Chapter Text
If Tsuyu hadn’t pointed it out, Eijirou might have gone his entire life thinking he hid it well. Mina had been the first to guess, but she didn’t count; Mina assumed matters of the heart were at the center of all stolen glances. Granted, Eijirou had come to realize his glances weren’t so much glances as they were prolonged stares, the kind no one would accept an I just happened to be looking his way excuse for.
They probably wouldn’t accept the truth either. No one in their right mind would dare refer to Bakugou as cute , and yet Eijirou would happily do so time and time again. After all, not everyone could understand the appeal of Bakugou shivering down the sidewalk, his face pressed against his scarf like a lifeline.
Bakugou hunched over himself, preserving as much body heat as he could. Eijirou had walked with him to and from school enough times to realize he walked much faster once winter hit, stretching his legs as far as they would go with each step. His usual prideful strut had long been replaced by this power-walk. Eijirou didn’t mind the change of pace though, not when he found it so endearing. This version of Bakugou reminded him of a skittish kitten hiding from the rain. Frankly, it was adorable.
Eijirou wondered what he felt like underneath all the layers. Would his fingers feel hot against Bakugou’s skin, or would they be met with cold, clammy muscle? He considered poking under Bakugou’s scarf to find out, but that was as good as inviting an explosion to the face.
“You have something to say?” Bakugou muttered, his gloved hands shoved deep into his pockets.
“Let’s get ice cream,” Eijirou suggested as the convenience store came into view, if only so he wouldn’t have to explain himself. He’d used the same excuse countless times before, normally under sunnier weather.
“Who eats ice cream this late into the year, dumbass?”
“C’mon, you can get a popsicle or something!”
“I don’t want one!”
“At least come with me?” Eijirou asked. As if cashing in a favor from the universe, a snowflake fell from the sky, landing on the bridge of Bakugou’s nose.
Bakugou sneezed and pursed his lip. He looked half-tempted to fire a blast at the nearest cloud. “Fine.”
Bakugou followed Eijirou into the store, betraying his contentment by tugging down his scarf and relaxing his muscles once the door closed behind them. The walk from UA to Heights Alliance was a short one, but Eijirou could tell this reprieve from the cold, however temporary, was appreciated.
Eijirou took his time reaching the ice cream section at the back of the store, giving Bakugou as much time as he could to warm up. “Any recommendations?” he asked, sliding open the cooler.
Bakugou frowned. “No.”
“Aw, c’mon! You must have a favorite.”
“I don’t.”
Eijirou had seen Bakugou indulge in enough frozen snacks to recognize his lie. Perhaps the frustration lay with the fact that most of them ended up in a melted heap on the floor. “I’m not leaving until you choose something for me,” he insisted.
“This is stupid,” Bakugou said, but dipped his hand into the cooler nonetheless. He pulled out a pineapple-flavored one, advertised as being dusted with some sort of chilli powder. He slapped it into Eijirou’s palm. “Happy?”
“Very.” Eijirou smiled. “Sure you don’t want anything while we’re here? My treat.”
Before Bakugou could reply, he was cut off by a voice at the front of the store.
“This is a robbery! Money in the bag!”
Eijirou and Bakugou both glanced at each other before peering into the aisle. At the checkout, a short man wearing a mask stood on his tiptoes, threatening the cashier with a short knife. He could barely reach over the counter, his elbows propped on it to make himself look taller.
“Who thinks it’s a good idea to rob a place right next to UA?” Eijirou whispered. Only a few minutes away, dozens of heroes awaited, aspiring and professional alike, ready to strike at the first sign of trouble. The cashier found this amusing as well, chuckling as she popped open the cash register.
Bakugou flashed one of his shit-eating grins, pounding a fist into his open palm. “Beats me, but this bastard is about to regret it!” Without another word, he charged forward, palms sparking and his gloves withering away.
“Bakugou, wait up!” Eijirou chased after him. The constant chasing had discouraged many other students from working with Bakugou, but Eijirou prided himself in being able and willing to keep up. Charging headfirst into danger was one of the manliest things one could do, after all.
