Chapter Text
Izuku forces Katsuki's door open and pushes inside, trying not to breathe in too much dust. Katsuki is bent over on the floor, coughing hoarsely, but he looks uninjured. His head snaps up as Izuku enters.
"Deku! Are you okay? What the fuck is happening?"
Relief washes over him at the sound of Katsuki's voice. "I don't know," he gasps. "But we need to get out of here before the whole building collapses."
Katsuki staggers to his feet, and immediately has to jump out the way of a chunk of falling brick. "Yeah," he grimaces.
They don't run into anyone else on their way out, but Izuku would know if anyone had died in the explosion. Everyone's still alive. For now, his mind supplies in a moment of pessimism, and he mentally slaps himself. Right now, they need to focus on themselves.
The stairs at the back of the building are mostly undamaged, but the ground beneath them shudders again as a wall falls in on itself somewhere nearby. They move faster, taking the steps two at a time.
Eventually, they stumble out onto the grass, shaken but unharmed. Izuku turns back around.
The house is a mess. An entire section of the centre has been blown to bits, and the rooms surrounding it are broken and caving in on themselves. The air is thick with dust thrown into the air by the impact of the collapsed walls. The rubble is piled up like a pyre in the centre of the building. Izuku guesses that must have been where the explosion went off.
He hears footsteps approaching. Kirishima runs towards him, shouting his and Katsuki's names. Izuku grins. "Kirishima, you're okay!"
"I'm alright," Kirishima says, but then his face drops. "But Kami is trapped under rubble. He isn't hurt, but he can't get out. I've tried calling for help, but there's no signal."
Izuku's phone is buried somewhere under all the bricks, but Katsuki gets out his own phone and tries to dial the emergency services. He taps the screen a few times, but then growls in frustration. "It's gone for me too. Someone must have disabled it."
It confirms what Izuku was already thinking. This isn't an accident. Someone's trying to isolate them. He and Katsuki glance at each other. It seems like Katsuki is thinking the same thing.
Izuku turns back to Kirishima. "Is there any way you can get him out? Move some of the rubble?"
"I think I can, but it'll take a while. He told me to go and check that everyone else was okay first," Kirishima says with a bittersweet laugh.
Suddenly, there's a crash from inside the building. The rubble on the peak of the pile trembles, and some of it rolls down.
Then the cloud of dust parts, and Shigaraki emerges on top of the rubble, dirty air curling around him. The sun is almost rising, and the faint light silhouettes him like some kind of twisted messiah.
"Shigaraki," Izuku breathes. He turns back to Kirishima. "Go and get Kaminari out."
Kirishima looks conflicted, but Izuku practically shouts at him. "Go!"
He nods at them, and runs off.
Katsuki clenches his fists and starts back towards the house where Shigaraki is still hovering. "I'll fucking kill him."
Izuku grabs his shoulder, stopping him before he can go any further. "Kacchan, he'll kill you. Stay away. Please."
Katsuki looks like he's about to retort, but then Shigaraki jumps down from his makeshift podium and shouts Izuku's name.
Izuku knows he can't run away from this anymore. He walks forward until Shigaraki sees him.
"Deku, you hypocrite," Katsuki hisses, but Izuku ignores him. Katsuki places himself in front of him, blocking his path. "You can't seriously be thinking about this. If he's as dangerous as you say, he'll just fucking kill you too!"
Izuku pushes past him. "This is my fight. I have to do this. Please, leave. You'll just get hurt."
"You cannot expect me to just fucking leave you here with this psychopath!"
Katsuki's eyes are fiercely defiant. He's beautiful, Izuku thinks.
He can't force Katsuki to leave. He knows that. Still, it scares him when he feels Katsuki following close behind him as he approaches Shigaraki. He can almost see Todoroki's body sprawled on the floor next to him, taunting him. Reminding him of just how mortal Katsuki is.
He tilts his face to look Shigaraki in the eyes. "Why me? Why now?" He tries to fill his voice with conviction, but he thinks he just sounds tired.
Shigaraki laughs painfully. "Why you? Why you? You're so naive. So young, despite everything. The world never forced you to grow up, did it?"
Izuku's heart constricts. "Whatever you think you know about me, it's wrong. Of course I had to grow up quickly. You of all people must understand that."
