In Your Shadow [Chapter 11]

[Chapter 10]

Katsuki quickly finished his last bite of toast in the hallway, making sure to brush the crumbs off his shirt before he approached Deku’s office. He took a deep breath, knocked twice, and waited.

No answer.

Another breath, and another, slightly louder, knock.

Nothing.

Well, that certainly threw a wrench in the works.

He glanced at his phone, satisfying himself that it was, in fact, nine fifty-nine, and his timetable from the day prior did indeed say their briefing was at ten o’clock.

“Sorry!” The voice came from behind him, and Katsuki stepped aside to clear the way to the door. “My meeting this morning went a bit longer than expected. Did you get some sleep?”

“I did.” Katsuki nodded slightly. “And uh, that patrol last night? I really enjoyed it.”

“I’m glad,” Deku grinned, unlocking the office door and waving him in. “You and Trax got along well, then?”

“We did,” Katsuki agreed. “She was… very welcoming.”

Deku snorted, falling into his big office chair and sliding himself into place under the desk. “You don’t have to do that, I knew what I was signing you up for.”

“Oh.”

“Tell me honestly. You said you enjoyed it, so tell me why.”

Katsuki hesitated. He hadn’t expected to be interrogated about it, when he said it – he was just hoping Deku might take the hint and give him another one.

“Most of the patrol leaders are a lot older,” he began slowly. “I don’t have a problem with that, of course, but it was cool to see someone younger in that same position, to see that it’s attainable.”

“Good. Did you ask her how she got there?”

“No. She asked me about how I got here, but she didn’t volunteer any info of her own, so I wasn’t sure if it was appropriate to ask.”

“You should ask her, one day. She wouldn’t mind.”

“I will,” Katsuki said awkwardly. “If uh, if I get a chance.”

“You’re really not subtle.” Deku smirked. “Why don’t you ask me properly, Katsuki? Show me how far you’ve come.”

Katsuki huffed, taking a moment to gather himself, but Deku just waited patiently.

“Deku, can I- can I ask a question, please?”

“You may.”

“If it’s possible, could I… please do another patrol with Trax, some time. Or a sparring match or something. I’d like to learn more from her.”

“I’ll do my best,” Deku said with a grin. “Good work, you’re learning nicely.”

Katsuki bit his tongue to keep from arguing, and Deku seemed to see it, despite how hard he tried to keep it subtle.

“What else did you like about it?” he prompted. “Just that she was younger?”

“She talked to me. Not just making conversation or whatever, but she told me things about the agency and the staff that I wouldn’t have thought to ask. Like how you assign all the new sidekicks to a Patrol Leader, to be their subordinate, so they know who to go to if they have questions or concerns or anything. They don’t just have to fumble around and figure things out, they have… like a direct line, to someone who will help them, and who generally has a similar type of quirk to them, so they can learn from each other.”

“From each other?” Deku asked, though it felt a little rhetorical.

“I mean, I’m sure it’s predominantly one way, but if some new kid comes in with a cool technique that the Leader has never thought of before, it gives them a chance to try to apply it to their own fighting style, too.”

“Good. Anything else?”

“That they learn from?”

“That you particularly enjoyed about the patrol.”

“Oh. She uh, knew things. About me. That probably sounds weird, but it was kind of nice to know that she looked me up or read my file or whatever, before taking me out there. I asked her, and she said if she was taking a student out in the field, she wanted to know about them. Maybe I was reading her wrong, but she seemed to… have plans for me? Like if something went wrong, she had a plan in her head for where to best fit me in, and it was nice to be included in that.”

“What do you think would happen with the other patrol leaders, if something went wrong?”

“Well the last time it got me kicked off a patrol,” Katsuki huffed. “And the first time I acted without thinking about what I was doing.”

“Both true,” Deku agreed. “So what do you think you should do about that?”

“Get better at following orders?”

Deku smirked again, and Katsuki grimaced in return.

“I’m trying. Honestly.”

“I’m sure you are.”

