Chapter Text
It had all started on the first day of middle school. Katsuki and Izuku had spent the whole summer together, jumping in the river, playing superheroes with Inko, cooking with Mitsuki. It had been the perfect summer and the two best friends were beyond excited in the car in the direction of their school. However, they didn’t see the worried face of Izuku’s mother as they neared the establishment.
“Izuku, promise me that if someone is mean to you, you have to tell me when you get back home alright?”
“Don’t worry auntie, I’ll fight everyone who dares send a mean glance to Izu! My quirk is strong enough for both of us”
“Yeah mom! Kacchan is the strongest, don’t worry!”
The worried look didn’t entirely leave the mother’s eyes, but it was now mixed with fondness. Yeah, as long as they were together, nothing too bad could happen.
.
Katsuki had stopped looking at his friend for only one second. He had looked away for one second - and he was gone. Izuku was gone.
It was only the first day of school, but as soon as he entered the classroom mumbling, it was over.
By noon, he had already been picked on too many times to count. It didn't matter how scary Katsuki tried to be while protecting him, he only managed to scare away half the class.
So the only thing that the blond kid found useful to do was to keep an eye on his best friend at all times so that he could make sure he was safe.
He had been called by a teacher during a break, and while he answered, some pricks had managed to take Izuku away.
Katsuki was seething. He was afraid, what could he do? He didn't know the school, it was his first day at Aldera.
He couldn’t let panic settle in enough to obstruct his thinking. He was going to be a hero for god’s sake! Navigating through stressful situations was part of the job.
Think, Katsuki, THINK! Where would kids go to bully someone without being noticed?
Oh.
Storming out the door and looking frantically everywhere around him, he sprinted towards the toilets. He had to be there. This was the only place where students couldn’t get caught by teachers.
Every step he took echoed through his whole body. His fists were shaking. Dread and bile rose to his throat as he neared the bathroom. Anticipation and rage were troubling his senses. If they had dared to touch a single hair of Izuku, they were going to die. Katsuki was going to kill them.
If they were in the bathroom, hurting his best friend, they wouldn’t get out of here alive.
Oh god, what if they aren’t in the bathroom? Where could they be? Would he be quick enough to find them before they did something bad?
Katsuki was full-on running now. He could finally see the bathroom door.
His pace quickened again, and soon enough he was bursting into the room.
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Middle schoolers weren’t kind. This was the first thing Izuku realised during his first day at Aldera.
Kacchan had told him not to start mumbling, he had warned him that they would find him weird.
But he couldn’t help it. He didn’t control the way his thoughts flowed out of his mouth. He had managed to hold it for no longer than ten minutes, and then he was off.
A nudge in the rib from his best friend made him stop talking. But it was too late.
When Izuku tore his gaze off the ground and looked at his new classmates, he was met with the same looks his mom’s friends used to have when they first met him : amusement, mockery, disgust, judgment.
It was over, he had already made a bad impression.
“What the fuck! How can you talk so much?!”
“He’s such a nerd.”
“Seriously, who even likes a guy like him?”
“Imagine if he started spilling your secrets — ew!”
Izuku’s eyes started watering at the same time Katsuki’s hands started sparkling.
“SHUT THE FUCK UP”
An explosion erupted in the room
“Damn, who’s that ?”
“I'm Katsuki Bakugo, and my quirk is so strong that I could burn y’all to ashes with one blast if I wanted !” tiny explosions continued to erupt from his palms.
“And this,” he said, pointing at Izuku, “is my best friend, and I bet he’s smarter than all of you together ! If you dare make fun of him I'll make you pay!”
Seeing the blasts become bigger by the second, almost half of the class took a step back. The other half, though, seemed more riled up than ever.
A guy started walking in the direction of Katsuki while expanding his arms, but the teacher came into the class right before a proper fight could happen.
“What’s with all the noise ? I could hear you all the way back from the teacher’s office ! This is unacceptable behavior on your first day of school. Go to your seats, now.”
The teacher seemed intimidating, and not a single student wanted to get their reports stained on the first day, so everyone listened.
With the seating chart, Izuku was seated behind Katsuki, which was inconvenient since the explosive boy didn’t want to tear his eyes away from his friend.
They ended up finding an agreement, which worked with Izuku always touching Katsuki, most of the time by playing with his shirt collar or tracing things on his back with his finger.
He was acting like it bothered him, but in reality the movement of the nerd's fingers on his back was really soothing.
The morning classes went by slowly - the two boys were ahead of the program so they got bored easily - but soon it was time for lunch.
Katsuki turned his chair to sit in front of Izuku and put his bento on the table at the same time as his best friend. They didn’t even have a chance to take their first bite before someone came to their table.
“Hey” the girl’s eyes were locked on Katsuki, not even acknowledging Izuku “you know, me and my friends all have cool quirks. You should ditch this loser and come hang out with us instead. I swear we’re all way more interesting and definitely stronger than him.”
Katsuki kept eating, chopsticks clicking against his bento box.
“Hey! Are you deaf? Don’t ignore me!”
He snorted through his nose. “Piss off, shithead,” Still no eye contact.
A few gasps rippled through the small crowd that had started forming around their table.
Izuku stared at the floor, heart pounding. Katsuki’s eyes never left him. Something told him this day was far from over…