sure as the waves on the sand are washing

Katsuki knows he’s destined for great things, to be the greatest hero possible. Now, if only his stupid best friend could get his quirk already so he can be the best sidekick.

With a huff, the blond stares at this hands, wondering just what he could do to push Izuku’s quirk along, only to be surprised as they cackle with small explosions without him even trying.

“Kacchan’s so amazing!” he hears from behind, making Katsuki jerk and turn around, only to find Izuku staring at him all starry eyed. “Can you make your quirk go boom again?”

Katsuki is saying no, but his hands go off with no input from him at all, making the blond frown in thought. He wasn’t doing it, so why…? Then he looks at Izuku, sees that his eyes are really bright, much brighter than they normally are and things start to click in place. “Your quirk!” 

The quizzical look Izuku gives him makes Katsuki huff in impatience. “I wasn’t using my quirk – you were making me!” Katsuki starts explaining his grand deduction and at his insistence, Izuku tries it again with his quirk. The look of delight on Izuku’s face makes him flush too, but it’s gotta be because now, his best friend has a quirk too.

The next test is their teacher who had the utterly uninteresting quirk that allowed her hair to change colors. She normally keeps it a solid color but Katsuki urges Izuku to try and control it, just like he had Katsuki’s explosions. They stand at the sandbox and wait, but nothing happens.

Well, maybe they aren’t close enough? That makes sense, right? So they get closer and closer at Katsuki’s urging, until they’re maybe a kid or two away from her and suddenly, her hair gets colorful streaks, like a rainbow across the strands the same time Izuku’s eyes begin to glow. The other kids start laughing and saying her hair looks prettier now. Their teacher looks shocked and starts to immediately get her hair back to one color, although it takes a bit since Izuku’s eyes still glow as his quirk takes control of hers.

But this cements it in Katsuki’s mind – Izuku has a quirk and it’s perfect for his sidekick! But the nerd is stupidly tired just from playing around with his ability for a short while, so instead of trying it more, Katsuki lets Izuku rest a bit. But tomorrow…

Tomorrow, they’re going to figure out how it works and make themselves the perfect hero duo the world has ever seen!

(Art by scrumptiousbagel)

…

But then Izuku fails to come to school the next day. The moment his father comes to pick him up, Katsuki demands to head over to the Midoriya household and Papa, while too meek and quiet just like his best friend sometimes, has no problem taking him to the apartment complex down the street.

Auntie looks worried when she opens her door, “We had… some bad news this morning. Maybe Katsuki-kun can make him feel better?” she asks in a low voice.

Katsuki doesn’t pay attention to what the adults are saying and instead makes his way to Izuku’s room. Knocking is for losers so the blonde strides right in, only to be surprised that the curtains are drawn and there’s no lights – not even Izuku’s limited edition All Might nightlight. The lump in the middle of the bed making sniffling noises must be the nerd. With no patience, Katsuki pulls the covers away and there’s a short tug of war that Katsuki wins ‘cause he’s awesome like that. “You sick or somethin’?” he asks, trying to see if Izuku looked it. No spots or anything weird, although his eyes were red from crying not like that was new and-

Normally the sight of him makes Izuku happy, but the moment the green haired boy sees him,he breaks out crying once more. It’s hard to understand through the tears, but Katsuki very clearly hears: “I don’t have a quirk.”

“But you have a quirk,” Katsuki says as a matter of fact. 

“We went to Dr. Tsubasa today and he says I don’t have a quirk because of my toe!”

What utter fucking nonsense . “You were using it yesterday!”

Izuku sniffles more, looking away from his best friend. “He said you and sensei were just playing along, using your quirks when I looked at you to make me feel better.”

“I wasn’t playing along you dingnut! You were using it! You controlled it! That’s all you!” he asserts. Katsuki can feel himself getting hot with anger but he does his best to tamp it down, even as his hands spark up in his agitation and worry. “Who else did you tell about your quirk?” 

“I told Papa last night!” Izuku responds through his sniffles. “I tried to show him but Papa said I was probably too tired and should go to sleep so I can show it to Mama and Papa in the morning, but then I did and when I woke up, it wouldn’t work! Then Papa suggested I go to the doctor and… well…” The smaller boy trails off. There’s no need for him to explain further – some quack said he didn’t have a quirk (which was a lie) and Izuku spent the rest of the day crying by himself.

Katsuki urges the other boy to try and waits. But there’s no glow to green eyes and no reaction in his palms, not even a little. But Katsuki knows what he saw, knows how it felt to have his quirk be taken out of his control. 

“Someone stole it – saw how cool it was, not as cool as mine though! – and took it away because they didn’t want us to be the best hero and sidekick ever!”

There were stories about it – scary stories kids tell at sleepovers with the lights off, of a monster who could take away quirks. Katsuki was looking at the byproduct of that nightmare. Someone… probably an extra who had seen them yesterday went and told someone and Izuku’s quirk got stolen in the night.

Yeah that had to be it.

“B-but that means… I can’t be a hero without it.”

Katsuki scoffs. “I’ll fucking find it! I’ll get your quirk back and then you and me will be the best heroes ever, got it?”

There’s more tears; Izuku is crying again, but this time there’s a ghost of a smile on his face, a spark that Katsuki never realized was missing until it was back. “Kacchan is too cool! Thank you so much,” he hiccups.

This, Katsuki thinks, is their first trials as heroes, to find the ultimate bad guy, this stealer of quirks, and blast him sky high for the audacity of taking Izuku’s!