Archive of Our Own ^beta

The sun sets like a raging fire across the mountains, the forest bathed in the glow of the dying day. The golden lights flicker through the trees, casting shadows across the paths of our adventurers. Should they press on and use the embers of sunlight to move closer towards their ever-elusive goal? Or, as fearful of the dark as all earthly creatures, do they build a fire while they still can, and keep their own corner of the world yet illuminated?

Stifling a yawn as he stumbled into the common room, exhausted from another evening of training with Katsuki and All Might, Izuku looked over at Tokoyami curiously.

“Hm, we should probably make camp,” Shoji suggested, sitting next to Tokoyami at the table, alongside Koda, Ojiro, and Sato. 

“Ugh but we’re so close!” Sato complained. “We’ve been trailing these monsters for days.”

“I know, but we should use a long rest before potentially entering into any more battles,” Shoji pointed out.

Ears perked up and feeling significantly more energetic than he did a moment ago, Izuku walked over to his classmates to investigate.

“What are you doing?” he asked, craning his neck to look down at the table. While he wasn’t sure what, precisely, he had been expecting, it certainly wasn’t a bunch of figures, dice, and elaborate dioramas. 

“Ack, don’t get them started Deku!” Uraraka whined from the nearby couch with some of the other girls. “They’ve been interrupting the movie all night!”

“You chose to relocate movie night, to the detriment of our revelry,” Tokoyami grumbled back.

“Yeah, we always have the lounge on Tuesday nights,” Sato complained.

Izuku realized he unknowingly stumbled onto a sore topic. “Both look like…fun,” he tried to mediate.

“Some of us attempt to cure this deep-seated dissatisfaction with the darkness in our lives by action, instead of merely passively consuming content.”

Things had been pretty boring this year. Izuku supposed that this was actually what a normal school year was supposed to feel like, but with everything that had happened in their first year, just having regular exams without villain attacks felt rather…lackluster.

They had been a bit more restless as a class, looking for ways to fill the time and maybe… recapture some adrenaline? Movie night was a classic (and if they recently switched from romcoms to action, well, tastes evolve), grades were up all around from lack of anything to do but study, and group outings to beaches and amusement parks were at an all time high.

Bickering with each other was at an all time high, too.

“Maybe we can all watch the movie and then play the game together?” Izuku suggested. “Would you like a few extra players?”

The mouth on one of Shoji’s limbs frowned. “We can’t just add new people to the party.”

“It might take awhile for you to learn,” Ojiro said apologetically.

But hearing that something might be difficult and take a while had the opposite effect on this group of aspiring young heroes, and the girls on the couch immediately started paying attention.

“What, are you saying we don’t have what it takes to learn?” Ashido challenged, standing up from her spot next to Uraraka. 

Koda frantically shook his head back and forth, but Sato didn’t missed the hint and jumped in. “It can be overwhelming at first; you definitely won’t be able to learn how to play in one night.”

“Sounds like you just don’t want us to play with you, ribbit. ”

“I thought you wanted to watch your movie,” Shoji complained.

“And I thought you wanted the lounge to be reserved for game night specifically?” Hagakure teased.

“This is madness,” Tokoyami sighed, but reluctantly moved his chair to the side to allow Izuku and the girls to get a closer look at the table.

“Can you just explain the rules once, Tokoyami?” Izuku asked, smiling up at Tokoyami with a plaintive expression.

“So bright…”

“If we teach you how to play, will you agree to let us have the lounge on Tuesdays from now on?” Ojiro suggested.

“If you teach us how to play, we won’t keep bothering you about it all day for the rest of the week, which is what we will do if you don’t,” Ashido, ever the negotiator, countered, and Tokoyami resigned his party to defeat.

“Very well. Now listen carefully….”

There were no secrets in Class A, and a game between ten quickly spread to the other half of the class as well. Soon it was no longer just Tuesdays dedicated to game nights, but Fridays and Sundays as well. The original party Izuku encountered that first night in the lounge had all split up, generously sacrificing their own quests to serve as game masters for the new groups that had wanted to play.

