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Izuku, at four years old, has no best friend. He doesn't have any friends really, just kids who will play with him at times on the playground in the neighborhood. Izuku sees all of the kids playing with their own best friends and on one warm summer day, Izuku sets off. He decided that he will be looking for his own best friend, one who could be a superhero with him! One Izuku can keep for life. Izuku wanders from the park, to the forest beyond. The little forest that surrounds their part of Musutafu. The world becomes green and sun-mottled, thick moss layering over dark, wet bark while beetles buzz in the air. Izuku clumsily clambers over large logs and waddles over stones. He slips, scraping his palms and knees roughly. Izuku feels the tears well up and he can't stop them. Soon enough, Izuku is sitting on the forest floor, bawling his eyes out uncontrollably. Nobody will wanna be his friend now if he keeps crying, but he can't stop! "Hey! Why are you crying like that? It's so loud," a little voice complains.
Izuku sniffles loudly, rubbing his fists into his eyes, "I hur-hurt my han-hands! An-and knees!"
Someone presses a palm to Izuku's cheek, slapping him lightly. The palm is the same size as Izuku's and it's warm. Izuku's sobs die down as his tears dry up. He's calmed down enough that he can see who is with him. It's a boy, a child his own age. He's a pale blond and has light skin and bright red eyes. There's two parts of his fluffy, puffy blond spikes that are white-looking, with the ends dipped a scarlet shade matching his eyes. Izuku rubs his eyes again and it's much clearer that those are ears, and his human ears aren't there. Rather, the ears extend to where they would be to perch half on the side of his head but half on top of his head. They look like fox ears. There is a fluffy, puffy white tail sticking out of the boy's white and red yukata, also dipped in red at the end. It must be his Quirk! Nobody Izuku's age has gotten their Quirk yet! "Who are you," Izuku coughed as he tried to stand, legs wobbling.
"Katsuki. Who are you, crybaby," Katsuki huffed.
"Izuku. I'm sorry about crying, it just hurt a lot," Izuku whimpered, flinching at his palms and knees
"Hmmph, then just heal it, you blockhead," Katsuki grumped, his ears twitching, "Lemme show you!"
Katsuki gripped Izuku's hands and healed them. Izuki stared in amazement. "Your power is so strong," Izuku cheered, "You're the coolest, Kachuki!"
"Haaahhhh? Kachuki? It's Katsuki, ya hear me! Ka-tsu-ki," Katsuki yelled as he scribbled the kanji for his name into the dirt.
"I can't say the Ta category right, but my mama says I can learn in school! But look, here's my name," Izuku says as he also scribbles out his name with a shaky hand.
"Huh, you got Deku in your name? If you're gonna call me Kachuki or something stupid, Imma call you Deku," Katsuki stated with crossed arms.
"Then I'll call you Kacchan! Just until I can say Kachuki right," Izuku promised.
Katsuki grumbled, "Fine but I'll still call you Deku, Deku."
Izuku and Katsuki chased each other around (Izuku doesn't get how Katsuki doesn't slip in his geta sandals) the forest till it came time for Izuku to return home. He grabbed Katsuki's hand and squeezed it. "I'll come back tomorrow! And after! And everyday if I can! I promise," Izuku sniffled, eyes all watery.
"You better, Deku! You better," Katsuki hollered as Izuku raced home.
Izuku slammed open the apartment door and panted out, "Mama! Mama, I made a friend!"
Izuku, for all that he is a crybaby, follows through on his promise. Instead of going to the neighborhood playground, Izuku returns to the forest for Katsuki. Everyday, Katsuki waits, sitting on a log, resting against the base of a tree, or lazing on a tree limb high above. He wears the same yukata everyday, with red-orange curling flames painted on around the hem and sleeves and a orange-red obi tied around him. It's never dirty, even when the two boys go rolling in the dirt as they wrestle playfully on the forest floor. At times, in the glowing afternoon under the forest canopy, the two will nap on beds of leaves and grass, Izuku slumbering on Katsuki's tail while Katsuki curls against Izuku's side. Izuku only tells his mom the bare minimum about Katsuki, and tells nobody else anything. There is something special about those days he spends, something special about Katsuki that Izuku wants to keep close to his chest. He feels selfish and guilty, but ultimately, Izuku lets Katsuki stay his personal secret. He keeps his secret even all the way up to the time they are seven, still playing together happily everyday. "Oiii, Dekuuuu, d'ya got anybody else to play with," Katsuki drawls one afternoon as they lazily flop by the banks of a little river.
