Izuku Midoriya wakes up at 25 and realizes that he hates his job.
He knows that this realization is several months in the making, logically. It's the build up of a million little thoughts and feelings that he's shoved aside to deal with at a later date.
That later date comes on a normal Tuesday as his alarm blares in his ear. The sun's not even risen yet, the room dark and the idea of going back to sleep oh so inviting. He reaches over to throw the offensive object across the room with enough force that when it hits the wall it explodes into a million pieces.
Izuku rolls over in the bed and buries his face in his pillow, internally groaning at having to get up and go into the agency. There's a never ending amount of paperwork that needs to be done and at least ten appearances he needs to make around the city. The life of the number one hero is busy, after all, even if he would rather smother himself with this pillow than deal with another reporter.
It hits him like a mac truck, then, that he despises his job. Despises his life now that he's reached the peak.
The realization steals the breath from his lungs and he can't move for a long moment.
Because honestly? It's a shitty feeling. Ten years of his life have amounted to...this.
He lets himself contemplate smothering himself once more before forcing himself out of bed. If he's not at the agency then Tenya is going to come looking for him and he might actually start his villain origin story if he has to deal with that lecture on top of his little epiphany.
His mind is elsewhere as he runs through his morning routine and just barely gets done in time to leave when he needs to. The entire commute to the office is a blur and later he'll be concerned about how easily he spaced out while jumping from rooftop to rooftop.
The hero just barely acknowledges the people he sees on his way to his office with small nods, very obviously not at all engaged with the world around him. Uravity and Froppy exchange worried frowns as he passes them on his way, just giving them a small smile and a nod as a greeting.
It's not until he's in his office, staring down at the first of today's many stacks of paperwork that he realizes where he is. He glares down at the paper like it personally offended him and briefly considers throwing it out the window.
The door of his office opening diverts his attention momentarily from his great enemy. The green haired man isn't even the least bit surprised to watch Katsuki walk into the room with his own armful of paperwork, using his foot to kick the door shut behind him.
"Good morning, Kacchan." Izuku smiles a little at the blonde as he dumps his papers onto the other side of his desk.
This is an almost daily routine for them, at this point. It's honestly one of the best parts of Izuku's day watching Katsuki struggle to do his own paperwork as they bicker back and forth about the new interns or how absolutely ridiculous a villain's quirk was.
Today, though, Izuku barely has the energy to give his normal greeting before he's back to glaring down at the papers in front of him. He hasn't actually filled a single bit of it out, something that hasn't gone unnoticed by the explosive blonde.
Red eyes take in the untouched reports and Izuku's spaced out glare, brows furrowing a little as his gaze rakes over the other.
"Oi, what's got your panties in a twist this morning." Katsuki barks, kicking his feet up onto the desk and pulling his own paperwork into his lap as he glares at the other.
The green haired man just flashes a small smile and shakes his head, too used to Katsuki's way of communicating at this point to be offended anymore. If anything he's more annoyed at how perceptive the blonde is to his moods at this point.
"Nothing. Just a little tired. No rest for the wicked and all that." He says easily, waving his hand as if that will wave the thinly veiled concern in the blonde's eyes. As if he could that easily hide how he's feeling from Katsuki.
Trying to throw the other hero off the scent, he started actually filling in the paperwork in front of him only to be thrown headfirst into another wave of absolute disgust. Paperwork was the bane of his existence but filling out anything that had to go to the commission was even worse. It just reminded him of the line he had to toe to keep his position as number one and the amount of times in the last month alone he'd had to bite his tongue until it damn near bled to keep from arguing with something the HPSC had tried to tell him he had to do.
He had to keep reminding himself that he was in a better position to help people if he kept his number one ranking. Fighting the commission was a one way ticket to a quiet death or a career ending scandal.
Bile rose up in the back of his throat at the thought and he set his pen down, trying to take a deep breath to calm the way his stomach rolled.
He wanted to save people, damn it. That's all he'd ever wanted and this? This was not anything close to what he'd been expecting. He spent more time in this office or doing press than he did on actual missions these days.
"You're two seconds away from mumbling, nerd." Katsuki's voice broke through Izuku's thoughts and he blinked owlishly at him for a moment. "C'mon. What's going on in that big head of yours?"
The blonde was starting at him expectantly, brow raised as he leaned back in his chair and Izuku physically could not stop the dam from breaking or the words from coming out of his mouth.
"I hate being a Hero." Izuku blurted out, face heating up in shame as the blonde blinked at him.
"I love helping people. I love saving people. It's all I've ever wanted to do but the actual job? I fucking hate it."
Once the words were out, he couldn't stop them. Frustration welled up in his chest and he pushed himself out of his chair and began to pace around the office. He could feel Katsuki's eyes following him and the silence that followed weighed heavily on his mind. Something tightened in his chest as he turned to face the blonde, throwing his hands in the hair.
