Chapter Text
The first day felt normal. It was a regular school day. Class after class, lunch with the fucking extras, then training. He beat Deku’s ass into the ground because he still hadn’t mastered that stupid borrowed quirk, and afterwards he showered in the locker rooms. Once he made it back to the dorms, after bumping into some bastard, all he did was make dinner and go to bed. Simple.
Day two was when Katsuki realized things weren’t exactly right. All the lessons were all the same as the day before, Kaminari spilled his drink all over himself again, he got tripped up by the same stupid stranger, and the fridge was replenished with the exact fucking same amount of green onions as there were yesterday. What the fuck?
No one was making a big deal out of it though. No one seemed to even notice they were living the same day over! It was the third day and he was already going insane.
Katsuki glared at Aizawa as he went back over the ideal morals of heroes or some shit. Whatever, he’d heard it all before, literally. After the lecture, he planned to speak to his teacher about what he had noticed.
“Bakugo,” Aizawa greeted as he approached the desk at the front of the room. His classmates were filing out of the door.
“D’we know any villains or students with a time loop quirk?” Katsuki asked, never one to beat around the bush.
Aizawa regarded him, thinking. “Not that I’m aware of. Why?”
“Because I lived this same fucking day for the last two days, and it’s getting on my fucking nerves.”
“Language,” Aizawa said, “And I don’t know how that could be a possibility. Are you sure you’re not just zoning out?”
His teacher looked at him solemnly.
Katsuki’s skin crawled with rage. Who the fuck did Aizawa think Katsuki fucking was? He was the number two student! He was gonna be the number one hero!
“Yes,” Katsuki growled out, “Yes, I’m sure I haven’t been zoning out. I watched Dunce Face spill his soda on his shirt three days in a row. I’ve listened to your lecture on stupid hero morals three times. I keep getting run into by the same damn extra. I even beat stupid Deku using the exact same moves two days straight. And I’ll fucking do it again once I leave here. He’s a fucking idiot but he’s not usually that dumb.”
Katsuki watched his teacher as he quietly mulled over the information he had provided. Eventually, Aizawa spoke again.
“You have a fair amount of evidence to support that you’re in a time loop. Just because I don’t know anything, doesn’t mean someone won’t. I’ll talk with Principal Nezu about your situation and see what we can come up with.”
Katsuki scowled, but accepted what Aizawa had to say.
Grumbling, he said, “Why don’t you keep track of this stuff better? I bet fucking Deku would know.”
Aizawa raised an eyebrow at him. He spoke slowly when he said, “Then maybe you should talk to Midoriya about this.”
Bakugo stared at his teacher, seething. Wondering where Aizawa got the fucking gall to suggest he actually make nice and ask shitty Deku to help him figure out this goddamn mess of a Groundhog Day situation. Katsuki was just commenting on how fucking weird and ears to the ground the nerd was. What the fuck ever.
“I’d rather figure it out on my own,” he snarled.
Katsuki shoved his hands in his pockets, clutching onto the holographic All Might trading card he kept there like his life depended on it. Stress reaction. Fuck off. He strode out of the door, his mind on the green-haired idiot that was always at the center of every motherfucking problem Katsuki had.
Aizawa just sat at his desk, all of his students gone. He sighed and crawled into his sleeping bag.
Bakugo slammed the door to the locker room open, reaching his locker in seconds. After that banged open too, he stripped with efficiency and dressed himself in his training gear. His boots clunked against the ground as he stalked on to the training field.
“Oi! Shitty nerd! Get over here!”
Deku turned towards him from where he was deep in conversation with Cheeks, Soy Sauce Face, and Glasses. His stupid green curls bounced as he hurried over to Bakugo.
“Hi, Kacchan! What’s up?” Deku’s stupid voice asked him. He was too excited, it irritated Katsuki even more.
“Did you let me win yesterday?”
Katsuki watched Deku’s face contort into confusion.
