The teen nodded slowly at the others response after a moment, his mind running in circles. Of course he had. It had been, what, six, seven years? Izuku couldn't talk through the building in his throat. The woman came around the island and hugged him.

Immediately, it was awkward. The teen was rod straight, face laced with confusion, he knew. But the hug only got tighter. His eyes burned and he closed them. Hesitantly, he wrapped his own arms around the other.

He idly wondered when it was that he last hugged somebody…

"Foods getting cold hag."

The woman sighed, giving him a quick kiss on his temple and stepped back, pushing him into a seat. He almost felt ganged up on once he saw the seating arrangements but he wasn't surprised. Mitsuki and Masaru were on opposite ends of the table. Katsuki sat across from him.

"It's good to see you again, Izu-kun."

Izuku froze for a second, glancing at the man who had spoken. Izu-kun. Kami, he hadn't heard that in- A bit of unease filtered through the mans eyes but the teen relaxed. "It's good to see you, too. Really."
The man smiled, looking at his wife and nodded.

"Why don't we eat and then- and then we can talk."

Izuku nodded in his own acceptance, stomach clenching when he plated his food. When was the last time he had katsudon? Homemade katsudon at that?

"Eat as much as you'd like."

Izuku huffed lightly, smiling at the woman. "Thank you."

She nodded and they descended into silence. Midoriya knew that it wasn't normal. Katsuki was naturally loud. And he got that from his mother. He swallowed, looking down. The clock ticked loudly in the silence.

"You can talk you know? I'm not going to break." He pulled a face at his own wording and looked down.
The woman set her chopsticks on the table and folded her arms. "I know that."

The green haired teen nodded lightly. "We don't have to talk about my-my mom, or anything if you don't want to. But if you want to, we can. It goes for any of you."

Mitsuki nodded after a moment, glancing at her son before turning back to him.

"You already know I'm not good with words. And I'm, uh, blunt or something. Can I just ask what had…happened? What happened? Exactly?"

Midoriya snorted despite himself. It was refreshing and it did bring back memories. Good ones, surprisingly. He only let himself think on it for a moment before nodding.

"Right, well. She died over a year ago and…um, how much has Katsuki told you?"

The woman frowned, already knowing that this wasn't going to go very well.

"He told me that Inko died and that she and Hiashi divorced years before. Nothing more."

Izuku nodded, drinking a bit of water and gathered his thoughts. He took his beanie off and scratched his hair. He hummed under his breath. Where to start?

"Hiashi was cheating on my mom for years. It was mainly because I was quirkless, I think. He hadn't been happy with my mom and I so he found someone else. It went on for a few years. When I was seven, my mom filed for divorce. He agreed without hesitating and neither of us were surprised. He, uh, eventually stopped paying child support and we moved. We lived in Kinoto for a few months before we settled down in Tsubani."

Mitsukis eyes filled with tears and rage. Masaru rested his head on his hand. Izuku felt bad but knew that this needed to go by fast. Not slow. Not piece by piece. They wanted the whole picture.

"My mom worked two jobs and it was already a tight budget. It was stressful. It-" Izuku cleared his throat and pinched himself. They didn't need to know everything. The little things didn't matter. They didn't need to know how much they struggled. The teen cleared his throat again.

"I didn't realize anything was wrong until she didn't make it to work one day. I was at school and didn't notice anything was off. She usually worked late so I didn't worry about it. But, uh, it got pretty late and I hadn't heard from her so I called a couple people. None of them knew where she was."

And it pissed him off too, he remembered. Looking up, he realized that none of them were looking at him and it caused the churning in his stomach to worsen.

"I found her in her room and I called the ambulance and we went to the hospital. The doctors ran their tests and we found out what it was. She had stage four pancreatic cancer. She- her treatments went on for four months before she died."

Izuku drank the rest of his water and waited for something. Anything. But nothing came until Mitsuki let out a sob. Her crying continued and Masaru was muttering to himself. Katsuki, despite hearing this before, in greater detail before even, was hiding in his hand. Midoriya stood, feeling the sudden urge to leave them to their…mourning.

"Thank you for the meal," He said through clenched teeth.

