Chapter Text
Bakugou Katsuki didn't have a quirk yet and he was getting impatient, since already five months have passed since his fourth birthday.
Most kids in his kindergarten already had their quirks manifest. Katsuki thought that most of them were really lame, like some boy could make his hair longer. What usage was of it, he just looked like a little girl.
He knew his quirk wouldn't be that weak and useless.
And of course he was going to have a quirk, unlike stupid Deku who was quirkless according to a doctor he visited few weeks ago. Ever since, he would just sit in a corner by himself and cry.
Pathetic.
"My quirk is gonna be the best since I have to wait for it so long!" He would often say to his parents throughout the day.
"It sure will be, buddy." His dad would usually answer while patting his head.
"Of course, sweetheart." His mom always said. "Maybe you'll get something similar to your dad's quirk, that would be pretty cool, right?" She once added with a smile and a wink directed at her husband.
Katsuki then looked at his dad who, when noticed his son was staring at him, clapped his hands together and started rubbing them against each other. The effect was that he created small explosion with even smaller sparks around it. Boy's eyes lit up with amazement at the sight of it.
"My quirk will be even cooler!" He said excited and started jumping in place, his parents laughing a little at his motions.
His quirk will be so much stronger. He'll be able to send big, loud fireworks from his hands, not some little sparks. He'll have amazing power and will become the greatest hero.
___
Katsuki was getting ready for a day. He was unusually excited about going to kindergarten, for his mom decided to let him go there all by himself. It cost him a lot of convincing, pleading and reassurance from his dad but she finally, finally agreed.
Although she still had to remind him about some stupid stuff.
"Remember to wait for a green light when you cross a road." Mom told him for the fifth time this morning while zipping up his red jacket.
What's a big deal, they live like two streets away from the kindergarten.
"Don't talk with strangers" she added while standing up. "And if someone tries to grab you, start screaming like you do when dad tries to force you to eat your vegetables." She added jokingly, although Katsuki could sense that this wasn't really a joke.
"You're worrying too much, mom." He took his backpack and put it on. "I'm strong! I can handle a stranger!" He added and mimicked All Might's (his favorite hero) pose, when he was showing off his muscles on TV program they watched the day before, while his mom tried to adjust the straps on his shoulders.
"I know, honey, but you still shouldn't talk to anyone you don't know." She finished struggling with his backpack, put her hand on his hair and looked at him intensely. "My strong, little boy." She smiled and hugged him with a little too much force. "Please, be careful."
"Mooooom," Katsuki whined while trying to get away from her. "I can't be careful if you snuggle me to death." He started pushing away from her. "Also I'm too old for hugs." He added as she finally let him go. "I'm gonna be late because of your stupid affection!". Before she could answer he turned around, put on his shoes and ran out the door.
"Katsuki, language!" He could hear her from behind. "And be careful, don't run so fast!"
Jeez, what's the big deal.
Katsuki slowed down after all, and when he looked back he saw his mom still standing in a doorway.
She smiled at him and waved, at what he rolled his eyes but returned the gesture. His mom sighed and finally closed the door, Katsuki's excitement rose anew and he started running once again.
___
It happened too fast.
He was so close to his destination.
He was sure the light was green.
He noticed the car and was almost able to move out from its way.
The driver was able to turn the car but it still knocked Katsuki down from his feet.
Instincts forced him to cover his head while falling down.
Then he heard something like a loud explosion right next to his right ear, saw huge, bright sparks and smelled burnt hair.
His vision got blurred and there was annoying, long-lasting ringing in his ears that blocked out all the other sounds.
He saw his red jacket right next to his head, but why his jacket would suddenly be there and not on his body?
His head hurt him badly, the red was spreading slowly and the realization hit him.
It wasn't his jacket.
He tried to stand up but his aching body refused to listen to him.
Then he heard some screaming in the distance and a panicked, yet somehow gentle voice right above him.
"Come on, Katsuki-kun, don't fall asleep." Someone with a blurred face was talking to him and patting his cheek. "Look at me, focus!" The person shouted desperately and pressed some clothing to the right side of his head. "Talk to me, can you hear me, honey?" He could hear the signal of an ambulance in the distance.
"Mom..." Talking was extremely hard at the moment.
"What is it? You know where Mitsuki-san is?" This person was keep asking questions and Katsuki's head was pounding more and more, both from pain and growing annoyance.
