Chapter Text
The next morning, Katsuki wakes up to the sun shining directly in his eyes and the sound of two different, snoring people violating each of his ears. It was way too domestic and sappy for him. He stretched out all of his limbs like a starfish, forcing all four weirdos right off the bed and onto the floor. The echoing thuds of their bodies hitting the floor, plus the grunts, groans, and surprised yelling, music to his ears. He sprints to his bathroom before they could counter attack. With a small smile, Katsuki starts his morning routine. He waits to get into the shower until he’s certain that the four numbnuts have left. After going through the audacious task of his bathroom routine, he opens the door, allowing some steam to seep into his room. Katsuki holds his towel firmly around his waist, using the fingers of his other hand to comb through his hair as he walks over to his side table. He unplugs his phone from the charger, turning it on. He taps a finger against the back of his phone case, anxious to see what plans Harumi has pla- his hand grips his phone with a viper’s grip as his entire body freezes. He doesn’t have any plans with Harumi. He doesn’t have anything with Harumi. Nothing except memories. He was never going to talk to her again. He would never see her again. Never smell the scent of her perfume. Never feel the feeling of her hand in his. Katsuki sits down on his bed with the weight of a thousand bricks. His chest aches. He doesn’t know how long he sits there drowning in repetitive realization trying to make its way past his thick skull. He’s wrenched from his thoughts by even more knocking on his fucking door. He wishes with all of himself that it would be Harumi walking back into his life, but he knows better than that. Harumi never knocks, she always saunters her way into whatever room she wants when she wants. He re-wraps his towel tighter around himself as he stands and approaches the door.
“What?” He growls at Shitty Hair.
“Well, we were all planning on going to the mall today and thought you might want to come with us?” He asks hesitantly. Katsuki wonders if the hesitance is because of all the times he’s responded ‘no’ to a similar request, or if he didn’t actually want Katsuki to join them. Well tough shit if it’s the last one. If they didn’t want him to come, they shouldn’t have offered.
“Fine.” Shitty Hair’s face glows like a goddamn beacon during a pitch black stormy night. Idiot, “Let me get dressed.”
“Oka-” Katsuki slams the door in his face. There’s only so much brightness he can take right now. He goes to his closet trying to determine what to wear. This was never a problem before, since he had Harumi, and before that, he had been an embarrassment.
~-~-~
Katsuki and Harumi have been dating for a little over two months now. Harumi is waiting outside his room a little impatient while he finishes getting ready for their date tonight. They were going to Harumi’s favorite restaurant. He puts the finishing touches on his outfit before opening the door. Harumi gives him a critical once over, then indicates for him to give her a spin. Instinctively, he raises his arms and gives a slow spin like he would for his parents when he was much younger and modeling a little bit for them. Harumi pushes her way into the room.
“Oi! What do you th-” he starts protesting her invading his personal space. He hates having people in his room, even the tweedle dee, dum, dope, and derp are rarely allowed in his room.
“That looks absolutely terrible together.” She states blatantly. He scoffs unbelievably.
“It does not”
“Yes it does.” She insists
“I know how to fucking dress myself, my parents are goddamn fashion designers.”
“Yeah, and they’d be ashamed of how you look right now!” Katsuki blinks a few times, shocked at the statement. He looks into the full length mirror on the back of his door. Harumi sees him looking and scoffs before rifling through his closet, pulling out clothes and tossing them around his floor. It quickly snaps him out of his stupor.
“Oi! You‘re making a fucking mess!”
“The only mess in this room is you.” She states offhandedly. He bites his tongue and starts picking up the clothes being thrown around his room. “Here.” She gives him a t-shirt and jacket. Critically, he looks them over before going into his bathroom to change. When he steps out, she tousles his hair, switches out the watch he was wearing, and has a different pair of shoes pulled out for him. He glances at the floor of his closet to see the ones he had grabbed haphazardly put back. It looks like a mini hurricane went off in there. He grabs the shoes from her. “Let’s get going, Suki-chan, or we’re going to be late for our reservation. “
“Ok.” He mumbles, reaching a hand out for hers before quickly shoving it into his pocket, hoping she didn’t notice the gesture.
