In Your Shadow [Chapter 12]

[Chapter 11]



Katsuki tried his best to look awake as he joined Deku in his office, but he knew he was failing. He managed to stay upright, and that seemed like the most important thing. The adrenalin and excitement of the Graveyard patrol had worn off, and he was ready to just crash into bed, stuff his face in a pillow, and sleep.

“Here,” Deku offered, passing a container across the table. “I didn’t cook it, I promise.”

Curious, Katsuki opened up the lid, finding a roll of tamagoyaki, a couple of rice balls, and a little cup of spinach salad. He looked up, meeting Deku’s eyes, and getting a little smile from him in return.

“Miruko dropped it off,” he explained. “She can cook a lot better than I can, but she always makes way too much when she tries to feed me.”

“Miruko?” Katsuki asked. “One of my classmates is with her.”

“Uravity,” Deku acknowledged, nodding. “Miruko seems to like her well enough.”

“Well enough?”

“Don’t try to make me gossip about your friends.” Deku smiled wryly. “Anyway, I figured you wouldn’t have eaten in a while, so eat up while I talk.”

“S-Sure, thank you.”

He picked up a pair of chopsticks and took his first bite, pleased to find that it actually was pretty good – not as good as Katsuki’s own cooking, of course, but compared to the nothing Katsuki had been running on for about six hours, it was delicious.

“I apologise in advance for this one,” Deku said, sliding over his timetable. “Razor wanted another chance to work with you before your two weeks is up, so I thought I’d slip a patrol in there and hope for the best. I know it doesn’t leave you a lot of time to sleep, but you’ve got an earlier finish time tonight, I want you well-rested for the gala tomorrow.”

“Six hours is plenty,” Katsuki assured him, glancing at the page before he picked up his next piece of egg. “I’ve done worse.”

“Six hours including time to eat, fall asleep, get up, eat again, get dressed for a patrol, and anything else you need to do. I try to make sure people get plenty of time for six to eight hours, but unfortunately it occasionally doesn’t work out. We’ll do this meeting as quickly as possible so you get to bed soon, though.”

“And I’m multi-tasking,” Katsuki said with a little smile, gesturing to his food. “I’m good.”

“Alright.” Deku smiled back. “Did you get a chance to go see the wardrobe department about tomorrow?”

“I did, they’re finding me something to wear.”

“Perfect. So today you’ve got two patrols to do, and I’m hoping you can finish off those online modules in between the two. Tomorrow we won’t have a morning briefing, and you won’t have any patrols, but instead I will be scheduling you some sparring matches with various heroes. I’ll email you a timetable in the morning and I expect you to get yourself there on time.”

“I will,” Katsuki nodded eagerly. “Thank you, I can’t wait.”

“And I’m sure you’ll be on your best behaviour?”

“Of course.”

“Good,” Deku said with a wry smile. “Because I can definitely cancel the sparring if you’re not.”

“I’ve been- at least, I think I’ve been respectful.”

“You’re doing a lot better than you were when you started out here,” Deku acknowledged. “I’m sure there are still things for you to learn, but you’ve improved a lot in a short time, and I hope you know that we’ve all seen how hard you’re trying, both with that and with everything else.”

“Thank you.”

“I expect to hear that it’s kept up, when you go back to school. That you’re still working hard, and learning from everyone you can. It would be nice to hear that you’re being respectful to your teachers, too.”

“I’ll… try.”

“That’s all I would ever ask of you. Now, tell me about your patrol. What did you think of Ephia?”

“She was… really interesting,” Katsuki said slowly. “I guess I admire how in-control she seems all the time, like she’s got it all figured out.”

“She’s a lot older than you,” Deku smiled wryly. “You’ve still got plenty of time to figure things out, no one expects you to measure up to her right now.”

“I know. And she was really open, communicated with me a lot about what she was doing and why and stuff. So that was cool, she never acted like I was in the way.”

“No one here should ever be treating you like you’re in the way, I hope you would let me know if someone made you feel that way. Or at least Lemillion, if you don’t want to talk to me about it.”

Words danced on Katsuki’s lips, itching to come out, but he shoved them back down, stuffing the last of his spinach in his mouth to keep them at bay. The only one who had really made him feel that way was Deku, but that definitely didn’t feel like an appropriate response to the concern.

Katsuki finished off his food, setting the chopsticks back in the container and nodding awkwardly.

“That was good. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll let you head off and get some sleep now, make sure you’re awake for that patrol.”

