Chapter Text
Katsuki woke up exactly five minutes before his alarm.
But he didn't get up. He stared at the ceiling in the dark, waiting for the shrill beeping of the digital alrmxlock sitting on his bedside table to start.
Five,
Four,
Three,
Two,
One,
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
His hand shot out from under the blanket, slamming the alarm off.
He didn't move after that. He just stared directly at the ceiling. The ceiling stared back. Normally, he'd have gotten up by now, he'd have start getting dressed or washed his teeth, but for some unknown reason, he couldn't find it in himslef to do that.
He felt like someone had poured concrete into his bones. His arms were almost shaking from overuse in training yesterday. The skin on his palms was peeling off.
Good.
It meant he'd been training enough.
He just wanted five more minutes. Five. A simple request.
"KATSUKI!"
His mother's voice rang from downstairs.
"IF YOU DON'T GET HERE IN FIVE MINUTES I'M THROWING YOUR HERO SUIT IN THE TRASH."
Ah. There it was.
He dragged himself out of bed, and then it hit him, 6 hours of school, combat training, homework, the gym. He had to do all that, he always did. He didn't think he coukd face it. But he always did. Because if he didn't- someone else would become number one. And he couldn't let that happen.
Not after everything.
----
The kitchen smelled like miso soup and beef. His father smiled when he walked in.
"Good morning."
"Hm."
"You look tired." His father said gently.
"I'm not." He said, his voice sounded rough even to himself.
"Yeah, and those dark circles underneath your eyes are just a fashion statement." Mitski snorted from across the room.
Katsuki ignored her. He shoved food into his mouth without really tasting it. Mitski watched him. Normally he would've yelled back. He would've started an argument with her. But he didn't. He just took it all.
It was wierd.
"Are you sick?" She asked, because it was the only possible explanation she could come to for why her normally ferocious son was acting like this.
"I'm not." Was his only answer.
"Then what's with the attitude?"
"What attitude?"
"The one where you act like your father."
Musaru made a face,
"I don't think that's a bad thing."
"It's not, it's just wierd."
Katsuki finished his food in record time,
"I'm leaving."
"You've got twenty minutes before school."
"I know."
He left. The front door shut behind him, for a minute, the house was quiet.
Then,
"He's been graining a lot lately." Musaru said.
"I know."
"He looks exhausted."
"I know."
"Should we say something?"
Mitski sighed, "He'd bite our heads off."
----
The morning air was cold. Cold enough to sting. Katsuki didn't really mind, it kept him awake.
The train was buzzing with noise. Katsuki put his earphones in without any music, people tended to avoid him that way.
He stood in the middle of the train uncomfortably, even so, sleep was taking over him, he had almost completely closed his eyes when,
"Kacchan?" He head Izuku's voice behind him say.
His eyes snapped open. Izuku stood behind him, holding tye straps of his backpack.
"You looked like you were falling asleep standing up."
"I wasn't."
Izuku touched the back of his head,
"Lately, you've been training alot."
"So?" Katsuki asked.
"I just thought maybe-"
"You thought what?"
"..Nothing." Izuku mumbled, looking away.
The train arrived with a screech. Katsuki climbed out before Izuku coukd start another conversation with him. Conversations were hard. He had to talk like himself, act like himslef. Like the same explosive and harsh person he was.
Was.
Now he was too tired to even move his body.
-----
The gates of U.A stood open. Students streaming in in clusters of laughter and conversation.
Katsuki filtered out the noise automatically. His feet carried him to tge classroom automatically. Everything was done automatically. It just menat that it was what he was supposed to do.
"Morning Bakugou."
He grumbled something that could be interpered as a greeting. Probably.
Nobody commented on his mood today. Everyone was busy with whatever stuff was on tgeir minds recently, internships, hanging out, whatever.
It was nice. He didn't feel like talking anyway.
When he stepped into 1-A, Lida was at the front.
"Morning everyone! Please remember that Aizawa-sensei requested the assignment before noon!"
"Morning Bakubro!" Kirishima exclaimed, waving his arm enthusiastically.
"Morning." Katsuki said.
Kirishima froze, normally he'd get an insult.
"Are you okay?"
"What kinda question is that?"
"Just- i don't know, you just seem kinda..."
"Kinda what?"
"Kinda tired."
Bakugou scoffed,
"I'm fine."
Kirishima laughed awkwardly,
"Yeah, Just checking."
Bakugou droped into his chair.
The classroom buzzed,
Mina talked with the other girls about a cafè she'd found.
Serp cracked some dumb jokes.
Tokoyqmi read in complete silence.
It was the same as always.
So why did it feel so loud? Why did it feel so big?
Katsuki rubbed his temple, he'd probably just trained too hard. He'd just have to train until his body got used to it. Simple.
---
The classroom door slid open, Aizawa entered in a sleeping bag as usual. He slithered out like a caterpillar from a cacoon.
"Sit. Today's lesson-"
Katsuki tried to focus. He really did.
His eyelids burned.
He blinked, once, twice, then his vision started to blur. His head dropped onto the table.
Thunk!
Something bounced off his forehead. The class snickered. Katsuki raised his head.
"What?"
"Why are you sleeping in class?"
"I wasn't sleeping."
"You were snoring."
A few people laughed. His face heated up.
"I don't snore."
"You do, apparently."
"If you're tired, go to sleep earlier."
"I'm fine."
"Not what I said."
It wasn't what he said, it was just Katsuki's natural response. I'm fine. Because he was. He was always fine.
Bakugou expected Aizawa to press him further, but he just turned away.
"Class, opne your textbooks."
---
Lunch should've helped. Instead, it just made everything worse.
He grabbed a tray and piled food into it without really looking, tgen he headed for the corner. Aways from everyone. Just when he thought he was free,
"Bakugou!" Ashido said as she sat in the seat across from him, the others followed suit.
"You disappeared after class." Kaminari said.
"So?"
"So, we're eating together!"
Katsuki didn't have energy to argue.
Ashido tilted her head,
"You've been kinda wierd lately."
"I'm not."
"Yes you are, you're usually yelling."
Katsuki stabbed a piece of chicked with his fork,
"I'm eating."
His friends looked at each other,
"Right."
"We'll leave you to it."
Tgey stood up.
Kirishimina hesitated,
"If you ever need to talk-"
"I'm fine."
Bakugou didn't look uo, his food suddenly tasted like cardboard. Still, he ate, food was fuel. Heroes couldn't waste fuel.
-----
Tomura Sigarakii tossed a photograph on the table,
"Bakugou Katsuki."
The league gathered around, an understanding passed through them, they jnew what they were about to do.
"He's not going to make it easy." Twice said.
"He'll fight." Tomura muttered.
"He'll scream." Toga added delightedly.
None of them noticed the bags under his eyes. They expected a battle.None of them kneq they were about to kidnap a child who was too exhausted to care.