Archive of Our Own

Something’s up with Deku and that half and half bastard.

Katsuki’s aware that the two of them have been getting closer ever since that shitshow of a sports festival, but after the whole Stain incident, something seems… different. Deku definitely thinks he’s hiding it well, but Katsuki sees all the furtive glances during class, the whispered conversations in the halls, the way their heads lean into each other as they talk. Honestly, he’s surprised no one else has picked up on it yet. The damn nerd’s about as subtle as a bag of bricks and Icyhot might be even worse.

Across the cafeteria, Icyhot says something and Deku throws his head back in a full-body laugh, settling a hand on Icyhot’s arm as he catches his breath. His hand stays there long after the conversation moves on, but no one seems to notice. As if that’s normal. As if that’s a thing he and that half and half bastard do.

“You good, Bakugo?” Kirishima asks. “You’ve barely touched your lunch.”

Katsuki glares at him, jabbing his chopsticks into his bowl of rice. “I’m fucking peachy, Shitty Hair.”

“Alright, if you say so,” Kirishima laughs.

The worst part is that Katsuki can’t even escape it — he doesn’t think he’s ever hated living in this shitty dorm more than he does now. God forbid he try to get a snack from the kitchen without being assaulted by the sight of Deku and Icyhot doing their weird fucking song and dance in the living room. And it’s not like Katsuki had ever made a habit of hanging out in the common spaces before, but there’s only so much time he can spend shut away in his room before he genuinely starts losing his mind. It’s gotten to the point where it’s starting to affect his sleep. Like it is now.

Katsuki rolls over in his bed and glances at the clock on his nightstand. 12:08 AM, it reads in bright red letters.

He sighs, then pushes aside his covers.

Katsuki usually doesn’t have trouble falling asleep, but when he does, he finds going for a walk always helps. Thankfully, the dorm is quiet and dark as he pads down the stairs, no sign of any of the extras.

The cool night air is a relief on Katsuki's face when he steps outside, and he takes a moment just to drink it in. The UA campus is still fairly well lit even at night, but when he starts walking, his feet end up taking him toward the nearby darker, wooded area. It reminds him a little bit of that park that he and Deku used to hang out at as kids.

Katsuki resists the urge to bang his head against one of the trees as he walks by. The damn nerd has been taking up way too much space in his mind recently, not to mention that half and half weirdo too. He tries his best to clear his mind, focusing instead on the peaceful chittering of the woodland animals as he wanders aimlessly along the moonlit footpath. It almost works, until—

“Hey!”

— a distant voice breaks through the quiet.

Katsuki blinks. It’s hard to tell from this far away, but it almost sounds like…

He doesn’t think before he steps off the path, pushing his way through the bushes and weeds. The voices — two of them, he’s pretty sure — get clearer as he closes in on them.

“— told you, it’s fine —”

“— really isn’t, you’re so —”

“— I can’t keep asking you to —”

“— already said that I’m okay with it —”

Katuski can’t see them yet, but there’s no mistaking the familiar sound of the voices. What the hell are Deku and Icyhot doing in the woods this late?

“But I —”

“Midoriya. Just do it!”

Just as quickly as it had started, the argument stops, and Katsuki can’t hear anything. Frowning, he walks forward a few steps and peers out through the leaves.

At first, all he sees is Icyhot, his mismatched hair hard to miss even in this darkness. His head’s thrown back against a tree and he’s breathing heavily, eyes fluttering shut, almost as if —

Katuski pushes aside a branch blocking his view.

He sees it all in parts — the familiar scarred hand pressing him into the tree, the head of curly green hair leaning over Icyhot’s neck. The sound of wet lips against skin.

Katsuki stares.

Suddenly, there’s a loud bang, and the tree branch in Katsuki’s hand lights up in a flash of orange.

Fuck! he thinks. Did I really just —?

Katsuki can’t even remember the last time he activated his quirk by accident, but he doesn’t have time to process that before Icyhot’s eyes blink open, staring right at him.

But something doesn’t seem quite right. Icyhot, who normally has one of the quickest reaction times in their class, looks dazed and dull, his eyes practically glazed over. He looks at Katsuki, but it’s almost like his brain is working too slowly to properly make sense of what he’s seeing.

“Midoriya,” Icyhot manages to get out, the name blurry on his tongue. “Someone’s…”

Deku pulls away from Icyhot’s neck with a slick sounding pop, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Then he turns his head, and Katsuki stops breathing.

Because — because Deku’s got fangs.

Huge, sharp fangs that protrude out from under his lips, glistening wetly in the faint moonlight. Katsuki watches as a bead of bright red blood carves a slow path down one of the points, dripping onto the pale skin of Deku’s chin.

“Kacchan?” Deku says. His big green eyes, the ones Katsuki’s known for his whole life, look almost black in the warm darkness.

And Katsuki doesn’t think — he just runs.

***

The next morning, Katsuki gets to class with barely a minute to spare, but that doesn’t stop Mina from saying, “Wow, Bakugo, you look terrible today!” when he walks by. Katsuki just flips her off over his shoulder as he makes his way to his seat.

Sitting at the desk behind him, like always, is —

“Kacchan!” Deku says, the little wobble in his voice betraying his nervousness. He looks exactly like he always does, proper sized teeth and all, and for a second, Katsuki could almost believe it had just been a bad dream. Almost.

Katsuki ignores him in favor of taking his seat, and Aizawa walks in before Deku has the chance to say anything else. Thank god for that.

The day’s classes crawl by, and Katsuki tries his best to pay attention, but it’s a losing battle and he knows it. He’d hardly gotten any sleep last night, too busy googling are vampires real??? and reading through every single search result. (Verdict: unclear.) And with Deku sitting right behind him, it’s all Katsuki can do to stop himself from jumping at every little sound.

(Every time he closes his eyes, the image springs to his mind, unbidden. Icyhot, with his eyes closed and head thrown back. Deku’s fangs, razor sharp and splattered in red.)

On top of that, Katsuki can feel the weight of Icyhot’s heavy stare on the back of his neck all throughout the day, but he can’t summon enough energy to care. God, he can’t wait for this day to be over.

“Kacchan,” Deku tries again after the last class of the day. “Can we —?”

Katsuki brushes past him. “Oi, Shitty Hair! You up for a sparring session?”

Kirishima blinks. “What, like now?”

“When else?” Katsuki says. He doesn’t wait to hear a response, just grabs Kirishima’s arm and drags him out the door.

***

The sparring session goes like shit, but Katsuki could have predicted that. He’s distracted the whole time, plus the lack of sleep isn’t really helping things.

Kirishima looks like he wants to say something after Katsuki loses his fourth match in a row, but Katsuki just glares at him.

“Don’t,” he snaps. “I’m just off my game today, that’s all.”

Kirishima shrugs. “Okay, bro, but I think I’m gonna head back to the dorm soon.”

Katsuki huffs. “Fine, whatever.”

True to his word, Kirishima leaves after one more match (another loss), but Katsuki stays behind a little longer to practice on his own. The sun’s already setting by the time he gets out, which is maybe why he doesn’t notice the shadowy figure waiting outside of the gym.

A firm hand grabs hold of Katsuki’s wrist.

“What the —?” Katsuki tries to break away, but Icyhot just tightens his grip.

“We need to talk,” he says, pulling Katsuki towards the dorm.

“I don’t have shit to say to you,” Katsuki fires back. He tries to yank himself free, but Icyhot holds strong and Katsuki’s long day is catching up to him. Fuck, he shouldn’t have spent all of his energy sparring.

“Good, then you can just sit there and listen to Midoriya talk,” Icyhot replies, undeterred.

“Fuck you Half ‘n Half, I don’t wanna see that shitty nerd again today,” Katsuki spits out.

“Well, too bad,” Icyhot says, sharp. “You’re talking to him whether you like it or not. I’ll freeze you and carry you up to his room myself if I have to.”

The two of them argue back and forth all the way to the dorm, so much so that Katsuki almost forgets where they’re going until they come to a stop outside of Deku’s room.

Fuck.

Deku’s wearing sweatpants and a shirt that says “pajamas” on it when he opens the door, big eyes blinking owlishly at the two of them.

“Todoroki? Kacchan? What are you —?”

Icyhot shoves Katsuki unceremoniously into Deku’s room before following him in, closing the door behind him.

“Hey, watch it!” Katsuki snaps.

Icyhot ignores him. “I know you wanted to explain everything to Bakugo, so I dragged him over from the gym. Hopefully he’ll listen.”

Deku blinks, then smiles, one of his stupid big smiles with all the teeth. “Thanks, Todoroki!”

Katsuki rolls his eyes. “Whatever. What the fuck do you want, Deku?”

Deku looks over at him, and Katsuki forces himself to hold his gaze. After a moment, Deku sighs and turns away, walking over to sit down on his bed. Katsuki stays standing near the entrance, arms crossed. He almost considers making a break for the door, but annoyingly, Half ‘n Half is standing guard in front of it, blocking any potential escape.

“First, I’m sorry for what happened in the woods,” Deku says, looking down at his lap. “It must have been scary to see that.”

“Please, as if a loser like you could ever scare me,” Katsuki scoffs.

“You ran away when you saw his fangs,” Icyhot points out.

“Shut up,” Katsuki hisses. He glances over at Deku, whose teeth still look as normal as ever. “So… the fangs are real? That wasn’t a hallucination or anything?”

Deku laughs ruefully. “I wish.”

He opens his mouth and Katsuki watches as the fangs slide out into view. They’re just as Katsuki remembers, fucking huge and dangerously sharp. No blood on them this time, though.

Katsuki swallows.

“So you’re a fucking vampire now, is that it?” he demands. “You’re telling me that vampires are real?”

Deku winces. “Yes and no? We’re pretty sure that this is all because I got hit by someone’s quirk in Hosu.” We.

