Chapter Text
It happened during the worst snow storm Izuku had ever seen. He wasn’t even entirely sure what he’d been doing outside…okay, that was a half lie. He knew why he was outside, but he didn’t know why he was stupid enough to do it.
“I saw a stray dog out by the park earlier, totally covered in show! I bet All Might would rush out to even help an animal!” Katsuki announced loudly when Izuku insisted he wanted to be like All Might.
And now, here he was, clutching his small coat around his body as he stumbled against the icy cold wind threatening to sweep him off his feet. It was so cold today that they’d even canceled school, which really sucked since he was only just getting used to his kindergarten class. Now here he was, leaving his house anyway and trying to peer through the billowing snow to see if there were any signs that the dog had left the park already. Yeah, right…as if any footprints would survive in this snow storm. Even the footprints Izuku had just made were already covered up.
Finally, he made it to the park, where he immediately ducked into one of the play tunnels for a brief shelter from the storm, burying his face in his lap and hugging his small, shivering body. Even the tunnel was full of snow, though, so it was more a shelter from the wind than anything else.
He wasn’t sure how long he spent huddled up in that tunnel pretending to be warm. Seconds? Minutes? However long it was, the thought of a dog out in the cold freezing even worse than he was had him taking a deep, icy breath before crawling out into the snow again, desperately peering around for any sign of an animal beneath all the snow, even calling out small, childish barking noises. At one point he saw a large lump and ran to it, but it turned out to just be a purse that had been left behind and buried in the snow.
It was then that it occurred to Izuku that there might have never been a dog out here, and the whole thing had probably been a lie from Katsuki. That thought really had despair settling in as he stared down at his trembling, frost-bitten hands. Could he even make it home in this cold?
Just as he began to consider laying down and turning into an ice cube, he noticed another shivering form buried in what used to be the park’s sandpit. It was more of a snowpit now.
He used his hands to shovel through the snow until he reached the pit, desperately trying to dig out the freezing dog. But instead of a dog, he was greeted by the sight of…a girl. She was even smaller than him, or maybe the way she was huddled up in the snow only made it look that way. Either way, she was cold and alone, and for a moment Izuku wondered if she was even still alive.
Alive or dead, Izuku settled down into the snowpit with her, shakily pulled her into his arms, and clutched her close to his chest, using his own body as a shield to block her from the wind. There wasn’t much he could do about the snow falling onto them, but instead of freezing alone, she was freezing together with Izuku now, so…improvement?
He was certain that holding her like this with his own freezing body was only going to make her even colder, but she suddenly began shuddering and stirring, which was an improvement over stillness, so he hugged her even harder.
Her face naturally buried itself into his chest, and she huddled up even smaller to make it easier for his body to shield her, to wrap around her and to share any semblance of body warmth. Even a glacier from the arctic would find warmth in a refrigerator.
No matter how much she squirmed closer to him, though, she never opened her eyes, so Izuku finally looked up, did his best to pull her whole body out of the snowpit, and began shouting for help. His tiny, squeaky voice barely rose above the roaring of the snowy winds, but his mom would later tell him that it was the sound of his familiar cries that led her to him.
He could hardly even register her presence—all he felt was warmth surrounding both him and the freezing girl, and then suddenly they were both being picked up and dragged away from the park. It honestly could’ve been a kidnapping, but somehow, he just knew he was safe…and so was the girl in his arms—all because Izuku had stayed and held her throughout the snow storm.
Once they were back in his house and he received a thorough and tear-filled scolding from his mom—most of which had gone in one frozen ear and out the other—the first thing Izuku did was check on the girl that was now huddled up by their fireplace. It was his first time getting a good look at her now that she wasn’t covered in snow.
Her hair was long and greenish-black, similar in color to his mom’s darker green. Her eyes were still shut, and she wasn’t quite as small as her huddled form before-–she looked about old enough to be going to Izuku’s kindergarten with him. Her feet also seemed noticeably bigger than his.
Against his better judgment, he leaned in and poked her, as if to silently say, ‘are you sure you aren’t dead?’
That was when their eyes met for the first time. Large, black irises that seemed to have no pupil at first glance, staring straight back at him as he gasped and stumbled backwards. And the very first words she spoke to him were…
“...ribbit.”
