Chapter Text
Quirks really had changed the world. Nobody really knows how or when exactly they started. But myths and folklore across the globe tell tale of a strange individual, here or there, with a close connection to an animal and some kind of crazy gift or power. These story’s, some thousands of years old, were too common to be coincidence but for the most part, were written off as fiction.
Eventually, over time, these powered individuals came to some kind of power. Whether they became celebrated as a god by the rest of their tribe, or they took power themselves and dominated as dictators with legacies that would last for generations. They found their way to power one way or the other, and slowly but surely the world began to start believing that they were something more that fiction.
So, as time went on these mystical figures got more and more common. Historians predict that around 1000 years ago roughly 50% of the world’s population had these powers, that came to be called quirks. Around 500 years ago 80% of the population had a quirk, and then finally, around 200 years ago the last few people to be born without a quirk lived and died. Since then every human born developed some kind of quirk.
A quirk formed in a human at around the age of 4. Particularly strong quirks, or quirks that needed very specific criteria to be used could form later than this if the correct environment was not encountered. The ability often came first, followed by the animal. The animal would appear from nowhere as the individual slept (science has tried to explain this, but observation completely halted the formation of a quirk animal and lead to the individual becoming very sick until they formed their animal in complete solitude) and often linked in someway to the person’s quirk and personality. For example a very shy person might have a quirk that lets them be completely silent, and their animal counterpart might form as a small rodent that could scurry around silently with their owner. Or the same shy person might develop a quirk that requires them to be more outgoing, and their animal would form as a loud and proud beast that drew attention wherever they went.
The human and the animal become basically inseparable for as long as they both live. A human can survive if their quirk dies, but they would often experience some kind of power loss in their abilities. If the human died but the animal survived, then it would only be a matter of hours before the creature died too, it’s life force severed along with its connection to its owner. Everything the human knows, the animal knows too. They think and act as one mind, the closest connection any two living things could have. Also, the animals natural lifespan would extend to the natural lifespan of a human, and they showed no interest or desire in mating with another member of their original species. The animal always forms as the opposite sex to their human, and the two can always communicate telepathically.
It was around this time, 200 years ago, that humanity changed. As society developed into globalised cities and the internet connected the world closer than ever before, laws were put in place to bring order to the chaos of quirks. Those who broke said laws became known as villains, and almost immediately the normal police forces were over run. This is when the idea of heroes were introduced, a specially trained individual that would go through a strict series of tests of skill, valour and courage, that would be licensed to use their abilities to combat the villains.
Schools popped up around the globe ready to pass on the learnings of these heroes, and prepare the next generation for the fight to come. Heroes became like celebrities, their deeds glorified in the media and the villains were put to shame in a similar fashion.
This story however begins with a young boy and girl playing as any other kids would in the local park by their homes.
---
Inko knew her boy was special. She just knew it.
Of course, every mother thought this of their child. But Inko knew there was something different. His eyes were radiant green, his hair was tinged green too and was always messy and wouldn’t lay flat. He was relatively short and scrawny compared to his friends. But Inko just knew, deep inside her heart, her soul perhaps, that her son was going to change lives for the better everywhere he went.
She knew this as a fact, and couldn’t help but smile at the possibilities as she watched her son play around in the dirt as every four year old does. His clothes were dirty and his bright red boots were a dull brown as he scrabbled in the mud.
They had come for a little play date with Izuku’s best friend, Katsumi Bakugou and her mother Mitsuki. The two mother’s chatted idly on a bench by the park as the energetic kids sprinted from the swings to the climbing frame, back onto the swings again and then raced down the slide.
They switched from pirate games, to soldier games, and eventually back to playing hero, as they always did. This is how the two young tykes got themselves all muddied up wrestling and playing in the grass by the play park.
Inko stroked her quirk idly as she and Mitsuki gossiped and chatted about weird Mom stuff that the kids couldn’t care less about.
Inko’s quirk was a simple one, that let her float small items towards her. It took the form of a white and orange long haired cat, who sat lazily basking in the sun and accepting Inko’s belly rubs generously as he mewled away contentedly.
Mitsuki’s own quirk sat on her shoulder, it was a squat green toad that had unusually smooth skin, not unlike his owner. It’s throat bulged momentarily before it’s tongue shot out, aiming for a passing dragon fly.
Mitsuki slapped her quirk playfully off of her shoulder.
“Dude! What did I tell you about eating wild bugs! We have real food at home!” She reprimanded him out loud.
He simply hopped back up to her and croaked apologetically, earning a small giggle from Inko and a sarcastic head shake from Mitsuki, grinning all the while.
Eventually it was time for them to go, much to the dismay of the children who both sported bright red cheeks and laboured breaths. The mother’s finally persuaded their young ones to leave, with promises of home cooked meals and comic books, as the two families turned in opposite directions and yelled their goodbyes until the others were out of earshot, and they could finally set off home.
