Work Text:
Izuku knew there was something seriously fucking wrong with Kacchan.
No one else realized, no one else thought his grins were just a bit too bright and his voice just a bit too cheerful to be anything but deceitful.
But Izuku knew him. He knew his friend and all of the intricacies that made him him. He knew the movies he liked, the dreams he had, the well-hidden fact that he actually adored chocolate, the All Might plush that had to be stitched back together far too many times to count because Kacchan wouldn’t stop carrying it everywhere he went.
If there was one person that Izuku knew better than anyone it was Kacchan.
Well.
At least he thought he did.
Before Katsuki had gone and disappeared from his life, Izuku was pretty sure they'd be around each other for the rest of their lives; his 4-year-old mind couldn't fathom the idea of Katsuki being gone.
But then suddenly Mitsuki was making excuses and Katsuki was gone.
At first, he saw him sometimes - occasionally catching glimpses of a dark and expensive-looking car dropping him off at his house every other weekend, people in suits guiding him up to the doorstep as he limped towards the door, his face covered in bruises and bandages wrapping around his tiny arms.
Even then, though, when Katsuki was home, Izuku barely spent time with him.
"He's tired, sweetheart, let Katsuki-chan rest," his mother would say whenever he'd ask for his friend, "you'll see him again soon."
Right.
Sure.
They'd meet at the playground and while Katsuki was still the same - still snapping at everyone, still grumpy and smug and so Kacchan - there was something different about him.
The loudness that once surrounded his entire being was now dwindling - that same boy who once yelled no matter his emotions was now subdued, quiet and thoughtful.
It worried Izuku just as much as it intrigued him.
Soon Katsuki was gone completely.
"Extra hero training," was all that Mitsuki said when Inko asked about the tiny spitfire and his absence.
Izuku didn't know if he should be happy for his friend or absolutely miserable.
Yeah, Kacchan was training to become a hero, the best hero, but he missed him, dammit!
He had no one! No one to play with, no one to talk about All Might with, no one to tell him stupid random facts and call him an idiot for not knowing about these things, as if Izuku was just supposed to know about the life expectancy of sharks.
He just wanted him back; screw the hero training, Kacchan was so amazing he would become the number one without it!
But no matter how much he cried or how many questions he asked... Katsuki never came back.
He had often looked and waited for that black car to pull up in front of the Bakugou's house, but it was of no use - deep down he knew Katsuki wouldn't return.
Years had passed, Izuku had grown and the only times the angry little blond from his childhood was mentioned was when the chatty neighbours wanted something to gossip about. It was as if Katsuki was nothing more than a passing hot-topic instead of a child that was no longer there.
“I heard he died in a villain attack.”
“They apparently put him up for adoption, good for them, he was an insufferable little brat.”
“Maybe the parents had something to do with the disappearance?”
All the assumptions had gone ignored - they didn’t matter, they didn’t know a thing about Kacchan. The only times their words mattered to him was when they said anything foul about his friend; that was when his mother would struggle to calm him down and his rage would consume him.
Even at the age of 15 he still found that to be a grave offence.
But rarely anyone mentioned him anymore. It seemed as if even gossip about the missing Bakugou child had dwindled.
Izuku would never forget, though.
He’d tried talking to Mitsuki and Masaru, he’d begged and cried and asked them where he was but it seemed as if their lips were sealed shut and they never even gave him a hint as to where he could find his old friend.
Anytime he spoke to them, though, they never showed any type of concern or regret. It was as if they knew exactly what had happened, as if they were the ones to take part in the disappearance and chose to keep their mouths shut.
The fact that that very detail both terrified and exhilarated Izuku was so fucking confusing.
Either they were simply emotionless monsters who had disposed of their own son or… Kacchan was somewhere safe.
Deku knew he was alive, he had to be.
It would only take some time to find him.
That was fine. He wouldn’t give up.
With his training and new quirk, though, he barely had time to focus on anything besides his goal of getting into UA, let alone searching for his missing friend.
He’d asked All Might for help, he wanted to see if he could check police records or anything of the sort and see if he could find any information but there was nothing - no reports of a missing child, no ‘Bakugou Katsuki’ in adoption centres, nothing.
Even after all these years, Kacchan was still a ghost.
Days had passed and the Entrance Exam got closer and closer.
The exam that Katsuki was supposed to take right by Izuku’s side.
The reminder did nothing but fuel his anxiety and fear.
