In Your Shadow [Chapter 35]

[Chapter 34]

“Staying over tonight,” Katsuki tapped out, as he fell onto his mattress. “Patrol ran late.”

He hit send, tossing his phone aside lightly and leaning back, sighing as he sank into his blankets. His phone buzzed, no doubt with the usual thumbs-up reaction, but then it kept buzzing, and Katsuki groaned as he rolled over to look. Aizawa’s name lit up the screen, and Katsuki frowned as he picked it up – had he gotten the day of the week wrong, or something?

“Hello?” he asked tentatively.

“Bakugou,” Aizawa said, a hint of a chuckle in his tone. “You realise it’s summer break?”

Fuck.

“Right. Sorry.” Katsuki sighed, running a hand through his hair. Ugh, sweaty. “Been a long day, slipped my mind.”

“It’s okay,” Aizawa assured him. “I wanted to say that you should probably message your parents, let them know you’re okay, since you’d be home with them otherwise.”

“Yeah, I should.” Katsuki grimaced. “Sorry for bugging you.”

“Don’t be. I’m glad you’re getting so much out of this experience. Just let me know if you’re heading back to the dorms at all, so I know to look out for you.”

“I will. Um, I’ll probably drop by this week to pick up some stuff, but I won’t stay over.”

“Okay. Make sure you’re updating Deku on your whereabouts, too.”

“I will. I am.”

“And give me updates about what you’re doing, occasionally. It’s great to know you’re safe, but I want to hear the interesting stuff, too.”

“Really?”

Aizawa chuckled, and Katsuki felt his face burn, grateful no one was around to see it.

“I know I’m old and a teacher, but I’m still a hero, I still like to hear about it.”

“I know that. I mean, not the hear about it, and you’re not old, but— ugh. Um, yeah, some cool stuff happened. Do you know about the bridge collapse, a few days ago?”

“I don’t think so.”

Katsuki regaled him with the story, starting vague at first, but quickly getting into the details as he remembered the event, the adrenaline surging through him all over again.

“Maelstrom?” Aizawa asked, when Katsuki reached the climactic moment of arrival. “Nakamura? He was one of Joke’s students.”

“He was? So he was at our licence exam?”

“No, I believe he was the year before you. She occasionally throws a few promising students in earlier. And if he’s been picked up by Deku, he must be pretty good.”

“He is,” Katsuki admitted. “I’ve always gotten along with him, but I’d never really seen him use his quirk much, before. Seeing the sheer scale of it, in the river…”

“I’ll have to meet him one day,” Aizawa said. “Thank him for me, for showing up to help you and Todoroki.”

“We could’ve handled it,” Katsuki huffed. “He just made it… a lot easier.”

Plus, Katsuki suspected they’d have lost at least one civilian, without him. They’d been lucky as hell to get everyone out with only minor injuries.

“I should check on Todoroki, too, I suppose. Did he seem okay?”

“Yeah,” Katsuki assured him. “I mean, as okay as he ever is.”

Aizawa chuckled, and Katsuki cracked a smile of his own.

“Okay,” Aizawa said. “Carry on.”

He let out a low whistle when Katsuki described the ice wall, the way he’d seen Todoroki turn into Jack Frost but still keep going, keep holding it. He talked about the dry river bed, about the hero who got all the cars to practically walk themselves out – Senti, Aizawa informed him. So he knew all Deku’s sidekicks, apparently. Good to know.

“You’ve probably met Iwata by now, right?” Aizawa asked, when Katsuki had finished his story. “I know he mostly works weekends, so you’ve probably run into him.”

Katsuki squinted a little. The name wasn’t familiar, but…

“Igneo,” Aizawa corrected himself, before Katsuki got a chance to ask. “Sorry.”

“Oh. Yeah.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah, I fucking love Igneo.”

He regretted his language immediately, but thankfully, Aizawa just chuckled at him.

“You probably know he was a U.A. student too,” Aizawa said. “You should tell him about the bridge event, next time you see him.”

“How come?”

