Chapter Text
They were going to the ‘haunted’ house during Spring Break, which meant Katsuki had exactly a week to get his shit together. His classmates and teachers weren’t making it very easy on him, with all their concerned looks and whispering, but he needed to focus. At least Kaminari hadn’t said anything about the ‘dead friend’ slip-up, as far as Katsuki could tell.
He needed to focus and chill out so he could go that stupid house, make sure his friends stayed alive, maybe burn the place to the ground while he was out, and never think about it again. Rock solid plan.
He had it all figured out. He wouldn’t do any sneaking around himself. He wouldn’t take his eyes off his friends, ever. He would force them to stick together. Anytime he started thinking things, he would divert his attention with a small explosion on his arms, or maybe a slap to his face. Or some yelling at Dunce Face, whatever he though made the most sense. They would find no ghosts, no monsters would be lurking around, it would all be a stupid waste of time, and he could get back to his life.
No distractions, no joking around, no fear. It would be fine.
Katsuki felt something hit the back of his head and whirled around to glare at Racoon Eyes, who looked down at the folded-up paper that had bounced off his head and fallen to the floor. He grabbed it off the ground and opened it.
Bakugou,
Thanks for saving Kaminari and therefore kind of also me. I’m so sorry I screwed up so bad. I’m not great hero, am I?
You’re a good friend, Bakugou.
Ashido Mina (Pinky)
Katsuki stared at the note for a second. What the hell was this for? She’d said sorry yesterday.
You’re a good friend.
If only they fucking knew.
Katsuki didn’t look back at Ashido, and instead just silently folded the note back up and slipped it in his pocket. He wanted to burn it. It was all lies. Ashido was talented and powerful, and she had the loving, excitable personality and comforting feeling that a hero was supposed to have. She was brave, pushed herself, and made others happy. The fuck did she mean ‘not a great hero’.
And of course, the obvious mistruth; ‘you’re a good friend’. Bakugou Katsuki knew he was a really shitty friend.
After the teacher had droned on for an hour and finally let the class go, Katsuki cornered Ashido in the hallway, holding up the note.
“What the fuck is this bullshit, Ashido?”
Ashido looked up at him with her weird eyes wide. “I just-wait, Ashido?”
Katsuki held the note in the palm of his hand and set it alight with a small explosion, then used his other hand to lightly flick Ashido’s forehead. “You’re a perfectly fine hero, you dumbass. You got into this damn school, didn’t you? And you saved some shitty extras in that villain attack last year. People love you. You just lost control of your fucking quirk for a second.” Katsuki thought to the pain in the scar tissue above his heart. “It happens. Just stop being stupid. Chill the fuck out and move on.” He dropped the ashes of the note onto the ground and dusted off his hands before shoving them in his pockets and leaving for his next class. He heard muttering behind him but ignored it. They could all shove it, he said what he said. Apparently, Racoon Eyes wasn’t going to figure that crap out herself.
Shit, these assholes were exhausting.
--
eating every spice we can find in the kitchen (subscriber challenges ep 7)
Posted by ElectricRiot
[Image ID: Two teenaged boys in a kitchen, behind the island counter. Kirishima is on the left, wearing a grey tank top. Kaminari is on the right, wearing a blue t-shirt and black choker. In front of them is a few bottles labelled as different spices like cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.]
Kirishima: What’s up, bros! It’s Riot!
Kaminari: And Electric!
Kirishima: It’s time for us to do another thing y’all dared us to do! Today, we are here to-
Kaminari: Fucking die.
Kirishima: [looking at Kaminari and laughing] Bro, it’s just spices!
Kaminari: I wasn’t talking about the spices. [looks around obviously, then leans towards the camera and whispers loudly] All of these spices are Blasty’s and we didn’t ask him.
Kirishima: Yeah, maybe we should’ve asked.
Kaminari: Dude, he would never say yes. [looks into camera] Listen kids, it’s better to apologize later than ask for permissi-[cut off by Kirishima’s hand over his mouth]
Kirishima: No, bro! Not manly!
