"A quirkless nobody!" The child sneered at your friend, Izuku, pointing their cynical attention towards him. What did they do to you?
Nothing.
They had overheard parents talking about how the chance of you having a quirk was still there, but there wasn't any development.
Meaning? No reason to snide at you...as of yet.
"B-back away from him!" Going to hit the green-haired boy they accidentally hit you instead, if the major anxiety you felt when trying to stand up to them wasn't enough, then the punch you got to the face was enough to trigger the tears streaming down your cheeks.
The looks of shock appeared on not only the two boys that were making fun of Izuku, but Izuku himself who you protected.
"H-how could you do that!" Despite not being the one hit, tears brimmed in his eyes, "S-she didn't do anything!" You tried your best to hold in the tears and the harsh sniffling that was held into the best of your ability was heard.
Izuku grabbed your hand and positioned his body in front of you. "Don't touch her ever again!" Though the last words of his command ended in a high pitched squeak - higher than what his voice already was - when he was glared at.
"It wasn't even meant for her. Chill out" after saying this they decided to leave the two alone.
"Y/n, I'm so sorry!" Izuku finally released all his tears, balling his eyes out. "I didn't mean for you to get hurt!" His heart ached without him knowing, all he knew was that it made him sad seeing you cry like this, which could be said exactly the same for you.
"It's fine. They are so dumb! You're so nice, they didn't need to hit you!" Releasing his grip on your hands you wiped your tears, while he wiped his, so he could immediately hold you in his arms.
The two of you felt a comfort, a sense of maybe not security, but a relief that there was someone else to hang onto when hurting like this.
Age 14-15 third year, middle school
During the third year of middle school, you had moved to another school per request of someone who came to requit you. The school was called Kunigaoka high and the reason was kept private. The subject of the matter was a teacher there, but that was beside the point.
You were finally going to visit Izuku again after a good week or so. You often tried your best to visit him, but the distance, plus the homework and other events that took place during the different school break's made it difficult to do so.
Walking down a familiar path, you noticed Izuku on the path, in an attempt to surprise him you followed be hind, unfortunately you weren't able to do so as you lost him in a crowd of people watching what seemed to be a villain attack.
A green liquid being was grasping onto a body emitting explosions in the process. There was fire all around and there wasn't even a single hero doing anything to stop it.
Understandable that they committed to damage control as it looked like their quirk wasn't very effective against the muck monster, but at the same time it didn't look like they tried.
What are they afraid of? Dying? That comes with the job right? They should've been prepared from the start.
Izuku had disappeared further front, and on the way to approaching him, you noticed his hands covering his mouth, as well as his rigid posture stood up straight with shoulders up.
"What's he looking at-" it was only a moment, but that moment was enough to see the struggle in the eyes of someone that hadn't treated the both of you very well in the last few years of life - though once again, Izuku got the short end of the stick to that treatment.
"Oh no...Katsuki? OH NO, IZUKU?!"
Within the split second of debating whether or not your eyes had tricked you, the sudden movement of lush green hair moved through the crowd, and from that, you could tell there no was no doubt it was who you thought it was.
Bakugo Katsuki.
"Nope, Izuku, come back!" The shock left and you realised he had already gotten past the heroes, if your legs hadn't been moving before, they sure we're now.
And you couldn't stop.
'I'm gonna regret, I'm gonna regret, oh legs please stop running' skillfully you manoeuvred your way around people, though that effort was for nothing as a member in the crowd alerted your approach to a hero, and he stopped your movement before you could follow.
"No, wait!" In a swift movement you were over his shoulder as you had tried to swerve around him with no sign of stopping, "come back here!"
On the sidelines you watched the scenario play before you:
Izuku yeeting his bag into the sludge quirk user and scrapping at it, you couldn't see anything else apart from Katsuki taking a breath of air and maybe yelling something and in your opinion, within those few seconds,
"Does he have a death wish? He'll die for nothing!!" Yelled one of the three heroes on the sight as they headed towards his direction.
In your eyes, though, Izuku had done more than the others.
"He's bought him time to breathe! Hurry and get help!"
"We'll get your friend and leave! Our quirks aren't suitable for the-"
"EXCUSES!" You yelled cootting your eyes in frustration. suddenly the abrupt stop of the hero that was holding you caused you to open your eyes, dreading the worst-case scenario you looked to the scene of the crime in progress.
"It's All Might!" The chatter of the crowd raised a bit with his name in each and every one of their discussions.
"A pro should always be ready to risk his life!!"
Detroit Smash!
A great wind blew whirling around pushing a force against you currently on the hero's shoulder as well as him who was carrying you and everyone else within a few metres of the event.
Sudden droplets of rain came dropping from the sky and the crowd went quiet.
"He changed the weather with a single punch"
"Amazing. That's...All Might!!"
Afterwards, the heroes collected the villain's scattered body. the police managed to to get him into custody, however, the heroes were really mad at Izuku.
"There was absolutely no need for you to put yourself in danger!!"
Confrontation to authority wasn't the something you were good at, but definitely, something you improved upon in your years of socialising "H-he bou..bought him time to-" the hero turning towards you interrupted you,
"And what were you thinking?! Why did you think it would be okay to follow him in there"
"Y/n?! Why would you do that?!"