“I will be, I swear.”

“And I’ll see you tomorrow for the gala. We’ll meet up beforehand to head over, so I can make sure you’re presentable and prepared.”

“Have a good day,” Katsuki forced out, as he rose to his feet. “Thanks again for having me, and for letting me do the Graveyard and stuff.”

“I’m glad it went well. I look forward to my report from her.”

Katsuki nodded one last time, showing himself out, and headed up the stairs to his apartment – honestly he kind of wished he’d taken the elevator, but it always seemed silly to do that for just three floors; there were only so many of them to go around, and other people probably needed them more than him. So he trudged his way up and collapsed onto his bed, giving himself a moment to rest before he’d go take off his clothes and brush his teeth and get into bed properly.

Just one moment.

Just...

─────

Katsuki hurried into the studio, mumbling an apology to the teacher as he passed, and quickly joined in with the warming up and stretching. The ballet class was bigger this time, and had a few more familiar faces in it; when he looked around, Bleak pointedly shuffled over a little bit, and Katsuki caved, sitting down beside him and trying to hide his surprise when he saw Ephia on Bleak’s other side. She gave him a nod in greeting, and Bleak held out a fist for him to bump, but no one said a word over the teacher’s instructions, just listening attentively and following the directions she gave.

As it turned out, the class seemed a little more bearable, Katsuki thought, with someone familiar beside him. He felt a little less out of place in the group, a little less awkward, standing with someone else he knew, watching him struggling with the same steps as Katsuki was. Ephia, on the other hand, was flawless, but she never once made Katsuki or Bleak feel bad about it – she even whispered a few bits of helpful advice to them, once the music was playing and no one would notice the talking. Not that Ephia was likely to get in trouble for talking, Katsuki suspected – it seemed like everyone would just turn a blind eye, if it was her. Who would say anything, after all? Deku? He seemed to be the only one senior to her, and Katsuki couldn’t see that happening, Deku would just assume she had a good reason for it and motive behind it, and would let it go without even a question.

When they moved away from the barre he felt strangely exposed, hanging back to be sure he wouldn’t get stuck in one of the first groups, but thankfully, some of the more senior staff took the fall for them – Ephia slipped to the front, letting people cower behind her, and Borealis joined her, exchanging smiles and little nods. The two of them were clearly well-versed in the classes, because they had no hesitation about stepping out when the music started, demonstrating the combo the teacher had taught to the group only seconds before. Sidekicks began to follow, a few at a time, but still the newer, younger ones hung back, and Katsuki was relieved to see that he wasn’t the only one feeling apprehensive. He caught a little nod from Ephia to Bleak as a group started, and watched as Bleak winced and began to shuffle forward for the next set. A hand wrapped around Katsuki’s elbow, dragging him up too, and Katsuki found Optima, of all people, giving him a pointed look as they pulled him up beside Bleak, taking the third spot at his side.

“Never wait until last,” they mumbled. “It’s far worse.”

He scowled, but followed the teacher’s counts anyway, doing his best to replicate the stupid series of steps and jumps and whatever-the-fuck-the-rest-were-calleds, flanked by Optima, who seemed far too comfortable to be as new to the class as was implied, and Bleak, who gritted his teeth and tried his best to look like his joints weren’t made of cement. Katsuki didn’t say a word at the other end, under the watchful eyes of both Ephia and the ballet teacher, but he made sure to let Optima know how unimpressed he was by their demand, with his best silent glare.

“And back,” the teacher called, when the last group finished, gesturing for them to step up again. “This time a little quicker, and with feeling!”

Katsuki felt his eyes widen when the last group was forced to go again, all eyes on them as they fumbled through it with everybody staring, and Optima gave him a smug look when they saw his face. Okay, maybe they had done him a kindness, but he still didn’t forgive them for laughing at him in his first class. It wasn’t his fault he’d never been shoved in a dance class before, after all.

Honestly, Katsuki was pretty sure if it hadn’t been a group class, he wouldn’t have minded the ballet shit nearly so much. It wasn’t the steps that bothered him, and he had always been relatively flexible so he didn’t mind having the chance to use that, it was just the awkwardness of doing it all in front of everyone else, of so many people watching him, of so many people better than him watching him, and judging him for all his mistakes and struggles. It was almost tempting to ask Deku if he could do a private class or something instead, as some sort of a compromise, but he knew what the answer would be; Deku was big on ‘agency culture’, on having a workplace full of people who didn’t just work together for a few hours a day, but ate meals together and took classes together, who shared stupid experiences, who talked and laughed and bonded or whatever. If he’d asked, Deku would have just given him a lecture on how important it was to have allies.

