Chapter Text
Izuku freezes in his spot the second his eyes meet those crimson, red orbs. His brain could never forget them. How could he? He spent hours looking into them when he was younger so, how could he forget? The gaze Katsuki holds is way different than before. The blonde boy's gaze was sharp, and rough in Izuku's direction. His scowl deeper than before, Izuku never remembered that look. The Kacchan he knew from many years ago was rude, and moody but something in those ruby eyes looked different, behind the crimson orbs was a look of hurt. Sure, he looked just as angry at the world as usual but something in those eyes was hurting, like a wound that no bandage could heal.
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘶𝘱 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘩𝘪𝘮?! 𝘋𝘪𝘥 𝘐 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘥𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨?, Izuku thinks to himself.
"Izuku!" Mitsuki stood up from the couch and went to hug him. Her arms wrapped around his shoulders as she embraced him. Izuku hugged her back, as she grinned widely.
Izuku could never openly admit that when he was younger, he was slightly scared of her growing up. She was tough on Katsuki but he could tell she did it out of love for her kid. She didn't look too different, Her hair was still light blonde and spiky, all though she had some grey hairs scattered around her scalp which made Izuku feel old. Mitsuki had eye bags and new wrinkles that were displayed near her eyes and forehead. "I missed you so much! I really missed having a sweet kid running around that isn't causing chaos left , right, and centre." She craned her head to look at Katsuki then, barked out a laugh after the statement. Izuku lets out a sheepish grin, and nods along.
"You must be Izuku?...my brother says lots..about you." A little girl, no older than three, pops out behind Mitsuki. Her voice has a calming tone. Izuku looks down and is shocked to find..a little Kacchan?! Her hair is blonde like Katsuki but tied into two pigtails, the iconic red Bakugo eyes she displayed with a bright smile. She wore light blue jeans that were slightly faded and a black t-shirt with a skull on it. Izuku was convinced it was one of Katsuki's hand-me-downs. Her face was so innocent and sweet as she stared up at him. "Oh Izuku! This is Kaori, She's a bundle of joy! " Mitsuki kneels down to scoop the child into her arms. and kiss Kaori's cheek.
a deep, raspy voice interrupts the meeting of Kaori and Izuku.
"Hey nerd, how you been?"
Katsuki says from across the coffee table. The first sentence he's spoken to Izuku since they were thirteen. The tone of the question sounded slightly forced. His voice had an edge to it, the greenete felt like he was walking on a tightrope. If he fucked this up their friendship would only fall deeper into despair. Izuku looked at his childhood friend, unsure what to say. Does he tell him how shitty he's been feeling? Or does he completely lie and say everything is great? "Doing great Kacchan!" The greenete's mouth moves before actually deciding what to say.
The Bakugou parents and Inko start to chat in the living room over a tray of tea and small biscuits. Kaori sits beside Katsuki, patiently waiting as her older brother breaks up a cookie for them to share. Izuku engages with the small talk as Masaru asks about how school is treating him and how basketball is going. The greenete watches silently as Katsuki messes with his sister, pretending to take a bite before giving her the biscuit. Kaori's little giggles fill the entire apartment.
"Why don't you kids go to Izuku's room?" Inko says with a genuine smile. Izuku picks up his bag off the floor and starts to walk over to his room. Kaori marches over to Izuku and grabs his hand. He looks down and smiles, taking her hand. The girl unknowingly has crumbs all over her chin and cheeks as they walk down the hallway of the apartment, Izuku opens his bedroom door while Katsuki trails behind them.
Katsuki snorts a laugh the second the door is opened. "You still like that superhero from the Marvel movies?" He looks around Izuku's room, astonished by the major collection of All Might figures sitting on the greenete's shelf. There's a large abundance of movie posters on his walls. Ranging from all the MCU characters, to fight scenes. "Such a nerd.." Katsuki mumbles to himself as he looks around. A specific photo on Izuku's night stand catches his eyes. A photo, not of All Might, is framed with Izuku and three others smiling. Katsuki keeps a mental note about Izuku and round face holding hands. His face turns sour after realizing the meaning, Izuku catches a glance at his face. "Is..everything alright Kacchan?" He asked curious about the look that paints Kastuki's face. "Nothing, nerd." Katsuki says in an annoyed tone, voice gruff.
Izuku sits on his bed and pulls out all of his homework. Kaori develops an interest in his papers and grabs one. He chuckles softly before holding his hand out to receive the paper back. She returns his chemistry papers with a small grin. Izuku looks through all the papers, while little Kacchan walks over to Katsuki, he gently picks her up as she looks at the All Might figurines on Izuku's shelf. The curious kid picks up a figure off the shelf and swings it around. Katsuki takes the All Might from her hands and puts it back on Izuku's shelf. "Not funny Kaori, it's not yours." Katsuki says in a calm, but stern tone.
