Katsuki hates it when Izuku looks at him with that look in his eyes.

This is the same look he gave him when they were teenagers— the one people told him about. Izuku looks like he’s on the verge of losing control, but there’s a dark wave of calmness washed over his features; it shows his maturity, Katsuki believes, how he trusts Katsuki but there’s limits to that too. He couldn’t blame him for it. He won’t ever blame him for it.

He will, however, get frustrated though.

The air was tense on the walk back home. Tenser than Katsuki’s muscles, skin and uniform battered with bruises starting to come to bloom on tanned skin. To be more specific in a way, a good section of his upper uniform was missing in a jagged rip, part of his ribcage and down to his hip. A big bruise was blooming on the skin there in a nasty purple and he’s beyond exhausted. His bones ache for rest, and all he wants right now is to melt in bed after a shower. Izuku almost looks worse than him, facially at least, like he was one blink away from dying or losing control. Katsuki scoffs still, kicks a stray rock, but keeps on walking side by side with him.

The apartment door shut behind them with a finality that neither of them could speak around. The echo rang louder than it should’ve in the silence, like the end of something, maybe a realization of sorts. Katsuki could’ve died, and Izuku could’ve lost himself. Again. They stood on the opposite sides of the living room, lost in their thoughts— well, Izuku was. Katsuki stands there and watches his mental descent into madness, and even then he couldn’t just stand there and watch him act like this anymore; like he’s one more glimpse of the past away from dying, and that got a reaction.

Katsuki feels his jaw tighten, fingers curling into fists at his sides, and he crosses the room in slow, heavy strides. He doesn’t speak doesn’t say anything. Even when he stops and stands in front of Izuku. Something burned behind those green eyes, something indescribable— unreachable.

He didn’t ask, and he couldn’t be any gentle about it when he was going through his own inner turmoil with himself. He just grabs Izuku by the jaw and presses their mouths together like he needed to feel something—taste it, breathe it, take it in before it was gone again.