✓THE SPACE BETWEEN THE STARS|| BakuDeku Au

Chapter Eight: Words Left Unsaid

Bitches Broken Hearts↲ 
Billie Eilish

"You can pretend you don't miss me (me). You can pretend you don't care. All you wanna do is kiss me (me). Oh what a shame I'm not there . . ."

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"Hello, I'm Izuku. Izuku Midoriya,"

Those words had been like a sucker-punch to the gut as the soaked and surged through Katsuki's ears. He stared at the boy so intently, flashes of distant and pain shrouded, memories had begun to prick and chip away at the little grip he had within himself. The same grip which was keeping him from striding across the room and pulling the boy into his arms. Tucking a finger beneath his chin. Tilting his head to their lips were perfectly aligned.

Katsuki shook his head as if brushing the notions aside—for he knew that he would most likely never get that again. Maybe. 

Allowing a deep influx of air to pass through the numb shackles of his respiratory system, Katsuki plasters on a strained smile; his cheeks beginning to cramp, however, he continued to smile for they would keep his threatening tears at bay.

For as he gazed at the green-haired male before him, his Izuku, it was as if he were being awoken from a dream. Except, there was no jolt of energy coursing through him until he had been shocked upright; his lungs did not squeeze, gasp, nor beg for air; his heat did not falter, stutter, or skip a beat. And there was a simple answer as to why these events never occurred within the blond:

They all required life support. And his was mere inches away, not enough to keep him hooked on long enough for any of those things to happen. His body was dead yet alive all at once, for he silently rejoiced in this reunion . . . he knew for a fact that the freckled male did not see it that way. To Izuku, they were strangers who had gotten themselves into quite the predicament.

"Hello, Iz—Midoriya," the word had left a bitter stain on the tip of Katsuki's tongue as he forced it out. "I'm—"

"—Katsuki Bakugou," Izuku interjected enthusiastically, giving the elder a false sense of hope that they had been wrong. That Izuku did remember. "I know, I listen to your music." that hope quickly dissipated.

"Right," Katsuki nodded, soaking in another deep breath before tentatively crossing the room. "I understand it took a bit of convincing on my manager's end to get you to agree to this, so I won't take up too much of your time." the formality of his voice had nearly made him grimace.

Izuku nodded wordlessly, urging him to continue on. 

"I'm sure you've seen the picture online . . . the one of the two of us. While originally we had planned on denying any accusations of your being a lover of mine—" for the first time that evening Katsuki's heart briefly fluttered to life for longer than a second. "—it's pretty clear we decided against that. You see, I'm supposed to be dropping my latest album in four months,"

The freckled male did another silent nod. For he knew of this upcoming album that had yet to be released. Katsuki had dropped a few excerpt songs just weeks ago to keep his fans content, all of which Izuku loved. Albeit, he was not entirely sure how that affected them both.

"It's compiled of quite a few love and breakup songs," Katsuki heaved a sigh, repelling the urge to roll his eyes at the few songs he had finished on the album and the ones he was still currently working on.

"And what better way to get publicity for them if your fans thought you were in a relationship beforehand?" Izuku guessed, his bottom lip jutting out as he thought it over. 

"Exactly,"

Katsuki observed—while silently suffering—as the younger began to mumble under his breath, a softened smile folding onto his lips at the sight. One he thought his eyes would never be graced with again. Finally, after what seemed to be an eternity, Izuku's emerald pools shot up—locking in with the blond's vehemently.