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“I can’t believe you actually came, Kacchan!” shouted Izuku. He smiles over at the blond boy standing near the entrance to the festival. Katsuki was wearing a yukata, a pale green one that he was presumably forced into by his mom. Izuku’s mom had forced him into an orange one with a smile after he had mentioned that he was going to the festival with Katsuki, smile turning a bit brighter when he mentioned it was only going to be him with Izuku. He had wanted to go in his ‘yukata’ shirt but his mom had even enlisted his friends to make sure that didn’t happen. Ochako had threatened to burn the shirt if he wore it on his “date with Bakugou” which just made him turn red and insist this wasn’t a date. They had become good friends recently and he wasn’t sure if he could push for more or if Katsuki would want more. At least he didn’t think it was a date until he saw Katsuki wearing a yukata too. As he walked towards Katsuki, the boy started to talk to himself. “Uraraka called it a date but it really isn’t, in order for it a date, one of us has to call it that, right? I mean, not that I would mind it being a date but I don’t think Kacchan wants this to be a date, he’s always so brave that surely, he would have said something when I asked him to come with me to the festival if he had thought this was a date. He’s never even said anything about being interested in more but he’s always been bad about talking about feelings so that might not mean anything. And he could be just waiting for me to say something about it first…”
“Enough of the mumbling, nerd. I promised that I would come and I stick by my promises. I’ve got to destroy you at all the games before the festival is over,” Katsuki says with his trademark smirk. “I saw one of those shooting games while waiting for your late ass so let’s go already.” He turns to go but stops after a few steps to see if Izuku is coming.
“Okay, Kacchan.” Izuku says and runs a bit to catch up and walk next to him, feeling comfortable about finally being by his side after years of following him. It took plenty of work over the years to get to this point and there were still bumps on the road, sometimes the two would fight with neither backing down but days where they had to speak with their fists to get things through were long since over. Just as he was reminiscing over this, they reached the first game booth that Katsuki had mentioned earlier. Katsuki paid for the both of them at the booth. “I could pay for myself, Kacchan.” Izuku said, slightly pouting out of annoyance.
“It’s fine, nerd. I can afford to pay for this much or are you saying I can’t spend my money however the fuck I want to spend it.”
“You can but you have to let me pay for something during this date.” Izuku says, watching Katsuki turn bright red until he realized what he said, then he became as red as a tomato too.
“Are you fucking kidding me, is that why you asked me out to this. Is this a fucking date, Deku?”
“NO! I didn’t mean to say that but,” Izuku pauses a moment before boldly going on, “I wouldn’t mind if it was.” Katsuki just looks stunned after Izuku says that, taking a moment to gather himself up (and hopefully will away his blush) before speaking again.
“Fucking fine, nerd. You can call this a date. I’ll make this the best damn date you’ve ever been on.” He turned to pick up his gun. “Prepare to get destroyed, Deku.”
“You’re on, Kacchan.” Izuku replied and watched as Katsuki took his turn to shoot and with a shout of “DIE” he aimed straight for the All Might plush that was one of the prizes. He finally got the toy to fall with his last shot, which caused Izuku to be slightly disappointed since he had wanted to win it for himself.
“Here nerd, add it to that damn All Might collection you keep in your room.” Katsuki said as he tossed the plush at Izuku’s head. Izuku looked startled for a moment but then smiled one of his brightest smiles at Katsuki.
“Thanks, Kacchan.” He said, watching the blond boy turn away with his ears slightly pink, grumbling about how he just wanted to prove how good he was by winning the best prize. Izuku got up for his turn and ended up getting a toy whistle, giving it to Katsuki “So you can just blow the whistle to get people to be quiet instead of shouting.”
He responded by saying “Fuck off, Deku. I don’t need a damn whistle to be heard, extras should know better by now to listen to what I say or else.” After that, they went to a couple other games before ending up at a game to catch goldfish with a paper net. “Bet I can get more than you, nerd.” Declared Katsuki loudly before the game started, only to have scared the fish near him, causing them to scatter. Izuku laughed at that before he started trying to catch some fish too, ending up getting more than him which annoyed the explosive boy. After a moment where the two just looked at each other in silence, Izuku smiling while Katsuki pouted over the loss, they were interrupted by two growls. Izuku laughed at it, blushing about the sound while Katsuki turned around, forgetting that his neck still gave away his embarrassment.
Izuku grabbed Katsuki by his hand and started heading off to the food stands, nervous about holding hands with him now that it was an official date. While walking towards where the food stands are, he started to mutter to himself. “Are we boyfriends now? I mean, this is a date and I definitely wanted it to be a date but I’m not sure if it’s okay to just grab his hand like that but Kacchan would have let me know if he wasn’t okay with that. He’s never been shy about speaking his mind about things he doesn’t like so doesn’t that mean he likes holding hands with me?”