"No. You're my one and only best friend, Kacchan," Izuku laughs, sticking his hands into the chilly water.
"That makes me the best then. If I'm the only one, then I'm the best, right," Katsuki prods as he dips his tail into the water, flicking water onto the air.
Izuki nods, eagerly agreeing, "Yeah! You're the best of the best, Kacchan! The number one!"
Katsuki preens, the fur of his tail and ears fluffing up. It's a fascinating Quirk to Izuku. Katsuki has supernatural senses, and his ears and tail. He can heal and make fire. Izuku doesn't know what kinda Quirk it is but it's probably the best one ever, better than All Might's. "Oh, Kacchan, I've got this book," Izuku remembers, reaching into his old All Might backpack.
Katsuki sits up, taking the book with clawed fingers and curling up. Izuki rests his head on the white poofiness of Katsuki's tail, letting the sun warm his skin. Katsuki still doesn't know that Izuku is Quirkless, the only secret he keeps from Katsuki. Katsuki never talks about his undoubtedly powerful Quirk, and Izuku is beyond thankful for that. When Izuku has a bad day and heads straight to the forest, Katsuki can sense it and instead of roughhousing, Katsuki will curl around Izuku and breathe slowly with Izuku. He'll let his shimmering orange-gold flames twist into shapes around them, mesmerizing Izuku into a peaceful state. "Hey, Deku, I've got something," Katsuki mentions, reaching into the folds of his obi.
It's a bracelet made of white and red threads, with thin bits of pale gold woven into it. It's incredibly soft and pliable, and when it slips around Izuku's wrist, it fits perfectly. He doesn't want to ever take it off. "Ka-Kacchan," Izuku stammers, "I love it! I'll never take it off, ever!"
Katsuki nods, and Izuku resolves to make a bracelet for his best friend too. Even if Izuku can't have a Quirk, he can make at least do this. He returns the next day with bags under his eyes and a bracelet made out of the softest fabric he could find, coincidentally the same green as his eyes and hair. Ktsuki accepts it immediately, and as Izuku drifts into a nap, he hears Katsuki murmur, "Contract fullfilled."
He isn't sure what it means, but when he wakes up, Katsuki has two tails instead of one. They're both fluffy white perfection, so Izuku doesn't complain, even with the tip of this new tail golden instead of scarlet.
By the time Izuku hits middle school, Katsuki has three tails total, and he takes pride in all three of them. He has also gained the ability to shape shift into a sleek white fox with intense red eyes. He convinces Izuku to take Katsuki into class in his bag and Izuku spends the day in half-anxious throes and full on delight. Katsuki bites three different people and doesn't get caught, but he's also learned every swear word in the world by the time him and Izuku make their way back to the forest. Izuku hasn't removed the bracelet, and even when somebody tries to cut it off, the bracelet never frays or snaps. In fact, the scissors shatter around the woven fibers of the special bracelet. Katsuki never removes his bracelet either, despite the fact that ot doesn't match him at all. At some point, Izuku confesses, "I'm Quirkless."
Katsuki gives him a strange look and huffs, "You got plenty of quirks, dumb Deku. I've never met anyone besides your dumbass who carries bags of frozen strawberries in their pants pockets or wears loser ass shirts that say shit like 'hoodie' or 'pants' on them."
Izuku's eyes water and he wipes them roughly. "I don't have powers like you, Kacchan," he explains.
Katsuki shrugs and says, "Course not. There's only me here, and if ya got me, ya got powers."
