Chapter Text
Kirishima isn’t any less shaken by what he said. In fact, Katsuki thought his poor friend got even more anxious if possible.
Because words haven’t been working well for him, he instead decided to just rip the metaphorical band-aid off by pulling down his compression glove and showing Kirishima the detailed flowers that crawled up his forearm on a vine.
“Oh my god, dude! You met your soulmate?” Kirishima asked with amazement in his voice, and even though Katsuki wanted to correct him without having to look at that mark or the stupid flowers again, something in his head told him to look.
His gaze moved downwards to the mark, a big open flower right in the middle that contrasted how the small, almost bell-shaped flowers looked. But how was that - that couldn’t have been possible. He hadn’t even run into that many people between when he discovered the flowers in his office and when he went to see Kirishima.
But then his mind supplied that he had run into at least 5 to 10 people on the trek… which meant it could be any of those people.
Katsuki had met his soulmate and he didn’t even know who it was.
“Are you okay, dude?” Kirishima asked when he approached his friend, the concerned look that his friend wore on his face told Katsuki that he had been asking more questions than just that one.
The blond looked down at the mark before shaking his head. “I don’t even know who it is,” he said softly, a frown on his face.
Kirishima seemed to sputter at that fact before shifting his weight to sit on the floor. “Since when did you know that you had a soulmate?” he asked carefully, quizzically looking at Katsuki.
The question made his insides twist with guilt just slightly, he bristled a bit before biting the inside of his cheek. “Since today.”
His friend looked at him in surprise before taking a bit of his cargo pants and tugging on them, signaling that he should come onto the floor too.
At some point or another, his therapist had said that ‘grounding’ was something that he needed to be better at doing, which meant that when he did get grounded, instead of standing outside in the dirt like she recommended, he sat on the ground, which apparently works equally as well in her mind.
He slid from the chair to the floor and pressed his forehead against the desk. “I never felt any of them before… what kind of kid or young adult doesn’t go through something mildly horrifying when they’re younger? Even if it’s something stupid like a bad grade?” Katsuki bit out as his eyebrows knit together.
Kirishima frowned a bit and shrugged. “I don’t know, dude… I… I’m sorry, you probably went through years of thinking you didn’t have a soulmate. Have you talked with Midoriya about this before? He might’ve been able to help… I guess not now though,” he trailed off his words almost sadly, frowning more.
It was no secret that Deku didn’t have a soulmate. What started off as something that was speculated about during elementary and middle school slowly became something real in high school. Katsuki figured out quickly that it’s a lot easier to make dangerous calls about your health when you don’t have to worry about scaring or hurting someone else.
He could’ve talked with Deku about it before though, could’ve asked him how he coped with not having a soulmate, but he didn’t. Katsuki had always kept his mouth shut and his thoughts to himself. It was unfair to Deku really, he could’ve had a companion, at least for a little while.
Something about him not being side-by-side with Deku in this aspect made his stomach twist uncomfortably.
Katsuki’s thoughts were stopped by a creeping and dull headache that suddenly made itself present. He groaned softly as he moved to rub his temples.
“You okay?” Kirishima asked softly, a hand on his knee.
The blond nodded a little and pulled into himself a bit more. “Yeah, I think this revelation left me with a headache or some shit like that,” he dismissed quietly.
Kirishima seemed to agree though, because he nodded before moving to sit back.
He looked back down to the tattoo again, a frown on his lips as he stared at the intricate flowers, “Do you know what these flowers are?” he asked quietly, hoping his friend would know more than him.
Kirishima’s red hair didn’t even budge as he shook his head. “I could reach out to Aoyama and ask him? I know he’s been working in France since we graduated, but I’m sure I could get in touch with him, he knows a lot about flowers,” Kirishima offered with a gentle smile.
Katsuki nodded a bit before he finally let out whatever breath he had been holding. Immediately after he nodded though, he shook his head. “Not yet, okay?” he informed Kirishima with a nervous tone to his voice. “I, fuck, I need to tell Deku first, okay? After that you can ask him… I just need to tell him first though.”
Kirishima must’ve had a wave of understanding pass through him because Katsuki saw his eyes widen before they held an absolutely disgusting level of pity before he nodded.
They sat there in silence for a while, just taking it in while they tried to process it, Kirishima didn’t ask anymore questions though and he was glad.
He swallowed thickly before he suddenly stood up. “I’m going home, you should too,” he told his friend as he went to leave his office.
“Dude, if you need anyone though, I’m here okay? I won’t say anything about it until you tell me to.” And even though it wasn’t an explicit promise, Katsuki knew Kirishima well enough to know that his words were a promise nonetheless.
Katsuki left the agency shortly after that, making sure to pull his jacket out of his locker before leaving so the mark would be covered up.