“He’ll have a story to tell you. I won’t steal his glory and tell it for him.”

“Okay,” Katsuki agreed, even though he wished Aizawa would just spit it out. “I’ll talk to him next weekend, then.”

“Good. I’ll let you go now, get some rest. I know we touched on it briefly in class, but don’t forget we have our training camp in a few weeks; it’s the last one you’ll have with your class, so I’d like for you to come, but I understand if Deku has something happening that you deem more important. I trust you to make the right decision about what’s best for yourself and your future career. Just try not to take too many leaves out of Deku’s book; he’s heading for a good burnout faster than I’ve ever seen before.”

“I’ll think about it,” Katsuki agreed. “And I’ll talk to Deku and stuff.”

“And you’ll get some rest?” Aizawa asked pointedly.

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “I’m on my way to bed now, don’t worry about me.”

“Good. Take care of yourself.”

“I will. You as well. Um, stop working nights, the agency has it covered.”

“I knew he was rubbing off on you too much,” Aizawa sighed, though Katsuki suspected he was smiling, just like Katsuki was. “Summer break is my time to actually be a hero, for once. I’ll see you out there.”

“Looking forward to it.”

He hung up the phone, and groaned as he dragged himself back to his feet, heading toward the bathroom. He was gonna have to wash his sheets at some point soon, considering how many times he’d collapsed onto them all sweaty and gross lately, but that was a problem for a different day.

For now, all that mattered was cleaning himself up and getting some damn sleep.

———

Katsuki hung back at first, just watching Deku teach, smiling faintly to himself when he laughed with all the local kids, listening attentively to their dumb stories and nodding along like they were the most exciting thing ever, or comparing muscles, making all the kids giggle over his arms the size of their damn heads. He hadn’t known what to expect, when Deku had told him to come along, but a bunch of giggling kids was really not what he’d thought was coming his way.

“Okay!” Deku said, clapping his hands and making all the kids immediately jump to attention. “I see some familiar faces here, that’s awesome, but I see a lot of new ones too, and that’s awesome as well! So familiar faces, we’re gonna show the others how we line up, okay? Remember to hold your arms out, and make sure you don’t touch. You all are gonna stand at the front for me, so the new people have someone to copy if they get stuck! If it’s your first time here, we’re gonna line up behind one of our new friends, and take three biiiig steps backwards, to make sure we have space.”

The kids fell into some sense of order, and Katsuki just watched as they scrambled to find a spot. It reminded him of old martial arts classes he’d taken as a kid, which he supposed made sense, since Deku had probably taken the same ones at some point in his life.

“Okay, so the first thing we’re gonna talk about: what is self-defence?”

“Taking care of yourself!” a kid yelled out.

“Keeping yourself safe!”

“Exactly!” Deku agreed. “And what are the three most important things we have to remember, about keeping ourselves safe?”

“Don’t go anywhere with them!”

“Good!” Deku said, nodding emphatically. “If someone wants to take you to a different place, you never, ever go with them, or it makes it much harder to get help. What else?”

“Assume they have friends!”

“Right! Just because we can only see one person, doesn’t mean they don’t have friends around who are ready to help them, so we have to keep an eye on our surroundings! And the last one?”

The kids threw out some suggestions, some of them getting laughs, others getting a “hmmm, good idea, but not quite”, until finally Izuku turned, flashing Katsuki a grin.

“Dynamight! Maybe you can tell us?”

Katsuki froze when every eye turned his way, with a few gasps and excited whispers.

“Class, this is Dynamight! Tell us about yourself.”

Fuck.

“Uh. Hi. I’m a U.A. student, in my last year of school. I’m working at Deku’s agency to get some experience and stuff. It’s been cool.”

“U.A. student, oooooh,” Deku said, making the kids giggle. “He’s gotta be smart then, right?”

Fuck fuck fuck.

“So tell us, Mister Future-Hero. If somebody comes up to you in the street, tells you they’re parked nearby, asks if you want to come get candy with them, what do you say?”

“Hell no.”

The kids laughed again, and Katsuki felt himself blush.

