Goldberg

Chapter 1

◃8 Years Old▸

≡Katsuki POV≡

That damn nerd is late again. Why is he almost always late to school?

I leaned my head on my hands as the lesson started without a mop of green hair.

About halfway through the boring class, the door opens and the bush walks in.

"S-sorry I'm l-late," he mumbles a weak apology before handing his late slip to our teacher.

"It's fine Midoriya, just sit down and try to catch up with the lesson so far," our teacher turned back to his lesson as Deku walked to his desk.

Multiple times people tried to subtly trip him or throw paper balls at his head.

As he walked past my desk, he seemed to shrink in on himself and bring his arms closer. This is how I got a small peek at the bandages under his sleeves and bruises around his neck.

How the hell did he get those?

◃10 Years Old▸

"KATSUKI! GET YOUR ASS TO SCHOOL RIGHT NOW OR ELSE YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE!" The old hag's voice screeched from the kitchen.

"ALRIGHT! I'M GOING YOU OLD HAG!" I yelled back with the same volume.

I grabbed an apple and my bag as I walked out of our house. I walked through the neighbourhood getting lost in my own thoughts until I walked past that damn nerd's apartment. What I saw made me stop dead in my tracks.

There he was, climbing down the side of the building from his 3rd story window with his bag in hand.

I'll never admit to anyone how I was amusingly impressed with how well he got down.

As he dropped down, his mess of green curls bounced. He brushed his hands off and began walking until he stopped and stared at me wide eyed.

"What the hell?" Was all I could say.

"O-oh, hey K-kacchan," he stuttered as he began to fidget with his fingers and avoid my eyes.

"Why the hell are you climbing out of your window?"

"W-well, uhh..." his eyes kept glancing around but still managed to avoid me. "M-my mom, uh, just mopped the f-floors. So I c-couldn't use the door."

I stared at him for a moment before shrugging it off and walking away.

"Whatever, not like I care."
__________
"Now, as you can see here, when you're doing long division, don't forget to check..."

Our teacher kept rambling on about different math things that we already learned and are stupid easy. I blocked out his lecture as my thoughts began to wander to a freckled boy.

He was clearly lying about why he went out the window. But why would he need to?

My mind flashed back to 2 years ago when I first got a glimpse at his injuries. Since then, I have seen a few every now and then.

It could be from the students, not like I don't beat him up sometimes too.

But whenever we do, there's never any blood, and I have seen his arms with blood soaked bandages.

Something is definitely going on, and I want to know what. Even though I bully him everyday, I really just want to keep him safe. I now know this was not the way and wish I could apologize.
__________
"Class dismissed, have a nice night everyone."

I sat at my desk pretending to be doing something on my phone as everyone slowly filed out of the room.

"Hey Bakugo, want to go to the arcade?" Extra #1 asked.

"No."

"Awwh, come on Bakugo, it'll be fun!" Extra #2 whined.

"No, go away." I replied without looking up from my phone.

"You're no fun Bakugo!" Extra #2 said as they finally walked away.

Once I was sure they were gone, I glanced over to see Deku still writing in his notebook.

Heh, damn nerd just can't help himself.

I let a small smile appear on my face but quickly replaced it with my usual scowl as I walked over to the door, closing and locking it, making sure no one will interrupt this.

At the sound of the door closing, he jumped in his chair and looked around, seemingly just realizing the day was over. He looked at me with a fearful expression.

"Oi, Deku," I started.

"Ah, h-hi K-kacchan. W-what are y-you doing?" he began to pack his stuff up trying to get out of the room. I walked towards him, causing him to go faster.

"Calm down you damn nerd," this seemed to confuse him.

"W-wha-?"

I grabbed his arm before he could finish and pulled down his sleeve to reveal slightly bloodied bandages. My scowl softened slightly upon seeing his injured arm and knowing that there were probably others.

"How did you get these?" I whispered as I inspected them. They seemed pretty fresh.

"I-it's nothing K-kacchan! I-i just f-fell!" He tried pulling his arm away but I kept a firm hold, causing him to flinch.

"No you didn't," I began to slowly take off the bandages.

"K-kacchan! W-what are you doing?!" His eyes began darting around the room like he was trying to find an escape. I ignored his question in favor of the bandages. "K-kacchan, s-stop! P-please," tears began to well up in his emerald eyes.

Just what the hell are under these damn bandag-

My train of thought stopped as the bandages finally fell to the ground.

His arms were littered with random scars. Some looked like knives, scratches, scrapes, and some I couldn't figure out. But the worst were the burns. He had some open wounds and black and blue bruises running all along his arm.

"K-kacchan! S-s-stop!" He snapped me out of my gawking as he began trying to pull his sleeve down and get his arm away.

"Izu..." I whispered, making him stop and look at me.

There were tears already starting to roll down his freckled cheeks from his panic filled eyes.

"What- what is happening? And don't even try to lie. I know something is happening. You've been coming to school late a lot and have had injuries for the past few years. Jus-just please... tell me," tears began to fill my eyes as well as I looked at him with pleadinly.

He bit his lower lip as more tears fell down, "K-kacchan," he croaked as he suddenly hugged me and began to sob into my shoulder.

I welcomed him and wrapped my arms around him, rubbing circles on his back.

Just what happened to you, Izuku?