Chapter 06
Katsuki Bakugo was not a happy boy. Neither was his mother, Mitsuki. She had always had a short temper, which was where he had learned it, actually. The mandatory therapist session quickly brought that out and it had devolved into a fifteen minute long shouting match between mother and son. The therapist calmly sat there the entire time and let the both of them shout themselves hoarse.
“Please sit down.” The woman said when the verbal fight was over, and they did. “Now that we have gotten all of the blame and the accusations out of the way, we can tackle how to solve this excessive aggression problem.”
It was going to take a lot more than one session to do that, so they were scheduled for every day that week and then for weekly visits after that. Thankfully, it was covered under their insurance and they didn't have to pay for it directly. The two of them left the office and walked down the hallway to the front door. They didn't say anything at all until they were outside and taking the car home.
“How could you do this to me, Katzuki?” Mitsuki asked. “I've never felt this embarrassed in my life.”
“I didn't do anything to you!” Bakugo spat.
“No? You haven't been bullying my friend Inko's little boy, a boy that idolized you, for the last five years?” Mitsuki asked and Bakugo didn't respond. “You were best friends and...”
“He's quirkless!” Bakugo shouted. “Deku is useless! His name even says so!”
Mitsuki ground her teeth together and tried to hold onto her temper. The therapist warned her that it was her fault that her son reacted like he did and she needed to set a better example. All she really wanted to do was smack her son in the head to knock some sense into him.
“That boy might be quirkless; but, he's not useless.” Mitsuki said.
“No? How the hell is he supposed to help me become a hero when he's got nothing to do it with?!?”
Mitsuki sighed and didn't say anything. She knew it wasn't going to be easy to change her son's views on that.
“Right. He can't. I was so much better than him right after I got my quirk and he didn't.” Bakugo said. “He just can't get that through his thick skull. He kept following me and wishing he could be like me. The stupid idiot doesn't understand that he can't. No matter how many times I beat the hell out of him, he still insists that he's going to be a hero.”
Mitsuki sighed and shook her head at her idiot of a son. He couldn't see that Izuku's tenacity alone could have helped him, not to mention the constant emotional support from a best friend. She glanced at her son and saw his dejected face. She wasn't going to ask him who his best friend was, because she knew that he didn't have one.
She also knew that he only had a small group of followers that praised him and helped him bully others. Her thoughts tried to convince her to tell the boy that those kinds of people evaporated from your life quicker than air and that he was losing his best chance at having a great and lasting friend.
No, he lost that chance already. Mitsuki corrected in her thoughts. Inko had called her yesterday to tell her all about Izuku's newest friend and how the composed girl had made a huge impression on her.
“Mom, can we go to the...”
“No. You're grounded and suspended from school for the week.” Mitsuki said.
“You don't even know what I was going to ask for!” Bakugo said, angrily.
“Unfortunately for you, it doesn't matter. Your father was clear on that.” Mitsuki said and Bakugo glared at her for a second, then he slumped in his seat to sulk and crossed his arms.
His father was as meek as his mother was brash, so when Masaru said something or gave them an order, they both completely agreed that whatever it was, they had to comply.
Maybe I can somehow convince his father to tell him to behave. Mitsuki thought as she drove them home. The blonde woman let a calculating smile appear on her face. I do have that sexy see-through nightie that I haven't worn yet.
*
The week of school without Bakugo there was like heaven for Izuku. No one bullied him, not even Bakugo's gang of followers. Of course, he knew perfectly well that Tanya was a huge part of that. She was soft spoken and authoritative, didn't mince words, or took crap from anyone. No one messed with her more than once, as Bakugo's suspension proved.
“You have that odd happy face again.” Tanya said as they sat down to lunch on Friday.
“You're really great.” Izuku blurted out, then he realized what he said. “Uh... I mean... I...”
Tanya chuckled. “You can always be honest with me, Izuku. I promised you the same, remember?”
Izuku nodded. She had said that on the next night she had come over to his house for supper. She also told him why she was investigating All Might and the hero massacre. Her mother had died helping the number one hero and she wanted to know why. So did Izuku, now that he knew about it.
All Might was his idol and if he was involved in something odd, Izuku's desire for knowledge had him mulling over the problem in his spare time. It was strange that a simple boosting quirk had taken so long to use, according to the witness reports. They both came to the conclusion that it must have been All Might's quirk that caused a problem or he had been too hurt for her mother's power to work right away.
