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From The Sidelines

Chapter 14: The Author's Note

Notes:

sorry it took months haha i was trying to pull my grades up that suffered from me putting so much time into this fic :((

Chapter Text

First, I want to start with the bad news, which is that I will not be posting their final papers (which is really shitty I know because the whole plot of this story kind of revolves around the papers and I know a lot of you guys wanted to read them); however, I tried writing different versions of their final papers, and I cannot really put into words a way that would be able to summarize their experience in an academic context, and so I'm sorry for that! Now to get into the meat of things :D

 

Table of Contents

I. The Author’s Note

II. The Outline & Making of FTS

III. A Homage To FTS Town’s Highlights

IV. Talks of A Potential Hard Copy

V. A Masterlist of Collected Fanarts

VI. 2 FTS Prompt Week Submissions

VII. The FTS Sequel Outline 

VIII. Upcoming Work



I. The Author's Note 

I don’t know if you believe in alternate universes, but let’s just pretend for a moment that there were. In another universe, we’re all the fiction and the world in which FTS BKDK exists in is the reality. And maybe there, this story continues. Maybe there, somewhere out there, these two boys are still chasing sunsets on the river banks, laying on the floor of the library at 2AM during their second year of university studying for an organic chemistry test, coming home for summer break and rope swinging into the creek near grandpa’s farm. I’d like to think so, because over the past few months, I’ve poured a lot of my soul into building this world so deeply that somewhere along the way, I forgot that this was a piece of fiction. That none of these characters are real. None of the quiet whispers into the night, neighbors sitting on the porch, crickets chirping in the background, soft and tender touches shared in the fic were real. After 13 chapters of FTS and me getting way too emotionally attached to the little town of Ise, I guess it’s just easier to pretend that we--this wonderful community we built up both on Ao3, Twitter, and even Tiktok--do exist in the tiny coastal town called Ise, where the houses are painted pastel colors, all the radios blare 80s tracks, and where maybe I’m just a part-time worker at Midoriya’s Custom Prints shop and you might be a student on the soccer team of Ise High. And maybe, after school, we grab a milkshake at Hana’s Diner, and gossip about the surprising new couple Midoriya Izuku and Bakugo Katsuki, the hot topic of Ise at the current moment. Especially now as we’ve reached the end, it’s hard not to want to pretend a little longer. What isn’t pretend though were the friendships made along the way, the phenomenal and loving community that stemmed, the emotions that were felt, and the memories shared. I’m never going to forget the thrill of scrolling through #FTSTWT, which I will take this moment to take pride upon for a second: trended on twitter in the U.S. upon the release of chapter 12. I’m never going to forget the joy and adoration I felt reading each and every comment on people’s thoughts and analyses, or the awe of seeing wonderful art made for the fic. And so I know it might be annoying to have read another thousand or so words of the author’s ramblings at the end of a fic (I know, I should have just posted Chapter 13 and then left it at that); however, I am so grateful to you guys for reading FTS that I felt like it would have been wrong not to express my gratitude separately like this. Especially after all you guys have done for FTS Town. FTS wouldn’t be what it was without all of your love. Home is not just the place, it’s the people. 

 

II. The Outline & Making of FTS

So this is a very long document that I will put in here anyways because why not. I also have a link to the google doc, because it's color coded IRL but you can't really see it on Ao3.  Skip to III. A Homage To FTS Town if you don't really care about the outline hehe <3

Link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1_XjbXyOS1_RLmsQR9JFTnrFbPnWy7E884KBrTA9lMDY/edit?usp=sharing

{Note: Deku is abbreviated to D in the outline. Katsuki is abbreviated to K}

This is my exact outline word for word. And so, I apologize in advance if a lot of it makes no sense. 

    • Title Ideas: Everytime I Win, From The Sidelines, To Meet Me In The Middle idk about this one, 
    • Inspirations-Random thought images that initially inspired the fic: flipped, dirty dancing, grease, my romanticized daydreams, childhood, mississippi, north carolina, arkansas, velvet creme, myrtle beach, funnel cakes, creeks, 80s playlist, old cars, wet clothes
    • Tags! : coming of age, beachtown aesthetic, top K, bottom D , retro, coming of age?
    • Overall intended emotion for readers: heartache, but delve deep into a nostalgic lifestyle. About young love, hesitations, and fears, embracing our anger and our kindness. Embracing life and enjoying the beautiful things, even if you know you have to eventually get out of this small town, maybe even have that be a theme. A feeling in your heart that kind of wrenches in this kind of beautiful pain, where even the happy moments are laced with this sense of bittersweet nostalgia where you know it’s so good and sweet that it might end soon. Really play on the beauty of young love and living for yourself rather than just for other people. Growth and heartbreak. Slow-ish burn. Have this be around 100k and 12 chapters because lord knows you can’t write short things. Pace it so that there is a week between each chapter. 
    • Rating: explicit lmao 

 

  • Blurb: 

 

      • When long-time enemies, Bakugo Katsuki--the all-star athlete and rascal of Ise--and Izuku Midoriya, the town sweetheart, are paired together for a long-term project, the quiet town of Ise suddenly gets a bit louder. 
      • In which, Katsuki is an asshole pole vaulter, Izuku is going to fail psychology, and both are about to have the most intense spring semester yet. 
    • POV: 3rd person limited in D’s POV for 70% of the fic, really hammer in on D’s emotions and thoughts here and make it unbearably frustrated that the POV doesn’t extend to K’s. And then, at climax/pivotal point, transition to 3rd person limited but in K’s POV. Have that running for a little bit, settle in, and let people adjust to feeling K’s emotions and thought processes similar to how they did w/ D. And then after that point, post climax, slowly switch back and forth between their POVs and for the love of god try not to do it so abruptly, i s2g if you do some shit like insert a paragraph spacing and then in bold, write K’s POV in the middle of a chapter i’ll kill you. Slowly switch back and forth as they begin to feel more for each other and crack pieces each other’s mind apart, until by the end, it becomes 3rd person omniscient rather than 3rd person limited. Represents the fact that theyre finally communicating and in tune w/ one another? 

 

  • Brief plot draft

 

      • K & D same kind of bullied backgrounds in Canon but it’s not anything absolutely horrible and unforgivable. K is emotionally closed off to positive emotions. D is emotionally closed off to negative emotions. At the end, D gives him a piece of his mind and confesses to his anger, his jealousy, etc. K can’t find himself doing the same. K plays a sport. Pole vault bc like, he flies and is explosive and stuff. Plus, it’s an individual sport.  They both have like a really beautiful semester. Lots of tension. Lots of lake and stuff. Fireworks on the water party. Rope swings. Diners. Massive 80s aesthetic. Make it so nostalgic it hurts by nature
      • K is emotionally closed off to positive emotions because “the more people who like you, who are close to you, the more people who have the ability to be disappointed in you.”and also bc of habituation from childhood and people all around him growing up.  if he shuts himself out, then if people are disappointed in him, he won’t care.  D says “the people who care about you: no matter what happens, they won’t be disappointed in you.” 
      • D is emotionally closed off to negative emotions because that is what people expect of him. And that is what his mom expected of him: to be a perfect son. How to be nice. Overbearing mother, so he’s a bit sheltered, yet you can tell he’s longing for more. By the way he watches K fly, wondering what it feels like. He doesnt stand up for himself even tho he very well could, bc he’s taught to always be the sweetheart and bundle of joy for others, even if its to the detriment of himself. 

 

  • Main symbols

 

    • Circles. Cycles. 

 

 

        • Going around in circles. Bc life just isn’t that easy, where you can just recognize a flaw and get over it like that. Where you can just be a better person every day. Where you can easily break your habits. Life is frustrating. It can be hard to break habits, to say words that you never usually say, to stop going around in circles. 
        • how? Circled quotes. Have little details sprinkled out that you circle back to later through a call back or whatever. Have a section in the outline for that. Big component. Have them repeat the same mistakes, and grow, but get frustrated bc it doesnt feel like they’re doing good enough. Circled items that grow in meaning over time. Cherry gatorades. Pole vaulting. The sky. Etc. but focus mostly on the circled quotes. For a nice little touch, the end of chapter 1 should mirror the end of the last chapter except with a heightened flare. Kind of like a sense of ‘look how far we’ve come. Where we can say the same thing, but have it mean completely different things.’

 

    • Music

 

        • Fun stuff at first, sad stuff in the middle, nostalgic/happish stuff at the end. 
        • In the beginning, none of the songs’ lyrics will be mentioned. The songs are just there. 
        • Katsuki listens to them mindlessly because he liked the sound, just like how readers will likely brush over the songs in the beginning. So make sure to write it so that you don’t go into the lyricism in the first 5+ chapters, so to the readers, like Katsuki, the songs are fun to listen to but you’re not emotionally there with it— just like he is.
        •  Have the music be more upbeat too. But over time, throughout the fic, we should  see more introspection with the songs, more attention to lyrics, and even incorporate them into scenes as centerpieces to emotional moments. This will be because slowly, katsuki is beginning to understand what the lyrics in these love songs mean. 
        • He’s beginning to find himself relating to the music he’s only listened to previously for the sound. Just like how subtly readers will also be more attentive to the music. 
        • Richard marx, george michael, madonna, whitney , put classics and also weird ones
        • Make a playlist actually. A fic playlist , link it on every chapter it’ll be cool even tho no one will listen to it bahahahahh :’) cries 

 

    • Perspective

 

      • Goes w/ the circles thing. Perspective is big in here. And it’s the very reason for their whole repeating of cycles. The lack of pov. The entireeee fic, or well, before you switch pov for the first time, have D crave K’s pov. Crave it so badly as time goes on. Have him want it more and more, because it gets harder and harder to continue loving K when not knowing a single thought that goes through k’s head. The ambiguity of it all. And keep on leaving pauses and strange unexplained expressions on K’s face with narration like ‘and he’s quiet for a song, and Izuku wonders what he’s thinking about’ but never actually resolve it, so that readers get the exact same feeling of not knowing and the growing frustration that comes with it. Yeah. nice thats good. Anyways when u go do chapter 11 and do K’s pov, go back to all those moments and explain what he was thinking at the time. Good stuff
      • When D’s POV switches to K’s POV at the end of ch 10 into ch 11, make sure that there is significance in the ending line. So that it flows into the other. “I wish I knew yours” or something like that. Then BOOOOOM. K’s POV. Expand more on this in the chapter outline. 
      • Sky/Earth. Mini theme. Goes along with this. In the beginning, they’re so far apart. D on the ground. K in the skies. D pining for what’s up there. K never haven been grounded before. Over time, they try a little bit of each. D gets to fly. K gets to feel the warmth of being grounded or whatever. Unreachable theme. But POV changes kinda go hand in hand with this. And further they progress thru the fic and the more they begin to see each other’s side, especially in the last couple of chapters, the more they meet in the middle. 
      • The whole thingie with the transparents curtain and mirrors also do this. How they get so close. So so close, but never completely there. Align with their perception of each other’s POV. so close  but never there. Glass is like that. The curtain islike that. This goes under the circles theme too

 

  • Details that need to be brought full circle: “love is friendship set on fire”  The cliff of wishes oHHHH yeah. Losing and K’s inability to lose, and then at the end, have him willing to.  An article of clothing that K wears to a final match, maybe a bracelet or a sweatband or a tshirt?. Ooh, and maybe, we can do a izuku says “because you said you liked it” to k everytime he does something nice. And at a pivotal point in their relatioship, K does something for D. And repeats that line. Nice thats a plan. This should be before the climax. “Aren’t you tired of watching from the sidelines?” have that repeat at some point oh yeah. Cherry gatorades. 




Jotted Ideas [ Here is where, before I start a fic, I jot random ideas with no context and coherency down that I just ~feel~ is right for the fic. And then in the chapter outline, I connect it all together. So literally, it’s just a jumble of random shit like dialogue pieces for example. Sometimes, I might be doing homework or some shit, and suddenly, two lines of dialogue come and there is NO context for it, but I just know that it has to be in the fic. So I jot it down here, and build around it in the chapter outlines. Or maybe scene ideas. Or just anything. Here is just a dumpster fire of different little FTS pieces without the connectivity.] Not all of it makes it into the fic. 

 

  • Record shop scene ? yes? No? Maybe? 
  • Don’t correct me if I’m wrong.”   “Don’t?” Katsuki asked to clarify the strange choice of wording. Isn’t it usually Please, correct me if I’m wrong?     But Izuku just nodded, “Don’t. Because I’d really like to believe it. Even if it’s not true.” He smiled.   
  • “I never know what you’re thinking” “All stories have point of views, and I just want to know yours.” 
  • At some point, insert a conversation about marriage. Towards the end ofc, when it’s clear D loves him. And K has some feelings. Have it be sad. Like bittersweet bc D isn’t talking about K even tho he wishes he was
  • K’s lack of vulnerability: the diner scene ch.2, the headband, the dislike for cheesiness or really deep convo, hides his thoughts and feelings, opens his mouth to say something but closes it again, looks at D weird but never says it outloud, shut down conversations that he doesn’t like, 
  • Some ideas for final report quote : ‘love is friendship that has caught on fire.’ ‘if love is friendship that has caught on fire, then i’m submerged in flames.’ or something like that : or a dr. suess quote “You know you're in love when you can't fall asleep because the reality is finally better than your dreams.” and then ‘i couldn’t fall asleep last night. Because it felt like reality is better than my dreams.”  or something about D’s eyes on K’s part idk
  • Scene where K admits he’s nervous when the bar is above 18’. D says he likes to whistle a little tune to clear his head. ‘That’s stupid’ D starts whistling. Harasses K to finish it. So he finishes the song. Call this back at the tournament, right when people forgot that the scene even existed. Hm what song what song what songggg should it have? Against All Odds by Phil Collins? FUCK THATS A GOOD ONE. or maybe She’s Like The Wind by Patrick Swayze. Shit im conflicted. Or or or , Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You by george benson?
  • Scene where K takes D up into the sky with him. Symbolizes the closing of the space between them. 
  • “You love me” in a moment of realization. “And you don’t.” 
  • “There’s no way you’re a virgin” scene. 
  • During sex scene, beforehand, have katsuki whisper to him that he isn’t going to coddle him, love him, give him what he thinks he wants. D cries during sex. K wipes away his tears and tells him not to cry. Really emphasize the difference in experience. 
  • Drive in theater (izuku’s thing)
  • Insert !! More about izuku not getting mad enough. Switch the order for the circled quote, add more in about the progression of izuku’s explicit feelings. And then add more hints at k’s emotions 
  • “You know, you talk a lot about me being emotionally closed off, but you’re even worse off than I am. You gonna let all of that anger and shit build up forever?”  at the character development arc.  “Have you ever told your mom about med school? Have you ever told anyone about how frustrated you are with your dad? Have you ever told me how much you hated me for all that I did? Hah, and you think I’m emotionally closed off.”  “aren’t you sick of being the perfect son? With the perfect plans, and the perfect mom? I want to see you angry.”
  • “You’ve been closed off to emotions for so long, that you can’t even recognize kindness anymore. I don’t watch you because I expect you to win. I do it because I like seeing you fly, even if you don’t make it past a bar. I don’t care for you because I want something from you. I just do.” D’s quote
  • “After this ends, don’t leave me alone.” 
  • should I do a county fair scene?
  • Also, during a party or something: have K spit alcohol into D’s mouth. nice.
  • First time kissing scenario: hm, maybe D  goes on a date. And K shows him how to kiss. Phone rings. It’s the date. K turns it off. “You’re gonna go out on a date now, just having kissed someone else?” 
  • D secondary love interest: ????????
  • “I want someone who’ll _____, who’s not afraid to show me off, write their name on their forehead like an idiot just to show the world”  this should be the scene where D says the dr. suess quote, where K repeats later at the climax.
  • Maybe: “Tell me you love me too. Tell me that you do this because you _____ and not because you _____.”
  • A “you know what your problem is” scene. 
  • Running through the field scene. & scene where K comes to spin D around. Calm perform storm
  • A conversation where they ask what superpower they’d want . “maybe in another world, we could have been superheroes” hahahaha 
  • Should there be a dance scene? Is it really a retro themed fic without a school dance? WAIT A FUCKING MINUTE. What if ?? Inko doesn’t let him go. Because idk , something. And D is just feeling FOMOin his room, watching people’s post. Then, K comes with a speaker and dances with him. Inko comes out confused. And its sweet as fUCK. Okay but when should this happen...
  • climax: on a cliff of wishes. K picks up a handful of rocks and then makes plenty of wishes ending in a confession. It’s a throw back to a night where they went to the cliff of wishes. 
  • I want K to find D’s toys. “I could make you stretch even further.”

 

 

Brief Individual Characterizations of important characters

Bakugo Katsuki

Probably the hardest one to do. Bc the bitch doesn’t even know his own emotions, how am I supposed to. Physical characteristics: extremely tall, built, works out a ton, has this kind of rugged 80s jock charm. Other characteristics: emotionally closed off, you don’t know much about why he is the way he is or anything else until his POV. He’s adopted behaviors that he doesn’t even know are a coping mechanism to his growing belief that he cannot love. And for most of his life, he didn’t care that he ‘isn’t able to love’. Bc all that didn’t matter to him. If everyone around him his entire life has convinced him that he was too brash, too harsh, too apathetic for love, then hell, he doesn’t need it anyways. He’s a thrill seeker, trying to find something to make his soul feel alive. Has a pretty pessimistic view on life, and other people. Believes that most people just kind of live their lives too afraid to try new things and too pathetic to change things that they internally complain about, and just live out their years unhappily. He refuses to do that. Doesn’t like those kind of people. And so, he always wants to find something that thrills him. But he doesn’t really have anyone that shares the sentiment. Which is why Izuku, no matter how conflicted he is about the boy, can’t help but be angry bc he can tell that Izuku wants the same things as he does: that thrill, except unlike him, he hods himself back and gets restricted by his mother’s overprotectiveness and etc. Without knowing, he’s romantic, and he shows his feelings through action for sure. Even if he doesn’t realize it. Has a hard time articulating. 

