Chapter Text
in the middle of the streets, crowded with people whooping and hollering, celebrating and cheering... izuku midoriya crumples into tears.
that's when katsuki knows.
deku's always been a crybaby. ever since they were little, any bump or scrape would be enough to set him off, any mean word no matter how flippant would get those stupid green eyes shiny and running.
it's why katsuki had to protect him
he couldn't defend himself, and it only got worse when it became apparent that he was never going to develop either a quirk or a backbone.
it's why katsuki had to
midoriya's smart. he acts... or acted, katsuki guesses, like a stupid little wilted wallflower, but the way he filled out his notebooks when he should have been paying attention in class belied something almost as valuable as a quirk, or maybe moreso.
he never thought that deku would want to watch him.
really, the little dumbass deserves it. katsuki would be lying if he said he wasn't boiling with jealousy over it--after all, a nerd like deku is almost impossible to see as anything but what he is. but he's smart and tenacious and probably a little too forgiving for his own good. the one thing he doesn't have is anything resembling a poker face at all--something he probably should have learned from all might by now.
he can't even pretend to be happy in the middle of all the revelry, and katsuki is the only one who seems to see it. iida and kirishima are nearly limp with relief to see all might's fist in the air, victorious and defeated in equal parts.
katsuki had to... has to...
"Super Power."
that's what they call deku's quirk, manifested just before high school entrance exams as if by divine intervention--a bolstering quirk that ejects raw force from his body for both offense and movement.
katuski still remembers the first time he saw it during the fitness tests, raw energy running under deku's skin and lighting it up from the inside. he remembers the gnarled red-purple of his finger, the bone underneath cracked into pieces from the force of his own quirk, too big for his body to handle. he remembers the way deku's eyes watered from the pain, the way he blinked back his tears.
you see? i'm still standing.
nobody else seems to notice all might's arm, the one he uses to punch, the one he uses to [i]win[/i], shattered in just the same way--skin discolored from burst blood vessels and torn muscle.
katuski's not stupid. he's angry and prideful, but he isn't stupid.
and deku's not scared and helpless anymore. but he almost looks like his old self, curling over himself as he tries desperately to wipe away his tears.
todoroki noticed it during the sports festival, though his theory was laughably off. katsuki could have told him that much, if he'd bothered to ask. all might's love child? ridiculous. iida and uraraka noticed it, insomuch as all might's continued personal interest in deku, enough to invite him to eat lunch and talk.
katuski's noticed.
in a few weeks, all might--or, yagi-sensei, he guesses--will come to his house to ask for permission to move katsuki into the dorms. his eyes will shine out of the hollows of his sunken face, nearly stuttering as he tells katuski that there's nothing amiss about his relationship with deku.
they're stupidly, frustratingly similar. there's nobody in the world more fitting to follow in his footsteps, then.
but I can't tell you who, so don't ask!
has he told anyone else? does his mother know? do the other teachers know? or...
did he only tell katsuki?
this is the only way I could think to win...
it would be so easy to return the favor, to reach out--just a single hand, like deku did all those years ago when they were small. nobody would even notice in the crush of bodies in the street if Katsuki put a palm on his shoulder or his arm. if he said anything, it would be lost under the noise, "all might! all might! all might!"
but he's not ready yet.
I just couldn't stand there... and watch you die...
he already knows the truth. the problem is earning the right to do so after all this time.