It was anticlimactic, how the symbol of peace took his last breath.

At least, it would seem so to the outsider. Considering the clash of ideals that he had against what looked to be a monster televised to the entire world that had led to his retirement, All Might- Toshinori's last few moments were quiet in comparison.

For one, he hadn't told a soul. Despite insisting that All Might stop sneaking around and not telling him things, Katsuki was never brought aside. The teachers and students were advised to turn away. Gran Torino and other old allies were too focused on upholding society with their beacon gone. Not even Izuku was privy to the symbol of peace's aches from an old wound, to the loss of appetite, to how it became harder to stand on stick-thin legs hidden behind baggy jeans. Toshinori was intent on hiding his weakening form like his life depended on it. It was a secret just as potent as Izuku's position as his successor.

So obviously, Katsuki found out.

He confronted All Might then. He might've been the first one barring Recovery Girl. And that guy, he was more stubborn than Izuku. Katsuki didn't think that was possible. At least Izuku knew when he was beat and neither denied nor confirmed the truth. Just as All Might looked him right in the eye and said that the green bean was nothing but his student, he brought on excuse after excuse about another hospital visit here or run-in with trouble there.

Frankly, it pissed him off. "That's it?"

"Yes, Young Bakugou." All Might rubbed the back of his head. "There's nothing to worry about. It's an ongoing procedure to treat this wound." The standoffish response had his fist tighten, palm and fingers rubbing to create a familiar heat of anger.

"Then what," red eyes pierced the other, refusing to look anywhere else for fear that the frustration would spill out of its surface tension the moment he did. "Was that shit in the bathroom two weeks ago? If your fifth surgery was when you say it was which was after then, it makes no sense." Finding the symbol of peace, his hero since being born, vomiting blood before nearly falling unconscious was an experience that would haunt him forever.

Without missing a beat; "food poisoning. I'm always required to go on a special diet before surgery."

"How long?"

"A few days before-"

"BULLSHIT!" And that was it. Katsuki couldn't hold back the explosion from his palms, sound instantly shutting up the man before him. That's right. He wasn't just angry. He was furious. He wanted to smash his fist into the wall of the empty office around them. "You've been sneaking off to the bathroom every day since spring break ended!"

"Surely you saw wrong-"

"I didn't! I fucking didn't!" Slamming the table, nearly shattering it, Katsuki seethed with unshed tears. Screw this. Screw All Might for being so similar to damn Deku. Screw the world for taking away the one person who deserved this the least, the one person who had been fighting for it the most. "You think I stopped watching and aiming to surpass you just because you're not a hero anymore?!"

That brought on silence. Nothing but the echo of Katsuki's scream and the resulting loss of breath from exertion sounded between them. As expected, All Might was the first to break it.

"Misdirection during interrogation to catch the culprit in their lies," He smiled albeit sadly. "You truly will be a wonderful hero, Young Bakugou."

"Please All Might, just." And that cut off the old hero's smile instantly. The burning boy of endless determination and pride never begged. When he spoke again, the broken voice blasted the direction of this meaningless conversation northward. "Tell me the truth."

Finally, All Might relented. He looked down a moment, then met Katsuki's eyes. His student and second successor deserved that much. "Three months."

Three months.

Three months of going to class every day, seeing those little shits in 3-A laugh and exchange pleasantries at the sight of their old symbol of peace entering the room.

Three months of training with a guiding and frail hand, the bastard keeping a book of tips for child psychology hidden in his back pocket.

Three months of citizens who hadn't forgotten their roots, visiting All Might with gifts of flowers and other such cheesy trinkets to brighten up his home.

Three months of damn Deku's eyes lighting up in awe.

Then it'd all be over. No more classes led by the world's worst and simultaneously best teacher in history, a dark sadness permeating on every single one of their faces. No more performing the best fucking spin move then turning around to see All Might's approving grin that's upheld peace for so long. No more small children and old ladies prattling on about so and so time that All Might saved their friend or pet or family member.

...And what would happen to Deku? Katsuki didn't know.

