CHAPTER 2

Lies are spoken
When the venom crawls inside
Faith is broken
When the fire fills our eyes
Love lies hopeless
When the hate becomes the high
Pain is chosen
When the devil comes alive

"Save Yourself" by Breaking Benjamin

Izuku Midorya opened his eyes. It was dark. He felt cold.

What happened? He looked around, trying to remember how he had arrived here…his memory was blank. He tried to move but found that he was fully tied up. He felt paralized, he… "KACCHAN!" Deku yelled as he saw a couple of dark figures carry the man by his arms. He looked severly beat up. Izuku fought against his restrains.

Nonononono

"KACCHAN! WAKE UP!" The shadows moved until they put him inside a sort of cristal cell. They secured him into a chair and immovilized his hands with a pair of shackles. Kacchan looked to be out of it, but his eyes began to open. "KACCHAN! FIGHT THEM!" The figures closed the cell. "KACCHAN! WAKE UP! PLEASE!" Izuku yelled, dread filling him. His heart twisted, he had a very bad feeling about this. "What will you do to him?!" The shadows moved to a control panel, ignoring him completely.

His breaths turned shallow as he watched a mechanic arm moving towars the blond, a syringe attached to it's tip. "D-Deku…" Came a faint whisper. Kacchan looked at him, clearly having to make an effort to do it. "It-t's…okay" The machine moved and stabbed the syringe-thing on his arm. Katsuki trembled, barely recognizing the pain.

"Kacchan…" Deku willed himself not to cry. He had to be strong for both of them. He could not break like this. "Fight this!"

Ground Zero's eyes seemed to steel themselves, preparing for whatever that thing would do. His breathing was labored, Deku could not see the effect the machine was making on him, but he was sure something was going on. Then, Kacchan's expression turned pained, the man pressed his teeth and fisted his hands. "Kacchan!" What was this? What were they doing to him?

"Shit!" Kacchan breathed before a his hands trembled and set of explosions detonated from them. That would be normal, if it wasn't for the fact that Izuku could see his muscles spasm in ways they had never done before.

Wait…

The blond yelled as another wave, stronger this time, exploded.

No.

"GAH!" Katsuki's whole body began to shake. The explosions kept comming. His hands were fiery red, his eyes tearstained.

NO!

"KACCHAN!" Deku sobbed when he finally understood. They were triggering his quirk. They were making him hurt himself. "STOP!" He trashed and twisted all that he could, but nothing helped. How could they restrain him like this? Why wasn't One for All working? Another pained grunt took him out of his musings. The explosions intensified, faster and faster, nearing their maximum power. Kacchan could barely keep his eyes open while he convulsioned between each blast.

There was blood on the floor.

Deku felt his body dry heave. The skin on Katsuki's hands was falling off, his beautiful soft hands were now bloody and mangled. His arms weren't much better, they were swollen and bright red. "NO! NO! KACCHAN!" He pushed. Desperation clawing his insides. Katsuki's screams were weaker and weaker, the explosions going far from what he knew to be Kacchan's limit. "Please…"

There was one agonized cry before one last explosion. So large, it filled the cell with smoke. Izuku stopped breathing as he frantically moved around, trying to see the other man. Waiting for the smoke to clear.

There was silence, deafening silence.

"KACCHAAN!" He screamed as far as his throat allowed him. In the chair, pale as ash, was the only man he had loved. His body destroyed, his eyes completely devoid of life.

"KACCHAN!" Deku yelled, sitting up, his body trying to draw air into his lungs. Trembling, he looked around, attempting to gather his bearings. He was on his bed, in his house.

Just another nightmare.

His body felt tense and heavy. He passed a shaking hand through his face, his movements sluggish. Izuku took another chocked breath trying to come back to reality.

"Fuck." He sighed letting himself back into the bed. It was clammy with sweat.

He moved his eyes to his night table. There, like a beloved treasure, was the print of his last photo with Kacchan. It was the two of them, they had gone out to eat katsudon for his birthday. It had been one the most perfect days of his life.

The photo was simple really, they were on each side of a table, Izuku was wearing a stupid birthday hat that the restaurant had given him and Kacchan was sitting at the other side, laughing.

Not the mocking grin he normally had, but an honest beautiful happy laugh.

Follow your word and leave me the fuck alone!

Izuku felt like crying as he remembered the pain in Kacchan's face after their rescue mision. "I'm sorry…" he murmured to the empity room. He pressed his fingers to his eyes, they hurt. He was sure they were swollen and bloodshot. He really hoped that the house's thick walls had shielded his poor neighbors from his screaming.

