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Katsuki clenched his fist as he entered the class A dorms, trying his best to ignore the glares and looks of disgust. The feeling of nervous butterflies made him walk faster. He had been planning for today for two months.
Today was Friday. Everyone went home for the weekend, so they wouldn't know anything until Monday. Unless his parents asked around, but he doubted they would. They're always busy at work. He stood at the door of his dorm. sticky notes, taped papers, and straight up writing on the door gave him various statements of hate. He simply smiled and collected them.
He unlocked the door and stepped into his room, relatching the door behind himself. He placed the threatening, hateful messages on his desk so he could place his bag down and change. He threw his uniform in the basket and pulled on a comfortable hoodie and thick black sweatpants. He then moved back to his desk and started taping up the messages. It was almost like a ritual, every wall was covered already, he'd started overlapping them for lack of space. It had merely been two months since the extreme bullying he had done to Deku came out, yet he found endless messages. On his door, on his locker, on his gym locker, on his desk, on his seat.
He couldn't escape the words.
Katsuki had collected them. It seemed to be that he was throwing them out, but he was taping them up on his walls. At first, it was a way of punishing himself further. Even though he had already been guilty over it and genuinely apologized to the green-haired teen a multitude of times over the past year. When the messages started to be a side form of bullying, he had gotten upset. He was openly called degrading names and stopped from doing things like eating in the cafeteria and using the closest bathrooms.
He knew he was wrong for doing the things he did, but even Katsuki also knew that even this whole thing of mass bullying was not acceptable. So he'd planned out what to do in the first week of the second month. He was sixteen so he wouldn't have been able to do much. But with rich parents and a ton of money in a bank account just for him, he was able to do a lot more than most sixteen year olds.
Over the past time, He'd been carefully transferring his savings to a bank account he'd made by himself under a different name. Kazuyuki. His plan was to go to America. so he had made his last name Johnson, one of the most common last names in the country.
He bit his lip as he looked at his walls. Two months. It had taken two months to fill his walls. If he was going to stay, he would've had to start covering the ceiling and floor. But he wasn't staying. Katsuki would've been a hero. Now he was giving it up because of a little bullying. It would be better for him, though. Katsuki started pulling out his suitcases. He didn't want to leave anything for these 'heroes' to use to find him. Everything except a few outfits were packed. Anything he had he used.
He planned on donating most of it, He didn't need all of his clothing. He could buy anything he needed in the US. It was dark out when he finally started moving his stuff. It all fit into one box for donations, a duffel bag for his clothing and essentials, and a backpack to keep during the plane ride. Speaking of the plane ride, Katsuki had paid a guy to get him a passport and ID. He hadn't asked how the guy did it, but he had given the man extra for the speed of the production.
Katsuki had put on eyeliner while he was waiting out of sheer boredom. He couldn't use his phone to save the battery power for the airplane ride. He'd be getting a new one in America. He was hungry, he'd eat on the way to the airport. The guy who'd given him the American passport and ID raved to him about a twenty-four hour ramen shop that was near the train station. By the way the guy was talking about it, it must be pretty good. Since it was Friday, no one was in the dorms now, having gone home for the weekend. He walked through, duffel bag on top of the box in his arms and backpack on his back.
He pushed open the dorm doors. "𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝚗𝚘𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐" He muttered.
As Katsuki walked through the silent night of the Yuuei campus, he couldn't help but to sigh. He could've done so much. He was going to be the number one hero and beat Deku. He was going to be stronger than everyone. He was going to save everyone and defeat all the villains. That didn't matter now, did it? He didn't have to be strong anymore. He didn't have to fight to be first anymore. He was done. Oddly, a weight lifted from his shoulders as he crossed the gate. Even though he was leaving the school of his dreams. The school he'd always fantasized about.
The streets outside of the Yuuei campus were bright and busy. Cars of all sizes and makes drove past and people walked along the sidewalks. He blended right in. He walked along with the crowds, smiling and shaking his head when a woman offered to help carry something. He would miss Japan. He would have to come back some day. It surprisingly only took twenty minutes to get to the donation spot of his choice. A foster agency that had a donation bin outside. He slipped the box in and continued on his journey. Pulling up his hood and calling a taxi, Katsuki sighed.
He fiddled with the strap on his backpack as he was driven to the restaurant. Was this a bad idea?
When the car stopped, he handed the driver the payment with a 'thank you'. His backpack felt light compared to the sinking guilt at what he was doing. Even the bag in his hand wasn't heavy.
Katsuki stepped into the restaurant. Ganko Ittetsu, it was called. It smelled wonderful. His mouth watered.
"𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘, 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝙸 𝚜𝚎𝚊𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞?" A tired looking teen asked, her hair was tied up in a bun yet multiple hair strands had escaped over time, making her look even more exhausted looking. She couldn't be very old. Perhaps just in college.
