Author's note: Thanks so much for all of your feedback and kind words, ONCE AGAIN! Your kindness gives me strength! I was out of town this weekend with no wifi which was great because I got a chapter of Bakugo's story done and *drumroll please* I started the Shinso story and you guys, I am so pumped about the first chapter, I am about to post shortly! Happy Sunday, friends!
I'm not sure how long I held him like that. Eventually he became so quiet and still, his breathing as steady as a strong heart beat, that I wondered if he had fallen asleep. I ran my hands through his soft ash blonde hair and felt his arms loosen around my waist as he began to sit up straight. As his deep red eyes gazed into mine there were so many unasked questions that lingered in my mind but I sensed that it wasn't the time to ask. Instead of speaking, I ran my fingertips along his soft, warm cheek. Leaning forward, I pressed my lips against his. He hummed into the kiss and I felt myself smiling as I pulled away.
"I missed you," He said softly, his fingers intertwining with mine as he pulled my hand away from his face."I missed you too," I responded. Staring at our hands clasped together, I realized that the torrent of his emotions that had swept me up was now a mere butterfly kiss that caressed my skin.
"Did you use your stupid quirk to make me feel calm or some shit?" He muttered and I realized he was looking at our hands as well.
"No, I swear!" I exclaimed, pulling my hand out of his as though in an attempt to prove it.
"Oh," He said, looking down so that his hair shielded me from seeing his eyes. "So you must have done that all on your own."
I felt the blush spread across my cheeks and attempted to use the back of my hand to hide the stupid grin stretched across my face. "Oh, well..."
When he looked up at me, there was the faintest hint of a smile on his lips. He pressed his hands into my knees as he pushed himself up to standing. His touch left a tingling sensation lingering on my skin. He grabbed the medication and water that I had forgotten about from his nightstand and handed them to me.
"Take it," He said gently and as I followed his instruction, he grabbed a sweatshirt off the floor and tossed it at me.
I hadn't even noticed it until now and I felt the harsh sting of embarrassment as I realized it was the one I had grabbed from my closet the previous night. I had gotten the sweatshirt when I was in middle school shortly after I became obssessed with All Might. Cringing at the Plus Ultra plastered across the front, I reluctantly put it on when I realized that it was fairly cool in Katsuki's room. He must be the type to crank his AC up. I thought, as I pulled the sweatshirt over my head. He must have noticed my scrunched up face because he gave me a questioning look.
"I used to be a bit of an All Might fangirl," I said sheepishly, gesturing at the Plus Ultra text. "Sure, I knew about him, I mean, who didn't know about him? But I will never forget the day we crossed paths for the first time. It was shortly after I started middle school and my experience at the new school was not off to a great start. I was friends with Shinso but that was about it and we had a reputation for being the weirdo loner kids."
Katsuki leaned against his desk as he listened, his eyes focused on me.
"Guys can be pretty bad, but girls, man...girls are the worst." I continued. "This girl had been targetting me for a while, stupid stuff like tripping me in the halls, or writing nasty words on my desk that the teacher ended up blaming me for and making me clean up. But one day after school when I was waiting to meet up with Shinso, her girl posse found me waiting by the fountain of a nearby park. She started talking shit and when I ignored her, she got mad. She realized that she looked like an idiot hurling insults at someone who wasn't paying her any attention, so she grabbed me by the hair and dunked my head into the water before I realized what was happening."
He narrowed his eyes slightly at this, but otherwise his face remained neutral. I thought I noticed his grip on the edge of the desk tighten slightly but I could have been imagining it.
"She got a good laugh out of her friends, which seemed to egg her on to dunk my head in the water again, but this time she held me down longer." I remembered it so vividly, the fear as I tried to push back against the hand gripping me, the muffled squeals of laughter bubbling above the surface of the water, the choking sensation as I tried to suck in a breath. "I panicked and I just started thrashing around. It felt like I was under forever, but suddenly her hand let go."
I recalled bursting out of the water, gasping and choking for air. "I heard his voice before I saw him. 'Bullying's not cool, kids!'" I did my best to impersonate him by deepening my voice but it was an embarrassing attempt. I was surprised when Katsuki didn't make some snide remark, but instead looked to be deep in his own thoughts as I kept going. "The girls all seemed to flutter about, making their excuses while also somehow gushing about how much they loved him. When I had finally gotten myself under control, I looked up at him and he was freaking huge - way bigger than he looks when you see him on TV."
His body was massive, a solid tower of pure, meaty muscle, and I remember the way it blocked the sun as I looked up at his confident grin. "I will never forget the way he stood so tall, hands on hips, and leaned down to the girl's eye level as he said, 'Off you go now.' His eyes had been so kind but they hardened in that moment. It was a warning and the girls scuttled off without another word. They didn't bother me after that, wouldn't even look my way actually."
A smile tugged at my lips as I recalled the memory of All Might that day. He had asked me if I was alright before encouraging me to go beyond and be plus ultra before zipping off to fight much more threatening villains lurking in the shadows. It had always felt a bit corny hearing him say it during his interviews on TV but that day it had been my saving grace, a building block to add to my motivation towards becoming a pro-hero. I had bought the sweatshirt shortly after the incident.
"He was so kind to me that day," I said as the memory played through my mind. "There's a reason he's the number 1 hero I suppose. Well, I guess now..."
"Now he's nothing." Katsuki's voice sounded hollow as he pushed off the desk and started walking towards his door. With each step he took it felt as though he was drifting farther and farther away from me again. "You should go report what happened to Aizawa before class starts. Your friend was right about that at least."
It was then that I noticed a piece of art above Katsuki's desk. My eyes had been so focused on him since I'd woken up that I hadn't paid any attention to my surroundings. The wall hanging was brightly colored with blues, reds and yellows and the art was so beautifully done that I wondered if it was a special edition piece, as I'd never seen anything like it. Through the combination of thick and thin brush strokes, I immediately realized that it was a series of pictures of All Might in various poses, some in which you could see the ghost of an outline of the imaginary villain he fought.
Now he's nothing. Katsuki had spoken the words so casually but I had caught a glimpse of his eyes before he turned away and in that moment he had looked so sad and small, as though he was just a little boy who had lost his hero.