Kaminari: [prying Kirishima’s hand off] Okay, then you go ask Bakugou if we can do this.
Kirishima: [doesn’t say anything]
Kaminari: That’s what I th-
Bakugou, from off-screen: Hey Dunce Face, did you-IS THAT MY FUCKING CINNAMON?
Kaminari: …Run.
[Image ID: Video cuts to black as Kaminari and Kirishima scramble to run out of the kitchen, Bakugou behind them. A scream and the sound of an explosion is cut off too. When the camera comes back on, Kirishima and Kaminari are both covered in flour, have messed up hair, and are panting, but there are now more spices on the counter.]
Kirishima: Okay! Now that that is over with, lets get to the challenge!
Kaminari: I hope ginger tastes better than flour.
Bakugou, from off-screen: That was your fault, zappy boy!
Kaminari: [nodding slowly] Yup. [looks at camera] Note to self, flour does not put out electrical fires.
Kirshima: It definitely does not.
--
Three days until Spring Break. And the fucking house.
Katsuki had been getting even worse sleep ever since the day he stopped Kaminari from getting crushed and agreed to go to the house with them. He’d gotten a new nightmare. It started like the same-old thing: Katsuki was hiding and listening. And then there was a scream. And he ran. And ran. And ran.
And ran until he burst through a door, but this time instead of finding just the pile of bloody green boy on the ground, he found all his friends. More colors.
Pink,
Black,
Yellow,
Red,
Green in the middle.
And then he realized the screaming was still going, and it was coming from him, and he would wake up with a chest covered in burns and lungs that felt like they were being torn to shreds which each breath.
It sucked ass.
After each nightmare, Katsuki would lay awake in his bed for hours before sunrise, staring at the ceiling and…letting it hurt. Because it hurt, so fucking bad. The burns on his chest made him feel like he was on fire. Boiling alive. And not just the new scars, the old ones hurt too. Did IcyHot ever feel like this with his eye? Because that shit had to be a burn scar too.
For some reason, he didn’t let himself put anything on the burns until after he’d visited the graveyard. Maybe it was some shit along the lines of atonement. Like if he had to hurt because of Katsuki, then Katsuki could hurt for him too.
What sucked even more was that the nightmares seemed to get worse with every day that passed and brought him closer to the day he had to go back into the house. Longer, darker, harsher, and he would wake up with a worse and worse pain in head.
Weak fucking coward.
--
First day of Spring Break. One more day until the house.
Kirishima and Kaminari had decided to spend the first night at his house because he lived so close, and it hadn’t taken much to convince his parents. He’d nearly exploded his phone with how many questions his dad started asking about his ‘friends’. The three of them walked over together after school.
Katsuki was starting to have regrets with all their blabbering. And he was really about to lose it when they started quoting memes back and forth. They were even walking on each side of him, trapping him in their conversation that was quickly dissolving into what sounded like a foreign language to Katsuki, who only ever knew about the memes the Shithead Alliance forced on him.
Dunce Face mentioned something about barbeque sauce, and suddenly Shitty Hair was laughing so hard he practically fell onto Katsuki, who shoved him off.
“I hate you both, so much,” He growled. They were laughing to hard to respond. “Something is seriously wrong with you fuckers.”
In a very unwelcome gesture, Kirishima gave Katsuki a heavy pat on the back, still laughing about fucking barbeque sauce. “Thanks for that, Bakubro.”
Finally, they arrived in front of his house. Kirishima and Kaminari stopped walking as he turned off the road and started down the concrete path, past the outer wall. He glanced back at them. They were staring.
“The fuck are you two doing?”
“Holy shit man! This is your house?”
“Tch, of course it is. Why the hell wouldn’t it be?” He turned back around and kept towards the door, the two idiots jogging to catch up. He dug into his pockets for a key and unlocked the door. He heard a familiar shout from inside and was soon enveloped in a tight hug from his mother. He tried to pry himself free. “Gah! Get off me, you witch!” His mother let him go and swiftly smacked the back of his head. He growled at her.
