Chapter Text
Birds flitted about in the trees, trilling and twittering along with Izuku’s delighted laughs as he rushed forward in an attempt to keep up with the faster man in front of him. A faceless man, but a familiar one. Yes, Izuku was sure he knew him. He followed him, after all; had the vague sense that he’d been following him for a long time. And this chase seemed amiable, all in good fun, flirtatious even.
The lustrous red cape billowed out behind its wearer as he ran, flowing towards Izuku. It teased him, gave the illusion that he was closer to catching him than he actually was. Because when Izuku reached out his hand to touch the garment it only flew away from his grasp; and that only spurred Izuku on.
All the while, the other man taunted him. His laugh was as rich as the fabric; deep, inviting, and warm. Izuku longed to be swathed in it, in him : the laughter, the cape, the strong arms. Typically, Izuku might blush at such thoughts; but here with this man, he had no qualms. For he knew the man was his.
The same wind that whipped the man’s cape blew through Izuku’s hair, catching his curls as he ran. The air smelled sweet with honeysuckle and the homey, pleasant aroma of smoky caramel and Oof! Without warning, Izuku was lying in the grass, the soft blades tickling at his skin and the cool dew instantly soaking through the back of clothes.
The caramel scent grew stronger and Izuku soon understood why. The man hovered over him, leaned in close, and the cape draped around him, cutting out the sunlight. A calloused hand grazed Izuku’s cheek so sweetly that it threatened to break him — whether into fits of giddy laughter or erratic sobs remained to be seen; he danced on a knife’s edge.
And suddenly, the familiarity of the man crashed over Izuku with all its blaring, beautiful contradictions; the acrid burnt sugar scent, the gruff dulcet voice, the rough smooth hands. A face — still devoid of features, but topped with the softest sharp spikes of ash-blond hair — continued to move towards Izuku, who waited with bated breath, anticipation pregnant in the slimming space between them. When had Izuku closed his eyes? He couldn’t be certain, but he was certain of who he would see when he opened them.
His lashes fluttered open and his cheeks ached from smiling as he looked up to greet those glorious ruby-red eyes he knew so well. He hummed contentedly, even as he felt rough fingers poking at his ribs and distantly registered the sound of an ‘Oi, Oi, Oiii’ echoing around him.
“KaccH-AAAAHHH!!!!” Reality slammed against him in an instant as he took in Kacchan’s puzzled, annoyed expression. Izuku wasn’t in a rolling meadow about to kiss a kingly-looking version of his childhood friend. He was in the break room at the hero agency, his back muscles aching against the too-firm couch, and he felt the dry scratch of paper against his chin from the book he’d fallen asleep reading.
But for a moment that reality hung in the balance; Because Kacchan’s face really was moving towards him. Izuku’s lips parted involuntarily, his breath hitched, and something like giddy panic rose within him. Was Kacchan actually about to kiss him?
Then the tension snapped and Izuku scrambled backwards, flinching and shouting as Kacchan swiped the book off his chest and eyed it with a bemused look. The cover featured a young man in a green vest gazing wistfully at a dragon soaring in a broad, cloudless sky.
“Hey, this kinda looks like you.” Katsuki held out the book and pointed at the vested protagonist.
“Kacchan! Don’t make fun!” Izuku thrust forward in a desperate attempt to grab the book back, but Kacchan pulled away, clicking his tongue. Izuku should have known better than to read this stuff at work.
“ Tch . ‘ The Hall of the Dragon King, ’ Katsuki read aloud. His eyebrows mashed together as he inspected the title; his grin was devilish and cute and it stirred things in Izuku it had no right to stir.
“It’s good!” Izuku insisted. He really didn’t want to get into what he actually liked about it, which was the romance (*cough, cough* the sex).
“You sure it’s not a snoozefest? You were sleepin,’ after all!”
“Not because of the book! I’ve just been tired.” As if on cue, Izuku yawned and absently rubbed at his eyes, like a toddler who needed a nap. Dammit.
“If you’re napping in the break room again, that means you’ve been working too hard. Come on!”
