Sweetheart

Chapter 5

When Katsuki arrived home, he almost missed the familiar face waiting for him in the lobby. He was leaning against the reception counter, chatting with the lady working the front desk, and Katsuki only glanced over because he heard her laugh. In over a year he'd been living there, he'd never heard the lady laugh – she was far too polite and formal for that.

"Deku?" he asked, falling still when he saw the green curls.

"Kacchan! You're home!"

He was forced to catch the nerd in his arms, with the way he threw himself at him. His arms wound around Katsuki's neck, and when Katsuki grabbed him tight, his feet dangled inches from the floor, his sweet smile resting on Katsuki's cheek.

"I missed you!" he declared, shameless despite the other people in the lobby watching on with curiosity. "You're home late!"

"You booked the damn appointment, you should have known. I didn't know you were coming."

"Wanted to surprise you," he grinned. "Okay, show me your apartment!"

"Y-Yeah, okay."

He led the way up the stairs to the second floor, jamming his key in the lock and wiggling it until it worked. The apartment was clean, at least: only his dishes from breakfast remained in the sink, beside his annoyingly non-functional oven. Dumb thing still hadn't been fixed even after a week of calling maintenance.

"It's so small," Deku marveled, lacing their fingers together as he looked around. "Is this it?"

"Shut up," Katsuki huffed. "It's just me, I don't need a ton of space."

"Mmm... I think you'll like it, though," Deku mused. "How much of this stuff belongs to you? Do you have a box somewhere that we can use?"

"The hell are you on about?"

"Moving, silly."

Katsuki blinked at him, waiting for more, but Deku was busy digging through his bag. He finally produced a little Deku-brand keychain, putting it in Katsuki's palm and closing his fingers around it firmly.

"Do you want a bath before we pack? Or we could have one at the new place, it has a much nicer bathroom! Just wait until you see the bathtub!"

"Are you serious?"

"About which part? You don't have to bathe with me if you don't want to. But if you do I'll, uh, let's see..."

"Don't you dare start bribing me again."

"But I like spoiling you," Deku pouted. "I'll take you out for dinner! You look so nice, all pretty and pampered, it would be such a waste to not show it off to the world!"

"Don't say that shit," Katsuki blushed. "Why do you always do this?"

"Because it's fun seeing you blush!" Deku teased, standing on tiptoe to kiss a warm cheek.

"Jerk."

Deku just grinned at him, reaching up to run a hand through his freshly-trimmed hair, completely unabashed as he met Katsuki's eyes with that blinding smile.

"Let's pack, Kacchan," he said, softer this time. "I want to show you your new apartment!"

"Whatever, nerd."

Deku blabbered on about nonsense as they packed, Katsuki handing over items and Deku packing them neatly into a few boxes he'd found lying around. He had surprisingly few belongings, so soon his apartment was completely unpersonalised, just the clothes in his closet left to be folded and bagged.