Chapter Text
They ended up in a quiet part of the city, one he had never seen before. Patrol wise this particular area was under Hawks when he was a kid, who it belonged to now was anyone’s guess.
The roads were cracked and brimming with weeds, upkeep not a big priority in what looked like a pretty old neighborhood.
‘Naruto’ still hadn’t given him a last name, a way to properly keep distance and that irritated him to no end. He barely called the people he’s actually friendly with by their first name, let alone some presumptuous random who can’t take a hint.
”You’ll love my ramen!” He chirped, a skip in his step. “The best in town, or so I’ve heard.”
”Something tells me you're the only one to say that.” He replied, keeping his head low and praying that no one will recognise him.
There is a puff of smoke that startled him but just before he moved to blow it up, the smoke dissipated to reveal…Whiskers?
”The best ramen in town!” The other Whiskers—wait, he quickly turned to the one he had been walking with. “There, now I’m hearing it with my own two ears!”
Then, just as quickly as he appeared, he vanished with that same smoke.
”I thought you had a water walking quirk.” Katsuki said, a little blankly.
”What?” He barked a joyful laugh, like it was the funniest thing in the world. “God, imagine that? I hate swimming! That type of thing would be wasted on me.”
”Every quirk is good.” Katsuki replied on autopilot, so used to having that particular phrase beaten into him since his debut. “No matter fucking…who you are, every quirk is useful.”
”Hm…I dunno about that,” was the man’s dismissive reply. A surprising sentiment that didn’t sit right with Katsuki. Not at all.
“Whatever, asshole.” This he said with more vitriol than perhaps necessary, and just as he had been about to just walk off, forget this ever happened as the guy who saved his stupid scarf turned out to be a huge jackass, until—
“Useful for what?” Whiskers continued, still with that infuriating smile. “For who?”
”Fucking what?” He barked, more than a little off-footed. “That shits obvious, useful is useful.”
The other man hummed in mock contemplation. “Useful for what, though? For jobs? Does a teacher need to have a teaching quirk to be considered a good teacher?”
“That doesn’t…“
He continued. “For making friends? If you had a quirk that could finish homework or cheat on tests I imagine you’d be pretty popular.”
“Useful for society.” Bakugou managed to grit through clenched teeth. “What aren’t you getting!?”
“Ah,” Whiskers perked up, like he cracked some code. “So when you mean useful you really mean provide a service. A quirk is only good if it can provide a service, then?”
”Wha— isn’t that obvious!?” Bakugou hissed, suddenly finding this whole acid trip of a meeting to be just as bad as he thought it would be. “That’s why we have em! You think we can, what!? Go around and be selfish, do whatever the fuck we want cause we won a genetic lottery? Fuck off with that shit.”
Katsuki is puffing at the end, angry that he had trusted so easily and, weirdly, betrayed that someone who reminded him so much of Izuku would be so obtuse.
Having said that though…He might have gone too far with that one. The wide eyed stare he received in return all but confirmed that and humiliation prickled under his frustration.
“Sorry,” The other blonde said finally. Quiet but not sniveling or defensive like most extras get when he loses control. Quiet, yes, but contemplative. “Guess it just…hit a nerve.”
”Fucking obviously.” Katsuki growled in response.
“No,” The other man waved off. “No, it hit a nerve for me. Quirks and stuff like that. When I was a kid we were all super…useful. Guess I always wondered what it would’ve been like to be a little less.”
There is a storm of experiences in those endlessly blue eyes, a storm Bakugou has no intention to weather.
”And I don’t disagree with you, y’know? Not really. It was just…” Whiskers shook his head. “You kinda…said that your usefulness or—I guess how useful your quirk is is the same as how ‘good’ you are. You don’t see anything off about that?”
‘Isn’t that the kid who got chained up for the Sport’s festival!? They still let him walk around after that?’
’Powerful quirk but can’t even be bothered to denote some actual buildings for the city? What is the point of him, again? Can’t think of a more overrated hero.’
