Chapter Text
Fat tears streamed down the green-haired child’s face, dripping down his cheeks and flowing off his rounded chin like waterfalls. They splattered to the ground, leaving a tiny wet trail along the dirt path he was limping down.
“Kacchan...wait for me…” Midoriya Izuku cried out uselessly, trying to hurry his bruised leg into cooperating with him. He wiped at his tears with a tightly-balled fist, trying to get them to stop. But he had always been an easy crier, often overcome with emotions too intense for his little body to contain. So they came out in the form of salty liquid leaking from his eyes.
Unfortunately, that was what got him into his current mess. Kacchan had been showing off his Quirk again—which was an easy thing to do; it was quite the flashy Quirk, being of the explosion variety and all—and accidentally caught Izuku in one of the blasts. Izuku had flown backward and crashed to the ground, much to the amusement of the group of kids he called his friends.
“Useless Deku,” Kacchan had said with a chiding laugh, putting his hands on his hips and standing triumphantly like a hero would, though his actions had been less than heroic. “Useless, Quirkless Deku.”
His friends had gone on ahead, so far ahead that Izuku couldn’t even hear their laughter anymore up the path. So he just kept limping along, hoping to catch up to them at some point but doubtful that he would. As soon as the path led back around to the main area of the park, maybe he should just go home for the day…
He would never catch up to Kacchan. Not like this.
Izuku stopped in his tracks, glaring at the ground with watery green eyes. He sniffed back any new tears that threatened to fall, clenching his small fists at his sides. It wasn’t his fault that he was Quirkless.
The youth fell to his already bruised knees, letting out a quiet sob and letting his tears wet the dirt below once more.
A skittering noise in the bushes along the path tore his attention away from the ground. Fear prickled at his nerve endings when he heard the noise again, this time louder.
Was it a wild Pokémon? A person?
“H-hello?” Izuku called out meekly, wide eyes watching as leaves in the underbrush rustled with movement from behind. He was about to back away slowly and continue down the path when he saw a patch of beige, cottony fur poke out from the bush.
Izuku’s heart picked up in double time. Oh, gosh, what if it was something dangerous?
Or worse... what if it was a Bidoof?
Relief flooded through Izuku when the unknown Pokémon poked its head out of the bush and looked at him with small, beady black eyes.
It was just a Buneary. As long as he didn’t provoke her in some way, she probably wouldn’t attack him…
Izuku held his hands up in a defensive position. “Hi...I’m not gonna bother you, don’t worry,” he tried to assure the rabbit Pokémon. Slowly he shifted from his knees to sit on his rear, ensuring that he made no sudden movements. According to some of his Pokémon encyclopedias, one swing from a Buneary’s powerful ears could knock a grown person unconscious.
The Buneary slowly emerged from the foliage, her little nose moving up and down as she sniffed the air. She continued to watch Izuku as if determining his threat level.
Giving the Pokémon a watery smile that started his tears up again, Izuku shook his head. “I won’t hurt you,” he said with a wavering voice, then let out a small laugh despite himself. “I think you’d hurt me worse than I’d hurt you, to be honest.” He let out a small hiccup and rubbed at his eyes with the heels of his hands, trying to squeeze all his tears out.
When he dropped his hands from his face, he almost yelped in shock seeing Buneary’s face right in front of his.
Buneary leaned further forward, sniffing the trail of Izuku’s tears on his freckled cheek. Izuku sat still, afraid to move for fear of getting pummeled.
"U-um...nice bunny…" Izuku said, still not moving. He tried to avert his eyes, since making direct eye contact with a wild Pokémon had a good chance of provoking it. But this Buneary didn't seem to be living up to the typical behavior of her species, and she continued to check Izuku out via sniffs and sight, looking over what seemed like every inch of him like she had never come across a human before.
Then, in a surprise turn of events, Buneary raised her paw and patted Izuku's cheek as if to dry his tears.
"Wh-what…"
"Bun bun!" the Pokémon suddenly said, smiling at Izuku.
Izuku couldn’t help but smile back at the Pokémon. "What?" he asked again, as if she could answer him clearly.
"Bun, Buneary!" she replied, taking both of her paws and placing them on Izuku’s cheeks. She then smooshed his face together, making his mouth open like a Magikarp’s.
Izuku let out a small laugh, not as tearful as before. "You want me to stop crying?"
"Bun!"
"Well, okay, I guess I have to now."
Buneary seemed happy with Izuku's agreement to cease all tears and nodded almost solemnly, lightly smacking his cheeks before skittering back into the bushes.
