Chapter Text
Izuku was a little bit lost at Ochako’s nineteenth birthday party.
He never cared much for parties, that much was true. Indeed, he was still a bit of a wallflower even almost a year out from graduation. He was one of those people who went to a party and found a nice, quiet corner to hide in and maybe said hello to the host and his close friends if he was having a good day. Today was… not the greatest day for Izuku but he made due.
He always made due.
Tonight, he sat in between Shouto on his left and Tenya on his right as they had a very serious debate with Eijiro and Hanta on the merits of doing Hero paperwork in a certain way.
Izuku understood what they were talking about… Mostly. He knew the laws regarding Heroes, anyway, and what was required in the paperwork. But since he was not a Hero and he did not do Hero paperwork, the finer points were lost on him.
He only felt a little stab of jealousy at that, sitting on the couch at Shouto’s relatively roomy apartment, but he stuffed that down. He was lucky to be friends with such nice people and to have been invited to such a gathering for a close friend. Hell, he was lucky to have friends at all.
That he was a little bit hopelessly in love with the girl of the hour was also important but then, Izuku didn’t like to talk about that. He didn’t see the point in talking about impossible dreams, after all; he’d spent too long thinking he could be a Hero without a quirk, let alone get to be with someone as perfect as Ochako was.
“I insist, it is easiest if you begin with subsection twelve, code ‘B,’” Tenya declared, and Hanta threw his hands up in the air like Tenya had just insulted his mother’s cooking. Hanta and Eijiro were on chairs that Shouto had brought out, across from the couch.
“That’s nonsense, man. I’m telling ya, if you start in the… Whatever, subsection sixteen, it goes so much faster!”
“But if you do that, it messes up the whole order when you refile the incident reports at the end,” Shouto pointed out, and Eijiro groaned.
“Guys,” Ochako interjected, and the boys fell silent. “Y’all are putting me to sleep, Please, haven’t any of you done something more interesting than paperwork recently…?”
“Ribbit, I did my paperwork on a boat,” Tsuyu said, apparently in jest. Izuku had a hard time telling with her. She was on the floor in between Ochako on one side and Himiko on the other and Himiko snorted at her girlfriend’s joke. “It was pretty challenging, with the rocking and swaying of the ocean.”
“Ugh, you guys are hopeless. This is what happens when you focus on fighting villains all day…” The bitterness in Ochako’s voice was more than just her lightly mocking her friends and Izuku picked up on that and frowned. Ochako caught him frowning at her and he quickly looked away, his face heating slightly. “Hey, Deku, what about over at Shield Industries? Make anything cool recently?”
“Well… I’ve been working on the redesign for Jirou’s costume. It’s going to be much more durable now!” Izuku said, forcing himself not to go into a long-winded technical explanation. He’d put Shouto to sleep once doing that and that was all it took to figure out most people were not as interested in robots and rockets as he and Mei were. It was also theoretically a secret, not that any of his friends would ever tell Kyoka about it and ruin his surprise.
Besides, he generally tried to keep things moving when it involved talking to Ochako… as best he could, anyway. Otherwise, he might say something really stupid, like how he’d had a crush on her since--
Nope. He slammed the door on that thought and locked it.
“She’s gonna need it for whatever the hell she’s got going on with that quirk of hers, huh?” Hanta asked, blessedly interrupting Izuku’s internal spiral, and Izuku pulled his lips to the side in a pout and nodded.
He had spent so much time working on that damn costume and Melissa wouldn’t tell him any specifics about Kyoka’s strange quirk. It was clear that Melissa was in on something that Izuku wasn’t but she was technically his boss so he wasn’t about to pry.
Kyoka’s quirk was Earphone Jack, though, not super strength and super speed or whatever she had going on with those energy tendril constructs. Never mind the fact that she could fly.
Hanta shrugged, a sheepish, playful grin on his face. It was a shame Mina couldn’t make it tonight with him. That being said, Izuku thought, if Mina had come, he would never have heard the end of it from her about Ochako and he didn’t need that kind of stress in his life right now. There were others that couldn’t make it - Toru, Mashirao, Kyoka, and Momo were the big ones - and some that… weren’t invited.
Mostly Kacchan. He was very not invited, Ochako and Shouto decided, but Eijiro was used to the way they didn’t get along by now. It wasn’t like Kacchan would have wanted to come, anyway. Part of Izuku kind of wished that Ochako and Shouto got along better with Kacchan… but part of him also understood why they didn’t.
It was hard when his nominal childhood friend had spent more time hating Izuku’s very existence than he had being an actual friend. He couldn’t blame his actual friends for not putting up with Kacchan’s… 'eccentricities' was maybe a nice way to put it.
Izuku was startled when a familiar coldness permeated the air in front of his face and his vision was filled with Shouto’s right hand, holding a cup of punch. Izuku turned his head and found Shouto giving him a sidelong, flat glance, probably meant to be something along the lines of ‘you’re staring into space, are you okay?’ Izuku just smiled and nodded and Shouto retracted his hand and turned his gaze back to Eijiro.
“Kirishima, I thought you had an appointment at Shield Industries for a gear inspection. Have you seen Jirou’s new mystery suit?” Shouto asked. He and Izuku were pretty much the only people who were still on a verbal last-name basis with most of their friends, albeit for very different reasons. Eijiro shook his head but gave a shark-toothed grin.
“Izuku over there wouldn’t let me see it, I was so disappointed!” He said, and he threw his free hand into the air theatrically before slapping it on his knee. He took a sip of his punch and faux pouted at Izuku, who had the decency to look sheepish in response. “I wanted to know if he gave Kyoka wings or not, so we can watch her crash.”
Izuku sputtered, turning a bit pink. He had gotten so much worse of a reputation than he deserved from working with Mei. So what if his work had a 12.6% explosion rate? That was what happened when Mei wanted to add rockets to everything! Izuku was more responsible than her, anyway--
“Deku, you’re muttering again,” Ochako said gently, and Izuku made a startled 'eep' of horror. “It’s fine, I’m sure whatever you made for Kyoka is very functional and cool looking, just like all the stuff you make.”
She smiled encouragingly and Izuku went from pink to red, as he always did when Ochako praised him. He was grounded somewhat when he realized that her smile was more strained than normal.
Something was bothering her but he didn’t want to call her out in front of everyone and ask if she was okay. Hanta chose that moment to lean over and ruin the moment or, perhaps, save Izuku from his own embarrassment; both of those could have been true.