"Stop it." He pressed his hands to his face. "Come on. You have a meeting with Jeanist. You have to fix this!" He let out some air before pushing himself out of the bed and standing up. "Ohh…" He shook his head feeling vertigo. Ok, bad idea. Forcing his body to move, he zigzaged to his bathroom and undressed. Maybe a shower would help him feel like a human being again.

He let the water run down his back. Allowing the heat to relax his tired muscles as he tried to clear his mind. It felt like a routine now. Every other morning, it was the same thing.

Night terrors, sweat stained sheets and a sore throat.

There were better days than others. Some good dreamless nights, where he was too exhausted to even think, others it was just waking up with a sense of persecution, stressed out his mind but not remembering why. Then, there were the bad ones, like last night. Where he had been almost too afraid to go to sleep, already dreading what the night had in store for him.

But he couldn't give up. He couldn't let the nightmares bring him down, he had to keep going. He had to win.

Finding a new wave of resolution, he finished his shower and went to dress himself. It was a lot earlier than what he had planed but it was okay, now he had time to make breakfast and watch reruns of the hero news.

"Who am I kidding? They will only talk about the videos from yesterday…" He sighed. He had yet to figure out what had possed him to invite him for coffee, he already knew perfectly well how the blonde would react, besides, none of them even liked coffee. He'd been lucky Kacchan hadn't exploded on his face.

Even his friends thought he had acted without thinking, but he had been so incredibly happy to finally see him, after so long, that hadn't bee able to help himself.

He groaned remembering the 1A chat yesterday evening.

HAGAKURE

Midorya! The hero news are talking about your fight with Bakugou!

ASHIDO

WHAT?! WHAT FIGHT? DEKU'S BEEN BACK FOR LIKE A DAY!

TSU

Those two don't really need more time to argue. Is everything OK, Midorya?

KAMINARI

HERE'S THE VIDEO!

URARAKA

Ohh! Deku-kun, are you okay? What did he say to you?

SHINSOU

Probably DIE! DIE! DIE!

KAMINARI

Hahahahahahahahha

HAGAKURE

Hahahhahaha

KIRISHIMA

Just let them figure it out guys.

IIDA

I agree with Kirishima-kun. They can solve their differences together.

JIROU

Can they though? I feel that this is very old news…

YAOYOROZU

I feel the same. But I do think you should make a statement Midorya. My family has had scandals before, it is better to clear things out before they escalate.

TODOROKI

I agree with Momo.

SHOJI

What will you do Midorya?

DEKU

Thank you for worring about things. I'll figure it out! Just please, don't antagonize him about it. This one was on me, I asked him to have coffee with me and he…didn't like that.

JIROU

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHA

KAMINARI

MIDORYA OMG! HAHAHAVAHA

URARAKA

Well…at least that explains the screaming.

IIDA

I believe that was a poor choice on your part my friend.

SHINSOU

I would pay to see Bakugou's face after that.

Deku had rolled his eyes at that and put the group on silence. He'd expected things to die down after a couple of hours, but he'd never thought of the event that was Ground Zero and Deku working together. Also adding Ground Zero losing his temper, those videos had become the sort of news that seemed to be snowballing into a full on scandal.

Only because he had to open his mouth and say the wrong things.

"Ahh! I hope this works!" He yelled at the empty house. As soon as his notifications had blown up and he had figured out what had happened. He hadn't lost time in talking to Best Jeanist, he knew he could fix things if that man agreed to his plan.

He sighed, turned on the TV and went to the kitchen.

"…Ground Zero has a history of conflict…" Izuku groaned as he went to prepare a sandwich. He hated when commentators talked about Kacchan that way. He was a far shot from what he had been as a teenager.

"Being stubborn and not liking to lose, it's only bad for the bad guys!" Another one said, he liked her. "Besides, Deku didn't look to be affected by whatever they were talking about. Are we making this mess just out of a 30 second video? I think we should be talking about how both of them saved a couple of kids. Or how Uravity saved two dozen people from a collapsing building."

"Go Uravity!" He smiled feeling stupidly proud of his friend. He poured a glass of juice and walked to sit at the table. He took out his phone and went to the Dekusquad Upgraded group.

He smiled remembering how that name had come to be. Back in their 2nd year of UA, during the sports festival, the last contest before the individual matches, had been team up brawls.

Two teams had formed almost instantly.

Kirishima, Ashido, Sero, Kaminari and Bakugou.

Iida, Uraraka, Tsu, Todoroki and himself.

The Bakusquad had been loudly named by Ashido when Midnight had asked for it. In their case, Todoroki had pointed a single finger at him as said Dekusquad in a clear voice. The whole stadium erupted in cheers, already knowing about Deku and Bakugou's rivalry.