“Huh? I-I, no! Why would I do that, Kacchan?” Deku was fiddling with his own hands, Bakugo narrowed his eyes. “I know I haven’t really been able to ma-make this quirk my own yet…”
Fucking Deku was starting to fucking cry at one fucking question. How on earth was Katsuki ever going to figure this shit show out?
“B-b-but I am trying! I’m sorry if it seems likeI’m not, Kacchan.”
“Tch, whatever. Not what I was gonna say, fucking nerd,” Bakugo looks away. In his periphery he can see Deku wipe away the tears that had started to follow.
“Oh, uh, mm. What is it then?” Deku asked, concern coloring his voice. And that made Bakugo see red.
Whatever, he pushed through it. He would rather deal with the pitying look long enough to wipe it off the stupid nerds fucking face than he would like staying in this goddamn purgatory of a day. He looked up at Deku, his signature scowl on.
“This is the third fucking time I’ve lived this exact fucking day. And no one is saying shit about it. What do you know, nerd?”
Deku looked at him, eyebrows knitted together, his anxious hands coming up to brush a curl that had fallen back in place. His eyes almost looked glazed over, like he was wandering the halls of his mind. Fucking nerd, so…nerdy. Shut up.
“Well?”
Deku’s eyes find him, but he’s still doing mental math over Katsuki’s question.
“Okay, so that may be true,” Deku says, nodding fervently. “I remember reading an article not too long ago about a young girl that had a time loop quirk. She’s only, like, six and doesn’t know how to control it yet. Where did you go that you could’ve bumped into her?”
Katsuki looked at Deku. Brilliant, creepy, fucking Deku. He made a mental note to tell Aizawa he sucked at civilian knowledge. Katsuki didn’t even care if that wasn’t his area, he was just pissed that Aizawa had been right about asking Deku. Fuck off.
“Nowhere. My day was spent on campus,” Bakugo said. Fucking dead end.
“Oh! Hmm, I wonder if she would have been at the open house then? Iida did say something about younger kids with really useful or dangerous quirks starting quirk training classes here. It was in the newsletter.”
“You think I read that useless shit Glasses sends out?” Katsuki asks.
“Not useless if it finds the girl who used her quirk on you,” Deku threw back.
“Oi, I don’t wanna hear shit out of you, unless it’s about fixing the timeline, idiot,” ordered Katsuki, knowing that Deku didn’t do what he was told the majority of the time. Stubborn punk.
“Okay!” Deku held his hands up in an act of surrender. “When did you realize you were in a time loop?”
“Yesterday,” Katsuki grunted, “Day 2.”
“Wow! Kacchan’s so smart. You figured it out that fast?”
“Of fucking course I did! I’m not a damn idiot!” He was yelling. His classmates were looking at them. Deku let out an anxious laugh; the sound of it hitting his ears like an old song. He wished his quirk would just blow out his ear drums already.
Katsuki let out a huff of a sigh, “I beat you two days in a row, with the exact same moves. We’re both fucking better than that.”
Deku fucking beamed at him.
“Oh! Wow! Thank you, Kacchan! That’s, wow, so kind,” Deku was near tears again, his green eyes shimmering with them.
Katsuki fucking hated Deku.
“You have three seconds to shut the fuck up before I blast you in the fucking face, Deku,” Katsuki warned.
Deku’s mouth closed with a snap.
“When does the fucking kiddie train of idiots that can’t control their quirks come to campus?”
“Um. I think the open house starts at three? We could ask Iida to double check though,” Deku said. He opened his mouth to continue but Katsuki wasn’t in a patient mood.
“Oi! Glasses! Class pres or whatever,” Katsuki yelled across the training field. He didn’t give a fuck if Iida was in the middle of sparring with Sero. “Get over here!”
The two boys paused what they were doing, legs and elbows stilling. They looked over in confusion and irritation.
“Bakugo, it’s not polite to interrupt! One of us could have gotten seriously hurt!” Iida chided.
