Archive of Our Own

Izuku and Katsuki had been attached at the hip as far back as both of them can remember. In fact the first memory Izuku has is of him running up to Kacchan at the park and shouting his name. The blonde boy turns around to grin at him and calls out to him before grabbing his hand and dragging him further into the park all while reminding him about where their game had left off the previous day.

“Zuku? Are you even listening to me, nerd?” Kacchan demands, pulling a face that was definitely not a pout, poking at one of his chubby freckled cheeks.

“Of course! I’m alway listening to Kacchan. You’re so amazing! I have to listen so I can be as smart as you!” Izuku nods vigorously while grabbing his hands and holding them together between them.

“You’ll never be as smart as me! It's impossible!” Kacchan brags, causing Izuku to pout. “Don’t pout Zuku, you look like a bunny when you do that.”

“Nuh uh,” he protests, shaking his head. He continues pouting but hides his face behind his arms in an attempt to direct Kacchan’s attention to something besides his apparently bunny-like face. Kacchan goes back to shouting with a roll of his eyes at his friend’s antics about what he’d been in the middle of explaining. He was talking about his birthday party and his plans.

Izuku was happy to add input and ramble when Kacchan was done talking. They were not only attached at the hip but they were alway holding a hand or being in contact with each other in one way or another.

—-----------------------------

The day of Katsuki’s fourth birthday, Zuzu and he watched the new All Might movie that had recently been released. This was a surprise to the boys and a very good one at that as they had been begging their respective parents to see it since they first saw the previews. Throughout the entire movie the eyes were entranced to the screen. They couldn't tear their eyes away. They were awestruck with All Might’s power.

“That was so amazing. Kacchan!! We’re going to be just like him when our quirks come in,” Izuku exclaims, trailing behind the three parents. Izuku is hopping up and down in excitement while Kacchan’s arm gets dragged up and down following his movement.

Katsuki was in such a good mood he didn't even care to tell him to stop tugging him. “I'm going to be the best. You can be the second best!” Kacchan declares. The parents look at the two with fond smiles, they're very happy that their kids were as close as them.

“Awww but cant we be together? Can’t we both be number one?” Zuku pouts. He stopped jumping and now Katsuki was leading him more than he’d been before.

“There can only be one number one, that's how numbers work, stupid,” Kacchan shakes his head. They’ve had this conversation pretty much every week since they had discovered how awesome All Might is.

“Mean, Kacchan,” Zuku complains and lets himself be dragged by his best friend.

They went back to the Bakuguos for dinner and because Zuzu and Katsuki were planning to have a sleepover. Katsuki’s birthday party was the next day and a couple of the extras from their school were coming over to celebrate. They had spicy curry for dinner because it is Kacchan’s favorite. Sure it's his favorite because of the taste but it’s also because Zuku’s reactions are the best everytime he eats it.

Izuku doesn’t handle the spice too well but he wants to be like Kacchan. So he’ll always tough it out with tears brimming at the corner of his eyes, cheeks flushing a light pink, and his nose starts to sniffle. He wants Kacchan to think he’s cool. He also wants to like what Kacchan likes but sometimes it's tough.

“Izu, honey, Masaru-san made a less spicy curry,” Inko says, giving her baby boy a pitying look. She knows he’ll reject the idea but it doesn’t hurt to try.

“Mama, I wanna be like Kacchan,” Izuku pouts with a little sniffle.

“If he wants to be number two auntie he has to be almost as strong as me,” Kacchan declares, beaming at his best friend. He’ll help Zuku get stronger like him so they can stay together.

“Of course, Katsu-chan,” Inko agrees with a shake of her head. Dinner goes on without a hitch. The boys bring the dishes to the kitchen to Mitsuki. They’re currently not trusted or tall enough to wash the dishes, so they clean up the table by clearing it, and wiping it down. They sweep around the table to just make sure everything is as clean as Kacchan’s dad likes it.

Once everything is cleaned up Inko brings out the batch of ginger cookies she made for Katsuki because Izuku insisted that he didn’t like sweet things. Izuku was happy to help even if he’s a disaster in the kitchen, hopefully he’ll grow out of that when he gets older for the sake of those around him.

“Try it!” Izuku exclaims, shoving the cookies towards the Bakuguos with a grin on his face. He really hopes his friend likes them, this had been the best type of cookie he decided on from the cook book he found at home.

“Good job, Izu-chan, a real baker in the making,” Mitsuki praises and gives her friend a knowing look. She's been well informed of the disastrous nature of Izuku in the kitchen, which is part of the reason he’s not allowed in Masaru’s kitchen. It’s the very same reason she’s left to prepping food and not cooking it.

“Thanks, Zuku,” Kacchan beams the most sincere smile Izuku or anyone present had seen in a while.

“I have one more thing for you!” Izuku exclaims before rushing out of the kitchen. He disappears upstairs to where he left his sleep over stuff. He reappears not long after with two gold foil packages in his hand. “I got one for each of us. I did it all by myself!” Inko remembers how happy Izuku had been coming home from helping the neighbors with some chores to save up for them. “We can open them together and try to get the All Might card.” They’d open a couple in the past and they’ve gotten some cool heroes but none of them were All Might though. They each got two packages, one for each of them, whenever they could. Maybe since it’s Katsuki’s birthday today will be the day they get the super rare All Might card.

Katsuki and Izuku thank the adults before disappearing upstairs to open the new packages in Katsuki’s room. The adults shake their heads at the kid’s antics before they finish some final clean-up. They’re quickly cut off by some shrieks followed by the patter of little feet. They look to the sound in time for them to see the two boys sliding into the kitchen holding matching All Might cards. Their grins now are the widest any of the adults had ever seen them. Both of the boys’ words were impossible to decipher, sure they were used to Izuku’s quick mumbling but they had never seen Katsuki in such a state. The adults chuckled to themselves and once the boys calmed down somewhat Inko said goodnight to Izuku. She told him that his dad also said good night and he’d be around tomorrow for Katsuki’s birthday. Izuku made her promise not to tell Hasashi about the All Might card, which caused Inko to grin.

The boys were sent up to bed and the house fell to silence.

—-----------------------------

Three months after Katsuki’s birthday, the boys where sat sharing an All Might comic. Katsuki was sitting leaning on the arm rest, Zuzu was pressed up beside him but he was slouched further down than Katsuki. Zuzu had one hand free so he could flip the page because he got distracted with the detail of the art so Kacchan always finished reading the page first. Katsuki had his hand placed Zuku’s where his shoulder met his neck as they read.

Once Katsuki would finish reading a page he would listen to Zuku’s rambling about the art and the storyline. They were getting to the end of the comic when Katsuki finished reading the page just as before, he started to pay attention to Zuku’s mumbling again. He scrunched his eyebrows, Zuku’s mumbling sounds sluggish. “Zuzu?” he asks. He nudges his arm with the hand that was already placed there.

“Hmm?” Zuku responds, slowly. That was not normal. There is never anything slow about him.

“Are you ok, nerd?” Katsuki asked, worry slipping into his voice.

“My head feels funny,” Izuku complains. He drops his part of the comic and scooches forward off the couch. “I’m going to… tell… Auntie.” He takes a total of three steps before he drops.

“Izuku!” Katsuki screams. There's a crackle and a pop. Katsuki looks down at his hands and clenches his fist of all times his quirk could come in. He shakes Izuku, who hasn’t moved since he dropped. “Mom!” he screams as loud as possible, hoping he doesn’t have to leave his best friend’s side to retrieve his mom. Luckily, he can hear her footsteps coming down the hall.

“What the hell are you shit heads screaming about?” she finishes asking as she enters the living room. She's immediately on high alert as she sees her best friend’s son collapsed on the floor. She rushes to his side and flips him onto his left side. She hears him grumble in displeasure as he’s moved. “Katsuki, keep talking to him, try to get him to respond, I need to grab my phone to call 119” She runs down the hall to where she had left her phone on her work desk. She dials the emergency number. “Please send help, my son’s 4 year old friend has collapsed.” She pleads into the phone as she heads back to the living room.

“Mom, please he hasn’t responded,” Katsuki says from the floor. There’s tears brimming in his eyes. Mitsuki could feel her heart breaking in her chest. She then realized she’d have to talk to her best friend.

“Katsuki, go unlock the door and when the ambulance gets here lead them in here,” She directs, sending her son away from his best friend. If this is something serious he doesn’t need to be present for it.

“I don't want to leave him,” he argues, not moving from his spot beside his mom.

“Katsuki, listen to me when I say that you’re helping by doing what I ask. If you want you can grab something for him to bring to the hospital with him,” She says, subtly checking his pulse. This order gets a determined nod before he disappears. His pulse is very weak but thankfully still present. She relays the information to the dispatcher. Not long after Katsuki disappeared, he reappeared with an All Might blanket, a green bunny plush, and emergency personnel.

“Please save him!” Katsuki screams as the tears finally fall. Mitsuki picks up Katsuki and moves him away from where emergency personnel are working. One is busy applying a 12-lead on Izuku’s chest while the other is putting the pulse oximetry on his finger and a blood pressure cough on his arm. Her heart drops when she hears one of them curse under their breath. One of them takes little Izuku up into their arms, the other carries the monitor out as it was still attached to him. Mitsuki starts following them out as Masaru appears in the door, questions and worries falling from his lips and is written on his face. She passes Katsuki off to Masaru before following the emergency personnel to the awaiting ambulance. “I’ll explain everything later, call both Inko and Hasashi and tell her to come to the hospital.” She directs over with her back towards her husband and her sobbing son. She could hear a scream, pops, and crackles coming from behind her as she hopped in the back of the ambulance.

Izuku looks so small strapped to the stretcher and Mitsuki feels the cracks starting to spread further. One of them is starting oxygen on a non-rebreather for him while the other is preparing him for an IV. Once the oxygen is started the person hopes out the side door before hopping in the front seat and calls back to the person who has now started an IV. They’re now on their way to the hospital, light and siren going. Mitsuki finally allows tears to fall.

“What’s happening?” She demands between cries. “Why aren't you doing anything for him?”

“There's nothing more I can do besides monitor his vitals. Since you’re not family I can't tell you more, I shouldn’t have even let you back here,” they just shrug and continue watching the monitor. Masaru would be very proud of her for not snapping at this person because it took all her restraint. She just grabbed Izuku’s hand and started rubbing her thumb over the back of his hand. “You better wake up, Izuku. You have so many people who love you and would be devastated to lose you. You’re the only one I fully trust with Katsuki. He loves you.” She just kept talking to him, hoping to whatever god that is listening that they’ll save this boy. This boy deserves the world and fuck whoever would take that away from him so young.