He sighed deeply as he passed by one of those shops that had hero footage from the day replaying; it was something that was common in the city, something he had learned to get used to when he walked everywhere. Katsuki never paid attention to them, he decided that if anything happened to one of his dumbass friends, that they’d probably talk his ear off about it at a bar night or during lunch at the agency, so what was the point in watching it beforehand?
Of course, there was always one exception.
“Is that Deku?” one of the extras asked someone else as they watched the screen.
“Yeah! This was from earlier today! I got to see it live,” another extra added on.
And that, that was the exception.
Immediately, Katsuki pulled his hood up, not wanting to be recognized as he changed how he was walking so he could see the screen too.
Deku was on the screen, standing there looking tired as hell as he held part of a building up. Not even a minute passed before the building fell and dust took up the screen.
Katsuki felt his heart leap to his throat as he saw the image, praying to a god that he didn’t believe in that Deku was alright. “Fucking nerd… better not be fucking hurt,” he muttered under his breath, the fact that people were next to him going forgotten as worry started eating away at him.
The dust finally cleared, and there Deku was, standing proudly with a grin on his face. Katsuki squinted a little and then he could see the fact that the hero in action had a laceration that crawled across his cheek, he couldn’t tell anything else about it though except for the fact that it probably hurt like hell to get it.
He let out another breath he didn’t know he was keeping in before he started walking again, the extras whispering about the fact that he was right there next to him not even bothering him.
Fucking Deku, he was going to have to fill out an incident report about this and then Katsuki was going to have to make sure that it was all filled out correctly. He had told Deku to take a break, to relax, but the nerd never seemed to listen.
Part of Katsuki wanted to hold Deku by the shoulders and tell him that he cared about him, that other people cared about him too, that they didn’t like seeing him so tired. That just because he didn’t have a soulmate didn’t mean that he could face everything in the goddamn world.
Plus, there was also the fight that loomed over Deku and his shoulders, the one that would decide the fate of the new world. It was the fight that Katsuki was scared of the most.
The League hadn’t shown face since the Overhaul incident back in their first year, and even though they were suspected to be a part of the absolute tragedy that happened in Deika City, nothing ever came of it.
But he knew that one day, the League and All for One would come back to finish the fight that they started all those years ago.
Some might think that the silence was welcomed, that Deku might’ve even appreciated it because it allowed him to get more accustomed to his newer quirks, but Katsuki had seen the toll it took on him.
There had been plenty of times while they were still in school that instead of ending their nights in their individual beds, they would be ended on the common room couch while some dumbass commentary YouTuber’s videos were playing in the background and Deku was leaning his head on Katsuki’s shoulder.
And even more nights after they graduated where Deku would call Katsuki in the middle of the night sobbing, and Katsuki would talk to him quietly to get him back to bed. Katsuki never minded though, in fact, after he missed one of the calls, he set his phone so only Deku’s contact or his alarms could wake him.
The waiting hadn’t done Katsuki any good either, it made him fear every big fight that Deku went out to respond to, and it made him try to take every moment with Deku to his heart, to engrave it all into his soul because he didn’t want to even have the chance of not remembering Deku.
He sighed as he opened his front door, kicking his shoes off before slipping his slippers on and stomping to the kitchen to get things ready for dinner.
Usually, he’d take a shower first, but today he needed the very welcomed distraction that came with cooking.
Part way through his cooking, he realized that he must've had Deku still on his mind because instead of the ramen he had initially thought he was doing, he was already halfway through making two servings of Katsudon.
He let out yet another sigh and shook his head before his phone rang and halted his thought process once again. Before he could even check the Caller ID, he was picking up the call and putting it on speaker phone. “Hello?” he hummed out as he put the oil in his skillet and turned on the heat.
Silence filled the line and right before he was about to actually look to see who called him, he heard Deku’s voice. “Hey, Kacchan…” he started slowly. “Did you see the news today?” he asked, with a bit of hope in his voice, that Katsuki would have to stomp out in a moment or two when he informed the other hero that he did see the news.
Katsuki took some of the panko bread crumbs and threw them in the oil before rolling his eyes at his actions, realizing that he just turned the burner on recently.
“Kacc-”
“Yes, I saw the news today. Care to explain any of that?” he asked as he cracked an egg into the bowl and used his chopsticks to scramble it before putting some of his favorite spices in.
Deku seemed to be struggling to answer, sometimes making small noises before he’d go silent once again. “It was an accident?” he offered with a shaky laugh.
Katsuki rolled his eyes before he shook his head. “I have another serving of Katsudon being made right now, but I can always save it in my fridge for myself tomorrow night,” he hummed as he brought out another pan and put some butter in it before putting more panko in the oil and smiling as it started frying it right away.
“It was an accident! I needed to make sure that a couple more people got out and the building was collapsing!” Deku whined. The blonde looked at the phone to glare at it for a moment before he started breading the pork and putting it in the oil. “I used Air Force to make sure they could get out! That was all!” he continued to defend himself.
