#(p.p.s katsukis line at the end are the words unsaid from before)

[oshiawaseni]

Izuku’s scars. Most of them had been made while he was still trying to get used to his power, in his desperation to become a hero.

Kacchan’s scars… had all been made when he'd found something to protect and were born in his desperation to become Izuku’s hero.

After they first started dating, whenever his chest lay bare in front of Izuku, Izuku can barely look at those scars and quickly downcasts his eyes after a second because he knows they are his fault. Kacchan’s stunning Adonis body was now marred all over because of him.

But as the months pass by, a new warm feeling starts to build in Izuku's chest whenever he looks at them. The more he learns of the feelings and everything else inside the blonde’s heart, the more he begins to see those scars as beautifully splayed proofs of Kacchan’s love. And because of them, he becomes even more breathtaking and perfect to him, which Izuku had thought was impossible.

When they make love, Izuku runs his fingers over them and often dampens the wrecked skin with hot tears while nuzzling his face against them. It overwhelms him how much more loved he feels while Kacchan embraces him, all because of those pretty scars.

If he wakes up the next morning and Kacchan’s lying next to him, he might kiss them softly and lightly trace around their edges with the tips of his fingers, ever so carefully, so as to not wake Kacchan up.

And on some mornings, Izuku can't help the tears that run down his face after watching him for just a few minutes because he feels so blessed his hero is lying right there, right next to him, alive and breathing peacefully in his sleep.

Which brings us to now, it's been a few years since their first kiss and Izuku is lightly stroking Kacchan's soft hair in the quiet early hours of another morning together. Not even the birds are awake and breaking the still air with their chittering. Izuku thinks back to a precious memory of the first and only time they had ever talked about the scars. Kacchan had clicked his tongue and said to him after they’d gotten out of the boy's bath in their third year,

‘Stop looking at ‘em so mopey, Izuku. ’m like a cool war hero ‘n these’re all my badges of honour.” .......

The blonde had looked like there was more he wanted to say as his eyes contemplated Izuku, who was a little bewildered by the topic of his outburst. But instead of letting out anymore words, Kacchan reached his hand over to pull Izuku flush against his body.

Izuku had reached up with his hand to caress over Kacchan’s right cheek, where a trace amount of scar tissue still remained, and gazed deep into the smouldering embers of those fiery eyes, searching for what truths lay beneath them. Kacchan’s usual intense stare softened as it took in Izuku and when Izuku saw the faintest flicker of tenderness flash into those beautiful expressive red orbs that never told lies, he slightly leaned up to claim a deep kiss from the blonde’s mouth and smiled at him gently.

‘Yes, General.’

And that had been the end of it. Izuku sighs and falls back to sleep with his hand laying over Kacchan’s heart.

-

Katsuki's eyes opened. The truth was he’s always known about Izuku’s fixation with his scars. Over the years, he had been roused a few times by Izuku's feather touches and quiet sniffling in the early morning hours before dawn. After the nightmare they both went through during those trying high school years, he felt there wasn't much to be done about it. He only felt immense gratitude for his scars, they made it so Izuku and he could live out the rest of their lives, fulfilling all of their dreams together.

Katsuki gently wiped away an almost dry tear from his beloved’s cheek and pulled the sleeping bundle in closer to him, barely murmuring into his hair,

‘I’d get ‘em all over again ‘n a thousand more if it meant I could still get ta hold you in my arms like this.’

Katsuki kisses the top of green curls and closes his eyes with a hum, allowing himself to be slowly lulled back into unconsciousness by the calming even breaths of his lover sleeping beside him.

~owari~