Katsuki's eyesattention snapped to him and he opened his mouth but Izuku turned. He couldn't breathe and this was a lot harder than he'd expected. It was easier to talk about it to somebody who hadn't known his mother. Someone who didn't know how he was- he didn't know. He didn't know all he wanted to do was get out of there.

"Deku- fuck! Izuku, wait!"

Izuku felt more then saw Katsuki pull him into his chest. They were at least a block away from the Bakugous house. He didn't even know how he got here.

"Breathe. Izuku, you need to breathe, alright?"

He nodded against the chest, not having noticed that the other had several inches of height on him until now. He felt his knees give out but the other fell with him. He heard a panicked curse but he could only cough harshly into the others chest as he tried breathe. His lungs, eyes and legs burned.

"In and out. In and out, good-good job. In and out."

Once he was sure he was breathing normally, he looked back up at Katsuki. He only had the time to see red eyes widen, flash in panic before the world went dark.

"Izuku!"

XXX

When Izuku woke up, it was dark. The only light in the room was filtering in through the sheer curtains on the window.

…He didn't have curtains.

Izuku sat up, intending to find out where the hell he was as quietly as he could when his stomach burned in pain.

"Deku?"

Izuku didn't respond, recognizing the voice as Katsukis. He held his breath, wondering why he was with Katsuki and why his stomach hurt so bad. When he could breathe again, he pulled his hands away from his torso, mind blanking when they came back red.

Katsuki cursed, turning to go somewhere and Izuku panicked, pulling Katsuki back down. The blonde fell on the bed with as much dignity as he could.

"Hey-"

"What happened?"

Katsukis face softened and it put Izuku off slightly. The greenette looked back down, finding that his stab wound had opened again. Not all the way but it tore through a couple of the stitches. That would explain why it hurt so bad.

"You don't remember."

Izuku met his eyes, not bothering to respond as the other had answered his own question. Izuku stood, ignoring the others attempt to have him sit back down. He saw his backpack resting against a wall and headed towards it.

Picking it up, he sucked in a breath in at the pull. He turned back to Katsuki, finding his face blank and studying him. He rose a brow, waiting for the other to speak up but he didn't.

"Bathroom."

Katsuki wordlessly got up, walking towards the same door that he was trying to before. He flicked the light on and stood next to it. Izuku sidestepped the other, pushing the others behavior out of mind and looked at himself in the mirror.

He looked like shit.

Cursing softly, he tugged the bandages that were wrapped around his torso. They weren't the ones that he put on that morning, so that meant that Katsuki or his parents had mended to him. It left him feeling anxious about something.

Pulling the bandages off also pulled the light scabbing that formed. Biting back a grunt, he pushed his hand against it and looked through his backpack with his other hand. Finding what he was looking for, he pulled out the small sandwich bag that held an even smaller, homemade first aid kit.

Opening it with his teeth, he found the tweezers easily and began pulling the old stitches out.

"What the hell?"

Izuku sent the other a warning look through the mirror. Katsukis jaw clenched and he glared. "Do you even know what you're doing?"

Izuku stilled before a snort escaped him. He quickly smothered it, looking away from the other and continued what he was doing.

"At least let me help."

He paused again, looking up at the other through the shag of hair that fell over his face. He let out a deep breath, pulling the last stitch out and put more pressure on it. He stared at Katsuki through the mirror. His shoulders drooped when he realized that the other wasn't going to let him be.

Midoriya glanced at the bag on the counter. "Thread the needle."

Katsuki reached passed him and did so without hesitating. Izuku watched him, making a move to grab the needle when it was done when the blonde slapped his hand away. The greenette rose a brow before relenting and jumped onto the counter, leaning against the mirror and ignored how the faucet dug into his back.

The hand on his stomach made him jump and he refused to look at the other, opting to stare at the ceiling. The needle threading through his skin made him jump, kicking the cabinet underneath him and his eyes watered.

"Wh- ow! Do you know what you're doing?" Izuku hissed at the other. Katsukis face had a bit more color then the usual light tan but the other ignored it. Katsuki didn't answer.

Izuku let out a breath, along with his anger. He pushed the others hand away and continued where the other left off. He stayed sitting.

"Can you at least tell me what happened?"

Katsuki didn't answer for a moment. Izuku bit back a whine, reaching for the small sewing scissors and cut the string before starting again.