“As long as it doesn’t go boom,” Hanta said, and he mimed an explosion with two hands from his head, his eyes going wide as he smirked. Eijiro cackled in amusement and Tenya made a noise of disapproval and got halfway through an arm chop before Himiko shut him down.
“C’mon guys, they don’t explode… that much. Greenie made me those tube whips I use and I whipped your asses with them in our third year,” she pointed out. Hanta and Eijiro promptly deflated like comedy balloons. “Give him some credit, you wear his stuff every day you go out there.”
“Hey man, I’m just calling it like I see it,” Hanta said defensively. Then he turned and gave a cheeky grin and a finger gun to Izuku. “The stuff you make that doesn’t blow up is super cool, though!”
“Thanks…” Izuku muttered, but he couldn’t help but smile a bit. The truth was that he was still high on life to actually be creating gear for genuine, bona fide professional Heroes. Sure, right now it was still all people he went to school with and he mostly did the designs and fabrication while Melissa and Mei handled the presentations but even so. “I promise, just for you, Sero, I’ll make you a really volatile jetpack and I’ll make the button that says ‘off’ make it go faster.”
Izuku actually impressed himself that he managed to deliver that with a straight face and Hanta and Eijiro looked genuinely horrified. Tenya cleared his throat into his fist while Eijiro, when he turned and saw Hanta’s face, burst out laughing.
“Holy shit, I wish you could see the look you’ve got, Hanta,” Eijiro said in between laughs, and Hanta’s expression accordingly morphed into a scowl. “I’m imagining you just zipping around like whoosh and then you try to grab onto a light pole with a tape and get wrapped up on it…”
Eijiro trailed off as he laughed and Izuku, Shouto, and the girls chuckled at Hanta’s expense. Hanta looked thoroughly scandalized and he turned to Tenya for assistance. That was a mistake. Tenya readjusted his glasses back up onto his face and had a severe expression on his face.
“It is unbecoming of professional Heroes to mock their fellows for the idea of support gear failure… is what I would say if you did not deserve that one,” Tenya said in a grave tone, and Hanta’s mouth fell open.
“Betrayal! I have been betrayed!” He moaned as he dragged two hands down his face. That just caused the group to laugh harder at him and soon he was laughing, too.
It was a nice night. Izuku just couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong, both in general and with Ochako specifically. Sometimes he got that feeling really intensely, a feeling of wrongness with the world itself, and it sent a shiver down his spine.
He never talked about it with anyone, though; he couldn’t put to words why he felt like there was always someone with him - someone watching him - even when he was alone.
He might’ve said it was creepy, except it never felt like… Izuku didn’t believe in ghosts, not really. That was silly. But if there was such a thing as ghosts and he was haunted, well… he suspected his ghost might love him, in a way that ran deeper than either romance or family. He never said such insane things out loud, though, because people already thought he was weird enough for the muttering and the note taking.
It was about ten minutes later, after a lot of small talk and chit chat that Izuku wasn’t very invested in, that Ochako got up to get herself a glass of water from the kitchen sink. Izuku stood up as inconspicuously as he could but he frowned when Himiko threw him a thumbs up and Tsuyu smiled at him from the ground. He gave them a slightly awkward wave as he stepped around the couch and followed after Ochako.
Himiko and Tsuyu had always been nice and supportive of him, trying to convince him that Ochako might like him back, if only he confessed to her. They just didn’t understand how out of his league Ochako was and how terrified he was of ruining things - ruining his first real friendship ever - because he was stupid enough to fall in love.
Ochako stopped at the sink in the other room and sighed. Izuku was just close enough to hear her over their friends as they began to laugh at something indistinct that Himiko had said. Izuku frowned, feeling an almost overwhelming desire to just walk up and… hug her. He always had intrusive thoughts like that, the desire to hug her or brush the hair out of her face, to smile at her and lean in and…
He cleared his throat awkwardly, knowing he’d already ruined things when his face felt like the sun.
“H-hey, Uraraka? Are you… okay?” Izuku asked, his voice cracking as he stuttered. Ochako jumped a bit and spun around with a smile that he knew was fake and his blush went down as concern replaced embarrassment for him. “You look… like something is bothering you, is there any way I can help?”
Ochako looked at him for a long time, her expression indecipherable as her smile fell. After several moments, she readopted her fake smile and walked up to Izuku, startling him somewhat. She wasn’t that close but he always got flustered when she was within a meter of him.
Despite her false smile, her eyes were warm and happy, albeit unfocused, and he tried to center himself to avoid ruining things.
“I’m… not in a good mood tonight, Deku. I’m sorry, I know it’s my party. I hope I haven’t been ruining things for you.”
“Oh, no, of course not! I just wouldn’t… want you to be sad on your birthday, is all.” Izuku’s returned smile was wobbly and he could feel his own nervousness radiating off him in waves. Ochako looked him up and down once and took a half step back, so he let out the breath he was holding.
“Sorry if I made you uncomfortable, I just…” She trailed off and bit her lip, and her eyes flicked to the bottom of his face for just a moment. He wasn’t sure why. “Never mind. Thanks for checking on me. I’m going to go sit down, okay?”
She spared him one last smile and walked away, stopping only to squeeze his shoulder affectionately as she passed him back towards the living room. Izuku was left standing there alone and realized, to his horror, that he had come to comfort Ochako and utterly failed.
He was hit with awful memories of their first Sports Festival and how Ochako had gone against Kacchan and been thoroughly destroyed. She had cried alone in her waiting room after the fact and Izuku had come because…
Because he wanted to talk to the nice girl again, the one who had been nice enough to stop him from falling with a smile when he was startled by Kacchan. He had gone for selfish reasons, to see the girl he was already developing a crush on, only to find her sad and crying and alone.
He never found the courage to go into that waiting room then and he never told anyone about it. He just sank to the ground outside the door and searched for the words he wanted to say to her, never actually going in. Eventually, he had fled, leaving her alone.
He talked to her later, when they were back in the stands, and offered pathetic, weak encouragement regarding Kacchan: how the match wasn't really even given their respective quirks and how Ochako had done her best given the circumstances. He'd stumbled over his words then, trying to find the right thing to say and feeling like he didn't succeed in the slightest as Ochako offered him a fake smile.
Now, standing alone in that kitchen, he felt…
Failure. Like he was useless and worthless, like Kacchan always said he was. Izuku almost wanted to collapse into one of the chairs in the corner of Shouto’s kitchen and cry but he knew he wouldn’t be able to hide that from his friends when he went back.
