Chapter Text
Katsuki was tired.
He was certainly not prepared for facing Mina, completely enraged after finding out that her boyfriend had forgotten to feed her ugly little cat. He was mesmerized at the volume Mina‘s voice could reach, one that very much rivaled his own.
Instead of packing it up and leaving, though, he was stuck with the two of them after Eijirou tightened the grip around his wrist, sealing his fate to witness the bloodbath firsthand.
What went on for twenty minutes felt like hours, leaving Eijirou crying buckets and Mina with a scarlet red blush all over her face. It took another fifteen minutes to calm down his best friend and an additional ten to prevent Mina from going completely feral.
At this point, Katsuki felt like he could arrange Eijirou‘s funeral.
Before finally going home, letting his ear drums rest, he shot a quick text to Deku, telling him he‘d be home soon while briefly summarizing the shitshow he just had to witness.
After resolving their issues, Katsuki truly had been happy. The past two months flew by with kisses and cuddles, with movie nights and home cooked dinners. Izuku spent more time in Katsuki’s apartment than in his own, mostly because out of the two, he had the double bed.
It was strange for him, still, seeing Izuku smile so brightly in the presence of someone who caused him countless tears. To come home to someone sitting cozily on the couch with a sketchbook in hand in the late afternoon. Having someone to wake up to in the morning, greeted with a kiss on his pointed nose. It was strange for him to feel this deep, caring sensation for someone who slipped into his life and left all those unwanted traces everywhere.
In every corner of his mind he found Izuku, at the very least something that reminded him of the boy. He occupied his mind, and his body as well. Each part of his body that had been touched by his boyfriend (boyfriend!) longed for the feeling of his fingers tracing it, aching for the feeling of gentleness. A gentleness that reminded him of his father, sitting by his bedside and making up the most fantastical hero stories, giggling at Katsuki’s excitement back when he was a child. A gentleness that reminded him of his mother, the days before his ego grew to a size that had to compete with the one of his mother. A gentleness that reminded him of himself, whenever he saw his dad silently spill tears over their family that, at times, seemed too broken to be fixed.
A gentleness he hasn’t felt in a long time. A gentleness that he forgot he needed. A gentleness he tried to give back to his best abilities. He had a hard time figuring out that forgetting to be gentle was much easier than re-learning it.
But he wallowed in the kindness Izuku had given him, he absorbed it and appreciated it, nurturing the feeling, all the while trying to capture its essence and give it back to the one he loved.
Loved. A strange word. A word he certainly never imagined he’d use for anyone ever again after establishing his friend group. Before meeting Izuku, he was sure he’d never have to use it again. After meeting Izuku, he’s sure he’s the last person he’ll use it for.
Katsuki was still stuck in his head when he opened his front door, immediately hit by the sound of sizzling and the smell of garlic and onions. Panic flooded his mind at first, thinking back to the days where Izuku couldn't properly fry an egg, but the feeling settled down once he reminded himself that nowadays, Izuku was actually pretty good in the kitchen.
He slipped off his shoes and jacket and put down his bag as well, then followed the enticing smell all the way to the kitchen. There, in front of the counter, stood Izuku, his messy curls tucked away from his forehead with a sparkling headband (Mina had given it to him) and a matching pink apron that spelled “Best Mom” in an obnoxious glittery font (also courtesy of Mina, who found it incredibly funny). Izuku’s head turned around to greet him with a beautiful smile, waving at him shyly. The sight brought a similar smile to his face as he walked over to where Izuku was standing to plant a quick kiss on his lips. Even now, after two months, Izuku still blushes every time Katsuki shows him any kind of affection. It proved as its own kind of price, to see his freckled cheeks turn pink and every blush made Katsuki love him even more.
“Kacchan! I thought with all that was going on over at Mina’s place I’d cook one of your favorites! I'm making spicy curry,” he said, smiling at Katsuki. “You're a fucking godsend, thank you, Izu,” he replied, kissing him on the cheek once more. “You want me to help?” Izuku just shook his head. “No, but thank you. You taught me this and I refuse to mess this up. I'll prove to you that I'm a great cook. My mother didn't raise a coward,” he exclaimed determinedly, sticking up his nose in triumph.
“Says the one who cries every single time we watch a fucking horror movie because he's so scared.”
“I do not!”
“Do I have to remind you of the time we watched It 2?”
“Listen, clowns are already scary! And at that size? A nightmare.”
After that, Izuku is left pouting and continued to cook in silence, as Katsuki took a seat at the table to watch him. He felt a smile tugging at the corners of his lips every time Izuku made a silly little mistake, panicking momentarily. His antics while cooking are to die for , Katsuki decided. He's always a little behind and eventually starts hurrying to every corner of the kitchen for the right spices and ingredients, all the while furrowing his eyebrows and sticking out the tip of his tongue. He loves watching him taste everything, since every time he does so, he blows air at the spoon violently to assure that it's most definitely safe to put in his mouth. Izuku is careful about the little things, just like Katsuki taught him, and he finds it adorable that he pays attention to them.
Watching him cook reminded Katsuki both of where they both started and somehow also that nothing in life is definite. In a few months, Izuku learned more about cooking than in his entire lifetime, just like Katsuki learned more about himself in those months than he had in the past 21 years. Izuku taught him fundamental things, lifted the baggage off his shoulders, baggage he thought he had to carry for life.
Ever since he recognized all the faults in himself, he was sure that he had come to this world as a bad person and would leave it as one. That nothing he could ever do would redeem him and change his fate. No matter the kind words his therapist, his parents and his friends fed him, he had always thought he was irredeemable. A lost cause, so to speak.
And then came Izuku. Izuku deeply reminded him of someone he would have taunted in their childhood, someone who would suffer under his tight grip. He was also a kid that had experienced someone's giant ego indent a permanent, painful mark on them. But just like the broken bones in his hands, Izuku had healed along with them. And throughout the time they'd known each other, Izuku had started to heal Katsuki, too.
Izuku was much more than a shy and timid kid. He was a force to be reckoned with. He was someone that had brought a certain light into Katsuki’s life that he thought he had lost years ago.
And this light was now standing in his kitchen, cooking his favorite dish, just to make Katsuki feel better. There was no place that could rival the one he was in now.
As they ate, Izuku led their conversation. He found his rambling to be comforting now, filling him with warmth, much like every other little quirk Izuku had to his personality. Somewhere along the way, Katsuki reached for his lover's unoccupied hand to intertwine their fingers, and was yet again rewarded with another scarlet blush on his cheeks. “You know, I could stare at you all day,” he said, a softness in his voice that he was quite unfamiliar with. The color on Izuku’s cheeks deepened, but he didn't hide his face away. Instead, he gave a little squeeze with his hand. “I could do the same thing,” he eventually said.
“What, stare at yourself all day? Talk about narcissistic.”
“Kacchan!”
“I'm kidding.”
Silence engulfed them this time, but it carried a warmth with it that Katsuki didn't mind it at all. Still, he decided to break it.
“Izuku?”
“Hm?”
“You know I love you, right?”
“I know. I love you too, Katsuki.”