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Chapter Text

Kendou hummed as she helped Yaoyorozu, Jirou, Komori, Satou, and Shouji around the kitchen, prepping lunch for both classes.

Class 1A and 1B had started to spend more time together after their joint training recently. That day had shown them all they were all just teenagers and classmates. It was stupid to have such a serious class rivalry with each other, so now every two weeks both classes get together on every other Saturday to spend the day together.

This week they happened to be in the 1A dorms.

Kendou had come to find newfound respect and closeness with several members of 1A. First was Kirishima. He was such a a brave and kind boy, and her best friend TetsuTestsu happened to be dating Kirishima. TetsuTetsu went on and on about how "manly" and great Kirishima was and she soon found that out for herself.

Next came Yaoyorozu. Kendou had found the taller girl crying in the bathroom one day. She asked Yaoyorozu what was wrong and the other girl broke down even further. Saying she had feelings for a classmate, but said classmate was a girl and she had been taught girls weren't supposed to like other girls, that it made her gross.

Kendou ended up taking the other girl's hands in her own and held her as she cried. Kendou shared with her a secret that only TetsuTetsu and Komori knew. She was bi. She liked boys and girls. She explained with a blushing face how pretty girls were and how sweet they were. How pretty they smelled.

Yaoyorozu ended up giggling through tears, and eventually the tears finally stopped all together.

Kendou helped her clean up and fix her makeup and told her it would take time for the self hatred to go away, but it would lessen the more she worked on herself and believed that she deserved to be happy. She then remembered telling the taller girl to go find Jirou because Kendou had seen how much the punk rock girl made Yaoyorozu happy.

The blush on Yaoyorozu's face was the tell tale sign she was right on the money with her assumptions.

Over time, Kendou would have at least some kind of small interaction with every member of class 1A, all except one.

Katsuki Bakugou was the outlier. She wasn't surprised with this with everything she heard and seen. He seemed as antisocial as one could be, going out of his way to avoid everyone. Screaming, snarling, and popping small explosions to get people to leave him alone.

The atrocity that was the sports festival ceremony and the Kamino Ward incident didn't help how people viewed him. Especially when people found out he was targeted because major villains thought he would join them.

People had gone from rolling their eyes at him and ignoring him, to outwardly calling him a villain and the reason for All Might's retirement. Kendou wasn't dumb, she could see these comments hurt Bakugou to his core, no matter how hard he tried to hide it.

Just recently she had witnessed someone purposely dump a drink on his head, call him a villain, and then trip over themselves to run before Bakugou could even react.

The thing that had surprised her at the time was he didn't explode. He silently grabbed his bag and walked out of the door of the cafeteria, quickly followed by a concerned looking Kirishima and his other friends.

Bakugou was a polarizing figure even in his own class. Kendou heard the stories and rumors. She heard the awful things he had supposedly said and done to Midoriya in their younger years. She heard how he screamed and told everyone to "fuck off and die." She heard it all from his own classmates. They called him a beast, a delinquent, a monster, a villain.

It made her wary of him, but she needed to see things with her own eyes before she casted too much judgment.

The thing was, she never heard Bakugou dispute these claims. She wondered if he thought those things about himself?

On the other side though, She had witnessed with her own eyes as Bakugou gave up the glory he chased after to let himself get captured to save a teammate and propel their team to victory at joint training. She witnessed in recent weeks that he always made lunch for his core group of friends. Kirishima, Ashido, Kaminari, Sero, Jirou, and Shinsou. Sometimes even Yaoyorozu when she ended up sitting with Jirou.

She watched as Shinsou stood up to others when they called Bakugou a villain. Whether it be for his quirk or his past. She watched as Kirishima always made sure Bakugou left with at least a few protein bars before he went to work out.

Even some of the quieter students in his class had opinions on him. Kouda told a story of how his pet bunny had escaped from his room and went right for Bakugou. He had said Bakugou held his hands high in the air away from the animal. He would come to find out that Bakugou never let himself touch animals because he was afraid his toxic sweat would kill them because they couldn't just wash it off like people could.

Shouji told her that Bakugou was nice to sit and read with, and the blonde was actually pretty reserved and quiet when left to his own devices. It was usually when he was provoked that he responded with anger instead of just ignoring someone.

It seemed people labeled him a beast with a temper, but had no problems pushing his buttons even when he was sticking to himself. She had seen it with Uraraka trying to pick fights with him, with Todoroki calling him abusive, with Midoriya following and pestering him even after he had been told no.

Did she think Bakugou was perfect? Not in the slightest. He was rude and disrespectful and had a temper, but she also believed that he was not nearly as bad as people made him out to be. She believed there was good in him. She believed that he would go on to be an incredible hero.

As she was thinking about him, he seemed to appear from the steps and walk through holding his gym bag.

It had only been about two months since joint training, but he looked thinner than she remembered. He was also exhausted if the bags under his eyes were anything to go by.

His friends came running from the common room and were on him in a second. Kendou almost got whiplash.

Bakugou sighed and pointed to her and the rest of them making lunch. "Lunch will be on them today. I'm headed to the gym. Alone."

He even sounded exhausted, but at the same time, he seemed to be radiating with tension. He looked like he was about to explode. His friends seemed to understand because they all smiled at him and told him to be careful and take care of himself and not to be out pushing himself too hard. She could see just a smidge of the tension leave his body.

Yaoyorozu was then calling to him from the kitchen. "Katsuki, are you sure you don't want to eat some lunch before you go? I haven't seen you eat today."

The tension was back but he turned to look at her instead of ignoring her. "I'm good Mo. I'll eat dinner later." Yaoyorozu frowned and looked like she wanted to argue, but in the end she must have decided against it.

That's when she watched Kirishima grab a couple protein bars and an extra bottle of water and handed it all to him. They spoke in hushed tones but she could still make out a majority of what was said. Kirishima asked him to at least take the snacks with him, and after a brief argument, Bakugou relented and Kirishima squeezed his shoulder.

Kendou was curious about the extreme concern in Kirishima's eyes.

Bakugou then made his way through the common room, but someone else called out to him and Kendou knew it would end in a fight. "Kacchan! Where are you going? You going to train? Do you need help?"

She waited for the explosion, but none came. Bakugou just kept walking, until Midoriya called out to him again and this time grabbed his shoulder. "Kacchan? You want me to come with you?"

Bakugou whipped around and growled, throwing Midoriya's arm off him. "Leave me the fuck alone Deku! Fucking go stalk someone else!"

She watched him storm out the door as Uraraka yelled taunts at him as Iida checked on Midoriya.

She thought of Shouji's words. That Bakugou was usually quiet unless provoked. He tried to leave quietly, but Midoriya hadn't let him, yet most people from both classes either murmured their disdain for Bakugou or were trying to console Midoriya. That didn't seem fair to her.

She had nothing against Midoriya. He was amazing and kind, but he just seemed too invested in Bakugou when it was clear Bakugou wanted him to leave him alone.

Hours later, Kendou came to realize that Bakugou hadn't come back yet. It was after dinner and a majority of the two classes were playing different games in the common room. She looked at the counter where a lone container meant for Bakugou still sat. He left around eleven that morning and it was going on close to half past six. Over seven hours of training? How was Bakugou even alive?

She looked over at Jirou who was sitting next to her. "Does Bakugou train like this every Saturday?"

Jirou looked pensive before nodding. "Not usually for this long, but for the most part, yeah. Every Saturday and Sunday when his parents don't demand he go home for the weekend."

Kendou was taken aback from the bitterness in her tone. "Do you not like his parents?"

Jirou wouldn't look at her. "Just don't like their vibes."

Well that was cryptic and she didn't like the feeling that settled in her stomach.

Kirishima finally stood up from his seat across the room. He announced, mainly to his friends that he was going to get Bakugou. Kendou didn't know what possessed her in that moment, but the next thing she knew, she was standing too. "Can I come with you?"

It was silent throughout the room. Kirishima looked like he wanted to argue, but he must have been able to tell it wouldn't work because he eventually sighed and nodded.

He made his way out of the door without a word so she grabbed her jacket and jogged after him.

They walked in silence for a while until the path for the gym came up, but they kept going straight. "I thought we were going to get Bakugou?"

Kirishima shook his head. "Kat won't be there."

They walked in silence for a while more. They were on the path to Ground Beta. Kirishima looked over at her, examining her. "What's your game?" His voice came out cold and calculated, and it honestly took he by surprise.

She took a few moments to collect her bearings. "What do you mean?"

He huffed, "Why are you pretending to care about Bakugou all of a sudden? He doesn't like fake people and I don't like people trying to mess with him." He mumbled under his breath but she heard him. "He has it hard enough already."

She pondered his question for a minute. She couldn't blame him for being suspicious. "I'm not pretending to care about Bakugou. I care about all of our friends and classmates. Plus I think Bakugou has been given a bad image. Some of it is his attitude, but the disaster of the sports festival ceremony and Kamino gave him an image he doesn't deserve."

Kirishima hummed as they stepped into Ground Beta. Kendou's jaw dropped. Ground Beta was a massive arena made up of all kinds of simulated areas. City scapes, rivers, deserts, and so much more, and it all had been absolutely destroyed. Buildings burned and city block by city blocks had been turned into actual craters. It looked like an absolute war zone. Bakugou had done this on his own? This was the power Bakugou held at his fingertips?

With all the damage, it was eerily quiet and it set Kendou on edge.

The next thing she knew, Kirishima was running down the steps. "Shit. I knew I should have come earlier. I shouldn't have waited this long. Fuck!"

She took off after him as he picked up speed when the hit flat ground. He called out. "Kat? You safe, man? Kat!?"

The went through street after street. Zone after zone but they couldn't find him. Kendou looked over at a very concerned Kirishima. "Are you sure he's not somewhere else?"

Kirishima shook his head. "He's here. He would have told me if he left.” He called out again, “Kat!?” Kirishima looked panicked, “He pushes himself to the brink of exhaustion. I knew I should have left earlier. I've never waited this long but I could tell he needed space. I'm so fucking stupid!"

Kendou turned to him. "Kirishima! You are not his caregiver. You're not his parents. It's not up to you to take care of him. I'm sure he's fine."

Kirishima sneered and snapped at her. "Yeah, well he deserves to have someone care about him." He turned away from her but she heard him sigh, "Sorry for snapping at you. It's just...complicated."

He turned to her with tears in his eyes. "Nobody has any idea how much he hurts inside. I'm not saying he's perfect, he's nowhere near perfect and he'll straight up tell people that, just nobody understands, nobody..."

He trailed off and looked over her shoulder. She looked behind her and almost felt herself get sick. Bakugou was walking towards them, well walking wasn't a great description. He was shuffling and stumbling. His clothes were basically destroyed, they were rags just barely hanging together. His hands up to his elbows were caked in blood. She guessed from dangerous levels of quirk over usage. He was pale, scarily pale. He was absolutely covered in cuts, bruises, and dried blood. Several of his fingers looked severely broken. He looked like a stumbling and bloody corpse.

Bakugou had the audacity to try to give what Kendou thinks is a smirk. "Why ya yelling for shark face? I'm fine."

He looked like death. He was definitely NOT fine.

He tripped and before Kendou could even move, Kirishima was already there, catching him. "Damnit Tsuki. You went way too far. Look at your hands, they're destroyed. We have to get you to Recovery Girl. You can't keep doing this dude, you're going to kill yourself."

Bakugou snorted, "And? Who the fuck is going to miss me? I'd be doing everyone a favor."

That struck Kendou to her core. Did..Did Bakugou really think that way about himself?

She heard Kirishima sniffle and Bakugou's voice went soft and gentle, even though his words were slow and slurred. "Shit. Don't cry Ei. I know you and the other fuckers would miss me. Don't fuckin understand why, but I know anyway. I ain't going anywhere."

That's when Bakugou must have noticed her. "The fuck you doing.."

Before he could finish his sentence, Bakugou promptly passed out and she ran over to help Kirishima. When she got over to Bakugou. She felt like crying. From where his clothes were torn and burnt, she could see skin. Scarred skin that looked like it had endured years and years of cuts and burns. By the grouping and where they were placed, a lot looked self inflicted.

Kendou couldn't hold her tears back anymore as she helped Kirishima carry Bakugou to get him some help.

Chapter Text

Katsuki woke up with a splitting fucking headache. Fuck, his head was absolutely killing him. He opened his eyes but the bright overhead lights had him immediately shutting them again.

Okay, so he definitely wasn't in his room. Where the fuck else would he be other than the dorms?

Fuck. Now he remembered. He went overboard with his training, okay, maybe the words overboard and training were an understatement. He razed Ground Beta to the ground. He let himself scream and yell and let all of his stupid emotions out. He pushed himself and pushed himself because it felt good letting go.

He didn't have to deal with anything at the time. It was just him and his quirk. He didn't have to worry about all the pressure. He didn't have to worry about perfection. He could just let go and detonate.

Being a walking time bomb, he had to explode at some point right?

He didn't have to worry about his shitty parents and his past, or how he could never seem to scrub himself of Deku's gaze. He didn't have to worry about how almost everyone in school hated him. He didn't have to think about how civilians and heroes alike called him a "beast, monster, or villain." He didn't have to think about that shitty ceremony or hands grabbing him that haunted his nightmares. He didn't have to think about his body and how much he hated it for so many reasons.

Katsuki just shut off his brain and did the one thing he was good at, he exploded. Hours and hours of explosions and screaming. He knew by the third hour his voice was going to be fucked for a while, which was fine, he wouldn't have to hear himself talk for a while, and he knew his arms were absolutely obliterated but he just pushed on. He wanted to hurt. He wanted to hurt on his terms, nobody else's.

He pushed on until he heard Eijirou's panicked voice calling out to him. Eijirou had seen him at his weakest before. Dangling his legs off the roof of Heights Alliance, debating on whether he should just jump or not. Eijirou knew almost all of his secrets. How his parents treated him, how he treated himself, his past and how he felt about Deku, and his issues with self harm and not eating. His other friends had their guesses, but Eijirou was the only one who knew everything as fact.

