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It was a normal Saturday at Heights Alliance when Kaminari decided to ask a question.
Most of the class was hanging around the common room, and everyone bundled with their own group of friends. The blond could see that the only ones missing are Midoriya and Shinsou, who both got a call from Aizawa telling them to take care of Eri, since him and Mic were busy tonight. Last he saw them they were on their way to the Yamazawa apartment, both dressed in Eraserhead hoodies and holding a big plush of a black cat with a gray ribbon tied to it’s neck.
And that was how he got curious.
“Guys, guys, I always wondered, how does Midoriya have enough money for hero merch?” the blond boy questioned his friends
‘‘I mean no offense, but we know how expensive his meal plan is, and Bakubro told us his mom doesn’t work.” he explained when he saw his friend’s curious expression.
“Probably from his father.” Kirishima answered simply, avoiding the explosive teen’s gaze, then focused back on the game he was playing
Sero looked at the two of them before shrugging.
‘‘I mean, that’s a pretty sound theory, no, amigos?’’ he asked, leaning back on the couch
It just so happened that at that exact moment Todoroki and Iida walked past them, overhearing their conversation.
‘‘I don’t think that’s it, I’ve meet his parents, and they don’t make enough to buy him the merch he has.’’ Todoroki’s voice was even, and no one could read his face and find out if he was joking or not
‘‘Hm, I must admit, I think so too. Perhaps he has an after school job?’’ the blue haired boy offered his opinion, looking around his classmates
“That’s actually possible, he told me once how he could get me a part time job at a cat cafe close to the school.” Uraraka exclaimed, waving a freshly painted hand around, the bright pink color catching the eyes of a few fellow classmates
“Did you accept the job? Cause I’ve been looking for a place to work after school .”asked Hagakure, thinking of the expensive material Midoriya suggested for her costume
It was an upgraded version of the one Mirio Togata used, Midoriya has told her, something about mixing her DNA with the suit so it could turn invisible alongside her.
Looking at her friend, Uraraka answered her.’’Actually he found me something at the animal shelter down the road, you can totally ask him about it when he gets back.”
The two girls nod and slime at each other, going back to what they were doing.
Momo looked at everyone and pondered. She was having tea with Aoyama and Kouda, commenting on the next blend they were going to make, when Kaminari decided to ask the question. She made sure to pay attention to everyone, without losing her focus on the conversion she was already a part of.
She faked a cough and smiled at her little group, a whispered ‘give me a minute’ leaving her lips.
Looking back at the others she offered her own opinion.
“I don’t think he has a job, or if he has one it must be something he can do from his dorm room.” she took a moment to check that her classmates were paying attention before she continued. “He’s always training after our classes end, then he’s hanging out with us or studies until dinner. I’m pretty sure he even took an extracurricular class on analysis, I remember Monoma complaining about that at our meeting with the other class representatives. He doesn’t have the time for a part time job.” she finally finished, pouring another cup of tea for both herself and Aoyama, Kouda chosing to get up and get himself a hot chocolate
There was a moment of silence.
“Or maybe All Might buys it for him, we all know Midoriya is his favorite.”
That was Ojiro’s voice, muffled from underneath Hagakure and Kamiari, whom both decided to sit on his back and play with his tail.
And once they heard him the class groaned in unison, followed by Todoroki’s gasp and whisper of ‘I knew it’.
Bakugo couldn’t help but hide a smirk at his classmate’s ideas, knowing damn well how the nerd earned his money. It was a tale old as time, or at least as old as them.
The first time it happened they were barely a few months old. Izuku and his mother, Inko, were spending the afternoon at the Bakugou’s house at Mitsuki’s request.
The two mothers were talking and drinking tea, leaving their kids laying beside each other on a blanket, when suddenly they heard Izuku crying and ran to their kids to see what’s wrong.
They found Katsuki munching on Izuku’s pacifier, a hand tightly holding his little puff of green hair.
Mitsuki pried his son off the boy and apologized to her best friend, while Inko was holding a still crying Izuku trying to calm him down.
The blonde woman looked at the scene and remembered something she had witnessed some time ago, and suddenly got an idea. She ran to her husband’s study, her baby still held tight in her arms, and took the figurine still in the box off her husband’s shelf.