“It’s just hard, in the heat of the moment, to stop and wait for instructions.”

“I’m sure it is.”

Deku seemed to be hiding something, like a secret little joke, but Katsuki couldn’t seem to pinpoint what it might be.

“Alright,” Deku said finally. “I’m sure I can get you some opportunities to work with Trax again before the week is out. I’ve also put you on the Graveyard tonight, as I warned you I would.”

“With Spark Plug again?”

“With someone new to you,” Deku chuckled, handing him his timetable. “Ephia is our most experienced hero at the agency, with one of the most terrifying quirks I’ve ever encountered. If I were to be incapacitated today, Ephia would be running this place by morning, and not a single person would question it.”

Katsuki swallowed hard. Deku was clearly implying something, and Katsuki hated to think what it was.

“She has a very no-nonsense attitude, so I had to be sure you could behave yourself before I let you work with her. I don’t want to get complaints from my most valuable asset because I saddled her with an intern who couldn’t keep up. Do you understand?”

“I’ll be on my best behaviour,” Katsuki assured him, grimacing. “I look forward to learning from her.”

“Good answer.”

Katsuki looked down at the rest of his timetable, eyes scanning down little coloured boxes. A morning appointment with Yutaka was rare, but he no longer dreaded going to them, and another patrol with Spark Plug would serve him well – the man didn’t seem to mind letting Katsuki tag along, which always made Katsuki’s life a little less awkward.

“There’s- Ah, can I ask a question?”

“You may.”

“This block says ‘online work’ but it doesn’t have a name or anything on it. So am I just doing that on my own, wherever I want?”

“I assumed it would be in your apartment,” Deku chuckled. “But sure, anywhere you want as long as you take your laptop. The system is set up to be self-guided, so you shouldn’t encounter any issues, but I’m sure you can find someone to ask for help if you get stuck.”

“Okay, thank you. And we’re doing tomorrow’s brief early?”

“Yes. I have a busy day tomorrow, so I’ll give you your timetable bright and early, we’ll have a quick chat like always, and then you can go sleep off the patrol before your schedule for the new day starts.”

“Sounds good.”

“There’s one last thing we need to talk about before I dismiss you for today.”

“Oh? I didn’t screw up again, did I?”

“Nothing like that,” Deku assured him. “If you’ve ever done something wrong, I will bring it up straight away so we can deal with it and move on, I won’t let you stew until the end of a meeting.”

“Okay. Um, thanks.”

“On Friday night, there’s an event I have to attend, and I’d like to take you along with me.”

Katsuki perked up. He’d completely forgotten about that dumb gala thing, but he didn’t really want to miss out, if all his classmates were going.

“It’s a small part of being a hero, but an important one,” Deku continued. “So it would be good for you to get used to it, to see what you’ll be dealing with.”

“Sure,” Katsuki agreed. “I’d love to go, thank you.”

“So in one of your breaks today, I’d like you to find some time to go downstairs to the wardrobe department. They’ll take your measurements and get you a suit to wear, since it’s a formal event. And yes, I know you’ll hate that – we all do – but I’m trusting you to suck it up and deal with it like a hero.”

Katsuki grumbled a little, avoiding Deku’s gaze.

“If I wear a suit will you spar with me again?” he asked, hoping it would get a smile rather than a lecture.

Much to his surprise, Deku let out a bright laugh, shaking his head fondly when Katsuki’s eyes darted back to him.

“I don’t know about that,” he said, though there was some humour in his tone. “But I can tell you that if you don’t wear a suit and make a good impression, I definitely won’t be sparring with you again.”

“Fine,” Katsuki agreed begrudgingly. “I’ll do my best, then.”

“Good boy. If there’s nothing else, I’ll let you head off to see Mister Surusumi, and we’ll catch up again after your patrols.”

“Yeah. I’ll see you then.”

“Have a good day, Katsuki.”

“You too.”

