Chapter Text
One day in early January, Katsuki wakes up and he actually feels…good?
He feels like he won’t have to drag himself out of bed this morning, like he can just get up and get on with shit.
It’d be fantastic if not for the fact that it’s his day off and he doesn’t have to be awake right now. Go fucking figure.
Deku’s still a lump on the mattress behind him, dead asleep and pressed up against his back with his arm draped around Katsuki’s waist. Katsuki doesn’t really want to wake him. Between the two of them, it’s Deku who’s the early riser – if Katsuki doesn’t have to be awake for work or to squeeze in a morning run or whatever else, then he’s usually more than happy to burrow under the covers for an extra hour or two. So if Deku isn’t awake yet, then that means it’s probably stupid fucking early.
A quick glance toward the window confirms it’s still gray outside, the sun barely up, and Katsuki lets out a quiet groan.
He should probably try to get some more sleep. It certainly couldn’t hurt, seeing as how lately he never feels like he’s gotten enough.
Right, okay.
Back to bed. At least until Deku gets up.
…
Katsuki makes it ten more minutes before he growls out an irritated sound and rolls over, pushing forward until Deku’s on his back and Katsuki can shuffle on top of him and nudge a thigh in between his legs.
“Oi,” he says, arms folded across Deku’s chest. He rocks his hips forward a bit. “Izuku.”
Deku mumbles something unintelligibly but Katsuki can feel him against his thigh, can feel his typical morning situation twitching and beginning to wake up even more. He moves his hips again, more insistently this time, an urgency that comes from Katsuki’s sudden realization that he’s practically fucking vibrating with his own arousal and holy shit where did that come from? The feeling spikes when Deku finally cracks his eyes open to peer sleepily up at him.
“Morning,” he murmurs. His arms curl behind Katsuki’s back as a smile begins to curve his lips. “You’re up early.”
Too early, but hey, at least he can make the most of it. “Wanna fuck?” Katsuki blurts out, grinding his pelvis downward again, and Deku’s eyes go wide.
“Uh…yes.”
Katsuki grins. “Awesome,” he says, and then he stretches up to claim Deku’s mouth in a hungry kiss, morning breath be damned.
After, when Deku is tucked against Katsuki’s side, skin warm and sticky between them, he cranes his head back to give Katsuki a curious look. “You’re awfully energetic for a weekend.”
“Slept well, I guess.” Katsuki strokes his hand down Deku’s spine. “Do we still gotta go shopping or whatever today?”
“Mm.” Deku’s arm is slung across Katsuki’s stomach, and he gives him a firm squeeze before sighing and pulling away to starfish across his half of the mattress. “Need to find something for Todoroki’s birthday.”
Katsuki scowls. “He’s a grown-ass adult, he doesn’t need a birthday present.”
“Kacchan,” Deku says, turning his head to level him with an unimpressed stare. “He got you something last year.”
“He got me merch,” Katsuki shoots back flatly. “His own merch. He gave me a fucking Shouto t-shirt, Izuku. With his FACE on it.”
Deku snickers a little. “It’s really soft, though! I like it.”
“I thought I exploded it.”
“Nah, I wear it to the gym sometimes.”
“What?”
“Come on.” Deku lurches up into a sitting position with a grunt and stretches his arms above his head. “We should get moving.”
Katsuki grumbles but reluctantly follows suit. “Whatever. I’m fucking starving, let’s stop somewhere for breakfast.”
“Oh, that sounds good!”
They inevitably end up in a hero merch store about five seconds after they get to the shopping mall. Never fails, but Deku’s eyes practically light up with glee as soon as they walk through the entrance so Katsuki supposes it’s worth it. Hell, maybe he can find a Dynamight beach towel or some shit to throw at Icy Hot.
He drifts away from Deku, leaving him nerding out over the latest Hawks and Mirko action figures, and wanders further back into the store. It’s always a trip coming to these kinds of places because Katsuki is really only half aware of what’s floating around out there with his name, face, or colors on it. They have to sign off on stuff every so often and he’s gotten roped into his fair share of photo shoots, but for the most part he doesn’t have to deal with that shit because there’s an entire department at the agency that takes care of their merchandising for them.
So it’s a little bit of a surprise when he stumbles across a whole rack of baby clothes and finds a miniature version of his costume redesigned to fit a tiny little onesie.
Katsuki stops short, staring at it.
There’s more than just his costume. There’s one for Deku and Half-and-Half, as well, and then a bunch of others for all the usual heroes who tend to get the most merch. There’s even about five different All Might variations and he hasn’t been active in years.
The Deku onesie is so fucking cute. It’s got a little hood with little bunny-like ears and everything, fuck.
Katsuki reaches for it before he can stop himself, though he sort of pauses and peers quickly around the shop once he’s got it in his hands. He doesn’t really know why – probably because the idea of some shitty tabloid running wild with a story about him looking at baby clothes would be a pain in the ass to deal with.
