Chapter Text
Katsuki had never had his parents called in for a meeting with the Principal for any reasons that weren’t good.
Maybe it was conceited of him to say but Katsuki didn’t think so. Before Yuuei, he very rarely got into trouble. And whenever he did, it was always something small and nothing that he was ever written up over any of it. Like being a minute or two late for class or speaking a little louder than was normally allowed in class. Before Yuuei, all of the teachers had practically catered to Katsuki’s every whim. Never speaking to him in a tone that wasn’t soft and friendly and full of smug pride like Katsuki would remember them when he made it big. Anytime that Katsuki’s parents were called into the Principal’s office, it was always because he had gotten a new award or that they wanted to praise him for getting at the top of his class for second and then the third year in the row. Katsuki honestly couldn’t remember a time in elementary or middle school when he had to wait for his parents to arrive so the Principal could read him the riot act and tell his parents just how badly he had fucked up.
So, sitting in the hallway outside of the Rat’s office and waiting for the Old Hag and his dad to arrive was new for Katsuki. It had only been twenty minutes since he had been forcefully sat down in one of those plastic chairs and he was fairly certain that he already hated it.
It was fucking humiliating. Katsuki wouldn’t be able to stop glaring down at the ground even if he tried. He felt like a scolded toddler waiting for their parents to come to pick them up from pre-school. Coincidentally, the same age he was when the last thing like this had happened. Sitting in a plastic chair outside of the Principal’s office that basically screamed to every student that passed by, ‘Hey, look at the fucking loser who got in trouble!’ The fact that the Rat had his office on the ground floor and it classes hadn’t let out was the only saving grace of this entire situation. A few students had passed by, sure, but not enough that it felt like Katsuki was on display for the entire fucking world to see.
He gritted his teeth angrily, clenching his hands so hard that he could feel his nails digging into his palms. He couldn’t fucking believe that he was here. All over something that he had done a million times before. Katsuki couldn’t even begin to count the times that he had put Deku in his place over the years, especially in middle school when the shit had gotten closer and closer to trying out for the one fucking school that Katsuki told him not to apply for. Hell, it wasn’t even the first time that it had gotten physical. It was the first time Deku got physical though; the slight throb in Katsuki’s jaw reminded him almost painfully of that. But teachers had never acted like Midnight had when they found him teaching Deku a lesson. Usually, the teachers had just walked away and ignored what was happening in them. At the most, Katsuki had been gently tugged at and told in a condescending tone, “Now, now, you can roughhouse outside of school.” But never before had Katsuki ever been sent to the Goddamn Principal’s office over it.
It had been the most humiliating time of his entire life, being dragged down to the Rat’s office. Midnight may have let go of him with her fucking whip but she had also made Katsuki walk on the other side of her than Deku and Troll Doll. She hadn’t even let him say a fucking word to the fuckers, glaring at him sternly whenever he tried. Even before she had disappeared into the Rat’s office to talk to the Principal about what she stumbled upon, she had told all three of them that she didn’t want to hear any fighting or arguing while she was talking to Nedzu. She had practically been caressing her damn whip as she said it so Katsuki had decided to just shut his damn mouth and glare at the ground sullenly.
He glanced down the hallway with a sneer at where Deku and Troll Doll were sitting together. The two nerds were sitting next to each other, gripping each other’s hands so tightly that their knuckles were literally a stark white. None of them had been able to be healed by Recovery Girl – apparently, there had been some stampede or some shit when the alarm went off, Katsuki heard that Engines had a broken leg, and everyone injured there took top priority – which meant that bruises still decorated Deku and Troll Doll’s faces. Deku’s face was specially decorated; his left eye was swollen shut and there was an array of purple and blue bruises going up his right cheek. All of those bruises had the typical slight burnt edge to them that all of Katsuki’s attacks had. Troll Doll was less injured but the swollen lip was still bad enough that the dick was forced to hold a handkerchief Midnight had given him to his lip to stop the slight bleeding and he also had a burn on his forearm.
Deku was probably used to being in this position, now that Katsuki thought about it. While Katsuki had never been sent down to their middle school’s Principal’s office for fighting, it had practically become a second home for Deku. The teachers used to send him down there so often that the secretary used to joke that she should have a plate engraved on a chair with Deku’s name on it. He had been sent down to the Principal for everything from fighting to causing a disturbance. Most of the teachers hadn’t even ask questions when they saw that Deku was involved. They just sent Deku down the Principal’s office with a scathing lecture and sent any of the other kids involved back to class. Katsuki didn’t see any reason why Yuuei should be any different.
Deku was sniffling quietly, rubbing at his uninjured eye so pathetically that it kind of made Katsuki want to punch him again. Troll Doll was leaning close to him, mumbling so lowly that Katsuki could just barely hear what he was saying. The dick’s mothers had already arrived and were in the Principal’s office, waiting for the rest of the parents to arrive. There was a little lipstick mark on Troll Doll’s temple now where one of his mother’s – the taller and skinner one with bright blue hair and what looked like gamer headphones resting on her collarbone – had fussed over him. At least there was one good thing over this. Katsuki would get to see Auntie Inko again.
Katsuki huffed and leaned back in his chair. Fuck, it was so Goddamn boring waiting for his parents to get to the damn school. No wonder Deku muttered all the time; Katsuki would talk to himself too if he had to put up with all of this annoying silence. It was annoying and boring that he actually found himself tuning into Deku and Troll Doll’s muttered conversation. And, fucking typical, he just so happened to tune into a part of the conversation with zero context on what the fuck Troll Doll was talking about. “-He’s not going to give you up, c’mon man. It’s just a stupid fight and you didn’t even start it. He threw the first punch. And you only threw one to get him off of you. It’s gonna be fine.”