When Shinsou had been added to the chat, ha had modified the name to Upgraded, saying that he was an improvement to the original group.

DEKU

Awesome rescue job Uraraka! The news are talking about you.

SHINSOU

Still not as much as you and explodo boy.

Good job Uraraka.

Deku lowered his head in shame. He hated when the gossip sites and the news talked about him like that. It was almost like a year ago, when people were convinced that he was dating Uravity.

DEKU

I'm sorry!

IIDA

Not your fault Midorya. My brother warned me a lot about the press. Just lay low and they will forget about it.

IIDA

Even so, I find it highly disturbing that they are choosing to report this, instead of the dissaster. Great hero work Uravity!

TODOROKI

Don't accept any calls from unknown numbers. They're reporters most likely.

And good job Uraraka.

SHINSOU

You sound like you have experience on this.

TODOROKI

Yes.

URARAKA

Deku-kun! You can do it!

TODOROKI

Do what?

URARAKA

Oops…meant to send it just to him.

TODOROKI

Oh.

IIDA

Wharever it is, I'm sure Midorya can do it!

TODOROKI

Yes.

ASUI

Hello Everyone. Great job Uravity!

Deku, you're going to contact Bakugou again, aren't you?

URARAKA

Ohhh! You're so smart Tsu-chan! And thank you guys :)

DEKU

Something like that. Wish me luck!

"What are you on about! Everybody knew that All Might and Endeavor didn't get along…" The discussion kept going in the TV. He was liking the woman commentator more and more. "But they worked together when they had to. No one cares if Deku and Ground Zero are not best friends, as long as they can work together." The other man kept shaking his head, clearly having to play devil's avocate in the show.

"Tsukensu-san, Takata-san if I may?" Deku frowned not recognizing the third voice. For all his life, this particular show had been only a 2 commentators thing, but they seemed to be trying to include a third one. He looked to be only a couple of years older than him. The sempais nodded at the guy and he began to speak. "I believe they should get along." The man stressed forcefully, but not loosing his respectful manner. "Ground Zero, a hero that doesn't lose, that keeps going and going until the villain is out, like some sort of victory figure. And Deku, a hero that doesn't have an agency, a hero that should not be great, but is so great that is being called the Symbol of Hope." Deku felt his breath hitch at his words. "All Might, the Symbol of Peace, was unstoppable, he never lost and his mere presence kept the villains away…do you see what I'm saying? Those two working together could be amazing! Almost like having All Might again!"

"I believe you're seeing too much into things Hanata-kun." Tsukensu's words were kind but she clearly thought that the other man was insane. "I believe that they are big, but All Might was in a completely different league. You are young, so maybe you don't remember him all that well."

"Don't take away his credit Tsukensu-san." Takata-san spoke, looking throughful. "I believe…this could become something interesting." The man smiled delighted. "The Symbols of Hope and Victory, has a nice ring to it." Deku made a shriek kind of noise. He was sure his heart had stopped after hearing those words. "We're almost out of time, so people of the world, tell us what you think! You know our Herogram adress. Let us know your thoughts on…" Izuku turned off the TV and just sat there, trying to come to terms with what he had heard. This seemed to be going further than he expected. For the last 2 years people had talked about them, yes. But for some reason, having them interact had stirred something in their overall perception of Pro heroes Ground Zero and Deku. And now the words Symbols of Hope and Victory were forever attached to their names.

It didn't matter if people agreed on them or not, they would use that reference. Damn. It was amazing how it all had blown up in a little more than 12 hours.

He sighed resting his forehead on his hand. He could feel a headache coming, probably because he hadn't had a decent night-sleep in days. He let out a small depreciating laugh. If he was just plain looking on a good day, he must look like death now…contrary to Kacchan, who's face was just as perfect as he remembered it. His hair like a golden halo and his eyes…his eyes.

"His eyes that hate me. Argh!" He groaned before finishing his food in a couple of bites. In all honestiy, his stomach was in knots at the moment. But he was not going to stop taking care of himself because some night terrors. Once he was done, he finished putting on his hero gear and walked to his door.

Izuku took a very deep breath and closed his eyes, then, Pro hero Deku put a smile on his face and walked out to the world.

After an unevenful trip to Best Jeanist's agency, he was now sitting right outside his office. He knew that Kacchan was inside, probably being under the whole power of the veteran's dissapointment. He felt bad about it, knowing that it was partly his fault. Kacchan had acted in a porfessional way until he decided to open his mouth and all went to shit. It's like the past all over again! He thought dejectedly remembering his middle school years and how hard had it been to never being able to comunicate with the blond. The worse was that this time, it was all his fault.