“One that turns people into vampires?” Katuski says, incredulous. “That’s a hell of a quirk.”

Deku nods. “Quirks that can augment other people’s bodies like that are pretty rare, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. In Hosu, I ran into a villain on the way to finding Iida and had to fight her off. I didn’t even realize she’d bitten my wrist until way later. There was… a lot of other stuff to deal with at the time.”

Katsuki snorts. “Yeah, I’ll bet.”

“I only started feeling weird a few days after the bite,” Deku continues. “Iida had already been discharged, but Todoroki and I were still in the hospital for our injuries after fighting — after the whole Stain incident.”

Icyhot nods. “He couldn’t really control it back then, so I saw his fangs come out. I’ve been helping him figure out what’s going on ever since.”

“Explains why you two have been sneaking around like idiots recently,” Katsuki huffs.

Deku’s eyes widen. “You noticed that?”

Katsuki ignores him. “So what else do you get from this quirk? Other than the fangs and the… blood drinking shit.”

“From what I can tell so far, it’s given me enhanced senses, increased speed, and a higher base strength,” Deku says. “The last one’s actually pretty helpful since it lets me use more power with my quirk.”

“All that in exchange for using Icyhot as your personal juicebox, huh,” Katsuki mutters.

Deku goes bright red. “That’s not —”

“I agreed to it,” Icyhot cuts in, firm. “He was trying to survive off of animal blood before, but it wasn’t working.”

“I still don’t think it’s safe to drink from you so much, though,” Deku frowns.

“I told you, it’s fine.”

“But animals still work in a pinch, so I feel like we should reduce the frequency of —”

“Well, you’ve drained almost all the squirrels in the area anyway, so —”

“God, shut up,” Katsuki interrupts. “Save the lovers’ spat for when I’m not here.”

“Kacchan,” Deku says. He’s somehow gotten even redder, and even Icyhot’s usual stoic expression seems a little flustered. Of fucking course.

“You haven’t finished explaining,” Katsuki says, irritated. “Why the hell would a random villain want to turn a hero-in-training like you into a vampire if it gives you so many helpful effects?”

“Right,” Deku says. “Well, first, I don’t think she was just a random villain. She wasn’t scared of the rampaging Nomus at all, and I’m pretty sure I heard her say something about Shigaraki as she was running away.”

“The League of Villains again?” Katsuki scowls. “Just our fucking luck.”

“As for your question, we were curious about that too,” Icyhot says. “I did some digging and I found a couple articles that I think are about the villain Midoriya encountered, from before she joined the League. It appears that she’s able to… control the people she bites, somehow.”

Katsuki blinks. “Wait, what?”

“It seems like she can force the victims of her quirk to follow her commands,” Icyhot says. “It’s unclear how strong her control over them is, but…”

Katsuki puts the pieces together. “Shit, if she runs into Deku again, then who knows what she’d make him do?”

“Exactly,” Icyhot nods.

Katsuki glares at both of them. “Why the hell haven’t you guys told anyone about this?”

Deku flinches. “It’s not — I can —”

“What, you think you can handle it on your own?” Katsuki laughs. “That’s such bullshit, Deku. Did you already forget about the training camp we have after finals? If the villain intercepts you on the way there, we’re all fucked!”

“That’s not gonna happen!” Deku bursts out. “Listen, Kacchan, this vampire thing isn’t permanent. The articles Todoroki found confirmed it — every single one of this villain’s victims made a full recovery within five to six weeks. It’s already been a couple weeks since I got bitten, so —”

Katsuki scoffs. “So what, your plan is to just wait it out and hope it wears off before we leave?”

“Do you have any better ideas?” Icyhot says. “Even if we told the teachers, we’d probably end up doing the same thing.”

“Please, Kacchan,” Deku says before Katsuki can reply. “I know what we’re doing might be dumb, but I just… I don’t want to make people worry about me anymore.”

Deku looks up at him with his giant green eyes and stupid ass freckles, and Katsuki grits his teeth. God, fuck everything.

“Three weeks,” Katsuki says finally.

“Huh?”

“That’s about how long we have until training camp, right?” Katsuki says. “You’ve got three weeks to try your bullshit plan, but if it doesn’t work, I’m telling Aizawa myself. Got it?”

Deku blinks, then his face splits open into that stupid fucking smile, the one that hasn’t changed since they were kids. “Thanks, Kacchan!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Katsuki mutters. “You fucking owe me, nerd.”

And with that, he shoulder checks Icyhot out of the way and escapes out the door.

***

Things are mostly normal after that, except for when they’re not. Deku and Icyhot are still way too fucking touchy all the time, but it makes a little more sense now that Katsuki knows that Deku’s been drinking the asshole’s blood on the regular. From what little Katsuki had seen, the whole process looked pretty… intimate. But whatever.

It’s been about a week now since Icyhot had dragged Katsuki over to Deku’s room for their talk, and Katsuki’s not keeping tabs on them or anything, but something seems off. Deku’s got bags under his eyes that Katsuki doesn’t remember seeing before, and he even gets reprimanded by Aizawa for spacing out during class. Icyhot looks pretty tired too from what Katsuki can see, his skin almost taking on a grayish hue in certain lights.

Katsuki’s tempted to write it off, but it’s starting to catch other people’s attention, too.

“Feeling okay, Young Midoriya?” Katsuki hears All Might ask during a training exercise. “You looked a little off balance out there.”

“Oh, I’m fine!” Deku says nervously. “Just didn’t sleep very well yesterday.”

Not too far away, Icyhot flops down on the floor, exhausted from his match.

“Are you alright, Todoroki?” Yaoyorozu asks, concerned. “You don’t look very well.”

“I’m okay,” Icyhot says, panting. “Just catching my breath.”

Katsuki internally rolls his eyes. Whatever’s going on with those two idiots, it serves them right. Katsuki knew they wouldn’t be able to handle this shit on their own.

The training exercise is pretty straightforward: the hero team is tasked with rescuing a dummy and subduing the villains within a time limit, while the villain team just has to outlast the clock. When it’s his turn, Katsuki gets put on the villain team with Uraraka, facing off against a hero team made up of Kirishima and Kaminari.

Surprisingly, Katsuki and Uraraka make a good team — Uraraka manages to get to the dummy first and floats it high out of their reach, while Katsuki does his best to hold off Kirishima and Kaminari with his explosions.

“This is cheating!” Kaminari complains, staring up at the floating dummy. Uraraka just smiles and sends a piece of rubble tumbling onto his head.

In the end, it’s easy work to win the exercise. Katsuki never loses, anyway.

“Good job, bro,” Kirishima says begrudgingly, slapping Katsuki on the back. “I’ll beat you next time, though.”

“As if,” Katsuki snorts. Out of the corner of his eye, he can tell that Deku’s staring at him, but he ignores it.

Kirishima’s gaze flickers down to Katsuki’s neck. “Oh shit, I got you good, huh? Need help bandaging it up?”

“Huh?” Katsuki looks down, but predictably, he can’t see much. He raises a hand to his neck and his fingers come away covered in red.

Oh. Katsuki vaguely remembers taking a punch to the neck from Kirishima’s hardened fist, but it hadn’t even hurt that much. He stares at the blood on his hand, then snaps his eyes over to Deku. The nerd’s already turning away by the time Katsuki looks at him, but not fast enough to hide the flash of white protruding from his mouth.

Seriously?

“Bakugo?” Kirishima says.

“Uh, it’s fine, I can take care of it,” Katsuki says quickly. “You don’t hit that hard, Shitty Hair.”

Kirishima protests but Katsuki doesn’t really hear it, too busy watching Icyhot herd Deku out of the gym, one hand pressed against his lower back.

***

After class, Katsuki storms up the dorm stairs and barges into the shitty nerd’s room without bothering to knock. Icyhot’s already inside, arguing with Deku about something, but they both shut up when they see him.

“The fuck is wrong with you two?” Katsuki demands. “At this rate, you’ll be lucky to make it through another day without giving up your little secret.”

“I — It’s nothing, Kacchan, we’re handling it,” Deku says.

“Oh really?” Katsuki says. He reaches up and peels off the bandage he’d wrapped around his neck, revealing the partially healed wound.

Deku claps a hand over his mouth, but not before Katsuki catches a glimpse of long fangs sliding out from under his lips.

Katsuki scoffs. “Right. You definitely have this handled.”

Deku sighs, but doesn’t disagree.

Katsuki glances over at Icyhot. “Mind filling me in on what’s going on?”

Icyhot crosses his arms. “He’s not feeding enough.”

Katsuki frowns. “And the why the fuck is that?”

Deku drops his hand away from his mouth, fangs tucked away again. “I usually drink from the animals in the woods if I get… hungry between feedings with Todoroki, but I think they’re extra wary of people now. I haven’t been able to catch anything there in days.”

“Which is why you should just drink from me more!” Icyhot says. “I told you, Midoriya, it’s fine.”

“It’s not fine!” Deku shoots back. “Have you looked in the mirror recently, Todoroki? You’re barely standing as it is!”

“As much as I hate to say it, the nerd’s right,” Katsuki cuts in. “You haven’t been looking too hot, Half ‘n Half.”

Icyhot glares at him. “You got any better ideas, then?”

Katsuki swallows, suddenly nervous. He raises a hand to his own neck, tracing the outline of his cut.

Deku inhales, sharp.

Icyhot just stares at him.

“Bakugo…” he starts, uncertain. “Are you sure?”

“It’s not like we have another choice, do we?” Katsuki snaps.

Deku gives his head a violent shake. “No, Kacchan, I — I can’t feed off you.”

Somehow, that pisses Katsuki off.

“Why not?” he sneers. “You’re willing to feed off Icyhot here but you’re too good for me, is that it?”

“No, I just—” Deku makes a frustrated noise. “You don’t know what you’re offering.”

“Pretty fucking sure I do, actually,” Katsuki says.

