Chapter Text
Katsuki and Izuku were friends from the very beginning. With their mothers being close friends, the two grew up playing together, eating together, bathing together, and doing just about anything two children could. When Katsuki turned four, he got his quirk. It was powerful and beautiful, and Izuku was in awe at how wonderful his Kacchan had become.
“Your quirk is so cool!” Izuku cooed, his eyes glimmering. “How hot does it get? Do you have a limit per day? Does it hurt you to use it? Or is your skin resistant to the heat?”
“I know, it’s awesome,” Katsuki answered coolly. “If I’ve got mine, yours should come in soon too, right Izu?”
“Right! I wonder if I can do something with fire too, like with my dad!” Izuku beamed. “Then we could match! No, wait, then that would take away from your quirk… What if it was my mom’s quirk, but stronger, or like a mixture of both? OH! What if I can control other people’s fire? Then we could team up as heroes!”
“You’re so certain we’ll be heroes together?” Katsuki teased, causing Izuku to pout immediately.
“You promised!” Izuku cried, eyes tearing up. “You promised we would team up and be heroes together!” Katsuki laughed before reaching out to wipe a stray tear.
“I know I did, I was just teasing, silly Izu,” Katsuki smiled. “You just work on getting your quirk, and then we can plan out our future!”
“Yeah!”
Months went by, no quirk appeared. It wasn’t until he went to that fateful doctor’s appointment that he found out the hard, painful truth.
“There’s no hope for him. He possesses no quirk at all.”
Izuku didn’t talk for two whole days after, wouldn’t speak or show how he felt besides random spouts of crying, and numbly did whatever his mother asked. Eventually Mitsuki Bakugou brought Katsuki over when he got concerned that Izuku didn’t come to school.
“Izu! Izu!” Katsuki cried, running through the apartment trying to find his friend. He threw open the bedroom door to find Izuku laying on his bed, eyes open in shellshock staring at the ceiling. “Izu, you lazy ass! Get up!” Katsuki yelled as he jumped onto his bed. Izuku blinked twice before turning to look at him.
“Kacchan? What are you doing here?”
“You’re the one that hasn’t come to school! I was worried you dumb jerk!” Katsuki grouched. “What’s wrong?”
“I…” Izuku’s eyes teared up. “I-I’m s-s-SORRY!” Izuku wailed and sat up on the bed, clutching Katsuki’s shirt and pulling him forward so he could cry into his chest. “I’m sorry Kacchan, I couldn’t do it!”
“Couldn’t do what?” he asked, pushing Izuku back so he could look at his face. Izuku’s eyes went hollow again, and tears slowed. “What couldn’t you do, Izu?”
“I-,” Izuku whimpered, his voice barely over a whisper. “I’m never going to have a quirk.” Katsuki’s eyes widen, and Izuku let go of his shirt, flopping down on his back again.
“What?” he asked. “How do they know that? You could just be late.” Izuku shook his head.
“No, the doctor said my pinky toes were wrong, that’s why.” Izuku’s eyes watered up again. “I really wanted to be like All Might.” The tears spilled over. “I really wanted to team up with you. But I messed up. I’m sorry Ka-“
“So what!” Katsuki snarled. “You don’t have a quirk, big whoop! That doesn’t mean we can’t be together!”
“It doesn’t?” Izuku whimpered. Katsuki shook his head and grinned.
“No, there are lots of other things you could do, right?” He explained. “I’m not sure what they are, but heroes have people on the side that help, right? Like who makes the costumes? Maybe you can do that?”
“Really, you would let me do that?” Izuku asked, his face scrunching up in a garbled grin. Katsuki scoffed and reached out to wipe Izuku’s tears.
“Of course, dummy,” Katsuki assured him. “Now stop crying you crybaby! And you better come to school tomorrow, okay!”
“Okay, I promise!” Izuku laughed.
“Good,” Katsuki nodded before flopping over onto the bed next to Izuku. “Since I actually went to school today, I’m going to take nap now. I’m tired.”