Luckily, it’s still early enough that there aren’t too many people out. There’s only a small group of teens clustered together in another corner of the store, so Katsuki just tugs the brim of his hat lower and goes back to staring at the onesie.
It's so small.
He can’t believe Kaminari’s going to be in charge of anything that’s this itty bitty. He also can’t believe Ears is cooking up an actual human being inside of her that will eventually fit into this thing.
For some reason, Katsuki finds himself holding the onesie up against his stomach.
He can’t even fathom it. Kyouka’s like half his size, too, so she’s probably going to end up looking like she swallowed a beach ball.
“Oh my god,” Deku says suddenly from right fucking beside him, and Katsuki nearly startles out of his own skin. “Oh, they’re adorable.” He’s got the Dynamight onesie in his hands and is staring down at it, starry-eyed. “Kacchan, look!”
Katsuki snorts a little. “I saw it.”
“It’s too bad there isn’t one for Chargebolt or Earphone Jack.”
“Fuck that, I’m definitely buying the Dynamight one for them.”
Deku grins at that, amused, but then he suddenly gasps and reaches for something else. “Look at these teeny tiny shoes!!”
The baby shoes are somehow even cuter than the onesies, holy shit.
“The old hag always claims those are pointless,” Katsuki says, but he picks up a pair of the Hawks shoes anyway. They have the eensiest little wings sticking out on the sides of them.
“What? Why?” Deku demands.
“I don’t fucking know. Not like babies are doing a lot of walking, I guess.” Katsuki shrugs and Deku deflates a bit.
“Oh. That’s true.” He looks down the clothing rack, eyeing all the various options. “God, I’d probably buy an entire store’s worth anyway.”
“Dumbass. I’m limiting you to two pairs,” Katsuki says.
Deku huffs. “Mean,” he says, and then laughs. “Fine, as long as you don’t limit the hero clothes.”
“Nah, go crazy with that. Baby’s gotta wear something.”
“Kyouka probably doesn’t feel the same way, huh?”
“She can dress her kid however she wants, I’m still getting her a Dynamight onesie.”
“Hey.” Deku leans in close to him. “Those kids are looking at the Deku backpacks. Should I go say hi?”
It’s the same group that Katsuki noticed earlier. They’re talking animatedly amongst themselves now and gesticulating wildly – it looks like they’re recounting the B-grade villain attack Deku took care of last week. “Go for it,” Katsuki says. He holds out a hand and Deku passes the Dynamight outfit over. “I’m gonna go buy this.”
“Okay. I’ll meet you up front in a few?”
“Sure.”
Deku slips past him and Katsuki waits until he hears the delighted squeals and shouts emerging from the surprised teenagers before he starts snatching up a good half of the baby clothes that are on display. He grabs a second Dynamight onesie, another Deku outfit, a Lemillion one, Mirko, Gang Orca, at least three of the All Might variations – fuck it, he even picks up the damn Shouto onesie.
…And he keeps the Hawks shoes.
He also spots a pair of truly hideous denim Best Jeanist baby shoes and takes those, too.
What he’s even doing, he has no idea. Kaminari can have one each of the Dynamight and Deku outfits, but the rest… What the fuck is he supposed to do with them?
Save them? Apparently?? For…whenever???
Shit, he’ll shove them in the back of his closet once he gets home or something, he just – he wants them. It’s some weird urge that he can’t even begin to explain, but the clothes are SO SMALL and SO GODDAMN CUTE and it’s his own fucking merch so, like, whatever.
He can buy this garbage if he wants.
Deku’s none the wiser. When he meets Katsuki at the front of the store, he clearly assumes Katsuki did the normal thing and only bought a couple outfits for their actually pregnant friends who are actually expecting a baby, and Katsuki doesn’t bother to show him what else is in the bag.
They hit three more stores in the mall before Deku finally finds something he deems worthy for Todoroki, and thank fuck for that because whatever burst of energy Katsuki had woken up with that morning is fading fast.
“Ready to go home?” Deku asks when they exit the final shop, and Katsuki nods.
“Yeah.” …Wait. “No. Let’s get lunch first.”
Deku blinks at him. “You want lunch?”
“Why the fuck wouldn’t I want lunch?”
“Ah, sorry, I just…” Deku scratches at the back of his head, looking like he’s uncertain if he should say something or not. “You ate a ton at breakfast, so.”
Katsuki scowls and, inexplicably, feels his cheeks go warm. “And I’ll burn it all off at work, what’s your point?”
“You even finished my food.”
“I overdid it at the gym yesterday,” Katsuki lies, and then immediately wonders why he said that. Why’s he being so fucking cagey today? So he’s hungry, so fucking what.
He actually skipped his last workout (again), but that’s beside the point. It’s not like he doesn’t get a shitload of exercise most days just because of his damn job.
Deku’s eyebrows arch a bit, but he doesn’t question him. “Okay. My bad, then. What’re you hungry for?”
Katsuki just sort of glowers back at him for a moment. He feels all keyed up now for some reason, or like he’s somehow acting suspicious. It’s got him weirdly on the defensive but he doesn’t know what the fuck he’s defensive over. “There’s a KFC in the food court,” he eventually says, and Deku’s eyebrows lift even higher.
