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On a Sunday morning in the Bakugou household, a five-year old Katsuki can be heard screaming his lungs out at his mother. Their neighbors are probably used to it by now, but on this particular day, it seems like the young boy is louder than usual.
“YOU STUPID OLD HAG! I’M NOT LEAVING THIS HOUSE!”
A shirtless Katsuki holds onto the side of his room doorway as his mother, Mitsuki, has her arms around the boy’s torso, pulling him out of his room. Masaru, Katsuki’s father, only watches in amusement, discreetly taking a photo of the scene before him to add to the photo collection of ‘Adorable Katsuki throwing fits’.
“Oh yes, you are! We’ve talked about this, Katsuki!”
Said boy doesn’t listen and tries to flail his short legs, successfully kicking his mother’s face. Hah, that’s what you get, woman! Katsuki mentally pats himself at his success and dashes into his room, making sure to lock his door before throwing himself on his bed, facing the ceiling.
A diversity of All Might stickers litter his beige ceiling, varying in designs and sizes. They give color and life to the plain upper interior surface of his room. His mother was against it at first, arguing that it’s only add mess to Katsuki’s already untidy room. However, after hearing Katsuki say ‘please’ while looking down at his feet with a pout plastered on his face made Mitsuki say yes without much thought.
It was such a rare occurrence; she had to recall if it really happened.
Katsuki feels something poking his butt and reaches under him – it’s an All Might action figure. The one his father bought him when he had the highest remarks in his class. His face contorts into a sour look as he recalls what happened this morning.
It was a peaceful morning for little Katsuki, waking up from a wonderful action-filled dream with his idol, All Might. This time, his dream wasn’t interrupted by his old woman’s screams of ‘wake up, little devil!’
He seriously hated it when she does that.
The muffled sounds of his parents talking outside of his room reached him as he walked towards the door. It’d been half an hour since he woke up and his tummy’s demanding for food. As an active and energetic kid, Katsuki would always get hungry easily.
“Should we wake him up? We’ll be leaving in two hours.” That was his dad — voice so gentle and modulated. Katsuki liked it when his dad talked to him; it wasn’t unpleasant to the ears.
“You know how he gets when I wake him up, he’ll explode.” His mom’s voice was unusually soft, like she’s trying not to wake Katsuki up.
The foreign giddy feeling the young kid felt almost took over his body until he realized what he just heard. Leaving? To where?
Without caring if his parents would scold him for eavesdropping, Katsuki flung the door open and asked with a loud voice, “Where are we going?”
Much to Katsuki’s dismay, his parents are leaving without him. It took him a few seconds to recall his parents’ words a few weeks prior. They have talked to Katsuki about their upcoming work-related business in Tokyo. They’d be gone for a whole week. As much as they’d like to take Katsuki with them, they can’t. So, they decided to leave him to their close and trusted friend, Midoriya Inko.
What pisses Katsuki off is that he can’t remember a thing about that talk they had! Did they talk to him while he’s on the verge of sleeping so he couldn’t protest?
And that’s how Katsuki finds himself locked up in his room, shirtless and surrounded by his toys which he played with this morning.
There is an obnoxious knock on the door before it swings open, revealing his mother with a blue shirt in her left hand and a key in the other. With a yelp, Katsuki scrambles away, struggling as his All Might blanket gets wrapped around his ankle. The inevitable happens and a loud thud resonates around the four walls of his room as his body makes contact with the floor.
“Oww!” His butt stings like it’s been spanked!
“That’s what you get for being stubborn, kid.” Katsuki grunts upon hearing his mother snickering. “Are you alright? C’mon, let’s get you dressed up and we’re heading to the Midoriyas.”
Against the blond five-year old’s will, Katsuki is now sitting at the backseat of their car with his arms crossed in front of his chest, listening to his mom ramble on and on about how this Inko is kind and sweet (the polar opposite of her, Katsuki wonders how they even became friends) and how she also has the cutest and loveliest child, Izuku.
It annoys Katsuki.
When they reach their destination, Katsuki stubbornly refuses to get out of the car, eyebrows scrunched together and lips jutting out in a pout. It’s his dad who pulls him out with a few coaxing words.
“Hah?” Katsuki huffs, staring at the building in front of them. “Is this where they live?”
Masaru nods. Katsuki’s curiosity only heightens more. This whole building is theirs? They must be rich then.
“Yeah, since there’s just the two of them, they only live in an apartment complex.” Mitsuki adds, leading them to the stairs. “They live in the fourth floor.”
“What’s an apartment complex?”
“It’s a building with residential suites or rooms where people rent to live in.” His dad replies, holding his hand as they climb up the stairs.
“So this Midoriya family only rented a room and this whole building is not theirs?”
This makes both of his parents laugh wholeheartedly. Katsuki tilts his head to the side with an annoyed glare directed at them. Does he look like he’s joking?
“Of course, silly!”
Katsuki takes it back, they’re not rich at all. The kid is about to ask something again when he notices they’ve reached the floor where the Midoriya family live in. The hallway stretches far enough to make Katsuki feel dizzy a little. It’s like one of those horror movies. Are all the rooms even occupied?
Will his parents really leave him in a place where all the paranormal happen? With this lingering thought in his mind, Katsuki senses something heavy settling in his chest, gradually spreading throughout his body until it reaches the tips of his fingers and toes.
He’s not scared. Katsuki doesn’t get scared.
He doesn —
An embarrassingly booming scream crawls out of his throat, arms fumbling to grab his father’s shirt, as the door in front of them (when did they even stop here?) opens up in a slow manner.
