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“Deku, why don’t you wear dresses like the other girls in school?” A four year-old Katsuki asked, gesturing to Deku’s outfit made up of boy’s shorts, sneakers, and an All Might t-shirt. The two of them were sitting together in a park, as their mothers talked. Deku thought for a moment.
“I don’t like dresses, Kacchan.” Deku responded simply, playing with the pigtails neatly tied back from a mass of green curls. Katsuki snorted.
“A tomboy. You’re weird, Deku.” Deku pouted slightly, but quickly bounced back, as Deku was used to Kacchan’s insults. Kacchan didn’t really mean it, right? Deku’s hands fiddled with an All Might action figure. Katsuki sat up straight, and stared at Izuku.
“That’s another thing. Why don’t you have dolls? You’re the only girl I know that has an All Might figure.” Katsuki pointed out rather brashly. Deku’s answer this time, however, was almost immediate. Deku’s eyes seemed to light up.
“That’s because All Might is the coolest! He’s the number one hero! Who cares about dolls when there are All Might figures?” Deku stated, as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. Katsuki put on a confident smirk.
“All Might is number one, but soon I’m gonna take his place!” Katsuki boasted, full of confidence.
“We’ll both be heroes!” Deku exclaimed, giddy with happiness.
“I’ll be so famous that there won’t be any room for you, Deku.” Katsuki stated in a cool tone, walking away. Deku looked dejected for a moment, but quickly bounced back, hurrying after Katsuki.
“W-wait for me, Kacchan!”
-
Katsuki’s eyes lazily opened, glaring into the darkness of his bedroom. Deku doesn’t matter, so why am I thinking so much about her? Katsuki thought as he tossed and turned for what seemed like the millionth time that night. He glanced at his alarm clock, and 2:14 AM glared back at his tired gaze. Scratch that, he tossed and turned for the millionth time that morning. Katsuki sighed. It looks like he wouldn’t be getting much sleep.
Accepting his fate, Katsuki stumbled over to his desk, and powered up his computer, turning down the brightness for good measure. If he was caught on his computer at this hour, he would surely get an earful from his mother. That bitchy hag, Katsuki mentally scowled. He opened up a new search window, and began to type.
-
Yesterday had been the registration day for Izuku and Katsuki’s middle school. This happened about a month before the start of a new year. While his mother was registering him for his third year at his middle school, he overheard a woman speaking in a slightly frantic voice coming from the principal’s office.
“Please, principal. This would mean the world to my son.” Katsuki recognized that voice as Deku’s mother, Auntie Midoriya. He had spent quite a bit of time at the Midoriya household growing up so he immediately recognized her voice. However, he did not recall Deku having a brother.
“Mrs. Midoriya, your child is already registered here as a female student. To go back and change all of this information…” The principal trailed off. Katsuki raised an eyebrow. What was that supposed to mean?
“P-please. I-I don’t identify with that name anymore. Can it please be c-changed?” Katsuki’s eyes widened slightly. Katsuki would recognize that shitty stutter anywhere. Deku? Katsuki quietly approached the door frame and sneaked a glance. What he saw shocked him. The long, full curls that cascaded down to a little past her shoulders were gone. They were replaced with a style similar to his own. Her head was now surrounded by a mass of green and black curls that did not fall past her nape. She was also wearing a baggy t-shirt, a pair of boy’s jeans, and bright red high tops.
“I’ll see what we can do. I’m afraid that we are lacking experience in this department. We have never had a student in your circumstance attend our school.”
“All we ask is that my son can have his teachers address him as male, and that he can be granted a male uniform.” Inko stated calmly. The principal sighed, and placed a hand to his forehead. He then nodded slowly.
“I think that can be arranged. Please let me know of any other problems arise with this issue.” The principal conceded. Inko looked to Deku, and smiled.
“T-thank you so much!” Katsuki could practically hear the tears in Deku’s voice. Despite his confusion, Katsuki deadpanned. Fucking pathetic, crying over nothing.