“You don’t know that,” Deku was mumbling back. The Nerd’s eyes were bright red with unshed tears – which was strange in of itself, Deku was trying not to cry – and he was shaking like a leaf. “Y-you, you don’t know that, Shinsou-kun. What if he d-decides that I’m too much trouble? Or, or what if I’m expelled? O-or put into General Education for picking fights?” He hiccupped softly and mumbled through his tears, “W-what if, if he leaves me l-like, like,” the dork trailed off into teary hiccups before he could finish the sentence. The Troll Doll just squeezed the teary freak’s hand and leaned against him a little.
“He won’t.”
“Would you two shut the fuck up,” Katsuki hissed, making sure to keep his voice low so as not to alert Midnight or the Rat. He glared particularly hard at Deku, making the weak freak curl back into the chair pitifully. “It’s bad enough that you dicks got me into this mess.”
Troll Doll looked at Katsuki incredulously, straightening up in his seat. “Are you fucking – you attacked us! You were using your Quirk on Midori-kun when I walked in!” He gestured to Deku’s face where tiny little burns were, most likely from sparks off of Katsuki’s explosions. Whatever, those weren’t anything. Katsuki had thousands of his little scars from sparks littering his wrists and arms because of the explosions that he let out over the years. Deku was just a wimp. “You looked like you were gonna beat the shit out of him!”
“Well, he’s a Hero Student, isn’t he,” Katsuki sneered, clenching his hands into fists. “The Nerd should be able to fucking defend himself, not hide behind Midnight’s skirts like a fucking weakling. Look at him.” He narrowed his eyes at Deku who only cowered back and ducked his head. “You think someone like him can be a fucking Hero?”
Troll Doll glared right back at him. “Yeah,” he muttered lowly but firmly. “I do. More than I think a Dickhead like you can be one.”
Katsuki immediately leapt to his feet, sparks and explosions popping off his hands. This time, Deku did clap his hands over his ears and cowered back – weakling, freak, fucking disgrace – and Troll Doll jumped up too, standing in front of the freak protectively. “TAKE THAT FUCKING BACK!”
A split second later, two things happened. The door to the office slammed open and Midnight walked out, snapping out, “Hey, break it up!” And the sparks and explosions fizzed out from Katsuki’s hands so suddenly that he instinctively whirled around to look for the source. And, just like he fucking thought, there was the hobo. And, of fucking course, the Old Hag and the Old Man was walking right behind the man walking down the hallway with a bright red glare and hair standing on end. “Both of you, knock it off,” the man snapped. “Bakugou, stop acting like a child, you know that public Quirk use is illegal. Shinsou, sit back down right now.”
“You listen to your teacher, brat,” the Old Hag snapped. Her voice was harsh but her hands were gentle when she cupped his face to get a better look at the bruise on his jaw. “Are you hurt? It’s the second week of school; what the hell are you thinking, getting in a fight? Boy, you better have a damn good explanation for this. Is this what you’ll be doing when you’re a fucking Hero, huh?”
Katsuki bristled and glared at her but stayed still in her gentle grasp, even leaning into a little. “Oi lay off! I’m fucking fine, it’s just a flea bite! And I didn’t fucking do anything!”
“Is that why your father and I had to take time off work to come down here?!”
The Old Man laid a hand on Katsuki’s head gently. “C’mon, Mitsuki,” the older man said quietly. “I’m sure that there’s an explanation to all of this.” Even though the Old Man was speaking quietly, there was an intense layer of steel to each word. “I look forward to hearing why I got called out of a meeting with the board because of my son got in a fight with another Hero student – someone who’s basically our nephew and your cousin – and a General Education student. I’m sure it’ll be a great explanation.”
Katsuki ducked his head a little and glared down at the ground sullenly. Fucking great. He couldn’t believe this. He had forgotten all about his dad’s stupid meeting with their designing agency that was scheduled for that day. Great. No matter what happened at this stupid meeting, Katsuki was fucking in for it. His dad was probably going to lecture him about how much potential money that board meeting could’ve brought in, how much he had lost because of the time taken off of work, and why the Old Man was going to have to work double time now if Katsuki still expected to go to that bi-yearly trip to Okinawa like they did every summer and New Years. It was the same talk the last time that Katsuki had gotten the last time something had interrupted a big meeting that the Old Man had been a part of. “Whatever,” he mumbled harshly. “What’s the fucking hobo doing here anyway? It’s none of his fucking,” he trailed off when he looked towards where Deku was sitting. Troll Doll was out of his seat still, leaning against the wall with crossed arms and what Katsuki could only describe as a pout, but Deku was still in his seat and cupping his ears and clenching his eyes shut like a pathetic welp. And crouched in front of him was the Hobo, cupping his cheek and whispering to him.
What. The. Fuck.
“Hey, c’mon,” the Hobo was whispering just loud enough for Katsuki to hear him. “Midoriya, I need you to look at me, alright? Open your eyes for me, Problem Child. I’m not upset with you; I just want you to look at me.” Deku sniffled and slowly opened his eyes, cracking open the left one as much as he could. It took another moment for the weakling’s hands to lower down from where they were pressed up against his ears. “There we go. Got yourself a bit of a shiner there, huh kid?” The Hobo slowly and obviously carefully tilted the Nerd’s face so he was staring down at the swollen eye with what Katsuki might even call concern. “Were you on your feet when you got that one?”
“N-no, Aizawa-san,” Deku mumbled. And what the fuck was that? Where was the fucking Sensei? Why did Deku get to use San instead of Sensei? “I, um, it was an, an,” he wilted back a little when the Hobo arched an eyebrow and mumbled out, “Kacchan was straddling me.” Another spike of anger ran through Katsuki; who the hell did Deku think he was, sharing details about what happened? He thought that they had a silent agreement that what happened during those fucking lessons stayed between them.
Aizawa hummed and nodded. “Thank you for telling me, Midoriya. Recovery Girl is focused on some other kids right now who were hurt during evacuation but we’ll get some cream on those bruises and ask her to heal those first thing tomorrow, alright?” The man leaned forward a little and Katsuki had to strain to hear what he said next. “When we go in there, all I want you to do is tell me the truth, okay? That’s all I want from you. Can you do that for me, Midoriya?”