"Why would you do that?!" Pointing back at the broccoli boy, your face contorted to a look of 'are you kidding me?!' When asked the question.
The two of couldn't look the heroes in the eyes, as he scolded the two of you, Izuku on his knees, while you glanced towards the victim of this event.
"You were real tough out there! And that quirk!" Katsuki, on the other hand, got all the praise, "consider being my sidekick once you go pro!"
'As if he'd do something like that' you thought cringing at how embarrassingly enthusiastic the hero looked trying to talk to Bakugo who was clearly trying to ignore him.
_______
The walk with Izuku was silent and somewhat depressing as he strapped on his backpack looking to the floor, "I wanted to surprise you, but that didn't go as planned" you muttered kicking a stray piece of rubbish on the ground just to pick it up to go and find a bin to throw it into.
"...it's fine. I missed you" he gave a gentle gaze, momentarily projecting a small smile not very energetic in your direction as the distance between you and him increased as you went back down the path the two of you came up to find the bin the two of you passed.
"HEY DEKU" A figure appeared not so far in front of you and approached the intended recipient of his words, still keeping his distance, of course, "I NEVER ASKED YOU TO SAVE ME!"
'...n-nani?' You froze in place in complete unbelief at what you were hearing.
"AS IF YOU COULD!! HUH?! WELL?!" your eye twitched in anger as you watched him yell, "I COULD'VE BEATEN HIM MYSELF."
"HOW DARE A QUIRKLESS FAILURE LIKE YOU PITY ME. TRYING TO WIN ME OVER?! DON'T YOU DARE MOCK ME!!" as soon as he finished his angry speech he ended with an insult, "STUPID NERD!!"
"Huh...?!" A blank look was on your face, you had to take a moment to understand that someone could really be this infuriating and the fact that you indeed were angry for a reason, "HUH?! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE!" Clutching the piece of rubbish - which just so happened to be a crushed fizzy drink can - your arm pulled backwards and with all your strength in your not very strong arm you threw the rubbish at his head.
"YOU BIG OAF!" grabbing it from the ground, you took another throw and he yelled at you to disappear somewhere else, "Why didn't you defeat the villain yourself?! Huh?! You could do it yourself?! Yeah right!"
"Don't think I didn't see you run as well, Y/n! I don't need a pathetic nobody's pit-"
"Don't think so highly of yourself, you piece of crap! I ran for Izuku and only Izuku! Next time you're going to die, I won't even bat an eyelid!" Once again picking up the crushed can you threw it one more time hitting him in the face just as he turned around his eyes twitching in shock and rage at your statement.
Your eyes widened when his glare pierced into your eyes, in the end, you were still quite scared of him, so to avoid a possible beating you picked the can and ran to the nearest bin as quickly as possible leaving him behind.
______
"The hell is this supposed to be? You trying to hide?" Trying your best, knowing you would have to go down the same path you just came up to go back to Izuku, you knew that you would clash with Bakugo again. So you tried hiding behind the bin itself but got noticed relatively quickly.
Stepping out of your hiding spot you returned Bakugo's gaze, "Bakugo, in the year I was gone I thought you would've gotten at least a bit nicer." You gulped when his mouth opened to say something but nothing came out, instead his glare hardened, "Damn, I guess my worry for Izuku wasn't me being over dramatic."
"Why the hell do you care for a quirkless nobody-"
"You don't have any idea as to what my quirk is. What if it's a rubbish one? Like I don't know, being able to stretch my fingers like an inch, why don't you bully me to the same degree?" It's not that you wanted to be bullied as well, its just that you wanted to see his reasoning, even if you could already somewhat predict the reason he had anyway.
"Fine."
"Fine?"
"I'll lay off Deku for a bit!" Bakugo held an ugly pout on his lips. It was so obviously strained and you knew it probably wouldn't last long but at the same time he tended to keep to his word...mostly.
"Okay bye-"
"Wait."
"What now?"
"What's with the 'Bakugo'? What happened to 'Katsuki' or 'Kaachan'?"
When the question was asked the look of revulsion that was displayed on your face from that moment was etched so hard in his mind as he had never seen so much disdain on your facial features held for anyone, and the fact it was aimed towards him hit harder.
"You bully my best friend for year's upon end and have the audacity to think I'd call talk to you as if everything was like before?" Seeing the way he acted to Izuku before you finally felt it was time to give up on him being a decent human being.
"let me make this clear: we are not friends."
As there was nothing left to say you took your leave, trying your hardest not to look back at whatever expression he was holding only to fail and catch a small glance.
It was weird how you felt a weird shift in your chest as if regretting being as tough as you were. This was never your strong spot when sociallising and unfortunately you tended to be too lenient with people like this, but you finally decided to put your foot down.
All you had to do now is maintain it.
Hold it sturdy...can't be too hard, right?
______
Next chapter...
"You can be a hero"
"So we're clearing this beach?"
"No, not you. Only Izuku. I'm going to give you another task. You'll have a workout routine as well, but you'll be working on your socialising."
"...please don't make me do this"
"Y/n, don't worry, I'm right here!"
"My body feels like dying"
And so it began, 10 months of hard work to become the perfect vessel, and capable enough to stand in the ring of many others competing in the entrance exam.
(Sorry for any grammar or spelling mistakes)
Word count: 2250+