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Katsuki had first noticed it when they had both stepped into Midoriya’s room; he had been in the room plenty of times before. Before they had moved into the dorms back when they were much younger, Katsuki had been in Midoriya’s room plenty of times. His room at the dorms was hardly any different.
However, it was Shouto’s first time ever entering the other boy’s space. His eyes wide in wonder as he looks at all the All Might merchandise scattered around the room. Katsuki moves from the door to make himself comfortable on the bed, Midoriya already settled there with his work books out ready to study together. They both watch Shouto look around, getting close to the shelf with the figurines placed on them but not close enough as if he’s afraid he’ll break them if he gets too close.
“You can pick them up if you want.” Midoriya says, encouraging him. Shouto startles a little and shakes his head before he turns to look at them both. He doesn’t say anything as he walks over and sits next to Katsuki, taking out his own books. They don’t say anything about it, clearly Shouto doesn’t want to talk about it, so they don’t.
He starts to maybe understand it more when they were sent to buy gifts for Kaminari’s birthday. Katsuki clutches the list in his hand that they were provided with along with the money everyone had chipped in. (Mostly from Momo and Shouto themselves but it was whatever, they were loaded.) Midoriya bounces on his feet at the doors to the store waiting for Katsuki and Shouto to catch up before he’s bounding in. Shouto looks at Katsuki confused and he just shrugs back at him. They soon find him in the figurine aisle, clutching a packaged All Might.
“Look! It’s the new one!” He beams
“Is this why you were so excited to tag along!? Because you wanted to get something for yourself!?” Katsuki asks
“Well… it was just a lucky coincidence.” He smiles sheepishly and Katsuki scoffs and rolls his eyes.
“Whatever, we’re still here to pick up the shit for Pikachu so can we get going.” He shoves the list into Midoriya’s hand who nods enthusiastically. He’s still holding the All Might figure with his other hand as he scurries off to collect the things on the list. Katsuki turns around and he finds himself stuck in his spot as he watches Shouto. The boy in front of him had moved a little further away, into what was labeled as the “toys for girls” section which was honestly ridiculous in Katsuki’s opinion, they were all just pieces of plastic anyway. He watches as Shouto reaches out, touching the plastic packaging of something with delicate fingers. Katsuki can’t see whatever it is from where he stands but he knows it’s got Shouto’s full attention. He walks over to him and stands behind him, Shouto still too caught up in the toy he’s looking at. Katsuki can see it now, it’s a doll of some girl, long black hair and what appears to be stylish clothes on her. He thinks he remembers seeing these dolls advertised a few times, if he remembers correctly he recalls his mother talking about how they were very stylish and she was excited about them with her line of work. Katsuki didn’t know much more than that. He wonders if he should ask his mother about them.
“You okay, Halfie?” He asks and the change in Shouto is so sudden. He pulls back like he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t have been, almost stumbling back into Katsuki. Katsuki catches him before he crashes fully into him, hands on his shoulders and Shouto shakes him off. His face is red when he turns to face him.
“I was… I…” He looks back at the doll, a huff escaping his lips before he’s looking back at Katsuki “I saw it and thought maybe Eri would like it.” He finally says and Katsuki stares at him, he knows it’s a lie. Knows it’s not the real reason but he also knows Shouto isn’t ready to tell him that so he just nods.
“Hm, I think she might already have one.” He says instead and he grabs Shouto’s hand. “C’mon, let’s find that idiot before he tries to buy more things than what’s on the list.”
He definitely gets it when he’s babysitting Eri with Shouto. He doesn’t know how he ends up in these situations, why Aizawa had asked them specifically to babysit. Why couldn’t Midoriya or Mirio do it? It didn’t really matter though, he was already in her playroom, sitting on the most uncomfortable plastic kids chair ever as Eri pretends to pour them some tea in their plastic tea cups.
“I don’t like tea.” Shouto deadpans as he stares into the cup.
“It’s not real, dipshit. Just pretend.” Katsuki says
“What’s a dipshit?” Eri asks and Katsuki almost chokes.
