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Izuku loved his new apartment. It was bright with large windows that let in natural sunlight, had a kitchen that even his mother approved of, ceilings high enough that All Might didn’t knock his head on the support beams, and two bedrooms and two bathrooms so both he and his roommate could have their own space if they wanted it and didn’t have to trip over each other all the time. And the best parts were that it was close to Might Tower and miraculously sans lovebird roommates.
Izuku hadn’t initially been looking for a new apartment - he, Todoroki, and Kacchan had gone in together on a gorgeous penthouse apartment with a bedroom for each of them, two bathrooms, and that miraculously split the difference between all their agencies. And it was great! Kacchan and Todoroki were two of the best friends Izuku could’ve ever asked for and he was very happy in their apartment together.
But then Todoroki and Kacchan finally decided to put the literal years of sexual tension behind them and finally got together. And while they were really good about not rubbing their PDA in Izuku’s face, it was just...different. Almost sad , in a way, to see them share soft touches and forehead kisses and orbit in and out of each other’s space with total comfort and ease when Izuku didn’t have that.
Not that he wanted it with Todoroki and Kacchan - don’t get him wrong, they were both absolutely gorgeous Pro Heroes and 100% deserved their rankings in the Top 10 Hottest Up-and-Coming Heroes, but what Izuku really wanted was something like they had.
Izuku wanted someone to want him like Todoroki and Bakugou wanted each other: wanted someone to spend lazy mornings with wrapped up in bed, wanted someone to share clothes and stories and kisses with, wanted someone to be there with him when the stress of being the Number 3 Hero at the tender age of 22 weighed on him like lead and turned his responsibilities into a noose around his neck. And he wanted to be there for them too in whatever way they needed him.
So slightly heartsick and wistful, Izuku began looking for a new apartment: one close but not too close to Might Tower, one with large windows, two bedrooms, and preferably on a higher floor. He found it on the second day of searching, but there was a catch: it was far too expensive for Izuku to manage on his own and still be able to make all his charitable donations and fund the scholarships he had set up, even with his salary as the Number 3 Hero.
Which began what Ochako had dubbed The Great Roommate Search one night after 7 months of not being able to hang out and after helping Izuku move into his new apartment where they got a little too drunk on shochu and caught up on each other’s lives. It also led to him and Ochako blasting a text to everyone in his contacts asking if they were looking for a roommate.
When he finally woke up the next day, hungover and nauseous, Izuku was immediately mortified by Todoroki’s dryly confused and guilty-sounding message, annoyed by Kacchan’s extremely loud voice note yelling at him to be more considerate of Todoroki’s feelings, and a chorus of no, sorry’s from all his other friends except for one.
Kaminari had declined, but he also offered an alternative: Shinsou Hitoshi was looking for a new roommate. His lease was up, and did Midoriya text him already? No? Here’s Shinsou’s number, you should totally text him!
The sight of Shinsou’s phone number immediately sent Izuku into dry heaves which turned into real heaving as his hangover came back with a vengeance, but once he regained control of himself Izuku managed to save Shinsou’s number to his phone with shaking fingers and shoot an effusively thankful text back to Kaminari.
It was a very poorly kept secret that Izuku had an absolutely massive crush on Shinsou while they were both in UA. What had started as just curiosity after the Sports Festival had quickly turned into a friendship and friendly rivalry when Shinsou had moved up into the Hero Course and from there had quickly turned into the type of crush that made Izuku flush pink in his presence, stumble over his words even more than usual, and always want to be by the taller boy’s side whether in projects or training or heroics exercises.
But between the League, Overhaul, the Meta-Liberation Army, and All for One and Shigaraki, there was never a time for Izuku to address his feelings, let alone act on them, and so Shinsou became “the one that got away”: still a friend, but not as close as they were before and Izuku mourned the loss of their close friendship even if he knew Shinsou would never like him back the way Izuku liked him.