The only thing keeping him from announcing All Might's coming death to the world was the man himself requesting him not to. And, and, it wasn't Katsuki's choice who to tell. He hated that. He hated that fact with every fibre of his being. He hated seeing how oblivious everyone was when All Might coughed into his handkerchief on the excuse of being overcome with a bug. He hated those random calls he got in the night, when Recovery Girl would request his assistance with lifting so and so heavy machinery or All Might himself into the bed and waiting IV. He hated how happy everyone was. They should all get their asses kicked for that. And most of all, he hated how blatantly All Might lied to Izuku's face.

It was when there was but a month left on the timer known as All Might's life that others began taking notice.

Aizawa was the first. It was weird to think that it wasn't paparazzi that made it their goal to breathe down the man's neck who got their grimy paws on the information beforehand. But Aizawa had known All Might his entire life and didn't place the man on a pedestal like most others did. He made no comment about it, but Katsuki could tell by the way he managed to conveniently distract the class every time All Might had to turn around and take another pill.

Gran Torino, no stranger to the effects of life and death, was next. It took but one look from the mentor on an offhand visit to the school before he put the pieces together. All Might found an extra plate of Taiyaki on his office desk the next day.

And then, it was like a floodgate was open. Left and right, the way people looked at All Might when he passed by changed. Admiration soon morphed into sadness and pity which has Katsuki biting his tongue. Out of their class of students, Todoroki picks up on it the fastest. He's probably the only one who Katsuki hadn't seen shed a tear. However, the number of visits to the hospital and surprisingly civil talks with his father increases.

Katsuki expected Izuku to be next. After all, the nerd wasn't that dense, was he? Just to test out the theory, the blond stops himself from leaving when school is let out for the week. Izuku and his gaggle of buddies are the last to finish packing their things. The green-haired hero sends a smile to Katsuki, like he does every day, an unreadable look crossing his bright features. "Bye, Kacchan."

But unlike the other times, Katsuki responds with more than a grunt. "Wait."

When Izuku does, when he tells Uraraka and Iida to go ahead, Katsuki can't help but think 'what an idiot.' After all, he's sure anyone else in Izuku's position wouldn't have even began giving someone like Katsuki a moment of their time. But here they are, bright green eyes exuding trust and fondness his way like they never stopped being friends in the first place.

Katsuki cuts to the chase. "What do you think of All Might?"

And that, Izuku probably had a planned speech that was subconsciously rotated and revised in his head every five minutes. Throwing away any caution for why the question was being asked, Izuku beamed. "H-He's amazing and cool, of course! The symbol of peace who can singlehandedly save hundreds of people with a smile on his face. He-... He can also win against all odds no matter what." The last part seems to be an add-on that Izuku puts in as an afterthought when his green gaze catches on red.

Katsuki decides to push that detail away from his head. "I know, you shit head. You've only been telling me since we were four."

Izuku giggles, he fucking giggles. Katsuki wants to stab his freckles with a fork, or something. "You have to be more specific, Kacchan."

"What I mean is: how is he doing?"

The other blinked, not really processing the question until something clicks in his head. "Ah! He's been helping me out a lot with my training. Don't worry, I'm still working hard to beat you someday."

Katsuki can't believe this. If he wanted to spend his Friday afternoon arguing semantics, he'd study a dictionary before bashing his head against it. "Not that, I'm talking about his health, you dweeb."

A tilt of a head, and that was the only response Katsuki got other than "he's fine, Kacchan."

And that was that.

Katsuki waited another week before asking again. By that point, Momo, Tsuyu, Aoyama, and even Mineta had begun picking up on All Might's stunted breaths and wilting jaw. Momo had borderline broke down crying when she approached the man after class and only received a pat on the head as a reply. The rest of the class had inquired about her red eyes when she returned to the dorm. Those who knew stayed quiet. Even the dwarf and twinkling boys of the class were strangely solemn.

"I don't know why you keep asking me, Kacchan." Izuku shook his head. They were in the common room this time. Everyone else had went to bed already while the two rivals stayed up late to study for a surprise pop quiz that would probably never happen. Katsuki refused to call it a study date. It was more of a tradition that they had to try to one-up the other in class rankings.

"Deku," Katsuki closed his book, eyeing the other with a glare. "Are you even looking at him?"

To his shock, his glare was met with an equally seething green one. "I am. There's nothing to worry about." He eventually aims his sight elsewhere, sighing and going back to his notes. "Let's just keep studying."

And this, this hit a nerve of worry that Katsuki didn't know he had. "No."