“Again?”
“Fucking– Fine, asshole, where do you wanna go?” Katsuki snaps.
“Whoa, hey,” Deku says, frowning now, and Katsuki’s emotional pendulum swings the other direction as something guilt-ridden and horrified abruptly washes over him.
“I – shit. Sorry,” he mutters, dragging a hand through his hair. “I don’t… We can go wherever.”
Deku watches him carefully for a moment. “Honestly, I’m not really hungry so I probably won’t get much. We can do KFC – but we should cook, like, real food for dinner.”
Katsuki shoves down the insane urge to complain that fried chicken is still chicken, and chicken is real food and healthy enough, Deku, geez…but truthfully he’s just craving their fries and there’s no trying to justify that.
“Fine,” he grumbles instead. He grabs Deku’s hand, tugging him along to the food court. “We can pick up salmon on the way home. I’ll make something.”
“Okay. Do you want to go for a run with me later?” Deku asks cheerfully, and ugh, no, Katsuki really doesn’t.
“Sure, nerd. Sounds good.”
But he probably should.
See, it’s like this. Katsuki doesn’t really believe in the concept of “cheat days” or whatever the fuck. He’s active as hell, even with his lightened gym routine as of late, and he eats all the right things a majority of the time. If he wants to indulge in shitty fast food every so often, he’s not going to blow himself up for it or claim it’s a one-off. He’s allowed.
And Deku usually doesn’t get on his case about it because it’s just not a concern with their lifestyles. Plus, he’s the same way. Katsuki’s come home from a late shift more than once to find him shoving instant ramen in his face because he wanted a snack, and the only response it’s ever gotten out of him is a roll of his eyes.
The issue is that occasional indulgence is one thing, but whatever is making Katsuki’s jeans continue to feel like they’re not fitting right is something else entirely.
He’s always worn his pants one size up, so it’s not like they suddenly don’t fit. But they’re definitely not as loose as they should be. Lately, he’s just taken to wearing joggers or sweatpants whenever he can get away with it because everything else is slowly becoming a pain in the ass.
At least his hero gear isn’t as restrictive.
Katsuki hadn’t thought it was something that anyone else had noticed, though. He’s never been self-conscious about his body before and when he’s glaring at his reflection in the mirror most evenings, he still looks…mostly fine. Muscle definition is all still there. He thinks his waistline is maybe a little thicker?
He can’t really tell himself he looks bloated anymore because it’s not like it ever went away. And he knows he’s always been pretty narrow around the middle – Deku’s commented on it enough over the years. The nerd’s kind of, like, really obsessed with it for some reason.
So if he’s filling out some around there and it’s actually noticeable to others, then maybe that’s why Deku’s suddenly all skeptical about Katsuki wanting to inhale some fucking fries.
He just needs to be a little more mindful, that’s all. Not let “occasional” turn into a worrying habit.
And stop fumbling his workout schedule, fuck.
He manages for a little while.
Katsuki rides the energetic wave he’s suddenly been blessed with for the next couple weeks. Sometimes it gets him through a full day. Other times he starts to crash in the afternoon and has to drag himself through the last few hours of patrol.
Mornings are definitely the best. He keeps waking up raring to go in more ways than one, and at least taking care of that with Deku puts some pep in his step for the first half of his shift.
So, of course, right as things are seemingly starting to right themselves, it’s absolutely fucking typical that that’s when Deku gets pulled into a two-week joint agency mission with Fat Gum’s crew down in Esuha City and everything goes to shit.
“I’ll be back by Valentine’s Day,” Deku tries to reassure him when they’re at the train station, as though that’s something Katsuki was particularly worried about. “This is going to be the fastest two weeks ever, you’ll see.”
“Hangout at our place that Friday,” Kirishima chimes in. He got called for the mission, as well, representing his own agency, so he and Deku are traveling down together.
“We’re inviting everyone,” Mina adds. “We haven’t all been in the same place since the rankings reveal! It’s been too long.”
“It’s been two months,” Katsuki says, voice flat.
“Exactly!” she cries. “Don’t be a grumpy butt, Bakugou. You know it’s fun when we’re together.”
Deku laughs. “Don’t worry, we’ll be there.”
The speaker system sounds overhead, announcing a final boarding call for the train and prompting the four of them to get in their final hugs and goodbyes. Katsuki finds himself clinging to Deku a bit longer than he normally would, not entirely willing to let him go.
It’s dumb as fuck because it’s not like this is the first time one of them has assisted on an out-of-town mission. They’ve been apart from each other before.
Katsuki just…really isn’t looking forward to it this time. For some reason.
Like, he’s nearly fucking emotional about it, what the shit.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” he mumbles to Deku, arms still wrapped around his shoulders like he’s some kind of damn koala.
“I won’t,” Deku assures. He ends up being the one to pull back, but he leans in for a quick kiss before he disentangles himself entirely. “You be careful, too, Kacchan.”