“And that cut on your face?” Katsuki asked as he turned the burner on low for the other pan, mindlessly mixing his eggs more as he waited for the pan to get up to heat.
Deku groaned from the other side of the phone. “I thought I told them to blur that bit out!” he said before he realized that he probably shouldn’t have said that bit, immediately following it up with, “Not that I didn’t want you to see it, Kacchan! I was just - it was just, the public shouldn’t see that!”
“That’s bullshit and you know it, nerd,” he sighed out as he shook his head, finally putting the eggs in the pan and watching them closely.
Katsuki turned the pork over, noting that the other side still needed to be fried for just a bit longer.
“I’m starting to think that you just like when I have to go over your incident reports, speaking of which,” he started, earning a whine from Deku, “Didn’t I tell you to stop making me do stupid incident reports and to take care of yourself more? I seem to remember us having a conversation like that today.” He hummed a bit, an eyebrow raised despite the fact that Deku couldn’t see him.
The other hero huffed loudly. “I’ll be more careful, and my face is fine, by the way. It shouldn’t be too bad.” The nerd’s voice shook a little as he said that, which told Katsuki that he was lying, but just this once he let him get away with it.
As he flipped the egg and took the pork’s temperature, he saw the soulmark staring him in the face. He really should tell Deku, the man deserved to know. Even when Katsuki was pushing him away, Deku was always right by his side.
But maybe not tonight, he could tell him tomorrow, when he could see him in person and deal with the potential fall out like that.
Katsuki shook his head a little. “Take care of yourself nerd, I’ll bring in this extra serving of Katsudon for you tomorrow,” he said with a small smile.
“Thank you Kacchan!” Deku beamed from the other side of the phone, and even without the nerd being in front of him, he could tell that he was wearing one of those stupidly big and bright smiles that always made Katsuki feel like he needed to have sunglasses on.
“Yeah, yeah. Now I’m going to hang up so I can finish cooking, alright?” he asked, making sure that he didn’t just hang up on Deku without warning.
Deku sighed from the other side of the phone dramatically before laughing, showing Katsuki that he had relaxed at least a little. “Alright, I’ll be in my office by 8:00 am tomorrow. Make sure to go to bed by 8:30 tonight, Kacchan,” he teased.
Katsuki scoffed. “Fuck you, I hope you have dreams about me standing at the end of your bed,” he said jokingly, which earned another laugh from Deku.
“See you tomorrow, nerd.”
“See you tomorrow, Kacchan.”
The silence from the phone unsettled him a bit as Deku hung up, a small frown pulling at the corners of Katsuki’s lips.
He shook the feeling off as he finally started plating everything.
The next day arrived before he knew it and he absolutely hated every second of being awake since the second his alarm went off at 5 in the morning.
Today he had to tell Deku that he had a soulmate. Or at least he should.
He looked at his phone, seeing the small text that read Sat, May 28 under the time. Was a Saturday really the best day to tell him about this?
Maybe he could just hold it off until Monday, he really didn’t mind doing that at all.
But, he also really should tell Izuku before some member of the press sees the mark and makes a big deal about it.
Before Katsuki knows it, he’s standing in front of his hero partner's office and knocking on the door.
“Come in!” Deku yelled from the other side.
Fuck, Katsuki is nervous.
It’s not like Deku would react badly or anything though, they’re friends for sure, but that was all. Nothing even mildly tension filled has ever happened between them.
Plus Deku was far too kind to say some shit that would make Katsuki upset. In fact, the worst thing that the nerd could probably say was “congratulations” but that was unlikely to happen. He’d probably throw a whole goddamn party in order to show Katsuki how excited he was.
With that thought in his mind, he went into the office and took a breath.
“Hey Kacc-” Deku started before his gaze fell to his uncovered arm and - fuck - he was supposed to wear his jacket into Deku’s office so this didn’t happen. “Oh.”
“I was coming to tell you,” Katsuki started as he approached his friend’s desk. “I really was, I had a whole plan and all that shit,” he added quickly as he placed the bento box of Katsudon down, along with a few side dishes that Katsuki made for him because he knew Deku’s diet was shit most of the time.
His hero partner bristled just slightly before he sighed and relaxed, putting on a smile that seemed too fake for him.
But maybe that could be explained by the bandage that was on his face. Hopefully that was it.
Once Katsuki noticed the bandage though, he wanted to reach across the desk to peel it off, he wanted to look at the damage and make sure that Deku was cleaning it properly. It didn’t seem to be that bad, though. Just one square bandage going across his cheek about half an inch under his eye. The cameras did make it look a lot worse.
But he restrained himself, instead inhaling deeply and looking away from his friend.
