In Your Shadow [Chapter 23]

[Chapter 22]

“Katsuki!”

He jumped, turning abruptly to see Deku standing across the lobby, and every other eye in proximity turned his way briefly. A small part of him began running through lists of what he might have done or said in the past… what, two days? that might have made Deku mad. Well, other than his mere presence on a Tuesday night when he hadn’t technically asked first, but he hadn’t complained when Katsuki had texted that he was on the train!

An even smaller part wondered if maybe, just maybe, Deku was going to ask him to spar again.

“Where’s your tie?” Deku asked, staff parting swiftly around him as he walked towards Katsuki. “Did you forget it? Or lose it? I’d rather you be five minutes late looking put-together than rush in here half-undressed.”

“Sorry,” Katsuki mumbled – he wasn’t even scheduled on anything to be late for, he really had no excuse. “I’m about to go change. I’ll… be more careful.”

Deku sighed, but nodded without another complaint, and Katsuki felt his stomach churn when Deku walked away again. He hadn’t seemed angry as such, more confused and disappointed than anything else, but Katsuki still felt like he’d been lectured into a tiny shadow of his former self, like everyone was watching him and judging him, even though no one even seemed to be glancing his way anymore.

Why was a tie so important, anyway? None of his teachers gave a shit!

With a little huff, he stood up straighter, marching his way to the elevators to head to his apartment. He’d brought a bag of clothes and toiletries to leave behind, to hopefully save him some time in future and not have to run for the train for every commute he made, so his first job was to get settled back into his apartment. Admittedly, he’d only been given permission to stay over on weekends, but Deku had said the apartment was his until further notice, so he’d just kind of assumed it would be okay – better to ask forgiveness, right? He’d sent his message to Aizawa and Deku and not gotten any complaints, and Deku hadn’t yelled at him for that in the lobby, so maybe he was safe on that count.

Well, that or Deku thought it was Wednesday already – he did look a little sleep-deprived.

He changed into his costume, ready to jump on patrol as soon as Trax arrived, but before he headed to the lobby, he found himself on another floor, staring at a door just like his own. He knocked lightly, praying he wasn’t interrupting anything important, and heard soft footsteps heading his way.

“Oh,” he said stupidly, when the door opened on the wrong face. “Sorry.”

Had he misremembered which door? Or had someone new moved in, in the week Katsuki had been gone? He didn’t know what to say without looking like an idiot, he supposed the best option was—

“Are you here to see Mirio?” the man asked.

“I— Yeah. Uh, is he…?”

“Come in.”

So Mirio just had random people answering his door, now? Or— shit, was Mirio sick? Or injured? Deku would have told him, right? No, Deku had better things to think about, but someone would have told him, right?

“Katsuki!” Mirio said with a grin, jumping up from the sofa to meet him. “I’m so glad you’re back! Welcome home!”

He dragged Katsuki into a hug, and Katsuki just clamped his mouth shut, refusing to be a dick about it like he would have with his friends at school.

“Have you two met?” he asked. “This is Tamaki – Suneater. He works with Fat Gum, but we grew up together.”

“Nice to meet you,” Tamaki said quietly.

“You too,” Katsuki agreed. “Uh, my friend interned with Fat Gum, before.”

“Oh. Kirishima?”

“Yeah. He got invited back this time too, but he went to Fourth Kind instead.”

“It’s good to have a variety of experiences,” Mirio said, nodding sagely. “Tamaki and I both spent a lot of time at one agency each, in our school days. It worked out for Tamaki, but for me it took a while to adjust to a new one, when the time came!”

“I would think everyone has trouble adjusting here, though.”

Mirio laughed, and Katsuki caught a little smirk on Tamaki’s face, too, though he seemed to at least attempt to hide it.

“Mirio has told me a lot,” he explained, when he caught Katsuki looking.

“Sorry.” Katsuki grimaced. “I know I was a pain at the start.”

