Chapter Text
Katsuki was not having a good day.
He was assigned early morning patrol with Deku, which he supposed was better than Half-n-half, but come on. The nerd had been avoiding him all week, which meant patrol was going to be extremely uncomfortable for both of them. Usually, the idiot rambled about nothing the whole time. Surprisingly, that made the time pass much faster, though Katsuki had no clue why. He didn’t understand the distance Deku was keeping, either, but that didn’t bother him. Obviously Katsuki wasn’t worried; he was just bored.
Soon enough, the two students were able to find a small-time villain to distract them from their not-argument. Deku sent out Black Whip from his right hand, snatching the jewel thief around the abdomen and hauling her back towards them. Katsuki readied a blast for when she was within range, but then he made eye contact with her. Immediately, a skull-splitting headache sliced through his brain, forcing him to clutch his head and lose the prepped explosion. Deku seemed to be feeling the same pain, as he was doubled over and pressing his forehead into the asphalt. Black Whip reacted by holding the villain twenty or so feet in the air, facing up so she couldn’t make eye contact with them or any civilians.
The pain started ebbing, so Katsuki launched himself up to her to grab and pull her down. She was being held aloft by these freaky black tendrils. Their owner shouted out in confusion.
“What are you doing? I’ve already got her!”
“She was mine, why did you step in?”
“Uh, no, I responded to the distress signal. She’s…mine…wait who even are you?”
Katsuki couldn’t understand why this extra was interfering. “Who the hell are you?”
“Student Hero Deku…”
“Yeah right. You’re not from UA, and that’s the only school with jurisdiction here. Student Hero Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight. I would know.” Katsuki glared down at this Deku guy. Why was he here? Was he a villain, too? Why was he laughing?
“Your hero name is what?” This bastard was giggling at him. Yeah, maybe his hero name was a little long, but it was a good fucking name!
Through their bickering, the two student heroes were able to slowly cart the secured villain to the police station. When they both started continuing their patrol back towards UA, seeing they were both following the exact same route, the arguing only got louder. Katsuki didn’t understand why this kid wasn’t afraid of him. Did he think he was a fake hero? He felt almost an uncomfortable amount of anger every time he looked at the stupid Deku’s face. The anger wasn’t new to Katsuki, but he couldn’t figure out what about this guy pissed him off so thoroughly.
“Why aren’t you scared of me?” Katsuki had never been known for tact. Sue him.
“Because this is my job, Dynamight.” The maybe-villain suddenly locked eyes with him, suspicious. “How did you know I’m normally scared of people?”
“Tch. I didn’t, dipshit, people are just normally scared of me!”
“Why are you two idiots shouting so loud?” said a voice, equally as loud. Aizawa-sensei. When had they arrived back at school?
“Sensei, he says he’s a student hero, but I don’t recognize him from UA.”
“And this idiot says he’s from UA, so he’s obviously lying. I figured I’d bring him back here to see what you wanted to do with him.”
Aizawa’s face looked even more exasperated than normal. Impressive.
“What the hell are you two talking about?”
Both students looked at Aizawa with confusion. Why was he acting like this?
“Who is he?” Aizawa looked at the liar while pointing to Katsuki.
“I don’t know! That’s why I brought him to you!” Tch. He said, like a liar.
“And you, who is this?” He looked at Katsuki and pointed to the green-haired extra.
“Same answer. Why are you being weird, Sensei?”
“You really have no idea who each other is?”
“NO!” they shouted together.
“…shit.”
After a trip to the police station and a chat with the jewel villain, Aizawa-sensei met with the two students in their classroom. He looked so incredibly tired. It wasn’t even 10am.
“Okay. You both probably thought the villain you apprehended had some sort of headache quirk, yes? Well, that’s only a symptom. You two are currently affected by her amnesia quirk, which makes you forget the person next to you at activation. It completely erases you from each other’s mind. The longer you’ve known each other, the longer it takes to wear off, which means this could take as long as two weeks before it fixes itself.”
“How long have I known him?” the extra next to Katsuki asked. Maybe he shouldn’t call this guy an extra, considering they apparently trust each other enough to go on patrol together.
“From what I’ve heard, you’ve known each other since childhood. So maybe fourteen years, give or take? The villain, Animosity, said, ‘a year of trust is a day of unrest.’ I think she was trying to rhyme or something. Anyway, that’s why I’m thinking two weeks.
“I am curious, though. I wonder if we can retrieve any of your memories early. Try to remember each other’s name.”
Katsuki looked in every back corner of his memory, but nothing about this guy had any names attached to it. Just rage, although he couldn’t shake the hint of fondness lurking behind it all. That had to be a fluke. Katsuki didn’t do fond. The other boy looked just as stuck.