“If I wasn’t fine with it, I wouldn’t be doing it, fucking nerd. Now what do you want to eat? I doubt they have anything really spicy here but something like fried squid would be good.”
“Kacchan, you have to get candy at a festival. It’s like one of the rules about going here, Iida had some huge list of rules and this is one of the few times it’s fine to indulge in candy so I say we should.”
“C’mon Deku, you should have it written in one of those nerd books that I don’t really like sweet things.”
“Then you can get some fried squid and I can get some candy, but they might have some spicy candy here, you never know!” Eventually the two compromised by getting a bit of each, something Izuku had thought would be impossible years ago but is just normal now after fights. After they had both ate some, the two wandered around the festival a bit, walking hand-in-hand. The two drifted around until they got in front of a small stall selling some masks which prompted the two to try some on. Izuku instantly grabbed an Oni mask and made Katsuki try it on.
“It’s like nothing changed.” Izuku said, only to burst out laughing when Katsuki ripped it off, throwing it at him while shouting “FUCK YOU.” Katsuki just stood there for a moment after doing that to watch the freckled boy laugh, mouth curling up slightly into a fond, real smile. Izuku was too busy laughing and missed it until Katsuki grabbed an All Might mask and forced it on the laughing boy.
“Looks like Mini Might has returned to save the day.” Katsuki said, watching Izuku get flustered about it.
“I thought you forgot about that!”
“I’ve known you since we were kids, I even remember when we went to that one festival where you ate too much candy and ended up getting a stomachache and had to go home early. You better not make us miss the fireworks again, stupid fucking nerd.”
“That’s right, it’s almost time for the fireworks! Let’s get going before the rush.” Izuku replies. The two put away the masks, Izuku apologizing for the trouble caused with the vendor just smiling and waving it off as no trouble at all. Katsuki drags Izuku after him, heading through a couple alleys as they get near the edge of the town. After walking for a bit, the two end up on a familiar hill with a short, crooked tree.
An old All Might blanket is already laying on the ground near the tree as Katsuki says, “This is still the best spot to see fireworks and I claimed it so no other fuckers could take it.” Izuku just hums in reply until he notices the blanket.
“Kacchan, I thought you got rid of that blanket.”
“Old hag gave me that when I said we were going to watch fireworks at the end and I needed something so we didn’t have to sit on the filthy ground, while the old man mentioned something about ‘making new memories to go with the old ones’.” Izuku hums after that and lies out on the blanket to look up towards the sky. Soon, Katsuki lays down next to him just as the first firework goes off. Izuku watches them go off, eyes sparkling from the light off each explosion.
“We used to do this as kids, laying on this blanket and watching fireworks go off. I still remember when you tried to set off some explosions to rival the fireworks back when your quirk had just appeared and they were just tiny sparks.”
Izuku laughs for a moment over the memory, remembering a frustrated, young Katsuki trying to rival the explosions each time a firework had went off in the sky. Izuku had watched him as he tried to make bigger explosions, eventually getting one to go off with a loud pop the exact moment a firework went off, startling the both of them for a moment before they laughed about the coincidence. His smile turns fond as the show in the sky continues to go on, reaching his hand out to grab Katsuki’s hand again, feeling him interlace their fingers this time. The blond boy used to grab his hand first as kids but the green-haired boy no longer had to fear that Katsuki would refuse to take his hand out of some misunderstanding that had torn them apart for too long.
Katsuki brags, “Those wimpy things can’t compare to me now.”
Izuku just laughs, “Of course not, Kacchan.” He turns his head and smiles wide at Katsuki. “No firework could ever rival you.”
Katsuki turns onto his side, face slightly pink with a fond smile on his face. “Are you really sure you want this, nerd?” whispers Katsuki, holding up their hands together. Izuku clearly heard that trace of guilt in his voice and turned to face him.
“Of course, Kacchan.” Said Izuku, moving slightly closer until their foreheads are pressed together. “You’ve changed so much since back then and I see you trying to apologize with your actions every day that I learned to forgive you long before this moment.” He leans in just that little bit further and presses his lips against Katsuki’s, a quick touch and then he moves back. Izuku’s smile is the brightest Katsuki has ever seen it, eyes shining bright with happy tears and from the light of fireworks. He says “We both worked hard to get to this point, the Kacchan I know should be proud to have come this far. He isn’t the type to let himself get held back by anything, especially something that he has already worked so hard to earn.” Katsuki lifts up his free hand to brush away the tears, then moves in to kiss the boy as the last firework goes off.