“O-okay,” Deku sniffled, going to rub at his swollen eye and was gently stopped by the Hobo. “Okay, Aizawa-san.”
Katsuki couldn’t keep his silence anymore. “What the fuck?!”
While Deku wilted back and winced, Aizawa just glanced back at him with a very bored air to him. “Bakugou.” He stood up and his hand moved from Deku’s cheek to lay gently on the top of his head, nodding to his parents. “Bakugou-san, Bakugou-san. I’m Aizawa Shouta.”
Of course, it was the Old Man who reached out first. With a slightly confused expression on his face, sure, but still. He reached out his hand with a friendly smile. “Ah, it’s a pleasure, yes. I’m Bakugou Masaru. Call me Masaru, please, I think that having three of us in one room is going to make things confusing real fast.”
“Bakugou Mitsuki. And same for me,” the Old Hag said with narrowed eyes, crossing her arms and leaning back. She was looking the Hobo up and down, obviously not liking what she was seeing. When she looked over at Deku, her face softened. “Hey, Izu-chan. You know this fella?”
“Hey, Auntie Suki,” Deku said softly, smiling a little. “Um, y-yeah. He’s, he’s my homeroom teacher. And, um, h-he’s, ah,” He paused though when Midnight rapped her knuckles on the door to the Rat’s office.
The Heroine smiled at them all, though her eyes cooled slightly when it landed on Katsuki himself. “Sorry to interrupt this but we’re all ready to go now that everyone’s here.”
Katsuki huffed and pulled away from his parents, leaving his parents and the freaks behind him. He barely gave Troll Doll’s mothers a glance as he walked in to drop down in yet another fucking plastic chair in front of the Rat’s desk. Fucking finally. The sooner they got this over with, the fucking better. He glared across the desk at the Rat – and that nickname did not do the Principal justice, there was obviously some weasel mixed in there somewhere – and only got a sunny smile back in reply. For some reason, it made a shiver run down his spine. “Ah, excellent, Bakugou-san, Bakugou-san, Aizawa-san. Everyone is here and we can begin.”
It was only then and after he took a quick look around did he realize that something was wrong. “No we can’t.” Every eye turned to him and Katsuki just puffed up and glared at the Rat, barely aware of Troll Doll and Deku sitting down in the chair next to him. “Not everyone’s here. Isn’t anyone gonna fucking phone Auntie Inko?”
“Katsuki,” the Old Hag snapped. “Don’t talk to your fucking Principal like that!” Though after she said that, she did turn to the Rat and crossed her arms. “The kid’s right though. Midoriya’s parent isn’t here.”
If anything, the Rat just smiled a little wider. “Yes, his guardian is here.”
“No she’s fucking not,” the Old Hag huffed, looking around and gesturing to the room. “I know Midoriya fucking Inko. And, no offence to you two,” she nodded at Troll Doll’s mothers, “but they aren’t Midoriya Inko. What, she couldn’t come down or something?”
The Rat’s smile widened even wider but the Hobo huffed and cut him off before the Principal could say anything. “Stop teasing them,” he muttered, giving Nedzu a side glare before turning to Katsuki and his parents. “Not that it’s any of your business but Midoriya Inko doesn’t have custody of Midoriya Izuku anymore and hasn’t since the first day of school. Midoriya Izuku is my ward and I’m his foster father.”
There was a long silence that went on for several beats. One of Troll Doll’s mothers pulled him against her from where she was standing beside his chair, petting his hair gently, and Deku slumped down into his seat. And then, the Old Hag stepped forward, Katsuki jumped from his seat, and they said in unison, “What the fuck!?”
The static from before started to ring in Katsuki’s ears again. He was barely even aware of his mother ruthlessly demanding information from the Hobo, the Hobo deflecting and saying shit like, “That’s private information that doesn’t concern you, Mitsuki-san,” or his father reaching out to lay his hand on Deku’s shoulder with large, sympathetic eyes. All he could think about what the Hobo just said; Auntie Inko didn’t have custody of Deku anymore. What the fuck, what the fuck? That couldn’t fucking be happening. Auntie Inko was a great fucking mother. She practically doted on Katsuki whenever she saw him and, while he only saw her interact with Deku on one of their birthdays, he had no doubt that she acted the exact same with Deku himself. He knew for a fucking fact that she wasn’t dead, he was subscribed to her Twitter account and had just read a post from her the night before about getting a new job or something. And there was no fucking way that a woman as sweet and kind as Auntie Inko was abusive or some shit like that.
What the fuck did Deku do?
Before he was even aware of what was happening, Katsuki was standing directly in front of Deku and grabbing his tie, pulling the fucking Liar halfway out of his chair. It wasn’t until hands were grabbing his arm and trying to pull him off did he realize that he was screaming. “-What the fuck did you say about Auntie Inko, you fucking Liar, you fucking weakass freak?! What the fuck did you do, I’m going to fucking kill you, you loser! How fucking dare you fucking ruin her!? Don’t you fucking care for your own Goddamn mother?!”
Somebody, who was tugging at his arm, screamed right in his ear, “Get the fuck off of him,” and Katsuki saw a flash of purple out of the corner of his eye. But it was his own father grabbing his forearm and pulling his hand away from Deku’s tie that snapped him out of it. “Bakugou Katsuki,” his father said lowly and firmly, iron and pure anger in every word. “Don’t you grab Izuku-chan like that ever again, do you hear me?”
“He fucking lied,” Katsuki snapped but, to his embarrassment, it was said a little weaker than before. “Auntie Inko is great, whatever he said is wrong, he lied-“
“Not another word,” his father said firmly. “You’re already in trouble; you wouldn’t be in the office otherwise and we wouldn’t be called in. You’re already going to be grounded for the weekend for grabbing Izuku like that-“
“Otou-san!!”