Midoriya Izuku

An easier character, but still complex and human to write. Like canon, he’s extremely attentive and caring, almost too much. Selfless, but not in a healthy way. Pushes aside his own needs and wants in order to appease everyone else. If he makes another person feel bad, then it haunts him. And he always has a plastered face on. Like in the blurb, he’s the ‘sweetheart’ of Ise. And he truly is. He’s sweet and beautiful. Physical characteristics: 5’4, also toned because of weight lifting, thick thighs from squats, dresses in a more comfortable and nerdy style like he does in canon.  Anyways, he believes anger is a forbidden emotion. Anger, frustration, etc. etc. all of those emotions that cause his chest to swell up and his veins to threat to burst are horrible, and end up making others feel bad. Because they have the potential to hurt people, he pushes them down because it’s not civil and it’s not ‘happy’, and he should be happy and grateful all the time. He gets all of these thoughts instilled by his mother, who’s the same way. From little to now, he’s been oppressed by his loving but overbearing mother’s ideals and values, and has never really experienced anything else aside from that. And so, he’s habituated false happiness and  doing what would appease the masses instead of himself. He’s understanding, and has the ability to make K open up. He’s a wistful type of person, a bit longing. 



2nd love interest : Kaito Sen

D’s 2nd love interest, but D doesn’t ever really give him a chance internally. Kaito Sen: 6’0, brunette, grey eyes, has a smug appearance much of the time, likes finer things like clothes, cars, restaurants, etc. Kaito’s a bit insecure about himself and his destiny. He wants to be someone of note, yet he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to accomplish this. And so, he tries to compensate for his insecurity by wanting so badly to be a gentleman. A nice, classy and well established ‘man,’ hoping to be someone’s provider and pillar. He likes a good image, and holds outdated views on sexuality, gender identity, and roles. He thinks his partner should be a little meek, pretty in an elegant effortless way, smart, with a good background, and has suitable hobbies and interests. One of the reasons why D attracted him at first. As well as D’s connection to K. K has the ability to further heighten kaito’s insecurities. Because K is already what he wants to become: someone of note. Someone who has already made an impact, someone who already has his name plastered in history. And K has everything: all the talent, the intelligence, the notoriety. And yet, K is rude, brash, apathetic, etc. It makes Kaito angry, because someone who tries as hard as him, who was a proper gentleman with moral and values such as him, doesn’t get to be blessed by that talent, yet Katsuki, the town asshole, does? It wasn’t fair. And so, he holds onto the only point he has over K, which is that he can feel emotion and isn’t a shitty person, and uses that over the years to harass the other. 

 

Inko Midoriya

Has abandonment issues for sure, and it translates in her parenting. Inko is someone who is heavily flawed, but still a good person. She doesn’t even know that her actions and words are manipulative or harmful, for she genuinely believes she’s doing it for the both of them. Inko is sweet, for sure. So sweet that she never raises her voice, never gets overly upset at anything, so that others feel guilty when they raise their voices and get upset. Because to her, anger and all of that were ugly emotions. Ungrateful emotions. And ungratefulness is something she cannot stand. It’s what caused her husband to leave, she believes. Hisashi was ungrateful: they had it all: a nice house, a kid, a beautiful town with neighbors and places they grew up being around, and everything was fine as they were. She doesn’t consider that it was only her dream to stay in Ise, and she never listened to his. And she’s about to make the same mistake in regards to D. Somewhere deep inside, she knows that she has fault, but it’s difficult to bear knowing she still kind of loves him. With D, she freaks out when things begin changing, bc it makes her believe D is going to leave her too. So she goes through any lengths to make things stay the same. Like the city of Ise, she doesn’t want anything to change. 

 

Mitsuki Bakugo

An interesting one. She’s not too far off from many parents in the world. In fact, she, for the most part, is a normal parent. Not overbearing at all. Gives her child freedoms and still has a good relationship, where they talk and everything. But they mostly talk like friends. Mitsuki does everything so that she qualifies as a mother: cooks food, pays the bills, signs K’s parental permission papers before he turned 18, and took care of things that were necessary to take care of. However, on a sentimental, emotional level, she wasn’t that type of mother. Because from the beginning, K wasn’t that type of son. He was a brash one, rude and just his own little character, and so, Mitsuki didn’t bother trying, and instead, since she always was naturally sharp tongued, developed this sense of tough-love relationship. Where they play around, argue, and has a very baseline surface level mother-son connection. But the woman has never given K the tender loving and care that a child needs, even if they have a tough exterior. And this is where she went wrong. She likes to say all sorts of things on the spur of the moment, thinking it won’t ever hurt K because nothing has ever hurt K before. And so, she’s just convinced that the boy has a hard time with emotions like love and tenderness, and so it is what it is. She still loves him, but they don’t get deep with each other ever and she doesn’t watch her words around him ever . Because in her mind, why would she need to? He doesn't seem to care what anyone says. 






Specific Chapter Outlines (only 95% made it into the story)



Ch.1 the track field

  • Introduce the main plot driver aka the project. Introduce the characters. Incorporate the beginning about the sky and the ground. Have that come back around later. Symbolism heavy on the fence, but they don’t really know that yet. Dynamic between D and K are rivals. And K has a vibe in which he almost seems repulsed by D. D is a sweetheart, who is inspired by K. 
  • go into details of Ise. set up scenery and vibe immediately of it being kind of quaint, quiet, and feels very old. Kids in the street playing hopscotch, orange sunset, etc. 
  • End with the callback to the title. This chapter is slow, so hopefully, that being the ending is strong enough to make people curious. 

 

Ch. 2 the diner

  • make sure the map of Ise is very detailed. When they drive, make sure you detail what’s on either side of them.
  • Pick up on D watching K practice. Take a pic together as project proof. Afterwards, K is hungry. D wants to come with. “No.” and walks away. But D ends up convincing.
  • Settle into K’s whip. Smells like cherry car freshener. Awkward car ride. Neither know what to say. 
  • Ends up at a diner. The people there know him, but he tries to hide it. D is intrigued at a potential secret side of K that the athlete tries to hide. Begin the banter and it’s not too bad between the two of them, even if it’s still a little mean.. Split the check. Talk about the project’s next week plans. D realizes that he doesn’t go out much. His hobbies are mostly staying inside. He says K can pick what they do.
  •  K is quiet. Says he doesn’t like to plan things. And throws a diss hinting at D’s overprotective mom and hesitant nature.  Spontaneous is better. D mentions his strict schedule & diet saying how can he be spontaneous. 
  • K says its different. says his mom wouldn’t ever agree to that.  Later, K drops D off. His mom shows up. Was about to berate him when she sees K. D looks back as he walks in. K looks away.  
  • Next week of school is wordless. They don’t really talk. After the day ends, D still comes by to look at K practicing. But once K notices, D turns away. After seeing it up close, he didn’t want to be on the sidelines. On solo day, he doesn’t say anything. He brings a cherry gatorade. And sits there, watching. K doesn’t say anything either. When he’s done, he looks at D once. And then drives home. 
  • Friday comes around, and no word from K. 
  • That night, D hears a knock on his window. K climbed up a tree. D freaks. Sneak out. Go out onto the lake. K pushes D in. K has a tattoo. Hawk tattoo. After his first vault. Fun times. Water photo w/ flash. It’s cold bc spring just started. D catches K try to hide a smile. Helps climb up the tree. Wet clothes coming back in. 
  •  

 

Ch.3 the kickoff

  • Have K’s friend come up and invite them to the pole vault season kick off party. 
  • Explain the tradition of the fights. It’s a cookout near the beach that starts at around 6pm. Someone’s beach house.
  •  He has to ask mom. Tension. Details. Mention something about dad. She gets mad. Walking on eggshells.Wednesday: physics hw. D needs help. Hesitantly calls. K helps him. They end up talking for a little bit (make it banter).  Maybe k only helps if he leaves himself idkk Have something to do w toshinori probably just a brief mention about what it was like at school for the next few days. 
  • . D dresses okay, not super hot or anything. But still decent enough. He has a beer, and watches the fights. There’s a girl on K’s arm. It makes him shy, but doesn’t bother him per se.  
  • Izuku analyzes the fight, and some stranger says “if you know so much, why don’t you?” D and K fight. “K hasn’t raised a hand to me in years. I’ll be fine.” A bit of a struggle bc D is surprising, but K ultimately wins. Pins down. D has a cut on his jaw, cleans it. ‘Stop with those creepy ass eyes.’ and applies ointment on his side. K has experience w bruising bc of pole vault. As for his arms and legs, don’t move it too much. Now, they have a pretty long convo. Light hearted.  D realizes he likes talking to K like this. K mentions horror movies. Finally tells K, ‘i know where i want to go.’  “did this not count as our one hour?” “no.” and to pick him up Friday night after practice. A girl goes up to K and drags him away. D hangs out with a group.  Someone pushes D into the pool : drunk person, accident. K gets mad. Takes him into owner’s bedroom. D strips , slips on a big tshirt. K looks for a second. K takes D home bc his ride is going home w someone.  

 

Ch. 4  the drive in

  • Picks him up on Friday. He’s only able to go bc it is K. ask about arm. Go to a drive in. ‘why are we here/ cue’  complain about the movie. D explains the movement of something. It’s really cute. Haunted house--they could walk. D would never, but K drags him anyways. They find nothing. Go back and sit on the roof of K’s car in the empty movie screening lot. Crickets. Stars. They talk. Conversation about It Follows. D thinks he likes this side of K. K gets a text. Looks frustrated. D asks. K’s coach sometimes complains about his record. He hasn’t actually gained an inch for months now. He says he doesn’t care. D frowns. He should. It’s okay to care. D asks why K pole vaults. K says to win. Why does he want to win. To be the best. But he already is the best. So what when? K gets defensive. Closes up. Gets light hearted again. They see something. Run away. Laughing. 
  • Hm maybe a montage here of 2-3 weeks.  Bike ride scene: K behind D, hands on his waist. If you do, make it extrmely in depth. Barely make it a montage. “Sunday , you gonna be there?”
  • Sunday is a local competition. It should practically be illegal to let K compete. Wait, K calls D the night before. D says something motivating. Heart flutters when he sees K clear a bar. “Oh no oh no. not this.”

 

Ch. 5  the lake party

  • Beach then break into an ice cream shop. They visit the beach at sunset. There’s scratches on K’s back. I asks about them. K tells him ‘sex.’. Deku feels jealous. Mention that K likes hiking. Hawaii-esque. When it got dark, D wanted ice cream. K’s uncle owned the shop so he picked the lock and they go in and eat ice cream.D’s phone rings. Looks distraught. It’s mom. Conv about that. K shows sign of impatience 
  • “Got an appointment” “At this time?” “What kind of appointment do you think it is” d is curious. K “why u wanna threesome” d says he does swing that way. “What. With a dude?” “No, with a woman” 
  • Convo w/ friends the next day about it. 
  •  Their groups sit at lunch together for some reason. The tables were pulled Bc of some event. .
  • Maybe this should be the scene that D is masturbating , falls asleep w window open. K comes in and teases him about the dildo. “You put that in you?” 
  • K needs to be caught up in something, so they stay in D’s room. Super domestic. Maybe K accidentally stays the night and D finds himself staringZ 
  • Are you going to the lake party? Mom says i’ve been going out a lot. And? ‘You dont hang out w me in public anyways.’ 
  • Inko interaction. Make them hang out, talk about dad. D asks. 
  • Lake party. He looks pretty hot. They go swim under the boat. Kind of hot proximinitt. Some point, K spits alc into D’s mouth. Tells him to swallow. During a would you rather game or something , oh make the second love interest do that too. . K doesn’t get drunk.  Or do drugs. D sees K with someone making out and shit. Feeling stupid.Feelingheat. He knows what it is: it’s jealousy. D goes and drinks away his feelings. Lmao scene where shoto mentions D doesn’t have a gag reflex. Maybe someone tries to take advantage not on purpose. They’re drunk too. Probably a dance floor and D is going wild. .K steps in. K tells ppl to back the fuck up. deals w/ drunk D. ‘you’re acting fucking ridiculous, come on” his mom would kill him. So K takes D to his house. 

 

Ch. 6  the stereo 

  • Pick up from the party-- morning after, D sees K practicing outside, frustrated, goes down & sees Mitsuki. Have a convo over coffee. She tells D not to go out there. And so, K comes in later and D is taken into his room. There’s a pic of them from a long time ago, K stands in the way but D sees it. Says nothing. Wonders why it hasn’t been thrown away. End scene with convo about the previous night. Go back and insert something about mitsuki’s revelation not being related, so it doesn’t confused people. 
  • Begin with a chill scene. Something kind of sweet. Make sure to talk about K liking planes.  have a scene where K has another appointment and D asks “is there any chance you’d stay if i asked?’ “you wont know if you dont ask.’ K leaves and comes back moments later . 
  • Thursday again. D comes to watch. K is frustrated. He couldn’t clear a certain bar. D decides that everyone has given up on reaching out to K, so he won’t be another statistic. After all, people did the same to him except opposite. They talk after a bit of defensiveness. Admits nervousness. Whistle scene. Doesn’t resolve much. D asks if they could go back to his house. D tells him when he was 11, he made this in case they ever made up. K was like ‘lmao im not wearing that’ D was pushy. And K wore it on his wrist, inside out. Save this detail for chapter 11
  • K doesn’t answer, but tells D to meet him at a scene at sunset. 
  • Scene where K teaches D how to pole vault. Fluttery feelings. “K takes him up to the sky with him. For thefirst time, Right then, it feels like the distance between them disappeared, as D touches the same clouds he always sees K flying through.’ 
  • In the morning, Inko and him have a conversation. She decides not to let him go to the dance. I is upset, but just accepts it. He’s allowed to g o out for his project, but he needs to limit himself. He’s getting out of hand. D mentions dad and how he would have let him go. I gets upset. 
  • K’s regional meet. D watches. There’s the inverted headband on his wrist. Kaito jersey scene . K is pissed. 
  • Toshironi asks him. D asks him why he had done that. And then to run an errand. K is somewhere w a girl, who has her hands on his waistband. Super awkward encounter. 
  • D is feeling weird things. His friends urge him to go on a date. They suggest maybe it’s Bc he spends too much time w K. Or something like that. Has something scheduled. W Kaito 
  • Project day: so Inko allows it: Ride around in shopping carts. End up watching planes take off or something. D’s suggestion. When asked why. Because u said u liked it.  Kiss scene after teasing D.. “how’s he gonna like living with the fact that no matter how close you get and how many dates you go on, you’re only going to be watching me at practice?”
  • Or maybe have k looks like he’s conflicted and then let’s D go , saying “have a good time”
  • Been so busy he doesn’t have to time to tell his friends about the kiss. 
  •  Put the dance scene here. Hm. or maybe earlier?? Do you want izuku to accept his feelings at this scene or when he’s up in the air. K asks about the date. D says it’s good. K asks ‘did he treat you right’    Also have the sprinklers turn on at night and they laugh

 

