The night was dark. Not sunless darkness, but foreboding, hinting at future woes. The world shook after the Kamino Ward incident and losing their number one hero, but it dealt the worst blow to 1-A during that incident. No students willingly talked about that day, especially not Bakugou.

Ground Zero patrolled his route as any third-year hero student did. The city of Musutafu needed many heroes since the fall of All Might, and Katsuki could tell why as dispatch called him to the scene of another random smash and grab burglary. This was his fourth call in as many hours, so Ground Zero rushed to the scene.

The police hadn’t even arrived before Katsuki was securing the premises. He waited for the detective to arrive before entering the building, a small jewelry store with broken displays and missing product. The floor was a mess of broken glass and scattered pamphlets and papers, but one stood out to to Katsuki as he searched. “Detective,” he calls to the man recording the mess. He points to the paper, knowing the agency doesn’t like his swearing and the detective would tell him to stop. “It seems fu-... wrong to me. May I check it out?”

“Give me a moment, Ground Zero,” the detective states in a professionally smooth voice. He takes pictures of the crumpled ball of paper sitting on the register and waves Katsuki ahead. “Open it and set it on the counter.”

Katsuki holds back the snarl in his throat at the patronizing tone and grabs up the ball of paper, peeling it open with barely veiled impatience. Once he gets it open, he can see the jumble of letters that make up a cypher scrawled across the back of a sales ad for the store. “It’s a fucking mess is what it is, detective.” He slams the paper onto the counter and allows the man take his photo.

“Didn’t the last two break-ins have papers like this one, hero?” The detective looks at Katsuki with annoyance at the outburst before he moves on to check through his camera for the answer.

“Yes, you fu-” Katsuki inhales and lets it out slowly. “Yes, a list of numbers 1 through 26 and letters, randomized.” Katsuki thinks on what he’s learned about cyphers in second year before he punches the wall. “The bastards left us the key and the message in three fucking robberies?! What wrote it on the wall? At least it got through faster!” At the end of his rope, Katsuki has to walk around the store to cool off. When he returns, the detective has written the lists from the other two scenes onto post-it notes and is looking them over.

“Ground Zero, read this. The numbers are in order, but they scrambled the letters. 1-D, 2-V… What do you think they mean by this?” The detective looks between the notes and the hero student like a teacher grading a test.
Katsuki snorts and thinks about it for a minute. “The letter may be the one written in the note and the number… no. The number could represent the value of the letter in the note and the letter is what we should replace it with? Like,” He points to an ‘A’ in the mess of letters, “an A is a one, B is 2.” The detective smiles and nods at him, only increasing his notion of being less than this man.

“Good point. Start translating the note, I have to document the rest of this store and talk to the owner.” The detective leaves to continue his work, leaving Katsuki to decipher the letter.

Katsuki groans. He hasn’t needed to sing the English alphabet this much since middle school. He’s finished with turning the letters to numbers and as he translates the code, he pales. “No no no, fucking no.” He nearly cries as he puts the last letters into place and reads the full message. “DETECTIVE!” He rushes in asking what’s wrong, but Katsuki can only point at the paper. The detective looks at the page and takes a photo, not wanting to think of the implications this one note may have brought with it.

Thanks for working so long on this page, Ground Zero. You made my true work that much easier.
Love you truly,
D

Katsuki rushes out of the store and looks around the streets. He breathes deep and screams. “DEKU!!!” He can almost hear the laugh of the kid he tormented so long ago.

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A small green-haired boy giggles lightly hearing Katsuki yell out and clicks ‘send’. He stands from his position on the roof of the skyscraper that the late All Might broke him on nearly 4 years prior and walks through the purple portal into his dark mastermind’s lair. “One chocolate shake please, and a strawberry mixed in. You know how I like it, Kuro.” The misty man looks exasperated, but starts the drink for the kid sitting at the bar. The place he walked into was a dimly lit bar with a rich cherry wood bar-top boasting inlaid gold trim, several well-kept tables and stools, and a fine wood floor. Quite the investment made by its owner if he said so himself.

Izuku looks at the tables littered with gold, silver, and jewels as he takes a sip of his milkshake, knowing the true prize was in his room, waiting for him to call it a night and lock his door. “We have plenty of brokers waiting to take this stuff off my tables, right? Gold is pretty, but it doesn’t pay as well for bills as straight yen.”

