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He saw her again.
This morning to be exact.
Midoriya Izuku ran out through their gates as if she's late, her skirt fluttered around her legs as she dashed. When he glanced at the clock, it was just 6 in the morning. What the fuck could she be hurrying for at such an early hour? Fuck it. This is why Bakugou Katsuki doesn't like patrolling. Unlike when beating up villains, his mind is only focused on one thing and that's winning.
Well, there's saving too.
The pro hero clicked his tongue as he looked around for lurking villains. C'mon, there's gotta be one around that he can pummel to the ground just so he could take his mind off the nerd. The last time he saw her regularly was back at middle school so when he kept seeing her now, he couldn't help but to think of her constantly.
Midoriya Izuku lived across the street so they knew each other since they were kids. They were never apart until high school happened. Why? He has an amazing quirk. She's quirkless.
It's always been his dream to be a pro hero, a hero that will surpass All Might to be exact! So of course he'll attend the prestigious UA to make that happen, while Izuku attended somewhere else. He doesn't know where, he doesn't even know why he didn't know. They used to be so close but now they're like complete strangers. Their relationship plummeted down at middle school then they completely lost communication at high school, especially when he moved to the dorms.
Katsuki graduated and is a top pro hero now, just at the age of 20. It won't be long till he takes the number 1 rank.
"Kyaaaaa!!! The building's burning over there!"
The blonde froze and snapped his neck to where the shout came from. Soon enough, a villain jumped out of the burning structure, laughing manically while holding a briefcase. Katsuki smirked before taking off with his explosions. Finally! Some fucker he can use as a distraction! It wasn't long till Katsuki caught up with the villain who flinched at the sight of the explosive hero.
"Shit! Ground Zero!" Music to Katsuki's ears when these fucktards scream his name in terror. Why would they honestly think of doing stupid crimes when this city is Katsuki's current territory? Oh well. With a few more explosions, Katsuki grabbed the guy by the neck and slammed him to the ground. "Wow, never thought there'd still be villains stupid enough to do this while I'm climbing the top of my career." Katsuki smirked down at his captive.
"Now, what could be so important inside this case?"
"No! Get away! I'm not letting you have this!!!"
Before Ground Zero could snatch the case, the villain threw it behind him, to his surprise. "The fuck?" Someone caught it and dashed away. An accomplice. "Fucking get back here!" He was about to go for the second villain, dragging along his first catch but a wall of ice stopped the second villain. He knows where that ice came from. "Tch, fucking half and half."
As he grumbled the other pro hero's name he gave him, Shouto froze the second villains' feet to the ground and grabbed the case back.
Todoroki Shouto was another pro hero who's climbing his way up along with Katsuki, making him his rival. They were classmates back at UA and are constantly pitting at the top. The aloof hero annoyed Katsuki to no end. "Stop butting in my fights, fucker! He was mine to catch!" The blonde growled that made Shouto turn to him casually. "Ground Zero, sorry. I happened to be patrolling nearby too."
"I don't care! Stop meddling with-!"
Near the corner of the street behind Shouto, he saw a mop of green that made him stop on his words. A fucking familiar nerd was holding a professional camera, giggling to her self after taking photos of Shouto.
"Waaah, Shouto looks so cool as always."
Izuku dreamily sighed. Katsuki's eye twitched. What the fuck?
"Ground Zero?"
Shouto called out to him.
"You need to start cuffing him, he's starting to struggle see? He might have a troublesome qui-"
"Don't tell me what to do, bastard!"
His eyes trailed to where Izuku was again but she's nowhere to be found now. What the fuck just happened? Ground Zero went back to his job but later that day after his shift, he couldn't stop thinking of the nerd again. It's gotten worse since this morning because on his way home, questions won't stop nagging inside his head.
It's been so long since he heard something from Izuku but what the fuck does that mean? Since when did Izuku become Shouto's fan? For how long had she been like that? Is she his stalker? Katsuki felt like exploding as he sat in his car at the parking lot, unable to go home because of the bothering thoughts until his phone vibrated. The old hag is calling.
