Chapter Text
Katsuki was listening to Izuku who was asking Glasses a thousand questions per minute – Glasses’ older brother was apparently able to walk again and Izuku was excited for his friend. And even if that much excitement tended to unnerve Katsuki so early in the morning, while eating his breakfast, the genuine beaming on Izuku’s face and the high-pitched tone in his voice somehow calmed him.
It meant the nerd was doing okay. More than okay, good even.
But while Katsuki was thinking about that a sudden bang disrupted the usual morning chatter in their common room, causing the whole class to jump to their feet - ready to fight.
Katsuki eyed Izuku, who was already surrounded by green lightning, ready to throw himself into whatever danger was waiting for them. Katsuki let out a growl, glancing back at the cloud of dust, slowly clearing up.
“Who is there?”, Iida said with his matter-of-fact-voice.
“Who the fuck are you?”, an angry voice shot back and the sound of that voice gave Katsuki an instant headache. He felt dizzy. What the-
“Kacchan?!”, Izuku asked, a baffled expression on his face.
“What?”, Katsuki said but his voice was overturned with the intruder screaming: “Huh?! Shitty Deku?”
“What on earth…”, Katsuki heard Kirishima say. The redhead stood next to Katsuki, flashing him a confused look. But Katsuki could only stare at the figure that was finally becoming visible.
“Dude”, Kaminari whispered, “Blasty, is that you?”
The atmosphere in the common room was so tense, no one moved.
A younger Bakugou Katsuki was standing in front them, wearing his black middle school uniform, a fair amount smaller and thinner than the older Katsuki and was cussing his soul out, asking, where in fuck’s name he had landed.
“Kacchan!”, Izuku took a few quick steps towards Katsuki’s younger self, but Katsuki reached over the table, grabbing the nerd by the arm.
“What?”, Izuku looked at him.
“Don’t go near him”, Katsuki just said, his voice sounding like a threat.
“But-“
“Don’t!”, Katsuki said with so much determination that everyone shot him a look.
“Is anyone going to answer to me any time soon?!”, the middle school-Katsuki barked.
Katsuki walked up to him. “Yeah. Me.”
Middle school-Katsuki was looking at him, a weird mixture of confusion and anger and a feigned indifference on his face. “What are you supposed to be? An extra future version of me?”
Katsuki heard Mina and Kaminari giggle in the background.
“Nah”, Katsuki said, looking down on his younger self, “You’re my past extra.”
“Pah!”, the other stretched his hand to the side, little explosions dancing on the palm of his hand.
“Don’t try that on me, I will blow your head off”, Katsuki was unimpressed and showed this brat his own explosions, much bigger and louder.
They stared each other down.
Katsuki was about to win when a hand reached out for his shoulder.
“Don’t start a fight with him!”, Izuku was dragging him back, giving him a dismissive look, “This has to be a quirk’s doing and we have to find out what happened. Are you hurt?”, Izuku turned to the middle schooler and reached out his hand. Before Katsuki could stop him, that middle school fucker slapped Izuku’s hand away. The sound echoed through the whole room.
“What do you want, Deku?!”
Katsuki could sense Izuku stiffen at that. It had been a long time since Katsuki had called him that. By now he was only referring to Izuku by that name when they were in battle – it was Izuku’s hero name after all – but even then, Katsuki hated it. And that full stock rage in his younger self’s voice gave all of it the last shimmer.
“Listen”, Izuku tried again, ignoring Katsuki telling him to leave his younger version alone, “I know you’re confused! Let’s just start with your questions.”
“Think you know more than me, huh?!”
Katsuki could feel everyone around them grow uncomfortable. They had known Katsuki when he was still this angry kid at the beginning of their first year at UA. But now they were close to graduation and Katsuki had changed a great deal – and secretly Katsuki hoped they all had just kind of forgotten his rude manners.
But no matter which side they had come to know back then – they were in no means prepared for this shitty kid right in front of them. By how he looked he must be in the last year of middle school, somewhere at the beginning. Meaning this was Katsuki’s worst self.