The man at a corner table looks up at him, his purple suit standing out dramatically against the clean, dark interior. “I have buyers for your ill-gotten goods, kid. No worries, I’ll have it gone tomorrow.” He smiles with a few teeth missing before he goes back to the drink he was working on.

Izuku nods and stands up, walking to the pile before sifting through the brightly polished gold. He finds a small ring and slides it on his right middle finger. A slender, 18 carat gold ring with laser-cut filigree and an emerald as the focal point and it fit perfectly on his finger. He keeps it on as he drinks his milkshake and sets the empty glass on the counter. “I’ll talk to you all in the morning,” comes from the greenette as he walks up to the room designated as his.

When he shuts the door and locks it, he turns around to see a box sitting on his green blanketed bed and rubs his hands in anticipation. He opens the box with shaky hands to see the best prize he could achieve on a night like this. “Ah, the Ground Zero Plus Ultra figure! Number 1 of the limited run, Alpha design costume!” He checks the base and nearly squeals at the silver ink signature of the hero. He places the figure on his display shelf before smiling at his collection of his Kacchan gear. The statuette adding to his hero hoodie, Tervis cup, keychain, and every other piece of gear he could get his gloved hands on (which was all of them).

The boy looks in his mirror as he gets ready for whatever sleep his mind will give him that night. His curly undercut could use a trim to stay on point, he’s starting to have the itch for a new addition to the tribal tattoos that run from his right wrist to his shoulder, and his eye bags could use a vacation. He smirks as he strips completely and gets in the shower. “I look better than Dad did in Kamino.” He cleans up and gets in bed to the welcoming sounds of the night and closes his eyes.

Izuku gets up the next morning at 6am and gets ready for a day of being the wanted criminal that single-handedly ended the most wanted villain and most loved hero with two well-timed bullets. He gets some of his favorite breakfast, frosted flakes with frosting and a cup of coffee (sweetened), and sits at the bar.
He makes his list of to-do’s after his brain catches up with his body as sugar and caffeine course through him. Today, he needs to finish the takeover of the Ukishima Pharmaceutical company and buy that gift his boyfriend was looking at for so long the other day before his date.

So Kacchan wasn’t his boyfriend yet. And he had a terrible habit of hanging out with the redheaded stone boy. Formalities to deal with soon enough.

Not to mention a jail he had to break into. Pesky details of life that got between him and seeing Kacchan again. The nomu from the USJ attack was still sitting like a useless black marshmallow in a prison cell, wasting perfectly good quirks. It was high time for the greenette to take back what he inherited from his father.

Izuku finished his breakfast and got dressed in his best hoodie and jeans before looking over the notes for the prison. It wasn’t Tartarus, but it’s still a prison. For quirked people. Only an idiot walks into a prison without a plan, and he wasn’t an idiot.

The boy took a deep breath and pictured the cell he wanted to be in. The great black oaf was in low security after AfO didn’t come for it and it didn’t fight anyone. Izuku watches as the grey liquid spills from his fingers and climbs up the wall to form a mirror-like surface, his smile grows as the mirror turns to a window into a cold grey prison cell with one bird beaked inhabitant. “Time to get back to work.” He steps through the portal and steps up to the nomu.

Izuku sets his hand on the nomu’s shoulder and feels as the power of new quirks floods him like cold water over his nerves. The alarms go off as quirk detectors pick up on his use of portal and All for One. He laughs loudly and returns through the portal as he can hear guards yelling and running towards him.

The guards only get the satisfaction, once they open the cell door, of seeing grey fluid absorb into the wall and disappear, leaving the wall clean.

One line off his to-do list, Izuku lets the new quirks settle in under his skin as he prepares his papers for a transfer of ownership and his lawyer’s documents. He checks the clock and smirks. He’s working ahead of schedule as it only just turned 6:45am and his meeting isn’t until 10. “I guess I can go pick up that hearing guard Kacchan was admiring in the mall last week before the meeting.”

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Being active and using his new quirks was a breath of fresh air after a year and a half of letting the insanity blow over. AfO had brought him to the Kamino battlefield as a pawn. A hostage to keep the pro hero from fighting at 100%, but he prepared for it. He packed a handgun when the league wasn’t watching him, more interested in talking Kacchan into joining them.

Izuku was teleported away to his father’s side through that vomit portal quirk he refuses to use again. The greenette looked up at his father and got nothing from the man, so he looked at All Might. The hero glanced at him as All for One fell into his monologue. He had a way of being invisible when he wanted to be and this was no different. He slipped away as All Might signaled him to, the poor hero thinking the green-haired boy was a bystander. He watched from the side as blows matched blows and hero met villain until, predictably, the hero bested his father and turned to the crowd.