He nodded, following the waitress. She sat him in a booth and he placed his bags on the opposite side of the empty booth. There weren't many people in the restaurant, a few booths and tables were taken. Not enough to notice him
Katsuki glanced at the menu, he picked one of the ones marked with a chili to symbolize that it was hot. When the waitress returned, he gave his order.
A bowl of ramen in a red-orange broth was placed in front of him along with metal chopsticks. He looked up. That was fast.
"𝙷𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚛𝚎, 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢"
"𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞" He returned to the woman. She sauntered away to another table and he began to eat. It was good. Spicy, yet sweet. He ate in slow bites. This'll probably be the last meal in Japan he'll ever have.
"𝚃𝚌𝚑. 𝚂𝚑𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚢 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜" Katsuki muttered as he used his chopsticks to swirl the noodles around in the bowl. He pulled another bite of the noodle strands out of the bowl, savoring the spicy flavor. He was really going to do this. The plane tickets were on his phone, and even though he'd bought them and made it all the way to this restaurant, he couldn't believe he was really doing this. He shouldn't be. He should just talk to his parents and have them help him out to switch schools. But... He was just dropping out and disappearing.
He was heading to Michigan. It wasn't a widely talked about, popular state. They'd never look there. Though, it took a while to get there. It was thirteen hours by plane, and he'd be stopped partway to switch planes in some other state.
He swallowed the last bite and sighed. He had to do this. He had to start new. He was grateful for Present Mic now. All those English assignments and oral presentations were being put to use now.
"𝙳𝚊𝚖𝚗," He groaned, running a hand through his hair. "𝙸 𝚑𝚘𝚙𝚎 𝙸 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚖𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚞𝚙"
As Katsuki looked out the plane's aisle, all the people and dim lighting, he felt an anxious feeling bubble in his stomach. Not that it was abnormal. For the past two months he'd been anxious and overfilled with stress. It was practically something he was getting used to. Though he feared for when the stress would end. What would happen?
He couldn't fall asleep, he didn't usually go on planes. And he never went on planes to runaway from his whole life. It was surreal. To distract himself, Katsuki went through his phone, scrolling through images and random apps on the plane's wifi until he settled on playing some random stickman game. He had to take his little stickman through arenas, but he couldn't control the stickman. He could only control the weapon in the character's hands. He could pull the person around the map and kill the 'warriors'.
His favorite weapon was the lightsaber, it had the best extra features, he could throw it and paralyze enemies. If he had to choose his least favorite, it would have to be the gun. It looked cool bet lacked functionality. He had challenged himself to at least go a few rounds with each weapon. He was currently using the boots that made him levitate. It was odd, he flew feet first.
"𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚞𝚌𝚔?" He murmured as he played with the gravity turned off. He flew everywhere, it was impossible to land a hit on anything. And the boots weren't helping. "𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛, 𝙸 𝚐𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚞𝚙." He paused the game to go back to the main menu and switch gravity back on.
While he was at it, he also switched his weapon out for the lightsaber again, The boots were cool but the features left him open for attacks. After a few more rounds and setting new high scores, Katsuki got bored. He sighed as he put away his phone, suppressing a yawn. Katsuki snuggled down into the seat, trying to make it as comfortable as possible
He woke in what felt like days of sleeping, but when he checked the time, it had only been three hours. He sighed, moving to find a movie to watch while he waited.
"Thank you for flying with us" He heard over the loudspeaker after they had landed. He grabbed his backpack and followed the people out in the crowded, crazy line out of the plane. "𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚔 𝚢𝚘𝚞" He told the stewardess as he stepped through the plane to the terminal.
After the whole checking in and whatnot with the international thing, which was nerve wracking and overall something he hadn't enjoyed; Katsuki still had a little more than half an hour to wait. So he ignored the fact that he felt exhausted and moved to walk through the 'hallways' around his terminal and check out the shop things. He didn't want to look like some sort of tourist, so he passed by the souvenir shops with nothing more than a glance. He did, however, stop at a coffee shop and order a iced coffee with milk and sugar.
So now he sat, waiting for the plane, sipping his coffee and scrolling through his phone and saving his contacts to a document under one of him many emails.
He charged his phone, having bought an adapter beforehand.
"'Ello m'... name is Kazuyuki Juhn... uh... Johnson" He practiced. Johnson was ridiculously hard to pronounce.
It was all kind of surreal. Here he was, sitting in an airport in America when he should be in his school for heroes. But then again, he wasn't very heroic, was he?
Kstsuki sighed. He won't be a hero. He couldn't. He was so much better off here. Though... He probably should've just gone to his parents about it.
His mother might've thrown a fit, but he knew that his father would convince her and they'd sort things out.
