The Story Of Us (Todobaku)

Izuku's Birthday

~FIRST GRADE~

Katsuki held his Toshinori Yagi action figure in the air. "Can I bring this with me?"

His mom, Mitsuki, stopped packing his bag and looked up. When her eyes landed on the toy baseball player, she frowned. "No honey, I don't want you to risk losing it."

"But Mom," he pleaded.

"Katsuki, I said no."

Katsuki pouted and tilted his head down. "Okay." He placed the action figure back on the shelf against the far wall, the shelf where he kept his favorite baseball artifacts. Little Toshinori sat beside a limited edition Tornados hat Katsuki got at a game last year for being one of the first 500 to enter the stadium.

"Besides," Mitsuki continued, "I think Izuku's mom has plenty of activities for you all to do tonight. You won't even have time to play with it."

Katsuki fidgeted with his hands, sucking on the inside of his lip. "Are you sure Eijiro is going to be there?"

"I confirmed it with his mom earlier this afternoon." She smiled at him. "Denki will be there too. You don't have to worry."

He scowled to himself. "I'm not worried."

Mitsuki chuckled. "Come here and pick out what pajamas you want to wear."

"'Kay."

Raindrops drummed against the window at a steady rate. For a July afternoon, the weather was pretty lousy. Katsuki was originally set to attend Izuku Midoriya's birthday party at the community pool today, but it was canceled due to the storm.

Stupid Izuku, he thought when he heard the news. Can't even get the weather to be nice for his birthday.

So instead, Izuku's mom invited several boys from their first grade class to a sleepover at their house. Katsuki never had a group sleepover before, just a couple with Eijiro. And those were both at his house. He never slept at someone else's house before.

Izuku still wasn't his favorite person in the world. He still cried more than Katsuki would've liked. But they shared similar interests, mainly baseball and Rocket Power, so they at the very least were able to play together civilly. Also, like most of his classmates, Izuku had somewhat of an admiration for Katsuki and followed him around constantly. It got annoying at times, but Katsuki still had a bit of an ego and didn't mind the extra praise from time to time.

"Pick one," Mitsuki said. "Tiger or penguin."

Katsuki grimaced as he observed both sets of sleeping onesies. Truthfully, he preferred to sleep in his underwear. Clothes were too restrictive. He didn't understand why he needed to wear pajamas just because he'd be sleeping at someone else's house, but he wasn't about to throw a tantrum over it in front of his mom. Mitsuki Bakugou was the one person on this planet that Katsuki was the tiniest bit afraid of. Plus, at least she knew her son well enough to give him options he'd be willing to wear.

"Tiger."

Mitsuki nodded and set the onesie in the duffel bag. "Perfect. I think that's everything. Oh, did you want me to pack you a stuffed animal?"

Katsuki huffed. "No," he whined. "Only babies sleep with stuffed animals."

His mom beamed at him. "Silly me. I forgot you're not a baby anymore. You're Mommy's big, strong seven year old!"

"Yeah!" Katsuki flexed his biceps to prove it.

Mitsuki giggled and ruffled her son's hair before kissing his forehead. "Come on, you knucklehead. Help me pack up the car."