Chapter Text
Izuku breathes in the crisp air, the smell of petrichor engulfing him. Dewdrops glisten on the flowers that line the beaten path, their fallen leaves crunching beneath his feet. Somewhere, a bird sings.
Above them, the spring sky is clear and ever blue, and below, the grassy plains stretch infinitely to the horizon. It's a beautiful day, perfect for a hike.
Standing proud at a little over 2,900 m above sea level, Yakushi-date is not only known for its exceptional views, but for the flowers that grow along its trails. It's a romantic place to go, and Izuku had climbed it once before with Katsuki to celebrate their first anniversary as hero partners.
"I can't believe I let you talk me into this," Kazuma groans for the third time in a span of ten minutes.
"Quit complaining and watch where you plant your foot," Katsuki snaps. "Come on, kid, you can do better than that!”
“Lay off him, Kacchan,” Izuku chides. “You should've known better than to pick a hard trail for Kazuma-kun's first time."
“It’s not fucking hard! This is medium-level, at best!”
Izuku resists the urge to roll his eyes.
Sure, the first half of the trek had started out easy enough, with the path well-worn from years of hikers passing through, but the higher they went, the more challenging the terrain became. The flowery trails were soon replaced by steep, almost vertical inclines that forced them to climb on all fours. Even Izuku felt a little winded. He can only imagine what it must be like for an inexperienced hiker like Kazuma.
"We're here to celebrate Kazuma's acceptance into UA, not get a head-start on his hero training," Izuku points out. "How about we take a break at the next ridge?"
"We've already taken two breaks in the last hour," Katsuki grumbles. "At this rate, I'll die of old age before we reach the top."
"Why are we even hurrying, sir? It’s still pretty early, and you're not even looking at the view!"
"Who cares about that? You can look up Yakushi-date online and see the same damn thing in HD. That’s not what I’m here for.”
Kazuma frowns. "Then what are you here for?”
"For the victory," Katsuki answers proudly, puffing his chest. “Nothing beats that high you get when you finally reach the top! You’ll see!”
His answer made Izuku smile. How very “Kacchan” of him.
"Is that the same for you too, Deku-san?"
Izuku shakes his head as he takes in the sprawling valley below, the different patches of green creating an endless tapestry around them. He sees Tate-yama and other mountains in the distance, their peaks still snow-capped despite the approaching summer.
"Oh, it's definitely the view for me."
He turns to look at Katsuki and finds him already staring back. Izuku winks. "That, and the handsome company."
Pink explodes all over Katsuki's face.
"Ha! Dynamight-san is blushing!"
"A-Am not! Shut up!" Katsuki sputters, quickly turning away. "It's called an adrenaline flush you little shit, and you'd have it too if you hiked faster than my grandma!"
“You make your poor grandmother hike up here too? Elderly abuse is illegal, sir.”
“Your shitty stamina is illegal!”
Something warm blooms inside Izuku’s chest as he listens to the two blonds bicker. The normalcy of it all feels a little surreal, considering how it’s been only two years since the earthquake that devastated most of Tokyo.
Two years since Kazuma had literally died in their arms.
That day, Izuku emerged from the broken ground holding Kazuma's limp body, screaming his name.
He remembered warm arms enfolding him as the EMTs took Kazuma away. He watched them cut into the boy’s school uniform and stick the monitor’s leads on his chest.
Everything had been so vivid and loud back then, but the god-awful sound that came out of the cardiac monitor screamed the loudest. Some nights, Izuku would wake up from yet another nightmare, and he'd hear the echoes of that shrill flat-line between his ears.
He can't recall exactly how long the EMTs did CPR on Kazuma but he remembers, very clearly, the moment they finally stopped.
It’s as if the whole world had stopped too.
The EMTs turned toward him, and though they hadn’t said anything yet, the look in their eyes confirmed Izuku’s worst fear.
“No…”
The sound of that flat-line seemed to stretch into infinity.
“I’m sorry sir. He’s gone.”
“No.”
The arms around him tightened.
“No!” Izuku wailed as he fought against the arms that held him back. “No, don’t stop! You can’t stop! He’s not—you can’t stop! Keep doing CPR!”
