Chapter Text
"Tsk, it's my turn on the swings, you shitty bastard!" The young blond boy clicks his tongue as his half-brother looks at him, a smile too cynical for a 10 years old.
Katsuki hated when Neito came to spend the summer with them. One thing was having his older brother one day, one weekend, or even a week at his home. Now having that arrogant bastard for months? He hated it.
It was even worse now that the hag insisted they shared Katsuki's room, interspersing who would use the bed.
Monoma stops the swing with his feet on the sand of the playground, looking at his little brother.
They were too contrasting.
Where Katsuki was dirty with sand, cuts on the palms of his hands from exploring, spiked hair, and brash words, Neito was too polite, with smooth hair and clothes always impeccably in place.
The fact that their mother always made sure to tell Katsuki to learn from the other boy, and his brother always looked smug about it, made Katsuki purposefully make even more of a mess, out of spite.
"It's not your turn, Kats." He crossed his arms at the nickname he hated, and that he knew Neito knew he hated. "Izuku asked first." The older boy rolls his eyes. "You were being too loud, as always, so you didn't listen to him, again."
Katsuki turned back to Izuku, his small neighbor who lived down the road. Only a few months younger than him.
He was shy and nervous, but he always followed Katsuki on his adventures, telling the blond how amazing and smart he was, so they became fast friends.
Katsuki liked that the boy looked at him like he hung the moon. To Izuku, there was no big brother for him to compare Katsuki with. Katsuki was the strongest, the smartest, the bestest! It made his small chest puff with pride.
Katsuki liked Izuku too. He liked the dotted patterns Izuku had on his skin, full of freckles, so different from his, he also liked how soft the green curls looked, or that he felt something funny, but really good in his chest every time Izuku smiled at him.
They knew each other for years now, since birth almost. Their mothers had been friends when they were teenagers but had lost contact when his mom married Mr. Monoma, but when she married his dad and they moved back to Mitsuki's old town with the baby Katsuki, they found Inko pregnant with her own child.
Katsuki never saw Izuku's dad and neither auntie nor his mother mentioned him. Izuku never seemed too bothered with it and Katsuki's dad always did to him the same stuff he did to Katsuki, and the greenette seemed content about it enough, so that's what mattered.
And things were starting to get even better! After years, they had finally convinced auntie to let Izuku go to the same school Katsuki went to.
The grown-ups never said anything to them but Katsuki knew there was something to do with money.
But honestly, who cares? Auntie had finally agreed! He couldn't be happier!
So happy he even forgot Neito was coming today.
"Izuku, did you ask to go on the swings before me?"
"Oh, Kacchan! I-it's okay, you can go first..." Izuku was blushing and fumbling over his words, but again, he was always blushing and fumbling over his words as far as Katsuki was concerned.
"But did you ask first, Izuku?" Neito asked holding onto the chains of the swing, moving his upper body forward.
Izuku tore his gaze away from them and nodded, blushing.
Katsuki felt an irritation bloom, not at Izuku, but at the smug smile, he knew Neito had on his face, because he had been right. "Tsk, why didn't you say so, nerd? You can go!"
"N-no, Kacchan, you can go first!"
Neito interjected. "If he doesn't want to go, then I will go again and then it's Kats' turn. It's only fair."
Katsuki's head snaps back at his brother. "How in your twisted brain is that fair?"
Neito looks at him unfazed, before explaining really slowly, as if Katsuki was a particularly dumb kid. Katsuki always hated when he did this. "Because I'm the older brother. I'm in the double digits, so I need more time on the swings to have the same amount of fun. It's basic math, Kats." Neito continued. "I was going to have less fun so that your friend didn't need to wait that long, but since he doesn't want to go, it's still my turn."
Katsuki was about to shove Neito down in the sand, only for him to really grasp what Katsuki thought it was fair when the girl who had been watching them hung up from the call she had been in for the last couple of minutes.
Katsuki's parents and Inko had decided to have a night out, without the kids today, their own celebration for Izuku entering Katsuki school.
At first, it was going to be a joined family night out, but Izuku never did well in places with too many people he doesn't know, so a night for the adults it was!
They called the girl who usually watched Katsuki when Masaru and Mitsuki had both to go on a business trip.
Katsuki liked her, she was a little of an airhead, never realizing that he brought snacks, a flashlight, and All Might Comicbooks with him when it was bedtime. She also always had a pretty smile on her face.
Now as she approached the kids, the smile was nowhere in sight.
Neito frowned and Izuku walked back to the brothers, immediately moving a little behind Katsuki, who promptly took his best friend's hand. "Did something happen, Nemuri-san?"
The babysitter looked like she was about to cry. "T-there was an accident..."