Katsuki didn’t want anyone to see him in that state, not even – no, especially not Izuku. He would get hurt again because middle school-Katsuki was a fucking asshole.
“Of course not”, Izuku tried relentlessly, always so patient with Katsuki, even then, “You’re at UA right now. This is our dorm and you seem to-“
“At UA?”, his younger self raised his eyebrows, looking around but then he seemed to remember something: “Then why the absolute fuck are you here, quirkless Deku?”
“You better watch your tone”, Katsuki said, again activating his small explosions. He would beat his ass if he didn’t behave, Katsuki didn’t care.
“Like what?”, the middle schooler said, barking out a laugh, “Are you defending Deku of all people?”
“I told you to watch it!”, Katsuki hissed, stepping closer.
“Don’t!”, Izuku was again grabbing him by the shoulder, “Just calm down, we will work through it.”
Katsuki wanted to snap at him, telling him that his guy in front of them was a hopeless case. But he knew that Izuku wouldn’t agree. And… that’s why they were here in the first place, right? Because that damn nerd never gave up on him.
Katsuki let out a deep, annoyed sigh, letting his arm sink to his side.
Middle school-Katsuki huffed at that, disbelief on his face.
“Did you just listen to that nerd?”, he shook his head, “To that useless, worthless-“
Okay, no more peacemaking!
Katsuki heated his hand up, reaching back to throw a punch at this prick. He could feel himself smirk when he saw fear spreading in his other self’s eyes. That sucker would burn for what he just said and Katsuki would make sure that he would for other things too.
Katsuki was about to release his explosion, ready to sting his younger self but then green locks and scarred arms appeared in front of him and before Katsuki could stop himself, he threw his explosion right at Izuku.
Katsuki’s stomach folded into a small tissue.
All the others gasped, shouting out for Izuku.
Katsuki didn’t dare to breathe.
“Midoriya, are you alright?”, Todoroki was right behind Katsuki, while Round-face was calling for their First Aid kid.
“I’m alright”, Izuku called out, coughing at the smoke around him.
At the sound of his voice Katsuki inhaled a deep breath.
He could just stare at the nerd, waving the smoke away, rubbing his arms where Katsuki had just hit him. He then looked at Katsuki, a mad expression on his face.
“Kacchan! I told you not to figh-“
“And I”, Katsuki cut him off, furious, finally being able to speak again, “told you to not go near him! Are you freaking insane?”, he let out a loud groan, reaching out for Izuku’s face, inspecting it for any burns or cuts, “I could have blown your arms off if I hadn’t weakened the blast in the last second.”
“That’s exactly my point”, Izuku argued back, “You would have actually hurt your younger self! Stop picking a fight!”
“Tch”, Katsuki couldn’t believe it, “The fucker is the one picking the fight!”, he turned Izuku’s head around to see if his explosion had hurt his neck.
“Yeah, with me. I can handle him. I actually already did, remember?”
That made Katsuki stop for a moment.
“I know”, Katsuki let out a long breath, “That’s exactly why. That was enough for a lifetime.”
Izuku gave him a heartwarming smile, shaking his head. “Don’t say that.”
“What?”, Katsuki joked, examining Izuku’s arm that had blocked his punch, “You want that old version of me back?”
Izuku laughed at that. “I didn’t say that. But”, he shrugged, “every version of Kacchan is important to me.”
At that simple statement Katsuki’s stomach ached even more. And even worse: He could also feel himself blush.
“Shut up”, he huffed, releasing the nerd after he was done checking for any injuries. Izuku closed his eyes while smiling at him and Katsuki pushed him away, jokingly, too flustered by now.
That’s when he realized his younger self was staring at him. Katsuki stared right back.
Something on the brat’s face was off.
Katsuki pointed at him: “Count your shitty blessings. If Izuku wouldn’t”, he stopped when he saw the middle schooler’s face twist.
Katsuki wanted to ask what his problem was, when he heard ponytail say: “Aizawa-sensei!”
Katsuki looked over his shoulder, meeting eyes with a sleepy Eraserhead.
“Two of you, huh?”, he said, standing next to Katsuki.
