We have one more chapter yay :)
Izuku discovers that he likes meeting people.
He didn't know that before working with Tomura, but that was because before. Whenever he met people, they shied away or were mean to him. Granted he only knew the kids in his neighborhood (all intimidated by Kacchan) or the ones in school (also intimidated by Kacchan). Izuku didn't know there were so many nice people in the world.
The bar becomes Izuku's favorite place.
One of the first people he meets is a lady. She sits at the bar and Kurogiri introduces her to Izuku.
Tomura has strictly forbidden him from giving away his name. He's not sure what he's supposed to say, Kurogiri told him some of their friends wanted to talk to him, but he'd been sketchy as to why. He did ask Izuku to bring his notebooks, all 8 of them.
Katsuki doesn't broadcast it into the world, but yes, at some point in time, he and Izuku Midoriya were friends. How Katsuki tolerated the little shit is beyond him, and he can only excuse himself via youthful ignorance. Even if he had reasons to dislike Deku, it also came down to the fact that he was overall a dislikeable guy. It's not even Katsuki's opinion, it's not like Deku has any other friends. He's weird, always muttering under his breath. Opinionated but unwilling to speak up. Dream-filled but incapable of working for it. Who the fuck does he think he is? A hero who doesn't train? That doesn't take a single martial art? What he's gonna do? Talk villains to death?
Izuku talked himself into thinking that he can do fucking anything like he was so much better, or talented or chosen. Katsuki fuckin despises his face.
And the little shit
Does not
Take
A hint.
Good morning, Kacchan!
You're amazing, Kacchan!
Kacchan, don't leave me!
Deku cannot handle Katsuki, much less a villain. Every time he stands in front of whatever pesky shithead had gotten on Katsuki's nerve that day, he pretends he's brave and righteous while shivering like a leaf. He's promptly abandoned by whatever shithead he's so intent on "rescuing" while using the childish tactic of crying to get his way. It's pathetic, but to Katsuki, it's reliving that day in the forest again and again. One moment of careless anger, and Deku's unending tears.
If quirkless Deku was truly meant to be a hero, he would've taken it without flinching! All Might would've never acted like that. Selfishly, childishly, pathetically. Going home to cry about it and get Katsuki in trouble, when he hadn't even done it on purpose! Showing up the next fucking day as if nothing had happened. When Katsuki's dad…
The living room is stuffy, and teenage Katsuki would avoid it like the plague as he grows up after this. He's nine and still dirty from playing in the forest, and his mother has made clear that stupid Deku tattled and that she has words for him about it. The child had prepared himself for a screaming match but instead, his father intervened.
I'll talk to Katsuki, Mitsuki. His father rarely asked for anything, but what he wanted, he got. Both Mitsuki and Katsuki were always roped into doing as he suggested.
So Katsuki sits stiffly in their cream-colored couch as his dad looks down on him solemnly. His eyes are sad, which is already pissing Katsuki off, nervous energy thrumming inside him. He bites his lip hard when his palms heat up in response. He's supposed to be better at this, but the frustration or maybe the silence makes his eyes itchy.
"Katsuki," his father begins, "did you hurt little Izuku with your quirk?" Katsuki's jaw goes slack in anger, and he narrows his eyes. His dad is unmoved by the display of unhappiness by his son, leaning a little further in as he waits for Katsuki to answer. His mother would've already lost her patience. Katsuki isn't used to whatever type of punishment this is but he doesn't like it.
"It was barely anything!" he finally explodes. "Stupid Deku!"
"Did you hurt little Izuku with your quirk, Katsuki?" his dad asked once again. He doesn't look angry, not really, just… serious. It makes Katsuki wary, off-balance with this new side to his gentle father, who pressed Katsuki's crying face to his breast bone even as his arm bled and steamed.
Katsuki looks away, trying to shake off the memory. He nods almost imperceptibly.
"You promised me, Katsuki, that you were going to do better than that." Slowly, his dad's deft fingers undo the two buttons in the cuffs of his blue shirt, allowing him to roll back the sleeves. Katsuki's seen the scarring before, obviously. He helped change the bandages every single time. But his dad never shows them around, not ever and certainly not like this.
"This wasn't like that!" Katsuki screams. "It wasn't! It wasn't! It was nothing! Deku is stupid! And a crybaby! I haven't-! I didn't!"
His dad looks even sadder as he rolls his sleeve back down, but the way Katsuki's heart slams against his ribcage doesn't go away. He's crying now, choking up on his own snot. Scared and guilty and so very angry, because none of this is fair. He didn't do anything, not really! It wasn't like that time. It wasn't!
Katsuki's chubby, terribly fingers wrench at his t-shirt, trying to vanish the climbing pressure in his chest. He only notices that he's jumped off the couch in his distress when his dad leans forward to kneel in front of him on the ground.
"You're right, Katsuki," his father's voice bounces around his head, but it's distant, Katsuki is still drowning in his own tears, his throat bubbling. "But, is this the type of hero you're going to be?"
Katsuki never forgets those words.
(It's been years but the burn never goes away, even after the shadows in his family do. Just like his dad's scars and twitchy fingers.)
And his dad was never like that, never. Not even when Katsuki hurt him that time, but because of fucking Deku…!
Katsuki needs some work, he knows that, that's what UA is for. But, this kid glaring up to him in the back of the schoolyard, this two-faced, whining piece of trash always trying to stand against Katsuki and then pretend to be his friend…
Katsuki hates Deku Midoriya more than anything.
So, he should be glad when the annoying pest makes himself scarce, except Katsuki is not. Who is Deku spending his time with all of a sudden?
Ellora arrives at the meeting spot early as instructed, taking a seat on the fourth chair at the bar. The place is dimmed but clean enough, a mild smoky scent clinging to the wood. Further back in shadows, a group of men puffs away at some cheap cigars while at the electronics station a light blue head of hair seems immersed in some colorful characters cheering away at the screen. She doesn't catch the face of whoever's playing, but the game reminds Ellora of why she's here, ironing out her resolve.
"What would you like?" The bartender is a warper, her info checking out that it's the right place with his presence.
"I came for an Angel Shot," she keeps her hands clasped in her lap, lest she gives away her nerves. She gives the bartender a daring glance. "They say yours is the best." Golden eyes give nothing away, and only a noncommittal hum answers her, but she feels the stool next to her be pulled slightly back and quickly covers her surprise when a child plops himself on the seat. He needs to scramble a little to climb up, colored markers and a battered notebook making a home in the dark-colored, wooden table. At first, she only processes the mop of dark green curls, but once seated he gives her a brilliant smile. He looks a little shy but enthusiastic, and Ellora is left grasping at straws to puzzle what the child's presence means.
Giran's instructions were simple. Find the bar owned by the warper. Take a seat on the 4th stool at the bar. Order an Angel Shot, comment on the drink being the best (in singular).
That's how one contacted Freckles.
The coincidence of the smattering of dots around the child's face is too big for her to dismiss. She twists around to the bartender but he doesn't seem to be paying her - or the child - any mind.
"H-hi!" the boy waves childish, seemingly unsurprised at her vivid concern. "What's your name?"
"Lara," she lies.
"Freckles," he replies. It's a weird nickname, but anonymity is everything in the villain world, and Ellora is being just as dishonest. She's unsure how to proceed, caught off guard by his age but then again, in the world, they live in, a quirk can explain just about anything.
I think I'm pretty set on making this 5 short stories instead of three long ones, so this volume 2 will be all about Kacchan and Deku and their journay to UA!
Thoughts?