A/N: My exams have got pushed to a later date due to the Corona virus, hence why this chapter's arrived sooner than intended. -sigh- Stay safe everyone.
Also readers, if there are any typos in this or/and previous chapters, let me know so I can fix 'em.
"Why didn't you tell me that Izuku joined my school?" Katsuki demands as he walks home with his mother from school.
Mitsuki smirks. "Oh, I didn't? It must have slipped my mind."
"Mooom!" Katsuki whines.
Mitsuki chuckles and pats Katsuki's head two times.
"Come on, Katsuki. All you've been obsessing over for the last week is Izuku-chan. If I told you she'd be joining your school, you probably wouldn't be able to sleep well for a couple days, and I couldn't have you be sleep deprived in time for school."
Everything his mother just said is a complete exaggeration. He crosses his arms. "I would have slept just fine, and I have not been obsessing over her!"
"Really? Because those dozens of drawings of you and her in your sketchbook tell me a different story."
Katsuki's face turns into a dark shade of crimson.
"Who gave you the right to go through my sketchbook!?"
At his reaction, Mitsuki guffaws.
"Oh, please, Katsuki. You're making a big deal out of nothing. I'm your mother. I have a right to these things. So you've got a little crush, it's no big deal. But next time, if you don't want anyone to look through your sketchbook, you should probably hide it better."
"I do. Not. Have a crush on anybody. "
"Sure, sure, whatever you say, Kacchan."
Why is his mother so eager to get on his nerves?! "And stop calling me that! I'm not a baby anymore!"
"Why? You know it's a cute nickname." Mitsuki's smile turns feral. "I bet you wouldn't mind if Izuku-chan called you that."
Okay, now he knows for sure that his mom is a sadist. "Can you quit it already?!" He bawls.
His mother chuckles again and strokes Katsuki's head.
"Relax, buster. I'm only teasing."
Katsuki pouts, and although he tries, the blush that surfaced on his face as a result of his mother's tactless commentary refuses to go away.
"So, tell me," Mitsuki starts, "How was school today? Did you have a nice day?"
Katsuki doesn't reply.
"What's the matter?" Mituski jokes. "Did Izuku do something to upset you?"
"Shut up."
His cold, distant response is jarring to both him and Mitsuki, and Mitsuki stops in her tracks.
"Katsuki. Is everything alright?" She asks, her voice now anxious.
"Nothing's wrong, it's just…"
He looks up at his mother, eyes round as saucers.
"Mama, do you think it's weird for a boy and a girl to be... friends?
Mitsuki eyes glimmer. "Just friends?"
Katsuki rolls his eyes. "Yes."
"Generally speaking... at that age, it's exactly not common, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. I wouldn't have introduced you to Izuku-chan if I thought it were strange. Why do you ask?"
He stares off into the distance. "No reason in particular."
"What's wrong, Izuku? You seem a bit down."
"I'm fine, I'm... just… really tired, is all." Izuku replies as she strolls on with her mother home.
She's not going to bring up Katsuki and how she's felt miserable the whole day for what he did to her.
She's just not.
Three days pass, and Katsuki and Izuku haven't spoken at all since their last encounter.
And so far, Katsuki isn't so sure he's happy with this predicament.
Izuku treats him as if he doesn't exist, and doesn't so much as look at him. And while he shouldn't be surprised, as this was what he requested from her, for some reason, it really annoys him.
So, after deep contemplation, he decides he's gonna call off this arrangement. Sure, they might get laughed at, and judged. But to be fair, Katsuki shouldn't have cared about that in the first place.
He'll just beat up anybody who mocks them. An easy solution to an otherwise stupid problem.
Before he can do anything, though, Izuku practically runs out of the classroom when the bell rings for their first recess.
Great. Now he's gonna have to search for her. Katsuki inwardly groans.
It's no use.
He can't find her.
He's searched everywhere. The jungle gym, the swings, the monkey bars, the basketball court.
Their playing area isn't so big that God knows where she could be.
He feels like a dumbass. Half of his recess is already over, and he could have spent it playing with his friends.
Now that he thinks about it, there's only one more place where she could be; the sandbox, but his thoughts are interrupted when a cluster of voices call out to him.
"Hey, Katsuki!"
Katsuki whirls around to find two of his friends approaching him; Kairi and Yuuki.
"Oh, 'sup, guys." Katsuki says casually.
"Where have you been?" Yuuki begins. "All the boys are down by the basketball court playing basketball. Why aren't you there with us?"