“Always am.”
Deku reaches for his suitcase. “I love you.”
And, to Katsuki’s horror, his throat tightens. “Love you, too,” he forces out, trying to sound like he’s not currently all choked up. His eyes burn and he blinks rapidly, turning away to let Kirishima drag him into his own hug. “Both you dumbasses better stay safe.”
“I’ve got his back, bro,” Kirishima says. “Don’t worry.”
They finally board, and then Katsuki and Mina do that stupid thing where they linger on the platform until the train is nothing but a speck in the distance. Mina’s slumped into Katsuki’s side, curled around one of his arms.
“Facials and sad movies at my place?” she asks after another few minutes have slowly dragged by.
Katsuki just nods. “Sure.”
Usually when Deku is gone, Katsuki tries to pick up a few extra shifts just to give him something to do. Lemillion doesn’t let him this time, which is annoying. But…maybe also a good thing.
Because his body is starting to do shit that is quickly descending into levels of what-the-fuckery that Katsuki is having a hard time continuing to ignore.
He’s hungry all the time now. The problem is it’s not just his waistline that’s inexplicably widening anymore – he’s pretty sure his stomach is also starting to expand outward in a worrying way. If he sucks his gut in, he still looks fine. But it’s at the point where he can’t just pretend he’s not gaining weight, so that kicks off a vicious cycle where he actively tries to cut back and put himself on a legitimate diet, which just means he feels like he’s starving all fucking day. When he inevitably caves and shovels down some food, he feels gross about it. And it sucks because what he sees in the mirror now is a constant reminder that he shouldn’t do that but he’s so goddamn hungry when he doesn’t eat enough and–
Okay, so he’s spiraling a bit.
His brain circles back around to the idea that he should probably go see a fucking doctor. He meant to back during the New Year, if he’s being honest. He really did. But he kept forgetting to actually make the call to schedule an appointment and then it seemed like things had kind of gotten back to normal for a little while there.
It’s clear now that whatever the hell is going on with him is anything but normal.
Aside from starting to grow without his permission, his stomach is doing this weird thing where it cramps up randomly throughout the day, too. And every so often he’ll get this kind of brief fluttery feeling in his gut.
He still has those bursts of energy, but they don’t seem to correlate with what he’s actually capable of doing.
That, honestly, is the biggest concern.
Katsuki’s on his usual patrol route one day when all hell breaks loose downtown. Some bastard with a growth Quirk not dissimilar to Mt. Lady’s starts wreaking havoc in the business district right in the middle of the work day, and he’s got a couple of lackeys with him making a mess of shit. Katsuki gets there within minutes and takes care of one of the lesser jerks in no time, but the big fucker is starting to smash through some of the high-rises. As one of the heroes on the scene who can fly, he quickly switches gears and starts evacuating civilians from the upper floors.
It's the kind of attack that draws in a lot of heroes, including most of Katsuki’s agency since their office is nearby. Lemillion’s there, barking orders and going after the oversized asshole while Centipeder takes on the other lackey. Katsuki keeps pulling people out of windows, blasting from one to the next and handing them off to Kamui Woods, who showed up to help. The other man gets them safely down to the ground where they can be herded off to a protective shelter, and then they do it all over again.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
There’s smoke and debris everywhere, heat rising from the flames that have started up in one of the buildings that got wrecked. The people inside are beginning to panic, which is never good. They’re pushing at each other in their attempts to get to the windows, their only exit at this point because of the billowing fire closing in behind them.
Katsuki hears over his comms that someone with a water-based Quirk is on their way, along with the fire department. Somewhere above him, a woman screams. Katsuki snaps around at the sound. He sees her falling from one of the window ledges.
It happens almost in slow motion.
Kamui Woods is somewhere below him, limbs full of civilians. Katsuki’s closest. There’s no reason he shouldn’t be able to reach her in time.
He explodes himself forward, going as fast as he can – but he’s off. Something’s off. He’s not as fast as he should be, his body feels too heavy, he can barely fucking breathe, and this woman is tumbling through the air too quickly for Katsuki to catch up, fuck, fuck–
A thick strip of white tape goes flying past him, connecting before Katsuki can get there, and Cellophane swings into view.
“I’ve got you, I’ve got you,” Sero says, trying to calm the hysterical woman as he draws her in. “We’ll get you down, don’t worry.”
Katsuki catches himself on the side of the building, chest heaving. Sero barely spares him a glance, keeping his focus on the civilian. Once she’s been transferred over to the ground crew in one piece, he uses his tape to pull himself back up to where Katsuki is.
“Dude, are you okay?” he shouts over the chaos surrounding them. He’s not even in his hero gear, Katsuki notices.
“Fine,” he grunts, which is extremely untrue. He almost didn’t catch that woman. He almost let her fall.
He’s also still panting and can’t for the life of him figure out why he’s so winded already. They haven’t been dealing with this villain attack long enough for him to already be in this state, what the fuck.
Katsuki peers at the other man. “You weren’t on call today.”
