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Katsuki and Izuku have always had a complicated relationship. Everyone who knew them even a little bit was aware of that.
They had their ups and downs, but eventually, they were able to talk things out during their first year.
And there they are, third years already and soon graduating. Their relationship is much better now. You could even say that they are friends.
Well except for the fact that they both have a massive crush on the other but are too shy (or proud) to confess. Both are convinced their feelings are unrequited. Until that special day.
That day started like any other. They didn’t have class so everyone was just chilling at the dorms, hanging out with everyone in the common area or preferring the calm of their own room.
Well, to be honest, they were supposed to be in class. But they couldn't.
They had been on hero training when a kid just barged in. No one knew how he had been able to get there, but he was frightened and released some kind of pink gas on everyone on the field. Understand the entirety of Class 3-A. They eventually calmed him down. But it was too late.
Earlier that day
“So the quirk that hit all of us… makes it impossible for us to hide our feelings?” Momo asks.
Aizawa sighs and nods, to everyone’s utter shock and obviously anxiety. Izuku’s head is down, staring at the floor and trying to hide his panic. If the quirk makes them unable to hide any kind of feelings, then…
“Which is why, to avoid any complications with other classes, you’ll be confined in your dorms, at least until we figure out when the quirk will not affect you guys anymore.”
“Yeah but that doesn't prevent the fact that our feelings will be exposed, without our consent. And I mean any kind of feeling.”
Aizawa puts his hands in his pockets, apparently annoyed but more by the situation than by his students themselves.
“You are soon-to-be pro heroes. You will learn that when fighting, the most important thing is to trust and be trusted by your colleagues. And that includes being honest about your situation.”
“Why do feelings matter during a fight? I thought that heroes are supposed to remain impassable and impartial.”
“I’d say that's correct during everyday patrol. But during a major fight, feelings are important. If you're too distracted by them, you’ll lose. Being honest and open about it to your colleagues, as long as it's about respect, will give you more opportunities than you think. I’m not telling you to confess to your crush or whatever if you don’t feel like it. But honesty is a major aspect of hero work.”
A silence follows his words. Then Iida robotically raises his hand.
“Sir, how will we know if our feelings are showing? Is there a particular sign?”
He sighs again.
“According to what we know of the boy’s quirk, it makes someone’s feelings physically appear on their body when they see the person the feelings are directed to. It depends on what kind of feelings it is or how strong they are. It shows the feelings but not who’s the target. The only example we have is anger. If you’re angry at someone, you’ll have a sign on your body showing it.”
“What kind of signs?”
“That's where it's getting even more complicated. It depends on the situation or the person. Sometimes it shows through a glow in the eyes, line red for anger. Sometimes it's a mark, like a tattoo, on the hand. You’ll have to find out about that, I guess.”
Everyone goes silent again, meditating about their teacher's words. He shrugs then turns around to leave the room.
“Back to your dorms now. Don’t leave until we’re sure the quirk has worn off.”
So here they are.
Some of them hurried back to their bedroom as soon as they got back, too afraid to face the quirk’s effects when it'll start to work. Some were actually curious about what will happen and decided to wait and see.
Izuku is sitting on a couch, surrounded by Hitoshi on his left and Ochaco on his right. Shoto and Iida are facing them on the other couch and Tsuyu's sitting at Ochaco's feet, scrolling on her phone while listening to her friends’ conversation.
On the kitchen table, Denki, Mina, Eijiro, Sero and Kyoka are playing card games, with Katsuki on his phone and sometimes interrupting them to shout while they just laugh at him. Others are chilling there, like Tokoyami reading on a couch, Momo and Hagakure chatting about clothes, or Ojiro listening to their conversations while sometimes being included.
All of a sudden, Mina lets out a squeal and everyone stares at her. She points at Denki’s eyes, who suddenly turned… pink?
“Denks your eyes!”
“What about them?” He asks, confused.
“They… they turned pink!”
“Anh!?”
He takes his phone out of his pocket to look at his reflection, then lets out a squeak, touching his cheek.
“What the…”
“The quirk's working…”
Everyone looks at each other with fear and apprehension. Then, Kirishima and Mina exchange a look and their eyes turn bright green. They frown.
