Chapter Text
Smoke curled around the lone silhouette of Katsuki Bakugo, the gray tendrils licking his skin before dissolving into the sky. He breathed in the polluted air sharply, relishing the burning in his nostrils and lungs, then exhaled slowly through his mouth, watching as the thick haze scattered, bending to his will.
He flexed his hands, clenching, then unclenching them rhythmically, trying desperately to make the buzzing stop.
Oh God. The fucking buzzing.
There were only a few ways to get rid of the irritating itching under his skin. Training being the first. Feeling his hands throb as they set off blast after blast, feeling his limbs ache with every movement, and feeling the pain radiating throughout his whole body like a cruel chorus.
Katsuki took another quick breath in, sliding his foot over the gravel until he was back to his fighting stance. He readied his fists, then exhaled and exploded. Literally.
The eruption screamed in his ears, wind whipping around him as he launched himself across the training grounds, his hearing aids capturing every deafening sound with precision his naked ears could only dream of hearing again.
He could feel his palms tearing through targets and leaving scorched metal and rubble in his wake. He spun midair, his explosions jerking his body into place as he locked eyes with the ground, which he barreled towards. His mind instinctively prepared to land after years of brutal practice.
As he slammed into the ground, he managed a near-perfect roll, his figure absorbing the landing without too much trouble. He thought he had done well enough.
However, when he moved to stand, his knees gave out and he collapsed hard onto the ground, eating the concrete with a sharp gasp.
“S-shit—“ He hissed through gritted teeth before he forced himself to his hands and knees with trembling arms, his chest heaved as he tried, and failed, to focus his eyes. Nausea twisted violently in his stomach as saliva spilled from his lips with a gag.
He couldn’t fight it back.
He’d been going for too long, he knew that, and yet he still hadn’t called it quits. It took a miserable ten minutes of throwing up his guts before the endless onslaught finally released its grip on him.
He rolled onto his back with a groan and stared up at the sky. Thick clouds churned overhead, slowly swallowing patches of the evening blue. Katsuki’s gaze followed them until the dense shapes blurred together.
Pathetic. Here he was, lying flat on his back after spending a better part of twenty minutes emptying his stomach onto the training grounds. And now, he was sprawled across the concrete, glowering at some stupid clouds. If anyone found him like this, he’d never hear the end of it.
That thought alone made his lips curl.
Dinner would likely be starting soon. But, if he got up now, he might be able to squeeze in a quick shower before the extras inevitably rope him into helping prep the food. Afterwards, he could retreat to his quiet room, study for a bit, then finally go to bed at exactly 8:32.
The familiar routine surfaced automatically, settling in the back of his mind as if it had been carved into stone. It was predictable and manageable, with each step already mapped out without him even having to think about it. There was comfort in that certainty, in knowing what came next.
At the very least, it meant doing something, and that was better than rotting out here.
With a strained grunt, he turned to his side, planting his palms into the ground as he forced himself upright. The world tilted unpleasantly as he staggered to his feet and beads of sweat trailed down his face and hands, falling to the ground. But he didn’t let himself slow.
He’d wasted enough time already.
As he began the slow trudge back to the dorms, trying his absolute best to avoid tripping over his own feet, he found himself mentally critiquing his training. Even if he didn’t count the last part of his training, he hadn’t done very well.
He’d lost his balance twice and hadn’t been able to beat any of his personal bests. If this had been a real mission, he probably would’ve died.
He swallowed, squeezing his eyes shut as he mentally replayed the whole exercise. He had only lost his footing because he overcompensated with his blast, the recoil had been too powerful and he slipped. It was a rookie mistake, something he should’ve stamped out forever ago.
On top of that, the cold weather of early November hadn’t helped either. His palms had taken longer to warm up, and his blasts felt less responsive than they had in summer.
He grumbled angrily under his breath, his thumbnails biting into the sides of his index fingers as he walked.
The looming sky had already darkened in the brief time since he’d left the training grounds. Katsuki could feel rain coming. The air had that sharp scent it always carried before a storm, and the world seemed to be washed in heavy shades of blue-gray.
He sneered; he had never liked the rain.
His brooding was interrupted by a sudden ringing in his left ear. “Gah, fuck!” He cursed loudly, his hand snapping up to his hearing aid to lower the volume. The tinnitus lingered for another few seconds before fading into the background where it belonged. He sighed and continued his march. Fucking noise.
As he walked, he remembered something Kirishima said about dinner that morning, about how Bakugo would probably like it. The faux-redhead seemed particularly excited for tonight’s dinner, although that wasn’t saying much. Kirishima always seemed to be excited for something, no matter how mundane.
After another minute, the dorm building came into view, its massive structure blocking out a large portion of the sky. It would be much more intimidating, if not for the warm yellow light spilling from the windows. Katsuki couldn’t help but feel a minuscule amount of relief, since he’d finally be able to wash off all the grime and dirt, and change into his favorite hoodie.
