Chapter Text
The first time they met Katsuki like...this... had been a total accident of fate. It'd been a beautiful, sunny day – the first such day of this new year. It had put them in a good mood, the first sight of the end of winter as spring came in. Their mother had recently bought them a yellow sun dress, shyly giving it to Izuku with the suggestion that they wear it sometime, if they felt like it. Izuku loved to feel the warmth of the sun on their skin on days like this so in a fit of courage left over from their latest (and sadly, last) counselling session with Dr Abe, decided to wear it out to the shop. Of course, if they went as a male wearing a dress there'd be funny looks, much though they didn't understand most people's preoccupation with 'male' and 'female' clothes. It didn't really matter to them though. Today was feeling like more of a female day. She felt more ‘she’ than ‘he’ today, though she was always a mix of both and neither. It would be the first time she’d gone out of the house like this, at least around the local area. On holidays their mother had taken them on down in Osaka, they’d sometimes been brave enough to head out in public like this, unafraid to be recognised when they knew nobody in whatever little town they were staying in for the holiday. But never back home, where they might run into someone they knew. Silly. You probably won't even see anyone, it's a five minute trip at most.
Her mother smiled brightly when she saw Izuku in the dress, cooing over how it fit really well and offering to let her borrow a small handbag of hers that'd go well with it that could carry the change for the shopping. Dresses after all didn't usually come with pockets; the main reason that Izuku didn't wear them more often. It was a nice bag though, a small brown leather bag with a long handle to loop over her shoulder. It was just about big enough for cash, keys and a phone and nothing else, really. She grabbed a pair of sneakers and debated taking her jacket in case the weather turned. Her mother soon solved the question by declaring that the dress was much too pretty to cover up, you'll only be five minutes Izuku. She didn't question the sneakers, well aware by now that they preferred comfort in their shoes over aesthetics - something they both agreed on, though her mother still squeezed herself into heels for parents meetings.
She had a point, still the strappy top to the dress was a little more skin than Izuku was used to showing. But, she was nearly twelve now. She'd seen girls from school wearing dresses much shorter and with much lower necklines. Don’t be silly, Izuku She told herself. You’ll be starting Junior high in a few weeks. Stop being a baby, it’s just a cute, grown up dress. She still felt self-conscious as she dutifully called goodbye to her mother and said that yes, she'd go straight there and straight back and yes, she'd remember all three things on the list of essentials; no she did not need a written list. She left quickly before her mother could get worried about something else and try to send Izuku off with a bento or something 'just in case'. The local convenience store was less than five minutes from the apartment and she was there before she knew it, hardly getting time to feel self-conscious any time someone looked at her in the dress. Hardly.
They aren't looking at you, izuku. You're being silly. Remember what Dr Abe said. Most people are feeling too self conscious about themselves, or worrying about their own problems, to even notice how other people look in detail. So long as you aren’t wandering around dressed as a chicken, you probably won’t draw their attention at all. You’re just a face in a crowd.
She breezed through the store to the familiar isles for milk, rice, bread and eggs. Her mother hadn't asked for eggs, but Izuku had noticed they were running low on them. It took less than three minutes all told; the store wasn’t large and she knew from previous visits where everything was. So what happened next was like some colossal joke of the universe. Because as she left the store with a shopping bag in one hand, putting the change away into her handbag with the other, she slammed straight into Bakugo Katsuki. It was exactly like a scene out of a shoujo manga – if the manga’s genre was romance/horror.
"Watch it!" He grunted, though telling short of his usual expletive or growled 'deku'. She pulled up short in the doorway, gulping at the air like a fish out of water. Bakugo's face was blanker than she'd seen it in years, though a twitch near his mouth told her that his patience was thinning by the second.
"You gunna move or keep muttering?"
"Oh! I'm stood in the doorway, you can't get past-"
"For god's sake, move." He put her hand on her shoulder and pulled her forwards and then out to the side so he could get past, impolite but not overly rough with her. Her shoulder felt sticky when he let go. Nitro sweat. It was a hot day after all. It smelt a bit different to normal sweat too. "Weirdo." She heard him mutter to himself and that was enough to prompt her back to moving, taking big strides away from the corner shop and straight back home.
Because Bakugo had been strangely decent to her when she didn't look like herself and she suddenly wanted to rip off this stupid pretty dress and burn it.
Why did her quirk have to be so useless? Izuku lamented, thundering up the steps of her apartment block, only half caring that she might be breaking the eggs with her careless strides. Angry, sad tears welled up in her eyes before she swiped them away, hating herself for even crying over this. Why couldn't she breathe fire like her dad or have telekinesis like mom? Anything that could be used to be a hero, to stay favourable in kaachan's eyes. She brushed away half formed, bitter little tears. She was angry and sad and just so, so sick of how things had turned out. Because really, what the hell kinda good was having a quirk that made her able to change into a girl at will?