Shigaraki tightens his fingers into a fist, and tendrils of black energy curl around his hand. Izuku hears Katsuki's faint gasp beside him.
"Oh, Izuku. Ever since I became like this, the world has hated me. I tried so hard to be nice, and it gave me nothing except pain. But you? You, with your perfect little powers and heroic cause?" His smile drops. His eyes are ruthless, bloodthirsty. "It makes me sick. The world gave up on me before I even knew who I was. You ask what I want? I want revenge."
Suddenly, Izuku gets it. Of course he gets it. How could he not? No matter what Shigaraki seems to think, Izuku understands his pain better than anyone else. Shigaraki is hurting, just like Izuku was. Just like he still is.
He has to make him understand. Tears start to roll down his cheeks, but he makes no attempt to stop them. He steps closer to Shigaraki, ignoring Katsuki hissing his name warningly.
"I've suffered too, of course I have! The power you have doesn't make any difference."
He takes another step.
"I saved a life and woke up in handcuffs."
Another. Katsuki's eyes widen almost imperceptibly.
"Don't you get it? It doesn't matter what makes you different! People hate you because you're different in the first place!"
He's practically face to face with Shigaraki now. Katsuki is frozen in place a few paces behind him.
Something flashes in Shigaraki's eyes, something too brief to identify, but then his expression hardens again, and Izuku knows he's made a mistake.
He grabs Izuku's shoulder, twists him around into a headlock, and plunges a knife concealed in his palm into Izuku's stomach.
Katsuki cries out his name.
Blood pools in Izuku's throat, and he gags. He thinks distantly that getting stabbed doesn't hurt as much as he thought it would. Cold numbness creeps through his body. His brain begs him to shift. He forces the feeling down.
Shigaraki lowers his mouth to Izuku's ear. "Show him. Show him the part of you that always drives people away. Show him everything that's wrong with you!"
Izuku shakes his head as vigorously as he can manage. He won't. He won't lose Katsuki as well.
"Show him, Izuku!"
"No," he gasps, desperately fighting the animal inside him.
Shigaraki grasps the hilt of the knife and twists. Pain explodes where the metal connects with Izuku's body. He screams.
"Show him!"
Izuku locks eyes with Katsuki. Both of their faces are streaming with tears.
I'm sorry , Izuku mouths at him, and gives in to his mind.
Shigaraki loses his grip on him as Izuku's form changes, the knife tearing out of his skin. The wound is bad, really bad, but it's already beginning to heal now that the knife is out. It's enough, at least, for Izuku to be able to stay on his feet.
"Izuku?" Katsuki whispers tentatively. Izuku meets his eyes for a moment, his heart breaking.
Shigaraki laughs. He's always laughing. Izuku is this close to tearing him apart, but the grotesque smirk on Shigaraki's face stops him in his tracks.
"Oh, no," Shigaraki drawls. "I'm not done yet."
He twirls the knife he just pulled out of Izuku in his hand and pulls his arm back. Izuku realises what's about to happen just before it does, and he throws himself at Shigaraki, teeth sinking into his throat before he can process what he's doing. Shigaraki dies instantly, his face still painted in that smile.
Izuku's body erupts in blinding pain, even worse than before. His brain does nothing to numb it this time. He feels like he's being slowly torn apart, cell by cell. He's never killed before. He wonders if this was worth it. Shigaraki's body remains smiling, as if this is exactly what he wanted all along.
The pain subsides. He hears a choked gasp from behind him, and he spins around.
His heart stops.
Katsuki's face is pale, even more so than when Izuku had half-carried, half-dragged him to the hospital. His right hand is curled around the hilt of Shigaraki's knife, protruding from just to the side of his sternum, right over his heart.
For the second time since they met, Izuku watches Katsuki crumple to the ground. He feels the pain of Katsuki's death in his own heart. He ignores it.
He finds Todoroki's body, bloodstained and broken, in an alley somewhere in the city. He's dead.
Izuku throws himself to his knees beside Katsuki's body, his hands pulling the knife out of Katsuki's chest. "Kacchan. Kacchan, you have to wake up." Katsuki doesn't move. "Please, wake up. Please. Wake up, Kacchan. You have to wake up! You have to!"
