Izuku kept his eyes trained on Y/n, following every movement she made as she gave Katsuki simple commands. Doing minuscule things to prove Katsuki was under her control. He was making mental notes to put in his hero analysis book for later. It was faint but he could see purple smoke around his childhood friend. The same one Midnight sensei released. Except, the smoke wasn't floating around, it was attached to its target.

He told himself, his mental notes were more for her than him, but deep down he was geeking out. Even after all these years, he would still nerd out from different quirks. It was a habit of his, to analyze every quirk he encountered. A mannerism which was hard to break. His 'hero analysis for the future' notebooks, were always kept in his dorm, for whenever he needed them.

Something Katsuki still made fun of him for.

Izuku watched and took notice of everything, and when he noticed how Y/n kept rubbing her eyes with strained fists, his eyes narrowed suspicion. When she first started this, she wasn't doing that. A quiet signal Izuku wasn't going to ignore.

At the same time, danger sense from his quirk, One for All, started to go off, warning him about something.

His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, emerald eyes glancing around the room.

If someone was infiltrating U.A. the alarm system would've turned on. So why was his quirk sensing danger? He looked around the gym, trying to see if anything seemed suspicious, however, nothing was out of the ordinary.

And then he saw it.

Y/n was creating indented crescent moons on her palms from her own nails. The skin around her nails turning slightly pink. Fists shaking from the pain but refusing to stop from her task, regardless of the pain she felt.

Izuku wincing took a step forward when he saw a bit of crimson dripping from her hands now, for how hard she was digging her nails into her own flesh.

"Y/n I think it's time to stop." His voice came out strained and worried for her.

Why was she pushing herself to continue if she was in pain?

Y/n gritted her teeth, choosing to ignore the headache that's been eating at her. Eyes beginning to tear from the corners. Choosing to focus on the pain from her hands instead to keep pushing forward.

"N-no I can keep going." She nodded more to herself that to him, pushing to achieve her goal.

She could do this, she had to do this.

However, Izuku ignored her protest when the prickling on his head from danger sense intensified. Telling him to stop her. He jumped in between Y/n and Katsuki, appearing in a flash from using his quirk.

Y/n's teary scarlet bloodshot eyes, moved around from hearing his movements. It seemed like she couldn't pinpoint where he was at.

Of course, why didn't he realize it before... His eyes widened in fear.

He waved his hands in front of her slowly, wishing his deduction was incorrect. However, she only moved her head slightly to the side when she heard the swooshing noises he was making with his hands.

"Angel, please turn off your quirk." Izuku pleaded with evident panic, immediately unwrapping her hands from her own torture.

"Dammit..." Y/n whispered in resignation.

Taking notice of his quivering voice, Y/n finally closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Stopping her quirk all together when she felt her head pounding achingly. The pain coming at full force, because of how long she was holding it off. Without meaning to, she whimpered from the pain. It felt like needles were pricking at her temples.

The lights harming her from the overuse of her quirk. Even though the lights weren't at its brightest setting, it felt like they were burning her retinas. Any form of lighting when she overused her quirk, hurt her eyesight.

She'd lost her vision seconds ago, being submerged in a world filled with water-colored smudges. Her eyes felt like they were on fire, begging for moisture. The tears from earlier slipping down her cheeks. Using her quirk for long periods of time, always gave her an extreme case of dry eyes.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?" Izuku took her hand gently into his, messaging her tense fingers to loosen up into his hand.

Katsuki slowly coming back from his daze, opened his eyes, blinking away the sleep that overtook him.

"What the hell's going on?" he grunted, voice groggy, like waking up from a long nap. He saw Izuku in front of Y/n with a worried expression, then looked over at Y/n who was biting her bottom lip. Almost drawing blood from how hard she was doing it, tears pooling from her closed eyes. "Wha-"

"She can't see... can you angel?" Izuku's usual sweet tone, was tense. Half in worry and anger.

He was furious. Not at her. At the realization that this was probably not the first time she experienced this. Even though she knew of the side effects, she continued to torture herself. Which means she's done this before, pushing way past her limits. And the only people who forced her to do something like this, were the people she escaped from.