But that was beside the point. The fact that Izuku’s crush on the purple haired man still hadn’t ever gone away was beside the point. The point was that the number that Kaminari had sent him didn’t match the one in his contacts. The point was that if Shinsou had a new number, it explained why he had suddenly just stopped responding to Izuku’s messages. The point was, why hadn’t Shinsou given Izuku his new number?
Izuku allowed a visceral moment of hurt to flow through him before sending a text to the new number to confirm it was Shinsou’s: Hey Shinsou! This is Midoriya. Kaminari gave me your new number - I hope that’s okay?
After that text, Izuku sat on his hands so he wouldn’t send text after text while he waited for Shinsou’s answer. After a few minutes where Izuku sweated bullets, his phone finally vibrated with a message and Izuku nearly jumped out of his skin as he grabbed it: Hey Midoriya, it’s all good. I thought you had my number though?
Izuku bit his lip, tapping the counter as he struggled with what to reply. Eventually, he decided honesty was the best policy: Ah...well, I did! But a couple months ago my messages just stopped going through?
After sending that, Izuku began to panic, hoping that he didn’t sound too accusatory or anything: And when Kaminari sent me your number it was different than the one I had in my phone, so I just wanted to double check!!
As Izuku hit send on his second message, Shinsou’s reply came in with an eloquent: Oh yeah shit.
Izuku giggled slightly hysterically at the response. He could practically hear it in Shinsou’s voice
My phone got destroyed in a villain attack a couple months ago , Shinsou messaged. I lost all my contacts and we haven’t had a UA reunion or anything since where I could get yours. Sorry
Izuku couldn’t help the tiny sigh of relief that flowed through him, even if he was still kind of confused. He could’ve asked anyone for his number? Izuku’s number hadn’t changed since highschool.
Izuku shrugged off the lesser hurt and confusion before starting to reply, only to be cut off by a response from Shinsou again: But now I have it, which is great. Anyway, what did Kaminari tell you? You know the idiot lies at least 80% of the time, 90% if it’s about me
Izuku chuckled and erased his previous message, typing out instead: Shinsou, be nice to Kaminari! He’s a good friend, and his lies are usually never about anything important
Debatable , Shinsou shot back and Izuku smiled down at his phone. He had missed Shinsou.
Kaminari actually gave me your number because I’m looking for a roommate! Kacchan and Todoroki finally got together and while they’re great and would never kick me out or make me feel uncomfortable or anything, it’s just...kind of awkward? They need their own space now that they’re together and I don’t want to intrude on that, you know?
Izuku nibbled at his thumbnail as he stared at the screen, nearly flinching as Uraraka placed a hand on his shoulder, somehow looking perfectly put together and not hungover at all as she motioned toward her phone with an alert from her agency and then to Izuku’s door. Nodding and waving goodbye, Izuku smiled as Uraraka pressed a kiss to his cheek and let herself out.
If this worked out and Shinsou ended up wanting to be Izuku’s roommate, he would have to send her a fruit basket - or maybe a mochi basket?
So caught up in his thoughts, Izuku had actually missed Shinsou’s response and was startled to see four messages waiting for him.
Thank god Todoroki and Bakugou finally got their heads out of their asses. They’re really good for each other - have been ever since UA
And wow, Kaminari didn’t lie for once. Wonders never cease
Yeah, I am looking for a roommate. My lease is up in like two weeks and I haven’t been able to find anything I can afford
Do you have a place already or are you still looking?
Izuku couldn’t help the smile that overtook his face. I found a place! It’s perfect and I signed the lease like three days ago, so there’s not much in here other than a couch, my bed, and all my unpacked boxes, but you’re welcome to come take a look! Are you free today? It has two bedrooms and two bathrooms and a great view, if that sweetens the deal any?
You’re lucky I am free today, Shinsou replied and Izuku squealed. What’s the address?
After shooting Shinsou the address, Izuku bounced in his seat from excitement as he waited for Shinsou to set a time.
That’s not too far from my current place , Shinsou finally replied. I’ll see you there in an hour, Midoriya
Hopping to his feet with a small burst of One for All, Izuku pumped his fist in the air and immediately began collecting up the empty shochu bottles and tidying up what little mess he and Uraraka had made the night before.