He made his way across the yard and up the porch steps. He took one last deep breath, steeling his nerves, before slamming the door open with his signature scowl.
Immediately he was bombarded with noise. The majority of the class was in the common area, their voices overlapping chaotically.
“Yo, Kacchan of the Bakugos!”
Kaminari greeted him characteristically from the couches, waving his hand so fast it blurred.
Katsuki glared. He didn’t hate Kaminari exactly, he was obnoxious and didn’t understand what an inside voice was, but he possessed a stubborn ride-or-die loyalty that Katsuki could fully despise. Even when he’d blast his face multiple times, Kaminari would always come back to hang out with him.
Katsuki grunted in response, stomping away towards the stairs, accidentally catching Kirishima’s eyes on his way. He had a stupid grin plastered on his face, which only grew as his gaze locked with Katsuki’s.
Katsuki blinked. He paused for a fraction of a second—caught off guard by the way the common room lights highlighted the bright, golden warmth of Kirishima’s carmine eyes—before reality crashed back into him and he bared his teeth, barking, “The hell you looking at, Shitty Hair?!”
Kirishima snickered, raising his hands, “My bad, bro! Just thought you looked extra manly, after your training, I mean.” He finger-gunned Bakugo, his sharp teeth glinting with his smile.
Katsuki gave him a blank stare. Then, he just shook his head, grumbling tiredly as he started up the stairs.
His joints ached as he ascended the steps, but he tried his best to ignore it, driven on by the comforting thoughts of a steaming shower.
Once he made it to his room, he locked the door behind him, exhaling a heavy, exhausted breath. Katsuki’s room was neat and organized, but still chaotic in a loud, unforgiving manner. The only reason his room wasn’t an absolute tornado was because his mom raised him to always have an insanely clean room.
Fortunately, now that they were in the dorms, he could dump some of his personality onto the tidiness. Meaning All Might merch filled his shelves, and were meticulously arranged next to a collection of books, which ranged from hero comics to books full of bug facts. Below his shelves sat his desk, covered in textbooks and his schoolwork, while his walls were littered with posters of his favorite movies and heroes.
His bed was on the opposite side, his dark bedsheets were made, and an electric drum kit was nestled in the corner between his bed frame and wall.
Katsuki’s eyes dragged over all his belongings, before huffing and starting to remove his gritty workout clothes and his hearing aids.
His shower didn’t take too long. He quickly washed his hair and scrubbed the sweat from his tired body before turning off the hot water and hopping out. He dried himself off, being careful of any new bruises, aggressively tossing the towel over his damp spiky hair to rough out the moisture.
He glanced at the small analog clock on his bedside table, it was around 6:40, which meant food. Katsuki couldn’t tell if his stomach churning was him being hungry or him being on the verge of throwing up again.
But he could feel his muscles eating away at themselves with every second he didn’t give them substance, so he bitterly decided he’d at least try to force some food down.
He got dressed into a pair of gray sweatpants and a thick oversized black hoodie. The fabric of the hoodie was worn and the drawstrings had been chewed on over the years, but Katsuki had refused to toss it out since it was stupidly soft on his skin.
Once changed, he stood there, in the middle of his room, for a long moment.
He hadn’t put his hearing aids back in. Without them, the world was softer, filled in by a heavy, muffled pressure that had steadily grown louder over the past few years.
He had only gotten his hearing aids the year before, near the end of his third year in middle school. He had been pissed and threw a fit about every appointment he had to go to, whining to his parents even though he knew they were just trying to help. Which was something they rarely offered to do. Usually, his mom would just smack him on the head and belittle him for being weak.
It had taken Katsuki a long time to work up the courage to even accept the fact his hearing was worsening, let alone tell his mom and dad. It felt gross and uncomfortable to admit anything remotely vulnerable to his parents, but he just bit the bullet and yelled it at them loudly. Like he always did.
He sighed, rubbing his hands over his face before grabbing the two devices from their charging case and fitted them in his ear then walked to his door, exiting his room and heading downstairs.
Just as he suspected, when he reached the ground floor, Ashido and Kaminari immediately dragged him to the kitchen to help prepare dinner.
It was mapo tofu. Goddamn it, whatever Kirishima had said earlier was right. The fiery, burning heat of this dish was exactly what he needed after the lousy training session he had. He spent the next little while helping with the food, enjoying how the spicy aroma stung his eyes, before taking a seat down at the far end of the room, at one of the empty tables.
The food itself was delicious, but it did take a lot of energy to simply chew, and he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to keep it down, despite seriously wanting to.
Katsuki glanced towards the rest of the class from his corner, watching them as they chatted and laughed loudly with each other, and noticed how easy being so social seemed for the majority of them.