Mitsuki was headed back to the house she shared with her husband, where as Inko and Izuku were headed back to a small empty apartment. Inko didn’t mind though, she had her son and that’s all she needed, her job just about covered their lifestyles as they were so they couldn’t complain, especially not when she was saving all of her useless ex husband’s child support money into a private bank account for Izuku to use when he got older. He could have his own house with his own family, a nice car and a comfortable life! The life Inko wished she could be giving him right now.
They eventually got home, Izuku managing to talk the whole way without stopping for breath once! He talked all the way through dinner, about All Might and a bunch of other new heroes that Inko could barely keep up with. He talked all the way through bath time too, but soon quieted down when it was comic book time, allowing Inko to animatedly dictate the comics, the pair both mimicking the actions seen in the pages in their living room. He was extremely excited for computer time, as always, as he loaded up his favourite clips of All Might. However, even the most energetic four year old got tired after his warm supper and bedtime story, as her young sons eyes slowly fluttered shut, his gentle snores lighting up Inko’s face with a smile. She slowly backed out of his room and got to work cleaning the apartment, ready for her own bedtime and another busy day tomorrow, as it was Izuku and Katsumi’s first day at school!
---
The first few days of school had been nerve wracking for Inko. She and Mitsuki had shared a cry or two over the phone as they worried away, as young mothers do over their first child, but as the weeks passed they got over their fears and grew to love watching their kids grow up and learn stuff at school!
The two kids only grew closer as they found new friends and learned new things. They could now be on the same team in the games they played! Although, the rest of the class didn’t like that too much, because Katsumi and Izuku always won!
“Come on Deku! Let’s go!” Kacchan shouted to Izuku as they raced out of the classroom and onto the school playground for break.
“Coming Kacchan!” Izuku shouted back, as he followed his friend outside.
They had a few favourite spots around the expansive play area that the younger kids had to play in. But for some reason Kacchan wasn’t heading towards any of them this time.
“Hey! Hey stop! Come on Zuku!” Kacchan shouted over her shoulder as he sped up even faster.
Her voice was urgent and almost worried, as if getting to wherever they were running was vitally important to her. Izuku didn’t know what it was, but if it was important to Katsumi it was surely important to Izuku too. So he too poured on the speed and kept pace with Kacchan.
They were only running for 30 seconds, at most, but Izuku now finally saw what caused Kacchan’s sudden urgency as Izuku watched one of his classmates get pushed over by a much older kid. His classmate landed hard on his butt, and his face was already wet with tears as he crawled backwards, away from his aggressor.
“HEY! Hey! Leave him alone! Or else!” Kacchan shouted confidently, her run tuning into an angry march until he stood bravely in front of the much older bully. The bully had two friends behind him, both a little smaller and thinner but just as mean looking.
“Whad are you gunna do aboud it?” the bully asked in a thick deep voice. It was only now that Izuku noticed an animal companion sat next to each of the older kids, they all had their quirks! The big ugly one in the front had some kind of pig next to him, short and squat with stubby tusks jutting out of its mouth.
The two other kids stood more alert now that there were more targets to bully, one had a little bat flapping loudly next to him and the other had some kind of rodent stuffed into his hood.
“We're gonna stop you, Bully!” Katsumi announced. Izuku was completely enraptured, she looked so cool! She looked just like a Hero getting ready to face a villain! It took Izuku a second to realise that Bakugou had said “We” meaning that Izuku should probably join in on the saving too! So he stepped up next to his friend, standing in front of the other two bully’s, who looked much more skittish than the brute up front.
“Oh yeah?” the thicker boy jeered, poking Katsumi with a single finger, pushing the smaller girl back a step.
“Yeah! You’re a big bully, and we’re heroes!” Bakugou said, still as confident as ever.
“Yeah! And we don’t like you picking on our friend!” Izuku added, looking back to the kid on the floor, who had stopped snivelling and crying, but was still on the floor watching nervously.
“Huh!” the bigger bully said, as he did so he pulled his arms back, ready to shove Bakugou with his considerable weight.
Izuku was about to callout to his friend, but didn’t need to as he watched her grab onto the bully, allowing herself to be shoved but using it to drag the bully down with her.
The two smaller bullies both immediately set on Izuku, the two of them knocking him out of the way to go and help their friend against Kacchan.
Izuku got up as quickly as he could, and jumped onto the back of the big bully, who was just being pulled up by his friends, Kacchan was just about to get up herself, ready to fight.
“Yeah! You get ‘im Zuku!” Katsumi shouted as she lunged at the two smaller bully’s that were trying to grab at her.
Izuku pulled on the bully’s big head steering him around and just about managing to hold on as the bigger kid flailed his arms around, trying to throw him. He could hear scuffling in the background as Bakugou fended off the other two. He could also hear the disgruntled screeching of the boar that was hopping around after the bully, unable to do anything about the boy on his master’s back.
The chaos came to a stunned silence as Katsumi jumped up from the wrestling pile she had gotten herself into and yelled out.
