Chapter Text
It was her dad who signed up for the program, but due to his book tour, both he and her mother were abroad.
To explain; Yagi Toshinori was not Izumi’s biological father, but he might as well have been. The former pro-MMA fighter turned teacher had practically raised her and loved her mother more than she can remember her father ever having done. He became her elementary school self-defense teacher, and after meeting her mom he slowly became a constant in her life, one made permanent by their marriage. He had helped Izumi toughen up through middle school, taught her how to fight and look after her body instead of just telling her to buck up like the vast majority of adults did.
His work made her into one of the most athletic girls in school, becoming the star of her school’s judo club, a world’s away from the unpopular nobody she was in her younger years.
This bond made him trust her to both their home and his dojo, with the latter being closed and only needing occasional up-keep after being closed so long for updates.
“It just needs the occasional check-up, and I can take it over again when we get back in a few months” he said earnestly. “besides, from what I heard, the program will take a long time to get back with us.”
‘He was wrong about the program,’ Izumi though, staring straight ahead at the two men in front of her. One she had met before, as he had explained the cultural-exchange program to her family, walking through the selection process, rules and limitations with them. He had long, wavy black hair pulled back from his face in a lowish ponytail and a scar under one eye. Despite his clean-pressed suit, the stubble and bags made him look disheveled. His name was Aizawa Shouta, and he was accompanied by a teenage boy around her age carrying a suitcase. He had dusty-blond, spiky hair, deep red eyes, and an athletic build. He was wearing a pair of baggy jeans and a t-shirt from a popular band she recognized. He looked like he could be one of the more popular guys at her school, save the massive wings, furry paws, and lion’s ears and tail.
Yes, Yagi Toshinori had signed up to accept and teach interspecies students at his dojo as part of Japan’s new cultural exchange. It meant a lot to the bill and those whose lives would be changed by it that such a big name had signed up right away, and Izumi was proud of her dad for taking such a stand.
Now, as movers began to load this strangers’ belongings into her home, she felt that he could have at least waited until after his book tour.
“This is Katsuki. “Aizawa began as he introduced the two eighteen-year-olds. “He’s a member of a sphinx tribe, as you can see, and he specifically asked to be placed in this homestay. Normally, the process would take a lot longer, but in this case since both the homestay and exchange member are so highly recommended, it only took a little while to get the paperwork in order.”
Izumi nodded along dumbly as she and the boy in front of her shook hands. His paws were soft and furry, with pads that had a somewhat rough texture, but still had the signature squishiness all cats had.
The sphinx in question didn’t look nervous or excited to be there. In fact, his expression spoke of nothing but sheer annoyance since the moment he laid eyes on Izumi in a way that made her feel extremely self-conscious.
“I-It’s nice to meet you, Katsuki-san” Izumi stammered out through her nervousness. The sphinx rolled his eyes and shoved his way past her, picking up a suitcase and heading towards the house. He followed the movers inside before turning back to yell, “Which one is my room?”, which had her scurrying after him to give him the official house tour.
Hours later, after the movers left and Katsuki was all settled into his new room, the two were sat in the living room together, sitting across from each other with the coffee table between them. They each had a cup of tea rapidly losing heat in front of them as the awkward moment lingered on.
Deciding to break the silence, Izumi spoke up. “So, Agent Aizawa told me that you specifically requested this homestay. You must be a big fan of Japanese and international MMA, huh?”
Katsuki let out a low grunt before answering. “Yeah, I like watching guys like Yagi beat the shit out of those pissants who think they can stand at his level. I wanted to come and learn from him, but I guess they didn’t take that into account when they sent me here.”
The entire time, he eyed Izumi up and down, like she was a meal he was deeply disappointed in. Swallowing her discomfort, she continued.
“Did you do any MMA back home?”
This inquiry seemed to please the moody sphinx, as when he began to answer, he sat up straighter, puffing his chest out in pride. “Yeah, I can pretty much kick anyone’s ass back home. I’m mostly self-taught, but I learned a lot from those instructional videos and books big name guys like your dad put out.”
Izumi smiled, happy to see him broken out of his gruff exterior if only for a moment.
“That’s really impressive. Is being a good fighter important in your culture?” she asked well-meaningly. The entire point of the program was to learn about each other’s cultures after all.
Leaning back and closing his eyes, he smiled smugly. “Being the strongest is everything to sphinx. Especially if you don’t want to end up turning…” Midway through the sentence, he seemed to catch himself before finishing, as if he were about to admit to something embarrassing. His eyes shot open and he sat back up, as if electrocuted.
He seemed flustered, but before Izumi could ask why, he shot back, “But I had to take a break from all that to study for my homestay. You know, learning Japanese and shit like that. And by the way…” He leaned across the table and picked up Izumi’s mug, pointing to her name written near the rim. “Why did your parents name you Deku? Isn’t that slang for a useless nobody?”
The sphinx looked up at her, as if expecting backlash, but was instead met with a look of…amazement?
“Wow, you learned to read kanji in just a couple months?” She replied, letting her astonishment shine through every word. Growing up, it had taken her over a year to master kanji, and she was surrounded by it! She could only imagine how hard it had been to learn in a totally different culture. And he seemed to have a firm grasp on Japanese word play, too!
This seemed to bring him out of his unnerved state as his eyes once again shone with pride.
“Well, if you’re so impressed, why don’t I just call you “Deku” from now on? Yeah, I like the sound of that.”