“Congratulations, Kacchan,” the nerd said before Katsuki heard the soft tapping of a keyboard.
His heart dropped to his stomach. “Is that-”
“Thank you for the food too,” Deku beamed, “But I really should be getting this incident report done.” He nodded before turning back to his work.
Katsuki stood there dumbly for a moment, seemingly having a sim moment as he just stared at Deku. He nodded a few times before he turned around, “Yeah… bye.”
That moment in Deku’s office stayed with Katsuki through the next few weeks as the nerd started putting distance between the two of them.
It started off with small things like waiting for Katsuki to be home for the day before he dropped paperwork, or starting to actually use the secretarys that they hired for some of the other pros and sidekicks.
Then he started canceling on their weekly patrol, he started coming up with stupid ass reasons too. And then he started working even more, which Katsuki knows for a fact that Deku tried to hide from him because the over 100 hours of work a week wasn’t ever put in the system until it was nearly too late and Katsuki couldn’t yell at him for it.
Katsuki hated it, he hated being so distant from Deku.
They had spent 20 years of their lives always within each other’s lines of sight, but right now… right now Deku was launching himself head first ahead of Katsuki while the blond was just there trying to catch up.
And maybe he was a little worried about Deku. But that was only because that mess of green curls had never done anything destructive like this before. He was starting to get risky on scenes, which incident reports wouldn’t get filed until the last possible second as well.
It was so damn unfair, it was all so damn unfair.
Katsuki had thought that they were doing well, that they had finally found a way to balance each other out, but the presentation of his soulmark screwed everything up.
It probably didn’t help that he was starting to get sick or something as well. Something was happening in his head that made him wake up aching sometimes and other times he would be going about his day and then suddenly get a headache that would last well into the night.
Actually, he probably should’ve blamed it on stress. The stress of watching Deku slowly slip through his fingertips, and the stress of watching as Deku got riskier and riskier in the field. They were hero partners, they should’ve been able to talk about this… but it seemed that Deku had closed the door on that possibility.
And Katsuki didn’t know what to do with Deku, he couldn’t just send him home, or even if he did, the nerd would just run to IcyHot or Glasses in order to keep doing patrols, which would mean that he would be even further out of the blond’s sight. So for now, Katsuki was stuck watching as Deku became more of a shell of himself.
He hated it. He hated every second that he had to watch Deku push himself past his limits and then limp back home. None of it was fucking fair.
Something else that was also weird about the whole thing was, because Deku was so out of sight, the nerd didn’t even notice that Katsuki was deteriorating right next to him.
There were times where Deku would stand next to him in the elevator with nothing but a small tired nod and a smile, and the most that ever came from those times was a “Good luck today, Kacchan!” from him.
Katsuki hated all of it, and even if he could search through his memories and try to pinpoint when it all went wrong, he could only even lead it back to one moment. The morning that he dropped the Katsudon off, the container hadn’t even been returned to him yet.
The explosive blond sighed deeply as he kicked the empty trashcan under his desk. It was all so damn frustrating, and it wasn’t like the nerd would let him in.
It was strange, the way that Deku had changed over the years.
When they were younger, and even until their first year of UA, the nerd would tell him anything and everything, he would be more than happy to divulge every little detail. Hell, even when All Might told Deku to not tell anyone about OFA, before long Deku was dropping hints about the stupid quirk.
But then something happened in the last five or six years that made Deku start hiding things from him and it sucked. There was a strange part of him that missed the days when Deku couldn’t even keep a dream to himself.
Deku’s birthday was coming up soon too, it was crawling nearer and nearer and Deku hadn’t said shit about it, not even to any of his annoying ass friends that he hung out with all the time.
For some reason, it felt a bit like Deku had given up and Katsuki wasn’t feeling too fond of that look on his best friend.
A sharp pain distracted Katsuki as he groaned and held his cheek. He quickly moved to grab a mirror he used before patrol before uncovering his cheek, expecting to see some sort of marking there, but when he removed his hand, there wasn’t anything. He raised an eyebrow as he picked up the mirror and moved it around a little, but still, there wasn’t a single mark on his skin.
For some reason, he expected
something
to be there, he felt the pain and everything which meant that there
had
to be a mark there. But nope, his skin was as flawless as ever. Katsuki’s brow furrowed before he threw the mirror to the other side of the room. It was probably just some dumbass muscle spasm.
***
For some reason, Izuku couldn’t get how upset Kacchan looked out of his head. Kacchan almost never looked that upset, he was pretty sure even when something made him that emotional, he still never got like that.
In fact, the last time that Izuku remembered Kacchan being that upset was first year at ground beta. But they had worked through that, even All Might helped Kacchan through that after a while. So it couldn’t have been that, in fact, it isn’t even around the time that happened either, so that didn’t make sense.
