While the shorts give him some relief, the anxiety clawing through Izuku's skin to embed itself into his organs hasn't lessened as he stares at the entrance to his pre-school. Its bright opening does nothing to ease the dread rising within him, and he feels oxygen struggling to make its way through his tiny lungs.
"Hey! Hey, Izu! Why're ya wearing those?"
Izuku is sure he jumps at least a foot in the air, which is amusing when you consider that's just under half his height.
"Kacchan!"
Blond hair shines like a halo in the early morning sun and bounces as his best friend runs the rest of the way to him, wide red eyes glimmering brightly.
"Ya finally here! Ya were gone forever!"
"Sorry, Kacchan. I was—"
"Ma said Aunty told her ya were sick. Ya okay now?" Izuku watches as his brows furrow in worry. Pale hand raising to rest on his forehead. Izuku flusters under the blond's concern, distractedly noting that his hands feel wetter and warmer than normal.
"Yeah! I'm okay now! Don't worry about me!" He says, waving the blond's hand away and trying to grin as wide as possible but figures it probably looks weird on his face. "I'm fine now."
Kacchan laughs. "Okay, okay, weirdo. Don't gotta split ya face in half."
The blond turns to head inside, and Izuku happily follows, feeling that sense of normality he's craved these past weeks begin to settle in.
"So yeah, why're ya not wearing the skirt?"
Izuku stiffens. There goes normal. "Uh, well—"
"Midoriya-chan."
Izuku startles, whipping his head around and finding Okada-sensei walking up to him. The tall man crouches to meet his eyes, his usual gentle smile in place.
"Uh, yes, Okada-sensei?" A sense of dread falls over Izuku, and he reaches down to grip the fabric of his new shorts like a lifeline.
Okada-sensei follows the movement, then flicks his dark eyes back up to meet Izuku's green ones. "That isn't the uniform set skirt, Midoriya-chan." He says slowly, plainly.
Izuku can't find the right response; he can only let small noises pass his quivering lips. Should he make up a reason? Should he tell the truth? Maybe he should've stayed home after all.
But before he can figure out a response, Okada-sensei is already standing up, smile still in place. "Please go see Suzumi-sensei and get a skirt to change into." He turns to walk away before pausing suddenly. "Oh!" A bright grin plasters itself on his face as he faces Izuku again. "I'm glad you are feeling better, Midoriya-chan. Welcome back."
Izuku lets go of the breath he'd been holding as his sensei finally leaves. He almost falls backwards when the tension in his body dissipates, but amazing Kacchan is there to save him, warm hands grabbing him by the shoulders with a shout.
His best friend is saying something, and the look in his ruby eyes makes Izuku's gut twist, but Izuku can't hear him over the white noise in his head. He considers once again if maybe he should've listened to his mother and stayed home. He kicks himself, wondering what made him think something would go right for him, especially something like this.
He's spiralling, drowning; he knows the feeling well from these past weeks, knows it would take him either seconds or hours to surface. His mind feels empty, yet full. He could never figure it out. The outside world travels at a snail's pace, but everything inside his head speeds past.
Kacchan is shaking him now, red eyes staring down at him through strands of blond hair.
Wait… staring down?
Oh.
He's on the floor.
He wonders when exactly that happened, but his sense of time is all but nonexistent at this point.
Izuku blankly registers that his head is resting on Kacchan's legs as the blond grips his shirt, but he can't focus on it over the white noise filling his head and ears.
He tries to look around to ground himself but finds his eyes locked onto the ruby in Kacchan's wide and quivering eyes. His limbs are locked, tensing and untensing around his sharp short breaths.
Kacchan's mouth is moving, still trying to communicate with him to no avail. And Izuku feels a distant pang of something fill his chest as he watches his best friend in such a panic.
Izuku's finger twitches, and he focuses on it while he continues to stare into burning red.
Burning…
Burning.
Can he smell smoke?
"Oi! Izu!"
Izuku's ears ring as his hearing comes back, and his lungs stagger and ache at the air finally reaching them.
He continues to stare into Kacchan's eyes. The red oddly soothes him and grounds him further.
" Oi!"
" I—" Izuku swallows around the dryness in his throat. "I'm okay. Sorry, Kacchan."
He feels Kacchan deflate in relief, the tension leaving him as his shoulders hunch, and he finally closes his eyes.
And once the red leaves his sight, the paralysis in his limbs ebbs away. Izuku sits up slowly, mild discomfort filling him now that the numbness is gone.
Kacchan shuffles back and quickly gets to his feet, holding out small pale hands to help him up.
He stares at his best friend's hands for a while, shame filling him to the brim so much so that he has to look away. "I'm sorry, Kacchan… I—"
"Oi, don't worry about it."
The boy looks up slowly, gazing up at his friend through his curls, searching for any sign of a lie.