Yet here he was, sitting here far away from those options.
"𝙵𝚞𝚌𝚔 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚊 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚔𝚎" Katsuki mumbled.
--
When Bakugou didn't show up for class Monday, Aizawa didn't mind. He'd tried to stop the bullying by enforcing stricter rules about speaking in class and giving out detentions to those who tried to do things to the blonde inside and out of class. But he could see it, the light draining from his top student's eyes. The fire was going out, passionate determination going with it. Aizawa hated this. He understood that what he'd said to Midoriya was wrong, but he could also understand that he kid was obviously upset that he'd said that.
He couldn't help, the school prevented him from stepping in and stopping it in the most effective ways. He was a hero for god's sake, why couldn't he save his student?
So no, he didn't mark the kid as absent. Bakugou needed a break.
When the kid didn't show up Tuesday, Aizawa started to feel the worry creeping up in his body, taking hold and bothering him. He didn't act on it, the kid would be back tomorrow.
Bakugou didn't show up Wednesday. Aizawa didn't bother waiting another day, he feared that the kid had tried to do something. For that reason, he had Recovery Girl tag along with him.
"𝙱𝚊𝚔𝚞𝚐𝚘𝚞?" He asked as he knocked on the teen's dorm room door. "𝙰𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚘𝚔𝚊𝚢?"
He unlocked the door with his key, ignoring the students watching from the edge of the hall. His problem child better not have done anything stupid. He pushed open the door and was met with a pitch black room. Even the curtains were drawn closed. "𝙱𝚊𝚔𝚞𝚐𝚘𝚞?"
Recovery Girl reached over and flipped on the light. No one was there. The bed was neatly made and the walls were covered in papers. Aizawa moved to read them.
'Die, you villain'
'Why don't you take a swan dive off a roof'
'You should've stayed with the league'
'You should be excited for tomorrow, I bought something special'
'just cut your throat already, you monster'
'Fight back again and I'll send your head to your whore mother'
'Hang yourself'
'Just fucking die already'
'Kill yourself'
'Do everyone a favor and jump off a bridge'
Aizawa stopped reading there, tears stinging his eyes. Recovery Girl was holding her mouth in shock from another wall where she read. He looked around, Every wall was covered, overlapping, even, in these hate letters. A vase sat on Bakugou's desk, dead flowers in it, petals all over the desk. Spider lilies, he could make out the red colouring.
"𝙼𝚛. 𝙰𝚒𝚣𝚊𝚠𝚊?" he swiveled to face the doorway. Midoriya stood there. Aizawa didn't bother hiding his tears as a few finally slipped down his cheeks. "𝙰𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚘𝚔𝚊𝚢? 𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝙺𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗?"
Recovery Girl sniffled, "𝚆𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠"
"𝚆𝚑-𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝? 𝚆𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚎 𝚔𝚒𝚍𝚗𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚍?"
"𝙽𝚘. 𝙷𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚏𝚝" Aizawa said. "𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚜 𝚗𝚘 𝚜𝚒𝚐𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚊 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚞𝚐𝚐𝚕𝚎"
"𝚃𝚑𝚊𝚝'𝚜... 𝙷𝚎 𝚖𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚞𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚎'𝚜" Midoryia choked out. "𝙷𝚎 𝚌𝚊𝚗'𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚗𝚎!"
"𝙱𝚊𝚔𝚞𝚐𝚘𝚞 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚞𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚜𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚋𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚋𝚕𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚑𝚒𝚖" Recovery Girl said, staring blankly at the letters on the wall in front of her. "𝙸𝚝'𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚎 𝚍𝚒𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘"
"𝚆𝚑-𝚆𝚑𝚊𝚝?" Midoryia moved to read the wall closest to him. He visibly changed as he read, eyes widening and his mouth quickly being covered to muffle a sob. The teen's eyebrown were scrunched up to try and stop the obvious tears.
Had the teen really not noticed what had been happening? Had he not seen it coming?
Aizawa patted the kid's back as he sobbed. One by one, other students stepped in, curious as to what was going on. And one by one, shocked faces appeared, some even teary eyed.
"𝙼𝚛. 𝙰𝚒𝚣𝚊𝚠𝚊?" Aoyama whispered. He nodded back, the French, ever sparkling boy was never harsh to Bakugou; Aizawa had even seen the excentric teen helping Bakugou a multitude of times. "𝙷𝚎 𝚒𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚖𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔, 𝚒𝚜 𝚑𝚎?"
"𝙽𝚘, 𝙷𝚎 𝚙𝚛𝚘𝚋𝚊𝚋𝚕𝚢 𝚒𝚜𝚗'𝚝. 𝙱𝚞𝚝, 𝚠𝚎'𝚕𝚕 𝚕𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚑𝚒𝚖, 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚊𝚔𝚎 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎 𝚑𝚎'𝚜 𝚜𝚊𝚏𝚎"
"𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚍 𝚑𝚒𝚖, 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚑𝚒𝚖 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜 𝚑𝚒𝚖" The teen asked, voice still low and watery. Aizawa nodded.
