It had been three years since Deku disappeared. Katsuki had done everything in his power to find him but to no avail. Izuku Midoriya had simply vanished from the Earth.
Around two months after their graduation party at U.A., the future hero had left, leaving behind a letter for each of his friends in which he asked for forgiveness for leaving them without preamble. Katsuki had been heartbroken. They had been doing great, more than great even. After their first time, they had become closer, the need to always touch each other in any small way overwhelming. Their happiness had been contagious. Despite the stress from the search for agencies, everyone had felt lighthearted. It had been a peaceful couple of months filled with laughter and affection.
But two days before Deku's disappearance, their relationship changed. The green haired boy avoided any sort of affection like kisses, hugs or even hand holding. At night, he stayed on the edge of the bed, back turned towards Katsuki. The red eyed young hero hadn't been able to understand what came over Deku or what he could have done to deserve such treatment. But he hadn't had the time to ponder over it before his boyfriend left him, a small envelope placed on his pillow, waiting for Katsuki's hands to open it. He would never forget the words, they were tattooed on his eyelids forever; each time he closed them, the words danced before him, taunting him.
Dear Kacchan,
First of all, I want to tell you how sorry I am to leave you. I have never loved anyone as much as I love you and know that this will never change. But I have to leave. Unfortunately, I cannot tell you why, but know that it is for a reason more important than our love. Please, become the hero you always wanted to be. I believe in you and am sure you will become number one in record time. Know that I will watch you become that hero, no matter how far away I am from you. Also, if you decide to love again, I will not be jealous. You deserve to be happy and that is my only wish.
I love you, Kacchan
Deku
This was it. Deku had left and would never return. But Katsuki had refused to believe it or accept it. With the aid of their friends, they searched for the boy for weeks, months. But they never found any clue about his whereabouts, as if he had never existed. Even his mom had left, Deku had taken her with him. Apparently, she was more important than Katsuki was.
After a year, everyone had accepted Deku's decision and stopped looking for him. Everyone except Katsuki. He refused to lose him, especially like this. Even after three years, he continued his research in his free time.
Apart from that, his life was becoming perfect. Only three years in the hero commission and he was already the number three hero, Hawks and the old Endeavor still in front of him for the time being. He had even bought a two story house, decided to find Deku, live there with him and even raise a family if it was the nerd's wish. Of course, at first, he would make him beg for forgiveness. Katsuki was no left behind.
Filling paperwork about his latest case, a bubblegum villain that kidnapped people for fun, the blond haired hero was interrupted by three knocks on his office's door. Katsuki sighed in annoyance, putting down his reading glasses and grunting:
"Come in."
A nervous assistant entered the room, arms filled with paperwork. He struggled to close the door for a few seconds, Katsuki not even bothering to offer his help to the damn extra. He could hear Deku's voice in his head, reprimanding him for not helping the poor man, but the nerd had disappeared so he had no right to command him. After the man finally managed to close the door, he turned towards his boss.
"Number one Endeavor is asking for your help for an important case in Tokyo." stuttered the assistant before losing his grip on his paperwork, file after file flying into the room.
Katsuki didn't even bother to react or help the timid man, instead he crossed his arms with a scowl etched on his face.
"Don't call the old man that, you damn extra." he barked. Upon seeing the terrified man standing up, a file on his head, trying to bow for forgiveness, Katsuki sighed. "What exactly does he want?"
"H-He needs backup in Tokyo about the case number eighty-two." stuttered the man crouching back on the floor.
The number three hero sighed once again before putting away his paperwork and getting up.
"Call Nakamura and tell them that I'll be away for a few days." he ordered, striding over the man still crawling on the floor.
"Y-Yes, sir."
After putting his gear on, Katsuki flew from his agency, explosions making the windows tremble, deciding it would be quicker this way than to wait for a car or a train. Also, he needed to express his pent up frustration after staying for hours in his office doing nothing but fucking paperwork.
As he always did, he scrutinized the citizens below him, trying to find a green mop of hair amongst the sea of people going to their day to day duties like an army of ants. But, as usual, he found no hair resembling the least bit like Deku's. Grunting in annoyance, he blowed one last explosion and landed on Endeavor's agency's roof. He didn't take the time to look at the view or anything of that kind of shit, he was too used to it. The number one hero seemed to think he could ask Dynamight anything. That bastard.
Instead, he immediately barged into the building and quickly found the old man's office, now knowing its whereabouts by heart. Inside were waiting the so-infamous Endeavor but also the number five hero, son of the number one hero, Shouto. Katsuki huffed while closing the door behind him, before crossing his arms in front of his chest in a petulant manner, glaring at the two heroes waiting for him.