“Maybe a little politer, to start with,” Deku laughed. “But they insist, they won’t leave you alone. What’s the best thing you can possibly do?”

“Run away.”

“Bingo!” Deku grinned, turning back to the class. “Best thing you can do, if it’s at all possible? Say it with me!”

“Run away!” they all chorused.

“Right! Those are our most important things to remember, in self-defence. If you can run away, do it! Don’t let them take you anywhere! And assume they have friends nearby!”

The kids all nodded solemnly, and Katsuki breathed a little sigh of relief, to have the attention turned away again. Admittedly, Deku had kind of walked him down the garden path to get to the right answer, but hell if he hadn’t been terrified he’d give the wrong one. Deku had way too much faith in him, apparently.

“Now, here’s a tough one. What if the person grabs you? It’s hard to run away if they’re holding on, right? So then what?”

Most of the kids ummed and ahhed, but one hand shot right up in the air, and Deku grinned as he pointed at the kid.

“I see Nashida-chan has a good memory! What are you allowed to do if they won’t let go?”

“Hit them!” she said proudly. “Then run away.”

“Perfect! Good job, Nashida-chan!”

He offered her a hand, and she high-fived him proudly. Katsuki regretted not making an excuse to skip out on the class.

“So today, everyone, we’re gonna learn some ways to get ourselves free, if somebody grabs us and we don’t like it. It doesn’t always have to be hitting them, there are other things that might work too, so we have to practice them all so we know which will work best, if the time comes that we need it!”

Katsuki had to resist the urge to groan, when Deku looked his way again, but he straightened up obediently, stepping forward when Deku waved him over.

“The thing is, if someone is trying to grab you, they’re probably not gonna be someone else your own size, right?” Deku asked the kids. “Maybe it’s one of your friends being silly, but if they’re actually trying to do something bad, it’s probably gonna be someone bigger than you. No matter how strong you are, they probably wouldn’t try, if they didn’t think they were much bigger and stronger.”

Deku held out a hand, and it took all Katsuki’s willpower not to groan. He was so fucked. He lifted an arm of his own, and Deku’s freakishly huge hand wrapped around his wrist, not even having to squeeze for Katsuki to know how damn overpowered he was about to be.

“Dynamight looks pretty strong, right?” Deku asked with a grin, getting a bunch of nods in return – Katsuki wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not that he’d worn a sleeveless shirt. “Alright then, Dynamight, show me how strong you are. Brute strength alone, try to pull away.”

He met Deku’s eyes for the first time, getting an amused look in return, and a little nod. He pulled his arm back toward himself, but Deku didn’t even budge, Katsuki’s muscles trembling as they tried and failed to pull away. He took a step back, bracing himself, grabbing his own arm to pull back with the strength of both, but still, nothing happened. The kids were giggling again, watching his struggle, but Deku was nodding, looking oddly pleased.

“See what he did there?” he asked. “When one arm couldn’t do it, he put both in, to try to help. Great move, grabbing your own arm or hand to add some extra strength is always an option!”

Katsuki leaned back, pulling with all his body weight, but Deku’s one stupid hand easily kept him upright. Katsuki was pushing with his legs, pulling with both arms, leaning back with all his weight, and still, the fucking giant nerd was just smiling at him, unmoving.

“Unfortunately, it does have to be a quick release if you do that, otherwise it gives me the chance to do this.”

Deku’s other hand lifted, gripping Katsuki’s second wrist, and with a little twitch and a pull, Katsuki was dragged in, both arms held up above his head, leaving him helpless and exposed. Katsuki pulled frantically, a little more genuinely desperate to put some space between them, this time, but Deku didn’t seem to even notice, just bringing Katsuki’s wrists together and locking them in one of his stupid hands, the other one moving to his waist to steady him when his foot slipped.

“Not so easy, huh?” Deku said, while the kids stared in awe. “And if a big, strong guy like Dynamight can’t pull away, do you think people your age are gonna be able to?”

