"Kacchan?"
At that voice, one fateful evening, both Kirishima and Kacchan turn their heads in the direction where it's coming from.
"Deku?" Kacchan croaks from the corner of his cell. He gets off his bed and onto his feet, cursing himself at how terrible his voice sounds.
"It's really you." Izuku murmurs.
"What are you doing here, Deku," Kacchan says gruffly as he stands before Izuku, bars between them.
"Shoto... let me come and pay you a visit... Jeez, do they feed you anything in prison? You've lost so much weight!"
"Yeah, well, they could definitely do a better job of feeding us here at the slammer. But who are you to talk, Deku? You've gotten so fat you could literally kill someone just by sitting on them!"
Izuku blushes. "Okay, so I've put on a little weight. There's no need to exaggerate, though."
"Tch. So what's been going on with you, Izuku? Haven't seen you in like. Two years."
"I've been... well..." Izuku trails off.
Kacchan sighs. "Living under a tyrant, I know. He rubs it in my face whenever he can."
"Eh?" Izuku exclaims.
Kacchan frowns. "I'm talking about your prince, or should I say, the prince of Hell, Todoroki. I don't know if you know this, Izuku, but. He comes and visits me sometimes. It's bad enough that ever since he apprehended me, he managed to make slavery, owning Quirkless folk legal, but to add insult to injury, he rubs the fact that he did to me any chance he gets. Not to mention, he dangles the fact that he owns you, Izuku, over my head like it's something to be proud of, like owning someone, having a slave, isn't completely fucked up in every sense of the word."
For a moment, there's an instinctual desire from Izuku's part to defend his... well, owner, but...
"He's terrible." Kacchan concludes. "A cancer to society, and society is better off without sick pricks like him. In fact, why don't you just stab him in his sleep or something first chance you get?"
Izuku purses his lips. "Well... As much as Shoto hurts me... I'm better off in his hands than in the hands of someone else."
Kacchan narrows his eyes. "So, he's been hurting you?"
Izuku looks at the ground, crestfallen.
"I'm guessing that's a yes," Kacchan sighs, "Dammit, Izuku... I'm sorry I didn't kill him. I tried. I really did."
"I don't want him dead," Izuku says sadly, "I just wish he could be the person he used to be. If that person was ever real to begin with, at least."
"Why in God's name would Shoto let you come and pay me a visit, anyway? Where is he? And where's my guard?"
"I managed to convince Shoto to let us talk privately." Izuku says.
"Tch, at what cost?"
At that, Izuku's face falls, and so does Kacchan's.
"Uh... don't answer that." Kacchan mutters, shaking his head. "Anyway, uh... I'm glad to see you again, I guess. Always nice seeing a face in this prison that doesn't look like some malformed monstrosity."
"Who's that?" Izuku asks as the person behind Kacchan waves at Izuku from the comfort of his bed.
"This is Kirishima, my cellmate and partner in crime."
"Howdy." Kirishima greets, not bothering to get up.
Izuku then glances back at Kacchan.
Devastated that his former childhood friend is behind bars.
