Chapter Text
The arrest and rush back to UA was a bit of a blur to Katsuki, his mind clouded with anxiety at Overhaul’s words. He briefly registered Hawks following him.
UA security didn’t bother stopping them as Katsuki ran through the gates towards their dorms. The relief he felt when he saw Eri, Tomura, and Yamada was almost overwhelming.
“KAT!” Eri spotted him first and rushed to meet him. Katsuki hugged her tightly and pulled Tomura in too when he ran over. They’re okay. They’re okay. Yamada didn’t join the group hug but he was grinning and Katsuki swore he could see tears in the hero's eyes.
Then Aizawa found them.
“Do you have any idea how reckless that was, not to mention how many rules -”
“Actually!” Hawks, who Katsuki had forgotten about, piped in. Aizawa turned to glare at him and Yamada grimaced. “Katsuki didn’t break any rules. Or laws.”
Aizawa’s face twitched for a second at ‘Katsuki’ and waited for the winged hero to continue. Tomura and Eri pulled away but stayed at Katsuki’s sides.
“I sanctioned and led the mission. We had to prioritize speed and the element of surprise, which is why neither of you was informed,” Hawks had his signature media smile on. Eri gave Katsuki a questioning glance while Tomura just stared at the Pro Hero like he was a puzzle he didn’t understand.
“Katsuki is still in training, even with a license he can’t just join any mission from a random hero. He’s in protective custody,” Aizawa glared harder as Yamada winced. Hawks didn’t falter, he and Katsuki had covered this.
“Except that Katsuki is my intern!” Hawks grinned genuinely this time. Everyone took turns looking between him and Katsuki in complete bafflement.
“... Since when,” Aizawa sounded like he didn’t want to know.
“Since three hours ago”
Katsuki watched indifferently as Aizawa sighed heavily and put his face in his hands. Yamada and Tomura blanched. Eri turned to look at Katsuki and grinned. Oh no. She was going to be a menace about this afterword.
Aizawa recovered enough to look at Hawks like he was the bane of his entire existence and the winged hero took that as his cue to leave.
“See you later Katsuki!” he called out as Aizawa sighed again.
“Whatever, pigeon,” Katsuki smirked as Hawks laughed and took off. Tomura and Eri stared at him. Katsuki turned back to them. “Later.”
Katsuki and Hawks’ plan worked, they weren’t in any legal trouble (the same could not be said for what Aizawa could do), and now Katsuki had a new sparring partner. As his teacher, on paper, Hawks idea of mentorship was very different from Best Jeanist. Katsuki was baffled at how he was a legal adult really.
(Later, Aizawa talked to Katsuki alone and told him about Overhaul’s arrest and the aftershocks the last few months would have on the world.
“As a teacher, I am worried about why you didn’t come to me first. As a guardian, I was terrified you would be hurt. As a fellow hero, I am very impressed.”
Katsuki didn’t say what those words meant to him. He didn’t have to.)
1-A were a bunch of nosy fucks on Katsuki’s first day back. Half of them demanded a second by second retelling of his confidential mission. Katsuki’s ‘friends’ wouldn’t stop worrying, though they had nothing on Deku, and even Icyhot was acting like he needed to know Katsuki was okay for some reason. Fucking weirdo.
Eri was already well acquainted with his classmates (especially the gravity one), but now Tomura was going out more too. He and Pikachu realized they both lived on the internet and got along way too well, Katsuki never understood what the fuck they were talking about.
On Eri’s birthday they all pitched in for a big surprise party she loved, so Katsuki ended up deciding they weren’t so bad. He still needed to redesign all of their costumes though.
-----------------------------------
Katsuki hated the stupid uncomfortable chair he was forced to wait in. It was a prison, sure, but why did the visitors have to suffer as well? He’d only been here ten minutes for fucks sake.
“Are you worried?” All Might asked him quietly. Katsuki wasn’t sure why the hero had insisted on going with them.
“Tomura can take of himself”
“That doesn’t mean you aren’t worried”
Katsuki scoffed and glanced at the door he had seen Tomura go through. Now that there were no immediate dangers for the three of them, he was finally able to meet Kurogiri safely. Aizawa was with him, just to be safe.
Eri had actually been okay with staying behind for this and even though Katsuki didn’t really like it he didn’t resist staying outside. All Might, damn him, had still picked up on how worried Katsuki was. Physically, Tomura would more than likely be fine. Kurogiri wasn’t a threat with Aizawa there. Emotionally? Mentally? Kurogiri was the only tie back to Tomura’s life as a villain-to-be he cared about and that gave the portal villain power over him. And Katsuki wasn’t trusting by nature. But.
“He doesn’t need any help,” Katsuki looked at the hero. All Might seemed to waver, clearly wanting to say something. “What?”
“... Not needing help doesn’t mean you can’t have any. I - It’s okay to worry about people and to… Accept help even if you think it’s not necessary,” All Might grimaced. “That is something I wished I had learned a long time ago”.
Katsuki stared at the hero and knew All Might wasn’t just talking about Tomura or himself.
“It’s not the same”
“... Are you sure?” All Might said. Katsuki didn’t reply.
Tomura walked out not long after they had drifted into a comfortable silence. He wasn’t panicked or angry, making Katsuki relax. Aizawa followed him out and the four made their way back to UA. Tomura explained briefly, in a tired but calm voice, how Kurogiri was an advanced Noumu who had been programmed to take of him (“Fuck” “Yeah”). With all the research discovered from when All for One was arrested and his syndicate having been mostly dismantled over the past months, Aizawa said they could find a way to undo a lot of, if not most of, the Noumu transformation and programming. Tomura leaned on Katsuki in the car ride back, obviously not sure how to feel about this (“He’ll probably hate me” “He’s not an idiot, he knows it wasn’t your fault”).
