Wrestling with the knowledge that Izuku's childhood friend turned bully turned rival turned villain was not an easy feat for him. After meeting the infamous Zero and Red on his patrol, he'd gone back to his agency and filed a report. A meaningless report that stated he never even talked to them. There was a small fight, and they escaped without a word. 

Izuku was in serious shit. If anyone found out he'd fabricated the report, he could kiss his job, his license, his life goodbye. Yet he didn't regret the decision. 

At least not enough to fix it. 

After learning of his patrol escapades and his resulting injuries, Iida ordered him three days off. He had started at a week, but Izuku was able to talk him down, and it only took an hour. Believe it or not, that was actually an improvement. 

His back wasn't too badly burned (he silently debated if Katsuki had held back, but there was no way he'd ever do that), so he decided not to bother any of the healers on duty. Between all the injuries he regularly sustained at work, he had enough medical supplies to be considered a small clinic. He could take care of a few minor burns at home. 

"I should get a dog," Izuku mumbled to himself as he slipped on the loosest-fitting hoodie he owned. He'd spent most of his first and second days off shirtless; the constant stinging in his back was only worsened by the friction caused by fabric, but he couldn't leave his apartment half naked. He'd never hear the end of it from his PR team. 

"Who am I kidding? I can't keep a plant alive, let alone an animal." 

It was around midnight, and he couldn't sleep. It was nothing new for him; sleepless nights came with the job. Despite his carefree and self-assured attitude, it truly was impossible to save everyone. He often stayed up well into the night thinking about those he failed. 

Tonight was no different, although the victim was a new one he hadn't thought about in a long time. When Katsuki first disappeared, Izuku had searched for him. For years, actually. It wasn't until recently (and with lots of pushing from the agency-employed counselor he was required to meet with at least once a month) that he'd finally accepted that he'd never see his childhood friend again. 

Only for him to turn up. This time, as the big bad villain Izuku had always imagined stole him away. 

To say his head was a mess was an understatement. 

So, he did what he always did when he couldn't sleep. He walked. 

It was a clear night, not a cloud in the sky, as the stars shone brightly overhead. Autumn had just begun, so the air was chilly. Nothing a sweatshirt couldn't fend off. He wasn't sure where he was heading, but he never really did. There wasn't a point to his late-night strolls other than getting out of the house for something non-life-threatening. 

Imagine his surprise when his feet carried him to the same park where he'd first seen Katsuki after all those years, bickering with Eijirou over a failed gas station robbery. It was just as beautiful as he remembered, the fairy lights twinkling in the dark and dusting the path with a soft glow. 

Izuku sighed, resigning himself to this fate. He wanted to be here for some reason, so he might as well see it through. "When the world doesn't magically fix itself, I can turn around and go home. Maybe get some actual sleep for a change," he muttered bitterly to no one but himself as he started down the path through the park. 

It didn't take long for him to come across an empty bench. Fatigue had set in, no matter how much his body refused to sleep, so a short break there sounded like a half-decent idea. 

He plopped down and rested his elbows on his knees, careful to keep his still raw back from touching the cool wood of the bench. Subconsciously, his leg started bouncing and his anxiety ticked up. There was no rhyme or reason to it other than it felt like he was waiting. Waiting for something to happen, but he wasn't sure what. 

Twenty minutes passed like that: him on the verge of a panic attack, and the calm night offering no cause for his worries. 

"This is stupid." So was talking to himself, but he brushed that thought aside as he stood to leave. 

The sound of distant footsteps halted his movement. His breath hitched as his heart started to beat a million miles an hour. There's thousands of people who live in this city, he reminded himself. Hundreds who have just as much trouble sleeping as me and go for walks. 

That didn't stop him from staying in place, silently waiting to see who would walk down that path. He was hoping and praying, but couldn't decide if it was in favor of a certain temperamental blond and his redheaded best friend or not. 

Before he could decide, it was too late. The steps suddenly came to a halt as the owners stood wide-eyed, staring directly at him. 

"Fuck," he said under his breath, now face to face with two of Japan's most wanted villains for the second time in one week. 

If he didn't know himself any better, he'd be surprised by his shit luck. 

Eijirou was the first to recover from the initial shock of the meeting, a teasing smile taking over his features while he slung an arm over Katsuki's shoulders. "Well, this is cute. Do you think he was looking for us, Kats?" 

Katsuki snapped back to reality at the touch, scowling and pushing the arm off him in such a painfully familiar act. "Would you stop fucking hitting on him? It's creeping me out." 

Izuku couldn't even react to the normally flush-inducing conversation. His mind was too preoccupied with trying to decide between fight or flight. He'd let them get away once, was he really about to do it again? They're well-known villains, and he's Japan's number one pro hero. He should be doing something, right? He should be yelling, or fighting, or arresting them, or something. So, why the hell couldn't he move? 

"Damn," Eijirou said with a chuckle, taking a few steps forward and causing Izuku to zero in on the movement. "I think we broke the little guy." 

"I am not little," Izuku hissed without thinking about it. He'd been endlessly tormented about his height for his entire life, snapping over it was an instinct. An instinct that he apparently couldn't shut off around dangerous criminals. 

Eijirou's red eyes lit up as he spoke, making Izuku's stomach tie itself into even more knots than before. "So, he does speak." 

"Knock it off," Katsuki said in a gruff voice, shouldering past his partner and closing even more distance between the villains and the hero. "What the fuck are you doing here, Deku?" 

Izuku was desensitized to his hero name, hearing it more times a day than he could count. Even so, hearing it from Katsuki, after all those years, caused a sharp pain in his chest. An ache for his best friend who disappeared without a trace. 