Izuku hears himself screaming, but he hardly feels it. He pulls on every last shred of energy he has inside his body and begs for it to give Todoroki life again.
Desperation tears him apart. He searches frantically inside himself for something, anything that can bring Katsuki back.
It's not enough. What does he have this stupid power for if he can't save the only person who cares about him?
His limbs, his muscles, the still-open knife wound, are screaming at him to stop, but he doesn't care. He won't let go of Katsuki.
Not like this, he thinks. Not again. I won't let him die.
I won't.
The thought becomes solid in his mind.
I won't let him die.
He knows it's true as he thinks it. It's a fact of the world, as certain as the knowledge that the planet will go on spinning.
Katsuki Bakugou will not die today.
Light streams from Izuku's hands where they rest on Katsuki's chest. It splits into a thousand tiny tendrils, dancing and twisting and curling around the two of them. It's mesmerising. Izuku still just stares at Katsuki's motionless face.
Izuku feels his own energy emptying rapidly, but he doesn't cut the connection. He won't cut it until Katsuki is breathing again.
Katsuki still doesn't move. It isn't enough. Izuku keeps pouring energy in, even as he feels it begin to drain on his own life force. He doesn't care how much it takes. He would give it all a thousand times over for this.
He feels dizzy. The world spins and tilts and flips. Blood still pours from the wound in his stomach where Shigaraki drove the knife into him.
He still doesn't break the connection. Everything goes black.
Izuku grows up in a little town in the country. The houses are small and pretty, with thatched roofs and little wooden doors. Everyone knows everyone. Life is tough, but people are happy here.
His mother is a kind woman named Inko, with green hair just like his. She hugs him and laughs with him and cooks his favourite meals and tries her best to make him happy. She does make him happy.
Izuku's best friend is a boy with blonde hair and red eyes. His name is Katsuki, and Izuku thinks he's the most amazing person in the world. Katsuki wants to be a soldier when he gets older. Izuku says he does too, but only because it's what Katsuki wants.
Really, he wants something different. His neighbour is a man called Toshinori Yagi. He's selfless, and genuine, and the one everybody goes to for help. He can use magic, beautiful magic that dances through his fingers when he commands it to. When I grow up, Izuku thinks assuredly, I want to be like Mr. Yagi.
"Teach me!" 6-year-old Izuku begs Toshinori for the millionth time.
Katsuki scoffs next to him. "Tch. Why do you want to learn that stuff, nerd? Swords are way cooler!"
"Of course, Kacchan," Izuku lies. "But I want to learn anyway."
Katsuki rolls his eyes. Toshinori chuckles. "Maybe when you're older," he says to both of them. Izuku is too young to notice Toshinori's lingering glance in his direction.
"At least show us something cool! Please!"
Toshinori sighs, and rummages around in a drawer on the other side of the room. He retrieves a single seed and holds it in his palm where both boys can see. Tendrils of light curl around his hand, and the seed blooms into a tiny red flower. He tucks it behind Izuku's ear, and Izuku giggles.
"Hey!" Katsuki protests. "Not fair, I want one too." He pouts dramatically.
"But Kacchan, I thought you said this wasn't cool!" Izuku teases, laughing again.
Katsuki scowls and shoves a hand in his face playfully. "Shut up, Deku! I only said swords are way cooler!"
Izuku keeps that flowers for years. Every time it wilts, he knocks sheepishly on the door of the house next to his and asks for it to be fixed. Toshinori obliges every time. Everything in Izuku's life shifts and changes around him, but he still keeps up the habit of keeping the flower alive.
Once, when Izuku is about 16 years old, it's the other way around, and Toshinori is the one knocking on Izuku's door. His mother answers, greeting him happily as she moves aside and offers Toshinori a drink.
"Thank you," he says, sitting down at the dining table. "But I actually need to talk to Izuku. Is he around?"
Inko sticks her head outside and calls his name, and he comes running in, his face painted in a bright smile which gets wider when he notices the guest. "Mr. Yagi!"
Toshinori laughs. "Hello, my boy. I wondered if I could have a word with you about something important."
Izuku gives him a confused look, but takes a seat opposite him. Inko leaves the room to give them some privacy.
