Chapter Text
The alert from Midnight came at midnight and second nature took over as Katsuki switched on the bedside lamp. He reached for his phone with purpose; hyper-aware, despite his groaning muscles and the crust of sleep still in his eyes. He rose from the bed and changed into his hero costume in a flash; no time to meet at the agency, to get dressed lazily, or shoot the shit over a hot drink as he caught up with co-workers and friends. Yes—believe it or not—he did have friends, thanks. The signal on his phone pinged the location of the melee along with a brief message from Midnight; a code for heroes’ eyes only that meant Urgent. Thankfully, he didn’t have far to travel and that was likely why he’d been called to the action; he was already close and sometimes timing made all the difference.
Katsuki rubbed his hands together creating just enough friction to allow him quick access to his Quirk. Without time to warm up— literally—he was nowhere near as efficient with his explosions. His gauntlets provided some backup with a store of his nitroglycerin-like sweat, which he could detonate at will. He didn’t have as much stored up as he’d like in these conditions, but once he got going, it wouldn’t be a problem to produce more. He tore off in the direction of the fight, running at top speed not only to arrive as fast as possible but to generate the heat needed to activate his Quirk at peak performance. Two birds with one stone.
The scene he entered was chaotic, to say the least. Smoke already hovered over the street and sirens wailed in the distance. Katsuki moved carefully, taking stock of the situation, of where he was most needed before running in. He’d grown a lot since his high school days.
He spotted Midnight’s dark hair through the haze and he moved towards her at a pace, continuing to examine his surroundings. She clapped Katsuki on the shoulder as he arrived, getting right to the point. “I’ve subdued one of the perpetrators but the other got away, headed east. A woman about your height. Pink costume.”
Katsuki snarled, eyeing the crumpled heap of a villain at Midnight’s feet, brought down by her sleeping gas. “Deku and Red Riot are cornering her but they could use the backup. This one fights dirty.”
He took a deep breath to center himself as he chased off towards his colleagues. Deku and Kirishima—that was lucky. He knew their fighting styles well and their Quirks easily complemented each other. They’d fought alongside one other countless times both during school and after. Kirishima had been the first to befriend him in high school and he’d known Deku since…well...he couldn’t remember not knowing Deku.
This should be a breeze, Katsuki thought. We’ll make quick work of it and I’ll be back in bed before dawn. I should still be able to sleep for two hours before patrol duty. Across the sky, not too far down an alleyway, he saw flashes of green lightning that indicated Deku’s Quirk, and he ran in that direction. His palms itched with anticipation.
“Yo, Kacchan!” Kirishima called.
It had taken Katsuki at least a year to get used to hearing others call him by that name, foreign-sounding on anyone’s lips aside from Deku’s (and occasionally Kaminari who used it to tease him). But the more he heard it, the more right it felt. It had started as a pet name, born from Deku’s inability to correctly pronounce ‘Katsuki' when they’d first met and it had just sort of stuck.
When Katsuki had chosen it as his hero name, he’d known what it meant to accept it and all the weight that came with it. Not only his own history but his history with Deku as well. Best Jeanist—a former mentor—had encouraged him to choose a name that reflected the type of hero he wanted to be. He’d gone through several disastrous choices over the years, but when he truly paused to consider that question, Katsuki could only come up with one real answer. He always wanted to be seen as the “Image of Victory,” which had inspired such admiration in his childhood friend, and that was Kacchan .
“That’s right, it would be you showing up, since you live so close by,” Kirishima added. His tone was casual, as though they were simply meeting up for a drink.
“No time for pleasantries, Shitty Hair.” Katsuki grinned, small explosions already crackling in his hands.
“Good to see you too, man,” answered Kirishima, returning the grin.
Katsuki looked around briefly for a sign of Deku’s green hair or the green flashes of lightning he’d seen earlier. “Where the hell is Deku? I thought I saw him.” Katsuki took a crouched position, hands out, ready for a brawl.
