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Hey Sweetheart 2026
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Published:
2026-02-13
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1,492
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1/1
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whatever Izuku wants

Summary:

Izuku called Katsuki 'sweetheart' so casually, it threw Katsuki off-guard. Pet names? They don't do pet names. Katsuki was Kacchan—why did his boyfriend suddenly feel the need to change that?

For ficwip's hey, sweetheart event.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

Izuku let it slip one night in the most innocuous manner while he was grading papers in the living room, and Katsuki was channel-surfing right beside him.

If Katsuki had been paying less attention, he wouldn't even have noticed.

“Could you hand me that, sweetheart?”

He wordlessly obliged, handing over the requested item without even bothering to look at it. It was in the general direction Izuku pointed at, so he was handing it over. Simple as that.

“Thanks.”

The tapping of the laptop's keyboard meant Izuku was back to work without missing a beat, though Katsuki's heart seemed to have skipped one itself when his brain finally caught up with what just happened.

Well, that can't be good for him. His doctor tirelessly reminded him to take care of his cardiac health. It's been eight years since; he's done his time in physical therapy, and is as fit as a horse—or as a pro hero, anyway. Even so, his heart involuntarily acted funny wherever, whenever Izuku was involved.

“Wait, what did you just call me?” He whipped his head to look at him, eyes narrowed in disbelief.

“Hmm?” Izuku responded absentmindedly, brows furrowed over some kid's paper with incomprehensible penmanship. Katsuki had half the mind to tell him to just bin it. How could kids get away with submitting chicken scratch these days?

Katsuki reached over to pull him by his chin, forcing his boyfriend to face him. “I'm talking to you, dammit. You called me somethin' different.”

Izuku's face was squished between his fingers, lips puckered up and eyes wide in surprise. “Oh, sorry!” His words were muffled. “Uhh, what did I say?”

He looked genuinely troubled which just served to annoy Katsuki. How could you forget something you just said? This guy's hopeless, he thought.

“You called me sweetheart!” One might think the idea of being called sweetheart offended him, if they were to base solely on his expression. His eyes were wide open and his mouth agape. “What happened to 'Kacchan', huh?”

“Hey, I never said you stopped being Kacchan! And let go of my cheeks, they're starting to hurt.” Izuku gave him a pouty whine.

Katsuki released him from his grip, though still wholly unsatisfied with his answer. “Well, what's that about, then?”

“I guess it just slipped out,” Izuku rubbed the sore points on his face where Katsuki's fingers pressed a bit too deep. Realization dawned on Izuku’s face as he remembered the short exchange they just had while he was pre-occupied. “You don't like it?”

“Never said that,” Katsuki averted his eyes. “Just not sure why you'd change it up now. You must've been calling me that for a while in your li'l nerdy head for it to slip out.” He stressed the last two words with some sarcastic flair.

Izuku’s cheeks flushed pink. “You caught me. I think I just wanted something more, just for the two of us, y’know?” His voice trailed off in uncertainty. In a soft voice, he shyly muttered, “Kacchan is everyone's Kacchan, now...”

“That bothers you now? You were the one yelling Kacchan, Kacchan wherever you could. When we started high school, you never even asked me if I wanted to be called Kacchan.”

“It's a bit too late for that now, isn't it?” Izuku laughed. Katsuki complained a lot, made jabs a lot, but both of them knew he didn't really mean it. He's right—it's too late for that, now. “Besides, I'm not the one who screamed 'I'm Bakugo Kacchan!' on a live stream.” His lips curled into a mischievous smirk.

The older they got, the better Izuku got at talking smack back, and Katsuki wasn’t sure whether he liked that or not.

“Oh, shut the hell up...!” He groaned at the memory, grabbing a throw pillow to whack Izuku with it, blocking his own reddening face from view. No one was going to let him live it down, and if there was something his friends were good at, it was to pick at him until he inevitably snapped. Still, he never regretted saying it when he did. He would never let Izuku have the satisfaction of knowing that, though.

He owned the name now, so why was Izuku replacing it with something else? Something that felt so... impersonal?