“Tanya, you're awesome.” Izuku said and his face flushed red. “I've never enjoyed school as much as I have with you here.”
“...and no assface.” Tanya said with a smirk to make him laugh.
“Kacchan wasn't always like he is now. When we were kids...”
“...he manifested and you didn't. Boom, automatic hate filled bully creation.” Tanya said and Izuku could only nod. “It's not your fault, you know. This society places way too much pressure on everyone to have quirks. If they have strong ones, then they are expected to do better and perform to much higher standards.”
Izuku sighed. “When the doctor told me about my toe when I was five, I wasn't quite getting it. I still thought I could be a hero, you know?”
Tanya looked up from her food and gave him a thoughtful look. “What happened after that?”
Izuku ducked his head a little. “I... I repeatedly watched All Might rescuing people for hours. I sat there until past midnight, clutching my action figure, and hoped, and dreamed, that one day I could be a hero, too.”
Tanya knew this was an emotional moment, so she put her chopsticks down and reached across the table to take his hand.
“My mom came into the room and I turned to her. I asked... I... I asked... if I could still be a hero.” Izuku said and his hand clenched onto Tanya's tightly. “She said... she said she was sorry, cried, and hugged me.”
“Izuku.” Tanya whispered.
“I cried all night.” Izuku said and took a deep breath as he wiped at the tears that were starting to form at the sides of his eyes. “I really wanted her to say it was okay. To say I could do what I wanted. I wanted... no, I needed her to encourage me.”
“She didn't.” Tanya whispered.
“I didn't give up, though.” Izuku said and resolve seemed to fill him. “That's when I started my hobby. I researched and watched and learned as much as I could about heroes and quirks.”
Tanya smiled and gave his hand an encouraging squeeze.
“For five years I've been working on my journals.” Izuku said and then blushed a little. “They were crap at first. I barely knew how to write back then.”
Tanya chuckled and Izuku smiled at her as his blush faded.
“I reworked the first one three times before I had to copy it over into the journal you saw last week.”
“You left room for extra notes.” Tanya commented.
“I learned that they do need to have more room as I meet or find new heroes. Their quirks give me ideas about other heroes and their quirks. I used to just cram as much as I could onto each page in the smallest writing possible and left no room for anything else, not even in the margins.”
Tanya laughed and let his hand go. “That would be maddening.”
Izuku nodded and they both started eating again.
“You need to stop calling him your childhood nickname.” Tanya said after a few minutes. “He hasn't been Kacchan to you for years.”
Izuku ducked his head a little. “I know. I just... I keep hoping...”
“He might be one again someday, if the therapist got to him soon enough.” Tanya said and Izuku looked surprised. “Yes, I've seen my own after... well...”
Izuku nodded and didn't say anything. He knew she had a lot of emotional problems that needed to be dealt with after her parents were killed. “I still can't believe you have your grade school teacher as your guardian.”
“She was as surprised by my offer as you were to be lifelong friends with me.” Tanya said and laughed at his returning blush. “I had five arrests of criminals and lowlifes trying to rob me of everything, including my delivery business, and I just mentioned the offer to her over tea.”
“You had to buy her a new tea set, didn't you?” Izuku asked with a grin.
“You got it in one guess!” Tanya said with another laugh. “She knocked it to the floor and smashed it.”
Izuku laughed as well.
“She's retired and pretty much stays at home doing nothing. Since she had lots of experience managing children and doing paperwork, she fit into the role of guardian and business operator perfectly.” Tanya said. “It's been great these last few months...”
The lunch bell rang again and they saw that they had only eaten about half of the food they had bought. They quickly packed it all back up and took it with them. Unlike some people, they knew to never waste food or to take it for granted that they would get more before they were hungry again. They both had specific hardships as children and learned that lesson the hard way.
*
The next week, they sat in class and waited for it to start as Bakugo walked in. He gave Izuku a harsh look, grit his teeth, and walked over to his desk and sat down without a word. Izuku looked shocked at that development and Tanya had a smirk on her face.
When the normal teacher came in, he didn't make any comments either after being suspended for a week. He wanted to forget all about the embarrassment he had suffered. He was almost sure that he could let it go, until his eyes fell upon the new girl that was still sitting beside the trouble student and she also still wore the boy's uniform. That rubbed him the wrong way and he felt a slight anger at her.
Get a hold of yourself. The teacher thought and closed his eyes to calm down. One more incident like the last one and I'll be out of a job. “Today's first subject is English.”