“Good to see you too, Katsuki!” She grinned. Evil hag. Her eyes quickly found his friends, who looked like they were trying not to explode with laughter. Ugh. “Hello! You must be Katsuki’s friends, come on in! I’m Bakugou Mitsuki.” She ushered them inside, Katsuki still grumbling and rubbing his hair. The door shut behind them and Katsuki immediately started upstairs, but his mother’s voice stopped him.
“Ah, ah, ah, Katsuki! Don’t be a little shit. Say hi to your father and give your friends a tour!”
Katsuki let out a long, violent groan and dropped his bag on the floor, rolling his eyes. He walked over to the living room and found his father folding laundry on a chair. “Hi, dad.” His dad got up to hug him quickly.
“I’m glad your back, Katsuki! Where are your friends?”
“Right here, sir!” Shitty Hair chirped from behind Katsuki, waving. “Nice to meet you! I’m Kirishima Eijirou!”
“Kaminari Denki, sir!” Dunce Face said. Where did all the fuckin’ politeness come from?
“I’m Bakugou Masaru,” his father introduced himself, shaking each of their hands. Katsuki huffed and shoved past the three of them.
“Come on, losers, we’re starting the fucking tour.”
“Katsuki! That’s no way to talk to your friends!” He heard his mother call as he stomped up the stairs after grabbing his bag.
“Fuck you, hag! They’re my friends, I call them what I want!”
Apparently, the presence of friends in their house for the first time in 6 years was making his mom go soft, because she didn’t respond with anything more than a grumble. He led his friends straight for his room and slammed the door behind them, only for them to immediately burst out laughing.
“What the fuck is it now?” He yelled.
“Oh my god!” Shitty Hair squealed out with his laughter. “That was exactly what I imagined the Bakugou household would be!”
“The hell is that supposed to mean, asshole?” Katsuki snapped.
“You look just like your mom!” Dunce Face added, cackling against the wall. Katsuki snarled at them, which only made them laugh harder. He missed the days where these losers were intimidated by him. Hell, maybe they never were. He tossed his backpack on the floor by his desk and flopped down on his bed, listening to his former friends choke on their own laughter. Former, because how dare they compare him to the hag witch mother. Finally, the laughter subsided.
“You fucking done?” He snapped at his ceiling.
“Hey! What happened to the tour?”
Katsuki propped himself up of his elbows and glared at Dunce Face. “Tour? Here’s the fuckin’ tour. My room,” – he pointed at his bed – “the bathroom” – he pointed at the right wall – “and the hag’s lair.” – he twirled his finger around in reference to the whole house. Kaminari snickered.
“Okay, I get it!”
“Ooh!” Shitty Hair said, pushing himself off the wall. “Let’s look around Bakubro’s room!”
“Yeah!”
The two of them just stood there in the middle of the carpet for a second.
“How’s the looking around going for you?” Katsuki said dryly.
There was basically nothing in his room except for the bare basics. He had a boring black desk with a cup of pens, stack of notebooks, and a lamp, on one end of the room. In the upper right corner, he had his bed with all light grey sheets and a black bedframe. His dresser and bookshelf were black to match the desk and bed. In fact, pretty much the only thing that had color was the old ass All Might poster on his wall, which was peeling off at the corners. He always wanted to take it down, but it was covering a hole he’d put in the wall back in middle school, so he just ignored it to the best of his ability. The only other semblance of personalization or decoration was the very few books on his bookshelf that weren’t schoolbooks, and the small jewelry stand with one thing on it. The jewelry stand used to be his grandmother’s, and he’d somehow ended up with it when she died. It was shaped like a curly tree. A blue plastic tree. He kept it on his dresser.
“Dude, this is the most boring room I’ve ever seen,” Kirishima said, sounding genuinely surprised.