Well. That was a strange experience. But a pleasant one.
Pleasant enough that Izuku continued to smile even though he was left alone once again. He wiped the remainder of his tears away with the heel of his hand and hoisted himself up off the ground.
He should probably get home. Who knew what time it was, or where Kacchan and their friends had gotten to?
Izuku continued up the path, keeping an eye out for his friends. He was almost back to the main area of the park when a sudden blow hit his back, sending him sprawling to the ground face-first. There was a weight on his back where he’d been hit, though not heavy enough to hurt.
“Kacchan, if that’s you, I swear—” Izuku muttered into the dirt, spitting out the dust from his mouth.
“Bun bun!”
Izuku’s head shot up.
The Pokémon jumped off Izuku’s back and hopped in front of him, her paws reaching for his face and squishing his cheeks again.
“Hey, what are you doing?” Izuku said through his squished cheeks, his words almost incomprehensible. Buneary then hopped onto his back again and he felt a paw patting at his wild green curls, over and over, like a person would pat their pet on the head.
“Okay, this has been fun, but get off me, please? I need to get home,” Izuku told the Pokémon, already starting to push himself up to his knees. Buneary grabbed onto Izuku’s shoulders for balance as he stood. Even when he was back on his feet, she still clung to him as an impromptu piggy-back rider.
Izuku sighed.
“Alright, I guess you can stay with me for now...but when I get to the park entrance, you need to go, okay?”
Buneary ignored his words and jumped atop his head. Izuku’s neck almost buckled at the sudden added weight it had to support. He reached his small hands up and tried to grab Buneary around the torso, but failed to do so and instead made the Pokémon leap off his head and onto the dirt path at his feet.
Buneary stared up at him with her little black eyes and tilted her head, one ear flopping to the side.
“I don’t know what you want from me!” Izuku cried at the Pokémon, very nearly throwing his hands up in exasperation. Instead, he tugged at his curls with a somewhat frustrated pout. When the Buneary did nothing but continue to stare at him inquisitively, Izuku gave up with a sigh and resumed walking. It surely must be getting late, now, and he really needed to get home.
The Buneary trailed along behind him, interjecting every once and a while with a little “Bun bun!” or some squeaks here and there. She kept up pace with Izuku well enough, sometimes even skittering ahead of him to stop and stare at him as he caught up.
When they reached the entrance to the park, Izuku turned to face his Pokémon stalker and held his little index finger out, pointing at her like a parent scolding their child.
“You can’t follow me home,” Izuku said sternly. “You have to stay here, okay?”
“Bun bun!”
“You understand, right?”
“Bun bun!”
“...Okay.” Izuku backed away slowly, hands raised. “ Staaaaaaaay ...stay.” Surprisingly, the Buneary complied with his command, staying in place while watching him back away.
“Good…” Izuku sighed in relief, deciding he was probably safe enough to turn around and begin his trek back home. Luckily his apartment building was close by, so it wouldn’t take him long to get home.
He was about halfway up the stairs to the third floor when he felt something tug at his pants. He stopped in his tracks and looked down to see if maybe the fabric had gotten caught on something.
But no, there was a brown paw hanging onto his pant leg.
“What?!” Izuku cried out, scaring the Buneary back down a couple of stairs. “You followed me all the way here?! Why?!” he yelled his little heart out, tears already welling up in his eyes. “I'm just a useless, Quirkless nobody! You can find someone who's loads better than me! Like Kacchan! He has an amazing Quirk, and he's gonna be a great hero like All Might and I...I...” By now he was full-on crying, more fat tears running down his face and soaking the concrete step beneath his sneakers.
Izuku allowed himself to fall to a sit on the step, his hands covering his face, tears and snot leaking through his dirty fingers.
Buneary slowly crept up the couple stairs that she'd fled down in surprise, approaching the crying child with the same trepidation that Izuku had earlier. She placed both of her paws on Izuku’s bruised knees and leaned up close to his hidden face, nudging his shaking fingers with her wet nose.
“Buuuun…”
Peeking through his fingers, Izuku was surprised to see the Pokémon’s efforts to...what, comfort him?
“I'm not worth it...I'm not worth it…” he tried to tell Buneary, his voice watery and cracking with every syllable.
“Izuku? Are you down here?” he heard his mother’s voice call from further up the stairs. “I heard crying…”
Izuku’s head shot up and his eyes darted around only to find his mom looking down at him with a crestfallen expression. With hurried steps, Inko came down the stairs to her child and pulled him into her comforting arms.
“Izuku, honey, what’s wrong?” she asked, too focused on him to notice the Buneary still sitting there with them.