But if there was one thing he had learned from Ochako, it was that Heroes put on a brave face when it all went wrong. So he steeled himself, willing his face not to cry, and walked back into the living room. When he sat down, both Ochako and Shouto obviously knew something was wrong. But Izuku just… smiled and pretended like it was fine.
Just like his Heroes always had.
Ochako was more than a little bit lost at Izuku’s twentieth birthday party.
She was exhausted, sitting in the corner of Momo’s parents’ home and nursing a drink that was secretly alcoholic even though she wasn’t supposed to have that yet. Shouto was nice enough to hook her up, though, and boy did she need a fucking drink with the way tonight was going.
It wasn’t quite a class reunion - Mei and Melissa were there with about… half of Class A and a handful more were due to come - but it kind of felt like one. Ochako smiled and waved at Melissa as Izuku swung at a ‘piñata’ with a plastic bat and a blindfold on, both of which Momo made for him. She had never heard of such a thing before but it was extremely funny to watch him swat at it, especially when he inadvertently missed and whacked Mei right on the face.
Ochako chuckled as Mei flailed and Izuku peeked, only to turn red and stammer out an apology as he registered the growing impact line on her face. Mei just threw her hands up and cheered, declaring that at least Izuku hit something, and that only made Izuku more embarrassed; it was adorable.
But it was hard to focus on that when Ochako’s least favorite human being in the world was there at the party, sitting in a corner on the opposite side of the room and lounging like he wasn’t a fucking douchebag. Bakugou Katsuki leaned back in his chair, his arms around the back and resting on the table behind him, and listened to something Eijiro was telling him. Eijiro smiled and laughed but Bakugou didn’t laugh and his smile was very tiny.
He looked like something was bothering him. Good. Served him right for being a goddamned prick.
Ochako realized only just in time that she was in danger of crushing her drink in her hand, so she took a deep breath and exhaled heavily to calm herself. She wasn’t normally someone to really hold a grudge or hate a specific person. Even when Monoma or Mineta were huge jerks back in their first year, she didn’t hold it against them when they grew as people and acted nicer later on.
Mineta even apologized personally to her and she accepted it. He was actually really nice now and responsible, though no one ever let him live down what a dorky asshole he was at the start at parties.
But Bakugou was different. The thing about Bakugou was that she didn’t dislike him because he was mean to her personally. He was mean to her personally; he’d been mean to everyone in Class A when they started and quickly found himself isolated with his abrasive personality and lack of respect for other human beings. But Ochako could have handled that; she could have handled just ignoring him and being polite and chilly whenever she had to talk to him.
But no, Bakugou’s problem was that he was a fucking bully and he specifically picked on one Midoriya Izuku. Deku, the boy that Ochako had met and changed his whole outlook on life - something she wouldn’t ever claim as a brag and only came to accept because he insisted it was true to her over time - because he came to UA thinking he was worthless and useless.
He came to UA thinking he was worthless and useless because of Bakugou Katsuki and Ochako hated Bakugou for it. Izuku never really told her the whole story, she assumed, but she had seen how Bakugou treated Izuku when they got to UA: how he would sneer and talk down to Izuku, how he would knock into Izuku in the hallway and pretend like it was an ‘accident,’ how he would talk badly about Izuku at every opportunity. Izuku told her that this was better than it had been and the thought made her fucking blood boil.
She told Izuku that she believed he could do it, that he could do almost anything, and she meant it. She had seen how driven and determined he was, how dedicated he was to helping people, how kind he was. And Bakugou hated him, for no apparent reason that Ochako could tell.
Well. He would go on and on about ‘quirkless losers’ but he shut the hell up about that in their second year when Ochako got her rematch against him in the Sports Festival and broke every bone in his smug fucking face. She was almost more proud of that than she was of her professional Hero work… Almost.
She was in danger of crushing her drink again, so she set it aside.
Bakugou gave conflicting, often contradictory reasons about why he bullied Izuku, not that he ever described it as ‘bullying.’ Sometimes Ochako wondered if they had ever really been friends, though Izuku insisted they had been when they were very young. Before quirks and their superhuman society had driven a wedge between them, despite those things being Izuku’s favorite aspect of the world. It was heartbreaking, really; Izuku only ever wanted to make friends and make the world a nicer place and all anybody ever fucking did before she met him was throw it back in his face.
She wanted to break something. Preferably Bakugou’s face, again.
He was just such a self-righteous douchebag, always going on about how he was the best, he was going to be the number one Hero and surpass All Might, and how he was the only one there to be a Hero and the rest of them were just ‘extras.’ He would go out of his way to antagonize Izuku even though he was just a Support Department student who wanted to work in peace, calling Izuku his ‘rival’ even though that didn’t make any sense.
He would bitch and moan about how Izuku went to UA even though ‘no one from that shitty middle school but him was allowed to go’ and then he had the gall to start picking fights with Shouto later on, too.
Bakugou had mellowed out somewhat by their third year, no longer going out of his way to antagonize Izuku, Ochako, or Shouto and no longer being actively abrasive to his fellow classmates. His relationship with Eijiro was helpful in that regard, Ochako suspected, but things ran deeper than that. What she came to realize was that Bakugou had this bizarre, deep well of self-loathing he clung to; he didn’t just have a superiority complex about being the best but he was terrified of not being the best and she wasn’t sure what to think about that.
The joke was on him, though, because he would never hold a candle to Kyoka or Shouto as far as power in their class went.
Kyoka chose that moment to come plop down next to Ochako and Ochako side-eyed her as she noted that Kyoka’s drink was also alcoholic.
“Don’t give me that look, ‘Chako, you’re no saint,” Kyoka said matter-of-factly. Ochako giggled and picked up her drink to take a sip. “I was going to come tease you for daydreaming about your future husband,” Ochako turned scarlet and opened her mouth to sputter a defense but Kyoka just powered through, “but I saw that now you’re plotting Katsuki’s murder again, instead.”
Ochako closed her mouth and transitioned smoothly into a deep frown.
“As if I wouldn’t be justified,” Ochako said without remorse. Kyoka just snorted; she and Katsuki were friends, sort of, but she never made apologies for the way he treated Izuku. Often, she was one of the people getting between them and mocking Katsuki for his bullshit. “Besides, I don’t see any reason for him to be here.”