When they started dating, they didn’t really start using nicknames. Maybe it's because he's been Kacchan and Izuku has been Deku for almost as long as they both could remember, so Katsuki didn’t feel the need to switch it up, and assumed Izuku felt the same way.

Their nicknames have become so inseperable from their identity that changing it felt unsettlingly wrong. They’ve gotten used to hearing it from each other's lips—in each other's voice. There was no other Deku, no other Kacchan in this world than the two of them, but someone was always somebody else's sweetheart.

Why fix what wasn't broken?

“I dunno, maybe I just wanted to have something that's just between the two of us. It's fine if you're not into it, though.” It was Izuku's turn to blush—an earnest confession of his own, mundane desire put into words, manifested into reality outside the confines of his crowded brain.

For all he is sincere, he still got a bit flustered whenever he found himself having these kinds of talks with his childhood friend.

“Again, I never said that.” He snarled and grabbed at Izuku's face again, attempting to give him a firm squish as a punishment for this little habit of his. Izuku dodged with a playful laugh, putting up an arm to shield himself from Katsuki's grabby fingers. “Sweetheart's a bit... I dunno. You think I look like a sweetheart? With this fuckin' mug?”

To be clear, Katsuki was not being self-deprecating; he was just being self-aware.

The pet name made him feel like one of those aggressive, tiny dogs owners love to dote on and call the cutest in the world even though they had the capacity to rip someone's fingers off. Not that such duality was outside the realm of possibilities.

“Why not? You look cute sometimes, too.” Izuku smooshed Katsuki's cheeks with his palms to get back at him, forcing him to make a kissy face.

Katsuki balked and pulled away. “Quit that, your hands are all gross and sweaty.” Katsuki was anything but cute. He’s handsome, charming, charismatic, sexy—anything but cute. Cute was a word that fit Izuku more. Katsuki figured if you looked up the word cute in the dictionary, Izuku’s freckled face would be the prime example. Not that he was going to tell Izuku all of that now.

“Oops, sorry! Must've been from writing too long.” Izuku wiped his hands on the sides of his pants. He gave his fingers a bit of a stretch, wiggling his joints to loosen them after hours of writing and typing.

“You've been at it for hours,” Katsuki huffed. “What'd I tell ya about bringing work home, anyway?” Katsuki peered at the papers and tried to analyze whether it was something he could help with, but ultimately decided it was way too much effort to offer. If Izuku asked, he’d probably say yes—begrudgingly—but if he didn’t… well, he’s not about to throw away a night of leisure to start grading some brats’ homework.

Izuku pouted in return. “What, and you think heroes even get to disconnect at home? You're not so different.”

Katsuki clicked his tongue in mild annoyance over how Izuku always had to have the last word. His instincts told him retorting would be futile; he didn’t want to look like a lovesick fool griping about being neglected at home. Izuku was here, sitting beside him. That was all he could really ask for.

“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes and let him get back to his work. Sweetheart was fine. He rolled the idea around in his head, imagining Izuku saying it in different scenarios. Maybe he could grow to like it. Maybe he already did. However, that was just another thing added onto the list of things he’ll only let Izuku know over his dead body. He returned to idly flipping through channels before flippantly saying, “Call me whatever you want. It’s not like it makes a difference.”

Izuku chuckled at his comment, his lips curled up in amusement, though his eyes were firmly fixed onto the task before him. “Okay, babe.”

Well, now that sent the hairs on the back of his neck standing. That, and something else.

“Oh, you’re asking for it, Izuku.” He pinned him down onto the floor and started peppering him in greedy kisses. Izuku started giggling as Katsuki’s lips tickled his skin, squealing as he tried to wrest himself free of Katsuki’s strong hold.

It was then when Katsuki decided on two things: Izuku will call him more pet names until he was personally satisfied, and he will not finish his task for the night.

Notes:

Izuku would then develop a habit of teasing Katsuki with various pet names, leaving Katsuki different kinds of flustered each time. This was purely self-indulgent lol :")

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