“Girl, I love you but not like that!”
“Yeah, I know! So do I! What does that mean?”
“I guess our eyes change according to the feelings we have about someone.” Sero says.
“No shit, Tape Face!”
“Rude.”
Izuku frowns then starts thinking. Their eyes changed which means the quirk is affecting them. But if it were, wouldn’t everyone's eyes change? There should be a particular reason triggering the quirk. Maybe it only works with strong emotions? But the colors could mean anything and-
“Hey, Nerd, say it out loud or I swear I’ll kill you if you keep muttering like that!”
He shivers then briefly looks at Katsuki who frowns at him. Everyone's now staring at him and he moves his eyes from Katsuki, hoping his eyes remain the same. He scratches the back of his neck feeling his cheeks heat up a bit.
“Sorry, got lost in my thoughts…!”
“What were you saying about the quirk, Deku?” Ochaco asks.
“Well, it's just an idea, but maybe the feelings only show when they’re strong enough? For example, if you have a really strong friendship bond with someone, the quirk shows that feeling. But it won't affect us if it's just someone we know from afar.”
Everyone stares at him, even Katsuki's unusually quiet and has his eyes on Izuku. The blond boy turns his look away pretending not to care, but feeling his eyes sting a bit. He tries not to cross eyes with anyone, thinking about something else. But Eijiro, who obviously knows, notices Katsuki and blinks at him, making his friend growl.
“I think each color is a different emotion. And I guess the meaning must be simple to remember, or it would be too complicated.” Izuku continues.
“So what do you think green means?”
“I think the colors are the ‘typical’ ones used when describing emotions. Green must be a strong friendship.”
Eijiro and Mina smile widely at each other and highfive. Izuku puts his chin on his hand.
“Aizawa said earlier that anger was red. So if we list the basic feelings, we have hatred, fear, love, maybe sadness and jealousy. If my guess is right, hatred is Orange, fear’s purple, sadness’s blue, envy or jealousy could be yellow, and… well-”
“If pink means love, then…” Mina screams before turning her attention to Denki who was getting redder and redder. “You have a crush!?”
Everyone looks at the poor boy who buries his face in his hands, too embarrassed to look at anyone. Katsuki smirks, throwing a glance at the couch where Izuku’s sitting. The greenette first thinks Katsuki’s looking at him, but he notices his eyes are behind him. He turns around, noticing how red Hitoshi’s ears are. Izuku smiles, knowing about his friend’s big crush on Denki.
“Wait” Mina says. “You were looking at someone before it happened. WHO?”
“Mina” Kyoka says while smiling a bit. “You're embarrassing him, leave him alone.”
“But…”
Izuku sees Denki take a deep breath, then he raises his head and looks straight at Hitoshi’s eyes, his turning even more pink than earlier. Hitoshi lets out a tiny hiccup and Izuku notices his eyes becoming pink too. The two of them stare at each other with their pink iris, almost in disbelief. Denki smiles widely, and their eyes shine even brighter while Mina gasps loudly, putting her hands on her cheeks.
“OH. MY. GOD.”
Hitoshi gets up and goes to Denki. He takes his hand, making him stand up, then smiles again and squeezes his fingers. He leads him to the boys dorms, probably his room.
“...What just happened?” Iida says confusely.
“I guess they like each other.” Shoto answers blankly.
He then looks at Izuku and his eyes start shining. Izuku's a little afraid, but Shoto's eyes turn apple green. Izuku smiles widely as he feels his heart melting, feeling his eyes tingle a bit.
“Oh that's so cute!”
Katsuki glances at them, slightly relieved when he sees their eyes are green.
“I guess that's true.”
“I like our friendship a lot too, Shoto!”
He smiles, and Izuku lets out a laugh. Katsuki frowns, but doesn’t say a word. His jealousy kicks in but he tries to hold it when he feels his eyes start to sting. This quirk is already fucking with his mind so it better not ruin everything. So he tries to keep his eyes away from Izuku's.
“Tell me Shoto, what were you thinking about when you looked at me?” Izuku asks, then blushes hard when he sees everyone staring at him with wide eyes “N-Not in a weird way!”
“I was thinking that I am lucky to have you as my friend.”