Deku walks along the trail in the darkened forest, the beginning of a long journey from his small village. Alone and afraid, he knows this journey is necessary to protect his home from a great evil. Seeing a light through the trees up ahead, he speeds up, excited to get through this first hurdle along the dangerous path he has chosen.

“Midoriya, roll dexterity.”

“Wh-what? Why?”

“Midoriya.”

“Okay uh here goes! Um, it looks like a…two.”

“A two? What? Tokoyami, can he go again? His hands were shaking!”

“Silence, Uraraka!”

Running out of the forest, Deku trips over a small - very small - rock, and falls to the ground, possessions scattering out of his bag and breaking two of his potion bottles.

“Oh, come on!”

Two other wanderers nearby hear the commotion. Uravity and Ingenium, traveling together, are unsure what the loud crash is that they hear through the trees.

“So Uravity runs over to see what it could be!”

“That seems very dangerous, Uraraka! Perhaps we should equip some of our weapons first?”

“Our weapons are equipped, dummy. We can use them at any point.”

“Is this correct, game master?”

Tokoyami sighed a long-suffering sigh and nodded. 

“Then yes, of course we run over to investigate!” Iida agreed emphatically.

“And when we see Deku fallen on the ground we help him up!”

“Slow down,” Tokoyami grumbled. “Roll charisma.”

“Oh for the love of…Ha! Seventeen!”

Deku looks up gratefully to see the friendly hands of two fellow adventurers extended towards him. Though haunted by the dark fate of his village should he fail, nevertheless he pauses in his journey to share a fire and meal with two new friends.

Despite numerous battles and encounters with monsters of all shapes and sizes, Izuku thought that their party’s first real test came a few weeks later when internships picked up again.

“You can’t just quit, Tokoyami!” Uraraka whined when class ended for the day.

“My work study demands some time in Kyushu,” replied the game master, collecting his books from the desk. “I simply cannot continue.”

“If an institution as prestigious as UA has decreed that it is acceptable for Tokoyami to spend the time at work study instead of classes, who are we to decide otherwise?” Iida asked, the attempt at comfort lost as he narrowly missed Uraraka’s head with his accompanying expressive hand gestures.

“It is a shame,” Todoroki frowned, who had started playing with them shortly after their first session. “But I suppose it can’t be avoided.”

“Request to merge with Sato’s game,” Tokoyami suggested. “I believe Ashido and Kaminari needed to pause their participation, as the shadow of final exams has darkened the joy of their leisure time.”

Izuku held back a snort. More like Katsuki won’t let them play anymore until they get on a regular study schedule. They played their games on the same night, and the sounds of that argument had almost distracted him during an important side quest.

Uraraka sighed dramatically. “I won’t forget you letting us down in our time of need, Tokoyami,” she promised.

“I would expect nothing less,” he said, rolling his eyes.

But Sato also needed to take a break, apparently, and despite also needing to get his grades up, Kirishima wouldn’t be bullied out of playing until after finals, so Uraraka’s first time as gamemaster (a wartime promotion indeed) included the addition of two wandering barbarians.

“And just where the hell do you think you’re going?”

“Um…through the mountains?”

After weeks of dangerous travel through the dangerous fire swamp, our weary travelers were looking forward to the brightness of the open mountains. But they were surprised when blocking their path was a huge dragon and scary looking barbarian!

“I mean, he’s not that scary looking, Uraraka,” Kirishima disagreed.

“I am rather unintimidated,” Todoroki nodded.

“Shaddap! I’m Dynamight and I’m king of these lands, and in order to go through the mountain pass, you need to fight me!”

“Very well,” Prince Shouto agrees, and steps forward to begin a battle.

“Wait, maybe we don’t need to fight!” Deku interrupts, quickly stepping between them. “King Dynamight, we don’t plan to linger in your lands. Our quest takes us past the mountains to the ancient caverns, where we seek a magic sword.”

Suddenly, the big dragon shrinks down, changing into a human form with a pop!

Uravity shrieks and covers her eyes, more surprised by the sight of a naked man than afraid of the dragon. 

“Bro that sounds like it’s the sword you need to get too, doesn’t it?” the dragon man says excitedly. “Maybe we can all go there together!”