"Kacchan-"

"There's no way you're this stupid." The other sends him a warning look, one that Katsuki artfully ignores. "Half-and-half picked up on it half a month ago. Ponytail came back crying after staying behind for extra help with All Might. Even grape boy can tell when shit isn't right! You spend more time with him than any of us, and you can't even pick up when he's dyi-"

"SHUT UP!"

Katsuki, in stunned silence, complies when in any other case, he wouldn't have. Izuku doesn't notice, green lightning shooting out of his fingers when his pen snaps in half. His eyes seem to glow in the dark, powered by his own quirk and tears. "All Might- he's been through worse than this. He's had a hole blown through his stomach, he's fought All for One, he's still standing as the symbol of peace for everyone despite not being able to fight anymore! I thought-" His speech was interrupted by a gasp of breath. "I thought that you'd understand the most out of everyone, Kacchan."

Oh.

With that, Izuku gathered his notebooks and stormed away in anger and tears, leaving Katsuki alone with his thoughts. It was cruel, how he didn't realize it sooner. Now, it was clear as day to him that some part of Izuku knew even before Katsuki himself did. He was probably the first one to know long before the medical charts had any evidence of such a claim. And, just like everyone else, Izuku was dealing with it in his own way.

With that in mind, he and Izuku don't speak after that. Not even the normal 'good morning' and other such empty pleasantries were exchanged. As the due date loomed closer, the news of All Might's true end spread within their small family. Uraraka, Iida, and some of the others proposed to make All Might's last few days the best of his life. Aizawa relented, allowing the students to plan a small appreciation day for their teacher instead of having class. The first day that they dedicate to putting decorations up, Izuku doesn't show up to class.

Their efforts increase when it's formally declared that All Might was resigning as a teacher due to being bedridden at the closest hospital. Recovery Girl's tiny clinic was no longer enough. What should've been a wall of photos evolves into an entire gallery of All Might's contribution as a hero, as a person, and as a teacher throughout the school.

Streamers stuck in his hair, that's when Katsuki is called over the PA to the principal's office. Nedzu is ever smiling, picking out the pink paper just as Katsuki leaves on a subway to the hospital where All Might requested his presence. It's a long ride. Many people stare, wondering why a Yuuei student would dare skip school on a rainy Wednesday morning.

When Katsuki arrives, it's to the smell of hand sanitizer and disinfectant. It follows him, clings to his uniform in the worst way possible on his trek to the small room hidden at the back of the building. There are a plethora of police officers undercover as nurses who escort him there. They too smell of disinfectant, everything does. It's the strongest when the door finally opens and he's met with the small form of the symbol of peace, wilting away on the white sheets.

Still, the man smiles in greeting- still smiling like he's always done, too weak to wave. "Young Bakugou."

Katsuki can't help it. He cries.

He feels like Deku in this moment. But he doesn't care, simply allows the accompanying nurse to help All Might lift his arm so he could envelope the blond in his embrace. It's weak. All Might shouldn't be this weak. All Might was strong. He still is because even though the blue ring in his eyes threatened to extinguish, the smile never left his face, immune to the encompassing hands of Mother Nature.

After a moment, the symbol of peace requests for the two of them to be left alone. The guards comply, walking out and locking the door behind them to give the man and young boy privacy. A beat of silence, and Katsuki finds it in himself to talk. "Deku should be here right now."

"He will be, but I needed to see you first."

Choking on his own tears, Katsuki croaked. "Why...?"

All Might manages to use the entirety of his will power to move a finger through blond hair, petting the boy like a father would. "I wanted to let you know, Young Bakugou, that I am really proud of you. Not just of Young Midoriya but you as well. I never doubt that you will become the best hero."

"Th-Then watch me do it." Katsuki let out, allowing his thoughts to run against logic and ask for the impossible for this one moment when no one could see. "Watch all of us damn well conquer everyone and laugh."

"I will." All Might chuckled. "Even if you can't see me, I'm here."

It was cheesy, it made no sense, but Katsuki found himself believing it. In the midst of the foreboding sense of finality, the man who gave the world his everything made one selfish request.

"Take care of Izuku."

Katsuki couldn't hope to decipher what that meant at this moment, but nodded anyway.

