Izuku wakes up full of an anxious energy that makes him want to run across the city and back without stopping. He hops out of his bed and hurriedly puts on his workout clothes: A navy sweatshirt with his "shirt" shirt underneath and black athletic shorts. He only has a couple of scars on his legs, the most noticeable is a straight silver line on the side of his left calf from when an arrow grazed his leg in The Arena. All the other ones are from falling off of rooftops or falling in general.
He slides down the railing and is surprised to see Ru already up with breakfast and a packed bento.
"Good morning, hero-in-training! I made some onigiri with eggs in it for breakfast and packed you a bento. Need to keep you well-fed!" Izuku's struck by just how lucky he is to have Ru. Without them, he would probably be surviving off of instant raman and protein bars.
He runs over to Ru and hugs them tightly, "Thank you," He whispers, meaning so much more than making the food.
Ru ruffles his hair, "You're welcome, little dude! Now come and eat with me before you have to go away. I steeped some White Peony tea as well."
They eat silently, but it's not uncomfortable. Izuku embraces it, not often getting peaceful quietness. His muscles are aching from yesterday, but it's a good sort of ache. One that tells him that he trained hard- something he's going to do again today. He thinks of seeing Kacchan again today, and finds himself both excited and terrified. Bakugou Katsuki is both known and unknown, and Izuku hates not knowing when he's going to get pestered again by where he went, what he did, why he left. He hates coming up with answers that only ever skid past answering the actual question.
Breakfast is over sooner than he liked and Izuku packs some black sesame cookies for All Might and a container of homemade hot sauce he had made a few days ago for Kacchan.
"I'll see you soon, Ru. Try not to drive the customers away!"
She waves her hand, "Pft, I'll have trouble getting them to leave! Be safe, Izu."
Izuku smiles, anxious to get this hungry energy out, "I will."
He runs.
________
He sees Katsuki walking along the path to the beach and runs to catch up to him, yelling his name.
Bakugou glances at him and keeps walking, but noticeably slows down to make it easier for Izuku to catch up to him. Izuku is quick to get to his side and instantly notices that while the blond looks like he got no sleep, he also seems to have a powerful energy radiating from him that just screams Kacchan.
"Good morning," Izuku says, a bit forcefully. He wants to act normal around Katsuki, but knows that doing so would only make him more rightfully angry. It leaves him scrambling to figure out how to act in front of him without screwing things up further. Katsuki doesn't say anything. Izuku can't tell if he's ignoring him or is just lost deep in thought, or both. He pulls his yellow backpack around and hands him the container of hot sauce.
Katsuki stares at it like he's never seen anything like it before, "What the hell is this?"
"Hot sauce. Homemade. I made it a few days ago and thought you might want some." Now that he's saying all this is aloud, he feels stupid. Bringing someone hot sauce as a gift? Seriously? He might not even like it. He's tempted to tear the container from Katsuki's hands and stuff it back into his backpack, pretending nothing ever happened.
Katsuki stares at it a moment longer before putting it in his bag, "Thanks," his voice contains the roughness of someone still waking up,"I'll have some for lunch."
There's a long pause as they continue walking before Katsuki speaks up again, "Yo, Nerd, do you have a phone?"
Izuku stumbles mid step before swiftly recovering, "Er, yeah? I don't really use it often." It was a present from Ru the first Christmas they spent together. He only had Aizawa's, Tsukauchi's (it was funny annoying them), and Ru's phone numbers. He had hacked his phone in order to make it untraceable and really only ever used it to tell Ru if he was running errands. Maybe he sent Aizawa funny cat videos, but that was neither here nor there.
Katsuki holds out his hand, "Gimme." Not seeing any reason to argue, Izuku unlocks it and hands it to him (the wallpaper being the Cafe's logo behind a periwinkle background). Katsuki fiddles around with it before handing it back. Izuku looks down to see that he had added his phone number under the contact number 'Kacchan'. He can't control the smile that grows.
"Why did you give me this?" He asks, not able to come up with any logical reasons.
Katsuki huffs, "So we can keep in contact, obviously. And so I can bother you whenever I want." He smirks at that, and Izuku internally groans. Handing him his phone was a mistake.