He grumbled and reached up to his hearing aids, turning them down until the class’s noise was almost indistinguishable from the silent buzzing trapped in his skull.
After he was about halfway done with his meal, he felt footsteps approaching. Katsuki looked up to see Kirishima standing above him and grinning, his sharp teeth glinting in the lighting.
“Hey, man!” He greeted cheerfully, plopping down next to Katsuki. “Enjoying dinner?”
Katsuki glared, Kirishima’s voice sounded a bit distant but not enough that he would have to change the volume in his hearing aids again. So, he simply scoffed, rolling his eyes a little. “It’s fine, Shitty Hair. Now what do you want? Or are you just here to piss me off?”
Kirishima pouted, furrowing his brows a little, “Owch, man!” He exclaimed, “Am I not allowed to check on my bestest bro ever?”
Katsuki pushed Kirishima's face away with a scowl. “No. Now shoo. I’m trying to eat in peace. Go back to your own food.”
“I already ate.” Kirishima explained, patting his tummy. “My portion was tiny since I can’t handle spice, but it’s all good since that means there’s more for people who like spicy food, like you!”
Katsuki gave him an unamused look, making the redhead huff and slump a little in defeat. “Alright, dude, I’ll leave you alone. But don’t forget we’re training together tomorrow.” He said as he stood, patting Katsuki on the back, which definitely earned a death glare from the blonde. “You promised.”
“I don’t promise shit.” Katsuki mumbled as Kirishima walked away.
Katsuki sighed once he was alone again and turned back to his food. He had honestly forgotten he told Kirishima he’d be free to train with him that Saturday. He didn’t mind, of course, Kirishima was one of his few classmates he didn’t hate sparring with, since he could actually provide a challenge with his hardening quirk.
Katsuki had a stupid amount of respect for the redhead’s dumb quirk, especially after the Shie Hassaikai raid. Hearing Kirishima explain the mechanics of his unbreakable form had immediately hooked him. So he had constantly asked Kirishima to train with him for the past two weeks since then.
At this point, it was a habit for them to workout together on the weekends, not that it wasn’t before though.
And strangely enough, Katsuki found himself liking the weird rhythm they had come to fall into. They were friends, he could begrudgingly admit, though not out loud, obviously, but still.
Kirishima wouldn’t bother Katsuki when he was in too much of a bad mood, and the way he approached physical touch wasn’t as intimidating as the rest of the class. He had also seemed so persistent in the beginning of the year to get close to Katsuki, and he had eventually given in, letting the redhead proclaim them as friends.
Katsuki shoved the last bite of his Mapo Tofu into his mouth before standing and washing his dishes quickly.
His eyes blurred a little when he stood and his head ached, but he had homework due that Monday so he couldn’t let it affect him too much. He’d just down some water, then study for a while before he had to go to bed.
He made his way back upstairs and plopped down at his desk. He pulled out the English homework Mic had assigned them that day and set to work… or well, he would’ve if he wasn’t so goddamned distracted.
Katsuki could not fucking focus for the life of him. Every time he could feel himself finally start to get his shit together, his mind would trail off straight into total garbage. His subconscious would drip and melt, swirling together until even he couldn’t tell where one coherent thought ended and another started.
Soon enough, 8:30 came and Katsuki gave up on his schoolwork, heading to his bathroom to brush his teeth before putting away his hearing aids and practically collapsing into his bed, hoping to a god he didn’t believe in that he wouldn’t have any dreams.
His prayers to sleep easily were not answered.
Instead, he found himself back at Kamino.
His vision swam, and images of a gaunt skeleton of a man stood before him, cackling as Katsuki struggled against his restraints. The man’s skin was chapped and stretched tight around his body, and his eerily dry hair fell just a little past his shoulders. He would’ve been scary enough as is. But what made everything about him worse, were the fourteen hands clinging to his body, twitching unsettlingly every time he would move.
There was no doubt that the man was Shigaraki. The leader of the League of Villains.
Looming behind the man were five others: a short, blonde girl with a smile just a little too big, a taller man with black hair and half burnt skin, a lizard heteromorphic crossing his arms and staring Katsuki down. Beside them stood a guy in a black and white body suit, while a dark mass of void with piercing yellow eyes, dressed in a crisp suit was standing silently in the very back.
Katsuki’s jaw clenched. He didn’t want to be back here. He didn’t want to relive this every night. But there was no waking up.
Katsuki growled, pulling at the shackles on his hands. “Piss off,” he spat, his voice mulled over by the dream. “I told you before, I’m not joining you.”
The burnt man, Katsuki was almost positive his name was Dabi, sauntered closer with a wicked smirk. “Why not, huh? You’re pretty much already a villain. You’ll never be more.”
“I’m not a villain!” Katsuki snapped, baring his teeth. “I’ll show you! Once I’m stronger, I’ll kill you all!”
