Chapter Text
“What the hell is he doing here? He works here? Well, Todoroki-kun did someone else his age also works here but he also said they weren’t here. Yet here he is! What do I say? It’s been so long. Wait, why the hell am I worried about him? He probably doesn’t even remember me. Yeah, he thinks he is so high up on his high chair he wouldn’t even know me anymore. I’ll just pretend not to know him.”
“Midoriya,” Izuku jumped and closed the door. He turned around to see Recovery Girl staring at him. “Is everything alright?”
“Uhhh, yeah, everything is great.” Izuku stands up and dusts himself off. “I thought I dropped something but I guess not.”
He needs to get a hold of himself. He can’t let Kacchan, no wait that’s not right, Bakugou bother him. Izuku takes a deep breath to collect himself. He can do this. This won’t be difficult. He’s not a child anymore. He knows there is a chance that Bakugou will remember him so he just has to stay calm. He can figure this out. He will overcome this. He then hears a knock at the door and jumps.
“Come in,” Recovery Girl says.
Katsuki knows he has to do these exams to keep doing patrols and hero work. It’s just like any health exam. Yes, it’s every month but after getting hurt without knowing he gets it now and understands he has to go. He opens the door to see Recovery Girl standing by the files and she glances around the room.
“Ah Bakugou, please take a seat,” she gestures to a chair and he sits down. “How are you today?”
“Good I guess,” he shrugs. She nods and then looks behind at something behind the curtain where the beds are located.
“I’m going to have my intern examine you today. Is that alright? I’ll be moderating him and then giving you the final call.” She motions to the person behind the curtain.
“Yeah, sure, I don’t care.” He looks over and the curtain opens. Katsuki’s eyes widen.
There, standing in front of him, after so many years, was Deku. He was taller than in middle school. He had a small build and his hair is a bit shorter than it was but it’s Deku. He knows it’s Deku. He just can’t believe it. Izuku can see the look of surprise on his face. He can’t tell if it’s good or bad so he settles for the middle. To Izuku, Bakugou hadn’t changed that much either. More muscle and taller, sure, but it's still Bakugou. One thing for sure, Izuku can tell Kacchan isn’t there anymore. It’s different now, they aren’t three. They are both different.
“Hello, I’ll be doing your exam today,” he receives the file from Recover Girl.
“Deku?” It comes out as a whisper. Izuku tries to remain calm. He has a job to do.
“I’m going to ask for your name, hero name, and date of birth so I know I have the correct file.” Izuku looks through the file. He feels if he makes eye contact with him, he might not be able to go through this. Katsuki looks at him for a moment. He sighs and just rolls with it.
“My name is Katsuki Bakugou, hero name is Ground Zero, and my birth date is April 20th.” Izuku nods and flips through some pages.
“Your quirk is Explosions, which comes from the nitroglycerin that you sweat out from your hands.”
“Right…” Katsuki can’t stop looking at Izuku. He looks both the same and different from middle school and he can’t help but wonder what he has been doing this whole time.
“Alright let me just listen to your heart and lungs, please.” Izuku pulls out his stethoscope. He leans forward about to listen to his heartbeat from his chest and on instinct Katsuki leans back. Izuku looks up at him surprised only to see Katsuki surprised as well.
“WHY THE FUCK DID I DO THAT?!”
“Bakugou-san, is everything alright?” Izuku asks, confused.
“Yes, I’m fine.” Katsuki hasn’t made an effort to lean forward. Izuku sighs.
“Sir, if you are uncomfortable with me performing your exam I-” Izuku begins but immediately gets cut off.
“NO! No, you’re fine. Don’t worry.” Katsuki takes a deep breath to relax and leans forward again.
Izuku watches him for a moment and then glances over to Recovery Girl who is sitting and watching. She just smiles and nods and Izuku sighs. He turns back to Bakugou and puts the drum of the stethoscope to his chest. Katsuki does everything he is told to do. He breathes in and holds it, and then breathes out. This should be simple. It’s just an exam. An exam performed from your childhood friend, someone he bullied so bad that he disappeared from Katsuki so fast out of his life. They go through the rest of the exam without any trouble and Katsuki thinks he could do this. What could go wrong?
“Can you pull your pants down, please?” There it is.
“What the fuck!?” Katsuki tries not to yell. The exam is almost done but he wasn’t expecting this. Izuku looks through Katsuki’s file and stops at a page.
“It says here that recently you came in here to the infirmary because you had bruising because you were thrown by a villain to the ground. It’s been a week so I would just like to check how your thigh is doing.” Izuku explains. He looks so calm but Katsuki is trying not to freak out. Katsuki completely forgot about that. He remembers having a hard time walking that day but he has been fine ever since. I mean he asked him to pull his pants down. How was he supposed to react?
“Uh, y-yeah, sure.” Katsuki curses to himself for stuttering in front of Deku. He begins to take his pants off and notices that Deku is looking and instead is writing notes down. Once done, Izuku gets down to look at Katsuki’s thigh.
“Excuse me,” Izuku says and touches his thigh as he exams the bruising and does his check. It doesn’t even take that long, probably less than a minute, but to Katsuki it felt like forever. “Alright, you can put your pants back on.”
