Bakugo's Support

Chapter 3-(Sponsored by Never Enough from The Greatest Show Man)

Bakugou wanted nothing but the best. It was a lot of pressure, too much, in fact. At least for someone who wasn't Izuku.

Izuku would spend hours at the local library reading up on the science of engineering and would sketch designs of potential costumes and gadgets. He'd focus on the looks first then get into detail of how the costume would work. After all his planning was done, he'd dumb down his drawing-although he could never tell Bakugou that he was getting the version for idiots-and show it to Bakugou.

Bakugou would read it. He'd look at it, then look at it longer. Izuku would sit on the desk or bed or floor or any surface of the building or area they were hanging out in. Unprompted, Bakugou would look up. Izuku would patiently wait...

"It's dog shit."

The hammer comes down.

To anyone else, this was the fattest insult they could ever get, but to Izuku, it was a challenge. If it wasn't good enough, he'd make it good enough.

That is what Izuku spent his middle school days doing. He would skip classes just to focus on the work. Of course, his mother was concerned. Her biggest concern was him missing classes, getting behind, but Izuku would assure her that he already did the assignments given to him and that missing a couple days of school wouldn't affect his grade. No matter how smart her baby was, missing that many days of school would mean immediate failure.

Inko went to the school to beg, she went there to bribe to hope that they didn't fail him.

It was a wasted effort, because what Inko didn't know was how cruel this world was. She also didn't know how easy it was for people to favorite lucky children. Bakugou was a lucky child, so no matter what he did, he was always the best. Izuku was great by association. Even if they couldn't see anything in him now, Bakugou would sing his praises, and they could not afford to be known as the middle school that kicked out the future genius and worldwide famous support hero that was Izuku Midoriya. It was better safe than sorry, but Inko really was going to beg, she isn't lying, she swears.

But making drawings was only doing so much...

"Just when am I ever gonna wear the costume?" Bakugou chirps from the bed. He has a controller in his hand as he plays whatever 'lame ass' video games Izuku has to offer.

"Hmm?" Izuku hums. That's all he's been doing the entire night, humming.

"Would you pay attention!" Bakugou irritatingly raises his voice, but is mindful of his raging mother downstairs. He throws the controller onto the bed and lets it bounce to the floor. The sound it makes grabs Izuku's attention.

He turns his chair towards him and levels him with a stare of disinterest. "These 'oh so awesome' designs don't draw themselves, plus, you said so yourself," Izuku lifted the drawing he showed Bakugou the night before, "'It's dog shit', I can't make something that's dog shit."

"Ughh!" Bakugou flops onto the bed and rolls around as dramatically as he can. Izuku rolls his eyes but smiles when Katsuki stops to look at him.

Other than the constant drawing and design making, there hadn't really been anything special going on in Izuku and Katsuki's lives. The one thing that might have been noticeable if Bakugou put enough effort into paying attention to it, was the faint pumping of blood through his heart and to the rest of his body. The 'Izuku' smile that he saw everyday had become very special to him. Bakugou felt it meant so much more to him than anything ever did.

"I think I'll start my next project with a prototype instead of a flushed out drawing. I think I've got the whole detail thing down, I need to get used to actually building things," Izuku turns away from Bakugou and picks his pencil up to continue working, "plus I found this treasure trove of trash a while ago. I can't believe I hadn't noticed its potential before!"

Izuku droned on as Katsuki took the moment of distraction to steal glances at Izuku. He noticed many things on Izuku's face. The big cheeks dusted with a constant rosy pink, the fluffy green hair that matted if it wasn't washed regularly, and of course the emerald green eyes that shined along with the sputtering nonsense that left his mouth. But Katsuki's absolute favorite thing about Izuku was his freckles.

The small unpredictable splattering of dots across his cheeks that concentrated at the center of his face and dispersed the father away from his nose they were.

Katsuki knew since he was young how privileged he was, even before the quirk. His parents were comfortable. With that comfortable money, Katsuki got the chance to go to and see many places and events. One of the most memorable-and most expensive-was the fully transparent plane he got to sit in.

It was a plane made of fortified material that was completely transparent, and in that plane, Katuski got to see many stars. He got to see what he deemed the most beautiful thing on earth.

But with Katsuki's uncontrollable and new-found feelings, he found that Izuku's entire face was star-drenched. Freckles dark but skin bright, and all together they made what Katsuki deemed to be the most beautiful thing in the universe.

All the shine of the thousands of spotlights pointed at Katsuki, all the stars he glimpsed at in the night sky, will never be enough. It will never be as beautiful as the kindness and grace that defined Izuku Midoriya.

But true to his word, the very next week, Izuku spent more time with the Takoba Municipal Beach Park and its trash than he did with Katsuki.