He bumped into the subject of conversation on his way out. Izuku, for lack of a better word, looked like a mess. The scariest thing was that he wasn't mumbling at all. For all the times Katsuki told him to shut up, now was the worst moment to do it. Tie even more crooked, skin under eyes dark from crying, and hair not having seen water for days, the boy passes Katsuki without even noticing him.

For once in his life, Katsuki lets it slide.

The funeral was small. No one but those who knew the man personally were invited to the building under the name of Toshinori Yagi. It was silent. It hurt like a punch to the gut that never ended. But what hurt the most was the staggering realization that those at Yuuei and a couple heroes made friends on the job were the only ones that attended. Toshinori Yagi had no blood family to speak of, dying alone amidst his friends and students.

A bigger city-wide funeral for the hero was scheduled the next day. School and work were cancelled around the country. It was a wide-scale version of the party that class 3-A had thrown for All Might within his tiny hospital room. A video chat of a student walking around the school showing off the displays and statues had the hero in tears. In a way, Katsuki preferred that small suffocating moment to the grandeur parade of people paying respects for the hero that the man gave everything up for. Even the villains seemed content to waiting another day to wreak havoc, the streets magically devoid of human sins almost like the man himself managed to unite everyone for just a single night.

School seems to be an on-and-off for everyone soon after. Some, almost like being hit with the epiphany that life is short, request for a leave to see their families again after months of no contact. Others simply sleep for fourteen hours straight, like Katsuki, before showing up to resume their perfect attendance the next day. He isn't surprised when he walks into the classroom and no one else is there except Todoroki (the little shit). Aizawa simply nods to him, going into a lecture about emergency signals without missing a beat.

Eventually, more students trickle in with tired smiles. Uraraka is especially happy to see Iida again, making motions in the air about this new action movie that she saw with her parents to try to lighten the mood. Mineta makes a quip about the hot blonde in the movie, before being sent into the wall by Jirou to the backdrop of a cackling laugh from Kirishima. Slowly but surely, they return to some semblance of normalcy.

A month passes. Still, Izuku doesn't leave his room.

He doesn't prattle in the hallways with his friends about an upcoming hero on the block like he used to. Mumbles of what to have for lunch and in what arrangement to sit with his friends are gone. Katsuki sometimes half expects the irritating scratch of pencil behind him as the nerd presses much harder on his pencil than he needed to start behind him any second during class. However, it never happens. Katsuki goes about his day without seeing a single flash of green aside from his gauntlets. He studies alone late at night, shooting ahead in grades while continuously changing places with Momo and Iida.

And Izuku isn't there.

Katsuki learns to live with it.

After all, being told that he couldn't be a hero for over ten years, being beat down by all his classmates, and facing Katsuki himself as an obstacle never brought Izuku down. So why should this? He'd learn to stand up again, just as he always had, just like the annoying pebble he wasn't. It was fine. Katsuki didn't have to do anything. It wasn't like he had any power to do so-

His friends worry, because of course they do. Aside from sneaking out of his room to use the bathroom or stealing boxes of snacks from the kitchen past curfew, none of them had seen Izuku for weeks. Katsuki is making his way to the common room for a drink when a group of students on the couch catch his attention.

"We need to schedule an intervention." Iida makes tight arm gestures.

"Yeah," Kaminari furrows his brow, "I was going to suggest it sooner but thought it was fine when I found out Midoriya was still eating. I figured he'd be okay, you know?"

"Clearly, he isn't." Hagakure shakes her invisible head, looking to the rest of the class. "Has anyone else tried to knock on his door? I did but got no reply."

Fuck. Really? Katsuki had considered knocking one time but walked away, out of words.

"Same here, except I tried to break it down." The class all shoot their heads to Kirishima in shock. He runs a hand through his hair in sheepishness. "Yeah, I wasn't thinking. But he has a shelf or something barricading the entrance. I couldn't get through."

When did that fucking happen? Did the nerd always have that there or was it only after he realized that the endless knocks wouldn't cease, that no one would ever stop trying to get to him? Katsuki reached into the fridge, not really there until his fingers hit something cold.

"I can probably destroy it with my fire or we can use Ashido's acid but we could very well hurt Midoriya in the process if he's on the other side." Todoroki contributes with a shake of his head.