“Good luck, sweetheart, be careful today, okay?”
With a nod, Izuku smiled when his mother ruffled his hair and he rushed out the door.
As he stood in front of UA, though, he couldn’t even feel excited about what was to come, about the fact that he was in the building where so many great heroes had spent their teenage years.
It wasn’t right.
Kacchan wasn’t there.
It felt as if he was somehow cheating on his friend, betraying him and his memory by living their dream without him.
Izuku shook his head, heaving a sigh and stepping forward.
It didn’t do well to dwell on his friend - Katsuki wouldn’t have wanted that. If he caught Izuku hesitating to enter the exam room he would’ve called him an idiot and pushed him forward.
Always pushing him forward.
Right.
Time for the exam.
Oh God. Oh God.
He had expected some sort of fuck up on his part, that was undeniable, but as he lay in the infirmary, both arms wrapped in bandages, he couldn’t quite figure out how he fucked it up this bad.
No points.
Zero. Fucking. Points.
It was almost funny how pitiful he was.
All that training, those gruelling months he’d spent with All Might’s support, all for nothing.
He’d wrecked his and Kacchan’s dream.
Kacchan never even got the chance to go through the exam, and here Izuku was, failing it like a fucking idiot.
‘Cause he was useless, he was Deku and there was nothing he could do about it.
Ugh.
He just wanted to sleep.
Oh.
He got in.
He actually got in.
The tears that sprung from his eyes couldn’t be stopped, nor could the sob that he let out.
All Might’s words spun through his head, as did his mother’s congratulations, but all he could think about was Kacchan.
He would’ve been so proud, he would’ve grinned and he would’ve ruffled Izuku’s hair and
said, “good job, ‘Zuku, now you’ll be able to be my sidekick.”
He wanted to tell him. He wanted to tell him so bad.
But all he could do was grab a beat-up old notebook in which he often did the same thing he was doing at that moment - scribbled all the little thoughts that he would’ve shared with his best friend.
Maybe someday he’d get to show him all that he’d written.
It was foolish of him to hope for such a thing, everyone else seemed to have given up, but he could feel it - Kacchan was out there.
His first day at UA was as nerve-wracking as he thought it would be.
Even before the lessons had started, Izuku was panicking.
What if he wasn’t good enough? What if he failed? What i-
No. He couldn’t think that way.
Kacchan would’ve slapped him and told him to get his ass in gear if he caught him doubting himself when he had already done what he previously thought was impossible - he got into UA.
It was fine. He’d be fine.
Maybe not.
Before he even entered the classroom he could sense something was wrong.
But there were people in front of him and he could barely see a thing through the doorway, even as he strained and stood on his tip-toes.
Suddenly, though, the people in front of him started to disperse, moving into their seats and still talking excitedly about what was to come, about the lessons and the teachers.
But Izuku wasn’t listening to them. He couldn’t. He couldn’t hear a fucking thing.
All he could do was stare, stare at his long-lost friend, at the boy that had disappeared when he was a child and was never heard from again.
It was as if the air was knocked out of him, lungs collapsing and heart beating impossibly fast because, fuck, he was right fucking there.
The same spiky blond hair, the same red eyes, but… There was something different. Something sinister.
The grin that used to be almost feral, intimidating and filled with confidence, was now crooked, soft and gentle in a way that it never was before.
To anyone else it would seem like the regular smile of a kind boy but to Izuku… Izuku could tell Kacchan was different - terrifyingly so.
The way he held himself was different, tense and dignified as if he was already above everyone in the room. It was different from the way he used to behave - this was unnatural, a facade.
Kacchan wouldn’t have sat that way, he would’ve thrown himself onto the chair and slouched all damn day before complaining about his back hurting to Izuku.
Those red eyes snapped towards him, meeting his gaze and causing him to nearly stumble and fall to the floor.
“Izuchan!” The gruff voice came from his friend? His acquaintance? He didn’t know. “It’s so nice to see you again, I’ve missed you!”
Izuku wanted to be relieved, he wanted to cry and wrap his arms around him and never let go. He’d wanted to hear that voice for so long, he’d missed it so dearly and yet he couldn’t. He couldn’t move, he could barely breathe.
Not when those eyes were still on him, piercing him with their intensity. That wasn’t what was wrong, though. No. They were missing the fearlessness, the stubbornness and determination they once had.
They were empty.
