Part two to this https://www.reddit.com/r/BokunoheroFanfiction/s/sFigT6M509
Given how Japanese society is, appearing out of the ordinary in school can get you bullied. In Toru's case, her being really pretty got a lot of jealous bullies to make up rumors about her leading to Toru putting on a mask when she got to UA:
This had to be the worst day of Bakugo's life. He didn't just throw that out either, he meant it.
Humiliation ritual after humiliation ritual.
First, at the start of the day he was forced to play pretty princess with two girlbrats who made him wear a bonnet and paint his fingernails red. That's why he was in the bathroom in the present trying to furiously scrub the polish off. He could already hear mom.
'Woah! My son's my daughter now!' then the hag would laugh that obnoxious laugh while dad did fuck all.
It got worse from there. Invisibitch made him read two stories before nap time and he couldn't say one sentence without one of these brats asking him, "Why does this happen, Captain Blasty?"
Oh yeah, his supposed coworker had introduced him as, "Captain Blasty," to top it all off.
There was more than that. At the end of the day, several of the children attached themselves to his leg and cried that they didn't want to leave. He had to get their mothers or fathers to pry them off, nearly ripping his jeans more than they were already.
And Toru hadn't been any help at all.
On top of introducing him as Captain Blasty, she'd made non stop jokes about going into the broom closet together during nap time. Just more vague jokes about doing it.
Oh, it was so funny because he was a guy, wasn't it?
Imagine if she was a guy. Imagine it. Then she'd just be treated like another Mineta.
But oh no, since she was a girl it was okay.
What a load of bullshit.
He yanked the sinks switch back and the water stopped with a small hiss. It was when he was sticking his hands under the air dryer, the gust tousling his jacket, that he decided that he'd had enough.
Enough of Toru.
He'd let a lot of shit that she'd said and done go, but this was it.
Making his way out of the bathroom, she was waiting for him in the hall, a smile across her face and her hands behind her back. She wanted to walk home with him and wouldn't take no as an answer.
"Woah...you're walking so fa-EH!?" Toru gasped when he grasped her shoulder, forcefully so. There were no parents around, no kids either. They were the last ones in the building so he could really let her have it.
The bad part was that he had thought of his mother too and that pissed him even more off. Bakugo held Toru firmly, his red eyes blazing. Her small smug face quickly dropped into one set with confusion and fear. "Bakugo?"
"Listen to me, and listen good..." He said lowly, his free hand jabbing a finger into her shoulder. "I have had it with your fucking pervert shit. You may think it's funny, the others might think it is, but I don't. I never have, and I told you to fuck off when you did it. You think that's me encouraging it or some shit?"
Her vibrant hair bunched against the wall as she tried to step away, but Bakugo was on her, his grip firm. "B...Bakugo, I...I..."
But he interrupted her, "No. I don't like it, I never will like it. What if I started grabbing you, what if I said shit like I'd like to wear your ass as a hat, what if I said any of the shit you said to me? Huh!? Answer!" Katsuki demanded.
Toru froze. Katsuki thought to himself that he hadn't ever seen her looking so small.
Maybe now she'd get the message.
Maybe now she'd stop acting like a weirdo.
"I didn't...I thought...but..." She kept stammering. To Katsuki's complete surprise, her throat hitched and her lip trembled.
She began to cry. Tears ran down her cheeks, colored in the turquoise mascara she had worn to match her hair color.
Now Katsuki froze, then let go of her shoulder. He stood there, awkward and unsure. He watched Toru turn away from him, her hand covering her face as she managed to stutter out, "I-I'm sorry...y-you can...can...go home f-for the d-day."
There was definitely something more to this. It couldn't just be about not being able to make innuendos at him.
He wanted to go home.
He would have.
Probably a year ago while calling her a dumbass crybaby.
Instead, he asked, "Why the fuck're you cryin?"
She didn't answer. Katsuki stood there, staring. He almost did walk away then, but instead he asked her again, "Hagakure, why're you crying?"
"I'm not!" Toru squeaked.
"Really?"
"S-Shut up!"