“Katsuki, don’t be rude!” Mitsuki hisses, eyes widening to emphasize her annoyance.
“NO! I WON’T STAY IN THIS HAUNTED APARTMENT! TAKE ME WITH YOU!”
Katsuki turns to run when he feels his mother takes a hold of his shirt, keeping him in place.
“Oh no, you don’t! We’ve been through this this morning, Katsuki!”
He makes a strangled noise as his mother drags him into the apartment while apologizing to the green-haired woman watching them with concern.
“NO! LET ME GO! I’M GONNA DIE IN HERE!”
“Don’t be a drama queen, you won’t die here!”
Katsuki’s not usually like this. He’s a brave and strong kid with a reputation. He’s known for being the coolest kid in town, that’s why everyone wants to be friends with him. He’s someone whom everyone looks up to. He has no idea why he’s being so uncool at the moment, though. Maybe because he knows there are no kids around to see thi — wait, is that…a kid around his age?
Upon realizing a child like him with hair and eyes as green as leaves during spring is standing a few feet away from him, watching his pandemonium, he halts immediately, lifting his chin up to show dominance. He can’t let this kid look down on him.
“Finally! Why were you even yelling about a haunted apartment?! You’re watching too much horror movies, Katsuki.”
This causes a wave of warmth to spread across his chubby cheeks. Katsuki huffs in annoyance, turning around to throw a glare at his mother. He hears a soft giggle coming from where the other kid is standing and Katsuki’s head snaps into that direction.
“What the heck are you laughing at, loser?!”
Katsuki watches as the freckled kid’s (because his cheeks are overwhelmingly adorned with freckles, it pisses the blond off) eyes widen, mouth forming an ‘o’ shape as his grip on his yellow All M shirt tightens. Katsuki hears his mother yell at him, but he ignores her to scan this boy’s face. What was his name again? He looks like he’s about to piss himself and — wait…an All M shirt?
Upon realizing what the other’s wearing, a sense of excitement courses through Katsuki’s small body, but he tries to conceal it with a grunt and a roll of his eyes.
“K-Kachu…Katsu…K-Katsuki-kun, I wasn’t l-laugh —”
“I don’t care! Shut up! I hate your face!”
This time, Katsuki receives a flick on his forehead from his mother who also tells him to ‘be nice, brat!’, to which he screams in both pain and surprise.
“You’ll be staying with them for a whole week, Katsuki. Treat them nicely or I swear I’ll drive back here to pinch your ass cheeks.”
“I guess I won’t act nice then,” Katsuki huffs, crossing his arms across his chest.
“What did you — oh. Oh. You’re gonna miss us? Aww, that’s so cute. You should’ve just said you’ll stupidly miss us, Katsuki. C’mere, let me hug you,” Mitsuki coos at his son, arms stretching out to wrap his son in a bear hug, to which the young kid shrieks a ‘what the heck are you doing?!’ before running to hide behind the green haired boy.
Katsuki remembers the times when he’d run and hide behind a tree when his mother would chase him down after finding out he ate more sweets than he’s allowed to. This time, though, he feels like he’s hiding behind a small tree. A bonsai, he recalls what his mother said when she brought one in.
This is when Katsuki notices the other kid watching in mixed awe and amusement at his and his mother’s exchange. His emerald eyes shine like there are stars in them. Heck, they shine brighter than the stars! Is that even possible? And his lips — his stupid pink lips, Katsuki thinks — are curled up into a big grin and Katsuki’s captivated.
Wait…capti — what? When did he even learn that word?
Inevitably, Katsuki freaks out at his thoughts and on instinct he pushes the other boy and watches as he stumbles on his feet, almost hitting the ground.
“You…your eyes and smile are freakin’ blinding me!”
His hands fly towards his mouth the moment he hears those words come out of his stupid mouth.
“Watch your words, Katsuki!”
His mother’s words are downright ignored as he beelines his way to nearest room he sees. A sigh of relief slips from his mouth as his back hits the hard surface of the door. He can vaguely hear his mother talking to Midoriya-san. He turns to press his ear against the door to hear their conversation better, but almost falls flat on the floor when the door swings open.
“What the —” His words stop from leaving his mouth when comes face to face with the green haired kid. His eyes are still — no, shut the heck up, brain. “Are you trying to kill me, you bonsai?!”
“B-Bon…what? I mean, I-I’m sorry, Kachuki-kun.” He looks down at his feet, finger fumbling with the hem of his All M shirt as a blush creeps its way to his cheeks up to his neck. Katsuki watches in enjoyment as the freckled bonsai shuffles, obviously uncomfortable. That was until he realizes what the other just called him.
“Kachuki? Kachuki?! My name is not Kachuki! It’s Katsuki!”
Bonsai tries again. “Ka…Kachu —”
“NO!” Katsuki’s flaring now, angry at the wrong yet adorable way of Bonsai’s pronunciation of his name. “Repeat after me, loser. Ka–tsu–ki.”
“Ka…chu…ki.”
Katsuki can feel his neck burning in anger as he scowls at the freckled bonsai in front of him, who looks like he’s about to cry. The blond kid panics after seeing the repressed tears threatening to fall any second.
“Fine. I don’t care what you call me, bonsai.”
Katsuki rolls his eyes when the other boy lightens up at his words, eyes freakin’ shining again. Ugh, this is gonna be a long week.
“I’ll call you Kacchan then!”
Katsuki chokes on his spit, cheeks burning at the cute but stupid nickname. “What did you call me, bonsai?!”
“It’s Izuku, Kacchan!”