A/N: Hey guys! Welcome back to another chapter of Deku and Kacchan! Huge thanks to everyone who favorited or followed. I'm really sorry for the five-month long hiatus, I had other stuff (*cough*cough*school*cough*working on other fics*cough*). Anyways, enjoy this chapter!
Time flew. In no time at all, Bakugo and Izuku had grown to the age of fourteen. Izuku was left alone by his bullies mostly, only earning the occasional glare, courtesy of a certain angry pomeranian being very overprotective. In the very rare occasion somebody actually attacked him, he'd easily beat said person. All the hard work he'd put in at Takahashi's lessons had paid off. He was now one of the top students at the dojo along with Kendo.
Bakugo, of course, had also largely improved, but more in quirk usage than combat skills. One of the perhaps more remarkable changes in Bakugo was the fact that his huge ego, inflated by all the people who praised him for his quirk, had deflated to a slightly better size. Through his friends' efforts, he was less of an arrogant asshole who saw everyone else as lower than him. (Keyword being slightly. He's still got an explosive temper and superiority complex.) Still, Kendo and Izuku were quite glad for the small change in their friend, who was admittedly very hard to stand before. (He still is, just not as much.)
They had also made a new friend, a boy named Mashirao Ojiro who joined the dojo two years after them. He had blond hair, black eyes and was quite friendly. His quirk gave him a tail that was completely hairless except the end, where there was a small tuft. Through a bit of training and helpful suggestions from Izuku, he'd grown to be quite adept at using his tail as a third arm and it could now nimbly grab objects and even support his body weight. They'd become good friends quite quickly.
It was another normal day of middle school. Izuku and Bakugo sat in a classroom, the latter resting his feet on the table. The teacher caught their attention by starting to talk.
"Since this is your last year, you should start thinking seriously about your future. I'll now pass out printouts about your future plans. But you guys... are all planning to become heroes, right?" The teacher threw the papers into the air and the class cheered, all of them activating their quirks and cheering.
All of them except for two.
"Yes, yes. You all have wonderful quirks, but using your powers at school is against the rules!"
"Sensei! Don't lump me in with these guys," Bakugo spoke up, his gaze cocky and conceited.
"There's no way I'm gonna be stuck at the bottom with the rest of these losers!"
Izuku sighed. Katsu's being all full of himself again. Although Bakugo wasn't as bad as he used to be, he never really managed to get rid of his arrogance. One of their classmates, obviously offended, called Bakugo out.
"That was uncalled for, Katsuki!"
"Yeah!"
Izuku threw his pen at the ash-blond's back, who turned around and glared at him.
"Katsu! Stop being so mean. Also, we really have to work on that superiority complex of yours."
"It isn't a superiority complex if I am superior to them," Bakugo protested, yeeting the pen back to Izuku, who had the sudden urge to give another one of his two-hour-long lectures on how no, Bakugo was not superior and that he needed to learn how to treat others as actual human beings.
However, the teacher interrupted their interaction.
"Oh, if I remember correctly, Bakugo..."
"You want to go to U.A. high, right?"
The class broke out into a wild mess of shocked voices.
"U.A.? That national-level school?"
"Its standardized rank score is 79!"
"Their acceptance rate is really low too!"
"That's exactly why you guys are nobodies." Bakugo jumped out of his seat, neatly landing on top of his desk. "I aced the mock test. Deku and I are the only ones in this shitty school who could possibly get into U.A.. I'll definitely surpass All Might and become the top hero! My name will be inscribed on the list of top earners!"
"Oh, yeah, didn't Midoriya want to go to U.A. too?"
The class went dead silent, some of the students exchanging incredulous looks. A student with a sneer on his face sniggered, breaking the silence.
"Midoriya? You're kidding! He's quirkless! You can't get into the hero course by just studying!" He jeered. He looked around, as if expecting everyone to back him up, "Right, guys?"
But no one answered him. They knew exactly what happened to people who mocked Midoriya for his quirklessness, and it wasn't a fate they'd like to meet. Instead, their eyes focused on the menace that loomed behind him.
Bakugo blasted the guy's table with an explosion, vicious anger visible on his face. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, TRYING TO DOWNGRADE DEKU LIKE THAT? HE'S BETTER THAN YOU A THOUSAND TIMES! IF YOU THINK YOU'RE HOT STUFF AT BEING A HERO, GO AHEAD AND TRY TO GET IN ONE OF THOSE HERO SCHOOLS YOURSELF! YOU'D PROBABLY FAIL AND GO HOME CRYING FOR YOUR MOMMY!"