He showed himself out, timetable in hand, and let out a long breath as he glanced over it one more time. His sleep schedule was all out of whack, and while Deku was making sure to give him plenty of time to sleep, it was still messing with his head a little when he read the schedules or set his alarms each day. He had his little block for break time and online work right before the Graveyard, though, so maybe he could just sneak in a little nap before they went out, to make sure he was in good condition for it – it sounded like he was gonna have to work hard to make a good impression on Ephia.

─────

“Do you have somewhere else to go, soon?” Spark Plug asked, glancing at his watch. “I usually grab some dinner then settle in to write and eat, but I can give you the real quick version if you want.”

“I don’t have to be anywhere,” Katsuki assured him. “I have some online stuff to do, but I’m sure Deku won’t notice if I’m a little late starting for this.”

“Oh, you’re doing those now? Awesome, I can’t wait to hear how you go.”

“Should I be concerned?”

“Nope! There’s some cool stuff in there. What do you want for dinner?”

“Huh? I uh, I usually just make something in my apartment, rice and meat or something – did you want me to cook for you, too?”

“Oh, no, I meant I’m gonna order us food,” he laughed. “We can make a start while it gets delivered, someone from reception will find us. Have you tried any of the local places yet?”

“Only right at the start, after the group run. I’m cooking and using the agency buffet the rest of the time. But you don’t have to buy me anything, I swear, I can-”

“The company will pay for it,” Spark Plug brushed him off. “There’s an awesome tempura place, or I’m always up for yakitori. I imagine you don’t want pizza before a Graveyard, you’d fall asleep halfway through.”

“I’m not picky, whatever you prefer. Or recommend. You know the options better.”

“Alright, let’s go tempura then, you’ve gotta try this place before your internship ends.” He started tapping out an order on his phone, still speaking all the while. “There’s an amazing steakhouse too, but they don’t deliver – when’s your last day as an intern, Sunday? I’ll take you out for dinner Sunday night, to celebrate.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

“I want to! Lemillion and Flare will want to be there too, and Trax – she thinks you’re a great addition to the team. Keep yourself free around six o’clock. That’s early enough for you to get back to school after, right? The commute isn’t too far?”

“That’s fine,” Katsuki assured him. “Thank you, that’s… cool of you.”

“I’ll be looking forward to it! Alright, now let’s take a look at these notes.”

Spark Plug passed over the debrief notes they’d put together not long ago, with the sidekicks from their patrol, and then another document that he hadn’t seen before, but seemed to list a lot of the stuff he and Mirio had talked about a couple of days prior.

“This is my cheat-sheet,” Spark Plug explained, grinning. “Makes sure everything is in order and I don’t miss anything. We all have something of the sort, but we make them ourselves, for what makes sense to each of us. Paragon likes to go location by location, Flare goes hour by hour, personally I like to go by incident so I’m not jumping back and forth between sidekicks to describe what they each did. You’ll find what works for you, when you need it.”

“Can I take a photo of this?”

“By all means!”

He snapped one on his phone, to refer back to later, but when he started to pass it back, Spark Plug shook his head.

“I know you asked to ‘sit in’ but that’s a pretty dull use of your time. You’re gonna write this report today, and I’m gonna guide you through it.”

For a moment Katsuki thought he was joking, but for once Spark Plug seemed dead serious, and Katsuki looked down at their notes with trepidation.

“Relax, I’m not gonna run off and make you do it alone, or throw you under the bus if we miss something. But this is way better for learning than just watching me write a bunch of bullshit. So, starting from the top, give us a brief summary of how the patrol went.”

Just like that, Spark Plug walked him through, helping him organise his thoughts into the right places and making sure they included all the details they needed. At some point in their meeting, a receptionist brought them a feast of the best tempura Katsuki had ever tasted, but still they kept working, making sure everything was perfect.

“Thank you for this,” Katsuki said, when they’d sent the paperwork off to Deku’s email address, and handed the physical copies over to a staff member apparently employed just to run around the building. “And for the food.”

“My pleasure, kiddo. It’s been cool having you along, I’ll have to make Deku get us more interns, after you.”

“You don’t have your own subordinates to deal with?”