“Him and Greenie are friends… kind of,” Kyoka said. From the look of disappointment on her face, Ochako knew even she didn’t buy that. “It would be nice if things got better between them…”
“Yeah, well, that’s on Bakugou. It’s not like Deku ever did anything to anybody.” Kyoka just nodded, her frown settling deep on her face as well. This was well-tread ground between the two of them, so Ochako decided it wasn’t worth dwelling on. She sighed heavily and set her drink down. “Where is our delightful hostess? I haven’t seen Momo in a while. You didn’t scare her off, did ya?” Ochako asked. She was surprised to see a flicker of genuine fear cross Kyoka’s face as she bit her lip but, as quick as it came, it was gone.
“No! 'Course not, she’s just, um…” Kyoka leaned over to whisper into Ochako’s ear, cupping her hand over her mouth. “She’s making a gift for Greenie but I wanted to ask if you wanna give it to him?” Ochako blinked rapidly, not processing what just came out of Kyoka’s mouth. She opened her own mouth and all that came out sounded like ‘bwuh?’ “C’mon, it’ll give you two some alone time,” Kyoka added suggestively, and Ochako pouted at her.
“You know it’s not like that…” Ochako protested weakly. God, she was such a shit tier liar and she knew it. So what if she loved Deku? He never expressed any interest in romance and besides…
He deserved better. Someone who had time to spare for him, who would be there for him always and give him all the love and affection he’d been denied growing up. So what if Ochako fantasized about what it would be like to run her fingers through his hair, hug him close and whisper encouragement to him at night, or to press soft kisses in his hairline and tell him everything would be alright now because she was with him? He deserved someone who wasn’t caught up in her own insecurities, someone who would move heaven and earth for him, and she just wasn’t…
He deserved someone who wasn’t trapped in her own personal nightmare.
“I already got him a gift, Kyoka,” Ochako said softly, her voice full of regret. “He got me a nice birthday gift and I wanted to return the favor.”
“Oh yeah? What’d he get ya?”
Ochako bit her bottom lip, feeling bashful.
“Don’t worry about it,” she said firmly, thinking of the Thirteen and Uravity figures he had gotten her custom made - Thirteen for her birthday and Uravity for Christmas; Ochako didn't even have official merchandise yet and she was so flattered - and Kyoka just rolled her eyes, unimpressed.
“Whatever floats your boat, honey. I’m telling you, though, you miss one hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.”
“Where’d you get that from, some shitty self-help manual? That sounds like something Eijiro would say.” Kyoka looked like she’d been caught and Ochako’s eyes widened as she bit back laughter. “You’re serious, did Eijiro give you an inspirational quotes book?”
“I was struggling with song lyrics!” Kyoka moaned, and Ochako couldn’t help it, she cackled. Melissa and Mei looked over at her quizzically as Izuku continued to flail at the piñata with his blindfold and she just waved them off. “Rude. Besides, I didn’t even end up using it. I took my music in a different direction that wasn’t so…”
“Corny?” Ochako asked, and Kyoka nodded quickly. “That’s good, I would’ve hated to listen to your new album and wonder why Eijiro wrote it.”
“You listen to my songs?” Kyoka asked, sounding genuinely baffled.
“Of course I do! That one you did that was a bit more electronic is my workout music.” Ochako beamed at Kyoka and the latter turned a bit red and touched her earphone jacks together, embarrassed as she looked away.
“I sort of hoped nobody in the class listened to my music…” Kyoka muttered, not intending for Ochako to hear. Ochako just snorted; everyone in the former Class A listened to Kyoka’s music, even the Shield Industries staff did. It was actually Mei’s favorite music to listen to while inventing or, as she liked to call it, ‘music to blow robots up to!’
“Whatever floats your boat, honey,” Ochako said, throwing Kyoka’s words back at her. Kyoka grumbled and mockingly threatened Ochako with a floating earphone jack. Ochako responded by miming a cat claw motion with her finger pads and Kyoka pretended to be afraid. Then they giggled together and Ochako felt better. “Thanks for coming to sit by me.”
“Any time, ‘Chako.”
They sat together for a while longer, chit chatting about nothing important. Eventually, Kyoka got up and walked away and Ochako was alone again. She didn’t feel like stewing in either her anger at Bakugou or her pining for Izuku, though, so she took out her phone.
There were a bunch of notifications but most of it was dull. There was some Hero news about Hawks, Endeavor, and the latest big bad guy they had dropped in downtown Tokyo, a news piece about trends in Hero support gear design - she saved that one to send to Izuku later, to ask him his opinion on it as a conversation starter - and even one story about Fumikage.
She clicked on that one and made a little ‘oo’ sound of impressed surprise: the news got a really cool picture of Dark Shadow, massive in the moonlight, as he swatted villains around like he was a giant, evil cat. Well… maybe that was just cats, Ochako wasn’t sure; she’d never had a pet before.
She was surprised when her phone buzzed and she saw it was a text message.
Hey, Uravity! This is Sakakibara from the agency.
I was wondering if we could grab a bite to eat soon, get to know each other?
Ochako stared blankly at her phone for a moment. Was her new coworker asking her out on a date? Was he actually lame enough to just… text her and ask?
Well, she supposed she shouldn't be too harsh. It didn’t have to be any kind of big production or anything, they were adults and pro Heroes and not little kids in high school anymore. Even if she was still pining after her best friend from high school, the best friend she felt like she’d never get to be close to like that, those were details better left unexamined.
Sakakibara was a sidekick who had just started at Ryukyu’s Agency and Ochako already got weird vibes from him. He kind of reminded her of how Denki was when she first met him, not quite ‘inappropriately forward’ but definitely ‘a flirt who thought he was smoother than he really was.’
Ochako, realistically, had no interest in going on a date with anyone besides Izuku, let alone some guy who she’d said all of twenty words to since they didn’t work directly together. But Mina was always on her ass about ‘not having any kind of life’ and ‘if you won’t date Greenie and you won’t tell him how you feel, at least get out there with someone.’
Ochako did not see any reason why she needed anyone. She already knew exactly the boy she wanted and he was simply unattainable or, at least, that was what she told herself so she could get some broken sleep in between the nightmares. But still, she found herself answering the text on autopilot because part of her just wanted something to break the monotony of her life.
Yeah, sure.
How about in a couple of days, though? I’m a bit busy tomorrow.