Ch. 7

  • characterizations: make it so that K is making subtle changes that gets hammered in later in the fic. “That’s when D realized: he hasn’t slept with someone for weeks.” Hasn’t gone to a single party. None of that.  
  • Scene where K is frustrated w his head down. ‘What the fuck is wrong with me’ where shold this even be? Idk. 
  • Make more obvious points that K is attracted to D. Have a dialogue where K admits that D is beautiful , or that he’s important while still leaving vulnerability there. 
  • And also build up exactly WHY they fell off in the first place and make it fucking worth it brUH. People are waiting. 
  • Day trip to the creek and rice field?.  What even happens here? They should run through a corn maze. K finds him and picks him up.  Talk about college too.
  • Go to an official pole vault court. Talk about love and the dr sures quote  “Why , are you in love with Kaito ?” 
  • Bakugo Katsuki?”Convo : “when did you notice me first watching you’
  •  
  • Okay wait: make a decision: do you want kaito & D to have like… a thing? Or do you prefer to have the occasional date and not have their romantic ties so deeply connected. That might make the end a little more intense. I mean, you could mention they’ve gone out 1 or 2 more times. And there’s the same lackluster feelings. Literally, why do people want D to get with Kaito? Like he’s literally so annoying. I need to make him more annoying. 
  • On D’s mom. Get worse. ”. 
  • Another instance of K still being emotionally reserved. 
  • Cliff of wishes. K doesn’t have a wish. 
  • There should be a jealousy scene on D’s part. Or a scene where for some reason D dresses really nice & there’s sexual tension. Maybe a themed day at school. Afterwards they get hot dogs from a food truck. Go to a vinyl store.
  • Rain on his way home from school. K is pole jumping in the rain. Reaches his hands out. Establish a scenes of normalcy in their hangouts. D accepts it. Maybe they go out and kayak. Idk. stops raining.
  • “You haven’t slept with anyone in a while” “don’t really feel the need to”.hasn’t actually done it since they’ve started the project. “If you’re so frustrated why do you still stay when i ask” vulnerably confesses “Because there’s places I’d rather be” They go back to his car. It’s humid. Crickets. Argument. About their personalities. Silent. ‘We got shit to work on.’  they lay back on the asphalt. Cops come. Ask them if they’re drunk. Says inko knocked on his door.   “So that’s it? I’m just a charity case to you?” “God, how stupid do you think I am?” “You’re so closed off you don’t know what’s good anymore” “I was fucking fine before you came” maybe D should call him a coward “you don’t even know the songs-”
  • Okay but why did they fall off. Bruh im gonna actually cry if ppl are expecting some super deep back story, and then it’s lackluster. Or it’s not built up enough. I feel like that’s what I’m scared of most, that it won’t have a big enough impact. Something i want is for someone who’s reading to think ‘that makes so much sense’ instead of ‘huh, so that’s why.’ like, i want the stories to connect the dots, not pull backstories out of a hat and roll with it. 
  • Obviously, the reason they stopped talking is bc a turn of events happened. Somehow connect it to k’s character habits. 
  • So let’s dissect this a little bit: what are K’s emotional habits. He’s closed off, doesn’t want people to be disappointed in him so he turns them away, and he obviously hates the fact that I is complacent in his own life. And have no sense of anger, etc, and just accepts his shortcomings with force smiles. 
  • Therefore, the backstory needs to connect that. Maybe the photo connected to it somewhere. Something i’ve been thinking this entire time is: K asks them if D remembers a certain day (the one before or on the day the photo he keeps was taken), D says no (bc WHAT ELSE CAN HE SAY. LITERALLY I DID NOT DO WELL ENOUGH BUILDING IT UP PLS KILL ME). K recounts the story. In which K in a moment of rage hurt D, hit him or whatever, or did something really bad to D. And instead of getting mad or angry, D jst smiled and accepted it. Even though there was slight disappointment in his eyes. And K hated that about D so much, and thought he was fucking pathetic. Bc D was happy go lucky about everything: his mistreatment. He would have forgiven K for anything he did. Baseless and blind adoration disgusted him, bc he knew that D gave him the power to destroy him, and that made him angry. No matter what i did to you, you would have smiled and pretended it was okay. Do you know how much it pissed me off? I fucking hate people who are complicit in their own shit. I hate it because you shove all your anger and shit away, but i can see it in your damn eyes how much it hurts you and that fucking dissapointment is not something i’m gonna take. 
  • Hm, that might work. Who knows. Anyways, make this emotional. Lots of crying. However, make it clear, that the bulk of how katsuki is was NOT because of izuku. It was bc of everything combined together: the expectations, the fact that he couldn’t help his shitty personality, the pressure, the insecruity of losing “I can’t lose.”  all cumulated to make K who he is now. And it’s gonna be a process to unwind all of that. 
  • D goes home and talks to his mom. Feels bad. Thinks back to what k said. He’s allowed to feel mad. “You’re like this town, mom! Stuck in the past.” “I… I can’t even control myself when I’m like this Bc I don’t know what to do” “Everythme we argue, I tell myself to calm down , to not get mad,  but I’m so sick of holding it in”  Leaves the house back in the rain “sorry for showing up so early again” while crying. End up in guest room’s bed. “Hold me” “Deku I can’t” “then hold me that way” rubs over k’s crotch. tries to seduce k who resists and insists they go back to sleep and that d only wants to so he can distract himself. Trails kisses or hovers his lips. Is sweet to him and learns a little bit how to be more affectionate . in the end, holds him  after D doesn’t want his pity. ‘Only for tonight’
  • Promises to be different.  
  • Next practice, D comes to K. See if he’s bark and no bite. , in front of everyone, hands him a gatorade. K hsitates but takes it. Asks him if he wants to watch. 
  •  

 

Ch. 8

  • County fair and everything else gets postponed bc it rains a lot for the next week or so. The only thing open is the diner. Hence. The diner scene. Kaito should make out w D in front of K (Kaito took them there on purpose) & his group of friends. At some point, they get left alone bc K wanted to do something crazy. And D was easily like ‘sure’ . Kaito didn’t want him to
  • “Did you not come to the kick off ? The shitty nerd could beat your ass any second he wanted to. You think you can protect him? Don’t fucking treat him like a child.”  Kaito gives in but before he does kisses Izuku and there’s a bit of tension. 
  • They sit on a rooftop and talk. K admits he was a little harsh. Maybe here is where they talk about love? Meteor shower. K looks at D instead of the meteor shower. ‘Is something wrong.’ ‘and before you say no, remember what you promised me.’ ‘everything. And yet, nothing at all.’  ‘you’re still being cryptic you know’ ‘i know.’
  • Briefly mention regionals maybe. D should stand up for himself at some point. Hold his ground. Him & his mom are not on good terms. They barely talk. Inko is just quiet all the time. 
  • Katsuki should admit D is beautiful in this chapter at some point. Or maybe not Bc that is going a little too fast.
  • County fair. Maybe inko should really quietly tell him to have fun. I think she should see k taking care of D first though. D goes w/ Kaito since he promised. It’s only been a bit awkward since that night.. Anyways Kaito gives him flowers at the fair. They go do stuff. Ferris wheel. Swings. Good food. Kaito go gets him some.  “He’s brunette. He’s nice to you, gives you flowers. Do you love him?”  
  • Kaito comes back w/ food, and as they walk away, he drops his wallet. Opens and there’s a condom and a packet of lube. Katsuki picks it up, stares at it, then looks up , ‘this yours?’ ‘yeah.’  K gives it back, but keeps his hands on it. Kaito says something like ‘hope i get lucky’ . K does’t say anything, glances over at D for a moment, before turning away. 
  • Talk about jealousy as a theme. And how it relates to the struggle of not being transparent. 
  •  ‘You’re gonna let him fuck you?’ as D goes to throw his plastic wrapper away.  ‘Maybe’ .  
  •  at some point, K’s like nope, when kaito goes to the bathroom. “Let’s get out of here” and D is like ‘what? I can’t.’ K isn’t being fair. K looks frustrated. ‘Please. I….” he’s lost on words. 
  • Okay so currently in contemplation : should the sex scene be on the waterside somewhere ? Or in the middle of a field on K’a dad’s truckbed and they’re gonna watch the fireworks. Scene where K repeats ‘because you said you liked it.” ‘what’ and repeats the quote from chapter 3/4 . 
  • Realization of love. 
  • Hm. how do they transition into the sex scene. ‘Do you remember what i asked you?’ 
  • Sex scene. Condom and stuff in the wallet. Near waterside . “i thought i wasn’t your type” “i lied” 
  • Maybe have K embarrassed. ‘What’s wrong..’ ‘fuck.’ ‘i usually...last longer.’ (to be fair, he lasts really long).
  • Really emphasize the difference in experience and their “roles.” K the athlete with everyone on him. D with no experience. And yet, he drives K insane. 
  • Either end w the “i lied” quote,    OR end with Izuku realizing he is so so so so so fucked.  Or both?
  • Characterizations: Katsuki struggles but clearly tries and making improvements in his sentimental ness but make sure the readers know that it’s hard and it’s never a straight path. And Izuku also advocates for himself more. Stands his ground. And maybe even talks back and doesn’t accept something someone does. Have Katsuki make more obvious comments that seem laced with confusion about his attraction to Deku. Aka , make it seem like Katsuki is really struggling with himself about how to feel on his clear attraction to D , when he is unsure on what exactly to do about it. 
  •  

Ch. 9   NEEDS SOME WORK

  • Shift in their dynamic. Tension. Constant thinking. Awkwardness??  Or maybe k pretends to not be exclusive and tells him that he’ll be w others and then tells a chick who tries to talk to him to fuck off. 
  • Okay hold your horses. First, how should the chapter start? Literally, it can’t just go into the meat of the chapter. It needs to start with what happened after they fucked. Have a convo about what happened. Unsure of whether they want to do it again. Izuku feels weird knowing that he’s now a name on a list. 
  • However, as the week unfolds, it’s very obvious the both of them want to have sex again. Eye contact in the cafeteria in the middle of a conversation. Someone tries to touch D casually, but K wordlessly cuts through. 
  • A really tension filled discussion that leads back to sex. They should go out and do something that made them dirty. Maybe they play basketball until sunset.
  • Montage time. They continue to have a lot of sex. All the time. Everywhere they can. D feels growing insecurity. Bridge jump / pier jump“Don’t overstep your boundaries” 
  • WAIT. KATSUKI should never initiate. 
  • Still have sex. Mention about D’s insecurity
  • Make Izuku realize more about his own flaws and mistreatment of Kaito. 
  • Have Izuku talk to his friends. And t alk to them more than just preface/. 
  • Have a sex scene where someone is likely to come in , but K needs to fuck so bad he doesn’t care. “Honestly Deku?” “I really don’t care right now.” 
  • He passed his current record, spins D around. 
  • D wants to cry. He’s so in love.  Lots of sunsets in this chapter. 
  • Domestic  and have dinner with inko . 
  • do something vullllnerable
  • Scene where k shows emotional care and tries to change himself a lot , but Deku doesn’t like it . Go to a restaurant, have a typical date or so. And it’s just a mess but a cute mess. Literally make people go awH, in a sad way. This is after K gets the impression that Kaito takes Izuku out and stuff. 
  • ‘Is this how you fuck others” 
  • Training arc. K consistently gets a good bar. 
  • Have a bigger really SWEET scene here. Idk what it is yet, but make it unbelievably romantic.  It should maybe be a night market scene. Festival? Izuku in traditional clothing? 
  • Maybe there’s a scene where D has slow sex but K doesn’t like it even tho he came, and leaves right afterwards. In K’s flashback, he goes to the vault afterwards and yells his frustrations away
  • mention more about the paper too.  Lighthouse scene. 
  • this is a pretty anti climatic thingie. Add more drama that isn’t just jealousy . 
  • Characterizations: again, have Katsuki truly struggle to express himself. But do so kinder, and more on Izuku’s favor rather than his own. 

 

Ch. 10

  • Okay now, for more of a detailed outline that follows real chronological order. Decide whether or not to input last scene w/ K. Anyways, D and Kaito go skinny dipping. They fuck. Kaito leaves a lot of hickeys, everywhere. Inner thighs, back, neck, it’s crazy. 
  • “Tell me…tell me you love me too.” 
  • Conversation after where Kaito digs into K again, talk about his emotions, izuku realizes he’s been unfair. Places the same expectations. But then he thinks of kimi. And then thinks of good moments. He’s just so confused. Kaito asks why he keeps going back & forth. I says it’s really easy to say all of that when you’re not the one experiencing it. “I wish i could make all the right decisions. I wish i can help it.’ He goes to school the next day completely covered up, and K doesn’t say anything, just walks past. 
  • They have a debate in another class together: it’s tense. K leaves early.  Later, D goes to drop something off. K goes out of the shower. They fuck. Hate sex. Explain the situation w kimi. D is still mad. Both came really intensely. Shit talks kaito. Izuku asks, what if i want to or whatever. K looks so upset, and angry, but he turns away to where D doesn’t see him. His face just won’t turn to Izuku. And it’s a while before he speaks. His shoulders look like they were on the verge of shaking. 
  • Admits there’s nothing he can do, if D is happy w someone else. In a quiet voice. “If you’re happy with someone else...even if it’s him, what can I do.”  here they have a sentimental convo, about their own toxicity. Scene where K sucks at badminton but D sees him practicing. So that he can play with D. another scene where K gets slandered in school or something, and he just sits there with his hands clasped together in front of his face, staring blankly.
  • “It’s because of people like you!” and then he cries, looking down at his hands “A-and, it’s because of people like me…”
  • Gets mad at kaito. Goes to see his friends. Should have thought about that in the first place. He thinks that internally, a part of him did want to make katsuki jealous. And he laughs out loud at how stupid love drives people. How little self preservation there is in this game.
  • “You’re still not going to love me?”   ----- 
  • (Kimi is near, is nice w convo, says that K left marks. D said k never does that.) 
  • “Don’t you want to love ? Isn’t that why you listen to all those songs”
  •  Mention writing the paper. 
  • Maybe he should go skinny dipping with Kaito and do stuff. If he does then have it ends by going somewhere w k and he sees hickeys that d avoids. He plans to get over k. Before it gets too late. 
  • . HM it should be at a beach bonfire and D leaves early when he realizes he’s way too deep. Beforehand have D drop something off at K’s house and K has mad hate sex w him fueled by jealousy. Covers up existing hickeys on D with his own on neck, chest, thighs. D refuses to fuck on the bed bc he doesnt want to be another statistic. K tells him “shut the fuck up. No one’s been on here since i first fucked you.”  D is confused “What?” Turns out, the other shit was a lie. But that didn’t negate the fact that K was saying that he’s just fucking him
  • Run across parking lot. Have it be a musty vibe under a white street lamp w the ocean waves breaking not too far and they could hear their friends from a distance 
  • “You’ve been wanting me to go away all this time, why make me stay now?” “You’ve been staying near me all this time, why leave now?” 
  • “Everytime I realize that I love you, I’m reminded of how much you don’t. And I ask myself, is it suppose to hurt this bad? Is it supposed to feel like this? In the movies, they make it look so nice. I want it be nice too. Why doesn’t it feel good kacchan?” 
  • “You connect being in love to losing. But it’s not!”
  • Confession on D’s part. Have him spill his guts “you want me to express my negative feelings right?” Maybe he doesn’t look at him at first.’why dont u look at me’ ‘bc youdont like my eyes’
  • “Do you love me? Or do you love the experience I give you? Do you love me? Or do you love how I was the only one who showed you the outside of the four walls that is your bedroom? Do you love me? Or do you love your life more now and think it’s connected to me? Do you love me? Or do you just love how I make you feel?” slaps him. 
  • “I’ve always been on the sidelines. You showed me the track field. But I can’t chase after tou forever 
  • D cries and goes “dont...don’t say that. Don’t invalidate my feelings like that. What is wrong w/ u . yes, that’s all true. Etc etc. but I love your eyes. I love how you hate fireflies and how you never finish your pecan pie so you can save it for later. Do you  believe me now? Or do I need to rip my heart out and . 
  • Maybe he kisses him one last time before leaving.
  • “Do you remember when you said I was complicit in my own unhappiness? I still am.” 
  • Theme: the whole story, you get quotes that are tossed back and forth, circling around eventually, showing up one place just to show up again in another. And so, when we switch over to Katsuki’s perspective, that is ultimate full circle. 



Ch. 10 conti

  • D cries his heart out & skips school for two days, Inko goes into the whole “when i fell in love” and comforts D. gonna go to the city (with? Or without his mom. Living on his own) for the weekend. 
  • You’re all I think about. 
  • Goes back, and plays tennis or something -- slams K in the face, treats his wounds. D needs a ride home & and up taking him somewhere afterwards. Awkward. But somehow K has sex w him again. (or maybe, D tries to get over him but knows they have one hour left and so he asks for one more time” . ‘What are we doing.” D is so fucking in love w him. K is selfish: wants to continue what they had. They talk about the future. Then about marriage. K asks D “you’re not talking about me, are you?”
  • D smiles softly, “No. Someone who will love me, too.”

‘What are you thinking. I feel like I’m always trying to guess.”

“You know how in books, there’s different perspectives of the story?” “i just wished that I could’ve read yours.”

  • End chapter. Last chapter begins K looking like a mess. with I cutting down the treee.  Pole vaults onto his window every night: “Talk to me.” “About what” “I don’t know, I just nee”

 

Ch. 11

  • Relay their entire relationship from Katsuki’s POV. this however, may ruin the element of angst for the final chapter. Since the mysteriousness of how katsuki feels is gone. Lmao never mind no it won’t. Bc by then, hopefully, if i did K’s character right, then it’ll be obvious what he feels, except there’s clear struggle to accept it. I feel like having this ch be in K’s POV is important, bc the entire fic, we only see D’s perspective. And at the absolute climax, when all the shit hits the fan, D wishes that he could have seen what K was thinking this entire time, bc it hurts so much to forever guess what the person you love is thinking. And then BOOM, very next chapter is reliving the relationship through K’s lens. 
  • Kaito scene in locker room: have k try to hold his chill while Kaito taunts him. And then Kaito goes ‘i asked him what it was like to be just another one of your bodies’ Kaito says , ‘that was a fun reaction’ and that’s when k loses it -- ‘dont you fucking dare call him… he’s not. He’s not-”
  • Here, make sure that K is clearly struggling, in a behind the scenes way that D never saw. With his emotions. Make it clear that he thinks more deeply on things than it looks, and that many of the events that happened between him and D affected him too, not just D. 
  • When izuku says ‘as someone who ____”     katsuki thinks, “for the first time, katsuki feels lonely up in the sky.” call back to the beginning of the chpater
  • Do some scenes where it’s just K. like after D gets fucked by someone else in chapter ...was it 10? Idk. and make him get ridiculously angry in the locker room. A huge fight. We never see this in D’s perspective. But it goes to show that K doesn’t just think about D when they’re together.  Also have Kimi call him Kacchan and he get angry 
  • God i need to pee, sitting on the side of an airport gate trying to fill in more of this outline is not fun. Anyways recap scenes where D only heard from other people. For example, the dance. Go into why he actually left the dance. 
  • Izuku GROUNDS him, and Katsuki allows Izuku to FLY. They make up the heaven and the earth, both of which are necessary to live. While Izuku’s theme is the sky, Katsuki’s should be the ground. Life goes in circles. 
  • Katsuki gets flowers bc he subconsciously remembers that izuku said his type were people who did that stuff. Feels insecure about his shittiness
  • Since you practically go through the whole fic again, at the end, since it’s really fresh on the reader’s mind, really hammer in on the ‘how did it get to this point” aspect of it al. 
  • Katsuki’s birthday scene. He doesn’t want to make it a big deal, just go w him somewhere. 
  • Scene towards the end where katsuki is on his phone and wants to call him. Im not in love plays in the background.
  • Talk about promises of the future. Fall, apple icking
  • A mirror maze ?? 