As if in answer to this very question, Deku hurtled back towards them and for a moment Katsuki thought he’d tumble right into them. He managed to land on his feet, skidding on his heels, but ultimately in pretty good control for the amount of momentum he’d just been handling.
“Where did she get these moves? Oh—hey Kacchan!” said Deku, going from disgruntled to chipper in seconds.
Katsuki scoffed, suppressing a laugh at just how aggressively dorky Deku could be even mid-combat. “Hey, yourself, nerd.”
“Kacchan!” Deku screeched in warning, and the two of them jumped out of the way just as Kirishima leaped forward to block an incoming attack with his hardening Quirk, debris flying at them from an unseen source.
“Look alive, guys!”
Katsuki unleashed an explosion in the general direction of the villain, but he still had yet to lay eyes on her. He knew nothing of her Quirk and was only piecing together her combat style in real-time.
“What’s her Quirk?” he asked as they moved forward together with caution.
“Don’t know exactly. Some sort of manipulative gas, like Midnight’s. I think. But this one’s got a range on it like I’ve never seen. Luckily, we haven’t gotten close long enough for her to make use of it,” Deku said.
“So, let’s keep it that way, yeah?” Katsuki squinted through the debris to spot a cloud of rolling pink gas in the distance. She was clearly using it defensively, like a shield. Dammit.
“Deku and I aren’t the best choices for long-range, but we’ll work with what we got,” Kirishima confidently crowed. He punctuated his point by punching a hardened fist into his hand, eyes glinting with ferocity.
“I can take care of the long-range,” Katsuki confirmed with a nod, “but we’ll have to zero in on her location at least enough to know if the attack was successful.” Deku put his head down and pulled on his bottom lip, his signature thinking tell.
“We’re a little too pressed for your inner monologue right now, Deku. Whaddya got?”
“Well, I’ve noticed the gas cloud comes in spurts. It’s all-encompassing when she uses it and she can push it out pretty far, but she can’t hold it consistently. There’s a time limit or something.” Deku paused and focused for a minute on Katsuki’s face. “Kacchan, let’s wait ’til the gas dissipates and then use X-catapult. I’ll land a quick hit and the momentum will get me out of there fast if I use that billboard wall, so aim me that way.”
It was a move they’d improvised in a pinch as teenagers, but they had since perfected it to become a sort of signature Deku and Kacchan move. One that featured on the cover of many a hero magazine—much to the annoyance of Katsuki—as villains read those rags too. It was damned irresponsible for them to telegraph hero fighting tactics to the world like that, however, cool they looked. Katsuki had eaten that shit up as a kid and hero fanboy himself so he had little room to complain, though it didn’t stop him from doing so.
Katsuki wanted to argue. It was dangerous. They’d have to get the timing just right for it to work. But it was a solid idea for the situation. If Katsuki’s explosions weren’t knocking her down, she’d just keep avoiding them.
“I’ll run defense,” offered Kirishima. They watched the pink cloud continue to move away from them and followed, waiting for a break.
“Now!” Deku exclaimed as the gas began to dissipate before their eyes.
“Get in there!” said Kirishima. He crouched, hardening his body to solid stone and Deku took a running leap, jumping off his back to get into the air. Katsuki burst into the sky behind him and when they were high enough, he grabbed Deku’s hand and thrust him towards the villain, full speed ahead.
The married force of Katsuki’s explosion and Deku’s strength gave Deku the boost he needed to pull off the surprise attack. Katsuki watched as Deku catapulted towards the target and aimed a carefully timed air blast.
Just as he pulled back on his finger, a burst of pink dust hit Deku straight in the chest—suspending him in midair for a moment before he began to tumble towards the ground, and in the distance, Katsuki saw the figure of a woman shrouded in the pink dust cloud moving away like a ball of tumbleweed.
“Deku? Deku! ” Katsuki called out, running to where he had crash-landed. Katsuki winced at the sight of Deku’s mangled form, huddled in on himself. Shit, but it had been a while since the nerd had broken an arm.
