Himiko didn't really know when to drop the smile she was using as her classmates skipped ahead of her while walking past. Even when they were out of sight, she still kept the grin on her face while trying to keep her hair out of her face since it kept getting caught in her mouth.
She walked further and further until she ended up in a park. She didn't know how long she walked, but it did look like she walked a long way away from her house.
She really didn't want to go home to parents who only started to accept her when she was acting normal. One slip up with mentioning blood and she was immediately met with a long talk about acting like other girls her age.
She blew air out of her mouth, relaxing her face that was hurting from how much smiling and fake laughing she had to do during the day with the other girls in her class.
While she strolled through the park, she ended up bumping into someone with a very prestigious school uniform on. She didn't have time to realize where they were from until she tripped on her shoelaces and ended up on the ground.
"Hey, are you okay?" She heard as the stranger extended his hand down to her.
She looked up to see someone who looked almost exactly like her school crush...but different.
He didn't have that sharp jawline and stubborn look in his eyes. Instead this stranger had longer hair that was a nice green color like a jade or an emerald shade. The same color as the wide eyes that were staring back at her with concern. He had freckles decorating his face and a nice flush to his cheeks from the blood rushing under his skin.
She grasped his hand without thinking about it, standing back up with his help. "I'm just peachy. Thanks."
"Are you sure about that? Because from all the classes I have taken in body language, you look like something's wrong," The boy rambled on, looking worried. "I didn't hurt you anywhere, right? I have a mini first aid kit in my schoolbag in case you skinned your knee."
"Geez, you really don't drop the subject like other people I know," Toga replied. She dusted off her skirt and pulled it back to reveal that she didn't skin her knees at all from the fall.
"It's one of my defining features or flaws," The boy commented as he checked to make sure she wasn't injured in any way. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Depends on who you ask."
Toga raised an eyebrow, "And who are you?"
"My name is Kayama Izuku. And you are?"
"I'm Toga Himiko. Nice to meet ya," Toga stuck her hand out to shake his, reveling in the warmth of his hand. She found herself staring at one of his veins and focusing on a bandage wrapped around his finger. Did he get a paper cut or something? She wondered how dark his blood was. "What brings you around here since the uniform is from that big fancy shmancy school uptown?"
"Oh, I'm visiting my friend," Kayama smiled happily. "He goes to another school, so I made the trip here to see him."
Toga's eyes wandered to his face and before she knew it she was picturing his freckles speckled with blood. He looked almost like the boy she really liked back at her school, but more pretty instead of rugged. But with a bit of blood, he would look even cooler. "Hey, Kayama-Kun?"
Kayama looked up from where he was fiddling with his tie to make it looser around his neck. "Yes?"
"I think you would look really cool with blood on you," Toga commented, still daydreaming about blood replacing his freckled cheeks. And once she said it, her eyes widened.
'Crap,' Toga thought to herself as the words came rushing out of her mouth. 'Damn, now he's going to run away.'
Kayama stared back at her and blinked in surprise. "Thank you. That was a strange compliment but I will take it. No one has ever said that to me before."
"That's it?" Toga blinked out of surprise to see that the boy was still standing there. "You aren't going to say anything about me being weird? Or run off?"
"Why would it be weird? It kind of felt like a compliment," Kayama shrugged. "Like I just pictured one of those action stars that have a bit of blood on them and it makes them look tough."
"Exactly!" Toga threw up her arms. "No one takes it that way when I say it. I even try to say they looked cute with it on but they never understood."
Kayama tilted his head like a confused puppy, "Have you explained what you meant before?"
"Yes! But they think I'm just messing with them or just acting out on purpose. Or just think it's because of my quirk," Toga explained, gesturing wildly with her hands as she talked. Finally! She found someone who understood what she meant.
Kayama looked curious, "Well, what is it?"
"I have a blood quirk," Toga explained after a pause in the air. She slightly tensed, waiting for his new reaction to be one of disgust. "It lets me transform into anyone using their blood. "
"Really?!"
She diverted her attention away from him as she thought, 'And here comes the disgust...'
"That sounds so cool!" Kayama exclaimed with an excited grin.
'...what?'
"Yeah! I never met another person with a blood quirk before," Kayama replied with an easygoing smile. "I know Vlad King has one. But blood quirks are rare to find I think, at least in Japan. I heard there were a lot more blood type quirks in Europe.
"And you're okay with it?" Toga asks carefully ,fearin* that he would just revoke his statement as soon as she showed the hope in her face.
Kayama answered quickly while pulling out his phone, "Why wouldn't I? Blood quirks are so under the radar that I haven't learned that much about them yet."
His eyes widened as soon as he stared at the screen. "Oh! I have to go now if I actually want to surprise him," Kayama shoved his phone back in his pocket. "Have to run, bye Toga!"