“Deku-kun.” He recognized Ochaco’s voice somewhere beside him but he couldn’t see her. He couldn’t see anything. His surroundings had dissolved into a murky color-haze beyond his tears. “Kazuma-kun hasn’t had a pulse in over 27 minutes. They have to call it.”
“No! No! This isn’t how it’s supposed to end! We’re heroes!” Izuku screamed, still fighting against whoever it was that had trapped him in their embrace. “We were his heroes! We can’t just give up! Let me go! I have to save him! I have to!”
Then Izuku heard a “snap,” followed by a sharp pain on his side that made him bowl over. Blood spurted from his mouth. In his struggle, one of his broken ribs had punctured his lungs.
"Izuku, stop."
And Izuku stopped. Because it was Katsuki. Katsuki was the one holding him, the one whispering into his ear, with his voice as heavy and as broken as Izuku's heart.
"He's gone."
“Kacchan,” Izuku wheezed weakly, struggling to bring air into his lungs. Darkness began to creep into his vision. “I can’t… Kazuma, he… we promised….”
More blood spurted out of his mouth. Izuku heard panicked voices around him and he felt himself being moved and laid on a backboard. Izuku looked over and found Kazuma’s body only an arm’s length away. Though he was still attached to an active cardiac monitor, the EMTs had turned all their attention to Izuku.
There was nothing they could medically do for him at that point. There was nothing anyone could do. All that’s left is to pray for a miracle.
And weren’t they owed at least one at that point? After everything Izuku had done for this world, everyone he had saved and lost, didn’t he deserve a miracle today?
Just one, Izuku bartered with the universe, as he reached through the wall of EMTs between them, his scarred fingers weakly hooking over Kazuma’s limp wrist.
Please.
But just as his consciousness began to slip away, Izuku felt something move against his fingertips.
The sound of Kazuma’s cardiac monitor suddenly stopped.
For one gut-dropping second, there was only silence.
And then, a weak beep. Then another. And another.
A commotion exploded above him. EMTs began turning around and Izuku couldn’t make out any words anymore, but the disbelief in their voices was loud and clear.
The last thing he remembered from that day was the overwhelming relief in Katsuki’s voice as he shouted—
“Deku, he’s alive! He’s alive!”
“Finally!” Kazuma cheers when they reach the next ridge. He finds a shaded spot under a tree and slumps down against its trunk. “I think this is the farthest I can go,” he groans between mouthfuls of water. “You can leave me here. This is where I live now.”
“The hell it is,” Katsuki huffs, snatching the bottle from his hand. “And don’t drink too much all at once. You’ll feel too bloated for the rest of the climb and you might even get water poisoning.”
Kazuma’s jaw drops. “Wait, that’s a thing? I thought drinking water was safe!”
“It is, when taken in moderation,” Izuku explains. “Everything can be deadly if you take too much of it. Even oxygen.”
“That’s so cool! Did they teach that in UA too?”
“Yeah, along with a fuckton of other stuff. Get ready to study like your life depended on it, kid. Because believe me, one day, something your teacher taught for ten seconds might spell the difference between life and death.”
“I don’t mind studying!” Kazuma jumps up excitedly, then suddenly topples over. Izuku catches him before he hits the ground.
“Kazuma-kun?” He asks worriedly. “Are you okay?”
“Oh? Yeah, I am!” Kazuma looks down, bewildered. “Um, I think my legs are malfunctioning from the hike.”
Izuku throws an accusatory look at Katsuki’s direction.
“Hey, we did a system check before we started,” Katsuki protests. “Everything was in tiptop shape. Mei even gave the all-clear!”
Izuku sighs as he helps Kazuma back up. “Well, I think it’s time to take another look, make sure nothing got accidentally damaged during the climb.”
He helps Kazuma sit on a nearby rock, and Katsuki kneels down beside them, quickly rolling up the boy’s leggings and revealing the polished metal underneath.
Seeing Kazuma’s prosthetics always leaves Izuku a little breathless.
It’s a striking reminder of all the hardship and heartbreak the boy had to overcome.