Izuku allowed himself to cry a few more tears into his mother’s pink cardigan. He didn’t want to tell her all about Kacchan’s bullying—both Inko and Aunt Mitsuki already knew of Kacchan’s terrible treatment of Izuku, and had tried to put a stop to it many times through their continued interactions—so he just stayed quiet, keeping his sobs to a minimum.
“Who’s your friend here?” Inko asked as she carded her fingers through Izuku’s unruly curls.
With a small hiccup, Izuku sucked in a breath. “I...she came up to me in the park, a-and she...followed me home,” he told her, his voice nasally from all the crying.
Inko hummed, and Izuku could feel the vibrations of the noise through her chest. “It seems like she wants to stay with you, Izuku,” she said and Izuku heard the smile in her voice.
He looked up at his mother in surprise, a few stray tears falling from widened green eyes. “You...you’d let me keep her?”
Inko smiled lovingly at her son. “Of course. It’s not every day a Pokémon chooses its trainer.”
Izuku then turned his teary gaze to Buneary, who sat on the stair and stared back at him with innocent eyes and a tilt to her head, her floppy ears perked up in anticipation.
She...chose him?
“Come on, Izuku, let’s go inside and have some dinner, okay?” Inko said, helping her son up off the step. He stood on wobbly legs and sniffed back any more tears that threatened to fall.
“Whoa!” he exclaimed as he was forced to bend over at the waist, feeling a heavy weight rapidly climb up his back until it finally settled on his head and shoulders. The Buneary peeked around his tuft of green hair, squeaking at him as if trying to say something important.
Laughing, Inko guided them inside their apartment. As soon as they stepped through the door, they were met with wide, curious violet eyes.
“Mimi, come meet our new friend, she’s very nice,” Inko said sweetly to her Espurr, picking up the small feline-esque Pokémon and bringing her closer to Izuku and the Buneary.
“Bun?” the rabbit said, moving her head closer to Mimi. Her small, coal-black nose shifted up and down as she sniffed, trying to familiarize herself with the new scent. Mimi just stared, not in an unfriendly way, at the newcomer into their house. Being a Psychic-type, she was able to ascertain many things about people and Pokémon alike just by reading their energy and thoughts. Satisfied that Buneary wasn’t a threat, Mimi hummed in approval and nuzzled against Inko’s chest.
Izuku sighed in relief. “Oh, I’m so glad Mimi’s okay with her…” he said, reaching up to pat Buneary on the head.
Inko hummed in agreement and the group of four made their way to the kitchen. She let her Pokémon down and began looking through the cupboard where they kept all of Mimi’s food and treats. “I don’t know what kind of flavors she’ll like...we’ll have to take her to the Pokémon center up the road tomorrow and get her checked out. They might be able to determine her tastes, too,” she said, pulling out one of the small, unopened bags of Poké Kibble they had on-hand.
Izuku helped out by finding a little bowl to put some kibble into. “Are you hungry?” he asked Buneary, who was still perched on his shoulder and staring curiously at the bowl. Inko poured a small amount of food into the bowl and Izuku held it up for Buneary to take a couple pieces.
Her paw picked up two crunchy bits and she threw them into her mouth, chewing thoughtfully. When she didn’t make a disgusted face, Izuku and Inko were both relieved. Buneary didn’t seem too enthused about eating more, but when Izuku set the bowl on the table, she did hop off his shoulder and pick at the food.
Inko brought over two plates for herself and Izuku and set them on the table, leaving the other two place settings for Mimi and Buneary. Mimi hopped up on the table with a sour-flavored poffin and was happily munching away as Izuku and Inko tucked into their own dinners.
“So, have you thought of a name?” Inko asked her son.
Izuku paused with his noodles halfway to his mouth, sparing a glance at the Buneary who was still poking around the bowl of kibble. “I don’t know yet…” he muttered.
Inko hummed, then smiled a reassuring smile. “Well, give it some time. It’ll come to you when the time is right.”
Izuku nodded and took a bite of his dinner, watching Buneary come up to sniff at the contents on his plate. But when she got a glance at his somewhat saddened face, she paused for a moment before reaching out and attaching her paws to his cheeks. She squeezed his face, making his lips puff out.
Inko laughed at the pair. “She really seems to like you, Izuku.”
Later that night, tired out from the escapades of the day, Izuku fell asleep on the couch in the living room with Buneary curled up next to him as if she had always belonged there. Inko didn’t have the heart to wake them and send them to Izuku’s room, so she covered both her son and his new Pokémon partner with a fuzzy All Might blanket to keep them warm during the night.
