Twenty-Four Hours - Part 3

9:00

Izuku silenced his buzzing alarm the moment it began, cutting it off before it could disturb anyone, and slowly leaned over to reach his bag beside the table. He’d been extra careful to keep a table at the back for the two of them to sit at, after they’d said hello and done the introductions and everything, so when he slowly slid the package across the desk, he knew no one would pay them any mind. Katsuki waited a moment before he looked down, slowly pulling it the rest of the way across the table to sit in front of him, and slowly, silently, began to unfasten the tape.

Inside he found a cardboard box covered in bright, colourful designs, and a small smile came over him when he glanced up at Izuku’s shining eyes. For his ninth birthday, a limited edition set of construction bricks had come out, all themed around building a lumpy All Might in his hero pose.

Now, years later, he was staring down at a set by the same company, this time featuring his own face on the box – as well as the nerd beside him’s. They came as a matching set, as always with their merch, since they’d officially become a duo, and Katsuki knew they’d be spending their weekend constructing the equally-lumpy faces together on the living room floor. When they were done he would carefully put them on their merch shelf beside all their old figures and plushies, to live forever watching over their apartment.

Katsuki reached over, squeezing Izuku’s thigh lightly in thanks, and got a huge smile in return as he gestured toward his bag.

“Want me to keep hold of it for now?” he whispered.

“Hell no!” Katsuki hissed back. “They’re mine now, nerd.”

“I’ll give them back! I just thought you might not want to carry them!”

“Mine.”

To emphasise his point, he shifted the box into his lap, hugging it lightly as he shot Izuku a dirty look. Izuku only smiled in return, shaking his head fondly as he went back to his note taking.

At least he knew Katsuki liked it.

─────

10:00

Unlike most kids, who despised math until they were a lot older, Katsuki’s love developed early in life. By the time he turned ten, he was absolutely enamoured with everything math or physics, especially for how it could affect his fighting style. While other kids were asking “when am I ever going to need this?” Katsuki was already taking notes about the types of villain or setting he might encounter, where his new knowledge might come in useful. It had been an important part of his academic growth – not only did he love books, like a lot of kids, but he loved art and math and science and everything in between.

When Inko asked Izuku about birthday gifts, he’d gone straight to space. Katsuki’s latest obsession had been with stars and planets, a goldmine of space facts that no one could figure out how he knew. From neutron stars to black holes to dark matter, Katsuki was always more than happy to regale you with his latest discoveries.

His gift at ten had been a box of space-themed gifts. Glow in the dark stars that were still on the walls in his family home, galaxy patterned notebooks, an astronaut keyring, even a tiny spherical lamp designed to look like the moon. Katsuki had loved it all, even though most of it had been used to death within the year.

While he was a little more quiet about it these days, Katsuki was still a massive space nerd on the inside. He still watched all the documentaries, still followed all the news and research, and still woke Izuku up at ass o’clock in the morning in his excitement over new photos from planets and galaxies far beyond their own. It was one of those secret little obsessions that most of their friends knew nothing about, but which Izuku got to share with him, revelling in his delight.

He’d hoped he could get Katsuki a telescope, now that they were older and better off financially, but it turned out those things were super expensive. Getting a good one could run you thousands and Izuku had already spent a lot on the day.

Instead, he went a little closer to his first version, from when they were just ten years old,  dreaming of being heroes. He’d found a set of desk-toy planets online, hand-crafted from gems and stones that looked like the surface of each planet. They looked beautiful, they seemed like solid, long-lasting fidget toys, and best of all, they included Pluto. Katsuki had a lot of feelings about the history of Pluto.

Just before ten o’clock they had a brief break, a chance for everyone to use the bathroom and grab a drink, so Izuku grabbed Katsuki by the hand and dragged him into his office just as the buzzer began to sound. Katsuki smiled knowingly, watching as Izuku pulled a small cube from his bag, and he sat down on the edge of his desk to open it.

When he found the little planet toy inside he couldn’t resist opening the box right away, grabbing the little wooden base to lay them out on his desk.

“One side has rings, so you can make them orbit!” Izuku beamed, as Katsuki inspected the wood. “The other one just has holes where you can sit them in whatever order you want. It doesn’t have a sun, though, so if you want to orbit them we might have to find a sun. Maybe a little lightbulb or something?”

“It’s perfect,” Katsuki assured him. “It even has-”

“Pluto!” Izuku finished knowingly. “I had to send them a message to ask if they could put Pluto in, but they were more than happy to do it!”

“What do you think Mars tastes like?”

“Oh my God, I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one who wanted to lick them.”

