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This was supposed to be a simple observation mission. Katsuki and Izuku had been recruited to investigate a string of disappearances and reappearances across the city. Each victim had gone missing out of nowhere for about forty-eight hours, reappearing, often in their homes, with absolutely no memory of what had happened to them. Their quirks were intact and working properly, not better or worse than before their disappearance, their vitals completely normal.
The only lead they had was a new medical factory that had opened recently, about a month before the disappearances started. It was illusive, no one was ever seen going in or out. Privately owned. Obviously suspicious.
It was supposed to be simple.
Katsuki came back to himself in stages. He was aware he was conscious, barely. He felt exhausted even though he had basically been asleep for who knows how long. It was a moment later he realized why he felt so drained. He was decidedly not relaxing in his own bed. He was restrained in a cushioned chair, his hands and feet were bound, he could move his head and was aware that it was hanging forward. He lifted it carefully, sore. And he remembered.
He didn’t want to open his eyes, but he did.
“Hey, Kacchan,” a quiet, strained voice came from across the room.
About ten feet away, Izuku was barely standing, most of his weight being held by the chains that were cuffed to his wrists and fastened to the ceiling. He looked awful. Blood was actively dripping from where the metal cuffs dug into his skin, and he was favoring one of the chains holding up his arm. Katsuki realized it was because his other shoulder was probably dislocated.
“Before you ask again,” Izuku said, “no I didn’t know One for All could be erased like any other quirk. I can’t even hear any of them. I can always hear them.”
Katsuki couldn’t feel it either. He didn’t have One for All the way Izuku did, but he had used it a few times in the past, borrowing a borrowed quirk. Sometimes he could feel its presence in the back of his mind. Not able to be activated, just there.
“Why the fuck are our quirks not working?”
Izuku gave an unamused chuckle. “It’s a serum they keep giving to both of us. Do you remember Overhaul?”
“Yes.”
“This is what he was doing to Eri,” Izuku said, “extracting her quirk and turning it into something that can be injected into other people with the same effect. They must have someone who can nullify quirks. They have something to make you sleep.”
“And something to make you not,” Katsuki said, eyes scanning over Izuku’s face. His eyes were bloodshot and half closed, dark circles under his eyes were barely distinguishable from the bruises on his face, but they were there.
Izuku hummed. “They shouldn’t be able to replicate One for All, but they have silenced it in my head for now. I’ve only been awake this long once before.”
“How long have we been here?”
Izuku hesitated, blinking. “I don’t know.”
They both startled when a noise shook the room, Izuku less-so than Katsuki, either because he was too tired or because he was used to the sudden sounds. Katsuki wanted to get him out of here and didn’t have a clue where to start. Izuku’s breath began to stutter as they heard the door unlatching behind Katsuki. He couldn’t turn his head far enough to see who it was, but he could hear her voice.
“Aww, you look so cute like this, Izuku.”
Himiko Toga.
“Let him go,” Katsuki said clearly.
Himiko hummed. “That’s what you said last time, Katsuki, you’re repeating yourself.”
Katsuki stiffened when he felt a knife press to his throat. Good, he thought, hurt me, leave Izuku alone, please.
“Himiko, don–”
Katsuki interrupted Izuku’s words with a cry as Himiko’s knife left his neck and, with a twist of her hand, was buried in his shoulder. He cut himself off after a moment, grimacing and breathing heavily.
Giggling, she ripped the knife back out of his skin, and stepped around to watch. He was aware of blood staining his hero costume, but was far more aware of something else. His shoulder was aching, yes, but as soon as she had removed the knife, he had started to heal. Within seconds, his skin was closed up. There was a rip in his clothes and blood staining them, but his skin was brought back together and he couldn’t feel a thing.
“I’m so glad you two showed up here,” Himiko said, ignoring Katsuki now in favor of addressing both of them. “I have been so bored. All it is is science, science, science. ‘Go find a mark, Himiko.’ ‘Go steal their blood, Himiko.’ ‘Please don’t kill anyone, Himiko.’ So boring.”
