Chapter Text
Izuku wakes up tired.
Granted that’s not exactly anything new these days but still. There’s something different about it this time.
His eyes are fighting his attempts at opening them, his limbs are moving syruppy slow, and even his brain feels like it’s lagging a couple of seconds behind.
Finally, he manages to crack one eye open to squint at his alarm clock. His silent alarm clock.
There’s something puzzling about that but again his brain lags, thoughts almost swimming through soup and quicksand until finally it sinks in.
Silent alarm…
Too early…
Tired…
What is he doing awake?
Right as that thought finally hits, a harsh pounding attacks his door and Izuku blinks at it before realizing that yes, that is in fact the sound that had woken him up.
The mystery is solved but the satisfaction is short-lived as the banging continues– now accompanied by a familiar yet harsh yelling.
“Open up Nerd! I know you’re in there!”
Izuku blinks, lifting his head to stare at his dorm room door and finding even that small motion a chore. Dammit but this weird draining exhaustion that’s pulling him down freaking sucks.
He tries to open his mouth at least, to call out or say something but even his lips and tongue seem to be on strike this morning.
What is going on?
“Oi! You better not be dead in there Deku or I swear to fuck I’ll find a quirk to resurrect your ass just so I can beat it! Open the fucking door!”
Izuku concentrates and finally manages to twitch a finger. Man this feels like that time in second year when he got injured and passed out from blood loss.
Which is a weird way to wake up in the morning, that's for sure. He must have been dreaming about it again or something.
BANG BANG BANG
“Yo Dumbass! If I blow this door off myself I might accidentally kill you so get your ass out of bed and OPEN THE FUCKING DOOR!!”
Doing his best to ignore the way his body screams at his every minuscule movement, Izuku drags himself out from under the covers and begins the slow trek toward the door.
“Coming,” he croaks, and oh how much was he screaming before this why does he sound like he ate a bag of gravel?
The banging pauses for a moment. Then the doorknob rattles for good measure.
Izuku finally reaches the door, and he’s barely just unlocked it when it’s flung open and away. From the other side, Katsuki glares at him.
“Hurry up Nerd, I don’t have all day to save your sorry ass!”
From there, Izuku is hustled through the fastest and most bizarre morning prep session of his life. An immensely spicy breakfast is waiting for him by the time he makes it to the dining area (despite whatever mystery spices Katsuki must’ve used, it manages to not burn his mouth, and he even feels marginally better after finishing the meal).
Then, he’s rushed into the bathroom, where Katsuki dumps a bucket of chilly water over his head and calls it a shower, then yells at him to dry off and change into his hero costume. Momentarily, he catches a glimpse of himself in the mirror; he looks perfectly fine, save for a small scratch about one inch wide right below his eye that he can’t remember where he acquired, so why does he feel absolutely dead?
On the road to the agency, Izuku’s pretty sure they break at least ten traffic laws, although they miraculously don’t get pulled over.
When they arrive, his schedule seems to have been cleared except for paperwork– it’s a wonder how he managed to transfer his patrolling duties to another hero and get himself stuck at this desk.
His day is strangely… uneventful. That is, with the exception of Katsuki following him everywhere, even on coffee and bathroom breaks.
Izuku is honestly so thrown off by his boyfriend’s weird behavior that he finds himself glancing over at him every couple of minutes. Katsuki’s jaw is clenched tight, and he’s grinding his teeth again like he used to back in first year. His leg is bouncing in agitation, he’s on his fourth pen after having accidentally snapped the first three, and he keeps repeatedly checking his watch almost as often as Izuku is checking on him .
It’s all just so very odd and Izuku practically jumps at the chance to get up and stretch his legs again, even if it is just to walk down the hall to the copy room to collect his printouts.
Katsuki immediately gets up to join him but it seems that even their boss has finally had enough.
“Sit back down Dynamight. You can go when you’ve completed your own work.”
Katsuki seethes and Izuku falters in the doorway. Much as the odd bodyguard duty esque behavior has been weirding him out, from the way Katsuki is glaring at him it feels like it would be almost a betrayal for Izuku to head off without him.
