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Katsuki couldn’t pinpoint the moment he fell for Izuku, he just knew that he had. It wasn’t hard, not when Izuku smiled as if he had just been given the world no matter what was going on. Not when Izuku had enough muscle to lift a truck, but he remained as gentle as he had ever been. Not when he gained confidence and muttered loud enough to be heard, spouting more in-depth analysis than any Katsuki had ever heard at the drop of a hat. It wasn’t hard to fall for the green-haired boy that he had known for his entire life, but he knew that Izuku would never return his feelings. Even so, he vowed to try.
When he saw an advertisement for the opening of an All Might exhibit not far from UA, Katsuki knew he had to take Izuku. When they were little their moms would take them to new hero exhibit openings together. Katsuki would always pretend to be uninterested, but everyone knew that was a lie. Even if Izuku didn’t see it as a date, it was a good way for Katsuki to at least begin to repent for everything that had happened between them.
It wasn’t hard for Katsuki to convince Izuku to go with him. He had barely finished asking when Izuku had excitedly assured him that he would be there. In the days leading up to the opening, Katsuki found himself replaying that moment over and over again in his head. He knew that Izuku’s excitement was because of the exhibit, but he imagined that it was because he was going to be spending time with Katsuki.
From the second they got on the train, Katsuki was thinking that the whole trip was a bad idea. He has known Izuku their whole lives, and their relationship had gotten better in the two years since they started at UA, but this was awkward. Katsuki didn’t know what to say. Normally he would just insult the other boy, but that was counterproductive to how he wanted the day to go. So instead, he said nothing.
He remained silent as he paid for their tickets to the exhibit. He would have remained silent for the whole time, but Izuku wasn’t about to let that happen.
“Thank you for taking me, Kacchan, but why wouldn’t you bring your friends instead?”
“What the hell, Deku? Why would I bring the fucking extras? We have always gone to these damn things together.” Katsuki grumbled, a little harsher than he meant.
“Kacchan! Your friends aren’t extras!” Izuku laughed, taking Katsuki’s harsh comments in stride, just like he always does.
“Whatever, this is our thing though, why would I invite anyone else?” Katsuki shrunk into himself.
Izuku smiled so brightly that Katsuki couldn’t stop himself from smiling as well. Katsuki opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could, Izuku grabbed his arm and pulled him to the first section of the exhibit.
As Izuku dragged him from display to display, mumbling the whole way, Katsuki got more comfortable. Izuku led the conversations, while Katsuki was happy to add his own comments here and there.
The exhibit was supposed to cover All Might’s entire career, starting from his time at UA and ending with his retirement. They both already knew the majority of the information they came across, after all, they both know the man, but they still stopped at every display, and read every word about the hero.
At some point, Izuku had let go of Katsuki’s arm and grabbed his hand instead. Katsuki only froze for a moment at the new development, but he was distracted almost immediately by another display.
Katsuki was sure that he had never been happier than he was in that moment, holding Izuku’s hand and walking through an exhibit for their favorite hero, but it didn’t last. As he caught a glimpse of the last displays, he felt as though he had been dunked in ice-cold water. He should have known that the exhibit would have a whole section on Kamino, but it had slipped his mind.
Izuku must have noticed his reaction because he squeezed Katsuki’s hand and stepped a bit closer to him.
“Kacchan—” Izuku started to say something, but Katsuki never got to hear the rest of his statement. There was a loud explosion near the entrance to the exhibit, followed by screaming. Immediately, almost as if a switch had been flicked, Katsuki and Izuku were in hero mode.
They let go of each other’s hands and ran towards where it sounded like the explosion came from. As they neared the entrance, they passed screaming civilians running in the opposite direction. Many people tried to yell at them to run away, but neither of them hesitated or even thought about turning around.
When they got to what seemed like the source of the chaos they took a moment to assess what was happening, and then they leaped into action. Three villains were standing near the entrance. Two were shooting anyone they could see. One with metal balls out of his palms, and the other with metal spikes coming from a tail of some sort behind their back. The third villain was fortifying the entrance behind them, covering the windows and doors with liquid metal that was coming from his fingers, solidifying once it fell into place.
Katsuki and Izuku didn’t need words to work together. They fought together so often and they knew each other so well that both of them already knew what the other was going to do almost as soon as he figured it out himself.