“What?! Deku has a Pokémon?!”
“How did that happen?!”
“Where did you catch it?”
“Why doesn’t it have a Poké Ball?”
“Are you kidding me?! Damn Deku has a Pokémon before me?!”
“Katsuki, language, please!”
Izuku rubbed the back of his neck, letting out a nervous laugh. All of his friends seemed really surprised that he now had a Pokémon to call his own—though Kacchan seemed angry about it rather than surprised. They were all surrounding him and Buneary, poking and prodding at the rabbit Pokémon. In return, Buneary—now named Small Might—was surprisingly okay with all the attention she was getting and allowed her ears to be played with. It seemed that she knew his friends meant no harm and were only curious about her.
She was curious about them, too, taking the time to sniff each and every one of them as she was introduced to them.
And then it was Kacchan’s turn.
“Should have figured Deku would end up with a cutesy-ass Pokémon,” Kacchan sneered.
Izuku frowned at his friend. “What’s wrong with cute Pokémon?” he challenged, though after realizing what had come out of his mouth, he cowered back, afraid that Kacchan was going to blast him with his Quirk or something.
“They’re useless!” Kacchan answered, his palms sparking just a bit.
Small Might, noticing her newfound trainer was afraid of this blond kid, glared at Kacchan and dropped down into a defensive stance with her ears folded.
Kacchan just laughed. “What’re you gonna do, stupid rabbit? Flop your dumb ears at me?”
And that was exactly what Small Might did.
She leapt at Kacchan, readying an attack with one of her ears and smacking Kacchan hard enough across the face that he went sprawling to the ground.
All of the children stared in shock at the ballsy Pokémon. Small Might just landed on the ground and stared haughtily at Kacchan, as if challenging him to take her on again and see what would happen.
Izuku was equally shocked, staring with wide eyes between Kacchan and his Buneary. “S-Small Might?”
“YOU STUPID THING!” Kacchan yelled, scrambling to his feet and dusting the dirt off his clothes. His hand came up to his sore cheek, rubbing it to alleviate some of the pain. His fiery red eyes glared daggers at Small Might, but she didn’t seem affected by it at all. She just bounded back over to Izuku, crawling up his arm until she was hanging onto his back and poking her head over his shoulder.
Izuku smiled at Small Might, patting her head.
“Okay, Small Might, pick a poffin!” Izuku said, pointing to the short barrels of different flavored Pokémon treats. They were each labeled with the main flavors Pokémon usually gravitated towards, according to their individual natures, with assorted yummies inside.
Small Might waddled up to the barrel labeled ‘spicy,’ sniffing the air to affirm her choice before digging her little paws through the pile of spicy food until she found a pastry that she wanted. She pulled a heart-shaped poffin out of the bin and held it up to Izuku with a big grin.
“Bun bun!!” she said excitedly.
“That one looks good,” Izuku said, smiling at his Pokémon. “Let’s go to the cooler so I can get some ice cream.” The two of them went over a couple aisles to the human food section of the conbini, where Izuku found a little ice chest filled with various frozen sweets. There was another kid standing in front of the cooler with his Swirlix, gazing through the glass and contemplating his decision.
“Should I get chocolate, or vanilla? Or, maybe strawberry?” the dark-haired kid wondered aloud, tapping his full lips with his forefinger. The Swirlix cooed in a sweet manner, floating next to her trainer.
“The cola popsicle is really good, if you want to try that!” Izuku piped up, smiling at the other kid. He slid open the top and picked up a popsicle with a picture of a glass cola bottle on the packaging, handing it to the kid. “It’s one of my favorites.”
The kid took the popsicle from Izuku with a grin. “Thanks, I’ll give it a try!” He turned and headed for the front counter, his Swirlix floating happily behind him.
Smiling to himself, Izuku then dug around for a light blue popsicle-looking treat, letting out a small noise of success when he found one.
“Alright, let’s go pay!” he told Small Might, leading her up to the counter now that he had his sea salt ice cream in hand.
When they got up to the counter, Izuku had to stand on his tiptoes to see the clerk behind the register. He placed his ice cream on the counter for her to ring up. “Oh, and one spicy poffin too!” he informed her, pointing to Small Might who was already nibbling on the poffin.
“That’ll be 400 yen,” the clerk said with a smile, clearly enamored by the adorable pair.
Izuku placed his coins on the counter and took his ice cream, yelling out a sweet, “Thank you!” as he and Small Might exited the store.
Izuku unwrapped his ice cream, throwing the wrapper in the trash can outside the conbini before starting to suck and lick at the top of the popsicle.