Sero was nodding along with him, “Yeah, dude, not cool!”
“Also, yelling across the training field is inconsiderate and distracting!”
Bakugo rolled his eyes, “You’re yelling back, fuckface!”
“Kacchan!” Deku scolded him. “Mean! Iida is just doing his job!”
Within seconds Iida was in front of them. Katsuki put his hand on his hip, ready for whatever attitude Four Eyes thought he could get away with. He watched Deku bring his hands to his mouth out of worry. He was certain he could see Deku laugh behind them too, though.
“Bakugo. That is highly inappropriate and incredibly offensive!” Iida’s arms moved like he was chopping something with a cleaver. “As your class president, I am severely disappointed in you!”
“Tch. Whatever,” Katsuki said, “What time does the open house start?”
Iida’s face went blank for a moment, surprised by Katsuki’s question apparently. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose before speaking.
“The gates open at 2:45. The tour begins precisely at 3, and the meeting is at 3:30,” Iida recited.
Katsuki grunts. “Great, you can leave now.”
Deku still wore a small smirk, but now he was waving hands as he frantically apologized to Four Eyes on his behalf. Katsuki just walked onto the mat he and Deku were supposed to be training on.
“C’mon, Deku,” Katsuki called. This whole fucking day was his personal hell, he needed to hit something. “I wanna beat you again.”
Deku whirled, his attention shifting from the still disgruntled class president to Katsuki. Good, it’s where his attention should always fucking be. He watched Deku walk over; his stance shifting, his eyes becoming more alert, his body thrumming with energy.
“I’ll beat you today, Kaccahn!” he said, a wicked smile lighting his face.
“Fat chance, idiot. I’m on a winning streak.”
After Katsuki had pummeled Deku into the ground for the third time in as many days he felt slightly better. Having the idiot pinned underneath him, Deku’s hands searching for some sort of purchase or the chance to reverse their roles, heavy panting, and the feeling of muscle digging into muscle grounded Katsuki. He fucking loved a fight.
He was showered and dressed in record speed again, trying to keep up with the times Iida had laid out. He wasn’t sure how the time loop quirk worked. Did it matter if he was “late”? Would the same events happen anyways? How did talking to Aizawa and Deku change the situation? Would they be aware of the time loop now or would they reset tomorrow? Could he prevent events from happening inside the time loop? What would happen if he made sure not to bump into the extra with no control over her quirk? Would it solve the whole thing?
Fuck. There were too many questions. He just needed to talk to the girl and her parents and figure this shit out.
Unfortunately for Katsuki, Deku tagged along. He insisted, and said something about damage control. Bakugo had just rolled his eyes and walked towards the center of campus, the nerd trailing behind him.
They were able to locate the girl and her family fairly quickly after intercepting the tour group. Katsuki, obviously, started by asking which one of the little bastards could mess with time. He angrily explained that he had bumped into someone in the tour group three days ago and had been reliving that same day since.
Nervous faces stared back at him until a small girl with salt and pepper hair and golden eyes like Mina’s cautiously raised her hand. She, and her parents, said that although she wasn’t good at controlling her quirk, they did know how it worked. Once struck by the quirk (aptly named Lesson Learned) one would be out of time, reliving the day they were hit. That person would be the only one to notice the time loop. They would remember the “lesson” after they broke free, but no one else would.
Deku had taken over the talking once Katsuki had started yelling. Deku had also tried to put a hand on his arm to reassure him, which ended with slight burns on his long sleeve T-shirt.
Katsuki was utterly and completely fucked. He had to learn some weird ass time lesson? As far as he was aware he didn’t have anything left to learn. Sure he was new to the hero profession, if he could even say that since he was still a first year student. He was going to be the number one goddamn hero though, he had to be ahead of everyone. And for the most part he was! He was the strongest in his class, he had his priorities in order, and his head screwed on straight.