He recoiled with fear, shrinking away from Bakugo's explosions. "I-I swear, I didn't mean it like that! I'm sorry!" He pleaded as Bakugo held him by the collar of his gakuran with his right hand, explosions popping in his right.
Bakugo stopped when Izuku put a hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, Katsu." Izuku said softly, slowly pulling the blond's hand away from the poor boy's collar. The bully dropped back into his chair, eyes wide with relief. Bakugo grunted, but let go of the matter and plopped back onto his seat.
The bell rang, and Izuku slung his bag over his shoulders. He walked down the corridor casually, smiling a little when a second-year ran up to him.
"Midoriya-senpai!"
"Hey, Tanaka."
"I heard about what happened today! That asshole had no right to talk about you like that. You're not just brains, you've got brawn too! I mean, look at your six-pack! You probably could've kicked that guy's ass even if Bakugo-senpai wasn't there."
Izuku felt his lips twitch upwards at the comment. It was true that his hard work had paid off and that he now had not just a six-pack, but also a third-degree black belt in karate and judo. He definitely could've taken care of the bully without Katsu's help, but he let the blond do his thing, and only interfered when he went too far.
"Thanks, Tanaka," He replied, ruffling the boy's brown hair affectionately. Tanaka was a boy who idolized Izuku because of how he was strong despite his quirklessness. Tanaka was often ridiculed for his weak quirk, that allowed him to emit a soft glow from his fingers. It was pretty much useless except for when you needed to go to the bathroom in the middle of night, which was admittedly quite a common situation, but you could just use a flashlight instead of his pointless quirk, as one of his rather unkind classmates had pointed out. Seeing someone quirkless be so strong gave him hope that someone "useless" could actually amount to something. Tanaka began following Midoriya everywhere, asking him how to become stronger. Midoriya had patiently listened to his eager ramblings and gave him tips on physical training, popping over to help correct him every few days. To Tanaka, Midoriya had been the person who let him believe in himself again.
"Do you wanna pop over and check how I've been doing on that stance you taught me?" He asked eagerly, only to droop down in disappointment when the green-haired boy shook his head.
"I'm sorry, Tanaka, but I promised to meet up with Katsu at the arcade today. Maybe tomorrow?" Izuku responded gently, seeming apologetic.
"Okay."
"Great! I'll see you tomorrow!" Izuku continued on his way, his voice slowly fading away as he went down the stairs. The broccoli boy hummed as he jogged towards the arcade, waving hello to the koi swimming lazily in a pond. He was making his way through an underpass when a gurgling noise came from the sewers. He froze when green sludge started seeping out, forming into a giant pile of green sludge with red eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. The sludge monster towered over him, letting out a cackle.
"A medium-sized invisibility cloak," evil glee seeped through its every word. The sludge villain pounced, using its body to swallow Izuku. Izuku gagged when the stench of the sludge hit his nose, and he instinctively held his breath. It was a good thing he took in that air when did, for the villain started to cover his mouth with sludge in an attempt to choke him to death. Izuku kicked and tore at the sludge with all his strength, but he couldn't so much as impact the thing that was completely made of fluid.
Calm down, Izuku, he told himself as he stopped his struggles to escape. It was pointless, and it would only waste the precious little breath he had. Think. Does this thing have any weaknesses? Is there any part of it that isn't fluid? Think! He desperately searched for an answer in his mind as the sludge tried to force its way through his tightly shut lips. His eyes! The sludge villain's eyes were most definitely solid! And so, with all of his remaining strength, he punched the sludge villain in the eye. It howled in pain and loosened its grip just enough for Izuku to escape. The green boy had barely enough time to get his breath back before he started running, knowing that the villain was nowhere near defeated.
But he was too slow. The villain, despite having blood stream from one of its eyes, was reaching tendrils of slime towards Izuku.
"YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT, YOU BRAT!" The villain furiously roared, and Izuku panicked as the sludge got closer and closer. He kept on running, even though his lungs burned and his legs ached with pain and all he could think was someone help someone help someone help
No words could describe the relief he felt when he heard three familiar words from a booming voice.
"I AM HERE!"
A/N: Well, that's it for this chapter. I'm still internally struggling with whether I should give Izuku OFA or not, but I feel like if I do, I'm probably gonna let Bakugo onto the secret because there is no way Bakugo is gonna let some random skeleton guy feed Izuku his hair. But I also kinda wanna keep Izuku quirkless because things could also turn quite interesting if I did that. But I guess we'll find out whether I did or not next chapter. Or the chapter after the next. It depends on how long I make next chapter, really. But hopefully it won't take too long for you guys to get a new chapter, cause if it does take too long, I will feel very guilty because I've already made you guys wait five whole months. If you enjoyed, please F&F, it means loads to me. See you next chapter!