Chapter Text
“Izuku, you gotta come check this one.”
Midoriya Izuku turns away from the civilians he’s watching toward the south to walk over to where Bakugou Katsuki, in his full Dynamight suit, is standing on the other end of the rooftop.
Already having fought and won a war, the students now in class 3-A were given two options for their third year:
They could either individually work for an agency, or they could operate as floater teams, sent wherever they were needed. Since third year was mostly for work experience and internships anyway, with classes now on the backburner, Katsuki and Izuku decided to go with the latter, as did many of their classmates. Assuming that Katsuki would want to be able to work with at least Kirishima and maybe Todoroki, Izuku didn’t expect to end up paired with him very often. But much to his surprise, Katsuki asked him to be his permanent partner. It was horribly anticlimactic and Izuku’s initial reaction was to laugh because of how awkwardly Katsuki worded it (which Katsuki did not appreciate), but it was sweet nonetheless. For the most part, anyway.
He wasn’t sure exactly why Katsuki chose to be a floater or to work with him and no one else, but for Izuku, he saw it as his way of getting to experience as much as he can while he still has the embers of One For All, all with Katsuki at his side.
His first time using One For All after the war was excruciating. It felt like he was starting from scratch in his training with a body even less equipped to handle it. His hands carried a permanent tremor, making it hard to land consecutive, firm hits. His fresh scars burned under the intensity of the quirk’s power, causing an irritating distraction that pulled his mind away from the higher level of focus now required to operate any of his moves. He started to lag behind far more than he did when he first entered UA and, worst of all, no one ever said anything about it. If he made a comment in regards to it — likely out of frustration — everyone would jump to his defense, telling him it was okay and they were all still recuperating from the war. It wasn’t a lie, but it wasn’t the whole truth either. And none of his classmates wanted to face the truth. Especially Katsuki.
Once, and never again, Izuku talked to him about how it felt to have One For All slowly phasing out of his system. How it felt like a foreign parasite and even though he hated that it would disappear eventually, he wondered if he might find relief in the calm that would come with its absence. Maybe his muscles would stop spasming, maybe his bones would stop aching, maybe he’d be able to relax, if even for just a moment. But Katsuki was having absolutely none of it. He immediately yelled at Izuku, calling him every obscure insult he could think of, telling him to stop being all mopey, asking him to just let it go and live. He told Izuku he’d pull his offer to be partners if he was going to talk like that, about something that was “way down the line,” as Katsuki put it. Izuku wasn’t so sure it was that far away. But the last thing he wanted was to lose his last opportunity to team up with his closest friend, so he decided to drop it.
It was little things like that, little surprisingly encouraging comments that started reorienting Izuku’s view of their relationship. Sure, they were still riddled with curses and insults, but Izuku understood him now. He understood that Katsuki was just as scared as he was, maybe more. So he started to absorb all those small gestures hungrily; greedily as more time passed. He knew he was being spoiled. High school would end and he and Katsuki would drift apart, only because of the nature of their respective jobs, and he wouldn’t see him as often. It would go from every day to maybe once a week, then once a month, and maybe, at some point, way down the line, Katsuki would forget to call on his birthday. And years would pass before he was reminded of his childhood friend and rival who cared a bit too much.
Cares a bit too much.
Izuku’s heart stutters as he strides over to Katsuki. No point in worrying about the future. “What is it? Did someone else trip? Or are you just bullying someone again for no reason.”
Katsuki snickers at the memory of their last patrol. “That guy looked stupid, even you admitted it. But no, this kid’s all decked out in some shitty costume of yours.”
“I have a fan?” Izuku jogs the rest of the way, crouching over the edge to see a kid in the most janky Deku costume he’s ever seen. Not that he’s seen many. “Aww, she’s kinda cute.”
“‘Kinda’ is a bit of an overstatement,” Katsuki nudges. “It looks like her mom made it or something.”
Izuku glares at him out of the corner of his eye before looking back down, watching the little girl’s mom take her hand gently, kneeling until she’s at eye level so she can wipe something off of the girl’s face. “I’ll have you know, my mom made my first suit.”
“I know. It was evident then too.” Izuku smacks him without looking, catching him off guard. “What? Auntie’s great, but she’s no fashion designer.”
“Says the person who actually has fashion designers for parents. Your standards are just too high.”
Katsuki shrugs, lifting his hands as he turns to observe a different direction. “You’re just mad my suits have always looked good.”
Izuku sighs, pushing himself up from the ledge and walking back to where he was before. “Again, can I beg designers for parents?” Katsuki doesn’t respond and for a second, Izuku thinks he’s just ignoring it, but when he turns, he immediately drops into a defensive stance. Katsuki is crouched low before the parapet, barely peeking over, his hands at the ready. Izuku darts over as quietly as possible to join him. “What is it, Kacchan?”
Katsuki nods down to a man in a dark sweatshirt, the hood of it pulled low over his black cap. His hands are stuffed into his sweatshirt pocket and he keeps glancing over his shoulder. As Katsuki and Izuku continue watching, he occasionally stops, doing his best to blend in before moving on to another spot. “He’s either the worst spy in the world, or he’s up to something.”
“I’m gonna go with ‘up to something,’” Izuku whispers.
“Uh huh, me too.”
