21 Chapter 21

Six Months After Striker, Tamari Group Breaks Ground on Mall Expansion

The headline sat bold across the front of Katsuki's newspaper. He and Katsuki were at a cafe, getting coffee because neither of them had slept much the night before. The remains of a scone were scattered across a delicate plate.

"You see about the mall thing?" Izuku asked, trying to catch Katsuki's eye. 

"Took 'em long enough," Katsuki grumbled. He shook the newspaper vigorously, in an attempt to straighten the pages that spectacularly failed. He sighed explosively and tossed the paper on the table. "They're making a statue, did you hear?"

"I bet Kaminari's happy about it," Izuku said, reaching over to steal Katsuki's coffee. "He's always wanted a statue. He says it's too short, though."

"Don't listen to his bitching, I bet he's shitting himself with joy," Katsuki snorted, "and don't drink that, you'll be up all night again."

Izuku pouted, and pulled the coffee towards him. "You like it when I'm up all night."

"I'm sore, leave me alone," Katsuki pouted and pulled the coffee back across the table. Izuku made grabby hands, but Katsuki just scowled at him. 

Not to be weird about it, but Izuku had been tracking exactly how susceptible Katsuki was to his puppy eyes, and there had been a definite downwards trend over time. There were even graphs proving it in some of Izuku's journals. Maybe it was time to get some more data points, because Katsuki developing an immunity to puppy eyes was frankly unacceptable.

"But Kacchan, we can always do something else," Izuku said slowly, emphasizing the else with a flutter of his eyelashes. Hand on chin, head tipped down, eyes wide. The works.

"We have plans tonight," Katsuki told him flatly, and looked somewhere off to the side. Ah, the classic evasive maneuver. Izuku leaned back into his field of vision, heroically keeping up his pose.

"But Kacchan, we finally took a day off at the same time. We should put it to good use."

Katsuki's head jerked around to face Izuku. With a scowl, he yanked the neck of his shirt down to reveal a cluster of hickeys on his chest, creeping up over his collarbone and partway up his neck, where they were mostly hidden by concealer. Fine, maybe Izuku had gotten a little carried away. 

"I had to pick a new outfit for the damn rehearsal dinner, again , just to cover up this crap!" Katsuki smiled. It was one of his fake smiles, brimming irritation. Katsuki had wanted to wear some low-cut designer top, and that had already been a second choice. Izuku waved a careless hand. 

"Not my fault Kaminari vetoed your weird skull button-up, Kacchan." Izuku had seen it. It also had skeletal hands holding up middle fingers, and apparently Kaminari was concerned about offending Kirishima's parents. Izuku couldn't blame him, but Katsuki was less forgiving.

"It's fashion!" Katsuki protested, letting go of his shirt. "If you put any more damn hickeys on me I'll need to take a bath in concealer and wear a fucking ski mask!"

"I—"

"There's one on my cheek, Deku," Katsuki went on, jabbing a finger into his cheek. "My cheek . What the fuck were you doing last night? If I have to hear you bitch one more time about how long I take to get ready after I've spent a damn hour trying to cover up your mess, I swear to god I'm never touching you unless you're wearing a fucking dog cone thing."

"Dog cone thing?" Izuku was cracking up, and Katsuki sipped his coffee in the way he always did if he was trying to hide a smile. "That doesn't sound hot, Kacchan."

"Neither is looking like a fucking dalmatian. Deku." 

"We have three hours before the dinner starts," Izuku said, pouting again. Katsuki's eyes flicked away from his face and back out the cafe window. "Look at me."

"Don't think I haven't noticed your goddamn weaponized pouting, you little asshole," Katsuki scoffed, but there was a smile pulling at his lips. "Come on baby, you know we don't have time."

"We were supposed to do fun stuff together today."

"Deku, we got out of bed at one in the afternoon. Why was that?"

Izuku hated it when Katsuki made sense. "We went to bed late," he mumbled, glaring at Katsuki's profile. Even in the afternoon light, the sharp planes of his face cast shadows. Izuku found himself particularly interested in the shadows dripping down Katsuki's neck, how they pooled by his collarbone, his strong shoulders… 

"How late?" Katsuki asked flatly.

"5 AM."

"And why were we up at 5 in the fucking morning, Deku?"

"You know why," Izuku grumbled, and took Katsuki's refusal to look at him as an opportunity to steal his coffee again.

