Chapter Text
Izuku was very proud of his hero costume. Shinsou helped design it, and so did Yamada. His input was highly valued since Izuku liked his costume a lot. Though Aizawa had been barred from helping by his husband. He claimed it was for Izuku’s benefit, since Eraserhead’s uniform was literally a jumpsuit with a souped up, half-metal scarf.
His costume ended up being based on a green suit that Mom gave him. It was slightly altered by the support company, but that was only because normal fabric was far too easy to destroy for a hero. There were also arm braces, with gloves, in case he needed to use more power than usual. All of the fabric was also self-healing, gloves included, which would let him half-shift without destroying his clothes every time.
The hood originally had green tufts like All Might’s hair, but that had quickly been replaced. Izuku mourned the loss of it, but he did like the new support gear that replaced it. Now it was a headband like thing with cat ears that acted as sense enhancers. They wouldn’t interfere with his actual ears thankfully, cat or otherwise. Once he half-shifted they would act more like headphones that could amplify or decrease sound too. In short, they were really cool. Especially since they actually worked with his cat ears.
Izuku kept his normal red shoes too, albeit with reinforcement in the toes so they wouldn’t get ripped up every time he half-shifted. If he needed his claws he’d just take them off. That would eventually need to change, but for now it worked. Adjustments were always made to costumes after they were first used.
He loved his costume, and very proudly wore it while All Might explained their exercise. Everyone else’s were so cool too! Although whoever was designing the girls’ apparently needed to be reminded they were fifteen. Yaoyorozu and Uraraka had already mentioned changing theirs.
Izuku did find Hagakure’s funny though. Despite what everyone else seemed to think, she was not in fact naked. He only knew because Nedzu had had to deal with the company complaining about making the DNA infused material for a first year. His teacher really needed to choose a new supplier already if they were going to complain about something that protected the student.
Their first ever exercise with All Might was a heroes vs villains fight, and Izuku was really excited for it. He got to use One for All and show All Might what he could do! So maybe he was a tad bit nervous of what his new classmates would think, but he wasn’t going to dwell on that. Nope, not thinking about it.
Izuku drew a number, and got paired with Uraraka. He was really relieved he was with a friend. Heaven knows what would have happened if him and Katsuki had gotten paired together.
“And the first round will be team I as the heroes!” Oh that was them. Izuku paid attention, wanting to see who he’d be up against. “With team B as the villains.”
That was Katsuki’s team.
Welp, time to go hide in the vents then.
Uraraka grabbed the back of his costume before he could walk away. She looked concerned, but mostly amused. Izuku grumbled mentally, but followed her to the building. They had a few minutes to plan now.
“Ok, s-so Katsuki is going to come after me.”
“Are…you sure?”
“Positive.” Izuku decidedly ignored the shaking in his voice. “He thinks- he thinks I tricked him or, or something. He’ll go after me, so- so if you can find the bomb then we might win. I don’t think you should- should float yourself from here, since you don’t have a way to get down. I’ll- I’ll distract Katsuki.”
“I don’t like this plan.”
“Not my f-favorite either, but it’s one that might work. When he comes after me, run and get the bomb as quickly as- as possible. I don’t know how far he’s, he’s willing to go.”
“Alright, but if he starts to get too aggressive I’m coming back for you.”
Izuku smiled at the ground. That morning all of the girls had thanked him for getting rid of Mineta. Uraraka and Ashido had declared that they would be his bodyguards, despite his protests. He had no idea how that was going to go, especially once Shinsou found out, but it was nice to know he’d already done something good.
Izuku took off his shoes and socks. Silent walking would be essential here. Uraraka looked on in confusion, until he half-shifted, growing ears, a tail, claws, and most importantly, paw pads. She still looked slightly confused though, so Izuku showed her his foot.
“ You have toe beans! ” She squealed excitedly. “And cat ears!”
“Y-yeah, it’s part of how my- my Quirk works. This is my half-shift. Full-shift is when- is when I turn into an actual cat.”
“Do you have finger pads now?!”
“Y-yes.” Izuku took off his glove, showing her his now clawed hand and finger pads.
“We match now! Here, look!”
Uraraka gave her hand to Izuku, who looked at it. Sure enough, she had finger pads. They were probably how she activated her Quirk, actually.
“ Cool ,” he whispered in awe. He had never met someone that had pads like him, even if he himself had only had them for a little while.