Izuku stares at the two of them. He's never seen Katsuki so..gentle with anyone before. He quickly looks away before Katsuki notices he was staring. "So..Kacchan. Why are you back in Japan? Are you visiting or?" Izuku says breaking the silence. He fidgets with the pencil in his hands before looking up at the blonde. "We're moving back, but we're moving to a town near Tokyo. It's about an hour away." Katsuki looks at Izuku as he carries his little sister, she moves closer to him and nuzzles her cheek into his chest and yawns. Izuku smiles as Katsuki kisses the top of her head.
"So-"
"Who's-"
They both interrupt each other's sentences. Katsuki rolls his eyes to the back of his head as Izuku throws his head back with a laugh. "You go first Kacchan." Izuku smiles at the crimson eyed duo. "It's fine nerd." Katsuki sighs running his hand through his sisters spikey hair. "Kaori..means strong , and Katsuki means victory. I like the theme that you parents have going." Izuku teases. Katsuki stares at the greenete, cracking a soft smile.
Katsuki quietly moves to sit on Izuku's bed, leaning his back on the wall so that he and the greenete are beside each other. The two keep a safe distance away, not that Izuku minds. Kaori moves to lay her head on Katsuki's lap, He quietly takes out her pig tails so that her head doesn't hurt later. "Oh! Kacchan." Izuku whispers in a gentle tone. Katsuki looks up from his little sister and makes eye contact with him.
"Didn't you have a question?" Izuku cheekly grins at Katsuki. "Never mind loser." Katsuki exhales.
After one of the most awkward but bittersweet meetings of Izuku's life he bids farewell to the Bakugou family. Mitsuki envelopes him into a loving hug, Masaru just pats his shoulder and gives him a warm smile. Kaori hugs the greenete's leg with absolutely no intention of letting go. "Kaori, sweetie, we have to go home now." Mitsuki says in an endearing tone, crouching down to pick her up. "No!! I want to stay!! Izuku is so more funner!!" Kaori cries out.
"Brat, get your sister." Mitsuki nudges Katsuki. Izuku smiles and pats her head trying his best to comfort her. The blonde angrily stomps over to his younger sister. "C'mon Kaori, we should get back home now." His usual gruff and harsh voice is replaced by a gentle, softer tone. He gently puts his hands under her arms and lifts her up into his grasp. She squirms and tries to grab onto Izuku's green curls. "Aw..bye Kaori! I'm sure I'll see you again!" He smiles at the red eyed girl. Her hands lose grip of his hair as Katsuki drags her off.
The Midoriyas wave their visitors away. "Bye Kaori! I'll see you!! And..bye Kacchan! Have fun at your new school!" He shouts as the car pulls away. Katsuki cranes his head around to nod at Izuku. Not a proper goodbye but better than nothing. Kaori waves goodbye, her eyes red and puffy from her tears. As the red car drives off, Izuku is struck with the memory of when he chased that same car down the street. It's crazy to him that it's already been nine years, almost an entire decade of friendship that was lost to time.
"Well, that family is still a handful aren't they?" Inko says teasingly, snapping Izuku out of his daze. "Yeah..I'm glad they're back in Japan though!" The greenete beams out of pure joy.
If Izuku was to be honest...he wasn't sure how he felt. Seeing Katsuki after all these years was nice but something was off about him and it bugged the hell out of Izuku.
____________________
Later that night, the greenete lay in bed. It's around eleven o'clock, the moonlight glistens through the window. The sky is a dark blue with a tinge of purple in the horizon. The streetlights illuminate the neighbourhood, a bright iridescent white. The night is quiet, and filled with a peaceful silence. Every once and a while he can hear the sounds of cars passing, music blasting from another apartment. Not that he minds. After living in an apartment for so long you get used to the chaos that ensues.
The greenete finds himself staring at his ceiling. His body and mind drained from the day, but something won't let him sleep. Izuku turns on his side, now facing the wall. He pulls the blanket up to his shoulder and closes his eyes. The second he actually feels like sleeping his phone buzzed, vibrating on his bedside table. He sighs before flipping over to check his phone. The screen displayed a notification from "Kacchan". Izuku's heart nearly jumped out of his chest, his heartbeat picking up to two-hundred beats-per-minute.