“Because in a movie, he’ll come back. In a movie, they always come back.”

He’s scared he’ll drown in those green eyes



Ch. 12  :   The Maze

  • Revised version:   okay so probably pick up at the beach house, have a very sad after-the-storm-and-everything-is-ruined-and-there-is-this-painful-acceptance-of-how-life-moves-on-while-you’re-stuck-in-this-constant-pain type of emotion playing. Aka, bright sunny skies, beautiful weather & sunsets, birds chirping, ocean roaring. Ise never changes. It’s just so beautiful. And this fact, once Katsuki wakes up, frustrates him. Because why do things never seem to change. It’s like the same cycle over and over again. He can’t fucking change. Just like Ise, he’s just stuck in this loop of false content. And so he calms himself down. He opens his phone, wants to call someone. Realizes he can’t call anyone. Goes to school. 
  • Also im gonna be completely honest, i have no idea how the timeline for this fic works, but im gonna pretend i do and roll w it. Anyways, he goes back to school. Doesn’t fucking know what he’s going to do when he sees the other, and sees the world in Izuku’s eyes. A world swimming with love that he can’t return. Doesn’t blame izuku. 
  • In school, he doesn’t see Izuku. Numbness. He practices like crazy. Doesn’t see izuku pass. Memories flash some more. He pushes it away by practicing harder and harder. 
  • The next day, cafeteria. Or somewhere. You should probably make this some kind of like...80s event. Kimi goes and talks. Says something about being in love. Everyone fucking hops on that, and makes fun of katsuki, who just kind of internalizes it. Sits back, eyes staring straight, drinks water. Acts unbothered. Izuku asks them to stop from the other table. People claim that izuku shouldnt just say that bc he’s afraid of katsuki. Before he could say something, kaito speaks up, after being pretty quiet, and is the one who tells them to stop it. Whole room is surprised. Katsuki considers this, thinks whatever, and grabs his backpack to leave. It’s on his mind all day, and he does the same shit again -- pole vaults till he literally cries again. It’s like floodgates are open. Izuku sees him. Katsuki tells him to go away. They just sit where it all began, a foot a part, in the twilight.  Izuku apologizes for some stuff. And then he leaves, but katsuki offers to take him home --all while looking a little stressed. He drops izuku off. There’s this feeling of strangers that he doesn’t like creeping in. when he goes back, he looks into his bag because he forgot something in there. A cherry gatorade. He lets out a pained chuckle. He honestly wants it out of his sight. 
  • Goes to his mom, at night. Stands sweaty and defeat. Voice croaks. “Mom, am i able to love?” mitsuki is shocked. They drop everything. They sit down together. He’s this big boy, etc. but he’s still so small, and so in need of love and care like a little boy. Calls his grandfather (?). 
  • Next day or so, there is a fundraiser event. Mirror maze is there. Katsuki works it. Kaito comes by for the next shift. They stand there side by side for a bit. And talk. Goes to the lemonade stand, sees izuku standing off to the side, and katsuki feels the need to be near him.  Right as the mirror maze is about to close, katsuki decides why not and goes in. izuku comes in. they see each other. Have some wordless scene where they keep walking past. Do the metaphor shit.  Side by side, until they sit back and back against a mirror pane---going in circles trying to get to each other but not being able to (metaphorically and literally)-- and they talk a little bit through the panes.    “You’ll always stay in my heart, but I don’t think you can stay in my life.”       “you know you’re in love when the love songs you listen to feel less like stories and more like reality.” “no. no, no. if that is true. If this love song’s story was turning into their reality, then katsuki wants another one. He wants another story.”
  • At some pivotal point in their conversation, katsuki turns around to look at Izuku. 

AND BOOM. THE POV CHANGES INTO IZUKU’S. IMMEDIATE FUCKING DEPRESSION. 

Take it back to the scene where they left off. But have it really be smooth.  Katsuki’s last pov lines “And when he looked into those eyes, Katsuki wonders what he has been on all this time, because just as this is all ending in front of him, he finds Izuku’s eyes too beautiful to look away from.” 

“When he looked into those eyes, he thinks of ____. For one of the first times, just as this is all ending in front of him,  Izuku finds Katsuki’s eyes too painful to look at.

Now run it backkkk. Leaves the hideaway. Car with mom. Quiet. All he can do is cry. The song “Tell me how am i supposed to live without you” on the radio. Or maybe have this play during the mirror maze scene. Whatever, just make it sad as fuck, yeah? But the drive home is sad. Izuku can’t go up to his room, bc all he can think of is katsuki and how much he loved him. And so izuku stays in their empty guest room. Inko comes in, with a blanket and pillow and is just there for him. She then talks. About hisashi. And about her. And about them. About everything. And they cry together. And izuku asks his mom “let’s leave. Tomorrow, let’s go some places. I want to show you” after all, i can’t keep running after him forever. I have to stand up on my own two feet, as well. 

They go out, to wherever. Idk fucking make it nice. Inko is apprehensive. But at some point, the fun dies down to a silence. And inko tries to enlighten izuku on katsuki’s side. Plays both cards. Izuku understands how unfair he had been being or so.  

He goes back. And hears the people talking shit, says something.  Sees katsuki practice and was he...crying? Concerned, he comes in. notices he has a gatorade out of habit (maybe). And they sit. For an hour. And that’s how they fill out their hour for the week. The papers were going to be due soon. And so, he sits down and writes. The next few days feel like a blur, but is katsuki-less. The world feels a little less beautiful without the blonde. And izuku itches to see him. But he knew that it would only be a cycle of neverending heartbreak if he were to. He cuts the branch off from the tree that led up into his bedroom bc he would imagine katsuki up there too much. 

And for a little while, it’s silent. And then he hears rustling. Katsuki pole vaults every day right up to izuku’s window, and gives him a little recap. 

“I’m going to Keio, it’s official.” and then as the days leading up to the tournament comes, the visits get shorter but they’re still there. The semester ends, and nothing happens. 

 

 

Ch. 13  The National Qualifiers   [or The End]

 

  • Start with izuku in the middle of a conversation with his mother. Everything feels zoned out. He muted his phone. His mind is on katsuki and the kiss. What did it mean. Why did he do that? He was angry and confused and more in love and just out of it. And he’s thinking of katsuki’s tournament. And how he had excuses. There were things to be done. His mother needed grocery shopping. He needed to finish up some applications. Etc. but internally, he knew that he just wanted a reason not to fall in love w katsuki all over again. Bc he knew that the moment he sees the blonde jump, it’ll be over for him. Besides, it’s not like katsuki needed him. He has many friends. Etc. family. If izuku came, he wouldn’t even be able to see in front of the crowds. His mom calls him back, and it feels like everything is pinched back to reality. His mom knows why he’s out of it, and tells him he should go. Izuku shakes his head. And says no. it’ll be over anyways. It’s a 4 hour drive. Plus, he doesn’t have tickets. It doesn’t matter. Izuku goes and he runs errands. And finally, he gets groceries at 1pm or so. See’s mr. toshinori while grocery shopping. And they talk. About summer. And stuff. Finally gets to the point, and mr. toshinori asks how izuku has been holding up. Blah blah. Then he talks about how katsuki’s paper was funny to read because he was cursing so much. But it was so well written that he didn’t count off for it bc it was a personal analytic essay.  Katsuki says something really interesting in his beginning line. Couldn’t say why it mattered though. Izuku asks what it was. And mr toshinori looked confused, and says “People say beauty is inside. Beauty is grace. Beauty is kindness. I say all of that is bullshit. Beauty ain’t nothing but a pair of green eyes and a stupid grin sitting out the sunroof going down a dirt road.”  Izuku panics. Why would katsuki say that. Why would he say that to him. Overwhelming emotions. Bc it can’t be real. Not after being told he has creepy ass eyes all this time. It can’t be real. Mr toshinori doesn’t see the panic and keeps talking. Mentions the tourney. Wished he could come support, but he’s hosting a little dinner tonight for his friend grand torino coming into town. Kept rambling. Izuku was only half listening.when he came to turn in his paper, i asked how he felt. And he told me as long as his good luck charm was there, he’ll be fine. I sure hope he didn’t forget it at home today. 
  • But izuku dropped his eggs and milk, and RANNNNN. Ran to the car, and dialed his mom. And drove. And pressed the fucking GAS. CUTS DOWN the time. When he gets to the stadium, it’s 4pm, which should be when katsuki began jumping. He’s stressed out. And there is a long line bc of traffic coming in and out. Izuku parks somewhere random. And begins to run. Cross fucking country. Starts to run. Goes past security. However, at the ticket officer, he just fucking books it and yells back “sorry sir, i won’t do it again”. But keeps running, even if people are confused. He goes up, sees katsuki and looks clearly nervous. It’s approaching the higher bars. Huge crowd. Izuku sees on his wrist was the inverted headband. Izuku grabs a megaphone, and takes a deep breath and whistles Never Gonna Change My Love For You, waiting for katsuki to finish. Crowd goes quiet. Confused. His friends at the back confused too. Callback moment.
  • Immediately, katsuki turns. Sees izuku’s panting. Calls for a timeout. First timeout ever taken. And he runs towards the stadium, and climbs up the sides. Starts panicking ‘why weren’t you here? Where were you?’ while izuku overwhelmed shook his head and says “i’m sor-” “you promised. You fucking promised me, deku. You promised you’ll be here.” “i’m here.” Katsuki grabs his head, both of them have tears brimming in their eyes, “You said you’d be here,” katsuki’s voice was breaking. Izuku holds onto his hands, “kacchan, i’m here.” “How long will you be here?” Izuku replies “i-”
  • “You’ll leave afterwards won’t you. You’ll leave,” Katsuki looks around, “no, no, you can’t go.” tells him they’re leaving. Everyone is in a panic and they can see people approaching katsuki. Izuku says they can’t leave. He’ll lose. He’ll lose the tournament. “Goddamnit, i’ll lose it then!” and goes on a tirade. But izuku tells him to win. Everyone is shocked. Everyone is shocked as fuck. Katsuki makes him promise then, promise he’ll stay. They need to talk. Even if he doesn’t know what to say, he’ll figure it out. Izuku promises. He’ll stay, as he’s practically being forced away. He whistles. 
  • Katsuki breaks 18’3 and he’s in semi finals.  The stick wobbled on the last attempt. Izuku comes in before the last attempt by the way. He doesn’t accept the trophy or even waits for results. He just leaves. 
  • Anyways, after the crowd clears out, they drive back. And it was quiet. Katsuki says he’ll drive somewhere quiet for them to just talk. Ends up at the cliff of wishes again. Hard time. Little spat that begins with “tell me again” (that you love me). Izuku finds it unfair. 
  • “Everyone always says that falling in love was the best decision they’ve ever h
  • ad. But it never felt like i had a decision. You came in with your _____ and i have no choice but to fall in love with you. You know what the funny thing is though? Even if i had a choice, i’d still choose to love you.” maybe this line? Idk. it’s kinda much. no matter how high I fly, I’ll never be as close to heaven as I am when I’m with you.”
  • Little argument, and they squabble about how they’re from two different worlds anyways. And katsuki sucks at expressing his shit, until izuku looks like he wants to leave. Again, theme of going around in circles. But katsuki was determined to break the circle. And then katsuki reaches down to grab some rocks, and starts to list off wishes. Izuku can’t believe it. 
  • Izu: “because i love you more than 
  • Havent eaten dinner yet btw
  • “I wish that mint chocolate chip ice cream gets banned from ice cream shops around the country.”
  • “I wish that careless whisper could be taken off of all music platforms and all radio channels.” 
  • “I wish i’d remember to get my car tire pressure fixed before i get that annoying notification on the dashboard that keeps blinking red.”
  • I wish that richard marx didn’t have to play everytime something bad was going to happen 
  • “I wish i was driving on some lonely road with you right now, kareoking to a chessy madonna song, not knowing where we’ll end up in an hour and not caring.”
  • I wish my grandpa was around more often, to tell me more about how to sweep people off their feet and what songs to play at the perfect moments. Maybe id be a different person if he was. 
  • I wish i was a better person. 
  • “I wish that the green of the trees didn’t always remind me of your eyes, and that the pink of the sunsets here didn’t always remind me of your lips, and the blue of the damn ocean didn’t always remind me of that stupid shirt you always like to wear. Because i know that i’ll never be able to look at that shit the same.
  • I wish i didn’t push everyone away for fucking decades to the point where i convinced myself that I’ll never be able to pull someone close. 
  • I wish that i was selfless enough to bring an extra drink to practice , so that you don’t have to keep spending a dollar every thursday to get me one, but i don’t because of the very reason that I know you’re gonna get me one’
  • “I wish that i wasn’t like this.”
  • “I wish i didn’t make you cry”
  • I wish i could tell you how much i love your eyes before you began to convince yourself i never could. 
  • “I wished that in the lighthouse, i could have told you that making love to you was easier than breathing to me.
  • “And as selfish as it is, I wish that you won’t ever fall out of love,”... “Because I know I won’t.” 
  • Keep talking. Drag it out until it feels like they can work with the rubble they’re standing on. Izuku is crying. Katsuki tries to cheer him up. Starts saying those cheesy lines incorporating song titles. Izuku laughs. That’s more like it. Kisses him.
  •  “Fuck, and for the first time, I understand what the songs I listen to even mean. Because I Want To Know What Love Is. I want to dance with somebody, somebody who loves me. Because you Take My Breath Away. Everytime you Call Me, it’s like the fucking First Time.” make it really cheesy as a comic relief moment after they recover from an intense fight. 
  •  
  • Katsuki giddy at the thought of having a boyfriend. 
  • “I got a place we could be” go somewhere with a bed or piano. Both preferably. Hold each other. Make love? 
  • Lots of commentary here. About how it feels like they’ve gone through war. Bittersweet possibilities here. 
  • Salt flats. 
  • Izuku finishes the picnic that they never got to finish. Where, where, where: on an abandoned bridge. Railroad track. 
  • Abandoned train cars. Come here. And sit and talk. About the fall. About future seasons. More bittersweet conversation. Izuku tells katsuki to meet him at the boardwalk. At this point, do a call back to one of their mommy issues.  
  •  

Idk how this should end. But end it with the line “if love was friendship set on fire, then let me burn to ashes.”  

“How did we end up here.” “I got tired of watching from the sidelines.” 



 

 

III. A Homage to FTS Town Highlights

This is so that future readers who read FTS after it concluded can kind of have a sense of the shenanigans that went on while chapters were being released, and the really cool things that happened!

To future readers, I'm sorry that you were not able to experience the family that was created and the billion twitter screenshots of pain and agony that were posted under #FTSTWT, but here were just some snippets of things that I am still stunned about to this day. 


#FTSTWT trended in the United States. there are several thousands tweets under it, if not more!
People wrote fan fiction about FTS, which is already a fan fiction and it has its cute tiny tag on AO3 
More than 2000 likes in the Spotify playlist 
People’s parents listen to the spotify playlist, how cool is that
The beautiful FANART. And some people made music for the fic!!
The role play accounts and that crazy era where people made role play accounts for odd things. ie. izuku's ass, the fence in ise, the air of ise, coach shugo
Those who have so kindly told me that FTS changed their life and the way they think and view the world as well as love. That is so special to me. 
OPHELIA hosted an FTS PROMPT WEEK??? And it was amazing.
Author of really popular works and fanart sites read it and I fangirled a lot because i love them
The people, man. They’re amazing in FTS town 
A kahoot night with more than 70 people came to take a quiz on the fic and then assigned themselves roles in the town 
No we literally are a town online. A super supportive community. this is amazing
FTS is trending on tiktok!! 
The 60k chapter that killed my fingers 
That time people quote retweeted an anti with dozens and dozens of FTS quotes like ‘don’t overstep your boundaries” 
The way cherry Gatorade’s are being bought left and right . 
Someone made an FTS CAARD! It was so cuteThe way I wrote a lot of this in Hawaii in the middle of a conference 
There’s a lot of group chats ! Different language group chats too hehe. And a discord server. It was so cool to see people talk about it

 

IV. Talks of a Potential Hard Copy

Sadly, due to copyright and legality stuff, it's still just "talks of". :(

 

 

 

V. A Masterlist of Collected Fanarts!

There are more that I have missed, and so, please tell me if I have missed yours and I'll add it in! The link below goes to a compiled masterdocument of some FTS Fanworks that I was able to get together! Thank you so much for all of these. They are so treasured. 

LINK HERE: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1v-AmpfOtg8UFK1MuTzWFbRi0MIxgsBgVYz0lzq0e3J0/edit?usp=sharing

 

 

 

 

VI. FTS Prompt Week Submission! I only did two because of time constraints & school, but they're just two short drabbles with no important information in it haha. Just for fun. 

