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The truth was, Katsuki had perfectly normal feelings about Christmas- perfectly reasonable and rational feelings. He did not hate Christmas.
Yes, the music drove him batty by December 2nd, and he thought Christmas decorations had their place, namely shopping malls and wrapped around streetlights.
Not cluttering up his apartment.
Sure, it was his first Christmas out of UA; his first Christmas in his apartment, but he had every intention of establishing a tradition of not decorating his apartment, for any holiday.
Ever.
A silly intention, he realized now, looking back and considering who his girlfriend was.
“Cheeks…?” he asked, voice flat as he looked past her on the screen of his computer into his twinkling, glowing apartment. “Why is there an elf on my mantle?’
She let out an excited laugh and picked up her computer, turning the camera to show him his living room. “I was off today!” she exclaimed. “So, I decided to share a little Christmas cheer!” plus she said, fixing a bow on a wreathe. “Mine is too small to decorate!” she said, her round face popping back into view, her wide happy grin filling up the screen in a way that made his chest ache from missing her. She set him up on his mantle and straightened some tinsel before she picked up a mug. Whatever was in it, it was topped with a mountain of whipped cream, sprinkles and he was pretty sure there was a cookie nestled in the whipped cream peaks.
“Oh…dear God, what monstrosity of cavities is that?’
“Hot cholate!” she said, taking a sip and sighing contentedly. “And some peppermint schnapps.”
“Your decorating drunk, Uraraka? You’re gonna burn the fuckin’ place down.”
“Oh unclench, Dynamight,” she said. “Other people would kill to have a cheery little Christmas elf as a house sitter! I do more than feed your fish; I fling Christmas joy into your home.” She turned to look at him, tucking the whisps of her pixie cut behind her hair. “Oh yeah… I got you a fish!”
He didn’t even yell, he just dropped his head, and pinched the bridge of your nose.
“I was lonely!” she exclaimed against his non-existence protests. “You’ve been gone a month!” Her lip jutted out in a pout. “And this adorable little beta fish looked like he was in for a rough season too, so I brought him home.” Her face flushed, and eyes widened, realizing what she had said. “To…to your home,” she amended.
Katsuki hadn’t really noticed. He referred to it as their home too. She practically lived there already, and Katsuki had been planning to float the idea of her moving in when her lease ended in a few months.
But he thought it would be weird to ask her to move in with him before he had even told her that he loved her.
That seemed like something that would precede cohabitation. Not that he had a lot of experience with shit like that. But it just was something he thought that they should tell each other.
Well, he supposed that he should tell her.
She had already told him that she loved him.
The first time had only been four months after they had started dating, and he wasn’t entirely sure that it counted. Because she had thought he was unconscious, he supposed that wasn’t an uncommon way for heroes to get their first love confessions.
Thought, he also wasn’t sure if she had meant it in that way at the time.
Because the truth was, Uraraka was the friend who gave her love away generously- in a way that somehow never made it feel undervalued. She told her friends that she loved them all the time. She texted her friends to make sure they got home safe.
Hell, she still texted him to make sure he made it home safe.
So, when he barely stirred awake, eyes weighed down by drugs and exhaustion, his body drained from both the villain attack he barely survived and the healing required to knit his muscles and bones back together, and heard her speaking to him, he wasn’t sure how to take it. He supposed it was their first close call as a couple, and he could hear the tears and tremble in her voice, even he couldn’t see them.
“Your parents went for a short walk,” she had said to him, her familiar finger pads drawing delicate circles into his palms. “I told them I’d stay with you. I…I was in the waiting room for your surgery. Did you know? Before your parents got here…” She laughed, a sad watery sound that made him want to lift his hand and palm her cheek, to assure her that it was okay.
That he was okay.
“Stupid I know…I know it doesn’t help. I knew I wouldn’t get to see you after, not being family and all. But I couldn’t go home. I couldn’t go and wait.” Her voice cracked, a horrible heartbreaking sound that he never wanted to hear from her again. “I couldn’t be anywhere else. I…I didn’t want you to be alone, Katsuki.”
She didn’t often use his given name, even now. She did sometimes when she was mad, or when she was drunk and particularly affectionate, or when his face was buried between her legs, and she could barely form a coherent sentence except for his name.
“I don’t know if it makes a difference, but I needed to know that someone who loves you was close by. I needed you to know that.”
Even in his drug-addled brain, he had heard her words, heard what was caught up in those words.
“Someone who loves you.”
She had left when his parents came back, and he had wanted to close his fingers around hers and keep her beside him. But he was too tired, and his body still wasn’t cooperating with his brain.
A lot of that time in the hospital had gone by in a blur, but her voice and her words stayed fixed in his memory.
“Katsuki…” she said, cocking her head to the side, brows drawn together in concern. “Are you okay? You…you don’t mind the decorations do you, I was just…”
He rolled his eyes. “S’fine,” he interrupted. He had to at least put up a fight to maintain some semblance of a man who wasn’t entirely whipped for her (as if they didn’t start dating because he dressed up like Santa for her a year ago). Plus, he knew this Christmas was harder for her. Her first Christmas where she couldn’t make it home. Their first Christmas together. And she was spending it alone. Hell, she could do whatever the fuck she wanted to his apartment if it made her happy. “Leave it.”
He let out a long breathe and ran his hands through his hair. He hadn’t told her he loved her yet, and he wasn’t so good with his words, and he still stuck his foot in his mouth regularly and misread at least one interaction a month. But he was trying. He was practicing.
In the same way she was learning how to tell him what she needed from him.
Telling him off when it came to other people…she had that down in spades.
Telling him when she wanted something from him, when he hurt her feelings without realizing or neglected her in some way that he was completely unaware of, for some reason getting that information out of her was like pulling teeth.
But they were both getting better, in their own little ways.
“Sorry I can’t be there, Cheeks,” he said.
It wasn’t “I love you”, but she was always good at reading between his words.
“Katsuki!” she said, her expression softening. “Don’t apologize! This mission was an incredible opportunity for you to learn. I’m glad you got to go.”
He snorted non-committedly. She wasn’t wrong and she wasn’t lying. But still…it had been harder than he had been willing to admit even to himself, to not be with her for six weeks.
She had been nothing but supportive, but he could tell how hard it had been for her too.
“I’ll be back by your birthday, Cheeks,” he said.
She did a dramatic sigh. “Well,” she said. “Missing Christmas means you’ll miss me wearing your favorite outfit.”
He cocked an eyebrow. “Nothing?”
“No,” she said, rolling her eyes, but even through her shitty screen he could see the blush on her cheeks that he was still able to pull out of her when he flirted. He really hoped that he could always get a reaction like that out of her, no matter how used to each other they became. “My elf costume!”
Ahh yes, the elf costume. He remembered it fondly- the tight, near-translucent red leggings, the short skirt that flared out around her when she twirled, her ears, her glitter, the whole damn package of her that made him just a little bit stupid. She had made his mouth go dry and that had been very confusing to him.
Of course, he realized, when he decided to actually be honest, that she could do that to him in pretty much any state. Honestly, when it came to Uraraka, he was always one stiff breeze away from uncomfortable pants situations.
But all the same, the elf costume did have a special place in his heart.
“You excited?” he asked.
“I am,” she declared, clapping her hands. “We are visiting five youth centers throughout the day!” He nodded. “Ooh did I tell you that Miruko’s agency is completely covering two of the centers?!”
“You did,” he said, but in a way that let her know that he didn’t mind hearing it again.
