Once Again From Better Days

Even though he remembers more of what happened, the nightmares persist. He's not sure if that makes what he sees at night better or worse. All it means is he's a little better at distinguishing between the horrors that his subconscious creates and the things that actually happened, but both leave him drenched in cold sweat when he awakes. 

There has been a new nightmare, ever since he realized Izuku has a quirk. He sits in a room that's almost pitch black, but he can make out the shape of Izuku's features. Hands are placed into his, instinctively he knows they belong to Izuku. Something drips over his fingers and down his wrists. It's warm. He flinches when he realizes that it's blood. Izuku's blood. Izuku's face that was unblemished before is splotchy with bruises that grow by the second. Katsuki tries to grab Izuku's hands tighter, but his fingers touch nothing but empty space. And the image of Izuku's injured face dissolves into the blackness. Katsuki looks around desperately, but he's the only one there, and he wants only one thing: bring Izuku back. 

There's another new dream, too, but it's less of a nightmare. It involves something about Izuku beating him over the head with a bokken.

As the days pass, Katsuki tries to find ways to interrogate Izuku on other points. Like, who the hell is Togata-senpai and what did you show All Might with a bokken that convinced him? The answer to the first question is easy enough. Togata Mirio is a promising 3rd-year student, who looks annoyingly like young All Might with a dumber face. Which is probably an unfair description. Izuku is less willing to answer the second. Eventually, he gives up.

"When I said 'bokken' I meant, 'bokken and other things.' It's probably easiest if we just, uh, spar." Izuku catches the look on his face. "Only if you want to."

"Ok, try and hit me. If you can, that is."

"We can't just… start fighting at school. We'll get in trouble. Also, I'll go ask Togata-senpai to come watch just in case things get out of hand. Or maybe All Might, but he's a teacher so that might be a…"

Katsuki tunes out the rest of Izuku's ponderings about what the best way for them to do this without breaking school rules is or blowing up random parts of the city. He knows it's probably best to plan ahead. Hopefully his dream about Izuku hitting over the head with a bokken doesn't come true, particularly if he has an audience. Katsuki glances at his palms. He doesn't doubt his own strength at all, but Izuku's is currently completely unknown. He never used anything but his fists before.

It turns out that Togata thinks it's a great idea, especially when he realizes that Katsuki is " that childhood friend." (Katsuki tries to ignore that, but it bothers him  anyway.)

Katsuki's dream doesn't quite come true, but Izuku lands several good hits without even using his quirk. Izuku has clearly been working on his combat skills. He's always been observant and a decent strategist, but his quick-thinking and actual, physical strength have greatly improved. Katsuki guesses that he should thank All Might and Togata for that. In the end, Katsuki flattens him, but they're more evenly matched than they once were. Katsuki moves off of him quickly once the fight has been decided. There are some things about sparring that are definitely not good for his sanity, his heart, or anything else. 

Once they recover their breath, Izuku leaves to put his bokken back in one of the storage sheds for sports equipment. It's against UA policy to let students carry weapons of any sort. This leaves Katsuki with Togata. There's the question of how much this guy actually knows about Izuku's quirk situation, and there's the fact that Katsuki knows next to nothing about him. It's a little bit awkward.

"He's gotten a lot stronger, hasn't he?" Togata starts the conversation.

"Huh." Katsuki looks up from inspecting the bruise forming on his forearm. "Yeah?" 

He gets a nod in return. "Midoriya works really hard. He admires you a lot, you know. I'm sure you'll both turn into great superheroes." Togata claps him on the shoulder. "I'm sure I'll see you soon."

The next second, the other blond is gone, seemingly having disappeared into thin air. Katsuki stares at the spot where he was sitting. Izuku returns a minute later to find Katsuki still staring at it.

"Where the hell'd he go? Does he teleport?" Katsuki mutters.

Izuku laughs a little. "Trust me, that's not the worst thing he does." Katsuki narrows his eyes.

"He hasn't done anything, has he?" He tries to keep the jealous edge out of his voice, but probably fails.

"No! He just...pops through walls when I'm walking to class. I think he's traumatized at least half of my classmates, too." 

Izuku sighs. "Anyway, that's what I can do with a bokken," He adds, switching the topic. "Want me to teach you?"

Katsuki looks at the gleam of humor in his friend's eyes. "Oh, f.u.c.k off. What're you going to do if you don't have it in a fight?"

"What you do." Izuku grins. "Punch 'em."