A/N: As of March 15th 2020, (as of chapter 16; this chapter), I've decided to change Katsuki and Izuku's starting ages at the beginning of this fic from four, to eight, and to portray them as elementary school students in the second grade. The reason they were so initially written so young was a result of my attempt to stay canon compliant, as in canon, they receive their quirks around the age of four. For me, it was imperative to showcase Katsuki and Izuku's relationship _before_ they received their quirks, as once they do, their friendship begins to gradually decline, with Katsuki slowly turning into Izuku's bully, and all. However, after much consideration, I've realized that my attempt to stay true to canon by showcasing their relationship _before_ they receive their quirks resulted in having four-year olds have unrealistic dialogues and situations. So I've decided that it's best to diverge from canon a bit and change their age. Other than that, the fic is virtually unchanged from how it originally was. So- to recap. The beginning of this fic takes place pre-canon, Katsuki and Izuku are (so far) now eight-year olds, and the main difference between this fic and canon is that in this fic, it's normal for a child to receive their quirk around the age of nine. Which is why Katsuki is still quirkless, even at the age of eight. Other than that, I'm going to try my best to stay canon-compliant throughout this fic. (Readers; if you are still confused, read the new Author's note I've added to chapter 1. Or you know. Ask me in a comment.)


The three boys narrow their eyes and get into fighting stances, but the fourth boy tugs on all three of their arms.

"Guys, we probably shouldn't fight him." He whispers into their ears, "Don't forget, Bakugō's the same kid who beat up three kids at once pretty badly last year in the first grade."

"So?" The third boy grumbles quietly, "There were three of them, and there's four of us. Besides, we can't just stand there and do nothing like a couple of cowards."

"I'm not gonna let you hurt Kacchan."

Katsuki doesn't know what's more surprising; seeing Izuku get up from the ground with her fists raised, or hearing her call him his trashy nickname.

How. In God's name did she remember that nickname?! And why the hell is she calling me that nickname in public?!

To his dismay, what Izuku said doesn't go unnoticed by the boys.

"Kacchan?" One of them repeats, and turns to Katsuki. "Is that cutesy nickname yours?"

When Katsuki fails to give them an answer for ten seconds, they all burst into laughter.

"Oh God, this is hilarious!"

"Who would have guessed that the so-called toughest kid in the second-grade has a nickname like that! This is priceless!"

Rage boils within Katsuki, but before he can give these boys a piece of his mind-or in this case, fist- Izuku beats him to it.

He can hardly believe what he's seeing.

Did Izuku just punch one of them in the nose?!

"Ow!" The boy on the receiving end of the injury yelps. Upon closer inspection, one can see that his nose is bleeding. "Hey, girl, that really hurts!"

Izuku blinks slowly, not completely conscious of what she's done, before it dawns on her.

"W-Well, it serves you right!" Izuku squeaks. "You shouldn't laugh at people like that, nor should you be bullying people into giving you their belongings!"

"Agh. That really hurts!" He exclaims as he grabs his nose with one hand to prevent it from bleeding further. The rest of the boys exchange worried looks between each other.

"Screw the fight," the boy bleeding says at last, "We're telling on you!" He flees, and after a moment's hesitation, the rest of the boys follow suit.

"Hey, get back here!" Katsuki shouts, and is about to run after them, before Izuku shakes her head.

"Let them go," Izuku tells Katsuki. "If we get into a real fight with them, we won't stand a chance. They got us outnumbered."

"So? I beat up three kids once in the first-grade. If you fought alongside me, we could have taken them easily."

Izuku faces the direction in which the boys left. "Well, they're gone now. There's nothing left we can really do. Besides, it's best if we don't get into a real fight. And if we get the teachers involved, then we can explain to them what really happened."

Katsuki sighs. "Sure, whatever you say."

He analyzes her.

"What did they do to you exactly?"

Izuku rubs the back of her neck.

"Well, it's like that boy said." She begins despondently, "I asked them if I could be their friend, they laughed. And I thought if I showed them some of my toys, they'd accept me." She laughs bitterly. "I couldn't be more wrong. After that, one of them flat-out grabbed my All Might figure out of my hands before I could even blink, and then ran off."

Katsuki scoffs. "Yeah, that was Kairi. Jerk."

"Then they got around me in a circle, told me I stole the toys, and demanded that I hand over the rest of them; my Hero cards. When I told them no, they pushed me to the ground, and well. That's when you came."