“I’m not going to wait for you! I’m putting my license to good use!” Bakugou called back to him as the villain yelped and turned tail towards the door. For such a short man, he moved surprisingly fast.
After making sure the cashier was alright, Eijirou ran out the door after Bakugou. He caught him blasting into a nearby alley in hot pursuit, shouting violent things in his wake. Eijirou ran after them, hardening his arms for good measure. If he ran into trouble, he’d be ready.
When he reached the alley, Bakugou already had the guy cornered. The knife lay abandoned at his feet, leaving the villain defenseless.
“Give it up!” Bakugou demanded, arms crossed. “You’ve lost, so just stand down and let me take ya to the cops.”
“No!” the villain shouted, shielding his face with his arms. “Don’t come any closer! If you let me go now, I won’t use my quirk on you!”
“Your quirk can’t be all that useful if you were about to rob a store with that pathetic thing,” Bakugou said, kicking away the knife.
“Careful with that!” Eijirou warned as it skidded past him.
“Relax, Shitty Hair, it wouldn’t have hurt you anyway.”
Bakugou's hands sparked once again as he took a step forward. “Guess I’m just gonna have to blow your ass up after all.”
“I’m w-warning you!” the villain repeated, a dark matter emanating from his hands. “You really don’t want to mess with my quirk!”
“Bakugou, let’s just call someone,” Eijirou tried convincing his friend, placing a hand on his shoulder. Even if the villain was bluffing, he couldn’t help but be suspicious of the wisps at his fingertips.
Bakugou took another step, not backing down. “You’ve got til the count of three. One.”
The villain shuddered and waved his hands back and forth. “I’m serious!”
“And what makes you think I’m not? Two.”
Eijirou figured he wouldn’t be able to change his mind. Stepping back, he pulled out his phone, aiming to call the police. Once Bakugou finished handling him, it would be best to leave the rest to the authorities. Leave it to Bakugou to catch another villain just a few days after being issued his hero license.
“Three.” Bakugou snarled. “So be it.”
Bakugou aimed his arm at the villain and let it rip, engulfing the back alley in an explosion. Eijirou hardened out of habit, shielding his eyes from the ensuing smoke. He’d seen Bakugou do far worse, but he was glad to know Bakugou had learned to hold himself back a bit.
The smoke, however, never reached him. In front of the villain, a portal of sorts had opened up, sucking in the explosion. After witnessing Kurogiri’s portals at USJ and then again at Kamino, Eijirou was fairly certain they could be nothing else. Unlike Kurogiri’s portals, however, Eijirou could see something on the other side of this one. The explosion kept him from getting a good look, though.
Bakugou pelted blast after blast. “You think that’ll stop me?” he yelled. He swerved to the side, trying to catch the villain from a different angle.
Following his lead, Eijirou hardened his entire body and circled around from the opposite side, dropping his phone behind him mid-ring. As soon as Bakugou caught sight of him behind the portal, Bakugou launched another attack… only to be met with another portal.
Eijirou instinctively reached out to pull Bakugou back; it didn’t matter if he was too far away to make a difference. Bakugou didn’t notice. Half of his face had already fallen away like dust, right into the hole. With a door-like slam, the portal disappeared, Bakugou along with it. All Eijirou could do was stare in horror at the space where he’d just been, eyes shaking.
“I w-warned him!” the villain stuttered, more boldly this time. “I warned h-him that this would happen!”
While he gloated, Eijirou hardened his fist as far as it would go and brought it up into the villain’s jaw. A tooth came loose with the force. Normally, Eijirou would have winced at the sight, but he had much bigger problems at hand.
Eijirou caught sight of the wisps returning and pummeled the villain to the floor. He crushed both the villain’s arms under his knee. No matter how hard he tried, no portals would be able to suck Eijirou away.
“What did you do to him?” he shouted, pressing his knee further down. “Where is he?”
“I d-don’t know! Where he is, t-that is,” the villain stammered.
“You’re seriously gonna say you don’t know how your own quirk works?”
