In Your Shadow [Chapter 6]

[Chapter 5]

Katsuki sat himself down on the comfortable couch, glancing at his phone before he fully settled in. He’d given up his morning runs for the time being, but it was still an old habit to be up by five, giving him plenty of time to chill in the mornings before he met up with people at six. Today it would be Mirio in the gym first, before he had to face Deku at seven. He was still a little curious about the change in his meeting time, when he’d gotten used to being at the office at six o’clock on the dot every morning, but he supposed he’d find out more later.

The binder he set in his lap was heavy, bound in dark leather, and at first glance he hadn’t really thought it worth perusing. But after Mirio’s comments, his surprise at Katsuki not knowing about the lunch boxes and the laundry department, he’d decided it might be a good idea to flip through it just once.

The front page was just a map of the local area, the same one he’d pulled up digitally before he even arrived, but now that he knew what he was looking for, the print out seemed much more useful. It told him all the stores where his agency card would work to buy him things, which would have saved him a lot of social energy if he’d known it earlier – would have spared him from awkwardly approaching the reception desk and asking where he could go to buy groceries, like an idiot.

At least the receptionist had been nice about it.

As he continued through the book, he found maps of the building, also – the standard ones showing him fire exits, but also room numbers and various facilities they had on offer that he hadn’t even known were a thing. The laundry, of course, but also a spa and sauna, massage and physio rooms, multiple gyms and sparring rooms, smaller studios alongside them for fitness classes or something, offices, meeting rooms, the counsellors he’d become familiar with, and even a small department that loaned out items for people to use – he supposed that was where his laptop had come from.

Honestly, it felt like he was in a hotel, which probably made sense considering the usual uses for his apartment, but still. As awesome as his set-up was, it made him feel a little distant, too. He wasn’t really a part of the agency, he knew that of course, but the hotel-style literature definitely made him feel that separation.

With a long sigh, he tossed the binder aside, watching it hit the coffee table with a heavy thump. At least he knew where to go, now, if he needed information about anything, and he was a little more knowledgeable about everything he had access to, should he choose to use it. Which, he figured, he probably should. How often was he going to have those opportunities, after all?

He changed into his workout gear, plodding down the stairs a little earlier than he really needed to be, a sheaf of papers clutched in his hand. Mirio was always right on time for their meetings, so Katsuki figured if he started a little early, he might be able to catch him on the way.

Sure enough, Mirio was just rounding the corner toward the gym when Katsuki spotted him, and he hurried to his side, holding out the papers silently. Mirio looked over at him with his usual bright smile, ready to give him a bright ‘good morning!’ like always, but he froze when he saw the title on the top page.

“You finished already?” he asked.

“Wanted it out of the way,” Katsuki shrugged. “Haven’t submitted it though, so let me know anything I should change. Or add. Or remove. Or whatever.”

“This is so cool! I can’t wait to read it!”

The words were surprisingly genuine, and Katsuki felt a tiny smile tug at the corner of his lips. He’d always felt like people that happy and excited were just faking it, just putting on a good show, but Mirio made him feel like maybe it was actually genuine.

“I’ll read it straight after the gym!” he promised. “I have a break for breakfast and to do some office work, so I can definitely find time for it. Thank you for bringing it to me! I’m really glad I get to see it!”

“It’s no big deal,” Katsuki shrugged, looking away. “Um, thanks. For working with me, and all that. Making me feel like… I’m worth the time, you know?”

“Of course you are! I’m having a blast working with you! I know you really wanted to work one-on-one with Deku, I’m sure it was disappointing being given to me instead, but I promise I’m doing my best to pass on everything I know!”

“I’m not disappointed,” Katsuki objected. “I mean… maybe at first, but not now.”

“I’m really glad. And I’m sure you’ll get to work with Deku soon, he’s just-”

He cut himself off as they stepped through the gym door, but Katsuki wasn’t sure he’d have noticed if he continued, anyway. His eyes immediately locked on thick, toned biceps, on scarred hands wrapped around two bars, muscles tightening as he pulled himself up. His baggy tank top hid nothing, giving Katsuki a full view of every muscle in his back, his shoulders, his arms, and seemed to serve only as a catcher for the patches of sweat that weresoaking through it.

