#wish izuku got to be assertive like this more often

[delawaredetroit]

This was the world's most deserved punch. Leave it to Izuku to find a way to save someone he dislikes while also punching them in the face

[bakugou-ou]

オレンジ -Orange- Bakugou x OC; angst

This is the one shot I was working on. I ended up creating an OC for it, to give the girl a name. Originally I was going to leave her nameless, but as I wrote, it just seemed like the thing to do. So, here you go, guys.

It had all started when they were five years old, in the neighborhood park. Katsuki had been brought to the park by his father on one of his days off from work, it was just the two of them since Katsuki's mother was working that day. Katsuki had already manifested his quirk, and he had a good grasp of how to use it despite being so young. He was quite proud of it, and he loved showing it off.

As he ran around at the park, a girl he'd never seen before came to the park with her mother. The little girl had black hair in a bob cut with front bangs, and she had a really cute smile. She was smaller than Katsuki, but not by much. Her mother worked for the Hero Public Safety Commission, but had taken a week of vacation time off to spend with her daughter while her husband was out of town on a business trip.

Katsuki was immediately captivated by the other small child on the playground, and he went up to her to introduce himself.

“Hey, you!” Katsuki said as the girl began to pick rocks off the ground to collect; he paused to read the name on her bucket; Kaori, “Your name's Kaori, right?”

“Y-Yes!” The little girl answered, looking at him, “How did you know?”

“I can read.” Katsuki answered, pointing to her bucket, “I'm Katsuki Bakugo.”

“Nice to meet you, Bakugo-san...” Kaori replied timidly.

“You got a quirk?” Katsuki asked.

“Yes!” Kaori answered, nodding and smiling.

“What is it?” Katsuki asked.

Kaori lifted the sleeve of her shirt up, and the air changed color a bit as a light purple pheromone permeated the air; it smelled sweet, but not overly sweet, and Katsuki found himself intrigued by her.

“I can make people like me with that stuff.” Kaori explained, “It's not flashy, or useful... I wish I had something cool.”

“Cool like this?” Katsuki said, grinning and showing off his explosion quirk.

“Yeah! That's amazing, Bakugo-san!” Kaori replied, beaming at him, “My quirk is so lame compared to that.”

“You could totally get whatever you want from people, though, that's cool too,” Katsuki responded, “But, yeah, mine is way cooler.”

The two of them spent the next couple of hours playing together, with Kaori simply going along with whatever Katsuki wanted to do. She really liked the new friend she'd made, he was assertive, and he was a lot of fun to be around. He was so adventurous, and his quirk was really cool! And, despite the fact that Katsuki was usually a bit of a butt about other people whose quirks he considered below his, he liked Kaori enough to spend time with her despite the lameness of her quirk.

Eventually, though, Kaori's mother told her it was time to go. She had been sitting with Masaru Bakugo and the two had been chatting while their children played together in the park. None of Katsuki's other friends had shown up to the park that day, so it had just been the two of them going on little kid adventures together. Their parents agreed to set up a time for them to play together again, and it turned out that they lived on the same street, so the two parents and their children walked back to their street together.

That was the start of it all, that day in the park when they'd met by chance because both of their parents had a day off. That pleasant summer day.

---

“Kaori, when we're older, I'm gonna take you away from this little town,” Katsuki declared, grinning as the two of them hid in the garden behind Kaori's house, “I'm gonna take you away, and we're gonna live together in a big house, and I'm gonna be the greatest hero ever.”

“Okay!” Kaori chirped, smiling back at Katsuki, “I'll support you no matter what!”

They were seven, it was a childish promise.

---

“You got into UA!” Kaori cheered as Katsuki showed her his acceptance letter, “Congratulations, Kacchan!”

“Of course I got in, I'm the greatest,” Katsuki said, a smug grin on his face, “Too bad you're not going there, too.”

“I told you, I can't be a hero,” Kaori replied, frowning, “My quirk isn't suited to that sort of thing... You know that.”

“Yeah, I know.” Katsuki sighed, “You're going to that school your mom wanted you to go to, right?”

“Yep...” Kaori confirmed, looking down at the ground, “It's a great school, not as great as UA, but... It means I'll be really far away, so we probably won't see each other after I go up there.”

“Then we'll just have to make the most of the next couple months,” Katsuki said, flicking her forehead, “Stop being such a baby, it's not the end of the world.”

“I know that, but... You're my only friend, so...” Kaori replied, picking at her fingernails, “It's just gonna suck to be so far away, you know?”

Kaori hadn't bothered applying for UA, she knew it was Katsuki's goal, and she wasn't going to ruin his chances of being the one kid from their middle school to get in. He hadn't found out yet that Izuku had gotten in, but he was pissed when he did find out. Kaori was going to a school in Osaka, several hours away by train from her hometown, from UA, from Katsuki.