"Oe, you two!" Mitsuki shouts at the bottom of the stair. "It's better you're up and ready to go, because I swear to god, if I have to go upstairs again I will-" Her cell phone rings. "Shit, fuck, I swear... Hello, Bakugou speaking?" Her tone was overly sweet and Izuku could see her mouthing curses as she gathered her things on the table. "Yes, yes, I'm on my way already, no, make sure they don't approve anything yet, we have to proof the- yes exactly, see you in a few." She hangs the phone and sighs.
"Tsk they are all a bunch of useless suckups." The greenette can't help but chuckle at the so-usual antics.
Whenever Mitsuki had a big project coming up, chaos ensued. She turns to her baby son. "Sweety, can you-"
Izuku waves his hand, stirring the egg on the pan, turning off the heat. "Yes ma, you can go, I'll make sure they're ready for school."
Mitsuki ruffles his hair with an adoring expression before pressing a loud kiss on his forehead. "Ma... that's embarrassing!" He cries out trying to wiggle out of the sloppy kiss.
"I don't care, you're my little angel and I'll give you all the love and kisses I can before you get as big as those two brats that shove my love away!"
"I don't think you ever went full out on us as you do on Izuku either way and it still got too embarrassing with the years." Neito says coming down the stairs already dressed up and ready for school, he kisses his mother's and Izuku's cheeks before taking his breakfast plate and sitting down at the kitchen island, a smirk plastered on his lips, as always. "I wonder how long until Izuku decides to run away..."
Mitsuki clicks her tongue. "Like you're trying to do, brat?" Monoma merely shrugs, smiling at her as he takes a bite of the egg on his plate.
Izuku merely shakes his head, unamused. It had taken six months after Midoriya Inko had passed away that night in the car crash before Bakugou Izuku's adoption process was complete. He had already been living with the Bakugou family at this point. Monoma had moved in with his mother and her family later that year and never left.
But now, eight years later he was planning to move back to Tokyo for college, without offering more than a cryptic smile every time Izuku asked him why, go figure.
"I swear, you two-" Mitsuki's phone begins ringing again. "Shit, make sure that the idiot troublemaker also goes to school today! If I get one more school call about him, we are all going to have a talk."
"Be careful, okay?" Izuku calls out as she leaves. Closing the door behind her, silencing her older son’s complaints.
"Hey, why would it be my fault he is an idiot that-" The door slams shut.
Izuku only shakes his head, smiling to himself. "They are too similar those two..."
Monoma scoffs. "Yeah, so self-absorbed it's uncanny." Izuku playfully glares at his brother who wears a knowing smile.
"This is your fault you know that, right?” He accuses Izuku, pointing the hashis at him. “You never tell on him, and I have to cover for you. Now we are all entangled in Katsuki's mess and we all have the talk." Neito complains.
Izuku wants to be mad at Neito, he wants to protest, but he clips his mouth shut and sulks because they both know Neito was right.
It didn't matter how many messes Katsuki put himself in at school or the neighborhood, how he felt about Izuku, or treated him, the greenette never tell on him, and never allowed Neito to do so.
They were family, after all. Friends, girlfriends, and boyfriends would come and go, but family was forever, that's what Izuku believed in.
As long as Katsuki didn't put his life at risk, his secrets were safe with his brothers! Izuku made sure of it.
Having finished all the plates, the greenette cleaned his hands on the apron, before taking it off. "I'm going to wake him."
But before Izuku could step out of the kitchen, a hand snatched his arm pulling him back hard and up to Neito's lap.
“Neito-nii!” He protested, trying to break free to no avail.
"Let him sleep Izuku..." He drowns his words out tiredly as if reasoning with the younger Bakugou was such a bore. "I will tell mom you tried to wake him but he said you to fuck off and that you finally listened. That will save us any trouble later, I bet."
It was frustrating how stronger Neito was than him, one hand tightly wrapped around him keeping him in place, while still focusing on eating breakfast with his free hand.
Still, Izuku put out a valiant, even if fruitless fight. Before promptly giving up crossing his arms. "Geez, you really are trying to throw him under the bus today, huh? Did something that I'm not aware of happen?"
Neito's answer was cryptic, as it was usual. "Beyond the usual? Nothing special, really."
So there is something Izuku doesn't know about, then. He opens his mouth ready to pry it, but Monoma is faster, popping a piece of sausage inside his mouth.
Izuku chews it, staring daggers at his brother who is all smiles. It was a little burned, but he was getting better at cooking, though.
"Tsk, fucking disgusting." The familiar voice calls from the threshold. Kacchan had woken up. He wore only a pair of sweatpants without a shirt and Izuku consciously kept his gaze zeroed on his brother's face.