The two heroes wait for him to make a move. As he makes his way further down the street, Izuku and Katsuki have to follow on the roofline, leaping from one to the next quickly without being noticed. After about six blocks, Izuku starts to wonder if they’re wrong about him. “Maybe he’s just a really anxious guy,” he throws out eventually.
Katsuki shakes his head. “No, there’s no way he isn’t plotting something. But we have to turn back, we’re starting to cross into Sparky and Ears’ territory. I’ll just radio them to have at least one of them keeping an eye on this guy.”
Izuku glances around, realizing they already traveled ten blocks from their center. Student teams rarely got placed in adjoining zones, but there were exceptions on occasion and today was one of them. Because of this, it’s extra important for them to keep their areas safe and handled. Otherwise, they get penalized, likely with a suspension from work. “Alright, that’s fine. I’ll head back first while you take care of that. Just to make sure we’re not missing anything.” Katsuki nods his approval and Izuku takes off.
With all the heroes in the city on the same channel, Katsuki’s message comes through Izuku’s earpiece. “Area 5 to Area 4.”
Izuku scans the streets as he zips over them in controlled and well timed leaps. The one thing he has worked on improving since the war in terms of One For All output is handling short spurts with just enough power necessary instead of keeping it on. While it was better for him to maintain a low percentage state before, it’s simply not realistic anymore with his new limitations and decreased power reserve, unless he absolutely needs it. So far he’s only thought he needed it twice, and immediately afterward he realized he could have gone without it.
There’s a sharp crackle in his ear before the response to Katsuki’s message comes in. Kaminari’s tone fluctuates melodramatically with each word. “Area 5, go ahead.”
Izuku has to stifle a laugh.
“Got a suspicious individual coming your way. Male, heading down Block 3 in a dark hoodie and cap. Average build, around five foot ten inches. Unable to get facial visuals.”
Kaminari whistles into the mic, creating an uncomfortable spike. “Damn, how closely were you looking to get all—”
Izuku hesitates, a bit confused at the cutoff until Jirou speaks. “Area 4 copies. I’ve got eyes and ears on him. He’s definitely up to something. And you are both idiots.”
Izuku laughs, reaching for his talk button. “I second that opinion, Earphone Jack.”
“See, Deku knows what’s up.”
“Hey,” Katsuki protests, “how did I get roped into Sparky’s stupidity?”
A stern voice responds before Izuku has the chance. “Area 1 to Areas 4 and 5. Stop using the citywide frequency for chitchat.”
“Area 4 copies. Sorry.” Kaminari’s voice lilts down.
Izuku mentally scolds himself. Radio etiquette was one of the first things they were taught when they started, but he and his classmates keep messing it up by getting sidetracked. “Area 5 copies. Sorry.”
Focusing back on his task, he does a more detailed survey of the area at the center of his and Katsuki’s zone. Area 5 is a favorite among the student heroes due to its wider streets and fewer intersections, though the buildings are shorter, giving less of a vantage point for typically airbound heroes like Izuku and Katsuki. Most of the other central zones, like Area 4, contain much taller buildings that are compacted together, creating plenty of alleyways and heavily frequented intersections at the main roads, both by cars and foot traffic.
Perched on top of an egress bulkhead at the roof of one of the taller buildings available for a better panoramic view, Izuku sighs deeply, letting a pure, uninterrupted moment of satisfaction wash over him. Even if this won’t last forever, he’s glad he can at least savor it for the time being.
“Izuku,” Katsuki calls from behind.
Izuku turns with a bright smile on his face. “Anything happen on your way over?”
He shakes his head, dropping down on the bulkhead and sitting perpendicular to Izuku. His eyes roam across the cityline. “What about you?”
“Nope,” Izuku confirms.
“Sweet.”
The silence that follows is pleasant and comforting as Izuku glances down, seeing Katsuki’s hand mere inches away from his own on the ledge. He would never grab Katsuki’s hand out of the blue like this, but he does often imagine it. Mostly against his will since he’s already decided his feelings are a lost cause. He taps out a simple message in Japanese Morse code, or Wabun code, that he knows Katsuki won’t understand.
Thank you.
It’s all he allows himself to say since he refuses to put words to his feelings so flippantly. “Thank you” seems adequate enough to satiate his desire to express his emotions. After all, he’s grateful just to be by Katsuki’s side and he refuses to compromise it with something so unimportant to their relationship in the grand scheme of things.
So he’s glad Katsuki refused his offer to teach him Wabun. When he first learned it, he was maybe six or seven, and Katsuki was apparently very offended by his offer because he blew up Izuku’s favorite All Might plate. It wasn’t that big of a deal considering it was paper and he wouldn’t let his mom throw it away no matter how dirty it got with each use (after the third wash it began to fall apart, so he stopped trying), but Izuku was really upset at the time. Later, in middle school, he used Wabun to take out his anger whenever he couldn’t scribble it down in his notebooks.
He taps out the message again with a small smile. Somehow, even the not so great memories are ones he now cherishes. This is enough, he hums as his eyes wander away from Katsuki’s hand, up his toned arm to his flexed shoulder, and then to his pronounced collarbone visible even from this angle, and—
“What are you look’n at?”
Izuku blushes before looking away. “Nothing, I was just thinking about, um, our old suits and I was wondering how much yours had really changed. So. I was trying to remember your first suit.”
“Ah,” Katsuki nods without question. “Gotcha.”