He displays the bracelet Izuku made, still in perfect, clean condition like the rest of his loose yukata that Katsuki stopped bothering trying to keep neatly put together, displaying his neck a bit more and letting his legs move more easily around. It's still in perfect condition, but white with red flowers instead of flames, brown branches painting the hem. The yukata grew with Katsuki, changing size and shifting. Izuku sniffled, laughing and wincing at the way his voice cracked,"Of course. You're right as usual, Kacchan."
Katsuki pumped his fist into the air, shouting, "Fuck yeah, I'm always fucking right! I'm the number motherfucking one!"
Izuku cheered with him, laughing as easily as he had cried. "Now gimme your math. That shit is gonna be fucking pummeled when I'm through with it," Katsuki demanded as Izuku gathered his homework and handed it over.
That was it, then. Izuku didn't hold that secret any longer, letting it fly free off his chest where it had previously weighed him down like stones. Katsuki didn't care about him being Quirkless, he was still just Deku, and Deku carried baggies of frozen strawberries in his pants pockets, and wore tshirts with random words on them, and let Katsuki do his advanced pre-trig work even though Izuku liked math. And Deku was just Izuku to Kacchan who was just Katsuki to Izuku. Izuku doesn't think about how Katsuki didn't know what kind of Quirk he was talking about. He doesn't think about that till he's snug under his blankets at home, drifting asleep. It strikes him when he is on the edge of dreaming and wonders where Katsuki sleeps if he is in the forest after Izuku leaves. For the first time since meeting Katsuki, Izuku has to wonder exactly who Katsuki is. He wakes in the morning and has already forgotten, but it lurks in his subconsciousness as he gets ready for school, as he sits in his classes, as he runs to the forest. He has long since forgotten when he splays out in the patchy sunlight streaming through the canopy of their forest, doing his English while Katsuki languidly finishes a maths worksheet. But it lingers in his dreams, and appears when Katsuki slides down the limb of a tree too smoothly, when his lip curls in a too-foxish way, when his sharp eyes glitter slickly and his sharp teeth gleam. But Izuku forgets for now.
In Izuku's last year of middle school, Katsuki shows up at the gate. He's wearing the Aldera Middle School uniform, but a white and red marbled fox faced mask that nobody else seems to notice perches on the side of Katsuki's head. His ears and tails are gone, and so is his regular yukata. He looks like a normal boy, with non-Quirk modified attributes."Yo, Quirkless, who's this," a boy with green leaves for hair shouts as Izuku speed walks to Katsuki's side.
"Haaaah? Extra," Katsuki scoffs and turns on his heel when Izuku catches up to him.
"Don't ignore me," Leaf Boy demands as he snatches a chunk of the uniform.
Izuku flinches backwards at the sharp look in Katsuki's eyes. His lip curls, and Izuku can see his fangs have remained. His clawed fingernails have too. "Oh? You think you're worthy of my fucking attention, you pathetic, sad, bastard? Come back in a thousand years and maybe you'll be worth a fucking glance at best," Katsuki sneers, curling nails around the hand on his shoulder and puncturing skin just enough for tiny beads of blood to slide along Katsuki's claw-like nails.
Poor Leaf Boy's face has gone an odd red shade as Katsuki and Izuku wander off, leaving the idiot behind them who didn't seem to notice his injured hand. "Kacchan! Thanks," Izuku sighs heavily, "Sorry he bothered you."
Katsuki waves his hand boredly. "They're ticks, fleas, all that annoying shit. Not important but obnoxious," Katsuki insults, "They've got less worth than a Deku."
