Chapter Text
There was one truth about this world. People were not born equal! That was the only thing that held the young Izuku Midoriya back, though it laid quite heavily on the young child. You see, he was born… wrong. In a world where people were born with superhuman abilities, known as “quirks,” he was born without one. Even though his mom said it hadn’t, it certainly split their young family apart. He didn’t know where his father went all those years ago, but it didn’t really matter. He understood why, though. Quirkless kids were a lot to handle, even without the social discrimination.
His mom tried her best to support him, but her attempts at being realistic never really helped him. Especially as others used that “realism” against him. He tried to help his old friend Kacchan in his own way, over and over again, However, Kacchan would just lash out at him. Izuku could still feel the burn marks stinging, reminding him of every well placed “Deku” in his psyche, breaking him down day by day.
Today, though was the final straw. Kacchan had snatched one of his quirk analysis notebooks, something he loved to make, and burned it in his hands, with the power of his own explosive quirk. Throwing it out the window, he gave Deku a piece of advice. To try to get a quirk in his next life, by taking a swan dive off the roof.
Izuku Midoriya felt the wind on his face as he clutched the burnt notebook to his chest. He had decided to take a detour to a near abandoned district of Japan, used mostly by the homeless for shelter, and as an easy diversion for certain larger hero battles. Though, this particular building was often used for one other purpose. For quirkless people down on their luck to pass on.
He slowly took off his shoes, leaving them near the ledge, before placing the notebook in between them, the final mark of his meager legacy. He then stepped up to the ledge, feeling the air push him back.
He may have been able to endure it, too. He had things to focus on, his studies, his analysis of the many interesting quirks of the world. But, for some reason, as he began to hit puberty, that sense of wrongness began to grow and grow. Sure, it was always there, a faint buzz, but as middle school came and people became crueler, the buzz grew louder and louder, his skin grew itchy, his limbs felt lanky, his shoulders felt broad. He felt like he wanted to crawl up into a ball at every moment because he just took up too much space in this quirked world.
He breathed in… and out… and in, before looking down. He saw the dilapidated ground, meters upon meters away from his face. A fall from this height would form a portal away from it all. Kacchan’s voice echoed in his head again.
“Take a Swan Dive Off the Roof!”
A single tear fell from his face, a rarity these days. He learned to suppress them, otherwise, he’d be crying with every burn inflicted on his small frame. Otherwise, the school would get angry at him, give him detention, and let Kacchan away without a word. Nobody really cared about the quirkless kid. They wouldn’t care if he just up and disappeared, died even. They may even celebrate it even, a reason for them to become pro heroes.
So why couldn’t he just take that single step forward?
His limbs shook as he stood in place, thinking about the height, the fall. His breathing grew shaky as more and more tears fell from his face. He lifted his arm, slowly to his face, pushing the tears away. Why can’t he do it, why can’t he do just this one thing for himself. Moving his shaky arm back down, however, he brushed the red scarf wrapped around his neck. The red scarf given to him by his mother. It was right after his father left them, a symbol of their new, smaller family. He wore it every day, even in summer months where it was blisteringly warm.
He took a step, but behind him this time, onto more solid ground. He couldn’t do it, he wasn’t able to, because of his mother. Sure, she wasn’t always the best, but she did care about him. And he cared about her. He knew he needed to help her, be a hero for her. It wasn’t much, just one person, but for Izuku that was enough.
Yeah. Yeah! He would go home and make things right. His mom was probably already worrying up a storm already. He usually came straight home, given his lack of friends. He would go home, have dinner with her, and maybe he could talk with her about some of this. He couldn’t tell her everything, obviously, he didn’t want to worry her too much. But maybe he could finally get this… wrongness… off his chest. She was a doctor, or, well, a nurse. She might know more than him about this.
Then they could find a path into the future together! Sure, he may not be able to be a hero, follow his dream, but he could still help people in his own way. Maybe he could find a support course that would welcome him. Either way, he knew he could do it with what little help he had.
He sighed to himself, resolving for the future, and as he did, he felt a small prick in his neck. Probably just a bug or something. He took a small step back, and felt his leg collapse, then his other leg, then the rest of his body. Before he hit the ground, his mind failed him, placing him into a dreamless sleep.
A slime monster was brought to justice.
People went about their days.
And a statistic grew, the graph barely moving less than a centimeter.