"You ran out after you told us what happened. I followed you but you were fucking fast. You must have tripped a couple times before I got to you cause your hands were all cut up and shit. You blacked out. I didn't even notice that, whatever the hell this was opened up again till we got back here. My parents wanted to take you to the hospital but I didn't think you'd appreciate it."

Izuku paused, letting his lip go from the abuse and looked at the other. His voice was quiet. "Thanks."

Katsuki nodded, opening a drawer to get a towel and got it wet with the tub faucet before handing it to him. Izuku carefully cleaned the blood away. He looked at his hands, now registering the stinging and found that his hands were scraped up pretty bad.

"What was it from? The…hole. Thing. This fucking mess. What was it from?"

Izuku rose a brow, jumping off the counter and pulled out a small square of cloth and a small roll of medical tape. After finishing bandaging it, he packed it back up.

"I'm surprised Aizawa didn't tell you guys."

"So it was from the fight. The USJ. Fucking handsy."

Midoriya gave a small huff of amusement and walked back out and into the others room once more. He had no idea where his shirt was. Or his phone.

"Rebar. It was Old Smoky. And Handsy I guess. But he really just messed my face up."

Katsuki didn't give an outward reaction. Izuku let out what felt like a millionth sigh. He looked around Katsukis room, not knowing what else to do and slightly embarrassed to ask where his stuff was. His eyes fell on the bookshelf and his heart jumped to his throat.

Before he knew it, he was walking towards the shelf that housed comics, collectables and other books. He picked the picture up and studied it for what felt like forever.

God, how old were they?

He swallowed with difficulty, looking at the other who wasn't looking at him. Izuku idly wondered if it was a game they were playing.

"You kept it."

The other gave a grunt after a moment but nothing else was said.

The frame was made of popsicle sticks, painted red, white and blue. Gold star stickers surrounded the frame, half peeled off. The picture itself was almost painful to look at. Both of them couldn't be more than five, maybe six. They were both in matching All Might footies and each holding up an All Might figurine. Their faces were covered in god knows what.

It was taken at one of their birthdays. He couldn't remember what or when.

Izuku set the frame down softly, walking backwards before his back hit the wall and he closed his eyes in exhaustion. He ran a hand through his hair, wincing when it got caught on a knot.

"Here's your phone. Aizawas been messaging. So was someone named Tsukauchi. And All Might. I would have responded but couldn't figure out your stupid passcode."

Izuku caught the phone, looking away from the other and slid down the wall. Ignoring the messages, he pulled up Aizawas number and just called the man. He picked up after the first two rings.

"Midoriya?"

"Aizawa-"

"Where are you?"

Izuku bit his lips harshly, letting go when he tasted iron. He settled for banging his head on the wall behind him. He was tired of this happening. He wanted to sleep. He didn't want to deal with any of this.

"I'm at…a friends. I'm at a friends."

Aizawa was quiet for a moment, his voice as tired as he felt. "Are you ok?"

Izuku laughed in response, pulling his knees to his chest and gripped his hair with the hand not holding the phone.

"Midoriya? Are you ok? Do I need to come get you?"

The teen wondered how he was planning to do that. He didn't have a car. He didn't know where he was. Not only that, but suddenly the other was talking to him again. Like nothing had- like he wasn't just disappointed and pissed at him out hours before.

"I'll be back at your place in a bit."

Not a moment later, Midoriya blinked at the absent weight in his hand. Looking up, he saw Katsuki holding his phone up to his ear and glared at him with something holy.

"Aizawa."

There was a lengthy pause. Midoriya was just very confused.

"Yeah, listen. I've known the idiot my whole life, I'm not gonna torture him or some shit. We'll be in class tomorrow morning. Good?"

There was a couple beats before Katsuki threw the phone back at him. Izuku looked down uncomfortably and saw that the call had ended. His brows pursed.

"Guess you're my responsibility now. Don't get why you have our homeroom teachers number but you're staying here tonight. We should get some fucking sleep. We only have a few hours until school."

Izuku watched the other fall into the bed and he blinked once more.

What the hell…

"You just gonna sit there all night?"

The teen swallowed, stretching his legs out. "…Yes."

He winced as a pillow came at his head with surprising viciousness. Katsuki glared at him but it was halfhearted, if that.