“What do you want?”, middle school-Katsuki glared at Aizawa.
“How old are you?”, Aizawa asked him.
“14”, he crossed his arms, holding his nose up.
Gosh, Katsuki couldn’t believe this was happening right now. This was a nightmare. As if he would want to be confronted with how he actually acted back then, his memory was working just fine on its own, he didn’t need a real-life performance. Especially not in front of anyone. Not around Izuku.
Katsuki looked over his shoulder.
Izuku was talking to his nerd group, gesturing around, smiling. But he looked worn out. After just a few minutes with his past self.
Fucking fantastic.
“How do we get him back?”, Katsuki asked Aizawa, “Like asap!”
Middle school-Katsuki clicked his tongue. “Don’t worry, I don’t wanna stay either. Here with you and your Izuku!”, he spat out Izuku’s name and Katsuki was about to punch him right in the face, hadn’t Aizawa grabbed young Katsuki by the arm, dragging him away.
“We will find out what happened, try to identify the quirk and then search for the person here in our time. They will know how their quirk works best.”
Katsuki grumbled. “Fine.”
“Can I help?”, Izuku looked at Aizawa, “If it was someone from our middle school, I would probably know them. I-“
“Of fucking course, you would”, young Katsuki rolled his eyes, “Stalker”, he added quietly.
Izuku didn’t mind him, just explaining to Eraser that if they didn’t figure out who that person was on their own, they should call him in.
“Alright, we will”, Aizawa said to him, then to everyone else: “Okay, the show is over. You all get ready for class, you still have enough time left. No excuses later at President Mic’s English class, you hear me?”
“Yes”, most of them answered in a sing-song and then Aizawa left, middle school-Katsuki trailing after him.
“Finally, damn it”, Katsuki rubbed his eyes.
What a shitshow.
~~~
Izuku didn’t know how to feel.
He was excited that there was apparently a time travel quirk at work but he was also sad about how younger Katsuki was treating him, reminding him of many, many wounds from back then. At the same time it made him happy. His current relationship with Katsuki had changed so much, with Katsuki even trying to protect him. He couldn’t lie though, it also made him worry a lot, since Katsuki’s protection came with the price of threating the smaller blond. Katsuki had looked at him as if he was ready to kill him.
And judging from that blow earlier – that might be a real concern.
Izuku wanted to protect the younger Katsuki. Wanted him to get home safely, to not have burns or anything like that, just to feel and be alright.
“Kacchan”, he whispered.
Katsuki who was sitting in front of him just looked over his shoulder, his brows raised.
“What?”, Katsuki asked after Izuku was just looking at Katsuki’s face without saying a word.
Izuku smiled. “Nothing”, he said, waving it off.
Katsuki clicked his tongue, no real heat behind it and turned around again.
Izuku wanted to tell Katsuki a ton of things. But that had to wait until later. Now they were in the middle of the class and he didn’t want to miss anything and he didn’t want Katsuki to miss anything because of him.
But 5 minutes later the door flew open and a very annoyed Aizawa was standing there, looking at Izuku.
“Oh”, Izuku understood from his look and stood right up, “I’ll excuse myself”, he said to President Mic and hustled towards the door.
“You stay put, Bakugou”, Aizawa said when Izuku reached him.
“Huh?”, Izuku turned around and saw that Katsuki was standing right behind him.
“I’m tagging along”, he said unimpressed, his hands buried in his pockets.
“No, you’re not”, Aizawa said, pinching the bridge of his nose, “You two will end up biting each other’s heads of and I’m not interested in witnessing that.”
The class chuckled at that and Izuku flashed a smile at Katsuki.
“It’s alright, Kacchan.”
Crimson eyes were looking back at him, not wavering once.
“No”, he eventually said, “If I’m not going, you’re not going”, he grabbed Izuku by the wrist and pulled him to his side.
Instantly the others were cooing at them and Izuku felt his face heat up. Katsuki wasn’t usually up to dramatic gestures, so that only showed how much he cared.
Izuku’s heart swelled up, making it hard to breathe.