Deku and his mother bowed to the principal, and took their leave from the room. Katsuki panicked, and quickly side-stepped out of the door frame and off to the side. He began to, as unnoticeable as possible, make his way back over to his own mother.
“Kacchan?” Katsuki flinched. Dammit. Katsuki turned around to face her, and finally got a full view of the new Deku.
“You look like a guy, shitty Deku.” Katsuki greeted with a slight snarl. However, the remark did not get the reaction he was expecting. Her eyes widened, and he Katsuki could have sworn he saw something akin to relief, or was it happiness..?
“Y-you too.” Deku panicked. What the fuck? Deku, realizing the random response, looked away as fast as a bullet, cheeks becoming red as a cherry. Katsuki sighed, and turned back around, continuing in the general direction of his mother. Classic Deku, always screwing shit up.
-
“Girls who want to be boys” was typed into the search bar, and many pages of results appeared. Katsuki clicked on the first result that read “Tomboy or Transboy? The Clear Difference to Avoid Misgendering”. Katsuki hadn’t heard of the term “transboy” before, and was immediately curious. The page was an entry written on a blog that, from what Katsuki could see, mainly pertained to gender and sexuality. Katsuki began to read the entry.
After reading through the first section of the entry, Katsuki was left to ponder lots of new information. Some of it was not new to him. A tomboy, as he already knew, was a girl that generally enjoys stereotypically masculine things. A transboy, according to the article, was someone born biologically female, but views himself as male. Katsuki took note of how the author kept referring to transboys by “he”. He wondered, did Deku want to be called “he”?
The entry went on to explain the difference between tomboys and transboys, It was made very clear that the two were different. The first point made was the fact that a tomboy will consider herself a girl, and will be able to say “I am a girl” if asked what gender they are. A transboy, on the other hand, will consider himself a boy, and will be able to say “I am a boy”. Katsuki thought back to when he saw the principal call Deku a female student, and how she looked… uncomfortable. Katsuki caught himself in these thoughts and snapped out of it.
This is stupid. I don’t give a shit about Deku, Katsuki mentally scolded himself. With this, he immediately closed the tab, and powered off his computer. He walked back over to his ben and collapsed, still exhausted from sleep deprivation. Katsuki finally fell asleep, stubbornly blocking out all thoughts of Deku.
-
A month had passed by, and it was finally time for the first day of Katsuki’s third year in middle school. Finally, one more year, Katsuki thought, then I’ll be at U.A. However, as Katsuku walked toward his school, he caught sight of the one person he did not want to see. Deku.
About a hundred feet ahead of Katsuki was Deku, but she was dressed in a male uniform. If it weren’t for her mop of a haircut, Katsuki would not have recognized her. She had both of her backpack straps in twin death grips, a notebook in one hand, making her knuckles white. She also had her head tilted downward, staring at her feet. Katsuki picked up his pace. “Deku!” Katsuki called out. Deku turned around curiously, and seemed to shrink upon seeing who it was.
“K-Kacchan.” Katsuki caught up to Deku, and stared him down.
“Why the hell are you dressed like a guy, Deku?” Katsuki asked with a slight bite. Deku visibly stiffened, and shyly looked up to meet Katsuki’s eyes.
“W-well, because I… um.. I’m a boy.” Deku’s face turned a rather impressive shade of red. The shy gaze previously fixed on Katsuki was now studying the sidewalk. Katsuki’s eyes narrowed.
“Is this some shitty game, Deku?” Katsuki demanded.
“No, Kacchan!” Deku exclaimed. Deku’s outburst didn’t surprise only Katsuki. Deku was quivering on fear. This pissed Katsuki off more.
“Then what is all of this?” Katsuki gestured all around Deku. Deku paused for a moment.
“K-Kacchan, my name is Izuku, and I’m a boy.” Deku blurted out. Katsuki recalled reading somewhere that transboys often chose new names for themselves. He then looked to the cover of Deku’s notebook. It was labeled with “Hero Analysis for the Future” along with a name written in kanji. Katsuki let out a mocking laugh.
