In Your Shadow [Chapter 30]

[Chapter 29]

Katsuki sat down on the carpet, spreading his legs and easing himself forward, grimacing a little but allowing himself the time he needed to get his stomach to touch the ground. He held it there for a bit, then sat back up, turning over the other way to push himself into a bridge. That one hurt a little more, but as he held it, the pain began to subside, and by the time he stood up to loosen up his hips, his back was almost normal. With a few arm and leg swings, some easy joint rotations, and a trip to the bathroom, he was ready to throw his uniform on and head downstairs. As usual, he lugged his heavy bag of schoolwork and patrol gear with him, ready to make his mad dash for the train as soon as classes ended.

God he loved Fridays.

Unlike other mornings, he found half of his classmates already assembled in the common room, raising an eyebrow at how quiet and attentive they were being, for once. That mystery was quickly solved when he found Aizawa at the helm, though, quickly halting his path to breakfast in favour of listening in.

“It’s being fixed urgently,” Aizawa assured them. “But it sounds like it could take a day or two.”

“Gas leak,” Eijirou whispered, when Katsuki slid in next to him. “I think he’s gonna tell us classes are cancelled!”

Katsuki perked up, wide-eyed as Aizawa waited pointedly for the whispers to stop.

“Tomorrow’s classes, for everyone present, will be held outdoors. Unfortunately that isn’t exactly an option for all your academic classes, so take today to do some independent study and get some admittedly well-earned rest.”

Katsuki immediately threw his hand in the air, while everyone else was cheering and celebrating, and Aizawa just gave him a tired look across the crowd.

“Yes, you can go to Deku’s.”

He was already halfway out the door before he thought to call a quick “thank you!” over his shoulder, jogging toward the train station with his bag thumping annoyingly against his side. At least it wasn’t his back, he supposed. There was a train leaving soon, he knew, and while the next one wasn’t much further away, it was bound to be a lot more crowded.

He grabbed his IC card from his bag as he picked up some speed, away from the buildings where his view ahead was clearer, and diverted his path to avoid all the construction and fire crews surrounding their main school building, to hurry down the stairs into their school’s train station. He tapped his card on the reader and kept moving, taking the stairs two at a time to the platform he’d spent so much time on lately, managing to jump into the last carriage right as the door warning began to sound. The doors slid closed behind him, and he fell into a seat, tucking his card away and double-tapping the button on his watch. Some old woman flashed him a smile, and he waved back in lieu of his own, since he still couldn’t force a smile worth shit. After a second to catch his breath, he pulled out his phone, finding Aizawa’s number and the massive log of location pings and thumbs-up reactions they shared.

“For the record,” he wrote, the corner of his lips twitching toward a smile. “It wasn’t me.”

The little icon saying Aizawa had opened the message popped up immediately, and a sceptical-looking little emoji answered him, making Katsuki chuckle to himself as he put his phone away again and replaced it with his planner. All the shifts were fully-staffed again, as far as Katsuki was aware, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t squeeze a few patrols in, surely. The nights were usually when the most shit went wrong, so maybe he could squeeze a nap in later in the day, then jump on some late ones – no one would object to an extra pair of hands on those, he was sure. In the meantime, he’d go check in with Kotoo to keep everyone happy, and see if Mirio had any jobs for him; that should occupy him for a few hours. If nothing else, he could always work on the hero profiles Deku had assigned him, or even do some schoolwork. He had plenty to fill his time with.

Even if he was already exhausted.

It was strange, how much the week had taken out of him. His internship had gone fine, his normal weeks of school and work studies had been okay, but spending so much time at the agency and on patrols all week had really taken a lot out of him. Hopefully that wasn’t some kind of terrible foreshadowing for his future career. He quickly pushed that thought out of his mind.

When the train pulled into his station, he shouldered his bag again and gave the old woman another little wave, stepping out and breathing in the cool morning air. The trains got so musty sometimes, it was always nice to step back out, however briefly it might be.