He walked away before he could start yelling at the stupid girl who essentially froze him in time again. After a minute he heard Deku jogging alongside him.
“Kacchan,” the green haired nuisance started.
Literally all Katsuki fucking wanted was to be alone as he figured this shit out.
“Kacchan, hey, we’ll figure this out. It’ll be okay. Maybe we can ask All Might to help. Or we could go back through my journals, to see if there are any hints about what this lesson would be. Although, I don’t know if you have any to learn! Kacchan’s so smart, you never back down, and you’re always true to yourself. It’s so admirable! I’m sure we’ll figure this out quickly! There’s no nee-”
“Deku. Shut up. Shut the fuck up right now, or I swear to fucking god I will blast you to hell without any goddamn remorse. Leave me the fuck alone,” Katsuki yelled. He was snarling at Deku, shoving him back with each word.
The further stupid Deku was from him the better Katsuki would feel. He didn’t fucking need the nerd’s pity, his big fucking eyes feeling sorry for him, for Deku to solve his problems for him like he was so un-fucking-capable of figuring anything out on his own, like he needed Deku. Fucking FUCK.
He exploded away from the dumbfounded idiot, using his quirk to get him back to the dorms in record time. He walked in and was faced with a common room full of idiots, all looking at him with questions and concern.
He’d had enough of this bullshit.
Of course the first idiot to try to talk to him as he stalked to the elevator was Dunce Face.
“Hey, Bakugo! You all good, man?” Kaminari asked.
Bakugo just clenched and unclenched a fist at his side, his hands crackling with small explosions, as he used his other hand to flip Kaminari off.
“Don’t fucking bother me for the rest of night!” He said, he turned to the rest of the common room. Raising his middle finger and his voice he added, “That goes for all you bastards! Fuck off and die!”
Thankfully, the elevator dinged and took him up to his room immediately after his threat was given.
He stayed in his room all night. For the first time since he’d been shoved out of time and into this fearscape, he tried not to think about it. He didn’t care how loud his music was playing, he needed to not hear his own thoughts. He couldn’t sleep either, each time he tried, his body buzzed with energy, anger, and confusion.
Sometime right before curfew, someone came to knock on his door lightly. He didn’t answer it, of course. But he could see their shadow, sitting against his door. A quiet companionship he didn’t give a fuck about. He knew it was Deku. Even before Glasses started talking outside of his door. Katsuki listened quietly as he laid on the floor near the door, eyes narrowed.
“Midoriya! It’s almost curfew! What are you doing here?”
“Oh, hi Iida,” Deku was mumbling. “I just wanted to be with Kacchan for a little. He had a stressful day, and I know he doesn’t want to be bothered, but it didn’t feel right to just let him think no one was there for him. So, I’m here.”
Fucking Deku.
“Well! That’s…kind of you. But you need to go to your own dorm. You know how they are about curfew. I don’t want to have to write you up for breaking dorm rules.”
“Yeah, yeah, okay, Iida. I’m going. Just give me a minute?”
“Sure. Good night, Midoriya.”
“Night!” Deku’s voice forced out cheeriness.
Katsuki let out a quiet scoff and rolled his eyes. Deku was such a fucking people-pleaser. Why couldn’t he just leave well enough alone? But no, it was Deku. He had to make everyone feel comfortable, happy, and seen, even if he didn’t get any of that back. Self-sacrificing idiot. Not that Katsuki cared.
A moment later, Katsuki could hear the shifting of clothes and popping of joints as Deku stood up. He really had fucked up his body in the first few months, he sounded like an old ass man. Katsuki registered the pressure of Deku putting a hand on the door, his palm was flat. He wasn’t going to knock again. Good.
“Goodnight, Kacchan. I’m here if you need me,” Deku whispered like he knew Katsuki was close enough to hear him. Then Deku walked away.
Katsuki continued to lay on the floor next to his door, he watched his own chest move up and down. His body finally felt calm enough to stay still and he let sleep wash over him.