He wanted to scream, just like his mom told him to, but his voice wouldn't leave his throat.
"Katsuki-kun?"
Just leave him alone.
"... said not to talk" he managed to say before he saw an ambulance stop short distance from them. "... strangers"
The person seemed to be taken aback by his words, they laughed nervously and pressed the piece of clothing even firmer to his head. "Honey, you know me! You've been friends with Izuku for ages now!" Panic in their voice now evident.
Stupid Deku's mother? But the person didn't even look like her.
Katsuki tried to focus but everything was a blur and his vision was slowly darkening.
He could hear more people approaching and more distorted voices.
"Are you the boy's mother?" Asked one person while kneeling down at his side.
"Ah- no, no... I'm a close family friend." She moved her bloodied hands away to make more space for the new person.
"You'll come with us, madam." The woman just nodded at that.
Head hurts so badly now and someone else is keep talking above him.
The person claiming to be aunt Inko was taken back as this other person shut a strange collar around his neck. He's seen it on TV some time ago while he was watching news with his parents. Dad told him what the collars were called but he was unable to repeat the word back then, so now he couldn't recall the proper name.
When people in dark blue uniforms, paramedics maybe, carried him into an ambulance, woman with bloodied hands right behind, his vision darkened even more.
Only one of the paramedics and the woman stayed in the back with him, the other two were nowhere to be seen from where he was lying on some strange, uncomfortable bed.
The headache got so much worse in the meantime and he was getting sleepy.
He drifted away.
___
Mitsuki barged into the hospital, Masaru few steps behind her, and practically screamed into nurse's face who happened to be at the reception desk.
"What happened to my son, where is he?!"
"Please calm down, madam, I'll need your-"
Mitsuki slammed her hands on the countertop, startling the nurse at the motion.
"How the fuck am I supposed to calm down when my son was ran over by some imbecile?!" High on adrenaline and anger, she was unable to control the volume of her voice, she suddenly felt a small hand on her shoulder and as she was about to target this person, she realized who it was. "Inko!" She fully turned to her. "Where is he? Do you know where my Katsuki is?" She clutched her shoulders a little too harshly but she couldn't bring herself to care right now.
"Katsuki has been taken to the emergency room." She didn't seem to care about her arms too. "One of the nurses told me a doctor is examining him."
That was enough for Mitsuki to let go of Inko's shoulders and start running where the sign with "Emergency room" pointed. Masaru, who was hurriedly filling out some papers that the nurse gave him, left behind.
As soon as she received a phone call from Inko, she left the house in a hurry. She called her husband while starting the car and so was on her way to the hospital that Katsuki was taken to. She met with Masaru, right outside the building.
As she was desperately trying to find her way to the emergency room in the unfamiliar place, she felt a strong hand on her arm that forced her to turn around.
"Let me go, Masaru!" She yelled at him while trying to break out of his grip.
"You have to calm down first!" His hold tightened. "They won't even let you in, especially in this state!"
He was right. She knew damn well that he was right and yet, right now she couldn't afford to calm down.
"Let me go!" Once again she tried to shove his hand off hers. "You convinced me to let him go on his own," she continued, words escaping her mouth before she could process them. "It's all your fault!" She turned to him and hit him on the chest. He let out a surprised yelp and tried to stop her hands from further hitting him.
"I wasn't the one to let him out of the house!" He yelled back as he held her hands away from him. "You can't blame me for something I didn't even witness!"
"Bullshit, I was against it from the start and just because you weren't there doesn't exclude you from the fault!" She managed to tear her hands away from his.
"You know damn well that this was a mutual decision!" His hands started sending off little sparks, as usual when he would get too emotional and start gesturing wildly.
"If you didn't press so much on this, it wouldn't have happened!" She screamed directly into his face.
"I didn't force you to do anything, you stubborn woman!" He threw his hands in the air, more of loud sparks escaping.
They had attention of half the people in the corridor but none of them dared to come up to them, between Mitsuki's screaming and Masaru's explosions (which weren't actually threatening, mind you), no one wanted to get involved.
She was so done with this shit.
"How could you make me do this?!" She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt. "How could..." Her voice died in her throat and breathing was suddenly very hard for her. Masaru's face turned into pained expression, he closed the remaining distance between them and circled his arms around her shoulders.
“Easy, now…” Masaru’s voice was almost a whisper.