“Nothing? Okay, try telling each other your name.”
“Midoriya Izuku.” Nope, not familiar.
“Bakugou Katsuki.”
Aizawa sighed and rubbed his eyes a bit too hard. “Okay, you know what we’re gonna do? You’re gonna go about your days these next two weeks like you normally do, and I’m gonna go nag Animosity some more after class. Please try not to kill each other.”
What? Yeah, the Midoriya guy was a little annoying, but Katsuki didn’t want to fight him. He looked up to see a hand outstretched towards him. The green-head was apparently trying to be amicable. Something in the back of his mind told him to take his hand. Fine. He’d play along. He grabbed the hand in front of him, none too gently, but shook it nonetheless.
“Hi!” The guy smiled at him. It was far too genuine for his liking. “Nice to meet you properly, Bakugou-san!”
Ew. That sounded wrong. Did they not call each other by their last names? Even the other guy looked uncomfortable at the name, so it wasn’t just him. No, he must’ve given this kid an insulting nickname, at least. He scanned the boy in front of him, looking out for any obvious defining traits.
“Sure, whatever, Broccoli Head.” Broccoli Head looked affronted. What? It was an accurate name!
“Hey, Problem Children!” The other kid’s eyes snapped up to look at Aizawa-sensei. Wait, wasn’t Katsuki the only “problem child” here? “Sit your asses down so I can start class.”
Katsuki looked around, noticing his other classmates had all entered and were watching them shake hands with visible confusion.
Aizawa continued to address the rest of the class, looking bored. “Your favorite troublemakers got hit with an amnesia quirk this morning on patrol. They won’t remember each other for the next two weeks. Class continues as normal, as this is not a life-threatening situation.”
Katsuki felt uncomfortable at having to turn his back to Broccoli Head, whom he still didn’t fully trust. He didn’t want to get called out by Aizawa again, though, so he took his seat in front of the other boy, grumbling general angry nonsense. Was that Broccoli snickering behind him? Dickhead.
As soon as the lunch bell rang, Katsuki was out of his chair and back in Broccoli’s space. To his credit, the kid finally looked a little frightened, but like he was trying very hard to hide it. There was that misplaced fondness again. Ugh.
“Grab your lunch and then meet me at the back left corner of the cafeteria.” Katsuki tried to look into the guy’s eyes while speaking, but he had to look away immediately after. They were too green, too…familiar. What the hell was that about? What kind of guy knows another person’s eyes?
“Um, okay Bak—” Broccoli cut himself off, looking frustrated. Katsuki just grunted, then marched out of the room to get his own lunch.
After a few seconds, he noticed Kirishima was trying to catch up, so he slowed his pace just a little. “I’m not eating with you today, Shitty Hair.” Katsuki hurried to finish his thought as the redhead tried to interrupt. “I’m sitting with Broccoli Head to see if we can try to work some of this shit out. It’s driving me crazy not knowing what’s going on.”
“I actually had an idea about that. What if you fought him?”
“…What the fuck.”
“No, like, to see if it would jog your memories or some shit. You guys fought all the time last year.”
That…actually wasn’t a bad idea. Wait, he’d fought this kid? He can’t remember ever being so angry at any of his classmates that he actively picked fights with them, although that might explain his sourceless rage from earlier. Why was this kid so different?
“Maybe. Actually,” Katsuki’s eyes widened. “We could book the indoor sparring site, the three of us.”
“Wait, why am I coming?”
“Because, dipshit, Broccoli and I don’t know how any of our fights went down.”
Kirishima’s expression drooped a little. “Oh, um, you actually never told me what your big throw-down was about.” Katsuki growled. “But! But, I watched your first fight.”
“That’ll have to do. Meet us at 9.”
“Will do, Bakubro!”
Katsuki allowed his friend to pat him on the shoulder once before taking off down the hallway at a much faster pace.
After nearly twenty entire minutes, Katsuki finally caught sight of the green idiot heading his way. Didn’t that nerd know how long lunch break was? They were barely gonna have time to sort through anything!
“What took you so long, shitty nerd?” Katsuki let all his frustration seep into his voice. The insult came almost subconsciously. “You didn’t get lost, did you?”
“Heh, no, um, once I got my food, I realized I didn’t know which corner you meant by ‘back left corner’ because that could mean two different places depending on where you were facing and I guess I picked the wrong one because you weren’t there and the cafeteria is super big and there are a lot of students here so I had to walk slower than normal so I didn’t knock into anyone and spill my food and have to waste time going back to get more and then I finally saw you in this corner and I thought, ‘oh good, he’s here, I hope he wasn’t waiting too long’ and, um, why are you staring at me like that?”