Katsuki didn’t have it in him to snap back and instead just dropped back onto his pillows. His room was boring because he’d moved everything interesting to his room at school or Aunty Inko’s house, or blown it up in a panic attack. After it all first happened, he’d slept over at Aunty Inko’s house a lot. It was the only way he could be close to him anymore, and he thought it’d help Inko be less lonely. He moved all his All Might stuff over there eventually. Inko had probably thrown it away by now. He hadn’t visited her in years. He was an asshole.
The one thing on the jewelry stand caught Kaminari’s eye, and he moved to look closer.
“Hey, what’s this?” Kaminari said, grabbing the bracelet of it’s hook.
Katsuki’s eyes suddenly widened and he resisted the overwhelming urge to snatch it out of Dunce Face’s hands and hide it somewhere. “What’s it look like? It’s a fucking bracelet, idiot.” He managed out with his usual snark.
Kaminari looked closer at the bracelet, Kirishima watching over his shoulder. Why were they inspecting it so much? It was a piece of woven green and orange threads. Made by a child. For children. Katsuki pushed himself off his bed and grabbed the bracelet, shoving it deep into his pants pocket.
“Sheesh, what’s so fucking interesting about a bracelet?” He snapped again, his fist clamped tightly around the rope in his pocket.
“Nothing, except for that fact that it’s the only thing in your room!” Dunce Face said, throwing his hands in the air.
“The fuck did you expect?”
“I don’t know, man! Something! Anything!”
“Sorry to disappoint, then,” Katsuki grumbled, sitting back down on his bed.
“Well, it may not be a very interesting background, but we should start filming!” Kirishima announced, pulling his camera out of his bag. Katsuki, Racoon Eyes, Soy Sauce, and Dunce Face had all pooled their money to buy him the camera for his birthday last year. He reacted like a baby with a shiny new toy.
Kaminari moved to Kirishima’s side as he set up the camera on the desk, fiddling around with settings. There was a beep of a recording button, and they were off.
“Hey there, dudes! It’s me, Riot!”
“And Electric!”
Katsuki never understood why they introduced themselves at the beginning of every video. These people should know who they are by now, right? They had 1 million followers, somehow.
“We’re currently at out bro Bakugou’s house! Say hi, Bakugou!”
Katsuki ignored them. He hated cameras.
“In this video, we’re going…” Kirishima lowered his voice to a fake whisper. “…ghost hunting!”
Katsuki pulled his headphones over his ears to block out the irritating chatter. Agreeing to this was one of the dumbest things he’d ever done, he decided. He ignored the panicky fluttering of his heart.
--
“Boys! Dinner time!”
The three boys looked up from their half-finished game of cards. Kaminari’s eyes widened in excitement.
“Ooh! Bakumom made dinner!” He said, jumping to his feet.
“The fuck did you just call her?” Katsuki asked. Kaminari just grinned stupidly and sped out the door, Shitty Hair on his heels. Katsuki slumped down the stairs after them, then plopped himself into a seat at the table. Everything he did nowadays was heavy and uncontrolled. He was just so fucking tired all the time.
The smell of his mom’s katsudon helped, though. He would never say it out loud, out of fear of the hag hearing him, but he missed being home. He missed his parents. He loved being at UA, and he maybe more than tolerated his friends, but something in his chest always ached to be back home again.
He just elected to ignore that the ache only lessened at home, it didn’t go away. The thing the rest of him was aching for…was impossible. Gone. For good.
“Katsuki, sit up straight at the table! We raised you with some manners, didn’t we?” His mother snapped, bringing him out of his daze. He straightened his back while grumbling under his breath. Kirishima and Kaminari were seated to his left, his parents in the seats across from them. His mother was glaring at him. He glared back. His father glanced nervously between the two of them.
“Thanks for the food, Mr. and Mrs. Bakugou!” Kirishima grinned, breaking the tension before someone started yelling again.
“Yes, thank you very much!” Kaminari echoed.
Katsuki’s mother’s face softened at his friends. “You’re welcome! Such sweet friends you have, Katsuki.” She gave him a side-eye glance. “You could learn a thing or two from them.”
Katsuki couldn’t fucking deal with this after the week he’s had. “You too, hag,” he mumbled, poking at his food.