"What do you want and what the hell is Icy-Hot doing here?" immediately spat Katsuki to the red-haired man.
"Why you little-" started Endeavor before being cut off short by his son.
"We have an infiltration mission in Tokyo. The both of us have to work together." explained Todoroki, as always concise and to the point.
"What the fuck is happening in Tokyo for us to have to go all the way there? Can't its heroes do something?" asked Katsuki grumpily, not caring to put a break on his research on Deku or to take some time off his work.
"The heroes of Tokyo apprehended a member of some sort of gang called the Killdog. Apparently, the leader of this gang is very powerful and they need backup from our best heroes. Hawks and I cannot leave, so it falls on you, Dynamight. And since Shouto is used to work with you and your...temperament, we decided it would be better to pair you two up instead of Best Jeanist."
Katsuki huffed but didn't say anything. He knew he wasn't easy to deal with, especially now that he lost Deku, so it made sense, even if he wasn't happy about leaving and working with the Icy-Hot here.
"Fine. When are we leaving?"
"In two hours, so you have the time to pack your things, put a wig and some colored contacts on." answered Endeavor, getting up from his office chair.
Despite Katsuki's sputtering and protests, he found himself three hours later on a plane direction Tokyo with a blue haired and brown eyed Todoroki next to him. Himself had a black wig and blue contacts on, he couldn't even recognize himself in the mirror. The blue eyes made him look softer than he would like and his black hair showed how pale his skin actually was. He didn't like it but did he have a choice? No.
It wasn't long before they landed on Tokyo's airport and found themselves in the sea of the rushed crowd, being shoved around in all directions, something the two heroes weren't used to as the crowd usually parted to let them through. But disguised as normal citizens, no one seemed to give a single fuck. Katsuki was on the verge of popping someone's head off. But as Kirishima would say, it wouldn't be very heroic.
In an entire hour, they had to swim through the sea of people, find a taxi that deigned to notice them and take them at the hotel and checked in their separate hotel rooms, things they would usually get done in less than thirty minutes. But immediately as Katsuki was about to finally get some rest after that exhausting voyage, he was called in for duty, as apparently the gang was spotted not so far away from their hotel. With a sigh, Katsuki got up from his long lost bed, and got out of the bedroom, meeting Todoroki in the corridor, as their room were next to each other. The now blue haired hero looked as pleased as Katsuki.
"Let's fucking go already. The faster we do it and the quicker I will find my bed back." grumbled Katsuki as he walked towards the exit. Todoroki ran after him in a hurry, calling out:
"Wait, Masaki!"
Upon hearing his fake name, Katsuki stopped but didn't turn around.
"What?" he asked irritated.
"We gotta have a plan before rushing in."
Katsuki snorted.
"The plan is simple: we go see them, say that we want to join them, meet their leader and blow his head off." explained the black haired man before continuing to walk as if Todoroki wasn't there.
"That's not good enough!" protested Shouto, but it fell on deaf ears as the number three hero finally reached the hall and went outside, cutting their conversation short, as they could not discuss this in public.
Scowling in annoyance, the number five hero followed his colleague and went outside. Struggling to keep with Katsuki's long strides, Shouto protested one last time:
"And how are we supposed to find them?"
Katsuki didn't answer and soon took a sharp turn into a dark alley and stopped there, arms crossed with his usual scowl marring his face. They stayed there for a while in silence, one obviously waiting for something and the other fuming beside him. Just as Shoto was about to break the silence, a voice came out from the dark, above us.
"What exactly are you two waiting for? Asking to get killed?"
A shadow jumped from a balcony and landed on its feet, a few meters from the duo. Both heroes stayed put. They knew they were supposed to be citizens and not trained heroes. If they took their automatic fighting stances, they would betray their cover. So they stayed there, completely calm, staring at the mysterious man whose face they could not distinguish in the dark. The man apparently stared back since he didn't ask anything else. They stayed like this for a while, staring each other down, until Katsuki, or Masaki, finally broke the silence:
"We want to see your leader."
The mysterious man laughed.
"You know what you want, don't you?" he chuckled. "Unfortunately for you, no one is allowed to see the boss until they have proven their loyalty. You have done nothing for us, you are complete strangers."
"Then give us something to do. We're ready." snapped Katsuki.
The man hummed.
"You seem particularly eager. Why is that?"