As he headed for the stairs, with a small cluster of other passengers around him, a crack rang through the air, and the station went dark. He fell still immediately, listening for any sign of a struggle or fight, but all he heard was panicked screams around him as people tried to find somewhere to hide. Sighing, Katsuki pressed his hands together, slowly building a light between them that began to illuminate his surroundings.

“I think it’s just a power cut,” he called, when the noise began to die down a little. “Everyone move somewhere safe, then I’ll go check it out.”

Bright little lights began to form all around him, as people found their phones and turned on their flashlights, and people moved away from the tracks, finding spots on seats or along walls, to be out of the way. When everyone looked safe, he made his way toward the station exit, looking around for any sign of a villain.

“Hello!” someone called, and he spun around quickly. “So sorry for the inconvenience, it appears our generator blew!”

“There’s a bunch of people downstairs waiting to find out it’s not a villain,” Katsuki told them. “Is everyone safe?”

“We’re quite alright, Sir!” a man called, soon rounding a corner with a massive flashlight in hand. “Thank you for checking on us all!”

Soon there were more staff joining them, heading to the platform to help guide people out, and Katsuki hesitated, dithering near the doors. There wasn’t much he could do to help, really, but he felt like he should be doing something.

The world outside blurred, but before Katsuki could rub his eyes, a figure was stopping in front of him, flashing him a grin.

“Dynamight, right?”

“Yeah,” Katsuki nodded. “Uh, sorry, I don’t…”

“We didn’t get a chance to meet properly. Framerate, it’s good to see you.”

“Oh. Right. Thank you for your help, the other day.”

“My pleasure! Is everything okay here? We heard the power went down and feared the worst.”

“Just a generator, apparently. The station staff are getting people out as we speak.”

Sure enough, a line of passengers was soon approaching, the staff lighting their way toward the exit. Framerate breathed a sigh of relief, and Katsuki couldn’t help but be a little amused. He’d been ready to jump into action in a heartbeat, it was kind of weird for all that sudden adrenalin to just disappear, leaving him feeling... weird. Apparently Framerate felt the same.

“Aw man, I got my guard up for nothing,” Framerate lamented. “Hey, you heading to the agency? You’re the kid who likes to spar with everyone, right? I suddenly have some free time.”

Katsuki perked up immediately, and Framerate grinned, shoving him lightly.

“Race you there?”

“Don’t you dare.”

Framerate laughed, but to xir credit, xe didn’t run away. Instead, the two of them fell into step, waving goodbye to the station staff and heading out the doors.

“Why aren’t you at school, anyway?”

“Gas leak in the main building, can’t have people in there for a couple of days. Aizawa said I could come here instead of work from the dorms.”

“Did you just leave a tap on, or did you full-on break a pipe or something?”

“It wasn’t me.”

“Sure, buddy.”

───

Mirio was already waiting when Katsuki reached the gym, phone connected to the speaker system and everything. Katsuki gave him an apologetic look, hurrying to the lockers to grab his shoes, but Mirio just smiled as he finally joined him.

“Didn’t sleep well?” he asked, when Katsuki hid a yawn in his hand. “You’re usually an early bird, aren’t you?”

“Haven’t really slept yet,” Katsuki explained. “Went on a patrol earlier, just got back a minute ago.”

Mirio was silent for a second, staring at him, but when Katsuki just waited, he looked away quickly.

“Do you want to skip the gym today?” he offered. “I won’t be offended.”

“No, I’m good,” Katsuki assured him. “I planned my day around this, and I’m doing it again tonight, I’ve got it sorted out.”

“Why?”

“I… Is there a reason I shouldn’t?”

“Because Graveyards suck?”

Katsuki laughed, clapping a hand over his mouth to hide it, and Mirio’s confusion softened into amusement.

“It’s worth it for the experience,” Katsuki said, quickly composing himself. “Sure it’s tiring, but so is being a hero in general, so I may as well get used to it. And the heroes working nights seem to be the coolest ones – no offence to the others, of course, they’re all great – like Trax and Igneo are just… awesome. God I sound lame, forget it.”