"Couldn't sleep," he croaked, finding his voice, however weak it happened to be. Posturing around the blond was next to impossible. Katsuki had never seen him as anything other than a weak, crying middle schooler. How could he possibly keep the persona up in front of someone who had only ever known him at his lowest? 

Katsuki raised a brow, his hands shoved into the front pockets of his jeans. "So what? You decided to go looking for us?" 

"Not everything's about you, Kacchan," Izuku snapped without a thought, suddenly a rebellious first year picking fights and trying to prove that he'd grown a backbone. 

The outburst didn't seem to surprise the blond, but Eijirou let out a roaring laugh at his words. "He's a little spitfire," he said between chuckles. "I can tell you two grew up together." 

"Shut up," Katsuki grumbled, throwing an elbow into his stomach, only to hiss when Izuku assumed the redhead activated his quirk. 

"C'mon," Eijirou whined with a pout, throwing his arm around the other's shoulders again. "You never talk about your life before we met. Let me be excited about this." 

Izuku had to blink a few times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Red, the notorious and dangerous criminal who had a body count in the dozens, was whining and pouting right in front of him. 

Katsuki rolled his eyes at the childishness of his partner, but made no move to push him away this time. "I didn't have a life before we met." 

Izuku tried to ignore the twinge of hurt at those words. It was still so easy for Katsuki to brush him aside. While Izuku begged and cried and bargained, Katsuki was out starting his life. A life that held no room for Izuku now. 

"Stop it, you're gonna make me blush," Eijirou teased before redirected his attention back to Izuku with a beaming smile. "No, but for real, what was Katsuki like as a kid?" 

Once again, Izuku's mouth moved without any input from his brain. "A little shit." 

Eijirou erupted with laughter again and Katsuki violently pushed him away, almost making the burly man fall over as his support suddenly turned against him. 

"Says you!" the blond hissed. 

Izuku hadn't noticed how close the other two men had gotten until Eijirou fully cleared the little distance left and clapped him on the back. He instantly gasped as pain shot through his back, and he stumbled forward. 

The redhead was the one who stopped him from collapsing to his knees, taking care to grab him by the arms and refrain from touching his injuries at all. 

"Oh shit," he said as he righted the hero on his feet. "I totally forgot about that, dude. My bad." 

Izuku blinked rapidly, willing the sting to go away so he could focus. Did he really just help me? 

Once Eijirou was sure he wouldn't keel over, he took a step back with a sheepish smile. "I really thought Katsuki was gonna pull his punches with you, but, uh, I guess not." 

The blond in question made a small 'tch' noise as he looked off to one side of the path. "Why the hell would I go easy on Deku? He could take a hit in high school, and he's basically a mini tank now." 

"Okay," Izuku said with a breath as he rolled his shoulders back and glared right at Katsuki. "I am seriously not that much shorter than you guys." 

Eijirou lifted a brow with one corner of his mouth tilted up. "You consider a foot 'not that much shorter'?" 

Izuku frantically shook his head, trying to physically clear his thoughts. "Jesus, what am I even doing? I should be arresting you guys right now, not arguing over my height." 

"Hey, now," Eijirou said testily, holding his hands up in front of him. "You're off duty, we're off duty, no need for all the hostility." 

Izuku openly gaped at him, not sure if there was any way for him to be serious. "You guys are wanted criminals," he said after a moment. "That's not just something you can take a break from." 

Eijirou shrugged, all of his tension leaving as he scratched the back of his neck. "Seeing as no one knows our names or faces, yeah, we can. Ya know, it's really important to have a good work-life balance." 

The sputtering from Izuku couldn't be helped. His mind was moving faster than his mouth, and it took a second for actual words to form. "I'm not about to take career advice from a criminal-" 

"Calm down, nerd," Katsuki grunted, cutting Izuku off before he could start rambling on. "If we wanted to do something to you, we would have when you showed Ei where you fucking live." 

Izuku's stomach dropped to the floor and his eyes went wide, unable to hide his panic as he was blatantly reminded that Eijirou knew where he lived. 

"Yeah," Katsuki said with a chuckle as he watched Izuku flash through all five stages of grief. "Didn't think that one through, did ya? As a big shot hero, you should really be more careful around strangers." 

"Relax a little, dude," Eijirou said, bumping his elbow against Izuku's arm and causing the shorter to jump. "If I'm not in uniform, I have absolutely no reason to throw you through a wall." 

"Wow," Izuku muttered sarcastically, holding his arm where the two had just made contact as he took a small step back. "I feel so safe and comforted right now." 

"Awesome," the redhead said, his bright smile still in place. Izuku couldn't tell if he didn't catch the sarcasm or was just choosing to ignore it. "We were just heading to this really great twenty-four-seven ramen place if you wanna tag along?" 

Izuku's eyebrows shot up at the question, his eyes rapidly flipping from Eijirou to Katsuki. "Did you really just invite a pro hero to dinner?" he asked, absolutely astonished by his stupidity. 

Eijirou shrugged, both he and Katsuki already starting to walk away. "Kats said you wouldn't report us, and he was right. We've been talking for like five minutes, and you haven't thrown a punch. I just figured if you can't sleep and want to catch up with an old friend... eh, what the hell?" 

Izuku stayed frozen in place, unsure of what to make of the redhead. Was he a complete idiot, or was it a trap? 

Just before the two were out of sight, Eijirou turned around and took a few steps backward as he called, "And who knows, maybe we'll let a few secrets slip!" 

With the comforting knowledge that it was a reconnaissance mission and nothing more, he took off after them. 

Have an extra chapter for the day because I'm feeling generous.