Izuku had seen terrible things during the war. Things that still woke him up at night, chest tight, All For One's voice echoing in his head, Tenko's desperate cries. Things that made his scars ache even when they'd long since healed, made his body tingle as if his quirk was still there somewhere.

But seeing you like this, curled up on his bed in his dorm, shoulders shaking with sobs you couldn't hold back anymore, that hit different.

He'd always thought he was over it. The breakup. The way they'd ended things right before UA, you arguing he'd get himself killed, him snapping back, firm but weak, because why would he ever want to fight with you? You were both too young, Izuku stupid for not telling you the truth about his quirk sooner. He'd told himself it was for the best, he tried to believe that, as if seeing you in different relationships didn't kill a part of him.

He'd watched you go through relationship after relationship, each one worse than the last. People who didn't see you the way Izuku did, love you the way he could. People who didn't know how you'd scrunch your nose when you laughed, or how you'd stood between him and Kacchan more times than he could count, telling Bakugo to back off even when your hands were shaking.

The war had broken something open in all of them. But for you, it seemed like it shattered whatever walls you'd been hiding behind, your most recent relationship ending horrible didn't make it any better, tossed to the side like it meant nothing, after everything you were told.

"I'm sorry," You choked out between gasps, pressing your palms against your eyes like you could force the tears to stop. Definitely wasn't helping. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have.. I didn't mean to just show up like this—"

"Hey, hey, no," Izuku said softly, dropping down beside you on the floor. "You don't have to apologize. You never have to apologize for this."

His hand hovered near your shoulder, uncertain. It had been so long since he'd touched you like this, since he'd been allowed to. But you were hurting, and every instinct he'd ever had was screaming at him to do something, to help, to be there the way he'd always wanted to be.

**He let his hand settle gently on your back.

You flinched at first, then melted into it, a fresh wave of tears breaking through.

"I just—" Your voice cracked. "Everything's so messed up, Izuku. The war, and the breakup, and I keep trying to be okay but I'm not, I'm really not."

"I know," he murmured, and his other hand came up almost on instinct, fingers carefully brushing through your hair the way he used to when you'd study together in middle school. When things were simpler. When you were his, and he was yours, and the world felt a little less heavy, a little less cruel. "I know, sunshine. It's okay. You're okay."

You stay quiet, your stomach twisting into knots that pull tighter with each second. You weren't okay. You were everything but okay. You lift your head slightly, really looking at him, gazing at the scar cutting through his face where freckles used to scatter, the way his curls sit limp and lifeless against his forehead, duller than you remember, like even they've forgotten how to shine.

Your chest aches with a pain so sharp it steals your breath. All Izuku ever wanted was to love you. That's all he ever asked for, to give and give and give until he had nothing left. And you pushed it away. You pushed him away. You broke your sweet boy. Your kind, gentle, self sacrificing boy who would've burned the whole world down just to keep you warm. The hero who saved everyone but couldn't save himself from you.

God, you missed him. It crashes over you all at once, devastating and absolute. It was him. It had always been him. He was the one you'd been searching for in every failed relationship, every person who could never quite fill the hole in your heart. You were searching for Izuku. And he'd been right here the whole time, just a little more broken than when you left him.