"Because someone had a lot of caffeine yesterday and would not stop fucking me," Katsuki proclaimed, a little too loudly. The couple the next table over gave them dirty looks, and Katsuki flipped them off. Izuku flipped them off too, because Katsuki was a bad influence and also got this weird affectionate look whenever Izuku was rude. And true to form, he was finally looking at Izuku with a soft little smile on his mouth. "After their party, okay?"

"You're so good to me, Kacchan," Izuku smiled, and made a mental note that flipping off strangers seemed to work better than puppy eyes. Maybe he needed to rotate his tactics to preserve their effectiveness and prevent Katsuki from having a chance to build up immunity.

"You're plotting," Katsuki said, "quit it. We're gonna finish our breakfast—lunch, whatever, go home and get ready, then be extremely well-behaved guests for Ei's rehearsal dinner."

"And afterward?" Izuku drew the words out, unable to keep the smirk off his face. 

Katsuki leaned across the table, grabbed his chin, and said, "Then it's payback time."

Izuku was not particularly drunk, even after two flutes of champagne. He was drunk enough to be groping Katsuki's ass maybe slightly more than he should, but those dress pants were flattering and it was rare to see Katsuki in formal wear. 

Maybe more of their friends should get married, and then Izuku can spend more time ogling Katsuki. 

Sometimes it's still hard to believe they're actually together. Moments like this remind him of how incredible it is—that the man over by the catering table is his boyfriend. Izuku's gaze traced the perfectly tailored lines of his suit, his eternally messy blond hair, the way his suit jacket betrayed his muscles when he crossed his arms. He looked like he was sulking about something on the catering table, which honestly wasn't surprising. 

Kirishima had asked Izuku to keep Katsuki away from the food, but was dragged away before explaining why. Despite his promise Izuku had declined to run interference, mostly because he wanted to see what would happen when Katsuki found out that Kirishima and Kaminari had included DcMonald's in their catering options.

The answer was, apparently, that Katsuki would sulk like a toddler. Izuku was endlessly entertained. Katsuki lasted for about ten minutes, gradually growing redder and redder with rage, before he stalked over to Kirishima and said something like,

"How could you do this to me I thought we were friends and we talked about this I did food tastings for you and was nice and there's DcNuggets here!" Katsuki was clearly trying to keep his voice down, and was only moderately successful. Izuku had followed him over in case he needed to intercede. Or in case he needed to tease Katsuki further, because this was a golden opportunity.

Kaminari was delighted by the whole thing, and held up a fries container and pointed at the yellow D. "It's our colors, Kacchan! Red and yellow!"

"Red and yellow is a great color combo," Kirishima added, biting into a Big Mac. Katsuki looked like he was about to retch.

"It is not," he growled. Izuku held up the DcNugget he'd brought over for this specific purpose.

"Want a DcNugget, Kacchan? You get grumpy when you're hungry."

Katsuki stared at him, his face slack with betrayal. "I'm divorcing you." Kirishima gasped so loudly Izuku's throat hurt in sympathy.

"We're not married—" Izuku started to say.

"We can change that," Katsuki said instantly, snatching the nugget out of Izuku's fingers and chucking towards a corner of the room. Kaminari's head turned to follow the DcNugget, Kirishima made some kind of excited wheezing noise, and Izuku was pretty sure his heart stopped beating. They hadn't talked about marriage yet, but maybe Katsuki was already thinking about it?

"Are you saying that—"

"Yes. We'll get married and then I will divorce you for trying to feed me trash, Deku," Katsuki informed him matter-of-factly. 

"Ha," Izuku said weakly.

"You shouldn't joke about those things," Kirishima said, clutching his heart. "I almost passed out, I… where'd Denki go?"

"After the nugget," Katsuki said tonelessly. "I can't believe how fucking stupid you all are. If this shit is at your wedding tomorrow I am disowning you."

"And divorcing me, don't forget," Izuku added helpfully. Katsuki growled, then grabbed  Izuku and pulled him into a too-tight hug.

"Don't tempt me, nerd."

So Izuku proceeded to tempt him again and again throughout the night. Kaminari caught on, and they made a game of attempting to sneak DcNuggets onto Katsiki's plate during speeches that Kaminari definitely was supposed to be paying attention to.

