Chapter Text
January 5th
The common room was silent, free from the usual noise of the class 1A students. Katsuki rested in the stillness, leaning against the kitchen island as he waited for his kettle to begin hissing. The winter frigidness could be felt through the thin walls. Katsuki’s skin prickled under his black sweats. He’d been there for a few minutes as he was unable to fall asleep for the past couple of hours.
The fridge hummed in a low tone. The dimmed lights faded the corners of the walls into shadows. The burner lit up a brilliant red as it gave off heat not found in the rest of the dorm building.
Usually, Katsuki would be asleep by 8 pm, but tonight he only stirred in his bed. Usually, Katsuki’s room would be warm, but tonight, even under 3 blankets, he was shivering. Usually, Katsuki’s brain would be rid of thoughts as he dosed, but tonight his thoughts were racing. Tonight was anything but usual. Tonight was the last night Katsuki would keep his secret hidden.
So he stood in the kitchen, trying his best to ignore the freezing air around him and staring out of the frosted window above the sink as snowflakes fell as far as his crimson eyes could see in the dark sky. The trees were covered with sheets of snow, icicles formed on the underside of each student’s balconies, and atop the grass and concrete-paved paths was a thin sheet of ice. The only light being given off were from various student’s windows from lights that hadn’t been turned off and streetlights littering the sides of the many walkways. He looked at the digital clock on the coffee machine, 11:47 pm. Everyone had gone to sleep about an hour and a half ago as they were told their class would have an English test first thing in the morning, which no one wanted to be tired for.
The wind howled outside, causing snow to fly off of the leaves of the shrubbery lining the outside of the dorms. Steam rose from the kettle as it began to squeal. Katsuki left his thoughts and moved in front of the stove, turning off the burner and pouring the boiling water into two glass mugs he’d laid out on the counter. He scooped a tablespoon of chamomile flowers each into two of Momo’s tea infusers. He lowered each infuser into the water to let it steep.
Katsuki reached around his neck and pulled his headphones over his ears. He unpaused the music he’d been listening to earlier on his phone and the intro of a jazz rap song began to start. The soft beat soothed his ears and he closed his eyes, shoving his unconfronted thoughts to the back of his mind and let the music distract him from the cold. The backing vocals contrasted the drums, giving a tempo to the artist’s fast and harsh rapping as a guitar blended the two together perfectly.
Katsuki was whisked away for five minutes before he opened his eyes once more. He took the infusers out of the mugs, threw the wet flowers into the compost bin and began rinsing the infusers. Once done, Katsuki put his phone in his pocket and picked up both of the cups, making his way into the living room. He placed one of the mugs onto the coffee table and sat in the middle of the largest couch, blowing over the surface of the tea and occasionally taking sips. Katsuki glanced at the boy reading a book to his right.
“Thought you might be thirsty so I made you one.” Katsuki whispered softly, so as not to break the calmness of the room. He took another sip.
“Thanks,” Neito replied, looking up from his book. He kept his page with his bookmark and set it on the coffee table. He took his mug into his cold hands and held it up to his mouth; breathing in the aroma before drinking from it. A wave of relief came over his body with the tea’s warmth. Neito shuffled closer to Katsuki, resting his head against the other boy’s shoulder.
“Chamomile. My favorite.” He smiled faintly and took a glance up to meet Katsuki’s eyes.
“I know.” Katsuki replied, smiling softly.
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3 Months Earlier - October 14th
The classroom of 1A was louder than usual. Much to Iida’s dismay, students were yelling, out of their seats, and on their phones. He tried to quiet it down but the excitement in the air drowned out the robotic chopping of his arms as he lectured his fellow students. People huddled around Midoriya’s desk where he had multiple tabs of different ideas for class-wide Halloween costumes pulled up. Mina and Uraraka were writing suggestions on the blackboard while Hagakure talked about different themes and competitions they could hold with candy as the prize.
Katsuki opened the classroom door, headphones blasting a random song that Spotify recommended him in between his playlist. He would’ve skipped it but he had used all five of them he got without premium. He walked to his seat and within two seconds of sitting, Kirishima was in his space with a smile brighter than the sun.
“Bakugo, we should match as Mario characters!” Kirishima gleamed.
“Bakugo! You gotta see these costume ideas Mina came up with!”
“Bakugo, will you come with us to the mall to buy outfits?” Mina asked, looking away from the blackboard.
“Bakugo, we were going to have a class meeting after school. You better show up today!”
Katsuki tried to ignore every question his classmates pestered him with, but eventually enough was enough. He took an earphone out and glared.
“No, no, no, and finally, no. Now shut up and leave me alone.” Katsuki said, earning a few eye rolls from his classmates.
“Ooh, Blasty’s in a bad mood. So scary!” Mina said sarcastically from across the room.
“I just got goosebumps…” Kaminari mocked. His eyes were blown wide as he attempted a nervous fullbody tremor.
Before Katsuki could retaliate (yell at them to fuck off), Aizawa entered the class. He slugged to his desk holding his signature yellow sleeping bag bundled up under his arm. The class quieted down but mostly continued their conversations. He put his headphones in, and gave a glare to anyone looking to bother him again.
“Problem children,” he said, voice rough and low. A few students paused their chatting and focused their attention to the front of the room. “I am going to take a nap for 30 minutes, if I’m woken up by something other than villains attacking, someone dying, or a cat wandering into the room, you will all receive a ten page essay on the importance of being well rested, due tomorrow.”