“I-I really don’t know where he is. I wasn’t really paying attention, after all.” The villain gave a nervous chuckle.
Eijirou didn’t find it funny. “What do you know, then?”
“Well, assuming the other him is alive, he should be arriving soon.”
“Huh?”
“Ohp.” The villain tensed up like a chicken about to lay an egg. He held his breath until a loud thud behind Eijirou resonated through the alley.
“Damn!” Bakugou’s voice was unmistakable. With a sigh of relief, Eijirou turned his head to find his friend struggling to untangle himself from a pile of garbage.
“Bakugou! Are you hurt?” Eijirou dragged the poor villain across the floor as he approached him, eager to make sure he was really okay.
“Of course not, Shitty Hair!” Bakugou replied as he struggled to bring himself back to his feet. “It’ll take a lot more than a handful of wizards and a little fall to do me in.”
“Wizards?” Eijirou raised an eyebrow. He supposed the villain could be considered a wizard… of sorts.
“That’s who we’re fighting, right?” Bakugou managed to jump to his feet.
Eijirou almost let the villain go at the sight. Carrying a sword at his waist, this Bakugou wore no shirt, only a long tattered cape lined with thick fur. Jewels hung everywhere, around his neck, wrists, and ears. He stood proudly in a pair of white snow boots, which Eijirou found ironic considering his lack of clothes in most everywhere else.
Bakugou’s eyes widened the moment he took a good look at him, slowly, then all at once. His pupils disappeared into the whites of his eyes as he fumed. “Where the fuck are we?!”
Kirishima growled down at the villain. His honor was the only thing keeping him from snapping his arms in half. “You’ve got some explaining to do.”
The heat woke Katsuki up. He could tell it wasn’t his doing; the blowback from his blasts caused enough heat to make him sweat, but not much else. This heat, however, threatened to overwhelm him, crashing in waves into his entire body. His eyes flew open as he latched onto the floor, expecting to feel hard concrete but instead finding dirt beneath his fingertips.
Shifting his head slightly, Katsuki’s eyes widened as he took in the sight above him. A red-scaled monstrosity stared down at him, its amber eyes unblinking. Its teeth glinted as it blew flames from its mouth, just barely missing him. If he extended his arm out any further, it’d be torched within seconds.
Katsuki didn’t wait long enough to make any more observations. Without standing back up, he pressed his elbows to his torso and angled his hands away from his body. The ensuing blasts flung him far away. His back dragged against the floor, ripping apart his uniform as it did. Katsuki would have to ask his mom to buy him another, but it beat being toasted by some villain.
That was what he’d decided at that moment, that this must be the villain’s quirk. Maybe the portals were an extension of his quirk, or maybe Katsuki’s explosions had somehow fed into his transformation, but how else was Katsuki supposed to justify the dragon before him?
Unlike Ryukyu, this dragon held none of the features of its human counterpart. No hair, no clothes, not even the same color scheme. It was hard to believe that the pathetic idiot he’d challenged in the alley had turned into this, but Katsuki didn’t have time to question the specifics of his quirk (that was Deku’s job). He would also question the change of scenery and Kirishima’s absence another time. All that mattered was that he took this villain down before someone else showed up to steal his spotlight.
Katsuki shifted the angle of his blasts and straightened himself in midair, letting himself drop onto the floor. The dragon didn’t pursue him, but its eyes remained glued to him. Without giving it a chance to come up with a strategy, Katsuki charged. He led with his Howitzer, figuring that such a powerful quirk would be able to handle the force of Katsuki’s attack.
The dragon bellowed, shaking its head back and forth as the blast caught it in the cheek. Shouts reached Katsuki’s ears as he aimed for another shot. Risking a glance between the dragon’s legs, he caught sight of a group of people huddled on the opposite side, all robed and barking orders at each other. Katsuki didn’t recall there being any temples near UA, but weirder people had approached the school before. Keeping them out of harm’s way would be a pain, but nothing he couldn’t handle.
“Kirishima!” he called out as he peppered the dragon with explosions, hoping he’d hear Katsuki and come barreling through. If he could get him to move the civilians to a safer place, it’d be easier to deal with the villain.