Izuku's smile gets bigger, then his eyes sparkles with excitement.
“I think I kinda guessed how the quirk works!”
“Really? Tell us!”
“I think it activates when we cross eyes with someone and think about the relationship and feelings we have for them!”
“...well that would make sense.” Iida says, touching his chin.
“So what, we avoid crossing eyes with everyone until it wears off? Or we just try not to think about our feelings for someone when looking at them?” Kirishima says with a grimace.
“Y'think that's fucking easy, Shitty Head!?”
“Annh, Blasty, you have a crush!?”
“NO!”
“C'mon, tell us or the quirk will!”
“GO TO HELL!”
He suddenly gets up, briefly meeting Izuku's eyes before stomping out of the room. Izuku just stares at a wall, frowning.
Did his eyes just turn…
No, no way. I must have imagined that.
Izuku sighs. Well, that quirk would be huge trouble indeed.
******
The next day something happens again.
Well, the first thing is that Hitoshi and Denki come into the common area holding hands, and they can’t stop looking at each other with their pink eyes. The eye color was temporary, of course. But it was a cute sight indeed.
Then, Ochaco barges into the room full of students. Everyone goes silent and watches as her eyes are now a bright shade of red.
“Her eyes look like mine, that can't be good.” Eijiro whispers to Mina, to which she nods while worryingly looking at her friend.
The brunette has a frown on her face, and she really doesn’t seem in a good mood.
“Where the hell is that asshole Mineta!?”
No one answers, and the said Mineta is sitting on a couch, shaking when the angry girl comes almost running at him. She has something in her hand, which appears to be a picture. A picture of her wearing a swimsuit. A picture that doesn't seem to have been taken with her consent, as it's kinda blurry, like the photograper was in a rush.
Izuku then understands, and he feels his eyes sting when Mineta looks at him in the eyes, almost like he hopes for some support. But instead he meets Midoriya's rage to know that his best friend's intimacy has been violated like that. It's not the first time something like that has happened. In fact, it happened a lot during their first year, but after being threatened with expulsion the pervert guy had calmed down a bit. He was still a perv, but wasn’t trying to barge into the girls’ locker room anymore.
Until today.
Izuku stands up, clenching his fists hard. He stares at Mineta who shakes even more when he sees how scarlet red Izuku's usually green eyes look.
“Explain yourself. Now.”
“You better! You psycho perverted asshole, how dare you take a picture like that of me!?”
“I-It’s not like that!”
“Oh, really? Do tell us more.” Izuku's tone is so cold it even sends Katsuki shivers down his spine. But not of fear. He feels his lips quiver, trying to hold a proud smile. His heart starts beating faster too, but he tries to ignore that.
“Well you know how it is, Midoriya! There’s a girl in a revealing swimsuit, I can't help it! She was so-”
“If you dare say a word more, you won’t be alive to graduate.”
Mineta squeaks, frightened.
“How dare you say that!? What do you expect at the beach, of course I'm wearing a swimsuit! You had no right to take a picture of me and to zoom on my… body parts! You’re a disgusting piece of shit! I'm fucking tired of your bullshit!”
She then lets out a frustrated and very pissed grunts before stomping out of the room. Izuku gives Mineta a warning look and he runs away to his room. Izuku then breathes in and out, trying to calm down. His eyes don’t sting anymore and when he turns around, Denki exhales with relief.
“Your eyes are normal again. Dude you were so scary right now!”
“Someone sh-”
“We got it!” The girls all say while getting up and heading to Ochaco’s room.
Izuku sits on the couch next to Shoto and facing Katsuki, staring straight into his eyes. He loves how piercing his crimson eyes are, and how they soften when he looks at his friends when they don’t see it, and-
Oh shit.
He feels his eyes sting again, and turns his look away before Katsuki can notice.
Except if he did.
Later that day, Izuku was outside the dorms, sitting on a bench and writing into one of his hero notebooks, updating some of his writings about his classmates.
“Writing about us again?”
Izuku jumps, surprised, and sees Todoroki walking towards him with a blank face but eyes slightly squeezed with amusement.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you, you were pretty deep in your thoughts.”
“Y-Yeah, right. What're you doing out there?”
