Chapter Text
Deku disappeared without a trace.
That’s what Katsuki’s mind supplies him with since his first year of high school, every time something reminds him of Izuku.
Laughter echoing the halls, a green bush, watermelon seeds that look like freckles. Torn, old notebooks started to give him shivers at the same time yellow made him smile.
He found this pair of red running shoes and the first time he wore them his mother cried.
Her words were actually "the Midoriyas moved", but Katsuki never heard them like that. Sure, auntie was nice and all but Deku, Izuku.
At first, he didn't care, he came home from UA, still drunk on his unstoppable path to number one and his mother gave him the news through tears. He scoffed, because, who cared? Deku must have gone to some unknown shitty school somewhere he didn’t want to know.
He was there, he was awesome and Deku would regret missing his career. He would be the number one hero and surpass All Might all on his own, he would prove everyone that had ever looked down on him wrong.
Especially Deku.
With time though, he noticed how far up in his ass his head was, and it wasn't a pretty realisation.
He had his shit rocket more times he would like to admit and one day, he came home craving comfort. He had been kicked and punched the whole day in hero training and his arms were shaking from the extra usage of his quirk.
He had won, but at what cost? Aizawa had made it clear that his win had no value in those situations. He had to be better, to get better and that had nothing to do with his quirk or how strong he was.
He longed to hear he was still good enough, still a good hero, he needed to hear that voice that called for him his whole life. Unfortunately, his comfort wasn't spicy curry and his mother's lap, although that was all he had available.
It helped and he was grateful, but it didn't soothe the burn on his soul that claimed something was missing.
It took him a long time to learn his comfort was actually cooking an extra portion of katsudon and watching old all might movies. At the same time it helped him think and analyse, it also helped him realise he missed having someone to share it with.
His therapist once told him to write down his thoughts and with black cover notebooks, he found himself once more.
And Deku within it.
He noticed then how much the nerd had shaped his view of life and his actions.
He graduated a better man, a worthy hero, someone little Izuku would be proud of calling sugoi. He became a part-time quirkless self-defence instructor, advocated for them, fought villains as a hobby because his real meaning as a hero became protecting people.
Saving them from bad people and stupid pricks like he once were.
His change wasn’t easy and wasn’t linear. He still wanted to be number one and be the best, but he had other priorities now.
One of them being finding Deku. He had been trying to track him for years now with no luck.
No social media, no record in any agency database - which he had to pull a few favours to be able to look through - and no trace from their old landlords.
The Midoriyas were as good as any old legend in the neighbourhood.
Until one day when Katsuki was 21 years old and he wakes up to a new following notification on his ig. Which was uncommon, he normally didn't receive notifications for that, or else his phone would blow up the whole day.
He also usually let the PR team deal with posts and promotional shoots but he still had his profiles available on his phone for when he wanted to pass the time.
He thought of ignoring the solicitation until he read the name.
“Green Hero”
The profile picture was just a dark green solid background but it piqued his curiosity.
He clicked the profile immediately and found a verified account with hundreds of thousands of followers including some of his own friends. Green Hero followed most of the known heroes and some underrated ones as well.
The profile was filled with pictures of heroes and battles, he noticed even some were his. He couldn’t remember then, as they were mostly in heated moments.
He didn’t know why, but he spent half an hour going over the profile with pictures dating from years past. He accepted the solicitation and followed the photographer back.
They were good, had really good pictures of him and were famous. It wasn't something his PR would be mad about, so why not?
Katsuki forgot all about the mysterious person getting ready to work, going through the motions of his everyday routine. It had been an interesting discovery, of course, but that was it.
But maybe...
Right before leaving his house, curiosity got the best of him and Katsuki took a look at the profile again. There were stories up and his fingers opened them before he had a second thought.
On the first one, he saw a beautiful professional camera sitting on a window, clad in a Dynamight case. The orange X clearly a homage to his hero persona. A caption underneath it.
A good friend knows I'm still a big hero fan even though I see them every day and gifted me a new case
The following story was of the same camera, but now it pointed to a big garden with a fountain. He could see the beautiful picture through the screen and a scarred hand holding it.
I'm ready for my exhibition next Saturday, and I will be taking pictures while at it, come find me
Katsuki didn’t know why, but he felt those words were for him. A fluttering anxious feeling taking place in his stomach.
He went back to the profile and saw a new picture uploaded.
Green Hero Tokyo Exhibit;
Saturday xx/xx at Main Venue.
7pm - tickets available at xx.xx
He didn’t know what possessed him, but with less than ten swipes of his finger, he bought a ticket.
With his mind filled with the weird profile from earlier, Katsuki barely noticed the path to his agency or getting into his office. Only when Kirishima joined him in the room he seemed to take in his surroundings.
“Morning bro, slept well? You seem a bit off”
High school Katsuki would have told him to fuck off and mind his own business.
“Do you know someone called Green Hero?”
Kirishima’s eyes lit up and he smiled, unbothered by the change on the subject and lack of a greeting.