“Are you stupid?” Bakugou huffed, confused. “Nothing wrong about it.”
”What about people who have no quirks?” And oh boy, was that something that made his skin itch. “Or quirks that don’t serve society in that same big, world changing way that yours does? Kids that haven’t developed them or office workers who aren’t allowed to use them, what about everyone else?”
”They—They do other things!”
“Yeah well,” He smiled. “Why can’t we? I think all this stuff is kinda crazy, to be honest. We have these weird super powers and some people have feathers or tails or green skin and we’re all just trying to do the right thing. Quirks are an extension of you, I think, so it’s not really what it does for others but more like what you do for others, y’know?”
Oh.
Katsuki focused on the crunch his boots made on the dilapidated pavement, to the breeze that rustled through the bursting blossoms that wait for the spring.
That was not what he was expecting from the seemingly carefree, obnoxious civilian. There was wisdom in his words, weight that carried experience and understanding. It would have been infuriating, in another life, but now all he could feel was haunted. If only he had heard something like that when he was younger, what would he be instead?
”That’s not a common sentiment here.” He muttered, instead. A heaviness in his tone that he didn’t intend for but weighted his words regardless.
Whiskers is humming as he guides them through the rundown streets. Alleyways turned into alleyways, streets blended into each other like an ever revolving door of empty roads and shut down stores.
It occurred to Katsuki that if he had been lured away to be killed, it wouldn’t be too difficult given how little he knows of his location right now.
Well, he’s come this far being honest, why stop now?
”You gonna try kill me in some shitty backalley, fox face?” He barked, not stopping his stroll but definitely easing the speed.
The question, quite predictably, does nothing to ruffle the other guys feathers. If there’s anything in the world that could manage something like that, well, he’d love to see it.
“Hmm,” The other man tapped the side of his cheek in mock thought. “Well, I feel like I could’ve just let you drop back there if I wanted you dead.”
”Wouldn’t die.” He said, in reflex. Badly hurt, yes, but not dead. Not again.
“Okay, then yeah I totally am.” Whiskers stopped, suddenly, and a strange weight formed in the air.
Bakugou paused.
“And you’re so trusting! I mean, look! I’ve even lured you away to a second location, this definitely could be bad for a little hero like you~”
They stop, only briefly, Katsuki not even attempting to hide his surprise at the sudden accusation. It was possible, given his title, that a villain could use his sudden unpopularity as a means to get to him. Start off by following his routine, wait for an opening for a conversation, move to a second location. The pieces could fit.
The key word here being ‘could’.
Maybe he was being naive, or maybe lost a few screws loose after the last disaster of a rescue but there was just…nothing setting off alarm bells for him. For one, the man is a complete space cadet, lured away from one shiny thing to another. Seemingly amazed by the mundane and swayed by mediocrity, he greeted strangers they passed on the street like old friends. Friendly enough to draw attention and carefree enough to ignore the reaction the general public has once they spot Ground Zero trailing behind him.
There was a fire in him that reminded him, pathetically, of All Might and in extension Izuku.
Katsuki shoved past, the rest of the tension he was holding slipping away. Whoever this guy might be, a threat is not one of them.
“Please,” He scoffed, ignoring the look the other sent him. “Like you could ever be in the same league as me. Bet you’d trip over an active crime scene and get arrested.”
“Right, cause you’d know a thing or two about tripping, huh?”
”You trying to piss me off?”
”Not really trying!” The ever evasive blonde chirped, practically skipping like a child, looking just as stupid as any other adult frolicking in such a rundown part of town. “It kinda just happens naturally. I’m a pro at what I do.”
”Annoying people?” Katsuki quipped, hoping to get under his skin.
He received a half smile for his efforts. “ Or so my friends say!”
The streets are smaller now, more narrow and filled to the brim with stores and passerbyes. The quiet disappears and, reluctantly, Bakugou is thankful for the distractions that the stalls bring.
