Chapter 26

Katsuki was taken aback by Izuku's statement, staring intently into his jade eyes. What did he mean by that? He was the one strangling the greenette, for crying out loud! He was the cause for such horrible flashback...so how could he have helped Izuku?

A squeeze to his shoulder had him looking over at All Might, who gave them both a small smile. "Take a breather, you two. You did good, Young Midoriya. I'm proud of you."

Izuku took in a deep breath, tears welling up in his eyes. He did his best not to cry, for he didn't want to seem too emotional over the fact that All Might was proud of him. The greenette smiled brightly at the retired pro hero, earning a small smile in return from him. All Might then walked away, leaving the two teenagers to themselves.

The freckled boy turned to Katsuki, who was back to staring at him with a curious glint in his eyes. Izuku tilted his head in question, a crease forming between his brows as he looked at the blond. "Is everything alright, Kacchan?"

"What did you mean by that?" Katsuki asked, brows furrowed.

"I mean, you're just staring at me like that and I—"

"No, not that, you fucking idiot," Katsuki rolled his eyes. "How could I have possibly helped you get out of your trance? I was the one who was fucking choking you!"

Izuku thought about it for a bit, offering the blond a small smile. "I saw you, Kacchan. You were there when my father was choking me. You held me as I cried and wouldn't let me go. It was because you were there that I could forget about my father and snap out of it."

Admitting that out loud made him feel nervous and vulnerable. Even so, it was the truth. If it weren't for Katsuki and Mitsuki showing up, who knows what would've happened to him. For that, he was forever grateful.

Katsuki was too stunned to speak, not having expected those words. His heart was doing flips inside his chest as he stared at the greenette. He remembered it clearly. How he held the boy after what he had witnessed, blood boiling at the thought of Hisashi laying a hand on his childhood friend. He immediately felt hatred towards the man, wanting to blast his face off and rip him to shreds.

The blond nodded slowly, looking at the ground and running a hand through his spiky hair. Taking a deep breath, he looked back up at Izuku and glared at him the way a predator would glare at his prey. "Don't you ever ask me to do something like that again."

Izuku tensed up, noticing the raw emotions behind Katsuki's eyes. His ruby red orbs held guilt, anger, and sorrow. It was obvious that he had hated doing what he did in order to trigger the memory. He had verbally expressed his denial to the idea, after all.

"Y-Yeah. Sorry, Kacchan," Izuku apologized, lips tugging down in a frown. "I didn't think you'd hate it that much."

Katsuki bit the inside of his cheek, looking away before clicking his tongue. "I just don't want you to compare me to...him."

Izuku's eyes widened in astonishment, taken aback. "I have never and will never compare you to that man. You are nothing like him."

"I was worse," Katsuki frowned, looking everywhere but his eyes. It was a good thing that they were now alone in the building, not a single soul apart from them. He was vulnerable at the moment, and he would hate it if anyone were to witness it. At least anyone other than Izuku, whom he could no longer hide things from.

"So what if you were?" Izuku asked softly. "That's in the past, Kacchan. Although I don't know your reasons for having been that way, I never hated you for it."

"You should've hated me. I was a fucking coward who couldn't handle any judgment from other people," Katsuki sighed, stuffing his hands deep inside his pockets. Izuku was silent, trying to understand what the blond was saying. Katsuki was feeling anxious, the truth spilling out of his mouth unconsciously. He had held that information for too long.

"What do you mean?" Izuku asked perplexed.

"Since you followed me around all the time, my...'friends' at the time began thinking that I was gay. I couldn't handle the thought of being made fun of or people being disgusted by me...so I diverted the attention...to you." Katsuki admitted, visibly wincing as he recalled his middle school years.

Izuku blinked, processing the information. "Wait, so what happened to the guy that couldn't care less about what people thought of him?"

"That's just a stupid façade," Katsuki scoffed, shaking his head. "One of the reasons I act so tough and mighty is because that's how I want people to view me. I don't want people's opinion of me to be biased by the fact that I fucking like boys."

"So how exactly did you divert the attention to me? Apart from the fact of me being quirkless back then?" Izuku asked, frown evident on his features. He would be lying if he said that he wasn't afraid of the answer. Judging by Katsuki's hesitancy, something told him that he wasn't going to like it one bit.

"I...told them that you were the gay one," Katsuki mumbled, chest tightening painfully. His hands formed into fists inside his pockets, finally revealing the dreadful truth.

Izuku let out an involuntary gasp, feeling as if he had been slapped across the face. Although he was grateful that the blond had finally opened up to him, he couldn't help but feel hurt and betrayed. One thing was making fun of his quirklessness, another was putting him in the line of fire just to save himself.