Despite the dampness, he made the movement look completely effortless, and Katsuki’s eyes slowly roamed down to a pair of dark, clingy leggings. They hugged every curve of his huge thighs and round ass, showing off definition Katsuki would never even have thought to look for, and even with the huge scars marring his freckled skin, Katsuki felt like he was watching perfection.

“He doesn’t like to be interrupted,” Mirio whispered, nudging Katsuki toward the other end of the massive gym. “Just leave him be, okay?”

“Y-Yeah.”

Katsuki’s legs were numb, like he’d been frozen in place, but with Mirio’s hand on his shoulder he managed to stumble away from the glorious view, reaching for his water bottle – his mouth was so damn dry all of a sudden, where had that come from?

“He’ll be ready for your meeting,” Mirio assured him. “He always is. I was hoping he’d rest a bit longer, but I guess he couldn’t sleep.”

“It’s fine,” Katsuki choked out, finally tearing his eyes away. “Is, um, is he here every morning?”

“Pretty much,” Mirio shrugged. “He usually starts earlier, but he was out late last night.”

“Oh.”

He did his best to keep his attention on Mirio, as they started their warm up, but still he found his eyes drifting off to the other side of the room, to where Deku was in his own little world, with dark headphones over his ears and a look on his face that Katsuki had never seen him wear before – it wasn’t the stern or annoyed expressions he gave Katsuki, wasn’t the smile he wore on the news, it was something Katsuki couldn’t quite put his finger on, and he hated that.

It wasn’t until Deku left the room that he finally managed to get his thoughts back on track, focusing on what Mirio was saying to him, but still as he worked he found his thoughts occasionally drifting back to those ridiculous thighs, wondering how easy it would be for Deku to just crush his entire head like a damn watermelon between them.

─────

Katsuki stepped into the break room quietly, water bottle clutched in his hand. He still felt a little awkward every time he set foot in there, knowing it was generally populated by much more important people than himself, but the cafeteria staff were in clean-up mode after a huge breakfast service, and Katsuki hadn’t wanted to get in their way. He wasn’t sure what exactly was going on, Deku hadn’t said anything out of the ordinary in their morning meeting, but his eyes had been exhausted, and there were at least twice as many heroes in the building as there had been the rest of the week. A lot of them were heroes he recognised, too, which just had him completely on edge.

He was quickly distracted, though, when he saw Mirio sitting at one of the little tables, sniffling into his sleeve, some nervous sidekick already rushing over with a box of tissues for him. He wiped his eyes on one, blew his nose on another, and managed a smile as he thanked the sidekick, brushing it off when they asked if he needed anything else. Katsuki wasn’t sure if he should interrupt, wondered if maybe he should just turn around and walk out like nothing had ever happened, but then Mirio looked up, and with a choked laugh, waved him over.

“Is everything o- oh.”

Mirio held up the essay Katsuki had written the day prior, and Katsuki gnawed on his lower lip. He couldn’t remember putting anything in that would make Mirio cry, but it had been a late night, he might have just been too tired to notice he’d written something stupid.

“What do I need to change?” he asked flatly, grip tightening around his bottle. “I didn’t mean to, it was an accident.”

“What are you talking about?” Mirio chuckled. “It’s amazing, Katsuki, I can’t believe you wrote this about me.”

“Then why are you crying?”

“Because I’m happy.”

“Oh.”

Mirio laughed at him, grabbing another tissue to wipe his face, and Katsuki could only stare stupidly, lost for words. He wasn’t used to dealing with emotional people, let alone ones who were his mentors, he didn’t know how to reassure his friends let alone his seniors.

“Sorry,” Mirio said. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”

“No, it’s… fine. I’m just… Not sure what to say.”

“I’m really touched, I promise I’m not upset or mad or anything. No one has ever said anything like this about me before, it’s really sweet.”

“I mean it,” Katsuki mumbled. “I wasn’t just… writing shit.”