“The sword that is the inheritance of MY people?” the barbarian king scoffs. “Inconceivable.”

“Well, we can either fight for it now and then have to face the trials of the journey weakened from our fight, or we can work together now to get to it faster and then fight for it later?” Deku points out, concerned about any delay to their retrieval of the sword. The longer it takes their quest, the longer his village will have to wait to be healed from the curse.

Dynamight frowns, unconvinced that delaying a fight could ever be a positive thing. But he, too, needs the sword quickly, for without it he cannot oust the usurper who has taken his throne. 

“Fine,” he agrees begrudgingly. “But you extras better not slow us down!” He turns abruptly, cape swirling, to lead the way through the mountain pass.

“ You better not slow us down!” Deku argues, chasing after him.

“How could we slow you down? I have a dragon!”

“You don’t have a dragon; you’re traveling with a dragon.”

“And you’re traveling with a band of slowpokes - ”

The two continue bickering as the rest of the newly formed party introduces themselves, and follow their antagonistic companions into the western glow of the setting sun.

“Sorry we’re late!” Izuku apologized about a month later, rushing into the lounge a few minutes after their game was supposed to start. 

Katsuki followed behind him, looking less concerned by their tardiness but finding his seat without further delay regardless.

“Training ran long?” Todoroki asked, handing Izuku the dice so he could kick off the night’s activities. They had to cut the game short last night and pause in the middle of a battle, since even some of the class’s top students wanted to get enough rest before an early morning math test that day.

Izuku nodded, quickly rolling the dice to pick up where he left off on his turn.

“Damned nerd still can’t get all his quirks to work together at 100%,” Katsuki grumbled, and Izuku rolled his eyes.

“Sure, Kacchan, but this time we were late because you insisted on going another round after I beat you twice in a row.”

“Had to make sure it wasn’t dumb luck, didn’t I?”

“Seems pretty dumb to me.”

“Stuff it, Half-n-Half.”

After a long day of fighting, the party rests for the night, building camp on the edge of the forest. Red Riot, spent from their earlier skirmishes, surrounds them protectively in his dragon form as he rests. Prince Shouto, likewise in need of a long rest of healing, sleeps soundly curled up against the dragon’s tail.

“Here,” Dynamight grunts, throwing down a dead hare in front of the others. “Dinner.”

Uravity frowns at the barbarian’s manners and looks down at the animal in disgust. “Gee, thanks.”

“Simply wonderful! Now we won’t have to use our rations!” Ingenium exclaims. 

Uravity seems markedly less enthused (“You can’t just decide you hunted without saying that you were going to, Bakugou!” “I have a +20 survival modifier, Cheeks, there’s no fucking world where I would have failed an ability check!”) , but the two bustle about the fire regardless, intent on making an acceptable stew out of the carcass. The barbarian king rests on a log across from the fire, content to watch others do the actual, hard work of putting together a meal instead of just proclaiming the fact that a dead animal has appeared.

“Quite thoughtful of you to use your hunting skills to care for the group, Dynamight,” Ingenium says, kindly trying to keep the peace.

Dynamight draws himself up proudly. “My clan is renowned for their feats of strength! Of course puny downlanders like you couldn’t conceive of such an easy victory!”

“That’s not exactly what - ”

“War is in our blood! We thirst for violence!”

Ingenium looks aghast at the tirade he unintentionally triggered, as Dynamight begins to recount the feats of his barbarian clan, with special emphasis on his own strength as their leader. 

Clearly Deku is enthralled by these ridiculous stories, since he also made no move to help with the stew and is simply sitting on the log next to Dynamight, staring at him in awe.

“Oh, oops! Sorry guys, I can help gather some herbs - ”

Despite the fact that it would have been really helpful if he went to gather some herbs earlier in the evening, at this point it’s too late, as only Uravity and Ingenium have bothered to set the camp up for the night for everyone.

“I’m injured and need a longer rest,” Todoroki complained from the end of the table. Kirishima nodded enthusiastically next to him, but Uraraka ignored them both.

Having been fascinated by the barbarian king’s obnoxious ways since he and Red Riot joined the group, Deku once again finds himself unabashedly staring at the half-naked man. 