Kacchan thrust the book back into Izuku’s arms and hoisted him up by the elbows. “Aah, Kacchan!” He yanked Izuku’s wrist and pulled him along down the hall and practically pushed him into the locker room.
“Get your stuff. We’re taking the rest of the day off.”
“Kacchan?” Izuku blinked, unsure if he was still dreaming. It wasn’t like Kacchan to leave work early for any reason, not even when the agency hosted special happy hour events, or for holidays, let alone just because!
Kacchan sighed, clearly exasperated. “Look, nerd, they’re forcin’ me to take the rest of the week off. Something about reaching my limit of accrued time off or some bureaucratic bullshit. You’re coming with me.”
“What?!”
“You work yourself to the bone and it’s when you’re runnin’ on fumes that you leave yourself open for injuries. Who’s left to clean up your mess, then, hah?! You’ve been pushing your limits lately, Deku — Don’t fuss at me, you know it’s true! I always notice that shit.”
Izuku couldn’t help the fond smile that erupted on his face. They’d been looking out for each other for a while now, in spoken and unspoken ways.
“Your right arm’s acting up again, ain’t it?” Katsuki added, his gaze laser-focused on Izuku’s arm all of a sudden. Izuku blanched when he realized he was rubbing at it.
Falling asleep on the hard couch certainly hadn’t helped. “Yeah,” he admitted.
“So, get in there and get your stuff!”
He had no choice but to obey. There was never any other choice with Kacchan. Izuku knew full well he’d follow him to the ends of the earth if he asked. But in this case, he was just asking him to follow him to dinner.
It felt weird to be in a position to be able to take off work whenever he needed to. No one batted an eye when Izuku explained that he’d be taking some personal time for the next two days. In fact, from the reaction he got, it seemed like no secret that he tended to overwork himself. He never took vacation. He’d probably reached his limit of accrued days too.
“Believe it or not, we’ll be fine here without you two,” Jirou said with a smirk.
“Yeah, some of us are pretty close to taking that number one spot away from you!” Kaminari beamed at them, leaning in close. He threw a casual arm around Jirou, who rolled her eyes but blushed.
“Maybe so, but it ain’t you, is it Dunce Face?!”
“Ouch!”
“Alright, we’re outta here, losers. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do!”
“We’ll definitely do the opposite!”
Izuku shouldered his backpack and followed Kacchan out into the dusk. It was a little early still for him to be hungry and he told Kacchan as much. “Let’s stop at the comic book store to kill some time, first. There’s a manga I want to buy, and they just restocked their limited edition Silver Age figures. I missed out on the first run.”
“Sure, nerd.”
The comic shop was filled to the brim with high school students, fresh out of their late afternoon study sessions or their school club activities, and a few of them gasped and pointed as Izuku and Kacchan entered; but mostly they kept their cool. Having grown up around pro-heroes, many had simply gotten used to seeing them out and about and didn’t want to bother them if they were clearly off-duty. This particular shop was a regular haunt for The Wonder Duo. An autographed promotional photo of them hung on the wall behind the counter, next to a shelf full of their very own action figures.
Izuku walked straight to the extensive collection of All Might merch that took up the entire back wall. Even though Izuku and Kacchan shared the current number one spot, and even though All Might had retired ages ago, he was still extremely popular. He was enjoying a bit of a resurgence in popularity, in fact, due to the power of nostalgia.
“Midoriya-kun!” The shop owner waved in his direction, then immediately moved to join him near the newest All Might display. He knew Izuku well. “You’re looking for this, eh?”
“Yes!” Izuku couldn’t contain his excitement as he was handed a small, pristine box containing the shiniest Silver Age All Might he’d ever seen. The detailed paintwork was impressive. As much as Izuku loved collecting action figures, he knew the faces were difficult to get right. Many of the All Might figures defaulted to his famous smile, the one that made him look like something out of an American Superhero comic. But this one was painted to really look like him , Yagi Toshinori, ice blue eyes crinkled just slightly at the corners, alight from the welcoming smile that gleamed on his face. The figure did justice to his younger self and really looked just like All Might had looked during that time.