***
TEN MONTHS LATER
Katsuki Bakugo hated tests. He never saw a reason for them. Everyone knew he was going to be a hero, so why try teaching him something so worthless. He needed to know how to blow up villains, not how to write a compelling argumentative essay! However, recently, he hated them so much because they forced him to think.
He wasn’t allowed to let his thoughts out with explosive anger, but tests forced him to have to think and stew in his emotions. He could still remember that day. They had an English test, not that it would be worth trying on, but Deku wasn’t there, at all. He was never the type to miss a test. Deku would come in, even with a heavy illness that would nearly knock him out. It was probably fine, people took sick days, it just meant he would have to let his anger out some other way. When he got home, though, his mother informed him that the green haired kid was… gone. He knew it was his fault too. He told Deku what to do to the letter. He never expected Izuku to listen to his advice, though. He just wanted the quirkless idiot off his back!
Izuku’s mother, Katsuki’s aunt, moved in with them a few months later. She had fallen into a deep depression and hadn’t been able to keep up her bills, so his mom gave her a place to stay. However, that all meant that Katsuki would be confronted with his sins every day, in the form of a mourning mother.
He never admitted what he did to Inko. How could he? What, would he just walk right up to his aunt and say, “Sorry for getting your kid killed, I just felt inadequate against that quirkless idiot!” No. That would just be cruel.
He never did get better. Some would say he got worse. He lashed out even more, blowing up at everything and everyone that crossed him. He would just feel the anger pool in his chest, leaking out into his sweat, igniting in his palms. It felt oddly calming to let out his emotions like that, even if it had the chance to hurt someone like he hurt Deku.
But he couldn’t now. Right now, he was stuck in a small classroom surrounded by nothing but extras, taking the written portion of the UA Entrance exam. He hated it. It was surprisingly easy for one of the most prestigious high schools in the country, though he imagined this wasn’t the main focus of the school. He was surrounded by people who reminded him of Deku. Whether it be the tired nonchalance of the girl with elongated earlobes, the confident smirk of the red-haired boy, or the scraggly anxiety of the disheveled blond girl. They made him angry, angry at the world, angry at himself. And he just wanted to blow up everything that made him angry.
But he couldn’t. It would burn up the test papers, an instant zero that would dash what was left of his dreams forever.
***
Himiko was anxious as she rode the bus to the physical testing ground, fidgeting with the edges of the mask she wore. She had never taken an entrance exam like this in her life. She never really had an opportunity to. Her hopes for an education higher than a basic middle school were dashed when her parents abandoned her. It would have been surprising enough to take any exam like this, but to take one for the most prestigious heroics school in all of Japan, now that was surprising.
However, so far, it hadn’t gone great for her. She had struggled with the written exam, as many of her schooling years were lost in a vampiric haze, her bloody needs having rarely been met. It meant she was the last to finish, barely making do with the time allotted. Now, heading to the physical exam, she worried that her ability wouldn’t do much. Sure, her ability to shapeshift was quite a quirk, but she couldn’t use it much before triggering her Bloodlust again, and it wasn’t much of a physical quirk anyways. It was likely something more useful for stealth missions. Sure, she had some more tricks under her baggy sleeves, but she was still unused to them at this point. She could only really rely on her metamorphosis, which wouldn’t do her much good in a fight.
When the bus stopped, she nervously stood up and walked towards the door. She didn’t want to disappoint those who believed in her. Right, people finally believed in her again! She had a parent who actually cared about her future, even if said parent’s legacy left large shoes for her to fill. She really didn’t want to let him down…
She missed a step, walking off of the bus. She missed a single step, and was now falling face first towards the pavement. How could she fail at something so simple! She failed so simply, so easily. How could she make it into UA, prove that someone like her could be a hero, if she would fail at something so…
She stopped falling. She didn’t hit the ground or anything, or get herself back upright, she just… Stopped. Falling. Her body floated midair, inches away from the pavement. She had never felt this way, it kind of made her want to vomit.
She felt a hand on her shoulder, flipping her upward. She saw who it was, a small, brown-haired girl with big, beady eyes. She looked so cute in that light pink and navy-blue tracksuit. Maybe she would look a bit cuter if No! Not right now. Right now it was time to be serious. Besides, it would be a huge setback if she just cut someone right here, right now. Himiko could still feel herself start to grin under her mask, though.