He shook the worry off as he finally got to the scene he was called to, a building crumbling slowly as a villain was fighting inside.
“Always nice to see you, Deku,” Todoroki said as he flashed a smile to the other hero before he focused on the villain once again. It was a quick aside, something that they had perfected through the years that they had fought together in school. The green haired man was happy that they could still have that fighting chemistry though, even if they were at two different agencies.
Izuku was quick to join in, watching the villain closely. “Nice to see you too, Shouto,” he chirped out happily to his friend, “Anything I should look out for?”
Todoroki hummed a bit before he nodded, blocking an attack and sending more ice out to the villain, “I believe there are some people upstairs still, I’ll provide an opening for you.” Before Izuku got a chance to say anything back, there was a wall of ice.
Without taking another second, Izuku nodded silently and used One for All to help him get up the stairs. Once he was at the top he turned his comm on so that he could be in contact with Todoroki and anyone else on the scene.
A small laugh left his mouth as he watched the wall of ice disappear out of his peripheral. What a very Todoroki thing to do, tell him that he’d create an opening and then immediately throw up a wall of ice.
He slowly looked through the rooms of the upstairs part of the house, finding some people hiding in one of the closets. As soon as the people saw him, they relaxed despite staying in their places. Izuku held up the ‘one moment’ gesture before backing out of the room and looking down the hallway.
“I have two people up here, are we clear to come down that way or should I evacuate them from up here, Shouto?” he asked curiously, trying to make a game plan for however this was about to go down.
There was silence for a moment before Todoroki’s voice came through the comm, “Downstairs is fine, the villain has been apprehended. I’d be quick though, Deku.” he instructed.
Izuku nodded as he went back to the room and gently coaxed both of the people out of the closet and down the stairs. As they were starting to leave, Deku noticed that one of the beams of the house was starting to move. Now, that wasn’t supposed to happen.
His body moved on its own and before he knew it, he was standing under the collapsing beam and held it up as the people he rescued scrambled to get out. The building crumbled around him and on top of the beam, causing him to grunt as he forced more of One for All to be exerted in order to take the weight change.
The building only seemed to get heavier as the rubble started falling, but he tried to keep calm, looking around as he attempted to figure a way out of the room.
Part of him was aware of the cameras that were looking in through the doorway, but he couldn’t find it in himself to care.
He shifted his weight, letting out a small whimper as he more frantically searched around for a way out. It was unfair to his imaginary soulmate to be in a position like this, to crumble like the building was around him. A hiss of pain left his mouth as some rubble ricocheted off of other pieces and onto Izuku’s face, no donut giving him an injury.
“I’m sorry,” he started in a tone that sounded like he was close to crying, “I’m so sorry, I’ll get out of this,” he mumbled mostly to himself.
In his head, the soulmate that he made up would be nodding and telling him it's alright. He took a breath as he slowly shifted before he took his hand away from the beam and used Air Force to knock the beam and himself back.
He grunted as he got up, trying to navigate his way through the dust. As soon as the dust cleared, he offered a wide smile to the cameras before paramedics came on scene to help him.
Without too much hassle, the paramedics patched him up quickly and sent him home for the night.
The night passed quickly, the only real highlight of it being the fact that Kacchan called him, his heart fluttering in his chest a little as he talked with his friend on the phone. Promises of katsudon and a bento from Kacchan were enough to make Izuku sleep soundly.
Yet, despite how amazing that small period of time was, he couldn’t believe what was going to come around the corner that next morning.
Izuku shifted in his seat a bit, a small smile on his face as he excitedly awaited the home cooked meal that Kacchan was going to bring him.
Then, like all good things in Izuku’s life, it crashes around him just like the building did the day prior, with Izuku being left to hold up a lone support beam that was ripped from its spot.
He smiled honestly as he looked at Kacchan, starting to greet him, “Hey Kacc-” and then his attention got called by an inky blob on his arm. Intricate flowers crawling across his forearm, two of them intertwined.
A soulmark.
Not even just a soulmark, a completed one.
Izuku suddenly felt sick to his stomach, his appetite and excitement gone in an instant.
“Oh,” he said softly.
Kacchan tried defending himself, or at least tried to explain himself, “I was coming to tell you,” he started. Izuku’s face must’ve looked unconvinced though because Kacchan kept talking, “I really was, I had a whole plan and all that shit.”
Izuku looked at his hero partner, feeling somehow just a bit betrayed before he sighed and smiled as best he could.
“Congratulations, Kacchan,” he said even though the name felt sour on his tongue, like he shouldn’t be saying it anymore because he had a soulmate that wasn’t him.
Not that he expected Katsuki to be bound to him, Izuku knew he wouldn’t ever get a soulmate. And part of him hoped that Katsuki never got one either… that all the times the blond said he felt a sting of pain from his soulmate were fake.
He should’ve known better.