Part of her wondered if she told Izuku she had a date, would he care? Would he be jealous? That was wrong and she knew it was wrong. But he had never expressed direct romantic interest in her - that she believed anyway, despite Mina and Kyoka’s insistence otherwise - so she wondered if he would even be bothered. Maybe he’d just be happy for her; that would hurt even more, a confirmation he wasn’t into her at all.
She just loved him so much, sometimes she just wanted to walk up and kiss him senseless. She almost did kiss him senseless at her own birthday party late last year, feeling the buzz of alcohol she and Himiko had hidden from Tenya. But it just wasn’t going to happen and Ochako almost wanted to cry at the reality that she loved her best friend and he was only ever going to be her best friend.
It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that she wanted more and she could never have more. It wasn’t fair that she wasn’t good enough and she knew she wasn’t good enough and she hated that.
He deserved better. He didn’t need h--
You were important. He needed you.
Ochako almost fell right off her fucking chair.
“Who… What?” Ochako asked, utterly baffled as to who the hell that voice was.
She looked around; it was a woman’s voice and it had been deafening, like it was right in her ear, but none of the girls acknowledged anything or were even looking at her. Her eyes settled on Kyoka and a shiver ran down her spine but Kyoka was chatting away with Momo, now that the latter had returned.
Momo said something Ochako didn’t hear, covering her giggle with her hand, and Kyoka turned red and pulled her lips to the side in a pout. Kyoka looked strangely uncomfortable around her own girlfriend and Ochako frowned, the strange voice momentarily forgotten. She wondered if Kyoka and Momo were having some kind of issues; Kyoka always felt a little insecure about their relationship, though she only told Ochako bits and pieces.
She was always so closed off, afraid to let people see the real her. It was a shame, since the real Kyoka was such a beautiful and kind friend to have. But then, Ochako certainly wasn’t one to talk on that front.
She hadn’t told anyone about the relentless nightmares she faced of battle and disasters and death and she was too afraid to see a therapist. She didn’t want them to see her and decide she was unfit for duty, that she was unfit for saving people.
She was already afraid she was unfit for saving people. It was a self-doubt that nagged in the back of her mind constantly, asking her if her motivations for being a Hero were too selfish and if she had any right to be in the field at all. She felt that way even though she’d saved so many people already and even though she was so proud of the work she did and wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Her parents were almost taken care of, too, financially. They were so much better off than they had been and they could even afford to live close by now. She was too afraid to be told that it was all going to be taken away, that she wasn’t good enough like she feared and her life would come crashing down.
She didn’t want a therapist to tell her how fucked up she really was.
Ochako downed the rest of her drink in one go, ignoring how it burned her throat. Then she had another drink, probably too quickly, and spent the rest of the night thinking about the Thirteen figurine Izuku had gotten her for her birthday and how sometimes she would snuggle up with it to sleep when she didn’t have it on her shelf. The Uravity figure stayed on the shelf but she snuggled with Thirteen and thought of him.
She thought about how much she just wanted to hold Izuku like that as she stared at him like an idiot when he wasn’t looking and she ignored the way Bakugou was giving her weird looks for the rest of the night. That was his usual, his norm, anyway, and besides: he could give her weird looks all he wanted but, if he came over to her right then, she was going to send him into fucking orbit. Let him try it, she decided.
Izuku only caught her staring once and it was the most embarrassing thing in the world when she woke up sober and remembered it.
She forgot all about the strange voice.
It was raining today.
Izuku sat uncomfortably in a restaurant he’d never been to, shifting in the booth and watching through the window as the rain came down. Well… to say it was raining was an understatement really, the water was coming down in sheets and people were rushing back and forth with umbrellas trying to escape the rain. It was still hot out, though, despite the way the sky was gray and lifeless, and Izuku distantly considered that by tomorrow morning it would probably all be dried up.
It was beautiful in a way. Or at least, that was what he thought; the way the gray skies and endless rain would probably break into a nice rainbow that afternoon and then all trace of it would be gone soon after. Someone who didn’t go outside often might miss it entirely, they would miss the rain shower and then the calm peace that came after.
The little ripples in the water and the tsunamis that follow, his mind provided. Izuku squinted; that didn’t sound like his voice but it didn’t sound familiar either. Still, he was a daydreamer and, besides, he was nervous as all hell for today.
He shifted in his seat again and cursed the fact that he had chosen a booth. He didn’t think he could handle a chair, since he was pretty sure when his… eating buddy for today came, he would’ve fallen right out of his chair in surprise and possibly fear. Because today, Kacchan had asked him to meet and Izuku was…
Moderately terrified. Just a little bit.
Realistically, he considered that he shouldn’t be terrified to meet a friend for early lunch on a quiet morning. But then, he and Kacchan weren’t really friends, were they? It was a sad thought but Izuku couldn’t help but be honest with himself.
They used to be friends, maybe; he liked to believe so anyway. But Kacchan hadn’t liked or respected Izuku for a long time and the worst part was that Izuku didn’t understand why. He didn’t understand why and he didn’t want his theories to be right because he wanted to believe that Kacchan must have had better reasons than what his mind imagined.
“Hey.”
Izuku nearly jumped straight to the ceiling in fright at Kacchan’s voice. He turned and found the explosive blonde Hero wearing a Red Riot t-shirt that was distinctly wet on the shoulders and his hair was wet, too. Kacchan squinted at Izuku, his red eyes narrowing, and Izuku curled in on himself, trying to make himself smaller. Trying to make himself less of a target, though Kacchan just frowned and sat down in the booth across from him.
“Did you order yet?” He asked, and Izuku only partially uncurled to shake his head apologetically.
“S-sorry, Kacchan, I… I don’t know what kind of food they have here…” Izuku said awkwardly. He scratched the back of his neck and his own All Might t-shirt stretched with him. “I, um, I d-don’t… know why you asked me to come today but I hope I didn’t upset you and I’m… s-sorry if I did?”
Izuku trailed off awkwardly and touched his index fingers together, leaning forward a bit and looking away from Kacchan. The truth was that he was sure he was going to end today by getting explosively launched out of the restaurant but, since he and Kacchan hadn’t even spoken since his birthday party, he wasn’t really sure what he would’ve done to deserve such a thing.
Then again, Kacchan never needed a reason to blow him up before.
There was an extended silence and Izuku realized Kacchan hadn’t said anything. He looked up, brows furrowed and expression confused, and found Kacchan looking… strange. Like he was holding in a burp, maybe, or like he needed to go to the bathroom. Izuku liked to think he could read Kacchan - he sort of had to, to avoid the aforementioned ‘getting blown up’ problem - but he was dumbfounded by this expression.