When this is over, Izuku thought to himself, like he had done many times before, I will tell Kacchan how I feel. But for now…
“I’m fine”, he said to his childhood friend, detangling the fingers around his wrist, which was pretty hard since Katsuki’s grip was locked, “I was alone with him before”, he tried to joke.
The other just huffed and bit his lips, looking away. He was earnestly distressed.
“Come on, Midoriya”, Aizawa waved at him and when Izuku followed, Katsuki let his arm slip out of his hand.
When Aizawa and Izuku were a few steps down the hallway, they heard Katsuki calling out for Aizawa.
They stopped and waited until Katsuki caught up. He looked briefly at Izuku and then at Aizawa.
“If”, he exhaled, “If he talks shit, like… you know. Mean things to Izuku, then just”, he grunted, running his hands through his hair.
Izuku was just staring at Katsuki, too afraid to move. It hurt to look at him. It hurt because the sight made him happy and sad at the same time. Sad because he was obviously torn und happy because he worried for Izuku.
“Just stop him. Cover his mouth with your scarf or whatever, knock him out, I don’t care.”
That shook Izuku awake. “Well, I care!”, Izuku protested.
“Not talking to you, nerd.”
Before Izuku could respond to that, Aizawa had put one hand on Izuku’s shoulder, saying to Katsuki: “I get it. I won’t let him hurt our problem child.”
“Hey!”, Izuku pouted, “I haven’t made any trouble since the last fight with Shigaraki.”
“Yeah”, Katsuki scoffed, “Everything before that makes up for a few years anyways.”
Aizawa turned around, leading Izuku with him. “You’re one to talk!”, he said, “Now go back to class.”
Izuku looked over his shoulder, wanting to give Katsuki a last reassuring smile but when he met his eyes and saw his serious look, his smile died on his lips.
He sighed, turning his head.
Katsuki was overreacting.
~~~
Middle school-Katsuki gritted his teeth when he saw that the longhaired teacher had brought Deku with him. That this weak dweeb would make it into UA – unbelievable.
“That good-for-nothing-Deku won’t be any help”, Katsuki growled before they could say anything. They were in a room with a small couch, an even smaller table in front of it and a stool opposite from the couch. Obviously, Katsuki had made himself comfortable on the couch, occupying it.
“Aizawa-sensei”, Deku started to say, sitting down on the stool after the teacher had pointed towards it, “told me that you remember what happened before you landed here and that you remember the person you last saw. I’ll help figure out who they are.”
That smile. That rotten smile like Katsuki was a dumb shit who needed this nerd for the smallest things.
“Don’t need help from a-”
Suddenly something was covering his mouth, almost strangling him.
“Aizawa-sensei!”, Deku said, “I think this isn’t necessary.”
Katsuki followed Deku’s gaze and realized that the weird scarf the teacher was wearing, was actually some kind of shitty weapon.
“Please”, Deku added and at that the teacher sighed and let go of Katsuki.
Katsuki fixed his uniform, looking furious at the greenhead. “I don’t need your help! And I didn’t need it this morning either! That explosion would have done absolutely nothing to me, I would have blown this extra away like-“
“That’s weird”, Deku was pondering, “I would have expected you to be more confident about your older self, being sure that you would have only gotten stronger.”
“Tch”, Katsuki clicked his tongue, looking away from Deku.
Yeah, normally he would have smirked triumphally at the sight of his older self – ribbed, taller, stronger – hadn’t he sided with Deku of all people. Katsuki had wanted to tell Deku off the second after he had thrown himself in front of him but then his older self had caught his attention. Inspecting the nerd, touching him gently – like a total softie. Even calling him Izuku.
Katsuki wasn’t sure if he really traveled in time or rather switched a whole dimension. Coming to think of…
“Tell me again how you got into UA, Deku!”, he demanded, interrupting the teacher who updated Deku on what Katsuki had told him about the person he saw last.
“Well…”, Deku eyed the sleepy teacher, who just shrugged and said: “My suspicion is that he will forget everything once he gets back, taking into account that our explosive blond doesn’t remember anything like this ever happening to him.”
