In Your Shadow [Chapter 33]

Katsuki leaned in a little closer, to see Eijirou’s book, and Eijirou turned it to give him easier access.

[Chapter 32]



Katsuki leaned in a little closer, to see Eijirou’s book, and Eijirou turned it to give him easier access. The notes were hard to understand in places, or at least to read, but Katsuki could hardly complain, when he was going out of his way to help. Iida’s notes had been great for most subjects, but a few of them had been a little too… overzealous. Eijirou’s, if nothing else, were a little more simplified.

“Okay, I think I get it,” Katsuki mumbled, turning back to his own book to take a stab at it. “But yeah, anything else cool happened?”

“I think that’s about it,” Eijirou said, humming thoughtfully. “It’s a good experience, I’m enjoying it, and I feel like I’ve learned a lot already.”

“That’s the important thing.”

“Yeah! Are you ready to tell me about Deku’s, yet?”

Katsuki tensed up, more out of habit than anything else, and paused to focus on his homework for a second as he deliberated.

“You don’t have to,” Eijirou said knowingly. “I know it’s been… kind of a touchy subject for you?”

“I can talk about it,” Katsuki said, much more decisively than he really felt. “But um, can you… fuck this sounds stupid. Can you not tease me about it and shit? I know I normally don’t care, but… like you said.”

“Of course, bro!”

Katsuki set his pen down, leaning back in his chair and letting out a long sigh. He wasn’t sure why it was so embarrassing to talk about, still. But he’d talked to Mina about it, and if anything, Eijirou should have been easier to tell – they’d been friends since day one, after all.

“I really like it there,” he began. “I mean, obviously. With all the time I spend there.”

“I would hope so,” Eijirou chuckled. “Wait, was that teasing?”

“No, you’re fine. You’ll… know what I mean.”

“Okay! Carry on, then, when you’re ready!”

“I don’t get to work with Deku. Like, ever, pretty much. Occasionally he might spare twenty minutes to spar with me, or one day he was covering patrols I was shadowing, but it’s not like all you guys have, at your agencies.”

“Is that why you talk about the other heroes there more?”

“Yeah. They’ve all been really cool. I do, like, multiple patrol shifts a day with them, and at least once a week I get to spar with a bunch of them, which is kind of terrifying but also fun as fuck. But people don’t know about all of that, so when I say Deku doesn’t work with me, they just get all pitying and shit.”

“I get it,” Eijirou said, nodding faintly. “If you hadn’t told me all that just now, if you’d stopped at not getting time with Deku, I’d have been sympathetic just by default. I’m glad you’ve got a bunch of cool heroes to work with, though.”

“Yeah, they’re… really great. And Aizawa thinks the place is really good for me, so he’s been giving me a lot of freedom to spend more time there, which I hadn’t expected. So all the main heroes were away working on something, recently – yours were probably involved too, I’m sure you know how busy everyone was – and while they were gone, I got to help fill in on patrols, since they were short-staffed. It was more like I was a real part of the agency staff, instead of just a student, and it was exhausting, but I’m really glad I did it.”

“Me too, bro! That’s so cool, I’m happy for you.”

“But also, Deku is… there’s not even a word for it. He’s so much like Best Jeanist, but in a totally different way. Jeanist was all weird about clothes and hair and shit, about looking a specific way, which Deku doesn’t really care about, thank god. But with Deku it’s all ‘stand up straight’, ‘wear your tie’, ‘use your manners’ and I know you’re gonna say that’s common sense for most people, but you know what I mean.”

“I do,” Eijirou agreed. “It must be really tiring, having to think about all of that, instead of just focusing on learning the job.”

“Yeah. And – here it comes, shut up – when I do something… right, even if I just say ‘thank you’ unprompted or some shit, he goes all ‘good boy’ on me and it’s embarrassing as fuck.”

Eijirou’s lips twitched, but he valiantly held back his smirk.

“He calls me Kacchan. Well, when he’s in a good mood.”

“Please let me laugh.”

“You can laugh,” Katsuki agreed, sighing. “It’s so stupid, I know, he thinks I’m a child.”

