Hired Distraction

What Remains From Our Pasts (Part 1)

Summary:

Izuku's past comes back to haunt him.

Part one to a three-part arc.

Everything in Izuku's life has been going perfectly lately.

It has been month after month of pure luck and blessings. He'd been struggling with finding stability in the field his major called for, and then Kirishima, the saint that he is, just drops this amazing job in his lap. Sure, it's weird, and he finds himself pushing his boundaries to try to succeed at it—but because of that, he meets his Kacchan. Really meets him. He gets to see that despite how much he struggles and puts on airs of being tough, Katsuki is unendingly sweet and kind and giving. There's no happier version of the blond man than when he's providing something for Deku, a hearty gleam in his eye as he watches the other man receive, a barely-hidden smile on his face when Izuku thanks him so brightly. It's almost painful when Katsuki looks at him like that, like the green-haired man in his lap is all he needs, and he treats him accordingly. Never has Izuku been so pampered and cared for and cherished in his life.

And that? That just...isn't something he's used to. When he was three and his father left them, that was perhaps the start of his regularly scheduled misfortune. When one of the little kids in his class learned of that and started spreading rumors about him leaving because of Izuku, that only made it worse. When he was ostracized for that amongst his peers, and then it carried over into middle school and high school, that was par for the course. Just wait until college, he would tell himself. No one will know you there, and things will get better.

But he had already earned the scars upon his hands before even taking his entrance exams, or submitting that stupid little pick-me essay. How much better can it get? After his father left, and Inko had to become the sole provider—moving them to a smaller place, where crime was more rampant—Izuku had felt the need to step up. And, it's just...there were only so many jobs people would take up some bruised little kid for, right? It's not his fault, right? He hadn't done anything truly bad when he was doing odd jobs for less-than-reputable people, but in doing so he had ended up on their radar nonetheless. When the final nail in the coffin had occurred—the...incident, that he never liked to think of, much less name—he ran away from it all, and jumped full force into college and his passion, drawing.

Sure, his hands would shake after what had happened, but Mrs. Ichika had taken up his scarred skin into her roughened, aged grip and held him until it stopped—because he was too ashamed to tell his mother.

Reality, the harsh coldness of it, has tempered his expectations of life. A younger Izuku would have entered the arts fully. He would have pushed to be a manga artist, or even an animator, fully, with all the passion in the world. But now his aching hands, full of horrid memory, are for the useful and realistic. Japan has no shortage of little mascots to design for websites, new packaging to decorate for fruits, or a vending machine to help create a cute, friendly UI for. Graphic design is realistic. It's not what he wanted when he was three and had a father and a bright future, but standing at the entrance of his college, it had seemed like the safest path.

But then he exited the grand hall of UA one final time, and had to face the music. This field, too, was underpaid, and unwilling to take to kindness. He bounced around at freelance gigs for a few years, couch surfing on occasion, until he found an uneasy balance taking part time jobs at local corner stores and living in the crappy closet-sized apartment at Sunny Apartments.

Then...Katsuki.

Things are good. Things are better than good. Izuku finds himself smiling at the oddest of moments, when he's alone and doing his little chores, because he is so fucking happy. Katsuki is someone so easy to love, because when they're together they fit so seamlessly. When Izuku needs that push, he's there. If he needs the opposite, Bakugou can practically read his mind and provides whatever he needs. There's no rush in their relationship, just comfort and pleasure.