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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.”

Chapter Text

“My son doesn’t recognize me when I re-enter the room after being gone for five minutes, and you’re telling me that you have no fucking clue as to what’s wrong and to calm down?” Mitsuki was visiting the third doctor in two weeks since Katsuki’s accident and it was the third one who told her he couldn’t find a solution to fix her son’s ‘strange behavior’, as they liked to call it.

As if all of what was happening was her imagination, some whim of small, paranoid woman who’s kid was just bad at recognizing people, as if it wasn’t caused by that freaking accident.

The first doctor said that it’s just trauma from the accident, that it will pass. When she returned to him after six days with Katsuki, who didn’t even recognize him, the man said he can’t do much about it anyway and sent them away with a contact to another doctor.

The second doctor said that Katsuki is maybe not trying hard enough, judging by his antisocial behavior. She basically sent them off with a prescription, probably for some placebo, and a contact to her friend who deals with that kind of stuff.

Now, the third doctor, the friend of that amateur who dared to call herself a doctor-

“Bakugou-san, I’m sorry but I truly don’t know.” At least this one was more polite, despite Mitsuki’s outrage just few seconds ago. “I understand that you are upset but-“

“Upset?” She interrupted him and laughed, but there was not a single ounce of humor in her. “I’m fucking furious is what I am.” She slammed her hands on his desk, making him jump a little. He coughed awkwardly to cover up his embarrassing movements but Mitsuki knew better and she fought the urge to laugh at him, but still smirked when doctor wasn’t looking. She still had it in her- intimidating people that is. “Counting you, I’ve already visited three so-called specialists and none of you, bastards, could tell me what’s wrong with my son!” She knew she shouldn’t pick on someone like that but at this point she didn’t care.

She just wanted to finally get some answers.

“Yes, I understand, but please, at least restrain yourself from screaming, there are other people outside and-“

“I don’t care!” Once again, she cut short meek man’s attempts of shutting her up. “Let them know how incompetent their doctor is.” She stood up from her chair quickly, almost kicking it over.

She was done here.

“Bakugou-san, please wait-“

“No. Good day to you, sir.” She said that without turning to him, reached for the door and left his little office.

As expected, when she entered the corridor all other patients were pretending that they didn’t hear anything, but she didn’t have time to ponder about them. She quickly moved towards where Masaru was sitting with their son.

“Hey, Katsuki.” Masaru nudged him lightly when he noticed Mitsuki approaching. “Look who’s back.”

She watched as her son raised his head to look at her. He stared for few seconds, furrowed his brows and looked back at his father.

“It’s mom!” Her husband said with fake cheerfulness and Katsuki’s eyes lit up. They both got up from their chairs and walked up to her. “I guess it didn’t go well, huh?” He smiled sheepishly while awkwardly scratching the back of his neck.

“You say that as if you didn’t hear all that.” She snarked, still annoyed at the doctor and rolled her eyes at Masaru’s weak laugh.

She took a deep breath to calm herself down, then kneeled in front of Katsuki and put a hand on his head, finally free from the bandages.

“Does your head still hurt, dear?” Just this morning he woke up with a headache again, usual occurrence for the past few days. She smiled at him when he shook his head.

“Your eyes are strange.” He said bluntly and took few steps back, so he was out of her reach.

Mitsuki slowly dropped her hand to her side and confused expression appeared on her face.

“… How are they strange?” She asked carefully, as to not let him know that it was quite weird thing to say.

“... I don’t know.” He shrugged, his lips forming a pout.

“How they usually look like?”

Katsuki seemed to ponder a little about her question, as his gaze lingered on her eyes for almost a minute.

Finally, he spoke.

“I don’t know.” Shrug, again.

Mitsuki’s face was now decorated by a faint smile, as she rose to her feet and took her son’s hand into hers. She looked at Masaru and gestured towards the exit of the clinic, she didn’t want to speak, as she believed her voice would betray how she really felt at this moment. Her husband seemed to pick up on it, as he reassuringly squeezed her other hand and all three of them left the building.

___

Masaru and Mitsuki were taking care of the dishes after dinner when Masaru’s phone called from another room. He sent an apologetic smile to her at which she only rolled her eyes and continued on her own. As he picked up the phone in the living room, she could only hear every two words over running water, but then his voice became clearer and louder as he came back to the kitchen, phone still next to his ear.

“Yes, she’s right there.” Masaru said as he grabbed a dishcloth, gave it to Mitsuki and gestured for her to wipe off her hands. “I’m giving her the phone right now.” He extended his hand that held the phone towards her. “It’s that Cyclops doctor.” He whispered as she took the phone from his hand.

“… Hello?” She spoke with a tilted brow.

“Ah, Bakugou-san, hello again, Katame Iryo from the hospital, it’s been a while.” Doctor’s kind of enthusiastic voice surprised her even more and she looked at Masaru for any explanation. He just shrugged and shook his head with confused expression. “I’m aware that you’re probably surprised to hear me.”

“Yes, I… Honestly didn’t expect to actually speak with you in the near future, Katame-san.” Or ever again, she thought to herself.

“I would have directly contacted you, but had to call your husband as he was the one to fill out the papers the nurse gave him, when the two of you arrived at the hospital.” She explained quickly. “Although, I need to ask you to tell him to work on his handwriting, I accidentally called two other people before I finally reached him.” She let out a short laugh, Mitsuki also laughed but it was more of an awkward, slightly panicked sound as she remembered that Masaru had to fill out the form quickly in favor of chasing her down the corridors of the hospital.

“Yes, yes. Of course.” She coughed, embarrassed. “So… To what do I owe the pleasure..?”

“Ah, right.” Katame sounded as if she just remembered why she called. “I’ll be honest with you, Bakugou-san. Some of my colleagues started recently complaining about mad woman with a traumatized son, who was going everywhere, screaming at them for not knowing what’s wrong with her boy. … Rings a bell?” She waited for a few seconds for a reaction from now annoyed Mitsuki.

“… Yes.” That came out more rudely than she wanted to. “That might have been me.”

“Oh, I know that tone. Don’t worry, I perfectly understand.” At Katame's honest answer, Mitsuki’s anger was gone in a second and her eyebrows raised in surprise. “It might sound like I’m bragging, but I’m actually trying to help people, whether they are still my patients or not.” Her words made Mitsuki realize something.

“I didn’t thank you properly!” Her voice a bit too loud, and as she was about to actually express her gratitude, she was interrupted.

“Don’t mention it.” Katame said in a firm voice. “Now, onto why I called. Other doctors, in their complaining, made me realize something about your son’s condition. This isn’t my field of work, so I can’t be sure about my predictions, but I know someone who might actually be able to help.”

Mitsuki’s eyes widened even more, and a small, hopeful smile appeared on her face. She looked at slightly confused Masaru who was still standing awkwardly in front of her, listening to everything she was saying. She pointed at the phone and nodded a few times, smile widening. Masaru seemed to understand, as he took a step towards her and she turned the speaker on so he could hear everything as well.

“He’s the best neurologist that I know, both personally and from all the work he's done.” The doctor continued. “His appearance and methods are rather- specific, to put it lightly, but I can assure you that if anyone can help, it’ll be him. I already spoke with him and, as he owes me a favor, he agreed to come to Musutafu from Tokyo, where his office is. All he requested was that I confirm the visit with you and make sure that we’ll have proper radiographs of Katsuki-kun’s brain.” She fell silent, expecting an answer from Mitsuki.

She looked at her husband, silent. This was a great opportunity, kind of too good to be true, but she had a feeling that this was their only chance to understand what was happening with their son, and after visiting all of the previous doctors who didn’t help in the slightest, her faith was slowly burning out. Masaru put a hand on her shoulder, squeezed lightly and nodded with determined expression on his face. Of course, after all, it hurt both of them when Katsuki couldn’t recognize either of them, they both wanted this to end or at least know what ‘this’ exactly was.

She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“Alright.”

___

Mitsuki was called in to the office with Katsuki by a nurse. They really were lucky that doctor Katame wanted to help them and specifically contacted this doctor who apparently was well-known as the best specialist among all the other neurologists in the country.

When they went inside, first thing she noticed was slender, tall man standing in the middle of the room. His arms were extremely long and lanky, hands with bony fingers reaching almost to his knees. The head, on stretched out neck, was free of any hair, including eyebrows, but his bones were structured in such specific way that made him look like he was frowning all the time. To add to that, man didn't have ears, just strange holes in a place of them.

Despite all that, the most noticeable feature of his whole face was his drawn-out mouth that didn't fully close, showing off his sharp teeth.

This image reminded her of those of goblin sharks.

Said man was looking at radiographs of brains that were hung on the illuminated board, but when he heard the door close, he turned to them and only then she noticed the red pupils of his eyes.

When the man walked up to them, Katsuki clenched his hand around hers, it hurt a little, but she really couldn't blame him. The man, just as Katame described him, was indeed... specific.

"You must be Bakugou Mitsuki-san." His voice, rough and mildly pitched, made her feel a little bit uneasy. "Doctor Akura Mizuo. It is a pleasure to meet you." He said and extended his hand towards her. She shook it a little unsure, and upon closer inspection she realized that his greenish skin wasn't the play of the lights.

Don't judge a book by its cover. She told herself.

"Yes," she bowed a little with respect, "thank you so much for your time, it's extremely important for us." At that he let out a low laugh.

"As soon as my colleague called and told me about your son's strange behavior, I knew I had to come here. After all, it's not often that I find out about a child with acquired prosopagnosia." Surprised, she blinked few times.

Prospo-what now?

Doctor Akura walked up even closer to her, put a cold hand between her shoulder blades and firmly led her to one of the chairs. She sat down and Katsuki followed suit, sitting down on a smaller chair right next to her. Doctor moved his office chair to sit both nearer them and the illuminated board.

"I apologize for the dimmed lights, my eyes are rather sensitive." He explained as he put on his glasses that darkened a little from the light of the bright board.

"Oh, don't worry about it..." She waved her hand and smiled a little. "Um, about that... thing you just said?" She continued awkwardly.

"I see that the term caused some confusion, and I am ready to clear everything out for you." At Akura's promise she just nodded. After all, she came for explanations which he apparently had. "Now, the reason why you couldn’t get the answer to what is wrong with your boy is because not all doctors heard about prosopagnosia. Such a shame, considering it’s more common than it is estimated.” He reached for his pen.

His whole attention focused on radiographs of Katsuki's brain that were requested by himself and taken few days prior to the visit, under Katame's supervision. It took awhile to take them, as Katsuki didn’t want to lie still for too long in the MRI scanner alone.

“The injury caused damage in fusiform gyrus, which is in the bottom of both sides of the brain." He pointed the pen at the pictures. "This area handles things like visual word recognition, color and sound processing and, most important, face and body cognition and recognition. The moment your son's head was injured, he acquired prosopagnosia." He put the pen back down and looked first at her, then at her son.

Katsuki looked a little startled, with a frown and resentful posture. He obviously didn’t want to talk to the shark-looking man.

"To put it in a simpler way," he leaned down a little towards her son, "this area allows you to distinguish and recall faces of other people. Yours was badly damaged and that caused face blindness. Some are born with this condition and some, like you Katsuki-kun, get it from an injury." Doctor patted his shoulder at which Katsuki's frown deepened and he quickly turned his head towards the pictures. The man sighed and turned his attention back to Mitsuki. "Unfortunately, there's no remedy for it but if we keep control him and you help him train, he'll be able to recognize people by other things, like their voices or some features that stand out."

Mitsuki thought about his explanations with a worried expression for a few seconds, while her son started asking questions about the pictures of his brain and practically demanded for them to be shown to him. He still had a frown on his face, but other than that his posture was saying that he was bored by the whole situation and wanted some kind of distraction.

Of course. He's just a child, he doesn't fully understand yet.

While Mitsuki was deep in her thoughts, the doctor, who thank to his long hands didn't have to stand up from his seat, reached out and handed one of the radiographs to Katsuki who started rotating it curiously in his hands.

Akura once again turned to her and spoke as if he just remembered something important.

"Right now, we don't know yet how advanced Katsuki-kun's condition is." His words startled her a little.

"What do you mean by 'how advanced'?" She asked with more aggressiveness than she intended to. At doctor's narrowed eyes she apologized quietly while looking down.

"It's alright." Reassurance with a bit of annoyance were obvious in his voice. "By that, I meant that we already know he doesn't recognize faces, but we don't know to what extent." His words only caused more confusion within her and he seemed to pick up on it because he opened his laptop, that was placed on the desk on his right, and showed her a picture of some stranger. "Now, I’ll show you something. This is how we normally see another human, right?"

Mitsuki nodded at simple question, doctor then clicked and another picture showed up that depicted an upside down head of a different person.

"Is this someone else or the same person?" She tilted her head a little to have a better look at the picture.  "Please restrain yourself from that and just look at it normally." He said sharply and she glanced at him quickly, shocked, and then once again stared at the photo.

"I think it's different." She said unsure of her words.

At that, doctor chuckled and showed her the two pictures side by side.

"How about now?" Before she had a chance to confirm that yes, these are different people, the upside down picture changed back to the right side up and she gasped audibly.

Pictures were showing the exact same person.

"Basically, that's how it feels for people with face blindness to look at someone." Doctor explained and then opened another set of pictures with, presumably, different people. "Sometimes prosopagnosiacs don't even see faces," he pointed at the image of head that had blank space instead of a real face "and other times they might not see the eyes, which are most distinguishable features of our faces." He added as he pointed at the person who's eyes were blurred. "We'll have to run some examinations on your son to see how advanced his disease is. We can start with a quick test right now." He finished and turned his attention to Katsuki who was still occupied with studying the radiograph and not paying attention to doctor's speech.

"Katsuki." She called out to him and watched as slight confusion rose on his face when he looked up at her. Both she and the doctor looked at her son for few seconds in silence. Katsuki was switching between the two of them with worried frown. He finally locked his eyes with hers and spoke.

"...Mom?" He asked unsure and the question, just like every time before, broke her heart a little. Just like this morning when she woke him up and he panicked, not realizing it was her.

"Yes, sweetheart, it's me." She smiled sadly then took his small hand into hers and breathed deeply. "Doctor Akura is going to ask you some questions, alright?" Katsuki nodded and looked at the man who was once again fiddling with his laptop.

"Alright, Katsuki-kun." He spoke and turned the device towards little boy. "Can you describe this person to me?"

Mitsuki also looked at the photo which depicted a plain looking woman, with dark hair and equally dark eyes. The only feature standing out was her, almost comically, big nose.

"She has really big, ugly nose." She heard Katsuki's blunt comment and her shoulders moved a little in a silent chuckle.

Like mother, like son, apparently.

"How about this person?" Doctor moved on to the next picture. This time it was a man with no ears and the extra pair of eyes. To add to that, he was bald.

"Where are his ears?" Katsuki asked, not looking away from the image.

"Honey, it's probably a part of this person's quirk." She explained patiently and heard a quiet 'oh' from him. "Be careful with these questions, sometimes people don't like to talk about their looks, alright?"

"Uhm... Yea, sure..." Uncertainty apparent in his quiet voice. "He has... four eyes and no hair." He finished a little louder and glanced at the doctor.

"Alright, and have you seen this person before?" Akura asked as he switched back to the first picture.

She stared at the big-nosed woman who reappeared on the screen.

"I..." Katsuki started hesitantly and she squeezed his hand, encouraging him to speak. "No, I haven't."

She closed her eyes and exhaled longingly, as she tried not to show any signs that his answer bothered her in any way.

"Do you see her nose?" She heard the question from the doctor and looked back at her son.

"Yes, it's big and ugly." He practically repeated his own words from before but it didn't look like he had realized that.

"Do you remember saying the same thing about another person, few minutes ago?"

Katsuki seemed surprised by the question, but actually looked like he was giving it some thought. He frowned and finally spoke again.

"I think... I do?"

"It's because that's the same person, young boy." Doctor stated and they both looked as Katsuki's eyes lowered to the tiled floor.

"Oh." A disappointed gasp escaped his mouth. "So I've seen her before... I'm sorry-"

"Honey, it's not your fault." She was quick to interrupt him. "We'll work on it, alright?" Once again, she squeezed his hand reassuringly and he nodded while keeping his head down.

"Now," doctor started talking again, "tell me if you've seen this person before." Once again he moved on to the next photo and Mitsuki's eyes widened at what she saw.

"Akura-san, is this really-"

"Yes." He interrupted her rather harshly and she looked back at the picture that was showing her own son. "So, Katsuki-kun, do you know this boy?"

Katsuki's head turned back to the screen and Mitsuki couldn't help but hold her breath nervously as she watched her son's expression change from focused frown to confusion.

Please, there's no way it's this bad. She thought desperately.

"No." Katsuki looked up at the doctor and she let out a shaky breath. She accidentally squeezed her son's hand too hard, and that made him look at her. "What's wrong, mom?"

"Nothing, honey." Mitsuki lied. "I'm sorry, I need- I have to go to the restroom." She stood up, letting go of her son's hand. "Please stay with the doctor and let him ask you other questions, alright?" When he nodded, she excused herself and left the office hurriedly, sudden change of lighting causing her to blink rapidly.

She quickly walked down the corridor, where she earlier saw the restrooms, and when she found them, she immediately entered and locked the door behind her.

Mitsuki walked up to the sink, rested her hands against its edges and tried to calm herself down by taking deep, shaky breaths.

In and out.. Slowly...

...

Why couldn't he recognize himself?

She felt tears coming up to her eyes.

Why did she let him go on his own that day?

Her shoulders were shaking and a quiet sob escaped her mouth. She pressed her lips together into the thin line and when more sobs were about to leave her mouth, she covered it with her hand.

She raised her head and started blinking quickly in an attempt to stop the tears from spilling down her face, hand still firmly pressed to her mouth.

She has to be strong for her son.

After few minutes, when her breathing was more stable and tears were no longer threatening to ruin her mascara, she looked down and stared at her reflection in a mirror.

She looked at her blonde hair that was sticking in all directions, her slightly puffy eyes and reddened cheeks, then her thin lips and small nose.

Mitsuki touched the mirror's surface where her face was reflecting.

She was already 27 years old, 28 almost, but she realized that her quirk have let her stay almost the same as she was when she was just a teenager. She had a high probability of keeping her youthful looks for a long time and if she would keep her hair in the same style then maybe...

She made up her mind, quickly touched up on her make-up and finally left the restroom with newfound determination.

___


Katsuki was tired of answering all of strange doctor's questions.

No, he doesn't remember some man with blurry eyes.

No, he doesn't know this woman with big nose.

Yes, he's sure that he doesn't recognize the boy with blond hair and red eyes.

After a while, all the pictures were altering the longer he looked at them. They looked familiar yet alien. He had strange feeling that he was supposed to know these people but at the same time, they were total strangers that looked almost the same.

"Can you describe to me the last person you've seen?" Shark doctor was writing down everything he would say.

"No." Katsuki said with annoyance in his voice. "I want to go home." He got up from his chair. "Where's my mom?" He asked with anger and crossed arms on his chest.

Doctor stared at him with a twitching eye, like for a second he didn't know what to say to him. In the end, he reached for his shoulder with that scary, slender hand.

"Don't worry, boy, she'll be back soon." He gestured at the chair that Katsuki was occupying few seconds ago. "Why won't you take a sit and I'll ask you-"

"No!" Katsuki pushed doctor's hand away from his shoulder. "I don't want any more of your stupid questions!" He took a few steps back. "I don't want to look at those stupid people, I want to go home!" He screamed and stomped his foot.

Doctor, perhaps angry, stood up from his chair, Katsuki watched him approach and stand in front of him, his unusually tall figure towering scarily over him. He then leaned down and put both of his terrifying hands on his shoulders and gripped them painfully.

Fear paralyzed Katsuki's small form.

"Listen here, you little brat." Horrific whisper found its way to his ears. "Your brain is unlike the others, such advanced condition like yours is unusual and whether you want it or not, I will find a way to run more tests on you." Venom was pouring from every single one of his words and hands on his shoulders were keep painfully pressing onto him and Katsuki realized that he couldn’t breathe properly.

Suddenly, he remembered his mom's words.

"And if someone tries to grab you-"


"Don't.." he said quietly while purposely not looking at the doctor.

"What was that?" Doctor leaned even closer towards him.

"Don't."

Katsuki raised his hands.

"Fucking."

He looked him straight in the eyes.

"TOUCH ME!"


"-start screaming."


Katsuki blasted bright explosions from his hands directly onto man's face. Doctor let out a surprised scream and let go of Katsuki's shoulders to cover both his injured face and sensitive eyes from sudden light. Katsuki used this as an opportunity to run out from the office.

He heard doctor yell after him, but he wasn't about to stop. He ran as fast as his short legs allowed him, passing the hospital staff and other patients. He looked back to see if the man was following him and then forcefully bumped into someone.

"Katsuki?" Some woman grabbed him by his hand. "What are you doing running arou- AH!" The woman let out a surprised yelp as he pushed her away with small explosion and continued to run.

He just wants to go home.

___


Mitsuki stood up quickly and watched in shock as her son ran away and around the corner of the corridor. As she was about to run after him, she felt cold hand on her elbow. She turned around and saw doctor Akura, panting and holding a small towel onto his face.

"I was gone for few minutes! What the hell happened?!" She screamed at him, doing so caused other people around to stare at them.

"Your boy got bored and wanted to run away." Doctor practically hissed through clenched teeth. "As you are already aware, he succeeded." He finally let go of her hand and pulled out a phone from his pocket. "I'll call the security, they'll find him in no time."

"Well, I intend to find him right now." She stated and started running in the same direction Katsuki went earlier, leaving behind the doctor who was already talking with someone on the phone.


___


Masaru opened the door for Mitsuki who was tightly holding their sleeping son in her arms.

In the end, it was one of the security guards who found him in a storeroom, hiding behind a shelf stand. Katsuki tried to attack him with explosions, but the man had some sleep inducing quirk, so he just used that and brought passed out boy back to his mother.

It was then, while she was waiting for her husband to arrive and drive them home, that doctor Akura walked up to her.

He was wearing sunglasses and had a small gauze on his left cheek. She quickly realized that it was because of her son's doings.

"I- I deeply apologize." She said and bowed, Katsuki still asleep in her arms and her hold on him tightened to not let him slip out accidentally. "I didn't realize my son would act like that. If there's anything-"

"No need for that." Akura interrupted her. "I don't exactly look charming for a bra- for a child." Doctor corrected himself quickly. He was clearly pretending that the whole situation didn't bother him, but she wasn't about to argue about that.

"As you wait for your spouse, why won't we talk about your son's... state? Since he's unconscious there won't be any interruptions this time." He gestured to the waiting room which was unusually empty. Mitsuki nodded and they made their way into the room.

Now, with better understanding of the whole situation, she brought Katsuki up to his room, put him in a bed and tucked him under the covers. She sat for few moments on the edge of it while gently stroking his hair. She looked at his sleeping face, so unusually calm and soft for him, even if he was still just four years old. Mitsuki leaned down and kissed him on the forehead, then stood up and left the room quietly.

When she walked down the stairs, Masaru was already waiting for her in the living room with a mug of tea which she gratefully accepted. She sat down next to him on the couch and for few minutes there was only silence between them. She knew he wanted to ask about the visit but wouldn't force her to say anything.

She took a sip of her tea and sighed.

"Doctor said that he has prosopagnosia." The word still sounded strange and peculiar in her mouth. She saw confusion in Masaru's expression. "Face blindness." She used an easier term that she learned earlier that day and he nodded. "He won't be able to memorize faces and won't be able to recognize the ones he already knew and-" her voice broke and turned into a sob. She put down the mug and hid her face in her hands. "He didn't recognize me today so many times... This morning, then at the hospital…" Tears were now streaming down her face and between the fingers and she couldn't stop from shaking. "Why did I let him go?" She felt strong arms wrapping around her shoulders. "It's all my fault, what kind of a brainless mother am I?"

"It's not your fault." Masaru whispered and hugged her tightly. "We couldn't have predicted something like that would happen."

"He said that he has huge trouble recalling faces, that it might get worse, and he's not sure if he's even processing them properly." She said all that fast, on one breath while her husband tried to sooth her at least a little bit. “I thought that this was temporary, or… or something that can be cured but knowing that this is an actual thing that doesn’t even have a remedy for it and that he’ll have to live with it his whole life, I-“

“Come on.” He moved away and softly cupped her face in his hands. “Surely there’s something we can do to make it easier for him, eh?” An honest smile appeared on his face. “Now that we know exactly what the problem is, it can’t be that hard to find something that can help us, right?”

She looked at him for few seconds without saying anything. She raised her hand and put it on one of his that were still resting on her cheeks. His smile widened and she couldn’t help but return the gesture.

“… Right.” Her voice was a bit rough after crying, she coughed a little. “He said that he’ll probably be able to recognize people by stuff like voices or hairstyles…” She said as she moved away and wiped the dried tears from her face.

“Yes, great!” Masaru stood up and walked up to a dresser that was standing on the opposite side of the room. “I know I’m a plain looking guy-“

“You’re not that plain, Masaru.” He just looked at her, unimpressed with a tilted brow. “… Alright, maybe you are.” She laughed a little bit at the face he made.

“Yes, thank you, my dearest wife.” He didn’t even try to hide a sarcasm in his voice as he was going through the drawers, clearly searching for something. “Anyway, as I was saying- I’m a plain looking guy, so what if I started wearing my glasses again, instead of contact lenses?” He asked, proud of his idea, while finally fishing out his old case with glasses inside it from the drawer.

“And you wanted to throw them out.” She grinned and proudly crossed her arms on her chest.

“… I’m pretty sure you’re the one who wanted me to get rid of them.” He muttered while sitting down beside her on the couch. He carefully opened the case and took out his old glasses that he hasn’t wear in almost three years. It looked like he wanted to try them on, but remembered he still had his contacts on and settled on putting them down on the coffee table.

“I’ll keep my hair the same.” She said suddenly.

“… For the rest of your life?” He sounded scandalized, but his smile betrayed that he was just teasing her. She just rolled her eyes at his question and elbowed him lightly in the arm, making him laugh even more at her childish behavior.

Silence filled the air once again, as they sat motionlessly on the couch. Finally, after two weeks of going from one ‘specialist’ to another, they had their answers and a moment to breathe.

“Have you ever thought that this would happen?” She asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the comfortable silence. “Because they sure as hell didn’t warn me about this during maternity course.” Masaru laughed at the statement and circled her waist with his arm.

“Also, I’m pretty sure no one said that parenthood would be easy.” He seemed satisfied that this made her laugh as well. “You can say that we have some kind of a bonus.” He kissed her on the top of her head.

“An extra dosage of experience, huh?” She smirked and rested her head against his shoulder.

“Seems like it.”

She thought for few seconds about that. Who knows, maybe this really was a way of gaining some better understanding of how world really works, that in some cases you couldn’t count on heroes to step in and help you. Maybe this will teach her how to be more patient and humble, especially with a boy like Katsuki, who clearly inherited her character.

She smiled softly to herself, closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

“Yes… Seems like it.”

Chapter Text

Mitsuki had no choice. At some point, Katsuki had to go back to the kindergarten and as much as she’d rather it happened later than sooner, she had to let him go. She made sure to inform the caregivers through the phone call and then in person when she walked Katsuki there (no way she’s letting him go on his own in the near future) about both the accident and about his condition. They told her they already spoke to other children about Katsuki’s accident so there wouldn’t be any problems or misunderstandings between them. She warned them about his quirk and possible outbursts. They assured her everything would be just fine.

But maybe, after all, she really shouldn’t have been so shocked to receive that phone call.

___

“If something happens, please inform me immediately.” His mom, after long explanations, finally said to a woman (who, as mom told him earlier, was his teacher) who just nodded with a smile, and then she spoke to him. “Katsuki, remember to not cause any trouble, if you don’t remember someone, just ask about their name, it’ll be okay.” She looked at him for few seconds then kneeled down and hugged him. “Everything will be alright.” She tried to sound reassuringly.

“Mom, stop hugging me all the time.” Katsuki said as he tried to push her away. “Let me go, I’m already late.”

“Bakugou-san, you can always go inside with him for a moment.” The woman offered and that seemed to work as his mom let go of him and stood up quickly

“No, no, there’s no need for that.” She said as she waved her hands awkwardly. “If I come in, I’ll never leave!” Even more awkward laughter escaped her mouth and she moved towards the exit. “I’ll go now. Katsuki, remember my hair, honey! I’ll be back for you in few hours.” She finally left through the door.

“Alright, Katsuki-kun.” Teacher kneeled in front of him. “Are you ready?”

“Of course I am!” Katsuki answered, loud and proud. His teacher smiled at him, stood up and started walking towards the room where all the children were already playing and running around.

“Everyone, pay attention, please!” She clapped twice. “Look who finally came back to us!” Her cheerful voice made all the kids in the room stop doing whatever they were doing and look at them both.

In a second, all of them ran towards him, screaming in excitement and asking all kinds of annoying questions.

“Katsuki-kun, you had an accident?” Some girl with ponytails asked, he didn’t know who she was and before he had a chance to ask anything, another kid cut in.

“What’s your new quirk?” Kid with wings asked and as he was about to answer, yet another one interrupted him.

“Is it true that you’re blind now?” Katsuki frowned at that, he wasn’t blind, you idiot, where did you even-

“He’s not blind, he can’t see faces!” That’s not true either, what’s going on.

“Did it hurt when that car hit you?”

“Of course it hurt, dummy, it hurts when you fall down, it must hurt when a car hits you!”

“You don’t know that!”

“Did you have your brain cut out?”

“Did you have your eyes cut out??”

“Please, everyone, calm down!”

It was too crowded for him. Too many faces and too many voices of people he was unable to recognize. Almost all of them were screaming stupid questions which he couldn’t answer as never given a chance. He was on the edge of bursting when he felt someone grab his hand and heard a softer voice that somehow made its way through all the noise in the room.

“Are you okay, Kacchan?” When he opened his eyes, at first, this was just another stranger in front of him. But then he noticed mess of green hair and realized what the stranger had called him. He knew only one person who would fit with both of those things.

“Don’t touch me, Deku!” He said angrily as he smacked boy’s hand away from his own. “All of you, shut up!” He screamed and everyone went silent, except this one little shitface in front of him.

“Kacchan! You recognize me?” Deku’s voice was full of surprise and happiness as he took a step towards Katsuki who just glared at him. “When mom told me about what happened with your quirk I was so worried that I won’t see you again!” He was keep talking, his voice so high and annoying.

Few kids agreed with Deku, murmurs of ‘it must have been scary for you’ and ‘you were badly hurt’ and ‘that quirk must be scary’ travelled around. Katsuki grit his teeth, and glared around, furious.

“Don’t pity me.” He hissed through his teeth.

“Now, Katsuki-kun, they’re not pitying you.” Teacher’s clear voice reached him. “They were just worried.” Her words caused a little wave of nods throughout the kids.

“They shouldn’t have been.” He crossed arms on his chest. “I managed just fine!”

Teacher sighed at his words, few kids said something about Katsuki being mean and then they were off to playing once again. Katsuki stood alone for few minutes, not knowing where to go as others were already in small groups and he couldn’t find his own friends. Then, of course, he spotted Deku who was still standing close while staring at him.

“What do you want, Deku?” He glared at him and other boy jumped a little at Katsuki’s angry tone.

“It’s just… My mom said that you hurt your head very badly.” He fiddled with the hem of his shirt. “And that you wouldn’t be able to recognize me, but-“

“It’s your stupid hair.” Katsuki quickly interrupted him as he didn’t want to listen to kid’s endless mumbling that would start if he didn’t cut in. He decided he didn’t want to spend any more time in his annoying presence so he walked past him, purposefully pushing him out of the way.

“I’ll keep it like that!” He heard a weak yelp behind him. “I’ll keep my hair like that so you’ll be able to always recognize me without worrying about it!”

Katsuki turned around with widened eyes and furrowed brows, already angry and shocked at what he heard. But when he saw Deku’s gaze, the same one he gave him few weeks ago, under the bridge where he fell, the one with those big eyes full of pity, he got furious.

Now, maybe he meant to use his quirk when he tackled Deku down, maybe he didn’t. But it happened. And as smell of burnt hair filled the air in the room and the teacher tried to separate them, he heard other kids scream something about a villain and a scary quirk.

___

Deku was picked up by his mother and quickly taken home, before Katsuki’s own mom arrived. Not that anything serious happened, he just burnt some of his hair and this stupid kid got scared and started crying. Before he left, he told Katsuki something about it all being alright, to not worry about him.

As if.

And so, Katsuki’s mom arrived shortly after and now he was sitting outside a room in which she and his teacher were talking about his behavior. They weren’t aware that he could hear almost every word, as the door didn’t fully close behind them.

He heard his mom apologize hundreds of times.

He heard when the teacher said they need to be more careful around him.

That he needs to be protected.

That his quirk is dangerous.

He muted out the rest of the conversation as realization slowly sunk in. Realization of what actually happened to him and what other people thought about it and about him. The kids, the teacher, all the doctors with that creepy one, fucking Deku, his parents- they all thought less of him, now. They thought he was damaged, that he was wrong, that his quirk was villainous.

They thought that he was weak because of how powerful his quirk was in the first place.

His train of thoughts was interrupted by his mom who left the room with a deep frown on her face. She slammed the door furiously behind her and looked at Katsuki who had equally angry expression, and at that, her eyebrows shot up in a surprise and her face softened as she kneeled in front of him.

She looked at him for a solid minute, trying to find something in his expression, trying to read it and find answers for questions she couldn’t ask. Katsuki stared too, for few moments, but her gaze was so intense, he turned his head to the right, breaking an eye contact and making her snap out from her state.

She sighed softly.

“Did you realize it was Izuku-kun?” She asked, her voice calm and yet it was clear for Katsuki that she was demanding an answer.

“… Does it matter?” He said while still purposely not looking at her.

Mitsuki raised her hand, carefully grabbed his chin and turned his head to make him look her in the eyes.

“You know it matters.” Her hand was now on his cheek. “Did you realize it was him?”

Katsuki pressed his lips into a thin line and lowered his eyes. He started wondering what she was thinking right now. Would she scream at him for doing something like that to his ‘friend’, even if said person wasn’t even his friend but rather a little annoyance in his life? If he tells her that he didn’t realize it was him, would she think of him even less?

Her intense eyes seemed to penetrate his mind and he decided that there was actually no point in lying to her.

Katsuki felt like she’d realize anyway, somehow.

“I did.” He raised his eyes to look at her directly. “I knew it was him because of his stupid hair.” He explained quickly as he saw her open her mouth to ask how did he know. “And he looked at me like I was an idiot. I’m not an idiot and I don’t need someone like him to look down on me.”

“Katsuki… Darling, I- I’m sure that wasn’t his intention, it’s not-“ She seemingly tried hard to find proper words.

“How would you know?” Katsuki snapped and jumped off the chair he was sitting on. “You weren’t even there.” He crossed his arms on his chest.

He glared at his mom who was still kneeling on the floor in front of him. She seemed… puzzled. Like she knew she had to say or do something but wasn’t quite sure what this thing was. In the end, she just shook her head a little, defeated and lost, maybe a bit disappointed but Katsuki couldn’t tell if she was disappointed with her or… With him.

“You’ll apologize to him.” She stood up, grabbed his hand and started walking with him towards the exit.

No fucking way. Katsuki furrowed his brows, angry. Why is he the one who has to apologize? It was Deku who was looking down on him, it was his damn fault.

“Also, before I forget, we’re going to visit doctor Akura tomorrow. He’s going back to Tokyo in few days and he wanted to-” Katsuki stopped suddenly and as his mom was still holding his hand, it made her pause too. “What’s wrong?” She asked concerned without finishing her previous sentence.

“I don’t want to!” He pulled his hand away from hers. “I don’t want to go to any doctors! They are all terrible!” He sounded desperate, he knew, but he didn’t care as long as his mom wouldn’t bring him to that terrifying person, even if he didn’t remember how the man looked like, he wasn’t fond of the idea of finding out.

He already knew all he needed to know.

Mitsuki looked at her son, surprised. She knew that his last encounter with doctor Akura wasn’t one of the most pleasant ones but she couldn’t figure out why exactly Katsuki didn’t want to visit any doctors whenever she mentioned one.

“I managed to recognize stupid Deku!” Katsuki screamed defensively. “I don’t need doctors!” To tell me that I’m damaged, went untold.

His mom looked like she was pondering over his words, puzzled and confused expression on her face.

“… Alright.” She finally said and once again grabbed his hand. “We won’t go, for now.” She put an emphasis on the last two words, as she wanted to make sure that he knew the visit was inevitable.

Katsuki, for once, felt somehow thankful for the decision his mom made. They finally left the kindergarten and got into their car and he couldn’t be more happy to be leaving this place and to go home.

___

He tried, at first.

As he wouldn't go to any doctors anymore (no way he’d go to any of these useless, creepy fuckers), he often would practice recognizing people with his parents.

Just like his mother told him to, he tried to remember the faces, hairstyles, clothes and other stuff like accessories. He managed to memorize his mother’s blonde hair and red eyes that are just like his. He memorized that his father is wearing glasses and that mother calls him jokingly four-eyes because of that, this helps too, the nickname.

But he couldn’t remember people by their clothes, as far as his parents would always dress up in pretty similar styles every day, and he managed to memorize a handful of heroes, thanks to their individual and often flashy attires, he couldn’t remember people from his school, as they all were always wearing the same fucking uniforms.

Not that it made that much of a difference, as back in the kindergarten he still couldn’t figure out who was who. After the incident with Deku, other kids were too scared to play with him. The fact that he didn’t know who he was talking to at almost all the times didn’t help either. Kids would get annoyed or joke about how he keep messing up their names or didn’t recognize their teacher. He would often outburst with his quirk and kids would ran away, so he spent rest of the remaining time in the kindergarten either alone or ‘gently’ telling Deku and his hair to fuck off.

Now, being halfway through the elementary school, his situation wasn’t any better. His parents insisted on him trying to remember people, but it would take him few months to memorize some of his classmates, just for all of his effort to go to waste whenever new school year would start, as most of his classmates would be replaced by other people and, once again, he would be left with strangers.

His mother gave him a tip to try and remember others by their quirks. It was a good idea, he thought at first. But when he actually tried to focus on any of people’s quirks, he realized that most of his classmates were not only plain looking, with no distinguishable features, but most of them had emitter type of quirks or (to his anguish) transformation type with only few being mutants.

What are the fucking odds.

And then there’s Deku, of course.

Always finding his way into Katsuki’s life. Always in the same class with the same fucking hair and same terrible, red shoes. Always trying to follow him around, because as quirkless nerd he’s practically alone all the time as well. Katsuki was aware that it might be partially his fault, as he often bursts out and most of the time his explosions are directed at Deku, so people rather not spend their time with a guy who can’t even defend himself.

But it’s not his problem.

And not his fault the nerd’s scared of him, just like everyone else.

“Go away, stupid Deku.” He was forced to repeat for what seemed like a hundredth time this day.

“But Kacchan, I just wanted to-“ He was unable to finish the sentence as Bakugou shoved him against a wall in the corridor.

“What the fuck did I just say? GO. AWAY.” He took few steps away but stopped and turned around to face Deku once again. “And change your fucking hair, it’s annoying and disgusting.” Only then he left for good.

Katsuki truly hates remembering this bastard. Out of all people it just had to be him, the most plain looking nerd to exist. He tried to forget him.

At some point he started focusing more on that than on trying to memorize the others.

He stopped practicing with his parents.

And he didn’t try anymore.

___

Of course, at the beginning of middle school his mother made sure that both the principal and homeroom teacher knew, just like back when the elementary school have started. Despite Katsuki asking almost nicely his new teacher to not tell anyone in his class, he went and did that anyway.

The worst part was that teachers either cared too much or just pretended to care. They would announce it at the beginning of the year, like it was that big of a deal and then proceed to pity him and make an idiot out of him in front of the whole fucking class.

Not that it would change anything if they didn’t, as apparently there were people who went with him to the elementary school, not that he remembered any of them.

He just heard all the not-so-subtle whispers and rumors going around.

“I went with him to the elementary school, we were in the same class for two years, he doesn’t even remember me.”

That just means you’re not important enough.

“He lashes out with his quirk a lot, sometimes I wonder if he can even control it.”

Better than you yours, that’s for sure.

“His parents must be so disappointed...”

How would you know?

“I don’t know what’s worse, that quirkless guy becoming a hero or him.”

Don’t compare him to that useless nerd.

“Poor guy, he must have been so scared back then.”

Stop with the pity, you piece of shit.

“Well, that explains why he’s always alone, people are too scared to hang out with him.”

… Shut the fuck up.

“I wonder how he wants to be a hero with that quirk and attitude?”

That’s fucking enough.

He turned around, few explosions already going off, to face a guy who was talking shit and walked up to him. Saw him smirk before realizing that Katsuki heard everything and as his face turned white and he looked ready to run away, Katsuki was still faster than him.

He grabbed him by a collar and first head-butted him then kicked him twice with his knee right in the guts.

He heard someone scream for a teacher.

The guy wrapped his arms around his stomach and as Katsuki let go of his shirt and pushed him with an explosion, he lost balance and collapsed onto the floor. Katsuki kicked the guy few times while he lied on the ground, in the stomach and ribs, and in the end in his face so he ended up lying on his back and Katsuki kneeled above him and punched him in this stupid face that he knew he wouldn’t even remember in few minutes.

He lost track on how many punches he threw but he’s pretty sure that he used his quirk with at least half of them and before he knew it, he felt someone forcibly remove him from the guy. He tried to break away from them, but the grip of the two people on him was too strong and that’s when he noticed the crowd that gathered around them.

Bakugou Katsuki lost his ability to recognize faces, so he didn’t know any of the people who stared at him, but he knew what dread looks like when he sees it, and as he looked around the crowd, every single person had exactly that written all over their face.

He looked down at the guy who was still on the ground, part of his uniform’s shirt burnt, his wounded face covered by his hands and his hair smoking slightly.

Katsuki glanced at his hands and finally realized something.

___

“What the fuck, Katsuki?” Mitsuki was furious as she drove back home after the principal called her about what Katsuki did. “Not even two months into the school year and you do that? What were you thinking?! You’re lucky they only suspended you for two weeks and you weren’t expelled altogether! And you’re certainly lucky that they called me and not your father.” … Actually, she was pretty sure that Katsuki would argue with her about that last bit, but as silence stretched and she stopped the car on the red light, she glanced at him.

He was looking at his hands as he mindlessly clenched them into fists a couple of times, while keeping unusually quiet.

“Katsuki?” She started, a bit calmer and a little worried. “What’s wrong?” As he kept his mouth shut and head lowered, the light changed back to green and she decided to park in the near parking lot next to some store. “Talk to me.” She demanded as she turned off the car and looked at him.

At first, Katsuki didn’t even react to her words, he’s just keep staring at his hands. This was so weird, seeing him like that. So quiet and uncertain.

“… Mom…” Something clenched inside her stomach. It’s been ages since he called her ‘mom’, usually it was just ‘mother’ or simple ‘hey’ to get her attention. “I just- hit him. So many times… And he couldn’t even defend himself." Katsuki released a shaky breath. "He couldn’t defend himself from my quirk and I- They were so scared of it.“ He finally looked at her, his face twisted in a way like he was about to start crying. “They were all afraid of me. And I-” He took a deep breath. “-I have all this power in my hands… What if they are right? What if I grow to like hurting people like that with it and become a villain?” His voice was shaking a bit as he talked. It looked like he wanted to add something, but Mitsuki was quick to interrupt him.

“Honey, no.” She put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it lightly. “You wanted to become a hero ever since you first discovered they existed! And if people think you can’t be one?” She put her other hand on his still tightly clenched fist. “You’ll just have to prove them wrong. You’ll get into UA and become the best fucking hero. You just have to stay out of trouble.“ She winked at him and put few reassuring pats on his back.

He stared at her for few seconds, mulling over her words. He looked back down at his hands, raising one to cover his eyes and turned his head away from her sight.

“… Thanks, mom.” He said quietly while still purposefully not looking at her.

But that was enough. Mitsuki sighed relieved.

She started the car and once again they were on their way back home.

When Katsuki came back to school, he didn’t hear any whispers behind his back anymore. People were even more careful around him.

___

Katsuki desperately tried to catch his breath, but the Sludge villain blocked both his mouth and nostrils while using Katsuki’s quirk against his will. Everything around them was on fire and pro heroes had no way of coming closer.

As he tried his best to not lose consciousness and everything slowly became a blur, he saw someone running full speed towards them. Person threw their backpack into villain’s eyes and that was enough for the sludge to remove from his face. He took a deep, desperate breath and coughed a few times. He tried to identify the person who saved him, but his vision was still blurred, all he recognized was a black school uniform, same as his own.

“Kacchan! It’s me, Izuku!” High pitched voice reached him and that was enough for Katsuki to fully get a hold of himself and entirely focus his vision.

Go away, why it had to be this little piece of shit?

“What the hell, why are you here!?” He screamed as he tried to free himself from the sludge.

 “I don’t know, my legs just started moving!” Deku screamed back as he attempted to take him out of the mud, big tears in his eyes. “Kacchan… You really looked like you needed help!” He added with strange, crooked smile that pissed Katsuki off even more.

He tried to scream but the sludge was already back on his mouth.

Get the hell off me!

He wasn't sure if the furious thought was directed towards Deku or the Sludge villain.

As he was about to pass out, between him and Deku suddenly landed another person- hero, it seemed from nerd’s reaction but he was unable to recognize the tall man.

Next time he opened his eyes, the Sludge villain was nowhere to be seen, and there were paramedics checking on him and Deku, who as soon as noticed that Katsuki’s awake, started gushing to him about how All Might saved them both.

So that was All Might. Katsuki couldn't tell if he was angry at himself because he didn’t recognize his favorite hero, or because they ‘met’ in this kind of situation when he was at his weakest.

After paramedics let him go, some pro heroes approached him.

“Amazing quirk you’ve got there but you should stay away from villains.”

Yes, because he specifically went to this guy to get himself caught.

“You have to be careful with that quirk of yours.”

You know nothing, shut up.

“Maybe it’ll be better for you to stay low for a while.”

Fuck off.

He noticed some journalists with cameras and realized what they wanted to do as soon as they begun to move closer to him. As heroes keep reprimanding him, and cameras were pointed at them all, he stayed quiet with penitent frown.

Before he decided to head back home, he caught Deku and gave him a piece of his mind, telling him to not dare to look down on him and making sure he knew that he didn’t actually do anything helpful.

Throughout next few weeks, there were people who dared to approach him and ask if he’s that kid that was captured and show him some pictures on their phones. Every time he'd scoff and say ‘no’. Even if they were most possibly talking about him, he wasn't about to waste any time to actually stop and try to recognize himself in the pictures.

___

After the whole villain incident, he spent the rest of the last year of middle school to prepare for entrance exam to UA. That’s his only choice of high school, no backups, no second-guessing, he couldn't afford to not get into this school. That was his one way ticket to becoming a hero.

As he approached the UA’s gate, he saw all too familiar tuft of green hair accompanied by distasteful, red shoes. Deku was muttering something to himself as always.

“Stupid Deku.” He said more on reflex but this was enough to get nerd’s attention.

“Kacchan…” He turned around and said quietly, probably more to himself than to actually answer Katsuki.

“Get out of my way or I’ll set you on fire.” He continued walking in straight line as panicked Deku moved quickly to the side and started to babble uncontrollably. “Change your fucking hair.” Katsuki added, not even listening to what the other was saying. He didn’t even spare him another look and just continued walking towards an entrance to the school.

He heard some guys recognize him as the victim of the sludge villain. He frowned, loosened the scarf around his neck that was already barely tied around it, and just quickened his pace.

When he was finally inside, unfortunately seated next to Deku and having to silence him few times, and as he listened to the loud guy’s explanations about the practical exam, he couldn’t help but think that this was going to be so fucking easy.

And it was, in all honesty the test couldn’t have been easier and Katsuki smirked triumphantly to himself, surrounded by remnants of robots, as he passed the exam without any difficulties, destroying one machine after another, not looking back on other students and only thing he regretted was that he wasn’t given a chance to crush Deku, who he was certain didn’t even pass, quirkless weakling he was.

He got a letter from UA a week later. Short video in which some strange mouse, that introduced itself as Principal Nezu, was confirming the most obvious thing to him.

Bakugou Katsuki was officially a student of UA Hero Academy’s hero course.

…

Now to convince his mother to not contact the principal.

___

But of fucking course she would contact him anyway. Katsuki thought with his arms crossed on his chest as he was sitting next to his mother on a couch in principal’s office.

“Indeed, Bakugou-kun’s condition is something I’ve never heard of before.” Mouse-like principal, Nezu, spoke from his seat on the couch. Right beside him was sitting black haired man with some sort of bandages loosely tied around his neck. It seemed like it was man’s typical accessory so if Katsuki was lucky, he’d remember him by those. After all, he had to at least remember his homeroom teacher, who right now looked like he didn’t even care about the whole conversation and it actually seemed like he was dozing off. “But, thanks to you informing me about it beforehand Bakugou-san, we could gather information and prepare something for your son. Aizawa?”

The previously mentioned homeroom teacher opened his eyes and leaned forward lazily towards little coffee table that was between them. He put his hand on a folder that had written on top of it ‘Class 1-A’ and slid it towards his mother.

“This contains copies of the pictures we took of the students for their school IDs.” The teacher explained as his mother took the folder and opened it, her eyes widening and excited smile appearing on her face. “It’s the least we can do.” He added as he settled back into more comfortable position, as if he was planning on going back to sleep.

Katsuki stared at them both, shocked and with mixed emotions.

“The names of all of your classmates are on the back of each picture.” Principal Nezu spoke again.

“This is-“ His mother seemed to be at a loss of words. “This is amazing, I don’t know what to say.” She looked at the back of one of the pictures, studying the name and switching it back to look at the student. “Thank you so much, this will help a lot.” She packed the image safely with the rest and closed the folder. “Honestly, this is so great, we often try and do some exercises with Katsuki with pictures and stuff but he’s so stubborn, you have no idea-“

“They don’t need to know that, you hag!” Katsuki cut in before she could tell them the whole story of his fucking life.

“Shut up, you brat.” She said with annoyance in her voice as she smacked him lightly on a shoulder and he could swear that he heard a very quiet snort from presumably sleeping teacher.

“As Aizawa-sensei said, that’s the least we can do.” Principal interrupted their bickering and smiled, possibly amused by them. Katsuki didn’t realize how strange a mouse (or rat or whatever animal he was supposed to be) would look like while smiling. “If needed,” Nezu continued “we can provide pictures of the teachers too.”

“Yes, that would be-“

“No.” Katsuki interrupted before his mother had a chance to finish. All the attention turned to him, even Aizawa opened his eyes and looked at him with neutral expression. “I don’t need all these stuff.”

“Katsuki, you know that-“

“No. I don’t need any pictures of students or teachers or whatever. I don’t even know why we came here in the first place.” He turned to his mother. “I don’t need anyone to know, I can manage just fine on my own.” He wanted to stand up, but the teacher’s voice stopped him from doing so.

“If you don’t want, no one will know.” He straightened in his seat and looked at Katsuki with the same neutral expression as before. “I don’t really care, if I have to be honest.” Principal sighed at his words, and both Katsuki and his mother raised their eyebrows in surprise. “As long as you attend classes and do your homework and don’t turn evil all of a sudden, do whatever you want. But just so you know, all heroes at some point need allies and need to know how to cooperate with them. And this requires trust.” He finished and this time Nezu nodded with approval.

They all now waited patiently for Katsuki’s response. He looked at them with a frown on his face, as he didn’t really know what they were expecting from him, not that he cared. He wasn’t going to thank them, that’s for sure.

“…Whatever.” He stood up and started heading towards the exit from the office.

“Katsuki!” His mother called out to him and stood up as well. “I’m so sorry.” She said to the two men.

“… It’s alright, if you’ll think about anything else that could help Bakugou-kun, please contact me or Aizawa-sensei.” Principal said calmly. “Remember to take the folder, Bakugou-san.”

“I don’t need it!” Katsuki said and left the room hurriedly.

He managed to almost get to the school’s gate when his mother finally caught up to him, the damn folder in her hand.

“That was very rude and disrespectful, Katsuki.” She said, clearly angry. He rolled his eyes and grit his teeth.

“Whatever, it’s not like they can kick me out before school year even starts.” He scoffed and quickened his pace, mother barely keeping up.

“Katsuki, you have to at least accept the fact that it was very thoughtful of them to provide these pictures and you know they will help you!” She continued while they both got to their parked car. “At least try to remember some of them.” Both of them sat in the car, Katsuki in the backseat just to make a point of not wanting to talk to her anymore.

“No fucking way.” He muttered, more to himself than to answer her.

“What was that?” She asked as she adjusted the car mirror and through it looked him straight in the eyes. He just shrugged and looked out the window. He could hear her sigh hopelessly.

She started the car and so they were on their way home.

The ride was unusually prolonging for Katsuki, so unfortunately he had a lot of time to think both about his new teacher’s and his mother’s words.

Fuck cooperating and allies. There were badass heroes who worked on their own almost all the time, like Endeavor or Miruko. Damn it, even All Might worked alone most of the time due to his overwhelming power.

…

It wasn’t entirely true, but fuck it, some random teacher wasn’t gonna tell him how to work when he becomes a hero.

His train of thoughts came back to his mother and… Fuck, yes, he had to admit that, after all, none of the previous teachers ever thought about giving him the opportunity to know his classmates beforehand.

But now it was too late.

After all, he didn’t try anymore.

Chapter Text

Katsuki was quickly going towards an entrance of UA. It’s not like he was late, he’d always make sure a few times that his alarm was set, but he made a point of coming to class before everyone else. This way he never had to greet anyone upon entering the classroom and make a fool out of himself by greeting a wrong person.

The homeroom teacher, Aizawa-sensei, told him he didn’t care so maybe, just fucking maybe for once he wouldn’t have to deal with any strange looks or stupid questions about him, as there wouldn’t be anyone to tell his new classmates about-

… Wait a fucking minute.

Katsuki stopped suddenly, right before he found his locker, and realized something.

Aizawa might have promised (in his own, strange way) that he won’t tell the class about it, but then there was one particular shit head who also knew. And maybe Katsuki didn’t know if that asshole was in his class, but it didn’t change the fact that if he started spreading the information, sooner or later it would reach his classmates.

“Son of a-” Katsuki quickly looked around in search of Deku’s locker. Luckily, he didn’t have much trouble finding it and he hurriedly opened it. The locker still had school shoes in it instead of those terrible red of his.

So Katsuki had to wait for him. Of course.

He found himself outside the school gate, if he was gonna force this nerd to keep his mouth shut, he’d rather no one from school faculty sees that. He leaned against the gate and watched the students who were passing by, while searching for a tuft of green hair. He saw few people stare at him but as soon as he glared at them, they would carry on without sparing him another look.

…

This was getting more and more ridiculous, why this fucker always had to be late? Maybe he realized this wasn’t a place for him and decided not to come? That would be the best choice for him, in all honesty.

As he was keep cursing in his mind, he noticed someone staring at him in the corner of his eye. He momentarily straightened his posture and as he did so, the person flinched a little, as if ready to run. Katsuki scanned them as quickly as he could.

Green hair; check.

Disgusting red shoes; check.

Flinching upon eye contact; fucking check.

He made sure no one else was around and quickly moved towards Deku, and before he could even make a sound, he was pinned against the wall.

“Kaccha-“

“Don’t you Kacchan me, stupid Deku.” Katsuki hissed and hardened his grip on Deku’s tie. He tried to say something else, but Katsuki wasn’t about to let him do that. “Not a god damn word, don’t you dare even breathe.” Deku tensed and locked his lips in a thin line. “Now, listen, you piece of shit. If you tell anyone, if you even think about telling anyone, I will fucking end you. No one will save you. Not a teacher, not a hero. Fucking no one will be there to save you from me. And believe me when I say that I won’t be the only person who doesn’t recognize you by your stupid, plain face.” He let go of his tie and took a step back.

Deku raised his trembling hands and started fixing the tie clumsily.

“Are we clear?” Katsuki hissed, a short explosion going off from his palm. Deku kept quiet, he had a grimace on his face and avoided any eye contact, but then he finally nodded. “And change your fucking hair.” Katsuki added and stormed away, back to school.

By now, class was probably full.

___

Eijirou couldn’t have been happier. He got into UA, his moms were hella proud of him and he was rocking bright, red hair.

Now, what could be manlier than becoming a real hero like your idol?

…

Apparently kicking ass of some dickhead on the first day of school, he thought to himself as he saw some blond guy who’s hand was firing up, towering over dark haired one, who was fixing his tie, obviously shaken.

“WOW, Kirishima, what the heck is that hair!?” Before he could move, he heard familiar voice of Ashido and he turned around to face her. “It’s a horn! You’ve got a horn just like me!” She laughed and approached as she seemingly wanted to mess up his hair.

“Hey, don’t mess with it!” He took a step back, avoiding her hand. “Wait, no, that’s not important, there’s this guy-“ He was facing the school gate again but dark haired guy, still leaning against the wall, was alone, blond one nowhere to be found. “… shit.”

“What’s up? A friend of yours?” Ashido stood next to him and also looked at the other guy. “Something wrong?”

Eijirou didn’t answer her, instead just ran towards the guy who was about to enter through the gate.

“Hey, wait for me!” He heard Ashido’s voice behind him.

“Yo, dude!” The guy flinched and looked back at him. Eijirou stopped few steps in front of him, and upon closer look, he noticed that his hair was actually green. “Are you okay?”

“Uh- Yea! Completely fine, thanks!” He said panicked and an obvious lie kind of stung Kirishima. “That was just- my… old friend.” He sounded like he didn’t believe in his own words.

“Didn’t look that friendly.” Eijirou muttered, but both green haired guy and Ashido, who just caught up, heard him.

“Who didn’t look friendly?” She asked with honest curiosity and scanned the teen in front of her.

Right, she didn’t see what happened.

“No! Seriously, there’s nothing to worry about!” The guy waved his hands around and laughed nervously.

“… Alright.” Eijirou decided not to push, after all, he didn’t even know the guy’s name.

… Oh shoot, that’s right.

“Ah, by the way. I’m Kirishima Eijirou.” He finally introduced himself.

“Ashido Mina!” She joined in quickly and excitedly raised her hand.

“Oh! Right!” Another awkward waves. “Midoriya Izuku!” He quickly bowed a few times and both Eijirou and Ashido giggled at that.

“Come on, bro!” Eijirou walked up to him and put an arm around his shoulders. “There’s no need for such formalities!” He smiled brightly, showing off his sharp teeth.

“Exactly!” Ashido agreed with him. “I’m pretty sure we’re in the same year, so which class are you in?”

“… Class 1-A.” He answered quietly, like he still couldn’t believe he actually made it. Eijirou kind of understood that.

“Hey, the same as we!” Ashido seemed happy to meet a fellow future hero and new classmate. “We can go together, the class is starting soon.” She said as she looked at the time on her phone.

All three of them finally entered the building, changed their shoes and headed towards their classroom, but Midoriya stopped when they were passing the restrooms.

“Actually, you two go ahead, I’ll just make sure my tie is intact and stuff.” He went in without waiting for any sort of reaction from them.

“So…” Ashido started while they continued their walk to the classroom. “Why did you run up to him?” She tilted her eyebrow and eyed him suspiciously.

“Before you arrived, there was this other guy who was-“ … Right, what he was doing exactly? It’s not like he saw him beating Midoriya up or anything, but judging by his state he might have as well, before Eijirou noticed them.

“What?” Ashido was expecting answers.

“… No, nothing.” He said after another few seconds of thinking. “Probably just some jerk from another year and we won’t see him again.”

Kind of unmanly of him, to leave it at that, but he couldn’t do anything about it right now, especially after Midoriya tried to assure him few times that everything was alright.

Ashido seemed unconvinced but decided to leave it at that, as they approached a huge door to their classroom and entered. It was already mostly filled with various students, judging by the seats, only few of his new classmates were missing and Eijirou looked around curiously as he headed to his seat. He passed a guy with a tail and another one with bright, yellow hair with black strand in a shape of a lightning. Before he sat down, he looked at the back of the classroom, taking notice of a guy with half red, half white hair and in front of him-

Holy shit, is that a bird?!

He stifled a laugh and thanked the universe that the bird guy wasn’t looking at him.

Come on, dude, that would be so rude if you laughed at him. Not cool, not cool at all. Eijirou scolded himself and finally sat down in surprisingly comfortable chair. Ashido did the same and he was happy to notice that she was almost right in front of him, being only one sit to the right.

Once again, Eijirou looked around. He noticed huge guy with six arms right in the front row of the class and much smaller girl with short, purplish hair behind him.

I wonder if she’ll be able to see the board. He thought and moved on to the next person.

… Or he would if there actually was someone to look at, instead he just stared for few seconds at a school uniform sitting in a chair. He shook his head and glanced at next guy, who seemed too comfortable, as one of his legs was on his desk.

Why don’t you put it on a ceiling?

Then he noticed guy’s blond hair that was somehow familiar.

Eijirou squinted while trying to remember if he saw this mess of blond hair earlier. He stared at the back of his head for few moments, but the blond must have realized something as he turned around and their eyes locked for a second, before he glared at him and Eijirou couldn’t help but quickly lower his head.

What’s up with him? When he took a risk of glancing back at the guy, he was once again looking straight ahead and ignoring everyone else, except for few snarky comments towards a guy wearing glasses that was telling him to put his leg down

___

When Katsuki opened a door to Class 1-A, he frowned as it was already mostly full of other students.

Fucking Deku, coming in so late.

Katsuki didn’t even spare a look at all the people, even the ones sitting in front row when he was passing them, they didn’t matter.

He sat down and put one of his legs on his desk. He kept his gaze locked on a blackboard and ignored any new students that were entering the room.

That was until he felt someone’s gaze on him. He looked a little to his right and his eyes met an only person that had their head turned towards him. Apparently, his brain decided to fuck with him this day, as the guy’s eyes were completely distorted and Katsuki couldn’t really tell if he was actually staring at him, but he decided to glare at him anyway. Just for a good measure.

As he thought about it, maybe that’s how this dude actually looked like, but he didn’t care and it didn’t matter as the guy quickly lowered his head.

Katsuki returned to his previous task of ignoring everyone but someone else decided to annoy him.

“Take your leg off that desk, right now!” Some guy demanded, to which Katsuki smirked and snorted, not even rising his gaze. “It’s your first day and you’re already disrespecting this academy by-“

“Who fucking cares, your old school put a stick up your ass?” He interrupted, while still smirking, only slightly amused and more annoyed. “Or were you born with it?” He still purposefully wasn’t looking at him. Why would he waste his time on that anyway?

 The guy shut up for few seconds and Katsuki was hoping that he’d be finally left alone.

“Let’s start over.” … Wishful thinking. “I’m Iida Tenya from the Soumei private academy.”

“Soumei, huh?” Yes, that’s exactly what Katsuki needed. Some uptight guy from school for rich kids looking down on him. “You must think you’re better than me. I’m gonna have fun crushing you.” Loud guy gasped, and Katsuki almost laughed at his reaction.

Almost.

“Are you threatening me?!” He sounded scandalized. “Your own classmate!? Are you sure you’re in the right place?” At that, Katsuki grit his teeth, all amusement gone.

What the fuck is that supposed to mean, you piece of shit?

As he was about to stand up and show the guy his place, he heard him say ‘it’s him’ towards the entrance of the class and everyone else looked over there as well.

The guy was already marching off to the person who was standing in a doorway and it took Katsuki few seconds to realize who exactly was standing there.

That’s his fucking luck, to have this piece of shit in his class yet again. He thought, furious, as he watched Deku and the guy who was bothering him earlier exchange an awkward conversation. At some point, Deku turned around to talk to someone in the corridor, but that person was out of his sight, though he could hear a girly voice.

Not that he cared how she looked like, he wouldn’t remember anyway.

Katsuki couldn’t help but remember when few weeks ago, a principal of his old school called him and Deku to his office to congratulate them both for making it in to such prestigious school.

Later that day he pinned that little shit to the wall behind school, being sure that he must have cheated somehow during the exam. Asshole had the audacity to tell him that someone told him that he could become a hero, and Katsuki can’t stop him, whether he liked it or not.

He scowled at the memory.

I’m going to figure out how that stupid weakling did it. Then I’ll destroy him.

Katsuki didn’t have any more time to curse at annoying people as fuss at the door caught his attention. Some man entered the classroom and Katsuki immediately noticed the bandages he focused on upon their first meeting.

“Welcome, I’m Aizawa Shouta. Your homeroom teacher.” His voice showed clearly that he was bored and unimpressed by the students who all gasped at his words. Katsuki smirked to himself. Such idiots. “Alright, let’s get to it.” The teacher reached to his sleeping bag and pulled out something that looked like a gym uniform. “Put these on and head outside.”

___

The whole class joined their teacher right outside the school’s gym and the man finally explained to them what they were going to do. Katsuki actually enjoyed the idea of a quirk assessment test, he could finally show all these extras what a real power looks like.

“But- the orientation! We’re gonna miss it!” Some girl yelped and Katsuki rolled his eyes. Doesn’t she know what she came here for?

“If you want to become heroes, you can’t waste time on pointless ceremonies.” Aizawa answered, not even looking at her, as he was standing with his back to everyone and some people gasped at his words. “Here at UA we don’t follow traditions and teachers are free to run their classes however they want to.” He peered at the students and finally faced them again. “You had typical physical tests in middle school, right?” He took out from his pocket a small device that showed a list of said tests. “Assessments during which using your quirks was prohibited.” His voice, although steady had a slight note of annoyance in it.

As he continued trash talking the system for not letting people use their quirks, Katsuki tried to remember his own results from middle school. Thanks to his individual training, his achievements were already impressive.

They’ll be fucking amazing with his quirk.

“Bakugou.” He heard his name and immediately looked at the teacher, slight panic in the back of his mind that he was gonna said something about their first meeting, but he kept his face the same and waited to hear what Aizawa had to say. “You were at the top after the entrance exam.” Katsuki tried to ignore the feeling of relief, but was also surprised at the new information.

He knew that both his quirk and strategy during the exam were perfect but actually hearing he was the best was something… new.

“Ball throw. What was your result in the middle school?” Aizawa continued with his monotone voice.

“67 meters.” He answered quickly, without missing a beat.

“Alright, now try with your quirk.” He said and threw him a soft ball, which he caught with one hand without any trouble and moved towards the field designed specifically for this test. “Everything’s allowed, just stay in the circle. Hurry, use all you’ve got.” He took a few steps away and stood beside the rest of the students.

“Alright then…” Katsuki muttered to himself and did a quick warm-up.

I’ll send it with a heat and they’ll all see.

“DIE.” He screamed (because why the fuck not) as he threw the ball with as much force as he could manage to use without straining his muscles and the ball quickly flew with smoke and fire. It landed a few seconds later, a huge distance from them.

“First, you’ll find your maximum capabilities.” Aizawa spoke and checked the device in his hand which showed him Katsuki’s result. “This is the most rational way of figuring out your potential as a pro hero.” He showed everyone Katsuki’s score and most of the students gasped in amazement.

“705.2 meters? Are you kidding me?” Some guy with yellow hair said and Katsuki smirked to himself.

There you have it.

He could finally show everyone how truly amazing his quirk is.

Other students continued to talk with excitement about how they wanted to try too and how amazing this was going to be, but Katsuki focused his attention on their teacher who was just staring at everyone, obviously not sharing their enthusiasm.

“So you think this is a game?” His cold voice momentarily silenced everyone. “You have three years to become heroes and that’s how you see all this? Alright.” He said and smiled strangely. “You’ll compete in 8 tests, the one with the worst result will be immediately expelled.” Screams of shock went through the little crowd and Katsuki had to stop himself from laughing at these idiots.

He was so obviously lying. And even if he was telling the truth, Katsuki was sure of two things.

Once again, he’ll have a secure place at the top and quirkless Deku will be expelled.

“As I said. We can do whatever we want in our classes.” His creepy smile widened. “Welcome to the UA’s Hero Course!”

Katsuki couldn’t help but grin with wild satisfaction.

___

Throughout all the tests Katsuki was using his quirk to almost its full potential and thanks to that, didn’t have to worry about his place in the class.

On the other hand, there was Deku who was struggling with every single task, being weak and quirkless. Katsuki would look at him from time to time to be 100% that little shit was failing everything.

Until they came back to ball throwing.

As Katsuki already completed his deed, all he had to do was stand and look at the failure that was about to happen after Deku stepped into the circle.

“If Midoriya-kun doesn’t use his quirk, he’ll be the one going home.” Said some guy who was standing next to Katsuki.

“Tsk, of course he will.” He couldn’t stop himself from commenting. “He’s a quirkless piece of shit.” Katsuki glared at the guy while pointing at Deku, but otherwise didn’t pay much attention to him.

“Wha- He has a quirk! Didn’t you hear about what he did at the entrance exam?”

“Huh?” He looked back at Deku who seemed like he was about to shit his pants.

There’s just no fucking way.

He watched as Deku’s hand lit up in a strange way as he was getting ready to throw the ball.

Wait-

In a split second, his hand was once again normal, and a ball he threw landed only at 42 meters.

Then what was that, just before?

He noticed that the bandages that were previously around teacher’s neck were now floating and he couldn’t believe when he heard him say that he erased Deku’s quirk and told him he’d be useless during the real battle if he pulled something like that during it.

“You are Eraser Head!” He heard Deku exclaim in shock. Some student said that they heard about him, that he works as the underground hero.

Aizawa Shouta.

Eraser Head.

He’ll have to check him out later, after all, hero names and pseudonyms were easier to remember than actual names, but now wasn’t the time for trying to memorize anything.

What the fuck was up with Deku.

“Midoriya Izuku. You can’t become a hero with your power.”

WHAT FUCKING POWER?

