Housemate Wanted [Eventual NSFW] - Chapter 2

[Chapter 1]

By the time Izuku rolled out of bed, Katsuki was already fussing over a frying pan, barely looking up when he heard the slow footsteps trudging down the hall.

“Sit your ass down,” he instructed, as he began carefully stacking pancakes on a plate. “You want coffee?”

“Kacchan made me breakfast?” Izuku yawned. “Coffee sounds good.”

“Milk and sugar, I assume?”

“Yes please.”

He poured it from the pot, freshly brewed, and Izuku cracked sleep-heavy eyelids to see a stack of perfectly round pancakes, thick and fluffy, laden with sweet syrup.

“Wow, it looks so good,” Izuku hummed, reaching for the knife and fork Katsuki offered him. “Thank you, Kacchan. You didn’t have to.”

“Whatever, not like you were gonna cook.”

He took a sip from his coffee, smiling warmly when Katsuki joined him, his own plate and mug in hand.

“For the record, you don’t have to cook me every meal,” Izuku chuckled, cutting into his neat stack. “I’m grateful, but I’d hate for you to spend all your time on cooking and cleaning! You need to study and sleep, after all.”

“S’fine,” Katsuki shrugged, sipping at his own coffee – much darker and stronger than Izuku’s concoction. “Don’t need to study today.”

“Okay. If you wouldn’t mind making dinner a couple of times a week that would be amazing. I don’t mind buying stuff too, justa home-cooked meal sometimes would be great.”

“I’ll cook dinner every night,” Katsuki snorted. “And you can take any leftovers for lunch the next day. How early do you get up during the week?”

“Mm… I’m usually out of the house around eight, but occasionally I have to leave earlier. My schedule changes a lot.”

“Alright,” Katsuki nodded faintly. “I can get up and make breakfast most days, then.”

“Don’t be silly, Kacchan. I can handle making toast or cereal, don’t waste your opportunities to sleep in! Pancakes on weekends would be nice sometimes though, these are delicious.”

“Fine,” Katsuki conceded. “You can handle your own breakfast, I’ll do lunch and dinner. And the cleaning. Um, do you want me to do your bedroom? I won’t go in if you prefer that I stay away.”

“I have nothing to hide,” Izuku assured him. “But you don’t have to, just the main living area is great. You’ve done such an amazing job already and it’s only been a day!”

“Shut up,” Katsuki huffed, hiding his blush behind his coffee mug. “I’ll do the bathrooms this morning, then your room and the office this afternoon. It’ll be easy to maintain, once I get the initial shit done. Don’t worry about it.”

“Thank you, Kacchan is amazing.”

“Yeah, but not for cooking and cleaning,” Katsuki smirked. “Hurry up and eat your food, it’s gonna get cold.”

Izuku nodded, still smiling to himself as he got stuck in for real, the apartment falling into a peaceful quiet as they ate.

When Katsuki took away their dishes, starting the dishwasher running, Izuku couldn’t help but watch. He moved with such confident motions, never second guessing himself halfway through, the way Izuku did. When Izuku did dishes he ended up re-stacking the washer six times trying to get everything spaced nicely, negating almost all of the time it was supposed to save him compared to washing them by hand in the first place.

“Do you mind if I turn music on?” Katsuki asked, mumbling a little in his sudden awkwardness. “I can put my headphones in if you want, if the noise will bother you.”

“Of course you can! Be my guest!”

“Um, thanks.”

He picked up a collection of cleaning supplies from the hall closet – half of which Izuku didn’t even know he owned – and as he dragged it off toward the bathroom, music began to sound from Katsuki’s phone speaker.

“Hey, Kacchan?” Izuku called after him.

“What?”

“I’m gonna take you out for dinner tonight, okay? Do you have a button-up shirt in your closet?”

“Hell no!”

“Okay, then we’ll leave at six, so I can buy you a shirt first.”

“Haah?”

“You heard me!” Izuku laughed. “I want to take you to dinner! I can’t do that if you only have old hoodies!”

