Hey old hag! Have you seen my phone anywhere? I can't find it!" Bakugo yelled over their shoulder as they frantically searched the kitchen. They shoved aside the toaster and shuffled through the bowl full of random junk on the counter top, cursing quietly to themselves.
"I already told you, you little louse! For the last goddamn time, NO! I haven't seen your goddamn phone!" Mitsuki screamed from the other room.
Damn it. Where could that slippery little shit be?
Where was the last place I had it?
"If you need to call me that badly today, just use Eijirou's phone! I'm sure he'll let you borrow it, Cause he's not a possessive little shit like someone else I know!" Mitsuki yelled again.
"Where the hell did that come from?!" Bakugo screeched. "You're just asking for it at this point!"
"Ha! Like you could do anything!" Bakugo's mother cackled. "Now stop worrying about the goddamn phone and get your ass to school already!" Mitsuki called one last time from the other room.
"Shut your trap old woman!" Bakugo screamed back. "I'm goin!"
I suppose I'll just have to look for it when I get home.
Bakugo quickly shoved their feet into the shoes and raced out the door. The warm, morning November air greeted them as they stepped out onto their front stoop. That however, wasn't the only thing that greeted them. To their surprise, someone was there waiting for Bakugo.
"Oh! You're finally out!" Midoriya said with a big smile as Bakugo stared blankly at the boy standing outside the front gate. "Nice to see you and your mom still get along."
"What the hell are you doing here?" Bakugo growled. They tugged gently on the hem of their skirt, suddenly strangely insecure about its length.
The dark haired boy scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Oh, well I thought that maybe we could walk to school together."
"What in the absolute hell would make you think that I would ever walk to school with a nerd like you? Are you brain dead or something?" Bakugo hissed as they gave their skirt one more tug and swiftly shoved past the boy standing at the gate. To Bakugo's annoyance, Midoriya simply followed.
"I- I don't mean to be a bother." He stuttered, nervous but clearly happy as well. "I just don't want to get lost or anything, and it's nice to know I'll be with someone familiar in a new school. We're in the same class you know."
"Fucking fantastic." Bakugo mumbled as they stomped ahead. The bright beautiful morning sky seemed to be mocking them as the boy followed Bakugo like a lost puppy. Jeez, Bakugo hated happy, sunshiny bitches like this dark haired nuisance.
"It's so nerve wracking knowing I'll have to introduce myself to the whole class." Midoriya sighed. "I hope I don't mess up and make a fool of myself."
"You already are a fool." The blonde muttered.
"Come on, Kacchan." Midoriya frowned. "Don't say stuff like that or you'll make me even more nervous."
"Good!"
Midoriya's frown deepened as he looked over at the blonde girl stomping along next to him, but he remained quiet.
An awkward silence stretched between them for almost the entirety of the rest of the walk, only breaking when Midoriya would make a comment about something he was that caught his eye, or attempt at asking Bakugo a question about school. Bakugo didn't answer any of them. When they did finally reach the front entrance of the school, Bakugo tried their best to distance themselves from their green haired tag along, but the little dweeb clung to Bakugo's side like a damn tick.
"Hey, Kacchan! Hold on!" Midoriya squeaked in panic as Bakugo attempted to lose him around a corner, but the boy quickly caught up with the blonde. But what really took Bakugo by surprise was when Midoriya suddenly grabbed gently on to their wrist, halting the girl a few feet from her locker.
"Hey! Don't touch me, nerd!" Bakugo yelped, immediately pulling their wrist away and retreating the few remaining feet to their locker.
"Sorry Kacchan! I just didn't want to get lost." Midoriya quickly apologized and wandered a bit to the right, where his own shoe cubby was located. As he switched out his shoes, he peered around at all the other kids that were quickly swapping their shoes out and chatting happily with other students.
There weren't very many clumped around due to the fact that the pair had gotten to school a bit early, but there were still enough people for Bakugo and Midoriya both to notice that students were now no-so-subtly sneaking them glances. People were looking in their direction as they quickly changed their shoes and peered over at the duo. Teens pointed and whispered back and forth about the unfamiliar student who was brave enough to walk so closely next to Katsuki Bakugo. And what was even more gossip worthy was how the kid could walk so close to the resident ticking time bomb and not be blown to smithereens! That privilege was usually only reserved for one person, and one person alone: Eijirou Kirishima.
