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Katsuki has a tearful reunion with his parents when they get to the police station.
It’s his mom who starts it. Face red and tears streaming down her cheeks as she stomps over, she makes some declaration about how dare he worry her like this, and yanks him into the most aggressive hug he’s ever experienced. She’s shaking as she holds him, Katsuki realizes once he suppresses his brief moment of panic at feeling restrained again, and maybe he’s shaking, too. He slowly raises his arms up to hold her and hooks his chin over her shoulder, catching sight of his dad as he lifts his glasses to wipe his eyes.
Katsuki bites his lip and fights the stinging in his own eyes, but then his dad crosses the distance between them to wrap his arms around his family. His fingers push their way through Katsuki’s hair and press his head forward until Katsuki’s face is hidden against his chest.
“You’re safe,” his dad whispers, and the dam breaks.
Katsuki grits his teeth, sucks in air, and lets himself cry against his dad’s shoulder. It’s relief at being back where he belongs, knowing he’s far from the grasp of those assholes who thought they could make him betray his morals. But it’s regret, guilt, and pain, too. The cost of his rescue was too high, and the world is changed.
His parents stay with him while he gives the police his statement, and they sit on either side of him in the back of the police car escorting them home. They need to reassure themselves with physical contact — a squeeze of his hand or arm every now and then or a tugged ear once when he mouths off that he doesn’t want to be coddled. And he gets it. They were scared out of their minds.
But he’s also had days without a moment to himself to think. He’s tired, so he insists on space and solitude the moment they arrive at home.
It turns out that being allowed with only the noise in his own head and a room full of All Might paraphernalia isn’t much better. He hasn’t slept at all, but he can’t calm the restlessness he feels even when all he wants is to drift off and empty his mind.
He’s been lying in bed glaring at a the All Might poster on the far wall for an hour when his father knocks and lets himself in without a word. Katsuki sighs and sits up to make room for him at the edge of the bed.
“They gave us your things from the camp the day after you were taken,” his dad says. “Your mother’s already gone through and thrown the clothes in the wash, but this was in there, too.”
Katsuki takes his phone when his dad offers it and is surprised to see it has a full charge and several missed notifications. He scrolls them idly, finding most of them are text messages from his classmates from the past few hours, but one notification stands out to him: a voicemail from Kirishima from two days earlier.
“It looks like you’ve had a lot of friends worrying about you, kiddo,” his dad says.
Katsuki nods idly, his thumb hovering over Kirishima’s notification. What on earth could that idiot have been calling him about, knowing he was fucking kidnapped?
“You should really get some sleep,” his dad says.
Katsuki runs his hand down his face and groans. “Yeah, I fucking know.”
His dad ruffles his hair gently (and Katsuki halfheartedly swats his hand away). “We’re glad you’re home.”
He says goodnight and heads out with a final squeeze of Katsuki’s shoulder, leaving Katsuki alone staring at his cell phone screen.
Katsuki sighs and collapses backward onto the bed again. He swipes the voicemail notification and holds it to his ear to hear Kirishima’s voice.
“Hey, man,” Kirishima says breathlessly. “I, uh– I know you don’t have your phone and all, but I just needed to call you, you know? It’s just… it’s been a rough couple of days, and I can’t believe they took you. I’m…” There’s a soft hitch in his breath. “Sorry, Blasty, I guess I’m sort of going crazy right now wishing there was something I could have done. But, um, we figured out Yaomomo has a way to track you down. So we’re coming. I’m coming to get you. Tomorrow night.
“This is probably the dumbest plan ever, but it’s going to work. It has to work. And I know you’ll get to hear this and call me an idiot for it when you get back so…” Katsuki can hear the smile in Kirishima’s voice, and somehow that loosens the knot that’s been in his stomach ever since he saw All Might’s lanky form in that television screen, even if only a little bit.
“I just wanna say that those assholes have no idea what they got themselves into if they really think Bakugou Katsuki’s ever gonna let some villains push him around. So you just hang tight, okay? We’re coming to get you, and I’ll be there soon, buddy. Everything is going to be alright.”
Katsuki keeps the phone pressed to his ear for a few minutes before holding it up to save the voicemail to his audio files. He finds Kirishima also sent him a text message, this one from only a few hours ago, letting him know that he made it home safe and saying he hoped it all went okay with the police. Katsuki sends a quick reply to tell him the police have him on lockdown at home and ignores the texts from his other friends for tomorrow. Then he gets himself comfortable, turns up the volume on his phone, and hits ‘play’ before tossing it onto his bedside table.
He’s finally able to drift off to sleep to the sound of Kirishima’s voice.
“Everything is going to be alright”