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Bakugou Katsuki had a plan set up for his life.
In his last 3 years in UA, he’s had the opportunity to intern under some of the best heroes in the country. Hell, he even got to go to Korea and America for internships in his 2nd and 3rd year respectively. After all the shit he went through, all the surgeries and physical therapy, having heroes basically fight over each other and throw all manner of bribes his way to get him to train under them had felt pretty fucking good.
All that is to say, he already had his very own, new agency registered, and a small office ready to open once the lease contract was signed next week.
Some called him rash, impatient, over-confident in his decision to not start off as a sidekick instead. But those people could go fuck themselves. The opinions of the people he actually cared about (Aizawa, All Might, his friends) had all been positive and encouraging. Not that he needed anyone’s approval to do what he wanted, of course, but it still felt good nonetheless.
His new and improved hero costume was going to be ready for pickup in two days, just in time for the dinner party. A party he had begrudgingly agreed to organize in honor of the opening of Ground Zero Hero Agency, for all the new members. Not that he needed people to run things smoothly, but Bakugou was a smart man, and people who knew how to run things when he wasn’t there and keep everything organized was just the smart thing to do. That and his idiot friends had insisted it would make it easier for their transfers later.
Because yes, Katsuki had personally invited a select few people to join his agency, if they so wished to do. Kirishima was going to be there from the start, obviously, and the rest would come when they felt they were ready.
Surprisingly, Shinsou had been the one to promise to join in first, as soon as he was done with his internship over the summer. The two of them had already gone over the contract together and had it signed. In two months, Ground Zero Agency would have three up and coming heroes patrolling the area.
Sero and Kaminari had insisted on a small party, just their little group, to celebrate the occasion. Bakugou had really appreciated it, in his own way. While his relationships with his classmates had greatly improved over the years, it was nice getting to be with the people he grew closest to. These idiots had managed to carve their own little space in his heart and, loathe as he may be to admit it, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Which is why he had taken the opportunity, sitting in Kaminari and Jirou’s new, small little apartment, on a not so comfortable couch, surrounded by unopened boxes, trash, takeout and cans of alcohol, to turn to his boyfriend and make a promise: “As soon as one of us gets into the top 100 list, let’s get married.”
Ashido had almost screamed their ears off, and Sero still teased Kirishima to this day about how beet red his face had gotten as soon as he registered what Bakugou had said. Shinsou and Jirou both had it all on video. How they’d known to record was beyond him, but he didn’t really care when he enjoyed replaying it so many times.
Things were going well.
Things were going really well, in fact. And with the way Bakugou’s name was already being blasted all over the place not even a week before graduation, especially after news got out of his new agency, he hoped he wouldn’t have to let Eijiro wait for too long. They already got the keys to their new apartment last weekend and had moved most of the red-head’s stuff in. All that was left was for Bakugou to move his boxes.
Which lead them to this moment.
Bakugou shoved his last luggage into the back of the car, closed the door and sighed.
He didn’t want to do this.
Kirishima sent him a small smile from the other side of the car. “Do you want me to come in with you?”
Yes. “No. Just wait here, I won’t be long.”
He really didn’t want to do this.
“Ok. If you need me to come in, just give me a message, ok?”
Bakugou nodded, running a hand through his hair and staring at the front entrance of his parents’ house.
“It’ll be fine. She’s not here.”
Yes, Bakugou Katsuki, Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight, UA’s famous sports festival winner for 3 years in a row, who defeated All For One, who had heroes from both Japan and other countries fight over each other to get his attention, was scared of his mother.
Kirishima gave him one more encouraging smile before Bakugou made his way inside.
His father was already sitting at the table. Alone. Because Bakugou was a coward (though a voice that sounded suspiciously like Aizawa was grumbling in his ear that wanting to avoid conflict was not a cowardly thing to do, especially when it involved someone who went out of their way to instigate aggression. Whatever.) and had planned to do this when he knew his hag of a mother wouldn’t be home.