Holy. Fuck. Did Broccoli even need to breathe? Was he always like this? It was honestly kind of endearing, but fuck, Katsuki needed to wipe whatever this emotion was off his own face because apparently, he was staring.
“Do you always talk this much?”
“Oh, sorry.” Broccoli looked a little sheepish. “Usually, people stop me before I get that far.”
Katsuki frowned. Did this guy not have a strong enough backbone to stand up for himself? Or was it so strong that he didn’t care if he was being made fun of. Katsuki really didn’t like not knowing this guy’s deal. He didn’t like the familiarity he felt around him. He didn’t know him!
“Right, anyway, what’s your quirk?”
Broccoli’s face lit up in a toothy grin. “It’s a power-type quirk. I can channel it to give myself super strength or speed, and I can control the percent of power output in different parts of my body!” He then hesitated, like he was trying to decide if he should keep talking. “It’s kind of branched off of itself and now I can sprout these black tendrils out of my body to, like, grapple stuff.” Broccoli bit his lip, like he was nervous of Katsuki’s reaction. He didn’t know why, though, since he’d seen the tendrils himself. It also kind of looked like he had more to say but was holding himself back.
Huh. That was weird. It kind of sounded like this kid had two quirks because they certainly didn’t sound like they went together. Katsuki squinted at Broccoli, trying to make him uncomfortable enough to fill the silence. The guy just squinted back, though. Weirdo.
“What? It’s your turn, now. Tell me about your quirk.” Oh, right.
“It’s called Explosion.” Katsuki couldn’t help but smirk when Broccoli’s eyes widened in awe. “My sweat is similar to nitroglycerin, and my palms can make it explode. It’s pretty versatile.”
“Whoa!” The guy looked like he was meeting his favorite pro hero. It was a little overwhelming. “So, is your sweat toxic like nitroglycerin, is it hard to make explosions when you’re cold, have you tried using them to fly like a rocket, would Todoroki’s fire make it explode, how big can your explos—”
“Okay, okay, fuck, take a breath!” Katsuki had to stop him from nerding out or he was gonna start blushing or some other gross shit. No one had been this excited by his quirk since elementary school. “And I honestly didn’t process anything you just asked, so I guess you’ll find out when we fight tonight.”
“…huh?”
Oh right, that must’ve sounded super aggressive out of context. “I’m booking us and Shitty Hair the indoor sparring room so we can try to dig up some of our memories. He said you and I fought a lot last year, so it’s worth a shot.”
“We fought? Why would I fight you?” Broccoli looked like he had never hurt anything in his life, so Katsuki could understand why he looked so confused.
“I don’t fucking know, either, but it’s our best shot, Broccoli.”
“Why don’t you call people by their names?” This green-haired moron thought he could call him out or something? “Is Midoriya too hard to pronounce?” This fucker.
“What was that, bitch? You want me to use your fucking name, huh?” If he thought he could make Katsuki uncomfortable, he was sorely mistaken. “Fine, Midoriya, does this sound better to you? Huh?”
Broccoli flinched at the name, as Katsuki predicted. “Why does that sound wrong?”
“That’s why you’re Broccoli Head!”
“No, but that doesn’t sound right, either.”
“What the fuck do you want from me, then?” Katsuki was starting to see where the anger stemmed from. “Your first name is Izuku, right? You want me to use that, you picky little shit?”
His freckled cheeks flushed a harsh red, but he managed to respond. “Sure, if I can call you K-Katsuki.”
Oh. Um. That’s. Not bad. Fuck, he could feel his face heating up, too. “Fine, whatever.”
Both boys started paying real close attention to their food trays. Katsuki had never felt this flushed in his life. Why did his own name do this to him? He couldn’t finish his lunch here. That was absolutely not an option.
“Be there at 9 tonight. Don’t be late.” He didn’t flee, because that insinuated fear, but he definitely escaped. Very quickly.
After a long evening of homework and trying to let Mina cook but inevitably taking over before the fire alarm went off, it was finally time to spar with Izuku. He could call him that out loud. They’d apparently known each other since they were diapered brats, so this wouldn’t be the first time. It’s fine. Everything is fine.
As they walked to the indoor training gym, Kirishima was kindly letting Katsuki stew in his own stress rather than trying to get him to talk about it. A true friend. He could really stop the worried glances, though. They were adding stress.
Izuku was already inside the gym practicing his kicks when they entered. Noticing their arrival, he started walking towards them, wearing an awkward grin. Why was he always smiling?
“Okay, guys,” Kirishima started to break the tension. “Once you guys…or, well I guess just Bakugou, finish warming up, I’ll explain how your first fight went down.”