There was a really lovely slideshow showing all of Kirishima and Kaminari's memories playing. A lot of them were pictures that most of them had never seen, taken during the years the two had kept their relationship hidden. It would have been more bittersweet if the photos hadn't been consistently and incredibly stupid. 

Kaminari attempting to cut Unbreakable with a chainsaw, sparks flying everywhere, Kirishima cackling? Check.

Kaminari kneeling and holding up a croc like he's the prince and Kirishima slipping his massive hairy foot into it like he's Cinderella? Check. "They made me take that," Katsuki had muttered under his breath. "Fucking miserable being one of the only ones who knew. I'm never doing that shit again, Christ."

There were countless photos of terrible angled-selfies, plenty of nearly-obscene pictures of them making out, and also more recent ones of them embracing and surrounded by friends. There was some crying, a lot of it done by Izuku himself.

It ended with a video showing how Kaminari had proposed. Apparently, he'd done some really questionable electrical work and shorted out Kirishima's home gym while he was working out. The clanging of weights signified Kirishima had dropped them in surprise, but that's just the advantage of being with someone unbreakable. They won't break when you surprise them in the gym and they fling their weights everywhere.

Then fairy lights flickered on, and revealed Kaminari down on one knee right next to Kirishima and his pile of weights. There was a lot of crying (mostly Kirishima), and then furious nodding and some really impassioned making out that was suddenly cut off by the video ending conveniently before any clothes came off.

All in all, it was really nice. Izuku honestly did pay attention to most of it, even if five more DcNuggets made it onto Katsuki's plate throughout the slideshow. By the fifth one, Katsuki looked Izuku dead in the eyes, picked it up in his fist, put his hand under the table, and there was a small boof and a puff of smoke. Katsuki held up an empty, smoking palm.

"Don't make me set off the fire alarm with motherfucking nugget smoke," Katsuki scowled. Izuku lifted a small bag of the remaining seven nuggets. 

"Have you ever thought about making a living as a garbage incinerator?"

"Deku. You do that shit again and next time it'll be your face. " Katsuki held up a threatening palm. Izuku plopped his cheek down in his hand and grinned up at Katsuki.

"Oh no, whatever will I do? You know how I hate it when you get all hot and burny." Izuku couldn't be more sarcastic if he tried.

Katsuki sighed, but his thumb betrayed his affection by brushing all over Izuku's cheekbone. "Deku, my love, my incredible boyfriend—"

"Yes?"

"—can you stop being a horny freak for one fucking dinner," Katsuki hissed. 

"Fine, but only 'cause you asked so nicely," Izuku conceded, and stole one last kiss before promising to leave Katsuki alone. 

They were in a bar now, an afterparty for the rehearsal dinner. Iida was particularly confused about why they needed an afterparty for what was essentially a before-party for Kirishima and Kaminari's wedding. Ochako was still attempting to explain it to him, drunkenly and half in his lap. Iida was doing a very exceptional job of not staring at her cleavage. So well, in fact, that it was perfectly clear he was painfully aware of its proximity. 

Izuku shot them both a thumbs up, and hoped for the best for his friends. He couldn't do much more, because Katsuki had gone to get beer for the table and Izuku needed to go bother him.

Izuku intercepted Katsuki at the bar and dropped both elbows down next to Katsuki's arm. He looked up at Katsuki with half-lidded eyes. "So, can I be a horny freak now?"

"You're trying to rile me up again, you little piece of shit," Katsuki said mildly. He seemed to be watching the bartender, who was assembling drinks to bring to the group.

"I would never," Izuku said, following his gaze. They should be able to sneak away for a couple of minutes, right? It was true that their time together was relatively limited thanks to their caseloads and general pro hero fuckery, and Izuku fully intended to take advantage of a rare day off. Even if it meant stealing away when they maybe shouldn't. 

"Hey, can you bring those to the table?" Katsuki was saying. The bartender gave Katsuki a quick affirmative. Katsuki turned to Izuku and looked down at him with a world-weary expression. "I'm gonna head to the bathroom."

Izuku blinked at him. Katsuki stared back, unmoving. 

Then Katsuki groaned, rubbing his face with a hand. "Fuck, I mean we should both go."

"I don't need to—"

"Deku, you dumbass, pull your brain cell out of your dick and figure out that I'm trying to get you alone , in a private space, to do—"

"Oh, I get it," Izuku said happily, and instantly speed-walking down the hallway and towards the bar's bathroom before Katsuki could get another word out.