The buzzer went off, reminding them of the exercise they were doing. Izuku gave Uraraka a reassuring smile, and led the way in.
His ears swiveled around, listening. Izuku heard the sound of Iida’s loud “villainous” speech, and Katsuki’s heavy footsteps. Both were above them.
“Iida’s in a room on the other side of the building, maybe two floors up. Katsuki is coming after us already, but he’s on the same floor as Iida for now. If we go up one then you’ll be closer to the bomb.”
Uraraka hummed in affirmation. Izuku walked on his tiptoes silently, happy with how everything was going so far. Katsuki was still above them, though he would probably get to the stairs soon.
The two of them found their own stairs relatively quickly. The climb wasn’t too hard, not after Aizawa-sensei and All Might’s training at least.
“Hey, Bakugou said you were a cat morph. But you’re not, are you?”
Izuku was honestly expecting the question, so he just sighed quietly. “Yeah. But…”
“It’s ok! You don’t have to tell me.”
“…Thank you,” he whispered.
They reached the second floor, finding it was more twisting hallways and rooms. Not the most realistic building, but it worked for their exercise.
Izuku’s ears suddenly focused in on one point. Katsuki. He was on their floor now, and moving fast. Uraraka didn’t react, so he was still being quiet enough that human ears couldn’t hear him.
“He’s on our floor,” Izuku whispered lowly. “Follow my lead, then run and find the bomb.”
Uraraka nodded, determination lighting up her gaze. Izuku sent her another hopefully reassuring smile. With both of them listening now, they kept moving. Izuku could already smell the sickly sweet scent of nitroglycerin.
Katsuki was here.
“He’s around the corner,” Izuku whispered. “Go past us and get to the stairs. I’ll hold him off for as long as I can.”
Uraraka hesitated, but nodded with a set jaw and fire in her eyes. She readied herself behind Izuku, who stalked forward on padded feet. If Katsuki didn’t know they were there, then he couldn’t surprise them.
Izuku crouched, before leaping in a straight line down the hallway. He flew past the opening to another hall, and Katsuki’s glowing hand missed him by a few inches. Izuku skidded to a stop, getting back to his feet. His old bully screamed, blasting himself forward. Uraraka darted down the way he’d came.
Now the real fight could begin.
“YOU CAN’T RUN, DEKU!”
Yes, yes he could, Izuku found himself thinking. He was much faster than Katsuki on foot. Using Quirks, it was terrain that mattered, and they were on an even playing field in these sharp halls. His tail and claws helped with turning, but explosions did too, surprisingly.
So he took off down the hallways, steps still close to silent. Katsuki’s screeching followed him, as well as the sound of explosions. Good, he was acting just as Izuku predicted he would.
Uraraka was relaying where she was through the coms they’d been given. She’d found Iida, but there was no ammo for her to use. Smart. Izuku could hear Iida monologuing about it through his earpiece.
Izuku was distracted with that. Iida was loud, and it threw him off. Having enhanced hearing definitely had drawbacks. At least Uraraka had been kind enough to whisper, but Iida and Katsuki had no such qualms.
Which was why he didn’t notice Katsuki was beside him until he was being body-slammed into a wall.
Izuku slumped onto the floor, trying to regain his bearings. He was decently certain that would leave a nasty bruise. Katsuki was aiming another explosion for him, so he scrambled to his feet. Worrying over injuries was for later.
Izuku dove out of the way as fire consumed where he’d been a second before.
“Stand still you damned cat!” Katsuki snarled.
Izuku’s answer was skittering to the side of another flash.
“I’ll show you what you get for looking down on me! Who’s weak now you bastard!”
Izuku’s steps stuttered. Looking down on him? Where on earth had Katsuki gotten that idea? He was the one that had hurt Izuku. The one to encourage everyone else to bully him for being weak . Katsuki was strong, he knew that, but…but Izuku was now too.
He was done running away.
Katsuki reached a hand out, light popping in his palm. Izuku stayed where he was. He reached out, almost like everything was in slow motion, and flipped his old friend over his shoulder.
Izuku stumbled back a step, surprised in himself. Did he really just judo flip Katsuki? Did that really just happen?
Katsuki wheezed for breath as he rolled to his feet. He wasn’t saying anything, so Izuku did.
“I’m, I’m not weak anymore. I’m not a punching bag or the weak little cat you can pick on, Katsuki. I won’t let you do that to me anymore.”