Inko ran into the room and her breath caught as she saw her baby boy laid down in the hospital room. Mitsuki was still at his side talking to him. She did however look up when she entered the room and soon as red met green Inko started sobbing. Mitsuki was at her side in a second pulling her into a hug. She rubbed Inko back in small circles and tried to sooth her. Once her crying had tampered off and a tissue was handed to her she finally took a deep breath and asked for the full explanation. What followed was what little Mitsuki was told because she wasn't a blood relative. Inko and Mitsuki hand in hand went to find Izuku’s doctor.

“So unfortunately, Mrs. Midoriya, Izuku is going to have to stay overnight as we do not know what caused this syncopal episode. As far as we can tell we’re hoping this is just an acute case of hypotension and we’re hoping that this is a one off incident because as of right now there is no explanation as to why it occurred. We’ll be running some more tests to try and find an explanation. By tomorrow afternoon if his blood pressure has stabled we’ll release him as there is nothing more we can do for him. Do you have any questions?” The doctor finishes and looks up from the computer where everything had presumably been tracked.

“Do you know when he’ll wake up?” Inko sniffles, squeezing Mitsuki’s hand. Mitsuki squeezes back in reassurance and sends her friend a small smile.

“Unfortunately, as of right now we don’t know. All we know is that there's nothing currently stopping him from waking up, so for now it is just a waiting game,” the doctor nods and bows out of the conversation leaving the two women standing in the hallway.

Katsuki was told that Zuku was back to his normal self the next. Katsuki was very happy that he was fine and was very excited to tell him about his quirk. Even though Zuku is young, he’s alway loved quirks whether reading about them, seeing them in person, or a sort of childlike theorizing about quirks and their uses. There’s real potential for his childlike theorizing to go beyond what it is now and become a lethal weapon for when he becomes a hero. Katsuki has always been a little jealous at how good Zuzu is at doing that even though he’d never admit it out loud.

As of Zuku’s release though Katsuki didn’t know much about his quirk besides the fact that he can make explosions from his hands. So far everyone who’s seen or heard him talking about it has said he got really lucky with his quirk and that he can be a great hero with it. He’s felt a warm golden feeling in his chest everytime someone mentions how great his quirk is and he can't wait for Zuzu to feel the same and get similar praise. Since they’re going to be the best they might as well start young.

He hasn’t been able to see Zuku since he collapsed because his mom and dad want him to take it easy, to the point where he hasn't been to school with him since and Katsuki has not so patiently been waiting for his return. He’s been up his parents’ asses daily wanting updates on his best friend. Thankfully Mitsuki revealed that the Midoriya’s were all going to be over for dinner that night. Katsuki was pretty much vibrating with excitement while looking out for Zuzu and his parents so he could immediately see his friend. Katsuki hates to admit it but he desperately misses him, the extras at school have nothing on Zuzu. He sits there staring out the window longer than he’d like to admit. He jumps up as soon as he sees Zuzu and his parents walking down the sidewalk as soon as they’re on the walkway Zuku is running up towards the door, which Katsuki is in the process of swinging open to greet. Katsuki was vaguely aware of Auntie Inko telling him to take it easy as he got an armful of his friend. Katsuki can feel Zuzu crying and babbling about how much he’d missed him and it made his chest feel that warm golden feeling that he got when people talked about his quirk.

Izuku cried into Kacchan as he felt his hair being played with. He loved when Kacchan played with his hair because he was gentle compared to their friends from school. They’d always tug on his curls leaving his scalp burning and tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. They entered the house, still touching one another. It seemed Kacchan missed him as much as he had missed Kacchan and that caused Izuku to smile. He of course knows that Kacchan and him are best friends, he just likes to be sure. Kacchan drags Izuku upstairs and he explains everything he missed at school, including how the extras fawned over his quirk. To be fair Izuku can’t fault or criticize them for fawning because he was two minutes away from doing the same.

In fact as Katsuki was talking he could tell Zuku was ready to burst at any second whether from questions or compliments he didn't know. All he knows is as soon as Zuzu started talking it was hard to keep up with everything being said and the warm golden feeling returned tenfold. He just continues sitting there, holding Zuzu’s hand listening to him talk. They were called down for dinner not too long after the Midoriya’s go there.

Izuku couldn’t even care if the food was going to be spicy or not. He was just too excited to hang out with Kacchan again. They chatter to one another throughout the dinner, Hasashi and Inko were all too happy to see their son back to his bright self. He’d been moping around the house because the doctor warned them about taking it easy. They could tell Izuku had missed going to school, the park, and the Bakuguo’s house. This dinner was the most normal they’d seen him since the incident. They can only hope just like the doctor’s thought that it is a one off incident.

—-----------------------------

There were times where Izuku would feel a bit dizzy while hanging out with Kacchan but it was never as bad as the first time so since he didn’t want to worry his parents, he never mentioned it to them. He would just take a seat and drink some water when it happened, Kacchan would hover by him but didn’t want to touch because he didn't want a repeat of the original incident. He would however get the water bottle for Izuku and sit in front of him and not allow him to stand until he felt better. Izuku had made Kacchan swear to secrecy about his continuing condition. To the point where none of the adults in Izuku’s life realized that the incidents had continued until the boy had another sleepover during summer break three years following the original incident.

Since Izuku also invited over a couple friends from school to the sleepover, he and Kacchan shared his bed while the other two boys took the extra futons that the Midoriya’s had for situations like this. Everything had been going fine until the early hours of the morning when Izuku had moved closer to Kacchan because he was cold and because of Kacchan’s quirk he was warm. Kacchan had wrapped an arm around with a hand placed on his upper arm so Izuku wouldn’t fall off the bed. Inko had come to wake them up for breakfast as the sun had fully peaked over the horizon. Izuku had sluggishly gotten out of bed as he does every morning, because he is not a morning person, but what wasn’t typical was when he stretched his arms way above his head he dropped again.

Katsuki’s heart dropped as he watched the same sequence of events taking place. Katuski screaming and shaking Izuku, trying to get any sort of response out of the boy. Auntie calling the ambulance. The boys who were asleep on the futon also began screaming and crying. The paramedics came in again and did the same thing as last time, but started with checking his blood pressure because it's what Auntie Inko had demanded of them. She told them about his past hypotension and previous hospitalization because of it. Once they had that extra information along with his blood pressure reading he was once again ushered out of the house and onto the stretcher where he was promptly brought to the hospital. The boys were left with Uncle Hisashi who looked annoyed to be left with them. Katsuki could understand that he probably wanted to be with his son at the hospital and not waiting around with his son’s snot nosed friends. The boys’ parents were immediately called and breakfast was forgotten as they left the Midoriya's house.

What no one knew at the time, least of all little seven-years old Katsuki, is that Uncle Hasashi wasn’t annoyed with being left with the boys, no, he was annoyed that his son was being rushed off to hospital again. He was reminded of the fees, the time, and the energy that went into Izuku last time he was hospitalized and he wasn’t up for dealing with it again. Especially after he heard that his son had been experiencing little syncopal episodes since the original incident a year prior. He decided after hearing once again that there was no explanation or solution that maybe it was time to take a look at the job offer he’d received in America following Izuku’s birth, which he’d graciously turned down due to his wife's wishes and her falling pregnant not long after the wedding. Now he didn’t have the energy or the love he had once held for Inko and Izuku; they were now mostly an inconvenience. He’s very thankful he had already accepted the offer and made up his mind by the time some of the tests came back because he learned the truth he’d been dreading since Izuku’s fourth, fifth, and sixth birthday passed and with his seventh on the way it was an inevitable reality. His offspring had been diagnosed as a quirkless. On top of having unknown health problems he has to go and make himself irredeemable worthlessness. He couldn’t help but hold a mental funeral for the boy because with the health concerns and the diagnosis there's little chance he’ll live to see his 16th birthday. With his bags packed, he closed the door on his previous life for the final time and smiled as he looked forward to what his future would hold without his current burdens.

—-----------------------------

When school was back in session, the news of Izuku’s health problems and quirkless diagnosis was spread by the boys from the sleepover. People started calling him weak because according to them couldn’t stand without passing out. No one bothered to listen to Izuku when he told them that it only happened sometimes and he wasn’t actually weak. Classmates also hated him for being quirkless. He doesn’t know how or who started it but he was dubbed a deku one day and since the first time he was called Deku no one at school had called him Izuku since. People started using the nickname as the insult it was. He couldn’t help but agree with them. If his dad couldn’t deal with his weakness or quirklessness why should anyone else have to put up with it.

What hurt most of all was when Kacchan, his best friend, called him Deku. He doesn’t know what caused him to say it but it felt like being slapped. Kacchan’s face probably reflected his own when the cruel nickname fell from his lips. All he felt was shock. Kacchan starts taking a step forward, maybe to apologize, maybe to hit him, who knows. All he knows is that Kacchan freezes when one of the people he used to consider a friend hollers out a jeer of “Great job, Bakugou! Put him in his place.” With that Izuku starts backing away from his friend. Kacchan reached out a hand and Izuku flinched. The look of hurt that flashes across Kacchan’s face causes him to stumble backwards.

“Awww, poor Deku can’t even stand on his two feet, no wonder he wasn’t given a quirk. What use is a quirk when the person is too weak and useless to even use it. That’s just how useless he is, I guess,” another person that Izuku once considered a friend taunts. That causes the tears to brim to the corner of his eyes along with a wobbly grimace.

He had overheard his mom talking to Auntie Mistuki about his dad leaving and it wasn't what she had tried to tell him. She’d tried to tell him that his dad loved him and that he was working in America so Izuku and his mom could have a better life. He knew it was a lie, he’d heard his mother crying over bills. He heard the real reason behind his dad’s disappearance and somehow this classmate of his had the reason right on the head.

Izuku stood up scrunched his face to try to force his quivering lip to stop, he didn’t want to cry in front of them. He turned his back to his classmate and started walking away, sniffling quietly to himself. He felt a burning sensation crawl up his back. He fell again this time face first. One of his classmate’s quirk was the ability to harden and lengthen his fingernails at will, and he could tell from the length and the sting that it was probably that classmate that attacked him. Kacchan was at his side in an instant, which earned boo’s from their classmates.