“Don’t you, ‘Otou-san,’ me.” His father just narrowed his eyes sternly. “Don’t make things worse for yourself, Kats. You’re going to sit down and listen. Do you understand me?” He raised a finger when Katsuki went to protest. “Do you understand me, Bakugou Katsuki?”
Katsuki’s ears burned knowing that Troll Doll and Deku were in the room and watching him get chewed out by his Old Man. Even though Deku had dropped back into his chair and wasn’t meeting anyone’s eyes, Katsuki could see from the corner of his eye Troll Doll dropping back into his chair and leaning back into his mother’s side with a little smirk. But even though his anger burned at being humiliated like that, he wasn’t stupid enough to go against his father. The Old Man’s anger was like a blizzard. Cold and dangerous and very different than the hot and spontaneous anger of the Old Hag and Katsuki himself. And Katsuki really didn’t feel like being left out all alone in the cold. “. . . Yes, Otou-san.” He sat back down slowly in his chair. He tried to glare at Deku but the Hobo – Deku’s fucking foster father, fucking apparently – stepped between the two of them with a cold glare.
Fucking dick.
“. . . Sorry about that,” the Old Man said, giving Katsuki a brief glare before turning back to Deku with a soft expression. “You okay, Izu-chan?”
From what Katsuki could see, Deku pulled at his tie and nodded tearfully. “Y-yes, Uncle Masaru.” He shifted a little nervously and, to Katsuki’s shock, leaned up into Aizawa’s hand when the man laid it on his head gently. “I-I’m, I’m fine. I, uh,” he sniffled and rubbed at his eyes, “I’m s-sorry I didn’t tell you about, about Mama but she, um, she left-“
“Liar,” Katsuki mumbled but fell silent at a sharp look from his parents.
Deku swallowed nervously and whispered, “I’m not lying. She left.”
“Oh, Sweetheart,” the Old Man said, looking like he wanted to reach out again to squeeze Deku’s shoulder but was too intimidated by the Hobo to try. The Old Hag was tearing up, hands pressed up against her mouth. “We believe you, Izuku, I promise. Why didn’t you tell us, we would’ve taken you in, I swear. I know that Inko cut ties with us but you have to know that our home is always open to you. We would’ve taken you in.”
God, that sounded fucking terrible. They’d probably make Katsuki share his room with Deku too even though there were two other perfectly good guest rooms in the house. And the idea of seeing Deku all the fucking time was enough to make Katsuki’s stomach turn at the very thought. Having to watch his parents fawn over Deku all the fucking time and talk about how smart the Nerd was or how great it was that he got into Heroics. And then having Deku stuttering and mumbling all over Katsuki’s house would’ve made Katsuki’s blood pressure shoot straight up. It would’ve been a nightmare.
And judging by how Deku’s face twitched into a little grimace, Katsuki wasn’t the only one who thought so.
The Hobo sighed, looking positively exhausted with this entire conversation. “Midoriya didn’t have any potential guardians on file,” he told Katsuki’s parents blandly. As if he wasn’t explaining why he was Deku’s fucking foster father. “And with how volatile his Quirk currently is, his Social Worker thought that it’d be best to have someone take custody of him who can properly prevent any Quirk accidents before they have the potential to become lethal. Also,” The Hobo’s eyes flashed cold and his tone turned frosty, “considering your son just beat my ward up during an evacuation, I’m not sure that you two taking custody would’ve been the best idea.”
“Hey, Don’t fucking blame Katsuki right off the Goddamn bat! We don’t fucking know what happened yet,” the Old Hag snapped back, glaring at the Hobo angrily. She gestured sharply at Troll Doll who tensed. “Maybe it was this kid’s fucking fault!”
Aizawa and one of Troll Doll’s mothers, the shorter one who kind of looked like Recovery Girl a bit, both spoke at the same time. “Midoriya is friends with Shinsou.”
“Hey, don’t blame Hitoshi for your brat beating the shit out of our boys!”
“Excuse me!” Immediately everyone fell silent at the Rat’s words and turned, another shiver going down Katsuki’s spine at the Principal’s smile. It wasn’t the type of smile that a typical person would think would be able to be created on a face like Nedzu’s. Honestly, when Katsuki had first heard of Nedzu he had assumed that the Rat wasn’t been able to make Human like expressions. But it turned out he could. Only . . . not quite. It was how Katsuki imagined a Youkai would smile. Like they were putting in the extra effort to make it seem creepy. It was too big, too sharp, too inhuman. It was, quite honestly, one of the most disturbing things that Katsuki had ever seen. “Thank you. I believe that all of this arguing won’t do us any good. Why don’t we ask the three boys who participated in the fight what happened?”
Katsuki felt his shoulders tense when all eyes turned to him, Deku, and Troll Doll. But Katsuki didn’t have fucking anything to hide; it wasn’t like he did anything wrong or even out of the ordinary. Still, he wasn’t a fucking idiot. Fighting was practically a taboo at Yuuei. Especially for Hero Students. There was no reason to tell them everything. Just the necessary details. “Fucking nothing happened,” he huffed, glaring at the ground. “It’s just a big fucking -“
“Misunderstanding,” Midnight cut in from her place at the back of the room, her tone deceptively sweet but just as sharp as her whip, “Is that what you were going to say?”
“It’s being blown way out of fucking proportion!” Katsuki scoffed and slumped back in his chair. “Look, Deku said something that pissed me off – “
“Um, excuse me?” Katsuki glanced over at where one of Troll Doll’s mothers – the blue haired one with gamer headphones - were standing beside his chair, frowning at him in pure confusion. “I’m sorry but, ah, Deku? That doesn’t exactly sound like a nice nickname.”
“It’s not.” Katsuki winced when the Old Hag glared at him, trying his best not to avert his gaze. “And one that I thought I told you to stop using fucking years ago. Jesus, Katsuki, I told you not to call Izuku that when you were fucking toddlers, did you just fucking forget our talk? Or thought it was fine as long as I wasn’t around to hear it and call you on it?”
“It’s just a dumb fucking nickname,” he mumbled in response, glaring down at the ground. “It’s not a fucking big deal.”