“R-ribbit?” He repeated.
They stared at each other in silence for a while longer before she scooted closer. “Are you the one who…?”
“Um…I found you, y-yeah. Why were you out in the cold all by yourself?”
“Why were you?” Her clever comeback shut him right up as he blushed at his own stupidity.
“I…I don’t know,” he murmured, before suddenly clenching his fists and looking back up at her with more resolve in his eyes. “B-but I’m glad that I was! Otherwise I wouldn’t have found you, and my mom wouldn’t have come looking for me!”
Her facial expression gave nothing away, as if Izuku’s words hadn’t even affected her, so he just sighed and sat closer to the fire. “Well, as long as you’re—w-wha? H-hey…” His eyes widened, and the red on his cheeks from the cold suddenly got ten times warmer as the girl suddenly slotted herself on top of his lap, all so she could rest against his chest again. “W-what are you doing?”
“Getting warm.” She said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world. Her tongue hung out of the side of her mouth for some reason, and it seemed unnaturally long, but it was hard for him to focus on that when there was so much else going on.
“B-but there’s plenty of space for us both to sit by the fire, s-so-–”
“It’s warmer like this.” She nestled her face against his chest, mirroring the exact same motion she’d done when he’d huddled her in the snow. “It’s warmer with you.”
It was almost like her body moved on instinct…and Izuku’s did the exact same, his arms coming around her to hold her exactly like before. For some reason, he decided that was the right moment to introduce himself without even questioning her further.
“I-I’m Izuku Midoriya.”
Her eyes slowly blinked open. “Tsuyu Asui…but just call me Tsu.”
When Tsu’s parents arrived to pick her up after the snowstorm was over, Izuku heard the word ‘hibernation’ for the very first time. He immediately badgered his mom to explain it to him, and that was how he finally came to the revelation that Tsu was a frog person and that she’d apparently gone into hibernation in the snow at a bad time. He never brought it up to her, though, even when she joined his kindergarten class as a new student the very next day—they both just assumed that Izuku knew about it from then on.
Tsuyu was a hard girl to read. She wasn’t very emotive, even when the other kids would say things about how she looked ‘different’ than them. She insisted she didn’t mind, but Izuku stuck by her side and insisted he liked the way she looked, anyway. However, the time he spent with Tsuyu must’ve begun creating a rift between him and Katsuki, because the girl he had known ever since he could open his eyes suddenly became cruel and abrasive.
“Well, well, well, look who it is! Toady and Deku–two losers sticking together!” Katsuki led her groupie of kids over to where Izuku and Tsuyu had just been minding their business beneath a tree during playtime.
“T-toads and frogs are different, Kacchan!” Izuku gave a lame comeback, but he scooted in front of Tsu to try and make up for it.
Katsuki rested her hands on her hips. “Hey, is the toady even able to speak for herself? I don’t think I’ve ever heard her voice! I bet it’s because when she opens her mouth, all that comes out is ribbiting! Hahahaha!” The group of kids began laughing while Tsuyu shrunk down behind Izuku.
He briefly glanced back at her. “Th-that’s mean, Kacchan! Come on, Tsu…” He took her by the hand and began leading her away.
“RIBBIT!” Tsuyu gasped and croaked and jumped when Katsuki suddenly grabbed her hair and gave one big yank, cracking up at the sound that Tsuyu had made while Tsuyu just blushed.
Izuku quickly led her away, and they hoped that that would be the end of Katsuki’s sudden interest in Tsuyu’s frogness…instead, it was only the beginning.
One day, when Izuku returned from the bathroom, he noticed Tsuyu was nowhere to be found.
“Maybe that toady went to find a pond to jump into!” Katsuki had laughed, leading her group away from the playground. That was all he needed to hear to know that Katsuki had done something.
He searched around the school playground for where Tsu could be hiding—it felt like searching for her in the snow all over again. As it turns out, Tsuyu wasn’t hiding-–she was just stuck in place with her long tongue tied around a pole on the edge of the playground!
“Tsu!” Izuku cried out, running over and fretting over her as Tsu gave a tiny ribbit.
