Chapter 101 - Happy Endings

A drawing of the epilogue is available on my Instagram or Tumblr @pollypenname.

That was everything.

After only an hour or two, all of Y/N's belongings were packed into giant cardboard boxes. Thank god it was Katsuki helping her– he had to be one of the most efficient packers in the world. His no-nonsense approach and need for organization meant that each box was as full as it could be without breaking. In fact, there were only 5 of them, stacked neatly in her kitchen.

All that was left was her mattress that was now leaned up against the wall.

Y/N stared at her loft, which now felt bigger than it ever had. Her emotional attachment to the place was nearly nonexistent; she'd only lived there for a month or two before the incident with All For One. It was too small anyways.

"I... thought I had more shit than that."

Katsuki crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at the pile with her. "You did have a lot of shit, I just packed it well."

"You ever played Tetris?" Y/N quipped with a grin.

"Of course I've played Tetris. Everybody's played Tetris, dumbass."

"Bet you're good at it."

"I'm good at everything." Y/N didn't seem to hear him. She sat down on her knees and continued to stare at the boxes with an expression Katsuki couldn't quite read. He nudged her with his knee. "You alright?"

"Dunno. I think so." She ran a hand through her hair. "I kind of thought it'd be harder to leave."

Katsuki joined her on the floor, leaning against his knees with his elbows. "Whaddya mean?"

"I mean that this feels... I dunno, too easy?" She cocked her head to the side as if she was confused at her own words. "Like... I'm gonna miss my family, of course, but I think that's it. Is that wrong?"

There were a few beats of silence before Bakugou responded. Y/N turned to look at him, eagerly awaiting his answer.

"It's not wrong." He paused again. "Like you said, you'll miss your family, but... I dunno. You've got a lot of people waiting for you in Japan. A job... friends... an apartment..."

"A hero boyfriend," Y/N teased, elbowing him.

The corner of his mouth turned up a bit. "The fucking best hero boyfriend. So... it's fine if you're... not sad. I think it's more important that you're excited."

Y/N raised her eyebrows at him.

"What?" He snapped.

"That was very profound. Bravo."

He climbed to his feet and rolled his eyes. "God, you're the worst." He reached down to help her up.

Once they were both standing, his hands traced down her arms to her hands, slow and calculated. The action was surprisingly gentle– Y/N looked at him curiously, but he was only looking at where their hands met.

For a while he stood there, quiet, and Y/N let him. His fingers danced against hers and he seemed to just be... taking it in; feeling her hands, rubbing his thumbs over her knuckles. His eyes flickered to hers for only a second before they fell again. "Remember that day at the pool?"

That was a bit unexpected.

"Last year? At UA?"

Bakugou nodded. His eyes stayed on their hands as he spoke. "I thought you were going to kiss me. On top of that building, I was gonna throw your sorry ass into the water, you leaned in for like a second and I thought you were going to kiss me."

Y/N snorted a bit at the memory. "Didn't I yank us both off the building?"

He rolled his eyes a bit, but afterwards still kept them on their hands. He blinked. "I think I wanted you to kiss me."

She tilted her head to the side a bit, taken aback by his words. "You're a liar. That was months before you kissed me for the first time," She teased.

"No," He interrupted. Finally, finally, he looked back into her eyes. His expression was soft. It was so rare that she got to see Katsuki like this– he worked so hard to keep that part of himself hidden. He was so terrible at expressing himself, save for those few precious moments. He tightened his grasp on her hands. "No. After that, I wanted to kiss you every fucking time I saw you."

Now Y/N was really surprised. She looked up at him, eyes wide at his endearing words, waiting eagerly for him to finish his point. Why was he saying all of this?

"I couldn't get you out of my head. Jesus, I spent so much time just wondering when I could fucking see you again. I wanted to be around you so bad it hurt."

"Then... why'd you wait so long?" Y/N questioned. "I felt the same, and I think you knew that."

"I did," He grumbled. His eyes fell, his gaze once again stuck to her hands. "I was scared. I don't fucking get scared, Tinkerbell, but I was scared all the fucking time. I was so damn confused, I didn't know what the hell to do."

"Scared? Why?"

He was on a roll now. The words came out like it was nothing– it was easy. For the first time ever, talking was easy. "I told myself... that... that my fear was 'cause something bad was gonna happen to you or some shit. Then you got your quirk back, and that stupid fucking fear I was feeling didn't go away even though you could take care of yourself, and I realized that I was... wrong. I wasn't scared you were gonna get hurt, I was scared I was gonna... miss my chance. I was gonna miss my chance with you if I didn't get off my ass and fucking do something."