Izuku immediately yanked on the bully’s ear, to turn him around so that Izuku could see his friend.
She was staring at her hands, concentrating as if she was reading something off of her palms.
They sparked. Golden sparks jumped out of her hands and thin smoke drifted lazily up into the air.
A terribly long second of silence passed before the sparks came again, only bigger and louder this time. They popped and banged like tiny fireworks right there in Katsumi’s palms.
“Zuku! Look! MY QUIRK!” she shouted, jumping up and down on the spot in excitement.
Izuku hopped down off of the bully, who was still standing still, unsure of whether or not to beat the little kids up more, or find an easier target.
“THATS SO COOL!” Izuku shouted before a string of questions flooded out of his mouth.
“GRAHH!” the big bully roared, his mind now made up.
He charged forward, bowling Izuku over completely and slamming Katsumi down onto the ground too. The action knocked some sense back into the other smaller bully’s who immediately jumped back on top of Katsumi.
The bully’s boar trampled over Izuku too, stopping on top of him to keep him pinned.
The big bully watched in dismay as his two goons were fought off by the girl, her body still glowing a vibrant golden/orange colour since she gained her quirk. The two bully’s backed off, snivelling and whining like baby’s as Katsumi faced the big bully.
They were both about to jump at each other when a sickening sound caught both of their attention. A tearing sound, and a small gasp from the boy beside them.
Izuku looked down where the boars stumpy tusk had torn through his shirt and into his belly. The trickle of blood that ran down his abdomen was slow, thick, and warm.
Katsuki watched the colour drain from his face, he was white as a sheet and sweat was beading on his forehead already. Even at only 4 years old Katsumi knew this was bad, she was starting to panic.
“Wah!” she yelled as the bully threw a wild punch into her side. She backed up and tried her best to block the wild swings of the bully’s meaty fists. She barely felt the pain of the hits as all she could see in her mind was Izuku paling face. Her friend needed her help.
Then, all of a sudden, the punches stopped.
Katsumi looked at the bully, his face frozen in equal parts fear and shock.
Directly between them was Izuku, standing with his back to Katsumi, with both arms pointed at the bully.
“Now you leave my friend alone.” He said, his voice trembling with pain. The bully immediately turned around and ran, as fast as he could, with his boar squealing along behind him.
Izuku watched him leave and then turned to face Katsumi. Immediately she noticed that his eyes were flickering green, like they were on fire but it was deep emerald green instead of red. She looked down at her own torso and saw the hazy orange glow of her quirk forming that surrounded her... That must mean...
“I got my quirk too, Kacchan!” he said, his voice still quiet and shaky as he held his hands out for Katsumi to inspect.
His hands were balled up into fists and blood trickled down his fingers. The trails of blood all led back to three points between his knuckles, where three bony claws poked a few inches out of his skin.
Katsumi looked at him in awe, between his face and his claws a few times before remembering the horrible gash in his tummy that the boar left. Her mind filled with panic again as she looked down. The shirt was torn and bloody, but Katsumi could only see unbroken pale skin underneath, no sign of any wound at all except for the blood staining him.
The teachers came rushing over, and the two kids were in a complete haze. The mental rush of gaining their quirks, and seeing so much blood has taken a lot out of them and the teachers worrying over them and asking so many questions was just too much.
Inko and Mitsuki arrived at similar times to collect their children, both of them immediately getting angry at the sight of blood on poor young Izuku. However, they saw the exhausted state of their kids and quickly agreed that getting them home was most important, so left without making a fuss. Separating the two kids was even harder than usual for the two mother’s but eventually they both got back to their respective houses. They both got short versions of the days events out of their exhausted children, and could see from the colourful glows that their kids had gotten their quirks today. They knew this takes a lot out of a kid so allowed them to go to sleep almost immediately.
Katsumi had a strange dream, the sun was beating down on her. She was in some kind of desert. The air was dry and harsh, sweat dripped down her forehead.
She took a few staggered steps forward, and heard a noise to her left, she looked down and saw a helpless baby animal on the floor. It had golden yellow fur and made tiny helpless mewling noises. Katsumi knew it needed her help, and despite the exhaustion and the heat, she picked it up gently and carried on forging ahead in her path. She awoke the next morning with a tiny helpless lion cub sleeping soundly on her chest.
Izuku dreamt he was scaling a mountain. The weather was bitter and angry, the wind lashed at his face and the rain bit at his skin but he kept climbing, hand after hand. The wind got louder and the rain fell harder as he went, keeping climbing until he reached the very pointy peak, where a bird’s nest balanced precariously in the extreme conditions.
Izuku peered around into the birds next, where a yellow speckled egg lay. Lightning flashed through the dark grey clouds surrounding him, thunder filled his ears and rocked the very mountain. The egg was sat perfectly in the centre of the nest and as Izuku focused on it the rest of the sounds of the bitter storm raging around him got duller and further away. The egg trembled and shook as a thin fracture appeared in the shell, then another, and another. Eventually the dream faded to black and Izuku woke, but the sound of cracking continued as Izuku looked down to see the egg from his dream hatching on his chest, a tiny and messy baby bird crawling out of the ruin of its shell.