It took them a full hour to get her tongue untied from the pole. They were going to tell the teacher about it, but the teacher instead spent a whole ten minutes chewing them out for ‘ditching’ school for a whole hour, so neither of the soft-spoken kids even got to get a word in while Katsuki just grinned and gloated in triumph…like usual.
The manifestation of Katsuki’s quirk made things even worse for the pair. Now, whenever she shoved them around, there was an extra BOOM to go with it. This was made even worse when Izuku’s quirk never manifested…
“And here I thought the toad girl here was the freak, but you’re somehow even worse! Seriously, at least she has a quirk, even if it makes her a weirdo! You’re just a…a nothing! A Deku! No wonder you hang out with someone like her!” Katsuki ranted.
And that was the first time where, instead of Izuku standing up for Tsuyu, Tsuyu mustered up the courage to stand up for him.
“At least he isn’t a bully…” Tsuyu stepped in front of him, right in Katsuki’s face despite being shorter. The surprise and boldness of it had Katsuki stepping back a bit, eye twitching as Tsuyu remained determined. “Izuku told me the two of you used to be friends…but I can see why he doesn’t want to hang out with you anymore.”
Katsuki’s eyes widened. That was the first time anyone had put it like that-–that it wasn’t her who didn’t want Izuku around…it was him who wouldn’t want her around.
Her newly discovered explosions began sparking in her palms as she glared at Tsuyu. Tsuyu stared back at Katsuki with calm eyes, as if she’d finally found her voice—all for the sake of standing up for Izuku.
Katsuki didn’t even get another word in before Tsuyu helped Izuku to his feet and they walked away together, where she assured him that even if he was quirkless, the two of them would always be friends. The freaks of their class, together.
Of course, after an interaction like that, they both knew Katsuki would be extra insufferable the next day…but neither of them knew exactly what to expect.
Izuku arrived at class late that day. If there was one day where he should’ve been on time, it should’ve been that day…
Even while walking down the hallway to their classroom, he could hear the commotion—screams and howling and jumping mixed with roaring laughter. His footsteps quickened to see what could possibly have his classmates in such an uproar…he should’ve known what was coming.
As soon as he opened the door to the room, a cloud of insects flew past his head, making him screech and duck behind the door before peering into the room.
The classroom was infested with insects—mostly there seemed to be flies and moths and similar flying insects that must’ve been easy to capture at night by luring them with a lamp. Then, there were also grasshoppers hopping around the floor and walls of the classroom—those were the ones Tsuyu was chasing after the most.
“Look at her! She really is a toad!” Katsuki hollered, pointing at her as Tsuyu actually managed to catch one of the grasshoppers.
“There’s no way she’s actually gonna eat it, right…” One of the girls said, hiding in the corner of the room away from all the bugs.
Izuku wanted to shout out for Tsuyu not to do it here…but it was too late. Her frog tongue, which had been getting even longer every day, slid out of her mouth, wrapped around the bug, and pulled it down her throat in slow motion.
The entire class watched before erupting into either laughter or screams.
“She actually did it!”
“No one is ever going to be able to crush on a freak like her!”
“What did you all expect? She’s more frog than human!”
“She doesn’t even realize we’re all watching her! That’s how much of a freak she is!” Katsuki laughed as Tsuyu just went searching for the next bug.
Izuku could see it clearly in her eyes—the dull focus, the narrowed irises, the relaxed eyebrows…Tsuyu’s brain wasn’t even half there. Her animal instincts were in full control right now. She even hopped in a froggy position, experimenting with shooting her tongue out. All things considered, she seemed happy, exploring with her frog instincts and even learning to do new things as her tongue actually managed to snap forward and grab a bug…it was just in the worst environment possible.
All the laughing, all the pointing…it was like a trauma trip for Izuku. So many times, the kid in the middle of the laughing and pointing had been him . In fact, if he ran in there and helped Tsu, it probably would be directed at him in addition to Tsu. They would both become the laughing stocks…
…but they were already the laughing stocks, and they had already agreed to be the class freaks together. So, Izuku finally smacked his own cheeks and forced himself to march forward, grabbing Tsuyu’s arm and quietly muttering her name.