Katsuki had to think quickly. The villain was suspicious, that fact was obvious. Katsuki thought of telling them they were desperate to enroll in a villain group but two problems could come with this answer: one, the villain could get angry for not being their first choice and reject them or worse, try to kill them. Second, it would make of him and Todoroki as unreliable and weak, as it would mean they had tried elsewhere and ended up rejected. No, this wasn't ideal. They could say they had waited a long time for this day, but again, it would pint them as weak, since it would have meant they had struggled to find the group of villains, even if it would flatter their ego in being discrete. And, after all, they didn't put a lot of effort into it, Katsuki had found one of them under five minutes of searching. It wasn't credible either. In the end, the answer was simple. He simply had to act like himself. Angry, rash and dangerous.
"We just want to have fun and blow some citizens up" grinned Katsuki in a way he hoped seemed evil enough to convince him. It wasn't hard to do, since the young hero wasn't really lying. He only ever wanted to blow some villains up. Not citizens. But that, the villain didn't need to know.
From the shadows, Bakugo could discern a smirk growing on the villain's lips. He had him in the palm of his hand. Exactly where he wanted him.
"I like your way of thinking." the culprit finally said in a falsely soft voice. "What are your names?"
"I'm Masaki, and this is my partner, Toruu." answered smoothly Katsuki, hands in his pockets now that the dangerous atmosphere seemed to dissipate.
"Well then, Masaki and Toruu." purred the villain. "I have a mission that you will do for me. If you manage to do it by tomorrow morning, I will bring you to the boss. Deal?"
"Deal." answered Katsuki, reaching out his hand to shake the villain's outstretched hand, the only visible part of his body visible. There was no way of identifying him by just his hand as he was wearing black leather gloves.
But as Katsuki was about to shake the other's hand, Todoroki snatched it away hissing:
"We have to know first what you want us to do." spoke out Shouto for the first time, enraging Katsuki.
"We don't care what it is since we want to be a part of them. Nothing will change my mind about this and I will manage to do whatever he asks of us, because I am the best." barked the fake black haired man, slapping his partner's hand away.
"I refuse to agree to something I know nothing about." insisted Todoroki, his voice calm but dripping with venom.
Before Katsuki could speak up, or more like shout, the villain interrupted their fight.
"It is no problem, I will tell you what the deal consists of, if you are too scared to accept a simple proposition."
"It is no proposition if we don't know anything-" snapped Todoroki while Bakugo yelled:
"I AM NOT SCARED!"
The still outstretched hand disappeared and reappeared as quickly, this time holding a picture of a little boy with red hair and purple eyes. He looked no older than four years old and was holding the hand of an adult cut from the picture.
"I want you to bring that boy to me." explained the villain with a dark chuckle.
"You mean kidnap him." corrected the fake blue haired man with a scowl. "Out of the question."
"Of course we'll do it!" said at the same time Katsuki with confidence.
"Excuse us, we apparently have to talk." apologized Todoroki before grabbing his partner's arm and going back a few steps away from the shadows, where the villain was waiting, picture still in his outstretched hand.
"There's nothing to talk about Icy-H-" protested Katsuki.
"Listen, this is going too far." interrupted Shouto in a whisper, still gripping at Katsuki's arm. "We are heroes, we don't do kidnappings. This is against our values."
"Ha?! Are you being stupid on purpose?! We'll kidnap the kid, bring him here, see the boss, blow him up and bring back the kid before anyone notices his disappearance. Mission accomplished and no one is hurt apart from the scums."
"Katsuki, we can't kidnap a kid."
"Of course we can! He's gonna be captured anyway if we don't do anything. This way it will prevent any more crimes and maybe kidnappings. It will save way more lives this way! Think logically instead of thinking with your little icy heart!"
Before Todoroki could protest, Katsuki marched towards the villain, snatched the photo away and said in a determined voice:
"We'll do it and bring your shitty kid to you by tomorrow morning."
A dark chuckle later, the villain disappeared in the shadows and left.
As they walked back to the hotel to do their research on the poor kid, Shouto didn't share a word to his partner, looking anywhere but at him. Katsuki couldn't care less if the Icy-Hot was sulking. He knew he was right and it meant more silence and peace.
They went into the number five hero's hotel room, where they kept their hero gear and computers. It wasn't long for them to find the kid's identity and his whereabouts. The boy, Eiji Takeshi, seemed to be of no importance to neither the hero world or the villain one. He was a simple citizen with a normal life and unimportant family. Why the group of villains needed him, Katsuki and Shouto had no ideas and didn't have the time to investigate further, as they had only a few more hours to find the kid and, as preferred to call it Katsuki, borrow him from his parents. But Bakugo guessed it had probably something to do with the boy's quirk which had probably manifested recently.