“Good things,” Mirio corrected him, chuckling to himself. “I’m really happy you’re back, I had a lot of arguments with Deku about him not offering it before you left. I would have been so mad if it hadn’t worked out!”

Katsuki blinked at him, but Mirio didn’t elaborate, and Katsuki wasn’t sure if he should ask.

“Did you do a patrol this afternoon?”

Mirio nodded toward Katsuki’s costume, and Katsuki jolted back to reality, shaking his head.

“I just arrived,” he explained. “I’m gonna go try to get on the next one, but I wanted to come say hey, first. And um, thanks for getting me through my internship.”

“Aww.” Mirio clapped him on the back, grinning. “You’re welcome, Katsuki. It was a blast working with you, and I hope you know you can always come and ask, if you have questions or anything, just like before. Consider me your unofficial mentor!”

“Unofficial? I’m pretty sure everyone knows I’m your ‘ord already.” Katsuki pretended not to notice the way Mirio’s eyes got a little misty, at that. “Do you think you could give me some advice in the gym and stuff, still?”

“I could use a good gym buddy to hold me accountable, what days are you gonna be around?”

“Weekends and Wednesdays. I’m hoping no one will get mad at me if I stay over tonight so I don’t have to waste time on trains in the morning.”

“Let’s hit the gym in the morning again, then. I’m here Saturdays, too, if you want to join me twice a week.”

“Yeah? That would be cool,” Katsuki agreed. “Seven like we did before?”

“Perfect! Let’s just go for like an hour though, since I don’t have to nitpick everything for you anymore. That’ll give you time to get on some patrols and things, still, and I can shower before I start my other work.”

“Do you still spar on Saturday afternoons?” Tamaki asked, getting comfortable on the sofa at Mirio’s side. “Don’t wear yourself out too early.”

Katsuki turned to stare, wide-eyed, and found Mirio smiling sheepishly, shaking his head.

“Not really, everyone here kicks my ass now, even if we don’t use quirks! Sometimes I drop by to watch though and offer suggestions if I have them, especially when Deku goes – his opponents need someone to help even the odds out a little.”

“You never told me that,” Katsuki blurted out.

“That Deku spars on weekends? He’s been too busy lately, I didn’t want to get your hopes up!”

“That you did, either. I want to spar with you.”

“I’d be no fun for you!”

Katsuki shook his head, trying his best to keep from scowling. It was such a natural expression for him, such an unconscious habit, but he knew he’d give the wrong impression if he let Mirio see it.

“Even if you sucked,” Katsuki said slowly. “It would still be fun.”

“You wouldn’t even be able to use your quirk.”

“Neither does Ephia. Or Deku, half the time.”

“He has a point,” Tamaki said, smiling wryly. “I bet everyone would love to see you back in the ring, occasionally.”

“I shouldn’t let you two be in the same room!” Mirio laughed. “You’re bad influences on each other, you’re gonna start ganging up on me!”

“Start?” Katsuki asked, smirking. “If you wanna spar, I’ll be there, just say when.”

“I’ll think about it,” Mirio conceded. “Deku usually goes in around four, when he goes.”

Katsuki whipped his new diary out of his bag, writing it in before he could risk forgetting the time, and when he looked back up, Mirio had a fond smile on his face.

“Gift from Deku?” he asked knowingly.

“That obvious? He said they’re his favourite.”

“Yeah, he used to constantly wear out cheap notebooks or destroy them by accident, so once he started making decent money as a hero, he wanted to invest in something more durable. I probably wouldn’t try to blow it up just to see what happens, but I’m willing to bet they’d take a little scorching from your quirk without an issue.”

“That good? I didn’t realise.”

“Yeah! A lot of our work is done in-house, of course, but anything that isn’t, he tries to source locally. Like, every piece of art in the building is by one or other of our local artists. I still think that’s cool, even years later.”

“Noted,” Katsuki mumbled, as he stuck his diary away again. “Next time someone asks me about community outreach, I have an answer.”

