Chapter Text
“Ah, Deku-shounen, you’re awake!”
Deku, who was going up the stairs at the time, stopped. He turned and then gave a curt nod before he made his way back down the stairs. He met up with Yagi, and looking at him, no one would guess that he had ever been injured or sleeping for so long unless they knew that the only people who wore yukatas on base were their injured and recovering.
Still, after two and a half weeks of hearing Deku’s voice here and there, the lack of reply spelled enough for the older man.
“...Oh, you remember then?”
Deku gave a deep bow, bending at his waist, and spoke, “I’m sorry for my previous behavior. It will not happen again.”
A hand came down onto his shoulder, and Deku straightened under the touch. Yagi leaned down a little, a big grin on his face and bright blue eyes staring at him from underneath a shadow.
“No need to apologize. We are your support as much as you have been ours,” the blond said. “There’s no wrong in lending assistance, as there is no wrong in receiving it.”
Deku basked under the warm words, even though he didn’t deserve them. They were beautiful words from a kind man to a terrible person. However, Deku didn't correct him either.
But even a child could explain it. Bad people deserved all the bad things that happened to them. He was only glad that Shindo was spared from this.
“Deku-shounen,” Yagi continued, both of his massive hands coming to grip his shoulders firmly. They pressed down on old wounds and aches, but Deku didn’t flinch. “Enjoying life doesn’t mean you have forgotten the past. It could also mean that you are healing. There is nothing wrong with that.”
Green eyes widened at the statement. He felt like these were important words. If he had heard them before, at the time where his life felt most turbulent, he might have even found peace. Instead, he took the words to mean that Yagi was a beautiful person, inside and out. He wanted to protect that.
He didn't know if his blood-stained hands could protect anything, especially something as precious as that gentle gaze, but if they could, he wanted to protect this.
“These last few days, were they really so bad?”
They were wonderful, Deku couldn’t bring himself to say. But he knew better than to think that he deserved them.
The words lodged in his throat, caught because Deku had just enough shame to keep his mouth shut. He had enough just enough shame to not admit to those perverse thoughts aloud. He would hold these memories close to his heart, far away from where anyone else may pry. Even if they disappeared one day, that would be fine. The feelings would remain. The warmth and the rage and the kindness and the hate will cradle his weak and pitiful heart.
These memories, these feelings, will surely accompany him all the way to hell.
When it looked like Yagi had nothing to say, Deku gave one more bow before he left. He had to prepare for patrol.