Should they do this?

Maybe not, but Izuku was learning to lighten up about certain things. Their lives were still high-octane adrenaline-fests, and being Iida-strict about everything wasn't always for the best. Sure, Izuku wasn't going to do anything actually dangerous or detrimental to his career. But was he willing to get nasty with his very attractive boyfriend in this particular bathroom? 

Yes, yes he was. 

To his dismay, it wasn't a single-occupancy bathroom. Instead, the door opened to a room with a sink and two bathroom stalls. Not ideal, but Katsuki threw the door open and stormed inside before Izuku had a chance to think better of it.

"Deku," he growled, the nickname ripping from his throat.  Izuku pointed at the door, adopting what Katsuki called his 'baby deer' expression. 

"It doesn't lock," Izuku pouted. He could see the irritation ripple across Katsuki's face, but he also knew that for Katsuki, irritation and arousal often went hand in hand. It made him so easy to torment. Izuku fluttered his eyelashes. "Whatever will we do?"

Katsuki rolled his eyes, and locked the door. "These things always lock, dumbass."

"Oh."

"Are you fucking disappointed? Did you want someone walking in on your exhibitionist ass?"

"That would be inappropriate," Izuku demurred. Katsuki grabbed his shoulders, spun him around, and slammed him up against the door in the way that Izuku particularly liked. Katsuki leaned in, close enough that Izuku could see the points of his canines.

"They'll have a hard time opening the door when I've got you pinned against it."

"So, not just because you locked it?" Izuku couldn't help himself, and tried to hide his smirk by looking at the ground. Katsuki grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his head backward, forcing Izuku to look up at him. Katsuki was crowding into his space, caging him against the door, every inch of him dripping arrogance and entitlement. "You wanted it like this, didn't you," he accused. 

Izuku bared his teeth. "Surprised it took you this long, Kacchan."

"Bitch, you were slacking today," Katsuki huffed, and briefly smiled. "You're off your game." A pause, then he added with intention, "Slut."

Izuku let out a sigh that was almost a moan, and let Katsuki tilt his head to the side. Katsuki didn't bother with kissing him. Instead, Izuku felt his teeth biting into the crook of his neck. This time, Izuku really did moan. 

"There you go, baby," Katsuki purred, "keep making those noises, and someone's gonna come in here to check on you."

Izuku's next noise was more of a cut-off whine, when Katsuki grabbed his dick suddenly and without warning. "Kacchan, please," Izuku pleaded, more for show than because he was pleading for anything specific. What he wanted was for Katsuki to do whatever the fuck he wanted with Izuku right at that moment. 

"Kacchan, please," Katsuki mocked him, in a fake high-pitched voice. "Please what? Make you come in your pants? Finger you in the bathroom? Whatever's gonna get your slutty ass off fastest, hm? You know people are gonna notice if we're missing for much longer."

"Please," Izuku whimpered. The hold in his hair was starting to hurt in the way he likes best, and pleasure was trickling down his spine in a relatively shameful way. 

"Use your big boy words, Deks," Katsuki growled into his neck, "or you'll be sucking my cock and nothing else."

That was… an appealing idea. Izuku's eyes drifted downwards, and he could feel Katsuki's hard on pushing against his hip. Katsuki's eyes tracked where he was looking.

"Damn," Katsuki groaned, grinding against him, "you want it that bad?"

Maybe it was a little embarrassing, but that was all it took for Izuku to drop down to his knees. He looked up expectantly, waiting impatiently as Katsuki undid his pants and fished his dick out. "Kacchan," Izuku murmured approvingly, and reached up to wrap a hand around the base of his cock. Katsuki groaned above him, leaning against the door with his forearms, head dropping down to watch Izuku. 

"That's it, baby, make it quick," he hissed. Izuku knew what that meant. He also knew Katsuki's body nearly as well as his own by now, so it wasn't hard to make him come undone. Izuku cupped his balls, and licked a long stripe up the underside of his dick. It was a nice view, because he could see Katsuki's face twist up in pleasure above him. 

But the real secret wasn't anything particularly special. No, Katsuki just liked it fast and dirty, so Izuku took as much of his cock down his throat as he could before straight-up choking, and moved just enough to tease. Then he pulled away.

With a growl, Katsuki dropped one hand down to grip Izuku's hair. "Come on, gimme more than that," he groaned. Izuku looked up at him, letting his tongue poke out obscenely.