Their priority was the villain that was closing off the door. Supposedly there are emergency exits as well as another exit at the back of the exhibit, but these villains looked like they came in with a plan. If they are taking the time to seal off this door, they probably already sealed off the rest. That means that there is no way for civilians to escape, and no way for heroes to come help.
With Katsuki and Izuku only having provisional licenses, they technically were only supposed to act under the supervision of a hero. That rule was bent a lot, especially in situations such as this, but having another hero around would make it completely legal, and it would make it more likely that they will be able to continue enjoying the rest of the day.
Katsuki headed straight for the villain at the doors, but he was unable to get to him due to having to dodge the spikes and metal balls the other villains were shooting. Luckily Izuku took that moment to attack both of the shooting villains, thoroughly distracting them. Because of Izuku’s actions, Katsuki was free to attack.
It was almost sad how easily he was able to defeat the villain with the metal quirk. He didn’t seem to have any idea how to fight, so with just a couple of explosions he surrendered. Katsuki found a couple of zip ties in the entrance desk that he used as makeshift handcuffs, and then he turned to Izuku, expecting to help him fight against the other two. He was surprised, and a bit impressed, to find that Izuku had already managed to overpower the other two villains.
Katsuki brought a few zip ties over to Izuku for the two shooting villains and then went about finding a way out. In the time it took for them to get there and start fighting, the villains had actually made good progress on blocking off the door, so while they could force their way through it, it wasn’t going to be easy.
Katsuki walked through the exhibit quickly, stopping only a moment at each emergency exit door. He didn’t have to stop long because each one was already pulled open, showcasing the metal wall behind it. The other people that were in the exhibit had already tried to escape through those doors, and they had been unsuccessful.
Even after a couple of years of training, Katsuki was still not the best at dealing with injured civilians, but when he saw a young woman in obvious pain, he couldn’t just leave her.
“I’m provisional hero Dynamight, are you injured?” Katsuki crouched next to the woman, putting his hand on her shoulder to get her attention.
She jumped at the contact and let out a small scream. Katsuki pulled his hand back after what felt like a static shock. She hadn’t noticed him walking up to her.
Before either of them could say anything else there was a loud crash by the entrance. Katsuki didn’t even think twice before running toward it. He had left Izuku alone and he would never forgive himself if something happened to him. He vaguely heard the woman calling out to him, but he figured he would deal with it after he made sure that Izuku was alright.
He sighed in relief when he finally got to the entrance and found that the crash was just heroes breaking through the metal. Izuku was explaining the situation to the heroes and police that had arrived while the villains were led out by the police, now in real handcuffs.
Paramedics pushed passed Katsuki, heading into the exhibit towards the civilians, so Katsuki moved toward Izuku, realizing that his job was done. Normally he would avoid physical contact, but after spending the day with him going through the exhibit, and then after fighting together, he couldn’t help but reach out and grab his shoulder. As he did he faintly heard a woman yell at him to stop, but it was too late.
As soon as his hand touched Izuku’s shoulder, everything disappeared from around them. He tried to pull his hand away, but he found he couldn’t. Particles of dust swirled around the two of them before forming figures in front of them. They watched as their four-year-old selves appeared before them, made up of dust.
Four-year-old Izuku was crumpled on the ground, crying, while four-year-old Katsuki stood above him. They were on the playground at the park, the one that they went to almost every day when they were younger.
“You’re just a worthless useless Deku! Why would I ever be friends with you?” Young Katsuki sneered at Young Izuku as fresh tears streaked their way down Izuku’s face.
The image dissipated into a cloud of dust before swirling around and reforming a different image of the two of them
They looked about the same age as they had been in the first scene, but the scenery was different. They were in a classroom. Young Katsuki was making small explosions in his hands, exploding anything he could get his hands on. Everyone was cheering him on, including the adults in the room. Young Izuku was staring at him in awe, even when Young Katsuki reached out, and exploded Young Izuku’s shoulder. His shirt was barely singed, but tears filled his eyes, even as his face remained unchanging, awed by Katsuki’s quirk.
The scene changed yet again, but the boys still seemed the same age. Young Izuku was cowering in front of Young Katsuki, again with tears in his eyes.
“Quirkless? What does that even mean?” Young Katsuki sneered.
Izuku answered in a small voice, barely able to be heard. “It means I won’t get a quirk like you Kacchan.” He sunk into himself even further than he already was.
“You really are a Deku then!” There was a hint of sadness on Young Katsuki’s face, but it was well hidden by his anger.
