oh fuck, i hit 200, when did that happen O.O thank you all so much! good thing i have something basically finished and ready to go :3

LIFT part 2
#dkbk #nsfw past abusive relationship, minor angst with a happy ending, fluff, sexual heeealing...?

“Hey, I’m heading out.”
Izuku spoke softly into Katsuki’s neck, pressing sweet kisses against the base of his skull. The sun was just starting to peek over the stark black outline of the horizon, casting a faint orange glow over the man Izuku had slipped

so easily into bedding the past couple of weeks. The blonde’s fine, unlined face scrunched irritably at the disruption, but he still turned and grabbed Izuku’s wrist as he pulled away. Izuku smiled. Katsuki tugged him down until he could give him a sleepy,

sloppy kiss on the mouth.
“Always trying to sneak off in the night, huh Deku,” he grumbled, pulling him back for more kisses.
Izuku smiled and indulged him. The teen’s sleepy lips fumbled and made a mess of their saliva, but Izuku didn’t mind.

Mornings with Katsuki were his favourites for this reason exactly.
After a few minutes, he pulled away, stroking his fingers through Katsuki’s soft blonde hair as the other man cuddled back into his blankets.
“See you tomorrow,” he muttered as Izuku

rose from the bed.
“Looking forward to it,” Izuku replied.
Over the past couple of weeks, Izuku had slipped into an easy routine. Monday, Wednesday and Friday he trained Katsuki, then joined him for passionate sex and warm cuddles overnight. The teen

was sometimes skittish, sometimes surly, but overall Izuku was impressed with how quickly he’d adapted. The insecurity was still plainly visible in a lot of his behaviour but he hadn’t gotten more clingy or pushed Izuku away completely, so he counted

it as a win.
Slipping his shoes on by the door, he felt the familiar longing as he stepped outside. Perhaps he’d been too quick to judge Katsuki for his whirlwind romances. Much as there was no denying the teen was far too emotionally vulnerable, there

was an addictive quality to him slowly working its way into Izuku’s veins as well. Maybe Katsuki’s exes had been as powerless to stop their feelings for him overwhelming them as Izuku sometimes felt.
But, he reminded himself as he got into his car and

pulled out of the driveway, he had an advantage none of them had. From what he could tell, all had been around Katsuki’s age. Izuku had at least a decade’s worth of experience on all of them. He was able to feel a thing without acting on it, and to

keep his emotions in check even under stress. None of the others had the maturity. Even after only a couple of weeks, it was seeming more and more like that was the thing most lacking in Katsuki’s previous relationships.
Not that that excused some of

them. Katsuki’s most recent ex, for example — now there was a piece of shit with no good reason to be such a piece of shit. As calm as he was, it made Izuku’s blood boil whenever there was a new update in that whole situation. Katsuki had stepped back

entirely from the drama of the break-up, too consumed with the thrill of something new with Izuku.
But Monoma… the other teen only seemed further incited for every insult Katsuki didn’t respond to. Most recently, he’d gone live with his sixth partner

since the break-up and gone on so long about how much better life was now for him that he’d even made some of his fans uncomfortable.
The sun was cresting the horizon as Izuku pulled onto the highway and he mulled over Monoma’s behaviour. He and

Katsuki had dated for a year but it had been on again, off again the whole time. Periods of idyllic bliss broken up by fights that had left Katsuki bitter and suicidal. Izuku suspected the other boy hadn’t thought Katsuki and he would stay broken up

this time. Nothing else he could think of made sense of Monoma’s escalating behaviour.
Izuku pulled into the car park of his workplace, Get Swole!, and made his way into reception.
Shouto Todoroki sat behind the desk. By his elbow, Rikido Sato watched

him do something with a concentrated frown. They both looked up when Izuku came in.
“Morning, Sato! Morning, boss!” he chirped, and both answered in kind.
“Meet me before you run your class, please, Midoriya,” Shouto added as Izuku continued through

to the changing rooms. Izuku nodded and hurried to get ready. The early morning bootcamp was his favourite — well, aside from his private sessions with Katsuki.
He met Shouto outside the training room booked for the bootcamp.

“What’s on your mind?” he asked.
“Your private sessions,” Shouto replied immediately. He never was one to bother much with smalltalk. His slim, pale face was neutral to the casual observer, but Izuku knew better. “Touya told me about a rumour going around at the moment.”
“Mm.”

Touya, or Dabi as he went by online, would probably only be aware of one rumour that had anything to do with Izuku. “The one about me and Bakugo being involved with each other?”
Shouto nodded. No point in hiding it anymore, then.

“It’s true,” Izuku told him. “It’s just casual.”
Shouto barely reacted. Instead, he nodded a couple of times, his two-toned brows furrowing. Izuku gave him a moment to think, hoping he wasn’t about to be fired.