"Y/n, what the hell?!" Katsuki yelled at her, eyes narrowing at her shaking form. "Shitty girl, why didn't you say anything, did you know this would happen?"

He felt a pang of guilt go through him. She told him she didn't want to use the smoke from her quirk, but he pushed her to do it anyways. Was she afraid to say something to him, to not disappoint him?

No.

Knowing her she must have known of the risks and chose to push herself to achieve her goals quicker, regardless of her getting hurt or not. Because when it came to her wellbeing, she didn't care if she got hurt. She was such a martyr, and he could never understand people like that. It baffled him, how selfless her and Izuku were.

His own motto was more win to save, other than save to win.

If he would've known this would be the ramifications, he would've asked her to practice another day. He knew all quirks came with drawbacks and the more they were used, the quicker those drawbacks would manifest.

His hands would always cramp up and hurt after a while, from using his explosions. The more he pushed himself past the pain, the longer he could withstand them. However, that took him years to perfect, and she was trying to do it all in one day.

"Sweetheart..." He bit out, trying to control his growing anger, however failing to keep his voice down. "Explain." He was angry at Y/n, angry that she wouldn't voice her pain.

She was so reckless.

Y/n winced from his loud voice. Echoing around her head, making the pounding worse. Nodding slowly, as shamed washed through her – the other two feeling her emotions right away. "I'm sorry. It doesn't normally happen this fast. I've used it for hours before... I don't understand?" She mumbled the question more to herself than to them.

"Kacchan, keep your voice down." Izuku warned Katsuki, turning to glare at him, as he guided Y/n to sit down on the mat.

Y/n squeezed Izuku's hand trying to reassure him, that she was fine. "I-it's o-okay, Izu-"

Katsuki chuckled darkly, seeing the way Izuku was treating Y/n like a delicate flower. In the verge of withering at any moment.

"You need to stop treating her like she's going to break Deku."

"He's just w-worried Kats-" Y/n's voice broke as she tried to calm them down, trying to focus on them rather than her pounding headache.

Izuku turned towards Katsuki, shoulders taut, biting the inside of his cheek, "Maybe you should stop talking to her like she's a child."

"Guys please calm down..." Y/n pleaded to them, barely above a whisper. However, being ignored for how frustrated they were becoming towards each other.

"If she quit acting like one and used her words like a big girl. Then she wouldn't be in this situation?!" Katsuki's voice kept rising in volume, getting worked up without meaning to.

"I said to keep your voice down, Kacchan. Yelling at her won't solve anything and you know that." Izuku took a step towards Katsuki, challenging him.

Something Katsuki took notice of and took a step closer to him as well, refusing to back down.

"The hell it won't?! Don't tell me, how I need to lecture her. You do it your way and I'll do it mine. Besides we're trying to help her, not torture her like they did. You can't keep babying her Deku." Katsuki clicked his tongue in annoyance, directing his growing anger towards Izuku instead.

Izuku's emerald eyes flashed with crimson flecks, the anger he was feeling responding to Katsuki. "I'm not babying her –"

"Katsuki, Izuku please... stop." Y/n pleaded to them in a small voice, effectively stopping them.

Panicking, she pulled on her fingers nervously, as she felt their pent-up tension and rage from their shared telepathic bond. She didn't know the history between Katsuki and Izuku, but it seemed like they were always at each other's throats.

Izuku's emerald eyes widened at hearing her pleading voice, taking a step back from his childhood friend. He didn't mean to get so worked up.

Katsuki scoffed holding back his tongue from any insults he wanted to throw at the green haired young man, taking Y/n's feelings into consideration. Realizing the pain was only becoming worse for her because of them.

He noticed how she covered her eyes with her hands, trying to lessen the brightness from the room from penetrating her somehow.

"Sure, you're not Izuku." His voice dropped to a whisper, having the last word as he stumbled away from them, still feeling the aftereffects of her quirk.