After putting on some casual but discreet outfits, the two heroes went out of the hotel and walked towards their destination, a large building resembling all others in the center of Tokyo. Propelling himself in the sky, Katsuki looked through the window of the living room of the family's apartment. It was dark and empty. Apparently, the duo's luck wouldn't help them today. Descending back on the ground, Katsuki announced the news to his partner.
"They're not here." he grunted.
"Crap." muttered Shouto. "Do we wait until they come back? It's the safest solution but we also don't have a lot of time."
Katsuki grunted in agreement. Shouto was right. Tokyo was a big city, it would take them days to find the boy if he wasn't at his apartment. They had no clue as to where he could be. They didn't have any sources of where he passed his days at. It seemed they had no choice but to wait.
Looking around him, Katsuki suddenly noticed a supermarket. It was six PM. Usually, families spent their day this way: school or daycare for the kid and work for the parents until between four to six PM. After that, the parents went to school to take their kid home and immediately cooked dinner. If it wasn't the case, then it meant that the fridge and cupboards were empty. And what did one do when there wasn't anything to eat anymore?
"We should go search in the supermarket." said aloud Katsuki, already marching towards the building in question.
"Wait!" protested Shouto, grabbing his arm once again. Katsuki was becoming fed up of this habit. "Someone should stay here in case they come back."
"Fine, you stay here." grunted Katsuki. "I go to the supermarket and will find the kid before you."
"This isn't a contest." muttered the number five hero. But his partner hadn't heard him, already far away, silhouette disappearing through the throng of people.
The supermarket wasn't as full as Katsuki had feared. A few parents here, a group of teenagers there. So, it was simple for him to find the kid. To his luck, he was alone, his mother probably had left to search for another ingredient and would come back quickly. Katsuki had to be quick. Eyes fixed on the child, he didn't notice the person walking in front of him and almost rammed into him.
"Piss off, you extra." he muttered, throwing a fleeting glare to the person in question.
But to his shock, he was met with a green mop of hair and wide green eyes surrounded by speckles of freckles. But before he could react, Deku left quickly and disappeared outside.
Katsuki panicked. He had to get to Deku. After years of searching everywhere for him, he stumbled on the guy the moment he shouldn't be bothered. He couldn't let Deku go. But he also couldn't let the citizens down. He had to put the mission first. Quickly, he ran over the child, placing as gentle a hand as he could on the kid's mouth and walked as quickly as he could without drawing attention to him. As he finally exited the supermarket, he looked around, hoping to find that green mop of hair of his. He looked everywhere. But to no avail. Deku had disappeared once again.
"Dammit!" cursed Bakugo, hugging the child to him so he wasn't more distraught by his anger.
He had failed Deku once more. He was just there! He could have reached him, stopped him, talked to him. But he wasn't quick enough. He wasn't enough.
Before he could fall into his depressive thoughts once again, a voice piped up:
"Are you Dynamight? Why are your hair and eyes funny?"
Katsuki looked down on the small body in his arms and was met with big purple eyes.
"Yes kiddo, it's me, your hero Dynamight!" smirked Katsuki with confidence, ignoring the last question.
The kid looked at him with starry eyes.
"Did you come to save me?"
Guilt pierced his heart at the innocent question. He had just taken this poor kid away from his mother and despite that he still trusted his hero. Katsuki didn't want to lie to him, lying was for weak people and if Katsuki wasn't something it certainly was weak (except when it came to Deku, apparently). So he did the next best thing.
"Listen to me, brat. I have a very important mission but to beat the bad guys, I need your help. I need you to come with me and to go with the bad guys for a little while so we can find their hideout. After that, I'll take you back to your mum. Deal?"
Of course, he would have to take the child even if he refused but he would prefer it if the child was willing to play along with him.
"Will it be like I am your sidekick?" asked the child.
"Exactly."
The child grinned wide and lifted one fist up in the All Might's, now Deku's, pose.
"I'm gonna be a hero!" exclaimed the kid loudly and Katsuki shushed him.
"Shh. We have to be discrete, so don't shout." he reprimanded as gently as Katsuki was able to.
"Oops, sorry." apologized the boy, placing a hand on his mouth.
"That's okay. Now, what's your name?" asked Katsuki, feigning ignorance.
"Eiji!"
"Great, Eiji. Now we'll find my teammate and then we can go fight the bad guys." explained Katsuki while lowering Eiji on the ground.