“I had a visit at my mom's planned for weeks, so Aizawa said it was ok for me to see her as long as she was alone.”
“Oh, how is she?”
“She’s great. Getting used to having her own apartment. Also asking when you guys will visit.”
Izuku smiles. Shoto’s mom had been through so much in her life, but she was adorable with Shoto’s friends. She had left the hospital two years ago after the War and had her own place, not wanting to live with Endeavor again. He was trying to win her back but… meh, it was way too weird for Shoto to imagine his parents together. Especially because of his father.
“I hope we’ll see her soon!”
Shoto smiles and sits next to Izuku, head up to the sky.
“My mom knows about the quirk.”
Izuku turns his head with surprise.
“Really?”
“Yeah. We were talking about the past, then I felt my eyes tingle and then she asked me why both my eyes were suddenly blue.”
He shrugs, apparently not that bothered that his mom knew.
“Oh. I see. What were you feeling at that moment?”
“Checking if your theory from yesterday’s right?”
“Hm…”
“We were talking about the past. So I was… Sad. Hurt. Had regrets that I couldn't protect her from him.”
“None of that's your fault Shoto. You know that.”
“Yeah, I know. But I can’t help but feel guilty when we talked about all this.”
“I understand.”
Shoto sighs, then looks fondly at Izuku.
“Thank you for being my friend, Izuku.”
Izuku seems startled, but smiles back.
“You're welcome.”
The front door bursts open, making them both jump and look at the door. Katsuki, who apparently just kicked it open, nonchalantly gets out of the dorms, hands in his pockets. He freezes and notices something in the corner of his eyes, realizing it's Izuku and Shoto.
His childhood friend is holding his umpteenth notebook while Shoto's sitting with him while looking at the cloudy sky. Immediately, Katsuki feels tingles in his eyes when he sees them being so close.
“The hell you're both doing here?”
“Just talking. I'll head inside. See you Izuku.”
“See ya!”
Shoto walks past Kastuki but puts a hand on his shoulder and presses it once while throwing him a warning glance.
“I know. So don't you dare hurt him.”
He leaves them alone and Katsuki’s baffled. Was he so obvious even Half-n-half knew? The oblivious one?
He grunts but then sits next to Izuku, on his other side where Todoroki wasn’t sitting before.
“So… What's up Katchan?”
He glances at Izuku who gives him his bright smile, genuinely interested in him. Katsuki briefly looks at him but looks away when he feels his heart beat faster in front of that cute face of his.
If only I could grab his cheeks and kiss his freckles and-
“Katchan, is everything ok?”
Katsuki gets out of his thoughts, realizing how close Izuku got. They’re only a few niches apart, way too close for both of their hearts. Izuku notices that too and blushes furiously, but without moving back.
“S-Sorry, didn’t realize how close I was!”
They just stare at each other for a while, then Kastuki lowers his gaze to Izuku's lips.
Izuku suddenly lets out a hiccup and Katsuki can see his eyes before the greenette buries his face in his hands. Katsuki, startled, doesn't know how to react.
So what I saw earlier…
Trying to not be a coward and run away, he gently puts a hand on Izuku's still covering his face and squeezes his fingers.
“Izuku.”
Izuku shivers, that deep, raspy voice making him feel things inside of him he shouldn’t feel when it's his childhood friend talking. Katsuki squeezes his hand a bit more, pushing Izuku to lower his but still staring at the grass.
Katsuki intertwines their fingers. Izuku trembles a bit when his friend tilts his head, almost asking him to look at him.
Summoning his courage, he takes a shape breath and raises his head, meeting Katsuki's pink eyes.
Wait… pink?
Izuku's now pink eyes grow wider, wider than they've ever been. They just sit there, staring at each other, almost not believing what they’re seeing.
“You…”
“Yeah… You too.”
“Yeah.”
The conversation’s so absurd they laugh, eyes softening when watching the other.
Then Katsuki raises his other hand and caresses Izuku's cheek with a finger, right where his freckles are. He parts his lips, blinking and his breathing speeding up. Katsuki growls.
“Fuck it.”
He holds his face in both hands, looking like a man suffering with thirst.
“Tell me I can.”