—
Izuku couldn’t remember much of what happened in the aftermath of the earthquake, those six months of rescue and recovery efforts blurring into a nebulous murk at the back of his mind. Some days, Izuku could almost pretend that the whole thing didn’t happen. But some days, it would feel like he was back there again, lost underground, drowning in the souls he couldn’t save.
The Great Kantō Earthquake of 20XX was deemed one of the deadliest natural disasters in human history, with its final count of 448,782 dead, 155,121 missing, and millions injured.
And as if that wasn’t tragic enough, among those confirmed dead was Kazuma’s father.
They found the body about a month into the recovery missions, and a few weeks after Kazuma woke up from his coma. His dad was among those recovered under a collapsed office building in Shibuya, and though his body had apparently been too decomposed to be recognizable, he had his wallet on him, which contained an ID card, some cash, and a photo.
Kirishima had instantly recognized the smiling blond boy it featured and notified Katsuki.
Losing both of his legs had been hard enough for Kazuma to deal with, but finding out that he had lost his dad too?
Izuku had seen a great many terrible things after the earthquake, things that haunted his nightmares and waking hours, but there had been nothing as horrific and as soul-crushing as watching the light behind Kazuma’s eyes slowly disappear.
And without Katsuki’s interference, that light would’ve been gone for good.
“Looks like it just overheated,” Katsuki concludes as he shuts the lid of the small hatch on Kazuma’s thigh.
“That’s weird. I didn’t have any problems during UA’s entrance exam.”
“Well, fighting those robots didn’t necessarily test your legs’ endurance capabilities,” Izuku explains. “Mei designed its operating system for speed and power, like that of a sprinter. Hiking and climbing have different requirements, so the OS overloaded.”
“These tights also kept it from venting properly,” Katsuki scoffs. “Told ya you should’ve worn shorts instead.”
“But I wanted to wear Deku-san’s new line of Fit Wear!” Kazuma pouts. “And he’s wearing tights too!”
“Yeah, to keep bugs from feasting on his juicy-ass thighs. Your metal ones ain’t as appetizing.”
Izuku groans. “Kacchan, there are more appropriate words you can use to describe my body, you know.”
Katsuki smirks. “I’d rather be accurate than appropriate, nerd.”
Now it’s Izuku’s turn to blush.
“A-Anyway! We should tell Mei to update the specs so it’ll accommodate the endurance-heavy parts of your UA training. But for now, nothing looks broken. Kacchan already rebooted the OS, so it should be good to go in 15, maybe 20 minutes.”
“Great! Just enough time for a snack!” Kazuma opens his backpack and his smile drops. “Huh? Where are my cookies?” He starts digging through his stuff and pulls out a Tupperware full of spring rolls instead. “The heck? I didn’t pack these!”
“I did,” Katsuki smirks. “Made them myself.”
“I’m sure they’re great, Dynamight-san, but I’d rather have a cookie. Auntie Mitsuki packed me a dozen before I left. Where’d you put them?”
“Oh, I got them right there.” Katsuki pats his own backpack smugly. “You ain’t getting any until we reach the top.”
“No fair! She made those for me! Give them back!”
“Do you have any idea how many calories those things have? My spring rolls are healthier and just as tasty!”
“Sir, if you think rolled-up plants are ‘just as tasty’ as double chocolate chip cookies, then I don’t think I want to be your Number 1 fan anymore.”
“You’re such a drama queen.”
“Deku-san!”
“Kacchan, give him back his cookies.”
“Of course you’re taking his side,” Katsuki huffs. “Mr. I-had-a-Snickers-bar-for-dinner.”
Izuku rolls his eyes. “That was one time, Kacchan. And sugar gives energy, which Kazuma-kun needs right now.”
“My spring rolls can give a lot of energy too!”
“Dynamight-san, if you want to eat plants, be my guest, sir. There are plenty out here too,” says Kazuma dryly. “I, on the other hand, prefer to be happy. Sugar makes me happy, so please hand over my cookies or there will be consequences.”
“What consequences?” Katsuki sneers. “You gonna annoy me to death with your whining?”
“No, but I’m sure Deku-san would love to see the letters you wrote for him back in middle school—umpf!” Katsuki clamped a hand over his mouth.