"How could I do this..." She asked herself and tears started streaming down her face, which she hid in Masaru's collarbone. "Why did I let him go?" She felt her husband's hand find its way to her hair.
"It's nobody's fault, Mitsuki." She heard his quiet, calmer voice. "No one could predict what would happen."
She took a few shaky breaths and pulled away from Masaru. In the meantime, Inko caught up to them. She kindly put a hand on Mitsuki's shoulder and gave her a small pack of tissues.
"There's a cafeteria, we should wait there, Mitsuki-san." She offered with reassuring smile.
"You two go." Masaru said and sat down on one of the chairs in the corridor. "I'll call you as soon as I find out anything about Katsuki." He crossed his hands on his chest as if he wanted to say 'you'll have to use force to move me from there'.
Mitsuki just nodded while wiping tears with one of the tissues and let Inko lead her to the cafeteria.
___
Luckily, they were able to find unoccupied table. While Mitsuki sat down, Inko went and bought them both cups of coffee for which she was very grateful.
"Thank you." She said quietly as she took one of the cups from her hand.
Inko sat down next to her with another cup in hand and offered her a sugar sachet. She shook her head and just took a sip of still too hot coffee, which caused her to burn the roof of her mouth.
Not that she cared right now.
"How-" she started hesitantly, actually unsure of what she wanted to ask. ... If she wanted to ask, really. After all, did she really want to know what happened and if the brown stains on Inko's sleeves' tips were some sauce from dinner or...
She shook her head quickly and tried not to think about the worst possible scenarios.
But to not think about them she had to know the truth.
"Could you tell me what happened?" Her face in painful grimace, almost breaking into tears again.
She watched Inko fiddle with her still full cup, avoiding her gaze.
“I need to know, Inko.” She sounded more desperate now, other woman shuddered slightly and took few deeper breaths. “Please.”
"I... I wasn't there when- " She started hesitantly." ...I wasn't there from the beginning... I heard tires screeching, then someone's scream and I ran towards the little crowd of people. A man said there was an accident, someone else was already calling for an ambulance. And then I- I saw Katsuki-kun, lying on the ground and-" She was on the edge of crying and at the end her voice was almost like a whisper, like she was scared of saying those words.
Like only now she was realizing that yes, all of this really happened and all of this was real.
Mitsuki offered her back the tissues, which she took with a nod.
"And now I can't help but think about Izuku... What if it was him, would anyone try to help? What if I helped only because I knew it was Katsuki-kun, lying there? God, he looked so tiny…" She started shaking slightly. Mitsuki put a hand on hers that was clutching onto the small packet of tissues and smiled genuinely. At that, Inko seemed to cheer up a little bit. "What am I doing..." She let out a sad chuckle and wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. "I was supposed to make you feel better, not the other way around..."
“It’s alright.” Mitsuki squeezed her hand softly. “It’s a lot to bear. For both of us.” She added while smiling reassuringly. “And… I really hope you’ll never have to deal with something like this.” She said finally.
It seemed like Inko wanted to answer with something to her words, but a ring of Mitsuki’s phone interrupted her. She immediately let go of other woman’s hand and picked up the phone, without even looking at caller’s ID.
___
“Your son’s state is stable, we had to give him few stitches where the head was injured, and as strange as it is,” giant doctor, who introduced herself as Katame Iryo and had only one eye in the centre of her face, with iris that looked like a clock, shrugged slightly amused, “roentgen didn’t show us anything out of ordinary. Even though, we’ll still have to keep him here for few days to monitor him.” She was explaining everything in as simple way as possible.
Inko couldn’t stay for long, after Masaru called with news that he spoke with a nurse, she had to leave, as there was nobody else to pick Izuku up from the kindergarten.
But all in all, what was most important for Mitsuki now, who was sitting in a chair beside bed in which Katsuki was asleep, was that he was fine. Fine and alive and in one piece and, while not taking to account that half of his head and hands were covered in bandages, he apparently got out of it without any serious consequences.
“Right now he’s asleep, no wonder really, after all the anesthetics we gave him.” Doctor checked the machinery showing Katsuki’s heart rate and few other that Mitsuki didn’t really know much about. “Upon arriving here, he woke up for a second. Tried to blow up a face of one of the nurses, poor thing.” Some strands of her short, orange hair fell onto her face and she put them impatiently behind her ear.
