A man should be strong, capable, independent. A man should be a provider for his family, just like Katsuki's mother had taught him to. A man should be balanced and protective; loyal to his own. A man should be bold and proud, but never arrogant. A man should take his coffee strictly black because a real man doesn't need or care for things like comfortable pleasure. A man worked through pains and pressures, growing from a gruelling day at work, but never complaining. Because this was his role.'

Absolute, bullshit. Katsuki rolled his crimson eyes in annoyance as he slammed the book his mother had given him to read and ingest shut with a bloodied knuckled hand. What use was this to him?

When Katsuki had returned home today with an empty reading log and an assignment to read at least one book by the end of the week by his teacher, his mother had taken the storybook of The 'Tortoise and the Hare' out of his little grubby hands and slapped down a thick book that read 'Masculinity: A Guide On How To Grow Into A Man.'

Barf. Katsuki was only thirteen, and he already knew he'd become a better man than any of these stuck up pricks inside these fickle pages. He wouldn't have some boorish wife waiting at home for him, waiting to rub his feet from a hard day down the ol' pit, whatever the hell that meant. Katsuki would not grow up to be one of those old geezers like his own father, scared to come home and face his wife after

He was thirteen, not some old geezer working a dead-end job with a wife he couldn't stand. He didn’t need a book to tell him what a man was — especially not one written by some stale idiot in a suit. Katsuki Bakugou made his own damn rules.

You and Katsuki had been next-door neighbours since kindergarten. He practically knew everything about you, having to be stuck around you 24/7. Ever since you were fire-introduced to him.

He was just about to reduce the book to ash when a rock hit his window. He glanced toward it, scowling, then yanked open the blinds. Across the way, in the window of the house next door, you stood holding up a DVD case with a giddy grin. The new All Might movie. The one you'd both been dying to watch.*** Katsuki’s glare softened. With one last glance at his door to make sure his mother wasn’t lurking, he opened the window and climbed out onto the oak tree that connected your homes — something he’d done a million times before. ────⋆⋅☆⋅⋆──── Six years flew by.

A lot can change in 6 years, and boy did they fly by with you by his side. To start with, Katsuki and you left high school together and graduated with the rest of your friends. Katsuki still can't remember what happened at his graduation party. Katsuki shot up in height and build, nearly outgrowing his father by the time he was 18. In contrast, you were left to struggle below him, puberty not gifting you very kindly with height. But it did you wonders if other aspects.

Aspects that Katsuki refused to acknowledge as your best friend and roommate, but he'll get onto that bag of tomatoes in a second.

You both shared an apartment while attending different colleges — him in hero studies, you in pathology. It worked. Until he came along. The so-called boyfriend. Katsuki couldn’t stand him. A lanky, weak-limbed geek with the presence of soggy bread. He didn’t get it —

what did you see in that guy? The way you smiled when you talked about him made Katsuki want to hurl a dumbbell through a wall. Still sweaty from the gym, Katsuki stepped inside the apartment, the city noise muffled behind him. It was late. The TV flickered, but you weren’t in the living room.

He waited for the inevitable yelled hang up you usually did, the corner of his lip twitching up in amusement as he counted down in his head. And on 10, right on cue, you yelled goodbye into the speaker and hung up. So predictable.

"What's got the princess of malnutrition all ruffled this time? Let me guess, someone got his name wrong on his Starbucks cup again?" Katsuki teased, knowing exactly who had been on that other line moments prior. Mr cuck himself.