“So good!” he said excitedly, thoroughly enjoying his treat. Small Might chimed in with a cheer of her own, holding up her half-eaten poffin.
The two of them strolled along the sidewalk, enjoying their treats in peace and happiness, when there was a loud cry from up ahead.
Izuku stopped in his tracks, his tongue still stuck to his ice cream. “What was that?” he said around his food.
Small Might’s ears had perked up as well, and she looked ahead to discern the source of the noise. When there was another cry, she shoved the rest of her poffin into her mouth, puffing out her cheeks, and ran down the sidewalk on all fours.
“H-hey, Small Might, wait!” Izuku called out, placing his own treat in his mouth to hold it so he could run and catch up with his Pokémon. His teeth already began to freeze at the prolonged contact.
Small Might came to a stop a bit further ahead, standing next to a kid who looked about Izuku’s age. They were both looking up into a tree along the side of the road.
“Meowsie!” the kid wailed, and Izuku slowed to a stop behind him and Small Might.
“What’s the matter?” Izuku asked after he removed his ice cream from his mouth. It was melting now, beginning to drip onto the concrete. It had already gotten all over his mouth and chin, sliding down and staining his shirt.
“M-my Meowth…” the kid repeated, pointing up into the tree. “She won’t come down!”
Izuku looked up and sure enough, there was a Meowth up in the lower branches of the tree. The pink bow around her neck looked a little askew, but other than that, she seemed fine.
“Do you have any treats on you?” Izuku asked. “Maybe we can lure her down with one of those?”
The kid shook his head. “No, we...we ran out…”
Izuku shoved the rest of his melting ice cream into his mouth, thinking as he munched on some of the still frozen bits. He looked between Small Might, the kid, and Meowsie, an idea forming in his head. He tapped the wooden popsicle stick against his sticky lips.
“Small Might...you wanna go up and talk to her? See if you can get her to come down?” Izuku asked his Pokémon, nodding his head towards the Meowth who was looking down at them curiously.
Small Might wiggled her nose a little as if mulling over her trainer’s suggestion. Then she looked up into the leaves, her ears twitching as she crouched down. “Bun!” she cried out as she leapt into the air, grabbing onto the lowest branch of the tree and maneuvering herself up.
“Wow, your Buneary can jump really high!” the kid said in awe, looking up at the fluffy rabbit Pokémon.
Izuku smiled proudly. “Okay, Small Might, get Meowsie down from there!”
“Bun bun Buneary!” Small Might replied, climbing up a few more branches until she reached the Meowth perched in the tree. She greeted the feline Pokémon, pointing at her pink bow and smiling.
Meowsie seemed flattered, meowing back excitedly and wagging her curly tail.
Izuku and the kid watched as their Pokémon held a short, very animated conversation. After a minute or so, both creatures looked down at their trainers. Izuku nodded his head vigorously, pointing down at the ground. “Come down here, Meowsie, your trainer is worried about you!”
The Meowth seemed to ponder Izuku’s words, then turned to Small Might and mewled. Small Might replied happily and nodded, turning around so that Meowsie could hop onto her back.
Once Meowsie was secure, Small Might bounced down a few branches until they were on the lowest one. From there, she gauged the distance from there to the ground and readied herself for the leap. With a powerful cry, Small Might jumped from the tree and landed right on Izuku’s shoulders, forcing him to bow forward to balance the two Pokémon on his back.
“Oof!” Izuku said at the moment of impact, bracing his little legs to keep himself balanced.
“Meowsie!” the kid cried out, grabbing his Meowth off of Small Might’s back and cuddling the cat close to him. “You scared me! Please don’t do that again!” he pleaded with his Pokémon.
Meowsie just meowed, purring as she nuzzled into the kid’s chest.
The kid turned to Izuku with a teary smile. “Thank you so much for helping get Meowsie down...and you too, Buneary!”
Izuku, now standing upright with Small Might hanging off his shoulder as she usually did, smiled brightly at the kid. He tried to subtly wipe at his mouth, to get rid of the sticky ice cream residue. “Uh...it was no problem! Really! I’m glad she’s okay!”
“Bun!” Small Might agreed.
“You really are a hero!” the kid said, his smile determined and true.
Izuku blushed at that, letting out a nervous laugh.
“Thanks again!” the kid said, turning and running down the sidewalk with his Meowth still in his arms.
Izuku could do nothing but stand there for a few moments, breathing in and out.
A hero…
“Maybe...I can be a hero…” Izuku whispered, curling his small hand into a fist.