Izuku throws his head back and laughs. Katsuki goes to school with him more often, curled in his bag as a white fox or waiting at the gate in his uniform and mask tilted on the side of his head. Nobody seems to notice him, not since Leaf Boy. Izuku is the only one who really sees Katsuki when he shows up as a human in the probably stolen uniform. Katsuki enjoys being in school, taking whatever worksheets he pleases and leisurely doing them on the roof during lunch hour. They spend the year like that, and Izuku worries that Katsuki is doing more for him than he is for Katsuki. He buys orange or strawberry ramune for him, or those tiny Picamelon candies that one tiny corner store owned by an old man and his wife from Mexico sells for 150 yen a piece, the only store who carries them in all of Musutafu. Katsuki's prescence is like a security blanket on Izuku's shoulders, growing in its comforting weight the more they do for each other. He may not have a Quirk, but Izuku has Katsuki, which he considers even better. The one day Katsuki doesn't go with him, close to the end lf the year, Izuku is snatched up by a sludge mass of a villain. He chokes out, "Kacchan!"
Bursts of golden-orange fire bloom across the green of the villain's amorphous form and the villain screams horrendously. Izuku gasps as two hands wrap around his arms and yank roughly. Izuku tumbles over Katsuki, a bundle of white tails and green curls. "Deku, I can't leave you alone for a minute," Katsuki hollers, "I'm gonna light that bitch on fire!"
He doesn't get the chance to because All fucking Might swoops in, stuffing the villain in a bottle. Katsuki's eyes widen and in a puff of smoke, a white fox scampers down the road. "Are you all right, my boy," All Might asks and Izuku's legs tremble.
"A-A-ALL MIGHT," Izuku stammers, "Yes- yeah, I'm, um, I'm good. Great. Fine. Yes."
All Might, thankfully, doesn't react to Izuku's nervousness and picks up the bottle. "Well then, if you are fine, I should go and put this villain where he belongs," All Might announces.
Izuku thinks to how helpless he felt, trapped in the sludge of the villain, drowning on dry land. How Katsuki had to save him, just as he always does. How Izuku was useless, just like he always is. "Wait! Hold on, I have a question for you," Izuku yells as he grabs a hold of All Might's leg, probably the stupidest thing he has ever done.
Katsuki shifts into a human form once more way down the street. "Damn humans," he mutters, "Always making some kinda fucking trouble. Contractors are so fucking idiotic, I swear."
Katsuki ducks into an alley to exchange his human facade for his real self. He fluffs his brand new fourth tail smugly, even though he's the only one in the alleyway. He's earning his tails faster than any other Kitsune. He could probably have all 9 tails even before he turns 100. Katsuki was the best after all, and his family line was always exceptionally powerful. Two if the ends are red, two ends are gold. He wonders if it had been his mother who had red and his father who had gold, or maybe the reverse. Katsuki couldn't remember very well but he knows he takes after his mother the most. He'd been in their care for only three years before clan tradition dictated that he would have to survive on his own till he was a mature kitsune. Then and only then could Katsuki return. Katsuki didn't care much about returning. The clan tradition was fucking stupid. But Katsuki got a contractor out of it, earlier than anybody else. He shifts back into his disguise and starts walking. "Oooh, what's this? A strong vessel," something hisses and sludge pulls around Katsuki's body.
Gross. Katsuki splutters indignantly as sludge pries open his jaws and fills his nostrils. "Just stay still, skin suit," the voice shrieks in his stupid human-like ears.
Katsuki really doesn't want to transform in the middle of a crowd. Speaking of which, why the literal fuck has a crowd gathered around him? What is he, the fucking circus? Those stupid ass hero humans Izuku likes so much are doing fuck all to help him. Is Katsuki really gonna have to kill this motherfucker on his own? Pathetic. "KAAAACHHHAAAAN," his contractor wails and the bag Katsuki likes to laze around in nails an eye poking out of the greenish-black mass of rotten garbage smelling tar.
The bastard holding Katsuki releases his mouth and Katsuki thinks that if he were actually human, he'd be dead or some dumb bullcrap like that. Katsuki throws out an arm for Izuku to grab on to and tug. They fall to the ground. Just seconds after, a sharp gust of wind blows away at them, and Katsuki braces against the ground. A ginormous human looms over them, grinning. He looks creepy to Katsuki, who is by all accounts a legitimate yokai. He should be the creepy one. "You...you look like you needed saving," Izuku sniffles.
