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For as long as he could remember, Katsuki Bakugo had been praised.
It was only natural though, as his quick far outshone the quirks of all the useless extras around him. It made sense, therefore, that he should be commended for it. Who cared for the stupid quirks of his classmates, when one could see the wonders of his explosions?
Humility seemed to be a useless trait that only the weak employed. Why should he deny his own greatness to make someone else feel better? If one wanted to be praised, they had to prove themselves.
And he had, so he was going to bask in the light as much as he could.
He had grinned as his classmates and the adults around him praised him, nodding along as they eagerly cooed about how powerful his quirk was, how he would surely grow up to be a great pro-hero, just like his hero All Might. He enjoyed hearing their words, eating it up like it was candy.
But there was one adult who did not fawn over him like the rest. That man had scoffed at the words of the rest, going as far to even chide others doing exactly that about it if given the chance.
“You are only going to inflate that growing ego of his more,” he had had the audacity to chide his wife one day, as they arrived at his home to pick up their own quirkless son from his house.
Yes, Hisashi Midoriya had never been a fan of him, and even less so of his friendship with his only child, the loser Deku.
Katsuki could still remember the way his lip would curl when he opened his apartment door and found Katsuki and his mother standing there . There has been several times where the man had actually slammed the door in their faces, calling out to his wife and child that there had simply been a salesperson at the door.
Of course, this never worked as his mother made their presence known very easily with the amount of cuss words she let out every time this happened. Deku’s mother would always open the door almost immediately after with a slew of apologies as she glared over her shoulder at her husband. He never looked very sorry for his actions though, even when Deku joined his mother in lecturing him
This was not the only slight the man had given him though. Whenever he stepped in to volunteer for their pre-school class, he always had a habit of “forgetting” him. At snack time, Katsuki would somehow ended up with nothing, while Deku had managed to get double the amount of cookies and juice boxes the rest of the children had. Deku had always been more than happy to offer to share his goodies with him, but he had always refused.
Instead, he always ended up just glaring at the older man as he apologized for running out of snacks before getting to him. But again, he could tell the man never truly meant it, as the amusement in his eyes ruined the illusion of sincerity.
So, it was safe to say that Katsuki Bakugo did not like Hisashi Midoriya.
No, he loathed the man. Who was he to look down on him? What leg did he have to stand on with his own weak fire breath quirk?! Especially one that could not even be passed on, resulting in his own child becoming quirkless.
He eventually had decided that the reason that Hisashi Midoriya hated him so much was simply jealousy. He figured that he must be so ashamed of his child, he took his anger out on the superior child near him that kept bringing it up. It was all a bit pathetic to Katsuki in all honesty; after all he was so much older than him.
Still, he had quickly grown frustrated with it as a kid. He was tired of being knocked down every time the man saw him.
No, he had to do something about it, his naive childish self had thought. He had to find a way to prove that he was truly the best and finally knock down this obstacle in his way.
It took a quite a bit of time for the perfect opportunity to knock Hisashi Midoriya down a peg to show itself. But it did come, in the shape of a school event.
It was the “graduation” celebration picnic, an event to celebrate all the kids in his pre-school class moving onto primary school. All the parents had been invited to a small gathering at the local park with their children for a party, to give the kids a last chance to play together before they left.
And it was there that he had seen his chance.
He was going to make sure Hisashi Midoriya made a fool of himself at the party.
How? By tripping him at the picnic of course! Hisashi Midoriya would be embarrassed by his fall and forced to admit defeat to him for knocking him down to the ground.
It had seemed like the perfect plan to him at the time, so he had gone ahead with it.
He could still remember how bright that day had been. There had not been a cloud in the sky as he dragged his father to the picnic, ignoring his mother screeching for him to wait in the background. The park had some decent decorations as well, with a large banner with the word “CONGRATULATIONS!” stretching over benches decorated with blue and yellow streamers.
While this was pleasing to him, his main attention had been on finding his target. As soon as they got to the picnic, he scrambled onto a table, despite his mother’s screams to get down. Once on the table, he had begun searching around for a familiar bush of green hair, knowing his target would be nearby.
