Katsuki glowers at the boy in front of her.
He's shaking too hard to even look at her, bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle, arms pressed to his sides after he'd shoved a box of chocolates - expensive ones too, from her initial confused glance at the label - and is staring at the ground between them, waiting for her response to his confession.
She blinks at him, scowl deepening at his continued fear. Why does he even want to date her when the mere sight of her scowl is enough to have him shaking? She scowls all the time and makes no secret about it, if he can't handle it then he shouldn't be trying to pursue her. Besides which, Katsuki doesn't remember ever meeting this dumbass in her life - he's certainly not been in any of her classes.
Her nose wrinkles a little in distaste at the thought of him watching her from a distance long enough to decide that he liked her, wanted to buy her expensive chocolate, confess, and ask her out. Hell, he hadn't even said his name, she's just been thinking of him as Shaky Dumbass in her head since this whole thing began.
"No," she finally says, bluntly, eyes narrowed in displeasure. The guy's head finally snaps up to stare at her wide-eyed, looking at her directly for the first time since this conversation had begun.
"N-no?" he asks, looking a little shocked by her answer. "But-"
"I don't know you, I don't know your name," she snaps, eyes narrowing a little bit more. "You haven't looked directly at me once since this whole fucking thing began, and you're shaking even now. I'm not fucking interested. My answer is no."
She hears him begin to protest as she turns around, but she ignores him and walks away, heading back to class. Katsuki sighs, feeling her palms warm in her irritation. If she could get away with it, she'd let off an explosion or two to get rid of her irritation, but even she won't be able to do that without getting into trouble.
Honestly, she is ready to be done with middle school. The entire place is full of extras either trying to suck up to her because she's strong and they know it, or full of assholes who think they're hot shit because they can throw a punch. She snorts. Idiots.
Middle school is also when extras like Shaky had started emerging. Katsuki doesn't know what about her glower isn't saying back off enough for those fuckers, but they've started appearing in the last year and a half, approaching every couple of months. None of them were very impressive, either interested in the idea of her rather than the reality, asking her out as a dare, or trying to up their own status by 'taming the beast', so to speak.
Katsuki opens the classroom door with a bang, ignoring the startled jumps from the few students inside. A glance at the clock says it's still twenty minutes until school begins, which explains why it is so empty. Her eyes drift to Izumi, who of course arrived with her. Her friend is scribbling away in her latest journal, quietly murmuring.
She stalks over and sits down in her seat noisily, hooking a foot around a nearby chair and dragging it over with a screech before propping her ankles up on it. Izumi barely notices the disturbance, and Katsuki glances over to see a page about the hero they'd seen during their morning commute. Nerd.
Tossing the box of chocolates on Izumi's desk does get her attention though, as she startles enough to just barely miss drawing a skidding line across the page of her journal. The nerd almost drops her pencil entirely, but she secures her grip on it and sends an exasperated look towards Katsuki.
"Kicchan," she huffs, before her eyes are drawn towards the box on her desk and her eyebrows raise. "Oh, another one?"
"This one couldn't even look at me and nearly shit himself when I narrowed my eyes," Katsuki confirms, leaning back in her chair as much as her skirt will allow. "Fucking extra didn't even introduce himself, the creeper."
"Yikes," Izumi says, grimacing in turn. Her eyes drifted again to the chocolates. "Why would he get you chocolates, too? You don't like sweets. Shouldn't word have gotten around after the last two?"
"You'd think," Katsuki grumbles. "Either way, this shit's yours now. Eat them, toss them, whatever. I don't want them."
"Thanks Kicchan!" Izumi beams, opening the box to try one. Katsuki huffs in response, eyeing her friend sideways as she snacks.
Izumi had gotten two confessions herself during the past few years but hadn't really accepted either. The first one had been a guy trying to ingratiate himself with Katsuki to gain status as someone adjacent to her by dating her best friend - and Katsuki had put a stop to that bullshit real fast, and nobody had tried that tactic since. The second one had genuinely liked Izumi, as far as Katsuki could tell, but Izumi had turned him down too claiming she didn't feel the same way and wanted to focus on heroism anyway.