"Hey brat! Where are you now?"
"On my way home, obviously!"
"Get your ass up here quickly. We have guests and we can't start dinner without you!"
"Fucking fine!!"
He hung up the phone and started the engines to head home. It only took him thirty minutes to reach their house. Katsuki decided to live with his parents for now but he'll move out soon enough. The blonde lazily got off his car after parking it and headed for the front door. Whoever the guests are, they wouldn't be getting much talking from Katsuki because his mind is completely occupied.
"I'm back!"
He shouted as he chucked his shoes in the rack. He can hear murmurings further down the kitchen but no one responded to him. Wow, his parents must be having a grand time with their guests. Just who the fuck are they? A little irritated, he walked off to head to the dining room to check on the people in the kitchen and decided to call out to his mom again.
"Hey hag! I said I'm ba-!"
Rubies met emeralds, making him feel like a statue.
"Welcome home Kacchan."
Izuku greeted him, hands occupied with a tower of plates. Katsuki couldn't say anything for a good while. When was the last time he heard that nickname?
"What the fuck are you doing here?"
He managed to finally croak out.
"Didn't aunt Mitsuki tell you?"
"Hey brat! What are you standing there for??? Go help her set the table!"
Katsuki's mind still wasn't functioning right so he took half of the plates from Izuku without arguing back- which was rare. After setting everything, he also found Inko talking to his parents. So the guests was the Midoriya's. Why so sudden? What the fuck is the occasion? They haven't invited them for dinner in years so why now?
Once everyone was settled down, Katsuki sat across Izuku and started eating. The fucker never gave him a glance since she greeted him. What's she up to now? The blonde felt annoyed. For the first half of the dinner, it was only their parents who're talking and catching up to each other. It was then that he found out that the reason for the dinner was because of that and they're close to retiring so their schedules became loose thus having the time to catch up in a form of a dinner.
Now for the second half, the topic slid to them; the kids.
"Oh that's right! Everywhere I go, Katsuki is always the topic of people! You two must be so proud."
Inko chimed in.
"Well we can't deny the brat's doing a good job. I just hope his manners will set straight or his popularity will plummet down the drain."
"Shut up old hag, I'm doing fine."
Masaru could only chuckle worriedly and hope it will not escalate to shouting.
"I think Katsuki's doing steady too! You're only out of Yuuei for some time but the number of your solved crimes and victories are already over whelming. It makes everyone feel at ease even after All Might's retirement."
"I'm planning on surpassing him so..."
Katsuki trailed his answer to Inko's compliment.
"Well, I know it's been your dream since you were kids so it's nice to witness it come true!"
"He's not the only one pitting for the number one spot though."
Mitsuki intervened. Before Inko asked.
"Eh? Katsuki has a rival? Who?"
"Todoroki Shouto."
Everyone looked at Izuku who spoke for the first time since they sat on the table. Katsuki can feel his blood rising at Izuku's flat answer. He felt like smacking a masking tape on her mouth to shut her up. As much as he doesn't like hearing half and half bastard's name, somehow, he doesn't like hearing Izuku say it either. Katsuki growled quietly.
"Oh, the one you mentioned to me! Wait, was he the one on the photos that's hung up all over your room?"
'THE WHAT NOW?!' Katsuki almost screamed and slam his palms on the table. So this nerd's now a fanatic of his rival after being an All Might geek??? What the fuck is so good about that Zuko rip off? He's clearly better in many ways! Izuku had always been a big fan of heroes but mostly All Might's and he had always envisioned- when they were still kids- that he'll be the one Izuku will be obsessing over once he became a hero.
He couldn't be more wrong now, maybe? Looking at the way Izuku took photos of Shouto then fan girling over it afterwards and now she has her pictures of him all over her room???
"Tch, that fucking half and half can only dream of surpassing me."
"Your records are almost the same, Kacchan. Same thing back at UA."
"Speaking of UA, how was your high school days 'Zuku? I heard you also got a job now."
Mitsuki smiled.
