"Hurry up, Izu! It's gonna getaway!"
The spunky five-year-old makes chase after the poor little treefrog as it hops passes the rows and rows of randy trees, dirt sticking to its mucus-covered body.
Katsuki bursts out one of his boyish laughs as he closes the gap between him and his prey, his plastic net at the ready in his sweaty paws.
Meanwhile, Izumi tries to push through her fading stamina to catch up with her best friend. "Wait for me, Kacchan!" she pleads with heavy puffs of air. The two green canisters strapped across her chest banged and clanged together with every small move that she makes.
Like always, Katsuki doesn't listen to her. His main goal at the moment was that little green frog and he was gonna get it.
His skin baked under the sun, the wind pushed back against his face, and he had dirt starting to cake under his nails and on his skin. But the lad didn't care, that frog is his. And with his last few stomps, it was time to strike.
Katsuki lifted the net into the air and swings down like a lumberjack with an ax. His mark is made without trouble as the frog hits the webbing during his last hop.
"YES!" He cheers with guileless pleasure that only a child would make about catching something so minimal.
He hears the growing footsteps behind him and the gasping of the small girl while he grabs part of the net to keep his prisoner inside. Katsuki pants a bit as he turns to his Izu, who rested her small hands on her knees to bend down and collect herself as soon as she was next to him.
"That's the sixth one, Izu! What do you think about this one?" Lifting the frog to the front of her face, Izumi lifts her head and studies the amphibian with jaded eyes. The frog itself was a reasonably big one, much bigger than the last one they caught.
Its lime body glowed under the sun, and its eyes were red as fresh cherries. The sides on it had tints of blue and purple and its webbed feet painted a radiant orange. The catlike black slits in its eye solicit her to help escape the white mass and away from the scary blonde.
Izumi blinks at the creature before she looks around to address Katsuki. "Um, it looks really pretty, Kacchan, but I think it wants to be free?"
Katsuki lets out a cocky click of his tongue and widely smiles at the girl.
"No way! It's the best one we have so far! I won't let you have the wimpiest one!" Her exhausted mind is restored after those words and confusion packs into her round cheeks.
"Eh? M-Me? Why am I the one keeping it, Kacchan?" She points at herself in question.
Katsuki rolls his eyes at her question and speaks to her like she's slow on the draw.
"Because that's what the old hag says to do when it involves your mate. You provide them with the very best of the best!"
Still unsure, Izumi tilts her head. "Mates? What are mates?"
Wordlessly, Katsuki unruly pulls at one of the canisters, making the girl squeak before she takes it off.
Katsuki plops down on the forest ground and turns open the cap before carefully get the frog inside. As he does, he turns his head to answer her previous question.
"Mates are when two people stay together forever until they die, Izu, duh!" he rudely explains, like she was the stupider one of the two.
Agitated, Izumi puffs out her cheeks at his harsh tone and opens her mouth to say her own snapback before what he says soaks into her brain.
Unknownst to the cheerful boy, Izumi's small body starts to gradually tremble as her thoughts raced back and back together.
Katsuki hums smugly as he turns the cap back on the canister and raises himself up to proudly hold it in front of his face.
"The one we just caught is pretty cool, but I bet you we can find an even bet-"
"Forever...Kacchan?" Comes her watery inquiry and Katsuki quickly looks to the green-eyed girl. At the sight of her fresh tears, he immediately freezes, and panic streams into his veins
"O-Oi! Why are you crying, idiot?!"
Izumi bits her wobbly lip before she raises little fists and wipes at her tears.
"I-It's just...You s-said forever...D-does that m-mean you won't l-leave me like daddy l-left me and Mama?" she asks with such scared and timid fear.
Katsuki's face went through the quick fleeting emotions of panic and shock to the usual emotion of rage. Only, his rage wasn't towards the kind girl, it was towards the faceless man that is Izumi's father.
Izumi's dad was always a sensitive subject between the two. About a month after they met, Katsuki wanted Izumi to tell him about her dad.
At first, she was a bit hesitant to speak about it, but Izumi's trust in him made her eventually explain that her dad just left one day, never to come back. She did receive phone calls, of course, but they started to grow from daily to semi-daily.
Her mother had told her that he was working overseas in America, but Izumi confided in Katsuki that there was more to it.
A lot of the time, especially at night, she could hear her mother's sobbing down the hall as she heads to bed.