Izuku can just nod before Katsuki dives on his face and harshly puts his lips on Izuku's. The greenette stays still, utterly shocked. Katsuki's eyes are closed, Izuku can see how long his blond laches are. Then the blond intensifies the kiss, pressing harder on Izuku’s lips and nibbling the lower one. Izuku slightly gasps and closes his eyes when Katsuki's tongue meets his. They kiss for a while, with a passion that clearly defines Katsuki.
When they break the kiss, they just stare at each other, panting and certainly wanting more.
Izuku raises a hand and touches his lips, baffled.
“Wow…”
Katsuki doesn’t answer but his left thumb slowly slides along Izuku's cheekbone. He takes his hands back, his eyes still pink.
“Sorry.”
“Uh? For what?” Izuku asks, clearly bewildered. Definitely not what he thought Katsuki would say after… Well, that.
“I shouldn't have kissed you. I overstepped.”
“But… You didn’t !”
Katsuki arches a brow, not believing his words.
“I swear! You asked me and I said yes! And I don’t regret it at all, seeing how long I’ve been waiting for that to happen!”
He realizes what he just said and his eyes widen before he puts his hands on his face, embarrassed.
“You what?”
Katsuki's voice is amused.
He's totally messing with me. I'm so fucked up.
“Izuku.”
He shakes his head, way too embarrassed to raise it. But Katsuki just scoffs and pulls Izuku to his chest. The green-haired boy now has his face, still covered by his hands, resting on the blond’s shoulder. Izuku tenses, but doesn’t move.
He’s warm…
“I’m not gonna… laugh at you or whatever. I just wanna see your face.” Katsuki says with his raspy voice, hesitating before adding. “Please.”
His tone’s pleading, making Izuku shiver again but not with embarrassment. He lowers his hands and shyly raises his head to meet Katsuki’s eyes. The blond guy blinks, confused.
“Your eyes.”
“What about them? They’re pink… just like yours…”
“I know, but… they’re fuchsia now.”
“Uh?”
He grabs his phone and looks at his reflection before letting out a hiccup. His eyes are indeed a bright fuchsia, as bright as the flower itself would look under the sun in summer.
“How…”
“Got a theory about that, mister genius?” Katsuki says, mocking.
Izuku glares at him only to make him snicker. He frowns, trying to find an explanation. He sighs, ready to be even more embarrassed than he already is.
“I guess… well the only thing I can think about is that maybe the stronger the feelings, the brighter the color?”
“Yeah, that’d make sense.” Katsuki’s voice’s even raspier than earlier. Izuku glances at him only to see him blush and look away. With a crooked smile, Izuku comes closer to Katsuki’s face.
“Katchan, you’re blushing?”
“Shut the hell up, nerd, ‘m not!”
“Oh you so are! That’s so cute!” Izuku lets out a laugh. He’s quickly cut by Katsuki grabbing his chin with a petty smile.
“Y’think ‘m cute, Deku?”
“U-Um, uh…”
Katsuki sneers and puts a brief kiss on Izuku’s lips, making him blush harder. He pokes his nose and moves back. Izuku almost feels like smoke’s coming out of his ears.
Shit that was so hot.
“Still think I’m cute now?”
Izuku shakes his head and Katsuki laughs hard. It’s such a rare vision, Izuku can only stare at his childhood friend with awe and love. Katsuki notices that, and his smile’s now fond.
“So,” Izuku asks. “Shouldn’t we talk about it?”
“Hm. I guess.”
They both go silent, kinda uncomfortable. they’ve never really talked about that kind of feeling. Well, Izuku knew Katsuki was gay and Katsuki knew Izuku was bisexual, but… yeah, that was pretty much everything. They never talked about their crushes, or who they’d like to date. Considering they both had a massive crush on the other for a long, long time, they didn’t want to put on a fake smile or show their jealousy if their crush talked about liking someone. So… Yeah. Not much had ever been said about romantic feelings.
“How long have you known?” Katsuki asks blankly.
Izuku blinks before giggling nervously.
“Uh… A while? I pretty much always knew I loved you so…”
Katsuki doesn’t say anything. But not because of some disdain. He’s just shocked that he never saw Izuku lik- loved him like that. He had… doubts sometimes, but he just thought he was way too affectionate. Plus he was so sure about his crush on Uraraka during their first year that… No.