“Fuck off, extras,” Kacchan snapped, helping Izuku to his feet. He supported him with an arm around his back and his hand happened to fall right where Izuku’s shirt had been slashed but no skin had been broken. Since it was the end of the school day they’d walked back to the Midoriya’s household because his mom was working. Kacchan helped clean up his back.

Once the surface level scratches were clean, Izuku broke down crying. He’d been so lonely since his dad had left and he’d been diagnosed quirkless. He was just happy their friendship had lasted as long as it had even with the knowledge that Izuku is quirkless and many people don’t think he’ll ever be a hero. He babbled about how he’d understand if he didn’t want to be friends with a quirkless Deku, no one else wanted to, why should Kacchan be forced to just because they’d known each other forever and their parents’ are friends.

Katsuki’s heart broke as his best friend cried in his arms, he wanted to reassure his friend but it’d feel wrong after using that awful nickname. He rubbed small circles on the poor boy’s back, avoiding the cuts. Zuku deserved better. Katsuki wanted to make it better. He just didn't know how. He would obviously apologize for calling him that despicable name and never call him that again. He deserved better and Katsuki would work hard to give him better. It was then that he realized that Zuku had stopped crying and Katsuki had let out a sigh of relief. It seems the boy had cried himself to sleep. He laid the boy down on his bed, which is where they had been sitting and that is when he realized the rise and fall of Izuku’s chest wasn’t normal. He was barely breathing. His heart dropped as he ran down the hall towards the kitchen. He called the emergency number and once again the same scenario played out, especially since he told the paramedics that he has had blood pressure problems for years now. He cried and screamed at them to let him go with Zuzu and what finally convinced them is he pointed out that since he's a kid he shouldn’t be left alone. He was instructed to sit up front to try and spare Katsuki from the sight of his friend in that condition. He didn’t argue he was just happy to be allowed to join them.

Zuzu was situated in the ICU due to him going into respiratory arrest briefly; they wanted to keep extra eyes on him. He was allowed to stay with his friend as no adult had picked him up yet. Katsuki sat in a chair at his friend’s side just holding his hand and begging him to respond in any sort of fashion. He must’ve fallen asleep at some point because the next he knows is that there’s shouting around him. There's many people moving around him and doing stuff. But the most noticeable thing to little seven year old Katsuki was the incessant buzz. He looked up to where the noise was coming from and the line that had been showing his best friend’s heart beat wasn’t moving. It was flat. Katsuki was pushed out of the room as medical personnel put the hospital bed flat and started CPR. Even outside of the room he still couldn’t tear his eyes away from the line. He could feel his own heart stuttering as if Izuku’s heart wouldn’t start beating again; there's no point in his continuing on without Izuku’s.

The next thing he knows is he himself is on a hospital bed. Katsuki is quick to pull the shit off his arm and hop out of bed. He’s stopped by his mom and a doctor standing outside his door in the hallway. He pauses and listens. He wants to hear what they’re saying whether it's about him or maybe about Izuku.

Turns out it's not just his mom in the hall, Auntie Inko is also standing there. It’s actually Izuku’s doctor talking to them. “.... caused by an abnormally high amount of nitroglycerin in his bloodstream mixed with a baseline low blood pressure” the doctor pauses taking a deep breath. ”We’re just lucky we got him back.”

His mom must come to the same conclusion as Katsuki himself because he hears her suck in a breath. He feels tears brimming at the corners of his eyes and he curses Zuzu for his crying habit rubbing off on him. He can only assume one of the other adults gives his mom a questioning look because she lets out a shaky breath and says “Katsuki secretes nitroglycerin on his palms.” He barely registers Auntie Inko’s response as he stares down at his hands. He stares at his hands as he walks back to bed. He sits down on the side of the bed, feet hanging off, his head hung low. He can’t tear his eyes away from his hands. He’d been the one to make Zuzu weak. He’d been the one to cause his hospitalizations. He’d been the one to kill him. Sure they had gotten him back but how long until he actually killed him. He couldn’t do that to Zuku. He couldn’t cause more hurt to his Zuku than he’d already caused. How could his quirk, the thing that gave him so much golden warmth also be the thing that was slowly ruining Zuku’s life. He doesn’t know how long he was staring at his hands. He is lightly shaken and he finally tears his eyes away from his hands -his godforsaken hands- and he meets his mother’s eyes. She looked worried.

“Katsu? Are you ok, brat? You had quite the fall earlier, how’s your head?” she asks softly. She reaches out a hand and all he can hear is the incessant beeping, all he can see is the unmoving flat line. He slaps the hand away.

“D- Don’t… Don’t touch,” Katsuki says, pushing himself further onto the bed and also further away from his mother.

“Ok that's ok, I won’t touch. You just don’t seem ok. Is there anything you need? Do you want to talk to somebody, what you saw must have been scary,” She comforts, taking a seat on the side of the bed where he’d just moved away from.

“I’m fine. I don’t need help, I'm the best,” Katsuki says, it had none of his normal bravado or confidence that he carried himself with.

“Ok, you’re just not acting like yourself and I’m worried,” she tries again.

“Stop treating me like that, I'm fine,” he snaps. He stops looking at her and lets his eyes wander around the room. He doesn’t want to meet her eyes and see the pity there. He isn’t weak. He doesn’t need or deserve pity. “Ok, Katsuki, your dad and I are alway here if you need anything or want to talk. There are plenty of people who would be willing to listen,” his mom pauses, waiting to see if he’ll respond. He doesn't. “Right,” she starts, standing from the bed. “I’m going to talk to the doc and see if we can get you discharged. Sound good, brat?” She studies him, hoping for a normal reaction, unfortunately there wasn’t one to be seen. She inwardly sighs and decides that if he’s not acting more like his normal self in a couple of days, she’ll set up a meeting with a therapist. She might just do that anyway to be on the safe side.

—-----------------------------

It's a month before Zuku is back in class and when he comes back the bullying has increased drastically much to his dismay. He hasn’t used his quirk since the incident. He hasn’t touched anyone since then either. He realizes that he’ll at some point have to let himself touch people again or he won't be able to help people as a hero. He just can’t bring himself to do it yet. Thankfully the only person he was making physical contact with a majority of the time was Zuku, but with everyone isolating him and his resolve to never hurt Zuku again he hasn’t really had the urge to touch the boy. Sure he may sometimes find himself reaching for an arm or hand that isn’t there but that’s normal, he’s just doing his job as a hero and saving his best friend, even if the danger is himself. It made it even easier when the extras around him would call him Deku and bully him because at least then Zuzu wouldn't be around him and he wouldn’t give into the comfortable habit that had formed over the years of being attached. He misses his best friend nonetheless.

Even with the cause being known, Auntie Inko and Zuzu still attend family dinners. He still gets invited to hang out and even sleep over. It baffles Katsuki. He couldn’t understand why they would want to be around him. They all know the truth, why would any of them still put up with him, he’s nothing worse than a villain. He deserves the treatment Izuku receives. He deserves to be called names and whatever they physically do to him, even though he never has the heart to watch them hurting his best friend. He’s just a coward. He feels a stabbing pain any time either of the Midoriya’s flash their green eyes at him. They haunt him almost as frequently as the incessant buzz and that flat, unmoving, line.

When those become too much he stands at the bathroom sink alone scrubbing, rubbing, and scratching his hands raw. He wants these hands to be able to help one day, but for today they’ll be a reminder of the fact he no longer feels that warm golden feeling blooming in his chest. They’re a reminder of his haunting nightmares that leave him feeling empty. Most importantly they’re a reminder that he lost a best friend for a godforsaken quirk. He’d give up his quirk to have his Zuzu back. At least then, if both of them were quirkless, they could be quirkless together and in the end to Katsuki that's all that really matters.

—-----------------------------

Mitsuki was understandably very worried about both the boys in her life. Obviously, she is very worried about Izuku and the hospitalization. She knows that those incidents can take a toll on anybody, never mind a child. She is also aware about how bad it's been for him at home, according to Inko all he does is hide in his room. He doesn't do anything he used to love to do like writing hero notes, watching hero fights, or playing outside. He doesn’t talk to his mom like he used to do before the second hospitalization. He doesn’t offer to help in the kitchen. It's hard to get him to do his chores. It's just been a struggle to see the boy who used to be. She doesn’t blame him at all of course, the kid needs help and she hopes he knows he can talk to anybody about what is going on. She wants him to feel better even if it is a slow process because healing has to be done at his own pace.

She’s also been very worried about her own son. Katsuki may think he's doing a good job at hiding what's wrong, but he's not. She can see his raw hands, how he flinches away from any sort of touch, and of course how he still has to stop himself from grabbing Izuku. Thankfully following the third incident, she’d already contacted a well rated and highly recommended therapist and scheduled some meetings. She doesn’t want her baby brat to be scared to connect with people. She thinks he's probably distancing himself because he doesn't want to get hurt if something happens to Izuku. Or maybe he finally listened to the advice she had given him following his quirk manifestation. He was told to be aware because he could really hurt someone if he wasn’t careful. Thankfully, she hasn’t heard anything about anyone getting hurt and she is happy to hear that at the very least. She doesn’t want anyone to get her because of her boy even if it was an accident due to inexperience. She doesn't want him to be put in that position.

—-----------------------------

All the bullying at school had hit a plateau by the end of the school year. At this point being called names was a given, at least the physical aspect of being bullied was kept to a minimum. No one wanted him to end up in the hospital again because that means someone would have to look into why he was having another incident. Izuku had never been as happy as leaving that school for Aldera Junior High. He’s hoping that people will forget about him and that school experience will be better.

He’s trying to catch Kacchan on his way home. He knew Kacchan had been projecting that he wanted space and didn't want anybody to touch him but he’d never fully directed it at Izuku. So he's hoping, with the offer of going to see the new All Might together, that he'd be ready to hang out again just like they’d done all previous years. He runs up behind his friend and slings an arm around Kacchan’s shoulder. Just for him to end up on the ground.

“Dont fucking touch me,” Kacchan hisses, holding his hands to his chest.

“I’m sorry for sneaking up on you, I just wanted to know if you wanted to see the new All Might movie,” Izuku explains, standing up. He brushes off his uniform before looking back at Kacchan. “We haven’t hung out in a while and I was hoping you were ready to hang out again.”

