Chapter Text
His first memory was of Izuku.
It wasn’t anything huge or even important, at least from an outside perspective. They were sprawled across the living room floor, eyes glued to the television. He couldn’t really remember the details of the show, just a fanfare of triumphant music in the background with a loud booming voice declaring, “ I am here! ”
Both were enraptured, neither realizing how this moment would lead to the path that they would soon be traveling down.
His memories after this were a blur. All he knew was that they involved Izuku, that they revolved around him. ‘Attached at the hip’ is what his mom would say when talking about the two. Codependent. Inseparable. Though technically not brothers by blood, they were a team, equals. In their eyes, they could never be anything less than that.
And one day, they would step out into the world, side by side, as heroes .
The main thing he remembered about that time was how easy it was to be happy.
Then he got his quirk.
And Izuku…didn’t.
His landing could use some work , he thought absently as he felt the impact of the hard packed dirt against his shoulder. Gritting his teeth and fighting back a groan of pain as he collected his thoughts, he shifted carefully to push himself up off the ground. His left side ached , and he could still feel the pain in his gut, but he steeled himself as he slowly stumbled to his feet.
The sky was bright, barely a cloud in the sky. A few people passed distantly on the street, either not noticing them or brushing it off as ‘childish antics’. Or perhaps, they knew what was going on and just didn’t want to get involved. They would not be the first to turn their backs on him when he needed help.
He stopped wishing for help a long time ago.
“Tch,” he heard from behind him, reminding him to stay on guard. “Look at this, fellas. The quirkless reject wants some more.”
Silently, he turned to face them, an angry snarl on his face as he lifted his trembling hands, fists at the ready. The group laughed at the sight of this, none of them taking him seriously. “You have a death wish or something?” the leader barked out in amusement.
The leader’s knuckles hardened over with a bark-like texture which the boy noticed with a grimace. That’s going to sting… Dark green eyes darted over the rest of them, keeping his guard up, braced for whatever they were about to throw at him. “I won’t let you hurt her!”
“Do you even know that little brat?” one of them chimed in.
“Just because I don’t know her, doesn’t mean I’m gonna stand by and let you bully her!” His feet shifted, stance widening. “Y-you want to hurt her, you’ll have to go through me! “
The leader growled, bracing as if he were about to launch at him. “Think you’re some kind of hero, huh? Well, I guess we need to teach you a lesson, Deku! -“
“ Oi . ”
Everyone froze, eyes wide with a collective look shared that screamed ‘We fucked up.’ As their gaze slowly turned towards the new voice, the dread in the air clearly palpable as the speaker approached.
One hand stuffed in his pocket, the other carrying his backpack casually slung over his shoulder, he spoke with a tone of false ease, glinting red eyes that were practically brimming with barely suppressed rage. “No one fucking calls that nerd Deku but me , got it?”
The majority of the group were practically tripping over themselves trying to make up excuses for this, but the leader somehow found a bit of a backbone. “Oh yeah? And what are you gonna do about it?!”
No one ever said having a backbone led to making smart decisions.
A few minutes later, the leader fled, covered in scorch marks, following after his comrades that had abandoned him the moment he opened his mouth. Huffing, the red eyed newcomer turned to snap something at the one remaining boy, only to pause.
“Are you sure you’re alright?”
The boy was kneeling in front of a child, quietly fussing over her. She clutched tightly to an oversized stuffed rabbit, the same emerald green as the boy’s hair, looking at the edge of tears as she silently nodded.
Inwardly, he groaned. Typical. “Oi, kid.” Both the boy and the little girl whipped their heads in his direction. “Not you, Deku, for fuck’s sake-“
“Kacchan! Language- “
“Learn when to spot a lost cause, idiot.” Turning his gaze back to the kid, he asked, “Where’re your parents?”
Ten minutes later, the girl safely deposited with her parents, the boys headed off down the road, one giving the shy girl an overly happy and cheerful wave while the other just seemed to shake his head at his friend’s antics.
“I can’t leave you alone for five minutes, you damn nerd.” The words were harsh, but the tone was light, almost a teasing edge to it. “What did I say about picking fights you can’t win?”
The other boy grinned sheepishly. “Something about making sure to ‘give them hell,’ but with a lot more swearing.”
“…fuck, that’s probably right.”