He saw his mom tense up, pursing her lips, but she must have noticed the lack of conviction in his voice because, for the second time today, she let it go. She turned back to his friends instead. “So! Tell me about yourselves. How’s UA?”
Shitty Hair smiled with his stupid shark teeth again. “UA is great! It’s so great learning and challenging ourselves every day. Exhilarating!”
Katsuki snorted quietly as he took a bite of his food. Who taught Shitty Hair a word like that?
“Yeah!” Kaminari chimed in, nodding excitedly. “We learn new things every second, basically!” Yeah, like Dunce Face was learnin’ shit.
“Bakugou’s one of the top three in our class!” Kirishima said, poking him in the shoulder. Katsuki just huffed and focused on his rice. He didn’t need people bragging for him. Besides, he was only number 3. That was a shitty ranking.
“Really?” Katsuki’s mom said, looking at her son. “You never said anything!”
“’S only third place. Isn’t worth tellin’.” Katsuki said, scowling.
“Well, I’m proud of you!” His dad said, smiling. Whatever.
--
“So, where are we sleeping?”
Katsuki froze, his hand mid-scrubbing a dish in the sink, staring up at Kirishima. Shit. He hadn’t thought of that. He should’ve thought of that.
“Uh.”
His mother poked her head around him. “They can sleep on the floor in your room, right Katsuki?”
“NO!” he said, more forcefully and louder than he meant to. The dish in his hand clattered to the bottom of the sink, and he quickly snatched it back up. His mother and friends looked startled. “No,” he repeated. “Somewhere else.” If they slept in his room, they would know about the nightmares, and the burns, and the puking, all of it. No fucking way.
“Oh…kay…” his mother said, staring at him with a frown and one eyebrow quirked up. “There’s the guest room down the hall from your room, I guess. That has two twin beds.”
“Yeah, sleep in there. Beds are better than a floor anyways,” Katsuki said, scrubbing his dish roughly.
“All right!” Dunce Face grinned. “Me and Kiri, havin’ a sleepover!”
Kirishima’s smile was smaller and he looked at Katsuki strangely. “Yeah, that’ll be fun.” Shut the fuck up, Shitty Hair. I don’t need your babying.
--
“Wait, Bakubro! No good night hugs?”
Katsuki shoved Kirishima back into the wall. “Fuck you.” He slammed the door closed on their laughter.
“Good night, Bakugou!” Kaminari called after him.
--
Katsuki woke with a strangled noise as he shoved his blankets off and stumbled off his bed, gripping his head in his hands and keeling over into the wall. The screams from a nightmare he couldn’t remember echoed painfully in his brain. He dry-retched and gagged with every attempt at breathing. Fuck. It was weird that he couldn’t remember the nightmare. He always remembered his nightmares (not dreams, he never had dreams).
He stumbled his way over to his desk and checked the clock. 3 am. Right on fucking time. He grabbed his flashlight, then pulled his running shoes out of his bag and slipped them on, not bothering to change. He needed to run, now.
His window opened with a slide and clack and shut with a thunk behind him after he slipped through. He didn’t want to risk waking up his friends or parents. He jumped to the ground, landing with a quiet oof on the dew-damp grass below. He took a deep, heavy breath of the chilled morning air, letting it sooth the burn in his lungs. Two more breaths, then he took off running into the dark.
For some reason, this morning, the dark felt more oppressive then freeing. Katsuki’s heart was beating far too fast, far too soon. A rock of panic was building in his chest. He didn’t know why, but he ran faster than he had before. Faster and faster because he had to go faster or else or else or else or-
And then he must have blacked out or something because he suddenly realized he was at the graveyard gates. Without thinking, he sprinted towards the grave and slapped a hand on top of it. As soon as his palm met the cool marble surface, his heart rate dropped and he deflated, dropping to his knees in the dirt and grass. He pressed his forehead against the headstone, panting, then slowly rotated around so his back was to it. He shifted a bit so he didn’t cover up the entire name that was carved into the stone.