“Does that come up a lot?”

“Only at school.”

“Fair point.”

“I’d better head off,” Katsuki said reluctantly. “It was good to see you, and uh, I’ll see you again in the morning. Nice to meet you, Suneater.”

“You too, I hope we can work together one day.”

“Me too.”

With a last awkward smile and a wave, Katsuki showed himself out, hurrying back down to the lobby to wait. He was still early, he knew, but he wanted to be there the moment Trax arrived, to catch up and chat a bit, and to clarify his plans for getting on patrols, to make sure she was cool with him joining in as often as possible. He was pretty sure it would be a yes, of course, but he still needed to get permission – if for no other reason, to be able to tell Deku he’d done it.

When Katsuki arrived, though, he found no Trax waiting for him in her usual spot near the door – instead he found Deku, all suited up in his black-and-green jumpsuit, hanging out in one of the lobby armchairs.

“Hi, Katsuki,” Deku said knowingly, when their eyes met. “How was your day?”

“It was good,” Katsuki said awkwardly. “Um, I was… looking for Trax, to ask if I could join her on patrol tonight.”

“She’s out sick tonight. Are you going to have the energy for it after being at school all day?”

“I slept in this morning so I could manage it.”

He tried his best not to show it, but Katsuki’s entire body felt like it was buzzing, full of adrenalin and excitement at the prospect of patrolling with Deku of all people.

“Can I please join you on patrol tonight?” Katsuki asked, using every ounce of his willpower to keep from cringing at how stupid it made him sound. “I promise I won’t get in the way.”

“Of course you can,” Deku said, smiling to himself. “But thank you for asking. Had you already made plans with Trax?”

“Not exactly, she said I was always welcome so I was just going to show up and ask. Sorry, I should have cleared it with you in advance.”

“No, you’re fine,” Deku assured him. “I’m glad you’re keen to get back on. Plus, I think Trax is incredible, so I’m glad you think so much of her too. It’s nice to see you bonding with some of the staff, especially the patrol leaders.”

“I’m trying to do as many patrols as I can, with them all. I know they all have really different things to teach me, and all that.”

“Have you got a copy of the patrol schedule yet?”

“No, not really.”

“Remind me at debrief tomorrow, I’ll give you a copy so you can plan your schedule out easier. Maybe see if you can get on one with Igneo, on the weekend – two of his subordinates are on leave this week, so he might have some space to get you in there for once.”

“Really? That’d be cool, I’ll talk to him.”

“Here comes our crew.”

Katsuki looked up to see two sidekicks heading their way, a pair of silver eyes locking on him and filling with recognition.

“Dynamight, right?” she asked. “I never got a chance to say hey, after that night.”

“Good to see you again, Windrider.” He was honestly a little proud of himself for remembering the name, but he tried not to show it. “Thanks for saving my a– my legs, back then.”

“No problem.” She grinned, turning to look at the tall man next to her. “Dynamight is the one I was telling you about; they ran into a burning building, risked breaking their legs to get civilians back out again, then ran off like it was no big deal to help Ephia fight like twenty dudes.”

“You make it sound more impressive than it was,” Katsuki mumbled, face warm. “I did what anyone would have done.”

“Dynamight is very dedicated,” Deku said, smiling wryly. “If anything goes wrong tonight, you might have to help me stop him from running off on his own.”

Katsuki clamped his mouth shut, but Windrider burst out laughing, looking genuinely surprised when she realised Deku wasn’t laughing with her.

“Dynamight? This Dynamight?” she asked, pointing at Katsuki. “The one who waited for permission for literally everything? I heard you jumped off the top of the agency building to help, only to stop and wait for someone to say ‘yes you can go’ before you actually ran off.”

Katsuki didn’t bother to object, letting the pair grin at him knowingly, while Deku just eyed him, waiting.