The next few days the kids were allowed to stay home from school as they got to grips with their quirks, both the abilities and their new pets for life.
They also both went to see quirk doctors to find out what the exact parameters of their quirks were, and what animals they had manifested as.
The kindly old woman that saw to Izuku emailed and crooned at him, but grimaced slightly at his abilities.
“Well it seems dear, that you have a quirk in two parts, see, at first we assumed you had some kind of accelerated natural healing factor, hence why that nasty gash in your tummy went away do quickly! But what is actually happening is complete cellular regeneration! Every cell in your body is capable of regenerating it’s neighbours almost immediately. This means that any wound or injury will heal immediately, but also diseases and common illnesses will have virtually no effect on you!” Inko wished that she could frame the smile that was plastered on Izuku’s face, but a picture would have to do.
“But, there is a part two that I think you’re aware of.” She said, her voice getting more concerned. She passed Inko and Izuku a printed x-ray of Izuku’s hand.
“See, you have these three extra bones that can shoot out of your hand between your knuckles, but they have to break the skin to come out. But, with your healing factor as soon as they go back in again, the wound will heal and have to be re broken again next time.” She said, wincing herself just a little.
“But! Your little quirk friend here is just adorable! And he’s gonna grow up to be real big and strong too! Just like you will!” she said, gesturing to the baby chick that was cradled in Izuku’s hands and then once to a monitor where several pictures of a grown golden eagle were shown.
Katsumi’s doctor was a much more jaded older man that didn’t have time for the flare or drama, something that Katsumi loved.
“Okay. Looks like your quirk is that you can ignite the nitro-glycerine like sweat that you secrete naturally. The more sweat there is, the bigger the explosion. The bigger the explosion the more painful it’s gonna get. Oh, and the animals a lion. Duh.” The doctor said, showing very little emotion one way or the other.
“Sweet” Katsumi said with a grin, looking down once at her palm and once at the clumsy lion cub that lay next to her.
--- Several years later.
Izuku and Katsumi sat side by side outside the principles office after classes were over... Again. Their quirks sat by their sides as usual too.
They didn’t mean to get into all these fights, but stopping bullies without fighting was a pretty tough job.
They very rarely got punished, as there was always at least one witness there to vouch for them. Plus, the principle was a smart lady that could sniff out a bully when she saw one.
“Okay, come on in.” The principle called, exasperated.
“So, another fight huh. I’ve heard from the others involved but now I want to hear your side of things.” She said calmly.
Katsumi took the lead, firing into how the people they were fighting were trying to pick on the younger kids again, and she wasn’t going to stand for it. She used some language that was slightly more colourful than an 12 year old should perhaps be using, but the principle knew that scolding her for it got her nowhere.
Izuku backed up everything Katsumi was saying, often providing scarily accurate times and positions of each person involved with startling precision.
The principle looked down at her two young students, and thought through the best way to tackle this. She knew that the kids in front of her were only helping and defending themselves, and another student for that matter.
Izuku sat in the same perfect posture as usual, but his mannerisms were as awkward and nervous as ever. His quirk, the majestic Golden Eagle that he had named Tempest, sat perched on his shoulder looking around the room inquisitively.
Katsumi was his polar opposite, slouched back in her chair with one hell of an attitude written all over her face, talking as if she had a thousand better things to be doing. Her quirk, Blaze, was also eyeing the room but appeared to be bored, like the young Lion was debating taking an afternoon nap right there in the office.
The principle eventually let them go with yet another warning. How could she justify punishing someone for helping out a classmate against bullies?
The two students were let out and made their way back to Katsumi’s house. Inko didn’t finish work until around dinner time so Mitsuki offered to watch Izuku after school during the week, meaning the two youngsters spent even more time together.
As soon as they got in, Mitsuki said hello and asked how their day had been, all of which was completely ignored by her daughter as usual. She and her lion headed straight for the stairs while Izuku filled her in on the goings on of the day, explaining in great detail how the fight started and progressed.
Mitsuki took the news as well as always, somehow managing to keep a straight face as she watched Izuku space out describing how bravely her daughter fought.
“Hey! You coming or what?” they heard Katsumi shout from upstairs, she never understood how Izuku managed to talk to her insufferable mother for so long. He was too polite!
“Coming Kacchan!” Izuku shouted back, turning his back on Mitsuki immediately and heading for the stairs. He stopped abruptly and turned back around to face the woman.
“Sorry Mrs.Bakug.... I mean, Auntie Mitsuki!” he said with a short now, waiting to be dismissed.
“No need to apologise kiddo! How many times do I gotta tell you, treat this place like your own home!” she said, bidding the young boy to calm down. Since when did 12 year old boys have such insufferably good manners?