He hadn't expected the orange haired girl from 1B to be there too. Her face was the last thing he remembered before passing out.

Katsuki squeezed his fists tightly. Weakness. He was weak, letting someone other than the select few he chose see him like that.

A bigger part of him didn't care though because he was fucking tired. Just overall exhausted. He was only sixteen, turning seventeen soon, but he felt like he was fifty.

A gruff voice was pulling him out of his thoughts, forcing him to open his eyes to find his homeroom teacher sitting in a chair next to him. Katsuki looked at Aizawa's tired but concerned face. "You fully lucid kid?"

Katsuki nodded and his teacher continued. "We've got a lot to talk about Bakugou."

Katsuki hummed and tried not to flinch at his own fucking name, he was pretty sure he was unsuccessful. He knew a talk would happen, didn't mean he had to like it. If Aizawa called his parents and they were home, he knew he'd be getting his ass beat in the coming days. Aizawa continued, "Let's ease into it. How are you feeling?"

Katsuki shrugged. "Fine." He cringed at his voice. It was rough, which sucked but it was not nearly as fucked as he thought it would be, which going by being able to move his fingers, Recovery Girl probably healed him. That's when he noticed he was in a robe and the panic set in. That meant they had seen his scars, how thin he truly was.

Aizawa must have seen him starting to panic as he grabbed the robe. "Bakugou, it's okay. You're not in trouble. We just.. we just got to talk about some things. The scars on your thighs, they're self inflicted aren't they? The ones on your back though, how did you get those?"

The ones on his thighs were self explanatory. They were too concise and spaced to be anything but self-inflicted. The ones on his back though, he didn't do those. The buckle end of a belt swinging through the air entered his mind but he quickly shut it down.

He realized his hands were shaking as he tried to answer. "The scars on my back are just..just from being dumb as a kid. The ones on my thighs are self inflicted, but I don't do it anymore. I don't hurt myself anymore." That was an absolute lie. He may not cut anymore but he sure and the hell hurt himself on a daily basis.

Aizawa must have sensed it too. "You still do hurt yourself Bakugou. You may not be cutting or burning yourself, but you're driving yourself over the edge. You're not eating and you're pushing yourself too far. Your hands were literally destroyed. Most of your fingers were broken and the skin was literally peeling off your fingers and palms. Your hands and arms are going to be scarred for the rest of your life."

Katsuki looked at his hands, they weren't exactly pretty. Jagged scars covering most of his palms and the back of his hands. "It's whatever."

Aizawa sighed and raised his own shirt. Showing off a stomach and chest covered in scars before lowering his shirt again. "I also know the scars of endless beatings, kid. I know that pain."

He didn't fully know though. He was probably an innocent child who was abused. Katsuki was..well Katsuki was bad. He wasn't good. "I deserve everything that comes my way." He spoke through gritted teeth and clenched hands. "I'm bad. I'm not good. I'm a monster. I..I deserve it. I pushed it too far this time, I got sloppy. Won't happen again."

Aizawa just stared at him. It was a look that Katsuki honestly couldn't decipher. Finally his teacher just sighed, "Katsuki, things are going to be looked into. We as your teachers care about your well being, I care about your well being and safety. A student has come forward and they are very scared about the direction you're heading in."

Katsuki was about to scoff at the teachers caring about him comment when he registered the rest of what Aizawa said. He clenched his fists so hard he was probably going to re-break his fingers. Eijirou was the only one that knew everything. Eijirou was the only one who could tell the actual facts. "Goddammit Eijirou."

Aizawa ran a hand through his hair, his teacher looked tired, but that was nothing new. Right now he just looked as exhausted as Katsuki felt. "Do not blame him Bakugou." Again he tried not to flinch. "He didn't give a lot of details. He just told us that he's concerned about your home life and how you treat yourself. He's scared that you're going to hurt yourself to the point you can't get back up or you're just going to collapse and not move again. He's terrified that he's going to find you dead one of the days. He's absolutely terrified. With Kendou's help, Kirishima carried your body from Ground Beta to here, and he's the only reason I didn't call your parents to tell them what was going on. He told me it wouldn't matter, that they probably weren't home and if they were it would just make things harder on you. It was my call not to contact them."

Aizawa's tone wasn't harsh, but it was direct and it pulled all the fight out of Katsuki. Fuck, how could he be mad at Eijirou? Eijirou just cared about him and Katsuki just kept piling it on and piling it on. He trusted Eijirou with his life and would give his life for Eijirou's, they told each other basically everything and Eijirou had become his support system, so how he had been too fucking blind to see how the red head would carry all this on his own shoulders?

He was such an asshole. He hates himself so much, doesn't care about himself, and doesn't even care for how others feel either. He's a fucking asshole and nothing but a useless burden.

Aizawa's voice turned softer, cutting off Katsuki's spiral, "Do not feel guilty, kid. I can see the thoughts forming in your head. He's your friend. He cares about you and just wants the best for you. You're not his burden, you're his friend."

Katsuki looked up at his teacher. "How'd you know.."

His teacher tapped his own chest. "We're more alike than you think. Which is why I'm pissed off at myself for not seeing the signs earlier. I'm sorry I wasn't there, kid. I'm sorry for not giving you a single adult you thought you could trust, and after the Sports Festival ceremony and how Kamino was handled, I don't blame you."

Katsuki started to growl, "That shit was my fau.."

Aizawa cut him off. "It wasn't your fault. None of it was. I should have told you this months ago. I should have noticed you struggling."

Katsuki snorted, "I'm pretty good at hiding shit."

Aizawa huffed, "Well you shouldn't have to be. We're going to have to work on some healthy coping mechanisms and thought processes, but that will come in time. First thing is, I need you to actually talk to me. Katsuki, you matter and you deserve to know that."

He took notice of the use of his given name. It was better than being called Bakugou, but not by much, but that was a conversation for another time. His first instinct was to lash out, to be hateful. To scream that he deserved nothing, but he held his tongue. He was just too tired to argue right now. His teacher would get fed up with him eventually. Everyone always did. Eijirou didn't count.. he was too dense. The other idiots didn't count either. They were just as dense as Eijirou.

Katsuki just swallowed the lump in his throat that had slowly been forming. "We can talk..just not today. I..just fucking can't." He hated admitting that he couldn't do something, but it was honest and he just couldn't deal with everything right now.

Aizawa nodded, "We'll talk soon then, when you're ready. In the meantime I'm putting you on leave for physical training, for at least a couple weeks. Plus any training from then on out that isn't in class will need to be supervised, at least for the time being."

It was horseshit, he didn't need to be watched like a kid, but he also figured it was coming after his little stunt. He pouted but he nodded.

Aizawa nodded in return. "Baku.. Katsuki, please come see me anytime. Please."

Katsuki couldn't look his teacher in the eyes, but he nodded nonetheless. "I will think about it."

He wouldn't.

Maybe if he sunk a little deeper, but not right now.

Right now he just wanted to sleep, and maybe if he was lucky, he wouldn't wake back up.

He just wanted to fucking sleep, but he was never a lucky person, because someone knocking on the door and calling out to him, calling him a stupid nickname that he hated, had his eyes shooting open and all of the venom he could muster flying out of his mouth. "Fucking leave me alone shitty Deku!"

Deku pouted and Katsuki wanted to smack it off his face. "Kacchan, I'm worried about you. I wanted to check on you. Kirishima wouldn't give me any details, just said you were hurt and were being taken care of."

Gods, he loved Eijirou. The red head knew better to let anything slip to anyone, but especially to Deku. "I don't want you here. Leave me the fuck alone! Go away!"

For the first time, he noticed his heart rate was being monitored, and it was starting to increase at a rapid rate. Aizawa gave the monitor a look and then looked at him until finally turning to Deku. "Midoriya, Katsuki is fine. Just an accident. Go back to the dorms. You have classes in the morning."

Thank fuck. Katsuki just wanted the little stalker out of the room. He didn't want to deal with the analytical stare he had been dealing with since he was five right now. Deku continued to pout, "Sensei, it's been two days. I just want to talk to him for a minute."

Shit, it had been two days. He royally fucked himself up this time. Damnit, that meant he missed at least two days of class. Weak idiot.

Aizawa's voice grew a little more stern, "Midoriya. You can talk to Katsuki here soon when he feels like it. Go back to the dorms."

Deku looked like he wanted to argue but he nodded. "Okay Sensei. I'll talk to you later Kacchan. Okay?"

Katsuki blatantly ignored him until he left. As soon as the door closed, he let out a breath and his heart rate started to decline.

Aizawa looked over at him. "He's gone Katsuki, you can relax."

Katsuki just grumbled. "I'm fine." He then sighed, "How many times has he tried to see me over the last two days?"

His teacher looked off into the corner for a minute. "Fifteen times that I'm aware of and have been told about."

He gave his teacher a look that he hoped didn't come off as nervous as he felt. "He wasn't actually allowed in when I was out was he?"

Aizawa stared at him for a long moment, probably trying to read what he's desperately trying to convey underneath the surface because he sure and the fuck can't talk about that whole situation right now. "No, he was not allowed. Either myself, Recovery Girl, or Mic were with you the entire time. Several others stopped by too, Kaminari, Sero, Ashido, Jirou, Hitoshi, Yaoyorozu, and Kendou. The only other person allowed in though was Kirishima just to drop some things off for you." He nodded towards his backpack on the floor. "You wouldn't have been out for long after being healed, but you were extremely dehydrated and malnourished, plus Kirishima told me you really haven't been sleeping well."

On one hand, he was relieved to know Deku wasn't allowed to see him while he was unconscious, but on the other hand, now he was speechless on what to say about his health he was purposely and not purposely running into the ground.

He opened and closed his mouth several times, but he kept coming up empty. Aizawa finally held a hand up, "We'll talk soon, about a lot of things. For now, just get some more rest, kid."

Katsuki figured there would be no way he'd be falling right back asleep, no matter how exhausted he felt because he had so much shit to catch up on, but as soon as Aizawa was settling back into his chair and Katsuki leaned his head back, he was out once again.

Chapter Text

Kendou tried checking on Bakugou the first day after he had been taken to Recovery Girl, but when she showed up, she learned Bakugou was still unconscious.

She walked into Recovery Girl's office and she was greeted by the short woman, "Kendou, dear, do you need something?"

Kendou shook her head. "I was coming to check on Bakugou. He wasn't in class today, so I wanted to see if he was feeling okay."

Recovery Girl frowned and her eyes traveled over to a particular part of the room that was closed off by a curtain. Kendou followed her eyes to where she was looking. Recovery Girl sighed, "Bakugou's still unconscious, dear. He pushed himself too far this time, but don't worry, he should be up and moving here soon."

Kendou felt like that was more of a loaded sentence than she was being told. She felt like there were things going on that she didn't have the answers to and she did not like not having answers. She couldn't do much about it now though. She smiled at Recovery Girl, "I'll stop by tomorrow or the next day to see if he's up. Thank you."

She made her way out of the office and as she walked towards her dorm building, she saw Kirishima. She waved at him and he nodded towards her. He looked like he was heading towards Recovery Girl's office so she thought she'd tell him what she learned. "If you're heading towards the infirmary, Bakugou's not up yet. I was just there."

Kirishima shrugged, "I still want to go check on him. Best friend code. Kat once broke down a door at the hospital when they told him he couldn't see me. It was after a massive raid of a villain hideout months ago. I was really messed up and when Katsuki found out, he found the hospital I was at and didn't leave until I woke up and he made sure I was okay."

She looked at Kirishima, his hair was down and it was the first time she had seen it like that. He honestly looked tired. "You and Bakugou are really close, huh?"

Kirishima grinned at her. "Kat's my best friend. He's family. I trust him with my life and he's the one who's pushed me to be the hero I am today."

Kendou smiled, Kirishima had an infectious smile. "He inspired you to be a hero?"

Kirishima shook his head. "Not originally. That was my friend Mina Ashido and my personal favorite pro hero Crimson Riot, but Kat pushed me to heights I never thought I would be at. He's the sole reason I didn't give up in my last serious run in with villains. His words push me to be better every single day."

She frowned slightly. "The way you and your friends talk about him compared to everyone else, it's like night and day. It's refreshing to hear people talk about him in a positive light."

The smile on his face became strained, "People just don't know the real Kat. They don't want to take the time to see him for who he is now. They just go off labels and rumors." He sighed, "Kat has a past. He has a lot of things he doesn't like talking about. He's prickly when he doesn't want to be bothered, but all these things people say about him are wrong and will always be wrong. He's not a monster, he's definitely not a villain. People just don't want to get to know him. He doesn't give people effort unless they've earned it and not everyone wants to earn it."

Kendou looked at Kirishima, weighing the words she wanted to say. She knew what she was going to say would need to be shown, not just said and she was up to the challenge. "I want to earn it."

Kirishima smiled at her again, "You already are."

Kendou waited two more days before she was going to go see Bakugou again, but he showed up to school that morning. She saw him walk in with Kirishima and his other friends. She was a good bit away, but even from there she could see his arms. They were heavily scarred now, but he at least looked well rested which was nice to see.

Kirishima must have seen her because he waved, Bakugou looked over at her as she waved back. He gave her a look that she honestly couldn't decipher.

That was their only interaction for that day, but the next day they had another interaction.

She was on her way back from the bathroom when she heard shouting down the hall. She rounded the corner and she found Bakugou screaming at Midoriya, but the thing was, Bakugou was the one backed into the corner. She could see he was tense and he had his fists clenched. "I told you to quit following me Deku!"

Midoriya waved his hands in a frantic manner, "I was just trying to make sure you made it to Recovery Girl's office! You shouldn't be walking around on your own right now, Kacchan."

As she got closer, Kendou could hear Bakugou growl. "I don't need your fucking help! I told you no. If I needed someone's fucking help, I would have asked Eijirou, you know, my actual fuckin friend."

Midoriya sighed, "I am your friend too, Kacchan."

Bakugou sparked off a tiny explosion. "Well I'm not yours! Leave me the fuck alone."

