Chapter Text
When Katsuki felt the familiar sting of fire racing across his palms, he shot into action.
As a hero should.
Because a moment earlier this had just been a normal ride on the subway. He had sat down in the back with one headphone in and watched as the regular crowd shuffled in. As a man gave his seat to a tired college-age boy. As a girl his age sat next to him as if there weren’t empty seats all around them. As an exasperated woman talked far too loudly on her phone. As a young father told his small daughter about all the fun they would have today. As the doors shut with the satisfying click that shut out the noise of the station.
And then. Fire.
He clearly hadn’t meant to activate his quirk. There would be no reason to, and it would only put civilians at risk. So as flames roared across the seat, dangerously close to the girl next to him, as a rogue quirk activation nearly blinded him, and as the train car began to quake like it would fall off the tracks, his first reaction was confusion.
That only lasted for a second, of course, as confusion was a waste of time, an emotion that heroes couldn’t afford. So then it switched to panic for half of a second. He shoved that one away even quicker. It was an emotion anyone would consider justified, and he only thought of it as a failure, something irrational.
So then, as second nature, perhaps even first, Katsuki leaned on the familiar crutch of his anger. Anger at a villain who could be behind this, and anger at himself for losing control. His power was his own, and he had trained for years so it could make him number one. For him to lose control like that, in such a mundane moment, was just enraging enough to short out his already negligible fuse.
And that anger didn’t stick around forever, but it did give him the push into action that he needed. He shoved the girl next to him off the seat, then caught her before she could hit the ground and pulled her to her feet. Without turning to look at her face, he put out the fire and moved to the next person. The tired-looking young man who had just shot off a beam of light, still emanating from his palm and waving around the car. Katsuki slapped him across the face to break through the initial panic. This was why he thought panic was useless. All of these extras were just standing around, letting their quirks activate on their own.
The man’s light blinked off, and Katsuki carried on. The woman from earlier had dropped her phone but seemed fine, just in shock. She didn’t visibly have any quirk trouble. The father had chilled the air around him and his daughter, but the quirk wasn’t powerful enough to be of concern. Extras.
The people in the train that he hadn’t had time to pay attention to didn’t seem to be having much trouble. One quirk transformation, but otherwise nothing too noticeable. He continued scanning the room for anyone who could have caused this. It seemed most likely to be a villain that could cause others to lose control of their quirks, but no one was attacking the train or making themselves known as a threat.
His head swiveled back around to where he had been looking, and he took a breath. The initial moment of shock was over for the passengers around him. Some looked at him like a hero; others were just scared. The toddler seemed unfazed, her tiny little face scrunched up in concentration.
Katsuki prided himself on his ability to notice every detail around him in just a moment, as if time slowed down when he kept his head cool. He doubted anyone would have pieced together the situation quite as efficiently. That toddler, the little girl who had been whining just a minute ago, now looked like she was focused on something no one else could see. She seemed to be about four or five. Right as the initial shock wore off, she began to wail.
And Katsuki, with his fine-tuned connection to his quirk, felt the minute difference. Right as the girl broke her concentration, it felt like there was no longer a fog between him and his quirk. Four or five. The perfect age to manifest a quirk, a moment known for being accompanied by wild activation and lack of control.
He let out a breath. Finally, in turn, his anger that moved him was able to subside. There hadn’t been a villain after all, just a little girl getting her quirk, which somehow interfered with the quirks around her. It was unclear exactly what it did, but she wasn’t a threat.
Ignoring everyone else around him, Katsuki kneeled down to talk to her fallen father and calmly explained the situation. His face showed no signs of comprehension, but shockingly, Katsuki didn’t get angry at him. Perhaps he was tired. Before long, everything was fine, and Katsuki Bakugo was the very first person to step out into the world, finally getting out of that station and back above ground, where he could breathe.
If anyone had been hurt, he would have been the last one to leave, saving everyone like a true hero, but today wasn’t that time. He was just a bit tired. He sat down on a bench he saw just outside a cafe and tried to rub the soot off his shirt.
When it became clear it was a lost cause, he looked up and surveyed his surroundings, forcing himself back to normal.
And wow. Just his luck. He honestly couldn’t be surprised after the day he had. He should have stayed home from school today.