Deku opens his mouth to reply, and Katsuki has a feeling they’ll be arguing all night if he lets Deku have his way. Katsuki’s gotta knock him off balance if he wants to stand any chance of winning this, but luckily, he thinks he’s got just the idea.

The cut on Katsuki’s neck is already partially scabbed over, but it’s fresh and still soft to the touch. It barely takes any effort at all to dig his fingers in and —

Deku lunges across the room, shoving Katsuki into the wall.

“Kacchan,” he says desperately, and oh, there are the fangs. They look even bigger now that Katsuki can see them up close. “You can’t let me do this, I’m — I’m already too weird about you as it is.” He tilts Katsuki’s face to the side as he talks, warm fingers trailing a path up his neck.

“Since when have you ever cared about being normal?” Katsuki huffs out. His heart is pounding, loud and slippery in his ears.

“Kacchan,” Deku pleads. His light touch comes to a stop right under the spot where Katsuki had ripped open the scab, and Katsuki doesn’t think.

He grabs hold of Deku’s hand and pushes his fingers into the cut, feeling a bead of warm blood well up and spill over onto his skin.

“C’mon, Deku,” Katsuki says through gritted teeth. “You’re not gonna let it go to waste, are you?”

Deku’s other hand clenches around Katsuki’s shoulder, hard enough to bruise.

“Todoroki,” he says, voice low. His eyes don’t leave Katsuki’s face, the green of his irises all but swallowed up by his blown out pupils.

A familiar two-toned head materializes next to Deku. “Yeah?”

“Stop me if I go too far,” Deku says, and that’s all the warning Katsuki gets before those bright white fangs plunge into his neck.

There’s a flash of pain at first, and Katsuki cries out, but it disappears almost as quickly as it had come, replaced by a fuzzy warmth that spreads all throughout his body. Katsuki’s eyes slip shut of their own accord, and the world narrows down to Deku’s hot mouth against Katsuki’s neck, Deku’s firm hands pinning him in place.

It… fuck, Katsuki wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it feels good.

Deku sucks, hard, and Katsuki gasps, head knocking back against the wall.

It’s — it’s almost too much, the warmth of Deku’s skin against Katsuki’s chest, the all-consuming heat of his lips. It feels like he’s being eaten alive, and the crazy thing is that he doesn’t want it to stop.

Deku’s fangs sink even deeper into his neck and an honest-to-god whimper escapes out of Katsuki’s mouth. His short breaths are coming even quicker now, his heart racing faster and faster—

A cool hand slides into Katsuki’s palm, and another finds its way onto the back of his neck.

“Deep breaths, Bakugo.” Todoroki’s calm voice cuts through the haze. “You’re okay.”

Katsuki gulps down a few breaths, clinging tight to Todoroki’s hand.

He doesn’t know how long he stays like that, with Deku’s teeth embedded in Katsuki’s neck and Todoroki’s thumb rubbing steady circles on the back of his hand. He’s distantly aware of the high, soft noises working their way out of his throat, but embarrassment is beyond him at this point. He’ll save it for later.

Eventually, Todoroki speaks up. “That’s enough, Midoriya.”

Deku doesn’t move.

“Midoriya.”

Deku pulls off of Katsuki’s neck with a loud, wet sound, breathing hard. Katsuki barely has time to take a shaky breath of his own before the nerd’s diving back in, lapping up any leftover blood with little kitten licks of his tongue.

“Jesus,” Katsuki manages to croak out.

Deku pulls away again, wiping his mouth. “‘M not letting it go to waste,” he says, voice husky. His fangs are gone again, but goddammit, Katsuki is never recovering from this.

Deku picks up Katsuki’s free hand from his side and turns it from side to side, almost as if he’s looking for something. It takes a second for Katsuki to realize that the tips of his fingers are stained red, from when he’d torn off the scab on his neck and pushed Deku’s hand into the bleeding cut. God, that feels like ages ago.

Deku lifts Katsuki’s hand to his face, careful and slow. His eyes are still dark and half lidded as he sucks his fingers into his mouth.

Katsuki makes a strangled noise.

Deku’s eyelashes are dark against his freckled cheeks, his lips soft and obscene as they stretch around his fingers. His tongue swirls around the pads of his fingers, searching for another taste of iron. There’s saliva gathering in the corner of his lips.

Katsuki snaps to his senses and reels backward, yanking his hand out of Deku’s mouth. “Fucking freak,” he says, but he can’t disguise the way his voice shakes.

Deku frowns. “I did warn you,” he says, almost a little petulant.

“How are you feeling, Bakugo?” Todoroki asks. “Any dizziness or lightheadedness?”

Belatedly, Katsuki realizes he’s still holding Todoroki’s hand. “I’m fine, Icyhot,” he says, quickly relinquishing his grip.

Deku blinks. “You sure?”

“Of course I’m fucking sure, why would I —”

Deku releases the hand that’s been pinning Katsuki against the wall and Katsuki’s knees instantly buckle under his weight. It’s only thanks to Todoroki grabbing hold of his shoulder that Katsuki avoids face planting into the floor.

“Jeez, you’re heavy,” Todoroki complains.

“Fuck off,” Katsuki says weakly.

“Oh god, I overdid it, didn’t I?” Deku frets.

Todoroki drags Katsuki over to Deku’s bed, sitting him down on the edge of the mattress. “He’ll be fine, Midoriya, he just needs something to drink.”

“Right!”

A bottle of Pocari Sweat gets shoved into Katsuki’s hand, and he stares at it for a moment.

“You guys are prepared for anything, huh?” Katsuki grumbles, cracking the bottle open.

For some reason, Todoroki flushes. “Shut up, Bakugo.”

Katsuki rolls his eyes, but makes sure to chug the whole bottle as quickly as he can. The next time he tries to stand up, he feels a bit steadier on his feet, though not by much.

“You gonna be okay getting back to your room?” Deku’s big eyes are full of misplaced concern, as per fucking usual. Katsuki doesn’t need that shit and never has.

“I’ll walk him back,” Todoroki says before Katsuki can reply.

“The fuck?” Katsuki says, but Todoroki just grabs his arm and pulls him toward the door.

“See you tomorrow, Midoriya,” Todoroki says over his shoulder.

Deku blinks. “Um, yeah, see you!”

“You don’t need to fucking baby me,” Katsuki hisses as the door closes behind them.

Todoroki sighs. “Feel free to stop leaning on my shoulder any time then, Bakugo.”

Katsuki huffs, but lets Todoroki help him down the stairs. Not that he needs it. It’s just easier than pulling away.

It’s not long before they come to a stop in front of Katsuki’s door, thankfully.

“Bakugo…” Todoroki starts as Katsuki reaches for his doorknob.

“What now?”

“I just wanted to say… thanks,” Todoroki says. “For helping out. I know you were kind of forced into it, but —”

“Shut up, Todoroki,” Katsuki says, irritated. “I don’t do anything I don’t want to.”

Todoroki blinks rapidly. “Oh. Okay.”

Katsuki coughs. “Is it… is it always that intense, though?”

Todoroki looks away, cheeks turning slightly pink. “Yeah, I guess. Sorry, I should have warned you.”

“It’s alright,” Katsuki says.

The two of them just stand there for a moment. Katsuki fidgets with his hands.

“Goodnight, Bakugo,” Todoroki says finally.

“Whatever, Icyhot.”

***

The next morning, Katsuki inspects his neck in the mirror, but all traces of the bite have disappeared. Even the cut he’d gotten from Kirishima is mostly healed up, as if he’d gone to Recovery Girl for a quick session. Must be some side effect of the vampirism quirk.

For a brief, fleeting moment, Katsuki almost wishes it hadn’t —

He gives his head a violent shake.

Get it together, Katsuki!

***

After that, they work out a schedule. Deku starts getting noticeably hungry every four days, so Katsuki and Todoroki agree to switch off feedings so that neither of them has to give blood more than once a week. Hopefully, that should help Todoroki look a little less anemic while still keeping Deku fed.

All of that is to say that it’s Todoroki’s turn this time, but Katsuki finds himself at Deku’s door again anyway.

“Bakugo?” Todoroki looks confused when he sees Katsuki walk in. “What are you…?”

“I asked him to come,” Deku says. He fidgets, nervous. “I hope that’s okay? I just — I think it’s hard for me to tell when to stop feeding, so I’d feel better knowing Kacchan can step in if I go too far.”

The words are almost exactly the same as what Deku had told Katsuki when he pulled him aside after class today to talk, except for one key omission.

If you were there, I think it’d help Todoroki, too.

Katsuki had been tempted to say no, but then he’d thought about it, how Todoroki’s touch had helped keep him grounded during the whole… biting process, and had reluctantly agreed.

“Budge over, Icyhot,” Katsuki says brusquely. Todoroki obligingly scooches over on Deku’s bed and Katsuki sits down in the new space.

Deku sits down on Todoroki’s other side. It’s a bit of a tight squeeze, but they make it work.

“Okay,” Deku says, taking a breath to steady himself. “You ready?”

Todoroki nods.

Out slide the fangs, long and sharp, and Deku leans in.

Todoroki gasps as Deku’s fangs plunge into his neck, eyes fluttering shut. His hands twitch uselessly by his sides, one finding its way into Deku’s duvet. On an impulse, Katsuki reaches forward and grabs his other hand, threading their fingers together. Todoroki jumps a little at the touch, but doesn’t let go.

Katsuki had tried to mentally prepare himself for this moment, but the sight of them up close is nothing like the glimpse he’d caught back in the woods. As much as he hates to admit it, Katsuki can’t deny that they make a pretty picture — Todoroki’s flushed face, lips gently parted, head tilted back for easy access. Deku’s green curls tickling the underside of Todoroki’s chin as he drinks his fill, big hands splayed out possessively on Todoroki’s collarbone.