When she turned to him, her long tongue wrapped around his arm, making their classmates all laugh even harder—all except for Katsuki, who went silent and just stared with narrowed eyes.
“Tsu…” He murmured her name again.
She stared at him long and hard until slowly, realization began to dawn on her face. He could literally see her brain cells falling back into place.
This was no place for her revelation or the inevitable breakdown that would follow, so he quickly dragged her out of the classroom, even shoving past some kids and running with her down the hallway and outside into the school’s courtyard, away from all the noises of mean children.
By the time they sat together in the courtyard, Tsuyu was already back to her regular self and immediately began sobbing, burying her face in her arms and her lap while Izuku hugged her.
“I-it’s not your fault…it’s not your fault…” He whispered.
And just like on that stormy, winter day, Tsuyu buried her face against his chest and nestled close for the familiar comfort of the body heat that had saved her life.
For a few moments, she could still only muster out a few ribbits and croaks. Finally, however, her first words to him broke his heart.
“Do you…think I’m a freak now, too?” There was a bug wing still stuck to the side of her mouth, emphasizing her question.
But Izuku didn’t even hesitate to shake his head, using his thumb to pluck the bug wing off of her lips and staring at it. “W-what? Of course not…you and I both know you didn’t do anything wrong…”
She fell silent, as if unconvinced. Then… “...I hate my quirk.”
Izuku’s eyes widened. “What?”
“I hate my quirk!” She repeated, louder, standing up. It was the first time he’d ever heard her raise her voice like that. “It…it makes me like…like this. I hate it…”
The wheels spun in Izuku’s head as he stared at her face, stared at the half-eaten bug in his hand, and looked around trying to gather his thoughts of how to comfort her. Then, finally, he stood up as well.
“You think your quirk makes you a freak? Well…well I don’t have a quirk, so…what’s my excuse?” And with those words delivered, Izuku slowly lifted her half-eaten bug to his mouth, and…
Tsuyu gasped, jaw falling wide open in shock.
Izuku fought the urge to vomit, smiling and giving a thumbs up. “We can be the class freaks together, remember?”
Tsuyu’s tears returned…but they were a completely different type of tears. She hopped forward, threw her arms around the back of his neck, and didn’t let go of her embrace for the rest of that class day.
Eating that bug was by far the most disgusting moment of Izuku’s entire life up to that point…and also the proudest.
Naturally, a stunt as dramatic as releasing a swarm of bugs in the classroom couldn’t go unnoticed by the teacher, so nothing quite that bad ever happened again. Still, Katsuki continued to find other ways to torment the ‘pair of freaks’–-especially as Tsuyu continued to grow into her frog mutation.
No matter what anyone else said and thought about Tsuyu’s amphibian nature, though, Izuku thought it was nothing short of adorable, and he made sure to tell her that every chance he got. Usually it was in more subtle ways, of course.
“You don’t have to worry about your tongue hanging out! Not when you’re with me. I don't think it’s weird.”
“Don’t apologize for ribbiting!”
“Your hopping makes you way faster than me! It’s super cool!”
For every insulting remark thrown Tsuyu’s way, Izuku made sure to match it with compliment after compliment. It was no exaggeration to say that that was how Tsuyu managed to survive through their childhood as she grew into her frog side more and more.
Then, one day, while their middle school teacher was handing back the plans each student had filled out for what they wanted to do for high school, Izuku glanced over and saw that Tsuyu had written the exact same thing as him: UA High.
They’d talked about the idea of being a hero a few times in the past, but this was his first time hearing that Tsuyu actually wanted to pursue it.
“Well, I figured it was what you would want, too, ribbit…” She tapped a finger against her chin as they looked over each other’s sheets.
A third pair of eyes also looked down at their sheets from behind them, followed by two hands on their shoulders.
“Oh, so the pair of losers actually think they can get into UA, huh?” Katsuki stepped on top of her desk, yelling loudly enough for the whole class to hear. “A toad freak and a quirkless nerd think they can be heroes?! That’s gotta be the biggest joke I’ve ever seen! You might as well quit now before you embarrass yourselves any further! Leave the hero thing to people like me!” She flexed her quirk just for emphasis, making mini explosions go off in her palm.