“ Deku- “
“ I’m not useless! ” Izuku screamed, stunning Katsuki into staying silent once more. He had waited so long to finally say that. “I’m not weak and I’m not a Deku! You know how long it took for me to learn that? Years , Katsuki. Years to undo what you did to me.”
“What I did? The fuck are you on about?!”
“Who started bullying me,” Izuku said lowly, his green eyes flashing as he activated One for All. “Who started the trend of calling me Cat. Of calling me Deku .”
Izuku stalked forward, fists at his sides and eyes never leaving a paralyzed Katsuki. Green lightning crackled over him.
“Who left burns on my arms? Who turned every single person in school against me for years ? Who made my life a living hell? Who, Katsuki.”
“I didn’t- that’s not-“
“Then who did, Katsuki?” Izuku whispered, hardly more than a few feet away now. “Tell me, who do you believe did it? Because you know what I think? I think that you know you’re in the wrong, but you don’t want to admit that. No one ever told you just how flawed you are.”
Izuku was so close he could reach out and touch Katsuki. His old bully was obviously shaken by his words. He could only hope the meaning was getting through his thick skull.
“I’m not- I’m not weak ,” Katsuki said. “I’m not you. I’m the strongest. I’LL BE NUMBER ONE AND NO ONE CAN STOP ME, ESPECIALLY A CAT!”
Time seemed to slow as Katsuki, in a panic, reached for the pin in his grenade. Izuku knew how they worked. Nitroglycerin was filled in tanks and then detonated in a massive explosion. And with Izuku at point-blank?
He didn’t want to find out what would happen.
But Katsuki was still pulling the pin. Izuku could hear All Might yelling for him to stop, but he wasn’t listening. Uraraka was asking what was wrong. If Izuku didn’t move then he’d be fried, but he wasn’t fast enough. He knew he wasn’t fast enough, teleporting or otherwise. Not for an explosion of that size.
So he did the thing his instincts were screaming at him to do. Izuku opened his mouth, and consumed .
It burned. The fire burned his mouth and tentacles, but they just went farther, expanding to cover the explosion and Katsuki himself. Izuku felt the weight, felt the heat.
What felt like an hour was really about two seconds. Izuku squeezed his eyes shut tight against the light and heat and pain. Katsuki’s yelling cut off abruptly.
The tentacles retracted, leaving Izuku in an empty hallway. His com was silent, though he couldn't tell if it was broken or not. Izuku stood stock still. He had acted on instinct. He hadn’t meant to that. Especially when the class was watching. He hadn’t meant to do that .
Izuku…something inside of him burned . Like he’d eaten a ghost pepper whole. He wasn’t meant to hold fire. No one knew how he worked. Even he didn’t know how he worked. For all he knew Katsuki was burning up in his own explosion right now.
That thought alone made Izuku’s fear double. He stumbled backwards on shaking legs, his mind a mantra of I have to save him I can’t let him burn I can’tIcan’tIcan’tIcan’t. Save him .
No matter how much Katsuki had done to him, he would never let him get hurt. Not if Izuku could stop it.
Izuku doubled over, gagging as the burning got more intense. It felt like he was coughing a lung out. But…no, that wasn’t right. It was like the first time he’d tried to spit something out again, except this time it was a burning coal lodged in his throat.
In an explosion (the irony wasn’t quite lost on his hazy mind) of tentacles, Katsuki was spat out onto the floor. The fire followed. Izuku hissed and reeled back from the flames that burst to life from his own mouth. He fell to his knees, looking towards the ceiling. All he could see was yellow and orange.
The explosion took place just as it should have, but this time, it was aimed at the ceiling above Izuku’s head.
It hurt, a lot, but Izuku eventually coughed out the rest of it. With nothing to burn, the flames fizzled out quickly. He was left with a burnt mouth, a shell shocked Katsuki, and more questions than answers. Oh yeah, and a hole in the ceiling.
An announcement sounded a second later. The heroes won. They won . Katsuki still hadn’t spoken a word. Izuku was just happy in the knowledge he was alive, even if he was staring at Izuku like he’d grown a second head.
All Might’s voice crackled over his earpiece, but Izuku hardly heard it. Was the ringing always so loud? Where was it coming from? When had every noise turned to static?
Izuku got one last glance at Katsuki’s wide crimson eyes, before everything faded away.