Deku sucks harder and Todoroki lets out a soft moan, body shuddering under Deku’s touch.

Katsuki feels his face warm up. Is this what he sounded like when — he doesn’t want to think about it.

A few moments later, Deku shifts in closer, sinking his fangs even deeper into Todoroki’s skin. Todoroki’s breath is coming faster and faster now, and his torso shakes with the effort it takes to keep them both sitting upright on the bed. Even so, Katsuki can see him swaying slightly under Deku’s weight.

Katsuki blinks.

Wait. They’re on a bed, so why don’t they just lie down?

Katsuki thinks on it a second longer and can’t really find a good reason not to do it. So he reaches forward with his free hand and grabs Todoroki’s shoulder, tugging him down onto the bed. Todoroki yelps at the sudden movement but goes down easily, dragging Deku with him.

There isn’t a lot of space, so Katsuki lets go of Todoroki and makes to get up, but Todoroki’s hand flashes out, grabbing the back of his shirt. He yanks, hard, and Katsuki tumbles back onto the mattress.

“Um,” Katsuki says.

“Stay,” Todoroki manages to get out, and, fuck, okay.

Katsuki shifts around, trying his best to get into a comfortable position without jostling Todoroki and Deku too much. He ends up having to pull Todoroki half into his chest to make it work on the narrow mattress, but Todoroki relaxes easily into his touch, so Katsuki figures it’s fine.

Deku takes a moment to reposition himself too, bracketing Todoroki’s waist with his knees as he sucks hungrily at his neck. God, if Katsuki didn’t know better, he’d think —

He turns away, face red.

Todoroki is warm and flushed against Katsuki’s chest, and Katsuki rubs soothing circles into his shoulder. Todoroki lets out a soft sigh at the touch, resting his two-toned head against Katsuki’s collarbone. Katsuki stares up at the ceiling and contemplates how the fuck his life has led him here.

“Alright, that’s enough, Deku,” Katsuki says finally.

After a long, long moment, Deku pulls back, breathing hard. Todoroki looks dazed but not alarmingly so. Katsuki carefully sits him up, handing him the sports drink on Deku’s nightstand.

“Is he okay?” Deku asks, big eyes full of concern.

“He’ll be fine,” Katsuki says. “Just give him a second.”

Deku wrings his hands nervously as Todoroki sips at his drink, eyes refocusing as he slowly comes back into himself. Katsuki knows the feeling.

“You good to stand, Icyhot?” Katsuki asks when he’s finished the bottle.

“Think so,” Todoroki says.

He’s still a little wobbly when he pushes himself back to his feet, so Katsuki sighs and grabs hold of his arm, a mirror of what Todoroki had done for him during his turn.

“I’ll get him back to his room,” he says.

Deku smiles. “Thanks Kacchan!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

Todoroki is quiet as Katsuki walks him down the stairs. It’s only when they stop in front of Todoroki’s door that he turns to Katsuki, biting his lip.

“Um,” he says. “Sorry for being… kind of clingy back there, I was just —”

“The fuck did I tell you last time, Todoroki?” Katsuki says, rolling his eyes.

Todoroki blinks. “... That you don’t do anything you don’t want to do?”

“Exactly,” Katsuki says. “Now go get ready for bed before you keel over, dumbass.”

Todoroki ducks his head, but Katsuki catches a glimpse of his soft smile. “Okay.”

Katsuki feels his face warm up for some reason.

“See you around, Icyhot,” he says, and gets out of there before Todoroki can reply.

***

Things fall into a bit of a routine over the next week. Katsuki wakes up, goes to class, and occasionally gets his blood sucked by his freak of a childhood friend/pebble under his shoe. And Todoroki is there too, though Katsuki can maybe begrudgingly admit that it’s nice to have him around.

What’s not part of the routine is the way Deku suddenly starts getting into Katsuki’s space.

It’s mostly little things — the way Deku tugs on Katsuki’s sleeve when he wants to get his attention, or the way he leans in a little closer than strictly necessary when he wants to talk about vampire shit in public. It might not seem like a big change, but given how Deku used to flinch whenever Katsuki so much as breathed near him, it’s been a bit of an adjustment. Recently, he’s been finding himself in situations where he isn’t exactly sure how to react.

Like this:

“Oh, hey, Kacchan,” Deku says. “Mind if I squeeze by?”

Katsuki grunts, not bothering to look up from the pot of curry he’s stirring on the stove. The space in the kitchen is a little tight, but Katsuki doesn’t think much of it until —

A warm hand settles onto Katsuki’s hip, and he jumps, nearly dropping his ladle into the pot. Deku doesn’t seem to notice, just gently moves Katsuki to the side as he makes his way by, hand lingering on the small of his back. Once he gets past, he opens the fridge and pulls out a convenience store onigiri, tearing open the wrapper as he walks back.

“What are you making, anyway?” Deku asks, mouth full of rice. He leans into Katsuki’s space, chin digging into his shoulder as he peers at the pot. His hair tickles the side of Katsuki’s neck, and Katsuki catches a whiff of his stupid mint shampoo.

“The fuck does it look like, nerd?” Katsuki scowls. His face feels warm, but it’s probably the heat from the stove.

“Mmm, well, you should try making katsudon sometime!” Deku beams, shifting closer. Katsuki can feel the warmth of his chest against his back. “I’m sure it’d be easy for someone as skilled as —”

Katsuki jams his elbow into Deku’s stomach, hard, and Deku stumbles back.

“Don’t you have anything better to do other than hang around me like a fucking creep?” Katsuki snaps.

Deku rubs at his side. “Ha… you’re as direct as ever, aren’t you, Kacchan?”

He’s still smiling as he says it though, because he’s a fucking weirdo like that. Or maybe a masochist. Katsuki wouldn’t put it past him.

“Whatever,” Katsuki huffs.

***

That night, it’s Todoroki’s turn again, so Katsuki watches as Deku presses an eager mouth to the side of his neck. They’re sitting on Deku’s bed, Deku practically in Todoroki’s lap, and Todoroki lets his head fall back into the headboard with a soft sigh. Fuck, Katsuki doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to the sight of them like this — Todoroki’s pretty face, all blissed out, with Deku’s big hands spread out across the base of his throat.

Eventually, Deku draws back, panting hard, smears of red decorating the side of his mouth. This is normally when Katsuki would step in, but before he can, Deku’s face is already back in Todoroki’s neck. His fangs are gone now, but Katsuki sees a flicker of his pink tongue, licking a slow stripe up Todoroki’s already-healing skin.

“M — Midoriya?” Todoroki manages to get out.

Deku presses a kiss to Todoroki’s jawbone, and Todoroki shudders. He tries to shift forward, but Deku pushes him back, pinning him to the headboard. He leans in close to Todoroki’s ear, his voice low but still audible in the pin-drop silence of the room.

“If you want me to stop, just say the word.”

Todoroki swallows. “What are you —?”

Deku grinds his hips down, and Todoroki gasps.

Katsuki’s frozen.

All he can do is watch as Deku pulls Todoroki’s shirt up and over his head, dark eyes raking hungrily over Todoroki’s bare torso. Todoroki flushes, shivering under the heavy weight of Deku’s gaze.

(Katsuki knows that feeling well — the inescapable force of Deku’s wide green eyes on his back, always. But Deku’s not looking at him anymore.)

Todoroki’s breath hitches as Deku kisses a hungry line down his chest, his stomach.

“Fuck,” Todoroki chokes out, eyes fluttering shut as Deku goes even lower. “Fuck, Izuku —”

Katsuki’s jolts upright in his bed, panting hard.

His room is dark and quiet. The clock on his nightstand reads 3:05 AM. Katsuki runs a hand through his sweaty hair as he tries to catch his breath.

What the fuck?

After a minute, he lays back down in his bed, pulling the covers up over his overwarm body. What a weird fucking dream.

He closes his eyes, trying to clear his mind, but the image flashes behind his eyes, involuntary.

Todoroki’s head, thrown back into the headboard. Deku’s hungry mouth.

“Fuck,” Katsuki says, his face hot. He’s half hard and it doesn’t seem to be going away any time soon.

He stares up at the ceiling as he once again contemplates his life and all the decisions he’s made that have led him here.

Gritting his teeth, Katsuki shoves down the waistband of his boxers and pulls out his dick, stroking it to full hardness. It’s dry, too dry, but Katsuki doesn’t really care at this point. He just needs to get it out of his system as quickly as possible, because like hell he’s gonna lose sleep over something like this.

He tries not to think of anything in particular, just vague sensations and faceless bodies. It’s almost enough — he’s close, but he just can’t quite get there. Katsuki makes a frustrated noise. God, fuck his life.

He imagines hands roaming all over his body, his chest. One cool and one hot, just like —

Fuck.

Without thinking, Katsuki raises his own hand to his neck. He presses his fingers into the skin where the shape of Deku’s fangs would still be, if only they’d leave a mark.

Katsuki arches into the bed as he comes, body shuddering.

***

The final exam is a shitshow. It’s a miracle that Katsuki manages to pass at all, given that he could barely even look his stupid partner in the fucking eye.

They’d argued for half their time on the field, Deku insisting on running away because he’s too much of a fanboy to believe that he’s got a shot against All Might. Jesus, Katsuki forgot how much he pisses him off sometimes. And that was before he decked Katsuki in the face.

“C’mon, Kacchan!” Deku makes a frustrated noise when Katsuki rebuffs him for the third time. “Don’t you trust me at least a little?”

Katsuki opens his mouth to shoot back an angry retort, but something stops him short.

Because the thing is, Katsuki does trust him. Trusts him enough to let him sink his teeth in his neck on a regular basis, at the very least. But why wouldn’t he? Katsuki could place his heart right in between Deku’s sharp fangs and the nerd still wouldn’t bite down. Fucking freak.

