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“I don’t want him to come.”
Yuu, six years old, sulked as he buried himself further into his hospital bed. His little hands gripped the sheets tightly as the frustration ran through his veins. He took a slow laboured breath, the effort of it draining him just a little bit like it did every day. Despite his words, it was clear he believed otherwise.
His father, Yato, huffed, a smile playing on his face as he walked around his bedside. He sat on the bed right near Yuu and looked down at him for a moment. Yuu refused to look up, still lost in his thoughts, so Yato reached out and brushed away some of his messy, soft, dark bangs with the back of his fingers gently.
“Why’d you think that, hm?” he kept caressing Yuu’s hair. He tried not to let his voice give anything away, but with Yuu being so adamant about his conclusion, he didn’t think that was too much of an issue.
“’Cause!” Yuu looked up then, little hands still gripping the sheets. “The other kids are sicker than me so he needs to help them first!”
Yato melted a little bit then. How very like his son to think about everyone else before himself.
The fact of the matter was, Yuu was much sicker than most of the other kids in his ward. He was in congestive heart failure, scheduled for surgery to insert a pacemaker. His first surgery. Even at his young age, he was fighting for his life here in the hospital and missing kindergarten. It tugged at Yato’s heart, knowing that Yuu was so mature and smart but he would be kept from school like this.
“Maybe he wants to help this sick kid first,” Yato withdrew his hand and placed them on his lap. “This kid who loves Dynamight and watches all of his fights on his computer and has all of his collectible cards.”
Yuu retracted a little into himself, the mention of his obsessive interest in Dynamight making him feel shy. At the same time, he thought about how many fans like him Dynamight must have, and he failed to see what made him special enough to receive a visit.
“No, he wouldn’t…” Yuu blinked up at his dad.
“And how come you get to tell me what I want, huh?”
Yuu’s head whipped to the entrance of his room. He wouldn’t mistake that voice for anything. And then, lo and behold, none other than Dynamight walked in with a smirk playing on his face. He approached Yuu’s bed as the little boy braced his hands on the bed, shuffling back to sit up straight. His eyes shone and his jaw slackened, staring at his hero agape. His eyes tracked Katsuki until he was close enough to touch. He was so close that Yuu had to crane his neck up just to look at him. Katsuki tilted his head, folding his arms, and Yuu just blinked rapidly. His head then whipped around to his dad.
“Dad… am I dreaming?”
Yato just grinned widely, giving Yuu his answer. He was just as excited that his son got to meet his idol, and he couldn’t quite contain his joy. Yuu had been paler and sicker than ever the past few days, and he hadn’t admitted it, but he was scared for his surgery. Scared to have something inside him, even though it would help him in the long run. He was scared to have this condition. Anyone would be – but a six-year-old had as much of a right as anyone to be.
Yato simply looked back to Dynamight and nodded once, hopping off the bed to walk over to a chair in the corner of the room to allow the time to talk. Yuu followed his dad with his eyes, and then turned his attention back to Dynamight looking down at him expectantly.
“This seat taken?” Katsuki referred to the space on the bed near the boy.
Yuu couldn’t even manage words. He shook his head vigorously and then shuffled over to the other side a little bit to make some space. Katsuki sat on the bed with one leg up, and his arm braced around the other side of Yuu’s tiny body so he was right in front of him.
Katsuki just allowed Yuu to find his words for a minute. He almost had to snort at how dumbstruck the little boy looked, but a the very least, some colour returned to his face. A little shade of pink dusted his cheeks.
After a moment, Yuu snapped out of it. “Um!” he exclaimed, leaning forward. “Is it really you?!” he asked, full excitement coming out in colourful bursts.
Katsuki smiled. “In the flesh.”
“How are you here!!” Yuu asked incredulously, “there are so many other— and I thought you were— I thought you’d be out there busy fighting bad guys!”
Katsuki raised a brow. “I heard all about you sayin’ I should’ve gone to other kids first. And I will, later. ‘M not always out there fighting bad guys, kid. Sometimes I wanna get a front row seat to watch others fight their bad guys.”
Yuu raised a brow in turn, confused.
“You got a nasty one,” Katsuki removed his glove from his hand, reached out and placed his bare index finger on Yuu’s gown-clad chest. “In there.”
Yuu looked down to where Dynamight’s hand made contact with him, and then looked back up, grinning widely. Butterflies filled his weak little heart.
“I think you’re the strongest, coolest hero ever!” Yuu beamed, bringing his hands up to grasp Katsuki’s tightly. He couldn’t help himself when it was so close. His own two hands combined were basically the same size as Katsuki’s.
“And don’t you ever forget it,” Katsuki brought that same hand, with Yuu’s attached, up to Yuu’s forehead and gently nudged it. Yuu giggled airily, scrunching his nose. “But you’re plenty strong too.”
