. “I mean anything else we can work out while we look at what comes up.”

Eijirou rubs his hands together, excited. “Let’s gooooo!”

Izuku taps the enter key, and everyone holds their breath as the page loads, ready to see the roulette of homes that could one day be theirs.

And there’s no results.

Nothing.

Not a single house in range of their agency hits their requirements.

The collective groan sounds like thunder.

“Well shit.”

Bakugou slaps his notebook down on the couch, and Beef meows that he wants up with him. He scoops him up and sets him on his lap with a frown.

“I don’t know if we’re going to find what we want without compromising our requirements,” Shouto says. “And they are all requirements.”

Bakugou closes his eyes and rests his head on the back of the sofa. “We’re gonna have to build, aren’t we?”

“It seems so.”

“Build?!” Eijirou and Izuku shriek at the same time.

“I’ll contact the company that built my father’s second estate with our specifications and get an estimate,” Shouto says. “I don’t know how busy they are right now, but the man who owns it employs people with construction quirks. It wouldn’t take more than a month to complete it.”

“A month,” Bakugou says. “That’s faster than buying one.”

Shouto nods.

“I don’t have build money, Shouto.”

“Yes, we do,” he says calmly. 

Eijirou and Izuku look at each other.

“Kats,” Eijirou says quietly, getting his attention. “It’s four of us now.”

Bakugou sighs and nods. “Call your guy, then. Fuck it. Let’s build a fucking house together. Why not? Nothing else is gonna be good enough anyway.”

Izuku covers his face, tears already slipping out before he can stop them. “We’re gonna build a house together.”

Shouto contacts the contractor he knows, and the resulting amount their house is going to cost is enough to make Eijirou wish he was never born, but once they combine all of their savings together, it kind of almost seems possible.

Technically, Shouto could cover the rest himself, but Bakugou’s pride won’t allow that, and even Eijirou isn’t really comfortable letting him take on that much of the weight by himself.

So he doesn’t.

Aoyama saves the day, and Eijirou and Izuku couldn’t be happier about it.

They stand at the edge of a big open loft next to the snack table while two very almost-naked-pro-heroes shoot the most exclusive underwear campaign this world has ever seen.

Izuku stuffs a piece of bread in his mouth to keep from giggling as Shouto grabs Bakugou’s scantily clad ass cheek, his mouth pressed against his ear while Bakugou grumbles into his neck about how embarrassing this is.

They’re going to have to edit out the blush, but other than that, they both look like naturals.

“You’re doing great, babe!” Eijirou teases.

“Why the fuck do we have to stand like this?!”

“Because I’m taller,” Shouto says, arching his neck for the camera, and the lights flash when Bakugou grabs his face in retaliation.

“Beautiful, darling! Give me rage! Give me filth!”

Bakugou turns to charge towards the photographer. “I’m gonna give you–!”

Shouto whips him around to his mouth, and the camera shutter goes off a dozen more times before he dips him, and Eijirou has to cover his face to keep from screaming.

“He’s gonna kill him,” Eijirou whispers.

“I’m gonna hang these above our bed,” Izuku whispers back.

“He’s gonna kill you too.”

“The fuck are you two idiots whispering about?!”

“Don’t worry about it,” Eijirou calls back.

“You guys look amazing,” Izuku says. 

“Pretty boy is making me look like a goddamn piece of meat,” Bakugou says as he turns to flex with Shouto’s arm around him.

Shouto drops down to his knees and looks up at him, hand on his Bakugou’s thigh and head tilted back in reverence.

Ho-ly-shit.

“Is that better?” 

Bakugou curls a finger under Shouto’s chin, looking as pleased as a mountain lion, and Eijirou fans himself. 

“I’m so glad they let us come with them,” Izuku whispers.

“Like they had a choice,” he says. “We should buy them dinner after this.”

“I’ll buy them whatever they want after this.”

Eijirou snorts, and Bakugou whips his head towards them.

“Was laughing at Deku, I swear!”

“Sorry, Kacchan!”

“Shouto, darling, could you lean against Dynamight’s leg? Perfect, just like a sad kitten. Meow!”

Izuku stuffs another piece of bread in his mouth.

They’re working so hard for them. Eijirou couldn’t love them more.

In three months, they have a house.

It’s a single story estate modeled after the other Todoroki homes, traditional but with a few adjustments to fit all of their needs. There are three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms. One has a large bathtub, and the other has a rainfall shower big enough for four people.

Their kitchen was customized to include the appliances Bakugou wanted, along with two refrigerators and enough counter and cabinet space for him to work on however he wants. There’s also room for a kitchen table big enough for six people, in case they have guests.

They found a wraparound couch like Izuku wanted in a soft gray suede, and now they have plenty of room to stretch their legs when they want to relax. Shouto’s other couches went to Kaminari and Sero, and Bakugou and Kirishima’s burnt couch was disposed of while they were moving out.

