Something Behind Those Eyes

Now I Think I'd Prefer Assassins

"I knew coming here was a terrible idea, mom.  I knew it, I said it, and I was right.  I'm doomed."

"Mama, I'm famous!" Katsuji said excitedly, watching the news with rapt attention.

Izuku looked at his mother with wide eyes and gestured unintelligibly at Katsuji.

Inko went on knitting and didn't look up at her son as she said, "It was bound to happen one of these days, Izuku.  These things don't stay secrets for long."

Izuku sat on the floor and picked at a ball of yarn sitting on the coffee table.  He sighed and said, "I just wanted an ice cream and now I'm trending.  It's like I've gotten even more famous in my absence."

Inko hummed and reached out to smooth a hand through the boy's hair.  "You're an enigma to them; disappearing for seemingly no reason."

"I was hoping they would just, I don't know, forget or something."

"Izuku," Inko put down the scarf she was making. "You brought hope and peace.  You do know you're the symbol of hope for a reason, right?"

"Was," Izuku corrected in a small voice.

Inko gave him a warm smile.  "You still are.  That isn't going to change.  Even missing, they still believe that you'd, just, pop back into existence in an instant if the situation needed you to be there."

Before Izuku could say anything about that she continued on.

"Besides, an ice cream?  In this weather?  Sugar addiction, indeed."

~Linebreak~

Denki---> Izuku

Denki: hey it's us again

Denki: couldn't help but notice your uhh

Denki: pretty close to home

Denki: gotta admit we didn't expect to see you around here so soon after

Denki: you know

Denki: is everything alright over there?

Izuku: Ahh, please don't be worried!

Izuku: We're both okay, just visiting

Izuku: Well… Katsuji is still sick

Izuku: But he should be better soon!

Denki: poor dude

Denki: tell him uncle Denki and uncle Eijiro say to get better soon and that we love him

Izuku looked over at Katsuji who was munching on some crackers.

"Uncle Denki and uncle Eijiro say hi and to get better soon," Izuku said.

Katsuji beamed at the mention of the two.  "Okay!"

"They say they love you."

"I love them too," Katsuji declared with all of the confidence in his tiny body.

Izuku's heart warmed at Katsuji's words.  Despite what running off may have looked like in connection to it, Izuku really was truly glad the three of them seemed so fond of each other already.

Izuku: Katsuji says he loves you guys too

Izuku: I love you guys too

Denki: aww mido you're gonna make me cry

Izuku: Don't cry!!

Denki: I've waited two years for this you can't stop me 

Denki: Eijiro says at least you tried

Izuku: At least I tried

Denki: seriously tho call us if you need anything

Denki: don't pull another runaway trick

Denki: ya sneaky bastard

Izuku: I promise

Denki: I'll be holding you to that

~Linebreak~

Izuku sat at the kitchen table together with his mother and Katsuji eating dinner.  Or eating applesauce in Katsuji's case.

"What time do you plan on leaving, Izuku?"

"Well, probably sometime after dark.  Don't want a repeat of this morning."

Inko nodded.  "Good idea.  Though you do know that what happened isn't going to be the only time, right?"

Izuku grimaced.  He knew; he just didn't like it.  "I know," he muttered.

Inko sighed and set her chopsticks down.  "It isn't as bad as you think it is, dear."

Izuku gave his mother a skeptical look.  "Uhh, maybe we're not on the same page here.  What, exactly, is good about this situation?"

"I didn't say there was anything good about it, dear.  I just said that it isn't all that bad," Inko said, and continued eating.

"Okay…" Izuku said hesitantly.

"Where's mama going?" Katsuji asked.

"To get Tupper, Ji.  You'll get to see him before going to bed," Izuku told the pup.

"Okay, mama!" Katsuji agreed excitedly and clapped his hands happily.

~Linebreak~

Digging around in the bag, he felt a zipper brush against his fingers.  Izuku grasped the jacket and pulled out the piece of fabric.

Kacchan's jacket.

Izuku wasn't sure why he brought the jacket.  Impulse, most likely.  Maybe he just grabbed the first jacket that he saw.  Maybe because he confused it for another one.

Maybe it was because he needed that scent, that person, to give him that last shove of encouragement into finally coming back.

Hopefully Katsuji didn't question who's scent was on the jacket.

I doubt I'll be around him long enough with it on for him to even notice the foreign scent, faint as it is

It was odd to think that Kacchan's scent was foreign to Katsuji.  That he'd never remembered smelling it.

People always said that a pup could recognize a parent they've never met through scent.  They wouldn't have any instinct that screamed dude that's your dad but they'd feel a bond.  If anything their instincts would scream hey I don't know this guy but suddenly I trust him with my life or hey I like this guy maybe he'll play heroes with me.

Izuku wondered, sometimes, if he was only imagining his scent.  Maybe he just longed for him so badly that his brain tricked him into thinking it was there?

No, that's not true

A stupid train of thought, really.  Izuku knew it was there.  Everything else with Kacchan's scent had been washed, thrown out, or it faded away because of Izuku's scent washing over it.  Except that jacket.

Because Izuku made sure it stayed.

Izuku didn't wash it.  Izuku didn't let his scent drown away the one that lingered.  Hell, Izuku hardly even touched it or smelt it.

He needed it.  For the important moments.  For giving birth to Katsuji.  For the one time Katsuji just cried so sadly that Izuku had let him sniff at it in hopes of calming him.  For coming to a place where his chances of being found out skyrocketed.

It couldn't hurt to wear it.  Just one last time.