Sooner than he thought, Izuku heard a knock at the door and sprinted for it, nearly faceplanting as he skidded on socked feet to answer it. Throwing open the door, Izuku’s breath caught in his throat as he took in the sight of Shinsou for the first time in well over a year.
The purple man loomed over him, tall and lanky as ever but corded with muscle from his work as an Underground Hero. While Izuku had grown taller during high school and even taller since, Shinsou still towered over him and Izuku felt his neck flush with heat. He trailed his eyes over Shinsou’s well-muscled chest and up to his lavender eyes still framed by the ever-present exhaustion bags, and couldn’t help but smile at the warm light he saw within them.
“Shinsou!” he exclaimed as he threw his arms up in celebration. “Come on in! And thank you for coming over on such short notice!”
Shinsou chuckled at Midoriya’s enthusiasm and lifted a hand to high five Midoriya’s outstretched one. “Glad to be here, Greenbean; it’s been a while.”
Midoriya flushed in embarrassment and moved to let Shinsou enter the apartment, clamping his lips together to stop the immense flow of words that wanted to burst out. Shinsou leisurely strolled into the space, hips rolling with an economy of movement that Izuku knew served him well in Underground Heroics but also served to give Izuku a view that made his cheeks immediately flush red.
Shaking his head vigorously, Izuku stuttered, “W-well, here it is! I don’t have much in here yet, but the bedroom I chose is on the right, so yours would be the one on the left and next to the second bathroom if you wanted it!”
Shinsou hummed quietly as he nodded, his lavender eyes flitting from Izuku’s couch to the large picture windows to the newly renovated kitchen and back.
“We’ll need blackout curtains for the windows,” Shinsou murmured as he swept past Izuku and toward the bedroom.
Izuku grinned giddily as his heart flipped in his chest at Shinsou’s words. Shinsou moved in the next day.
What followed was nearly a month of easy cohabitation - Izuku and Shinsou worked together to make their apartment a place where they both could unwind and relax and Izuku couldn’t have been happier that the purple man had decided to be his roommate.
Well, he could have been happier if Shinsou wasn’t driving him slowly insane.
Shinsou was a great roommate! He always did his chores, kept the common spaces clean, and helped out with making food. What was driving Izuku insane was his own inappropriate feelings toward the other man that just kept growing with each passing day. The ease they had with each other was so precious, and Izuku was not willing to risk that on feelings he was sure the other man would never reciprocate.
After all, just because Izuku’s been in love with Shinsou since high school didn’t mean Shinsou felt the same. It probably meant that he would think either Izuku was obsessed or had lured Shinsou to live with him in some twisted plan to insinuate himself into the other man’s life, neither of which were the truth!
So Izuku worked on repressing his blushes each time he saw Shinsou come out of his bedroom shirtless and in low slung sweats, worked on ignoring the slide of Shinsou’s muscles below his skin as Izuku made breakfast and Shinsou stumbled in after working all night, tugging his uniform off as he patted Izuku on the shoulder and ruffled the shorter man’s hair as he made his way to the bathroom.
What made it even worse is that Izuku had never really known how tactile Shinsou was, the other man always sliding an arm around Izuku’s shoulders or resting his head on top of Izuku’s as Izuku finished cooking and chuckling deep in his chest as Izuku fumbled spices or dropped utensils as the contact.
Izuku was head over heels in love with his roommate and he could never tell him, so he resigned himself to living with Shinsou and not paying any mind to how Shinsou’s presence and attention and touching made his heart crack down the middle a little more each day.
Everything came to a head a little over a month and a half after Shinsou had moved in. It was early morning and Izuku was halfway dressed in his Hero suit, the top of his jumpsuit hanging around his waist and his gloves thrown haphazardly on the couch as he worked on breakfast. So absorbed in what he was doing, Izuku stilled when he felt Shinsou drop his chin atop his head and slump over Izuku’s short frame with his much taller one before humming in acknowledgement and continuing with his work.