“It’s Icyhot. But… you can’t say that, okay? Only I’m allowed to say it.” He says and Shouto is staring at him with a raised eyebrow.
“Hmm, okay. I will get Hero Shouto something else to drink! Do you like juice?” She asks and Shouto nods.
“I like juice.” He confirms and Eri scurries off to pretend to make some juice before she’s back and pouring it into the cup.
“Oh no!” Eri suddenly gasps out. “I forgot our other guests! Don’t drink it yet!” She says and rushes away to rummage around in her toy box, pulling out various things to find what she was looking for.
“My tea is going to be cold before they get here.” Katsuki says and Shouto nudges him with his foot under the table and mouths ‘it’s not real.’ and Katsuki just smirks back at him. Eri comes back over to the table, arms full of different toys. She places them onto the table and starts to seat some of them into the spare chairs. She carefully places the plushies, telling them their names and making them say ‘hello’ to each one. She has a few figures of pro-heroes that she sits with the plushies and finally a doll that she picks up.
“This is Sasha, say hello!” She says excitedly as she places the doll on the chair with the bunny plushie that admittedly Katsuki had already forgotten the name of. They both say hello to the doll and they can finally start the tea (or juice in Shouto’s case) party.
It happens a little later, Katsuki still sitting in that uncomfortable chair but Shouto had moved to the floor after Eri had taken his hand and asked him to play. It was obvious Shouto had no idea what it meant to play, unsure with everything he was doing. Eri didn’t mind though, she had once been in that position herself. She passes the Sasha doll to Shouto along with a small brush.
“Here, you can brush her hair.” She tells him and she’s back muttering to one of her plushies. Katsuki watches Shouto hold the doll, the boy staring at it intently. He turns it around in his hands just looking and his eyes widen when he realises the arms move as well as the legs. Shouto moves the arms up and down, as if testing it out before he places them back how they were by her sides. His fingers touch the hair of the doll and they remain there for most of the time. Shouto just threading his fingers through, brushing the hair with the small brush Eri had given him. Katsuki thinks he likes how it feels on his skin.
When Aizawa is back and it’s time for them to go, Shouto almost looks hesitant to give the doll back, but he does. He gives it to Eri and smiles at her before they tell her goodbye and promise they’d be back to play with her again soon.
Yeah, Katsuki understands it now. Especially when he’s caught his boyfriend watching videos of collectors of the dolls. Watching them clean them up from the previous owners and style them however they want. He thinks he recognises some of his mother’s work on the dolls, some of the clothes resemble that of hers.
He asks about the dolls one night, they’re cuddling in bed. Shouto tucked into him, head propped against his chest, Katsuki’s arm laying across his back. They’re both tired and Katsuki thinks if there’s a best time to ask, it’s now.
“Hey, Shou?”
“Hm?”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Anything.”
“It’s about… about that doll I saw you staring at in the store a while ago.” He feels Shouto tense against him and he automatically starts to trace patterns across his back with his fingers to calm him. “There’s nothing wrong, I just wanted to know if you wanted one?”
“No.” He says quickly, almost defensive.
“Are you sure? Because I’ve noticed that you watch stuff about them and the time with Eri… it’s okay if you want one. You know that right?”
“I… no. I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“They’re for girls aren’t they?”
“Hah?” His fingers stop tracing patterns and Shouto moves to sit up, he crosses his legs in front of himself and Katsuki props himself up onto his elbows.
“Well… they’re in the girls section and I’ve only ever seen girls with them. So… I can't have them even if I wanted one, right?” He explains and Katsuki wants to blast societal norms right in the face.
“That’s not… no. You can have them, if you want them, you can have them. The whole ‘boys and girls toys’ is bullshit. It’s just a way to get more money out of parents and to control kids. Honestly, more people are starting to not even care about that stuff anymore. I’m sure there’s plenty of boys who like those dolls, maybe they’re just shy about it like you.”
“You don’t think it’s weird?” Shouto asks and he looks down at his hands resting in his lap.