“I told you not to get involved in the bullshit.” Shouto fixed him with a stare that Izuku suddenly realised was hurt. “I warned you about them. Why didn’t you listen?”

-TBC-

Please like, retweet and enjoy! Also please QRT to comment so as not to break the thread, thank you.

Pretty much all of this is already on my Patreon for $3 a month in case you've got that to spare and don't want to wait. https://www.patreon.com/nefsferaatu 

just want to reiterate the 'past abusive relationship' tag before we continue. it's not super graphic, but i know weird lil things can be triggering. be safe and well guys <3

He hadn’t been expecting that. He and Shouto had been friends for years, building the gym together from the ground up. Despite his frosty exterior, Shouto cared deeply for his friends, especially Izuku. Guilt and shame washed over him for the first

time since starting his tryst with Katsuki. He lowered his eyes and swallowed.
“You did. I’m sorry, Shou.” He glanced up and tried to hold back tears at having been so careless with his friend’s advice. “I really like him.

I know what they’re like, but he’s not like that, not behind closed doors. He’s…”
Izuku paused to try and find the right words. Sweet, kind, honest, devoted… all were true but he knew none could fully encapsulate the walled-off enigma that was

Katsuki.
Realising he wasn’t going to continue, Shouto sighed.
“I’m not going to tell you what you can and can’t do with your private life,” Shouto said. “But I have to protect the gym. If it goes bad, the scandal would be devastating.”

Izuku took a deep breath and nodded. Fired, then. He’d expected that, albeit not so soon, but word travelled fast and unpredictably in Katsuki’s circles. It had to come out eventually. He already had his resume updated and ready to send out.

“I’ll clear out my locker after the bootcamp,” he agreed.
“What?! No, Izuku…” Shouto gave a frustrated sigh, then flashed him a rare smile. “You can’t train Katsuki through us anymore but I’m not firing you. You’re basically the co-owner.”

Izuku choked back a sob. Shouto watched him with a soft, amused smile as he scrubbed his eyes and tried to stop the tears.
“Thank you,” he managed. “I’m sorry for not telling you. It’s only been a couple of weeks, I haven’t told anyone yet, but I should’ve said—”

“Izuku.”
“—because it’s not just about my feelings, it’s about your business too—”
“Izuku.”
“—and your my /friend,/ but I just didn’t realise it would get out so fast, but it was so selfish of me—”
“Izuku! Calm down, you don’t have to explain.”

Shouto rested his slender hand firmly on Izuku’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “And to be honest I wish you’d be a little more selfish sometimes so I can’t really be cross about this. Just…” He sighed, then gave Izuku’s shoulder another squeeze.

“Well, if it was anyone else I’d probably be more worried. But even so, be careful. Bakugo may not be the worst of them, but he doesn’t have to be to ruin your life. His friends are more than capable of doing that on their own. My brother included.”

Izuku nodded, sniffling.
“Thank you. I will. I’m still sorr—”
“Stop apologising. Just find a replacement to take over your shifts with Bakugo by the end of the day and we’re all good here.”
Izuku felt melancholy welling up in him again, but he snuffed

it out quickly. Instead he just nodded and smiled. In his younger days, he might have spent the whole day moping and beating himself up for accidentally causing his friend a problem, but he was long past that. Shouto would tell him if he was still

upset. And, with a solution in place, Izuku reminded himself there was no reason to wallow over it. Shouto raised an eyebrow at him staring and grinning, then sighed and gave him an awkward hug.

“Go run your class,” he said, though his tone was laced with amusement. “If you want to talk about it more later, we can find some time at drinks tonight, okay?”
Izuku nodded again and went into the training room, calling out a cheery greeting to the

dozen bleary-eyed office workers and mothers lined up on the mats. He’d see if anyone was available to take his shifts after.

----------

“Hey, Kirishima!”
Izuku caught the redhead opening his locker and yawning after his class. He was a new hire but so far he’d proved more than competent and very good at handling difficult clients, so Izuku figured he’d be the best fit.
“Hey, Midoriya.

What’s up? Good class this morning?”
Despite having clearly rolled directly out of bed into his car and then rolled again to be standing by his locker, Kirishima managed a grin and a chest bump as Izuku approached.
“Yeah, it was great,” Izuku told him.

“I’m so proud of how far they’ve come in such a short time. But I was wondering, what are your weekdays like? I got taken off the Bakugo job, and I thought you’d be a great fit for it.”
At the mention of Bakugo, Kirishima’s grin dropped slightly.

He shrugged, turning back to his locker.
“I don’t mind, man, but I don’t know if Bakugo will be happy about it,” he replied. “I guess you could say we have history. I haven’t spoken to him in almost a year.”
Izuku paused.