“No, I understand,” Mirio assured him, leading the way over to the cardio section, where they always began their warm up together. “They’re pretty laid back, right? I think since it’s more crowded during the day, people tend to be a bit more formal and everything, more concerned about appearances, but at night that pressure is off, people only care about the job getting done, rather than everything else that goes into it.”

“Is that because Deku is gone?” Katsuki asked, only half joking.

“You’d be surprised how many night patrols Deku does,” Mirio chuckled. “He’s not a morning person, he’ll take any excuse to do the nights.”

Come to think of it, Deku had seemed surprisingly bright and awake when he’d run Trax’s patrols. Katsuki hadn’t even noticed it at the time, he’d been too focussed on Deku critiquing his every move.

“Tell me what you’ve been up to,” Mirio requested, as they got on their treadmills. “I haven’t caught up with you much lately. How’s school?”

“Pretty average,” Katsuki shrugged. “I’ve had a lot of time off lately, but people have been sending me their class notes.”

“I’m glad! Don’t go ruining your final year academically just to get on a few extra patrols!”

“I know, I won’t,” Katsuki assured him. “I got to spar with Framerate yesterday, that was… something.”

“Oh that would have been fun,” Mirio laughed. “And infuriating, I’m sure.”

“Very.”

“Did xe stay late just to spar with you?”

“No, um, I was here early,” Katsuki said, continuing in a hurry when Mirio opened his mouth. “Don’t start, Aizawa gave me permission, it’s fine.”

“I appreciate the enthusiasm, but you really need to stop skipping classes.”

“I wasn’t!” Katsuki objected. “There was a gas leak in the school building so they cancelled classes for the day. Aizawa said I could go, I didn’t even have to ask.”

Mirio shot him a glance, and Katsuki’s eyebrows knitted together, trying to read his expression.

“I hope you didn’t cause too much damage,” Mirio said finally. “It’s not gonna take too long to fix, right?”

“Why does everyone assume I did it?!” Katsuki demanded. “Has Aizawa been talking to you?”

“The fact that you’re concerned about Aizawa talking to me speaks volumes.”

Katsuki narrowed his eyes, huffing , but Mirio didn’t seem offended. He just grinned as he continued jogging, raising the pace on his treadmill a little and watching Katsuki do the same.

“I joked to him that it wasn’t me,” Katsuki explained. “I thought maybe he got suspicious and asked you to find out.”

“He wouldn’t,” Mirio assured him. “I haven’t talked to him much lately, anyway. He’s had a lot going on with you guys!”

“I’m sure he’d still like to hear from you,” Katsuki mumbled. “He always talks about his former students in class.”

“I wasn’t one of his homeroom students, though.”

“You still had classes with him.”

“Yeah,” Mirio acknowledged. “I don’t want to take up his time, though.”

Katsuki raised an eyebrow at him, and Mirio smiled sheepishly, waving him off.

“I know, I know. Let me know when things calm down for you guys, I’ll go say hi.”

“Things are calm, he’s just looking for more work studies placements,” Katsuki said. “He wants to get everyone on placements so he can stop running Saturday classes.”

Mirio laughed, and Katsuki cracked a smile of his own. Despite how much he clearly loved his students, Aizawa was always trying to get out of running classes. It sometimes made Katsuki wonder why he’d ever signed up to teach in the first place.

“Ready for weights?” Mirio asked, slowing his treadmill back down again.

“Always.”

───

“Right here,” Maelstrom said, zooming in on his phone and letting the group lean in to look. “The clean-up crew was out there when we went through, but it’s still a bit of a mess for now, so just be extra careful, yeah?”

“Thanks,” Optima said with a nod. “Glimpse is on lead, so I’ll make sure he’s prepared before we get there, just in case.”

“You’ve got Mu, too, right?” Katsuki asked, frowning slightly. “You don’t have a combat specialist with you?”

“Aww, are you worried about us?” Optima teased, elbowing him and getting a shove in return. “Maelstrom and Bleak will be here on back-up, it’s okay, you can still go back to school.”

“Though it would be a great excuse to not,” Bleak said with a laugh. “Just show up late tomorrow and blame understaffed patrols?”

“It’s not, though,” Katsuki lamented. “It’s normally staffed.”