She looked back and forth at them. “I’m glad it was you guys. I’m glad they let me have you.”
“What the hell was that?”
She turned back to Katsuki. “Oh, you’ve been injected with every kind of healing quirk we have here. I stole some samples. Nothing will hurt you longer than a few seconds. Don’t you feel good?” Himiko asked in a sweet, lilting voice.
“Did you give it to Deku? Heal him!”
“Hm,” Himiko thought for a moment, “no.” She said happily.
Izuku wasn’t speaking, was just watching Himiko warily as she stepped lightly around him. Her attention was still on Katsuki and he wanted to keep it there.
“Why not?”
“That’s the best part,” she said, spinning the knife in her hand again, “I know things. She stepped closer to Katsuki, the knife pointed towards him, “I know things about you, because I know things about him,” she finished, with the knife pointing over her shoulder to where Izuku was still hanging on by a thread.
“Don’t hurt him, Himiko,” Izuku said weakly.
Himiko didn’t turn around to Izuku, she simply leaned over Katsuki, who pushed his head back as far as he could before he couldn’t anymore, and was met with the tip of her knife under his chin.
“Shiggy knew it too, do you remember?”
“Himiko–” Izuku said again, trying to get her attention.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Katsuki said bluntly.
Himiko smirked. “You two defeated All for One, but first, Shigaraki went after you,” she said to Katsuki, “why?”
Katsuki frowned. “Let. Him. Go,” he repeated.
“Ugh, I will, just not yet.” She turned to Izuku, “how do you deal with his obliviousness on a daily basis?” Izuku didn’t respond, so Himiko went to him instead. “I didn’t think it was entirely fair that Shiggy hurt you so badly but didn’t hurt Izuku too. Besides, Izuku is far cuter covered in blood than you are, Kacchan.”
“Don’t call me that,” Katsuki growled.
Himiko just laughed again, talking to Katsuki without looking at him. “Awfully protective of that little name, aren’t you?” She was a bit shorter than Izuku, so when he was slouching, hanging by chains, she was just about his height. She wrapped her hand around his jaw, lifting him up to look directly at Katsuki and turning around. “You’re more protective of that name than you are of the person who gave it to you. You should be protective of Izuku, right? He’s protective of you. Kind of makes me want to hurt you.”
“Then hurt me!” Katsuki snapped, “leave him the fuck alone.”
“I am hurting you, Katsuki,” she said matter of factly. Katsuki could see how tightly she was gripping Izuku’s jaw, though he wasn’t reacting.
Himiko reached up and yanked on the chain holding up Izuku’s arm, consequently jostling his dislocated shoulder.
Izuku didn’t even open his mouth to cry out that time. Just let out a high pitched groan.
“He sounds pretty, doesn’t he?” Himiko said with a smile.
Izuku’s body was going limp. “No, no, Izuku, no sleeping,” Himiko took her knife and dragged it slowly down Izuku’s torso. This time, Izuku did cry out.
“Stop!”
“But he can’t sleep, Katsuki,” Himiko said, “the poison on the knife makes sure he won’t sleep.”
And she was right. Izuku looked like hell, covered in blood and bruises, and wide awake, feeling all of it.
Katsuki shook against the chair he was tied to.
“What do you want? Katsuki growled, desperate to get her away from Izuku, “you must be doing this for some reason. Why?”
“Because I want you to agree with me,” Himiko said, then softer, “don’t you think your boyfriend looks pretty, Katsuki?”
“He’s not my–” Katsuki cut himself off.
Himiko looked like she had struck gold. She turned to Izuku. “Did you hear that, Izuku? Looks like we are hurting you too. Did that hurt?”
Izuku turned his head away from her.
Himiko groaned, “ fine,” she went over to a table Katsuki hadn’t been paying much attention to. She shuffled through a few vials and syringes until she found what she was looking for. She returned to Izuku.
“You should be enjoying this anyway, Katsuki,” she jabbed the needle into Izuku’s arm, throwing it away when she was done. “What was it Katsuki said to you, Izuku? In school, before U.A.?”