Once again, Deku took a swing, little amount of light appeared for split second and he threw the ball.

Everything slowed down and Katsuki stood there, jaw dropped and eyes widened.

The ball landed practically in the same place as when he himself threw it. He heard Deku say to Aizawa that he could still move.

Katsuki muted out all the comments from other students.

How?

What the hell was that?! He was QUIRKLESS.

This is impossible!

Before he could think, he charged at Deku, all flared up.

“DEKU, YOU BASTARD, HOW THE FUCK DID YOU-“ Deku screamed and before Katsuki had a chance to reach him, he was stopped by Aizawa, his arms and waist tangled up in bandages and with his quirk erased. “What the- how are these bandages so stiff?” He said more to himself than to actually ask, while trying to move, to no use.

Aizawa started explaining how the bandages work, but Katsuki was too furious to actually listen.

After few moments he was released, his quirk back as well.

“We’re wasting time. Just carry on.” The teacher said annoyed.

Katsuki just stood in his place, gritting his teeth painfully and glaring at Deku who walked around him carefully and only then Katsuki noticed his broken finger.

All of a sudden, he remembered their little exchange shortly after the accident.

“I wish I had a quirk like you, Kacchan.”

“Well, you don’t. Good news is, you won’t be in trouble as long as there’s someone with one to protect you. Someone like me!”

“But your quirk is kind of scary, don’t you think? Since it hurt you and all…”

… Fucking hypocrite with self destructive quirk.

___

In the end, Aizawa was indeed lying about expelling the worst student. Katsuki really hoped that idiot would be kicked out on the first day, but at least he was assured that Deku was still the weakest thing he knew and he himself had a chance to show off his own quirk.

Sensei finished their classes earlier and Katsuki quickly changed back into school uniform while not participating in any ‘friendly banter’ with other guys in the locker room. He went to the classroom to pick up his stuff and the curriculum sheets that the teacher mentioned and off he was to his home.

___

Katsuki stopped before the front gate to his house and took a deep breath. From where he stood, he tried looking through the windows, wondering in which room his mother was in.

He knew that as soon as he'd come inside she'd start asking him about his first day at the new school. Stupid farce that was supposed to get out of him some information if he managed to befriend at least one fucking person.

"As if." He muttered to himself and quietly opened the gate and once again moved towards the front door. He hesitated for a second before he opened it and slipped inside.

Feeling relieved that his mother was nowhere to be seen, he managed to kick off his shoes quickly and started moving towards the stairs to get to his room. He just wanted to rest after today.

"Katsuki." He heard a voice and stopped dead in his tracks.

Of course she would be there, you idiot.

Bakugou sighed and with a frown he turned towards the kitchen where the voice came from. There he saw a woman with blonde hair (like his) that was stylized in very familiar way. She was sitting at the dining table, cup of tea in one hand and stack of some papers in the other. He dropped his bag at the entrance to the room, walked up to one of the chairs and sat down.

"How was your first day?" Mother asked while keeping her attention on the papers in her hand. "You know," she continued without waiting for his answer. "I met with Inko at the store today, she said that her son made it to the UA." She finally looked up from the papers and stared at him. "Did you know he’d also be here?"

Katsuki glared at her and shrugged. Before he could react she reached out and poked his forehead with her finger.

“I knew it, you little brat!” He smacked her hand away. “That’s why you were so pissed off few weeks ago! That’s when you found out!” Her voice was somehow triumphant, as if she discovered an answer for one of those more philosophical questions about life.

"Who the fuck cares about him, it's not like we're friends." He muttered angrily and looked away, pretending there was something really interesting on the other side of the window. "Also, I don't want to talk about this piece of useless shit." He added after few seconds of silence.

"For fuck’s sake, Katsuki!" His mother raised her voice again and put the papers back on the table with some force. He looked at them without much thought, but he quickly regretted doing so, as they turned out to be pictures of some people and at that his frown deepened and anger rose. "First of all, control what comes out of your mouth. Second of all, stop treating your friend like that and-"

"He's not my fucking friend, he's an annoyance." Katsuki snarked. At that his mother sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly. She looked like she was collecting her thoughts and then she spoke again.

"Is he in your class?" Her voice was calmer.

Yes and you are already aware of that, aren't you?

"Fuck if I know." He shrugged and looked away again, but of course his mother picked up on his obvious lie.

"Honey, try to be more friendly towards him. You know he's keeping his hair the same for you, right?" Once again, she reached out to him and tried to put a hand on his cheek but he pushed it away before she could even touch him. He made a point by moving away with his chair a little bit.

"It's his choice and it's not like I want to remember him in particular. Especially his stupid hair and stupid shoes." He still wasn't looking at his mother but he could hear her take deep breath which she held for few seconds.

"Could you look at these pictures for me?"

He hated this question wholeheartedly. Not only it was like a punch in the gut, but he always felt like a moron after each set of pictures his mother would show him.

Katsuki could hear her sliding the photographs on the table towards him and he forced himself to look at them.

There were three, small-scaled pictures of three, rather different, people. They were all head-shots, but he could see them wearing the same uniforms, the ones they were wearing at the UA and the one he was actually still wearing right now.

So, they're some extras from my school. Katsuki thought while moving in his chair to take a closer look at them.

First one was of a guy with red hair sticking up, barely fitting into the frame. On his face cheerful eyes and a smile that seemed like he was restraining himself from laughing.

Shitty hair you’ve got there, idiot.

Second picture showed a guy with his mouth and nose covered by a fitted mask. One of his eyes was hidden behind bangs of white hair.

Who wears a mask for a picture for their ID?

The last one was of a pink-skinned girl with strange eyes and small horns pointing out from her wild, also pink, hair. In contrast to the guy on the first picture, she wasn’t restraining herself from showing a big, bright smile.

What's with all of this pink.

"Do you know any of them?" He heard his mother ask calmly. Question annoyed him, but he was keep staring at the pictures not daring to look up.

The moment he looks up, he'll forget.

He took a deep breath in an attempt to not get angry again and looked over the three photographs. He tried to remember if he saw this mask today anywhere at the school.

Some kind of feeling rose in his stomach every time his mother would show him pictures of strangers and ask the damned question.

Do you know any of them?

...

No. He doesn't.

Katsuki, for once, really tried to think about strangers in front of him, but nothing came to his mind. He finally exhaled, raised his hand and rubbed his eyes slowly.

"I don't." He said with false confidence and looked her straight in the eyes.

She stared at him for few seconds and as he was about to open his mouth, she broke the silence.

"Katsuki..." His mother started unsure of her words. "They are your classmates." She finally said with a worried frown and he felt the knot in his stomach get bigger. "You didn't even try to memorize them today, did you?" She took the middle picture and looked at it. "If this boy is wearing his mask all the time you should be able to remember it..." She said that last bit more to herself, though she sounded unconvinced of her own words.

"I don't see the point in memorizing some shitty extras." He raised his voice and saw her flinch a little in a surprise at his words and tone. "I don't need them in my life." He stood up with force that made his chair almost fall over. "And I surely don't need these fucking pictures!" He released few sparks from his hand, which he slammed on the table between the two remaining pictures and send them flying with an explosion.

His mother, startled with a curse forming on her lips, stood up quickly from the table and took few hurried steps back.

Both pictures fell to the floor, and the energy of the blast scattered the stock of the rest of the photographs all over the table, half of them joining the first two on the kitchen boards.

He looked at the pictures near his feet, at slightly burnt table from where his hand slammed and back at his mother who had a mix of shock and anger on her face. It was obvious she tried to say something but she was too lost in her thoughts.

Or maybe she didn't want to say something that she would regret later...

Katsuki decided not to wait for her to collect herself and stormed out of the kitchen, he heard her call after him but he ignored her and just ran upstairs to his room and slammed the door behind him. He tried to calm down, but the thought of these useless pictures only made him more furious.

He walked up to his desk and sat down, face in his hands, and tried to recall the look of at least one person from his class.

Come on, just one. He thought desperately. Just one of these unimportant, little shit heads.

…

All that came to his mind was a mess of green hair and red shoes. He opened his eyes enraged.

"FUCK!" He screamed and slammed his head on the desk, a foolish attempt to remove the image from his mind.

He didn't feel like moving from his place.

___


When Katsuki, lost in his thoughts, heard the door to his room open quietly, he raised his head and noticed that it was completely dark outside, the only source of light being the small lamp on his desk.

He totally lost the track of time.

He turned in the chair to look at the person who entered the room; a woman, familiar blonde hairstyle.

Mother.

He took a deep breath, turned his back to her and covered his face between his arms which he lied down on his desk. He hoped that this was enough of a signal to her, that if she wanted to talk to him, he wasn't willing to do so and she'd let go of this stupid idea and just leave him alone.

"You forgot your bag from the kitchen." There goes leaving him alone part. "I brought some food here for you, too." She said, her voice strangely neutral, and put the plate with sandwiches on the desk within his reach. She was standing next to him, awkward silence between them.

Katsuki heard her walk around him and sit down on the edge of the bed.

"Katsuki, I know this is hard for you," she stroked his hair with care and kept her hand in it despite his angry groan, "but you have to let other people into your life. You can't keep everyone at such distance." He felt her put his school bag next to his foot. "You don't have to be ashamed to be in need of help. … And most of all, you should stop being such stubborn little shit." She finished on a lighter note while patting his head a few times, for a good measure. She stood up and moved to the door. Katsuki raised his head and looked at her back. He tried to say something but words died in his throat. His mother opened the door and left as quietly as she entered.

Katsuki stared at the plate his mother brought and couldn't help but feel the knot in his stomach growing once again. That was enough for him to lose all the appetite.

Stupid, old woman, why do you care so much. He thought as he pushed the plate all the way to the edge of the desk and turned away from it with his chair. He kicked something on the floor while doing so. He looked down at his bag and noticed that the zipper was not fully closed. He reached down and opened it, inside were some of his books, notebooks and a pencil case.

But there was also a folder which he was pretty sure he didn't pack himself.

He grabbed the thin folder and put it on his desk. Despite hesitation he opened it fast but as soon as he saw what it was containing he closed it immediately.

Fucking pictures.

Just now he noticed what was written on top of the folder.

‘Class 1-A’

He scrunched his nose and once again opened it, much slower this time.

Some serious guy with the glasses was staring at him from the top of the stock. He took the picture of him and turned it around and, as principal said few days ago, there was guy's name on the back.

‘Iida Tenya’ – didn’t he hear this name somewhere today?

He looked again at the guy's face.

Glasses.

Damned glasses that were almost the same as his father's. One four-eyes in his life was fucking enough.

He put the picture back at the top and reached somewhere to the middle of the pile and pulled out the random image.

Katsuki immediately regretted even opening the folder as he stared blankly at the photograph and gritted his teeth painfully. Soon he was squeezing the picture with so much force, that it started to tear off more and more. He mindlessly let the few sparks go off and watched as small flames ate the picture slowly, as they were not strong enough to burn it all at once.

Weak flame eventually went out, not finishing the job. There was still more than half of the picture left and Katsuki stared at the mess of all too familiar green hair that seemed to be making fun of him.

He put his elbow on the desk and covered his eyes with one hand, while the other was still clutching the remnants of the burnt picture.

"... Fuck...." He muttered helplessly, his voice trembling.

He stayed like that for a while, trying to think about strangers he was about to meet once again the next day.

Chapter Text

Katsuki woke up suddenly with sore neck, still sitting at his desk. He blinked few times to adjust his eyes to dimmed light in his room and he reached for his phone to check the time.

1:27am

… Fucking perfect.

He rubbed one of his eyes tiredly and looked around. The folder with pictures was still lying on his desk, along with the plate with untouched sandwiches his mother made him. Katsuki frowned at them and decided that he can at least put them in a fridge, so they don’t go to waste. Only when he stood up, he realized he was still wearing his school uniform and cursed at himself. He grabbed a plate and with still sleepy, unstable steps left his room.

He started walking down the stairs, but stopped in the middle as he saw a light coming from the kitchen. This couldn’t be his mother, he heard her snoring when he was passing his parents’ bedroom and his father wasn't supposed to come back from business trip until the next day.

… Or today, considering it was almost 2am.

He slowly approached an entrance to the kitchen and first thing he noticed was that the fridge was open and someone was going through its contents. He wanted to take a better look at the person, but his tired mind made him accidentally hit the door-frame with his shoulder. He let out a short hiss but that was enough to make his presence known.

A stranger, with slice of cheese hanging from his mouth, peeked out from the fridge and looked at Katsuki who immediately sobered up and tensed, plate in one hand, the other ready to let out an explosion any time.

“Oh, Katsuki.” Man’s voice was muffled by the cheese that was still in his mouth. Katsuki let out few warning sparks and the man immediately straightened up, hands raised in the air and cheese falling out from his mouth. “It’s me! It’s me, it’s dad!” The man said quickly in half-panicked whisper and while still turned towards Katsuki, reached to the top of the fridge for his glasses and put them on.

Glasses, four-eyes, father.

“Fucking…” Katsuki sighed and let his guard down, hand back at his side.

“Sorry, sorry. My eyes were tired and I didn’t expect you to be awake at this hour.” His father closed the fridge and picked up wasted cheese to throw it out. “Didn’t mean to scare you.” He said with low chuckle and walked up to Katsuki.

“I wasn’t fucking scared.” Katsuki hissed and stomped past him. He put the plate with sandwiches on the counter and started looking for a food wrap. “What the hell are you doing here this early, anyway?”

“I did my job and decided to take an evening train, instead of wasting time in a hotel and waiting for the train in the morning.” He leaned against the counter and looked at the plate Katsuki just put there. “What are those?”

“… That old hag made them, but I wasn’t hungry.” He briefly recalled what she said to him upon bringing him food. Katsuki shook his head and pushed the plate towards his father. “You can eat them, I don’t care.” He was about to leave the kitchen, but was stopped by the hand on his shoulder. Katsuki let out exasperated sigh and glared at the unfazed old man. 

“She called me after your little outburst.” He said suddenly and Katsuki’s eyes widened. He frowned and lowered his head.

“… Shit.”

“Shit indeed, my dear son. Papa is not proud of you.” He crossed his arms on his chest with a sly smile and Katsuki couldn’t help but look at him unimpressed and kind of grossed out.

How am I supposed to take this man seriously?

“Don’t call yourself that, it’s fucking stupid.” Katsuki snarked and once again turned around.

“I’ll stop it when you stop cursing so much.” Old man mocked him and Katsuki stopped halfway through and looked at him again.

“I’ll stop it when you stop to forget to put on your damn glasses all the time.” A short pause from his father and then-

“I’ll stop it when you stop with your outbursts.” Triumphant smile appeared on his face, as if this was his ultimate argument and Katsuki rolled his eyes.

“I’ll stop it when people stop being annoying dumbasses.” He stated shortly and mirrored his father’s stance.

“… Alright, we could go on,” Katsuki smirked to himself at the sight of his father raising his hands in defeat. “But, that’s not the point of this conversation.” He reached for one of the sandwiches. “You should befriend someone from your class, maybe that boy who already knows, what was his name-“ He bit into his food and searched his memory for few seconds. He snapped his fingers. “Izuku! The two of you used to be friends, why not go back to good old times?”

Katsuki grit his teeth.

“Can you all stop fucking bringing him up? Damn shithead is not my friend!” He threw his hands up in the air in anger, few sparks going off.

“Keep doing that and you’ll wake up your mother.” Masaru told him, well used to the situation, while still munching on a sandwich. That was all that took for Katsuki to calm down a bit. Dealing with his mother was the last thing he wanted to do, especially at this hour. “Also, you’ll ruin your new school uniform.” He added and finished his food.

Katsuki looked at himself and realized that, yes, he was still wearing the clothes he spent almost whole day in and let out an angry groan. Once again this night, he was about to leave the kitchen to finally change and go to sleep but was stopped by his persisting father’s voice.

“Seriously, Katsuki. Give your classmates a chance, talk to them, get to know them and you’ll see that not all people think the same about you.” He didn’t have to look at him to know he had reassuring smile plastered onto his face.

Katsuki stood in a door-frame for few moments, silently looking down at his hands.

Was it possible that there might be someone who doesn’t think he’s a villain? That he’s dangerous and scary?

He felt a heavy hand on his head.

“Don’t think too much about it, son. Go change and to your bed or you’ll oversleep. We both know how much you hate it.” Few pats landed on his head and then he felt light push on his back that caused him to entirely step out from the kitchen.

He lingered for few seconds but moved upstairs without looking back at his father. When he entered his room to finally change from his uniform, he noticed a half burnt piece of paper on the floor. He didn’t have to pick it up to know that it was actually a picture. He put his foot on it and slid it across the floor until it ended up somewhere under the bed, finally out of his sight.

___

When Katsuki entered the class, he was relieved to see that he was the only one to be there more than half an hour before the actual lesson would start. He quickly took his place and considered putting his legs on the desk, but then he remembered this one guy who wouldn’t leave him alone and decided against it, instead just leaning into the chair and looking around the classroom, the thing he didn’t get to do during the first day here.

All in all, the class was quite typical, like in any other school, maybe a bit bigger than usually. Chairs were more comfortable and there’s more space between the desks, but that’s obvious since less students got into the UA than to other schools, and extra space and largeness of the school altogether was just some way of showing off how much better this place is or to compensate for something.

Katsuki snorted to himself when he remembered that the principal is a freaking mouse.

His good mood was interrupted by the door opening and he glanced at the clock above the board.

Twenty eight minutes until the lesson starts, who the fuck is this?

He looked back at the door and saw a man with bored expression.

“… What are you doing here so early?” Man asked with one brow raised, slight annoyance in his voice. Only now Katsuki noticed the signature bandages around his neck.

“… Sensei.” He nodded slightly towards him in a way of greeting. He didn’t add his surname on purpose, just in case he was wrong, but the teacher seemed to notice that slight uncertainty in his voice.

“Maybe we should start wearing badges…” He murmured, more to himself than to Katsuki, as he walked up to the desk in front of the classroom and left there a small box of white chalk.

Katsuki‘s face turned into an angry grimace.

“There’s no fucking need for that.” He said that a bit too loud while crossing arms on his chest. Aizawa looked at him, his expression never changing and sighed.

“Don’t think I didn’t notice the face you made when I called you yesterday.” Instead of reprimanding him for screaming or cursing he said that and Katsuki couldn’t help but think that he would prefer a lecture about not swearing in presence of a teacher.

Katsuki didn’t answer him, but his scowl deepened and he sank deeper into the chair in hope of disappearing from this fucking world or at least from the classroom.

He heard a tired sigh from the man.

“Don’t worry, I still have no intentions of telling anyone.” The teacher was still standing at the front but was looking at him intensively, probably awaiting some kind of answer.

Katsuki still had no intentions of thanking him.

“I’m not worrying about anything.” He snarked instead and looked somewhere to the left, avoiding that strange gaze.

“Whatever pleases you, kid.” He just said and started heading towards the door.

Katsuki was about to yell after him to not call him a kid, but before he had a chance to even inhale the needed air, the door slid open and some tall dude was standing on the other side. Katsuki settled down and watched as the guy greeted their teacher and moved out of his way. He heard Aizawa mutter something about kids coming so damn early to school and then he was gone, leaving him and the random guy alone.

“Ah, it is good to see that I am not the only one who is excited for yet another day of learning!” He practically shouted and Katsuki rolled his eyes. He’d rather die than talk to this guy.

Once again, he looked at the clock.

Nineteen minutes. He read an hour while ignoring the guy who just didn’t want to shut up.

Katsuki hoped that someone else would arrive soon so this shithead would leave him alone and stop talking to him. At least he wasn’t standing anywhere near him, instead taking his place somewhere in the back of the classroom.

As minutes passed, other students were slowly coming in and to avoid making any contact with them, he was pretending to be occupied with his notebook. Lucky for him, the dude was greeting everyone that was coming in so all their attention was focusing on him.

The only useful thing about this guy.

___

First few periods before lunch were just… boring.

Katsuki couldn’t find any better word to describe it. They had English class with pro hero he didn’t recognize but subtly, making sure no one was paying attention to him, wrote down his hero name at the end of his notebook for the subject – Present Mic – when he loudly introduced himself.

Just in case. These are easier to remember anyway.

Then, after some other equally boring lessons, it was time for lunch.

Katsuki quickly left the classroom before anyone else and headed to the cafeteria where he got his food and found unoccupied table somewhere in the back of the big hall that soon was full of other students and possibly few teachers.

He’ll probably start bringing his own food to avoid this stupid crowd.

And then, it was finally time.

All Might himself barged through the door with one of his signature lines of “Here I am!” that the whole class could hear before he even entered the room and everything was recognizable about him.

His costume with a cape, right out of the silver age, his huge, contagious smile, his loud voice, one of the few that didn’t annoy Katsuki, his blond hair with two strands pointing up and eyes that seemed a bit strange but he ignored that thought and just looked at the hero with awe like everyone else.

“Foundational Hero Studies!” He struck one of his typical poses. “Here, we will be building up your hero foundation through various trials! AND you’ll get tons of credit for it!” All Might quickly explained with cheerfulness echoing through him. “So let’s jump right into it-“ He shown them a card with word ‘BATTLE’ on it and said even louder than before “THE TRIAL OF BATTLE!!” and Katsuki smiled to himself when he heard a weak whimper behind him.

All Might, after the introduction, finally gave them access to their costumes that were specifically designed for them, but his words still lingered in Katsuki’s mind.

“And don’t forget! From here on out, you’re all officially HEROES!”

___

Izuku, in his green costume that his mom made for him, caught up to the group that already made its way out of the tunnel leading to grounds beta where they met with All Might, who complimented them on their attire. He stood between Kacchan and a guy in full armor and couldn’t help but wonder who hid behind that heavy looking helmet.

He noticed that Kacchan glanced at him with a frown, which he knew as his neutral face, and Izuku was slightly shocked that he didn’t tell him to go away.

Maybe he’s giving it a rest for now, during the lesson.

“Ah, Deku-kun!” He heard a cheerful voice somewhere behind him and turned around to see Uraraka who was putting on her helmet that slightly reminded him of the one pro hero Thirteen wore. “Cool costume! Looks very practical!”

Before he had a chance to answer, he noticed movement at his side and glanced at Kacchan.

Besides the usual frown, there was almost unnoticeable confusion on his face. Izuku saw his eyes searching for something on his head and then dart towards the ground, and as he looked down as well and his gaze fell on his red shoes, he realized what was happening.

He had almost his whole head covered by the hood, his hair completely hidden under it, so it was obvious that Kacchan wouldn’t recognize him. He looked back up just to meet a pair of angry red eyes and- yes, here was the typical disgust that Kacchan always looked at him with, and he took a step back, out of the line of his old friend’s sight.

___

If Katsuki could, he would strangle Deku right here, right now, but he couldn’t as the lesson continued and All Might explained the rules of their battle training trial.

“For this test, you’ll be separated into ‘villain’ and ‘hero’ groups! For a two-on-two team battle!” Fucking great, as if Katsuki needed any ballast that would only slow him down.

“Can we just blow them away?” Katsuki asked and then heard other students ask their questions as well and it was obvious that All Might was unable to answer all of them at once as he let out a frustrated groan.

“I can’t hear you if you speak all at once!!” He said and it’s all it takes to shut them all up. None of the students wanted to disrespect the number one hero.

All Might reached into his pocket and took out a thin book that looked comically small in his massive hands and started reading all of the needed information about the trial from it.

A cheat sheet. Katsuki bit an inside of his cheek to stop himself from chuckling at that.

Then the teams were assigned and he ended up with some guy in stupid armor.

“And the first two pairs to do combat will be the following! Pair A will be heroes!” He heard Deku gasp behind his mask. “Pair D will be villains!”

Blood boiled in his body.

“Why the fuck are we the villains?” He asked offended with a spite in his voice before he could stop himself, and he almost regretted it as all eyes focused on him.

“Ah, young Bakugou! I heard that you were at the top during the exam, congratulations!” All Might said that instead of answering the question. “Do not fret, young man! It is only an exercise and as you saw, it was a random selection! Next time you and your teammate will be a part of the hero group!” He laughed in his typical way and continued to explain their task.

Katsuki’s frown only deepened.

Why was he the one to be a villain of all people?

___

When he and armored guy were inside the building and next to the fake bomb, he couldn’t help but stare at him, wondering who the fuck he was paired with. The ‘knight’ after examining the bomb turned to him and noticed the way Katsuki was looking at him, but misinterpreted it and started talking about forming the plan.

Katsuki couldn’t take it.

“Who the fuck are you anyway?” He said bluntly and when he heard a gasp from the other one, he rolled his eyes. “You’re wearing this stupid armor, how do you expect anyone to recognize you?” A lie. Katsuki wouldn’t recognize him even without it and even if he wanted to, but the half-assed explanation seemed to work, as the guy reached and took off his helmet, then tucked it under his arm.

“My apologies, Bakugou-kun.” He said without introducing himself, because why would he, he probably already did that at some point.

And he knows my name. Fucking perfect. Katsuki turned his back to him and didn’t say anything else, on the contrary to this asshole who kept talking about how hard it is to think like a villain.

“Hey!” Katsuki interrupted him. “So, this nerd has a quirk?” He couldn’t help but ask, while managing to keep his voice steady and almost calm.

“You saw for yourself, yesterday.” The voice reached him from behind. “It seems pretty high-risk to approach Midoriya-kun, considering his strength but- You’ll just charge at him anyway, won’t you?” His tone indicated that he was slightly annoyed at Katsuki’s obvious plan but he didn’t give a fuck.

“That fucking nerd!” He charged out from the room, not waiting for the signal from All Might.

___

Izuku really tried to study the map of the building but he couldn’t help but shiver at the thought of facing Kacchan in just few minutes.

But maybe he can somehow avoid him. Maybe if he takes off his shoes and tries to sneak around- no no, Kacchan already knows how his costume looks like, he’ll target him anyway. But if Uraraka-san will use her quirk on him then maybe he can float above him, unnoticed, but that would require her to be using it all the time while not being able to release him and that’s bad for her health, also she’d have to be the one to distract Kacchan and he doesn’t want to leave her to his non-existent mercy-

“Deku-kun, calm down!” Voice of his companion distracted him from his muttering and he realized that he was shivering slightly the entire time.

“Oh, no- sorry.” He said sheepishly while trying to calm down. “It’s just… Our opponents are Kacchan and Iida-kun, too… I guess I’m just really tense.” To put it lightly.

“I see.” Uraraka gave him a worried look. “Bakugou-kun keeps taunting you, right?” Her voice was full of compassion.

“I hate his guts, but I can’t help but admire him.” Some kind of melancholy grew inside him when he thought about what he wanted to say. “His ambition, strength, quirk… He’s better than me in a hundred different ways. And, unlike me, has tons of confidence, despite being-“ His eyes widened and he managed to bit his tongue before he finished the sentence.

Kacchan would burn me to death, then revive me and feed me with my own ashes. Then kill me again.

“Despite being..?” Uraraka asked innocently and Izuku looked carefully at her. Her face was showing nothing but pure curiosity, so she didn’t realize anything.

Good.

“Ah, no, nothing!” He said quickly while waving his hands around awkwardly. “Just- Let’s make sure that we win!” With newfound determination, he put his mask on and smiled when Uraraka cheered on them and they both moved towards the building after they heard the signal from All Might.

___

Eijirou wanted to have a good view at what was happening during the trial, so he stood with Ashido almost the closest to the huge screen that was showing different rooms and camera angles of the inside of the building. He saw that serious guy, Iida he thought was his name, standing next to the probably fake bomb, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the UA put there a real one.

He chuckled to himself and shared his thoughts with Ashido who looked at him curiously upon hearing his quiet laugh. She giggled too and agreed with Eijirou. He heard another quiet snort somewhere behind him and when they both turned around, the yellow haired guy who’s sitting in front of him in the class – Kaminari, was his name? – was smiling towards them, also appreciating the joke.

He looked back at the screens and noticed Midoriya and Uraraka entering the building through one of the windows. He saw them talking to each other, but didn’t hear anything.

“Sensei, wouldn’t it be better if we heard them?” He asked and the strange feeling of absurdity from calling All Might their teacher didn’t want to leave his mind.

Get a hold of yourself, he is your teacher, after all.

“Don’t worry, young Kirishima!” Eijirou was barely able to stop himself from screeching happily, because holy shit, All Might already memorized their names, this day couldn’t get any better. “You just need to watch, on the other hand, I can hear everything thanks to the speakers they were given along with capture tapes and maps!” The hero flashed a smile towards him and Eijirou decided that yes, this day actually just got better.

When he looked back at the screen, he realized that he hasn’t seen any signs of that Bakugou guy, and after yesterday’s performance during Aizawa’s test, he honestly didn’t know what to expect from him, but soon found answers to all his questions when he suddenly appeared from behind a corner and attacked the hero team, obviously aiming to hit Midoriya’s head.

“A sudden ambush?!” Screamed short guy with something that looked like grapes on his head. Eijirou had a displeasure of listening in on what he had to say about girls while they were all changing in the locker room into their costumes, but right now couldn’t help but unwillingly agree with him that this was a dirty trick.

“That Bakugou’s a cheater! An ambush is so unmanly!” He voiced his opinion.

“Ambushes are good strategy!” All Might was quick to correct his students. “They are in the heat of a battle, after all!”

“Midori actually ducked away pretty well!” Ashido’s excited remark made him feel a bit better about the whole situation, but he still couldn’t help but observe Bakugou intensively with crossed arms over his chest.

___

Of course Kacchan would aim for my head. Izuku thought to himself after just barely dodging a sudden attack.

“Are you okay, Uraraka-san?” He asked with concern while not daring to look away from Kacchan.

“Yeah, thanks…” Her raspy voice concerned him a bit, but he couldn’t let himself to worry about that right now.

“Come on, Deku!” Kacchan yelled while shoving away the smoke he produced after hitting a wall with his quirk. “Don’t fucking dodge me, I can see you anyway!” Izuku recognized the double meaning behind his words and realized he had to act quickly, it was obvious that his angry ‘friend’ would be attacking only him and not Uraraka. “I’ll keep the damage down so they don’t interrupt us but don’t think I won’t try to blow you away!” He started running towards them and Izuku rushed forward as well.

He barely dodged his right hand but quickly managed to grab it and threw Kacchan down onto the floor, a surprised yelp escaping his opponent’s mouth and a cheer from Uraraka reached his ears somewhere from behind them. He took few steps back, to get away from slowly rising Kacchan.

“You always lead with a big right swing!” Izuku screamed to Kacchan’s back in a way of explaining.

He’s been watching him, even if Kacchan would often tell him to fuck off, he was still silently observing and gathering information, like he did with everyone noteworthy.

“I can’t count how many times I’ve seen you do it!” Maybe he should’ve counted, that would be something. But it’s not what’s important right now.

Izuku straightened his posture and clenched his fists, getting ready for an attack that might have come any second now.

“I’m no longer Deku who can’t do anything!” His voice cracked a little and Kacchan glared at him. “I AM DEKU WHO’S NEVER GIVING UP!” He heard Uraraka’s happy gasp at his words but didn’t dare to look away from Kacchan. Despite his declaration, he still didn’t have a plan as to how to win this trial and he just had to win this time.

“You say that…” Kacchan growled and few smaller explosions went off from his palms and Izuku flinched against his will, despite trying his best to not do that. “You dare to say that while you’re still shaking and are fucking scared!? Just like everyone else!?” Izuku just now noticed that he was still slightly trembling and it took everything from him to take a deep breath and stop. But Kacchan’s words helped him realize something, both about himself and his old friend.

He wanted to stop being afraid and Kacchan didn’t want to come off as scary, even if his temperament and fiery character wouldn’t allow him to act differently.

Once again, he breathed in as calmly as he could and looked Kacchan straight in the eyes, a gesture that probably surprised both of them.

“I’m not scared of you!” Izuku yelled with a firm, confident voice that surprised even him. He glanced at Uraraka, who was still awaiting for his instructions, her face full of shock, but small smile was forming on her lips.

Then he looked back at Kacchan and a wave of shock drowned him.

Kacchan’s eyes were widened, eyebrows no longer knitted in an angry, eternal frown, mouth hanging slightly open. His hands slowly relaxed and fell to his sides and his whole posture was suddenly free of any tension.

Izuku and Katsuki involuntarily spent most of their lives together, but throughout the years of knowing him, Izuku could count on his single hand the times when Kacchan was showing any other emotion on his face than anger, disgust or annoyance, all of these practically always directed at Izuku.

But now… He couldn’t quite figure out what the other’s face was supposed to be showing, as he was not at all used to this kind of emotion on Kacchan, but if he had to guess-

It was pure relief.

But as he was about to say something, he saw movement behind Kacchan and was too slow to react.

___

Katsuki couldn’t stop staring at Deku.

He analyzed the tone of his voice, his posture, everything.

And everything pointed towards one result; Deku was being honest.

His words ‘I’m not scared of you!’ wouldn’t stop echoing in his mind.

He’s not afraid of me… How is he not afraid, everyone is- how-

When Katsuki tried to say something, he saw Deku suddenly widen his eyes and then he felt a light tap on his left shoulder.

“Uraraka-san, wait-“ Katsuki heard him say quickly, but before he could turn around, he felt that he lost the ground underneath his feet. His eyes darted towards the floor and he realized he was floating already few meters above it.

All of the rage he felt before came back immediately with doubled force.

“DEKU, YOU FUCKER, YOU THINK YOU CAN TRICK ME?!” He tried to hold onto something, anything that would keep him in place.

“Shit, shit, shit, shit-“ He heard Deku’s panicked muttering. “Uraraka-san, let’s go!” He grabbed her by the elbow and sprinted towards the stairs that he knew were nearby.

“DON’T IGNORE ME YOU PIECE OF SHIT, I’M GONNA SKIN YOU ALIVE- COME BACK HERE, COWARD.” He considered firing to at least start moving forward, after these shits, but he didn’t want to risk it. As far as he could easily manipulate through air with his blasts, never before had he do this while floating uncontrollably.

Who the fuck was this girl?

“Bakugou-kun, what’s going on!?” He heard a voice from a speaker, probably of his teammate, in his ear and spat angrily.

“Shut the fuck up, I’m not in the fucking mood right now!” Katsuki disconnected him before he could answer anything.

And then one of his gauntlets lightened up and made a sound.

Katsuki smirked to himself.

“You wanna play dirty?” With some effort, he grabbed onto the corner of the nearest wall and flew over so he had it behind his back. He looked behind, making sure that there were at least two other walls behind him. Katsuki was currently hitting his head against the ceiling so he strategically, slowly, turned himself upside down so he could use his legs to stabilize himself and stay in one place.

Katsuki aimed, first towards the stairs but he quickly realized they both were probably far away from them already. He recalled the map All Might gave them at the beginning of the trial. He was currently on the fourth floor, all of them looked practically the same. Fake bomb was on the fifth floor, somewhere nearby and in all honesty, really easy to find, they were probably close to it, if not already in the same room, and if stairs were on his left then-

He aimed his arm straight ahead of him, right where he believed was the room with the bomb and then moved his hand slightly to the left, where they would probably come from and to not destroy the bomb.

“I’ll play dirty.”

“Young Bakugou, if you’re about to do what I think you’re about to do, I must ask you to stop!” He heard All Might’s stern voice through the speaker in his ear and he scowled.

“It’s not a direct hit, they’ll be fine!” He yelled at the hero and focused on aiming.

“You might hurt your teammate!”

“Who gives a shit about the knight guy-“

“Bakugou-kun,” speak of the devil. “I can hear distant footsteps, I believe our opponents are heading towards me, where are you right now?”

“Oh, you’re about to find out.” He smirked to himself and ignored All Might’s objections.

He fired.

The powerful blast forced him through the thin wall, the second one barely managed to stop him and after split second he found himself on the ground, the effects of the girl’s quirk disappearing. He stood up, as quickly as his sore body allowed him to, and brushed off some of the dust from his costume. He left the room and his eyes widened when he saw the damage he was able to do with this single blast.

Katsuki ran towards the stairs and tried his best to ignore a strange knot in his stomach.

___

Eijirou stared at the aftermath of Bakugou’s powerful attack with mouth opened wide while people around him were saying things like ‘this is terrifying’ and ‘he’s scary with that quirk’. He heard someone ask if he is really in the right place. Eijirou looked at the screens to assess the damage Bakugou did.

The wall he stabilized himself against had a huge hole in it, but it was nothing compared to what he did with the ceiling. The blast went right through it, destroyed the wall of the room with a freaking bomb in it and barely missed Midoriya and Uraraka that were hiding near the entrance, discussing a plan.

“Holy shit, that dude is crazy.” He caught himself say before he could think about his words.

“Young Midoriya, can you hear me?!” All Might’s voice caught him off guard. Right, this was supposed to be a lesson, after all. “Young Uraraka?!”

On the screen, he saw both of them get out from underneath some rubble, Midoriya helped Uraraka stand up and judging by a little nod from her, he also asked her if she was all right. He heard All Might sigh in relief, both of them probably confirmed that they were okay.

“Sensei, shouldn’t you stop this?” Eijirou didn’t want to disrespect the hero, but he still was concerned about what was happening there. All Might didn’t answer him, instead started reprimanding Bakugou about his reckless actions and told him that if he did something like this again, his team would lose.

Eijirou looked at the time and frowned a bit.

Five minutes left.

Everything else happened so quickly after that, he was barely able to keep up. Uraraka ran off somewhere, probably did that because Midoriya told her to, but didn’t enter the room with bomb and then Bakugou came running from the stairs and stopped right in front of his opponent. They were screaming at each other and once again, Kirishima wished they had access to the audio.

Then suddenly, Bakugou charged forward and fired from his palm, right at Midoriya’s face but he redirected the worst of it with his quirk, that he finally used after all this time, towards the ceiling and he caught the glimpse of all the windows breaking from the blast joined with amazing strength from Midoriya on the camera view that was showing the outside of the building.

Bakugou stood there, shocked, Midoriya told him something while holding onto his now reddish and probably completely broken arm and then Uraraka darted from the right corridor behind Bakugou, slid clumsily on the floor and in unexpectedly smooth way, wrapped his leg with a white tape, that Midoriya probably gave her earlier, and stood up hurriedly. By doing so she made Bakugou, who didn’t even realize she was there in the first place, fall to the ground. Before he could react, she once again tapped his shoulder and while he float up, she wrapped him all around with the tape.

He looked like an angry balloon, floating under the mostly destroyed ceiling, probably cursing at her loudly.

Eijirou would laugh if he wasn’t in awe after witnessing Uraraka’s unexpected manliness.

In the meantime, Iida ran up to them and, instead of still playing the role of a villain, he looked with concern at Midoriya’s broken arm who used this as an opportunity and raised his good hand just to put a tiny piece of white tape, that at some point he kept for himself, on Iida’s chest plate.

Eijirou was pretty sure that he could hear armored guy’s scream of defeat all the way from there.

And then, Midoriya passed out.

“HERO TEAM WINS!” Loudly resounding voice of All Might announced but no one was cheering. No one knew how to react to the events that they just witnessed.

Chapter Text

Ochako released Bakugou from her quirk, making him land heavily on the ground and causing him to let out even more curses that were directed towards her and Deku. She ignored him and instead of helping him unwrap from the white tape, she ran up to Iida who was holding unconscious Deku.

“Uraraka-kun, that was very clever of you and Midoriya-kun to use the tape like that. Despite my team’s failure, I am very impressed with what both of you did.” Iida said, his voice was almost comically serious and Ochako couldn’t help but let out a soft chuckle, which he didn’t even notice.

“It was all Deku-kun’s plan, in all honesty.” She said while rubbing the back of her head awkwardly. “All I did was causing Bakugou-kun to use that terrifying attack.” Her voice turned into a whisper, so only Iida could hear. She had no intentions of taking the risk of the furious teen hearing her.

“What do you mean?” Iida asked, seemingly confused. “What happened?” He tilted his head and frowned a bit.

Before she had a chance to respond, a loud ‘I AM HERE’ distracted both of them and they turned around to see All Might come up the stairs, accompanied by two small robots carrying stretchers, probably for their still unconscious classmate.

The two small robots approached them with a mechanical chant of ‘to the nurse’ repeated over and over again. Iida slowly and carefully, with Ochako’s help, laid Deku down on the stretchers and the robots drove away, chant still coming from their speakers.

In the meantime, All Might leaned a little above Bakugou and asked still struggling teen if he needed help, but he of course refused, with surprisingly calm voice that still somehow managed to have lots of spite in it, and the hero just shrugged, his smile never leaving his face, then he finally walked up to them.

“Great job with that ambush, young Uraraka!” He clasped his hand against her back and she stumbled a little forward but smiled as well, proud of herself and happy about the approval from the hero. “Young Iida, I saw that you had a great plan in case young Uraraka was to come to the room with the bomb. Quite unfortunate that you didn’t get to face her!” He said just as cheerfully as when he praised her. She heard a quiet sniffle from her friend.

“Thank you, sir!” He said with a lot of gratefulness and bowed few times, almost violently if someone were to ask her. Ochako chuckled to herself when she thought what would happen if Iida was still holding Deku.

“All right then!” All Might laughed and turned around. “Join me and the rest of the class in the monitoring room, so we can discuss what happened there!” He left them to themselves.

“So…” Ochako started only to be interrupted by Iida’s voice.

“Forgive me, but I left my helmet in a room with the bomb, I must return for it.” And just like that, she was on her own.

… Almost.

Ochako looked back at Bakugou, who almost managed to unwrap himself from all the tape, no longer cursing at everyone and everything around him and actually looking like he was deep in his thoughts, with focused, yet still angry scowl.

She didn’t see his face when Deku screamed that he wasn’t scared of him, she could only speculate that he was angry or even shocked, but her decision to make him float was something she didn’t really expect herself to do.

And while Ochako couldn’t have been happier to receive praise from All Might, she felt as if she ruined the moment in that quick decision to do something on her own.

___

Katsuki unwrapped himself from all the tape and left the building without even looking at the two classmates that were short distance behind him. If he could, he would just straight up leave the rest of the lessons but he had to attend them. Whether he liked it or not.

“Why the fuck won’t you use it, huh?! Still looking down on me, lying bastard?!”

“That’s not it!”

“Always looking down on me while being scared shitless, you fucking coward!”

“I didn’t lie when I said that I’m not scared of you!”

Katsuki frowned at the memory of their little chat right after he blew up half of the fucking floor. Frustrated, he bit his tongue in an attempt to not lose control over his mind and breathing.

He held his breath for few seconds while still moving forward.

Don’t show any weakness, don’t give them any reason to pity you.

The worst of it all was that the words Deku spoke, after he finally used his fucking quirk and before passing out, were twisting in his guts like a drill.

“I didn’t want to use it, because my body isn’t able to take a strain from this quirk… But facing you… I couldn’t think of anything else… And I didn’t lie before!…”

How this bastard defeated him just like that? Katsuki was trying so hard to show everyone how amazing his quirk was, but as always, he just had to choose the worst possible way to do so, with too much power and too much of aggressiveness.

At this point everyone is probably convinced that he’s crazy.

He finally released the air from his lungs and took few deeper breaths.

Don’t lose your shit. Not right now.

When he entered the monitoring room, all eyes immediately focused on him and he had to use all of his willpower to stop himself from firing any explosions. Instead, he looked around the crowd of his classmates and tried his best to glare at all of them at once. Some turned away, few were whispering between each other. He noticed some that were blatantly staring at him.

A guy with half of his body frozen.

A girl with a ponytail.

Then another guy with a bare chest.

There were few others, but Katsuki frowned again, as all of their faces were slightly distorted and he couldn’t focus on a single one. He blinked few times in hope that it would fix this shit, but as always, it didn’t work. He focused on searching the only person he knew among this crowd, which luckily wasn’t that hard, as All Might was the tallest individual in the room.

When Katsuki located him, he heard a quiet chatter behind his back and he turned around to see the armored guy and Deku’s sidekick enter the room. Upon noticing him, the girl stopped and quickly looked down startled, as to avoid his gaze.

Katsuki swallowed a lump in his throat.

Another one.

He turned back to face forward and lowered his head to keep his eyes on the floor, as he couldn’t stand looking at any faces right now.

“Young gentlemen and ladies!” All Might’s loud voice travelled throughout the whole room when the other two stood next to him. “Our first trial, as great as it was, wasn’t entirely perfect! Does anyone want to share their thoughts?” He encouraged other students to speak their mind.

“Yes, All might-sensei.” Mature voice of some girl reached Katsuki’s ears and he glanced at the source of it. He saw the ponytail girl with her hand raised up, but he couldn’t find the strength inside of him to look around the crowd to make sure she was the only one with this hairstyle.

Once again, he locked his gaze on the floor.

“Iida-san, despite thoughtfully adapting his surroundings to his enemy’s quirk, at the end, forgot about his task and rushed right into the center of the battle and got captured by trying to help his opponent. It could have been easily avoided if he had a chance of communicating better with his teammate, Bakugou-san,” Katsuki tensed and bit his lip at the mention of his name ”who was obviously driven by some personal grudge. Furthermore, just like you told him earlier, sensei, such large-range attack in an indoor area is just idiotic.” She paused for a second and Katsuki hoped that she was done.

But of course she wasn’t.

“The bomb was supposed to be treated like a real one, and his reckless attack that caused the destruction of part of the room with it, in a real battle, would have caused it to go off, and I am most certain there would be no survivors.”

Katsuki scowled at her words and grit his teeth with such force that his jaw started hurting.

She was right. He knew she was right, but her words still stung him like little needles and all he wanted was for her to just shut up.

“The same goes for Midoriya-san who’s plan, although well thought and he himself was great with his cooperation with Uraraka-san, was still underdeveloped and caused him to injure himself severely. And then there is of course Uraraka-san who, despite using the situation to her advantage, made an impulsive decision that caused panic within her own team.” She coughed a little. “But I guess she redeemed herself at the end by capturing Bakugou-san.” The ponytail girl was finally done and silence stretched throughout the room.

Katsuki still didn’t dare to look up.

“W-well!” All Might’s voice was surprisingly sheepish. “Great answer, young Yaoyorozu!”

… Even if Katsuki could remember the ponytail, he was most certain he wouldn’t be able to repeat that name.

After that, All Might announced the next two teams that were to go through the trial and four students left the room to prepare themselves.

Katsuki stood still in his place in the back of the monitoring room and after taking few deeper breaths to try and keep himself moderately calm, peered at the screens to see how those two other teams were doing.

He just wanted to know if anyone else will fuck up as badly as he did, but what he saw caused him to believe that all the color drained from his face and he thanked himself for staying far in the back of the room.

The half-frozen guy from earlier covered the entire building in ice, before that, he made sure that his teammate was safe outside and then calmly walked into the room where his opponents- or rather one opponent was, some guy with a tail, he noticed slightly surprised. Katsuki assumed that his teammate was somewhere else in the building, but that wasn’t most important thing right now.

Right now, Katsuki couldn’t get his eyes off the frozen-guy. With how much confidence he used his quirk and yet with so much carefulness and awareness of his surroundings, even going as far as telling his opponent not to move, as All Might pointed out, and Katsuki was once again cruelly reminded of his own flaws.

There were people with powerful quirks.

Like him.

But those people knew how to use their quirks safely.

Unlike him.

There were people so much better than him, who didn’t make others flinch or stare with fear at them because of their quirks.

Katsuki didn’t pay attention to any other trials.

___

“Good work, everyone!” All Might spoke as they all gathered near the exit tunnel from the area. “For your first full training exercise, you all did wonderfully! Apart from young Midoriya, there were no big injuries!” Katsuki had a feeling that the hero didn’t say anything more about those injuries on purpose.

Apart from that, while Katsuki kept his gaze lowered, he couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was observing him, but had to do so with caution, as whenever he’d quickly look around, no one was looking back at him, but he just knew. Because so many people always stared at him, that at this point he could easily tell that he was being watched.

If it was All Might, likely not as he was keep summarizing their lesson, but if so, could he really blame him? He was just doing his job, observing the bad guy.

And if it was another student? Then, as much as he hated it, Katsuki was more than used to it.

After that, they all went back to the locker rooms to change and go back for the last periods. While changing, Katsuki mute out all the conversations, lost in his thoughts and it took him few minutes to realize he was the only one left in the room.

There goes his ‘arriving in class before anyone else.’

In moments like this, he regretted that his quirk wasn’t teleportation or some other, less dangerous shit.

But he wouldn’t even be here if it wasn’t for his quirk.

Katsuki fought off the urge to punch his locker and instead run his hands through his hair in frustrated manner. He felt his fingers brush against a scar that was on the lower back of his head, the one from the accident, the one he made himself and didn’t even remember it. The hair growing out from the ticker skin was stiff and so much rougher than on the rest of his head.

He took few deeper breaths.

It’s not dangerous. Don’t think like that, you weak fucker! He harshly scolded himself and left the locker room.

When he entered the classroom, some people looked at him, but otherwise didn’t pay much attention to what he was doing and he quickly sat down at his desk, maybe with too much force.

There were few conversations going on, mainly about All Might and the trials. Some were talking about Deku and Katsuki furrowed his eyebrows at the mention of their fight, even if no one said anything about him, Katsuki knew they would have if he wasn’t present in the classroom.

Unintentionally, his thoughts suddenly wandered to the only trial he watched.

The frozen guy.

He kind of stood out, so maybe he could look for him…

Katsuki took a deep breath and with a frown, subtly glanced at all the people presented in the classroom and only now noticed that the girls haven’t arrived yet.

They are probably taking too long in the locker room, maybe it’ll make it easier for him.

Katsuki looked around and for the first time actually took a look at his classmates, even if he did so only vaguely, to find that one covered in ice.

His gaze quickly jumped from one guy to another.

Blond guy, tall guy, black hair, another blond hair, another tall guy, or was it the same one?

Red hair, tall with bluish hair, another blond hair? Or did he look there already?

White-red hair, white hai- six arms? Fucking bird?!

With widened eyes, he turned back to face the front of the class.

How the fuck did I not realize there was a fucking bird in here?

… But of course he didn’t see any ice.

For fucking- what is he doing? Of course, if this was emitter type of quirk then it’s fucking obvious this guy wouldn’t have frozen body all the time, you imbecile. Why are you even trying to find him? Katsuki scolded himself and stopped looking around for anyone else.

Don’t try. There’s no use for it.

Few minutes passed and the girls entered the classroom, happy chatter between them all and for a split second, Katsuki even considered looking for that ponytail girl, but then remembered her harsh, yet truthful words. He pinched the bridge of his nose.

Just… stop.

For the rest of the day not only had he trouble focusing on the lessons, but he also couldn’t shake off the feeling that someone was keep staring at him all the fucking time.

___

Eijirou, ever since the end of the first trial, couldn’t help but stare at this Bakugou guy. He knew it was rude but there was something in the way he acted and carried himself that made Eijirou’s eyes follow him from time to time, to the point that at few moments he was almost caught staring by the always angry teen, like when All Might was summarizing their lesson.

Or maybe this was just his neutral face, that everlasting frown of his, it was hard to tell.

Eijirou, while talking with Kaminari, saw Bakugou look around the classroom, rather hurriedly.

Maybe he’s looking for Midoriya? Went through his mind, but what he saw next made him snort out loud, slightly startling Kaminari with the gesture.

“Dude, I haven’t finished yet, what are you laughing at?” He furrowed his eyebrows slightly and a pout formed on his lips. Right, he was in the middle of telling him about something that happened in his middle school.

“Sorry, sorry!” Eijirou smiled apologetically. “Your story just reminded me of something funny, come on, continue.” That wasn’t entirely true, but he had no intentions of telling him that Bakugou just had the same reaction to seeing the bird guy as he had the previous day.

After that, the girls finally came back and few minutes later, the teacher entered the classroom and they all took their seats.

The lesson was once again, one of the normal subjects – math, with Ectoplasm, kind of ominously looking hero, who he didn’t hear about before, but he’s pretty sure that he’d get used to him in no time. He hated this subject wholeheartedly, but lucky for him, they were repeating some basic stuff from middle school so he could look around a little.

Almost everyone was mindfully taking notes while glancing at the board from time to time. He noticed Kaminari scratching his head with a pen and the short girl with purplish hair scooting a bit to the right to see the board better, as the guy with six arms was blocking her view.

That’s when he noticed Bakugou. His eyes were glued to his notebook and the pen was moving ever so slightly, clearly not writing anything.

Eijirou couldn’t help but wonder if he was angry about his trial or maybe worried about Midoriya. Or maybe both of these things? In all honesty, he could only speculate.

“Kirishima, are you taking notes?” He heard a voice at his right and he quickly looked there to see the tall teacher towering above him. He glanced to the front of the class where the same teacher was writing something on the board.

So that’s his quirk.

“Y-yes! Sorry! Of course!” He said with obvious panic in his voice as few people around him laughed and he himself smiled sheepishly. The clone of their teacher went to stand at the end of the class, probably to keep observing students, and Eijirou decided that it wasn’t a good time to ponder about the classmate he didn’t really know.

___

The end of their school day came, but no one was really willing to pack their stuff just yet, both keep talking about today's events and some worried about Midoriya, who was absent, yet his backpack was still laying at his desk.

… Everyone except Bakugou, apparently.

“Come on, man!” Kaminari nudged him in the shoulder while standing between him and his only way out. “It’s only fair for him!”

“Don’t fucking touch me.” Bakugou snarked at him. “I don’t give a shit about what’s fair for him, I’m going home.” He was ready to shove Kaminari away when frog-like girl (Asui, he thinks was her name), who was the only person brave enough to intervene, cut in.

“Bakugou-chan,” he rolled his eyes in disgust and Eijirou barely stiffened a laugh, as he remembered that Asui have told all of them to call her Tsuyu-chan. “In all honesty and no offence to you, but you were part of the reason why Midoriya-chan hurt himself in the first place.” She explained bluntly with sure voice and with her index finger touching her chin.

“Well, offence taken.” He glared at her and started moving again. “I don’t fucking care, the nerd hurt himself with his stupid quirk, it’s his own fault.” Bakugou said and left the classroom for good.

He heard a quiet sigh from Uraraka and some comments following the lines of ‘can you believe this dude?’ from Sero and few other people. Some just looked worried while others like they didn’t really care.

And then, Eijirou decided to do something really stupid.

“I’ll stop him!” He said, only a bit too loudly, with too much excitement and, to everyone’s surprise, rushed after Bakugou.

He caught him halfway through, while he was going down the stairs.

“Wait, bro!” He yelled after him and breathed in heavily after a short sprint. Lucky for him, Bakugou actually stopped.

“… The fuck do you want, extra?” He asked, clearly annoyed but with slight suspicion in his voice.

… Yes, what did Eijirou want? He just rushed in without any plan, only with intentions of trying to make him go back to the class.

“I, uh…” He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, not really knowing what to say. Bakugou’s eyes narrowed at him, like he tried to make sense of something and it hit Eijirou. “Right! We- we weren’t introduced properly! To each other!” He laughed awkwardly while pointing between the two of them and noticed that the other’s posture just slightly relaxed. “I mean, I know your name, like, All Might said it today few times and then the others in class and-“

“Get to the fucking point, I don’t want to be late for the damn train.” Bakugou cut in before Eijirou would start babbling uncontrollably.

“Yes! Sorry! I’m Kirishima! Kirishima Eijirou!” He said quickly and bumped his fists together in front of his chest, a gesture he hoped would be signature for him one day, when he’ll finally become a pro hero.

“And? You’re gonna waste my damn time just to introduce yourself?” Bakugou looked unimpressed and even angrier at Eijirou for apparently wasting his time.

Eijirou quickly thought of an excuse as to why he came after him.

“Actually!” He took few steps down the stairs and Bakugou moved away slightly. Eijirou took it as a sign to not come any closer, so he stopped. “I kinda noticed you zoning out during our lessons?” His eyebrows shot up in surprise for split second just to turn into a furious frown. Eijirou decided to ignore it for now. “And I thought that maybe you need notes? Like, I know it’s just the beginning of the year, but everything is important and-“

“What, you think I can’t take care of my fucking studies?!” Bakugou raised his voice and took a step up, towards him and Eijirou gulped.

“N-no?! That’s not- I didn’t mean to-“ He didn’t really know how to react to that.

“Maybe you should care more about your own fucking notes, huh?”

Is he referring to their math lesson?

“Yeah, I know, but today it was easy so-“

“Oh, it was ‘easy’, huh? I fucking know how it’s gonna end. Don’t you dare come to me for help when you won’t be able to understand anything, shitty hair.” He turned away and stormed down the stairs, leaving dumbstruck Eijirou on his own.

“… Jeez…” Resigned, he went back to the classroom and the moment he stepped in, he was surrounded by his curious classmates.

“Did he try to kill you?” Sero asked, obviously only half joking.

“Pfff- no?” Eijirou laughed at his question but the tone of his voice didn’t convince anyone. “Okay, maybe he was this close to doing so.” He said and in a comedic manner, almost let his thumb and index finger touch, leaving barely a millimetre between them, a gesture that got a laugh out of the few people.

After all laughter died out, he heard the door slide open and Midoriya with his hand in a cast stepped inside.

“Oh! Midoriya’s back!” Eijirou couldn’t stop himself from announcing and ran up to his surprised classmate, the other few people following right after him. “Great job out there, bro!”

“Ah, Kirishima-kun…” Midoriya gave a little smile. “I really wouldn’t call it that great.” He said while looking a bit to the side.

“Are you kidding?! You dodged Bakugou’s attack like a champ!” Ashido jumped in and smacked Midoriya’s left shoulder few times, who looked thankful for the fact that she didn’t choose his broken arm to do so.

“He was at the top during the entrance exam, but you still managed to defeat him!” He heard Sero’s excited voice behind him.

“Yea, we couldn’t hear what the two of you were talking about, but that was some heated stand-off, man!” Midoriya’s eyebrows raised slightly at Kirishima’s words.

“You didn’t?” He asked, clearly shocked.

“Yeah, I mean- The audio was available only for All Might, all we saw was that the two of you argued about something, I guess?“ He said while trying to recall their fight. Eijirou looked at Midoriya and his wounds and was surprised to discover that he seemed almost relieved.

“Ah, Deku-kun, your arm!” Uraraka, who just came back to the classroom with a stock of books in her arms, ran up to both of them. “Oh no, your wounds weren’t healed?” She looked at his arm, clearly worried.

“Oh, yes… Recovery Girl said that I’m too worn out after the fight to get it healed immediately.” He shrugged a little, as if having broken arm in few places wasn’t that big of a deal and then he looked around the class. “By the way… Do you know where Kacchan is?”

Silence fell around them.

“Oh, we tried to stop him but he just left…” Uraraka was the only one willing to answer.

Right, she was the only one to actually witness at least half of their argument, as she was Midoriya’s teammate.

“… Sorry guys, I have to catch him!” Midoriya said suddenly and off he was, just like that.

“Man, he just got back from the nurse.” Kaminari didn’t hesitate to comment.

“Yeah, seems like he really wants to go back there, going off to face Bakugou again.” Sero added and they both snorted loudly.

“Guys, come on… Don’t be rude!” Ashido nudged Sero with her elbow but couldn’t stop herself from snickering as well. Eijirou sighed, barely stopping himself from laughing too.

But aside all the joking, he couldn’t help but wonder about their fight, especially after seeing how Bakugou acted throughout the whole day.

He’ll have to ask Midoriya about it.

___

“Kacchan!” Izuku screamed after his old friend who was halfway through to the school gate. Kacchan stopped at the sound of the hated nickname and Izuku did the same, just few meters behind. Izuku still gulped when he saw Kacchan’s glare when he peered at him over his shoulder.

Izuku slouched a bit. It’s not like he could tell him about All Might and his borrowed quirk, so why did he even go after him? He glanced quickly at Kacchan, despite his usual frown, it was pretty obvious that he was giving him a chance to speak.

“My quirk- it was... dormant!” He blurted in panic, as that was the first thing that came to his mind.

“… huh?!” Kacchan turned all the way to face him properly and clearly expected answers.

It was too late to back out from this lie now, wasn’t it? Izuku took a deep breath.

“It- it awakened during the entrance exam! I didn’t have a single point and I was panicking and then there was this huge zero-pointer and Uraraka-san couldn’t move out of its way and- my body just… moved on its own…” He looked him straight in the eyes. “That’s when I used it for the first time!” It wasn’t technically a lie, since he actually did use it for the first time during the exam. “It was so powerful that three of my limbs broke and I couldn’t move…” He finished a bit quieter.

Kacchan was silent and Izuku couldn’t read his face. He decided to push it a bit further.

“So our quirks- they are kinda similar, aren’t they? Destructive, kind of dangerous for our own bodies and stuff…” He let out a weak laugh and patted his right arm that was secured in a cast.

Izuku jumped, surprised, when he saw Kacchan wobble a bit, his head lowered.

“What the fuck.” His voice was like a snarl. “So you got fucking lucky and got a quirk, you bastard? And the irony, it’s just as fucked up as mine, huh? You fucking hypocrite?! Telling me my quirk is ‘scary’ while having one on your own, that is just as out of control as mine, you piece of shit?!” Kacchan raised his tense hands a bit and Izuku braced himself for an attack that never came.

“You haven’t seen this icy asshole all collected and shit! And what that fucking ponytail girl said-“ He put one of his hands onto his face. “Fuck!”

Izuku was ready to sprint towards him in a moment, as he was sure that he was going to blow up his own face, but when nothing like that happened he loosened up a bit and noticed that Kacchan was trembling.

Or maybe it’s just his imagination?

And then, they finally locked their eyes together and his own eyes widened in shock when he saw tears in Kacchan’s.

“I’ll prove to you and every single fucker out there that my quirk is great! Just you wait, bastard!”

Kacchan was still shaking but Izuku had no intentions on pointing it out, instead he nodded with determined expression and watched as his old friend turned around and started walking away.

“Don’t think you’ll ever be able to beat me with that shitty quirk of yours ever again!” Kacchan screamed while still moving forward.

“Yep, there he is…” Izuku whispered to himself with worried frown and an awkward smile. He was about to go back to school but suddenly, All Might sprinted past him.

“YOUNG BAKUGOU!” He put a hand on Kacchan’s shoulder, making him stop. “Don’t you worry! Without a doubt, you’ve got what it takes to be a pro! From here on out, you just have to-“

“Get off me, All Might.” Izuku caught Kacchan peer at the hero before he said his name. “I can’t walk.” He said with spite and All Might let go of his shoulder. “I’ll become a hero who will surpass you, even with my quirk!” He finished and started moving away, leaving dumbstruck All Might behind. “And change your fucking hair!” He quickened his pace and disappeared behind the gate.

“My hair..?” All Might tilted his head, clearly confused as he brought his hand up to touch his hair.

“Ah, he meant mine!” Izuku stepped in before the hero would jump to the wrong conclusions. “He just- really hates it…” He didn’t know if All Might was informed about Kacchan’s condition, but if he wasn’t, then he hoped that this would be enough of an explanation for him.

“… Your hair is quite simple, I have to admit.” All Might told him bluntly with hand on his chin.

“I- what?!” Izuku looked at the hero, startled by his sudden declaration.

Should he change his hairstyle after all? Was it actually that terrible?! What All Might meant by that?!

The hero laughed at Izuku’s panicked face.

“I’m just joking, young Midoriya, do not worry!” He patted his head with huge smile and Izuku could finally relax after all what happened this day.

___

There were few things Mitsuki never expected to see in the kitchen in her house.

Her rather tall husband using a stool to reach something on the top shelf in the cupboard.

Her bratty son crying over some mundane thing while lying on the floor.

Herself, roasting her son for crying, as there was enough of burnt chicken in the history of this kitchen.

But when she saw her son, angrily stabbing some meat while cursing, she could tell with all honesty in the world that this was exactly what she would expect to see.

“What are you doing?” She walked up to Katsuki, but kept the safe distance, as there was no way she’d come anywhere near him while he was holding a knife.

“What the fuck does it look like?” He snarked while still stabbing the meat.

“You do realize that you have to actually cut it and not stab it, right?” She moved to the stove to get a kettle to make herself some tea.

“Yeah, no fucking shit.” He said but actually started cutting it properly like a normal human being.

“Stop cursing so much, for fuck’s sake.” Mitsuki filled the kettle with water and put it on the stove. “Damn, who fucking raised you?” She said that more to herself, while being more than aware of the irony of her own words.

“Oh, I wonder who?!” He yelled, his words filled with sarcasm, and threw the knife into the sink, then started looking for spices.

“You want some tea? Herbs for relaxation would be good for you!” She laughed at his angry scowl. “Anyway, why are you preparing food? I thought I left you something to eat after school in a fridge? Didn’t you check?” She moved towards the refrigerator in intentions of seeing if she actually forgot to do so.

“… It’s for tomorrow.” His words stopped her from opening the fridge and she looked at him with raised eyebrow.

“Don’t you have a cafeteria in there?” She was pretty sure that a school like UA would have something like that in the building.

Katsuki seemed reluctant to answer.

“… Do you not want to eat there?” She nudged him in the shoulder to which he just scowled and took out a frying pan from one of the cupboards. “Katsuki.” She wanted to nudge him again but boiling water in the kettle stopped her and she moved to remove it from the stove.

“There’s too many people in there.” He said quietly, keeping his eyes lowered.

Oh.

Right, as far as her son was the last person to be described as shy or timid, he didn’t really like to be in the middle of huge crowds for obvious reasons.

This reasoning she could understand.

But she couldn’t understand why wouldn’t he stick to at least one group of people from his class.

Speaking of-

“Do you remember anyone?” She asked and poured the water into her mug. She changed the subject on purpose but she wasn’t able to tell if Katsuki was thankful for dropping the first one or pissed at the new one.

Probably both.

“… There’s a bird in my class.” Mitsuki laughed at his statement and continued to do so, even as he glared at her. “And some guy with ice powers. Couldn’t find him, tho.” Katsuki shrugged and put all the meat onto the pan.

“… Alright, anyone else?” She asked and didn’t even try to hide hope in her voice.

Katsuki kept quiet for few moments and then-

“No.” Mitsuki was quite sure that he didn’t want to tell her something but she decided not to press. She took her tea and headed to leave the kitchen.

“I’ll find out anyway, you brat!” She laughed at Katsuki’s cursing and left the room for good.

___

“… Alright anyone else?” Katsuki didn’t fail to notice the hopeful tone in his mother’s voice.

He actually thought about it for few seconds. There was no sense in telling her about that annoying armored guy or smartass ponytail girl or that guy who went after him.

… Especially not the last two. That would require explaining all the shit that went down today.

He thought about someone else but quickly scratched the idea of telling her about that.

“No.” He settled on saying in the end, because he had absolutely no intentions of telling her about the bare chest of some stupid guy. She’d jump to the wrong fucking conclusions but really, who could blame him? It was just the fact that his costume was fucking ridiculous.

That’s it.

He noticed that she finally decided to leave him alone.

“I’ll find out anyway, you brat!” That old hag yelled on her way out.

“Fucking piece of shit!” He cursed and started looking for something to throw, meanwhile he could hear his mother laugh at his words. “Damn it!” He settled on releasing few explosions from his palms. “God damn it…”

He took a deep breath and got onto finishing his lunch for tomorrow.

Katsuki just hoped that the next day wouldn’t be just as fucked.

Chapter Text

When Katsuki left his house he really hoped this day would be at least a little bit less fucked, but as he approached his school and saw a crowd of reporters with cameras and microphones, he thought that he should’ve expected something like that from UA, even if he didn’t know what all the fuss was about at the time.

He quickly realized that this morning he read on hero news site that it was just announced that All Might closed his agency for some time, as he became a teacher at UA.

Right, that’s why they’re here.

A little bit too early for that, if he had to be honest. There were only few students coming to school at this hour, Katsuki included with this bunch, for obvious reasons, but he wasn’t about to explain himself to anyone.

He saw some woman approach a fellow student and Katsuki stopped a short distance away, as he didn’t want to be in frame of the camera that woman’s colleague held in his arms and didn’t waste any time to turn it on and pointed it towards surprised girl with blond hair so light it was almost white.

“Can you tell us what’s it like to have number one hero as a teacher?!” The woman almost shoved a microphone she held into girl’s face.

“Oh- I don’t really have classes with him?” The girl laughed awkwardly. “I’m in general studies class so-“ She slowly backed away just to quickly turn and sprint through the gate towards the school, leaving disappointed reporters.

Katsuki realized that instead of staring like an idiot he could’ve used the girl as a distraction to sneak into the school unnoticed, but maybe it wouldn’t work anyway, since there were actually a lot of journalists.

He looked around in hope that some other student would be around, but of course he was on his own.

… Fucking shit, gotta get in at some point, right? He sighed, annoyed.

Katsuki quickly started moving towards the crowd and the gate, unfortunately, as he passed the crowd, one of the journalists rushed after him.

“Excuse me!” He couldn’t help but wonder, just how one’s voice could be this annoying? “Could you tell us about All Mi- wait, aren’t you the kid who got caught by the Sludge villain?”

Katsuki stopped and grit his teeth.

Don’t fucking curse at her.

“I’m not!” That probably didn’t convince anyone. “Just buzz off!” He yelled while glaring at her over his shoulder (why all annoying people have ponytails?) and quickly went through the gate, not reacting to any other calls after him.

___

Katsuki was lucky enough to get to class without any further interruptions and even when other students were entering the room, no one really bothered him. Then, when Aizawa entered the classroom, Katsuki didn’t fail to notice that he surprisingly came here without his sleeping bag. After few seconds, all of the talking between others shut down. Their teacher always looked like he was in a bad mood and no one wanted to risk their luck by interrupting him from speaking.

He put some papers on his desk and looked around the class.

“All in all,” he started, sounding as unimpressed as always, “good work with yesterday’s battle training. I’ve looked through your grades and evaluations. Bakugou.” Aizawa’s eyes fell on Katsuki and he felt a cold shiver run through his spine and he scowled. “You’re acting like a kid, grow up and stop wasting your talent.”