“But isn’t that exactly what a villain would do?” Shigaraki’s raspy voice spoke up, sending shivers down Katsuki’s spine. “They kill people.”
Toga - the blonde girl - giggled at Shigaraki’s remark and nodded fervently. “Plus, You’re the reason All Might had to retire, you basically killed the number one hero!”
Katsuki froze, his brain was screaming at him to argue, to prove them wrong, but he didn’t. He could feel his body growing heavier and heavier, until he was sinking into his chair like sludge. Eventually his face sunk too low and the congealed seat swallowed his mouth and nose, keeping him from drawing a single breath.
Katsuki jolted awake at the blaring sound of his alarm clock.
He groaned, rubbed his eyes and blindly reached out to turn off the aggravating noise. He glared at the time, 6:30, before he sat up and stretched, his spine cracking and popping satisfyingly.
Katsuki typically woke up at 5:30 but since it was Saturday and there weren’t any classes, he didn’t mind sleeping in for an hour. It’s not like anyone else wakes up this early. Extras like Shoji and Todoroki kept to themselves for the most part, which suited Katsuki just fine.
Even in his groggy state, he could tell it was going to be a long day. His brain felt extra sluggish, even after he put his hearing aids back in, and he couldn’t get that damn nightmare outta his head.
So he decided he’d channel any frustration into a morning run. He quickly got ready and headed downstairs, offering a small nod to Shoji when he greeted him, then stepped outside.
The cold and damp morning settled over Katsuki’s shoulders like a weight. It had definitely rained the previous night, seeing as the air still carried that earthy scent of petrichor and the ground was littered in puddles. The sky was still dark gray and the clouds nearly blocked out the sun.
Katsuki did his stretches for a solid five minutes before his impatience got the better of him.
As he started his jog, his feet hit the pavement with a rhythmic beat while his mind wandered, spiraling obsessively.
He wasn’t a fucking villain. And he’d prove it to every single one of them. He’d train nonstop, pushing himself until he couldn’t lift a damn finger. He would become the number one hero, proving those bastard Villains are wrong about him.
Because they are wrong.
Katsuki was halfway through angrily plotting the LOV’s demise when he was violently yanked out of his thoughts as he collided straight on with someone after turning a corner.
He would’ve fallen too if the person hadn’t reached out to catch him by the arms. Katsuki would admit, his instincts had almost made him blow up whoever had run into him, until the person spoke.
“Woah, sorry ‘bout that, Bakugo!”
Katsuki blinked. Kirishima was smiling down at him sheepishly, while his hands still held onto Katsuki’s biceps.
“The hell?! What’re you doing up so early, Shitty Hair?” He barked back, feeling his face heat up a little as he pulled away from the other.
“I had to run to the convenience store real quick. I ran outta collagen.” He held up a grocery bag to prove his point. “How come you’re up?”
“Running.” Katsuki replied curtly.
“Seriously? Geez, how do you never stop going? I’m exhausted just from hearing how much you train.”
“Tch.” Katsuki scowled. “It’s not that difficult.”
Kirishima snorted and rolled his eyes. “Well, don’t overwork yourself too much. We still gotta spar later.”
Katsuki nodded in acknowledgment before pushing past Kirishima.
He didn’t even get two steps before his wrist was grabbed. He froze, turning around and baring his teeth in a forced, rigid grin, his eyebrows twitching with sheer irritation. “Whatever you’re about to say to me better be important as fuck,” he threatened through gritted teeth. “otherwise, I will not hesitate to bury you six feet under the ground.”
Kirishima let go, clearing his throat nervously. “Er, I just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay.”
Katsuki stared. Doing okay? Why the hell would he ask that? Did Katsuki do something that would make him think he wasn’t? Kirishima did seem to be hovering recently, but did the idiot really think something was wrong?
Katsuki snapped his hand away from the redhead with a snarl. “I’m fine.”
Kirishima brows furrowed, but he didn’t push. “Alright, man. Have a nice run.” He waved and turned on his heel, making his way back to the dorm building.
The second the redhead was out of sight, Katsuki started running again.
his feet hitting the ground was no longer a comforting cadence. Now, it was a countdown, something he couldn’t outrun, no matter how fast he went. The minute he stopped pushing himself, it was bound to swallow him whole. He bit his lip until it bled and pumped his legs and arms, forgetting to keep his pace - or maybe he just didn’t care anymore. With every thud of his feet, that familiar, suffocating buzz creeping closer.
CRACK—
Katsuki almost jumped out of his skin as the loud thunder rumbled and screamed suddenly overhead.
“Oh fucking hell!” He cursed loudly as the clouds started to open up and rain began to fall. He felt a couple of drops pepper his face, then before he knew it, he was half drowning in the downpour.
By the time he made his way back to the dorms, he was completely soaked, miserable, and the buzzing never fucking left.