“Oooh! Oooh! Also, I met Shoto for lunch today and he told me Endeavor’s agency is taking the other three!”
“Tch…does Endeavor know?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Noo idea! I just told Shoto about it and he said he would take care of it.”
Katsuki held back an eyeroll at the way she spoke about Icy-hot. He knew this moment was not about his. He knew how hard Ochako worked to mobilize local heroes around community aid and care, and this was just one of many projects she was working on.
“If heroes don’t give a shit about the issues that cause villains, and only show up to punish those villains then the public shouldn’t trust us,” she had told him once. She wasn’t even a year out of UA, and she was already trying to change the face of hero work. They should have known that was coming her first year, when she turned a hostile crowd toward compassion and empathy with just her words.
And he knew this one meant a lot to her.
“Of course he did,” he grumbled. “Fuckin’ fanboy would give you daddy’s black Amex if you asked him.”
She giggled happily. “That’s true,” she agreed. “He told me to tell you hi by the way.”
He snorted his response before turning the conversation back to the far more interesting topic. “Gonna get a pic of you all elfed up to send to me?”
She tsk and shook her head disapprovingly, sprinkling small strips of crinkled white paper over the small Christmas village on his mantle. He didn’t even bother getting worked up about the mess. He really had no one to blame but himself for this.
“It’s so weird that that outfit turns you on!”
“It is not!” he exclaimed. “Elf ears are every man’s kryptonite! And anyone that tells you different is a goddamn liar.”
“Uh-huh, sure,” she said. “Whatever you need to tell yourself, Bakugo.”
“I’m sorry you don’t have a Santa this year to turn the pages for you,” he said, eyes flicking down to the clock. It was the middle of the night in the States. They hadn’t spoken in a week, so he had been willing to disrupt his sleep schedule to finally get to hear her voice. But he was starting to feel the exhaustion of the day. The mission was pretty much over, but he had a mountain of paperwork and clean-up, and somehow that managed to take even more out of him.
“Oh, I’ll have a Santa!” she said.
“Come again?” he asked, suddenly fully awake.
“Yeah,” she said, with another happy nod. “We found someone!”
Katsuki’s mouth jutted out in a pout, something uncomfortably stirring in his chest. “But you’re my sexy, helper elf!”
“I told you, Bakugo! I’m an elf! Not a sexy elf!”
“Pssh…you are absolutely a sexy elf!” he corrected. “Spreading sexy, Christmas cheer for all!” She let out a happy, musical giggle. “Who is it?” he asked.
She shrugged. “Not sure!” she said. “I had never heard of him. His name is Kiko Suwabe.”
Katsuki was now completely awake and sitting up in his bed. “What the hell? Who managed to get that guy?!”
“You’ve heard of him?” she asked, surprised because he was hardly what one would call plugged in to any pop culture. But all the same, he had heard of him, which should tell Ochako a thing or two.
“Uhh…yes,” he said. “Most people in the world have!”
Her nose scrunched adorably. “Well,” she said. “I haven’t.”
“He’s a gamer,” he said. “He’s huge.”
She hummed and tapped her chin. “I wonder why he agreed to do this then?” Her eyes scrunched slightly. “Weird!” she shrugged, letting it go. But Katsuki sure as fuck wasn’t done with it.
He didn’t want to bring it up, because Ochako had worked her ass off for this. And he didn’t want to imply that it was too small to be noticed. But neither he nor Ochako had a big name yet. They hadn’t even been sidekicks a year. So yeah, it was weird that one of the most famous online personalities wanted to do this.
Unless…
Was he a Uravtiy fanboy?
Did he have a crush on her?
Did he see those pictures when class 1-A got together at the summer and see how fuckin’ hot Ochako looked in a two-piece sparking an all-consuming obsession that led him to create a shrine to her in his closet to which he intended to add a lock of her hair, and this was all just an elaborate ruse to get close enough to her?
“Katsuki? Are you okay?’ she asked, leaning closer to the screen mouth pursed and eyes searching.
He inhaled sharply.
He could fix this.
“Why the fuck do you even need a Santa?!” he barked.
“Because it’s Christmas!” she said with a belabored sigh, as though he was particularly stupid.
“I’m just sayin’, why don’t you be Santa?”
“And ask the streamer to be my sexy, helper elf?” she asked.
“No!” he barked angrily. “Tell him to hit the road! You don’t need an elf! You’re a strong, independent Santa who don’t need no man or elf.”
Ochako stepped out of frame momentarily, yelling out to him in response. “That would sound a lot more feminist if I knew it wasn’t because you were being a jelly donut!”
“I’m not a jelly donut!”
“Why are you acting like one then?”
“I’m just saying’ you’ve been doing this a lot longer! You should be Santa!
“I’m not saying you’re wrong-just that your motivations aren’t entirely pure.”
“What? Me not wanting my girlfriend to be recognized and receive a promotion before some yahoo off the street?”
“Is he hot, Katsuki?”
Yes. Yes, he was. Insanely hot, actually.
“I don’t see what that has to do with anything,” he insisted stubbornly.
“I’m just sayin…” she shrugged exaggeratedly. “If this guy was some incel who lived in his mother’s basement and hadn’t showered in a month, would you still be lobbying for a female Santa?”
“Yes, I would,” he insisted stubbornly.
“Hmmm…Look at Dynamight, feminist icon,” she said cheekily.
She threw him a wink but didn’t press much harder as she disappeared temporarily from the screen only to return in a few moments with a stack of four boxes.
“Oh good, god,” he breathed. “What the fuck is in those?”
“Decorations for the tree!” she exclaimed, putting down her overflowing cup of hot chocolate to angle him away from her and toward the bare tree in the middle of his living room.
“You put a fuckin’ tree in my apartment, Cheeks?!” he exclaimed at a sputtering shout.
“Of course, I did!” she said with a happy nod. “And it’s gonna be magical! We’ll have to keep it up until you get home so you can see it. I’ll put all your presents under it!”
“I don’t want pine needles all over my damn floor!”
“Right, Christmas was only ever made worse by the smell of pine in your home!” she said, her tone mournful and dramatic as she opened a box of ornaments. “All though…” she sighed. “My trees were always so small.” She looked up at the tree and cocked her head to the side. “Yours may look a little bare.”
“Just text my mom,” he grumbled. “She’ll have plenty.”
“I’m not gonna steal decorations from your parents!” she said.
“It’s not stealing,” he said. “Mom will be thrilled to break out the ornaments from when I was a kid.”
“Oh…Okay, maybe I’ll send her a text then,” she said.
Over the past few months, ever since the hospital, Uraraka had become increasingly comfortable with his mother. She had hit it off with his dad right away, and she liked his mom, but understandably, had been initially intimidated by her.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice how you changed the subject!” he said.
“Starting to sound like you don’t trust me!” she said back in a sing-song voice, hanging up an ornament of a stick of dynamite that said boom across it.
“This has nothing to do with me trusting you,” he shot back.
“Then what does it have to do with?” she asked, floating herself up to reach a higher branch on her tree.
“It has to do with how fuckin hot you look dressed as an elf, Uraraka! It’s obscene!”
She laughed again, a loud happy cackle that communicated quite clearly what she thought of his ridiculous antics. “You are such a drama king!”
“You’re my sexy helper elf!” he shouted, into the quiet of his apartment but surely loud enough for Hawks to hear in the adjoining room, only confirmed from the loud guffaw he heard through the thin walls.