“I don’t think he thinks that,” Eijirou said, through the chuckles he couldn’t suppress. “He’s always been pretty… affectionate, right? As a hero? He’s got that reputation for being so sweet and loveable, with the goofy smile and the freckles and everything, I think that’s just him. If anything, maybe it’s because he likes you?”

“If he liked me, he’d spend more time with me.”

“He’s trying though, right? You said he sparred with you a few times, he’s obviously finding time to make that happen.”

“I guess.”

“You must know how busy he is.”

“Yeah,” Katsuki agreed, grimacing. “I uh, accidentally overheard him on the phone, apologising to his mother for not being able to visit. I felt like kind of an asshole after that.”

“You don’t need to feel like an asshole, you just need to appreciate it when he makes time for you.”

Katsuki raised an eyebrow, and Eijirou chuckled again.

“You said he likes manners,” Eijirou explained. “Surely just saying a sincere thank you when he makes time for you is enough? He would appreciate that.”

“I try,” Katsuki admitted. “I don’t want to give him a reason to kick me out.”

“You know we all love you as you are, but it might not be a bad thing, to learn things like that. You’re so determined to be number one, it might be easier to get there if you can say the occasional please to someone, or be polite to a journalist once in a while.”

“Whatever,” Katsuki huffed. “Do I even want to be number one if it means being chained to a fuckin’ desk every day? I want to fight shit.”

“Yes, you do.” Eijirou said flatly – as if it had really been a question, get real. “Deku got there his own way, right? I doubt All Might got there the same way Deku did. I’ve never met anyone as determined as you are to be the best. You’ll find a way there, you don’t have to follow the same path he took.”

“That’s the most insightful thing you’ve ever fucking said. Ever.”

“I have my moments,” Eijirou laughed. “Alright, I think I get where you’re at, now. Is there anything else I should know before you tell me all the cool patrol and sparring stories?”

“No,” Katsuki said, cracking a smile. “Stories it is.”

As they kept working, Katsuki regaled him with everything he could possibly think of – from every hero he’d worked with, to the sidekicks and ‘ords he’d hung out with, to the sparring days, to the meetings, to the patrol incidents; he even talked about the therapy, surprising himself a little with how easily it came out, and even more surprised by how well Eijirou took it – like he wasn’t even surprised, just pleased.

“Where does Mina come in?” Eijirou asked, kicking him lightly. “Don’t tell me you’ve just got a crush on her, I’ve been swearing up-and-down that there’s more to it than that, whenever people bring it up.”

“Are people bringing it up?” Katsuki scowled. “God damn it.”

“So… is it a crush?”

“No. Fuck no. Ugh. You swear to not poke fun and shit?”

“I swear on my life.”

“Deku has a thing about ballet. He thinks it’s, like, the best form of training you can do for being a hero. All this shit about strength and balance and flexibility and control. They have classes at the agency at least once a week, I think more. Mina caught me practicing one day and wanted to join in, so now we do it regularly.”

“Wow.” Eijirou said, eyes wide but laughter thankfully contained. “Not gonna lie, I would not have guessed that.”

“I know,” Katsuki sighed. “It sounds stupid, I get it. It kinda does feel good, though. Like, satisfying. I don’t know if it helps, but I think it… clears my head a little.”

“Well… that is helping, right? It doesn’t all have to be physical help.”

“I guess so. But I swear to god, if you tell anyone about this shit – Denki especially – I’m gonna murder you.”

“Bro. You know I would never.”

Katsuki sighed again, ducking his head to stare at his notebook before he mumbled the next words.

“Thank you.”

“Aww,” Eijirou said, grinning. “Deku would be so proud!”

“You said you wouldn’t tease, fuckhead.”

“Sorry, never again! We’d better head to class, anyway.”

Katsuki glanced at his watch, grimacing, but nodding all the same.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Thanks for the notes.”

“Thanks for the workout!”

Eijirou held out a hand, and Katsuki bumped fists with him reluctantly – he supposed showing a little dumb affection was the least he could do, for his best friend. As soon as it was done, he turned to pack his bag, slotting away his textbooks neatly. His bag was just barely big enough to hold both his school stuff and his agency stuff – not that he had much of that, anymore, since most of it lived in his apartment – so he had to be a little bit more careful than usual, when he packed it, to make sure everything would go in. Eijirou waited patiently for him to finish, though, offering him a hand that he pointedly ignored, climbing to his feet under his own steam.