That wasn’t his Kacchan.
Talking to Katsuki had proven to be damn near impossible, especially when simply looking at him brought about a sense of pain that Izuku hadn’t felt in years.
He felt as if he had lost his friend all over again. He’d found him, only to realize that it wasn’t really Kacchan.
The moment he first saw him, Izuku could hardly contain himself, he was almost willing the ignore the sense of wrongness he got whenever he spared the blond a glance but he fucking couldn’t, not when all the differences between his Kacchan and this Katsuki were so damn glaring.
Everyone seemed to love him, though, they all fawned over him and giggled and blushed whenever Katsuki flashed that blinding - crookedwrongbadbadbad - smile at them.
But Izuku knew better than to trust those dead, dull eyes.
His mother had found out about Katsuki’s reappearance the moment Izuku came home and yet the Bakugou’s did not speak of it to anyone. The neighbourhood remained blissfully oblivious to the return of the missing child.
Inko had wept in joy when Izuku told her about Kacchan being in his class.
Even though he wanted to talk to her, tell her about how wrong everything felt, he’d chosen to keep quiet about all of the details that had changed about his former friend. She deserved to be happy for a moment before it all came crashing down.
He hadn’t even told her that Katsuki wasn’t staying with his family, and so his mother was unaware of the growing dread inside Izuku’s mind.
She had called the Bakugou’s immediately, crying and congratulating Mitsuki and asking questions about their child.
How is he? Where has he been? Is he okay? Does he want Inko to cook something for him?
However, their answers were short and blunt, Mitsuki ending the call within minutes of its start, leaving Inko with nothing but confusion filling their small, now suffocating, flat.
It seemed as if Katsuki wasn’t staying with his parents after all.
But Izuku knew this already.
He’d found out when he had visited the household after the first day at UA, the day that he’d stuttered and cried and Katsuki cooed at him and tried to comfort him outside of UA in a way that his Kacchan never would’ve done.
Those arms around him were unfamiliar, that gentle tone even more so, the smell of burning sugar and caramel only serving to confuse and muddle Izuku’s thoughts even more.
But Izuku had to find out more, he had to speak to him for longer than a few minutes.
And so instead of walking to his own flat, he visited the home that he’d been avoiding for years.
Mitsuki had opened the door, looking as polished and beautiful as ever and yet, even with the return of her son, she seemed shocked at the sight of Izuku at her doorstep.
“Is Kacchan here, Auntie?”
“Izuku, sweetheart, you already know he’s not, are you feeling alright?”
“Bu-but I saw him at UA today, he’s back, why isn’t he here?”
Something strange flashed through Mitsuki’s eyes, a moment of shock before she went back to that smile, a fake grin plastered on her youthful face, so similar to the one that Katsuki now wore.
“Ah. Attending UA must be part of his special hero training. He’s not staying with us, kiddo.”
And the door shut.
Izuku would’ve been angry had he not been so fucking confused.
That was days ago, though, and since then he’d developed a brand new hobby - staring at Katsuki as much as he possibly could without outright seeming like a damn stalker; although, he thought he was already past that point.
He knew it was weird, he knew his glare and his mutterings and the writing in the notebook made him seem strange, borderline obsessive, but he simply couldn’t stop.
Letting Katsuki continue to behave the way he was wasn’t an option.
Soon, though, the cracks began to show.
The facade Katsuki had so carefully built around himself slowly chipped away until the true horror was shown.
No one else noticed. No one realized that within the rare seconds that Katsuki thought no one was looking he allowed his emotions to flare in those red eyes.
Izuku wasn’t sure if he should be happy that there was finally something other than emptiness in his irises or if he should be terrified of what Katsuki had become.
Because there was determination there, yes, that same old confidence and resilience that Izuku had admired since he was a child, but now… Now hatred had started to show. Pure, unadulterated hatred of the world, of every person Katsuki looked at, of the heroes that taught the lessons, All Might, Eraserhead, everyone and everything - nothing was safe from Katsuki’s rage.
It disappeared within seconds, though, as if it was never even there.
But Izuku saw it, he knew something was going on, Katsuki was planning something.
He wasn’t sure if he wanted to find out what exactly that was.
Following Kacchan may have been a poor decision on his part.
Fuck. It was stupid. So damn stupid.
Why did he think he should follow the guy that he didn’t even feel safe around?