Nedzu’s unnatural smile widened and he tilted his head. “Could you inform me what it means then? I’m afraid I find myself being ignorant in this situation and I loathe being ignorant.” A feeling like he was being led into a trap settled over Katsuki and he didn’t say anything. “Oh? Not feeling up to it? Alright then. Midoriya-kun!”
Deku jumped a little in his chair, the Hobo’s hand resting on the top of his head bouncing a little at the movement. “Um, y-yes? N-Nedzu-sensei?”
The Rat turned his smile onto the weakling and tilted his head. “I’m sure that you know what that name means. Why don’t you explain it to us; so we’re all on the same page.”
Predictably, Deku immediately curled back into his chair and stared down at his knees with a familiar anxious and ashamed but stubborn expression on his face. It was the same look the freak got whenever someone asked what the name meant. Before now, Katsuki always found it both a bit amusing and annoying if he was being honest. The freak used to be fucking Quirkless and now he had a Quirk that broke his fucking bones. People should be aware just how much use he’d be in literally any situation. “I, um,” he trailed off and just kept his gaze solidly down on his knees. He glanced up through his bangs though when the Hobo gently tapped his fingers against the top of his head.
“Nobody’s upset with you, kid.”
The Old Hag straightened and snapped out, “Of course we’re fucking not!”
The look that the Hobo sent Katsuki’s mother made him want to snap at the man not to fucking glare at his mother that way. However, the scathing expression immediately softened when he turned back to Deku. “Nobody’s upset with you,” he repeated in a slightly softer tone. “And nobody is going to be upset with you either. It’s obvious that Bakugou’s parents already know and I’m half certain that I know what it means. Nedzu-san just wants to hear it from you so that everyone is aware what it means. You’re not in trouble and nobody is upset.” Katsuki was fucking upset. “Do you remember what I told you to do before this meeting started?”
Deku hesitated before whispering out shakily, “T-to tell the truth.”
Aizawa nodded firmly, gently petting the Nerd’s hair in an almost absentminded manner. “That’s right. Just tell us what Deku means, okay kid? That’s all we’re asking from you.”
There was a long pause where Deku glanced between the Hobo and Katsuki nervously. Katsuki glared at him angrily, mentally screaming at him to shut the fuck up and say fucking nothing, but silently. Finally though, Deku ducked his head so that he wasn’t meeting anybody’s eyes and whispered out, “It’s, um, short for D-Dekunobu. I-It means Useless.”
Immediately, Katsuki could feel that purple Troll Doll glaring holes into him and his own parents were glaring at him angrily from their places beside him. They knew what it meant, of course, but hearing Deku say it out loud was probably different from just passively knowing it. It made their glares all the colder and even disappointed; it made something in Katsuki’s gut squirm uncomfortably and he didn’t even know why. Except for his parents, nobody cared about him calling the Nerd Deku in the past. No middle school or elementary school teachers ever went along and called Deku that but they never stopped Katsuki or the other Extras from calling Deku that or doing any of the other shit that they did. So why the fuck was this all coming up now?
The Rat’s voice was a little gentler than it was before but still full of dangerous cheer. “Thank you, Midoriya-kun. I appreciate you telling us that. Now,” Katsuki tensed when the Rat’s eyes landed back on him, “continue, Bakugou-kun. However, without using the name Dekunobu or any variations of it.”
Katsuki gritted his teeth and glared down at the Rat’s desk sullenly. “Fine. Midoriya said something that pissed me off and then,” he paused and glanced over at Troll Doll. They probably wouldn’t like him calling Troll Doll that name either. “What’s your name again?”
Troll Doll glared at him from where he was leaning into one of his mother’s side. “Shinsou Hitoshi.”
Stupid name. “Shinsou decided to be a bit of a shithead and punches got thrown. It was a fucking scuffle, that’s all. It’s not a big deal,” he huffed, rolling his eyes up to the ceiling. “That’s all that happened.”
“Liar.”
Immediately, Katsuki’s head whipped around and he glared at the Troll Doll fucker who was glaring right back at him. But his father’s hand landed on his shoulder, a silent warning to stay fucking quiet and not even try it. “Oh, you have another story, Shinsou-kun,” Nedzu asked cheerfully.
Troll Doll nodded sharply. “Yeah, I do. I was heading to lunch – I stayed behind for a few minutes to avoid the crowd - when I heard some yelling. I went to check it out when I saw Midori-kun and Bakugou. Bakugou had Midoriya practically pressed up against a wall and was using his fu,” a warning look from the Recovery Girl lookalike made Troll Doll quickly switch up his wording, “freaking Quirk right in his face. Midori-kun is a straight up beast, I can tell that just from looking at him. But he looked scared and Bakugou was talking about Midoriya being Quirkless so I guessed that he knew Midori-kun from before his Quirk came in. So I stepped in and tried getting Midoriya to lunch and away from Bakugou who was, again, using his Quirk on him. I, uh,” he did rub the back of his neck sheepishly, “I did call him a dumbass when he claimed that Midoriya was lying for years about being Quirkless. So, uh, yeah. I own up to that. But then the alarm went off for the evacuation and I was gonna ask Midoriya if he knew where we were supposed to go. But then Bakugou threw a punch at me. Used his Quirk on me too,” he said, holding his arm up to show off the burn on his forearm. What a fucking wimp; Katsuki barely touched him.
Which Katsuki told him. “I barely fucking touched you.”
“You still used your fucking Quirk,” Troll Doll shot back, shaking his head in what looked was horrified awe. “If I did that then I’d be drop kicked out of school! It’s fucking illegal!”
Katsuki just rolled his eyes again and scoffed. God, that fucking stupid law. It wasn’t like anyone actually followed it. Hell, literally every fucking kid in his elementary and middle school used their Quirks whenever they could and they never got called out for it. It wasn’t like anyone cared about people using their Quirk out in public. But when he said that, his parents looked at him in horror and the Old Hag even whispered, “Katsuki, that’s not how the fucking law works.” The Hobo was straight up giving Katsuki a look that was twinged heavily in concern and what felt like a judging gaze. Like Katsuki had just failed an assessment.