“Damn, Bakugou!” Racoon Eyes shouts. “Looking fly!” His idiots start wolf whistling. He ignores them, walking out into the cool evening air. Harumi smirks.
“Don’t worry, Suki-chan, I’ll pull all your outfits together from now on. She kisses his cheek and fishes his hand out of his pocket so she can hold it. “I’ll always make sure you look your best.”
~-~-~
A knock snaps him out of the memory.
“Bakugo? You almost ready? It’s been like fifteen minutes, bro.” Katsuki looks around his room startled. He catches sight of himself in the full length mirror, flinching back from what he sees. Tears are running down his face. His chest aches with the quick heavy heaving of his panicked breaths, What is he going to wear? He can’t be seen out in public like some kind of fashion disaster. What is wrong with him?
‘You’re welcome to go home for the next week and reorient yourself’ Aizawa-Sensei had suggested. It had seemed so stupid at the time, but maybe he should? For fucks sake, he can’t even figure out what the hell he’s supposed to wear! Frantically, he starts throwing his shit into bags and changes into a clean pair of sweatpants, tossing the matching sweatshirt on. His parents had designed this set, so he couldn’t possibly make a fashion faux pas with the combination, right? Roughly, he cleans off his face before shouldering the bags. Quickly, he glances around the room to make sure he didn’t miss anything, then shoves open his door, almost hitting Shitty Hair in the process.
“Woah bro, where’s the fire?”
“Fuck off.” Katsuki snaps, trekking down the steps to the common room, he can hear Shitty Hair rushing to catch up with him.
“Why do you have so many bags? Usually you get bags of stuff from the mall, not bring it to the mall.” He opens the door and storms into the common room.
“I’m not going to some shitty mall.” The idiots look up, frowning from the table they were sitting around, apparently waiting for Shitty Hair and himself.
“But you said-”
“Plans changed, Shitty Hair, so fuck off.” He slams his fist against Aizawa-Sensei’s door.
“So where are you going?” asks Dunce. Aizawa opens his door.
“I’m going home.” He tells them all.
“Is everything alright?” Shitty Hair asks at the same time Aizawa says,
“Ok.”
“Hey, what’s going on?” Raccoon Eyes asks, probably remembering all the paperwork she had to go through when she last wanted to visit home for the weekend; not to mention whatever they had to do to be allowed to go to the mall today.
“None of your damn business.” Katsuki snaps. “Get a life, one not obsessing over mine.” The idiots all giggle, even Raccoon Eyes, knowing not to take it personally.
“Yeah yeah, whatever Bakugo. Let’s go guys.” Soy Sauce speaks up. The crowd gets up and starts filing out the door. Shitty Hair shot Katsuki one last sad look before following the others.
“I’ll drive you to your parents and Mic will be here if anyone needs something. I’ll let Iida know.” Aizawa says, pulling out his phone, texting the two he mentioned with one hand. Katsuki grunts to show he understands. “Get your things in my car.” Aizawa tosses his car keys to Katsuki with the hand not texting. Katsuki catches the keys and starts the car. For some reason, everywhere inside is suffocating him. He hopes some fresh air will make his throat loosen up. Aizawa-Sensei meets him outside a few minutes later. Katsuki already has the car running, the windows down, and his seatbelt buckled. Neither say anything during the long drive to the Bakugo residence. When they pull up to his house, he’s surprised Aizawa parks the car and takes off his own seatbelt. Katsuki’s eyes scrunch in confusion, but he doesn’t say anything. As he is gathering his bags, Aizawa grabs one as well and together they walk to the front door. Wasn’t he just dropping him off, then going back to the school? Aizawa knocks on the door before Katsuki can grab the handle. It’s his house. He was just going to walk in.