“You’re right, Bakugo…” she moved to stand directly in front of the screen. “I’ll just tell the five separate youth centers that Uravity can’t come to hand out their gifts because her neanderthal of a boyfriend said no.”
“I didn’t say no!” he protested. “I don’t get to tell you no.”
“Glad we agree on that,” she scoffed. “
“I just…” he rolled his neck, unsure of how to express himself without sounding like an asshole. He was a jealous sort, sure. But so was she. They were both evolved enough to know how to keep it on a leash, but at the end of the day, they both had possessive tendencies. Which they both knew was difficult to traverse in a high profile, image-based career. “Never mind,” he said, blowing out a breath, and trying to expel the tension and his recollection of Kiko’s rock hard abs.
It had gone viral.
“Just…have fun, Cheeks.”
She stopped decorating and shuffled closer to the screen. “Katsuki,” she said, her voice soft in that way that drew his eyes toward her, filled with knowing and understanding. “You’re not really worried, are you?”
No. Worried wasn’t the right word. But he did feel something. Something he wasn’t ready to admit.
“You’re right,” he said, with a sigh of resolution. “I should just get used to rich, hot dudes falling in love with you. He won’t be the first and he sure as hell won’t be the last.”
She rolled her eyes, but correctly read the lightening of his tone.
“Tch… who says just rich hot guys will be in love with me?” she asked cheekily, moving back to the tree.
“Well, fuck,” he said, raking his hand through his hair. “If hot rich girls in the mix, then I guess I’m officially screwed.”
“Sorry, babe,” she said. “Can’t tame this wild stallion!” Her eyes flicked to his wall, reading the time on the clock there before she looked back at him. “Do you need to go?” she asked carefully.
Yes. He did. He was exhausted. He had worked all day and needed a few hours of sleep before jumping back in tomorrow. But she was looking at him, a cautious hope there.
“Nah…” he said, shaking his head. “I can stay on while you decorate the tree.”
And at that, she lit up every bit as much as that tree, as if he had given her the best gift in the world; it was simultaneously one of his favorite things about her and the thing that created some confusing mix of anxiety and fear.
The smallest gestures from him made her so happy. But what if realized that she deserved so much more than someone willing to stay up an hour later for her. When would she realize that there are a lot of people probably a lot more capable than him to make her happy?
He pushed the anxiety aside, trying to focus on the story she was telling him from work.
He shouldn’t be so insecure.
He had no reason to be worried.
She had told him- twice- how she felt. Both times with no return on investment from him.
The second time she had told him that she loved him was about two months ago, and it was in very different and far more pleasurable circumstances than the first time she had told him, especially pleasant for him because he had been in his very favorite place.
Buried inside of her, panting and mouthing desperately at the skin of her neck, rendering her a babbling, begging mess for him as he rolled his hips and the pad of his thumb pressed into her clit. Her breath, her body, her noises, all telling him she was about to cum.
Usually in situations like this, she would cry out, loud and unrestrained, in that way she did when he took his time with her and wound her up within an inch of her sanity. When he could make her cry out like that, it was an accolade that like no other, affirming in that moment that maybe…maybe…he was good enough for her.
But that time, she didn’t cry out when his teeth sunk into the juncture of her neck and her shoulder as she shattered around him.
“Fuck, Katsuki,” she whispered, hot and hard against his cheek. “Fuck I love that so much. I love you so much.”
She hadn’t been thinking in the moment- every inhibition melting out of her, coating him as he followed over the ledge right after her.
But still… he had heard her loud and clear, and there was no hiding this time. After his orgasm ripped through his body, he collapsed, shocked on top of her, not bothering to catch himself, because she had told him several times that she could handle the full breadth of him.
And wasn’t that the damn truth.
But this time, when he fell on top of her, panting and seating- he noticed how tense she was- a noticeable departure from her typical state after a fucking like that. She was usually rendered boneless and devoid every last bit of tension.
He looked up slowly from where his face was buried in her neck and found her staring at the ceiling, wide-eyed and mouth in a tight line, her brows worried and her lip between her teeth as she chewed on it.
“Bakugo,” she said, suddenly, her voice shaky, her face flushed from more than just their activities. “I…uh…I’m sorry…” he sat up, suddenly, hovering over her, searching her face as she scrambled to explain herself, acting like she had said another name and not about the best damn thing he could hear from her. “I just…I…I was feeling so good, and you know I love when you do that thing with your hips…and then I just started…” before she could spiral anymore, his mouth was on hers in a bruising, demanding kiss- swallowing her explanations.
He didn’t them.
He didn’t want her to take them back.
Her wanted her to say it again and again.
But- for some reason- those words caught in his throat- blocked by fear and his own insecurities that he didn’t even know how to give voice to.
But he didn’t want her to take it back- he did know that. His kiss turned softer, lingering, trying to tell her everything he couldn’t say. His thumb brushed against her cheek. He pulled away, briefly, before brushing a kiss against her bottom lip once more.
“Don’t,” he whispered, keeping his eyes closed. “Don’t take it back, okay?”
An instruction and a question wrapped in one.
Don’t take it back.
Even if I’m not ready to say it.
Please don’t take it back.
Her hands moved softly through his sweaty hair, against his neck, and then over his shoulders, the tips of her fingers tracing the familiar map of his scars and the dips of his muscles, almost lulling him into sleep.
But before he did, he heard her sweet voice whisper her answer.
“Never.”
A promise and a challenge. The ball was in his court. He needed to tell her he loved her.
Because he did.
Love her, that is.
He loved her a lot.
More than he thought he would ever love someone who wasn’t his own parents.
He had for a good while assumed that loving someone in this way, wanting to be someone in the way he was with her, just wasn’t in the cards for him. Though, in his secret heart, despite his lofty ambitions, he’d be lying if there wasn’t some small part of him had always entertained some fantasy where he was married at 28, had a kid, bought a house, grew award-winning bonsai trees…
He would never tell anyone, of course, that he had dreams alongside being number one that were just so normal.
He had always just assumed that those dreams would not be doable with his other dream of being number one, and the former was the far more important dream.
But for some reason, with Uraraka, he never felt like he had to choose… between any part of him; any ambition of his, any part of himself. His strength, his weakness, the best and worst, she was strong enough for it all.
And he loved her for that.
###
Ochako had been so excited for this day. She had worked so hard to coordinate everything with centers, heroes, and families to make sure the needs in the community were met, and she had been so excited to actually see the fruits of that labor when she went to visit the kids.
But she was on her fourth center of the day, with one more coming, and she couldn’t wait to get home and take a long hot bath.
Her Santa- to put it simply- was an asshole.
Ochako really hated when Katsuki was right, but dammit he was right about so many things.
How did he manage to be right about literally everything?
He hadn’t even met Kiko Suwabe and still somehow knew that he was going to be a raging douche bag. Had warned her that he was going to be an asshole, with some weird sixth sense that Ochako just couldn’t seem to tap into.
He had seemed nice enough when they first met. Sure, he wouldn’t stop taking selfies with her and posting them on his Instagram, but that went with the territory, she supposed. He was an online personality, so that came with the territory. But about ten minutes into their first visit it became clear that this was primarily about the photo-op.
He was dismissive and boring with the kids, giving far more attention to fans who had gathered at the different locations for pictures and autographs.
She knew that was the risk when you involved celebrities- hell it was a risk when you involved certain heroes, so that on its own, while annoying, would have been bearable.
What made the whole day feel like shit was the way he was talking to her and the way he was looking at her… like she was some kind of shiny toy for him to play with, leering and lingering. It wasn’t like he was the first person to look at her like- not by a long shot.