“Target got away. Not sure which direction. Deku’s down, I don’t know if he can move very far.” Kirishima spoke into his earpiece, communicating the updates to Midnight. “We’re two blocks south of Nippori station. No, no, we’re just off the main road. There’s no traffic. Musta scared everyone off.”
Katsuki moved to help Deku up, kneeling down beside him and offering a hand. Deku reached to take it, then grunted, clutching his stomach, clearly in pain. Katsuki watched in horror as Deku retched relentlessly for what felt like minutes and then he fell back in the pile of his own vomit, his body racked with feverish shakes.
“Hey, hey!” Katsuki pulled him up and out of the mess, ever mindful of the broken arms. He scrunched his nose at the smell, but there was no time to care about the contents of Deku’s stomach dripping down his costume. He guided Deku into his lap and patted his cheek, urging him to remain conscious.
“Ka—Kacchan…” Deku looked up at him, green eyes glazed and puffy. His face was ghostly pale. Katsuki would say white as a sheet, but it was tinged with gray. Way more disturbing.
“Izuku, you’re burning up.” Katsuki couldn’t help using his friend’s given name. This wasn’t the Hero Deku looking up at him, this was Midoriya Izuku, his childhood friend turned rival turned friend again. They’d been through some shit together, but Katsuki couldn’t remember seeing him ever look this ragged. Deku mindlessly reached a hand up to tap Katsuki’s face, attempting a small smile.
“Thanks, Kacchan,” he said.
“Thanks for what, dumbass? I just pulled you out of your own sick.” Katsuki wrapped his arms around Deku, instinctively trying to warm him up because he was so visibly shaking, teeth chattering loudly.
“So cold.”
“Just stay with me, Deku, Medics are on the way.”
“M’hot,” moaned Deku, and Katsuki wasn’t sure what to do.
“Which is it then?” he asked, more angrily than he intended, not loosening the grip of his arms and feeling helpless. For a moment, all was stillness and quiet. Then Deku started coughing. Katsuki backed off, thinking he was going to hurl again, but there must not have been anything left in his stomach. Strings of bile came up, nothing more. Deku’s coughing fit grew increasingly violent and he pushed Katsuki away with what minimal strength he had left, grabbing at his own chest. It sounded like he was choking.
“Midoriya!” Kirishima whispered as he kneeled down beside Katsuki, inspecting their friend with concern. “Oh…” He noticed the blood before Katsuki did, but when he did there was no mistaking it for anything else. “This is bad.”
“No shit,” said Katsuki. Deku fell back again and Katsuki caught him, looking around in desperation, “help!” Katsuki screamed, not sure who he was yelling for. It was still just them. Deku was crying now, full tears welling in his eyes, his sobs only exacerbating the heaving. “Shhh, Deku, shhh…”
“It hurts, Kacchan.”
Katsuki smoothed the sweaty hair on Deku’s forehead, his skin burning under Katsuki’s palm, even through his glove.
“What does, Deku?”
“Everything.”
*****
“Code name: Valentine. Her Quirk, unknown gas-type that induces sickness.” Midnight pointed at the file projected on the wall with the end of her riding crop. The team sat around the conference table in varying states of dress. Katsuki was still in his hero costume, Deku’s dried puke still crusted on his pant leg, all but forgotten. Kirishima had changed into sweats—including his own Red Riot hoodie—and Aizawa had just arrived with Todoroki who was wearing street clothes and carrying coffee. Katsuki perked up when Todoroki sat down next to him and handed him one of the cardboard cups, presumably with his usual all-nighter beverage, a red-eye.
“ Well? ” Katsuki asked Todoroki quietly, doing his level best not to disrupt the meeting. Todoroki had been tasked with stopping by the hospital to check on Deku’s status. Katsuki knew he needn’t say more for Todoroki to understand what he was asking.