“GET THE FUCKING DOOR!” his mom’s screeching can be heard through the door. Katsuki glances at Aizawa, who’s neutral expression becomes more tense. The door opens a moment later.
“Katsuki?” his dad asks, “What’s the meaning of this? Is everything ok?”
“WHO THE FUCK IS IT!?” Aizawa seems to grind his teeth.
“IT’S ME, YOU OLD HAG!” Katsuki yells back, knowing his dad didn’t have the balls to yell loud enough to be heard.
“Would you like to come in?” asks his dad. Katsuki pushes his way through the door, Aizawa on his tail. His mom stomps into the entranceway.
“What’s going on now?” his mom asks, more sedated than she was just a moment ago.
“I encouraged Bakugo-kun to spend some time at home to get some space from everything going on at the school.” Aizawa-Sensei speaks.
“Alright, but why the fuck are you here?” She glares at Aizawa. Katsuki looks at him too, curious what the reason could be.
“I came to drop him off, and since he has so many bags, I figured I’d help him bring them in.” That didn’t sound right to him, but he had no other explanation for his Sensei to come into his home.
“Thank you for making sure he gets here ok.” States his dad, He and his mom scoff at the same time, not believing Aizawa’s excuse for a second.
“Well, you helped the brat. Good-bye.” His mom snaps. Aizawa’s fists clench, but he ignores his mom. Turning to Katsuki he asks,
“Would you like me to carry some of your bags to your room?”
“I got it.” he responds, a little weirded out. His Sensei nods almost hesitantly before placing his bag down.
“Contact me if you need anything.” Aizawa says to Katsuki before turning and leaving. No one says anything. The door closes and the three just stand there looking at each other. Katsuki picks up his other bag and starts heading to his room right next to the kitchen on the first floor. Before Katsuki makes it out of the room, his dad speaks up again, halting him in his steps.
“I made lunch a little while ago. There wasn’t anything left over, I’m afraid. I didn’t know you were coming.” Katsuki nods without turning around, taking another step before having to pause again as his dad continues. “I’ll have dinner ready at six. I think we should all eat together while you’re here, ok Katsuki?” His mom and him both roll their eyes and grunt to show they heard him. His mom stomps up the stairs to get back to her work and he made his way to his room uninterrupted. No one bothers him as he unpacks his bags. Hours go by and Katsuki tries to catch up on all the school work he’d fallen behind on. Eventually, his alarm for five forty-five goes off and he washes up to go have dinner with his parents. At five fifty-five, Katsuki sits down at the kitchen table. It was tense as his dad set plates in front of everyone. No one said a word as they all shovel food in their mouths. He knew he was the one to decide to come here, hoping it would help what happened this morning to never happen again. He wants to believe Aizawa is right, that taking space to reorient himself would help, but this is just painful. He can’t think of a time when the house was this quiet (and his parents were home). When his mom wasn’t loud, wasn’t complaining about something, or demanding someone to do what she wants. He knows they are just confused, he is too, but he was tired of feeling so different. He wants to be himself again. A nagging voice in the back of his head, the voice of Harumi, whispers to him. Reminding him of the last time he went to his parents house, so they could re-meet each other, not as childhood friends and parents, but as dating partners and parents.
~.~.~
Katsuki had thought the dinner had gone well. They were walking home, hand in hand when she spoke, breaking the quiet he had been enjoying.
“Wow, your mom is so mean to you. I mean, it’s almost like she hates you.” His head whipped around to her confused and shocked.
“HAH!?” He yelled, completely caught off guard.
