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Katsuki opened his eyes and immediately knew something was wrong. His left arm ached, mirroring his right. He was laying on his back in bed, staring at the dorm room ceiling, and there was too much color in his periphery. Had he overdone it with his quirk again? Did his idiot friends sneak in and ambush him with ridiculous decorations again?
Ready to rip the bandaid off, Katsuki kicked back the duvet and sat up, using his core instead of his arms. There were no balloons or cheep party streamers. Instead, the room was absolutely swimming in All Might merchandise.
Katsuki grabbed the phone off the side table, but he didn't even need to look at it to confirm his suspicions. His right arm had moved when he willed it.
Deku's passcode was the date of the sludge villain attack. Katsuki found his contact and called himself.
The other end picked up immediately, and Katsuki's own voice said, "Hi Kacchan! You have better sleep hygiene than me, I've been up for hours!"
"You—" Katsuki started, then winced. He was going to hear Deku's obnoxious voice every time he wanted to talk. "There's meds you need to take."
"I did," Deku said, "And I stretched and took a walk and did your hand exercises. Now I'm downstairs having breakfast with Todoroki. Good thing this happened on the weekend! I don't think I can tie your tie! I bet this quirk belongs to the kid from yesterday with the Ryukyu backpack. Remember we both talked to him while he was watching us clean up the rubble from—"
"Why do my arms hurt?" Katsuki interrupted.
"Sorry I broke them so many times," Deku said, "But there's a prescription strength ibuprofen you can take."
Katsuki rubbed his eyes with his palm. "You take pain meds every day?"
"Oh, definitely not," Deku said, tone light, "Only if it's bad. But you—"
Katsuki hung up the phone. This was a conversation he wanted to have where the volume of his shouting couldn't be turned down.
Deku was sitting at a table downstairs, wearing one of Katsuki's old skull T-shirts.
"Hah?" Katsuki blurted, "You didn't go for an All Might one?"
Deku had his mouth full of rice, but he waved in greeting.
Beside him, Todoroki actually looked up from his plate of soba. "You sound strange with Midoriya's voice."
Katsuki couldn't have agreed more, which reminded him that Todoroki was his ally. "Did you know that his arms hurt every day?"
Todoroki's brow just barely furrowed. "His right arm that's yours?"
"Is it bad today?" Deku asked. He glanced around, like he was scanning for some danger. "It doesn't look like a storm is coming. Is it bad today anyway? Did you take painkillers? I—"
"How should I know!" Katsuki shouted. He held up his palms, but his quirk didn't spark—he didn't have it. "Think I've ever been you before?"
Deku rubbed his chin, like he was only just now considering this extremely obvious point. "It's just—you seem kind of concerned."
Katsuki ground his teeth, planning his retort.
"Hi Deku!" Uraraka said, tapping Katsuki on the shoulder.
Katsuki spun on her. Instantly, her smile morphed into a concerned frown, matching his.
"Hi Miss Uraraka!" Deku said, waving from the table.
Todoroki stopped slurping noodles long enough to say, "They were hit by a quirk."
"O-oh," Uraraka said, taking a step back, "That's—really disconcerting. When does it end?"
"Did you know Deku's arms hurt all the time?" Katsuki asked her.
Uraraka's eyes narrowed. "I knew they bothered him sometimes."
Deku stood up, holding the empty bowl where his breakfast had been. "Kacchan, don't just stand there and complain. If it's bothering you then you should try stretching, or a heat or ice pack, or the painkillers that I already told you about."
That's when Katsuki figured out how to win. "Why don't you make a list of all my options?"
"Oh, good idea!" Deku said. He set the bowl down on the counter and reached into his pocket. Then his eyes widened. "Oh—my notebook's in my room."
"You could text it to him!" Uraraka said. She must have caught on.
"Mmm," Deku said, pulling out Katsuki's phone. Then he held it out. "Want to swap back?"
Katsuki snatched it with one hand and threw Deku's phone at him with the other. Having two working hands was underrated.
Deku immediately set to texting, absently biting his lip. After about thirty seconds, the first paragraph appeared in Katsuki's notifications. A quick scan showed that it was an elaboration on the pain relief options Deku had mentioned a moment ago.
"You said something about the weather," Katsuki said, "Are there other external factors I need to look out for?"
"Huh?" Deku said, looking up from his work, "Um, probably not. It's not supposed to storm today, or drastically change temperature. It's usually worst in the morning anyway—if anything you'll feel better later."
Katsuki crossed his arms—he could do that again—and rolles his eyes. "Hey moron, what makes you think this quirk will end before tomorrow?"
"Well it was a young kid who used the quirk, and probably by accident," Deku said, totally unfazed. "Someone with that little training probably doesn't have the stamina to—"
"I think you should give him all the information," Todoroki interrupted. He must have figured it out too.
"Ah, okay?" Deku said. Then he shrugged and went back to typing. "I guess it can't hurt."
For an awkwardly long moment, the three of them just stood there, staring at Deku while he typed. Katsuki's phone pinged intermittently, receiving the barrage.
"Deku," Uraraka finally said, "You know, you can tell us about things that bother you."
Deku looked up again. "Yeah, of course. I know that. Is—something going on?"
"You're so stupid," Katsuki blurted.
Deku smiled, like he was indulging a child. "I know Kacchan. You can ask Todoroki to warm or cool your arms while you're waiting."
Katsuki turned to glare at Todoroki, and they had a sort of telepathic conversation. Todoroki's eyes widened just slightly—yes, he remembered doing this for Deku before, no, he hadn't put the implications together.
"We're just—here for you, if you need anything," Uraraka said.
Deku's eyes went glassy, which even Katsuki found eerie on his own face. "Mmm. I'm glad."