The dragon roared once more, drowning out any response he may have received. The people on the other side formed a line, extending their arms in front of them. Without warning, lightning rained down on the dragon. Katsuki dodged out of range of the bolts, watching as the dragon cried out. Another glance at the crowd confirmed Katsuki’s suspicions. Judging by their formation and focus, the lightning had been their doing.
Katsuki didn’t know whether he appreciated the assistance or not. Mostly, he was too busy being confused as to how so many people could share the same quirk. Regardless, if they could defend themselves, there was no need to drag them out of there.
Katsuki landed back on the floor and released another series of attacks on the dragon. With a final roar, the dragon fell. It began shrinking, its scales dropping off in clumps. Katsuki smiled triumphantly, running over to apprehend the villain firsthand. As he approached, however, he was met with a familiar face, albeit dotted with the occasional red scale and with horns sprouting out the top of his head. Though singed in several areas, his clothes remained intact enough to recognize he certainly wasn’t wearing a school uniform.
“Katsuki, what the hell!” Kirishima screamed at him. “I know it’s my fault you fell but I didn’t think you’d be this pissed about it! Those explosions caught me off guard, I couldn’t help it!”
Katsuki had a lot of questions, namely why the fuck his dumbass had been a dragon only moments before. Somehow, however, the dragon business took a backseat to the real matter at hand.
“Since when do you call me Katsuki?” he barked at Kirishima.
Kirishima stared blankly at him, wings drooping. “Holy crap. I broke you.”
“Excuse me?”
“How else am I supposed to explain how you can shoot explosions out of your hands all of a sudden?!” said Kirishima. “I admit, this new power is really manly, but how–”
“Don’t be ridiculous! If anyone’s broken here it’s you, dragon boy!” Katsuki exclaimed, his head still trying to wrap itself around the situation. If Kirishima was the dragon, then where was the villain?
A lightning strike forced Katsuki’s attention back to the battle at hand. Kirishima dodged to the side, his wings flapping uselessly as the lightning hit the spot where he’d just been standing.
“Nuh-uh! In case you forgot, we’re fighting them. The League of Villains ? ” Kirishima pointed at the people currently aiming shots at them. “So I suggest you put your explosion hands to good use on someone other than me!”
“League of Villains?”
Katsuki shook his head and dismissed the questions rising up one by one in his head in rapid succession. He’d have time to find out the answers later. Beating up villains, regardless of the circumstances, came first and foremost.
“Well, dragon up then!” he cried at Kirishima, figuring they could at least use his quirk to their advantage.
“I can’t!” Kirishima’s small wings extended angrily before retreating into his back like a lizard’s crest. “I already took enough hits and used up too much of my magic. Thanks to you, I might add.”
Katsuki couldn’t help his palms from sparking. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“You know what?” Kirishima grabbed a hold of Katsuki’s shoulders and spun him around, completely unfazed by the sparks. “We’ll talk later. For now, shoot and lend me your sword.”
Katsuki gestured at himself from top to bottom. “Does it look to you like I have a damn sword?!”
Kirishima rolled his eyes “Fine, whatever. I’ll follow your lead.”
Katsuki didn’t need to be told twice. Before another lightning strike made it their way, he blasted off, reaching the robed individuals faster than any of them could have expected. They immediately dispersed, clearly aiming to surround him. Katsuki counted about five of them before someone took the first shot, narrowly missing his ankle.
Katsuki cursed under his breath, propelling himself higher up. The lightning would reach him quicker, but if he could wipe them all out from above, he’d win in less than a heartbeat. He watched as Kirishima held the mages’ attention from below, scrambling back and forth as they tried to land a hit.
Figuring Kirishima could handle a little heat, Katsuki let loose, spraying explosions left and right from his position. The villains tried one last time to knock him out of the sky, but the smoke only worsened their aim. Their lackluster strikes missed completely, and by the time Katsuki could make them out, they’d dispersed once again, this time into the woods.