Toshinori inhales deeply. He may as well get straight to the point. "The magic I do cannot be taught."
Izuku's smile falters, but Toshinori continues before he can say anything. "But it can be given."
Izuku freezes. Hope blooms in his chest.
"I would like, if you want, for you to be my apprentice."
Izuku launches himself at the man, wrapping his arms around him and hugging him tightly. Toshinori laughs and pats Izuku's shoulder awkwardly.
"Yes!" Izuku says. "Yes, of course!"
He doesn't tell Katsuki at first. He knows he should, and his heart constricts every time they train together and Katsuki talks about the two of them becoming soldiers. He doesn't know how to break it to him. He doesn't know how to say that he's not following that path.
It doesn't help, really, that recently, their friendship hasn't really been what it used to be. There are soft smiles, lingering touches. They fall asleep curled up next to each other more often than not. Izuku is so scared to lose it. He knows the truth will get between them.
It comes out, eventually. Izuku can't hold it in anymore. It hurts him too much to keep lying to his best friend. Katsuki is talking about how unstoppable they'll be, the strongest duo, the best fighters around. He just seems so set on it.
"Mr. Yagi asked me to be his apprentice."
Katsuki glances briefly back at him. "Tch."
"I said yes."
Katsuki stops. He turns to Izuku slowly. "What?" he asks.
Izuku holds back tears. "I'm not going with you."
There's a pause, silent and tense. Hurt flashes briefly across Katsuki's face, but as quickly as it appears it's replaced by anger, and Katsuki explodes. "What the fuck do you mean? You've been lying to me this whole fucking time?"
The tears flow freely now. "I didn't know how to tell you," he says. "He asked me a few months ago and I was so scared to tell you about it-"
"I thought were in this together," Katsuki growls, and the wobble in his voice betrays his hurt. "I can't fucking believe you, Deku."
He walks off. Izuku doesn't follow. He wishes he could fix this the way Toshinori fixes his flower every time it dies.
When he walks in the door, Inko immediately asks him what's wrong. "I told him," he murmurs, and her face falls.
"Oh, Izuku," she says, wrapping her arms around him. "Katsuki cares about you more than anything. He'll come around."
As Izuku lies awake on his bed, he desperately hopes she's right.
He wakes to the smell of smoke. His eyes are stinging, and he coughs violently. He stumbles downstairs, searching for his mother. He doesn't find her, and pulls open the door, hoping she's already escaped the house and is waiting for him outside.
She isn't there.
Toshinori's house is a blackened mess, the walls half gone and the interior open to the world. It looks like the fire started there, and spread over to Izuku's house next door. Every building in his vision is burning. It's like some sort of sick light show.
Toshinori stands in front of his doorway, facing a strange man. The man is cloaked, his face concealed by a dark hood, but his hands are pale and covered in scars. He says something to Toshinori that Izuku is too far away to hear.
He has to find his mother. They have to get away from here. He takes a deep breath and runs back into his house.
He finds her, trapped behind a fallen beam of wood. With his help, she manages to free herself. More material falls from the burning ceiling above them, right where she had just been standing.
The smoke is getting even thicker, and he can hardly breathe. He grabs her hand and they scramble their way out as fast as they can.
When they make it to the end of the path that Izuku had taken to get to Inko, he freezes. It's blocked now. Flames lick the underside of a fallen bookshelf, trapping them inside. The ceiling above them is partially caved in and balancing precariously on the section of the shelf that flames are quickly eating through. If they don't get out soon, it will collapse on them.
Through the space above the bookshelf, Izuku can see Toshinori, hunched over and breathing fitfully. The stranger Izuku had seen five minutes earlier is not in sight. He shouts for him, and Toshinori looks up, horror flashing over his face. Behind him, Izuku's mother coughs.
"Izuku!" Toshinori runs over, wincing in pain. Now that he's closer, Izuku can see that he's wounded. His whole side is slick with blood. He doesn't look good.
The ceiling above them groans painfully. Toshinori tries to pull some of the smaller pieces of wood out the way, but his injury is bad. He gives a strangled cry, and doubles over. When he coughs harshly, there's blood.
The damaged wood groans again, and something snaps. Toshinori looks back at Izuku with wide eyes. The burning ceiling trembles, and falls.