Izuku grinned sheepishly back at her and nodded, before heading upstairs to Katsumi’s room. He entered without knocking, correctly assuming that Kacchan was just waiting for him to get there before they found something to do.
Except...
She wasn’t just waiting...
She had just finished changing...
And Izuku had walked in in her... He hadn’t seen anything, of course, Kacchan was already wearing a sports bra as she usually did under her loose fitting tank top, so Izuku was used to seeing her in this state. But something about seeing her finishing putting the shirt on embarrassed Izuku beyond belief.
“What’s wrong?” Katsumi asked before grunting in frustration, “Did that old hag try to embarrass you again?” she said impatiently.
“Uhm, sure. But, it’s okay she was just playing” Izuku replied, trying his best to beat the blush that covered his cheeks, thankful that Kacchan gave him an excuse instead of having to think of one on the fly.
Izuku’s awkwardness slowly dissolved as the two began chatting about hero news they had missed while at school, like normal. Izuku sat by the window, opening it wide to allowing Tempest to launch herself out and fly around the house for a while. Izuku watched her soaring, her head twitching as she followed various rodents and critters that scattered into cover as her shadow passed over the top of them.
Izuku felt something push against his leg as he watched the eagle soaring.
“Hey there buddy, what’s wrong? Does mean old Kacchan not give you any scritches?” Izuku asked, his voice getting mushier as if he was speaking to a baby.
Katsumi looked over with an exasperated expression as Izuku scratched Blazes flank, making the lion dance and twitch around in pleasure. Katsumi tried her best not to react as she felt the phantom sensation of a good back scratching.
The two hung out a while longer until a ginger and white cat hopped up through the open window.
“Oh! Hey Auntie Inko” Katsumi said to the cat, catching Izuku’s attention.
“Oh, time to go” Izuku said, somewhat disappointed that he had to leave.
“Yup, see you tomorrow Zuku.” Katsumi said, masking her own disappointment too.
Izuku grabbed his things and made his way down stairs, where he saw Mitsuki and his mother talking in the kitchen.
“Hey Izuku, you already to go?” Inko asked, pulling her son in for a big hug.
Eventually the moms stopped gossiping and the Midoriya’s got home and ate dinner together. All the while Izuku explained the details of the fight yet again. Obviously due to his quirk he showed basically no evidence of being in a fight, but he knew he couldn’t lie to his mother, so he spared no details.
His mother was obviously a little upset that he had been in yet another fight, but ultimately praised him as always. Her son was already a hero. He stuck up for the little guy at all times, and it made her so damn proud.
That night they were watching TV together when news of All Mights victory against the dangerous villain Toxic Chainsaw!
---
As the years passed things seemed to stay very similar. Izuku and Katsumi always found themselves in trouble together, but knew that they would always have each others backs, no matter what.
Middle school came and went, high school did the same as they found themselves at 18 years old and facing the life altering choice of what to do next.
The teacher asked that they pick their 3 university choices carefully, giving as much consideration as they could to the future that they would begin carving out for themselves.
It was halfway through that inspiring speech that Katsumi stood up and slammed her choice down on the teachers desk, one option scrawled in her jagged hand writing.
“UA Hero Course” the sheet said, the other two options left completely blank. The teacher knew better than to argue with her. She was incredibly stubborn and quite annoyingly, had the skill to back up that stubbornness. Izuku was next up, he was a shy individual most of the time, but beside his best friend Katsumi, or when regarding anything to do with hero stuff, Izuku was an incredibly courageous and just as stubborn as the blond haired girl.
He placed his sheet down on the pile too, sure to square both of the pieces together to make the start of a nice neat stack.
“UA Hero Course” Was written in his usual neat hand writing and underneath were the UA General Studies and Business courses.
The two teens walked out, heading out of the school as the class they had just left was their last class, and also their last day at that school! They had a roughly 10 month break before the entrance exam for UA during which they were planning to train their butts off! They had already been training on their own at home, and together at a local gym but now that school was out of the way, they could fully commit!
The two teens were already in pretty impressive shape, Izuku was pretty cut under his clothes, though he would never show it off. His healing quirk (or cellular regeneration) mean that it was almost impossible for him to lose muscle as it would simply be regenerated. It also gave him slightly enhanced strength and agility too, as any muscle fibres that tore (as muscles do) they would instantly repair themselves. He was just about touching 6 feet tall and his arms and legs were thick with muscle, his chest and back were solid and his abs were as defined as could be.
Katsumi on the other hand was a little leaner, but just as toned. She had her blonde hair running in a jagged messy mane down to just above her shoulders, and a bust that most girls would be proud of, but to her usually just got in the way a little. She also had a toned ass that would have gotten her all the attention from any boy she would have wanted, if she wasn’t so damn scary! Her muscles were all certainly much better defined than the average girl her age but she simply didn’t have the bulk that Izuku had. Though, she did have the attitude of a much bigger woman and Izuku had the attitude of a much smaller man so maybe that balanced the pair out.