She said to Himiko, “Are you alright?” as Himiko slowly fell to the ground, feet first this time.
“Y-Yeah…” It was still weird for Himiko to hear people ask if she was ok, “Thank you. Sorry I stumbled into you.”
“Don’t worry! If anything, it’s probably good to get practice in with my quirk, anyways. Oh, yeah, I’m Uraraka Ochako, by the way!”
Ochako raised her hand for a handshake, startling the anxious girl. Himiko’s eyes sparkled. She really hoped the two of them could get to know each other.
“Oh, yeah, I’m T- no, sorry, I’m…”
Before she could properly introduce herself, a stern, blue haired young man barged between the two before stiffly turning back to them.
“It would be uncouth to be late to an exam this important, would it not?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Himiko replied before rushing to the start line, panic in her steps. She could hear someone calling behind her, but it was probably nothing. She knew meeting with someone like that was too good to be true. Sure, her dad wasn’t like that, but he was special. These kids wouldn’t understand.
Besides, she really didn’t want to be late. She knew she was at a disadvantage, so she really needed to prove herself. Not just to the school, but to her potential peers, and especially the man who took her in.
As she crouched near the starting line, she could hear the voice of some hero or another start the exam, students rushing all around her to take down different robots. She sighed before rushing behind them. There was no way she was going to let down the family who now cared for her, and the legacy that left her.
She was Himiko Yagi, and she was going to become a hero, whether they liked it or not.
***
Shouta Aizawa never liked being on guard duty. He was more suited for stealth missions, acting as the hunter rather than the hunted. But here he was, playing guard duty for UA’s entrance exam. Even if it was mostly a formality at this point.
It was important to have a guard, they couldn’t leave a test of some of the next generation of heroes vulnerable to villains who may want to cut it off early. However, given UA’s prestige, it meant that an attack here would alarm nearly the whole heroic community. As such, attacking the school would be a suicide mission, for what was very little gain, outside of maybe some notoriety.
As such, most of his time was spent standing around, watching briefly for anyone outside, and observing people who might be his future students from the ground level. And so far, Aizawa wasn’t that impressed. Sure, they were doing fine, but to him, they didn’t seem all that special. A good few seemed strong, such as that red-haired hardening boy, but many of the strongest were too focused on destruction. Some seemed too hesitant to mess up that they were pulling their punches. There was an invisible person who was slowly picking through bots, but they seemed a bit overly cautious, focusing more on a proper dispatch than who they were meant to protect.
But at least it was more interesting to watch the fight than what was going on outside. It was calm. Eerily calm. As someone who was used to lurking in the seedier parts of the country, seeing this level of calm always set his senses aflame. What sucked even more was that the worry was more than likely over nothing. However, given his line of work, he was physically incapable of calming down. It was so tiresome.
“Zero Pointer in five,” he heard one of the testers say from his earpiece.
“Yeah, I’ll get moving,” he replied, getting out of the blast zone. As long as everything went according to plan, this would cut the wheat from the chaff. This would show who was a wannabe and who had true heroic potential.
He hoped it wouldn’t get screwed up. But he was always still worried it would.
***
Himiko was not doing great, score-wise at least. Sure, she was able to deal with a few robots, but there were others who were able to take down far more than she had. There was that woman who could just make acid from her skin, melting the robots immediately! Then there was the one guy who was like a living bomb! How can you compete with someone like that?
Himiko was able to transform into a few strong people, helping her dispatch a good few robots (even if it strained one of her favorite sweaters), but she couldn’t hold them for too long. Plus, each time she transformed, it made her even more… hungry.
She had drunk a fresh blood pack right before the exam, but she was running through the clarity it gave her quite quickly. She was already feeling the earliest sign of her Bloodlust, her middle finger insatiably tapping her palm whenever she wasn’t explicitly focusing on it. She certainly had other options that wouldn’t be as draining, but she didn’t know quite how to use them yet. Could you blame her? Sure, she technically got access to her new powers ten months ago, but she had spent most of that time training her body to handle it better, plus catching up on all of the schooling she had missed to make sure she passed the written exam. They had simply run out of time to cover the powers themselves!
But at this rate, it seemed like they would never get to that point. She really needed to step up her game, and fast, or else she’d never get into this school, and therefore be a disappointment to everyone who expected things from her. Sure, that was only one person, but still.
