“The reason you’re you is because you never give up on winning, right?”
Katsuki loves Izuku so much that he values what Izuku thinks of him more than anything. This is exactly how Izuku feels about him too. Katsuki staked his whole life on his opinion because he knows without even needing to be told, his determination to win is what Izuku has always seen inside him and adored about him. Katsuki getting up to fight again, while knowing it’s most likely futile, is an action of love towards Izuku. By acting in the way Izuku loves, he wants to be loved.
Regardless of what happens to Kacchan from here on, in it’s own incomplete and tragic way, this is still peak romance and no one could convince me of otherwise. Hidden behind the tangible despair of unconnected-ness, the desires and longing that slip right through his fingers, is the deepest love for Izuku that has ever seeped out to the surface. It’s right here. You are meant to be feeling this. Feel the sad and love-filled wish as he reaches out to Izuku. He longs to hear Izuku’s voice telling him he did good one more time. He wants his hero.
‘To you, the hero who always tried to save me no matter what… To you, who I always felt was going to leave me far behind… To you, who is my whole world and the one I love: ‘Are you watching me now? What do you think of me?’
And it’s not simply about getting the speed to catch up so they can be heroes together, but the almighty hope he carries within his soul that his feelings towards Izuku will somehow reach him. They still have yet to. And they must. It’s only by going with Katsuki on this road of grief and sadness born from his distance with Izuku, that we can truly feel the joy of them being connected and as one later.
Ch 362 feels like a curse being cast over us to hide the undeniable truth we’ve always known: they are connected, always have been and always will be. Neither of them are meant to do this alone. This is their story, their path to greatness, their fight and their triumph. Izuku can’t possibly do this without his Kacchan to keep him balanced and to telepathically read through his plans like a book and to charm him with his best winner hero smirk and to make jokes and share laughter with and to simp All Might with and to lift him when he falls and to hold his hand and-
Thanks, Kohei “I can’t write romance lol” Horikoshi-sensei… ~Dispel~