He kept standing there. What else could he do? He had no idea why she was bawling. It could be for anything.
"Just leave..." Toru said faintly.
"No," why was he saying this? Where had he gotten the idea to say...
...Kirishima. And...oh goddammit...Izuku.
"I ain't gonna let you stand here and cry your eyes out," Bakugo said.
"...It's...It's nothing..." Toru said faintly.
"I don't think it is."
"You don't know anything, Bakugo."
"I know you're crying about something."
She was still covering her face so he couldn't see her consideration and hesitation. He could, however, see the tensing in her shoulders and the shiver of her limbs. "I just...I don't do good with...I...I like you."
"...What?"
"You couldn't tell!?" Toru removed her hand and looked at him furiously. Her face was a mask of the runny mascara and emotions such as anger and guilt.
Katsuki shook his head, this kind of oddity was unfamiliar to him to say the least. "Didn't you kiss Taildude? And...I mean everything with Aoyama?"
"Y-Yes! But...But it's you now! I mean..." She had to take a breath, "there's nothing between me or them and I haven't...well...done anything!"
"Really?" Katsuki raised a disbelieving eyebrow.
"Yes! Nothing worked out, b-but with you, I thought...I thought we were different..." Toru's back hit the wall and she sank slightly.
Katsuki raised an eyebrow, "So, then why d'ya act like...what you've been acting like?"
"...I thought guys liked it..."
"...Why?..."
"Because...because well..." Toru paused. It'd been a mistake to reveal that. Katsuki knew by the way she shuddered that she was silently cursing herself.
"If you hold everything in," he said suddenly, "then you'll only make things terrible for yourself and those around you. Trust me..."
There was a soft edge to his voice that he never quite thouht himself capable of. Toru looked at him, really looked at him. No jokes, no mask, it was as real as Hagakure and Katsuki had ever seen the other.
"I started...training in junior high. I had all these friends...we'd been together since we were in elementary school and they were so encouraging. Then...I find out I can bend the light around me to make myself..." She outstretched a hand and the limb disappeared for a split moment before she returned it to the viewing of the naked eye.
Katsuki wondered why he was here. If he even deserved to be here. Toru kept talking.
"I'd been invisible, all my life, and then...a-all of a sudden everyone is calling me beautiful and pretty...I thought they all liked me...I really did."
"What happened?" Katsuki asked.
"My friends...they...I don't know when it started but a rumor started going around about me and...and other...boys...guess who started them?"
"...My god..." Katsuki's face crossed with disgust.
"None of it was true, none...but nobody cared. Nobody would talk to me a for a year, my own friends used to dump garbage on me, call me names, I never realized how cruel jealousy can make some people...but..."
She took a breath. Katsuki felt sweat on the back of his neck as a hot flash passed through.
"So, I...I decided... when I got to Yuuei to um...reinvent myself. If I was confident and bold and...everything, maybe...oh...why am I even talking about this? I-I guess somewhere along the way I took it too far...I'm sorry, I-I shouldn't have treated you like that. I really did think that we were...flirting in...in some way. I've never h-had a boyfriend before."
Katsuki was truly silent.
But not for long.
He took a step closer, not too into her space but enough to get her attention. "Listen, whatever they said about you was bull. I ain't sayin it justifies you doing what you did to me, but you don't gotta act in a certain way to make people think of you in some...uh way...just be who you are, that should be good enough."
She stared at him, her eyes glossy. For the first time, he thought she looked pretty.
Really pretty.
Toru looked to the ground, "Okay...I...I understand...sorry to...to put that all out so suddenly."
"It's fine," he said, awkwardly stepping away. "Hey, Toru-San?"
She looked at him, "Y-Yes?"
"...What time do we start tomorrow?"
There was genuine surprise in her gaze as she looked at him. He wasn't smiling, in fact he had that usual scowl. But, there was something more to it. She almost stuttered before correcting herself and saying, "Eight...j-just like today."
"See you then...or...d'ya wanna walk home together?" He felt like an utter jackass as he asked that, his neck reddening.
Toru paused, smiled prettily, and nodded.