She could spot how heavy the bags were under her mother's eyes because she knows she didn't get enough sleep. One day, her mother suddenly decided to take two jobs because she explains that she needed to get money for Izumi.
The more Izumi explained to him, the more he wanted to punch out her father's lights for leaving the two green-haired ladies.
That day, he told Izumi that she doesn't have to worry about her stupid dad anymore, they can be together and play heroes for the rest of their lives. He would never forget the tearful, glowing smile she gave in response. How it felt like lightning in his heart and how he felt like the world was his oyster just by that smile.
But now, here he was again: witnessing the sorrow and uncertainty that bastard left behind.
Katsuki flings the canister's strap over his chest before stomping over to Izumi. His chubby hands grab at her wet face and he stares into her insecure shiny emeralds.
With all the confidence that he is proudly known for having, he announces to her, "Idiot Izu! Of course, I'm not leaving! As I said, we're mates! I protect and provide for you, and you're there to cheer me on!"
Izumi's eyes twitch softly at his words before the dam completely bursts. He lets go of her face and blushes at the intensity of her waterfalls, unaware that his words would make sure an impact.
"O-okay! That's enough, you crybaby! S-Stop it!" He orders with now-glowing red cheeks.
She tries as fast as possible to stop her tears, wiping them furiously. After a few minutes, her mood instantly shifts from tearful gratitude to determination.
She clenches her tiny fists and sharply focuses her eyes on him. He's taken even more by the sudden change of her behavior.
With all of the bravery she musters, she looks at him with somewhat confident eyes and replies, "I-I won't leave you either, Kacchan! Never in a million years!"
Katsuki's heart stops at the declaration and something bubbles in his stomach. He wasn't sure what it was, but he didn't want it to go away anytime soon.
At his stunned silence, she takes it in the opposite way she was hoping for, and the tears start to come back. She tightly closes her eyes to stop them, knowing that they would make things worse. His heart and his brain burst back to life after seeing this, and he grabs at her to pull her face into his chest.
She whimpers at the feeling of heat against her cheek, and he squeezes around her neck even tighter.
"Idiot Izu! Like you would ever leave me! But don't you ever forget who your mate is, okay?! Only look at me and me only!" He gleefully cheers into her ear.
Izumi's feminine laughter enters his core and she hugs him back with the same strength that he uses.
"I promise, Kacchan!"
His eyes soften and he pushes her back to look at her seriously.
"You promise what, Izu?" He asks, knowing what she will say.
She smiles, tears still visiting her eyes before she lifts up her pinky, her All Might charm bracelet dangling on her butterfly's wing wrist.
"I promise to only see you and never leave you, Kacchan."
His entire world shifts in the most wonderful way possible at the innocent promise. That unknown bubbling in his gut comes to a raging boiling and it refused to calm down. Whether it's that feeling that heats his cheeks or the burning sun barrelling down on them through the trees, he also lifts up his own pinky to grasp at hers. The size of his overpowers her smaller one.
"Me too, Izu. I promise I won't leave you."
"Last week, I got word from Principal Nezu that effective today, we're having another student join our class."
"Come on, child. Introduce yourself."
"H-hello, my name is Midoriya Izumi. Nice to meet you all."
She bows with respect towards her new classmates before her small hands rub together nervously.
There were murmurs or something in his ear, but he couldn't bring himself to give an absolute fuck about who was talking, what was being said, or any sort of pointless shit like that.
All he could do was burn his gaze at the front of the classroom. Katsuki's face increasingly bleached and his rapid heart wouldn't let up its palpitations.
The longer he stared at the 'new student,' the more his palms couldn't stop sweating and his head won't stop its dizziness.
It was her...it was Deku. After all this time, after all these fucking years, after all that searching and looking, she is right here in front of him. In front of his classmates, in his dream school.
It's strange how someone can look like they haven't changed at all over the years but at the same time, everything about them is different.
Her eyes were wider and fuller with her lashes and shined like the jewels that they were just like when they were kids. Her face lost its baby fat and adopted more of a heart shape; he doesn't know how to feel as he sees that to this day, her freckles still decorates her face like constellations of stars.
One huge change would be her hair, now longer and fuller of volume. She always had unruly hair, even as kids. He remembers how he would endlessly ridicule her on it with his lackeys. Its style now is like he remembers her mother had, a half-up-half-down look.
Another huge change would be...well, she wasn't nine anymore. Now knowing what the midget's statement about her meant, his anger festered his blood levels.
