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Katsuki was eating breakfast in the dorm kitchen as he noticed the ring that lay upon his ring finger. A beautiful emerald ring with a silver backing. It was incredibly simplistic, but he wore it everywhere. The emerald was a deep velvet green, with lighter colors mixed in, sprinkled throughout like stars in the night sky. It had a silver backing that was simple but fit Katsuki well. He slipped off the ring, the emerald shining in the deep morning. He held it up in front of him, looking into the emerald. It reminded Katsuki of his eyes. How they sparkled and shined when they were younger, and how they’d stare so cautiously but somehow so caringly at Katsuki when they were older. He used to hate how he stared, but now he wishes he could see them again.
Katsuki turned the ring to look on the back, seeing his name edged into the back, text small on the ring band. “Izuku Midoriya,” it read. A name that left a bittersweet taste in his mouth. The one he tortured, the one he loved, and most of all, the one he killed. A bitter, sad expression washed over his face at that thought. Katsuki knew the date, July 15th. His friend's birthday. I should visit Auntie Inko later. He thought to himself before slipping the emerald ring back onto his left ring finger.
~ Later that day ~
It was after school, and Katsuki’s friends had convinced him to hang out. And since, of course, he was feeling particularly sappy on this day, he begrudgingly accepted. They were in the common room, talking with some random drama show mostly as background noise. Katsuki was mostly tuning out, thinking more about Izuku at that moment. He stared at the ring, playing with it, a more or less neutral look on his face. Mina was talking with Kirishima but noticed the surprisingly quiet Katsuki playing with the ring and decided to tease a bit to snap him out of it.
“Oooo, Bakubabe’s married~” Mina leaned up against Katsuki, who pushed her off the moment she did. Katsuki returned to the conversation, raising an annoyed eyebrow. “Fuck are you talking about, Raccoon Eyes?” Katsuki scoffed, though admittedly he wasn’t as annoyed as he usually would be due to the occasion.
“Your ring! It’s on the left ring finger; that’s where you put wedding rings.” Mina teased, going to reach for it, which Katsuki pulled away from, which Ashido just giggled at, leaning back. That’s when Denki spoke up, “Yeah, you wear that thing, like, all of the time! If you weren’t, like, 15, I would think you're married.” Kaminari teased.
“Wouldn’t usually take you for the jewelry type, Blasty.” Sero teased as well, leaning in just to get his face exploded, not enough to hurt that bad, just enough to get him to back off. “SHUT UP, SOY-SAUCE FACE.” Katsuki shouted, “It’s none of your fuckin’ business.” Katsuki scoffed, leaning back and crossing his arms.
Kirishima recognized something off, just the slightest, with his behavior. “Is it something sentimental?” He asked, pointing at the ring. Bakugo wanted to yell and deny, but he couldn’t help the squeezing feeling in his chest, blocking up his throat. He huffed and pressed his lips together tightly instead, looking down at the emerald.
“Awh, it is!~” Mina put her arms around his shoulders. “That’s so sweet! Didn’t take you for the sappy type, Bakubabe~” She cooed, shaking back and forth just a bit, to again get pushed off. Touchy idiots, Katsuki thought. Despite his annoyance, he couldn’t help but unfold his arms to look at the ring a little better, his chest squeezing with guilt and sadness at the sight. God, of course they had to ask today of all days; it’s making him all gooey and soppy.
“It’s a gift.” Katsuki couldn’t help his gentler tone, coming undone from all his sappy, gross emotions. “Oh? What makes it special?” Mina pushed, which Katsuki was hoping she wouldn’t. He couldn’t help the uncharacteristically sorrowful smile that was on his face. “An old friend…” Katsuki felt embarrassed by his tone, by his whole everything right now, to be honest, but he couldn’t help it.
“Oh?” Denki tilted his head, urging him to talk more. “... It’s of his ashes.” Bakugo admitted with a slight edge to his tone; he let out a loud huff to hold back emotions that threatened to spill further than they already had. “Oh… babe…” Mina rubbed his shoulder gently, he tensed but didn’t resist this time, just for a moment. “Fuck, forget I said that.” Katsuki jerked his shoulder away, feeling ashamed of his emotions.
“Hey dude, it’s alright. It’s manly to get your emotions out!” Kirishima flexed his muscles with a toothy, sharp smile. “You can always talk to us, man.” Kirishima said more softly, and even though Katsuki would never admit it in a million years, he felt better because of that. He bit back a smile, though he let out the slightest huff of a laugh.
“Tell us about him!” Kaminari pushed with a smile, leaning in with his knees tucked into himself. “Oh yeah, tell us! What was he like? What was his name?” Sero piped up. Katsuki looked back at that ring again. It shined just like he did, so beautiful and so hopeful. Katsuki scoffed. God, when’d he get so, so sappy? “Izuku... Izuku Midoriya. But I always called him Deku.” Katsuki let out a low hum, a slightly mournful but mostly neutral look on his face. “Deku? Wouldn’t that mean useless?” Mina pointed out gently, trying not to sound judgmental.