All Might’s victory speech was cut short by a gunshot and the camera hastily pans to the unconscious villain in a crater, blood seeping from a wound in his head. Izuku breathes deep as the warmth of his birth quirk finally activating rushes through his veins. He touches the villain and screams as quirk after quirk pours into his body until the hero steps close and almost touches him. Izuku backs off, eyes wide and feral from pain and fear. The gun rose faster than Izuku could think, and a shot rang out.
All Might grabbed at his gut, near the old injury, and looked at the boy for the first time since the fight began. “I’m sorry, my boy.”

“For making me shoot you? I’m not. Now, you’re just as broken as I felt on that rooftop last year.” An expression of recognition crossed the hero’s face. “You broke me and left me on that rooftop just when I needed you to save me from myself. Now, just like you said, I’m not a hero. I’m better than a hero. Better than you and better than the system.” Izuku looks at the police storming the battlefield and then at his League. “Monologues seem to be a trope that’s hard to escape for villains, so I’ll leave our chat at that. Goodbye, All Might.” He runs towards Kurogiri, but Hawks and Gran Turino cut him off. “Cute costume, Hawks. Digging the whole pilot theme. If you’ll excuse me, I’m hurting and want to lie down at home for a while.” Kurogiri opens a portal behind Izuku and the boy backs into it before even Gran can make a move.

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Walking into Hatsume Designs was easier than the security profile said it would be. Izuku just walked in the front doors with a stolen employee ID that he lifted off some poor guy who had walked out a few minutes before. He finds his way to the owner’s lab through a directory and activates one of his favorite quirks. ‘Technomancy’ allowed him to fiddle with some electronics, but it slows the user’s brain if used too much, hence the nicked ID badge. He touches the keypad and overrides the entry parameters to let him in through an eight digit code. He enters his code and deletes every other entry method in its system. Then he sees the greatest creation of the minds of the Hatsume family (He may exaggerate, but what industry overlooks its employees’ safety more than heroism).

It looks like a set of headphones, but the advertisement said it contained noise cancellation, call and radio communication, GPS, and Bluetooth for the ever important tunes. To top it off, the skin color could change with a tap of a button and the presence of cat ears was just the cherry on top of Izuku’s wish list. The pair in the lab was the first edition, so only a chosen hero would wear it (read top agency investor). Izuku was planning on tipping the scale into a new direction. He picks up the special set and puts it around his neck before eyeing the backup set. Same features sans ears, so perfect for a certain love interest. He scoops that and a few other projects off the storage shelves and leaves a thank you note for them.

The grey portal oozes into existence just as someone tries the door, the buzz of a rejection loud and clear. Izuku flashes his best smile and waves at the door before walking into his portal and going home. The man on the other side of the door yelling something unheard as the portal closes. Izuku puts the headphones in a bag with a little green tissue paper, because why not, and sets it on his desk for later. He had a boring meeting to attend.

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After the lawyers talked, and he signed papers, he was free to go. Izuku checked the watch he had. 2 o’clock. He had plenty of time to implement his plan for Kacchan. He made sure his room was clean and didn’t smell like he hadn’t changed his sheets in months, trimmed his hair back to his favorite length, got on a new suit, and a little mint body spray to finish the package and he was ready to meet his hero.

Izuku went down to the bar and sat down on a stool, waiting for the signal from Kurogiri that his date was in place and alone. He took in the bar he remodeled for the group of outcasts that he now ran. It wasn’t the same as Kurogiri’s bar that was so rudely destroyed by heroes over a year ago, but it was home and it was his.

Twice, standing in the corner, looked him over. “You seem put together. For a blind man.” Izuku just rolled his eyes at the villain, used to his split personalities. He looked better with his costume on. The man continued with a question, “why buy a company that’s already under? I think it’s a stupid move.”

Izuku gets up and walks calmly over to the cloning villain. “Because why not? Villains who are just plain two-dimensional baddies sit in their chair, thinking up new ways to hurt a hero or society. I bought an insolvent, local medicine manufacturer that provided jobs to people in our area. Now, I step in because their board lost sight of people and saw profits. They were losing to their competition, so I turn the focus back to effective drugs at low costs and offer deals to hospitals that would be stupid to turn down. I’m helping the locals stay employed and cut costs on every drug possible. I’ll be the villain that heroes hate themselves for liking.”