Then he said, "Then take what you want, Kacchan. Fuck my throat like you mean it."

He could see the change in Katsuki's expression, the feral delight he got whenever Izuku gave him permission to be particularly nasty. His grip tightened in Izuku's hair, and he forced Izuku back onto his dick, starting to fuck his face without preamble.

"Fuck, baby, feels so good," he groaned, "shit, such a little slut for me, fuckin' love you so much you nasty little fucker—" His words cut off as Izuku tilted his head, letting him thrust back further. Izuku held onto his hips for dear life, and let himself slide into the heady experience of swallowing down Katsuki's cock. 

Katsuki didn't last long, not once Izuku started tearing up. Katsuki was always weak to that, and Izuku couldn't try to deny the sense of victory he felt when Katsuki shuddered and spilled down his throat with a broken moan. 

Then Katsuki dropped to his knees and tipped Izuku's chip up. Izuku blinked at him through teary eyes. "Was it good, Kacchan?"

"Real damn good," he purred, then kissed Izuku deeply. "You're next, baby. How 'bout you tell me whatever's been knocking around in that pervert head of yours?"

Katsuki helped him to his feet and kissed him until Izuku was able to form rational thoughts again. Or he would have, until someone pounded on the door. 

"Fuck off!" Katsuki shouted. 

"Hurry up!" the voice shouted back. 

"Shit," Katsuki mumbled. Izuku grinned at him. 

"You know what this means? Speed run!"

"I—" Katsuki looked like he was about to protest, then shook his head at himself. "Damn it, you're horrible for my decision making. You better be fucking quiet because my hands are gonna be busy."

Izuku nodded furiously, demonstrating how quiet he could be. Katsuki kissed him, and wasted no time undoing his pants, yanking them down halfway around his thighs. 

He pulled away long enough to put his fingers in front of Izuku's face. "Suck, Deku," he whispered. Izuku obeyed, trying not to groan as Katsuki's warm hand wrapped around his dick. 

After blowing Katsuki, he was already a little too sensitive and almost painfully hard. The fingers in his mouth weren't nearly enough to distract him from the feeling of Katsuki's hand jerking him off. 

Then Katsuki's hand moved from his mouth, trailing a wet line down his back to his ass.

"Oh yes," Izuku sighed. Katsuki shushed him, then kissed him again, stopping any further sounds from coming from his mouth. It was a good thing, because Katsuki's mouth only slightly muffled the whine Izuku let out when his Katsuki's fingers started to gently press into his ass. Izuku wrapped his arms around Katsuki's shoulders and held on, willing his legs not to give out under the overwhelming sensation of Katsuki's hands and mouth fully devoted to making him come undone. 

Izuku forgot about where they were, forgot the mess of paper towels someone had left on the sink,  the pervasive smell of toilet , and whoever was waiting outside. 

There was only Katsuki's teeth on his lip. There was only Katsuki's hand on his cock jerking him off with the precision borne of countless times doing exactly this, there was only the feeling of a fingers up his ass, filling him, forcing him over the edge. 

Maybe the knowledge that there were people waiting for the bathroom was turning him on too, as bad as that was—or at the very least, it added to the sense of urgency. Izuku was rocking back and forth against Katsuki's hands, not fighting the building pleasure except for when he tried to swallow his moans. 

He pulled away just long enough to gasp, "I'm close ." Katsuki gave him a sharp look, then grabbed the hem of Izuku's shirt and pushed it into his mouth. 

"Don't wanna get this dirty, Deks," he grinned. The fluorescent shadows made him look a little manic, but in a way that made Izuku's heart pound. Izuku loved being with Katsuki like this, loved when he looked so dangerous, loved the feeling of being at his mercy while knowing he was completely safe. Then Katsuki leaned in, his head touching the door next to Izuku's head as he whispered filth into Izuku's ear. "Come on baby, aren't you gonna cum for me? Such a dirty slut, letting me finger you in a public restroom, huh? You like that, don't you?"

Izuku's chest was heaving with effort not to make any sounds above a whisper, and Katsuki was relentless, his hands were merciless and suddenly Izuku was whimpering as he came all over his bare stomach. 