“Okay, I’ll nap too, I’m kinda tired as well,” Izuku admitted.
“What, from all the crying?” Katsuki teased. Izuku only nodded silently. “Oh, okay. Then shut up and go to sleep then!” Izuku nodded again and closed his eyes. And after a few moments, Katsuki did the same.
From outside the bedroom, the two mothers stood silent, waiting a minute before carefully walking away to not alert the boys they were there. Mitsuki took a seat on the sofa as Inko went into the kitchen to finish preparing tea for the both of them.
“I’m glad Izuku has cheered up now,” Mitsuki started. Inko hummed in agreement.
“I was so worried about him,” she explained. “First he wouldn’t say anything, then he wouldn’t stop crying, and then he went back to not saying anything.” She sighed as she poured the tea into two cups and walked over to sit next to Mitsuki on the sofa. “He’s wanted nothing more than to be a hero. Part of me was relieved… being a hero is so dangerous! But his reaction hurt more than anything else.”
“I’m surprised Katsuki reacted the way he did,” Mitsuki said, breathing a sigh of relief. “I was afraid he would get mad at him, but I guess I’m not giving the turd enough credit.” Inko laughed in response.
“I’m glad to have him looking out for Izuku.” She beamed. “It really makes me feel a lot better!”
“Ew, don’t touch me!” A girl squealed, pushing Izuku away, causing him to topple over and land on his bottom.
“Ow!” he cried out, tears welling up. The classroom was in chaos. Izuku was the last child who hadn’t developed a quirk, and when he explained he doesn’t have one, the children lost it. Everyone began to call him a freak and push him around. Izuku wasn’t happy about the situation either, but he never saw this coming.
“Stay away from me!”
“Don’t touch me!”
“You’re such a loser!”
The voices rang out from all around the room, and Izuku prayed every second that the teacher would come back to the room and make it stop. He kept trying to get to Katsuki, but the other children would just push him over.
“Ka-Kacchan!” Izuku wailed, the tears finally rolling over, getting more laughs out of the other kids.
“I can’t believe he’s crying, what a loser!”
“You’re not still going to be friends with him, are you Bakugou?” one voice said, and Izuku opened his eyes and looked up. There standing in front of him was Katsuki. He had the strangest look on his face, like was trying to think of what to say.
Why would it take so much effort to help him?
“Kacchan?” Izuku whimpered, standing back up.
“Ugh, don’t call me that!” He sneered, his face scrunching up in disgust. “My quirk is so awesome; I don’t need a sniveling crybaby like you. You’re just a useless Deku!” All the kids began to laugh and call him Deku, and Izuku felt all the warmth leave his body.
Guess I wasn’t good enough after all…
The teacher came back, and everyone settled back down, but the Izuku’s mind left and went somewhere far away. He dreamed of a place where Katsuki was still his friend, of a future where they were heroes together, and meeting All Might, and fighting alongside him. Before he knew it, class was over, and he was the only one left in the room. With a heavy heart he gathered his things and went to his shoe locker to change his shoes.
Only when he opened it, he found a note folded up leaned up against his shoes. Was it a hate letter? With shaky hands he pulled out the paper, and opened it up.
Izu,
Meet me at the secret fortress. We need to talk.
Kacchan
Izuku didn’t know whether to be afraid, or to be happy that Katsuki left this for him. He tucked the note in his pocket, changed into his outside shoes, and walked with purpose, unsure if he was meeting salvation or doom.
The “secret fortress” was just a big tree in their neighborhood that the boys liked to climb. It had a big empty space in the middle, which was the perfect size for the two of them to sit and talk together. When he got to the tree, he could see Katsuki already inside, waiting for him.
“Hurry up Izu!” Katsuki hissed quietly. “We need to talk!” Izuku rolled his eyes.
“Why?” Izuku asked cautiously. “You’re not going to push me out of the tree, will you?”
“Why would I do that?” Katsuki sneered. “Would you just get up here?”
“You said we aren’t friends anymore,” Izuku pouted angrily. “I’m not coming up until you said you’re sorry.”