It took him a minute but he was able to spot his childhood companion in the distance at the tables farthest from the center. Like always, the loser’s doting parents were there, chatting with him and any of the parents who came by.
Upon seeing the family, he had pointed them out to his parents..
“Look there’s Deku! Come on Dad! Old Lady!” he insisted.
Ignoring his mother’s indignant squawk, he bolted over to the family in the corner.
“Oi, Deku! Aunty Inko!”
He had come to a stop just as he got to the picnic table. He had not been surprised in the least to see Deku leap to his feet as soon as he appeared. It was a normal occurrence after all. The nerd had always been one of his biggest fans.
“Kacchan! You came to play!” Izuku had exclaimed happily, his eyes wide with surprise.
His Aunt Inko had a more reserved greeting compared to her son, as she merely smiled at him as she moved her son’s cup away from him before he spilled it.
“Hello Katsuki. I hope you are not giving your parents too much trouble.” she chuckled.
Him? Causing trouble?
Unheard of.
He nodded in her direction though, though his eyes had been more focused on the one person who had not greeted him yet.
Hisashi Midoriya had not even looked in his direction, as his gaze was directed more towards the phone in his hands.
His blood had boiled at this. Did the man really look down on him so much that he would ignore his very presence?
Well this just wouldn't do.
He quickly made his way over to the man, moving to stand between him and Deku.
"Hello Mr. Midoriya!" he made his voice loud enough that it would not be ignored.
He took some pride in the way the man's eyebrow twitched upon hearing him speak. Red eyes flickered from his phone to him, annoyance clear within them.
"Hello Katsuki." The man gritted out.
As soon as the greeting was out though, Midoriya looked to his wife.
"Inko, I need to make a quick phone call to work. Seems like there was a mistake made that I need to handle."
Deku made a face at this.
"But Dad! We just got here! Can't someone else fix it?" he whined.
His Aunt Inko pursed her lips at her husband's words.
"Alright, but hurry back as soon as you can alright?"
"I will. Don't worry."
The older man offered his wife a smile as he reached down and ruffled Deku's hair.
"Don't be too upset, okay Izuku? I will be back soon."
Deku had pouted, but still nodded at his father's words.
"Alright Dad."
Midoriya offered his son a small smile before departing from the scene, once again ignoring the other child nearby.
He had narrowed his eyes at this strange scene. A strange phone call huh?
"Deku I'm going to see where the food is. Be back later."
"Aww! Don't go too Kacchan!" Once again the younger child began whining.
However, the annoying child had been ignored. Katsuki immediately left the duo at the table, instead heading straight for the man who had just departed.
He had done his best to keep his footsteps as quiet as possible, while still keeping the older man in sight. Though, as time passed, he had felt a small bit of uneasiness come over him as he noticed just how far they were into the forest. Even if he wanted to turn back, he would not have been able to, as he eventually lost track of where they were.
Finally though, the man came to a sudden stop by a random bunch of trees.
Katsuki came to a stop as soon as he had, immediately ducking behind a tree. Slowly though, he had peeked his head out, just so he could see what the older Midoriya was up to.
Sure enough, the older man had already had his phone pressed to his ear, his eyes narrowed. Anger seemed to radiate off the man in waves.
Even though he was quite a bit away, he could not help but shiver at the man's rage.
He had never seen the man express such high level of emotions. It was quite terrifying honestly.
What had gotten him so angry?
It took a few minutes, but eventually, whoever Midoriya had called, finally picked up, as the man began talking.
"What happened Kurogiri? I told that fool exactly what to do if that walking flag burst in!"
There was a minute of silence as this supposed Kurogiri explained what had happened. However, he evidently had said the wrong thing as the man hissed.
"I have lost over a year of research due to this incident. That is a year of my time and resources wasted. This will not stand. Inform him to meet me tomorrow morning in Kamino. If he tries to back out, then tell him that he will have forfeited the lives of his wife and child."
Katsuki bit his lip in order to hide the startled cry that nearly escaped his throat.
Now, Katsuki was a smart child. He may not have known what forfeited meant, but from the way the older man had said it, he figured it must be bad.
