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Bakugou Katsuki didn't communicate very well. That was not a surprise. He hated admitting what he wanted, what he needed. Because real heroes didn't need anyone, or anything.
What was surprising to everyone was when Bakugou Katsuki started dating Midoriya Izuku in their third year. Aoyama was the only one who was not surprised. Apparently, he saw it coming.
Even though Katsuki looked annoyed and angry to be around Izuku in public, in reality, he couldn't be happier. Izuku was kind, understanding, and patient. Katsuki didn't have to spell everything out to him, the green-haired boy simply understood whatever he was trying to say with a look.
They were supposed to be doing their homework, math to be specific, but they ended up cuddling on Katsuki's bed, cozy under the covers.
The blonde would die before he admitted it, but he loved how buff Izuku had gotten over the years. His increasingly intense workout routine, combined with One for All, had turned the green-haired boy into a beefcake, meaning he could easily dwarf Katsuki at this point, which was a difficult feat. He felt safe, encompassed in muscular arms that held him tight.
The stillness in the dorm was interrupted when Izuku spoke.
"Ah, it's 7:30 already! I should leave now, let you get to sleep." The green-haired boy said, sitting up. Katsuki felt his heart lurch, the words asking Izuku to stay at the tip of his tongue.
But he forced himself to remain silent, instead watching miserably as the brightest thing in his life left his room. He plopped his head back down onto his pillow, sighing.
They had been dating for six months, and it had been going great. They hadn't had a serious fight yet, which was a surprise, given their history.
The blonde lugged himself off of the bed, grabbing some pajamas to change into. He took off the loose trousers he was wearing, making goosebumps travel up his exposed legs in the cold air of his room. He glanced at the full-length mirror, eyes skimming over the scars that littered his legs. Some of them were years old. Some were only from a few weeks ago.
They were working on a mission with some other pro heroes. Izuku had taken a serious hit, getting stabbed through the stomach and pinned to a wall. He was fine, of course, but the situation had sent Katsuki into such a frenzy that he had blasted his thighs with his quirk, using the pain to ground himself.
He had started with a blade, which he still used most of the time. The blonde had realized pretty soon after that that he could use his quirk instead of a blade. But burns were harder to limit to a particular area on his body, not to mention caring for burn wounds also took more effort, and Katsuki didn't have a lot of time.
But sometimes, when he got particularly panicked, he would lose control over his quirk, and instead of turning it outwards, he'd turn it towards himself.
He got caught once, when he was twelve, by his mom. She'd immediately started yelling at him, calling him a brat for 'throwing a tantrum' because he got yelled at for something minuscule. He got grounded for a month, not to mention she nearly broke his nose.
He got better at hiding it after that.
It wasn't like he didn't know it was unhealthy. He knew it was bad, always had. He knew he could stop if he wanted, not that he wanted to, but he could. He'd mostly stopped hurting himself after he and Izuku started dating, primarily because he was scared of how the boy would react if he found out.
Izuku was probably one of the best people to ever exist, and still, Katsuki couldn't bring himself to share everything about himself with his amazing boyfriend. He was too scared of judgment. He'd already had to endure it from his parents and extended family his entire life. He wasn't sure what he would do if Izuku started judging him.
He was doing better, he knew he was. He had once reached a point where he began running out of space. His thigh wounds wouldn't heal in time, so he moved to his stomach, then he moved to his back, and then his calves, and by the time he'd made a round of all the places he could easily hide, his thighs would have healed.
That was his lowest point, and he had come a far way from that. It wasn't much, but it was enough.
And yet, his fingers itched, as did his legs. He had been waiting for the burns to completely heal before he did anything, and they finally had. So he walked into the bathroom, grabbing the blade hidden under the false bottom of his drawer on his way.
×××
Katsuki was an idiot. He'd forgotten to take into account the heat factor while cutting.
The blonde shuffled awkwardly in his seat, feeling his wounds sting as the salt from his sweat irritated them. He didn't like to use bandages unless absolutely necessary. As a student, he didn't have access to limitless bandages, which meant that if he used too many, it would raise alarms.
It made summers very uncomfortable for him, but Katsuki had learned to endure the discomfort. He had even become an expert at keeping his face the way it usually was, irritated, which made it easier to pass off his discomfort as his usual irritation.
What he didn't account for was training, which stretched open his cuts to the point of bleeding again, making him get even more irritated throughout the day. He began snapping more, setting off small explosions whenever someone even looked at him the wrong way.
He was too distracted by his discomfort to notice Izuku looking at him strangely, analyzing him.
×××
Katsuki was too tired to clean his wounds again, so he just put on a soft pair of sweatpants that wouldn't irritate them too much, lounging in his bed for the evening. He had finished his homework during the free classes he'd gotten, so he didn't have anything to do.
A knock on his door startled him, making him look up from an article about Pro-Heroes who were dating each other. He hurriedly clicked off of the website, demanding for whoever was outside to enter in a gruff voice.
A mop of green hair poked in, followed by 90 kgs of pure muscle that Katsuki loved using as a body pillow.
"Hey, Kacchan." He said softly, locking the door behind him as he joined his boyfriend in bed.
"Hey, nerd. C'mere." He demanded, shifting over to make space for the two of them.
Scarred arms wrapped themselves around Katsuki's waist, and Izuku pressed a kiss to his shoulder, nuzzling his temple.