But…
His printouts…
Izuku turns and makes his way down the hall. It’s just a quick little thing. He’ll be in and out right quick and then he’ll make it up to Katsuki. Maybe they can pick up dinner at his favorite place on the way back to UA? Or maybe–
Izuku's foot catches on the doorjam and he trips spectacularly, falling facefirst into the very copier he’d been heading for.
He hits the ground with a slam he can feel in his teeth and something wet and red immediately fills his vision.
‘Oh damn,’ he can’t help but think as he lays there dazed and too weak to move. ‘I hope I didn’t ruin my printouts.’
And then darkness is taking over his vision as familiar warm hands grab him and shake him harshly.
“No no no no no no!!!”
Izuku wakes up tired.
Granted that’s not exactly anything new these days but still.
Something feels different about it this time. His eyes are fighting his attempts at opening them, his limbs are moving syrupy slow, and even his brain feels like it’s lagging a couple of seconds behind.
Speaking of his brain, he has a massive throbbing in his temples and forehead area to top it all off.
Finally, he manages to crack one eye open to squint through the too-bright light at his alarm clock. His silent alarm clock.
There’s something puzzling about that but again his brain lags, thoughts almost swimming through soup and quicksand until finally it sinks in.
Silent alarm…
Too early…
Tired…
He closes his eye again groggily. What is he doing awake?
Right as that thought finally hits, a harsh pounding attacks his door and Izuku blinks at it before realizing that yes, that is in fact the sound that had woken him up.
The mystery is solved but the satisfaction is short-lived as the banging continues– now accompanied by a familiar yet harsh yelling.
“You’d better be awake by now, Nerd, don’t make me break down this door and drag you out myself!”
More persistent banging accosts his door and his ears with increasing intensity, and as Izuku concentrates hard he manages to twitch a finger. Man this feels like that time right after graduation when he almost got kidnapped after being clubbed in the head in the middle of the night.
Which is a weird way to wake up in the morning, that's for sure. He must have been dreaming about it again or something.
BANG BANG BANG
“Yo, slowpoke! If you don’t get up within the next five seconds I’m busting the door off and if it hits you then too bad!”
Both eyes finally open despite his body’s best efforts to the contrary, Izuku drags himself out from under the covers and begins the slow trek toward the door.
“Coming,” he croaks, wincing at how his voice sounds like he’s eaten a bag of sawdust.
“Well, get your ass out here faster!”
From there, Izuku is hustled through the fastest and most bizarre morning prep session of his life, featuring a spicy yet rejuvenating breakfast and several of Aizawa-sensei’s jelly packets being shoved at him “because maybe this’ll help you get your head out of the clouds for once and stop being an idiot” followed by an ice-cold experience that can hardly be called a shower.
On the way out of the bathroom Izuku catches a glance at himself in the mirror; he looks perfectly fine, save for a semi-fresh-looking scratch about one and a half inches wide right below his eye that he can’t remember where he acquired, so why does he feel absolutely dead?
They arrive at the agency early after breaking what feels like at least ten traffic laws, although they miraculously don’t get pulled over. But then compared to the start of his morning, the events of Izuku’s work day is surprisingly… normal, with the exception of his boyfriend’s weird behavior: even though they’re far out of harm’s way, stuck doing paperwork together for several hours, Katsuki’s jaw is clenched tight, and he’s grinding his teeth again like he used to back in first year. Every coffee or bathroom break Izuku takes, Katsuki insists on coming along.
It’s all just so very odd and when Izuku’s sent down the hall to the copy room to collect his printouts, it seems that even their boss has finally had enough.
“Sit back down Dynamight. You can go when you’ve completed your own work.”