Before Bakugo and Midoriya even reached their classroom, girls and boys alike were already passing rumors back and forth. The juicy gossip spread like wildfire through the entire student body as more kids entered the school that morning. And as most rumors did, the stories slowly were contorted and changed as they traveled through the grapevine, each student eager to add their own twist to the freshly brewed tea.
"Did you hear? Katsuki Bakugo from class 2-A came to school today with a boy!"
"Do you think it was that transfer student everyone was saying might come in today? We hardly ever get transfers."
"I heard that the boy called her 'Kacchan'. Is that some sort of cute pet name or something?"
"I saw them holding hands at the shoe locker!"
"No way! They must be dating!"
"Oh my goodness! You guys just have to hear about what I saw this morning! Katsuki Bakugo has a boyfriend."
"I can't believe Katsuki Bakugo actually has a boyfriend!"
And just like that, the facts had been set in stone. Katsuki Bakugo has a boyfriend who calls her 'Kacchan' and they were seen holding hands at the shoe lockers this morning.
As the tale spread like wildfire, it obviously wouldn't take long before it would reach the ears of a certain unsuspecting redhead as he walked on to the school grounds that morning, nothing on his mind but an unanswered text message. However, he was quickly pulled out of his head by an external voice.
"Yo! Kirishima!"
Kirishima's head turned as Kaminari came jogging up to him from the front doors of the school. He was waving his phone above him in the air as he called his friend's name. Clearly he had something pretty important to tell Kirishima. Though Kaminari's definition of "important" usually was a bit different than the textbook definition. His idea of "important" tended to be a video of him doing something incredibly stupid, a picture of some really attractive girl, or a dumb meme that didn't make any sense to Kirishima.
"Good morning Kaminari. What do ya need man?" Kirishima smiled down at the blonde as he reached his side.
Kaminari was practically buzzing with excitement as he leaned in towards his friend. "Have you heard yet? Well? Have you?"
Kirishima raised a single red eyebrow and slowly shook his head, confused. "Heard what? Is there something going on?"
Kaminari nodded and motioned for Kirishima to follow him inside to the shoe cubbies. The blonde began talking a mile a minute as Kirishima reached his cubby and began changing his shoes. "I can't believe nobody called you or anything! Not even a text?" Kaminari blabbed.
Kirishima frowned, his eyes never leaving his blonde buddy, even as he put his outdoor shoes into his cubby. "No. Nobody texted me. What's going on?"
"It's Bakugo!"
Kirishima's frown deepened even more. "Did something happen to her?" He could feel a sense of dread start to pulsate through his chest. Had she not come to school today? Was she in an accident? Had all those people she had put down finally ganged up on her for revenge? Was she okay? Was she safe?
"I wouldn't say anything happened necessarily. She's not hurt or anything." Kaminari said with a shrug before his expression turned somewhat smug; A sure sign of danger. "But she came to school with someone today."
"What?"
Before Kaminari could clarify, a tan and pink blur came barreling by the two boys and practically threw itself at Kirishima, making him stumble backwards a bit into the shoe cubbies. He managed to catch himself though, and whatever had come flying at him.
"Kiri! Kiri! I neeeeeed details!"
Kirishima stared down at Ashido, who was bouncing up and down in front of him. "Woah. Calm down Ashido. What's going on?"
"I need details!" She whined again, but there was a big, mischievous smile on her face. "Who's that guy Bakugo is with? Is he really her boyfriend?"
Her… what?
"Hold on. Back it up. Did you say…" Kirishima released his hands from where they had been clutched around Ashido to keep her from completely mauling him. "What are you…" He shook his head slowly in baffled confusion. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"That boy Bakugo came to school with today!" Ashido somewhat clarified, finally taking a step back. "A boy in class 1-B said that he even saw them holding hands!"
"Bakugo was… holding a guy's hand?" Kirishima knew that couldn't be true, right? Bakugo wouldn't be caught dead doing something like that.
But…
Is that why she didn't respond to my text?
…
Stop that. Kirishima mentally scolded himself for the random intrusive thought. Bakugo wouldn't keep something like a boyfriend secret from him, her best friend, right? Bakugo had never even cared about romantic stuff anyways. In fact, she hated it. So it couldn't be true.
So why… why if he knew that couldn't be true… Why did he still have an anxious, sickly feeling growing deep in his stomach?
Well, whether or not it was true, Kirishima needed answers. This rumor had to have started from somewhere.
"So? Was that her boyfriend? Does Bakugo have a boyfriend?" Kaminari bumped Kirishima slightly with his shoulder. "Come on man. Don't leave us hanging. Is it true?"