The toy was depicting a hero who had recently retired, Grand Torino, and was a gift from Inko’s husband to her own.
She remembered how the other day Hisashi was showing little Izuku another hero figurine he designed via video call, since he just arrived in America. It seemed to have calmed the little gremlin from the tantrum he was trowing because his pacifier fell to the floor. And that’s how she got the idea.
Luckily the toy did it’s job, and the two friends sighted in relief. When Masaru came home that night and inquired about his missing gift the girls denied it ever existed. Voice as guiltless as they could muster.
The man thought he was going inane until he saw his friend’s son holding the unpacked figurine in his little hands.
‘‘So that’s where it was, I wonder how he got a hold of it.’’ Masați smiled and ruffled the boy’s hair
It’s not like it mattered, the look on the kid’s face when holding the toy like the most precious item in the world made him more happy than the figurine of his favorite hero ever could.
That incident started Izuku’s habit of guilt tripping people into giving him money for hero merch.
Both families remember the week after little Izuku’s quirk assessment, when Katsuki started calling him Deku.
Inko had called to tell her they had to talk about something and Masaru, who was beside his wife and has heard the conversation, quickly searched his memory for the latest hero merch the green haired boy had mentioned in his presence.
It didn’t take long for the Midoriya’s to arrive at their house.
‘‘Auntieeee Mitsuki!’’
……they first heard the small boy before they saw him.
The little guy’s face was full of tears as he hugged his friend’s parents.
‘‘What happened little guy?’’ asked Masaru, lifting Izuku up
“Kacchan called me useless! He’s mean and pushed me when I asked him to play! And he hurt a kid in the park the other day and got mad when I told him to stop!’’
Suddenly everyone remembered how much the kid could talk before running out of breath. That day Izuku spent an hour and a half complaining about Katsuki, and didn’t stop until Masaru got up and promised to give him a figurine.
They learned to keep a stash of them hidden in his Masaru’s study, so that’s where he was going.
The problem was that the emergency stash was empty, he realized after he reached his destination.
He went and told his wife the bad news.
Mitsuki, strong and sturdy as she was, had the courage to try and calm down the green menace.
‘‘Ok Izuku, sweetie, seems like there isn’t any figurine left so how about we just ask Katsuki here to apologize, what do you say?’’ tried Mitsuki, ruffling the child’s hair
‘‘No! I don’t want! He doesn’t have a quirk so he’s a Deku now!’’ her son yelled from behind her leg, an angry scowl on his face
They were going to have a chat with the small firecracker after this was all done.
The green haired boy looked at her. Then at is mother who was talking on the phone with Hisashi, telling him what’s going on, and started to cry.
‘‘No! Kacchan is mean! He hurt me! He’s not my friend anymore!’’ his voice was scratchy from crying for so long, but he kept his resolve
In his little head, Izuku remembered all the times Katsuki accidentally hurt him and how the Bakugou’s would give him toys and other hero merch to make him feel better. From the moment Kacchan first called him a Deku he’s been thinking about what he would receive in compensation.
Seeing Kacchan’s parents fretting around without giving him what he wanted, Izuku stepped up his game. He grabbed his mother’s skirt to gain her attention.
‘‘Let’s go home mommy, I don wanna talk to Kacchan and aunty and uncle.’’ he sad in his cute and sad voice, giving the adults his best puppy eyes
Some seconds passed before Mitsuki cracked, catching the boy and holding him in her arms. She searched her pockets and got out four 10,000 yen bills, handing them to the young boy.
Izuku looked at the money and pushed them in his small pocket, then wiggled in his pseudo aunt’s arms until he was let down.
Once on the ground the boy ran to Katsuki and kissed his cheek.
“It’s ok Kacchan, I forgive you!” he smiled, suddenly back to his bubbly self
The adults looked at him with bewilderment in their eyes.
‘‘Well…that kid’s going places, quirk or no quirk.’’ laughed Mitsuki, making her husband face palm
Not like they couldn’t see that, Izuku took on learning his mother’s manipulative personality from when she was a lawyer.
Inko slapped her own forehead, giving her friend a dirty look.