“Fine,” Katsuki relents. “Here’s the plan, so you better listen up.”

***

After getting knocked around like a damn ping pong ball all afternoon — thanks for that, All Might — all Katsuki wants to do is collapse on his bed and just relax for a bit. In fact, it’s what he’s trying to do but —

“Hmm,” Todoroki says, peering into Deku’s open mouth as if he’s a fucking dentist. “The fangs are definitely smaller than before, don’t you think, Bakugo?”

“I don’t give a fuck,” Katsuki snaps from his bed. “What the hell are you two doing in my room anyway?”

“They definitely seem smaller to me!” Deku butts in from where he’s sitting on Katsuki’s desk chair, carefully feeling his teeth with his fingers. “Also, I haven’t accidentally cut my lip in like a week.”

“And your urge to feed has gone down too,” Todoroki adds.

Katsuki is pretty sure that they’re all aware of these things, so he doesn’t know why they’re making such a point of saying them again. At least, he doesn’t know until the two of them turn their eyes toward him, Deku looking as innocent as ever and Todoroki trying his best to appear neutral.

“Oh, I see what this is about,” Katsuki says, crossing his arms. “You’re trying to convince me to let the vampire shit go even though your three weeks are up tomorrow.”

“The fangs are almost gone, Kacchan!” Deku says, pleading. “The quirk will probably wear off in a few days, max.”

“Yeah, but that wasn’t the deal, shitnerd,” Katsuki says. “Even if it’s almost gone, it’s still dangerous. What if you run into that villain again?”

(If Katsuki’s honest, their little agreement had almost slipped his mind. If it hadn’t been for the rapid approach of their training camp, he probably would have forgotten. It seems like a long time ago, now.)

“C’mon, Bakugo,” Todoroki says. “The teachers said they’re keeping the location of the training camp top secret, even among UA staff. How could a villain find us there?”

Katsuki scoffs. “You never know.”

“But —”

“Why are you so hellbent on coming to the camp anyway, Deku?” Katsuki says. “It’s probably just gonna be the same shit we do at school anyway.”

Deku opens his mouth, then closes it. Looks down at his hands, fidgeting in his lap.

“It sounds fun,” he says quietly.

Katsuki blinks. And for a moment, all he sees is the Deku of their grade school days — small, shy, lonely. Covered in scratches and bruises, though that part hasn’t changed much. Always at Katsuki’s heels, no matter how many times he shoved him away.

Katsuki looks away.

“If you end up fucking dying, I’m not gonna save you,” he grits out before he can think better of it. Fuck, when did he get so soft?

“Wait, really?” Deku brightens up immediately, eyes sparkling. “You won’t tell?”

“Don’t make me say it twice, dumbass,” Katsuki grumbles. Deku just grins, his stupid mouth too big for his freckled face.

“Don’t worry, Bakugo,” Todoroki says, a slight smile pulling at the corner of his mouth. “I’ll make sure he doesn’t die.”

“Whatever,” Katsuki says emphatically. Something in his stomach twists, sharp, but he ignores it. “Now can the two of you fuck off already? I’ve got shit to do.”

Deku scrambles out of Katsuki’s chair. “Of course! We’ll see you tomorrow, Kacchan!”

He grabs Todoroki’s arm and drags him bodily out of Katsuki’s room. And suddenly, Katsuki’s alone again. Just like what he wanted.

Katsuki lets his head fall back against his pillow and sighs. He doesn’t know what the fuck’s wrong with him, lately.

***

The beginning of the training camp passes in a blur of exhaustion. Between the dumb cat themed superheroes they meet and the dirt monsters they have to fight to get to the actual location of the camp, Katsuki’s already fed up with it all by the end of day one.

It is pretty fucking funny to see Deku get decked in the nuts by some random brat, though. That alone might make it all worth it.

Todoroki nudges his shoulder, smiling even as Deku collapses on the ground in front of the brat, gasping for air. “That kid’s kinda like you, huh?”

“Hah? The fuck are you talking about, Icyhot?”

***

The next few days, Aizawa plunges them straight into training to improve their quirks, which is fucking brutal to say the least. Katsuki spends hours with his hands submerged in boiling water to expand his sweat glands and pulling them out to set off his explosions, shouting curses all the while. It’s almost a relief when they get the night off for the stupid test of courage shit, except —

“Why am I with him?” Katsuki seethes.

Todoroki tilts his head. “Is it really so bad that we’re partners? I thought we were friends.”

“Hell no! Where the fuck did you get that idea from?” Katsuki scowls.

Todoroki just blinks, then reaches out and brushes the side of Katsuki’s neck with his thumb, the same spot where Deku’s teeth had sunk in during the last feeding. His hand is cool against Katsuki’s skin, and for a moment, Katsuki’s mind flashes back to when he’d pressed his own fingers into —

“Fuck off,” Katsuki snaps, batting Todoroki’s hand away.

Todoroki steps back, eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Okay… well, if you want, I can go with Midoriya instead?”

Katsuki spares a quick glance over to where Deku is staring at the paper he’d drawn, still processing the fact that the odd number of students means that he’s left with no partner. The damn nerd would love to be paired with Todoroki for this shit, wouldn’t he? It’d be the perfect opportunity to get his hands all over him, even more so than what he’s been doing lately.

“No,” Katsuki says, too fast. “Let Deku suffer alone, he deserves it.”

“Sure,” Todoroki says amicably. “Let’s get in line then?”

“Fine,” Katsuki says.

***

The test of courage is pretty tame until Katsuki smells smoke.

He sees the moment Todoroki notices it too, his eyes going from blank and bored to alert in less than a second. On the horizon, faraway flames spill bright blue light into the sky.

“Shit,” Katsuki says. “Looks like we’ve got company.”

Todoroki furrows his eyebrows. “But how? The location was supposed to —”

“Well, well, look who we have here.”

Katsuki and Todoroki spin around in sync, snapping into their fighting stances.

In front of them stands a woman. Her hair is long and dark, a stark contrast to her paper white skin, and Katsuki watches as she lazily tucks a strand behind her ears. Her nails are long and sharp, painted a deep, dark purple.

“I didn’t think I’d get the chance to meet two of UA’s best and brightest today,” the woman laughs, walking forward. “It’s my lucky day.”

“Who the fuck are you?” Katsuki spits.

“You’re a feisty one, huh?” The woman says, wry. She smiles wide, and —

“Oh, no,” Todoroki whispers.

“You can call me Sanguine,” the woman says, showing off her razor sharp fangs. “And I’m not leaving until you come with me, Bakugo Katsuki.”

“I’d like to see you fucking try!” Katsuki snarls, and lunges forward.

Todoroki sends a wave of ice at the same moment, but Sanguine jumps high into the air, avoiding the frosty spikes. Katsuki sends a couple explosions her way, but she’s faster than Katsuki expected, twisting her body mid-air to avoid the blasts. She lands back on the other side of the clearing and tsks.

“Is that really all you’ve got?” she says, shaking her head. “I’m disappointed in you two.”

“Shut up already!” Katsuki growls. He launches himself forward, firing an explosion directly at Sanguine, but she’s quicker than he expects, dodging nimbly out of the way. The fire hits the tree behind her instead, setting the bark alight. A spike of Todoroki’s ice swiftly extinguishes it.

“Be careful, Bakugo!” Todoroki yells. “We can’t use too much fire here!”

He slides forward on his ice, hurling another huge blast at the villain, but Sanguine ducks out of the way and bolts towards Todoroki. Fuck, she’s fast. Todoroki raises his right arm to send out more ice, but he’s too slow, cold crystals already forming on the side of his face.

Katsuki blasts himself forward with one palm and just manages to reach Sanguine in time, swinging the other around to set off an explosion right in her face. Sanguine stumbles backwards, and Katsuki presses his advantage, slamming his fist into her cheek.

Her hand darts out and grabs Katsuki’s wrist before he can pull back, sharp nails digging into his skin. Katsuki cries out in pain and tries to twist his arm away, but her grip is too tight. He attempts to ignite another explosion, but his palm cramps from overuse, which — shit, that intense training regime is really biting him in the ass.

Sanguine pulls him closer, baring her fangs, but before she can do anything, a shard of ice whizzes right towards her face. She jerks away, releasing Katsuki, and he stumbles backwards.

“You okay?” Todoroki asks, yanking him back to safety by the collar.

“I’m fucking fine, Icyhot, focus on the fight!” Katsuki snaps. The wrist that she’d grabbed throbs with a strange, burning pain, but he ignores it.

Sanguine recovers quickly and hurls herself at Todoroki once again, expertly weaving her way around the spikes of ice that he throws at her. Katsuki lunges toward her, just barely scrounging up another explosion out of his exhausted hands, but she dodges that too. Once she gets close enough to Todoroki, she flicks out a hand and slashes her nails down the side of his neck. Todoroki flinches backwards, but Sanguine doesn’t let him escape, pushing forward and —

Suddenly, a flash of green lightning.

Deku slices through the air, his feet colliding with Sanguine’s side. The impact sends her sprawling into a tree, and Deku tumbles to the ground.

“Sorry I took so long to get here!” he says as he pushes himself to his feet. Fuck, he looks like shit, one of his arms hanging useless and purple by his side and the other barely looking any better. “I had to go back and get Kota, and then there was this crazy villain, but —”

“Stop.”

Deku freezes in place, the rest of his sentence dying on his lips.

Oh, fuck. Katsuki knew this would happen.

“Come to save your friends, have you?” Sanguine laughs as she walks back into the clearing. “You’re a fool, Midoriya Izuku. Did you really think you’d be able to do anything against me when you’re still under my control?”

Katsuki takes a step forward, but Sanguine glances over at the movement. “Stay put,” she says. “You too, Todoroki.”

Against his will, Katsuki’s body stops in place. A few steps to his right, he spots Todoroki in the same predicament. He makes eye contact with him, but Todoroki looks just as panicked as Katsuki feels. What the fuck is happening?