“Remember the last time we hung out?” he asks, clenching his hands. He has an unreadable look on his face, which confuses Izuku. When had Kacchan ever been able to hide his feelings from him? They’d alway been so in sync he can’t remember a time where that hadn’t been the case. He can’t help the pang that this realization brought him, he didn’t realize how much they’d drifted up till this point. Sure they’d gone extended times without being attached at the hip, but they were always so quick to click into place that this is uncharted territory.

“I mean, we have dinner together at least once a week,” Izuku replies with a tilt of his head. He doesn’t understand why he is asking him.

“It was the day before stick fingers attacked you,” Kacchan corrects. This causes Izuku to pause. That’d been months ago. Izuku can feel his face fall as he asks in a small voice, “Is that really the last time you considered us hanging out?”

“Of course! Do you remember what happened the next day?” Kacchan shouts. His hands are still clenched at his chest but they’re popping now. Izuku flinches as Kacchan hisses. He steps forward again.

“Hey! Be careful you’re going to hurt yourself.” Izuku is now closer to Kacchan than he’s been in months. He’s reaching out to pull his friend’s hands away from his body, there is no way he's going to stand by and watch his friend hurt himself. He’s on the ground again, this time with a searing pain across the left side of his forehead. He reflexively brings his hand to his face as he hears a ringing and what sounds like Kacchan cursing. He feels tears dripping down his cheeks. The ringing hasn’t stopped. He tastes the coppery taste of blood and he duly notes that he must’ve bitten his tongue when he fell. God dammit that ringing is annoying. Out of his right eye he sees Kacchan, it looks like he’s panicking. He can’t think about why Kacchan would be panicking over the awful ringing. He moves to stand up only for Kacchan’s gaze to flick back towards him. It looks like he’s trying to talk to him but the words are so far away. How is that possible? He sees Kacchan not too far away from him. That's when he notices the ringing getting unbearably loud and how it seems like his vision is getting blurrier.

Katsuki feels like he's dying as he slings Izuku over his back, that explosion had been the biggest explosion he’d ever produced. He didn’t mean to, he just didn’t want to hurt Izuku again. There he went, hurting him even when he was trying to protect him. God dammit he’s such a shitty friend. How could he ever hope to save people when he couldn’t even protect his friend from himself.

He’s hoping that one of his parents is home because he doesn’t know what to do and adults are supposed to know this type of shit. He doesn’t know why Zuku kept coming towards him and getting in his personal space, he should know that Katsuki has been the cause of all his problems. He had to ask himself why would Izuku want to be around him. He places Izuku in the grassy patch by his front door so he could unlock it. Once the door is opened he picks him back up, slips off his shoes, and places him on the couch in the living room, all while calling for his parents in a frantic voice. He was shocked at hearing his voice; he can't remember the last time it had sounded so shaky. His dad appears from upstairs and takes in his state. Then he looks past Katsuki and sees Izuku sprawled out on the couch.

“Katsuki, what happened,” Masaru demanded in a stern voice that never came out. Katuski knew it was serious before but this just confirmed it. The words came spilling out as his dad looked over the poor boy. “I’m taking him to the emergency room.” His word is final as he picks up the boy and leaves Katsuki alone in the empty house.

He finally lets himself fall to the ground. His body wracked with sobs. He again can’t help but blame Izuku for his crying habit. He doesn’t know how long he cries, but the next thing he knows is he's waking up to the sound of the front door opening. He doesn’t know when he fell asleep but it's probably because he was emotionally drained. His mom and dad walk into the livingroom and they look like they’ve aged about five years since he saw them earlier.

“Is he ok?” he asks, dragging himself off the ground. His parents send a glance to each other before looking back at their son.

“I’m sorry, Katsuki, Inko asked us not to tell you,” his dad said, breaking the silence. Katsuki closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, counts backwards from ten and says “I understand.” His mom and dad once again send each other worried looks before their worried gaze lands on Katsuki. He doesn’t know why they’re surprised, they’re the ones who decided he needs therapy. “There’s another thing,” his dad says, taking a deep breath.

“Stop beating around the bush and fucking get on with it,” Katsuki snaps, sure he may know how to count back from ten, doesn’t mean it always works. “Due to the damage, Izuku is going to have to go to a special school where they can teach him sign language and other things to make his life more accessible. We’ve been allowed to tell you this because they’re going to move.” Katsuki had felt like he was dying before but that feeling has never quite felt as real as it feels right now.

—-----------------------------

Since junior high Katsuki would consider himself a loner, without Izuku none of the extras had truly been bearable. They’d follow him around but he never truly cared about them, hell he couldn’t even remember their names half the time. Even with being a loner he still got high recommendation for every possible high from everyone around him. He still probably would’ve gotten into UA without the recommendations though because he was top of his class and he did score top marks during the practical portion of the entrance exam. He’d spent pretty much every waking hour practicing quirk control since the accident with Izuku. He realized he never wanted to be the reason someone was hurt again. He’d also taken to wearing gloves outside of training to hopefully make reintegrating touch into his daily life a bit comfortable or at least that's the reason his therapist gave him. Their advice had been useful in the past so he tends to believe that they have his best interest at heart.

He was over the moon when he got accepted but even with the excitement of getting into UA, he still couldn’t help but wonder if the nerd had also made it in. The selfish part of him still wants to be heroes with Izuku no matter how childish it sounds. After these three years, if Izuku were to walk up to him currently and let him know that he still wanted to follow through with the daydreams he wouldn’t hesitate to accept. He could only hope that Izuku is doing better without Katsuki holding him back.

“Bakubro, hey, dude?” Katsuki zones back in and looks to his right. That's when he realizes that no one is in the classroom besides him and Hair-for-Brains. “The fuck you want?” he snaps, packing up his shit. He doesn’t acknowledge the fact that he was zoned out and Sharky doesn’t ask. “I was just asking if you’re hyped about the sports festival, Aizawa mentioned it and man I can’t wait to show off my quirk even if it isn’t flashy.” Katsuki rolls his eyes, of course Hobo-Sensei had decided to come back to class even though he was still in casts and bandages. He would not admit out loud but out of all his teachers that would be badass enough to do that, it would be the Hobo just based on the way he handled the USJ. He had Katsuki’s full respect. “It’s not about the flashiness of your quirk, Shitty Hair,” he mutters mostly to himself but loud enough to be heard.

“Of course you’d say that Bakubro. Your quirk is so manly and flashy, you’re going to have no trouble being noticed,” he laments. There was still no golden warmth when his quirk was praised and he doesn’t think that warmth will ever come back because of the fucked up shit he did while he was still a brat. He let the redhead babble at him and he could almost imagine that it was Izuku and not Shitty Hair. He stops that train of thought, no one could replace Izuku and Shitty Hair deserved to be more than a replacement. He was led to sit with Sparky, Ears, Racoon Eyes, and Elbows. It takes him longer than he’d like to admit that he realizes he doesn’t think he could be considered a loner anymore. If he inwardly lets a small smile slip no one has to know, he thinks that Izuku would be happy with the person he[s becoming if he’s able to look past the shit he fucked up for him.

The sports festival came faster than he thought it would. That, however, didn’t change much for him considering he’s been wanting to be the best since he was a brat, meaning he has prided himself in his ability to always be prepared. What he wasn’t expecting was to be shown up by somebody who wasn’t even named.

All he knows is one minute he’s head to head with Icy-Hot and the next thing he knows is that he and the bastard are being smacked on the head with a piece of metal. He didn’t know who had the audacity to do that and he was planning on figuring it out as soon as he passed the finish line just to see this asshole had listed themself as [REDACTED 1-H]. He didn’t even see them on the field which made no sense since he came in second. There should literally only be him, the Half and Half prick, and this [REDACTED 1-H] person, stating the obvious here, but he is pissed. They came in first and then they were too good to stick around those who were “beneath” them. To hell with that. He’ll teach this fucker a lesson in the next round.

As more people crossed the finish line, Katsuki was able to overhear some chatter from the extras who had gathered to gossip about the person who had stolen the number one spot and the show with their crazy plan to get past the minefield untouched. What he’s gathered is that [REDACTED 1-H] attended Shikestu’s Junior High and was allowed to work in the high school workshops throughout their time there. By the time they reached high school, they were sent to UA on recommendation because there was nothing more that they could learn from the teachers there. The only educational provider that could teach them more was none other than the principal of UA, Nezu. If what Pink Cheeks and Raccoon Eyes is saying is true then this mother fucker is brilliant. He ignores the acidic taste in his mouth when he realizes that they're most definitely smarter than him. He wonders what it would take to become a personal student of Nezu and he quickly shuts that idea down. He may want to be the best but he doesn’t think he’d make it out of those lessons if what he heard from upperclassmen is anything to go by.

Katsuki may not be as smart as [REDACTED 1-H] but he can tell when somebody is trying to hide their identity, especially when they’re being as blatant as this fucker is being. What normal person would be wearing a pair of goggles and a metal mouthguard in a festival where pretty much everyone is in uniform. Even with the knowledge of who this person is he still doesn’t manage to beat them, which infuriates him to no end. He’s fumming as Icy-Hot walks up to him and tells him no matter how much Katsuki wants it to happen, he under no circumstance will be using his fire during the finals. He pops his hands as a way to tell him to fuck off, theres only so many things that can piss him off currently. The cackling coming from across the cafeteria is going to be his last fucking nerve, swear to god. He abruptly stands and lurks over to the crazy bitch who’s cackling. He realizes that it is the pink haired girl from [REDACTED 1-H]’s team and he decides instead of blowing her up he may as well try to gather information about them from one of their classmates.

He opens his mouth to greet the girl, but before she has the chance her eyes are locked on him and he suddenly feels very hunted. He decides against asking her and it's too late. He can already hear her babbling about babies or some shit and he can't help but once again be reminded of Izuku. What catches his attention though is her saying “... me and the green bean could probably do that”

“Who is the green bean?” He cuts before she could start another bout of muttering.

“He’s top of the support course, annoyingly. But we bounce baby ideas off each other,” she explains with a shit eating grin. “He’s so much fun to make babies with.” Katsuki cringes at the girl's odd wording.

“What’s his name though?” Katsuki urges again. “I’m assuming you’re talking about the redacted bitch and I want to know who’s ass I’m kicking later on.”

