Chapter Text
Katsuki had known Deku for a long time. He couldn't say he would brag about it, but the morons that liked to spend time near his presence always reminded him it was a big deal. He didn't see why it should matter.
Who cared if Deku was the only person who didn't see him as a crazy violent menace?
Who cared if Deku was the only person who understood his want to be stronger and number one in everything?
Who cared if Deku was the only kid in pre-school who wanted to talk to him and spend time with him?
Deku was a damn nerd that had been a pain in his neck for all of his life. He was hopeless, dreamt too much and was always near. They went to the same pre-school, the same middle school, and now they were at the same high school. They lived a few blocks away from each other, so they also saw each other around their neighbourhood. For a while, he had almost believed he was cursed with having Deku follow him like a lost puppy. And then came UA.
In UA, where the best of the best were accepted, he ended in the same fucking class as Deku. In UA, where he learned Deku hanged out with him because he wanted to. In UA, where he came to the horrible conclusion that he wasn't stronger than Deku. The nerd had more power than him, knew more spells than him and was better at casting than him. In UA, where he discovered Deku was better than him.
Deku!
The fucking cry baby that once stopped him from squashing an ant. The fucking nerd that could recite every All Might line from issue #14 of the Might Comics by heart. The fucking guy that knew everything about him because he considered him friends.
Before UA, Deku was just that. He was a scaredy-cat, useless that needed Katsuki, and hanged on to his every word. But UA changed him. No. It changed Katsuki, and so it also changed the way he saw the damn nerd.
Because he came to two conclusions. One, he had been making Deku hold back. And two, he was the one who needed Deku.
He needed constant praise and for somebody to tell him when he crossed a line. He needed somebody who understood his basic instincts and didn't judge him for them. He needed someone to be the huggable teddy while he gave the tough love. He needed a pack to protect and guard, and Deku had been part of his since that first day.
And Deku knew this. Because even after everything, the fights, the fire, the punches, Deku was still here. He never made a complaint and took his violent nature head-on. From the first day, Deku had approached him with kindness, and he only treated him as if he didn't need him. Deku knew everything about him, and he didn't know shit. It wasn't until they came to UA that he learned he was a vegan, a pacifist, or that he needed litres of caffeine to function as a human being.
He hated how the green wimp made him feel.
And he hated how right now, in what could possibly be the worst moment of the entire summer camp, he was scared of Deku.
They had been trying to put out the strange, powerful fire when Aizawa-sensei went all suicidal. They were all trapped, and the teachers were ready to give themselves up for them. Which he wanted to fucking disagree with. Even if they were still students, it didn't mean they couldn't help. Wolf-man couldn't be that much stronger than all of them combined, right?
Still, Aizawa wanted to play the hero. But that didn't go as planned. When Aizawa fell, they all got ready to defend him. However, one of them was faster. Deku, who had been passed out all this time, suddenly opened his eyes and jumped into action, kicking the mother-fucker away hard. As in, hard enough that he destroyed one of the huts completely.
He hadn't know Deku could do that. He also didn't know he could turn his skin into the familiar jade green and gold spots that had been haunting the class since day 1. Or for some of them, from even before that. It was fucking unthinkable. And from the shocked faces around him, he wasn't alone on that train of thought.
Once Deku was covered head to toe on jade, he subconsciously grabbed his wrists. His mind might have been playing tricks on him because he could swear his own jade started heating up. But that was impossible. Deku couldn't be related to this, it had to be a coincidence. This was huge, too huge. He couldn't have missed something this huge...
Then, the debris from where the wolf-man had landed started moving until the blonde wolf came out. The mad man was laughing like a maniac, his blue eyes bulging out of his face as he stared at Deku. He shakes the dust from the collision off himself and smiles. It's deranged and power-hungry, and he knows what it means. The guy was hyped up. He had found a worthy opponent and was going to go all out. The problem with that was that the target was Deku.
"Finally!" the wolf-man screams with glee. "Somebody who won't waste my time! I am Muscular, weird green rock kid! I'm the owner of this forest, and I have been waiting for this for a while now! I have grown tired of simple fights! I need to be stronger than anybody! I need a fight! A real one! And you are going to give it to me!" the guy monologues.
Deku doesn't respond. It's unsettling. He always wore his feeling on his sleeve, but now he is as emotional as a rock. He is not even blinking.