“Shall we get going?” Deku suggested, when Katsuki didn’t answer. “It should be a quiet one tonight, there aren’t any big events going on or anything, so fingers crossed we don’t have any reportable incidents. It’s been a while since I got to walk the streets, so it’ll be nice to just look around and refamiliarise myself. If any of you notice anything that has changed recently that I might not know about yet, please don’t hesitate to point it out!”

“Aye aye,” Windrider agreed. “You good, Stagger?”

The tall guy nodded slightly, and Katsuki did his best to memorise his face for next time – remembering names and faces was hard, it turned out. He much preferred calling everyone by random physical features that stood out to him, instead of bothering, but damn Deku and his formality would never stand for that.

“And Katsuki?” Deku said quietly, as they headed out the door. “If something happens, I’ve got this. You don’t need to panic and try to take it all on by yourself, got it?”

Katsuki swallowed hard, nodding before he managed to choke out the words.

“Yes, Deku.”

“Good boy.”

———

Katsuki scrubbed at his arms with his towel, doing his best to get as dry as possible before he pulled on his costume shirt. It clung to him in an impossible-to-move way any time he tried to get dressed too quickly after a shower, he really needed to get one of the techs or support students or something to get on that for him. He only had a limited time before patrol, though, and he’d been far too sweaty after his gym session with Mirio to get away without a shower – not to mention the sweat would have clung to his clothing just as badly. If he wanted to be in the lobby on time, he just needed his towel to get him as dry as humanly possible.

When everything was in place as best as he could get it, he hurried back up the stairs, freezing on the spot when he saw Deku waiting near the doors again. He was flanked by a couple of sidekicks, and Katsuki felt his heartbeat quicken, as he gathered himself to head over.

“Uh, good morning,” he said awkwardly, when the group looked up. “Would uh, would it be okay if I join you on patrol again today, please?”

He was never half as polite to any of the usual patrol leaders – and knew for a fact that none of them cared – but when Deku was in charge, he had to be extra careful. The contract he’d signed was indefinite, which meant there was no set date for him to stop working there, but also that Deku could decide at any time to terminate it. He preferred it that way, he was pretty sure – not having to worry all over again about being offered a spot – but the idea of being dismissed on the spot was kind of terrifying.

“Of course you can,” Deku agreed, grinning. “Come on over, have you three met?”

“Not yet,” Katsuki said. “I’m Bakugou Katsuki – Dynamight. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Virtus,” the first sidekick said. “I’ve heard good things.”

“Sen Atsuko,” the other said. “Thermo. She/her.”

“Oh right, he/him,” Virtus added. “I need to get better at that.”

“He/they,” Katsuki returned, ignoring the glance Deku gave him for the words. “All good, I forget a lot too, I guess I’m not used to how openly people say it here.”

“The agency is good like that,” Thermo said with a smile. “My younger sibling works here too, it’s the first place their pronouns have been respected without question.”

“You’re not Optima’s sibling, are you?”

“No, we have a few here. At least, a few that I’ve met.”

“Around twenty percent of our staff use some form of non-binary pronouns,” Deku confirmed. “If we include Spelling Bee and Senti, at least.”

“That’s… cool,” Katsuki admitted. “It must be nice to be able to be so open about it, I know how weird some people can be.”

“Oh, are you doing the pipeline thing?” Thermo asked, clearly holding back a laugh. “The slow-burn he/him to he/they to they/them gender crisis?”

“Not that I’m aware of?” Katsuki frowned slightly. “I mean, I guess I wouldn’t know if I was, so it’s hard to say.”

“Well, let me know if anything changes, I guess. I’ve gotten pretty good at changing the pronouns I use for people in a pretty quick space of time, so it’s no skin off my back if you want to mix things up and play around or something.”

“Thank you?”

When Deku stood up, the others followed, and Katsuki joined them quickly when they started toward the door. Deku didn’t talk at first, but Virtus seemed more than happy to do it for him, filling Katsuki in on how long he’d been there, how his quirk worked, and some of his favourite agency stories. Thermo, too, weighed in with a few of her own stories and antics, and Katsuki cracked a smile as they laughed together about a ridiculous villain they’d once fought.

