Chapter Text
Bakugou Katsuki rolled his eyes at the text he had just received from the Smiley fucker.
“Something looks suspicious here. Are you still patrolling XXX street?”
Ugh. Since when did the guy know his schedule? Creepy much?
Katsuki typed a quick “Don’t tell me what to do” before turning on his heel to walk to wherever the guy wanted him to be. If the guy had brains, he’d know that Katsuki would be there to finish the damn job Plain Face couldn’t do.
The street was getting rather dark, the sun dipping behind the clouds, getting ready to make an appearance on the other side of the world. The sky was blue, with splatters of red and orange, and the birds chirping make the scene really peaceful.
Katsuki crossed one of the streets, taking note of his surroundings. It was his second year at UA, the first year since he got his provisional license, hence the patrolling near the Best Jeanist’s agency. The street Plain Face needed help at was just within his jurisdiction, and as much as Katsuki wanted to snap at him, he really couldn’t maintain a bad face to Jeanist anyway. The Pro Hero had already given up on Katsuki’s hair and getting him to wear any semblance of denim, and Bakugou wasn’t really ready to lose all respect for him. Jeanist was the number 4 hero, after all.
After being scouted after the first year sports festival, it had been a rollercoaster as an intern of sorts. Working with any pro hero was a new experience, and especially after seeing all the kids with talented quirks at UA, his personality had tamed a little.
Perhaps the saying “maturity increases with age” wasn’t a complete lie.
Katsuki turned a corner, meeting up at the location Smiley Fucker indicated. The alley looked dark and imposing, a dumpster bin lined against the wall, overflowing with trash bags. The sky had turned darker now, almost reminding Katsuki of what he was dealing with.
“Smiley-fucker. Why’d you call for backup?”
He looked inside the alley and in the split second he saw, the scene looked like something on the news—the League of Villains.
Plain face had been pinned on his stomach, and Katsuki could sense his fear. The guy had always been a little hesitant, taken by fear, but it had gotten a lot better in intense-pressure situations. But even Katsuki was lost- why wouldn’t he just slip through the hold?
That’s when he saw the masked guy- quickly tapping on his classmate and converting him into a small circular blue ball.
Katsuki forced his feet to move off the ground, his heart beating too fast. It had been less than a second, and even then he had failed. How would he even want to be the top hero?
“Fuck.” He muttered under his breath, before breaking out into a run- trying to catch any of the members before they got sucked into that disgusting black cloud- a warp.
But to Katsuki’s dismay, his seconds of hesitation had back-fired on him, a loss. A swarm of green filled his vision, approaching the damned gateway. Time seemed to slow, seconds felt like minutes and hours and days and weeks, pure slow motion. Katsuki suddenly felt hyper-aware of his surroundings, the calm before the storm. The seconds of peace before all hell would again break loose.
Green, rapid movements, nimble on the feet. It was truly an amazing technique, in Katsuki’s eyes. Of course, he typically did better, but credit is due where it’s due. That’s something he had learned at one of the top hero high schools. Yet, Katsuki didn’t recognize these moves, nor the energy emanating from the boy. He squinted his eyes, mid-run, still seemingly frozen in time. The boy seemed familiar. But never introduced, he supposed. Forest green hair, full of curls and volume. Cheeks dotted with freckles, like the stars in the sky. Eyes big and wide, vermillion in shade.
Was he dreaming? Everything fucking reminded Katsuki of the quirkless bitch. Deku- fuck Deku- seemed to follow him everywhere. And now, it had gotten to a point that he had hallucinated him in one of the most important battles of his life.
But. But. But.
“Deku?” the noise came out weak and disgusting and soft and Katsuki hated what he was doing. He was just selfish, he was weak, and he was just tired of the haunting.
But what K.O.ed Katsuki wasn’t the appearance, but rather the “Kacchan?” that he got in response.
—
Everything went by in a blur. The sounds of cars coming, the police coming to see Katsuki, as well as Best Jeanist meeting him in that same alley. Katsuki remembered calling his mentor and boss, but everything felt foggy. All he could do was rewind the events, retelling the events to the people and pro-hero. Yet, he left out the part about Deku. He wasn’t sure why, but he just had a gut feeling.
Allmight showed up a little bit later, just as the case was getting closed and Katsuki was ready to go home for the night. He looked more frazzled than usual, his calm golden hair more frizzy and messed up.
He quickly made his way to Katsuki, before dropping his voice low.
“Bakugou shonen, are you alright? You seem distraught.”
Katsuki wanted to yell because that was none of his business, and how would someone feel if they lost to the League of Villians, some D-list group of teenagers or something?
He opted to nod, trying to get out of the grasp of the hero, who had now placed his hand on the boy’s head.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get Mirio back.” There was an anxious undertone in his voice, but fuck if Katsuki cared.
“Whatever.” He muttered, relaxing after Allmight moved his arm.
The sky had now turned dark and blue, finally transitioning into the night. The street lamps were turned on, and the chirps of crickets were the symphony of the evening. Katsuki shoved his hands in his pockets, a cold sweat developing on the palms of his hands. He hated this feeling of helplessness he had possessed, the feeling that he hadn’t been good enough to be a hero. Fuck, if he couldn’t even handle these petty lame villains, how would he become the number-one hero in all of Japan?
Self-pitying bullshit was not something Bakugou Katsuki did.
But he’d seen green. Deku. He’d seen the boy that had gone missing for months, the boy that everyone except for Deku’s mom considered dead.