Y/n was beginning to shake with worry for them, feeling helpless. She knew if they fought, she couldn't do anything to intervene. Not in the state she was currently in and that really bothered her. She hated not being able to stop them sooner.

She cared for them both, and she hated to see them argue like this.

Now near the entrance, Katsuki tried to clear his head as he turned the lights down low. He needed to calm himself, control his emotions before he said anything he would regret later.

Whenever Katsuki got mad, he became a ticking time bomb. Only to regret what came out of his mouth the instant it slipped. Izuku was now one of his best friends, and he hated getting into arguments with him. At least heated serious ones. They always bantered back and forth, but those were all jokes. They haven't gotten in an argument like this in a while.

They were both more mature now, especially Katsuki.

His friendship with Izuku was rocky in the past, it was towards the end of their first year at U.A., when they began to understand each other more. They didn't argue as much, and they actually started to acknowledge and treat each other with respect.

They both didn't want to break the trust that took them so long to build.

So why were they feeling so much rage towards one another again?

After a moment, and taking a deep breath, he counted to ten and walked back to them in slow strides. Kneeling in front of Y/n, Katsuki's vermillion eyes softened when he saw her wince from the movements of her eyes.

Something Izuku took notice of and smiled knowingly at Katsuki. He was such a big softie when he cared for someone.

"Tell me what you need?" Katsuki demanded leaving no room for an argument, remembering to keep his voice low.

Y/n winced again, her nails digging into her knees for leverage. "Eye drops, ice and Tylenol." She whispered.

Katsuki nodded to her request.

He gave Izuku a small nod, one that he returned in understanding before attempting to get up. They would have a talk later, to clear the air. Katsuki was about to go to the infirmary but felt lightheaded when he tried to get up. Stumbling for a moment, as the floor looked distorted to him.

"Son of a..."

"It could be her quirk, I'll go. Wait here, I'll... um...text Shouto. Try not to raise your voice anymore." Izuku whispered to him as he walked away towards the gym doors. Scolding himself for getting worked up and making matters worse for Y/n. Ashamed of falling so easily into habits of arguing with the blond.

Katsuki only grunted in acknowledgement. Hearing the door click close once Izuku walked out of the gym, had him sigh out. After sitting down next to Y/n, he started rubbing his temples from the headache he was also experiencing.

Y/n got closer to him without a second thought, and inhaled her essence back from him, giving him instant relief. The purple smoke clouding his mind vanishing in seconds.

"Shitty girl, why didn't you say anything before?"

"Because like you told Izuku, you would have babied me too. Any mention of pain, and you three stop everything to help me. You can't keep doing that, I'm not a damsel in distress. And this is nothing compared to what I've experienced before." Y/n puffed out her cheeks, annoyed that they weren't taking her seriously.

"I'm not babying you?" Katsuki made sure to keep his voice low, but sturdy. Observing how hard she was trying not to make her pain noticeable.

"If I told you about the side effects before, we started. Would you have let me continue?" Y/n tentatively opened her eyes and looked towards him. She sighed gratefully when no sign of pain appeared when opening her eyes. Though feeling irritated from seeing a smudge of his silhouette from the dark room.

Katsuki rolled his eyes from her question. "I would've suggested to try it another day. Using your telepathic quirk in class today and with me earlier might have shortened your usage time with your smoke."

"I don't know if you noticed Katsuki, but I don't have time. That's why I didn't tell you. I need to control my quirk. Who knows when this Shigaraki person, will make his next move again and I... don't want to experience something like that ever again. Living it once was enough for me, I don't want to keep reliving it. I wasn't just seeing it. It felt like I was reliving my memories if that makes sense." Y/n's voice started to get louder as the pain began to subside.

Katsuki nodded slowly – her life was horrible, he did understand. Because the panic she felt he felt it too. He may not have been sucked into the memory, but he saw it, and he felt the anxiety she experienced that day.

After a moment, he took Y/n's hand into his own, playing with her fingers gently trying to distract himself from the growing anger of what she went through. "You mentioned, you've used it for hours before?"

Y/n laying her head on his shoulder, with her eyes closed hummed. She didn't even realize when they gravitated towards each other again. But she was beginning to let it happen, without questioning it.