He never expected for his feelings to be mutual. Sounds like denial if you ask me but, meh.
“I see.”
Izuku clearly waits for Katsuki to return the confession, but he doesn’t know how to say it. Fortunately, Izuku knows him better than anyone else, so he gently puts his hand on Katsuki’s with his damn kind smile.
“You don’t have to say anything if you don’t feel comfortable about it. I’m not… expecting anything in return anyway…”
Katsuki stares at him, thinking of how much he loves him. That guy that doesn’t want him to act like someone he isn’t. Who knows him by heart. Who stays by his side despite everything he has said and done. Who loves him .
Katsuki takes a small and sharp breath.
“I didn’t want to admit it when we were kids, but I never completely saw you as a friend. Well, when we were four, obviously I didn’t know what it meant. I didn’t understand why I was feeling different with you than with others. And then… I was a complete asshole with you. I realized I liked you when we were twelve. But I didn’t want to admit it to myself, because I didn’t want to admit that I was hitting you even though I had a crush on you.”
Izuku silently looks at him, his eyes slowly filling with tears.
“I thought we’d go to separate highschools and I could put that behind me. But we didn’t. And having you in the same class as me was hard. I could barely hide my feelings. So I tried to avoid that as much as possible. It made me so mad when I found out you had a quirk and… Y’know.”
“Yeah. I know.”
“And when we fought during our first year on ground Beta, I… I realized it wasn’t just a crush. I was so in love with you it hurt.”
Izuku exhales, he was clearly not expecting that.
“So you realized you loved me after a fight? That’s really something you can do.” He jokes, trying not to burst into tears.
“Yeah… So when we came back to the dorms, I was feeling so shitty I just… headed to Eijiro’s room. And I told him everything. About our… past, about my feelings.”
“Wait, he knew!”
“Yeah.”
“Is that why he was always making those implicit comments?”
“The hell !?”
“A-Ah, nothing!”
“Tch, that damn Shitty Hair, ‘m gonna fucking kill him later.”
He groans.
“I think I’d have never confessed to you if it weren't for that damn quirk.”
“Why?”
“I had too many regrets about you, so much that… I just couldn’t.”
Izuku frowns when he sees Katsuki’s eyes shine brighter before turning electric blue. He hiccups.
“Katchan… Your eyes are blue!”
“What!?”
He touches his cheek before grabbing Izuku’s phone, who was still on the bench, and looks at his reflection before groaning but with frustration.
“That quirk…!”
He puts the phone back down and runs a hand through his hair. Izuku follows that hand and stares at how his arm muscles contract when he does that movement, and-
“Like what you see, nerd?”
He jumps, startled, when Katsuki’s mocking voice echoes into his head. He tries to stay nonchalant.
“You already know I love you, why would I hide it?”
“Yeah, well the quirk betrayed you.”
“What d’you mean?”
Katsuki seems embarrassed that he said that.
“Earlier today. I… kinda saw your eyes changing color when you looked at me so…”
“WHAT!? You knew!?”
“That’s when I guessed, yeah.”
“Stupid Katchan! Why did you have to notice that!”
Hze tries to hit him but Katsuki’s faster, grabbing his wrist and bringing them closer. They stay like that for a while, staring at each other’s lips. But Izuku decides to break the moment.
“So… What do we do now?”
Katsuki shrugs.
“Y’think I’m the kinda guy to confess just to back up? Hell nah.”
“Yeah, figured that.”
Katsuki scoffs before squeezing Izuku’s wrist.
“What d’ya think, Deku? Wanna be my boyfriend or what?”
Izuku’s heart melts with pure happiness, his eyes shining brighter and getting even more pink.
“Of course I do!”
Katsuki can’t hold it back any longer and grabs Izuku’s face between his hands to kiss him with passion, expressing what he’s been holding back for so long. Izuku laughs against his lips, hugging his new boyfriend tighter. When they break the kiss, Katsuki puts his forehead against Izuku’s, smiling widely. They laugh, and they can’t help but think.
Maybe that quirk thing wasn’t so bad after all.