His Hero

Concern

"Katsuki..."

The dull crimson eyes that met Shoto's had the fire and ice hero's stomach rolling with worry. Without thinking he reached a hand forward only to have it swatted away by the once explosive hero. He saw hurt flicker across Katsuki's eyes for a moment before it was replaced by an emotionless blank stare past Shoto. It was like looking into a mirror of himself at 15 when he first arrived at UA. Back when the only thing that mattered was surviving and getting out from under his father's control. When his emotions were shoved down so deeply, he could no longer access them himself.

This was not who he had expected to step off that train. Sure, he knew Katsuki would have changed in their five years apart. Hell, he knew he wasn't the same person anymore either. But there was always one thing that remained unchanged in the fire and ice hero, even after all these years. He still cared deeply for Katsuki. It tore his heart in two to see the that the blond hero truly had moved on and forgotten about him.

With a heavy sigh he turned his attention to where Katsuki was staring. Kirishima was gently pushing his way through the small crowd gathered around him, insisting he needed to get going. His smile warm and apologetic. Until he made eye contact with Shoto. His smile faltered for a fraction of a second before being replaced by another. One that most would have mistaken as a sign of happiness to see his long-time friend. But Shoto could see right through it.

He would admit he was once pretty clueless when it came to a lot of things. Shoto had been called dense more than enough times growing up and he really couldn't disagree. His lack of regular socialization as a child and aloof personality left him silently questioning a lot of what his classmates said or did while in school. He had pieced a lot of things together as he got older though. Sometimes reeling with secondhand embarrassment for his younger self at the memories. How he'd managed to make such a fool of himself and still have so many friends was beyond him. Though he was pretty sure now that his calm personality and rational thinking had something to do with it. Oh, and his looks.

Despite this he was unbelievably observant. Picking up on subtle queues of body language as he spent years watching and listening to those around him rather than talking. His observational skill set growing as he came to understand the feelings and emotions driving the body language. Time spent patrolling with Hawks honed those skills into a useful tool. He prided himself on his ability to read people and right now he did not like what he was reading on Kirishima.

The sturdy hero's smile was fake. Forced. Face muscles tense as he no doubt ground his teeth hard enough to break if not for his quirk. Most telling was how the smile failed to meet his eyes. Normally so kind and inviting they were now cold and dare he say, resentful? He strode over to them with fists clenched at his sides before possessively wrapping an arm around Katsuki's waist and pulling him to stand behind him. Something the blond would have exploded over years ago. Now he just hung his head and obeyed. Angling himself away from Kirishima.

The fire and ice hero smoothed his clothes out and attempted to mask his worry with the impassive expression he had once worn so easily. He was less practiced at hiding his emotions these days but not knowing what was going on between the two, or if it was even his place to say anything, he wanted try to ease the tension that now hung around the three.

"Nice to see you Kirishima" he nodded to the red head. "You too Katsuki."

"Bakugo" the red head growled lowly, crossing his arms, and glaring at the fire and ice hero.

"What?" Shoto questioned. Unsure if Kirishima had been addressing him or Katsuki. He certainly wouldn't still be calling his boyfriend of six years by his last name, would he? But Shoto and Katsuki had been on a first name basis since some point in their first year at UA. Sure, they hadn't seen or talked to each other in the last several years but that wouldn't mean all their time together meant nothing anymore. Right?