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Nakamura Katsuku was born quirkless.
Ironically, he dreamed of being a hero, like the legendary Symbol of Peace he had looked up to since he was in elementary school.
But life is unfair. The seven-year-old thought as he picked up his burnt notebook from the ground, wiping the last bits of ashes from the handwritten title “Notes on Heroes, volume III” and hugged it to his chest. He could still hear the faint sound of his bullies’ laughs afar.
The fading sunset cascades his shadow to the ground as he walks heavily home. Tears dwelled in the ruby orbs, but he took a deep breath and slapped his face.
“I can do it!” He said. “I will become a hero, no matter what! Even when I do not have a quirk!”
.
“Mom, I’m home!” Katsuku called as he took off his shoes.
“Oi, hurry up and shower, then come out for dinner!” His mother shouted back. The delicious smell of food made the blond’s stomach rumble, his mouth watered when he thought of the food mom made. Those bullies took his lunch, so he had not eaten anything since breakfast.
Putting his schoolbag away, Katsuku went to the bathroom and took a shower. When he came out, there was a table full of delicious food already waiting for him.
His mom adjusted the hearing aid on the left ear and set the rice down. Now that he was at home, the short-sleeved T-shirt he wore did nothing to hide the large scar covering his right arm. He heard a traffic accident damaged Katsuki’s left ear and right arm, making him partially deaf and the right arm weaker than the left.
“How was school today, kiddo?”
He asked, scooping a chopstick full of rice into his mouth.
“It was good! The guest hero Dolphin Man came to our class today to give a lecture about what it is like being a hero. His quirk allows him to swim, recognizes whistles and use echolocation to attack, just like other aquamarine quirks he can dry out easily and need a water supply coupled with his gear to sustain-”
“Hold on, no mumbling at the table! You might choke on your food.” Katsuki poured a cup of water and handed it to his son, who seemed to be running out of breath trying to speak and talk simultaneously.
Watching Katsuku gulping down the water and taking a breath, Katsuki could not help but observe and smile. This boy had never met his father for a day, yet they are so, so alike. Even when he resembled most of Katsuki’s appearance with blond hair and red eyes, everything was softer in this boy. His hair though spiky was slightly wavy, the eyes rounder and softer-looking, and the overall complexion was much tamer than his mother's. People can barely tell apart the differences, but Katsuki knew better than anyone.
And he was glad the quirkless gene was dominant.
.
That evening, while Katsuku watched the hero shows on the TV, Katsuki lay on the sofa checking the news. He was too fucking tired after a day of office work, screaming at the whole cohort of stupid designers to get the damn design done before the release day.
“Ten-year memorial since the Symbol of Peace passed away.” The title caught Katsuki’s eyes, he was gonna move past it but the front image caught his attention.
It had been so long, he could not fucking hurt anymore. He just wanted a glimpse at that nerdy face, it wouldn’t kill, right?
On the front cover of the article is an old image of shitty Deku in his pro-hero suit, smiling dumbly as he raised an arm up like All Might's signature.
“Ten years since Deku passed away, defeating All For One just two years after graduating from U.A. Deku’s scarification brought forth a world with a lower criminal rate. Although it cannot regain as low as All Might’s time, it brought Japan out of the horrible destruction and set the country back on its feet. No. 1 Hero, Shoto, spoke at the memorial about his friend and classmate U.A.
“This world experienced a great loss when Deku was gone,” Shouto said, his face cold and calm as ice. Still the same Icy Hot’s typical resting bitch face, but Katsuki knew better than to recognize the hints of sadness in those eyes.
“Still, the legacy he left allowed us to escape from the terror of All For One and get peace again. Our next generation must continue his legacy and create a new generation of heroes to protect the peace of this world, the peace that Deku earned with his life."
Bullshit.
Icy Hot knew this was not true.
Putting an arm on his eyes, Katsuki groaned and regretted reading the thing. He looked down where his son was curled up in Deku blanket, an old merchandise released around the time when that broccoli was still a new pro-hero, excitedly watching him flying around the city with Float and feeling his chest tightened.
There was a time when Katsuki tried to keep Katsuku away from all the heroes shit. He never let his son watch those kinds of things, switch channels or turn off the TV whenever those heroes appear. But he could not help the fucking pop culture sneaking into his son’s mind in kindergarten and elementary school, when this country promotes propaganda from childhood age to illustrate a career where young people throw their lives away to protect those who would not give a fuck about them.
One day, he found Katsuku watching Deku on TV, pointing at the screen and telling him.
“Mom, he is so cool!” Each innocent word broke his heart. “I wanna be like him! I wanna be a hero like him when I grow up!”