Indeed, even he couldn't ignore the envious curves she had along with ample breasts and hips. One of her outstanding features to this womanly body is her powerful-looking set of legs.
How she could only be that tall with legs that long is a mystery that laughs in his lack of color face. He looks further down to notice her red-hightop sneakers, similar to a pair she wore constantly when they played tag at the neighborhood's playground.
Suddenly, a cold front washes over his body. His shoulders start to tremble uncontrollably along with his arms and his legs.
Even though he could feel the sweat on his palms, they are numb and tingling as if they've been through a frigid blizzard. His breathing becomes labored and his tough efforts to keep it under wraps were just suffocating him even more.
The intense need to run away and out of the airless room flooded his nerves, and to say it was infuriating would be one of the biggest understatements in his life.
He doesn't run away from shit, he's Bakugo fucking Katsuki.
Damn it, damn it, DAMN IT.
Air, damnit! Leave and get some fucking air! But he just couldn't rip his eyes away from her, he just couldn't. Not when she's finally here in front of him, the number of endless questions clashes together in his brain.
Suddenly, the heat of the fluorescent lights felt like nothing on his skin. The ceiling and light blue walls were itching in closer, closer, closer. His flight sense is kicking in, making his legs twitch and shake.
He needs to leave NOW before everyone will bear witness to the internal turmoil Katsuki's had for almost a decade.
And then, chanting starts its parade from the back of his mind, its cruel echo growing louder and louder.
Kacchan! Kacchan! Kacchan!
SLAM!
Katsuki opens his eyes he never realized he'd shut.
"Ochako? What's wrong?"
At the slam, Katsuki's world is brought back into the moment. Terror bathed his forehead and all of his senses came back to him. Without much thought, he clutches his dress shirt, directly over his rabbit-like heart.
Trying to remember his whereabouts, he doesn't fall suit with everyone else in the room as they look towards the interruption that shook him back to life.
Ochako stood up from her chair, palms flat on her desk's hard surface. Just like him, her gaze didn't budge from Izumi. The only difference between his and hers is the emotion behind them; while his gaze was of terror, hers is...suspicion?
His classmate doesn't say anything for a moment, her jaw stayed slightly dropped.
"Ochako?" Tenya tries to break through his girlfriend's distracted mind again.
At his voice, the gears in her head kicked back on. She breaks her gaze to look at all of the watching heads that faced her direction. Her pink cheeks become red at the scene she was making, and frantically waves her hands back and forth.
"S-S-So sorry!" Her fake laughter rambles on before she claps her hands together.
"I-I just w-wanted to say welcome t-to our new c-classmate!" The cheer a little bit louder than necessary.
Most of everyone looked at one another in question before brushing off the strange reaction from their shoulders. The strange behavior wasn't new when it came to Ochako, given her cheerful personality.
Bakugo doesn't say or think anything and just kept his gaze on his desk's surface.
Broken from the spell Ochako casts over the room, Izumi smiles bemused at her antics and waves her off with a delicate laugh. His hand over his heart clenched tighter. That sweet noise stabbed into his heart; God, it's been so long since he's heard that laugh.
"Too kind, too kind. I deeply appreciate the welcome," she casually adds, turning back to the rest of the class once more, nerves seemingly calmer than before.
"It's...really an honor to be in the top number one class with all of you. I'm looking forward to learning with everyone moving forward." With that, she bows once more and gives a smile so bright, the sun would go blind by looking at it.
An awestruck Ochako slowly sits back in her seat while most of the class blushes at her words and her beautiful smile.
Even Tenya turns a bit red under the collar before he snaps out of it to clear his throat. The studious boy launches himself out of his seat with one hand behind his back and the other in his karate-chop pose near his face,
"Midoriya-san, on the behalf of the entire class and as Class Representative, I formally welcome you to UA!" His square hand chopping the air to empathizes with his words. Joyful smiles gather around before the whole class follows suit with his actions.
All of them, bar Katsuki and Shouto, scream out in cheerful unison, "WELCOME TO UA!"
Katsuki's ears ached at the volume but he couldn't yell to say how she doesn't deserve the welcome, that she didn't deserve to be here at UA at all.
Trembling in anger, his teeth buried themselves into his bottom lip while his fists tightened further. His narrowing eyes snap back up at Izumi.
He wasn't prepared for how much sparkle her eyes held from the welcome and how Apple-red her cheeks turned.