They all shook their heads solemnly, but Katsuki barely even noticed, too busy trying to distract himself and stop thinking about the warm body right in front of him, so close that if he even leaned in a little they’d be pressed together, the hand keeping him restrained, the other hand keeping him safe and balanced. It was all far too much, and he wasn’t sure how much longer he could stand it.

“Okay, Kacchan,” Deku whispered in his ear. “You can do it properly, this time.”

Katsuki blinked at him. What was he even—?

“Should we see how he gets away from me for real?” Deku asked. “Watch closely!”

Oh. Fuck. That’s right, proper technique existed. Katsuki had been so damn flustered, so damn—oh, right, he was meant to be doing something.

Katsuki took a deep breath, putting himself on autopilot. Using quirks seemed like a bad idea, since that wasn’t exactly something they could teach in a class, but he had plenty of experience fighting without one, too. It was basic stuff. The simplest it could possibly be, for a bunch of kids to copy. Easy.

He yanked straight down with both hands, driving his knee into Deku’s groin, but pulling back at the last second, to avoid actually hurting him. Deku loosened his grip slightly in response, and Katsuki pivoted, driving his hands toward Deku’s thumb and breaking out of his grip. He immediately took two steps backwards, raising his hands to protect his face, but when the kids clapped for him, and Deku joined in, he let himself relax.

“Alright, what did he do first?” Deku asked, only getting giggles in response. “I know, I get it, but it really does work. A lot of you know how bad it hurts, right? So you put in as much power as you can, to distract them and make them focus on something other than their hands.”

“What if they’re too tall?”

“Great question! Anything quick and low that causes pain is good, so stomping on their foot is a great one too. If they’re only holding one of your hands, you can use your hand to hit too, but I was a meanie and made it hard for Ka-Dynamight.”

“It’s also easier before they lift your hands up,” Katsuki grumbled, and Deku nodded along enthusiastically. “So do it quick.”

“Exactly right! Did you all see what he did second?”

“Pulled down and turned.”

“Exactly, and which way did he turn?”

A bunch of kids held up their hands, making Ls, and Deku laughed.

“I’ll give you a hint, it’s not about left and right.”

When none of the kids spoke up, he looked at Katsuki, and Katsuki resisted the urge to tell him to do his own damn job.

“Toward the thumb,” he explained. “It’s easier to move one thumb than four fingers.”

“Exactly that. If you push into their grip, it’s gonna make it super hard, but if you go toward their thumb, it’s easier to break yourself out. Dynamight, grab my arm.”

Katsuki gripped his wrist obediently, holding tight, focusing hard on not letting his arm tremble. Deku was explaining what he was doing as he demonstrated, pushing into Katsuki’s hand first and feeling him resist, then changing to the other direction, extricating himself without even an effort, despite Katsuki trying his best to resist.

“Turn and face a partner, and have a try!” Deku instructed them, reaching out to ruffle Katsuki’s hair with his recently-freed hand. “Don’t hold too tight though, let them have a good practice without getting hurt, okay?”

They all turned around to face a buddy, and Katsuki finally relaxed a little, taking a step back toward the little corner he’d been hiding in to start with. Deku didn’t let him get far, though, following him with a little grin and clapping him on the shoulder.

“Good work, Kacchan,” he said quietly. “It’s good to have you.”

A kid threw their hand in the air, calling for help, and Deku nudged Katsuki forward lightly, shooting him a grin. Katsuki sighed, but caved, heading over to see what the kids were stuck on, pointedly ignoring the quiet chuckles behind him as Deku watched him go.

Nerd was gonna be the death of him.

The class seemed to drag on forever, Deku constantly dragging him up to demonstrate things, or ask him questions. Katsuki wasn’t sure what his end game was, whether he was trying to embarrass Katsuki when he eventually missed one, or just wanted to prove to Katsuki once and for all how much better and stronger he was, but he refused to give Deku the satisfaction. He answered every question flawlessly, demonstrated perfect technique to break out of each and every hold that Izuku put him in, even demonstrated a complicated wrist lock at the drop of a hat, when Deku implied they might have to switch roles for that one. By the time the kids all waved goodbye and ran off to their parents, Katsuki’s wrists were red and his social battery was completely drained, and it wasn’t even noon yet.