"Maybe my balls can help me climb up the wall to his window!" Mineta suggested, detaching a grape from his head. "I'm small and could get through."

Why didn't Katsuki think of that? With his explosions-

But Uraraka interjects. "I already tried that. He locked his windows and closed the curtains."

Seriously, it sounded like everyone around Izuku had shown some trace of concern, of trying to bring Izuku back. Everyone except Katsuki, the asshole, the bully, of course-

"Take care of Izuku."

Shit.

"Oh, right." Sero, who looked the most ecstatic at Mineta's idea, slumps down in disappointment. "...Floating, gotcha."

"You're all idiots."

Every head turns to Katsuki in shock, none of them noticing his presence until now. They all stare, room silent as he takes a hearty sip of his milk before placing it down with a sigh. He was done doing nothing. It was time to make true to his word, to give Izuku the support that he deserved. Without addressing the others again, Katsuki rinses the cup before stomping back down the hallway in the direction of the elevators.

It feels a little like that time, not too long ago, when Katsuki was forced to make the walk of shame to All Might's hospital room the first time. The ugly disinfectant smell creeps into his nose a moment despite the elevator stinking of cologne instead. Seeing a man so bright, the pillar of the world, nothing but a husk of a body and at death's door, the only thing keeping him alive being the sheer willpower to see his students again, chilled Katsuki's bone into stone. It ranked up there alongside watching All Might taking on All for One behind a screen, seeing his hero become a whisk in exchange for Katsuki's own life-

"This wasn't your fault. Either way, my limit was close. I ended up making you bear that burden, even though you're still young too. I'm sorry..."

Some irrational part of his mind expected to find the same in Izuku.

When he reached his destination, it was quiet. He knocked, "Oi, Deku."

From the other side, he could hear a shift in blankets. Other than that, there was nothing just like Hagakure claimed. Already knowing that the door was barricaded and windows locked shut, Katsuki scoffed and knocked louder. "Deku, it's me. Open the damn door."

Nothing. "If you don't open this door right now, I'm burning my entire comic book collection."

Still not a sound from within, and Katsuki would've been out of options if he was anyone else. But he wasn't. He knew the one thing about Izuku that would override any sadness or stubbornness that he felt. It'd been what made him misunderstand and hate Izuku for over ten years, something that their classmates would've been aware of if they (and Katsuki would never admit this) watched Izuku as closely, had Izuku following them since being a toddler.

Plopping himself down on the floor and against the wall next to the door, Katsuki let out an annoyed huff. "Fucking fine. But here's what's going to happen. Until you let me in, I'm going to sit here. No food breaks, no bathing, no going to class, no becoming the number one hero, nothing. I'll sit here and rot with you, Deku. If you have the balls to pull this stunt, I can too. There's nothing you can do to stop me."

Another shift, this time louder, came from the other side. Aside from that, the darkness settled back with no response.

Katsuki rolled his shoulders, feeling a snap and a twitch in his leg from how hard the flooring was. Well, he didn't expect it to be that fucking easy to win. Now it was only a matter of what was stronger, Izuku's sadness or his drive to be a hero (Kacchan's hero, Izuku would later say, sending Katsuki into all kinds of confusion). And as much as he hated to admit it, he believed in the selfless idiot who worried about everyone but himself that damn Deku was.

He didn't know when he fell asleep. So used to turning in early and rising early, the plaster of the wall was enough of a pillow for the blond to eventually enter dreamland with the most uncomfortable kink in his neck and back. He heard footsteps around him, most likely classmates coming upon the waiting blond with silent realization of what he was trying to do. It came as no surprise when, after the first day of missing class, he found a copy of notes written by Momo and a small snack left behind by Kaminari in his lap.

"Fuck," Katsuki cursed, biting into the cake while speaking loudly enough for Izuku to hear. "This shit is gross. The hell is a Twinkie? Pikachu boy has no taste."

The hunger truly hit on the night of the second day. Surviving on snacks alone was great and all, but Katsuki was never much of a junk food person to begin with. He already missed cooking his own meals, being able to go to class and yell at those shits for friends he had, showing everyone who was number one. But if Katsuki's willpower was so weak, he never would've made it anyway. So he continued lulling between sleep and consciousness with nothing else left to do.