Midoriya took another step forward and she could see Bakugou grow even more tense. She had to do something. She stepped in between them and faced Bakugou. "I couldn't help but overhear, but Bakugou, I'm on my way to the infirmary as well. Would you want to walk with me?"

Bakugou gave her a long stare, and she could feel Midoriya staring into her back. Bakugou finally gave a stiff nod. "Let's go then, Tangerine."

Midoriya stammered, "W..Wait, I was going to take him to the infirmary."

Kendou turned and gave him a smile she hoped wasn't strained. "It's okay Midoriya, I'm heading that way. It'll be okay."

She turned to give Bakugou an actual smile. "Come on Bakugou."

He must have realized how much he looked like he was backed into a corner because he growled and pushed past them. "Whatever! Stay away from me Deku! Let's go Tangerine."

Bakugou didn't even give him a chance to argue, he was already gone down the hallway. Kendou had to jog to catch up with him. Once they finally turned the corner, he slowed his pace.

They walked in silence for a few moments before he stopped and looked at her. "You don't need to go to Recovery Girl, do you?"

She felt her face heat up slightly for being caught in her small lie. "No, I don't."

He bared his teeth. "You think I need your pity or something? You think I can't make it on my own?"

She sighed and shook her head, "That's not it Bakugou. I was coming back from the bathroom when I heard the two of you arguing. I heard you tell him no, I could see how uncomfortable you were and he wasn't listening. I've noticed it for a while now and it's not fair that people take his side and never listen to you."

Bakugou gave her a long look before turning and walking again. "Whatever, I brought the shit on myself. Karma or whatever bullshit."

Kendou sighed as she walked. "Bakugou, you don't deserve to be made uncomfortable because of your past."

He rolled his eyes. "Tch. You have no idea what you're talking about. You don't know me."

She shrugged her shoulders as she walked. "You're right on that, I don't really know you, not yet, but I will."

Bakugou raised his eyebrows, "Hah! Who in the hell decided that?"

She smiled at him, "I did. We're going to be friends." She spoke in a chipper and matter of fact tone.

He looked at her like she was crazy. "Whatever you say."

They walked the rest of the way to the infirmary where she waved to him and was about to walk off when she heard him start talking. "Thanks. I didn't need the help back there, but thanks. Hardly anyone listens to me when I say no."

The more she thought about that, the more she realized there was probably a lot more behind that statement than she fully understood right now. One example she knew for sure of was the sports festival. How many other times had his pleas to be heard gone on deaf ears? "You deserve to be heard when you say no. I will always try my best to listen and respect your boundaries."

Bakugou nodded at her before walking through the door. "Okay. Later, Tangerine.

Later that evening, she really just wanted to call Bakugou. There was just something scratching at the back of her head to call him. She had some members of class 1-A's phone numbers like Yaoyorozu, Jirou, and Ashido but it still felt a little weird to ask them because she still wasn't sure how deep their relationships went with Bakugou. She knew they were friends, but not how close of friends. She needed Kirishima's number.

She made her way to TetsuTetsu who was relaxing in the common room. "Tet? Can you do me a favor?"

He leaned his head back over the couch to look at her. "Sure ‘Suka. What's up?'

She leaned over the back of the couch, trying to keep their conversation out of other people's business. "I need Kirishima's number."

He raised an eyebrow, "I mean I can give it to you, he won't mind, why do you need it though?"

She gave him a small smile, she was pretty sure it was coming off as shy. "I want to talk to Bakugou, and Kirishima is the only one that'll give me his number that I know won't make Bakugou uncomfortable."

She was honestly trying to keep their conversation quiet. She knew most of her class were not big fans of Bakugou, but it seemed like others had heard them anyway. She should have just messaged Tet.

Awase turned to look at her. "Why do you want to talk to Bakugou? Why would you willingly talk to that asshole?"

She crossed her arms across her chest. "He's my friend." She then kind of shyly grinned at TetsuTetsu who smirked at her. "Well, he's going to be my friend anyway. I also just want to talk to him and see how his day went."

She heard Awase scoff. "Whatever, just don't go dating that asshole. He'd probably abuse you or something."

Monoma piped up from the corner of the room. "Awase, enough. You don't know what you're talking about."

Awase rolled his eyes. "You're just saying that because your boyfriend is friends with him. We've all heard the rumors about his past with Midoriya. The guy's an abusive bully."

Several of the members of the class that were down there murmured in agreement. Setsuna growled next to her. "We know nothing for a fact, plus even if Nitro has a past like that, it's obvious he's changed. All you have to do is spend more than five seconds with him. Plus we have no idea how he feels if those rumors are true. Being friends with him, I guarantee if those rumors are true, he hates himself for what he did. We have no idea how other people live.”

TetsuTetsu cleared his throat and grabbed his phone from the coffee table, "No more on the topic. We're not going to talk about Bakugou behind his back." He looked back to her, "I'll send you Eiji's number and let him know you're going to message him, 'Suka."

She smiled at him, "Thank you, Tet."

Kendou retreated to her room shortly after, sending Kirishima a message as she walked. "Hey, it's Kendou. Could you ask Bakugou if it's cool if you give me his number?"

After she sent it, she slipped her phone in her pocket and mulled over Awase's words. One she was still upset with how he talked about Bakugou. She didn't know him super well, but she knew he wasn't as bad as people said and she knew he was suffering. Her throat grew tight as she thought back to several days earlier when she helped Kirishima carry Bakugou to Recovery Girl's office.

- Several days prior

Kendou wiped at her eyes with one hand as she tried to support Bakugou's head. Kirishima was carrying him bridal style and her job was to support his head from rolling around too much. He was sticky and covered in blood and she guessed his sweat. Other than his shallow breaths, he looked like he was dead.

She couldn't get the images of Bakugou's legs and back out of her head when they had picked him up off the ground. Her lip trembled. "Kirishima, h..his legs and back..."

Kirishima looked over at her. His eyes were harsh but they melted into something softer. "Don't. Just please don't. He doesn't like people knowing about them. Don't say anything to anyone."

She wanted to cry all over again. "The rumors about his parents, are they true?"

She could see his posture grow stiff as he walked. "There's nothing there for me to talk about."

Kendou cried again silently as she walked. She had such loving parents that supported her and wanted her to be great, she couldn't imagine having parents that hurt her. There still wasn't any confirmation on Bakugou's parents, but things were not pointing in a good direction. She knew of the rumors about the Todoroki family and what Shinsou had said about his previous foster parents before Aizawa had adopted him, but to see something physical like Bakugou's back where he couldn't have hurt himself, where it had to have been done someone else, it was upsetting. It was all upsetting, but this time she couldn't look away. The proof was staring her straight in the face.

- Currently

Kendou wiped at her eyes as she walked into her dorm room. She had always been an easy crier when it came to others people's agony. She hated seeing others go through awful things.

She sat on her bed when she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She checked it and it was Kirishima. "I asked Kat and he says it's fine for you to have his number so I'll send it to you. He's had a rough day so keep that in mind, please. He may not answer until the morning, he's very strict about his schedules." The next message that came through was Bakugou's number. She replied with a thank you and assured she wouldn't upset Bakugou on purpose.

As she pulled up a new message to message Bakugou, she thought of the other thing Awase had said earlier. That she better not end up dating Bakugou. Did people think she liked Bakugou like that? She could kind of see where they're coming from with how she'd been asking about Bakugou and trying to be around him more, but she just wanted to be his friend. She wanted to show him they're are so many more people out there that think he's not what mean people say he is.

She bet that Bakugou would be a good significant other though. He definitely wouldn't be abusive. She just knows he wouldn't. She doesn't know him that well yet, but she just knows. She bets he'd be really sweet. A little gruff and snarky, but sweet.

After a little debating on what to say, she finally just sent a simple message. "Hey, it's Tangerine." She smiled to herself as she hit send, she liked the nickname he gave her. It was cute and she loved tangerines, even if he didn't mean it that way, which she had a feeling he really wasn’t being mean, she still found it cute. There were definitely worse things he could have called her.

Kendou went through her nightly routine. She liked to get everything done before settling down for about an hour or so to play on her phone before bed.

When she finally laid down, she hadn't gotten any messages from Bakugou, but Kirishima had said he may already be asleep so she'd wait to see if he messaged her tomorrow.

Kendou started putting her phone volume all the way up when she moved into the dorms and got her license, just in case something happened, and tonight she was glad she did.

She was shocked out of her sleep by her phone ringing. She quickly grabbed it to see that Bakugou was calling her at two in the morning. That immediately scared her. Had something happened? She quickly answered it. "Bakugou? Are you okay?"

For a few moments, she just heard extremely labored breathing. "Tangerine. Please just keep talking. Talk about anything." His voice sounded extremely strained.

What the hell was going on? The first thing she needed to know was that he was safe. "Bakugou, are you safe at least? Can you tell me that much?"

More labored breathing was the only thing she heard for a few moments before he spoke again. "S'fine. I'm in my room. Just...Just a bad nightmare. Just keep talking."

She could do that. She knew he was safe at least. For the next twenty minutes, she talked a little about everything. She talked about growing up being taught martial arts. She talked about her growing friendships with Kirishima. She talked about how she really liked the nickname he gave her.

He hadn't really said much as she talked but she knew he was listening and eventually his breathing had started to even out. When she brought up her nickname, he snorted. "You're not supposed to like the nicknames I give you." His voice sounded tired but not nearly as strained as it was just a little bit earlier.

She smiled as she talked. "Bakugou, we may not be friends yet but I've observed your class long enough to know how nicknames work with you. Kirishima is your best friend and you either call him 'Ei' or 'Sharky'. Then there's your other close friends. You call Ashido 'Pinky' and Jirou 'Rockstar' just to name a couple. Compare that to people you don't like. You call them extras, losers, hacks, and garbage eaters. I also happen to know that you've only given actual nicknames to four people in my class. Monoma, Tet, Setsuna, and me."

He chuckled quietly, but she heard him. "Aren't you just a smartass?"

She laughed gently with him. "I just pay attention, it's what friends do."

He hummed but didn't say anything. A silence came over their conversation but it wasn't exactly uncomfortable. Eventually she heard his breathing even completely out and she could hear light snores. She smiled again as she spoke softly, "Goodnight Bakugou."

She wanted to ask him if he wanted to talk about the nightmares or anything else, but that would be a conversation for another time. He was safe and he was asleep, and that was good enough for her right now.

She put her phone next to her pillow, the phone call still going just in case Bakugou needed anything and eventually his calm breathing lulled her to sleep.

Chapter Text

Four days. Katsuki felt moderately okay for about four days after his call with Kendou. She had been upgraded to Kendou from Tangerine in his head even though he was still gonna call her Tangerine. He was embarrassed about calling someone who didn't know about his nightmares, but he got over it. She was nice and she seemed to genuinely care and so far she had kept her mouth shut. She was okay in his book so far.

Four days passed and he was feeling marginally better than usual. People had stopped staring at his hands and asking questions and treating him like a baby. He hadn't had a nightmare since that night and he was feeling like he may possibly be able to open up to Aizawa somewhat soon.

Then literally everything came crashing down.

1A and 1B were hanging out again and since he couldn't train at all for a while longer, he couldn't do much but hide in his room. That could only go on so long though. He really needed to make lunch for his idiots and he probably needed to at least eat something. It had been a couple days and things had been going well. He deserved something.

He made his way downstairs where he was immediately joined by his group of usual friends minus one Momo.

Eijirou was his best friend. The red head was his life line. They were beyond friends. They were family. Eijirou knew all of his deepest and darkest secrets, all but one anyway.

Then there was Mina, the pink energetic bubble gum demon of his nightmares that had somehow wormed her way into his heart. She was like his little sister and he'd kill for her, but he'd never tell her that.

Denki was the friend that always kept him grounded. Kept him in reality and checked him when he was pushing things too far when Eijirou wasn't around.

Hanta was the one where Katsuki could just go to and exist with. They didn't have to utter a single word. Hanta would just let him exist when he needed another person around him but he was too stubborn to ask. Everyone thinks it was Mina or Denki that came up with the ridiculous name for their group, but Hanta was the one who has proudly dubbed them the "Boomsquad."

Kyouka joined the group a little later. Other than Eijirou, she was the first one to notice how much he hated going by Bakugou. They'd all been going by their first names and nicknames ever since.

With Kyouka joining, that brought Momo along. Momo was quickly dubbed the mom of the group and it all kind of made Katsuki uncomfortable. Not because of Momo personally, but of how much she seemed to genuinely care about his well being. It was motherly in a way he had never had before. If Eijirou wasn't around, it was always Momo asking if he ate or if he had gotten any sleep. Sometimes it made him cry but he would die before he ever admitted that.

The last and most recent to join was Hitoshi. Hitoshi and him had always gotten along, even before they really knew each other. It pissed Katsuki off when he caught people giving Hitoshi shit over his quirk. Especially when people called him a villain. Hitoshi seemed to feel the same way when people said the same things to him. Hitoshi was always on the front line, always threatening to break someone's nose for calling him a villain.

They'd been his core group ever since. They kept him functioning even when he wanted to give up and it absolutely drove him to the brink of madness thinking they'd not want to be around him anymore if he told them everything. If he told them everything, every little dirty detail like he had told Eijirou. It would destroy him if they left him.

Katsuki got busy pulling out what he needed to make them lunch. As he pulled out supplies with Eijirou's help and the others made conversation, he felt himself look into the common room. Searching for a specific orange ponytail. He found her and he just kind of stared for a moment as she talked with the mushroom girl. Then she caught his eyes. She smiled so warmly at him and gave him a little wave.

He felt a ghost of a smile start to make its way to his lips until others turned to see who she was waving at. He glared at them and went back to his task at hand.

His friends knew not to sneak up on him. They knew enough about his past and his nightmares to not sneak up on him or hold him down. Others sometimes went out of their way to mess with him though. Then sometimes just someone being around him was enough to rattle him.

He was pulling the glass dish he needed out of the cabinet, he probably should let someone taller get it like Eijirou, Hanta, or Momo, but Katsuki was stubborn. He didn't need help pulling out a simple glass dish. "Kacchan! I'm glad to see you making food again. Please make sure you eat something."