But he could not give up, he had to fix things. For both their sakes.

"Deku, Best Jeanist is calling for you."

"Thank you." He smiled at the assistant and walked to the door. "Good morning." He greeted.

"Good morning." Best Jeanist said from his spot near the window.

"Morning." Ground Zero said nodding his head. His expression was neutral and his tone 100% polite. Deku knew that face, it was his PR face, and he hated it, because it was the furthest thing from his passionate and crazy man.

This is going to be harder than I thought.

"Now that you're both here. Let's talk about your mission."

The briefing was concise and to the point. There was an unidentified villain capturing people around the area of Hogsmeade. There wasn't anything out of the ordinary, except, Deku had to force himself to concentrate a couple of times, as his eyes continued to shift to the man next to him.

He couldn't get enough.

Izuku felt like a starved man, and Kacchan was the most exquisite banquet he could ever imagine. The sharpness of his jaw, the haughty raise of his nose, the ruby red of his eyes. His beautiful golden hair…it was really fucking hard to see him like that and have an invisible wall between them.

He wanted to be able to grasp, to touch and just plain look at him. He missed that liberty. He had lost his rights and it was killing him.

"Sick bastard." Kacchan spat when Jeanist explained that the villain seemed to enjoy torturing couples or siblings at the same time, until at least one of them broke down.

He felt his throat close.

Ashen skin, blood, so much blood…

Deku shook himself and willed his mind to pay attention, there was no use in dwelling in the past, not when he finally had a shot at fixing things.

"There is no physical harm done to the victims. So we are led to believe that his quirk is mind-affecting. The survivers have not been much help…they're all in psychiatric wards at the moment." Jeanist continued. "When I discussed this with the police, they tried to have Persuasion as part of the team. But I have the feeling that having similar quirks battle like this, could be harmful for him. I rather have the hero that could break through Persuasion's branwash and has experience dealing with mind quirks, parnered with stubborn man with a high psychic resistance. Two heroes that can become a highly coordinated team…"

"We have never worked together." Ground Zero said. His voice was controlled but strong. "Deku has worked a lot more times with Persuasion. With them, you have strenght and mind, the complete set to make this work. Don't compromise a mission just to make us look good with the press."

"We might've never worked together. But I trust you, more than Shinsou, more than anyone." Deku spoke looking at Kacchan. "And I know you trust me. With villains that like to play mind games, trust is a key factor." Izuku could see a tic in his jaw. But the other man kept quiet. If it was for the presence of Jeanist or because of his words, he was not sure.

"We also need to be careful with this. We don't know how strong this villain is." Jeanist continued. "Or if he has goons at his command. We need heroes that are smart yes, but can also do stealth work and have a high chance at winning in face to face battles. You two are my best bet to that." Deku nodded, feeling a warm sense of pride.

You two.

"We have created an event, for you to have an excuse to be in the area without making people talk or our villain wary." He pushed a couple of folders to them. "A new comunity center is being opened in the neighbor district of Kamino. We will have the press and everyone there. For any onlooker, it will seem like a circus done only to prevent more image damage for the videos. It's close enough for you to travel to Hogsmeade during the night with only the use of your quirks." The man's eyes took a dangerous glow. "The narrative is simple, Deku and Ground Zero, playing nice with the kids and acting like best buddies. It's the dream of our PR department." Kacchan let out a grunt and shook his head.

"Staged so well that people will complain about it." He commented. "I can see the hadlines: heroes use children to clear their name."

"Yes, there will be backlash but we're prepared to deal with that in order to catch this villain. We need to get him before the league tries to recruit him."

"I like the idea. I guess our argument kind of works in our favor now. Huh?" Deku smiled warily to the other hero. Knowing full well that Jeanist was giving him a look.

This whole operation had been Deku's idea, after all.

"In the folders you have all the information there is on this case." The older man continued. "To start, please go with Higashi-san. She will coordinate the comunity center event. And remember this: only the three of us and the police know about our villain, I expect 100% discretion. You're dismissed." They nodded.

"Thank you." Both of them said, in perfect sync. Jeanist smirked as Kacchan growled before walking out. Deku smiled a little and followed him out.

"Ka-Bakugou-kun! Wait up!" He reached the hero and was able to catch a glimpse of a weird expression on his face, right before the man schooled his features into the neutral one he had during the meeting.

"Higashi-san comes in until eleven." Kacchan said, still not looking at him nor slowing his walk. "The PR office is on the east wing, seventh floor. Just look for the sign. I'll see you there at that time."