Mitsuki blinked at her statement, confused. Now, she didn’t really pay attention to everything the woman was saying, but…
“What do you mean by that?” Masaru was faster than her in asking the question, his voice surprised and head tilted to the side.
Katame blinked slowly, surprised and seemed to be taken aback by the question.
“… I guessed your son must have been scared.” She started writing something down in Katsuki’s papers. “Suddenly waking up in a foreign place, after quite traumatic event. I assumed he used his quirk instinctively.” She shrugged slightly while keep writing and keeping her eye on the machinery.
Both Masaru and Mitsuki were quietly looking back and forth between Katsuki, themselves and the doctor who was too occupied with writing to notice their shared puzzlement. Finally, after a minute or two of silence, Mitsuki spoke.
“…Katsuki doesn’t have a quirk, yet…” She said but raised her eyebrows in surprise when she heard a quiet chuckle from the one-eyed woman. “… Does he?” Perplexed, she looked at her husband who only shrugged and seemed to be as lost in the situation as she was.
“…I see.” Doctor must have realized something, as she put down the papers and a pen on a nightstand beside the bed and walked around it, so now she stood on the other side of it, facing the couple. “My quirk allows me to look few hours into the past of a human, I’m also able to share what I see with one other person at the time.” After that, her eye opened widely, now taking more than half of the space of her face. The clock iris got bigger and the time it shown changed from 6:00 o'clock to the current one. “Usually, I use it in more serious cases, but I can see how the confusion will only grow if we don’t find out what exactly happened there, so.” Her eye was going back and forth between them. “Would you be alright with me doing this?” Slightly, she leaned forward so she wasn’t looking at them from above anymore.
“Yes.” Mitsuki agreed immediately without even sparing a look at her husband who let out a quiet sigh. “But I want to see it too.” She said as she stood up.
“Of course,” Katame smiled, “what sense would my doings have if I kept it all to myself?” She took off her white rubber gloves and extended her right hand towards Mitsuki, while putting her left one on Katsuki’s right cheek. “Please, grab my hand and don’t let go.” She said with more serious tone.
Mitsuki hesitated for few seconds but obliged and put her hand on the one that was twice the size of her own. Cyclops then grabbed it fiercely and leaned towards Katsuki’s small figure. She ended up so close to him that their foreheads were almost touching.
Her enormous eye was staring unblinkingly at boy’s still face. She used the thumb and forefinger of her hand that was resting on his cheek, to carefully force one of his eyes to open. Then, she locked her gaze on it, and the iris of her own eye started to get bigger and bigger with each passing second.
Mitsuki couldn’t help but flinch a bit at her doings.
She watched as the hands of the clock in doctor’s big iris started moving backwards, faster and faster, until they suddenly stopped and showed the time which Mitsuki remembered to be of the moment when Katsuki left the house.
Then everything went in a blink.
Images of Katsuki leaving the house, crossing the street, green light somewhere in the corner of her vision, car approaching quickly, covering head and then-
Loud explosion rang in her ears, sudden sound almost making her let go of Katame’s hand.
Both of them inhaled sharply, like when waking up from a dream.
Or rather a nightmare.
In the end it was the doctor who let go, both of her hand and Katsuki’s face. The clock in her eye firstly going to the current time, then back to 6:00 o’clock. Her whole eye resized back into its normal state.
“His quirk…” Mitsuki whispered as she sat down on the chair, shocked. “Masaru-“ She felt his hand on her shoulder. “Masaru he- he has your quirk but…” She couldn’t make up her mind as she struggled to explain what she just saw. “But it’s somehow so much more powerful.” She started massaging her temple with one hand. “I don’t understand… How?” She asked but didn’t really expect any answers from anyone.
That’s why she was surprised to hear doctor’s quiet voice.
“May I ask about your quirk, Bakugou-san?” She asked from where she was now sitting, her figure seemingly more tired.
“Ah, of course.” She straightened her back. “It’s not powerful in any way. Honestly, for some time I even thought I was quirkless.” She laughed a little at the memory. “I just have glycerin sweat.”
Woman looked at her with a tilted brow as if she was expecting something and as Mitsuki was about to ask her about it, she heard her husband’s audible gasp and sudden realization hit her as well.
Her glycerin.
Masaru’s sparks.
Glycerin.
Sparks.
Explosions.
“Holy fuck.” She said and then covered her mouth, sending an apologetic look towards the doctor who actually didn’t look like she cared that much.
