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Midoriya felt like his life had ended the day he was pronounced quirkless.
He was supposed to be a hero- how could he be a hero if he was quirkless? How could he save people if he was quirkless?
That night, sitting in the desk chair as his mother held him and sobbed apologies into his shoulder, Midoriya felt a pit form in his stomach.
—
Growing up, Katsuki had come to learn that some men were not born equal. He watched as older kids got bullied by even older kids for having weak quirks, or not having any quirks at all. Saw the way his parents talked behind Deku’s back about how Auntie Inko had a weak quirk.
Growing up, Katsuki knew, people without a quirk were less than him.
This all changes when he’s told that Deku is quirkless.
How could sweet, kind, stupid Deku be quirkless? It didn’t make any sense. People like Deku were supposed to have powerful quirks and fight bad guys and save people. People like Deku were supposed to be heroes.
So how could Deku be quirkless?
Could Deku still be a hero if he was quirkless?
Even if Katsuki would be number one, he always imagined that it would be with Deku as his number 2, right behind him. It just didn’t make sense for it to be any other way. It was always Midoriya and Bakugou, Katsuki and Izuku, Deku and Kacchan. It had never been anything else.
How would they be heroes if Deku was quirkless?
Looking at Deku, standing in front of all their classmates, gaze cast down at the floor, and tears filling his eyes, Katsuki’s first response was to taunt him. Make fun of him for being a quirkless loser.
However, something in Deku’s face seemed to change Katsuki’s mind. He didn’t know if it was the heartbroken determination or the whispers of self-hate that changed his mind, just that something fundamental changed in Katsuki.
Whereas before, he had wanted to taunt the other kid, now, Katsuki wanted nothing more than to hug him. Whereas he used to call the kid stupid and useless, he now wanted to call brave.
Katsuki took a deep breath, Deku flinched, Katsuki exhaled. Then, faster than the teachers could move to stop them, Katsuki flung his arms around Deku, and pulled him close.
—
Izuku had gone into kindergarten that morning with a pool of dread forming in his stomach. He felt like he was going to throw up, like all the dread and anxiety would bubble up from his belly and into his throat to suffocate him.
He was the most worried about Kacchan.
The other boy was volatile, angry, and ready to pick on any weakness he could find. This had been one of the things Izuku had admired about Kacchan, but now, it was one of the things he feared in Kacchan.
He knew, if Kacchan found out that he was quirkless, he would immediately poke fun at it. Which is why he started crying as the kindergarten teachers explained the situation to a surprised looking class.
Looking at Kacchan, he could see the shock, could see the horror. He wanted to hide under his covers like he always did. He wanted to cry. Kacchan would hate him now. He would bully him, ruthlessly go after him. Izuku was going to lose his best friend, and he was only four.
But, Kacchan surprised him.
When the young blond boy began to walk up to him, he had prepared himself for a verbal and physical smack down. However, none of that came. Instead, Kacchan had taken a deep breath (Izuku ignored his flinch at that), and pulled him into a hug.
The softness of the action caused tears to spring into Izuku’s eyes. He had expected anger, expected taunting and laughter, malicious bullying. He had not expected to be accepted.
A harsh sob ripped itself out of Izuku’s chest. He desperately clutched the blond boy's shirt. He felt Kacchan pull him closer and hold him tighter. A smile pulled its way across his face, and yet, his tears didn’t stop coming.
“Why are you crying, you damn nerd?!” Kacchan shouted from above Izuku. The green haired boy could only chuckle wetly.
“I’m just so happy!” Izuku cried, pulling away to wipe his tears off of his face. He harshly dragged his sleeves under his eyes, but the tears just wouldn’t stop. Izuku sank to a crouch, knees to his chest, and continued to wipe his eyes. A sudden hand on his shoulder had him melting into Kacchan’s chest, pulled into another hug, only this time, sitting on the floor.
“Stupid Deku…” Kacchan whispered, continuing to hug Izuku through his sobs.
—
After Deku’s crying stint, the teachers had moved the younger boy to the nurses office, and laid him on the bed to sleep. Deku had pretty much passed out while hugging Kacchan, so it was the blonde that ended up carrying the smaller boy to the nurses office (even though his arms shook, and he was left out of breath, he refused to let anyone else hold Deku).