“I can see why you only do them in summer,” Katsuki grumbled, when the room had emptied out. “Doing them year-round would be exhausting.”

Deku laughed brightly, and Katsuki softened a little – that laugh always seemed to break through his tension.

“What now?” Katsuki asked. “Back to the agency?”

“Don’t be silly, Kacchan! We still have three more classes!”

Katsuki gawked at him, and Deku laughed again, this time a little less enthusiastically.

“That one is the hardest,” Deku assured him. “That was the five- to seven-year-olds. Now we have eight to ten, then eleven to twelve, and finally the thirteen to fifteens.”

“You’re not joking.”

“Of course not!” Deku laughed. “Look, here they come!”

Sure enough, another little group was filing into the room, and Katsuki pinched at the bridge of his nose, squeezing his eyes shut to force back a headache that was already starting to form.

“Good morning!” Deku said cheerily. “Wow, so many new faces! I’m Deku, and this is my assistant teacher for the day, Dynamight! We look forward to getting to know each and every one of you!”

Speak for yourself, asshole.

———

“Thanks for coming today, Kacchan!” Deku said, clapping him on the back as they finally headed out. “It was a lot more fun with you beside me.”

“Who do you normally take?”

“No one, just me,” Deku said, with a little shrug. “It’s already hard to spare the staff for this kind of thing, I feel bad dragging people away from more important duties. I thought it would be a good thing for you to see, though!”

“Dunno how you do it,” Katsuki admitted. “I would have been yelling at them in minutes.”

“I think you’d have done great,” Deku said, grinning at him. “It might take a little practice to get used to talking to the young ones, but you’d get there.”

“Ugh.”

“And you were great with the teenagers. I love those groups, being able to have conversations with them and answer their serious questions and stuff, but I don’t think I’m very good at building a relationship with them. The kids are easier, for that.”

“Those kids would go to war for you if you asked it,” Katsuki said, snorting. “They’re eating out of your damn hand.”

Deku winced a little, and Katsuki mentally kicked himself.

“Sorry. Poor choice of words.”

“It’s okay,” Deku assured him. “I just hate the thought of it. Kids that age growing up in this same world, where so many people need to fight villains on a daily basis. I love being a hero, but I wish we weren’t so necessary.”

“You’ve never said that in public.”

Deku blinked at him, and Katsuki felt his face warm.

“I mean, Hawks says it a lot, in speeches and things. He always says he wants to build a world where heroes have more free time than they know what to do with. And it makes sense that you’d feel similarly, especially when you two are so… close. But he says it a lot, you never do.”

“I guess not,” Deku agreed. “I’d never thought about it.”

“Sorry.”

“No, don’t be. Maybe I should, once in a while. I’m always focussed on reassuring people and thanking people, when I make speeches. I don’t tend to think much about making a statement. You’ve given me something to think about, thank you.”

They paused at a traffic light, waiting for their turn to cross, and something about it felt weirdly… civilian. Somehow, he’d always imagined Deku just launching himself into the sky when he needed to travel anywhere, he’d never envisioned him waiting at a pedestrian crossing like a normal person.

“How do you pick the kids for those classes?” Katsuki asked, when they began to walk again. “There must be a lot of people who want to learn from you, and those were pretty small groups.”

“We don’t get that many applications; we usually take everybody, within reason.”

“Really? How does that work?”

Deku turned, staring at him for a second, then cracked what might have been the softest smile Katsuki had ever seen from him.

“I didn’t tell you, did I?”

“Tell me what?”

“Those kids are all quirkless.”

Katsuki froze, and Deku stopped knowingly, giving him a minute to gather himself. He gently moved Katsuki to the side, when other pedestrians came by, but still they just stood there in silence, as Katsuki thought back, running through every single moment again in his mind.

“That… explains a lot,” he said finally. “I uh, I’m glad I didn’t say anything stupid, I don’t think.”