“Indeed.” Katame raised from her seat. “Quite perfect combination of both of your quirks, in my opinion. With that kind of power he could become a great hero.”
At that, she looked at Masaru who now had a little, fond smile on his face.
When he was younger, he had a dream of becoming a hero, but in the end his quirk alone was too weak for that so he pursued a career as a designer. At least, thanks to that, they had a chance to meet.
It seemed like the doctor wanted to say more about all this but weak groan interrupted her.
Mitsuki, once again, stood up quickly from her seat and looked at Katsuki who was finally waking up.
“Please, refrain from any sudden movements and give him some space.” Doctor’s voice reached her and she took a small step back. “Keep calm, I’m pretty sure he won’t run away.” She joked and walked up to Katsuki who opened his eyes just to shut them back a second later, lights of the room too bright for him. “Katsuki-kun, I need you to open your eyes slowly.” As soon as he opened them again, she fished out a little flashlight from her apron’s pocket and flashed both of his eyes. “Response to light… Alright, blink a few times, dear.” She said as she put the flashlight back in her pocket, reached for Katsuki’s papers and wrote something down.
“Is he alri-“ Mitsuki was immediately silenced by the woman who just raised her hand.
She was getting more and more impatient as doctor introduced herself to Katsuki and started checking on him, asking him all sorts of questions, checking his reactions to the external stimuli and writing down everything that seemed to be more important.
“You made your parents worry quite a bit.” She told him in a cheerful tone of voice. Katsuki frowned a little at that.
“Where’s my mom?” He asked weakly while looking around the room, his gaze stopping on Mitsuki and Masaru for a second, then again wandering around the room.
Well that was… Strange? To say at least…
“Honey, I’m right here.” She moved closer to him and carefully grabbed his hand.
Katsuki jumped a bit at sudden touch and seemed confused. As he looked down at their joined hands and then at her face, he didn’t say a word. That was so unusual of her loud and energetic boy, she couldn’t help but look worriedly back at her husband, who seemed to share her concerns, then at the Cyclops in a search for any explanations. Doctor herself furrowed her eyebrow, but otherwise she couldn’t say what she was thinking about.
“… He’s probably still under the effects of the anesthesia.” Or this is actually some after-effect of the accident, went untold. … Or maybe Mitsuki was just paranoid.
Katame once again, started asking him various questions, only this time they weren’t about his well-being, but rather informational like if he remembers his birthday, what day it is or his parents’ names. He answered all of them without much trouble.
“He’s not amnesiac, that’s for sure.” She said as she asked him last question and wrote something down in the papers. “We’ll keep observing him and for now,” she turned to both of them. “I assume one of you probably wants to stay here with him, at the hospital?” Mitsuki nodded at her question as she kept her gaze on her son’s still confused frown.
“My wife will stay here.” Masaru cut in and then spoke directly to her. “I’ll go home and get some stuff for Katsuki and you, alright?” He removed his hand that until now was still resting on her shoulder and moved to the door. “It won’t take long, I’ll be back soon. Behave, young man.” He winked at the boy and left the room.
“Alright, if that’s settled, I’ll go get the form for you to fill out so you can stay here without any issues after visiting hours, Bakugou-san.” Doctor left the room as well and closed the door behind her quietly.
Mitsuki stared for few seconds at the closed door, but when she felt her son’s tiny hand squeeze around hers, she immediately turned her whole attention back to him.
“What’s wrong, honey?” She stood up and sat on the edge of the bed to be closer to him. “Does your head hurt?” She asked with concern in her voice and carefully put a hand on the left side of his head, that wasn’t bandaged. “Maybe you’re thirsty? Or hungry?”
“… No?” He more of asked than stated and looked around the room again, with some kind of curiosity.
“Ah, you’ve never been to the hospital before, right, Katsuki?” She tried to use a cheerful tone but she could hear that she failed, even if her boy didn’t seem to notice that. “See? This machine shows how your heart beats,” she gestured at the mentioned machine “and this one-“
“Hey…” Katsuki interrupted her. “Was this older man-“ he seemed puzzled and was keep avoiding her gaze, something so unusual for him to do. “Dad?”
“Katsuki…” She raised her eyebrows in surprise and moved away slightly. “Honey, yes, of course that was him! Who else-“
“I-“ He started, shaken and even more confused. “… I don’t know how dad looks like.”