“… Got it already.” He muttered and looked to the side. He heard Aizawa reprimand Deku for breaking his hand.

At least someone acknowledged it wasn’t his fault.

“Now, onto homeroom business…” He started a bit reluctant. “Sorry for the sudden announcement, but today…” Strange feeling went through the whole class like they expected a pop quiz from him or some other shit, like he would actually do something like this during freaking homeroom.

“You will pick a class president.” He stated and looked around the class that went absolutely nuts.

Everyone started screaming to pick them, but Katsuki had no interest in such thing. He was aware that in the hero course at UA this position would mean leading a group and it would be well suited for a top hero in the making, but it would also require him to remember all the names of all his classmates and probably more than two teachers and a principal.

The position itself would be annoying anyway, besides all the memorizing, he’d have to take into account all of the boring, mundane tasks like attending some meetings for class representatives. He’d rather eat shit than interact with some extras, he had enough of them in his class already.

Everyone went silent when some guy started yelling for them to quiet down.

Katsuki looked over to see what the fuss was all about and saw that despite the guy’s little speech about democracy and leading everyone being a heavy responsibility, he had his hand raised the highest among the whole crowd.

Katsuki rolled his eyes and sunk deeper into his chair.

Just get it over with.

In the meantime, he saw Aizawa-sensei pull out his sleeping bag from under the desk (so that’s where he kept it), wrap himself in it and lie down in the corner of the classroom.

Katsuki kind of wished he could do that too, sometimes.

“Alright, everyone will vote then!”

Oh for fuck’s sake-

Who was he even supposed to vote for, he didn’t know any of these assholes.

Katsuki took out a piece of paper anyway and stared at it for few moments. He knew only two names, his own and Deku’s and there was no way he’d vote for this fucking nerd. But then again, so far technically two other guys introduced themselves properly, but at first one he didn’t really look at and the second one came up with some shit about him not being able to take fucking notes.

Anyway, both of them were fucking annoying.

… But what were their names? Katsuki scowled and started lightly tapping his pen against the piece of paper. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought that that one guy from yesterday, who introduced himself, had really terrible hair.

He couldn’t recall his name, but for a second he thought it started with an ‘i’, only to remind himself that this was maybe the first guy’s name that started with that letter.

So what about this shitty hair one?

Kari-something...?

…

Yeah, whatever. He didn’t remember their names at all so there was no fucking use in voting for these two anyway.

Katsuki wrote down his own name in hopes that this one vote wouldn’t change anything.

___

“What the- Who the hell voted for Deku!?” He heard himself shout before he could think about his words.

“Guess we know it wasn’t you!” Someone behind him commented, but he still stared in disbelief at the board with votes written out on it.

There was one vote for him, just like he predicted and hoped for, but then Deku had three fucking votes and that was enough for him to become their class representative, which was both ridiculous and was pissing him off. The nerd himself didn’t look that much happy about it either.

At least he won’t have to waste time on memorizing someone new. The unwanted thought went through his mind and he frowned at it.

“Alright, if that’s settled we can continue with our normal lesson.” Aizawa came out of his sleeping bag and stood next to the two new class representatives. “Everyone sit down. Just because we wasted half of our time, that doesn’t mean we have to waste the rest of it as well.”

___

“Kirishima, you going to the cafeteria?” Kaminari asked and leaned against his desk. It was already time for lunch and the class was almost empty, only few people still inside, either slowly leaving the room or waiting for someone. He noticed Ashido leaving the class with few other girls.

“Yeah, I wanted to check out what’s the big deal about.” Eijirou stood up from his seat and moved with Kaminari towards the door. “That one hero is the chef here, right? What was his name..?” He wondered and suddenly stopped when he noticed Bakugou still sitting at his desk, going through things in his bag.

“Lunch Rush, I heard that even his rice is-“ Kaminari stopped, already outside the classroom, when he noticed that Eijirou wasn’t anywhere near him and he peered back inside. “Kirishima, what are you waiting for?” He followed his line of sight and his gaze fell on Bakugou as well. “… Dude, no-“ He whispered, more than aware of what Eijirou wanted to do.

“Oh, come on. What’s the worst that can happen?” He smiled and started moving towards the always angry looking guy.

Maybe he could make a good second impression.

He didn’t get far, as he felt a hand on his wrist. Eijirou looked back at Kaminari who was acting way too dramatic for this kind of situation in his opinion.

‘You’ll die’ He mouthed and quickly opened his other hand at the side of his face, probably in intention of mimicking an explosion going off from a palm.

“… Bro.” Eijirou managed to get out in ironic voice and forced Kaminari to let go of his wrist. Before he could stop him again, he was already at Bakugou’s side. “Hey, dude!” Eijirou put his hand on the corner of his desk and smiled as friendly as he could manage.

“The fuck do you want?” Bakugou didn’t seem impressed with his smile and just glared at him, turning his attention back to his bag. “Get off my space.” He added and pulled out a lunchbox.

Eijirou didn’t want to test his luck and took a step back.

Maybe he’s still angry about their last encounter?

“Hey, listen, about yesterday-“ Bakugou stopped focusing on unwrapping his food, his whole body suddenly tense, and actually looked at Eijirou.

“… What about it?” He asked slowly with suspicion and Eijirou panicked for a second, as his face looked like he had no idea what Eijirou was talking about, or at least like he was trying to figure out what he meant.

Shit, did he forget?

“You know…” Eijirou shrugged awkwardly. In the corner of his eye he noticed Kaminari who was not so subtly waving and mouthing ‘abort’ over and over again towards him. Eijirou sighed and coughed awkwardly into his hand. “After last lesson ended, when I went after you and kinda-“ he searched for the right word. “-implied? That you don’t take notes and stuff and-“

“Oh, so it’s you.” Eijirou was interrupted by Bakugou’s sudden angry muttering.

“W-what?” He wasn’t sure if he heard that correctly, as the other said that more to himself.

“What, want to add something to that? Wanna die so badly, Shitty hair?” The other one stood up from his seat, his voice full of spite. Eijirou instinctively took a step back and bumped into another desk.

“Now, no need to get angry!” Kaminari swiftly stepped in between them, his right hand on Bakugou’s shoulder and the other waving awkwardly. “We just wanted to- uhh…“ He quickly glanced at the forgotten lunchbox. “-ask you if you want to go with us to the cafeteria!” He said quickly on one breath.

“Yeah! Totally!” Eijirou immediately caught on to Kaminari’s plan, only to realize that was actually good idea. After all, what’s the better way to bond with new people than over good food? “You wanna come!?” He said that with more excitement than necessary and he didn’t fail to notice Kaminari’s face when he realized that his question was an honest one.

“Dude-“ He’ll really have to tell Kaminari the description of the word ‘subtle’.

Bakugou narrowed his eyes at them and his frown only deepened.

“I have my own fucking food.” He said after few awkward seconds passed and he smacked Kaminari’s hand away from him who laughed awkwardly.

“Yeah, you look like someone who would buy food in advance!” He took few steps away while holding Eijirou’s forearm to make him follow him out of the room, in which they were the only ones left.

“I make my own fucking food, who do you think I am?!” Bakugou yelled at them which only made them move towards the door at quicker pace (or rather made Kaminari do so, as Eijirou didn’t have much of a choice if he didn’t want to trip over by not following the speed).

“Wow, that’s so cool!” Eijirou answered him with an honest amazement and at this point he didn’t even have to look at Kaminari to know he was making that stupid face again.

“YES, THAT’S REALLY GREAT.” Kaminari, a bit panicked, slid the door open and was one foot out the class. “Enjoy your meal!” He yelled as he forced Eijirou out of the room and closed the door with more force than he actually needed to apply. “Dude.” He breathed out as he let go of Eijirou and leaned against a wall. “Shit, I thought he was going to kill you.” Short pause during which he made sure that Bakugou didn’t happen to decide to follow them. “Or worse-” his eyes widened dramatically “-kill us, because of your stupid stunt!” He added with a little bit of spite mixed with irony and nudged Eijirou lightly on the shoulder.

“Aren’t you being a bit too dramatic?” Eijirou started walking down the corridor towards the cafeteria, Kaminari short distance behind him. “I think he was just still angry because of yesterday.” He pondered for few seconds, both about the battle trial and their short exchange at the end of the day.

“He looks like someone who’s angry all the damn time.” Kaminari caught up to him and nudged him with his elbow. Eijirou couldn’t help but snicker at the comment.

___

Katsuki stared at the door which just closed behind those two idiots and sat back down to finally eat his lunch.

What was these assholes’ fucking deal, anyway?

Katsuki could once again focus on unwrapping his lunchbox and opening it, but of course the thoughts of these idiots still haunted him at the back of his mind.

He had no clue as to who was that yellow haired guy, but at least he knew that Shitty hair was actually the same bastard from yesterday.

It’s not like he tried to memorize him.

Katsuki sighed, slightly resigned and before he could finally bite into his food, a loud alarm blared through the speakers in the class and probably on a corridor.

“For fucking shit, what now?!” An annoyed yell escaped his mouth, while Katsuki himself hoped that this wasn’t some useless practice in case of an actual, serious alarm.

“Security level 3 has been broken. All students, please evacuate in orderly fashion.” A mechanical voice answered through speakers and Katsuki let out exasperated groan.

Level 3 means that someone’s trespassed the school’s grounds. Katsuki recalled quickly from one of the school’s leaflets, then stood up from his seat and headed towards the door. When he slid it open, he saw some alarmed students sprint through the corridor and decided that before he’d join in with the panic-fest, he’ll at least try and see what‘s the big deal first.

He didn’t have to search for too long, as all he had to do was to walk up to one of the glass walls to see what was going on.

Katsuki had a good view at the school’s gate that seemed like it had its entrance destroyed and saw rather big group of people gathered right outside the door leading to the main building of the school.

Upon closer inspection, he saw that some of them had cameras in their hands and others probably microphones. Katsuki sighed as he realized that these annoying journalists, perhaps the same from this morning, somehow found their way through the gate, probably thanks to one of their quirks.

He walked up closer to the window to have a better look at the entrance and saw that two people stopped the journalists from entering. Katsuki narrowed his eyes and noticed that one of them had familiar bandages around his neck.

Probably Aizawa-sensei. He thought and looked at the other person who, he assumed, was possibly another teacher and hero.

Katsuki looked around to check if anybody was in the corridor to make him join other students and as he didn’t see a single soul, he went back to the class and sat down at his desk, once again.

If no one was actually able to enter the school, then there was no reason for such panic, especially if the situation was under control.

Katsuki was finally able to eat his lunch in peace.

___

“I believe… Iida-kun is better suited to be the class president!” Deku said while standing in front of the class and then kept explaining why he thought that this guy was better for the position, some people agreeing with him

Just how fucking dares he to withdraw from the position and who the fuck is that ‘Iida’ dude!?

Not that Katsuki wanted Deku to be the class rep, but it was easier for him to remember that damn nerd than whoever he just called out.

Some of the other students actually seemed to like the idea of the other random guy suddenly becoming the new class president, as they listed some reasons and mentioned something about this dude giving a good performance during the alarm.

Maybe, after all, he should have gone and join the others.

Katsuki caught Deku’s gaze and looked at him with all the hatred he could gather. Deku tensed and looked to the side, and as he walked past him to take the seat, he purposefully avoided looking at Katsuki, knowing all too well that he was still trying to kill him with his glare.

“If that’s finally settled-“ Aizawa stood up from his place in the corner. “-I want to tell you to mentally prepare yourselves during weekend. Sometime, at the end of the next week, you’ll have another advanced exercise in one of our training facilities.” Excited whispers went through the entire class. “Don’t waste time, do your homework and whatever other stuff teenagers do these days.” He mumbled and left the room, class apparently dismissed.

After few other lessons, everyone packed up their stuff and were slowly leaving the classroom, Katsuki shoving Deku with his shoulder as he walked past him and glaring one last time at him, the nerd lowering his gaze at the motion.

___

Eijirou didn’t fail to notice how Bakugou was looking at Midoriya after he announced his decision to make Iida the new class president. As far as he was concerned, both of them weren’t too fond of each other in a slightest and as they didn’t seem to interact that much, besides the battle training with All Might and then all the angry glaring going on from Bakugou’s side, they must have known each other from middle school or something along those lines.

Eijirou couldn’t help, but be a little bit curious, that’s why instead of immediately going home, he watched as Bakugou shoved Midoriya and glared at him, as if this was Midoriya’s fault. Eijirou walked up to him after Bakugou left the class and patted him on the shoulder, making him jump a bit, surprised at the sudden presence at his side.

“Are you alright?” He asked while pointedly looking towards the door where Bakugou disappeared few seconds ago.

“Ah, yes.” He said after he realized what Eijirou meant. “I’m kind of used to Kacchan’s moods.” Midoriya let out an awkward cough and started moving towards the corridor, Eijirou following right beside him.

“…So,” he started after a short moment of silence, “this dude has no chill?” To put it lightly, Eijirou thought and while he didn’t say it out loud, he was pretty sure that he didn’t really have to.

“Yeah…” Midoriya looked to the side, clearly not being the biggest fan of talking about Bakugou. “You could say that…” He said and they began walking down the stairs.

“What’s his deal, really?” Eijirou asked suddenly, no malice in his voice, just pure curiosity.

“… What do you mean?” He decided to ignore the fact how Midoriya tensed all over for a split second before he asked this question carefully, like he was buying himself more time.

“You know-“ he shrugged, not sure how to proceed. “-he’s angry all the time? And I wouldn’t really describe him as approachable.” This statement got a low chuckle from Midoriya. Eijirou looked at him, expecting some explanations, but when none came, he decided to push a bit further. “You two know each other, right? Like from middle school or something?”

They got to the lockers and stopped short distance before Midoriya’s.

“Our moms are friends.” Midoriya smiled to himself. “We’ve basically known each other since diapers.” He laughed, probably at some memories from his childhood. “We went together to the same schools, we used to be friends back in the kindergarten, but then he-“ Midoriya cut himself off, before he could finish the sentence, paling a bit and quickly looking away. “I- I mean, we just aren’t friends anymore and there’s really nothing more to it!” He waved around awkwardly. “I need to go, the train leaves soon!” He rushed to his locker to change his shoes quickly.

“Wait, Midoriya, what’s this about?” Eijirou walked up to him.

“NOTHING.” He yelled quickly, loud enough that it made few people around turn their heads towards them. “Kacchan’s just kind of antisocial, that’s it!” Midoriya laughed nervously while rapidly wrestling with his shoes and keep avoiding looking at Eijirou.

“You do realize that your behavior kinda denies that, right?” He realized too late that maybe he should not have said that, as Midoriya quickly stood up without tying his shoelaces.

“That’s.” He looked him straight in the eyes, brows furrowed in somehow troubled frown. “It.” He said through clenched teeth and ran out through the exit, leaving dumbstruck Eijirou alone.

“Was that Deku-kun?” He quickly looked around to see the familiar faces of Uraraka and Tsuyu who just arrived. “What happened?” She tilted her head a bit and looked at him with raised eyebrow.

“I-“ he started, unsure of what he was supposed to say. “-I might have overstepped with my questions. Kinda… I guess…” He looked down sheepishly. It hasn’t even been a week since they all met and he had no right on pressing for any information regarding Bakugou’s and Midoriya’s relationship. He sighed and looked at the girls who didn’t seem like they got what he was talking about and then it hit him.

The battle trial.

“Uraraka!” She jumped a bit at the sudden attention directed at her and Eijirou took a mental note to maybe start approaching people more gently, as she was the second person who reacted like that to him in a span of fifteen minutes. “Do you know what Bakugou and Midoriya were talking about during your battle?” She blinked a few times, confused.

“Ochako-chan.” Tsuyu cut in, putting a hand on other girl’s shoulder. “He means yesterday’s lesson with All Might.” A short ‘ah’ escaped Uraraka’s mouth.

“It was mostly screaming and arguing.” She said and crossed her arms on her chest, shifting a weight of her body to one of her legs. “You didn’t hear it, but right before I sent Bakugou-kun flying for the first time, Deku-kun told him that…” She looked to the side, apparently not sure if she should actually say anything about it.

“You don’t have to talk about it, if you don’t want to!” Eijirou assured her quickly and she smiled a bit.

“He... Deku-kun said that he wasn’t scared of him.” Eijirou’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. He didn’t know what he was expecting of the girl to say, but he was pretty sure it wasn’t that.

“What did Bakugou-chan say to that?” Tsuyu asked with never changing expression, yet with the voice indicating that she was curious about this as much as Eijirou.

“Yeah, did he say anything?” He took a step towards Uraraka. “None of the cameras caught his face when this was happening.” She quickly looked at him after this statement.

“They didn’t?”

“No,” Tsuyu was quick to explain.”All we saw was that Bakugou-chan just stood there for few moments.” She finished and looked at Eijirou who nodded with confirmation.

“I actually wanted to ask someone about his reaction.” She looked back and forth between them and started fiddling with her fingers in a nervous manner. “Because he just… stood there,” she straightened her hands “not doing or saying anything and Deku-kun was just looking at him too, all shocked and stuff and I thought that he was just angry and shocked at what Deku-kun said, and this was a good moment to do something so I tapped his shoulder, but maybe I shouldn’t have and-“ she was cut off by Tsuyu, who once again put a hand on her shoulder.

“It’s alright, Ochako-chan.” She smiled reassuringly. “You just used the situation to your advantage.”

“Yeah!” Eijirou was more than willing to agree with her. “That was very manly! And you surprised everyone!” He pumped his fists together.

“But because of that he used that attack and-“

“Come on, even All Might didn’t see that coming.” He shrugged and put his hand on her other shoulder.

“But Yaoyorozu-san said-“

“As Kirishima-chan said, you couldn’t have predicted what would happen.” Tsuyu interrupted her. “And I am almost certain that Yaoyorozu-chan wouldn’t be able to expect that either.”

“Yeah, we all saw that Bakugou is kind of unpredictable!” He added and laughed a bit when he remembered both of his encounters with him.

“… Thank you, guys.” Uraraka seemed relieved and visibly relaxed, all tension gone from her body.

“At your service, my lady.” He bowed dramatically, almost tripping over but otherwise was pleased with himself when he heard a quiet giggles from both girls.

“Kirishima-chan, shouldn’t you be heading to the train station, already?” Tsuyu asked as they finally moved to their lockers, which surprisingly were pretty close to each other.

“What?” Eijirou started looking for his phone in his bag. “How do you know?”

“You’re usually going on the train that arrives before mine.” She explained simply and soft 'ribbit' escaped her mouth.

Eijirou finally pulled out his phone and checked the time. When he realized that his train leaves in eight minutes, he changed his shoes in the record time and dashed through the door, quickly apologizing to the girls for leaving them like that.

___

It was pretty late when annoying, non stopping buzzing woke Katsuki up. Tired and irritated, he reached for his phone, that was charging on his desk and squinted at the bright screen, checking the time.

11:23pm

He groaned into his pillow, but unlocked his phone anyway, while still lying down. He blinked few times and changed the brightness of the screen. When that was done, he finally checked what woke him up.

There were two notifications from the hero news websites from almost an hour ago and one e-mail from twenty minutes ago, but neither of these things woke him up.

The things that woke him up were over hundred notifications from some chat room that he wasn’t even aware he was a part of. Katsuki pushed himself up on his elbow and sat cross legged on his bed, trying to make sense of this stupid situation.

The notifications were keep coming up and he finally looked properly at the chat’s name.

Class 1-A

… What in the everlasting fuck-

Few more messages popped up, he finally tapped on the chat’s little icon at the top of phone’s screen and read a few of the last ones.

Kaminari Denki: and that’s why I hate when people don’t put milk back in the fridge

Jirou Kyoka: that is… more thought through than I’d expect it to be

Midoriya Izuku: Quite impressive analysis, Kaminari-kun!

Kirishima Eijirou: I agree with u bro

Kirishima Eijirou: like srsly who does that??/

Kaminari Denki: RIGHT?! LIKE WHO RAISED YOU, FREAKING WOLVES?

Katsuki frowned at the messages and names, from which only one he could say he knew and then a new message popped up.

Kirishima Eijirou: oh Bakugou’s finally here!

Ashido Mina: yo bakugou, do you have any ideas what we’ll gonna do next week?

Who are these people?!

He scrolled all the way up to the beginning of the chat and read quickly over first few notifications and messages.

Iida Tenya created the chat room

Iida Tenya changed the name of the chat room to Class 1-A

Iida Tenya added Aoyama Yuga, Ashido Mina, Asui Tsuyu, Bakugou Katsuki and 14 other people to the Class 1-A

Iida Tenya: As class president, I have decided that it would be convenient for us, as a class, to create one chat room where we could exchange the information and help each other out with our studies.

Yaoyorozu Momo: That is a splendid idea, Iida-san.

Midoriya Izuku: Great idea, Iida-kun!

Todoroki Shouto: convenient

Sero Hanta: ayy nice thinking

Kirishima Eijirou: that’s our class rep!!

Ashido Mina: neato

Iida Tenya: I trust that you all will treat this chat room with upmost respect.

Tokoyami Fumikage: Of course, we shall not disturb the peace in here.

Iida Tenya: Unfortunately I must leave, but please feel free to participate in a conversation. Goodnight everyone.

Koda Koji: Goodnight, Iida-kun. Thank you for creating the chat

Uraraka Ochako: ooooh good thinking Iida-kun! goodnight!

Iida Tenya is offline

Asui Tsuyu: … I have a feeling that it won’t end well.

Ashido Mina: anyway, you guys like pineapple on pizza?

Asui Tsuyu: And I was right.

Shoji Mezo: …

Koda Koji: Are we sure this is alright?

Shoji Mezo: Technically, we are exchanging information.

Ojirou Mashirao: … people eat pizza with pineapples?

Aoyama Yuga: That’s distasteful

Ashido Mina: your distasteful

Yaoyorozu Momo: Ashido-san, I believe it’s supposed to be “you’re”.

Ashido Mina: ……… >:C

Jirou Kyoka: heeeeeheheh

Satou Rikido: I like chocolate pizza the most

And that’s where more of the senseless messages started coming in, each new topic had nothing to do with the previous one and Katsuki went all the way back down to the most recent messages.

Ashido Mina: yo bakugou, do you have any ideas what we’ll gonna do next week?

Ashido Mina: with all what Aizawa-sensei said and stuff

Ashido Mina: baaaaakugou

Jirou Kyoka: chill Ashido, he’s probably catching up

Yaoyorozu Momo: Bakugou-san, you don’t have to read everything, it was not as important as the beginning of the chat.

Kaminari Denki: uM? excuse mE?? My hatred for warm milk is important, thank you very much

Ojirou Mashirao: I believe that most people just silenced the chat at some point, why won’t you do that too, Yaoyorozu?

Hagakure Toru: yeah, i just came back and turned it back on from silence mode :O im gonna catch up with everything tho! <3

Kaminari Denki: at least one person cares

Kaminari Denki: bless u

Hagakure Toru: of course! I want to get to know you guys better <3 ;>

Yaoyorozu Momo: As the vice president, I feel compelled to keep up with everything that is going on in this chat when Iida-san is not present.

Ojirou Mashirao: … I guess that makes sense

Kaminari Denki: hey @Bakugou Katsuki do you have an answer for task 4 for our English homework?

Katsuki frowned, annoyed even more than before, and after few moments of going through chat's settings, removed himself from the chat altogether. He didn’t have time for some stupid chats with some fuckers, especially when he didn’t know almost any of them. He put his phone on a silence mode, just in case of someone adding him back, and tried to fall asleep once again, trying not to think about some strangers who tried to make him participate in their stupid activities.

___

Eijirou stared at the notification under Kaminari’s last message.

Bakugou Katsuki left the chat

He already gathered that Bakugou wasn’t the biggest fan of socializing, but as Ojirou pointed out, he could have just put the chat on silence mode. New messages caught his attention and he turned it back to the chat.

Kaminari Denki: ??????//

Ashido Mina: lol??

Yaoyorozu Momo: … That wasn’t very nice.

Jirou Kyoka: Rude

Ashido Mina: R U D E

Midoriya Izuku: That’s just Kacchan…

Kaminari Denki: well kacchan is rude

Midoriya Izuku: sorry about him, guys, he’s not the biggest fan of group chats

Fumikage Tokoyami: Is he a fan of anything, really?

Eijirou looked over the last few messages, he stopped at Midoriya’s short explanation and realized that after their earlier talk, he didn’t have a chance or even tried to apologize to him about their less than pleasant exchange.

He quickly opened the separate chat with Midoriya and started typing.

Kirishima Eijirou: hey, Midoriya

Midoriya Izuku: oh, hello Kirishima-kun

Midoriya Izuku: did something happen?

Kirishima Eijirou: not really

Kirishima Eijirou: I just wanted to apologize

Midoriya Izuku: for what??

Eijirou laughed quietly to himself at his oblivious question, but quickly regained himself. Now wasn’t the time for laughing.

Kirishima Eijirou: for pushing too far about Bakugou

Kirishima Eijirou: you clearly didn’t want to talk about him

Kirishima Eijirou: or whatever his deal is

Kirishima Eijirou: and I was kind of a dick

Kirishima Eijirou: so

Kirishima Eijirou: I’m sorry

He watched for few seconds as the three dots were keep appearing and disappearing a couple of times, indicating that Midoriya wasn’t sure what he should answer with.

Midoriya Izuku: I wasn’t very nice during this conversation either, running off and yelling at you and stuff…

Midoriya Izuku: But seriously, don’t worry about this. There’s nothing wrong with Kacchan! He just doesn’t like interacting with people.

Midoriya Izuku: That’s it.

It looked like the last two messages were supposed to convince both Eijirou and Midoriya himself, but as he was already on a thin ice in this situation, he decided to let it go and finish on a friendly note, rather than pushing too far once again.

Kirishima Eijirou: If you say so then I’ll drop it!

Kirishima Eijirou: sorry once again

Midoriya Izuku: It’s fine! I’m sorry too

Kirishima Eijirou: no need to be! I gtg so goodnight, Midoriya!

Midoriya Izuku: Me too, goodnight, Kirishima-kun

Midoriya Izuku is offline

Eijirou finally relaxed and lied down on his bed. He really shouldn’t snoop around like that and maybe Midoriya was actually telling the truth. Maybe Bakugou was just really antisocial and there wasn’t anything deeper to it all.

He decided to call it a night and put his phone beside his pillow to make sure that the alarm would wake him up for his morning training.

Chapter Text

It’s kind of a battle, over the weekend. Katsuki’s classmates were persistent on keep adding him back to the group chat for some reason, that he wasn’t aware of. He would be less mad if they actually talked about important school stuff, but whenever he'd checked what they were going on about, he got annoyed to see that it’s a debate about fucking memes, or something along those lines, and then there were the notifications that were keep coming up. All this irritated him to the point where he'd just leave the chat.

Half of the Sunday was calm, no one added him back for most of the day, he got to train and check if he did all of the homework without being bothered by any of those idiots.

But then he of course got to stare at the couple of new notifications and glared at the direct mentions of him.

Kaminari Denki added Bakugou Katsuki to the Class 1-A

Kaminari Denki: aight, if we spam him, he’ll come here sooner

Kaminari Denki: @Bakugou Katsuki

Ashido Mina: @Bakugou Katsuki

Asui Tsuyu: @Bakugou Katsuki

Ashido Mina: aw Tsuyu-chan is participating too <3

Asui Tsuyu: Of course, Mina-chan, I’m curious as well

Hagakure Toru: me too!!! @Bakugou Katsuki

Iida Tenya: Is this really necessary, Kaminari-kun? If Bakugou-kun doesn’t want to be bothered then we shouldn’t do so. Especially if the topics we’ve discussed so far aren’t related to our academics.

Asui Tsuyu: Iida-chan, we just want to check something, don’t worry.

Kirishima Eijirou: @Bakugou Katsuki !!!!!11

Katsuki didn’t know why they added him again, as he couldn’t read any of the messages between the moment when he left the chat the previous evening and the moment when he was added back, just now, but he did know this shit was pissing him off. He wanted to leave again, but as soon as they noticed him, they started spamming again and one of the messages actually got his attention.

Kaminari Denki: WAIT BAKUGOUT

Ashido Mina: lol bakugOUT

Sero Hanta: that’s basically what he’s been doing all weekend

Kaminari Denki: lmao ye im taking all the credit for this joke

Kaminari Denki: BUT THAT’S NOT IMPORTANT R/N

Kaminari Denki: Bakugou, bro, my man

Asui Tsuyu: Kaminari-chan, get to the point or he’ll just leave again.

Kaminari Denki: yes, shit, right

Kaminari Denki: do you

Kaminari Denki: by any chance

Kaminari Denki: not know how to silence the chat?

Katsuki stared at the question and felt the blood boil inside him.

___

Eijirou looked at the question Kaminari asked just now and couldn’t help but hope that Bakugou would finally participate in the chat. Whenever someone would add him, it usually took few dozen messages for him to notice and much less for a notification of him leaving to appear. None of them knew why he would do that, probably besides Midoriya, but he would go silent whenever Bakugou appeared for those few minutes.

Then again, finally, Midoriya wrote something this noon about ‘Kacchan not participating in any chats ever’ and so they started wondering if Bakugou actually knew how these worked.

And here they were now.

Kaminari Denki: not know how to silence the chat?

The suspense was killing him. At this point he was really curious, others were too, apparently, as no one was typing anything after Kaminari finally asked the question, being the one to volunteer to do so.

(He didn’t. It was a lottery.)

The little notification under Kaminari’s message said that Bakugou was one of the people who read the text and then-

Bakugou Katsuki is typing.

The three dots next to Bakugou’s name were keep disappearing and Eijirou held his breath. Of all things he expected to be doing with his new classmates, waiting for a reply from the most antisocial one wasn’t really one of them.

Eijirou was expecting to see a chain of curses to appear any second, but after few moments-

Bakugou Katsuki left the chat

Kaminari Denki: HOLY SHIT

Ashido Mina: HE DOESNT???

He was quite shocked at the discovery. Because, seriously, who at that age doesn’t know how to silence a chat?

Kirishima Eijirou: @Midoriya Izuku dude is this for real??

Midoriya Izuku: WHy AFRE YU ASKIN ME

Uraraka Ochako: its because you’ve known him since elementary school, Deku-kun

Ashido Mina: lmao a misyakes

Yaoyorozu Momo: the mistakes*

Ashido Mina: >:CCC

Kirishima Eijirou: kindergarten, actually

Hagakure Toru: how do YOU know that, Kirishima-kun? >:O

Kirishima Eijirou: … that’s not important right now

Uraraka Ochako: suspicious

Aoyama Yuga: you are right, mon cheri, that’s very suspicious

Kaminari Denki: WHO CARES IT DOESN’T MATTER

Eijirou took a mental note to thank Kaminari someday for his obliviousness.

Kaminari Denki: HE DOESN’T KNOW VFSGNJNJHDTHJD

Kaminari Denki: WHO DOESN’T KNOW THAT, I THOUGHT HE WAS, LIKE, IN TOP THREE IN OUR CLASS OR SOMETHING

Yaoyorozu Momo: Intelligence and academic knowledge don’t really have to do anything with… silencing a chat.

Ashido Mina: do u know how to do this?

Yaoyorozu Momo: Well, of course.

Sero Hanta: @Todoroki Shouto @Iida Tenya do you guys know how to do that?

Iida Tenya: It would become highly inconvenient at some point if I wasn’t able to silence the chat.

Todoroki Shouto: same

Todoroki Shouto: which I’ll do right now, I’m busy

Kaminari Denki: SEE!? BUT ALSO R UD E, TODOROKI

From this point, it was mainly Kaminari and Ashido screaming about their newfound knowledge, while most people probably simply decided it would be the best to just ignore them.

Eijirou realized that he never really had to silence any chats he’s been in, but how hard could it be? He tapped on the settings icon in the top right corner of the chat. One of the first few options read “Leave the chat”.

This one was pretty easy to find.

He scrolled down a little and discovered that he himself couldn’t find the option to silence the conversation. Eijirou scrunched his eyebrows and went back to the main chat and looked at the icons on top.

From right to left; the settings one, then a little phone icon, that no one would ever dare to tap on, as this would start the actual conversation between them all, the next looked like a camera, and tapping on this one would be even worse. But then, finally at the end, a tiny speaker.

Eijirou tapped on it and a notification popped out, the question read ‘Do you want to silence Class 1-A?’

That easy, huh?

He tapped on ‘no’, then took a few screenshots and checked if Bakugou was still online, frowning a bit when he saw a gray dot next to his profile picture.

He’ll take care of it some other time.

___

They were all packed into a bus, Katsuki sat at the window and kept his gaze locked on the moving scenery, only glancing at some girl who sat down next to him, probably because of the lack of any other free sits. They were going to one of the many UA’s facilities to, according to Aizawa-sensei, do some rescue training. When the teacher advised them that it would be better for them to leave behind some elements of their costumes, as they could sometimes limit their movements, Katsuki decided on wearing only one of his gauntlets and on leaving his mask as well.

He didn’t pay much attention to any conversations, that was until he heard his name. Someone was commenting on quirks in their class and mentioned him.

“It’s Bakugou and Todoroki, if we’re talking strong and cool.” Said a guy with red, spiky hair while looking at him and smiling in what was probably a friendly manner.

Katsuki’s eyes widened slightly when he realized that it was supposed to be a compliment, and about his quirk, of all things. He didn’t really know how to react to it so he just looked away with short huff and a scowl.

“But Bakugou-chan is so unhinged and harsh, he’d never be popular.” His head turned back quickly towards the girl who dared to say that.

She looked like a fucking frog?

“THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY, AMPHIBIAN!?” He yelled and saw her stick out her long tongue and shrug with short ‘see?’ coming out from her mouth. He was about to share a piece of his mind when someone else also joined in- a yellow haired guy in leather jacket.

“We’ve only barely began to know each other and already you’ve made it so clear for us to see the unpleasantness of your steamed turd of a personality!” He pointed at him and started laughing mockingly.

“Yeah, okay, mister vocabulary, how about I pound you, huh?!” Few people started laughing.

Katsuki thought about how bizarre it was, to be mocked by someone, but it being about his personality instead of his quirk or… this thing.

As he was about to say something else, Aizawa announced that they arrived at their destination and they all had to leave the bus.

___

Katsuki listened carefully to what the new, astronaut-like hero had to say about the facility they were all in (or USJ, as they called it), as he didn’t want to fuck up any other tasks.

But he already made the bad first impression, so what was the point?

After the basic introduction of what the USJ had to offer, he heard Deku announce, in very excited manner, the hero’s name – Thirteen – and few other stuff about all of their rescue job. If reluctantly, he had to admit it, sometimes this asshole’s nerdiness would come in handy when it came to heroes Katsuki didn’t know. The bastard was always so hyped about them, that he would just talk and talk about them, sometimes explaining in great detail what kind of hero work they were doing on daily basis.

Then, Thirteen started explaining the way their quirk works. This time, Bakugou didn’t really care, all the information about it not that important to him, but what they said in the end, really hit him in the right place.

“My power could easily kill.” When those words fell from behind their helmet, mood around all the students immediately changed and air became somehow colder. “I have no doubt there are some among you with similar abilities.” Katsuki’s shoulders tensed and for a split second he couldn’t breathe. He knew that they didn’t mean him specifically but damn, if that didn’t hit close to home…

Katsuki realized too late that the hero was still talking and quickly focused on what else they had to say.

“This class will show you a new perspective. You will learn how to utilize your quirks to save lives.” Thirteen looked around and seemed pleased that everyone was paying close attention. “I hope that after this lesson, you’ll leave with the understanding that you’re meant to help people. Your powers are not meant to inflict harm.”

Katsuki’s breath once again got stuck in his throat and he was thankful that people around him were too busy cheering after Thirteen’s speech to notice his lips that he bit into to stop himself from releasing a happy sigh after he heard their last words.

Maybe, there is still a chance for him.

When all the ruckus after hero’s speech calmed down, Aizawa spoke out.

“Great. So, first off-“ He was interrupted by sudden movement and noise in the center of the facility. Katsuki saw a strange, purple vortex appear near the fountain and, once it got bigger, some people started coming out of it. Everyone tried to step closer to have a better look at what was going on and Katsuki wondered if this was supposed to be a part of their training. “HUDDLE UP AND DON’T MOVE.” Alright, that definitely wasn’t the part of their training.

Some students actually took few steps backwards, while other stood their ground, Katsuki being one of them.

“Thirteen, protect the students!” Aizawa commanded and put on his gold goggles, the bandages around his neck already moving around slightly. “Don’t move!” He yelled as one of the guys was about to ask what was going on. “Those are villains!”

Katsuki was sure that he wasn’t the only one who felt a cold chill run through his spine. He frowned and tried to take a better look at what was happening in the center.

After some more arguing, Aizawa told Thirteen to take care of them all and leaped from the top of the stairs to face the villains on his own. Thirteen told them to start running towards the exit, but half way through, the same purple twirl appeared on the ground right in front of them, cutting off their way to safety.

“I cannot allow it.” A huge, smoky figure, with what seemed like yellowish, squinted, glowing eyes, emerged from the vortex and loomed above them. Thirteen raised their hands in protective manner to cover few of the nearest students.

The villain introduced their group as The League of villains.

“We came here to end the life of All Might, the symbol of peace.” When he said that, Katsuki heard few shocked gasps, but all he could do was clench his jaw to stop himself from cursing at the wavering mass of smoke.

How fucking dare they.

He continued his little speech, but Katsuki already wasn’t paying attention.

All in all, the villain tried to sound polite and almost gentleman like, but considering the situation and the fact that he just threatened to kill All Might, it sounded sick and twisted. Katsuki frowned in disgust and anger. He glanced to the side to see if anyone else had a similar reaction.

One person, right next to Katsuki, looked back at him. The guy with stupid, almost familiar hairstyle stared at him with intense eyes and subtly raised his right hand which hardened in a second.

Katsuki squinted his eyes at him, a gesture that might have been perceived as showing suspicion, but he was simply trying to figure out if this particular guy was actually the same, annoying Shitty hair he somewhat interacted with before.

Katsuki slightly tilted his head towards the villain and saw the red head nod quickly, taking on a battle stance.

They both attacked in the next second; Katsuki released huge explosion with the use of his single gauntlet, the Shitty hair hardened his whole arms and tried to hit the smoke repetitively, causing it to disperse around. Katsuki caught a glimpse of something metallic in the center of all the mist.

“Not if we end you first! I bet you didn’t see that coming!” Red head yelled after their little ambush and smiled triumphantly for a second, before he saw all the smoke come back together, yellow eyes glinting ominously.

“Ahh, that was quite dangerous…” The villain said more to himself than to them, sounding quite angry. “Even if you all are just students…” His form started getting bigger and began to surround them. “You are still best of the best…”

“Get back! Both of you!” Katsuki heard their teacher’s desperate voice. He looked back at them and that’s when he realized that they all were already mostly surrounded by the purple mist. Before he could react in any way, it started swirling around them and he had to cover his eyes.

___

When Katsuki opened his eyes, and the purplish, smoke-like thing that surrounded him disappeared, he looked around and realized he was in some sort of old building, with plaster falling off the walls and almost all the windows with broken or none glass. He looked out the nearest window and saw more destroyed buildings.

Some sort of teleportation quirk. He thought in a way of explaining to himself what happened.

For a second, Katsuki thought that the Warp guy teleported him somewhere outside the campus or even the city, as he didn’t remember any disasters on that huge scale to happen in Musutafu recently. That was when he noticed some sort of lake with an artificial waterfall and a boat near it.

Katsuki was still in the USJ.

He was about to turn around to check the area to which he was sent, but then he felt someone put a hand on his shoulder and he quickly turned around, grabbed the person by the wrist with his gauntlet-less hand, the other, with smoke already emarging from his palm, grabbing his red haired opponent by the face and pushing him to the ground, onto his back.

“Holy fuck, Bakugou!” Panicked yelp reached his ears and when he felt soft flesh turn into hard, rock-like material, he loosened his grip unwillingly, the guy looking up at him. “What the hell, I’m not a villain! I’m your classmate!” Accusing voice caused Katsuki to panic for a split second, but he didn’t let it show on his face. He didn’t stand up immediately, instead took a closer look at the guy.

He had something resembling a muzzle on his face and when he looked further down, he saw a bare chest.

That’s just fucking impractical.

Katsuki carefully raised his hand from the guy’s hardened face and his gaze fell onto his strange, red hairstyle.

… Shitty hair? He quickly took kind of a wild guess while keep squinting at his hair, he was prolonging it, to the point it was getting kind of awkward, but just this time he wanted to be sure that this person wasn’t a villain.

But the villain would already start attacking, wouldn’t he?

“Can you cut this out, bro?” Red hair’s eyes were darting back and forth between Katsuki’s own eyes and his gauntlet, that was still dangerously close to the face of his apparently not-opponent. “I’m all down for a spar session anytime you want, but like, not right now, maybe?” Katsuki just rolled his eyes, and yes, that stupid way of talking was enough of a proof that it was Shitty hair.

He got up and took few steps backwards, watching the other one raise quickly to his feet and dust off his bare arms and chest. Only now, the skin on his face turned back into soft flesh, and Katsuki realized that if this guy would actually wear something to cover his chest and arms, it would probably rip.

Katsuki blinked a few times and shook his head.

“Come on dude, what was that all about?” He waved his hands around, seemingly confused and probably angry at Katsuki’s doings.

Katsuki put his gauntlet free hand on his hip and turned his head away, to stare at some wall.

“Don’t fucking sneak behind other people like that.” He muttered with a growl and frowned. How else was he supposed to explain himself?

“You were ready to blow up my face! I know we, like, just met and don’t really know each other that well, but come on!” He sounded almost hurt and Katsuki had to swallow down all the guilt along with the curses he wanted to shout at him. “You can’t just attack people who approach you from behind!?”

“We were just attacked by villains, what did you expect me to do!? Welcome you with open arms, you idiot?” This just had to work as an explanation, right?

“Yeah, but still, you didn’t have to pin me down to the ground!” Katsuki grit his teeth. Seriously, what else was he supposed to do, not knowing who was behind him and then not recognizing the person, once he turned to them? He could keep this argument going, but they really needed to keep moving and he didn’t have any ideas for more excuses that would prevent him from mentioning the real reason he attacked his classmate.

“Can you shut up? You’re wasting our time.” He said, instead of keep arguing, and started moving towards the stairs leading to a lower floor. He stopped when he heard someone coming up them.

“We are totally not leaving this conversa-“ Katsuki stopped Shitty hair from finishing his sentence by silencing him with raised hand and pointing towards the stairs. He seemed to understand, as he raised both of his arms and hardened them in front of his chest. Katsuki himself took a battle stance as well. “Can you hear them?” Red head asked in a whisper, getting ready.

Before Katsuki had a chance to answer, a handful of villains jumped into the room through windows and a few more ran up the stairs, one already charging at Katsuki who, thanks to his quick reflexes, immediately shoved him aside with his just a bit too powerful blast.

“Guess it’s you and me against them, Blasty.” Katsuki frowned at the sudden nickname, but didn’t look back to glare at his temporary partner, instead keeping his eyes on the villains and trying to take a mental note to remember not to attack anyone with spiky, red hair.

“Try to keep up, Shitty hair.” The latter let out a short laugh and jumped into action, attacking villains in front of him, Katsuki following right after, blasting explosions at anyone who would try to attack him.

___

“Is that all of them?” Katsuki asked rhetorically, while breathing heavily after sending off the last two villains with bigger explosion. “Fucking lame ass weaklings…” He sighed and wiped off the sweat from his cheek.

“Alright-“ Katsuki turned around to once again stand face to face with his only ally in this situation, whether he liked it or not. “-let’s move on to help the others.” Shitty hair finished with heavy breathing, while deactivating his quirk. He looked around, as if making sure that there were no other villains hiding in the room. “If we’re still here, the others must be somewhere in the USJ too. I’m kind of worried about the people who don’t really have the ways to attack.” He looked back at Katsuki and when once he realized that Katsuki had no intentions of participating in the conversation, he continued. “If it wasn’t for us jumping so suddenly, Thirteen would have sucked in that mist guy… As men, it’s our duty to take responsibility!” The guilt in his voice was obvious, despite him trying to hide it with his determination.

Katsuki felt a knot in his stomach at the mention of their little stunt and only now he realized that it actually might have been kind of stupid to do, but he still didn’t need anyone to remind him about the fact that it was partly his fault that the whole class got scattered all over the fucking place.

At least it wasn’t only his fault…

But Bakugou wasn’t about to waste time on trying to find some randoms, especially if he didn’t really know who he would look for.

“If that’s what you want-“ he moved towards the stairs and noticed slight movement on the ceiling “-then go on alone. I’m gonna kill that Warp guy!” He said and got ready to fire off an explosion.

If he wouldn’t be able to beat up some weakling villain, then how on Earth could he see himself as a real hero?! If he could find the Warp guy, this time he actually would be able to beat him, since he might have discovered his weakness…

Shitty hair let out a surprised sound.

“You’re still acting immature! Like when Aizawa-sensei said!” Katsuki clenched his jaw and fought off the urge to knock out some of the guy’s sharp teeth. “Besides, normal attacks don’t seem to work on him…” Shitty hair finished with a bit calmer voice.

“You’re an idiot.” Katsuki said bluntly, the other guy looking up at him with surprise. “He’s how these punks get around. Take him down? They’ll have no way to run away!” He watched the realization sunk onto him.

After that, the last villain decided to show himself and attack from behind, while loudly announcing his presence, like an idiot that he was. Katsuki turned around quickly and grabbed guy’s rather small head. He knocked him out with more precise explosion.

___

“If they’re sending such idiots against us,” the smoke from the blast of Bakugou’s explosion and dust of the floor dispersed slowly as he turned back to face dumbstruck Eijirou, “we should be fine.” The knocked out villain fell to the ground, unconscious.

Eijirou gulped and for a second couldn’t get over the amazing reflexes of his classmate.

“You-“ he started unsure, while turning off his quirk, which he activated on instincts when the last villain suddenly appeared out of nowhere “-you sure are calm all of a sudden… I thought you were more like, you know…” Eijirou motioned with his hands awkwardly, mimicking the way Bakugou sends off his explosions. “DIE! DIE! DIE!” The last word was disturbed by his own laughter.

“I’M ALWAYS CALM AND RATIONAL, YOU FUCKING SHITTY HAIR!” Bakugou screamed at him in his usual manner.

“Ha, there it is, exactly like that!” Eijirou was about to laugh even more at his reaction, but he realized that Bakugou was ready to leave this place.

“Whatever, you do you, I don’t give a shit.” He already turned away and started walking.

“Wait, wait-“ Eijirou managed to get his attention. “You believe in others! Like a true man, Bakugou!” He hardened his hands and forearms, and clasped his fists together in front of his chest. “You’ve convinced me, I’m coming with you!” Even if Bakugou didn’t look impressed by his declaration, keep staring at him with the same frown, Eijirou was already pumped and ready for more action.

“… Whatever.” Was all he said after few seconds. He turned away and was on his way on leaving the building.

Eijirou stood in his place, his hands still in front of his chest, not sure how to react. But at least Bakugou didn’t tell him to fuck off, or something, so he followed right after.

They managed to leave the building without encountering any other villains and quickly ran through the Collapsed Zone and in the direction of the centre of the USJ, where villains appeared in the first place.

___

“Get out of my way, Deku!” Katsuki screamed as he jumped and blasted the purple mist that was closing on his useless, old friend.

He was still running with Shitty hair from the Collapsed Zone when he realized what was going on in the distance in front of them. At first, all he saw was someone being sucked into the, at this point familiar, purple vortex while being held by strange monster, that’s when he sprinted ahead and saw someone else running up to him at his left. He was ready to attack, but the half frozen guy nodded at him and Katsuki realized it was the same one from the trial battle. They got close enough for him to notice yet another person running towards the whole scene and he almost immediately recognized green hair and red shoes, that were about to be surrounded by the smoke.

He quickly grabbed the metallic collar, that right now was the only physical thing on this villain, and threw him onto the ground, while still holding onto it. In the meantime, Frozen guy used his quirk to cover in ice half of the monster that was holding onto a man in a suit, with yellow hair and sunken, black eyes-

… All Might? Katsuki wanted to take a better look at the supposed hero, without his flashy costume it was hard to tell immediately, but the Warp guy started moving.

“Don’t try anything, you fucking Warp piece of shit.” He said while pushing the strange collar onto the ground with more force. When he glanced around quickly to check on his surroundings, he noticed that red head (Shitty hair?) tried to jump at some guy with hands plastered all over him, but failed, and then All Might managed to free himself from the grasp of the creature.

The Warp guy tried to move again and Katsuki released short explosion from his hand.

“I figured that you actually aren’t made of this fucking mist when you started going on about my attack being dangerous, so you use all of it to hide your real body, huh!?” Katsuki smiled to himself when his opponent’s strange eyes widened and a sound of surprise escaped him. He, once again, tried to move but Katsuki quickly released yet another, bigger, explosion, making him stop immediately. “Don’t move!” He leaned closer to him. “If I see you doing something fishy, I’ll fucking murder you.”

“That’s not very hero-like, bro…” He heard someone’s voice and pressed even harder onto the collar to stop himself from lashing at this person.

Fuck off, asshole, he’s saying it so the guy doesn’t try anything.

Suddenly, the Handy guy gave an order to the creature for it to retrieve their way back, and before Katsuki realized what was going on, he blinked and suddenly was sitting on the ground, few dozen meters away from all the villains (Warp guy somehow in one of the hands of the monster), Deku and two other guys standing around him, just as confused as he was.

“Kacchan!” Deku’s worried voice reached him. “You dodged that?! Amazing!” He sounded surprised, which only pissed Katsuki even more.

“Shut the fuck up, I didn’t.” He answered, still in shock, while keeping his eyes on the villains.

Apparently, All Might saved him in a blink of an eye, when Noumu (as Handy guy called him) rushed at him.

“This guy just doesn’t know how to hold back, eh?” The hero asked while still keeping his battle stance after the creature's attack.

“Oh, you forced me to! I was just defending my comrades.” He shrugged and shook his head. “But earlier that plain looking guy attacked me too!” Handy guy gestured towards their group, and Katsuki glanced at Deku who let out a short, surprised gasp. “He wanted to use everything he had!” His voice was full of accusation, as if this whole situation was Deku’s fault.

Katsuki would agree in any other circumstances, but right now wasn’t the time.

“Ah, but I guess when you use violence to protect others, that makes you admirable, huh..?” He said with hatred. “Is that right, hero?” Last word was full of revulsion, as if even the sound of it was disgusting for him. All Might frowned at him. “You know what? That pisses me off! Both heroes and villains thrive off violence but we are still categorized! ‘You’re good, you’re evil’! Symbol of peace? Ha! In the end, you’re just a tool to keep us down!” He glared at All Might from behind the hand on his face. “Violence breeds more violence. I’ll show the world that by killing you.”

Katsuki frowned and the need to wipe this guy off the Earth only grew stronger. He wanted to try and attack him, but All Might’s reasonable voice stopped him.

“What a nonsense.” He said almost calmly but seemingly angry. “If what you said was true, your eyes would glisten with fire, just like other idealistic villains I’ve encountered.” Katsuki wasn’t sure what All Might meant by that before he finished. “But you’re just enjoying yourself, you big liar.” The villain sneered at hero’s accusatory tone of voice.

“You got me…” Suddenly there was some kind of amusement coming from him. “Saw right through me!” He laughed in disgusting way.

This was getting more and more annoying and apparently, Katsuki wasn’t the only one to think so.

“It’s three on five.” Said the Frozen guy, and just now Katsuki realized that half of his head wasn’t covered in ice anymore and he could finally see that his hair wasn’t completely white, instead being partly red, and that he actually had a big scar on the left side of his face and around his eye.

Quite the discovery. Katsuki mocked himself and took a mental note of the only half face around.

“Kacchan already discovered Warp guy’s weakness!” Deku’s voice brought him back to reality and he couldn’t help but wonder if Deku had called the villain by that nickname on purpose, after Katsuki himself said it earlier.

“These are some messed up guys-“ Shitty hair on his right got ready to attack any second. “-but with us supporting All Might… We can beat them back!” Determined, he hardened both of his arms.

“No!” The hero seemingly wasn’t about to let them fight. “Get out of here!” He sounded both angry and as if he wouldn’t take a ‘no’ for an answer.

“If I hadn’t stepped in with my ice, things wouldn’t go so well.” Half face cut in and took a step forward, covering half of his right arm with frost.

Show off.

“But All Might, you’re bleeding!” Deku, as always, looked as if he was about to start crying.

“Fear not!” Hero wasn’t looking at them anymore, getting ready for the real battle. “Sit back and watch the pro get serious!”

“Noumu. Kurogiri.” They heard Handy guy’s voice. “Take him. I’ll handle the kids.” He said and rushed forward, towards them. They all got ready to fight back.

He was getting closer, but then, sudden blow from All Might’s movements made him stop dead. Hero and monster ran at each other and the impact from when their fists clashed was so powerful that they all had trouble standing still on the ground, Deku actually falling to one of his knees, being unable to stand still, Katsuki soon joining him when All Might repetitively hit the creature, the wind from attacks being too strong for anyone to not have trouble standing and keeping everyone from getting closer, even the Warp guy.

In the end, All Might threw him onto the ground, and when monster tried to stand up, the hero got rid of him with the last final blow.

“PLUS ULTRA!” All Might screamed and sent him off with such power that he went right through the ceiling of the USJ, as if it was just a thin sheet of paper, the whole place shaking like after an explosion.

So that’s the world of pros.

“I’m really out of shape. In my heyday, five of those punches would have been enough!” All Might, after all that, stood his ground, looking down at the shocked opponents. “But that was over 300 just now!” He moved his arm around as if to loosen some strained muscles. “Well, villains-” He took few slow steps towards them. “-how about we hurry up and finish this?” His voice was almost mocking.

“… You cheated…” Handy guy started scratching his neck for some reason. “What’s going on… He’s not weaker at all….” The scratching got much more intense, the sight of it making Katsuki scrunch his nose in disgust. “Did she mess up her report...? Did they lie to me?!” What he was saying didn’t make any sense and it seemed that All Might thought so too as he spoke again in rougher tone.

“What’s wrong? Weren’t you the one who wanted to finish it? If you can take me, then bring it on!” The unbeatable hero challenged and glared at the shocked villain who finally stopped scratching his neck.

Both criminals stood in their places, apparently too afraid to move after what they witnessed and after All Might’s threatening words.

Handy guy let out something like a yelp, like he was afraid and Katsuki couldn’t really blame him. Even if he swore to surpass the number one hero some day, he never would have wanted to face All Might like that.

“Right… That’s a whole new level…” Half face seemed to realize something as well and started backing off.

“Midoriya!” Shitty hair was next to speak. “Let’s get out of here! I’m really not looking forward to becoming a hostage!” He said half jokingly and started walking in the direction of the tall stairs, meanwhile, Katsuki thought that becoming a hostage to villains wasn’t something people should joke about, but that wasn’t the thing to be worried about right now. After all, what are the odds?

Both villains were quickly discussing something between themselves, as all the weaker ones, of whom Aizawa-sensei earlier took care, started raising.

“All Might will take care of these two!” He heard and glanced to see Shitty hair at his side. “We’ll have to deal with those guys!”

Katsuki quickly looked around, other villains were quick to surround them and he got ready to fight back at any second.

“Midoriya!” Red head yelled after Deku who, after staring at All Might for stupidly long amount of time, decided to throw himself between him and the Handy guy who started running towards the hero along with the Warp guy.

He saw everything in slow motion, as Deku tried to hit the metallic collar in the center of the mist, then a hand going through it and right at his old friend’s face.

Now, Katsuki might not have known what his quirk was, but hearing his creepy giggling, he got a strange feeling in his guts and immediately jerked forward towards them, but then someone literally shot the hand. He looked and saw a person holding the freaking guns at the top of the stairs, surrounded by more people, probably pro heroes and their teachers, he realized as he managed to notice the mouse principal sitting on a shoulder of some hero in red costume.

Weaker villains started attacking, after few seconds it all became a blur of who was on which side, but luckily, Katsuki didn’t have to worry about this, as no one was paying any attention to them anymore, especially that the Handy guy retreated with the use of Warp guy’s quirk, with the last words of threat towards All Might.

“If so many of pro heroes came to USJ,” Half face said while looking around, “that means the villains were only there…” He pointed out, in the meantime, Shitty hair ran off towards Deku.

“Yeah, no shit.” Katsuki answered him with spite in his voice, while keep looking at the pro heroes who were busy taking care of fallen villains. “They came after All Might who was supposed to be here, that was pretty obvious to begin with.”

Before Halfie had a chance to answer him, they heard someone’s voice shouting at them.

“Hey, guys!” Katsuki turned around and stared at the person running towards them. “Cementoss said that we need to get to the exit and join the others!” The one with spiky red hair exclaimed while joining them.

“What about Midoriya?” Katsuki rolled his eyes at the question that came out of the guy with a scar. “Is he alright?” He asked, even if the tone of his voice didn’t have any ounce of concern in it.

“Who fucking gives a shit?” Katsuki cut in before Shitty hair could answer. “Probably broke something again with that ‘great’ fucking quirk of his.” He started walking, not waiting for any reaction from the two.

“Dude, it’s not his fault!” Red head appeared at his side and lightly nudged his shoulder. “You shouldn’t say these kind of stuff about other people’s quirks!” Katsuki grit his teeth at his words. Who was he to tell him about quirk discrimination?!

“Especially considering what you can do with your power.” Bakugou stopped when the snarky comment reached him.

How fucking dare they.

He turned around and saw the same guy with a scar over his left eye, half of his body still frozen, spare the head, looking at him unimpressed. Katsuki walked up to him angrily, probably invading his personal space, being only few inches from him.

“What the fuck did you say, you fucking Half face!?” Bakugou was pleased to notice a slight twitch of his eye and slowly raising hand, but before he could do anything, Shitty hair cut in between them.

“Woah, there-“ he forced them to take few steps from each other by putting his hands of each of their shoulders and pushing away. “-that’s really not a time for something like this, guys.” He looked at the scarred guy and then back at Katsuki. “Also, isn’t that a bit too much?” It was obvious what his question was about, as he subtly tilted his head towards the other teen, so Katsuki decided not to comment on it. Instead, he just rolled his eyes and shoved his hand away, then once again started walking towards the stairs, the two guys right behind him. There, at the top, was waiting some woman with long, dark hair and white bodysuit who started waving at them with a whip in her hand when she noticed they were approaching.

___

Eijirou shifted uncomfortably the weight of his body from one leg to another, before he decided to just sit down on the ground near the door leading to one of the rooms, which principal lend to the police investigators so they could interrogate all the students in peace. He was waiting for his turn patiently, even if he looked at any person, who would pass by, with jealousy when they told him they were already free to go home, as they were done with their testimonies.

He looked at the clock hanging on the far end of the corridor and realized that almost half an hour already passed.

Why Bakugou’s interrogation was taking so long? Eijirou sighed and wished that he could at least go and get changed from his hero costume.

He thought that maybe it was because he was in the middle of the action with All Might, but then Todoroki walked past him quite some time ago, already done with everything and barely sparing Eijirou a glance, even after he tried to start some sort of a small talk with him.

At this point, Eijirou was simply bored.

“Kirishima-kun.” Squeaky voice reached him and he looked in the direction which it came from, his sight immediately falling on the small figure of principal Nezu. “You’re still waiting for your turn, I see.” Eijirou wanted to stand up, but then the principal joined him on the ground, so he just straightened his back to look more presentable next to him. “No need to be so uptight.” Nezu sent him a smile and Eijirou chuckled at his comment nervously while loosening up a bit.

“Yeah,” he fiddled with the hem of the ripped material wrapped around his hips. “Bakugou is taking kinda long with his interrogation. I wonder what kind of questions they're asking him...” He noticed that the small smile disappeared from principal’s face and took it as a sign that he might have said something wrong. “I mean! I don’t blame him or anything, of course! It’s probably the police officers asking him about all sorts of strange stuff!” He quickly explained himself but the smile didn’t return to mouse’s face.

“Don’t worry, Kirishima-kun.” He stood up and patted Eijirou’s shoulder few times in a reassuring manner. “We just have to-“ Before he could finish, the door violently sliding open interrupted him.

“I’m not answering any other fucking questions!” Bakugou came out of the room and yelled at the two police officers who tried to ask him to come back.

“We just need you to confirm if you saw these few villains in the collapsed zone!” Short woman with a tail and claws said as she tried to convince Bakugou to go back inside.

“Get someone else to confirm this useless shit, I already told you everything about All Might and the fights!” That’s when Bakugou noticed Eijirou with Nezu and froze on the spot. He was glancing between them with surprise and slight panic obvious on his face.

Eijirou quickly stood up and Bakugou’s eyes fell on him, then moved slightly up to his hair and then scanned over his whole posture, strange silence stretching awkwardly between them.

“Bakugou, are you alright?” Eijirou took a step closer towards Bakugou, who started glaring at him for some reason.

Before he could answer, principal walked up to the woman and stood between her and his angry classmate, who was now focused on the mouse.

“I think that’s enough for interrogating this particular student.” He said calmly, yet with stern voice that wouldn’t take a ‘no’ for an answer.

“But we’re not done yet!” The other officer, man with gray skin and small horns pointing out from his bald head, said impatiently. “I’m sorry, Nezu-san, I know it’s taking too long, but he just won’t answer our simplest questions!” He waved around a pile of some documents in his hand. “We just need him to confirm the identities of some of the villains, I don’t think that’s too much to ask for!” He crossed his arms on his chest, furrowing his eyebrows at Bakugou’s scoff.

If Eijirou had to be honest, the policeman was actually right. That wasn’t too much to ask for, especially that he could easily recall some of the villains he fought with Bakugou on the spot.

“I have to disagree.” But apparently, the principal didn’t think so.

“We just need him to recognize few of them from their mug shots from the past!” The woman’s tail moved around impatiently. “It wouldn’t take so long if the boy was more cooperative.” She put her hand on her hip, while the other officer nodded quickly at her words.

Eijirou muted out the rest of the arguing between the principal and police officers and glanced at Bakugou. He was shocked to see that his whole body was incredibly tense and expression wasn’t entirely twisted in an angry scowl. His eyebrows were still furrowed but his widened eyes were glued to the floor, as if trying to avoid any eye contact at all cost. His lips were pressed into a slim line, jaw clenched, and Eijirou couldn’t help but think he was somehow distressed or even ashamed of something, but he couldn’t think of anything he could be ashamed of.

After all, they did a pretty good job in the collapsed zone, with all the villains attacking them, and then Bakugou even managed to pin down that Warp guy, which helped All Might plenty.

“Kirishima-kun.” Eijirou snapped out from his thoughts and looked down at the principal who called out to him. “You were there with Bakugou-kun the whole time, am I correct?” His tail wiggled a bit, in some kind of fidgety way.

“Uh-“ He glanced at Bakugou who still wasn’t looking at anyone, his expression changed only slightly, he bit into his lower lip, like he wanted to stop himself from commenting on the situation. “Yeah… I was.” He noticed Nezu nodding encouragingly, while Bakugou lowered his head even more. “We fought off the villains together and moved to where we thought that one with a teleportation quirk was.” He anxiously looked at the two officers and back at the principal. He didn’t dare checking what expression his classmate was wearing right now.

“See, officers?” Nezu turned to them and smiled in his usual way. “He can give you all the details about the villains presented there that you might need.”

Eijirou didn’t know about all the details, but he was pretty sure that if they were going to really show him the pictures of these villains, he wouldn’t have any trouble with pointing out which of them were there.

But why Bakugou would have any?

“… Alright.” Horned man finally said after few seconds of exchanging looks with his partner. “Go sit inside so we can get this over with.” He gestured towards the room and took a step back, giving Eijirou some space to enter it freely.

Eijirou looked at Bakugou, one last time as he walked past him, giving him a quick nod and small smile to give him some kind of reassurance, even if he didn’t know the reason behind his behaviour, he could at least give him that. Bakugou looked at him with knitted eyebrows, in some kind of puzzled or even almost worried manner, but it was hard to tell with him.

Before the door closed behind him, he saw Nezu turn to Bakugou and tell him something so quietly, that he couldn’t make anything out of it.

___

“Good thing I came. It would be unfortunate if some outing happened here.” Nezu smiled to himself and looked at the student, who was still standing in the middle of the corridor with somewhat angry and slightly ashamed expression. His smile disappeared when he noticed boy’s tense shoulders. “Bakugou-kun,” he finally looked at him, “you are free to go home. No need to worry about anything. Kirishima-kun and I will take care of this.”

The student glanced at the door that closed few moments ago behind his confused, yet willing to help, classmate and then back to the principal. He looked like he wanted to say something, but the words just wouldn’t leave him, apparently.

“If he asks, I won’t say anything.” Nezu tried saying the last bit in reassuring voice, but it only caused his young student to scowl furiously.

“… Goodbye, principal.” Bakugou bowed slightly after few seconds of glaring angrily and turned around without waiting for any kind of response.

Nezu sighed and decided to wait for the officers to finish interrogating Kirishima.

This one will be a handful. He thought and sat back down in the same spot next to the door as before.

Chapter Text

Eijirou, tired after this crazy day, didn’t even make it to his bedroom, just fell onto a couch and a thought crossed his mind, that maybe he should call his moms, but he realized that ma' was in a different time-zone at the moment, while mom was probably working on some case.

He groaned into one of the pillows, tired and annoyed.

Who would have thought they would be attacked by the villains at school?

After they were safe and back at school, principal Nezu made them all stay there longer, so the police could interrogate each and every one of them individually and write down their testimonies. The whole ordeal was pretty stressful (not as stressful as the attack itself, of course) and time consuming, as Eijirou didn’t want to mess anything up, by confusing the right order of the events or describing the villains incorrectly.

… Describing the villains. Eijirou opened his eyes when he remembered the strange situation with Bakugou from few hours earlier. He reached lazily for his bag, that he threw next to the couch, and searched blindly for his phone.

As soon as Eijirou managed to find it, he noticed few notifications in the class’ group chat and he decided that since there weren’t that many of them, he could check some of the latest ones quickly.

Yaoyorozu Momo: Hagakure-san, you were with Todoroki-san, right?

Hagakure Toru: yeah!! Even tho I was some distance away I saw how cool he was with his ice and stuff!!! :O

Todoroki Shouto: you should’ve given me some signal, I could’ve hurt you unintentionally

Hagakure Toru: aw <3 r u worried about me, Todoroki-kun? ;3

Todoroki Shouto: not really

Kaminari Denki: lol

Todoroki Shouto: as a future hero I can’t afford myself to hurt other people who are not villains

Hagakure Toru: you can’t toy with girl’s feelings like that! :<

Kaminari Denki: Todoroki, that’s COLD

Kaminari Denki: lmao get it? c o l d

Sero Hanta: ... dude.

Yaoyorozu Momo: Yes, Kaminari-san. We get it.

Jirou Kyoka: hah

Jirou Kyoka: cold

Kaminari Denki: <3

Eijirou chuckled at the shenanigans and closed the chat to see if Bakugou was online.

Luckily, he actually was.

He opened a chat with him and realized they haven’t even talked there before, and thus he had trouble coming up with an ice breaker that wouldn’t piss off his always angry classmate.

He started typing.

‘what was up with those police officers?’ Eijirou frowned and erased the message. If anything, this would probably get him straight to being blocked permanently by him. He had enough brain cells to know that this was probably some kind of a touchy subject.

Maybe he should start with simple ‘hello’ or something like that.

‘hey Blasty!’ He stared at the nickname for few seconds, just to delete it. Bakugou didn’t look like a fan of those- more like a fan of insults.

After few moments, Eijirou realized that Bakugou will be angry anyway, no matter what he’d write to him.

Kirishima Eijirou: hey Bakugou!! good job today, it was really tough fight!

That should do it, right? Eijirou thought and started tapping anxiously the back of his phone, waiting for any kind of a reaction.

Bakugou Katsuki read the message

“Holy shit-“ Eijirou, surprised, sat up straight and held his breath in a wait for an actual answer.

Which, even after few minutes, didn’t come.

Eijirou scratched his head and when he wanted to check his internet connection, he saw that Bakugou was finally typing.

Bakugou Katsuki: It wasn’t, those villains were fucking weak.

Eijirou couldn’t help, but smile to himself. It was some kind of an achievement, to get Bakugou to participate in a conversation, even if it wasn’t their group chat.

Kirishima Eijirou: yeah, but those three later!! Shigaraki one and that warp guy and Noumu monster?

Bakugou Katsuki: Who the fuck is Shigaraki?

Eijirou blinked few times at the question. Wasn’t it the name he was called by another villain?

Kirishima Eijirou: you know! this guy with hands all over his body and on his face?

Bakugou Katsuki: Fucking handy guy

Bakugou Katsuki: I don’t give a shit about their names.

Kirishima Eijirou: aw man, you should tho! like, we need to know more dangerous villains, like we know more popular heroes?

Bakugou Katsuki: whatever

Eijirou chuckled at quickly written answer, Bakugou probably didn’t want to admit that he was in the wrong in this situation.

… Speaking of-

Kirishima Eijirou: hey can I ask you something?

Bakugou Katsuki: Depends.

Kirishima Eijirou: Please don’t block me for this.

Kirishima Eijirou: but do you actually not know how to silence a chat?

Bakugou Katsuki: You can’t.

Kirishima Eijirou: what?

Bakugou Katsuki: You asked if you can ask me something. Here’s your answer; you can’t ask me anything.

Kirishima Eijirou: … that’s not how it works!!! D:

Bakugou Katsuki: whatfuckingever

Kirishima Eijirou: aw come on man

Kirishima Eijirou: ok let’s say you know how to do that

Kirishima Eijirou: but I’ll leave those screenshots here anyway!

Eijirou searched for few seconds for the screenshots he took few days earlier and forgot about up until now. After successful hunt, he quickly edited one of them by circling the little speaker icon, then made sure that the pictures with easy instructions were in the right order and sent them to Bakugou.

