Work Text:
Red.
Ruby red eyes.
A fiery red passion.
The metallic smell of red.
Of blood.
Blood, so much of it...dripping down Katsuki's mouth.
Ruby eyes: faded, turned to maroon.
skin: pale.
pulse: gone.
As Izuku stares at the scene eyes wide—mouth agape; he tries to move, to move closer but his body is stuck like a frame of a film paused mid action. He sees Katsuki's lifeless form and for all the power and strength he was given he cannot move. He tries to conjure One for All—nothing.
As he sees Shigaraki walk towards Dyna—Kacchan, he wiggles his body with all his might to no avail. His mind is racing as Shigaraki moves closer and closer, hands reaching towards Kacchan. He tries to scream for Katsuki, for help, for someone to do something.
As the hands touch Katsuki's face.
Skin crackling.
Turn to dust.
The world cracks like glass under pressure, shards shatter across, the darkness enveloping him. Then—
"Izuku, Izuku!, IZUKU!"
Izuku jumps awake, sweating through his pajamas, eyes wide and tears threatening to overflow his freckled skin, frantically searching for one thing,
"Kacchan!"
He whips his head to the side where Katsuki is sitting, hand on Izuku's back, grounding him, calming him from whatever nightmare his nerd was dreaming of.
"Shh, shh, it's ok Izuku, you're ok, I'm ok nerd."
"B-but I was back t-there Kacchan, I saw you lifeless and I couldn't move." Izuku's mouth trembled as he recollects the vivid nightmare, tears now flowing like a waterfall.
"Izuku, it's over now. I'm fine, see?" He places Izuku's hand to his heart, hoping that the rhythmic beating will help soothe Izuku.
Izuku then latches on to Katsuki, holding him, seeming to not want to let go. The latter does not mind whatsoever, using his quirk to heat his palms, warming up Izuku's sides.
As they stay in that position for quite a while, Katsuki's the first to break the comforting silence.
"What's going on in that overthinking mind, nerd, huh?" The somber atmosphere brightening up a bit.
Izuku sighs and lets his body relax into the warmth Katsuki has created, keeping his silence a little longer before speaking.
"It's just, I—I couldn't get there in time," he softly speaks into Katsuki's chest, muffling the sound a little.
"Hah?? Oi, speak up nerd," he says as he sits a little straighter and moves the both of them back against the headboard, pulling the nerd to chest with his chin resting on the green head's hair.
"I couldn't get there in time, and this time... in the dream... I couldn't save you." Izuku speaks louder this time, though his voice still carries a soft tone, as he rests his head on his lover's chest, listening to the beating of Katsuki's heart. He wipes the tears from his eyes, sniffling a bit as he chuckles—a sad and bitter tone.
"Tsk, stupid nerd," Katsuki's voice rising in frustration though not at Izuku—no, not him, he could never hate the boy.
"You did save me, hell, you saved all of us, so stop belittling yourself every damn time."
He clenches his fists tight while holding the fragile boy in his arms—the self-sacrificial, self-deprecating, loving, kind, helpful idiot the world now sees not just as the Symbol of Peace, but as the Symbol of Hope. And for some reason the only person who couldn't see it... is Izuku himself.
Katsuki exhales releasing his anger, voice softening.
"Oy... you are the greatest hero anyone has ever seen, Izuku."
It's a rare, vulnerable kind of love that slips through the rough exterior Katsuki has. Though everyone who knows him recognizes that only one person is allowed in. His carefully built wall, the tough defense is slowly crumbled away for the only person he will ever love.
Izuku Midoriya.
Izuku, hearing those words, breaks into tears again—like a dam whose foundations crumbled by soft words.
How could he be so lucky, he thinks. To have someone like Kacchan, to have someone willing to help him.
To see beneath the show he puts on and stay after the lights go off and the performance ends. To put him back together piece by piece until his cold hollow mask is replaced by something warm. Something real.
Him.
The real him.
And somehow in this chaotic mess of a world they live in—
It's enough.
Having each other is enough.