They had known each other for too long, Bakugou surmised. Hardly a day went by without being in each other’s presence, and with that, they had grown a comfortable ease between them, a practiced ebb and flow. Words came easy, as did the silence that occasionally rested between them.
Still…
“I still don’t know how you come out of these fights unharmed.”
Midoriya, Deku , simply shrugged. “My head is harder than it looks.”
The blonde barked out a laugh. “Trust me, I understand that too damn well.” Pulling his hand out of his pocket, he slung his arm casually over the shorter boy’s shoulder. “So, you mentioned earlier something about a new hero clawing through the ranks? That tree bastard?”
Dark green eyes lit up with unbridled enthusiasm. Digging through his bag, he yanked out a familiar notebook as he talked about a mile a minute. “Kamui Woods! He just recently started his own agency after bouncing around as a popular sidekick and hero for a few years, and he’s really been making a name for himself! His capture rate is rather high, and he’s suspected to break the top fifty soon-“
Bakugou didn’t say a word, just leaned over to look in his friend’s notebook as they walked, a content smirk hanging on his face. The more his friend talked, the more the rambling morphed into a familiar mumble, the boy discussing with himself the merits of different capture styles between certain heroes.
Realizing the mumbling was taking on a life of its own, Bakugou decides to finally interject. “You better put this much energy into analyzing our fighting as you do for these damn extras.”
“Kacchan, I have a whole notebook just for you and your quirk,” Midoriya replies with a small smile and a shake of his head. “It's important to study other heroes' styles, though. It will help me learn, and the more I learn, the better I can help you as a hero.”
He stopped, causing Midoriya to halt at his side with a confused look on his face. “You mean, help us.”
A wavering smile and a flicker of sadness passed over his friend’s face. “Of course…”
He grit his teeth, biting back a snarl. “Don’t give me that look, you fuck! Don’t you dare break our promise!” He snapped his head to the side, unable to look his friend in the face as his arm fell from Deku’s shoulder, fist clenching at his side. “We swore that we would be the top heroes. We’d fucking claw our way to number one, no matter what anyone said!” Forcing himself to look back, his eyes blazing as his stance widened, he shouted, “Don’t you dare fucking hesitate! We are reaching the top, together , even if I have to drag you with me, Deku!”
Shock quickly faded to something gentler, a small smile that shifted into a bright, determined look. “I remember. I promise that I won’t let you down, Kacchan!”
Bakugou’s stance deepened as he nodded, the anger melting into an almost feral grin of excitement. Little explosions popped along his hands as he barked out, “Those extras better fucking watch out and get the hell out of our way! The villains won’t know what hit them!-“
His words were cut off as a loud, angry growling echoed through the air, making them both pause, followed by a loud, “Deku, what the fuck ?”
“Sorry!” he quickly replied, arms wrapped tightly around his stomach. “I didn’t realize how hungry I had gotten!”
Sighing in irritation, Bakugou dropped his stance and grabbed his friend by the back of the neck, ignoring the yelp and insistence that he was fine. “God damn shitty nerd, forgetting to eat a-fucking-gain…”
“ Kacchannnnnn… ”
“Shut up! We are heading to my place, not a god damned word out of you!” Seeing his friend about to protest, he snapped, “You already fucking told me that Auntie Inko was working late tonight, and like hell am I gonna trust you to feed yourself.”
“I can cook just fine -“
“YOU GAVE ME FOOD POISONING-“
“It was an accident! -“
“THREE. FUCKING. TIMES.”
“I SAID I WAS SORRY-“
Life wasn’t perfect for them, but it was good.
Izuku’s confidence could use some work, but just because he had a terrifying best friend with a strong quirk, it didn’t mean that others would stop treating him differently. The day that doctor had told him he was quirkless was quite possibly the worst day of his life. The moment his mother looked at him with tears in her eyes, avoiding his soft plea for confirmation that his world was not caving in around him, something in him just…
broke .
And never had he felt more dread than the moment Kacchan had descended upon him, asking what happened at the doctors, what they had said about his quirk. He barely managed to speak, tears clouding his eyes so badly, his lungs burning from sobs, feeling as if he betrayed his friend, because they had promised each other. They would be heroes, side by side, the best of the best. They would be strong, unstoppable, fearless …
But all he could do was tell his friend that he was quirkless.