“Whatever, nerd,” Katsuki huffed. “Fine.”

“Thanks, Kacchan! I’m gonna get some paperwork done, just let me know when you want me to leave the office, okay?”

“Okay,” Katsuki agreed. “It’ll be after lunch, so don’t rush.”

“Got it!”

With the taste of pancake still on his tongue, still dressed in his baggy pyjamas, Izuku moved into the office, firing up his computer to get some work done. The contrast of Katsuki’s efforts against Izuku’s neglect had never been more apparent than when he sat down in the dusty room – he’d just gotten used to the mess, until Katsuki had shown him something better.

Was that too sappy? Yeah, probably.

But really, the kid was such a hard worker, Izuku wasn’t sure how he’d gotten by for so long without him there. Maybe in a few weeks the novelty would wear off, but for now, Katsuki was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and Izuku was gonna do his damn best to show him.

Katsuki grumbled quietly as he followed Izuku into the fancy store, feeling not unlike a kid being dragged out shopping by his parents. He didn’t fit in there, looked ridiculously out of place beside Izuku in his designer suit, his own jeans and hoodie faded with age. Izuku was nothing if he wasn’t determined, though, and apparently today that determination was focused on getting Katsuki in a nerdy outfit to go out for a fancy dinner.

Sickening.

Even worse was the fact that Izuku immediately started loading his arms up with clothing – different coloured shirts, a range of blazers, pants in all different cuts – Katsuki only managed to put a stop to it when Izuku started looking at a shelf of ties, glaring at him with every ounce of stubbornness he could muster.

“I do not wear ties,” Katsuki insisted. “There is absolutely nothing you can do or say to get me in one of those shitty things.”

Izuku only smiled at him fondly, thankfully stepping away from the ties, handing Katsuki a few things from the pile over his arm instead.

“Okay, try these on first, let me see how they fit!”

“Seriously? Ugh.”

“Don’t pout, Kacchan! You’ll look super handsome, I promise.”

“I always look super handsome.”

“Extra-super-even-handsomer, then.”

“Ugh, you’re such a nerd.”

All the same, he found himself stepping into a cubicle, fiddling with annoying little buttons as he got himself dressed up like an idiot. He hated everything about the damn suit – from the colour to the too-thick pinstripes to the gross baby blue shirt he’d been told to put on under the jacket.

“I hate it,” he said immediately, the moment he stepped out of the cubicle. “Can I take this shit off now?”

“Hmm, you don’t like the blue?” Izuku asked knowingly, digging out a grey shirt from the mix beside him. “Okay, try this one, and here, this suit is a little plainer.”

Grumbling still, Katsuki snatched them from him, stalking back into the changing room. He had to admit, the second pick was a little nicer, the suit much classier than the gross navy thing he’d been handed first, but it was still… Well, it was still a suit.

“Oh, that one looks good!” Izuku praised when he stepped out again, his cheeks flushed already. “I like the dark suit, it makes your eyes look brighter! The grey is a bit boring, though. Okay, let’s try the grey suit and the white shirt next.”

“No, that shit looks like my high school uniform. Next.”

“The suit or the shirt?”

“Both.”

“Okay, no grey suits and no white shirts. Got it.”

On and on the process went, Katsuki changing into the stupid outfits and stepping out again to be inspected. He wasn’t normally someone who cared about being in the spotlight, had never had an issue with public speaking or being on camera or anything of the sort, but somehow Izuku’s little smile and the way he looked so carefully at him made it hard to put up with.

“Okay, go put the dark suit back on, but with that pretty red shirt. You can wear that one to dinner, I’ll let them know you’re wearing it out!”

“Ugh.”

“Pretty please, Kacchan?”

“Whatever.”

Like an obedient little kid out shopping with his Dad, he changed one more time, and Izuku’s smile beamed at him when he saw.

“Perfect! Okay, come on, just let me pay then we can head to dinner!”