‘He’s so handsome,’ Deku thinks, as the firelight dances across Dynamight’s chest.

“What?? Uraraka, no I most certainly do NOT-  ”

“What’s the problem, nerd, my chest not handsome enough for you?”

“Kacchan! That’s not, no, I, wait, - can chests even be handsome? - really I can definitely get some herbs - ”

What’s this? Yes, Deku is most certainly even blushing as he loses himself in the tale, all sense of responsibility forgotten as he dreams of being part of the barbarian’s tales.

Izuku privately reminds himself, once again, never to piss off Uraraka.

The next night was Movie Night for Class A, and Izuku found himself not very interested in the group’s choice. Naturally, he had voted for the Silver Age All Might documentary, but had been overwhelmingly outvoted.

While the rest of class jumped and shrieked and covered their eyes at Sero’s horror nomination, Izuku struggled to focus on the plot from his place sitting next to Katsuki on the couch. The flashes of the monsters on the screen brought him back to thoughts of their recent fights in the game: the creatures described by Uraraka were far more difficult to overcome than the real life, two-bit villains he’d been encountering in work study lately.

She was actually quite a good game master, despite her habit of narrating him and Katsuki into increasingly awkward situations. That was the problem with best friends; nothing was sacred, and sure enough she chose to focus on the one person in their group that he wished she wouldn’t.

He really, really regretted telling her about his crush on Katsuki some days. It was good to have someone to talk to about it, of course, but he wasn’t sure it was worth the teasing. 

His friendship with Katsuki was finally at a good place; he didn’t want anything to jeopardize it. What if Katsuki thought he was being weird and didn’t want to play in their group anymore? He knew the class in general liked to poke fun at the two of them, ever since Ground Beta and especially since Katsuki’s apology last year, but what if it bothered him more than he let on?

Sometimes he felt like Katsuki had to know about his crush; Izuku was so obvious about it! Frankly, Izuku wasn’t sure what was worse: that Katsuki was oblivious and still could one day find out (mortifying, terrifying) or that he was fully aware and just didn’t care at all (heartbreaking, devastating)?

It’s not like Uraraka was wrong in the game, necessarily. Kacchan was quite admirable, and if Izuku felt like he had so much to learn from him in real life as a hero, well, would it be any surprise if his character in the game felt the same way? They had the same end-goals, after all, and he was really, really strong…

“Still staring at my handsome chest, nerd?” 

Izuku jumped, nearly smacking his head into Katsuki’s, who had leaned down to whisper in his ear. Realizing he had been staring at the man in question, he squeaked out an “Um, sorry!” as a blush bloomed fiercely across his cheeks. 

Grasping desperately for an explanation, Izuku spluttered out complaints about their current activity. “The movie is just, uh, not that, well…”

“Tell me about it,” Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Want to watch that All Might documentary in my room instead?”

Izuku perked up immediately, clearly forgiven for the awkward staring. “I’d love that!” he replied earnestly, and as the two snuck quietly out of the darkened lounge, Izuku wondered if their friendship wasn’t that fragile anymore after all.

“The sword,” Deku sighs dreamily, as the band of adventurers pull open the casket.

Creaking with the decay of centuries, the lid of the casket falls to the side, revealing a creepy-looking skeleton holding the Sword of All.

“Sweet, dude!” Red Riot punches the air in exuberance. “Now we can finally go home and reclaim your kingdom!”

The previously super happy mood that everyone was in completely disappears. Deku, Ingenium, and Uravity freeze and stare at Red Riot and Dynamight, standing on the opposite sides of the casket.

“We don’t need to figure this out right now,” Prince Shouto says from the foot of the casket between the two groups. 

“It’s a long journey back the way we came,” Ingenium agrees. 

Despite himself, Deku’s hand falls to his sword. Will he be betrayed by the man who he’s become so close to the past few months? A man who he’s let into his heart?”

“Uraraka!” Izuku hissed, blushing.

“Really though, Bakugou, roll initiative if you want to fight it out for this thing right now,” Uraraka said, leaning back into the chair.

Frowning, Bakugou shook his head.

