In Your Shadow [Chapter 14]

[Chapter 13]

Katsuki arrived to the office almost ten minutes early, frowning slightly when he looked at his phone and noticed. He hadn’t done anything different in his morning routine, hadn’t moved any quicker or missed anything out, so he wasn’t sure how he’d gotten there so quickly – had he woken up early and not realised it? Oh well, he was pretty sure his briefing was the first thing Deku did in his day, so maybe he wouldn’t mind if Katsuki was a little early. If anything he might interrupt Deku’s breakfast, but that was-

Oh. Fuck. He hadn’t eaten breakfast.

Sighing at himself, he raised a fist to knock on the door, squaring his shoulders and mentally preparing himself for formality. Right as he was about to make contact, though, he heard a voice from inside, and quickly paused. Was there another meeting before his? Maybe he’d just stay silent and see what juicy work details he could garner, to get himself ahead or something – not that there was much point anymore. He only had one more day, after all, and Deku still hadn’t said anything about keeping him on – and more importantly, nor had Mirio. If anyone was gonna drop him a hint, it would have been Mirio.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” the voice said instead, with a heavy sigh. “I miss you a ton, but I’m just chained to my desk at the moment, you know how it is.”

Oh. Not a work call then. Oops.

“I promise, as soon as this case is over, I’m gonna come spend a whole week with you. Just bear with me a little longer, okay?”

Katsuki tiptoed away as silently as he could, praying Deku wouldn’t hear him move, and leaned against a wall around the corner to wait. His stomach was churning in a way he didn’t recognise, like a deep, swirling hole had opened up inside him and was trying to suck in all his other organs.

Surely because he hadn’t eaten breakfast, right?

He’d really thought Deku had just been ignoring him all this time, that he hadn’t wanted to waste his time and attention on Katsuki more than he was obligated to, but there he was, apologising to his mother for not visiting more often – and Katsuki knew his mother. Well, his mother knew Deku’s mother, anyway. She was the sweetest lady in their whole home town, always bringing over freshly-baked bread or leftover cake when she visited, and telling Katsuki how strong he looked – never how tall or grown up, like the elderly women did, always praise for how hard he was working in the gym and in school. She was still close with Deku, Katsuki’s mother had always harped on at him about how the number one hero went home more than Katsuki did, so for him to be so busy he couldn't visit? Things had to be bad.

When ten minutes had passed, Katsuki crept back over to the door, listening for a moment to make sure it was quiet within, before he stood up straight again, and knocked this time.

“Come in, Katsuki,” Deku’s voice said, catching him off-guard a little. “Come sit down.”

Katsuki stepped through, fumbling for a moment to find words, before quickly choking out a good morning and hurrying to the usual chair. Deku already didn’t seem like himself, but Katsuki knew he couldn’t address it – he’d just have to blame it on the gala and force himself to forget the phone call entirely.

“I got a call from a reporter this morning,” Deku began, without even forcing Katsuki to make awkward small talk for once. “They wanted to interview you, but I told them they’d have to talk with U.A. first, so if anyone contacts you directly, please make sure you direct them to the school.”

“S-Sure,” Katsuki agreed, swallowing hard. “I’ll be careful who I talk to and what calls I answer, and all that.”

“Aizawa’s taught you well.”

Katsuki shrugged awkwardly. They’d all had plenty of classes about media performance and public relations at U.A., Deku knew that better than most.

“Miruko sent me the news footage. I’m surprised I didn’t see it earlier.”

“You’ve been busy,” Katsuki offered, shrugging again. “It wasn’t a big deal.”

“What made you decide to jump into the fray?”

Oh. There it was. He was about to get told off for over-stepping, and he’d officially lost any chance of a work studies position. Probably even lost any chance of a referral, to make another hero want to take him on instead. Fuck. He should’ve thought about that before he insisted on going out there. But what would have happened to the people in the burning building, without him? Would someone else have shown up in time? Would another hero have hurt themself trying to help in his place?