And that was maybe the worst part about Izuku’s stupid feelings. No matter how many times he’s slipped up since the war, since he realized, Katsuki never notices. Either that, or he’s trying to reject him without confrontation.
“It was the coolest suit in the class, easily.”
Izuku lets out a soft laugh. “Honestly, yeah. I’ll give you that.”
So, no, Izuku would never take Katsuki’s hand unless the job required it of him. Not because Katsuki wouldn’t ever take his, but because Katsuki would, and he would think nothing of it. Absolutely nothing at all, and Izuku would be falling apart.
He clears his throat in an attempt to snap out of whatever hole he’s digging himself into, glancing up, gloved hand ready to shield his eyes. The sun is already beginning to dip lower toward the horizon as their shift nears its end. Up above, streaking cirrus clouds paint the sky, and Izuku has to brush a curl out of his face as the breeze kicks up. It’s already late August and it’ll still be warm enough for the next month or so, but soon the leaves will start to change and fall. Izuku chews his lip anxiously as he breathes heavily out his nose. He never thought he would be so fearful of the passage of time, but here he is on a beautiful day, sitting next to his favorite person, and it’s nearly all he can think about — the passage of time and how much more of it he has left before he can’t be beside him any longer.
“Hey, Izuku.”
Eyes wide, Izuku turns. “Yeah, what’s up?”
Katsuki’s head tilts, his eyes catching the light like garnets as his brow creases. “You were zoning out. Everything okay?”
Katsuki can’t notice Izuku’s feelings for him, but he can apparently notice everything else. “Yeah. Just—”
“Just thinking?” Izuku presses his lips together as Katsuki turns back to his surveying. “You’ve been doing a lot of that lately. Is…” The boy beside him sighs deeply. “Is it because of One For All?”
Izuku glances over at him with a smile. Of course he’s spot on. “Nah,” he fibs. “I’m just wondering how much our class will stay in contact after we graduate. And for how long.”
“Hm. I don’t know, I don’t really care either way.” Katsuki tuts quietly and Izuku’s heart squeezes, making him a bit nauseous. “I just need you and Shitty Hair, anyway. The rest of that bunch will come with him too.”
Startled and impulsively hopeful, Izuku’s eyes flit over to Katsuki’s face, catching a serene expression draped across his features as he stares out toward the setting sun. The creeping rays of orange light cast over him diaphanously, making him look even more ethereal than he normally does.
With a scowl, Izuku turns away. “You know, Kacchan.”
Katsuki grunts.
“If you’re not gonna use your looks, you should share some with the rest of us.”
“Oh yeah?” Katsuki chuckles.
“Yup,” Izuku nods. “You’re a waste of a good face.”
“Well, I gotta counterbalance the negatives of my personality somehow.” Katsuki nudges Izuku, the corner of his mouth curled in a smirk. “Besides, what would you even do if you had my looks? We both know it’s not like you’re gonna go out and date someone.”
Izuku snorts. While he can’t deny the statement, it’s for an entirely different reason than Katsuki is thinking. “Geez. Just call me a virgin already.”
“You are so lucky I don’t bully you anymore.”
“I would be even luckier if you had never done it in the first place,” Izuku retorts. “Besides, how can you bully me for something that you are too?”
Katsuki’s cheeks turn pink as he rolls his eyes. “Yeah, well. That’s because I don’t care about that stuff.”
Ruffling his own hair, Izuku sighs. “I know.”
“Unlike you,” Katsuki continues.
Confused and a little bit curious, Izuku is about to ask what he means by that when the radio beeps, signaling a message incoming.
“Area 4 to citywide. Criminal activity at Area 4, Block 5 in the middle of an anti-quirk protest. Requesting assistance.” Jirou’s voice sounds distressed, and it barely takes Izuku and Katsuki two seconds to jump down from their spot.
Izuku goes to respond. “Area 5 is responding.”
“Area 4 copies, approach with caution.”
“Area 5 copies. To citywide, requesting cover.”
“Area 6 to Area 5, will cover.”
“Area 5 copies.”
By the end of the exchange, Katsuki is already in the air. Izuku takes off after him. “Do you think it’s the same guy?”
Katsuki glances over his shoulder. “Maybe. Different street, but he could have moved, I guess. Maybe he was trying to mess with this protest.”
Izuku frowns. “Anti-quirk protests have been popping up all over lately. It’s like after the Meta Liberation Army and Paranormal Liberation Front, some people are swinging hard in the opposite direction.”
“What is it about?”
Izuku bites the inside of his cheek. “Well, from what I’ve heard it’s mostly quirkless individuals banding together, claiming that they’re at a severe disadvantage. Which…” He shrugs as he lands on the next roof. “They’re not wrong. With them, or us,” Katsuki flicks his gaze over before jumping across the next gap, “at such a low percentage of the population, it’s become clear that things aren’t being tailored for them as much anymore. Us.”
Katsuki rolls his eyes. “Stop saying ‘us.’ You’re not one of them.”
“First of all,” Izuku scoffs, “I used to be and I will be again soon enough. Second of all, don’t say that like it’s a bad thing. Because it isn’t.”
Katsuki groans. “I didn’t mean it like that, Izuku.”
“With your track record, I can’t really be sure about that, now can I?”
“Seriously, Izuku?”
Izuku sends him a sharp glance before sighing. “I just don’t blame them for being scared and trying to plan ahead.”