"Alright, calm down." Aizawa snaps out to the class, but his tone didn't hold much venom. His bloodshot eyes glance from the side at Izumi.
"Go take your seat. It's the only one available if that makes it easier for you," he says dryly.
Izumi blinks, wondering if she heard that right, and looks up at him and gives him a once-over for a moment.
"...I'll try my best not to get lost, sir."
...Hah? Katsuki whips his astonished face up and looks to see his old victim hold a small smirk against Aizawa's tired frown. The entire class even comes to a standstill at her joke, frozen with the realization that she's out of this class before she could even begin.
A few beats of silent tension lingers in the air before hell completely freezes over: Aizawa did nothing more than let out a dry laugh.
"Sit down, child." Her new teacher tells her, not the less bit miffed about her response back. Jaws dropped as Izumi chuckles softly and starts her journey to her new desk.
...The desk that's directly behind yours, his logic supplies him.
Oh shit.
Shit, shit, shit! Hide your face! Hide your-too late. As soon as her eyes moved in the direction of the vacant desk, her eyes and his finally reunited after seven years.
Her first steps to her desk immediately slowed down, and her thin eyebrows narrowed in puzzled thought. His wide eyes started to water from the air hitting them as he was unable to blink. He thought that his world stopped when he heard her voice for the first time in the longest-ass time, but oh, his foolish self was sorely mistaken.
The entire earth came to a complete standstill when he saw the moment her brain clicks and she knew who was in front of her. Her huge eyes grew past their usual size and her jaw slightly fell.
The space around them was no longer their classroom but it fades into an unknown white nothing.
In this matrix, he sat in his floating chair with his feet flat on the invisible floor. She floats a few feet away, her hands wrapped around her backpack's straps.
It hits him in the worst way when he remembers that grasp on her straps was exactly what she had done that day; an image of a younger Izumi from that day pulses by with sublime speed.
And then the dark-haired girl starts to mutter out so silently. "K-K..." She stops and swallows down her attempt to speak.
Her expression's equivalent to someone about to meet their end at the hands of a serial killer. Pain twinges deep in his stomach at her fearful presence, but then his rage starts to chews at him, telling him to wake up.
Don't just sit there, she needed to be punished. She thought she could leave without a trace and come back without repercussions?
Oh, FUCK no.
Steam fumed out of his ears as his scorching glare strikes its match at her. His chest starts to inflate with some choice words that he's pressing the pedal to unleash.
But then, she throws an ice-cold bucket of water on that rising fire of a hellstorm.
All of the fight in Katsuki slingshots out of him as she levels her own glare right back at him.
Katsuki's anger expression melts into disbelief at the determined passion behind her emeralds, and his heart gave up the rabid drumming and decided to stop altogether.
Izumi throws her glare to the floor, picking up her pace, and doesn't look any more in his direction. Her gait wasn't unsure or frightening, she didn't curl up into herself. Rather, she kept her back straight as an arrow, her long legs made their stride, and made her no-nonsense walk past him.
Her footsteps were like raindrops hitting the window on a quiet, boring day. The wind that blows by as she passed felt like a whirlwind, and the scents of peppermint and sweet strawberries emitting from her overwhelmed his nose. That was a scent he thought he never would smell again.
And as he hears the agonizing slow scrape of her chair against the floor and her promptly plopping down in it, all of his classmates and Aizawa were suddenly back in view.
"Alright," his teacher drawls out in his bored voice. "Now, let's get started on the pop quiz." His torture-chamber smile spreads across his face. Katsuki doesn't join in on the giant collective groan that sweeps throughout the room.
"Midoriya, the quiz will be on agriculture during the Edo period." He calls out to the girl. Izumi doesn't say anything back, no complaint or anything. All Katsuki could hear was a slight hum coming from behind him.
He then hears Denki spat out in disbelief at their warden. "E-Eh?! Sensei, you're making her take it too?! She just got here!" He came to her defense.
Aizawa looks over at Denki with unfazed eyes and questions back at him, "And being new stops her from learning, why?"
The class twitches at his tone, a few of them click their tongues in sympathy for their new classmate.
But then they hear a soft laugh pour out. Against his will, Katsuki's body warms at the noise, and, while still facing the front, slightly tilts his head towards the girl's direction.
A few others look over at her as she quietly chuckled under her breath.
"Can't really argue with that. Ready when you are, sensei." She boldly says to the man.
The class couldn't be any more shocked at the way her morale carried itself in a room full of complete strangers. Aizawa doesn't say anything but instead just grunts in approval.