Deku had always made Katsuki feel uneasy and he always had a bad habit of popping up when Katsuki didn't want him around. Deku moved as quietly as he did sometimes and it caught him off guard. This time it was just enough of a surprise that Katsuki lost his already loose grip on the glass dish.

As soon as the dish hit the tile floor and shattered to a thousand pieces, Katsuki was already transported back to when he was six years old.

Katsuki stared down at the broken plate as he could hear his mom already stomping towards him. "The hell did you fucking break this time, brat?"

Katsuki was still stuck staring at the plate when he felt a harsh smack up the side of his head. "Katsuki! That was one of my brand new plates. What the fuck is wrong with you?"

He went to open his mouth to tell her that he slipped. He had fallen and broken the plate but he had cut his knee too. He wanted to ask if she'd look at it, but then he felt the sting on his cheek from where she had just smacked him again. He kept his mouth shut about his bleeding knee as she continued to scream at him. "You're so goddamn useless! You're always breaking shit and you can't do anything right. How the hell are you supposed to be a hero when you fucking can't even wash the dishes without fucking something up? You can't control your quirk. You hurt people and you break things. What good are you, huh Katsuki?"

He knew better than to open his mouth. He knew to just let her scream and get it out of her system. Hopefully she wouldn't hit him anymore.

Katsuki really was trying his best to keep his composure as his mom yelled at him, but as she continued, he could feel his fist start to clench and he felt his throat start to tighten. He was trying so hard not to show any emotion, but she always seemed to be able to sniff it out. "Are you really going to cry over a bit of a scolding? Really Katsuki? Grow the fuck up. If you don't want to be scolded then you shouldn't break shit that isn't yours."

He hated that he felt the tears start to drop down his cheeks and his lip wouldn't stop trembling. He hated it. "Man the hell up, brat. Quit your fucking crying. You really aren't good for anything except breaking shit and crying like a baby, are you Katsuki?"

He shut his eyes to block it all out. He wanted to be anywhere but where he was. He felt her shove him. "Fucking pay attention to me, damnit Katsuki! Listen to your mother!"

That was the first time she had hit him with the end of the belt and by the end of it, he was curled up in a ball, screaming for her not to hurt him anymore.

He was useless. He was nothing. He couldn't do anything right.

-

Kendou whipped her head around towards the kitchen as soon as she heard the sound of glass breaking. Her body was carrying her towards the kitchen to make sure everyone was alright. That's when she caught sight of Bakugou on his hands and knees picking up the glass. His knees were already bleeding and she could see the cuts on his hands.

She could hear him whispering. He was begging not to be hit again. That's when she realized that he wasn't really with them at the moment. He was somewhere else entirely.

Kirishima held his hands up so nobody would move. "Nobody touch him. Nobody say anything. Just nobody do anything."

She watched him harden his knees and legs so he could kneel in the glass in front of Bakugou. "Kats, hey, it's me. Talk to me dude, you're cutting up your knees." Kirishima's voice was gentle. He was being mindful not to touch Bakugou and Kendou had a feeling the redhead had seen similar moments like this before.

Then there was a flash of green in her peripheral vision but she wasn't able to grab Midoriya before he was putting a hand on Bakugou's shoulder. "Kacchan! You're bleeding. What are you doing?"

The absolute broken wail that came out of Bakugou was something she would never forget.

It broke her heart to see him curl into a ball and cry out. "Please! No more! I'm sorry!"

Kirishima was on Midoriya in an instant and it was a side of him that she had only seen split second glimpses of. "I told nobody to fucking touch him! That also means you, that especially means you! Why don't you fucking ever listen!" The red head shoved Midoriya away. "Fucking leave."

She watched as Kirishima took control of the situation after that. "I'm going to pick him up and carry him to his room. Mina go get the first aid kit. Denki, you and Hanta please help clean up. Hitoshi, can you please go get Aizawa? Kyouka, where's Momo? She always knows how to get him to calm down."

Jirou was already heading towards the door. "She's at the library. She always turns her phone off though. I'll be right back!"

Then Kirishima looked up at her. "Can you and Tet keep more of your class from walking in here?"

She had already been purposely blocking the doorway once she had seen the state Bakugou was in. "Definitely."

She watched as Kirishima scooped Bakugou up in his arms for the second time in the last week. Her heart shattered as Bakugou continued to sob and plead not to be hit again.

Kendou didn't move from her spot except to let Jirou and Yaoyorozu through and then when Shinsou and Aizawa showed up. she pointed to the stairs. "He's up in his room. Help him, please?"

Aizawa stopped for a moment to give her a look but then nodded. "I think it's best if your class leaves for today. Understood?"

She nodded. "I understand. I'll make sure we leave immediately."

Midoriya moved towards the stairs at this point. "I want to check on him too."

Kendou wanted to scream at the green headed boy to just leave Bakugou alone but Aizawa beat her to it. His voice was stern and had an edge to it. "Do not move Midoriya. I mean it."

She wanted to stay and make sure Bakugou would be okay but she needed to do what Aizawa had asked her, so with Tokage and Tet's help, they corralled the rest of their class back to their own dorms.

She was doing her best to not say anything or respond to the questions most of her classmates had. Most of them had heard the glass shatter and Bakugou screaming but luckily most of them hadn't seen anything because she blocked the doorway.

She was doing a great job of keeping her temper under control until she heard someone laughing. Awase snickered as he mimicked Bakugou. "Please! Stop! I'm sorry!" He rolled his eyes as he was talking to Kaibara. "How many times do you think a poor kid screamed that when Bakugou was beating the shit out of them? We've all heard the rumors. I don't know what happened in there but he sure and the hell had it coming."

Kendou couldn't stop herself as she made her way over to where the two were talking and in front of everyone, she cleared her throat. "Awase?"

He turned to look at her. "Sup Kendou?"

She put her hands on her hips and glared at him. "Kindly shut the hell up."

Awase stared at her with his mouth hanging open for a moment before responding. "What the hell is your issue?"

Her voice became darker and heavier. "Do not talk about Bakugou like that. Do not make fun of someone's trauma. We have no idea what he's been through. The only thing we know are the things people have made up and exaggerated. It is not very becoming of a hero to make fun of someone when they are clearly going through something, so I'm going to tell you one time and one time only. Stop making fun of Bakugou like that."

He looked like she had personally slapped him. "Why the hell do you care so much? The guy is an asshole."

She crossed her arms. "I care because he's a human being. I care because he deserves a chance. I care because all I see from him is someone who takes care of their friends but doesn't know how to accept it in return. I care because I see someone who wants to be a hero more than anyone else I've ever seen."

She was getting angry and when she got to a certain level of anger, she cried so she was trying to reign it in. She just..she just hated how people treated Bakugou over things that weren't even proven true, and even if they were true, it was very obvious to her that Bakugou wasn't the same person. She could not give her opinion on what happened between Bakugou and Midoriya, all she can do is give Bakugou the chance he deserves and all she sees is a guy who has gone through so much but still works his ass off but hates himself with all his being at the same time.

Kendou made her way away from Awase to go to her room to be alone when she heard Awase mutter from behind her. "Damn, didn't mean to pick on your abuser boyfriend."

She went to turn around but Tet was there throwing his arm over her shoulder. "Come on, walk it off. I'll break his jaw later."

The two of them walked until they were heading to one of the picnic tables they had behind the dorm building. Tet plopped down on top of the table and patted the spot next to him. She sat down next to him and just tried to get control of her breathing.

Once she was finally calmed down, she just sighed. "Bakugou and I aren't dating."

Tet chuckled, "Okay. I wouldn't care if you were. I don't know a lot about Bakugou, but I'm also not going to be shitty to him because of it. I know the little Eijirou has told me and that's it. Eijirou is very protective of Bakugou. He holds Bakugou's secrets close to his own chest, but I have never, not once, heard of Bakugou hurting Eiji. He raves about Bakugou so much you'd think Bakugou was a saint."

He ruffled her hair and laughed because he probably knew she hated when he did it. "Bakugou's not a bad guy. If you like him, that's okay."

She threw up her hands. "It's not like that! Is he super attractive? Yes, I'm not blind. Do I think he's actually incredibly sweet? I do. He started calling me Tangerine and I think it's the cutest thing ever, but I just want to be his friend right now. I want to show him I see him as a person. I want to show him there are people out there that support him and don't blindly hate him."

Kendou sighed. "I've been able to peek under the curtains a bit. I've learned some things about him. He's not this crazed monster with an ego the size of a planet like everyone thinks. Tet, I'm worried about him. I care about him."

He pulled her close and she rested her head against his shoulder. She just wants Bakugou to be okay.

After a while of sitting there like that, she felt her phone vibrate on her pocket. She lifted her head to check her phone. That's when she noticed it was from Kirishima. "Can you come back over to the dorms? Just you. Kat wants to see you."

Bakugou wanted to see her? She was not going to hesitate. She was going back over to the 1A dorms, immediately.

She looked over to Tet to explain the situation but he was already grinning at her. "Go on, I just got a message from Eijirou asking where you were. Go be with your man."

She scowled at him for a moment before grinning and smacking his shoulder. "Shut up.”

Kendou made her way off the picnic table and down the path to the 1A dorms. She really hoped Bakugou was okay. He wanted to see her, so he had to be somewhat okay, right? He wouldn't want to see her if he was vulnerable, would he?

Chapter Text

Kendou made her way into the 1-A dorm building where she was greeted by Iida. "Kendou, how may I be of service?"

She awkwardly scratched at her cheek. She'd never get used to how formal Iida was. "I'm just here to see Bakugou. Kirishima messaged me to come over. Is he up in his room?"

Iida looked genuinely confused for a moment before responding, "Bakugou is up in his room with his friends and Aizawa sensei as far as I know. I didn't know you were close with Bakugou."

She skirted around him towards the kitchen and stairs. "Thank you. Bakugou and I are friends. I'm here to check if he's alright."

She tried to make her escape up the stairs as she made her way into the kitchen but she was stopped by a very intense looking Midoriya and an upset looking Uraraka. She pointed at the stairs. "I'm just gonna go up.."

Midoriya's eyes were intense as he stared at her. "What's your relationship with Kacchan?" She was taken off guard by his tone but he continued before she could even respond. "Kacchan doesn't take to people quickly. The only person I've seen him take to quickly was Kirishima. What makes you so different? What's your angle?"

Now that irritated her. She could understand Kirishima wondering why she was trying to get close to Bakugou at first. They were best friends and it was easy to see that Bakugou didn't mind Kirishima being protective over him. She would not take that same treatment from Midoriya though. Bakugou and Midoriya were not close. Bakugou had clearly stated he didn't want Midoriya around and that Midoriya clearly made him uncomfortable and didn't listen to his boundaries.

She cocked her hip to the side and put a hand on her hip. She got a bit defensive. "My angle is that I care about Bakugou. He's my friend and he actually wants me around."

She knew that comment would sting and that it was harsh but she didn't care. She saw Midoriya's eyes go wide and Uraraka stomped her foot in anger. "You don't get to come in here and be mean to Deku just to get down a bully's pants."

Kendou rolled her eyes. She was already getting really tired of this stupid rumor. she put her hands on her hips. "I'm here to see my friend after he clearly had some kind of massive panic attack and was dealing with some major trauma. Quit being ridiculous."

She made her way around them as Uraraka huffed. "There's no way you're this overprotective of an asshole like Bakugou unless you're whoring yourself out to him."

Kendou turned around and glared at Uraraka. "Bakugou isn't my boyfriend, but be glad he's not. You all think I'm overprotective of my friends, you haven't seen me being protective of someone I deeply love yet. Then I'll show everyone how protective I am." She felt herself grin a little. She had a feeling it looked a little crazy, like a certain someone she knew. "Plus call me a whore one more time and see what happens."

She left them at that and made her way to Bakugou's room. Luckily Kirishima had thought ahead and told her what floor and dorm was Bakugou's. She knocked on the door and it was immediately being opened by Kaminari.

She walked in and noticed the tiny room was packed with people. Bakugou sat on his bed with Kirishima next to him and Ashido next to the red head. Yaoyorozu sat at Bakugou's desk with Jirou sitting on the desk next to her. Then there was Shinsou and Aizawa standing on the opposite side of the room. Sero and Kaminari were standing next to her as she walked in and shut the door.

Bakugou looked up at her. He looked so exhausted, his face was splotchy and his eyes were red, his palms and knees had been bandaged up. He put his hand on the spot on his right on the bed and motioned for her to sit next to him.

Kendou immediately crossed the room and sat next to him. When she sat down, Bakugou sighed. "You all are the people I trust most. Eijirou knows everything I'm about to say but after my stupid ass little freak out, I think it's about time I talk about some things. Nobody say anything until I'm done or I'm not going to be able to get through this shit."

He ran a hand over his face. "Fuck, okay. I know most of you have guessed it but my old hag beats the shit out of me. She has since I've been, fuck I don't know, five? Six? My old man just makes it worse. Rats me out to her or blames me for making her mad. He's always telling me she loves me while I'm lying in my own blood and tears from her hand."

Kendou had her guesses about Bakugo’s parents, a lot of people did, but to hear it directly said out loud made her upset on Katsuki’s behalf.

He laughed but it was extremely hollow. "Sometimes it was her hand or fist or feet. Most of the time it was the buckle end of a belt though. That's why my back is scarred the fuck up like it is." He ran his hand over the part of his shorts that covered his thighs. "Most of my other scars are from either fucking up in my own training or hurting myself. Razors to my thighs or burning myself with my quirk. Places I could hide it for the most part."

She could see his fist clenching and she wanted to reach out and grab his hand. She wanted to comfort him in anyway she could. "I'm..I'm not perfect like I want everyone to think I am. I don't brush everything off like I pretend to. I'm fucked up guys. The nightmares don't stop and all I hear are the voices telling me I'm worthless, useless, and better off fucking dead."