Katsuki bristles at the thought of them laying a finger on her. "You're not hurt, are you?"

She shakes her head. "I got some sand in my skirt and underwear, but aside from that, I'm fine."

"Tch. I can't believe them." He then rummages through his pocket and pulls out her All Might figure.

"Here's your doll— er, I mean action figure, back."

"How did you..?!"

"Kairi told me what he did. Needless to say, he told the wrong person that."

"You didn't hurt him, did you?"

"Nah. He knows what I can do to him when I want to, so he gave me your toy back without much of a fight. " He pauses. "But I wanted to." He says finally.

"I see." She holds the figure tightly to her chest and looks at the ground, pink thinly dusting her cheeks.

"Why… did you help me?" She asks. "I thought that you didn't want to even be seen around me."

"Well. About that. He starts. "I actually spent almost the whole recess looking for you to … apologize. I thought about what I did, and realized it was a dumb decision. People will judge if we're seen together, yeah… but that shouldn't have mattered in the first place. I can always just beat them up if anyone makes fun of us."

"T-there's no need for violence," Izuku tries, raising both her hands. "We should try to avoid it as much as possible."

Katsuki looks at her as if that's the dumbest thing she's ever said.

"Heroes talk with their fists, not with their mouths." He says flatly, then stops. "Besides, if I remember right, you're the one who put a fist through that guy's nose."

Izuku blushes.

"T-That's… I mean…" She inhales. "I mean. I couldn't just stand there and let them laugh at you."

Katsuki, in turn, feels his cheeks heat up. He coughs and decides to ignore what she just said.

"That being said. I gotta say, Izuku. What did you back there was pretty cool. I don't think I've ever seen a girl hit a boy in the face before."

Izuku sighs. She's not so sure how much praise she should be receiving for having inflicted pain on another human being, but… Having Katsuki call her cool is nice, she supposes.

"I just hope I won't get in too much trouble. I did hurt him at the end of the day."

Katsuki waves his hand dismissively. "Don't worry. We'll just explain to the teachers what happened and they should be on our side." He pauses. "They might call our parents, though."

Izuku's eyes widen as the realization sinks in. "Oh no!" She exclaims. "My mom will be so disappointed in me… and my dad… he'll kill me!"

Katsuki shrugs as if it's no big deal. "I mean, that's just the sort of stuff you're gonna have to face when you get in a fight at school. There's almost always gonna be a snitch."

Izuku isn't comforted though. "That's why we should avoid violence as a whole," she whispers.

Katsuki scoffs. "Izuku, please. Don't give me that crap. Those kids started picking on us first. That kid deserved a good punch to set him in place. And you, a girl of all things, being the one to give him that punch… that was pretty awesome to see."

"But getting in trouble won't be awesome," she wails. "Teachers have never called my parents before… Oh gosh… what should we do? Should we lie? I don't want to lie about what happened…"

"We'll tell them what happened, and whatever happens after that, happens. It's not gonna be the end of the world."

Izuku sighs. "I guess you're right… but I don't know how my parents are gonna take this. My dad yells at me enough already just for the fact that I like boy things, so I don't know how he's going to take this." Will she get spanked, grounded? Thrown out on the streets? The possibilities are endless.

She's panicking way too much. He thinks to himself, and he can't help but feel worried for her.

An idea comes to mind. Something he'd normally never do for anyone. But, for some reason he doesn't really get, he's compelled to do it for her.

Even though he knows he's gonna regret doing this.

"You know, Izuku… if you want, I can say that I was the one who punched that kid."

Izuku is shocked.

"Y-you'd do that? For me?"

For some goddamn reason, yes. He would.

"My parents are kind of used to getting phone calls from my teachers. Judging from how you're acting, I think they'll take what happened today better than your parents."

"I… I can't let you do that."

"Please, Izuku. Trust me when I say It's not a big deal. I get grounded all the time for getting in fights. I'll handle it just fine."

"I don't want you to get in trouble for something I did, though."

"Look, I was gonna punch that kid right before you beat me to it. So just accept what I'm trying to do here, alright nerd?"

Izuku bites her lip and looks as though she's about to cry.

Katsuki grunts. "Anyway, recess is almost over, so let's—"

Katsuki is so caught off-guard by the sudden hug she then gives him that he doesn't even notice that she proceeds to call him by his nickname again.

"Thank you… Kacchan." She whispers.