Getting through Tuesdays and Fridays had proven to be a struggle, when he was just counting down the minutes until he could leave, but at least Fridays came with a couple of okay classes. Case in point, as they sat down at their desks, Aizawa pulled up a video on their class projector, pointing at the two pro-heroes on the screen.

“Today I have some news footage from an incident that happened this week,” he explained. “I want you to watch their fight, listen to what they have to say, and then we’re gonna talk about it. That’s all. Whatever comes to mind, whatever your thoughts are, we’ll hear them. I warn you now, some parts of the footage are a little disturbing.”

Katsuki felt like there was a weird ulterior motive involved, only worsened by Aizawa’s insistence that there wasn’t. He knew why Aizawa did it, to remind them that it wasn’t a test, there wasn’t something specific he wanted them to spot, it was just one story out of hundreds that Aizawa, for whatever reason, had deemed interesting.

“Do we know who the heroes are?” Iida asked, before he could hit play.

“You tell me. Do any of you recognise them?”

“They look familiar,” Yaoyorozu said. “But I don’t know their names, or anything.”

“They can’t be high in the charts,” Shouto said quietly. “Or we’d know them.”

“They’re around the seventies,” Aizawa agreed. “High enough to be newsworthy, not high enough to be recognisable to most people.”

The class nodded their agreement, but Katsuki was fixed on the dark eyes frozen on screen, staring straight into the camera. Everything about the man exuded confidence, like he was so sure of himself, but somehow, it didn’t quite feel… right. He’d seen those eyes before, though only in photographs, and as soon as Aizawa hit play, he knew.

“It looks like Invert is on the scene,” the newscaster was saying, over footage of the pair of heroes clashing with a villain. “He’s a recent addition to the local line up, but his work has been invaluable to the community so far.”

“I was sceptical, when I heard about his quirk,” another reporter continued. “But he really does have a masterful control of it, it’s fascinating to watch.”

“It’s a shame he has to rely on touch contact, that’s going to be tough for him with this villain.”

Sure enough, Invert was fighting to get close enough, with his partner, whoever the fuck they were, trying their best to distract the villain to help him out. Invert finally got close enough to trade blows, his quirk firing off and flipping the villain upside-down. He slammed into the ground, landing straight on his head, and Katsuki cringed. The villain was up again though, back on his feet immediately, and on the fight went. Katsuki began to understand, when buildings crumbled around them – whatever Invert’s partner was doing, it caused a lot of property damage from the get-go, let alone when Invert was thrown into the side of a building, his quirk misfiring or something, flipping the entire high rise upside down in the street. So much for masterful control.

When the villain loomed over Invert in the street, the partner raised their hands, sending the pair of them both flying. At the last moment, Invert slammed a hand on the villain’s back, sending him head-first into a brick wall and watching him fall still. The screen cut to black, then quickly to a news room, where one of the reporters was looking a little stunned, fumbling over their commentary. The classroom was dead silent, not even a gasp or a hiss coming out of Katsuki’s classmates, and after a minute the screen cut away again, back to Invert and his partner, this time standing bloody and battered in the ruined street. His partner shrank away from the cameras, eyes downcast, stumbling over their words, but Invert spoke clearly and confidently, standing tall with his shoulders squared, his expression all open and honest as he answered the field reporter’s questions.

“Alright, any thoughts?” Aizawa asked, when he stopped the video.

“What are their names?” Yaoyorozu asked. “For the sake of the discussion.”

“The taller man, with the upside-down quirk, is Invert. The shorter one who kept his distance is Pulse.”

“So they use some kind of shockwaves,” Katsuki guessed.

“I believe that’s correct.”

“Pulse was so reckless,” Mineta spoke up from behind Katsuki, making him grimace. “Did you see how much damage he caused?!”

Aizawa skipped back a few seconds, to a view of the street, all but decimated by the battle.

“They must have run evac first,” Katsuki said. “The buildings were empty.”

“How do we know that? It didn’t look like he even considered it.”

“They would have.”

