The Deku-Shaped Hole - Chapter 3

Katsuki smirked when the kid pointed his way, watching All Might whirl around and light up. He raised one hand in a little wave, and when All Might started toward him, he met him halfway.

"Katsuki! It's been so long!"

"It's good to see you," he managed an awkward smile, gesturing toward the class watching them closely. "I thought we could have lunch, I guess my timing was a little off."

"That sounds fantastic! We have about fifteen minutes left, do you mind waiting? I wouldn't want to hold you up."

"I have all day," Katsuki assured him. "Did you get shorter?"

"I'm getting old, my boy," All Might laughed, clapping Katsuki on the back. "Even us seven-foot-behemoths start to shrink eventually."

"I asked if Deku was gonna be a behemoth, I didn't technically say you were one."

"Of course, young Katsuki, I believe you."

Crimson eyes darted off into the distance, watching a familiar scene unfold, and All Might sighed knowingly when he followed Katsuki's gaze.

"I'm sorry, they do this a lot, give me a minute."

"Allow me, Sensei," Katsuki shot him a toothy grin. "Let me be of some use while I'm here."

He didn't bother to speak as he approached, just grabbed the kid by the back of his costume, hauling him off the ground with ease. He'd almost forgotten how tiny fifteen year olds really were. 

"You seem to be lost, need a lift to the gates?"

"Excuse me?"

"This is a class for heroes," Katsuki pointed out. "You really think that shitty behavior is appropriate for a hero?"

The boy fell silent, gritting his teeth, and Katsuki snorted. 

"You wouldn't be in this school if you were stupid. Keep your asshole opinions to yourself, you hear me? No one gives a fuck what you think, you little shit."

"Who are you to order me around?" the kid barked back.

"Number Two Hero, Bakushinchi," the smaller boy whispered, peering up at him with wide eyes. "Can I have your autograph?"

"Only if you wait 'til after class. I've interrupted enough of All Might's lessons to last a lifetime."

The boy nodded emphatically, and Katsuki looked again to the fuming brat in his grip. At least he'd had the sense to stop wriggling.

"You gonna stop being a piece of shit, or should I see how far I can throw you?"

"You wouldn't."

"Try me, punk."

The kid scowled, but finally ducked his gaze, muttering something under his breath.

"Louder, kid, can't hear shit."

"Fine! I'll leave him alone! Sheesh!"

"Oh no you don't. You're gonna fuckin' apologise."

"No way in hell am I apologising to this loser."

Katsuki wound up, hoisting the kid's weight over his shoulder, and with a little squawk he finally conceded.

"I'll do it! I'll be good!"

He dumped the brat immediately, waiting pointedly as he clambered up and brushed dust from his costume.

"I'm sorry, okay? I'll leave you alone."

Katsuki waved him away dismissively, bending down slightly to meet the smaller boy's eyes.

"You okay? Be honest."

"I am. He's upset because I beat him yesterday. For the first time."

"I know that game. One day he'll come back begging for your forgiveness. You gonna let him?"

"Of course! If he means it and wants to be friends, of course I'll let him apologise!"

"You're a good kid. Work hard, okay? You can bring me something to sign at the end of class, I'll wait as long as you need."

"Thank you so much, Bakushinchi, Sir!"

He returned to All Might's side, ignoring the little smirk playing at his lips, instead settling for folding his arms and leaning against the fence to watch. He remembered these kinds of classes, the days they just split off into pairs and worked on finding strategies against each other in a hurry. They were one of his favourites, just pure energy and instinct and strategy, not teamwork and analysing as a group.

"I miss this," he admitted, cringing as he watched someone take a particularly hard blow. "It gets lonely being a hero, huh?"

"You could always form a duo. Or a group."

"Like hell. Who's gonna put up with my ass?"

All Might gave him a pointed look, and Katsuki cringed.

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I need someone to beat, though."

"You can partner up without being ranked together."

"I guess so. I'll think about it."

"I'm sure Red Riot's crew would be happy to take you, otherwise."

"All Might, I respect you, please don't make me punch you in front of all your students."

"Noted."

He waved it off when All Might excused himself to do his job, leaning happily in his little corner as he watched the fresh meat work. Part of him contemplated stripping back down to his costume so he could join them, but he suspected his visit would have gone far less smoothly if he hadn't been in civilian clothing, and he didn't feel the need to jeopardise that just to screw around. If nothing else, he'd have more annoying kids following him around.

Spoke too soon.

The bell rang, and Katsuki was immediately swarmed by kids with notebooks and markers. He scribbled down his hero name a dozen times, each punctuated with the same little bomb doodle he'd gotten so quick at, and when the crowd finally cleared out he found All Might smiling at him too fondly for his liking.