“Emergency standby,” Sero says, eyes pinned above them, taking in how many more people need to be rescued on the upper levels. “You’ve almost got everyone out. Come on, I’ll help you get the rest.”
They finish clearing out the building. Down on the street, Lemillion finally knocks out the massive dickwad that started all this, and then after that they help with recovery until the cleanup crews get there and can take over sorting out the worst of the damage.
Katsuki is wiped.
He lost sight of Sero somewhere in the aftermath of everything, but hours later, once he’s finally made it back to the agency and is stripping down in the locker room, Sero decides to fucking corner him.
“What the hell is going on with you?” he demands, as Katsuki shuts the door to his locker, down to just his boxer briefs and towel in hand.
“The fuck?” Katsuki frowns, trying to edge past him so he can get to the showers. “What’re you talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” Sero says. He trails after him the entire way, also dressed down so he can wash off the dust and grime. “Look, man, you know I wouldn’t say anything if I thought that catch was impossible for you to make. Shit happens. But I’ve known you almost six years, I know your moves, and that should’ve been easy for you.”
“I fucked up, okay?” Katsuki says, scowling. “It won’t happen again.”
“You don’t fuck up.” Sero reaches out to snag his arm. “Bakugou. That wasn’t just a mistake, you looked like you weren’t firing on all cylinders. Are you sick again?”
“I ain’t sick.”
“Because if you are, this is a perfect fucking example of why you shouldn’t be in the field until you’re back to one hundred percent.”
“I’m not fucking sick,” Katsuki snaps, yanking out of Sero’s grasp and turning to face him. “Back off, what the hell?”
Sero’s eyes drop, roaming down over Katsuki’s body. Katsuki realizes too late what he’s doing, but he still shifts the towel over in a pathetic attempt to hide the way his belly slightly curves out just below his navel. When Sero looks back up again, his eyebrows are raised.
“I’m not sure how to say this without sounding like an asshole,” he starts, speaking cautiously. “But you don’t…look like yourself.”
Katsuki knows that. He knows, okay.
…But maybe he needed someone else to point it out for it to really sink in.
His shoulders slump a bit.
“I don’t know what the fuck’s going on with me,” he admits, voice low, gaze pinned somewhere off to the side. “Everything’s…weird.”
Sero’s brow furrows. “Weird how?” Katsuki just shrugs, still not looking at him, and after a moment, Sero sighs. “Alright, well. When does Midoriya get back?”
“Couple days.”
“Okay. Shower, then let’s grab dinner.”
Katsuki groans a little. “I just wanna go home and crash.”
“After a day like today, you gotta eat.” Sero’s got his phone in hand, tapping away at it. “Midoriya’s not here so I know you’ve got nothing else going on. Come on, I’ll get Kaminari to join us. And since you’re not feeling well, I’ll even cut you a break and not invite Shouto.”
That makes Katsuki grimace a bit. “You’re doing that now, huh? Calling him Shouto?”
“Sure am,” Sero says cheerfully, and he gives him a wide grin that has Katsuki scrunching his nose up even more.
“You can invite him,” he grumbles, because there’s really no point in pretending Katsuki actually dislikes that moron right now. “I’m used to his dumb ass being around.”
Sero barks out a laugh. “He’s got an overnight shift tonight. Otherwise I would’ve texted him already.” He sets his phone and towel down on one of the benches in the shower room. “Kaminari’s gonna meet us at the place with the curry you like, so hurry up.”
Forty-five minutes later, they’re sliding into a booth at the restaurant. Kaminari brought Ears with him and Katsuki realizes just how long it’s been since he last saw her when his eyes land on her stomach.
She’s looking…round.
Katsuki squints at her. “When are you due again?”
“End of April,” Kyouka says. “Ish. Around your birthday, actually.”
Sero lets out a low whistle. “Damn. So only, like, two months, huh? That’s crazy.”
“You guys wanna know a secret?” Kaminari asks eagerly, leaning forward. He doesn’t wait for either of them to say anything, instead bursting out with: “We’re having a girl!”
“Aww, dude!” Sero exclaims. “Kyouka! Congratulations, that’s awesome.”
“A girl,” Katsuki repeats. He tries to imagine it, tries to picture Kaminari carrying around a little girl wearing a purple dress with ribbons in her pigtails, and part of him actually melts. “Holy shit.”
“He’s so excited,” Kyouka says as she slides an amused look over to her husband. “He can feel her kicking now and every time she does, Denki claims she's going to grow up to be a hero like Mirko even though neither of us have a Quirk like that.”
“We’ll put her in karate classes,” Kaminari says. He drapes an arm around Kyouka’s shoulders, beaming. “A girl, can you fucking believe it?”
“You can feel her kicking?” Katsuki asks.
“Yeah, dude! It’s wild.”
Katsuki figures he probably knew that was a thing, but it’s not like he’s been around a lot of pregnant people in his life. The details of that whole experience are a bit murky to him – just leftover knowledge from whatever they tried to cram into his head during middle school health classes. The closest he’s ever come to even holding a baby was during their first aid and CPR courses in high school and that was just a creepy infant manikin.
