A few weeks had passed since the day Neito and Izuku had been kidnapped. Recently, Neito had been officially discharged from the hospital, after healers had done what they could to mend his injured body. His feet would never be quite the same, especially not the one that the woman had twisted her knife into, but with enough physical therapy he’d be able to work again with little problem. His arm was gone for good, but as long as he still had any sort of skin he’d be able to use his quirk. And, well, as long as others had blood. Hatsume Mei was already excitedly talking about prosthetics, too.

The day after he’d been discharged he’d finally been on his first real date with Katsuki. It had been awkward at first, neither of them sure on how to behave on a date, but once they realised they could just be their regular selves with the added bonus of physical intimacy, it went smoothly. Neito had a really good time, and by the looks of it, so did Katsuki. They even held hands in the darkness of the movie theatre, hidden from prying eyes, and he was kissed goodnight inside Neito and Hanta’s apartment before Katsuki had to leave. Hanta had whooped and cheered when he walked passed, Katsuki threatening to kick his ass and Neito hiding his face in his hand in embarrassment. At least Katsuki’s cheeks had been flaming red too.

Tonight they were spending the night at Katsuki’s place, a spacious apartment, where everything was in order and the fridge was stocked with ingredients to cook with. They had made dinner together, Neito allowed to help a little bit. Katsuki was very domineering in the kitchen even to this day, so it was honestly very generous of him to let Neito help out. He did know some things about cooking, thanks to Hanta, especially cutting vegetables. The food hand ended up looking ridiculously fancy, like they were at a five star restaurant, and it had tasted just as good. When Neito claimed that if Katsuki hadn’t become a hero, he would for sure have been able to become the best chef in the world and that he felt honoured to have him as his private chef for the night. Katsuki looked a bit flustered where he sat opposite him at the kitchen table, not quite yet used to when Neito would give out compliments so freely. Neito beamed back at him, proud to have made the other man blush.

Katsuki grumbled under his breath, something Neito couldn’t quite hear, and instead he leaned forward so his nose almost brushed his date’s. “I wouldn’t mind eating your cooking for the rest of my life.”

The shade of red on Katsuki’s face upon hearing that was both adorable and hilarious.

In the end they ended up in Katsuki’s bed, curled up against each other, chest to chest. It was the first time Neito had been in Katsuki’s bed without the intention of sneaking out in the middle of the night and it was… comforting, to just rest in the other hero’s arms. Still, he couldn’t help but think. He needed to talk to Katsuki about what had happened in that basement, but he’d been putting it off, even though he knew it would get harder the longer he waited.

Katsuki’s voice vibrated against his ear where he rested his cheek against his chest. “Whatever you wanna tell me, spit it out.”

Groaning, Neito shifted until they were face to face. “You’ve got no decorum, you know that?” scooting closer, he leaned his forehead against Katsuki’s, closing his eyes to gather his thoughts before he drew back, looking him in the eye. “What I’m about to tell you might ruin things between us, but I can’t exactly… not tell you.”

He felt Katsuki’s body tense, and he realised he might have fucked up his phrasing right off the bat, but there was no going back. “Toga Himiko is my biological older sister. Since she was part of kidnapping you back in high school-”

“That’s all?” Neito stared at Katsuki in surprise as he felt the other blond relax again. “Half-and-half’s siblings with Dabi, I didn’t give a shit about that, so why would this be any different?”

Neito’s head dropped back against Katsuki’s arm, and he squeezed his eyes shut when he felt heat build up behind his eyes. “...I guess I didn’t… think about that. I’ve just hidden it for so long, along with what my quirk’s really like, so I… I spent so much of my life fearing people finding out, it’s hard not to keep fearing it.”

Katsuki stared at him for a moment, before furrowing his brow in thought. “Yeah, you copied Deku’s quirk even though you usually can’t. What was so different this time?”

“I drank his blood. Well, more like licked it off the floor, but… yeah. If I ingest someone’s blood I can copy their quirk regardless of what type it is. Duration depends on how much, just like my sister’s.”

With a hum, Katsuki rolled onto his back, looking up into the ceiling. “And you hid that part because of what, just because of her? Did you know she was a villain before UA?”

“No, I didn’t know. She was just… missing until she joined the League of Villains. But I was raised to hate my quirk, because my parents hated Himiko-neechan’s quirk, and when I got mine and they realised it had to do with blood too they hated mine. And by extension they hated both of us, too.” Neito rubbed his face, feeling the knot in his throat that was always there when he thought of his birth family.

“They’d pull out our fangs, but they always grew back, even when they weren’t baby teeth. So they put muzzles on us, and I had these gloves that I couldn’t take off on my own. They only took them off when we went to school, since muzzles were made illegal when we got a bit older, so they had to pretend they didn’t make us wear them. Then Himiko attacked a boy at her school and after that she just… disappeared. Mum and dad didn’t exactly look either, but the police were, since she’d committed a crime. They never found her though. I didn’t see her again until that raid in first year. They made me wear contacts because my slit pupils reminded them of her and they didn’t like that. You already saw my real eyes at the hospital, though. I’ve never spent a day without wearing them, ever since, until today.”

At some point during his monologue, Katsuki had turned his head to look at him, his eyes soft when Neito met them. “That’s fucked up.” Since their teens, the explosive hero had learned a lot about the workings of quirk disrimination, especially after Denki made Shinsou a part of their group, and Mina opened up about how she’d been treated when she was young, due to her mutations. With a heavy sigh, Neito moved closer so he could rest his head on Katsuki’s arm.

“There’s a lot of other things they did to us, but that’s the short version. I don’t think I have the energy to go into all of it right now.” Fingers ran through his hair, and Neito closed his eyes, turning his head slightly to press a kiss to Katsuki’s bicep. “Thanks for helping save us back there. I don’t think either of us would have survived if we’d been stuck there much longer.”

He felt Katsuki move, lips against his hair in a firm kiss before he was pulled into an embrace. “Of course I’d help you, dumbass, I got worried when you didn’t show up.”

Neito laughed, nuzzling his face against Katsuki’s collarbone. “If the past you heard you say that he’d pass out from shock.” Katsuki cracked up in turn. “Yeah I fucking would. Probably try to beat myself up for saying it too.” The grin on his face was enormous.

“Only you’d be excited to kick your own ass.”

“Nah, Lizard Girl’d be too.”

Neito snorted. “You’re not wrong.” He continued, “After physical therapy tomorrow afternoon I’m expecting you to come over to mine so I can treat you to some food. Hanta’ll be out in the evening.”

“I’ll make sure to thank Tapeface for the meal then,” Katsuki teased, Neito dramatically placing his hand against his forehead. “Ah how terrible, Katsuki doesn’t think I can cook even the simplest of meals. A devastating revelation.”

Katsuki laughed loudly, rolling over so he was right on top of his partner, trapping him under his weight. “Oh damn, how will you ever forgive me?”

Giggling, Neito wrapped his arm around Katsuki. “Mmm, maybe if I got… a brilliant breakfast in the morning. That includes some morning kisses too, by the way.”

The grin on Katsuki’s face was all teeth, and he pressed his lips against Neito’s. “I think I can manage that.” Neito returned the kiss, and for a while they just stayed like that, the sound of the traffic far below them the only sound accompanying their kissing.

Eventually, Katsuki’s head fell into the crook of Neito’s neck, and he left a final kiss against his collarbone before closing his eyes. Neito’s fingers curled around the soft hair on Katsuki’s head, and he buried his nose in blond hair. The rest of the night was spent in peaceful sleep.

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