"Being a hero shouldn't be about god damn popularity or how many late night talk shows you do! Kacchan, I think I might detroit smash myself in the face if I have to do one more interview about my fucking fitness routine." His chest heaved as he sucked in a deep breath, breaking eye contact with Katsuki and rubbing his hands over his face.
He lowered his hands to peek at the blonde, trying to gauge his reaction to the outburst. The other man hadn't moved a muscle since the rant had started, still leaned back in his chair without a care in the world. The only indication that he'd heard anything Izuku had said was the furrow of his brow as he stared the green haired man down.
"Kacchan...?" He started hesitantly, expecting an explosion.
What he got, however, was the other setting the chair on all four legs again and setting his paperwork aside. The blonde leaned forward in the chair and leaned his elbows against his knees, fingers linking as he shifted his full attention onto Izuku. The weight of his stare was intense and Izuku found himself shifting uncomfortably under the weight of it.
"Alright. What are you planning on doing about it?" The blonde asked seriously, red eyes boring into Izuku's soul almost.
"What do you mean what am I going to do?" Izuku sputtered after a moment, leaning against the wall and dragging a hand over his face as a hysterical laugh bubbled up in his chest. "I'm stuck, Kacchan. Stuck hating my existence until it's time to die."
"Stop being dramatic, nerd." Katsuki huffed, rolling his eyes. "You just need a plan on how to step down and what you're going to do after."
Izuku lowered his hand to gape at the blonde, not quite comprehending the words coming out of the other man's mouth.
"I can't step down!" His voice rose a few octaves as he said it, hands waving wildly as he continued speaking. "I fought a war to get here! I damn near destroyed my arms! Fuck, I bullied you into helping me convince everyone to join our agency! Why are you being so calm about this?! How can you, of all people, even suggest I step down?!"
At the end of his rant, Izuku's chest was heaving against and his breath was heavy as he glared at his hero partner. The man met his gaze with a raised brow and a look that questioned his intelligence without words.
It was silent for a long moment as they stared each other down before Katsuki leaned back in his chair and rolled his eyes.
"It's a job, dumbfuck. There are plenty of other jobs out there where you can help people and not have to deal with the other bullshit." The blonde drawled, moving to pick up his paperwork again. As if Izuku's quarter life crisis was no big deal.
"I swear to god, Katsuki Bakugou, if you suggest I become a police officer or a detective I will kick you in the throat." Izuku managed, voice strangled as he tried to grasp at the thin straws of his sanity in the moment.
The look Katsuki sent his way was withering.
"Do I look like I'm seven foot tall and stupid?" He snapped, small explosions popping off in his palms before he reigned in his temper. "No, idiot, I was going to suggest you talk to Aizawa and see if there's a teaching position open."
Izuku hummed in acknowledgement as he moved to sit back down in his chair, adrenaline of his mild breakdown leaving him tired and wrung out.
It...wasn't a bad idea, honestly. It would be out of the public eye and he could finally take the time to work on some of the analysis he'd been wanting to do. And it wasn't like he couldn't still be active as a Hero while working at U.A.
Aizawa was principal, now, and he probably wouldn't even tease Izuku about hating the limelight. Present Mic would never let him live it down but that'd be fine.
Turning the idea over in his mind, he glanced up at Katsuki who had gone back to his paperwork like Izuku's life hadn't just fallen apart around his ears two seconds ago and he'd been tasked with throwing him a life raft.
"You...wouldn't be upset with me if I stepped down?" He asked carefully, fiddling with his pen to avoid looking directly at Katsuki as he asked it.
The blonde huffed a little and rolled his eyes, setting his paperwork down once more to pin Izuku in place with a bored look.
"Do I look upset? I'd be more pissed off if you kept beating me for the top spot while not giving it your all. At least this way it's a fair damn fight."
Izuku nodded, the logic sound in his mind. There was still everyone else, though...
"If I do this...the others...I don't know how they'll react. I mean, I was the one that suggested we all work at the same agency..." Izuku couldn't stand the idea of letting everyone down. His train of thought was cut off once more by Katsuki throwing his pen at him.
"Fuck off with that. Icyhot and Pikachu quit heroics too and no one batted an eye. As long as you're happy those extras aren't gonna give a shit." The blonde glared at him and motioned to throw another pen at him. "Besides, you're still a damn owner of the agency so it's not like you'll be abandoning them. You'll still have to do the board meetings and paperwork because I sure as shit am not doing this shit by myself."
Izuku caught the pen with a laugh, shoulders relaxing as the tension drained out of him little by little. Katsuki was right, as always, and if the explosive hero was okay with this then everything would be fine, right?
"Alright, alright, I'll go talk to Aizawa tomorrow morning and see what he says."
"The hobo is going to jump for joy and you know it. It'll be less work he has to do."