“What?” Izuku frowns, thinking he’d just misheard.
“Nothing!” Katsuki snaps, looking pink as he glares at the younger blond. “This nosy brat is just poking his nose where it don’t belong—did you just lick my fucking hand?” He snatches his hand back. “Gross!”
“No, you’re gross.” Kazuma gags, wiping his tongue on his sleeve. “You always smell like candy, so I thought you’d taste like one too, but you actually taste like overripe fruit. And it burns too. Why?!”
“It’s a fucking explosive, that’s why!”
“Excuse me, but what was that about the letters? From middle school?”
Instead of answering, Kazuma meets Katsuki’s panicked gaze. “Can I have my cookies now please?”
Katsuki lets out a long-suffering groan before opening his backpack and aggressively chucking a bag of cookies at the boy’s direction. “You’re only getting that much for now! You’ll have the rest when we reach the top.”
“Deal!”
“So no one is going to answer my question then?” Izuku huffs.
Kazuma bites into his cookie and takes his sweet time chewing. Then he swallows and looks Katsuki dead in the eye as he answers:
“Dynamight-san wrote you Valentine’s day letters back in middle school, but he never found the balls to send them. I found them stashed behind a floorboard under my bed.”
“What?” Izuku looks over at Katsuki, only to find him cherry red and adamantly avoiding his gaze.
“You little shit! We had a deal!”
“Consider that payback for stealing my cookies in the first place,” Kazuma counters unapologetically as he takes another big bite of his snack. “Besides, if you didn’t want anyone to find them, you should’ve taken them out of your old bedroom before asking me to move in.”
“Yeah, well, I didn’t think you’d be such a damn snoop! If I had known better, I would’ve let Child Services take your ungrateful ass!”
Izuku snorts. As if. He was among the handful of people who knew the lengths Katsuki took to keep Kazuma from ending up in foster care.
Despite his words now, there had been no force on heaven or earth that could’ve stopped him from bringing Kazuma home.
After his father’s death, something about the boy had changed.
He started sleeping for longer hours, and whenever Izuku or Katsuki dropped by to visit, they’d find his food tray barely touched. And though he’d still smile and engage whenever anyone talked to him, there was a blankness to his gaze that wasn’t there before.
Then one day, Izuku looked at Kazuma and saw his own reflection looking back—saw himself from five years ago, when the wounds on his heart had been their freshest, when the lines of crimson were still stark against his pale wrist.
Izuku watched the shadows behind his eyes begin to grow, and fear seized him; because he, of all people, knew what came next, what would happen if they allowed those shadows to take root.
And he won’t let Kazuma go through that.
But as much as Izuku wanted to be the one to save him, he knew that he couldn’t, not in his current state.
Izuku wouldn’t be able to give him the stability and support he needed, not when he himself could still feel the disequilibrium beneath his feet, his emotions stacked like a house of cards on shifting ground.
Kazuma would need a steady hand to get him through this, a safe port in the storm. Not another ship that’s still lost at sea.
So he took a step back and let Katsuki take the lead.
Both of them agreed that the only way to keep a close eye on both Kazuma’s physical and mental recovery was to get legal custody over him, at least until his mom was deemed fit enough by the courts to serve as his legal guardian again, or a suitable relative was found.
Unfortunately, adopting the boy was easier said than done.
The process proved more complicated than dismantling a criminal syndicate from the inside, and when it became very clear that doing things the “right” way wasn’t getting them anywhere, Katsuki decided to take a different approach.
One that involved bribing some mid-level pencil pushers here and there, for example. Or getting his Dark Web contacts to forge documents and hack into government servers.
Or, allegedly, blackmailing a justice of the Supreme Court.
Katsuki didn’t tell Izuku everything he did, probably to give him some deniability in case shit hit the fan, but whatever it was, it had worked.
When time came for Kazuma to leave the hospital, he was a Bakugou in the eyes of the law.
He moved into Katsuki’s childhood home in Musutafu, where he could quietly recover away from the hustle and bustle of the big cities. Masaru and Mitsuki looked after him while Izuku and Katsuki were on duty, and when Inko returned from her trip to America, she started helping out too.