Katsuki falters. "Uh… well, I've been looking for Taichi. I need to talk to him, but I can't find him anywhere."
"Dude, I don't know where you've been looking, but Taichi's at the basketball court." Kairi tells Katsuki, and tugs at his arm, "So let's hurry over there and play before recess is over!"
Katsuki groans and decides to roll with it. He'll find another opportunity to talk to Izuku today, it's not like this is their last recess.
"Alright, let's go," he says, and Yuuki runs ahead of them. Before Katsuki can run along with him, Kairi stops him.
"Hold on, Katsuki." He grins, "Before we go, I wanna show you something really cool." Kairi rummages through his left pocket and pulls out something Katsuki finds oddly familiar. "Pretty neat, eh?"
Katsuki blinks. "Is that the limited edition figure of All Might?!"
"You guessed right," Kairi chirps, and hands the figure in question to Katsuki. "I'll trade it to you for that deluxe Endeavor figure you brought to school the other day. Was always a bigger fan of him than All Might."
Katsuki can't believe his luck. He's wanted that figure since the first day he saw it come out a couple weeks ago on TV. But the blond's parents wouldn't let him have it. They claimed it was too expensive and that he had too many toys already. But now... he finally has the chance to own it for himself.
"Where did you get this figure?" He asks as he analyzes the figure from its head to toe.
He receives the first half of his answer upon noticing that the name, "Izuku", is written under All Might's shoe with what Katsuki presumes to be a Sharpie.
"Well, kid? You gonna give us your Hero cards, or what? We haven't got all day."
Izuku didn't expect that showing her Hero toys to a couple of boys from another class would result in them gathering around her in a circle and bullying her into handing them over to them.
She just…
Wanted to make some friends with the same interests as her.
And now, the same people she tried to befriend- they already managed to take her favorite action figure, and now they want all of her Hero trading cards.
This is so unfair.
"You guys already took my All Might figure. I'm not going to give you my Hero cards, too."
One of the boys then pushes her to the ground. She falls on her butt, and sand slinks into her skirt… and underwear.
G-Gross… she thinks to herself in disgust.
"We're not giving you a choice, girlie," one of the boys spit, "Either you give us all of your Hero cards, or by the end of recess, your skirt's not gonna be the only thing covered in sand."
Izuku shuts her eyes tightly.
"Oi."
The green-haired girl's eyes bolt open. She knows that voice.
"Ah, good to see you, Bakugō!" One of the boys chirps, and walks over to give the aforementioned boy in question a high five. "Say, why don't you help us with—"
"Just what do you guys think you're doing!?"
All of the boys exchange confused glances between each other. One of them then pipes up, oblivious to Katsuki's rage.
"You won't believe it, Bakugō. This dumb girl asked if she could be our friend. Can you believe it? What type of lame-o asks that sort of question to people? We laughed, told her she's out of her mind, but then she thought she could impress us by showing us some of her toys that she probably stole from one of the boys from another class."
"I didn't steal anything! Those toys are rightfully mine!" Izuku insists. The same boy in question snorts.
"You expect us to believe that a prissy girl like you owns such cool toys? You're even dumber than you look."
He turns back to Katsuki. "Anyway, long story short. We're telling this sissy girl to fork over her Hero cards. They're better off in our hands, seeing as they're stolen anyway. Wanna help?"
"Do I wanna help?" Katsuki echoes in disbelief. "What the hell is wrong with you guys!?"
"Oh, please, Katsuki." Another boy speaks. "Quit acting like you're better than us. Last year in the first grade, all you ever did was pick on everyone. You picked on the girls, too."
"Loser, you don't even know the meaning of being picked on," Katsuki drawls, staring at his nails. The cold, ferocious glare he then sends all four of the boys cause them all to flinch.
"You chose the wrong girl to harass. Do yourselves a favor and run along before one of you gets hurt."
One of them scoffs. "What, you're defending this weakling? That's not like you."
"Y-yeah!" Another one chimes in. "And plus, you don't scare us. You're outnumbered four to one."
"Do I have to repeat myself?" He snarls. "Beat it!"
"Hate to break it to you, Katsuki," the third boy begins, his tone downright villainous, "but we're the ones in control here. Lay off, or we'll make you wish you had."
A/N: In case anyone's interested, the basketball court is geared towards the kids' size. Seeing as they're tiny and all.
Also, looking back on previous chapters, I realize I referred to Izuku's All Might figure as unlimited when in reality it should have been limited. Ugh. Fixed it. Lemme know guys if the error pops up again.