Izuku thinks he blacks out. When his eyes open again, his ears are ringing and his head is throbbing. Everything hurts. It's hot, so hot. He becomes aware of something pulling on his arms, and he feels his body shift and move. Cool air hits his face.
He's on the ground. Toshinori kneels next to him. He looks scared. What is he scared about? Izuku is fine. He can't feel much, not now that everything is numb, but he's okay. He just wants to go to sleep for a bit. His eyes start to close.
"Stay awake, please," Toshinori pleads, but he sounds so far away that Izuku can barely make out what he's saying.
Light burns from behind his eyelids, and he forces his eyes open. He's surrounded by a soft glow, like a thousand fireflies hovering around him. It's beautiful. He wishes he could freeze time, just to look at it a bit longer.
Toshinori's hands rest over Izuku's heart. The light collects itself into a little ball, small and bright. Then it explodes into a starfall, and Izuku's body absorbs it. It feels warm and comforting, like his mother's cooking. He just wants to fall asleep for a moment. He lets himself slip into unconsciousness.
Katsuki finds him half an hour later, after a frantic search. Izuku's heart isn't beating. The last conversation they had was a stupid argument. When he looks at Izuku's body, it feels like half his world died with him.
Toshinori Yagi lies next to him, pale and bloody. His heart is just as still as Izuku's.
Rain puts the fires out eventually. The town is completely destroyed. The flames had spread everywhere, catching on every building, and they had more than enough time to burn everything to the ground before the rain extinguished them.
Katsuki returns as soon as it's safe to pull Inko's body out of the ruins too. When he gets there, Izuku's body is gone. He assumes an animal must have taken it. It makes him sick, and it's just another hurt on top of everything else. He can't even bury his best friend.
He also finds the body of a stranger, his black cloak in tatters. Katsuki leaves him where he is.
He buries Inko and Toshinori, though, and he engraves a stone for each of them and Izuku. He makes it look as nice as he can. He leaves a red flower on Izuku's stone, just like the one Toshinori had given him as a child.
He leaves the area and never comes back after that. He only lives half a life and dies younger than most, and the memory of Izuku follows him every single day.
The next thing Izuku knows, he's waking up in a forest thousands of miles from home.
Izuku gasps and sits up, dragging breath after painful breath into his lungs. He's still on the ground at the country house. Nothing has changed.
Except everything has changed, because he remembers. He remembers it all. Every laugh, every tear, every person. The memories that slipped out of his reach for so long have finally stayed in his grasp. He finally knows who he is.
"Deku?"
Katsuki's voice is quiet and hoarse, but it's there. He's speaking. He's moving. He's breathing.
He's alive. He's alive . Izuku can't help the laugh that escapes his lips.
Katsuki pulls himself upright, hissing in pain as he moves. "You died in the fire. Why are we here?" He sounds dazed, disorientated.
He isn't talking about what just happened with Shigaraki. He's talking about the dream.
Izuku never cut the connection between them. He passed out before Katsuki woke up. He didn't break it. He can feel it now, running quietly at the base of his mind. It's present, but it's tame, restrained. He can faintly feel foreign thoughts and emotions on the other side.
Oh.
"You saw it as well, didn't you?" Izuku asks quietly.
"I saw us as kids. I saw you dead," Katsuki says in a low voice.
"How much do you remember? From before Shigaraki..." He trails off, putting a hand next to the half-healed wound over Katsuki's heart.
Katsuki meets his eyes slowly. "Everything."
Izuku's stomach drops, and he goes to move away from Katsuki, his breaths getting shorter. "You're probably terrified of me now. I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I'm so sorry-"
Katsuki grabs his hands, cutting him off. "Deku," he says. "I don't care."
At Izuku's look of shock, he sighs. "I don't fucking care that you didn't tell me. We have time. Tell me now."
So Izuku takes a deep breath, and tells him all of it. He talks about waking up, not knowing where or who he was. He talks about meeting Ochaco, and meeting Todoroki, and meeting Aizawa. He talks about running away from Shigaraki, and working himself to death to get stronger. He even talks, haltingly, about standing on the edge of a cliff and wishing the fall would kill him.
When he finishes, crying and sort of breathless, Katsuki pulls him into a tight hug. Izuku sobs into his shoulder.