"Who's your partner? Is it Deku? It's been awhile since you worked together. I remember that I was this small!" asked Eiji while putting his hand just above his hip to show how small he was.
A pang pierced Katsuki's heart at the mention of his ex-lover that he had lost once again for this stupid mission. But he stayed as stoic as ever, having Shouto as a teammate had taught him this much.
"No, brat. It's hero Shouto."
Eiji gasped loudly before slapping a small hand on his mouth to keep quiet. Katsuki shook his head in exasperation and looked up at the familiar sound of footsteps.
"Speaking of the devil." Katsuki muttered. "Oi! What took you so long?" he asked, ignoring the fact that he was the one who told Shouto to stay put.
The now blue haired hero didn't react, he just looked down at the free boy looking right back at him with stars in his eyes.
"Did I miss something?" he asked as calm as ever.
"I'm your sidekick." whispered Eiji, exaggerating his discretion, before Katsuki could answer.
Shouto lifted an eyebrow. To be fair, Katsuki had left him and gone to steal a kid and said kid seemed too cheerful for a kidnapped kid. In his perspective, it did seem weird. But whatever, Katsuki wasn't here to explain everything to this dumbass.
"Right. Then let's go, shall we?" suggested Shouto, turning on his heels and walking in the direction of the point of rendezvous.
Bakugo looked around one last time for his Deku but there was too many people and if Izuku didn't want to be found, then he would make it very difficult for those who searched for him, as Katsuki had learned those last three years. With a sigh, he took Eiji's hand and followed after his hero partner.
"Huh. You really did bring him." noted the villain amused, still hidden in the shadows.
"Of course we did, you piece of shit. Don't ever doubt my word." snapped Katsuki, now holding the boy on his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
They had all agreed that coming with a willing kid would seem suspicious. Shouto had asked Eiji if he was okay for being held this way and the boy had enthusiastically answered yes. Katsuki wouldn't have even asked. It was the role of a sidekick to obey orders and do as their mentor says. Not that the brat was truly his sidekick.
"Well, we don't get real new recruits every day." explained the unbothered villain. "Now, give me the kid and then we can go see the master."
It was obvious to Katsuki, having known the fucker for so long, that the usually heterochromatic hero hesitated and wasn't comfortable at the idea of giving a child to a villain but Katsuki didn't hesitate and handed over Eiji who was faking being unconscious.
"Follow me." ordered the villain, walking deeper in the shadows.
The usually blond haired man tsked in annoyance at the direct order but for the sake of the mission, obeyed.
If Shouto had been in charge, he would have waited a bit and let the leader of the clan talk to form a good plan. But unfortunately, he wasn't in charge but on equal ground with Katsuki. And Katsuki was a rusher. Immediately after entering the room with the leader in it, he snatched the kid from the surprised villain to put Eiji out of danger before exploding his way towards the leader who was more prepared than his henchman and fought back. After that, it was a complete mess.
They were at least fifty villains there and they all attacked in unison. And more were coming. It wasn't long before something bad happened.
"Stop or I'm hurting the kid!" shouted one of the henchmen, one hand wrapped around Eiji's neck.
Everything stopped for a moment. Shouto was frozen in place, looking at the young boy with worry in his eyes. Katsuki could see the multiple strategies going on in his head to save the child but, unlike him, Katsuki was not phased.
"You think I care about some child I found on the streets?" he sniggered.
The henchman hesitated and this was his last mistake. Not waiting for a second more, the hero jumped into action, ran towards the vilain and the brat and snatched the latter from the other's arms. After that, he head butted the clown's head who immediately collapsed on the ground and put the child to safety once again. Only a handful of villains was still standing and every single one of them were hesitant. Except the leader who was red with rage, snarling like a bull.
"You think you can get away that easily?!" spouted the villain through his gritted teeth.
"We can and we will." answered Shouto, nodding towards Katsuki in thanks before running towards the leader.
"Oh no, you don't, Icy Hot!" shouted the number three hero before igniting his explosions and landing in front of the villain at the same time as Shouto did. "You are not getting all the credit." he added, throwing a punch in the man's jaw who dodged the blow.
"It was not my intention!" protested the half and half hero, his fire side burning hot.
"Like hell it wasn't!" spouted Katsuki, throwing another explosion at the villain who controlled a stone to get in the way.