However, as she began to spiral again, she felt the ground beneath her shake. First a small tremor, then they grew larger and larger. She looked up to the faux-cityscape ahead of her, as she saw a towering mechanical figure climb between the buildings. Its face was a massive steel cube with five eye-like dots glowing red on its surface. Its hands were massive, large enough to grip entire buildings. Throughout the facility, she could hear a voice ring out through some sort of speaker system, “Zero Pointer Now Active.”
People started running past her, running into her to get away from the massive mecha, but Himiko’s hunting senses noticed something. There was a small, shadowy figure crawling below the Zero Pointer’s chin, before disappearing into the robot’s steely skin.
The Zero Pointer then took a single belabored step… before stopping in its tracks. The lights on its face dimmed, and the machine lurched forwards a tad. A hatch opened on its head, and the same shadowy figure lurched out of it, before standing tall on its forehead. Then, a web was strung from its head to the ground, before the figure grappled down it, making them more clear to the naked eye.
The figure had on red and black leather, with thin fur poking through the sleeves. There were small mechanical augmentations, gloves with mechanical joints and a belt bolted into the figure’s waist, some small portholes down his sides. However, most striking was the figure’s head. It was covered in a mechanical helmet, three red hexagonal eyes plastered on its face, and eight spider-like legs poking out of its sides. Their arms were crossed behind their back, and they were leaning forward.
The figure chuckled, before saying, “Welcome children, to the start of a new age, even if you won’t live long enough to see it fully play out.”
Then, behind the figure, the Zero Pointer lurched back to life, this time its eyes glowing a toxic green. It then balled one of its hands into a fist and destroyed one of the bordering buildings, its rubble crunching into the ground, some of it reaching near her. Himiko couldn’t hear the screams, but she could smell the blood, the hunger buzzing in the back of her head.
It crawled forward more and more, shooting more rubble towards the students, but Himiko was frozen. Who was this, triggering this attack? It froze Himiko, in fear, in doubt.
Before she could flinch, a baggily dressed figure rushed past her, rags rushing behind him. As he did, a warning alarm blared red, beckoning the students to evacuate. Himiko took a step back, but heard more rubble crashing down, and a slight squelch. Her head was turned to the scent of fresh blood, and she saw the brown-haired girl from before, Urasomething, her leg pinned under some rubble. She was struggling as the Zero Pointer slowly approached them. Himiko turned around and saw crowds of students hitting the outer doors of the facility, but unable to break through. She thought she saw black-clothed figures through the glass, but she couldn’t be sure.
This wasn’t a test, this was a real, true villain attack. And Himiko didn’t really know what to do about it. But, still, she took a step forward.
***
Aizawa engaged the mysterious new villain, shooting his rags out towards him to hopefully grab one of his limbs, but he dodged and dodged, with his arms casually held behind his back. For someone he hadn’t had records on before, he was surprisingly skilled. However, Aizawa knew he could catch him off-guard. He had to do it quickly, though, so he could stop the Zero Pointer. That was, if he had to.
“Are any of you going to come down and help?” he said to the other proctors through his earpiece.
“We’re a bit tied up at the moment! They’ve locked us in, and even if we could get through these quirk proof windows, they have soldiers crawling through the place! Plus, our communications out of the building have been blocked by our own tech. You’re on your own down there, Aizawa!”
“What?” He spared a quick glance to the windowed doors, and noticed the grand glass doors surrounding the circular testing facility were surrounded by militant-looking soldiers in black clothes, wearing berets and holding electric staffs, pulsing with power.
While he wasn’t looking, the leather-bound figure swung a kick at Aizawa’s head, but he barely managed to dodge it. He launched himself backwards, landing in a three-point stance.
“What’s your game?” he asked the figure.
“To make a grand introduction,” they said, their voice slimy and smooth, “Welcoming you all into the grand era of SHOCKER.”
The figure then leaped back, with a hatch opening in the mask. This was exactly the signal he needed. He could tell that Spider Web from earlier was a quirk of some sort, which meant this was the perfect time to stagger him. Aizawa activated his own quirk, to deactivate the figures. However, even with him straining his eyes, the web still escaped the mouth hole, wrapping around Aizawa’s torso. The figure then grabbed the web and pulled it, and Aizawa, towards themself.