Only two robed individuals remained, standing beside each other. The force of his explosions had blown off their hoods, and as Katsuki lowered himself back to the ground, he recognized their faces all too well.
“I don’t know how you gained these powers, but we won’t let you keep them for long,” Shigaraki threatened once he was within earshot.
Katsuki intended on burning him up before he could fulfill that promise, but Kurogiri opened up a portal directly behind them. The two walked through it and disappeared before Katsuki could finish them off.
Feeling unsatisfied, Katsuki crossed his arms and recovered his breath. As he did so, he opted to properly take in his surroundings. He’d woken up in a clearing, right by the edge of a thick wood. Unlike Musutafu, there wasn’t a speck of snow to be found. In fact, a thin layer of humidity hung in the air, warming his muscles. Beyond that, he couldn’t see anything of note in any direction, only Kirishima, who came bounding up to him.
His wings and horns had completely vanished at that point. Save for the difference in wardrobe, he looked just like the Kirishima he’d been with just minutes before.
“That was really amazing!” he praised. “That’s the quickest we’ve ever managed to shake them off!” He aimed for a hug, but Katsuki dodged out of the way with a sidestep.
“What gives?” Kirishima cried out as he picked himself up from the floor.
“Before you do anything, you’re going to tell me where I am,” said Katsuki. “I’m definitely not in Musutafu anymore.”
“Considering I’ve never heard of Musutafu, you’re probably right about that,” Kirishima replied. “I’m going to take a guess and assume you’re not the same Katsuki that fell off my back earlier either. It would certainly explain the sudden change in outfit.”
“Seems likely.” Katsuki took a seat, wiping the remaining sweat off his palms on his pants. “What were you doing before I arrived?”
“Fighting the LoV, what else?” Kirishima took a seat opposite him, cross-legged. “You?”
“Taking down a villain.”
“So you have those too where you’re from?”
“I’d be hard-pressed to find a place that didn’t, dumbass.”
“Fair enough. Any idea how you got here?”
Finally without distractions, Katsuki pieced together what he remembered. He recalled the villain by UA creating a portal that sucked away his explosions. He didn’t remember hitting the dude after that, though.
“When you detransformed, you said you dropped me because of the explosions?” Katsuki asked.
Kirishima nodded. “They came out of nowhere. I assumed it was some sort of magic trap the LoV set up, but guess that was just you.”
“In that case,” Katsuki sighed, “this was probably that damn villain’s fault. He threatened me with his quirk, and I ignored him.”
“Quirk?” Kirishima tilted his head to the side, wiggling his ears like some sort of puppy.
Katsuki hid the redness in his face with a demonstration, setting off some small explosions in his hands. “Guess you don’t have those here either.”
“But you recognized me, right?” Kirishima asked. “So not everything is completely different.”
“I suppose not.”
“Well, that’s good at least.” Kirishima smiled. “I’m glad to know whatever version of me you're familiar with is still stuck with you.”
Katsuki shoved him away with his foot, toppling Kirishima over. “Shut up.”
“Aww, c’mon Katsuki! Don’t be like that.” Kirishima straightened right up and leaned his elbow on Katsuki’s shoulder. “I don’t know what’s going on either, but we’ll figure something out, promise," he said, getting quieter as he went as if he were trying to convince himself too.
“Why do you keep calling me by my first name?” Katsuki asked, shaking Kirishima off his shoulder.
“Why wouldn’t I?” Kirishima raised an eyebrow. “It’d be weird if I called my partner by their family name.”
“Partner? Like what, we do hero stuff together?” Though Katsuki had always aimed to reach the top of the heroes chart on his own terms, he supposed he wouldn’t mind it if Shitty Hair tagged along.
Kirishima laughed. “Okay, I guess you and your Kirishima aren’t like that.”
“Like what?”
“Together.”
“Together?” Katsuki felt his heart stop for a brief second. “Like, together together?”
Kirishima flashed him a cheeky grin. “Together , together.”
The heat in Katsuki’s cheeks could hardly be blamed on the humidity. Covering his face with his hands, he laid down on the floor. Then, he screamed.