“Why the hell are you crying?” Katsuki asked, looking down at her as she tried to dry her eyes with her sleeves, “Do you like me or something?”

“Who would ever like you? You're an asshole.” Kaori replied jokingly, smiling as more tears forced themselves out of her eyes, “I'm really happy for you, you're going down the path you want to go down. You're gonna do great at UA, and I want you to tell me all about it when you get there.”

Katsuki hadn't ever seen her cry before, and he couldn't tell why she was crying; her smile was genuine, but it also seemed forced. It was the first time he'd seen her cry, but it wouldn't be the last.

---

“Katsuki, Kaori is here!” Mitsuki Bakugo called from the front door to her son, who was lounging on the couch in the living room.

“Kaori...?” Katsuki asked, surprised to hear it. He looked over, and sure enough, his friend walked in through the door. She'd grown her hair out, it was down to the middle of her back, and she had side bangs instead of the front bangs and bob cut she'd sported since she was a small child. That wasn't the only thing that had changed. She'd gotten a bit taller as well, she was curvier than before. But, the thing that grabbed his attention was that she was crying, and clutching at her chest.

“I-I came here as soon as I heard that the police sent you home.” Kaori sniffled.

“Why?” Katsuki asked, sitting up.

“Because you were kidnapped by a bunch of villains, and I was really worried about you, and I wanted to know you were okay!” Kaori answered, her voice breaking as she began to cry harder, “I haven't seen you since the day I left to go to my school, and then it was all over the news... You're always getting yourself mixed up with villains, it's scary!”

Katsuki didn't know how to feel about her crying like that; he was fine, there was no reason for her to be upset. He'd managed to let off a few explosions while he was being held by the villains, too, so she shouldn't have been crying.

“Why are you crying?” Katsuki asked, “I'm not dead, I'm perfectly fine.”

“You're so stupid, Katsuki!” Kaori cried, running over to the couch and throwing herself on top of him, hugging him tightly, “I know you're really strong, I know that, I really do, but something could have happened to you!”

Mitsuki's heart ached, she knew what it was that Kaori was feeling, even if Katsuki himself was oblivious to it. It was love. She had been worried about him, and she hated herself for not being anywhere nearby to try and help him, though she knew he wouldn't have accepted the help even if she'd found a way to get to him.

“Stop getting yourself into situations like that! I can't stand it!” Kaori said as Katsuki sat, bewildered, looking at his mother, “I don't wanna see another news report of you getting taking hostage by villains, or getting hurt!”

“I can't help it, I'm a hero...” Katsuki replied weakly.

It hurt, seeing her that upset. But, it hurt his ego more than his heart; he was fine, he hadn't needed help, he didn't need saving, he could have gotten out of it on his own. He'd been the reason All Might had to retire, because he hadn't gotten out of things on his own sooner. He was weak, and Kaori's feelings just drove that nail of self-loathing deeper into him.

---

It took Katsuki the remaining two years he had at UA before he realized why Kaori had been so upset the day she came to his house to see him after he'd been retrieved from the League of Villains. But, by that point, they'd gone separate ways, for the most part.

They hadn't seen each other more than twice a year since he entered UA, and they had begun to talk less often as he went through his internships and hero training, and as villains continued to come after him and the rest of his class at UA.

Kaori supported him in everything he did, but she couldn't watch it happening, she had to turn away. She made sure to go to the UA Sports Festival during his second and third year, and it was during the third year that she had pulled Katsuki aside and told him that she loved him. He'd won first place at his final sports festival at UA, and as a congratulatory present, she'd kissed him...

But that wasn't where it stopped, they found an empty room in the stadium, and they had sex together in it between the final round and the awards ceremony. For Katsuki, it hadn't really been anything more than a spur of the moment thing, she was the one who had initiated it, he was just going along with it, but for her, it had meant a lot more.

He hadn't realized just how deep her feelings for him were until that day, and he felt like he'd used her. It felt good to be wanted, and by that point, she wasn't the only girl that was throwing herself at him. He'd become quite popular with girls at UA, his attitude had been gradually becoming less abrasive, he was more of a heroic figure than he had been when he was younger, he'd gotten taller, he was attractive, and he was powerful. He wasn't interested in the attention, though, and part of him knew the only reason he'd ended up in that waiting room with Kaori was because she was the only person who genuinely loved him.

It had all started on that summer day when they were five, and then there was the day in her backyard, hidden behind the house.

---

Katsuki's heart sank into his stomach as he held his phone up to his ear; he couldn't believe what he'd just heard.

“Kacchan...?” Kaori's voice came through, “I'm really sorry, I've ruined everything... That future you imagined with me...”

Katsuki's eyes began to water, and he gritted his teeth, unable to find words to reply with. Dying; she was dying, and there was nothing that could be done to stop it. He'd moved to Tokyo to become a pro, she had stayed in Osaka for university.

