"Hey, Bakugou, when did you get ink done?"

"Fuck off."

"No, let me see it!"

Izuku glanced up from buttoning his shirt, drawn by an almost magnetic pull to where Katsuki stood in front of his locker, glaring venomously at Kaminari. Izuku short-circuited for a minute, caught up in the fact that his boyfriend was standing there shirtless.

"Ink?" Izuku repeated under his breath, more to himself than anything.

He shifted closer, curiosity overriding his sense of self-preservation. Katsuki might be his boyfriend now, but years of history between the two of them had taught Izuku what that look meant. He could practically hear alarm bells going off, warning of the impending storm. That particular glare meant that Katsuki didn't want to be pressed. It meant tread cautiously and back off quickly.

"Come on, show it off! If I had one I know that I would!" Kaminari grinned.

Izuku didn't know if his other classmate was unaware of the danger, or didn't care about it. Maybe he really didn't know, that was possible. Izuku had known Katsuki their whole lives basically, so that wasn't a fair comparison. Either way it wasn't the smartest decision to needle Katsuki when he was like this.

"Bakugou has a tattoo?" Kirishima asked, stepping around the corner from the shower, towel wrapped around his waist. "Woah. Why didn't you tell me, I'd have come with you!"

"Eat shit, Hair for Brains. No one fucking asked you."

It was a good thing that Katsuki's friends were numb to his insults and ignorant to his trigger temper more often than not, or he wouldn't have friends. Somehow the group of friends that called Katsuki theirs knew how to ignore his abuse and verbal explosions. It might mean he was stuck with their stupid questions, but for better or worse they had his back, considered him their friend.

"That's what friends do," Kirishima frowned as he passed by. "You don't need to prove you're manly by going alone."

"I don't have shit to prove!" Katsuki growled, shifting to address Kirishima. "It's just a tattoo. Both of you, fuck off."

Izuku's eyes widened as he finally saw what the others were talking about. The colors hit him first, vibrant and attention-grabbing, just like he imagined Katsuki would want. The lines were clean, deliberate, confident. It was everything that Izuku could have imagined for Katsuki, the chaos of an explosion contained in a small space. It was…There was no other word for it. It was stunning. It was Katsuki.

And he'd had no idea that Katsuki was even thinking of getting a tattoo right now, never mind that he'd done it. He had mentioned it once or twice in passing, but it had never been a serious consideration.

It was as if his body took over as his mind spun in a thousand directions. He grabbed his jacket and tie off the hook in his locker, shutting it with perhaps a little more force than necessary, given how the other three boys currently involved in talking - or in Katsuki's case, trying not to - about the tattoo went quiet.

"You okay, Midoriya?" Kirishima cocked his head, watching Izuku carefully.

"Yeah," Izuku smiled distractedly and stepped past the redhead, heading for the door. "Just thinking."

He breathed out as he stepped outside of the changing room, glad that most of the day was over. He could retreat to his room in the dorms and sort through the mess of emotions and thoughts cascading through him right now, and no one would ever realize something had been wrong.

"Ready?" Ochako smiled as she stepped out of the girls' locker room.

"Yeah, let's go," Izuku nodded.

"Deku? You might wanna…" Ochako gestured to his button-down. "Your shirt? I think you misbuttoned."

Izuku glanced down to see the buttons of his shirt done crookedly. He flushed, knowing that was thanks to Katsuki's shirtlessness before.

"Thanks."

OoOoO

Izuku paced his room, trying to sort through everything. Homework was impossible to focus on right now, and he wasn't really fit company for people, even Ochako. He just couldn't focus on a conversation long enough to be of any use to anyone. Which left him here, trying to work through the fact that his boyfriend hadn't told him about a tattoo that he'd taken the time to go and get.

He was shocked more than anything. Not that they told each other everything, but this was pretty big. Izuku would've talked to Katsuki about that kind of decision, but that wasn't how Katsuki functioned. Izuku would've sat down and discussed it, probably overly so, until Katsuki was ready to kill him.

That wasn't how Katsuki thought, however, and Izuku could accept that.

He wanted to know what the tattoo meant though, because he knew Katsuki well enough to know he wouldn't have made that kind of decision on the spur of the moment. It had to mean something. That was part of what hurt, he knew Katsuki had been thinking about it. The sheer amount of detail put into each line made that clear. Katsuki wouldn't have made the decision without thinking about it from every angle. As much as he had a tendency to jump into fights without coming up with a plan, this wasn't like that. This was marking his body, permanently. This was different.

And what about the colors? Oranges was easy given Katsuki's costume had orange in it, a warm color that Izuku had always associated with Katsuki, with summer days and explosions all at once. But the greens, what were the greens for? Fire could burn green with the right chemicals added, was that it? Just to say that his explosion burned the hottest?

The tattoo was placed over his heart, that couldn't be a random location either. Maybe it was to signify…

Short, sharp knocks cut through the silence, through his thoughts. He glanced at the door, smile tugging at his lips even as he crossed the distance. The noise attempted to emulate being quiet, but impatience leaked into Katuski's actions, as always.

Izuku opened the door, stepping back to let Katsuki into his room. It wasn't like Izuku was going to say no to his very attractive boyfriend visiting his room, especially late at night.

"I was going to tell you," he growled, stalking into the room. Izuku closed the door behind him. "It was too fucking late last night by the time I was back and I crashed. I was going to tell you. Don't be fucking mad at me for what those fucking idiots did."

"I'm not upset," Izuku smiled, warmth spreading through his veins. Katsuki had come here, worried that Izuku had been hurting due to his decisions. It was sweet, and it showed that they had both grown. "I want to know what it means though. Will you tell me?"

"Fine. Whatever. If that's what you want," Katsuki shrugged, tugging them both across the room. Katsuki flopped onto the bed, pulling Izuku into his arms. "It's a reminder to control my temper. It has you and me, that's the greens and orange. You're the reason I've learned to control my fucking temper anyway. But I'm still me, I still have that fire in me. And there are tiny symbols most people can't see, for everyone who's made my temper worse, everyone who's been hurt by it or helped, that kind of shit."

"Kacchan…" Izuku squirmed in his arms, turning to meet Katsuki's gaze. Katsuki's face was flushed and he was scowling, but there was a vulnerability to his eyes, watching Izuku with a wariness that he'd never admit to. "I love that. It's beautiful."

"You're fucking embarrassing, that's what you are. And no one else needs to know shit. For them, it just looks cool."

"I like being the only one who knows." Izuku smiled brightly, pressing a kiss to Katsuki's lips. "Tell me when you get another one?"

"First one I tell." Katsuki grinned, rolling Izuku underneath his body and bringing their mouths together again.