"Why Kota?" Deku says, his voice sounding louder and echoed as if other people were talking too. With the mention of her nephew's name, the ranger Mandalay becomes more worried. But even she doesn't want to get in the middle of these two.
"What!?" Muscular exclaims, and then his face clears off of confusion. He throws his head back and laughs as if it's the funniest joke he's heard. "Oh! You mean the kid? That was just a snack! A little warm-up before the grand meal!" the maniac boasts.
He can't see it, but he knows Deku is angry. He can feel it. His jade wristbands heat up, and he can feel the anger and fury. It's intense. He never knew Deku could have this level of anger. And he is not the only one who is feeling this. All around him, some of his classmates growl as they perceive the rage from the green one.
But then it gets worse.
"Yes! You are getting angry! Good! Rage will make you not hold back against me! Keep getting angry! Do you want to hear about how I killed him? How I ripped him apart with one bite?" the feeling grows more intense as the growling raises. "I can tell you are close to these people! Especially that dragon one! I bet I can do the same to him! He's gonna make a fine ass meal! So you better stop me before-UGH!" Muscular, who started getting closer in the middle of his rant, suddenly stops in his tracks as he doubles over.
A second before Muscular bent over in pain, Deku started mumbling something. Katsuki and the rest of the students are too close to make out what he says, but once he starts, it's not only Muscular that feels it. The sky, which had a few clouds before, clears out completely. The moon, high and round, shone brightly over them, its light bouncing off of Deku's gem body. The air around them grows tense as a warmth envelopes them, different from the heat before. The tension is still there, they can still feel the raw magical power, but now it feels safe. It's comforting, familiar.
"Salutarut Kikai Congra Betsu," Deku finally stops mumbling, and they can hear what he says clearly.
"Salutarut Kikai Congra Betsu," he repeats, and they hear Muscular shriek in pain.
"Salutarut Kikai Congra Betsu," the wolf-man starts transforming back, curling up in the ground, and Deku levitates into the air.
"Salutarut Kikai Congra Betsu," Deku continues chanting as Muscular keeps shrieking. Katsuki can't help but feel like he has seen something similar before.
"Kachan..."
"Salutarut Kikai Congra Betsu," Deku raises his hand while Muscular is on the ground seizing, and the jade pieces of everyone start lighting up.
"Kachan!"
"Salutarut Kikai Congra Betsu!"," the fire around them starts shaking, and without touching anyone, it flies to Deku's hand, creating a ball of fire. Muscular is still on the floor convulsing and ripping his shirt to shreds as if he's trying to open his chest.
"Kachan, please! Wake up!"
"Salutarut Kikai Congra Betsu," a circle burns itself to the ground as Muscular's body finally stops, and a black sphere with one crack of yellow comes out of his body.
"No, no, no, please! Kachan!"
"Salutarut Kikai Congra Betsu," the sphere fights against it, but it gets absorbed into the fireball in Deku's raised hand. Muscular, who looks scared for a change, tries to crawl towards him in desperation.
"Mo Chansu in Remisio Wanai!"
"Salutarut Kikai Congra Betsu!" with one final scream, the fireball shines a blinding light.
They can hear a shriek and a cracking noise before the lights from their jewellery and the one Deku made goes off, and Deku, no longer made of jades, is standing there. His right arm, the one he raised for that whole thing is broken. The bone is sprouting out of his elbow, the skin is purple with bruises, and blood drips out of it onto the earth. His breath is worked up, coming out in pants, and when he turns around, he notices his eye look to be red from crying and haunted.
Deku looks at each of them, checking them out, and breathes a sigh of relief when he finishes. "You are alright..." he breaths before falling down unconscious with a thud.
Nobody moves for a whole ass minute. They are all too shooked.
However, as Aizawa opens his mouth to say something and snap them out of it, the earth shakes. They all turn their sight back towards Muscular's body, where the circle below him started shining again. Then, as if it was alive, the ground swallows the entire body like quicksand, leaving only the burned mark and the dirt. A second later, white flowers with yellow in the middle spring out of the circle.
Everybody keeps still again, the tension from before back. Only one brave man breaks it when he speaks.
"Kan," Aizawa says, his voice unsteady. "Call a few ambulances,"