But he doesn't find any in the blond's expression, just honestly and a touch of annoyance which Izuku doesn't think is aimed at him. So he holds out his own shaking hands.
"It ain't your fault, and Okada is annoying anyway. He makes me wanna freak out all the time." Kacchan huffs with a snicker.
The blond grabs his arms and hauls him up, leading him to their class. "Don't worry about him."
Izuku can only stumble after him and stare at the back of the blond's head.
"It's just clothes anyway." Kacchan sneers at where Okada-sensei once stood. "Let's just slip into class. No need to bother Suzumi-sensei."
And Izuku follows his best friend, still smelling smoke and wondering why his best friend's hands are still so warm.
Class goes on like normal, at least, what was normal for Izuku before his life turned upside down.
None of his classmates question his absence, and they greet him like he had never left. Okada-sensei doesn't seem to notice he doesn't put a skirt on, and Suzumi-sensei doesn't question it when she greets him.
It's normal. It's exactly what he needed.
But then, it wasn't normal all of a sudden.
It starts out as an activity. His classmates sit in a circle and follow Okada-sensei and Suzumi-sensei as they fold pretty pieces of paper into complicated shapes.
Izuku wasn't focused on his yellow flowery paper, finding he couldn't fold it as neatly as some of his classmates. But his eyes were set on his best friend's paper.
Kacchan deftly folds his red geometric pattern piece of paper so precisely; it was amazing.
But that wasn't what Izuku was paying attention to.
No, it was the small spots of wetness that were slowly building up on the blond's paper. Whenever the piece rests in his best friend's palm, smudges of what seems to be oil appear.
Kacchan seems to notice too. Izuku watches as the blond slowly grows frustrated while rubbing at the spots with his fingers and wiping the paper on his shorts to no avail.
And then, it happens.
It's amazing, as everything with the blond always is.
A small pop resounds through the room, followed by a faint smell of smoke. If Izuku wasn't paying attention so carefully, he'd think someone let off a party popper in the classroom.
Kacchan jumps up in shock and drops his paper as it burns, the small red piece now a glowing ember as the fire sears along the edges. It flutters to the ground, and everyone stares, absolutely transfixed. Even their senseis seem frozen in shock.
All eyes are on Kacchan's pale hands. Izuku is sure that if he stares real hard, he can see faint wisps of smoke.
Kacchan stares intently at his hands, blond lashes and brows furrowing around ruby eyes. His hands remain still, but Izuku can see the line of shaking tension curling up his best friend's forearms. There's nothing for a moment. Silence permeates the air along with the fading scent of smoke and an odd sweetness.
And then, it happens again.
It's nothing more than a tiny flash of light accompanied with that same popping sound. Everyone in the class jumps, but Kacchan continues to stare at his hands, a glimmer of awe filling his ruby eyes.
Everyone suddenly crowds around Kacchan to bombard him with questions and compliments. Okada-sensei and Suzumi-sensei have to push through the hip-height gaggle of excited children and herd them away from the possible fire hazard that is Kacchan's hands.
The tiny sparks in Kacchan's equally tiny hands are nothing short of beautiful, and everyone cannot help but stare.
"Woah!"
"Awesome!"
Izuku's voice is a faint whisper amongst his loud classmates. "You're so lucky, Kacchan…."
"Impressive!" Okada-sensei says over the crowd of children, awe in his voice. "I bet you that's gonna grow into an amazing quirk."
"Definitely!" Suzumi-sensei agrees. "A flashy quirk for a future hero. It's perfect!" She giggles.
And they're right; Izuku knows it when he sees those tiny explosions. Kacchan's quirk is flashy and strong and perfect. A perfect amalgamation of his parents' quirks. A perfect quirk for perfect Kacchan. With a quirk like that, he's destined to be the best hero, just like he's always said he'd be.
But Izuku would no longer stand beside him. Their dream to be even better than All Might — side-by-side — would never come true now. So even if that small voice in the back of his mind holds onto his hope — holds onto that video of All Might, holds onto that oath that he'd be a hero just like him, blinding grin and all — the silence his power once filled drowns the hopeful voice.
Because Izuku was a quirkless nobody…
"Oi! Izu!"
The boy jumps and spins around to see Katsuki sprinting over to him with a gleeful grin.
"Did ya see that!?" Kacchan asks, then interrupts himself with a scoff. "Of course ya did! That was too amazing for ya not to see!" He shakes his hands in excitement.
"Yeah, Kacchan… I saw…" Izuku tries to smile at his friend, but he's sure it looks pathetic.
Kacchan's nose scrunches. "Aw, c'mon, Izu! What's wrong?" The blond goes to place his hands on Izuku's shoulders but seems to think better of it at the last second. "I thought ya'd be excited! We're finally one step closer to our dream!"
Izuku can't help the small, pained smile that flits across his face. "I am happy, Kacchan. It's such an amazing quirk for you."
