Chapter Text
Izuku felt like he was in a dream sequence.
He watched Kacchan as he hummed and cooked dinner in his “Kiss My Ass!” apron.
Not for the first time in the last six months he asked himself the following questions: Was he in a coma? Was he hallucinating? Was he in heaven? Was he in hell?
The very man who would disappear to long undercover missions without telling Izuku had started coming home earlier than him. The very man who only cooked maybe once a year started cooking him a nice home-cooked meal every dinner.
He pinched himself for the umpteenth time, before he softly spoke. “I’m home.”
Kacchan turned around and there was a soft smile in his face. “Get changed. Dinner’s almost ready.”
“You’ve changed, Kacchan.” He noted for the millionth time. His anxiety bubbled to the surface. “I’m so sorry! I don’t want you to feel like you have to force yourself to be someone you’re not! I know I was so harsh on you and that must have hurt you but you being yourself won’t make me want to leave you —“
A gentle Kacchan didn’t exist. He was surely in a coma.
The smile dropped from Kacchan’s face. “You fucking idiot.”
He walked towards him and Izuku mentally prepared himself to get yelled at but Kacchan was nothing but gentle.
“Why do we keep having this conversation? Have you ever thought for a moment that I want to do this?” Kacchan demanded and crossed his hands.
“You never used to—“
“I, yeah,” Kacchan winced, “I had the wrong priorities.”
“Priorities,” Izuku said dumbly. You grew more anxious as he spoke. “Hero work should be your only priority. You have fallen by four spots in your hero rank since the incident. I am the worst thing that has happened to you. I am truly in your way, holding you back—“
The incident. That’s what they called ‘unforgiving’ Izuku.
“Shut up,” irritation grew from Kacchan and he immediately looked like he regretted his tone. “Well, the incident,” Kacchan stressed and Izuku winced, “helped me realize what’s truly important for me.”
Izuku tilted his head in confusion, “And what’s that?”
“You,” he said. Izuku’s heart sped up and he felt like he was about to burst from joy but he stopped himself.
“I am not making you choose your career over me again — !” Izuku said in alarm.
“I’m not making a choice, you idiot,” Kacchan snorted. “It’s just, I’m not dying to be the number one hero anymore. Lemillion can keep that spot. Hell, I don’t care IcyHot has overtaken me or shitty hair or round ace. I just… it’s different now. I know what— who I should be grateful for and I can’t keep up that schedule when we start a family anyways because I want to be a good dad…” Kacchan mumbled more to himself and Izuku was a 100% sure he wasn’t supposed to hear that.
“Family?!” Izuku squeaked. Kacchan was always vague whenever the topic would come up. Tried to dodge or avoid it, but sometimes it would slip.
Izuku knew if Kacchan wanted he’d make a great dad, but the truth of the matter is, Kacchan didn’t seem the type to be thrilled about parenting.
Kacchan stiffened, like he just realized what he said aloud. The tips of his ears turned red and he looked bashful and embarrassed. He crossed his hands defensively. “Well, I’d like to have kids someday someday. Hopefully, soon. I mean, we’re way off the original timeline I set for us. ”
“Timeline?” Izuku felt like he was about to faint. “Kids? As in plural? How many?”
“Five,” Kacchan said. He frowned at Izuku’s paling face. “Don’t you want kids?”
“I—I didn’t think you’d want to stick around that long.” I didn’t think we’d last more than a year. “I mean we’re not even married.”
Pain flashed through Kacchan’s eyes and Izuku immediately regretted his word choice.
“I just had this twenty year plan and we’re already falling behind— “ Kacchan said, stepped back and ran a hand through his hair. “Never mind. I just need to go for a walk. I’m not mad, Izuku… I just need to clear my head a little, okay?”
Izuku decided to give the man he loved a little space and watched Kacchan walk out after setting dinner for one person.
The last couple of months had been relearning boundaries: Kacchan preferred to think and re-group on his own while Izuku preferred more attention.
Twenty year plan…. That sounded eerily similar to — Kacchan’s diaries! Izuku got off his table and ran towards his room. Kacchan had never asked for them back and Izuku had never returned them. His ‘unforgiving’ version had not realized it but those diaries were a mirror to his boyfriend’s soul.
Izuku decided to focus on the journal that was dated to the first time they began dating (well, according to Kacchan anyways). He flipped to the first page.
20-year plan:
Marry Deku.
Become #1 Hero
Have 5 kids
…
Details upon details.
Pages was filled with all their milestones:
Held Deku’s hands on 11/09/XX03 11:59PM
Lent Deku my scarf 11/09/XX03 12:04AM
Kissed Deku for the first time 11/10/XX03 10:03AM
….
Hell, Kacchan had even listed their 58th kiss.
Sexual milestones were an all together different thing, filled with scribbles of different positions and speculations… ‘Deku enjoys being submissive—‘ Deku yelped in embarrassment and immediately turned the pages.
Turns out, he wasn’t the only one with obsessive note-taking habits.
20-year old Kacchan had their freaking kids’ college funds all planned up! Kids’ college funds! Kids who were non-existent!