He stayed by Deku’s side until lunch, when he started to get hungry. Even though he wanted to eat, he didn’t want to leave Deku all alone, especially not after the green haired kid had basically cried himself to sleep in the middle of the kindergarten classroom. So, figuring that Deku was probably hungry as well, he opted to wake the younger one up.
“Deku…” Katsuki called, trying to speak softly so as to not startle Deku. “Wake up!”
Deku snuffled, eyes scrunching up in an attempt to block out the light from the room. Katsuki poked his finger into Deku's cheek, trying to annoy him into waking up.
“Mmh… Kacchan?” Deku mumbled, beginning to sit up and rubbing his eyes.
“Yeah, it’s me you damn nerd. It’s lunch time, and I’m hungry. Let’s go.” Before Deku could even protest, Katsuki had gotten off the bed and started dragging the younger out of the room.
“C-coming!” Deku called, stumbling behind the blond. They made the trek over to the low table in the center of the room, which had twenty trays with food on them. A lunch for every student.
Katsuki and Deku sat in their usual seats, right next to each other. As they both started eating, Deku slowly began to scrunch into himself, beginning to roll into a tight ball.
A frown made its way onto Katsuki's face. He looked up, trying to see what was making his friend so nervous, when he caught sight of some of the other kids glaring at Deku. Clearly these kids were gonna be a problem.
“Eat your food, stupid Deku!” Katsuki called, poking Deku in the stomach, which caused him to unfurl from his little ball. Slowly, Deku started to eat again, even though it was sometimes interrupted by his glances towards the kids that were glaring at him. Sometimes he would start to curl into his little ball, only for Katsuki to poke him, and force him to start eating again.
After a painfully long time, lunch had ended.
Katsuki dragged Izuku outside, wanting to play in the dirt. He dragged Izuku into the corner that he normally played in, and started dragging the younger one into a game of hero and villain. Normally, Katsuki would play the hero, and Deku the villain. But, today he was trying to be nice to Deku, so the smaller boy got to be the hero today.
—
Kacchan was normally supposed to be the hero, and Izuku the villain. However, today Izuku was allowed to be the hero.
Kacchan and Izuku ran around the small school yard, chasing each other and play-fighting for some time, before Izuku got tired. They laid in the grass, just staring at the clouds. Izuku was panting, trying to get his breathing under control, and Kacchan was giggling, smiling at the younger.
For a moment, the two of them could pretend like nothing was wrong, like Izuku wasn’t quirkless, like they could both still be heroes.
Unfortunately, the moment was ruined when a shadow fell over the two of them. Opening his eyes, Izuku saw that it was some of Kacchan’s friends that were surrounding them. Instantly getting a bad feeling, Izuku turned to look at Kacchan.
“What do you want?” It seemed Kacchan had the same bad feeling as Izuku, judging by the aggressive, defensive tone.
“We want to know why you’re still hanging out with that stupid Deku!” A kid with wings said, a mean smirk on his face. The other kids huffed in agreement. Kacchan frowned.
“Why wouldn’t I hang out with Deku?” Izuku knew the reason. It was because he was quirkless. The kids didn’t have a problem with him before he was diagnosed.
“Because he’s a quirkless loser!” The kid with wings said. Izuku couldn’t help the flinch. He hated that that was what he had become, just some quirkless loser. He was no longer their friend, who had shared many adventures with them, he was just some useless nobody, a quirkless loser. Kacchan was bound to realize it now, and leave him, was bound to shout the same insults towards him. Except-
“He’s not a quirkless loser! He’s Deku!” Kacchan insisted, beginning to get angry.
“He’s useless!” Another kid shouted. Izuku could see the building rage in the way Kacchan clenched his fists, in the frown that marred his face, in the way that the blond was beginning to stand in front of Izuku (The smaller one ignored that he felt a lot safe when Kacchan stood in front of him. Heroes didn’t get scared, and they didn’t need anyone to protect them).
“He’s not useless!” Kacchan shouted back.
“But he’s just some stupid Deku!” That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back, as Kacchan was then launching himself at the other kids, fists raised and prepared to strike.
—
When Katsuki went into kindergarten today, he didn’t expect what was going to happen. Finding out that one of your friends is quirkless, deciding to continue being his friend, and getting into a fist fight with his other friends, all in one day was a lot. He kind of wanted to cry.