“Ahhh, I can’t actually tell you that. He’s a bit dramatic,” She finishes then her eyes flash with a crazed look and she’s whipping out a pocket sized sketchbook which also happens to double as a notebook. He realizes he’s not going to get more information so he slinks off to the stands where the rest of the class had disappeared while he was having that useless conversation. All he’d gathered from it, is that this person is a guy and that somehow he has been dubbed a green bean. His mind couldn’t help but supply the thought that it could potentially be Izuku. He quickly let that thought slip though, that would be beyond wishful thinking to believe that this redacted person could be Izuku because that could lead him to falsely go easy on the bastard and he needs to show his all so people will take him seriously.

The show starts with the man of the hour, [REDACTED 1-H], he’s up against Sparky. Annoyingly, he’s still donning the goggles and mouth guard. He doesn’t know how the guy is going to get around Dunce Face’s attack but if he’s as smart as people seem to think he is this should be a good show.

Surprisingly, the show wasn’t good, but it wasn’t [REDACTED 1-H]’s fault. Sparky probably thought he’d be able to get out his opponent in one go but unfortunately for him that didn’t happen. [REDACTED 1-H] had a weapon similar to Hobo-Sensei on his wrapped up the full length of his arms and those were somehow able to absorb and redirect the full extent of Pikachu’s electric attack. Once the blond was in whey mode, the boy was nice enough to just lead the blonde outside of bounds instead of going for the knockout. This doesn’t prove this supposed genius’ intelligence or skills, it just proves that Sparky needs to pay more attention when they go over strategies in class.

The matches continue a notable thing being Icy-Hot’s huge ass iceberg. He takes note of it because just as the bastard had said early, he wouldn’t be using his fire, which in this case means he won't be able to warm himself. This leaves him more susceptible to quirk exhaustion and hypothermia, meaning if push came to shove and it came down to stamina Katsuki has better odds of winning that matchup.

A purple haired boy dubbed [REDACTED 1-C] goes up against Raccoon Eyes and not even 15 seconds following the start of the match, she’d left the boundaries with barely even a little scuffle. This catches Katsuki’s eye and he remembers to keep an eye on the boy. He has to admit he’s surprised that she went down that easily. Pink Hair is far from a weak opponent.

There was nothing notable in the following rounds and then it was his turn. He was up against Pink Cheeks. He was happy to compete with her because her gender doesn’t determine her abilities or strength, no matter how the crowd reacted. He respects her as a person and as a worthy opponent if he had held back he would’ve lost. That’s how life is. If a hero is not putting in the effort there are people who will die and he doesn’t want to hurt anyone anymore. Hobo-Sensei said as much when the crowd started booing and there is another reason to respect the tired man. He felt a familiar flicker of the golden warmth at the man’s words, nothing near how it used to be but it was nice to have that feeling there, even with how briefly it lasted. He finished the match and his respect for Pink Cheeks had grown, he didn’t know what to expect from her but he definitely wasn’t expecting a meteor show. He showed as much by helping her to her feet and helping to the stretcher that the med bots brought out. He followed them to the medical station, as everyone needed to be cleared before appearing for their next match. What he wasn’t expecting was for Dunce Face to be walking out smiling.

“Spark plug,” Katsuki calls out in lieu of a greeting. Once the blond turns to look at him, he continues, “what’s got you smiling like an idiot?”

“Aww you care? You’re so sweet no one gives you enough credit,” Pikachu grins before tossing an arm around his shoulder.

“Get your fucking arm off of me, shit head,” Katsuki growls, shrugging it off.

“Well for your information that guy I fought came by to check if I was ok. He also apologized immensely, apparently he’s aiming for the hero course and he’s prepared to kick our asses to prove that he is worthy of the spot,” he explains. “I can’t blame the guy, if I weren’t in the hero course I’d be doing everything in power to make it here.”

“Fuck off now, I have to get checked by the Old Lady,” Katsuki says before pushing his way into the station. Thankfully, not even ten minutes later he was cleared to fight his next round which had now been announced that he would be fighting Shitty Hair. He was able to catch the tail end of Half-and-Half’s fight up against [REDACTED 1-H]. It seems the boy was going for a similar tactic to what Katsuki was planning, meaning he probably won’t be fighting Icy-Hot, which is a shame considering he wanted to force the boy to use his full power. He was able to tell that the boy was using some sort of mobility from his shoes, but he was too far away to be able to tell what exactly was going on with his shoes. Soon enough the round was called and the boy helped Icy-Hot out of the ring. There’s nothing truly notable about the rounds leading up to his match besides that the purple haired bastard from earlier didn’t have a long fight again. He definitely needs to be careful about the boy’s quirk or he will be his next stepping stone towards a victory.

The fight against Rock Head was similar to how he would’ve handled Icy-Hot. He knows the redhead can only hold his hardened state for so long before it starts cracking so it's a drawn out fight. It ended up coming down to who’s stamina was better, which is something Katsuki has trained a lot because of his training habits from before UA.

Katsuki is cleared and it was once again his turn to fight. This time it was against the purple haired bastard from 1-C. Now that he’s closer to the boy he can see that the boy has bigger eye bags than Hobo-Sensei, which is saying something. As the round is about to be called to a start he sees a smirk spread across the bastard’s face. The round starts and Katsuki launches himself at the boy.

“Izuku’s been doing great since he left you,” the bastard calls, causing Katsuki’s movements to stutter ever so slightly. “The fuck–” is all he manages to get out before his mind is blurred. Somehow over the fog he can hear the boy still “Aww, poor Kacchan, now leave the boundaries and let me win.” Katsuki can hear the smugness in his voice as his body, against his will, leaves the boundaries, handing the bastard the win. As soon as the match was called, Katsuki was turning on his heel, rolling up his sleeves, and was bee-lining towards Eyebags.

“How the fuck do you know that name?” He growls as he approaches. Out of the corner of his eye he can see the teacher shifting towards him. Even though he lost he doesn’t want to be disqualified, he wants to be able to stand for his medal. He wants to be able to get answers out of the smug bastard.

“Who else could’ve told me?” he asks with a raised eyebrow.

“Boys go get checked out, right now we’re taking a short intermission before the finals,” Cementoss calls. Katsuki growls and leads the purple haired boy off the field with him.

“Sorry, cant talk more right now, Kacchan, I have to go get prepared for the finals,” he walks away with a wave over his shoulder and goddamn did Katsuki want to punch that fucker and wipe that smug smile off his face. He took the extra couple of seconds to count backwards from ten and take a couple of deep breaths. He doesn’t want to hurt anyone. Once he was cleared he was sent back up to the stands to watch the final. He nearly blew a casket when both of the redacted idiots went out there and had the fucking audacity to determines who wins the sport festival based off who best out of three rounds of rock paper scissors. Present Mic lost his shit when he realized what was happening.

“Well since no one needs to be checked over, let's get on to the award ceremony, ya dig? Semi-finalists please head to the tunnels,” Mic directs and Katsuki does as he’s told begrudgingly. He would’ve given everyone a show had it been up to him. He could hear Four-Eyes ranting about how disrespectful it was of the boys to do that and yeah Katsuki was upset about it but he wasn’t getting a stick shoved up his ass over it.

As All Might tried to put the medal around his neck he snatched it with a growl. He doesn’t believe he deserves this medal and he wants everyone to know he is not satisfied with his placement. He wants them to be prepared for him to kick everyone’s ass next year because he will better himself to the point of being the best. He couldn’t help the annoyance building inside him as he realizes that both the boys that placed above him still were hiding their identities.

He wasn’t in the mood to celebrate with the extras or his parents. He just took a shower and went to bed, he hopes when the weekend is finished he’ll be able to meet the bastard who took his spot on top of the podium. He could only assume that the gen-ed extra was also trying for the hero course, maybe he’d meet them soon enough considering the Grape bitch and that other extra were expelled the first day meaning there were two potential students that could take their seats. He can’t help but hope that Eyebags makes it so he can ask him about how and what he knows about Izuku.

Unfortunately when he comes back to school following the sports festival there are still two seats open. He couldn’t help the disappointment that flashes through his chest as he takes his seat. He notices that the horrendously iconic sleep bag that the Hobo naps in is not present. The mam still hadn’t made an appearance after the homeroom bell rings. Glasses stands and starts demanding everyone to sit so he can take roll call. Katsuki wants to let off an explosion just to be spiteful but before he can the door opens revealing their tired teacher along with Midnight-Sensei. He groans as she starts doing shtick while Four-Eyes hands out packets of papers that the Hobo had told him to pass out that included the list of their internship options whether they got picked or not. Apparently they’re picking hero names today before they can go out on internships. Unfortunately for him though, he’s stuck with Bakugou for now because the hag wouldn’t accept his potential names for some reason.

The days seems to be going on as normal until they get to heroics where they’re greeted with an extra three people. Hobo-Sensei doesn’t usually join them for training but today he’s here and he’s talking to two new people. That’s when he realizes that it's the boys from the sports festival. All Might introduces the exercise as the two boys join the group. He took note as a majority of his classmates’ eyes kept flickering towards the boys. Aizawa must have realized the same because he stops All Might’s spiel with a sigh. “Hellions, as you’ve noticed the boys from the sports festival are here today. They’re starting heroics training for now and will fully be joining the class following your internships. They can introduce themselves if they want,” he sighs. Neither of the boys step forward to introduce themselves so Aizawa looks back at All Might expectantly, he takes that as a cue to continue explaining before breaking the class into teams.

Katsuki takes this time to observe the boys, they’re wearing similar gadgets from the sports festival but instead of wearing the school provided gym uniform they’re wearing black jumpsuits similar to Hobo-Sensei’s own uniform. The green-haired boy is placed with Shitty Hair and Round Cheeks. They were the first ones to run the parkour course, they’re told to work together to get across the fastest. It's just a team building exercise. He’s placed with Eyebags and Ears.After they finish their turn, he doesn’t even bother listening to how his team was ranked, he just wants to talk to Eyebags.

“Oi, Eyebags,” he calls and the boy turns away from where he was talking to the other new kid. “How’s Izuku doing? Is he ok? How do you know him?”

“Kacchan? You still care?”