The two were walking their usual route home, chatting about school and their ideas for training to get ready for the entrance exam.
The next 2 months were gruelling. The pair out themselves through hell in order to train for UA. They had decided eventually that cleaning up Dagobah beach would be a great way to get in a full varied work out outside of a gym. A gym is a great place to train but Katsumi always found it too perfect, too sterile. It was all good being able to lift 300lbs nicely balanced on an ergonomic bar, but it wouldn’t do you any favours when you had to haul 300lbs of scrap metal or rubble over your shoulder in a collapsed building rescue.
But the scrap on the beach came in all shapes and sizes, all kinds of weights and obstacles to overcome. This, they decided, would be far superior than a gym as they would not only work their muscles, but their brains as well.
After a long hard day on the beach, 8 months to go until the Entrance exam, Izuku and Katsumi were done for the day. Both were drenched in sweat and covered in dirt as they panted. They looked over their work with grim determination. They had made a noticeable clean patch in the jungle of scrap, but there was still a lot of work to be done.
Exhausted, the two teens began their walk home. They shared the same route for the most part, but eventually had to part ways to reach their own homes.
They had separated only a couple of minutes ago, when Izuku heard the explosion... And before the thunderous sound had even finished shaking the earth under his feet, he had already begun running full speed towards the thick black smoke that slowly filled the sky.
---
Katsumi didn’t mean to blow up the store, seriously! But when a huge disgusting slime villain attacks the clerk, what else is a girl to do?
She saw the panic in the eyes of the innocent clerk and knew she had to do something. So while everyone else fled from the store, Katsumi leapt over the counter and punched her hand inside the villain and let off a medium sized explosion. One side of the slime villain split into pieces like jello, but the side that was suffocating the clerk remained in tact.
Two yellow eyes floated around the gelatinous form and focused on Katsumi.
“Oh! A flesh suit with a bit of fight huh? Maybe you can be my ticket out of here girlie!!” he roared, a wave of hot, foul smelling breath rolled across Katsumi, who just about managed to hold her lunch down after the nauseating stench.
The villain laughed as it dropped the clerk, spitting and choking, onto the ground and launched itself at the teen. The chunks of green goop that she had blown off slowly crawled back to the main mass of the villain who had shown absolutely no signs of pain at the attack.
‘Blaze, the clerk’ Katsumi silently told her Lion companion, who effortlessly jumped over the counter, and grabbed the clerk by the collar, dragging her to safety outside the store.
The villain overwhelmed her easily, pinning her arms to her side and immediately filling her airways with its viscous slime.
Katsumi let off another explosion, the villain recoiled slightly, giving Katsumi chance to suck in a big breath before the villain recovered and filled her throat again.
Katusmi kept it up for as long as she could, blowing the villain up from the inside and fighting with everything she had. But it was no use.
The store around her had been reduced to ashes by her explosions, and she could see vague shapes that she assumed to be civilians panicking around the outside of the fire.
In what she assumed were her final moments, Katsumi could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears and her vision was slowly beginning to fade as she succumbed to the lack of oxygen.
Then, she heard a feral roar cut through the agonising silence in her mind. She felt several impacts, and a strong grip around her arm as she was ripped free from the villain. Immediately she rolled onto all fours and began to wretch up the green slime that had forced it’s way into her lungs.
Her saviour must have been some kind of pro with a fire quirk, as his clothes were completely a blaze but he didn’t seem to care. He pounded his fists into the sludge villain, who screamed in agony as his entire form was completely eviscerated beneath the Pros attacks.
“MOVE” Katsumi yelled, her voice hoarse and gravelly after retching so much.
She raised her hand, preparing to unleash the biggest explosion she could.
The pro looked back at her. Emerald eyes locking onto her own crimson ones as he dove out of the way and Katsumi let loose.
Sludge villain coated the walls in rotten smelling bile, that ever so slowly began to reform. Before it could, however, water flooded in from outside of the store and scooped the piles of sludge into several different bubbles, preventing the villain from reforming.
The water all immediately floated back towards the pro hero Backdraft as he marched into the centre of the ruined store. The floating water balls full of sludge hanging in the air behind him like gross balloons.
“What in the hell were you kids doing?! You could have been killed!” Was the last thing Katsumi heard before passing out. She felt a warm reassuring hand stroke gently across her cheek as the light faded and she fell into unconsciousness.
---
Katsumi work with a start, immediately sitting bolt upright where she was. A strong hand grabbed her by the shoulder, holding her on place, she followed the thick arm which met a bare shoulder, that lead to a familiar face.
Izuku looked at her with a face full of concern.
“You’re okay Kacchan, it’s okay. Lay down.” His voice was soft and reassuring, exactly what Katsumi needed as the most recent events replayed over in her mind.
Katsumi let Izuku push her back into a laying position as she caught her breath and processed everything that had happened. She felt the reassuring warmth of her quirk laying at the end of the bed, resting his fuzzy head on her legs.