Katsuki’s next explosion sparks a bit bigger, a little louder, than the rest. “Don’t you think quirked people are being taken advantage of, though?”
“Yes,” Izuku groans, “of course I do. We’ve seen evidence of that already with Eri, although that was an extreme case. But you don’t think you’re one of them, do you? Because I can tell you right now, you’re not.”
“No, of course not. Like I would even let anyone take advantage of me in the first place.”
Izuku jumps ahead to the next building. “That’s a privileged thing to say in and of itself. Look,” he says, peering back over his shoulder, “there will always be people suffering on every side, it’s unfortunately unavoidable. But it’s far more of a problem when an entire people group stops being treated equally simply because they lack a quirk.”
“It’s not like the world is out to get them, Izuku,” Katsuki shouts after him. He catches up, casting him a sideways glance. “It’s just the way things are.”
Izuku glares at him. “That’s a pretty complacent attitude, Kacchan. If this was a hundred years ago, things would be flipped and you’d be arguing the same thing I am but for the other side. And I’d agree with you.”
Katsuki stops and turns to look at Izuku as he lands gently beside him. “Are we really fighting over this? I can’t tell if you’re actually mad or if we’re just having a discussion.”
Izuku’s jaw clenches, his eyes rolling against his will. “Whatever. We’re almost there anyway, so let’s just drop it.” There’s no such thing as convincing Katsuki when he’s confident in his opinions.
The remaining trip to the incident location is short and when they’re within a close enough range, Izuku and Katsuki drop low to the rooftops. Katsuki presses his talk button, keeping his volume down. “Area 5 is on scene.”
As they approach, the noise coming from the street below grows more and more chaotic. Izuku peers over the edge of the rooftop they’re on, trying to get a read on the situation. As he expected, their weird guy from earlier is at the center of the racket as he seemingly incites the crowd of protesters before dashing down the street, chasing after a girl who has just managed to push her way out of the crowd, stumbling a bit as she emerges. Izuku takes note of the crease between her brows and the tense, drawn in stiffness of her shoulders. She’s terrified. “Alright,” Izuku says. “Let’s go.”
Kaminari and Jirou are doing their best to stop the man, but he manages to dodge all of their attacks. With so many people around, neither of them can use their full strength, but he does seem to have exceptional skills either way. “Oh, thank god. Deku, Dynamight!” Kaminari nods at them, Jirou to his right, both falling in line as Izuku and Katsuki literally hit the ground running. “The girl seemed to recognize him because as soon as she noticed him, she started running.”
“Got it.”
Without a word, Izuku and Katsuki both speed up, easily catching up to the man while Kaminari and Jirou fall back, returning to handle the increasingly turbulent crowd. Katsuki is about to tackle the criminal when he suddenly switches direction, narrowly avoiding his own capture. Katsuki curses under his breath in frustration.
Izuku follows the man’s line of sight up the street to the girl who is now disappearing down an alleyway to the right. “Dynamight!”
Katsuki nods, instantly understanding.
Izuku sends a tendril of Blackwhip upward, latching it onto a protruding part of the building so he can tear over both Katsuki and the villain, dropping into the alley ahead of them to help the girl. She’s still running but there are several obstacles in her way and every time she has to stop to scramble over one of them, both Izuku and the man chasing her get closer. It doesn’t take long for her to get stuck, unable to climb over a dumpster oriented the wrong way so it completely blocks the path. Izuku hurdles over a pile of boxes, the last obstacle between them, reaching her in just a few seconds. “Don’t worry, I’ll get you out of here.”
She turns back to give him a frightened look, but when she realizes it’s a hero and not the man chasing her, she nods. “Thank you.”
Izuku wraps one arm around her waist, using Blackwhip with the other to swing them upward in order to clear the rest of the obstacles and come out the other side of the block.
Glancing behind him, he finds Katsuki midair, reaching down right above the man’s head. He’s gearing up for a small flashbang explosion when the man hits the brakes hard, coming to a complete stop, and Katsuki is forced into a major overshoot heading straight for Izuku. Due to the narrow space between the buildings and Izuku’s proximity, he’s unable to correct immediately. To compensate, Katsuki places a gloved hand on one of the walls slightly behind him, letting the force of friction slow his speed for a second before flicking his wrist to push off of it, beginning to rotate his trajectory. Understanding the plan, Izuku pulls up higher with Blackwhip, taking himself and the girl out of range of his explosions to give Katsuki more space, and he isn’t even looking at Izuku, but he senses immediately when Izuku clears. He sets off two small blasts to complete the 180 before launching himself toward the man who, for some reason, hasn’t moved.
For a split second, Izuku feels Danger Sense spike.
But Katsuki takes him down easily this time, quickly putting an end to the chase.
Izuku circles back to the original street, the girl still clinging to him with both her arms wrapped around his neck. He uses Float to land softly before setting her down while Katsuki handles the criminal with Kaminari and Jirou.
The girl bows in thanks and when she straightens, Izuku gets his first real look at her. She’s about his age, maybe a few years older at most. He finds nothing particularly startling about her until he reaches her eyes. They’re a strikingly pale shade of grey with some vague, greenish tint to them.
After staring for a few seconds too long without a response, the girl blushes, drawing his gaze away from the glassy sclera. “Oh, I’m sorry,” Izuku says, bowing his head and turning a bit red himself. “I didn’t mean to stare, but your eyes are really interesting.” When he looks back up at her, she’s wearing a gentle smile.