The Rat’s eyes were narrowed now and the look he was giving Katsuki was one that he shivered at a little. “I see. Midoriya-kun? Care to share your side of the story?”
And with that, Katsuki turned in his chair and glared directly at Deku to try and mentally force him to stick to telling the bare bones of the story instead of sharing every fuck word spoken like Troll Doll had. Well, he attempted to, anyway. The moment he tried, the Hobo was stepping between them, blocking Deku from view. “Go on, Midoriya,” the Hobo urged when Deku hesitated. Fucking weakling; Katsuki hadn’t needed his parents coddling him to talk about what happened.
“. . . Kacchan wanted to talk after class,” Deku finally whispered out. From what Katsuki could see, he was gripping his pant legs so tightly that his knuckles were turning white. “A-alone. Um . . . S-so we went, went to the General Education wing. And, I, I guess it’s my fault f-for not explaining what F-False Negatives are. Kacchan doesn’t like b-being blind sided with information. He t-thought that I was lying about being, being Quirkless since school started and got mad. Which is my fault.” Damn right it was. “I should’ve explained it. And, um, h-he did use his Quirk but he, he didn’t hurt me before Shinsou-kun came. Just little sparks against my cheeks; I’m fine.”
Nedzu hummed and nodded, waving his paw in a circular motion. “And after Shinsou-kun arrived? Did he hurt you then?”
There was another moment of hesitation. “. . . A little.”
“Midori-kun,” Troll Doll said softly, looking at Midoriya with wide, sad eyes. “He beat your face in.”
Deku just shrugged and mumbled out, “I’ve had worse.”
“That doesn’t mean that what happened today was okay,” Aizawa said in a firm tone. He was speaking in a tone that Katsuki recognized from his own mother, firm and unyielding but still soft in a way. “Midoriya, if I broke my ankle would it be alright to say that it’s fine because of a time in the past when I broke both legs?”
Deku’s voice turned slightly confused. “Um, no? B-but it’s different here.”
"Why?”
“Because it’s Kacchan.”
That same weird feeling from before was squirming away in Katsuki’s gut and it was only heightened by the way the Old Hag was staring at him with a look he couldn’t read. But what caught Katsuki was how she was crying. His mom never cried. Never. But she was now. Even the Old Man was glancing between Katsuki and Deku in what Katsuki could only describe as horror. Troll Doll’s mothers were staring at him in something almost like nervousness; the mother that was holding Troll Doll against her side shifted as if she wanted to shield him fully. Shield him from . . . from Katsuki. The part of him that wanted to be the best, to be the Number One Pro Hero, squirmed at the notion that a mother thought that she needed to shield her son from him.
Mothers weren’t supposed to be afraid of Pro Heroes.
The Hobo’s voice was a little more grieved when he spoke next. “Just because it’s Bakugou doing the hitting doesn’t mean that it’s okay. You told me in the hallway that he was straddling you when he hit you. How did you get in that position?”
“H-he, um, Shinsou-kun and I tried going to lunch but K-Kacchan wanted to keep talking and then the alarm went off. And then,” Deku faltered before saying lamely, “Kacchan punched Shinsou-kun. I tried to pull him off but . . . but then Kacchan hit me too. I just wanted him to stop so we c-could evacuate but he was too angry, I think. Kacchan gets like that sometimes, it’s not his fault. Um, I-I think that it’s cause of his Q-Quirk; it’s actually really interesting, lots of chemical based Quirks can cause emotions t-to-“
“Jesus Christ,” Katsuki finally spat out, the beginnings of the typical Deku Mumbling making his annoyance spike, “can you just get to the fucking point?!”
The Old Hag gave Katsuki a sharp look at that. “That’s enough, Katsuki!”
“I agree, Bakugou-kun,” Nedzu said firmly but still with that polite edge to his voice. “Allow Midoriya-kun his chance to speak just like you had yours.”
Katsuki huffed and glared down at the floor, mumbling out, “Maybe if he just hurried the fuck up,” but fell silent at a warning pat on the shoulder from his father.
Deku’s gulp was audible in the near quiet room. “And then Kayama-sensei came. And, um, that’s it. T-that’s what happened.”
Except for the Hobo’s soft, “Thank you for telling us, kid,” nobody said anything for a very long minute. The Old Hag and Old Man were glancing at each other, neither looking nearly as confident in Katsuki at the start of this meeting. Troll Doll’s mothers were standing right up on either side of him now, the Recovery Girl lookalike staring at Katsuki suspiciously and the Gamer gently and quietly fussing over Troll Doll while she kept glancing over at Katsuki in a mix of concern and distrust, But Aizawa wasn’t even looking at Katsuki at all. He seemed to be completely okay with ignoring him and instead focusing solely on Deku himself. Not even speaking to him; just gently petting the Nerd’s hair and allowing him to sniffle and rub at his eyes like a much younger child.
All of the different looks being aimed Katsuki’s way made him feel much smaller than he liked. This wasn’t how a Hero student should be looked at. Katsuki had been watching the Yuuei Sports Festival since before his Quirk even came in. People were looking at all of those Hero Students in pure and utter awe. Not a single one of them were ever looked at like the adults in the room were all looking at Katsuki. He didn’t like it.
“Well,” Nedzu chirped suddenly, breaking the growing tension with all of the subtly of a bull in a China shop, “now that Bakugou-kun, Shinsou-kun, and Midoriya-kun have given their recounting of what happened, why don’t we watch it from an objective point of view?”
The Gamer mother frowned and tilted her head as the Rat grabbed a laptop from the desk, opening it and obviously pulling something up. “Watch it? I didn’t see any cameras in the hallways, Nedzu-san.”