He could not stop when both Katsuku’s mother and father’s passion for heroes was running in his blood.
So Katsuki let his son go. He knew the cruel but fortunate truth that Katsuku would never become a hero. Izuku was lucky to get through, but now since he brought One For All to the grave with him, no more quirkless child will magically receive the power to become a hero.
.
The teacher sat neatly next to the principal, head and back straight. The omega looked too proud and cheerful for someone who wanted to scold her student.
“If he got in trouble, ripped his friends' notebooks, ate their sock, or put spiders into someone’s pants, just say right out. I will take him home and give him a nice good spank in the butt until he knows how to behave.” Katsuki said boringly.
“Haha, you are funny.” The principal laughed. “We are not here to scold your son today, Mrs. Nakamura.”
“Mr. Nakamura. I am a single mother.” Katsuki spat honestly. Fuck, why would he be ashamed? They can eat his middle finger if they judge.
‘Mr. Nakamura, sorry.” He coughed. “Young Nakamura is actually one of the most behaved children we have in the class. He cared a lot for his peers and always tried to help them. “
“Then why would you need me here today?” Katsuki asked.
The teacher smiled and opened her notepad, showing him Katsuku’s grades.
“Your son is very gifted. Nakamura always shows high performance and earns high grades in class and all exams. He also shows an excellent natural ability to analyze quirks and fightings, we showed this to hero-trainers and they all agreed.” She said.
“Given that he grew up in this rural province with so little resources, this is a waste of his talent. We want to recommend him to a prep school for gifted children in the city, and they will prepare him better for entrance into U.A., the top hero school in Tokyo. Do you know U.A? That is a school that many prolific heroes went to, like-”
“My son is quirkless.”
Katsuki curled his fist, hiding the trembles in his body.
“That shall not be a problem today anymore. After the battle with All For One, Japan collaborated with other nations and developed technologies that improve and assist even quirkless heroes to compensate for the lack of manpower in the country. And let’s not forget the symbol of peace, Deku, was also born quirkless until he was given One For-"
“And Deku lost his life along with One For All.” Although Katsuki’s voice was calm, it was like silence before a storm. The killing intention he was leaking made people scared.
“My son is normal, quirkless and is just a little child. I do not give a fuck what you all have been hoping for but do not put him at risk with your stupid, thoughtless ambitions. I am Katsuku’s mother, so I know what is best for him and what he is capable of.”
“But-” The principal held an arm toward Katsuki.
He stood up and headed toward the door. “Enough of this pointless conversation. Fuckoff my son."
.
“Kacchan.”
Katsuki rubbed his eyes and stared at the shitty nerd. Ah, how could he forget that idiotic face? Stupid curly green hair, stupid large eyes that are sharpening with his maturation, but still hold on to the innocence like the last light of this corrupted world. Dimples when he smiles, the way those freckles on his cheek will move with his smile. The sharp jawlines and toned chest that came after his growth spurt, and the smell of wood and musk from his alpha pheromone.
“Kacchan.”
“The fuck, nerd?” He whispered.
Izuku pulled the blanket up and wrapped his arms around Katsuki’s naked body. He buried his nose into the omega and whispered.
“Hey, if… if All For One is defeated, and the war is over…” He whispered, tangling his fingers into Katsuki’s golden strands.
“Will you marry me?”
Katsuki's eyes widened for a second, he inhaled sharply and waved it off with his impudent attitude.
“Isn’t it too early for that? We just hit twenty, and I need to buy a house first, have assets and power and investments, AND then become the No.1 hero before other shits.”
“O-Okay.. But can we get married after you are rich and powerful?”
Izukus’s face was blushing like a tomato now. Katsuki’s lips curved up in his usual smitten smile, curled his pointing finger and thumb in a snap, and landed it on the broccoli's forehead. He wrapped the blanket around himself and comfortably curled into Izuku’s chest, closing his eyes.
“Be fucking alive and make it out first.”
.
When Katsuki turned off the TV, the house fell into silence and darkness.
He wrapped his son in the blanket and gently lifted him without waking from his deep sleep, carrying Katsuku into his room.
Katsuku’s room, painted in the stupidly familiar moss green and filled with figures and plushies of one certain hero he once claimed as a destined rival. Gently laying his son on the bed, Katsuki pulled the blanket over his body and stared at the sleeping face, wiping the drool on the side of the child's mouth. The blond omega sighed and smiled.
So dumb, nerdy, and naive. Just like his father.
So adorable. So kind, ambitious and never surrendered, no matter how impossible it seemed.
Katsuku, you were born with a hero's heart, and that heart will lead you to death’s door one day.