“That’s okay,” she laughs, covering her mouth with her hand. “Are you…” She hesitates. “Are you Deku?”
Izuku smiles wide, fixing his posture a bit. “Yeah, that’s me. Are you alright, Miss…?”
“Oh, yes, I’m okay. Thank you so much for saving me.” She peers over his shoulder in Katsuki’s direction. “And your partner too.”
“Good, I’m glad. We’re just doing our jobs.” Unsure if she didn’t catch his question, he asks again, more directly this time. “Um, I apologize but for the incident report, could I get your name?”
“Oh, pardon!” She extends her hand and Izuku takes it, shaking it lightly. “Ando. Ando Toshie.”
“Alright, Miss Ando. Once I finish it, I’ll send it straight to the police. Moving forward, you’ll go to the police station to handle pressing charges.”
She nods, bowing again. “Thank you. I’ll do that.”
Sirens flash down the street as the police arrive at the scene. Izuku escorts Ando to the officers before turning back to head to his classmates who have already handed over the man Katsuki apprehended.
As he approaches, Kaminari begins wiggling his eyebrows excessively. “Looked like you two were having a pretty good conversation over there, all talking and blushing like that. Did you get her number?”
Katsuki snorts and Izuku sends him a quick glare before turning back to Kaminari. “No, of course not. That would be unethical.”
Jirou smirks. “Is that the only reason?”
Izuku’s eyes dart toward Katsuki, foolishly hoping for a reaction, but his face is calm and uninterested. He doesn’t even care. “No. She just had really unique eyes. I stared a bit too long and then felt bad.”
“‘Unique eyes,’ huh? Is that what the kids are calling it these days?” Kaminari winks.
Smacking his arm, Jirou’s expression twists in disgust. “Denki, you seriously need to stop saying creepy stuff like that. It reminds me too much of Mineta.” She shivers dramatically like she has the chills.
Kaminari turns to her with a look of betrayal, which Izuku deems appropriate based on her accusation. Being compared to Mineta by one of the girls is like the ultimate, 1-hit KO move. “That’s hurtful, Kyouka.”
Jirou shrugs, completely unaffected. “No pain, no gain. Suck it up and be better.”
Katsuki rolls his eyes. “Anyway. Like I was saying before Izuku came back over, we’ll handle the report since we did all the heavy lifting.”
Izuku squints at his partner. His tone wasn’t exactly biting, but it was certainly at least a little snippy.
Jirou holds her hands up with a brow raised. “Fine by me.”
Kaminari nods. “Knock yourselves out, you two.”
Checking the time, Izuku realizes their shift ends in thirty minutes. “Oh, geez. We have to get back to our area, Kacchan.”
Without a word, Katsuki begins walking away toward Area 5, so Izuku says goodbye to Kaminari and Jirou for the both of them. “See you back at school!”
“See ya!”
Izuku radios in their status. “Area 5 to Area 6.”
It takes a second for the response to come in. “Area 5, go ahead.”
“We’re all clear over here. En route now.”
“Area 6 copies. Heading back to six.”
On their way back, Katsuki is oddly silent. Izuku glances over every now and then to try and read his expression, but it’s futile. Eventually, he decides to just focus on the case. “Did you get the guy’s name for the report?”
“Obviously,” Katsuki barks.
“Okay… No need to snap at me like that.”
“Sorry.”
The silence is killing Izuku as they make it back to their area. They’ve still got twenty minutes before the shift change and Izuku isn’t sure he can last that long without prying. But the look on Katsuki’s face is one he’s never really noticed before, so he’s wary of how to proceed. The feelings in his own chest are growing more and more tangled by the second. “Kacchan.”
Katsuki glances up from his seat on the edge of the roof, his feet dangling freely over the edge. “What?”
At least his voice seems less feisty than before. “Is everything okay? You seemed like you were in a good mood back there, and then…”
Katsuki rubs his face aggressively. “I don’t know. This weird feeling just kinda came over me all of a sudden when we were talking with Ears and Sparky.”
“Oh, okay. That’s fine then. I just wanted to make sure.”
Katsuki only grunts in response. He pulls one knee to his chest before resting his chin on it, conversation over.
Their shift change finally arrives and Izuku and Katsuki make their way back to UA. They change out of their suits in the locker rooms before returning them to their cases and placing them back in the cubby. Back in their casual clothes, the two boys head over to the 3-A dorms with Izuku in the lead. It’s unusual for Katsuki to lag behind like this, but Izuku figures he’s probably just tired.
“Hey, Izuku.”
Izuku spins around as he’s walking up the stairs toward the dorm entrance, tripping a bit in the process. Katsuki reaches out to steady him but he misses his arm, grabbing Izuku’s waist instead. The feeling makes Izuku’s stomach squirm and he can feel his cheeks flushing, but he does his best to shove it down. “Oh, thanks. Sorry, what were you saying?”
Katsuki’s eyes are wide and a bit puzzled. “Uh.” He blinks a few times before shaking out of it. “I was thinking we should just get the report done right away so we can send it.”
“Oh, yeah. I’m good with that.”
“Cool.” Katsuki’s mouth twitches into a smile as he shoulders Izuku. “Sorry about earlier. I don’t know what that was.”
Izuku grins. “It’s okay. You’re usually pretty moody anyway.”