He choked back a sob and this time Kendou didn't hesitate. She reached out and grabbed his hand, getting him to open his hand so she could lace her fingers with his. He looked sadly down at their hands as she could hear a few sniffles going around the room. "You really shouldn't hold my hand. I'll hurt you."

She shook her head, trying to keep herself from crying. "I'm not scared of you."

He laughed again and it just sounded so sad and tired. "You should be. Everyone fucking exaggerates what went on between me and Deku because they're stupid, but shit did happen. It wasn't always like that though. We were friends for a long time. When I got my quirk and his was still laying dormant, he became very interested in mine. He wouldn't leave me alone. It felt like he became more attached to my quirk instead of being my friend."

He sighed, "We were still friends though. We didn't have anyone else. Then as I got older and my mom got worse, I just needed an escape. I wanted a place for myself. I found a place in the woods near my house that I could just exist in. I didn't have to deal with anything. Then Deku found me and from then on his stalker tendencies that I had ignored just got more blatant. He wouldn't leave me alone. Always asking me questions about my quirk and my bruises and just never giving me a moment of fuckin peace. I was getting the shit kicked out of me at home and getting hounded with question after question at school even though I asked him so many times to just fucking stop."

"This continued for years until I found out about his notebooks. He left one on his desk and it was labeled 'Kacchan #6'. I read some of it. It had shit in it that nobody but me and like my doctor should have known. How much I weighed. How tall I was. What my fucking sweat tasted like. He had so many detailed notes about my quirk that it was obvious he was watching me when I didn't know he was around. I freaked out and I confronted him."

Bakugou growled slightly and she squeezed his hand to try to calm him. "He didn't see a fucking problem with what he was doing and I just.. I just snapped. I pushed him and I screamed and pushed him again until he fell before I attacked him. I was just so mad and I just wanted everything to stop. I attacked any kid that came near me and I told Deku to just jump off a roof if all he was going to do was be a useless stalker. Course the hag was told what I did at school and after almost being suffocated by a shitty villain on my way home, I was beaten black and blue for the next week."

He finally looked from the floor to up at them. "There's more shit I got to talk about but that's all I got in me today. My little freakout earlier was because I was sent back to when I broke a plate and the was the first time she beat me with the belt. I get uncomfortable around Deku because I feel like he's always watching me, always around even when I don't want him to be. I never feel completely safe. I know I'm a giant piece of shit for telling him to kill himself. I've regretted it ever since, I was just at my wits end."

Kendou could see his body grow tense. "I'll understand if I'm going to be like expelled or whatever and if you guys hate me now, I'm a fucking monster, I just wanted.."

She watched as Aizawa stepped across the room and squatted down so he was at eye level with Bakugou, who had a hard time keeping eye contact. "You are not going to be expelled, Katsuki. That is something that happened in your past and you clearly regret it. A mistake doesn't define you. It doesn't control your life. You're a good kid Katsuki who's been dealt a bad hand. We can work on fixing things though. You and I are going to have to sit down and talk about some stuff, okay?"

Bakugou nodded and she could see he was holding back tears. "Okay sensei. A lot is going to change isn't it?”

Aizawa nodded back. "I know you don't like change, but I'll be there with you every step of the way. I will also be talking to Midoriya. It's clear he's not listening to what you say and you're clearly uncomfortable. Even if his intentions are pure, he's not going about anything in the right way."

Bakugou nodded again. Kendou rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand she was holding. "I thought you were a good person before and I think you're still a good person now. Everyone makes mistakes and you've dealt with things that most people wouldn't be able to survive through. You're not perfect, but nobody is. You still deserve to be loved."

Yaoyorozu spoke up from her spot at Bakugou's desk. "You are not a monster Katsuki, and I think I can speak for all of us when I say we love you and we're here to support you and to help."

Jirou nodded and smiled, "We got your back Blasty."

Ashido smiled softly and wiped at her eyes, "You know we'd never leave you babes. We know you've got a good heart. We've known that from the beginning. There's a reason you couldn't get rid of Eijirou, Denks, Han, and me from the jump."

The more people spoke and said they would be there for him. The more Kendou could see Bakugou's lip tremble until he started roughly wiping at his eyes with the hand she wasn't holding. "Alright fuckers, enough of the sappy shit." He huffed after he finally calmed himself down enough. "Thank you all though."

Over time, the only two left in the room with Bakugou were her and Kirishima. She watched as Kirishima stood up and stretched before leaning over and kissed the top of Bakugou's head and playfully ruffled his hair. "I'm super proud of you Kat."

She could see Bakugou's cheeks start to turn a little pink and he grumbled, “Whatever, you big soft bastard.”

The red head chuckled as he made his way over to the door and smirked but then quickly covered it up with a wide grin. "I'm gonna go make sure the others aren't burning the kitchen down. I'll help Momo make us something for dinner, Kat. Later Kendou." Kendou did not like the little smirk he had on his face for that moment. She felt like the red head was up to something.

She looked over at Bakugou after Kirishima had shut the door and Bakugou was already looking towards her. He looked away and mumbled, "Thanks for being here."

Kendou smiled and realized she was still holding his hand. She felt her face heat up slightly but didn't let go. "You don't have to thank me. I'm glad you let me be here and trust me enough to open up to me."

She wanted to ask him why he wanted her here, not that she was going to complain, she was glad she was here, but she knew she was nowhere near the closeness he shared with the others. Was she?

He looked up to her again, his face turning a slight pink once again. "I..I have a feeling tonight's going to be rough, reliving all my shit and everything, could..could I call you again if things get bad?"

Kendou felt an unfamiliar feeling swelling in her chest and her stomach felt kind of funny but in a good way even if it left her a little nauseous. She smiled wide though because it was a good feeling, "You can call me anytime, Bakugou."

He shook his head slightly, "Call me Katsuki or whatever you want to. I just don't like going by Bakugou with the people I'm close too."

She nodded, "Okay, Katsuki." Her stomach continued to feel fluttery. He considered them close already!

He scratched at his cheek and looked away from her again. "It's a couple hours until curfew, do you, umm, do you want to listen to some music with me?"

She honestly should go back to her own building and dorm so she can process her emotions, because she knew when she went over everything Katsuki had told her, she was going to get angry beyond belief and cry because how could someone mistreat their child like the way Katsuki had been treated? She was going to get upset and cry because of how everyone just didn't know a thing yet they all just went out of their ways to hurt Katsuki in some way or another. She knew it would be better to go process everything, but the selfish part of her wanted to stay and spend time with Katsuki when he clearly wanted to spend time with her.

Kendou smiled, "I'd really like that."

Katsuki gave her a small smile and got up and walked over to his desk and opened his laptop. After a few moments a soft rock melody filled the air with words she didn't quite understand. "Is this English?"

He smirked a tiny bit and nodded. "Yep. Jirou showed me a bunch of American bands a while back. I don't understand every word yet but I'm getting there."

He came back over to the bed and sat down. They sat together awkwardly for a little while before Katsuki finally shifted to sit back on his bed against his headboard. "Get comfortable, Tangerine. I don't give a fuck."

She scooted back until she was sitting next to him. Their hands set millimeters apart from each other and she wanted to close the gap and grab his but she refrained. "You can, if ya want."

Kendou looked up to meet red eyes. "What?"

His cheeks were a little pink and he wouldn't meet her eyes. She was really starting to see that he wasn't very comfortable holding eye contact when he wasn't projecting a persona. "You can hold my hand if ya want. I don't know why you'd want to, but if you want to, you can."

She looked down at their hands before looking back up at him. "Do you want me to?"

He looked like he wanted to say something but in the end he just nodded.

She smiled softly and gently grabbed his hand. He looked over at her. "You sure you don't have anywhere else you need to be?"

She gently rubbed her thumb over the back of his hand. "There's honestly nowhere else I'd rather be, Katsuki."

-

Kirishima made his way up to Katsuki's room along with Momo. The two of them were bringing up a small dinner that hopefully Katsuki would eat.

As they approached the door, he could hear music through Katsuki's door. He knew there was a good chance that Katsuki had fallen asleep because he loved to fall asleep with music playing.

The thing is he hadn't seen Kendou leave, so maybe they were still awake.

Kirishima knocked and waited. Momo looked over at him. “Did you see Kendou leave?”

He shook his head. “Nope, I messaged Tet but he said she wasn't back yet. It's getting pretty close to curfew though.”

He knocked again and waited for a moment. Katsuki was probably asleep. Usually when this happened, he'd leave the food in Katsuki's room so he could try to eat it when he woke up. He did what he could to get Katsuki to eat.

He opened the door slightly, and made his way in the room and that's when he noticed Katsuki was asleep, but he wasn't alone.

Kendou and Katsuki were cuddled up together under the blankets. Katsuki was tucked into Kendou's shoulder.

He heard Momo squeak next to him, “I didn't know they were together.”

Kirishima shrugged, “I don't think they are, not yet anyway. She makes him feel safe though, in a different way then the rest of us do. He hasn't talked about it much, but he's said she makes him feel things he's never felt before.”

He sat the food on Katsuki's desk and made his way towards the door. “I'll let Tet know Kendou is still here so none of them freak out.”

Momo nodded, “Good idea. Shouldn't we wake them up though? Curfew is in a little less than an hour.”

He looked back at the two of them. “Nah, let them sleep. We don't tell anyone what happened but I'll take the heat if someone says something about curfew. Kat needs the sleep after everything that happened today.”

The two of them left and as he softly shut the door, he smiled one last time at the scene in front of him. Kendou was good for Katsuki. He could already see the bond strengthening between them. He silently shut the door behind him. “Goodnight Kats.”

Chapter Text

Katsuki was used to waking up early, way before his alarm or anyone else. He didn't like it, but he felt like he needed to do it to stay ahead. This morning was no different, except it was.

Katsuki opened his eyes slowly and it was still completely dark outside. He looked over to his alarm clock with blurry eyes because he didn't feel like putting his glasses on. He was pretty sure the clock read a little before five in the morning.

He stretched, he actually felt well rested which was surprising for everything that he had dealt with the day before. He was sure his night would have been awful. When he stretched, he bumped into someone. He froze quickly but then relaxed. It wasn't the first time Eijirou had fallen asleep in his bed. Katsuki rubbed his eyes and mumbled. "You fell asleep in my bed again, shark face."

He reached for his glasses and slipped them on and turned on his bedside lamp, casting a very dim orange glow over the room. That's when he noticed the person in his bed had long orange hair and was nowhere near as big as Kirishima. Kendou was in his bed. The absolute fuck?

Then he remembered last night. They had been listening to music when they got comfortable enough to lay down next to each other. They laid there for a while until he rolled and basically ended up in Kendou's arms. He was tired and he was comfortable and he felt safe. He always seemed to feel safe when it came to Kendou.

Apparently getting comfortable led to the cuddling and falling asleep. Which now meant he had to sneak her out. Rumors always followed him and he didn't want her to have to deal with it.

He pinched the bridge of his nose before gently trying to wake her up. "Tangerine, we fell asleep. You gotta get up."

Kendou groaned and tried to burrow further under the blanket. "Leave me aloneee."

Katsuki had to bite his lip to keep from grinning. He really shouldn't find this as cute as he did. She was super cute though, it was hard not to think that way.

He pushed her arm again. "Tangerine." She whined again so he just sighed and pushed her a little harder. "Kendou."

She finally opened her eyes and blinked at him. "K..Katsuki? Why are you in my bed?"

Katsuki snorted, "Tangerine, you're in my bed. We apparently fell asleep listening to music last night. It's almost five in the morning."

She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes. "O..Oh." He could see her face go a little pink in the dim light. "I..I'm sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep. It was just nice laying with you and listening to the soft music."

Katsuki could feel his own cheeks heating up so he got up out of bed to distract himself. "It's good. I fell asleep too." He paused for a moment before looking back over at her and let himself be honest. "It was nice. I like spending time with you."

She smiled at him. "I like spending time with you too."

He stretched as he walked over to the closet and grabbed two hoodies. He threw one to her. "I'll walk you back to your dorm building. It's starting to get chilly and the morning air kind of sucks."

She grinned as she pulled it on and he pretended that seeing her wearing one of his main hoodies didn't make his heart beat rapidly. He pulled his own hoodie on and that's when he noticed her staring at him. That's when he realized he had slipped on one of his more feminine hoodies. It was a light pink and the hood even had little cat ears on it.

He was about to get defensive but she spoke first. "That's really cute on you, Katsuki." She smiled softly at him and he could tell by her look that she meant it.

He felt his face heat up as he shrugged. "I like pretty things sometimes and nobody should be up to see me. I don't get to experiment often, but sometimes I'll wear certain stuff when I hang out with the squad of idiots in one of our rooms."

She smiled wide as she slid off the bed, "You should always do what makes you happy. Maybe you'll be comfortable enough to wear what you want around me someday."

He smiled at her, she didn't know it yet but he was already approaching that point. She had no idea how comfortable he already was around her.

They made it out of Heights Alliance and made it towards Kendou's dorm without running into anyone which wasn't surprising. It was only five in the morning on a Sunday.

They made it to the 1-B dorm building and Katsuki honestly didn't want to just leave. He knew he had to, but he just didn't want to. He liked being around Kendou. She made him feel safe in ways that he didn't understand. She made his heart beat rapidly and his hands twitch because he didn't know what to do with the emotions she made him feel but his brain also seemed less scrambled when she was around. He just didn't understand it! It was different from how he felt about anyone else. It was new and it was scary and he didn't fucking like it, but it was also addicting. He liked the rush he felt when she smiled at him. Fuck, he was so lost.

She smiled at him as she stood close to him. It was too close but not close enough at the same time. This is when he realized she was actually taller than him, he had to slightly look up to look her in the eyes. Her eyes were a light teal color, and he couldn't help but think what a pretty contrast they were to his deep red ones.

She reached forward and he let her hold his hand. "Can we hang out again sometime soon Katsuki?"

He was not going to complain about that. "I'd like that. Can I call you later if things get bad?"

She nodded, "You can call me anytime, Katsuki."

He watched her walk up the steps before she turned around quickly. "I almost forgot, your hoodie!"