“Oh! I mean, she probably doesn’t, of course! I mean, what kind of monster do you have to be for your own mom to hate you?” She laughs off the question, though her face turns thoughtful. “I didn’t mean anything by it. It just kinda seemed…” She hesitates. “I bet she doesn’t usually talk to you like that; or treat you like that, or react to you that way when you’re around.” She says, determined. She tilts her head towards Katsuki, almost questioningly. “I’m sure she loves you.” There were a couple beats of silence as Katsuki processed what she just said to him. “Anyway!” She giggles, “You’ll never believe what my friend said to our teacher the other day…”
~.~.~
Her voice fades away as Katsuki forces himself to let go of the memory, to stay in the moment. Here and now, no matter how awkward, he never used to think this way about his mom. Sure they argued a lot, but it was never….hate. Right? He decides right then to breach the subject, despite the fact that the conversation would undoubtedly be covered in emotions he usually tries to ignore. If he wants to get back to how he was, he needs to cover this too…right? It had to make this awful feeling go away. Everything will be normal again, after all, it seemed to work out last night with his friends.
“Old Hag…do you hate me?” He looks to her, as he forces the words past his lips. His dad drops his chopsticks. They hit the corner of his plate and fill the room with a ringing sound. Nobody says anything for a moment.
“What? Of course not, Katsuki. Why would you think that? Why would you ask that?” She demands. He nods his head almost hesitantly. Of course not. He knew that.
“Harumi said that…that the way you talked to me, and reacted to me…that it seemed like you hate me.” He says softly, a little thrown that he had to explain himself, to give a reason, but still expecting more reassurance like last night. His dad slams his open faced palm on the table.
“I’ve told you to be nicer, Mitsuki!” His dad damn near yells. Katsuki’s never heard his voice get so loud before.
“HAH!? You think this is my fault!?” She demands, gesturing in Katsuki’s direction. Katsuki is frozen as the argument grows, going from bad to worse.
“That’s not what I’m saying! It’s just, you set a precedent-”
“AT LEAST I DIDN'T TEACH HIM TO BE YOU! HOW TO JUST…JUST ROLL OVER AND TAKE IT!” Her voice echoes in the room as everyone processes what she just said. It hits her suddenly, as she takes in the looks on the faces of her family, what it is that she just said. Her face takes on a pinched quality. His dad’s face is tight with anger in a way Katsuki hasn’t seen before. Sure, he’s been angry, but for once he is the one glaring, his eyes not leaving her face. Neither of his parents are even looking at him. His breathing has quickened, he keeps it as quiet as possible, afraid they would hear it, that the screaming would turn on him. It should, he realizes. They should be yelling at him. It’s his fault that his parents are arguing in the first place. He should have kept his stupid dumb thoughts to himself. After a few minutes of silent tension, Katsuki pushes back his chair.
“I think I’m just going to go work on some of my schoolwork, if that’s ok?” He says hesitantly, too scared he might tip off another screaming match with him in the eye of the storm, to make his usual demands.
“You don’t need to ask permission, Katsuki.” His dad states gently, dismissing him. He nods his head before quickly leaving. The door to Katsuki’s room closes not too long after and he couldn’t help but curse his own caution as the door slammed shut. Meticulously for years Katuski had done everything he could to hang onto as much of his hearing as possible, despite the years of explosives going off right by his ears. It certainly paid off, for he can still hear the argument continue like it was never disrupted from the kitchen. He slides to the ground, back against his own door. He rests his head against the heavy wood and wishes he had been strong enough, smart enough, and good enough to prevent this fight from happening.
“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU THINK I WOULD RAISE HIM TO TAKE THAT KIND OF ABUSE LIKE SOME SLOBBERING KICKED DOG!”
“Oh, so now you think I’m some kind of kicked dog that is only alive due to your mercy, but face it, Mitsuki! The only reason you ever amounted to anything is thanks to me!" She guffaws loudly, unbelieving, but he pushes on. “You're so old and sagged! The only reason you have any career at all anymore is because I’m head of the company and I haven’t let them fire you yet!
“LET THEM FIRE ME! HAH! You’re BLIND, you old FOOL! I’m still dodging offers left and right from other companies that would love to let me model for their company! That would pay more money than you’ve ever seen to get ONE SHOT of ME in THEIR CLOTHES!” his dad bursts into cruel laughter Katsuki didn’t know he was capable of.