And then he waited.

And waited.

And managed to change from his uniform to his more comfortable tracksuit trousers and Fat Gum t-shirt.

He was about to reheat his dinner when sudden sound of an incoming message almost caused him to drop his plate with food on it. Eijirou quickly put it in a microwave and reached for his phone, which was lying on the small dining table, and checked who sent him a message, happy to discover that it actually was Bakugou.

Bakugou Katsuki: Let’s say I know how to block people.

Eijirou snorted loudly at that. Who would have thought that it’d take them to fight villains together to finally manage to have a somehow civil conversation?

Kirishima Eijirou: are you going to block me?

Bakugou Katsuki: Probably.

Kirishima Eijirou: bro… :C

Kirishima Eijirou: I’m out there helping u fight villains in some ruins and figure out the chat and then there you are giving me a cold shoulder >:C

___

So that’s who Katsuki has been talking to; Shitty hair, who was with him in the collapsed zone and probably later, when principal practically saved his ass by forcing the red head to talk to those asshole police officers instead of him.

At least Shitty hair didn’t mention anything about this situation…

Not that big of an idiot, after all.

But then Katsuki thought ‘what if it wasn’t him?’ and there was someone out there, just walking around, telling people about his idiotic behavior? But then again, the guy had the same stupid hair and bare chest with those useless gears on his shoulders, so everything matched with the dude he was fighting alongside during the attack.

He looked at Shitty hair’s messages.

Kirishima Eijirou.

So that was his name.

Katsuki put his phone on the nightstand, stood up lazily, from where he was lying on his bed, and walked over to his desk. He started searching through the drawers and finally found the hated folder that he put inside the bottom one. He glared at the words ‘Class 1-A’ on top of it and cursed few times while opening it.

First face that stared back at him was of some plain looking guy with black hair.

Definitely not him.

Katsuki sat down on the floor and took out all of the photographs, and turned them in his hand, so he could see the back of each one, as he was shuffling through them, looking for one particular name.

Shoji, Jirou, Uraraka, Asui, Sero, Bakugou-

Why the fuck was his own picture among these? Katsuki quickly looked at it, even tho he needed few moments to make sure it was actually him, recognizing his own red eyes and ash blond hair, and put it away from the others.

He sighed, slightly annoyed, and continued looking through the names, then after few more unfamiliar ones- Kirishima Eijirou.

Katsuki swiftly turned it around and looked at kind of familiar shitty hairstyle, and then realized that the edges were slightly burnt. He quickly recalled the situation from the beginning of the school year, when his mother tried to make him recognize some people and, apparently, that Kirishima guy was one of them.

He threw the rest of the pictures onto the floor, and as he tried to take a better look at the face of Shitty hair, he heard few quick knocks on his door, but before he could answer or hide the pictures, someone entered his room.

“Katsuki-“ woman’s voice, his mother “-do you want to go with us-“ she stopped and scanned first him, sitting on the floor with a photo in his hand, then his surroundings, the folder and all the other pictures he scattered around. She looked back at him with confusion on her face. “… What are you doing?” She asked carefully and took few slow steps towards him.

“Can’t you fucking knock?!” He yelled at her and quickly tried to get all the pictures back into the folder.

“I fucking knocked, you brat!” She stopped and stared at the pictures that Katsuki, at this point, desperately tried to hide from her curious gaze. Her eyes widened in surprise. “… Holy shit, are you-“

“I’M NOT.” He managed to close the folder and immediately threw it back into one of the drawers of his desk, then proceeded to sit cross legged in front of said desk, as to stop his mother from getting to it.

“… Alright, let’s start over.” She said carefully, took few steps back and cleared her throat. “Katsuki, darling-“ he rolled his eyes at the endearment, spoken in slightly sarcastic manner. “-just now, were you actually looking through the pictures of your classmates?” Katsuki finally looked up at her, and when he didn’t see any mockery on her face, he sighed and stood up from his place.

“I was just looking for one guy…” He said with calmer voice, while putting hands in the pockets of his sweatpants, and looked to the side with a frown. He noticed that, in a hurry, he forgot to collect two last pictures.

For few lingering moments, his mother was silent, and when he finally decided to glance at her, surprisingly, she was smiling softly.

“Do you want to go out with us for dinner?” She approached him slowly and put a hand on his cheek, smile never leaving her face.

Katsuki was thankful for the change of a subject.

“… Yeah.” He answered after few more seconds and looked back at the forgotten pictures. “I’ll just clean this shit up and join you downstairs.” He took a step back and reached for both photos.

“Alright.” Katsuki heard behind his back and then the soft sound of the door opening reached him as well. “But-“ he turned around to see his mother linger between his room and the corridor. “-even if it was just ‘one guy’, I’m still proud of you, you little brat.” She winked and left the room before he could say anything.

Katsuki felt a warm feeling in his chest, he looked down at both of the pictures and decided that he didn’t want to deal with any more ‘recognizing’ today, so without looking at them, he put them in the drawer with the others and left his room, his phone forgotten on the nightstand.

___

Katsuki hated wasting time at his house, so he was more than happy to return to school after those few days when it was shut down.

That was until some idiot approached him, while he was sitting at his desk with phone in his hand, clearly giving off signals to not fucking bother him.

“Bro, you left me hanging for these few days.” Some guy with red hair squatted next to his desk and put his crossed arms on it, for the support.

“No clue what you’re talking about.” Katsuki answered, without sparing him a single glance, and continued to scroll through some website he wasn’t really interested in.

“Aw, come on man!” He poked Katsuki lightly on the shoulder, who’s eyebrow twitched in annoyance. “You never answered me after I helped you with the chat and stuff!” This got Katsuki’s attention.

He glared at the guy, who was smiling like an idiot and clearly waiting for an answer. Katsuki then glanced at his hair and realized that he was talking to Shitty hair.

What was his name?

…

Kirishima.

He quickly looked around to see if anyone heard what he said, but everyone was busy talking to each other.

“Fuck off, you didn’t help me with anything.” He said and redirected his attention back to his mobile. “Also, I’m not hanging on my phone all the damn time, Shitty hair.”

Few seconds passed and from the lack of any answer, Katsuki looked back at him; Kirishima was staring at him silently, then his gaze moved to the phone in his hand and back to him, as if to make a point.

Katsuki grit his teeth and slammed the phone on his desk, then crossed his arms.

“Shut up! I’m not talking about this fucking moment, you hair for brains!” He looked towards the door in hope that the teacher would appear at some point, saving him from this situation.

“I didn’t say anything!” Shitty hair said defensively and chuckled as he stood up. “Come on, Blasty-“ why that stupid nickname? “-nothing to be ashamed of!” He patted his shoulder, but before Katsuki could push him away or react somehow, the door to their class opened and a woman with long, dark hair entered the room.

“All right, first of all-” she moved to the front and put some papers on the teacher’s desk, and waited a few moments as students, including Kirishima, took their sits. “-if anyone finds a quirk-repressing collar, forward it to me or nearest teacher, whatever.” She said, clearly annoyed. ”Some police officer lost one after the USJ incident, but don’t worry, it’s not like these cost us an arm and a leg!” She laughed at her own joke, while Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Anyway,” the teacher finally composed herself after few seconds. “I know it’s been a while, but I hope everyone completed their assignments.” Few students groaned tiredly at the mention of homework. “Come on kids, you had plenty of time to finish it!” She laughed again, and the lesson with Midnight finally began.

___

When the time for homeroom came, students wondered who would come as a replacement for Aizawa-sensei, as he was probably still in the hospital after the USJ incident.

Katsuki couldn’t help, but feel a bit uneasy about it. If they were to have new homeroom teacher for the time being, would they be informed about his condition? Would they randomly decide to confront him about it?

Would they inform the whole class about it?

Katsuki glanced with worried frown towards the door that was staying shut, despite that homeroom was supposed to start over ten minutes ago.

He took a deep breath.

Maybe he was overreacting. After all, the principal already saved his ass once and he promised not to tell anyone few times already.

But did it include the teachers?

Katsuki tried to recall if any member of the faculty ever said something or stared at him in a strange way, but then again, he couldn’t even remember how any of them looked like in the first place, not to mention their expressions, so what use it was? By now, there were plenty of people looking at him in one way or another, already entitled to their opinions.

Before he could spiral even deeper into his thoughts, the door slid open and good amount of people started yelling at the person that it was far too early for him to leave the hospital.

Katsuki watched as the man, almost completely covered in bandages, closed the door behind him and walked up to the front desk. It took him few seconds to recognize their teacher in this strange person, but when he did, he was more than happy to feel relieved.

Bandages all over the body.

At least he won’t have any trouble recognizing Aizawa-sensei, for the time being.

“If you all are done yelling-“ the class went silent the same moment the teacher raised his voice “-then I have an announcement for you.”

___

All the ruckus at the door was already annoying for Katsuki, after all, he just wanted to go home and start training for the sports festival. But of course he wouldn’t be able to do that, because some randoms decided to block the exit from their classroom, taking the space of half of the corridor.

“Ahh, there’s no way out!” Some girl with short brown hair said with panic in her voice. “What are they here for?” She turned to Deku who shrugged with worried expression and looked with slight concern at the people, who gathered outside.

Katsuki just walked past these two.

“They’re just scoping the competition.” He said and gave unimpressed look to the students who were nearest the exit. “We are the ones who were attacked by the villains, makes sense they’d want a look before the festival.” When none of them made any move that would indicate they’d go away, he got even more annoyed. “Move aside, fucking extras.”

“Can we please not resort to calling people we don’t know ‘extras’?!” He heard someone behind yell at him and oh the fucking irony, considering Katsuki never actually knew anyone.

He couldn’t care less.

“It’s true.” Someone said in the crowd, which slightly calmed down at this point. “We came to get a look, but you sure are modest.” Katsuki didn’t fail to notice the sarcastic tone of the voice. “Is everyone in the hero course like that?” He grit his teeth and glared at the guy who finally emerged from the crowd.

Mess of purple hair only brought out dark circles under his eyes.

“Gotta say, I’m a bit disappointed if this is what you’re offering.” He took out his hand from a pocket of his trousers and scratched the back of his head.

Yes, some cheeky asshole was what Katsuki needed right now.

He continued to explain how the sports festival worked for people outside the hero course, as if Katsuki wasn’t already aware of that. Not that he cared if any of the peeps from general studies transferred to the hero course, as long as his position was secure, he didn’t give a shit.

“Consider this a declaration of war.” Katsuki had to stop himself from snorting, instead he settled on a frown and a glare at the guy’s last words as he turned around and walked away.

When Katsuki was ready to get moving as well, another person decided to share their opinion on class 1-A.

“HEY!” Guy with grey hair yelled while trying to get through the crowd. “I’M FROM CLASS 1-B, NEXT DOOR!” Katsuki looked at him, unimpressed, and noticed that whoever was behind him earlier, was suddenly quiet. He dared glancing back and saw Deku and few other people silently staring at the guy as well, with mixed emotions.

What’s with annoying assholes today?

“We heard that you guys fought some villains, wanted to find out more, but-“ He eyed them all and his gaze stopped on Katsuki himself. “-all I’m seeing is this arrogant bastard! You better not make fools out of the whole hero course at the festival!” After that, the grey haired guy retreated to the back of the crowd and probably to his class.

… Who the fuck do you call an arrogant bastard!?

Katsuki bit his tongue to stop himself from yelling after the guy and took a deep breath, as he didn’t want deal with more people, who wouldn’t like his honest opinions. He moved to another door, where he noticed were fewer people blocking it.

“Bakugou!” He glanced at the red haired person who called out to him. “You made people from other classes hate us!” Accusation that came from the guy didn’t really bother him and thus, he decided that he could as well say as much.

“I don’t give a crap.” Katsuki scanned quickly all the people he thought were his classmates, who let out shocked yelps after his declaration, and then glared at those who were still lingering outside the class. “I’m heading for the top.” He was going to win this thing and prove to these assholes what he can do with his quirk. “Why should I care?” Katsuki said in the end, and once again, moved towards the door.

“That was so simple, yet so manly-!” Katsuki spared one last glance at the person who said that. Red hair, stylized in shitty way.

Apparently Kirishima was an emotional guy who often would say what he had on his mind.

Katsuki finally left the classroom, trying his best to ignore the words of these idiots from earlier.

He swallowed a lump in his throat.

Ah yes. Katsuki thought as he walked down the stairs. The good old feeling of a need to punch an asshole who’s talking shit, but then I already forget how the asshole looks like.

He grit his teeth.

Fucking perfect.

___

Two weeks to prepare for the festival; besides the time they were given to practice their skills on their own, Aizawa-sensei made sure that all of them would get an extra training at school, either in groups or individually.

Katsuki, even tho he knew that it was a common pattern for the famous sports festival to, at some point, involve a task requiring cooperation between the students, still couldn’t care less about others’ training and decided to focus on exploring and controlling his own quirk, by releasing as big explosions as he could manage without straining his muscles, behind one of the gyms, as far away from the others as sensei allowed him to go.

That’s why sudden presence in his vicinity pissed him off.

“Yo! Bakugou!” Someone with yellow hair in the distance yelled while waving at him with too much excitement. “Chill for a second, we’re coming!” Katsuki rolled his eyes and just now noticed two other guys with him- one tall with straight, black hair, the other with stupid, red hairstyle. Then, few meters behind them, some girl with pink skin talking excitedly to a man covered in bandages (Aizawa-sensei?).

“The fuck do you want?” Katsuki asked while trying to figure out just who exactly decided to bother him and why.

“Bakugou!” The one with red hair jogged up to him, while the other two stopped few steps away. “Sensei wanted us all to train together!” He put one of his hands on Katsuki’s shoulder while half of his other arm hardened. “He said that if we get the chance, we should try to team up again, like during the attack.” He smiled and then pointed at the two other guys. “I thought it’d be funnier to train in bigger group, so I brought Kaminari, Sero and Ashido as well!” His arm turned back into soft flesh.

Right, Shitty hair. Katsuki realized and shoved his hand away.

“I don’t need any ballast during my training.” He turned around in intentions of walking further away, but then felt all too familiar material around his arm.

“You’re not going anywhere.” Muffled voice of their teacher, coming from behind bandages covering his face, reached him. “You all need to learn to cooperate, so you stay there and you all will train together.” His voice indicated that he wouldn’t let Katsuki go until he’d agree to this stupid ordeal.

He stared at them all, at Shitty hair who was staring back with friendly smile, at the two other guys who were snickering between each other about something, then at the pink girl who’s eyes were either completely black, or just strangely distorted.

Katsuki furrowed his eyebrows and looked to the side.

“… Fucking fine, jeez.” He muttered angrily and Aizawa let go of him, then started walking away.

“I’ll be in a short distance, try to not kill each other.” He told them in the end and off he was.

“That one’s for Bakugou!” The yellow head yelled after their teacher and started laughing at his own joke with the tall guy, pink girl elbowing him in the ribs. “Ouch- Ashido, come on!”

“You ‘come on’, Kaminari. Blasty’s not that bad!” Shitty hair said and while Katsuki didn’t like the stupid nickname, maybe he could remember that only this particular guy was calling him that.

“Blasty doesn’t care!” Never-fucking-mind. “Do you?” Yellow haired dude looked at him with a grin, which Katsuki had no intentions of returning.

“Don’t fucking call me that.” The guy just shrugged, smile still present on his stupid face. “Why the fuck you all came here? I was busy.” He looked at them and crossed arms on his chest.

“Come on, Baku, Kirishima already told you!” Pink girl stepped closer to him, with just too much excitement for him to bear. “There’s only so much you can do on your own!” She said and started mimicking the way he releases his explosions. “Aizawa-sensei agreed for us to go and make you join us!” She ended with a jump and looked at him with those strange, huge, black eyes, like she was waiting for his answer.

Wait- make him?

“Yeah, also, no one else would be stupid enough to ask you to join their group…” The yellow head commented, at what he got another hit in the ribs, but that wasn’t enough.

“The fuck do you mean by that, you piece of yellow shit?!” Katsuki walked up closer to him and few explosions went off from his palms.

“Alright, that’s it.” Black haired guy grabbed the shorter one by his elbow and started walking away with him. “Ashido, give us the signal and we’ll start attacking or something, explain everything to him! Kaminari, when will you learn to shut up?” Katsuki managed to hear him ask and they finally left.

“So-” Kirishima put an arm around his shoulders, but Katsuki immediately pushed him away.

“Don’t fucking touch me.” He crossed his arms on his chest once again and glared at him.

“… Anyway!” He composed himself surprisingly quickly. “We wanted to try managing training on our own and needed a higher difficulty level and-“ he took a step back that probably was supposed to be subtle “-well… you are kind of the most difficult one to train here with. No offence!”Shitty hair rised his hands in front of him in some kind of defensive manner and sheepish smile appeared on his face.

“How the fuck am I not supposed to take any offence, you-“

“Kaminari and Sero are the two with long-range attacks so the three of us will have to come close to them, while trying to avoid getting hit!” He interrupted him quickly and hardened both of his forearms and hands.

“Yeah!” Pink girl yelled. ”And before that, I’ll give them the signal, something-“ She jumped few times and started waving around. “-like this, and then they’ll start attacking!” She finished and finally stopped moving.

Katsuki glared at them for few moments. It wasn’t that bad of an idea, but what use it was right before a literal competition, where the element of surprise would be essential in many cases?

“… That’s fucking stupid.” He said and turned to go away, as he realized that without Aizawa, there was no one else to stop him.

“LOOK OUT!” Someone screamed, but before Katsuki had a chance to react, something sticky wrapped around his eyes and neck, and pulled back with enough force, that he fell to the ground, without a chance to somehow make a fall easier on his body. Luckily he didn’t hit his head too badly, but the feeling of something on his neck made him suffocate, even if the material wasn’t even pulling that hard.

“Sero!” He heard girl’s accusing yell. “That wasn’t the signal!”

Katsuki, panicked, tear off the tape-like material from his neck and only when he was sure that the air wasn’t blocked by any sludge, but actually made it into his lungs upon breathing, he took off the one from his eyes as well.

What’s with people wrapping me in fucking stuff!? He thought as he tried to calm his heavy breathing and slightly shaking hands.

“You didn’t specify what was the exact signal!” Another yell, some distance away, but clearly getting closer. “Shit-” Before Katsuki could get up, the guy who ran up to him extended his hand towards him. “-dude, I’m so, so sorry, are you okay?” Katsuki looked up at the stranger and realized how pitifully he must have looked in his eyes at this moment.

He smacked the guy's hand away and got up on his own, pretending he was perfectly fine.

“Who the fuck are you, so I can kill you later without witnesses?!” He screamed in a moment of panic, with slightly quivering voice and realized that his filter might not have been all that fine.

“Ahhh- shit.” The dude said and looked somewhere behind him. “SENSEI!” He screamed in the direction where their teacher apparently was. “BAKUGOU HAS A CONCUSSION!”

“I don’t have anything, you asshole, leave me alone!” He got ready to leave them and find somewhere else to calm down completely, but Aizawa-sensei suddenly appeared in front of him.

“What happened here?” He asked, clearly annoyed for being disturbed while taking a nap, as his sleeping bag was still in his hand.

“Sero accidentally made Bakugou fall and he kinda didn’t recognize him? I think he probably hit his head too hard, against the ground.” Kirishima explained while eyeing Katsuki in concerned, yet slightly suspicious manner.

Meanwhile, Katsuki saw Aizawa’s eyes narrow for a split second at the guy’s short explanation. The teacher looked at the three other students and at the yellow haired one, who just ran up to them, and Katsuki tried his best to ignore the feeling of panic that crept its way into the back of his head.

Aizawa sighed heavily, then looked back at Katsuki.

“Alright, give him some space.” Others took few unsure steps back, while sensei leaned a bit closer to him and spoke in half whisper. “Is this the fall thing or your thing?” Katsuki's frown deepened at that and he glanced at the others who looked curiously at them, but didn’t seem to hear his question.

“… My thing.” He whispered back and looked to the side, angry that he had to admit to all that bullshit. Aizawa stared at him for few more seconds, then put a heavy hand on his shoulder.

“You kids go and join the others, I’ll take him to Recovery Girl.” He said suddenly and started slowly walking away.

“What!?” Katsuki realized that the same moment he asked, someone else also yelled with him. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the guy with red hair was few steps closer than everyone else.

“Your head hurts?” Kirishima continued with concern.

“It fucking doesn’t, get off my back!” He’d rather go to that nurse if that meant he wouldn’t have to explain himself to anyone right now.

“But the nurse-“

“He’s going just to make sure.” Aizawa cut in. “Don’t worry, Kirishima, he’ll be back before you know it.” He said, clearly annoyed, as he adjusted bandages on his hands and turned around.

Katsuki spared one last look at Kirishima and followed their teacher.

They got to the main entrance of the gym and when Katsuki wanted to ask if he really had to go to Recovery Girl, he was interrupted by Aizawa, who up until this point was quiet.

“Tell me, Bakugou-“ he turned around and peered down at Katsuki from behind the bandages. “-when the time comes-“ Katsuki frowned at the tone of his voice “-how will you be able to tell who’s your ally-“ he really didn’t like where this was going “-and who’s a foe?”

Silence fell between them. Katsuki's eyes widened and he swallowed a lump that suddenly appeared in his throat. He tried to ignore a knot in his stomach. Arms that were crossed on his chest, fell down to his sides, fists clenched. He looked down with shocked frown on his face.

It’s not like Katsuki never thought about this, it just never really kicked in.

Until now, that is.

Just few moments ago, he slipped and almost blew up his cover by asking this dude who he was, like some kind of an idiot, to which he obviously didn’t get an answer for, and he was almost hundred percent sure that a villain wouldn’t even think of answering that for him, especially during the fight. Then again, he somehow managed to not attack Kirishima during the USJ attack, by remembering his stupid hair, but he was his only ally in this situation, later on he knew damn well that he was confused by the amount of heroes and villains in one place.

Not to mention that before all that he pinned Shitty hair to the ground.

“We both know that you’re not stupid,” Aizawa continued from lack of an answer. “But you are too stubborn for your own good.” Katsuki glared at him. “I said that before, heroes need allies who they can trust, and trust goes both ways.” He pointed somewhere in the direction of the training fields and Katsuki looked over there to see some students exercising in small groups. “Those are your classmates, in case you were wondering.” Sensei added in somehow amused voice and Katsuki shot him another glare.

“… Fucking whatever, I don’t need them.” He finally snarked and tried to ignore the way his teacher sighed, probably in resignation. “I’m done here, I’m going to train on my own.” Katsuki added, but when he was about to leave, Aizawa put a hand on his shoulder.

“They can always help you at the support department.” He said with surprisingly calm voice, while Katsuki looked at him with angry and confused frown.

“Why the fuck would I go there?” The question escaped his mouth before he could process it. He watched as the teacher sighed once again, but in a strange way, that Katsuki couldn’t decipher in that moment, it was even harder considering his whole face was hidden behind the bandages.

“… Guess you’re not quite there yet.” Aizawa muttered to himself after few seconds of silence and let go of his shoulder. “You can go train on your own.” Before Katsuki could understand what he meant, the teacher turned around and left him alone.

Katsuki stared at his back before he disappeared behind the corner of the building, and then he looked down at his hands.

Why would he do anything with the support department?

He shook his head and turned around to head back to where he was training earlier, hoping that no one else would be there to see his angry and probably pained expression, he couldn't get rid of.

___

"Aw man- I didn't think that of all people I'd be the one to send someone to the nurse..." Sero said while examining his elbows. "And Bakugou of all people..." He added and sighed. "I'm so fucked."

"I'm pretty sure that both of you are going to be fine." Kaminari patted him on a shoulder. "After all, he still had it in him to threaten you!" Sero actually snickered at the mention of it.

"And he was busy being mean to us, so it's not like he saw that coming!" Ashido cut in between them and grabbed Sero's elbow. "Can you like-" She rotated it slightly, as to not hurt her friend. "-wrap my hand in it later? I wanna see if I can do something to it with my acid." She looked up at him with excitement.

"Sure!" Sero smiled at her and then looked at Eijirou who was strangely quiet the whole way back to the gym, so they could join the rest of the class. "Hey, are you okay?" He looked up at Sero, surprised by the sudden attention.

"Ah, yeah, just thinking about this whole situation." He scratched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly.

"You don't have to worry about anything, Kiri! He looks like he has a tough head!" Ashido, who was still examining Sero's elbow for some reason, turned slightly and smiled at Eijirou reassuringly.

"Yeah, I'll just ask him later... To make sure." The others looked at him strangely.

"Do you really want to walk up to him, ask that and still plan to survive?" Kaminari asked bluntly and crossed his arms on his chest.

"... I'll just text him then." This got even stronger reaction from his classmates, as they immediately stopped walking and stared at him for uncomfortably long amount of time. "... what?"

"Text him." Kaminari stated. "Text." He gestured in a way like he was mimicking holding a phone. "Him." He opened his arms dramatically.

"I don't think calling him out in the group chat is the smartest idea, man." Sero frowned, slightly concerned.

"Is he even in our group chat?" Ashido looked up at Sero who just shrugged. "He left it so many times at this point, I lost count."

"Oh, he's not." Once again, they looked at Eijirou. "I'll text him directly!" He put his fists on his hips and smiled proudly.

"... You what." Eijirou opened one of his eyes and saw Kaminari looking at him as if he just saw a ghost.

"Yeah, I already did it once!" A shocked gasp escaped from Ashido and Kaminari, meanwhile, Sero just looked at him with raised eyebrows, not saying anything. "After USJ..." He added with less excitement. "Come on guys, it's not that big of a deal!" He yelled defensively, but he could understand their reactions, yet, he wasn't about to admit that he himself thought of it as some kind of an achievement.

"... I guess..." Kaminari was the first one to start moving again, the others soon joining.

Suddenly, Eijirou saw movement in the corner of his eye and turned to see Bakugou walking on his own, back to where he was training all alone before. He wanted to wave and call out to him, but he noticed the way his fists were clenched angrily and realized that he was wearing the same expression, mix of frustration and some kind of shamefulness, when the principal was arguing with the police officers, just few days ago.

Eijirou looked at him for few seconds before deciding it would be the best to leave him alone for now, he was pretty sure that Bakugou wouldn't like to be seen like that by anyone.

___

Kirishima Eijirou: Bakugou!!!!

Bakugou Katsuki: The fuck do you want, I’m busy.

Kirishima Eijirou: Are you okay??

Kirishima Eijirou: ???

Kirishima Eijirou: come on, don’t leave me hanging like last time

Kirishima Eijirou: Bakubroooo

Kirishima Eijirou: …...

Kirishima Eijirou: I’ll show you how to block people? and change someone's name?

Bakugou Katsuki: I’m fucking fine.

Kirishima Eijirou: :DD !!!

Bakugou Katsuki: now show me how to do that, Shitty hair

Kirishima Eijirou: but could you promise not to block me afterwards?

Bakugou Katsuki: You’re useful, so it’ll depend on a situation.

Kirishima Eijirou: aw thanks bro!!

Bakugou Katsuki: and I’m going to block deku and that other asshole who talked shit today

Kirishima Eijirou: … Kaminari??

Bakugou Katsuki: yeah whatever his name is

Kirishima Eijirou: hey, since you now know how to silence the chat, do you want me to add you back to our class’ one? It calmed down in the past few days since the USJ!

Kirishima Eijirou: Yaoyorozu and Iida make sure that people don’t spam as much as before

Bakugou Katsuki: You assholes act like it would someday save someone’s life.

Kirishima Eijirou: … is that a yes?

Bakugou Katsuki: ...

Bakugou Katsuki: Yes.

___

The day has come.

Katsuki with his classmates were stuck in the prep room that was assigned for them. He could hear some of the conversations, some girl complained that she wished they’d allowed them to wear their hero costumes and while Katsuki could agree with her, he still knew that the rule was in the interest of fairness.

Not that it made that much of a difference, he’ll crash these assholes even without his costume. He sighed and realized that all of a sudden it was too quiet in the room. He looked over his shoulder and saw that someone was talking to Deku.

“Objectively speaking, I’m stronger than you.” The guy with dual colored hair had some nerve, but he was probably right. Judging by Deku’s reaction, he possibly thought so too. “And I will beat you.” Katsuki frowned at that.

If anyone were to beat that damn nerd today, it was going to be him.

“Oooh! A declaration of war from the strongest in the class?!” Some guy with yellow hair, sitting next to Katsuki, exclaimed with enthusiasm. In the meantime, Shitty hair got up from his seat and walked up to them.

“Come on, man! We’re about to go on, why pick a fight now…” It seemed like he wanted to put a hand on his back, but the guy glared at him over his shoulder. That’s when Katsuki saw a scar over his left eye and realized who that was.

Half face.

“I’m not here to make friends.” Bakugou almost snorted at that, but he managed to collect himself before anyone noticed.

“Todoroki-kun, I’m not sure why you felt the need to tell me that…” Everyone looked back at Deku. “You are clearly stronger and I can’t measure up to most of the others in skill…” He muttered quietly and lowered his head.

“Don’t be so negative, Midoriya!” Apparently, Kirishima wanted to make him feel better for some fucking reason. “There’s no need-“

“But everyone!” Green head interrupted him, before he could finish. “Even people with weaker or slightly dangerous quirks-“ he subtly glanced at Katsuki who’s eyes widened in surprise, just to be replaced by an angry glare not even a second later. “-and everyone from the other courses are aiming for the top!” He looked Half face straight in the eyes. “I’m going for it too. With everything I’ve got!”

It’ll be fun to crash this little nerd.

___

“THE FIRST YEARS OF THE HERO COURSE-“ Katsuki could hear the deafening voice of Present Mic even inside the tunnel they were walking through. “-HERE COMES CLASS 1-A!” They all came out of the tunnel, and the voice of the hero died in the screams of the huge crowd surrounding the stadium.

“Wow-“ Shitty hair, who was walking right next to him, said nervously. “-they’re really praising us… I’m getting kind of nervous! How about you, Bakugou?” He looked at him expectantly.

“No way I’m nervous. This is just getting me pumped up!” Katsuki answered with fake smile and furrowed eyebrows. He might be aiming for the victory, but his statement was partly a lie- he still wasn’t a fan of huge crowds of people, all of the faces blending in one huge mess.

Present Mic kept introducing other classes and after that, they all gathered at the center where some heroine already stood.

“Ah, Midnight is our referee! Good thing I finished all of the assignments!” Kirishima whispered jokingly with excitement.

Right, the one with strange costume is Midnight.

“Now!” She swung around her whip and everything went silent. “For the first year’s oath!”

Murmurs went through the crowd of students and Katsuki realized something.

“Your student representative is-“ Fuck. “-Bakugou Katsuki of class 1-A!” Shit.

He put on a neutral mask and slowly walked up to the little podium she was standing on, trying his best to ignore his classmates’ shocked whispers. He took a deep breath as he stood in front of the microphone with hands in his pockets. Katsuki had all intentions to win this thing and prove to everyone how great his quirk is.

“I pledge-“ It was funny to him how they all went silent in anticipation. “-I’m gonna place first.”

The crowd went nuts, but Katsuki decided to ignore all of them, right now wasn’t the time to scream back at some angry strangers.

And that’s just it.

He might not remember their faces or names, but they’ll sure as hell remember his.

Chapter Text

Bakugou leaped and flew above all the other students who were trying to pass the second obstacle in the race by actually using the ropes, that were stretched out between the cliffs. He had no time to play an acrobat, he had to catch up to that fucking Half face.

Lucky for him, he didn’t actually have to recognize him, all he had to do was to follow his ice and with this, he found himself right next to him on a mine field. Katsuki released an explosion to blind him, but bastard used his quirk to cover his hand in ice, that ended up clogging up his sweat glands, thus preventing him from using his right hand for a short while.

That’s when he heard an explosion, strangely, one that wasn’t his own. He looked up to see someone flying above him and Half face, surpassing both of them at the same time. The person landed heavily at least couple dozen meters away from them. Bakugou sped up, leaving Half face behind, and grit his teeth as he felt slight stinging, after he released blasts too powerful for his own arms, to shorten the distance between him and-

His anger rose when he saw red shoes and the mess of green hair few meters ahead of him.

Fucking piece of shit-

“Deku, you useless rat!” Bakugou screamed after him, doing his best to ignore the growing pain in his forearms, as he released more and more explosions to keep up the pace.

As he almost closed in to Deku in the corridor, which was the final part of the race, he saw icy path forming right next to him, and some asshole sliding swiftly on it. Bakugou instinctively grabbed him by the shoulder, when he was a little bit ahead, causing him to stumble slightly, and ultimately made both of them slow down enough for Deku to finish first.

Icy bastard, once again, froze Bakugou’s hand and ran off, meanwhile Katsuki had to blast yet another huge explosion, just to finish right after him.

“FUCK.” He couldn’t help, but scream while he tried his best to keep his breath calm. That’s when he realized that the adrenaline slowly drained from his body.

Katsuki held onto his forearm that was pulsing from pain.

At this moment, he wanted to kill whoever came up with the rule that they couldn’t have their costumes during the tournament. The bracers would protect him from the recoil and would let him do so much more, he knew he would win without hurting his arms.

“Fucking quirk-” He muttered under his breath. “Fucking rules, fucking unfair fairness, fucking-“

“Hey, Bakugou! Congrats on third place!” He heard behind his back and tensed, he glared at some two guys over his shoulder, but before he could recognize them or at least collect himself, one of them continued talking. “I was ninth, Sero got ahead of me last second with his tape!” The red head actually laughed, as he patted the guy next to him on the shoulder. Before Katsuki could comment on his reaction to such low place, another wave of pain came over him and he breathed in through clenched teeth. “Woah, dude, are you okay?”

He finally peered at them, but their eyes were so disgustingly distorted at the moment, that he couldn’t even bear to keep looking, yet alone read their expressions properly. He lowered his gaze again and hardened the grip on his arm.

“Bakugou?” Suddenly, the guy with red hair was only few steps from him. “What’s wrong with your arm?” He reached out, but Katsuki took one step back from him with a glare.

“Everything’s fucking great…” Bakugou growled and after taking a closer look, he realized that Shitty hair stood in front of him, then some taller guy with black hair walked up to them as well. “None of your business, anyway.” He started walking with full intentions of ignoring them.

“Did you overuse your quirk or something? This must suck…” The black haired guy commented and Bakugou stopped moving.

“Oh, if your own quirk hurts you- that’s kinda problematic?” Shitty hair voiced his opinion as well and at this point, Bakugou forgot about the pain in his arm, both panic and anger mixing in him.

“My quirk is fucking perfect you pieces of shit.” He said that surprisingly calmly, but the face he made must have been rather strange, as it made the taller teen take half a step back. “What’s your problem, huh?!” Again, Bakugou raised his voice at him.

“Nothing! Sorry!” He lifted up his hands in defensive manner. “Listen, if this is about last week, I really didn’t mean to-“

“I don’t give a shit, fuck off already.” Bakugou interrupted him and walked away for good, pain finally disappearing.

___

Katsuki ended up with 200 points, after he won third place and all, but now was the time to finally choose his team for cavalry battle and thus, his problem was born.

“Yo! Team up with me!” Some tall guy with spiked, black hair yelled towards him while pointing at himself.

“Hey, Bakugou!” A girl, who’s skin color looked like it was straight up taken from bubblegum, took a step closer towards him. “Pick me!!” She jumped a bit in place while staring at him with big, black eyes.

“Of course he’ll choose me!” Another guy with blond hair, who held onto his stomach for some reason, said as well.

Few more people surrounded him, people he had no idea who they were, people who wanted to team up with him, for his points, people who yelled over each other and their voices and faces were mixing in one big, ugly mess.

Was he supposed to know them? Who were they actually; his classmates? Some other extras from school? How would they know him? But then again, just few minutes ago his picture was on the screens, along with the announcement of him getting third place, and even earlier he was the one to get called out to the podium by Midnight, so at this point, unfortunately, everyone knew who he was.

And he still couldn’t figure out who were the students surrounding him.

“Wait-“ he started and everyone silenced down. “-what the fuck are your quirks?” Katsuki could feel he stared shaking slightly and hoped that no one would notice how his voice cracked, when he asked the damn question.

Everyone surrounding him stared at him for uncomfortably long amount of time, and at this point he could admit he was panicking.

“How can you not know that at this point!” Bubblegum girl yelled, while making strange face.

Katsuki tried his best to get a hold of his breathing, praying no one would notice that he was on the edge of hyperventilating.

“Forget class B-” The guy with black hair sounded at least offended. “-he’s too self-absorbed to even notice his own classmates!” He declared and started moving away.

Wait, that’s not- it felt like he was about to jump off a cliff, he didn’t expect for this kind of situation to happen again, since no one knew the truth, but this was somehow even worse, nothing was explaining his behavior, he couldn’t explain himself, he couldn’t-

“Bakugou!” The familiar voice stopped him from spiraling deeper into his thoughts and he panicky looked at the direction it came from. “Let’s team up!!!” Red haired guy waved around with his arms with so much excitement, it almost affected Katsuki’s mood.

Katsuki used the distraction, that red head provided for a moment, took a few deeper breaths, and then took a better look at him as he approached in half jog, with wide smile, showing off his sharp teeth. Bakugou’s eyes shot up at his hair and, for the first time in a while, he was somehow happy to actually know who was talking to him.

Kirishima.

“Shitty hair.” He said instead and watched as a little bit of excitement died in his classmate.

“It’s Kirishima! Come on, remember my name at least!” He wanted to sound serious, but the amused smirk on his face betrayed him. “Also, your hair’s not that different from mine!” He added with a little laugh, but then continued. “It’s obvious you wanna be the rider!”

“No shit.” Red head ignored his comment and continued to talk.

“Your front horse has to be someone who can withstand your explosions, right? So-“ he put his fists on his hips. “-who might that be?!” Katsuki stared at his proud smile for few seconds.

“… Someone not afraid to die?” He asked bluntly, which made few of the people still surrounding them take a step or two back. Meanwhile, Kirishima just laughed loudly.

“Nope!” He pointed at himself. “It’s me with my hardening!” His whole arm turned into a stone-like material on command. “This way we won’t break and we’ll be able to get the ten million points from Midoriya!” Shitty hair finished his explanations with wide smirk.

Finally someone who gets it.

“Alright, you hair for brains.” Katsuki sneered at him and nodded.

“Now we need more people.” His smile got a bit smaller, yet no less excited. As he looked around, his gaze fell somewhere behind Bakugou. “Ashido!” He waved at someone and walked past Katsuki, who followed Shitty hair with his eyes. “My skin will also be immune to your quirk!” The pink girl smiled at his words and jumped few times with excitement.

“Sero too!” She pointed somewhere, and as Katsuki followed the direction, his eyes fell on some guy with black, straight hair. “We checked and it takes a while before my acid starts dissolving his tape!” She looked up at the guy who walked up to them and released some tape from his elbow, which she grabbed and started covering it in some strange, slimy substance that she emitted from her palms.

“Ohh, that’s a perfect team!” Shitty hair pumped his fists together in front of his chest. “Right, Bakugou?” He turned to him with a smile.

Katsuki looked at the two strangers, who were staring at him expectantly, waiting for his final decision, while he was trying to remember which had what quirk.

Acid and tape. Bubblegum and- … and what?

“Dude, I know I knocked you down last week, but can we leave this behind and just form a strong team?” The same guy with black hair smiled widely, revealing his huge teeth. “What do you say?”

Bakugou realized that he might have made a strange face at him while he tried to come up with some temporary name, for the time they’d be in a team. He also got reminded of the fucked up situation when he almost spilled the beans about his problem, yet decided to not address it, as the time to form the teams was running out.

“Uh… Bakugou?” Black haired guy reminded of his existence and Katsuki scanned him. “Come on, the suspense is killing me!” He laughed in slightly panicked way, once again showing off his huge teeth.

Bakugou smirked.

“Alright. Shitty hair, Bubblegum and Horse smile. Let’s show those assholes who’s the best.” He ignored the complaining caused by sudden nicknames, yet didn’t fail to notice the amused chuckling that came from Kirishima.

___

Izuku looked over at where Kacchan stood with his own team and quickly realized that with his character, he’ll force them to make him the rider and thus will give all the commands where and when to go.

It was pretty obvious that Bakugou would target him, just like the most of the rest of the groups were probably planning to do.

“I know how we can get at least one team off our backs.” He frowned slightly; this was going to be a dick move, but as the saying goes ‘all is fair in love and war’. “Do any of you have any hair ties?” Izuku looked around at his teammates, at Tokoyami and Uraraka who stared at him confused, then at Hatsume who was fiddling with one of her ‘babies’, probably not even listening. “Or a hair band or anything that will get my hair a little bit more… Tamed?” He asked slowly and once again looked at everyone.

“I have some hair ties in my bag?” Uraraka wondered for few seconds with a hand on her chin. “But it’s in the prep-room so we can’t get them now.” She once again looked at him, still puzzled, but all Izuku could do right now is nod with understanding.

“Tokoyami-kun?” When his bird headed friend stared at him for solid half a minute, and he saw Dark Shadow behind him, pointing at the feathers on Tokoyami’s head, Izuku finally realized that his classmate didn’t even have hair to begin with, to have anything to tie it with. “Right, sorry, forget I asked.” He heard a low chuckle from him and turned to his last hope.

“Hatsume-san?” Just now, she finally stopped tinkering with some sort of a pilot in her hand and let out a short ‘ah?’. “Do you have anything to put my hair down with?” Izuku watched as she stared at him for few seconds, and then just reached to one of the pockets attached to her belt and fished out some kind of a small bottle. To his surprise, she threw it at him, and as he barely caught it, she went back to her previous task.

Midoriya examined the bottle and it didn’t take him long to realize what was inside it.

“… Oil?” Uraraka asked as she took the bottle from Deku’s hands. “How is he supposed to-“ She didn’t get to finish as the realization hit her and she snorted loudly.

“Hatsume-san, do you really not have anything else?” Izuku was desperate to get his hair to look different but not that desperate.

“Nope!” She stated with a smile that was never leaving her face. “No clue why you need it, but that’s all I have!” Once again, Hatsume reached to her pocket and shown them the second bottle. “You can use as much as you want, I have back up.” She said finally and turned all of her attention back to the little device.

Izuku sighed heavily and checked his pockets, one last time, in hopes that in the end, he had at least a rubber band, but all he found was some sand from when he fell few times during the race and an old candy from Recovery Girl.

“Alright.” He looked with pained expression at Uraraka. “Will you help me with this?” He pinched the bridge of his nose when she snorted again, while nodding quickly.

“Midoriya.” Sudden voice coming from his side startled him slightly and he turned to look at Tokoyami, who had his arms crossed on his chest and was looking at him intently. “Why do you need to put your hair down?” The question made Uraraka stop laughing and got Hatsume to curiously look up at them.

“Uh-“ Izuku glanced, panicked, at the strange boots which Hatsume provided, and both her and Uraraka had on their feet, and quickly thought of an excuse. “-AERODYNIMCS!” He basically screamed, startling his friends a bit, who didn’t look like he convinced them with his ‘explanation’.

“Oh!” Hatsume suddenly perked up and put the pilot and a screwdriver back in her pockets. “That’s actually- yes!” It seemed like she, on the contrary to his classmates, took a bait, as she took the bottle from Uraraka, opened it and poured half of it’s contents onto Midoriya’s head, who yelped at the sudden strange feel of the oil. She started talking excitedly about some mechanical stuff while slicking his hair back and down. Once she was done, she pulled out a handkerchief from her back pocket and wiped off the leftover oil from her gloved hands, all of this while she was laughing triumphantly at her job.

“… How do I look?” Izuku turned to his classmates and tensed slightly at Uraraka’s outburst of laughter. “Careful or you’ll choke…” This got her to snort even louder. Midoriya saw in the corner of his eye that Tokoyami covered his beak with one hand and slightly turned away, as to not to be seen laughing at his teammate.

“You look like-“ Uraraka at this point was basically interrupting herself with all the snorting. “-like dark haired Aoyama-kun! Like a complete stranger! Not Deku-like at all!” She grabbed her stomach and wiped off a single tear.

Good. Izuku smiled to himself.

“Now to put on the band with the points!” Hatsume said suddenly and everyone stared at her in shock.

“The what now.” Was all Deku could manage to utter, as another salve of laughter escaped from Uraraka and he could swear he heard an actual snort from Tokoyami. Izuku looked down at the long, white band that had their points written on it, which Hatsume held in her hand, and paled. “WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY ANYTHING?!” Only slightly he was regretting yelling at her.

“I was busy with my baby!” She stated, as if that was the most obvious thing in the entire world. Izuku just stared at her for few moments before he rubbed his eyes tiredly and actually reached for the band to put it on.

In all fairness, Midnight actually told them about the headbands while explaining the rules, but he was just too busy freaking out over his ten million points and now, all he had left was to hope that at least he’ll have a way to somehow wash out all the oil before the next round. … If they’ll manage to make it, that is.

“Alright.” He said as he tied the band around his oily head. “We can do this!”

His teammates cheered with him and they got ready for the start.

He noticed few people staring at him, some questioning looks or amused smirks among them. At one point, even Hagakure approached him with a question if he tried to disappear like her, while she was giggling with a top of her gym uniform already left somewhere behind.

One last time, he glanced at Kacchan who was looking around angrily, probably searching for him, from where he was already standing above his own teammates, being held up by them. Izuku breathed in to calm his nerves and tried to ignore the slight feeling of guilt at the back of his head.

Just because he had no intentions of telling anybody, didn’t mean he couldn’t use it to his advantage.

___

“Five!”

Where’s Deku?

“Four!”

Where the fuck is Deku?!

“Three!”

Green mess of hair-

“TWO!”

I can’t-

“ONE!”

Where-

“START!” The roar of the crowd snapped Katsuki out of his thoughts and he realized that his team already moved forward in some direction.

“Midoriya’s right there!” Shitty hair yelled and hardened his upper body as they all kept moving. Bakugou looked up and tried to see where that damned nerd is, but he still couldn’t find the mess of his green hair.

“Where the fuck-“ He muttered to himself and in frustration let out few explosions, as he grit his teeth and kept looking between all the teams in front of them.

___

Kirishima couldn’t think of the reason as to why Bakugou wasn’t trying to direct them towards Midoriya, or why their target had his hair slicked down in this strange way, but if that for some reason was the case, he could at least tell Bakugou what to look for, as maybe in all the chaos he just didn’t think of it.

“Bakugou, the headband!” He screamed and tried to point towards Midoriya’s team. “The ten million points headband, right there!” Eijirou could hear short gasp escaping Bakugou, as if he just realized something, and after few more seconds of silence-

“I know, I’m not fucking blind!” He shouted with few explosions going off near Kirishima’s head, who just rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, of course, let’s just-“ The sudden move behind them and the stumbling of Bakugou made him stop and he tried to look back.

“Instead of hanging around, maybe you should start moving!” Some guy with blond hair laughed as he waved around the headband with their points.

“He got us!” Ashido exclaimed shortly.

“GIVE THAT BACK, I’LL FUCKING MURDER YOU!” Bakugou screamed as they turned to face the guy and his team.

“Come on, it was pretty obvious that they’ll be shortening our numbers as much as possible, and it was perfect opportunity to observe our opponents’ quirks and behavior!” He tied the headband around his neck, along with other ones his team already had and smirked at Bakugou. “Instead of aiming for some fleeting first place, like a donkey going for a dangling carrot.” He eyed them all and, once again, turned to angry blond with sly smile. “Ah, but you are already a celebrity, aren’t you? Next time, do tell me how it feels like to get attacked by villains on annual basis.” His team got ready to flee.

Wait, annual? Eijirou thought, but then realized that Bakugou was strangely silent after the mention of the villain attacks.

“Bakugou are you-“

“Keep moving, Kirishima…” Eijirou gasped embarrassingly loud and despite the situation they were in, he couldn’t help but smile over his shoulder at Bakugou, who had his eyes locked on their opponent. “Plan’s changed, before we look for Deku, I’ve gotta murder every last one of them.” Few bigger blasts went off from his palms.

He actually remembers my name! Eijirou beamed even more, turned his head back and started running towards their opponents with newfound determination.

___

As Bakugou tried to reach for at least one of the headbands, which were around this asshole’s neck, he suddenly got pushed away by an explosion, just like one of his own.

“That’s one flashy quirk-“ he heard blond guy’s mocking voice “-must be hard on your arms, huh?” He said as he slightly waved his hand around, probably to loosen up muscles that weren’t adjusted to the recoil.

“He has the same quirk as you, Bakugou?!” Katsuki barely registered Kirishima’s surprised voice, as he was busy already swinging at the dick who dared to offend his quirk.

“Fucking bastard!” He hit something hard, and when smoke from his explosion dispersed, he saw that the blond was covering his face with hardened hands, just like Kirishima’s were whenever he’d use his quirk.

Ah, so that’s it.

“What- MY QUIRK?!” Kirishima yelled, clearly shocked.

“Not really.” Bakugou said in voice as calm as he could manage at this moment. “This jerk is just a copycat.” He furrowed his eyebrows at the blond’s chuckling.

“Well, any idiot would figure it out at this point.” Amusement was pouring out of him, and Bakugou wanted to wipe that smirk off his face.

… Or his whole face altogether.

Suddenly, there was a wave of some strange slime coming at them, but Bakugou refused to flinch at it, waving his one arm and dispersing it slightly with explosion. He kept his eyes on their opponent, who slowly started to back off.

Katsuki couldn’t lose the sight of him.

“Damn it, it’s all hard, we can’t move!” Panicked voice of Kirishima reached him, but he still kept his eyes locked on that blond jerk.

“My quirk should be able to melt this!” Bubblegum exclaimed and probably got to work.

“Aw, don’t be mad!” The blond waved at Bakugou while sending off a few sparks from his palm, obviously mocking him. “Now that you think of it, that pledge of yours from earlier-“ Bakugou grit his teeth “-seems kind of embarrassing right now! Anyway, thanks for the points, not for the quirk tho.” He added with a chuckle and his team carried him away.

“Hurry the fuck up!” Bakugou screamed at his teammates, while now keeping his eyes on the back of the blond jerk.

“Almost-“ He could feel them jerking almost violently to the side as they freed their legs from strange substance. “-there!” Bubblegum yelled and they all started running again.

Bakugou waited until they were close enough and jumped off with powerful blasts, straight at the same blond jerk. He could hear Kirishima yell after him, but he didn’t care, he kept his eyes on the same person, even when he hit some kind of a barrier, right before reaching. Bakugou quickly realized that the partly invisible blockade was thin and harmless for him, and so, as his target turned around, he blasted through the barrier, grabbed two headbands that were around his neck and tore them away with force big enough to start falling down. He felt something wrap around his waist and pull him back.

“Give us some warning before you jump!” Horse smile yelled as he withdrew his tape from Bakugou, who landed safely on their arms.

Katsuki wrapped both straps around his head, doing his best to ignore little voice, somewhere in the back of his mind, telling him that it'd be safer to put them around his neck.

“But now we’ll sure make it to the next round!” Shitty hair sounded like he wanted to defend Bakugou’s reckless actions, but now wasn’t the time.

“I’M NOT FUCKING DONE!” He screamed and locked his eyes yet again on their opponent who was still standing in the same place, looking back at him with shock.  “No way I’m settling on half-assed first place!” He hit Kirishima couple of times on the head, but it probably hurt him more than Shitty hair, as his head was completely hardened. “I can’t do this shit on my own, so fucking move!” He smirked as they actually started moving. “We’re taking our points back-“ he glanced at the board with points and noticed that Deku didn’t have the ten million points anymore, but who had them now? “-then we’ll get the ten million from that other bastard!”

His team started sprinting towards the blond jerk’s team.

“Horse smile, tape!”

“My name’s Sero!” He yelled, but did as he was told and released long stripe of tape which got locked onto the ground few meters in front of their opponents.

“Bubblegum, melt a path for us with that shit of yours!”

“It’s ASHIDO MINA!” The girl sounded annoyed, but Bakugou didn’t care. He just raised his leg so she could freely release her acid in front of them.

“HOLD ON, EXTRAS!” Bakugou yelled at them and let out big blasts from his hands, this made them slide on the acidic path, while tape helped them keep balance. They quickly caught up to their target and as they were about to pass them, he broke through another barrier, aggressively grabbed the last headband and tore it away as they slid past their opponents.

Now was the time to look for that useless, green bastard.

Even if I can’t see you- Bakugou thought to himself. –I’ll take those fucking points from you.

___

Eijirou, through all the yelling and the rest of the noise from whole stadium, heard the final countdown.

20 seconds.

“WHERE THE FUCK IS DEKU?!” Kirishima hardened his head again at the repetitive explosions going off from furious Bakugou.

“Dude, he’s right there in front of us!” He yelled, confused as to why he’d ask this, and pointed with his chin in the direction where Midoriya was probably getting ready to get back his headband from Todoroki. Then he felt some more blasts on his head. “BAKUGOU CALM DOWN, HE’S RIGHT THERE!” He screamed and then he felt the weight of angry teen leave him, and all he saw was the back of Bakugou, leaping, once again with the use of his explosions, towards two opponent teams, but just as he was about to reach them, Present Mic announced the end of the battle.

Bakugou face planted onto the ground.

“Ahhh, I used too much acid!” Ashido said in complaining manner as she waved around her sore hands.

“Hey, we got the second place!” Sero put both of his hands on Kirishima’s and Ashido’s shoulders. “We’re all going to the third round!” He announced happily and looked at Bakugou, still lying on the ground. “… Is he okay?” One of his eyebrows was raised, but Eijirou couldn’t tell if it was concern on his face or amusement.

Eijirou waited few seconds before he decided to check on him.

“Hey, Bakugou?” He kneeled down next to him. “Are you-“

“Fucking bastard with his piece of shit rotten hair and fucking bastard with his stupid ice-“ Bakugou’s angry muttering made Kirishima chuckle a bit. At least he’s fine. Eijirou nudged him lightly on a shoulder. “Who the fuck-“ Bakugou finally looked up and glared at him.

“Hope I’m not interrupting anything!” Eijirou joked, but didn’t fail to notice how Bakugou’s eyes darted to his hair for a split second.

“The fuck do you want, Shitty hair?”

Guess that first ‘Kirishima’ was also the last one. Eijirou thought to himself and pointed at the score board.

“We made it to the next round, we placed-“

“IN SECOND PLACE; TEAM BAKUGOU!” Present Mic’s announcement and the cheers of the crowd interrupted him.

“Yeah, that.” He smiled and extended his hand towards Bakugou, but backed away when the other started screaming again furiously.

“FUCKING USELESS BASTARD WITH HIS HAIR!!!”

Kirishima had no idea what he had against everyone’s hairstyles, but decided to leave Bakugou to his own doings for now.

___

Izuku quickly moved away from where Kacchan was screaming curses at him and Todoroki. He could finally relax and take a deep breath after the battle. Thanks to Tokoyami, they had secure place in the final round of the festival, yet one thing still bothered him.

“Midoriya-san.” He turned to see Yaoyorozu, who was staring at his oily hair. He laughed awkwardly.

“I- I can explain, Yaoyorozu-san… Just-” He muttered and wanted to cover himself behind his arms, as he had in habit to do, but quickly remembered that he had all this oil on his head and really didn’t want to get it anywhere else.

“It was for aerodynamics, right?” She thoughtfully put a hand on her chin and looked at him intensely.

“YES!” Yaoyorozu jumped a bit at the sudden volume and Izuku coughed awkwardly. “Sorry, yes. Exactly that. Now I have to find a way to get if off my hair, so I’ll go and try to get it off with some water and-“

“Water can’t dissolve oil, Midoriya-san.” She stated and extended her arm, which started glowing slightly, as usual when she would use her quirk.

“Right…” Izuku scratched his neck and realized that some oil slid down it. “Forgot about that fact…” Resigned, he wiped off the liquid on his already dirty trousers.

“It would be easiest to use supercritical water or benzene, but one is obviously too hot for you and the other is too toxic to be used without proper equipment.” She explained and a bottle popped out from her arm, at which Izuku winced. He was done with mysterious bottles for a while. “Calm down, Midoriya-san!” Yaoyorozu chuckled and passed him the bottle.

“What is that…” He suspiciously rotated the bottle in his hands, too afraid to open it, and furrowed his eyebrows at the strangely moving, gel-like substance.

“Nonpolar solvent!” She answered proudly, but when she noticed Izuku’s puzzled expression, she coughed and quickly corrected herself. “Safe for skin gel that dissolves oil. You can use it without water. Also, I added orange scent to it too…” She looked to the side with shy smile, as if slightly embarrassed.

“Amazing, Yaoyorozu-san!” Izuku smiled widely and bowed at her a couple of times while thanking her frantically, which only caused her to act even more sheepishly.

After few more seconds, Izuku thanked her one last time and quickly ran to the prep-room.

___

Bakugou was heading towards the cafeteria, when he noticed Deku, curse his hair being back to normal, and Half face, lingering on the opposite side of the corridor. He wanted to yell at them, one for taking first place from him, the other for changing his hair at the worst fucking time, but he realized that they started moving away.

Together.

No way he would let those bastards plot behind his back.

___

Katsuki kind of regretted eavesdropping on Deku and that Half bastard.

Even if he didn’t quite catch the beginning of their conversation, what he heard about Endeavor was more than enough. And even tho he didn’t know what he expected at the moment he decided to go after them, the terrible speech about Flame hero and what he did-

Katsuki swallowed a lump in his throat.

Bakugou’s own mother, back when he was little, would smack him on the butt with her hand or do some other, not that harmful stuff, when he was misbehaving, but that was only in extreme cases, even now, she would sometimes smack him on the head or slightly nudge his shoulder, but it was nothing for Bakugou and even less compared to what Half face just-

Katsuki frowned at the nickname he came up with few weeks earlier. Actually knowing the story behind the guy’s scar would make him look even more like an asshole, if he continued calling him that.

I’ll have to think of something else. He thought and wanted to look over the corner, but heard footsteps and quickly walked away, to avoid any confrontation, ignoring the fact that Deku started talking to the other once again.

As he walked, the thoughts of him being an actual fan of Endeavor started to disgust him. He even thought of him as an example. Someone to look up to, someone who tried his best to achieve his goal of becoming number one by surpassing others and working hard to be the best of the best.

Sometimes he was even glad that their quirks were slightly similar. Katsuki stopped for a second and spat with disgust and thus, he decided to personally burn the one poster he had of him.

At least he won’t have any problems with forgetting how this piece of shit looks like.

___

As it was still break-time before the third round, Bakugou entered the crowded hall, which was temporarily changed into some kind of a cafeteria for the students, and took one of the trays with a bowl of rice on it a searched for a free sit. He found one at the table already occupied by some students he didn’t recognize, but as they didn’t pay much attention to him as he sat down, he decided to ignore them as well and eat his meal.

He munched lazily on the rice, swallowed and rubbed his face, clearly annoyed. Despite his best efforts, he couldn’t forget about all the stuff that the guy said about his family and his own quirk. He seemed to hate his own power, and even if Katsuki wouldn’t admit to it out loud, he could say that he sometimes wished his quirk was something different.

But not to the extent of not using it at all, you fucking Half fa-

Katsuki shook his head.

Don’t call him that, you asshole. He frowned and stared down at almost full bowl.

The more he thought about it, the more he cursed at himself for not paying closer attention to his classmates after all. Now that he knew that frozen bastard could also use fire, he could come up with something that could match that, but then again, what use was it now, after all this time? It’s not like he’d interact with him outside the training or during classes or-

“Hey, Bakugou!” His thoughts were interrupted by familiar voice and he saw someone with red hair sit down in front of him, across the table, and just now he realized that whoever was sitting there before, was already gone.

Katsuki glared at the stranger who was staring at him, as if he was expecting something. He glanced at his hair and his frown deepened.

“You seem to be interested in my hair.” Katsuki almost dropped his chopsticks and his eyes darted back to Kirishima’s. They stared at each other for few seconds, unblinking, both of them holding their breaths in, not sure what the other will do. After what seemed like eternity, the red head slowly released the air from his lungs and leaned a bit forward. “What’s about it that you’re keep looking?” He asked in hushed voice, that barely made it through all the noise in the hall, as he rested his elbows on the table and his chin on hands, his expression curious and expecting, yet with a mix of something that Bakugou couldn’t figure out.

Did he know?

But how would he realize?

There’s no way-

“So?” Shitty hair straightened slightly and moved to the edge of his seat to be even closer.

He swallowed the lump in his throat and quickly glanced around, trying his best to not show the panic on his face, but luckily, no one was paying any attention to them.

“… It’s shitty.” Katsuki stated carefully, trying to sound confident, and continued to eat, while attempting to ignore Kirishima who was still staring at him.

Bakugou sighed, put down the chopsticks and stared back at him.

“The fuck is your problem, Shitty hair?” He glared at Kirishima in an attempt to intimidate him, but surprisingly, it wasn’t working on this one for some reason. Bakugou got just angrier from the lack of any answer, he stood up and slammed his hand on the table, finally getting a reaction in form of a little jump. “I fucking asked you-“

“What’s with you and people’s hairstyles?” He quickly cut in and stood up as well, making his way around the table to stare back at Bakugou. “Why you had so much trouble to chase after Midoriya while he was right in front of us?” Katsuki grit his teeth and took half a step back. “Why do you always stare at my hair whenever I approach you?” His intense gaze was too much and Katsuki realized he was holding in his breath.

He doesn’t know, don’t freak out, you idiot.

“Listen, you-“

“Attention please; third round of the tournament is about to begin. Please proceed to the stadium in orderly manner and enjoy the show!”

Katsuki never thought he’d be this relieved to hear the annoying robotic voice, and yet here he was. He pushed surprised Kirishima out of his way and tried to walk past him, but he grabbed his wrist and practically forced him to pause.

“Wait, Baku-“

“Don’t ever-“ Bakugou glared at him over his shoulder “-ever, ask me something this bullshit again, if you want to live.” He tore his arm away from the other’s grip, with too much force for such simple task, and quickly stomped away with hands in his pockets.

___

Ochako searched for her name on the board, and as soon as she found it and her eyes fell on her opponent’s name, she felt cold shiver run down her spine.

“Uraraka?” An accidental yelp escaped her mouth when she heard her name fall from Bakugou and she watched as he slowly turned around and scanned her with his eyes.

Panic froze her in place and she hid half of her face behind the pompoms she was holding. She didn’t know what to expect from Bakugou; would he use this as an opportunity to take revenge for what she did at the beginning of the school year? If so, what will he do? Will he blow up her hands, so she can’t use her quirk anymore?

… Straight up kill her?

Ochako shook her head slightly.

He wouldn’t- … right?

She realized that Bakugou was still staring at her with frowned eyebrows, but otherwise his expression wasn’t that angry. He looked at her in quite- questionable way? With a mix of indifference.

Was it possible that he forgot about what she did? There’s no way, with how he reacted back then.

Somehow, the lack of reaction from Bakugou was even more menacing than if he were to attack her right here, right now.

She watched as he turned on his heel and walked away, probably to prepare himself for their fight.

___

As Bakugou’s fight was to be the last of this round, he decided that he might as well watch some of the others, since he didn’t have anything better to do. He sat down, further in the back with crossed arms. Someone walked past him, but stopped and just stood there for few seconds, and Bakugou looked up at the red haired guy, who was staring at him. He glared and flipped him off, to which the guy reacted with a sigh and sat down some distance away.

The fights finally started.

The first one was between Deku and some guy who almost forced him out of the ring with his quirk. Bakugou would be pissed if this fucking nerd, after all the shit he pulled off so far, lost just like this. Katsuki wanted to be the one to kick him out of the tournament, not some guy with forgettable quirk.

Now, in the second one he wanted to be more invested in, but it ended before it even began, as Icy-Hot Bastard just froze the other guy with massive ice wall, which took a while to melt away, even tho he actually used the warmer side of his body to dissolve it.

After that, during third fight between some yellow haired guy and a girl with plants in place of actual hair, Bakugou decided to go back to one of the prep-rooms and do last few stretches, as no one else was interesting enough to watch.

___

Ochako tried her best to calm her nerves. Her leg was bouncing under the table and she accidentally sent the table flying once or twice, so now she just sat with her clenched fists resting on her knees.

She heard the door opening and in came Iida, probably done with his fight.

“Great job, Iida-kun!” Despite her efforts, her voice was shaking ever so slightly.

“Uraraka-kun, you don’t look like yourself!” He yelled, clearly surprised, and only now did she realize that her nervousness might have been showing on her whole face. “Right… You’re fighting against Bakugou…” She only sighed at his words and looked down at her hands.

“I’m… Really scared…” She confessed quietly, with sad smile. “But you know, Iida-kun, when I saw other fights I-“ She didn’t get to finish her thought, as the door opened suddenly and in came Deku.

“Uraraka-san!” Both her and Iida looked at him surprised, as so far, he was more than excited to watch and write down notes about all of the fights. He quickly explained how the situation looked right now and mentioned that Kirishima was fighting with someone from class B.

“Oh, so it’s almost time…” Ochako squeezed her hands and took a deep breath.

“Well! I don’t think Bakugou would use such brute force against a girl!” Iida’s words gave her hope for few seconds.

“He would, he will.” Just for all of it to be crushed by Deku’s blunt statement. “If anyone wants to prove something here, it’s Kacchan.” He said kinda ominously as he looked down at his hero analysis notes. “You helped me plenty before, Uraraka-san, so let me return the favor!” She caught up on what he wanted to offer and shook her head.

“I know you want to help, Deku-kun, and thank you for that.” She stood up and walked over to the door. “But I’ll do my best, I can’t expect you to come in with a plan all the time!” She laughed a bit and put a hand on a doorknob. “After all, we’re rivals now!” She gave him a thumb up and left with a little bit wobbly walk.

“At least-“ Ochako stopped midway through the corridor when she heard Deku’s voice behind her. “-let me tell you one thing.” His serious face shocked her to the point that she just nodded and blinked few times surprised as he walked over to her. She noticed that he left his notebook behind. “Kacchan doesn’t care about others.” His voice was now lowered to a whisper, like he was telling her some big secret. “Present Mic doesn’t specify what quirks the opponents have.” Deku looked at her more intensely, like he was expecting her to react in some way.

“Deku-kun, what are you-“

“You have the element of surprise.” He put the hand on her shoulder. “Use your knowledge against him.”

She swallowed, even more nervous than before, but nodded anyway. Deku let go and she walked down the corridor and headed straight to the stadium.

Ochako took a calming breath, as Present Mic loudly announced her name.

To be so self-absorbed, she thought to herself as she saw Bakugou slowly emerge from the tunnel on the other side of the stadium, to not even remember own classmate’s quirk.

Chapter Text

Aizawa listened to Present Mic's introductions of Bakugou and Uraraka. He looked at the huge screens on the sides of the stadium and at the faces of his two students; Uraraka's full of determination, yet with a slightly furrowed brows, probably in some kind of concern for herself.

He couldn't blame her, really, but it seemed like she actually came up with some kind of a plan, as she took one final, deeper breath and took on a battle stance, ready for a signal.

Then Bakugou.

Aizawa watched on the screen as the teen unzipped his uniform, making it more loose on him, and stretched his arms. Then glanced at his neutral mask and the hero immediately knew that Bakugou had no idea who he's up against. If it wasn't for Hizashi loudly announcing her name, and knowing this stubborn kid, he wouldn't even know that, not to mention her quirk, which wasn't revealed at all.

... It wouldn't hurt to subtly hint at it, but how?

"-but can she stand against this brute power?!" He caught the end of Mic's question and if his face wasn't covered in bandages, he'd smile smugly to himself. His coworker could sometimes unintentionally make things easier for him.

"We have to remember that Uraraka isn't helpless." He ignored the way Hizashi turned to him, obviously surprised at sudden commentary. "One touch from her and it’s over.” He cursed in his head at the cameraman who didn’t catch blond teen’s reaction to his words.

"Aren't you talkative all of a sudden?!" Mic yelled, seemingly amused and somehow pleased that Aizawa finally decided to participate more. "Are you playing favorites?!" He laughed and slammed his hand on Aizawa's shoulder couple of times.

"No." He said just too quickly, at which his friend just chuckled, but didn’t add anything.

___

“One touch from her and it’s over.” Katsuki's eyes widened at the teacher's words and his guard immediately went all the way up. He watched his opponent look up, probably in the direction where the booth with both teachers was, then her gaze moved to some seats at the top of the stadium. Before he could react in any way, the signal for their match to start went off and the girl charged at him, while keeping her stance close to the ground.

He was yet to discover what her quirk was, but he wasn't about to ignore sensei's words, so when she got close enough, he fired off a huge explosions from both of his hands, sending her away, while recoil made himself take half a step back.

Don't let her touch you.

She moved again, slightly circling him around, as if she tried to flank him, and once again, he sent her off with a blast with big amount of smoke.

But why?

His own smoke made it hard to spot the girl immediately, but the moment he saw her among it, he jumped in intention of flooring her. His eyes widened in surprise when he realized it was just her jacket.

A trick?

“SHE THREW HER JACKET OVER AND SENT IT FLOATING, ALL ON THE FLY!” Katsuki heard the loud commentary from Present Mic while he started analyzing the situation, strange feeling twisting his guts and he froze.

Floating.

Katsuki felt the lightest tug on the sleeve of his own jacket and instantly used his free hand to release an explosion, the result immediate, as he heard a yelp and after smoke screen slightly disappeared, he noticed that the girl fell to the ground. The jacket was suddenly all too light on him and he took it off with slight panic, while the crowd around him cheered loudly. He watched the clothing levitate a bit and thanked himself for unzipping it earlier. Since it was more loose, it slipped a bit from his arm with all the movement and the girl touched the material instead of his skin.

Then their eyes finally met.

“So you're Deku's sidekick, huh?” She seemed to be taken aback by his words. “The floaty one.” He said with mockery in his voice, while trying to cover the fact he was breathing heavily.  “You want to pull off the same shit as before, Round face?”