Mouth watering smells and eye-catching fabrics line the very narrow street from side to side. Beef brisket and pork skewers, ripe fruit dipped in melted sugar and decorated with colourful toppings. Steamed dumplings and the Smokey waft of barbecue, all of it reminded him of how little he had been eating lately.
They move to a different junction of shops and there are jewels and clothes spilling out of the surrounding markets, making it almost impossible to pass.
The cut of the outfits are not high end, and Bakugou knew a thing or two about high end, but hand crafted and durable. Cheaper fabrics that can’t be mass produced due to their fragile structure, hand woven and blindingly detailed. He wondered, absently, if his parents might want to check this place out.
It no longer made him feel like an outlier to an already established piece but one of the many brushstrokes that made it art.
They had meandered, his guide perhaps aware how his attention had splintered, when it happened. Whiskers had perked up, spotting something in the distance.
“Speak of the devil and he appears!”
“Idiot.” A low monotone greeted them.
Katsuki didn’t even get time to blink before a steaming cast iron wok is thrown at the whisker-marked face next to him.
Naruto doubles down more in surprise than pain, holding his face and writhing dramatically on the ground. “Was that necessary?!”
“You’re late.”
The assailant was quick on their feet and even quicker with their hands. Posture poised and waiting, tense in a way that anticipates a fight even when greeting a friend. Dark-haired and pale, pretty in all generic use of the word, but with eyes that held a certain blankness that got Bakugou itching.
“Oi!” He barked, shoving the wiggling idiot behind him and assessing the new threat. “The fuck is your deal?!”
“Great.” The wannabe villain scoffed, folding his arms tight against his chest. “He’s brought another stray.”
“The hell you call me, asshole?” Bakugou is a professional so he did not threaten a civilian without real cause, the threat of a threat was more than effective in getting the point across. “Answer quickly.”
What he received in return was a smirk. “This one seems even dumber than the last, where are you getting these people, Naruto?”
“Can you last one day without physically abusing me?” The blonde replied instead. “I got a little distracted, leave me alone.”
”Oh, so crashout here is just a distraction, huh?” The look Katsuki gets in return is scathing and full of judgement. “I don’t care which prohero you fuck, Naruto, but if you interrupt my money again I’ll kill you.”
The threat, although seemingly very real, is only met with laughter.
“You haven’t gotten it yet, you emo bastard!? If I haven’t died by now, fat chance it’s gonna happen anytime soon!” He crowed, very proud of himself.
”The hell…” Bakugou was trying to breathe, trying not to beat the living shit out of this random extra, but it was a near impossible thing. “The hell you say about me?”
“Oh, it talks.” Bastard said, condescendly. “And here I thought it only knew how to interact through screams.”
“Sasuke.” Whiskers warned, his smile fading. “Be nice, he’s just here for dinner.”
”Sure he is,” That smile was all teeth. “Like I said, I don’t care. Just don’t interrupt my money again and I won’t go running to the nearest tabloid about how pathetic “Ground Zero’ was to get his dick wet by the first person to smile at him.”
”Sasuke—“
”What? It’s not like it’ll matter much, his status is already in the shit. Doubtful people would even think twice about correcting it.” Bastard said, almost bored. Flippantly, like he wasn’t threatening Bakugou’s entire livelihood.
“I’m not…” I’m not gay. I’m not gay, he wanted to scream. Yell till his vocal chords bleed, over and over till it stuck and he’d never be questioned again. “I’m…”
His mouth moves like molasses, the words clogged deep down his throat. Refusing to be released.
Why did he come here?
Why,
why,
why
Why was he so stupid to trust—to think anyone would—-he can hear his heart beating right out of his chest. Was it trying to break out? Free him from this second layer of hell and end it like it was supposed to all those years ago?
The world spun, and before it sunk into inky blackness, Katsuki only just managed to catch those stupid, lovely, blue eyes widened in concern.