“They must have passed a licensing test to be out there, even if they’re new,” Kendo pointed out. “I can’t imagine they’d get licensed and not think about evac, even if it’s their first fight.”

“They’re not new,” Katsuki objected. “They said they were new to the area, they moved from somewhere else.”

“Bakugou is correct,” Aizawa said, sensing the impending argument. “Pulse worked in Otaru until the agency there shut down and everyone moved to other agencies or locations. Invert was actually pretty local to us, until about a year ago.”

“Okay, so they have training and experience,” Kendo acknowledged. “Then there’s no way they didn’t evac first, right? It was still reckless, but it was less reckless than it could have been.”

“I don’t have confirmation on that, but I think it’s safe to assume the buildings were evacuated.”

A few people grumbled a little, but no one dared to argue, and Katsuki let his fists slowly loosen.

“Invert seemed to be in control,” Eijirou offered, steering the conversation away. “But that would have been a tough decision at the end, there.”

“Right?” Denki agreed. “If he hadn’t done it, the fight would have continued, and the heroes looked pretty beat-up already. But that was… wow.”

The sight of the villain slamming head-first into concrete flashed through Katsuki’s mind again, and he caught himself gnawing at his fingernails, quickly tearing them away from his mouth again. The conversation went on, and Katsuki tried his best to listen to it, but he knew he was missing a significant amount of the information, just thinking about that one moment, that split-second decision, and how hard it must have been to make it.

“I’d have done the same thing,” Shouto spoke up. “I’m not so on board with Pulse, but I’m on Invert’s side.”

“I think I agree,” Hagakure said, from in front of Katsuki – he’d kind of forgotten she was even sitting there. “My quirk is so different from his that it’s hard to really put myself in his shoes, but I think… I think I’d have done it.”

His classmates nodded along like a bunch of bobble-headed idiots, but Katsuki kept his mouth shut. He knew he should have had a lot of respect for Invert, but he just couldn’t seem to find it.

“Pulse, though? I would take that license away,” Sato said firmly. “All those buildings ruined, and for what?”

“To help win?” Uraraka suggested quietly. “It was a lot of damage, sure, but that happens sometimes in a fight, it’s inevitable. That’s why we get insurance.”

“But did it even help?”

Katsuki stared at the screen, even though the image hadn’t moved in a long time. It was a lot of damage, that was true enough, but it had all come from trying to direct the villain, to keep him pinned in a spot where they could fight with him, to not let him run away. Hadn’t it?

“So the ultimate question,” Aizawa said, when the clock ticked over toward the end of class. “What should we be taking away from this?”

“There’s not always a good option,” Mina answered immediately. “Sometimes we just have to pick the best one we have and hope it works.”

“Could they have done anything different to avoid the incident?”

The class ummed and ahhed a bit, mumbling to their neighbours, and Katsuki sighed.

“Probably,” he said, feeling every eye in the room burn into him. “But we don’t know if it would have worked.”

“Right,” Eijirou agreed. “We have hindsight on our side, so we can objectively say maybe they didn’t make the right decisions, but in the moment? They didn’t have a lot of choice.”

“Accidents are inevitable,” Iida said, nodding along. “We just try to minimise the damage we do.”

Katsuki’s thoughts drifted back to Yutaka, the words coming out of his mouth before he could even think twice about them.

“Why doesn’t the school have a counsellor or something?”

Aizawa blinked at him, the room falling silent again.

“You mean Hound Dog?”

“No, like a therapist, to help students build coping mechanisms and learn to deal with accidents before it becomes a problem.”

“You know, that’s a good question,” Aizawa admitted, sitting back in his chair and looking oddly thoughtful. “I suppose the school doesn’t usually have a lot of traumatic events going on, so it’s not usually something we need frequently. It’s really only been this class and one other, in my time here, who have had to deal with so much… shit.”

A few of Katsuki’s classmates tittered, but he was too busy stewing in the thought to think about teachers swearing.

“It might be something to consider,” he suggested, his voice oddly quiet and he knew it. “You never know what students are going through behind the scenes, right?”

“That’s very true. Maybe I’ll have a chat with Nedzu about it, see what he thinks.”

The bell rang just in time to save Katsuki from the prying eyes, and Aizawa shut off the projector, gesturing toward the corridor.