He hadn’t expected that at all. Now that he thought about it, Kirishima and Katsuki would be around the same age, and he vaguely remembered the redhead saying they went to the same school around the time the training request first came in, but

he hadn’t realised there was any more to it than that.
“What happened?” he asked.
Kirishima shrugged again, pulling his shirt off and trading it for a workout tank.
“I dunno, man,” he said. “We were super close all through school, us and a bunch of

others, but then he started dating that Monoma dude, and we just… grew apart, I guess?” Kirishima frowned, his mouth hardening into a line. “No, that’s not it, if I’m honest. Monoma /made/ us grow apart.”

“He does seem like a dick,” Izuku agreed, and apparently that was all Kirishima needed to let the whole truth out.
“He’s /such/ a dick!” the beefy redhead exclaimed. “He’s so rude! He used to slag Kats off in front of us all the time, and Kats would

just let him do it! I hated it. So did Denks and Mina, but Kats told us not to worry about it. Said it was just his sense of humour. Never seemed like a joke to /me,/ but whatever, I guess.”
Izuku tried not to let his surprise show on his face as he

made an understanding noise. Even if Katsuki wasn’t his lover, he’d still want to provide emotional support to his colleague. But getting a clearer picture of what exactly had happened to Katsuki was a definite bonus.

“He started turning up to all our hangouts too, like we never got to just spend time with Kats anymore, it was always both of them. And like, the rare occasions we /did/ just see Kats, Monoma would be texting him nonstop, not even talking about

anything, just dumb stuff, but then he’d get suuuuuper pissed if Kats took longer than like two seconds to reply.”
Kirishima took a breath and Izuku realised there were tears in the redhead’s eyes. He wanted to reach out and hug him, but

they didn’t really know each other all that well and he didn’t want to make him uncomfortable.
“Eventually he just stopped replying to our texts and group chat, and we just never heard from him again. So yeah, I dunno.” Kirishima shrugged.

“He was my best bro for like ten years but I guess it wasn’t mutual. So like, sure, I’ll train him if Todo tells me to, but I don’t think it’ll last.”
“I’m so sorry, Kirishima,” Izuku said softly. “I had no idea. I… I mean, I know you might not care,

but he and Monoma broke up a while ago, so if Monoma was the problem then maybe there’s no problem anymore?”
Kirishima huffed and rolled some extra-strength antiperspirant under his arms, then grabbed a clean towel and his water bottle.

“It’s not just Monoma now though,” he said. “Kats got all involved with like, Dabi and Shiggy and that creepy Toga chick, too. They’re bad news. Plus, pretty sure they’re all buddy-buddy with Monoma still so it’s not like he’s actually out of Kats’

life. They’ll probably be back together any day now. Besides,” he closed his locker and spun the lock a couple of times. “They broke up like a few months ago, right? He hasn’t messaged me. Soooo…”
The redhead rolled his eyes and let out a puff of air

from between pursed lips. Izuku nodded empathetically.
“Well, yeah, I guess,” he agreed. “I’m sorry again, man. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
Kirishima gave him a small smile, then stretched it into a grin and clapped Izuku on the shoulder. He still

seemed a little sad but mostly he was as chipper as always.
“Naw, no stress, bro,” he assured him. “You didn’t know. Hey, I gotta get out there though, yeah? Catch you at drinks later?”

“For sure, man.” Izuku matched his bright smile even as his mind turned over the new information. “Looking forward to it.”

----------

TBC

QRT to comment so as not to break the thread, thank you <3

A few days later, Izuku was sitting on Katsuki’s couch with the blonde cuddled into his chest, enjoying the increasingly delicious smells emanating from the pressure cooker in the kitchen.
Katsuki took particular joy in cooking for them both when

Izuku was over. He’d demanded a copy of Izuku’s macros and spent what Izuku had to assume was hours researching so that he could provide exactly what Izuku needed. When Izuku tried to thank him for it, he’d blushed and shrugged and muttered something

about keeping Izuku hot. It was weirdly sweet.
“Probably done soon,” Katsuki murmured into his chest as Izuku’s stomach rumbled.
Izuku chuckled and planted a soft kiss on his head, then opened his mouth, still undecided on sticking his nose into other

people’s business. Katsuki must have sensed his hesitation. He rose up off his lover’s chest to scowl at him.
“You’ve been wanting to say something all night,” he grumbled. “It’s getting fucking old. Just fucking say it already.”

Izuku sighed and nodded. Katsuki tensed and shuffled away from him, arms folding over his chest and letting an expectant glare settle on Izuku.
“I discovered the other day I work with someone you know,” Izuku began, then paused as Katsuki’s features

lit up briefly with surprise, then slid into suspicion. “Kirishima Eijirou? He said you guys used to be friends.”
Katsuki chewed his lower lip and let his brows drop even further into a scowl. Izuku sat silently as Katsuki processed the information,

wondering how to approach the rest of the conversation. He wanted Katsuki to find friends outside the influencer group he was in, people who were chill and grounded and weren’t likely to stab him in the back at any moment for the sake of views or

likes. Finding new friends like that might be difficult for someone like Katsuki, but if his old friends were willing to forgive him, that was beyond perfect. Convincing Katsuki might not be easy though.
“Yeah, we were close,” Katsuki finally admitted.