It made her feel warm and safe. Emotions she hasn't felt with anyone else other than with her family.

"I was forced to use it for hours on end, until I couldn't see anymore." She whispered.

Remembering the times, she was chained to the floor, pulling with all her might to no avail. Small crowds of hypnotized people staring at her like zombies waiting for their next command. Mama giving her a proud smile, like she found the cure for a rare disease.

A man in a breathing mask, praising her for her 'hard work'. Only seeing him from a far, but never close enough to see his features. The mask was the only thing she remembered from him and his deep voice.

"The next day my vision is always blurry after using my quirk for a long time, until my eyes have time to heal. It's weird how it happens. For a while I can't see and then everything starts to clear up as the day progresses."

Mumbling Y/n held on tightly to Katsuki's fingers for leverage and comfort.

"I know quirks are compatible with the hosts body, but I don't know what that means for me since a part of my quirk was fabricated." Y/n whispered in a small voice, not ever thinking about her quirk too much because she always thought she would be a slave for the rest of her life. Going through life with the motions it brought her. "I wasn't born with red eyes while using my telepathic quirk. I read some of the file the doctor had on me before you guys rescued us..."

Katsuki's breath hitched from the revelation, also getting upset for what this meant for her. "They didn't catch you snooping right?"

Y/n smiled, feeling grateful from his concern. "Nope... I have my ways gremlin. I can be sneaky when I try to be."

"Tch... and what would you have done if they caught you, hmm?" His voice came out playful, although on the inside his heart was beating fast, from the thought of her getting in trouble.

From what Izuku described of the way they tortured her. He could only imagine what kind of trouble she would've gotten herself into. Then he would have never properly met her and gotten to know her. And that thought scared him, for two reasons.

One, because he knew he was getting attached rather quickly and two because he no longer wanted to fight his feelings, he genuinely wanted to see where this would lead them to.

At hearing him her smile faltered a bit. "Probably punished and disposed of earlier th-"

"Shut up." Katsuki gritted his teeth, interlocking her fingers with his own. "I don't want to ever hear you talk about your life as if it's disposable." Holding to her tightly, daring anything to try to rip her away from him.

"I'm sorry. I'm just so used to thinking I won't see tomorrow that I've never made any plans for the future. This all seems so surreal. A dream too good to be true, that I'll soon wake up from."

When Y/n was captured from Mexico and smuggled into Japan, it all felt like a nightmare at the time, one she wished everyday would end. Now, being free after such a long time of captivity she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life anymore.

"Before you were taken from your country, what did you want to become?" Katsuki asked trying to distract her from her grim thoughts.

Y/n at the thought grinned in the darkness. Mentally thanking him for wanting to change the subject. He could feel her giddiness wash through him, making him smile.

"A detective."

Katsuki's eyebrows went up in surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah, I wanted to help catch the bad guys. I know it seems like an ambitious dream, especially in a country like Mexico. But with my telepathic quirk, I really felt like I could make a difference there. You know, capture the oppressors from the cartels and the government." Y/n's giddiness slowly died down realizing her dream wasn't going to come true.

It upset Katsuki to think, the dream inside of her, died too soon. He always complained about the littlest things in his life. Now he couldn't help but to feel grateful and lucky for the life he was living.

A lone tear escaped Y/n, wiping it away quickly hoping he hadn't noticed. "That's in the past now though. No point in dwelling in something that won't happen, right?"

"You know if you become a hero, you can go back and help them... I'll..." he grunted uncomfortably, his cheeks turning pink. Thanking the heavens for the room being dark. "When I become a pro, I can help you. If you'd like?"

Y/n's eyes widened from how earnest he sounded, her heart filling with gratitude and a spark of adoration towards the explosive man. "You... don't have to."

Katsuki felt warmth spread through him as he felt her emotions. Loving the foreign emotion, he hasn't felt in a while. He kissed her forehead gently, lips grazing her skin as he spoke. "I want to. Y/n I want you to understand, I will do anything for you."