Katsuki asks him why they're both here now, when he knows he lived a whole life before.
"I think," Izuku starts hesitantly, his voice muffled by Katsuki's clothes. "I think the world wanted to give us a second chance."
Katsuki hugs him tighter.
Then Izuku pulls back slightly, and tells Katsuki about his power, and about the connection between the two of them that he didn't have time to break. Katsuki listens quietly until Izuku is done explaining, but before he can say anything, Izuku opens his mouth again.
"I might be able to break it. I don't know. I don't know what it means for you if I don't."
"Deku."
"I don't want it to tie you to me, because then you'd be stuck with me, and you wouldn't die-"
"Deku."
"-and I know people think that's a good thing but I wouldn't wish it on anyone, so really I should try and cut it right now because-"
"Izuku!"
Katsuki takes Izuku's face in his hands and kisses him. Izuku's breath hitches, and he relaxes in Katsuki's grasp, his eyes sliding shut. He snakes his arms around Katsuki's neck, pulling him closer and pressing their bodies together as he deepens the kiss. The care, the desperation, the want, leaves Izuku breathless. The world falls away around them.
"Keep it," Katsuki whispers, pulling back just enough that his lips still brush lightly over Izuku's as he speaks.
"What?" Izuku replies.
Katsuki rolls his eyes. "The fucking bond, Deku. I want to keep it."
"What?" Izuku says again, his eyes wide.
"Do you really need me to say it?" Katsuki laughs softly. It's so unlike how he normally is, how he acts around everyone else, it's almost jarring. Almost. Izuku just wants to kiss him again.
"I want to stay with you," Katsuki murmurs. "For as long as I have to."
He reaches for Izuku's hand and joins their fingers together.
"I want to stay with you until the world crumbles around us."
He presses his lips to Izuku's again, gentle and so full of purpose. His red eyes are brimming with raw emotion. Izuku feels it too, deep and visceral, both from himself and through the bond. He knows his own eyes must be practically glowing yellow right now.
He's happy. He's so happy. It's an alien feeling. He hopes it never goes away.
As much he wants to stay in this moment forever, Izuku breaks away eventually, panting and dazed. "We need to help the others," he says. "None of them are dead. They might be trapped."
Katsuki nods, and they both pull themselves to their feet. Izuku shifts, just because he can, turning to Katsuki as a fox and delighting in the way Katsuki's eyes widen just a little in awe.
He crouches down to meet Izuku's eyes. "It's fucking amazing. You're amazing." Izuku rests his head on Katsuki's knee for a moment, letting his breathing slow down to match Katsuki's.
Then he lifts his head to the air, filtering through all the sensory input to find the people still inside the house.
Four by the dining room. Three in the staff quarters. Six in the kitchens. Kaminari and Kirishima are still by Kaminari's room, where Izuku guesses Kaminari was trapped. Izuku can smell blood, but no fear. Everyone is still alive, and more or less okay.
Izuku picks his way across the ground towards the people closest to them. Katsuki follows behind him.
They manage to get everyone out safely. By the time they get to Kaminari, Kirishima has managed to free him and the two of them are sitting back to back on the grass together, breathing heavily.
Then Izuku takes Katsuki's phone and flies straight in one direction until it registers a signal again. He calls Aizawa. The man picks up after only one ring.
"Bakugou?" He sounds stressed.
Izuku can't help the smile that comes when he hears Aizawa's voice. "It's Izuku."
"Izuku! I've been trying to get hold of you for hours, what the fuck happened?" Aizawa doesn't swear very often. He must have been really worried about them.
"It's a long story. I'll explain everything in person. Right now all you need to know is that the base is now a huge pile of rubble and everyone is safe and alive."
Aizawa exhales on the other end of the phone. "Okay. That's good."
"A few people are injured, but it's nothing fatal. Our signal was cut off so I'm far out of the way right now, but I need to get back. Can you send transport for us?"
"Of course," Aizawa says, and then pauses. "Do me a favour and don't scare me like that again. I was worried about you, problem child. No idea why."
"Ah, there it is," Izuku laughs. "I was concerned you'd gone soft on me."
"Soft on you? Never. You're a pain in my ass."
"Yeah, yeah," he replies, giggling.