There hadn't been another attempt yet - people apparently accepting that Izumi wasn't interested (even if they didn't accept that about Katsuki herself, apparently) since Izumi is generally well-liked by everyone who isn't a complete douche. Which, a fair number of people in their shitty middle school are, but not everyone is.
The warning bell rings and Katsuki sighs, turning her attention to the front of the room. She kicks the chair back into place, and the extra who had been awkwardly standing by their desk grabs it gratefully. Katsuki rolls her eyes and gets out her things to take notes. The day has only just started, and she is already done with people.
"Whoa!"
"How are they doing that?"
"It's expected for Bakugou-san, but Midoriya-san too!"
Sweat trails down Katsuki's face as she does another pushup, and she tries her best to ignore it as she casts a glance to the side where Izumi is keeping up with her. There is a competitive look in her friend's eyes that doesn't come out often, but when it does, it's nearly always around Katsuki.
"Getting tired yet, Izu?" she mocks, feral grin painted across her features. Her arms are burning, but she's too into the competition to stop now - and besides, the burn is probably the best part since she can almost feel herself getting stronger.
"You wish," Izumi scoffs, gasping a little around the words, but she smirks back easily and shows no signs of stopping either. This is why they fit together so well, each pushing the other to their limits in an attempt to get even better.
They keep going and Katsuki loses time to the fire taking over her arms. In the corner of her eye, she can see Izumi's own arms trembling as they both push themselves to keep time with the other. It reaches the point where Katsuki's arms are getting close to giving out on her and she grits her teeth, each time thinking just one more.
Until - thud! thud!
Her arms give out one pushup after Izu's do, and she can hear her classmates going wild around them. She pants through the trembling in her arms, content to lay flat for the moment. The smell of burnt caramel is strong in the air, and Katsuki knows she'll have to wipe the mats down and be extra careful until she gets to the showers. But glancing over at Izu for now, she grins, teeth bared in a wild expression of joy as she meets her friend's emerald gaze.
"I win," she huffs, and Izu smiles her own bare-toothed grin, subtler for its wildness, rising to the bait Katsuki sets as she always does.
"This time," she snorts. "Don't forget, that tied us. Next time I'll break that tie."
"Good fucking luck."
"Still, new personal best, Kicchan!" the greenette says, paying no mind to their classmates as they begin to put away the rest of the equipment. "A hundred and eight this time for you, a hundred and seven for me."
"No doubt you'll be writing it down in that creepy as fuck notebook, huh?" Katsuki snorts, finally forcing herself to sit up. She turns to look at Izumi, seeing that her friend is pouting and pointedly looking away.
"It's not creepy, it's progress," Izumi protests. "It's so we can keep track of how far we've come and have a record of what our training looks like. It helps us keep track of our results!"
"Uh huh, sure, Izu," Katsuki smirks. "And the other thirteen obsessive notebooks you have about heroes you've never met?"
"Shut up, you know it's not like that!" Izumi groans, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment. Their classmates have already moved away as soon as the hype about their competition died down, so right now the only one witnessing her embarrassment is Katsuki. She huffs a laugh and hauls herself to her feet.
"Sure, sure. C'mon, nerd, stand up and help me put these mats away already."
Izumi groans out in protest, but willingly drags herself to her feet and forces her shaking arms to help Katsuki clean off the mats and fold them away until the next time.
"I'll pass out handouts for your future career plans, but… you're all pretty much planning to go into the hero course, right?" Their teacher exclaims, tossing the sheets in the air. Izumi and Katsuki exchange a look as their classmates cheer, before a glimpse of something mischievous enters the blonde's expression. "You all have wonderful Quirks!"
"Sensei!" Katsuki calls out, silencing the rest of the room as they wait eagerly to hear what she says. "Don't lump us all in the same group. Izu and I aren't going to be stuck at the bottom with the rest of these rejects."