"Her job is to stalk over that fucking bi colored freak."
"That's not what you call my job."
Izuku pouted. Wow, Katsuki never had this urge to pinch those cheeks and stretch it like a fucking pizza dough.
"Then what??? What job can you possibly have by taking pictures of him in the corner then freaking hangs it on the wall like a talisman?!"
"I'm a pro hero photographer!"
A what now? Katsuki's eye twitched. Was that a thing? What the fuck is that?
"I'm hired by Endeavor to be his son's pro photographer to keep his publicity clean. I've been working for Shouto since he graduated from UA. My job is to take photos of him to spread out for the media. Any photo or video of Shouto that is not taken by me are not allowed to be used by the mass media unless it's from his press conference or events."
"How lucky! To be a photographer of such a handsome man, I get why you'd hang them on your walls!"
"Old hag!!!"
"Ah- no. I hang them up to compare them to one another. I can only submit a number of shots, after all. So I have to submit the best of the best."
Izuku looked at Katsuki accusingly before continuing.
"Here's one of the shots that I took earlier, the one Kacchan was talking about."
She handed over a printed photo of Shouto from her small purse and handed it over to Mitsuki. "I never knew you were so talented with cameras, Izuku! This shot definitely fits in the top magazines! Can I keep this???" Mitsuki excitedly asked the greenette to which the latter smiled. "Of course! But please don't post it till next week. I'll still be submitting that on the agreed date."
"Thank you, sweetie! You don't have to worry about that, I'll just be bragging this to my friends!"
"What the fuck? Hey old man, aren't you gonna say something?!"
Masaru sweat dropped but Mitsuki immediately hugged his arm.
"Shut up brat! It's just a picture rare enough to be treasured!"
'This old man needs to grow some spine.' Katsuki thought as he grounded his teeth together. He looked back at Izuku who's smiling from ear to ear after proving his accusation wrong. Yes, she does have a job that everyone would die for to have and a high paying one too. The little shit may be quirkless but damn is she luckier than a four leaf clover.
Dinner went on smoothly after that. When it was getting late, the Midoriya's decided to leave and thanked the Bakugou's for the wonderful dinner. Katsuki's questions has been answered but why the fuck does he still annoyed and confused. He doesn't like the thought of Izuku snapping photos of his rival left and right yet he doesn't know why.
He's fucking losing it.
"Hey nerd."
Katsuki called out as Izuku's about to exit their gates. Inko went ahead and his parents already went back inside. Izuku blinked as she turned to him.
"How the fuck did you know about my records back at UA?"
It would be obvious to why she knew Shouto's since she worked for him but why him too? They lost communication at high school.
"Oh, we did a mock research about pro heroes in the making back at high school..."
That's it? Katsuki thought there'd be some other rea-
"Our teacher told us to pick students from UA that we think that has potential on becoming the next number one hero."
What? The blonde felt his breath stop.
"So I chose Kacchan."
"You think I'd be the next one after All Might?"
"I always have, didn't I?"
Fuck, Katsuki felt his face explode at that. What the hell.
"Ever since we were kids. Don't you remember?"
"You still believe that till now?"
Katsuki laughed dryly but Izuku smiled sweetly.
"I've always been watching you even from afar Kacchan. You've never been unworthy of that belief."
That knocked off his sarcastic smile. "Well now, I'll be going. It's getting late and I'm sure Kacchan's exhausted after those fights." Izuku looked back at their house. Her mom must be waiting for her. "Good night Kacchan, thank you for the dinner again." She turned away to leave since Katsuki seems to have turned into a statue until she felt him grab her wrist, making her turn back to him.
"Kacchan?"
He's wearing a straight expression, which is why she couldn't believe his next line.
"Be my pro photographer, nerd. I'm hiring you."
As if on cue, the wind brushed past them, the cold weather didn't help either, making them both seemingly stuck in the moment. Silence reigned but their ears rang because of their noisy thoughts. They haven't talked to each other for almost five years but right now, it seems that something declined is about to continue building itself.