Work Text:
"A witness protection program is a set of measures to ensure the safety of witnesses during a trial, and if necessary, after it is over. It can come down to providing simple physical security to prevent pressure on the participants in the process, and sometimes to more serious measures - a change of residence, work and study, and sometimes ... a complete change of identity."
○ After a few weeks of visiting family in Fukuoka during the summer holidays, Mitsuki and Masaru Bakugo and their 7-year-old son Katsuki decided not to immediately return to their home in Musutafu, but to spend the last few days of Masaru's vacation at their apartment in Hamamatsu to recover from the long train ride, and to visit the local museum dedicated to the heroes, which young Katsuki had been eager to visit.
○ According to the police who arrived at the crime scene, the apartment had been ransacked, but nothing of value was missing, except for one wallet taken to confuse the investigation. The apartment was in a terrible state, indicating that the victims had actively tried to resist the "Ripper."
○ During the examination of the bodies, the forensic expert noticed that, judging by the condition of the bodies of the murdered couple, instead of trying to escape, for some reason they decided to defend themselves and stay in the apartment.
○ The exhausted 7-year-old Katsuki, still convulsively covering his mouth with his hands so as not to make a sound and not to give away his location to the killer, was found a day after the incident, locked in a closet.
○ The wide gap between the doors of the closet was enough for the boy to be covered in splashes of Mitsuki's blood during the massacre, and also for the police to have the first and only living witness to the crime, who confirmed that the criminal was not acting alone, and who was also able to create a self-portrait of the serial killer and identify the criminal.
○ Thus, the widely known "Hamamatsu Ripper" was caught. During the investigation, and afterward, due to the escape of some of the "Ripper's" accomplices during their arrest, Katsuki Bakugo was placed under the witness protection program. Due to the special level of danger, the public security leadership decided to inform the public that Katsuki was killed along with his family in order to ensure his safety.
○ Inko Midoriya, who already knew about the crime after being interrogated by a detective, was unable to hide the tragedy from Izuku, who overheard her phone call. She was forced to tell her son what happened and explain the death of his childhood friend (they had grown apart a bit due to Izuku's quirklessness, but were still close at the time). The boy was shocked by everything that had happened.
○ For the first time, Izuku realized that having a strong quirk was no guarantee of safety. At the farewell ceremony, which the boy insisted on attending, 7-year-old Izuku, wiping away his tears, promised himself that no matter what, he would become "as strong as All Might" in order to be able to protect those dear to him. This determination would remain with him for many years to come, prompting him to continue to train and study hard, and to choose the name "Deku" as his future hero name from childhood, in honor of the man who once gave him this nickname and this determination.
○ The story of the last victims of the "Ripper" became widely known among the people. In order not to reveal Katsuki's participation in the capture of the "Ripper", the police created a beautiful picture by slightly changing the facts. Thus, according to the generally accepted version, the killer was discovered due to DNA particles that got under the fingernails of Mitsuki and Masaru when they tried to protect their son.
+ (in principle, this was not far from the truth, they really fought back, taking the killer as far away from the closet as possible, but the killer was always in gear, and his accomplices ensured the destruction of all evidence, which in reality did not allow such a version of events).
○ The police placed Katsuki in the witness protection program. They created new documents for him, gave him a new name (possible option: Katsuragi Hayate), ordered him to temporarily limit the use of his memorable quirk to a minimum. The circle of people working on this was reduced as much as possible to avoid leaks and persecution from accomplices of the "Ripper".
○ It was decided not to take risks by giving Katsuki to, for example, former family acquaintances or distant relatives, choosing instead people who were definitely not connected in the past with the Bakugo couple.
○ Katsuki was supposed to be placed in a good foster family, but in the initial stages, the boy, still grieving over the loss, strongly resisted this. For Katsuki, the wound was still too fresh. A silent and hot-tempered gloomy boy, refusing to make contact and angrily gnashing his teeth and glaring at anyone who approached him, was definitely not a very popular candidate for adoption.
○ At a later age, they simply would not have wanted to take him in, since adoptive parents always choose the youngest children first. Therefore, they placed him in a good orphanage, creating the appearance in the documents that Katsuki was an orphan from birth and had previously been raised in another orphanage.
○ A beautiful image of a weak model and her husband fighting tooth and nail against a serial killer to protect their child. The extreme brutality of this crime and the serial killer's previous murders, Mitsuki's fame as a model, as she was in her prime at the time, Masaru's fame as a young and promising fashion designer... all of this contributed to the fact that even years later, photos of Mitsuki from fashion shows and stories of what happened were still circulating on the internet. Mitsuki's face was remembered even years later.
○ Fortunately or unfortunately, Katsuki took after Mitsuki in appearance. So, since entering the witness protection program, he has been forced to make his face more inconspicuous. For this reason, he dyes his hair black, wears black contacts, and either minimally affects his face with makeup (for example, fake freckles), or simply limits himself to a medical mask.
