Five Wonders of the World

by iridescent_flower

Summary:

How did Bakugo Katsuki come up with the idea of creating a super suit for Midoriya Izuku to become a hero again? Well, it involved slapping Kaminari Denki, having a moment in a tofu shop, Bakugo on a motorcycle, a bridge exploding, a river scene we didn't get in the canon ending, and a ruined confession (+ 3 bonus scenes).

Notes:

• For singmebrokenhymns (mdrd361).

Chapter 1: For the Rest of Our Lives

The following story takes place one year after graduation where everyone is 18-19 years old. The embers of One for All disappeared a little before graduation so Midoriya is completely quirkless.

Wednesday
Bakugo and Kaminari stood on the roof of a nearby building after they had just finished their most recent mission. The two were tasked to take out a villain that was especially weak against fire and electric attacks. Although the two successfully took out the villain, Kaminari had the smart idea (surprisingly to Bakugo) to conduct reconnaissance from above before leaving the scene to make sure the villain did not have any accomplices waiting nearby. Kaminari insisted Bakugo leave first since it is he likely broke his clavicle mid battle, but Bakugo chose to stay a little longer. As the police left with the handcuffed villain, Katsuki turned around to retire for the day until Kaminari grabbed his attention.

“Hey Bakugo.”

“Hah?”

“Have you talked to Midoriya lately?

“Tch, do I look like I have that much free time?”

“So...no?”

Katsuki removed his mask to wipe away some of the dirt that got kicked into his eyes mid fight “Haven’t had the time, Best Jeanist is on leave, had to pick up extra patrol shifts.”

Best Jeanist chose to not retire after the end of the Final War. His quirk was exceptionally useful in capturing any of the remaining villains after Shigaraki and All for One were finally defeated. However, his physical health was never quite the same after losing a lung, jumping straight into battle with the Gigantomachia without fully recovering, and then joining Final War battle. Since then, his sidekicks have been insistent that Best Jeanist take as much time needed to recover after being injured. Honestly Katsuki felt like they were Mother Henning Best Jeanist too much, but he understood to a degree.“ Oh, that’s right! How is he doing? I heard he took a nasty stab to the chest.”

“Son of a bitch is fine, still hanging in there with one lung.” He replied nonchalantly, not the worst thing the denim bastard has been through. “Why’d you ask about Izuku?”

Kaminari rubbed the back of his neck with his right hand “Ah well, I went to visit U.A the other day. Midoriya asked me to attend one of his class’s training sessions. Can you imagine me as a teacher? Apparently, a student of his has an electricity quirk but has difficulty controlling the voltage.”

Kaminari watched the young student, Inazuma, attempt to release an even larger burst of electricity than the last, only to have the electrical energy explode in the student’s face instead. He rubbed his palm against his head, moving the hair out of his face as he tried to think.

“Okay, so it seems like you’re having difficulty storing up that much electricity repeatedly. Maybe we should try releasing some of that pent up electricity so we can get a better sense of your limits yeah?”

Inazuma nodded and closed their eyes in concentration. However, amid discharge, ice from another student's quirk hit Inazuma on the head, startling them and causing them to release electricity in the direction of other students. Kaminari immediately activated his Sharpshooter Gear, releasing his Pointers to redirect Inazuma’s rays away from the other students. One rogue bolt however, hit one of Cementoss’ slabs, sending a large piece of concrete tumbling towards an unsuspecting student. Kaminari zipped over as fast as he could.

“Shit! I’m not going to make it!”

He heard the slab collide with the ground, albeit the collision sounding quieter than expected. When Kaminari made it to the collision site, he realized Midoriya was under the cement, using his arms to hold the cement chunk up while bracing the impact with his legs. Kaminari quickly inserted himself under the slab to help his friend push the slab away, removing the weight off both their bodies.

“Are you alright?” Midoriya asked the slightly shocked student behind him as he put his left hand over his right shoulder, assessing his joints as he rolled them, wincing at the pain the recoil created. The young boy nodded his head slowly, as if absorbing the fact that his teacher had just caught a giant slab of flying cement.

Inazuma ran over with a terrified expression on her face, looking at Midoriya first “Deku-sensi! I’m so sorry! I should have been more careful” she exclaimed as she entered a deep bow. She then lifted herself upright before turning to Kaminari and dropping into another deep bow “I deeply apologize Chargebolt!”

“Hey don’t worry! You were doing well up until that point.” Midoriya reassured Inazuma has he patted her encouragingly on the shoulder. “It took Chargebolt a while to master directing his lightning too.”

“Yeah, and now I’m a pro! You’ll get the hang of it!” Kaminari reassured the young girl. As the rest of the class started heading back to the main building, Midoriya stayed behind to lock the gym closed. Kaminari waited with his friend before they both started walking back together.

“How are your shoulders Midoriya?”

“Ah, they’re fine. Besides, I’ve had much worse injuries.” Midoriya joked as he looked back at Kaminari.

Kaminari grimaced at the thought, it is true that Midoriya had much worse injuries. Still, it didn’t mean it ever got any easier seeing his friends get hurt.

“I should have accounted for how close the students should be with each other as they practiced their quirks.” Midoriya mumbled to himself as they kept walking.

“Hey, it’s your first year teaching and you’re still a teaching assistant, so I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself when learning from Aizawa!” Midoriya gave Kaminari an appreciative grin as the two kept walking. “Honestly though Midoriya, that was really dangerous.”

“Not really” Midoriya shrugged “Again, I’ve had worse injuries. And besides, a student was in danger.”

“Well yeah, but I think you should’ve just let--”

“Let what?”

Kaminari stopped himself short when he saw the face Midoriya was making. He leveled a look that Kaminari couldn’t seem to quite understand. His expression was blank yet pensive, but his eyes looked almost sad. Curious? Tired?

“I guess he seemed kind of upset at my comment?” Kaminari wondered aloud in the present after retelling the incident “You’ve been friends with Midoriya for like what? Decades? Did I say something wrong? I just didn’t want to see him get hurt ya know? And it’s not like he has super strength anymore to just smash up that cement like nothin.’ Plus, he’s already fucked up his arms so much. Tell me Bakubroo~!”

“Are you stupid?”

“Bakugoooooo” Kaminari whined “stop taking your turd personality out on m--”

“URUSAI” Katsuki promptly slapped the back of Kaminari’s head with his uninjured right arm before heading towards the door leading to the stairway down. “Even without a quirk, he managed to lift muscular All Might. Bastard even had the gall to use me and half n’ half as a platform to win the sports festival race. Deku doesn’t need a quirk to be a hero.” Katsuki stated in a low tone without turning around, remembering the sludge villain incident the more he thought about his memories of Izuku.

Kaminari gave Bakugo a look, surprise flickering briefly across his features while he took off his optical visor, as if to look at the sour puss more closely because his eyes could not possibly deceive him like his ears.

Katsuki grabbed the door handle, opening the door before pausing briefly, giving Kaminari one last serious look “All Might once said I feared Deku’s spirit.”

“...Do you?”

“I ain’t afraid of shit” Katsuki spat, “but other people should be.” he concluded before slamming the door behind him shut.

Kaminari seemed lost in thought for a few moments before he tapped into his headphones, swinging his legs over the ledge in the process to call Jirou.

“Hello?”

“You owe me 14,000 yen ($100) when you get back to the agency, Bakubro’s got it bad.”

“Bullshit.” Jirou simply stated in reply.

~~~~~

After returning from the agency’s infirmary, Katsuki planted himself at this desk with his new figure-of-8 splint around his collarbones. He apparently broke is clavicle and the sidekick in charge insisted that Katsuki take the rest of the day off and get the injury looked at by someone with a healing quirk. Being the cooperative man that he is, Katsuki instead flipped through some paperwork on his desk absent mindedly, finding his quarterly review. At his review, Best Jeanist informed Katsuki that he was doing exceptionally well on his missions (to which he scoffed at and said of course) but that he was also overdoing it. While the denim hero acknowledged that Katsuki had improved considerably in this regard, he was still displeased with how hard Katsuki continued to push himself at work. Moreover, Katsuki seemed to have little regard for the injuries he was accumulating.

“Even the thinnest threads...can come together to braid a mighty rope. But had even a single thread frayed and come loose, the rope would be reduced to nothing but weak strands. The same applies to your body and its injuries.”

“That’s rich coming from the denim-bastard-missing-a-lung himself.”

Best Jeanist shook his head at Bakugo’s blatant use of disrespectful language while also sighing at the hypocrisy that he was not wrong about.

“We heroes have been...not the best examples when it comes to protecting our wellbeing. I do acknowledge that. It is something we are trying to improve at, especially now that villainy has decreased significantly with the League of Villain’s central leadership out of commission. And that is precisely why I see no good reason for you to push yourself so hard.”

He paused, looking Katsuki in the eyes before continuing “You are exceptionally talented Dynamight, and I would hate to see you burn out before you have the chance to live out your full potential as a Pro Hero. I urge you to think about what it is that is making you feel like you are falling behind—“

“I ain’t behind anyone—“

“You are the type to show with your actions, not your words.”

Katsuki huffed in irritation as he packed up his belongings, mindful of his bad shoulder. It wasn’t like he had absolutely no sense of self-preservation. He had to learn the hard way through physical therapy that recovery is done best patiently, and Bakugo Katsuki doesn’t half ass shit. It wasn’t like he liked getting hurt either, he just couldn’t seem to help feeling off. He didn’t understand why either since he spent his whole life working towards being the number one pro hero, and he had finally achieved a major steppingstone by becoming a licensed pro hero. Yet for some reason, it felt like something was missing. The blonde grunted in further annoyance and embarrassment as the train of thought made him remember what he said in the hospital after the Final War:

I guess I thought...we’d be competing...and I’d be on your heels...for the rest...of our...lives...

Thinking about what Dunce Face said earlier that day, Katsuki realized it had indeed been a while since he saw Izuku in person. The two had mostly kept in contact through text, and even then, Katsuki couldn’t always text back when he was busy blowing up some D tier villain. Izuku also had the tendency to forget the whole world around him when he was focused. The more Katsuki thought about it, the more irritated he was at the idea that Dunce Face probably saw the nerd more than him. He decided then and there to send Izuku a text asking if he wanted to get dinner after work and sat back down waiting for a reply.

2:27 pm

3:13 pm

3:54 pm

Katsuki slammed his fists on his desk in a huff, startling the other sidekicks in the agency as he made up his mind. He didn’t need confirmation to know that the nerd was probably at U.A. mumbling to himself, working on a lesson plan, and completely losing track of time. Giving up on waiting for a reply, Katsuki got up and vaulted himself over his desk with his good arm to exit the building.