That catches his attention, his eyes flick to other boy. The boy was pushing his goggles up and unlatching the mouth guard. Once he gets a good look at him he rushes forward and pulls him to a hug ignoring how he was being stared and gawked at by his classmates. “Zuku,” he lets out a breath. He pushes his face into the boy's hair and runs his fingers through the curls and he feels a weight that had become a normal presence finally lifting. “God, I’ve missed you.” He can feel tears starting to brim in the corners of eyes. He lets out a sigh of relief as he feels his hug being reciprocated. “Of course I still care, nerd, you’re my favorite person.” The bell rings and the class is sent off leaving Izuku and the other boy with Aizawa. He changes and waits outside the gym for them to be done. He had been scrolling on his phone when he realized he no longer heard any noise coming from the gym. He opened the door and no one was there. He could feel anger simmering just below the skin. He could feel his ear warm up in embarrassment at being stood up. He decides to head home and ask his parents about Izuku.

Unfortunately his parents didn’t know much. They’d lost contact with Auntie Inko following the accident. He decided to go out for a run to let out some of the still present anger before it could simmer over. He had just found Izuku again and he had nearly no information about how he has been doing or where he and Auntie Inko are currently.

He gets to school early the next day and heads straight to the support labs. As soon as he enters through the door, he smells smoke and hears a shout. He looks to where the shout had come from “Boom Boy!” he growls at the shitty nickname. He tells the crazy bitch how shitty the nickname is, but she just shrugs it off. “You’re looking for Greenie aren’t you? You were asking him at the festival.”

“Do you know where he is?”

“Yeah his guardian came in during the evening and dragged him home,” she pouts. She hasn’t looked at him since greeting him, she’s absorbed in whatever she’s currently working on. “He’s pretty strict about Izu going to sleep on time. Makes sense since he and his son have awful sleep schedules. It would be hypocritical of me to judge them for that though,” She finishes with a cackle.

“Do you just not leave the lab?” he asks, instead of prying about this apparent guardian. He needs to process the fact that Izuku isn’t currently living with Auntie Inko. Did something happen to her? Is Izuku alone? He hopes this guardian is treating the boy well since he still deserves the world. The question he asked must’ve not been the right one however because she just groans and starts complaining about supervision and workshop hours and the apparent dangers of overworking oneself.

“When does Izuku typically get here?” Katsuki asks, cutting off her complaints. She tilts her head and looks at the wall which had a calendar hanging on it and then her eyes flick towards the clock. “He should be at school by now but Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and sometimes Thursdays, he spends his time before school and sometimes even homeroom in the principal’s office. He’s lucky he gets to spend so much time with Izuku. I want more time to talk to him about babies before he switches to the hero course.”

“What about Mondays, the Thursdays he’s not with the Rat, and Friday?” Katsuki prods.

“Depends on his mood really, he’s either here or he’s in the gym with Shinsou. That's the purple haired gen-ed kid.” She once again laments about how it’s unfair how his attention split. Katsuki realizes he won't be getting much out of her and decides to disappear before she asks to try her inventions on him. He sulks, though he would explode anyone who calls it that, in his seat. It was worth coming early for the information he got, but it would’ve been better had he been able to see Izuku. The day feels like it crawls by because all he can do is count down the periods until heroics class would start. Unfortunately for him, it wasn’t a practical day so he wouldn’t be able to talk to Izuku. He did feel that golden warmth grow in his chest as Izuku appeared at the beginning of class. He’s even happier to see that Izuku’s seat is right behind him. It was torture, to put it bluntly. He hated being so close to the boy, but not being able to talk to him. He decides to write his number down and passes it back to the boy. He hears the boy’s pen stop scratching across his page. There's a deafening silence as he waits to hear something from the boy. He hears the sound of his pen dragging across the page and he can only hope it’s a response to his note. He felt a tap on his shoulder so reached his hand back and there was paper placed into his hand. He feels giddy as he eagerly unfolds it and reads the note. ‘Damn already making moves? And I thought I was going to have to try hard to get your number ;)’ He feels a blush rush to his face as he reads the note over and over again. In fact he can feel his ears heating up.

“Bakugou, Midoriya, no passing notes, unless you want to share with the class,” Aizawa calls out without turning around from the board. How does this man know everything, it’s kind of scary, not that he’d ever admit it. He hears some of his classmates giggle and he couldn’t even care.

“Of course, Aizawa-Sensei,” Izuku chirps. He’s pretty sure he hears the man grumble back a ‘Problem Child’ in response to him. The rest of class is uneventful as soon as the bell rings to end the day his stuff was packed and he was dragging Izuku out of class behind him. Ignoring the indignant shout of his name. He also ignored how Eyebags had tried to get Izuku’s attention. He could wait for his attention some other time, he and Izuku needed to talk ASAP. He drags the boy off campus and towards the woods they used to play together in as brats. He brought them to the river. They sat with the legs hanging off the log. When they were a lot younger the drop for the log felt huge, now it felt childish.

“Why’d you drag me all the way here?” Izuku asks. His eyes were trained to where the river was running below their feet. Now that he’s looking at Izuku he’s studying him. He has a scar spread from the left of his forehead. It looks like his eyebrow probably wouldn’t grow back considering it would’ve already if it were able. Part of his ear is scarred and so is the corner of his eye.

“I’m sorry,” Katsuki breaths out. That catches the boy’s attention because now their gazes meet. His left eye is half foggy and he can feel his stomach turning as he reminded himself that it’s because of him that Izuku is scarred.

“For what?” His forehead scrunches in confusion. How could Izuku ask that? “For everything. For causing you pain. For causing your hospitalizations. For causing your dad to leave. Forcing you to have to move.”

“I never blamed you for any of that,” Izuku reaches out and to grabs one of his hands. Katsuki lets him grab his hand and only pulls it back when he tries to take off the glove. “How can you not blame me? I killed you, my quirk killed you and I scarred you.” He holds his hands to his chest.

“Katsuki, believe me when I say, I have never once for a second even considered blaming you,” he comforts, he tries to grab his again before Katsuki snaps at him. “I don’t want to fucking hurt you again. Don’t touch me.”

“Oh Kacchan, you weren’t actually supposed that it was your quirk that was causing the hospitalizations. If I had known you knew that I would’ve told you that I was put on medicine that negates the effects of nitroglycerin, which is why I still have never hesitated to touch you. You can’t hurt me, I trust you.” With that information he finally allows Izuku to take his hand. Izuku heistates in taking the glove off, his eyes flicker towards Katsuki as if asking for permission. Katsuki gives a subtle nod and he continues taking off the glove. He pulls his hand towards him. Izuku places a kiss on his palm before placing his hand on his left cheek. “I’ve never stopped trusting you, Kacchan.” Katsuki leans forwards and places his other hand on Izuku’s cheek before placing a kiss on his forehead. He can feel tears falling as the weight he’d been carrying since he found out the truth behind Izuku’s hospitalizations finally disappears.

“Gods, I’ve missed you, Zuku.”

“Me too, Kacchan.”

—-----------------------------

Izuku closes the door quietly behind him and tries to sneak down the hall towards his room without being heard. He wants to avoid the inevitable interrogation. Unfortunately for him, the kitchen flicks on to reveal Hitoshi and Shouta.

“Oh hey guys…” he says, doing a nervous shuffle along with rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m actually supppper tired so I’m going to head to bed good night guys.” He says in a rush before turning quickly only to be met with Hazashi’s chest.

“Nuh uh, listener, you’re not getting out of this conversation that easily. You avoided it yesterday because you hid behind your lessons with Nezu, but not today. You have no excuse,” Hazashi says, leading Izuku towards the kitchen. He pours tea from the kettle and once everyone had the drinks the conversation was ready to commence.

“Passing notes during class?” Shouta states with a raised eyebrow.

“Ok, and Hitoshi already got me for that,” Izuku complains, rubbing the back of his head almost as if he could still feel the smack. “That doesn’t excuse the fact you were still doing it,” Shouta remarks, sipping his coffee.

“Blasty boy, was really excited to get you alone, have any excuses for that?” Toshi asks with an eyebrow wiggle.”We just haven’t talked in three years, we had to catch up.”

“Ooooh so that’s what you’re calling flirting. I saw him blushing at your note,” Toshi teases.

“Zashi~ tell him to stop,” Izuku pouts, looking at the blond man. “I’m not getting into that, sorry Zuzu,” he shrugs and Izuku can tell he’s not actually sorry.

“What’d you guys end up talking about?” Shouta asks.

“Well he apologized, it seems like he’s been beating himself up because he thinks everything that was wrong with my life was his fault. I told him about how I’m staying with a UA teacher because Mom couldn’t afford to move back, don’t worry I didn’t mention who you guys were. That was the second thing he asked about. Apparently Mei had told him about how I was staying with a guardian and he was worried something had happened to Mom, so I reassured him that everything is ok and I’m just part of UA’s program for kids in similar situations. Urakaka’s in a similar situation right? She is staying with Kayama, right?” He gets a nod of confirmation before Hazashi asks “Was that all you talked about? You were gone for quite some time.”

“No, I told him about my time at Shiketsu Junior High, he didn’t know that it doubled as a specialty school. Honestly we just spent a lot basking in being together again. I feel complete being in his presence again.”

“Aww that’s really sweet, Izu, I’m happy to hear,” Hazashi smiles. He stands up and ruffles his hair on the way to drop off the finished cups into the kitchen to be washed later.

“No loud blondes,” Shouta grumbles, flicking his gaze between both the boys. He vaguely hears an indignant shout from Hazashi in the kitchen. He pauses on Toshi before saying “that includes you Tosh, I’ve seen you flirting with Kaminari and before you deny it, it's painfully obvious to everyone besides him.” This causes a grin to split across Izuku’s face. He’d always enjoyed his time at the Aizawa-Yamada household and always looked forward to his summers here. He was sent here over the summer as a way for his mom to keep an eye on him while she was at work and a way for him to expand his knowledge with biweekly lessons with Nezu. Sure life wasn’t going as planned when he and Kacchan had dreamed about it when they were four but he’s quite happy with how it's currently turning out.

—-----------------------------

Even though Izuku wasn’t on internships he can say with full certainty that he’s being worked just as hard as his future classmates. He’s giddy at the thought. He can’t wait to join the hero course. He can’t wait to be the first quirkless hero. He and Kacchan felt closer than ever following that first long conversation. They’d been texting daily. Hitoshi and Izuku had been joining Kacchan’s friends at lunch. When Mei was forced to take a break she would also join them. Mina, Kaminari, Kirishima, and Sero were very welcoming. They were ecstatic to hear stories from their childhood much to Kacchan’s dismay, Izuku was more than ready to indulge their curiosity. Kaminari in particular fond their nicknames for eachother to the point where when he’d tried to use them once he was quick to be shut down by growl followed by explosions. Izuku couldn’t be happier than how his life was currently going.

