Chapter Text
Midoriya Izuku had a problem with depression for almost as long as he could remember. It had begun right after his fourth birthday, when he’d been diagnosed as quirkless. That in itself might not have kick-started it; No, what made it worse was when his mother told him he couldn’t be a hero. Not having even his own mother’s support broke him in a way he couldn’t even describe.
Not long after that, his father left them all alone. His mother tried to tell Izuku that he was just “working overseas” and would be home one day, but Izuku wasn’t stupid. Even that young, he knew what it meant when he hadn’t seen his father in two months. It took another three years before the river incident that seemed to make Kacchan hate him, and after Kacchan stopped speaking to him, all of his other friends did, too. Kacchan had the best, most powerful quirk in their entire school, and that made people not want to piss him off. If that meant ignoring the useless, quirkless kid, then so be it.
He was all alone, scared, sad and angry at the world. His mother was almost never home anymore as she’d had to take a nursing job in order to support them, taking twelve hour shifts back-to-back just to be able to provide food and rent money. Izuku tried to get a job once he was older, but no one wanted to hire a quirkless kid when there was probably someone with a more useful quirk out there.
By the time he turned fifteen years old, he’d been alone and friendless for eight years. He’d had enough, and was sick of pretending everything was going to be alright when he knew that it wasn’t. It would never be alright again. His quirklessness wouldn’t just go away, and there was no way he’d be able to be a hero. He was weak and small and useless, just like Kacchan’s nickname for him suggested. And then came the day. His teacher announced in front of everyone that Izuku was going to try and get into U.A., failing to mention he just wanted to get into General Education. Kacchan took this as a personal challenge and tried to intimidate Izuku into giving up, and by the time class was over, Izuku was already considering it. But then Kacchan trapped him in the classroom.
And he stole Izuku’s hero notebook.
And he threw it out the window.
And he told Izuku to jump off of the roof of the school.
For the first time in a long time, as Izuku stared out the window, watching Kacchan and his cronies walk past his ruined notebook in the koi pond towards the arcade, he seriously contemplated suicide. Normally he pushed those thoughts away, knowing that it would seriously hurt his mother if he killed himself. He knew that his mother loved him and did everything she could to provide for him… but that was just it, wasn’t it? She was working herself to death, stress eating and getting little sleep each night just so she could work as hard as she could to provide for them.
She was the only one in the whole world who cared whether Izuku lived or died, and he was nothing but a burden to her.
So he trudged his way up to the roof of the building, toeing off his garishly red sneakers, leaving his bright yellow backpack at the edge before he climbed over the railing and stood staring down the five story drop. The koi pond was right below him, and he could just barely make out his notebook floating in it, orange and white fish nibbling on the pages. If he angled himself just right, the fall would surely kill him…
He let go of the railing behind him, allowing gravity to pull him forward before his eyes caught sight of something on the horizon. Just a few blocks away, between the school and the arcade, there was a plume of smoke rising into the skyline.
His hands instinctively caught himself back on the railing, his heart hammering in his chest at his near-death.
‘ Kacchan.’
It took him ten minutes to sprint to where he’d seen the smoke, and by the time he got there, three pro-heroes were standing around, watching as Bakugou Katsuki, the brightest star in Izuku’s life and his own personal All Might, suffocated in the clutches of a slime-like villain who was trying to take over his body. The blond was so panicked that his quirk was going off in random bursts, setting fire to the buildings and ground around him. The spectators were all just watching , the heroes holding them all back while they waited for someone else , no one was doing anything-!
Izuku’s feet moved without thinking.
An hour later, he had never been more glad that he hadn’t jumped off of the roof, because All Might said that he could be a hero. Izuku was going to live his dream .