It would be too weird to look somewhere else, right? It felt weird.
Katsuki on the other hand let his gaze roam, blatantly frowning at the sight of Izuku on top of Neito's tighs.
Katsuki hated any type of skinship from his brothers, but he had a particular disdain for seeing Neito and Izuku touching each other. He always did, ever since they had started living together.
This always created uncomfortable situations like this one, because Neito had the talent of realizing what rubbed Katsuki the wrong way and exploiting it to the point of exhaustion, and Izuku was a firm believer in the “show love through touches” school of thought.
That, combined with the fact that Neito also was a very warm and huggable individual was the recipe for disaster.
Still, Izuku never wanted to make Katsuki uncomfortable with it. So elbowed the older teen right beneath his ribs, taking this opportunity to escape the embrace.
"Kacchan! You have to get dressed, we're going to be late for school!" He walked to the stove again, already grabbing another plate for his brother. "I already made breakfast so-"
"I'm not eating your shitty burnt eggs, Deku." Ah, the hurtful words, there were they. Izuku does his best not to wince at them, but he knows he failed at the pitty in Neito's eyes and the hurt in Katsuki's.
Kacchan never apologized for any of it, even if often after saying something that would hurt the greenete, he often showed hurt reflecting on his own eyes, before burying it down, continuing the harsh treatment. "And I'm not fucking going to school today. I have stuff to do."
"Stuff to do" was never a good sign when coming out of Katsuki's mouth.
"What kind of stuff?" Izuku asked sincerely worried. Gods, the last time Katsuki said that he came home so beaten and their mother had grounded him for weeks.
"None of your damn business!" Katsuki snapped making Izuku quickly shut his mouth.
To think that they used to be best friends before, that they smiled and ran together down the street, that Kacchan would have never let anyone treat Izuku like this.
To think that Izuku used to l-
No. Don't go there. A small voice whispered in his ear. Izuku copied his brother, then, burying down the hurt and continued treating the blond the same, smiling through the pain. "C'mon Kacchan! Ma already told us to behave or she is going to call a family council!"
Both blonds' shuddered at the thought.
Where most families had the rule of "what is said in the council stays at the council" Mitsuki's rules were more of the "We're going to have a council and you better do what I say here, or else." Their mother was a devil when she wanted to be.
Still, Katsuki didn't budge. "I'm not going."
He insists "C'mon Kacchan! It's been such a long time since we all went to school together like brot-"
"Don't you fucking call me that." Izuku flinches at this. Such venom and coldness behind the words. If looks could kill, by the way Katsuki was looking at him now, the greenette would already be dead on the floor.
Surprisingly, it's Katsuki who takes a step back this time.
"Fuck." He scratches the back of his messy spiked hair. "Shit, Deku, I-"
"Don't worry about him Izuku." Neito says and for one second, the younger Bakugou had forgotten he was there. Neito was playing with his food before he looks straight into Katsuki ignoring the greenette, even if he sounds like he was talking to Izuku, it was more like he was talking through him. "If we leave him behind, we can go together, love. Just you and me." Katsuki glares at the older one and Neito smiles, taking the last bite of his eggs, not looking away. "How does that sound?" Izuku was lost.
Katsuki is silent for a few moments. The gears inside his head working to the maximum. Izuku can tell he is thinking very hard about... whatever Neito had just conveyed to him.
The blond finally clicks his tongue turning his back to them and marching upstairs.
"K-Kacchan?" Izuku asks tentatively.
"I'm going to fucking change. If you even try going without me I will kill you both fuckers."
Izuku watches Katsuki going upstairs, not tearing his gaze away until hearing the door slam shut.
He turns back to Neito, confused beyond himself, only to find the older boy chuckling and shaking his head, clearly amused. "Uhm... what just happened?"
Neito got up from his seat putting the dishes on the sink, before passing the greenette, and dropping one more kiss on top of his forehead, his smile was impish and Izukku had a bad feeling about it.
Those smiles on Neito-kun always meant an angry as hell Kacchan. "It's just as I said, Zuku. The usual. No need to worry your pretty head with it."
And just like that, Neito left, leaving a dumbfounded Izuku behind.
"Bakugou-kun!" Round Face called out and just as usual, it happened again.
"Hah?! What do you want?" He answered annoyed at the same time as Deku did. "Yes, Uraraka-chan?"
Izuku slapped his hand over his mouth immediately. Eyeing the blond apologetically.
Katsuki clicked his tongue but did not say anything else, putting on his headphones. Why the fuck was he looking at him like that? All sorry and shit. It had been him who Uraraka had called after all.