“See, you’re spoiling him too much!’’
Katsuki simply stormed to his room, just 6 years old and already done with this family.
From then on whenever Katsuki was crossing the line his parents either bought Izuku merch, or hey gave him money.
It got to a point where they realized Katsuki had a problem, always bullying or hurting Izuku. So they decided to cut the expenses from Katsuki’s allowance.
The problem was that instead of changing his ways, their son choose to distance himself from the green haired boy.
He refused to hear reason, thinking that his friend will be back in no time. After all, how many friends could a quirkless boy have? He was just as lonely as Katsuki.
The two boys were attached at the hip since they were infants, but Izuku was already used to Katsuki hurting him, so he didn’t quite feel the difference, unlike Katsuki.
The blond seemed to understand his friend won’t come back without an apology, but he couldn’t get himself to give him one.
And so time passed, with Izuku burying himself in books and learning different things, now with less wounds and more free time then ever, while Katsuki locked himself in his home, wallowing in self pity.
“Inko, I don’t know what to do, Katsuki locked himself in his room the past month, he only ever gets out to go to school and eat.” Mitsuki said one day, while having tea with her friend
Many people were surprised the two women could still be friends, after witnessing how their kids treat each other, but they weren’t going to throw away so many years spent together just because their kids can’t get along.
“Come on, Mitsuki, you know how easy it is to buy Izuku’s friendship. Well, at least when it’s you.” Inko smiled
She remembered a day not long ago, when she saw one of Izuku’s classmates trying to bribe him into doing their homework. It did not work.
Looking back at the blonde woman she could see the wheels turning in her head, and she knew things would work out soon.
Mitsuki gave Izuku 200,000 yen the next day, “payment for putting up with my son” she said.
The boys started to hang out again the very same day. Katski still had a frown on his face, but everyone could see he was happy to play with his friend again.
That went on until the boys started middle school. Whenever Katsuki crossed the line Izuku would be 200,000 yen richer, and that happened at least once every two months.
The Bakugou’s tried to put Katsuki in therapy for his behavior, but he never seemed to learn. He was content on how things were.
Then the boys started middle school, and Katsuki became meaner and more violent, to the point Inko wanted to keep them apart. But then Izuku simply told her he could handle it, and went to collect his payment from his aunt.
The green haired boy stopped thinking of Katsuki as a friend long ago. But even though he didn’t mind being lonely, the money he could make simply by being the boy’s friend helped him a lot.
His father could only send him merch of American heroes, or the rare European one, when he got a special request.
So the “put up with my child” money made sure he could get his hands on the Japanese one’s.
One day Katsuki had enough of the green haired boy following him around, so he confronted him.
“Why can’t you stop following me?!” he yelled, towering over the smaller one
“Kacchan, aunty literally pays me to hang around you, ain’t no way I’m giving up on my merch money!” the greenette answered, smiling at his friend
“The hell are you? Friend for hire? Just get lost!”
“I did that once, remember? You were miserable, and your mother had to bribe me into forgiving you.”
Katsuki knew he was right, but still refused to admit it. But he did get an idea.
The blond took of his bag and search for his wallet.
“Here, take ‘em and leave me alone when we’re in school.” he said, handing Izuku a 10,000 bill
The boy looked at the money and started to think.
“For how long?” he finally asked, and Katsuki gave a relived sigh
“A month.” he said
“Ha, I’m not that cheap, one week.” Izuku countered
“Two weeks and that’s final.”
They had a deal. And time passed again .
Bakugou remembers that day in middle school when he told the green haired boy to take a swan dive, both him and his mother had to bribe him with merch and cash to stop him and his family from pressing charges.
Aunty Inko’s satisfied grin, after Mitsuki purchased a limited edition action figurine of All Might that she herself couldn’t buy Izuku, will haunt him forever.
Back at the topic at hand, he simply choose to tune out his classmates, a smile still on his face.
If he said anything they’d think Izuku was his friend only for money. Katsuki thought it was fair, after all he treated that boy like trash and he was still beside him. He’s more then happy with how things are.
Now that he’s thinking about it, it was almost time to give Izuku his “leave me alone” money.