Shouto only rolled his eyes and encased the stone controller into ice. But it wasn't enough to stop him. He immediately used several stones to break the ice trapping him and retaliated with the same stones, throwing them towards the two heroes. Todoroki created an ice wall in front of him while Katsuki exploded every last one of the rocks directed at him. Suddenly, a scream resonated. Shouto turned around quickly to see the little boy surrounded by no less than five villains. Leaving Katsuki with the villain, knowing full well that he was capable of handling this by himself, he ran towards the boy and used his fire side on the villains, being mindful of Eiji who had stopped screaming at the view of the number five hero. Shouto encased a villain in ice while fighting another one in hand to hand combat. It wasn't long before the villain fell on the floor, unconscious. But Shouto didn't have the time to bask in this small victory as another villain bounced on him from behind. For a while, everything was just fire and explosions, creating a cacophonous opera with only a little boy for spectator. All of a sudden, the explosions stopped, leaving only a loud silence behind. Everything stopped. Shouto turned around, a pang of worry in his heart that quickly disappeared at the view of Katsuki towering over the knocked out boss of the villains. The aforementioned villains were all frozen in shock before the sight of their vanquished boss, giving Shouto the opportunity to encase them all in some ice, incapacitating the last of the villains. He met Katsuki's gaze and nodded. The hero Dynamight took out his cell phone to call the police while Shouto went to see how the boy was.
The police arrived quickly and took all fifty villains into custody. The two heroes brought a jubilant Eiji back to his worried mother and apologized for the trouble they caused. Well, more like Shouto apologized while Katsuki scowled next to him. Mission finished, Shouto started walking away from the crime scene, ready to go back to his hotel room to have a well deserved sleep, expecting Katsuki to follow him. But he quickly noticed that his colleague wasn't moving, a far away look in his eyes.
"Dynamight!" he called, turning back towards his fellow hero. "You're coming?"
Painfully slow, Katsuki blinked and turned towards him. Shouto was surprised by the distressed look on his friend-but-not-friend's face. Worried, he asked:
"Are you okay?"
Expecting to have his head bitten off for 'underestimating him', his worry was increased tenfold when Katsuki shook his head in negation. Before Shouto could panic, the blond added:
"I saw Deku, earlier."
The world stopped.
"What?" whispered Shouto in shock.
"I saw him." repeated Katsuki, a familiar frown slowly taking over his face. "I saw him in that supermarket where I took the brat and I wasn't able to follow him! I'm sure he even recognized me but he disappeared before I could do anything! He disappeared on me again!"
His shouts made some heads turn towards them. Knowing that Katsuki would hate himself even more for showing weakness in front of civilians, or anyone for that matter, Shouto pried the blond's hands from where they were gripping at his own hair, on the verge of tearing them out, having put away the wig and the contacts, and slowly guided him in the direction of their hotel.
"You couldn't have done anything, Katsuki. We were on a mission and you concentrated on that mission instead of personal issues like a good hero does. You did what was right." he tried to reassure the explosive man.
"It doesn't feel like it." mumbled Katsuki, frown still etched on his face. He looked up, seeming to finally notice that he was walking. "Where are we going?"
"Back at the hotel."
The blond stopped.
"No." he said while shaking his head. "I'm not going back there to sleep. I have to find Deku."
Shouto sighed.
"Listen, we're both tired after this mission and we need to rest. We can look for him tomorrow."
"We?" Katsuki sneered. "Deku is my boyfriend and I don't want him to escape from me once again. I'm going, now."
Before he could leave, Shouto grabbed him by the arm.
"Firstly, he was your boyfriend. Secondly, he was my friend. I have every right to search for him too. Thirdly, he probably won't be able to leave Tokyo before tomorrow, so we have the time. We will be more efficient after a good night's sleep."
Katsuki shook him off violently.
"We never broke up, so he is still my boyfriend. And I don't want to risk it, I'm not going to lose him a second time. Now, leave me alone!"
With a big explosion, Katsuki took off, leaving his colleague behind. Shouto sighed but didn't go after him. He would go out to look for Midoriya himself tomorrow, hoping that the blond wouldn't find him before him. He was too emotional to handle it correctly.
With another sigh, the dual-haired man turned around and finally went back to his hotel room.
Searching for Deku was like looking for a needle in a haystack. Tokyo was a big city and every building looked the same. At his twentieth building (or maybe more, he lost count, really) he was about to give up but a name plate on a mailbox made him stop in his tracks. It wasn't Deku's name but something about it seemed familiar. Ichirou Machida.
Suddenly, it hit him. Ichirou was the name Deku always took when they played pretend as kids. And with the last name, it made the same initials as Izuku Midoriya. It could all be a coincidence but Katsuki could feel it. He was at the right place.