A shiver went down Katsuki’s spine when Nedzu chuckled. It sounded the same way his smile looked. Unnatural and practiced; something that Nedzu had practiced for hours on end until he could produce a sound that sounded close to Human laughter. It was close, nearly close enough that Katsuki barely recognized it as strange but it was. It was just . . . off. He couldn’t help but wonder if it was intentional. “Oh, Quirk Use is not always intentional, Shuzenji-san, as your son and Midoriya-kun claims it was with Bakugou-kun today. Sometimes they’re just accidents. But traditional cameras often do become casualties in situations such as accidental Quirk Use. There are audio and visual cameras placed around the facility but they’re in strategic and hidden locations. I assure you though, I’ll be able to show you a full recording of what happened during lunch.”
Shuzenji . . . Shuzenji . . . Why was that fucking name so familiar? “I thought your family name was Shinsou,” he accused Troll Doll with narrowed eyes as the Rat typed away at his laptop.
Troll Doll just arched an eyebrow. “Uh, it is? I’m a foster kid; Yua-san and Hina-san are Shuzenjis, I’m a Shinsou.”
The blue haired woman hummed and hugged him gently against her side. “Not for long, Hi-chan,” she cooed softly. “Just a few weeks more until you’ve been here long enough to finalize an adoption and then you can take the Shuzenji name if you want. Or you can take my maiden name if you want; I know that Yua’s older sister has a different family name so villains don’t connect her with Recovery Girl. You can absolutely keep the Shinsou name if you want, of course! But still, either name is completely on the table for you if you want them.”
Something cold dropped down into Katsuki’s gut and he saw his parents straighten up from the corner of his eye. Because fuck, fuck. Troll Doll was a Legacy kid. Recovery Girl was his Grandmother. Troll Doll was a fucking Legacy kid.
In Katsuki’s eyes, every other student in his class was extras. Every single one of them. But even he knew that Engines, Two Toned, and Factory weren’t people that Katsuki really wanted to fuck with. Beaten to hell and back during Heroic classes? Sure, absolutely. But he wasn’t about to pop any explosions in their fucking faces. Everyone who was anyone knew that Legacy kids had a certain degree of power and prestige that no other kid had, not even Katsuki with his powerful Quirk. Normally he wouldn’t give a shit but after the first day and he had complained to his parents about that dick, Engines, his parents had sat him down and basically told him that they knew that he could be competitive and aggressive but if he pissed off a Legacy kid and they got a phone call from fucking Heroes then they wouldn’t be pleased. Which essentially meant that he’d probably be grounded until he graduated. Which was code for, “Keep your fucking head down around those fucking kids.”
And now he punched one of them in the fucking face.
Technically Deku could count as a Legacy kid, he guessed, but Midoriya “Smokescreen,” Hisashi was dead so he doubted that counted for anything.
“Oh, your mother is Recovery Girl,” the Old Hag asked the Recovery Girl lookalike. And didn’t that make a lot more sense now? Fuck.
The shorter woman arched an eyebrow and nodded. “Yeah, she is. I went to a different Hero School then this one. I’m a Management Graduate from Ketsubutsu. I don’t really see how relevant who my mother is in this conversation though.” She turned her back on Katsuki’s mother before she could say anything else, turning back to Nedzu with her arms crossed. “After this is done, I’d like to take Hitoshi home for the rest of the day. We’ll be stopping by my mother’s office first to get these injuries recorded and healed.”
Recorded? Why would they need to be recorded?
“I’ll be doing the same with Midoriya,” Aizawa said firmly with a sharp nod. He raised a hand when it looked like Deku was going to protest. “I know that you had that meeting with Yamada-sensei but he’s told me that you’re already progressing nicely with your Quirk Control from what he’s been having you do during practical classes. I’m sure that he won’t have any problem with pushing it back slightly for Wednesday after school. I’d like to get those injuries recorded and healed as soon as possible. Today’s Fundamental Heroics is theoretical but I’m sure that your friends can send you their notes. We’ll be going back home afterwards.” His tone was stern but when Deku nodded, his expression softened and he gently patted the Nerd’s head again.
It was . . . weird.
“That is perfectly fine,” the Rat chirped, just as he spun around the laptop. A video was paused on the screen and Katsuki faltered a little when he saw just where it was paused on. Katsuki himself was on the screen and he was holding Deku’s wrist tightly. A lot tighter than he remembered. He couldn’t help but glance down at Deku’s hand and hesitated when he saw him cradling his wrist in his hand pathetically. Katsuki didn’t actually hurt him, did he? “I have no problem with that at all. Now, shall we see objectively what happened?” And with that, he pressed play.
And it felt like someone had hit Katsuki hard over the head because the way that things went in the recording was not how he remembered it.
Well, they did go the way he remembered it but it was like certain things that Katsuki hadn’t taken notice of before were suddenly on full display. Maybe it was just because he was seeing it from an outside perspective but Katsuki never really thought about how his little Lessons to Deku looked to other people. How it sounded whenever Katsuki spat insults at Deku. How it looked when Deku shied back and cringed whenever Katsuki popped off explosions in his face. It was seeing that recording that made Katsuki properly look at Deku’s face and see little burns that snuck in stealthily with his freckles. He wouldn’t see them if he hadn’t been looking. They mixed in with the bruises that Katsuki also left.
And when the actual fight broke out, Katsuki was fit with the stark realization of just how on sided it had been. Like, sure, Troll Doll had grabbed at him and Deku had punched his jaw. But the entire time that the fight was going on, they kept backing up and tried to get Katsuki to evacuate with them. And Katsuki . . . Katsuki didn’t look how he always thought that he did whenever he fought. Whenever he thought about it, he always assumed that he looked like those Heroes did during fights on TV. But when Katsuki saw himself in the recording, he didn’t exactly look like a Hero. With his wild eyes, barred teeth, and crackling explosions popping off of his hands, he didn’t look anything like a Hero.
Katsuki didn’t want to think about what he looked like.