A tear rolled down Katsuki’s cheek and he wiped it, feeling the tension gathered in his chest. He looked up to the fluorescent star ceiling and remembered those nights when Izuku and Katsuki embraced each other, sleeping under the starry sky.
Izuku, you stupid thing. Save everyone but yourself.
“Hey shitty nerd, you hear me?” Katsuki whispered in the dark, carrying Katsuku. “ I don’t care if you leaped off to heaven or hell, with your fingers deep within All For One or Shiragaki ass or some shit. I need you to get some work on the brat.
Make him quirkless. Katsuku is lucky he inherited my handsome and pretty appearance, with some dumbshit spices of yours to it. And I still want to be rich, you nerd.
Don’t you dare make him a hero."
Maybe he was just stressed from work. He needs to sleep this weekend and rest.
Katsuki stood up and was about to leave when his son stirred and gripped his pants.
“Mom…” He said. “Do you think I can become a hero one day?”
How can he say no? How can he reject such a child but feed him lies?
“... Yes, baby, if you believe it.” He kissed his son’s forehead and gently patted him just like when he was a baby in his arms. “If you have a strong heart. But even if you don’t, it is fine. It’ll work out eventually.”
“Mom…” Katsuku mumbled as he faded to sleep. “I want to be a hero like Deku.”
Katsuki smiled and rubbed the wavy blond locks, trembling shook his frame as he struggled to keep his eyes dry.
“Yes, you do, dear.” He said. “We all do, aren’t we.”
.
Who is the Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight? Who is Bakugo Katsuki?
They died a long time ago. With All For One, One For All, and Midoriya Izuku.
That was the answer he retorted to Kirishima when the beta came to find Katsuki at the hospital he had just given birth at, hours away from Tokyo in a rural undeveloped area. Almost a year after Midoriya Izuku’s death.
Held in his arms were a small, blond child with red eyes that might seem to have been born a few weeks premature. The child was crying a lot, but the sound was pathetically weak.
“Whose child is this, Bakugou…?” Kirishima gripped his fist “Don’t tell me…”
“None of your fucking business, Kirishima. Get the fuck out.”
The scarred arm wrapped in a bandage pulled his hospital gown down and put the child close to his nipples. The baby weakly suckled, trying to take in food like a wet sick cat.
“I thought you and Midoriya were…” Kirishima inhaled sharply.
“Fuck buddies? Sort of.” He chuckled darkly. “I found a new one now. Civilian, more boring than a hero, but fit to get through with heats. Thought his sperm did not work but turned out I got knocked up. Is this what you want? You got it now, get lost.”
“Bakugou, I beg you.” Kirishima looked at him with pleading eyes, wet with glaze.
“Please. Midoriya, he-”
“I DON’T GIVE A FUCK ABOUT IZUKU, DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?!” He screamed “He’s fucking dead, because he was dense and senseless! Claim to save the world but can’t even save himself? Ha- don't make me fucking laugh-” Shifting the baby to the right arm, he held his left arm up and emitted smokes and sparks.
“Mind you, I can still use my quirk with my right arm. I do not mind fucking bombing you to meat right now. Get. The. Fuck. Out.” He threatened.
Kirishima is crying now. He wiped his eyes, but they would not stop.
“I’m so sorry you have to go through this.” He said. “I will not tell anyone about you. I promise with my life. If you need me, reach out. Please, text me when you need to.
Take care, Bakugou. You and the kid. We will all wait.”
The door slammed shut and Bakugou put a hand on his forehead.
“Fuck!” He gritted his teeth.
.
“Hey, Kacchan. Can you hear me? Stay here okay? Someone will find you soon, probably Best Jeanist.”
He felt numb all over. He cannot feel his right arm and the left side of his face anymore. His nostril is choked with the scent of his blood, and he can barely open his mouth.
Still, he managed to hold onto the stupid nerd’s hand.
“Don’t…. D- don’t go…” He mumbled, coughed up blood. “Y- hah- you… will die. Don’t.”
He can feel Izuku’s warm hands wrapped around his own. So far, he was afraid this was the last time he would feel this warm. Mixed in blood and tangy with metal, the calm smell of musk and wood still made his heart ache.
“I will come back, Kacchan. I will.” Although his eyes were blurry, he could feel water dripping on his face. The nerd’s grip was shaky.
No. No.
“Protect yourself for me okay…?” His voice was broken, sounded like he was trying to smile. Katsuki could not hear with his left ear, so he tried to sit up. He has to stop Izuku-
A large, warm hand was placed on his abdomen. To push him down.
“Protect Kacchan for me, please…?” He said. “Only you can do it. You are the only one I trust to protect my Kacchan. Please.”