“What do you care, though? I’m not friends with him any more. I haven’t even spoken to him in like a year. Plus, I’m pretty sure he’s straight.”
Izuku blinked in surprise at that last addition. Putting that last bit, and everything it implied, aside

for a moment, he smiled reassuringly at Katsuki.
“Cool. He seems like a nice guy. I know Shinsou is training you now, but I figured you might prefer Kirishima if guys already knew each other, that’s all.”
Katsuki eyed him warily.

It seemed like he was expecting more, but he didn’t quite know how to bring it up. Izuku held out his arm for Katsuki to cuddle up to him again. Hesitantly, the blonde obliged, resting his head on Izuku’s broad shoulder and wrapping his arms around

him. Izuku gave a happy sigh.
“You don’t have to,” he told Katsuki. “But like I said, he seems nice. If you miss him, I doubt he’d be upset if you messaged him, even if you don’t want him training you.”
Katsuki sat up again sharply.

“What exactly did he tell you?”
“A lot.” Izuku removed his arm from around Katsuki’s waist to take his hand. “But basically just that Monoma was a massive dick and stopped you from seeing them, best he could tell. And that he misses you.”

Katsuki glowered at him a moment, then scoffed, averting his eyes.
“Yeah, right. He must be pissed at me for ghosting them like that. I would be.”
Izuku shrugged.
“Maybe a little, but he’s not really the type to hold a grudge, is he?”

Katsuki harrumphed and shifted, interlacing his fingers with Izuku’s and scowling at his knees. He opened his mouth as though to keep talking, but then the timer went off on the pressure cooker. Katsuki shot a withering glance in the

direction of the kitchen, then looked back at Izuku.
“Dinner’s ready,” he mumbled, then got up from the couch and made his way into the kitchen. Izuku just nodded and followed him.

----------

“We were friends for ages.”
Izuku looked up, spoon in his mouth, at the sudden break in what he’d thought was relatively relaxed silence.
“Yeah, he said about ten years,” Izuku replied, keeping his tone neutral. “All through school.”

“Yeah.” Katsuki took another bite of his food and chewed it slowly, then swallowed. “We used to hang out every single day.”

Izuku nodded and waited, but Katsuki just turned his attention back on his food. Deciding it was a conversation that had too much potential to turn ugly, Izuku did the same.

----------

“Neito hated Ei — Kirishima, that is.”
The words were muffled around his toothbrush, but Izuku still heard him clearly. He made a sort of interested ‘oh?’ noise around his own toothbrush. Katsuki nodded, then spat into the sink and rinsed away the

foam.
“He hated all of them. Ei, Denks, Mina, Kyoka… even Hanta. Said they were small time. Said they’d hold me back and that they were wasting my time with their dumb no-recording-allowed hangouts.”

Izuku suppressed a frown at the shallow, self-centred attitude as he spat out his own toothpaste and washed it away.
“Did you enjoy hanging out with them though?” he asked.
Katsuki ran water over his toothbrush and dropped it into the stainless steel

holder by the basin, then nodded.
“They were like family.”
“Not really a waste then, is it?”
Katsuki’s face scrunched around his mouth and eyes, his gaze drifting towards the window. Izuku cleaned his toothbrush too and then wrapped his arms around

Katsuki’s waist from behind, kissing his neck and stroking his hip. All the tension bled out of the smaller man in an instant.
“You really weren’t gearing up to break up with me before?”
Blindsided by the sudden shift in subject, Izuku just blinked.

Then he remembered Katsuki’s cagey behaviour on the couch.
“No, I wasn’t,” he assured him. “I’m having an amazing time with you, and it seems like you feel the same. I told you, I’m not going anywhere.”

He straightened up and turned Katsuki to face him. The blonde was only eight inches shorter than him but he still had to crane his neck slightly to meet Izuku’s eye.
“Unless you want me to?”

Katsuki shook his head instantly, then leaned in. His slender arms wrapped around Izuku’s neck and the taller man lifted him easily so that they could kiss. As always, there was a tinge of desperation as Katsuki clutched at his hair and pressed his

tongue into Izuku’s mouth. Like he was making the most of it, in case it didn't last. It only encouraged Izuku to kiss him more and try to remind him there would be no shortage of kisses from him. If only he could convey exactly how much he cared about

Katsuki through their wordless lips.
“You make me so fucking hard,” Katsuki whispered against his mouth.
Izuku couldn’t help but chuckle. That would do, he supposed. It was too early to be making wild declarations of love anyway.

----------

TBC