The next scene was at a river. They were walking across a log when Young Katsuki fell in. While their friends watched on from the sides Young Izuku ran down to offer a hand to help Young Katsuki up. Current Katsuki flinched as Young Katsuki smacked the hand away, getting up on his own.
Many scenes appeared just for a moment, just to see Younger Katsuki use his quirk on Younger Izuku before disappearing to create a new scene. Other scenes lasted for a little bit longer, just long enough for Younger Katsuki to spit an insult or two at Younger Izuku. There seemed to be no end to the memories that they were forced to relive.
Katsuki almost stopped breathing as a scene formed, one that he had been trying to forget since it happened. He watched in horror as the younger version of him exploded Izuku’s notebook, and then said the words he had wanted to take back ever since they were uttered.
“If you want to be a hero that badly, there is a quick way to do it! Hope that you will get a quirk in your next life and take a swan dive off the roof.”
Before he could recover from seeing the crushed look on Younger Izuku’s face the next scene formed.
“Deku! I didn’t ask for your help, I was fine on my own! Got it! You are a quirkless failure playing without a full deck! Don’t think that you can look down on me! I don’t owe you anything!”
It was right after the sludge villain attack when Katsuki yelled at Izuku instead of thanking him for saving his life.
Katsuki was surprised when the next scene formed, it was the longest time between two scenes so far. It showed the two of them, fighting in Ground Beta during the battle trials. He flinched at the grin on his face as he set loose a blast that could have killed Izuku.
The scene changed again, this time to their final exam. It only stayed for a second but it showed the moment that Katsuki punched Izuku in the face before swirling and changing again.
Ground Beta appeared before them, this time from the night after the provisional license exam. They watched their entire fight at Ground Beta and then the dust swirled around them for a moment, before settling on the ground.
Katsuki found that he could finally remove his hand from Izuku’s shoulder as the All Might exhibit reappeared around them. He vaguely recognized that everything continued from the moment that he had touched Izuku’s shoulder as if they hadn’t just spent a while watching their entire past, but he didn’t take the time to think about that. The second that Katsuki could remove his hand from Izuku’s shoulder, he did, and then he ran.
The exhibit was not only close to UA but also nearby the neighborhood they grew up in, so Katsuki had a general idea of the area. Even then, he didn’t have a goal of where he wanted to end up, but he found himself at the playground that they used to spend a lot of time at when they were younger, the one that had appeared in many of the memories.
He sat on the swings, and let the tears that he had been holding back fall. When Katsuki brought Izuku to the exhibit he was hopeful that they could be more, but after watching their past he knew that it wasn’t possible. Their entire relationship had been a war. Katsuki had attacked Izuku over and over again, and it was a miracle that he already hadn’t lost him. Katsuki wished that at least his knuckles would be bruised from the punches he had aimed over the years, but unlike Izuku, physically he was fine.
He knows that there is nothing he can do to fix this. Katsuki ruined everything before he even knew what he was ruining. Katsuki sat on the swings and cried, not noticing time passing. He half hoped that Izuku would follow him there, but he knew that it wasn’t likely. No sane person would follow their childhood bully to the park where he had bullied him.
But apparently, Izuku wasn’t sane. “Kacchan?” Izuku sounded so unsure about whether he should be there or not, but he still showed up. When Katsuki heard his voice, he couldn’t stop himself from crying harder.
“Kacchan, what’s wrong?” Izuku was closer now, standing next to him with a hand on Katsuki’s shoulder. Something about how Izuku said that broke him.
“What are you doing here? I was terrible to you, I burned you down over and over again. How can you still be reaching out to me? Even after all these years, you are still playing with fire.” Izuku reached out and grabbed Katsuki’s hand, making him even more confused. “Why is my hand the one you keep reaching for?” Katsuki was yelling through the tears, confused and broken.
“Kacchan, do you know what that quirk that hit you does?”
Katsuki wasn’t sure what he expected Izuku to say, but he wasn’t expecting him to change the subject. “Huh?”
“After you left I talked to the woman that accidentally used her quirk on you.” Izuku still had Katsuki’s hand in his, and he stared at their joined hands as he started playing with the explosive boy’s fingers. “She said that her quirk causes the person she used the quirk on, and the first person that they touch, to relive the biggest regrets of the person who was being affected by the quirk regarding the person they touched. Kacchan, every memory we watched was of moments that you regretted.” Izuku took a breath and looked up at Katsuki. “Before I say anything else I need to know, Kacchan, when did you start to regret everything you said and did?”
