Chapter Text
Strawberries.
Katsuki’s favorite food was strawberries.
He hadn’t cared for them growing up - he had always thought they were too sweet - but they had grown on him. He thought they were cute.
But, of course, he couldn’t tell Midoriya why he suddenly liked strawberries so much. He didn’t eat them around Izuku anyways. He didn’t need to imagine that the green leaves and plump, red, freckled fruit were messy hair and flushed cheeks when Izuku was right there.
At UA, he got to see Izuku enough that he never ate strawberries. He had almost forgotten what they tasted like when Izuku signed up with Hawks instead of Endeavor, and then suddenly Katsuki mostly saw him on the news. He started eating a lot more strawberries.
Of course Kirishima and Kaminari teased him for his sudden ravenous hunger for strawberries - going so far as to call him a fruit before he offered to blow their balls off so they didn’t ever have to think about sex again - but he knew he couldn’t tell them why. He had never told anyone about his fondness for Izuku (maybe it was more than fondness, but he wouldn’t admit that), and he certainly wasn’t going to tell the biggest gossips he knew. They were worse than any of the girls in their class at UA, and everyone had quickly learned to leave them out of the loop on any secrets.
His next birthday, Kaminari and Kirishima got him a strawberry cake, topped with a heavily freckled strawberry whose leaves looked suspiciously like Izuku’s hair. Katsuki wanted to kill them, but that would mean admitting that their suspicions were right, and he would never do that. He grumbled through the party and made an early escape, even though it was his own party.
It had been nearly a year since graduation when Katsuki saw Izuku in person again. They were scheduled to be interviewed together - as two of the top heroes, there was a lot of interest in them. Katsuki didn’t even get to talk to Izuku. He sat next to Izuku on a couch, close enough to reach out and touch him, to grab his hand, to wrap his arms around the shorter man. But he didn’t do any of that. He answered the interview questions in his usual explosive way, nearly shouting at the reporter when she asked inappropriate questions. Of course people wanted to know more about heroes - the publicist for Endeavor’s agency had told him people would like him more if he shared his personal life - but Katsuki didn’t want to be a public figure. Being on the news was bad enough, he wasn’t going to give the reporter any fuel for future fires.
Of course, his plan to stay tightlipped backfired.
He immediately knew he had made a mistake, but it was too late. He couldn’t take it back. The interviewer had asked him if he was in a relationship, and he had growled, “Why would you need to know that?” He should have just said no. He quickly appended, “Anyways, I’m not,” but the interviewer’s eyes were already wide, and she was practically salivating over the story she would surely spin out of this.
“And you, Deku?” She asked, turning to Izuku.
Even after all these years, it was still weird to hear other people call him Deku. That had been Katsuki’s for so long, and he felt a pang of something (sadness? jealousy?) every time someone else called Izuku by the nickname. (Of course the nerd had chosen it for his hero name, probably just to spite Katsuki.)
Izuku grinned wide, showing all his teeth in a way that would have looked monstrous on Katsuki, and answered, “I’m not sure.”
What the FUCK kind of answer was that. Katsuki was so surprised he took a sharp breath, then did his best to neutralize his facial expression. He couldn’t make two blunders in one interview - Shoto would never let him live it down. (Shoto had never made a mistake in an interview. He was always calm, composed, and ready to answer any question. Fuck him.)
“Ooh, tell us more,” the interviewer said, leaning in towards Izuku. She clearly thought she was getting the scoop of a lifetime. Katsuki didn’t understand why this was what they were talking about. They should have been talking about the recent rescue mission they had collaborated on. It had gone off without a hitch, and Katsuki had some new photos of him and Izuku working together to hide under his mattress.
“No,” Izuku said simply, his eyes twinkling in the innocent way that only he could pull off.
“Well, we’ll just have to wait until you make it official!” The interviewer clapped, then continued, “Looks like we’re almost out of time folks - are there any last minute questions from the audience?”
Katsuki had all but forgotten that they were not only being broadcast live on air but were seated in front of a packed audience. He only had eyes for Izuku (and he hoped no one else noticed that he was staring).