The whole class joined in on the mocking—especially when it came to Izuku wanting to attend UA despite being quirkless. He and Tsuyu quickly made for the door.
“Oof! R-ribbit…” Tsuyu tripped over seemingly nothing, face planting into the floor, making the class erupt into even more laughter. Izuku was quick to help her up and lead her out of there.
“Are you okay?” He asked once they were in the privacy of the girls’ locker room.
“Ribbit…I’m alright. It’s been getting harder to walk lately, though…” Tsuyu sighed and sat down on a bench, struggling to take her shoe off. She ended up kicking it off, making it slam straight into Izuku’s face.
Five minutes of apologizing later, she finally got back on topic and lifted her foot in the air to show it to him. “My feet have been growing super fast lately. Every time my parents buy me new ones, I end up outsizing them within a couple months—sometimes even weeks. It’s, um…a frog thing. It always is.”
Izuku’s eyes zeroed in on her foot as it waved back and forth ever so slightly in front of his face. For some reason, he forgot to respond to her dilemma, instead just staring and observing the size of her rapidly growing feet until she cleared her throat and snapped him out of his stupor.
“O-oh, that…sounds…i-inconvenient? B-but on the bright side, I’m sure it’ll just make your hops even stronger, so…you know, I don’t think your big feet are a bad thing at all!” That was his roundabout way of trying to say, ‘I like your big feet’.
“Ribbit…thank you, Zuku…you always know what to say to me.” She finally put her feet back down and hopped over to him to hug him. “It is a little inconvenient, but my bigger feet made it hard for Bakugou to shove me into my locker the other day, so that was nice at least.”
Izuku wrinkled his nose at the mention of Katsuki, hugging Tsuyu back. “...about what happened back in the classroom. You really want to become a hero? Not just because of me, right?”
She sat back next to him on the bench, kicking those large feet of hers back and forth, and Izuku couldn’t help but watch them now that she’d brought them to his attention. “I’ve always been interested in it, but…you’ve given me the courage to actually decide to pursue it. How about you…? You want to, even though…”
He clenched his fists before nodding at her with a determined look. “All I’ve ever wanted was to be like All Might…and, um…chasing that dream is all I know how to do, so…”
Tsuyu rested a hand on top of his. His clenched fist slowly relaxed beneath her palm. “I understand. In that case…we can try to get into UA together!”
He smiled. “Yeah.”
They studied together every single day after school. Izuku and Tsuyu’s closeness naturally brought their moms together, too—Beru and Inko got along like two frogs in a pond, and they were always more than happy to have the other over. However, the closer the time of UA’s entrance exam approached, the more pressing one issue became…
“Do you really think you’ll be okay without a quirk?” Tsuyu asked him. “I-I believe in you, of course! But I just thought you might want to talk about it. I know Bakugou is mean about it all the time…”
Izuku put his laptop down, taking a break in their studying to stare down at his lap. “I…I don’t know. I don’t even know if it’s possible to be a hero without a quirk!” Naturally, this dilemma haunted him 24/7. He spent every waking moment despairing over his quirklessness and how it cast a shadow of uncertainty over the future he wanted.
Tsuyu tried to comfort him, but it was all words he’d heard before. In the end, all she could do was hug him and promise she’d be there for him no matter what happened as he attempted to pursue a quirkless hero career.
No matter how much support he received from Tsuyu and his mom, though, all of it came crashing down during his fateful meeting with All Might. He never would’ve expected that meeting his greatest hero would be the moment to kick him down the lowest he’d ever been.
“You cannot be a hero.” They were the words that echoed in the back of his mind during depressive hours, they were the words Katsuki had said to him his entire life, and now, they were the words of All Might himself confirming Izuku’s greatest fears.
He didn’t call Tsuyu that day. He didn’t even return home. All he could do was wander around town aimlessly…until he stumbled upon the face of his doubts and insecurities, Katsuki Bakugou herself, trapped in the middle of a crime scene, struggling against a slime villain that had escaped All Might’s capture all because of him.
He ran. He ran straight towards the danger that no one else would, helplessly clawing the slime away from the very girl who had tormented him his entire life.