But it was the first one in a long time that she had to spend the whole day with, smiling and hugging and talking too.
He tried to make conversation in the car between sites, and Ochako tried to be polite as she listened to him drone on mindlessly about his celebrity, his endorsements, the last five-star resort he vacationed at, at least when he pulled out his phone, insisting on showing her pictures, she could check out and just nod and make surprised noises at the right parts of the story.
And all of it just made her miss Katsuki; made her wish that he was here; that he was her Santa again. He had been so awkward, and so out of place, but so eager to do it right, to prove that he was the best, despite also being distracted by her outfit.
Though, he never looked at her like this guy did; when he wanted her, she never felt like a shiny toy…she felt like her, her at her best.
It was one of her favorite things about him.
One of those things that made so much sense in her brain, something that she felt so strongly when he looked at her but had so much trouble expressing to him.
And this guy…all she felt when he looked at her was the desire to punch him in the throat.
But she had managed to get through it, they only had two more sites left and then she could put this day behind her with nothing but the disappointment that it didn’t go the way she wanted.
She was taking a few minutes to herself in the break room of the fourth center of the day, sipping at her water and trying to remember why she was doing this- why she enjoyed it so much. She loved seeing the community step up to be the hero, instead of expecting it of the pros. She loved when heroes showed up for the good things, not just for the disasters. She wasn’t going to let some asshole ruin that.
“Uravity! There you are!” Ochako let out a sigh as his irritating voice cut through her positive thinking.
“Here I am!” she said, standing up and taking her cup and plate to the sink. “But I think it’s about time for us to get out there. I know the site coordinator has the gift bags, so we need to go and find her and…” as she turned away from the sink to face him and finish her sentence, Kiko was standing right in front of her, face inches from hers as his hands braced on the counter, caging her against the cabinet.
“Uh…what the hell are you doing?” she asked.
Kiko smirked at her, a lecherous, skeevy thing that made her skin crawl. “Oh, come on, Uravity,” he said, her hero name had never sounded so ridiculous as it did when he said it. “You’ve been flirting with me all day, and this is the first moment we’ve been ablet o get any alone time.”
Ochako bit back all the ugliness that threatened to bubble out of her and tried to maintain the sweet façade she had almost made it through the whole day with. It would be such a waste to ruin this when they were almost done.
She gently pushed on his shoulders, so he wasn’t so close anymore. “Look Kiko,” she said. “I’m not sure where the lines of communication got crossed here, but I assure you that I was not flirting with you.”
“You kept calling yourself my helper elf, Uravity,” he said, cocking his head to the side as though he were talking to a simpleton.
“Yeah,” she said. “I also call you Santa when we are with the kids.” She attempted to turn back to the sink so she could wash her plate and her cup (she may be exhausted and pissy, but she was not going to leave dirty dishes in this place, her momma had certainly raised her better than that). “It’s all for the kids. The reality is that I am in a very happy relationship and was not flirting with you, so let’s just…”
“So,” he said. “I’m in a relationship too, that doesn’t mean that I can resist your ass in those tights, and don’t pretend like you haven’t been shaking it for me, Uravity, twirling that skirt around every time you saw me looking.”
Ochako breathed in and out and calmly set her clean plate in the drying rack, girding herself and drawing on every last bit of patience. She wasn’t afraid of the guy. She could take him out no problem- she just…really would like to go through the day without punching someone.
Was that so much to ask?
She just wanted to make these kids smile and be done, and that would be so much easier if her Santa did not have a black eye.
“Kiko,” she said, her voice low and even. “If you say one more word about my appearance or any part of my anatomy, you’re going to regret it.
She felt his hand brush against her skirt, no doubt moving for her ass. Ochako rolled her eyes and turned, smacking his hand away hard.
“Do you need your thumb to game, Kiko?” She snapped.
“Yeah?” He answered absently, eyes dipping to her chest as if he couldn’t hear her over the sound of her own existing breasts.
“We’ll, if you want your thumbs to remain unbroken, keep your hands to yourself.”
“Fuck you’re bossy,” he groaned, though it didn’t seem to be one of pain. “I love that, Uravity.” He was leaning back in toward and Ochako was mentally preparing herself for having to rough up a celebrity and all the repercussions that may go along with that. “Give me one night and you can boss me around however you…” yup, a simple no did not do it- she was going to have to be clearer, which she was ready and prepared to do. He was leaning back in, this time, it seemed, for a kiss.
“I told you,” she warned, her voice sharp and cutting, preparing to grab his arm and toss his ass against the counter until he apologized. “To stop…”
But before she could finish her threat, Kiko was ripped violently away from her and before Ochako could even register who or what happened, Kiko let out a yelp of pain as his arm was twisted painfully into his back as he was forced hard into the table, face being ground into the plastic surface.
Ochako blinked several times, trying to make sense of how Katsuki was here and not in the States before she leaped into the fray. “What the hell are you doing?!” she snapped, trying to wedge herself between them, but Katsuki kept an iron-clad grip on Kiko’s arm.
Katsuki looked at her a moment, confused by her question before his eyes narrowed with that familiar resolve that he always had in the face of a villain. “
“I’m taking out the trash, Cheeks!” he spat. “This piece of shit seems hell-bent on an ass-whooping for Christmas, so I’m gonna give it to him.”
“Come on, man,” breathed Kiko, trying to wiggle free. “You wouldn’t beat up a guy dressed as Santa, would you?”
“Tch…you could be dressed as fuckin’ Mother Theresa and I would still beat your ass.”
“No one is beating anyone’s ass!” shouted Ochako, slapping Katsuki hard across the chest, open-palmed and with all five fingers.
“Dammit, Cheek!” he barked as he started to float into the air. “Let me down!”
“Not until you let go of him, Katsuki!” He was still holding on, even as his back legs floated into the air behind him. “Let go of him before you break his arm!”
“I wasn’t gonna break his arm!” he protested.
“Felt like he was going to break my arm,” muttered Kiko.
Ochako turned on him, her death glare at full blast, and if that was enough to scare Lord Explosion God Dynamight, it was certainly enough to scare this chump. “I don’t want to hear another word out of you today,” she said. “Or I’ll float your ass to the moon!”
He immediately shut his mouth and Ochako turned her gaze back to Katsuki, who was meeting hers stubbornly.
“Let…go…” she said again, in a tone that left no room for warning. This time, he reluctantly obeyed and immediately started floating to the ceiling. “Now…” she said, turning toward Kiko now that Katsuki was temporarily neutralized and not stupid enough to use his blasts in a place like this. “You… get out!”
Kiko’s brows knit in confusion- though she wasn’t sure what he could possibly be confused about.
She felt that she was pretty clear.
“What?” he asked.
“I said, get out right now. You’ve made this day miserable for me from start to finish and I’ve been looking forward to it for months! I’m hoping that maybe I can salvage the last two visits of the day without you breathing down my neck and trying to feel me up.”
Above her, Katsuki let out a low angry growl.
“Quiet you!” she snapped, looking up briefly so that he would know that had been for him, before snapping her attention back toward Kiko like a ruler against a desk. “I don’t to spend another second with you and I’m disinviting you from today’s events.”
He scoffed. “You think I wanted to be at any of this shit…?” he asked. “I’m here because my agent said it would look good and because I thought maybe Uravity would be a little less uptight, but this sure as hell isn’t worth it.”
“I absolutely agree,” she said, nodding resolutely. “Please see yourself out.”
“Will fuckin’ do,” he shouted back, with an aggressive gesture of his middle finger.