"Damn Deku, I don't need shit," Katsuki scoffed, wrapping his hand around Izuku's.
Izuku ends up spending the night in the forest, claiming to his mother that he would be with a friend that night. He wasn't lying, he just omitted the fact that he wouldn't be in a house. Katsuki didn't seem too shaken up by the incident, in fact, the whole debacle bored him. Izuku would watch a video the next night under the cover of darkness in his room, noting that the boy in the video was a non-descript kid with plain features. Izuku started consciously wondering just what Katsuki could be.
"I'm gonna do training to be in hero school," Izuku announces one morning as summer returns to Musutafu.
"Cool, I'll watch," Katsuki says, "I've always wondered how you people train."
Izuku nods. That's that. It'd been so easy to tell Katsuki what he was about to do, to talk about All Might's offer. Technically, Izuku wasn't meant to tell anybody but if Katsuki spends 99% of the time in the forest and the other 1% with Izuku so, really, it shouldn't be any problem. And Katsuki had fixed Izuku with one red eye while doing chemistry sheets Izuku printed out for him at the library and Izuku had caved immediately. "Do you do any training, Kacchan," Izuku asked, pushing his sweaty curls off his forehead, "Are you going to UA?"
Katsuki's lips curled in that snarl-like smile as he answered, "Of course I train, Deku. How the fuck else am I meant to do shit? And if your ass is gonna be in that school then I gotta fucken be there. Your such a fucken Deku that I can't fucking set you loose on those poor fucking humans."
Izuku later realized he never told Katsuki about where he would be training but Katsuki showed up without fail to Dagobah Beach. He'd see a head of blond hair peeking around the trash piles. It was like playing hide and seek, where Izuku would clean whatever trash heap Katsuki seemed to be hiding in. More often than not, Katsuki would just be simple wisps of illusion, a fake Katsuki that the real Katsuki would plant. Somehow, Yagi-san (Izuku is reeling over being allowed to call All Might by his real name) never seemed to notice the fake Katsukis, or the occasional real Katsuki dodging the trash piles as Izuku heaved away the trash. Under the blazing sun that beat down on Izuku's skin, burning and tanning legs, torso, and face, Izuku wondered. His mind wandered as the visages of his untanned and unburned friend blew away in curls of smoke that Yagi-san seemed oblivious to. He picked at the way Katsuki said things. On the last night, when Dagobah beach was cleaned and Katsuki had returned to the forest, Izuku asked Yagi-san, "Do you think there are things besides Quirks?"
"Could you explain, my boy," Yagi-san wondered.
"Like, maybe, um, there's more than Quirks? Uh, Quirks aren't the only powers out there," Iziku explained hesitantly, "Maybe there's other kinds of... um, powers?"
Yagi-san's eyes gained a far away look under the deep shadows made by his sagging brow. "There will always be higher powers, Young Midoriya," he stated solemnely, "Someone stronger."
Izuku nodded as Yagi-san's hand rested comfortingly on his shoulder. "But, my boy, I know that you will be able to handle it," Yagi-san smiled warmly, "You can go beyond Plus Ultra."
Izuku's face split in a grin. His best friend, a higher power he may be, was still his best friend. No matter what had happened, Katsuki had been by his side and Izuku would stay by his side stubbornly. Izuku marches right to the forest and loudly proclaims, "You're not human!"
There's a snort overhead. Katsuki stares down haughtily at Izuku from in between a cluster of tree limbs high above. "Wait, did you seriously fucking think I was a human mortal," Katsuki scoffs, "There's no fucking way."
Izuku scratches his cheek sheepishly. "Uh, yeah, I did," Izuku admits, "I just thought you were really weird, Kacchan."
Katsuki glides down the side of the trunk easily with a crooked brow. "You stupid ass nerd," he chastised with hidden fondness, "You deadass fucking contracted me and you didn't know. Fucking ridiculous, Deku, absolutely fucken mindblowingly idiotic."
"Wha- wait! Contracted," Izuku spluttered, "I never- when did we- what?!"