"What made you so irritated today, baby?" Aside from 'Kacchan', Izuku had also taken to calling the blonde 'baby', but only when they were alone so as to not embarrass him.
"Nothing. Just the heat." Katsuki always softened up somewhat when it was just them, making it easier for Izuku to read him.
"You sure?" Izuku asked. He had a feeling in his guts that he was being lied to, but he didn't want to push the blonde too much, causing him to close up.
"Of course I'm sure, nerd." Katsuki looked up, slightly annoyed.
"Okay, I was just worried," Izuku said, running a hand through soft blonde spikes, scratching at his boyfriend's scalp.
They lay there for a bit, scrolling on their phones once in a while, showing each other things they thought were funny or relevant once in a while.
Izuku started petting Katsuki's flank, pulling him closer, and tangling their legs together. The motion made the blonde flare his nostrils in pain, which made his boyfriend glance at him in concern.
The green-haired boy chose to remain silent, however, instead focusing on the way he could feel Katssuki's chest moving with each breath, the way his body felt against his, the soft sheets they were wrapped in, the soft fabric of Katsuki's hoodie.
It belonged to Izuku, he realized. It was a hoodie the blonde had swiped at some point, and then just refused to return. The forest green suited him, contrasting his ruby-red eyes beautifully.
Izuku pressed a kiss to Katsuki's forehead, making the latter hum. The green-haired boy's hand drifted downwards, petting the blonde's legs.
He paused when his hand reached a wet patch on his thigh. Instead of showing any reaction, Izuku kept his face the way it was, instead lifting his hand slowly. When he saw the red on his fingers, Izuku took a sharp intake of breath.
"Kacchan?" Katsuki looked up at him curiously.
"Why are you bleeding?" Narrow eyes widened as the blonde saw the streak of red on Izuku's fingers.
The green-haired boy felt the chest pressed against his rise and fall more rapidly as Katsuki grew more and more panicked.
The blonde couldn't figure out what to say. How was he supposed to defend himself in this situation? A shaky gasp left his lips, the air seemed to have gotten thinner. Katsuki's lungs couldn't expand.
He was trapped between Izuku and the wall. There was no way he could physically escape to avoid the situation, and there was no way he could explain himself.
What happens now? Would Izuku break up with him? Judge him? Yell at him? Push him away?
Belatedly, Katsuki realized he had started crying, and that there wasn't a 10 kg weight on his chest that was crushing his ribcage, but rather the lack of Oxygen that was causing the pain.
He didn't realize when he'd been sat up, he wasn't registering anything around him.
The first thing that broke through his panicked haze was the warm hand on his back, rubbing circles on it. Izuku's voice was the next thing he registered, telling him to breathe.
One of his hands was on his boyfriend's chest, allowing him to follow the green-haired boy's breathing pattern, making it easier for Katsuki to bring more air into his lungs.
"There we go, you're doing great, baby." He murmured.
It took several minutes for the blonde to bring his breathing back to normal, but his tears still hadn't stopped. Izuku was holding him close, rocking him back and forth, pressing kisses to his forehead and cheeks until Katsuki finally stopped crying.
They sat in silence for a few more minutes until Izuku broke it.
"Let me clean them. I don't want you to get an infection." Katsuki felt too tired to protest, so he just nodded.
The green-haired boy supported his weight as they walked the short distance to his bathroom. The blonde sat on the closed toilet seat, watching his boyfriend grab some disinfectant and bandages before kneeling in front of him.
"Could you please take off your sweatpants?" Katsuki shuffled the waistband downwards until his wounds were exposed.
Izuku stared sadly at the scars. Unable to help himself, he brushed his fingers over them, carefully avoiding the fresh wounds.
"Oh, Kacchan," He sighed, looking up at the blonde, who was determinedly looking away.
"This is gonna sting." He warned, pouring some disinfectant onto a cotton pad, meticulously cleaning the cuts before bandaging them again.
Izuku stood up, which Katsuki took as his cue to pull up his pants, standing up hurriedly.
Before he could leave the bathroom, however, the green-haired boy grabbed his wrist.
"Anywhere else?" He asked. Katsuki swallowed, shifting his weight from one foot to another.
"Not tonight." He finally said.
"Okay."
They went back inside the room, sitting on the bed in pregnant silence. Biting his lower lip, Katsuki pulled up his shoulders, curling in on himself.
Tears started pooling in his eyes again, this time borne of shame.
Izuku had the blonde wrapped up in his arms the moment the first sob fought its way out of his lips.
"I'm sorry. I tried. I really did." He cried, burying his face in his boyfriend's shoulder.
"I just-" He cut himself off with another sob.
"It's okay, it's okay. I'm just worried about you." The sentence made Katsuki pause.
"You're not mad?" He asked in a small voice, and Izuku's heart twisted in his chest.
"Of course not. Why would I be mad?" Katsuki pulled back, looking at him with puffy eyes.
"So you're not going to break up with me?" Izuku ran a hand through blonde locks, leaning down to press a soft kiss to his boyfriend's lips.
"Never. Especially not over this." Scarred hands cupped Katsuki's pale face, stroking his cheek.
"I believe in you, Kacchan. You are the strongest person I know, and I know you can conquer this."
"And what happens if I can't? If I stumble, over and over?" Katsuki asked, voice hoarse.
"Then I'll help you get up." Izuku promised, sealing it with a kiss.