“I got permission,” he choked out after a moment, in hopes of at least defending himself a little. “Flare said I could go, when everyone was running off to help, and Trax said I could do the fire rescue. Ephia’s was a little less permissive, I guess, but I was following her instructions from the patrol we did together, so I guess I thought it would be okay, but I probably should’ve asked first, I’m sorry.”

He braced himself for the lecture, but Deku just… nodded. He didn’t say anything right away, waiting to make sure Katsuki was finished, but Katsuki clamped his mouth shut and sat dead still – he’d done okay so far, if Deku wasn’t angry, and he didn’t want to fuck that up.

“I’m proud of you for listening to directions from your seniors. That showed a lot of self-restraint and patience, not just rushing in of your own accord. I’m also proud of you for helping, when you weren’t required to. There are a lot of heroes out there who do their patrols and sign out for the day, regardless of what else happens, so I’m glad to see that you’re willing to go above and beyond, when the situation arises, and that you didn’t act rashly or go against advice from other heroes with more experience than you. So thank you, for helping, and for protecting the civilians of my area, and the heroes of my team, when I couldn’t be there to do it myself.”

“Y-You’re welcome,” Katsuki stuttered, wide-eyed. “And uh, thank you, as well. For giving me… the tools to do it, I guess. The people, and the training and stuff.”

Katsuki’s brain screamed at him, chanting “Now! Do it now! Ask him!” but Katsuki couldn’t quite bring himself to do it. No one had really brought up the topic of him getting a work studies position, and with Deku as busy as he was, he probably just didn’t have the time and facilities to do it. Maybe he’d ask Trax or Ephia or something, see if one of the other heroes would take him in, and convince Deku on his behalf – he’d probably have more luck with that than with number one. If not, he’d ask for referrals to someone else – Miruko had seemed keen, right? – but something about that felt a little inappropriate. In all likelihood he’d just have to wait it out and then contact some agencies himself. Maybe after the Ephia footage, he’d have some luck.

Not to mention he was still hoping against all hope that maybe Deku would suddenly ask him, if he was patient enough to wait it out. Deku appreciated patience, after all.

“For the record, though,” Katsuki blurted out, despite the way he was already kicking himself for it. “I didn’t really try to get permission, I kind of just… did it. So I can’t really take credit for it. Trax knew what I was thinking immediately, so I didn’t have to ask, and with Ephia I just kind of… assumed permission.”

“Did she give you permission to act without asking first, when you patrolled together?”

“Yeah.”

“Then you had permission. You knew that, even if you didn’t consciously think about it in the moment.”

“Okay,” Katsuki nodded slightly, relieved. “I’m glad that counts.”

“Keep up that good work today. You’ve got a meeting for school this morning, Aizawa called me last night, and in whatever time you have after that, you can do some of those online modules I gave you. We won’t have a brief tomorrow morning, but we’ll do one in the evening, to wrap things up for the week, so I’ll send you your timetable tonight. I’ll leave you some free time to wrap up as you see fit, so make the most of your last full day as an intern.”

“Okay. Thank you. I’ll check my emails after patrol.”

“Good. Enjoy your day.”

“You too.”

Katsuki held his schedule in a tight grip as he left, hating himself for not speaking up, for not taking the opportunity when last day as an intern gave him a wide-open opportunity.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

─────

While all his classmates seemed excited by the prospect of going back to school, Katsuki just wondered why. Sure, it was a lot less stressful, and he’d get to hang out with people his own age, and be better than people again, but how the hell was school meant to be a substitute for working with the number one hero? He felt like he thought those words far too often, that he was putting way too much emphasis on them, but he just couldn’t help it – sure, there were plenty of amazing heroes to work with, but there had to be a reason Deku got to that top spot, right? Wasn’t that more valuable than sitting in a classroom?

