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"Your smile will come back if we saved Anna-san. I promise I'll save her."
"All Might! It's the real All Might!" Child Izuku cheered in happiness at seeing All Might, his idol, his hero in the flesh, standing right in the middle of his bedroom floor.
While letting out a hearty laugh and showing his signature smile, All Might picked Izuku up with his big, strong arms so easily, as if Izuku was as light as a feather.
All Might was here! With Izuku!
It's his dream come true! After all, he wanted to be a hero, just like him!
Oh, but.
But being a hero just like All Might wasn't his only dream.
Seated on All Might's shoulder, Izuku's big, round eyes watched as the walls of his room changed into a field of wildflowers.
Pretty.
Izuku liked pretty things.
Suddenly, he wasn't sitting on All Might's shoulder anymore.
No. All Might — the real, skinny but still strong and fearless All Might — was standing right next to him. He was wearing a formal suit and smiling proudly and warmly at Izuku. Behind Izuku stood Uraraka who was wearing a gorgeous soft green dress and a nice orange brooch. Next to All Might, Kirishima was wearing a black tuxedo with a soft orange shirt inside, paired with a soft green tie.
Izuku himself was now of adult age and he was wearing a black tuxedo and a white dress shirt. His usually wild and curly hair was styled and tamed for once. There was a small sunflower pinned to the front pocket of his jacket, a heavy but reassuring weight against his rapidly beating heart.
There was anticipation. Eagerness. Excitement. He watched the white doors, waiting for him to come out to their outdoor wedding venue.
It felt like years, waiting. Ah, but Izuku had waited for years, hadn't he? He had been waiting for that person to be his ever since they were children. He had been in love even before he knew what love was.
He's here.
Izuku's emerald eyes widened at the sight of his childhood friend, rival, best friend and partner walking down the aisle with his parents' hands around each of his arms. He was wearing a white tuxedo and carrying a lovely bouquet of green roses.
Once their eyes locked together, Izuku thought that the flowers weren't as lovely as the beautiful smile that was aimed at him.
This is my dream, too.
"Izuku."
"Kac—"
And then it all came crushing down as the First User of One For All spoke, "I'm so sorry, Izuku."
The dream came into a harsh end, cruelly taken away by bittersweet reality.
"Deku!"
Todoroki was dancing around the Fake-All-Might-slash-Dark-Might-turned-ugly-as-fuck-monster, flying around shooting fire and ice as Katsuki crouched uselessly on the ground after being thrown away like a chew toy. Meanwhile, Izuku was out cold a few feet away from him.
"Fuck-!" Katsuki doubled over, grimacing at the pain that was caused by the All Might wannabe and the girl with the strange quirk. Still, he forced one eye open and focused on calling the greenette out, hoping to rouse him.
"Deku! Wake the fuck up!" he bellowed, because he knew that if they wanted to win, it had to be the three of them attacking the blue-red monster. Not just one, not even two, but the three of them together. "Stand up, Deku!"
"I want more! Give me power! GIVE ME MORE POWER!"
Fake All Might kept shooting blast after blast without a care in the world before the monster leapt and struck towards Izuku and—
Move! Goddammit, useless fucking body of mine, fucking MOVE!
—like some kind of law, Katsuki's body moved on his own.
He could never think straight when it came to Izuku.
He kicked the younger boy away from the monster's reach, only for his own body to fall victim to its hand.
Katsuki yelped as the giant hand engulfed his smaller form. He shouted in agony as the monster squeezed Katsuki's limbs, but he guessed that's what he deserved for being distracted because of fucking Deku!
He couldn't breathe as he choked on blood. His ribs cracked one by one under the pressure.
"De– mngh—"
"YOU!" The monster growled right into Katsuki's face. He looked almost delighted as he found himself a new target, "GIVE ME YOUR POWER!"
Katsuki cried out as he felt Fake All Might do something to him other than trying to squeeze him like a citrus reamer. As a strange light eradicated from Fake All Might's body and engulfed Katsuki's form, he immediately felt drained in an alarming speed. Dizziness and fatigue hit him like a truck and within a split second he realized what the Fake All Might was doing: he's absorbing Katsuki's powers.
Katsuki's quirk— his explosions. From what he had seen Fake All Might could do, he could use Katsuki's powers as ammunition to hurt Deku and the extras. Fuck! He can't— he can't have that!
"Want more... give me more!"
"Fucking bastard," groaned Katsuki. "get your filthy hands off me!"