"Where are you going?" He matched the other's step.

"Patrol."

"Can I come?" Izuku knew he was pushing it, but he had to fix things, and the only way was to be seen with Ground Zero as much as possible.

"No. I'll see you at PR."

"Wait." Deku moved to stand in front to the other man. And damn, Kacchan looked pissed, but clearly trying to keep his anger under wraps. "Jeanist said that we need to be seen working together. Having a patrol around the area and then going to Kamino, only works in our favor." The man glared at him. "Ka-Bakugou-kun. You know this needs to work. We need this PR thing to be as orchestrated and shady as possible."

"The press would never even put 'shady' and your ass on the same sentence." Deku raised his eyebrow seeing the mask begining to crack. The real Kacchan was about to come out. "The people's golden boy would just be doing me a favor."

"Come on, people like Ground Zero."

"They fucking love me!" There it was. His proud and beautiful Kacchan. The man seemed to catch his slip and managed to go back to an indifferent expression. "That doesn't negate the fact that I know how I am. And even though I hadn't had any real issues until you decided to show up, the general public will dump this shit on me."

"They won't if we do this correctly. We should be seen patroling together."

"For fucks sake!" Kacchan raised his hands in exasperation. "Just do what you want. I don't care!"

"Ok! Lead the way Ground Zero." Deku grinned at the glare that was thrown at him. It wasn't like he was not used at being on the receiving end of that glare. A little rusty yes, but those kinds of things were never forgotten.

A couple of hours later, they were back at HQ and Deku was exausted.

He should've known that it wouldn't be easy. That even if Kacchan was letting him patrol by his side, it wouldn't mean that he was closer at being forgiven. Or that Kacchan would make things easy for him.

As soon as they were out, Ground Zero had propelled himself to the top of the buildings, choosing vantage points to look at the whole area. It was a good plan, and they had stopped a small store robering thanks to that. But what had taken away his energies, was the silence.

The man had not spoken a single word to him in the last two hours.

He had been effective against the bad guys, and had not been overly agressive, heck, he had even smiled at the elderly couple that owned the shop. But the moment they were alone, the mask and the silence came back hitting Deku like a ton of bricks.

Ever since they had fought back in their first year, Kacchan had opened a new set of doors to him. One where they could talk about tactics, quirks, heroes or even the newest comic books. It had been such an exhilarating feeling that Izuku had never gottend enough of. He was not only tolerated by Katsuki, he was becoming his actual friend.

The moment those seemengly shallow talks became loaded, when the blonde talked to him about his fears, his dreams and his problems, not needing a fight to push his words out. Had been the moment he had accepted how much he loved that beautiful and flawed man.

And dear All Might, that had not changed.

Then, on top of it all. Each time Ground Zero shouted as he battled the villains, Deku lost his cool. He had never fully aknowledged what it would do to him to hear the other make the same kind of sounds he did in his nightmare. He was sure it was all part of this mess, but he muscled through it, like he had done for the past two years.

I will win this.

A couple of times he had been forced to stand back and try to regain focus, as his mind kept going back to that awful cell and that damn chair. He should've known that it would be a possibility when seeing Kacchan again. But that didn't change things, he had to keep going.

Thanks to this, he never noticed how the blond's eyes watched him a little closer as the time passed.

"This way." Kacchan said, going to the elevator. Deku let out some air and followed him. Once they were inside, the hero simply crossed his arms and continued with the silence.

"I talked to Aishido a week ago…" Izuku began, unable to bear the awkwardness. "She seems excited for the wedding." The blonde grunted. "Kirishima must be nervous, he…"

"Stop talking." The man glared at the elevator's display, like his glare could make the thing go faster.

"No wonder she's so stressed about us at the wedding." Deku talked glaring at him.

"You little fuck!" The blond finally moved to narrow his eyes at him. "They say it's me but you're just as bad. I know very well what kind of shitty personality you have, Deku."

"Hey! Don't you dare talk to me about shitty personalities. Have you met you?" Izuku challenged, tired of being treated as a pariah.

"At least I aknowledge it! And I don't go around raising people's expectations of me and then throwing them aside like they don't matter!" Oh. Kacchan cursed passing a hand through his face. "Just stop talking."

"You know I won't do that. I won't stop trying to…" Kacchan growled before taking him by the front of his suit.

"YOU WERE THE ONE WHO LEFT!"

"I know." Izuku spoke in a low voice. Kacchan's face showed that there was an internal battle going on. Izuku knew that it probably meant that his ego was stomping down the need to ask why did you leave me? Once the battle seemed to settle, red eyes looked at green ones.