Eyes downcast as he sunk to the ground, his dreams broken at such a young age. He had already lost his dream, so now he sat waiting for the moment he lost the rest of his world, his best friend… but then his friend was kneeling in front of him, a determined look in his eyes as he held out a hand.
“Okay, then. We can work with that. We are both just gonna have to work harder to be heroes.”
At that moment, Bakugou Katsuki gave Midoriya Izuku the very words he needed to hear.
And with dreams carefully being patched back together as he took the hand offered, Izuku knew things would always be okay.
“Hey.”
Midoriya halted, his pen hovering above the page as he glanced up from his homework with a puzzled look to his friend. “Sorry, was I mumbling again?”
Bakugou rolled his eyes before shaking his head with a chuckle. “You know I don’t care about that shit.” He leaned his chair back, turning his gaze up to the ceiling. “Our first year of middle school is almost over.”
Smiling wistfully, Midoriya sat his pencil down, giving his friend his full attention. “Yeah, it went by really fast…”
“Entrance exams are in two years,” Bakugou added. “Which is a hell of a lot of time, but not so much if you think about what we’ll be facing. We should start preparing for UA’s exam soon.”
Brows furrowing, Izuku leaned back in his chair looking thoughtful. “Considering our test scores are already high, I’m guessing you mean the Physical portion…”
“We both know that the exam is going to be fucking bullshit and biased,” he spat out, a scowl on his face. “Every forum discussing it talks about how it favors flashy, destructive quirks.” He leaves the fact that his own quirk is the epitome of flashy and destructive unsaid. “We need to start doing some training.”
Izuku grimaces but nods. “We can start up a workout and diet plan over the summer, and maybe I can look into defense training.” Sighing heavily, he adds, “Worst case, so long as my scores are good, we can fall back on Plan B-“
“Focus on Plan A before worrying about Plan B,” Bakugou snaps. “We can both get in, easy. Those fucking extras won’t know what hit ‘em.”
With a deadpan look, Midoriya snips, “You can’t keep calling anyone that’s not me or our parents extras-“
“Like hell I can’t!” the blonde snaps, slamming his hands on the table. “You and I are going to be the fucking best! We don’t need anyone else!”
Midoriya goes quiet for a second, then softly says, “You’re right. We don’t need anyone else…” His gaze drops, and with a sigh, he cautiously asks, “You’re my best friend, and nothing will ever change that Kacchan… but, don’t you ever want to have more friends than just me?”
“Not if the bastards can’t accept both of us.”
“You mean if they can’t accept me .”
Chair scraping loudly on the floor, Bakugou is up and out of his seat in a heartbeat. “Don’t twist my fucking words like that, you damn nerd.” The words are harsh, but the tone is soft, a trait that no one ever really saw in the angry boy. No one but Izuku. “You know for a damn fact that I’m about as likable as a fucking cactus. Yet for all these years… you’ve put up with my shit.”
Eyes going wide, he murmurs a soft, “Kacchan…”
“You know me, I know you, and I know that we are about as different as we can be, except when it comes to one thing.” His eyes seemed to burn in that moment, filled with determination and passion as he spoke. “We were both meant to be heroes, to be the best ! So don’t you ever fucking forget that.” Striding around the table, he sat his hands on Midoriya’s shoulders, staring straight into his eyes. “You and I are going to be at the top. With or without anyone else, you got that?”
Words were lodged in his throat, and he could only manage a small nod before the tears started welling up in his eyes. Seeing the familiar panic on Bakugou’s face, however, he let out a sharp laugh while mid sob, smiling brightly at his friend. “Okay, I- I believe you, Kacchan.” Another sob bubbled through, tears now streaming down his face as his friend’s face softened. “We will be the best. Together.”
Any further attempts at studying were forgotten, each boy deciding that their emotions were a tad too frayed, a tad too raw to focus on anything else. They just let the TV flicker in the background, a movie they had long since lost interest in playing as they remain sprawled across the Bakugous’ couch, slowly allowing exhaustion claim them as promises of a brighter future rang loudly through their minds.
It was funny how he thought back to that conversation in Bakugou’s kitchen at that moment.
