Twenty-Four Hours - Part 6 [FINAL]

21:00

When they’d decided to move in together for the first time, Katsuki had valiantly made the commute sacrifice to save on finding a new place all together. He had let his rental period run out and moved into Izuku’s admittedly-nicer apartment despite being all the way across town from his agency. He had insisted it wasn’t a big deal, that since he was an early riser anyway he could take the earliest train to avoid the crowds, and Izuku could have a little longer to sleep in, but Izuku knew it still wore on him as time went on. The mornings weren’t so bad, until mid-winter when it was snowing and Katsuki had to drag himself out into the cold before the streets had even been swept. The commute time itself was bearable too, until he had to do it after a long day of patrols and villain fights, when he wanted nothing more than to just fall into bed. But he never once complained, never once pushed to find somewhere new, he just put up with it like the amazing boyfriend he was, until they’d built up enough reputation and financial success to open their own agency together, and to get nicer apartment much closer by.

When Katsuki turned twenty-one, Izuku had bought him a pair of noise-cancelling headphones to wear during his train ride, so that he could at least keep himself entertained for the ride and drown out all the people around him. They’d been perfect for getting lost in his own little world, but Izuku knew from experience borrowing them that they didn’t have the best sound quality, and one side tended to cut out randomly after so much use.

At nine p.m. Izuku retrieved a neatly wrapped box from under the bed, much fancier considering he’d gotten the store employees to do it for him, and slid it into Katsuki’s lap with a smile.

“I thought these might be nice while you’re doing office work,” he explained. “I know they don’t really need to be portable this time, so I went for better quality and comfort instead, I hope that’s okay!”

Katsuki’s eyebrows knitted together, but he accepted all the same, setting to work on unwrapping the box rather than bothering to ask Izuku what he was talking about. Inside he found a thick white box, the image on the front showing him a beautiful pair of black headphones, detailed in places with a bright orange that was almost identical to his hero costume. He opened them immediately, trying them on and finding the ear cushions as soft as clouds, the headband perfectly shaped to take the weight and pressure off of him for long periods of use. The next time he had to spend six hours doing paperwork because of some stupid mistake one of their sidekicks made, he’d be able to disappear into his own little world, blocking out everything around him to stay focused and comfortable.

“You must have done so much research,” Katsuki couldn’t help but blurt out, blushing a little. “How did you pick out exactly the right ones? You listened to my dumb comments about headphones and managed to get all of this from them?”

“You’re my Kacchan!” Izuku grinned, eyes crinkling so much that they almost disappeared into his smile. “I can do anything if it makes Kacchan happy!”

“I don’t deserve you.”

─────

22:00

Twenty-two years old had been a simple birthday. They’d just gotten back from a few months working overseas with the international hero association, which had left Izuku without a lot of time to plan and procure. Instead, he’d settled for something that he could do much quicker – overseas Katsuki had seen a sexy leather jacket that he’d fallen in love with, only to find out it cost thousands of dollars.

He’d refused to pay that much, knowing it was just the designer label that made it so ridiculously overpriced, but no matter how much they’d searched, they hadn’t managed to find another one so nice.

So Izuku had taken his bonus from the international hero association and put it straight on that designer label, prouder than ever when he produced it from his suitcase and saw Katsuki’s jaw drop.

“I know it’s ridiculous,” he had said quickly, before Katsuki could complain. “But it looked so good on you! And I know how much you liked it! Besides, it looks hot as fuck on you so really it’s a present for me, too.”

It had held up, too. Despite wearing it near-constantly, the garment was still pristine looking and perfectly sexy. Any cheaper option would have been worn to death in the space of a year, but his insanely priced designer option was still going strong – maybe there was more to the price than the name after all.

At ten o’clock, Izuku handed over a very tiny package, blushing a little as Katsuki unwrapped it.

“It’s kind of a present for me, too,” he mumbled sheepishly, looking away. “But uh, mostly for you, I think?”

Katsuki’s grin stretched wide when he found the black and orange lace inside, sharp-toothed and slightly menacing as he held them up in front of Izuku to imagine it.

“Definitely for me,” Katsuki assured him. “Fuck yes.”

“Maybe tomorrow, though? I think we’re both kind of exhausted, tonight.”

“Tonight?” Katsuki snorted, tossing them at Izuku’s face lightly. “You’re wearing them to work tomorrow.”

“Kacchaaan,” Izuku whined. “What if someone sees them?!”

“Even better.”

“Fine,” Izuku huffed. “You’re so lucky you’re hot.”

“Not as hot as you’re gonna be tomorrow in these panties. Fuck, they’re even my colours. God that’s so fuckin’ sexy.”

“I really hope it’s worth the humiliation I’ll be feeling.”

“Don’t be silly, that’s the best part.”

─────

23:00

“Alright, gimme.”

Izuku looked up, laughing when his watch immediately began buzzing with his alarm, and Katsuki couldn’t help but grin back.

“I knew you secretly loved it,” Izuku teased. “One sec, gotta go grab it.”