“In your first week, I had you write an essay about a hero you’d been working with,” Aizawa said, and Katsuki looked up, forcing himself to pay attention. “There were some very well-written and insightful ones, and there was a lot of excitement about the heroes who took you in, which is understandable but not always the best angle to write about.”

Katsuki was glad to know his wouldn’t have been in that second category, at least. Hopefully he was in the first, but honestly he’d settle for a happy medium.

“I’m going to give you a little more freedom, this time. It doesn’t have to be an essay – yes, Iida, it can be if you want – and there is no strict word count or length or anything like that. I want you to tell me what it means to be a hero. So use these last couple of days to talk to your mentors, take notes about your experiences, and anything else you want to do for research. Next week you’ll work on the project in class, but you need to gather anything you want from your internships while you have the chance.”

Katsuki made a note on his phone – maybe he could ask some questions during their patrols, record it on his phone or something so he didn’t have to take a ton of notes. Aizawa wouldn’t mind if he put his headphones on in class to transcribe stuff in their project time, and it would save him a lot of time and effort in the limited remainder of his internship. Deku had promised him free time to wrap up, so if he was lucky, he’d be able to run around and talk to as many people as possible, rather than spend his time writing.

“I’m looking forward to having you all back and hearing about your experiences. Enjoy your final days, and I’ll see you all Monday morning.”

The call ended, and while his classmates began to talk excitedly, Katsuki just closed the lid of the laptop. Most of them had weekends off anyway, but Katsuki had to get to work – he had online modules to do, needed to write some draft questions to ask the heroes if they allowed it, and he wanted to fit in a good stretch or something before his patrol, too. He was feeling a little stiff, and he refused to run the risk of not being at full capacity if something happened.

The trials of being an intern, he supposed.

─────

A hand wrapped around Katsuki’s ankle and he shifted his weight quickly, making sure he had his balance before he turned his head, ready to slap a bitch. When he saw the freckled face grinning down at him, he quickly reined his temper in, settling for a scowl instead of a punch in the damn mouth.

“Look at you, Mister Flexibility,” Deku teased, still making no move to release Katsuki’s foot from up near his ear. “In here getting some extra practice? I like the initiative.”

“This shit is stupid,” he huffed, face burning red. “Stupid group classes, can’t concentrate on anything.”

“Uh-huh,” Deku smirked. “Ms Ouzaki says you’ve made a lot of progress in such a short time, she’s very impressed.”

“Piss off,” he growled, yanking his foot away, relieved that Deku didn’t hold on tighter. “I don’t know why you make me do this bullshit.”

“Language, Katsuki. That’s enough.”

Katsuki huffed, but he didn’t bother arguing, just looked away pointedly to avoid Deku’s stern gaze.

“All Might is coming by, soon,” Deku informed him. “He and I have to go meet some people. I came to ask if you wanted to come sit in on our meeting, but if you’re going to sulk the whole time and curse at people, I don’t want you there.”

Katsuki’s stomach sank, but he looked up, trying his best to minimise the sour look he knew was still sitting on his face. He hated to admit it, but he’d come to like the way Deku set out his expectations so clearly. Other people called Deku overly direct when he wasn’t listening, but Katsuki appreciated the bluntness, appreciated that he never had to make guesses or read between the lines.

“I won’t,” he answered, a little grumbly despite himself. “I’d like to come.”

“Alright. I’m going to let your patrol group know you won’t be there, you should go shower and change. Is your costume clean?”

“Yeah.”

“Put that on, then. All Might is going to meet us here, and I’ll have someone drive us all over together. I expect you to be on your best behaviour. Do I need to be specific?”

Katsuki shook his head.

“Katsuki.”

“No, Deku,” he corrected himself. “I understand.”

“Good boy. Go on then, All Might will be here soon, I’d like a chance to go over things with you both before we leave.”

“In your office?”

“Yes, come by as soon as you’re ready.”