“No,” he said simply.

“What?” the rest of them exclaimed in disbelief.

“No,” the barbarian king declares. “Deku, without the magic in this sword, everyone in your village will die?”

“Y-yeah…” Deku replies, hand falling away from the weapon at his side. “The plague is a curse; only the magic of the Sword of All can remedy it.”

“Then keep it,” Dynamight says, walking away from the casket.

“But bro! The elders said you could only return if you brought the sword! Without it, not only can you never become king, but you can also never go home!” Red Riot cries after him, ever the faithful companion.

“Do you not fly across the sky in exile, dragon?” Dynamight turns to boom angrily. “Does Prince Shouto not wander the land to redeem his father? Do Ingenium and Uravity not long for their own home yet fulfill the wishes of their lord? Do you think me the least of our party to so selfishly think only of mine own kingdom and mine own comfort?”

“Wow what a badass speech dude!”

“Shut the fuck up, shitty hair.”

Red Riot chokes up with tears. “That was so manly!”

“Indeed, what a noble sentiment! Dynamight, Red Riot, won’t you accompany us back to Deku’s village to administer the antidote? Perhaps the magic of the sword can be used both ways!” Ingenium suggests, and Prince Shouto nods.

“Yes, let’s continue our journey as a party. Dynamight is not the only one who is willing to help your village, Deku.”

As to be expected with such a noble confession of feelings- 

“Don’t be stupid, Cheeks,” Katsuki muttered.

-Deku is overcome with emotion and openly cries. “I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” Deku says earnestly. “We’ll take the sword to my village and then reclaim your kingdom together, all of us!”

“Haha, well, about that…” Uraka mumbled nervously. 

Todoroki shot her a concerned look, but Izuku didn’t seem to hear. 

“Do I need to roll anything to pull the sword out? Probably a strength check, right, to pry it out from the skeleton? Okay here goes!” Izuku grabbed the dice and threw them across the table, heedless to Uraraka’s pained expression.

“Maybe we just leave the sword here for now and come back another day?” Uravity suggests.

“Oh sweet, 18!”

Deku reaches into the casket and grabs the sword, pulling with all of his might to detach it from the skeleton. It flies off easily, and he falls to the ground next to the casket with the sword in hand. 

“Great! We got the sword, now we can get out of here and-”

“Don’t hate me!” Uraraka cried, waving her hands in front of her face. “I thought this was going to go down a different way!”

“What are you talking about, Uraraka?” Iida asked, as the entire table looked at her in confusion.

“Well, I thought Deku and Dynamight were going to fight over the sword, so I set up a booby trap that would force them to work together to defeat it!”

“You WHAT?”

Suddenly the ground beneath them begins to shake. The entire party is thrown to the side when the casket explodes, stone raining down everywhere in the ancient underground cavern. 

“Deku, roll dexterity.”

“Oh no, okay, uh… a two,” Izuku sighed forlornly.

“That’s gonna be five damage.”

Closest to the explosion and already on the ground, the rocks fall on top of Deku and trap him in place, defenseless. The falling debris buries the sword, and a really scary looking big demon comes out of the hole where the casket was.

“Fuck!”

“Everyone except Deku, roll initiative.”

Red Riot takes advantage of his position in front of the party to use draconic fire breath and attack the demon first!

“Deku’s still in your range, idiot!”

“Oh shit, my bad Midoriya!”

“It’s okay, Kirishima, let me just…” Izuku grabs the dice for a saving throw, but his streak of bad luck continues, and he doesn’t roll high enough to escape the flames completely.

“Some more damage your way, sorry, Deku.”

The demon seems immune to fire, as Red Riot’s fire breath barely did any damage, but Ingenium supports Red Riot by running forward and attacking with his sword!

His blow glances off the gigantic demon, and with a mighty roar, the demon steps forward to attack the party.

“Dammit, you’re too close to the Balor, Deku, you’re going to get more damage just from its fire aura…” Uraraka complained as she simultaneously played Uravity healing Iida and the Balor demon attacking Todoroki.

With every attack and counter attack, the chamber shakes and stones fall from the walls and ceiling. Chaos reigns as Red Riot and the demon exchange fire attacks and Uravity’s spells cast a web of protection around the human men attacking with weapons. 