"Shut it, old man," Katsuki muttered, looking away as he picked up his discarded bag. "You want food or not?"

"Of course! Did you have somewhere in mind?"

"Your office?"

He reached into his bag to produce the little stacked lunchbox, wrapped carefully in dark cloth. Orange bombs and Xs patterned the cover, and All Might's face lit up when he saw it dangling from Katsuki's fingertips.

"Katsuki, did you make us lunch?"

"You got a problem with that?"

"I'm touched! That's so kind!"

"Don't start," he grumbled, blushing bright red. "It's just lunch."

They retreated to his office together, settling in at his desk with their boxes, and soon All Might was carefully examining every little detail, praising and fawning over his work. Katsuki groaned right the way through, cheeks burning, as he sank lower and lower in his chair.

"You're the first person who has made me lunch."

"Haah? The first?"

"A lot of people don't even accept my invitations to eat with me, let alone bring me lunch."

"That's insane."

"You're very kind, Katsuki, even if you try to hide it sometimes."

He didn't bother to respond, stuffing his mouth with food to avoid it, and All Might dropped it obediently, just a lingering little smile hanging on his lips.

"I was wondering if I could ask about your quirk," he began, when they'd emptied their boxes and filled their second mugs of tea. "About how it transfers, more specifically."

"I'm sure I can guess, but may I ask why that is?"

"Deku left me a letter. An 'in case of emergency' letter. His main priority was keeping One For All safe, which was... Kind of sad, in a way. His last will and testament was solely dedicated to passing on the power."

"What did he say of it?"

"He said if worst comes to worst, he wants me to... Take it, I guess. He, um, attached some hair to the letter." Katsuki shuddered. "Is that seriously how it works?"

"To some extent, yes. The current holder must willfully transfer it, so if a random villain got hold of his hair, it wouldn't work. When the holder wills it to transfer to someone, and they ingest their DNA, it will pass on."

"What if he dies?"

"That I do not know. I imagine when he can no longer consciously will it, the power will not be able to transfer. I can't say anyone has dared to test it."

"Have you been to see him?"

"I'm afraid they won't let me. My influence is no longer strong enough to pull that string."

"Oh."

Katsuki paused, staring into his mug, fingertips drumming lightly against the side.

"If he passed it to me," he began, his voice barely a whisper. "Would you be disappointed?"

"Excuse me?"

"Please don't make me say it again."

All Might leaned across the desk, gripping Katsuki's face between slightly shaking hands, forcing him to meet the piercing gaze.

"Katsuki, I would never."

"B-But-"

"There is no one I would trust more than you. You've shared this secret with us for a decade and never breathed a word to anyone. You've gone out of your way to help us figure things out, when new developments arose. You've been there at every step of the way to help Izuku grow and learn. How could I possibly be disappointed?"

"Because I'm not him and I'll never be him and if worst comes to worst and he's... G-gone, then you'll have lost the person it was supposed to belong to and it'll just be s-stuck with m-me."

"It's not like you to doubt yourself," All Might smiled softly, patting a damp cheek before he took his hands away. "Not anymore, at least. Are you sure you're okay?"

"I j-just-" he spluttered, scrubbing at his eyes roughly. "I'm supposed to take care of things. For him. And I just- I don't- I don't know how."

"If Izuku asked you to take care of things, he didn't mean his quirk. He meant his family, his friends, his agency, his legacy. He would never have asked you to take care of his quirk without an explicit conversation about it first. You yourself called it an emergency letter, he never planned for you to get it at all, let alone right now. He just knew that if anything happened to him, he could trust you to take care of it for him."

"I'm scared, All Might," he confessed, sniffling a little. "I'm scared that I'll eat the damn thing and nothing will happen, that I didn't have enough faith in him to get better. I'm scared that I'll eat it and something will happen, then I'll know he thinks it's over for him. But I'm terrified that I'll spend too long stressing out about it and he'll end up dying and taking the quirk with him."

"I can't make the decision for you, Katsuki. I'm sorry, I truly wish I could. All I can advise is that you should rest up, and have faith in him to hold on for as long as it takes for you to make a decision. He's a strong man, he's not that child who followed you on the playground anymore. Have faith in him, like he has faith in you."

"I do. I always do."

"Then take your time. With any luck, he'll wake up before you even decide."

"You think so?"

"I have all the faith in the world in you boys. Izuku won't die like this. It's not nearly dramatic enough for that man."

Katsuki chuckled, nodding as he wiped his tears away once more, finally looking up to meet All Might's eyes of his own accord.