(unedited)

Day 1 :  The Town of Ise  - Halloween Edition 

They say Ise is a summer town. And for the most part, they were right. Summer was where Ise shines best, for the trees were a lush green, the deep blue waters were perfect temperatures to swim in, and there was always a beautiful sky with a clear breeze. Teens dove off of piers and docks into the lakes or at the beach, even when the sign says “No jumping off dock” because what else are teens supposed to do when they see a warning sign besides doing the opposite. Not to mention, there was something about driving down the quiet streets of Ise with hair still sticky from saltwater, the windows down, and Take On Me by A-Ha blaring on the radio that just takes the spotlight. People who grow up and move out of Ise, when thinking back on this small coastal town, only really ever think of their summer memories. Drinking juice pouches on the bank of a river that they’ve been wading in with a group of friends. Riding a bike down the road to get away from that one neighborhood dog that got loose from it’s owner, the crabby lady who lives in that blue house on Elm Street. Or even just sitting in the kitchen table of their homes, staring blankly at the cheesy floral print wallpaper in the afternoon, listening to the analog clock tick, and fanning oneself with a hand fan, wondering when this heat was going to let out. All in all, it was very obvious and agreed upon by every resident of Ise that yes , Ise is a summer town. 

But this year, boy did Autumn look great on Ise. More than any other holiday, even Christmas, Ise dressed itself up nicely for Halloween. From the very first day of October, there were people already in the front yards, balancing themselves on metal ladders, trying to hang decorations up. Fake cobwebs and spiders hung over people’s doors. Some houses went all out with the decoration, turning their driveways into mini haunted mazes. Or buying at least 10 different blow up Halloween characters to display on their front lawn. 

Sure, this wasn’t a traditional holiday, but Ise wasn’t a traditional town. The leaves had already turned to vibrant shades of red, yellow, and orange. And with the smallest shake from the wind, it would fall to the ground from the tall oaks and magnolias that made its presence known. The mountains that served as the backdrop of Ise was also a sight to behold in the fall foliage. The wind is chillier than it is in summer. While summer presents Ise with a nice little breeze that picks up their hair slightly when they walk, the wind in autumn crept into their lungs and chilled their soul just a little bit, just enough that it’s satisfying. In every store, halloween music and jack-o-lantern lullabies played. 

For fun, teens drove just a little bit outside of town in order to go to the corn maze that a local farm hosts every year. The farm boasts a large pumpkin patch, a 10 acre corn maze, bonfire pits for people to just come hang out around, and different small haunted attractions set up. On the weekdays, the regular corn maze was open from 11AM to 8PM at night. On the weekends, for a raised price, it turned into a Haunted Corn Maze that was open from 7PM to 11PM. And the lines were always long for that one. Katsuki and Izuku had gone to that one just the other week, in which an actor dressed up as Pennywise the dancing clown jumped out from one of the corn stalks, and out of reflex, Midoriya Izuku jumped a whole foot in the air before punching the clown in the face. The actor immediately yelled out a Fuck! , breaking character, as he clutched his nose, smearing white face paint on his hands, and Izuku felt bad instantly, apologizing profusely and refusing to let the clown go without some form of emotional compensation. Meanwhile, Bakugo Katsuki stood about a foot away laughing his ass off at the entire fiasco, finding it hilarious that his sweet, precious boyfriend had punched a haunted maze employee in the face. And having taken Izuku’s punches before a while back during the Kick-Off event for his senior year season of vault, Katsuki knew for sure that Izuku could throw a damn good punch that hurts. Of course, laughing at this only earned him a scolding from Izuku after they left the corn maze, but Katsuki didn’t mind. He enjoys the little pout that the greenette does when he was upset, but not really upset. 

That was last week. Tonight , however, was Halloween, which meant that Ise was going to go batshit crazy. Many houses in the different neighborhoods of Ise liked to put on a show on Halloween night for kids trick or treating. Whether it was parents who dressed up as monsters to scare little kids on the driveway or having a small haunted house apparatus for trick-or-treaters to walk through. Regardless, it was a pretty fun holiday. And Izuku often expressed to Katsuki just how much he wished that he could go trick or treating again. 

“I miss trick-or-treating,,” Izuku frowns as they drove back from the annual Ise Halloween Fall Bake Sale together around 3PM. The two of them were forced to go by Inko Midoriya, who participates every year with a different baked dessert. This year, Inko went with a Dutch Oven Apple Cobbler with a cinnamon sugar coated top. And so, at Inko’s booth set up, not only were Katsuki and Izuku called to decorate the booth with fake plastic plants and fall decorations all over the thing, but they were expected to stand there both holding signs in their hands for two hours to promote traffic to their stall. Of course, it worked, mostly because Katsuki was the National Tournament champion and everyone wanted to go see what was up with him, and once they were there at the stall, Katsuki would say nothing but to eat the cobbler. 

“You’ve told me,” Katsuki replies very monotonously, “A million fucking times actually.”

“Ugh,” Izuku groans and melts into his seat, “I know, I know.”

“I’m surprised Auntie used to let you go trick-or treating,” Katsuki chimed in his opinion. 

“She did, but I was never allowed to go with friends,” Izuku frowns, “She’d walk me around the neighborhood in my All Might costume, and then when we got home, she’d open up all of the candy to make sure there weren’t razor blades in them.”

“What the fuck,” Katsuki says in response. 

Izuku then sighs, “Anyways, now I’m too old. At this point, if I tried to go trick-or-treating, I’d probably end up on the Mr. Hidashi’s watch list.”

“Not if you dress up with something that covers your face, nerd,” Katsuki offers, eyes kept on the road as they drive back to Izuku’s place, “You’re short enough that you could pass as a kid with a large growth spurt.”

“Kacchan, what am I going to say when I ring the door bell, say trick-or-treat and the parents or whoever asks,” Izuku mimics a parent’s shrill voice, “‘Gee, kid! Where’d you get all that muscle from?”
“Er, body suit?” Katsuki suggested in a questionable tone, as if he wasn’t sure himself.

Izuku groaned and put his hands in his face, “Kacchan, you’re supposed to steer me away from stupid decisions, not encourage me to do them!”

“Maybe,” Katsuki smirked, “But who would I be if I actually encouraged you to do the right thing, eh Deku?”

Izuku murmurs to himself, agreeing with Katsuki’s analysis, “That’s very true...I suppose you aren’t wrong. That wouldn’t be yo-”

“I got an idea,” Katsuki piped up.

“Hm?” Izuku turned his attention to his boyfriend. 

“You dress up or whatever, yeah?” Katsuki began, using his free left arm for hand motions, “And I can act as your parent as you go around trick-or-treating. It’ll be more convincing, You already call me daddy,” And taking a moment to think, Katsuki says to himself, “Damn, I’m a genius.”
Izuku just blinked at him, cheeks flushing, before sputtering, “Y-yes, except you missed the part where everyone in Ise knows who you are, Kacchan. Which means they know that you don’t have a kid, much less a kid who is grown enough to be my height and weight.”

“Fuck, I forgot,” Katsuki cursed.

Izuku tsks, “Now, I have to grow up,” Izuku makes sarcastic hand motions, “And be a good adult, and pass out candy.”

“Pass out candy? You aren’t going to the Halloween party later?” Katsuki asked, recalling that they were going together as far as he remembered.

“Yes, but,” Izuku replied, “Mom wants me to pass out candy before then.”

Katsuki grumbled, “Again, didn’t think Auntie even participated in Halloween,” He offers, “Seems a little too risque and dangerous for her tastes.”
“She’s a changed woman, Kacchan!” Izuku defended his mother playfully, “She and Jun went out to an adult’s haunted ghost tour the other day, and that’s pretty thrilling!”

“Tch, Jun,” Katsuki smirks knowingly at the name of Auntie’s new friend , “Crazy how getting a good dicking changes your life.”

Izuku drops his jaw, and had to pick it up off the floor of the car, “Bakugo Katsuki!”

The blonde in question pulled up into Izuku’s driveway, and turns to the greenette, grinning mischievously as he leans in and says in his deep voice, “Midoriya Izuku.”

The sound sends a shiver down the smaller’s spine, and Izuku flushed at how close they were, and then he gathered himself together, “She’s not doing anything with him!” And then Izuku thought about it for a second, “...yet.”

“Nah, she definitely is,” Katsuki sits back and turns off his car, insisting, “The walls in your house are thin, Deku.”

Izuku stares in horror, “What does that mean?”

“Means that,” Katsuki says, shrugging, “While your nerd ass falls asleep before me, I’m awake, scrolling my phone or some shit. And then I hear repeating thuds that definitely sound like a headboard coming from downstairs. And unless Auntie likes to pound mochi in the kitchen at 1 in the morning, I’d say she’s the one getting pounded.”

The greenette shakes his head profusely, not wanting to think about his mother and Jun like that. Don’t get him wrong, he really likes Jun, their neighbor. And when he was a kid, he’d come over a lot to look at the man’s extensive collection of Lego Landmarks. And as of the past few months, Jun’s been coming over more to his house for various reasons to do with his mother. Whether it was just to talk, discuss a book they were reading, or to return something, they hung out a good amount. But as far as his mother told him, they were just close friends at the moment. But if what Katsuki was saying is true, then Izuku does not want the picture in his head when he closes his eyes. 

“Oh god,” Izuku whispers, staring forward.

“Anyways, enough of that,” Katsuki leans back, “Am I picking you up tonight? Or are you driving yourself?”

One improvement with Izuku’s transition into real adulthood was that he drove more often now. His mother was finally letting him take the care more and more often, which Izuku was grateful for. Although Katsuki says he didn’t mind, Izuku felt bad for always mooching off of the blonde’s gas. And so, sometimes they ride in Izuku’s car. Other times, they drive separate and meet at the location. But most of the time, it was just more fun to ride with Katsuki in the blonde’s car, listening to 80s tracks. 

“I think I’ll drive myself tonight,” Izuku reasoned, “I don’t know what time my mom’s going to get home to let me off of candy duty, so I don’t want to keep you waiting.”

“I don’t mind, nerd,” Katsuki runs a hand through his hair, “But that’s fine. You got an ETA, at least?”

Izuku thinks of when he should be done passing out adequate enough amounts of candy and his mother would be coming home from a small work-related trip, “Um, around 9?”

“Alright,” Katsuki nods, “What’s your costume. Ya ever end up deciding between All Might or Jeff The Killer?”

Izuku then blushes for some odd reason and shook his head, “A-Ah, I actually decided to go with something else.”

Katsuki in return raises a brow, “Eh?”

Izuku stays quiet, but continues to blush red.

This piqued his curiosity, so the blonde leans forward in his chair, “You gonna tell me or what?”

To this, Izuku gives him a small smile and responds, “You’ll see!”

“I’ll see, huh,” Katsuki repeats and just shrugs in acceptance, “Alright, I’m about to head home, try to dig up my costume from last year.”

“What did you go as last year?” Izuku asked, eyes bright and curious, as he opens the car door, intending to exit. He climbs out, and leans into the car, awaiting Katsuki’s answer.

Last Halloween, he wasn’t allowed to leave the house. Inko had strictly forbade it, and told him to just pass out candy to children at home, but only after peeking through the doorhole. If the child looked taller than 4’10 or so, then he wasn’t allowed to open the door. This year, with the new improvements between his mother and him, Izuku could finally go to a Halloween party for the first time. 

Katsuki just gives him a sleazy smile, and replied, “You’ll see.”

 

At twilight today, the atmosphere was absolutely incredible. And there’s a reason why Halloween was one of Ise’s favorite holidays to celebrate. By the time 6 o’clock came around, the sky had already darkened to a light purple. The sun had just slipped below the horizon, so it was still relatively light outside. But what was the most stunning was the intense wash of purple over the city, which added to the Halloween ambiance. The purple contrasted with the amber street lamps made for an unbeatable vibe. There were already plenty of kids dressed up in his neighborhood walking around with treat baskets. There were interesting costumes for sure. There were always the classic ones: the Scream ghoul, Jason, Pennywise, ghosts, and vampires. And then, there were the more creative ones: like a plague doctor, or a cockroach. Yes, one of the kids that Izuku passed out candy to dressed up as a cockroach. 

It was warm in the house, and Izuku would sit in front of the TV waiting for the doorbell to ring while watching a Halloween classic movie, huddled up in his fleece blanket. And when he’d come to open the door, the slight chilliness from the outside would make his breath fog up just slightly when he speaks and gives the children candy. It was a joyous holiday, and for fun, he had creepy halloween music playing from the stereo that Katsuki left on his lawn the night of the Spring Dance. 

His mother had set up a fog machine in the walkway leading up to the porch, and cobwebs above the door. Inko had suggested he dress up in costume when he opens the door to pass out candy, but his costume for the Halloween party was not exactly...kid appropriate. 

He remembered having the conversation with Ochaco the other day when they were hanging out to catch up. 

“-ll Might, but if I do Jeff the Killer, then I’d have to go buy the mask. I mean I could always order it online, but the shipping to Ise is always so expensive,” Izuku pouted as he laid on her bed, while the girl searches the web for her own Halloween costume. He honestly wasn’ feeling either of them, but he had run out of ideas. He already had an All Might costume, and Jeff The Killer for some reason just popped up on his mind. 

“Deku-kun,” Ochaco then pointed at him, “The point of a Halloween party is for everyone to have an opportunity to put on a sexy costume, and feel hot for the night. Not to actually be scary.”

Izuku ponders it, “That does sound fun.” 

“It is! I’m being a sexy cowgirl, like from the Western movies,” She affirmed, “I mean, you can do your original ideas if you want, but I’m just giving you a suggestion.”

And at first, when Ochaco presented the idea, it did look interesting, but he wasn’t really for it solely due to the fact that he had no idea how to dress himself for this kind of event, and felt bad for borrowing Ochaco’s clothes all of the time. But as a couple of days went by, the more appealing the idea sounded, and the more appealing one specific idea he had in mind sounded. 

And so when 8:45 PM rolls around, and Izuku gets a text from his mother saying she’s coming home, Izuku hurried to turn off the porch light so that no more kids come until his mother gets home, and rushes upstairs to his room where his costume was already splayed out on his bed. His cheeks flushed looking at it, but he remembered how nice it felt to occasionally dress up a little bit when going out. He had no problems with his t-shirt and pants combo, but it was fun to put on something sexy. And Izuku was not going to lie, although he was doing this mostly because he knew that he’d feel cool, he also hoped a little bit that Katsuki might find it pretty alluring too. 

And when Izuku put on his Halloween costume, he felt great . He had brought all the materials for it the other day, and it took him about three hours to get it all together, but the boy likes to think the outfit suited him well. 

Going as a little fairy, Izuku kept his green hair a little messy, with some clips that were shaped like golden leaves stuck in different places, so that it looks very naturesque in an elegant way. Izuku had also designed his own top, having bought a dark green lacy bodysuit in which the lace was in floral designs to fit the whole nature fairy theme, and on top of the body suits, the greenette had ironed on some golden appliques to different places so that it looked like there were golden flowers and designs growing out of his green vine-like body suit. And for bottoms, he had just brought a pair of flared shorts in a matching dark green color. The shorts were made of a chiffon-cotton blend, so that it flowed like a skirt when he walked. And the bottom hem of the shorts were purposely shredded in lines, so that it looked like the ends of leaves. The flowy shorts were cut short, so that it covered his ass, and just about nothing else, but that was heavily encouraged by Ochaco who jumped on the idea when he texted her about it. And right below the shorts, after browsing a pop up halloween store for about half an hour, Izuku found a pair of dark green fishnet stockings which hugged his skin well. For shoes, the greenette just wore slippers that he glued a cute little golden bell onto. And for a final touch, he had bought translucent fairy wings to strap onto his back, and pointy prosthetic ears to go along with the whole costume. Overall, he was very proud of what he was able to do with the costume. 

And when the boy drives along the road to Denki’s house, who was hosting it, Izuku must admit he was excited to have some fun, and see what everyone else came up with as well. 

Twilight was gone, replaced by darkness when he pulls up onto the busy street, where cars already lined up the street. Parking a little far away, Izuku steps out of his vehicle and was reminded all over again of how he should have brought a jacket at least. The weather was a bit cold outside to where the wind slightly nipped at his cheeks, turning it pink. On the walk up the sidewalks through Denki’s neighborhood, Izuku took his time to admire the decorations and liveliness of the whole place. Down the row of houses, orange string lights or sometimes even green and purple lights decorated people’s driveways and houses, blow up pumpkins and ghosts stood on their front lawns, and he begins to hear music as he gets closer to the party. 

All the way out to the entrance of the party, there were people who loiters on the lawn and what not. Overall, it was a very busy halloween party, and Izuku was impressed by how all-out Denki did with the whole set up. On his front lawns, there were hammocks set up between the trees where some people chilled and had a smoke. And jack-o-lanterns were everywhere, alongside scarecrows and small animatronics. Thriller by Michael Jackson was playing on huge speakers set out on his porch, and Izuku found it funny how even with Halloween music, in Ise, it’s always 80s. 

A crowd stood in and out of the porch, setting on the white railing or hanging out by the stairs. The door to the inside of the house was left open, and Izuku could see that it was plenty busy. The house interior was decorated with lots of halloween themed lights, and even a fog machine on the floor that filled up the first feet with a bit of smoke. Scary posters and masks were hung on the walls, and plastic black spiders were strung everywhere. If Izuku looks up, he sees the window lights of Denki’s house glow red, like that of a horror movie, and he grinned. 