Chuckling at Shinsou, Izuku patted the taller man on the side as he finished up breakfast, grabbing two plates and serving food for them both.
As Shinsou disentangled himself from Midoriya, the purple man absentmindedly swooped in and pressed a kiss to Izuku’s cheek as he grabbed the plate from him, his lips just barely brushing against the corner of Izuku’s.
Izuku dropped his plate in surprise and flushed red, bringing a hand up to his mouth as he stared at Shinsou with wide eyes. Shinsou immediately froze in place, realization dawning as he looked at Izuku.
“I-Iz...Midoriya, I…” Shinsou stuttered as he went pale.
Izuku felt his heart sink at the fear he saw on Shinsou’s face and forced a shaky smile to his own. “I-it’s alri...alright, Shinsou,” Izuku choked out as he turned back to the stove, tears burning at his eyes as he clenched his hands tightly around the countertop. “D-don’t worry about it. W-we’ll just for-forget anything h-happened, y-yeah?”
Shinsou stayed silent behind him, and Izuku felt his heart bleed with each passing moment. Brushing a shaking hand under his watery eyes, Izuku bent to pick up the shattered plate and ruined food before stopping dead as Shinsou dropped a heavy hand on his shoulder and tugged Izuku back up to a standing position.
As he spun to face Shinsou, Izuku immediately looked down, unwilling to meet the other man’s eyes. “I-it’s really okay, Shin-shinsou. We can...we can just go back to the way things were before,” Izuku mumbled, eyes on his feet as his fingers tangled in front of him.
“...what if I don’t want things to go back to the way they were, Midoriya?” Shinsou murmured, and Izuku felt his heart shudder to a stop in his chest before immediately kicking back up doubletime.
Eyes flying up to meet Shinsou’s own, Izuku breathed out a shaky, “W-what…?” And then Shinsou was kissing him .
Izuku’s brain short circuited at the feeling of Shinsou’s lips on his, and it was only when Shinsou was pulling away from him that Izuku’s brain finally restarted. He grasped the back of Shinsou’s neck and pulled the taller man down to him, kissing him with all the passion Izuku had stored up since high school, which Shinsou eagerly reciprocated as he tugged the green man in by his waist. They both pulled away a few endless moments later, chests heaving as they fought for air, foreheads pressed against each other’s.
“I’ve been in love with you since UA, Midoriya,” Shinsou murmured as he brought his hands up to cradle Midoriya’s face and smooth his thumbs over his freckled cheeks. “I just...I couldn’t keep it in anymore.”
The tears Izuku had been fighting began spilling from his eyes. A bright smile lit up his face as he pressed a kiss into Shinsou’s palm and replied, “I love you too, Shinsou. For just as long.”
Shinsou’s answering smile was a gorgeous thing, and Izuku almost began crying harder at the sight. “Izuku...can I call you Izuku?” Shinsou asked, and Izuku nodded so vigorously he almost knocked his head into Shinsou’s.
“ Please ,” Izuku breathed. “Can I…?”
“Call me Hitoshi, Izuku ,” Shin… Hitoshi’s voice curled around Izuku’s name like a caress and Izuku shuddered at the sound as he pressed his lips to the other man’s once more.
Izuku couldn’t remember a time he was happier than living with Hitoshi, loving Hitoshi and being loved in return.
But the real world soon intruded and after only two months of them being officially together, Hitoshi was assigned a long term undercover mission that would take him away from Izuku for an undetermined amount of time. And Izuku didn’t begrudge Hitoshi for taking the assignment, could never begrudge Hitoshi for doing his job and being the most successful Underground Hero since Aizawa-sensei, but he could miss him. Did miss him.
Hitoshi had been gone for three months, had been gone for longer than they had officially been together, and no matter how much Izuku begged Aizawa-sensei for any insight into how Hitoshi was doing, whether he was safe or if he was coming home soon, all he got was a sympathetic look and a, “He’s fine, Problem Child. He’ll come back to you as soon as he can. But no contact means no contact.”