Deku pinched his lips with his fingers, nodding to himself. “That makes sense. Everything that happened has already happened. Well then”, he looked at Katsuki, “I actually got a quirk now. Seven actually”, he rubbed the back of his head, smiling innocently.
“Huh?!”, Katsuki sat up, “What was that? Seven quirks – you?!”
His fists were clenched so tight it actually hurt, but Katsuki was one inch away from blowing this nerd into a thousand shreds!
“This is actually a long story”, Deku held up his hands in peace, “I got it from All Might. His quirk is actually one that is handed over, throughout generations.”
Katsuki jumped to his feet, ready to throw hands with Deku.
“Stop with the lies, Deku! Never would the No. 1 hero acknowledge some weak, hopeless-“
“One more word and I will shut you up again”, the teacher threatened, already gripping his scarf.
“Pff”, Katsuki fell back on the couch, crossing his arms, “Whatever. I don’t want to hear any of this shitty lies anymore anyways. So! Why the hell are you here?!”
Deku gave him a small smile but it didn’t come from the heart, Katsuki could see it. The damn nerd was forcing himself like Katsuki was dumb enough to fall for it.
“Aizawa-sensei said you were in school when all of this happened?”
“Yeah.”
“And who did you see last? A student?”
Katsuki rolled his eyes, tired of telling this story once again. “As I already said”, he stressed, “I saw a weird girl, she bumped into me when I was walking through the hallways. When she bumped into me, she squeaked and the next thing I know is that I was standing in front of you extras.”
Deku hummed and was just looking at Katsuki, without actually seeing him. Even the future version of that nerd was a daydreaming. Great.
“Which floor?”
Katsuki rolled his eyes. “First.”
“Then the student most likely was a year younger than us. Second year.”
The teacher made some notes, asking Katsuki to describe the girl.
Katsuki shrugged. As if he minded how other people looked.
“Hair color?”, Deku tried.
Katsuki thought of it. “Purple.”
“Length?”
“Don’t know. Was in a messy ponytail, looking like she just stumbled straight out of bed. But”, he added, remembering something, “she was wearing a big bow on the top of her head. Like a moron.”
“Don’t be mean, Kacchan”, Deku said and before Katsuki could snap at him to not tell him what to do, Deku stood up, a bright smile on his face, “I think I know who you bumped into.”
“She bumped into me, are you not listening?!”, Katsuki hissed but Deku really wasn’t listening. He turned to the teacher, telling him a name and that the person had once told him on which school she had planned to go.
Katsuki rolled his eyes.
This dweeb and his ridiculous memory.
But Katsuki couldn’t stop himself from studying him. He talked back to Katsuki – to himself and to his older self – without any hesitation, totally different from the Deku back at home who was a stuttering mess at times, avoiding Katsuki’s gaze. The one in front of him was also built differently. Without the freckles and the green hair and that voice he probably wouldn’t have recognized the nerd. He didn’t like to admit it, but with those broad shoulders he was more massive than his older self.
Katsuki held back a growl. What was his older self doing?!
“Okay”, the teacher turned towards the door, “I’ll go look up some information about that girl, trying to reach out to her. Bakugou, you come with me and Midoriya, you go back to class.”
“Yes”, Deku stood up, “If it helps, I can search for her on social media.”
The teacher nodded. “I’ll tell you if that is necessary. I’ll see you in an hour, we’ll have hero training anyway.”
“Okay”, Deku’s voice was way too cheery.
Katsuki got on his feet, burying his hands in his pockets. This was all a nuisance.
“See you, Kacchan”, Deku waved at him and that’s when Katsuki realized another difference about this Deku.
He was plastered with scars.
Somehow Katsuki was suddenly lost for words, still staring at Deku’s hand.
“You should thank Midoriya”, the teacher said, “Without him we would still be wondering about that ‘weird girl’.”
Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Deku, get your shitty tie right, you look like an idiot.”
With that he walked out of the door the teacher was holding for him.
“Don’t mind him”, Katsuki could hear the teacher say.
“It’s alright”, Deku answered and Katsuki scoffed at the obvious lie in his voice.