The words were out of his mouth before he even considered any of the consequences they could have. "Keep it. It looks better on you anyway."

It was his skull hoodie. He wore that fucking thing everywhere. It was oversized and worn out and it let him hide from people, but he just wanted to see her wearing it a little bit more than he wanted it back.

Katsuki could see her cheeks go a little pink. "T..Thanks Katsuki. I'll talk to you later, okay?"

He nodded at her as he felt himself smile softly. "Okay Tangerine. I'll talk to you later."

She walked a couple steps before stopping and then turning around and running back up to him. His body acted on instinct and he opened his arms as she launched off the bottom step and he caught her in an embrace. He held her close and he tucked his face into her neck.

In that moment right there. There was absolutely nowhere else he'd rather be.

-

Kendou quietly made her way up to her dorm room. Her cheeks were still flushed from her hug with Katsuki. She had almost been in the door when she just couldn't help herself and literally launched off the steps into his arms. They held each other for a while after that.

There was just something about being near him. She wanted to be around him. At this point whenever she wasn't focused on heroics or school work, she was thinking about him.

It had moved past worrying about him and hoping he's okay. It had moved to thinking about how his day went or if he slept enough or what things he liked to do in his free time.

As she walked down the hallway, she heard a door start to open so she quickly ducked into her room. She sighed in relief when nobody called out her name as she slipped her pants off. She slipped on a pair of shorts and slipped into bed. She was still sleepy, she didn't usually get up until almost nine on the weekends.

She burrowed down into Katsuki's hoodie and without thinking, she breathed in his scent. It was just so overwhelmingly Katsuki and it put her at ease. She drifted off to sleep easily for the next couple hours, dreaming about a certain blonde headed boy.

Kendou woke up a couple hours later and sleepily made her way downstairs. She needed coffee. Coffee was like her life blood.

As she walked into the kitchen, her main group of friends were in the kitchen. She waved to them as she made her way to the counter to start her coffee. She heard Tet choke on his tea, Komori squeaked, and Monoma and Setsuna started cackling. She turned to look at them and raised her eyebrow, "What are you guys freaking out over?"

Monoma doubled over and fell clutching his sides. She looked down at him, completely unimpressed before looking to Tet. "What is his deal?"

Tet cleared his throat and wiped a bit of tea from his chin. "Suka, umm, where'd you get that hoodie? Something you want to tell us?"

Kendou was confused for about three seconds, until she realized she still had Katsuki's skull hoodie on. "I umm, I found it at a thrift store last week." She didn't know why she was lying. She wasn't ashamed to be friends with Katsuki, she just didn't want them teasing her about feelings she totally, truly, and completely didn't have.

Setsuna cackled, "No you did not, that thing literally still smells like Bakugou. I can smell it from here, it smells like his explosions and a campfire had a baby."

Komori giggled, "Plus it's massive just like how he wears it."

Then finally Tet smirked at her. "It's got burns on the sleeves from his quirk and it's got hair dye on the sleeve from the last time he and I helped Eijirou with his hair."

Kendou looked down and there was a red stain on the left sleeve, and the sleeves near the hand holes had little frayed holes from where she guessed got burnt by Katsuki's quirk. "Well, okay, maybe it's Katsuki's, but before any of you freak out any further, we're not dating."

Komori squealed, "You called him Katsuki!"

Kendou rolled her eyes and tried to hide her grin. "Shut up. We're just friends. I don't like him like that.” She was not about to tell them about the butterflies that flew around her stomach when she was near Katsuki. She was still trying to ignore them herself.

Monoma finally picked himself up off the floor. "That's how it started with me and Hitoshi too."

Tet grinned at her, "Same thing with me and Eiji."

She rolled her eyes at them as she pulled her sleeves up so she could make her coffee. "Whatever. We're just.. we're just friends."

If she was honest with herself for five seconds, she knew she had complicated feelings brewing for Katsuki, she knew she did, but he needed a friend right now and she was happy he was letting her be in his life. She would not ruin it by catching feelings.

Setsuna hopped up on the counter. "How'd you even get his hoodie, I haven't seen you with it before."

Kendou stopped mid stir of stirring her coffee. "Uhh.." She looked around the kitchen to make sure the coast was clear. "Can you goofballs keep a secret?"

She knew they could, but she wanted to ask anyway just to be difficult. They all nodded and confirmed so she sighed, "I accidentally spent the night with Katsuki.." She could see all four of them open their mouths all at once so she held her hands up to stop them. "No, absolutely nothing happened. He asked me to come back over yesterday because he had to talk about some things and he wanted me there. After everyone else left, we listened to some music, and I don't know, we both fell asleep I guess. He gave me the hoodie early this morning when he walked me back over here."

She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed before whispering, "Okay, now you all can collectively freak out, but do it quietly!"

Komori ran over and hugged her, "You so like him! It's so cute!"

Setsuna was kicking her feet and giggling from her place on the counter. "He likes you too. Don't think I didn't see that little smile he gave you yesterday. The way he looked at you. He may not fully understand it yet, but I think he likes you."

Tet laughed gently, "Plus he let you borrow his favorite hoodie. He wears that thing everywhere. That's like basic couple stuff 101."

Kendou felt her cheeks heat up. "He, uhh, didn't just let me borrow it. He gave it to me." She kind of muttered the rest, hoping they almost wouldn't hear. "He said it looked better on me."

Tet walked over and clapped her on the shoulder. "No other way around it, Kendou. That little blonde wolverine likes you."

She was blushing but she raised her eyebrows in a questioning manner. "Wolverine?"

Monoma chuckled, "He just learned about them last week and he's obsessed with the creatures, but it is a fair assessment. Tiny, adorable, and an absolute menace to everything it encounters."

She rolled her eyes and was about to say that Katsuki didn't like her that way when she heard a new voice enter the kitchen. "Kendou, I thought the rumors were fake! Are you really dating that asshole, Bakugou?"

Kendou turned to find Kamakiri staring at her. She rubbed her face in frustration. "We're not dating! Don't call him an asshole though. He's my friend and he's not an asshole."

Kamakiri rolled his eyes at her, "With the way you defend him, there's no way you're not dating." He scoffed, "Just don't come running to us when he snaps and hits you."

She felt herself growl and she accidentally yelled louder than she meant to. "I'm tired of everyone thinking Katsuki is abusive! You have no idea what you're talking about! Nobody knows him. Nobody has any idea what he's been through and it's not fair! It's not fair that all people do is treat him like a villain when he's trying his best to be an amazing hero and person. None of you understand anything and it's really starting to fucking piss me off. Leave Katsuki alone!"

She felt herself tearing up after her little outburst as the kitchen and the common room went quiet. She never raised her voice. She never got mean. She tried to never use harsh curse words. Everything was just getting to her. She was so tired of how everyone treated Katsuki. Katsuki had made mistakes and he wasn't perfect, she knew that but he was still human. He was a good person who had been through so so much.

Kendou wiped at her eyes to brush away the frustrated tears. "Everybody just leave me alone."

She left her coffee sitting on the counter and ran out of the kitchen and through the whispers of the common room and up to her room. She threw herself onto her bed and screamed in frustration into her pillow.

She laid there for what seemed like an hour when it probably wasn't more than a few minutes. Then there was a knock on her door and she groaned in frustration. "Go away!"

Tet's voice came through her door. "Suka, it's me. Bakugou's at the main doors asking for you."

Kendou shot up off her bed and was at the door immediately, pulling it open. "Katsuki's at the door?"

Tet gave her a soft smile. "Yeah, he's asking for you. Seemed blushy and nervous as hell. I've never seen him like that before."

She was instantly heading for the main doors. Why would Katsuki be nervous? Why did he show up at her dorm unannounced? That didn't seem like him. Hopefully he was okay.

She heard Tet jogging to catch up with her. "Hey, slow down killer. Setsuna is down there with him. She's not going to let anyone mess with him."

Hearing that did get her to slow down a bit but not by much. "Sorry, I just want to see why he's here. He doesn't seem like the type to just show up unannounced like that."

She could see Tet look at her out of the corner of her eye. "You really care about him, don't you?"

She stopped and sighed, "Tet, we've been over this.."

He shook his head. "Nah, I mean, you just genuinely care for him. You see something in him most people don't."

Kendou felt herself smile softly as she started walking again, "I do. If people would just stop for two seconds and talk to him and get past his projected persona, and actually try to show him they care, they'd learn how amazing he is."

They made it to the main floor and she walked past all of her classmates to the front door where Setsuna was standing in the open doorway and talking to Katsuki who still stood on the front porch.

She could see when he saw her. She couldn't quite explain it, but it was just different. She could swear there was more light behind his eyes and he gave her a small smile.

She gave him one in return as the butterflies erupted in her tummy. She stepped beside Setsuna and stepped out onto the porch. Setsuna purred from behind them. "I'll close the door and let you two kiddos talk."

Kendou rolled her eyes and she heard Katsuki growl. Then the door was shut and she turned to face Katsuki. He was in a pair of camo joggers and a black hoodie and he still had his glasses on, it wasn't super chilly out but she had always heard he didn't like the cold.

She grinned, "What's up Katsuki?"

He looked from her quickly to the ground. "I forgot my phone at the dorms or I would have messaged you. Aizawa is talking to Deku so it was just mutually agreed that I not be around just in case I lose my shit. I was, umm, I was wondering if you wanted to take a walk around campus with me?"

He had looked back up at her and that's when she noticed he was staring at her with a slightly flushed face, until all of a sudden his eyes narrowed at her face. She reached up to mess with her hair. It was probably a mess and she hadn't brushed her teeth this morning and she was still in her sleep shorts, he probably thought she looked like a mess.

He growled, it was a complete one eighty of the Katsuki who was just nervously asking to go on a walk with her. "Who made you cry?"

She stopped messing with her hair and looked at him. "W..What?"

He snarled loud enough that she knew her classmates who were probably listening inside heard him. "Your eyes are red and puffy and your cheeks are ruddy. Who. Made. You. Cry? I'll end them."

She couldn't help herself and she knew people were definitely watching through the windows but she didn't care. She walked forward and hugged him, and she immediately felt arms tighten around her in a protective manner. He whispered, "I don't like when the people I care for are hurting."

Kendou held him close, "Why don't you care about yourself like you do for others?"

He shrugged. "I don't matter, but maybe I can do some good while I'm here."

She felt her embrace tightening around him. "I'm going to spend every chance I have showing you that you do matter Katsuki."

He laughed gently, "You go ahead and try, Tangerine."

Their embrace ended and she smiled at him. "You know I'm going to.”

Chapter Text

Shouta sighed as he entered the common room looking for two problem children in particular. He eyed Katsuki in the kitchen trying to chase Kirishima as the red head laughed and ran from him as some others laughed at the two of them. He then found Midoriya coming down the stairs.

He figured he'd talk to Katsuki first, so he headed into the kitchen where he could hear Kirishima cackling. "I'm sorry dude! You just looked so cute and I know you needed the sleep."

Shouta watched Katsuki growl and blush as he threw a dish towel at Kirishima. "S..Shut up sharky!"

He sighed, "Problem children." Katsuki stopped mid throw and Kirishima came to such a sudden stop that he fell over. He wanted to shake his head at their antics but he could not let them know he found them amusing sometimes. He turned to Katsuki, and since it was only people that were in the room with them yesterday, he went and just told Katsuki. "I'm going to talk to Midoriya. I think it would be best if you were not here for a little bit, just to avoid any possible triggers."

He expected some kind of resistance because he knew Katsuki hated looking weak but Katsuki simply just nodded. "That's probably for the best. I..uh..I might go see if Kendou wants to go on a walk." Maybe he still had a lot more to learn about Katsuki.

Everyone around the blonde began teasing him and he began to actually pout. "You all shut up. It doesn't mean shit. She's cool to hang out with."

Shouta decided to save him from their teasing even though he's sure he deserved it. "Go on ahead Katsuki."

Katsuki nodded at him and went to leave, he made it out of the kitchen and into the common room when someone called out to Katsuki. "Kacchan, where are you headed? You're not supposed to be training yet, remember? Kacchan?"

Shouta turned to see Katsuki stopped by the door and Midoriya behind him. Katsuki hadn't turned around yet but Shouta could see the boy tensing and it started to get him a little heated to see that Midoriya could not see he was upsetting Katsuki. "Katsuki, you go ahead. Midoriya, I would like to talk to you."

He could see Katsuki's body relax before he slipped on his shoes and was out the door. Midoriya turned to him. "Sensei, is Kacchan going to be okay? I could go with him."

Shouta tried to keep his look even, "Midoriya, I need you to stay away from Katsuki."

Uraraka popped up from the couch. "Is Bakugou finally being punished?"

Her excitement bothered him. How many others were this excited to see Katsuki be taken down a peg? "No. Katsuki isn't being punished. Now, Midoriya, I would like to talk to you. It's come to my attention that you have some notebooks I would like to see."

Midoriya's face went red, "I..I have all kinds of notebooks."

Well that was no less concerning. "I'm more worried about the ones on Katsuki at the moment."

Midoriya scratched his cheek. "I..uh, okay. They're in my room."

Shouta nodded towards the stairs. “Lead the way.”

The two of them made their way up to Midoriya's room and when Shouta walked in, he literally walked into a shrine of All Might. He knew Midoriya had an obsession with All Might but this was just concerning and he felt like All Might himself was probably not helping the situation.

That was a discussion for another day, he was here about Katsuki. “Where are the notebooks on Katsuki?”

Midoriya kept his eyes on the floor as he grabbed a notebook off his desk and handed it to him. It was titled “Kacchan #21.” Twenty-one notebooks? The boy had written over twenty notebooks full of things about Katsuki.

He almost didn't want to, but he had to see if this already concerning situation was about to get worse. He had to see what was in the notebook.

Shouta opened to a random page. “Kacchan hasn't grown much in the last several months like the rest of us. He's still only 160 cm tall. He's still barely eating and it's growing concerning again.”