Katsuki gave him a stable home and a good support system. Between their exorbitant hero salaries, they were able to get him the best physical therapists and buy state-of-the-art next-gen prosthetics.
And most importantly, Katsuki convinced Kazuma to start seeing a therapist of his own. Izuku had started seeing one too, and while his therapist was a lovely lady overall, every session with her had felt like pulling teeth.
It was hard to be vulnerable in front of a complete stranger, and even harder to acknowledge just how far he had fallen. Izuku left each session more exhausted than he was going in, and he began to have doubts on whether talking to a stranger about his problems could really help him or Kazuma.
But Katsuki remained steadfast as ever. “Trust the process,” he had told him then, his gaze full of promise. “I know it sucks now, but it’ll all be worth it in the end.”
And he was right, as usual. As time passed, Izuku began to see an improvement in Kazuma’s demeanor.
He didn’t immediately revert back to that cheeky, lighthearted boy they had met underground, but the spark behind his eyes had reappeared. A little muddled, a little weak, but it was there,
Slowly, but surely, Kazuma was healing.
And so was Izuku.
Then, on their first Christmas together, Mitsuki was in the middle of sharing embarrassing stories from their childhood when out of nowhere Kazuma laughed, bright and loud, for the first time in almost a year.
It took Izuku a second to register that lovely sound, and a second more to realize where it was coming from. And when he saw the unabashed joy on Kazuma’s face, illuminating him from the inside out, Izuku’s heart nearly leapt out of his own chest in relief. Instinctively, he turned toward Katsuki and found the other man already looking back, eyes wide and glossed over with tears.
We did it, nerd, he seemed to say, his lips stretching into a smile that Izuku matched with one of his own.
We finally saved him.
“We are here!”
Kazuma lets out a victorious cry when they finally reach the peak, jumping as he pumps his arms toward the sky. “Deku-san! Dynamight-san!” He looks over his shoulder, cheeks flushed, eyes bright. “I made it! I actually made it!”
“Dunno why you’re so surprised. We didn’t raise no quitter,” Katsuki scoffs as he steps up beside Izuku, a proud grin on his handsome face.
“You could’ve gone with a lot less whining, but what’s important is you got here in the end.” Katsuki raises a thumbs up. “Well done, kid.”
The light in Kazuma’s eyes grows tenfold from the praise, and he starts doing a little victory dance that makes Izuku laugh. The sound surprises him a little. He didn’t think he’d ever feel this way again, feel this kind of joy that’s as pure as the mountain air in his lungs, and the realization that he could actually be happy, that he is happy, makes Izuku choke up a little.
Like Kazuma, he had made it too.
“Dynamight-san, can I have my cookies now?”
Katsuki makes a face. “Fuck those abominations. Have a spring roll instead!”
“Hey, we had a deal!” Kazuma protested. “Deku-san! Help!”
Izuku chuckles. “Don’t stand between a boy and his sweets, Kacchan. You of all people know things can get ugly real fast.”
“Yeah I still have the bite scars from the last time I tried to take a KitKat from you,” Katsuki grumbles as he digs into his pack and pulls out a whole ziplock bag of cookies. “Enjoy your diabetes, brat!”
“Yay! Thank you!” Kazuma cheers, catching the bag that Katsuki aggressively chucked at him. He does another weirdly adorable victory dance before shoving a whole cookie into his mouth.
“Hey! Pace yourself or your stomach’s gonna hurt later!”
“M’mokay!”
“And don’t talk with your mouthful!”
Kazuma gives him a thumbs up, and Katsuki rolls his eyes, but the fondness in them gives him away. “Good thing we’re camping out here for the night ‘cause he’ll be in no shape to climb down after that sugar crash.”
“Oh, he’s overcome more challenging things before,” Izuku smiles. “And if it comes to it, you and I can just fly him down together.”
Together. That’s how it’s always been. Though Kazuma lived with Katsuki’s parents, Izuku made sure to visit as often as he could, spending almost as much time with him as Katsuki did.
They would bring Kazuma to his PT sessions together, then take him out for ice cream afterward. They took turns pushing his wheelchair, helping him go to the toilet or take a bath or change his clothes. And every weekend they binged Kazuma’s favorite shows until the boy fell asleep tucked between them.