Y/N mirrored him and let her gaze fall to their hands, her cheeks flushed. It wasn't uncommon for Katsuki to say something sweet, but this was different. This was him going out on a limb, taking a risk.

Katsuki let one of his hands go and reached to touch the side of her face. His thumb danced across her scar, then traced down her cheek and gently lifted her chin to look at him. "'M glad I got off my ass."

Bakugou leaned down slowly, both of their eyes drifted shut as his lips softly pressed against hers. It was the most gentle Katsuki had ever been– he didn't press harder, didn't pull her closer, even when he deepened the kiss. It stayed tender and loving and Y/N could barely breathe through how hard her chest was thumping.

When Bakugou pulled away, he stared at her for a moment before speaking and let his thumb brush against her bottom lip. "Let's go home, Tinkerbell."

4 YEARS LATER

"Dude, you need to relax," Kirishima muttered. "You're rigid as hell. She's gonna think something's up."

Bakugou and his best friend were leaning against the counter in his apartment, each of them holding a glass of champagne. Y/N and the rest of their friends were in the living room eating the birthday cake Uraraka had made, laughing amongst themselves at some stupid inside joke Kaminari had made. The party had been in the works for weeks– Bakugou especially was dealing with much more anticipation than normal.

"I'm trying," Katsuki hissed. "How the fuck am I supposed to relax?"

"You don't need to be nervous, Kat. Seriously. Do you need another drink?"

"I don't wanna get drunk, dumbass." He wasn't looking at Kirishima though. Instead, his gaze was fixed firmly on Y/N, who was now holding up her fist victoriously at having won some game against Jirou. He took a shaky breath when she looked up at him and winked.

Luckily, she seemed oblivious. Maybe Kirishima was right.

"It's gonna be fine, bro. I promise you. The party's going great, and I'll make sure everyone's outta here by midnight. Uraraka is even making sure Y/N doesn't drink too much. It's all under control, yeah?"

"Yeah," Bakugou muttered. "Fine. Whatever."

"Good. Now go be with her, it's her birthday."