Katsuki rolls his eyes. “How understanding of you,” he says dryly. He opens the door, letting Izuku in first.
Izuku makes his way to the stairs and calls out over his shoulder, “I live to serve. Speaking of serving,” the image of his currently very messy room flashes into his mind, “can we do it in your room? If you saw my room right now you would waste time cleaning it.” Fresh off of summer break, Izuku hasn’t quite put everything back in order.
“Izuku,” Katsuki groans. “Have I taught you nothing?”
“About cleanliness?” Izuku shakes his head. “Nope. I just see you clean and think ‘thank god because I would hate to be doing that right now.’”
“Oh,” Katsuki snorts, “good to know.”
The boys shuffle into Katsuki’s room, both feeling exhausted after a long day that started with morning assignments before work. Katsuki turns on his computer and pulls up the right form before beginning to type, his fingers clacking away at the virtual keyboard in perfect form at an impressively high speed. Izuku still types with just his middle fingers and they’re so thick that he often hits the wrong key. He watches in amazement from the edge of Katsuki’s bed, occasionally answering questions for the form. Apparently, the villain’s name is Moriyama Takumi.
“And her name?” Katsuki yawns, scratching at his scalp before returning his fingers to the keys.
“Ando Toshie.”
Katsuki types in a few more things before sending the report off. Stretching out in the chair, he turns around to look at Izuku with a curious expression on his face. “So, Izuku.”
“Hm?”
“Was that really all it was?”
Izuku frowns, squinting at Katsuki. “Huh?”
“The girl,” Katsuki says.
“Oh. You mean about her eyes?”
Katsuki nods, his eyes tracking over Izuku a bit too intently for his liking. “It’s just that we had been talking about dating earlier and then…” Katsuki makes a face, but Izuku doesn’t feel like it’s directed at him. “I don’t know. Whatever. You don’t have to answer.”
The corner of Izuku’s mouth tugs into a smile as a bubbling laugh escapes. “No, it’s okay, Kacchan. That really was it. Her eyes were crazy and the color was so pale.” He looks away for a moment, unable to say the next words to Katsuki’s face. “She’s not my type anyway, don’t worry.”
“Why would I be worried?” Katsuki’s head tilts.
“I don’t know,” Izuku shrugs, but his tone is sounding too much like he cares so he puts on a wide grin. “Maybe you were worried that I was gonna leave you for her.”
Katsuki’s brow raises. “Oh yeah? As if you could ever leave me, you’ve been trailing after me your whole life.”
Izuku’s forced grin softens into a genuine smile. “Ah, you’re right. Then I guess I have to stay.”
“Damn straight. Now,” he says loudly, “I’m starving. Let’s go eat.”
With it being so late already, most of their classmates had already eaten and gone to work on homework or relax. There are leftovers though, much to Izuku’s relief. He hates cooking and, although he loves eating Katsuki’s cooking, he doesn’t like how much he relies on him. So, thank god he can mooch off of someone else tonight.
After dinner, Izuku goes back to his own room to take a shower and get ready for bed. His chest starts to feel a bit off, sort of cramped while being full of bouncing echoes from his heart, but he rubs at it and chooses to let it be. While in the shower, his skin begins to feel like pins and needles, but he blames it on the hot water, even though controlling the temperature does nothing to help. After changing into his sleepwear, his baggy T-shirt begins to feel restrictive over his rapidly warming body, so he takes it off, tossing it over the back of his desk chair before crawling into bed.
It’s an odd start to his night, but he assumes it’ll all go away. The sheets feel cool against his skin as he hunkers down into his bed and Izuku begins to nod off when the first sharp pain hits. He shoots up from his bed, wincing as he presses a hand to his forehead. It gradually dulls into a throbbing headache.
After that, it only gets worse. A horribly uncomfortable anxiety fills his gut, making him run to the bathroom a few times just for nothing to come up. His forehead is breaking into a sweat as he trudges back to his bed for the third time in the last hour.
Aggravated, Izuku pulls his phone out and does a quick Google search (always his go to no matter how many times it’s wrong), finding a list of possible answers. The results tell him that it’s either a migraine, pure anxiety, a heart attack, or a combination of about five other health conditions that could be fatal.
Izuku shuts off his phone, placing it back on his nightstand. “Well,” he whispers to himself, “I guess now I have something a little more tangible to be worried about.” He rubs at his temples, pressing into them to help cool his face and ease the pain. He drinks water, shifts positions, takes another shower; he does everything you normally get told to do in situations like this and none of it is working. At one point, he even gets up and completely cleans his room.
Three hours later, Izuku is still tossing and turning in his bed, the sheets growing increasingly twisted around and beneath his writhing form. His chest feels tight and his body is aching so much that it reminds him of when he first started using One For All. A quiet thought pokes at the back of his mind that he tries to ignore until he can’t any longer.
“Kacchan,” he whispers, sitting upright. “I need to see Kacchan.” Izuku throws his sheets off of him, or attempts to, and nearly face plants onto the floor in the process. Tripping a bit more as he shakes off the last bit of suffocating material, he stumbles toward the door, the anxiety in his chest increasing rapidly. Just as he’s reaching for the doorknob, he hesitates. “Nope, nope, go back to bed. Back. To. Bed.” He tucks himself back in, bundling up as best he can the way his mom used to wrap him when he had trouble sleeping as a kid. He smiles at the memory.
