Chapter Text
The heat from the asphalt was already bleeding through the soles of Izuku’s red boots. Second year at UA meant they weren't just kids tagging along anymore; they were expected to hold their own, especially under Endeavour. Shoto was across town with Burnin, probably dealing with her usual fiery chaos, which left just Izuku and Kacchan on this sector patrol.
Izuku kept a careful half-step behind him, like it had been all their lives, his green eyes tracking the rhythm of the explosive blonde's steps. Always looking at his friend’s, rival’s, bullie's, classmate’s, symbol of victory's and whatever they were now's back But he likes to think they went full circle and became friends again
̷(̷e̷v̷e̷n̷ ̷t̷h̷o̷u̷g̷h̷ ̷h̷e̷ ̷w̷a̷n̷t̷s̷ ̷m̷o̷r̷e̷ ̷t̷h̷a̷n̷ ̷a̷n̷y̷t̷h̷i̷n̷g̷ ̷f̷o̷r̷ ̷t̷h̷e̷m̷ ̷t̷o̷ ̷b̷e̷ ̷m̷o̷r̷e̷ ̷t̷h̷a̷n̷ ̷t̷h̷a̷t̷)̷
They were friends again -he decided- and every single day Izuku woke up terrified he’d do something to mess it up. Kacchan wasn't soft, he was far from it. He was still loud, still abrasive, still the type to glare like he wanted to blast Izuku into the stratosphere for breathing too loudly. But he talked to him. He trained with him. and Izuku couldn't risk losing that. Not when his heart did that stupid, heavy thud against his ribs every time Katsuki looked back to make sure he was keeping up. Izuku knew his place. Katsuki was going to be the number one hero, and someone like him—someone who still felt like that quirkless kid hiding behind a notebook—was lucky just to walk in his shadow. He didn't deserve anything more and couldn't ruin what they had by trying to get it.
The sharp wail of a bank alarm shattered the afternoon quiet, cutting Izuku's thoughts dead.
Before the siren could even reach its highest pitch, Katsuki was gone. The air popped with the sharp, acrid scent of burnt caramel as his explosions launched him forward. "Move it, Deku!" he barked over his shoulder.
"Right!" Izuku yelled, Full Cowling snapping to life around him. Green sparks danced across his skin as he leapt after him, the wind rushing past his ears.
They hit the bank entrance almost simultaneously. The glass doors were already shattered, sparkling like spilled diamonds across the concrete. Inside, five villains were scrambling. It was a messy, uncoordinated heist, but desperation made them dangerous.
"I've got the left!" Izuku called out, pivoting on his heel. He pushed five percent of One For All into his legs, blurring past a villain swinging a heavy iron pipe. With a quick, controlled sweep, he took the man's legs out from under him and tapped the back of his neck, knocking him out cold before the villain even registered the green lightning. Another one lunged with a spike-covered fist. Izuku parried, slipped under his guard, and delivered a precise, open-palm strike to his chest, sending him crashing into a row of plastic waiting chairs.
Two down.
To his right, the air was a deafening roar of concussive blasts and terrified shouting. Katsuki was a whirlwind of orange and black. He didn't just fight; he dominated the space. He pinned one villain to the floor with a knee to the spine while using the back-blast of an explosion to send another flying straight into a marble pillar.
Two down for him, clean and brutal.
That left one. A scrawny guy with a frantic look in his eyes, backing toward the vault.
Izuku braced himself to finish it, but a sharp crack echoed from above. A massive chunk of the decorative concrete moulding on the ceiling had cracked loose from the force of Katsuki’s blasts. It was falling straight toward a bank teller who was curled up on the floor, paralyzed with fear.
Izuku's body moved before he could think.
He dropped his stance, cutting across the room in a fraction of a second. He caught the heavy stone block on his shoulders, the weight jarring his teeth, and hurled it away into an empty corner. "Go, run!" he told the teller, grabbing her arm gently but firmly, pulling her up and shielding her with his own body as he guided her toward the shattered front doors where the police sirens were already wailing. "Stay behind the barricades!"
"Deku!"
The sheer, raw panic in Katsuki’s voice froze the blood in Izuku's veins. Katsuki never screamed his name like that unless the world was ending.
Izuku spun around. The fifth villain was standing by the vault, his arm outstretched, a blinding, localized beam of violet light building at the tip of his fingers. It was pointed straight at Izuku's chest. Izuku couldn't move in time. His boots felt glued to the floor.
Suddenly, a mass of orange, black, and sweat-dampened green Kevlar collided with him.
Katsuki tackled him with enough force to knock the wind completely out of Izuku's lungs. They flew through the air, but as they did, that violent violet beam shot forward. It didn't hit Izuku. It tore right through the space where he had been standing and struck Katsuki squarely in the small of his back.
A sharp, strange crack echoed through the room, like static electricity snapping on a wool blanket. They crashed hard into the marble wall of the bank, tumbling to the floor in a heap of tangled limbs and heavy breathing.
"Kacchan!" Izuku gasped, scrambling to his knees, his hands hovering over him, trembling. His heart was throat-high, choking him. "Kacchan, are you okay? Where did it hit you? Can you move?"