"Of course it's not true." Kirishima muttered, his brow furrowed. "At least, as far as I know. I'm assuming you two don't know who this guy is then?"
Kaminari and Ashido looked at each other with raised eyebrows before they returned their gaze to the taller boy and both shook their heads.
"Nope. Never seen him before." Kaminari clarified.
"Me neither." Ashido added. "But I did hear that we might be getting a transfer student in our class this week. Do you think this mystery man could have been the new transfer?"
"That's definitely a possibility." Kaminari squinted his eyes, deep in thought; A difficult task for the electric blonde.
"Well let's go check then." Kirishima frowned, thoroughly focused on who this person could be, and what they were doing holding Bakugo's hand. Had they tried to take advantage of her? Forced her to hold their hand? Who does this dude think he is? Kirishima would have to knock some sense into this guy.
Once he figured out the reason of course. Someone could have seen wrong and only thought they were holding hands, right? Kirishima sure hoped that was the case at least.
The three students quickly made their way down the hall and to the stairs leading to the second floor of the building. Kirishima was near silent as the two other teens gossiped back and forth behind him, swapping their theories on how the new transfer could possibly be related to the resident class firecracker, Katsuki Bakugo. The ambiance of the school and chatting students were the only other sounds. Kirishima was too stuck in his own worry-filled head anyways to be concerned with anything his two classmates were talking about.
"Kirishima seems kinda upset right now, doesn't he? Or is that just me?" Kaminari whispered to Ashido as the three walked up the stairs.
"Yeah. Do you think he's worried about this guy?" Ashido whispered back.
"Why would he be worried about whether or not the rapid Pomerania has a boo thing?" Kaminari narrowed his eyes at the boy walking along in front of them.
"Maybe Kirishima really does have the hots for Bakugo." Ashido suggested with a less than subtle knowing grin growing on her tan face.
"Eww! No way!" Kaminari crinkled up his nose in disgust. "Plus, Kirishima has a crush on yo…" he paused for a moment before continuing. "...Someone else." His voice slowly trailed off as he ended his thought.
"Really?" Ashido raised an eyebrow and peered curiously at Kirishima. He was walking a bit farther ahead of them now, focused solely on his destination. "It seems to me like he likes her a whole heck of a lot."
"How in the world did you ever come to that conclusion?!" Kaminari said, clearly a little confused.
"Cause he's always defending her whenever someone complains about her attitude, and not to mention he constantly talks about her." Ashido's smile softened a bit. "In fact, she's about all he talks about other than Judo. She's about the only girl he ever looks at so genuinely. Most girls would die for someone to look at them the way he looks at her. I can't believe you haven't noticed. Aren't you supposed to be one of his best friends?"
"But why would anyone ever like Bakugo?" Kaminari frowned. "Especially Kirishima of all people! Sure they've been friends for like, God knows how long, but… but still! This is Katsuki Bakugo we're talking about here! As in Katsuki 'If you look at me funny I'll tear your balls off, throw them in a blender, and force you to drink your own testical smoothie" Bakugo."
Ashido raised an eyebrow, slightly amused, slightly disgusted, but still curious for clarification on what was so strange about Kirishima's possible crush.
"It's just, Kirishima is such a cool dude! He's super nice and really chill." Kaminari explained. "But Bakugo's an explosive asshole who treats everyone like they're beneath her!"
"Hey."
Both teens flinched as Kirishima turned to look at them.
"Kaminari, how many times have I told you not to say that about Bakugo?" Kirishima's face was serious, an unusual expression for the loveable hardhead. An expression that only came out for defending Bakugo.
"Uh, sorry man." Kaminari quickly apologized.
Ashido shot Kaminari a knowing glance as soon as Kirishima turned around and the three continued down the hallway. Kaminari could practically hear her saying, "See? Told you so."
Kaminari rolled his eyes back at her, as if to say "Fine fine. You win. No need to rub it in."
Kirishima didn't even pick up on his friend's glances as he returned his focus to his original mission. When they reached the door or class 1-A, he took a deep breath and placed a hand on the door. Putting on his best fake smile (something he had gotten quite good at doing), Kirishima swung open the classroom door with as much enthusiasm as he could muster without breaking anything.
"Good morning everyone!"
A large clump of students were all gathered around a desk towards the side of the classroom. Curious and smiling faces turned to the door as the three most boisterous students in the class entered the space.
Kirishima smiled as Sero quickly excused himself from the large clump to come greet his friends. "Yo guys! Mornin'."