"Why did you have to come back?" His voice was so low, that Deku barely heard him. He felt his heart break at the sheer hurt of his voice.

"Because I couldn't stay away." Hesitantly, he moved his hand to grasp Kacchan's, but just as he was about to touch it, his vision was filled with blood and mangled skin.

He trembled before he put his hand down. I'm sorry. He swallowed hating himself a little more for his weakness and inhability to overcome the nightmares, he just wanted just get over this situation.

I just want to see you smile again, I want to go back in time and kiss you and not break both our hearts. He was so entangled in his thoughts, he wasn't able to see how Katsuki's eyes had narrowed at his actions.

"Bullshit." Kacchan talked, regaining Deku's attention. He let go of him, squared his massive shoulders and looked back at the elevator's screen.

"I will convince you that it's not." Deku spoke, trying to let go of his ghots in order to smile at the other man. "I will fix this."

"Don't do that." Kacchan spoke, still not looking at him.

"What? I can't even smile now!" The elevator's doors opened.

"Not like that. Not like it makes you sad." The blond said before taking an exit. Deku fisted his hands and looked down, sometimes he forgot that Kacchan also knew him better than anyone. He took a deep breath and followed through.

Higashi-san was a middle aged woman that clearly didn't like Ground Zero. The moment they had entered the office, her face had morphed into quite an impressive scowl.

"Ground Zero." She said, adjusting her glasses. "We meet again."

"Higashi-san." Kacchan spoke with a sardonic expression. "I see you look as lovely as ever." Her glare intensified before she let out a gush of air.

"And you're making me work overtime. No news there." Her eyes traveled to Deku and her face changed into a delighted smile. "Deku! My name is Riku Higashi, I'm the Public Relations head in this agency. It's such a pleasure to finally meet you; I'm a huge fan." She vowed to him presenting her professional card.

"Oh...ah…nice to meet you too!" He vowed a couple of times feeling his cheeks burn. He would never get used to this.

"Just take the card, nerd." Deku jumped and did as Kacchan told him.

"Don't insult him! Deku please forgive him, he has terrible people skills." Higashi-san berrated the taller hero.

"No, it's okay!" Deku raised his hands in a placating maner, already seeing Kacchan about to lose his cool. "That's just how he is. Besides, I am kind of nerdy so it's not an insult for me!"

"Are you sure? If you feel uncomfortable I can call Best Jeanist right away, you should be beyond a mess like this." She gave a onceover to Ground Zero. "He can't control himself around people. Like now! You're here trying to help his image and he is mean and insulting." Kacchan, for his part, looked bored with the conversation. And only when his eyes found Izuku's, he moved an eyebrow like saying I fucking told you so.

Yeah, this was not going to work for him.

"Higashi-san" He spoke, standing to his full height. She widen her eyes. He might still be a hair shorter than Kacchan, but both of them had grown a lot over the years. And he knew that thanks to his training, he was somewhat imposing. "Please spare Ground Zero. I am the one that started the argument, I will not stand here and hear you blame him for my mistakes." The woman just stood there, opening and closing her mouth, clearly not expecting that kind of response from him.

"This is a fucking joke…" Katsuki sighed before Deku felt a heavy hand land on his shoulder. For anyone else, it would look like a friendly pat. For Deku it was a clear warning to shut the hell up. "I don't need you to fight my battles, nerd." He looked at the woman. "And as entertaining as this is, we're on a schedule, so just tell us what needs to be done, we can handle the rest."

"Yes…" She shook her head before giving them a shark like smile. "Actually, I think we can use this to our advantage."

"Use what?" Deku questioned, feeling weary.

"Deku, being protective of Ground Zero. This will help shifting people's perspective of him." She shrugged. "If a hero so wholesome like yourself, stands up for him. It gets you thinking about things."

"Forget about it. Just tell me what the fuck I should do and get over this shit, woman." Kacchan let go of him and crossed his arms.

"Always so difficult." She said between her teeth. "Well, the comunity center is very important, this location specially will help out a big amount of kids that are not in the best situation." She walked to her desk and took a couple of pamphlets before handing them to them. "The All Might Comunity Center will be…"

"Fucking nerd!" Deku jumped at Katsuki's exclamation. "This PR stunt it's your fucking idea, isn't it?"

"What if it was? It doesn't change anything. I'm just making the best out of this situation!" He faced the other hero. Kacchan groaned, a couple of small explosions leaving his hands, before he took a very angry breath and nodded at Higashi-san.