~~~~~

Getting smacked in the face was the last thing Izuku expected to happen while he was going over a potential quirk training regimen for Kota (who wanted to get a head start in preparing for U.A’s admission exam) alone in the faculty office at 5pm.

Rubbing his forehead in discomfort, Izuku looked up and felt a smile light up his face. “Kacchan!”

“Hey--” Izuku cut Katsuki off as he rushed over to give him a hug. Katsuki froze, a little caught off guard, before gingerly returning the hug. One of Izuku’s crowning achievements during the last two years of high school was getting Kacchan to be more accepting of hugs (key word, accepting, not giving) even if it involved a lot of arguments, explosions, reverse psychology, and him breaking a leg to get his best friend to finally relent.

Izuku leaned back a bit to look at Kacchan in the face “I saw on TV that you’re using the new Grenadier Bracers I designed for you!”

Most third years spent their time completing externships. Izuku, in the place of an externship, instead spent time in the support department as an elective since the embers of One for All were nearly out, leaving him with limited quirk power. Instead, Izuku used his quirk analysis skills to help Class 1-A and Class 1-B develop their gear over time. Actually, his quirk analysis skills eventually led him to get a job offer as a teacher to help develop training regiments to strengthen students' quirks.

“Yeah, they’re alright.” Katsuki said curtly.

Izuku rolled his eyes, he knew Kacchan well enough that even if he sounded unenthusiastic, the fact that he was using his designs meant he liked them a lot. The new design was meant to be 20% sturdier, 15% lighter, and provide 15% more storage. He lost a couple of nights of sleep over engineering the most optimal design, though he did not tell Kacchan since he knew he would get blasted into oblivion for it, and quite frankly Izuku liked living.

“Sure Kacchan” Izuku replied in a sarcastic tone “What are you doing here anyway?”

Kacchan’s features suddenly morphed into his signature face of rage and Izuku started sweating bullets.

“YOU BASTARD, I TEXTED YOU ABOUT DINNER 3 HOURS AGO. WHO THE FUCK STAYS THIS LATE AT SCHOOL ANYWAY. AND YOU HAVE THE GALL TO GIVE ME TUDE” he shouted, shoving a finger into Izuku’s chest rapidly to accentuate every word.

So much for living Izuku thought to himself “A-ah gomen Kacchan, I got caught up with work and...”Izuku slipped his reading glasses into his breast pocket while patting his other jacket pockets for his phone. When he did not feel it anywhere, he realized he must have left it in the classroom. No wonder I didn’t hear any buzzing, he thought. Izuku sighed in exasperation “wait one sec, I’ll be right back” he said as he dashed out of the faculty office.

After retrieving his phone, Izuku ran back into the faculty room to find Kacchan sitting at his desk, back facing the doorway, looking at some the photos Izuku stuck to the dividing corkboards between each individual cubicle. He realized that Kacchan had never seen his desk until now. Following his gaze, Izuku found that Kacchan was looking at a photo Masaru took of Inko, Kacchan, Mitsuki and himself at graduation. One version had Mitsuki and Kacchan yelling at each other over Kacchan’s hair that Mitsuki styled that morning and Kacchan subsequently ruined, off to the side were Inko and Izuku starring wide eyed at the temperamental duo. The photo was a bit blurry, likely due to Masaru freaking out at his wife and son’s public display of rage in front of Kacchan’s peers. The second photo was much cleaner, with Kacchan’s left arm slung around Izuku’s shoulders, practically in a headlock, a smug smile spread across his face. Kacchan had bunny ears behind him that he assumed was Kirishima messing with the Kacchan. Izuku was to his right, leaning over slightly due to the force of Kacchan’s grasp, his left arm wrapped around Kacchan’s back to steady himself, with a wide smile plastered across his face. As Izuku walked over, he noticed Kacchan was displaying a content expression that he rarely got to witness. Izuku could not help but smile too. By the end of their first year at U.A. the two had been through so much together. Like when they were kids, they were basically inseparable for the remainder of their high school years.

The two often trained together during class mandated sessions and, in their downtime, not only practicing their quirks, but learning martial arts from Urauka and Ojiro-kun. Izuku wanted to find ways to keep up with his peers as One for All grew weaker over time and Katsuki seemed interested in picking up new fighting techniques to incorporate into his combat style. Unsurprisingly to Izuku, Kacchan picked up martial arts faster than he did, and oftentimes it felt like their sparring sessions were an opportunity for Kacchan to beat up Izuku like old times. Not that Izuku really minded this time, after all, his rivalry with Kacchan felt like the most natural thing in the world. The two were going toe-to-toe, head-to-head, and frankly Izuku could not help but want to learn from his best friend. He always has been his very image of victory. Into his third year the two spent more time together outside school since by then, the embers of One for All were nearly entirely out, Aizawa took Izuku under his tutelage for more complex close combat/agility-based styles of fighting. Specifically a style that allowed Izuku to avoid serious injury in battle because as he put it “Bakugo is not the person that can best teach you self-preservation.” To which Kacchan vehemently protested and said he was going to be a god at self-preservation by the end of high school (he was not).

For the 20th time in that session alone, Aizawa managed to dodge all Midoriya’s attacks and knock the boy to the ground. It was that day Izuku fully appreciated how agile Aizawa sensei was, even with a prosthetic leg and half his vision gone. He tried to twirl Aizawa’s binding cloth around his arms, like he did with his fight with Shinso, and knock his sensei off balance. However, Aizawa instead used the momentum of being drawn forward to land a swift kick to Izuku’s stomach instead. Izuku rolled over onto his back and looked upwards at the gym’s ceiling, letting out a huff frustration. Izuku was building more muscle and had become better at hand-to-hand combat by the day, but there was no doubt there was a widening divide in strength when going toe to toe with his sensei without those weights.

“It was a clever idea, but your goal for now should be to dodge my binding cloths. Strength and agility are two different skillsets that you will need to work on separately.” He looked down at Midoriya with a slightly gentler look “It took me 6 years to develop my fighting style without a quirk that lends itself naturally to combat. But eventually I was able to make it work.”

Izuku understood then what his sensei was trying to imply. He believed Izuku could find a way to continue being a hero in his own way, and he wanted to help his student in whatever way he could. He nodded in determination, rubbed the dirt that clung to his face away, and got back up on his feet, taking another fighting stance.

As soon as Kacchan noticed Izuku he masked his previous expression with a new annoyed look, and Izuku sighed knowingly that that is just how Kacchan is. “Sorry to keep you waiting Kacchan! You wanted to get dinner right? Did you get to eat yet? We could head to our usual tofu house nearby--”

“Do you always leave work this late?” Kacchan asked, cutting him off.

“Oh, uh, no, I just lost track of time, that’s all.” Izuku laughed nervously “Actually...how did you know I was still here?”

Kacchan just shrugged casually while looking to the side “I just knew” but then the temperamental hero turned to him and gave him a death glare “if you’re lying, I’ll kill you for it.”

Izuku felt a growing warmth in his chest at the idea that Kacchan just knew him that well. He shoved the feeling down with the knowledge that reasonably he would either be here or at home, and it was not hard to figure out. “Hai hai, is the Mapo tofu we get like usual, okay?” Kacchan nodded and soon the two headed towards the exit. Before Izuku could reach the doorknob, the doors slid open, revealing Aizawa standing on the other side.

“Ah! Aizawa-sen— er...I didn’t realize you were still in the school.” Izuku exclaimed.

Aizawa silently looked at the two men silently before speaking, “Bakugo” he simply said in acknowledgement of his former student’s presence, who nodded in reply. He then turned to Izuku “I forgot my eyedrops at my desk.” Izuku ran over to his desk, grabbing them and handing them to Aizawa, who muttered thanks in reply.

“Right, Midoriya you asked how Eri’s music lessons with Jirou were going,” he remembered as he pulled out his phone, flicking through his photos before finding the one he wanted and handing Izuku the phone. Katsuki watched as Izuku’s eyes lit up with sheer glee, followed by a slight blush and a wide smile at the sight of the little girl. Katsuki shifted his attention to Aizawa’s phone instead as he felt his heart rate pick up. The photo was Eri and Jirou sitting next to each other on the couch, both holding guitars as Jirou appeared to be mid-sentence, explaining something as Eri looked at the older woman with wide eyes, mouth agape, like whatever Jirou was explaining suddenly clicked for her. Izuku looked up at Aizawa and smiled “I’m glad Eri-chan finally got the music tutor she wanted.”

Aizawa officially adopted Eri a year ago, and Class 1-A threw Eri a housewarming party at Aizawa’s place on U.A’s campus. After some discussion with Principal Nezu, the school’s board decided to allow Aizawa to remain living on campus and moved him to a bigger living space to accommodates Eri’s residency. This way he could get to work easily and continue to look after Eri as she attended an arts school nearby. Even Katsuki could not help but smile a bit at the memory. Aizawa gave Eri the option to live with someone else if she wanted to after the Final War, but all she did was hug Aizawa’s leg and asked to stay with him forever. It was probably the first time Katsuki had personally seen Aizawa cry.

“If you want, you can stop by Friday. Eri is having another lesson with Jirou then. Bakugo you’re welcome as well.” Aizawa stated.

“I’d love to! Are you free then Kacchan?”

“Sure, whatever.”

Aizawa arched an eyebrow at his former pupil. He was expecting Bakugo to at least attempt to be uninterested and was pleasantly surprised at his cooperativeness. Then again, he noticed over the years that Bakugo had been less rage filled when it came to a certain someone.

“I’ll see you both tomorrow then, Midoriya, Bakugo. Good to see that you are leaving work early for once Midoriya, make sure to actually eat dinner today” he said as he slowly walked out of their field of vision.

