Eat My Stomach (Quirk Deku AU)

Dream On

Katsuki noticed something different in the nerd. Ever since Auntie Inko died. He hadn't shriveled up on himself like Katsuki noticed people in grief do. No, he seemed to literally expand with strength. Deku couldn't be found during lunch, the teachers looked scared of him too. Katsuki told the other students to leave him alone for a while, he had cared about Auntie too despite how he acted. He wanted Deku back in the right headspace. He was sure Deku would return to showing everyone he thought he was better than him, and he did, slowly over the 8 months after her death.

He carried his back straighter than he'd ever had before. His body was chiseled with lean, compact muscle. His frame stayed small, but was sculpted to perfection, Katsuki could tell that much from the small peeks he could get of the nerd's form. His air was silent but strong, disciplined. Every day during lunch, he disappeared. Katsuki thought all the other stuff was weird, but could be explained away, but when he asked where Deku went during lunch, the nerd wouldn't even grace him with a reply. That pissed off Katsuki the most. Who did this bastard think he was?

It was one day in December, two months before the U.A. entrance exams, that Katsuki decided he'd actually investigate rather than sitting in the cafeteria expecting Deku to walk through the doors. He gave some bullshit excuse about staying behind to talk to the teacher to his group of extras when the bell sounded for lunch, then sneakily waited until Deku walked out of the classroom before silently following behind him. He had a stacked bento tucked under his arm. Katsuki followed him through the halls, past teachers that eyed the nerd warily, and up the stairs to the-roof? The door was locked wasn't it? Katsuki watched Deku pull a key out of the pocket of his slacks and unlock it. Ah, question answered. He let Deku walk through the door completely before rushing out to confront him. When he did, however, the nerd was standing on the roof, facing him, his arms crossed expectantly with a bored expression on his face.

"What do you want Kacchan?" He said in resignation. No stuttering.

"What are you doing here, Deku? Too good to eat with the rest of us?" Katsuki asked accusatory. Deku just sighed, sitting along the wall on the edge of the roof to start unpacking his bento. "You're gone every day. Does this-does this have to do with Auntie?" He picked up a spoon from inside the lid, and started stirring around a... beet stew maybe? It was very red.

"Why? You worried about me?" Katsuki walked over to the nerd to stand over him while he slurped at the steaming stew.

"Hell no! This is just curiosity! Like hell I'd give a shit about you." Deku chewed on something hard. "So what the hell are you doing up here, you quirkless freak?" He took a sip of whatever was in his metal water bottle, then set it down resolutely. His lips were tinged red.

"I'm not quirkless anymore Kacchan."

"What?" Deku went back to chewing the chunks in his stew. The meat looked weird. Katsuki shook his head in disbelief. "Now hold on Deku, you can't just say that and not elaborate dammit."

"I had a quirk develop through survival instinct, the day my mother died." His voice was steady, as though he rehearsed this. Katsuki's eyes widened.

"What do you mean by that?" He took another swig from his bottle.

"Before my apartment building burned down, I was attacked by a villain. I was going to die, so my body forcibly mutated. Of course, that didn't save me, a hero did. But now I have a quirk." Katsuki laughed disbelievingly.

"I don't believe this."

"I don't need you to." He picked up something large and white in his spoon.

"What is it then? This new quirk."

"We've decided to call it Ghoul." Deku swished whatever was in his spoon around. Who is we? "I'm inhumanly strong and fast. My senses are that of an apex predator. My skin is stronger than steel. I'm a whole new person." Deku chuckles sadly. The white ball in his spoon spins upwards, it almost looks like-"It has one awful drawback, though." Katsuki stepped back in confusion. There was an eye in Deku's soup.