They sit under a tree with browning leaves and withered bark, there are worms clawing their way into the earth and he can feel the wet grass on his school pants; he's reminiscent about times that fuzz past the haze of his eyes.

It's a warmer day and the sun glares down with killer intent, the clouds block it from obliterating the human race. Natsuo chatters happily and Izuku answers with broken words and shy speeches. His hands trembled on the dirt beneath them.

Wind brushes past them, it tickles Izuku's scar and makes Natsuo clench his forearm.

(There is a trepidation that will always linger around Natsuo; memories of screaming and hitting and fire and the smell of burnt skin; the searing on his arm. There is a loneliness that will always shroud around Izuku; the sound of taunting and Deku and― pop, crackle, boom ―unsaid threats. He still tries his hardest to ignore it, he doesn't want to push Natsuo away. He is not selfish.)

"H-hey, N-n-natsuo?"

"Yeah, Izuku?" He practically whistles out, his eyes closed. Head tilted to the branches of the rotting tree. Natsuo ignores the way it creeks and sways. His hands are spread and his arms are loose, he feels freeing. Izuku is wonderful, a ball of sunshine and rain. 

"My f-friends as-asked i-i-i-if th-th-th-they could m-meet y-you. S-so, uh, c-could y-you?"

"When and where, Izuku. Just give me a when and where." There is a smile on his face that shines bright and blinding.

"T-t-tomorrow, a-after s-s-school, m-my a-a-a-apartment."

Natsuo opens his silver eyes, they shine like moonlight, his grin is like the sun. Izuku smiles back nervously, he bites his lip and clutches his shoulder with his right hand. Natsuo winks and takes out his phone. He pushes at the screen and then puts the device back in his briefcase.

"Anything for you, but I gotta be home by seven before my bastard father gets home. I'll sneak back in through a window, though. Don't worry."

"Na-natsuo, we-we've b-b-been over th-this. W-w-w-worrying is the th-the only thing I c-can do w-without a w-worry."

"Oh, the irony."

The bell rings. Izuku cannot wipe the smile from his face for the rest of the day.

_

The sky is blurred in different shades of violet and blue. The final bell of the day had rung out and all he can do is wait and hope Natsuo didn't forget him. Though it's not like Izuku would blame him. Izuku is just so bland and boring and useless. Natsuo probably knows that he's a worthless Deku without a quirk and he decided to abandon him and―

"Hey, Izuku! Sorry, I'm late, I had to use the bathroom!" An undignified shout reaches him.

"O-oh i-it's f-fine."

The wind whispers evil into his mind. There is poison in the clouds. He chokes on air and his eyes became fuzzy and the voice becomes louder. He wants it to stop because Natsuo doesn't know and Izuku hopes that he never gets called that horrible name again―

("Deku!")

"Lead the way, Izuku,"

"S-sure!"

Natsuo says that he never goes on the train all that often because his house is a bus stop away and his Bastard Father won't let him. Izuku says the bus is more expensive, so he takes the train. He says he's poor, Natsuo did not know the full extent of that.

When they are in the slums, Natsuo asks why they're there. Why Izuku chooses to walk through the crumpled asphalt and rank alleyways.

"I- I live a c-c-couple b-blocks awa-away."

"Cool," Izuku does not miss the way Natsuo glances in every direction, he does not miss his darting eyes and rigid posture. Fear crawls up his spine and his breath caught in his throat. (Natsuo feels like a kid again, all fear and shaking hands and treading lightly. He didn't really grow up; he still flinches at fire. Cold soba was always a family favorite.)

And they walk, Izuku greets the homeless woman on the street corner and she ruffles his hair and tells him to stop worrying so much. That he should eat supper too, that the kids on the corner would be fine. He says it's the only thing he's good at and she laughs sadly, tears are slipping from the ends of her eyes but she is gone before Izuku can say anything.

Izuku's apartment is so small compared to Natsuo's, and there are two other people there. Izuku introduces them as Tomura and Ura- Ochako. He says they can call him Natsuo because any friend of Izuku's is a friend of mine and my last name doesn't matter. Izuku turns red at this and Tomura cackles into his fist.

"So you got a boyfriend, huh?" Ochako chirps; Izuku doesn't get to pronounce any form of denial. His words are cut up into broken portions and he can't say anything. His head is spinning, but Tomura says that it's just a joke and that Ochako is sad because she's the only one in their group that has a crush.

"When's she gonna be your girlfriend, Airhead?"

"None of your business, Snowflake."

"So, Tomura, how'd you meet Izuku? Unless you're his neighbor, too."

Tomura looks at him with tense eyes, red with fire and hurt and― hurt and burn and scar ―hesitance. But somehow, Natsuo knows that Tomura is afraid of him. This heat is created by fear, Natsuo knows what it's like to build walls out of the things you hate. He has created mountains of anger because being angry is better than being sad. Being angry is better than being afraid, and Natsuo really hates being afraid. (He's not scared, he tells himself. He's not hearing Touya's voice yelling at him― You could have saved me, but you're weak.)

"Ran away from my home and Izuku invited me in when it was raining. I eventually went back."

He skips out the part where he buries his hands in a cemetery one stop too far away for anyone to trace it back to him.

"Man, I wish I could do that, I'd kill to run away from my dad."

There is a knowing silence that speaks so loudly; it's deafening. Tomura feels his neck itch, Natsuo feels his arm bubbling, and Izuku hears crying from the room next door and sobbing and Mom he's so sorry―

"Am I the only one here with a normal-ish family?" Ochako chimes in with a pout. She slums down, her head in her curled palm. A sigh breaks through her lips and they gawk at her. (She wonders vaguely if they'll finally realize she's not one of them. She was never bullied, never hurt. She was just poor, everyone in the bar was used to not eating three meals a day).

"Like, Izuku, your dad left, Tomura's parents are dead and he was adopted by some asshole, you hate your dad."

She's quiet for a moment, then a smirk twists on her lips. Her eyes have hidden her tears, she is going to be a hero. The one that Izuku is too scared to be, the one Tomura never had, the one that Natsuo never saw. She's going to become a hero, for them.

"Curses, why am I normal. I don't want to be... Bi myself."

Tomura deadpans after a second of hearing the words replay in his heads. The itch is gone; cringe fills the space of screaming and crying and bloodied hands. His voice is nothing above a deadpan, but it fits perfectly.

"You did not, Airhead."

"Oh, but I did, Snowflake."

Nobody knows how, but that escalated to a very aggressive pillow fight between Natsuo, Uraraka, and Tomura, with Izuku telling them to stop because those pillows were expensive and Mom would be sad if she saw them destroyed. They stopped after a while, giggling and laughing. Izuku told them they could stay over, they all took a pillow and he brought out blankets.

This had gone better than expected. (His hands stopped shaking.)

―――――

『Hello readers,

Adios。』