Izuku froze in place as he slowly turned to look at Kacchan, who looked deceptively calm if not for the bulging vein on the side of his head.

~~~~~

“Welcome to Tofuya Ukai! What can I get-- oh my!”

The server stammered at the two men sitting at the booth in the back of the restaurant. One looked like he could explode with rage at any moment and the other was covered in soot and his hair all poofed up like an afro. Once she gathered her bearings, she quickly recovered and put her best smile back on.

“What can I get for you gentlemen?”

“Can we get the Mapo tofu, extra spicy, and one--” before Izuku could finish his sentence, he was cut off by a series of sneezes from the soot going up his nose.

“One sundubu for this useless bastard” Katsuki barked in irritation “and regular spice for both dishes is fine, with an extra bowl” he mumbled. The server nodded before leaving their vicinity.

“I think there’s soot in my mouth.” Izuku complained, trying to wash out his mouth with the glass of water on the table.

“Good, maybe you’ll think twice about neglecting your health next time.”

Izuku crooked an eyebrow at his dinner mate “Kacchan, it doesn’t make any sense to tell me I’m neglecting my health and then blow me up for supposedly neglecting my health.”

“No one asked for your smart-ass remarks.” Katsuki barked.

“No one asked for your senseless violence either.” Izuku retorted.

Katsuki leveled one of his death glares at Izuku, who just crossed his legs, folded his arms across his chest, leaned his head back against the booth’s headrest, and gave Katsuki an uninterested look, like he was so over it.

“Don’t push it shitnerd.”

“Make me.”

“Fuck you.”

“Fuck you Kacchan!” Izuku said out of exasperation, his own eyes widening at what he just said.

Katsuki lunged forward, grabbing Izuku’s tie and pulling Izuku right up against him. A flicker of surprise flashed across Izuku’s eyes as he was suddenly pulled forward.

“What was that Izuku?” Katsuki asked in a low tone, just loud enough that only Izuku could possibly hear his words. A surprised but also amused glint illuminated his eyes. Kacchan’s words and his grip on his tie finally snapped Izuku out of the sassy demeanor he was maintaining, realizing the position they were in. Kacchan was unbearably close, leaving Izuku nowhere else to look except right at his eyes.

As Izuku got more comfortable with Kacchan over time, he also became cheekier with him over time. It helped that he knew Kacchan did not mean the things he did or thought half the time, and that he was able to get away with more. It was honestly more fun being able to push Kacchan’s buttons, though this time it felt...different? More tense? Maybe more embarrassing since he could feel his cheeks heat up.

“Ano, sumimasen.”

The two turned at the sound and saw the server looking at them with a flabbergasted look spread across her face. Katsuki quickly let go of Izuku’s tie as Izuku turned to thank the server as she placed their meals on the table.

What a bunch of sexually frustrated weirdos the server thought to herself as she left the room.

Katsuki started to aggressively mix the tofu with the rice before plopping it in front of Izuku, who looked up at his best friend quizzically.

“You look like shit” Katsuki simply explained “and clearly aren’t eating properly. I’ll be damned if you die on me before I get a chance to surpass you.”

Izuku momentarily paused amid the pouring a portion of his sundubu for Kacchan. He gently placed the bowl in front of his friend before turning to look at his portion of the Mapo tofu. “It was kind of you to ask for regular spicy so you could split the tofu, I know how much you enjoy your food at maximum spiciness.” he smiled.

Katsuki could tell Izuku didn’t really want to address his comment directly, but then he remembered he doesn’t give a shit. He stabbed his tofu cube in thought before asking, “What? Nothing about you working faster to catch up?”

This time, Izuku put his chopsticks down before grasping his own hands tightly in thought. A long silence settled between the two as Katsuki continued to chew on his food. Honestly as much as Izuku’s constant muttering and never-ending analyses of quirks, battles, or flavors of food always pissed him off, something about a silent Izuku freaked Katsuki out even more. Thinking about it more, Izuku had always been with him, muttering away about anything and everything. It was only until now that he realized that that was not the norm anymore. Did that bother him? Did he miss the muttering?

Did he miss Izuku? No, that’s ridiculous.

God dammit, it wasn’t ridiculous, and Katsuki knew he was too smart to deny it. They have always been together. They were always together, side by side, and the idea— the reality of Izuku not being there with him anymore was...

“Oi, Izuku.”

Izuku looked to the side pensively, twiddling his thumbs nervously before he finally spoke “I’ve never stopped being a hero, I think that’s something I’m certain of deep down. When All Might no longer had One for All, he never stopped being a hero to me.” he laughed softly “Even now in the class I think about what All Might would say or do to my students to help shape them as heroes, and people still call me by my hero name. I’m so happy that we all survived the War, t-that you survived, that I got to live out my dream of attending U.A. to become a hero, that I met all our classmates...and I love my students! I can’t imagine a life where I didn’t get to meet them at this point in their lives as they train to be heroes. And I’ll never give up on being a hero!” Izuku stated, giving himself a little first pump trying his best to look confident, but his lips were quivering, and his eyes had this startled look. For how confident Izuku was trying to appear, Katsuki thought that he had never seen Izuku so scared. His gaze shifted downwards as a somber look took shape in his eyes “but...just like All Might, I’m never going to get to be the kind of hero I once was. Maybe not the hero that can fight alongside Class 1-A. Maybe not the hero that will be strong enough to protect others when it matters the most...and...” Izuku swallowed hard “I don’t know if I can be the kind of hero that can keep up with you.”

At this point Katsuki stopped eating, looking straight at Izuku with a ghost of concern across his features, and at the same time Izuku noticed something cold on his cheek. Before he knew it, tears were flowing nonstop down his face. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve quickly, intending to just play it off, but the more he wiped, the more tears he felt escaping his eyes.

“I’m sorry...I just” Izuku started to apologize as he watched his best friend rise from his seat, he wiped at his tears more aggressively as his frustration kept pouring over “It’s not that I’m ungrateful for how well things turned ou--”

Katsuki silently dragged Izuku up by the wrist before pulling him into a hug. He never talked to Izuku directly about becoming quirkless again, in part because he didn’t know what he could possibly say. As a Pro Hero who still had his quirk and was living out his dream, he didn’t know what he could say without it falling flat. Especially considering that Katsuki chose to bully Izuku for all those years for being quirkless. Does he potentially resent Katsuki for being able to live out his dream while he can’t? Does Katsuki know how to have that kind of a conversation? “Could he handle Izuku potentially resenting him and drifting further away from him? Instead of trying to formulate a reply that would probably be colored with swears, he decided to take Best Jeanist’s words to heart. If he really were better at showing rather than telling, he hoped this would get the message across and that Izuku couldn’t hear his heart pounding in his chest.

Izuku seemed frozen out of shock, but once the initial surprise wore off, he wrapped his arms tightly around Katsuki, like he was the only thing that kept him afloat amid the onslaught of tears. Izuku continued to sob softly into Katsuki’s shoulder as Katsuki rubbed soothing circles on his back, not saying a word but not moving away either. They were both unsure how long they were standing there, but it was probably a decent amount of time because Izuku felt someone tap his shoulder.

“Oh, um, sumimasen, but I really need to get through--”

“Ah! gomenasi--”

“CAN’T YOU SEE WE’RE BUSY RIGHT NOW”

“K-Kacchan! Please! We’re probably blocking people’s paths to their tables.”

“So? They’re interrupting your crybaby moment.”

“I-I I wasn’t-- let’s just get these dishes to go.”

“HAH!? No way I’m starving, I’m not leaving until we finish eating.”

“Kacchan--”

“Shut up, sit down, and eat. Fuck’s sake the food is getting cold.”

Izuku proceeded to nervously apologize to the customers behind him as he slid back into his seat. Still feeling a bit disoriented, but also lighter than he had felt in a long time.

~~~~~

“Thanks for walking me home Kacchan.” Izuku said as he walked up to his front door.

“Sure” Katsuki shrugged “not really a big deal.”

“And um...thanks for um, listening earlier today.” he rubbed the back of his neck, a sense of embarrassment and nervousness taking over “I didn’t want to talk about this with anyone in Class 1-A and make them feel bad. Everyone is doing so well at their new agencies, and I didn’t want to be a downer. I’m also really grateful for the job opportunity and didn’t want to sound ungrateful to Aizawa for helping me get this job.” Izuku looked down, shuffling his feet a bit, feeling more anxious as he talked “My m-mom doesn’t know about how I feel either. She doesn’t ever say it, but I think she’s been happier seeing me as a teacher.”

“Tch, can’t say I blame her given how often you broke your bones.” Katsuki stated.

Izuku laughed softly “Yeah, it’s understandable...which is why I don’t want to do anything to make her feel guilty for feeling relieved. I’ve put her through too much...so...thank you Kacchan. Let me know when you get home?” the green haired man asked as he opened the front door, about to step inside.

“Izuku.”

“?”

“Why did you tell me then?”

“...Huh?”

“You said you didn’t want anyone in Class 1-A to feel bad, why did you tell me then?

Izuku turned back around to face the blonde, momentarily pensive as if remembering a fond memory before smiling as he simply said: “because you’re the one and only Kacchan Bakugo.”

“Izuku? Is that you?” Inko called from within the house.