And so Izuku existed in this limbo state - he woke up, went to work, did his job and did his best to save people with a smile, and then returned to his empty apartment where he immediately changed out of his uniform and into a sweatshirt Hitoshi had left behind, burying his nose in and searching for the scent of his boyfriend, before curling up and sleeping only to do it all over again the next day.
On one such night, Izuku was startled awake by the shrill call of his phone, and Izuku fumbled for it blearily before yawning out a “Hello?”
“Hey, Izuku,” Hitoshi’s voice rasped and Izuku immediately snapped into wakefulness, pressing the phone tighter to his ear as he curled toward it.
“Hitoshi!” he exclaimed quietly, aware of his neighbors and not wanting to wake them up at...3:00 in the morning.
“Yeah, it’s me,” his boyfriend croaked, and Izuku’s brow furrowed in concern. “Guess what? I’m coming home.”
Izuku exhaled softly and a small smile played around his lips, “I’m so glad you’re safe, Hitoshi. Do you need me to pick you up or bring you anything…?”
“No,” Hitoshi coughed. “No, I have to get checked out and by the time that happens and I give my report and everything it’ll be really late tomorrow night. I know you have work, I don’t want to bother you--”
“You’re not a bother, Hitoshi,” Izuku cut him off firmly. “I love you; you’re never a bother. If you want me to come get you, I will.”
For a moment, all Izuku could hear was Hitoshi’s breathing and he unconsciously matched his own to it as he waited for the other man to respond.
“I love you too, Izuku, so much,” Hitoshi choked out finally, and Izuku gripped the phone so tightly he was momentarily afraid he had accessed One for All and cracked it. “And thank you, but it’s okay; Aizawa-sensei will make sure I get home safely. I’ll see you later tonight.”
Frowning a bit, Izuku replied, “Alright, Hitoshi. I’ll see you tonight. I love you.”
With a soft “I love you too,” Hitoshi cut the phone call and Izuku released his death grip on his own phone.
Tonight. He just had to get through work today and he would see Hitoshi tonight .
Izuku couldn’t have told anyone what he did that day - he was so jittery that he zipped around Tokyo, taking down crime almost before it happened as he worked to get his excitement and energy under control. When he got home, he obsessively cleaned their already tidy apartment and set about creating a delicious meal that was easy to reheat so he and Hitoshi could have it when he got there.
But before he knew it, Izuku didn’t have anything left to do. Dinner was simmering on the stove, the apartment was cleaner than it had been since they moved in, and Hitoshi still wasn’t home. Izuku tried to take his mind off of the clock as he set about finishing some paperwork and adding to his Hero Analysis journals, but all too soon he found himself nodding off as the clock ticked closer and closer to 1:00am. And though Izuku fought against it valiantly, the next thing he knew he was laid out on the couch and a soft hand was threading itself through his hair.
Bolting up, Izuku rubbed his eyes blearily as he took in the tired sight of his boyfriend whose hand had dropped from Izuku’s hair and now rested on the side of his neck, thumb gently tracing his collarbone.
“Izuku…” Hitoshi whispered, and Izuku couldn’t stop himself from crying as he wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and buried his face in the other man’s chest.
“Hitoshi, you’re home ; welcome home ,” Izuku sobbed quietly as the other man gently rubbed a hand up and down Izuku’s back.
“Yeah, I’m home, love,” Hitoshi rasped out, and Izuku tightened his arms around the other man as they took comfort in each other’s presence.
The morning sun found them wrapped up together on the couch, and Izuku smiled at the sight of Hitoshi’s lovely, exhausted face as he slept through the daylight. This was exactly where Izuku wanted to be: in the arms of the person he loved more than anything. He finally had a love like what Todoroki and Bakugou have - someone to walk through the world side by side and take on anything that came their way together. Izuku smiled as he shut his eyes once more, burying his face in Hitoshi’s neck as the taller man snuffled and tugged Izuku closer in his sleep.
Now that he had found a love like this, Izuku would never let it go.