“And leave the Santa costume!” she shouted back.
Kiko paused in the doorway, seeming to consider whether or not he wanted to ignore her command, but it seemed, as he smirked wickedly at her, he had arrived at a different option. He sauntered back toward her with a cocky bravado that made her stomach turn.
“Oi!” barked Katsuki. “She told you to beat it, asshole.”
“Yeah…yeah…yeah…” he said, eyes locked on her as he stopped a few feet away. “Just following the lady’s orders.” His arms crossed in front of him, grabbing the hem of his shirt and pulling it up slowly, theatrically like he was putting on a show.
“Oh, cooome on,” drawled Katsuki. “This is a youth center! Is this douchebag really gonna strip down in a place for children?”
It sure seemed that way. But Ochako, for her part, did not have the patience for this- the two men in this room had sucked her dry of all her patience. She not about to be a rabid audience for this man-child.
“You think this impresses me you little asshole?” she asked, reaching up and grabbing his ear to jerk his body down toward her. He howled in pain as she reached over his back and jerked the shirt off of him and over his head, mussing his hair along the way. “I watch Dynamight undress regularly, trust me when I say that you have nothing that I’m interested in seeing.”
He straightened up and stumbled away from her, a look of deep rage in his eyes, but it was the rage of a small man- the kind that had been slighted but did have the courage or the ability to do anything about it, so it simmered into an ugly resentment.
“God, you’re a bitch,” he snapped, tugging his pants off so that he was standing there in nothing but his boxers as he threw the pants at her, she caught them impassively. “Uravity’s all yours, Dynamight.”
“Keep her name out of your goddamn mouth!” roared Katsuki, kicking off the ceiling and rocketing himself toward him, but before he could reach him, Ochako reached out and grabbed his ankle and flipped him like a pancake back up to the ceiling as she advanced on Kiko- who, for the first time, looked appropriately afraid of her as he backed away.
“I’m going!” he said, scurrying toward the door. “I’m going!”
This time, he finally left the break room, leaving them alone for the first time, leaving Ochako alone with her rage, her embarrassment, and her deep disappointment. She pressed her fingers togethers and released her hold on Katsuki. She didn’t even bother warning him.
But all the same, he landed with the same gracefulness that he did everything else.
She remained where she was, holding a Santa suit, struggling to take deep calming breathes that were doing very little to calm her.
“I knew that guy was an asshole…” muttered Katsuki. She could hear him step closer. He reached out a hand to place it on her shoulder but before he could make contact she jerked away and whipped around to face him.
And from the way he reared back, she could only imagine what level of murder her gaze was at in this moment.
“Woa…” he held his hands up. “Don’t take your frustration out on me!” he said.
Ochako had never once been tempted to shove him in rage. She didn’t like the idea of even tiny shows of force when it came to fights or frustrations, even if they were harmless, she never wanted that to be a part of their relationship. They could beat the hell out of each other in a spar, but they were both such physical people, expressed so much with their bodies, that she had a very strict rule about touching him when she was mad. She never wanted those lines to get blurred.
But she really really wanted to smack him right now, and not because she was angry…that was there, sure, but there was something else much harder bubbling up in her chest, something that made her want to run and hide.
“Oh, trust me, Katsuki,” she said, her hands clenching at her sides. “I have plenty of frustration for the both of you, and you’ll be getting a whole heap of it specifically for you!”
He crossed his arms, his jaw set and his whole countenance shifting into fighting mode. “What the hell, Cheeks? I thought you’d be fucking happy to see me!”
“What exactly am I supposed to be happy about?” she sputtered incredulously. “That you apparently could have blown this mission off at any point and chose not too? Or that the reason you chose to drop out early was so you could come home and piss around your property?”
His face twisted in disgust at her words. “Oh, fuck you, Uraraka,” he spat, his own hurt rising in his voice. “When have I ever treated you like you were my property? Give me some credit!”
“That’s exactly what this is!” she said, gesturing between them. “Why else would you be here right now when you insisted over and over again that there was no way you could be here for Christmas!?”
“I came back because I thought that guy was an asshole!” he said.
“And did you think I couldn’t handle him if he made a move?” she asked, her whole body shaking.
“Of course not!” he said.
“Then you came here to make sure I didn’t return his advances?” she asked, clipped and cold, that tone that she knew made him get stupid and yelly in arguments. “You thought I was going to cheat on you, Katsuki?”
It was one of those unexpected turns in their relationship; well, unexpected for those who didn’t know them. Katsuki was the one who got worked up and emotional when they fought, while Ochako became cool, logical, and direct- almost brutal in the way she could corner him.
“No!” he shouted. “I didn’t think…”
“Then why are you here, Katsuki?” she interrupted, cutting off his protestation. “If you aren’t here because you heard I was spending the day with some hot rich dude, and you aren’t here because you think I needed protection from him, then why are you here, huh?”
She waited, desperate for an answer that would soothe the rage in her soul; soothe the deep embarrassment. Katsuki never made her feel shitty- ever. She always felt strong and competent and cherished with him.
This was the closest to feeling objectified that she had ever felt from him.
And she hated it worse than what she had felt all day with Kiko.
And she hated that he looked so angry at her; so frustrated; so helplessly groping for an explanation that would make her happy, like he couldn’t even conceive of what was making her upset in the first place.
“I’m allowed to come home whenever I want,” he finally answered, petulant and flippant, like she was the stupid one here.
“Oh, so the timing is entirely coincidental, is it?” she asked, daring him to even try to lie to her face, luckily, he had the good enough sense not to. “Was the mission not that important? Did you lie about that part? Because you went on and on and on about how important it was and what a great opportunity it was for your career!”
“It was! And I had to pull a lot of strings to get here when I did, and I don’t know why that makes you so fuckin mad, who cares about why I did it!”
She let out an angry growl and tugged at her roots, desperate for him to get it. “I do, Katsuki! How do you not get that! How do you not get how shitty this whole thing makes me feel?!”
His mouth opened, caught between those equal desires to be right and make sure Ochako was okay.
It seemed, when he was the source of her not okay-ness, he experienced some kind of breakdown of his mental faculties. “
You pulled those strings for Kiko or for you, maybe both,” she continued. “You apparently moved mountains to get here, but not for me! If it had been for me, you would have figured out a way to be here for me. When I needed you, and I didn’t need you for this!”
“God, you can be so fuckin’ difficult, Ochako!” he said, almost in the same way that Kiko had said it, not entirely, but enough to make every hair on her body stand up. “Why do you have to make such a big deal about this when most girls would consider this romantic and appreciate a grand gesture like this,” he said, his voice low and in a tone that she barley recognized because he never used it on her…he wanted to hurt her feelings.
She let out an angry bark of a laugh and shook her head. “Don’t you dare make this about me not appreciating you, Katsuki! I didn’t put up one word of protest when you left because I knew how important it was to you. I knew how big this could be for your career. That was a big romantic gesture,” she spat. “This is you being a brat and communicating very clear to me how you feel about me.”
“Yeah,” he snapped. “I thought it did communicate very clearly how I felt about you that I left an opportunity like that to come back when I was worried about you!”
“You know what that tells me, Katsuki?” she yelled, her voice trembling with hurt, all that rationality falling away as they neared the true source of all of her anger. “It tells me that you will figure out a way to make it home for some asshole who you’ve never met, but you won’t for me. Because this…” she gestured vaguely at him. “Whatever the hell this is, this is not for me.”