“You’ve gotta get bundled in your cocoon, Izuku, so you can sleep well and grow big and strong like All Might!”
He wishes his mom was with him.
His heart is pounding violently as his fingers wiggle nervously at his sides. The feeling is so uncomfortable that he’s pretty sure he can feel the rhythm across his whole body, seeping into the mattress, the bedframe, the floor. “Deep breaths, it’s fine,” he whispers. The room remains silent in response. With quite a bit of difficulty (due to his excellent bundling techniques, no doubt) he adjusts his hands so they’re resting on his stomach and begins rubbing at the top of one.
As much as he tries to calm down, it isn’t working, and the thoughts of Katsuki aren’t going away either. It’s like Katsuki is on the other side of his door, waiting for him, and he’s fully aware of it but unable to open up. Izuku chews his lower lip, then the inside of his cheek, before running his tongue along the mild sores left in his own wake. His brain is fogging and it’s starting to become too much and at this point, he feels like going to wake Shinsou so he can brainwash him to sleep. Or he’ll go to Uraraka and have her put him in a sleeper hold. Just knock him out cold, any method is acceptable.
His eyelids droop but his heart continues its erratic behavior in protest of sleep. After several more excruciating minutes pass, he decides he should just try the wrap again. Wriggling out of his little cocoon, he takes a deep breath before hopping off his bed and laying the sheets and blankets out nicely so he can properly start over. “Mom’s method never fails, it’ll be fine,” he mumbles. He crawls back under the sheets and smooths them out before rolling to one side, tucking, rolling to the other, tucking; back and forth until both sides of the blanket are layered underneath him. Nestling down into his new cocoon, he sighs deeply in relief as the pain and anxiety starts to dwindle.
A stuttered, harsh knock sounds.
“What the…” Aggravated, Izuku struggles back out of his bundle of comfort and happiness and sleep. “There better be a fire or some catastrophic event in the area. With casualties.” Once he releases himself fully, he trudges over to the door, opening it aggressively just to come face to face with Katsuki. His sour expression melts into pure bewilderment. “Kacchan?” What are the odds?
Katsuki is breathing abnormally and his jaw keeps clenching and unclenching. With one glance down, Izuku can see the boy’s fists are following suit. “Are you gonna let me in?”
Izuku blinks a few times before stepping aside to let Katsuki enter. “What are you doing here, Kacchan?” He flicks on the light switch, temporarily blinding both of them before going for his shirt. “It’s nearly two in the morning, you’re always asleep by ten.” He slips it over his head and much to his relief, it doesn’t feel so suffocating this time.
“Shut up,” Katsuki grumbles, and if Izuku isn’t mistaken, he almost looks embarrassed and definitely a bit frazzled. “You never sleep without a shirt on, what’s wrong with you?”
Izuku takes a deep breath as he smooths the cotton fabric out over his stomach. “I felt hot and claustrophobic, so I took it off.”
“Huh,” Katsuki grunts. His eyes trail over to the mess of sheets and blankets on the bed. He turns back to Izuku with a barely stifled snicker. “Do you still cocoon yourself the way Auntie used to?”
Flustered, Izuku crosses his arms and slouches. “No.” An obvious lie. Katsuki knows him too well for that to fly. He lets out a puff of air from the corner of his mouth. “Why are you here?”
Katsuki wets his lips, gulps, and still doesn’t speak.
Izuku’s brow crinkles in worry. Oh my god, I think he’s nervous. He isn’t sure he’s ever seen Katsuki nervous, not like this anyway. Not this blatantly. His eyes automatically do a once over in mild amusement.
Apparently Katsuki notices, because he immediately scowls. “I don’t know why, but I felt like I had to come see you. Okay?”
Izuku nods slowly, straightening and uncrossing his arms as he feels his chest relax and warm soothingly. “Okay. I kinda…” He hesitates, unsure of how to phrase his own feelings from the last five hours that seem to have completely vanished. “I kinda felt the same way.”
Katsuki looks up, meeting Izuku’s eyes fully for the first time since he opened the door. His brow creases. “You did?”
“Yeah,” Izuku gulps. “I was gonna go to your room earlier, but I figured you were asleep and I didn’t want to bother you.” He juts out his chin over to the messy bed. “That’s why I was trying to cocoon myself. I was trying to make it go away.”
“Oh.”
The two boys glance around the room, unsure of what comes next. Sure, they’ve been operating as friends (or friends-adjacent) for about two years now, but moments like these never seem to fully leave. In an attempt to break the silence, Izuku pads over toward his closet. “I have blankets I can pull out for you.”
“Why?”
Izuku glances over his shoulder. “So you can sleep here.”
Katsuki cocks his head, one brow lifted. “Again, why?”
Izuku sighs before turning back to his closet in search of his winter blankets. They’ll be thicker and provide at least a little cushioning against the hardwood flooring.
“I’m fine. I don’t know why I came here, it was stupid.” After a beat of uncertainty, Katsuki turns for the door and begins shuffling over. “Sorry for waking you.”
The panic from earlier rises again in the pit of Izuku’s stomach and he leaves the blankets forgotten, lunging after Katsuki without a second thought. As he gets close enough to touch him, Izuku suddenly stops, pulling back into himself.
Katsuki places one hand on the doorknob, turning his head slightly to look back over his shoulder. “‘Night, Izuku.”