Katsuki stepped over to the wall to start his stretches, and Kirishima stayed back to chat with Izuku. Were they friends, too? While he was making dinner, Katsuki had noticed Izuku talking with Glasses, Round Cheeks, Icy-Hot, and Frog Face at separate times during the evening. Now that he thought about it, Izuku seemed to be friends with a lot of people in their class, but mostly with people Katsuki wasn’t. Kirishima had said Izuku was Katsuki’s friend, but how was that possible? How was he friends with someone so bubbly? How was someone like that friends with him? It didn’t make any sense.
When Katsuki looked over again, Izuku was laughing at something Kirishima had said, his face split with a massive smile. He was cute. Why did he think Izuku was cute? Katsuki had never found people cute before, except maybe Kirishima a little at first. What the fuck?
Katsuki shook his head to scatter his thoughts, then made his way back over to the center of the gym.
“Your first fight was during a training exercise. Do either of you remember the time we had to either protect or disable a massive weapon last year? We were on teams of two.”
Katsuki remembered. He and Glasses had been teamed up against Round Face and…and…uh.
“Yeah, so I can’t remember who I fought.”
Izuku looked over in surprise. “Me neither. Were you paired with Iida?”
“Yeah, were you with Round Face?”
“Who’s that?”
“Fucking Ururaka.”
“Oh. Yeah, I was. I remember winning, but…the details aren’t there.”
“No way you beat me. Shitty Hair, do not tell me this asshole won our first fight!”
Kirishima looked far too pleased. “He sure did, bro!” Katsuki growled at him for the second time that day. Kirishima didn’t even seem phased.
“Okay, so from what I saw on the cameras, Midoriya won by sending an air punch through the ceiling. And this was back when you broke your arm every time you used your quirk, so it was kinda nasty.”
His quirk broke his arm? What kind of fucking disaster quirk was that? “Your quirk breaks your arm? What the hell, Izuku?”
Izuku blushed. “I wasn’t always able to control how much power I was using, so I’d always use too much and bust myself up. I don’t anymore, though!”
“Right, well I don’t think getting a play-by-play of this fight is going to help us any more than just trying to punch each other.” Before Izuku could respond, Katsuki raised his arm and set off a medium-sized explosion in his face. He wasn’t going to go all out on the poor guy right away.
To Katsuki’s surprise, Izuku managed to jump to the side, sparks of green lightning arcing over his body. Izuku grabbed Katsuki’s arm as he passed and tried to flip him, but Katsuki planted his feet and blasted himself backwards out of the iron grip. Izuku’s leg managed to catch him at the last moment, though, and threw of his trajectory slightly.
The two sparred for a solid ten minutes straight before their movements became noticeably fatigued. Izuku and Katsuki flew at each other, Katsuki preparing to block Izuku’s kick, when a fist connected with Katsuki’s face. Since when did this guy punch? And why did it feel like Izuku had pulled that juke on him before?
“What the fuck was that, Deku?”
“I’m sorry! I thought it was a…good…wait, why did you just use my hero name?”
“I…have no idea.” It just felt natural, like that’s the name he always called Izuku.
“YES!” Kirishima’s voice shook both fighters out of their shock. “It worked! A little…”
“Wait, I’m supposed to call him Deku?”
“Bro, you’re the one who gave him the name!”
Katsuki picked Izuku’s hero name? They were that close? Deku seemed to be having the same thought as they made eye contact.
“Izuku, why is Deku your hero name?” Maybe the nerd remembered something else, too.
“Uh, well, Ururaka told me it sounded kind of like ‘you can do it,’ and I wanted to prove that even a deku could be a hero.” He still sounded unsure, though.
“You mean someone useless?” Katsuki was still lost, but for some reason, he could feel his subconscious fighting him for opening his stupid mouth. He felt a new emotion clawing its way up his throat, but it felt foreign to him. What was it? “Why do you think you’re useless?”
Izuku opened his mouth to answer, but then his brow furrowed in confusion. Then his expression transitioned into what could only be hurt.
“I, uh, was called Deku when I was in elementary and middle school because I was quirkless. Or, well, we all thought I was. My quirk didn’t show up until last year.”
…
Guilt.
That’s what Katsuki was feeling.
“Wait,” Katsuki whirled on Kirishima. “You said I gave him his hero name?” Kirishima looked very unhappy at being addressed. Screw him, Katsuki felt worse.
“Look, man, neither of you really told anyone specifics about your history, but,” he grimaced, biting his lip way too hard. “I’m pretty sure you were the first one to start calling him that name.”
A choked noise from his left pulled him out of the guilty spiral Katsuki was falling into. He risked a look at Izuku’s face, but nothing could have prepared him for the betrayal and confusion he saw there.
“That…was you?”