“You’re gonna spoil her rotten,” Sero says, propping his chin on his hand and grinning. “Wow. This feels so real all of a sudden.”
Kyouka laughs. “Oh, trust me, buddy. It’s real.”
The waiter comes around and they place their orders. Katsuki gets the spiciest curry they have on their menu. He’s actually been laying off spicy foods lately, sort of unintentionally, so seeing it as an option kicks his craving for it into overdrive.
Kyouka just orders a bowl of plain rice and once the waiter moves on, she reaches into her bag and pulls out a small tub of cottage cheese and a container full of sliced apples.
“The hell is that?” Katsuki asks, his nose wrinkling.
“It’s all she ever wants to eat anymore,” Kaminari says.
Kyouka waves him off as she scoops up some cottage cheese with one of the apple slices and pops it into her mouth. “If I eat any of the curry here, it’ll give me heartburn.”
“What? Shit, you should’ve said something,” Sero says. “We could’ve gone literally anywhere else.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Kyouka says, and Kaminari nods.
“Half the stuff she eats gives her heartburn,” he says. “Doesn’t matter where we go or if one of us cooks or what.”
“Pregnancy perk,” Kyouka says, rolling her eyes.
Katsuki watches her eat another apple covered in lumpy white junk, trying to figure out why it somehow looks appetizing. He doesn’t think he’s ever had cottage cheese before in his entire goddamn life.
“Let me try one,” he says, and Kyouka, sitting across from him, lifts an eyebrow but then just shrugs and pushes her food toward the middle of the table.
It’s actually not bad.
Granted, there’s no reason it shouldn’t taste okay. It’s just fruit and cheese. But still.
He snags another, ignoring the odd look Kaminari’s giving him.
“So, uh…” Kaminari says, sounding like he’s trying to tread a little carefully. “Sero said there’s something going on with you?”
Oh, goddammit. Katsuki frowns and gives Sero the stink-eye, but he just holds his hands up defensively.
“Dude, you said, and I quote, everything’s weird. Sue me for being a little worried.”
“It ain’t that serious,” Katsuki mutters.
“It’s a little serious,” Sero says. “Stop trying to write off the fact that you were struggling today. Hard.”
“During that attack downtown?” Kaminari asks. “It looked pretty rough.”
“I’m just…” Katsuki flounders for a moment, then slumps back in his seat. “I’m tired, I dunno.”
“You’ve been tired for months,” Sero points out, and Katsuki scowls.
“When did you get so damn nosy?”
“Bakugou.” Sero levels a look on him, undaunted. “When your performance is affected to the point that it puts other people’s lives in danger, then I’m going to be nosy.”
“We just want to help,” Kaminari adds.
“What else is going on?” Kyouka asks next. Her eyes are narrowed a bit. “If you tell me you’ve been throwing up since November and haven’t seen anyone about it, I’m gonna kick your ass. Pregnant or not.”
Katsuki snorts. “I’m not throwing up,” he says. A beat passes, and then he reluctantly tacks on, “…Anymore.”
“Dude.”
“Bakugou! Are you serious?”
“It wasn’t that bad,” Katsuki insists, trying to defend himself. “It wasn’t a lot or anything, not once I was back to work. I was just nauseous mostly!”
“Nauseous,” Kyouka repeats. “For how long?”
“December,” Katsuki says vaguely. “Maybe a little into January.”
“And Midoriya didn’t drag your ass to the hospital?” Kaminari asks. When Katsuki winces, his eyes go round. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.”
“He didn’t know,” Katsuki admits, folding his arms over his chest. “I didn’t – I guess I didn’t want him to worry?”
“That just means you knew something was wrong,” Sero says.
“Of course he knew,” Kyouka says. “He pays more attention to his body than anyone we know. In a good way!” she quickly adds, when Katsuki bristles up defensively. “Okay, what else?”
Katsuki gives a jerky shrug. “Body aches. Stomach, back, head… Sometimes my fucking calves? Or, like, my chest is randomly sore some days.” He prods at one of his pecs, missing the way Kaminari and Ears glance at each other. “And I think my metabolism is fucked.”
“Your…metabolism,” Kyouka says slowly. “In what way?”
“He’s gaining weight,” Sero supplies, and Katsuki smacks a hand sideways into his arm with a glare. Sero ignores him. “Maybe it’s a thyroid thing?”
“Maybe,” Kaminari says, though he sounds doubtful. “Uh. That kinda sounds like a lot of the stuff Kyouka’s been–” He cuts off with an oof when she abruptly digs an elbow into his side.
“We can sit here guessing all day,” she says, paying no attention to Kaminari’s pout as he rubs at the grievously injured area. “Bottom line, Bakugou – get yourself to the damn doctor. If it’s something serious, you need to find out now.”
Ah, there it is.
That’s what he hasn’t wanted to deal with.
If it’s something serious.
Something cold settles in Katsuki’s gut and he glumly reaches for another apple slice.