Katsuki gave him a quick kiss on the cheek before grabbing paper towels to clean him up. Izuku leaned weakly against the door. The whole thing seemed like slightly less of a great idea now that he wasn't horny, and the amused little smirk on Katsuki's lips told him that he felt the same way. 

"Should we have not done that," Izuku mumbled, after extracting the shirt from his mouth. Katsuki shrugged, apparently satisfied with Izuku's cleanliness enough to go thoroughly wash his own hands.

"Was hot as fuck, and no one caught us," Katsuki said, as if that absolved everything.

"Someone's gonna catch us eventually."

"Then someone's gonna catch an explosion to the face."

"Kacchan, that's the opposite of how you should—" Izuku shut up as Katsuki opened the door and strolled right out, ignoring Izuku completely. An irritated man was waiting outside, one leg crossed over the other like he really needed to pee. 

"Sorry, had to shit," Katsuki said offhandedly, before sauntering off towards their friends. Izuku speed-walked past the man with his hands over his face and wished he could melt into the floor like Mirio.

They slid back into the booth. Izuku was still a little shame-faced, and tried not to be obvious about looking at the floor. Katsuki entirely failed to look ashamed though. He looked completely cocky sliding into the booth next to Izuku.

"You didn't," Mina said, her eyes flicking back and forth between them. 

Izuku poured them both a beer. Katsuki grinned like a shark.

"It's not my fault Deku's—"

"There's literally no way you'll finish that sentence with anything that isn't revolting," Ochako cut in, putting a stop to something that probably would have been revolting.

"You are a goddess," Izuku told her, clapping his hands together in thanks.

"She is," Iida said, then snapped his mouth shut. Izuku exchanged significant looks with pretty much everyone at the table except Katsuki, who's still looking cocky. Cocky, but in the vague, empty-headed kind of way he gets after some good head. Somehow, he's both more annoying and more endearing when he was like this. 

"Well, now that everyone's here," Mina says, glaring meaningfully at Izuku and Katsuki, "let's make some toasts!"

"We just spent like, hours toasting," Kaminari whined. Kirishima looks stupidly happy regardless, which is how he'd been looking for the entire day. Maybe too happy to form coherent words, after several beers, so his head just dropped onto Kaminari's shoulder and he said something about manly and love and grateful for you guys . Definitely positive stuff. 

"But there were parents there," Mina protested. "Now we can say anything!"

"This is not going anywhere I'm going to like, is it," Iida groaned. Ochako poked his cheek, telling him to lighten up. More significant looks were exchanged. Katsuki's hand found its way onto his knee. 

"The first of the gang to shack up," Sero said, raising a glass, "I can't believe Denki's finally being deflowered."

"I—" Kaminari sputtered. 

"A virgin for so long," Mina sighed, "incredible, isn't it."

"I wish they were," Katsuki snapped. "Can you believe I walked in on them doing—"

"Don't finish that sentence," Kirishima said suddenly, jerking out of his lovesick stupor long enough to defend his fiance. 

"Cheers for the idiots finally getting together," Katsuki said instead. That, at least, got everyone in a good mood. Izuku was tucked against his side, Katsuki's arm around his shoulder. It felt good. Peaceful. 

He knew he had to treasure moments like this. No matter their imperfections or the tangled paths they took to get there, his friends were alive, safe, and beloved. 

They were almost all the way back to Katsuki's apartment. They had a bad habit of walking across the entire city whenever they'd been out drinking and needed to get home. There was something peaceful about walking around a night, when they weren't on duty and someone else was responsible for keeping the city safe. 

Besides, there wasn't a whole lot out there that could take on Ground Zero and Deku, even if they were a little drunk. They'd made it all the way to the gate outside Katsuki's apartment complex. 

A lot had happened there. Being hounded by reporters, the picture of their kiss that had made its round through the media, the internet, and a disturbing amount of photoshop. 

Now, though, Katsuki stopped outside the gate. 

"Deku," he said.

"Sup, Kacchan," Izuku giggled. Maybe they'd make out against the gate? Then he caught the serious look in Katsuki's eyes. 

"Izuku."

Izuku tried to sober himself up, because Katsuki looked serious. Katsuki put a hand on his shoulder, leaning in until their foreheads almost touched. 

"Yes, Kacchan? Katsuki?"

Then Katsuki's face split into a drunken grin, his eyes lighting up. "I call dibs."

Izuku wasn't sure if this didn't make sense because he was drunk, or because Katsuki wasn't making sense. Maybe both. 