“If I know them? Best undercover photographer in the world bro! They take amazing shots of heroes and villains and helped so many operations to find hideouts all on their own!”
The redhead skipped all over their shared room, like an excited puppy.
“But well, I know of them. No one really knows them in person, they are really good at disguising themselves. Why though?”
It took Katsuki a moment to answer, how could he put into words the familiarity he felt while never having heard of them before.
“I… they followed me on ig this morning and I never fucking heard of them before”
Kirishima only grinned like it was obvious.
“Yeah, I would be more surprised if you actually knew them! Wonder why they didn't follow you before, I have them for ages on my account”
Katsuki would be lying if he said he wasn't a bit jealous. He wasn’t number one, still, alright, but he was the best-placed one among his friends.
Not like he was hard to miss.
“Anything else?”
He shot an annoyed glare at Kirishima but said nothing of his teasing, he had long got used to being easy to read.
“Bought a ticket to the exhibit this sat”
At that Kirishima smiled wider.
“Me too bro! Is supposed to have several exclusive hero shots! Mina loves them and she swears she will be the one to finally find them”
Katsuki lifted a brow.
“What? You don't know?”
When Katsuki only sulked, he continued.
“Man, that's like, their game or something! They are always at the exhibits, taking pictures or just around but no one ever discovered who they are! And every time it ends without them being revealed! Almost as if they have a ninja quirk”
Katsuki couldn't stop the snort that left him, as if.
“Yeah, sure, ninja quirk”
“No bro, I'm serious! How can they avoid so many people around them?”
Katsuki ignored his comment, just like so many villains that managed to escape their eyes and searched for months or even years, a photographer that worked undercover would know very well how to disguise themselves.
“Have you been to others? Exhibits, I mean”
Kirishima nodded, happily and finally taking his place at his desk.
“Yeah once or twice, they are held all over the world but they seem to be based in Japan”
He seems to fiddle with his phone for a second before turning the screen to Katsuki.
“We took this photo at the last one, last year I think”
Katsuki takes the phone from his hand and looks at the picture of him and Mina at a filled venue. How they managed to blend in with so many civilians was beyond him.
There are several other people around them looking at beautiful pictures on canvas or the walls. The whole place has a fine air to it but everyone is either laughing or looking incredible comfortable at the gallery.
He zooms on one picture, noticing it was from one of his most notorious battles. How could this person be there and Katsuki didn't notice them?
In front of the picture, one small person is standing, looking at it intently. Katsuki can't make much of their appearance due to the blurriness of the picture but notices dark curly hair.
Curly, just like the ones that haunt his dreams.
He locks the phone and gives it back to Kirishima.
His mind is playing tricks on him again, making him see people where they are not.
“Yeah, cool, whatever, get to work”
“Sure will boss, but will be nice to have you with us Saturday night, is so difficult to get you out of the house... Maybe we can even eat something after it? Sero and Kami can join us later too”
Katsuki tried to focus on the report at hand but nodded, Kirishima was right it had been way too long since they saw each other other than patrols.
“Also, your interview from last week is making rounds, it was really nice of you bro, I'm really proud”
“Tch, fucker pissed me off and made me say things I shouldn’t, at least PR is not on my back for that one”
“Man, they would never, that was by far your best interview”
Katsuki got lost in his thoughts after that, he couldn’t agree with that. The reporter followed him for almost half an hour on patrol until he lost it.
He was provoking him to see when he would explode and touched a difficult subject.
“Mr Dynamight, we just want to understand why you bother with your side activities so much? Is that to compensate your villainous personality?”
He saw red.
“Listen here you fucking vulture, I do what I do so people that don't have the opportunity I have can protect themselves from shitty people like you! I have nothing to compensate, I'm gonna be number one and then you will all eat your fucking words!”
“Sure, but what about all the quirkless advocacy you do? Is it all for a show? Because we have sources that say you were not very fond of them in the past”
Katsuki could still remember the fire under his skin at the question, he was a second from blowing the idiot two lives away.
“Yeah, saying I was an insufferable brat and want to make sure no one has to put up with someone like me really did wonders for publicity”
Kirishima snorted.
“Bro, they loved it! They are all about your growth or something like that, is really mainly”
“Shut up and work, dork”
---
Katsuki never lies so he just kept himself extremely quiet for the rest of the week.
All his friends kept talking about the exhibit now that they knew he was coming, the teasing was just enough so he wouldn’t blow them up.
But also, not talking was his way of containing his excitement.
He had become obsessed over Green Hero’s pictures, going as far as requesting a custom print of one of his battles on his online shop. Surely it would look amazing in his living room, but he wanted a way of having something of him for himself.
Was it too stalkerish of him?
And also that happened. He started referring to the Green Hero as a "him" and as much as he wanted to say that had nothing to do with having his suspicions the photographer and Izuku were the same person, he couldn't.
Unconsciously, his mind had started merging the image he had in his mind for a grown-up Izuku with the blurry picture he had seen on Kirishima’s phone.