+ Katsuki grows his hair out because it allows him to have some form of family connection due to his resemblance to Mitsuki.
○ In this story, Katsuki has a catastrophically bad luck. By chance, several orphanages where Katsuki was placed ended up being disbanded, which is why up until the age of 9 he was thrown from one orphanage to another, until he ended up in a run-down orphanage in a not very prosperous area somewhere on the outskirts.
○ Unlike the previous more or less decent orphanages located right in the center of the city, this one was frankly pathetic. Disgusting food, education in the local state school, where all the orphanage children were placed in one of the classes. Absolutely unacceptable discipline..
+if desired, you can add a branch of violence inside the orphanage by the staff
+in fact, about 20-30 children live almost independently in a tiny house on a meager payment allocated to them by the staff, who only occasionally visit the children
+everything is held together exclusively by the older children, who take care of the younger ones, manage the household and go to work at the first opportunity, often working “under the table” and not entirely legally, for example, as loaders, couriers, cashiers, etc., sometimes skipping school for this
+sometimes some of the “older children” choose illegal part-time jobs, but this always ends badly
+later, by the age of 12, Katsuki moves into the category of “older children” and, together with 2-3 other children from the same category, is engaged in household chores and works, they alternate responsibilities between themselves
○ The incident left a strong imprint on Katsuki's psyche. As a result of PTSD, he developed selective mutism as a child. The idea of "behaving quietly" that his parents told him literally ate into his head. The boy categorically refused to talk. Any noise he made made him feel bad.
○ In that area, there was a seasoned police officer (possible name: Yamamoto), an old acquaintance of Tsukauchi's who retired after the "Ripper" case.
+ Although he was not admitted to the witness protection program (the police officers and medical personnel not included in the protection process were convinced that the boy died from his wounds), he still easily recognized Katsuki (he was one of those who found Katsuki locked in the closet back then).
○ As a former police officer, he could, in fact, even if not adopt, but look after the boy. Which is what he did, living in the neighboring area. In an attempt to reduce the child's anxiety, the policeman taught Katsuki sign language, how to move quietly, how to protect himself in the old quirkless way, and worked out ways with the boy to use his quirk by disguising its nature or simply making a loud noise.
+ It helped. And even if he rarely visited Katsuki, it made his future life easier. He also gave Katsuki an old smartphone on which he could type text so as not to speak out loud.
+ At the moment, Katsuki has already overcome his mutism. But, since there are enough disabled or deaf people in his environment due to the orphanage and other things, he continues to communicate through text or sign language, since it is more familiar and comfortable for him.
○ The Ripper incident didn't make Katsuki change his mind about becoming a hero.
○ However, due to his situation, Bakugou does NOT want to attract too much public attention. During his training, Katsuki will look up to Aizawa and other more or less underground heroes rather than the well-known and popular ones like All Might or Endeavor.
+ Katsuki has experience interacting with the underground world due to the proximity of the orphanage to the slums, all the children from there have this experience, Katsuki's combat experience is also mainly from there
+ the area where the orphanage is located is quite disadvantaged and is almost not patrolled by heroes, or is patrolled by extremely unreliable heroes, many children have developed a distrust of heroes in principle since childhood, among them there will really be many followers of the ideology of the Stain, to Katsuki's displeasure
+ these children do not care whether the heroes work for the "greater good", popularity or salary, they are not satisfied with the rottenness of the system itself and the fact that some heroes do not do their job in good faith
○ Katsuki still enters UA. In Japan, high school education, unlike elementary and middle school, is paid and UA is no exception. Being from an orphanage, Katsuki can only enter UA with a grant (budget places for especially gifted students from disadvantaged families), which he was still able to obtain through hard work, taking one of the best places in both practice and theory.
○ As part of the grant program, in addition to tuition, the state also pays for basic lunches for the school year and the minimum costs of a hero suit for training. But after finishing his studies, Katsuki is still unlikely to have the funds for a better hero suit that can serve him in the coming years.
○ Unfortunately, this amount is quite small, so Bakugo cannot bring all of his ideas to life. For this reason, Katsuki, in an attempt to save money, personally negotiates with Director Nedzu so that the grant money allocated for basic lunches will be transferred to the cost of a hero suit. Katsuki cooks his own food in the orphanage and brings it in containers for lunch.
○ Katsuki, not wanting to attract attention, or even worse, PITY, hides from others that he is poor or from an orphanage. Not being able to even use his own name greatly affects Katsuki, so he works himself to the bone and continues to maintain the bar of being the best student. This creates a huge overachiever syndrome in him, believing that he has to be the best because it's the only way he can somehow be himself and be able to become a hero from the position he's in.
○ Katsuki recognizes Izuku, but he won't show it. He will also try to limit his interactions with him as much as possible. Deku doesn't recognize Katsuki at this point, as he's absolutely certain that his childhood friend is dead. In this AU, Deku is still bullied, but he's much more confident and has a healthier self-esteem. Even though he gets a quirk from All Might