The greenete slowly opens his text, one hand on his phone the other brushing through his tangled green, curly tuffs. The text was a short and simple message.
____________________
Kacchan^_^
_____________________
Tᴜᴇsᴅᴀʏ 11:47PM
Kacchan: Hey nerd, thanks for being nice to Kaori. The kid's annoying but she's nice. Anyways she wants to see you again whenever you're free.
Izuku:
Ah! Kaori is very fun to be around!
No need to thank me!
Also I would love to hang out again!
Text me for the days you're free!
Read
Izuku stares at his phone for a short moment, waiting for a reply.
Nothing.
Absolutely nothing.
Katsuki doesn't respond, Izuku isn't even close to feeling surprised or shocked that he left him on read. Mostly just disappointed, after all this time he wouldn't mind talking to his friend again.
This night must've been the greenete's worst night of sleep ever. Falling asleep at 2:14AM, waking up at 3:37AM, go back to sleep, wake up at 5:09AM, knock out, wake up at 6:30AM for school.
By the time he actually has to wake up for his daily education, Izuku wants to slam his head into a wall. He groggily takes his morning shower. The cold water of the shower hits his back, making him feel even more awake. To make his day even worse he gets shampoo in his eye, a stinging sensation hits him in the face. Izuku groans and scrubs his eyes in his misfortune.
He gets changed into his outfit for the day, he puts grey jogging pants on, paired with a white t-shirt that loosely fit him. He quietly packs his lunch, careful not to wake his mom. She works twelve hour shifts on Wednesdays, and Izuku didn't feel like waking her up for something as simple as 'please make me lunch, your poor son doesn't want to die of starvation.' He packs some leftover curry and rice that his mom made the other day. The emerald eyed boy scrambles to finish his chemistry homework, which really doesn't help his developing headache but grades will be grades.
Izuku grabs a granola bar from his pantry, slips his iconic red converse on before heading out the door. It's around seven twenty-five which means his bus will be here in five minutes. School starts at eight-fifteen. He should be on time. Izuku knows that the day is going to suck but at least after school there's basketball practice something to look forward to.
Izuku's Wednesday at school goes along the lines of, say hi to his friends, get to Chemistry class which thankfully Todoroki attends with him, then History which he mostly zones out to. After, P.E. and sweating buckets during one hell of a beep test finally, and he means finally lunch. He sits with his usual group. Sitting beside Uraraka, in front of Shoto, and diagonal to Ida, Izuku is as happy as can be.
"How was your beep test, Zuku?" Uraraka says in a curious tone, looking up from her lunch.
"Oh...I got 10.8." Izuku blushes lightly, hopefully not enough for the others to notice.
"Nice one, Midoriya." Ida says, happy for his friend.
"Oh yeah Midoriya we have a history test on Friday, so...you should probably get studying." Shoto announces in his moderate tone, his heterochromic eyes scanning the greenete's face for any sort of reaction.
"Crap!!!!" Izuku exclaims, at this point he's ready to slam his head into a locker and crumple into a ball, and cry. He drops his spoon on the floor now making it impossible to eat his food. "Can this day literally get any wors-"
"Here take mine!" Ida shoves the silver utensil into his face. "I haven't used it yet, and my meal does not consist of a spoon for me to eat. It's perfectly okay for you to take my spoon Midoriya." Ida continues to insist on the matter.
"Thanks!" Izuku sheepily takes the spoon and continues eating his lunch. Uraraka leans her head on the greenete's shoulder, he wraps his right arm around her and kisses her head softly.
"Aww Midoriya!!" A loud shout causes him to jump and turn his head around from the cause of the noise. Eijoru walks over and sits beside him. "I need a tip man...how did you get the guts to ask Occhaco out? I mean I want to ask Ashido but..." Eijoru trails off.
"But what?" Shoto asks coldly.
"What if..she doesn't like me back? What if I'm not manly enough for her?" The red head stresses. He slouches and places his arm on the table for his head to lean on.
"You always have to take the risk..even if you're not certain I mean..I was so nervous asking Chaco out but, sometimes you just have to follow your instincts." The emerald eyed boy looks at the former.
"You're so manly I wish I could be like you!" Eijoru places his hand on Izuku's shoulder before getting up and running to his group of friends, a bright smile displayed on his face.
𝘔𝘢𝘺𝘣𝘦 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘪𝘤𝘦, Izuku thinks to himself.
He turns his phone on and scrolls through his messages with Katsuki. Izuku was never really the type of guy to start a conversation but he was truly contemplating texting the overly moody blonde. After seeing him the previous day he wanted nothing more but to continue talking to him.