“Your teachers don’t need to know that.”

“Dynamight’s homeroom teacher is Eraser Head,” Maelstrom pointed out. “He and Deku are probably exchanging notes on Dynamight’s every move.”

“Tell me about it,” Katsuki sighed. “I could head back in the morning, though. If I get the first train it gets me back on time, and he doesn’t mind if I’m a little late to homeroom anyway.”

“It’s okay, we’ve got this,” Bleak assured him. “If shit goes down, Maelstrom and I will get our big breaks! Watch us skyrocket in the charts!”

“You’re giving me a headache,” Katsuki sighed. “I swear to All Might, if any of you guys get hurt tonight, I’m gonna be so pissed.”

“We won’t!”

When the others arrived, Optima headed out with a last wave, leaving the three of them behind in a tense silence. Their own patrol had just ended, thankfully uneventful other than navigating the mess from an earlier incident, and Katsuki felt weirdly itchy, like he was just waiting for something to go wrong. It wasn’t often that he wished for another quirk, but in that moment, he thought one of the future sight options like Glimpse’s would have been useful. Sir Nighteye’s probably would have been even better, but he’d seen how fucked up All Might and Mirio had been from some of those predictions, so maybe he’d stick with something shorter term. In addition to his own, of course – what use was the future vision if he couldn’t blow an asshole up when he saw them coming?

The door opened, and Katsuki looked back, ready to ask what had happened so quickly – instead, he saw a mob of exhausted faces heading in, headed up by the stupid freckles he’d come to know weirdly well over the weeks. He froze in place, staring at the weak attempts at smiles shot their way by a few, and the blank, exhausted expressions that didn’t even recognise them, from the rest. A hand wrapped around his bicep, tugging him aside to let everyone through, but still Katsuki just stared, watching their backs as they headed for a meeting room – honestly, Katsuki wasn’t even sure how they were all going to fit in there, the meeting rooms weren’t exactly large.

“They look so run down,” Bleak said, and Katsuki had to resist the urge to say no fucking shit.

“Skinny too,” Maelstrom added. “Did you notice? I don’t think they’ve eaten or slept this whole time.”

“Maybe we should order pizza?” Bleak suggested. “It’s not exactly healthy, but it’s pretty quick, at least. And filling.”

“Flare is lactose intolerant,” Maelstrom offered. “I wonder if all the catering people have gone home already.”

“It’s Sunday,” Katsuki pointed out. “They’re long gone. Do they lock the kitchens when they leave?”

“Yeah,” Bleak said, an unreadable look passing over him. “But uh, we do use it, occasionally.”

“Is Skel around tonight?” Maelstrom asked, catching on immediately and reaching for his phone. “She’s usually on with Igneo, so she’s probably still here, right?”

He tapped out a quick message, and soon a young woman Katsuki was yet to meet showed up, with a much more familiar face at her side.

“What’s going on?” Framerate asked, when the pair got close enough. “We were in the gym.”

“The leads just got back,” Maelstrom explained. “They look exhausted and starved.”

“I’ve got you,” the woman agreed, apparently understanding immediately. “I’m not much of a cook, though.”

“Me neither,” Bleak admitted.

“I can get groceries, if that helps?” Framerate offered.

Katsuki finally managed to make his feet work, when the group began to move, following them through the cafeteria to an unassuming white door. The woman turned the handle, sure enough finding it locked, but after a couple of quiet seconds, she turned it again, the door clicking open under her touch without hesitation.

“Have you two met?” Maelstrom asked, cracking a smile when he saw Katsuki’s wide eyes. “This is Skeleton, she can unlock any lock in the world without hesitation.”

“Technically I haven’t tested every lock,” Skeleton grinned, pulling the door open and holding it for them all to pass through. “I’m working on it!”

“I’m glad you’re not a villain,” Katsuki said quietly, as he passed. “Imagine you at the helm of a Tartarus break-out.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment!” she said gleefully. “I’m not much good in combat, but if you need to sneak in somewhere, I’m your gal.”

“I’ve got the combat on lock, we’re sorted.”