Quietly, he sat down across from his dad and downed the glass of water that had been set in front of him.
For a little bit, they were both silent. Masaru was smiling at him and Katsuki was struggling to remember everything he had planned to say. Aizawa had helped him make a list just a few weeks ago.
“It was nice of Eijiro to come help you with everything.” Masaru began, glancing out the window, no doubt to where Kirishima was waiting patiently, leaning on the car. “Where will you be moving to now?”
Katsuki breathed in and out. “I’m not telling you.”
Masaru’s smile faltered. “Oh…”
They were quiet for a moment longer, just enough for Bakugou to get his nerves to calm down. “I already got a new phone. I’m not giving you or the hag the number and I’m gonna block both of you when I leave. Eijiro and the rest have already done it too, so don’t bother calling them. If anything important happens, auntie Inko can tell Izuku and he’ll let me know.”
Silence.
He wasn’t sure what he had expected. To be honest this wasn’t that far off, but the lack of any sort of reaction, the simple acceptance he saw in the other’s face still got to him in a way he wasn’t really expecting it to.
“Why did you never stop her…?”
Masaru remained quiet.
Breathe in and out.
“Last year, we had to take a psychology course in our 2nd semester. We were taught how to recognize different types of abuse and neglect in children and adults so that we would react appropriately and not in a way that would escalade a possible dangerous situation.”
He was fidgeting with the small keychain Ashido had strapped to his phone case on his birthday. It was calming. It was grounding. It was enough to keep his anger from rising with every lack of a reaction from his father.
“Do you have any idea-“ Breathe Katsuki, he reminded himself, breathe. “-what it was like to sit there and listen and read about all that and feel like I was looking into a fucking mirror?”
He had had a panic attack. Izuku had found him in the bathroom after class and had spent fifteen minutes trying to calm him down.
“Do you have any idea what it was like to learn that shit and have every single one of my friends come to talk to me about it between lessons?”
He and Shinsou had fucking bonded over it.
After a particular day, Todoroki had invited him to his sister’s house to eat. He only realized halfway thought the meal that he’d been dissociating the whole day. On the way back Todoroki admitted he had been the same all day.
“The things she did to me…” It still bothered him, to know and acknowledge that what his mother had done had been abuse. “Why did you never stop her?”
Masaru looked devastated. His hands were clenching and unclenching, eyes shifting on the surface of the table. When he finally did speak, all he said was “Katsuki… I’m so sorry.”
Bakugou frowned.
Masaru visibly swallowed and went to continue “We never meant-“
“That’s bullshit.”
Maybe it was the quiet anger seeping through his voice, but the old man didn’t try to speak anymore after that. He wasn’t sure if he was grateful for that or not.
“If she didn’t mean it, she would have stopped. If you didn’t mean it, you would have done something about it. But neither of you did anything. You let her do what she wanted and I was stupid enough to not see that for what it was.”
It was close to the end of the semester when it really hit him. The implications of everything. The realization of how his parents have been treating him his entire life. He’d cried in Aizawa’s arms like a fucking child. He was still embarrassed thinking about it.
He was still embarrassed about how safe it had felt.
“You’re just as bad as she is.”
Masaru flinched at that. Good.
“I don’t want either of you in my life anymore. I’m not coming back here again.”
Masaru was crying.
He tried not to be bothered by it.
He pulled the house keys from his pocket and slid them across the table and stood up on shaky legs.
“I’m still gonna become the number one hero, that hasn’t changed. But you won’t be part of that. You’ll have to see it from the crowd like everyone else.”
He didn’t want to see his dad’s face, didn’t know how he would react to what he might see, so he turned and walked to the door.
“Don’t try to contact me again.”
And that was that.
He was out.
It was done.
He was finally free from them and that house.
And he managed not to cry about it until they got home and he was safely in Eijiro’s arms.