"Then why do ya have that face ya make just before ya cry, huh?"
Izuku's breath stutters in his throat. He doesn't know how to answer — doesn't know if he can answer! But, if he tells Kacchan about his diagnosis, it makes this all real. His and Kacchan's dream will officially be nothing more than fantasy. But he can't lie to his Kacchan. The truth would eventually come out.
"Kacchan, I…"
Kacchan's eyes shine like tiny rubies, and Izuku can't bear to be the reason they dim.
"I just have a headache."
Liar…
Kacchan seems to lift just a little. "Ah, gotcha. I get it. Mum's still screaming the house down every day, so I know all about headaches."
Izuku tilts his head. "Are Aunty and Uncle still fighting?"
Kacchan nods. "Yeah. Well, Mum yells, and Dad just kinda… sits there? Which, ya know, makes Mum yell even louder, and Dad just leaves. So then Mum stress cleans the whole house in the loudest way possible." The blond sighs. "I've just learned to stay out of their way…."
"Kacchan…" Izuku doesn't know what to say to his best friend. He never had to see his mum or dad fighting, and while what him and his Mum were going through now is new territory, it still can't be compared to what Kacchan's going through.
But Izuku has an idea, anyway. "Hey! Why don't you stay at my house tonight? I'll ask Mum, and you can ask Aunty or Uncle? We haven't had a sleepover in forever!"
Kacchan immediately brightens. "Hell yeah! We can play heroes with my new quirk!" He shouts, throwing his hands around, thin wisps of smoke emitting from his palms.
Izuku giggles excitedly. "You can be All Might because you're the best!"
The blond puffs out his chest in response. "Damn right I am!"
Izuku smiles at his excited best friend. 'Finally. Normal. Happiness.'
But it never lasts.
"Hey, excuse me, Midoriya-chan? Why're you still wearing those shorts?"
Izuku tenses at the voice of Okada-sensei. He'd been hoping his teacher either wouldn't notice him still wearing the shorts or wouldn't even remember his reprimanding this morning.
He turns to his sensei, who looms above him with his hands on his hips.
"Uh– Okada-sensei! I…"
"I asked you to get a skirt from Suzumi-sensei this morning, didn't I?"
"But… I don't want to…."
"Pretty girls love wearing pretty skirts, right?" He prods with a fake smile tinged with impatience. "So why don't you put on that skirt? If you need help, I'm sure Suzumi-sensei will help."
Izuku glances at his female teacher, the smile she throws his way much kinder than her colleagues.
"My mum… My mum said I could wear the shorts." He grips the fabric of his shorts, worried they'll take it from him.
"Yes, but your Mummy doesn't control the school uniform. Boys wear shorts and girls wear skirts. You are a girl, so you wear the skirt."
"But—"
"No buts, young lady. Girls—"
"But I'm not a girl!"
There's silence. All eyes are on him. But he can only look at his small hands clutching his shorts.
"I… I'm a boy…."
Okada-sensei seems to take a minute to compose himself. "Now, Midoriya-chan. I can understand not liking skirts, but that's no reason for… this."
Izuku tears his eyes away from his shorts and meets his sensei's gaze. "That's not what this is!"
Izuku is sure he sees Okada-sensei sneer. "Now that's not a nice tone, young lady—"
"Young boy!"
Okada-sensei startles. Because that didn't come from Izuku's mouth.
Izuku turns around to face his best friend. Kacchan glares at their sensei with a scowl and a fire in his eyes.
"Excuse me?" Okada-sensei asks, mouth hanging open and eyes wide.
But Kacchan doesn't back down.
"Izu said she—" Kacchan stops himself with a frown and shakes his head, "—he's a boy. So that's what Izu is! A boy!"
"Bakugo-kun—"
"No!"
"Baku—"
"Nope!" Kacchan slams his forearms over his ears, already careful with his explosive palms. "La-la-la! I can't hear you!"
Okada-sensei throws his hands up and looks over at Suzumi-sensei almost pleadingly. She stares back, seemingly at a loss as well. But that look quickly turns frantic as the rest of the children follow Kacchan's lead, slapping their hands over their ears and running around the room singing and screaming.
But amongst the sea of his classmates yelling random phrases and being chased by their senseis, Izuku can't help but stare at Kacchan with absolute wonder. His Kacchan defended him without even a question. He didn't say he was weird or that Okada-sensei was right.
He even called him a 'him'!
A shaky smile grows on Izuku's face, tears of frustration turning into tears of joy and adoration for his best friend's acceptance. The boy feels like anything the world throws at him will be nothing with Kacchan at his side.
Green eyes lock with red across the disaster that is their classroom and accompanying bright grins drown out the commotion in their light.
'Yeah, him and Kacchan,' Izuku thinks, warmth filling the empty slot in his heart.