“What the fuck are you talking about?!” Katsuki barked, his voice cracking, “You're not gonna die, you're twenty! That's not how that works!”

Denial. It was a defense mechanism, and the first stage of grief. He was going to build a wall, and it was not going to come down. He wouldn't allow himself to crumble. He was angry, they'd been together since the day of that last sports festival, he made enough money that he sent her gifts all the time, paid for things like her school textbooks, but he didn't have time to see her. It had been three months since the last time he'd had time to see her, and she was dying.

They were happy, even with all the distance between them, and how they went months without seeing each other. They were happy, he was happy, and he wasn't prepared for that to crumbling down around him. That wasn't how it worked, normal people who weren't heroes lived full lives, they got married, they had kids, they made careers for themselves, they retired, had grandkids, and died peacefully in their own homes of old age. He was going to give her that, she couldn't die on him before he'd even had the opportunity to do that.

Despite everyone on the train recognizing him, no one bothered him; the pain he felt permeated the air, it hurt to watch, but it was even more painful for Katsuki himself. If there was a way he could have gotten there more quickly, he would have taken it. The train ride was slow, hours passed, the sun was beginning to set when he finally got to Kaori's apartment in Osaka.

---

“Let's run away, before it happens,” Katsuki said, choking back tears as he held onto Kaori, “I'll get us a place, we can live there together, it won't be in that stupid town, I'll give you whatever you want.”

The sky outside was a creamy orange color as the sun sank lower on the horizon outside.

His hands were tangled in her hair, and his head was resting on top of hers, his lips were pressed against her as his entire body trembled. It ached, the kind of ache that was going to stay with him for the rest of his life. She really wasn't well, she looked like shit, she looked like she was dying, it was obvious. That denial he'd built up, it crumbled when he had entered her apartment and saw her on the couch.

---

“I'm glad I got to be in the same place at the same time as you, Katsuki,” Kaori said, smiling as the two of them rode the ferris wheel at Minato Mirai in Yokohama, “Getting to be by your side, even if it was just for a little while... It makes me believe that there really is a god or some sort of being that blessed me. I guess in exchange for knowing you, I just don't get to hang around for long.”

“Shut the fuck up... I'm trying to enjoy this.” Katsuki replied, his fists clenched as he looked across the space between them, “This is it, right? This is the last time.”

“Yeah, I think so... I'm really tired, Katsuki.” Kaori answered, reaching out and wiping a tear from his cheek as he let out a cry of anger, “Thank you, for everything. I really am sorry that I ruined everything. I feel like I've robbed you of things, I wish I could give it all to you.”

As they reached the top of the ferris wheel, Kaori moved from her side of the carriage to his, and she pulled him into a weak hug. It had been six months since she'd found out she was dying, and three months since she had told Katsuki. But it really was going to happen any day, she was surprised she had even had the energy to get out of bed and travel from Tokyo to Yokohama, to go on rides with him, and walk along the beach before getting on the ferris wheel with him.

The sky began to change from orange to a light purple color as they got off the ferris wheel and began to walk back to the park exit. But, she couldn't carry herself anymore, she tripped over nothing, and Katsuki caught her. He carried her out of the park, and she kept saying things, like how much she loved him, and she kept apologizing, like the fact that life happened was her fault. It pissed him off, she'd been like that she first told him. He'd moved her to Tokyo with him, he'd taken her to all the places she'd mentioned wanting to go when they were younger, gone to every doctor's appointment she had, watching everything get worse, he spent a lot of days in bed with her, just holding her while he still could, before she was completely unrecognizable, before she died.

When they got home, Kaori was barely breathing, and she was speaking so softly he almost couldn't hear her. She kept saying sorry, and that she was going to go once they were home. He didn't want her to go that night, any night but that night, he said.

But, that was it, that night, it was exactly fifteen years after they had first met. It was a beautiful summer night, it wasn't too warm, there were plenty of starts out in the sky, there were no crimes requiring Katsuki to leave his home to take care of. He was going to be there for it.

“Thank you, Kacchan... For everything, everything you've ever done.” Kaori said as she began to feel too tired to keep her eyes open, “I love you, so, so much. It's really gonna happen tonight... Goodbye.”

She fell asleep, and Katsuki watched with baited breath; she was just sleeping, she hadn't died. Her chest was still moving, she'd make it till the morning, that's what he told himself. She wasn't going to die that night, he just wanted her to wait until the next morning if she really was going to go. He'd been saying that every night for three months, tomorrow is fine, just not today.

For Kaori, there wasn't another tomorrow, that night had been it.

I love you, so, so much. Goodbye.

a/n: inspired by this song (English subs in video!), I cried a lot writing this rip. I’ve been actually holding onto it for close to a month and a half, but finally got around to posting it. I hope at least one person out there enjoys it as much as I did, and maybe even cries with me lmao.