“You didn’t think these were just for show, did you?” Sanguine says, holding up one of her hands. The deep purple of her nails shines in the moonlight, and Katsuki’s stomach sinks.

“What did you do to us?” Todoroki gets out.

“Oh, nothing crazy,” Sanguine says, all faux nonchalant. “Just stabbed you with a little of my vampire venom, that’s all. I paint my nails with it everyday.” She grins. “It’s not enough to turn you, but it’s just enough to make you susceptible to my compulsion for a little bit. Neat trick, huh?”

Katsuki looks down at the scratches on his wrist, red and angry against his skin. Fuck.

Deku’s good hand twitches, and he just barely manages to curl it into a fist. His muscles are trembling, battling against an invisible force, but it’s too strong.

“Fighting the compulsion already, huh?” Sanguine frowns, looking over at Deku. “The vampirism must be wearing off. But that’s alright. You’re not important to our plans, anyway.”

Sanguine saunters over to where Katsuki and Todoroki are standing, trapped in place. Deku watches, helpless.

“Technically, the order was only to take this one here,” Sanguine drawls, lightly dragging a long nail under Katsuki’s chin. “But imagine how much UA’s reputation would plummet if Endeavor’s favorite son disappeared tonight, too?” She skims her other hand over Todoroki’s neck as she talks, rubbing over the swollen scratches. Katsuki can see how Todoroki’s muscles strain to move, but he can’t break free either.

“Don’t…!” Deku reaches out with a hand, but his feet stay frozen to the ground.

“Or what? It’s not like you can stop me,” Sanguine laughs. She turns back to Katsuki, tilting his head to the side to expose the side of his neck. A pained noise escapes out of Katsuki’s mouth.

“Aw, don’t worry, Bakugo,” Sanguine smiles, sickeningly sweet. “This will only hurt a little bit.”

She opens her mouth wide, sharp fangs sliding into view, and it’s a sight that almost feels familiar except for the fact that it’s all wrong. She isn’t Deku, with his wide green eyes and gentle smile, or even Todoroki, with his soft voice and warm presence. She shouldn’t be able to touch him like this. Katsuki doesn’t want her to touch him.

He feels sick. Everything in his body is screaming to run away, to recoil from her hands, but all he can do is watch as she leans in close. The tips of her fangs graze over the surface of his skin, and Katsuki braces himself for the inevitable.

But then —

A crackling fist sends Sanguine flying across the clearing, her body skidding against the ground. And suddenly, Deku’s standing in front of Katsuki and Todoroki, eyes wilder than Katsuki’s ever seen them.

“How did you…?” Todoroki whispers.

“Don’t you fucking touch them!” Deku snarls, lips pulled back to bare his teeth. But where Katsuki had expected to see those familiar, sharp incisors, there’s just —

“Jesus,” Sanguine says, pushing herself back to her feet. “You ripped your own fangs out, didn’t you?”

Deku doesn’t bother to reply, just spits on the ground, his saliva colored dark red with his own blood.

“I didn’t even know that would work,” Sanguine laughs. “I’m impressed, kid, you’re crazier than you look. Too bad that’s not going to stop me from getting what I want.”

Deku’s eyes darken, their usual green almost consumed by the blackness of his pupils, and it’s — it’s almost the same look as the one he gets right before he’s about to bite Katsuki. Hungry. Dangerous.

“They’re mine,” he hisses. “You’re not taking them away.”

“Possessive, huh?” Sanguine smirks. “I’d like to see you try and stop me, little hero.”

Deku’s swaying ever so slightly on his feet but that doesn’t stop him from shifting into a fighting stance, fierce and determined. His own blood, vivid and crimson, drips down his chin and onto his bare chest.

God, he’s beautiful.

Katsuki doesn’t have time to process the thought before Sanguine lunges forward.

“Izuku!” Katsuki shouts.

But Izuku’s ready for it, swinging a fist right into her stomach. Sanguine’s back slams into a nearby tree, but she recovers quickly, darting out of the way of Izuku’s next punch. She launches herself towards him, trying her best to land a hit, but the two of them are well matched in speed. They clash over and over as Katsuki watches, flying punches blurring into smears of light and motion. Katsuki’s hand twitches, his body aching to join the action.

Wait.

Katsuki focuses on his hand. Slowly, ever so slowly, his fingers curl into his palm.

His eyes jump up to look at Todoroki, only to find that he’s already looking back.

“I think it’s wearing off,” Todoroki says. He painstakingly lifts his own hand up from his side, just a few inches. “Shouldn’t be too much longer before we can move again.”

“Thank fucking god,” Katsuki growls. “I’m ready to kick that damn vampire’s ass.”

“We’ve got to make sure to time this right, though,” Todoroki says. “Otherwise —”

“I’m not an idiot, Icyhot, I fucking know,” Katsuki snaps. “We’ll have the element of surprise on our side, so we gotta make the most of it. And we need to take her down as quickly as possible, otherwise we risk giving her a chance to stab us again.”

Todoroki blinks, then smiles. “Glad we’re on the same page.”

Katsuki just scoffs.

The next few minutes are the longest of Katsuki’s life. He watches as Izuku holds off the vampire, flashes of green lightning arcing off his body, but there’s only so much he can do with one good arm. At this rate, he might have to use his quirk at 100% again.

Come on! Katsuki thinks. He can feel the muscles in his body slowly unfreezing as the compulsion wears off, but it’s not fast enough. His feet are still glued to the ground.

Sanguine lands a heavy punch on Izuku’s chest, and he goes flying backwards, tumbling onto the ground. Sanguine darts after him, fangs bared and sharp nails outstretched. Izuku tries to push himself back to his feet, but he’s slow, too slow.

Katsuki’s moving before he even knows it.

His body slices quickly through the air, propelled by his explosions. When he reaches the space above Sanguine’s head, he flips upside down mid-air, aiming his palms downwards. Sanguine barely has the time to look up before the fire erupts from his hands, blasting her in the face.

“Todoroki!” Katsuki shouts, blown backwards by his own explosion.

An enormous wave of ice bursts out of the ground, freezing the villain against a tree before she can recover. Thank god, Katsuki thinks, staring down at the scene below him.

And then he’s falling.

That last explosion took everything Katsuki had left in him, so there’s not much he can do other than brace himself for the hard impact of the ground. Except… it doesn’t come.

Katsuki blinks open his eyes and finds Todoroki’s mismatched ones peering down at him.

“Are you okay, Bakugo?” he asks, shifting his arms to better hold Katsuki’s weight.

Wait.

“The fuck are you — put me down, Icyhot!” Katsuki snaps, face hot. “And secure the villain first, idiot!”

“Don’t worry, she isn’t going anywhere,” Todoroki says, the corner of his mouth curling upwards in a small smile. “Your explosion knocked her out cold.”

“Still! You should —”

“Kacchan! Todoroki!”

Izuku’s there in a flash, frantically running his marginally less injured hand down Katsuki’s neck. “You’re okay, right? She didn’t get you? No bites anywhere?” He flicks his eyes over to Todoroki and makes a horrified noise when he sees the marks on his neck. “Oh my god, those scratches! Do they still hurt? What if they get infected? We need to patch those up qu —”

Oh, for fuck’s sake.

“Izuku!” Katsuki yells.

Izuku stops right in his tracks, mouth snapping shut.

“We’re both fine,” Katsuki says. “So stop panicking, alright?”

Izuku blinks rapidly. “Right. Sure. Okay.”

Todoroki laughs, and Katsuki aims a glare his way.

“And I told you to put me down, Icyhot!”

“Okay, okay.”

Once Katsuki’s standing on his own feet again, the three of them get in an argument over their next move. Katsuki wants to go further into the woods and help the others fight the other villains, but Izuku and Todoroki both loudly overrule him.

“No way, they’re trying to kidnap you!” Izuku says. “We need to get you safely back to camp and then maybe me and Todoroki can come back and help—”

“Oh yeah?” Katsuki scoffs. “And how the fuck are you gonna do anything with your arms like that, Deku?”

“It’s really not that bad! I’ve been injured worse in other fights.”

“Yeah, only because you’re a suicidal maniac.”

“What the — don’t be ridiculous, Kacchan!”

“Oh, I’m the ridiculous one here?”

“How about we all head back to camp and decide from there?” Todoroki cuts in. “It’s not safe to keep talking here.”

Izuku huffs. “Fine.”

“Whatever,” Katsuki says.

After another small argument, they decide to leave Sanguine behind in the clearing. It’s too dangerous to take her with them, so Todoroki reinforces his previous ice with the hopes that it will hold her until they can send someone to arrest her properly. Then they set off through the woods to the main campsite.

They manage to make it all the way back without running into any villains, which is a miracle and a half. Katsuki did hear the sounds of fighting as they walked by, though, and he’d been tempted to step in and try to help out, but Todoroki had made sure to keep both him and Izuku on track.

They find the make-up lesson crew in the main building of the campsite, guarded by Vlad, the teacher of class 1-B.

“Bakugo, Midoriya, Todoroki!” Kirishima says, relief written on his face. “You guys are okay!”

“Of course I’m okay, Shitty Hair, I can handle a fucking villain or two,” Katsuki scowls.

“You’re some of Eraser’s kids, huh?” Vlad says. “I’m glad you made it here safely.”

A hand pushes Katsuki forward, and he stumbles into the classroom. Izuku falls in behind him.

“What the —?”

In the doorway behind him, Todoroki nods, sharp. “Vlad-sensei, please make sure Midoriya and Bakugo don’t leave. I’m going to go back to the forest and provide some more support.”

“Like hell you are!” Katsuki says, spinning around. “That wasn’t what we agreed on!”