“Yeah, I was sort of a dickhead.” Katsuki pressed his lips together once more, his eyebrows unfurrowing just a bit, tearing his eyes from that ring and crossing his arms once again and glancing at the others. That comment got the others to laugh a bit, lightening the atmosphere. “And you aren’t now?” Sero teased, getting a laugh from the others, well, minus Katsuki.
“Do you want to die, extra?” Katsuki threatened, glaring at the black-haired boy. “Okay, but seriously, tell us more!” Sero recentered the conversation. “His hair was a deep green, and so were his eyes.” He looked at the ring before showing it off. “This emerald is nearly an exact match to his eyes. A deep, velvet green. Just as sparkly too. His hair was just the slightest bit lighter, but not by much…” Katsuki got distracted looking at the ring once again. God, he was still embarrassed to be so sappy. He felt sorta stupid.
Mina paused, hesitating to ask the question. “...Were you... in love with him?” Mina glanced up from the ring to him. Katsuki had a surprised look, almost confused, before furrowing his eyebrows and looking away. “Complicated. Don’t ask that again.” Katsuki crossed his arms, his voice laced with almost an anger to it. He didn’t really want to think about that, it probably would just hurt him more.
“Understood.” Mina nodded, not pushing the subject. “I’m sorry for your loss.” Mina’s voice sounded more hushed and comforting. Katsuki then stood up and said, “I need to visit his mom today.” Katsuki glanced at the time on his watch. 5:02, it read. Had time really flown by that quickly? Katsuki turned his head to look at them one last time. “...Thanks,” he mumbled begrudgingly before turning away and leaving to go get a leave till about 7-8 PM.
~ Later ~
Katsuki had bought two bouquets. One for his hag, and the other for Auntie Inko. Bakugo made his way to his mom’s house first, since it’s closer. He knocked on the door, which his mom opened to. “Katsuki?” She raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Brat, you could’ve told us you were coming beforehand.” His mom chuckled and shook her head. “Oh whatever, hag.” Katsuki stepped in and kicked his shoes off. “I got you flowers.” Katsuki made his way to the kitchen, placing the two bouquets down before grabbing one of the vases and filling it up.
“Well, thank you, but seriously, you need to visit more! It’s been too long.” She crossed her arms, scolding the boy caringly. “Yeah, yeah, hag. I know.” Katsuki rolled his eyes. “And stop calling me that, brat!” She put her hands on her hips. “Then you stop calling me brat, hag!” Katsuki bantered. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary for their family, and of course not serious arguments either. Those were rare. The last time there was an argument was after Izuku’s death, which also was the worst one they’d ever had.
Before they could continue bickering, Katsuki’s dad walked in. “Oh, Katsuki! How are you?” He hugged Katsuki, who begrudgingly returned it. “I’m fine.” Bakugo rolled his eyes, to which his mother chuckled. He glanced at the vase that Katsuki was putting the flowers into by now. “Right… It’s Izuku’s birthday, isn’t it? His voice turned gentler. “The other bouquet is for Inko, I’m guessing?” He asked.
Katsuki furrowed his eyebrows, picking the bouquet up. “Yeah, I wanna go check up on her.” Katsuki nodded as he said that. “That’s good. I’m sure she’d love to see you.” She nodded back. “Well then we won’t hold you up for too long. Go see her, then. And thanks for the flowers, brat.” She said lovingly.
“Yeah, see you, hag. And you too, Dad. Katsuki huffed, turning away with the flowers in hand. He put back on his shoes before making his way to Auntie Inko’s.
After a bit, Katsuki made it to her house, knocking on the door gently before waiting for her to answer. After a moment, she opened the door. She smiled; however, her eyes looked just the slightest bit red. Katsuki knew better than to comment on it. “Hi, Auntie.” He greeted. “Oh, Katsuki!” Inko opened her arms up for a hug, which Katsuki returned, despite having to bend down just a bit to do so. “I brought you flowers.” He handed her the flowers. “Oh, they're lovely. Thank you, dear.” Inko smiled, just a little sorrowfully.
The flowers were a bundle of a few different types of flowers. Some light pink carnations, white chrysanthemums, and finally white lisianthus with pink ends, Izuku’s favorite type of flower. Katsuki could see the way she teared up, especially at the sight of the lisianthus. “It’s his favorite…” She said, her voice hardly audible.
“I’ll get a vase; come in, dear; I want to know how you're doing.” He took off his shoes, and she led him in, sitting him down on their couch before putting the flowers in a vase and bringing out some tea. “So, how have you been?”