She looked back over at Izuku. He looked exactly the same as normal, only he was wearing a white tank top that certainly wasn’t his, as it was at least 2 sizes to small. He was one stretch away from ripping the thin material to shreds. Normally this would mortify the shy young man but apparently he was more worried about her than his shirt.
“What... Happened?” Katsumi finally asked.
“You were attacked Kacchan. The heroes they... None of them could save you, they couldn’t get passed the fire. So I rushed passed them and came in myself.” His face turned a little red and he started acting sheepish at the last sentence, and he lost the ability to make eye contact with her.
“So that wasn’t a fire quirk... That was you? You... Saved me?” Katsumi asked, not believing that the person she saw tearing the villain to shreds was not a pro hero, but her best friend risking his own life to save her.
“Yep” Izuku said, scratching the back of his head with a nervous chuckle.
“I tried with just my fingers, but these seemed to do a better job.” He said, still embarrassed, as with only a small wince he pushed out his claws, around ten inches of smooth sharpened bone. He studied them for a second before slipping them back in, wiping the small trickles off blood off on his pants absentmindedly.
“Well great... Now I owe you one!” Katsumi said with a grin. She decided to just leave the deeper thinking to a time when she wasn’t so sore, her whole body was aching like she just ran a marathon.
“Nonsense, you would have done the same if I was in there right?” Izuku asked, the shyness ebbing away as his friends usual dry humour returned. His head flicked over to the window for a second, before he pulled his attention back to her, she assumed this meant that Tempest was out there hunting.
“Of course I would Zuku.” Katsumi said sincerely, “Besides, you couldn’t get yourself out of a coat without me around! Did you see how hard I blew that fucker up?” She joked, miming an explosion in front of her as Izuku chuckled back at her sarcastically.
“Oh sure. You took care of him all on your own after I saved your sorry butt from drowning in stink slime!” Izuku shot back.
“Hmf.” Katsumi retorted, struggling to find an argument.
The two talked over how the heroes reacted, scalding Izuku for rushing into the fire and scalding the then unconscious Bakugou for saving the clerk. They came around eventually however, after they realised that without Izuku, Katsumi surely would have died. And without Katsumi, the clerk would have died and the villain would have escaped, using her as a disguise.
Eventually the pair were just about to drift off to sleep, Izuku in his chair next to the bed that Katsumi was in, when they heard a commotion in the corridor outside.
At first they thought some kind of stampede was passing through the building but when the door flew open they realised it was simply the combined forces of Inko and Mitsuki storming up to them.
“MY BABY!” Mitsuki yelled, practically diving onto her daughter, knocking the air out of her chest completely.
Inko silently rushed over to her son and grabbed him in a cuddle so tight that the tank top might have actually fit on his crushed ribcage.
After the mother’s calmed down a little, they heard the full story from their kids and slowly began to understand the seriousness of the situation. Mitsuki began to tear up, and slowly stood, crossing the room to give Izuku a big, sincere, hug. This young man had saved her daughters life. She had always seen Izuku as a second child, the same could be said for Inko about Katsumi too, but in this moment Mitsuki Bakugou had never been so thankful for having Izuku Midoriya in her life.
Katsumi summoned all of the strength she had left to roll her eyes so aggressively that her mother almost jumped back in shock.
It wasn’t too long until the doctors came and checked over Katsumi, and released her. She had suffered no serious injuries despite strains to her throat from retching so violently and a touch of quirk exhaustion that could only be fixed with rest.
But, rest wasn’t exactly Katsumi’s priority right now.
Izuku spent the rest of the week in a furious battle with Katsumi to keep her away from any strenuous physical activity.
However, once the rest period had passed, the pair got right back to work cleaning up the beach and training for the all important Entrance Exam that loomed a mere 8 months away.
---
It felt like nothing.
Every day was full of hard work. Every hour spent dripping with sweat, blood and grime as they hauled the heaps of trash off of the beach to be hauled away by all to eager scrapyard workers.
Yet still, it felt like no time at all until Izuku and Katsumi found themselves in front of the impressive UA main gate.
They passed through, Katsumi didn’t particularly give a shit, she knew she would pass this gate a thousand more times once she passed so what was the big deal? Izuku was in complete awe as he passed onto the threshold of the most prestigious hero school in the country, probably the world.
So much awe, in fact, that he tripped on a loose tile and slammed face first into the ground. Or he would have, if a hand hadn’t reached out from behind him and tagged him as he fell, causing him to float a few inches off of the ground.
The owner of said hand then pulled Izuku upright and the whispered “Release” before speaking up, addressing both Izuku and Katsumi who were staying at her.
The girl was cute, Katsumi had to admit. She didn’t seem like the “Hero” type, but Izuku had taught her not to judge so early on.
“Hey! Sorry for using my quirk on you! I just thought it would be super bad luck for you to fall right before the exams!” she exclaimed.
