FIC - "The Eight Years Between"

BKDKBK | post-canon | canon-compliant | getting together | fluff

Here's how it happens.

==

THE EIGHT YEARS BETWEEN

Here’s how it happens.

They get together in their second year. It’s a gradual thing.

No earth shattering confessions, just a quiet evening studying, an inadvertent brush of hands, and then a tentative, shivery kiss that lasts only a heartbeat before they both turn crimson and go back to studying.

The dorms don’t provide much privacy, but neither does moving home. For the remainder of second year, they mostly stay in the dorms. It’s easier, and less soul sucking, to fool around without being under the eyes of their parents.

Katsuki accepts a part time sidekick job with Best Jeanist, although he spends more than half his work hours with The Genius Office’s professional physical therapists. Izuku chooses not to intern with agencies anymore, not really seeing the point, and instead helps where he can with rebuilding efforts.

They still train together daily. Katsuki quickly adapts to his body’s new limitations, gradually strengthening his heart and his arm. Izuku goes back to basics, learning not to rely on OFA outside of an actual emergency.

Every day, Katsuki asks him, “How are the embers?”

And every day, Izuku replies, “They’re okay.”

Until he can’t.

When Izuku feels the last embers fade, he goes to All Might. They share a cup of tea, and All Might lets him cry. Katsuki finds them, because of course he does.

That night, he holds Izuku and mourns for him, since Izuku refuses to do it. Katsuki also renews a promise he’d made to himself when he first learned OFA was gone—that no matter how long it takes, he would restore Izuku’s dream.

There’s no point getting to the top without Izuku there alongside him.

After graduation, Katsuki moves into The Genius Office’s sidekick dorms to continue his training, and Izuku attends a nearby university to get his teaching certificate. They meet as often as they can.

Izuku lives with his mom, so Inko politely leaves them alone most evenings when Katsuki spends the night.

Even though they’re adults, the excuse is that Katsuki helps Izuku with his homework, and Izuku helps Katsuki with his physical therapy. And it isn’t a lie! It’s just… not the whole truth.

They still train as well, because physical strength is important to Izuku. He might not be able to keep up with his friends anymore, but that doesn’t mean he can’t or shouldn’t still do what he can on a day-to-day basis. He can’t exactly stop his body from moving on its own after all.

And also he likes being able to toss his boyfriend around a little.

Katsuki likes it, too.

Katsuki takes on more hours as a sidekick, and for the first couple weeks, he doesn’t question why he’s assigned so much desk duty.

He still patrols, still sees the physical therapist, still trains his body. He figures it’s just part of the gig. But the increase in paperwork doesn’t stop, and he’s even asked to sit in on some meetings and give an assessment afterward.

He’s smart, though, and he figures it out soon enough. Best Jeanist is not-so-subtly teaching him about the business side of running an agency. Katsuki gratefully absorbs everything he can—he’s still planning to start an agency with Izuku someday, once they’re more established.

Things are amazing between them, but for all of their hard won patience and understanding of one another, they’re both still only human. So sometimes they fight. But those fights end almost as quickly as they begin. It’s implicitly understood that no matter the disagreement, it’s nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Nothing could ever be more important to them than each other.

Sometimes Izuku goes out with friends he’s made in college. Izuku isn’t very active on social media, but Katsuki occasionally sees other photos that he’s been tagged in.

Those photos often include people Katsuki only knows by name through the stories Izuku’s told him.

Izuku looks happy in them.

Katsuki loves that he’s getting out and meeting people who aren’t pro heroes, and he trusts Izuku implicitly. But he still worries that someday, someone will come along to make Izuku reevaluate dating a pro hero, much less someone as abrasive as Katsuki. He’s always known that Izuku is too good for him.

Katsuki is selfish, though, so he’ll hold on for as long as Izuku will have him.

Izuku has similar insecurities. He’s not a hero anymore, and he no longer has the right to stand beside the boy he’s loved for as long as he can remember. Katsuki deserves someone who can keep up with him.

Sometimes, Izuku will get really deep inside his head about it, and Katsuki will have to wheedle the truth out of him with various threats and/or promises. Then Izuku will laugh, a small self-deprecating thing, and say he’s just feeling a little left behind. But it’ll pass. It always does.

But he also happily welcomes all of Katsuki’s affirmations when they’re in bed. Katsuki never lets him stay sad for very long. Izuku loves him so damned much.

Their post-graduation lives might not be what they envisioned when they started at UA, but they’re still blissfully happy in their relationship.

Eventually, Izuku gets a part-time job and moves into his own apartment. Of course, he asks Katsuki to move in with him to share rent. And for other more private reasons.

Katsuki has been working on a secret project with All Might for some time now, but he isn’t too worried about being discovered. As long as he contributes to their monthly expenses, Izuku never questions what he’s doing with the rest of his paychecks. In fact, he’s pretty sure Izuku wouldn’t complain even if Katsuki didn’t help with any of the bills.

Occasionally, Izuku will catch part of a documentary about the war, or he’ll see an out-of-production figurine of Hero Deku, or something else from a dream that’s been long over, and he can’t help the melancholy that descends on him. Katsuki always notices, though.

When that happens, he fits Izuku into his gauntlets—fully redesigned by Hatsume to better absorb the recoil and protect Katsuki’s joints and shoulders—and together, they blast themselves into the sky to find a perch on a skyscraper and admire the lights of the city.

The rush of adrenaline is usually enough to chase away the melancholy. Well, that and the sight of Katsuki lit by the soft glow of distant lights and an envious moon.

Katsuki keeps track of all the interesting quirks he encounters in his job so that he can tell Izuku about them over dinner. He loves how it always gets him going, geeking out over all the possibilities.

Izuku graduates top of his class and with a job waiting for him at UA, courtesy of—well, the entire UA staff. Katsuki’s mobility in his right arm has improved so much that he’s able to use it on a daily basis and in battle. He still has to take care not to overdo it though.

Together, they build a life of quiet mornings, bustling days, and passionate nights, of hiking trips and picnics under the stars, of reverent kisses on bare shoulders and scarred skin, of murmured “I love you”s into soft curls, and endless gestures of adoration.

And yet, even after 8 years, this is still only the beginning.

There’s so much yet to do, and while they can’t be certain of what’s to come, they know they’ll overcome it together, side-by-side, exactly where they belong.

~fin ( and beginning 🥰 )