“Fine,” he grumbles. “I’ll schedule an appointment.”
As if this entire shitshow of a day could get any worse, the curry he ordered ends up giving him heartburn.
Which is fucking bullshit.
He blames Ears.
* * *
Three days later, it’s Valentine’s Day and Izuku is on his way home when some goofball and his gang decides it’s a good idea to run the train off the tracks just outside the city limits. Izuku supposes the eventual goal was to ransack all the luggage and maybe hold the passengers up for ransom or until they unloaded their wallets or something, but obviously this poor dope had no idea that Deku and Red Riot were onboard.
Sucks for him.
The only annoying thing is that there’s about four of them and the train is full of innocent bystanders, but ultimately it doesn’t take too long for him and Kirishima to take care of business. By the time they’re done, a few other heroes have shown up to offer assistance. Todoroki’s among them and he beelines it toward Izuku once he spots him.
“Not the welcome party you were imagining, I suppose,” is the first thing he says, and Izuku chuckles.
“Not quite.”
“Your shoulder’s dislocated.”
Izuku grimaces. “Yeah, noticed that.” His arm is dangling somewhat uselessly by his side, after all, pain radiating through it up towards his neck. “One of those guys threw me into the side of the train. Help me out?”
“I’m still escorting you to the hospital after this,” Todoroki says, even as he does as requested.
Izuku bites backs a yelp as his shoulder pops back into place, then slowly rotates his arm around. “No, look. It’s fine! See?”
“Protocol,” Todoroki says simply, and Izuku groans. “Class two injury, they have to clear you.”
“That’s so unnecessary… Can’t one of the medics here do it?”
“They’ve got their hands full.”
That’s fair, Izuku grumpily supposes. The train was near capacity, after all.
They flag down Kirishima to let him know, and then Todoroki whisks him away to the nearest hospital for an evaluation. He hangs around until the end of it, not that it takes too long because Izuku is fine.
“How have things been here?” Izuku asks, while he’s still sitting on the examination table. There’s a doctor poking and prodding at him, but Izuku’s used to that kind of thing at this point in his career.
Todoroki shrugs. “Mostly uneventful, aside from that incident a couple days ago.”
“I saw that on the news,” Izuku says. “And Kacchan told me about it.”
“Have you spoken to him recently?”
That’s kind of a weird question. Of course he has. Izuku’s brow furrows as he looks back at Todoroki. “I called him this morning.”
“Did he say anything?”
That has his brows drawing down even more. “Anything about what?”
“I’m not really sure,” Todoroki admits. “Hanta said there’s something going on with him. I’m just being nosy.”
What?
What the heck is that supposed to mean?
“What do you mean there’s something going on with him?” Izuku quickly asks. There’s an alarmed pinging in the back of his head. “Something like what??”
“Hanta only said he’s been off,” Todoroki says, shrugging again. “And that he’s not feeling well.”
“Again?” Something drops in Izuku’s stomach. “He never gets sick, what – are you sure?”
“I literally have no details, Midoriya. That’s why I’m asking you.”
“Todoroki,” Izuku groans. “You can’t just throw that at me in the middle of an examination! Shit, I was supposed to check in at the agency before going home. I can’t – is he okay? Oh my god, I need to see him, how much longer is this going to take–?”
“You’re good to go,” the doctor interrupts, pulling a clipboard out of nowhere and jotting something down. “We’ll send the results over to your agency and let them know you’re cleared for duty.”
Izuku’s off the table and out the door in seconds, the top half of his uniform not even fully back on yet. He doesn’t wait for Todoroki, who lingers to offer the doctor an awkward bow and a stilted, “Thank you for your assistance.”
He catches up with him outside, though, while Izuku’s trying to decide if he should call for a cab or just start leaping across the rooftops.
“Should I tell Hanta you’re not checking in, then?”
“Yes,” Izuku says, harried. “Do that.” Green lightning sparks up around him, circling his legs. “We’ll see you Friday, right?”
“That’s the plan.”
Izuku nods and shoots him a wobbly smile, then he launches into the air. He’s on the opposite side of town from their apartment, so it takes him longer to get home than he would like. Katsuki should already be there, at least. Izuku remembers that he was complaining that morning about being on desk duty today, which means normal working hours.
He’s trying not to overthink what Todoroki said, but it’s hard to keep the panic from creeping in – because he feels like maybe he knew there was something going on. He knew something wasn’t right, he knew Kacchan was acting a little strange, but he’s been telling himself that if something was really wrong, Katsuki would tell him.
It’s not like Kacchan to ignore warning signs. He’s super attentive when it comes to his own health, and Izuku is super attentive when it comes to him. They haven’t BOTH been ignoring whatever this is, have they? They can’t possibly be that stupid.
Katsuki’s cooking when Izuku bursts through the door. He can tell because the apartment smells amazing, but he doesn’t give himself a chance to appreciate it as he skids to a stop in the kitchen entranceway.
Shit, he didn’t even remove his shoes. But whatever.