There’s a dojo like Shouto wanted and a gym for the others, and there’s a sitting area outside with a koi pond and a place for Bakugou to cook there too.

It’s the perfect home.

They all got exactly what they wanted, and there’s enough space for everyone to be as comfortable as they can be, and best of all, there are absolutely no landlords to tell them how they have to live.

Shouto is so happy.

They’re still moving all of their things in. It’s been a challenge getting all of their belongings from three different homes into one, but their friends and families have been nothing but helpful.

Uraraka moved most of the furniture with her quirk, and Fuyumi and Shouto’s mom came by his place to help box up some of the breakables, and pretty much everyone who comes bt the new house leaves with a bag of treats straight out of Bakugou’s new oven. They can’t even sleep there yet, and he already has the kitchen in use.

It’s a Saturday when the four of them are at the new apartment, bringing in boxes of their things and putting them in their new places. Katsuki sits on the floor in front of a bookshelf, carefully filing away Izuku’s notebooks because he’s the only one who gets the system, and Eijirou is putting their combined movies up on the shelf next to the television.

Izuku comes in with his sleeves rolled up and his hair pushed back with one of Eijirou’s bandanas. “Can I borrow your keys? I gotta go run to my mom’s to grab some boxes.”

“Do you need help?” Shouto asks.

“Nah, I got it,” he smiles. “It’s just my collectibles of you guys. I wanted to wait until we got the shelves up before I moved them.”

“Oh, yes,” he says and reaches for his keys. “Do you need money?”

“No,” he laughs and pushes himself up on his toes to give him a kiss on the cheek. “Be back in a bit.”

He watches Izuku half jog out of the house, their house, and something warm rises in his chest so quickly he almost chokes on it.

They’re going to be together forever.

Aren’t they?

Shouto turns to Eijirou and Katsuki, both too busy to notice the world around them, and he wonders if still wanting that is selfish of him. If his one wish for the last ten years makes him a bad boyfriend to them.

He has no baseline for this.

But Izuku isn’t here, and it might be his only chance to figure it out, and at least, if they do decide he’s unforgivable, he’ll know the three of them will have a comfortable space together.

Even if the thought of not being welcome here is devastating.

“Can I talk to you about something?”

They both stop what they’re doing to look at him before coming over, and his heart pounds anxiously in his chest.

“Yeah, what’s up, Roki?”

“Before we all– before we became four,” he says, squeezing his hands together. “I was planning to ask Izuku to…”

“To…?” Katsuki squints.

“Marry me.”

Eijirou gasps. “Oh!”

“Is that… am I still allowed to do that?”

“Hell yeah, you are!” Eijirou shouts. “Holy shit, that’s so awesome!”

Shouto relaxes with a small smile. “Oh good.”

Katsuki eyes him, his face completely unreadable. 

He prays he doesn’t hate him.

“Katsuki?”

He looks over him then, almost cold in the way his eyes track him, and the hairs on the back of Shouto’s neck stand up. “You really wanna marry the nerd, asshole?”

“Yes I do.”

Katsuki walks over, and Shouto doesn’t flinch away. He doesn’t think he’s going to punch him, but they have history, and he’s–.

Hugging him.

He puts his arms around Shouto’s neck and squeezes until tears are forced out of Shouto’s eyes. It’s one of those hugs that Katsuki has given him since they were teenagers that Shouto only recently learned means he loves him. He loves him.

“Only dude whose ass I wouldn’t kick for trying it,” he says quietly, and Shouto presses his face into his shoulder, grateful. His chest aches, but it’s a good ache. It’s a really good ache.

“Hey!” Eijirou says.

“Not now, idiot, wait your turn,” Katsuki says. “When he asks in ten years, you’re gonna have to live with it.”

“I’m okay with that,” he says, and Katsuki kisses him on his temple like he’s someone precious to him.

Because he is.

And then Shouto breaks.

He sobs into Katsuki’s shoulder, but the smile across his lips stretches so far it hurts, and soon Eijirou joins them, squeezing with all of his manly might, and Shouto cries because he loves them both, and he loves Izuku, and for the first time in his life, family doesn’t feel like someone else’s picture anymore.

“Th- this doesn’t ch-change how I f-feel about you two,” Shouto says, fighting to get his own breaths out, and they both somehow manage to squeeze him harder.

“We know it doesn’t, dumbass, you’re not gonna put a down payment on a house with two losers you’re not serious about.”

“Y-you’re not lo-losers,” he wails before sobbing into his shirt, and he thinks it must be exhausting for Izuku to experience emotions like this so frequently. He doesn’t think he wants to do this again.

“Aw, baby, come here,” Eijirou teases and kisses through the salt on his cheek. “We’re not going anywhere, and you can ask Izuku whenever you’re ready, and me and Kats are gonna crash your honeymoon.”

“Hell yeah, we are.”

Shouto sniffles with a smile. “I would like that.”

“Yeah, yeah, you would, you clingy bastard,” Katsuki says, rubbing his back. “Quit gettin’ snot on my shirt. It’s nasty as shit.”