“After lunch, I want to talk a little more about media and dealing with reporters, so be prepared.”

Katsuki groaned. He hated the stupid publicity talks they did, even though he knew they were necessary. Maybe more for him than most of his classmates, not that he’d ever admit that.

“Especially about social media,” Aizawa elaborated, watching half the class light up and the other half groan even louder than Katsuki had. “Enjoy your break.”

———

Katsuki gnawed on the end of his pen as the group talked, well aware that he was probably going to break his favourite pen if he kept it up much longer. He’d been trying to get better about not going for his fingernails, though, so breaking his pen was a small price to pay, if it came to that. Yutaka would be ashamed of him for just deflecting to something else to chew on, but he needed it, okay? Sue him, or whatever, he was allowed to cave to his vice once in a while.

“I just want to sleep,” Sero groaned, flopping backward to lie on the classroom floor. “We still have training tomorrow to get through! Aizawa has been working us so damn hard, I swear he’s just trying to make us extra desperate for a work studies position to get out of class.”

“Work studies are hard too,” Jirou reminded him. “Some days I’d rather be here.”

“How has Thirteen been, anyway?” Katsuki asked, sneaking a sideways glance at her to catch her reaction, in case he needed to take back the question. “Getting plenty of rescues in?”

“Yeah. It’s been good,” Jirou confirmed. “Just tiring.”

“I know that feeling.”

“Yeah, you’re always coming and going at stupid hours lately, you must be dying.”

“It’s worth it.”

“That’s good.”

“At least we’ll be on break soon!” Mina offered. “Six whole weeks of no school, no training, no work studies, just sleep and good food and time with family!”

The others nodded their agreement, but Katsuki felt his stomach sink. He hadn’t thought about that, even though he knew he really should have. Somehow he’d just thought nothing would change, but Mina was right, he’d be out of the dorms, back in his old bedroom with his dad trying to bond or whatever, and the old hag nagging him constantly. Would Deku still let him visit occasionally, or would he expect Katsuki to just disappear for those six weeks?

“I’m gonna play so many video games,” Denki said, sighing blissfully. “I swear I haven’t played a single game in a year at this point.”

“Weren’t you on your Switch last night?”

“Shut up.”

Katsuki cracked a smile, and Denki apparently caught it, taking the momentary lapse in ignoring them to drag him into the dumb conversation.

“You wanna come over and play?” he offered.

“He’ll be at Deku’s, right?” Mina asked, making Katsuki blink at her in his surprise. “I bet you won’t even leave the agency building for those six weeks, except for patrols.”

That was… a good point. He had the whole apartment setup, was there any reason he couldn’t be there for the whole summer?

“I need to ask him,” Katsuki said, when the others just waited. “But yeah, I hope so.”

The group broke into whines, and Katsuki stared at them, wide-eyed.

“We’ll never see you!” Eijirou complained. “This is our last summer all together!”

“We’re meant to be spending it lying on the beach and checking out cute girls in bikinis,” Denki said sadly. “We’re graduating soon, you can’t use school as an excuse anymore!”

“Why the fuck would I want to waste my summer perving at girls?”

Denki raised an eyebrow, and Katsuki caught a few of his friends covering their mouths to hide their snickers.

“Wanna finally tell us something?” Sero teased. “I mean, we all know, but.”

“Fuck off,” Katsuki argued, his face burning. “Not like it’s a damn secret.”

“What’s not a secret?” Denki asked, eternally out of the loop. “What do I not know?”

“He’s gay, buddy,” Eijirou said fondly, giving Denki a sympathetic pat on the back. “He doesn’t like girls.”

“Wait, you’re not pan?” Denki asked, head whipping around to stare at him. “I thought you didn’t give a shit about gender.”

“Well, I guess,” Katsuki said, frowning slightly. “I’ve never… you know. Had a crush on a girl, or whatever. I guess it could happen, one day.”

“Wait, so who’s the guy?”

Katsuki cursed under his breath. He’d walked himself right in to that one.

“Bro,” Sero said softly. “Denki, come on.”

“What? What did I miss? It’s not me, right?”

“Fuck no.”