“Really? You’ve had the others ready on hand, but this one you’ve gotta go get?”

“It’s big!”

“Oh no, what have you done?” Katsuki groaned, turning to watch him head for the hall closet. “Last year you got me that awesome fancy rice cooker, so is it another kitchen appliance?”

“Mayyyyyybe.”

“Alright, this I’ve gotta see.”

Izuku hauled a box out of the closet as Katsuki approached, mumbling an apology for the lack of wrapping, but Katsuki was too astounded by the image on the box to care about paper and bows.

“I know how much you hate doing dishes,” Izuku explained. “Even though you do it anyway because you don’t want to make me do it either, so when I saw this I thought it would be a good addition!”

“You bought me a whole-ass dishwasher?”

“Well I wasn’t gonna get you a half-ass one,” Izuku teased. “It’s small enough to fit in the corner by the sink, I measured, and it just has two hoses, one we hook up to the faucet and the other sits in the sink to drain out again. And it’s big enough to do at least a meal worth of dishes at a time! We can just rinse off anything big, stick them straight in, and run it when we’re not using the sink!”

“God I love your nerdy ass so damn much.”

“It’s not too silly?”

“It’s not fuckin’ silly in the slightest, it’s perfect.”

“I’m glad!”

“I swear every year I feel like you’ll never be able to top yourself, and yet here you are, fuckin’ hitting it out of the park all over again. I don’t deserve you.”

“Kacchan, you deserve the world. I would give you everything if I could. You were so sweet about having to host that whole conference on your birthday, even though you didn’t want to host it in the first place, I just wanted to show you how much I love you and hopefully make your day a little less miserable.”

“Deku, I love you, but shut up.” Katsuki snorted, shaking his head. “You think I could ever be miserable with you around? Just having you in the same room as me is enough to prevent that shit, let alone fussing over me like this.”

“I love you so much, Kacchan.”

“I love you too. A lot. But uh, can I go to bed now?”

“Yeah,” Izuku laughed brightly. “I’ll set this up for the morning, then I’ll come join you!”

“Sounds great. I’ll snuggle with Brutus until then.”

“Perfect!”

With one last kiss, Katsuki headed for the bedroom, smiling to himself as he pulled on a pair of fluffy socks and curled up with his new bear under his arm.

In that moment, he felt like the luckiest man in the universe.

─────

24:00

Katsuki groaned, rolling over to get away from the gentle hand, shaking him out of his slumber. He cracked a frustrated eye open to glare at the intrusion, getting a beaming smile in return.

“What the hell, nerd?” he grumbled, scowling. “My birthday is over, let me sleep.”

“But now I can propose without you forever whining about how lame it was to propose on your birthday.”

Katsuki’s brain ceased to function, his other eye opening to stare at Izuku’s blushing face in silence. Izuku didn’t speak again, waiting patiently for him to process, so Katsuki was forced to choke out the words.

“...propose?”

“Ta-da.”

Izuku held up a little black ring box, barely visible in the dark of the room, and Katsuki finally rolled over again, propping himself up on an elbow to stare.

“So um, how about it?” Izuku asked awkwardly.

“Wow, so romantic,” Katsuki snorted, lying back down and closing his eyes again. “I’m swept off my feet, you damn nerd.”

Despite his complaints, Katsuki cracked a smile, and Izuku laughed as he fumbled for Katsuki’s hand under the blankets.

“That’s my right hand, dumbass.”

“O-Oh. Right. Uh, hang on.”

With a little sigh, Katsuki offered his left, and Izuku took it with a reverent touch, running his thumb over the patch of skin where soon his shiny piece of metal would sit.

“Don’t you want to see it first?” Izuku offered. “To make sure you like it?”

“I like you, dumbass, I’d take a damn gachapon ring if that was all you could get.”

“It’s funny you say that, I didn’t have a lot of money...”

Katsuki’s eyes snapped open, and Izuku laughed again, kissing his hand in apology as he slid the very shiny, very expensive ring onto Katsuki’s finger.

“Asshole,” Katsuki snorted, leaning in to kiss his stupid smile. “Thanks.”

“You might be the first person in history to answer a proposal with thanks.”

“Shut up. I do, then.”

“That’s the wedding, Kacchan.”

“It’s fucking midnight, nerd, and I haven’t had more than an hour of uninterrupted sleep in days. Cut me some fuckin’ slack.”

“It’s been one day,” Izuku objected. “But point taken. Get some sleep, Kacchan, we can celebrate in the morning.”

Katsuki closed his eyes again, running his thumb over the dark band lightly. It was going to take a while to get used to the weight of the inlaid diamond sitting on his hand, but he didn’t mind nearly as much as he would claim to Izuku in the morning.

He lifted an arm, inviting Izuku in, and Izuku took the offer without hesitation. He snuggled in close, resting his cheek on Katsuki’s shoulder, and Katsuki couldn’t help but smile faintly as he planted a kiss on Izuku’s head.

“Night nerd,” he whispered, as they settled in to finally get some rest. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome, Kacchan.”