“Sorry.”

“He can change,” Eijirou says. “You stay right here.”

Katsuki doesn’t let go, so Shouto continues to get snot all over his shirt, and he balls one of his fists in Eijirou’s shirt because he needs him right now too.

“Thank you,” he says quietly. “Thank you.”

Someone runs their fingers through his hair, and Shouto closes his eyes and breathes them both in. He’s not sure what he did in this life to deserve this, but he’s going to be sure he never does anything to lose them.

This home, this house, this family.

He’s holding onto it for life.

“I love you,” he says, too quiet for either of them to hear, but he does.

He always will.

The first night in the new house once everything is finally moved in is spent on the futons in the living room with Beef and Tuna.

They play Mario Kart until Shouto and Katsuki are both too tired to participate, and they end up underneath a blanket Hagakure made for them as a housewarming present while Izuku and Eijirou stretch out on the sofa behind them.

Shouto wakes up in the middle of the night with all the lights off except for the glow of the television. The menu screen from a movie Izuku likes is on the screen, and everyone else is asleep.

He gets up and walks through the house, their house, and although it should feel like a strange and unfamiliar place, nothing about it does.

They planned this together. They all designed it with each other in mind, and Shouto wiggles on a pair of slippers and heads out into the garden they picked out for him specifically.

There’s a stone bench next to the pond, their pond, and although it doesn’t have any fish in it yet, Shouto still thinks it’s nice to sit next to.

He loves it here.

He loves that they’re here with them.

Tomorrow he and Katsuki will make breakfast together, and Eijirou and Izuku will sleep in, and none of them will have to worry about going home because they are home now. There’s never going to be a question where anyone belongs ever again.

The answer is right here.

He sits here for a while, alone with his thoughts as the weight of the world lifts off of his shoulders.

And then he stops thinking, his mind wandering to a quiet space where all of his fears and worries disappear, and all he sees are the ripples the wind makes in their pond revealed to him by the moon above.

He hopes, if he can be so lucky, that the four of them get to grow old here, that this can be their home and place of refuge for the rest of their lives.

Four long and happy lives twisted together into one like the roots of four large oaks forever stretching towards each other.

He does love his team dearly.

“I should’ve known you’d be out here.”

Shouto looks back to see Eijirou coming towards him with a blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He walks over and sits down on the bench next to him before draping the blanket over their laps.

“Is this what you meant by me drinking my tea outside?”

“Kinda yeah,” he says sheepishly. “I mean, not banning you to the garden, but I thought you could use some space like this. I dunno, it was just me having big thoughts, I guess.”

“I like it,” he says. “It’s quiet here.”

“Mhm,” he grins just enough that Shouto can see the points of his teeth poking out.

“I will have my tea here tomorrow morning,” he says, and Eijirou’s smile widens as he leans over to kiss his cheek, a small reward for Shouto specifically. “Did I wake you?”

“Nah, Tuna did,” he says. “I guess I use my quirk in my sleep because she thought my leg was a scratching post.”

“You do use your quirk in your sleep.”

“Well that’s embarrassing.”

“It’s not as alarming as Black Whip,” he says, and Eijirou snorts.

“You know what, you’ve got a point there.”

Shouto laughs to himself. There’s nothing quite like having the blankets stolen in the middle of the night by a pair of shadowy tendrils, even though Izuku swears he’s not a cover thief.

There are three witnesses that can testify against him.

“Well,” Eijirou says with a slight slap to his own legs. “I think it’s time we hold our next and final meeting of the Lonely Boyfriends Club.”

“Ah yes,” he smiles. “I suppose we can no longer keep our membership anymore.”

“I’m afraid we’ve been kicked out.”

Shouto turns and presses a kiss against Eijirou’s lips, so grateful for him that he can barely contain it. None of this would have worked without him, and he’s not even sure that Eijirou himself knows that. But from the beginning, he was the person who kept them all from falling apart, even when it hurt, and now that they're here on this side of this tumultuous and complicated journey, none of them will ever let him go a day without knowing how loved he is.

“I hope we can continue to not be lonely boyfriends together for a long time.”

“Me too, Roki. I’m really looking forward to it.”

“The fuck are you two idiots doing out here?! You’re gonna catch a cold!”

They both turn back to see Katsuki standing in the sliding doorway with his hands on his hips, and soon Izuku shuffles up behind him, half asleep and always ready to jump in when he’s needed.

“Lookin’ at the pond,” Eijirou says. “Hey, we got any cookies left?”

“Fuck, yeah, we got cookies left.”

“Are we having cookies?” Izuku asks, rubbing his eyes.

“It’s cookie time, asshole.”

“Okey dokey,” he says and turns back on command. “I’ll go get the soy milk.”

Eijirou turns to Shouto with a bright smile. “It’s cookie time.”

Shouto nods in agreement. “It’s cookie time.”

And with that, they toast their new future.

As the team they always dreamed of.