"𝙺𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚎 𝚘𝚔𝚊𝚢" Midoriya whispered from where he sat on Bakugou's bed, still wiping tears.
--
Katsuki had been in the city for a few weeks. He'd stayed in a hotel for the first week days while he looked up apartments and whatever. Since money wasn't a problem, he could do pretty much anything. The whole 'hey, yeah this is my apartment' thing was difficult because he had to call ahead and ask about age restrictions. He ended up settling with this one guy about staying there because he had to be 'closer to school' and had his parent's 'permission'. Either way, He got it set up and it worked out
Being a dropout had its perks, Katsuki had a lot of free time on his hands. On the other hand, he was lonely and simply spent his time taking jogs and looking for jobs. Not many jobs would take a teen with no backing. So he'd decided to start taking online classes and finish high school. Or rather, do high school. He couldn't have Yuuei on his record here. And there was no way in hell he was doing in person school after last time. He couldn't bring himself to.
It was around one in the afternoon that he decided to go for a run
It wasn't cold out, but it wasn't warm either. It was what he'd call a cool day. It was sunny with occasional clouds and a slight breeze. So with that in mind, he wore grey sweatpants and a black sleeveless shirt. He wore the shirt and planned to wear a jacket. If he got too hot, he could take off the jacket. Easy. The only jacket he had was red. Sure, he had another one but it was leather and not ideal for a run. He had an english class scheduled for two-twenty, so he'd have time to run, return for a shower and eat during his class.
He slipped on his red sneakers and tied them on. They were similar to the coloured sneakers of his two biggest people in his life, other than any of the pro-heroes. Shigaraki and Deku.
The villain has taught him that he wasn't all that strong or brave, he was taught that he wasn't some big hero, he was just a kid. In a way, he could agree with the man; villains and heroes were all the same. Shigaraki had, most of all, given him a sense of how the world really worked. It was very fabricated in Japan. Everything was done to keep appearances, it wasn't actually so black and white.
Deku had been his biggest inspiration, Katsuki had secretly looked up to the nerd for always giving his all. The teen had always been forgiving and strong; Deku stood up for what he thought was right, no matter the situation. Katsuki admired the nerd's conviction. Even when he was quirkless and looked down on, he'd still been the first one to try and save Katsuki from the sludge monster. Katsuki admired him for that.
He had already gone a block or two and was passing by a school. It looked like a normal public school. Like the middle school he'd gone to, it wasn't some big, private place.
"Aw is the squinty-eyes feeling brave?" Katsuki sighed and slowed down to a walking pace as he passed by a schoolyard. Just in case he had to step in. "What're you gonna do? Use your quirk? Oh wait... You can't!" He stopped short. "You're useless, girly-boy"
He couldn't let another kid be bullied because of their quirk. He'd already taken that route. It fucking sucked. He jumped the chain link fence, landing loudly. There were five students. Three perpetrators and two teens on the ground. He assumed the 'squinty-eyes' was the teen protecting the younger looking kid.
"Oi" He announced, "Fuck off, bitches" His jacket had slipped during his run and it sat low on his arms. He pulled it back up to his shoulders nonchalantly.
"Oh look, another squinty-eyes! Did you come to throw some rice at me?" A tall kid said mockingly, voice different from the one he'd heard before.
"Yeah, come 'ere, I'll give you all the 'rice' you want" Katsuki returned, stance relaxed yet balanced. His time with the league gave him the insight to keep calm. It would further aggravate the opposing party. It infuriated him when they leisurely stood in front of him after all.
It worked, "You wanna go? I'll show you!" The tall teen stomped towards him and Katsuki couldn't help but smirk. He easily dodged the punch and put out a foot to trip the kid. The teen's inertia from trying to hit him further pulled him over his foot. There was this sick satisfaction as he watched the teen faceplant in a painful way. He stepped away from the tall kid's body.
"I'm sorry, were you guys supposed to be showing me something?" He said. The two of the perpetrators exchanged glances and the sidekick looking girl ran at him with a blue glowing feet. The glow of the teen's foot only made him grin and move to a better stance. He stood on the balls of his feet.
"Hey" He grinned. "If you get to use your quirk, I should too" Katsuki sidestepped the kid at the last second and gave a controlled blast to her shoulder, throwing her into the tall kid who had just gotten up. Both went down.
The leader guy scowled, "I'll beat your ass tomorrow, ching chong. Let's go" The guy left, the other two quickly following suit. Katsuki stepped closer to the two other teens.