“Ehh?” Yuu crinkled his nose. He was probably the most expressive kid Katsuki had ever known. “But I’m stuck in this hospital.”
“Y’know what?” Kastuki leaned forward a little bit, like he was about to share a secret with Yuu. Yuu’s eyes widened and he instinctively leaned forward as well. “I was stuck in a hospital like this for a while, too. With the same thing you got.”
Yuu drew back and gasped, his grip on Katsuki’s hand tightening.
“You had a bad heart??” he said, a little breathlessly.
“Yeah,” Katsuki nodded. If his case wasn’t exactly the same, he wasn’t about to tell that to the kid. He wasn’t about to tell him his heart was pierced in the middle of a war and stitched back together. But he wasn’t exactly lying, because they would have one thing in common – open heart surgery. “’M just like you.”
“Just like me??” Yuu repeated, excitably.
“Mhmm,” Katsuki hummed. He drew his hand back from Yuu’s gently to unzip his hero costume a little from the front – high collar down to the upper chest. He opened the fabric up just enough so that Yuu could see the remnants of a scar: discoloured, raised skin and a surgical line reaching up his sternum.
“Oh no,” Yuu frowned. “You got a scar there,” he said empathetically, as though he wasn't about to get one of his own. Katsuki almost had to laugh.
“I do,” he chuckled, letting Yuu reach out and touch the scar. The little hand of his ghosted over the skin, and then shifted ever so slightly to where it was over Katsuki’s heart. Perhaps subconsciously, Yuu wanted to know if someone who had gone through the same thing was able to have a strong heart again.
“Y’don’t think I’m weak, right?” Katsuki tilted his head.
“No!!” Yuu snapped up to meet Katsuki’s eyes, not wanting him to think for a second that he ever considered that. Yuu then retracted his hand and Katsuki zipped his costume back up, rebuttoning his high collar.
“Then you’re strong too.”
Yuu searched Katsuki’s eyes with gratitude and wonder for a moment, letting those words sink in. He could tell Katsuki wasn’t just spouting off – he meant it from the bottom of his own repaired heart. Then, Yuu looked like he slipped into his thoughts a little bit. Something playing at his mind as his lips pursed. He gripped those sheets again a little.
“Did it… hurt?” he asked, tentatively. “The surgery. They say they’ve gotta put something in me to help my heart…”
Katsuki hummed, feigning his own contemplation.
“Didn’t hurt,” he shook his head. Yuu blinked. “Was asleep the whole time. You’re gonna be asleep too.”
“But… what about after?”
Katsuki hummed again, this time actually thinking about how to word what he wanted to say. “These doctors have all got superpowers right? They’re gonna make you better. But only about 50%,” he splayed out his fingers on one hand.
Yuu tilted his head and furrowed his brow in confusion again.
“The other 50%,” he lowered one hand just to splay his fingers out on the other, “has to be you. You know how I go out there every day and fight so that everyone can live?”
“Yeah!” Yuu answered easily. He watched Katsuki on TV and online all the time, so of course he knew about that.
“Well, you gotta fight too. So that you can live. We ain’t so different, pipsqueak.”
Yuu’s head returned to an upright position very slowly as the words sunk in and the realisation settled. His shiny eyes widened a fraction.
“You gotta listen to the doctors ‘n nurses. And your old man and lady. Take your meds. Go to therapy. That’s how you fight. ‘S not gonna be easy.”
“I can fight!!” Yuu straightened his body, completely fired up. A smile played at the corner of Katsuki’s mouth.
“Yeah?”
“I can take my meds! I can go to therapy, I—” he hesitated a bit, “I can do the surgery!”
Katsuki nodded and smiled. “Sounds pretty heroic to me.” Then he cocked a brow, bringing a hand to his mouth and chin in thought exaggeratedly. “Dunno if you can be as cool as I am though.”
“I’ll be even cooler!” Yuu’s little fists balled and his voice raised. Katsuki eyed him without turning his head. “Just watch!”
At that, Katsuki reached out to ruffle Yuu’s raven-black locks gently. “I will,” he chuckled, unable to contain the fondness in the gesture or his voice.
After Yuu finished giggling, he grinned up at Katsuki again. “And then when I’m free to leave, I can become a hero too, right?”
The million dollar question. Katsuki was aware that not every kid wanted to be a hero. Perhaps not every kid should be a hero. But even in this world, the one he fought to make a better place, the one currently in times of peace, kids dreamed the same dreams. Kids strived to become the people they saw on TV, making a difference and saving everyone. Katsuki understood, because he was the same when he was a kid. Now, he was that hero on TV, and this kid had watched him, harbouring the same dreams because of him.
“You wanna be a hero?” he asked, a little in disbelief. He had been a pro for years now, but actually feeling the impact he was making just by being himself astonished him.