Taking care of Kazuma had brought them closer in ways Izuku couldn’t have predicted. Through all that time spent together, they got to talk and get to know each other again. Build trust. Reclaim their friendship.
And it felt good, being friends again. In fact, simply sharing the same space filled Izuku with a certain lightness that made it easier to push the darkness away. With Katsuki, he was at peace.
Yet, there were moments when Izuku yearned for something else, something more , and it’s this yearning that left him with a lingering ache in the chambers of his heart.
It’s the same ache Izuku feels now, as Katsuki turns to meet his gaze.
“What’s that look for?”
Izuku tips his head. “What look?”
“This one.” Katsuki flicks his nose. “It’s all dopey n’ shit. Don’t tell me you accidentally ate one of Tapeface’s special brownies again.”
“God, no!” Izuku laughs again. “No, I’m just…” Izuku pauses, feeling a little incredulous over what he’s going to say next. “I’m just happy. Really happy.”
Katsuki doesn’t answer. Instead, Izuku feels him inching closer, the space between them slowly collapsing until their shoulders finally touch. The mountain’s earthy petrichor disappears into the burnt sweetness Izuku’s known his whole life.
His smile widens.
After a moment, Katsuki whispers: “I’m glad you are.”
The back of his hand brushes against Izuku’s. Izuku’s heart pounds madly inside his chest as he shyly hooks his pinky around Katsuki’s.
They stay that way, standing shoulder to shoulder as they watch the world unravel around them, the valley below painted gold under the late afternoon light. The sky and the horizon stretch out in all directions, endless. Infinite.
Up there, Izuku feels like he can do anything. So why is he still holding back? What is he waiting for? His happiness, true happiness, is within his reach.
He only needs to be brave enough to take it.
Up there, Izuku feels like he can be anything. So he decides to be brave.
“Hey, Kacchan,” he blurts. “Do you have plans this weekend?”
He feels Katsuki shrug beside him. “Was gonna catch up on some laundry, maybe clean out the fridge. But no hard plans, no. Why?”
“Well, um.” Izuku takes a deep breath. “There’s this newly opened place in downtown Shibuya, they’re infamous for their ‘volcanic’ ramen, allegedly the spiciest ramen in the country. I think you’ll like it.”
Katsuki snorts. “I definitely will, but the last time we made the brat try anything spicier than a taco, he ended up at the ER.”
“Oh, no, um, Kazuma-kun won’t be there.” He feels Katsuki grow completely still beside him. Izuku barrels on before he loses his nerve. “It’ll be just the two of us.”
When Katsuki doesn’t immediately respond, Izuku turns and finds him staring back in astonishment.
“O-Only if you want to, of course!” Izuku hurriedly adds, doubt creeping in. “I’m not pressuring you into anything, you don’t have to go if you think it’s too soon or too weird or—“
“Deku, shut up for a sec,” Katsuki cuts in, leaning in until they’re almost nose to nose, and Izuku barely hears his question over the sound of his own thundering heart. “Just to make things clear—you’re asking me out, right? Like on a date date? Not just a meal between friends?”
There’s a cocktail of emotions running across his face right now. Shock, disbelief, caution, and… and hope.
A new warmth explodes behind Izuku’s chest, growing, expanding, filling him from head to toe. He reaches for Katsuki’s hand, their fingers interlacing so easily it’s as if this was their natural state all along.
“Yes,” he declares softly. “I am.”
The smile that blooms over Katsuki’s face is a thousand times more beautiful than any view.
“So how about it, Kacchan?” Izuku grins back. “Will you go on a date with me?”
“Yes,” Katsuki answers, giving Izuku’s hand a little squeeze. “Fuck yes.”
As they stand, hand-in-hand, on that mountain top, Izuku feels something inside him transform. He sees his reflection on the eyes of the man who had loved him, broken him, saved him, and loved him again, and Izuku realizes that he’s no longer the same person he was years ago.
He’s better.
For the first time in Izuku’s life, he is actually, truly, proud of himself.
And he can’t wait to see the person he’ll become, with Katsuki and Kazuma by his side.