Izuku was the center of Bakugo Katsuki’s universe and Kacchan was planning all his life around him.
Izuku felt many emotions but mostly giddy. It was like he finally understood Kacchan, saw all the love he had hidden away deep inside his big heart.
All these years, Kacchan wasn’t the only one misunderstanding Izuku. Izuku also misunderstood him.
Tears welled up in his eyes and he let them flow, but he was careful not to stain the notebooks.
“Can I open my eyes now?” Izuku smiled as Kacchan directed him towards their study.
“Yeah,” Kacchan couldn’t hide the excitement. He then spoke very softly: “Tada.”
Izuku opened his eyes and his stomach dropped.
“It took me a few months but I was able to replace the collection unforgiving you burnt down. You owned way to many collectibles and I literally had to fight a bunch of fanboys but it was worth it. I know how much they mean to you. It was supposed to be your Valentine’s day present but I couldn’t wait anymore.” Kacchan was smiling as he spoke, picking up a poster and opened it. “I even got all of these signed up by All Might.”
“Oh,” Izuku couldn’t even feign the excitement.
Kacchan looked at him with confusion. “I know they’re not as good as your original condition—“
“That’s not it, Kacchan,” Izuku said. He walked over to his boyfriend and grabbed his hand, cherishing the warmth radiating out of him. “I’ve grown up. As much as I loved All Might, I’m not a kid anymore. There are people I admire more than All Might. People who mean more to me—“
“Admire more than All Might? That’s bullshit—“ Kacchan looked more confused than angry.
“Kacchan, you wouldn’t understand.”
“You still haven’t forgiven him, have you?” The blond narrowed his eyes. “Why?”
“Kacchan, you wouldn’t understand,” Izuku stressed his words.
Kacchan broke contact and balled his fists. “If you haven’t even forgiven him for such a small thing as telling you that you can’t be a hero how the hell did you forgive me? I told you to fucking go and kill—“
“It’s different,” Izuku said. “You have worked towards my forgiveness and earned it. All Might never did that and he doesn’t have to. He’s the Symbol of Peace and I will always respect him, but the quirk gave me perspective. It’s the people behind-the-scenes that I truly admire — the firemen, the nurses, the first responders and the police. Regular folk who don’t have extraordinary quirks are my heroes now. Pro-heroes are important but they don’t inspire my anymore.”
“You loved All Might—“
“All Might was my stuck point. I couldn’t get over the fact that I could never be a pro-hero and my obsession with the man in my adult years was a manifestation of that,” Izuku said. “But I’m okay with that now. I want to engineer the best possible equipment for pro-heroes and that’s how I want to be a hero. My life does not need to be too flashy.”
Kacchan looked at him thoughtfully before he sighed and spoke. “Now I need to come up with another Valentine’s day present.”
“It’s fine! This counts! How about we sell them and raise money for a charity or something?” Izuku said quickly. He hadn’t even though about Valentine’s day. To think that he’d turn out to be the less romantic one.
Kaccan sighed again.
“Giving back is a good thing!”
Izuku knew that Kacchan preferred to take initiative, but — he patted his pocket to confirm the box was there— he hoped that Kacchan wouldn’t mind it this one time.
He picked the exact same restaurant, the exact same table, the exact same date. Why? Because he wanted to repaint the most painful memory in Kacchan’s life with… hopefully a happy one?
“Why are we here?” Kacchan hissed, his voice devoid of any emotion.
“I like the food here,” Izuku lied, looking back at the menu.
“I cook better,” he said.
“I agree, but It’s about time we had a romantic anniversary, right?” Izuku hummed, flipping a page.
“Stop,” Kacchan finally spoke. “I know what you’re about to do, but I’d rather you didn’t.”
Izuku froze and clenched his sweaty hands. A chill ran through his spine and it was all too deja vu for his liking.
“What do you think I’m about to do?”
“All this isn’t a coincidence,” Kacchan said instead.
“It’s not,” Izuku agreed.
“The effects of the quirk never left, huh?” The man he loved chuckled mirthlessly. “You strung me along for a year so you could end me so poetically.”
“What do you think I’m about to do?” Izuku demanded.
“Break up with me of course,” Kacchan looked him up in the eyes. “On our anniversary.”
Izuku didn’t know what to do. Should he be mad that Kacchan thought so lowly of him? Should he comfort the man who looked so emotionally ..bruised?
“You remember what you promised me when I was hit with the quirk?” Izuku said, instead. He pulled out the box from his pocket and laid it on the table. “You said, a year from now we’d get married and I’d be your husband. I was wondering if you still plan on keeping it?”
He opened the box and the ring glittered under the light.
Izuku thought the other man would take a few minutes to digest the proposal, but Kacchan quickly snatched the ring and put it on his ring finger in lightning speed.
“Kacchan…?” Izuku felt confused.
“No take backs!” Kacchan half-shouted. He showed the ring on his finger threateningly. “You’re stuck with me for life now, nerd.”
His expression was so reminiscent of kindergarten Kacchan that Izuku burst out laughs.
“No take backs,” Izuku promised.