After The Rain [Chapter 8 - Yellow][FINAL]

[Last Chapter] 

When they’d first seen the place, the realtor had gone on and on about how new it was.

They’d wanted that, of course – a little more money up front to help avoid costly repairs and other issues down the line. But Katsuki had been stricken by how bland it was. White walls, wooden floors, all shiny and untouched. Pretty, in their own way, but it just didn’t feel like anything.

He’d talked to his therapist about that, had wondered aloud why plain things bothered him so much, even when they were supposed to be new and exciting.

She’d actually laughed at that. Had pointed out the type of life he’d chosen to live, the type of person he’d chosen to spend it with. He’d had a good chuckle too, once he’d understood what she was trying to say.

They’d focussed on the good things, after that. The huge glass doors that let in all the sunlight in the world, and opened right up to give them plenty of fresh air in their living spaces. The big bathtub, where he could soak and relax after a long hike that made his muscles ache so pleasantly. The wide open kitchen where he could cook whatever he pleased, or sit and watch while someone else cooked for him in turn. Even the shoe closet that he’d felt so old to be excited about, with its floor-to-ceiling shelves for storing their shoes and coats and whatever else they felt like keeping near the door. 

He supposed there were a few splashes of colour, too, once he dug a little deeper. The red that lived in the floorboards, if you looked at them in just the right light. The blue of clear sky beyond their copious amount of windows. The golden glow cast by the overhead lights, when Katsuki meticulously checked every part of the building to make sure everything worked right. The green of fresh new tatami laid out in one of their main rooms.

Though the tatami had been the first thing to go, when they’d gotten the key to the front door.

Well, not to go, but to be covered up by thick drop cloths that would keep them protected, only to be aired out and vacuumed whenever they felt like doing a deep clean of the room. He suspected that wouldn’t be very often, considering the state it was already in.

Paint-speckled fabric covering the floor; canvases in varying states of completion leaning against the walls; brand-new tables lining the space – all matching now, at Katsuki’s insistence, instead of the cheap fold-out kind that had given out under the weight of Izuku’s supplies a thousand times – each stacked with boxes that held paints and pencils and all manner of supplies Katsuki wouldn’t even be able to name... It was a mess. A complete, utter, and baffling mess.

It was the most beautiful thing Katsuki had ever seen.

“Kacchaaaaan!” a voice sang from behind him, light footsteps hurrying to catch up. “Do we really have to put up curtains? It seems like such a shame to cover up the world!”

Scratch that. Maybe the second-most beautiful.

“We can wait a bit,” he suggested, catching Izuku in his arms when he dove in for their forty-seventh hug of the day. “When you get sick of being blinded we’ll put them up.”

“Perfect!”

“Except for the bedroom, we’re putting those ones up tonight.”

“So you don’t have to wear pants?”

“You know me well.”

Katsuki smiled to himself as he picked up a box labelled Bedroom, following Izuku’s feather-light steps up the curve of the shiny staircase. Right at the top, a set of double doors stood open, giving them view of a wide, airy room, lined with more windows, their shared bed sitting right in the middle as if it was calling them to lie down just for a moment or two. The cover on top was a watercolour pattern that Izuku had fallen in love with at the store, but Katsuki had to admit, he rather liked too. It reminded him of the ocean, like the beach he and Izuku had visited for their anniversary a few months back, where they’d spent the better part of a week lying in the warm sand and splashing around in the waves.

“I love this room!” Izuku gushed, flopping face-first across the blankets. “Kacchan, this is ours!”

“Yeah,” Katsuki chuckled. “You picked a good one, nerd.”

“We picked a good one. I only found the ad, the two of us chose it together!”

“Fine. You found a good ad, nerd.”

“Better!”

He rolled over, giving himself a clear view of Katsuki’s fond expression, and reached for him insistently, wriggling his fingers as he waited for Katsuki to cave. It didn’t take long, Katsuki quickly setting the box aside to step closer, accepting Izuku’s wiggly hands and letting them drag him in close for a hug.