“You forget I was an Ephia ‘ord,” Virtus laughed, when Thermo finished a story about getting in trouble in her first year on the job. “Your days ‘in trouble’ were our normal days.”

“You were?” Katsuki blurted out, wide-eyed. “What was that like?”

“Tough,” Virtus said with a grin. “But worth it. She’s an awesome hero, and I learned a ton from her. Half the reason I’m still at this agency is to keep working with her – no offense, Deku.”

“None taken,” Deku laughed. “I know how amazing she is. All our leaders are, in their own ways.”

“I haven’t worked with her much,” Thermo mused. “Plasmatic was a lot more chill, at least from what I could tell. Still a great teacher, though.”

“Plasmatic was an ‘ord the same year as me,” Virtus grinned. “I think she was with Flare, but we got to hang out a lot. I miss working with her, now that she’s all important and in charge all the time.”

“About time you got your own promotion, right?”

“Oh God, that sounds like so much work.”

Deku smiled wryly, but only Katsuki seemed to notice it, and neither of them said a word.

“Alright,” Deku said, when the conversation lost some steam. “Today’s job recap while we walk – interacting with people.”

“Oh, I’m good at this one,” Thermo said with a grin. “No swearing at civilians!”

“Good start,” Deku said, laughing surprisingly brightly. “Did Plasmatic teach you that one?”

“You know it!”

“Yeah, that was a hard lesson for her. We’re counting both civilians and other heroes, by the way.”

Katsuki knew exactly what game Deku was playing, but he didn’t bother to say so – he was pretty sure Deku was smart enough to know exactly what he was doing. So he just listened quietly, as the three of them chatted about the differences between civilians and coworkers and other non-coworker heroes, about the different approaches to forming relationships with people, and most importantly, how important it was to lean toward overly formal on first meetings, rather than go in too familiarly. Katsuki felt like that was directed at him, even though he thought he’d been doing an okay job of it, at least so far.

“Honestly, I feel like I’m in a weird grey area at the agency, when it comes to formality,” Virtus said. “All the Leads treat me very familiarly, since I’ve been around a long time, which makes a lot of the other sidekicks treat me pretty distantly, even though we’re on the same level.”

“I mean, you are pretty much next in line,” Thermo pointed out. “I know I don’t have the authority to say that, but it’s not like Deku is gonna risk over-promising anything by saying it himself. I can kind of see how people would treat you as a senior just based on time and experience and even age to some extent. If one of our Leads left tomorrow, you’d have my vote.”

“I’ll be honest, I’m really glad it’s not actually picked on votes,” Virtus laughed.

“Says who?” Deku asked, smirking back at them. “You don’t see what happens behind the scenes.”

“Oh. I guess the Leads could be voting, huh? That wouldn’t surprise me, coming from you.”

“Because I like to give everyone a say?”

“Because you hate making decisions.”

If Katsuki had said that, he was pretty sure he’d have been fired, or at least lectured. But when Virtus said it, Deku just laughed brightly, punching him in the arm.

“You know what, I just made a decision,” he said, a hint of teasing sneaking into his voice. “You’re the Patrol Leader today, I’m gonna hang back and teach Katsuki.”

“Very funny.”

“Oh, I’m not kidding,” Deku said, his smile twisting a little. “Have at it, next-in-line.”

Sure enough, he fell back to walk beside Katsuki, and Katsuki felt his heart start to race. He wasn’t used to being so close to Deku, with his stupid height and his stupid freckles. Virtus took the lead obediently, and Thermo grinned as she followed a half-step behind, still chatting with him as if nothing had even happened.