“Maybe twenty years ago! Besides, once they get one moment with your SHIT AWFUL PERSONALITY, they’ll want nothing to do with YOU! Just like our son!”
“Don’t be ridiculous! The only reason MY SON has ever become anything is due to ME!”
“OH YES! All your ferocity and demanding more of him than any child should ever have to prove!”
“I was making him into something while you wasted your time and would have been fine wasting his life to BECOME SOME WORTHLESS PUDDLE OF INADEQUACY!”
“I have only ever TRIED TO SHOW HIM HOW TO BE KIND AND ACCEPTING! I'VE ONLY EVER TRIED TO LOVE HIM! WHILE YOU TEAR HIM DOWN TO FORGET YOUR OWN INADEQUACIES!” Katsuki’s hands move on their own accord without checking with his brain. He fires off explosions right next to his ears. The loud ringing is only echoed by the imagined voice of his dad saying how he tried to love him. Without permission, his body starts repacking his bags. At the back of his subconscious, he must have decided that he wasn’t going to reorient himself in the mess. He’s not sure. The next thing he can really remember is waiting on the corner of his street, bags packed and waiting for Aizawa-Sensei to come pick him up and take him back to the dorms.
Aizawa’s P.O.V.
He hadn’t been sure if offering Bakugo-kun to go to his parents house would be the right choice. Typically speaking, that is the protocol for this situation (or at least it had been during field trips and the two cases they had had last year after installing the dorm system at U.A.). However, it didn’t quite sit right with him after the few conversations he had had with the Bakugo parents, specifically his mother. The woman has a sharp vile tongue that she doesn’t mind wielding at whomever she was upset with, her son not excluded. No matter how sugary her words were to whomever she was trying to butter up, the poison she spits is dangerous. However, he knows how bad it can be for the psyche to be stuck in a place you’ve experienced abuse. Shouta wonders if he sent the kid from one place drenched with memories of abuse to another. Unfortunately, there just wasn’t enough evidence to do an investigation (what with him mostly living at the dorms) and there wouldn’t be a period of time long enough with all three of them living together to truly evaluate the family dynamic. Even this week Shouta’s giving them together would not be a good observation period as they were all thrown by the situation Bakugo-kun had found himself in. No judge or CPS officer would take an evaluation at this time seriously. He had been hoping that coming into the house with Katsuki would give him a better idea of the house he was leaving his student in, but the whole family had been suspicious of every kindness he tried to show. With no other choice, he left the kid in that house and dared to hope for the best. Nevertheless, each time he closes his eyes, even just to blink, the image of that woman’s fist in his student's hair haunts him. He’s not entirely aware of the path he took back to the dorms but that wasn’t unusual for him. He makes his way back to his room, ignoring Hizashi’s attempts to make conversation. Shouta decided to grade some school work to distract himself. He would text the kid around eight pm to make sure everything was going ok. He was surprised, however, to receive a text message from Bakugo-kun without Shouta himself texting first. He leans against the back of his chair stretching his arms over his head and cracking his back before picking up the phone.
Bakugo Katsuki: Come get me.
Shouta doesn’t hesitate. He springs from the chair like it was on fire and sprints for his car, cursing himself the whole way. He doesn’t bother warning Hizashi that he was leaving. He was still over from earlier, playing with Eri in the other room. Besides, he’s smart. He’ll put two and two together. Shouta buckled his seat belt as he was reversing out of the parking lot. As he hits the first wall of traffic on his way to pick up his kid, he hits the steering wheel.
“FUCK!” he yells, whether it was at himself, the traffic, or the situation as a whole he was cursing, he wasn’t sure, but it had felt good. “Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!” he yells again, slamming his hands against the wheel with each exclamation. He sighs and rests his forehead against the wheel, knowing he wasn’t helping anyone with the way he was acting. His phone rings with the song Hizashi had picked for whenever he called. He taps the answer button on his phone and slides it to the right.