“Yeah, Todoroki!” Izuku chimes in, stepping forward. “You can’t just —”

Quick as a flash, Katsuki grabs hold of Izuku and throws him straight into Kirishima, catching the both of them off guard.

“Kacchan!” Izuku yelps.

Katsuki ignores him. “Kirishima, hold onto the damn nerd and don’t let go!”

Kirishima blinks, but does as Katsuki says, grabbing hold of Izuku’s torso.

Amidst the chaos, Todoroki tries to slip away, but Katsuki springs forward and catches hold of his wrist.

“Oh no you don’t, you fucking snake,” Katsuki glares. Todoroki winces.

“Calm down, everyone!” Vlad shouts. “Todoroki, I can’t allow you to leave. The safety of all you students is my responsibility, and there’s no reason for you to head back out now that you’re here.”

“Respectfully, sir, I’m going and you can’t stop me,” Todoroki says bluntly. “You just need to make sure to protect Bakugo, because the villains are targeting him specifically.”

“Wait, really?” says one of the extras behind him.

Vlad looks stern. “Still, I can’t —”

“The fuck do you think you’re doing, Todoroki?” Katsuki says, cutting Vlad off.

Todoroki gives him a halfhearted smile. “Being a hero?”

“While ditching us here?” Katsuki says.

“Well, you said it yourself, Midoriya’s not gonna be much help to anyone in his current state,” Todoroki shrugs. “I’m not injured and I don’t have a target on my back, so it makes the most sense for me to go.”

“If you think you’re gonna leave without me, then —”

Something warm and wet slams into Katsuki’s back, and suddenly, he finds himself pinned to the wall by a net made of blood. Vlad’s quirk, he remembers, too late. Fuck!

Vlad had clearly planned to trap both of them with his attack, but somehow, Todoroki had managed to dodge out of the way, propelling himself down the hallway with a blast of ice. Vlad curses and runs after him, but Katsuki already knows he’s not gonna catch up. A determined Todoroki is hard to pin down.

“Wait!” Izuku shouts from inside the classroom, straining against Kirishima’s grip, but Kirishima holds tight. Thank god for that.

“Todoroki!” Katsuki calls out.

Todoroki’s two-toned head looks back.

“If you die out there, I’ll kill you!” Katsuki yells.

The bastard has the audacity to tip his head back in a laugh. He gives Katsuki a two fingered salute, then slides out the door and disappears into the woods.

***

In the end, nothing crazy happens. Todoroki assists the heroes in taking down some of the villains while Katsuki sits in a classroom with Izuku and the extras, fuming at being sidelined. Izuku doesn’t really help things with his quiet sulking, but whatever. Katsuki owes Kirishima one for making sure the damn nerd didn’t run out after Todoroki like a fucking idiot.

The pros end up arresting three of the villains, including Sanguine. The rest of them manage to warp away, but not before setting fire to half the forest. Safe to say, the rest of their training camp gets canceled.

There’s a lot of media uproar about UA’s negligence and shit, but Katsuki can’t be asked to pay much attention to it. The school mandates that all the students must stay in the dorms for the rest of the summer break for safety reasons, which causes a whole other controversy, but Katsuki doesn’t really mind it. The old hag insists on calling him every other day anyway, so he’s not really missing out on much.

To no one’s surprise, Izuku ends up being the most injured out of all the students and takes the longest to recover. According to Aizawa, though, he’d apparently taken down a villain all by himself before he’d come to help them fight Sanguine, because of course he had. The little fucker keeps trying to outdo Katsuki at every moment and is somehow succeeding.

Katsuki spends all his free time training in the campus gym, because there’s no way in hell he’s letting that shitty nerd keep embarrassing him. Todoroki’s no slouch, either. Katsuki’s gotta keep working hard if he wants to stay on top.

Otherwise, things are mostly normal. Other than the fact that Todoroki keeps on sitting with him during lunch for some reason, and refuses to leave even when Katsuki tells him to fuck off. Katsuki chalks it up to the fact that Izuku is still stuck in the medbay.

“Have you gone to see Midoriya yet?” Todoroki asks once, in between loud slurps of soba.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full, that’s disgusting,” Katsuki grumbles.

Todoroki rolls his eyes. “Don’t avoid the question.”

“... No,” Katsuki says.

There’s a long, judgemental silence.

“Fuck you, Icyhot,” Katsuki snaps when the quiet gets to be too much. “Why would I go see him? We’re not friends. I’m sure he’s glad he doesn’t have to suck my blood anymore, or whatever.”

“Uh huh,” Todoroki says. “Well, you’d know for sure if you just talked to him.”

“Shut up and eat your damn soba.”

Izuku gets released from the medbay a few days later, and predictably, he doesn’t talk to Katsuki. He’s not a vampire anymore, so there’s no reason for them to say anything to each other outside their mandatory training sessions. Katsuki had expected this. It’s exactly what he wanted. Things are finally back to normal.

What does surprise Katsuki, though, is the awkwardness between Izuku and Todoroki. Katsuki had assumed that they’d continue their stupid, overly familiar, touchy bullshit that they’d had going on before, but it doesn’t seem like it’s happening anymore. Not that Katsuki is watching them or anything. It’s just hard not to notice how Izuku seems to be avoiding Todoroki, hiding behind Round Face and Glasses whenever possible. Hard not to notice the confused frown that’s been adorning Todoroki’s face recently.

Whatever. It’s none of Katsuki’s business.

Katsuki’s in the dorm kitchen, washing up after cooking a steak dinner for himself and Kirishima — say what you want about Katsuki, but he doesn’t forget about his debts — when a hand reaches over and shuts off the tap. Before Katsuki can do much more than blink at the dripping faucet, the same hand takes hold of the plate Katsuki had been washing, puts it to the side, and yanks Katsuki away by the wrist.

“What the fuck?” Katsuki says as he stumbles forward.

“We need to talk to Midoriya,” Todoroki says. “He’s being weird.”

“What the hell does that have to do with me?” Katsuki scoffs. He tries to pull his arm away, but Todoroki freezes his palm to Katsuki’s wrist before he can free himself.

“What are you—?”

“You’re not getting out of this one, Bakugo,” Todoroki says, determined.

“Jesus, what is wrong with you today?” Katsuki demands.

Todoroki doesn’t bother to answer that, just drags Katsuki bodily up the stairs. Katsuki tries to use his sparks to melt the ice, but Todoroki just re-freezes it before he can make any progress. Fucking bastard.

Too soon, they’re standing in front of Izuku’s door, Todoroki rapping his knuckles lightly against the wood. Katsuki’s getting deja vu.

Izuku’s eyes widen comically when he opens the door. “Todoroki? Kacchan? Why are you —?”

Todoroki shoulders his way into Izuku’s room, bringing Katsuki along with him. He shuts the door behind them, then turns around to face Izuku.

“We need to talk,” Todoroki says.

Izuku blinks. “About what?”

“Can you fucking unfreeze me already?” Katsuki snaps. “I’m gonna get frostbite at this rate.”

“Oh, right,” Todoroki says, and melts away the ice on Katsuki's wrist.

Katsuki makes a beeline for the door as soon as he’s freed, but Todoroki blocks his way.

“I told you, Bakugo, you’re not getting out of this,” Todoroki says firmly. “Unless you want me to freeze you to the wall this time?”

“You can’t do shit if I blow you up first,” Katsuki hisses, palms sparking.

“Aizawa will kill you if you damage the dorm.”

“You think I give a fuck?”

Izuku’s eyes flicker nervously between the two of them. “Um, guys?”

“Come on, Bakugo, just give me a few minutes,” Todoroki says. “Then you can leave.”

Katsuki grits his teeth. He doesn’t want to hear whatever bullshit Todoroki’s got to say, but he doesn’t particularly want to deal with the consequences that’ll come if he blows up Izuku’s dorm room either.

“Fine, whatever,” he says, crossing his arms.

“Thank you,” Todoroki says, surprisingly sincere. Katsuki scoffs, looking away.

Todoroki turns his attention back to Izuku. “You’ve been acting strange, Midoriya.”

“H—Have I?” Izuku says nervously.

“You’ve been avoiding me ever since you healed up,” Todoroki says. “And Bakugo too.”

“Hey, leave me out of this!” Katsuki says.

“I’m not avoiding you!” Izuku protests. “I just…”

Todoroki waits him out patiently.

Izuku bites his lip. “I don’t know, I guess I just realized how weird I was being during the whole vampire thing? I didn’t want you guys to feel like you had to — I was just trying to let things go back to normal.”

Todoroki sighs. “I’ve told you a million times, Midoriya, I didn’t mind helping you out.”

“And I’m grateful, really!” Izuku says. “I don’t know what I would have done without you guys. But now that the quirk’s gone, you don’t have to —”

“We never had to do anything,” Todoroki says. “You realize that, right? We helped you because we wanted to. And don’t you fucking start, Bakugo, you could have gotten Aizawa-sensei to stop us at any time but you didn’t.”

Katsuki’s mouth clicks shut around his unspoken protest. Jesus, when did Todoroki start swearing?

Izuku looks away. “I don’t know what you’re trying to say, Todoroki.”

Todoroki steps forward. “Back in the forest, you said that we were yours.”

Izuku goes bright red. “Oh god, I did, didn’t I? I’m sorry, that was just — in the heat of the moment, I —”

“Did you mean it?”

Izuku’s eyes widen. “Huh?”

Todoroki takes another step, and Izuku tries to back away, but one of Todoroki’s hands shoots out and grabs his shoulder, pulling him in.

“Did you?” Todoroki asks, and his face is a lot closer to Izuku’s than it was before.

Izuku somehow gets even redder. Katsuki didn’t think that was possible.

“Todoroki…” Izuku breathes out.

Todoroki leans in, and then —

They’re kissing.