“You kept the kanji for ‘Deku’ in your name? How lame. Once a Deku, always a Deku.” Deku looked back to Katsuki in shock.
“That’s what bothers you about this?” Deku hesitantly asks. Katsuki huffs.
“I couldn’t give less of a fuck if you’re a boy, or how you dress, or whatever shit. You’re still a shitty, quirkless Deku. Out of the way, loser.” With that, katsuki took his leave, shoving past a shellshocked Izuku. Well at least I know for sure, Katsuki thought. Katsuki’s eyes narrowed. Just because Katsuki would acknowledge her- no, him, Katsuki would make sure that he wouldn’t forget his place as a quirkless failure. As he walked away, he didn’t see the half grateful, half nervous look on Deku’s face.
-
The first day for Deku, as far as Katsuki could see, was pretty bad. Despite being put into a new class, a lot of the students passing him through the halls recognized Deku, and kept calling him by his birth name. It irritated Katsuki every time he had to see Deku try to correct them. That stupid stuttering and quiet voice. Dumbass Deku, he should at least be able to stand up to them. The weak loser. It pissed Katsuki off. Although, he wasn’t sure what pissed him off more; the fact that Deku was being pathetic, or that all the attention was on him.
Once class had started, the class was introduced to their new homeroom teacher. Their teacher was a blond man, dressed in sweater with a brown over coat. Just like every other start of a new school year, they went around the room and introduced themselves to the class. This was partly for the students to learn each other’s names, and partly for the teacher to match the names on the roster to faces. Katsuki stood up for his turn, when the teacher interrupted him.
“That won’t be necessary, Bakugou. I’ve been warned by the teachers from your previous year about you.” The teacher said with a smirk that somehow conveyed dread. Katsuki gave a smug look. His reputation precedes him. He was well known among teachers as a brilliant student who had a knack for starting trouble. The kind of student that is hard to punish. In short, every teacher’s worst nightmare.
The roll continued through the class. Katsuki barely listened. Why should learn their names? He’s going to achieve far greater things than them, anyway. It’s not worth his time. However, when the roll reached Deku, that got his attention. Deku nervously stood up, his legs shaking in that cowardly way that Katsuki hated.
“Good m-morning. My name is M-Midoriya Izuku. It’s n-nice to meet you!” Deku gave a sharp bow, and wrenched his eyes closed. As he slowly stood up straight from his bow, multiple snickers and laughs from people who knew him previously made him flinch. He kept his eyes on his desk and clenched his fists. Along with the laughing, he also heard various variations of "Are you serious?". Izuku felt tears starting to well up in his eyes, but forced them down. He knew full well what might happen today, but he had hoped for the best. Deku sat back down, and placed his head into folded arms.
“That’s enough, let’s continue.” The teacher interrupted, however, he made no move to defend Deku. Once the introductions were over will, both Katsuki and Deku prepared themselves for the rest of the day, but for different things. Boredom and judgement.
-
The last bell of the day brought relief to Katsuki, as the boredom would finally be relieved. He gave a long yawn, and packed up his bag. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Deku frantically putting his things away. Katsuki then saw several of his classmates standing by the door to the classroom and snickering, watching Deku. Once his things were out away, Deku quickly snatched up his bag, and quickly strode over the the door. He was interrupted, however, when two of the other boys from his class blocked the way, causing Deku to stop, and nervously look up at them.
“Midoriya, who the hell do you think you are?” The one of the left asked, mockingly. Before Deku could answer, the one on the right chimed in.
“You’re just a filthy dyke. That’s all you are. You’re disgusting.” That statement seemed to poison the air around them. Deku flinched, and his eyes glistened.
“Please let me go.” Deku said in a shaky and pleading voice.
“Why would we do that, you dirty bitch?” The boy on the left mocked, giving Deku’s shoulder a rough shove, causing Deku to stumble back a few steps. Katsuki slowly walked over to the door, and glared at the two blocking him. He pushed past them forcing them out of his path.