"You good?" They nodded. "I'm Kazuyuki. I'll be around here, so give a shout if you need me" The one who had been protected nodded again with a smile. The kid was skinny, too skinny
"I-" The kid cleared his throat. "I'm Kyle" The young kid had a frail, sickly vibe going.
"I'm Sage" The protector teen said with a frown. "How'd you beat their asses like that? What're you, some kinda hero?"
Katsuki snorted, covering his mouth to hide a laugh. He'd given up being a hero, yet here he was, being compared to one. It was almost sad. "No, I'm just a guy who's been around"
"How old're you?" The teen, Sage, pressed.
"I'm sixteen. Is this an interrogation? I would've worn something a little more presentable than this shit" Kyle gave a laugh, giving him a warm feeling. He hadn't interacted with many people since he got here.
"Nah. I'm seventeen and he's fourteen"
"Ah, ah, so I'm in younger and still kicked ass better than you" He grinned.
Sage narrowed his eyes, "Your quirk is better suited to combat than mine"
So the kid did have a quirk. "What's your quirk?"
"Vertigo. I can make people dizzy and unbalanced. But I can't use it a lot, I have to have some sorta body fluid touch the person and stay in contact with them. So It's pretty useless"
Katsuki gave a low whistle, mind running faster than Deku's. "My quirk is only good for violent situations, or if I'm trying to get somewhere. It's flashy and draws attention, so I can't use it a whole lot. Of course, mine's also pretty destructive, so I've gotta be careful. But yours... That's hella useful in these kinda settings. You can get your sweat on someone or spit in their hair and use your quirk, they'll never know its you if you don't make it obvious. That's pretty cool- Ah shit, I sound like the shitty nerd" Kyle laughed, wheezing quietly as he did. Sage sat there, blinking.
"Huh," The boy finally returned. "You're pretty smart"
"'Course I am, how else would I be... Oh" His grin faltered as he remembered he wasn't going to be a hero. "Hah... Yeah" Sage opened his mouth, face showing confusion.
"Sage!" A guy called as he ran towards them, Katsuki stood back up, moving to quickly balance himself. "Are you okay? You didn't show up. What happened?" The guy knelt down.
"I'm fine, Kazuyuki here kicked ass for us"
"You're Kazuyuki?" The guy asked, Katsuki nodded. "I'm Jason, thanks for helping"
"Anytime" He responded with a shrug. "Always happy to kick some bully's ass"
The guy laughed, "Good thing. Come, I'll pay for lunch if you want"
"Sure" Katsuki grinned.
As it turned out, the cafe he was taken to was where Sage and Jason worked. He liked the atmosphere.
Jason and Sage had talked with the manager of their diner when he'd offhandedly mentioned that he was living on his own. He was offered a job as a waiter. It didn't pay a ton, but it was something to do instead of isolate himself.
Questions were asked until they realized he didn't have experience, contact-able guardians, or any real information. They didn't seem to care after that, simply moving onto different inquires.
Katsuki ended up getting the job and quickly took to it. He took as much time as they allowed him to take, not to get paid, but to be useful, to use up his empty time. Sage, though, stole his free time to take him around to 'create some entertainment'
Katsuki ended up hanging out with Sage, and occasionally Kyle, many times. He always followed the same running path so he would meet up with the vertigo quirked teen and head over to the diner where they worked.
Sage was genderfluid, as he learned. He found it very cool. Sage wore bracelets to show how he was. Dark green for feminine, pastel yellow for masculine.
Today, the teen wore deep, forest green. As always, the teen was leisurely wearing rings and a little green choker. She made it obvious as to which she was, proudly presenting the colour. The whole staff knew and were happy to accept her, something that made Katsuki happy.
"Y'know... us Asian Americans gotta stick together" The burnt orange-haired teen said, throwing an arm around Katsuki's shoulder in a way that reminded him of the way Kirishima used to, eyes showing a tired, defeated look. Katsuki hummed, not moving away from inputting orders.
"I'm technically just Asian"
"But you're in America so you're an Asian American now. Plus, your ID places you as an American citizen. So..." Katsuki rolled his eyes at her, finally turning to face the older.
"Tch. Just tell me who the fuck I'm hitting"
"No one, I'm capable of dealing with it"
"Great, so the pervy guy who's accompanying the lady who openly called you a 'asian slut', I'll take over that table"
"No, I'm okay. I can deal with them"
"I didn't ask, did I?" Katsuki drawled out. Sage put her hands up with a sigh, her green bracelet charm clinking together with the little star hanging next to it.
"Fine. I'll take the granny coming in, then" Katsuki nodded, fixing his apron and heading over to the table of the perpetrators.