"Get in bed dumbass. I don't want to deal with you whining in the morning anymore then I have to if I can help it."

Midoriya took a deep breath, standing before sliding in the bed as instructed. He was too tired to argue. He didn't have the energy to think about what was happening or fight it. He just closed his eyes and fell asleep barely moments later.

Blissfully dreamless.

XXX

Katsuki slept very troubled that night. Like he had the past several but worse. It had been like this since the USJ and to be honest, he was getting pretty sick of it. He was exhausted.

He knew from the start, when he first saw Izuku down in the middle with the huge fugly and handsy, that he couldn't leave the other. He knew that. He knew, somehow, that it wouldn't end well. Not that it took a genius but…

He did it anyway. He left Izuku and-

Well, All Might came. The villains left like the cowards they were and the next thing he knew was that All Might was gone as quickly as he came and Izuku was missing. Fucking Aizawa wouldn't say anything about it either. Not that he had been conscious immediately after that but he awoke when they reached outside.

If he had to guess, the teacher seemed particularly upset about it, which made sense but, Katsuki knew something was off. With all of it.

But the dreams. At night…

Seeing Izuku go up against fugly, whatever the hell the thing was. And he left him with Handsy. With a bad guy. Alone.

The teen treaded a hand through his hair and glanced at the other occupant in his bed with a frown.

Izuku in general never made much sense. Entranced completely by heroes, a freaking genius in his own right and his best friend. It didn't take more than a day for a younger Katsuki to decide on that when their mothers first introduced them.

Then he didn't get a quirk. He was quirkless. Which was…fine. Katsuki was hurt, a little. He felt it unfair. All their talk of becoming top heroes came crashing down and…the boy wanted to protect the other. Katsuki wanted, no needed to protect the other.

Bad guys were just that, bad. And strong. And Izuku, for all his genius and kindness and the heart of a hero that he gave so freely…wasn't.

He didn't have a quirk and he would get hurt.

But it seemed that he was the only one that realized that.

Izuku still spoke of heroes, of protecting people and he still defended the other kids from their seniors and, well he wouldn't stand up to him would he? To his best friend?

But he did.

And Katsuki got scared. And he got mean and he knew it. But he didn't know what to do about it and then…

Izuku was gone.

Until the first day of UA and…Katsuki didn't know what to do.

Izuku was different. Quieter, smarter but…darker. But no less kind.

And still quirkless.

He wanted answers. And he got them.

And…he thought, Katsuki thought so stupidly that things could maybe go back to how things were all those years ago. Or at least… he didn't know.

And then the USJ shit and his heart fucking stopped. He felt cold. And he couldn't think straight and well, then he came back. Looking like the definition of shit and he brought Izuku back and…

Katsuki swallowed, blinking away tears, not even annoyed because the only thing he felt right now was scared. Terrified, even. Not that he'd ever say that shit out loud.

Hesitantly, the teen lifted his hand to where the other teen was laying on his stomach. (How he could sleep where he apparently got stabbed, he had no idea but…) There were two, half inch gnarled scars that were faint but most definitely there. He would say that were old but he had seen the old nurses' quirk before.

There were three others, just like them on Izukus other side.

And…

Well, it was safe to say that Katsuki never got over heroes despite his best friends dissapearance in his life. For all Katsuki respected All Might and the other top ten, he wasn't stupid enough to dismiss other kinds of heroes. Police, firefighters, doctors, they were all heroes in their own right.

But vigilantes?

The skin, while as bumpy as it was scarred was smooth underneath his fingertips. Izuku frowned in his sleep, shoving his face further into the pillow. Katsuki continued, stupidly, to trace the others scars and there were several.

It was one thing to see them in the locker room where it looked more like natural skin discoloration and it wasn't like he would intentionally check the other guys out in the locker room. But, well.

It was another thing entirely to realize that your friend, your best friend from years ago, was a vigilante.

And a heart stopping shock to come to the realization that said friend was Midorikari.

The once and only, Midorikari.

But, of course, it all fit. A little too well, a little too snug and made too much sense.

Katsuki withdrew his hand and palmed his eyes. Taking a deep breath, the teen moved the blankets away and left the room. A walk would be good. He couldn't breathe and-

It was fair to say that he had no idea what to do.

XXX

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