“Okay. Um, thanks?”

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you soon.”

He disappeared as quickly as he’d come, and Katsuki let out a long breath, his fingers curling tighter around the barre. He did a few quick swings with his right leg, just to even it all out so he wouldn’t feel lop-sided all afternoon, then grabbed his stuff to hurry out.

Sure enough, his costume was hanging on the racks in the cleaners’ office, and they smiled at him warmly when he arrived, picking it up carefully before he could even say a word. He’d only visited them a handful of times and already they recognised him by face, ugh. Stupid attentive staff. He still felt weird about them handling his stuff at all, but he just hadn’t had the time to do his own laundry every night, so eventually he’d had to cave.

He headed straight up to his little apartment, changing and grabbing his gauntlets – he wasn’t sure if they were included in his costume, when Deku said it, so he figured it was better to have them just in case. With his phone in his pocket, he hurried back to Deku’s office, surprised to see All Might already waiting inside when he arrived.

“Young Bakugou!” All Might said brightly, patting him on the back a little harder than necessary. “It’s been too long, how have you been finding it here with my little protégé?”

“It’s been good,” Katsuki said awkwardly. “I’ve learned a lot.”

“I’m glad to hear it! Didn’t I tell you it’d be good for you? And Deku, was I right or was I right? I knew you’d love him.”

Deku just laughed, and Katsuki was grateful that he didn’t immediately refute it.

“Come have a seat,” he offered, gesturing to the desk. “All Might, take my spot.”

Katsuki started to step back, to make Deku sit instead, but Deku gave him a pointed look, and instead, he obeyed. He kind of understood it, once he sat down – Deku standing over them gave him an air of importance even greater than usual, and Katsuki supposed that was a much better effect for him than if Katsuki were the one looking down at them both.

“The League of Villains has been acting up again, recently,” Deku began, and Katsuki felt himself stiffen. “There was a lull in their activity after we took down Overhaul, they seemed to go silent for a long time, but recently we’ve been hearing things. For the past few weeks we’ve been listening in and tracking their movements, but they’ve gotten too bold, and we’ve started putting together a small task force between a few trusted agencies, to either take them out, or at least force them back into hiding.”

Deku didn’t look Katsuki’s way, focusing on his paperwork and on All Might, but Katsuki could feel All Might’s eyes burning into him, waiting for him to react.

“Katsuki, this is an educational experience, not an invitation,” Deku said quietly. “If I take you with me to this, I expect you to keep this information in the strictest confidence, and to not act on any of it by yourself.”

“I wouldn’t,” Katsuki blurted out, pausing for a moment to think about his next words a lot more carefully. “Yes, Deku, I won’t say a word, and I definitely won’t act. I understand.”

“Good boy.”

He explained a little more, with a lot of information that All Might clearly understood, but Katsuki really didn’t, and then they were heading down to the lobby, being picked up by a dark car with tinted windows. He felt like a bodyguard or something, in that car – not for Deku, obviously, but maybe for All Might, who could hardly defend himself anymore.

For that matter, he probably should have asked…

“Deku,” he said quietly.

“Yes, Katsuki?”

“If- Oh. Uh, can I ask a question?”

“Go ahead.”

“If something happens,” he said, waving his hand vaguely in hopes it explained what kind of something he meant. “What do you want me to do?”

Deku paused, slowly turning his head to meet Katsuki’s eyes, like he was surprised that Katsuki had even thought to ask. After recent events, Katsuki couldn’t believe that would be a surprise, but apparently Deku had underestimated him or something. As usual.

“Protect All Might,” he said finally, despite All Might’s immediate protests. “Whatever that takes. Don’t worry about me.”

“Understood.”

“I don’t need protection,” All Might complained. “I’m not an old man just yet!”

Deku just looked at Katsuki pointedly, and Katsuki cracked a tiny smile.

“Understood,” he repeated.

“Good boy.”

[Chapter 15]