Luckily, the next day was the weekend. Ashido had organized a class get-together at the mall in hopes of finding some gifts to lure Izuku out of his room. Kirishima had approached him but Katsuki only waved away the offer. Soon enough, the footsteps and commotion in the dormitory faded when the main door slammed closed and the two were left alone.

Katsuki yawned. Damn. If he knew sleeping all day could make someone so tired, he would've just stayed awake. "Wonder what dumb shit they're going to get for you. I bet Round Face and Pink Girl will buy a box of friendship bracelets or some crap, disgusting."

In the dead of the night, snoozing against the floor and barely conscious, is when he feels it. The ghost of fingers brushing away blond strands followed by the familiar weight of a blanket being draped over him, it's so light that Katsuki barely managed to notice that the action was real and not a product of his dreams. But then, he hears a croak of a voice, a voice that he didn't know he missed until it was taken away from him.

"It's open."

Then, as quickly as it came, the presence of Izuku above him is gone. It takes another moment for Katsuki to blink awake and fight against the cramps in his side to stand. The blanket adorning little pink bunnies slides off. Katsuki barely registers the nerdy design before he's on his feet and quietly turning the knob of the door.

Sure enough, the barricade is gone. It's dark. There's tissues filled with endless tears littering the floor. Clothes of different shades of green make a pile in the corner next to the spot where a drawer was ripped straight out of the table and thrown against the wall. Katsuki opens the door further and it hits a small movable closet and a turned sofa, probably what was blocking the entrance in the first place, before closing it behind him. At least four blankets were rolled around a stiff form on the bed, and on the bed, lay the only source of light in the entire room.

"Can you see that? He's already saved a hundred people!"

It was a laptop screen, glowing with the red of the video as an unrecognizable voice echoed so quietly that Katsuki strained to hear, strained to make out the form of a man facing the screen before turning to the rubble.

"That's crazy! It hasn't even been ten minutes!"

No.

Finally, the camera focused in on a silhouette climbing on top of a bus. Shape unmistakable, strong, a pillar for the world, the laugh that came next had Katsuki nearly flinching back from whiplash at hearing it again. The pile of bodies the man carried on his back formed a frame around the grinning face.

"He's laughing!"

"It's fine now. Why? Because I am here!"

A slight skip in audio, then the red bar disappears as the toggle jumps back to the beginning. All Might's charismatic face disappears, and the room is black again, before the camera tilts back up.

"That's crazy! It hasn't even been ten minutes!"

How...How long has he been watching it?

"When I first met All Might," That same voice, sore from lack of use, freezes Katsuki in his tracks about a foot away from the bed. It's emotionless, so unlike what he's used to hearing from the radiant boy. "I asked him if it was possible if I could become a hero without a quirk. He showed me his injury then, saying heroes risk their lives on the battle field every day. Then, he said no."

A choked laugh at the irony, but Katsuki didn't find it funny. Not anymore. It was unnerving, not being able to see anything but the looping footage and the beginnings of green hair hidden behind a cocoon of blankets. Still, Katsuki stayed still. Izuku stayed and took the brunt of his anguish when he was kidnapped. It was his turn to listen.

"I was going to give up then, become a fire fighter or police officer." Just as this was said, All Might's face was adorning the screen with his smile again, flames licking but not managing to take down the man. "It might've ended up that way if I didn't see you being attacked by a slime monster."

Katsuki flexed his fingers within his pocket, taking them out as a quiet realization of what that day meant to Izuku sunk in.

"When I saw your face, asking for help, I jumped in. I couldn't let Kacchan die." Another chuckle came from the pile, just as empty as before. "You know me too well. After that, All Might offered his quirk to me. He trained me. He..." There was a pause, a gathering of metaphorical thoughts that skipped around in a tired brain. "When I first found out I was Quirk less, my mom only apologized. She cried and said sorry. Everyone at school made fun of me for dreaming so big. You...You picked on me even more, called me a worthless Deku."

Katsuki swallowed back his reply to that. Izuku was right. There was no excuse for it.

"All Might...he was the first person to believe in me, to believe that I could become a hero one day. From then on, he never stopped believing in me. He wasn't just a mentor, or a teacher, or a hero to look up to. He- He was like a dad. But now, now he's gone...he's gone and he's never coming back. The one person who believed I could be a hero is gone. H-How can I..."