Despite all the knowing looks pointed his way, Katsuki refused to cave. There was no way he was going to say those words out loud, even if he kind of… knew. And so did everyone else, apparently. Fuck.

“All of you can fuck off,” he grumbled, chucking a balled-up sock at Sero’s face, since he didn’t have anything heavier on hand. “Literally everyone in the world thinks he’s hot.”

“Ohhhh, you meant Deku,” Denki said, nodding sagely. “I don’t think celebrities count, right? It’s not like it would ever actually happen, I’m talking about crushes you could actually try with.”

Katsuki tore off his other sock, tossing it in Denki’s face, ignoring the way all his friends laughed at him for it.

“Fuck you, I could pull a pro-hero if I wanted,” Katsuki insisted. “I’m gonna be number one in like a year anyway.”

“A year?” Jirou asked, raising an eyebrow. “That’s bold even for you.”

“Fine, two years, fuck you again.”

“You planning to break Deku’s leg or something?”

“He could recover from that pretty quickly,” Sero objected. “Maybe his spine.”

“You assholes have no faith in me. I’ll show you.”

“Sure, buddy. If you manage to become the number one hero in two years or less – from graduation because I’m generous, I’ll buy you a damn car.”

“I won’t need anyone buying me a car when I’m number one, I’ll be rich as fuck.”

“I’ll buy a massive digital billboard in every major city in Japan and have them put up a sad video of me admitting I was wrong.”

“Done.”

“But if you’re not, then you have to buy us all a drink.”

“One drink?” Katsuki snorted.

“Yep. One drink, sit and drink it with us all, and listen to us talk shit about you not being number one yet.”

“Not gonna happen, so deal.”

Sero held out a hand, and they shook on it, before Sero threw the sock back into his lap.

“Better get working, buddy. Time’s a-ticking.”

“I’ve been working my whole damn life, I don’t need to change anything.”

“If you say so, dude.”

Scowling, Katsuki dug out his phone, pulling up a contact he rarely used other than for the group chat it was a part of, and pausing with his thumb over the keyboard. He knew he probably should have asked in person, but Deku was always so damn busy, he didn’t want to run the risk of not seeing him in time – especially when it was about to be the weekend, when Deku might actually be taking a day off for once in his damn life.

Sorry to ask by text, he began, to at least acknowledge it. Summer break is coming up soon, would it be okay for me to spend extra time at the agency while I don’t have classes?

There. Polite, to the point, and all Deku needed to respond with when he snatched a spare moment was yes, so it wouldn’t take too much time away from more important things.

Shit.

Please, he sent, wishing he’d thought of it thirty seconds earlier to avoid the double message. It had to be said, though, or Deku would never let it go.

“Aww, he’s texting his little crush,” Denki teased. “Did you tell him you miss him and your friends are being mean?”

“What friends?” he answered, more out of habit than anything else. “Pretty sure Mina is my only friend here right now.”

“Bro,” Eijirou said sadly.

“Fine, I guess you’re alright.”

“Thank you.”

His phone dinged, and he looked down immediately, eyes widening – he had not expected Deku to reply so damn quickly.

Of course! ☺

He breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn’t really expected to get a no, but a little part of him had been admittedly concerned. The bell rang for their next class to begin, and Katsuki started to put his phone away, only for it to buzz again in his hand. He sneaked a peek, just to be sure it wasn’t urgent, smiling to himself faintly when he saw the message.

See you soon!

So Deku was at the agency after all, then. Good to know. And he’d remembered it was Katsuki’s day to visit, that was kind of nice.

Fuck, he really was a sappy fuckin’ nerd for the guy.

He finally put his phone away properly, just in time for Aizawa to return, this time opening up slideshows of various social media posts made by pro-heroes – some of them well-known, like Hawks with his flexing and winking, others more obscure, like old heroes making political commentaries. Katsuki was pretty sure it was common sense to avoid that kind of subject, as a public figure, but the older generation of heroes didn’t seem to have the same general internet knowledge that the rest of them had grown up with.

He felt all his friends turn and look at him, when Deku’s face popped up, with those stupid crinkly eyes and that mob of dumb freckles. The worst part was, he was wearing those damn leggings that left nothing to the imagination, which Katsuki’s brain was far more familiar with than it should have been.