“I’ll take two!” Izuku declared.
Actually, he took three. He was still forever a fanboy at heart, and one never knew what might get lost or broken or worn down, even under the utmost care. He wandered the aisles a bit, before moving towards the shelf that held the book he wanted when something else caught his eye.
‘Hero U.’ A bright-looking volume featuring a very thinly-veiled All Might looking figure—which was what had initially drawn him in—and a group of spunky looking heroes-in-training that very much conjured up images of his own U.A. High School class. Smiling, he lifted the book from the shelf and skimmed through it.
“Kacchan!” He yelped, eyeing one particular page that featured a boy with spiky hair and an explosive superpower.
“What?!” Kacchan called from somewhere in the store.
“Where are you? You have to see this!”
Izuku could hear the sound of Kacchan’s grumbling moving through the aisles and soon he was there with an impatient glare on his face. “This better be good, nerd, I was reading something!”
Thrusting the page towards Kacchan with a huge smile, he pointed at the picture of the spiky-haired boy. ‘ GouGou Katsuki,’ the page read at the top. Well, that wasn’t subtle.
“ What? ” Kacchan looked from the page to Izuku with a confused look.
“Are you serious?!” Izuku asked, pushing the page closer to Kacchan’s unimpressed face. “This is so YOU!”
“Lemme see that!” He swiped the book from Izuku’s hands and rifled through. “No way. I don’t see it.”
“Kacchan, you can’t be serious.”
“This guy’s got a dopey grin on his face and he’s wearing a cardigan! I don’t wear cardigans! They’re not stylish at all.”
“Your mom wears cardigans and she’s a designer!”
“Because they work on her! Honestly, Deku, I’m insulted that you’d even compare me to this dweeb.”
“His name is Gougou Katsuki, he’s clearly supposed to be you!” Kacchan continued skimming the manga and growled with delight as he landed on a page with the protagonist.
“This is you but with goth hair!” He thrust the page towards Izuku.
Izuku read the character description out loud. “ Yamikumo. Akutami Mikumo was nicknamed Yamikumo by his childhood friend, Gougou , ”Izuku paused to stare at Kacchan with wide disbelieving eyes, “due to his tendency to rush into dangerous situations blindly, even from a young age.”
Kacchan laughed heartily then, so much so he had to hold his stomach, and people were starting to look. “Sounds about right. You’re reckless as shit. Guess we know where this story’s going.”
“I’m buying it!” Izuku chirped, pulling it back from Kacchan, who rolled his eyes. He grabbed the five successive volumes from the shelf and Kacchan followed behind to the register.
“Just another story with a nerdy protagonist,” Kacchan clipped.
“Ah, so you agree. I’m the protagonist.”
“Shaddup!”
Izuku beamed at Kacchan, which earned him an affectionate scoff; yes: affectionate, no: not like that. He and Kacchan did get along now, better than ever, and hanging out together after work was not so rare an occurrence. It wasn’t a big deal or anything; it had just started happening naturally after they’d reached the joint number one slot.
Their schedules had seemed to align a lot since they became a hero duo, and what had started as a drink here or there, after a shift became a dinner, became several dinners, and trips to the comic store and the gym, and the teahouse. Their routines were falling into a synchronized rhythm that worked well for both of them. No way was Izuku about to question it, let alone complain.
Lucky’s Ramen had become a staple for them. A place to drown sorrows, celebrate victories, and everything in between. Kacchan liked it because they had the spiciest broths in town; and also because none of the staff gawked at them or asked for photos or autographs (anymore).
“I think you paid last time, Kacchan, so it’s my turn,” Izuku said before they even sat down.
“Oh yeah? I stopped keeping track.”
“Hmph. Me too, really.”
“Well, I’ll get it next time,” Kacchan said. They’d long since given up on arguing about it. And there was always a next time.
They ordered their usuals and fell into easy conversation, though Izuku pointedly tried to avoid discussing work. If he was meant to take a break, he might as well really take one; let the other heroes handle things for a while.
After all, he had a new manga to read when he got home.