“Okasa tadaima!” Izuku yelled through the door “chotto matte”

“Oh, Izuku sweetie, I’m sure you’ll be excited, your new Dynamight merch arrived to--”

Izuku immediately ran into the apartment, slamming the door and locking it behind him. Leaving a semi-dazed Katsuki standing outside, unsure if he heard correctly. Izuku collapsed against the front door, sliding down to the floor as he buried his face in his hands in sheer embarrassment.

~~~~~

Izuku just got out of the shower when he heard his phone ring. Looking at the square of light in the dark he saw that Kaminari was calling.

“Kaminari-Kun!”

“Hey Midoriya!”

“What’s up?” Izuku asked as he walked over to sit on his bed.

“Ano...how should I put this...?”

“Huh?”

“Ah, gomen Midoriya. About what I said at U.A.”

“O-oh! That’s not necessary Kaminari-kun!”

“I realized afterwards that what I said sounded like you couldn’t look after yourself. I didn’t think about it until I talked to Bakugo about it.”

“You talked to Kacchan about me?”

“Oh yeah earlier today, we were on patrol and, well, you seemed a bit upset by what I said, so I wanted to, you know, fix it I guess.”

“Earlier today?”

“Yeah, he reminded me how crazy cool you’ve always been! Did you really lift muscular All Might before you got One for All?”

Izuku felt himself blush “Y-yeah, it was part of the training All Might set up to help prepare me for inheriting One for All. But I couldn’t have done it without All Might’s help.”

“Nah Midoriya, you never give yourself enough credit! I’m not even confident as a pro I could do that.”

“He’s right Midoriya!” a voice in the background of Kaminari’s phone shouted in the distance.

“Oh! Right, Kirishima is here with as well. We moved in together to save money on rent since both our agencies are nearby. Here one sec.” and soon Izuku was getting a request to video call. Once he pressed the green accept button he was hit with a:

“MIDORIYA!!!” Kirishima shouted into the phone with such excitement that made a smile instantly appear across Izuku’s face.

“Gah! Keep it down, our neighbors are going to give us an earful again later.”

“That’s because you keep accidentally shorting out the building.” Kirishima replied simply while Kaminari gave the red head an annoyed look before sighing in exasperation.

“It’s great to see you Kirishima-kun!” Izuku stated.

“YEAH! Sorry I haven’t kept in touch as much before, things have been busy at Fat Gum’s agency. He burned through all his fat to protect some civilians during an accident, so he is taking some time off to build back up his reserves.”

“Don’t worry about it Kirishima-kun, it’s alright.”

“I’m glad I’m here for this call though because Kaminari is totally right. You’re like one of the manliest guys I know Midoriya! The Crimson Riot will always be the manliest of course! But remember how I told you about how I was moved by this kid the same age as me that rushed out to save their friend, and how that kid was you? You have always been such an inspiration to me, and nothing is going to change that!” Kirishima declared confidently.

“That’s right! I know One for All for was like mega cool and whatever, but you’re way more electrifying Midoriya, and look, I’m sorry if what I said upset you. It’s just...you’ve been through so much suffering for everyone else’s sake. I just wanted to be there for you. But I’m sorry if that made you feel less capable as a hero. Bakugo’s words earlier today helped me realize that isn’t fair to you.” Kaminari finished as Kirishima roughly wrapped his arm around his roommate in agreement and support.

Izuku could feel his eyes water at their kind words. Again, it wasn’t like Izuku stopped thinking he was a hero, or maybe in some way he forgot. One for All was a big part of him and had only recently disappeared forever. That’s probably why it was so reassuring to hear his friends remind him that continued to see him in the way that they did. He quickly wiped away a few rogue tears that managed to escape his eyes.

Kirishima and Kaminari both watched Izuku with a kind and patient look in their eyes.

“Thanks, you guys.” Izuku said with an as even tone as he could muster, choking back more tears, before remembering what Kaminari said before “Kaminari-kun, you said you talked to Kacchan about this earlier today?

“Huh? Oh right, we were on patrol.” Kaminari scratched the back of his neck nervously “I wanted to gethis thoughts on what I said and why it might bother you. And the first thing he did in response was slap me.” Kaminari mumbled in an annoyed manner.

“Ah...that’s Kacchan for you...” Izuku said as he felt a sweat drop.

“Yeah, I felt a bit bad for holding him up since he broke his collarbone in the fight earlier, but I feel less bad after he hit me. How does someone still have that much strength after breaking a bone??”

“Eh!? Kacchan got hurt?? He didn’t mention anything when I saw him earlier today!” Izuku exclaimed.

Kaminari raised a suspicious eyebrow at Izuku “You saw him earlier today?”

“Uh, yeah, we got dinner at Tofuya Ukai. Actually, he came to find me at U.A. first after I didn’t answer his initial text asking if I wanted to get dinner together.” Izuku recalled aloud, scratching his cheek with a single finger in ponderance “I was surprised he knew I was there even though I didn’t answer.”

“When did he send that first text?” Kaminari asked with a...was that a mischievous glint in his eye?

“Erm...roughly around 2 o’clock? I think?”

“Aha! So, about an hour after he left he!” Kaminari exclaimed in excitement.

Izuku just looked at Kaminari with a perplexed look, waiting for the blonde to elaborate. Kirishima noticed his confusion and decided to elaborate.

“Kaminari is convinced that Bakugo has a crush on you.” Kirishima explained in a matter-of-fact tone.

“...”

“...”

“...”

“EHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!????”

“Yeah, I mean, he went to find you right after I mentioned you were potentially upset. Even though he was injured, and then he went out of his way to find you when you didn’t answer his texts. I literally work with the guy, and he blocked my number just because I kept asking him pick up lunch one shift.” Kaminari huffed.

“I-I-I don’t think that’s...t-that’s....Kacchan would never....”

“Did he do anything else nice for you?” Kaminari inquired, at this point he had a huge, excited smile on his face.

“W-well, he did ask for less spicy Mapo tofu so he could share it with m--”

“BAKUBRO OPTED OFR LESS SPICY FOOD!!!???” he blonde jumped up off the couch in indignation “I was literally choking on the yakitori he bought for us and all he did was tell me I was WEAK and then proceeded to take embarrassing photos of me! FAVORITISM!!!” Kaminari shouted, throwing his arms up in indignation.

“Ochitsuke Kaminari!” Kirishima exclaimed, setting his hands around Kaminari’s shoulders “or you’re seriously going to piss off our neighbors again.”

Kaminari huffed out one last puff of indignation before finally plopping himself back on the couch, his elbows leaning on top the back of the couch. “Look, all I’m saying is Bakubro is never that nice to me. What do you think Kirishima?”

Kirishima leaned back against the couch in thought “Well, now that you mention it, Bakugo has been kind of weird lately now that Midoriya isn’t around him as often.” Kirishima’s comment finally snapped Izuku out of his flustered-like haze that Kaminari sent him into.

“Huh? Weird? Weird how?”

Kaminari tilted his head to the side while looking at Kirishima briefly, a motion the red head interpreted as oh yeah, it’s mutual all right and Kirishima shrugged his shoulders as if conceding to Kaminari’s point.

“I’m not sure, it’s hard to explain.” Kirishima began as he scratched his head in thought “He just seems sort of out of it? At the very least his movements feel different from when he was at U.A. Maybe he just seems weird because I’m so used to seeing him in sync with you on the battlefield” he said, looking at Izuku.

“Nah I’m telling you mean, Bakubro has got it bad.” Kaminari emphasized “He’s adjusting his preferences for Midoriya, sharing his food, I bet he even walked him home like a good boyfriend.”

“B-b-boyfriend!? D-d-don’t friends w-walk each other home t-t-too?”

“SEE! SEE KIRISHIMA!!! I TOLD YOU! I TOLD ALL OF YA!!!”

A knock could be heard in the distance on the other end of the call. “Ah crap” Kaminari said in exasperation “Sorry Midoriya, I should probably apologize to my neighbors.” Kaminari passed the phone to Kirishima who grinned into the camera “It was great to hear from you again Midoriya! And hey, I know Kaminari just likes teasing you and Bakugo, but I do think at the very least you are more important to Bakugo than he is willing to admit. Stay connected, all right?”

“O-okay sure, good night, Kirishima-kun” Izuku replied faintly before the call ended.

Izuku plopped back onto his bed in sheer embarrassment. There’s no way, right? Kacchan doesn’t see him in that kind of a way. I mean the whole spicy food thing wasn’t really anything new. Ever since their second year at U.A., he and Kacchan started to hang out more regularly, getting food together before heading home. They shared food a lot since they were often starving after training and ordered more than two portions. Those times, Izuku did notice that Kacchan dialed down the spice level for their shared dishes. Sure, it was kind of Kacchan to do so, and it is a bit unexpected given how rough around the edges he is. But deep down Izuku always knew that Kacchan had the most valiant heart. The true embodiment of a hero. He grabbed his pillow and shoved it over his face, rolling back and forth in embarrassment at the thought.

Izuku did not even have to ask himself if he liked Kacchan in that way either. All it took was a millisecond of a moment of him considering it for the reality of it to hit him like a Detroit Smash. It should’ve have been obvious to him, right? After all, he spent his entire life admiring Kacchan. Everything he did was to perfection, but despite his natural talent, he always sought to aim higher, to reach a whole new level. Like Kacchan was going to make the word impossible embarrassed at itself for existing because he was going to prove that nothing was impossible. Izuku put his pillow back where it belonged and began slowly turning his body so that his head was on the pillow, laying parallel to his bed instead of perpendicular. He felt that weird warm sensation in his chest grow bigger and bigger.

He definitely liked Kacchan in that way.

And now that he realized it Izuku did not know what to do with himself.

~~~~~

Friday
Izuku and Katsuki were standing in front of Aizawa’s apartment door. Katsuki knocked on the door shortly before the door creaked open and a blur of light blue dashed out the doorframe, hitting Izuku square in the chest and knocking him to the floor. For how much people kept saying they did not want to see him getting hurt, they did a fair amount of the hurting too.

“Midoriya-ni!!” Eri beamed as Katsuki grabbed the back of Eri’s dress, like a mother cat holding her kitten by the scruff, lifting her off Izuku and onto her feet next to him.

“Eri-chan!” Izuku exclaimed as he hugged Eri tightly. The young girl had grown a few more inches since the first time they met.

“Hey” Jirou said as she waved with a grin from the door frame behind Eri. She raised her fist to give Bakugo a fist bump in acknowledgement, to which he begrudgingly returned. Jirou then turned to Midoriya and extended a hand to him, offering to pull him up. Izuku obliged, grabbing her hand in return as she pulled, letting out a hiss of pain as the motion caused a throbbing pain in his shoulder.

“Oh crap, are you still injured? Denki mentioned the U.A. accident.”

“Ah yeah, just an incident during a student training session, the doctor says I sprained my shoulder but that I should be fine as long I don’t overdo it.” Izuku explained as he felt Kacchan’s arm behind his waist, steadying him as he stood up.