Jesus. All those times Kacchan told him his self-preservation skills were shit when they were kids… Maybe he was right, only a little bit.
Maybe, just maybe, hiding behind bushes and rushing to keep up with that fluffy blond hair was pointless and downright dangerous.
But Katsuki didn’t seem to notice, or maybe he was just pretending. Izuku was sure it was the ladder.
It didn’t matter how many times he trailed after him once their classes finished, Katsuki always managed to disappear into the crowd, his movements quick and fluid as if hiding was something he’d been doing for years now. It was far too natural, far too well-practised, the way Katsuki could get away from Izuku within a split second.
He just wanted to talk to him! See if he was okay, if he was hurt, if he needed any help. But Kacchan was so… so damn stubborn. It was almost relieving to see that stubbornness make a return, but it didn’t make Izuku any less annoyed.
Why couldn’t he just walk straight to wherever the fuck he lived so that Izuku could follow him and figure out all of his secrets?
Right. Because it was Kacchan, and he always had a plan, always knew what he was doing.
It wasn’t surprising that he was so adamant at keeping all parts of him hidden.
Annoying? Yes. But surprising? No.
What was surprising, though, was the day Izuku walked into his home after working out for a few hours, sweat dripping down his face and muscles aching from over-exertion, but all of that seemed completely insignificant when he walked into the living room and right there on his couch, sipping tea while his mother fussed over him and pinched his blushing cheeks, was Katsuki.
“Oh, Izuchan, I’ve been waiting for you,” Katsuki spoke in that same grating cheerful voice he now used. God, can’t he just call him Deku and tell him to fuck off or something? Just for the good old time’s sake?
Izuku coughed to clear his throat, wringing his hands together and shuffling on his feet.
He couldn’t help it - Kacchan made him nervous. It happened when they were kids too, only then it was because he felt as if someone as incredible as Kacchan had no business even talking to someone as pathetic as him. But now it was for a completely different reason.
“H-hi, Kacchan, uhm, did you need me for something?”
He held back a grimace as Katsuki looked down, a pout playing on his lips and hands moving to place the cup of tea onto the table in front of him - he really did play the role of the kicked puppy so well, Izuku almost felt bad for him, almost wanted to rush over and reassure him.
But he knew it was fake.
“I’ve missed you, ‘Zuku, am I not allowed to come see my friend?”
The smile Izuku forced upon his lips was tense, he knew it looked anything but sincere, and he knew Katsuki could tell. He’d always been smart, too smart for his own good.
He didn’t have time to worry about his damn smile, though, not when his mother was fussing over them both and ushering them into his room to give them some privacy.
Right. Cause Izuku definitely wasn’t shaking at the mere thought of being alone with his former friend.
But he had no choice; he wanted to talk to him anyways, he wanted answers, but fuck, that didn’t mean he wasn’t absolutely fucking terrified.
At least his mother was still in the flat, surely Kacchan wouldn’t try to do anything with her there.
It’d be fine.
“S-so, uhm, ho-how have you been, Kacchan?”
He watched as the blond moved through his room, fingertips trailing over the shelves, over the many hero figurines - were his hands shaking? - until he moved towards the bed, sitting down on the edge and tilting his head to the side as he stared at Izuku.
A smile pulled on Katsuki’s lips, deceivingly sweet and comforting but not matching those dull, empty eyes.
Izuku shivered.
“Why have you been following me, Izuchan?”
Every nerve in Izuku’s body was suddenly alert, his muscles preparing to run before things escalated.
God, why did he think Katsuki wouldn’t notice? Why did he do it in the first place? It wasn’t any of his business what Kacchan was doing, what he’s been doing all these years.
“I- I, uhm,” Izuku stuttered, voice shaky and cheeks ruddy with embarrassment.
Katsuki merely chuckled at his expression, the fake sound causing a shiver to run down Izuku’s spine.
“I’m not angry, Izuku, I just want to know why you didn’t just come up to me and talk to me about whatever it was you wanted to know. We used to be friends, I would never hurt you, y’know? Why are you so scared of me?”
His voice cracked at the end, face forlorn and hands shaky as he stared up at Izuku and, fuck, Izuku couldn’t help the way tears welled up in his eyes at the sight.
He’d always been weak when it came to Katsuki, always, and just because his friend was different it didn’t mean that Izuku could forget just how much this boy meant to him, how much he loved him.