After joining the class following his new classmate’s return from internships, their training really stepped up. Izuku couldn’t be more excited, he loved training with new people and before joining the hero course his training choices were quite limited. He’d really only be able to fight Zashi, Toshi, Shouta, and sometimes Kayama if he was lucky. One upside to constantly training with Shouta and Toshi is that he was able to figure out the mechanics behind the iconic capture weapon. What he didn’t know when giving Toshi a carbon copy he’d made at Shiketsu was that the weapon itself doesn’t have the ability to float on its own. That was a product of Shouta’s quirk, meaning that Hitoshi really struggled to use it at first. After a while he was able to figure out how to use it, then Izuku gave him his new and improved design. He’d used magnetic forces to mimic the floating that Shouta’s had naturally. Toshi had been grateful and somewhat grumpy when he realized that Izuku had made the new one not long after he gave him the original one. Izuku apparently liked seeing Toshi be tortured. He had made his own version of Shouta’s capture weapon, his version was wrapped around entire arm and his chest. He was able to use them similarly to the pre-quirk superhero Spiderman or how Sero uses his tape. Speaking of Sero, he was very willing to help him further his skills with the weapon as Sero had obviously been using his quirk since he was four. He really felt accepted by his new class. He feels integrated as if he and Toshi had always been in class 1-A since the beginning.

He didn’t realize how quickly time was flying by until exams were taking up every waking thought. Outside of school he’d bury himself in studying, doing as he’d always done, isolating himself from the world. He needed to prove himself to his teachers, he needed them to know he was worth keeping around. He apparently wasn’t keeping up “healthy habits” whatever those are and he didn’t realize that until he woke up in Recovery Girl’s office. He blinked a couple times. He hadn’t woken up in a hospital bed in years so this was quite disorienting. What brought him back to the present was a groan from the side of the bed. That's when he realized Kacchan was out cold, that his hand was warm from Kacchan holding it, and the boy was wearing gloves. It’s something he hadn’t done since their moment at the river. His heart dropped. He sat up and took Kacchan’s hands fully between his. This caused the blond to stir, he looked around the room like Izuku had done not even two minutes prior.

“Katsuki,” he whispered and was shocked at how his voice sounded. He realized how parched he was. His given name caused the blond’s eyes to flick to meet his gaze.

“Izuku.”

“It wasn’t your fault.” Kacchan tries to turn away from his gaze only to be stopped with a hand. He directs the boy’s face back toward him so their eyes will meet again. “It isn’t your fault. There’s no need for you to wear gloves. It was my own fault. I wasn’t taking care of myself and I paid the price for it.” Izuku and Katsuki just sit and stare at each other. He lets the words sink before reaching down and taking the boy’s gloves off. Once they’re placed beside him, they relink their hands. “Stupid nerd, you better take care of yourself or I’m going to kick your ass.” This causes a genuine smile to spread across Izuku’s face, he knows that’s how Kacchan shows his love.

“Am I interrupting something?” Shouta asks and fuck he knows that the man had been standing there longer than Izuku wanted him to be.

“I don’t know, Shouta, does it seem like you’re interrupting something?” Izuku sasses, dropping the blonds hands.

“Izuku, you know the rules,” Shouta reminds, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Blah blah blah, you can’t make rules for something you’ve clearly already broken. It’s very hypocritical”

“We’ve been over this, it’s different.”

“The fuck!?” Kacchan questions, crossing his arms. He knows how the conversation would’ve gone had Kacchan not interrupted. It’s a back and forth bit of banter that they’ve been over before that never fails to bring a smile to his face.

“Fuck is right,” Izuku nods along as it dawns on him, Kacchan didn’t know who his guardian was. “So Kacchan as you could probably gather from this conversation, Shouta here is my pseudo-dad or in official terms, my guardian.” He explains leaning on the man, who takes the hint and puts an arm around his shoulder.

“Keep your mouth shut if you want to see him outside of class” is all Shouta threaten before pushing off the door and disappearing down the hall.

“You know you could’ve given me a heads up,” Kacchan snaps, giving the boy a light shove. “Where’s the fun in that?” Izuku smiles, reciprocating the shove.

“I don't know how Shikestu did it, but you are a little shit now,” Kacchan says, putting his arm around the boy to lead him back to the bed.

“Kacchan that’s where you’re wrong, I’ve alway been a little shit at heart, it just was never really directed at you. Also my throat hurts like a bitch. Would you be able to grab me some water?” Kacchan rolls his eyes and leaves to get the boy some water.

Not long after waking up, Izuku was discharged under strict instructions to take it easier than he’d been taking it with threats to both Shouta and Kacchan to keep an eye on him.

Izuku would say all the time, effort, and lack of sleep was worth it in the end as he passed the class with top marks and top of the class, much to no one's surprise. He even scored extremely high on Nezu’s final, which freaked both Shouta and Hazashi out to no end. Shouta had taken that final as a third year and he didn’t do nearly as good as their pseudo-son. He, however, was not going to mention that to Izuku in fear of him realizing the power he holds and it’s relation to his ability to destroy a government.

In Izuku’s elite opinion, the practical compared to Nezu’s final was children’s play. Considering how much time he’d put into analyzing the UA teachers and how he’d be able to take them down it’s no wonder how he’d been able to pass with flying colors well under the time limit. Nezu, of course, had taken that into account and made him fight his assigned teacher alone, meaning that there was one group of three. The group of three being Momo, Todoroki, and Kacchan the three of them, under Momo’s lead, had to face off against All Might. Of course none of them knew that's how it was supposed to go so for the first ten minutes it was a shit show. He realized why this team was made. Momo was a smart leader but she needed more confidence and how else to force a confidence boost, but by wrangling two hard headed teens who wanted nothing to do with each other with the goal of taking down the number one hero. Kacchan and Todoroki were perfect for this plan because Kacchan would only willingly work with Izuku and Todoroki was not a fan of blond boy. Thankfully, Momo was able to pull the team together and they were able to take down the number one hero with a whole two minutes to spare, which is better than Izuku had originally calculated. He thought they’d capture All Might with only forty-five seconds to spare.

In the end, as Izuku assumed, everyone would be going to camp as it would’ve been illogical to leave the people who failed behind because in the end it would’ve left them at a further disadvantage. There was no room for lacking this year especially with how the class had been targeted by the up and coming League of Villains. Frustratingly, Izuku couldn’t find out much about them much to his own disappointment. No one faulted him beside himself. He still felt himself living in the shadow of his own quirklessnes and he desperately wanted to prove to himself and others that he’s more than a diagnosis.

“Izu, we’re taking a break to stretch our legs,” Toshi nudges him back to the present. They filled off the bus and Izuku was pulled towards Kacchan. He’d ended up sitting next to Toshi because according to him he was a good pillow and he was not given that up just because the blond boom boom boy wanted to flirt. He was fine with sitting next to whoever but he was secretly glad he had sat next to Toshi; he didn't want to deal with the potential embarrassment that would’ve come had he fallen asleep on Kacchan’s shoulder. He and Kacchan weren’t together long because before he knew it everyone was being thrown off the cliff. Shouta had been nice enough to toss him down a duffle filled with some of his gadgets along with Toshi’s capture weapon. He fights the urge to flip off the man when he flashes the group his logical rouse smile. Apparently, that would be considered “disrespectful” because right now he’s considered to be the boy’s teacher.

He honestly has never felt as alive as he felt fighting in tandem with Toshi and Kacchan. It’s everything he’s been dreaming about and more. Even with the excitement and adrenaline he couldn’t help the tiredness that was pulling at his eyes, demanding he sleep. The hot springs definitely did not help that fact. As soon as he was dressed Izuku stumbled off to find someone to pass out on and currently his sights are set for Shouta. Sure the man will make comparisons between him and a cat the next time they are in a family setting, he couldn’t bring himself to care. When he found Shouta talking to the other adults, he ignored the rest of them and just dragged the tired man to the nearest seat. He curled up into the man’s warmth, he couldn’t be blamed, really it's not fair how warm and welcoming the man’s presence is.

—-----------------------------

Katsuki is lying in his bed when he realizes that Izuku hadn’t come to the room following they’re bath in the hot springs. He sits up and double checks the area around him to make sure he hadn’t just missed the boy. He half expected to see him beside Eyebags since they’re pretty much brothers, no that anyone else knew that fact. He stands up which catches Shinsou’s attention, he motions for him to follow him out of the room.

“What do you want, bomb boy?” Shinsou asks, leaning up against the wall and crossing his arms across his chest.

“Where’s Izuku?” Katsuki asks, choosing to ignore the nickname because he wants information that the boy probably has.

“Aww poor, Kacchan, can’t survive without your boyfriend?” Shinsou teases, uncrossing his arms. He has a shit eating smile as he takes in the blond boy’s face.

“Fuck off, I was just wondering and now I’ve realized there was no point in asking your stupid ass,” he fumes in embarrasment. He knows his crush is futile; he doesn't need the boy to rub it in his face. He turns to head outside just for Shinsou to stop him by grabbing his upper arm.

“Look, sorry, that was uncalled for. He’s with dad if I had to guess. He had that look about him that he was about to go into cat mode,” Shinsou admits. Katsuki nods before heading outside to head to the main lodge area. He heads towards the adults area and wearily knocks on the door, hoping that Eyebags wasn’t just fucking with him.

“Aizawa, it’s one of yours,” Vlad calls out once he realizes who’s at the door. He walks into the room and lets his eyes wander before locking onto the boy curled up in his teacher's side.

“Of course it's you,” Hobo groans. “Look I’m serious about the no loud blond rule. I’ll let it go this one time because he won’t budge unless it’s towards something or someone who’s warmer than where he currently is and if I have to guess based on your quirk, you run hot normally.” Katsuki nods but his mind is still stuck on this apparent ‘no loud blonds’ rule. There’s only a couple of blonds in the class beside him and not many of them are loud. The only loud blond that really comes to mind is Kaminari as he wouldn’t consider himself loud. God damnit, he can’t go thinking about that, this is best friend first and foremost and if being with the Pikachu wannabe would make him happy… fuck that. He wants to be with Izuku and he’ll fight for them, but he doesn’t think he’d be able to stick it out if Izuku ended up with that dumbass. Katsuki knows that Dunce Face is a good person and deserves good shit but he can’t help but feel Izuku deserves more than that idiot could give him. “Stop overthinking and take him, no one else needs to know he was here.”