Katsuki tried with all his might to blow the fucker off with his free hand and even squirmed hard enough so he could slip away and escape, but his struggles were for naught as the monster kept his strong grip on him and continued sucking his explosions. He's using Katsuki and that Anna chick as newfound energy, before recycling it and blasting their powers off everywhere to wreak havoc. A mindless, destructive monster.
To Katsuki's horror, he felt himself growing weaker and weaker, so much so that he could barely create any explosions anymore.
The combined quirks were too strong for him.
He couldn't. Katsuki couldn't keep up.
Black spots began covering his already blurry vision.
Before succumbing to complete darkness, Katsuki's eyes once again found Izuku's unconscious form.
"De... ku... fucking... wake... up... Izuku...!"
His hand tried to reach Izuku. It fell as his vision turned dark.
"...ku-!"
"Deku-!"
"Deku!"
"Wake the fuck up!"
"Stand up!"
"Fucking... wake... up..."
"...Izuku...!"
Izuku gasped awake.
Everything hurt.
Every breath he tried to suck in took so much effort as his lungs cried at him to stop overexerting them. His skin stung, his muscles ached, his head pounding, his limbs were heavy.
Still, he had to get up.
I'm the Deku who will not give up.
It took every ounce of strength in him to roll from his back onto his trembling knees so he could get up.
Because someone was begging for him to wake up, to stand up—
Kacchan.
Izuku's half lidded eyes widened in horror as they caught the sight of Katsuki being held captive by Dark Might who was now in some kind of monstrous form, probably due to Anna's quirk.
Katsuki was unconscious, he looked so small in the monster's massive hand. His head was tipped back, revealing a bloody forehead. His eyes were closed and eyebrows furrowing in pain. One of his arms was pinned to his side while the other hung limply in the air.
The cruel image of Shigaraki's tendrils piercing through Katsuki's flesh suddenly filled his mind.
No.
Not again.
Dark Might had hurt the people around him. Civilians, other heroes, Izuku's friends. Giulio and Anna, too.
And now, he has hurt Izuku's childhood friend, the person who was closest to him.
"KACCHAN!"
With newfound strength, Izuku was immediately covered by green sparks and lightning. He used Full Cowl to struck his entire body towards Dark Might, crushing him straight in the chest.
"LET GO OF HIM!" he screamed in rampage. "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HIM!"
Overwhelmed by One For All's powers and Izuku's anger, Dark Might was flung away to the point that he bounced against a mountain sized rock. The effects also worked well for Izuku because the monster had unintentionally let go of Katsuki.
In haste, Izuku threw Blackwhip around Katsuki's waist and quickly pulled the other boy into his arms. He made sure to curl around the blond protectively as they plummeted to the ground, ready to take whatever aftershocks for himself to suffer from.
Thankfully, his luck today was finally turning as their fall was softened by Todoroki's ice.
"Midoriya! Bakugou!" The Ice and Fire user called from the sky where he was trying to fend off the feral Dark Might who had somehow gotten back to his feet. "Are you alright?!"
"T-Thanks, Todoroki-kun!" Izuku tightened his arms around Katsuki while trying to cradle his head as best as he could. "I'm fine! B-But Kacchan—"
A hand shoot up to grab at his wrist, making Izuku snap his attention towards the blond.
"'B-Bout fucking time, n-nerd," panted Katsuki.
"Kacchan!" Izuku breathed a sigh of relief at Katsuki's albeit weak smile. His moment of solace, however, was wiped away when Katsuki pushed him away to stagger to his feet. "Kacchan, w-wait! Are you sure you should be—"
Rubies met emeralds.
Don't count me out yet. Don't look down on me!
"C'mon, Deku! We've got a villain to crush!" Katsuki grinned maniacally at him with such determination that it would be an insult to deny him the last fight.
I would never.
Izuku grinned back. "Right!"
They're heroes. They're All Might's successors.
We'll win this fight and save everyone!
Win to save. Save to win.
They've done it.
Katsuki, Todoroki and him had defeated Dark Might.
Giulio had saved Anna.
Their friends and the pro heroes had saved the civilians.
"You said you'll bring my smile back. I have to be near you for that to happen."
Izuku had kept his promise: Giulio was smiling again.
"All that for a smile, huh? Fucking sappy nerd."
The greenette cut off his thoughts, sputtering in embarrassment at a smirking blond. "Y-You heard that?!"
"I have ears, dumbass." Katsuki said without his usual bite. They were all tired, but the blond looked drained compared to all of them combined.
Quirk exhaustion thanks to fighting the whole day and being literally drained by a modifiable quirk, one of the medics had said. They were all tired, really, but Katsuki was the only one exposed to Fake Might and Anna's joined powers, so he had no choice but to relent to Recovery Girl's orders for him to rest.