In short moment, he recalled the battle trial with All Might and how she managed to send him flying twice, because he was busy running after that fucking nerd.

“Deku won't come up with a plan for you this time!” He stopped himself from smirking when he saw her stand up with some trouble. She obviously tried to ignore his words, while she charged again, a bit slower this time, as she was seemingly more tired. “Too slow.” He commented as he sent her away, once again.

Then again.

And again.

Again.

It was obvious she was getting more and more desperate to touch him, but both of them were getting tired. Round face didn't seem to be willing to give up just yet.

“I'M NOT DONE!!!” She screamed as she bolted at him furiously.

“She keeps charging but… This is…” Both, less excited voice of Present Mic and growing pain in his arms made Katsuki release slightly smaller explosion, but it was still enough to send weakened girl flying backwards. She managed to stand up with heavy breath, but kept her stance low, while leaning her hands against her knees.

“Hey!” Someone screamed from the stands and Katsuki glanced in the direction where the sound came from. “Shouldn’t you stop the match?! This is getting painful!” The same person yelled at the referee standing nearest him.

Katsuki swallowed and once again used a blast against the girl.

“THAT IS NOT THE WAY SOMEONE WHO WANTS TO BE A HERO ACTS!” His hands twitched at the voice that made its way through the crowd and he froze in place.

“JUST THROW HER OUT OF THE RING IF YOU’RE THAT MUCH STRONGER!”

“STOP TOYING WITH THE POOR GIRL!”

Katsuki didn’t mean to toy with her. He wanted to win. He wanted to show off his quirk while being careful to not get caught off guard again, especially that the girl seemed to be determined as much as him, to the extent of attacking him blindly for another chance to touch him and use her own quirk.

He looked at her; she was breathing heavily while holding onto her stomach. She raised her eyes and glared back at him with determination and fury.

No way she didn’t have a plan.

Meanwhile, part of the audience was booing at him, as if he was tormenting her. It was degrading not only for him, but also for the girl who, like him, was probably putting her own health at risk, while repetitively charging at him.

Not an ounce of fear in her.

She wasn’t afraid of him or his quirk. But he was doing it again. Using his quirk and making people fear what he could do with it. He could as well burn everything down and it’d have the same effect.

They’re afraid of your power and you know it-

“Is the one who said he’s toying with her a pro?” Suddenly, familiar voice of Aizawa-sensei came through the speakers, snapping him out of his intrusive thoughts, and the whole stadium fell silent. “If that’s what you’re taking from this, then you can leave and start looking for a new job. She’s come this far and he knows her strength. His caution shows that he recognizes her as a worthy opponent.” Murmurs went through the crowd at the teacher’s words and Katsuki glanced at his opponent, who looked just as thankful at Aizawa’s words as he was. “Both of them want to win so badly, that there is no room for holding back.”

“Thanks, Bakugou-kun.” His eyes widened and confusion rose in him, as she raised her hands and put all her fingers together. “For your respect.” She looked up and he followed her gaze and realized what her real intentions were all this time.

He knew it; the strategy to fuck him over with the use of his own quirk.

“I’M GONNA WIN!” She screamed and all the rubble started falling down at him.

No way to dodge.

Without much thought, Katsuki raised his left arm, clenched his right hand around the forearm and released huge explosion, so loud his ears started ringing and so bright, that he had to squint his eyes. He bit his lower lip to stop himself from letting out a scream he felt was threatening to come out of his throat, as the pain of something blowing up underneath his skin flooded him. After all was done, he was too afraid to move his whole arm, in case there was actually something wrong with it.

He took in a shaky breath and slowly moved his fingers, testing the waters.

“So Deku did come up with a plan for you after all…” He murmured and felt anger rose in his chest at his old friend, as he lowered his arm carefully and examined it in search of any visible damage to it. “Close one…” Katsuki shook his hand a bit and clenched it into a fist a few times.

“URARAKA’S SECRET PLAN JUST WENT UP IN SMOKE!” He stopped moving at the sound of his opponent’s name and looked back at her.

Katsuki watched as she rose to her feet, barely catching her breath and glaring at him.

Uraraka has some fucking guts.

“Alright, time to get serious-“ both of them started running at each other “-Uraraka.”

But before he could get any closer to her, she fell down to the ground and he stopped abruptly, surprised. The referee, Midnight he assumed, jogged up to her and kneeled down next to her, giving him a signal to wait. He watched as Uraraka tried crawling towards him while murmuring something, just to be finally stopped by Midnight’s hand on her back.

“Uraraka is unable to continue.” She looked at Katsuki and nodded. “Bakugou moves on to the next round!” Her announcement made the stadium go wild, both in excitement and some kind of discontent.

The blond took a deep breath and turned around to leave the arena, but he noticed his long forgotten jacket on the ground. He picked it up and discovered that besides being dirty, it miraculously survived in all the ruckus of the battle.

___

Katsuki went to the part of the stands that was dedicated for his class and noticed that his old seat was taken, and thus he was forced to sit down next to some girl with purple hair in the first row.

“Dude, you really didn’t have to go at her like that!” He turned to see some guy with yellow hair and stupid grin talking to him. “Blowing up a frail girl like her.” Yellow head tilted his head and Katsuki rolled his eyes while crossing arms on his chest. “Not like me, I held back against mine!” He added proudly, and Katsuki stopped listening at this point.

“Nothing frail about her…” Blond muttered more to himself, than to answer anyone, so that’s why he tensed a bit when he felt a poke on his shoulder. He looked to his left and narrowed his eyes at the purple haired girl, who was resting her hands on her knees. Katsuki noticed that what poked him, was a strange, plug-like thing going from her ear. “What?” She looked to the side at his harsh tone.

“You did go hard at her.” The girl stated and Katsuki glared at her, tired of the same shit being repeated over and over again. “But you saw the real opponent in her.” She continued with a smirk and he tilted one of his eyebrows at her.

“Why the fuck wouldn’t I?” He looked back at the arena, where few people gathered in the center.

“Aizawa-sensei was right.” Katsuki glanced back at her, but she was staring at the arena, not paying much attention to him. “And she did put up a fight, almost catching you off-guard out there.” She added with a chuckle while playing with the end of one of her plugs, and almost snorted at his grunting.

Katsuki decided to ignore the girl and he focused on one of the huge screens, which was showing some two guys, getting ready for an arm wrestling match. Upon closer inspection, he realized that one of them was Shitty hair and he furrowed his eyebrows at the memory of their little talk.

“You’ll go against whoever wins the rematch.” Purple haired girl commented in a tone that suggested she didn’t expect him to answer her, so Katsuki just shrugged.

Now that she said it, he actually wanted Kirishima to win. Not only because he had no idea who the other guy was, but it’d be great to kick his nosy ass and be justified by the tournament. He could give him a lesson, to not think too much about others’ business. He already had Deku butting in all the time, and pulling off shit like the one during cavalry battle and then with his sidekick, that Uraraka-

Katsuki’s eyes widened with the sudden thought.

… Did he tell her?

He didn’t have more time to think about it, as the loud signal of the rematch starting made the thought slip away from him. He focused on a red head shown on the huge screen and watched as both of his arms, one arm struggling to win against the quirk of the another guy, while his other hand was holding onto a block of cement. At some point, he dug his sharp fingers into the supposedly firm surface and Katsuki slightly leaned forward to see the whole action better.

Katsuki knew Kirishima was strong, after all, he managed to keep up with him during the USJ incident and then today shown that he was mostly resistant to blond’s explosives. If they were to meet in a duel, he’d have to come up with some kind of a strategy against red head’s natural shield.

After few more seconds, Shitty hair managed to defeat the other guy, his hand slamming his opponent’s one into the surface of a cement block, almost breaking it in a result.

Strong motherfucker. Katsuki thought as a smirk spread across his face.

___

Eijirou, still high on adrenaline with huge grin on his face, left the arena after his victory and wanted to quickly get some water and then head straight to the stands to watch next match, but he stumbled upon Uraraka leaving one of the prep-rooms.

“Hey, how did your fight go?” He asked and watched as she turned to him slowly with a questioning look. “I was unconscious after mine, so I couldn’t watch it.” Eijirou closed the distance between them and only now noticed her puffy eyes.

“I lost…” She said and lowered her head, before he could ask if she had cried. “Against Bakugou…” The girl added and looked to the side, while Eijirou’s eyes widened. He didn’t know they were put against each other, too occupied with his own match.

“Wow, that must have been-“ he looked for the right thing to say and scratched his neck. He didn’t want to offend her with the poor wording.

Or offend Bakugou.

“It’s okay, Kirishima-kun!” Uraraka tried to assure him. “It was challenging, but Bakugou-kun didn’t look down on me! I think he was even wary for some time!” She added with small, yet proud smile, but Eijirou tilted his head, slightly confounded.

“… Wary?” He slowly repeated after her with a questioning look.

“Ah, it might have something to do with what Deku-kun said?” She put her hand on her chin and looked up at the ceiling. “That Bakugou-kun doesn’t really remember other people’s quirks? Or that he doesn’t care..?” She wondered and moved her hand around as if she was writing Midoriya’s words in the air.

Eijirou didn’t know what to say to that. He still remembered his exchange with shorter teen from the beginning of the school year and how he felt like an asshole after, but now that he thought about it, there actually had to be something that Midoriya knew about Bakugou, and it wasn’t just Eijirou’s imagination at this point. Even blond’s reaction to his questions earlier was strange, to say the least.

“Kirishima-kun?” Uraraka’s voice brought him back to reality and he blinked few times, the thought getting lost in the back of his head. “Is there something wrong?” She took half a step in his direction.

“It’s nothing!” He smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. “My moms are recording the whole thing so I’ll definitely watch it!” Uraraka gasped softly at his words then, covered her face sheepishly.

“Ahhh, Kirishima-kun, you don’t have to!”

“This is my mission at this point. You can’t stop me.” He put on the most serious face he could manage, but he broke into laughter upon hearing shorter girl’s giggling.

“How is it that you always make people laugh?” Eijirou just shrugged with a smile. He didn’t feel like it was the right moment to go into how he didn’t want people to think they were alone or helpless all the time, like he used to.

Uraraka left after few moments, as she didn’t want to be late for Midoriya’s match, and Eijirou entered their class’ prep-room. He got to his locker and quickly found a bottle of water, which he drank while going through different messages on his phone.

Mama: KICK THEIR ASSES EICHAN

Mom: Good luck, honey!

Eijirou smiled at the first messages from his moms. He knew that both of them were busy with their schedules, but still managed to find a time to watch the tournament for him.

Mom: You have a strong team, but I don’t want this explodo boy to blow up your head.

Mom: Congratulations!!! I’M PROUD OF YOU

Mom: I hope your head won’t hurt after this!

The last one must have been sent after he and Tetsutetsu head-butted each other.

Mom: I’m proud of you, baby! Good luck during next match!

Eijirou smiled to himself and sent her a quick ‘thanks’, new message from his ma’ incoming in the meantime. He hurriedly opened it in hope for exchanging at least few texts with her, since she was overseas right now because of her job, and since they were in different time zones, they didn’t have that many chances to talk.

Mama: I can’t watch anymore bUT YOU FIGHT AGAINST THAT BLOND EXPLODO KID NEXT, SO KICK HIS ASS FOR ME, EICHAN!!!

He laughed loudly, but as he wanted to reply he realized what she wrote.

Blond explodo kid.

Eijirou paled slightly, threw his phone into the locker, closed it and ran out of the room to try and find at least one screen with a chart of fights. Luckily, one was right outside the room and he quickly found his name.

And indeed, as he won against Tetsutetsu, and Bakugou won against Uraraka, they were to meet in a short time on the arena. So far they only worked together, so going against Bakugou’s quirk would be an interesting experience. One could say that their quirks were a perfect match and it was true so far, so what would happen if they were to go against each other?

What happens when unstoppable force meets immovable object?

Eijirou took a deep breath and finally moved to the stands, while wondering if Bakugou would go extra hard at him for what he did during the lunch break. He couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty. Seeing Bakugou all alone at that table for the hundredth time, along with his own stupid curiosity, made him act without a plan.

He finally found the right stairs leading to the seats and walked up them, quickening his pace when he realized that the match had already began. He made it in time to see Midoriya break his third finger and cold shiver ran down his spine.

Poor guy. Eijirou thought and turned at someone calling out to him.

“Nice job getting to the second round, Kirishima!” Kaminari waved at him from where he was sitting in the middle of the first row and Eijirou shot him a grin, but as he was about to answer, he glanced around and saw that he was standing only a meter away from Bakugou, who stopped staring at his hair (there it is again) as soon as he realized that the red head noticed him, and started glaring at him from his seat, with eyes that could probably kill, and Eijirou forgot how to breathe for a second.

“Y-yeah!” He started and tried his best to sound confident. “I’m up against you next, Bakugou!” The smile returned to his face, but blond’s frown only deepened.

“I’ll kill you.” Bakugou said slowly with venom in his voice and turned back to watching the match.

Eijirou felt like this time he really was going to pay for his nosiness, and yet-

“I’d like to see you try!” He laughed and noticed how the angry blond glanced at him quickly. It’s not like Eijirou had anything else to lose. He might as well give it all.

Earlier he just jumped into conclusion without taking the time to think more about it, and now that he actually thought about it, he didn’t even know what this ‘conclusion’ was. He was sure there really was something about Bakugou he didn’t want to share with anyone, judging by his reaction alone, but he wasn’t sure what this something was.

Maybe there’s something wrong with his head? Eijirou smirked at the thought, but then paled slightly at his own joke, his eyes widening. His eyes shot to Bakugou, somehow afraid he’d read his thoughts, but the blond was keep watching the match and the thought slipped away when Present Mic announced that Midoriya broke more of his fingers.

The paradox.

___

Katsuki watched Deku break his fingers, one after another and couldn’t help but grit his teeth. This fucking shrimp comparing their quirks was one thing, but him going out of his way to break them on purpose? For what? To prove a point to this bastard?

Meanwhile, he also noticed that Icy-Hot started moving at much slower pace than before and Katsuki turned his attention to him. From what he gathered, his right side was partially covered in thin layer of frost, because of him refusing to use his father’s fire.

Of course. After all, quirks are physical abilities. If someone runs for too long, they’ll eventually run out of breath. A quirk is just another function of the body, not a limitless power and Katsuki was more than well aware of that, as he subconsciously clenched his fists, still feeling a shadow of the pain from the fight with Round face.

They were keep jumping at each other, Deku going all out, probably numb to the pain because of the adrenaline and convinced he’d get healed later by the nurse. But if he won now, he wouldn’t be able to fight in the next match and Katsuki didn’t want some half-assed victory against that useless fucker.

And no way he’ll ever lose against him again.

Katsuki straightened his back when he saw Deku raise his hand to his mouth and put his thumb in it, to create another wave against his opponent, as he was probably unable to clench his fingers anymore.

Why the fuck are you doing this?

Deku was keep screaming something at him and managed to get close enough to push the other two times in a row, as if Icy-Hot was frozen in place.

Fucking irony.

But something must have gotten into that frozen brain, as Deku once again screamed at him, while he was on the ground, barely able to prop himself on his knees, he rose slowly to his feet and suddenly, burning flames erupted from him, the heat reaching the stands, and his words rang in Katsuki’s brain.

‘I’ll never use my father’s quirk.’ So what the fuck happened out there.

“SHOUTO!!!” A roar went through the stadium. Katsuki looked in the direction where it came from and frowned at some man who was literally burning, too far away to get any more details of his looks.

Whomst the fuck-

“Holy shit, that’s Endeavor…” Someone whispered behind him and Katsuki’s face turned into a disgusted grimace, especially when the ‘hero’ started going on about fulfilling his sick ambitions.

Luckily, it didn’t take him long to shut up and all the attention was back on Deku and flaming bastard.

Icy-Hot sent a giant ice wave at Deku, which the latter avoided by jumping over it with his quirk. Green head dived at the other teen, who heat up the air and melted all the ice in preparation for a giant flame attack, that began with his hand visibly flaring up with heat. Deku seemingly wanted to counter it with some kind of a smash attack, using one of his broken arms, but before the attacks could fully collide, the ground rose between them and everything blew up, the recoil and heat so much bigger than before.

When the smoke from the explosion cleared, Katsuki quickly leaned forward to check who won and saw Deku collapsing outside the ring. After few seconds of silence, Midnight announced that the Icy-Hot bastard was the victor.

You better go all out with that fucking fire at me. Katsuki thought and as he didn’t care about other fights, he moved to prepare for his own battle against Kirishima.

___

Katsuki stood in the middle of the arena, Kirishima dozen meters away. They both were waiting for the signal to start the match and while Katsuki was glaring, Kirishima seemed unbothered by it, determination and small smirk present on his face.

Close range combat. Katsuki furrowed his eyebrows and with last stretch of his arms took on a battle stance. Since this time he knew his opponent, there wouldn’t be any surprises and so he got ready to keep Shitty hair from getting too close.

The signal went off and Kirishima immediately rushed at him, his skin already hardened and Katsuki wondered if the other could keep this up for the whole fight.

“Hey-“ Kirishima spoke as he closed in, Katsuki dodging a punch from the left and flaring at him with an explosion, but that didn’t reach the red head as he jumped away in time. “Maybe if I win, you can actually tell me what’s up with you and my hairstyle?”

His blood boiled with anger.

“I’ll fucking murder you.” Katsuki grit his teeth and released bigger explosions at him, Kirishima running backwards with his arms crossed in front of him. “Stop with this bullshit and fight, you asshole!” He got closer again, but as Katsuki was about to send him away, he spoke again.

“Is it really bullshit when it comes to your head?!” This made him stop and he barely dodged as Kirishima cut his cheek open with a punch, he countered without thinking much about it and Shitty hair backed away with a smirk.

Was that just a joke?

When smoke disappeared, Katsuki saw that he managed to make a hole in Kirishima’s uniform, revealing hardened skin, and the asshole started laughing.

“That won’t work on me, Blasty!”

Strong, annoying motherfucker.

As Kirishima rushed at him with multiple punches again, Katsuki couldn’t do more than dodge while backing away, slowly losing ground. He didn’t have much of a choice than to wear him off, so he stood his ground and released few explosions at him. There was no way this idiot could keep this up for much longer.

After exchanging few more dodges and explosions, he finally managed to land a hit strong enough to make another hole in other’s uniform and get a reaction out of him. Kirishima grit his teeth and backed away slightly, holding onto his side and Katsuki smirked.

“Looks like you can’t stand more rapid attacks.” He said mockingly and when Shitty hair tried to get closer again, he raised both of his hands and let out multiple blasts, right at him, one after another. “You’re falling apart.” Katsuki added upon noticing that his skin softened slightly, and of course didn’t give him a chance to collect himself.

He raised both of his arms and released one final explosion, making Kirishima fall backwards and onto the ground.

“Mind your own fucking business, Kirishima.” Katsuki said as red head lost consciousness, his head falling unwittingly.

At least he won’t have to worry about him for the time being.

___

“Bakugou, wait!” Before Katsuki got a chance to even head towards the stands, someone’s voice from behind made him stop. He slowly peered over his shoulder and first thing he saw was red headed student, leaning against his own knees and panting slightly. “I thought I won’t catch you in time!” The student straightened his back and Katsuki recognized that terrible hairstyle. He rolled his eyes and grit his teeth.

“Didn’t I knock you out?” He hissed with a frown and turned to go away.

“Recovery Girl was surprised too…  But you know, I’m more resistant, thanks to my quirk!” Kirishima laughed a bit, yet awkwardness was apparent in his voice.

But his words made Katsuki stop.

Strong, annoying, unyielding motherfucker.

Katsuki’s frown deepened even more when he realized that Shitty hair decided to approach him.

“The fuck do you want, anyway!?” He raised his voice, as he wanted to sound threatening.

He really didn’t want to talk to him, especially after he mentioned their less than enjoyable talk during freaking battle! Didn’t he have more important things to think about during the tournament?! Katsuki thought that him knocking Kirishima out and winning would be enough for the red head to stop tailing after him and stop snooping around, but apparently, that was just his wishful thinking.

“I wanted to talk to you.”

Katsuki couldn’t figure out what was the exact tone of his voice and he swallowed a lump forming in his throat.

Was that it? Did he somehow figure it out?

He grit his teeth and tried to take a calming breath as he slowly turned to fully face him and narrowed his eyes. Kirishima was standing few meters away from him, his eyebrows slightly upturned, in kind of a worried manner.

Or rather fucking pity. Because of course that’s something he’d get.

What did he expect, if not that?

Did he expect Kirishima to be any different from others?

Did he expect him to act neutral about his discovery?

… Maybe he could still ask him to not tell anyone?

God fucking damn it, what if he already did that!?

“… Bakugou?” Kirishima’s worried tone made him snap out from his panic and he glared at him, and to his surprise, the other actually lowered his gaze, as if he was ashamed.

“Yeah? And about what?!” The blond aggressively snarked at him, trying to cover the fact that he was almost afraid of this confrontation, small part of his mind hoping for it to be about something else, anything else.

Kirishima’s next words only confirmed his fears, to which he’d never admit.

“About… What I said during the lunch break.”

… Fuck.

Chapter Text

Maybe it was the way Bakugou reacted during their fight, freezing for a split second, or how Eijirou was kicking himself for even jokingly thinking that there was something wrong with Bakugou’s head, but he just wanted to come clean with him at this point, and dancing around the topic wouldn’t be a good idea, so he decided to get straight to the point after seeing his classmate pale slightly at his words.

“About… What I said during the lunch break.” He looked up at the sound of air being sharply inhaled and noticed that Bakugou’s jaw was clenched so tightly, it probably hurt.

Was he this angry about that? Eijirou took a deep breath.

“Dude, I’m uh- sorry. For kind of attacking you like that…” He looked down and grimaced a bit. “Like, I honestly don’t know what I was thinking… I just-“

“For fucking shit, you bitch face!” Eijirou’s eyes shot up at Bakugou.

“Huh-"

“Why wouldn't you just fucking start with that?! The fuck’s with all the God damn suspense bullshit?!” He yelled at Eijirou and moved towards him.

“I’m sorry!” He took half a step back on instinct while Bakugou approached him and stood at arm's length from him. “Seriously, I-“ The other raised his fist and Eijirou tensed.

He really didn’t want it to end in another fight, but if that’s what it’d take for Bakugou to forgive him then be it.

Eijirou closed his eyes, held his breath and braced for a hit but then felt a shove on his shoulder. A shove that was too light to be meant to be harmful, yet too hard to be perceived as a friendly one, so what was that?

“Next time get to the fucking point, you ass!” He opened his eyes to see a pout and slightly furrowed eyebrows on Bakugou’s face.

“R-right! Sorry, man!” Eijirou didn’t really know how to react. “I won’t do that again!” He tried to assure him with a small smile, at which Bakugou’s frown only deepened, yet he didn’t look like he was actually that angry. There was a short sigh from him, as if he was relieved .

“Whatever.” Bakugou repeated the motion of hitting his shoulder and put both of his hands in the pockets of his pants.

Wait, so that was supposed to be a friendly nudge after all? Was Bakugou just socially awkward and didn’t know how to calculate something as easy as a nudge? Eijirou couldn’t help but smile brightly, at which Bakugou only rolled his eyes and turned around.

“Just don’t stick your nose in other’s business, Kirishima.” He said almost calmly as he started walking, yet he stopped and peered at him over his shoulder. “… Especially if there’s no business.” Bakugou added kind of ominously and continued on his own.

Eijirou’s smile only widened after being called by his actual name and he laughed a bit. He jogged up to Bakugou and put his arm around his shoulders.

“Aw, Blasty! You have my word!”

“Don’t touch me.” Bakugou grumbled and quickly pushed him away, yet with much less force than the last time Eijirou did that, when they were to train together. “And don’t call me that!” He glared at him and quickened his pace.

“Sure, Blasty!” His laughter echoed in the corridor, accompanied by a chain of curses.

___

Katsuki pushed Shitty hair away and quickened his pace while yelling at him to stop calling him ‘Blasty'. What kind of a nickname even was that?

“Sure, Blasty!”

“The fuck did I just tell you, Shitty hair?” He said with spite and rolled his eyes at the chuckle from Kirishima. They finally got to the stands and Katsuki let him sit down next to him in the back.

… But if he had to be honest, Kirishima would probably sit next to him anyway, for some fucking reason.

Katsuki wasn’t really interested in the next fight and so, he could finally analyze what happened.

And the longer he thought about it, the more he felt like a fucking moron.

Even if he didn't want to admit it, he assumed the worst and let all those shitty emotions flood him at once, while Kirishima didn't even fucking know. He didn't know and Katsuki almost shot himself in the knee with his stupid overreacting.

“I wonder if he'll use his fire again…” Kirishima's voice brought him back to Earth and Katsuki turned to him with a frown. Shitty hair realized he was looking at him and straightened his back with slight panic on his face. “You know! Since he didn't want to use it before for some reason and all that stuff?” He laughed awkwardly and gestured vaguely towards the arena.

Katsuki raised his eyebrow and turned his gaze to one of the screens. He saw two guys fighting, one with some kind of tubes coming out from his freaking calves and with glasses on his face (how the fuck did they not fall off by now?), the other with evenly split, red-white hair. The camera focused on his face for a moment and Katsuki noticed that nasty scar on it. The guy used an ice wall to not fall out of the arena.

Right. Ice.

“He better fucking use it.” He said with malice and stood up, ready to leave to get ready for his own fight and vaguely wondered why he had come to sit there in the first place. Without putting too much thought into it, he decided to blame Kirishima for distracting him.

“Where are you going?” Kirishima jumped a bit in his seat when Katsuki rose to his feet, but as he was about to answer, Shitty hair spoke again, with more confidence. “Oh right! You fight against Tokoyami next!” He smiled brightly and raised his thumbs up. “Good luck, man!”

Katsuki peered at him over his shoulder and frowned. Who the fuck was Tokoyami?

“You know! The guy with a bird head?” Katsuki froze for a second, but Kirishima's tone was so oblivious that he quickly ignored any panic in his head.

“I know who that is, why the fuck wouldn't I?” Kirishima's smile flattened, but as he was about to say something-

“Oh, but you didn't remember our names before the cavalry battle!” He heard a girly voice, but when he turned to its source, there was only a school gym uniform sitting nearby.

Invisibility? Since fucking when? He didn't remember any floating clothes when he was choosing his team, but then again, he didn't remember much from that moment until Kirishima appeared out of nowhere and practically stopped him from his stupid panicking.

“Do you have trouble remembering names, Bakugou-kun?” From the movements of the uniform, he assumed that the girl leaned forward to be closer to him.

Now that he thought about it, there often was an empty seat in front of him in the class. Maybe it was just there was no head to peek out from that seat in the first place?

“Oh yeah!” Another voice, Katsuki turned and some guy with yellow hair was sitting backwards in his seat, just so he could talk to them. “You're more into rude nicknames, right? Blasty?” He asked with a smirk and Katsuki grit his teeth, his frown deepening.

“What is it to you two, you useless extras?” Yellow head gasped dramatically while Kirishima chuckled not-so-subtly. “Hey, Shitty hair, that wasn’t a joke, so don’t la-“

“But you sometimes call Kirishima-kun by his name!” The girl called out with some amusement in her voice and sleeves of her uniform raised up and Katsuki narrowed his eyes at her.

How the fuck-

“Bro, how did you do that?!” Yellow haired one turned to Kirishima who just shrugged with stupid smile, seemingly having no answer for him, but Katsuki was more than happy to provide one.

“I don’t give a shit about some weaklings who lost in the first round.”

“Excuse me?!” The guy turned back to him with a scowl.

“We both were there during cavalry battle!” The girl spoke up defensively, right after the first idiot.

“And I made it to the last round!”

Fuck, did he? Katsuki clicked his tongue and glared at him and then tried at the invisible girl but it was hard from the lack of face he could look at.

All better for him.

“But you lost.” He said coldly and turned around. “So it doesn’t even matter.” While walking away, Katsuki heard Kirishima call out to him, but ignored it entirely.

He had more important things to attend to.

___

Defeating that Bird guy was easier than it seemed at first. All he had to do was use brighter blasts against that shadow of his and that was it.

But that wasn't important anymore. He won, and the Birdy (whatever his name was) lost. And now he was to stand against that Icy-hot bastard who after his fight with Deku refused to use his fire again, like the stubborn asshole he was.

Katsuki went to one of the prep-rooms, but when he kicked the door open, he found himself face to face with some guy, who was sitting at the table.

“What the-“

The guy turned to him and Katsuki realized he had dually colored hair and a scar over his left eye.

That bastard.

“Why the fuck are you here?” Katsuki asked, not really expecting an answer, and looked over his shoulder to check the room’s number. “Ah, wrong one-“ He noticed with annoyance that only rose when he realized that Icy-Hot completely ignored him and looked down at his hands, which were resting on the table. “Hey, dipshit, I get that I walked into the wrong room-“ he approached him slowly and yet was still being ignored “-but why the fuck are you giving your final opponent a cold shoulder, hah?” Katsuki raised his hand, and when he still didn’t get any reaction from him, he slammed it against the table with an explosion. “DON’T IGNORE ME!”

Finally, he got some kind of a response, even if it was just short, stupid ‘ah’ .

“Midoriya…” The bastard still wasn’t looking at him, but slowly raised his left hand and stared at it. “…he went out of his way to literally smash what was holding me back.” Katsuki had no idea why this asshole would start talking about that damned nerd all of a sudden, but as he was about to open his mouth, Icy-hot spoke again. “You two are childhood friends, right? Was he always like that?”

Katsuki grit his teeth and anger boiled in him at the memories of Deku’s stupid doings.

‘I’ll keep my hair like that so you’ll be able to always recognize me without worrying about it!’

‘You really looked like you needed help!’

‘I’m not scared of you!’

“That fucking hypocrite…” Katsuki clenched his fists. “WHO THE FUCK CARES?! ” He yelled and kicked the table with enough force that caused it to fall over. “Who cares about his useless speeches?!” The bastard finally looked up at him and it was obvious he wanted to say something. “And you! Your fucking family!” His eyes widened and a frown appeared on his face.

“How did-“

“No one gives a shit!” Katsuki immediately interrupted him. “No one gives a shit about your tragic backstory, just like no one gives a shit about mine!” Icy-hot seemed to be taken aback by it and closed his mouth, confused frown appearing on his face. Katsuki mentally kicked himself and tried to ignore the feeling of regret after saying too much. He put both of his hands in the pockets of his pants, while looming over that bastard. “So come at me with your fucking fire.” He glared at him one last time and turned around. “I’ll crush those flames, just like everything else.” Katsuki finally said and left the room for good.

___

The signal to start their fight went off and before Katsuki knew what had happened, it was over.

He stared at his unconscious opponent, lying on ice outside the ring and everything about their fight changed into a blur as rage flooded him.

How dare you.

Katsuki raised to his feet, while ignoring the pain in his arms after his last powerful blow, and almost stumbled a few times as he sprinted towards that bastard.

“HOW DARE YOU HOLD BACK!?” He grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and violently shook his limp body. “DID DEKU TELL YOU?! IS THAT WHY!? ANSWER ME, YOU HALF-FACED BASTARD, HE FUCKING TOLD YOU, DIDN’T HE!? ”

Katsuki couldn’t think straight, blinded by his rage, and before he knew it, a sweet scent reached his nostrils and he felt his body get too heavy and fell down to the ground. Like through the fog, he heard someone announce him as the victor of the tournament.

Not like this…

___

In one second he was yelling and firing off explosions at people who wanted to force him to accept this worthless victory, in another he was screaming and fighting for the air, his face covered behind a muzzle and his hands tied.

He tried to breathe, tried to blast off the restraints, but they were too tight on his hands and he'd risk hurting himself. The panic rose in his mind as his chest tightened from the lack of air. The horrifying familiarity of this situation and a feeling of helplessness were humiliating and there was no one to help him.

No Deku to come running out of nowhere.

No All Might to blow the sludge away with one punch.

No one.

Only now he realized that he was already on the podium, out in the open and felt tears well up in his eyes. Katsuki blinked rapidly to stop them, he couldn’t afford to show any weakness, especially in the situation like this.

When he was exposed to the whole fucking country, if not more.

Finally, fucking finally, someone removed the muzzle from his face and Katsuki took in a couple of deep, desperate breaths. His lungs hurt from the amount of air he took in, but God did it feel good to finally be able to breathe again.

"You lived up to your promise, young Bakugou." Deep voice grounded him and Katsuki realized he was shaking, almost violently, no longer fighting for air, but the panic still made his heart race and sweat run from his forehead.

He looked up and saw an enormous figure right in front of him.

Katsuki’s chest tightened again as his eyes darted from head to toes of the tall man.

Blond hair with two bangs sticking out, wide smile on his face with strange, black, sunken eyes, retro hero costume, calling him ‘young Bakugou’-

… No.

Please, no-

Everyone but him, everyone but All Might.

He can’t see you like that, not again-

“… Are you alright, my boy?” Worry in his suddenly quieter voice was degrading and Katsuki noticed the medal in his hands. “Young-“

“THIS VICTORY DOESN’T MEAN SHIT!” All Might seemed to be taken aback by his sudden outburst, but after a few seconds, he walked up closer to him anyway, extending his arms towards him, the band with a medal being all too close to Katsuki for his liking.

“Accept this, young boy! As a wound even-“

“I DON’T WANT YOUR GARBAGE MEDAL!” He hated how strained his voice was and how desperate he sounded, but it seemed to work, as All Might stopped moving.

And then he saw it.

Fucking pity on hero’s face.

___

The boy screamed again.

Toshinori's hands stopped moving towards him and clenched on the band with a heavy medal hanging from it. It was obvious to him that the boy was yelling furiously to cover for something, and just before he repeated his profanities, Toshinori realized that young Bakugou was highly distressed by this situation, as the look on his face was nearly the same as when he was held by that sludge villain, almost a whole year ago. He considered backing off, to fulfill his wish and not give him the medal at all, but then he heard a quiet voice of Midnight behind him, telling him to hurry, because the audience was getting impatient.

Toshinori took a deep breath and looked at the student apologetically.

I'm sorry, young Bakugou. He thought and moved towards him once again, to put the medal on him.

___

Masaru stared at the screen of their TV with shock and disbelief. He clenched his hands into fists, nails digging into his palms, while trying his best to remain calm.

Good thing Mitsuki went to the kitchen. He thought and almost prayed for her to stay there long enough, so she wouldn't see their son being restrained like that. She left the room after they saw the referee use her quirk to put to sleep rightfully (in Mitsuki’s opinion) angry Katsuki, and as she didn’t want to get more angry, she decided to go and make herself some tea.

And of course, that's when he heard something hit the floor. Masaru immediately turned around and saw Mitsuki standing in the doorway, mug (which miraculously didn’t break) was on the floor with hot tea spilled around it. She was staring at the screen with furrowed eyebrows and clenched teeth.

“Are you oka-“

"How much for me to sue this fucking school?" She asked, her eyes never dropping from the screen.

"Mitsuki-" he stood up from the couch and slowly approached her "-I don't think this will be-"

"You know what?" She walked past him while still staring at the TV. "It doesn't matter." Mitsuki finally looked at him over her shoulder. "I'll fucking destroy them, no matter the costs." She stated flatly with daggers in her eyes.

They watched for a few seconds how someone took off a muzzle from Katsuki’s face and caught how he took few quick, deeper breaths, before screaming something at All Might, who tried to put a medal on him

"They could have simply said that he was still asleep after that bitch used her quirk!" She pointed at the mentioned referee who stood in the corner of the screen.

"You know..." He coughed awkwardly. "Katsuki sometimes overreacts to things..." Masaru tried to calm the situation, even though his wife had a point. Yet, he quickly learnt that he might have made a mistake by saying that.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now?!" Mitsuki screamed at him and hit the screen with her palm. "Do you see what I see!? They restrained him like some kind of a wild animal!" Her clenched fist returned to her side. "LIKE A FUCKING VILLAIN!"

If Masaru wanted to say anything, he momentarily forgot what it was. This statement actually got to him. Masaru knew how delicate of a subject 'villainy' was in their household, with how Katsuki dealt with his anger and how people often talked behind his back.

Mitsuki apparently couldn’t bear to watch this anymore, as she took a remote, turned off the TV and sat down on the edge of a couch.

"God, he was already claustrophobic after that fucking sludge piece of shit... Now what..?" She asked herself and rubbed her face, still clearly mad.

"Come on now, he didn't have that much trouble with-"

"Don't you fucking dare finish that sentence." If she had a quirk of murdering people with her eyes, Masaru would already be dead a few times. "You know damn well why he refuses to wear ties."

Realization flooded him like a cold wave.

Now that she said it, Masaru thought that he might have gotten too used to his son not wearing ties or anything too tight around his neck. He might have also repressed that one memory, back when Katsuki was in middle school, how right after the incident with the sludge villain, he stopped buttoning all the way up his school uniform. Neither of them paid it too much mind, probably not even Katsuki himself, until a few weeks later, when they were going out for dinner to some fancy restaurant and Masaru wanted to help his son with a tie. He accidentally fastened it far too tight and suddenly, Katsuki started hyperventilating, and they were unable to calm him down for far too long for anyone's liking.

The fear, panic and helplessness on Katsuki's face were so unnatural and shocking for both of them at that moment, neither of them knew how to handle this situation. When he was at the end of what was probably a panic attack, he couldn't even recognize them. He was staring with widened and panicked eyes, which were darting back and forth between them, while breathing heavily, not letting them get closer and firing off explosions at them.

The mere memory of it made a cold shiver run down Masaru's spine.

___

Katsuki managed to get to the locker room by the time other guys from his class (as this time he double checked he went to the right room, just to be sure) were getting out of the showers. Happy banter between all of them stopped the moment they noticed him and turned into half whispers as he glared at them and clenched his hand around the meaningless medal.

He threw that piece of garbage onto the bench between the lockers, some guy with blond hair jumping with short yelp at the sudden sound. Katsuki ignored him, he turned to his own locker to get some stuff and headed straight to the showers, his frown deepening when the conversations went back to normal as soon as he was out of sight. He didn't stay under the water for too long, not wanting to think about what had happened, almost afraid of staying with his thoughts alone.

As soon as he came back to the room he noticed that most of the guys were gone, only few still there, already in their school uniforms. Katsuki just moved to his locker and started putting on his own as well, not sparing a glance at them or at the medal which seemed to be making fun of him from where it was still on the bench.

“Dude, it’s so strange to see you with your hair down.” Katsuki rolled his eyes at the words of one of the guys from a group standing near him.

Who cares about that stuff, just go to fucking class.

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you with it like that outside the locker rooms!” The other added with short laugh.

“I want it to be my signature! Just like Crimson Riot!” The third one provided with more enthusiasm than necessary and he heard some shuffling. Katsuki glanced subtly at them and noticed that the one with red hair was going through his bag, then spoke again after taking out some tube, probably with a gel. “It doesn’t take long for me to style it, but you two go ahead, I’ll catch up in a moment!” He finished and the other two left the room.

That’s when the redhead looked back at him and Katsuki quickly turned to face his locker again. Finally, he put on the jacket of his uniform and slammed the locker shut, but as he was about to leave the place, he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“Hey, Bakugou-“

“The fuck do you want!?” He shoved the hand away and turned to the guy with a glare. He tried to figure out who the fuck that was, but to no avail, as he couldn’t recall anyone with that kind of hair.

“You- uh” Redhead pulled away and raised his other hand. Katsuki’s frown only deepened when he realized what that jerk was holding. “You left your medal on the bench?” He offered with a small smile and waved the medal a bit.

“Fucking keep it if you care about it so much!” Katsuki snapped and turned around but stopped dead in his tracks when he found himself face to face with all too familiar person still dressed in a gym uniform, with bandaged one arm, another in a casket, with green hair and disgusting red shoes. “… You little piece of-“

“K-Kacchan!” Deku’s voice was already full of panic and Katsuki took a step towards him. “Ah, congratulations? On the-“ He didn’t get to finish, as Katsuki pushed him.

“Bakugou, stop it, he’s injured!”

Katsuki didn’t care so far, but now that the red head mentioned it, he recalled that Deku basically broke both of his arms during his fight with Icy-Hot and that only made him angrier.

So Katsuki pushed Deku again, and he hit the wall behind him with a short yelp.

“Dude, stop it!”

Katsuki felt a grip on his shoulder but managed to push the guy away and turned back to Deku.

“You enjoyed the show, you useless fuck?!” He screamed in his face while towering over him. “Had your fun, telling everyone and looking down on me?!”

“I didn’t tell-“

“Fucking cavalry battle, your fucking side-kick, then that Half-faced bastard!? All that talk about not being scared while you’re still shaking, you little hypocrite?! HAH!? YOU FUCKING SNAKE, GOT ANYTHING ELSE TO SAY?!”

“Bakugou-“ again, the voice from behind “-I don’t know what this is about but you need to calm down!” Katsuki turned and walked up to him.

“That’s none of your fucking business.” He hissed and shoved him in the shoulder, then noticed that he was still holding onto that fucking medal. Katsuki grit his teeth, reached and snapped the medal out of the guy’s hand just to blindly throw it across the room. “AND JUST FORGET ABOUT THIS PIECE OF GARBAGE!”

“I knew that all this noise would come out from you , of all people.” Another, different voice suddenly reached him and Katsuki turned around to see some guy with wild, purple hair, standing in the doorway. “I figured you were a dick after meeting you in class and with what you did during the tournament, but damn , now I’m even more sure.”

“What the fuck, you rotten plum, no one asked you.” Katsuki fully turned to him and took a few steps forward.

“Very creative.” He said mockingly with a smirk. “But what did I expect from someone who complains about winning?” Katsuki didn’t know it was possible, but even more anger rose in him.

“Who do you think you are? Who the fuck are you!?”

“Who the fuck are you?”

“I ASKED YOU FIR-“

___

Before Eijirou knew it, Bakugou stopped screaming and his face wore blank expression with unseeing eyes, while Midoriya let out a panicked noise and Shinsou laughed.

“And just like that, number one of the entrance exam and the winner of the tournament gets defeated!” Shinsou announced and walked up to Bakugou who was standing still.

“Dude, come on, it’s not funny-“ Eijirou walked up to his side. “Not to mention it’s kind of a dick move to-"

“You know what’s a real dick move?” Shinsou stopped smiling and turned to him with a frown. “Acting like an actual dick throughout the whole festival and then acting even more like one after winning. ” He took a step back and gestured towards Midoriya who was still leaning against the wall. “And towards someone who he didn’t even fight with in the first place, don’t you think!?”

Eijirou knew better than to answer him, and he didn’t want to agree with him, but he was kinda right. The way Bakugou lashed at Midoriya for no apparent reason was indeed, well, a dick move.

But, it wasn’t a reason to use his quirk on him.

Eijirou still waited a few more seconds before answering.

“… I get it, but that’s just wrong, man.” He made to snap Bakugou out of it, as he saw how it worked during the festival, but Shinsou stood in his way and Eijirou frowned at him. “Come on-“

“Don’t you want to see him apologize?” He said while keeping the eye contact with Eijirou, who once again bit his tongue to make sure he wouldn't answer. He didn’t have any way of knowing if Shinsou wanted to use his quirk on him.

“N-no! You can’t!” They both looked at Midoriya who moved towards them with desperation on his face. “It’s not-“

“If you don’t want him to apologize, then snap him out of it yourself.” Shinsou said almost mockingly and shrugged when Midoriya’s eyes wandered for a second to Bakugou who was completely out of it, and then lowered to the floor. “I thought so.” Shinsou looked back at Eijirou. “He’ll just apologize, no harm done.” He shrugged again with a smirk.

“Shinsou, seriously-“ Eijirou didn’t know what to say. On one hand he had a feeling that Midoriya deserved some apologies, but on the other, he believed that those should always come out naturally and not forced.

“Bakugou, go to Midoriya and bow.” Before Eijirou could react, Bakugou did as he was told. He moved and stopped two meters from Midoriya who started muttering something in panic, once Bakugou actually bowed to him.

“Alright, you had your fun, it’s over.” Once again, he moved towards Bakugou but stopped at Shinsou's next words.

“Now, kneel and bow.” Shinsou stated while keeping the eye contact with Eijirou, as if challenging him.

“Wait, that’s-“

“Shinsou-kun, please-“

Neither Eijirou’s objection or Midoriya’s pleading stopped Bakugou from kneeling down and putting his hands and head on the ground in front Midoriya. The sight was more disturbing to Eijirou than he thought it would be, even more when he noticed that Midoriya turned his eyes away from Bakugou.

“See? It’s not that hard. Now, Bakugou stand up and bow to Kirishima, you were a dick to him as well.” Eijirou’s eyes darted to Shinsou and now he was actually angry at the guy.

“No, that’s enough-“

“What the hell?” Shinsou whispered suddenly with a frown and Eijirou stopped mid step. He looked questionably at him then followed his gaze to find out that Bakugou was indeed standing, but he wasn’t moving.

“Bakugou?” Eijirou slowly walked up to him with a hope that maybe he snapped out of it himself, like Midoriya earlier, while confused Shinsou stayed in the back. He waved his hand in front of his face and when nothing happened, he turned back to Shinsou. “What did you do?!” He jumped a bit at the volume of Eijirou’s voice and his eyes darted between him and Bakugou.

“I- Bakugou, smile.” He insisted and Eijirou sighed. He looked back at Bakugou just to see the corners of his lips raise a bit. It looked creepy at least, and unnatural with his currently blank eyes. “Bow to Kirishima!” The smile disappeared and then-

Nothing.

“Asshole, are you so entitled that you don’t even remember other’s names?!” Shinsou yelled, clearly frustrated.

There was a heavy silence in the room and Eijirou had a feeling that all of them were equally confused as to why Bakugou wouldn’t do as he was told while under the effect of Shinsou’s quirk.

That was until Midoriya spoke up.

“Shinsou-kun please, he-“ His voice was trembling as he slowly moved towards him. It was obvious from his face that he was desperate and panicked. “That’s enough, please, he can’t- I can’t-“

“BOW TO SHITTY HAIR!” Shinsou’s frustrated yell startled both of them and a short wave of panic washed over Eijirou. He and Midoriya slowly turned to Bakugou just to see him standing still, but then something happened.

Bakugou, while still under control, started shaking slightly, his mouth moving as if he wanted to say something and unseeing eyes darting back and forth between nothing.

“What the fuck-“ He heard Shinsou’s angry and confused whisper and grit his teeth in anger.

Enough is enough.

“Shinsou…“ Eijirou started coldly, not turning away from still shaking Bakugou. “I don’t know what the fuck you’re doing, but if you don’t want to get burnt once I snap him out of it, then you better get out of this room, this instant.” He glared at Shinsou over his shoulder, who took a step back, obviously taken off guard by Eijirou's uncharacteristic sinister tone. His eyes darted between the three of them, he seemed to think about something for a short second before he let out a short scoff and quickly left the locker room.

Eijirou momentarily relaxed and turned to Midoriya who looked like he was ready to run.

“Are you-“

“Just please, snap him out of it…” He said quietly while avoiding eye contact.

Eijirou sighed and walked up to Bakugou. Without any unnecessary hesitating, but not without guilt, he smacked him on the head and he inhaled sharply as his eyes came back to normal.

“Hey man, you kinda zoned out there for a second, are you okay?” Eijirou had no idea why he was basically saving Shinsou from Bakugou’s rage right now, but he needed to know if Bakugou somehow was conscious while under the effects of the quirk.

But then again, why would he bow to Midoriya?

Bakugou stared at him for a few seconds with unusual confusion in his eyes that changed back to rage as soon as Midoriya approached them.

“Kacchan-“ His quiet voice was shaking “-I swear, I didn’t-“

"Shut up!" Bakugou screamed at Midoriya suddenly and shoved him out of the way. "Just shut your fucking mouth and change your hair!" He added, grabbed his bag and hurriedly left the room, while Midoriya was still looking at his back.

What the fuck is going on.

"Hey..." Eijirou managed to say after a few moments of silence. The other tensed suddenly and looked back at him with shock and surprise, as if only now he remembered that Eijirou was still there. "What-" he wasn't sure what he wanted to ask and he swallowed a lump in his throat. "… What just happened?"

Midoriya just stared at him for a long amount of time, to the point it was getting uncomfortable. He still had the same scared and panicked expression when he saw Bakugou kneel in front of him and when he later begged Shinsou to let him go.

"Kirishima-kun..." He finally uttered after another few seconds. "Please." He took a step closer towards him. "I beg you- "

"Midoriya, what's this about-"

"I beg you Kirishima! " He was so distressed he forgot about any formalities and actual tears appeared in his eyes. "Please, just forget about this!"

"What? No, I can't just leave it like that-"

“No! Seriously, there's nothing to worry about! ” His fake, nervous laughter was full of panic and the strangest feeling of déjà vu dawned on Eijirou.

Except that it wasn’t déjà vu. Midoriya already said these exact words to him once.

“… It was Bakugou.” He said after a few seconds to himself while Midoriya’s eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

“Wha-"

“Back on the first day! Holy shit, it was him who had you all messed up in front of the school!” Eijirou felt like an idiot for not connecting the dots sooner.

Old friend, blond hair, the hand that was firing up, Midoriya's reactions-

God, I'm so fucking stupid. Eijirou scolded himself and rubbed his eyes with one hand.

“No, please, Kirishima-kun it wasn't-"

“Now -“ Eijirou interrupted him and took a step towards him, but before he could add anything else, the door opened and in came Todoroki.

“Midoriya, I was looking for you, I need to-" He stopped mid sentence when his eyes fell on Eijirou. “Am I interrupting?” Todoroki asked slowly with a tone that indicated he didn't actually care.

“We were-"

“NOT AT ALL, TODOROKI-KUN!” Midoriya cut in and used the situation to step away from Eijirou. “D-did you need me for something!?” It was pretty obvious that he was using Todoroki as a distraction and an escape route and Eijirou wondered if their classmate was oblivious to it or if he simply didn't care.

“I need to talk to you. About- you know.” He stated at which Midoriya nodded almost aggressively, then Todoroki glanced at Eijirou. “In private.” He added while keeping the eye contact with him.

“Of course! Sorry, Kirishima-kun…” Midoriya was more than happy to agree and after quickly excusing themselves, they were gone and Eijirou stood alone in the room, confused and lost.

With furrowed eyebrows, he turned to collect his stuff and as he was about to leave the room, he noticed Bakugou’s medal still on the floor, under the bench. Eijirou pondered for a few seconds then moved and reached for it.

It was heavier than he anticipated and he squeezed it in his hand before putting it safely in his bag.

Even if before he promised Bakugou to stop butting in, at this point he was more than sure that both him and Midoriya were hiding something.

With newfound determination, Eijirou finally left the locker room.

___

Masaru heard the door slam open then back close and stomping with familiar cursing coming from his son. He quickly got up from the couch and went to the corridor, where he met face to face with Katsuki and stood in his way.

“I’M NOT IN THE FUCKING MOOD!” Katsuki screamed at him and Masaru thanked whatever force was out there that kept his wife on the other side of the house, where she was trying to calm down.

“Katsuki, I know that you’re upset-“

“I’m not upset , I’m pissed off, now move out of the fucking way, I don’t want to talk with anyone!” He interrupted quickly and moved to go past Masaru, who stopped him by putting a hand on his shoulder. “For fuck’s sake, WHAT?!” Katsuki glared at him.

He was panting slightly, obviously still shaken after what happened at the end of the festival.

“It’s okay, Katsuki.” Masaru approached him slowly and put one hand on his head, the other on his shoulder. Katsuki seemingly wanted to pull away, but he wasn’t about to just let him go like that.

“I DON’T NEED YOU PITY, I-“

“You know it’s not pity.” Masaru closed the distance between them and hugged him tightly. “It’s okay, you’re safe here.”

Katsuki was quiet, his shoulders tense and he was obviously holding his breath in. Masaru could tell he was about to relax, but-

“WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!” At Mitsuki’s yell, Katsuki immediately pulled away and glared at his mother.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK IT WAS, OLD HAG!?”

God, there they are again.

Masaru as always tried to mute out most their arguing, while making sure that they wouldn’t destroy anything in the house. He sighed deeply at raising voices and thanked whatever force was out there that their neighbors never complained about the noise.

Endure it.

Suddenly, Katsuki walked quickly past him and Mitsuki and sprinted up the stairs.

“Don’t walk away from me, brat!” His wife went right after him and Masaru followed quickly. “That’s the only solution if they pull off shit like that again!” Masaru furrowed his eyebrows and some kind of regret for not listening flooded over him.

“Wait, what are you-“

“Fuck no!” Katsuki completely ignored him. “UA is the best, I’m not gonna go to Shitketsu or some other bullshit school, just because of your stupid whim!” He opened the door to his room, but as he wanted to enter, Mitsuki grabbed his shoulder.

“We’re not done here!”

“What, am I supposed to learn all those assholes again?!” Katsuki made her let go after releasing few explosions from his palms and quickly stepped into his room.

“Don’t lie to me, unless you’ve learnt more than one name!” Masaru didn’t want to admit that loudly, but she was probably right. And sudden silence from Katsuki only confirmed that.

“I-“ Katsuki stuttered and grit his teeth. “Shitty hair and Round face have nothing to do with it.” He looked down and clenched his fists.

“This only convinces me that you don’t even remember their names!” Mitsuki seemed ready to step into the room after him, but Masaru put a hand on her shoulder and she snapped at him instead. “WHAT, LIKE I’M WRONG?!” But before he had a chance to answer-

“FUCK YOU, YOU DON’T KNOW SHIT!” Katsuki’s voice was strained, he took another step back and put a hand on the door. For a few seconds, there was silence between them before Mitsuki growled.

“Go to your fucking room.”

“I’m already in my stupid room, you blind bat!” He yelled back at her and Masaru held onto her shoulder.

“THEN STAY HERE AND ROT.”

“GLADLY!” He slammed the door in their faces and Mitsuki threw her hands up in the air with short, frustrated yell.

“Fucking school and fucking brat!” She turned on her heel and stomped away. It’s been a while since the two of them had an argument like that.

Masaru sighed and wanted to knock on Katsuki’s door, but a loud curse reached him from the inside and he resigned this idea. He vaguely thought about going to Mitsuki and check on her, but decided against it as well.

After all, neither of them wanted to be bothered at the moment.

___

Katsuki slammed the door practically in his mother’s face.

Loud curse escaped his mouth and he turned around to sit down at his desk, all while little explosions were going off from his hands and Katsuki stared at them.

He stared at them and felt the rage still boil in him. But there was something else. Beyond that, he felt humiliated. Maybe even scared, but he’d never admit that.

His hands started shaking and he clenched them into fists. Katsuki circled his arms around his chest and stomach and curled up on himself, while squeezing his eyes shut.

You’re pathetic. Stop being so weak all the time.

Katsuki inhaled sharply through his clenched teeth and held his breath.

You wasted your chance.

He rocked his body back and forth a little bit and moved his right hand to touch the scar on the back of his head.

Everyone knows your quirk is terrible.

He released a shaky breath and pulled on his hair in frustration.

You’re on your own, you’re a fuck up, you’re-

Buzzing of his phone made him jump. He raised his head and searched for the device and pulled it out from his bag with still shaking hand. Katsuki furrowed his eyebrows when he saw a nickname he changed Kirishima’s name to, just a few days earlier, a revenge for Kirishima changing his to ‘Blasty’ .

Shitty hair: hey Bakugou, are you okay?

Katsuki clenched his hand around the phone and stared blankly at the message.

What was he even supposed to answer? ‘Thanks for asking but it’s none of your fucking business’? Straight up tell him to fuck off? And why was he even wondering about that, he should just simply ignore him.

…But at this point, Katsuki knew that Kirishima wasn’t the kind of a guy to let something go just like that.

Shitty hair: I know it’s none of my business but you just looked kinda bad!

Shitty hair: not as in you look bad, more like in a bad shape?

Shitty hair: NOT THAT YOU ARE IN A BAD SHAPE ALL THE TME JUST TJIS TIEM AND NOT LIKE YOUER WEAK OR NYTHING?

Shitty hair: shit, sorry, probably shouldn’t bother you after all that……

Shitty hair: I just hope everything's alright? :D

Katsuki was more than aware that Kirishima could see that he read the messages, yet he still couldn’t bring himself to answer. Even if Kirishima’s panicked texts made him snort for a split second and he was glad to notice that his hands stopped shaking, he still just couldn’t.

And after all, there was no reason for him to answer.

Chapter Text

Why am I so stupid-

Eijirou rubbed at his face in embarrassment after sending all those idiotic messages, though his hand quickly returned to one of the handles when train stopped on a station, few people coming in. He gripped his phone and when the ride started again, he looked back at his chat with Bakugou.

Blasty read the message

Eijirou swallowed, uncertainty and even more embarrassment flooding him. He wasn't asking anything strange, right?

Even though he wanted to ask something entirely different, he knew he couldn't do that. So he just settled on asking about Bakugou's well being, after all the shit that went down at the festival. Eijirou didn't fail to notice how panicked his eyes were when he first appeared on the podium, before they took off that muzzle from his face and once it was removed, how desperately he took in the air-

Eijirou shook his head, he really didn't want to think about that.

What concerned him more, was how Bakugou acted after arriving in the locker room. He never was a type to make small talk there in the first place, but this time he was also strangely… tense? Kaminari teased Eijirou about staring at Bakugou, after the latter went to take a shower, but he just couldn’t help but be simply worried.

He could only imagine just how furious Bakugou must have been to get restrained like that, and later to just disregard his victory, for which a lot of students would do literally anything to get.

Eijirou glanced at his bag where he knew the medal, that he picked up from the floor, still was and vaguely wondered if Bakugou would ever accept it back.

He looked back at his phone in hopes that there would finally be some kind of an answer but still nothing, and if he had to be honest, even straight up ‘fuck off’ would be fine by him.

At this point, Eijirou didn’t know how long has he been staring at his phone, waiting for an answer that he was pretty sure wouldn’t come. He almost missed his stop, getting off the train at the last second and gaining few judgmental looks from people on the station.

Eijirou quickly moved through the city and to his home, and once he opened the front door, he was greeted by a confetti, from some mini cannon, that mostly landed on his head.

“Congratulations, Eijirou!” His mom exclaimed happily and leaned down to hug him tightly. “I’m so proud of you!” She stepped away but kept her hands on his shoulders.

“I didn’t win so-“ He started, disappointed in himself, but was quickly interrupted.

“Oh, shut it. Being in top eight during the first year is magnificent and you know it. I’m very proud of you!” She moved one of her hands to pat his head and then started getting the confetti out of his hair. “Why’s your hair down, baby?” The question reminded him of the exact reason why he didn’t have time to style it, something that made his stomach clench.

“I just..” Eijirou glanced to the side, thinking about good enough excuse. “I didn’t have time?” He smiled awkwardly and looked back up at her. “After the tournament we had to go back to class immediately?” She narrowed her eyes at him and the long pause made him sweat.

 “Just so you know, I’m choosing to believe you right now.” Her red eyes flickered, she poked Eijirou's nose and let go of his shoulder. “Anyway, before you came in, I poured some sauce on myself on accident, I have to change.” She laughed and turned around, probably to her room. Eijirou looked down and- yep, the jacket of his uniform was now dirty as well. “I just wonder when the two of you will learn that lying to me won’t ever work!” Eijirou heard her yell from her room and sighed.

Damn her investigator skills.

It’s not like he was trying to hide anything from her, especially that he wasn’t even sure what he was supposed to tell her.

‘My friend’s brain had some kind of a reboot while he was under control of another guy’s quirk?’ Yeah, sure.

Eijirou finally took off his shoes and headed to his room. He put his bag on the floor, hesitantly took out the medal and sat down at a desk.

He weighed it in his hand, noticed it was heavier than anyone would expect it to be and Eijirou wondered how it would feel if he put it around his neck, but he quickly disregarded that idea. He’d wear one once he’d earn it, not to mention that this one didn’t belong to him, even if the owner didn’t see it as his own.

After few more moments of staring at it, he decided to put it safely into one of the drawers. Once that was done, he stood up, stretched his arms above his head a bit and decided to finally change out of his uniform. He settled on some red sweatpants he found on the floor and orange t-shirt with pineapple print. Eijirou decided that he might as well style his hair, even if he knew that in few hours he’d have to wash the gel off, he didn’t really care.

Eijirou grabbed his uniform to put it in the laundry basket, left his room and headed to the bathroom, but before he got far, his mom left her room as well and they both stopped, staring at each other. He looked over her clothes and couldn’t help but laugh and soon she joined him. She was wearing similar red sweatpants, as well as an orange t-shirt, minus the pineapple print, but with something that looked like a bootleg Pikachu on front.

“God…” She managed to say between wheezes. “Saki would kill us if she saw us like that…”

“Nah, ma’ loves us too much!” Eijirou answered, to which she only chuckled and walked past him, seemingly heading to the kitchen. “… Are you gonna burn something again?” He barely contained his smile when she turned and glared at him.

“You don’t have to eat!” She scoffed at Eijirou’s snort and left him alone in the corridor. He knew his mom wasn’t really mad about his comment, although he was surprised that she was actually going to cook, instead of reheating something his ma’ left in the freezer.

He chuckled when he heard her curse at something that she dropped in the kitchen and finally went to the bathroom.

___

Since they had two days off school, Eijirou would have plenty of time to figure out answers to some questions he was sure Bakugou wouldn’t be willing to answer in a slightest. Mainly; why was it that he couldn’t figure out where was Midoriya during the cavalry battle, why he was always staring at Eijirou’s hair, why he couldn’t fulfill Shinsou’s order, even though it was clear that he was able to do all of them besides the one involving Eijirou himself.

All in all, during the festival, he noticed how often Bakugou would actually stare at his hair. The glances were mostly subtle, but once Eijirou caught up on the fact that he would purposefully look at it, before responding in any way, he truly realized how painfully obvious the gesture was.

The more he thought about it, the more his head hurt and at this point he just wanted to freaking Google it.

… Wait.

Eijirou almost ripped off the monitor from his laptop with how fast he opened it. He stared blankly at the open tab for few seconds. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms on his chest.

What was he even supposed to look for?

He could always start with something basic, not like someone would check what he was looking for, and yet, he kind of hesitantly typed in;

‘My friend stares at my hair’

First result was a video about what it meant when guy was staring deeply into girl’s eyes and seriously, what did he expect? If Eijirou had to be honest, he really didn’t expect any dating advices.

Alright, maybe he should rephrase it? Be more specific?

‘What does it mean when my friend recognizes me by my hair?’

Upon looking at first result, Eijirou just wanted to close his laptop. He just began his search and he already felt tired. Eijirou sighed and glared at the first result.

‘What does it mean if a girl touches my hair and plays with it?’ and just… no. Maybe he should just leave the hair topic altogether? Yeah, that was a good idea. But then he had no starting point, unless-

‘My friend doesn’t remember people’

Was that a reach? Eijirou wasn’t sure, but he knew that three time’s a charm so he tapped enter anyway just to glare at the results again.

‘6 Signs You Need Better Friends’

’11 Signs You’re Hanging Out With A Fake Friend’

“Wow, fuck you too, Google!” He yelled, very much annoyed.

“Language, Eijirou!” His head shot at the door, his mom apparently on the other side.

“S-sorry!” He smiled apologetically when she opened the door and stared at him with slightly exasperated look.

“Dinner will be ready in around 20 minutes. I’m not sure if the rice cooker is actually working…” She muttered and rolled her eyes at Eijirou’s chuckle. “And yes, I plugged it in this time.” Her addition only made Eijirou openly laugh at her, at which she scoffed and finally left him on his own again.

He looked again at his laptop, all annoyance coming back. Maybe, again, he should rephrase it?

‘My friend takes a really long time to recognize me’

Eijirou covered his face and let out a long groan, even if ‘my friend takes ages to reply’ actually applied to his situation (with Bakugou leaving more than half of his messages on read), it still wasn’t exactly what he was looking for, especially that he already knew that, for Christ’s sake.

Wait, what were the other things that he knew about Bakugou?

Eijirou’s eyes widened slightly at his new idea, some kind of strange sadness creeping into his mind, along with compassion.

‘My friend is always alone’

What he found, were some articles on how to make friends or help them, and Eijirou felt some kind of relief that Google wasn’t trying to tell him that Bakugou’s an asshole again.

But that was it.

All internet was telling him was that Bakugou was either;

A) An asshole (which Eijirou was maybe, kind of, aware of) or

B) He had a crush on Eijirou (which just- Ha ha, no way.)

… Not that Eijirou would mind, but that was impossible, right?

Right?!

“Eijirou!” His mom’s voice brought him back to earth. “Food’s ready, help me with the plates, will you?” She called out from the kitchen and he closed his laptop to join her, since he didn’t really have anything else to do at this moment as the internet, of all things, turned out to be useless in this situation.

Maybe he’s really reading too much into it?

Eijirou entered the kitchen and first thing he noticed was his mom, standing with her back to him, reaching for glasses from the top shelf without any trouble, so he just moved to one of the cupboards to take out the plates. He put them down on the table and decided he might as well get the chopsticks.

Maybe Bakugou really just wanted to be left alone?

He sat down at the table and stared at his plate, meanwhile, his mom put down the food within his reach and joined him at his right.

Maybe Bakugou really was just an asshole?

Eijirou had hard time believing in this part. Not that Bakugou wasn’t kind of rude half the time, but all in all he just seemed lonely. Walking home all alone, eating lunch in a classroom all alone, training all alone whenever he had a chance.

Maybe he’d become like that because he was lonely?

“I know it’s not perfect, but you don’t have to make this face. I didn’t burn anything this time.” Mom’s joke interrupted his thoughts and he realized he’s been staring at his empty plate this whole time. He looked up, his eyes meeting with her worried ones. “Or are you actually still upset about the festival?”

“Yes? I mean- no!” Eijirou quickly reached for the food and put it on his plate. “I was just thinking about something else, sorry…” He looked back down and started eating all too quickly. “It’s great!” His mouth full of food, that was too salty if he had to be honest, didn’t let him smile, but he guessed that it was enough for his mom to stop worrying for now.

As they finished eating, she grabbed his plate and stood up to take care of the dishes, but Eijirou couldn’t help but wonder if maybe she could help him, even if he didn’t know what the actual problem was, he trusted that his mom could give him some insight with her rich knowledge that she gained over the years, and after all, she was one of the smartest people he knew.

“Hey, mom?”

“What is it?” She asked, her back turned to him, as she was putting her long, dark blue hair into a messy bun.

“Can I talk to you about something?” Like a spell, her motions stopped and she immediately turned to him. She abandoned the dishes and sat back down at his side.

He didn’t really know how to explain that situation. Or Bakugou’s behavior. Or if he was even allowed to do that. After all, there technically wasn’t anything wrong with him? Maybe he really just wanted to be left alone?

“Eijirou, if this is still about the festival, then I already told you, you were magnificent!” She put her hand on his knee and smiled, he returned the grin, which flattened anyway after few seconds.

“No, it isn’t… It’s like-“ he could simply explain it as it was, couldn’t he? “I have a friend-“ Sudden laughter interrupted him. “Wha-“

“Honey, the ‘I have a friend who’ never worked and never will.” She laughed again, showing off the sharp teeth in her mouth. “I thought you’d know it by now.”

“No, it’s not like with the guy I liked! I mean-“ Eijirou coughed awkwardly and avoided her eyes. “Who my friend liked.” Another salve of laughter made him pout, slightly annoyed. “Mom, come on!”

“I’m sorry, baby.” She coughed and leaned a bit towards him. “So-“ she wiggled her eyebrows “-does this friend have a crush on someone again?” A low, mocking hum could be heard from her. Eijirou crossed his arms on his chest and sank into the chair.

“Fine, I’ll just ask ma’ when she’s back home.” He had to bit the inside of his cheek to not smirk at his mom’s short gasp.

“Betrayal!” That’s the only warning he got before she started pinching his cheeks, and after few seconds of his muffled laughter and her still pinching him, she let go and sighed. “Alright, tell me all about it.” The smile was still present on her face and she rested her cheek against the back of her hand.

“Okay, so… I have this friend-“ Eijirou rolled his eyes and nudged her with his leg at the low, slightly sarcastic sound of acknowledgement from her. “Real friend- and he’s kinda… antisocial? I’m not sure if he even considers me his friend, to be honest…” He looked down sheepishly while the smile on his mom’s face flattened. “He’s always alone and it’s kinda like he purposefully pushes others away?” Their eyes met again and he swallowed at her focused frown. “And I know it’s strange, but he tends not to look at my face as well?”

“That’s… Something.” It was obvious that she didn’t really know how to react, so she waited for further explanations.

“He mostly looks at my hair.” Eijirou stated and vaguely gestured at his head, at which his mom raised one of her eyebrows. “And then- you saw that- we were in a team together in a cavalry battle, and a guy he knew since they were kids, he was in the enemy team and he changed his hair? And my friend… It was like he couldn’t seem to recognize him?” Eijirou chuckled. “I’m probably reading too much into it, I-“

“What else?”

“Eh?”

“What else?” She repeated in a serious tone he heard only when a client would call her. “Those are only your observations, right?” Eijirou nodded, dumbfounded. “Have you asked your classmates if they noticed anything like this? Or that childhood friend?” Her eyes were focused and Eijirou felt like they were piercing right through him, trying to read his mind.

“Uh, kinda?” Eijirou shrugged and looked to the side. “I tried talking to his friend once but… It didn’t end well… But I apologized!” He added quickly when she opened her mouth to say something. “And I tried to kiiinda confront my friend about it as well but… This also-“

“Did you apologize to him as well?” Again, Eijirou nodded quickly, at which she smiled at him and patted his head few times. “You get your curiosity after me. Although your mama would call it ‘butting in’.” She said with irony as she took her hand back and they both laughed at her words. “Before you talk to that boy again-“ the tone of her voice became serious again. “-you should ask around in your class, if others noticed anything. But without exposing him of course, in case it’s actually something serious.”