As the patrol continued, Deku took up micromanagement, guiding Katsuki’s every move when they stopped to talk to a fan or listen to reports from civilians. He coached Katsuki, in his typically stern and direct way, on what felt like every word that came out of his mouth. It was the complete opposite of how he’d treated the two sidekicks, the way he’d laughed and joked with them, and Katsuki found himself weirdly jealous – he was officially a work studies student now, instead of an intern, but still Deku didn’t treat him the way he treated even the newest of the sidekicks. He couldn’t help but wonder, if he worked his way up and became an official sidekick after graduation, even a Patrol Leader one day, whether Deku would treat him like that too – like a friend.

He kind of wanted to find out.

———

After weeks of trying every play in his book to get time with Deku, it seemed like the universe had finally thrown him a bone. Not only had he gotten two patrols with the man, but when he walked into the ballet studio, Deku was there too, chatting with the teacher.

“The class has been very full,” she assured him. “Even the subordinates, no one has been slacking off while you’ve been out.”

“I’m glad,” Deku said with a grin. “Hopefully they’re all realising how worthwhile it is.”

“Or they’re just scared of the consequences,” she laughed. “That new boy is very talented, too. Your intern? I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone look so angry while actually having some natural affinity for the movements.”

Katsuki felt himself burn bright red as he hurried past, finding his usual spot in the back of the room and glaring at Bleak when he smirked.

“What’d he say?” Optima asked, kicking him lightly. “You look like there’s a bee in your ass.”

“The hell does that even mean?” Katsuki demanded, scowling. “Shut up.”

“Ooo, must have been good,” Bleak grinned. “What, he staring at your ass in class or something?”

“What the fuck are you—”

The warm-up music began, and Katsuki had to settle for levelling him with his best glare instead of tearing into him. He couldn’t stop hearing the words in his head as he followed along, and he knew he was scowling like an asshole and just proving them right, but he couldn’t seem to stop it.

As the class went on, he eventually managed to relax, even started to enjoy himself a little – after all his practice with Mina, it didn’t take such intense focus to copy along anymore, and it became a lot more enjoyable when he wasn’t stressed about every single step.

“You’ve settled in quickly,” Deku said with a smile, when everyone began to grab their bags to head out. “You’re actually pretty graceful, despite the scowl.”

Katsuki huffed. Everything in him wanted to argue or yell, his brain screamed at him to say something, but instead he had to settle for a pathetic, weak glare, which only made Deku smile wider.

“I refuse to be bad at anything,” he grumbled, when Deku just waited knowingly.

“I can see that,” Deku said, clearly amused. “You ready for a debrief? We can walk up together.”

“Yeah, coming.”

He slung his bag over his shoulder, shooting Bleak and Optima one last glare as they smirked together in the corner, before he hurried out the door after Deku. It was weird to walk to the elevators with him, rather than just find him already installed at his desk, but in a way it felt kind of nice – like it was proving Deku actually existed as a human, and wasn’t just a figure who spawned in occasionally to lecture him about something stupid.

“Trax is back tonight, in case you were wondering,” Deku offered, while they stood in the quiet elevator. “She was disappointed to hear she missed being your first patrol back, but I promised her you’d see her soon.”

“I’m glad she’s better. I wish I could go tonight, but I don't think I'd make it back for class tomorrow.”

“You’ll have plenty of opportunities, take care of your health and your grades first.”

“I’m doing my best,” Katsuki assured him.

He followed Deku to his office, waiting awkwardly as Deku sat down, and pointedly ignoring the little smirk Deku wore when he invited Katsuki to sit, too. They skipped the small talk, thankfully, and got straight into talking about Katsuki’s week so far, recapping all the patrols he’d done, both with and without Deku, and the few rounds of sparring he’d managed to sneak in earlier in the day. When Katsuki yawned, though, Deku gave him a surprisingly soft smile, and began wrapping up the conversation.

“Can I ask a question?” Katsuki requested. “Please.”

“Sure, go ahead.”

“On those patrols we did, I noticed something, and I guess I’m… curious.”

“Oh?”