“I’m picking up the Problem Child of the week.” He drones, not even letting Hizashi say something.
“Alright, I’ll keep an eye and ear out for your other rugrats. Don’t worry about notifying Tenya, I can tell him. Text me when you get Bakugo-kun, alright?” Shouta sighs. He had forgotten to let Tenya know he was leaving.
“Yeah, alright.” Shouta responds with no inflection. “Thanks.” He adds like it was an afterthought, needing the distance but knowing Hizashi would know how he really means it.
“Course, Sho. I’ll see you when you get home.” The call drops and Shouta antagonizes himself thinking of all the terrible things that could have possibly happened to get this particular Problem Child to ‘ask’ for help. He had been wondering since the kid’s first year if anything could cause the kid to do so. Knowing himself, he probably jinxed it. He crawls forward in the traffic wishing he had just swung his way to pick up the kid and came back for his stuff later. Not that he would have technically been allowed to do so. It still would have helped his anxiety a lot. Each minute that passes feels like hours, but he’s finally only two turns away from the Bakugo residence once more. Everything in him wants to speed these last few feet and get the kid in his car ten minutes ago, but the last thing he needs is to be stopped by a police officer, or worse, a colleague. The last of the sunlight was fading away as he turned a corner. In front of him, at the corner of the next street stood a figure close to his student’s house, a few lumps near him on the ground that could be bags. God damn it, please tell him his kid hadn't been waiting outside his house this whole time. The world just loves to fuck with him because as he pulls in closer, the distinct figure of Katsuki couldn’t be more clear, He parks and flings himself out of his car, The kid hardly reacted to his arrival.
“Kid-” He starts, but cuts himself off. Something is wrong. The same feeling he had the day Katsuki almost died in his class struck him in the chest. The kid dully grabs his bag, twisting to grab the last one and allowing Shouta to see blood sluggishly trickling down the side of his face, originating from his ear. Shouta blinks and he’s got the kid’s head in his hands. He gently turns his head left and right, getting a good look at both ears. They were both bleeding. “Can you hear me?” He asks, The kid blinks but shows no indication that he’d said anything. He checks Katsuki’s heart rate. It was normal enough. The kid wasn’t having a panic attack, and it wasn’t heart shatteringly slow either. In fact, it was about where it should be for him according to Recovery Girl. They had discussed it in great lengths after the quirk incident. He tries snapping his fingers next to either ear but there was no reaction. “Fuck.” He mutters gently, leaning his head back and looking up at the sky, Shouta looks back at the kid and waits for eye contact. It happens almost instantly, which is good. He points to his car and his kid robotically starts moving to the car. Shouta grabs the bags from Katsuki, who lets him without putting up any kind of fight. What the fuck happened? He gets the bags in the trunk and then makes his way to the driver seat, Katsuki already buckled in the passenger side. Shouta gets in the car and grabs a napkin so he can gently clean off some of the blood from the kid's face. The kid still doesn't react, just sitting stiffly and letting Shouta do what he wants. When most of the blood is off, Shouta starts driving them back to U.A. He knows the kid can damage his own ears with his explosions, but that he’s usually much more cautious with his quirk. It almost looks like a direct hit on both sides and he knows the kid’s parents don’t have quirks that can do anything like this. He’d have to swing by Recovery Girl’s office to get them looked at. Normally, he’d worry about Bakugo-kun putting up a fight about going to the nurse’s office, but he doubted he would have a problem with that this time; which is concerning. He’ll also set up a meeting between Power Loader and the kid to make sure he doesn’t damage his ears further, or at least minimize the damage as much as they can. At the next stop light, Shouta remembers he was supposed to text Hizashi. He grabs his phone and sends him a quick text
:Got the kid, he’s in shock and his ears are bleeding. Looks like it might have been self inflicted, won’t know more till I take him to RG for a once over.
Yamada Hizashi: Shit Sho