Soon, he hands off a set of papers to the first person in each row, and the sounds of paper scratching together fill the air.
Katsuki denies the hesitation he had when he passed back the papers behind him, forcing his temper not to just throw them over his shoulder.
He also refuses to dwell on the obvious pause that she made before grabbing them from him.
The questions on the piece of paper couldn't form in his brain correctly, and his focus flew around in his head like a mayfly.
That's it. Shape the fuck up this instant, damnit! His main emotion of rage screamed at him. Katsuki clenched his teeth and squeezes his pencil, the wood strains under the force. Now wasn't the time to address this shit of a shitstorm, she won't get away from you later on. Right now, focus on all of morning shit classes, and we'll get her at lunchtime, his inner reasoning explained to him.
A dark smirk grows on his face, rage jading his thoughts. With that logic, his focus was temporarily restored and his pencil zooms through the questions like lightning.
Oh, just you fucking wait, Deku.
Just you fucking WAIT.
With his brain maps out and plots his next course of action, he remains unaware of the intrepid gaze that bored into his back.
It had to be her, it has to be her. Ochako told herself over and over again. She taps her pencil to her paper, not even hiding the fact her eyes are nowhere near analyzing any of the questions.
Luck gave her the luxury of letting her desk be in the very back of the room, where she stood at her perch to stalk over her brand-new classmate.
She looked to be the right height, but it's hard for her to compare her height to hers since Ochako was sitting on the ground when the angel approached her yesterday.
She had green hair, but Ochako was still a bit unsure if that's the right hair color of the angel, especially with the hoodie and everything happening so fast.
Pale skin was on the list too, but a lot of girls have pale skin. Did the angel have freckles? Ochako digs in the back of her skull to remember if she caught any inkling of those under the white mask.
When Izumi walked into the room, there was this immediate gut feeling that sprung inside Ochako. This was her hero, the angel who saved her life. But no way in hell was the universe was that kind and sweet.
Ochako shook her head. Maybe the incident just made her experience some PTSD aspects, and she'll now have a tendency to hallucinate on some things. Made sense to her because there was no way that this girl was-
And then Izumi opened her mouth and introduced herself in the almost same sweet manner her angel sang for her.
Ochako jolted in recognition and could not stop herself from bursting out of her seat like a bullet escapes the barrel of a gun. Doubt started shrinking more and more now.
This girl HAD to be her hero, she had to be. But, as she came back to her senses and looked out over the sea of confused eyes, one of them being her love, she knew that now wasn't the right time or place to investigate the girl.
Again, she could be wrong and this girl could be just a new student who just wanted to meet and greet on her first day.
In her best acting, she played it off as a happy camper that was thrilled over the fact that their class got another potential friend.
Ochako wasn't acting though when Izumi kindly thanks her for her welcome and gave her one of the most generous smiles she's ever received from another human being.
The warm feeling that came along with that smile made Ochako feel so happy and safe.
And then Izumi makes the effort to praise the class and confidently jokes with her intimidating sensei like she's known him forever?
Those just added to the mental pile of evidence that this was her hero from yesterday, Ochako's growing more and more sure of it by the second.
Her eagle eyes watch as Izumi walked over to her desk, wondering why for a half-second the girl's face turned sour on her path. It looked like it was directed towards Katsuki, but the jerk probably glared his usual glare at her.
All of them know the explosive boy doesn't like meeting new people, and the idiot probably wanted to make that known to the new girl.
She swears, Katsuki's going to remain single for the rest of his life, and she doesn't feel bad for him at all. Act like an asshole, get treated like an asshole.
Anyways, Ochako watches from afar as Izumi takes her first pop quiz of many to come and watches as the girl takes a pause to drill a hole into Katsuki's back, probably in thought for a question's answer.
Oh, crap! Pop quiz! Ochako brings her eyes back to her paper and then to the clock above the chalkboard. She had about ten minutes to get this done!
With that, Ochako spared one last glance at Izumi and gets to work on the quiz, even if she knows her focus wasn't completely in line with her brain.
...Maybe she can speak to her new classmate at lunchtime.
I'm just loving writing this story more and more as I go. Thank you all for all the love for it and the fanart I drew. Y'all are super great and supportive. Your comments and kudos mean the world! Thank you again!
Also, I'm gonna back to delete and repost the link to the fanart I have drew.
Fanart link: archiveofourown works / 27653765 / chapters / 70544124