A knock on the door interrupted their discussion of the dumb emoji caption, and a buzz filled the classroom, excited whispers being shared between his classmates. He tore his eyes away from the photo to look, his mouth falling open when he saw the man himself standing in the doorway, giving them all a cheesy wave as he poked his head inside.

“Sorry to interrupt!” he said brightly. “We just finished our meeting, and you know I can never resist showing up to torment you, Aizawa-sen—Kacchan, did you lose your tie again already?”

Katsuki looked down stupidly, wishing he could just sink into the floor, be swallowed by the earth, as Deku marched over, his dumb smile replaced with a frustrated frown.

“I, uh,” Katsuki choked out, his face burning. “I don’t… wear it.”

Deku sighed, way too dramatically for a damn tie, and held his hand out pointedly. Katsuki retrieved it from his bag, handing it over obediently – he’d at least learned to keep it on hand for the agency, just in case, but of course the universe had decided that wasn’t good enough.

“It’s a uniform, Katsuki,” Deku lectured him, as he looped the stupid tie around Katsuki’s neck and began to tie it himself. “You’re supposed to wear it with pride, to represent your school well, to represent me well.”

“Sorry,” Katsuki grumbled.

“There,” Deku said, patting the lop-sided knot where it fell over Katsuki’s chest. “Very handsome.”

More giggles and snickers ran through the room, but Deku didn’t even seem to notice, too busy returning to Aizawa’s desk to say hi, to realise the torment he’d just subjected Katsuki to for the rest of his damn life. Katsuki closed his mouth so tightly that it made his jaw creak, to keep anything stupid from slipping out.

“I just thought I’d come check on my favourite teacher,” Deku said teasingly, the tie apparently forgotten already. “Make sure he’s doing a good job raising my future colleagues, you know?”

“I believe he’s in the teacher’s lounge,” Aizawa said, despite the fond look on his face. “Attempting to grade papers.”

“You know I meant you, Sensei, don’t be like that!”

Aizawa sighed, gesturing toward the class of buzzing teenagers, who watched Deku’s every move like it might reveal some secret of the universe.

“You’ve got about three minutes until the bell,” Aizawa said. “You may as well take it from here.”

“Hi everyone! I’m Deku, it’s nice to meet you all! Well, those of you I haven’t already met. Aizawa-sensei was my homeroom teacher when I was at school, too. He taught me everything I know, so make sure you listen to him! And do me a favour, make him stop staying out late doing hero work, okay? Tell him I’ve got it covered! He has no faith in me.”

“After three years of teaching you, no one would have faith left in you.”

“Oh come on, I wasn’t that bad! I was a sweet kid!”

“You were a menace.”

“I still am!”

“At least you admit it, I suppose. Go on, answer a question or something, make some use of yourself.”

“Yes! Questions, anyone?”

Iida’s hand shot into the air right away, of course, but Katsuki was surprised to see Denki’s and Sero’s go up, too, and his stomach sank at the thought of the embarrassment they were about to subject him to.”

“Yes, go ahead!” Deku said, gesturing toward Iida. “What’s your name?”

“Iida Tenya, Sir.”

“Oh! You must be Tensei’s brother, how’s he doing? I haven’t seen him in a while.”

“He’s doing much better, thank you. He’s hoping to be back in the field soon, though maybe not running an agency again just yet.”

“He’ll get there! Let him know he can always call me if he needs anything, okay? Anyway, did you have a question?”

“We’ve just been discussing media presence, in particular social media. I thought maybe you could tell us your personal philosophy on interacting with fans and such? Since you seem to do such a good job of it?”

“Honestly, most of the time I just ask myself if my mother would be okay with it,” Deku laughed. “We have a PR team in the office, of course, who suggest things I could post, or who I can ask for opinions, but if it’s something like posting a selfie with my friends, or a photo from an event, usually I just decide which picture my mother would show to all her friends.”

“That’s so wholesome,” Uraraka said fondly, and Katsuki felt his stomach squeeze – he just knew she was forming a big ol’ crush on the man, damn it. “But so different from someone like Hawks!”