“Oh yeah. This is Dynamight,” Bleak said, as he switched on the lights in the biggest kitchen Katsuki had ever seen. “I know you’ve heard the stories, but he literally blows shit up.”

“What are your thoughts on hero teams?” Skeleton asked, laughing. “I feel like we’ve got a good thing going, here.”

“Somehow I don’t think Deku would appreciate me taking you away,” Katsuki snorted.

“You’re not planning to stay after graduation?”

“He won’t have me. Besides, how am I meant to beat him if I’m just one of his sidekicks?”

“Told you,” Bleak laughed. “I swear to God I’ve never heard anyone else say that and mean it.”

“Just give me a call when you need me, then.” Skeleton followed them inside, letting the door click closed behind them all. “And I’ll do the same.”

“Deal.”

“What are we making?” Maelstrom asked, looking into a mostly-bare fridge. “Cereal and sandwiches are pretty much my limits.”

“They need comfort food,” Bleak insisted. “Something hot and tasty.”

“It should be something filling,” Skeleton said, opening a massive pantry and grimacing at all the simple ingredients. “I was kind of hoping there’d be a massive stock of instant ramen in here.”

“Rice?” Katsuki asked.

“A ton,” she agreed, hauling out one of a dozen giant sacks of it. “Omurice or something?”

“Katsudon?” Katsuki suggested. “To celebrate their win, you know?”

“Do you know how?”

“Yeah. It only takes like, twenty minutes, and most of the ingredients will already be here.”

“What do you need?” Framerate asked. “Pork?”

“Pork, breadcrumbs, eggs, onions. A lot of them.”

“Be right back.”

True to xer word, by the time the rest of them finished washing rice, Framerate was already back, hefting the bags onto the counter. Xe unloaded the contents, setting things out in piles, and Katsuki just nodded when everyone looked at him for direction.

“We need someone to put the rice cookers on, someone to crumb the pork, someone to chop onions, and someone to start on the sauce.”

“I’ll do the rice,” Skeleton said. “I don’t think I know how to do anything else.”

“I can chop onions,” Framerate offered. “It won’t take me long.”

“We’ll do the pork,” Maelstrom said, gesturing toward Bleak. “Just give us instructions as we go, then you can work on the sauce.”

“Pound it out thin and dust it with flour, beat up a bunch of eggs.”

“On it!”

While everyone else got to work, Katsuki headed to the pantry and fridge, hauling out the ingredients he needed for a massive pot of sauce. There were eleven of their heroes who had been on the job, but Katsuki was pretty sure there had been some there from other agencies, too, when they’d walked in the door, so he didn’t want to risk running out of food halfway through. He wanted to march in there with so much food that they could all gorge themselves on it and still have leftovers to take home in case they needed a snack.

“Onions are done!” Framerate said proudly, gesturing toward a massive pile of them.

“I could get used to having you around,” Katsuki admitted. “Can you start frying them? On a low heat, we’ll add this to it when they’re almost done.”

“Got it!”

Katsuki finished stirring up the sauce mixture, setting it beside Framerate at the stove, and heading over to help with the pork. He poured out a big bowl of breadcrumbs, and together he and Bleak began coating the pieces of pork, forming a little chain from flour to egg to breadcrumbs. Skeleton nudged him out of the way, when she’d finished setting the rice cookers, and Katsuki nodded, moving on to a stove to start frying; when the onions finished, Framerate set them aside and joined him, easily controlling ten different frying pans to Katsuki’s three; and when the last piece of pork was coated, Bleak and Maelstrom moved on, grabbing out bowls and utensils and massive serving dishes. The moment the rice cookers began to beep, there were three pairs of hands scooping it into serving dishes. Framerate began chopping the cooked pork, Katsuki finished off the onions and sauce mixture with some eggs, and soon they had four more serving dishes ready to go, each with a couple of big serving spoons shoved inside and a lid on top to retain the heat.

“We ready for this?” Bleak asked, as he lifted up two carefully stacked trays. “Skeleton, you’re on knocking duty.”