"You okay Izu?" Uraraka curiously asks to check in on her boyfriend. Her brown eyes shone with worry for the greenete.
"I'm fine! Don't worry Chaco." She leans on his shoulder and takes her hand in his. The action fills Izuku's heart with more warmth than it can hold.
The day passes by like the wind on a cold Winter night. Basketball practice was tiring as always but it made the greenete happy. His lovely girlfriend takes the time to wait for his hour practice to be done.
"You better make some baskets for me!" She says enthusiastically.
After basketball practice, Izuku walks with Uraraka to her bus stop before hugging her and saying goodbye. He slowly makes his way to his bus, kicking small pebbles to see how far they can go before stopping its momentum. Izuku slides his bag off his shoulder and carefully unzips the front pocket to take out his headphones. On a day like this music would help, Izuku connects his headphones to his phone and plays whatever he can find on Spotify. He gets to his bus stop and leans on the glass of the small structure. His emerald, green eyes follow the cars as they zoom by. The younger kids from the elementary school walked past him waving cheekily. He waves back, putting a smile on his face.
The bus arrives after a couple minutes, Izuku cautiously steps on. After tripping for a decades worth on the steps the boy is safer taking it slow and steady. He greets the bus driver and moves to sit at the back quietly in the corner by himself.
After getting back home to his apartment Izuku is completely drained from the day.
He decides to start working on his homework and walks to his room. He sets his work on his desk, pulls out his chair, then moves to sit on his soft, comfortable chair. His brain moves at a cheetah's speed writing the answers as fast as he can to get everything over with. After Senior year rolled around Izuku just wanted everything to slow down. I mean it's May! One more month then everything changes.
Izuku would love to become a teacher, or maybe do something with his basketball talent. He can't get his mind off of getting on a plane and flying somewhere far. Teaching in Japan would be amazing, but it's really an excuse to get away from Japan. Izuku loved growing up in the country but he wanted a change. His dad lived somewhere in Canada and well, Katsuki's mom heavily influenced fashion there and Izuku wanted to see it for himself.
Could he do that to Occhaco? His best friend of five years, this February was their second year anniversary. Would he even have the guts to leave her in Japan and go somewhere else? Izuku knows how much leaving someone for a country on the other side of the world can hurt the other person. Long and behold Izuku had this ache in his chest that, although he loved her, sometimes he thinks that they won't last. Two years with her have been amazing but...Izuku can't even seem to figure out how he feels. He can feel an emotional whirl wind brewing.
His phone blows up with notifications from people on the Akita high basketball team.
_________________________________________
AKITA HIGH'S BEST BASKETBALL TEAM!
_________________________________________
Wednesday 4:29PM
Eijirou Kirishima: Holy shit! Nata's basketball team has a new player! (*video clip sent*)
Hanta Sero: We have to compete against that thing next week?!😭
Mezo Shoji: It was two lay-ups and a 3 pointer. You guys are over reacting...🙄
Izuku curiously opens the video link that Kirishima sent. Unfortunately his eyes catch a glimpse of the crimson eyed boy. Sporting an orange jersey, with the number forty-two. His last name BAKUGOU spelled out on the back with a large font, and red outline.
𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘐 𝘥𝘰 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘨𝘶𝘺!?, Izuku internally shrieks in his head.
And even worse, Katsuki wasn't the worst. He's a quick thinker and his speed is unparalleled on the court. Izuku analysed the video. Katsuki's footing was close to perfection. Even worse was, the greenete could tell Katsuki was new to the sport. He made small slip ups here and there but fixed them by scoring even more baskets. The gnawing rush of nervousness hits Izuku hard. He hasn’t been this nervous for a basketball tournament in years!
[NEXT MONDAY- DAY 1 OF THE TOURNAMENT]
Izuku wakes up extra early to prepare for the tournament. Basketball is taken very seriously. Although Akita High took charge of running the tournament this year, the emerald eyed boy wanted to get as much practice as he can before the tournament started around 10:00AM. As the basketball captain, Izuku gets the gym keys, which he takes to his advantage when necessary. The boy packs his bag and writes his mum a note explaining where he is before heading out. The sun is barely out at 5:30AM but Izuku doesn’t mind. The buses don’t operate till 6AM so he sticks with walking which is a decent distance away. The sky is painted a beautiful dark blue with hints of pink and purple hues decorating the space.
After arriving at the school he unlocks the gym and immediately gets to work. Shuffling and hustling around. Shooting, dribbling everything he needs to be able to do to win this. He knows today is only the start of one hell of a week.