“The second I said it and did it.” Katsuki sighed and hung his head. “I’m so sorry De-” Katsuki took a deep breath. “Izuku… You didn’t deserve any of that.” Katsuki just breathed for a moment, but Izuku must have known that he wasn’t done talking because he waited patiently for Katsuki to continue. “That day, when I told you to… to take a…” Katsuki cleared his throat trying to get the words out. His voice got impossibly lower as he forced himself to continue, “to take a swan dive…” Tears trickled down his face and his voice cracked. “I thought I lost you… Every day after that I was so scared that you weren’t going to show up to school, but was still an asshole to you… I’m so sorry Izuku.”
Izuku gave him a moment, waiting to see if there was anything else he wanted to say. When Katsuki didn’t say anything, Izuku finally spoke. “You never meant it?” Izuku questioned, his voice cracking as well. “I thought… I thought that you only changed your mind since we’ve been at UA… I was going to say that I stuck by you because I always hoped that you would see that I wasn’t looking down on you, and then after our fight at Ground Beta you did and you stopped hating me. But you always regretted what you said… Kacchan I don’t understand.”
Katsuki sighed. “I had a fucked up idea of worth and shit. I thought that to be worth anything I had to be the best and to be the best I had to put everyone else down… I always knew that you were better than me, more heroic. I was so worried that someone else would notice, so I made sure to beat you down every chance I got even though I hated it… I understand if you don’t forgive me, in fact, I expect you not to forgive me, but for what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“Kacchan, if I hadn’t already forgiven you I would never have agreed to come with you today. I forgave you not long after that fight at Ground Beta when you started to make an effort to improve.”
Katsuki’s head shot up. “You… forgive me…?”
“Of course, I have more than forgiven you. Recently I even… I thought we were friends again.” Izuku looked sheepish and murmured something under his breath, something Katsuki couldn’t make out. He thought about questioning him, but his mind was still reeling from finding out he had been forgiven.
“I don’t deserve that.” Katsuki insisted. “I don’t deserve your forgiveness or your friendship. I want more, but I don’t even deserve to be a hero with you!”
Izuku opened his mouth to respond but then he paused. He moved so that instead of standing beside Katsuki, he was in front of him, looking him in the eyes. “What do you want?”
“Huh?” Katsuki questioned, having not meant to say that. He could feel his cheeks heating, but he was trying to ignore it.
Izuku moved closer to Katsuki. “You said that you want more. So Katsuki, what do you want?”
“I…” Katsuki froze. He knew what he wanted, but he also knew that he didn’t deserve it.
Izuku got even closer, reaching up and cupping Katsuki’s face. “I know what I want and I hope you want the same thing.”
“I… I…” Katsuki found himself unable to speak, even if he knew what he wanted to say.
Izuku leaned in. “Kacchan, when you asked me to come with you to the exhibit today, I hoped you meant it as a date, but I understand if that wasn’t your intention—”
“—Yes” Katsuki finally managed to choke out an answer. Before meeting Izuku halfway, pressing their lips together.
It was a quick peck, but it was everything Katsuki ever wanted. They both leaned back smiling, but Katsuki’s face fell almost immediately. “Izuku…” his voice was strained, “I don’t deserve you… I can’t…” His voice cracked.
Izuku leaned forward and pressed his lips to Katsuki’s once again. When he pulled back, he looked Katsuki in the eyes. “Kacchan, I am yours, I always have been, even through the great war that was our childhood. Whether we deserve each other or not, I'm yours.” Izuku let a tear fall as he tried to convince Katsuki. “I can’t help but reach for you, always, regardless of whether you reach back. I have left those memories in the past, they brought us here, but we survived, so all that’s left is to move on.”
Katsuki stared into the bright green eyes of the boy he had fallen for, and let himself be convinced. Their childhood might have been a battlefield, but they could have peace. The war is over, they called a truce after their fight at Ground Beta, and it is about time that they act like it. He leaned in to press his lips against Izuku’s again, but this time he didn’t pull away immediately. Instead, he threaded his hands through Izuku’s hair pulling the boy even closer. He pulled away for a second, only far enough to whisper, “I will always be yours.”
Nothing could erase the rubble left from the war - not until Katsuki pieced back together the wreckage of their relationship.