At UA, Katsuki drifted apart from his family as Eri comforted Tomura. He had to confront someone too. Katsuki sent a text and walked to one of the rare quiet parts of campus.
Deku was already waiting there, looking a mixture of nervous and sad. Why sad? Katsuki would never get this kid. Why the nerd always followed after Katsuki, even now when he had his own power, Deku wouldn’t leave him alone.
“I guess I never knew you as well as I thought I did,” the nerd blurted out as soon as Katsuki reached him. He was staring at Katsuki like he was something alien and familiar at the same time.
“Well, I didn’t want you too. I have some fucking important secrets too,” Katsuki scoffed and kept his tone neutral. Deku huffed a small laugh.
“You did say you were good at keeping them, I should have listened… I think I should have listened to some other things too,” Deku stared at the ground now. Katsuki scowled.
“Yeah, you should have. I was a dick too, I don’t get why you… Always stayed,” Katsuki was never sure how he felt about that. Some kid sticking around no matter what Katsuki did to drive him away? Annoying, relieving, and borderline offensive. Once he met Tomura and then Eri, it was downright dangerous. Yet before, when he had been alone… Katsuki was self-aware enough now to realize maybe he had mostly been upset. Why had Deku stayed? Why was he the only one who had stayed? The questions had faded away as Katsuki’s home filled up with toys and books and artwork that wasn’t his. He wasn’t upset anymore. But he wanted to know.
“I look up to you, I - All Might was my hero, he was… He is the Symbol of Peace but until a year ago he was always out of reach. You were my hero, you never gave up and were always so strong. I - You were my symbol of victory,” Deku took a deep breath and glanced at Katsuki briefly. He looked surprised that Katsuki wasn’t angry.
“... I’m not going to pretend to understand, but I accept that. I think you need some better role models though,” Katsuki paused as he watched Deku’s eyes soften and the nerd laughed again. “To be blunt, we probably don’t know each other well enough to be friends. But I… Don’t have to push people away anymore. So. Maybe one day, I guess...”
Deku smile was blinding, as per fucking usual, and Katsuki rolled his eyes. He had said maybe. Honestly.
“We’ll definitely be friends!”
“Before literally anything, learn boundaries”
“Yeah, that's fair”
-----------------------------------
Spinner A Bunch Of Traitors
Spinner: i can’t believe this
Spinner: the betrayal
Fuyumi: Spinner I’m sorry, I didn’t realize how important this would be to you.
Spinner: (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻
Fuck Endeavor: so dramatic
Knives <3: sorry spinner!!
Knives <3: i dont want u to feel left out
Knives <3: want a knife? That cheers me up
Spinner: no. ty
Spinner: im just
Spinner: @Pigeon wtf
Pigeon: wat
Spinner: Pigeon? REALLy
Katsuki: That’s what I said.
Pigeon: heY
Pigeon: its a great username
Fuck Endeavor: its dumb af
Bites The Dust: so is yours
Fuck Endeavor: its not dumb its dramatic
Fuck Endeavor: a call to arms
Katsuki: A way to annoy Pigeon.
Fuck Endeavor: that too
Pigeon: ,,,,
Pigeon: look
Fuck Endeavor: no
Katsuki: Just accept the Truth.
Bites The Dust: maybe I should change my username to fuck the hc
Pigeon: do NoT
Pigeon: the Hero Commission is fine!!!
Fuyumi: Doubt.
Katsuki: We’ll see.
Pigeon: wat
Katsuki: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Pigeon: i'm shaking wat do you mean
Fuck Endeavor: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Pigeon: GUYs
Spinner: i cant believe i was the last to know this shit
-----------------------------------
“You okay?” Katsuki asked Eri. She was staring at the people passing by their bench in the park in a hopeful kind of wonder. Her pale hair was tied up in a bun that his create quirk classmate had done and wasn’t wearing any eye contacts.
They were outside the UA campus for the second time since Overhaul’s defeat. Well, Katsuki and Tomura’s second time. This was Eri’s first time outside without a disguise ever, besides Kamino.
Aizawa was getting them food while Yamada and Tomura were having a debate about music genres. Katsuki rolled his eyes at Tomura’s defense of video game music. Yamada was completely offended by his taste in music.
“I’m happy,” Eri said ‘happy’ in a way Katsuki knew actually meant ‘safe’ and like she couldn’t quite believe it. He couldn’t either.
A month had passed since Overhaul was arrested and months since All for One had been. They were as safe as they would ever be. Last year, they could have never imagined being here. Katsuki had never thought their life before was sad, and tragedy was for people who couldn’t move forward. But now he saw it hadn’t been safe either. All of them had lived in hiding, even Katsuki, in a way. He didn’t let himself have friends or support. He… Hadn’t even had parents, really, he understood now. Katsuki had raised himself.
As far back as he could remember, he taught himself to keep his trust hidden away and to always expect the worst. Or, no. The world had shown him that. And Tomura and Eri too. They had been waiting for the next sign of trouble because the danger was never an if, for them, it was a when. Katsuki hadn’t known how cruel the world was until he saw its kindness.
“I’m happy too,” he replied, and actually meant ‘safe’.