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“Kacchan.”
“Mmm.”
A wet smack. “Kacchan. You’re doing it again.”
“Shut the fuck up, nerd.”
Izuku pulled away from his lips completely and looked at him pointedly. Or, tried to. Actually, no, he did manage to effectively pointedly stare at him even with his eyes and forehead and half his nose completely covered by Katsuki’s left hand. It was kind of impressive.
Okay. Katsuki squinted. He could do this. It was all, completely, 100% under his control. Katsuki removed his hand and started pacing a little in front of Izuku, whose legs were hanging over the edge of his bed. He looked at Izuku sitting patiently, hands on his knees and back slightly arched forward, waiting for Katsuki to gather himself. Always meeting him where he was at. God, he loved him.
He could do this.
Katsuki shuffled closer to the edge of the bed, Izuku tilting his head up now to maintain eye contact. Katsuki bent over slightly. He leaned in, those bigass green eyes in front of him glittering with shameless affection and a hint of amusement, and his own ears and neck started to prickle—
On reflex, Katsuki slid a palm over the bastard’s eyes. Fuck. He couldn’t do this.
Izuku groaned. “Kacchaaaaaaaan.”
“Fuck, I know! I know, okay, I’m trying it’s just…. it’s hard.”
Izuku sat obediently with Katsuki’s palm over his eyes, pouting slightly. “What’s really the matter? It can’t be what you said.”
It was, in part, but it was way too annoying to have to re-admit that Izuku made him nervous, so Katsuki didn’t. The full truth was worse anyway. He mulled over how to phrase what he was about to reveal, still covering Izuku’s upper face. Only when his hand started shaking minutely did Izuku carefully lift the edge of the palm over his eyes (kinda like a veil. Katsuki had a brief, wild fantasy of Izuku doing the same but with both hands, at their wedding) to blink at him in concern.
Fucking…. huge ass bambi eyes, what the fuck. What the fuck.
“That’s the fucking problem!” Katsuki finally exploded, gesturing wildly in the general direction of Izuku’s bewildered expression.
“My…. face?” Said face fell minutely. Katsuki immediately wanted to drown himself in the ocean. “You don’t want to see my face when we’re kissing?”
Izuku looked teasing, but there was a hint of insecurity in his eyes. Katsuki accepted that he deserved the pre-quirk era convention of the death penalty for putting it there.
“Jeez, Kacchan.” Izuku tried to laugh it off, but his eyes were a little lost.
Fucking— “No, you moron. I lo- I like your stupid face. A lot. Okay? It’s my fucking wallpaper, obviously I want to look at it.” All the damn time, Katsuki added in his head, furious with himself. Izuku didn’t look fully sure, so he begrudgingly let him know.
“All the damn time.” The things he did for this loser.
Katsuki placed both palms on his face to rub and kiss all over his freckles, and Izuku brightened considerably. He hummed and leaned into Katsuki’s hands like an overgrown cat, probably remembering all the times Katsuki had obsessed over them.
(Katsuki swore to himself he’d get better at making it known how much he l-liked the nerd. Izuku should never have that look in his eyes. He never would, if Katsuki could help it.)
Katsuki took a deep breath. Here goes fuck-all. Focusing on the little freckle under Izuku’s left eye that had mercilessly plagued his dreams since middle school, he began the overdue explanation.
“It’s just…. you look at me with those fuckin’ eyes, and it kills me, and it reminds me how much you are, and how much I don’t deserve you. Which is dumb, I know, my shrink’n I are fuckin’ working on it,” he grumbled lowly.
“How… much? I am?”
Katsuki let out a short breath. “Yeah. You’re….” He lifted his gaze to Izuku’s, deciding to be honest. “…everything.”
Izuku stilled, breath hitching. His gaze grew wider, somehow, pupils practically dilated into hearts and yep, there were the waterworks. “Kacchan….” he whispered, heroically attempting to hold himself together because he knew Katsuki panicked and never knew what to do with himself when he cried because of him.
Katsuki held back his blush through sheer force of will and two decades worth of innate spite. He forced himself to look Izuku in the eyes as he continued. “I don’t want you to see me when I kiss you because it’s embarrassing. It really, really sucks that it means I can’t see you, either. Which is the reason I’m trying to stop.” Izuku’s faces (and noises) when they did anything together were like precious artifacts. Katsuki wanted to bottle and wrap them up and hoard them somewhere safe, where no one else could see them or even think about taking them from him.
“Why is it embarrassing?”
Katsuki glared at him. “Because I get really fucking red, dammit!”
There it was, the horrible truth. That Bakugou Katsuki, Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight, future No. 1 Pro Hero, blushed like a teenage girl when kissing his boyfriend. He used to be obsessed with keeping Izuku’s eyes on him, but as a couple the attention flustered him to the point of insanity. He had dealt with it fairly well so far, in his opinion, gently palming Izuku’s eyes while leaning into him, lips pressing softly with the other blinded. He had to admit there was a certain appeal to seeing Izuku like that, too, but…
Izuku blinked, then glared back. Very effective; it was like facing off with a chipmunk. So, not threatening in the slightest, but still struck Katsuki straight through the heart with a disgustingly cute arrow.