Katsuki hold up his and Izuku's wrists. "The fucking bracelet is a contract, ass. When you gave me the bracelet, you sealed the damn contract. That bracelet is fucking made from my own hair and fucking fur."
Izuku's eyes widened. "Oh," he exclaimed, "OH! Wow, holy crap, really?"
"Yeah, damn nerd! Do you not fucking wanna keep it," Katsuki scowled, tapping his barefoot impatiently.
"NO! Um, no, Kacchan, I wanna keep ypur contract! Forever," Izuku assured, "If you let me."
Katsuki smirked, "If ya think I go contracting any damn poor bastard, you're more of a Deku than I thought."
Izuku's eyes watered and he pounced on Katsuki, sending the two crashing down in a pile of leaves.
"DEKU, YOU FUCK-"
"KACCHAN IS SO FUCKING COOL!"
"STOP CRYING, DAMMIT!"
"AAAAHH, I CAN'T HELP IT!"
Midoriya Izuku was 15 years old when he made his first human friends. Maybe it was due to the fact that he was away from everyone except Katsuki and his mom who knew he was born Quirkless. He was the only one from Musutafu in Class 1-A, everyone else commuted from surrounding prefectures. Katsuki had walked Izuku to UA as a white fox, and he'd probably come and drag Izuku to their forest at the gate after school. "Oh, Midoriya, do you wanna work on homework after school with Iida and I," Uraraka asked as the three of them walked to lunch.
"Oh! Oh, um, I have to go somewhere afterschool! Let's do it during lunch, and then go over it togethee before school," Izuku replied, "Also, you can call me Deku."
Uraraka snorted, "Deku?"
"Midoriya, I feel like that's too offensive," Iida said, swinging his arm and nearly slammimg Izuku in the face.
"No, no! I promise it's not," Izuku laughed nervously, "My best friend! He came up with it. Kacchan started calling me that when we were four and it always just stick around. It's probably because I never stopped calling him Kacchan even when I learned to pronounce the Ta category. Anyways my name can be read that way, and we were only four when he came up with Deku. I've gotten so used to being called Deku that I barely get called Midoriya anymore! So please! Call me Deku!"
Iida and Uraraka blinked at Izuku when he finished his ramble. "Wow. Okay, then, Deku," Uararaka chirped, starting back on the way to lunch.
Izuku is completely correct when he thought that Katsuki would come for him at the end of the school day. Somehow he's managed to get his hands on a UA uniform, and like the reckless way he now wears his yukata, Katsuki makes the uniform a delinquent-ish look. His fox faced mask is tilted, resting on the side of his head. There's no indication Katsuki is a kitsune besides his teeth and nails, but those could be explained away by a Quirk. "You there! Excuse me," Iida shouts as he marches forward towards Katsuki, "Your uniform is in an improper state!"
Izuku panics and grabs ahold of Katsuki's sleeve. He races away, Katsuki sprinting easily at his side. "Was that damn Four Eyes talking to me," Katsuki huffs as they careen down familiar neighborhood streets, "I should mess with him."
"Kacchan," Izuku warns half-playfully, "He's just...um, a mortal?"
"It's in my nature, Deku," Katsuki defends, "I'm supposed to mess with people. Normal mortals are fucking easy to mess with. Their little fucking brains are moronic."
Izuku shakes his head, flinging sweat around. Izuku rattles off about his day, how different it all was compared to Aldera. Izuku does go with Uraraka and Iida, spends time without Katsuki. Katsuki doesn't mind, surprisingly. It leaves him time to experiment with his illusions, train his fire, keep honing his shape shifting. He wanders beyond the forest without Izuku and discovers red eyeliner pens somehow. He unfortunately doesn't discover money since Izuku would just buy shit and bring it to him but what is money to a supernatural kitsune? Nothing. He'll take chances to lurk and prowl the grounds of UA, outfoxing that mousey principal, shadowing that exahusted looking teacher, practically playing keep away with the blond teacher with the loud voice. Izuku doesn't summon him, not until he is caught in the USJ, and in a panicked moment, whispers desparately, "Kacchan."