“Out of the way.” Katsuki hissed, exiting the classroom. Deku took this opportunity to slip past his tormentors, running through the hall, eager to get as far away as he could. The two boys glared at Katsuki, cursing him for interrupting them, then returned to the class to pack up their own things.
-
Deku spent the entire train ride hugging his bag to his chest, hiding his face into it. His shoulders were quivering, and it wasn’t hard to tell that he was crying. Katsuki could clearly see him from his seat across the train car from him. Katsuki looked away, refusing to look at Deku for the rest of the ride.
The two of them got off at the same stop, as they lived near each other. As soon as the doors opened, Deku dashed out, and ran. Presumably to the apartment complex where he and his mother lived. Katsuki gave one last neutral look toward Deku’s disappearing form, then set off toward his own home, not looking forward to his overbearing mother interrogating him about his first day.
-
About three weeks after the start of school, Katsuki was called up to the front of the class by the teacher. Confused, Katsuki complied with the request. The teacher then looked out to the class.
“Midoriya, Bakugou is going to take you to the nurse’s office. You don’t look well.” The teacher explained casually. Katsuki deadpanned. Seriously? The teacher was answered with a quiet “Okay.” Deku got up from his seat, keeping his eyes away from Katsuki’s face, and accepted the pass that the teacher had written for them. Katsuki heard quiet laughs from his friends, as they knew how much he didn’t like Deku. Katsuki threw a glare their way, and left the classroom.
Katsuki looked to Deku, and wa suddenly confused. Deku didn’t look sick. He didn’t look like he had a fever, and he wasn’t shivering aside from the trembling that came with being with Katsuki. Then Katsuki noticed it. Deku kept fidgeting and adjusting his shoulders with an uncomfortable look on his face. Katsuki scowled. Couldn’t he handle this himself? Why did he have to take care of Deku?
When they reached the nurse’s office, Deku opened the door, and greeted the nurse; a middle-aged woman with a kind smile. It seemed that she already knew what Deku needed, as she led Deku to an area with curtains out around one of the sick beds. She also gave him a paper bag labeled with his name, and a kind smile. Deku stood there as Deku went behind the curtain, and pulled it closed. Katsuki took to lead against the wall, and wait. The nurse thanked him for taking Deku here, and Katsuki gave a low acknowledgement.
After a few minutes, he heard Deku take a few deep breaths, and the rustle of clothing. When Deku emerged, he held in his hand what seemed to be a black half-tank top. But, under further observation Katsuki quickly deduced what it was. He recognized the way the front was much more stiff than the back thanks to independent internet research. Deku rolled up the fabric, and slipped it into his pocket. After Deku thanked the nurse, they two began their journey to return to class. Deku still refused to meet his eyes. Without, looking at Deku, Katsuki broke the awkward silence.
“You were wearing it for too long, weren’t you?” This startled Deku, and he gave that dumb scared look.
“Your binder, you wore it for too long.” Katsuki restated, annoyed.
“H-how do you-?”
“Please, Deku. I’m not an idiot. Are you calling me an idiot, Deku?” Katsuki sneered.
“N-no! Of course not, Kacchan!”
“Good.” Katsuki huffed. It became silent for a moment.
“You really are pathetic, Deku.” Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Deku hunch his shoulders, and overall appear smaller.
“You really are pathetic if you can’t take care of yourself.” This got Deku’s attention. He was fully expecting an entirely different conversation.
“You mean that… You don’t hate me because-?”
“Deku, I’m not that low.” The two stopped talking for the time being. Before they knew it, they had reached their classroom. Before Deku could enter, Katsuki blocked his path. Deku looked up at him hesitantly. Katsuki held up a hand, and created a few small sparks in front of Deku, causing him to flinch.
“If you bind for too long again, I’ll kill you. I don’t want to have to drag your sorry ass down to the nurse every day.” Katsuki threatened. He saw the look in Deku’s eyes change from scared to questioning. Katsuki turned around, and opened the door to the classroom. Without Katsuki watching, Deku let a small smile come to his face.