Thankfully, someone kept the door open for him as they were heading out. Not patient enough to wait for an elevator, Katsuki ran through all fifteen floors, his heart beating fast from the adrenaline and his nervousness. When he arrived at the right door, he knocked immediately, without thinking about what he would say to him.
What would one say to someone they hadn't seen for three whole years? Should he say hello like for a normal conversation? Should he shout at him for having dared to leave him behind like an old sock? Should he cry? Katsuki had no idea and regretted to have had knocked so quickly on the door before thinking more thoroughly about it. Way too soon, the sound of a lock reached his ears. The door opened.
The air was knocked out of Katsuki's lungs. It was him. It really was him! He hadn't changed one bit: his hair greener than the freshest grass, eyes sparkling like emeralds and freckles creating constellations on his cheeks and nose. The only difference was that he looked less in shape, thinner. He also had dark bags under his eyes from the fatigue. As he finally found himself in front of his boyfriend - ex-boyfriend? - the blond was unable to think properly. They looked at each other for what seemed an eternity, Deku's eyes wide with surprise and a bit of fear. Katsuki jumped.
He jumped on the green haired man and kissed him hard on the mouth like a drowning man before a siren. To his joy, Deku kissed him back with the same fervor, grabbing a fistful of blond hair to keep him in place. It felt like returning home after a long day in a blizzard. Warm. Welcoming. As he felt Deku parting his lips, Katsuki took the opportunity to explore the dark cavern that was Deku's mouth with his tongue. Lapping every inch of his tongue, his teeth and inner cheeks, Katsuki felt like a drugged man who hadn't had his dose for days on end.
But all of a sudden, Deku shoved him away hard, hands shaking and breath as uneven as Katsuki's. Still high on the kiss, Katsuki didn't notice when Deku wiped away some stray tears running down his face. With a croaked voice, the latter asked:
"What are you doing here, Kacchan?"
At these words, Katsuki fell down hard from heaven and felt that familiar anger rushing back, stronger than ever.
"What am I doing here? Three years, Deku! Three fucking years of looking for you everywhere and that's all you have to say to me?"
"I never asked for you to come for me, quite the contrary, actually." retorted Deku, crossing his arms to hide the fact that his hands were shaking.
"Yeah, telling me to find someone else! Do you really know me? Because if you did, you would know that it's always been and will always be you! You're it for me! But it seems like I was the only one who felt that way."
The greenette's expression fell. He let his arms fall to his sides.
"Kacchan, no. That's not true."
"Then why did you leave?!" Bakugou shouted, angry tears threatening to escape.
"I had to." whispered Deku, looking at the floor. "It was what was best for you."
The blond haired hero snorted.
"Yeah, right! Try again."
But before Deku could answer, the sound of footsteps interrupted them. Seeing him freeze, Katsuki suspected that this, whatever it was, was the reason why he had left him. He stopped breathing, certain that it was Deku's new boyfriend and that the green haired man had left him for another as he had feared. But as the person revealed themselves, Katsuki immediately noted that the figure was too small to be an adult, even for a small person. It was a little girl. She couldn't have been older than three and had long curly blond hair with some streaks of green here and there and green almond shaped eyes with a bit of freckles on the nose and the cheeks. Katsuki's heart stopped. She looked exactly like him except for the color of her eyes and her hair.
"Don't tell me you did what I think you did." he murmured, hands clenching into fists.
Throwing a quick worried glance at him, Deku kneeled down to be at a more even size with the girl and put a stray hair behind her ear with a softness that made Katsuki's heart clench.
"Hanae, why aren't you sleeping?" asked Deku in a soft voice that put arrows in Katsuki's heart despite his anger.
"I 'eard shoutin'." answered the little girl, scrubbing an eye with her small fist. She looked past Deku, right at Katsuki and asked in an even smaller voice: "Is dis...?"
Katsuki didn't particularly like children but this one made him melt just by looking in her eyes. He had an idea on why she had that special effect on him but he didn't want to believe it.
Deku bit his lip, clearly uncomfortable with this situation.
"I'll tell you all about it tomorrow, okay? Now, it's time to sleep."
Getting up, he took the little girl's hand in his before turning towards Katsuki.
"I'm going to put her to bed. Just...come inside and wait in the living room. We'll talk." he said in a resigned voice.
