Chapter Text
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When the final bell rang, Tsuyu was ecstatic again. Opting to shun off the rather upsetting incident earlier, she had packed all of her books beforehand and was stuffing the accumulated worksheets throughout the day into a file, wondering if Izuku would want to go through them together later.
They hadn’t gone to the same middle school but their elementary years were still so vivid on her mind.
It was a routinely event at this point. Every day after 2 o’clock, just as the school bell rang deafeningly across the crowded halls, three small shadows would race through the compound. Feet tripping over the other and nothing else mattered Each one of them had their mind set one goal and one goal only…
Which was to make it home under the blazing sun from school, grab a cold drink to quench their thirst before heading out again to spend the rest of the summer evening rolling around in dirt and grass.
Izuku wasn’t a fan of the tiring, sweaty running and Tsuyu, on the other hand, was always grateful for her amphibian tendencies by utilizing the best of her strong hind legs, hopping away in second place.
And of course, Katsuki would flawlessly reign champion every time. His overflowing energy never seemed to dry out as he taunts his other two friends to keep up. The feisty grin on his face reflected the scathing weather as his ashen locks flew with the breeze.
“Hurry up, slowpokes! Last one to the door’s a bag of dog shit!”
The freckled, green-haired boy frowned, his breath growing noticeably much shorter. “Kacchan, you’re too fast! And no fair, Tsuyu! You’re not even running!”
The said girl had only replied with a glance over her shoulder. There was a teasing tone laced around her words as she sneered, “Don’t be a sore loser, Izuku.”
Tsuyu gripped the last of her math worksheet unbeknownst to herself, crumpling the paper ruined— the sudden shift down memory lane dragged her heart heavy again. Why did she have to remember those useless thoughts now? No matter how they look at it, things would never go back to the way they were.
She gathered herself again and took a breath. ‘No point in fixing the past’, a distant voice reminded her of the harsh truth now. She thanked it for bringing her back to reality.
Tsuyu made her way towards Izuku, where he was visibly fumbling to keep a coherent conversation with a certain irritated blonde. She saw Katsuki cast her a questioning look but she didn’t spare him as much as a glance back. Her eyes were solely trained on the green-haired boy, “Are we ready to go, Izuku?”
“Uh, yeah. Just... Just thought I’d ask Kacchan to join us.” Izuku sighed and gave it one last futile try, “You sure you’re not coming?”
Unsurprisingly, Katsuki wouldn’t budge. “Leave me the fuck alone.” On another note, he was surprisingly tame about it (compared to the yelling and shouting they’ve been so accustomed to before). Tsuyu supposed even he wouldn’t want to make a scene out of this—despite the attention-seeker that he is—she appreciated that he was at least being decent about their personal affairs.
Or maybe he just didn’t want people to know that he was once friends with useless nerds like Izuku and her. Who would admit to that, really? Certainly not someone the likes of Katsuki.
Tsuyu wouldn’t let her emotions take the best of her—not there, not in front of the class where anyone barely knows them—so, she grabbed Izuku by the wrist and began dragging him out the doorway with what little strength she has.
“Let’s just go.”
As they marched through the hallways, she could hear that same voice from before following her suit from behind.
‘No point’, it echoed again.
The walk back to his home went much quieter than she had preferred; Izuku wasn’t nearly as chattery and Tsuyu couldn’t bring it in her to say anything to cheer him up. She could tell that he was upset. It was affecting her too and during those moments, she wasn’t able to figure out what exactly she wanted to hear that would make it feel less crappy. She assumed it was the same for the freckled boy as well. All that she could offer to him was a firm grip around his palm—hoping to coarse just a little bit of assurance—as they made it to his house in silence, fingers-laced together.
They were in Izuku’s room now; the boy had spent the last 10 minutes brooding on his desk. He had taken out the stash of worksheets they would need to finish up and lined them accordingly on the table but it was clear as daylight he didn’t have his mind present there.
Tsuyu had just came back from the kitchen to greet Inko for the day when she entered the room to see a frowning mess of green locks and furrowed brows. She didn’t like the heavy aura he was putting out to the small space (it was suffocating enough with the humongous hero posters plastered over his walls), so she cleared her throat enough to get his attention before watching her friend snap out of his ‘grieving’ state—immediately clearing the terse atmosphere out the window.
The frog mutant gave him a knowing look and after a minute, strode toward his bed, grabbed her school bag to fish out her phone. A sigh managed to escape her lips all the while her fingers danced over the screen.
“You’re still not giving up on him.”
“Never,” Izuku had the gall to look offended by that, his eyes shot up in disbelief. Tsuyu would have laughed it off as a subpar attempt of a joke but she knew the boy never quite understood sarcasm. She took a longer sigh this time and plopped herself onto his mattress in defeat.
The All Might themed bed was still as messy as ever since the last time she visited; dirty laundry decorated the headboard and opened hero magazines scattered along the duvet—Tsuyu pursed back a stray smile and reverted her attention back to the boy, who had his focus fully on her now; homework brushed aside.
“Honestly… That part of you is worth admiring but some things just aren’t meant to be saved.” She shook her head. She had tried to feign a convincing show of nonchalance—although it might have appeared more fake on her part but Izuku wouldn’t notice—and shrugged. “He doesn’t want us around. Need I remind you that he willingly ditched us in middle school?”
It broke even her heart to say that out loud but at least she’s the more sensible one to reason with logic here. It shouldn’t have to be rocket science; Katsuki abandoned them because they were nerds and went off to play with the cool kids. Plain and simple.
Although, deep down Tsuyu could tell how ridiculous that sounded to herself. Katsuki was all but plain and simple. Izuku knew that too.
“I know, Tsu. But I keep seeing this look in his eyes, it’s uncomfortable. Like he wants to say something. Trying to reach out to us. It’s weird.”
So, Katsuki really wasn’t being subtle then. She’d thought she might’ve gone crazy by herself; having the scowling blonde (who was assumed to supposedly hate her and Izuku’s guts) constantly staring her down was starting to seem like a delusion. She didn't know how to go about it but she was glad Izuku was on the same page as her. “What do you reckon we do?”
To be honest, Tsuyu wasn't sure what she wanted. Reconciling with Katsuki seemed like a unachievable dream to even wish for; no matter how much she craved it. It was nearing the realm of impossible. But if there's even a slither of hope hanging on for them to grasp... was there any wrong to hold onto it?
She heard Izuku letting out a frustrated sigh and watched as he laid himself next to her on the mattress. Both of their eyes lingered on one another softly-- Tsuyu almost melted right then and there but steeled herself with a smile-- when Izuku spoke in a hushed tone, his grin masked the initial glum he was wearing earlier.
“I don’t know. Let’s just focus on the semester for now. I have a feeling it’s gonna be a crazy week.”