Over a year had passed, yet he could still remember that moment clearly. The brain goes to funny places when you are dying, he realized. Panicked thoughts clouded his actions as black spots filled his vision, his throat burning for air. He should have been worrying about other things, like whether he would see his mom again. But all he could think about was how he wouldn’t be able to keep his promise to Kacchan.
That Kacchan would now be all alone because he was too weak .
But then the slime villain was gone, his lungs clear and free, his body shaking as he gasped for the air it so desperately needed. Rational thought was long gone, adrenaline still pounding in his ears as he spoke.
All Might.
No matter how many times he had envisioned meeting him, it had never been like this. Kacchan was always at his side in those fantasies, bolstering his confidence and keeping the boy from, well, losing his shit. Besides, All Might wasn’t just his idol, but his friend’s as well, and it felt almost shameful to be meeting the man without his friend. But Bakugou had to stay after school, a teacher wanting to ‘discuss’ his behavior that day in class. And that left Izuku alone with All Might.
And with the villain.
If he had died, Kacchan would never have forgiven himself.
Shaking that thought, he saw his idol getting ready to leave, and an intense need to talk to the man overcame him. Still high on adrenaline, he didn’t think as he darted out, didn’t think as he grabbed the man-
And he certainly didn’t think clearly as he was suddenly rocketing through the sky.
He told him no .
Seeing his idol, standing hunched, small, fragile, had shaken him to his core. But hearing the man speak the words he had been told his whole life broke something in him. All the taunts, the snide remarks, the declarations of how he was not enough, never enough , NEVER ENOUGH -
But while he broke, he did not fall .
All Might turned to leave, suggesting that Izuku look into the police force, helping people in other ways, to give up on his dream and be realistic , but the boy interrupted him.
“Just because I asked for your opinion, it doesn’t mean I’m going to take it.”
With a startled look, All Might spun around to stare in confusion at the boy who wandered towards the edge of the building. Bracing his hands on the railing, the boy almost appeared calm, but a tension was clearly visible in his shoulders. He stared off at the horizon, the sun catching in emerald strands in a way that seemed to glow . His words were soft, but an edge of finality in them shook the older man to the core.
“You aren’t the first who has told me that I can’t be a hero. You won’t be the last. I asked because I wanted to know your thoughts, I cared about your opinion, but it doesn’t change anything, it can’t change anything .” He took a deep breath, as if steadying himself, and All Might swore he heard a hitch in the boy’s voice like a suppressed sob. “I already made a promise to a dear friend that I intend to keep.” The boy turned his head, and All Might almost shattered in that moment upon seeing how bright the boy smiled at him while a fiery passion burned in his eyes. “He and I promised that we would be heroes, together , and nothing will change that...not even if our hero tells me I’m not enough.”
And with that, something within All Might did shatter, shoulders slumping, pain evident on his face as the implications of what he said to the boy washed over him. He’s supposed to a hero, a symbol of peace, a bringer of hope -
And he just tried to squash a kid’s dreams in a moment of bitter tiredness.
“I’m sorry if that isn’t what you wanted me to take away from this, All Might,” the boy replied quietly, the smile smaller, but the fire still in his eyes. “But I don’t break promises. I told my friend that we would save people, together, with a smile. Nothing will change that…and I guess you are just another person I will have to prove wrong.”
“I will look forward for when you do.”
The shock and sudden tears in the boy’s eyes, the look of disbelief and elation, only served to shatter All Might more.
Despite his brave words up on that rooftop, Izuku still hurt .
He had not been lying when he had said that All Might had been his and Bakugou’s idol. They both looked up to him, and the idea that he didn’t believe in him… yeah, that stung. That stung a lot.
But he wasn’t going to give up. He and Bakugou had been training for over a year now, and they still had time before the UA entrance exams to train more. It was obvious that Bakugou was going to make it in, but Midoriya would just have to keep training even harder. He could do it, he just had to work twice as hard as everyone else to prove himself. He wanted to be Kacchan’s equal, or at the very least, someone who could keep up and not bring down his friend’s name.
He could be a hero-
An explosion rocked the ground around him, and worry set in as he stared off at the distant smoke. It could be anything. There were lots of reasons for an explosion to go off so close to their neighborhood… but still, he couldn’t help but think of-
Another explosion sounded, and he took off as the dread in his stomach grew.