Trust Falls

Cat's in the cradle

The drive back to U.A was a quiet one. Katsuki had gently guided Izuku to the car and slid in after him. The moment he settled himself down in the backseat, Izuku shuffled closer and carefully tucked himself against Katsuki's side. One of his hands reached for his and the blonde carefully intertwined their fingers.

It wasn't a long ride back but the longer the silence stretched on the more tension Katsuki could feel the body next to his tensing. By the time they pulled into the teachers' parking lot of U.A, Izuku was coiled tight as a spring. Katsuki rubbed his thumb gently over the back of his hand in an attempt to relax him and earned a tense smile in return.

Neither Mic or Aizawa said anything as they herded both of the teens gently into the dorms. Katsuki expected to be gently shooed towards his dorms but instead he found himself in the Aizawa-Yamada apartment. Two cats twined their way between Aizawa's feet, meowing loudly and causing the pro to curse under his breath and try and shoo them away. If he wasn't so wrung out Katsuki might be tempted to laugh at the sight of their grumpy teacher lightly scolding two very large cats and attempting to not get bowled over.

Izuku didn't seem to be paying attention to the bizarrely hilarious thing going on with his dad, instead pulling Katsuki over to the sofa and collapsing down on it heavily. Katsuki dropped down next to him, lifting his arm so the smaller teen could burrow into his side once again.

As badly as Katsuki wanted to pry into what was going on in his mind there was something in the other's face that made him pause. He'd seen a lot of the other's expressions over the last few weeks but this one was closed off but at the same time...fragile.

It left Katsuki at a loss for what to do to fix it. If it could even be fixed.

Both teen's gazes lifted when Mic sat on the coffee table in front of them. The man's eyes were soft as he leaned forward, elbows on his knees and his hair slipping down over his shoulders as he leaned down. All three of them had geared up so fast that the man hadn't even bothered to do more than pull his hair back in a low ponytail before they flew out the door.

Honestly, at this moment Katsuki felt like he was in the twilight zone with the night and day difference between the two heroes teaching personas and what he assumed was their actual selves.

"Hey little listener..." Mic started, reaching out to card his fingers carefully through Izuku's hair. The teen leaned into the touch like a cat, eyes slipping shut for a moment before aiming a small smile at the man.

Even if Katsuki was blind he'd be able to tell how much Izuku adored his new father figures. It made his chest ache a little. It was obviously something he'd sorely lacked not just in the last few years but in his life in general.

"I know you're pretty attached to it, bud, but can we get that hoodie off? It's not looking so great." The blonde man said gently, carefully reaching out to pluck at the fabric gently.

The look on Izuku's face revealed just how much he did not want to do that. He curled in a little tighter next to Katsuki and turned his head just enough to hide his expression from the two of them. For a long moment it seemed like he was going to ignore the request. The moment ticked by until finally the green haired teen carefully sat up and unzipped the hoodie, wincing as the fabric crumbled a little as he slid it off of his arms and shoulders.

Both blondes watched as he let the remainder of the fabric pool in his slap, fingers clenching and unclenching in the fabric before he took a deep breath and carefully handed it to Mic. To the man's credit, he took it as gently as he could and was careful not to touch the decayed or singed areas.

"I'll see if someone can patch thi-"

"Don't bother. I can...just get another one or something." Izuku's voice was rough and he tried to hide the lost expression on his face by covering it with his hand before he curled back into Katsuki's side.

The teen rubbed the other's back gently, meeting the older blonde's gaze worriedly over his head. The man just gave him a small smile before gathering up the material and putting it into a ziplock bag carefully.