"Can you imagine?" he smiled, shaking his head fondly. "Deku, dying in a hospital bed. I know he spends a lot of time in them, but man, would he be pissed."

"Thank goodness he's so stubborn."

"Thank you, All Might. This really helped."

"Any time, young Katsuki. It's always a pleasure to be of use to you once more."

"I'll be back, you know. For years to come, I'll still be back to ask advice. So you'd better keep yourself safe too. I'll never forgive you if I need you and you've just up and left me."

"I wouldn't dream of it."

─────

Mitsuki leaned against the counter to watch as Katsuki slammed pots and pans, making surprisingly little mess for the sheer noise he created when he cooked.

"How are they doing? Keeping well? Seem safe?"

"Really good, actually," Katsuki mumbled, fiddling with the oven knobs. "They both seemed well-rested for once. How do I make this shitty thing change to grill, is there a button or some shit?"

"It just sticks sometimes, turn it harder. Oh, uh, not too hard. Average-human-hard, not pro-hero-hard. Don't really want it broken right this minute."

"I'm not stupid."

"I know that." She smiled when it clunked into place, ignoring the muttered curses. "Well-rested? So healthy?"

"Yeah, I don't think I've ever seen Aizawa so awake."

"Any idea why?"

"Mm... All Might implied some stuff, I don't really know."

"Take a wild guess."

"He doesn't have to work as hard, now," Katsuki said quietly, refusing to look up. "Trusts the younger heroes, y'know?"

"I'm not surprised, with you and your classmates. He was a very good teacher to you all."

"I know, I know. He knows I appreciate it, stop being so sappy."

"And All Might?"

"He put on some weight, so maybe the surgery and stuff is working? It must be hell going through it all, but he's still teaching heroics classes so he must be doing okay."

"You didn't even ask him how he was doing?!"

"Rude old hag, you frequently pry into peoples' medical status?" Katsuki scowled. "Don't give me that shit. He'll tell me if he wants to share."

"You're so ungrateful! That man saved your life more times than I can count!"

"Don't you think I know that?!" Katsuki demanded, rounding on her with a deep scowl on his face. "Shit, old hag, do you not realise that I was the one standing there face-to-face with my own fuckin' mortality? As a teenager? You're lucky I'm not way more fucked up than I am, you be fuckin' grateful!"

"Of course I'm grateful." Her voice was surprisingly soft, a shock when Katsuki had fully expected her to yell back. "I thought I was going to lose you."

"Not if I can help it."

The room fell silent, Katsuki just staring at his waiting pots, at the oven slowly humming to life with heat.

"It scares me," Mitsuki admitted, barely a whisper this time. "Every time I see or hear about an incident near you, I know I could come home to the message that I've lost you. And then this business with little Izuku, and I know exactly what it's like for his mother, and I feel so bad that I can't help either of them."

"Listen to me," Katsuki said firmly, taking a few steps closer to look down sternly at his mother's thin frame. "Fuckin' Deku is gonna be a-okay. In a few days he's gonna be on that doorstep apologising for making you worry and asking if his fuckin' Kacchan is around so he can face his beating."

"Don't beat him up straight out of hospital, at least give him a few days."

"No promises."

Mitsuki stubbornly thrust her arms around Katsuki's waist, squeezing him tightly, and with a little huff Katsuki conceded, patting her awkwardly on the back as she clung to him.

"Promise me you'll always come home, Katsuki."

"I can't promise that."

"I'm your fuckin' mother, make the damn promise you little brat."

"I promise I won't get myself killed over something stupid," he offered. "But if I die saving a busload of children or some shit, you're not allowed to be upset."

"Of course I'm gonna be upset, what are you, a moron?"

"Celebrate the fact that I saved them instead of mourning the fact that I'm gone."

"You're such a damn hero," she muttered, thumping him in the chest with her fist. "How did I end up with such a good son, with the shitty way we treat each other?"

"It's not shitty, it's us."

Mitsuki sniffled, quickly hiding her face in Katsuki's singlet, and he groaned loudly even as he draped an arm around her shoulders.

"I get it, I get it, your little boy is all grown up, can we cut the shit now?"

"Never."

"You can have ten more seconds, then I'm going back to cooking."

He gave her a solid minute, then reluctantly she pried herself off, thumping him once more.

"This never happened. Got it, you little shit? No mushy crap ever happened in this house."

"Fuckin' obviously."

He smirked as he went back to cooking, feeling Mitsuki's stubborn eyes still on his back. For once the arguments and insults didn't leave him irritated. This was them, this was the way it had always been, and something about that was oddly comforting. 

Maybe he missed his parents sometimes after all.