(x)
Bakugou Katsuki kept his gaze on the ground as he walked to class, contemplating his training session with Deku the night before. They were in their second year of U.A., and everything was so different from their first year. The League of Villains had been defeated at the end of their first year, but at the cost of All Might, Gran Torino, Mt. Lady and Hawks’ lives. Many more were killed in the battle, but those were the ones who had a direct contact into Bakugou and Deku’s lives. With their mentor gone, Katsuki and Deku were forced to try and train One for All on their own. As Deku was the ninth holder and All Might had been quirkless, too, there were still four of the seven quirks that Deku needed to figure out. So far he had One for All’s brute strength, Black Whip and Float. Black Whip and Float had appeared in the middle of an intense battle, tripping Izuku up and messing up his chances of winning. That couldn’t happen in the middle of a serious battle or it might get Deku killed.
So they trained, and they tried to draw the other four quirks out. All Might had never told them what the previous users’ quirks were, just that Shimura Nana had been the holder of Float. Even halfway through their second year, no other quirks had appeared. That was fine, since Bakugou actually enjoyed Deku’s company these days and genuinely considered him a friend. Whether or not Deku thought the same was beyond him, but he’d like to think that the nerd had forgiven him for his terrible treatment of the boy.
It was while Katsuki was thinking of Deku that it happened. He hadn’t been watching where he was going in the hallway, so used to everyone steering clear of him because of his shitty attitude. Apparently, one extra also wasn’t paying attention, because they collided pretty hard, sending them falling to the ground. Bakugou stayed standing because of his sheer muscle mass, blinking down at the tiny girl who was spread out on the ground below him.
‘ Oh no!’ Katsuki heard Deku’s voice, and then suddenly the greenet appeared, kneeling down beside the fallen girl to hold out his hand. His beaming smile could have melted snow, it was so bright and warm, and Katsuki watched the girl blush red like a fire engine. “Hey, are you alright?”
“U-um!” The girl shyly took Izuku’s hand, unable to meet his eyes. Katsuki couldn’t help but smirk at her. It seemed like everyone and their mother had a crush on the nerd these days, and who could blame them? Although Deku’s was only about five foot six, he was built like a brick shithouse, his musculature marveling even Kirishima’s. His fluffy green curls had been cut shorter so they framed his face better, and he’d lost a lot of the baby fat in his face, leaving him with cheekbones and an actual jawline. (No, Katsuki was not in love with him, and no his heart was not pounding at the sight of him, so shut the fuck up.)
“I’m fine!” The girl squeaked, getting to her feet. She was probably four and a half feet tall, with chin-length orange hair and bangs that hung into her eyes. She looked up to meet Katsuki’s crimson gaze and blushed even harder, probably out of fear. Most of U.A. knew who he was because of his shitty personality and loud quirk, so it was no surprise. “Sorry for b-bumping into you, B-Bakugou-san!”
“It’s cool,” he said dismissively, shrugging one shoulder. He’d mellowed out since their first year, and although he still had massive anger issues, he knew better than to blow up at someone in front of Deku. He didn’t want to risk the boy being disappointed in him. It was worse than death, honestly, a skill he’d picked up from Auntie Inko. “I wasn’t looking where I was going.”
‘ Well, at least Kacchan’s being nice,’ Izuku said, causing Katsuki to shoot him a dirty look. The boy’s emerald eyes widened a fraction, a hand fluttering up to cover his mouth. ‘ Did I say that out loud?’
“Yes,” Katsuki smirked, making Izuku blush almost as hard as the orange haired girl in front of them.
“I’m so sorry again, Bakugou-san!” She said, bowing a few times before she hurried away. Deku and Katsuki watched her go before Deku looked at Katsuki again.
“We should get to class, Kacchan,” he said. Bakugou rolled his eyes because even though he’d mellowed out, he was still a dick.
“What do you think I was trying to do, shithead?” Deku shook his head and faced forward, the both of them starting towards class again.
Deku mumbled the whole way there, something about the homework from the night before. Bakugou was pretty used to it by then, having thirteen years of experience dealing with Deku. Inside of the classroom was pretty loud, like always, so Deku’s voice got drowned out quick enough. Kirishima ambushed him at his desk just like every other morning, nodding a hello to Deku before speaking.
“Dude, you’re usually here before me! Where were you?”