The girl looks a little embarrassed and makes a "sorry" gesture with her hands as she passes him, going straight for Izuku's seat and Katsuki rolls his eyes. God, she was so obvious with her crush that it was almost embarrassing.
Flushed cheeks and shining eyes as she stared at the pretty greenette, who was obliviously giving her that breathtaking smile he had, absolutely unaware of the destructive power he had over others.
How the fuck could that shitty nerd be so sharp to some things and so fucking clueless to others always let Katsuki stupefied.
But again, it was good he was like this, or else he might have realized a lot of things years ago.
Just like the bastard he had for an older brother did and used it to play Katsuki like a fiddle.
That morning, for example, Katsuki had played exactly into Neito's hands.
He remembers it too vividly, how Neito had just pulled Izuku against him, into his lap. How he had walked to school holding onto Izuku's waist like it was his to begin with, how he had tilted the greenette's head up for a goodbye kiss on his cheek, before going to his class.
Katsuki also remembers Neito looked straight at him while doing all of those things, almost daring the angry blond to say something, to do something about it.
God, Katsuki wanted to kill that shitty bastard. But if he did it, his mother would never let him near Izuku again.
He had to come up with another vengeance plan, then. It was his turn to make dinner today. He would make sure that Neito's plate was extra-fucking-spicy.
"Eh?" The familiar high-pitched sound called his attention out of whatever music he had been listening to. He risked a peek towards Izuku's table. The usual suspects around it: Round Face, Glasses, Froggy, and that little Half-n-Half bastard fucker.
Todoroki fucking Shouto.
Out of all the people who were close or had a crush on Izuku, that fucker pissed Katsuki off the most. Iida had never been a threat honestly, his eyes always were focused elsewhere. Froggy was clean too, fuck Katsuki wasn't even sure if the girl even knew what a crush was.
Uraraka was as obvious as she was harmless (for the time being, at least.) She was pretty and she was nice, but she was shy and Deku only saw her as a friend. Katsuki knew this for certain, he checked. Intercepting Izuku out of the bathroom and asking what he thought of her, point blank. Izuku looked very confused, before mumbling out "she is a good friend." Satisfied, Katsuki nodded and left. Izuku never asked him about it so they were fine. And nothing changed in Izuku's and Uraraka's relationship apparently, which was even better.
Now, Todoroki Shouto? Ah, that fucker was a whole different story. He was a fucking charmer. Even the scar on his face worked for that bastard, somehow. His temperament was nice, and he was a fucking nice guy overall, especially toward Izuku.
Bonding over having a shitty family background, I guess.
But what really made Katsuki's blood boil, was the fact that he was always close, too close to Izuku's face, too close to Izuku's hands, too close to Izuku's body. Always touchy and never, not even once being bothered of doing so.
In a way, it remembered him of how Neito touched Izuku, which was disgusting on its own for Katsuki.
But it also scared the shit out of him.
Because fucking Todoroki Shouto wasn't Izuku's brother.
Katsuki never asked the greenette if they were dating, like he had asked about others, too scared of the answer he might get.
They were all talking around Izuku's table and the boy was blushing and protesting, but Katsuki couldn't figure out what they were saying.
Discreetly, pretending to check something on his phone, he turned the music off.
"C'mon Bakugou-kun, it's going to be fun!" Asui said with a pleading tone, as Uraraka nodded in agreement.
"I don't know guys... are you sure it's not going to be too crowded?" Izuku sounded hesitant.
"It won't I promise!" Uraraka reassured. "We've been there before, we can rent a booth for us and ask for snacks! They even let us bring our own cake! I really want you to be there, pretty please~ It's my birthday!"
Oh yeah, right. He had seen Izuku working on a gift wrapping yesterday in the living room. He had bought her a plushie, the dork.
"Uh..." He still sounds unsure, until Todoroki interjects.
"If you feel like it's too much, Bakugou, I can take you back home, so you don't need to walk around alone."
Izuku doesn't answer for a few seconds and Katsuki can feel his own hands tightening up into fists.
Izuku sighs. "I'll have to call Ma first..." The girl cheers and the rest of the group is content, even Izuku, who manages to smile at them.
Katsuki feels the blood ringing in his ears, barely noticing Kirishima trying to get his attention until his friend snaps his finger in front of him. "Oe, bro, you alright?!"
Katsuki tongues the inside of his cheek, taking his gaze away from Izuku's table as Aizawa-sensei enters the classroom and everybody take their seats, speaking through gritted teeth. "I'm peachy."
During class, he finds himself looking at Izuku's direction more than usual.
So the shitty nerd was going out with his friends tonight, huh?
Well, look at that, isn't it fucking swell?