Everything that happened next was a blur. Even when he tried to recount it all to Tsuyu the next day, he couldn’t really remember what happened. One second he was about to die, the next second All Might was there, and then all of a sudden he was being offered to carry on the will of All Might’s quirk. Well, he couldn’t tell Tsuyu about that part, so in the end, all he could really tell her was that he had a miracle meeting with All Might.
After that, he began to hang out and study with Tsuyu less and less, too busy beginning his new regular training routine with All Might to get himself ready to inherit One for All. The training consisted of a whole lot of lifting things back and forth across Takoba Municipal Beach, and after he finished training for the day, he would normally do his own training routine back home, leaving very little time for hanging out with Tsuyu.
When Tsuyu really needed him, though, he would obviously drop everything to be by her side—like today, when she had a big doctor’s appointment that she wanted him there for.
“Ribbit…the last time I visited, they said my body was going through a lot of changes and that I should start having monthly visits.”
“Well, hey, there’s nothing to be afraid of! ‘Changes’ doesn’t have to be a bad thing!”
“He’s right, dear! Ribbit…you’re so lucky to have a good friend like Izuku!” Tsuyu’s mom smiled as she led them into the doctor’s office.
Izuku was basically like family to the Asuis after all these years, so Tsuyu’s mom had no problem with having him sit in on the check in with her as Tsuyu was inspected by the doctor. They did an x-ray to examine how her frog parts were growing with the rest of her body, and then also a DNA test with some spit that almost seemed more like mucus.
“Why don’t you tell me about some of the issues you’ve been having,” the doctor insisted as they sat down with their clipboard.
Tsuyu glanced at both Izuku and her mom before speaking. “I…I’ve been going ‘frog mode’ a lot more often lately. Um, it makes me want to eat flies and other insects more often…I’m sorry, I know it sounds gross.”
“It’s not gross—it’s a natural part of your development. I have an otter mutation myself, and I cannot go a single day without swimming in the water. We’re on the same page here, okay, sweetie?” The doctor rested a hand on Tsuyu’s shoulder. Izuku couldn’t help but smile watching the two mutants relate to each other. Tsuyu seemed much calmer after hearing that. “So, have you been satisfying these desires or just pushing them down? Neither is a wrong answer.”
Tsuyu blushed and stared down at her own lap. “...I’ve been eating insects,” she admitted. “Mainly grasshoppers. They’re, um…my favorite.”
The doctor nodded and wrote some notes down before setting the clipboard aside and looking to Tsuyu’s mom. “Are you ready to hear my conclusion?”
They all nodded, and Tsuyu sat in between her mom and Izuku again, holding both their hands as the doctor sighed.
“I believe Tsuyu is nearing the end of her…transformation. Physically, at least. The way animal mutations often work is that the body develops its animalistic nature up to a certain degree, where the animal nature then reaches maturity. I believe young Asui’s body here is reaching that frog maturity.”
“Is there anything we should do in preparation?” Her mom asked.
“It depends on how young Asui wishes to handle it. My professional advice is that if her frog instincts interfere with her normal life and she wishes to repress them, then there are medications that can help keep it in check. However, as a fellow mutant, my personal advice would be to learn to embrace the mutant side of you. Once you manage to find peace with the animal within, it can become…quite freeing.”
Tsuyu stared down at the floor, lips pursed together in deep thought as they thanked the doctor and left the room together, but not after the doctor pulled Tsuyu and her mom aside for one last word of advice—something they apparently wanted to discuss away from Izuku, but he still ended up hearing part of it anyway. Something about ‘cycles’ and ‘seasons’ and ‘maturity’, whatever all that meant. Either way, Tsuyu’s face seemed even redder afterwards.
Izuku figured she could use his support for the day, so he canceled any training plans he had for the evening and just hung out with her in her home. They played games together and got in some more studying. At one point, he caught Tsuyu staring at the window, where grasshoppers were flying outside. Spring was definitely upon them.
“...do you want the medications the doctor talked about? To repress your frog instincts, I mean,” Izuku asked. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t—”
“I don’t know.” She sighed. Even the way she sat naturally defaulted to a frog-like stance. “I still get embarrassed when talking about it, but…” Slowly, she looked Izuku in the eyes. “...when I see the way you work so hard to achieve your dream, even despite the fact that you’re quirkless…it makes me want to work hard to accept the way my body is, too.”