“Uh, uhm. Oh. Ah.” Izuku stammered, clearly flustered.
“Smooth Deku, real smooth... Well tthanks” Katsumi said, turning to the girl that was giving Izuku a strange look now.
“This idiot is Izuku Midoriya, and I’m his caretaker, Katsumi Bakugou.” Katsumi said with a half cocked smirk as Izuku continued being flustered.
“Oh... Well, I’m Ochako Uraraka, it’s nice to meet you!” Uraraka replied, addressing Bakugou now, not sure what to make of the blubbering mess beside her.
Surprisingly, Katsumi struck up a little small talk with Uraraka and the two girls walked side by side, letting Izuku follow behind to compose himself. Blaze stayed right next to Kacchan the whole time, allowing Tempest to tag along riding on the lions back. Katsumi noticed a small black and white cat darting along through the crowds keeping pace with Uraraka, presumably her quirk.
Once Izuku had regained control of his mouth, he thanked Uraraka and managed to keep up with the conversation, allowing Bakugou to tag out, her allocated social interaction energy thoroughly expended for the day.
The three remained together until they had to split for the written exam, where they all wished each other luck and prepared to part ways. Uraraka couldn’t help but smile when Izuku gave a frustrated looking Katsumi a big hug, she could tell that she enjoyed it despite the dramatic sigh she let out.
--- One Written Exam Later ---
Katsumi strutted our of the written exam with smug confidence. Of course, she strutted everywhere with smug confidence, but this strut was extra smug and extra confident. She had both hands in her pockets and slouched back as she walked, as if she were simply admiring the view, not exiting one of the hardest written exams any hero course could set.
Uraraka flashed a nervous smile her way, as she cautiously approached. She thought Katsumi was pretty cool, almost too cool for her to be hanging out with. She had seemed very talkative at first but Uraraka quickly realised that she was just being nice at first, and was actually pretty blunt and to the point.
“Hey!” She said as she walked up to the blonde, “How’d it go?”
Bakugou simply scoffed, her smirk increasing in smugness to answer the question.
Thankfully Izuku’s arrival ended the awkward silence that would have ensued, but he too looked pretty confident.
As the trio made their way towards the briefing for the practical exam, Izuku did his best to encourage Uraraka, telling her she probably did just fine in the exam and even confirmed some of their answers as they spoke. This lifted Uraraka’s mood significanty.
Noticing this, Katsumi prodded Izuku with an elbow and nodded towards Uraraka, raising her eyebrows suggestively. Izuku looked puzzled for a second, but swiftly realised what she meant, and nudged her back with his own elbow, a silent plea to knock it off.
Katsumi nudged him back, shoving with more power this time. The two took it in turns to escalate the shoving until Izuku, hiding a smile put his hand on Katsumi’s shoulder and pushed her away from him hard.
Uraraka finally noticed what was going on as Bakugou almost fell over, but managed to stay upright. She turned round with an angry expression on her face as Izuku burst out laughing.
Bakugou couldn’t help a smile catch her lips as the group continued on to their destination.
They all got seats next to each other as Present Mic walked them through the practical exam and split the examinees between several exam sites.
Uraraka and Izuku were in the same testing site but unfortunately Bakugou was in a different one. Both of the best friends were upset that they wouldn’t get to see the others performance, but also glad in a way that they would be able to perform individually, and not have to compete with their oldest friend.
They once again wished each other luck, promising to beat each others score and see the other in the hero course. Izuku whistled for Tempest to finally disembark from Blaze’s back, and land on his shoulder, the familiar sharp pain of talons digging into his skin just a little.
It wasn’t long before Midoriya and Uraraka were standing nervously in front of the starting gate. They chatted nervously as they awaited further instructions.
“Ahem.” A stern voice called, interrupting the idle chatter. The pair turned to see a tall blue haired boy walking in their direction.
“Excuse me. Are you two going to keep socialising?” he asked in a stern voice, some kind of antelope standing next to him. It’s horns were long and spirally, and it’s coat was tan, brown and white.
“What?” Uraraka asked innocently.
“This is an exam. People are trying to concentrate. You two, are distracting us with your light chitter chatter.” He said, fixing them both with a stern look before turning back towards the gate.
“Uhm... Sorry?” Izuku and Ochako said, slightly louder to extend the apology to the rest of the examinees, none of whom seemed to care at all.
The pair quietly wished each other luck, and continued their own preparations in relative silence.
With a great buzz, and a wooshing noise, the gate in front of them flew open, stunning the small crowd of examinees.
“What? You think you’d get a countdown?” Present Mic’s voice came over the speakers by the gates, Izuku didn’t get to hear the rest of his quip as he took off at full speed, heading out in front of most of the pack, Tempest launching off of his shoulder and following him overhead.
Somewhere across campus, Bakugou launched herself ahead of the crowd, riding her explosions deep into the fake city. Ready to destroy everything in her path.