He looks around the class as students exchange looks. Most of class 1A have stopped talking.
Most of them.
At Katsuki's desk, Kaminari is still having a one-sided conversation with Kirishima. Sero eyes widen and he nudges the boy’s shoulder. Kaminari, so involved in his talking, doesn’t stop.
“Kaminari.” Aizawa says with a raised voice. Everyone in the class looks at him and he finally notices the silence. Kaminari pauses his rant and meets his teacher’s glare with a frightened expression. He immediately speed walks over to his seat, almost running over Asui in the process, and quickly gets seated.
“Sorry Sensei..!” He mumbles, avoiding people’s stares by looking at his desk, eyebrows furrowed and lips pressed into a thin line. Aizawa sighs and unrolls his sleeping bag and resigns into his makeshift bed. 1A relaxes a small amount before it sinks in that they’ll have to stay silent for an hour, sitting in the same spot with nothing to work on and nothing interesting around the room to keep them occupied. Iida looks around at his friends and sees several of them already bored and reaches the consensus that they, without a doubt, will not be able to keep quiet. He sighs and pulls a piece of paper out from his school binder and begins drafting his essay.
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Not even five minutes into Aizawa’s nap, class 1A ran into an obstacle. Class 1B, more importantly, Neito Monoma.
As it turns out, class 1B were headed out on a field trip to visit a few pro heroes as a reward for everyone getting a 95% or higher on their last test. As they passed 1A, Monoma peered through the room’s windows and spotted their teacher sleeping on the floor. 1A stiffened, eyes wide, some shaking their heads with pleading hands and terrified faces, begging him not to do anything. But of course, Monoma being Monoma, he couldn’t possibly pass their class without making a scene and letting them know which class was the superior heroes in training. So, naturally, instead of walking passed like the rest of his slightly more sane classmates, he smirked at them and banged both of his hands on the window repeatedly. And in true Monoma fashion, began yelling his usual tirade about his aforementioned superiority.
Mina jumped out of her seat. Momo dropped her face into her hands. Kirishima silently shushed him. Tokoyami began to pray. Midoriya’s jaw dropped. Kaminari hit his head on the desk. Uraraka defeatedly gazed up at the ceiling, accepting her fate. Everyone else looked between Monoma and Aizawa, except Katsuki, who was still listening to his music in his own world, unaware of what had happened. Kendo whacked Monoma on the neck, cutting his speech short, and dragged his limp body away after multiple remorseful looks. When a few seconds passed without a stir from Aizawa, the class let out a collective sigh.
“Put your papers on my desk by 8:30 tomorrow or you’ll receive a zero.” Aizawa said, followed by a class-full of groans.
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Back at the dorms, 1A were sitting in a misshapen oval in the living room working on their essays. Discarded papers and unused post it notes strewn about between the gaps of the many open laptops. Iida, who had started during class with no hopes that his class would maintain silence, was already done with his essay by the time the lunch bell had rung and was helping Kaminari by giving advice for his next few paragraphs. Momo was busy typing away in her Google Scholar tab trying to find different research papers and articles for her to cite. Mineta had written a few sentences before getting a misleading advertisement for a BuzzFeed article on celebrity women’s cosmetic surgeries, which he instantly turned his attention to. Katsuki was almost eight pages in before he began making dinner.
Jazz played in the background, Asui’s choosing after Mina and Uraraka said they needed background noise other than Bakugo yelling at Midoriya. Pencil lead ran across papers, keys clicked on keyboards, Katsuki’s ladle scraped against the side of a pot of broth, erasers were swiped roughly on mistakes, all as quiet conversation filled the room. Bakugo poured the broth into three different slow cookers, followed by noodles, vegetables and seasoning before he closed the lids and set the temperatures and timers.
The salty and savory fragrance filled the air. A few distracted people gave their compliments and asked a couple of questions before returning to their work. Katsuki sat back down on the couch he occupied previously. Squished between Mina and Sero, he picked up his laptop and continued his 8th paragraph. Or at least, that was the plan.
Once more, there was bang on the windows, this time at the front of the dorms. Uraraka and Kaminari jumped, squealing as though they were little girls in a horror movie. Conversations quickly came to a halt as people turned their heads toward the maker of the noise. Neito fucking Monoma was at the window again, this time inaudibly mocking them for their punishment he caused them to get. Katsuki scowled, having heard from Kirishima that it was him who was to blame for waking Aizawa. He pushed his computer onto Mina’s lap and stomped toward the door. Monoma, realizing that his actions have consequences, began to sprint away.
Bakugo swung the door open and broke into a sprint after him, palms smoking as he cursed Monoma’s entire bloodline. Glances were exchanged before a single question was asked.
“Should we help him?” Jirou asked.
“This is karma for all of his unchecked crimes. Bakugo is being kind for once, let’s savor it. ” Tokoyami uttered with praise. Iida nodded. They watched through the window as Katsuki caught up to his victim, tackling him to the floor.
“I never thought I’d see the day where Bakugo would stand up for us.” Todoroki said as he pretended to wipe a tear of pride. Various people agreed, smiling admiringly as Katsuki shoved dirt down the front of Monoma’s uniform as he screamed bloody murder.
“He truly is a hero.”