Izuku bit his lip until it was bleeding, and still couldn’t stop himself from answering.
“He told me to pray I would be born with a quirk in my next life, then jump off the roof of the school,” Izuku said, each word sounded bitten off, like he didn’t want to say it out loud. Katsuki was sure he was doing that for his benefit, so he wouldn’t have to hear Izuku repeat the words he had said to him more than a decade ago now.
“Why did he say that to you, Izuku?”
“He hated me.”
“No…” Katsuki said. Himiko didn’t stop.
“This is my favorite part,” Himiko giggled, “Izuku, why did Shigaraki target Katsuki during the war?”
“He knew I–” Izuku tried to stop himself, choking on his words.
“Go on, Izuku, don’t fight it. You’ll lose.”
Katsuki jumped in, “he just knew we were becoming friends! He knew we had been close when we were kids–”
Himiko narrowed her eyes, “close, but not quite. Izuku?”
“He knew how much I loved him,” Izuku said, his voice broken.
“Finally,” Himiko said, smiling at Katsuki’s stunned expression. “How do you feel about Katsuki now?”
“I adore him,” Izuku whispered. He was crying.
Katsuki stared at him, Izuku was staring back.
“I’m sorry, Kacchan,” Izuku whispered.
“Shut up, Deku,” Katsuki growled. “Don’t you dare–”
Himiko looked back and forth between them. She leaned over to Izuku and whispered something. When she stood back up, she tossed the remaining vials of different quirk serums back onto the table.
“Oh, wait,” she said, doubling back and grabbing two more syringes. Izuku didn’t even flinch when she stuck him with one. Katsuki tried not to as well, if only to make sure he didn’t make something worse. He was still staring at Izuku.
“That takes care of your quirks for another,” she thought for a moment, “day? I think. This has been fun!” She called back to them. A minute or so after she shut the door, Katsuki felt the cuffs on his wrists and ankles open. He couldn’t get up in time to catch Izuku before the chains dropped him into a heap on the floor.
“Izuku,” Katsuki said quietly, scrambling over to him. He pulled Izuku’s head into his lap carefully.
“Ow, Ka–cchan,” Izuku whined.
“Shh,” Katsuki said, “is that psycho vampire letting us go? She didn’t even lock the fucking door.”
“I’m sorry, Kacchan,” Izuku whispered.
“For what ? You… idiot, what could you possibly be sorry for?”
“I’m the reason you’re here.”
Katsuki breathed out angrily. “She’s lucky I want to stay here and protect you. I don’t need my quirk, I’ll fucking kill her.”
“Can we leave?”
“Can you walk?”
“…I’m not sure.”
“Fuck,” Katsuki said under his breath. “Do you remember how to get your shoulder back into place?”
Izuku grimaced. “Yes.”
They did, and Izuku was quiet through the entire thing, which was quite the feat in Katsuki’s opinion. They knew how to deal with pain, that doesn’t mean dislocated shoulders didn’t hurt like all hell.
“I’m gonna carry you.”
“Wha– Kacchan,” Izuku said, surprised when Katsuki picked him up without another word.
“Fight me, Deku.”
Izuku huffed out a laugh. “Are we going to talk about it?”
“We’ll talk about it later.”
“I don’t want to talk about it later.”
“Well, I don’t want to talk about it now. You have been being tortured for who the fuck knows how long and we are getting out of here before we worry about anything else.”
Through the first door, they were met with a derelict hallway and no people. Same with the second hallway, and the stairwell, and all the hallways after. They were in a completely abandoned building. No one to be found. Katsuki didn’t listen to any arguments from Izuku.
We should get evidence of the serums. Later.
Put me down. No.
I can walk. I don’t care.
I’m tired. I know.
I love you. I love you too. Katsuki knew Izuku was already unconscious before he responded.
Izuku was released from the hospital a week later. Despite the drawn out injuries he had sustained, the injuries themselves were easily healed. Healing quirks employed of course. Both of them had had extensive tests done to see what kinds of serums they had been injected with. All of them had recognizable quirk signatures, and all of them coincided with the quirks of the people who had disappeared.