“Not at the moment,” Spark Plug chuckled. “He tries to limit how many of us have ‘ords at once, so we aren’t all working constant overtime to train them. Once we’ve done our time with them, we generally get a little break before the next round. Ephia has one pretty much all the time, though.”

“I’m working with her tonight. What should I know?”

“Mostly just don’t talk back, she’ll be super unimpressed. She’s a good communicator though, she’ll let you know what she wants from you. Her ‘ord will probably be there too, Bleak. He’s a cool dude, but a little clueless, to be honest. You’ll get frustrated with him real quick, so just try to keep breathing and keep your mouth shut.”

“Noted. Thank you.”

“Paragon has an ‘ord right now too, but he mostly works mornings so you won’t have met him yet, you’re always in your briefings and gym sessions that early. And Igneo has three, I don’t know what drove him to agree to that. He’s been exhausted since the day they showed up. So you probably won’t have a patrol with him, he’s got too much going on already. You’ll learn more about this whole thing in your online modules today, anyway. You’d better make a start on them before your Graveyard. Don’t be late meeting Ephia.”

“I won’t be,” Katsuki assured him. “Thanks for the advice, I’ll try to bite my tongue.”

“Good luck. I’m off the next two days, but let me know how it goes, when we catch up this weekend.”

“I will. Get some rest and stuff.”

“Will do! Goodnight and good luck!”

With a last grin Spark Plug showed himself out, and Katsuki gathered up their dinner trash quickly – he knew they had staff to do it, but he still felt guilty any time he left a mess behind, so he did his best to clean up after himself all the same. According to his phone, he still had about twenty minutes left before he was meant to start his online work – not that anyone was likely to notice if he was a little late to that – so he sidled up to the reception desk, hovering awkwardly as he waited for one of the staff to notice him.

“Sorry to interrupt,” he began carefully, when one of them met his eyes. “Deku asked me to visit the wardrobe department, but I’m not sure exactly where that is?”

“They’re on the second floor,” the older lady told him. “If you take the elevator up, just turn left out the doors and go down to the end of that hallway. There’s a sign on the door, but it’s usually open, anyway.”

“Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.”

He backtracked toward the elevator, grimacing when he found other people waiting already, forced to jam himself in with a handful of strangers as it began to rise. One of them smelled awful, clearly coming from the gyms, and Katsuki was completely unsurprised to see him step out on the first floor, where all the health and recovery services were – the dude probably needed first aid, if he’d been working that hard.

The doors slid open again at his stop, and one other person followed him out, though they immediately turned right toward the sound of clanking metal – he’d have to investigate that one on his way back out.

Sure enough, a door at the end of the hall was propped open wide, and when he knocked awkwardly on the door frame, three heads popped up to greet him with big smiles.

“My name’s Katsuki, I’m an intern here,” he explained, when they welcomed him in. “Deku told me to come sort out a suit or something, for an event Friday night?”

“Of course! The gala! You must be very excited.”

“That’s one word for it.”

He stood awkwardly still as the staff member measured him, taking notes on a little whiteboard, not just of the numbers but of his hair and eye colours too, and a bunch of stuff he couldn’t make out from his position. Thankfully it didn’t take long before they were done prodding at him, and he was free to escape, with instructions to come back Friday for them to make any last second alterations. At least they were quick, he supposed.

The upper floors were much quieter, when Katsuki made it back to his apartment, so he decided to settle in and stay there a while. He’d considered setting up to work in the lobby or break room, so he could be nearby if anything interesting happened, but he wasn’t sure he’d get any work done if he did that. So instead he’d hole up where it was quiet, and just pray that if there was anything exciting going on, someone would let him know.

The first module, it turned out, was a borderline scavenger hunt around the agency – a lot of the answers he already knew from his first week, like the heaviest dumbbell in the gym or where to get food, but others he realised he didn’t know, and probably should have. For instance, he had no clue where the fire exits were, other than the main lobby doors. His binder of agency information held a few more answers for him, when he dug it out, but still he knew he was going to have to brave the agency staff to get answers to the rest. For instance, who the hell was he meant to call if he was too sick for a patrol? Obviously it didn’t matter that much as an intern, but it wasn’t like he had Deku’s cellphone number – so maybe the reception staff? They would be able to get a message passed on, right?