He pouts, "Whatever."
They reach the beach soon enough where All Might is waiting, and after a quick warmup, they're back to cleaning the beach. It's grueling work, and Katsuki being oddly silent is stressing out Izuku. He pushes himself to work at a steady pace, trying to ignore everything else. He wipes his mind clean of the past and future, and if an unwanted thought occurs, he just forces himself to work harder.
They end earlier that day; at lunch time. Izuku feels disgusting with the sweat sliding down his sweatshirt and sticking to his back and yearns to take a shower.
They sit down on the hill of grass, and Izuku gives the cookies to All Might. His heart swells at the grateful smile the hero sends him- a part of him still a fanboy.
Izuku and Katsuki hungrily dig into their packed lunches, and Izuku tries to be discreet as he watches Katsuki try the hot sauce with some of his boiled egg. He doesn't say anything, but he does start to lather his other food in the spicy sauce as well. Izuku shoves down a laugh with some of his food, trying not to be too proud of himself.
"You two are doing a wonderful job. It'll be cleared out in a few months time- probably even before the ten months are up," Yagi comments as he takes a drink of his smoothie.
"I have school, so you losers won't have me to help you until the weekend," Bakugou says pridefully, but Izuku can tell that he's disappointed to be missing out.
"Young Midoriya, don't you have school as well?" He shrinks slightly with both Yagi's and Kacchan's eyes on him.
"I'm homeschooled, but I've technically completed the required education for my age, so I've just been reading here and there to keep my mind fresh. The person I live with gives me assignments as well, but since I've finished everything, I technically don't have any 'school work'."
Yagi nods, as if that makes perfect sense, "I see. You still have to study for the written part of the entrance exam, though, so make sure you keep up with your studies. That includes you, too, Young Bakugou."
Bakugou scoffs, "Of course I'll be ready for the entrance exam, Old Man. I've already started to study."
Izuku smiles at him, "You won't have any problems getting in, Kacchan. You're so smart."
For a moment it looked like Katsuki had blushed, but Izuku wrapped it up to the training.
"Like hell I won't! I'll pass that damn test with a perfect score!"
Yagi and Izuku both laugh, in which Katsuki only grumbles some more. Before long, Yagi is giving them his goodbyes, saying he'll see Izuku in two days (tomorrow is supposed to be a 'rest day'), and walking off.
Izuku's legs are jello, but he forces himself to stand up. He wants to help Ru with the cafe as much as he can today and tomorrow since she'll be handling a lot of it on her own most days. Besides him, Katsuki is still sitting. He has a serious look on his face as he looks towards the horizon. It makes him seem older than he is, and that scares Izuku. Being older means that time is slipping by, and the timer is getting closer and closer towards going off.
He's getting sick and tired of always being terrified.
Before he can say anything, Katsuki says, "We need to talk, Izuku." He could be talking about a million and one things. Every single one is a subject that Izuku doesn't want to talk about now, or for the foreseeable future.
"Sorry, Kacchan. Maybe some other time? I really want to help Ru with the cafe today"
Katsuki talks as if he didn't hear a thing he just said, "Sit. This can't wait. Stop running off and let me talk, and listen."
Izuku's cornered, and he knows it. If he declines this invitation then Katsuki will only be angrier and delay the inevitable.
So he sits, hoping that he can spin enough lies to protect his secrets that are embedded into his heart.
____________
He's going to get the truth out of Izuku. Because he knows that somehow, he is intertwined in Izuku's secrets. Izuku is the lock, and he better be the key.
The Damn Deku is sitting so close to him, yet he seems worlds away. How can he know someone so well, but still feel like he's looking at a stranger? He knows what he wants to say, but struggles to say them out loud. The words are right there in his mind, but he's afraid that saying them out loud will cause something to irrevocably crumble. He refuses to look right at Deku in fear that whatever expression he's wearing (or trying to hide) will prevent him from saying anything.
Katsuki clenches his fists and takes a deep breath. It's one of those rare times he hopes to be wrong. That nothing is serious and he's just being overly paranoid.
But it's Izuku, and nothing is ever straightforward with him.