He turned to another random page. “I watched Kacchan come out of Kirishima’s room one night wearing a skirt. I didn't know Kacchan liked to dress that way. It makes more sense that I saw him buying women's underwear a week prior. Maybe he's going through something or maybe he just likes it. Kacchan is perfect either way.”

Shouta flipped to the most recent page that was filled out. “I think Kendou has a crush on Kacchan, and I think Kacchan may like her. It's not fair! First there was Kirishima, and then Ashido and the others, then Yaoyorozu and Shinsou. Now Kendou. Everyone takes my time away from Kacchan. I barely get to see him anymore and it's not fair. I think she even stayed over in Kacchan's room last night. I saw Kacchan and Kendou leaving the dorms this morning and she was wearing Kacchan's favorite hoodie. Why can't I be special in his life anymore?”

The more Shouta read, the more he came concerned with the obsession Midoriya had with Katsuki.

He closed the notebook and just sat in silence for a moment before speaking again. “Where are the rest of them?”

He watched as Midoriya pulled a small bin from under his bed and pulled off the lid to reveal the other notebooks. All lined up and labeled. Shouta sighed, “Kid. This has to stop.”

Midoriya scratched at his neck. “I..I know they're a little weird, b..but I just like taking notes on my friends. I note down their likes and dislikes and document their quirks.”

Shouta gave him a deadpan stare, “How many notebooks do you have for any other students?”

Midoriya shook his head, “No other classmate has their own notebook. Only a few pages a piece.”

Shouta inwardly groaned. “If you want to take a few notes on your friends' quirks with their consent, that's fine, but this thing you have with Katsuki is not consensual. It's an obsession. Katsuki is uncomfortable. How can you not see that he doesn't like you around because you've made him uncomfortable?”

Midoriya shook his head again. “Kacchan is just prickly by nature. He doesn't mean it.”

Shouta gripped the notebook in his hands a little tighter, “Midoriya. Katsuki isn't really as prickly as you think. He's that way because your presence makes him panic. You know he's not like that with Kirishima or the others. He may curse and he may yell a little but he's not anxious. He's not tense. I've let a lot of things go with the excuse to not get involved but I can't do that anymore. I have to take my role more seriously. You need to leave Katsuki alone.”

He could see Midoriya pout. “I don't make Kacchan uncomfortable though. We've been friends since we were little. He went through some bad things at home that made him a little mean but that's okay. We have each other.”

Holy hell, this kid just didn't get it. He didn't want to be too harsh but it looked like he was going to have to. “Midoriya, you are stalking and obsessing over Katsuki. You have been for years. It's not cute or quirky. You are committing a crime. Katsuki said he's caught you in his room before and watching him from a distance. Kid, you're stalking.” He waved the notebook in his hand. “This is proof that you have an unhealthy obsession with Katsuki. If Katsuki wanted to, he could press charges and probably get a restraining order against you. Hell, if he took this to Nezu, he could probably have you expelled.”

He brought his voice down a bit. He was getting upset at the situation. “I'm not saying the things Katsuki said or did to you were right. He shouldn't have attacked you in middle school. He shouldn't have said what he said to you. How does anyone other than the people Katsuki has told even know about that incident?”

Midoriya looked away and at the ground. “I accidentally told Uraraka and she said Kacchan was a bully and I guess she told people her version of the story. I got mad at her but there wasn't much I could do. Kacchan did become really mean in middle school but after that day, he always tried his best to stay away from me.”

Great. So one of the main reasons Katsuki was dealing with so much extra hate was from someone else's probably greatly exaggerated version of a story that wasn't even theirs. Fucking hell sometimes he hated being a teacher.

He sighed as he tried not to snap at the kid. “Katsuki stayed away from you because he didn't want to be around you. The kid was already dealing with so much already and he snapped. Violence is never the answer unless necessary and Katsuki felt cornered and trapped and felt it was necessary. I'm not condoning it but the kid felt like he couldn't do anything else, and part of what pushed him to that mindset was because you wouldn't leave him alone when he asked you to.”

He glared hard at the boy before him. “How many times did Katsuki ask for you to leave him alone?”

Midoriya stuttered. “I..I don't.. he didn't..”

Shouta narrowed his eyes. “How many times did Katsuki ask you to leave him alone? How many times did he tell you to stay away? How many times did you send him into a panic attack because you wouldn't leave him alone?”

Shouta felt like shit for being an enabler. How many times has he heard Katsuki growl and tell Midoriya to stay away? How many times did he ignore Katsuki's requests for another partner when he was paired up with Midoriya? Never again. Katsuki had set boundaries his whole life and almost everyone had just trampled right over them. No wonder the kid was as feral as they came and didn't really trust anyone but a select few. The kid had grown up in violence and had learned the only way people will listen to him is to be loud and violent.

This went way deeper than he originally realized. There were so many signs and those signs have just been ignored at every turn.

Midoriya looked at him with an intense look. “Kacchan needs me. I've always been there for him. I've always looked out for him. He needs me. H..He doesn't fully understand it but I help him. Kacchan is amazing and he's powerful and incredible and I know he's going to be an awesome hero, but I want to help him be better. We will make an amazing team together like when we were little kids. Nobody is better than Kacchan but even he needs help sometimes.”

Shouta slammed the notebook down on the desk. “Katsuki doesn't need someone following him around and taking notes on him like he's a goddamn experiment! He needed a friend. He needed someone who he could count on. He didn't need someone treating him like a project or a baby.”

He reeled in his anger. Getting angry would not help, and Midoriya was also just a sixteen year old kid, but he had to end this now or no one else would. He needed to help Katsuki and Midoriya. “Kid, this all ends now. No more taking notes on Katsuki. No more following him around. I'll be confiscating your notebooks and I'll be talking to the other teachers to make sure you're not paired up with him anymore.”

Midoriya went to argue but he shut it down. “Arguing will only end in suspension.” Midoriya's mouth closed as he looked at the floor so Shouta continued. “If it is brought to my attention again that you're following Katsuki around after he tells you to leave him alone, I will eagerly push for your expulsion. Katsuki doesn't want you expelled, he just wants you to leave him alone, but I will make sure Nezu expels you.”

Shouta grabbed the notebook off the desk and the bin on the floor. “Do I make myself clear?”

Midoriya wouldn't look at him but he nodded. “Y..Yes sensei.”

Shouta took one more look at the kid. “Midoriya. You have the makings of an incredible young hero. Don't ruin it because of something you can help. I can't force you to yet but I am highly suggesting talking to Hound Dog about getting some counseling. There's so much more out there than your focus on Katsuki.”

Midoriya looked up at him with tears in his eyes. “K..Kacchan is my world though, I'm nothing without Kacchan.”

Shouta made his way to the door and gave the kid one last look. “If you seriously believe that, then you don't belong here. Right now, to Katsuki, you're nothing but an anxiety trigger for him. It's up to you and only you to fix that.”

-

Katsuki walked with Kendou around campus. Their hands brushed every once in a while but he didn't know if it was best to grab her hand. There were other people out walking and he didn't want people to start talking. He didn't want his reputation to ruin hers.

Plus there was the fact he was a ticking time bomb. Every time he held her hand was another chance he'd hurt her. He had very very good control over his quirk, but there had been some very stressful situations that he had almost lost control. He didn't want to ever hurt Kendou.

Her hand brushed with his again and she turned to look at him. “Can I hold your hand Katsuki?”

He looked over to her. “Are you sure?”

He felt her lace her fingers between his. “I'm sure. I'm not ashamed to be your friend Katsuki. I'm not ashamed to give you physical affection and I'm sure and the heck not scared of you.”

He felt his chest warm at her words but he grinned at her playfully. “You should be terrified of me.”

She rolled her eyes and she bumped him with her hip. “You're not really scary Katsuki. More like a soft cuddly teddy bear.”

Katsuki smirked at her, bumping her right back. “You take that shit back. That's slander and I will sue your ass.”

She released his hand and ruffled his hair, “You're so cute when you try to be all mean to me.”

This girl had no fear of him. She didn't care and she had no idea how much that meant to him.

He playfully shoved her and laughed. “Fucking nerd, quit your shit before I kick your ass.”

She gave him a wide grin before pulling his hood down over his face and giggling. “Gonna have to catch me KittyKat.”

He was stunned for a moment over the new nickname she gave him but he pulled his hood off and gave chase. He could hear her laughing as he gave chase and weaved through groups of people. Why was she so fast? “This isn't fair! You have longer legs!”

He could see her call back over her shoulder, a big grin on her face. “Not my problem blondey!”

Oh that's how she wanted to be then. He took a chance and guessed which way she was going to turn and ran through the grass to cut her off.

He came up next to her and went to grab her waist but she went to turn and the both ended up colliding and tumbling into the grass in a fit of giggles.

He ended up on top and he pinned her wrist down. “You give up, you little shit?”

She grinned wide at him and before he realized it, she had him flipped. She didn't pin his wrists down which he was so thankful for because there was a fifty fifty shot that could have ended bad. She did put a hand by each side of his head though, caging him in, but it didn't make him uncomfortable.

She grinned and stuck her tongue out at him. “You give up yet?”

Looking up at her as she breathed heavily and her hair was messy and going every which way. She was smiling wide at him with flushed cheeks and it all made his heart feel like it was going to beat out of his chest.

She may honestly be the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

His emotions were a rollercoaster ride with her right now and he honestly didn't know if he wanted to get off the ride yet.

For the first time in his life, Katsuki surrendered. “I give up, Tangerine, I give.”

She smiled in victory before jumping off of him and holding a hand out for him to take. He took it in an instant and she helped him up.

He dusted himself off and they started walking again. “I'll get your ass next time Tangerine.”

Kendou hummed as she leaned against him. He had to stop himself from wanting to wrap an arm around her waist on instinct.

They walked for a little bit in comfortable silence before she spoke up again. “I'm thinking about cutting my hair.”

He looked up at her, “Yeah? What style are you thinking about?”

She shrugged. “I don't know. I'm thinking maybe a pixie cut, maybe some kind of undercut. I've also been seeing girls with wolf cuts now and those seem really cool.”

Her with those styles went through his head. He couldn't help but think a wolf cut would look really good on her. “You'd look really good with any of them. I'm partial to the wolf cut myself.”

She gave him a shy smile. “You don't think I'd look too, I don't know, boyish?”

He stopped to fully look at her. “Gender norms are fucking stupid. Do what you want to do. You'd look badass with your hair cut like that. Do what you want. Plus I wear dresses and frilly panties half the time, I can't say shit.”

He realized what he said at the end there and felt his face heat up. Well that was out in the open now. Good going Katsuki.

He looked back at her, but she was giving him that small smile he was really beginning to learn that he loved seeing. “Thank you, Katsuki.”

Katsuki bumped her hip and started walking again as he mumbled, “Don't gotta thank me for that shit.”

She fell in step next to him and this time he let himself lean on her as they walked back towards the dorms.

If her arm came up to wrap around his waist as they walked, well it was nobody's business but theirs.

Chapter Text

Katsuki was actually feeling oddly optimistic as he walked his way towards the cafeteria with his friends. It was strange how free he felt. He had an appointment with Hound Dog after school that he wasn't super stoked about but that oddly enough didn't ruin his mood either.

He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and he pulled it out to find a message from Kendou. He immediately felt himself smiling as he opened it to find she had sent him a random selfie from what looked like the cafeteria.

He smiled as he sent her message back. "Tangerine, you got me smiling like an idiot in front of these nosey fuckers."

He tucked his phone back in his pocket and tried to hide his smile. It didn't work. Mina latched onto his arm. "What's got you smiling like that Blasty?"

He ducked his head. "None of your fuckin business pinky."

Kyouka cooed at him from under Momo's arm. "We all know what and who it is."

He gave the shorter girl a deadpan glare. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Mhmm. It totally doesn't have anything to do with a certain orange haired girl from 1-B."

He felt his face flush. "S..Shut up."

Momo smiled softly at him, “Maybe it's somebody with teal blue eyes. Some might say they sparkle like an ocean.”

He ducked his head again, “Mo, don't you start too.”

Hanta chuckled, "So when were you going to tell us you gave her your skull hoodie?"

The dramatic fuckers all stopped and collectively gasped so Katsuki was forced to stop as well. "The hell are you on about?"

Hanta just raised an eyebrow, "I literally seen the two of you walking around campus yesterday. I know damn well that wasn't originally her hair dye stained, baggy as hell, burnt to shit skull hoodie."

Katsuki started walking again as they cooed at him and giggled. He rolled his eyes as he heard them speed walking to catch up with him. He didn't mind their teasing. Months ago, maybe, but he really didn't mind. "Kendou is my friend. Friends lend other friends their clothes sometimes. I literally steal clothes from all of you, I stole Pinky’s skirt just the other day. Actually you know what, fuck off, you all steal my shit too. Mo literally had my Death March band tee on last night."

They walked into the cafeteria as they all playfully bickered back and forth. He usually wouldn't come to the cafeteria, he hated dealing with everyone and he didn't really eat, but he hadn't really eaten all weekend so he needed to at least publicly eat something today to get Eijirou and Momo to calm down.

He appreciated their concern more than he'd ever admit, but it made hiding things from them very difficult.

Without thinking about it, his eyes began to look for orange and teal. He found her at her normal table and she was already making her way towards him. Grinning wide and quickly walking.

They met in the line as he was waiting for Lunch Rush. "Hi."

He watched her smile even wider at him. "Hey Katsuki."

He could hear his traitorous friends giggling from behind them. Stupid immature fuckers. He hated that he loved them all as much as he did. He ignored them though just to focus on Kendou. "Didn't you already get lunch?"

Kendou nodded, "I did, but I wanted to wait in line and talk with you."

Katsuki felt his cheeks heat up slightly as he heard more cooing behind him. "Y..Your food’s gonna get cold and gross."

She bumped him with her hip. "It'll be fine Suki. Plus it's worth it."

His heart started to beat a little faster, like it always did when it came to Kendou. This girl had him so confused in so many ways and he really didn't mind one bit. Not if that meant she kept staring at him like she did. Like he was special. Not special because of his strength or quirk or battle IQ. The way she looked at him made him feel special, like just being Katsuki was enough, like just being himself was special to her.