He had no means of knowing if that man was Green Hero but his heart decided it was. And he hoped, secretly, that he had finally found Izuku.
Mina could kiss his ass, he would be the one to discover who Green Hero was and if possible, not let him go ever again.
There was so much he wanted to say to him, to apologise for and thank him.
And if he was right, to say how proud he was, how he wished to have found him sooner, to support him more and make everyone know how amazing he was. Perhaps he was getting ahead of himself, but there was no way he would let the opportunity go, even if the chances were slim.
And if the photographer wasn’t Deku, well, he would keep on looking. He has been doing that for so long already. It would be another hard blow on his shattering confidence of finding him, but he would not give up now.
Saturday comes faster than he could prepare himself for and he found himself sweating in too formal attire for the event.
It was custom for the Green Hero to request his guests to dress comfortably but Katsuki had chosen a suit regardless. He wanted to look good, and respectful, and... Impressive?
Something like that.
He reaches the venue with Kirishima and Mina teasing his nervousness and honestly, he was ready to bolt. He had visited parts of his memory he had long buried the past week and as excited as he was to - probably - meet Deku, he was equal parts terrified.
And that was saying something for PH Dynamight.
“This way bro, we might still have to buy tickets, but being pro has its benefits”
Kirishima leads them to a sideway door where he flashes his hero license and very eager security lets them in.
They are still required to show their tickets though and that makes Katsuki crackle. The nerd is still a nerd, allowing them to enter first without going through the huge line but charges them anyway.
If he is right, Deku hasn't changed, but now he profits from the heroes he always loved (perhaps to spend on them again).
They enter the venue and all of Katsuki’s apprehensions suddenly disappear in favour of awe.
The hall is huge and extremely well illuminated, there are pictures on canvases and the walls, there are some hanging from the ceilings and one composition taking a whole side of the room. Some are from international heroes, some are from wars in foreign countries.
The majority is in Japan and from famous heroes, the spread being from a recent confrontation with a new league - Katsuki and his friends are on that one. Katsuki eyes cannot stop shooting from one picture to the other trying to identify everyone showcased.
There are civilian pictures, the aftermath of fights, and even underground operations. Katsuki doesn't remember seeing Mindfreak in action but there he is as well.
There's one centrepiece bigger than any other, in a glass case from ground to ceiling.
He is drawn to that piece more than any other and is obvious why. Is a picture of him, not that recent but he remembers well of the day.
He is burned and bruised, his uniform half torn and his mask nowhere to be seen, but he is carrying two children in his arms from a destroyed building. He is trying to keep them calm so there's a serene look on his face.
The little girl has a Creati plushie in her arms and it seems she is in the middle of telling him a story. One he remembers very well, about the heroes she and her brother will be when they grew up.
That day, more than any other, he felt like a hero.
Those kids asked him for autographs and pictures and he was so incredibly happy he remembers riding that high for days to come.
“Someone’s a fan, big boy”
Katsuki looks beside him, expecting Mina to be making fun of him, only to find Deku, a head shorter than him, a sweet smile on his lips and a teasing glint on his eyes.
Deku. Deku is here. Deku is talking to him.
Every nerve on Katsuki’s body seems on fire, his hands are tingling with his quirk and he thinks he might lose control at any minute.
All the words he wanted to say are stuck in his throat. Deku is by his side looking gorgeous and exhaling mischief and he doesn't know what to do.
“You...”
Deku lifts a finger to his lips and smiles, with his eyes he indicates another room of the expo, still closed to visitors. Katsuki looks around but there's no one paying attention to them, except for Kirishima that is walking in their direction.
“Bro! That's awesome! You look so mainly in this picture!”
Katsuki only manages to nod, he is still distraught. Kirishima doesn't even blink, amused by his reaction more than surprised by it.
“Speechless hun? Told ya the guy was amazing!”
Deku chuckles by his side and Kirishima seems to finally notice him. He shifts his focus with the same friendly smile he always gave new strangers.
“Hey there! Nice camera you have! Looks just like the one from Green Hero!”
Katsuki freezes and looks at Deku, he only smiles, one hand behind him as the other waves his camera carelessly, like he has done that so many times already.
What startles Katsuki more is not even the fact Kirishima got so close to the truth before everybody else, is the fact Deku didn't even flinch meeting a hero in person. The little version of the man standing beside him, the one living free in his memories would have fainted by now.
“Oh, it's just the case! They are selling at the gift shop! You should check it out”
“Wow! Thanks, man, I will make sure to get one! Imagine if people mistake me for the mysterious photographer? Awesome!”
And just like that, he walks away to drag Mina to the gift shop. Katsuki sighs, unexpectedly fond of his friend.
“He is such a good hero but so innocent, don’t know how he survives this world”
Katsuki snorts, he couldn’t be closer to the truth.
“Yeah, he is just like an extra grown puppy sometimes”
Deku then looks at him again, smile still in place.
“Shall we?”
And he doesn't wait for an answer because he knows as much as Katsuki knows he will follow.
So he does.