"I've been having these dreams," he sees Izuku flinch from the side of his eye, and all of his hopes of this being simple diminishes, "They feel so real. Like a memory that you've almost forgotten, but still hold on to the main fragments of. You're in them, always, or at least the presence of you is always in them. You're so different in them too."
He pauses, letting Izuku jump in and fill in the gaps. He sighs when he doesn't and continues, "Fuck. I know this sounds batshit insane, but I don't think these dreams are dreams. They've happened, even though I'm older in them, and know people I've never met before, I just know. And I think you know what I'm talking about, and that you can explain what the hell is going on because I am so damn tired of secrets."
He finally looks at Izuku, and the first thing he notices is how utterly still he is. Katsuki isn't sure he's even breathing. He's paler, too, the flushness of his face from exercising completely nonexistent. His eyes are dull and filled with uncontained fear. He looks terrible, but like everything else, Katsuki refuses to back down.
"You're being paranoid, Kacchan. They're just dreams," Izuku whispers. His voice breaks and he's curling in on himself.
He's lying, and oh how that angers Katsuki.
"Stop lying," He sneers. Izuku curls further in himself, gripping his arms so tight that Katsuki doesn't doubt that they won't leave bruises later on.
"Lying can be a kindness," Izuku says, like that's a perfectly sound argument for this.
"I don't give a damn about kindness, Deku. You should know that, or do you not know me anymore?"
"I'll always know you, Kacchan. Always." It comes out as barely a whisper, and if Katsuki wasn't so close to him, he wouldn't have been able to hear it.
"Then tell me, and don't say 'it's not that simple' or 'you won't understand. Make me understand." He could tell that Izuku was finally cracking. There was want in his eyes, and in that moment, Izuku seemed so impossibly alone. "Let me be with you," Katsuki says, trying to convey how much he wanted to help Izuku. How he didn't need to be alone. That he would always be within reaching distance.
It is then that Izuku started to shout, "And where the hell would you want me to start, huh?! You're wrong: it's not simple, and you don't even know what you're asking for. As soon as you know, you're going to wish that I've never told you." Katsuki had never been so happy to have Izuku anger directed towards him. He was finally getting through, even if it was just the prologue to something much bigger.
"Maybe I won't, but that's not for you to decide," Katsuki pauses before adding, "Start from the beginning."
"Which one?" Izuku laughs without humor. His hair is covering his face, shadowing his face from any emotion.
Katsuki stills. His head is pounding with the inevitability of something huge. It feels like a dam moments away from breaking. He clenched his eyes tight to try to get rid of the feeling. It doesn't help.
"What?" He rasps, barely able to get the word out. Sensations are flooding him. He hears the phantom of laughter and drums and shouting. He smells smoke, newly sharpened pencils, and freshly baked cake. He feels love and rage and pain. He nearly forgets where he is, what he's trying to do.
"There's so many pathways I could take to tell you. Do you want me to start when I was first diagnosed quirkless?" Katsuki stifles a gasp. Did this really start a decade ago? But the statement felt wrong, as if there was a big chunk he was missing. He rubs his temples and tries to concentrate as Deku continues, "Or when I first met All Might, and how much more you despised me when you found out I had a quirk?"
What? Why would he despise him? He already knew what this training was for, and while he was a bit jealous that All Might noticed Izuku first, he wasn't hateful towards him.
Deku gives a self-deprecating laugh, "Or maybe when we became friends again, and you apologized for all of the shit you pulled me through?"
Shadows of images of Izuku in a middle school uniform backed up in a corner shaking. Of people laughing at a pathetic quirkless person, everyone encouraging Katsuki to be crueler, crueler, crueler-
Pray for a quirk in your next life, and take a swan dive off of the roof of this building.
"Oh my God," Katsuki says. He's shaking and terrified of everything, but Izuku's trapped in his own world and fails to notice. He feels like gravity is pushing him to the ground, growing heavier with more pressure.
He might be sick.
"How about when everyone died because of me, and so I went back in time to try and save everyone. To try and save you." Izuku isn't crying, but he sobs. It's perhaps the most gut wrenching sound Katsuki has ever heard and he doesn't ever want to hear it again.
Katsuki remembers. He remembers that masked hatred he felt towards Deku, his idiotic friends, his first date with Izuku at the amusement park (he's in too much shock to process that), and he remembers dying.