Maybe this was all just a misunderstanding? Maybe Izuku had been reading too much into things? Maybe he was simply worn out and the fucked up world he’d grown up in had left him jaded and unable to trust even the closest of friends?
But God, he couldn’t just forget those looks in Katsuki’s eyes, the way he’d shut down for a split second when he thought no one was looking, the way his jaw would clench whenever any hero spoke to him, the way he grimaced that one time All Might told him he’d make a fine hero after rescue training.
He was just so fucking confused.
But then Katsuki was standing up and walking over to him, placing a firm hand on his shoulder and moving closer to his face, inches away from him, those deaddeaddead eyes staring at him until his breathing quickened and his palms started to sweat.
“I’d never hurt you, ‘Zuku, you know that, don’t ya?”
He couldn’t help it - he nodded.
“Y-yes, Kacchan, I know that. I-I’ve just mi-missed you and I wanted to make sure you were o-okay.”
The grin on Katsuki’s face was nothing short of terrifying - a feral expression that many would think of as kind, understanding and sweet but Izuku could tell it was nothing of the sort.
“That’s good, Izuku, you’re so sweet.” The blond moved closer, their chests touching until he wrapped his arms around Izuku’s smaller form, and just as Izuku melted, shaky arms wrapping around Katsuki’s waist, the blond whispered, “but be careful, Izuchan, you’re going to get yourself in trouble one day if you keep being so. damn. nosy.”
Without missing a beat, Katsuki moved away, still smiling, still touching him, and then he ruffled his hair and stepped back, just as a knock interrupted them both, startling Izuku and nearly causing him to fall backwards into Katsuki’s arms.
“Katsuki-kun, someone is here to pick you up!”
Izuku turned towards the boy, lips parting when he noticed the way Katsuki’s jaw clenched, lips pressed into a thin line and eyes narrowed - the faux mirth that was there mere seconds ago now completely gone, all masks off.
And then they were back, Katsuki’s form relaxing and head tilting to the side as he smiled down at Izuku.
“I guess I’ll see you around, Izuku.”
The walk towards the front door was hazy, Izuku’s mind filled with nothing but alarms blasting and all the words Katsuki had spoken stuck on loop inside his head.
Fuck.
Fuck.
Why the fuck was he so terrified of him? Why couldn’t he believe him? Why did ‘I would never hurt you’ sound suspiciously like ‘but I can and I will if I have to’?
He didn’t know what to do.
He didn’t know how to help Katsuki or himself.
There was no time to think about that, though, not when two men in suits were standing in front of their flat, Katsuki casually strolling up to them as if the scene wasn’t fucking bizarre.
The blond turned his head then, a smile playing on his lips yet his eyes flashing with something deadly, “remember, Izuchan, stay safe.”
And then he was gone.
Katsuki didn’t know how much longer he would be able to keep up with this bullshit.
He’d do it, of course he would, but fuck, it was hard.
No matter how many years he’d spent in training - desperately trying to be a good little hero with no flaws, a hero that made no mistakes, a hero that was nothing but a pathetic, useless plaster placed over the cracks that was the entire society - he still wanted to punch himself in the goddamn face whenever he smiled in that stupid goddamn way.
“Softer, Nova, you don’t want to scare anyone away with that grimace of yours,” they’d told him.
At first he believed them, it was necessary of him to follow the instructions and be a good prodigy, they weren’t just heroes, they were their fucking bosses, they ran the whole goddamn system, of course they knew best.
But eventually it fell apart and he realized all they were doing was destroying him.
Well, fuck them, he thought. Fuck the heroes. Fuck the Commission. Fuck All Might. And fuck all his damn aspirations. He could get new goals, new motivations, and he fuckin’ did.
But goddamit was it hard to remember what he was aiming for whenever he had to smile sweetly and talk in that pathetic, wimpy voice to that annoying green-haired little shit instead of punching him in his stupid, nosy face.
He should’ve known the kid wouldn’t have changed much since their childhood years - still as cheerful, as stubborn, as annoying as ever, only his self-sacrificial and selfless tendencies seemed to have increased greatly.
“Just another obstacle I’d need to overcome,” is what he thought the moment he saw the boy stumble into the classroom on the first day.
He didn’t expect to see him there, he almost dropped the act he was so carefully holding together. But he was professional, he’d been trained for this shit. Regardless of how fucked up they were Katsuki couldn’t deny that their inhumane methods worked on him - they got what they wanted, and Katsuki would use it to his advantage.