A portal opening by the bar cuts off Izuku’s rambling. “That’s my queue. Showtime calls, and the stage is set.” He grabs the bag from the counter and walks through the portal onto a rooftop overlooking the street he had stated on the latest of his treasure hunt/crime sprees. The building had a nice view over the city and in just a few minutes, the blond hero would meet him up there. Izuku set a table for two with a few candles, a tablecloth, and some nice food waiting to be brought up so the chill of the winter day doesn’t cool the food he chose.

Bakugou bursts onto the roof, ready for a fight, but is surprised by a well-dressed boy sitting at a dining table. “Deku?! Don’t pull any tricks, you’re under arrest!”

Izuku just looks amused by the air of control that his crush exudes as he takes in the man his age. The look hasn’t changed since freshman year save for a few minor costume upgrades. Izuku smiles at the look of annoyance Bakugou sports at the lack of action. “Welcome to my private balcony, Kacchan. Sit and we can talk. I might even answer some questions.”

Katsuki fires up his quirk, enjoying the comfort of heat in his palms. “Are you deaf, you fucking nerd?! I said you’re-”

“Under arrest. I can hear perfectly fine, Kacchan. I just don’t agree with that assessment. I feel quite free for a man under arrest, so either you sit down and we talk or you can try to put those cuffs on me.”

Katsuki touches the transmitter in his ear. “Ground Zero to all. Suspect on the roof. Need backup, suspect is resisting.” Silence and then static is all the response he receives. “Backup needed on the roof, dammit!” Static. “Fuck!”

“Oopsie, looks like I forgot to shut off my signal jammer quirk. You’re up here with me. Alone. Last offer to sit and talk, Kacchan.”

Bakugou shoots forward, screaming, and pulls his fist back for the swing. He lets loose as Izuku just stands there and is taken aback for a second as his fist connects with the smaller boy and he doesn’t move. “You’ve gotten stronger since I last saw you, Kacchan. Mama would be proud.” He responds with a yell and throws his other fist at the boy’s jaw, but just before it can collide, Izuku bows formally and the swing goes over his head. The miss puts him off balance and Izuku bounces a few steps away. “You want to fight me, Kacchan? Then stop showing off moves and fight.”

Bakugou blasts the greenette with an explosion and runs in close under the smoke to deliver an explosive punch that sends the boy backwards into a wall. “Give up already, Deku!!” He launches himself at the boy to deliver a knockout blow to the head, but Izuku sidesteps and lets the punch go over his shoulder. Izuku looks up into fiery red eyes and kisses Bakugou, giggling at the look of utter befuddlement that freezes the hero in place before he slips to the side. “What the fuck, Deku? What was that?!”

Izuku quirks an eyebrow in mock confusion. “A kiss? Oh, that’s right. You’ve always focused on being a great hero, so you’ve never kissed anyone. Thank you for saving your first kiss for me instead of that rock boy. Crush Me or whoever?” He dodges another swing. “I’ve fallen for you, Kacchan. I watched you grow as a man and as a hero, but I wasn’t allowed to be in your life.” He stops a knee from entering his gut, but gets a fist to the temple and falls to the side. Bakugou jumps him and pins him down. The green eyes look up into his red and Izuku smirks. “Kinky, Kacchan. I’d like dinner first though.”

Bakugou screams and pushes off of the greenette. “Why won’t you fucking take this seriously, you stupid fucking Deku?!” Izuku rises and brushes his vest off.

“You wrinkled my shirt, I smell like burnt caramel instead of mint, you ruin my table that I set for dinner, and you think I’m not being serious? You’d be almost right.” He cleans his hair and rolls up his sleeves, his eyes losing their jovial gleam. “You want me to be more serious, so don’t complain.” Izuku activates multiple quirks and disappears from in front of Bakugou to the air behind him. “Boo.” He fires off a punch backed by strength enhancement, hardening, speed enhancement, and enlargement, sending Bakugou across the roof, eyes wide at the speed and strength Deku attacked with.

Izuku doesn’t let him roll off the roof, opting to clothesline the hero and pin him to the ground with his enlarged hand. “Serious enough for you?”

Bakugou stays silent for a minute as he reassesses the boy he lost contact with at 6 years old. He looks at the green eyes, hurt to the point of using sick humor as a shield to hide his pain. Katsuki takes in a breath to ready himself, feeling the grip tighten marginally. “I’m sorry.”