Katsuki puts his pants back on and when he turns back its Recovery Girl in Deku’s place. Deku now stands on the other side of the room.
“Thank you Bakugou for allowing Midoriya here to examine you today,” she says. Katsuki nods, eyes keep going back to Deku a few times. “He’s my intern so I brought him in today to learn.”
“Makes sense.” Katsuki looks one more time at Izuku, who is now looking somewhere else.
“Your leg seems to be healing well but if it still feels sore you can ice it a little bit. Just don’t go too crazy next time you're called for duty or on patrol.” She explains and Katsuki nods. “You’re free to go then Bakugou.”
Katsuki gets up and Recovery Girl bows and bows too. He turns to Deku and bows at him too. Izuku jumps surprised and bows quickly. Katsuki straightens up and leaves the room. Izuku looks at the door for the moment and sighs in relief.
“AHHHHH! That was too much! What am I going to do? He’s probably mad at me. He’s just waiting out there probably to attack me or something.”
“Midoriya,” Recovery Girl calls and Izuku looks over at her. “You’re done for the day. I’ll send you home early since you do have your classes tomorrow and probably want to study.”
“Ah thank you so much,” he bows at her and begins to gather his things.
“Also,” she startles him and looks over to her. “If you are uncomfortable working with me here, I can find another agency to take you with me. I just recommended her based on your university’s location to the agency.”
“No, it’s fine here,” Izuku just wasn’t going to give up. He can’t. He worked hard for this. He gets to intern for Recovery Girl and the number one heroes, Endeavor, agency. Why would he quit?
“Then if you don’t want to give an exam to someone then let me know. It’s not a problem.” She says next and Izuku clenches his fists.
“The patient comes first,” Izuku says, “my comfort doesn’t matter until the patient is comfortable.”
Recovery raises an eyebrow and Izuku bows. He excuses himself and leaves the room. Izuku walks through the halls and looks around nervously. So far, no Bakugou. Izuku walks out and greets the other people he walks by, sidekicks who he saw come in for their exams today. Izuku makes it outside and releases the breath he was holding. He pulls out his phone and checks the time to see it’s about mid-afternoon.
“Perfect, I can go get groceries to cook something for dinner before I have to study. Maybe I'll even have time to make lunch for class tomorrow…. What should I make tho? Something cold probably…”
Izuku doesn’t even notice that someone has come up to him while lost in thought. Katsuki carefully taps him on the shoulder. This causes Izuku to jump away and put his hands up to protect himself.
“Hey, easy there nerd, it’s me.” Izuku puts down his arms to see Katsuki standing in front of him. Izuku steps back and crosses his arms.
“What do you want?” He asks and now Katsuki feels like he should step back. He won’t, he can’t, because he knows that he might lose this chance to reconnect again.
“I… I just,” Katsuki pauses. He tries to think of what to say. He can’t say ‘hi’ it’s too simple. He can’t say ‘what are you doing here?’ because he knows why Deku is here. He can’t ask ‘where have you been?’ because it might come off as demanding. He glances at Izuku who still has his arms crossed and waits patiently for Katsuki to finish his sentence. “How have you been?”
“I’ve been good,” Izuku says turning away. He grips his arms a little. He looks over to see Katsuki nod and Izuku releases his arms and puts his hands in his pockets. “How… how have you been?”
“I’ve been good as well,” Katsuki scratches the back of his neck. “It’s been a while since the last time we saw each other.”
“Since middle school,” Izuku answers.
“Yeah, middle school,” Katsuki repeats. He doesn’t know what to do. How does he keep the conversation going? Izuku can tell where this could go and he doesn’t want to go there. So Izuku comes up with the best excuse he can think of on the spot.
“Well, it was… good to see you again, but I really should be going. I have an early class tomorrow and still need to study and make dinner. Bye!” Izuku begins to walk away as fast as he can.
“Wait!” Katsuki calls before he could get too far. Izuku stops and turns around. “Can we… can we, like, I don’t know, talk? Meet up? Sometime soon.”
“I’m sure with how many times you get scuffed up in battles I’ll see you in the infirmary again,” Izuku says trying to smile. “I gotta go. So... bye Bakugou-san!”
Izuku runs. He runs off so that this conversation can end and that Bakugou would lose him in this crowd of people if he chose to follow. Izuku’s smile drops and he walks to the grocery store. Izuku knows he is Ground Zero, the rising hero right out of UA. But all Izuku sees is middle school Katsuki Bakugou, the one who told him he was useless and can’t do anything at all. Izuku raises his head and blinks away the tears he feels coming. He won’t cry, he just can’t. He worked too hard to get here. He won’t let him bother him anymore.
“See you later, Kacchan!”
Katsuki stands there as he watches Izuku run. He deserves this, he knows that. He bullied him ever since he got his quirk and he didn’t. Ever since then, both their lives change. Katsuki knows he can’t change what he did in the past. But he hoped for the chance to fix their future. He wants to try to be there for him because he couldn’t before. He knows this will be the biggest challenge in his life when he doesn't hear it. He doesn’t hear the name he longs to hear again after so many years. The last he heard it, they were four. He knows now that he isn’t Kacchan anymore. He just wonders how he is going to get there now.