"Hi, I'm Kazuyuki; I'll be taking over for Sage. I hope you guys can pronounce my name. It's Kaa...soo...yoo...kee" He said in a sarcastically slow way, "Call if you need anything" They had already ordered, and he'd be sure to tell the chef to slow the order after he checked on table six, the one with the woman and her two kids.
He went to their booth and smiled at the kid who waved at him, giving a small wave back. "Do you guys still need a little more time?"
The mother shook her head, "I think we're ready to order" He pulled out his pad and nodded to her. "Could I get the house salad and the chicken tenders. And Chris had to have the chocolate chip pancakes. Are those still available?"
"They are. Breakfast items are available all day"
The woman nodded and glanced to the girl who gave a small shake of her head, "Okay, and she wanted the cali chicken burrito"
"Alright so a House salad, Chocolate Chip Pancakes, and a Cali Chicken Burrito. I'll take this" He picked up the empty basket that once held chips with his free hand. "Anything else I can get for you?"
"Sorry what's your name?" The preteen girl mumbled. "I forgot, sorry"
"That's perfectly okay. I'm Kazuyuki. Is there anything else I can do for you?" They shook their heads and he smiled, "I'll be back with your meal in a little bit"
Katsuki went to the front and input the orders. He would've put the dirty dish in the typical bin for later washing but he brought it to the back kitchen and placed it in the sink as an excuse to come into there.
"Hey John, you can take your time with table two's orders. They were bothering Sage"
The head chef scoffed from his position of flipping things on the large griddle-like stove. "We could always refuse to serve them"
"I don't wanna cook for people like that" One of the other chefs, Karen, inputted.
"Yeah. No offense but the woman's a real karen, so I took over the table. I gotta go"
"Good luck" The man said at the same time Karen chirped a 'none taken'.
Katsuki grinned as he stepped back into the dinning area. He patted Sam's shoulder and helped him clean up the mess he'd made. The man, despite being thirty-something, was ridiculously clumsy.
He carried out the order for table six happily ten minutes later, grinning when he felt the eyes of table two on him. The woman at table six seemed to notice as well.
"Is everything alright?"
"Of course. I had to delay their orders and take over the table. It's not a problem. Thank you for your concern" The woman frowned, quietly thanking him when he passed out the dishes.
"May I ask if it's because they were harassing the previous server. I don't know what they were saying, but it definitely looked bad. I would like to tip you guys extra for dealing with such things. Waiting staff always give so much. Could you bring them over later?"
Katsuki blinked in surprise. "Uh, thank you. I'll bring him over next time I come. Enjoy your meals" He practically jogged to the booth where Sage stood, clearing off the dishes and wiping the table and booth down.
He grabbed a rag and helped to look busy. "The lady from table six wants to tip you"
Sage paused, glancing towards the table. "Why?"
"Because table two were being dicks and she saw it"
The teen snorted before Katsuki heard the karen from table two asking for a manager, very loudly he might add. Sam stood in front of their table with a blank face, trying to pulling his 'I'm definitely the manager' card.
The actual manager, Marina, watched. The young woman looked mere minutes away from going over and kicking the two out with a few choice words. Katsuki sighed and made his way over. Sam saw him and excused himself.
"Can I help you?" He asked. The woman looked furious. While part of him also matched her fury, the majority of his feelings were amusement. He was one of the only staff that always volunteered to deal with such people.
Katsuki found it funny, in short.
"We have been waiting for thirty minutes! Where is your manager! This is unacceptable!"
Katsuki bit the inside of his cheek to stop himself from smiling. "Well ma'am, I'm sure another dining establishment will serve you if you are unhappy with our slutty asian servers. I could bring you our manager, of course, but I'm sure that won't make much of a difference" He gave a fake smile. "Either you wait a until your food comes or you leave, we do have customers to seat"
The woman looked more taken aback than anything. It was obvious that she'd always been met with apologies and careful service. Katsuki wasn't one to sugarcoat and bow down to anyone. Another reason why the rest of the staff always let him handle it.
"Fine! We're leaving! You've just lost yourself a customer!"
Katsuki finally smiled, though he did try to dim it down. "That's alright. You've lost your customer card now, so please get out"
The light tone of his voice didn't match his words. Both her and her companion wore matching expressions, portraying a fuming confusion. It was painfully obvious that he'd been the first to verbally kick them out instead of having them just walk out.
Without a further word, the karen stood up and stormed out, her accompanied guy following with a dirty look towards Katsuki.
Ah, the joys of being allowed to deal with them.
As soon as they were fully out of the establishment, he broke into a full grin. Jacob stepped towards him and fist-bumped him as he went by with a bin of dishes.
Mission accomplished.
He went back to Sage, giving her a high-five. She could have the table back now that the couple were gone.