Katsuki was currently sitting at the corner of the area the pro heroes had made as an emergency triage, slumping against a tree. His domino mask, headgear, gauntlets and gloves were set aside next to him but not out of reach in case some kind of emergency were to happen and he needed to fight again.
Not that he could right now. Even blind people could see how exhausted he was.
He wasn't allowed to help in distributing rations nor providing first aids for the civilians, seeing as he couldn't even stand up on his own. He had agreed to at least let the medics put an IV in him, before yelling at them and sending them on their merry way to tend to the civilians. He even refused a shock blanket when he was offered one, saying that the other extras needed it more than him.
His skin was pale, but his cheeks were flushed. He was sweating more than normal, yet he was shivering. His breathing was coming in and out in soft pants, and if Izuku knew any better (which he did), Katsuki must be developing a fever right about now.
Making up his mind, Izuku took his cape off and draped it around Katsuki's shivering form. To his surprise, Katsuki didn't immediately curl the fabric up into a ball and throw it away or worse, burn it (even though he couldn’t use his quirk right now, Izuku knew he would find a way if he wanted to). Rather, he... wrapped it tighter around his frame.
Izuku giggled from where he was kneeling in front of the curled up blonde. It wasn't fair how Katsuki's scowl could look so cute.
"...You're not fucking getting this back."
"You can have it until we got back to U.A.," bargained Izuku. "Please give it back to me later."
Whatever Katsuki's comeback was, it was swallowed when his annoyed expression turned into concern.
Izuku blinked as Katsuki lifted his arm so his fingers could brush against his freckled cheek. It's the same cheek sporting the big bruise that was caused by Dark Might.
"What the fuck were you doing?" he softly asked. "Getting all beat up like that."
"You're one to talk." At Izuku's soft retort, Katsuki huffed. When he began to pull his hand away, Izuku caught it in his gloved one.
Izuku smiled at Katsuki's rosy cheeks. Somehow, he knew it wasn't because of the fever.
"Kacchan, I wanted to thank you. During the fight with Dark Might, you were calling my name, weren't you? If it weren't for you, I'm not sure I would have gotten back up."
Katsuki's red eyes turned away from him. "Tch. You would've been fine."
"No, I wouldn't." Izuku leaned forwards to catch the older boy's gaze again. He continued, even as Katsuki's mouth dropped and his other hand clutched Izuku's cape tightly until his knuckles practically turned white. "You were there for me. You've always been there for me, even before you apologized."
That day when Izuku came home, when Katsuki had apologized to him in the rain, their relationship shifted. They're better now. A whole lot better. Izuku felt like he understood more of Katsuki's feelings now.
His own feelings, on the other hand...
Even though Izuku's thoughts still lingered on the war, Shigaraki, All For One and the burden of One For All, after that day Katsuki had welcomed him home, something deep inside Izuku which he had buried a long time ago in middle school was fighting to come out again.
That something was his feelings for Katsuki.
He knew that feeling perfectly well. He could see from the looks that Giulio gave Anna, that they were the same.
These feelings weren't ones that Izuku could fully embrace and act on yet, not when the war was upon them. But once everything was over, once they come out of it alive, Izuku swore he would tell Katsuki.
"I still got a lot to make up for," murmured Katsuki.
"Kacchan," Izuku sighed while squeezing the other boy's hand. "I already told you that I forgave you a long time ago, right?"
Katsuki squeezed back. "Still gonna make it right. And I told you I'm gonna earn your forgiveness, Izuku."
Izuku shook his head at the stubbornness. Always the overzealous type. Never one to accept things if they weren't because of hard work. Although, that was one of the things Izuku loved about him.
"Stubborn Kacchan." he said fondly.
"Whatever. Now, scram."
At that, Izuku had no choice but to relent, because he did have a job to do. He reluctantly let go of Katsuki's hand, smiling when the blond squeezed it before pulling away his own.
Kirishima offered to keep Katsuki company while the greenette continued his own work in volunteering to distribute foods and medications for the civilians. As he went back and forth with Uraraka and the others in the open area, his eyes landed many times on Katsuki, who now had his head pillowed on Kirishima's shoulder. From time to time, Sero, Ashido, Kaminari and Jirou would take turns in checking up on the duo — something Izuku figured would ease their own minds — while Katsuki slept through it all.
His gaze lingered on the small smile that Katsuki had in his sleep.
He thought back to the image of an older Katsuki, clad in white and smiling beautifully at him.
Izuku always did like pretty things.
"All that for a smile, huh?"
You don't know the half of it, Kacchan.
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