“Yeah!! Just like you!” Yuu stretched his arms out and played his fingers out. It took a second for Katsuki to register what he was doing, but he realised Yuu was imitating his explosions. The positioning of his arms when he was blasting someone from the front. He hadn’t even realised this was a ‘thing’. Or maybe this was just Yuu’s own interpretation. Either way, it made Katsuki’s heart swell.
“Then yeah,” he huffed. “You can be a hero too. But saying it is easy. You can’t give up if you wanna be a hero like me.”
“I won’t!!” Yuu brought his hands down again so Katsuki could see his full determined face. “I’m strong like you!! ‘M not afraid!!”
Katsuki’s smile faltered a little at that. For the briefest microsecond, he saw his own self, about four years old being picked on by bigger kids from other schools. ‘‘M not scared of them!’ he’d say to his mother while wiping his tears aggressively as she cleaned up his gashes. For just a second, he felt the weight of all of these years of learning the true meaning of strength. Perhaps all of that time was meant for moments like these, in front of kids like Yuu.
“Kid,” he started softly. “Being strong ain't all about being unafraid.”
Yuu blinked. “But you’re not afraid of anything!”
Katsuki had to huff again. Because of course it seemed that way. But Yuu would never know the true extent of hard work it took to get to that point.
“Wrong, pipsqueak,” he gently pushed Yuu’s head back. “I have been. Plenty of times, too. I’ve been real scared about some things. The really strong ones can admit when they’re scared, and then do the scary thing anyway. Y’know how?”
“How?” Yuu asked a bit too quickly, curiosity getting the better of him.
“Someone else does this,” he reached his hand out. Yuu slipped his hand into Katsuki’s much larger one on instinct – just like Katsuki wanted. “And then they say, ‘don’t be scared. I’m here’.”
Yuu stared at his hand in Dynamight’s. The warmth reached over his whole forearm, and it felt so calming. He felt so at ease with this gesture – more than he ever knew he could.
“Did people do this for you?”
Katsuki began swinging their conjoined hands from side to side, causing Yuu to giggle softly to himself. “Yeah,” he answered. “Sure did. Maybe not exactly like this, but they supported me.”
Yuu thought about that for a moment. “Support…” he repeated out loud.
“Yeah. You can get support. Strong people need support sometimes if they wanna stay strong. ‘N sometimes, you gotta be that for others. People might tell you otherwise, but if they do, they’re just dumb. You tell them Dynamight told you otherwise. Then call me so I can tell them off in person.”
Katsuki was only half joking about being on call for Yuu when he gets back to school. He was starting to feel attached to this kid. In the same vein, he was trying to elicit hope in the boy by insinuating he’s gonna be back at school dealing with normal things like shitty other kids and unwarranted opinions. Not having to worry about his heart or his life hanging in the balance.
“Okay,” Yuu smiled, excited by the idea of potentially having Dynamight so close by even beyond this room. And if he didn’t, he knew he would be glad to have received so much good advice from his lifetime idol – a love curated over six long years.
“Ah!” Yuu seemed to recall something. He reached over the other side of the bed to where a little backpack was hanging off one of the railings. It looked like he had to strain to reach in and get whatever it was that he needed, and Katsuki was about to help, but Yuu fished it out in no time. It was a little plastic zip lock bag with some cards in it – quite a few at that. Katsuki didn’t have to examine them for long before realising that these were hero chip cards.
“One more thing… I have your card! The limited edition one,” Yuu opened the packet and began sifting through the cards to find the one he wanted. In his distraction, Katsuki just stared absently.
Katsuki had done a hero chip campaign a while back, but it was at the back of his mind because he had the most stressful mission of his life right after the cards went into circulation. He had to go dark for several months, and it took the biggest toll on him physically and mentally. He forgot all about this campaign, and the fact that he did it as a homage to one of the most precious memories of his life: getting All Might’s card.
Yuu found the card and put the packet aside, turning to Dynamight while holding it with both his hands. His cheeks were dusted a little bit pink.
“I— I didn’t really know how to say this earlier, but um… I really wanted your autograph!! Um… if that’s okay,” he smiled sheepishly, clutching the card tight.
‘I didn’t really find the right time to bring this up, but… man… you have no idea how much I wanted your autograph,’ Katsuki said, right at the moment where he thought he was going to die. When he saw All Might’s vestige right in front of him, and he had a chance to bring up one regret. It was just that this regret was also one of the biggest blessings he ever had. He didn’t know that a little plastic card he got as a child would stay in his pocket at all times and become his anchor, his strength. That he would shed a few tears the moment he got All Might to sign it in the hospital while he was still recovering, and afraid of how much his life was going to change.
It was times like these that made him glad to have lived. To have reached the point where he could become the kind of hero and person that little kids would hold dear, and draw strength and safety from, even if he wasn’t physically there.