“… Mom, are you seriously suggesting that I go and talk behind his back?” He was skeptical, to say the least. Even if he was curious, he didn’t want to go around asking others about Bakugou and his problem (whether there was one or not).

“Psh, of course not, honey.” She snorted and waved her hand. “I suggest that you do a little bit of… Investigating.” A mischievous smile appeared on her face as she winked at him.

“… Ma’ was right. You are addicted to your job.” Eijirou deadpanned with an unimpressed look while his mom’s cheeks turned red.

“You-! ... As a future hero, you should know how to investigate undercover!” She crossed her arms on her chest. “Also, from what you say, would this boy recognize you with your hair down?”

Eijirou’s eyes widened.

Oh.

Holy shit.

Is that why he didn’t do what Shinsou told him to? Because Eijirou’s hair wasn’t stylized? Is that why he’s always staring at it at first? To recognize him?

But why?

“Eijirou?”

“Holy shit, mom!” He couldn’t contain his excitement, he stood up and clenched his fists. “Holy shit!”

“Language.” Her eyebrows furrowed slightly in annoyance.

“I think he recognizes me by my hair!? I- oh… I- I shouldn’t have said that, he wouldn’t like me telling others, would he?” All excitement deflated from him and he sat back down. Eijirou looked at his hands, which hardened slightly from all the emotions he felt just a moment ago, and slowly released his quirk.

There was long silence between them, Eijirou couldn’t bring himself to look at his mom, almost afraid of what he might see on her face.

“… Eijirou.” She gently took his chin into her hand and guided his face, so he would look at her. “This might be a reach but…” She looked to the side for a second and slightly furrowed her eyebrows. “And I don’t remember the proper name for it right now, but… I had a witness in one of my cases, he had a- damn, what was it- a disorder or a disease? Where he was unable to recognize others by their faces.” She finally finished, leaned back in her chair and looked at Eijirou expectantly, clearly waiting for his reaction.

But if he had to be honest, he never heard of something like that.

“… What was it like? Working with him, I mean?” He asked carefully, not sure if she could tell him anything more.

“Kind of a pain in the ass, but in the hindsight, it wasn’t his fault.” Eijirou chuckled while she shrugged and pulled away some hair that landed on her face. “He was very nervous, didn’t want to look us in the eyes, dodged some questions… We even thought he might be involved in the crime.”

That was… Almost fitting if Eijirou had to be honest. Maybe Bakugou wasn’t really nervous while talking to others, but he was tense and suspicious, always glaring at whoever he was talking with.

“At some point we’ve shown him pictures of the suspects and at first, he straight up refused to even look at them.” Eijirou’s head shot up, eyes wide when he remembered the situation right after the USJ incident. “Once he actually looked at them, he would mess them up all the time.”

It was so clear now. Maybe not crystal clear, but if he was right…

Probably, that’s why Bakugou refused to help the officers.

That’s why principal was so set on not letting them further question him.

That’s why Eijirou had to take his place.

Could that really be the reason?

“Eijirou?”

It would be so easy now that he had something to start with. All he was missing was a name.

“So is it like- Alzheimer? Or dementia?” Eijirou questioned, tilted his head in confusion and frowned at his mom’s sigh.

“No, I told you, I don’t remember what it’s called, but I’m sure that wasn’t it.” She seemed to ponder about something for few seconds. “He did remember what the suspect did, just not their face. Google it or something.” She shrugged in the end and stood up to finally take care of the dishes.

“Yeah, because that was very helpful before…”

“What was that?” She turned her head at his muttering.

“Nothing!” His too quick answer only made her squint at him.

“You know what, baby? You can do the dishes. Mom’s tired.” She winked at him and left the kitchen.

Eijirou sighed but did as he was told, after all, the sooner he’d be done here, the sooner he could do some more research.

___

‘Disease that makes you forget faces’

It took him few times to say the word that popped up as the first result, without his tongue breaking in the process, but he managed. Especially when he dived deeper and found far way easier alternative.

He spent the rest of the day and most of the next one on reading more about the topic. Then, countless of articles and some documentaries later, he could say he definitely knew more than his mom, but also wondered if he ever spent as much time on preparing for any exam.

Eijirou didn’t even want to think about the instance where he was wrong this entire time.

At some point, he stopped to think if he was doing the right thing, but it wasn’t like he was going to expose Bakugou to the whole class, he just wanted to know if there was more to his classmate than just being rude for no reason.

Now, he’d just have to listen to his mom and investigate a little bit.

___

First thing Eijirou noticed, upon arriving in the class ten minutes before the lesson was supposed to start, was that Bakugou, who was sitting with his back to the rest of the class, upgraded his earphones to rather bulky headphones. Before that, he gave a signal of not wanting to be bothered, but now it was clear to everyone that he really didn’t want to talk to any of them, but honestly, could Eijirou even blame him?

He sat down at his desk and wondered who he could start with. His eyes automatically wandered to where Midoriya was sitting, talking with Todoroki and Uraraka. Eijirou furrowed his eyebrows; it was obvious that Midoriya knew. Otherwise he wouldn’t react so strongly to Eijirou’s questions and to what Shinsou did. He’d just have to leave him for the last, when he was sure.

“Yo, Kirishima, what’s up with that face?” Eijirou’s thoughts were interrupted by Kaminari’s voice. “Something wrong?” Kaminari glanced where he was previously looking, but when nothing caught his attention, he just shrugged and looked back at Eijirou. “What did you do during the break?”

“It was just two days, so… Nothing much?” Eijirou dismissed his question with a sheepish smile. He couldn’t really tell him what he actually spent these days on.

“Eh, you’re no fun.” Kaminari shrugged, turned around to play with Ojirou’s tail and talk to Jirou.

Eijirou sighed, but before he could go back to his thoughts, he noticed Sero enter the classroom and an idea struck him. He glanced at the nearby desk to make sure Ashido was present and decided that he might as well start with those, who were nearest Bakugou during cavalry battle.

___

The perfect opportunity to talk to these two happened only after the third period. Ashido was excitedly explaining something to Sero, while Kaminari ran out of the class to go to the restroom. Perfect, he wouldn’t have to explain anything to him.

“Hey, guys-“ Eijirou scooted closer to them with his chair “-sorry to interrupt, but I kinda wanted to ask you something.” Ashido tilted her head a bit with curiosity, while Sero replied with short ‘shoot’. Eijirou glanced at where Bakugou was sitting, his back once again turned to the class, bulky headphones on. Alright. “So. Did you notice something about Bakugou during cavalry battle?”

He was met with silence and confusion. Ashido looked over her shoulder at Bakugou, then back to Eijirou, while Sero just stared at him with raised eyebrow.

“Uhh, what do you mean?” Ashido asked slowly and crossed her arms on her chest.

“Yeah, you’re gonna have to be more specific.” Sero added and leaned back in his chair. Eijirou blinked few times. He really should have thought this through, huh?

“It’s just-“ he scratched the back of his neck. What to ask without exposing Bakugou to them? He went through his mental checklist of stuff he read online and an idea struck him again. “Nicknames!” Sero and Ashido jumped a little at the volume of his voice. “You guys noticed how he used nicknames, right?”

“Oh!” Ashido’s face lightened up as she clasped her hands together. “Yeah! Even though it was kinda annoying he didn’t bother to remember my name, the nickname he gave me was kinda cute actually? Bubblegum?” She smiled and pointed at her cheek. “It’s fitting!”

“Well, at least one of us appreciated the nickname they were given…” Sero muttered and Eijirou couldn’t help but chuckle when he remembered what Bakugou had called him.

“Aw, come on, Horse smile-“ Ashido teased him and joined Eijirou in laughing.

“Shut up, I don’t get it!” Sero grumbled and waved his hands around in annoyance. “My name is shorter than that! What’s the point! And you-“ He pointed at Eijirou, who’s laughter died in his throat “-yours is even worse! He’s constantly offending your hair!”

“Eh, it’s not that bad.” Eijirou shrugged while Sero furrowed his eyebrows and Ashido continued laughing. “At least I know he remembers my actual name.” He added and was found with silent stare from Ashido. “What? You were there when he called me by it during the tournament!” Eijirou was quick to explain.

“Listen-“ She leaned against Sero’s desk “-it was loud all around us already, and if you add Baku’s explosions right above me, you really can’t blame me for not hearing that.” Well, Eijirou really couldn’t argue with her.

Wait, but did it mean-

“So you didn’t hear him when he asked where was Midoriya?” His voice went down to a whisper, as mentioned guy was right next to them, even if he was preoccupied with looking for something in his backpack with worried expression. Sero and Ashido stared at Eijirou, looked at each other then back at him. “During last few seconds?”

“No?” Ashido said, clearly confused. “I mean, I did hear you yelling something to Bakugou about calming down and I guessed you told him where to go when he jumped off again? But uh-“ she looked at Sero, as if asking to back her up.

“Yeah, no, this was the most stressful half a minute of my life so far. I don’t remember shit.” He said with a shrug. “Anyway, why all the questions?” Sero put his chin on his hand, his expression slightly suspicious.

“Oh, Kiri, could it be?” Ashido leaned towards Eijirou to look him deep in the eyes.

“W-what are you talking about?” He was almost afraid to ask, but maybe she figured something out about Bakugou as well.

“Do you have a crush?” She asked with sly smile, her eyebrows wiggling, while Sero let out a tired sigh.

“I wasn’t going there-“

“TELL ME EVERYTHING, KIRI!” Ashido completely ignored Sero and put her hands on Eijirou’s shoulders. “Are you jealous about Midoriya?” She asked in a hushed voice of someone who believes in conspiracy theories would talk in.

“Wh- why would I be?! They hate each other! And there’s nothing to tell!” Their yelling caught the attention of some of their classmates and he could feel his cheeks get warm, and he just knew that his panicked voice didn’t make his situation any better. He quickly glanced at Bakugou to make sure that he still had his headphones on.

“Then why all the questions!?”

“Ashido, come on, stop yelling…” Unfortunately, Sero’s words meant nothing to her and in the end, Eijirou was saved by the break finally ending, as they all had to go back to their seats.

“We’re not done here.” Ashido whispered to him as she walked past him.

“Yes, we are.” Eijirou whispered back and rolled his eyes at her giggling.

___

After that, he didn’t have any good chances to talk to anyone, Jirou at some point mentioned talking with Bakugou after his fight with Uraraka, but there wasn’t anything out of ordinary, just that she was impressed he actually took his opponent seriously, then there was a pop quiz from Present Mic and that was what everyone was talking about.

Now, at the end of the day, they were finally done with their hero training, changing in the locker room and Eijirou knew his little investigation was going… bad.

He sighed as he fixed his tie and glanced over his shoulder at Bakugou who had his back to the rest of them, as always, but even despite that, Eijirou noticed some stuff in his hands.

A pocket mirror and-

“Eh, don’t bother Kirishima.” He turned his head to see Kaminari leaning against one of the lockers, looking at Bakugou. “I once asked him to show me how to apply eyeliner this fast but he just said- and I quote!- ‘fuck off you bland extra, google is free’.”

Eijirou needed a few solid seconds to grasp what the hell Kaminari was talking about, he looked back at Bakugou who was currently closing his locker, seemingly ready to leave the room. As he turned and walked past them, Eijirou noticed the thin lines on his eyelids.

Oh. This actually looked pretty good-

“-then it turned out that this was just an aftereffect of his sleep deprivation.” Right. Kaminari was still talking.

Shit, what the hell was wrong with him?

“Sorry, what was that?” Eijirou asked with apologetic smile and Kaminari blinked few times with a slight frown.

“I said-“ Kaminari picked up his bag and they both moved to leave the locker room as well. “-that after the festival I went to talk to that Shinsou guy,” that piqued Eijirou’s interest “because ya’ know, I thought he had this unbelievable eye shadow game going on!” He vaguely pointed at his own eyes. “So I asked what’s his secret and he said that he just hasn’t slept since he was six.” He finished with a sigh and Eijirou chuckled a bit at his friend’s misery.

... Shinsou.

“Oh, he's the guy from general course with brainwashing quirk?” Eijirou tried his best to sound nonchalantly, that seemed to work as he got a quick few nods from Kaminari. They headed to where Kaminari had his bike parked, near school’s gate. “Say, Kaminari. Do you know if they still have classes?”

“Who?”

“Class C.” Eijirou was somehow nervous as he watched Kaminari raise an eyebrow at him, but felt relieved when he noticed he actually seemed to think a few seconds about his question.

“I don’t think so? They don’t have hero studies or anything, so I’m pretty sure they’re long gone.” He got on his bike, seemingly ready to leave.

“Okay, thanks man.” Eijirou smiled at him and moved out of his way, with short wave, Kaminari slowly drove away, having no idea how much he helped.

Eijirou decided that he’d have to look for Shinsou the next day.

Chapter Text

Eijirou couldn’t get a hold of Shinsou for half the day, and he started wondering if the guy was even at school. He had a feeling that he caught the sight of him in the corner of his eye a couple of times, but as soon as he turned, Shinsou was nowhere to be seen.

Eijirou started wondering if maybe he was just hiding during breaks from everyone, who knows. … Or just from him, for obvious reasons, not that Eijirou would do anything, he wasn’t that kind of a person.

Finally, he caught him in the middle of the lunch break.

 “Shinsou!” Eijirou tried to sound cheerful, despite that he still felt some kind of a grudge towards him, tough it seemed like Shinsou saw right through his façade, as he took a step back with a frown. “Got a minute?”

“… Not really.” He answered carefully and seemed ready to walk away.

“Oh, but you do!” Eijirou stepped in his path. “Just like you had a minute or two to use your quirk on Bakugou.” His voice lowered a bit, to make sure no one else would hear.

Shinsou glanced around and let out an exasperated sigh.

“Listen, I get it, ok? What I did was shitty, but he deserved it.” They both glared at each other. “I know I’m not in a place to ask for anything, but… You didn’t tell your homeroom teacher, right?”

Eijirou needed a second to connect the dots.

Right, even if he wasn’t sure why he specifically mentioned Aizawa-sensei, he knew that Shinsou wanted to make it into the hero course, and if someone were to find out that he used his quirk on another student, any chances he’d have to get into one would be completely gone, and thus, an idea came to Eijirou’s mind.

“I didn’t.” He said and there was a sigh of relief from Shinsou. “But I will.” His face paled even more than it normally was, eyes widening.

“You-“ Shinsou seemed to be at a loss of words and Eijirou thanked whatever force was out there that he didn’t know him well enough to realize it was a bluff.

“Unless.” He looked around to make sure no one was around. He might, or might not have also took some pleasure in how Shinsou seemed to suffer in this moment.

This is what you get for messing with my kinda friend.

“Tell me how your quirk works.”

“… What?” Shinsou looked stunned, his eyes now narrowed and he furrowed his eyebrows. “Why?”

“That’s none of your business.” Eijirou wasn’t sure how long he could keep up this game and somehow, his mom gained a whole lot of more respect from him.

Shinsou stared at him with clenched jaw and Eijirou could practically cut the tension between them.

“I control people who verbally respond to me.” He finally said, but continued when he saw a frown on Eijirou’s face, silent way of telling him that this bit was obvious. “I can brainwash multiple people at once, but I rather not, I’d probably fall unconscious.” He looked to the side, seemingly uncomfortable with sharing too much information. “It won’t work if I say something through a megaphone. And-“ He hesitated for some reason, avoided eye contact again.

“And?” Eijirou urged him to answer.

“Fuck, give me a minute, it’s not that easy to explain, okay?” He raised his voice a bit and crossed his arms on his chest. “I’m… unable to have people do things that require some kind of advanced brain function, like writing a name from their memory.”

Eijirou’s eyes widened.

Memory.

If Eijirou was right, back when Shinsou gave his order, Bakugou probably needed more than his name to find him. He’d probably need much more than a name to recognize him in the first place. And now, with knowing how Shinsou’s quirk worked-

Holy fuck.

“Is that enough?” Shinsou’s impatient voice brought him back to earth and Eijirou could finally smile in his typical way.

“Yeah! Thanks man!” He patted his shoulder a few times and confusion only rose in Shinsou’s eyes. “Also, I wouldn’t tell anyone!” Eijirou shrugged and turned around to jog away from stunned Shinsou. “Good luck with getting into the hero course!” He gave him a thumbs up as he quickly went up the stairs.

___

“Have you guys seen my notebook anywhere?” As soon as Eijirou stepped into the class, he heard Midoriya’s worried voice and looked over to find him talking to Kaminari and Ojirou. “I can’t find it ever since the festival…”

“Oh, the one with your hero notes?” Ojirou wondered out loud while Kaminari shook his head, at which Midoriya only sighed, clearly resigned, and thanked them as he started walking back to his desk.

Eijirou quickly checked if Bakugou was sitting at his desk, but as he was nowhere to be seen, Eijirou quickly approached Midoriya.

“Hey! you got a minute?”

“I-“ He looked over to the clock on the wall, clearly checking how long it was until the break would end, then at the desks where his friends usually sat, then back at Eijirou, and it was as if he knew what Eijirou wanted to ask about. “I guess I do.. got… a minute….” He muttered in the end and Eijirou smiled at him brightly.

“Great! Then come with me.” Eijirou turned around to step out to the corridor. “So!” Once they were alone, he put his hands on his hips and looked at Midoriya who obviously didn’t want to be here. “What’s up with Bakugou?” Midoriya stared at him for few moments, seemingly taken aback by his strangely normal tone of voice.

“… I already told you, there’s nothing-“

“What, you think he’ll kill you if you say something?”

“I don’t think he’ll kill me! I know he’ll kill me if I say something-!” Midoriya clasped his hand against his mouth and looked around, as if Bakugou would come out from behind a corner and blow him up right here and there, meanwhile, Eijirou took his words as a battle won and he couldn’t help the triumphant laugh.

“SO THERE REALLY IS SOMETHING UP WITH-“ He didn’t get to finish, as now it was his mouth that was covered behind a hand, but one that wasn’t his. Eijirou took a step back from Midoriya and breathed in.

“Ah! Sorry, Kirishima-kun, I just-“

“Yeah, I get it, I shouldn’t have shouted anyway…” Eijirou dismissed his apologies and looked at him expectantly. “So, care to explain?”

“… You already know, don’t you?” Midoriya said instead and looked at the ground after Eijirou nodded hesitantly. He covered his face with his hands and sighed deeply. “Kacchan, he… Damn it, it’s not my place to say anything- I can’t just- I already screwed up during cavalry battle and later with Shinsou, even though I didn’t really say anything but-“ He finally looked him back in the eyes. “Just don’t make me spell it out to you.” Midoriya pleaded with tears in his eyes.

“And that’s what he wanted from you, back on the first day?” Eijirou wanted to be sure, and even though he already knew the answer, his breath still hitched when Midoriya nodded.

“He… ‘insisted’ on not telling anyone.” There was a grimace on his face as he looked to the side and fiddled with his tie, probably recalling those exact events.

“… Did you want to tell?” Eijirou was met with furrowed eyebrows and uncharacteristically angry glare. “Okay, sorry, that was-“ Midoriya just sighed, his face going back to worried expression.

“… I admit, I gave Uraraka-san kind of a hint, that Kacchan won’t know what her quirk is, but after her fight she was disappointed in herself, she was too preoccupied with her own doubts and feelings to get anything out of it when it comes to Kacchan. She was confused at most. Probably thought Kacchan is too self-absorbed to remember...” There was a pause, as if Midoriya was collecting his thoughts. He continued after few moments in quiet tone. “And I didn’t tell Todoroki-kun. I… I can’t tell you why he didn’t want to fight back Kacchan, but- I really didn’t tell anyone…” He locked his eyes on the floor and shivered slightly.

Well, now Eijirou felt like an asshole.

“Listen, the one thing I don’t understand is why he’d keep it completely to himself, but-“ Eijirou shrugged, he kind of figured out why, but he didn’t want to assume anything. And he was pretty sure that at this point, Midoriya wouldn’t tell him. “At least tell me how to approach him with this.”

“… Make sure you two are alone. You need an immediate proof, he might deny everything otherwise. You could-“

“Can’t I just ask him after school?” Eijirou interrupted and was met with knitted eyebrows.

“Do you really think he’ll just tell you if you ask nicely? He’ll just yell at you, release some explosions or straight up blow something up and then leave immediately without giving you a chance to talk or ask anything else.”

“… You’re speaking from experience, right?” Eijirou sighed at Midoriya’s hesitant nod. “But the difference between the two of us is that you’ve known him your whole life, how many times did you approach him about it?” Silence was his answer. And he guessed that was enough.

People began going back to classes, the break almost over, and Eijirou knew that was the end of their conversation, but as he was about to go back to the classroom, he felt a light tug on his sleeve and looked back at Midoriya.

“He always arrives very early before the lessons start, probably before anyone else.” He whispered and Eijirou’s eyes widened. That was one of the things he read about, so Midoriya’s words were just another proof for him. “Be there with your hair down. He won’t have a way to walk out on you at this time.” Midoriya let go and hurriedly went back to class.

How did Eijirou not think about his hair?

Now, he needed to figure out just how much earlier than Bakugou he should arrive.

Once Eijirou stepped back into the class, he looked around and his eyes fell on Ashido who was talking with Hagakure and he quickly walked up to them.

“Hey, do you happen to know who comes to school, like, earliest?”

Ashido looked at him strangely and he was slightly distraught that he couldn’t tell the same about Hagakure.

“Earliest?” Ashido tilted her head a bit.

“Yeah, like- who comes unnecessarily early to class?” Eijirou shrugged, not sure if that was enough of an explanation.

“Maybe if you weren’t late all the time, you’d know!” Ashido laughed at him with Hagakure and Eijirou frowned.

“I’m never late!” Eijirou’s pout caused the girls to laugh even more at him. “Can’t you just tell me?”

There was a pause between them, then Ashido finally spoke.

“I don’t know why’d you ask me, we pretty much come here at the same time,” she giggled at him rolling his eyes, even though she was right. “But I’m pretty sure that Iida is here first!” She pointed at Iida, who was seemingly lost in his thoughts while sitting at his desk, then Hagakure let out a thoughtful hum.

“Oh, but Bakugou-kun comes in even earlier than him!” Hagakure said and they both looked at her surprised. Or rather tried to, because damn, even if Eijirou really didn’t want to think this way, he preferred to look people in the eyes when he spoke to them, but with Hagakure… It was completely impossible.

“How do you know?” Eijirou asked anyway, actually curious, while trying his best to ignore the unnerving feeling in the back of his head.

“I have to visit Recovery Girl pretty often, since my eyelids are invisible I get a lot of headaches, so I go to her earlier, given that there aren’t any students around at this hour!” She explained happily and continued. “Also, I’m working with the support department on better costume for me!” She jumped a bit, clearly excited, Ashido cheering a bit with her. “Anyway, one time, back when those journalists were occupying the entrance gate, I saw Bakugou-kun come at around-“ it looked like she put her hand on her chin, but still, Eijirou could never be sure “-like, at least half an hour before classes?”

“Oh! I remember those journalists!” Ashido leaned against her desk tiredly. “I’ve almost came late to class because of them a few times!”

“Yeah! One time I even had to lie to them that I don’t have any lessons with All Might so they would let me go!” Hagakure sounded really annoyed by them, but Eijirou was almost sure he could hear a note of pride.

He decided to leave the girls alone, so he thanked them and went back to his desk, his eyes wandering to Bakugou who just sat back down at his desk as well.

Tomorrow.

___

Two days later, he still couldn’t catch him.

Eijirou’s first try ended poorly; he overslept his earliest alarm and came to see that Iida and Yaoyorozu were already present, with Bakugou with his back to them, and Hagakure coming in right after Eijirou. He got few questioning looks from Aizawa, while Kaminari laughed at him that he came so early, but didn’t style his hair.

Ashido ended up borrowing him a pink hair tie that he kept.

The second try was better, but Iida was there with them, Bakugou with headphones, so he still couldn’t do anything.

He got lucky though, he almost got a second with Bakugou, but they weren’t alone in the corridor, so he still couldn’t do anything. Eijirou was going to a restroom during a break, while Bakugou was just coming back from it. As Eijirou stopped walking right in front of him, he was forced to do so too, and they just stared at each other for few very awkward seconds, even after Eijirou greeted him quietly, the other just asked with spite ‘the fuck you staring at?’. In the end, Bakugou clicked his tongue and walked past him with a glare.

And as Eijirou’s hair was once again tied into a ponytail, Bakugou did all this so without calling him Shitty Hair.

This might have been enough of a proof, but to get to the bottom of it, he had to come before Bakugou to see his reaction and to have time to talk to him.

“Kirishima.” Eijirou’s eyes immediately turned from Bakugou to Aizawa. “Are you listening?” He felt a little bit of regret that he tied his hair, as now he couldn’t hid behind his bangs from teacher’s intense gaze.

“Y-yeah, I’m sorry…”

“… Stay here for few minutes after the lesson ends.” He said and turned back to the blackboard, as if nothing happened. Eijirou just sat there, shocked, while Kaminari turned to him with slightly dreadful expression.

‘What the hell?’ Kaminari mouthed at him, at which Eijirou only shrugged, very confused.

Maybe a bit scared.

As the last period ended and everyone packed their things and left, Eijirou was left alone with their homeroom teacher.

“Did I… do? Something?” Eijirou asked after long seconds of silence and Aizawa stared him down.

“What’s with sudden interest in Bakugou.” He asked sternly and narrowed his eyes. Eijirou felt cold sweat run down his spine, but as he opened his mouth to object, his teacher spoke again. “Nothing you say will change the fact that you’re trying to uncover something that you shouldn’t.”

“I just-!” Eijirou cut himself off as he realized something. What did he want anyway? What would he do with this knowledge?

Then a thought crossed his mind.

“I want to be his friend.” He said honestly. “I want him to trust me with his secret. This might be a wrong approach, I know but… I have a feeling that he won’t say anything about it and it’ll just destroy him from the inside! All the suspicion and mistrust towards others! I just- I want him to open up to people…” Eijirou looked down at his fists and unclenched them slowly. He took a deep breath. “I don’t want him to be alone with this…” He finally said without looking up and bit his lower lip at Aizawa’s long sigh.

“His friend, huh?” The teacher muttered, which caused Eijirou to look up at him. “Gain his trust first, then do stupid things.” He said shortly and left him alone with his thoughts.

What he said was true, he actually wanted to get closer to Bakugou, but Aizawa was probably right. Eijirou couldn’t just break through Bakugou’s wall, he’d have to slowly climb over it or wait until he would let him in.

But how?

“Oh! You’re still here?” Eijirou raised his head to see- no one. Oh wait, there was a floating uniform.

“Hagakure?”

“I forgot my notebook.” Hagakure explained and hurriedly collected it from under her desk so Eijirou didn’t even have a chance to see the cover, then she probably looked at him. “Are you in detention?” She giggled and walked up to him.

“Ah, no, no!” Eijirou stood up and quickly collected his stuff as well. “Sensei just wanted to talk about Bakugou!” He blurted before he could stop himself. “I mean- it’s just that I… Kind of wanted to become friends with him? I guess?” There was strange silence between them, Eijirou couldn’t even tell if she was actually listening to him. “Please don’t make me remind you that you’re invisible.” She finally laughed at that and Eijirou sighed a little.

“And for that you started coming to school earlier?” She asked, still giggling. She was probably covering her mouth with her hand, not that it would do anything.

“Yeah, but I think I’ll stop. All this didn’t really work…” Eijirou was simply resigned at this point, with his plan not working and then Aizawa himself reprimanding him…

“So it’ll just be him and Midoriya again?” Hagakure wondered out loud and his eyes widened. “Although I wouldn’t call them friends…”

That’s right.

Midoriya, the childhood friend of Bakugou himself, wanted Eijirou to know. To talk to Bakugou about it, to get to him.

No one had to know.

Perfect.

“Yeah, I guess.” Eijirou shrugged and chuckled at her. “There’s no way I’d get along with Bakugou!” Hagakure laughed with him.

“Right? He’s kinda villainous with that attitude and quirk! No way someone could befriend him!”

Try me.

___

Eijirou took a deep breath and quickly opened the door to class with closed eyes. Slowly, he cracked one eye open, then the other and he just couldn’t contain his happiness. He stepped inside and looked around to make sure and yes.

The class was completely empty.

He just knew that coming in almost fifty minutes before the first period was a good idea, even if he had to skip his morning training and step around the flat quietly, as to not wake up his mom. Eijirou quickly sat down at his desk.

Now to wait for Bakugou and pray that he’d actually come first and not Iida or someone else.

So he waited.

Forty five minutes until first period; Eijirou stared out the window, counted the birds flying by.

Forty minutes until first period; Eijirou’s leg started bouncing nervously.

Thirty five minutes until first period; Eijirou stilled and locked his eyes on the door as he heard very distant, slow footsteps.

Thirty four minutes until first period; Eijirou almost stood up and ran out the class to meet the person who was approaching.

Thirty three minutes until first period; Eijirou held his breath as after what felt like eternity, the door slowly slid open and none other than Bakugou stepped inside.

Eijirou watched silently as Bakugou’s eyes, earlier locked on his desk, wandered to him and then widened, like he’s never seen before on him. He stopped mid step, still right by the door, as if struck by lightning and stared at Eijirou with confused frown. Bakugou blinked, something that Eijirou currently forgot to do, and slowly took off his headphones. He saw him glance around the classroom, as if he was searching for something. Bakugou’s eyes landed on their class’ schedule, that was pinned right next to the blackboard and Eijirou realized he was probably confirming that he’s in the right room.

Bakugou looked back at him with a glare, that held much less power than usual, and slowly but surely moved towards his desk, while glancing at Eijirou from time to time. Once he sat down, it was obvious that he was more than aware that Eijirou was still staring at him, and with that, it wasn’t hard to notice that Bakugou’s whole body was tense.

Eijirou wasn’t sure how to proceed.

At this point, it was crystal clear that Bakugou had no idea who he was, but if Eijirou just called out to him, he could simply ignore that, besides, Eijirou didn’t know if he’d recognize him by his voice.

So he stood up and made his way to Bakugou’s desk. He stood right in front of him, forcing Bakugou to look up. They stared at each other for few seconds, Eijirou with neutral expression, while Bakugou was glaring at him.

Finally, Bakugou opened his mouth, but Eijirou cut in and spoke first in a lower tone.

“Why wouldn’t you greet me?” A simple question. One at which Bakugou’s eyes narrowed and Eijirou was pretty sure he heard some quiet crackles from his palms.

“… Why would I?” He said slowly and somehow with less spite than usual. “It’s not like we’re friends or shit, you fucking extra.” Bakugou added and glanced at the door.

Yeah, no way Eijirou would let him walk out, so he moved slightly to the side and stood in his line of sight.

“Well, it’s been a while since you called me an ‘extra’.” Eijirou said calmly and watched as his eyes widened again. For a moment, it seemed like Bakugou had forgotten how to breathe, and after few more seconds, Eijirou decided to take a leap. “Let me ask you… Have you ever heard about face blindness?”

Before Eijirou could react, Bakugou stood up, closed the distance between them and grabbed Eijirou by the collar of his shirt.

“Wait, Baku-“ Eijirou couldn’t finish, as Bakugou pushed him against another desk and grabbed his collar again, tighter this time, while his other hand was suddenly right next to Eijirou’s face and he got some serious flashbacks to the USJ…

“Listen, you fucking prick-“ Bakugou hissed, his eyes burning with anger. “-if you ever talk about this again, I will murder you.” Smoke started emerging from his palm and Eijirou got ready to harden his face at any moment. “And don’t think of hiding, I will go through every person with same shitty red hair like… yours…” His eyes widened as he loosened his grip and took half a step back.

Eijirou looked him straight in the eyes and hardened his face, at which Bakugou held his breath and completely let go of his shirt, as if he was burnt. Bakugou’s eyes followed his movements as Eijirou raised his hands and, without a word, bumped his fists together in front of his chest.

If that wasn’t enough, Eijirou put his hands in his hair and awkwardly raised the front bangs.

Bakugou sat down heavily in his chair.

“… Kirishima?” And his voice was so unusually quiet that Eijirou suddenly hated himself for doing all this. The betrayal in Bakugou’s eyes didn’t help either, it was like a kick in the gut.

Well deserved one.

But before Eijirou knew it, any distress disappeared from Bakugou’s face, replaced by a shadow of realization that turned back to anger. He stood up and walked past Eijirou.

“Wait, where are you-“

“I’m going to murder Deku.” Bakugou’s cold tone made him shiver, and before Eijirou could stop himself, he grabbed his shoulder, just to be pushed away. “THAT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!”

“Yes, it is now! Besides-“ Eijirou managed to stop him this time, grabbing his wrist. “-he didn’t tell me that you have face blindness!”

“Shut up!” He yelled, without turning to Eijirou.

“I figured it out! Midoriya has nothing to do with it! He didn’t-”

“I TOLD YOU TO SHUT UP-“ Bakugou turned to him with raised hand, explosion already going off, but as Eijirou wanted to harden his skin, he realized he couldn’t for some reason and closed his eyes, ready for a hit.

One that never came.

Eijirou slowly opened his eyes to see Bakugou staring at his own hand in confusion.

“I think that’s enough.” They both looked towards the open door to see Aizawa standing there, his hair and binding cloth floating slightly. Once Eijirou and Bakugou were away from each other, their teacher released his quirk and pulled out eye drops from his pocket. “What did I tell you, Kirishima?” He asked as he applied the eye drops and Eijirou lowered his head.

“I-“

“Don’t bother.” Aizawa cut him off and Eijirou swallowed a knot in his throat. “And you-” He turned to Bakugou, although he didn’t get to say what he wanted.

“Greetings, Aizawa-sensei!” Familiar voice of Iida reached them and soon enough, their classmate stood right next to still angry teacher. His eyes quickly landed on Eijirou and Bakugou. “Kirishima-kun, it’s good to see that you’re keep coming earlier to school, your dedication is admirable.” As he talked, Eijirou noticed he was talking somehow less enthusiastically, then he realized what he read in the news about Iida’s brother.

“… Kirishima, Bakugou, come with me.” Aizawa turned around without waiting for them and any thought Eijirou had about Iida immediately disappeared. Reluctantly, he moved after he realized that Bakugou went after their teacher almost right away.

___

They found themselves in principal’s office, once Aizawa realized that teacher’s lounge wouldn’t allow them any privacy, and just now Eijirou finally understood how serious this situation actually was. Unfortunately, the principal decided to give Aizawa free hand in this and Eijirou was a bit scared about his position in the class.

Maybe more than a little bit.

“Kirishima, even though I know you wanted to help, your approach was wrong.” The teacher said coldly from where he sat on a couch on the other side of the coffee table, Eijirou and Bakugou on the second couch, in front of him.

“I know, I just-“

“Do you?” Aizawa glared at him and Eijirou clenched his fists. “You should have respected his privacy and wait until he’d tell you on his own terms-”

“I wasn’t planning on telling any of those extras!” Bakugou cut in with hatred in his eyes. “I don’t need any assholes looking down on me!”

Now, Eijirou didn’t understand what all the talk with looking down was about, but he was sure about one thing.

“Never in a slightest I was gonna look down on you!” He said and hoped that Bakugou would understand his honest tone, but Eijirou knew that wasn’t the case when he saw his eyes narrow at him, his teeth bared.

“Then why the fuck did you want to figure it out so badly, Shitty Hair?!”

“I want to help you!”

“Oh I fucking wonder how!” He laughed, but there wasn’t any ounce of humor in there. “There’s nothing to help with! I can manage just fine on my own!” Few explosions went off from his palms.

“Enough!” Aizawa slammed his hand on the table, bringing their attention back to him. “Bakugou. We already talked about this. Kirishima’s not a person to just talk about it, you have to trust that-“

“How the fuck am I supposed to trust this asshole if he goes and spies on me?!” Bakugou stood up, gesturing with his hand accusingly at Eijirou, who decided it was the best for them all if he didn’t mention how Bakugou’s voice cracked slightly. “Going around and talking behind my fucking back with useless Deku?!” He finished and started breathing heavily, clutching his chest. “Fucking…” He squeezed his eyes shut and held in his breath.

“Bakugou-“ Eijirou stood up and stopped himself from touching him in any way at the last second, well aware of how Bakugou would often react to unwanted physical contact. “I’m… really sorry, seriously. What I did wasn’t manly and I know I’m in no place to ask you to trust me, but if you don’t want to, a-and I’m sure you really don’t, I won’t tell anybody!” Bakugou’s shoulders relaxed slightly, but he still wasn’t looking at Eijirou. He decided to be honest with him. “I’m not the smartest person out there and I don’t understand how me knowing would be looking down on you, but that’s not the case! Midoriya didn’t tell me… And he didn’t even want to talk about it in the first place and I…” Eijirou remembered Bakugou’s words when he lashed at his old friend. “I know that’s partly because he’s just so- terrified of the consequences. … But I’m not.”

Bakugou finally opened his eyes and looked at Eijirou with something that he just couldn’t figure out, so he simply decided to continue.

“It’s now my responsibility as a man to keep your secret and since you clearly don’t want anyone to know, I’m not gonna tell them!” Eijirou paused, collecting his thoughts. “And not because I’m afraid of you or your quirk.” He smiled and reached out his hand towards Bakugou, in hopes that he would take it as a peace offering. “Trust me, Bakugou.”

There was tension weighing between them, so heavy, that Eijirou had trouble breathing, even more when Bakugou looked at his hand and just furrowed his eyebrows. After few more seconds, he looked away with a grimace and Eijirou lowered his hand back to his side, a little bit disappointed but not surprised, because honestly, what did he expect?

“Whatever…” Bakugou  muttered, and even if it wasn’t clear acceptance, it wasn’t a refusal either, and at this very moment, that was more than enough for Eijirou.

Aizawa’s cough brought him back to reality.

“Lessons start soon. If you two aren’t gonna cause any more trouble, you may leave.” He stood up as well and both Eijirou and Bakugou followed after him, yet before their teacher let them out, he had one more thing to say. “Kirishima, if you tell anyone, you can say goodbye to the UA.” Eijirou paled and heard a short snort from Bakugou. “And same goes to you-“ his smirk immediately disappeared “-if you try to 'kill' him or Midoriya, even outside the school grounds, you’re out. Are we clear?” He glared at them both. Eijirou nodded quickly while Bakugou just grunted something under his breath and with that, they were free to go.

They awkwardly stood outside the office for few seconds before Bakugou started walking rather quickly down the hall, leaving Eijirou few steps behind.

“Move your ass, Shitty hair.” Bakugou said, breaking the silence to Eijirou’s surprise, although he complied and soon was walking right beside him.

“Say…” Eijirou wanted to ask about it, wanted to know more, like if he had it since he was born or not. He wasn’t sure how to approach the topic, but they were kind of already here, so... “How did you-“

“Don’t fucking talk about it.” Bakugou almost whispered, something Eijirou thought he was incapable of.

“What? But-“

“Just because I’m fine with this whole face blindness bullshit, doesn’t mean I want to answer any of your stupid questions or talk about it.” Bakugou explained in his own strange way, in still surprisingly quiet voice, as they got to the class. “Google is free.” With one last glare, he entered the room, leaving stunned Eijirou outside.

Okay.

Yeah.

This didn’t go as well as Eijirou thought it would, but he was still alive, and maybe, just maybe, he could still develop a proper relationship with Bakugou.

Once he stepped inside, he saw that Iida was already joined by Yaoyorozu and Hagakure, as well as Tokoyami and Kouda. He waved to them, struggling to not show how nervous he still was after his little talk with Bakugou and Aizawa. This, and he tried to ignore Bakugou’s piercing eyes.

After all that, developing any kind of relationship with Bakugou was probably going to be really hard.

Chapter Text

“Man, what the hell did you do?” Eijirou jumped at Sero’s question and his head snapped at him from where Eijirou was staring at his notebook, pretending to go over their assignment and totally not ignoring Bakugou’s continuous angry glare.

“What do you mean?” Eijirou laughed nervously, trying his best to sound nonchalant, but judging by Sero’s expression, that didn’t really work.

“Why’s Bakugou been glaring at you for two periods now? It’s almost scary, you know?” Sero glanced at their classmate who despite all of their attention being on him, didn’t stop staring at Eijirou. “He keeps doing that even during the lessons! I’m right between the two of you!” He gestured between Eijirou and Bakugou, then at himself. “I mean, maybe he needs glasses, since he’s squinting at you like that all the time, but-“

“I say it’s bloodlust.” They both turned to see Kaminari leaning on Eijirou’s desk. “Kirishima definitely did something to make our dear Kacchan furious!” He snorted at Eijirou’s offended look.

“I totally didn’t!” He absolutely did. And he was more than aware of that.

And Eijirou of course knew why exactly Bakugou was angrily staring at him like that, but he wasn’t about to explain the situation to any of his friends. He promised, after all.

“I say it’s just lust.” Ashido whispered as she joined them, her comment making Eijirou choke on his own saliva, while she and Kaminari laughed.

“ASHIDO-!” He managed to utter between coughs.

“Okay, okay, I’m sorry!” Despite her words, she was keep giggling and still didn’t stop when Eijirou put his forehead on his desk and, resigned, let out a heavy sigh. “Aw, come on, Kiri!” He felt few pats on the back of his head, to which he only let out a tired groan.

Once his friends realized he wasn’t going to be as talkative as usual, they got into some discussion between themselves, leaving Eijirou alone with his thoughts. He sighed as Bakugou’s words from just this morning were still ringing in his head.

‘Don't fucking talk about it.', huh? Simple enough. Eijirou could totally do that.

He was pretty sure that Bakugou not only meant it as not talking about it with other people, but also not talking about it at all, even with him. He even said that he didn’t want to answer any questions about this. It probably annoyed him. Probably happened a lot of times before; people approaching him, asking all sorts of questions and treating him like he was a walking encyclopedia on that matter.

Eijirou straightened in his seat. As he tugged the bangs of his still loose hair behind his ears, for a second his eyes met Bakugou’s, until they wandered to Midoriya. Eijirou realized that this might have been one of the reasons why Bakugou hated the guy so much. With how often Midoriya would ask questions about others' quirks, it was obvious that he'd probably want to investigate Bakugou's condition like that as well...

‘Don't fucking talk about it.’

His head turned slowly back to Bakugou and their eyes met again. Eijirou gave him a little wave, for which he got himself a middle finger. He couldn’t help a little snort.

Of course he got even angrier look after that.

As long as Eijirou wouldn’t start the topic, as long as he showed him that he just wanted to be friends, that he had no intentions of spilling his secret to anyone or treating him like some sort of scary monster, he was sure that they could still talk like normal classmates. Maybe then Bakugou would talk about it to him one day.

And maybe he would finally see him as someone trustworthy.

___

To say that Katsuki was angry was an understatement.

No.

He was furious, barely containing his quirk from going off. He couldn’t even recall the last time when he wanted to murder someone that wasn’t Deku. If it wasn't for Aizawa threatening to expel him, Shitty hair would be long dead. Deku with him. But of course he wasn't allowed to do anything. Not that he actually wanted to.

… Alright he absolutely did want to, but for beating Shitty hair's ass he'd have to wait until hero training or something. For now, all Katsuki had left was making sure that Kirishima wouldn't spill the beans to one of these randoms, thus why he decided to keep an eye on the guy all the time. It was less awkward than he expected it to be, considering that Kirishima probably caught up on what Katsuki was doing, avoiding eye contact and not talking to his friends during breaks.

Meanwhile, during classes it was harder. He still had to focus on his studies, but how was he supposed to know if Shitty hair wouldn't write to someone on a piece of paper about this?

Katsuki was being paranoid, he knew, but fuck he wasn't about to let anything like that happen.

He didn't trust Kirishima.

The time for lunch break had come and Katsuki, as always, wanted to stay in class but… What about Shitty hair then? He wouldn’t be able to make sure he won’t say anything to anyone. True, he could just go to the cafeteria, where he assumed Kirishima ate, but he’d probably be with his ragtag group of friends. Not that Katsuki knew if he had a group like that, but just by observing him today, there were often people around him. He didn’t care enough to make sure it was always the same group though.

Not to add that he really didn’t want to go to such crowded place and sit between some randoms.

Katsuki got his bento box out of his bag and stared at it. Somehow, he wasn’t that hungry, but he knew better than to skip meals just because he was nervous over some guy and the probability of him telling others about his condition.

… Wait no- He wasn’t fucking nervous! He was angry at Kirishima for butting into his business.

He looked around, noticed few people leaving the class, Deku among them with some girl, probably his sidekick, and two guys, making the room almost empty, spare for two other guys who looked like they were silently arguing at the door. Katsuki glanced at them suspiciously. One had black hair and was keep glancing back at Katsuki, which only made him more cautious and pissed about the situation. He looked at the other one, who was shorter than the first, with red hair- Ah.

That’s right. Kirishima didn’t have his shitty hairstyle today.

Katsuki looked back down at his bento box, squeezing it lightly in his hands, a small frown present on his face. … Was that him? Katsuki still wasn’t sure if Kirishima was the only redhead in the class. The annoying voice in his head, that sounded a lot like his mother’s, was telling him that he should know this by now.

The sound of the door sliding open and closing caught his attention and Katsuki turned to see that the tall guy with black hair left the class, leaving him with the redhead. Katsuki frowned when he slowly walked up to him, seemingly nervous and shyly waved with one hand.

“Uhh, hi? It's me?”

“Oh for fuck's sake…” Katsuki rolled his eyes. Yeah, that for sure was that fucking idiot, walking up to him and starting the conversation like that. If that wasn't enough, Katsuki was collected enough to even recognise this moron's voice.

“Ah- Sorry!” Kirishima took a step back. “It's just that I have my hair down and-”

“Yeah, I can fucking see that.” Katsuki stated, throwing one of his hands up in the air in annoyed gesture and sighed tiredly when Kirishima started fiddling with his fingers, avoiding eye contact. “You had to have it down so your little detective play pretend would work out!” He finished with spite in his voice and crossed his arms on his chest, glaring at Kirishima.

“Yeah… I guess… Sorry about that...”

Katsuki just snorted with no humour. What was he supposed to do with some stupid little ‘sorry’?

Kirishima sighed, seemingly contemplating something.

“But still, I wanted…” He took a deep breath and finally looked at Katsuki. “I wanted to ask you something?” He gave him a little, unsure smile and Katsuki felt few sparks go off in his clenched fists, too small to be heard by him or Kirishima.

‘He's so terrified… But I'm not.’ His words from this morning were still clear and loud in Katsuki's mind. ‘Trust me, Bakugou.’

Surprisingly, he really wanted to believe that Kirishima wasn't afraid of him. That his nervousness at this very moment wasn't coming from the fear of Katsuki using his quirk. And maybe he really wouldn’t say anything, especially that he was threatened with expulsion as well. But was he, after all, stupid enough to ask about it anyway? Despite being specifically told not to? Was his whole talk about not being scared and trusting him and not talking about it just some bullshit he came up with in a second?

Of course it was.

Just some fucking bullshit to gain his trust.

Katsuki was already mad about this whole situation, the last thing he needed was for Kirishima to join in on the ride of asking him all sorts of useless, annoying questions and-

"Do you want to eat lunch with us?" Kirishima asked with a sheepish smile and stared at him expectantly, while Katsuki's eyebrows raised slightly in surprise, his eyes widening unconsciously.

... Well, that's not what he expected.

When was the last time someone offered to eat lunch with him? First grade of middle school?

… No. Just at the beginning of high school, someone invited him as well. Something was telling him that it was Kirishima back then as well, the foggy memory of someone with red hair somewhere in the back of his mind. Still, Katsuki didn't want to and had no intentions of socializing with anyone, even if he did want to keep an eye on him and-

Wait a fucking second.

"...Us?" Katsuki frowned. The last thing he wanted to do was eating lunch while surrounded by some randoms.

"Yeah! Me, Ashido, Sero-" Kirishima started counting out on his fingers, but when he saw how Katsuki narrowed his eyes, his shoulders dropped a bit. "-and... Kaminari..." He finished slower, with less confidence. "Uh..."

Katsuki looked to the side, well aware that Kirishima must have realized that Katsuki had no idea who he was talking about.

"Oh, I know!" At Kirishima's sudden exclaim, Katsuki's head shot back to him and he glared when he saw a strange smile on his face. "Ashido and Sero were on our team during cavalry battle!" Kirishima jumped a bit in a place with too much enthusiasm. "Bubblegum and Horse smile!"

Katsuki blinked few times.

This… actually rang a bell, if he had to be honest. Bubblegum was all pink and shit. Probably. She was on his right during cavalry battle. Then Horse smile- well. He couldn't say he remembered anything that stood out about this guy. Besides that hugeass smile, obviously.

… It's not like Katsuki had to talk to them, right? He just had to make sure that Kirishima wouldn't say anything. He'd just have to stay focused on those two randoms and maybe, just maybe, his brain would forget about every other person around and let him stay calm and collected.

Without a word, Katsuki stood up and grabbed his bento box. He watched as baffled Kirishima stared at him as he walked past him and towards the door.

“You fucking coming or what?” Katsuki peered at him over his shoulder, his one hand already on the door.

Kirishima blinked a few times, then smiled and quickly joined Katsuki without commenting on his decision.

___

Once they got to the cafeteria, Katsuki stopped right in front of the entrance, already aware of the huge crowd of people inside. Fuck. His breathing slightly sped up and he already missed the empty class. Maybe he could still go back? Maybe Kirishima actually wouldn't say anything, even if Katsuki won't be there to make sure of it?

“Hey, you're coming?” He blinked, his panicked thoughts slipping away, and looked at the source of voice. Katsuki saw Kirishima waiting for him, already on the other side of the big entrance. He quickly took a deeper breath and went after him, rolling his eyes at the smile that Shitty hair shot him.

Katsuki looked around. He was there only once before, and if he had to be honest, it seemed like right now there were a lot of more people than the first time he had visited this place. Or maybe it was just that that back then he didn't look around properly? Either way, he'd still rather be alone, especially that he already had to look away from some people, their faces becoming gross mush.

He followed after Kirishima until they both stopped few steps away from the queue for food.

“Go look for them while I get my lunch, okay?” Kirishima took half a step away, but still was looking at Katsuki, obviously waiting for his answer.

Katsuki just stared at him.

Did he just-

No...

No fucking way.

Did Kirishima seriously just tell him to go and find those idiots on his own? Katsuki had hard time believing that this was his reality right now. That it wasn't just some fucked up dream, where one of his classmates discovered the truth about him and yet was keep mocking him, acting as if he didn't know.

So he kept staring at him, not even sure what to say, since he didn't want to snap at him and cause a scene.

“Uhh… you okay?” Kirishima tilted his head and slightly knitted his eyebrows.

“... Holy shit.” Katsuki said, more to himself than anything, but his unusually flat voice made Kirishima's shoulders visibly tense. “You are an asshole.” He finally stated with more disbelief showing on his face than he'd normally let.

Then something must have clicked for Shitty hair.

His eyes widened and face paled, his mouth was opening and closing, no words coming out, until he finally clasped a hand over his lips and kept staring at Katsuki, looking as if he just saw a ghost.

Finally, after few more seconds of Katsuki glaring at him, Kirishima spoke in careful tone.

“Dude... I'm just- I'm so sorry, I-” He covered his face in embarrassment “-I forgot, shit, sorry-”

He was keep apologising with his face still hidden behind his hands and Katsuki barely stopped himself from openly snickering at that.

Kirishima wasn't mocking him.

Kirishima just forgot.

He was so fucking sure of himself this morning, just to fucking forget that Katsuki literally couldn't just go and look for someone. This was both hilarious and annoying and Katsuki didn't really know how to react, besides trying to keep his face straight, once Kirishima finally looked back at him.

“Seriously, I don't know how! I just-”

“Just shut up.” Katsuki cut him off, rising his hand. He turned slightly, just so Kirishima wouldn't see his smirk. “Where the fuck are they?” He asked quickly, still not looking at him.

As silence stretched, Katsuki glanced at Kirishima subtly and saw him looking around, standing on top of his shoes. He looked kind of funny, his eyes squinted and lips in a small pout, as if he was trying really hard to find his group. Kirishima's hair fell onto his face and he quickly tugged the bangs behind his ear and just now, Katsuki noticed a small scar on his right eyelid.

… Huh.

Katsuki didn't have that much time to ponder about it, as Kirishima must have found who he was looking for, a toothy smile appearing on his face as he waved to someone.

“Come on, man!” Kirishima said and moved towards wherever his friends were, Katsuki right after him. Something about walking behind others would always irk him, but for some reason, following Kirishima wasn't that bad.

Wait, what the shit. Katsuki frowned at his own thoughts. He wasn't the one to follow people, so why the fuck he wasn't bothered by Kirishima walking in front of him? Literally leading him to where they were supposed to go? Yeah, he was more mad about this not making him mad than anything. Still, he quickened his pace to walk right beside Kirishima.

Just before they got to the right table, Kirishima leaned towards him a little bit.

“By the way, the one with yellow hair is Kaminari.” He whispered while keep walking and Katsuki almost stopped as shock dawned on him. “You were arguing with him right before your fight with Tokoyami.” Kirishima then straightened again and kept walking towards the table where his friends were apparently sitting.

What the fuck.

What the fuck.

Kirishima just informed him of who else would be at that table. And he did it so naturally, as if it was the most normal thing to do. Was he mocking him, after all? It didn't sound like it. And there weren't any people to witness his ‘wonderful’ joke, if it was one. Did he genuinely try to help?

… No way.

Katsuki realised that he stayed a bit behind and moved quickly, as to not lose sight of Kirishima's bright hair.

“Sorry for being late!” Kirishima waved to three people who were sitting at the table.

And yes, there was the Bubblegum girl, some guy with yellow hair who Kirishima mentioned (the fuck was his name again?) and some plain one with black hair. Was that Horse smile? He wasn't smiling once he noticed Katsuki. The other two also looked at him strangely, visibly surprised to see him, and Katsuki felt his stomach clench.

… Shit. Right. No one probably wanted him here, with everything he had done so far. Still, he wasn't about to let that get to him.

“The fuck you staring at?” Katsuki snapped at the one with yellow hair, causing him to jump slightly in his seat.

“Oh! Uhh…. It's just… abrupt? To see you here?” He laughed awkwardly, looked away and shoved some food into his mouth.

“Oi, Bakugou, come on, don't be like that!” Kirishima nudged him with his elbow and gave a toothy smile. “Just sit down, okay? I'll be right back, guys!”

“Don't tell me what to do-” Katsuki frowned, but Kirishima was already gone, leaving him with those extras. He clenched his teeth. Great.

Katsuki looked back at them, the one with yellow hair was keep shoving food into his mouth, while the one who Katsuki was pretty sure was Horse smile, was staring back at him. Katsuki frowned and finally sat down beside the pink girl, not breaking eye contact with that plain asshole.

Finally, the guy gave up and started eating with a little frown. Katsuki smirked to himself, opened his bento box and followed suit.

Even if he was keeping his eyes on the food, he still felt as if people were keep glancing at him. It was as if they were making sure he wouldn't outburst all of a sudden.

The silence was also unbearable. Something was telling Katsuki that those guys were usually talkative and loud, being friends with Kirishima and all that, but now… There was just this awkward silence at their table, while every student in the crowd around them was practically yelling in happy banter. At this point, it was more than obvious for Katsuki that his classmates just didn't know what to talk about around him.

Fuck. Fucking shit, why the fuck was Kirishima taking so damn long?!

“Hey, Baku!” Bubblegum called out to him all of a sudden, so he was forced to look at her and fuck her eyes were all black and distorted, he barely stopped himself from looking away. “Aw don't look at me like that!” She giggled while pointing at him with a spoon. “I just wanted to ask you something, no need for glaring!” She put down her spoon and reached for a cup of water, drank a bit from it.

“... And the fuck do you want?” Katsuki urged her. He didn't have time for some stupid games.

“Oh, nothing much-” she shrugged while putting down the cup “-just curious why you decided to join us!”

“Yeah, generally you just sit and eat in the class, isolated and detached!” Yellow haired guy finally spoke again in overly dramatic way, and while waving his chopsticks around, some of his food landed on the black haired guy's cheek. “Oh shit, sorry-”

“And what is it to you, hah?” Katsuki cut in, completely ignoring the yellow idiot who was fussing over the other guy, and glared at Bubblegum who shot him a smile and clasped her hands together.

“Exactly that!”

“Hah?”

“Kiri was often going on about how you just sit in a class alone and eat there, while even Todoroki-kun would eat here with everyone else!” She explained quickly and tapped her hands on a table rhythmically, clearly waiting for his answer.

Who in the everlasting fuck was Todoroki?

And wait-

“Shitty hair was talking about me?” Katsuki said before he could stop himself and cursed his suddenly loose tongue. Even more when she covered a sly smile behind her hand. But he couldn't help but wonder why Kirishima would talk about him before he knew about Katsuki's condition.

“Hey guys-” before she could say anything, someone sat in front of Katsuki and he looked at them to see a mess of red hair and an apologetic smile that let him see sharp teeth. “The queue was kinda long!” Kirishima ran his hand through his hair and Katsuki once again noticed that small scar. “What's going on?”

“Flying food-”

“Ah, the usual!” Kirishima smirked and was about to start eating but-

“And I was just telling Baku how often you like to talk about him!” Bubblegum added quickly and Kirishima's eyes widened as he looked back and forth between her and Katsuki.

“Wh- NO I DON'T!” He yelled at her, catching attention of few students from the nearby tables. “Don't listen to her, I don't!” Kirishima turned to Katsuki who just stared at him with tilted eyebrow.

“I don't listen to others.” Katsuki said shortly with a shrug. As long as Kirishima didn't try to say anything about this morning, he didn't care about whatever all those randoms were talking about.

He started eating again, but then he saw movements in the corner of his eye. Katsuki glanced at Bubblegum and caught her sending some strange gestures to Shitty hair, so he glanced at him as well, just to see somehow displeased frown. He looked back at the pink girl, but as soon as she noticed him staring, she stopped and smiled at him, almost innocently.

Katsuki squinted at her, just for her to ignore him and continue eating, so then he looked at Shitty hair. Their eyes met for a split second before Kirishima turned quickly to the guy next to him and started a conversation which Katsuki had no interest in.

Once again, Katsuki's attention was caught by a scar on Kirishima's eyelid. He made a mental note on that.

___

Eijirou low-key wanted to hide.

And by hide, he meant that he wanted to harden his skin, break through the wall and just run away, because if Bakugou were to continue staring at him like that, he had a feeling that he'd die under that pressure sooner or later.

He felt his gaze all the time throughout the lunch. At first Eijirou thought that maybe he got some sauce on his face so he subtly tried to wipe it off, but that apparently wasn't the case. All he knew that it was somehow getting harder and harder to ignore those intense eyes.

Then he realised; Bakugou was probably staring at his scar. Was he staring because it was strange? Or maybe he thought it was small and unmanly? Eijirou really didn't want someone like Bakugou to think that he was unmanly. Or was he just staring because… Because he was interested?

Eijirou quickly pushed that ridiculous thought to the back of his head.

Nope. No way!!

He tried his best to engage in a conversation with Sero and Kaminari, but the feeling of Bakugou's eyes on him and the kisses and hearts that Ashido was mockingly sending towards him whenever Bakugou wasn't looking, certainly weren't helping him in keeping a straight face.

After few more minutes of fighting off a blush and avoiding looking at both Bakugou and Ashido, he finally finished eating. It wasn't long until others were done as well and they could leave the cafeteria.

All in all, Eijirou was glad that Bakugou decided to join them, even if he wasn't sure why he exactly agreed, but in the end, Eijirou could mark this one as a small achievement; keeping Bakugou from eating alone.

… Next goals were to make him talk more and stop him from keep staring at Eijirou's scar, because he was beginning to feel a bit awkward about it. At first, Eijirou knew he was glaring because he was angry, but now? What was so interesting about his face that-

Oh.

Wait.

The scar was one of Eijirou's distinctive features. Since he didn't have his usual hairstyle, next best things were his teeth and that scar. It suddenly made more sense as to why Bakugou was keep staring and Eijirou felt a bit stupid for letting this get to him like that.

It was so obvious! Bakugou was just making an effort to remember him!

…

Bakugou was making an effort to remember him.

Oh shit-

“Kiri what's with that face?” Ashido nudged him in the side and Eijirou jumped a bit with a yelp.

“Dude, chill.” He heard Sero's voice at his side. “You're so jumpy today, does this have something to do with Bakugou?”

“Not really!?” Eijirou answered too quickly, at which Sero raised an eyebrow at him and he heard Ashido hum. He quickly looked ahead where Kaminari was bothering Bakugou and sighed in relief when neither of them seemed to pay them much mind. “I just… Thought he'd be more talkative, you know?” Eijirou shrugged, still looking at Bakugou's back. “He usually has no trouble with talking.”

“... Did we have lunch with the same Bakugou?” Sero glanced between him and Eijirou. “Because I wouldn't call snapping and yelling at everyone ‘no trouble with talking’.”

“Hey, that's not-”

“Sero's right, Kiri, don't let your hopeless crush fool you!” Ashido cut in with a giggle.

“I DON'T-” He started too loud, causing her and Sero to openly laugh at him. “I don't have a crush, just drop it!” Eijirou said quietly with annoyance, at which Ashido sighed and patted him on his shoulder.

“Yes yes, just so you know, someday you'll owe me.”

“I give him two weeks to realize.” Ashido laughed again at Sero's retort and Eijirou threw his hands up in the air.

“You guys are the worst!” He said shortly and quickened his steps to join Bakugou and Kaminari, ignoring quiet snorts from the two of his asshole friends.

___

Katsuki went back home, ignored his mother when he walked past her in the corridor, since they still weren't talking to each other since their fight, and locked himself in his room.

Some kind of a new habit developed in him, ever since that fucking festival. Whenever he'd come back home, he'd always make sure that the window was open, as he somehow felt cramped in his own room. Just like now, so he reached over his desk and opened the window, just a bit, to let the fresh air in. Lucky for him, it was almost summer, so the cold wasn't bothering him.

Now what.

Throughout the whole day Kirishima didn't mention it once; didn't ask stupid questions, didn't look at him in a strange way, didn't avoid him or anything. It also didn't seem like he told anyone.

The question was why? Because Katsuki had hard time believing that this guy just wanted to be friends and shit. At least he had no way of telling others when outside of school-

… Wait a fucking second.

Katsuki quickly pulled his phone out of his bag and opened the godforsaken chat he had on silence mode ever since Kirishima added him back, before the festival.

Regret flooded him as he read few of the messages on his screen.

Todoroki: in conclusion, if you want my father's credit card info, just say a word, Uraraka

Uraraka: TODOROKI-KUN, YOU'RE SO NICE

Yaomomo: Todoroki-san, are you sure about this?

Todoroki: do you want a short answer or more elaborated and tiresome one

Toru: I kinda want to hear both :o

Kaminari: SHORT ONE

Todoroki: Yes.

Kaminari: AHAH

Yaomomo: Of course…. I respect your decision, Todoroki-san.

Toru: and the long one?? :O

Todoroki: i have to find one of his cards, maybe I'll tell you later after I send Uraraka the info

Uraraka: o m g ellen u didn't

Todoroki: who's Ellen

Yaomomo: Oh, Todoroki-san…

That… was something that Katsuki didn't expect. Still, he wasn't the one to just lurk in the chat like a coward, in case Kirishima was to come.

Bakugou Katsuki: is that what you idiots talk about all the time?

Kaminari: !!!!!!!!!!!

Tsuyu: That's a surprise

Ashido: he can tALK

Yaomomo: Oh! Hello, Bakugou-san! It's nice to see you've finally decided to join us!

Bakugou Katsuki: whatever

Tsuyu: what's the reason for your sudden visit, Bakugou-chan?

Bakugou Katsuki: the fuck is it to you?

Bakugou Katsuki: and don't call me ‘-chan’ that's gross

Tokoyami: If you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you.

Bakugou Katsuki: AND THE FUCK IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN

Sero: more like the abyss screams at you....

Bakugou Katsuki: oi watch it, asshole

Sero: or what, you’ll keysmash me through the chat?? Chill out dude

Kaminari: hey at least he didn’t call u ‘horse smile’

Horse smile: don’t remind him

Horse smile: HEY, WHO DID THAT

Ashido: ;P

Horse smile: WHY

Ashido: it’s funny!

Bubblegum: look! me too!!

Yaomomo: Ashido-san, that’s actually adorable!

Bubblegum: see? thank you Yaomomo <3

Horse smile: yours is fine! mine is offensive!

Kaminari: but did you d i e???

Toru: ohhh! Hello! Bakugou-kun!!! :D What are you doing here? :0

Kirishima: oooOOOOOOO DO I SEE BAKUGOU

Bakugou Katsuki: Shitty hair.

Kirishima: …. ahahaha, yes. hello.

Kaminari: are you guys certain that Todoroki's not here? It's suddenly really freezing

Tokoyami: The coldness unbearable, just like darkness in our hearts.

Horse smile: I'd say ‘chill’ but.....

Then a couple more messages from other people appeared. Katsuki couldn't say he knew any of them, besides that he knew Deku's sidekick's name. Then Bubblegum, who for some reason liked that he had called her that in the first place. Kirishima wasn't talking in the chat, even though he was online and reading all the messages as well.

Katsuki wondered vaguely if he could somehow make it so he'd get notifications only from Kirishima, so that he wouldn't have to check his phone all the damn time.

Then, for some reason, Kirishima decided to message him.

Shitty hair: heeeey bakubro

Blasty: the fuck do you want

Shitty hair: uhh I just

Shitty hair: wanted to say that I'm glad? that you wanted to join us during lunch break?? Haha

Katsuki was kind of surprised that Kirishima didn't immediately start talking about the situation from this morning.

Not that he wanted him to.

Blasty: I didn't want to. I had my own reasons to accept and none of it had to do with befriending you or your fucking extras.

For few minutes Katsuki waited for an answer, but in the end decided he didn't owe Kirishima shit. He changed from his uniform and went to the bathroom to wash off his eyeliner, but as he was going back to his room, he was stopped by his dad.

“Katsuki! How was your day?” He asked as he ruffled his hair and just smiled wider when Katsuki frowned at him.

“Fucking great.” Katsuki hissed through his teeth with no intentions of telling this old man about what happened. He'd make too big of a deal out of it and tell Old hag all about it.

“... Did something happen?”

Oh for fuck's sake-

“Nothing, and if it did, it's none of your business, old man.”

His dad tilted his head, that stupid smile still on his face.

“Ah, alright!” He scratched his chin, as if he wanted Katsuki to notice that he let his stupid moustache regrow again. “But I moustache you a question.”

Katsuki hated that his words made him snort like an idiot. He bit his lower lip as to stop himself from smiling, but it was too late, his dad already proud of himself for making Katsuki laugh at his terrible joke.

Stupid fucking puns.

"I'm going out to get groceries.” Proud smile was still on his face. “You keep making your own lunches, right? Do you need something?” His dad took a step towards stairs.

“Not really…” Katsuki muttered. He made food for two days so he still had something for tomorrow. “I have everything.”

“... Maybe after you run out, you could try to go to the cafeteria again? With your classmates maybe?” He offered carefully with encouraging smile.

“I was there once already. I don't need to go again to know that the food is shit.” It was a blatant lie on Katsuki's part. That one time he went, the food was pretty decent, even if it wasn't spicy enough for him.

“Well, maybe it got better since that time?”

“It didn't look any better today so-”

“Today?”

SHIT.

Katsuki bit his tongue. He didn't dare look at his dad, knowing well that he'd either see a stupidly satisfied smile or a very questionable look.

“... I just wanna know-” his dad started carefully and Katsuki looked at him with a frown “-did you perhaps get invited by some friends you made?”

There was an annoyingly obvious note of hope in his voice. Katsuki just put his hands in the pockets of his pants and stared at the floor.

“I won't tell your mom, I just want to know.” There was a hand on Katsuki's shoulder, yet he still refused to look at this persistent old man.

“... I didn't make shit.” Katsuki decided to ignore his quiet, disappointed sigh. “ Someone fucking invited me and I went with them just because I had to check something, not to ‘enjoy’ my time with those fucking extras.” He took a step away just so his dad would have to let go of his shoulder.

“Katsuki, just… maybe try to be nicer to them, eh?” Dad nudged him lightly on the shoulder. “Even if you're not enjoying yourself while in their company, your words might hurt them, especially since they invited you! That means they actually wanted to spend this time with you.”

Katsuki finally looked back at his dad and a ridiculous thought came to him.

Kirishima apparently wanted his company. For some reason.

“Just think about it, son.” After a few pats on his head, Katsuki was left alone.

He went back to his room and sat down heavily on his bed. He checked his phone and, yes, Kirishima still hadn't replied and Katsuki realised that maybe, just maybe, his answer was actually too mean. Especially that he'd have to be on Kirishima's good side if he really didn't want him to tell anyone out of spite.

Fuck.

Was he doing it right now?

With pounding heart, Katsuki quickly checked the group chat but- no. Kirishima wasn't there as well.

Katsuki stared at their private chat for few more seconds and finally typed out;

Blasty: But it's not like it was shit.

Shitty hair: Oh!!

Shitty hair: I'm happy you enjoyed it then!!! :D

Katsuki barely stopped himself from answering ‘I didn't enjoy shit, your friends are fucking awkward and boring’. He took a deep breath. He needed to stay calm. Katsuki was going to be nice to Kirishima and in exchange, Kirishima wouldn't say anything to anyone.

Yes. That was a good plan.

He'd just have to stick to it for the rest of their years at UA.

Shitty hair: do you maaaybe want to eat with us tomorrow as well? :>

… Kirishima wanted his company, huh?

Blasty: whatever

Shitty hair: :D!!

Blasty: I didn't say yes, shitty hair

Shitty hair: but you didn't say no!

Blasty: No.

Shitty hair: see you at school C:

Just those three fucking years.