“So you knew him, because you went to high school with him, did joint patrols with him, and didn’t tell me?” Izuku asks on the phone. He was cooking noodles so the phone was on the counter next to him.
“I didn’t know where you were working,” Kirishima countered. “Also I didn’t know you knew him too! If you did, yeah of course I would have told you.”
“You said he was like your best friend,” Izuku said, putting the noodles through the strainer. “How come you never talked about him before.”
“I feel like I did though,” Kirishima replied. Izuku thought about it for the moment.
“Wait, he was the loud friend, the one who would cause a ruckus for no reason and yell and cuss.”
“Yup! That’s Bakubro,” Izuku stares at the phone confused, “see I did talk about him.”
“You called him Sparky all the time. How was I supposed to know who he is?”
“I didn’t know you guys go way back. He never mentioned you before.” Izuku paused.
“He has no reason too. We aren’t friends. He bullied me.”
“Well, I mean, he’s focused on becoming a hero. I didn’t think he had friends.” Kirishima laughed on the other end of the phone.
“He didn’t at first but our group forced our way into his life.”
“Sounds like you,” Izuku began mixing the sauce and noodles. “That’s how we met.”
“As best friends I am still upset that you are making spaghetti and didn’t invite me over.” Izuku rolled his eyes but smiled.
“I guess next time when you're not working a night shift, I might invite you over but who knows, maybe not.”
“Wow cold as ever,” Kirishima laughs, “Well I got to the agency so I’ll talk to you later. See ya Midoriya!”
“See you later Kirishima-kun,” Izuku hangs up the phone.
He looks over at the side of the fridge. He picks up a picture of two boys, around the age of three, one with blonde hair and one with green, smiling. Izuku had found it when he moved into his apartment in one of the boxes. He didn’t have the heart to hide it and put it away but he also didn’t want out in plain sight. He smiled slightly at the memory of them at that age but it dropped quickly and he hung the picture back up.
“That’s in the past now. There is no going back to that.”
Katsuki yawns as he follows Shoto to a coffee shop a couple of blocks down from the agency. Both of them had an early morning shift and Shoto had decided on coffee and would treat Katsuki to it. Of course, Katsuki wasn’t going to pass up on that. Katsuki tried to stay focused this morning but his mind kept wandering back to his encounter with Deku. Every time he wasn’t focused on something important like work, his mind wandered off to Izuku. The same questions always popped up. What made him interested in studying to be a doctor? What is he doing now? Will he be there today? Why did he leave in the first place? He hasn’t seen Izuku since the exam. He still is not sure how he will be able to approach him again without scaring him off.
“What’s on your mind?” Todoroki asks, pulling Katsuki out of his thoughts.
“Huh?”
“Look deep in thought again. Never took you as a deep thinker.” Katsuki scoffs.
“Oh shut up! You don’t need to know what’s going on in my head.” Katsuki storms off to the coffee shop.
They enter the coffee shop and there aren’t that many people inside due to it being super early in the morning. They stand in line, both on their phones reading the news. Katsuki then gets a text from his parents about making plans to have dinner as a family soon. Katsuki replies that he will check his schedule. While they wait in the line, Katsuki hears the door open behind him but doesn’t pay mind. That is until someone crashes into his back.
“WHAT THE FU-” Katsuki stops his sentence when he finally looks back and sees who it is. “Deku?”
Izuku wasn’t late for his class. But he just wanted to get a head start to his day quicker. So after waking up and getting ready he leaves to go get coffee. He pulls out his book that he is studying for class. He knows that path so he knows he can read and walk at the same time since there are not that many people walking around. He gets to the shop and opens the door, still reading, and goes inside. He doesn’t take into account how many people would be in line and crashes into someone and drops his book. Then he hears it, the nickname. He hasn’t heard someone call him that for a long time. He glances up to see the person who created the name.
“Uh, hello,” he says.
“Hey,” Katsuki replies. Izuku looks down to see his book on the floor. Katsuki also looks down and, being quick on his feet, picks up the book first before Izuku.
“That’s mine,” Izuku says nervously. He doesn’t even know why he’s nervous.
“Oh right, here. Looks like intense stuff.” Katsuki hands the book back while trying to start a conversation.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Izuku takes it back and clutches it to his chest.
“Hey Bakugou, do you know what you want?” Shoto says turning around catching both of their attention. “Oh, Midoriya, good morning. You come here too?”
“Good morning Todoroki-kun,” Izuku replies which get Kastuki’s attention. “Yeah, this place is close to campus so I like to get coffee here.”
“If you have time would you like to join us?” Shoto asks and Katsuki nods. For once he agrees with the Icy Hot bastard on something.
“Oh, no I don’t want to intrude,” Izuku begins.
“You’re not intruding,” Katsuki cuts him off. “It would be nice to have someone else here too besides this half n’ half bastard.” Shoto rolls his eyes and looks back at Izuku.
“Would you like to join us? My treat.” Shoto offers again.
“Uh…” Izuku looks at both of them.
“What do I do?”