She stomped past him, wiping her tears away from her eyes before he could see them. She rarely hid her tears from him anymore, but right now she couldn’t even look at him. He hadn’t told her he loved her yet, and that was not something she was holding against him.
She understood they were different. And that was fine. She could handle that.
What she couldn’t handle was him caring about his pride more than he cared about her. That he would cross oceans for his pride, but not to be with her on Christmas.
For the first time, when it came to Katsuki, she didn’t feel like she was enough.
And she didn’t know how to manage that feeling.
###
Ochako was doing her best to listen to Mr. Takagi- she really was; but it was hard when all she wanted to do was curl up and cry, and all her energy was going to making sure that didn’t happen.
And given that this was this place where it all started- both this whole project that had had been a nightmare from start to finish and things with Katsuki- it was all so much more loaded with emotion and a desire to do well.
But she was a hero.
She could withstand an enormous amount of physical, emotional, and mental distress on the regular- she could handle this.
Plus, it was her debut as Santa, and she didn’t want to blow it.
She wouldn’t.
She would go be the best damn Santa those kids had ever seen!
“…so. it’s pretty much what you’re used to! We have a few more families this year and you’ll be in charge of the story and passing out gifts but if you need any extra help, don’t hesitate to let us know.”
She shook her head and smiled at him. “I got this, Mr. Takagi!” She exclaimed. “I promise I won’t let you down.”
He smiled at her, that calm affectionate smile she had come to really appreciate over the past few years. “I know you won’t, Uraviry,” he said, ruffling her hair. “Thanks for doing this again.”
“I’m happy to do it,” she said, more sincere than she thought she could muster in that moment. “All right if they are ready for me then…”
She paused, nothing the sudden look to surprise on Mr. Takagi’s face, his eyes fixed past her to the front entrance.
“I thought you said you weren’t bringing an elf?” he said.
“I didn’t,” she answered. She turned and for a moment could have sworn that she was hallucination, because that was certainly the only explanation for the sight in front of her. A sight that first struck her dumb and then sent her into an uncontrollable fit of laughter.
She was still pissed at him. And she knew there was another talk on the way between them, but right now, all she could do was laugh. Because there was Lord Explosion Murder God Dynamight, in all his fearsome glory, a scowl that could make the most wicked of villain’s quake, dressed from head-to-toe as a sexy, little worker elf.
Well, maybe not sexy on purpose, but she couldn’t deny the appeal of those peppermint striped leggings around those tree-trunks he called thighs that could hold her up against a wall. But the curled shoes with the bell at the ends, the floppy hat, and the fake ears had her in stitches.
“Katsuki!” she finally managed through her tears. “What are you doing?!”
“What does it look like I’m doin’?” he said, stomping toward her, with that resolution in his eyes that he brought to everything he did. “Santa needs her damn helper elf and I’m here for you!”
“Nice to see you again,” said Mr. Takagi. “Glad you could join us for a second year, Dynamight.”
He nodded, tugging down the long green tunic, making sure that his ass was covered, an ass she couldn’t help but wonder about in those leggings, an ass she would love to examine further in those leggingsn. If his legs looked that good, she couldn’t even imagine what the rest of him looked like.
But then she remembered that she was still mad at him.
Not mad enough to send him away, not when he had clearly gone out of his way to be a part of this with her in some weird, but somehow very Katsuki way, of making this up to her. She wasn’t that cruel, especially when he was blushing so adorably.
Fuuuck. Why was he so hot and cute?! Couldn’t he just pick one? It wasn’t fair that he already had a shoulder-to-waist relationship that always had her two seconds from sling-shotting her panties at him. But he also had that damn pout that turned her into a puddy in his explosive hands.
She cleared her throat and tried to refocus her attention onto het ask at hand. “All right,” she said, turning toward Mr. Takagi. “We’re ready when you are.”
###
Katsuki had been prepared to be utterly humiliated by the experience. But he couldn’t bring himself to care. Not when he could be on a razors edge when it came to whether or not he would even have a girlfriend come Christmas.
He had to take drastic measures.
And in this case, drastic measures meant showing her that he was here for her; that he did care about the things that she cared about; that he didn’t only care about himself.
Sure, he did care about himself- often to a fault.
But he cared about her more.
He had been super pissed for about five seconds before he realized how all of this looked.
Sure, he was jealous. But normal jealousy usually didn’t lead to cutting out early on a mission (even if it was all basically done) to come home and check on your girl when all she was doing was hanging out at a work-related event.
And this was about more than that.
So much more.
But he hadn’t told her that- he hadn’t told her anything; that he loved her or why he was afraid to say it.
What else was she supposed to think?
And somehow, along the way, all of that translated to him dressing up in the most humiliating and crotch-binding outfit of his life that he wasn’t entirely sure was 100% appropriate for children (at least the tunic was long and covered most of him). He wasn’t sure the exact thread that led to that, but here he was, standing in front of a room jam-packed with kids, some giggling at him, others wide-eyed at the sight of Uravity and Dynamight, and others were just delighted and intrigued by a woman Santa.
And somehow, just like last year, he was every bit as enthralled by Ochako. It made no sense. When she was dressed in the elf outfit, it made more sense; he defied any hot-blooded human not to be seduced by her in her ears. But this… she looked ridiculous right now.
The outfit was clearly far too big for her, constantly falling past her hands and almost tripping her at the legs.
The hat kept flopping into her eyes.
The beard kept slipping down and still…somehow, he had a hard time concentrating on anything other than her; her joy, her laugh, her smile, her eyes bright and seeing, every enthusiastic gesture, every sincere laugh at something the kids said, the way she shouted out their names, and the way she responded to their genuine excitement at their gifts.
He hadn’t been sure why he had needed to come home to her; why the thought of being with that asshole all day had set his teeth on edge.
But it wasn’t that he didn’t trust her.
It had been something far deeper- something he only just now understood, as he watched her delight a whole room of children, so casual and effortless.
She was good.
She was just so damn good.
Inside and out.
From head to toe.
She asked for so little of…well, anyone, and just poured so much of herself into everyone.
And for some reason, she had chosen him.
And some part of him, some part of him that he had been ignoring but now was screaming to be heard, just didn’t know why she had chosen him.
“Hey elf!” a voice shouted up at him. Katsuki turned his gaze turned down toward the little boy tugging at his tunic. Wide eyes tipped up at him, set in a face that was smeared with something that had once been a chocolate pastry.
“What do you want kid?” he asked.
“I was just wondering what it’s like working with Santa?!” he asked, his mouth wide and happy.
Katsuki bit back a snarky comment, his eyes going back up to Ochako, who was kneeling down, surrounded by kids and shaking the puff at the end of her hat in their face.
“It’s…uh…”
Everything.
Like fuckin’ Christmas all year round.
“It’s… pretty damn great.”
The kid let out a surprised gasp. “Do elves swear?’
“Uhhh…” Katsuki reached inside his pockets, grabbing a candy cane, before squatting down so he was closer to eye-level with him. “Listen kid, if you keep that to yourself, and don’t tell Santa…” he pulled out a candy cane and held it front of his eyes, “there’s an extra candy cane in it for you.”
The kid looked from the candy cane toward Santa, who was standing up and saying her goodbyes.
“Come on, kid,” said Katsuki. “Is it a deal?”
“Uh…” the kid looked between him and Santa, who was getting closer and closer before snatching the candy cane and pocketing it sneakily. “Deal!” he said, stepping away and looking up at the ceiling, attempting to whistle casually.
“Real smooth, kid,” Katsuki said, ruffling his hair before he stood up.