The pain he felt was white-hot. The feeling of being drained of blood is dizzying and awful. But the worst part was seeing Izuku's face while he was holding Katsuki. It was nothing short of broken, and he wanted nothing more than to see his best friend smile. He remembered wishing for more time, so he wouldn't leave Izuku all alone.
"Oh my God," Katsuki repeats. He can't... he just can't. Fuck, fuck, fuck wholly shit. His mind goes on overdrive. The memories from before and now were mixing together making him disoriented. A lifetime of Izuku always by his side whether he liked it or not, of nights lying awake hating him in order to ignore his bleeding insecurities. Then there was the time when they were always together until Izuku wasn't there anymore, and then he was for what felt like seconds before he disappeared again. When he lied awake thinking about why he couldn't stop thinking about him and why the hell he had left.
He suddenly felt so very old from what he had been just a few moments ago.
He tries to crawl away, to stand up, to fucking move, but his body ignores his commands. He's stuck, but his mind was racing. At last, he moves and grabs hold of Izuku's shoulders. The Damn Nerd flinches like he forgot Katsuki was there. He could tell by the hunch of his shoulders that Izuku wants to get away from him, but Katsuki won't let him.
"Izuku," he breathes, "I remember." It was perhaps the most important two words he has ever said. It seemed to have made time slow all around them. They were the center of the universe.
For a moment, Izuku only blinks at him, and Katsuki could've sworn he saw a spark of hope in his emerald eyes, "You what?"
Katsuki couldn't believe that Deku had somehow done... this. Fear swallowed him at the fact Izu had been carrying this for over a decade. The nightmares he always had and his intelligence started to make more sense. He finally had the puzzle pieces he had been missing for years.
He tries not to choke on his words, "I- I don't remember everything, but I can feel it. It'll come to me, I fucking know it. I just- I, how?"
Everything was going too fast, and it was affecting both of them. Izuku looked like he was on the edge of a panic attack, although he hid it well.
"Back before," he sniffs and gasps for breath. Acting as though Katsuki was the only thing anchoring him, "When I was with the League. As... As a 'last gift' Tomura gave me another quirk."
Katsuki interrupts him, "'Another'? Did they give you more? Shit, what did they do to you? There was never a chance-" He cuts himself off. There wasn't a chance because one day Izuku had shown up with the League, looking like the only thing keeping him standing was the hatred tortured into his skin.
Then it was a bloodbath. And it continued to be even after Izuku had broken out of the spell he had been under.
Deku shakes his head, "It doesn't matter. He was being controlled like the rest of us, and- and he wanted me to change everything. I didn't know what he had given me until I had done it."
He recalls that last time he saw Izu before he was taken by the League. He and Izuku were taking Kota to the park when a villain from the LOV had flown into Izuku.
Kota had only wanted to help, but the villain was too powerful for them -just heroes in training- to fight and simultaneously protect the boy or even get him far enough away from the destruction.
They were both on the ground, and Kota had blocked an attack that was meant for Izuku.
He was dead before he hit the ground.
After that, it was a sea of uncontrollable green lightning. It was equally horrifying as it was tragically beautiful. Katsuki had been trying to revive Kota, hoping that he could save him.
In the end, Izuku had exhausted himself along with losing himself to grief and anger. It was then that the villain had taken him out.
Izuku was gone by the time Katsuki had called out his name.
"Do you really remember?" Izuku asks, breaking Katsuki out of his tumbling mind. The other boy had basically collapsed into him, as if all of his strength had left his body. Katsuki held him while trying to keep him up.
"I do," he whispered into his hair, tangled and messy.
"Thank you," was the last thing he said before passing out into his arms. The stress he must've been experiencing along with the training and lack of sleep finally catching up with him. Katsuki had no idea what he was thanking him for. Shouldn't that be the other way around? He's the one who went back into time and bore the weight of the world.
Katsuki didn't know what else to do, so he went back to the cafe.
He wondered when he would come out of the pure shock of it all.
All he knew was that when reality crashed down on him, at least he had the present to come back to.
What did you guys think? It didn't turn out how I planned it to go, but that's nothing out off the norm he he.
Take care!