When the very recognizable forms of Present Mic and Aizawa in semi-civilian attires stepped into the restaurant and Katsuki froze. He turned to Sage, who nodded and moved to seat them at table two, motioning discreetly for him to go into the back. He did, slowly as to not draw attention.
Jacob intervened, knowing the situation, and walked alongside him with a bin of dishes to block the two heroes' view of Katsuki. When they got to the back, the man pulled off his bandana that was used to cover his tattooed wrist and tied it over Katsuki's head. It covered most of his hair.
"Me and Amanda will take over your tables, so you can go sit in the kitchen and relax. We'll tell you when they're gone"
Katsuki's eyes itched as he basked in his coworkers kindness, "Thanks"
It wasn't that Joe wasn't friendly. Most of the staff had a 'I won't piss off you, you won't piss off me' relationship with the chef. Katsuki liked the man, the both had a few similar interests and their personalities cashed in a way that allowed them to slip into a comfortable friendship.
Now, though, Katsuki could really take into account how tight of a family the staff were. He had only been apart of the staff for a few weeks, maybe three, and here he was, being hidden in the back kitchen where he couldn't be found by the Japanese heroes. Most of the staff didn't know his situation, but they seemed to have vague theories. Karen gave him her extra chef jacket.
Since it was well established that he could cook to their standards so he helped them out, allowing Karen to go take a smoke break.
Here he stood now, helping complete and plate orders. It was so easy, getting help and feeling safe here. He never had to worry about what would happen to him when he was here. It was nice.
"Hey, they left" Amanda chirped as she grabbed a tray to deliver to a table. "You can take tables two, four, and five when Karen comes back in. Marina is waiting for you"
"Yes ma'am" Katsuki grinned.
--
Sage stared Katsuki as they sat across to each other on the car ride to his former school. His friend's parents were up in the front seats. It had been a little over half a year since he'd first left Yuuei and his parents.
Katsuki had contacted his parents upon Jacob's urging a few months ago. He swore them to silence and they agreed. His mother had cried when he called, a very rare occurrence. He'd felt bad, but they reassured him that as long as he was happy, he could continue to be a fake citizen of America. He'd laughed at that. They wanted to visit him when they got the chance.
He was excited to show them around his apartment and work. Katsuki was going to go see Japan, to meet relatives for Sage's summer break.
Katsuki got to tag along because he could both pay for his own ticket and because he had admitted that his own parents were living in the country to his friend's parents. So now they were here. It had been fun thus far, staying with and meeting Sages relatives.
He'd gone to see his parents, who had reactions worth filming. Sage did film, of course. They would be going back to stay at his home after this, both his family and Sage's agreed to spend the weekend before heading back to the United States.
But now, they were at Yuuei to get everything settled out. 'I wanna film their reactions, so we'll go together' Sage had told him on the way to the Principal's office. He'd shrugged at her. He'd explained it all to Nezu, who's reaction wasn't worth camera time, and the principal had suggested that he went and surprised his old class.
So here he stood, at the class A dorms with the key in his hand.
Katsuki took a deep breath as he tried to calm his thoughts. He felt her slip a hand into his. They were at the door now. Sage gave a thumbs up with her free hand, deep green charms glimmering from under her sleeve. He looked to his friend, scrunching his nose when she laughed.
They entered the dorm silently. Katsuki knew the class' schedule, he had half an hour before they'd start showing up. With that in mind, he went to the elevators, Sage following him. He gave a sarcastic tour as they passed floors.
"Girl's floor. They're all shitty fakers who would sell anyone for a dollar. And here's the boy's floor. I wonder what they did with my dorm..." They stepped out of the elevator. Katsuki didn't breathe as he walked down the hallway to his dorm room. The door was still littered with threats and harsh words. The carpet around it was taped off with a 'do not enter' tape. He simply stepped over it and pushed open the door.
"Oh..." He heard his friend breathe out as he flipped the light switch on. The room was just as he'd left it. Sage's eyes scanned the walls. She didn't understand what they were quite yet. He didn't stop her when she moved to read the papers. The curious look left her expression as she read through a few of them.
"Kazuyuki, this is a cause for a serious police intervention in America. You can't give this kind of threats. Why wasn't stopped? Isn't this a hero school?"
He kept silent, picking up an All Might figure he'd left behind. It was covered in dust. He brushed it off, the dust scattering to the floor and catching on his fingers.
"I bullied one of my childhood friends in middle school. I told him to 'take a swan dive off a roof'. This wasn't that bad" He replied after a moment of fiddling with the figurine.
"Did the kid you told that to do it?"
"Well, no... But I said it"
Sage gestured around, "These are extreme threats. Lots'a them. There's a lotta suicide baits and a lotta threats of hurting you. I can bet a few of those were carried out. I should just use my quirk on them and keep it for the rest of their pitiful lives!" Katsuki scoffed.