For the first time since walking in, Katsuki could get a better look at Izuku's face when the other turned to him. And- And not even he could deny the shock of pain it sent to his chest. He could do nothing else but watch as a shaky finger lifted to the screen. Tears encasing dead green that was once such a vibrant emerald, the voice that came out next reminded Katsuki of All Might's very last breath.

"C-Can I still be a hero?"

There was only one thing Katsuki could say to that, something that encompassed everything that he felt about Izuku since they met. He looked him in the eye, fading green hit straight on by a fire of red that refused to dim.

"You're the one who screamed it to me, idiot." Ensuring that Izuku knew he wasn't lying, he stepped close enough that his knees hit the bed, taking the other's face within his palms so that their noses were but an inch apart.

"Deku means 'you can do it'."

It was ethereal, the moment he saw life returning to Izuku and the pit of utter nothing in those green eyes transform into what Katsuki could only describe as wonder and awe, all aimed at the boy hovering over him. He wasn't expecting such a powerful answer, Katsuki could tell, for tears spilled down in rivers, releasing the despair from within onto freckled cheeks.

Izuku didn't hesitate, jumping at Katsuki to wrap sweaty arms around his middle, burying his face within the other's stomach. Seeking comfort, Katsuki gave it to him. He could only stand there, arms clutching back as he felt Izuku emptying his frustrations and anguish in a flurry of wails. It felt like magic, the way the floodgates opened to not only make way for tears but a series of typical Izuku-muttering as well.

"It-It's hard." He gasped past the tears, trying to breathe. "It hurts so much, Kacchan. I don't know what to do n-now. I feel like I stole everything from him. L-Like...I have so much to live up to, that I'll ruin everything. And he-he's not here anymore. It's hard. It's so hard." He repeats.

"I know. It damn sucks but it won't ever stop." Thinking of the time he was kidnapped, nightmares of it happening again never did go away.

Most people would've found the bluntness and honesty off-putting, but it filled Izuku's empty stomach with a flighty kind of warmth. "I don't think I want it to." A silence permeated between them as Katsuki realized the other had finished talking. He waited longer, just in case. Eventually, the sobs faded into soft sniffles before Katsuki found it in him to speak again.

"Good." At that, Izuku finally looks up at him, peeking out from between ridges of his black shirt. The blond nearly flinches back but managed not to. It was...weird. But those eyes now carried a weight to them whenever they aimed at Katsuki in a way that the latter couldn't read at all.

"Good? Why is it good?"

"You figure that one out, shitty Deku." The name held a different meaning now, escaped his mouth with a different taste. It was nice. Katsuki lowers himself onto the bed, feet feeling sore, to give the other a ruffle in the head. It causes Izuku to pull away with something resembling a laugh. It still sounded choked, brought down by the reality of everything, but it was a start.

When Izuku settles down, he leans back against his pillows, laptop pushed aside with tired gestures. He yawned, looking sleepily up at Katsuki who has both knees on the white mattress. "Say it again."

"I don't need to." Returning the look with one of his own, Katsuki reaches to pull the blankets back over him. "Everyone believes it, Deku. And if they don't, make them believe it like you did with me. I know I won't damn well stop until everyone has heard of Katsuki Bakugou as the number one hero who surpasses even All Might."

There it was, that hint of something in Izuku's eyes again. It doesn't ever fade, doesn't seem to fade for years and even decades after this night, but becomes secondary to the familiar spark of competitiveness that his rivalry with Kacchan always ignited. He closes them, feeling serenity pass over him at the heat of the other next to him. "Not if I surpass him first."

"You're not surpassing anyone until you get your shit together."

"Stay, then."

About to part from the other's side to begin cleaning the room, Katsuki stops.

By now, Izuku was half-delirious with sleep, unaware that he was running his mouth with zero filters. "You don't have to. I think I'll be okay. But...you make me happy. Don't leave me, Kacchan." And that was it. The nerd fell asleep, the furrow in his brow gone and face relaxed for the first time in a month.

"If you learn to raise each other up, you can become the best heroes, who both win and save."

Was...that what Deku meant? Katsuki huffed, moving to pick up the tissues. "Obviously, Deku."

Somewhere up there from where he was watching, All Might did the biggest face palm of his afterlife.