It's a flurry of smoke and fire that Katsuki erupts from, tails pluming around him as the chaos of villains and ash and blood hide him. He easily pins Kurogiri, trailing his claws around the neck brace. "Now what the fuck are you," he snarls as sparks flicker along his fingers, "You are some kinda aboma-fucken-ation. I should kill your pathetic ass."
"How violent. Are you truly a hero," Kurogiri muses.
Katsuki rolls his eyes with a haughty scoff, "Never claimed to be."
"What's this, a surprise boss? NPCs don't enter the game like that, you can't be a max level player," Shigaraki mutters, scratching his neck and jaw furiously.
Katsuki's fire whips around in bursts, tracing along the slats of the neck brace. "Hah? What're you jabbering on about? Shut it or I set your misty bitch on fucken fire," Katsuki threatens, languidely relishing in the chaos.
In the end, Shigaraki and Kurogiri barely manage an escape, and Katsuki slips away, or appears to do so. Really, he's waiting for Izuku as a fox, sitting next to him on the bus. Nobody seems to notice the vulpine creature in the slightest. Izuku takes comfort in the five tailed fox that had rescued him and All Might, who lets his silent smugness float around without a word being said. "Y'know, I thought Kitsunes get more tails the longer the're alive," Izuku says when they are able to rest alone in the forest later.
"Some do. But if some get a contractor young enough, we can fucken get tails by aiding our contractors. By completing a contract, then saving their lives. Usually, it's only enough to get two tails a contractor, three if you're fucken lucky but you have the shittiest fucking luck ever. I'll have 9 tails by the end of the motherfucking year thanks to your chaotic bastard ass, Deku," Katsuki says, rolling his eyes.
"I don't choose this," Izuku jokingky complained, "You're just mean, Kacchan."
"Yeah, I'm a real villain, damn Deku," Katsuki huffed as he let Izuku run his fingers through his brand new tail.
Despite the villain attack, Izuku thinks it's a good day.
"I think he's hiding something," Shouto announces as Izuku skips off out of the classroom.
Tenya and Ochako give him a look. "Uh, what could Deku possibly be hiding," Ochako laughs, "Deku is the biggest open book ever."
"Midoriya isn't keeping secrets. If he is, that is his own personal business," Tenya states, his swinging hand narrowly missing connecting with Mineta's head, but clipping his shpulder instead.
"Huh? Midoriya's got a secret girlfriend? Damn it, it's always the quiet, innocent-acting ones," Mineta wails, storming out.
The three blink and start to head out. Izuku is by the gate, chatting easily with someone. Nobody can pick out any discerning facial features, but their uniform is in a horribly un-put together state. "You there! It's you again, with the disastrous uniform," Tenya shouts.
For a split second, the face of the person clears to show sharp, narrow red eyes with a burning edge. Then, the red eyes are muddied up and nothing more than a drab mash of colours. Izuku and the boy take off. "Midoriya is not a human," Shouto announces.
Ochako keels over as she giggles uncontrollably, "N-no- no way, Todoroki! Pfttthahahah, how could you think that?"
"Please don't accuse our friend of not being human," Tenya sighs, fixing his glasses.
"He must be a spirit," Shouto presses on, "We should investigate hauntings happening around here."
Somehow he gets Ochako and Tenya to play along. For the past 12 years, there have been numerous reports of some sort of spirit terrorizing the woods of Musutafu. Making people get lost with bobbing lights in the dark, drawing them into places where they weren't supposed to be with soft calls for help, chasing them out with horrific laughter. Shouto's face stayed blank, but his confidence in his theories permeated his air. "We should follow him," Shouto suggested.
He argued through Tenya's protests and Ochako's nervousness, and ended up tailing Izuku to the woods. That's when they lost him, and began searching, but nearly got lost themselves. So, through much wheedling and Shouto providing commentary that the spirit was most often active at night, they resolved to return at night if they did not see Izuku leave the forest.