Katsuki titled his head back and stared up at the night sky, a solid black covering with stars scattered few and in-between, most covered by thick clouds. His chest burned with every intake of soothing air, and the contrast made it hurt all the more.
He closed his eyes to block out the stars.
--
He used small blast to hop from tree branch to tree branch, then quietly snuck back through his window and collapsed onto the ground. He didn’t stay there for long, though, because he knew if he stopped moving, he’d start thinking, and that wasn’t going to work out well for anyone. He glanced at the clock, seeing that it was 5 am. At school, he didn’t really have to worry about people hearing him shower, but home was a different story. His parents wouldn’t care – they’d given up on stopping his runs years ago – but his friends might ask questions.
The thick smell of chemicals and burnt sugar hit, making his decision for him. If he didn’t shower, he might blow up the house. He’d make it quick.
15 minutes later, he was pacing back and forth in the kitchen, rapping his fingers against his hips in an attempt to ground himself. His towel flung over his head, feet padding softly on the hardwood floor. He had his shirt off, too, trying to appreciate any time he could leave his chest uncovered and free from the scratching of fabric.
Calm the fuck down, Katsuki. It’s a house.
It’s the house.
Shut up.
You can’t do it.
I can fucking do it!
No, you-
There was a sudden, hot flash of pain in his side, making him squeak in surprise and stumble backwards into the counters. After a second, he realized that he’d been so deep in his head, his quirk had gone off against his hips without him meaning to.
God damn it, Katsuki! Control your fucking quirk!
He looked down, sighing in relief when he saw that there was no hole in his shorts. That meant no explanations needed, and no new scarring.
He was such a mess. But he was fine. He was going to go into this house and protect his friends and prove to everyone that he was completley, totally, one hundred percent fine. Better than fine. Perfect. Peachy.
He was anxiously tapping his hip again. Fucking weak.
--
After a few hours of staring at his ceiling and silently exploding a bunch of pillows into feathery dust, Katsuki finally heard people getting up. He mentally steeled himself for whatever would happen when he entered the rest of the house, and opened his door.
His mother passed him in the hall and pulled him into a hug. He grumbled about it but didn’t push her off. Shit, he was being a weak little baby. He couldn’t fucking protect his friends like that.
“Good morning, Katsuki!” His mother chirped, ruffling his hair. “How’d you sleep?”
“Fine,” he lied, slapping her hand away. “Is anyone else awake?”
“I don’t think so,” his mother answered, moving towards the stairs. “I’ll make you three some breakfast.”
Katsuki just hummed a response and went to knock loudly on his friends’ room. “Hey, losers, you up?”
There was a jumble of mumbled jibberish, so Katsuki just opened the door. Shitty Hair and Dunce Face were curled up next to each other in one bed, Kirishima in a starfish position with Kaminari latched onto his waist like a barnacle. Katsuki knew his friends were just…like that most of the time, but it still felt weird. Too touchy-feely. He’d never let someone that close. But his friends looked so comfortable doing it. Both boys had wild bedhead, and Katsuki could see strands of Kirishima’s hair stuck to his mouth as he snored. So gross.
He grabbed a pillow from the other bed and threw it at them as hard as he could, slamming it into Kaminari’s face. Dunce Face barely moved.
“Wake the fuck up,” Katsuki demanded. Kaminari grumbled and curled tighter against Kirishima, who mumbled something Katsuki couldn’t understand. He growled at them. “My mom’s making breakfast.” He tried.
Kaminari’s eyes snapped open and he pushed himself up, nearly falling off the bed backwards with a cheery, “Good mornin’, Blasty!” Seriously, that’s what worked?
Kirishima, however, was still asleep. He slept like a rock, no pun fucking intended. Katsuki elected to just jab Shitty Hair in the ribs with force. Kirishima yelped then groaned, opening his eyes. Fucking finally.
“Damn, you fuckers sleep heavy. Get up!”
Kirishima smiled and rolled off the bed, standing up next to Kaminari.