The silence was deafening—at least to Katsuki. He gathered enough courage to finally look at Izuku in the eye. The moment he did, however, he instantly regretted it. The amount of emotions that were being displayed inside those jade orbs were swirling like a tornado. It was as if the greenette didn't know how to feel. Anger and hurt battled against each other, until one of them was deemed the winner.

"Deku..." Katsuki whispered, afraid of speaking any louder.

"So, you're telling me that...because you didn't want your stupid minions to judge you for being gay...you decided it was best for me to receive all the fucking bullets?!" Izuku exclaimed, looking at the blond incredulously.

"Look, I know that—!"

"All of these years I've been wondering just what the fuck I did wrong for you to hate me. I've been beating myself up, trying to get you to like me, to fucking acknowledge me as a friend, and you fucking threw me under the bus to save yourself?!" Izuku continued, face turning red in anger and disbelief.

"Deku, please—!"

"Don't 'Deku' me!" The greenette yelled, tears welling up in his eyes. "Was your reputation really that much more important to you than...me? The one who has been with you through just about everything?!"

A lump formed in the back of Katsuki's throat. He knew that he had fucked up big time, but he deserved the wrath that the greenette was throwing his way. The regret he felt could not be put into words, so he would do anything to earn Izuku's forgiveness.

"Was I really such a nuisance to you?" Izuku whispered, his anger dissipating and being replaced by hurt. Katsuki's eyes widened, his heart hurting by the way that the nerd's voice had cracked.

"Fuck—no!" Katsuki rushed out, hating the way the tears started running down Izuku's freckled cheeks. The greenette took a deep breath, shaking his head in disbelief and turning on his heel. Katsuki panicked, quickly going after the boy. "Wait, where are you going?!"

"Leave me alone, Kacchan," Izuku mumbled, walking out of the building and towards the dorms. Katsuki was hot on his tail, not liking the way Izuku was pushing him away. He had just got him, he couldn't afford to lose him again!

"Deku, wait!" Katsuki said when he noticed Izuku fasten his steps to get away from him. "Please!"

"I am not repeating myself!" Izuku hissed, wiping his tears away aggressively. He stormed inside the dorms, not caring about the way his classmates looked over at them. Katsuki noticed his friends approaching him with questioning glances, but he glared at them.

"Stay out of it, you fucking extras!" Katsuki growled out, making them move out of his way as he followed Izuku up the stairs. The greenette fumbled with his key, clumsily opening his door and going inside his room quickly. He attempted to slam the door shut, but Katsuki's foot got in the way preventing him from doing so.

Katsuki cursed under his breath as he felt the impact of the corner of the door on his foot, but he paid little mind to it. "Just hear me out!"

"You have already made it clear just how little you care for me," Izuku hissed, pushing on the door not caring if he hurt Katsuki's foot. He just wanted to get away from him...his heart couldn't handle such pain.

"That's not true!" Katsuki exclaimed, wincing as the pressure against his foot intensified. The greenette didn't leave him any other option besides using his brute force to get the door open. Izuku stumbled as he got pushed back by the door, Katsuki storming in and locking the door behind him.

"Get out," Izuku ordered, not looking directly at Katsuki.

"No," Katsuki growled, stomping over to him. He stopped right in front of the greenette, breathing heavily. "Look, I know that what I did was stupidly selfish and coward. You didn't deserve any of it. God, Deku, you have no idea how much I fucking regret everything that I did to you!"

"Then why do it in the first place?!" Izuku exclaimed, eyes red and puffy.

"Because I am a fucking hypocrite that destroys everything that I fucking care about!" Katsuki yelled, his voice cracking towards the end. "I have always lived my life seeking for praises and approval from everyone around me! I don't know who I would be without it! And I know, I know, that it is not an excuse for what I did to you, which is why I'm trying to change!"

Izuku looked at Katsuki's teary-eyes in surprise. The blond looked like he would have a breakdown any minute now, raw emotions laying bare in his ruby orbs. That had been the most vulnerable and honest he had ever been in his entire life. Izuku could tell that Katsuki truly regretted what he had done, but he still couldn't help but feel doubt.

"How can I be sure that you truly care for me?" Izuku asked in a mere whisper, looking deeply into Katsuki's eyes. The blond's breath hitched in his throat, pondering for a minute to find a way to convince the freckled boy. His eyes flicked between each of Izuku's jade orbs, determination settling deep down in his stomach.

Before he could regret his decision, Katsuki brought a hand to the back of Izuku's head, pulling his face forward and crashing their lips together in desperation. Katsuki's eyes were shut tight, meanwhile Izuku's widened like saucers, a gasp being muffled by the blond's lips. Both their heartbeats skyrocketed to dangerous levels, the one thing they could focus on being the other's warm lips.

After a short moment, Katsuki pulled away by a small distance. Their heavy breaths mingled together as he finally opened his eyes, hands resting gently on Izuku's freckled cheeks as he softly spoke, "I would do anything for you, Izuku."