Most of the class groaned in disappointment, even though they knew the schedule had English set for them. The teacher took it in stride and started the class.
*
Months went by and no other incidents happened. Almost no bullying happened in class or on school grounds. Some little things happened while off school grounds and Tanya easily handled them with her expertise in hand-to-hand combat and dealing with multiple opponents. It was Bakugo's old gang that had tried to get her for making the boy ditch and forget about them. They didn't bother her after she beat the hell out of them.
Tanya and Izuku spent almost every waking moment together. They went over Izuku's journals when they weren't studying, made new theories about quirks and their interactions with the physical world, and discussed things that normal ten year old kids didn't talk about.
Inko was a little worried at first that they were advancing too fast, not realizing that it was because of Tanya that Izuku started to overcome his epic shyness and applied himself to more than just hero analysis. With Tanya to keep Izuku grounded and motivated, they both skyrocketed into the top academic spots for the entire district and not just for their school. Inko was more than pleased to find out her son was only second to Tanya at the end of the year.
The summer was a blast for Izuku. He actually got to stay over at Tanya's for an entire week for her birthday and they had a great time going out to the beach, to the theatre to watch movies, and hanging out. She still had deliveries to make, so she was gone for an hour or so every day. He didn't mind that, though. She was making a lot of money for the rush deliveries and secured packages and also had most of the day off.
“Your quirk is as amazing as you are.” Izuku said when the weekend was over and he had to go back home.
“You've helped me refine a few things that I thought I wouldn't be able to do.” Tanya admitted.
“You need to practice a lot to do what you wanted.” Izuku said. “You also need to figure out how to get your hands on some kind of rifle.”
Tanya chuckled. “Oh? Encouraging me to break the underage laws, are you?”
Izuku chuckled as well. “No, you only need access to a rifle 'of some kind'. It doesn't have to be a firearm that needs a license.”
Tanya caught her breath and stared at her green-haired friend. “You... you... you green-haired genius!” She nearly shouted and grabbed him by his chubby cheeks and pulled him close to plant a big kiss right on his lips. “Why didn't I think of it before? I'm such an idiot!”
Izuku's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he fainted. He fell to the floor of the entryway with a thump.
“Damn! I'm sorry, Izuku. I didn't mean to do that.” Tanya said and knelt beside him. “I think I've been a girl for too many years now to care about someone's gender. If I like them, that's all I really need.”
“Uhhhh.” Izuku moaned and his eyes stayed the way they were as his eyelids fluttered.
“Come on, you virgin mess.” Tanya said and slapped his face a few times to make him wake up. “I need to get you home before your mom decides we need to get married.”
“MOM!” Izuku yelled and sat up as if on a springboard and stared at her. “T-Tanya!”
Tanya held in her laugh at the panic on the boy's face. “I was really happy about what you suggested and I overreacted. I'm sorry that I stole your first kiss.”
Izuku blushed like a maiden and he bit his lip. “I... well...”
“We need to go if we're going to catch the last train.” Tanya said and he nodded.
They left the house and went to the station in complete silence. They waited for the train and didn't speak. It arrived and they rode it all the way to Izuku's place and went to the door.
“You made it!” Inko exclaimed and hugged her son, shoved him aside as if he was nothing, then hugged Tanya. “I've made a late snack for you to take into Izuku's room.”
“Thank you, Inko.” Tanya said and carried both plates of food into Izuku's room. She and Izuku sat and ate the snack, also without saying a word, and Izuku left the plates on the floor outside his room. Tanya went to change into her pyjamas and came back to see Izuku already in his sleeping bag, leaving the bed for her. She shut the door and climbed into bed before she sighed.
They laid there for nearly an hour, both of them not sleeping, before Izuku finally spoke.
“I'm not sorry you did it.” Izuku whispered into the darkness.
Tanya had been worried that she had ruined things between them in her excitement and now she knew that everything was going to be fine. “Izuku.”
“Yeah?” Izuku asked.
“I lied. I'm not sorry, either.” Tanya said. “You deserved that for correcting my utter stupidity.”
Izuku was quiet for a moment, then he started to snicker and laugh softly. “You mean 'udder' stupidity.” He whispered and his laughing increased slightly. “Squirting milk out of your nose stupidity.”
Tanya snorted and started to laugh, too. “Okay, that was a good one.”
They both laughed for a few minutes and eventually fell asleep, happily assured that their little mishap hadn't wrecked their friendship. They wouldn't realize until later that it actually strengthened it.