Izuku was immediately getting compliments on his costume upon walking onto the lawn, looking around to find his friends. Some people he knew had waved to him while they were playing pong on a table set up outside, and gave him their seal of approval on the costume. Izuku noticed their nurse and patient costume, and complimented them as well, before stepping up the porch and heading into the house. 

Right away, the music was quiet loud, and it took him a moment to adjust to the sound. In Denki’s living room, people were either dancing or just chilling out with some drinks and food in costume. There were weird punches with fake eyeballs in them, and a mock witch’s brew that had dry ice coming out in smoke out of the bowl. Even the plates were halloween themed, and the food was dyed black, green, orange, and red, fittingly. There was a crowd of people in the corner playing Truth or Scare, another group of people having a mini dance competition, and plenty of others just hanging around their friends or what not. There were a ton of sexy and great costumes here tonight, Izuku notices with awe. From a playboy bunny to a zombie cowboy, people were doing it all. 

Looking around for his close friends or Katsuki, Izuku couldn’t find any of them anywhere when he craned his neck to see. And the boy was about to pull out his phone to text his boyfriend, when the enthusiastic voice of Denki Kaminari approached him. Grateful to be seeing the host, Izuku gave his friend a hug and a bright smile. 

“Wow, look at you!” Denki gestures to his costume, “I thought you were going with uh- what was it? All Might or…?”

“Jeff the Killer,” Izuku laughed.

“This is,” Denki pointed finger guns at Izuku, “neither of those.”

“You’re right,” Izuku looked down at his costume with a grin, “I wanted to go for something a little different.”

“Well you look great,” Denki gave him a pat on the back. 

“You too!” Izuku returns the compliment, and took a good look at Denki’s outfit. A werewolf, complete with the ears, tail, and fur coat, “The ears suit you well.” He laughs. 

“Nice!” Denki claps for himself at the compliment, and then excused him, “Oh right, it’s nice seeing you here, Midoriya! I gotta go be a good host no-”

“Wait!” Izuku paused him before his fun yellow-haired friend could leave, asking, “Do you know where Kacchan and everyone else are?”
“Oh! Oh yeah,” Denki then pointed up the stairs, “All of my close buddies are just up there chillin out away from the crowd. Just go up the stairs, and it’s the first room on your left. It’s my dad’s bar room, but he won’t care if you guys are in there!”

Thanking him, Izuku finds his way up the carpeted stairs, and up to the second floor, where the music is not as loud for sure. The hallways were entire dark, nearly pitch black, which was a bit creepy to stare into, but Izuku hears talking from a room near his left. Turning, he sees a door with a sliver of red light coming out from underneath, and goes up to it, pushing the knob to open the door slowly. 

He opens the door and peeks his head in, immediately impressed by Denki’s Dad’s bar. 

The ceilings were lined with red glowing lights, so the entire room was also under a red hue. And only a yellow lamp in the corner of the bar provided some dichotomy. There was a full bar in the back wall with an extensive liquor shelf, and the bar counter was lit up white with gold tints. There were bean bags and comfortable chairs all over the room, and a TV hanging on the left wall. A foosball and pool table sat on the right side of the room, and there were some pizza boxes up here as well. 

Ttaking note of the crew up here. Some of his friends were up here. Ochaco for one, wearing her cowgirl outfit looking amazing as always. And Shoto was up there, wearing a monocle, old tweed suit, with a fake plastic gun, and Izuku assumed that he was a 20s mafia mob boss. Overall, it was a lot of the pole vault team, which made sense considering those were Denki’s closest friends. Mina took on the alien look, painting her skin pinkish-purple, putting in these black and gold contacts that took up most of her eyes, and looking cool as well. Kirishima went as a Spartan Warrior. And everyone else had pretty great outfits as well. 

But like a moth to a flame, in any given room that Izuku walked into, his eyes were drawn to Bakugo Katsuki. And Izuku asked himself how he was blessed enough to be in love and be loved back by someone so completely unreal. By right that he was Bakugo Katsuki, he was already the hottest person in the room even if he chose not to dress up and wear a hoodie and sweatpants. But in his pirate costume, Izuku was swooning. 

The blond was currently sitting at the bar, even though he wasn’t drinking anything, talking to one of his teammates. On his head, across his forehead, Katsuki was sporting a red silk bandana that tucked under his hair and tied in the back, leaving the tail loose, like a pirate’s bandana. On the bar counter was a dark brown pirate’s hat, complete with a skull emblem on the front. Katsuki had gold rings on his ear, clip ons, and gold rings on his fingers. For a top, Katsuki wore an off-white colored lantern sleeve shirt loosely tucked into dark brown trousers that accentuated his long, strong legs. Half of the buttons on the blonde’s shirt were undone, revealing a toned, smooth chest and sternum, in which he had a faux gold medallion with a pirate skull in the middle strung on a piece of leather hanging around his neck and over his chest. And boots . Katsuki wore calf boots that folded over at the top. God, he looked amazing, and Izuku would be laying if he said he didn’t grow a little flustered all over his body just looking at the man. 

“Midoriya?” Shoto noticed him lurking in the doorway and slowly got off of the bean bag to wave at him, “Why are you just standing there? You should come in.”

At the mention, Izuku got a bit shy, waving to him and to others who have started to notice him as well, “A-Ah, right! Sorry, I was just admiring everyone’s costumes,” He says as he moves through the door and into the room, closing it behind him. 

“Admiring everyone’s costumes?! Geez, Midoriya! Admire your own,” Kirishima called out from the other side of the room, closer to where Katsuki was sitting. 

And as Izuku walks further into the room to join everyone, the mention of his boyfriend’s name causes Katsuki to pause his conversation and turn his head slightly to Izuku, and when he did, one very handsome brow lifted. 

And with just one look, Izuku feels as if he could probably buckle his knees. All Katsuki had done was look at him with a raised brow, yet he was feeling internally hot, like he was burning up internally. And they keep eye contact for a hot minute, but Katsuki has no shame in being the first to break the stare as Izuku got closer. In fact, the blonde let himself get a good eyefull, Izuku notices. The athlete’s eyes trail his entire body, and Izuku feels practically naked under his gaze. 

Izuku gives his boyfriend an earnest look, and Katsuki quirked the corner of his lips up for just a quick second, and then swiveled around in the barstool to where he was leaning over with his elbows on his knees, and his hands clasped together, staring up at Izuku through the fringes of his hair. It was that gaze that Izuku fell in love with over and over again. And fuck , this was going to be a fun night. 

 

**I kind of blue balled you guys on the ending, but this was supposed to just be a fun little halloween prompt for day 1 and I got lazy on writing smut, but yall have imaginations hehe. This was mainly to see what Ise is like during the fall hehe**




Day 2: Hawk Tattoo

 

He got his consultation done the very day that the letter arrived in his dorm P.O. box with the invitation. He knew right away he was going to get it. And so, before telling Izuku, before telling literally anyone, the very first thing Bakugo Katsuki did upon receiving a certain letter was book a consultation with a renowned tattoo artist in the area near Keio University. The consultation was quick, considering he already knew the design he had in mind. It was simple, and he could get it done within a couple hours, and so he booked his session then and there.

Izuku noticed immediately upon Katsuki’s entrance into his singlet dorm room late that night that something was up with the blonde, from the more confident strut to a mischievous grin donning his face. 

Izuku raised a brow, “You’re in a good mood.”

Katsuki made his way over to where Izuku was sitting at his desk, and in a quick sweep, pulled the smaller up into his arms with a little spin before setting Izuku down, pressing a sweet kiss onto those lips that tasted like cherry dum-dums. Cherry. Katsuki liked that. 

“I am,” Katsuki admits. 

The greenette cocked his head to the side, and gave him a suspicious look, “What is it. New record?”
“Nah,” Katsuki keeps him guessing. 

Izuku ponders and sways in his spot, “Hm, is Phil Collins going on an international tour?”
Katsuki snorts, “That son of a bitch is at least 80. If he has any vocal chords left, they’re frayed by now.”

Izuku lets out a laugh before giving up, “Okay, I give up. Tell me, what is it? I’m terrible at guessing.”

“You are,” Katsuki doesn’t miss the opportunity to affirm the remark, before he turns around and peeks over his shoulder for a mere second to say, “How about this for a hint, then.”

And putting his hands on the bottom of his t-shirt, Katsuki pulls upwards until it falls off of his shoulders and onto the ground. He stands up straight, and flexes his back, turning slightly to see Izuku’s reaction. The boy’s face fell into shock immediately as he stares. 

“Kacchan!” Izuku practically screams.

On his left shoulder, a hawk tattoo. 

On his right shoulder, the Olympic rings. 









VII. Sequel Outline [Please Read Warning] [Not Edited. Typos everywhere]



WARNING  

Do NOT read if you currently like the ending of From The Sidelines. 

This sequel outline has a lot of continuity errors with FTS, and doesn’t really continue with the story well because their characters in here are VERY out of character from FTS. It’s basically a different story. AND IT’S NOT A REAL SEQUEL. So don’t take it as one, please!

 

This is a very brief outline. Doesn’t really go into detail much, but depicts generally what goes through my head when I think of a potential sequel. It’s not really what happens though, because this is alllll hypothetical.

*** I sometimes shorten Deku to D, and Katsuki to K so that I can type faster. 



Outline picks up in the middle of their second year in university. At the status quo, the two are still together, obviously. Healthy relationship, aside from the bickering but they’ve always been like that. They always go home to Ise during Summer and Winter breaks. And it’s a nice time when they’re home. Everytime they go home, it feels exactly like how it did when they first fell in love. It was a lot of work getting to where they are now, and sometimes when they’re back home, they’ll sit on a seaside cliff or on the ledge of Izuku’s window laughing at the stupid things they went through just to be together. But when they’re in college. It’s a little different. Of course, it would be though. They’re going from a podunk town near the sea with a slow pace and plenty of beautiful outdoor things to do, to a concrete jungle that’s fast paced and they’d have to be a little more creative with their dates. It isn’t as if there are creeks just around the corner, or abandoned train tracks to follow, or 80s diners they can hop into. After 2 years of being away from Ise, Izuku has grown a lot in terms of getting out of the small town mentality, but the transition is a bit harder. He’s still learning to let go of his past habits, but he’s come a long way. Katsuki acclimates to the city well. Perfectly well, because even before college, he’s always been exposed to travelling and the city, having been and is a competitive pole vaulter. And so, he fits right in, and helps Izuku in the process as well. Although Izuku can tell that Katsuki has a much easier time than he does, but that doesn’t deter him from studying and enjoying the experience of going to university. If their relationship back in Ise felt more bittersweet, nostalgic, and remindful of being young and carefree, then their relationship in university is that of a couple growing up. Because the city can do that to people. The city doesn’t have time to take it slow, to enjoy the sunsets on the horizon over the ocean, or jump off boats at lake parties. Instead, the city is different. The parties are in condos & dorm rooms, and the stars can’t really be seen. Instead, there’s twinkling lights that never sleep, and traffic that never stops. And the environment definitely morphs their relationship from a youthful one to a mature one. Of course, they still have their fun. Sneaking onto rooftops of skyscrapers to see if they can touch the stars, climbing scaffolds to get into abandoned buildings, or exploring a new lunch spot that’s in the area of where they go to school. They go to school 20 minutes away, which is an easy commute back and forth. Izuku comes over pretty often when he has time, and vice versa. 

Izuku makes a nice little group of friends at Waseda. There’s this guy there. Let’s call him Jae. Jae is a handsome, tall, and an all around good guy, who has an enjoyable personality and isn’t toxic or anything. Good guy. Anyways, he’s one of Izu’s friends. 

And Katsuki is constantly surrounded by people at Keio. He’s more dedicated than ever to pole vault, and he’s progressing ridiculously fast that it’s scary. They make time for each other, and that’s nice. They love each other, they do. But things are just a little different. That’s fine. Izuku thinks it’s fine. Katsuki’s sure it’s fine. When they hang out, Izuku likes to do things that kind of remind him of the things they used to do in Ise. Of course, he loves exploring new things too, but there’s something he deeply misses about the quiet, small town love that they had back in Ise in their last year of high school. And so, when they hang out, Izuku wants to do something reminiscent, like drive an hour or two out of Tokyo to go to the lake, or hike out to a mountain nearby, even if it’s a tourist mountain. Meanwhile, although Katsuki does enjoy those reminiscent things, he is constantly pushed by school, coaches, etc. to move forward in the world with his vault. And so, he doesn’t understand the point of reminiscing. It won’t be for a long time that he’ll be able to go back to Ise, and so he doesn’t really understand why they’re trying to recreate things from the past, when there’s nothing wrong with the present. But he doesn’t say anything, because it’s fine. He loves Izuku to death, and seeing the other happy is good enough for him. Katsuki gets busy. Actually they both do. Izuku is neck-deep in a research lab for a project he’s passionate about. (also, Jay, slowly expresses more interest in Izuku, but Izuku makes it clear that he has a boyfriend. And Jay respects that.) And Katsuki is really deep into competition season and improving his PRs. Izuku goes to every single tournament, wearing K’s jersey, with a bottle of cherry gatorade waiting for K. Who always gets mobbed for at least 30 minutes before he’s able to make it to where Izuku is. And Katsuki squeezes time in his schedule to make room to hang out with Izuku. Sometimes though, they’re be settled, watching a movie or doing something, and the blonde will have to leave for an event or meeting he needs to be at. Whether it’s with his coach, a promoter/sponsor, someone. And he promises Izuku that he’ll get to stay longer next time. Izuku understands, even if he’s a little sad inside. He knows that this is Katsuki’s dream, and this is the life that entails dating practically a super-athlete. That being said, Katsuki does get busier and busier, which means that sometimes, plans are cancelled regrettably or cut short even more or are infrequent in occurrence. But that’s okay, Izuku tells himself, because it’s worth loving him and worth seeing Katsuki shine brighter and brighter as he flies in vault. But sometimes, it does feel a bit lonely. Especially when it’s starting to feel like he’s finding some things out about Katsuki from the news first before he hears it from the blonde himself. “I didn’t know you just signed with redno.” Izuku tells him one day when Katsuki found time to hang out, and they are laying in bed cuddling. Katsuki groggily hums into the boy’s neck, “Oh yeah. I signed with them the other week.” And there’s just this weird feeling in the pit of his stomach, because he doesn’t like this. And he realizes very clearly the difference between life in the city and life out in the countryside. And although he wouldn’t trade the education and opportunity he and Katsuki are getting for the world, it does feel a little sad knowing that there are sacrifices to be made in terms of time to be with each other and the things that they can do. But Izuku and Katsuki know that they can make this work. This goes on for a while. When one day, Katsuki and Izuku both find time to hang out. And Katsuki kisses him deeply, having missed him a lot. They both internally wish that they didn’t have to say they missed each other in the first place. It was getting to the point where Izuku knew more about the lives of his day to day friends than he did of Katsuki’s, even if they texted a lot and called most nights that Katsuki didn’t have a mandatory event to go to. And Katsuki probably was more updated with his teammates and the parties and whatever that is going on in Keio than he was with what Izuku was doing, simply because the schedules didn’t align. Anyways, so K asks what D wanted to do. And D thinks about it, and replies that he wants to get out of Tokyo and maybe go to a shrine or up in the woods? And Katsuki is quiet for a moment. But ultimately nods, and tells him let’s go. However, while getting ready to go, Katsuki speaks up. Asks Izuku why he feels the need to recreate the past so much. Katsuki says this because of his internalized fear that Izuku isn’t satisfied with the present and that this will lead to Katsuki losing him, and so, Katsuki wants Izuku to be okay with the present even if it’s a bit miserable just so that he doesn’t lose the other. And Izuku is a little confused by the question, and asks what he means. 

“Nothing,” Katsuki waves off the question, figuring that he’s being irrational but more so, not wanting to put a damper on the mood on one of the few nights that have together. 

Izuku frowns at his answer, setting down his jacket for a moment, before asking once more for clarification, “No, Kacchan, what did you mean by that?”

Katsuki plays with the cap of his gatorade bottle, not making eye contact with his lover as he ponders whether it was a good idea to say it or to leave it be. But he knows well at this point that Izuku wasn’t just going to let him leave it be , so the blonde chooses his words carefully, “I just mean…that it seems you’re trying to recreate the shit we did in Ise.” He pauses, not wanting to see Izuku’s face, “But what I’m saying is that we’re not in Ise anymore.”

And Izuku denies that he’s doing this, feeling a little hurt that Katsuki thinks this, after all that they have endured this past year or so to make this relationship work. If Izuku was so desperate to recreate what they had in Ise, then he would have given up on this a long time ago, seeing as almost nothing is like what it was in Ise. And Izuku tells him this too. And Katsuki understands, but he still voices his slight irritation that when they hang out these days, it feels like Izuku is chasing the past. And Izuku is offended, saying that out of everyone, he knows the most the dangers of chasing the past and being afraid of change, considering how he grew up and the whole situation with Inko. So how dare Katsuki discredit all the hard work he’s put in to his character. And the night is sour, but after a bit, Katsuki comes around and apologizes. Izuku accepts it, even though a bit of his heart is beginning to break. 