Kacchan opened his mouth to reply but the waitress walked over and cut him off. They ordered food - Kacchan suggested something for Izuku and he was even mostly nice about it - and the waitress seemed to sense how the atmosphere dropped ten degrees when she was there. So she scurried off and left the two young men alone and Izuku frowned as he no longer had a menu to hide behind if he were so inclined.
“Kacchan, what are ‘enchiladas?’” Izuku asked, feeling a bit brave. Kacchan sneered, a much more familiar expression, and then rolled his eyes.
“You basically got tortillas and cheese, Deku,” Kacchan said, and Izuku made a little ‘O’ with his mouth and nodded in understanding. “You’ll be fine, just don’t put any hot sauce on it.”
Kacchan gestured over to the bottle of red sauce sitting on the table near the wall, with the napkins and salt and pepper, and Izuku nodded quickly. He knew to take Kacchan’s recommendations on spicy food very seriously. People who didn’t got burned and almost invariably had a bad time. Denki found that out the hard way back at UA when he had to go to Recovery Girl because he didn’t believe Kacchan about ‘ghost peppers.’
“Right, so… um, Kacchan, why are we… here?” Izuku asked, and he cringed at how demanding that sounded. He quickly tried to switch gears, to be more placating and keep things going smoothly. “I mean, not that I m-mind of course, you just usually don’t ever want to… be alone with me for anything. Am I in trouble?”
Izuku let the words tumble out of him before he could slam the door marked ‘DANGER’ and, by the end, he all but blurted out his final question. Kacchan made that same funny expression and Izuku swallowed thickly. He didn’t like not being able to read Kacchan; it was kind of like being locked in the lion’s cage at the zoo right at feeding time and--
Oh dear, Izuku was going to die. He realized it and started brainstorming things to write on his tombstone. He didn’t even get a writer a letter to Ochako telling her how great he thought she was or letters to Shouto and Tenya to thank them for being nice to him.
Kacchan cleared his throat, interrupting Izuku’s complete spiral into depressed panic.
“I treated you like shit,” Kacchan said flatly, and Izuku’s mind went perfectly blank because that could not have just come out of his mouth. “I treated you like shit and now you’re terrified to even be sitting here, ha…”
His laugh at the end was mirthless and bitter and he had that same funny expression and Izuku’s brain suddenly went from a standstill to lightspeed. Because he realized: the expression was guilt.
“K-kacchan?” Izuku asked, and then he brought his right hand up and pinched it really hard to make sure he wasn’t dreaming. “What’s going on? Did you get hit by a quirk? Is Shinsou somewhere around here with a camera?”
Kacchan seemed stunned, so Izuku just looked at him. Looked at him properly, even, for the first time in a long time. Izuku was always flinching around Kacchan, shying away from the potential of incoming hurt, whether it was physical or emotional. What would Kacchan do today? Would he push Izuku over when no one was looking in the hall, tell him he was useless if he got the tiniest thing wrong, or throw him unimpressed sneers whenever he accomplished something?
Would he burn Izuku? Tell him to find a quirk--
“I never understood why I did it,” Kacchan said, interrupting Izuku. “I thought… Sometimes I told myself it was better this way. I thought you were weak and useless and you would just get in the way and die with your stupid dream. I thought you were inconsequential, not someone to be worth considering as I made my way to the top, yet I never stopped thinking about how angry you made me.” Izuku was speechless but listening intently. “I… Sometimes I thought you were mocking me. Just your existence was mocking me, like it was a reminder of how little I could have been, if…”
Izuku couldn’t help it. He laughed in Kacchan’s face, cutting him off.
“If you hadn’t been lucky enough to be born with a strong quirk, Kacchan?” Izuku asked. Kacchan leaned back in the booth, stunned once more. Izuku continued, heedless of Kacchan’s confusion. He’d thought a lot about this, about what he might say if Kacchan were ever honest with him, but the reality that Kacchan was just so… “You’re just such a jerk,” Izuku said flatly. For once in their lives, it was Kacchan who flinched. “You got lucky, don’t you understand that? I used to… I used to think you were the ‘symbol of victory,’ the person who was always winning. But you know what?”
Kacchan nodded dumbly, inviting Izuku to continue.
“I realized that you just won at life. You won the lottery of life and got a good quirk and all you ever did was look down on me. And you told me I was looking down on you and how does that even work, Kacchan?” Izuku couldn’t help it, he was angry now. “How can you even say that? Because you know what, you were always fucking right!”
Izuku raised his voice and could feel their area of the restaurant go quiet. Some people were murmuring, ‘is that Ground Zero? Who is that other guy…?’ And Izuku didn’t care. It was Kacchan who brought him here for this… this bullshit and it was Kacchan who…
“You brought me here to apologize and you made it all about yourself, just like you always do,” Izuku spat out, and Kacchan looked away to the table. “You’re just so great, Kacchan, don’t you understand? All I ever wanted was to be your friend, to support you while you became a great Hero. And I had to sit and watch while you let it go to your head, while you let everyone tell you how great you are and make you think you were too good for other people. You’re just such a… a dick.”
“What did I ever do to deserve this? Any of this?” Izuku made a vague, disgusted motion at the table with his hand. “Because, for a long time, I knew, deep down, that I couldn’t be a Hero without a quirk. I knew it because that’s what everyone said and it’s what you beat into me. I kept trying because I needed something to hold on to. I was drowning and needed a life preserver and you just wanted to watch me drown.”
“I didn’t…”
“Shut up, Kacchan.” He shut his mouth with a click. “I didn’t get it until we went to UA; until I found a new dream. Until I made real friends, people who actually cared about me and didn’t… didn’t just see me as part of some complex. I don’t know why you came here today. I don’t know if, whatever, if Kirishima or your mom or maybe even a therapist told you to come. But for how great you are, this? Apologizing? You suck at this, so don’t waste my time.”
Izuku was near the point of hyperventilating, he was breathing so hard, and all he could hear was the thump, thump of his heartbeat in his ears.
He turned and saw the waitress standing there at the side of the table, a plate in either hand and a horrified look on her face. Izuku just frowned as the adrenaline of finally getting to say the words he wished he had the courage to say for years wore off, then he hung his head in shame. The waitress quickly set down their plates and scurried off once more and the silence in the restaurant was palpable.
