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Izuku ran his hands over his buzzed haircut again. In the darkness he could see clearly into Katsuki’s house as he brought the last suitcase down to finish loading his mom’s black sedan.
“Are you sure it’s okay, Kacchan?”
“No I’m fuckin’ not, but what choice do we have?”
“Oh. Well, I could—”
“The fuck you could. They’ll kill you. Do you understand? They’re not fucking around this time. It’s not like when we were kids, Deku.”
Tears fell in streams down his cheeks as he held Katsuki’s hands in his own one last time. Katsuki had started loading the car up with supplies as soon as the order came down from the new dictator.
Order 352.
Quirkless people were being rounded up and taken away.
This was it. A movement that had been building for years, slow at first with increasing hate crimes and propaganda, but the government did nothing to stop it. Quirkists gained popular approval from the masses, winning elections and filling seats on the councils.
“I’ll miss you, Kacchan.”
“Shut up.”
Izuku winced up at Katsuki, who refused to meet his gaze. Was he mad? Of course he was mad, he was going to get in so much trouble for letting Izuku drive away with his mom’s car with a bunch of their food in the trunk. He probably hates him more than ever now that—
“They’re wrong. You fucking know that, right?” Katsuki sniffed.
Wait— sniffed?
“You’re not worthless.”
“Kacchan…”
“You’re fucking perfect.”
“I-I’m…”
“Please, just… Fuck.”
Katsuki leaned down to look into the car at eye-level with Izuku.
“Don’t you dare let them get you. I’ll— I’ll find you, I swear. Don’t let them get you… Please.”
He was crying.
Oh…
“Kacchan, I… I’m so sorry, I wish…”
“Me too. Fuck. Here, take this.”
Katsuki handed Izuku a wad of cash and… what?
“Fake ID. Go somewhere nobody recognizes you. I’ll fucking find you. Use this,” he said, handing him a phone. “Emergencies only. Now go.”
“Oh god… I can’t… Oh god—”
“Now’s not the time, Deku! No tears, you have to fucking drive! Go! Don’t stop till you’re fucking safe! Damnit!”
In his eighteen years of life, Izuku had never seen another person as upset as Kacchan in this moment. Hesitating only a moment, he unbuckled his seatbelt and stepped out of the car to capture the crying boy in a hug. They cried together like never before, clinging to each other as they gasped for breath. Katsuki mumbled something against Izuku’s shoulder that he couldn’t understand, running a hand over his shorn hair down to the back of his neck to make the freckled boy look up at him. His face was red and his bright eyes puffy with emotion as he drew closer than they’d been when they cuddled as kids, closer than when he’d fought and threatened him in middle school, closer than that time last year when Izuku almost thought Katsuki had been about to— but he’d never—
He kissed him.
Izuku’s first kiss brought the anguish and adoration of this imperfect friendship to a bright, explosive finish. He kissed Katsuki back for all he was worth. He loved this man. But it was time to go.
Izuku got into the car and drove off into the night without another word. Hopefully, if they were lucky, there’d be time to say it later.