He doesn’t remember the last time Katsuki’s played a song for him. Lately, he’s been playing songs by himself, and closes his eyes pretending that it was Katsuki playing them for him instead. But Izuku pushes the thought away, and tries alongside Katsuki to pick up the broken pieces of their night together and make the best of it. They just end up watching a movie and cooking dinner. When Katsuki leaves that night, he hugs Izuku a little tighter not knowing when he’s going to see the greenette again. Izuku’s never made him choose between vault and their relationship. Even now, Katsuki knows that Izuku is putting in so much effort to keep their relationship afloat despite their schedules, and he holds on to the hug tightly wondering if there’s going to be a point where it’s a little too much to juggle. 

Their relationship gets a little more strained after that. And not in a blow-up in your face way, not at all. But rather, it’s a more sad, slow strain. One where Izuku’s calls to Katsuki went straight to voicemail. Where he’d see Katsuki on someone’s social media at a team party that he feels obligated to go to, and then not hear from the blonde until the morning after. And they’ve talked about it. And everytime, Katsuki says he’s trying. And yet, it seems to get more and more distance, slowly. Inch by inch. Until their hang outs are coffee shop dates for about an hour, where the time is taken up by catching up with what happened in the past two weeks or so. And so, gone are the days where Izuku and Katsuki would just talk about random things for hours, and here come the days where it’s all just playing catch up. 

“So how’s the lab going? Did Dr. Loser finally give you the second authorship?” Katsuki asked, using the derogatory nickname for one of the lab coordinators that Izuku didn’t get along with.

Izuku takes a sip of his matcha, before setting down the cup, his eyes settling on the foam on top of the tea and a bit of a pained smile on his lip, “Lab ended weeks ago, Kacchan…” He tells the other, “And he gave me second authorship even before that. I’m at a different lab now. I told you this. Over text, Kacchan.” His voice tapered out in the end.

“Ah, fuck ,” Katsuki leans back in his seat and runs a hand through his hair, “It must have gotten lost in my-”

“Thousands of text messages? Emails? Things you always have to do?” Izuku still stared at the foam on the cup, laughing a little to himself, “I know, Kacchan.”
At this, Katsuki furrowed his brows a little bit, and bit the inside of his cheek, “Izuku,” He tells the other seriously, “I can’t help it, you know.”

“Kacchan,” Izuku finally looks up at the other, a bit of water brimming at the bottom but he refuses to cry, not at this, “I’m your boyfriend. You can’t even bother to check my messages?”

“And this is my dream ,” Katsuki emphasized, referring to vault.

And Izuku drops his head again, this time bringing both hands over to hide his face and his elbows resting on the table, as he says very understandably, “I know…I know it is.”

And Izuku tries not to think about the time where Katsuki believed that his dream included both pole vault and Izuku in it. To the point where the blonde almost gave up Nationals for him. But Izuku could never ask of that in the first place. Still, he thinks. 

And so, it just continues like this, until it’s almost suffocating.

When Katsuki has time, Izuku is working in his new lab or at a meeting. 

Izuku still comes to all of his tournaments, no matter what, but it feels like the time that it takes to see Katsuki after a tournament is done is getting longer and longer. Until one day, after a tournament, Katsuki is bombarded. The amount of fans, admirers, sponsors, is almost overwhelming. And when Izuku gets down to the track, he can’t even see his boyfriend over the crowd. And so, he stands to the side, a flower bouquet in his hand, and waits for Katsuki to emerge from the crowd to come find him. And waits. And waits. And he waits. 

And then as the track clears out, Izuku doesn’t see Katsuki anywhere. Which means, he must have left somewhere in the crowd. And so, the greenette calls his boyfriend. Katsuki picks up, and Izuku can hear music in the background, lots of voices. 

With a small voice, Izuku clutches the bouquet of flowers to his chest and stares down at Katsuki’s jersey on his body and then at the empty stadium, “Where are you?”

Katsuki takes a moment to yell at someone in the background to shut up so he can hear, before asking into the phone again, “Deku? What did you say?”
Izuku says louder this time, but in turn, his voice cracks a little and he feels tears welling up, “I asked where are you, Kacchan.”
“I’m at a party right now. The team dragged me out to the clubhouse, to celebrate the win. Cheesy little fuckers,” Katsuki laughed with a bit of a gruffness to his voice, before asking, “Hm, why.”

Why? Now, Izuku really wanted to cry. But instead, he just tells his boyfriend, “I waited for you, that’s why.” With as little malice in his voice as possible, just exhaustion. 

From the other line, Izuku hears a quiet Fuck before Katsuki speaks again into the phone, “Fuck. ‘Zuku. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry, dammit. I didn’t think you were coming.”

Izuku frowned into the phone, feeling a little more sad by the minute, “D-didn’t think I was coming?” And then he laughs painfully, “Kacchan. I’ve been watching you since I was 11. What could possibly make you think I wasn’t coming?”

“I don’t know,” Katsuki says, “Fuck. You seemed mad at me the last time we talked and I-”

“I was upset because we didn’t get to see each other as often,” Izuku reasoned with incredulousness in his voice, “And you think that my solution to that would be to avoid you so that we don’t get to see each other even more ? Kacchan, do you even understand what you’re saying? Why-Why would I-” But before he could finish, Izuku’s voice cracked. 

And upon hearing that, Izuku could hear movement on the other side, and Katsuki asked him with a bit of a panicked tone in his voice, “Fuck. Izuku. Where are you right now.”

Izuku almost didn’t want to say, but ultimately admits ashamed, “I’m at the stadium.”

“Stay there.”

But the last thing Izuku wants to do is to keep standing there, and look stupid as his boyfriend comes back and realizes that he’s been waiting for so long and so the greenette packs up his things. And is heading towards the exit of the stadium, when he sees Katsuki under the outdoor awning walking towards him, calling his name. And fuck, Izuku forgot that the clubhouse wasn’t that far from the stadium.

“Izuku!” Katsuki calls after him. 

And Izuku can’t really leave without having to pass Katsuki, and so when the blonde approaches him, Katsuki pauses. The blonde stares at Izuku, still in his jersey, with a bouquet of flowers meant for him. And fuck, Katsuki’s heart drops to his gut. 

“Izuku…” He approaches.

But Izuku backs away one step, knowing that Katsuki’s voice sounding so apologetic like that will just make him cry, and he shakes his head, dropping the flowers to the ground. 

“Fuck, i’m so sorry,” Katsuki tells him, approaching once more. 

But Izuku just looks away, and then smiles to himself, eyes staring hard at the ground as a tear slides down his cheek, and his shoulders shake just a tiny bit, “Look at me. I look so stupid.”

“Fuck,” Katsuki approaches to pick up the flower bouquet off the ground, “No you don’t. ‘Zuku, you don’t. This is all my fucking fault. These,” He smells the flowers, “are perfect. You’re perfect. I’m so sor-”

Izuku wipes at his face with his sleeve and tries to walk around Katsuki. But Katsuki tries to stop him. 

“No, Deku,” He stops the smaller, “Let’s spend tonight together. Come on. I’ll take you out, and we’ll do something fun and stupid. Let’s g-”

Izuku is angry and pushes away, “You’re just proving to me that if you wanted to, you could make time for us.” And then he stammers, crying a bit more, “Why is it that it has to get to this point where you do me wrong and then feel sorry, that you suddenly have time to take me out and do something fun. Go back to your party, Kacchan. You did amazing, today, and you shouldn’t spend your night with me just because you feel bad, when you obviously had somewhere you rather be.”

Katsuki gets angry, “Look. I get it. I haven’t made the damn time. I’ve been shitty at schedules. But don’t you dare say that I’d just be with you because I feel bad. Because that ain’t fucking true.”

Izuku cries and shakes his head, “Let’s say I didn’t come to watch you today. Let’s say I didn’t wait, and bring flowers, and do all of this. Let’s say that you really thought I wouldn’t come because I was ‘mad at you.’ The fact is you would go to the party anyways, that your own teammates have told me wasn’t mandatory, instead of talking it out with me or trying to spend time with me.” Izuku hesitates “And I know I sound needy and maybe I sound selfish, but is it really so much to ask for some time? You go to these ‘events’ that aren’t mandatory several times a week. Can I not just get one night?” He cries, “I-I’m your boyfriend, right?”
“Izuku-”

“And the last thing I want to do is keep you from your new friends and community,” Izuku shakes his head, “And so if you can’t give me that, then just tell me so, okay?” He begs, “Tell me, so that I don’t spend all day wondering if you might have time to get dinner with me tonight. So I don’t constantly hope that you might even text me before the day ends.”

Silence. And there’s this sad feeling in the atmosphere. As Izuku calms down, and Katsuki is unable to refute that he hasn’t been attentive or as good as he could have been. Katsuki has always been a man of action, and yet, for the past however, the only way he’s been justifying his love for Izuku is through his words. 

And so, as the atmosphere quietens, which is funny considering that Tokyo is never quiet, and when it is, it’s for this exact moment-- Izuku is still sniffling. Katsuki stands a couple of feet from him. 

And Izuku looks up at Katsuki finally, and asks softly with a broken voice, “Is this…the part where I should play piano in the dark?”

This is a reference back to chapter 13 of FTS where in one of the final scenes, they listen to Piano in the Dark by Brenda Russell, and it’s about a couple. The woman feels bored with the relationship, doesn’t really love him anymore, and doesn’t really make time anymore for their relationship. However, whenever the man plays piano in the dark, she falls in love with him again. 

And so, when Izuku says this, he’s implying that Katsuki is the woman from the song who fell out of love and is getting bored with the relationship. And wonders if he should play piano in the dark, if it means Katsuki would fall in love with him again. 

Katsuki’s mouth is parted, and he’s shocked at Izuku’s words and implication. 

“If -If I do,” Izuku stammers as his tears begin again but silently this time, “Will you fall in love with me again?”

Katsuki is silent. 

 

[[[ haven’t really thought about this part in detail. But obviously they break up or at least take a break. And this is facilitated by Izuku, who feels more and more saddened every day. He knows he’ll forever be in love with Katsuki, but it really hurts. And it doesn’t seem like Katsuki is trying, even if he says he is. Because after the night that he was left at the tournament, Katsuki tries really hard for about a week. But after that, it went back to the same old thing. And the very last straw is when drunkenly, Katsuki participates in a drinking game. He’s shitfaced drunk, and kisses someone else. Very cliche ik ik, but hey this is a fantasy sequel. Anyways, izuku gets word before Katsuki can even tell him (and yes, katsuki was planning on telling him immediately but the video was sent before he could even get to Izuku) and that’s it. That’s the last straw. They talk, and Izuku understands that he was drunk, but wants katsuki to also understand that “Kacchan. I know what happened was mostly an accident. But look at it from my perspective, please ,” He begs, “We’ve been rocky. I’ve been missing you for forever. And on a night where you could have tried and made an effort to be with me, you went to a party to get drunk, and happened to kiss someone.” Katsuki makes the excuse that the party was important because one of the younger sponsors were there. And Izuku calls bullshit with a large cry, because the person who sent him the vid told him none of that stuff is mandatory, sponsor there or not. And since when did Katsuki, the man who claims he hates stuffy suit sponsors who only care about him for money and etc. care for sponsors?? Now that he’s actually out here in the city, and has given into the competitive pressure? Is this even the katsuki that he knew anymore? It makes no sense. And so they argue. And D repeats heartbrokenly something that Katsuki had said to him a long time ago, “Don’t fall out of love with me, because I won’t?” Izuku then laughs and wipes at his face, “It looks like in the end, that should have been my wish on the cliff that night.” They break up, and fuck, both are very very very very heartbroken. Etc etc blah blah blah.. Anyway, they’re broken up and it hurts like crazy. At this point, we lose complete perspective of K. So Jay gets closer to Izuku. But they don’t progress into anything else. Because Jay understands that what Izu needs rn is a friend. End this segment with Izuku trying to pick up the pieces of his heart, with a lot of struggle, but he’s determined to move forward, while accepting that he’ll always love Katsuki. ]]]



Time skip--- (I hate time skips. Which is why the only place you’ll see it is in this fake sequel outline). Time skip about 7-8 years.

The setting of the fic circles back to Ise. Rest of the story takes place here. Izuku had earned his degree, and found a job (idk what it is. Just imagine something) back in Ise that allows him to travel and do everything that he’s wanted to do career wise without sacrificing the love he has for the small town he grew up in. And so, he’s stationed in Ise, but he’s constantly going in and out to different cities, and doing what he loves career wise. He lives in his own house, but that’s not the only thing that’s new. We’ll get to that later. Ise is as beautiful as it’s ever been. Izuku doesn’t really go back to the places that are steeped in memories of him and Katsuki, unless it’s very public places like the beach or etc. But that’s okay, because there’s endless things to do in Ise. And it feels refreshing to be able to breathe again at his own pace. He’s been back for over 4 years now, since he graduated 1.3 years after Katsuki and him parted ways. And even though he doesn’t talk about it as often as he did when he was younger or make it public, he still keeps up with Katsuki’s accomplishments. But that’s it. And accomplished, he has been. Very accomplished. Anyways, Izu’s living a very stable and great life in Ise, yeah? 

Yeah. Until, take a guess, a very cliche guess. A very public injury plagues the news involving the top pole vaulter in the country, and some argue Asia, Bakugo Katsuki. And Izuku knows about it, and he’s even been offered the job of being part of the team that looks at Katsuki’s injury, as someone who works in sports medicine. But he of course denied it, knowing that although he is very good, there are many others who are also very good and don’t have a personal history with the patient. He’s worried though. But anyways, so the news of that is very prominent in the headlines, especially in Ise, where everyone practically praises bakugo katsuki for breathing since the athlete is from Ise. And for days, no one really knows the whereabouts of Bakugo, only that he is relocating for the time being, and is considering a possible retirement even if he recovers completely. This is outrageous news, because Katsuki isn’t estimated to retire for a good 8 more years, which is much longer than the average shelf life of a top athlete. 

 

When Katsuki shows up in Ise again a week later, we now know exactly where he relocated to. Izuku stays calm, or at least as calm as he can. He’s moved on, and is living a good life. And he tells himself that if he sees Katsuki, then he’ll just treat him like an old friend. Because that’s really what they are. He hears that Katsuki’s bought a house for himself on the other side of town. And for two weeks, Izuku doesn’t see the other at all, which he is internaly grateful for. He just works, and does his own things. Although, he does hear about katsuki all the fucking time. Everyone is going batshit insane bc bakugo katsuki is back in ise. And doing weird stuff, like gardening and going to the beach every single day. And Izuku knows it’s only a matter of time. 

That day happened when he hears a knock on his door. And Izuku opens it to see the man himself, still handsome still perfect still everything that izuku had fallen in love with when he was 18 years old. And he’s internally like fuck , but knows he’s moved on so it should be okay. Izuku greets him with a smile.

“I heard you were back.”

“I am.”

Silence. Katsuki stares at him, as if he was trying to take in every single detail of Izuku’s face. Katsuki doesn’t take his eyes off of the man for a second, and there was this look in the blonde’s eyes that was a mix of longing, awe, and whatever else. 

Katsuki cleared his throat, and says, “I asked the hag, and she said you lived here now.”

Izuku nods slowly, “I do, and I heard you live on oceanside dr.”

Katsuki tips his head, “Yeah. It’s a nice place, with a good view of the mountains and beach.” And then he lets out a breath, “Listen, I just wanted to see if you had any time to maybe grab dinner and catch up. For old time’s sake.”

Izuku’s eyes dart to the ground. He knows there’s no harm in doing it. There’s someone he has to tell first though… but there’s no harm in catching up with an old friend. This way, it might get some curiosity out of his system at what the athlete had been up to since they’ve been separated. And so after a little bit more small talk and slight awkwardness, Izuku agrees. 

“How about the river, by Dina’s farm. Like we used to,” Katsuki suggested, “I can bring some foo-”

“Kacchan, I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Izuku shuts the idea down gently. 

Awkward pause. “Right,” Katsuki nods then looks back at Izuku, “Leonard’s then? I’ll pick you up at 7?”

Leonards is a restaurant. A pretty casual one. And Izuku agrees. 

 

K picks him up, and the ride is pretty normal actually. There wasn’t 80s music in the car. In fact, katsuki hasn’t listened to that genre is a long time. Several years. Anyways. There has been enough time that’s passed after their break up that although there’s this sad feeling inside of Izuku, it’s enough years that they can just kind of act like old friends catching up. It’s not anything super crazy and exciting, because there is still that reservation between them, considering that they were past lovers and very passionate ones at that. But it wasn’t as awkward as Izuku has been expecting. 

Until this comment. 

“I heard you’re gardening.” Izuku says in between a sip of dessert wine, recalling some gossip that he’s heard.

“Damn. I’ve been back for less than a month, and Ise is back at talking about everything I fucking do, huh,” Katsuki jokingly sneers. 

Izuku rolls his eyes, crosses his legs. Katsuki’s gaze follows the movement, “So? True or not.”

“You’d think after your mother hit me with a shovel that one time that I’ll never pick one up again,” Katsuki reminisced on their past. 

Izuku isn’t quite comfortable with that, so he just clears his throat and takes another sip of his drink. 

And so, Katsuki just nods, tapping slightly with his fork, “I am. Gardening, I mean.”

“What are you gardening?” Izuku asks, curious.

“Red lilies.” 

Izuku fucking spits out his drink, and spills a bit on his lap. Waitress comes to help him, but Izuku says it’s fine and they’re left alone again. Katsuki’s gaze is piercing into him. And Izuku feels his gut sink, because he knows what red lilies mean. 