But apparently, his subway ride home had failed miserably and, worst of all, spit him out not too far from U.A. And of course, that was just where half of his exhausting, infuriating, useless class of extras were out shopping. Just great.
-
Katsuki was sitting on a bench, simmering.
That was the word he has settled on for ‘acknowledging his emotions so that he could begin to control them,’ as the doctor said, or what his mom called ‘narrowly avoiding ending up on a watch list.’
No matter what it was called, the truth was that Katsuki was angry. 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week, he was boiling in the fire of his rage.
It helped to label what he was angry at. So he started his mental list the same way he always did.
1- everything.
It was very mature of him, but it let him work out some of his issues, so it’s not too bad.
2- I was supposed to feel like a hero; I was being a hero, but the whole time, I was acting out of anger. I almost hurt a civilian, and there wasn’t even any villain there. It was like he was the closest thing to a villain in that situation. And that made him furious.
So that gave him the third item for his list.
3- Myself.
Great. He had done the emotion thing. Now he was done.
He was sitting on a bench in front of a cafe. He wasn’t supposed to be there, because he wasn’t a customer, but no extra would have the guts to tell him off. He sat there, taking up more space than a teenager should, scowling, and wearing a singed t-shirt with a skull on it. What was a nobody going to say to him?
He tried to move on, clearing his mind and preparing to head home. He stood up and slung his bag over one shoulder, as his traitorous brain added a fourth item to the list.
4- That little girl had green hair.
It was different—more of a pastel, less foresty, but still felt like gazing into the past.
He looked at her, but he saw that boy. The girl had gotten a quirk. If the boy had, would it all be different? Would they be just like they were as kids?
Would he be alive?
Katsuki shook his head. This line of thought was pointless. He scowled and began walking in the direction of his house. It was far away, but he didn’t feel like going back to the train station after all that.
He needed some time alone. He could cook, he could train, and he would forget all about this.
Unfortunately, alone wasn’t an option.
“Bakubro!” Came a familiar shout as Katsuki lifted his eyes, only to see his crimson-haired friend. “What are you doing here?”
Rather than shout back, Katsuki walked over to Kirishima. He didn’t run, and he didn’t change his expression, lest he support this level of energy. Of course, his friend met him halfway, then grabbed his arm before he could even say hi.
“Oh my gosh, man! You never come out to hang! You’re always so cooped up inside, you little Bakubomb! The others are just on the next street over; they’ll be so excited to see you!”
Katsuki groaned, pulling his wrist free. “There’s more of you? Really?”
Kirishima smiled brightly, choosing to ignore his friend’s cynical sarcasm. “Yeah! It’s Mina, me, Sero, and Denki! We were all shopping, or at least Mina and Denki were, and now we have a surprise for you! This is great timing, man!”
Katsuki allowed himself to be pulled along, bracing himself for the storm of enthusiasm he knew was about to break.
They turned the corner, and Mina spotted them immediately.
“OMG Bakubro!? You’re here! That’s perfect!”
Katsuki could already feel the incoming headache, even before Sparky and the tape ran up to him.
“Bakugo, how could you keep this from us!? We just met your friend, and we had never even heard of him!”
“I don’t have friends, dunce face.”
“Hey man, chill.” Sero said, somewhat patronizingly. “You have us now; no need to act so lonely.”
Katsuki didn’t respond. He wasn’t going to reinforce the delusions of these extras that they had somehow befriended Katsuki Bakugo. Luckily, Kirishima made the boys give him some space, and raccoon eyes finally decided to explain.
“We ran into him when we were shopping; he’s still in there now! We were talking about you, and he was all like, ‘Oh, do you know Kacchan?’ It’s adorable! How didn’t you tell us you had a nickname?!”
Katsuki had only paid attention to one word, and with it, his heart dropped.
“-So then we talked to him, and he said that he knew you from middle school, and that you two are like childhood friends! And he’s actually the sweetest! You can probably guess, but he’s I-“
Mina paused when she saw Katsuki’s hand crackling with explosions. His face was blank. He looked as though he had seen a ghost.
“Bro? Are you good?” Kirishima asked.
Katsuki pulled himself together and nodded slightly. And then it happened. During that conversation, Denki had gone back into the store and grabbed this ‘old friend.’ So only a few seconds after Katsuki realized who they were talking about, Sparky walked out of the store.
With Deku.
Who had died a year ago.
“Hi Kacchan!”