Sleek black government cars arrive in a long train not fifteen minutes after Izuku gets back. A woman in a neatly-pressed suit climbs out the front car, and Nezu exchanges some quiet words with her before they get back into the taxi together. Everyone else follows suit, filling up each car in the line of vehicles.
The drivers take them to the train station. Nezu hands Izuku and Katsuki a train ticket each and thanks them for their work.
"I'm sure we'll work together again some time!" Nezu says, slightly unnervingly. Izuku still wants to poke him.
They both fall asleep on the train. The journey doesn't feel so slow to Izuku this time, with the warmth of Katsuki's body next to his. The gentle movement of the train carriage is strangely calming. Maybe trains aren't so bad after all, he thinks.
Another taxi is waiting for them when their train pulls into its destination. Aizawa leans casually against the car door, staring at Izuku and Katsuki's linked hands with one eyebrow raised.
"Looks like you do have a lot to tell me," he drawls. Izuku blushes.
Izuku tells him everything in the taxi ride. Katsuki interjects occasionally to add things. When he finishes explaining, Aizawa exhales deeply.
"Damn," he says, and it's just such a perfect reaction that Izuku can't help but burst out laughing. Katsuki looks at him like he's gone crazy, but a small smile tugs at his lips as well.
They drive past the agency offices, but they don't stop. Izuku looks at Aizawa with confusion. Aizawa just smiles.
They eventually pull up outside Izuku's flat. It's such a simple gesture, but Izuku's had an emotional few days. He immediately bursts into tears. Katsuki snorts and puts an arm around him.
"He means thank you," he says to Aizawa, mimicking the way Izuku talked to Kirishima before. Izuku shoves him, but there's no real anger behind it.
The program they were on is discontinued, of course. Kirishima and Kaminari had done a great job, but Izuku and Katsuki had sort of been more disruptive than anything, although Katsuki adamantly denies this when Aizawa drily explains it to them. Also, the program can't really operate anymore when the base is a pile of rocks.
With his degree abandoned and his training program interrupted, Katsuki doesn't really have anywhere to go. Izuku assumed it was kind of a given that he'd come and stay with him in his flat, either way. Aizawa hires Katsuki officially just like he did for Izuku, even though he never formally completed his training. The two of them are sort of a package deal now anyway.
The first thing Aizawa does once the two of them are settled back in is grant them two months of leave. He acts all dramatic about it and pretends like they left him no choice, just to keep up appearances, but it's a kind gesture, and it doesn't go unappreciated.
The first place Izuku and Katsuki go is the site where the three engraved stones still lie. They're a historical relic now or something, a thousand years old and swarmed by archaeologists. The hill isn't open to the public, but they're practically secret agents, so they sneak in easily enough.
"I don't remember engraving these," Katsuki says. "But I know I did."
"Isn't it weird?" Izuku replies. "There's been more than one of you. Doesn't that make you feel strange?"
"Of fucking course it does," Katsuki says, and then pauses for a moment. "But I'm the better version. Obviously."
"Of course," Izuku giggles, leaning into Katsuki's side.
It feels like closure, standing there. Like everything can finally be put to bed. The dreams have stopped, since the day Katsuki almost died.
Well, apart from once.
First, he finds a boy with hair that's two colours.
"You kept going," Todoroki says with a tiny smile.
"Yes," Izuku says, knowing it was hard.
Next, he finds a kind man with blonde hair.
"I'm so proud of you, Izuku," Toshinori says, placing a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "You're a better guardian and a better person than anyone else could be. Was it worth it?"
"Yes," Izuku says, and he means it.
Finally, he finds a brown-haired girl.
"You found him," Ochaco whispers. She looks proud.
"Yes," says Izuku. "I did."
She kisses his cheek just like she did that day on the hill, but this time, she doesn't walk off. She just sits with him, keeping him company until he wakes up.
Izuku and Katsuki head down the hill together, and they don't look back. They get coffee at the visitor gift shop down the road. By the time they're finished, the sun is beginning to set. They stand on the pavement and watch as the moon rises. Katsuki nudges Izuku's shoulder playfully.
"So, we have two months. Where are we going first?" Katsuki asks.
Izuku grins. "How about Amsterdam?"