“You see, even though it should have made society stronger, the age of quirks has promoted weakness,” the figure said, dragging Aizawa forward, “Just because someone has a quirk that gives them wings, they think they can do whatever they want, become a hero! So we realized, to truly promote the worthy into the places they belong, society needed a bit more of a… forceful push.”
Another hefty drag, “Some of the world's greatest minds and strongest warriors have come together to form the greatest conglomerate the world has ever known. With that, we have developed a series of enhancements to make us the strongest beings on this planet. A mixture of biological engineering and cybernetic enhancement has made our soldiers the strongest in the world. And with that, we will set the world into its rightful order.”
Aizawa was right in front of the figure, now. He tried to break out of the webbing, but it was surprisingly strong. It would take a super strength user to tear out of at least. The being then lifted Aizawa up with one hand, then punched him in the gut with the other.
Then, the figure continued, “The strong will rule the world.”
Another punch to the gut, making Aizawa sputter.
“And those weak quirkless fools will act as the resources they are, to be eaten by the strong.”
A third punch. Aizawa was coughing up blood now.
“I am the prophet for this reality. I am the Man-Spider, and I am the grim reaper for all those who are too weak for our true reality, consuming their foolish minds. Now, Eraserhead, shall you be the first?”
***
Katsuki had stopped running as soon as he saw Eraserhead was webbed up. From there, he crouched down to listen to the Man-Spider. He hated everything that seeped out of his mouth. It was vile, disgusting, villainous shit. And every word reminded him of himself. His past, his sins, what he did to those around him, the whole works. He felt just like this vile monster, and it pissed him off.
Good thing he knew just the target to let off some steam.
Katsuki yelled out, rushing towards the spider with an explosive blast, before swinging at him with a right hook, his fist setting alight his sweat. The spider did manage to dodge, but his explosion had singed the paint on his mask slightly. He then rushed with more punches, never letting up an inch. However, the spider dodged every damn time!
“That is quite the quirk you have there, child!” the Man-Spider said, hands behind his back while dodging, “If society had been set right earlier, you could have been a great SHOCKER asset. Maybe you still can be.”
“I’ll never join you bastards!” Katsuki leapt in the air, swinging a metaphorically explosive kick to the Spider’s head. However, he simply ducked, punching Bakugo in the gut.
“A shame. Your teachers should have promoted the strength of kids like you. Instead, you’re diluted into thinking you have to protect those below you.”
Katsuki clutched his gut, thinking about what he just heard. The thing was, the Spider couldn’t have been further from the truth. Katsuki had gotten so many opportunities from his peers, his teachers, from society, from people trying to use him for his gain. It made him hurt people, and it pissed him off.
He swung one last blast to the face of the figure, sure it wouldn’t miss… but his wrist was grabbed, stopping the swing midair, even if it still went off. What was odd was that the spider still held his hands behind his back. Indeed, a third arm had grown out of his side, then a fourth, out the other side. It grabbed his other arm, and the spider lifted Katsuki up in the air.
Then, he chuckled, before pulling at Katsuki’s arms and legs. Katsuki held in a scream, as he felt his bones and muscles being torn at the seams, before the Man-Spider stooped, then started again, treating Katsuki like a toy to be played with.
“You know, I wish you could have turned out better, child,” he said, “Now, though, you get to watch all your peers die to the might of SHOCKER. Then, once all the blood has dried, I’ll rip your head off myself, and eat the remains. Your sweat does smell like quite the seasoning.”
***
Himiko kneeled down, looking at Uraraka’s injured leg. Her eyes twitched, the impulses in the back of her head telling her to take the blood already coming out of the injury and add to it. The impulse was addictive, forceful, beautiful. She could feel her face grow a wicked smile as she looked down at the potential corpse and saw what it could be at its best. All she had to do was…
Her stupor was broken by a massive rumble beneath the two. She looked up, away from Urakaro, or whatever, and saw the massive Zero Pointer staring right at the two with its massive, glaring eyes. It then took a belabored step forward, its deadly gaze staying firm.
“Go…” she heard from behind her, “Get out of here while you still can.”
She looked back and saw Ukarara, tears streaming from her eyes, but mouth plastered in its own smile. Himiko couldn’t take it, “But what about…”
“I’ll figure something out. I’ll lift the boulder or something, then hide somewhere. You need to go before you get crushed, or that spider guy notices you.”