“I am sorry!” Katsuki explained urgently. “That’s why we need to talk!”
“Okay, then,” Izuku responded, stepping forward to climb into the tree. Katsuki smiled and patted at the spot next to him, and Izuku hesitantly crawled over. When Izuku turned to look at him, Katsuki averted his gaze, his face flushing.
“I’m sorry for being so shitty,” Katsuki started. “Are you okay? Does your butt still hurt?”
“No,” Izuku shook his head. “My feelings hurt more.”
“I know,” Katsuki sighed. “I didn’t realize all those morons in the class would turn on you like that. Then again I guess they are a bunch of idiots!”
“That’s mean!” Izuku gasped, before thinking about it. “I didn’t think they would be like that either. 20% of the population is quirkless, so it shouldn’t be unusual.”
“It shouldn’t,” Katsuki agreed. “But again, we’re smarter than those shitheads. So I guess they haven’t figured that out yet.” He paused. “When I saw they way they talked to you, it got me thinking. What if everyone is like this?”
“What do you mean?” Izuku asked. Katsuki looked back to him seriously.
“Think about, when was the last time you saw a quirkless person that wasn’t, like, eighty-five or something?” Izuku hummed as he thought about it but couldn’t come up with a person. “Exactly. You being quirkless is going to make you stand out in a bad way.”
Oh.
Izuku curled up and pushed his face into his knees.
“So you are mad at me.”
“WHAT!” Katsuki yelled. “No, I’m not you dumbass! But I am mad. So mad that I came up with a plan.”
“Oh?” Izuku peeked up over his knees. “What plan is that?”
“I’m going to bully you!”
“WHAT!” Izuku screeched, jolting away from Katsuki. “Kacchan!”
“Calm down!” Katsuki snapped. “And listen to me!” He reached out the grab Izuku’s hand and pulled it down so that it was touching the tree. “We’ve already established that my quirk is super awesome, right?”
“Right,” Izuku nodded.
“Right,” Katsuki nodded back. “So here’s what is going to happen. I’m going to make myself top dog, which isn’t going to be hard, because I’m awesome, and you’re going to be my personal punching bag!”
“So you’re going to beat me up in front of everyone?” Izuku shuddered at the thought. Katsuki tsk’ed in annoyance.
“Well, maybe, but its going to be pretend!” Izuku’s eyes widened as he looked at Katsuki, who’s face lit up as he explained. “If everyone thinks that I’m the only one allowed to beat you up, then no one beats you up! Get it?”
“I get it!” Izuku beamed, before doubt began to creep onto his face. “How do I know that this isn’t a trick?”
“What?” Katsuki yelled, before huffing and rolling his eyes. “Of course it’s not a trick!”
“But you’re really smart,” Izuku urged. “What if this is a part of a bigger trick where you pretend we’re friends only to make fun of me for real with everyone else?”
“Ugh, as if I would do something so lame with those extras!” Katsuki huffed. “Listen, its you and me, remember? We’re going to be heroes! That’s a promise!” He held up his other hand for Izuku and extended his pinky.
Izuku hesitated, looking between the pinky, and Katsuki’s serious face, with his shining eyes begging him to accept it. Izuku swallowed, before lifting up his free hand and hooking his pinky with Katsuki’s. Katsuki squeezed his other hand from where he had it pinned.
“That makes it a double pinky swear,” Izuku laughed. “That makes it extra special, right?”
“Duh!” Katsuki laughed back. “What should we do?”
“Seal it with a kiss?” Izuku pondered. “I heard that in a movie I think.”
“Seal it with-“ Katsuki’s face went red. “Ugh, you’re so sappy.”
“Oh? Well then maybe-“ Izuku was cut off by quick graze of lips on his cheek. “Huh?” Before he could even process it, Katsuki let go of his hand and jumped out of the tree.
“It’s a done deal!” Katsuki yelled over his shoulder as he ran away, his face still red. Izuku sat dumbfounded before reaching up to touch the spot where Katsuki had kissed him.
“Wow!”