By the time Deku, Katsuki, and Todoroki had reached their third year at U.A, they’d been known as their class’s ‘Big Three.’ At the time—Katsuki would have been loath to admit it—but they’d started to become close while training under Endeavor as a trio during their first year. The three were very popular and sought after young pros, and they often enjoyed (or shunned, or despised) the spotlight together. They trusted each other immensely now.
“Stable,” reported Todoroki. “I didn’t see him if that’s what you’re really wondering.”
“Did you call his mom?” Katsuki asked. He took a small sip of his coffee. The hot, bitter liquid provided some comfort even though he knew it would likely only elevate his anxiety at a time like this.
“There’s nothing any of us can do for him tonight,” said Aizawa, with a hand on Katsuki’s shoulder, “he’s in capable hands.”
“Right,” Midnight looked their way, clearly noticing the derailment. “So. Midoriya. What’s the update, Shouto?”
Todoroki nodded and filled them in. “He’s sleeping now, or rather he’s in a coma.” At this, Katsuki jolted and spilled hot coffee on himself as he turned a sharp gaze on his friend.
“A medically-induced coma,” Todoroki clarified, “he’s in stable condition right now. The healers were able to fix his broken bones, but there doesn’t seem like much they can do for the illness except ride it out. Since it’s Quirk induced and they don’t have all the information. They need to know more before they can proceed.”
“That’s what we’re discussing now. Thank you, Shouto,” She turned to address everyone, “Valentine is relatively new as a villain. She’s only been involved with a handful of attacks so we have limited information, but I’ve had experience with a similar Quirk before, possibly a relative of hers, since we know Quirks are genetic. One of my earliest cases out of school, actually. It might not be exactly the same, but—”
“So what’s it do, this Quirk?” asked Katsuki, desperate for them to get to the point.
“It appears to affect people who are in love,” Midnight explained, “ and the deeper the love, the more intense the symptoms.”
Kirishima looked lost in thought for a moment, then said, “Midoriya loves his friends and he’s like, super devoted to a lot of people like his mom, All-Might. Could he be sick from that kind of love?”
Midnight shook her head. “It only affects those with romantic feelings for someone, as far as we can tell.”
“ Tch. But Deku’s not in love with anyone,” Katsuki argued, crossing his arms over his chest.
“How do you know?” asked Kirishima.
“Because he’s never mentioned anything like that to me,” Katsuki stated matter-of-factly as if that settled it.
“Well, no offense bro, but you haven’t exactly been close your whole lives.”
“Are you kidding me? I’ve known Deku for f orever. ”
“Yeah, but there was a while there when you two definitely weren’t friends.”
“What do you even know about it?” Katsuki spat. “That was ages ago. We’re fine. We’ve been fine. We work together practically every day, we hang out all the time—”
“I don’t know man, you can’t know everything about a person, can you?”
“I’ve known him for forever ,” Katsuki repeated, louder this time, as he leaned across the table with his brow furrowed at Kirishima, urging him to understand.
“Yes, but didn’t you tell me once that, ‘length of time spent with someone doesn’t equal friendship’ or something like that?” Todoroki responded bleakly.
“What the hell? How do you even remember that shit? That was in high school! Deku and I are close now.” Katsuki shot another look at Kirishima. “It just stands to reason he would have mentioned something like this to me. Okay. Who is he in love with, then, if you’re such a Deku expert?”
It was all silence as they each looked to one another. No one seemed to have any idea—or if they did, they were playing dumb—which pissed Katsuki off because this was a matter of life or death. It wasn’t the time to protect the gossip circle or whatever.
“How long do the effects last?” Aizawa asked, guiding the conversation back from the brink.
Midnight shrugged. “That’s one thing we don’t know. We need more information, obviously.”
Aizawa nodded in agreement. “Right. So, here are your assignments—”
*****
Katsuki was not, in fact, in bed before dawn and Edgeshot took him off patrol duty, forcing him to take a mandatory day off.