“Get out of here!” Deku screams from where he is trapped beneath the rocks. “Run! The whole thing is going to cave in!”

“And leave you behind? Always a self-sacrificing idiot, aren’t you Deku?” Dynamight the barbarian king shouted back, his scimitar whirling through the battle.

The smoke from the fires cloud the air, choking Deku’s longs and stinging his eyes. Desperately, he tries over and over again to free his legs from the fallen stone, but despite every attempt he is unable to free himself. 

“Wow, that's your fourth failed strength check in a row, Midoriya,” Todoroki commented.

“I’m sorry I can’t help you guys!” Izuku cried.

“Save your strength,” Iida suggested. “You’re taking damage every time the Balor attacks.” 

“Oi, witch!” Dynamight yells, after one particularly strong hit with his scimitar gives them a second to breathe. “Take your protection off me for a minute and heal Deku, would you?”

“I can’t,” the mage shakes her head, hands extended shakily in front of her from the effort of the spells. “The protection spell is across all of you, and I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. If I stop it, I might not be able to get it back up again, and just one hit without it will take us out.”

“Then let’s finish this thing!” Red Riot exclaimed, and recklessly attacked the demon.

“Fuck, no, Ei wait it’s a Balor - ”

The brutal attack from the dragonkin strikes the last final blow, and the demon cries out in despair as it takes its final dying breath.

No longer needed, the protection spell evaporates, and the spent Uravity faints from exhaustion. Ingenium catches her effortlessly, but watches in horror as the Balor turns from a bright yellow into a deep orange, its corpse slowly expanding as it prepares to explode and curse the party with its final counterattack.

“Whoops, my bad everyone!” Kirishima apologized.

“Deku!” Dynamight screams from across the room. 

“Go!” Deku cries. “I’m not going to make it!”

Ingenium rushes out of the cavern with Uravity in his arms, followed closely by Prince Shouto.

“We have to go!” Red Riot shouts, pulling on Dynamight’s arm. “This whole place is gonna blow!”

“No!” Dynamight rips his arm away from his companion, pushing him towards the exit. “I’m not leaving him!”

Red Riot looks at Dynamight sadly, wondering if this is the last time he’ll ever see his best friend, before rushing to safety.

The corpse of the Balor turns a deep red, and the cavern shakes dangerously as Dynamight runs towards where Deku has been trapped for hours. 

Deku sobs as Dynamight covers his body with his own, knowing they’d never be able to free him and leave the cavern in time. He wraps his arms above Deku’s head and looks into his watery green eyes with tender care.

“Please,” Deku cries into the bare chest of the barbarian above him. “Just go,”

Dynamight shakes his head. “I’m never going to leave you behind again,” he says softly.

The Balor explodes, igniting everything in its path and bringing the cavern down on top of them.

From outside, the rest of the party screams for them, terrified as the collapsing rock buries their friends and the fire rages.

“Well, yikes! Good job on those saving throws for you Todoroki, and you, Iida, looks like only half damage, but Deku-”

“What the fuck?” Izuku snarled, standing up so quickly that his chair scraped the floor.

His friends looked up, shocked at his harsh language. An air of stillness permeated the lounge, and for a moment they were all afraid to speak.

“Um, well, it’s 70 damage on a failed save, 35 otherwise but…” Uraraka shakily tried to explain, but everyone knew who he was really talking to.

“What the actual fuck, Kacchan?” he asked again, chest heaving. Kacchan looked up from his seat across the table to meet his eyes steadily.

“You’d drop negative if you took that hit - even if you made the saving throw,” he said casually. 

“I don’t need you to save me,” Izuku replied, tears stinging his eyes. 

He was angry, so angry, and he knew it was ridiculous but the game had triggered something in him, and he couldn’t calm down.

“Deku,” Uraraka whispered softly, reaching for his hand, but Izuku ripped it away from her and instead swept the game pieces off the table in a fit of rage.