She waved back as he ran out of the park to go and reunite with his friend.
"Wow, that Kayama guy looked a lot like my crush. But he seemed so much softer and nicer than him," she pouted as she talked out loud once he was fully out of sight. She crossed her arms and leaned back against the bark of the tree. "I bet he wouldn't make such a fuss about spilling blood."
God, she desperately wanted to know if Kayama would actually accept her since he showed genuine concern for her even when she put up the facade that everyone around her fell for.
Maybe if they run into each other again, it will be fate pushing her towards him.
*
Izuku couldn't wait until next year since that is when the UA entrance exam was. But he was still a third year in middle school, so he had a long way to go.
Izuku waited outside Aldera Middle School for Bakugo because he had a study hall for the last period. He decided to leave the school early with a mental note to do double work during cleaning time next week to make up for it. So now there he was waiting for his friend to finish up cleaning and come out.
While waiting, a few students noticed him since he was wearing a different school uniform than the rest of them that signified he was enrolled in one of the elite schools.
"Who do you think he is waiting on?"
"Does he have a girlfriend here or... a boyfriend?"
"He is kind of cute..."
"What is he doing? Isn't his school like miles from here?"
Izuku ignored them as he checked his phone with his schoolbag leaning off one of his shoulders. Hmm, Mount Lady apparently made her debut earlier today by popping into Kamui Woods' fight against a villain.
He waited until he heard the familiar stomping footsteps up ahead followed by a surprised grunt. He looked up to see Bakugo staring back at him with an unreadable expression that faded into a smirk.
"Zuku, what the hell are you doing here?!" Bakugo yelled out, stomping over to him. Izuku met him halfway while Bakugo's groupies walked ahead, looking behind them to see how different Bakugo was acting around this new kid that they haven't really seen before. The groupies walked off past the gate once they knew that Bakugo wasn't going to follow after them to hang out.
"I know you didn't forget about our planned weekend, bombshell!" Izuku replied, dragging Bakugo by the hand towards the gate. "I know Auntie must be cooking up something really good."
Bakugo shook off his hand once they passed the gate, "Hah, I'm the one mostly doing the cooking tonight, so you can slow down."
The two continued their walk, not really rushing to their destination while Izuku chatted about what happened at his school. Along the way, the two stopped by a vending machine for a drink with Izuku getting a vanilla cream soda and Bakugo getting a cherry flavor.
"So like you know how like Tenya, Shoto and Momo are like in the top five smartest kids in our class?" Izuku asked, already knowing that Bakugo would remember even though Bakugo never really used their actual names when referring to them.
"Yeah, you're like the fifth one in the class," Bakugo said, chugging down a can of soda.
"Right," Izuku nodded along as he waved his own soda in the air. He took two long sips before continuing, "Anyway, we had this test so we all decided to play a prank on the other students."
Bakugo raised an eyebrow as he swallowed the soda in his mouth, "Even stick in the mud?"
"Tenya was a bit hesitant until I said it would help with motivating our other peers to study harder. After that, he was okay with it," Izuku paused to take a drink. "So when the test came out, each one of us pretended we didn't know a single question. Like Shoto dragged a hand down his face for the dramatics. I took a glance around that room and everyone looked scared as hell."
"Heh." Bakugo took one long last sip of his soda until there was no more liquid left in it.
"Have you done something like that?" Izuku tilted his head forward to stare directly at Bakugo's face while he asked. "Since you are the top scorer in your classroom I imagine you would have fun seeing those extras' faces."
"Ha. No," Bakugo replied while he crushed his empty soda can into a metal disk. Izuku straightened up as they continued walking while Bakugo threw the disk like a frisbee into a trashcan. "But I did burn one dumbass' pants for trying to copy off my test answers."
Kayama laughed at his reply as they started to walk right under a tunnel that would lead back to Bakugo's house through the downtown Musutafu area.
And yet they were barely halfway through the tunnel when two eyes appeared out of the darkness above them with a chilling chuckle. "Mmhm, a good skin disguise."
"A good what now?!" Izuku shouted right before the large green figure dropped down onto the ground, dragging Kayama into its jelly-like body. His half full soda can clattered to the ground, leaking onto the cement as Bakugo stared in shock for a moment.
"Damn you! Let him go before I blow you into bits!" Bakugo shouted, firing off controlled blasts around the smelly goo, trying not to hit Izuku who was struggling in the middle.
Kayama reached forward with his hands to push through the squishy consistency. Using his telekinesis, he pushed away chunks so he could get his hand to the surface. While Bakugo defended himself against the villain who was reaching for him as well.