The rest of the class blinks for a second, before erupting into pandemonium just as Katsuki had clearly hoped. She throws a few more comments their way to rile them up further, an amused smirk on her face at their outrage. Izumi just sighs and ducks her head a little, trying not to get drawn into the chaos.
"Ah, that's right. If I remember correctly, you are planning to go to Yuuei, right Bakugou?" Their teacher comments, trying to rein in the energy in the room a bit. Sure enough, the statement is enough to stop the shouting and turn it to shocked gasps and murmurs. Katsuki's smirk grows at the reactions, until the teacher seems to remember something. "Oh yeah, Midoriya is planning to go to Yuuei too, isn't she?"
The whisperings abruptly cut off, before their classmates nervously chuckle, glancing between Katsuki and Izumi. They're clearly unsure if they should take that statement seriously, some of them wanting to laugh, but all of them too afraid of Katsuki's retaliation to openly make fun of Izumi.
"Well, if Midoriya is trying it, then heck, maybe I should too," one of the braver ones finally says, nervous laughter following his words. Careful laughter from others in the class follows that statement, but Katsuki's smirk falls all the same. Her eyes narrow as her lips twist into something colder.
"Ha! Like any of you shitty extras have a chance of getting into Yuuei," she says, scorn clear in her tone, and the laughter abruptly dies. Her eyes dare the other students to say another word as she continues. "Izu and I will be the only two who make it in, so don't even bother showing up for the tests. We'll be the only ones to get into Yuuei, and then we'll reach the top two spots while all of you will be lucky to become more than sidekicks."
"Kicchan…" Izumi protests weakly, but she doesn't say much more than that - not being able to refute that really, they are the only two in the class who stand a chance.
They both know that heroism requires a certain amount of work and discipline to do, and that it takes a lot of training and preparation to even start. That's something that pretty much none of their classmates have been doing the past few years. Instead of training, most of them watch TV or hang out with friends. Instead of studying, they go out to eat or to the fair. Instead of getting in peak condition, they've chosen to be ordinary students - a perfectly fine choice, but not one that will get them far in heroics.
Izumi and Katsuki do things besides train and work too, but the proportions of the time they spend relaxing to the time they spend preparing are very different. They work out five days a week, and have martial arts training three days a week, resulting in toned muscle that stands out among the comparative softness of their classmates' young bodies. They finish all their homework before having fun, and with Izumi being a self-proclaimed nerd and Katsuki being a perfectionist, they aren't done until they know they'll have the best scores in the class.
The difference between them and their classmates is pretty stark, no matter if you look at grades or at physical ability, and Izumi can't protest because she knows Katsuki is right even if she's being rude about it.
The bell rings to signal the end of the day, putting the conversation to a halt. Their classmates are grumbling as they slowly filter out of the classroom, and before long it's just Katsuki and Izumi left in the room.
"You shouldn't antagonize them all so much, Kicchan," Izumi says quietly. "You'd make more friends if you didn't, and there's no need to rub it in their face when they'll be facing reality soon enough."
"Who wants to be friends with those fucking assholes?" Katsuki gripes, before sliding her carmine eyes sideways. "I'll antagonize them all I fucking want so long as they keep doing the same to you. I didn't tell those extras anything but the truth, and you know it. It's their own fucking fault if they aren't prepared for hero courses by now."
Izumi hums her ambivalence about that but doesn't press the issue further as she finishes packing up. She stands, turning to see that Katsuki is ready to go but shifting her weight awkwardly, as if she wants to say something.
"Look," the blonde finally says, tone aggressive but sincere as she casts her gaze out the window to avoid looking the other girl in the eyes. "You're going to be a great fucking hero, and if those morons don't have the sense to see that, then fuck them. But you're also my shitty fucking friend, so if they mess with you, I will mess them up, got it nerd?"
"... Kicchan," Izumi finally says, genuinely touched, her eyes welling up. "That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me."
"Shut the fuck up, Izu!"