“Are my babies in that box?” Izuku asked, shifting his hand to run through Katsuki’s hair. “i should have given them air holes.”

“You already insisted on packing them together and with a blanket so that they’d be comfortable and wouldn’t get lonely, they don’t need air holes too.”

“Meanie. Can I hang some of our paintings in here?”

“Knock yourself out. Any in particular?”

“The one we did on our first hike together from the top of the hill, and the one from the lake where you were fascinated by all the colours in the water, and the one from last winter where you wanted to paint sunrises, and of course the one from the beach!”

“Are you trying to make a scrapbook on the wall or something?”

“I like the ones we make together!”

“Fine. But I want my passing storm up there too.”

“Deal! That was the one that first made you kiss me, after all, so it deserves to be on the scrapwall!”

Katsuki rolled his eyes at the dumb name, but he didn’t bother to complain about it – he’d learned a long time ago that it was a losing battle, that Izuku would just giggle at him and use it even more to make him grumble.

“Your hobby room looks empty,” Izuku complained, when he’d sufficiently moved on from being so pleased with himself. “Mine is all full of art stuff, but yours only has one box of stuff!”

Izuku had been insistent about that room, when they were looking for a new home. He had his little art studio downstairs, and Katsuki had the spare room upstairs, for whatever new things he decided to try out next. There was a set of dumbbells in one corner, easily accessible whenever he felt the urge to move, and a stack of cookbooks waiting to be put away on a shelf, from when he’d taken up baking. In the box, yet to be released into the wild of his room, were a few textbooks on different subjects he’d found interesting in the moment, and some notebooks with his own observations and notes and attempts at things. There was even a ukelele in there somewhere, which Izuku had found delightful, but his friends had just found hilarious. Maybe now that they had the space, he’d bring over his old drum kit from high school instead. It was still sitting somewhere in his parents’ house, he was pretty sure.

“Maybe I’ll build something,” Katsuki said, knowing Izuku would understand, like always, even without all the extra words.

“Wood? Model? Metal? Glass?”

“Wood.”

“That sounds cool! And super sexy.”

“Shut up.”

“Never.”

Katsuki cracked a smile, turning his head to see Izuku smiling right back, and he leaned into plant a little peck on Izuku’s lips.

“We have space to get you a telescope now, too." Izuku suggested. "We can put it out on the balcony.”

“Mm. Expensive, it can wait.”

“Okay, next time I have a good show then!”

Izuku snuggled into his side, and Katsuki tucked him under an arm, resting his cheek on soft, green curls.

“Thanks for putting up with me,” he mumbled into the warmth. “I know I’m not perfect, but I’m doing my best.”

“I love you exactly the way you are, Kacchan. And I like getting to help you grow, watching you figure out what you enjoy, what you love. Thank you for letting me be a part of your life.”

“You’re so cheesy,” Katsuki chuckled. “It’s a lot more fun, with you by my side. I’m glad I have you here.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Izuku assured him, shifting his head to rest on Katsuki’s chest, feeling his heart beat steadily beneath. “I’m here for you. Day or night, rain or shine.”

“There seems to be a lot more shine in my life, lately.”

“You deserve all the sunshine in the world. Happiness, warmth, hope, as much as you can hold in these big, strong hands.”

He fumbled for Katsuki’s hand again as he said it, squeezing lightly, and Katsuki squeezed him back just as tight, bringing the soft skin up to his lips.

“We should finish unloading the car,” he mumbled into their clasped hands. “Mom will bitch if I don’t get it back before they go to bed.”

“There’s still plenty of daylight left!”

He pointed at the balcony door, the glass letting streams of bright light into the room, but Katsuki didn’t bother to turn his gaze. Instead he kept it locked on the forest of Izuku’s shining eyes; the squishy, freckled cheeks that he could pinch and pull for hours if Izuku wouldn’t whine at him for trying; and the beaming smile that dwarfed every other feature he possessed, always inexplicably pointed Katsuki’s way.

He didn’t need to look out a window to know what sunshine looked like.

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