.
The room felt totally dense with how silence spread among them. If Aizawa had not lost one of his eyes, Katsuki might have thought he was using his quirk considering he had not blinked or looked away for a while. Katsuki put a hand on his still-flat abdomen and thought.
“I will change my last name. To my mother’s maiden name.” Baugou finally broke the silence after a while.
“I will move to the rural area, where heroes are lacking and nobody will find me. I will become quirkless.”
“We will do our best to forge your and the baby's profile.” He said. “We will keep an eye on you, just in case All For One comes looking.”
The mere thought sent chills down Katsuki’s spine. He still dreamt about it at night, with hands from a faceless man reaching out to snatch his baby. Deku’s last drop of blood.
Midoriya Izuku and the heroes could not take all of All For One to hell with them, so he made a different deal for the remains. Using Stars and Stripe's remaining power in All For One, he set out a rule. Blood for blood, inheritance for something that can be passed on.
Only Midoriya Izuku's descendant who was born with a quirk can use this power.
He thought he left no descendant before vanishing to ashes. All For One mostly vanished, corrupted into a weakling form with most power locked that cannot be undone. He is too harmless now to do anything, but that does not mean his remaining followers will not grow. Will not try to pass down his legacy.
“You will give it all up, Katsuki? This is a huge scarification.” Aiwazawa asked.
“What else can I do?” He replied with a smile. “The shitty nerd never cleans up after himself, he rested but still made me fucking busy.”
.
Katsuki closed his laptop and rubbed his head. Managing a design company as a lead designer can be a pain in the ass, especially when some of your customers are bitches with disgusting tastes. But there was nothing he the great Katsuki could not master, and this job made him so much money (he bought his house and car and bonds) and allowed the luxury of working remotely in this rural area.
Katsuki was yawning and the next second, his whole body jumped over as a natural reaction to years of battle and avoided a blow blasted through his door. When Katsuki turned his face up, the whole wall was damaged with a large hole in the middle, edges burning to ash and falling off.
Fuck the villain! He had that wall custom-made and shipped from the city!
He pressed a button behind his hearing aid as the smoke cleared out and the villain stepped in, with his ugly suit and ugly face mask. After going to designer college, Katsuki can no longer swallow down this shitty fashion.
“Where is your son, Bakugou Katsuki?” The fucker wrapped their long tongue around their gun and licked it. Ew, as if Katsuki would lick his own sweat.
“Not your fucking business. Why the fuck you ask?”
They threw a guy out - the familiar principal in the prefecture Katsuki used to live that he told to fuck off and moved Katsuku away - making the guy lay on the floor like a rag.
“This gentleman was blabbering about how foolish an omega is for having such a gifted son, one that resembles so much the legendary Deku, to not follow him and get a bright future. Am I right?”
“Dynamight, we are arriving and will assist you in five more minutes.” His hearing aid told him.
Bakugou stretched his left arm out and sparks appeared in him. “Five? I will explode this shithead to a wimp in less than two minutes. Take your time, I need to release some violence.
FUCKING DIE!!” Great Explosion Muder God Dynamight’s signature bomb was so loud the whole house lit up.
.
The fondest memory of Katsuku was when mom took him to the beach and carried him on his back. Mom’s short, untamed blond hair faded orange with the sunset, when he happily pointed at the seagulls afar.
Mom is always supportive of his dream. Even when he was quirkless and talentless, even when they lived in an area with almost no hero and not a single one went to an esteemed hero school, even when mom was afraid of how dangerous it is being a hero, even when Katsuku knew it was impossible.
Mom always said, if you have a good heart you will make it. And if you do not become a hero, it will work out eventually.
But he never said no Katsuku, you cannot do it. You will never become a hero.
So when Katsuku saw the villains take over the small town, he ran toward the one that took away his bully. The poor alpha child was strangled by the hands of those bad people and none of the civilians can do anything. All of them had been defeated by simple attacks from them.
“Get your hand off him, you asshole!” Katsuku screamed. He was scared, of course, with his heart beating violently by his ears.
The villain frowned and laughed at him.
“Hah, brat, what can you do then? Throw a stone at me?” She laughed, “Might scratch my itch though.”
“Hey, don’t you think that brat looks familiar? Like the one we need to find.” The other said, completely ignoring how the kid in his teammate’s hand is going purple from lack of oxygen.
Right at that moment, although Katsuku was scared, his body moved on his own.
“Get your hands off him!!”
Sparks erupted from his hands, blowing into an explosion.
Snippet: Katsuki sometimes sniffs his son’s clothes to see if there are caramel smells or not.