To Katsuki’s horror, Izuku didn’t return the other suits to the rack. Well, he returned the light grey one and the gross navy pinstripes – thank Christ – and a few of the shirts that hadn’t worked, but the rest went onto the counter, Izuku gesturing toward Katsuki as he laid them out.

As they walked out of the store, Izuku held two suit bags on wire hangers, and a bag filled with neatly folded shirts in a rainbow of colours. Katsuki was sure he would never wear any of them, but the nerd had insisted.

“They just look too good on you!” he had grinned, as if none of it was a big deal. “I want Kacchan to have them!”

Stupid rich fucker.

As they headed for the car, something else caught Izuku’s eye, and then he was thrusting the bags into Katsuki’s arms, hurrying into another little store on the pretty pedestrian street. He didn’t take long this time, thankfully, but when he returned he held another bag in his hand, quickly taking the mass of them back from Katsuki and shooting him a smile.

“Okay, let’s go!”

“What did you buy?”

“It’s a secret!”

“Don’t be like that, nerd. What is it?”

“Patience, Kacchan!”

“You suck.”

“So you’ve said!” Izuku giggled. “Come on, I’m getting hungry, let’s go have our yummy celebration dinner!”

“Whatever.”

He followed Izuku out to the car, rolling his eyes when the nerd opened his door for him, and while Izuku hung the new suits carefully in the back seat, he belted himself in. When Izuku joined him, sliding into the driver’s seat, he put one last bag in Katsuki’s lap, emblazoned with the unfamiliar purple logo from the last store he’d stopped at.

“I can look?” he clarified.

“Yeah! It’s not much, but I thought you’d like it!”

Inside, Katsuki found the softest material in the world, so fluffy he thought it might dissolve around him if he wore it in the rain. It was a simple hoodie, not unlike the one he’d worn to the store, though the price tag told him it was worth more than every piece of clothing he’d ever owned – combined. The cloud-like fabric was black, but on the front was a jagged red-and-orange explosion pattern, and Katsuki had to admit it was very much his style.

“Do you like it?”

“I do,” Katsuki conceded. “It feels really warm.”

“Yeah! You seem to like warmth, and it kind of reminded me of you when I saw it through the window? I hope it’s comfy!”

“Thanks, nerd.”

“Any time, Kacchan!”

He held it in his lap as they drove to the restaurant, strangely comforted by the feel of it in his hands. It was an oddly touching gesture, for someone he’d just met to so easily pick out something that was so him, all on a whim of “it reminded me of you”.

“Did you have a good chat with your parents?” Izuku asked, when they stopped at a red light. “You were talking for a while, they must be missing you by now.”

“Mm, just telling them about uni and stuff. Sent them some photos earlier, so they wanted to know all the details. What I’ve done, friends I made or whatever.”

“Aww, Kacchan made friends?”

“Shut up,” he snorted. “No friends, just a creepy old man I cook for.”

“You’ll have to introduce me to him some time!”

“Shut up.”

Izuku laughed brightly, and Katsuki cracked the tiniest smile of his own, turning to look out the window in the hopes Izuku might not notice it. He felt weirdly out of place, dressed in a brand-new suit and sitting in an expensive car, driving through the middle of Tokyo, but at the same time it was kind of surreal – after all, wasn’t it everything he’d wanted for most of his life? Maybe not the suit, sure, but the rest of it was like a dream come true.

“Are they gonna send the rest of your stuff?”

“Stuff?” Katsuki frowned. “What stuff?”

“Everything you have back home. Clothes? Books? Stuffed animals?”

“Fuck off,” Katsuki scowled, shooting him a glare. “I brought all the shit I needed.”

“That one backpack?”

“Yeah?”

“We need to buy you more stuff,” Izuku huffed. “That’s insane!”

“Stuff is overrated.”

“It’s not!”

Katsuki rolled his eyes, and Izuku sighed, giving up and letting him have his silence for a bit. It was slightly awkward, especially with how clearly Izuku was struggling to keep his mouth shut, but Katsuki appreciated the chance to let his cheeks calm down, to let the redness fade away.