He turned on his heels and turned left in the corridor, where the bedrooms were, guessed Katsuki. The young hero closed the door behind him and went into the living room which was open to the entryway with no walls separating them. On his way to the sofa, he stopped before the wall where a few pictures were hanged. Katsuki felt his throat closing at the view of the picture in which Hanae had just been born, sleeping in her exhausted dad's arms, a crying Inko next to them. There were a few more pictures of the little girl growing: her walking as a baby, playing in a playground, drawing.
Turning his back on the photos, he finally went to sit on the couch, jiggling his leg while he waited. After a few more minutes, he heard a door being closed and footsteps approaching. He didn't turn around and only waited until Deku finally sat next to him, leaving some space between them. Space Katsuki would have wanted to close if he wasn't that angry.
Wringing his hands with anxiety, Deku asked:
"Do you want some tea?"
"What I want is some explanations." snapped Katsuki, eyebrows furrowed.
The green haired man sighed.
"Yeah, okay."
Silence. They stayed like that for a few minutes, Deku looking at the ground, lost for words, and Katsuki scowling at the TV in front of him, as if it had offended him in some way. He waited. And waited. Until.
"I guess you understood that Hanae is your daughter."
The Earth stopped turning on its axis. Yes, Katsuki had, in fact, supposed that this was the case. But supposing and hearing it out loud had not the same impact. Out of breath, he managed to ask:
"Why did you hide her existence from me?"
Deku bit his lip but didn't answer. Feeling the rage overwhelming him, he shouted, finally turning towards him:
"Why, Deku?! Did you think I would be such a bad father that you had to hide her from me?! Is that it?! Answer me!"
"Kacchan, please, stop shouting, you'll wake Hanae and it takes time for her to fall asleep."
He closed his eyes and finally answered:
"I never thought you would be a bad father, on the contrary. But you had such a great future in front of you, I couldn't take that away from you. I know you, you would've abandoned your dream to take care of our daughter. Being a hero and a father is possible but not when the work in question is to become number one. I couldn't take that away from you. Take that away from Japan."
Katsuki had to really restrain himself for him not to shout again.
"That's bullshit! We could've make it work. It's you and me, we always manage to find a solution. But leaving me behind and hide my own daughter from me is not a solution."
Deku bit his lip, regret flashing in his eyes.
"I know you're right but I was young and scared. I couldn't think correctly. My mum did try to make me change my mind but I was too stubborn to listen to her. I'm lucky she even followed my plan and left with me, changing her name to disappear along with me."
Speaking of the gentle mother of Deku, Ktauski noticed that she wasn't there with them, as he thought she would.
"Where is she, by the way?" he asked.
"She sometimes works in the evenings. It wasn't easy to find jobs as nobodies so we don't have the easiest ones. We're lucky we both got hired."
Katsuki felt grateful for Deku's lucky star that followed him since he met All Might. But he couldn't help the rage overwhelming him at the fact that Deku had preferred to take the risk to end on the streets than to stay with him. He guessed he could understand Deku's motives, as stupid and irrational as they were. But he still could feel the anger bubbling in him.
"Let's go back to the subject at hand." reminded Katsuki. "If you realized later on that it was a stupid reason, why didn't you come back?"
Deku's eyes filled with tears. Alarmed, the urge to take his boyfriend (he was still his boyfriend, okay!) in his arms became stronger than his anger. Worried, he hugged Deku close to him, feeling the latter's shuddering breaths as he fought the need to let it all out. Soothing him, Katsuki asked in a hushed voice:
"What is it, Deku? You can tell me."
He felt the shake of the head before the tears wetting his uniform. He tightened his grip on the curled up form in his arms and said in his most reassuring voice:
"Tell me. I'm not gonna be mad, this time. I promise."
Deku shook his head once again.
"I can't tell you. It's only going to hurt you."
Katsuki couldn't control the snarl escaping him at those words. He took Deku by the shoulders and pushed him away just enough too look at him in his glistening eyes.
"You know that I hate it when I am treated like I'm made of fucking glass. Tell me. I deserve to know. She's my daughter too. And you're my boyfriend, no matter the years we were kept apart."
The former hero let out a sob but nodded.
"Okay."
He took a shuddering breath and leaned into Katsuki, hiding his face in the other's chest.
"I didn't want you to get attached to her." he admitted in a small but steady voice.
The blond haired hero frowned in a mix of confusion and anger.
"Ha?! Why wouldn't you want me to get attached to my own daughter?"
Deku straightened up, looking down, and tried to wipe away his tears but more went to replace them. Giving up, he let the tears fall freely and lifted up his head, meeting Katsuki's eyes. Keeping his eyes locked, he announced in the dead of the night:
"She's dying."