"As I was saying…" she made an effort to look annoyed at them. "This will be important, so these little scenes that you're making here, are to be avoided at all costs." She made a thinking face. "I think we can have a meet and greet, have you sign a couple of things, pose for pictures and then have a little match…"

"NO!" Deku and Kacchan yelled, making the woman jump.

"We uh…let's just say that it would be too messy to fight." Izuku explained, passing a hand through the back of his neck.

"We could put people in danger. I agree with all the other shit, but the nerd and I will not spar. Did you not see our matches back in UA?" He asked the PR representative.

"I did, it was quite a show…but, yes. Now that I think about it, I see your point." She sighed putting her hands akimbo. "How about…sparring with the kids, I know there are a lot of them interested in the hero course. Maybe you can have 15 minutes with each kid to give them a few tips and tricks." Izuku raised his eyebrows.

"That sounds awesome! I would've died if that happened to me when I was a kid."

"Yeah, agreed." Kacchan told her. "Now what?"

"Well, we have to make a list of the kids. For time efficiency, we can have only the ones with the best quirks to…"

"Not going to happen." Kacchan interrupted again. The woman glared at him.

"What is it now?"

"We are two, we can give the pep talk to all the kids. Not just the ones with strong quirks, every kid has the chance of becoming a hero." Izuku felt his heart jump to his throat.

"I agree!" He was fast to say.

"They will have you there the whole day..." Both of them shrugged. "Fine! Let me make some calls and set this up." She passed a hand through her face. "I'm aiming to start the event tomorrow at 8 am on the dot, you have to be there at 7. Don't be late."

"Yeah, we'll be there." Kacchan agreed, clearly annoyed by the situation. "Anything else?"

"Take the rest of the day off." She deadpaned.

"Whatever the hell for?!" Kacchan shouted. "I just got here!"

"Tomorrow will be a full day of acting like a normal human and interacting with kids. I know how hard that is for you." The woman raised her eyebrow, challenging the other to contradict her. "I need you fresh and with the best face possible. So no field work for today, stay home and check your cases, do your paperwork. I don't care, just lay low." She smiled sweetly at the blond. "Jeanist gave me full authority on this circus. Either listen to me or you know the other option."

"Fine." Kacchan spat, there was a really impressive vein pulsing on his forehead. "Anything else?"

"No, that would be all for now. Tomorrow I'll give you your schedules and game rules." Hagashi-san smiled at Deku. "It's such a pleasure! Lets work together to make this event worthwhile, yes?"

"Yes! Thank you." He smiled and vowed, seeing Kacchan make a quick exit, only raising his hand as goodbye.

"Behave!" Was all she said before turning around to her desk.

"Ka-Bakugou-kun wait!" Deku ran and was automatically stopped by a glare from the blond.

"FUCKING FINE! Call me Kacchan you nerd!" He barked.

"R-really?" His smile was so wide his cheeks began to hurt.

"It's weird as shit! Besides, it's fucking annoying to hear you say ka-Bakugou every time!" He mocked mimicking a poor version of Izuku's voice, all high pitched and trembling.

"I do not sound like that!" Deku yelped.

"Yeah you do" Kacchan snorted. "Like fucking baby." Deku glared at him, before jumping into a perfect copy of Ground Zero's battle stance.

"DIE! YOU BASTARD! DIE! DIE!" Now it was Katsuki the one with the affronted look at Deku's exaggerated mock of his voice.

"You're way too adorable to make that work."

"Ehh?!" Izuku stumbled back not expecting that AT ALL. For his part, Katsuki's cheeks turned an amazing shade of red, like his own words had suprised him. They stood like that for a complete minutes before Kacchan turned around and power walked away from him. "Kacchan!" Deku yelled prior running after him. "Wait!" And suprisingly, he did. "I was planing on going to visit All Might, want to come? He would be very happy to see us both at the same time." The shorter man quicky said before the blond decited to hightail out of there.

"I don't…" Katsuki began shaking his head.

"Please!" Deku raised his hands in a placating way. "I'm asking for him. You know he's not happy about how things turned out and well…he's old and…"

"That's low. You devious little shit." Kacchan spoke, narrowing his eyes. "Using the old man like that…" He looked away and Izuku could've sworn he saw a hint of a smile on his lips. "If I go, will you let me the fuck alone for the rest of the day?"

"Yes! It's a deal!" Deku smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow morning anyway." He shrugged.

"Is it your fucking goal in life to harrass me to death?"

"Pretty much." Deku put his hands on his waist, trying to look comfident. "I'm not planning on leaving you out f my sight for long." As soon as those words left his lips, he knew he had fucked up.