“Thank you. It really means a lot to me. Could I keep this, do you think?”

“If you want,” Katsuki agreed. “I’m gonna submit it digitally anyway.”

“Thank you.”

“Is it okay to submit? You don’t want me to fix anything first?”

“I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“Okay. Um, thanks. For talking to me and all that.”

“It’s my pleasure.”

He scurried off to the water cooler, filling up his bottle, then with a last awkward wave at Mirio he ducked back at the door, leaving the man to his weird apparently-happy tears. Who the hell cried when they were happy? Weirdo.

With his bottle hooked to his belt, he made his way back to the lobby, meeting up with the sidekicks he was supposed to patrol with for the morning and introducing himself – he was slowly meeting all the people who worked there, but he couldn’t keep track of even half of them, so he just had to cross his fingers that he didn’t accidentally re-introduce himself to someone he’d already met. Deku would have a field day with that screw up, but he’d also go off if Katsuki didn’t introduce himself to people, so really he was just waiting for the inevitable fuck up and the lecture that came with it.

Maybe he needed to start a database of people he’d met.

The patrols tended to last three hours each, enough to do a circuit of whichever area they’d been assigned and then tag out with the next group, without being too tired to catch any issues. He was sure the majority of the heroes could have lasted much longer than three hours – he certainly had, when he’d done double-duty with different groups – but he supposed if something did happen to delay them, it was better to have more frequency in the dispatches, to make sure someone was ready to come assist or to take over the rest of the area. Not to mention people tended to get less alert over time, especially if they got bored, so it was probably smart to keep the routes shorter.

He hated that he was actually seeing merit in Deku’s choices.

And as they walked, Katsuki finally realised that in all his patrols with the agency so far, they’d never had an actual emergency. Petty thefts? Sure. The occasional assault? Yeah. But an actual fight? A villain to deal with? Never.

He realised it, in fact, in the moment when he heard screams echo through the streets, and the deafening crash of metal smashing against metal.

He was moving before he even heard the orders from their patrol leader, already sprinting toward the main street where three cars had collided only seconds ago. At first glance it could have been an accident, but Katsuki saw the masked figure take to the skies, and before he could disappear, Katsuki launched himself up.

He’d long since become an expert at aerial opponents, using careful blasts to give himself the momentum he needed to stay in the air, at least for long enough to bring the villains back down to Earth. He suspected the villain hadn’t been expecting that, from the way he took a moment too long to react, Katsuki’s blast firing him through the air before he could counter it. He slammed into a building, leaving a crack in the concrete that Katsuki knew he’d have to apologise to Deku for later,  but the moment he pried himself out to fight back, Katsuki was on top of him again. He grabbed the villain by the arm and pushed off the wall with his feet, twisting mid-air to slam him into the street below.

Familiar voices told Katsuki that the heroes he’d been patrolling with were on-scene too, checking everyone was safe and accounted for in the car wreck, so Katsuki kept his eyes on the villain that tried so frantically to escape his hold, with a weird, cold aura protecting him from most of the impact from the ground. Thankfully, his explosions seemed to be a good match for the weird quirk – he’d long ago figured out how to counter Round Face’s anti-gravity bullshit, even with her constantly working to improve and counter his strategies, so someone who had never fought with him was practically a walk in the park.

The man fell still, and Katsuki stepped back obediently when the patrol leader arrived, slapping a pair of quirk-cancelling cuffs on the guy and giving Katsuki a brief nod as he hauled him away. Katsuki looked up, then, glancing over the spectators all gawking at them, but froze in his tracks when he found a familiar pair of emerald eyes staring at him from across the street. He stood up a little straighter under the stern gaze, and rolled his shoulders, squaring up to defend his actions, but Deku’s gaze moved on as quickly as it had come, checking over civilians and property damage with the help of the sidekicks from the patrol.

Katsuki knew what that meant.

He was going to be called in later, reprimanded in private, and hell, his internship was probably going to be threatened, if not revoked entirely, for acting without orders, for not letting the qualified heroes take care of it.

He was going to be so dead later.

[Chapter 7]