Izuku blinks, hand backing off slightly. “Why?”

“Fuck! You know I’m terrible with this sentimental shit, Midoriya.” He takes a second to collect himself before grimacing. “I was an asshole before you disappeared and a fucking idiot to think you hadn’t changed after you reappeared at Kamino. I had the idea lodged in my head that the weak nerd that followed me like an annoying puppy still existed, so I’m sorry for underestimating you and ruining what you did.”

Izuku releases his hold on Katsuki and drops the quirks in his arm. “Will you sit at the table now?”

Katsuki jumps up and glares at the smaller boy, begrudgingly taking a seat at the table after Izuku straightens the tablecloth and setting. “Why the cat-and-mouse game to lead me here?”

“Food first.” The smaller boy hits a button and the roof door opens, sending Katsuki to a defensive position only to sit down when he recognizes the waiters as waiters and nothing more. They stay back until the hero calms and deliver the plates of food and wine. “Spicy beef ramen with the fixings and a glass of Bordeaux to compliment. About your earlier question, I wanted you to have some fun while I was getting ready. A treasure hunt is always a fun way to pass the time.” Izuku eats while Bakugou glares suspiciously at his own food.

He tries some food and determines it safe to eat. “Why did you shoot All Might back then? And shoot your boss too?”

“I shot my dad because I could get out from under him, but All Might got shot because he didn’t understand my fear of his power.” He says between bites, face unchanging. “One for All taught me to cut the throat of the weakest link, and I found him to be inadequate when he lost to a failing hero.”

Bakugou clenches his jaw at the blunt excuse for patricide even if the man was evil in its purest form. “Can I ask why you’re doing this to talk with me, a hero, while you’re classified as a wanted villain? You seem relaxed for a criminal, Midoriya.”

“Why go to the lengths of setting up a private dinner for the two of us? I told you already, Kacchan. I like you and wanted you to know it. I fell for you a while back.” Izuku twiddles his chopsticks and looks everywhere but the blond, a light blush across his cheeks.

“That’s so fucking sentimental, Deku. You’ve never stopped following me like a lost puppy.” Katsuki eats more, smirking at the boy who can’t take the heat of his own meal.

“I know it is, so I brought you a gift to show that it’s sincere.” The green-haired boy places the bag on the table. “I love you, Kacchan, and I would like to have more time with you.”

Bakugou looks up at Izuku, finally recognizing the blush for what it is. He looks in the bag and pulls out the headphones. He looks surprised as he eyes the gear. “How did you know that I want one of these fuckers?” The greenette smirks. “You didn’t steal it from the designer, right?”

“I was in the vicinity when you and Rocky were looking in the store and talking about it, so I picked up the second of their limited run. I thought you’d like it as an addition to your hero and personal lives.” Izuku stands up and paces, Bakugou’s silence making him anxious.

Bakugou looks at the pacing boy. “I don’t love you, fucking Deku. Even if I did, our lives wouldn’t let us be together, you stupid nerd. I will be the number one hero and I can’t let you get between me and that goal. So you can keep the fucking headphones, I’ll buy my own.” He drops the headset back in the bag. “Now come with me, Deku. You’re under arrest.” He moves toward the greenette, cuffs in hand.

“No, I’m not. You can go on with your life, but understand me, Kacchan. I won’t let you go to anyone else. You will belong to me.” Izuku picks up the headphones, dodging Bakugou. “Thank you for opening my eyes, Kacchan. You’re the weakness in my armor, and now, I can focus on bigger tasks.” He bows and Bakugou watches the silver pool beneath him. The hero charges and tries to tackle the green villain, getting caught by the neck instead. “I will end anyone you go with and you if you get in my way, Ground Zero. Goodbye.” He throws the hero to the side and drops into the portal before landing on his bed and dismissing the silver fluid.

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The portal closes before Katsuki could get up. The look of broken pain on the other boy dissolving into dead indifference as the boy threw him aside replays in his head and all he can think is ‘what have I done?’ Bakugou returns home that night, the air seeming ominous, as if something has changed in the city. The atmosphere of calm overlaying the hot hostility lurking around him.

Izuku lets himself cry, but only for a short time. The world was now his to take as he wanted and no one could match him as he grew stronger. Bakugou gave up as the last string holding a desperate boy to his dreams and let him die in the jaws of a monster.

The world would know the word Despair in the coming years as the boy tore it asunder.