“Ready to go?” she asked, though she wasn’t looking him in the eye in the way she normally would. But she was talking to him.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “See ya kid and remember…” he made a zipping motion across his lips as he followed Ochako out.
They walked in silence, at first toward what he thought was the bathroom to change, but Ochako detoured suddenly into a random room. He wondered briefly if he was supposed to follow her or if she was trying to ditch him already.
But when she turned int the doorway, to find him lingering, she let out a growl of frustration before grabbing his wrist and jerking him inside, closing the door behind them.
He looked around, a laundry room.
Ochako let out a belabored sigh and turned to look at him. “All right,” she said, crossing her arms. “Start talkin’.”
“Eh?”
Wrong thing to say, apparently, because whatever patience he had accrued over this past hour was gone in an instant.
“Why are you here, Katsuki? Why are you here now? When you knew how sad I was to be alone at Christmas for the first time. Why are you now, suddenly, equipped with the ability to be here. Why was a hot gamer what got you back into the country and not me?”
Well, shit, when she put it that way.
“It wasn’t a hot gamer…” he started.
“Yes,” she bit out, stomping over to him, eyes blazing with anger, which wouldn’t be so bad on its own, but when mingled with the sheen of tears there…well, he didn’t like that one bit. “You said that already, now I would like to know what the reason is then.”
Shit.
Shit.
She wanted an actual answer.
“It…it wasn’t him,” he offered again lamely. “I wasn’t jealous.”
“That’s not an answer, Katsuki.”
That was the other time she said his name…when she was pissed at him.
“Just because it’s not the answer you want, doesn’t mean it’s not an answer, Ochako.” As soon as the comment left his mouth, he regretted it. But this is what he did. This is what he always did. Always. Anytime he edged too close to vulnerability, he lashed out. He had yet to do it to her, but now every instinct in his body told him to run rather than tell her the truth.
And from the look in her eyes, he was about to pay for it.
“Fine,” she said, voice ice cold as she back away from him. She offered nothing else- no assurance, no finality, but she said “fine” as though it was all she needed to say as she turned away from him.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Fuck.
He was about to get dumped in a laundry room dressed as a fuckin’ elf.
This was not gonna be the end of Dynavity, dammit.
And if it was, he wasn’t gonna go out like a lying coward.
“I wasn’t jealous,” he all but shouted. “I wasn’t fuckin’ jealous, Uraraka. I didn’t think you would fuckin’ cheat on me or some shit like that!” Her hand reached out to open the door. “I was fuckin’ threatened, okay?” The words tasted like battery acid, pathetic and angry and they made him feel completely stripped down, but they did the job.
She didn’t leave.
She turned, slowly, eyes still angry and hurt still flashing there. But she wasn’t leaving. And that made everything so much scarier.
“I know you would never do that. This wasn’t about me coming to check in on you.” He shouldn’t still be shouting, but he wasn’t sure how he could say all this without shouting. “I wasn’t comin’ to stake my claim on you or some shit like that. I’m worried about you getting sick of me! I was worried that you were gonna spend a whole day with what you could have and realize that was what you fuckin’ wanted.”
Her arms dropped, shock at the declaration chasing away the hurt.
“Katsuki,” she said, stepping a little closer. “You don’t have to…”
“Yes!” he bit out and backed away from her, something desperate in his voice that he didn’t really recognize. “Yes, I actually do have to worry about that, Uraraka. Because you deserve better than me and you’re the only damn person in the world who doesn’t fuckin’ know it Cheeks.”
Fuck, why did his voice crack like that?
He wasn’t a child, dammit.
“And one day you’re gonna realize it. You are,” he insisted. “You’re going to realize how much you deserve and then you’re gonna be done with me.”
Her eyes hardened again at that, but it lacked the heat of her last look, right now she looked more offended that anything else. “Katsuki…I…”
“And sure, that guy turned out to be an asshole, but it’s only a matter of time before you realize you deserve someone who says sweet shit to you, who decorates an apartment with you, or who can actually tell you that they love you! So, yeah, I’m threatened that you’re gonna get tired of me waiting to pull my head out my ass. So, I came home, because I was hoping I could hold onto you just a little fuckin’ longer before that happens.”
“Katsuki,” she snapped, her voice rising to his level for the first time. “Would you shut the fuck up?!” He obeyed; his mouth snapping shut. “Shut up and stop telling me all the things you think I’m going to do, okay? I don’t need you to speak for me, when I’m damn well able to do it myself.”
He opened his mouth to tell her that he knew that, but she held up her fingers and closed them, motioning for him to keep it quiet. “Zip it, elf!” she ordered. He growled, low and angry, but she wasn’t afraid of him.
She never had a reason to be.
“Do you really think that I don’t know what I deserve?” she asked.
He opened his mouth and then shut it. “Am…do you want me to answer?’
“No,” she snapped, that was rhetorical. “How dare you…” she shoved her finger hard into his chest, “accuse me of not knowing my worth! I have spent the whole last year, working my ass off to realize just what I deserve! You’ve been a huge part of that, Katsuki, so how dare you imply that all that work I’ve done has been for nothing.”
He wanted to interject, but he chose not to. He could read her looks pretty well at this point, and he could tell when she was about to go on a rant.
“I know exactly what I deserve. I deserve the best!” Her hands went to her hips, and she nodded her head firmly. “I deserve the things that I want, and I spent most of my life going without the things that I want, not knowing how to ask for the things I want, and I’m not about to go back to that now because some asshole…and yes, I mean you, decides that he knows better than I do, what I want!”
“OI!” he protested. “I’m not being an asshole, I’m…”
“Yes, you are! Katsuki, I am perfectly capable of determining what I want, and I want you, you big dummy! You’re all I want. I want the best, that means I want you. I want the guy who lets me decorate his apartment even though he doesn’t give a shit about Christmas decorations.” She took another step closer, closing the distance between them as the fierceness in her eyes grew with every declaration. “I want the guy who treats me like a hero and a woman when most of the world makes me feel like I have to choose. I want the guy who listens to me because he respects me but doesn’t agree with me just to get his dick wet.”
He thought momentarily of the two-week drought after he had called her a coward for her initial choice of where she would go be a sidekick. Sure, he should have said it nicer, but he had been right, she had admitted when she had finally come around again.
“Katsuki…” she was standing right in front of him now, “It’s okay if you can’t say it yet, or if you aren’t ready. It doesn’t mean anything that I said it first, I’m not simmering with some secret resenting.” She wrapped her fingers around both of his wrists and guided his hands around her as she stepped into his space with the confidence of someone who had a standing-invitation- rare in the Katsuki Chronicles. “You tell me every day, in a hundred different ways that you love me. Just because words aren’t the way you’re most comfortable communicating doesn’t mean I don’t know how important I am to you.”
She was right about that- she was important to him. Probably the most important person in the world to him. But he wasn’t sure what she was talking about. All that was just how he was with her. Surely, that wasn’t enough. H
“Katsuki… she said, her hands going up to cup his face, clearly reading the confusion there. “You dressed up like Santa for me last Christmas.” His hands settled on her hips. “And this year, you’re dressed in a ridiculous, but admittedly very sexy, elf outfit.” She draped her arms over his shoulders, her hands delicately playing with the hair on the nape of his neck peeking out from under the green hat atop his head. “You don’t think I know what that means coming from you?”
He exhaled slowly, some of the tension in his body falling away under her touch.
Of course she understood him.
She always did.
“I’m sorry,” he said, dropping his forehead against hers.