"Yo Sero! What's up with the excitement in here today?" Kirishima asked innocently, accepting an outstretched hand from Sero in a friendly side shoulder "bro bump".
"The new transfer student, man. Did you forget?" Sero said with a smile. "He's pretty nice. A tad bit socially awkward, but still cool."
Kirishima nodded and quickly threw a glance at Ashido and Kaminari. "Awesome. We'll go say hi."
"Ohhhhh. I love new people! I'm so excited to actually talk to him!" Ashido said. She was practically vibrating with excitement. Kirishima was certain if she got any more excited, she would drill right through the floor. Thankfully, before she could tunnel straight through the earth, she practically leaped over to where the rest of the students were gathered around the transfer kid's desk and squeezed herself between two people.
"Hi!!! Welcome to our class! I'm Mina Ashido!" The overly excited girl was basically shouting as Kaminari quickly caught up behind her. There were so many people crowded around that desk, Kirishima was positive there was no point in trying to get over there right now. So instead, Kirishima quickly scanned the room for that oh so familiar tuft of spikey blonde hair.
Said tuft of spikey blonde hair was sitting in the desk right behind the exchange student; Their usual seat. Kirishima quickly mosied over to Bakugo's side, trying to act as normal as possible.
"Good morning Katsuki!"
"Tsk."
Kirishima smiled. He had kinda missed their little back and forths. It was nice to feel like he could finally talk with Bakugo again. Even if Bakugo wasn't really talking.
"So. New transfer student." Kirishima attempted to sound as casual as possible. He immediately knew it didn't work when Bakugo's crimson eyes flicked slightly upwards to stare intently at him. That familiar fire burned dangerously behind them.
"And what of it?" She hissed.
Kirishima shrugged, stuffing his hands into his pockets. "Nothing. It's just nice to have a fresh face in the classroom."
Bakugo's crimson eyes narrowed slightly as she studied the redhead's face. Her lips were tightly pursed together. Kirishime hoped she couldn't see how nervous he was. His palms were kind of sweaty. He gently rocked back and forth on his heels, unsure of whether or not to keep talking. "I heard that you two walked into school together this morning." Kirishima continued carefully.
"Is that what this is about?" Bakugo rolled her eyes and sneered. Her gaze shifted to focus on the crowd in front of her.
Frick. Wrong choice of words. Kirishima could feel his eyes widen slightly against his own will. Damn. Bakugo knew him too well. Time to find a way out. "I was just wondering if you two knew each other."
Bakugo's eyes quickly shifted back from the crowd to Kirishima, but this time, instead of looking angry with him, her facial expression read: "You're an idiot."
Oof.
Kirishima stared back down at Bakugo, trying to act innocent, but now a bit confused. "What? What did I say?"
"Have you even seen or talked to the new transfer student yet, you meathead?" Bakugo growled.
"Huh?" Kirishima turned to look at the desk in front of them. The crowd was starting to clear a bit as everyone was splitting off to talk in smaller groups. Only a few people were still talking with the new transfer, meaning Kirishima had a pretty good view of the back of their head. He slowly stepped away from Bakugo's desk and made his way to Iida's side, who was currently lecturing the poor transfer on something.
As soon as the new transfer student's face came fully into view, Kirishima couldn't believe his own eyes. At first he was sure his brain was making the wrong connection, but as the dark haired boy's gaze flicked up to meet his own and the redhead got a full view of his face, Kirishima immediately knew who it was.
"No way! Izuku Midoriya? Is that you?" Kirishima hollered, unable to contain the massive, genuine smile that spread across his face.
The same recognition didn't seem to flash in Midoriya's green eyes however. He stared up at the other boy, clearly a bit puzzled. His eyes were searching for some sense of familiarity, but couldn't seem to find it. "Umm. Yeah. That's me. I'm sorry, but have we met before?" His voice was small and nervous, as if not recognizing Kirishima might somehow be offensive.
Kirishima heard a single snicker coming from Bakugo's desk.
"It's me!" Kirishima said, gripping his hands on Midoriya's desk in excitement. "Eijiro Kirishima! You, Bakugo, and I used to play together as kids!"
Midoriya squinted at Kirishima's face for a moment longer before his eyes flew open in disbelief. "Oh my gosh! Is that really you?"
Kirishima nodded vigorously, beyond excited. "Yeah! It is!"
The commotion seemed to have once again grabbed the attention of the other students, and they wandered back over to the crowded desk.