He wasn’t wrong, Katsuki supposed. That was the worst part.

As they finally finished up for the night, Katsuki adamantly refused to admit to himself that he actually felt kind of good. His mind had quieted a little, and his body wasn’t sore, but he could definitely feel that he’d worked his muscles, and that feeling was always pretty satisfying to retire to bed on. Like the days he’d done late-night gym sessions, back when he was still living with his parents, or when his mind had been racing and he’d gone for a run through the U.A. campus. Maybe it wasn’t so bad, doing late-night ballet – well, maybe it wouldn’t be, if only he wasn’t surrounded by extras to do it.

Regardless, he said a quick goodnight to Bleak and Ephia when they were dismissed, gave Optima a reluctant nod to signal some kind of tentative peace between them, and waved awkwardly to Borealis when she called goodbye to him on his way to the door, turning a few heads his way to see who she was talking to. He even tried channelling his best inner-nerd, mumbling his thanks to the teacher, on his way past, and parroted her ‘see you next time’ before he made his escape. If he was lucky, some nark would report back to Deku on how good and how polite he’d been, and Deku would remember it the next time Katsuki slipped up and acted like an asshole.

Unlikely, but a man could dream.

─────

Katsuki snapped awake, jumping out of his warm, comfy blankets before he’d even realised he was moving, and hurried to the window to see what all the commotion was about. Solar Flare was standing down below, at the lobby doors, yelling instructions to a small group of flustered sidekicks who hurried out past him into the street.

He grabbed his costume from its hangers, throwing it on as quickly as possible, and pushed his window open as wide as it would go. Using controlled explosions to slow himself, he dropped to the ground, landing right beside a concerned-looking Solar Flare. He opened his mouth the moment he saw Katsuki coming, lips clearly forming the word no, but Katsuki beat him to it, slipping his gauntlets onto his hands as he asked the first question that came to his mind: “Is Trax okay?”

Solar Flare stared at him for a second, then nodded, gesturing toward the little group of sidekicks running off down the street together.

“Go,” he said finally, and Katsuki didn’t wait for any follow-up.

He took off after the group, following them toward bright lights and loud noises in the distance, and Katsuki recognised it as a small shopping area they’d passed through on their Night Patrol. They usually bypassed it during daytime patrols, going over or around to take a look without getting stuck in a crowd of shoppers, but in the night they had walked through, Trax chatting with the late-night staff as if they’d been friends for years. One of the buildings was burning, which meant the rest were sure to follow, with how close together they sat, and civilians were everywhere – burnt and screaming, trapped under materials that had fallen from the damaged building, fighting the crowd to try to get away. It clearly wasn’t just a fire, something nefarious had started it, but that wasn’t Katsuki’s job to figure out – instead, he went straight for the trapped people, lifting chunks of heavy wood and rock to free them first, and sending the mobile ones to gather in one place, so they could be treated more efficiently.

The fire was spreading, just like Katsuki had expected, and in the distance he saw people hurrying out of their buildings, trying to evacuate as many people as possible from their little homes above their stores. The fire stopped suddenly, hitting an invisible wall, and Katsuki filled with a sweet relief he hadn’t known he was waiting for. It was gone in an instant, though, when he heard screams coming from the burning building. He knew what he wanted to do, but he also knew he would be told fuck no by anyone senior to himself, if he asked. How much trouble would he get in if he did it anyway, before they could stop him? Was he willing to risk his slim chance at a work studies position, for the sake of what his entire body felt was right?

A familiar pair of ice-blue eyes met his across the pavement, and his stomach churned – she was about to tell him to back off, about to stop him, about to tell him it wasn’t worth the risk, about to-

“Dynamight, go!” she yelled, waving an arm to shift her barrier, keeping back a spray of rubble that threatened to rain down on already-injured residents as they escaped.

Katsuki didn’t need to be told twice.

He ducked through the collapsing doorway, blasted some fallen rubble out of the way, and headed straight for the sobs – the screams had given up, but still he could hear those cries like they were burned into his ears, and he ran straight for them, not letting anything get in his way. He shot a hole in the wreckage, firing himself up through it, and finally he found the source of the noise – a mother and her daughter, trapped beneath a caved-in roof, the mother trembling with the effort it took to valiantly shield her daughter with her own body.