Instead, he focused on beating the other kid into the dirt. How dare he insult Deku! Sweet, small, kind, stupid Deku? The Deku that always tagged along with them? The same kid that carried All Might band-aids for when one of them fell and scraped their knee? The same kid that cared about everyone and everything? The same kid that cried when someone squashed a bug?
He didn’t even feel the hands pulling him back, so focused on punishing the person who spoke bad about Deku. He only finally calmed down when he felt Deku grab onto his arm and bury his head in Katsuki’s chest.
“Please stop, Kacchan. Please!” Deku pleaded. Katsuki doesn’t know if it was the heartbroken tone of voice, or the growing wetness he could feel through his uniform, but something made him stop. Taking deep breaths, like he’d seen his mother do, Katsuki slowly began to calm down. He felt the anger melting away into a deep sadness for his friend.
“Okay, Deku. I’ll stop.” He said, trying to reassure his younger friend. The wet patch continued to grow on his shoulder, and he continued to hold his friend.
Eventually, the teachers brought Katsuki into the building and made him sit in the office while they waited for his parents to show up. Deku had to wait with him, since he was practically inconsolable, and would scream and cry harder if Katsuki left his side. So, there they sat, Deku curled up on Katsuki’s lap, crying having slowed to a few hiccups and sniffles.
“Am I… Am I really just some stupid Deku?”
Katsuki didn’t know how to respond to that. The entire time he’d known the other, he had called him Deku. That was how Katsuki knew him, as a stupid Deku. But, the way those other kids had thrown the insult around made him rethink that.
Originally, it had been a way to make the other mad, to call him a blockhead, a Deku. Then, it had grown into something else, something fond. They were Bakugou and Midoriya, Katsuki and Izuku, Kacchan and Deku. There was never anything else.
Would he still be Kacchan, if there wasn’t a Deku?
He wanted to be Kacchan and Deku, he’d always wanted to be Kacchan and Deku. But, thinking back, when he’d given the younger the name Deku, he wasn’t Kacchan. Back then, It was just Deku. Kacchan came later.
So, maybe, if Izuku could be Deku alone, then Katsuki could be Kacchan alone, too.
—
Izuku waited with bated breath for Kacchan’s answer. Unfortunately, the longer Kacchan was silent, the harder it was for Izuku to ignore the wriggling feeling that he really was just a stupid Deku. That Deku was the only thing he’d ever be.
But, suddenly, Kacchan was speaking.
“You’re not just some stupid Deku… You were my stupid Deku.” Izuku’s eyes widened, and he looked up, only to immediately panic. Kacchan was crying! Kacchan never cried!
“Ah! Why are you crying?!” Izuku reached up to wipe the tears from Kacchan’s eyes.
“I just realized something, that’s all. Stop worrying, you damn De- Izuku.” Kacchan mumbled, reaching up to wipe his own eyes. Izuku’s eyes widened. Kacchan never called him Izuku. It was either "nerd" or "Deku".
“You’re not just some stupid Deku, okay?! You are really nice and smart and kind, so you- you aren’t just a stupid Deku!” This caused Kacchan to suddenly burst out crying. Izuku just started up at him, bewildered with the sudden tears.
“Are- are you okay? What’s wrong? Why are you crying, Kacchan?!” Izuku rushed to try and comfort his friend. Nothing he did was working, and Kacchan continued to cry. The blonde cried until his parents came to pick him up, leaving Izuku in the office, alone and confused.
The next day at school, Kacchan walked in like normal, a brightness to him that Izuku had never seen on anyone else.
After yesterday’s meltdown, Izuku was worried that Kacchan and him would have a different relationship- that maybe Kacchan was regretting protecting Izuku, and would start bullying him, instead.
However, when Kacchan met Izuku’s eyes, he smiled.
“Hey, Izuku!” He would deny that he kinda missed the name Deku, that he kinda wanted to continue things the same way - that he still wanted to be Bakugou and Midoriya, Katsuki and Izuku, Kacchan and Deku.
At the same time, Izuku felt a bright flare of something in his chest, a pulling that drew him towards the other boy. Maybe, whatever came next would be okay. Maybe they didn’t have to be Bakugou and Midoriya, or Katsuki and Izuku, or Kacchan and Deku. Maybe they could be Kacchan and Izuku.
Yeah, that sounded nice.
“Hi, Kacchan!”