“Here we are,” Izuku grinned, as he pulled up outside the building. “This place is my favourite, you’re gonna love it.”

“It looks… Expensive,” Katsuki mumbled, staring out at the marble pillars and the valet in a suit ready to take the car.

“Don’t worry, silly! I’m paying!”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“Kacchan, you look perfect,” Izuku smiled warmly, so damn sincere. “You’re gonna fit right in, don’t worry!”

“Shut up,” Katsuki huffed. “I always look perfect.”

“Yeah,” Izuku humoured him. “You do. Come on, let’s go have some dinner.”

They were quickly shown to a little table for two, near a pianist and her constant stream of music that was probably supposed to be soothing, but Katsuki just found it dull and annoying. Izuku didn’t seem to notice or mind it, so Katsuki kept his mouth shut for once – even he had the good sense to be polite at a fancy-ass restaurant. When Izuku pulled the chair out for him, though, Katsuki levelled him with the most fearsome glare he possessed, pointedly yanking the other chair out and sticking his butt in it before Izuku could say a word. That infuriatingly amused smile tugged at Izuku’s lips again, but he didn’t protest, sitting down on his own pulled-out chair without complaint.

“Pick anything you like,” Izuku instructed, as the host handed over their menus. “It’s all amazing.”

“This thing doesn’t even have prices on it,” Katsuki scowled, when the host left them to their own devices. “Everyone here is so rich they don’t even wanna know?”

“Mine has prices,” Izuku grinned, waving the menu at him teasingly. “But yours doesn’t, so that you can pick what you want without feeling bad about the cost!”

“Haah?! That’s ridiculous, gimme your shitty menu.”

“Nope!” Izuku’s grin stretched impossibly wider, keeping the menu out of his reach. “I’m gonna order wine. If you’re good, I’ll let you have a sip.”

“Fuck off, like I care about your shitty wine.”

“Aww, what a good boy.”

“You want me to lose my scholarship?” Katsuki huffed, eyeing the menu once more like he might make a grab for it. “I can’t afford the fees if they take it away, nerd.”

“You got a scholarship? Wow! That’s so impressive, Kacchan!”

“Everyone gets scholarships for their fees.”

“They really don’t.”

“Whatever, it was dumb anyway. Just wrote a bunch of stupid essays that pandered to the selectors.”

“Can I see them?”

“Hell no.”

“What if I let you see the menu?”

Katsuki considered it, eyes narrowing, but finally shook his head.

“Keep your damn menu, see if I care. I’d just order the most expensive thing to spite you, anyway.”

“Feel free,” Izuku laughed. “I wouldn’t bring you here if that was a concern.”

“I figured. How’d you end up so damn rich anyhow?”

“Um… I had some really great mentors and got super lucky in my first year on the job, got promoted super quickly and kind of made a name for myself, so now I’m constantly busy with work but I get paid well for it so it kind of balances out?”

“Not, like, inheritance or some shit?”

“No, gosh no! My Mom didn’t have much, but she did her best, for me. As soon as I got a good break, I brought her here to live with me. I’d just bought the apartment when she got sick, she never got to see how pretty it is.”

“Well, shit. Sorry.”

“No, don’t be! It makes me happy to remember her! She was the best Mom ever!”

“Alright,” he nodded faintly, burying his face in the menu to avoid eye contact – stupid nerd making him feel guilty. “I want steak.”

“Steak it is!”

“Better be a damn good steak.”

“It will be, I promise.”

As the night wore on, Katsuki noticed that the piano behind him got a little less grating. He found himself relaxing in his seat, just a bit, and cracking the occasional smile at Izuku’s bad jokes – just to keep the nerd happy, of course. He was paying the bills, after all, the least Katsuki could do was choke out a laugh to keep him satisfied.

His steak was damn good, Izuku had been right after all. Ugh. The potatoes on the side were equally amazing, and even the salad was somehow better than any salad he’d ever tasted. He was going to have to up his cooking game, if he wanted to keep Izuku happy.