“I’ve got you,” he assured them, already tossing aside pieces of wood and plaster like they were weightless. “Just hold on one more minute, I’ve got you.”

The fire roared around him, singeing his costume and threatening to blow up his gauntlets if they managed to leak his sweat, but Katsuki kept throwing and blasting, making a path to the pair and dragging the last wooden beam off the mother’s back with a deep sense of satisfaction – he’d done the right thing after all, he’d saved these people. Someone else could handle the first aid and evacuations outside that he’d had to pause, but who else could have run into a burning building?

“Can you walk?” he asked, when two faces turned his way, full of awe and terror alike. “I can help you.”

The mother rose on trembling legs, and Katsuki changed his mind immediately, glancing back at the burning, smokey path he’d taken to get to them.

“C’mere,” he instructed, lifting the little girl onto his back effortlessly. “Hold on tight, you hear me?”

She nodded against his shoulder, and Katsuki picked the mother up next, holding her in his arms like a bride being carried to the bedroom – gross. With weak limbs she reached for her daughter, holding her hands tightly in place to make sure she wouldn’t slip from Katsuki’s back, and Katsuki jumped.

Without his quirk to slow him, he knew it was going to be a painful impact, but he also knew he was low on options. Hurting his legs or even breaking a bone were nothing on letting someone die because he didn’t do enough to save them. Casts existed, after all, and so did Recovery Girl, once he got back to school. Hell, Deku probably had someone similar in his agency anyway, ready to heal up their heroes after a bad patrol.

He launched himself far out over the street, looking for a clear space to attempt to aim toward, but then a familiar voice was yelling again, and Katsuki looked down to see Trax moving her arms, letting the fire spread past where her wall had just been. Katsuki felt his feet hit solid ground, and stumbled a little, but looked down to see absolutely nothing under his feet, except for two storeys worth of air and a sidekick with snow-white hair who only looked his age, hurrying toward them. He couldn’t tell what she or Trax were saying, but Trax moved again and the solidness at his feet disappeared, leaving Katsuki cringing as he braced for impact. Instead, he was enveloped by what he could only imagine it would feel like to sit inside a cloud: soft, fluffy, and a little damp.

Slowly, that invisible cloud brought him back down to Earth, and he looked up to see the sidekick grinning at him through her exhaustion.

“Great work, Rider!” Trax called, running toward them and helping the mother onto her feet. “Coming in clutch right there. Go help evac, please.”

“On it!”

The girl ran off, and Trax took off the other way, at a sprint that wove through clusters of shivering, crying people, leaving them for someone else to handle. Katsuki dithered a moment, but with everyone freed from the rubble, he wasn’t sure he’d be much use on evac anymore, so maybe…?

Throwing caution to the wind, he followed Trax. She swung around the corner of a building and Katsuki immediately understood, watching three assholes in black outfits slam into an invisible wall. Apparently it wasn’t one villain who had caused the trouble, like Katsuki had thought initially: there was a whole gang of people going toe-to-toe with Ephia in the next street over, each one occasionally falling to their knees and screaming in pain, though the others continued to get up close and personal with Ephia’s martial arts skills.

Katsuki didn’t hesitate this time, didn’t wait for Trax’s permission – he ran in, palmsblazing, separating the group down the middle with his explosions and grinning when Trax’s wall moved, keeping the firsthalf away while he moved closer to Ephia. Without a word, he got in close enough that he could reach out and touch her if he wanted to, and then he pulled his pin.

Trax moved her hands almost frantically, and Katsuki saw a faint glimmer of light as his explosion bounced off her freshly-moved wall. All but one of the villains went flying, and Ephia turned on the last one immediately, watching him crumple to the ground in a screaming heap. Katsuki could only look on in horror as the man curled in on himself, clutching his head, blood spattering the ground with every scream and cry.

His villain-buddies seemed to hesitate when they saw it, and Ephia turned her hard gaze on the next one, watching him fall in the exact same horrific way. The rest of them turned to run, but Trax beat them to it once again, halting them in their tracks while police finally rushed in to apprehend them, their cars pulling up with sirens blaring to stop them from running, and finally letting Trax’s arms fall to rest.

Katsuki still didn’t know anything about Ephia, really, beyond her being extensively experienced, but there was one thing he knew for sure: Whatever the fuck her quirk was, he never wanted to end up on the receiving end.

[Chapter 13]