Katsuki picked up two more dishes, and Maelstrom the last two, while Skeleton marched on ahead with the pile of bowls, and Framerate held the door for them all to pass through. By the time Skeleton knocked firmly on the meeting room door, xe was back at Katsuki’s side with another grocery bag in hand that Katsuki didn’t get time to question. The door cracked open under Skeleton’s touch, the warning knock apparently enough for her to be satisfied, and the group carried in their gigantic trays of food, laying them out on the table. Side by side, they just barely had enough room to get all six trays on the table, lifting the lids off in a deafening silence.

Spark Plug was the first to move, standing up to throw his arms around Skeleton and Maelstrom to hug them, quickly moving on to Katsuki and Bleak despite their half-hearted whines about it. He turned to Framerate next, but Framerate quickly deflected, producing a box of beer cans from xir bag that distracted him immediately.

“I owe you all my life,” Trax said, wasting no time in taking a bowl from Skeleton’s stack of them.

“I’ll spar with you all after I’ve slept,” Ephia promised, joining her quickly.

“Eat up and recover,” Maelstrom said softly, stepping back to make more room around the table.

“Thank you all for your hard work,” Bleak added. “We appreciate you all.”

“And if you need a drink, none of us will judge,” Framerate laughed, setting the boxes down on the table. “Don’t worry, I didn’t let the minors touch it.”

Katsuki didn’t speak, but he glanced over when Deku rose to his feet, watching him walk up to the table and freeze in place, staring at the trays full of steaming-hot food. His expression softened, from holding it all together into something fonder than Katsuki had ever seen him before, and maybe he was just imagining it, but Katsuki could have sworn he saw a hint of tears in his eyes before he blinked them away.

“Some of you clearly haven’t eaten in a week,” Skeleton spoke up, when the rest of the group didn’t explain themselves. “The kids thought you could use a good meal, Soku and I leant them a hand.”

“We’ll leave you in peace,” Katsuki mumbled, taking a step backwards. “Take the leftovers home if you want, there should be heaps.”

“Thank you, Dynamight,” Igneo said, the first one to meet Katsuki’s eyes. “Bleak, Maelstrom, Skeleton, Framerate. You’re all amazing, thank you all so much.”

“I love you guys,” Trax added, quickly followed by a chorus of thank yous, and the shuffling of people finally dragging themselves up to eat. “I’ll see you all soon.”

Solar Flare reached for a can of beer, and Katsuki remembered the words spoken in the lobby, pausing before he quite made it into the hallway.

“It’s all dairy-free, by the way,” he offered. “And we used the gluten free soy sauce; it was in the pantry, so I thought maybe someone needed it. But the pork has normal crumbs. If there’s anything else, at least the rice is allergen free.”

“Thank you,” Flare said, with a little smile. “We appreciate it.”

Katsuki finally made his escape, Skeleton locking the door behind them all, and they breathed a collective sigh of relief when they reached the lobby, standing silently for a moment as they took it all in.

“I think I’m gonna stay over,” Katsuki said finally, when Maelstrom broke the silence with a yawn. “It’s late and I’m tired, I’ll head back to school in the morning.”

“You sure?” Bleak asked. “We’ve got it covered here, honestly.”

“I know,” Katsuki said, surprised by just how much he meant it. “But I don’t want to make that trip tonight, I’d rather just get some sleep.”

“Have a good rest,” Maelstrom said, nodding. “I’ll see you at the end of the week.”

“Looking forward to it.”

He started toward the elevators, pausing again when Skeleton called after him, glancing back nervously at the faces all watching his back.

“You did a good thing tonight,” she said. “We couldn’t have done that without you, and I won’t hesitate to tell Deku that.”

“I’m gonna sing your praises, next time I see him,” Framerate added, grinning. “You’re awesome.”

“He knows,” Bleak laughed, elbowing Framerate lightly. “His head is big enough already!”

“Yeah, don’t feed his ego,” Maelstrom agreed. “Mister I’m gonna win and none of you can stop me.”

“Stop watching old Sports Festivals,” Katsuki grumbled, flipping them all off. “Night, fuckers.”

“Goodnight, Dynamight!”

[Chapter 31]