“Just one bit,” Izuku insisted, as he offered a forkful of cheesecake across the table. “One bite won’t ruin your perfect figure, Kacchan.”

“I didn’t say shit about that!” Katsuki hissed, blushing bright red. “Don’t put your damn words into my mouth!”

“Then try it!”

“I am not sharing food with you. You wanted the dessert, not me.”

“Just a liiiiiittle bite.”

“I don’t like sweet shit.”

“You like pancakes.”

“I tolerate pancakes, I made that shit for you.”

“Awww, Kacchan, you’re so sweet!”

“Shut up.”

“I swear it’s not super sweet, just try it.”

He poked the fork at Katsuki’s lips again, and despite the frustrated growl that came from him, Katsuki caved. He opened his mouth, letting Izuku poke the little scoop of creamy cheesecake between his lips, and with his eyebrows still knitted together, his eyes still narrowed at the grinning, freckled idiot, he took the bite.

For a moment, the entire world seemed to go silent.

“I told you so,” Izuku laughed, already pushing the larger of his haphazard halves onto Katsuki’s plate. “The tang from the cream cheese, and that hint of salt with the caramel? It’s such a good combination.”

“Shut up,” Katsuki growled again, picking up his fork to take a bite. “You’re such a pain in the ass.”

“I know,” Izuku grinned. “Thanks for putting up with me tonight!”

“Whatever.”

By the time they left the restaurant, the night was dark and a little chilly, Katsuki shivering as the breeze went straight through his fancy suit jacket – honestly, what was even the point if the stupid thing couldn’t keep him warm?

“I have one more surprise for you.” Izuku smiled, as he opened the passenger-side door and ignored the glare he got for it. “Before we go home, I mean. I wanna take you somewhere!”

“You take all your first dates on this little adventure of surprises?”

Izuku gawked at him, mouth hanging open, stumbling over half-formed words as his face filled with heat. Katsuki enjoyed it for a minute longer than he probably should have, but with a roll of his eyes, he slid past Izuku and into the seat.

“It was a joke.”

“Oh. Oh! Oh, my gosh, thank goodness! I mean, not that you’re not- I would be lucky to- But-”

“I get it,” Katsuki cut in, before Izuku could get himself into a full-on flustered tangent. “A joke, like I said.”

“You’re really good at that!” Izuku praised, beaming again already. “You delivered it so well!”

“So where are you taking me, you damn nerd?”

“It’s a surprise!”

“Of fucking course it is.”

Izuku stripped off his jacket before he got into the driver’s seat, tossing it into the back, and Katsuki took that as permission to quickly discard his own, throwing it off like it burned. To his surprise, Izuku even shed his lopsided tie, rolling his shoulders as if the clothes had weighed a ton and he was finally free of them.

“Nowhere fancy,” Izuku assured him, answering the unspoken question. “Just somewhere I think you’ll like!”

“Alright,” Katsuki sighed, buckling his seatbelt. “Go on, then. Drive carefully.”

“I always do!” Izuku smiled, glancing over at him to share it before he looked back at the parking lot around them. “Just relax!”

In a weird way, the babble that came from Izuku as he drove was… Comforting. Katsuki never felt obligated to join in, knowing they were both more than content for Izuku to just talk to himself and let Katsuki chill at his side, but if he did decide to weigh in on something, Izuku ceased his chatter immediately. It didn’t matter what he’d been saying, he just went dead silent in an instant, letting Katsuki contribute as much or as little as he wanted. At home, Katsuki had always been in shouting matches with his mother, each of them trying to be heard by being the loudest. If it wasn’t his mother, it was his much more meek father, who always wanted to listen, but seemed almost afraid to actually talk himself. Not that Katsuki could really blame him – he’d gotten used to dealing with his wife and son, after all. Izuku was like a weird in-between, and it was… Kind of nice.