“Is that-”
“Thank you for the food too. But I really should be getting this incident report done,” he said with a smile before he looked down at the report.
Izuku didn’t even hear as Kacchan left, a somewhat sad feeling coiling in his stomach as he was left alone in the office. Suddenly the news of his best friend having a soulmate felt suffocating, like he was choking on ash after a fire.
He hated it, he hated how he felt.
The hero wasn’t stupid, he knew realistically that Kacchan was never his, that they’d never end up together because Kacchan had everything and Izuku was just a defect.
That’s how it always was and how it would always be.
His heart clenched in his chest as he sniffled a bit, standing up before he started pushing stuff off of his desk, trashing the agency computer as well as the report he was on. The one thing that stayed in its place, gently in the corner of his desk was the bento box.
Even in his overly emotional breakdown, he couldn’t find it in himself to ruin the thing that Bakugou made for him while they were on the phone.
It felt like the last piece of them that he had truly left.
Izuku could tell he was spiraling, but he didn’t care, it didn’t matter anymore. All he could do now was go to work, be a good hero, and save whoever he could.
So he did just that, distancing himself from Bakugou the whole time. He knew that it was probably unfair to be mad at Bakugou for having a soulmate, for literally just following the universe, but he also figured that he could be mad for just a little, that he had gone through enough to where it was okay to feel a bit rejected.
Sure, he had started being a bit riskier on calls, making moves that he wouldn’t usually make, putting himself in situations that could end very badly for him. But he was lucky, he made it through every time.
And maybe he should’ve been more delicate with himself, maybe he should’ve slowed down a bit because All for One could be looming around any corner. But he couldn’t bring himself to. Izuku needed to get stronger, anyway. He needed to get faster and do more. He needed… he needed to be better.
Izuku didn’t have a quirk before All Might bestowed one upon him, and now he knew he wouldn’t have anyone by his side.
Before, even if he didn’t have a soulmate, he still had Bakugou, but now he just had himself. All of his friends would eventually find their soulmates and he’d be here, stuck in a between state where he had virtually nothing.
But it was fine.
Even as his bones popped and protested, even as his arms grew tired and shaky, even as blackwhip had to come out emergently several times to keep him standing, he pushed himself harder and harder.
His friends looked at him with worry each time he passed them, but he never paid it any mind, always seeming to have some sort of call to go on or thing to do.
The worst part of everything was lying to Bakugou.
Izuku tried to rationalize it in his head, telling himself that he wasn’t really lying, he was just purposely making sure he was busy when they’d usually have their weekly patrols. It wasn’t like not doing them was affecting the numbers too much anyway (Izuku worked too much to let it affect the numbers).
Everything was going fine.
Until it wasn’t.
It was a cloudy day and Izuku had been called in for an altercation at the mall. It seemed like some sort of staged attack by the way that the dispatchers had been relaying the information to him.
There was a man with a quirk that seemed to work somewhat like a pufferfish. He apparently stole something from a store and when being confronted, his hand puffed up to produce spikes, and as soon as a spike touched someone they were paralyzed.
Izuku was a good fit for a man with a quirk like this. He had blackwhip and that could be used to help him keep the man at a distance, he could calm him down or even use blackwhip to slap on a quirk canceling bracelet before apprehending him.
Except, apparently every rational thought left Izuku’s head when he got to the mall, seeing the man with the mass of people around him.
Kirishima had responded too, apparently, hardening himself before running close to the man and dragging one of the civilians away so they could get treated.
Izuku swallowed thickly as he approached the man a little, “Hello, sir!” he chirped out somewhat tiredly. “Can you tell me what this is about?” he asked gently with a soft smile.
The hero was aware of just how rough he looked, body shaking a bit as he got closer to him, a shaky breath leaving his mouth. Blackwhip discreetly wrapped around his leg, trying to stop the shaking and make him more solid on his feet.
The man shook his head, holding a bag close to him before he seemed to really see Izuku, his eyes going from somewhat panicked to downright ridden with hatred.
“You’re Deku,” he said matter-of-factly. Izuku was about to ask why that mattered when the man repositioned himself, looking to attack. “You’re like him .”
A chill made its way through Izuku’s spine as he got a grasp on what the man might’ve been talking about. His eyes widened, completely thrown off by accusation as the man threw himself towards Izuku, hand going straight to Izuku’s side. He was too slow, his tiredness and shock making him unable to block or edge away from the attack. The spikes pierced through his suit and made his breath catch in his throat as his limbs stiffened and blackwhip snaked back up his leg, letting him fall to the ground, with wide eyes.
His chest only felt tighter as the man loomed over him, Izuku’s eyes frantically searching for one of the other heroes, hoping that one of them would see him in need.
The man got closer, pressing one puffy and spiked finger in the baby fat under his chin, “You have multiple quirks, it’s so sickening how society praises you when you’re a monster just like him .”