They're walking home when it happens, Katsuki's foot hitting a stray can on the street. The next thing she knows, some gross fucking perverted slime guy has engulfed her and is trying to wear her like a puppet.
She can't move around the sludge holding her, and it's all she can do to keep her mouth shut and her throat closed as sludge presses in through her nose. It hurts, and she can't breathe, and her panicked explosions are doing nothing.
Through her haze of fear, she can see a crowd of people standing around, along with several pros. None of them are moving. Why aren't they moving? She can't breathe. Another explosion jolts her wrist painfully, but the hole she blew in the sludge guy just fills in again, and for the first time in her life, Katsuki feels helpless.
Then, a blur of green.
The sludge guy jolts back with a pained yell, releasing her face as he thrashes. Katsuki gasps, letting her head fall forward and sucking in as much air as she can, wide-eyed with terror. A pair of sturdy arms plunge into the slime, hooking under her shoulders and pulling hard. There's resistance from the guy, but finally something gives and Katsuki is sprawled on the ground, free from the villain's grasp.
She's hacking up disgusting slime, her limbs trembling both from her fear and the aftershocks of her multitude of explosions. Her clothes are soaked and stinking, and it takes her a long moment to look up and see which fucking person finally got off their ass to get her out.
In front of her is a green as familiar to her as her own hands.
Izumi sits crouched before her, between her and the villain and shielding her from the crowd. There's a hardened look in her eyes as she periodically scans their surroundings, but all of her attention is focused on Katsuki herself. It's then that Katsuki realizes that she's still holding onto Izumi's arms, her own trembling.
"It's okay, Kicchan," Izumi says just loud enough for her to hear, gripping her forearms a little more firmly - correctly realizing that Katsuki is about to pull away. "This is why we're going to be a Hero Duo; you'll have my back and I'll have yours."
It takes a moment for her to process the green-haired girl's words, but when she does it eases some sort of shaky insecurity that had begun to form in her chest. She shudders out a breath, coughing up a bit more sludge, and turns to look at the villain. She blinks, rearing back a little from the sight.
"Is that a -" she croaks out, before Izumi cuts her off.
"Yeah," she says, looking a little disturbed herself and sounding slightly sheepish. "I threw my bag at the only weak spot I could find, the eye, and well. I forgot my umbrella was attached? There was a chance of rain today, so Mom made me bring it."
"... Fucker deserved it," Katsuki finally says, coughing again.
"Yeah," Izumi agrees, looking her over critically. "C'mon, let's get out of here before the media breaks through the crowd."
She helps Katsuki to her feet and goes to get her things. It doesn't escape Katsuki's notice that Izumi keeps herself between her and the villain the whole time, and that her friend's eyes never leave the pile of slime now being held back by several new pros that have arrived on the scene. The umbrella gets abandoned easily as neither of them want to go near the villain again, and Izumi guides Katsuki through the edges of the crowd before any of the bystanders realize.
It takes them a while to get home, but when they do, Katsuki's parents take one look at the two girls and immediately get their car keys - stating that they are going to the hospital to get Katsuki's lungs checked and both of them scanned for diseases that the gross fucker probably was carrying, as they both touched the slime.
Katsuki stays quiet throughout the trip there, her mind continuing to go back to that feeling of sheer helplessness that she'd never experienced before in her life. A short glance to the side also reminds her of the pure relief she'd felt when someone had finally gotten her out.
"Hey," she finally says quietly, staring down at her feet. "... Thanks."
"Always," Izumi says immediately, bumping her shoulder to Katsuki's gently. "You're my friend, right? Anyone messes with you, I mess them up. That's the rules."
Katsuki huffs a laugh, coughing a little and grimacing at the taste still in her mouth. She remembers the look in Izumi's eyes after she'd gotten her out of the slime, remembers her own feeling of relief. If she'd had any doubts about Izumi being able to be a hero before, they'd be gone now.
And when she becomes a hero herself, she's going to make sure nobody ever feels that helpless while watching the people who are supposed to help do nothing. She's going to become so strong that one day just the sight of her will send villains running.