"Get the hell off me, Deku!" Katsuki snarled, pushing him away with enough force to rattle his teeth, though his breath was shallow. He pushed himself up, his eyes wild with fury as he glared at the last villain, who was already collapsing from exhaustion after firing the blast. Katsuki didn't care. He stormed over, grabbed the guy by his collar, and slammed him into the floor, knocking him completely unconscious.
The silence of the aftermath settled in, broken only by the distant hum of the city and the sound of their own heavy breathing.
"Kacchan, seriously, let me see," Izuku pleaded, rushing back over to him. He reached out, his fingers brushing against the fabric of the hero suit where the light had struck. He expected blood. He expected burned fabric. He expected something. "What was that blast? Did it burn you?"
Katsuki swatted his hands away, his palms sparking dangerously. "I said I'm fine, you damn nerd! There's nothing there!"
He was right. Izuku stared at his back, blinking. The fabric wasn't even singed. There was no smoke, no tear, not even a smudge of dirt from the quirk itself.
"Maybe... maybe it missed?" Izuku murmured, rubbing the back of his neck. "Or maybe it was just a flashy kinetic burst that didn't have enough power to pierce your suit?"
"Like hell it missed," Katsuki spat, his jaw clenched so tight the muscles jumped. He kicked a piece of rubble across the floor, his chest heaving with frustration. "I can't believe I let some pathetic, D-class extra actually land a hit on me.Oi! Don't look at me like that, Deku, or I'll blow your face off!"
The paramedics and the police arrived a minute later. Because a quirk had made contact, standard protocol dictated a hospital check-up. They spent two agonizing hours in the local emergency room getting poked, prodded, and scanned. The doctors found absolutely nothing. No abnormal energy signatures, no internal bruising, no strange chemical imbalances.
"Look, Dynamight," the lead detective told Katsuki while filling out the incident report. "The villain is still completely out cold from quirk exhaustion. We can't question him until tomorrow morning to find out what his quirk actually does. Go back to your dorms. If you feel even a slight headache, a change in temperature, or anything weird, call us immediately. Otherwise, we'll ring you when he wakes up."
Katsuki just grunted, snatching his gauntlets off the hospital table and storming out the door without a word. Izuku offered the detective a hasty, apologetic bow and ran to catch up.
By the time they got back to the Heights Alliance dorms, the sun was dipping below the horizon, painting the sky in bruised shades of purple and orange. The moment the front door clicked open, the heavy silence of the common room vanished.
"Ribbit! You guys are back!" Tsuyu called out from the couch.
Mina bounced up from the rug, her eyes wide. "Todoroki texted us! He said you guys got blasted by some weird villain and had to go to the hospital! Are you okay? Are you cursed? Did you lose a finger?!"
"We're fine, everyone! Really!" Izuku said quickly, waving his hands back and forth in front of him to dial down the rising panic in the room. He forced a bright, reassuring smile, though his shoulders were still tense. "It was just a standard precaution because a quirk touched Kacchan’s suit, but the doctors checked him over completely. There's nothing wrong, I promise."
"Shut up, extras," Katsuki growled from behind him. The sudden, dangerous pop-pop-pop of small explosions crackling across his palms made Mina jump back a step. His face was shadowed, his eyes narrowed into a terrifying glare. "Stop squawking like a bunch of damn chickens. It was a nobody. Don't bother me. I'm going to my room."
He didn't wait for a response, stomping up the stairs, his heavy boots vibrating through the floorboards until his door slammed shut on the upper level. The common room fell into a quiet, slightly awkward lull. Izuku sighed, the adrenaline completely leaving his body, leaving him hollow and exhausted. He didn't feel like going up to his dark room just yet, so he sat on the edge of the sofa, letting the mindless chatter of a late-night talk show on the TV wash over him without really listening to a single word.
An hour passed. The dorms started to quiet down as people drifted off to study or just relax in their rooms before dinner. Although a few still remained, Izuku's throat felt dry, a dull ache forming behind his eyes from the stress of the day. He pushed himself up and walked into the dim, quiet kitchen to make some chamomile tea to help him sleep. deciding to just have an early night and skip dinner, not feeling up to it that day.
The kitchen was peaceful. The only sound was the low hum of the refrigerator and the water beginning to bubble in the electric kettle. Izuku leaned against the counter, staring at the small ceramic mug in front of him, his mind drifting right back to the bank. Why did he jump in front of me? Katsuki could have just blasted the villain from afar. He put himself at risk for Izuku, and then he looked so angry about it. Maybe he was just angry that he had to save him, of all people. Someone he used to look down on. Someone who still felt like a burden. No matter how powerful he had gotten now he was still just the weak, quirkless deku under it all and it was probably only a matter of time before everyone else realised that too and left him just like they all did and all wi –
The kettle clicked off.
Izuku reached for the handle, but before his fingers could wrap around it, the entire kitchen illuminated.
A sharp, violent flash of violet light erupted directly behind his back, casting long, distorted shadows across the cabinets and the floor. It wasn't the warm glow of fire or the crackle of Katsuki's usual sparks. It was a cold, humming energy that made the hairs on the back of Izuku's neck stand up.
He froze, the breath catching in his throat, before slowly turning around.
He should have just went to bed
He hates his life