Katsuki waved him over with a laugh, picking Mars up for himself and watching Izuku pick out Jupiter. He double-checked that the door was closed before he lifted it to his mouth, taking a long lick of the smooth surface.

“Doesn’t taste like much,” Izuku said, a little disappointed. “I was expecting more... Rock.”

“Yeah, I guess they’ve been polished enough to lose all that,” Katsuki grinned. “Oh well, at least we know.”

“True!”

“Maybe I’ll find a chunk of meteorite one day, we can lick that for the more authentic experience.”

“Sounds great!” Izuku grinned, leaning over to lick Katsuki’s cheek playfully and make him squirm. “Much better, tastes like Birthday Boy.”

“What does Birthday Boy taste like, hm?” Katsuki raised an eyebrow, wiping his face on his sleeve.

“Winner.”

“Good answer.”

─────

11:00

Katsuki was an avid hiker. Most of their friends knew that, so he’d been asked for a lot of advice over the years about where to take dates how how best to prepare for a trip, but he was still determined that solo trips were the way to go. Izuku got included on occasion, of course – if he asked, Katsuki would never tell him no, but he knew Katsuki enjoyed the alone time, and in all honesty, he enjoyed it too. It was a chance to binge TV shows Katsuki had no interest in and eat a ton of junk food while Katsuki wasn’t there to nag – Katsuki joined him in that sometimes, too, when they wanted more time together, but they each had their own solo hobbies that they didn’t feel obligated to drag each other into, too.

When Katsuki turned eleven, Izuku had gifted him with a brilliant little survival kit, to help him as he made the move from nagging his Dad to take him hiking, to going out solo. It had bandages and plasters for any cuts or sprains he picked up, tubes of saline and antiseptic to clean him up and prevent infection, a pair of scissors, instant ice packs, heat packs, and even an emergency blanket that folded up into a neat little pouch. All of it fitted together into a hard-shell case that Izuku had painted himself, a little sloppy, but heartfelt. Katsuki still kept it in his hiking pack, even though the paint was chipped and dulled, and he’d had to replace all of the contents at least once.

But Katsuki’s biggest hiking-induced stress in more recent years was his jacket. He’d gone through countless over the years, tried out every material for comfort and warmth and breathability, but just when he’d found one he adored, it had gotten caught on a tree and torn to shit down one side. They’d patched it up when he’d gotten home, but it hadn’t been the same since, and Katsuki had been surprisingly distressed about it every time he hiked since. He was such a perfectionist, liked his things to be clean and neat and in order, so for one of his favourite possessions to end up damaged put him in an odd state, and Izuku found it heartbreaking.

It had taken him months to find the same one available for purchase – apparently everyone else loved that jacket too, considering how many places they were out of stock at – and when he’d finally found them, he’d bought two. There was no way he was going to go through that again.

Katsuki welled up when he saw them in his hands, taking a minute to even find words. Izuku wrapped his arms around him immediately, hugging him tight, and Katsuki leaned into the touch. With that touch they exchanged all the words they’d ever needed, without ever opening their mouths.

“I love you,” Katsuki said quietly.

“I know,” Izuku teased.

“Asshole.”

─────

12:00

Izuku was a little blushy as he slid the next package into Katsuki’s hands, and Katsuki couldn’t quite figure out why. His twelfth birthday was their final year before middle school, when things had been a little strained, but not nearly as awful as he’d made them a year later. If he remembered correctly, Izuku had given him a fancy All Might figure with changeable faces and accessories. He’d re-posed that thing every day, as part of his morning routine, and it still lived on the merch shelf in their living room, beside a ton of their other possessions.

Judging by his theme so far, the package in his Katsuki’s hands would be some kind of merch, so what had made him so nervous about it suddenly?

He unwrapped the box with two pieces of torn-off tape, but when the paper fell away he was left dumbfounded, staring at the box in silence.

“Is this...”

“Yeah,” Izuku smiled awkwardly. “So we can... Play.”

“Fuck yes.”

“Now?”

“Maybe not right now,” Izuku laughed. “It probably needs a good wash before using it, and we’d need lube, which I have been very careful to keep out of the office. How about on Saturday I wear it all day and you can do whatever you want with that remote, yeah?”

“Hell yeah.”

“For now you might want to put it out of sight though.”

“Why would I want to hide the fact that my boyfriend is a hot piece of ass who buys me a vibrating butt plug for my birthday so that I can torment him?”

“Because it’s not very office appropriate?”

“Fine,” Katsuki huffed, tucking it away into a drawer. “At dinner, then.”

“No.”