The four walked back into Aizawa’s apartment and sat themselves down around a coffee table, with Jirou and Eri on the couch since they had instruments, and Izuku and Katsuki sat on the floor cushions across. Aizawa left some snacks and tea on the coffee table before excusing himself to the kitchen to make dinner. The four talked, catching up on how they were doing. Jirou ended up joining the same agency as Asui that focused mostly on rescue work. Her quirk made her especially useful when it came to finding civilians trapped in rubble, and admittedly her combat ability was limited since losing her other earphone jack. Eri expressed an interest in applying for a performing arts high school in 5 years, hence the music lessons by Jiro. The young girl bounced up and down in her seat, asking if she could show Izuku her progress thus far, to which Izuku happily obliged.

As the two began their performance, lzuku and Katsuki sat quietly as they watched Jirou and Eri play a guitar duet of a simple song. Aizawa tried to work more quietly in the kitchen as he noticed the two began playing. Bakugo’s and Midoriya’s backs were facing away from the kitchen, whereas the couch that Jirou and Eri were sitting on was facing the kitchen. When he looked up again after waiting for the curry cubes in the pot to dissolve, he did so right as Bakugo grabbed Midoriya’s hand ever so slowly and gently under the coffee table.

Midoriya appeared to jolt in fright at the sudden physical contact. Bakugo’s shoulders sagged slightly as he appeared to attempt to slowly retract his hand before Midoriya grabbed it, albeit rather frantically and interlocking their fingers. Katsuki was startled by the sudden touch to the point that he accidentally let a small explosion pop between their two hands, rattling the coffee table.

The two girls paused their playing in surprised. Jirou instinctively stood up, alert and ready in case something was wrong.

“Bakugo? Midoriya? What’s wrong?”

“N-n-nothing!!! Nothing! Nothing at all!” Izuku screeched as he frantically waved his arms in front of him to make his point clearer, except it just made the whole scene unfolding seem more suspicious to everyone watching.

“A-are you sure Midoriya?” Jirou asked, concerned “you’re looking a little red, did Bakugo accidentally burn you?”

“HAH!? I’m not stupid enough to just randomly burn this freak!”

“...Then why...?”

“Keh, none of your business Ears!”

“These kids...” Aizawa muttered to himself. As he kept cooking, he contemplated if he should text All Might about what just happened.

~~~~~

Next Wednesday
Katsuki stared up at U.A.’s front gates as he leaned against his bike, growing more bored by the minute. He could not for the life of him understand why Izuku took so long to finish up (as if he didn’t text him last minute saying he was here to pick him up when he was in a faculty meeting). After an hour of waiting, he spotted Izuku walking across the quad. Izuku eyed the bike with a degree of wariness for a moment. Ever since Izuku came to confront his own feelings about Kacchan he became unnecessarily nervous at anything related to his best friend. The idea of sitting so closely to him with his arms wrapped around Kacchan made Izuku feel unnaturally warm. Forget butterflies, he could swear his stomach was filled with frogs that were in a jumping frenzy.

“Are you kidding me.”

“Ehh??”

“You saved the world but getting on a motorcycle freaks you out?? Of course it would take you until now to develop a sense of self-preservation” a smug look appeared on Katsuki’s face as he leaned back again and crossed his arms “though, guess that makes sense for a nerd like you, since it took you until 10 to learn how to ride a bike.”

“Kacchan! That’s not the problem. And that’s not fair either! My mom wouldn’t let me because she was afraid I would get hurt!”

“That just sounds like a shitty excuse a coward would use.” Katsuki was not totally listening to what Izuku said next, as could see the trickle of U.A students slowly emptying the campus and glancing at the two of them curiously as they argued at the front gates. Annoyed at the idea of being made a spectacle, he mounted his motorbike and tossed the spare helmet at Izuku, who caught it rather easily in his right hand despite his flustered demeanor. “You gettin’ on or what?”

Izuku looked at the bike hesitantly before letting out a resigned sigh and walked over, swinging his legs over the backseat, and clicking the helmet into place. As Katsuki squeezed and held the clutch lever down to start up the engine, kicking the kickstand back, he felt his companion hesitantly wrap his arms around his waist. Katsuki felt a warmth rush up his neck at the motion before taking off.

The sun was just starting to set, casting an orange and pink hue over the sky as the two friends soared across Japan's highway at a breakneck speed. As much as he liked flying, it felt good just to let the wind rush across him without having to overexert himself. Katsuki would never admit this to Best Jeanist, but the constant use of his quirk was indeed starting to wear him down (then again, he shouldn’t be surprised given that the denim bastard came back from the dead from overdoing it). It pissed him off knowing he had to accept his limits, though the idea of busting his arm and not being able to utilize his quirk fully concerned him a little more. For the sake of being at the top of his game, he begrudgingly decided it would be better to save what energy he could for missions and use his motorbike to get around in the meantime. While checking his rearview mirrors, he noticed the nerd was grinning from ear to ear and could feel the corners of his own mouth turn upwards.

“At least you aren’t scared shitless anymore.” he remarked casually.

Izuku jumped a little as if he forgot where he was for a second and looked forwards. After gathering his bearings again, he looked downwards and quietly replied with a sad smile “Ah yeah, it’s just...I haven’t felt the wind against me like this since...since we were on patrol together.”

Katsuki gripped his handlebars a little tighter but did not say anything in response, and soon a stretch of silence settled between the two. The last time the two were on patrol together was when Izuku still had One for All and could fly or jump from skyscraper to skyscraper. He had not really thought about the little things Izuku was missed by not being a Pro Hero. He let out a huff of air in frustration and instinctively facepalmed himself in the face for not realizing.

“K-Kachan!! What’s wrong!?”

“I don’t know why you’re getting all sentimental and shit on me” Katsuki barked back defensively, slightly embarrassed at his recent train of thought “You can ride with me whenever you want if you like it so much” he mumbled at the end.

“Huh?? Does...does that mean you’ll keep picking me up after work then??”

“...Yeah, I guess so, if hero work doesn’t get in the way.”

Katsuki could hear Izuku’s stupid shit grin in his voice “Really?”

“...yeah.”

“You sure?? I mean not that I’m ungrateful, this is really nice of you and everything, but you’re probably so busy and, and I don’t know, should you even keep riding a motorcycle??? You know statistically speaking about fourteen percent of crash fatalities--”

“Fucks sake YES, god don’t make me regret it asshole.”

He could hear Izuku laugh to himself before leaning the side of his head against his back and settling into his embrace, muttering softly “Thanks Kacchan.”

Katsuki could feel the scowl that crept up his face easing at Izuku’s touch as he clutched the handlebars, picking up speed. “Whatever, as long as you keep leaving work on time for once in your life.” Izuku wondered for a second if Kacchan was going to continue to pick him up after work just to prevent him from overworking himself. He felt a bit bad at the idea that Kacchan had to go out of his way to look after him, but something about how nice it felt to hold Kacchan like this quelled the guilt rather quickly.

After another comfortable stretch of silence settled between the two, Izuku decided to break the silence “When did you learn how to ride a motorcycle? It doesn’t seem like Aunt Mitsuki would let you learn while in high school.”

Katsuki shrugged “Bird brain taught me for a mission. There was a villain that could detect our positions based on quirk use, so we needed another way to get close instead of flying.”

Izuku’s eyes sparkled with interest “Tokoyami-kun can ride a motorbike? And a villain that could detect quirks? Like he could tell where someone was as long as they were using their quirk? It’s an interesting ability, though it doesn’t sound like there’s much of a combative use--”

A monstrous groan resonated from the bridge under them, startling the two.

“What--"

“KACCHAN! WATCH OUT!”

Izuku’s body jolted to the side as Kacchan immediately swerved, narrowly avoiding the blast that just obliterated the Bandai bridge. He reached forward to try to help Kacchan steady the handlebars, straightening out the motorcycle fork. Unfortunately, the force of the blast made it too hard to control the bike as it eventually slammed into the guardrail, ejecting the two over the bridge towards the river below.

Izuku felt Kacchan’s arm reach around his waist in what he assumed was an effort to grab him and blast them back upwards towards land. However, when he heard Kacchan groan in pain, Izuku realized Kacchan’s left shoulder could not support both their weights yet. In a split-second decision, Izuku wrapped his arms and legs around Kacchan and turned him around so that Izuku’s back hit the water instead.

Coupled with the shock of the cold water hitting him like a ton of bricks was also a painful popping sensation coming from his shoulders. Right, of course Izuku just so happened to disobey the water rescue lesson he literally just taught in class earlier that day: the flatter you make yourself when you jump in, the more solid the water feels, and the more painful your dive will be. Izuku tried to move his arms to push himself back up to the surface, but the shock of pain from his arms made it incredibly hard to propel himself upwards. The impact against the water also pushed whatever air was in his lungs out, meaning Izuku was in desperate need for air. Before he had a chance to panic, however, he felt a pair of arms grab him under his shoulders, dragging him upwards to the surface.

Izuku took the biggest inhale as he broke to the surface of the water, momentarily dazed before he remembered where he was. “Kacchan!?” he shouted as he frantically looked around.

“I’m right here, god you bastard.”

Izuku turned around in the water towards the sound of that voice and realized it was Kacchan that pulled him out from the water. A wave of relief washed over him when he realized Kacchan was all right.

“Thank goodness, are you okay!?”

“Why’d ya go ahead absorb the impact!? You just further injured your shoulders you self-preservation -lacking-sack-of-shit!”

“Kaminari said you broke your clavicle, I didn’t want to risk you rebreaking that bone.” Izuku replied, he decided to leave the part out that he did not think Kacchan could have supported both their weights with his injury. He knew his best friend well enough that such a statement would just make him angry.

“God dammit Dunce Face!”

“Kac--”

BOOM

The two turned towards the sound of the second explosion and realized that someone was detonating bombs to collapse the Bandai Bridge. There were people flying around the bridge, they were not recognizable heroes, which meant they were most likely villains: this was an attack.

They needed to get back to shore Izuku thought to himself. However, his shoulders were not going to make swimming easy, and Kacchan’s quirk relies on the nitroglycerin he sweats, which the river was washing away. Izuku bit his lip in concentration, wondering what they were going to do.

“Fuck, these things better work.”

Izuku turned around to see Kacchan fiddling with his gloves. Looking at them, the green haired man just realized that Kacchan’s fingerless gloves were not typical leather biker gloves, they were metallic, with an almost greenish tint. He watched as Kacchan pressed what appeared to be a gold switch on the inner band of the glove. Once he did so, the gloves thickened and expanded. Tiny metal plates moved to completely enveloped Kacchan’s fingers, and the bands around his wrist expanded into a dual layered structure. The outer layer resembled a gun’s rotary cylinder chamber except they narrowed outwards towards the fingers like a funnel. Between the layers were holes that seemed like three
ejectors of a gun on each hand. Actually, the longer Izuku looked at them, the more he felt like they resembled his old Air Force Gloves.

“What...?”

“They’re a prototype of a compact version of my Grenadier Bracers, for moments like this where I don’t have them. They store up my sweat as well--”

“Which means you should be able to use them in water!” Izuku finished with a smile on his face.

Katsuki grinned “ Damn right, so grab on so I can propel us out of the water.”

Oh no, so much for not making Kaccha angry Izuku thought to himself, sighing inwardly.

“K-Kacchan, don’t get mad, but I don’t’ think you can support both our weights with your injury...”

“HAH!?”

Katsuki looked like he was about to blow them both up in anger, but then he took a few deep breathes while glancing at the bridge, before deactivating the compact bracer on his right hand and tossing it to Izuku. “If we grab onto each other and each use one of the compact bracers, we can lift both of us out of the water without putting too much strain on either of our shoulders.”

Izuku looked at Katsuki with a sense of awe Kacchan has really turned out to be a great hero he thought to himself .

“The fuck you smiling at? Hurry up, we have people to save.”

Izuku wiped the grin off his face in focus, he slipped the compact bracer on his left hand, and pressed the gold switch he saw Kacchan hit a moment ago. Like magic, the glove expanded into a combat ready glove-gauntlet of sorts. “Wait, I can’t activate the nitroglycerin on command like you do.”

“The compact bracers have an ignition feature built in; it’s activated when you fully open your palm.” Katsuki explained as he wrapped his left arm around Izuku’s waist, pulling him close. “Enough talk, let’s go.”

Izuku wrapped his right arm around Katsuki as the two pointed their respective gloved hands downwards, opening their palms and allowing the explosions to propel them up towards the sky. Without a word exchanged between the two men, at the apex of their ascent they aimed their respective palms behind them, at a slight slant, to propel themselves towards the bridge, but still maintain momentum upwards. Finally, they released two more explosions downwards to the center of what remained of the rest of the bridge in perfect sync to cushion their landing.

There were what looked like to be 5 villains standing on the same piece of bridge as them, about 40 feet away.

“I’ll get the remaining civilians off the bridge” Izuku said, Katsuki noticed that Izuku had tossed his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves in the process “you think you can handle these villains?”

“Tch, of course I can handle a bunch of extras.” Katsuki scoffed, glancing at Izuku without turning fully around. Izuku’s dress shirt was sticking to his skin due to being soaked, and frankly did not leave much for imagination. Katsuki again wanted to slap himself in embarrassment again but restrained himself this time.

Izuku grinned “Thought so,” turning to hop down the ledge of the bridge to help some civilians that fell into the water.

“Deku, wait.”

“?”

Katsuki turned around and tossed Izuku his other compact bracer “Take them, in case there are more villains.”

Izuku caught the other bracer and nodded before running off.

Katsuki turned to look back the villains, entering his battle stance, a familiar crazy look taking shape in his eyes “Now, which one of you wants to die first?”