“When you interact with your sidekicks and stuff, you’re always so… casual. Like, laid-back and joking with them and stuff. I guess I just wondered why you’re so much more formal with me, if it’s because I did something wrong or just because I’m new or… I don’t know.”

“Those people are my equals,” Deku said simply. “Sure, my name is on the building, but I don’t have to teach them to be better heroes.”

Katsuki bristled, hands balling into fists as he tried to keep his frustration from showing on his face. Those brand-new graduates were no better than him, right? He had less than a year left of school, and he was at U.A. of all places, not like some of the shitty hero schools other people cruised through. There was no way he’d learned any less than they had.

On the other hand, Deku was being so brutally honest and upfront with him about it. He’d answered the question so easily, so straight-forwardly, and Katsuki had always appreciated that – from anyone, let alone from Deku. He knew some day soon he’d be a good enough hero to make Deku eat his words, to make him feel bad about ever suggesting otherwise, but until then…

“Okay,” Katsuki grumbled finally. “I get it.”

“I’m glad you’ve learned to take feedback, I heard some horror stories before you started here. Now that I don’t have to worry about setting off a tantrum in public when I correct you on something or teach you something, it’s made it a lot of fun to work with you. I hope we can do some more patrols together soon.”

Katsuki swallowed hard, cursing the lump that seemed to have formed in his throat. He’d known the whole ‘your behaviour reflects on me’ thing, of course – the school said it often enough – but he’d never really thought about it from Deku’s perspective, with civilians who would just assume he was a hired sidekick behaving poorly, rather than a student still learning. Not that he thought he’d done anything too stupid – maybe his brief argument with Spelling Bee about pursuing a villain, but even that had been short-lived, or the time he’d run off to investigate a noise and Spark Plug had had to yell at him to come back to the group. But no tantrums, for sure.

“I wouldn’t do that,” Katsuki said. “I’m sorry if I did something to make you think I would.”

Deku just raised an eyebrow, waiting patiently.

“I’ve never thought about it like that, about you being embarrassed by me in public, and I’ll do my best to think about how I’m… presenting myself, and stuff. I might get mad sometimes, but I’d never throw a tantrum, especially not in front of civilians. I guess maybe I got close sometimes, back in first year, but as long as I’m working here, I promise nothing like that will happen. I wouldn’t do that to you.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

Katsuki nodded faintly, and Deku reached into his desk drawer, pulling out a small white box with a simple logo on the top. He slid it across the desk, and Katsuki just looked down at it, blinking as he waited for Deku to explain.

“As promised,” he said, with a tiny smile. “Find some time to play with it and read the instructions, figure out how it can serve you best.”

Katsuki opened it up to find the nicest watch he’d ever seen, all black leather and dark metal, and his eyes widened as he looked up at Deku again.

“This must have cost a fortune.”

“Not at all,” Deku assured him. “Don’t worry about it, just make good use of it, you’ve got no excuse to forget to message us your location anymore.”

“Thank you, it’s perfect.”

“My pleasure. Now, go get some rest, don’t miss your train because I held you up!”

“Yeah. Thank you again. I’ll see you on the weekend.”

“Looking forward to it.”

Katsuki closed the box up again, tucking it carefully into his bag to set up later. Despite Deku’s denial, he knew that watch was far from a simple base model, and he planned to take damn good care of it to make it worthwhile.

With a few last waves for various people he passed in the building, Katsuki headed out, the evening air pleasantly cool compared to the hot, sunny days they’d been having lately. He hurried to the station, finding the platform eerily quiet as he waited for the train to pull in – it wasn’t a huge station, Katsuki was pretty sure it carried more of Deku’s heroes than everyone else combined, but there were usually at least a few people there when he arrived.

The train pulled in, and Katsuki picked an empty carriage to step into, relieved to sink into his seat and relax a little for his trip back. He closed his eyes, leaning against the wall to rest, and quickly his breathing began to slow, his ever-present scowl softening into little more than a pout.

[Chapter 24]