Katsuki placed his bag on the floor near his feet, leaning back in his chair to put his feet on the desk the way he knew annoyed Four-Eyes. He and Round Cheeks had a running bet to see how long Four Eyes could hold out before coming to yell at Bakugou, and so far Round Cheeks was winning. Katsuki swore when it came to money, that girl never lost. “I got caught up in the hallway. Some extra bumped into me.”
‘ She’s not an extra, Kacchan,’ Deku mumbled behind Katsuki. Katsuki let out an annoyed sigh, but corrected himself.
“Fine, not an extra. Some bitch .”
“Kacchan!” Deku said sharply. “You weren’t paying attention either, don’t call her that! She said she was sorry!”
“But it’s so fun to make you squeal like that,” Katsuki teased right back. Deku grumbled to himself, leaning down to dig one of his nerd books out of his bag. Kirishima started talking again, but Katsuki’s mind was suddenly taken over by an unfamiliar image- more like a memory, really. He blinked, realizing he was standing at the edge of a rooftop, staring down what looked to be five or six stories to what looked like a very familiar courtyard. There was a koi pond below him, with a familiar rectangular shape floating in it, the fish nibbling at it. He wasn’t wearing shoes in the memory, but he was still wearing his middle school gakuran.
As quickly as the image flashed it was over, and he blinked up at Kirishima in confusion. The redhead stopped talking, frowning at him. “Dude, you alright? You zonked out for a second, there.”
‘ Is Kacchan okay?’ Deku asked from behind him. The blond turned around in his seat, scowling at the boy.
“Why do you keep referring to me in the third person?” He demanded, narrowing his eyes at the boy. He hadn’t done that since they were four years old and he didn’t know the proper Japanese tenses yet.
“Uh, bro, Midori-bro didn’t even say anything,” Kirishima said from in front of him. Katsuki turned back around to snap at him, but caught Jirou’s eye from the desk directly to his right. The girl was looking at him strangely too, her head cocked just slightly to the side like she was worried. If Earlobes over there hadn’t heard Deku, then had he really not said anything? A sense of vertigo came over Katsuki and his vision swam. He squeezed his eyes shut, and the headache he hadn’t even realized was there disappeared in an instant. When he opened his eyes again, Deku was speaking again.
‘ -ally doesn’t look good,’ the nerd said. ‘ I wonder if I can convince him to see Recovery Girl…’
Katsuki blinked, then closed his eyes. The nerd fell silent. When he opened them again, he was talking.
‘ No, better not be me. Maybe he’ll listen to Kirishima-kun?’
Katsuki whipped around in his seat, eyes wide. Deku flinched at the sudden movement, jumping back minutely. “Seriously, you’re not saying anything?”
“No, Kacchan, I’m not,” Deku said gently, his eyes filling with worry. “I think you should go see Recovery Girl.”
Katsuki opened his mouth to snarl at the boy, but quickly closed it again. In all honesty, he really didn’t have any idea what was going on. Seeing Recovery Girl was probably his best option at the moment. “Fine. I’ll go see Recovery Girl.”
“You will?” Kirishima gaped.
“You will?” Deku said, looking awed.
“You will?” Jirou wrinkled her nose in confusion. Katsuki stood up and grabbed his bag, sneering at the three of them.
“Yes, I will, leave me the fuck alone about it. If I’m not back by the time the old bastard comes in to teach, tell him where I went.”
‘ Kacchan actually listened to me? Something must be seriously wrong,’ Deku said, but.
But his mouth didn’t move.
Katsuki stared at the boy for a moment, not quite sure if he’d just hallucinated that or not. Deku’s face began to turn pink and he surreptitiously glanced around him.
‘ Why is Kacchan looking at me like that? Is there someone around me? What’s happening?’
Again, his mouth didn’t move. Katsuki definitely wasn’t imagining this. “Oh-kaaaaay. Definitely going to Recovery Girl. Leave me the fuck alone about it.” Then he turned and stomped out of the room, ignoring Iida’s demands to know where he was going.