Bakugo reaches forward to grab Kayama's hand only for the villainous glob to reach at his face, grabbing at his mouth. Bakugo pulled Kayama with one hand as he aimed his other hand to create an explosion right into the villain's eyes. Kayama choked on the fresh air once his face broke free from the sludge as his friend wrenched him free.
With a shout, the villain let go of Kayama and Bakugo. Kayama fell into Bakugo before redirecting his attention to the villain in front of them with no hero in sight.
"You damn kids," the villain stated, crawling forward quickly. Kayama raised his hands and used his quirk to push the villain away from them into the far wall of the above ground tunnel. Izuku gritted his teeth while Bakugo rushed to the side to weaken the villain who was desperately trying to escape against his hold with explosions to his vulnerable eyes.
"DO NOT FEAR!" Kayama looked to the side to see a blast of white and yellow practically flying past him. Bakugo dove out of the way as All Might reeled his fist back to punch the villain into bits.
"FOR I AM HERE!" All Might shouted as the villain's bits lay scattered under the tunnel, the light coming in from both sides illuminating just how many pieces were scattered. Bakugo and Kayama watched as All Might quickly pulled out a 2-liter bottle from his pockets, emptied it out and pushed the villain into it to hold him captive inside the plastic.
"Hey All Might!" Kayama rushed forward while Bakugo was rising from the ground, his bookbag scattered on the ground a few feet away from where Kayama's school bag was lying open. "You came right on time."
All Might's eyes squinted for a moment before he recognized the green hair. It had been so long since he had seen Midnight's son. "Ah, young Kayama! I almost did not recognize you! What are you doing here? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine," Izuku reassured him with a smile. "I was just walking with my friend when this sewage guy attacked both of us. Oh, thank you for saving both of us!"
"That's good to hear. And hello to you young man," All Might greeted the blonde teenager who was still gathering both of their scattered school supplies and school bags from the dirty tunnel floor.
"Can I get your autograph?" Izuku stated, holding up Bakugo's notebook that escaped from his schoolbag in the attack. Kayama glanced over to see Bakugo watching in silent enjoyment as his favorite hero signed his notebook.
Izuku pushed the notebook back into Bakugo's hands who was undoubtedly silently freaking out on the inside from having the number one hero's autograph in his notebook but was hiding it behind his usual scowl. Bakugo sucked his teeth while he gently closed the notebook, "Tch."
"Are either of you hurt?" All Might asked quickly, looking over the two boys.
"Nah," Izuku coughed a bit from the scratchiness of his throat. "I might need a cough drop though when I get to Auntie's house."
"Well, if either of you feel strange, report to a doctor straight away," All Might said, making sure the villain bottle was secured inside his pocket. Kayama watched as the older man bent his knees a bit while keeping the same bright smile on his face. "Well then, I'll be off to give this villain to the authorities!"
"Bye All Might!" Kayama waved brightly as Bakugo gave a half hearted salute towards the retreating hero. He turned to his friend with a somber expression, "I hope any type of pudding or jello is not dessert. Because that guy tasted like rotten jello, if it could even be rotten."
"You don't have to worry about that," Katsuki stated as they continued to walk back to Bakugo's house. They were passing by a building on a corner street when Bakugo suddenly thought out loud, "Didn't you want an autograph too?"
Kayama shook his head, "Nah, I already got one from him a few years ago."
"..."
Kayama turned his head towards him in confusion as to why Bakugo went silent before Bakugo slowly turned his head towards him with a scowl.
"AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME?" Bakugo yelled.
"Wait what?!" Izuku replied as Bakugo started charging ahead of him. He rushed to catch up to his friend. "I thought I did? Did I not?... Kacchan!"
*
After they got back to Bakugo's house, Bakugo shouted out how Izuku was keeping secrets while Kayama returned his quip with how they both got attacked by a villain.
Kayama made both of Bakugo's parents whip their head to them and immediately rush to both of them to check on them. Mitsuki checked over Kayama while Masaru rushed to check Bakugo's temperature with the back of his hand. Masaru rushed to ask questions to his son who was scowling under the attention.
It took a lot of reassurance from Kayama that they were safe and that All Might had saved them to get both of them to back off from their worries.
They both settled in the living room before it was time to start making dinner. Katsuki stood up to start working on dinner with his mother while Masaru cleaned up with Izuku's help.
Dinner was hamburger steak, rice, boiled vegetables, udon noodles, and miso soup. Katsuki grinned victoriously as Kayama choked on the spice of the steak, seeking the comfort of white rice to quell the unexpected spice. Izuku kicked his foot under the table which sparked a foot fight while they ate dinner.
After dinner, Katsuki and Izuku settle into his bedroom to watch an American All Might movie with Japanese subtitles.