"Only for another two years when you get tired of me, yes?" Izuku felt that sentence like a kick in the gut. His eyes looked for Kacchan's only to find cold steel, instead of the warm flames he was used to. "Don't forget that I'm doing this because I have no other choice. I don't want to be here and I sure as hell don't want to be near you." He took a step back. "We'll be friendly tomorrow during the event, we will only talk about the mission and we will tolerate each other at the wedding. That's it."

"Kacchan, please…let me explain." Izuku spoke, trying to keep his heart and hopes from falling appart.

"Talk" The blond said, his eyes unchanged. Deku opened his mouth a couple of times, unsure on how to tell him, but for his life, he had no idea how to begin. "Figured as much." Katsuki passed a hand through his eyes. "Give my regards to All Might." He walked away.

Deku couldn't find it in him to stop him.

In a daze, Izuku turned around and walked to the stairs, then ran until he reached the roof exit. He felt like suffocating, he needed to be outside.

His muscles shaking, his crimson eyes bloodshot and lost.

He shook his head, desperate to clear those images from his mind. The day had been good enough, he had almost felt normal.

You were the one who left!

He cursed and let One For All run through his body. He closed his eyes, feeling the power run through on his skin before he jumped.

In what it felt like a blink, he found himself outside of Yagi Toshinori's retirement home. Before knocking, he took a moment to try to calm his breathing, to look like a normal and happy hero.

"One would're thought that becoming a pro, would make you less of a crybaby." A warm voice said at his right. Izuku let out a small laugh that ended up like a choked little sound. "My boy." Before he knew it, a pair of arms surrounded him.

"I'm sorry." Deku spoke, returning the embrace. "I just can't seem to measure up to you, can I?" He let his face rest on the bony shoulder of his predecesor.

"You know that's not right…want to talk about it?"

"I don't know how to stop this…it's so messed up." The man sighed before pushing him away. A pair of fiery blue eyes looked at him.

"You don't have to fight alone, my boy." Toshinori put a hand on his head, messing up his curls. "Let him help you."

"I-I tried to tell him." Izuku passed his hands through his face, clearing up the tears. "I couldn't. I barely have an idea of what's going on…I don't know how to explain it to him."

"You talked to me. Why is he any different?" All Might took a step back and motioned his house. "Come on, let's have some tea. It might help you calm down." Izuku nodded and looked around, finally noticing that the veteran hero had been working on his garden.

The eternal fight between All Might and keeping plants alive, continued.

"The flowers look good." He said.

"Yes! I think I'm figuring out why they kept dying. I had to change the dirt of the whole area twice. It's a good work out." The man smiled delighted. They entered the house and Toshinori signaled him to sit in the living room. "Let me get the tea."

Izuku nodded and walked to the area. He sat down with a sight. "Have you ever been…in this kind of situation?"

"I'm afraid not, my boy." All Might walked to him with a couple of cups, he gave one to Deku before sitting on the chair in front of him. "Your relationship with young Bakugou has always been special. Not just to you, but for us too." He smiled. "I still remember Aizawa-kun's insistense in pushing you to solve your differences. We felt there was something great hidden under all that anger and hurt." He sighed. "I won't presume to understand your choices over the years, but I know that protecting him has become your mission. For that, let me tell you this: win. Win to protect, win to move forward." Toshinori smiled. "Having to bear the burden of One for All can become a lonely path. In my case, out of fear of having the same fate as my predesor, I never let anyone special in my life. I was suposed to be the center point of it all, it was too dangerous to have anyone by my side. As it was, living as All Might became a higher priority than living as Yagi." Izuku fisted his hands, for him it was a lot more difficult to see the line between himself and Deku, mostly, because there was one person that connected both so throughly he had no idea where one ended and the other began. "You on the other hand." All Might continued. "Have the blessing that is to have one of the most powerful heroes, be that special someone. A person that is both for the hero Deku and for Izuku, the man."

"I'm so scared, All Might." Izuku whispered, tears clouding his sight. "What if it…?"

"Do you remember what I told you all those years ago?" The older man interrupted him.

"Press your butt?" Deku tried to joke, Toshinori harrumped before shaking his head.

"Pro's are always risking their lives." All Might's eyes turned serious. "Bakugou-kun knows this very well. Don't you think that, trying to protect him will not only damage his ego, but disrespect him as a hero?" Deku's breath hitched.

"I know…" He sighed moving forward, pushing his face to his hands. "There's one more thing." Toshinori frowned, sensing the change in Deku's voice.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want to worry you but…" Deku incorporated. Green eyes shined with a type of resolution that All Might had only seen directed at Shigaraki. "I came back because I found him. The villain that Kacchan and I are tailing, is the one that did this to me."