Cringing slightly at his brash declaration, Izumi forced herself to smile in response, on the whole relieved that her guest seemed comfortable again, though not entirely pleased with her new nickname.
“Well, only if I can call you by a nickname too.”
The sphinx smirked in response. “Fair enough. Let me know when you come up with something worthy of me.”
‘He sure thinks highly of himself. Well, whatever, at least he seems more comfortable now.’ Izumi thought.
The rest of the night went fairly well. She learned that despite loving foods like spicy curry, he hated sweets.
“Tastes like Styrofoam” he insisted after trying a bite of the cake she had for dessert.
Then, they spent some time watching old western superhero movies, which he also seemed to really love, which was a huge relief to Izumi, being the hero otaku she was. Yes, everything was going fine, right up to the moment they went their separate ways to bed.
The next morning, Izumi got up early to prepare for the day’s activities. According to all the host paperwork she read, it was important to show your exchange student around your city as soon as possible so they could familiarize themselves with the area. And, being the only member of her family present, the responsibility fell on her alone.
After cleaning up and getting dressed, Izumi knocked on Katsuki’s door, only to hear no response. She knocked again, and this time she could hear a shuffling sound, like blankets moving about.
She tried the doorknob. Locked.
“Go away” came the muffled voice from inside. But the voice didn’t sound like Katsuki. It lacked his sense of swagger and confidence, for one thing. It was also, despite what sounded like considerable effort to not be, somewhat higher pitched.
Naturally, this had Izumi worried instantly. Had she done something wrong? Was his homestay ruined? Would this get them kicked out of the program entirely?!
Shaking her head, Izumi banished the negative thoughts from her mind. No use getting worked up when she didn’t even know the problem yet.
“Katsuki, are you ok? Did something happen?” she called out empathetically.
“Christ, just go the fuck away! I’m fine.”
Steeling herself up, Izumi responded, “No, you’re not! If you were fine, we would be having this conversation face to face, but if you’re hiding then something is clearly wrong!” Getting nothing but silence in response, she continued.
“Katsuki, if you’re hurt or sick then I need to know now. We can’t live together if you can’t be honest about the things you need. So please, just let me in so I can help.”
There was more silence for a moment. Then a ‘click’ followed by the door cracking open.
Izumi stepped into the darkened room, only to be met by a figure covered in blankets, huddled on the bed. She could see bits of Katsuki’s hair and his eyes peeking out, but nothing else was visible.
Tentatively, Izumi walked over, kneeling down in front of the bed where he sat.
“Please tell me what’s wrong.”
The blankets shuffled around hi for a moment, as if he was trying to pull them tighter around him. This was frustrating, but Izumi refused to let that show. Instead, she continued softly.
“Like I said earlier, if we.re going to live together, I need to know what’s going on with you. Please,”
She reached her hand out towards him. “just trust me.”
His eyes seemed to widen slightly at the gesture. Letting out a slight sigh, he stood up.
“Don’t you dare look down on me for this” he said in a voice barely above a whisper.
The blanket fell, and Izumi would be lying if she said she wasn’t a little shocked.
Standing in front of her was a perfect female version of Katsuki. The same coloring, wings, tail, paws and ears, but a lithe, slender build the left the already baggy clothes hanging off her in places. She…small, in places but still had feminine curves just barely visible. In short, very pretty, just as before, but more feminine.
Taking Izumi’s shocked silence as disgust, Katsuki sneered.
“Right. Guess I can’t really blame you if you find this shit disgusting.” Falling back down onto the bed, he began to pull the covers back around himself. “Sphinx are all born as females, and the only way to we survived as a species is that some of us train so hard we turn into men so we can reproduce. But once a month, no matter how strong you are, you…become like how you were when you were born again. Something about natural cycles or some bullshit like that.”
He looked down at his lap. “I understand if you don’t want someone like this in your house.”
Suddenly, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Izumi with sympathy in her eyes.
“If you feel more comfortable as a guy, I have absolutely no problem with you living as one. And if you feel so bad as a girl, then we don’t have to go anywhere or do anything. It can wait until you turn back.”
Katsuki’s eyes shone for a second, before completely losing their luster as he scowled again.
“Are you making fun of me?!”
“I’m sorry?”
Katsuki growled out, “You’re supposed to be freaking out over how this happens in the first place! Why the fuck are you just worried about my feelings?! Shouldn’t you be grossed out or something?!”
Izumi shrugged. “It’s not like I haven’t heard of this happening before. Lizards and fish do it all the time, and even humans dabble in it. But we need help to do it properly.” She scratched the back of her head.
“Besides, it would be stupid and mean to hate you for something you can’t control or change about yourself. I want to get to know you, not just judge you by your outside appearance.” She finished with a smile.
Katsuki looked at her in shock for a moment, before shaking his head and smirking.
“You really are a Deku, aren’t you? Can’t even react to some crazy bullshit like this the way you’re supposed to.”
Pouting, Izumi clapped back, “Hey, I’m just trying to be a good host! Would you rather I be mean about it, Kacchan?”
His smirk disappeared. “Kacchan?”
Now donning a smirk of her own, Izumi nodded. “Yep, the combination of your name and the honorific ‘chan’! It’s your new nickname!”
“Change it. It’s too damn cute-sounding.”
“I don’t know, it goes pretty well with how cute you are now…”
“What was that you shitty Deku?!”
This playful argument carried on until they both became hungry from the effort taken out by all their emotions and headed downstairs for breakfast. Izumi decided that today would be better spent inside getting to know each other than out exploring the city.