“Good morning to you too, Bakubro!” Kirishima ran a hand through his messy hair and squinted at Katsuki. “Huh, you look pretty different without the eyeliner.”
“Hah?” Katsuki growled. “Shut up!” He had only used coverup this morning, knowing that eyeliner at 7 am in his own home would be strange. He didn’t expect his friends to comment on it, though.
“You’re hot either way,” Kaminari said with a shit-eating smirk. Katsuki punched him in the shoulder.
“I’m never letting you shitheads near me again.” The assholes just snickered and ignored him. He tried changing the subject. “You realize there are two beds in here, right? You better not be fuckin’ in my house.”
Kirishima’s face went as red as his hair, and Kaminari’s eyes widened as his cheeks went slightly pink.
“I’m not-we didn’t-uh,” Shitty Hair spluttered. “’S not like that!”
Katsuki let himself have a small smile of victory, turning to leave the room. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Come on, time to eat.”
Kirishima and Kaminari kept looking at each other and then looking away, then back again, blushing. It was fucking annoying. They were barely eating their food. His tease hadn’t been worth it. His nerves were too fucked up already to deal with this.
“Oh my god, stop it!” He finally snapped. “I was teasing! You can stop acting like that!”
Kirishima was blushing again. “Like what?”
“Uuuuugh!” Katsuki groaned, throwing his hands up. “The staring and shit! I get it! You’re friends! Friends sleep in the same bed or some shit, I don’t know!”
Shitty Hair and Dunce face looked at each other, then away again. Katsuki held back a scream. They had bigger things to worry about today than the possibility of some gross ass feelings! Like the goddamn fucking anxiety-inducing death trap definitely-not-haunted house.
“Look, I just want to know if you idiots have a game plan here.”
Now the assholes looked confused. “A game plan?” Kaminari asked. “For what?”
“For the fucking house, obviously!” Shit, they were gonna die. “What the hell were you gonna do, just waltz in there and fuck around for a day?”
Kirishima blinked at him. “Uh…yes?”
“I mean, we planned to stay the night!” Kaminari added. Katsuki thought he might crush the chopstick in his hand.
“I’m sorry, we’re going to what?” He said.
Dunce Face took a bite of his food like he hadn’t just dropped that bomb. “Yeah, that’s the whole thing! Stay a night in a haunted house! Spooky~!”
“I thought you were ghost-hunting!” Katsuki said, trying to calm his internal panic. They were going to SLEEP IN THE FUCKING HOUSE. NOT FUCKING GOOD.
“That too,” Kirishima said nonchalantly.
Katsuki slammed his hands down on the table, rattling the dishes and startling his friends. He pushed out a harsh, long stream of air. His entire body was shaking like a scared child. He needed to calm down before he burned his house down. He was being a baby. Weak.
“Bakugou, are you okay?”
He was not. He should be. He should be okay. He had to be okay. He was fine! Not fucking afraid of a dark corner in a goddamn piece of shit rickety house no matter how much his body told him otherwise.
“You don’t have to come with us if you don’t want to, man.”
Katsuki whipped around to glare at Kirishima. “Yes of course I fucking have to!” You’ll get killed if I don’t. Not happening again. “Besides, why the fuck wouldn’t I? I’m not scared of that house!”
“I never said you were!” Kirishima said, putting his hands up defensively.
“Well good, because I’m not! Monsters aren’t real!” He yelled, not thinking about anything anymore.
Kaminari frowned at him. “Who said anything about monsters?”
–scary monster, kacchan
“Nobody. Shut up.” No. No, no, no. He couldn’t do this again. The voices. He couldn’t do the voices again, not after all this time.
kacchan, wait!
kacchan, please! stay
kacchan? where are you?
“Get out of my head,” Katsuki whispered through gritted teeth, leaning over the table.
“What?”
“I didn’t say anything,” he lied, standing. “I’m going to take a piss.”
kacchan, that’s mean
kacchan, don’t go!
wait for me!
you’re so brave, kacchan
i wanted to help you!
ka-kacch-chan?
Katsuki slammed the bathroom door so hard the whole house shook.