~~~~~

Izuku gently slid down a slab of concrete to bring himself closer to the edge of the river. Thankfully, the bridge was rather low in comparison to other metropolitan bridges. The Bandai bridge was made of granite and reinforced concrete, meaning that although the bridge was no longer crossable, the relative structure of the bridge remained steady post explosion. Most of the injured were civilians near the center blast zone that were suddenly thrown backwards suffering minor injuries like abrasions and possible bruises that have yet to show themselves. Izuku tended to those more severely wounded with his first aid supplies (at least whatever was not soaked due to his little ejection into the Shinano River) before shifting his attention to those less severely injured. He started to treat a young woman who had a head wound before she started to frantically tell him that she could not find her son. Izuku handed the rest of the first aid supplies to a nurse at the scene to take over while he looked for the child. He could hear explosions going off in the distance, but he willed himself not to turn around and look, putting his faith in Kacchan and his ability to win any battle he was in. He was the one and only Kacchan Bakugo after all, right?

Izuku could hear the faint sounds of a child crying and followed the sounds until he found a small boy under the bridge’s collapsed structure with his leg stuck under a slab of concrete.

“H-help!” the boy shouted between unstable hiccups.

“It’s okay, you are going to be fine! Are you hurt anywhere else?” Izuku asked.

“N-n-no...b-but my leg is s-stuck!”

Izuku gently and slowly lifted the concrete slab off the boy’s leg, groaning in pain at the pressure on his shoulders, before looking at the boy to make sure he was not in further pain and pushing the slab into the river below.

He examined the child’s legs and found there was a large gash on his right leg. Izuku double checked to make sure sensation and circulation were okay before he ripped off his tie, wrapping it around the kid’s leg to put pressure on the wound. “Here, climb on my back, I’ll get you out of here.” The child gingerly climbed onto his back. At this point Izuku’s shoulders were throbbing in agony at the extra movement and weight, so Izuku instead tried to focus as much as he could on putting one hand before the other as he climbed them both up back onto the main bridge.