Midoriya stood up from his desk and gave his friend a great big hug before backing up again to take in the boy before him. "You're a guy!" He said happily, a great big smile of his own on his freckled face.
"You are too!" Kirishima felt as giddy as a small child in the presence of his old friend. It felt so unreal to see them again.
"God. You're like two senile old ladies seeing their grandkids at Christmas. Grow up already, you shitty nerds."
Both boys turned to look at the girl still slouched in her chair behind them. But despite her words, she had a small, smug smirk of her own fighting for space on her face. Clearly she was trying to suppress it though.
It was nice that all three of them were back together in one place.
"I can't believe we all go to the same school!" Midoriya beamed. "Kacchan, why didn't you tell me Eiji went here too?"
"Cause you didn't ask, dumbass."
"Hold up!" Ashido interjected, quickly shoving herself in between the three other students. "Did you just call Bakugo, 'Kacchan' and Kirishima 'Eiji'?" She pointed at each one in turn as she said their names.
Midoriya seemed taken aback for a moment by the question, before sheepishly looking away from the other students. "Ah, uh… Yeah. Nicknames from when we were kids."
"That's adorable!" Uraraka cooed from nearby. "Kacchan and Eiji!" A few of the other girls squealed in agreement.
"Oi!" Bakugo shouted and shot up from her chair. "Don't take this nerd's shitty nickname as an excuse to start calling me that!"
The room erupted into giggles and Bakugo nashed her teeth. Kirishima quickly calmed the fiery-tempered teen and coaxed her back into her chair, laughing as well. Bakugo didn't put up much of a fight other than growling under her breath about "shitty Deku" and "immature extras".The giggling only stopped when the door to the classroom quickly slid open. Desks and chairs clattered noisily as students quickly rushed to their seats and faced the tired looking man that was now entering the room.
"All right, students." Mr. Aizawa sighed unenthusiastically as he reached the front of the classroom. His dark, tired eyes scanned over the teens seated quietly before him. "Good morning." He began. "Before we start class today, we have a few things we need to do. It seems you all have already been making yourselves familiar with our new student, and I wish we could skip the official introduction for time's sake, but I'd be stuck in the office for hours if a certain maniac principal found out, so come up and introduce yourself to the class, Midoriya."
Kirishima watched as Midoriya quickly stood up and hurried to the front of the room. All of his movements were stiff and robotic. He was clearly quite anxious. Kirishima could also see the sweat dripping down the back of his neck. Kirishima sighed with an amused smile. Well, it didn't seem like the boy's anxiety had gotten any better over the years he had been away.
With a shaky hand, Midoriya scribbled his name onto the whiteboard with a green marker and turned to face the rest of the class. He just stared at them all for a moment, until Mr. Aizawa raised an eyebrow at Midoriya, expectantly. "Come on kid." He grumbled. "We don't have all day." His tired tone wasn't mean or irritable, but seemed to have just enough harshness behind it to get Midoriya talking.
"Oh!" Midoriya yelped, snapping out of his trance. "I- I'm Izuku Midoriya!" He was almost shouting with anxiety. "It's a pleasure to meet all of you! I hope we can get along!" As soon as he finished his introduction, he bowed so quickly and so far over, Kirishima was surprised Midoriya didn't fall flat on his face. A few of the girl's giggled.
"Well, now that we've gotten that out of the way," Mr. Aizawa let out a long exhale as Midoriya made his way back to his seat. The boy's face was bright red. "We have one other thing to talk about before class starts. I'll leave this to you two" Mr. Aizawa finished as he nodded subtly at Yaoyorozu and Iida, who both quickly joined the teacher at the front of the room.
As Mr. Aizawa slowly stepped aside, the two class reps quietly mumbled something to one another, not particularly concerned about anyone hearing what they said, but simply trying to consider how to go about doing what they were about to do.
"Okay!" Iida said in his usual boisterous tone as he turned away from Yaoyorzu and began addressing the class. Yaoyorozu quickly started writing something on the whiteboard behind them in big black letters.
The class president cleared his throat. "As I'm sure you are all aware, we have a very important subject to discuss today!" Iida continued. Excited whispers broke out around the classroom. Kirishima furrowed his brow, suddenly puzzled.
Something important? Was there something else important happening today other than the transfer student?
As Yaoyorozu popped the cap back on the dry erase marker and stepped away from the whiteboard, Kirishima quickly scanned over the characters written there.
"文化祭のアイデア。"
Ideas for the Cultural Festival.