When the factory was raided, it was completely empty. All the evidence gone. So Katsuki and Izuku were the only evidence they had.
Katsuki was there the day Izuku was finally released, and drove him home.
“We’re going to be briefed tomorrow on everything that happened while we were gone.” Izuku said, staring out of the passenger side window.
“She was impersonating us?”
Izuku nodded. “Just enough for people to not be too suspicious until she decided to let us go.”
“Are we going to talk about why she decided to let us go?”
Izuku hesitated. “Do we have to?”
Katsuki didn’t reply, and Izuku didn’t elaborate. Until they made it to Izuku’s apartment.
“Do you still want to talk about it,” Izuku asked as he pushed open his door.
“Do you?”
“Fuck, Kacchan,” Izuku looked at him warily, “just ask.”
“Was it true?”
“It was a truth serum, Kacchan.”
“Yeah, which means it wasn’t you telling me. I want to hear it when you want me to hear it.”
He saw Izuku stop, turning away and walking towards the kitchen. He started wiping the counter of dust just to have something to do with his hands.
“I adored you when we were little,” Izuku started. “You were amazing, you were my hero before you even had a quirk. Then you got your quirk…”
Katsuki braced himself for an ‘Izuku’ level of detail of all the horrific things he had done and said to that little green haired boy he had been so threatened by.
“You got your quirk, and you were incredible. You were going to be a real hero. You already were my hero.”
“De– Izuku, you don’t–”
“No, you asked, Kacchan,” Izuku said. “You asked, so now I’m going to tell you.”
“In middle school, yeah, I had a crush on you. How could I not? Everyone did. It didn’t matter what you did to me. Every time you were close enough I thought about what it would be like if you were my first kiss. I thought that would be nice.”
“Izuku, please–”
“Please just–” Izuku said, cutting him off, “let me finish, I’m almost done, I promise.”
He turned back to Katsuki, jumping up to sit on the counter. Katsuki was happy he felt well enough to do so, if a little stiff.
“At U.A. I tried not to think about it, and I am sure you are aware of how that went, considering the fact that you quite literally died because of me.”
“Not because of you–” Katsuki started, stopping himself when Izuku leveled a glare at him. He made an angry noise in his throat, but waved, silently telling Izuku to continue.
“Shigaraki knew, All for One knew, everyone knew. Everyone knows, still, how important you are. So, yes. What I said was true,” he finished quietly. “I adore you. The first time my mom explained to me what love was I thought of you. My understanding of love has changed, sure, but it’s still you.”
Katsuki was confused as all hell before anything else. He didn’t deserve to be loved by Izuku Midoriya of all people. Izuku deserved so much better.
Izuku smiled sadly. “Himiko Toga seems to think you love me. I know you don’t, I don’t expect you to but, I guess it’s nice to know we’re friends again. Even when it gets me tortured by a psycotic ex-PLF member.”
“I do.”
Izuku’s eyes found him. He said, “what?”
“I do.” Katsuki said again, hoping Izuku would understand.
“I can’t… I don’t say that, much, it’s hard I don’t know why, but… you’re wrong. I do.”
“You do?”
Katsuki nodded. I love you too. Izuku gazed at him. God, Katsuki was bad at this.
“Can I make you dinner?”
“Are you asking me on a date?”
“Yes.”
Izuku seemed surprised, as though he didn’t expect such a sure answer. “Now?”
“Yes now, Izuku.”
“What are you making?”
“Katsudon, obviously.”
Izuku smiled, and Katsuki felt the first bloom of something soft and warm in his chest. Well, no that was a lie. It certainly wasn’t the first. It was the first time he didn't try to hide it. He moved over to Izuku, leaning over and kissing him softly on the temple, and Izuku silently, smiling, pulled open the cabinet next to him.
“The rice is in there,” Izuku nodded to the open cabinet.
Katsuki narrowed his eyes, smirking as he started gathering ingredients.