Izuku glanced up through his hair and saw Kacchan turning to glare at people, his gaze saying ‘fuck off, extras.’ That’s how he always was: there were people who mattered, people who were important, and there were extras. Izuku thought he was someone who mattered, someone who would be at Katsuki’s side when he became a Hero, but he never was. He wasn’t lucky, he wasn’t born with a quirk, so he was an extra.
“You’re right,” Kacchan said, his voice lowered again. Izuku realized he’d been muttering again… and he didn’t care. He turned his head up fully to glare at Kacchan, hoping he looked more defiant than he really felt. Years of fight-or-flight instincts were telling him to just get up and leave and give Eijiro money later for the food. “I did think that way. And it was bullshit.”
Izuku frowned but didn’t interrupt. Kacchan looked down at his plate and swirled his fork around, mixing up beans with rice. His food smelled very spicy and it was sufficiently distracting to ground Izuku back in the moment.
“I treated you like shit because… of a lot of reasons. A lot of bullshit, dumb reasons. And you’re right, I came here to apologize and then I made it about me, I was going to rationalize and justify because the idea that… it was just all for nothing is scary.” Izuku was shocked. He wouldn’t have thought Kacchan would ever admit to being scared of anything, let alone to him. “But the truth is, there isn’t an excuse. I don’t have some good reason for why I treated you like shit and… I know that makes me a bad person. So I’m sorry, Izuku. I wish I had treated you better, like you deserved. You used to be my friend and I’m… I’m sorry I stopped being there for you, like you wanted to be there for me.”
Izuku stared blankly at Kacchan for several moments. Eventually, Kacchan looked up at Izuku and he saw how much pain there was there.
Part of him was bitter at that; after all the pain Kacchan put him through, he got to turn around and act like he was the one who should be in pain? But Izuku was just… tired. He didn’t hold a grudge against Kacchan, not really. In some ways, he had always hoped that, one day, maybe Kacchan would apologize to him and maybe, one day, Kacchan would admit that there was nothing wrong with Izuku and that he never deserved any of it.
That Kacchan would tell Izuku… that he was important and that Kacchan needed him.
Izuku sighed and picked up his fork, staring down at his plate and realizing he had no appetite anymore.
“I wish things could have been different,” Izuku whispered, and he felt the warm tears running down his face just like the warm rain outside. The rain was dying down now, coming as a drizzle rather than in buckets, but Izuku’s rain was just starting. “I wish I had been born with a quirk, so I wasn’t useless.”
Izuku’s words came out so quiet but he was startled when Kacchan grunted, a strangled sound of surprise that made Izuku refocus on him.
“You didn’t need… You didn’t need a fucking quirk, Izuku. I wish… I wish I had seen it but I didn’t. Because I’m garbage and I accept that. But you didn’t need one. Look at you, you’ve got… you’ve got a good job now, you’ve got friends. Better friends than I ever was.” He paused for a moment and squinted at Izuku again, eyes so narrow they almost closed. “Dunno why you don’t have a girlfriend yet, with the way Round Face hangs on your every word.”
Izuku sputtered and dropped his fork.
“You’re still making fun of me,” Izuku grumbled halfheartedly. To his surprise, Kacchan just gave him a look of pure, unadulterated disbelief.
“You really don’t see it, do you?” He said, and Izuku tilted his head in confusion. “I’m glad… she was there for you. She made sure you didn’t drown. Her and… and Todoroki and Iida, too. Tell them I said thank you one of these days, if that’s okay with you.”
“Why don’t you just apologize to them, too?” Izuku wondered with a frown. It was a genuine question, though Kacchan just scowled.
“Oh yeah, ‘sorry I bullied your best friend and was a huge piece of shit because I’m a bitch and I didn’t figure it out until I saw a therapist.’” Izuku blinked slowly at Kacchan, slightly blown away that he would admit that in so many words. Kacchan’s scowl just deepened. “You’re fuckin’ serious, aren’t you?”
Izuku nodded and smiled. Kacchan groaned and stuffed a fork full of food into his mouth. For a long time after that, they didn’t talk, just eating and… thinking.
Izuku looked out the window and watched the rain fall trickle to a stop. He rubbed the tears off his face so that, when the waitress was brave enough to return, he wasn’t a complete mess. Then he ordered a dessert and smiled at how Kacchan’s eyebrow twitched, since he was paying.
“Do you…” Kacchan began once Izuku got his dessert - a little piece of chocolate cake - but he trailed off. Izuku stopped, his fork hanging in the air a centimeter away from the cake, and looked up at Kacchan. Kacchan clearly was at a loss for words but Izuku just smiled; he knew what Kacchan was trying to ask.
“Do I forgive you?” Izuku said. Kacchan nodded cautiously. “I don’t know. Sometimes I think I already forgave you or, at least, I made peace with what was and what… you destroyed.” Kacchan frowned but didn’t argue. “Do I accept your apology? I think that depends on if you’ll apologize to Uraraka and Shouto as well. After all, they spent years trying to put me back together after you stepped on the pieces of me; the least you could do is thank them yourself.”
Izuku said this cheerfully but inside he felt a crushing sorrow. It was… liberating, to say these things that had always been at the tip of his tongue. Part of him felt awful, though; he felt terrible at seeing how much it was twisting at Kacchan’s heart. But then, they wouldn’t be here if Kacchan hadn’t made his choices in life and Izuku wasn’t sure how to reconcile those facts.
A small voice asked him why he wasn't concerned about himself before others but that had always been how it was for him.
Kacchan swallowed nervously and then, to Izuku’s infinite surprise, held out his right hand. Izuku stared at his hand for a moment, dumbfounded and incredulous. For good measure, he pinched himself again, just to make sure this wasn’t a dream, but it wasn’t and Kacchan pouted at him. Then Izuku smiled and reached out tentatively to take the hand but paused just before making contact.
“Also, stop making fun of me about Uraraka,” he said moderately bitterly, and Kacchan had a look that said ‘it’s not making fun of you when it’s true’ while Izuku rolled his eyes as they shook hands.
When they left, the rain had stopped. It was a nice day by then, as the sun came out and the rain began to evaporate in the heat. Izuku was certain now that, by tomorrow morning, it would probably all be dried up. He thought that was probably a nice thing even though in a way it was also kind of sad.
He didn’t enjoy dwelling on his past because it made him sad, too. But he couldn’t deny how the past had shaped him, molded him, and changed him into the person he was. And, despite it all, he was glad for the person he had become because he had found a new dream, a new way to be relevant as a person without power in their superhuman society.