“Fuck no.” He sits up properly now, facing his boyfriend. “Shouto, look at me.” Shouto lifts his head to look at him and Katsuki smiles at him a little “I promise you, it’s not weird. Anyone who tells you it is, you send them straight to me, you got that?” Shouto laughs and nods. “Good.” Katsuki leans over and kisses his forehead.
“I really like them.” Shouto says quietly, like it’s the first time he’s admitting it to himself.
“I know, Princess. I’m pretty sure they made movies about them, you know? We can find them some time if you want?”
“Really!?” Shouto’s eyes light up and Katsuki smiles and nods.
“Of course.” Katsuki thinks he’d give anything to see that look on Shouto’s face again.
It’s only a week later when Katsuki is shoving a gift into Shouto’s hands. It’s wrapped up in some stupid princess paper because Katsuki thought it’d be funny.
“What’s this?” Shouto asks as he inspects it.
“It’s a gift… for you.” Katsuki tells him.
“But it’s not my birthday?”
“It doesn’t have to be, dipshit. Just fucking open it.” Katsuki was getting a little nervous, second guessing himself. Wondering if he made the right decision. Shouto carefully tears away at the paper, occasionally looking up at Katsuki in confusion. He pulls out the plastic box and a gasp leaves his lips as he stares at it. His fingers run along the box in awe. He looks up at Katsuki, tears in his eyes and Katsuki almost panics thinking he fucked up.
“Are you sure? This is for me?” Shouto asks and Katsuki just nods. Shouto carefully sets it down and he’s standing up and throwing his arms around Katsuki. The blond almost stumbles back at the impact but catches himself and wraps his arms around Shouto.
“You like it?” He asks.
“I love it, Kats. I really do. Thank you.” Katsuki can hear the smile in his voice and it makes him feel so happy.
“You’re welcome, baby.” He kisses the side of his head and Shouto pulls back a little to kiss him properly and it almost seems like he’s forgotten about the gift until he’s pulling away and out of Katsuki’s grasp.
“Can we open it? Are we allowed to do that? Take it out of the packaging?” He asks as he sits on the floor and picks the box up.
“Whatever you want to do with it. It’s yours. If you wanna open it, you can.” Katsuki sits next to him and Shouto gets to work opening the plastic, melting some of it away so it’s easier to get into and he’s carefully taking the doll out along with the items it comes with. His fingers brush through her hair and he’s smiling. “It’s the same one you were looking at, I wasn’t sure if she’d be your favourite out of them all but I figured because you saw her first then it’d be special for your first one.”
“I love her, Kats. I really do.”
“Oh! Also… here.” Katsuki digs into his pockets and pulls out a little bag and hands it to Shouto. He opens it up and pulls out clothes that were the size to fit the doll. “My mother worked on a line for them… it was some sort of collab a couple of years ago. She had some left over and she said I could give them to you.” He shrugs
“She made these!?” Shouto asks
“Yeah, apparently the collab did really well. First I heard of it but she never talked a lot about her work anyways. She said she’d keep a lookout for any of the dolls in the collection, people would be happy to give them to her and she said you could have them if you wanted.” He explains and Shouto’s eyes widen.
“Really!?”
“Yeah. She likes you a lot… says you’re good for me or something. She also said you should come over for dinner sometime and she can make you some clothes for the dolls.” He smiles and Shouto kisses him.
“That’d be good, she doesn’t have to make me anything though.”
“Please, she’d do it even if you didn’t want her to. I think she misses working on projects like that.”
“Hmm, in that case then I should think about what I’d want then to wear.” He says and Katsuki laughs. “Thank you… for this. All of this… it means a lot, Kats. You have no idea.” Shouto tells him and Katsuki nods.
“It’s okay, I just want you to be happy and if having these helps with that then I’m glad to help.” Katsuki says. He was glad he could help Shouto have things that he missed out on, help him understand that it didn’t matter if he was a boy, he could have the damn doll if he wanted it. Most of all, he was happy he could put a smile like that on his face and know Shouto was happy too.