Chapter Text

Eijirou almost couldn't believe it when at the beginning of a lunch break Bakugou was already standing next to his desk with his own bento box, looking at him with a frown.

“The hell you're staring at like that?” Bakugou asked him and lightly kicked his chair, as to urge him to move. “You fucking coming or what? Move your ass, Shitty hair.”

Eijirou finally stood up with a smile, at which Bakugou rolled his eyes.

“You know that Ashido, Kaminari and Sero will probably be there as well?” Eijirou asked in half whisper and looked at his group of mentioned friends who were already talking at the door. “Bubblegum, Horse smile and uhhhh the one… with yellow hair?” He added quickly, when he saw that Bakugou narrowed his eyes, and kept a smile of satisfaction to himself when he saw a shadow of realisation on Bakugou's face that was immediately replaced by an annoyed eye roll.

“You don't have to specify that every time…” He muttered and glanced at the group at the door.

Before, Eijirou would just assume that Bakugou simply hated the idea of spending this time with others. Now it was obvious for him that Bakugou just didn't know who he was talking about.

… This, and he probably still didn't really like to be with too many people at once. Eijirou read somewhere about it, but he wouldn't ask until Bakugou would bring this up himself.

Bakugou was still staring at him, one hand in a pocket of his pants, the other holding the box too tightly, as if he was nervous about something.

Eijirou vaguely wondered what he could be nervous about as he stood up and headed towards the door, Bakugou right beside him.

___

“So-” Katsuki looked up from his food to see the yellow haired guy pointing at him with chopsticks “-you enjoy cooking?”

Katsuki blinked, unimpressed. Was this idiot trying to make a small talk with him?

He noticed that Kirishima was glancing at the two of them, trying to be subtle, while Bubblegum and Horse smile lowered the volume of their conversation. Katsuki sighed, annoyed by nosiness of all those extras. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms on his chest.

“What if I do?” Katsuki asked and glared at the guy who only leaned forward and scanned his food.

“Is it tasty?”

Katsuki frowned and vaguely wondered how much someone paid him to try and talk to him.

“It is.” He answered shortly, because what else was he supposed to say?

The guy let out a low hum.

“Is it delectable?” He asked with strange, mischievous smile and Katsuki blinked few times, slightly surprised. “Or even exquisitely appetizing?”

Didn't he hear that stupid way of talking before?

“Okay,” Horse smile interrupted him with a frown of his own, “we get it, Mister Dictionary, you know a lot of words. Get to the point.”

Kirishima and Bubblegum snickered at the comment, while walking Dictionary huffed, yet a smile quickly reappeared on his face.

“Anyway!” He reached across the table to snatch some meat from Katsuki's bento.

“You're gonna fucking die.” Katsuki said almost calmly, as he made no move to try and stop him, which only caused that stupid walking Dictionary to stop for a second and stare at him. Katsuki was well aware that the lack of more explosive reaction surprised him, but he knew what was coming so he just glared at the guy.

This and the fact that Kirishima was there. He didn't want for his reason to tell others to be him yelling at his stupid friends. Didn't mean he couldn't have a little bit of fun.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes, almost with anticipation. In the corner of his eye, he saw Kirishima tilt an eyebrow at his behaviour, then he looked at the Dictionary guy as well, who opened his mouth, put the whole piece inside and started munching slowly. Then he stopped, his eyes widened and tears appeared in the corners of his eyes.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT-” He yelled and opened his mouth while Katsuki smirked.

“Ew, Kami no-” Bubblegum grabbed her food tray and moved it away from ‘Kami’, as he spat out all the meat he had in his mouth onto the table.

“Bakugou, what the hell is that? Poison?” Kirishima tried his best to not laugh at his friend who desperately tried to wipe all the spices from his tongue.

“Just some precautions for food thieves.” Katsuki shrugged and started eating again, ignoring the pleading eyes of the Dictionary guy.

“HOT- Milk- I beg-” He started coughing in a dramatic manner, his face going red.

“Serves you right.” Horse smile teased while not trying at all to hide his amusement.

“Traitor-”

“Oh gosh, what's going on?”

Katsuki looked up at the girls who stopped by their table, the invisible one who just spoke and the frog-like one. It seemed like both of them were done eating.

“Nothing much, just our resident idiot stealing food from the wrong people.” Horse smile snickered and continued eating, ignoring the continuous whining from mentioned idiot. “Apparently Bakugou here eats fire for lunch.”

“Hey, it's not my fault that this asshole steals food.” Katsuki flipped him off and reached for his glass of water, ignoring the slight fear in Horse smile's eyes.

Right, apparently drinking water with spicy food was something fucking strange.

Asshole.

“Well, Bakugou's right” Kirishima started slowly, staring at Katsuki's food thief with a grin. “Since no one forced you to steal from him, you had it cumin.”

Katsuki barely contained his snort. He had to hide his grin behind the glass, thanking all the forces out there that whatever sound he made drowned in the noise of the cafeteria and Bubblegum’s and invisible girl's laughter.

“Kirishima-chan, that was really bad.” The frog girl said with a finger on her chin while Bubblegum hit the table few times with her palm.

“So bad!!” And yet, she was still laughing.

“Mina-chan, we're on our way to the support department.” Frog girl said after the laughter died but before she could continue, the invisible one cut in.

“Yeah! For me! They made me the first prototype of the protective goggles and I want to try them out as soon as possible!” She jumped in place.

Katsuki didn't need to see her face to know she was clearly excited, though he did wonder about that whole deal with support gear. She apparently needed it for her eyes and he noticed Deku's sidekick using some bracelets as well. His mind went back to his talk with Aizawa, that he should visit the support department.

… should he? He knew all too well that there wasn't any real cure for his disorder, but maybe they could help?

“Ooooh! Right, for your hero costume!” Bubblegum’s voice disturbed his thoughts. “Sure, I'm coming!” She quickly ate the rest of her food and, while still munching on it, stood up and all three of them walked away.

Katsuki bit his tongue, too hard this time and his eyebrow twitched.

He didn't need any fucking support gear. He could do just fine.

“Guys please, I'm dying-”

“Dude, in this time you could have gone and get some milk twice already. At this point you're just being dramatic.” Horse smile cut in and he and Kirishima laughed again.

Katsuki took a deeper breath, glad no one was focusing on him at the moment, and proceeded to eat and ignore most of their further making fun of that idiot.

After all, he really had it-

Katsuki cleared his throat and bit the inside of his cheek to cover the stupid smile that threatened to appear on his face.

___

“As you already know-” Aizawa started as soon as he entered the class and everyone went silent “-next week you'll all start your internships. Unfortunately, you all already experienced the world of pros.” A murmur went through class and Katsuki recalled the USJ incident. “But of course actually working with heroes will be a more fruitful training. And now, not only will you need hero names, you'll need them to be appropriate-”

“Because if not, it'll be hell from here!” Woman's voice interrupted him. “The names you pick now-” Katsuki scanned the woman who walked into the class. Judging by the costume and her hair, it was Midnight. “In many cases, they stay that way after becoming pros!”

As if Katsuki didn't know that already.

Even though they were given fifteen minutes to think about their names, Katsuki knew exactly what he wanted.

No way there would be something wrong with his choice.

___

Katsuki almost couldn’t understand what was wrong with his choices. Sure, maybe the murder part was too much, but the play of words was fucking great! It wasn’t his fault that Midnight found it ‘inappropriate’ or some shit.

Still, he glared at his internship form that was only missing a hero name.

‘Something appropriate or nothing.’ She said as she left him alone in the class after the lesson ended.

“Oh, you're still thinking about that?” Katsuki heard a familiar voice. He turned and first thing he noticed was that wild shitty hairstyle.

“The fuck is it to you?” He frowned at Kirishima's snort.

“Aw, come on man-” He took a chair from a nearby desk and sat down next to him, resting one of his elbows on Katsuki's desk, cheek on his hand. “I know my other suggestion before wasn't that great…”  Kirishima shrugged while looking to the side. “But uh- I could help you? If you want?” He still wasn't looking at Katsuki, but an awkward smile appeared on his face.

Other suggestion? Katsuki tried to recall if Kirishima said something earlier.

“Ah, when I yelled ‘Blasty McSplode’ and stuff…” Kirishima let out a nervous laughter and finally looked back at Katsuki.

Right. That was him.

Katsuki sighed and tapped his pen against that damn form.

‘Something appropriate or nothing.’

Fucking bullshit, what was it to her what kind of name he wanted to choose!? And she of all people was the one to talk; R-Rated Hero: Midnight for fuck's sake.

Still, they wouldn't approve of his form if he put in his first two choices so what the fuck he could do!?

“Soooo you like puns, right?” Kirishima said suddenly and smiled when Katsuki narrowed his eyes at him, sending a questioning look. “Your first choices for hero names are puns around your name, yeah?” Katsuki just stared at him. There was no way he’d admit to that. “And you totally laughed at my pun during lunch break!” He pointed at him, almost in an accusatory way.

“I FUCKING DIDN'T!” Katsuki yelled at him, few sparks going off from his hands, but Kirishima only leaned back in his chair, laughing himself.

“Alright! Sure, you didn't!” He waved off some smoke, toothy smile still on his face. “Then maybe something to do with bombs?” Kirishima said out of the blue while Katsuki was calming down.

“Hah?”

“You know, since you can't make a pun around your name, then maybe around your quirk!” He jumped with a bit of excitement, clearly proud of his idea.

“... I didn't ask for your fucking suggestion.” Katsuki said with a frown and looked back down at the form that was clearly mocking him.

“Ah, but listen! I have an idea!” Shitty hair nudged him in a shoulder and Katsuki clicked his tongue.

“Will you leave me the fuck alone if I let you tell me?” He sent him a glare and put his pen down when Kirishima nodded.

“Okay, so you know when there's like, some kind of a disaster site or an area of the aftermath of an explosion?” He mimicked the way Katsuki would release his quirk. Katsuki just continued to stare at him with blank expression. “Uh, there was a name for this! You could use it as your hero name!” Katsuki still just stared at him, biting his tongue to stop himself from smirking in amusement when he noticed how nervous Kirishima was getting. “I- uhh just wait a second, okay?” He pulled the phone out of his bag and started tapping hurriedly, clearly looking for something.

Katsuki of course knew exactly what Kirishima had in mind while trying to desperately explain what he meant. Didn't mean that it wasn't amusing to see him struggle and then give him an unimpressed look.

Still, Kirishima's idea was actually good, if Katsuki had to be honest. His pen hovered over the paper, so close to putting down that hero name his classmate came up with.

But that's when he stopped himself.

Right.

Since when did he care about ideas of some randoms? It was his future and there was no way he was going to give Shitty hair that satisfaction of somehow being a part of it.

“Ah, damn it!” Kirishima let out a frustrated groan as he put his phone down. “Kaminari would help, he knows all those words and terms.” He frowned and crossed his arms on his chest and Katsuki realised something.

Kaminari. Bubblegum calling the yellow haired guy ‘Kami’ during lunch break that talked as if reciting the whole-

“That walking dictionary guy?” Katsuki asked before he could stop himself.

He cursed in his head when Kirishima looked at him with widened eyes and slightly parted lips that stretched into a smile after few seconds passed.

“Yeah! Kaminari is the dictionary of our class! The one who almost died after trying your food!” He rised his open hand towards Katsuki. “Nice, Bakugou!”

Katsuki stared at him with a frown. Then his eyes wandered to the hand, still waiting for him, and back to Kirishima. He looked genuinely happy that Katsuki connected the dots and realised who he was talking about. As seconds passed, Kirishima's face still was happily excited, not knowing what awkwardness is, while still waiting for Katsuki to high five him.

Katsuki rolled his eyes, and as quick as he could, he did as Kirishima wanted.

Before Shitty hair could react more than just smiling happily at the returned gesture, he got distracted by a text message on his phone and got visibly more excited at whatever it said.

“Sorry, Bakubro.” He started as he put his phone in his bag and raised to his feet. “I need to go, my moms are here!” Kirishima was way more excited than anyone ever who was about to be picked up by their parents.

“... Whatever.” Katsuki said shortly and frowned when Kirishima only smiled more, not even trying to hide his happiness.

What the fuck was his deal?

“Good luck with your hero name!” Kirishima waved and practically sprinted out of the class. Katsuki heard someone reprimand him for running on the corridors and in few moments, the door slid open again.

“You're still here?”

Katsuki recognised his homeroom teacher with his binding cloth, unimpressed tone of voice and a tired frown.

Aizawa walked up to him and eyed his still incomplete form.

“So you didn't come up with anything better?”

Katsuki looked back down at the form with a frown on his own. Technically he did come up with something more ‘appropriate’. Except that he didn't. It wasn't his idea and he wasn't about to use it. So he stood up, picked up his bag, handed the form over to his teacher and left the class without a word.

As he was about to head towards the stairs, through one of the windows he saw some guy with red hair (Kirishima?) running through the gate, where right outside it two women were waiting for him. He picked up the one his height, who shared his hair colour, and spun around happily.

Huh.

If that was how he greets his mother, no wonder he was so stupidly excited about the text message. Katsuki clenched the hand that touched Kirishima's into a tight fist and frowned as he went down the stairs.

Once he managed to walk out of the school as well, there was no sign of Kirishima.

___

As Katsuki walked through the gate and towards his house, he stopped when he noticed a car driving up their driveway. His dad's car. Great. He was really hoping he wouldn't have to tell anyone about his amazing day. Still, he was a better option than that old hag who started showing signs of wanting to go back to bothering Katsuki after those silent days.

“Hey!” His dad greeted him as he got out of the car. “Can you help me with this?” He walked around the car and opened the trunk, taking out some big box. What it contained, Katsuki wasn't sure. And he didn't really care. “Material samples came, I had to go to the post office, those two were too big to deliver in person.”

“I didn't ask.” Katsuki rolled his eyes at his dad's short chuckle, put down his school bag at the front door as he opened it and walked up to the car. He picked up the bigger box with ease and immediately turned back towards the door, hearing old man's footsteps right behind him.

They headed upstairs, to the office and Katsuki had to put down the box to open the door for his dad, frowning at his thankful smile as he held the door open. He picked up the box again and entered the room as well.

“Put that on the desk, I'll go through it later.”

Katsuki did as he was asked, hoping that their interaction would end on that and he could lock himself in his room to pack some stuff for his internship.

Except that the old man had different plans, as he was going through the list to make sure all the right samples were in the first box.

“How was your day, Katsuki?” Shit. “You chose your internship today, right?” For fuck's sake. “Any lunches with extras?”

The word made Katsuki actually snort. He tried his best to ignore his dad's pleased smile as he checked off another thing on the list.

“My day was normal.” He said shortly, after successfully getting rid of his smile.

“That's good.” Short nod, as to encourage him to continue.

“I'm going to Best Jeanist's office.”

“Ohh, number 4 hero!” His dad sounded impressed. Good.

“And a guy died after stealing my food.” Katsuki finished with a sly grin that appeared at the memory of that idiot.

“That's go- wait.” Dad cut himself short, as if he just realised what Katsuki said.

Katsuki watched as his eyes widened, pen hovering over the list. He could almost hear the gears turning in his head when he glanced at Katsuki's now neutral face.

The fuck was his problem?

“OH!”

Katsuki almost jumped at sudden exclaim.

“You mean, your spicy food ‘killed him’.” A sigh of relief. “For a second I-”

“What, you thought I fucking beat up a guy!?” Katsuki felt angry all of a sudden. "Over fucking food!?"

“No, Katsuki, that's not what I meant-”

“Then what did you mean!?”

Silence.

That annoying, old man avoided his eyes and sighed, as in a form of apology.

“Wow dad, thank you very fucking much.”

“Katsuki, no I didn't-”

He didn't wait for him to finish. Katsuki turned and slammed the door behind him. Quick run down the stairs to get his bag and then back to his room.

… Of course everyone would expect him to ‘kill' a guy for something so stupid as stealing his food. Even earlier during that fucking lunch, he didn't fail to notice the slight shock on people's faces when he didn't outburst immediately after that fucking Dictionary stole his food.

Was Kirishima surprised just as much as the others?

Katsuki blinked, surprised.

Why the fuck did he think specifically about that shitty haired bastard?

After few moments, he realised that the answer was simpler than Katsuki thought it would be; obviously he had to make sure that Kirishima didn't have a reason to tell others. Simple as that.

But did it mean that even if Katsuki tried to not give Kirishima any reasons, he'd still find one thing or another about him that would make him tell anyway?

Katsuki rubbed his eyes tiredly and sighed, more than annoyed when he realised he probably smudged his stupid eyeliner. He was about to wash it off anyway in few moments, but it didn't change the fact that it was fucking annoying.

He went to the bathroom to get changed and wash off the mess he made on his eyelids.

___

As Katsuki was making a list of things to pack for the next week, he heard his phone buzz. He picked it up, already aware that it was probably that annoying group chat.

Bubblegum: hey hey what if we change our names here to our hero names??

Bubblegum: *wink wink*

Uraraka: oh! To get into the spirit of internships?

Bubblegum: yeah!

Horse smile: oh thank god yes please

For fuck's sake no-

Ojirou: Sero, why didn't you just change your name back?

Shoji: I was wondering too

Ojirou: Yeah like… you know you can change your own nickname in the chat, right?

Kaminari: L M A O

Yaomomo: Sero-san…

Ellen: I still don't know who Ellen is, the change would be nice

Bubblegum: … I honestly don't remember changing your name to ellen nksvldflsfjd

Yaomomo: This is getting out of hand...

Horse smile: …..

Horse smile: Yaoyorozu I beg you, take away the admin privileges from that madwoman

Too much. That was already too fucking much for Katsuki. As stupid as it sounded, he'd prefer if they stayed with their names, at least he'd learn them at some point. … Probably not, he still didn't care. But then at least two of them had the nicknames he came up with but now-

Pinky: THERE <3

Tailman: I feel like I'm already at the internship!

Cellophane: Finally…

Creati: Very nice idea, Ashido-san.

Creati: Ah, I mean Pinky

Pinky: <3 <3 <3

Very shit idea-

Wait. What about Katsuki, he didn't choose his name.

Blasty McSplode: …

Tsukuyomi: Ah, the screaming abyss.

Chargebolt: CNDKFKSKJFKE AHAHAHAHAHHA

Cellophane: I DIDN'T EXPECT YOU TO SAY THAT

Blasty McSplode: Are you fucking kidding me?

Pinky: Baku, Kiri's suggestion was great! I thought you'd use that!

Blasty McSplode: WHO IN THEIR RIGHT FUCKING MIND WOULD USE THAT SHIT

Pinky: @Red Riot look!

Red Riot: oooh hero names!! Cool!!!

Red Riot: …. pfffff Blasty, I thought you didn't like this one

Blasty McSplode: Kirishima, you fucking bastard, it wasn't me

Red Riot: oh

Red Riot: …OH HEY I SWEAR I DIDN'T KNOW SHE'D DO THAT

Red Riot: ASHIDO PLEASE

Pinky: COME ON, RIOT, IT'S PINKY NOW

Froppy: Getting into internships spirit, I see

Bakugou: fucking whatever assholes

Pinky: awww why'd u change it back

Invisible Girl: yeah it was cute :(

Shouto: at least it wasn't a real name

Chargebolt: a real name you say….

Shouto: what

Chargebolt: …. aiduiefjjdafiks nothing

… Fucking entitled assholes with their hero names and stupid group chat and fucking Midnight who makes a problem out of nothing and his fucking dad who-

Katsuki heard a knock on his door and he realised there was a bit of smoke coming out of his clenched fists. He tried to relax and disperse the smoke before opening the door, but whoever it was that knocked, spoke to him through it first.

“Katsuki-” his dad's voice “-I need to talk to you.”

He took a deep breath and walked up to the door, just to lock it in as loud and obvious way as he possibly could.

“... Alright, I deserve it.” Dad stated with heavy sigh. “Can you at least listen to me?”

“No.” Katsuki said shortly, walked back to his desk and put on his All Might themed headphones that he'd only use at home. He turned on some loud music, no care if his dad was actually talking from the other side or not.

He had better things to do.

___

Between checking the stupid chat for Kirishima’s messages and avoiding both of his parents while packing for the internship, Katsuki didn't have much time during the weekend for anything else than that. He had to admit, he was kind of surprised to notice that Kirishima wasn’t as active as usual during the weekend and didn't even text him once. He picked up this stupid habit, after the USJ, to text him multiple times a day, even if Katsuki would often ‘leave him on read’, as he had called it.

… Did he get bored?

Katsuki was annoyed at himself that this thought somehow bothered him. He tried to explain to himself that Kirishima was probably just as busy getting ready for his internship, but since almost everyone else was active in this fucking chat then… What if he was planning on telling someone?

“Hey, Bakugou! You ready man?” Someone greeted him just as he was about to enter a train station.

Katsuki looked at the guy, scanning him and his stupid red hair and a scar on his eye, as well as his sharp teeth.

___

“Shitty hair.” Bakugou greeted him in his own way after Eijirou gave him few seconds to recognize him and he couldn't help but smile more at that.

He was in a great mood. He got to spend a weekend with both of his moms and he was about to go on the week long internship with a manly hero who specifically sent an offer for him.

It was going to be perfect!

“Who did you choose for your internship?” Eijirou asked as he and Bakugou entered the train station. He noticed Aizawa with few students already.

“Best Jeanist.” Bakugou said with no enthusiasm in his voice.

“Woah, you got an offer from number 4 hero!? That's so cool!” Eijirou patted his shoulder and realised his mistake as soon as Bakugou glared at him. “Sorry-”

“Whatever.” He cut him short. He seemed to notice their group as well and quickened his pace, Eijirou right behind him.

While Bakugou stood slightly in the back, Eijirou caught up with his friends, yet still noticed how Bakugou was piercing him with his eyes.

“I tell you, it's lust.” Ashido whispered subtly and Eijirou's cheeks turned red.

“Stop it.”

“Two weeks.” She shrugged and walked to the front to other girls, leaving frustrated Eijirou alone.

Why.

Eijirou sighed, but he wasn't about to let it ruin his good mood. He straightened his back and listened to their teacher's short speech about safety and their hero costumes. His hand squeezed around the handle of his case where his costume was and Eijirou smiled to himself.

He was about to officially enter the world of pros for the first time.

After Aizawa was done talking, they all went to their platforms and waited for trains. Eijirou found himself with Bakugou, although he most possibly was waiting for a different train. He could see Todoroki few metres away from them, going to his father's agency, but it was obvious he didn't want any company at the moment.

Eijirou didn't really know what to talk about. Bakugou didn't seem too eager to talk about internships and now that Eijirou thought about it…

Was it because he didn't choose a hero name, even after having the whole weekend?

“Hey Bakugou-” he spared Eijirou a glance “-did you choose a hero name after all?”

“... No.” There was a frown on Bakugou's face, yet it wasn't angry. It was more like he was almost disappointed in himself.

“... What about Blasty?” Eijirou snickered when Bakugou's expression changed into a surprised one and he turned to him with his usual frown.

“The fuck?”

“For your hero name!”

“Only if you'll start using ‘Shitty hair’.”

Eijirou couldn't help but let out a laugh at that.

“Yeah, that's not gonna happen man..”

“Fucking exactly.” Bakugou fixed a grip on his bag and looked at the upcoming train, still not his or Eijirou's, and sighed annoyed.

“... Trash bomb?” Eijirou stiffened a laugh when he heard a small explosion go off from his hand.

“Fuck you.”

“TNT LIKE THE SONG!” He laughed and expected another outburst, but instead Bakugou opened his mouth, closed it and looked like he was seriously considering it. “... Wait, you actually like it?”

“NO.” He said too quickly and Eijirou got himself an elbow to the side.

Somehow, it made him even happier, his smile getting bigger.

He noticed Todoroki staring at the two of them and waved. Bakugou's head shot towards him as well and he quickly moved away from Eijirou. He vaguely wondered if Bakugou knew who was looking at them just now.

“... That's Half face.” Eijirou whispered and felt a bit of discomfort while saying this nickname. He'd have to convince Bakugou to change it to something else…

“... Whatever.” Bakugou muttered without looking at him.

They stayed in awkward silence until there was a signal for an incoming train. Eijirou's train.

“I guess we'll see again in a week?” Eijirou offered as a way of saying his goodbyes. Bakugou just glanced at him, that unsure frown on his face again. He almost looked like he wanted to say something.

The train stopped, people slowly coming out and those on the platform going inside.

Eijirou knew he was supposed to move, but something about Bakugou's expression after he told him it was Todoroki earlier made him stay in place. He took a step towards the train, he still had few seconds, people still going in.

Was this actually about Bakugou's thing? Did he think he was gonna tell someone?

“Hey.” Eijirou wanted his attention and luckily, Bakugou actually looked at him with deepened frown. “Trust me, Bakugou.”

He got onto the train, and right before the doors closed behind him, he turned and saw Bakugou's surprised expression.

Eijirou smiled and waved with wide grin.

He really hoped that Bakugou would have as much fun as Eijirou was going to have.

Chapter Text

“I'll be honest. I don't like you.” Best Jeanist, who was standing with his back to Katsuki, greeted him with those words the moment he stepped into the hero's office at his agency.

“... huh?” That was all Katsuki could utter at the moment. He was used to people not liking him, but a pro hero who's never met him before?

“And I know for sure that you chose my agency only because I'm one of the top five heroes. Is that correct?”

Katsuki clenched his hands.

“You're the one who sent an offer in the first place!”

“Indeed.” He finally turned to face Katsuki. “So far I've had no trouble with my interns and sidekicks, all of them are well-behaved and great examples of heroes-” and they all fucking look the same , Katsuki added in his head “-so you're the first one in a while to be a bit more…” Best Jeanist eyed him as he fixed the bangs of his hair in front of his face. “Ferocious.”

Katsuki's eye twitched in rising annoyance.

“I watched you during the sports festival.” He continued, ignoring Katsuki's angry glare. “You have no trouble controlling your quirk and you could make a good sidekick. But despite all of that you have one fatal flaw. You believe that you're the strongest person out there and because of that...” The hero scanned Katsuki again and looked him in the eyes. “You're just too brutal.”

Katsuki painfully clenched his teeth. He tried his best not to snap on the spot, well aware it would just prove his point but-

“Don't tell me…” He started as he walked towards Best Jeanist. “Did you draft me just to give me a fucking lecture or-”

Katsuki suddenly couldn't move, his legs, arms, almost whole body restrained by something and his mind screaming immediately.

Breathe. Katsuki reminded himself when he gathered that there wasn't anything around his neck. Deep breath, you can still breathe, don't panic, idiot. Stop shaking-

“My job as a hero is reforming people like you.” Best Jeanist said before Katsuki could fully calm down.

Don't show him your weakness.

Katsuki tried to struggle against the fibers Best Jeanist was using, to no use. All he could do was glare at the hero.

“Heroes and villains are two sides of the same coin, and you…” Hero pulled slightly on the fibers, fastening them more on Katsuki's body.

Katsuki forced himself to stay still. Tried his best to breathe steadily and to not start shaking all over again. He held the gaze with Best Jeanist’s.

Don't let him win.

“You are dangerously close to falling on the wrong side.”

Katsuki stopped moving, all thoughts in his head going silent. All he could do was stare blankly at the hero.

“Your brutal and violent behaviour is villainous.”

Katsuki bit the inside of his cheek.

“You're like an animal, a wild beast, and I intend to tame you, even if it means breaking you. I swear that it's all for the best.”

Katsuki tasted some blood on his tongue.

“After all, you're supposed to cut off the bruised and rotten parts of a fruit. The spirit of a youth is no different."

Katsuki felt sick.

“I'll teach you what it really means to be a proper hero.”

Katsuki wanted to ask what he wanted to do and how exactly, but any sounds died in his throat. Best Jeanist's words were ringing too loud in his head to allow him to think about anything else. He just wanted to escape this situation.

By sheer willpower, he forced himself to relax enough so that Best Jeanist would think he calmed down. The plan worked, as Katsuki felt the fibers loosening up and then fully retreat.

He swallowed a knot in his throat as he straightened his back, barely stopping himself from rubbing the places that fibers clenched on too tightly.

“We'll have a really busy week.”

Something about those words, made Katsuki sweat.

___

After this seemingly never ending day, wasted on Best Jeanist giving him useless lectures about proper behaviour and attire, Katsuki finally got back to his room in some small hotel that UA was paying for. He kicked off his shoes and left his bag on the only chair that was in the room. He grabbed a towel that was lying on a pillow, went to the bathroom and walked up to a sink.

As Katsuki was washing his hands, he looked up and stared at the guy in front of him.

Light blond hair, pale skin, furrowed eyebrows, red eyes and leftover, smudged eyeshadow after wearing his mask for most of the day.

Yep. That's still you and that's a mirror, not a stranger in your bathroom. Katsuki snorted, then scoffed with humorless grin and sighed as he turned off the water and wiped his hands dry.

He reluctantly looked back into the mirror and stared into his own eyes.

‘You are dangerously close to falling on the wrong side.’

Katsuki's breath hitched the moment he remembered those words.

Maybe… Best Jeanist was right.

They've never met before, but just by observing Katsuki, he immediately saw a villain in him. Like most of the people around him.

… If not everyone.

Katsuki realized he's been glaring at his own reflection. His eyes widened, he loosened his frowned eyebrows and looked at his now softer features.

‘You're supposed to cut off the bruised and rotten parts of a fruit.’

Among many others, his glare was one of those parts, probably.

Katsuki wasn't the biggest fan of staring at himself in the mirror, examining his reflection and all the features of his face. There was no real point in it after all, since he wouldn't remember them anyway, but once he got closer to the mirror, he examined his forehead. Once he noticed a very faint line between his eyebrows, most possibly from frowning all the time, he bit his lower lip, anger rising in him, and raised his fist to the mirror.

‘Your brutal and violent behaviour is villainous.’

He stopped himself from hitting the mirror at the last second, suddenly aware of what he was doing, but having no idea as to why.

His legs gave up and he sat down heavily on the tiles. Katsuki remembered the feeling of fibers around his legs and arms and it was almost like they were there again. Trying his best to keep his breathing levelled, he touched the scar on the back of his head.

You're villainous.

Katsuki stared at his hand and flinched when few sparks went off.

Fuck.

Why the fuck would he flinch? His quirk wasn't scary, at least not to him, so why?

Katsuki tried to convince himself that it was this damned hero's fault. Planting those thoughts into his brain, making Katsuki think of himself as a villain, but-

He was already aware of that, wasn't he?

Those thoughts weren't new. They were always somewhere in the back of his head, taunting him and waiting to come up again to the surface at the worst times.

Katsuki pulled his knees to his chest and tried to hide his face between them, tried to hide from the world. At least he was alone in the first place. No one could see him in this pathetic state-

Sound of a text message from the other room made him freeze in place. He ignored it, choosing to just stay in the bathroom like pathetic idiot that he was. There was another one after few minutes and Katsuki frowned.

Get lost.

But just as his thoughts, whoever was texting him wouldn't get lost as well.

Katsuki took a deep breath and slowly got up to his feet to leave the bathroom and without even looking who sent him the messages, he silenced his phone.

He didn't have time or energy for talking.

___

Katsuki came to the agency early, so he had plenty of time to change into his hero costume and actually check all the messages he didn't bother to look at the night before.

There were several texts in the group chat from various people. He still had no clue as to who was who, besides fucking Deku and knowing that Kirishima was ‘Red Riot’.

… And well, he wasn't gonna lie about the Invisible Girl, since she was pretty transparent.

Katsuki snorted and continued going through his phone. He tilted his eyebrow when he noticed there were also a few messages from Kirishima, directly to him. Katsuki's finger hovered above the notification for few seconds before he tapped on it to see what he had sent.

Shitty hair: how was your first day bro!

Shitty hair: ah I guess with #4 it was pretty exhausting, you must be asleep already

Shitty hair: but mine was pretty cool! aND I'M NOT ALONE!!! LOOK WHO'S WITH MEE

Shitty hair: [file attached]

Katsuki frowned and opened the picture. He stared at the ‘selfie’ for few solid seconds, trying to analyse it.

It showed two people, guys. One had familiarly styled red hair, as well as a scar on his right eyelid and a bright smile, wide enough to show off those ridiculously sharp teeth. Obviously Kirishima. But the other.. Katsuki honestly had no idea who the fuck was that supposed to be. He had similar sharp teeth to Kirishima's so what, his cousin or some shit?

… Could it be that Kirishima was mocking him?

Katsuki honestly didn't like that thought, something clenching in his throat the longer he stared at the picture.

Blasty: You honestly expect me to know who the fuck that is?

“I appreciate you coming early, but I'd rather you didn't text your girlfriend while at my office.”

Katsuki turned quickly and recognised Best Jeanist, thanks to him already being in his full hero attire, obviously judging him and staring pointedly at his phone.

Only after few seconds did Katsuki realise what the hell did he just say.

“I'M NOT TEXTING MY GIRLFRIEND!” He yelled and threw his phone into his locker, slamming it immediately and staring at the pro, just waiting for another lecture about screaming.

“This applies to boyfriends too.” He said as he put what seemed like a folded pair of light blue jeans on a bench. “Put these on. You're one of my interns and you are not only to act properly, but look so as well.” Best Jeanist eyed Katsuki's baggy pants and turned, closing the door as he left the room.

Again, Katsuki needed few moments to realise what he implied.

He wanted to yell again, that he wasn't texting a fucking boyfriend either, but that would just bring the attention of the whole fucking agency.

… And would probably make him look guilty as charged.

Instead, he looked at the folded jeans on the bench as if he was about to get attacked by them. Katsuki slowly grabbed them and stared them down, grimacing once he noticed how tight those fucking jeans probably were going to be on his legs.

Great.

Tight clothes, last thing he fucking needed, but at least it wasn't a scarf or some shit.

He took a deep breath and quickly changed into the damn jeans.

And of course he was right. They were tight and once he tried to stretch in them, Katsuki realized he probably wasn't going to jump around as quickly and freely with the use of his quirk.

Katsuki sighed. He could just blow this thing up and pretend it was an accident, but that would probably end with Best Jeanist giving him another lecture and Katsuki being restrained again and-

Unpleasant shiver went down his spine at the thought of that.

He settled on slamming the door as he left the locker room as well, glaring at Best Jeanist's clones as he walked past them in the corridors. Katsuki slightly hoped that one of them was actually the hero himself, but he knew that the actual man was much taller than his sidekicks, and his clothes were completely made of that jeans material.

The moment he stepped into Best Jeanist's office, judging by the look he got from him, Katsuki knew that the hero was about to complain about him yelling before again and glaring at his little clone army.

He'd just have to handle another few hours of being called a villain to his face.

___

Katsuki wholeheartedly hated that he was right about basically being called a villain, wild animal and several other things numerous times for most of the day. One could argue that Best Jeanist didn't straight up say anything offensive to him, but the fact that it was just said in more elaborate way, didn't change anything.

Technically, it was nothing compared to hearing it multiple times throughout his life behind his back but…

Katsuki's hands clenched.

Don't think about this now. Not here.

He took a deep breath, opened his locker and grabbed his phone. Up until now, Katsuki didn't have a moment to check and he honestly hoped that Kirishima answered his message from this morning. Those texts were the only normal thing for him at the moment and-

Wait, fuck no! He didn't hope for any messages from anyone! Why the fuck- Where the fuck did that thought even come from!?

He was about to put his phone back down, but at the same time he got a message. Katsuki ignored how stupid he felt about how eager he was to check who it was from.

Shitty hair: ITS TETSU, HES FROM CLASS B

Shitty hair: IM SORY I FORFOTAGAIN DUDE IT WASN'T ON PURSPOSE I SWEAD

And Katsuki snorted. Then covered his grin behind his hand. Because even though that idiot was apparently with someone from their school, he forgot again and Katsuki wouldn't have to worry about him telling anyone.

… He forgot again.

Katsuki couldn't help that stupid smile that stretched widely on his face.

“I told you, no texting with boyfriends while you're here.”

Katsuki's head snapped to the entrance and, once again, he recognised Best Jeanist's hero costume and his stupid hair.

Then he realised what he said again.

“I DON'T HAVE A BOYFRIEND!”

“No surprise, with that attitude.”

Katsuki clicked his tongue at the tone of hero's voice.

‘That attitude.’ What fucking attitude!? He could get a fucking boyfriend if he wanted to!

… Could he?

“Tomorrow I want to see you in those jeans,” he put a new, darker pair on a bench, despite Katsuki already wearing one. “These are a better fit for you and maybe having a choice more suiting your... unfortunate taste will inspire you to be more polite.” Best Jeanist turned and was about to leave when something struck Katsuki.

“You sure like to talk about proper manners for someone who hasn't got any.”

“Excuse me?” Best Jeanist turned back to him with raised eyebrow, as if he wanted to ask Katsuki how dare you speak to me like that.

“You heard me. You talk my ear off with your little lectures about manners, and despite that, you don't know how to knock?” Katsuki barely contained his smirk when he noticed hero's eye twitch. “Isn't it polite to knock and wait for a permission to enter?”

For a split second, seeing the look in Best Jeanist's eyes, Katsuki honestly thought he was going to get restrained again. He braced for the attack, his shoulders tense and teeth clenched.

Then Best Jeanist simply coughed and turned away while straightening his too high collar.

“I'll keep your preference in mind for the future.” As he slowly walked back to the door, he continued, “but remember that I do know what's best in terms of your behavior, and I do want the best for you Bakugou. That is why I'm so hard on you." With those words, he finally left.

Katsuki waited for few seconds before he let himself relax, and even after that time he had some trouble with it. More on instinct than anything, he grabbed his wrist where there were fibers the day before and rubbed slow circles with his thumb, trying to get rid of that strange phantom feeling.

Deep breath.

Just few more days.

___

Shitty hair: Bakugou, for real, that wasn't on purpose! D:

Katsuki, at the door to his room, smirked as he quickly realised that Kirishima meant his earlier message and a picture he sent.

The thought of messing with Kirishima some more was a tempting one, but Katsuki was aware that it could just make Kirishima want to actually spill the tea. He decided to let it slide.

Kind of.

Blasty: Are you always like that?

Shitty hair: like what??

Blasty: Brainless idiot?

Shitty hair: SNKCKFFNKD NO???

Blasty: seriously, sometimes it's like you have hair for brains

Shitty hair: djfkffgndkdndknf come on man, that wasn't on purpose! DD:<

Blasty: One day, something you'll do ‘not on purpose’ is gonna get yourself killed

Shitty hair: :C

Blasty: Don't fucking :C me, I'm right

Shitty hair: !!!!! yoU USED AN EMOJI :D!

Blasty: I WAS QUOTING YOU, YOU FUCK

Shitty hair: too late for any excuses, I already have it saved! >:D

Blasty: Fuck you

Shitty hair: no way of denying it~

Shitty hair: ah sorry, I don't have time to talk more, we have an evening patrol! Until later! :D

Oh for fuck's sake… Everyone except for Katsuki had patrols. Of course. Because Best Jeanist wouldn't let Katsuki go out if he wasn't ‘presentable’ for the outside world.

Or rather for any press, because it seemed like that was all Best Jeanist cared about. Public opinion.

Katsuki ended up not even answering to Kirishima, who probably already went on that patrol, thus the lack of any more messages from him. That was to be expected. And that was why Katsuki was surprised to hear his phone again after few hours, while he was already lying in bed, ready to sleep.

He grimaced at the bright screen of his phone and cursed himself for forgetting to silence it in the first place. Katsuki didn't even register the time once he saw who exactly sent him the message.

Deku.

What in the everlasting fuck did he want at this hour and why from Katsuki of all people!?

From Katsuki!

He fully intended on just ignoring the message, but in the end, curiosity won and he opened it to see that Deku… sent him his location? What?

Not even a second later and another notification popped up, this time from the group chat.

Katsuki tapped on it, seeing it was from Kirishima.

Red Riot: [location attached]

Red Riot: guys, it's from Midoriya! I don't know what's this about but uhh maybe it's important??

Sugarman: I hope it's nothing serious, I'm too far away to help

Cellophane: he sent it to me too??

Creati: @Midoriya Izuku are you alright? Do you need help?

Shouto: pN MU WSY

Pinky: whaaa

Chargebolt: I shall translate

Chargebolt: *coughs*

Earphone Jack: “On my gay”

Chargebolt: OH COME ON, THAT WAS MY LINE

Earphone Jack: You're taking too long.

Pinky: on one hand, I know that's not what he said, on the other…

Earphone Jack: tis boy gay

Pinky: tis boy very gay

Invisible Girl: *nods* ;>

Cellophane: we're all forgetting about Midoriya…..

Invisible Girl: Oh! :o Umm… maybe he sent it by accident? ;s

Sugarman: I hope that's the case

Earphone Jack: he'll probably just end up with broken arm again or sth

Creati: Jirou-san…

Katsuki snorted at Jirou's comment and finally silenced the chat, the talk seemingly heading to more Deku-centered, which just no thanks.

Before he fell asleep, he did wonder what the fuck that broccoli was doing. And where , since Katsuki remembered that he was one of those who didn't get any internships offered to them.

He grimaced.

Fucking Deku, he'd rather think about Shitty hair than that useless bastard.

… No.

Fuck this.

It was too fucking late to have these strange, stupid thoughts anyway, so Katsuki rolled onto his side and tried his best to fall asleep. He really hoped that the next day would be better.

___

Katsuki wanted to go home.

He could accept partial change of his hero costume; Best Jeanist gave him those stupidly tight jeans, took away his mask (“It only brings out your angry glare.” ) and forbid him from bringing his gauntlets (“Those are too dangerous and make you look even more brutal.” ).

But change of his hair, that he kept the same on purpose for years?

“Sit still.” Best Jeanist commanded when Katsuki tried to move away from a comb in his hand.

Fuck you. Katsuki wanted to say, but of course that wouldn't end well for him. He didn't have much choice, but to bite his tongue, clench his hands and try to control rising panic over being held from behind by his head, as Best Jeanist continued to comb his hair.

Katsuki hoped that they'd finally leave this fucking agency and go on a patrol, especially after Best Jeanist addressed his concerns about the whole Hosu mess, but no. Because when he could send his sidekicks on patrols, he could take care of more important matters. And what was more important for great Fiber Hero Best Jeanist was that Katsuki had his hair styled ‘properly’.

And what fucking choice did Katsuki have if not sit and wait until this hell was over?

All of a sudden, Best Jeanist forced his head forward so he'd have better access to hair on the back.

“For fuck's sake-”

“Language. When will you learn-” Best Jeanist went to reprimand him, but that's when the combing halted and Katsuki's eyes widened as he held his breath.

He noticed it.

“... Did you have some kind of an accident?” Best Jeanist let go of his head and Katsuki immediately used the moment to stand up and turn to face the hero.

“... That's-” Katsuki didn't expect to have this conversation with anyone. Ever.

He glanced at the few of Best Jeanist's little clones.

Especially not in front of an audience.

“I-” Katsuki found himself at a loss of words. “This isn't-” A knot in his throat made it hard to breathe.

Fuck, why was talking so hard all of a sudden?!

“It looks like your scar is from some kind of an explosion, am I correct?”

Katsuki just knew that this was one of those rhetorical questions, well aware that the hero in front of him probably provided the answer for himself already.

“Care to elaborate on that matter, Bakugou?”

Best Jeanist eyed him and Katsuki could swear he heard a snicker from someone. He barely stopped himself from glaring again, instead, Katsuki settled on clenching his jaw.

“It's a private matter.” He hissed, managing not to curse. “So no.” Katsuki held his breath, somehow afraid of the kind of the reaction he might meet with.

“... I see.” Something in Best Jeanist's tone threw Katsuki off. He expected to be called out on his behaviour at least and get restrained at most, but the hero just walked over to his desk and put down the damn comb. “We're done for now, I must take care of something. Ask my assistant if he needs help organising paperwork, I will send someone for you after I'm done so we can fight that terrible hair of yours again.” He didn't spare him a single glance as he sat down at his desk and picked up a phone. Katsuki just hurriedly left the room.

As he made his way through corridors, he stopped and touched his scar.

Was it that noticeable? He didn't really have a way to look at it himself, but for years he was sure that it wasn't visible under his hair. But again, Best Jeanist got uncomfortably close, it was only a matter of time before he noticed it.

And now Katsuki had to go and help someone with fucking paperwork. Because what, he didn't want to talk about an accident with his own fucking quirk?

He knew exactly how this would end; with Best Jeanist telling him how he should be more careful with that kind of quirk.

Like everyone else.

Katsuki really wanted to go home.

___

Shouta stared at his phone and at the unknown number that was trying to get him to pick up for the fourth time in a row.

Persistent, he had to admit.

He had full intentions of ignoring the caller until they'd get bored, but a text message from Hizashi that simply said ‘ pls pick up man’ made him reconsider. Foolishly, it also made him believe that it was the loud, annoying man himself calling from different number for some reason. And of course he was wrong, because once he picked up, familiar yet rather unwelcome voice greeted him;

“Eraserhead.”

“Best Jeanist.” Shouta answered in a cold tone. Talking to number 4 hero was the last thing he wanted to do at this moment. “Where'd you get my private number from.” Despite asking, he already knew that Hizashi probably was at fault.

“Present Mic was kind enough to forward it to me.”

Of course.

Shouta frowned. He was going to have to change his number again.

“And to what do I owe the honour?”

“Please, there's no need for such tone.” There was shuffling of some papers on the other end. “I'm not calling to remind you that you should show up in the magazines more often and work on your overall appearance.”

“And yet, you just did exactly that.” Shouta pointed out and didn't miss the slightly annoyed cough from Best Jeanist.

“Anyway-” he started in a tone that indicated he didn't want to continue this topic. Not that Shouta would be sad about it. “It's about my intern, Bakugou Katsuki, no alias.”

Shouta blinked, and to his own surprise, the fact that Best Jeanist realised that Bakugou was hiding something didn't shock him in a slightest.

“Is there something I should know?” Number 4's voice was impatient. The hero himself probably already figured from Shouta's too long silence that there was something he should have been told about. “Or did principal Nezu decide not to mention anything for the sake of the boy?”

From the tone of his voice, Shouta could tell that Best Jeanist didn't actually know what was it that Nezu hid from him about Bakugou.

Subtly, he took a deep breath.

“Why would there be anything in the first place?” He said in his usual, steady voice.

“Well, since you did ask-” Oh, Shouta was going to regret it. “I believe that his behaviour didn't come from nowhere. I noticed him calling my sidekicks ‘clones’, although they are rather distinctive from one another and I can't help but wonder if this has something to do with his strange reaction upon me asking about his scar.”

Wait-

“What scar?” Shouta asked, actually surprised, as he didn't know anything about that.

“... I see.” Though Best Jeanist must have thought it was him lying about the matter, judging by his strangely stoical reaction.

There was another long pause that tempted Shouta to just hang up, but he stopped himself, well aware that if he were to meet with Best Jeanist in the near future, he wouldn't hear the end of it.

“I invited Bakugou to try and reform him, but if I don't know what the real problem is and he's obviously too proud to say anything, I'm afraid I won't be able to do much. To be frank, I'd preferably sent him home already, but it wouldn't look good in the eyes of the public. For now, duty calls. Until next time, Eraserhead.” Best Jeanist hung up without giving him a chance to say anything.

Shouta put his phone down and sighed heavily, rubbing his tired eyes.

It was obvious that Bakugou wasn't really ready to accept any kind of support gear, but if his case was this serious and he were to continue acting like a stubborn kid about it, then Shouta had no choice. Even if he didn't want to do this… He'd have to force Bakugou to face the fact that he actually needed some help.

He decided that he might as well get a move on with his plan.

___

Back in his room, Katsuki grimaced at the sight of his slightly flattened hair. It wasn't anywhere near the effect Best Jeanist wanted to achieve, but it was already… different. Strange and somehow alien to Katsuki. He tried to mess it up but to no avail.

Katsuki closed his eyes and rested his forehead against the cold surface of a mirror.

Fuck, did he want this week to be over already, but there were still those few days left… Few days he'd have to spend alone.

Katsuki opened his eyes, backed away from the mirror and frowned at his reflection. There was no need for him to sulk in this stupid bathroom, not like he could do anything about his hair at the moment. He walked back to his room and glared at the pair of jeans he left on a chair. If he could, he would burn them, but that was out of the question. Instead, he sat down heavily on a bed just to fall onto his back and mindlessly stare at the ceiling.

After few moments, Katsuki reached and touched his scar. He couldn't help but wonder if Best Jeanist figured something out, even if he knew that was ridiculous. Who would make a connection between his scar and… anything really? Then again, he did suddenly say he had to ‘take care of something’. Did that something was about Katsuki? Did he call someone? His parents? Someone from school? Aizawa or Nezu? Did he ask about him? Did they tell him all about-

Katsuki gasped in surprise when a sound of a new message disturbed his thoughts. One last time, he tucked at his hair and rolled onto his side to reach for his phone that was resting on a nightstand.

Dad: Hey Katsuki, how's your internship? You were supposed to call us! We heard about Hosu, good thing you were far away from that mess!

Katsuki: it's shit

Katsuki frowned. He really didn't want to talk to his parents.

Then another message came in and Katsuki rolled his eyes, but bit back a sigh of relief when he saw it was just Kirishima this time.

Shitty hair: heeeey Baaaakugou :>

Blasty: get to the point, I'm not in the mood

Shitty hair: aw why bro

Was Kirishima seriously expecting an answer?

Yeah, fuck that, he wasn't gonna complain about his shitty internship to Shitty hair, of all people.

He noticed a notification of another message, again from his father.

Dad: It can't be that bad!

Katsuki rubbed his eyes tiredly. Can't be that bad his ass.

Blasty: I want to go home

He typed back and buried his face in a pillow. Fuck, was he tired. At this point he just hoped that his dad wouldn't ask too many annoying questions and just assume that he was being sarcastic.

Another message came and Katsuki blinked few times in slight confusion when he saw it wasn't from the old man.

Shitty hair: wow dude, are you okay? Something wrong??

What.

Why?

…. Wait-

Katsuki's heart stopped as he realised he sent his miserable message to Kirishima.

Fuck.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking shit FUCK-

“FUCK!”

He immediately sat up on the bed, trying to figure out what to answer, million thoughts at the time. His fucking pride was on the line and Katsuki felt that no matter what excuse he'd come up with, Kirishima wouldn't believe him.

But did he really have to come up with an excuse? After all, it was just Kirishima.

Kirishima who already knew his biggest secret and so far didn't say anything to anyone and Katsuki almost wanted to just finally talk to someone about how big of an asshole Best Jeanist was but…

Katsuki stared at his phone, saw Kirishima was typing but after few long minutes passed, he ended up not sending anything. It was like he was giving Katsuki a signal that he wasn't gonna push.

But if he had to be honest, he'd really appreciate that push. That little signal that Kirishima was willing to listen and not make fun of him. That he wouldn't agree with the things Best Jeanist said about Katsuki. But that was the thing. For some real comfort, Katsuki would have to tell Kirishima all the stuff he's been through these last few days. The things he's been called on a daily basis now. How terrible he felt when Best Jeanist restrained him. When he forced him to change his appearance.

Katsuki clenched his phone in his hand and tried to even out his breathing.

Fuck. Why are you so pathetic!?

He couldn't say any of that stuff! That would show Kirishima how weak he was, how easy it was for that damn hero to break him!

… But he's been so fucking lonely. He didn't remember the last time he felt like that and it felt… bad. He was used to being alone, but this-

Another message came and Katsuki ignored the feeling of shame when he almost dropped his phone, with how fast he tried to check who it was from.

Shitty hair: Maybe it's not my place to say that… But you can trust me, Bakugou. You don't have to say anything, but if you do, I won't judge and won't tell anyone!

Trust him.

Katsuki actually started to, even if only a little bit. Because really, what other choice he had back then, but now…

… Fuck it.

Blasty: number 4 is being a fucking dick, acting like some kind of a pageant mom

If he spilled, Katsuki could always take him in a fight.

Shitty hair: what's he doing?

What isn't he doing?

Katsuki sighed and started typing.

How Best Jeanist greeted him, telling Katsuki how much he despised him. How he compared him to a rotten fruit. To a feral animal. To a villain. How he forced him to change his hero costume and was trying his best to change Katsuki's appearance altogether. How he restrained him and how hard it was to breathe back then. How sometimes it was hard to breathe in his presence in general and-

Katsuki realized what he's been writing. How desperate and weak he sounded.

How pathetic.

Before he would accidentally send that message to Kirishima, he quickly erased it. There was no way he would let anyone see him like that. Even if the actual seeing wasn't involved.

He could just.. tell him the shorter version of all of that. The one that didn't involve shame eating Katsuki from the inside.

Shitty hair: wait a sec

Kirishima: here! Serious talks demand serious setting!!

Kirishima: is that alright..?

Katsuki chuckled at how, well, serious Kirishima was taking it and found himself being more than alright with that little change. Not that Kirishima had to know this.

Bakugou: whatever, it doesn't matter

Kirishima: haha well.. anyway! You got some dirt on those jeans? ,’:D

Katsuki was really glad that Kirishima couldn't see him snort at that.

Alright. Short version. He could do this.

Bakugou: he's dressing me up like a doll and snapping at my ‘bad manners’ and it's getting on my fucking nerves

Bakugou: and he always makes sure I'm not alone in his stupid agency, as if he expects me to blow something up otherwise

Kirishima: yeah that sounds annoying…

Bakugou: I've been stuck with him for 3 fucking days.

Kirishima: … wish you'd picked someone else?

Bakugou: Fuck that, there's no going back anyway, I might as well get the best out of it, even if #4 is annoying

Kirishima: Gonna wring Best Jeanist out for all he's worth, eh? :>

And Katsuki openly laughed. And almost hated himself for that. Because that was another terrible fucking joke and he hated that it was that funny to him.

Fuck you and your puns Kirishima.

He almost typed that, but Kirishima was faster.

Kirishima: but.. if you need a breather I've got my switch set up? You're more than welcome to come over and hang out with me and Tetsu!

Katsuki was honestly fully on board until he read “and Tetsu”.

Whomst the fuck even-

Ah. Right. The not-cousin of Kirishima. Guy from 1B. Fuck. If he had to choose, he'd really rather spend that time alone with Kirishima. Not with some other randoms. He didn't have much choice but to quickly come up with something.

Bakugou: yeah, like I can't handle some annoying old guy

Kirishima: hey, I never said you couldn't handle it bro!

Kirishima: you're just welcome if you want to have some fun for a change of pace! Toughing it out is manly, but knowing when to take a break is manly too!

What was his deal with this whole manliness thing?

Bakugou: You're weird, you know that?

Kirishima: I'll admit that I am if you agree to come :D

___

Bakugou: No

Eijirou deflated at that short answer that came after several minutes of waiting. After all, it was foolish to believe that he and Bakugou were getting closer.

“So?” Eijirou looked over his shoulder to look at Tetsutetsu who entered his room. They were lucky enough to have their rooms next to each other. “Will the explosion dude honour us with his presence?” He asked with a smirk, obvious joke, but Eijirou was sure that Bakugou would let out few sparks at that. The thought somehow made him chuckle.

“He's not coming…” Eijirou's smile flattened and he looked down at his phone.

“Well, at least we won't lose our hearing with all the explosions and shouting he's always doing.”

“Yeah…” Eijirou stared at his chat with Bakugou in hopes to see a message from him, that he changed his mind and is actually coming. His smile completely disappeared, replaced by concerned frown.

Bakugou sounded lonely, even through these texts. Eijirou had a feeling that Bakugou gave him a really shortened version of whatever Best Jeanist was doing and found himself almost afraid of the truth. He had no idea how the hero would act towards others, but just from Bakugou's messages, the idea he got in his mind wasn't that positive...

“Oh god, I'd rather third wheel for you two, than look at your moping face.” Tetsutetsu groaned and Eijirou looked back at him, taken aback by sudden comment.

“What do you mean, bro?” Eijirou put down his phone and fully turned to face Tetsutetsu.

“That you looked like a kicked puppy just now. All sad about Bakugou not wanting to come over!” He crossed his arms on his chest and leaned back on the chair.

“I don't look like a puppy!” Eijirou threw a pillow at him, hitting his face and leaving him speechless for a second. “And what do you mean by ‘third wheeling’?”

Tetsutetsu gave him unimpressed look. A long, unimpressed look.

“... What?” Eijirou urged him after long silence.

“Dude, you got hit several times already by Fourth Kind for checking your phone all the time in case ‘Bakugou texts you’.” He picked up the pillow and put it on a desk near him. “It's obvious that you want something from this. I have no idea about Bakugou, but you-” Tetsutetsu scanned Eijirou's tense face then pointed a finger at him. “You're already over the moon.”

“WH- NO I'M NOT, WHY'S EVERYBODY SAYING THAT!?” Eijirou was done with those accusations. He just wanted Bakugou to be his friend and to trust him!

“Then what's with the constant messages and looking like a sad dog when he doesn't answer?!” This time, it was Tetsutetsu to throw the pillow at Eijirou's face.

The pillow already in his hand, Eijirou wanted to return the favor but he stopped himself from throwing it at the last second. He took it into both of his hands and stared at it with small frown.

“I'm just… worried about him... That's it.” Eijirou didn't look up at Tetsutetsu, even when he heard him chuckle.

“Worried he'll get with someone else?”

“NO, STOP IT!”

This time, there wasn't anything to stop Eijirou from throwing the pillow back at him.

___

Bakugou: We finally went on a patrol.

Kirishima: Ooooooo! That's great!

Bakugou: No.

Kirishima: no..?

Bakugou: Best Jeanist was busy with his fangirls while I had to deal with fucking kids :)

Kirishima: … ok, please don't ever use any emojis ever again

Bakugou: What's wrong, Shitty hair?

Bakugou: I thought you wanted me to use them? : )

Kirishima: OKAY, SORRY JUST STOP

Bakugou: That's what I fucking thought.

Kirishima: and uh that's… I didn't expect it from Best Jeanist?

Kirishima: since he's #4 and all… I'd expect him to be more into looking for crime and stuff…. I don't know, here with Tetsu and Fourth Kind we were both patrolling the streets and sometimes cleaning them?

Kirishima: Manly hero isn't scared of some trash!

Bakugou: I'd rather pick up trash than hear another kid talk about that sludge shit again

Kirishima: … uuh

Kirishima: is there a joke I'm missing?

Kirishima: because I'm kiiiinda confused.. What sludge shit??

Kirishima: Bakugou?

Kirishima: you didn't die, did you????

Kirishima: I will send you pics of the saddest cats out there, don't test me!

Kirishima: … come on man, did I say something? :((

Bakugou: no, you didn't…

Kirishima: oh!

Kirishima: Sooooo what sludge shit?

Bakugou: Just fucking drop it.

Kirishima: … Okay, I'm sorry

Bakugou: Whatever, it's not your fault

Kirishima: :D!

Kirishima: Well! Good thing there are only 2 days left!

Bakugou: can't fucking wait

___

“I hope that despite our differences, you managed to learn something, Bakugou.” Best Jeanist stared down at Katsuki.

They stood at the exit from the hero's agency, Katsuki more than eager to leave.

“You can keep the jeans. A sort of memorabilia from your time here. You are free to wear them as part of your hero costume of course.”

He was so gonna burn them.

But Katsuki learned that it'd be best for him to just keep his mouth shut for now. So he bit his tongue, nodded and bowed slightly, trying not to show his true feelings.

Best Jeanist sighed heavily.

“I was hoping that we'd at least get rid of that glare of yours. I suppose I was wrong.”

Katsuki's eyebrows twitched and annoyance raised in him when he realised his own eyes betrayed him.

“Well, at least you look better with your hair like that.” Best Jeanist reached towards Katsuki's head, probably to touch up his hair one last time, but Katsuki was quicker. He swiftly stepped away, closer to the exit.

Best Jeanist froze in place for few second as he seemingly tried to analyse what just happened.

“I'm not your intern anymore.” Katsuki finally spoke and moved closer to the door. “You can't do anything about my problematic behaviour anymore.” He gave Best Jeanist a cold look and glanced at his assistant. He nodded politely and looked back at the hero with a smirk. “Goodbye, Hakamata-sama.”

Katsuki took pleasure from the way Best Jeanist's eyes squinted at his sarcastic farewell.

There was nothing else to say, so Katsuki turned around, opened the door and left the agency. For the first time in a week he felt the tension lift off from his shoulders.

All that was left to do was to get on the train, go home and try to fix his hair.

All this while hoping that no one who knew him would see him and try to approach him. Katsuki just didn't want to deal with any annoying shit.

At this point, he was just tired.

Chapter Text

By the time Katsuki walked through the front door of his house, the sun almost set and cold air made him even more tired.

He just really wanted to rest.

Once Katsuki closed the door and took off his shoes, as quickly and quietly as he could, he made his way through the corridor and up the stairs. He wanted to go to his room, hide from the outside world and try to somehow fix his hair. He managed to make it halfway through to his room.

“Won't you even say ‘hello’ to-”

Old hag.

Fuck.

“.... What in the holy fuck happened to you?” The tone of her voice was a mix of shocked and amused.

“That's none of your business!” Katsuki yelled as he glared at her over his shoulder.

Something clenched in his stomach when he saw her covering a smirk behind her hand. Somehow, it hurt. Especially when she started laughing. Openly. As if she didn't care if Katsuki was still there or not. As if she wasn't aware how much that change was affecting him.

Without a word, Katsuki dropped his bag onto the floor and, as it was closer than his room, he went and locked himself in a bathroom.

“Katsuki, come on!” He heard his mother still laughing as she knocked on the door and he leaned against it. “I just didn't expect it! Don't act like a child- oh, Masaru!”

Old man.

Great.

He could hear their conversation through the door.

“What's going on?”

“The brat is back and didn't even greet me! Can you believe it?”

Oh, I wonder why.

“Katsuki?” Dad lightly knocked on the door. “Is something wrong?”

“He's mad because I laughed at his hair.” That annoying woman explained in surprisingly calmer tone. “Katsuki, come on, you know I didn't mean it! Don't overreact!”

“You didn't have to laugh, I already knew it was shit, okay?!” Katsuki yelled and was met with silence. “It's not my fucking fault!” After making sure the door is locked, he walked up to the sink and looked into the mirror.

“Katsuki…” His dad knocked again.

“Leave me alone!” He threw a towel at the door.

“Don't throw stuff around like a little brat, you brat!” His mom tried to enter the bathroom, but the locked door stopped her. “Come on, we don't have any hair gel or shit but I can try and help you!”

“I don't need your fucking help, I can manage!” Katsuki turned on a shower, just to make it look like he wasn't just sulking in a bathroom. Seemed to work, because after a few seconds of muffled conversation, both of his parents left him alone.

Finally.

Katsuki looked at the running water and since he fully intended to try and fix his hair before he had to go to school and face everyone, he turned it off.

After stepping away from the shower, he opened their bathroom closet and his eyes scanned the shelves, looking for anything that would help him. Old hag was right, they didn't have anything even resembling hair gel, but Katsuki noticed a lot of hair sprays on her shelf. With no difficulty, he reached for one of them and read the vague instructions on how to use this shit.

Right.

Because it was obvious for everyone how to use it.

Katsuki took off his uniform jacket as he walked to the mirror and grabbed a comb, frowning again at the spray in his hand. It couldn't be that hard, right?

In a really awkward manner, Katsuki combed his hair up and held it in place as he closed his eyes and used the hair spray.

Then started coughing. A lot. And couldn't stop for a solid minute.

"What the fuck-" Katsuki wheezed out, trying his best to stop coughing as he tried to wave away the spray.

Did he use too much? Probably.

Did it work? Of course not.

Katsuki glared at his front bangs to see them ridiculously hover at his forehead, not exactly falling onto it, like that fucker Best Jeanist had styled them, but also not how they would normally frame his eyes.

Maybe he could still fix it. But did he really want to risk another coughing attack? Besides, it was getting late. Even if he left his phone in his bag, Katsuki felt himself getting tired.

Resigned, he put the hair spray back on the shelf and took a quick shower. When Katsuki left the bathroom, already in his pyjamas, he noticed that his bag was nowhere to be seen and he realised that one of his parents probably put it in his room.

Once he stepped into his own space, he saw his bag on the desk, but that wasn't what concerned him at the moment. Katsuki quickly realised, judging by uncomfortably stuffy air, that his parents forgot to open the window in his room at least once during the week he was gone.

With clenched jaw, he rushed to the window and opened it wide, taking in the cold yet fresh air.

He could take it, as long as he wouldn't have to feel trapped in his own room.

___

Of course Katsuki's bad luck would continue.

Right after he woke up, he tried to fix his hair, he really did. But again, he only ended up running late since he tried to wash it three times, all while wondering just what the fuck did that asshole use on his hair for it to stay like that.

After Katsuki ignored his father ("Oh, I don't remember the last time you overslept!") when he was leaving, he found himself on a later train. One that was more packed than his usual, early ride and he just thanked all the forces that he was able to find an empty seat and didn't have to stand and suffocate between some extras.

Finally, he got to school, late of course.

Well, not late late, he got there several minutes before the first period, but that was exactly it. The school was full and Katsuki wondered why all those assholes weren't in their classes already.

Katsuki took in a calming breath, quickly headed towards his class, ignoring some students staring at him, and as soon as he was in front of it, he just entered. The want to get away from the prying eyes of strangers was so strong, that Katsuki completely failed to realise that his classmates would probably stare at him too.

And of course he was right. Even if some of them were busy talking between each other, there were several pairs of eyes staring at him.

Then he heard mocking laughter and froze at the door.

"What the hell, Bakugou!?" Two voices, mixing together, yelled at the same time.

Katsuki stared at two guys who most possibly were laughing at his hair, but he couldn't even focus to understand what exactly they were saying. His eyes were focused on the red hair of one of them.

Kirishima was laughing at him.

Right. What the fuck did he expect from him? From anyone? This was just a fucking joke to everyone there and Katsuki just had to deal with it. Deal with being alone with this.

His eyes met with Kirishima's for a split second and even though Katsuki noticed him elbowing the other guy, as if to stop him from further joking, he still had no other choice than to cover up how shameful he felt.

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH, IT'S NOT MY FAULT!"

"SORRY MAN-" That other asshole was still laughing and Katsuki was too frustrated to try to focus and figure out who the fuck that was. "IT'S JUST HELLA HILARIOUS!"

Katsuki grabbed the collar of his shirt and pushed, but he still just wouldn't. Shut. Up.

At least Kirishima knew when to do that.

"Fuck you!" Few of Katsuki's explosions went off and he quickly stomped towards his desk, trying his best to calm down.

To do that, he tried to focus on other conversations going on, but that only turned his pathetically miserable feelings into annoyance and anger as he heard what the main topic in the class was.

Deku.

Deku and oh how heroic he was along with fucking- What's his name? Half face, rushing right into action in Hosu and right into the trap of this fucker Hero Killer.

Because that's what heroes in training do! Spend their internships trying to get killed.

… But if Katsuki had to be honest, he'd rather face a murderer and gain some actual experience, than waste another minute at Best Jeanist's agency.

___

As soon as Eijirou saw the change from annoyance and anger to something resembling shame on Bakugou's face, even if it was just a split second, he realised that the hair change was probably bigger of a deal to him. To some extent, Eijirou could relate. Even if for entirely different reasons, he also rather his hair stayed as he had it at the moment.

But this made him wonder why Bakugou had different hairstyle if it was that big of a deal for him in the first place?

Eijirou didn't have much time to ponder about it, as the bell rang, signalling the start of their first period, along with Aizawa coming through the door. Everyone quickly took their seats and the lesson summarising their internships began.

Not that his teacher's lecture spoken in monotone voice wasn't interesting, but Eijirou couldn't help but glance at Bakugou from time to time. He looked angry, as usual. But the longer Eijirou was staring, it became more than obvious that Bakugou, all in all, looked very very uncomfortable. With tense shoulders and his hand clenching on a pen so hard that his knuckles were white. They didn't even have to take notes during homeroom, so him holding this pen was probably only for the sole purpose of almost breaking it.

Out of annoyance? Was Bakugou really bothered by his hair that much? Or was it just that it looked kind of… bad? In general. Especially on him. Because, if Eijirou had to be honest, he preferred Bakugou's usual, explosion-like, chaotic hair. He liked to think that it was actually fluffy and vaguely wondered how soft it would be upon touch.

… Wait-

Eijirou jumped in his seat when he realised that everyone around him started their happy banter. Once he looked back to the front of the class, he noticed the absence of their homeroom teacher, meaning that the break started and he missed the whole lecture because… because he was busy staring at Bakugou.

What the hell, Eijirou, get a hold of yourself!

Even though he scolded himself, he could still feel his cheeks get warm, for what reason, he didn't know.

Or maybe he did know and just didn't want to admit. Didn't matter, especially when Eijirou saw Bakugou pulling out his phone from his bag and stare at it for a few moments, without unlocking it.

Ah. He was staring at his hair.

Something struck Eijirou when he remembered what he had with him at all times. Without a second thought, he picked up his bag, made sure no one was paying him much attention and walked up to Bakugou.

"Hey, Bakubro-" Eijirou ignored how quickly Bakugou put his phone screen down on his desk. "Listen, I know I kinda laughed at your hair before-"

"Kinda?" Bakugou asked with a frown as he crossed his arms on his chest.

"Yeah…" Awkward chuckle escaped Eijirou's mouth. "Sorry about that, it wasn't manly of me…" Even though he said that, Eijirou seriously couldn't stop thinking how Bakugou really looked strange with his hair like this, no matter the angle.

"It's whatever…" Bakugou muttered as his gaze travelled to Eijirou's bag. "The fuck you need your bag for? The day barely started."

Eijirou smiled once he remembered why exactly did he take his bag.

"Listen, dude." He leaned down, towards sitting Bakugou who's frown deepened as he moved away from Eijirou. Right, he should have expected that. "No no, seriously, please listen for a second." Half whispered pleading seemed to convince Bakugou to actually move a bit towards him. "I can help you with your hair." Just for him to immediately back off with clear disbelief on his face.