“You’re in no position to patrol after working through the night, Katsuki. I don’t care what they do at other agencies, but you’re staying home today. Come back after you’ve slept.”
Normally, Katsuki would protest. A younger him would have thrown a fit. But Edgeshot was right. He wasn’t fit to stand, let alone fight, should he encounter trouble on patrol. He was drained—physically and emotionally. Instead, he’d showered, tossed his sticky costume in the laundry, and plopped down on the bed around seven a.m. exhausted, but still wired and nowhere near sleep. As he laid there he couldn’t help the thoughts that raced through his head. Who the hell is Deku in love with? And why didn’t he fucking tell me about it?
True, Katsuki had never confided in Deku about any crush or love interest, but that was because Katsuki had never had a crush or a love interest. He wasn’t naive. He’d had his fair share of admirers in high school and of course that had only increased when he’d turned pro. But he didn’t have time for that and wasn't interested in any of his would-be suitors. A hero didn’t date extras or fans and there wasn’t anyone in his circle that interested him. That didn’t mean he wasn’t attracted .
Katsuki had known he was only attracted to boys from an early age, but it had never translated to anything more than stolen glances or fickle musings. His drive to become the number one hero had superseded his sex drive and banished all thoughts of romance (okay, maybe not all) . Was that pathetic, or what? Had he really suppressed an important part of himself for the sake of his goal? How and when had he decided that love got in the way of that goal?
And then there was Deku—toe to toe with him in every way, also vying for the top spot—but apparently, he didn’t have a problem with love, (that is until this fuckin’ shitty ass Quirk made it a problem).
Katsuki vaguely recalled Deku’s short-lived relationship with Uraraka during their days at U.A. but that had been such a long time ago and they seemed pretty cool now as friends. Was Deku still pining away for her while he kept up the mirage of being “just friends?” Were they secretly together again? If so, Katsuki was pretty sure that wouldn’t have escaped the rumor mill. And he’d spent enough time with the both of them, professionally and personally since school, that it didn’t seem likely. He remembered how flustered the nerd had been around her back then.
So, who was Deku flustered around now? There was hardly even speculation about it in the hero magazines. Hero magazines! Maybe that was a clue. Had Deku ever mentioned anything about anyone in an interview? Katsuki wracked his brain. Not like he’d watched or read all of Deku’s every interview. You didn’t need to do that when you already knew everything about someone.
Apparently, I don’t know everything, he thought again, bitterly.
Then another thought occurred to Katsuki that he hadn’t yet considered. If Deku really was in love with someone, did that person love him back? Why did it feel so strange to think about that, particularly if it was with someone Katsuki didn’t know? He tossed and turned, and turned these things over in his mind, viewing this as just another piece of the puzzle to solve.
*****
Surprisingly, Katsuki didn’t feel like complete shit when he woke up. He’d managed to sleep for six hours and if he’d had any nightmares they didn’t follow him to the waking world. Unsurprisingly, he did have several unread messages on his phone.
[Shitty Hair]
7:30a- I hope you’re asleep, but dude, that was some serious shit.
7:31a- Midoriya’ll be okay though. The healers will figure it out.
7:40a- And we’ll take down that villain. We’ll still win.
[Midnight]
9:05a- We need you again tonight for follow-up. 7pm.
9:06a- Get some sleep, kid.
[Icy Hot]
10:15a -No update. Go back to sleep.
11:41a-.Still nothing. You better be sleeping.
11:42a- Seriously, don’t respond to this until you’ve slept at least 4 hrs.
Katsuki grinned in fond annoyance at his friends’ worry. He did have a reputation for overwork. Despite the anxious feelings still gnawing at him, he allowed himself to take his time, doing a short yoga routine and fixing himself something nutritious to eat. He made rice and egg with natto and he found some peace of mind as he chopped garlic and green onions; the act of cooking always soothed him. He was just beginning to brew himself some tea when his phone buzzed again.
[Icy Hot]
3:21p- He’s awake.