—--
Katsuki and Deku never had a good relationship. Sure, maybe it was half-decent if the ages of 2-4 meant something to you, but after Katsuki got his quirk, things turned for the worse. Suddenly, even quirkless Deku acted all high and mighty and acted superior in every way (even though he never was). A particular scene would always play in Katsuki's mind during the hours of the night: When they were kids and still close, Katsuki had fallen off a bridge. The bridge was small and the stream underneath was shallow. It wouldn’t have hurt him anyway. But stupid shitty Deku went out of his way for Katsuki, his little irritating wails of “Kacchan! Are you okay?” and his outstretched arm. Deku didn’t think Katsuki was strong enough to pick himself up, belittling him, acting superior to him, right? It was then that everything changed.
Katsuki had been a bully. He knew that. He knew that he was an asshole in middle school, especially to Deku. He was cruel, prideful, and thought he was the best. But he didn’t realize the extent of everything he did until the night the police had come into his house.
It had been a few months since Katsuki’s first year at UA, and he had gotten ridiculously humbled through the hero course. But, he was still one of the best, don’t get him wrong. His mother had told him weeks prior that Deku had gone missing and Katsuki remembered laughing when he cut the call, because what else would shitty Deku do. That nerd had the nerve to get into UA as quirkless! Perhaps he needed a reality check of sorts.
It gave as a shock when a few weeks later, the police showed up outside his home one night. Katsuki had been confused and tried going in, slipping in through the door and meeting face-to-face with his parents, Inko Auntie, and a police officer.
Normally, the Bakugou house was full of spicy smells, loud arguing between mother and son, and Masuru’s faint classical music playing on the radio. But at that moment, it had been silent, and Katsuki immediately hated it. He felt lost and confused, and saw the downcast face on his mother, in direct contrast to the normally tight expressions of his mother.
His father mentioned him to sit in the living room and Katsuki complained without saying much, he was just more scared and in shock. A million thoughts ran through his head, wondering if he had broken some rule, even though he seemed rather disinterested on the outside.
“Amen,” the police officer said. “So, as I was saying prior to Katsuki-kun’s arrival, we have reason to believe that Midoriya Izuku,” he paused to look around before staring into Inko, “committed suicide off the roof of XXXXXX high school a few days ago.”
The silence was thick and unrelenting, shock filling the air. Katsuki felt sick. Why did he need to know that Deku fucking gave up on himself? Why did his amazing day as a UA student have to get ruined because of these useless details that were so irrelevant to him?
The police officer cleared his throat once again. “And we believe that you, Katsuki-kun would know something about it.”
Cold sweat pooled in the palms of his hands, and the officer went on. “A lot of classmates from Midoriya-kun’s middle school reported serious bullying. I’m not saying anything, especially since you are a hero student, but this could play a role in this case.”
Katsuki felt the anger Inko Auntie directed at him and the shame in his parent’s eyes. Katsuki wanted to open his mouth and say that everything was a lie and he wouldn’t be responsible for anything, but it was true that he bullied him. But he did have a reason, right?
“I don’t think Katsuki-kun is at fault in this, officer.” A wobbly voice rang out, thick with sadness.
“Inko, you don’t need to say that,”
“As much as I hate your son for what he did to my Izuku, I know he isn’t the fault. My Izuku wouldn’t do anything like this.”
“You don’t need to defend my son for this.”
“No, Mitsuki. Izuku isn’t like this. He can’t be dead.”
Katsuki was frozen in fear but also felt relief at these words.
“Officer, you must be mistaken. Izuku has had no contact with Katsuki-kun for months, and while he mistreated my son, I don’t like he would go as far as to wish death upon my son.” Inko said, matter-of-factly.
The officer looked at all the adults before locking eyes on Katsuki, who was very close to having a panic attack. “Well, again, it is just an idea, but given that he is a hero student at UA, I personally agree. Well, that is all I was here for. I am sorry for your loss, Midoriya-san.” The officer got up and bowed to the green-haired woman, before leaving the house with Masuru guiding him out.
Mitsuki got up and set the water boiling for tea before the other woman left, and this kept Katsuki and Inko in the room together, separated by a space that still felt too small for Katsuki. Inko turned to Katsuki, tears in her eyes. Gosh, she looked just like her son.
“Just take a swan dive off the roof”
The memory had resurfaced at that moment, and Katsuki felt like throwing up and began to shake.
All he could remember before blacking out was Inko’s hand on his shoulder, a hand he wanted to knock off him in disgust, but he had no energy in him.
—--
Katsuki lay in bed later that evening, under his covers, ruminating over the events again, too stressed to properly eat dinner, which resulted in yet another screaming match between mother and son, with father awkwardly trying to break them up.
If he had actually seen Deku, did that mean the suicide was staged? So, Deku didn’t fucking give up on his life, like the wimp he seemed to be?
Katsuki had heard the description of the scene of the death, and it seemed vivid, an actual human dead on the scene. But if Deku was alive, did that mean that someone had actually died just for this staged event? Was Deku willing to leave everyone and worry his mother just to do whatever he was doing?
Was he again trying to act superior?
Katsuki clicked his tongue, drifting onto another thought.
Deku had green electricity surrounding him- that wasn’t natural. Could it be a quirk of some sort? How could he have obtained that by himself? And fuck, he didn’t even consider that Deku was a part of the D-list League of Villains! Was Deku a fucking villain?
And why did he even kidnap the plain-faced guy? What was so special about him?
Katsuki tossed and turned, trying to come up with some reasonable solution and reasoning to whatever the fuck he saw, but nothing made sense.
But he knew that he would track Deku back. That shitty nerd. No way he was trying to be better than Katsuki.