“You were great,” Deku assured him. “I guess I never thought to mention it. Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m just… surprised.”

He finally started walking again, and Deku fell into step beside him. When they reached the meticulously groomed garden out the front of the agency, Deku seemed to relax a little, like a weight had fallen off his shoulders.

“Oh, I have something for you, by the way,” Deku said, reaching into his bag. “It’s nothing big.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Because I wanted to!” Deku said with a laugh, handing over a paper bag. “When we hire people, we always give them a little gift, but you missed out on that because of the way you came in. So consider this your official ‘welcome to the agency’ gift.”

Katsuki looked down at it in his arms, then up at Deku again, getting a little nod. So he opened it, setting the bag down on a bench to reach inside, and pulling a piece of neatly-folded black fabric from the top. He spotted the little green logo immediately, a match for the one emblazoned above the door they were about to go through, and he knew his eyes were wide as hell, like an idiot. That logo never went on official merch; stylised versions, sure, or pictures of the man’s face itself, but the agency logo was reserved for official business. And holding it was a soft, thick hoodie, maybe one of the nicest Katsuki had ever seen, with that logo embroidered on the chest.

“I know it’s not the right weather for it, right now,” Deku laughed. “But I felt like you’d like that one the best.”

“It’s so soft.”

“They’re really comfy,” Deku agreed. “I’ve worn through about six of them, since we opened. There should be more stuff in the bag, though.”

Katsuki peeked in, and sure enough, he found two more pieces of clothing within, both with that same little logo on them – a t-shirt first, and then a singlet, both made of moisture-wicking material that would be perfect for the gym. In fact, he was pretty sure the singlet was the same one he’d seen in the gym, soaked through by Deku’s efforts.

“I love them,” Katsuki admitted. “Thank you.”

“I’m glad. You’re not obligated to wear them, obviously, but I thought it was nice to have the option, occasionally. A lot of the heroes wear their hoodies on their commute in winter, it’s kind of cute seeing all these different heroes coming in from different directions and train lines, all in their matching hoodies.”

“Can I wear them at school?”

Deku raised an eyebrow, and Katsuki huffed.

“Not in uniform,” he clarified – he’d thought that went without saying, but apparently not. “Like, in the gym? Or sparring with friends?”

“Yeah, of course you can.”

Katsuki cracked a smile. There was something about the idea of being in the crowded school gym, wearing Deku’s logo, on a piece of merch that only staff possessed, that he liked the sound of.

“I was really happy, you know, when you wanted to spend the summer here,” Deku told him. “I spent years putting in all the hours I could get, to make it to number one. It was nice to see that you don’t just talk a big game about beating me, you put in the work and the time to back it up.”

“I don’t need to copy you to beat you,” Katsuki grumbled, suspecting the effect was ruined by the way he held Deku’s logos in his arms, adamantly refusing to consider that someone else might call it hugging them. “You got there your way, I’ll get there my way. I can’t be better than you if I just do the same stuff.”

Deku just smiled at him, and Katsuki didn’t know what to think of it. Was that a patronising smile? An amused one? Or was he just genuinely such a happy person that he defaulted to that expression?

“And it’s not gonna take me thirty years,” he grumbled, getting a bright laugh in return. “Watch your back, I’m coming for you the moment I graduate.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it,” Deku said, smirking in a way that was unfairly attractive. “It’s about time I had someone to push me, right?”

He’d probably had a lot of those, once upon a time, Katsuki thought. All Might at first, until he officially handed the torch over and retired. Endeavour. Hawks. Miruko. It seemed like they’d all just slowly fallen behind, though. Deku just got better and better every year, while the others stayed the same – at the peak of their performance, beating down every villain who dared show their face, but still the same. Every so often, someone appeared who seemed like they might throw a wrench in the works, but they always hit a certain number and just stopped moving, never quite able to break into the elite group.

Katsuki wouldn’t let that be him.

“Push you down the charts, you mean,” Katsuki answered, getting another laugh out of Deku.

“Sure, Kacchan,” Deku humoured him. “I’ll be looking forward to it.”