When they both made it to the top, Izuku gently set the boy down, letting him limp to his mother who frantically embraced her son, tears in her eyes. Izuku stood up, biting back tears of pain. If he was not in so much pain, he might have noticed the villain that snuck up behind him, knocking him out cold.

~~~~~

Katsuki was about to do something crazy, and by crazy he meant jumping back on his bike, using a raised portion of the bridge as a ramp, releasing some explosions to gain even speed, and send both himself and his motorbike into the air, and crashing the bike into one of the villains, jumping off his bike a little before impact. Katsuki then stuck his hand out, activating his sweat on the bike to create a secondary explosion with the bike’s fuel tank to send another two villains ramming into the bridge’s guardrails, knocking them out instantaneously. That left Katsuki with the one who looked like the leader and his lackey.

“If you surrender now, I might not blow you up into smithereens.”

“H-Hey boss, isn’t that D-d-dynamight, that new explosive hero rising up the ranks?”

“That’s Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight to you fuckers.” Katsuki spat, looking up at the smoke rising in the distant city. His best guess was that these villains were coordinating with the others in the city, blasting the bridge to limit the speed at which help could arrive. The one that appeared to the leader whispered to the lackey next to him, who shortly ran off. Before Katsuki could consider whether he should run after him, the leader villain rushed up to him with lightning speed. Katsuki stuck his hands out, releasing an AP shot to knock the villain back and pierce
his armor. Although a Land Mind Blast would be super effective given all the rubble, Katsuki wanted to avoid damaging the bridge further and risk crushing any civilians still trapped on the structure, hence the condensed attack. Using his explosive speed, Katsuki clustered his explosions to produce greater power and propel himself forward, landing a swift blow to the villain as he flew backwards.

Drip

Drip

Drip

Katsuki looked up and realized that it was raining, transitioning from drizzle to pouring rain quickly. He heard cackling coming from where the villain landed.

“Your explosions are produced from your sweat right?” the villain laughed “unlucky for you, my quirk allows me to create storms. In other words, your quirk isn’t going to work as well~” he giggled to himself before a look of mock remembrance hit him. “Oh, and I can also do this” he snapped his fingers, hurling a bolt of lightning to where Katsuki was standing before he jumped out of the way.

“If only your aim wasn’t complete ass I would actually be scared.” Katsuki mocked back, he had two of his grenades loaded with his sweat on hand, but they weren’t going to be enough to take this villain out. He was also wary of the lightning, even if it didn’t hit him directly, the buildup of rainwater was going to make it easier to electrocute him. Plus, he hated the fucking rain.

The lead villain scowled before charging at Katsuki again. Katsuki dodged his attacks with relative ease, his martial arts training with Izuku paying off. This guy’s movements are definitely sloppy, figures for a D tier villain. Waiting for the right moment, Katsuki caught the boss villain’s next fist, using the close range as an opportunity to hook his arm into his shoulder, flipping him onto the ground and immobilizing him.

The villain wasn’t the most graceful, but he definitely was strong as he started to thrash, loosening Katsuki’s grip, aggravating his bad shoulder, and eventually kicking Katsuki off his body. In a split-second Katsuki made the decision to roll out of the way from where he landed before another bolt of lightning hit where he just was. Some of the electricity traveled from the rain into Katsuki, shocking him enough to unsteady him. At this point it was pouring heavily and Katsuki could barely see in front of him. He opened his palm to assess his quirk, producing only a couple of small explosions. I really fucking hate the rain he thought.

At least I’m Bakugo fucking Katsuki, he arrogantly reminded himself as he crushed one of the grenades in his left hand, concentrating the stored sweat in his palms to launch himself forward at a high speed. Before the villain had a chance to react, Katsuki grabbed hold of him as he changed the trajectory of his blast upwards, spinning with the villain to build up momentum. Once he was satisfied with the height he managed, Katsuki crushed his second grenade, again releasing the stored sweat to produce a blast towards the sky, pushing him and the villain towards the ground. Using the momentum from the spinning and the second grenade’s stored sweat, Katsuki slammed the villain into the ground, subsequently twisting his arm back and slamming his head down to incapacitate him. Just as he was about to restrain the villain, Katsuki heard an unfamiliar voice say:

“If you don’t want this green haired dude to die, you better stop right there!”

Katsuki’s head shot up in the direction of that voice. The lead villain under him, sensing his sudden hesitation, struck Katsuki’s neck, knocking his weight backwards, and kicking the Hero off him. Katsuki tumbled backwards until he straightened himself, using the friction of his back boot to stop his movement and his front leg to steady himself. When Katsuki looked up, he felt his heart sink down to his stomach. The fucking lackey that ran off earlier had a passed out Izuku in a headlock with one arm, the other pressing a bladed hand into Izuku’s neck. There was a nasty gash on Izuku’s head that was leaking more blood by the minute. Fucking hell he really shouldn’t have just let that lackey run off on his own.

“Guess you were right boss, since this guy was sitting on that explosion freak’s bike, he must be important to him somehow.” the lackey clarified for his boss who jumped backwards, retreating near him, and putting some distance between him and Katsuki. He looked back to assess Izuku’s condition before turning back to face Katsuki with a smirk. “You’d better cooperate if you know what’s good for your friend here, ya hear me?” To make his point clearer, the lackey pressed his bladed hand further into Izuku’s neck, drawing some more blood.

Katsuki’s body tensed at the sight, so much so that he was convinced if he just gritted his teeth just a little harder, his jaw would crack in half. His mind was racing at a thousand kilometers a minute with varied mixed emotions. His go to was to usually attach blame onto others for their weaknesses. But in that moment, Katsuki was being forced to confront his own weakness of not being able to protect others, to protect Izuku. If only Izuku was conscious, he could easily blow the villain holding him into an oblivion with his compact bracers-- when Katsuki looked down at the bracers, he realized Izuku’s right hand was making a ‘okay’ sign. Katsuki engaged every muscle in his face to prevent the smirk that he could feel threatening to appear on his face. That shitnerd.

Katsuki put his hands up in the air, feigning surrender “Please, don’t hurt him. I’ll do anything.” The two villains grinned in victory, the lackey loosening his grip ever so slightly in relief, giving Izuku a window to ram his elbow into the villain’s chest hard, knocking the air out of him and forcing him to double over, retching bile. This move finally loosened his grip around Izuku enough to grab the villain’s head with the right compact bracer, releasing a condensed explosion to his face, knocking him out, before judo flipping him onto his back for good measure.

Before the lead villain had a chance to process what happened, Katsuki and Izuku both charged forward at the same time, meeting in the middle with explosions at the lead villain’s position. In quick succession, Katsuki grabbed the villain by the neck and slammed him into the concrete ground, using whatever explosions he could produce to increase the strength of the motion. The force left a crater in the ground and the villain with half his teeth gone. He cocked his first back, ready to release another blow on the unconscious man before he felt a set of hands wrap around his forearm, holding him back.

Izuku stood behind Katsuki, wincing a bit at the scattered teeth “Kacchan I think you overdid it--”

Upon seeing him, Katsuki immediately moved out Izuku’s grip to fully look at him, holding the sides of his head face to examine his head wound.

“Kacchan I’m fine--”

“Like. hell. you. are.”

Izuku froze at his tone, looked up and found the most murderous expression marring Kacchan’s face. Oh, oh no, he was pissed, so beyond pissed. His head raced with what he could say to prevent the blonde from going on a murderous rampage. “Kachan? Listen, I’m sorry, I wasn’t being reckless or anything, a mother was looking for her kid who was stuck under some concrete, I brought him back up, but the villain hit me from behind--”

“I’ll kill him.”

“Kacchan wait--”

“Fuck off --” Katsuki tried to shake Izuku’s arm off. He was feeling a sudden swell of rage-- No, it wasn’t sudden either, it was simmering slowly under all the adrenaline pumping into him during battle the whole time. But now that that was over, the feelings were slowly rising, threatening to burst--

“Kacchan! Don’t overdo--agh!”

Izuku hunched forward, letting out a gasp of pain. Out of instinct, he reached his other arm outwards to steady himself, forgetting there was not anything to lean on nearby. Katsuki instantly grabbed his arm, slinging it over his shoulder to steady him. He slowly kneeled, allowing Izuku to sit.

“Is it your shoulders.” Katsuki asked in a strained voice.

“I t-think so” Izuku hissed as he tentatively tried to move them “I think they’re dislocated; the adrenaline finally wore off I guess.”

Fuck.

“How is your neck?”

“Oh this? It’s fine, just a cut after all.”

God fucking dammit.

“...And your head?” Katsuki asked? Clenching his fists to keep it together “You said you your head was bashed in.”

““Well, I don’t think my head was ‘bashed in,’ I am probably concussed tho--”

Bullshit.

“You’re bleeding everywhere.”

“Yes, I know, but--”

“I CAN’T FUCKING TAKE THIS SHIT ANYMORE” Katsuki let out suddenly, breathing heavily.

Izuku looked at his best friend, taken aback at his sudden outburst.

“I can’t stand the way you’re minimizing all your fucking injuries. What the fuck is wrong with you!? You fuck up your sprained shoulders again just to protect me, you force yourself to carry a child on your fucked up shoulders, life thanks you for that good fucking deed by gracing you with a villain that gives you a concussion right as you save a kid, and then...then I have to watch some asshole threaten to slit your throat in front of me!? And you’re here pretending like nothing is wrong until you can’t take it and fall over in pain and--

“KACCHAN!” Izuku yelled suddenly to get Katsuki’s attention, putting both his hands on his friend’s shoulders. “Listen, I c-can’t really hear everything you’re saying too clearly right now. I don’t know how you haven’t gone deaf yet while releasing all these high-powered explosions. But it sounds like the gist is that you’re angry I got injured, right? I’m okay, really, nothing some pain meds and bandages can’t fix...I’m sorry you were so worried...I’m sorry...and thank you for caring about me Kacchan.”

Katsuki continued to look at Izuku with a murderous expression that was unchanging. Izuku tentatively took Katsuki’s hand and placed it over his heart so he could feel his heartbeat, hoping that would help calm his best friend down...and prevent him from going to jail. Izuku knew Katsuki was not a murderer, but he also felt like Kacchan was just a hair away from homicide sometimes.

“Also...can you nod to let me know if you can hear me? I can’t tell how quietly or loudly I’m talking yet. Or is that just the concussion at play?” Izuku hesitantly added when Katsuki didn’t say anything.

Katsuki rolled his eyes, finally letting out the breath he didn’t realize he was holding, which was all the confirmation Izuku needed to know he was all right.

~~~~~

Police officers and paramedics soon entered the scene, pulling the two to the side to treat their wounds. Neither of them had any serious wounds that warranted major concern. They heard from the authorities that the heroes in the city managed the situation there and all was well. Izuku was directed to head to the hospital just to get his head wound checked out to make sure there was no internal bleeding. After getting patched up, the two moved off the bridge to let the first responders work, waiting near the edge of the river. Izuku gently pressed the inner gold switch, deactivating the compact bracers which quickly compartmentalized around the wrist into nearly indistinguishable fingerless green gloves, albeit with a thicker wristband. He was in the process of slipping them off when he felt Kacchan’s hand on top of his, motioning that Izuku should keep them.

Izuku looked up at Katsuki, stunned “K-Kachan! I can’t! You made them for yourself! Y-you still need them, don’t you?”

Katsuki shrugged without giving it much of an afterthought, leaning in to make sure Izuku could hear him, his breath so close to his ear that they sent goosebumps up Izuku’s body. “They didn’t work that well for me, I commissioned them to avoid further straining my arms when I used my quirk without my Grenadier Bracers, but since my blast power has increased, the gloves don’t seem withstand my explosions that well.”

“But...”

“Besides,” Katsuki continued “I think they suit you well.”

Izuku simply examined the compact bracers in awe. He had always admired Kacchan’s Grenadier Bracers, or more accurately, he admired them because he admired Kacchan. Izuku could not help but remember them teaming up during their first term final exam where he used one of the Bracers and felt the force of the recoil of a blast travel up his arm and down his spine. Ever since, he constantly wondered how Kacchan managed to use them so elegantly in battle every time while remaining unphased. No matter how many times he saw it in practice, in battle, or on the news, Kacchan never ceased to amaze him. The design was ingenious, the gloves seemed almost like a perfect fit, and besides Yaororozu and Mineta-kun, Kachan’s quirk was the only one in Class 1-A that could be separated from his body and used later, like with his grenades--

Wait.

“Hey, Kacchan?”

“Mmm?”

“You said you commissioned these gloves for yourself, right?”

“Yeah?”

“And you’re able to activate the nitroglycerin at will because of your quirk.” Kacchan gave Izuku a look that roughly translated to get on with it nerd before I beat it out of you. “You added an ignition feature in these gloves to activate the nitroglycerin though...” Izuku felt his pulse speeding up and he shifted his gaze to the side, the realization slowly hitting him “but, why would you add this feature if they were designed for you? I feel like the only reason you’d make it this way is if...” was it just him or was it getting really warm now? his hands also started to noticeably get clammier “...if you intended these gloves to be for someone other than yourself” dear god it was unbearably warm now and Kacchan was already so close to him “someone...like...” Izuku felt himself choke on the last word of the sentence. He swears breaking both his arms was not as difficult as finishing his train of thought. Izuku wanted to kick himself so badly, all this time he could never shut the hell up but now when he needed it the most, the words were completely lost on him. He hesitantly looked back at Kacchan who was gazing at him with the most intense look he had ever seen etched on his best friend’s face. If the moment was not so tense, Izuku might have snapped a photo of Kacchan.

“Go on.” Katsuki prodded gently.

Izuku squeezed Kacchan’s biceps, the gesture a silent plea that what he was going to say was true before he took a deep breathe in.

“someonemaybelikemeperhaps?” Izuku word vomited out, finally.

Kacchan took in a shaky breath, all the while never breaking eye contact with Izuku, steeling himself before he replied, “In our third year, I was working on re-designing my hero costume to give my arms some extra support and decrease the strain of my quirk on my heart.” Izuku nodded in attention “Robot head pulled up the design for your support braces as a reference, and seeing the design made me remember the time you used my Grenadier Bracer. I asked off handedly if a compact version of my Bracers could be made. Before I even had a chance to explain the design idea further Hatsume threw a prototype design at my face.” Kacchan mumbled angrily, and Izuku could not help but laugh a little, knowing how Hatsume is. “It took like 10 fucking tries for her to produce what I actually wanted because she never let me finish talking each time I tried to explain, but...yes...I” so much for the eye contact because Katsuki was looking up in exasperation. This time it was his turn struggling to finish the thought and simultaneously getting angrier at his inability to do so “all right...ALRIGHT...FUCK they’re for your dumbass, ya happy? Fuck this sappy shit, I just thought they would help you feel more like...like the hero that you’ve always been.” There was no way for him to confirm, but Katsuki was so convinced at this point that he was as red as a tomato.