The two of them make a pretty picture, as per fucking usual, Izuku’s flushed, freckled face swallowed up by Todoroki’s determined mouth. Izuku’s hand finds its way to Todoroki’s cheek, scarred fingers gently tracing the old burn around his left eye. Todoroki’s eyes flutter shut under his touch.

Fucking hell. Katsuki knew this was going to happen.

He takes this chance to make his exit, turning on his heel and reaching out for the door knob.

A spike of ice bursts out of the ground, blocking the door and just narrowly missing Katsuki’s hand.

“And where the hell do you think you’re going?” Todoroki’s voice says from behind him. He sounds like he’s panting ever so slightly, and Katsuki imagines his lips are probably red and swollen from Izuku's mouth. Not that he wants to know.

“The fuck does it look like? I’m getting out of here and giving you lovebirds some fucking privacy,” Katsuki says, glowering at the ice in front of him. “And stop swearing, Icyhot, it’s giving me the creeps.”

“I don’t care,” Todoroki says bluntly. Then, “You can’t leave, Bakugo, you're a part of this too.”

Katsuki spins around, suddenly fuming. He stalks back towards where Todoroki is standing next to Izuku, pushing at his shoulder. “What the fuck is that supposed to —”

Todoroki yanks him forward by the collar and presses their lips together.

It’s horrible at first, a mess of spit and teeth clacking together, Katsuki frozen in shock. But then Todoroki gets a hand into Katsuki’s hair, tilts his head up until their mouths slot perfectly together, and oh.

Todoroki’s mouth is soft and pliant, opening up so easily under Katsuki’s touch, and fuck, this is dangerous information for him to have. He shouldn’t know what it feels like to have the slick, hot weight of Todoroki’s lips against his. How easy it is to slide his tongue into Todoroki’s sweet mouth, drawing a high whine out of the back of his throat. God, Katsuki wants to hear it again.

By his side, Izuku lets out a small noise.

Katsuki jolts back to his senses and shoves Todoroki away, hard.

“What the fuck are you doing, Icyhot?” Katsuki demands.

Todoroki blinks. “Isn’t it obvious?” His lips are just as red as Katsuki had thought they’d be, except he can’t tell whether it’s more because of Izuku or Katsuki.

Katsuki drags his eyes away from Todoroki’s mouth, crossing his arms in a huff. “How the hell is it obvious?”

“Well,” Todoroki starts slowly. “I like Midoriya, and I like you. We’ve clearly proven that you like me too, so —”

Katsuki bristles. “Just because you fucking ambushed me doesn’t mean I —”

Todoroki reaches out and cups Katsuki’s cheek with a cool hand, and Katsuki freezes.

“Huh,” Todoroki murmurs, gently stroking the tip of Katsuki’s cheekbone with his thumb. “That’s a neat trick. Didn’t know it was this easy to shut you up, Bakugo.”

“Do you have a goddamn death wish?” Katsuki snaps, slapping Todoroki’s hand away.

“No,” Todoroki says. “I just think it’s dumb to try to let things go back to normal when none of us want that. Right, Midoriya?”

Izuku jumps, eyes wide. “Huh? What?”

Todoroki sighs. “I’m saying that I think we make sense together. All three of us. So why not give it a shot?”

“Todoroki…” Izuku says.

“Real fucking funny, Icyhot,” Katsuki scoffs.

“I’m not joking,” Todoroki says seriously.

“Yeah, well, either way, you’ve got one big fat flaw in your master plan,” Katsuki says.

Todoroki raises an eyebrow. “And what might that be?”

Katsuki stares at him in disbelief. “Did you just forget about how me and Deku don’t get along? We’re not even friends! I’ve made his stupid life miserable for years!”

Todoroki blinks. “So?”

“So?” Katsuki repeats, incredulous. “So there’s no way he would — I mean, this just isn’t gonna work! We don’t like each other!”

“Really,” Todoroki says, dry. “Well, I seem to recall seeing him put your fingers in his mouth, so he clearly doesn’t hate you that much. And I think you liked it, too.”

“Todoroki!” Izuku buries his face in his hands, bright red blush shining through his fingers.

“I — that — irrelevant!” Katsuki splutters, face hot.

“You’re not denying it though,” Todoroki says, a grin slowly forming on his face. “You really did like it, didn’t you?”

“It doesn’t fucking matter if I did,” Katsuki says through gritted teeth.

“Kacchan?”

Katsuki can feel Izuku’s giant green eyes on him, but he refuses to look at him. “People don’t usually want anything to do with their fucking bullies,” he spits out. “Isn’t that common sense?”

Todoroki opens his mouth to say something, but suddenly, a head of curly green hair blocks Katsuki’s view.

“Kacchan…” Izuku says, voice soft. “You have to know I already forgave you for all that stuff, right?”

Katsuki stares at him for a long moment. “Why?”

Izuku bites his lip. “It’s… well, I won’t pretend that some of the things you used to do didn’t hurt. Yeah, middle school might have been hard for me, but I’ve always admired you, even when you were being a jerk. You’re so strong, and confident, and amazing, and it was all I could do to try not to fall behind. And now, ever since we got to UA, it’s been — I feel like you finally take me seriously as a rival, as someone who can challenge you.”

Izuku looks down at his hands. “That’s all I ever wanted, Kacchan. To be someone worthy of fighting by your side. Someone who can beat you, one day.”

Katsuki scoffs, looking away. “I swear, you must be a fucking masochist or something. What, just because you think I respect you now or some shit, that makes everything okay? Even though I haven’t apologized for any of it?”

“You don’t have to,” Izuku says, earnest.

Katsuki can’t believe his ears. “Are you fucking serious right now?”

“Yes, Kacchan, I don’t need anything like that from you,” Izuku insists. “I never did.”

Katsuki clenches his jaw. “Christ, you really know how to piss me off, don’t you, Deku?” He steps closer, jabbing a finger into Izuku’s chest. “When are you gonna get some goddamn self respect, huh?”

Izuku frowns. “I have plenty of self respect!”

“Clearly, you fucking don’t, if you’re just gonna forgive people who haven’t even done anything to deserve it!” Katsuki scowls.

Izuku’s green eyes flash with anger, and suddenly, he’s all up in Katsuki’s face. “What are you talking about, Kacchan? You saved me back in the forest, when that villain almost had me! You — you let me bite you! That’s not nothing!”

“And what, you think I did all of that shit out of the kindness of my own heart? I —”

Suddenly, a hand shoves at Katsuki’s back, hard, and he trips forward.

Right into —

Izuku’s stupidly big hands close around Katsuki’s hips, catching him before he can send them both tumbling to the ground. Katsuki can feel the warmth from where he’s pressed against Izuku, his arms trapped awkwardly against his chest.

“Fucking — let go of me, Deku!” Katsuki says, face hot. He tries to push Izuku away, but the damn nerd doesn’t even budge. Katsuki keeps forgetting how strong he is now, even without using his quirk.

“Not until you stop trying to convince me to hate you,” Izuku huffs.

“That’s not what I’m —!”

Izuku lifts a hand and skims it up Katsuki’s neck, light fingers settling on his cheek. Katsuki’s mouth snaps shut around the rest of his sentence, face flushing even redder.

“That really is a neat trick,” Izuku murmurs.

“Right?” Todoroki says, padding up behind Katsuki.

“I’m gonna fucking kill you, Icyhot,” Katsuki hisses.

He tries to turn his head, but Izuku tightens his grip, holding him in place.

“Kacchan’s so pretty when he blushes,” Izuku says, familiar green eyes wide with fascination. His thumb slides down Katuski’s cheek, pressing into the corner of his mouth.

“He should do it more,” Todoroki agrees.

“Fuck off!”

Katsuki’s face feels like it’s on fire. He tries to squirm out of Izuku’s arms, but Izuku’s grip only tightens around his waist.

“You know, Kacchan,” Izuku says, suddenly bold. “If you really did like it when I put your fingers in my mouth, I can always do it ag—”

“Goddammit, Deku, shut up!” Katsuki says, and —

Katsuki doesn’t remember moving. But one moment, he’s staring up at Izuku, and the next, he’s got the nerd’s lips pressed against his own, warm and wet. Katsuki tries to deepen the kiss, but Izuku is slow to react, and Katsuki feels a deep twinge of satisfaction low in his stomach.

Serves him right. The damn nerd isn’t the only one who can catch people by surprise here.

Then Izuku’s lips part open under his own, and Katsuki stops thinking.

Izuku kisses like he fights — fierce, reckless, all-consuming. Katsuki loses himself in the feeling, in the slick pressure of Izuku’s hungry mouth as he pulls him in closer, like he’s trying to devour him whole. God, Katsuki would let him, too.

Izuku bites down hard on Katsuki’s lip, and Katsuki gasps, drawing back.

“Jesus, Izuku, you still got a thing for biting?” Katsuki pants. “Thought that vampire shit wore off already.”

To Katsuki’s surprise, Izuku goes pink. Huh. Katsuki tucks that tidbit away for later.

A hand settles down on the back of Katsuki’s neck, and Katsuki turns his head just in time to catch sight of the amused look on Todoroki’s face.

“So…” Todoroki says. “Can I take this to mean that you guys are in?”

“Well…” Izuku’s eyes find Katsuki’s, soft and questioning.

God. Of course the nerd is gonna wait for Katsuki’s answer first.

Todoroki looks at him, hopeful, and Katsuki takes a deep breath.

He’s already fought villains more than once. Shit like this should be easy in comparison.

“Yeah, okay,” Katsuki says, finally. “Let’s do it.”

He’s rewarded by two smiles, bright and sweet. Todoroki wraps his arms around Katsuki’s side, digging his chin into Katsuki’s shoulder.

“Knew you’d come around,” Todoroki says.

“Yeah, yeah, shut up,” Katsuki says, but there’s no real heat to it.

Next to him, Izuku grins, grabbing Katsuki’s hand and intertwining their fingers, and yeah. Katsuki could get used to this.