As if on cue, Y/N cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled across the room to the boys, "Hey! It's my birthday you asshats, get over here!"

~~~

The night was full of festivities. They'd had dinner, cake, champagne, and played a weird assortment of drinking games that Y/N somehow won most of. Actually, she barely had to drink at all. Luckily she didn't seem to notice that her friends were losing on purpose– in fact, Kaminari and Jirou had gotten downright plastered in trying to keep her the winner.

Even though the party was a perfect success, Bakugou felt like he was going to throw up the entire time. He stayed pretty quiet most of the night, even with a drink or two in him, but thank god for Kirishima– whenever Y/N seemed to be getting suspicious of his behavior, Eijirou took it upon himself to distract her. He was fantastic at it and sometimes even roped in their two cats for assistance.

When the credits rolled on Y/N's favorite movie, her friends all conveniently had a reason to leave. It was the end of the night anyways– she loved her friends, but Y/N also wanted some time with Bakugou. They both had come home right after work to prepare for the party (Katsuki was especially busy making the dinner) and had barely seen each other.

Each of her friends gave big hugs and happy birthday wishes as they left, but they also seemed to be shooting quick glances at Katsuki. Even Midoriya gave Bakugou a weird smile on his way out. What was that about?

Kirishima was the last one to leave. He gave Y/N a suffocating hug and a peck on the cheek before making his way over to Bakugou. Unfortunately, the second hug was for him– during the embrace, he muttered a soft, "You got this, buddy."

Bakugou couldn't get a handle on his nerves, but the big pat on the back from his best friend seemed to calm him down... just a little. He closed the door behind Kirishima and took a deep breath.

"Man, I have never won a drinking game before. Did you see that? I won pretty much every time tonight!" Y/N cackled. She turned to look at her boyfriend, who was still frozen holding the doorknob. "What's up with you? You've been quiet all night. You okay?"

He put his hands in his pockets, but his grasp closed around the small box and his breath caught in his throat. "All good. Just tired," He lied.

But Kirishima wasn't here to cover for him anymore, and he wasn't good at hiding things from her. They'd known each other too long. Y/N knew every tell Bakugou had, and he had to be sounding every alarm in her pretty head right now.

"Was it too much tonight? Sorry, I should've checked in with you earlier."

He heard her footsteps getting closer and whipped around quickly. Too quickly.

"Woah. Okay, what's going on? You look like you've seen a fucking ghost." She stood in front of him now with her hands on her hips and squinting eyes. Dammit, she was onto him.

"I'm fine, Tinkerbell. Just tipsy."

"No you're not. You've had one glass of champagne, dumbass."

Fuck. She kept track?

It was too late. His silence spoke volumes.

"Did you forget to get me a gift or something? You know I don't care about–"

"Gimme a minute." He moved her out of his way and left to close himself in their bedroom. She was too shocked to stop him– he was clearly having a hard time breathing. Maybe he needed space? He sometimes got overwhelmed at parties, but not usually this bad.

Once in their room, he reached behind his nightstand and grabbed the bouquet of sunflowers. It was tradition; every year he gave her sunflowers for her birthday, and every year she loved them. This time they came with something else.

Bakugou sat down on the edge of their bed and pulled the box out of his pocket with nervous fingers. He popped it open to look inside for the millionth time, and for the millionth time, the diamond ring sparkled back up at him.

He'd picked it on his own. Well, that's not true– Kirishima had come with him for help, but Y/N had no involvement. She'd stayed clueless through the whole process, but he almost wanted her to find out at this point. The anticipation was killing him.

It wasn't that he thought she'd say no. After five years together, of course they'd talked about their future, but not once had Y/N told him any kind of expectations for a proposal. Of course they would get married one day, but what if she didn't want to yet? What if she didn't like the ring? What if the proposal wasn't fancy enough?

He glared at the bouquet of sunflowers in his hand. They suddenly felt too shabby for the occasion. He was asking to be her husband, for god's sake– he should've gotten her a million sunflowers.

For the first time in his life, Bakugou wondered if he was good enough.

The thought vanished from his mind when he heard the door open. "Wait–" He called, but it was too late. She was already through the door and staring at the image before her.

He was on the edge of the bed, holding a bouquet of sunflowers and an opened ring box with his cheeks flushed pink. "Dammit," He muttered. He'd fucked up the proposal, hadn't he? "I was... gonna take you out back... Kirishima and I set up a thing, and uh... fuck." He stood up and stepped towards her.

In an instant, Y/N's arms were wrapped around his neck and she was peppering kisses all over his face. His hands were still holding the ring and flowers, so he couldn't hold her. He was too surprised to anyway. "But I– I fucked it up," He grumbled through the onslaught of kisses.

Y/N pulled away and stared at him with watery eyes. For a few moments they only looked at each other, and then she took a step back from him and shook her head. "No you didn't. Watch, I'll pretend I didn't see anything." She turned to dart out the bedroom.

Bakugou didn't care anymore, much too overwhelmed with adoration. He dropped what he was holding and snatched her wrist to yank Y/N back against him, pulling her into a desperate kiss. She yelped a bit in surprise but melted into it easily, letting him hold her waist as she wrapped her arms around his neck again. "Don't leave," He said, and lifted her up slightly to turn and lower her onto the bed with him.

His body caged her against the bed. He'd always been bigger than her, but over the years together that size difference only increased. He was now at least a foot taller than her and each year it got easier to move her around as he pleased. She seemed to like it, too.

Katsuki kissed her again, still desperate to feel her close. She was perfect; always had been. Y/N kept trying to talk but each time he delved back in to press his lips to hers once more. They were rough, needy kisses that she eventually had to put a stop to by putting her hands on his chest and pushing hard.

He seemed pissed off at the interruption.

"Don't you have something you wanna ask me, dumbass?" She laughed.

"Marry me," He said through his panting.

"That wasn't a question."

"Fuck. Marry me, please?" He begged, tilting his head to the side.

Y/N laughed again. "The 'please' was good, but–"

"C'mon, Tinkerbell," Bakugou groaned. He leaned down again to begin kissing against her neck. "Be my wife."

"Again, that was not a question." She was toying with him at this point.

Katsuki didn't care. He loved her too much to care. He'd ask her as many times as it took. After finally working up the courage for the real question, he pulled back and looked right at her. "Will you marry me?"

And who could say no to that?

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thank you for reading The Tinker!

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RED INK

KIRISHIMA X READER

coming Valentine's Day 2023

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