At least it wasn't murderous intention...

"You want to help me."

Bakugou's quiet and almost uncertain voice had Eijirou slightly nervous.

"Yeah!" He nodded eagerly, smiling.

Bakugou was still staring at him.

Did Eijirou overstep?

"... why?" At this point, Bakugou sounded more confused than anything, as to why, Eijirou didn't know.

"Because… we're bros?"

He was met with silence and puzzled expression. And with that, Eijirou found it slightly… disturbing? Upsetting?? That Bakugou would have such a hard time believing that someone wanted to help him just because.

Eijirou coughed awkwardly and reached to his bag to pull out his hair gel.

"Look, I have my stuff I use to style my hair with. If we go now, it won't take long to fix yours!"

Bakugou glanced at the clock above the blackboard, obviously checking how much time they had left. Even though Eijirou was sure that Bakugou actually pondered about his offer for a moment, he turned back to him with a frown and a glare.

"I don't need anyone's fucking help."

And Eijirou couldn't help but sigh, because honestly… What did he expect?

"Bakugou, dude," Eijirou lowered the tone of his voice. "It's fine, I won't make fun of you for needing help, I-"

"Listen, bastard, I don't need-"

"Yo, Bakugou!" They both turned in the direction where the voice came from. Sero was approaching them. "Don't move for a second, I wanna commemorate this moment!" He grinned with a phone in his hand.

As Eijirou saw Bakugou already stand up with fury clear on his face, he stood between the two of them.

"Dude, come on." Eijirou put his hand in front of the phone's camera lens, shielding Bakugou from it.

"Do you have a death wish, Horse smile!?"

Ah, Bakugou recognised him. No surprise, considering that Sero was smiling widely, clearly amused by this situation. Eijirou sent him a pleading look, something he probably didn't expect as he slowly lowered his phone and his gaze went to angry Bakugou.

"One picture never hurt anyone!" With a shrug, he put his phone back in his pocket.

"Oh, I'll fucking show you how one picture can-"

"Bakugou, just come with me." Eijirou cut in and grabbed Bakugou's wrist, already leading him outside the class.

As soon as they were on the corridor though, Bakugou snatched away his hand and glared at Eijirou.

"Don't do that, asshole." He put his clenched fists into the pockets of his pants.

"Right, sorry." Eijirou chuckled awkwardly and then pointed in the direction where the restrooms were. "Since we're already here, wanna try fix your hair?" He hoped that an encouraging smile on his face would somehow convince Bakugou to go with him.

Bakugou glanced down and was staring at the floor with deep frown for several seconds, until he finally sighed and looked back at Eijirou.

"... whatever." With that, he turned towards restrooms and started walking. "You better hurry, we don't have that much time."

Eijirou smiled at Bakugou's muttering and quickly followed.

"Present Mic is always late for our lessons anyway!" He answered as they entered the restroom and stopped himself from commenting upon noticing Bakugou looking at the stalls, probably checking if anyone's there with them.

He really didn't want people see him getting any kind of help, did he?

"So!" Bakugou's eyes went back to Eijirou when he put his bag near one of the sinks. "We better hurry, if you want your hair fixed?" He pulled out his hair gel as well as hair spray and noticed Bakugou grimacing at the latter for some reason. "It takes me around three minutes to do it on myself-" A thought occurred to him when he saw Bakugou carefully take the gel and examine it with a frown. "Hey, bro…" He started with unsure voice. "Do you know how to use all this?"

Once Eijirou saw how Bakugou clenched his jaw, he tried his best to keep a neutral expression, but on the inside he was practically begging; please, man, just admit it, I won't judge you, please, it'll be easier for both of us and it'll be over sooner, please please please-

"... I don't."

HELL YES!

"Do you want me to help you?" If someone pointed out that Eijirou's voice was almost embarrassingly hopeful, he wouldn't even try to argue.

And he was well aware that Bakugou really had no choice if he wanted it done in time and fast.

"... You better fucking hurry." Bakugou muttered as he put the gel back down near the sink, his hands quickly in pockets of his pants.

"Yes, sir!" Eijirou let out a chuckle at Bakugou rolling his eyes.

As he took off his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, he didn't fail to notice how Bakugou's shoulders were strangely tense. Eijirou also saw how he kept glancing at the hair products so he just brushed it off as him being annoyed that he didn't know how to use them.

Eijirou turned on the water and quickly washed his hands, then made sure they were still wet as he brought them up to Bakugou's hair to make it a bit damp. But as Eijirou's hands got closer to his hair, Bakugou's shoulders tensed even more and it was obvious he was holding his breath in. His eyes were glued to some point on the floor, unblinking. That's when he realised.

It wasn't that Bakugou was annoyed by people touching him. Bakugou actually didn't like anything this close to him. Whatever the reason for this was, Eijirou knew he'd have to make this situation at least a little bit better for him.

And what's the better way to distract someone than talk their ear off?

"I gotta make your hair a bit wet so the gel sticks better to it!" He let himself smile innocently when Bakugou's eyes shot up to his face. But since he didn't say anything, Eijirou just continued. "Then I'll use hair gel. Your hair is shorter than mine so it shouldn't take that long for it all to get done."

"... uhuh." Progress.

"So you never used anything like that before?" Eijirou already knew the answer, but that was just to keep Bakugou distracted as he was touching his head.

"Obviously not." He muttered and Eijirou nodded with a hum, then reached for the gel.

"I do it every morning." With the gel on his hands, he reached for Bakugou's hair again. "This how I learned to do it so quickly!"

"... Do you also talk so much while doing it every morning?"

Eijirou snorted at the retort.

"Not really, but sometimes I sing! Drives my mom crazy, especially after she had an all nighter at her job. Even more when ma' joins in."

This time it was Bakugou who snorted, his shoulders finally relaxing and Eijirou smiled with satisfaction. He added this to the growing list of his little achievements of his strange relationship with Bakugou.

"... So you have two mothers?" Bakugou asked after a few seconds in a surprisingly careful tone, as if Eijirou would get offended by that somehow.

"Yeah!" Eijirou couldn't help but smile. Bakugou was actually interested!

"... Are you adopted or…"

"No- I mean- uhh, partly? My mom gave birth to me and my mama adopted me so…"

"I get it. Whatever..."

"Sometimes I'm stuck in a constant loop of 'go ask your mom.'" Eijirou finished with a chuckle and decided not to comment on how Bakugou cleared his throat, similarly to the way when he pretended that he wasn't laughing at Eijirou's puns.

They stayed silent after that.

Few times, Eijirou felt a rougher patch of skin, on the lower right side of Bakugou's head, but didn't pay much mind to it, focusing on styling the hair in the Bakugou way.

After another minute or so, Eijirou almost let go of Bakugou’s hair, almost said that he was done, but while he was entirely focused on his hair before, just now he looked at his face and noticed the lack of any makeup on his eyes. He realized that his eyelashes weren't black, but actually darker shade of blond.

Right, since he came later than usual to school, he probably didn't have any time to put on make up.

Then, Bakugou looked up at him and Eijirou's breath hitched, the lack of a frown slightly surprising him. Bakugou looked… calm. No anger, no hatred, no annoyance. Nothing. Just neutral face and Eijirou realised that this was the first time for Bakugou to look at him without a single trace of a negative emotion in his eyes.

Speaking of which… So far Eijirou thought that their eyes were the same shade of red, but no. While Eijirou was more than aware that his red was darker, as if slightly tainted with blue, Bakugou's eyes were brighter, more on an orange side. They reminded him of a setting sun.

They were beautiful.

Eijirou's hands were still in Bakugou's hair while they stared at each other like that. Eijirou had no idea how much time had passed. All he knew was that at that moment, he just wanted to stay there and just explore those eyes a bit more.

“You done or what?” Bakugou frowned and the moment was over, time moving again.

Eijirou could feel his cheeks get warmer in embarrassment. As fast as he could, he finally let go of Bakugou's head.

“Yep!” He quickly moved to wash off the gel from his hands. “All done with that part!” He knew that if he tried to talk less enthusiastically, Bakugou would hear how much he was frustrated at the moment.

Eijirou grabbed the hair spray and while shaking it, he finally looked back at Bakugou who was staring at the spray with narrowed eyes.

"Alright man, hold your breath, close your eyes."

"What, why?" Bakugou's fiery eyes wandered to Eijirou's.

"Uhhh, so you don't start choking on it? Have you never used this before as well?" The question might have had an obvious answer, considering that Bakugou already admitted to never using hair gel, but the way he paused before answering;

"No."

Had Eijirou wondering. He still smiled to himself when Bakugou held his breath and closed his eyes as he sprayed his hair, shielding his eyes anyway with his other hand.

Eijirou made sure that all the spray dispersed in the air before he told Bakugou he could open his eyes again. After that, he immediately looked into the mirror and examined his fixed hair, all while Eijirou prayed that he wouldn't ask how he was able to recreate his usual hairstyle with such accuracy.

Right. Eijirou just recreated it. Fixed it. But why did he have to do it in the first place?

… Could he push his luck a bit more?

"Bakugou?" Once Eijirou got his attention, he continued. "Why was your hair like that in the first place anyway?"

___

Katsuki felt his stomach sink at the question. Not because he didn't want to tell Kirishima, but rather because of what exactly he'd have to tell him. What he avoided telling him when he first accidentally texted him and said too much anyway.

And… Right… Kirishima already knew most of it, so was there really any harm in telling him that it was Best Jeanist who fucked with his hair like that? After what he was already told and after what he just did for Katsuki?

He swallowed the remnants of his pride and finally spoke.

"You remember how I- told you, how that asshole was acting like a fucking pageant mom?" Katsuki crossed his arms on his chest and continued when Kirishima nodded with serious yet curious expression. "He grabbed-" No, there was no way Katsuki would go into detail. "That-" he gestured vaguely at his now normal looking hair "-was his doing." Crossing his arms again, he glanced at Kirishima to see him with his eyebrows furrowed in.. annoyance? Confusion? What??

"How-" Kirishima started, obviously not sure what to even ask. "... But you told me you didn't use any of these stuff before?"

Katsuki chuckled at his words. But it was a bitter laugh.

"Because I fucking didn't." At his words, Kirishima's face was a mix of confusion and disbelief.

"Then how-"

"For fuck's sake- he forced this onto me, okay?" Admitting it out loud only made him only more ashamed and angry. Mostly at himself, that he let it happen in the first place. "With his own fucking hands and his own fucking comb, grabbed my head and held it in place, while I couldn't do anything! Otherwise I wouldn't be able to move like with that sludge shit! He'd restrain my arms and legs and whole body with those fucking fibers of his again-"

"Again!?" Kirishima's raised voice finally made him get a grip of himself.

Fuck.

Shit.

Katsuki was angry and just so fucking ashamed of it all, and talked too fast and didn't manage to stop himself before all those shameful things left his mouth.

After moments of silence passed, he finally gathered up the courage to look at strangely silent Kirishima. He truly expected some kind of mocking or even pitying expression but… Instead, he needed a few extra seconds to recognize that emotion on his face, because...

Kirishima was angry.

Kirishima was absolutely fuming, with furrowed eyebrows and eyes like some wild animal's. The skin hardened on his forehead, sharp teeth bared and clenched along with his hands.

And Katsuki was so surprised by that, he forgot about his shame.

"... Oi, Kirishima-"

"What else did he do?"

Cold tone of his voice made Katsuki pause for another second.

"Kirishima, it doesn't fucking matter anymore, it's-"

"What else did he-" Kirishima didn't get to finish as the bell rang and they both realised that if they didn't hurry, they'd be late, even for Present Mic's standards.

Katsuki grabbed the hair gel and spray, put it in Kirishima's bag then picked it up and pushed it against Kirishima's chest.

"Let's go, you overreacting jackass." Once Katsuki made sure that Kirishima actually got a hold of his bag and grabbed his jacket, he stepped out of the restroom and quickly went down the corridor towards their classroom.

Sure enough, they found themselves at the door. Kirishima pointed out that Present Mic was talking to someone at the stairs, not even looking at their direction and they quickly went inside the class.

Luckily, most people weren't even sitting at their desks yet, still chatting in their little groups and Katsuki hoped that no one would make a big deal out of his hair being back to normal, but he noticed few heads taking a double take at him. Bastards.

But if they weren't going to ask about it, he wasn't about to acknowledge them. Maybe he glared at a person or two as he went to take his seat, but that didn't matter. Especially that their teacher finally entered the class and the lesson started, although Katsuki's mind was occupied by something else.

Particularly, by wondering what the fuck was Kirishima's reaction?

People were usually getting angry at him. Not angry on his behalf.

The only person who ever got angry on his behalf was his annoying mother, maybe sometimes his dad.

But…

Katsuki glanced at the direction where he knew Kirishima's desk was and, yes, there sat the only guy with disgustingly red hair in their class. He was staring at his notes with ridiculous amount of focus. Katsuki's eyes wandered back to that crazy hair and he realised that… he didn't thank him.

Not that there was anything to be thankful for.

…. Maybe except for the fact that Katsuki could better recognise himself in a fucking mirror.

And that he talked him down from acting like a fucking weirdo when he was trying to fix his hair.

Katsuki didn't get to think about another reason to thank him for, as Kirishima looked up from his notebook and right at him.

Their eyes met, just like before in that restroom when Kirishima was holding him and Katsuki clenched his teeth at how his guts twisted in a way he couldn't understand. All he knew was that it was fucking annoying, so he just frowned and turned away before Kirishima managed to send him some stupid smile.

___

Eijirou sat down heavily with his lunch tray, next to Ashido, who was already eating her food happily, no care in the world.

"Where's Bakugou?" Sero asked as he and Kaminari joined their table, sitting down in front of them.

"He's still standing in the line." Eijirou was quick to explain. "Said something about wanting to see if chili curry was actually spicy here, for a change."

What he didn't say, was how he hoped that Bakugou wouldn't have any trouble finding them. Even if he told him to just 'fucking go', Eijirou still straightened his back to be more noticeable in the crowd.

"Right, because he's only capable of consuming stuff straight from hell…" His attention was back on Kaminari who shivered at the memory of trying Bakugou's food, while Ashido didn't even try to hide her amusement.

"Enough about Bakugou." Sero spoke all of a sudden, even though he was the one to start this conversation. "What about you, Kirishima?" With tilted eyebrow, he leaned towards Eijirou.

"Eh? Me?"

"No, that other, invisible Kirishima next to you." Sero rolled his eyes while Kaminari snickered. "Of course you. We didn't really have a chance to talk during or after your internship." He finished and leaned back in his chair.

"Yeah! That!" Ashido exclaimed all of a sudden and slammed her open palms on the table. "I know we were all pretty busy-"

"Eh, my internship was pretty chill." Kaminari cut in, but quickly shut up upon Ashido's glare.

"As I said…" She squinted at Kaminari who started digging in his food, before she continued. "I know we were all-" Ashido sent him another look "-busy, but you talked in the group chat like… once." Eijirou met with her single finger right in front of his eyes. "And it was about Mido sending his location." She finished with her arms crossed on her chest and a little frown.

Ah, shit… he really didn't talk to anyone else than Bakugou, did he? Although, they didn't need to know that…

"You're spending too much time with Bakugou." With full mouth, Kaminari spoke as if he was reading Eijirou's mind. "He's rubbing off of you, you already stopped texting people."

"Hey, that's not true! We were texting plenty!"

At the shocked expressions of all three of his friends, Eijirou realised what he had just admitted to.

… Shit.

"... wow." That was all Sero could utter with offended expression.

"I thought we were friends, Kiri." Ashido said dramatically and wiped off an invisible tear.

"Of course he'd choose his boyfriend over his friends." Kaminari shrugged.

"He's not my boyfriend." Eijirou hissed quietly.

"Holy shit, this morning!" Kaminari seemed like he just discovered the Atlantis. "You absolutely dragged him to one of the stalls to make out after such long separation."

"LIKE I'D TAKE HIM TO A TOILET-"

"HOLY SHIT, SO YOU WERE MAKING OUT."

"I DID NOT SAY THAT!"

Ashido and Sero didn't even try to contain their laughing, Ashido to the point that she actually had tears in her eyes.

"I can't believe I wasn't there to witness it!" She wheezed out between holding her stomach and wiping off the tears.

"There wasn't anything to witness!" Eijirou tried to defend the remnants of his dignity.

"So what were you doing, huh?" Kaminari continued with a sly grin, clearly having the time of his life.

"I was just-!" No. Eijirou couldn't really say anything, even if it was pretty obvious, the official version was that Bakugou fixed his hair. By himself. "I was just… helping him out a little…" Glancing to the side, Eijirou could feel his cheeks get warmer at the still fresh memory.

"... Wow." He looked back at Kaminari who's eyes were widened. "Kirishima, during school hours? That's bold."

It took him all two seconds and another salve of laughter from Ashido to realise what Kaminari meant by that.

"I SWEAR TO GOD KAMINARI, I'LL KILL YOU-"

"So we're in agreement that Dictionary has to die?"

Immediately, all sounds died and all of them looked at the source of the voice. They saw Bakugou standing with lunch tray in his hands, clearly judging them.

"I swear to God, you're all so fucking loud it's almost impossible to miss you." Bakugou muttered, more to himself, and took a seat next to Eijirou.

Ashido nudged him in the arm and once she had Eijirou's attention, she winked at him at which he could only sigh. Then Kaminari kicked his shin under the table and also winked. Eijirou ignored Sero throwing a crumpled tissue at him.

Soon enough, they returned to their normal talks and eating, but as Eijirou felt another nudge, he turned to Bakugou, everyone else too occupied to pay any attention to them.

"It's easy to spot you." Bakugou muttered while focusing on his food and Eijirou had to stop himself from smiling widely.

"Yeah?" His voice was equally quiet.

"Mhm.. you and your terrible hair."

Eijirou chuckled at that. His little plan worked.

"But-" To his surprise, Bakugou continued "-you didn't do a terrible job with my hair." He glanced at Eijirou then continued eating, as if nothing happened.

Eijirou shifted in his seat and once he processed Bakugou's words, he barely contained the surprise on his face.

Was that… Bakugou thanking him?

Bakugou… actually thanked him! In a strange, roundabout way- but he did.

He had to hide his smile behind the glass of water, because damn, he didn't expect that at all...

With no more surprises (or teasing towards Eijirou), they finished eating and slowly headed back to the class. After all, they had to get ready for their hero training and show off what they learned during their internships.

___

Katsuki still couldn't believe it. While he only wasted his time, that fucker- that useless bastard actually learned something during his internship. And that something was copying Katsuki's moves. And he still was praised for that, meanwhile Katsuki got reprimanded just few weeks earlier for those exact moves.

Deku this, Deku that, Deku made use of his fucking internship and learned how to copy others, Deku wanted to help his classmate and almost fucking died from the hands of that fucking hero killer, but what a great hero he is already, fucking piece of shit-

"Bakugou." Slightly familiar, tired voice stopped him, although all he wanted was to go to the locker room, change clothes and go back home.

Katsuki turned and saw a man with black hair and binding cloth around his neck and shoulders-

"Sensei." Despite actually trying to sound polite, his anger still was high and rather clear in his voice, since his teacher let out a long sigh.

"Best Jeanist called me during your internship."

Katsuki momentarily felt all the colour fade from his face, his stomach clenching.

"And the fuck did he want?" Ignoring Aizawa's another sigh, he forced his hand to stay at his side, instead of reaching up for his scar.

"I'm sure you don't want to talk about this here, where anyone could hear us?" Aizawa's voice was annoyingly calm, but Katsuki knew he was right, considering that few guys already lingered near them instead of just going into the locker room.

With a nod, he followed after his teacher all the way to the main building (as if he couldn't wait for Katsuki to change from his costume, for fuck's sake…) and to teachers' lounge, which was empty, no surprise, considering the hour. Aizawa sat down at his desk and gestured for Katsuki to sit down as well.

"I'm pretty sure you know why you're here." He started as Katsuki took his seat. "But I have to tell you anyway, so-"

"Does he know?" Katsuki cut in, ignoring the annoyed expression on his teacher's face.

He just needed to know.

"He does not."

Those three words actually calmed Katsuki down. Knowledge that Best Jeanist didn't realise was fucking great, but that didn't change the fact that Aizawa got him there for some reason.

"I wanted to give you more time to make up your mind-" Aizawa continued as he looked at some documents "-but considering your actions and the… lengthy report about your internship at Best Jeanist's agency..."

Katsuki watched as his teacher went through at least a dozen pages of that stupid report and felt that the worst was yet to come.

"You need to visit the support department."

Those words sounded like a death sentence.

"No, I-"

"I don't want to hear it."

Katsuki was taken aback by those words.

"You will visit the support department, you will tell the teacher who's gonna be there, what you're coming with and you will face the fact that support gear will be actually helpful in your case."

Katsuki's voice was stuck in his throat while Aizawa reached into his pocket and pulled out his eye drops.

"... and what if I refuse?" He managed to utter after few moments.

Instead of answering right away, Aizawa just applied the eye drops.

"But you won't." Sensei stared him down. "You are well aware that as a pro hero you'll need this support gear to quickly recognise your allies and foes. Not to mention all the civilians."

Katsuki couldn't argue with that, but…

"I don't want to be fixed. I'm…" Fuck, this was hard. "I'm fine with how things are now, it's not my fault that those assholes think that-"

"It's not about fixing you or what other people think about you. We're not fixing you, we're helping you. That's what this school is for, that's what the support department is for." He took a deep breath and glanced at a yellow sleeping bag under the desk. "As for your reputation, you have to work on it yourself." With that, Aizawa motioned for him to go and Katsuki stood up without a word.

But as he was about to leave the teachers' lounge..

"One more thing." Upon hearing Aizawa's voice, Katsuki turned again towards him, just to see his teacher already on the floor in that fucking sleeping bag. "You're expected there within a week."

Katsuki clicked his tongue and left with a short 'goodbye'. Immediately, he headed back towards the locker rooms, contemplating whether he'd have enough time for a shower or not.

As he finally approached, he could hear a few voices coming from the inside of the locker room and wondered why those guys were still there. He tried to figure out who was in there, but the only voice that Katsuki could recognise through the door was… Kirishima's. And that made Katsuki wonder.

…. What if he'd ask Kirishima to go with him to that fucking support department?

Kirishima… he already proved to Katsuki that he can be trusted. Didn't tell anyone. Didn't make fun of him when they talked about Best Jeanist. Helped him with his hair. Got so fucking furious on his behalf and Katsuki still wondered why?

But all in all… Kirishima was actually trustworthy, so having him there-

Katsuki frowned.

There was still that feeling of uncertainty. That it was just a game for Kirishima. A facade of niceness and when the time would come, once Katsuki would fully trust him, he'd take it off and tell everyone his secret and everything he worked for would be ruined.

What was he thinking?

Finally, he entered the room and glared at three guys that were still there, already in their uniforms.

"Oh, Bakugou!" Red headed one walked up to him. Kirishima, obviously. "Where did you disappear so suddenly? Horse smile said-"

"COME ON, NOT YOU TOO, KIRISHIMA!" Horse smile yelled while throwing his hands up in the air, clearly frustrated, while another guy with yellow hair had to lean against the lockers, laughing too much.

"Sorry man!" Kirishima looked at him apologetically and turned back to Katsuki. "He said that you went with Aizawa? What for?"

Katsuki glanced at him with squinted eyes and then at the other two guys.

There was no way he would start explaining this situation in front of them.

"None of your damn business." He cut the conversation short and took off both of his gauntlets then braces and mask. "The fuck are you still doing here anyway?" Not that Katsuki wanted to know, but he couldn't take the constant yapping behind his back while he was trying to collect his thoughts after his conversation with Aizawa.

"I wanted to wait for you!" Kirishima appeared out of nowhere next to him and Katsuki froze, with his top halfway off.

"... what fucking for?"

"I-"

"He couldn't bare the longing he feels whenever you're away."

"KAMINARI." Kirishima's face turned red while Katsuki didn't really know how to react to his guts twisting again in that annoying way.

Was he sick?

"Dude no, that's not- I didn't-!" Kirishima was as red as his hair right then and Katsuki couldn't help but snort. "I swear! I just wanted to give you-"

"Chill dude, or you'll die from all that embarrassment." Horse smile commented as he walked up to them and nudged Kirishima on the shoulder. "We just talked about our little tournament during training and ended up staying here longer than intended, right?" The last word was strangely punctuated as he looked directly at Kirishima, who's eyes widened for a split second, as if he understood something.

"Yep! That's right!" With a quick nod and stupid smile, Kirishima shifted nervously from one leg to another.

… Didn't he just say he was waiting specifically for Katsuki?

"... whatever." Even though Katsuki was annoyed by that strange change of mind, he decided to let it go.

"So! Continuing our subject-" Katsuki rolled his eyes at Horse smile's voice and just continued changing out from his hero costume. "I probably wouldn't have won, if Midoriya didn't trip on something out there!"

Katsuki slammed his locker shut with too much force, but that didn't seem enough to make that asshole stop talking about that useless asshole.

"Totally!" 'Kaminari' provided, completely oblivious to Katsuki getting more and more angry. "Despite that situation with Stain, he still made the best out of his internship." He finally noticed that Katsuki was done changing and stood up, stretching a bit. "Speaking of which… dude, just what the hell did you do during yours?"

The other two stared at him, although Kirishima's eyebrows were knitted together, as if he was concerned about something.

"Bunch of useless fucking shit." Katsuki answered with a bite and moved towards the door, the others following.

They went outside and started walking to the gate, Katsuki not at all surprised that they were pretty much the only people there at this hour.

"You know, I thought that you would have had more to say, considering your unfortunate hairstyle from the morning." That idiot continued despite Katsuki obviously not wanting to get into details. "Like, listen-" for some reason, he snorted "-I could barely recognize you with it!"

"Bet even Bakugou couldn't recognise himself!"

Katsuki stopped dead in his tracks at those words and the sound of all too familiar laughter.

What-

What the fuck.

Slowly, he turned and saw the exact moment Kirishima realized what he actually said. And about who exactly.

The other two looked between them, luckily completely unaware of the true meaning behind those words.

What the fuck, Kirishima.

"What the fuck, Kirishima." Katsuki hissed through clenched teeth, several explosions going off. "You fucking-"

"Dude, what's your problem?"

Katsuki didn't even look at whoever said that.

"Yeah, calm down, it was just a joke-"

Kirishima was as pale as a ghost as he spoke slowly, "just go, guys, I'll handle this."

"... Are you sure?"

Katsuki already took a step towards that bastard.

"Yep."

After that, he heard quickened footsteps, clearly walking away and finally, finally, Kirishima spoke in a careful tone, raising his hands a bit in front of him.

"Bakugou, I didn't- Sorry, I-"

"What the fuck, you piece of shit!?" Katsuki could barely control the volume of his voice.

“It was just a joke!” Defensive tone of Kirishima's words, those words themselves, only made Katsuki more furious.

“So that what it is to you!? A fucking joke?!” Oh, was he ready to kill. "My whole life, past, present and the future as a pro is a fucking joke to you!?"

“No, I didn't say that!" This time, Kirishima himself raised his voice. "You should know by now that I wouldn't tell anyone!”

What did he actually know about Kirishima?

That his quirk was badass? That he had two moms? That his hair wasn't naturally spiky?

Nothing else?

“But that's it!" Katsuki walked up closer to him. "I don't know that!" Just so he could push him, Kirishima stumbling a bit with a surprised expression. "I don't know shit about you! For all I know, you could just go out there and tell everyone!”

At that, Kirishima visibly deflated, hand on his chest where Katsuki pushed him.

“You- you really think I would do something so unmanly?” His voice was quiet and defeated, but Katsuki refused to believe Kirishima was actually hurt by those words.

What the fuck did he even mean by that anyway?

“You and your fucking manliness-"

“Answer me, Bakugou!" His voice picked up in a volume again, but sounded more desperate. "You have no reason to think I would go and tell people!”

You fucking-

“No reason? NO REASON!?" Katsuki yelled and bigger explosions went off from his hands. "You with your little investigation behind my back is not enough of a reason!? You joking about it with those fucking extras is not enough of a reason!?"

“They didn't get the joke! And I already apologised!" There was a short pause while he clearly tried to collect his thoughts. "Both for that… investigation and the joke! What do you want from me?!"

Katsuki clenched his teeth and fists as he stared at the ground, breathing heavily.

What did he want?

He wanted his secret to stay a secret.

He wanted the reassurance of it being safe.

...

He wanted to trust Kirishima.

But at this point, it was impossible.

“... You're keep talking about trusting you, like some kind of a broken record." Katsuki slowly raised his gaze and looked into those familiar red eyes. "But you know what? Fuck you, Kirishima."

"Bakugou-"

"Fuck. You."

With that, Katsuki turned around and quickly walked away.

And he was alone again.

Chapter Text

Katsuki's palms were sweaty, his hands shaking uncontrollably. He tried to run at some point, to get home quicker, to be away from the world, but his legs were weak and he just couldn't breathe. He couldn't breathe and god fucking damn it, what has he done?!

But he already knew all too well.

Halfway home, still on the train, he realised what he'd done. That he told Kirishima what he really thought about him. Told him that he didn't trust him. Told him to fuck off.

From this point, his thoughts were a spiralling mess.

Katsuki gave Kirishima the reason to actually tell everyone. And he would do exactly that and all he worked for would be over.

One sentence, one text message, one whisper, only that and it would be over for Katsuki, just like that. It would be kindergarten, elementary school, middle school all over again. People would start pitying him, laughing at him, talking behind his back or become scared of his quirk and he wouldn't be able to do anything about it, otherwise he'd get expelled. His career as a pro-hero would be over.

Oh God, it was already over.

Kirishima already told someone. It wouldn't be long until the news spread and who would trust a hero who's quirk is that dangerous?

No one will trust him, no one will even want this rotten, wild beast as a sidekick, no one will let him help people, no one will even want his help, he will never be able to open his own agency, he will never become a number one hero, he will never be able to surpass All Might, he will forever stay behind Deku, he will always be alone-

"Katsuki!"

Katsuki's breath caught in his throat.

A voice.

Focus on the voice.

Someone was holding his face, but he couldn't see them, couldn't recognise them.

"Katsuki, breathe."

Man's voice.

"Breathe and focus, son."

Son?

Katsuki finally let out the air, just to take it back in, trying his best to do it slower and longer than before.

"That's it, in and out..."

He really didn't like being ordered something he was already doing, but the presence of someone was calming.

Couple more of deep, slow breaths, and Katsuki was finally able to focus properly. His eyes immediately went to look at the man before him.

Brown hair, glasses, moustache, father-

Katsuki pushed him away.

"What the fuck, old man!?" He yelled with a glare directed at his dad, whose face was a pure image of concern.

"Katsuki, you came home and-" closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, as if his dad was trying to calm himself down. "You were just out of it." He looked back at Katsuki with just so much worry in his eyes. "It was just like with that tie and-"

"DON'T TALK ABOUT IT!" Katsuki shouted at him, his body tense. He really didn't want to talk or even think about that time.

"Katsuki, please, what happened-"

"THAT'S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!" Katsuki was well aware that his father wanted to help, but he didn't need that. Didn't need someone's pitying looks as he'd explain how he and Kirishima-

Few sparks fired off, smoke emerging from Katsuki's palms. All over again, he felt the air get stuck in his lungs, his shoulders tensed, making his body shake uncontrollably.

Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think-

There were hands on his shoulders.

"Katsuki please, talk to me-" His father didn't get to finish as Katsuki aggressively swatted his hands away, more smoke around both of them. His dad was so surprised, he stumbled backwards and stopped on the wall. For a few seconds, everything was quiet as he stared at his hands then at Katsuki in disbelief and shock.

The air was still between them.

Katsuki's throat clenched on itself. He really didn't mean to do that, but it was too late to fix anything.

Not able to utter an apology or even look his dad in the eyes, he ran past him, up the stairs and locked himself in his room. He threw his bag onto the floor, some stuff falling out of it, but he didn't care. Slumping against the door with closed eyes, Katsuki pulled his legs close to his chest. With hands pulling his hair and brushing against his scar, he reminded himself to breathe.

Don't think about it all. Distract yourself. He tried to tell himself and slowly opened his eyes.

Birds outside the window. Four of them flew by, all black.

Some stuff on his desk. His phone charger, laptop, small lamp, two mugs, one All Might themed.

His bed. Earphones tangled on the pillow, light blue covers.

Floor in front of him. His bag, few textbooks, headphones, hair gel-

… Hair gel?

Katsuki frowned in confusion and awkwardly moved towards the mess he made then grabbed the tube of gel. The one he knew Kirishima used on his hair several hours ago. Why the hell was it in his bag?

… Was there anything else?

Katsuki put the gel on the floor and searched through his bag. Not a minute passed when in the inside pocket, he found a carefully folded page from a notebook with 'To Bakubro' written on it in messy handwriting.

With a bit of hesitation, Katsuki unfolded the paper as he sat cross legged on the floor and stared at what was written on it in disbelief.

'Dear Hey Bakugou! Kirishima here! I'm pretty sure you're wondering like 'what the fuck is this note??' and well! This note is kind of an instruction? To help you To make sure you figure it out know how to use the gel without my help! I mean, I know you can just check on the intern Sorry for the smudge, Sero Horse Smile just nudged me saying that I take too long. But I just wanted to let you know what this is all about hah! So! There are few things you need to remember; first of all, a bit damp hair! Then you gotta start from roots…'

The note went on with the instructions and Katsuki couldn't believe that Kirishima did this. And what, he even gave him his gel.

Katsuki glanced at the tube and took it to check how much of the gel was still in there and- yes. Of course it would be almost full. Kirishima must have bought it only two or three days earlier.

Fuck.

Once again, he looked over the note. Kirishima did a shitty job crossing his mistakes out.

Like a kid. Katsuki chuckled but the smile immediately dropped from his face.

He read the last lines of the note again.

'Don't worry about returning it, use as much as you need until your hair is back to normal! Just consider it a gift, okay? < :D Good luck!!!'

… God fucking damn it, Kirishima…

___

Eijirou spent the whole ride home cursing himself.

'Bet Bakugou couldn't even recognise himself!'

God, what was he thinking!

… He wasn't, that was the answer.

But it wasn't like he wanted to be an ass to Bakugou or tell Kaminari about his face blindness. It was just… a joke.

… Stupid joke that completely ruined what he managed to built with Bakugou.

Bakugou who entrusted him with styling his hair, with touching him, with what happened with it in the first place and what happened during his internship and what Best Jeanist- Damn it, even thinking about this 'hero' made Eijirou angry.

He took a calming breath in and sighed as he stepped off the train. Seriously, it wasn't like he could do anything about all this bullcrap. He couldn't just go and find Best Jeanist and tell him off.

That didn't stop him from wishful thinking though.

Hello sir, did you know that you're a terrible human being and shouldn't be a hero-

No. No no no no no. No matter how much Eijirou found he now hated the man, he couldn't just walk up to him and tell him he fucked up a perfectly normal guy-

Alright, maybe Bakugou wasn't perfectly normal and Eijirou was just biased. Still, that didn't give Best Jeanist the right to treat him like… like some kind of an animal. Not even that, but like some kind of a doll to dress up and play with while it can’t do anything about it.

Eijirou took another deep breath and ran a hand through his hair, which reminded him that he had to go and buy new gel. He headed to a store in search of his favourite brand and tried not to think about how the idea of sneaking his almost new gel into Bakugou's bag seemed kind of awkward now. And stupid. And oh God, his note-

"You paying or not?" Impatient cashier asked when Eijirou just stared at his wallet instead of paying.

"Ah- yeah! Sorry-" Eijirou tried to ignore the looks from the other people in line behind him. After quickly paying, he snatched the gel, put it in his bag along with the wallet and ran out of the store.

Trying not to think about the Bakugou situation, Eijirou ran all the way home.

Right as he walked through the door, Eijirou already heard his ma'. Something on TV probably made her laugh, since he knew that his mom was still at work.

Eijirou took off his shoes and went straight to the living room, without changing from his uniform. He just wanted to see a friendly face.

"Eichan!" His mama greeted him as soon as he stepped inside the room. "You won't believe what the pilot on this stupid tv drama just- what's wrong?" The smile was still on her face, yet it changed from amused to compassionate. She tapped a free space on the sofa next to her as she put away a bowl with some salad. "Come here, talk to your mama."

Eijirou wasn't sure if he wanted to talk about what happened. She must have noticed, because before he even moved, she spoke again, turning back to the TV.

"Or don't!" She shrugged. "But remember, for any serious talks, we only have until tomorrow afternoon." She then pretended to refocus on that 'stupid tv drama'.

Eijirou lingered at the entrance. They really didn't have much time, with her having another flight just the next day and then being gone for a few days, maybe a whole week. Maybe more.

Slowly, he left his bag at the entrance then moved towards the couch and plopped down, right next to her. She finally looked at him again and smiled, reaching to ruffle his hair.

"Your roots are showing." She pointed out and tilted her head for him to check as well.

"Yours too." Eijirou confirmed upon noticing her natural blonde colour in the mess of bright, red hair. He was kind of jealous of that, since she didn't have to bleach her hair to get that shade.

"I'll do yours if you do mine?" His mama smiled at him, patting his hair a few times.

"Of course!" Eijirou moved away, which only caused her to chase after him and further ruin his carefully styled hair. "Aw, mama, come on!" Like a kid, he whined.

"What's the matter, Eichan?" She teased and finally moved away. "It's not like you're going out!" As she was done ruining his hair, she laid down on the couch, her legs on Eijirou's. "So what was it that you wanted to talk about?" Smile was still present on her face while she basically trapped Eijirou there.

Of course. It wasn't like Eijirou wouldn't be able to push her away, but he didn't really mind. So he sighed and leaned on the back of the couch.

"It's kind of a lot and-"

"This bullshit is inaccurate anyway." She interrupted while turning off the TV and nudged him encouragingly.

"Language-"

"Pfff, don't you language me. You’re not your mom." With a snort, she nudged him on the shoulder again and waited.

To be honest… Eijirou wanted to talk about it. Needed even.

With slight hesitation, he told her everything. From the beginning of the school year, through he USJ incident and the sports festival, to his and Bakugou's confrontation and finally, today's argument. The only thing he kept for himself was what kind of disorder Bakugou had.

By the end of it, he wasn't looking at her, slightly afraid of her reaction. And she stayed silent throughout the whole time as he told his story.

"Let me get this straight, Eichan." Her voice was strangely stoic. "Just by the sheer suspicions, you decided to investigate your classmate's supposed medical condition that he didn't want to talk about with anyone?"

"Uh… well, when you put it that way-" At this point, it wasn't the fact that Eijirou couldn't look at her. He didn't want to, not sure what kind of expression he should expect from her.

"And Iwachan even advised you to 'investigate'?"

"Mom told me to just ask around and-"

"Holy fucking shit." She sounded both disappointed and tired. "Two most important people in my life are idiots."

"Hey-" Eijirou made to argue, but… she was kind of right. Seriously, when she put it this way… Damn it, even Aizawa told him not to put his nose into Bakugou's business! And now it was too late… Bakugou hated him and Eijirou will have to watch him be alone again, bottling everything up. He won't have any way to gain his trust again but now that he thought about it he probably didn't have it in the first place and-

He blinked when his vision got blurry and then sniffled.

"Eichan… Hey, no.." His mama shifted from her lying position then moved to hug him. "Don't cry…" She softly stroked his hair, putting her chin on top of his head.

"Crying-" another sniffle "-is manly too…" He managed to utter while burying his face in her shoulder.

"Yes, it is, but your mama can't watch you weep like this…" She cooed and continued to stroke his hair.

"But I messed up…"

"Yes, you did. Big time, but it's good that you see it now." Her hug got a bit tighter and she started humming, activating her quirk and helping Eijirou calm down with her soft voice, notes of the melody comforting him.

It took a few minutes, but once he calmed down, she moved away and took his face in her hands.

"It's not too late, Eichan." His mama frowned a little. "You can still fix it, you just have to do something to prove that he can trust you. Maybe let him know you better?"

Eijirou just nodded, not trusting his voice yet.

"But you'll need to figure this one out yourself." She kissed his forehead and completely moved away, reaching for her phone on the coffee table. "I need to call my other favourite idiot." With a frown, she left the room, although Eijirou could still hear her yell 'what the hell, Iwachan!?'

Eijirou sighed and lied down on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. For now, he had no idea as to what he could do or say to get Bakugou to trust him again.

… Or rather, to actually start trusting him.

"Eichan!" His ma's voice called to him from another room and Eijirou propped himself on an elbow.

"Yeah!?"

"Could you start preparing the hair dye and bleach? I won't take much longer!" Then he heard a door shutting.

Eijirou sat up on the couch. That's right, there wasn't any sense in wasting time… Really, he had other things to do than ponder and cry about his mistakes. After a few more seconds, he finally stood up and first went to his room to change into something that he could get dirty with hair dye, and then finally to the bathroom.

Right away, Eijirou prepared the bleach for himself, but when he checked how much hair dye they still had, he cursed himself, because there was only a bit left. Maybe enough for one and a half head and damn it, he could have bought the dye along with the hair gel! But he was thinking about-

Bakugou. How Eijirou without hesitation put that gel in his bag, because he had a feeling that Bakugou would be too proud to go and buy it himself, even though he needed it. And he needed it because someone decided he wasn't good enough like he was normally and forced that change without thinking about what that would cause and how Bakugou would feel about it and how he didn't even want this change but he was probably scared of being restrained by that fucking excuse of a hero-

"Eichan, holy shit, calm down!"

Eijirou felt small hands on his own that were hardened, squeezing the tube of dye that luckily ended up in a little bowl he prepared.

He looked at his mama and tried to calm down, but he was just so angry and frustrated, because he couldn't do anything for Bakugou, either when he confided in Eijirou through text messages or now, because Eijirou fucked up and ruined everything and-

"Eichan." Soft voice sang. "Calm down and take a deep breath~"

Mama's humming and few deeper breaths helped him enough to relax and release his quirk from his hands.

"... what happened? I thought you were sad, not angry?" She put a hand on his cheek and he looked into her yellow eyes. Sometimes it was hard to focus on them, considering the lack of irises and pupils, but right then, it was a nice distraction.

"... Mama, do you know how to file a formal complaint about a hero?"

At first she chuckled, but when she saw Eijirou’s serious expression, she blinked, confused and probably taken aback.

"A hero made you this angry?" With raised eyebrows, she looked at the amount of hair dye that they had.

"He- he was an asshole to my-" could Eijirou still call Bakugou a friend? "... He was an asshole to Bakugou…" He muttered finally and waited for her reaction.

"Well, you could always say that to this hero's face." She turned back to him and stared into his eyes, some kind of a challenge there. "Sir, you are an asshole." She mimicked Eijirou's voice.

"Oh my God, mama, NO!" The thought of walking up to Best Jeanist and telling him that , no matter how tempting, was still terrifying. "I absolutely could not do that!" He couldn't help but cover his face in some kind of embarrassment.

"Do as you please, Eichan." With a shrug and a sly smile, she patted his shoulder. "Anyway, I'll just do your hair and after I come back, you'll do mine okay?"

Right, the little amount of hair dye.

"Mama-"

"Oh, don't you mama me right now. The whole crew knows I'm a natural blonde, and the passengers care more about the plane not crashing, not the roots of some flight attendant. You, on the other hand-" she put a finger on his forehead "-have an image that you need to keep, Eichan!" She gave him a warm smile and Eijirou sighed, accepting the situation. She was right after all.

"Alright." He returned the smile and turned towards the shower to wash off his hair gel.

"You'll feel better too after this!"

Ah, he really hoped so...

___

Katsuki was sitting on his bed, in the dark, past midnight, with his hair once again in that sorry state and felt absolutely pathetic and miserable. The window was wide open, but he couldn't find it in himself to go and close it, even though it was getting colder and colder by every minute. He had more important things to do. For example, he practiced styling his hair with that cursed gel and then spent the last two hours staring at the chats on his phone, keep checking if Kirishima would say anything.

But one of those things wasn't blaming himself for what happened. Because he absolutely wasn't at fault.

Kirishima was the one at fault. Kirishima was the one who dared to say that stupid fucking joke. Kirishima was the one who sneakily found out the truth about him. Kirishima was the one who helped him-

No.

No no no, fucking no.

Fuck. No.

Katsuki held his breath as he barely stopped himself from throwing his phone across the room.

Kirishima didn't do shit. All he did was that he pissed Katsuki off. With his fucking joke and bullshit about trusting him. Damn it, Katsuki only recently learned his stupid name, how was he supposed to trust him!?

He looked at the chats again, staring at the class' one and then at his private one with Kirishima. Temptation to just delete the whole conversation and then block this idiot was high, but then he wouldn't see his messages in the group chat, which was unusually quiet that night.

Katsuki's finger hovered over Kirishima's name for a few seconds before he thought fuck it, and just tapped it, their conversation immediately opening.

The latest exchange was from the last day of their internships and Katsuki almost couldn't believe how… natural talking with Kirishima felt back then. How calming it was, considering he had to deal with that fucker Best Jeanist.

Kirishima congratulated him on, as he put it, roasting the hero and, well, Katsuki liked the praise.

… Maybe he could just text him?

Katsuki almost started typing, but he realised that he had no idea what he was supposed to say. He was still angry and if anything, he wanted to call Kirishima out on his shitty behaviour-

Kirishima is typing…

Katsuki dropped his phone. With eyes wide and a pounding heart, he stared at the device that was now lying on the bed, screen down, and wondered if he saw that right. Or if he started seeing things.

Then he realised that if Kirishima did send something, he'd immediately see that Katsuki read it and somehow, this time Katsuki really didn't want him to know that he saw the message. Before it didn't bother him, leaving Kirishima on read, but now-

Katsuki snatched his phone from the bed and hurriedly tapped on the homescreen button, but even if just for a split second, he still saw that Kirishima was still fucking typing.

Then a minute passed.

Then another one.

Then more.

And before Katsuki knew it, he's been waiting for the notification for half an hour, his leg bouncing nervously.

Fuck it, he thought and before he could stop himself, Katsuki went and opened that chat just to see that Kirishima was offline.

Somehow, this only made him angry. This time at himself, because of course Kirishima wouldn't message him after all that, what the fuck did he expect?!

… What did he expect?

That Kirishima would actually text him? What was he supposed to say? Apologise? Call Katsuki names? Laugh at him? Tell him that the whole school would know by tomorrow?

Something clenched in Katsuki's stomach.

He was really tired. Those thoughts would only keep him awake for longer and again… He had better things to do than wondering about asshole Shitty hair.

Ah...

When was the last time he used that nickname?

At that moment, Katsuki honestly didn't remember… He was too tired.

___

Katsuki tried to listen to every single conversation in the morning. At first it was easy, only a few people in the class, but as more of his classmates arrived, there were more voices and more noise and it was harder to actually hear what was being said and by who. Everything was a mess and Katsuki practically heard his brain screaming in panic. Especially when someone would laugh.

If that wasn't enough, Kirishima wasn't in class yet. That should have calmed him down, but only made him more nervous, uneasy. Where was this asshole?

Katsuki was staring at the door when a guy with all too familiar hairstyle walked through. Finally, Shitty hair arrived. Just five minutes before the first period and the second their eyes met, Katsuki subconsciously glared at him, to which Kirishima quickly averted his eyes and hurriedly moved to his desk.

Staring at this bastard was one of the options Katsuki thought about, just to be sure that he didn't tell anyone, but he just couldn't stand looking at him.

This was going to be a long fucking day.

___

Eijirou knew few things.

First, Ashido and Kaminari immediately realised that something was off, because Eijirou didn't greet them or Bakugou. Just hurriedly sat at his desk and kept his eyes down, even when they started teasing him about trouble in paradise and even got Sero's attention.

The second thing he knew was that Bakugou started ignoring him. When he first arrived in class, Eijirou wanted to try and talk to him, but the moment he saw the way Bakugou looked at him, with so much anger and hatred that he hasn't seen directed at him in a few weeks, made him chicken out and just go straight to his desk. And now, Bakugou wouldn't even glance at him, even though half a lesson passed.

Which led to the third and last thing he knew. That he was screwed. Utterly fucked. Because Aizawa announced that their exams were coming and Eijirou was in the bottom four that so far either had the worst results or didn't pass some of the previous trial exams. And another one of those was coming.

Eijirou lowkey hated his life at the moment.

Who needed math and biology as a pro hero?!

But all this continued.

Up until the lunch break, every teacher would remind them of upcoming exams, his friends' questions were more and more persistent, even though Kaminari and Sero probably had a slight idea that he and Bakugou had some kind of an argument, and then-

Bakugou's back was all Eijirou saw during this time. There weren't any people around him. He didn't try to talk or even look at anyone. He was just sitting there, probably staring at the blackboard and just… being alone. Like before.

"Hey, Kiri…" Ashido's surprisingly gentle voice brought him back to reality. "It's lunchtime." Her smile was a bit flat when she pointed at Sero and Kaminari who were standing at the door, glancing between him and Ashido.

"Ah, yeah, of course-" Eijirou muttered and stood up, then his gaze locked on Bakugou again.

Eijirou watched as he reached for his bag and pulled out a lunch box which he immediately put on his desk.

Of course. Bakugou was going to eat there.

Alone.

For some reason, Eijirou couldn't bear seeing him like this, but he knew that his presence wasn't welcome. So he just clenched his fists and rushed out of the class, his confused friends tailing behind. He was somehow thankful that they didn't say anything throughout the whole way to the cafeteria, even though Eijirou was sure that they were wondering why he didn't walk up to Bakugou to invite him to spend the lunch break together.

The silence ended when they all sat at a table.

"Alright, I can't take it-" Kaminari put his hands on the table and leaned towards Eijirou who was sitting in front of him. "What happened yesterday?" With a frown on his face, he asked in a serious tone. "Was it me? Too much blabbing about the internships?"

"No, no, it wasn't you…" Eijirou glanced to the side while his hand clenched around a fork. If he had to be honest, he didn't really want to talk about it.

"Dude, seriously-" Sero started in a careful tone "-I ran through this conversation a few times in my head and I couldn't find anything that would trigger Bakugou like that!" He finished and Kaminari nodded..

"Me too! When he was all 'what the fuck, Kirishima' I honestly thought he confused our names!" Kaminari crossed his arms on his chest, his shoulders a bit tense when he leaned back in his chair, while Eijirou felt a bit of weight lift off his shoulders.

They didn’t realize after all.

"No, it's-"

"Okay, stop." All three of them turned to Ashido. "What am I missing?" She was pouting, her eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

"Bakugou and Kirishima had- uhhh…" Sero scratched his neck and looked to the side as if searching for the right words in a crowd of students. "An argument? I guess?" He glanced at Kaminari who just shrugged.

"I mean… We kinda… left Kirishima alone…" Kaminari dipped his chin towards his chest, clearly apologetic for his actions.

"Ah, shit. Yeah." Sero finally turned to Eijirou. "Sorry about that, we thought-"

"No! No, don't apologise!" Eijirou quickly interrupted. Because seriously, the fact that they left when they did spared both him and Bakugou some explaining. "We just…" He looked at Ashido who seemed as if she was trying to put all the puzzle pieces together. "Yeah, I guess we had an argument."

"What!?" Ashido yelled as she stood up, bringing the attention of some of the other students to them. She sent a few of them an awkward, apologetic smile and once they all were ignoring them again, she sat down and continued, quieter this time. "Why? What happened?" To Eijirou's surprise, she actually seemed more concerned about the situation than he'd expected her to be. Especially when she grabbed his hand into her two and squeezed lightly.

"I… kind of don't want to talk about it…" He didn't lie, but he didn't tell the whole truth. Because in reality, Eijirou also couldn't talk about it, not that he wanted to. But if he told his friends- told anyone anything, Bakugou would never trust him again. Or anyone.

… Oh. That's right. For a reason not known to Eijirou, Bakugou probably never trusted anyone. Did someone before told his secret? Broke his trust? If Bakugou was so careful about it all, keeping everyone at the same distance, not trusting people, treating everyone with similar dose of hostility… He had to have a reason, right?

"You two were supposed to confess your eternal love in two weeks! Not destroy your relationship altogether!" Ashido's voice brought him back to earth.

Eijirou looked back down at his food.

This was just teasing. Jokes. She just wanted to cheer him up like this, because he probably looked miserable, and he knew that very well, but...

"I'm sorry, Ashido, but I.. I'm not exactly in the mood for those jokes right now." Eijirou sent her a smile, but was well aware that she saw right through it.

"Ah… No, Kiri, I-" Glancing between Sero and Kaminari, she seemingly searched for the right words, but neither of them knew how to help. "Don't apologize… I'm sorry, I should have read the mood better." Ashido looked back at him and squeezed his hand once again.

"Thanks…" Eijirou smiled again, a bit more honestly this time.

"But just so you know, once you two make up, my silence will be over!" With a wink, she smiled and poked his forehead with a single finger.

"Oh, yeah!" Kaminari provided with a grin, lightly kicking Eijirou under the table. "There's no escaping the teasing, dude!"

"You guys never know when to quit, huh?" Sero asked and leaned tiredly on his hand when both Ashido and Kaminari shook their heads. "... That being said, we're going to tease the shit out of you, just you wait." He finished and all three of them laughed.

Eijirou couldn't help but chuckle at that as well.

"Can't wait for that." And he honestly couldn't wait for that teasing to come back.

For Bakugou to come back.

___

After the last lesson, Eijirou was stopped by Aizawa before he could leave the class.

"Sensei, if it's about the exams, I swear I'll study more and-"

"Your little investigation finally backfired?" Aizawa interrupted him as he collected some papers and Eijirou felt his throat clench on itself.

He honestly didn't know what to say. Not that he even could, as the air wasn't exactly making it to his lungs. So Eijirou just stared blankly at his teacher, unable to move as cold sweat ran down his back.

"I'll be honest with you." Aizawa gave him a tired look and then slowly moved towards the door, Eijirou a bit behind. "I was surprised to see that Bakugou actually went out of his way to spend time with you and others." Both of them left the class and Aizawa locked the door behind them, while Eijirou didn't know what to say.

To his surprise, they didn't head to teachers' lounge or even the principal's office.

"If your goal is still to be his friend, by now you should know what he needs." His eyes were locked on something and when Eijirou followed the teacher's gaze, he was surprised to see Bakugou, apparently heading towards support department's wing.

But why?

"Support gear is not the only kind of support this kid needs in his life."

Eijirou's eyes widened at those words. Support gear?

"But he won't accept it just from anyone." Aizawa finished shortly and left to head to the teachers' lounge, leaving Eijirou alone to wonder just what kind of support gear Bakugou needed.

Few moments passed, and even though he already lost the sight of Bakugou, Eijirou still didn't want to get caught by him, in case he would turn back here and accuse Eijirou of investigating him again. So as quickly as he could, he left the school building.

Eijirou's mood lifted a little bit when he saw his moms waiting for him, since they were to drive his ma' to the airport in Tokyo.

___

Katsuki stood some distance away from the one corridor he never thought he'd find his way into. Glaring at the plate above it that read 'Support department', he tried his best to pretend before anyone who'd come by, even though it was after all lessons have ended and he was one of the few students still there, that he was just waiting for somebody. Or even just hanging around and not fighting with himself over going there and talking to some random fucking teacher about his problem, that wasn't even there. What Aizawa said was total bullshit, he absolutely did not have any trouble with telling villains and heroes apart.

Except that it was a lie.

Because there were several occasions for him to really realise that he did have a problem with it and that his teacher was right. As usual. Not that Katsuki would tell him that.

What would they even do to him? Give him some stupid glasses that would stand out too much? 

Katsuki immediately thought about that annoying guy that would always arrive some time after him in the class. And his stupid glasses. And wondered what did he do with them upon changing into his hero costume and now that he actually thought about it, he realised that he's never seen anyone with glasses during their hero training. Right. Because like a stubborn idiot he didn't care enough to actually take a note of that.

Maybe he should have…

Should have paid more attention to his classmates at least. And maybe some more teachers. But no. Because instead, like an moron, he chose to ignore everyone and because of that Aizawa wanted him to get some fucking support gear like some sort of weakling and-

Katsuki felt eyes on him.

Quickly, he turned around and there was nobody there, but he just knew. Ages and ages of people staring at his back, whispering between each other, thinking they were being subtle, made him hyper aware of that.

Katsuki always knew when someone was staring at him.

"Where the fuck are you!?" Looking around, he yelled, trying to sound confident.

But everything was still and quiet. The corridor was empty and after a few seconds passed, Katsuki released the air he was holding in and cursed how paranoid he'd become. Idiotic coward, thinking that the fucking air was staring at him.

God, how pathetic he felt when he rubbed at his scar in an effort to comfort himself, but it only made him feel like even bigger of an idiot.

Katsuki took in a deep breath and looked over his shoulder. The plate above the corridor was still there, mocking him and making him sick all over again. With a sigh he decided to go back home. After all, there wasn't really anything he could do this day.

___

"If you tell him to do something so stupid again, I'm divorcing you." Mama hugged his mom while saying that and Eijirou wanted to go and hide somewhere.

"We're not married, honey." His mom answered flatly as she kissed her not-wife goodbye.

"I know, and I wouldn't actually divorce you, Iwachan." She giggled as she got kissed on the cheek several times.

"Kirishima-san!" Someone from the crew called out to his mama, but-

"Yes?" Both of them asked at the same time and Eijirou bit back a chuckle while the crewmate laughed.

"I meant Saki-san." He smiled and pointed at a watch on his wrist, signalling that the time for the departure was coming. "We need to hurry."

"Ah, yes, of course! Thank you!" Ma' nodded at him and hugged both of them. "You-" she turned to his mom and pointed at her "-don't burn anything and no stupid advices." Without waiting for an answer, she turned to Eijirou. "And you-" she stopped herself and looked him in the eyes. "... just try and let him know you better." She put a hand on his cheek. "Can you do that, Eichan?"

Eijirou only nodded as an answer, smiling as widely as his still kind of bad mood let him.

"I love you both so much, take care of yourselves, you fucking disasters." She hugged them tightly, first Eijirou with no trouble, and then his mom, reaching up to circle her arms around her neck.

“Language.” Mom muttered as she returned the hug.

"Kirishima-san!" Different crewmate called out again.

"Oh, I'm coming!" She yelled back frustrated and then, one last time, kissed his mom. And off she was.

"And then there were two." Mom put a hand on her hip as she looked down at Eijirou. "Are you hungry?" She turned around and started walking towards the exit from the airport.

Eijirou thought about it and immediately knew that he had no appetite whatsoever, but actually was hungry so he simply nodded in response.

"Do you want McDonald's?" At her question, Eijirou snorted. "Oh so you do still know how to laugh!" She snickered and pushed him lightly.

"Mama told you not to burn anything, that didn't mean buying me junk food!" He couldn't help but continue laughing, something he didn't have a reason to do since this whole… argument.

"What Saki doesn't see, won't hurt her!" They approached the car and got in.

"But will hurt my diet." Eijirou did need shitton of calories with his every day training, but those calories were supposed to come from healthy food.

His mom stopped at that.

"You're right, baby." She sighed and started the car after she glanced at Eijirou to make sure he had his seatbelt on. "... But since McDonald's is a no no-" she continued after a few minutes of silent driving through the city "-maybe some ramen?" They stopped at the traffic lights.

Eijirou stared out the window as they waited for the green light, his eyes wandering after teenagers who for some reason were running in one direction all of a sudden.

"Sure, sounds-" the words died in his throat when he realized what those people were running after in the first place.

"Darling? Something wrong?"

He could barely process her question as rage filled his whole body, his hardened hands ripping the seatbelt and without thinking, he got out of the car.

"Eijirou!?"

Completely ignoring his mom, he made his way around a car that was waiting next to theirs and ran towards a hero he spotted.

It didn't take long, honestly Eijirou took longer getting through the little crowd of fangirls, but then-

"Would you like an autograph as well, young man?"

Eijirou found himself face to face with Best Jeanist.

Chapter Text

Tsunagu's day started fairly normal.

He came to his office, changed into his hero costume that was freshly washed, his assistant delivered him his morning tea and ran with him through the day's schedule.

Despite his tea being a bit too sweet, for which his assistant apologised, and Tsunagu's dinner with one of the sponsors being rescheduled, he found his day rather pleasant, especially that he could go on a patrol in the late hours of the afternoon, show his face in public and share some time with his adoring fans.

Speaking of which, he got surrounded by them. All of them were keeping a respectful distance of course, this he couldn't complain about. Yet…

There was a boy in front of him. Two meters away at most. And at first, Tsunagu didn't pay much mind to him, too busy with other fans, but that was until he turned to the boy and asked if he wished for an autograph as well.

Now that he actually looked at him… Tsunagu couldn't even focus on the appearance of the young boy. His cold, red eyes were piercing right through him with seething fury and Tsunagu took half a step back, his guard up. The longer the boy looked at him, the angrier he appeared to get, his sharp teeth bared and claws instead of normal fingers on his hands.

To put it simply, that boy looked as if he was out for blood.

Similar to the infamous Hero Killer.

But the man was imprisoned, so it obviously wasn't him, especially that Stain certainly wasn't a young boy. Around fifteen, maybe sixteen years old.

Maybe a copycat? But would he be stupid enough to attack a hero in the middle of the day, while surrounded by civilians?

Tsunagu would have to act quickly if he were to attack-

"You're a fucking bastard." The boy practically growled at him.

Tsunagu blinked.

Excuse me? He wanted to ask, but before Tsunagu could even open his mouth-

"Look at you, thinking you're the pinnacle of humanity!"

The crowd around them fell silent, spare for few murmurs, and Tsunagu noticed some people take out their phones.

"Letting these people think that of you too, thinking you're more worthwhile and better than others just because you try and make yourself look like a pretty little doll and talk nice?! You treat those who don't appeal to your standards like shit, while you're the biggest piece of shit around here! Fuck you!"

Tsunagu was simply stunned, his eyes widened and staring at the boy who's face, neck and arms seemed to be completely hardened now. The way he spoke, roughly and loudly, sounded awfully similar to the way a certain intern of his spoke.

Were they connected in some manner, perhaps?

They did share the uniform of UA-

"What?" The boy disturbed his thoughts. "Too high and mighty to speak to someone who isn't licking your boots?! Or maybe it's because you can't restrain me in public, huh?!"

Tsunagu's eyes widened even more at that.

"Maybe it's because you can't even try to break me down, because even if you did I'd make you swallow your own fucking teeth!"

With that, the boy suddenly moved towards him, someone in the crowd screaming in panic, some people running away, and Tsunagu instinctively used his quirk, fibers quickly around the boy's wrists and knees, keeping him in place. His whole arms and hands were still hardened, yet something changed. As the boy breathed heavily, his arms and face became more rugged, turning into something resembling a wild stone monster rather than a high school student. He was completely hardened, with terrifyingly sharp teeth and furious expression and red eyes. Whenever he moved, there was this unpleasant grating sound.

Seemingly with no trouble, he brought the restrained wrists to his teeth and shred the fibers, making few more people yell in panic.

Tsunagu almost made the next move, the boy as well but-

There stood a rather tall woman between them. She was panting, as if she just sprinted there, her upper body hardened in a similar manner to this boy's, although she was more human looking than him. Her hands, with slightly more delicate claws, were on the boy's shoulders, keeping him in place.

"What are you doing?!" She yelled, still facing the boy.

"HE MADE IT PHYSICAL, I'M LEGALLY ALLOWED TO KICK HIS ASS!" The boy's features softened, yet he refused to release his quirk completely, his skin still hardened, as if he wanted to be ready for the fight.

"EIJIROU, YOU STUPID BABY, THAT'S NOT HOW THE LAW WORKS!"

The law.

Tsunagu remembered who he was and what his job was.

His guard still up, he finally spoke to them, trying his best to sound confident in this strange situation.

"Civilians aren't allowed to use their quirks-"

"Ah, I'm sorry-" his eye twitched in annoyance when the woman interrupted him, but then she turned and Tsunagu noticed the resemblance between her and the boy, with the same eyes and teeth.

One hand still on the angry boy's shoulder, she reached to the inside pocket of her jacket and pulled out a badge.

"Detective Kirishima, at your service Best Jeanist. I have a permit to use my quirk in my wallet which I left in my car when this one here-" she sent the boy a glare "-jumped out of it."

Ah, so they are related. Tsunagu thought and continued.

"That still doesn't justify the boy using his quirk in public space." Tsunagu didn't miss how the boy glared at him, the acquaintance with Bakugou almost unquestionable at this point. "And against a hero." He squinted his eyes when he heard a muttering of 'hero my ass' from the boy.

Detective sent the boy another glare before turning to Tsunagu again, her eyes almost pleading.

"Best Jeanist, I can promise that I'll take care of it and that he is sorry about-"

"I'm not! He's a bully, not a hero!" The boy yelled again, staring Tsunagu in the eyes as if challenging him to react. "He's not manly like real heroes are!"

"I said-" she put a hand on the back of boy's head and made him bow a little. "That he is sorry."

Tsunagu was aware of the situation he was in. And that in some way, he might have brought it upon himself. But this boy… was just that. A boy. Even if his quirk was powerful, he still did no harm or didn't attack another civilian. If Tsunagu were to push charges against him, or anything in this manner, for the public it'd look like he felt threatened by a mere high schooler who had a tantrum.

And that wouldn't do.

"Apologies accepted." He settled on saying to that detective Kirishima and observed as the tension disappeared from her shoulders.

"Thank you. And I apologise as well." She bowed her head and after making sure that the boy wouldn't say or do anything else, she rushed away with him.

The boy sent him one last angry glare over his shoulder.

Like on a signal, some journalist, that seemingly appeared out of nowhere, approached him with several questions about that boy, the crowd of fans staring at him expectantly.

"... No comment." Tsunagu cut shortly and excused himself, as he decided it was the best time to head back to his agency.

___

Katsuki walked down the stairs and wanted to head to the kitchen and eat something before his evening shower, but his dad's voice from the living room stopped him.

"Katsuki, the hero you had an internship with is on the news!"

Fuck him. Katsuki thought to himself. He had way better things to do than watching anything related to that fucking asshole who made his hair look fucking terrible, even if it was slowly turning back to normal, with Kirishima's help-

"Hey brat!" This time it was his mother.

"Fucking WHAT!" He yelled from the kitchen and opened the fridge. Maybe he could eat fucking cereal, who would stop him?

"I think someone from your school was arguing with him!" Katsuki's movements halted at her amused voice which sounded almost like she was sure that her words would get Katsuki interested enough to come and watch the news with them.

"Good for them!" Katsuki yelled again with some spite, yet actually satisfied that someone was brave (or rather stupid) enough to argue with Best Jeanist in public, and grabbed a carton of milk.

His mother continued to yell something about the news, his father trying to shush her, but Katsuki tuned them out.

That sorry excuse of a hero had enough fucking fangirls to watch him.

___

As usual, Katsuki was sitting at his desk, waiting for the lessons to start with his headphones on. This way no one would bother him, not even one of those extras who sat with Kirishima and him during lunch. For some reason, they tried to talk to Katsuki behind Shitty hair's back the day before. What about? Katsuki had no idea because he was in a hurry to that fucking support department and completely ignored them after realising who in the damn world were they.

So now he was glad that no one was bothering him. For the most part, Katsuki only stared at the blackboard and glanced at the door from time to time, waiting for that asshole to walk through it.

Katsuki was kind of relieved that he didn't tell anyone so far, at least it seemed like that, considering no one approached Katsuki about his 'problem'. But it also made him wonder, since Kirishima now had a reason to tell everyone, he still didn't. Even if Katsuki didn't want to believe it, a voice in the back of his head told him that Kirishima was too scared to tell. Like Deku. Like everyone.

Then it finally happened. As Katsuki expected, Shitty hair walked through the door.

But what Katsuki didn't expect was that he'd immediately get crowded by half of his classmates, each one of them talking to him at the same time.

Katsuki quickly took off his headphones and listened, because what if-

"Was that really you, man?!" Guy with black hair asked, judging by the hairstyle and his height, it might have been Horse smile.

"I heard that was police involved!"

"No way, this guy on the tv was swearing too much!"

"But the hair! The hair matched, dude!"

Katsuki couldn't place every single voice, but all that was enough to actually make him wonder what the fuck they were talking about.

"Huh, I wonder what's going on.."

He heard a familiar muttering behind him. Katsuki didn't have to turn to figure out it was Deku. Of all the people he should have known what was going on, so why the fuck-

"Midoriya." Stoic, kind of bored voice but not in the same way as Aizawa's. Katsuki glanced at the guy and saw the red-white hair and a scar, distinguishable features of Half face.

"Ah, Todoroki-kun!" Deku sounded too cheerful all of a sudden. "You know what's up with Kirishima-kun?"

Instead of the loud crowd, Katsuki focused on that conversation behind him.

"... You don't know?" Half face was obviously surprised. At least Katsuki wasn't the only one who had no clue what was happening, but the idea that the only other person was fucking Deku-

"I was busy studying!" Of fucking course. "Then the training and then I had to help my mom with some groceries, then I thought that I might as well study more before supper, and after eating I wanted to go for a jog and-"

"Midoriya, you're rambling again." Half face cut in and Katsuki was actually fucking thankful for that, because at this point, he just wanted to slam his head on his desk, that would save him from listening to that bastard's annoying voice...

"Right! Sorry!" Deku's stupid, panicked tone only made him want to do that even more. "So, what happened?"

"The UA student told Best Jeanist to fuck off. And almost attacked him."

What.

"WHAT!?"

Katsuki turned at the volume of Deku's voice to see him standing with shocked expression.

"And that student looked awfully similar to Kirishima." Half face looked over his shoulder at the little crowd, acting as if he wasn't moved by Deku's reaction. "From the clip they showed, I also noticed the hardened skin so..." He shrugged and turned his eyes back to Deku while Katsuki straightened in his seat, staring down at his desk.

Kirishima told Best Jeanist to fuck off and almost fought him on the street.

Kirishima who he never even heard say 'fuck' before.