KamiDeku/DekuKami Oneshots ;}

Kiss me more

There's a nebulous space between thinking and speaking that Midoriya had never been able to control. It's not that he doesn't know what to say, but what he wants to say often gets jumbled up as it comes out of his mouth. Or, perhaps he just has too much to say, or he's still working through what it is he's feeling. Either way, there have been many times in Midoriya's life where his mouth refuses to cooperate with his brain.

A prime example: Midoriya's mother likes retelling the story of five-year-old Midoriya being unable to speak for a full twenty-four hours after reading a particularly devastating issue of "Amazing All Might." She found out later that he was terrified that the story would end there.

Another example: in middle school, Midoriya once got in trouble for asking too many questions about reproductive health during a biology lecture. Kacchan had turned bright red when he mentioned that the two of them used to bathe together as children (Midoriya doesn't even know why that crossed his mind in the moment), and promptly chucked his own slipper across the classroom at Midoriya to make him stop.

One last example: right now, his first and only attempt at confessing to Kacchan.

Midoriya is in college with Kacchan, living in Tokyo, and standing outside a restaurant frozen like a statue with a hand grasping at the hem of Kacchan's t-shirt. They were about to enter for an early dinner with friends, the rest of their group having already gone to be taken to the room they reserved.

Kacchan has paused, looking steadily over his shoulder to meet Midoriya's eyes with a somewhat confused stare.

"What?" he asks.

Midoriya gulps, taking in the sharpness of his red eyes, the thin sheen of sweat on Kacchan's neck, the way his lips purse as he waits, impatient, ready to eat and hang out.

"I'm," Midoriya says intelligently.

Even as he says this, he can feel himself thinking wildly-just tell him you like him, just tell him you like him-but his voice isn't working, even with his lips moving up and down like a goldfish out of water.

"Oi," Kacchan says, turning so Midoriya is forced to release Kacchan's shirt and they're facing each other in front of the restaurant door. "You didn't finish your sentence."

"I didn't?" Midoriya feels faint.

Kacchan sounds both amused and irritated in the only way he could be. He sighs before heavily placing a hand on Midoriya's head and ruffling his hair.

"No, nerd, you didn't. Spit it out."

"I wanted to-I was wondering-"

This is it. The moment Midoriya's been sweating about since he left his apartment and decided that he could probably do this today. Midoriya had been agonizing about his feelings for Kacchan for the last few weeks, feelings that took him twenty years, some distance from home, and a few nights of alcohol in his system to become aware of.

Kacchan is still staring at him. He's waiting, and something about this makes Midoriya even more nervous because Kacchan never waits for anything. It's torture, almost like he knows, and Midoriya realizes he can't know, but also he can't do this, it would wreck everything and everything they'd been through together would just be done and over with-

"Do you know where the bathroom is?" Midoriya blurts out, eyes darting up to Kacchan's face, his own face heating up in embarrassment.

Kacchan cocks his head and drops his hand from Midoriya. "Hah? How am I supposed to know?" he says in the exasperated voice Midoriya had come to know over the years very well. He's irritated and trying not to show it because they're adults who need to express themselves properly.