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Amid the flesh, blood, and wreckage, there lies a lone tattered body.
Kacchan.
The expanse of the battlefield dwarfs him in size, but Izuku could pick him from a million in a crowd. He's been cast aside like a limp doll on the side of the road, forlorn and forgotten.
Half of his face is coated in blood. A gaping void robs the place of his heart, leaving a dark, abysmal chasm.
That once pristine, glittering All Might card rests blood-stained by his head.
Kacchan...
All For One’s words blare deafening in his ears:
“Admit it! You love the present I got you, right?”
He can’t bear to look, to meet the haunting face of his failure.
Lifeless eyes peer up: begging, accusatory. Bloody mouth hanging open in a wordless cry.
Help me.
Why weren’t you here?
Why didn’t you save me?
“Kacchan!”
Izuku jolts awake, heart thundering in his chest. He shoots up in bed, gasping as he tries to catch his breath, sweat soaked through the back of his shirt. He blinks against the darkness in an attempt to dispel the afterimages of the nightmare flashing through his vision, harsh and jagged.
Izuku turns to see Katsuki’s resting figure beside him: face up, eyes closed. In the dimness of the bedroom, it’s hard to make out the rising and falling of his chest, those sure signs of life. Instead, with his body laying flat and rigid like this, one arm tucked over his torso, all Izuku can see is a corpse in a casket. Izuku doesn’t stop to think, he needs to see those eyes, to make sure they're the same fiery red that they always are, and not dull and extinguished.
Izuku jostles Katsuki.
“Kacchan… Kacchan! ”
Every second that passes without a response causes Izuku’s heart rate to spike. The dreaded “what-if” looms in his mind, rationality be damned.
Finally, Katsuki stirs, squinting awake, bleary-eyed.
“Hah?”
Warm relief floods through Izuku’s chest. “Kacchan…”
Katsuki grimaces, rubbing at his eye. “The hell’re you waking me up for?”
Izuku feels tears prick at his eyes, a rush of emotions catching up with him now that the imaginary danger has passed.
“I just… nothing. It’s nothing… I’m sorry. You can go back to sleep now.”
Izuku moves to lie back down, away from Katsuki, when Katsuki suddenly reaches out to grab his hand.
“Kacchan?”
Izuku faces Katsuki, and he sees him studying him, a knowing realization beginning to settle on his face the more he moves into the waking world. His eyes soften. This isn’t the first time something like this has happened. And not just to him.
Katsuki carefully draws Izuku’s hand up on his own chest, to where his heart beats steady. The thrum of it under Izuku’s fingertips calms him, slowing his own heart until it beats along with Katsuki’s in sync.
“You good now?”
“Mm.” Izuku lets out a shaky breath. His shoulders relax. “I am.”
Katsuki brings Izuku's hand up to caress his own cheek.
“Good.” He then nudges him with his elbow. “Now get back to sleep.”
Izuku nods, sinking back down onto the bed. Katsuki lowers his hand, with Izuku’s still in it, until it rests on the covers between them, hand clasped warmly in hand.
Izuku turns to his side and regards Katsuki fondly for a moment, taking in the familiar sight of him—safe and sound. The other man reaches over to cradle Izuku's head against his own, his eyes fluttering closed. Izuku curls up against Katsuki's warm, solid form, letting the gentle rise and fall of his chest rock him back into a restful sleep.
He dreams of a calm, blue day in the forest, sprawled out in the dewy grass. The steady hum of cicadas threads the air. The sun’s rays filter through the swaying leaves, kissing his skin. His closest person shares in the light beside him, their hands linked through the whispering blades.