Now there was no doubt in Izuku’s mind that the man wasn’t talking about All for One as the him .
During the third year of UA as Izuku got more comfortable with OFA, the media put together that the manifestations of his quirk didn’t exactly line up, that he probably had more than one quirk.
At first, people had been scared of him, but through one hell of a PR campaign, society saw how beneficial it could be to have all of the quirks Izuku did. He gained their trust back and that was important to him.
Of course, that meant that there were still people very against him, thinking he was some sort of cognizant Nomu or a traitor that All for One planted at some point or another.
And Izuku let them believe that because it was easier and safer than explaining everything to the public.
It did, however, expose him to the villains fully. Before, All for One knew that OFA had been passed on, but now he knew who it had been passed along to.
It put a target on Izuku’s back, one that the whole world could see.
But maybe that was part of why he rose to popularity so fast. He was branded as a hero with a set expiration date, and maybe that made people like him more.
He hoped that wasn’t the case.
The spike dug into his skin a little, making him go more slack as the man traced up and over his jaw, the poison seeping into the open wound.
I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I hope you’re okay, I’m sorry, he thought to his imaginary soulmate, hoping they weren’t in too much pain.
A muffled groan of pain lay trapped within Izuku’s mouth before ice encased them, the man frozen over him. The sharp point of his finger slowly disappeared before the ice melted, Todoroki standing worriedly over Izuku as he leaned down.
His friend grabbed something out of one of his canisters before holding it to Izuku’s face. “Stay with me, Deku,” Todoroki said softly, waving a hand and calling for the paramedics. “Everyone is safe now, okay? Just stay with me,” his friend assured.
Izuku just blinked to show Todoroki that he was listening, he smiled a bit and blinked back slowly, a bit like a cat.
But even though Todoroki talked to him and tried his hardest to keep him awake, sometime in the 2 or 3 minutes it took for the paramedics to reach him, his eyes fell shut.
The next time that he opened his eyes, he groaned a bit, his eyes rapidly trying to adjust to the light change around him. He shifted for a moment before realizing he could move, and somehow that was the most amazing thing to him.
He looked around his room, finding three chairs close to him, one of them occupied by Bakugou who was snoring slightly, his neck tilted at an uncomfortable angle. A weak breath that would’ve been a laugh escaped from him.
“K-” he started, the noise sounding so weak, “Kac-” he tried again.
The noise shook Bakugou awake because before he knew it, wide scared red eyes were staring into his very soul before he stood up, getting water and helping Izuku drink it.
“Do you know how fucking worried you made me?” Bakugou bit out, looking away from Izuku. “The doctors had to do all this shit to make sure that you got all of that stupid ass toxin out of your body. What the fuck were you thinking?” he scolded, the slight cracks in his voice betraying his anger.
Izuku coughed a bit, clearing his throat before he relaxed, “‘M sorry,” he whispered out, knowing that wouldn’t be enough for Bakugou, especially not after what he probably just put his hero partner through.
The blond scoffed a bit as he sat down, “Fucking whatever.” The conversation seemed over, so Izuku let it rest, closing his eyes again. “You’re suspended from active duty for a week,” Bakugou said, like he was waiting for a chance to finally say it.
Izuku’s eyes opened widely as he looked at Bakugou, “What?! You can’t just - you can’t do that! We’re supposed to be equals!” his voice shifted up in pitch as he looked at his partner.
Bakugou looked unimpressed as his lips made a straight line and he let out a sigh, “Yeah, equals don’t work 20 to 30 hours more than their partners, dipshit.” For some reason, his tone sounded like he was hurt.
Guilt smacked Izuku in the chest as he looked away from Bakugou, silently cursing himself for lying as much as he did to the blond, for pushing him away. They were supposed to be side by side now, but Izuku had gotten so caught up in his head that he pushed Bakugou’s metaphorical hand away.
But it was for the best, Izuku reminded himself. He was distancing himself so he didn’t have to put himself through the heartbreak of seeing Bakugou with someone else.
Bakugou had a soulmate and he didn’t, it was as simple as that.
Somewhere out there in the world, probably closer than Izuku knew, was someone with a matching beautifully intertwined flower soulmark. One that Izuku envied just slightly.
He looked away from Bakugou, not being able to take looking at his hurt expression any longer. Izuku bristled slightly, “When do I get out?”
“Today. You’re coming home with me,” Bakugou replied smoothly.
At first, Izuku nodded before he stopped and looked at Bakugou with wide eyes. “What do you mean I’m coming home with you?” he asked with an exasperated tone.
Bakugou laughed weakly, “You got meds and shit you gotta take for the next week to curb any lingering effects of tetrodotoxin poisoning. I know your ass would just ignore all your symptoms and shit, so you’re coming home with me,” he said curtly.