But it was the part near the end that caught Katsuki’s attention the most. Because he had, admittedly, kind of phased out with everything near the near of the fight, after Deku had actually thrown a punch back at him. He had been screaming something, sure, but he honestly hadn’t been aware of what he had been saying. Just . . . something. He had been far too angry to hear anything above the static roaring in his head. But the static wasn’t there now. And the camera had perfect and clear audio so Katsuki could clearly hear it now. And he really didn’t like what he was hearing.
“You’re a fucking liar, you fucking Quirkless Creep! I wish that you had just taken my Goddamn advice! You’re ruining everything!”
Something cold grew in Katsuki’s gut because he knew exactly what advice his past self was screaming about. It was the one thing he ever regretted in terms of Deku. The one thing he had promised himself to never say again. And, of course, that meant that when Nedzu re-paused the video when Midnight arrived, it was the first thing that Aizawa jumped on. “What advice were you referring to, Bakugou?” His voice was cold and unyielding. “Exactly what advice did you give my ward?”
If you want to be a Hero so badly then I have advice for you. Take a Swan Dive off a roof and hope for a Quirk in the next life.
Those words were echoing in Katsuki’s head now and loudly. He felt like a numbness was starting to set in but it was twinged with an edge of panic. He hadn’t meant it. He wasn’t even sure why he said it, back then or just an hour or so ago. He didn’t actually want Deku to . . . do that. It just came out, he was angry, he hadn’t meant it. He opened his mouth to say something but it was like the words were caught in his throat. He hadn’t meant it; he hadn’t meant it.
“I’d like to know that too.” Katsuki looked up to see his mother staring down at him. Her cheeks were wet with tears and there was no anger in her gaze. Just pure disappointment and something else. Like she was seeing him for the first time. It made that squirming feeling in his gut just so much worse. “What were you talking about Katsuki?”
Katsuki swallowed and tried to speak again. The words got caught again and he couldn’t speak. Finally, again almost a minute of just trying to force words out, he managed some. Just not the words he had been trying to say. “I didn’t mean it. I . . . I really didn’t mean it.”
“Mean what, Bakugou-kun?” Nedzu stared at him for a long moment - his human like smile was dropped now and leaving an almost animal like curiosity behind - and hummed when Katsuki only dropped his gaze. “Midoriya-kun?”
And that was when Katsuki glanced up at Deku. And Deku looked . . . shocked wasn’t the right word. He looked like he was hit over the head like he was in shock. He was still staring at the paused scene on the laptop – Katsuki’s hand still raised to punch him and Troll Doll again – with wide eyes. And when he glanced over at Katsuki, he looked like the Old Hag did. Like he was really seeing him for the first time. “You didn’t mean it,” Deku whispered; it sounded like a plea. “The . . . the others always did but you didn’t mean it. Right? Kacchan?”
The words were caught in Katsuki’s throat again.
“. . . Izuku-chan,” Katsuki’s father finally asked in a whisper, “did Katsuki tell you to kill yourself? Was that the advice?” His voice cracked on the word ‘kill’.
Deku stared at Katsuki for a very long moment, his eyes just pleading with Katsuki to say something, and finally looked up at the Old Man. “He didn’t mean it,” he whispered, sounding a little broken. “He . . . Kacchan couldn’t’ve meant it.”
He didn’t. He didn’t. He really fucking didn’t.
“I see.” The Rat’s voice was quieter now. “Aizawa-san, Shuzenji-san, Shuzenji-san, the three of you may take your respective wards and leave now. Bakugou-san, Bakugou, I’m going to have to ask the two of you to stay longer. It seems that we have more to discuss. Aizawa-san, I’d normally ask you to stay longer to discuss punishment, seeing as you are Bakugou-kun’s homeroom teacher, but you have a personal conflict here with Midoriya-kun being your ward. Because of that, you won’t be involved in this process.”
Katsuki barely heard the Hobo’s muttered, ”Fine,” because he was so focused on Deku. Deku who was staring at him in numb horror. I didn’t mean it, Katsuki tried to mentally throw Deku’s way. I might’ve meant everything else but I didn’t mean that. I don’t want you dead, I swear. I didn’t mean it. But Deku just kept staring at him. There was none of the idolization that had been there in Deku’s eyes since Katsuki’s Quirk came in. He was staring at Katsuki like he was a stranger; like he was someone completely different from the Kacchan he had made those Hero plans with all those years ago. It wasn’t until Troll Doll was grabbing his hand to pull him up and then Aizawa was pulling him into his side with a mumbled, “C’mon, Whiz Kid, let’s get going. Recovery Girl and then back home to Cat. C’mon now,” that he looked away. Walking out of the office with wide eyes and shock painted plain across his face; tucked into the Hobo’s side and Troll Doll gripping his hand tightly.
And Katsuki was left in the office with his crying mother, his silent father, and Nedzu; Nedzu who was pulling out a book that Katsuki recognized as Yuuei’s Rule book alongside the code of conduct that all students – General Education, Heroic, didn’t matter - were required to sign on their very first day of classes.
After that, Katsuki faded out again. But unlike during the fight, there wasn’t any raging static or red creeping into the edges of his vision. This time, it felt almost like Katsuki was drowning and the ocean was drowning out the conversation happening around him. He caught a few words and sentence fragments – “Mandatory Reporters” and “Assault with Quirk involvement counts in many courts as Assault with a Deadly Weapon,” and also, “The Police will have to be informed about this and the suicide baiting but the Shuzenjis and Aizawa-san would be in their right to press charges for this.” – but it all sounded like it was happening a million miles away. The one sentence that stuck out clearly though was, “Bakugou-san, Bakugou-san, your son is officially expelled from Yuuei High School.” And then Katsuki was being led out from Nedzu’s office with his parents and Midnight to go collect his things from his shoe locker. And the entire time, all Katsuki could think of was how Deku had looked at him before he had been led away by Aizawa. His new foster father. New foster father, new home, and Katsuki wasn’t going to have a single part of it. He wasn’t even going to be a Hero.
How had everything gotten so wrong so fast?