His hands were shaking, and suddenly he felt like he couldn’t breathe. It wasn’t the barbarian king protecting him, sacrificing himself, it was Katsuki, it was the War all over again. He couldn’t breathe, he couldn’t breathe. Why did he always do this? Why did he take the hit for him, he could have died, Katsuki would have died, and images of the barbarian king covering Izuku’s body with his own melded with the image of Katsuki flying across the sky to push Izuku out of the way.

“Because you’re so good at taking care of yourself?” Katsuki responded, ignoring the ruined diagrams. “You would have been dead , Deku. No healing potions, no rewind quirk, dead. ”

Izuku kept seeing Katsuki in the hospital bed. He was hurt so badly ( he could have died, could have died , whispered his brain over and over again), and he still has the scar, and it was Izuku’s fault, and Katsuki had the fucking nerve to do it all again when Izuku could barely keep it together the first time - 

“Fuck you, Kacchan, you don’t know anything about this - ”

“I’m not fucking going through this with you again - ”

“ - can’t do this anymore, Kacchan - “

“ - stupid fucking Deku, always jumping before looking - ”

“ - carrying this guilt around like you still need to fix it - ”

“ - thought we talked about this, thought you agreed to let us help - “

“ - forgive you, I’ve always forgiven you, stop dying for me please Kacchan - ”

Yelling felt good. Yelling helped. When he yelled, it was easier to ignore the ache in his chest and the bile in his throat and remembering how he felt seeing Kacchan’s body impaled by an attack meant for him.

His body shook, overwhelmed with emotion that he didn’t know how to articulate. 

At some point, Kacchan had stood up as well, and the two were screaming at each other across the table, but that was apparently too much for the class president to take.

“Enough!” Iida cried, karate-chopping his way between the two of them. “You are disturbing the rest of our classmates! This is outrageous behavior!”

“Yeah,” Izuku agreed, gulping for air. “Outrageous.”

Then he took off, storming out of the lounge in a rage. Cursing loudly as he watched Izuku depart, Katsuki kicked the chair behind him out of the way to follow.

Brows furrowed in puzzlement, Todoroki turned to Kirishima. “...Are they still talking about the game?”

Heart pounding, Izuku burst into his room, slamming the door behind him and sagging against it. Tears burned at his eyes and he suddenly realized that the loud gasping sound was him, struggling to catch his breath.

When his ass hit the ground, Izuku pulled his knees to his chest and buried his face in his hands. No stranger to emotional meltdowns, he tried to regulate himself: close your eyes, take deep breaths, now slower, in for 3, out for 3…

But Izuku’s attempt at calming himself down was interrupted by a pounding at the door, making him jump out of his skin.

“Deku, open the fuck up!”

He scrambled up, startled, and turned to face the door with wide eyes, heart beating no slower than it was a moment ago.

“I swear to god, nerd, if you don’t - “

“It-it’s open!” Izuku choked, too stunned to take the step forward and open it himself.

The door swung forward ominously.

Katsuki stood for a moment in the frame, glaring at Izuku’s sniveling form, before stepping inside the dorm room and slamming the door shut behind him, with roughly equal force as Izuku did a moment earlier. Poor door.

The two stared at each other in silence.

Then, Katsuki sighed heavily, and dropped onto the bed with a dramatic thud.

“You would’ve done the same thing, and you know it,” he said, crossing his arms and furrowing his eyebrows at Izuku.

Izuku unconsciously mirrored him, crossing his own arms and frowning.

“That’s different,” he said, not even bothering to deny the accusation. My body moved on its own, and all that.

“How?” Katsuki exclaimed. “We’re all fucking heroes, ain’t we? Why do you get to act like a suicidal maniac but the rest of us don’t?”

“Of course we’re all heroes, Kacchan,” Izuku said, eyes briefly finding the All Might poster above the bed. “And I’m learning to take a step back to let others step up - why can’t you?”

“No you’re not!” Katsuki yelled, rising up from the bed indignantly. “You just fucking went right for the sword without even thinking!”

“It was a game, Kacchan - why wouldn’t I grab it?”

“You didn’t even listen to Cheeks when she was talking - ”

“You were the one who said I could take it in the first place!”