"Uh, dibs?"

Katsuki leaned in even closer, eyes gleaming despite the dark night. "Dibs on proposing. I wanna do it."

Six words, but that was more than enough to steal Izuku's breath away. He couldn't see anything except Katsuki's eyes staring into his, the complete delight and sincerity he felt at the idea of proposing to Izuku. 

Izuku's heart welled up with love. 

"Kacchan, we haven't even talked about marriage yet."

"What, you don't wanna? I know we're going to. We just gotta talk and shit first, but when it's time," Katsuki paused, narrowing his eyes, "I want dibs."

"I—"

"Gimme," Katsuki said, in what was almost a pout. Izuku couldn't help his happy little laugh. The whole thing felt surreal, but the chill of the air and  warmth of Katsuki's hand on his shoulder grounded him inescapably. Anyway, there was absolutely no way Izuku could deny him this, even if he did maybe have a few ideas of how he'd like to propose to Katsuki.

"Alright Kacchan, you can have dibs."

"Yes!"

"But you owe me."

"Bitch," Katsuki said, but looked way too happy and fond for the word to have any bite. He leaned in, kissing Izuku hard enough Izuku's back bumped into the gate. Izuku parted his lips, giving in to the kiss, no longer caring they were out where anyone could see them. Thankfully, it had been a long time since they'd needed to have secrecy. (Sometimes Suika was on their case about having tact , though.)

Something beeped to his left, and the gate swung open. Izuku stumbled backward, and Katsuki followed him cackling. 

"Come on nerd, I got you something inside. Wanna show you right now."

"Kacchan… you can't just propose right after calling dibs. We still have to talk—"

"First off," Katsuki said, way too loudly, "I can do what I want. I have dibs. Secondly, if I was going to propose—"

"If?!"

Katsuki gave Izuku a toothy, joyful look, and punched the call button for the elevator. "Don't sweat it, Deks. Besides, that's not what I have for you. It's not that big a deal, or whatever."

"If it's a ring I'm gonna smack you."

"It's not," Katsuki howled. The elevator pinged open. Soon, they were scrambling to get into Katsuki's apartment. He opened the door, and Izuku darted through, haphazardly abandoning his shoes and jacket before hopping onto his normal perch on the counter. 

He held out both his hands, staring at Katsuki while he tried to untie his shoes with fumbling fingers. 

"Give!"

"Fuck, be patient," Katsuki snarled, yanking off a shoe in a way that looked bad for his ankles. Then he was flying through the kitchen, opening cabinets at random before descending on the couch. "Hah!" He held up a plastic folder and jetted across the room to appear between Izuku's knees. 

Izuku was completely at a loss, but happy to be receiving something from Katsuki in general. He'd managed to burn away most of the buzz from the bar, and Katsuki had a certain clarity to his eyes.

They stared at each other for a moment. Then Katsuki pushed the folder into his chest. 

Izuku grabbed it with clumsy fingers and opened it carefully. Katsuki was dead-still, his gaze intense like high-beams on a deserted highway. Izuku looked at the first page. It was a print out of an… apartment listing? Three bedrooms, two baths. A balcony. State-of-the-art kitchen. Izuku flipped the page and found another listing. Another page, more listings. 

"You're moving?" Izuku asked. Katsuki bit his lip and looked like he really, really wanted to talk about how stupid Izuku was. 

Instead, he just said, "Not if you're not."

Izuku took a moment to process that. Three bedrooms. An unnecessary luxury for one person, but for two pro-heroes with a solid income? Izuku's eyes jumped from the page to meet Katsuki's. "T-together?" he stuttered.

"Yeah, if you want," Katsuki said quietly, "there's a bunch of good places in there, but it's just for starters."

"You want to move in together."

Irritated, Katsuki tapped the paper with a finger. "So what if I do?"

"You're being bashful about moving in together like, ten minutes after aggressively begging to propose to me, Kacchan."

"Yeah, well, this is the first step, asshat. The first of many. You wanna take it with me?"

Izuku swallowed hard, unable to look away from his eyes. Katsuki's gaze searched his, vulnerable and sincere, his brows drawn together in tension. When Katsuki looked at him like that, Izuku felt invincible. Larger than life. Like his soul and their love could maybe contain the entire universe, just as long as Katsuki would keep looking at him.

"Yes, Kacchan. I do."