Izuku’s eyes widened, face reddening. “O-oh…really? I make you feel that way?”
She nodded and even scooted ever so slightly closer. “Ribbit…y-yes, you do. Because…” She gulped and scratched her cheek. “Because…you’re my best friend.”
They both suddenly avoided eye contact as Izuku tapped a finger on his knee. For some reason, his heart was racing like crazy. There were so many thoughts racing through his head…one of which was, I wonder how she’ll respond when I have to lie about my quirk manifesting once I get it from All Might…
Hopefully that wouldn’t change the way she looked at him…or the way she looked up to him.
After that, it was back to beach-cleaning-training for Izuku! All Might was a surprisingly strict teacher, yet he was always quick to scold Izuku when he overworked himself, too! Learning and witnessing so many new sides to All Might was just as rewarding as the training itself, honestly. And once it was all done and the beach was cleaner than it had been in decades, the only way to celebrate was to invite Tsuyu to enjoy a beach day with him! It was also to celebrate their final exams, which they had both aced.
In the back of his mind, Izuku knew what he was getting himself into by inviting Tsuyu to a beach day, but it didn’t really hit him until he walked out onto the beach and actually saw her.
Tsuyu was wearing a green-striped two piece swimsuit. There was nothing covering her legs, showing off how thick they’d gotten lately as she ran over to him. Her breasts bounced with every step she took, so that chest-piece was definitely not doing its job of holding her boobs as tightly as it should—and to be fair, holding those back must’ve been hard because damn her chest was way bigger than Izuku had ever noticed…or maybe he had noticed it, but he was really noticing it right now…and then there was the rest of her curvy body and sides, naturally lean and glistening in the bright sun, and the green color of the swimsuit really went well with her hair and eyes and—
“Izuku? Ribbit? Are you there?” She waved her hand in front of his face, finally snapping him out of his staring as he blushed and looked away.
“A-ah, I’m here, sorry! You, um…you look good!”
She glanced down at herself, matching his blushing face. “Ribbit…thank you. You…you, too.” She stole a few glances at him.
Izuku was obviously shirtless, wearing nothing but a pair of dark green swimming trunks. That meant that the newly acquired six pack abs he’d gotten thanks to All Might’s training were on full display. He was the one glistening in the sunlight, light beads of sweat shining on each crevice of his abs.
The two of them awkwardly stood in the sand for a full minute or two, stealing glances at each other’s bodies before the soft waves finally called to Tsuyu’s frog instincts.
She’d brought a beach ball, so the two of them tossed it to each other knee-deep in the water while talking.
“I never thought I’d see this beach so clean. It makes me happy to be able to splash in the water without worrying about stepping on something. It’s about time they gave this beach a makeover, don’t you think?”
Izuku laughed nervously. If he explained that he’d been the one cleaning up this beach for his training, then that would bring the questioning closer to how he ended up choosing such a specific training routine. All Might wanted their dynamic to remain a secret, so Izuku couldn’t risk telling anyone about that.
At some point, Tsuyu jumped up to kick the ball, showing off her frog hops that she’d been getting more comfortable with—and as impressive as it was, Izuku was a bit more busy watching the way her rapidly growing feet swung through the air, kicking the ball back towards him with such power before making a big splash as she landed…
“Izuku, watch out!” Tsuyu called out as the ball went flying past his head when he was lost in his staring.
“C-crap, sorry, I’ll—!”
BAM! The ball was caught by someone else’s hands…and then, those hands let out an explosion that flattened the ball entirely.
“You’ll what, Deku?” Katsuki grinned, hip jutting out to the side as she held the remains of the beach ball up. “Oh, you want this? You can have it!” She tossed it back to him.
“Kacchan…” He wanted to yell at her for ruining Tsuyu’s ball, but he was a little busy staring at her body. She was also wearing a two piece swimsuit—it was black and orange, which was so on brand for her. He’d never seen so much of Katsuki’s exposed body before…
“That was my beach ball. Are you going to pay me for that?” Tsuyu stood up for herself, walking next to Izuku.