“Hawks likes his whole playboy image,” Deku laughed. “I’ll let you in on a little secret: He spends hours taking pictures just to make his fans thirsty. The number of photos I’ve seen of him smirking and winking at a camera is staggering, he’ll just take a thousand of them and focus on the most minute details to pick out his favourite. Every time we go to the gym together, I have to wait an extra hour at the end while he throws water on himself and poses in the mirror, trying to decide exactly how to push his hair back or lift the hem of his shirt in just the right way to make his fans go wild. It seems exhausting.”

“Then why does he do it?” Iida asked.

“Well, his posts get so many likes and shares, it keeps his name in the public eye, keeps people thinking and talking about him,” Deku said thoughtfully. “Plus, I think it makes him feel good about himself, in a way. You guys know what it’s like; you put on a new outfit, or your hair is just right, and it makes you feel so much more confident in yourself.”

Deku paused, glancing back at Aizawa again, before he levelled the class with a stern look.

“But remember, he’s an adult, he can make those informed decisions for himself! If I find out any of you are trying to act like Hawks, Aizawa-sensei will hear about it immediately.”

“Are you and Hawks as close in real life as you seem on social media?” Kendo asked.

“Definitely! He’s one of my best friends. The two of us are the same age, and we both shot up the charts pretty quickly, albeit for different reasons. It was nice having someone who understood, someone who was at my side during the hardest years. We still hang out a few times a month – we aim for weekly, but it doesn’t always work out.”

The final bell rang, and Katsuki’s classmates whined. Usually they were so eager to escape, but with Deku at the front of the class, all bets were apparently off.

“It was nice to meet you all!” Deku said knowingly, waving as he shuffled toward the door. “Thanks for having me, I’ll come visit again!”

“Please do!” people called back. “Thank you for coming!”

“Bring muffins next time,” Aizawa demanded, though the little smile on his face betrayed his fondness for the man. “If you’re gonna interrupt my classes.

“Deal!” Deku agreed, laughing. “Alright, I’m off!”

People began to wave and call their goodbyes, but Deku’s eyes went straight to Katsuki, his smile twitching a little, to something more familiar than the brightness he used to interact with his fans.

“Coming, Kacchan?”

Katsuki threw the rest of his gear into his bag, barely pausing to give Aizawa a nod before he was running out the door, catching up with Deku in the hallway. They walked side by side, though Katsuki had to hurry a little to keep up with Deku’s long strides, and he felt the weight of stares and whispers all around them, as people stepped out of their classrooms and saw Deku walking by.

“We watched footage from Invert’s incident, today,” Katsuki told him, before Deku could start the lecture he knew was coming. “I think I get it, now. The stuff you always say about image and public perception.”

Deku glanced over at him, but didn’t speak, so Katsuki continued.

“He and Pulse were a team out there, they did all of it together, but all my classmates blamed Pulse. They kept talking about recklessness and property damage, debating whether they made the right decisions, but when it came to Invert, everyone just said it must have been a hard decision, and they probably would have done the same thing.”

“Do you think that’s a reflection on them as heroes?”

“No, I think Pulse did the right thing too,” Katsuki said firmly. “But when it was time to talk to the cameras, Pulse shied away, and Invert didn’t. He just stood there and he talked like he regretted nothing, like no one could possibly question him. He kept his head up, he didn’t try to avoid questions or cameras, he was just… a hero.”

Deku cracked a tiny smile, but Katsuki didn’t dare to mention it.

“Something so simple, just acting confident and stuff, it made everyone take his side, without even realising it. Igneo did the same thing with that hostage incident a little while ago, he acted like he knew exactly what he was doing, even though he was…”

“Yeah,” Deku agreed, when Katsuki trailed off. “Sometimes acting the part is all you need, in the moment.”

“So I think I get it now, kind of. Why you always tell me to stand up straight, and not to duck my head and stuff.”

“I’m glad you’re thinking about these things. It’s good to see you continuing to learn and grow, let alone acknowledging that growth, rather than getting set in your ways.” Deku stepped into the station, apparently not noticing the way everyone watched him pass and whispered as he went – his eyes were only for Katsuki, in that moment. “But I still expect you to wear your tie, Kacchan, and while you’re at it, pull up your pants, too.”

“Yeah,” Katsuki said, grimacing. “I figured.”

[Chapter 33.5]