Himiko simply stared at the other girl. It was awe-inspiring, seeing Uraraka (That was it, wasn’t it) care about Himiko more than herself. Himiko had never really had a peer do that for her, everyone else had seen her as a monster who needed to be suppressed or killed. But this girl, who barely knew her, was ready to risk her own safety to save her life. Himiko knew Uraraka was a true hero, the kind of person she wanted to be now, had to be now. She just didn’t know how to do it. But now, she had an example to follow. And that example blotted out any other voices in her head.
“No.”
“What, no, you need to…”
“No, I’m going to help you, I’m going to save you.”
Himiko gripped under the boulder, trying to lift it up, with all her might, but it just wouldn’t budge. She felt the zero pointer take another step, the rumble coursing through her bones.
She could feel her fingers strain under the boulder, her arms just not strong enough to lift it. As such, she shifted her meager strength to her legs, pushing upward, trying to get a little more leverage. Then, another step. It had to be right on top of them now. Feeling panic, she put as much strength into her legs as possible, going 110%. She could hear a slight crackle that grew louder and louder as she yelled with the strain. Then, she shot up with her right leg, pushing the rest of her body up with a mighty gust, throwing the boulder meters away.
She had done it! She had saved someone. Maybe now she could be… She felt her leg give out, a sharp pain flowing through her body. As she collapsed to the ground, she looked down and saw her left leg covered in bruises, twisted into an odd angle. It was, frankly, disgusting. Especially since there wasn’t any blood.
Uraraka hugged onto her from behind, crying into her shoulder, saying tiny “thank you”s. But then, she suddenly stopped her muttering, before looking up. Himiko’s gaze followed, seeing the Zero Pointer looming above them, moving its fist back, ready to strike.
Himiko used the last of her strength to crawl ahead of Uraraka, sitting up and getting in the way of the shot. She couldn’t do much, but she would take as much of the hit as she could. Sure, she may die here, but at least she did something other than killing people in a bloody haze. She closed her eyes, accepting her fate.
She then heard glass crashing, then a swift gust of wind, then a metallic clash… but felt nothing. She opened her eyes and saw the Zero Pointer’s torso leaning back, its spine exploded in a spray of robotic sinew. Shooting through the air was an ivy green figure with a red scarf, moving as fast as a missile, legs splayed out in a kick.
The figure skidded on the ground, the scarf fluttering to a stop, giving Himiko a closer look. They mostly wore simple biker’s attire, a black leather jacket and pants, though the outfit accentuated their slightly feminine figure. They also wore green boots and gloves, though the gloves had robotic knuckles lining the top.
However, what was strange was the armor that was above the clothes. A white belt with a red fan in its center, seemingly bolted to the figure’s waist. Above that was dark green armor plating, covering up the figure’s torso, in six primary segments. On their head was a round green helmet with a sharp jaw near its chin, mainly forming into two rectangular teeth. Poking out of the bottom of the mask was a tuft of dark green hair, flowing in the wind cascading against the blood red scarf beautifully. From its forehead came two, rabbit ear-like protrusions flapping in the wind. Most strikingly, though, was the large, light pink eyes glowing in the dust, with two black tear ducts below them.
The figure stood and turned towards the Man-Spider, seeming to glare at him through the mask. The Man-Spider then turned around, swinging the blond boy in his hands, and sighed, before dropping him to the ground.
***
Katsuki stared in the same direction as the Man-Spider, seeing the other mechanical figure stare at the two of them. The Spider seemed to lurch forward slightly and sigh, but Katsuki could only stare. The Man-Spider let go of Katsuki and he collapsed onto the ground.
“You’re meant to be dead, you know, Rabbit.”
The Rabbit responded, “I won’t let you hurt anyone else. So, stay away from him!”
Katsuki’s eyes watered, as the Spider slowly walked towards the Rabbit. In Katsuki’s eyes, the Spider went slower and slower, the world slowing around him, as Katsuki’s life flashed before his eyes. He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Sure, the Rabbit seemed just as intimidating as the Spider, from the same organization, but the reassuring red scarf caught his eye. A scarf with distinct tears and burn marks that had etched their way into Katsuki’s mind over the past ten months.
As Katsuki lurched forward, he could only mutter one word of recognition.
“Izuku?”