“That’s it?! Kacchan…. I blush all the time! You blush all the time!”
Now this was news to Katsuki. “What the fuck?”
Izuku now looked like he was holding back laughter. “Kacchan, you…. you’re red right now.” The shithead started giggling.
Katsuki was going to blow the roof clean off this building. He went and checked the hand mirror on Izuku’s dresser, and— there was a pink tinge to the tops of his cheeks and ears. Fucking hell.
Izuku continued behind him, “You get red all the time. I used to think you were just always angry at me, but… it still happened a lot after we made up.” Izuku blushed himself, here, looking down. “Sometimes I just walk in a room, and you go pink.”
Katsuki set the mirror down as calmly as he could and closed his eyes, ignoring the veritable fire on his face, counting to ten backwards like his shitty therapist had taught him. He thought of movie nights, kittens, the sunrise on hikes with his dad, how Izuku looked first thing in the morning…. he let out a sigh, significantly calmer. Izuku came up behind him and slid his arms around his waist from behind, shoving his face in between his shoulder blades. “Sorry if that embarrassed you,” Izuku mumbled. Of all people, Izuku knew Katsuki did not do well with emotions that weren’t effectively solved via explosion. But according to him, Katsuki was getting better with that. He personally didn’t really see it, but…. he looked down at the unbroken mirror sitting innocently on the dresser, his relaxed hands. Izuku’s face in his back and arms wound around him, completely trusting.
…Maybe he was getting better. Maybe Izuku was right, and he really was capable of it.
Damn.
Invigorated by this latest affirmation that he was, in fact, the best at everything, Katsuki spun around and grabbed Izuku’s face, surprising his dumb boyfriend, who jumped. “You’re my favourite person,” Katsuki declared, and kissed him.
Izuku, as always, practically melted under him. His little content noises were to die for, as was his blissed-out face. Katsuki could not believe he’d been depraving himself of seeing it for so long. He ate up the sight greedily. Man, his eyelashes were so long. Izuku blinked slowly at him when Katsuki finally pulled away, eyes glazed over like they were after every time they kissed despite having been dating for almost a year now. Katsuki could see a light bulb eventually sputter on in his head, which prompted Izuku to shake himself out of his daze.
“Kacchan!” He gripped Katsuki’s shirt excitedly. Katsuki looked down at him, hopelessly fond. “You’re my— too— and you didn’t cover my eyes this time!!”
Katsuki let his hands slide down Izuku’s back, making him squeak, as he nuzzled into those goddamn freckles, smiling. He loved when Izuku could hardly contain himself, brain moving so fast that he tripped over his words.
Izuku pushed away as Katsuki graduated to gnawing contentedly on his left cheek, in a heavy-lidded staring contest with that godforsaken freckle. His nerd boyfriend placed his hands on his shoulders, arms straight in goofy, over-the-top faux pride, and Katsuki loved him so much he could blow up the sun. As it were, he raised his eyebrows at his dork, who pattered on about how proud he was of Katsuki.
“—and I just think this is an important step, Kacchan! Not just for us, obviously, but for you maturely dealing with your Feelings!” How Izuku managed to capitalize the F out loud, Katsuki had no idea. “And for us! Since you maybe trust me more now? Or trust yourself to trust me? And you’re less afr— you’re more secure in our relationship 🥰.”
“Izuku, seriously, this is a verbal conversation. How are you doing that.”
“And—” Izuku took a deep breath, settling down. His gooey eyes reached previously uncharted depths of adoration, and his scarred hands slipped up to cradle Katsuki’s face as he stepped closer. “Thank you for trusting me.” He smiled, pink and suddenly shy, but held eye contact with the fierce courage that had always, always blinded Katsuki. Izuku chewed his lip for a moment, then, directly and with heart-stopping confidence: “You’re my favourite person too.”
Katsuki’s knees should not have gone weak at the statement. In all honesty, he had already known that. But hearing it in Izuku’s soft timbre, on his bitten lips forming a hopeful smile, was altogether too much for Katsuki’s poor heart, already battered just by being in Izuku’s presence.
Katsuki cleared his throat. “Mhmm,” he let out weakly, wincing at how his voice cracked.
Izuku laughed at him, the bastard. But Katsuki would carve his throat clear out if necessary to hear the sound again, and they both knew it.
Katsuki whispered promises lowly in Izuku’s ear, and now it was Izuku’s turn to blush furiously, swallowing. Katsuki gave him a wild, admittedly mean grin and fully tossed him onto the bed, following immediately. He stopped with his hands pressed down on either side of Izuku’s head, just taking him in. Izuku smiled, knowing, even as his eyes did the same.
Then Katsuki reached his limit of mushy behaviour and promptly smothered his boyfriend, who squealed and laughed under his deadweight. Katsuki pressed kisses all over his face until Izuku couldn’t breathe from giggling, and, mission therefore accomplished, set out to fulfill his earlier promises.
Izuku didn’t look away once. Katsuki let him.
(He knew, because Katsuki was always looking back. Izuku’s answering smile was blinding.)