“Yeah,” she said, tightening her hold around his neck. “You should be, you acted like an idiot, and you really could’ve hurt that douchebag.”
“Tch…” his hands squeezed her hips, instinctively. “You’re one to talk; I saw that look in your eyes, you were two seconds away from breaking his hand.”
Her head fell back between her shoulders. “He was the wooorst!” she groaned. “You shoulda heard him in the car, he was going on and on about how Die Hard is his favorite Christmas movie!”
He laughed and drew her even closer. “Big mistake.”
“Like come on, why does everyone have to say Die Hard is there favorite Christmas movie like it’s some big, well-kept secret?”
He waited for a moment, knowing this rant full well by now. “Like good for you, you’re favorite Christmas movie is shared by half of the world’s population, you want a cookie?! You know I think it’s a perfectly fine Christmas movie!”
“I do,” he agreed, dropping a kiss to her cheek. “It’s in your rotation!”
“Exactly,” she said, slapping her palms lightly against his pecs. “It’s in my rotation! But you don’t see me going on about it like it’s somehow edgy!”
“Cheeks…”
“Like…it’s not a personality trait!”
“Cheeks…”
“I don’t go around and tell people that Elf is my favorite Christmas movie and then pause for applause!”
“Ochako!”
She stopped her rant, abruptly, and looked up at him, and apparently, he had effectively communicated all he wanted to with just a look, because her eyes immediately dilated and her face flushed that pretty pink that he loved. “Do you really want to talk about him, right now?” he asked, his tongue darting out to lick his lips. “You haven’t seen me in over a month.”
“True…” she agreed.
His hands moving from her waist to her ass, squeezing it fondly as he drew her closer. “And I didn’t get all dressed up for nothing,” he added.
She dragged her fingers along the skin of his neck, to his jaw, and then up to trace over his fake ears, almost drawing a purr from him. “I gotta say, I know I didn’t get it before but…” she leaned back enough to give him a once-over, before pressing even closer, the whole front of her body against his. “I get the appeal now.”
“That so?”
She bit her lip and let out a needy little noise as she nodded that went straight to his cock- something very difficult to hide in these tights.
Katsuki’s palms dug into her ass as he hoisted her up. She let out a squeal of surprise, but her legs went around his waist instinctively, drawing her firmly against the long, hard heat of him, and her sound of surprise gave way to a hot molten moan as she rolled her hips.
“Fuck I really missed you,” he breathed turning to set her on top of the washer right on the edge so that when he slotted himself between her knees, they could keep that heated contact when she wrapped her legs back around him.
Her ankles crossed at the small of his back, caging him like she would never let go.
“I missed you too,” she said, drawing him in for a kiss. Their first kiss in weeks. God, he loved the taste of her; loved the way she put her whole body into a kiss; loved the way her hands explored his body every time like it was the first time, like it surprised and delighted her every damn time.
He loved her.
He did.
He loved her so much.
He wanted to spend his whole life like this, wrapped up in her. His hands moved from her hips and onto her thighs, his thumbs grazing the crease of her thigh, her mouth opening against his. They were coming on almost a year since their last kiss, the one stolen outside of UA in the cold New Year’s Eve night.
It had been perfect.
But it had only gotten better since then- they were more confident now; they knew each other’s cues like the back of their own hands, knew how to read every shudder, sigh, and twitch. He knew how much she liked being kissed by him; he knew how to kiss her sweet, kiss her rough, kiss her hard, kiss her soft…whatever she was telling him that she wanted.
Because he had taken the time to learn.
And he supposed, maybe that was what she was referring to when she talked about showing her.
He struggled to tell her, but he showed her by making sure that there wasn’t a single part of her that was left unattended.
And she was no less eager to please him- always trying to outdo him as she offered him all of her affections without any hesitancy about whether or not she could trust him with them or not.
She never doubted him; not once, as a hero, as a man, as a person.
And he loved her for that.
He loved her for all of that. He pulled away from his kiss, dragging his lips down her cheek and to her jaw, his breathe ghosting along her skin all the way to her ear.
“Fuck,” she groaned, pulling him greedily toward her, rocking against him. “Katsuki, I need you right now.”
Katsuki knew that was a bad idea. He knew that was a bad fuckin’ idea. This place was crawling with people, and the last thing they needed was some poor unsuspecting kid happening in on them, never mind that the sign on the door said staff only; some of those kids probably couldn’t even fucking read.
But she was begging him. And it had been so long. And he had missed her so bad, and he was all but ready to risk it all, his lips tracking a familiar path down her throat, his hands moving up her hips and under her top, greedy for her bare skin.
But a Christmas cock-block (probably a blessing in disguise) came in the form of Mr. Takagi he opened the door. “Uraraka, Dynamight? Your car is…” he let out a yelp and Katsuki immediately jumped away from Ochako, set free when her legs fell as she scrambled to dismount the washer. Mr. Takagi shut the door completely, but they could still hear him on the other side. “Sorry to interrupt,” he said. “But…your car is waiting for you, and I heard your voices and thought that…”
Katsuki looked at Ochako, her red face buried in her hands, absolutely mortified. He supposed this was on him. “No need to apologize,” he said. “Obviously, we were misusing the facilities.”
“Oh…well…it’s not the intended use of the laundry room.”
“We are so so sorry,” said Ochako, finding her voice. “We weren’t planning on making out in a closet.”
“Yeah…yeah…that’s how those things go,” he said clearing his throat. “I…I think that perhaps the best solution here is for me to walk away, yes?”
“And never speak of it again?” asked Ochako.
“Agreed,” said Mr. Takagi.
“And you…you won’t forbid me from entering the premise ever again?”
Mr. Takagi laughed on the other side. “Please, Uraraka, you were one of our best volunteers last year you’re still helping us even as a pro. I was worried perhaps you were working too hard, so it’s good to know you’re enjoying yourself this holiday.” Katsuki let out a snort of a laugh as the awkward man rambled on. “You really should take better care of yourself, Uraraka. I thought when I saw you that you were looking a bit thin. Does that young man of yours keep you well fed?”
“Oh gawd…” mouthed Ochako, dropping her face into her hands.
“Damn straight he keeps her well fed,” shouted back Katsuki. Ochako smacked him in the shoulder.
“Oh good,” he said. “Happy to hear it! Well, I’ll walk away now and suggest the two of you take this elsewhere.”
“Yes, sir!” she called back.
“Merry Christmas, Uraraka.”
“Merry Christmas, Mr. Takagi,” she squeaked.
“Merry Christmas, Dynamight.”
“Merry Christmas,” he shouted back, in the hopes that it would expedite the man’s departure. When they heard nothing back in return, Katsuki let out a sigh of relief as Ochako slumped into his shoulder.
“That man almost caught you with your dick out Katsuki…”
“Oh please…” he straightened out his toga, attempting to cover what was going on in these damn tights. “You know I have a two-time rule. I don’t care how much you beg for my dick; you don’t get it until you’ve cum twice.”
Ochako to his surprise didn’t fluster and flush and sputter at him, instead she crossed her arms and looked him up and down. “Well, you better get a move on then, sexy helper elf! Because after the shit you pulled today, I’m expecting at least three times.”
His mouth widened into that gremlin grin- the one he couldn’t hold back when faced with a challenge.
“Come on, baby,” she said, holding out her hand to him. “Santa wants her Christmas present.”
Without comment and protest, he let her lead him out of the laundry room.
God, he loved this woman.
And he was coming around on Christmas, he supposed.