Katsuki crosses his arms petulantly, yet he scoffs like he’d expected the order, and Izuku almost feels guilty despite how weirded out he is by his boyfriend’s bodyguard-esque behavior. I’ll make it up to him, whatever it is, he thinks as he walks briskly down the short hallway. Maybe we can grab dinner at that curry place he likes on our way back–
Suddenly, at the other end of the hall, there’s the sound of Katsuki pushing his chair back and standing up quickly, and Izuku’s suddenly thankful that the doorjam to the copier room has been misplaced once again because otherwise he’d surely have tripped on it and made a fool of himself.
As it is, he still manages to stumble slightly over his own two feet as he twists around to look at whatever grabbed Katsuki’s attention so abruptly, only for his boyfriend to catch him before he falls flat on his face.
“So fucking stupid,” Katsuki breathes, shuddering out a long relieved exhale. “What’s next? A damn papercut?”
Izuku flushes, breaking free from his boyfriend’s grip if only to cover his face with his hands. “It’s not like I wanted this to happen,” he mumbles, words slightly muffled beneath his palms.
Katsuki huffs out a laugh at that, and then there’s a familiar rough palm mussing up his hair and when Izuku looks up at him he’s met with the softest, fondest look on his boyfriend’s face that he’s ever seen.
The sight is enough to leave him breathless.
How did he ever get lucky enough to land a catch like Katsuki?
“Hey! Dynamight! You looking to get written up?! I said you couldn’t leave until you—“
“I finished it before I got up,” Katsuki calls back, his eyes never leaving Izuku’s as an unreadable emotion swirls within them. “You can check if you don’t believe me.”
Their boss grumbles something unflattering under his breath, a barely audible “this is why heroes have been quitting lately” but there’s no resulting outburst or reprimands after that and Izuku lets out a deep sigh of relief.
Katsuki snorts. “What you too? Thought you had more faith in me than that.”
Izuku can’t hold back a pout. “Well what am I supposed to think huh? You’ve been acting weird all day. I thought you were going to total the car on the way here and we’d get blacklisted from the UA vehicles for the rest of the year! It’s so unlike you, you’re usually so careful to be safe.”
Izuku is expecting pushback.
He’s expecting a rebuttal of some kind, for Katsuki to snark at him about him being scared of a little wild driving.
Instead Katsuki turns away, finally releasing Izuku and stepping out of his personal space. “I literally…” he says slowly, his voice hoarse and gruff in a way that weirdly makes Izuku want to cry. “…could not be any more careful with your safety than I already am…”
Izuku swallows, not really sure why the mood shifted and unsure how to fix it.
“Kacchan,” he starts, reaching out a hand towards his boyfriend’s back. It’s been a long time since he’s felt so closed off from what Katsuki is feeling and Izuku finds that even with the passage of time, he still very much doesn’t like it. “…should we get curry on the way back?”
“…sure.” Katsuki mumbles after a small pause, finally turning back around to face Izuku again. “You don’t have any surprise allergies that I don’t already know about right?”
It’s a weird question, doubly odd in how random it is, but Izuku merely smiles and shakes his head.
There. Now everything can go back to normal.
They finish up the work day in relative silence and peace, and Izuku even gets to go to the bathroom all by himself for once!
…it’s an odd thing to be celebrating, that’s for sure, but after the day Izuku’s been having it definitely feels like a win.
With every hour that passes Katsuki seems to relax just a little bit more. He’s still constantly checking his watch, still keeping a closer eye than usual on Izuku, but slowly, slowly, it’s getting less restrictive as the sun sinks lower and lower in the sky. By the time the two of them settle into the UA Third Years Rental Car (TYRC for short) Katsuki is damn near smiling again.
He pulls out of their parking spot with more care for the traffic laws than he had used that morning and Izuku sinks down into the passenger seat with a contented sigh. The day sure has been weird and he can’t deny that he too is glad that it’s almost over…
And then something huge slams into their car out of nowhere.
‘A villain,’ Izuku thinks detachedly, dazed and confused as their car flips once, twice, three times, from the whole-ass truck that said villain had thrown at their car.
‘It’s a good thing we were wearing our seat—‘
His head impacts the dashboard as the car slams to a stop against the brick wall of a building and everything goes black.
Izuku wakes up tired.