“Ta-da!” Izuku said with a flourish, when they pulled into a new parking lot.

“It’s a mall.”

“Very close! It’s a mall parking lot,” Izuku teased. “It’s a two minute walk, don’t worry!”

“Whatever, I’m not worried.”

He climbed back out of the car when Izuku shut it off, grabbing his extra-soft new hoodie and zipping it up over his stupid shirt, praying it covered the collar sufficiently if anyone he knew were to walk by. It didn’t matter that he barely new anyone in the city, he had a reputation to maintain, damn it! One that didn’t involve dorky button-up shirts.

“You know,” Izuku began, locking the car and shoving his keys in his pocket. “If you’re gonna be a lawyer, you’re gonna have to get used to wearing a suit.”

“No way. Maybe in court, but outside of court, people can deal with it.”

“It makes a good impression on clients, Kacchan!”

“I don’t want any client who judges my worth on my clothing.”

“Uh-huh,” Izuku humoured him, smiling at some private little joke. “Okay Kacchan.”

Katsuki followed blindly through the halls, shivering again when they stepped outside into a cool breeze, so preoccupied that it took a moment to realise Izuku had stopped moving. Katsuki glanced over at him in question, finding a soft little smile on his lips, and when the bright green eyes moved, nodding him toward their surroundings, Katsuki finally looked up.

“Holy shit.”

“Welcome to the Skytree, Kacchan!” Izuku laughed. “It’s over six hundred metres tall! The tallest building in Japan, and one of the tallest in the world. I thought maybe you’d like to see the view from up top.”

“Can we?”

“Yeah! I mean, not from the tip of the spire, that would be ridiculous. But from the viewing platform! Way up there, just before it gets narrower.”

“Hell yeah.”

Katsuki was buzzing with excitement as they waited for their turn in the elevator, all thoughts of suits and formality and frustration immediately gone in favour of massive tower, big city. Izuku didn’t even babble at him as they stood in line, just continued to smile to himself quietly while Katsuki gnawed on his lower lip and fidgetted far more than usual.

The line moved quickly, and soon they were shooting up through the building in a quiet elevator. Katsuki stuffed his hands in his pockets to keep from twitching too obviously, but the moment the doors open, he almost ran to the nearest window.

“Kacchan!” Izuku laughed, hurrying after him. “Relax! We can stay as long as you want, we have all the time in the world!”

Stretching out before him were city lights, stretching out into the horizon and beyond – Katsuki couldn’t even see far enough for the lights to end, they just went on into infinity, and Katsuki had never seen anything more beautiful. His inner child was both delighted and horrified at the same time; on one hand, he was finally seeing that one sight he’d always longed for, but on the other, it made his excitement over his first big city seem so unfounded. Compared to this, to Tokyo, his first city had been a village, and he almost felt stupid for holding on to that love for so long.

“It’s really something, huh?” Izuku said fondly, his eyes burning a hole in Katsuki’s side – damn nerd wasn’t even looking at the lights. “Is it everything you hoped for?”

“Better,” Katsuki answered, too enchanted to even care about being overly excited. “It’s perfect.”

“You wanna go a little higher?”

“What?”

Izuku nodded toward a doorway, beyond it a spiralling glass corridor that led higher and higher, and Katsuki knew his face was lighting up like a little kid having a birthday. Somehow, he didn’t even care.

“Gimme your phone,” he instructed, holding out a hand for the device. “I wanna take photos for you.”

“I can take my own photos.”

“Of you,” Izuku clarified. “Your parents will want to see this.”

“What are you, my Dad?”

“Oh yeah, I had you when I was seven,” Izuku snorted. “Stop treating me like I'm old!”

“You are.”

“I’m not even thirty yet! Hell, I’m not even in my late twenties!’

“Keep telling yourself that.”

“You’re the worst.”

Katsuki cracked a smile, and Izuku returned it tenfold, nudging Katsuki toward the corridor gently.

“Come on then, kiddo, let’s go up.”

“Try to keep up, old man.”