Izuku rolled his eyes and looked away from his hero partner. Deep down, he knew Bakugou was right though. He’d ignore any symptoms that might’ve cropped up and he’d probably get hit by some second wave of toxicity.
Despite knowing this information though, he still pouted a bit, hating the fact that Bakugou knew him so well and that he was right. Although Bakugou was nearly always right and it always pissed him off.
His time at the hospital didn’t last too much longer, and before he knew it, he was being wheeled to Bakugou’s agency car, an even deeper pout on his lips. Izuku let out a huff as Bakugou helped him into the car.
Part of him wanted to push Bakugou off him when he tried to help, but then he realized that his anger was generally unfounded, especially when the other hero was just trying to help him. So he relaxed into the seat.
As he looked out the window, the thought of his birthday coming dawned on him.
The date was coming fast, a little over a week away. The thought almost made him sick to his stomach.
Not that he wasn’t excited to turn 21, but it would mean more of his friends would find their soulmates and he’d be left on the sidelines, stuck to watch as everyone else got their happy endings and he got nothing.
Even if the fact that he didn’t have a soulmate was something that he had come to terms with a long time ago, it didn’t mean he was any less unprepared to watch everyone around him meet their soulmates.
“Nerd,” Bakugou said loudly, leading Izuku to believe that it wasn’t the first time that the blond called for his attention.
Izuku shifted his eyes to look at the blond before he blinked slowly, waiting for him to go on.
“You’re sleeping in my room, I’ll take the couch. Don’t fucking fight me on this, you won’t win,” he warned.
“I’m not defenseless, Kacchan,” Izuku sighed out with a huff, “and I can take the couch, my body isn’t broken or something.” There was a faint implication of the words ‘not this time’ following that statement, but both of them seemed to ignore it.
Izuku didn’t win the fight though, not that there was much of a fight, seeing how Bakugou manhandled him into his bed before he left the room. As soon as he was laid down, he realized just how tired he was and eased into the bed, deciding not to fight it anymore.
Before he could even comprehend what was happening, his eyes were shutting as he was surrounded by the vague scent of caramel and sugar. If Izuku could put a scent on home it’d be that.
His sleep was ruined though as he tossed and turned, the events that led to him being forced into Bakugou’s apartment in the first place being forced into his mind. He awoke with a start, gasping a bit and sitting straight up, ignoring how his body and chest ached just slightly.
Izuku climbed out of bed, not wanting to be tempted by the sugary scent and warm covers anymore.
Shaky legs supported him as he moved, body still absolutely exhausted despite the fact that he had been resting for about a day. He was still tired, his muscles still trembled and complained when he moved. He still felt awful.
But he had already lost so much time, he had already been out of work long enough. Even if he couldn’t go into work, he could still work on reports and doing paperwork from his computer until he went back.
He swiftly moved from the bedroom to the living room, mind hazy as he forgot just where he was.
His eyebrows knit themselves together as he looked around the unfamiliar apartment, and before he could take another step, strong arms circled around his waist, “Nerd.”
Izuku stilled his movements save for the shaking from exhaustion. “Kacchan,” he said softly, looking over his shoulder.
“Just what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Bakugou asked as he blinked down at Izuku.
The smaller man shrunk a little, knowing that he probably shouldn't have been out of bed in the first place.
“I was looking for my laptop, forgot where it was,” he mumbled sleepily.
Bakugou’s face melted from scolding to something else… maybe concern? Izuku didn’t get a chance to dwell on it too long though, because before he could really think about it and analyze it, he felt something on his face.
The blond’s pointer finger was tucked under his chin while his thumb rested on it, making Izuku tilt his head up to look more directly into Bakugou’s vermilion eyes which were scanning him so delicately.
“Do you know the date?” Bakugou asked gently, his voice softer than it normally was.
Izuku thought for a moment before shaking his head.
His hero partner huffed a bit, “You’re taking your meds and then you’re going the fuck to bed,” he bit out, but it didn’t seem like he was angry.
He blinked sleepily and confused at the other. “I had a nightmare, that’s why I got up to get my laptop,” Izuku said softly, barely spoken aloud.
Bakugou looked at him for a moment before moving in a blink of an eye and picking Izuku up.
With a small whine he tried to push Bakugou away very weakly, and when that didn’t work he relaxed, the exhaustion seeming to catch up faster now.
Now that his body had gotten a taste for sleep, all he wanted was more.
So he followed everything that Bakugou told him to do such as eating some rice and then taking his meds.
And when it came time to go to bed, Izuku willfully crawled into bed, not putting up any sort of fight, especially when he felt Bakugou climb into bed next to him, wrapping his arms around Izuku tightly.
Izuku thrived in the moment, a small smile on his face as he relaxed in his hero partner’s arms, feeling safe as he let sleep take him.