He did not leave. Even when Ochako texted asking him to come to a cafe to help her, he replied that he was staying the night with a friend and wouldn't make it in time. So as the sun set, Ochako, Tenya, and Shouto wandered in. "Deku," Ochako called, "Deee-kuuuu!"
"Midoriya? Midoriya," Tenya hollered at full volume, "Midoriya?"
Shouto held up his flashlight, apparently something he carried in his bag at all times. "Spirit," he monotonously chanted, "Spirit. Spirit. Spirit."
A cold breeze brushed against their necks as a laugh suddenly rang out. The three stopped in their tracks. Shouto's flashlight flickered up, and a pale shape disappeared behind a tree trunk. "Who are you pathetic fucks," a voice jeered in Shouto's ear, and he whipped around to see nothing.
The feeling of claws pricked up Tenya's arms, and something soft brushed Ochako's cheek. "Now, what the fuck made you think you could come here? You wanna die," the same voice taunted meanly.
This time, Shouto's light landed on a masked face, red and white and gold shaping a fox mask. The figure slipped away into the dark. "You shitty little humans," the voice sneered, "Always such a fucking nuisance."
The same figure floated down, twisting away in the shadows. A flash of white fox rubbed against their ankles, sending Tenya jumping and Ochako squealing. Shouto simply reached down and grabbed ahold of the fox's scruff. In a plume of smoke, the fox grew to the masked figure and tore Shouto's hand off, swirling away. A pained cry rang out and the heroes in training raced forward. The nondescript boy in the messy uniform laid sobbing and crumpled on the floor. Tenya reached out to help, and a clawed hand reached out to grasp his wrist. The kitsune's mask stared Tenya dead in the eye. "Let's be done with this," the kitsune snarled.
"Kacchan," Izuku shouted, "Kacchan, what the fuck?"
The kitsune groaned, releasing Tenya's wrist, "Deku, shut up. They invaded my forest, what the fuck am I supposed to do? You wanna call a lion a villain for fucking killing a gazelle?"
Izuku popped the mask off, tutting, "Course not. But they're my human friends! Please?"
The kitsune sighed. Shouto turned the flashlight to the spirit, surprised to see an altogether human face, even if his eyes were to foxishly sharp for Shouto's comfort. "This is Katsuki, he's my best friend," Izuku introduced.
"The one who calls you Deku," Ochako coughed.
Izuku hummed, nodding, "Yep! Kacchan and I met here in this forest when we were four."
Katsuki turned a red-lined glare to the three. "Fuck with the forest and I fucking kill you," he snarled, darting up a tree and resting on a branch, tails curling in the air around him easily.
"Fascinating," Shouto droned, "I never knew spirits cussed so much."
Katsuki let out a slew of curses, most of them strawberry shortcake themed. Shouto blinked as the kitsune cursed at him, then pointed to Katsuki's messily worn but otherwise pristine yukata, "You show a lot of chest."
Shouto toppled to the ground under a mass of tails and pale blond fury, taking the chance to reach up and stroke a red-tipped white ear. Katsuki shrieked and leapt off of Shouto, although he did step roughly on Shouto's ribs with too much gusto. "Iida do you know how to fix yukatas? He might need help," Shouto said from his place in the ground.
"Keep your fucking hands off of me, shitty Glasses bastard," Katsuki snapped, disappearing into a shadow and coming out on a higher branch.
"Um, so, why are you guys out here," Izuku asked.
"Todoroki thought you were hiding something. Like the fact that you were a spirit, not that you had befriended a spirit," Ochako answered.
"No, I'm no spirit," Izuku assured, "Kacchan and I have a contract."
Izuku presented his white, red, and gold bracelet. "It's Kacchan's contract, and he has mine. He's my best friend forever," Izuku grinned.
Katsuki appeared over Izuku's shoulder, red eyes gleaming as his own fire twirled around him. The kitsune smiled, unnerving, unnatural, inhuman, "Get used to me fuckers. I'm gonna be around for a long fucking time."