“Kacchan!” he cries, and all of his fretting feels momentarily misplaced as Katsuki looks at him over his shoulder and does nothing but raise an eyebrow.
“You’re back already?” he asks. “I thought you’d be a while, Kirishima said you had to go get cleared.” He snaps off the burner on the stove and Izuku is so abruptly filled with relief that he’s not, like, visibly dying that he doesn’t even wait for him to cross the kitchen before he dives at him and wraps him up in a giant bear hug.
“Kacchan, oh my god,” Izuku gasps out. “I missed you so much and Todoroki said that Sero said you weren’t feeling well and I was so worried that I think I broke the sound barrier getting home – are you okay??”
“Oi, what the hell?” Katsuki says, stumbling backwards as he’s basically bulldozed into with the entirety of Izuku’s weight. He’s quick to wrap his own arms around Izuku’s middle, though. “I – what? I’m fine, what the fuck.”
“But Sero said–”
“God, that nosy motherfucker,” Katsuki mutters. “Ignore that asshole.”
“Kacchan.” Izuku pulls back, eyeing him up and down. There’s nothing he can immediately place, but something still niggles at a corner of his brain. Katsuki looks…okay? But. “How do you feel?”
“Didn’t I just say I’m fine? Dumbass.” Katsuki leans in to kiss him, one of his hands palming at the back of Izuku’s neck. “I missed you, too.”
Izuku still squints at him suspiciously when he pulls back, trying to place what seems off. He’s acting the same and he seems in good enough spirits.
But there’s something.
“Hey,” Katsuki says impatiently after this has gone on for a minute or two. “The hell’s wrong with you?”
“That’s what I’m trying to ask you,” Izuku insists, and Katsuki rolls his eyes.
“Look, just.” He squirms in Izuku’s grasp, pulling away so he can turn back to the stove. “Let me finish this, okay? We’ll eat dinner and then…and then we’ll talk.”
“Talk about what?” Izuku asks, not a little apprehensively. Great, there’s that panic again.
“Nothing, just let me–”
Izuku plasters himself against Katsuki’s back. “Tell me what’s wrong, Kacchan.”
“Dammit, Izuku, I don’t know what’s wrong.” Katsuki huffs, looking annoyed. Izuku snakes a hand around his waist–
And then instantly snatches it back.
What.
“It’s not a big deal, okay?” Katsuki continues obliviously. He hasn’t turned the stove on again yet. He’s just standing there, glaring down at the frying pan on the burner. “Everything’s gonna be fine, I just need to get checked out or something.”
Izuku slowly reaches his hand back around, cautiously letting it curl against the, uh…very noticeable swell of Katsuki’s belly.
He swallows.
“Kacchan…”
“I know I shouldn’t have let it go on this long,” Katsuki says harshly. “It was stupid as fuck. I thought it would all go away on its own but that was dumb, okay, I get it.”
Izuku tugs at Katsuki’s shirt with his free hand, lifting it out of the way, and then pushes up on his toes a bit so he can peer down over Katsuki’s shoulder.
He’s used to feeling Kacchan’s taut muscles beneath his hand when he does this. They’re still there, he can still see the slight definition of his abs, but there’s a definite little bump around his bellybutton now. It curves outward into Izuku’s palm, firm to the touch, and Izuku’s brain just straight up blanks out.
“…Izuku,” Katsuki says.
He can’t make sense of what he’s seeing. Some hysterical part of his mind starts wailing about Katsuki’s exhaustion as of late, starts lighting up with dread as he recalls those few weeks he was physically sick. Oh god, what if – what if this is some kind of tumor or something? What if he’s got stomach cancer, is that a thing?? Shit. Fuck.
A much more rational train of thought sneaks in to remind him about Katsuki’s recent KFC obsession. So…right, okay, maybe just weight gain?
Sero wouldn’t be worried if it was only that, though. He wouldn’t have been concerned enough to mention it to Todoroki.
There must be more going on that Sero’s aware of. Symptoms that Kacchan hasn’t told Izuku about.
His mind flashes back again to when Katsuki was sick. When he was…throwing up…
“Oi, Deku,” Katsuki snaps, and Izuku jolts back to reality. “The fuck are you doing?”
He’s still cupping Kacchan’s belly bump, is what he’s doing.
Brain whirring.
Izuku is sure this wasn’t here two weeks ago.
“You haven’t been to the doctor yet?” he asks, and Katsuki goes still.
“…I scheduled an appointment for next week.”
“We’re going tomorrow.”
“What?” Katsuki twists around to look at him. “We’ve got work tomorrow.”
Izuku shakes his head. “We’re calling out.”
“It’s not that seri–”
“Kacchan,” Izuku interrupts, and Katsuki blinks at him. He’s gone slightly pale. “We’re going tomorrow. I’ll call in the morning.”
For a long moment, Katsuki just stares at him. Eventually, he drags his eyes away to look down his own torso to where Izuku’s still gently cradling the slight swell of his stomach.
He lets out a shuddery breath.
“…Okay.”