By tomorrow morning, the rain would be all dried up. Just like how Izuku did not plan to dwell on the past any longer. He was content to let Kacchan stew in the past, if that suited him, because Izuku planned to move on.
He planned to be the better person, the person his mother was always sure he would become, and not the person Kacchan always falsely accused him of being.
Izuku Midoriya is dreaming.
The realization is curious. He doesn’t usually know he’s dreaming. Tonight, he knows he’s dreaming, all the same.
He looks around and is confused because he recognizes this place. It is UA’s Support Studio but he hasn’t been there for quite a while now. He looks down and sees that he’s wearing his Shield Industries clothing, the overalls that help protect him from grime and dust while working--
And then it hits him: he’s there as a kind of ghost but he’s also there in the dream. Izuku walks forward and sees his younger self, wearing UA brand overalls instead and sitting in the studio. Little Izuku has a deep frown on his freckled face and his older self muses that he must be probably fifteen or so at this point.
Adult Izuku waves his hand in front of his younger self and doesn’t get a reaction. That doesn’t strictly surprise him; dreams are strange things, after all. He makes a mental note to write this down when he wakes up because it would be utterly fascinating to discuss with Ochako or Shouto--
Adult Izuku turns and is surprised when Shouto himself walks into the studio, wearing his UA uniform and a profound scowl. Little Izuku jumps and waves at Shouto with an awkward, wobbly smile on his face.
Adult Izuku frowns; he remembers this day now, clear as can be, but the dream is eerily silent. His memories provide the words but there is no sound and the juxtaposition is jarring in its intensity.
“Hey there, Todoroki! I hope that my concept work on your new costume… satisfied…?” Little Izuku trails off as he reassesses little Shouto and realizes that he is mad as hell.
“Your designs have support gear for my left side,” Shouto says, as if it should be self-evident why that is stupid. Little Izuku blinks at him in confusion but older Izuku sighs into the silent dream. He remembers this conversation well and he almost wants to laugh at how clueless his younger self was.
“I’m sorry, Todoroki, I just… wanted to be thorough. I know you won the Sports Festival with only your ice but in a real combat situation…” Little Izuku trails off again, a bit unnerved by how much Todoroki is seething.
“I. Do not. Need my left side,” Shouto says, and little Izuku shrinks away with a frown. He hangs his head, ashamed and yet not having any idea what he’s done wrong, and Shouto sighs heavily and brings his right hand to his face. “I’m sorry, I just… It’s a long story.”
Little Izuku frowns, not understanding what he should say. Older Izuku watches on sadly, already knowing the story of Shouto’s father: of how his father tried to beat the idea of surpassing All Might into Shouto when Endeavor could never hope to accomplish that himself, how he took his own inadequacies out on Shouto, trying to force his dream to become Shouto’s dream, and how just… awful it all was.
But little Izuku just wants to help. He doesn’t know Shouto very well yet - they haven’t even spoken very much, other than the first time Shouto came right after the Sports Festival to ask for a new costume design - but he would like to. He can sense that Shouto is another broken soul, just like him, and Izuku would just…
Like to be friends. He just wants someone to see him as someone worth being friends with and the thought makes older Izuku so sad. Ochako saw him as worth being friends with and that continues to be absolutely extraordinary to Izuku, even to the present, but little Izuku feels so terribly alone and is trying to reach for that connection with another person yet again.
“I’m really sorry. It’s just… your quirk. It’s your quirk and you’ll have to use it one day because, if you don’t do your best, someone is gonna die. Someone is gonna die because you didn’t give your all to save them because it’s your quirk and the people out there deserve you being the best Hero you can be.”
The words tumble out of Izuku’s mouth so fast and Shouto recoils. But little Izuku doesn’t cover his mouth or try to backtrack because part of him is angry. Part of him… just wants Shouto to understand.
“You don’t want to be like your father, right? For some reason, I don’t understand, but listen: you don’t know… You don’t know, Todoroki, what it’s like to not have anything. So be grateful for what you have. Don’t let someone die because… because you think you’re too good to be the best Hero you could be.”
Shouto stares at Izuku in disbelief for a long time and little Izuku wonders if he is about to get Shouto’s first fire demonstration when he gets flame-broiled alive. But then, Shouto just smirks and huffs air out of his nose, the air coming out like steam as the temperature in the room fluctuates.
Older Izuku feels it, feels the change as Shouto can’t decide what he wants to say, and he just wants to reach out and put his hand on Shouto’s shoulder.
It’ll be alright one day, Shouto. I promise, Izuku thinks. He knows what Shouto was thinking this day because Shouto has told him this story from his perspective. And it’s just so… sad that Endeavor tried to bend and break little Shouto and didn’t see how great Shouto already was, as he was.
Shouto walks away from little Izuku in the studio but he stops at the door to call back.
“Call me 'Shouto,'” Shouto says. He turns and finds a dumbfounded little Izuku. “It’s my Hero name, isn’t it? Besides… this might be my quirk but my father’s name isn’t my name.”
And Shouto leaves, like he hasn’t implied a whole bombshell to little Izuku. Like he hasn’t recontextualized little Izuku’s understanding of Heroes because that was the day he realized that not all Heroes were good people. He already knew, intimately, in more detail than he ever wanted to know, that not all men were created equal. But the knowledge that even the greatest Heroes could do terrible things and no one would stop them…
It haunts Izuku. Still, to this day, it haunts him. He only hopes that the Heroes he makes support gear for do better than their forebears did.
“They will, Izuku.” Adult Izuku jumps as the scene begins to fade away to white and ash. He knows the dream is ending, he can already feel wakefulness pulling on him, but he also feels something else. It feels like two hands on his shoulders, gently squeezing in an action of love and trust. The voice is a woman and it sounds like she’s speaking right into his ear, her voice made of pure love and warmth. “They will do better because I believe in them. But remember: you don’t have to fight or have power to be a Hero. You were little Shouto’s Hero without even realizing it. Little Ochako was your Hero with just words, even if you caught each other's falls, too.”
The scene fades away completely but Izuku still hears the last words.
“You never needed power to be a Hero, Izuku. You’ll always be each other’s Heroes.”
He wakes up that morning feeling like he’s finally heard the ghost that haunts his every waking moment. But that is impossible. So, while he writes down the notes in his notebook, the memory of the dream that clings to him like a shadow, he doesn’t say anything to anyone. Because, after all, who would believe him that he is haunted?
Who would believe him about the ghost that cast such a long shadow over his life?