Katsuki huffed and rested a hand on her hip, which had so much attitude to it that it was almost sexy. Almost. If only that attitude wasn’t directed at Tsuyu.
“That was your ball? My bad…I should’ve exploded it extra hard in that case! Ha!”
“Hey, we weren’t even bothering you!” Izuku stepped in front of Tsuyu.
Katsuki sneered before falling uncharacteristically silent. He could’ve sworn he saw her eyes fluttering up and down, as if taking in the sight of his abs and muscles. Right, this was her first time seeing him shirtless since before he started training.
When her eyes dropped even lower , it made Izuku’s eyes glance down, too…right to his crotch. After splashing about in the water, his swimming trunks were now hugging his crotch area more tightly, which meant his bulge was suddenly very prominent and visible.
He blushed and covered his crotch area with his hands, but even that couldn’t completely hide his bulge given just how big it was.
“What’re you doing here, ribbit?” Tsuyu tried to regain control of the situation, but the light blush on her cheeks showed that she had clearly also been staring at the same thing.
Katsuki eyed Tsuyu up and down and wrinkled her nose. “Everyone knows the beach is cleaner nowadays, so I came to check it out now that final exams are done. What, just because you’re a toad you think you own the water?”
“That doesn’t even make sense…” Tsuyu sighed and grabbed Izuku’s hand. “Come on, let’s go…”
Izuku nodded and silently followed, still trying to readjust his shorts to hide his bulge.
As they walked past Katsuki, she gritted her teeth. Tsuyu was just dismissing her…and there was no way she was going to take that lying down. So, she whipped around, grabbed the back of Tsuyu’s bra, and yanked it so hard that it snapped.
“R-ribbit?!” Tsuyu gasped in shock, looking down as her boobs sprang out, completely exposed.
“W-what?!” Izuku’s eyes popped out of his head. He knew he probably should’ve looked away immediately, but he just couldn’t stop staring.
Katsuki went from villainous cackling to jealous scowling within the span of a second, glancing back and forth from Tsuyu’s large tits bouncing like melons down to her own boobs, sitting comfortably and flatly behind her black and orange bra.
Tsuyu sat down in the water so that the water would cover her boobs, her entire face flushed red, tongue hanging out in a nervous response. “Ribbit…”
“Tsu! U-um, uhhh…” Izuku fished around in the water for her bra. When he finally found it, his fingers sunk into the chest area of the bra for a brief moment before he smacked the pervert inside of him and shoved the bra towards his upset, flustered best friend.
They clumsily attempted to remedy the scenario while Katsuki just watched them with an irritated gaze.
“Everything about your toad body disgusts me. You should be ashamed to be showing that thing off.” She sneered. Then, satisfied with getting in the final words, Katsuki turned around and stomped away, making sure to kick up some water to hit Izuku and Tsuyu in the face. But before she was completely out of earshot, she paused and turned her head ever so slightly. “...when the hell did a nerd like you get muscles like those…?”
Izuku glanced down at his abs again, but there was no time to dwell on Katsuki as he hurried Tsuyu to the girls’ bathroom so she could properly fix her bra in private. When she walked out of the bathroom, Izuku noticed her eyes were red. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why she was upset…and so, he pulled her in and hugged her.
“Don’t listen to Kacchan. There’s nothing wrong with your body, o-okay?”
“Ribbit…” Tsuyu sighed…and then buried her face against his chest, seeking his body warmth just like she had during their very first meeting in that snowstorm. That was still the thing that offered her the most comfort.
Finally, she managed to smile at him again. “You’re right. I’m…I’m done letting other people make me feel bad about it. So, let's just…enjoy our time together, alright?” She held her hand out. “After all, this’ll be one of the last times we get to have fun like this before UA’s entrance exams. Let's make it count.”
Izuku smiled back at her and took her hand, leading her back towards the water—at the opposite end of the beach, away from where Katsuki would be. “Yeah. Let’s just enjoy this while we can.” He turned towards the water, running through the sand with his very best friend behind him.
For now, they were just a quirkless kid and a frog girl running at the beach.
But soon, there was no doubt in either of their minds that they would become the world’s greatest heroes…together.