There was another minute of silence as Kurogiri replied. Midoriya seemed to calm down though, as he let out a small sigh.
"Good. After this picnic I will look into improving security. We can not risk another break in from All Might."
All Might?
Katsuki had blinked at that. Why would All Might go after Mr.Midoriya? After all he only went after-
And then it hit him.
Hisashi Midoriya was a villain.
This time, he had not been able to hide the small noise that escaped him at this.
No wonder the man had gone after him! He must have seen his hero potential and so he went after him!
Maybe that's why he babied Deku so much too! He was going to try and make him a villain too so he was trying to butter him up!
He had to get back to the picnic. He had to warn everyone, especially Auntie Inko and Deku. Then, they would call All Might to take out Mr.Midoriya.
He had quickly turned away from the man, intending to make his way back to the picnic despite not knowing where the picnic even was.
And then he felt the hand on his shoulder.
"Why. What do we have here? Little Katsuki Bakugou so far away from the picnic."
Hisashi's voice had been as cold as ice as he spoke. His hand dug into the suddenly frozen child's shoulder, making the child nearly cry out.
It took Katsuki a second, but he had somehow been able to turn and look back at the man in front of him. He swallowed, but tried to puff himself up.
"Let me go you jerk! Imma tell everyone what I heard! And All Might is going to come and beat you up like every other bad guy!" he had demanded.
"I'm so scared." he older man had looked bored by his declaration. "You have always been such an arrogant child Katsuki. So prideful. It's no wonder how you turned out though, considering what hero society has become."
The man had spoken so nonchalantly, but his hand somehow tightened on him as he went on.
"Though, I doubt anyone would actually believe you if you tried exposing me. What evidence do you have? A one-sided phone conversation? That is hearsay, that would be thrown out in court so easily."
Katsuki had clenched his fist at that. Stupid..
"The old hag and Dad will believe me! And I bet Auntie Inko will too!" he shot back.
He realized he had messed up as soon as the words were said. Because as soon as he had spoken, Midoriya's face had shifted.
The same anger that he had expressed earlier came back full force. His eyes narrowed and his hand was holding him so tightly, the child had wondered for a moment if he had somehow managed to break his skin.
"Really child? I wonder what would happen once you said something… After all, people seem to be going missing all the time. Would be a shame if one of your parents suddenly vanished."
Katsuki's eyes had widened at that.
His dad? He would seriously hurt him?
No way. All Might would stop him first.
Right?
"All Might would stop you first!" Katsuki had insisted.
"Are you sure?" Midoriya had tilted his head to the side a bit, his lips forming the most chilling smile Katsuki had ever seen. "Are you willing to take the risk? "
In the future, Katsuki would want to say that he had told the man yes. He would want to say that he had of course rebuffed the older man and sprinted back to the picnic, heroically informing everyone what had happened and getting Hisashi Midoriya arrested for his evil deeds.
But that would have been a lie.
He had been a very outspoken and brave child. That could never be denied.
But he had still been a child.
He had simply shook his head, the thought of losing his father overwhelming him.
"No." he had mumbled.
"Good." And just like that, the hand had been removed from his shoulder. The older man had sent him a thin smile as he put the hand in his pocket, as if he had not threatened him in any way.
"Why don't we go back to the picnic. I am sure your disappearance has worried everyone, especially your parents and Izuku."
He had slowly nodded at this words, shame and guilt welling up within him as he let the adult lead him back to the group.
Katsuki never mentioned the incident to anyone. Not to his parents who fretted over him once they returned to the picnic. Not to his Auntie Inko who had hugged her husband and thanked him for finding him.
And especially not to Deku, who had stared up at his father with wide eyes and gleefully called him a hero for saving his friend.
If only he knew.
But in the end, as he had been dragged away from the Midoriya family by the old hag he was forced to call his mother, he found himself clenching his fist.
Hisashi Midoriya may have won against him.
But one day, someone would knock him off his pedestal.
He just knew it.
And if no one did it by the time he was old enough to be a hero, then he would be more than happy to knock him down himself.