In the next second Katsuki felt Izuku run at him with the strength of a truck. I guess the bastard wasn’t lying, he is fine. Katsuki tried to maintain his balance, but he lost his footing and the two were sent tumbling down the hill and falling into the shallow part of the river. Katsuki’s tried to sit up in the water, leaning on his forearms for support, until he realized Izuku was on top of him.

“Izuku you bas--”

When Katsuki looked up, he realized that his face was only a few centimeters away from Izuku’s. The two were frozen, brains short circuiting as they attempted to process the position they were in. Izuku looked at Katsuki with the most intense stare he’s ever seen from the guy. It was like he was trying to look into his very soul and parse through every thread of his being with sheer determination alone. This time Katsuki was the one that felt a shiver run down his spine.

“Izuku.”

“Kacchan?”

“I don’t understand why you think you can’t be the hero that will catch up to me.” Katsuki said at a volume barely above a whisper. He reached up and brushed Izuku’s wet curls out of his face so he could look more clearly at his eyes. He hoped to God that Izuku’s hearing was better now because this is all the willpower he could muster. The stupid shit nerd was covered in mud, dried blood, with greenish bruises forming under his skin. Yet for some reason Katsuki couldn’t help but think to himself that Izuku looked absolutely radiant compared to the sun beaming down behind his head. He always thought it was a shame his freckles on the right side of his face were marred with scar tissue.

Izuku just looked back at his best friend.

“It pissed me off to hear you say if you weren’t sure if you could ever be the type of hero that could compete with me. What the fuck did you mean?” Although Kacchan said he was angry, Izuku did not find a hint of anger on his face from him “I spent my whole life feeling like I couldn’t keep up with you even when you were quirkless, and now after you save the world you start to doubt yourself? What the fuck Izuku? How does that make any sense? Why are you so stupid and don’t make sense?”

“Because even now, I feel like I’m still on your heels.” Katsuki finished.

Katsuki watched as the shine in Izuku’s eyes moved, like his eyes were starting to brim with tears. Ever the crybaby Katsuki thought to himself before he noticed that Izuku was slowly leaning down, closing the distance between the two as his hands wrapped around Katsuki’s face gently. Katsuki felt a sense of ease overcoming him like a gentle wave, as he closed his eyes ever so slowly, sinking into Izuku’s embrace.

Until...

a blast?

No wait

...a sneeze? That sent the green haired man flying 12 ft away in the river. Izuku propped himself with his better elbow, dazed and trying to get his bearings, sputtering out whatever nasty river water that got into his mouth.

Oh fuck, Katsuki thought, he accidently let out an explosion mid sneeze.

“Fuck fuck FUCK” Izuku heard along with the sounds of legs kicking through the shallow riverbed water before he felt Kacchan’s figure hovering over him and looking at him with concern “Are you okay? Fuck wait, let me--”

Katsuki felt Izuku shaking and started to lose his fucking mind. Was he in pain? He didn’t think the blast he let out was that strong, especially since being in the water washed away most of the nitroglycerin. It wasn’t long before Katsuki realized Izuku was...laughing? It wasn’t a light chuckle either, Izuku was laughing harder than Katsuki had ever witnessed. Katsuki kneeled next to Izuku before he felt himself also shaking with laughter over what just happened. Soon the two were leaning on each other for support as they shook with an almost delirious type of joy, holding onto each other like they were each other’s lifelines. For a few long moments, the two simply just held each other in the water, savoring the unspoken confession to each other. Katsuki was kneeling on one knee while Izuku was curled up against the blonde’s chest, with one hand on Katsuki’s leg.

“I’m sorry for doubting our rivalry Kacchan.” Izuku turned around, looking up at Katsuki with a newly determined look on his face “for doubting...us. I promise. I’ll be the rival that beats you.”

Katsuki scoffed lightly “Better get to it loser, you’re way behind.”

Izuku was enjoying the peacefulness between the two before Kacchan interrupted his thoughts.

“Oi, Izuku”

“Yeah?”

“Can we get out of this fucking river already.”

“OH! I’m sorry, I forgot where we were!!”

“Shit for brains I swear to god.” Katsuki mumbled to himself before standing up, reaching his hand out to Izuku.

Izuku raised an eyebrow in skepticism, but it was not enough to stop the grin from appearing on his face “It looks like we’ve switched places Kacchan.”

Katsuki rolled his eyes “Take my hand already shitnerd.”

"Take my whole life too" Katsuki thought to himself as Izuku grabbed hold.

~~~~~

“Are you sure I can keep the gloves?”

“Yeah, actually, I think they just gave me an idea to run by Hatsume.”

“Huh?”

Katsuki stuck his hand in Izuku’s hair, ruffling it gently, mindful of his head injury.

“K-Kacchan! Hey!”

“All Might is still at U.A. right?”

“Uh...yeah, though not as much as before. He has been heading to the states more often for hero development work I think?”

“Good, I’ll run the idea by him too then.”

“Wha--”

“Just trust me on this.”

“But—“

“Izuku.”

“?”

“Do you trust me?”

Izuku looked up at his childhood best friend with eyes filled with so much adoration that for a second Katsuki wondered if his heart was going to explode again. That would be really bad, wouldn’t it? It would, he would definitely risk suffocating on his own blood. He would suffer from hemorrhagic shock and experience multiple organ failure within the span of minutes. It definitely would be so bad he thought to himself confidently, yet he couldn’t seem to find it in him to care.

“Yes.” Izuku said simply, but with such conviction, as if he could not fathom any other answer.

“Then just trust me nerd, I told you,” Grabbing Izuku’s hand, he felt Izuku squeeze his hand in reassurance. Katsuki looked at Izuku right in the eyes and said with as much confidence his voice could carry:

“For the rest of our lives Deku.”

“For the rest of our lives Dynamight.”

Bonus Scene 1: Katsuki’s POV before walking into the faculty office

Present Mic rounded the corner, planning to drop off some paperwork at the faculty office. He usually tried to offload this kind of stuff on Shouta, but he could not find his best friend. As he looked up from his papers and noticed Bakugo standing in front of the faculty office door with an oddly mellow look on his face. It seemed like he had been there for some time as he did not hear any footsteps when further down the corridor.

“Bakugo-san?”

Katsuki seemed slightly startled as he looked at the teacher.

“Did...you need something...? Present Mic asked as he looked through the window of the faculty office door where Bakugo’s gaze was directed. Peering in, Present Mic saw Midoriya sitting alone at his desk. He was scribbling away, muttering to himself as he held his chin in contemplation. His glasses on his face were crooked, his hair was all over the place, his tie was too loose, and frankly his shirt was wrinkled as hell.

“Tch, no I’m fine, I was just wondering how long the bastard was sitting there.” Katsuki answered shortly before turning his face away from Present Mic.

Present Mic smirked “Sure, well I’ll be going now.” he said, walking off, deciding he could just take these papers home.

Bonus Scene 2: Two weeks after the bridge incident

Jirou walked into Genius Agency to look for Katsuki, they were both running late for their joint patrol of the nearby prefecture. Spotting the rage filled gremlin, she walked over to his desk and poked him lightly with her earphone jack. “Bakugo! Are you ready yet?”

Katsuki was adjusting the bands of his Grenadier Bracers as he looked up at her “Yeah yeah, stop yapping at me.”

Jirou rolled her eyes, and she followed him out, glancing briefly at Katsuki’s desk, spotting two photos of him and Midoriya at graduation, and what looked like to be a newer photo of just Midoriya sitting at a table. It looked like he was sitting in a fancy restaurant given the lit candles and plating. He had to most love filled smile on his face for whoever was holding the camera.

“Shit” she thought “I really do owe Kaminari 14,000 yen.”

Bonus Scene 3: Same day Jirou and Bakugo go on patrol, but later in the day

Izuku had just concluded his last lecture of the day. His students were starting to pack up for the day when his phone rang. Seeing that it was All Might, Izuku excitedly picked up his phone “Hisashiburi All Might!” A few of the students near the front of the classroom paused when hearing their sensei mention the symbol of peace.

“Midoriya my boy! How have you been?”

“I have been well! How is it in the states?”

“Deku-sensei! Is that All Might?”

“Can we say hi!”

“Please please please!”

Izuku looked at his students and sighed, unable to crush their enthusiasm “ano All Might, sorry my class wants to say hello” he said before putting his phone on speaker.

“Hello everyone!” All Might laughed before a barrage of questions hit.

“All Might-sensei! Will you be back next semester to teach at U.A?”

“All Might-sensei! Can you tell us about your mission in the states right now?”

“All Might-sensei! Can you tell us about what Deku-sensei was like as a U.A. student?”

“Ah well Midoriya shoenen was always a wonderful student” All Might chuckled, making Izuku blush in embarrassment at the sudden praise “him and Bakugo shoenen were a particularly dynamic duo throughout the years.”

“Really? Hero Shouto said Deku-sensei and Dynamight were always fighting.” One student wondered aloud.

“Huh? But Uravity mentioned in an interview that they were childhood friends!” Another student wondered.

“Well they were childhood friends that certainly had a...combustive rivalry” Izuku chuckled, that was putting it lightly he thought “but over time they became the best of rivals, to closest of friends, to boyf—“ All Might stopped himself short as if just realizing how much he let out.

“EHHHHH!?!?!?”

Before the students had the chance to inquire further, Izuku dashed out of the classroom in breakneck speed, desperate to escape the barrage of questions that was about to be hurled at him and hoping he could get to Kacchan outside waiting on his new motorbike before his students caught up with him.

Notes:

I wrote this shortly after the manga concluded / before the extra pages were released so at the time this written it was suppose to be consistent with the canon. The fic was originally inspired by what I viewed as how BKDK's relationship took after after graduation and how Bakugo Katsuki got the idea for Midoriya Izuku's mechanized suit. Also I really wanted a river scene in the end which we didn't get in the canon (*｀∧´) so I wrote it.

This is part 1 of what I envision to be a 5 part series (5 different one shots that are spread throughout different times of BKDK's life that make some brief reference to the other parts)

Special dedication to singmebrokenhymns for the support, suggested edits, and for being my BKDK brainrotting partner in crime. ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