But fuck, he didn’t expect to see anyone he knew before he got taken away, and yet there he was. In all his irritating glory.
A minor setback.
Katsuki couldn’t focus on his bullshit, fuck that, he had more important things to worry about.
Like the way his handlers walked on each side of him, leading him away from the Midoriya household and into the backseat of the slick black car parked on the street.
Whatever. He was used to the two burly fuckers following him everywhere he went, ever since that prickly old hag came to their home after his quirk was registered.
“Your son has potential, we would like to help him achieve all his goals.”
Of course, like the loving and caring parents they were, Mitsuki and Masaru were more than happy to practically sign the custody over to the Hero Commission, telling them to take care of their child as if they gave a fuck about what happened to him during those long days when he’d spend nothing but train and train and train. He was lucky that winged fucker showed up every once in a while to patch up his injuries.
Still, though, at least he got to see them on the weekends. That was a minor comfort.
Yet they took that away too, the moment they thought he wasn’t making progress fast enough, he wasn’t focusing all his damn time on the only thing that mattered - training, being a poster child for the Commission.
So, they took him away permanently. His parents pretended to give a fuck, at least. His mother ruffled his hair far too rough for it to be affectionate and his father gave him a stupid damn hug that was so tense and uncomfortable Katsuki could barely hold himself back from blasting it away.
And then he was gone.
All that he had left were the headquarters he resided in.
Fuck, they wouldn’t even let him keep playing drums or guitar.
But at the time it was worth it, at the time the lady who spoke to him about his regimen seemed like any other determined, strong hero.
The same old hag that was talking to him now.
“You already know better than to run off like that, Nova; you know you need to come back the moment your classes end - that was the agreement.”
“Yes, ma’am.” There was nothing else for him to say. He knew how this went.
“You’ll be training for two extra hours for the following 5 days for the trouble you’ve caused for your handlers.”
Of course.
“If this happens again you will be sent to the dark room.”
Fuck. An involuntary shiver ran down Katsuki’s spine.
He’d been in that room plenty of times before - when he was a kid it seemed necessary, he needed to go through it to become stronger. But once he heard the other kids screaming in pain once they went inside he realized just how fucked up it was.
He needed to avoid a repeat of that bullshit - he needed to stay focused on what mattered.
So he nodded.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Such a good hero.
Regardless of the exhaustion Katsuki felt every single day because of the extra training, at least Izuku had backed off.
The boy still looked at him with that irritating kind of curiosity, eyes shimmering with concern but he’d stopped following him, he stopped watching him as if he was waiting for Katsuki to fuck up, as if he knew Katsuki wasn’t the same as he used to be.
Too damn smart for his own good.
At least now he could concentrate on what really mattered - all the fucked up heroes in front of him.
It was hard, harder than he thought it would be, to keep pretending as if the classes and the hero training were doing anything that would help him become a hero.
Everything he’d been told was simply revision - there was barely anything there for him to learn.
The Headquarters were diligent, hellbent on shoving as much information into Katsuki’s head from a young age, and so every lesson was practically useless.
Even the hero training itself barely compared to what he was used to, no matter the fact that All Might himself was the one teaching them.
In fact, that was the bit that made the damn thing that much more unbearable.
Katsuki could barely stand looking at that fucker; all wide grins and reassurances that he’s always there as if he didn’t fuckin’ visit the Headquarters and talk to the kids that were getting beaten every damn day. As if he didn’t see the blisters on his palms. As if he didn’t hear one of Katsuki’s friends crying from the dark room.
The fakest of them all.
He wasn’t sure if All Might knew what exactly the Commission was doing to them, he didn’t know if he endorsed their actions, but it didn’t matter. He was part of it. He was there and he saw the bruises on Katsuki’s arms and face when he was only 7 years old and he did nothing. As if it was normal for a child to be in a government-funded building, training and fighting for a war that was yet to happen.
God.
Every time he thought about it he wanted to skip all the annoying steps he was taking and get right to the end of it all - just let his hands spark up and the buildings burn and the news speak of the evils they had done while they melted away along with the flames.
But he had to wait - there was nothing he could do when he wasn’t even a pawn in their games just yet, he was on the sidelines, waiting for his damn turn to reach any sort of success. They wouldn’t let him know any of their secrets, their coverups, their crimes, not until he became a hero.
Patience.
He’d turn them all to ashes once it was time.