And if he encountered trouble with another staff member harassing him or making him uncomfortable, who was he supposed to talk to? Maybe Yutaka, although that would more be for the coping mechanisms side than the actually dealing with the problems part. Though he could probably point Katsuki in the right direction?

He supposed for most new hires it would be their assigned Patrol Leader, so maybe it wasn’t that bad that he didn’t know the answers. Though if the Patrol Leader was the one causing the problem, there had to be another level beyond them, right? It was all getting too complicated, too quickly. And who was Katsuki meant to go to? Mirio, maybe? Or to Deku at one of their daily briefings?

Far too soon, his time was up, and he hurriedly changed into his costume to head downstairs again. A couple of sidekicks were already waiting in the lobby, neither of whom Katsuki recognised, but before he could decide whether or not to approach him, a stern-looking lady with her hair in a bun was standing beside him, looking down at him across two inches of height that felt more like a mile.

“Ephia?” he asked, his voice a lot quieter than he’d hoped.

“You must be our intern,” she said, nodding. “Good to see you’re on time.”

“Of course.”

“What was your name?”

“Katsuki. Bakugou Katsuki.”

“Hero name, I meant.”

“Oh. Sorry. Dynamight, then.”

“Alright, Dynamight. Come along, I assume you haven’t met these two yet. This is Bleak.” She gestured toward one of the sidekicks, who gave him a quick nod in greeting. “And this is Borealis. Folks, this is Dynamight, he’ll be tagging along with us today.”

“Nice to meet you,” Bleak said with a smile.

“I’ve heard a lot,” Borealis added, with more of a smirk. “I’ve been looking forward to working with you.”

Katsuki tried to manage a smile, but it came out as more of a grimace – Deku would probably tell him to work on that, but Katsuki was pretty sure that was beyond his power.

“Do you have any questions or anything before we head out?” Ephia asked.

“I don’t want to be a pain.”

“Questions aren’t a pain.”

“W-Well. Um, are we doing a similar route to what Spark Plug does?”

“Yes, but in a different order. We try to switch it up regularly, so we reduce the risk of villains memorising our routine and working around it.”

“Okay. That makes sense.” He paused, remembering his conversation with Deku earlier in the day and kicking himself – it was no wonder Deku had been smirking at him, he’d been an oblivious idiot. “This might be a silly question, but, if something goes wrong, what do you want me to… do?”

Ephia blinked at him, apparently a little surprised by the question.

“Other than follow directions,” Katsuki added quickly. “I’ll do that as best as I can, of course.”

“Bleak and I both have less physical quirks than yours,” she said, gesturing toward the young man beside her, presumably in case Katsuki had forgotten. “I work at a distance, and Bleak is kind of mid-range, so it would help a lot if you could keep any villains at a distance for us.”

“With force?”

“Yes.” She cracked a smile. “Within reason, of course.”

“And Borealis?” he asked, glancing over at the other woman. “Sorry, I don’t know everyone’s quirks yet.”

“I manipulate light,” she explained. “I can definitely get hands on if I need to, but you’ve got the advantage over me there.”

“So the best thing I can do to help is intercept anyone who tries to get in close, since they probably have more physical quirks?”

“Exactly,” Ephia agreed. “And if they drop in the middle of a confrontation, Bleak or I have likely taken over, so you can move on to the next one.”

“Okay. And uh, silly question, but… Do you want me to ask your permission, first? To engage?”

“I’ll trust your judgment,” Ephia assured him. “I expect you’ve got enough field experience by now that I don’t have to warn you about excessive force or engaging too pre-emptively, right?”

“Right,” Katsuki confirmed. “I’ll do my best.”

“That’s all I ask.”

[Chapter 12]