Katsuki sits back and then gestures towards Izuku, “Enough about me and my incredible athletic feats. How about you, Deku. Anything exciting with you?”

Izuku purses his lips, and then smiles down at his hands that has been in his lap the entire time unless he was eating. Before looking up at Katsuki.

Softly, he tells the blonde, “Kacchan,” He gives the other a smile, “I’m engaged.”

(Katsuki’s world practically collapses inside of his head. And his heart that hasn’t really even been given fully to anyone but Izuku is torn to shreds right then and there. And fuck. What the fuck .). 

There’s a moment of silence. And a look of shock on Katsuki’s face. Before his eyes travelled down to Izuku’s left hand, which is under the tablecloth on his lap anyways. Seeing Katsuki looking in that direction, izuku says oh yeah, the ring to himself, and lifts his left hand to show the blonde, showing off the beautiful ring that he’s been given. (Tada~ After their break up, Izuku and Jay from college were friends for a long time, before Jay decided to ask him out. And they were together for a while, before Jay proposed this past following year. In fact, like three months ago.)

“You’re getting married,” Katsuki just says, something off in his voice as he stares at the ring, then up at Izuku’s smiling face. 

And suddenly, the conversation they had in the mirror maze so long ago where Izuku outlined the day he was going to get married to someone else flashed in his head. And his chest feels constricted. 

Izuku smiled shyly at his lap, “I am.”

Katsuki swallowed, “Who’s the lucky man.”

Izuku looks up at his former lover, “His name is Jae. We went to college together. I think I introduced you to him before back then. He’s a…” Pause, “Really good guy, Kacchan.”

Katsuki’s gaze towards to the table clothe, before going back to Izuku and saying, “He better be.”

Then K follows up by asking, “When are you…” he can’t really finish the sentence.

“Probably in a year and a half,” Izuku thinks on it, “Things have been a little hectic with work, so there’s no time to think about having the wedding anytime soo-”

“You love him?” Katsuki asks, voice sounding almost scared.

Izuku gives him a funny look, “Of course, I do kacchan. Why would I marry someone I don’t love?”

“Right,” Katsuki says, before looking around again. There’s a moment of silence. 

Izuku gives him a grateful smile, before asking the other, “If you don’t mind me asking, why’d you move back here? Just to be near home again?”

At this, Katsuki meets his eyes, and Izuku almost chokes on how those red eyes make him feel, and then Katsuki chuckled to himself before telling Izuku, “Well, I can’t really tell you now.”

Izuku frowned in confusion, “what do you mean?”

“Nothing,” Katsuki waves off, before giving the smaller man a smile, “I’m happy for you, ‘Zuku.”

 [[[anyways, i don’t want to go into detail of the next arc because it’ll probably take forever and i’d actually end up writing a fic. So to even more briefly outline: so they talk some more after the dinner, and Katsuki tries to have a normal conversation with Izuku even though all he could fucking think about was that the one that got away is now engaged to someone who probably treats Izuku better than he had. And so after they part ways that night, both admit they had a nice time catching up. Izuku knows internally that this cannot be a regular thing: catching up and talking to Katsuki. Because from the two or three hours alone of them catching up, Izuku already felt something very dangerous brew in his stomach that he is just chalking up to old feelings that aren’t valid anymore. And so they part ways. Izuku goes in, and tells Jay about the encounter with Katsuki while theyre in bed. Jay knows how much Katsuki means to Izuku, so it doesn’t bother him. But there’s this internal insecurity Jay has with Katsuki, because when he and Izuku had first gotten together, Izuku had made it clear to him that a part of him always will love Katsuki, even if it’s no longer romantic. And for the first year or two of them dating, Jay obviously felt like Katsuki was still someone that he’ll never really compare to in Izuku’s eyes. But now, since they have been dating longer and are now engaged, Jay hopes that all of those thoughts are gone, even if he feels a little insecure. 

Jay proposes that the three of them get dinner together sometime. Internally, he hopes that this may erase his insecurity, to actually meet Bakugo Katsuki for real and see that there’s nothing to worry about. Izuku doesn’t know if that’s a great idea, but says if he Jay wanted to, then whatever. Anyways, blah blah blah a week or so passes. And Jay encounters Bakugo while at the grocery store in Ise. And on impulse, goes over and introduces himself, and invites Bakugo to their house for dinner. Katsuki is hesitant for a moment, but ultimately agrees. Filler. Fast forward to the dinner. It’s kind of awkward. But Katsuki can see that Jay is very obviously a nice and good guy. He’s not stuck up, or prudish about having fun and doing spontaneous things here and there. He’s truly a good person. Fuck. What hurts the most is knowing that Izuku loves the guy, and probably for good reason. 

After dinner, they had all planned on going out to the lawn concert that a local band in Ise was hosting in the greenery of some park. And so as they were about to go, Jay gets a call from work since he’s on-call on weekends. And he has to leave, but Izuku understands (because unlike someone, Jay knows how to make time for work and relationships) and kisses the man goodbye. Katsuki looks away when they kiss, hands in his pocket. And Jay tells them to go on without him, now trusting Katsuki more after seeing that Katsuki, although he seems to look at Izuku as if he still loved him, was a respectful and good dude, even if he cursed excessively. Anyways, so Izu and Katsuki go to the lawn concert, and for a moment, it feels like old times. And what more, it feels like old times when Katsuki gets bored and decides that they’ll go climb a tree instead (even w/ katsuki’s injury) so that they can look at the view of the town from a tall oak. And it’s nice. And Izuku is reminded of the Katsuki he had fallen in love with, except more mature. Katsuki seemed a lot more sure and mature now, despite not having lost his rebellious and fun streak. And Izuku knows that this is just friendly, but there has always been an undeniable connection between them that’s more than just platonic, and so, Izuku knows that what is best is that nights like these are kept to a minimum, even if he and katsuki end up having wonderful conversations like old times. After all, they still have not addressed the elephant in the room that IS THEIR breakup all those years ago, and what had happened then. And all of those broken promises. 

 

[[again, fast forward a bit. So obviously, we all know what will happen here. Izu and Jay are a good couple, they are. And Katsuki respects that, but he can’t fucking stay away. And all he wants to be is friends with Izuku. And Izuku makes his boundaries clear. Jay doesn’t mind, because he actually likes Katsuki too. Which makes Katsuki feel really guilty, because although he promises to himself that he’ll only want Izuku as a friend, the more he sees Izuku --whether it be in randomly in town or he comes over to see the engaged couple for dinner -- the more he gets slapped in the face with the fact that he is still in love with the boy, and had fucked up that bridge a long time ago. And now that Katsuki is also friends with Jay and genuinely thinks the dude is a good guy, he feels even worse. 

On Izuku’s part, this is really not good. Because he will never be unloyal to someone. Never. Especially not someone like Jay, who has been very good to him. But fuck. Katsuki was Katsuki. And this was not fucking good. And there were too many times where they were alone. Because now that both katsuki and izuku were in Ise again, their mothers Inko and Mitsuki would have the family dinners again, where izuku and katsuki both attended like old times. And they’d leave midway to go and do something just fun. And it was all friendly because boundaries and you know, engagement. But that doesn’t stop the tension from happening. And it doesn’t stop Izuku from realizing that he needs to be clear and upfront to both Katsuki, himself, and Jay about a couple of things. 

  1. That katsuki being around him like this, even if they aren’t doing anything bad, is bringing back emotions he thought he had gotten over.

And so, Izuku makes a pact with himself, that he will limit his contact purposely with katsuki from now on to not jeopardize the good thing he has going on with Jay. Here’s the thing. He didn’t even need to. Because Katsuki starts avoiding him too, unprompted. And avoiding the both of them. (on katsuki’s part, it’s because he realizes the exact same thing that he still loves Izuku more than fucking anything, but love is about wanting the best for the other person. And so, he knows that he can’t impede on Izuku and Jay’s life any longer no matter how much he wants Izuku. And so, he’s keeping himself away.). And so, there is this weird period where Katsuki very actively avoiding the both of them. Jay is a little hurt by it, because he likes Katsuki as a buddy a lot. And although Izuku knows that this avoidance is a good thing, he also feels internally a little confused and hurt by katsuki’s sudden disappearance from their lives. But again, he knows it’s for the best, no matter what reason it is. 

Some time later, Jay asks Izuku to return something to Katsuki. 

“Where’d you get this?” Izuku asks Jay. 

Jay tells him that the other day, he came over to Katsuki’s just to talk and borrowed whatever it was. But he doesn’t have time today to return it. And so Izuku is just shocked that Jay can just come over to Katsuki’s place to talk. And so, this means, that Katsuki was avoiding him specifically. That kind of hurts a little bit. But Izuku just nods and confusedly drives to Katsuki’s house to return the thing. It’s raining the entire time. Around 5:00 PM, so the sky is a greenish-teal color. Katsuki’s house, which Izuku has been to on several occasions by now, is next to the beach. There are mountains behind him. He’s in a nice neighborhood for sure. And so, the blonde is out in the side yard, chopping wood in the rain bc well, why not. Izuku looks to the garden to see that the red lilies have bloomed. And more so, Katsuki has planted yellow flowers as well. So Katsuki is doing that, he hears Izuku approach, and he turns back to what he was doing and continues. Izuku says he’s here to drop off the thing. Katsuki just grunts, and tells him to just throw it on the ground right over there. And so he does. And then watches Katsuki for a good minute or so, unsure of what to say if he should say, if anything at all. 

Just as he was about to turn and leave, Katsuki drops his ax to the side and looked at Izuku annoyingly, “Are you going to fucking say something? Or just stand there.”
At this, Izuku is confused and upset, and he keeps his umbrella up. Asks Katsuki wtf is his problem all of a sudden. 

Katsuki realizes that he needs to shut up and stop letting his emotions affect him like this and hurt Izuku unintentionally, and so he just waves it off, trying not to create conflict. 

But Izuku pushes it, stepping forward, and asking Katsuki to tell him why he’s avoiding him specifically. They go back and forth, until it becomes an annoyed screaming match. Where Katsuki doesn’t want to admit why he came back to Ise. Why he’s avoiding Izuku. Why he wants to retire from the sport. And Izuku just wants to understand. And they’re yelling, and the rain is pouring. And Izuku is just begging why. 

And Katsuki loses self constraint , and rushes forward, soaked, and he knocks the umbrella out of Izuku’s hand on the way to cupping the smaller man’s face, and kissing Izuku passionately, pouring his entire heart and years of longing and regret into that kiss. Knowing that it damn well is the last time he’ll ever be able to do it. And he knows he’s a piece of shit, and that this is wrong. But he kisses Izuku like there’s no tomorrow, and then he pulls back, and now, he’s nearly crying too, yelling at Izuku “This is fucking why, Deku.” And Izuku is shocked. 

Katsuki continues, “Because I’m still fucking in love with you, and I’m still suffering from my mistake in college almost 9 fucking years later, Izuku. And I can’t get over you. No matter what I do!” He yells frustratingly, “I threw myself into vault, and I work myself for years until I break an ankle, and the worst part is that I should be devastated. But a bigger part of me was fucking excited because this meant that I didn’t have to do this anymore. Be an athlete with no one to jump for. A bigger part of me was fucking exciting because maybe there was some hope I could find you and make it all right again.”

And then, he drops his head, and his chest is heaving, Katsuki says with a pained voice, “But you’re engaged. You’re getting married, ‘Zuku. And I just fucking kissed you, like the piece of shit I am. You don’t deserve that. Jay doesn’t deserve that. But fuck , I still love you more than anything.”

Shocked Izuku. In a quiet, voice, Izuku breaks, “no, no, no, you can’t do this to me, katsuki.” Referring to telling Izuku that he loves him, when Izuku knows that his own heart is currently in a divided state. 

And then more dialogue. About their past, finally addressing what happened. Katsuki explains himself (idk just come up w something and make sure it connects). And Izuku can’t believe this is happening. And Izuku knows that he still loves Katsuki , even though he can’t. He also loves Jay, and it’s not fair. And they’re both pieces of shit, really. 

And this ending is disastrous. 

But Katsuki doesn’t make him choose. Once upon a time, Izuku didn’t make him choose between two things that he loved (vault and him). And so now, Katsuki wasn’t making him choose either. 

“You belong with him, ‘Zuku,” Katsuki says in a quiet voice after the height of their yelling session calms down and they’re settled in this quiet intermission, “Jay’s a good man. And the things I lack, he makes up for it and more. I’m not telling you I love you so that you’ll have to consider me.”

The sound of rain persists. And the waves from the beach are still crashing. The sky is getting a bit darker. There’s an air of somberness. 

“I’m telling you so that you know,” Katsuki says, then looks at Izuku, “In a few months, you’re gonna get married.”

Izuku meets his eye, red and teary. Knowing that yes, he still loves Katsuki so much. And this isn’t fair for anyone. 

Katsuki staggers forward a few steps, “You’re gonna get married, and it’s going to be all you’ve ever hoped for.” And then Katsuki recalls the conversation in the mirror maze again, “On the beach. With a five layer mint icing cake. All your friends and family. And you’re going to look beautiful.”

Izuku is now crying more. And Katsuki’s heart is breaking all over again. 

“And I’ll wear a nice suit for the day. Take a shot or two of liquor, make it easier on me. And when you recite your vows, no matter how badly I wish it was me, I’ll sleep easy knowing it’s him,” And Katsuki steps close enough to put their foreheads together, and assure Izuku that it’s going to be okay. It’ll be okay. 

 

Izuku goes home after the interaction. And he’s still a sobbing mess. And he goes up to his and Jay’s bedroom. Jay wake up, and wonders why Izuku is just getting back now. Izuku is wet, cold, and a sobbing mess. And Jay holds him, and rocks him. And Izuku doesn’t really need to say much. Jay knows. 

“You still love him,” Jay says very softly. 

And this makes Izuku cry even more as he shakes in guilt and coldness, and knows that he needs to admit the truth if this was someone he was going to marry, “I do.”

Jay just continues to rub his back, and for some odd reason, the insecurity he felt against bakugo didn’t heighten or anything from the confession. Jay thinks it’s because after meeting and befriending the blonde, he could really tell that Katsuki loved Izuku. And as someone who also loves Izuku, Jay knows that Katsuki wouldn’t do anything that would jeopardize Izuku’s current happiness. And it was clear by the way Katsuki set clear boundaries with them, even if it was also obvious that the blonde was still in love with Izuku. At the end of the day, he (jay) guesses that Katsuki was Katsuki. And it’s always been Katsuki. 

Izuku urges, and he means this with all of his heart, “I also love you, Jay. I love you.”

“I know,” Jay tells him. And he does. He knows that Izuku loves him. 

And then more dialogue between them. Izuku feeling guilty and knowing he’s not being fair. And he also says that if Jay wants to call off or put off the engagement, he’d understand. Jay tells him the only way that he’ll put off the engagement is if Izuku chooses to. Because even though he knows Izuku still loves Katsuki to some degree, he still has confidence that what he and Izuku has built together is stronger, and more important that even with this roadblock, it’s one they can work to clear together. And even if Izuku doesn’t choose him, love is kind of self-sabotaging like that. You want the best for the other person, even if it’s not the best for you. 



{2 months later}

Izuku is standing on the altar. And everything is exactly as Katsuki says. It’s perfect. Izuku looks beautiful. He’s taken a shot or two to make it easier on himself as he stands there and watches the man that he fell in love with at 18 and still loves to this day, which many would call pathetic, getting married to someone else. Someone who had treated him better. Someone who was there when he had made the mistake not to be. And so Katsuki is dressed in his nicest suit, and he sits in the back, watching the ceremony. He listens to Izuku make his vows, and just as he says, wishes it was him. And he watches as Izuku gets married to someone loves. Since the night where they blew up in Katsuki’s backyard in the rain, it’s been surprisingly okay. He was still very welcome to the couple’s home, and in fact, Jay doesn’t harbor any negative feelings towards him. And Izuku, the love of his life: it was like they had a silent understanding. 

 

Later that evening, as the wedding party commences and the sky begins to darken under a classic perfect Ise sunset, Katsuki sits and reminisces on all the memories they had together. The smiles, the cries, all of it. And he pulls out his phone. And for the first time in many years, he plays an 80s song. It’s one he’s played before. Goodbye by Air Supply.






 

 

 

(sorry)

 

 

 

 

VIII. Upcoming Work

Hello!! So I'm finally done with finals.

Thank god. I don’t think I can survive any longer. Anyhow! I have about a month of Christmas break to relax, get my mental health in order, and also relean into my hobbies, which include writing!! Yay!! So I already have an idea for the next fic I want to write, and I do probably plan on starting it in December. However, unlike FTS, the chapters will come out very slowly and also the length for each chapter won’t be nearly as long, because I kind of…sacrificed some of my grades in order to write as much and as fast as I did for FTS. And I can’t afford to do that anymore even though it’s really all I want to do. 

The new fic that I’m thinking about doing is completely different than FTS is all ways, shape, and form. And it’s also not going to be as good, or as deep, or anything. And so, because I’m really insecure about my writing as yall can probably tell, please don’t read the new fic unless you genuinely like the plot summary, because it’s nothing like FTS in the slightest. That being said, I’m excited and scared because this one is more experimental, so yeah! 

 

And with that, I want to wish everyone a wonderful day/night, and to tell you guys once more thank you for the journey, and that I love you guys to death.