The door barely cracks open an inch when Izuku gives in. He slams one hand against the door and presses the other hand into the wall on Katsuki’s other side. It clicks shut softer than Izuku expected. “You didn’t.”
“‘I didn’t’ what?” Katsuki asks suspiciously. He doesn’t turn around and Izuku is extremely grateful for that due to the blush growing across his cheeks.
“You didn’t wake me. I told you, I was having a hard time, too. Just,” he breathes, “stay.” Izuku takes a few steps back, releasing Katsuki from his cage. “Please?”
Slowly, Katsuki turns to face Izuku. His brow is furrowed. “You want me to stay here? With you?”
“Well, you don’t have to make it sound so unappealing,” Izuku snarks, but he’s already nodding desperately, wringing his hands together. “I don’t know about you, but my chest feels so heavy, like I can’t breathe, at the thought of being… a-apart from you. Right now. And my body,” he kneads his forearms. “My body was hurting so bad before you got here. Now, it’s quiet.”
“Your body is quiet?”
“The pain. The pain is quiet.”
Katsuki rubs at the back of his neck. “Okay.” He sighs, his shoulders sagging a bit as he relents. “Me too, I guess. Though I totally could have managed on my own. It wasn’t that bad.” The scowl twists into a smile, despite Katsuki’s best efforts.
Izuku’s heart flutters in what he can only describe as a gentle repose. And a little bit of many other things, but he brushes the thought away as quickly as it appears. “I’ll grab the blankets.” He scurries back over to his closet and finds them, tugging them out from the top shelf with far less difficulty than he used to. Since their first year, Izuku has grown almost four inches. Katsuki still has an inch or two on him, though, much to his disappointment. “Here,” he says, handing the stack of blankets to Katsuki. “And you can use one of my pillows.” Izuku reaches over to his bed and grabs the pillow he wasn’t already sleeping on. Placing it on top of the stack of neatly folded blankets, Izuku can barely see Katsuki’s eyes peeking over the top. He goes up onto his tiptoes. “Need anything else?”
Katsuki shakes his head, his voice coming through a bit muffled. “Nope.” He turns and sets the pile down on Izuku’s desk before slowly laying them out on the floor.
The thick material will suffice for one night, but Izuku can’t help but feel a bit bad about making him lay on the ground. And what if I need him here for another night, or longer? Although, the thickness of the blankets will hardly be my biggest problem if that’s the case. As Katsuki nestles down into the makeshift bed, Izuku perches on the edge of his mattress, one foot dangling while he hugs his other leg to his chest, chin pressed into his knee in thought.
“Aren’t you gonna sleep? Isn’t that the point of me staying here?”
Izuku bites his lower lip. He opens his mouth a few times before closing it again. “This must be related to a quirk, right? Like,” he chuckles nervously, brushing a hand over his curls that he knows are a bit frizzy from all of his struggling, “I don’t usually feel like this.”
“Are you thinking about the guy from earlier?”
Izuku nods. “It’s the only thing I can think of. Why else would we both randomly feel an inexplicable need to be around each other?” He shrugs his shoulders and sniffs, trying his best to seem indifferent as he finally scoots back onto his bed to lay down. “Yeah, that’s probably it. Definitely from a quirk. Though…” His voice trails off into thought. I can’t think of any time when we could have gotten hit with anything.
“Maybe.”
Izuku pushes himself onto one elbow so he can see Katsuki’s expression. “Maybe? Do you have another explanation?” His pulse picks up speed.
Katsuki shakes his head, rolling onto his side, back turned to Izuku. “No, you’re probably right. We should ask about that villain’s quirk tomorrow.”
Izuku’s lips twist to one side, dissatisfied with Katsuki’s response for some reason. He’s not sure what he was hoping for, but it wasn’t that. “Okay, sure,” he whispers, relaxing onto his back. Barely five minutes of silence pass before Izuku speaks up again. “Are you still awake?” No response. “Kacchan?”
Katsuki groans, curling up a bit tighter. “What do you want, Izuku?” He’s always more of a grump at night.
“Nothing, Kacchan.” He smiles softly to himself. “I was just thinking, doesn’t this remind you of when we were kids?” He and Katsuki used to have sleepovers frequently, mostly at the Bakugou house whenever his mom had a late shift. But it already feels like a lifetime ago. In a way, with everything that’s happened since entering UA, it’s almost like it is.
A soft rustling from below signals Katsuki’s reaction. “Eh, I guess. You used to keep me awake back then too.”
“Did not!” Izuku springs up indignantly, leaning over the side of his bed. “You were the one who kept me up.” Katsuki shifted onto his back at some point and suddenly Izuku is very aware of the almost gentle way those scarlet eyes are watching him from behind dozing eyelids.
“I don’t recall that. All I know is that you were annoying as hell.”
“Was not.”
“Still are. Go to sleep, for fuck’s sake.”
A grin slips onto Izuku’s face, his lips pulling wide as he throws himself backward onto his pillow. “Alright. Goodnight, Kacchan.”
“G’night, Izuku.”
The tormenting pain and anxiety from earlier has completely faded away like it was nothing more than a bad dream, and Izuku lets his exhaustion win. His eyelids lower and his heart rate slows until he feels himself slipping into a deep sleep. The last thought on his mind before succumbing to it is that part of him really doesn’t mind this quirk so far, even if it did come from a villain.