He gently takes the boy into his arms and holds him tight to his chest. Once the door closes behind him, he can’t help but to close his eyes and just take in this moment. He hopes it won’t be the last. When he gets to the boys’ room, he quietly makes his way through the rows of boys as lights out had already been called and he didn’t want to get shit from Robo-cop. When he gets to his and Izuku’s bedding he tries to place Izuku down, just to be dragged down by the boy and his dead weight. Izuku still clings to him as he tries to shift away as a way to respect the boy’s personal space. The sleeping boy has other plans so Katsuki gives up and lets himself revel in the moment. His bed was not even two feet away, does two feet really matter in the grand scheme of things, no he didn’t think so.

—-----------------------------

Izuku is freaking the fuck out. He thought he was sleeping on his pseudo-dad so how the hell had he ended up in the boys’ room but not only that how the hell was he lucky enough to wake up to Kacchan. He hasn’t woken up that way since the second hospitalization and god damn he didn’t realize how much he missed the boy. The sleep he had last night ranks above all other sleeps, including the time the Aizawa-Yamada family had built a fort and slept in it with the cats. He feels Kacchan shift beside him and he realizes he needs to make a decision before anyone wakes up. That decision being a tactical retreat. Yes those exist, and no it's not running away.

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty, how was sleeping with your prince charming?” Toshi asks, taking a long irritatingly loud sip of his coffee. “You had something to do with that didn’t you.”

“What me? Why would I want to interfere with your crush when you make it so obvious without my help.”

“You can’t say anything when you’re obviously head over heels for Kaminari,” Izuku says, taking a mug and filling it with coffee.

“The day you confess to ‘your true love’ is the day I’ll kiss Kaminari,” Toshi says, brewing more coffee. As always, one cup is never enough.

“Bet, you’re going to eat those words,” he smirks behind his mug.

“What words?” someone asks, entering the kitchen and what’re the chances it’d be none other than Kaminari himself.

“What’re you doing up?” Hitoshi asks instead of acknowledging the question.

“Aizawa-Sensei was getting the bucket of water to get us up and I didn’t want to be on the receiving end of it,” Kaminari explains before his eyes flick to Izuku. “Hey, Midoriya, could we actually talk for a minute?”

“Sounds good,” Izuku says. He finishes up his mug before turning to Toshi. “Hey, Toshi~?” He gets a groan in response, which is all he needed to continue “wash my mug for me?”. Him taking the mug is answer enough for Izuku so he turns and trails behind Kaminari.

—-----------------------------

Katsuki’s heart drops as he hears Dunce Face ask to talk to Izuku alone. He can’t believe his time is up already. There’s no good way for him to separate himself from his best friend because they’re stuck in the middle of butt-fuck nowhere for the next week and a half. He’ll have no reprieve from them and he can’t imagine how his heart will fair. He decides against going into the kitchen and decides that he'll grab breakfast with the rest of the extras.

He doesn’t get the chance to see Izuku after overhearing that conversation until dinner. He looks worn but he’s still grinning. Katsuki’s heart clenches when Izuku says he has something to tell him. He realizes he can’t hear the words that were to surely follow so he excuses himself. Thankfully earlier in dinner he realized the little pussy cat’s brat disappeared into the woods so he had the perfect reason to leave Izuku without looking like an absolute dick. Turns out the kid was not happy to see him, which fine, he understands. He decides to bring up the test of courage they’re doing that night, hopefully as an olive branch of sorts. Also he thinks it would be funny if the extras shit themselves over a child. He says as much to the boy and he’s almost certain their expressions match as they walk down the mountain in preparation for the test of courage.

Everything went to shit. That’s putting it lightly he had to watch as the boy he loves tried to reach out to him as he was pulled through a portal leading to an impending doom. He could feel his heart shattering as he heard the beginnings of a heart wrenching scream. Gods, what he wouldn’t give to be with Izuku. He couldn’t think of that right now as the stupid villain wannabe’s are trying to recruit them to “join their cause” or some shit. They said that they could tell there was resentment from the sports festival and they’re trying to offer him a chance to showcase how powerful he could be without the restraints placed by expectations and society. Thankfully they were stupid enough to unrestrain him as a way to show that they trusted him and he should do the same. It didn’t last long. One explosion that’s all they were able to handle before he was hitting the ground and seeing black.

—-----------------------------

Izuku has neither slept nor left Nezu’s office since he got back to campus. Not from lack of trying on his family’s part. He, however, knew that he can sleep once Kacchan is able to sleep in his own bed. He needs to track down those motherfuckers. Before he wasn’t putting in full effort because they were a just ragtag team of villains, who weren’t a top priority but since they decided it’d be a good idea to touch Katsuki, they’d lose their fingers, maybe even their hands. That way they’d know not to touch what isn’t theirs. He’s been informed by his pseudo-parents, Toshi, and Mei that apparently that course of action is somehow “unheroic”. If anyone of importance says the same he’ll just claim he hasn’t been taught that in heroics yet and if that doesn’t work maybe they’ll take an oopsie-daisy.

46 hours. That's how long it takes to find Kacchan. Thankfully as soon as the kidnap had been realized a team had already been put together with a vague plan of what was to happen. Now that they have a location their plans can be set in stone and Izuku can finally see Kacchan again. However, people must not have been listening to the plan or skipped the part where he’d be on scene to make sure Kacchan was ok because next thing he knows he’s being ambushed by Kayama. As his mind drifts off into sleep he can’t help but imagine the revenge he’d get on everyone who was part of that smaller plan and if he had to guess his pseudo-parents had something to do with it. He hopes they like decaf.

Their plan thankfully wasn’t as effective as they’d probably hoped it would’ve been because two hours later, he was up and on the next train to Kamino Ward before anyone had the chance to realize his absence. His masterpiece was in full swing by the time he got there and he couldn’t help but be proud as everything came together.

What he hadn’t been planning for however was his dumbass classmates to be hiding on the outskirts of the fight. He beelines towards them already having a plan in the process of being made. Adapt and overcome or whatever it was Shouta had said. They launch a sled up an ice jump. Izuku reaches his hand out and screams out “Kacchan” at the top of lungs, gods what he wouldn’t give to have Zashi’s quirk right now. The blond somehow hears him and he doesn’t hesitate to stop his fight and turn his attention towards him. As soon as he felt the warm presence of Kacchan’s hand being grasped in his own, he realized he didn’t want to go a day without that warmth ever again. He kisses the blond.

“Gods, Katsuki, you’re not allowed to leave me again,” Izuku mutters in relief while placing his head on the blond’s shoulder.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, Zuzu,” he grins. He’s brought back to that night over a decade ago where they had just shown off their new ultra rare All Might collector cards to their respective parents. That smile didn’t compare to the one he is currently wearing and he thinks that this smile was the best view he’d ever seen. Those sappy thoughts are cut off by them needing to get off the sled before it crashes, thankfully Izuku had planned for that. Once they were safely on the ground again, Kacchan pulled him close and kissed him again. “I thought I lost you.”

“Kacchan, I’m the one who’s supposed to be saying that. You are the one who was kidnapped after all,” Izuku teases, playing with the boy’s fingers.

“Not like that, nerd,” Kacchan rolls his eyes. Izuku just shoots him a questioning look so he decides to just bite the bullet. “I thought you liked Sparky.” That admission causes Izuku to burst out in laughter much to Katsukis dismay. “What the fuck? Do you think this is funny?”

“I don’t know how you came to that conclusion but you chose wrong between Toshi and I,” Izuku says between bouts of laughter and trying to catch his breath.

“But Hobo told me something about loud blonds not being allowed and the only loud blond in our class is Pikachu, what else was I supposed to think?” He asks, poking the boy’s freckled cheek.

“I don’t know how to break this news to you, Kacchan, but you are also a loud blond.”

“What the hell, I’m not loud?!”

“Sure, maybe not in comparison to Kaminari, but you have your loud moments. Your explosions? Does that ring a bell?” Izuku asks, causing an embarrassed flush to spread across the boy’s cheeks. “Don’t worry, Kacchan, Shouta already knows his rules are going to be broken twice and is in the process of coming to terms with it.”

“So there was nothing going on with you and Dunce Face?” he asks for confirmation.

“Of course not, Kacchan, if you had stuck around at dinner I would’ve told you how Kaminari thought Toshi and I were a thing, gross by the way, because we use our given names for each other and we’re close. I had to explain to him that Tosh is like a brother to me and he was free to ask him out. Now that everything is sorted, we do have to start heading back towards the scene so they can confirm you’re alive, no longer kidnapped, and relatively unharmed. We’ll also have to give our statements. Then I’m going to pass the fuck out, I’ve slept a total of two hours since you were kidnapped,” Izuku finishes with a smile.

“Fucking nerd, do you remember what I said I’d do if you weren’t taking care of yourself?”

“Of course I do, you just weren’t around to enforce it. The lack of sleep wasn’t for lack of trying on my pseudo-dad’s parts, they even enlisted Kayama to knock me out. They must’ve forgotten that I’ve trained myself against gasses similar to hers so I’m less likely to be caught unprepared,” Izuku explains.

“Gods, I love you, you fucking nerd,” Katsuki declares, cutting off Izuku before he could start a mumble session. The statement causing Izuku to stop his words dead in his tracks.

“I love you too, Katsuki. I’m so happy we’re here together. I couldn’t imagine my life without you beside me every step of the way,” Izuku admits, kissing Kacchan’s palm reminiscent of the first time he’d done it at the river. In response, he kissed Zuku’s forehead. Neither of them knew they’d ever be able to feel that contentment that being together as kids had always brought them.

They continued their conversation until they got back to the scene where Izuku was immediately taken into parental custody for a nap and Kacchan was taken to the hospital to be checked out. He may not remember much about what Shouta said to him but he does distinctly remember a grumbled ‘Problem Child’ and something about loud blonds and how loud they can be. In the end, Izuku felt incredibly loved by his pseudo-dads, his brother, and his classmates. Most importantly he felt incredibly loved and lucky to be dating the boy that had captured his heart all those years ago and for Katsuki, he was bursting with that golden warm feeling.