“Even fucking IcyHot noticed something was wrong - ”

“Maybe you should be talking about this with Kirishima, who was the one who blew everything up in the first place, you might remember - ”

“You always rush in without thinking!”

“I can’t let anything happen to you!” Izuku cried. “Okay, are you happy now? And it’s not because I look down on you, Kacchan, you know that - please tell me you know that - but you’re just too important to me and I can’t…I can’t…”

He trailed off, looking unsure about whether to continue.

“Stupid nerd,” Katsuki said affectionately, closing the space between them. “Don’t you know it’s the same for me?”

“K-Kacchan?” Izuku hesitated, looking up into his eyes.

“You started it,” Katsuki said softly. “You’ve always been like this, running headfirst into danger to save me first. But it’s not like that anymore, Izuku. We’re a team now.”

Katsuki takes Izuku’s hand in his, and slowly brings it under his shirt to press against the scar on his stomach from Shigaraki.

Hands shaking, Izuku rubbed his thumb against it gently. “I don’t want you to,” he whispered. 

“I didn’t want you to either,” Katsuki said. “Do you understand now? Do you know how it feels to be on the other side? How I felt when I saw you run towards the Sludge Villain, when I saw you run at me during Training Camp, at Kamino Ward - during our fucking first year final exams! But you always wanted us to be a team, and now we are. That’s the trade-off, Deku. You need to let me look out for you, too. Let me be on your team, and trust me.” 

With his other hand, Katsuki cupped Izuku’s cheek, cradling his face with his hand, and Izuku unconsciously brought his own hand up to cover it. So they stood, each with one hand over the other.

“Please,” Katsuki begged, and Izuku - who swore he’s never heard Katsuki utter such a phrase in their entire lives - nodded.

“Okay,” he agreed, and before he could say anything else, Katsuki was kissing him.

Izuku might have pulled away in surprise, if it wasn’t for the gentle hand at his cheek and Katsuki’s tight grip on the hand against his stomach. Izuku was glad he was so secured; for having overcome the moment of surprise, he kissed back eagerly, hardly daring to believe this was real life.

“Kacchan,” he breathed as they pulled apart for air. “Kacchan, Kacchan…”

“Stupid Deku,” Katsuki mumbled, pressing his forehead against Izuku’s, and moved his hands to wrap them around Izuku’s waist.

Izuku threaded his hands through Katsuki’s hair and pulled at it tightly. “Kiss me again,” he demanded, and Katsuki chuckled.

“As you wish.”

“A dragon could get used to a life like this!” Red Riot exclaims, stretching languidly next to the throne where Dynamight and Deku sat.

“It is pretty nice to have an established position at court mage,” Uravity agrees. “Even if it’s a barbarian court.”

“Oi, I didn’t see you tripping over yourself to follow the pompous prince back to his realm,” Dynamight snaps. 

“I’m more than happy to lend my magic when needed. And it is not yet needed,” Uravity says simply, enjoying a sip of wine and relaxing back into furs on the other side of Deku and Dynamight’s thrones.

“I’m afraid you speak too soon,” Ingenium interrupts, walking up to where the group looked down upon Dynamight’s tribe. “Shouto calls for aid,” he adds, handing a letter to Deku.

He takes it, and briefly skims the contents before looking up at Dynamight with a grim expression. “Civil war, as expected,” he says, and hands the letter to his partner. 

“The mountain tribes will come,” Dynamight nods. “We fly at dawn.”

“I’ll write back to the prince at once!” Ingenium responds.

“We just put down your rebellion last week,” Uravity whines, but stands up to start gathering her things. “Can’t a girl get some peace and quiet around here?”

“Alright!” Red Riot jumps up excitedly. “Another quest, here we come!” He sprung up, hooting loudly as he ran to gather the rest of the tribe and spread the news. 

“Promise me you won’t take any unnecessary risks this time?” Deku teases, the two now alone together on the raised platform.

Dynamight grins, and shoves Deku affectionately. “I’m still three levels above you. Sounds like you’re going to be the one doing stupid shit to try and surpass me.”

Deku laughs and grabs at Dynamight’s cape, pulling him down into a quick kiss before the frantic pace of war preparations begin, and the adventure continues.