“Yeah. Yeah, sure, kid,” Katsuki agreed, taking the card from him. Yuu also magically had a marker as well – because of course he did. Katsuki signed the card, ‘my hero’, so Yuu would remember who the real hero was between the both of them.
When Katsuki was done, as he handed it back to Yuu, the little boy hiked his shoulders up and grinned down at the card something gremlin-like and full of raw joy. And from Katsuki’s peripheral, he could sense movement. He turned to check it out, only to see Yato stand and greet a nurse at the door. They nodded while talking with each other in hushed tones, eyes flitting to Yuu and Katsuki. This could only mean their time was probably almost up.
Yato was let go by the nurse and then he began to walk over to the bed. “Yuu,” he called, “I’m sorry champ but it’s time to say goodbye to Dynamight.”
Yuu perked up, looking a little perturbed to have this moment come to an end. His gaze then flitted to Katsuki, a little bit desperate. “Okay…” he frowned, voice coming put small. But before his dad could make it to the bed, he gestured for Katsuki to come in closer, so Katsuki obliged.
Yuu cupped his hands right near Katsuki’s ear and whispered, “you’re always gonna be my No.1, Dynamight.”
Katsuki’s eyes widened. His heart just melted completely, and he almost felt like shedding a tear right then and there. So in order to get Yuu back, he pulled away and gestured for Yuu to do the same: come in close. He cupped his much larger hands against Yuu’s own ear as the boy smiled and turned his head.
“You’re my No.1 as well.”
Katsuki pulled back, smiling down at the boy with nothing but endearment on his face. The expression was matched by Yuu. Then, naturally, they came together for a very tight hug. Well – Katsuki was trying to be gentle, but Yuu was attempting to squeeze the life out of him.
Katsuki could gladly give some over if Yuu ever needed a bit. Of life, that is. But since he couldn’t, he hoped with everything in him that the boy would do as he said and fight. Fight to win. Fight to live.
As Yuu pulled away, he asked one final question. “Will I see you again?” his eyes glistened, full of emotion.
The answer was sort of a no-brainer to Katsuki, and he didn’t really care about the nuances of it all. “Yeah kid,” he reached out to ruffle his hair again, just to hear that giggle. “I’ll get your old man to give me a call when they have a date for your surgery.”
Yuu looked like he was trying his best not to cry, so he just nodded vigorously. He took that promise to heart and planned to keep it there even if that organ was the weakest out of all of them right now. The promise was strong enough to hold it together. To hold him together. To give him the support he needed to fight through and come out on the other side in a better condition.
After that, Katsuki hopped off the bed and stood with Yuu’s father as some nurses came in to wheel Yuu out of the room for what seemed like an examination at another wing. Yuu waved to Katsuki as he went out of view, and Katsuki waved back. Yato stood with his hands in front of him, playing with his fingers a little bit.
“Thank you for this,” he turned to Dynamight, his tired, kind eyes showing pure gratitude. “He… tries to be strong sometimes. But he’s been pretty scared. It isn’t easy for him at this age, but he takes it all on so well. It has meant… the world to him to have you come in. I really… can’t thank you enough,” he chuckled wetly, wiping one tear from his eye.
Katsuki put his hands on his hips.
“’S no problem. Meant the world to me to visit a good kid like Yuu. You got a fighter,” he responded with full sincerity. “’D you have Line?” Katsuki asked, already pulling out his phone and unlocking it. “I’m gonna need your contact so I know when his surgery’s happening.”
“Oh,” Yato blinked. He pulled out his phone too. “Yes. I do.” A moment passed while Yato was bringing his QR code up. He looked up to Katsuki. “I— I know you’re a really busy hero, and I know it took a lot for you just to come in today. So I would understand if you can’t— y’know… if it’s too much trouble for—”
Yato’s QR code loaded and Katsuki reached over to scan it, adding him immediately.
“No trouble. If it’s for a kid like Yuu.” Katsuki’s then got a red notification – which usually meant there was a local incident that they needed heroes at. Threat level toward the higher end. He figured he could make it there in a few seconds with cluster. For now though, he had secured a way to stay connected with Yuu and his family. And he made a promise to that little boy that he intended to keep. Katsuki never went back on his word, and if he was going to be a hero, he’d do it in all the spheres – not just out there against criminals. Also here, in hospitals. Shelters. Refugee camps.
“I got time,” he smiled at Yato, placing a hand on his shoulder and squeezing to reassure him.
Katsuki may have had his heart broken into pieces, but it, like his spirit, was never bent. Even a tattered, bleeding thing, with every good act, his heart would swell and he would gain more space. He’d fill that space with kindness, intention, and a whole lot of love.
Because that was just the kind of person Bakugou Katsuki was.