"You'll run out of spit"
"Then I'll pee on them" She returned without hesitation.
He laughed, "Let's go piss-pants"
They moved to wait in the lounge, sitting casually on the couches while they waited for the class to arrive. He was scared, but Sage's near-constant talk of pissing on them kept him from exploding with anxiety.
The door to the dorm opened and he heard voices. Sage got out her camera and aimed it at him. He flipped both her and her camera off, making her grin. "Piss-pants" He whispered loud enough for the camera to pick up.
At the sound of footsteps, Katsuki turned to the main entrance of the lounge. It was pretty much half the class.
He was silent for a second before he blurted out the first thing he could think of. "𝙷𝚎𝚢 𝚎𝚡𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚜" Sage snorted at his words. His former classmates stood rigidly for a few seconds and he glanced to his friend. He must've really upset them when he disappeared. They were probably mad.
"𝙺𝚊-𝙺𝚊𝚌𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗!" Deku practically yelled, running to hug him.
He smirked to hide the fearful wobble of his lips. "𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚜𝚎"
"𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎'𝚟𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚋𝚎𝚎𝚗, 𝚋𝚛𝚘?" Oh, so he was 'bro' now? Katsuki bit his lips together for a moment before answering.
"𝙰𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚊"
"Tu m'as manqué. 𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚊𝚖𝚎𝚛𝚒𝚌𝚊?" Aoyama asked, pushing Deku off gently to hug Katsuki.
"𝙰 𝚕𝚘𝚝 𝚋𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚑𝚒𝚝 𝚜𝚑𝚘𝚠" He replied and gestured to his friend as best he could through the hug "𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚜'𝚜 𝚂𝚊𝚐𝚎, 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚝𝚘𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛"
She had other ideas and slung an arm around his shoulders, not minding Aoyama. The camera was still in her other hand. "𝙸'𝚖 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍, 𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚜 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚊𝚢. 𝙷𝚒, 𝚐𝚘𝚘𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞"
Katsuki snorted at her bad grammar. "It's '𝚗𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝚢𝚘𝚞', dumbass" She simply shrugged.
"𝚂𝚘... 𝙰𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐? 𝙰𝚛𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔?" Deku asked quietly
"𝙽𝚊𝚑, 𝙸'𝚟𝚎 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚊 𝚓𝚘𝚋 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘. 𝙳𝚘𝚗'𝚝 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎, 𝚘𝚛 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝, 𝚝𝚘 𝚋𝚎 𝚊 𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚘"
"𝙾-𝙾𝚑"
"𝙸 𝚓𝚞𝚜𝚝 𝚌𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚜𝚊𝚢, 𝚑𝚒 𝙸'𝚖 𝚗𝚘𝚝 𝚏𝚞𝚌𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐"
Katsuki felt Aoyama's grip tighten on him and patted the horned teen's head. "𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝚌𝚊𝚗 𝚊𝚕𝚠𝚊𝚢𝚜 𝚟𝚒𝚜𝚒𝚝 𝚘𝚗 𝚜𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔" He lowered his mouth to whispered into her ear, "𝚄𝚑.. 𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝚍𝚘 𝙸 𝚜𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜...? Tu m'as... manqué ...aussi?" The nodded in confirmation that he'd pronounced it right. He'd only learned the French that would be useful. He was still learning English after all.
"𝙽𝚒𝚌𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚖𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚎" The teen returned. Katsuki grinned. "𝙸 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢𝚎𝚍 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜"
"𝙷𝚎 𝚠𝚛𝚘𝚝𝚎 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚕𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚎𝚛𝚜?" Kaminari asked. Why did he care?
"𝙸'𝚖 𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚊𝚟𝚘𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚎 𝚊𝚏𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚕𝚕" Aoyama returned, without hesitation.
Sage burst out laughing, "Got yourself a good pick, loverboy"
"Tch, mind your business, you single fuck. We're friends" The look he received from her seemed to amuse a few.
They then stood when Sage's phone chimed, Aoyama letting him go. "𝚃𝚒𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚐𝚘"
They went back out of the dorm, his old classmates following behind. Aizawa was walking in and stopped dead in his tracks.
"𝙱𝚊𝚔𝚞𝚐𝚘𝚞?" The man quietly asked. Katsuki didn't verbally reply, instead just moving to hug his old teacher.
"𝙸'𝚖 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚗𝚘𝚠" Katsuki mumbled as he pulled away. The man had a soft look as he nodded.
Sage grabbed his hand to lead him out. "I got pictures for your apartment. Back to the city now, then?"
"Obviously, dumbass. Where else would I go?"
Sage simply smiled as she swung their hands. "That went well"
"Oh did it now? I couldn't tell"
She laughed and it was contagious, he did as well. He couldn't think if a better life than the one he now had.