He went to open his mouth to probably stutter out some kind of pitiful response when he noticed someone in his peripheral vision but it was too late. A drink was thrown on him. He's pretty sure it was tea by the smell of it but he was too pissed to think about it for too long. His hands crackled to life as he turned to snarl at whoever threw the drink on him but they were already on the move.

This had happened several times, but apparently his friends were ready because he watched as tape shot straight out and tripped the guy, long enough for Snipe, the teacher who was usually on lunch duty, was able to wrangle him up.

Served the asshole right but Katsuki was still pissed. He fucking hated being publicly humiliated. Something his mom had done to him time and time again, and he fucking hated being wet and sticky. The feeling made his skin crawl and he wanted to fucking scream.

This fucking school and these fucking extra bastards. They had no idea. He could feel his hands crackle again as his breathing started to get shallow. He could end so many of them if he wanted to. The power he held at his fingertips. He could raze this whole goddamn place to the ground and nobody would be able to stop him. They all thought he was a monster anyway.

As soon as those thoughts processed. He felt sick. He felt ashamed. He felt like a goddamn monster. He wasn't what everyone called him. He wasn't and he never would be! He would never be a villain. He.. wouldn't. He was fucking hero.

Katsuki felt himself slipping into his head. He was somewhat aware of his surroundings, aware enough that he faintly heard himself set off another explosion but not enough to make himself stop.

Another explosion went off and this time he felt a sharp sting shoot through his right thigh. He was unintentionally hurting himself. Trying to contain the explosions. Another one went off and this time it was pain shooting straight from his left side around his stomach up to his chest.

The smell of burnt fabric and singed skin was making him nauseous.

"Kat!" He was pretty sure that voice belonged to Eijirou. He couldn't quite tell. He could barely hear anything over the blood roaring in his ears.

He felt hardened hands grab his, probably trying to smother the explosions.

It was the soft and panicked, "Kacchan" that he was for sure sent him into a full blown melt down, even though he tried his hardest to stop it.

He set off another set of explosions, this time purposely and pushed Eijirou away. He could see the hurt flash in his best friend's eyes but he was too far gone to really care at this point. "Everyone leave me the fuck alone! Just leave me alone!"

He heard someone say his name and he whirled around to face them and bared his teeth. All of his friends looked upset in one way or another and worried. He knew they were worried about him but he just wanted them to leave him alone. He didn't deserve them. He didn't deserve anything.

“Katsuki, please.” Red eyes met teal blue ones and he almost wanted to cry. He was finally showing her who he truly was. The unstable lunatic that he was. The failure people avoided. The beast that people threw things at and then ran away from.

He snarled at Kendou and he hated seeing the concern etched into her face and the tears pooling in her eyes. He snarled again as his eyes never left hers. “Everyone just fuck off and leave me alone! Fuck off and die!”

He'd honestly never hated himself as much as he did when he turned around and he heard her call out his name and he could tell she was crying.

So he did what he did best. He ran. He ran for the doors and didn't stop running until he was back at the dorms.

He slammed his door shut and just screamed and screamed until his voice was raw and felt like it was bleeding. He grabbed the alarm clock on his desk and threw it as hard as he could at the wall before grabbing his whole desk and flipping it.

He grabbed at his hair and pulled it before his palms crackled to life as he set off mini explosions before pressing them to his chest and setting off several blasts. It felt like his ribs exploded but it just wasn't enough. It didn't hurt enough.

Without even thinking about the consequences for even a second, he went to his side table drawer and grabbed the tiny razor blade he hadn't touched in months and instead of clean, careful, and precise cuts on his thighs, he started roughly cutting on his arms and wrists.

He wanted to hurt but he also just wanted everything to stop. Everything was just too much and too loud.

He didn't even realize he was crying until he felt the sting of several tears drip into his open cuts. They were deep and they were ugly.

That's when a hand grabbed the razor from his own hands and he was being pulled into someone's embrace.

He recognized the dark clothes and the smell of coffee immediately as he completely broke down in his sensei’s arms. “I'm so fucking tired! I'm just done and I'm tired. Nobody ever leaves me alone, and I get it because I'm not a good person! I'm a piece of shit. I snapped at Eijirou, Kendou, and everyone just because they care and they were there. They deserve so much better than I am. They don't deserve to have to deal with me. Nobody does.”

His sensei didn't say much other than shushing him and letting him cry, or maybe he did and Katsuki just didn't hear him.

After what felt like forever, Katsuki felt himself calming down and that's when the exhaustion hit. He could barely keep his eyes open and that's when he felt himself being picked up and carried.

He was just so fucking tired that he didn't care.

Last thing he remembered was meeting the eyes of all his friends in the doorway. He passed out trying to slur out an apology and looking right into concerned and worried teal blue eyes.

-

Kendou couldn't sit still in class. She still had one more class after this but all she could think about was Katsuki.

She couldn't help but to keep replaying Katsuki's breakdown in the cafeteria and seeing him being carried out by Aizawa with bloody and cut up arms.

As soon as school was over, she was booking it to Recovery Girl's office to see Katsuki. She would never give up on Katsuki. She'd be there for him.

She couldn't get the look in his eyes out of her head. He looked so tired but so cornered and scared. He was snarling and screaming but she could see the pain and the fear.

Her, Kirishima, and the others followed Katsuki after he ran from the cafeteria but when they got to the dorms, Aizawa was already there, holding a crying and bloody Katsuki.

Kendou felt her throat tighten so she had to take a deep breath while she was taking notes to keep herself from crying. She wanted nothing more than to hold Katsuki in her arms and never let him go.

She wanted to go with Katsuki but Aizawa had told them all to keep quiet about it and go back to class. So now she was sitting here in a panic and having to grit her teeth and listen to people whisper about Katsuki.

Class finally ended and she gathered her things to make it to her final class. She usually walked with Tet but she just wasn't in the mood, but she soon heard him jog up behind her. “Suka, wait up!”

She slowed down slightly but kept walking. Tet walked beside her, “Hey, you okay? Is this about what happened in the cafeteria with Bakugou?”

She held her books close to her chest. “It's not just that. There's more to it. It's everything.” She was trying so hard not to cry. She didn't want to talk about it.

As she was walking she was about to respond again when someone called out to her. “Hey Kendou!”

She turned to find a girl she somewhat knew from 1-D. She had no idea what this girl would want with her. “Can I help you?”

The girl grinned at her. “Word going around is that your villain boyfriend, had a mental breakdown during lunch.”

Kendou completely stopped. She had to have misheard that. There's no way she heard that all right. “What did you say?”

The girl grinned at her, “I said the word is getting out that Bakugou, you know, your villain boyfriend had a breakdown over a little spilled tea.”

Huh, so she had heard it right. She turned towards Tet, “Hold these please.” She handed him her books before turning back to the girl and only took one step in her direction before swinging and cracking the girl right in the cheek. The girl went down immediately and stared back up at her in shock.

Kendou hardly ever struck first, but this time she'd break her code. She had grown up being taught the basics in multiple forms of martial arts and she didn't need her quirk to throw a heavy punch.

She stepped over the girl and she felt all kinds of eyes on her. She kept her voice as even as it could be even though she wanted to scream and cry and everything all at once. “Don't call Katsuki a villain ever again. Understood?”

Kendou didn't wait for an answer, she grabbed her books from Tet without a word and made her way to class. She knew she was going to get called in to see Nezu but she didn't regret her actions one bit.

A few minutes into class with Thirteen, she did get called in to see principal Nezu and her Sensei was in their waiting as well.

She sat down in the chair and waited. She would not lie, she was a bit nervous, she had never been disciplined because she never broke rules, but she didn't regret what she did.

Sensei Kan gave her a disappointed look. “Kendou, what's going on? You're class president and my star student. Why would you attack a girl unprovoked? There has to be some kind of reason.”

She almost rolled her eyes, but she figured that wouldn't be appreciated. This was her sensei and principal, she needed to behave even if she was in a bad mood. “Sensei Kan, I did not attack anyone nor was it unprovoked. It was a simple right cross without using my quirk. She got in my face and she was saying nasty things about another student. One of my friends. I am sorry for striking her because I shouldn't let words provoke me, but it was just the culmination after a rough day.”

Nezu folded his paws on his desk. He always made her nervous. She didn't know how to read him. It was impossible to know what he was thinking.

He cleared his throat. “Kendou, would you like to share what the other young lady said to you because she claims you just hit her out of nowhere and Kan and I just don't believe that.”

Kendou flattened out her skirt just to have something to keep her fingers busy. “She called Katsuki Bakugou a villain and overall down played what he has experienced. I do not think it is right for her or anyone else to call Katsuki a villain.”

She could see her sensei look over at her principal before talking. “Kendou, it's not up to you to defend Bakugou. He can handle himself and a lot of things said about the boy are not baseless claims.” Her eyebrows shot up to her hairline and she went to open her mouth but he shook his head and continued. “I'm not saying the kid is a villain, he wouldn't be here if Aizawa saw any kind of bad faith in him, but he brings a lot of this stuff up on himself on his own. He's got a bad attitude and he's loud and violent. He may grow up to be a great hero but he's never going to be really well liked.”

He sighed and shook his head. “If he's your little boyfriend, that's fine, I can understand you wanting to defend him but you're going to have to learn you can't beat up everyone who doesn't like him, you'll be fighting the whole world.” Then he mumbled under his breath but loud enough she still heard him, “You could do so much better than that little delinquent anyway.”

Kendou clenched her fist. She was absolutely seething but she did her best to keep her voice even in front of her teacher and principal. “May I say something, sensei?”

He nodded, “You may.”

She took a very deep breath before letting it out. “I would politely like to disagree with you on your statements, most of them anyway. You are right about one thing, I don't HAVE to defend Katsuki but I DO because I care about him. A majority of the things that are said about Katsuki are surface level because nobody really knows him and they're just factually wrong. I will never let someone call him a villain if I hear it. You say he's violent, but he's not, you're going off drama and rumors like a teenager. He's sweet and caring and just misunderstood. I've never seen anyone as misunderstood as Katsuki.”

She continued, “Katsuki is going to be an amazing hero and people will love him. People will see who he really is. I have no doubt about that. He's not a delinquent and I would appreciate it if you didn't talk about him like that. Now, can I have my punishment so I may get back to class.”

Kendou met him with a challenging look. She was not in the mood. She was mad, beyond mad about how he talked about Katsuki and she just wanted to be somewhere else.

He eventually just sighed and looked over at Nezu who was giving her an odd look. He eventually just spoke normally though, “Since this is your first offense, two days of house arrest starting tomorrow. Stay out of trouble and go back to class.”

She got up and bowed to them and grabbed her things and made her way down the hall. There was only ten minutes left of class, there was no point in going at this point. She was just going to go see Katsuki.

Kendou made her way out of the building and towards her dorm so she could put her things away and so she could grab something for Katsuki.

As she walked, she realized something that made her face start to heat up and she could feel the butterflies flying around in her tummy.

She never denied that she was dating Katsuki. When the girl approached her in the hallway or with her teacher.

She shook her head, it didn't matter right now, it was fine. She'd deal with it later and fix it. Right now she just needed to see Katsuki, she needed to see that he was safe.

Chapter Text

Katsuki stared down at his arms. They had been cleaned and bandaged up by Recovery Girl, she had wanted to heal him, but he didn't want it even though they would leave nasty and easily noticeable scars. He wanted to live with them as a reminder. He wanted to remember how awful he felt for the thoughts he had. For thinking about the things he did in the cafeteria. It was a punishment and he deserved it.

He would never be a villain. He wouldn't be. He'd never be a monster. No matter what.

The League thought he was an easy target, and everyone else thought he'd eventually turn into a villain, but he'd prove them all wrong. He would.

As he was sitting there, Aizawa walked in and sat in the chair next to his bed. Well shit, this was officially starting to become a habit.

Katsuki looked up at his tired looking teacher, he could relate. "I guess you want to know what happened, huh?"

Aizawa nodded, "I've gotten a lot of first hand accounts but I want to hear from you. What happened?"

He sighed as he ran a hand over his face, "I was at lunch. I was in line talking to Kendou and messing around with my friends when some asshole threw a fucking drink on me. I hate even going into the cafeteria but I did it for Eijirou and Momo because I know they get worried when I don't eat. I fucking hate being publicly humiliated. My mom used to do it to me all the time. If I picked out something feminine, or fell and got hurt and cried, or if I was too “fat” to wear certain things she needed me to model for her." He snorted but it wasn't humorous. "She still calls me chubby boy even though I've been underweight since I was six. I was never good enough, never small enough, never smart enough."

Katsuki looked over at his teacher and then down at the ground, he was getting off track. Aizawa always seemed to have a magical way to get him to spill his guts. Just like with Eijirou and Kendou.

He shrugged, "Couple the public embarrassment with the skin crawling feeling of being wet and sticky, I freaked out, and it just continued to get worse from there. I started thinking really awful things that made me spiral and I started hurting myself and yelling at my friends for just being there and trying to help. I ran back to the dorms, and well, that's where you found me. Having an embarrassing ass breakdown."

Aizawa sighed as he leaned forward in his chair, "Katsuki, it's not embarrassing. You were going through a traumatic response."

He crossed his arms over his chest and had to hold in the hiss he wanted to let out when his arms rubbed together. "Other people have trauma and I don't see them acting like a big baby every time something happens to them. I'm a fuckin failure. I'm fucking.." He choked down his sob and snarled. "I'm fucking broken and I don't know how to fix it!"

Katsuki hated feeling weak and like he couldn't do things on his own, but he just didn't know what to do anymore.

Aizawa stood up and made his way over to the bed and opened his arms. Katsuki wanted to resist. He didn't need a stupid fucking hug. He didn't. Nobody had hugged him for almost ten years before Eijirou. Aizawa was still the only adult to hug him since he was five.

That didn't stop him from getting up and burrowing his face in his teacher's embrace to hide the tears he knew would come. He felt Aizawa place a hand behind his head. "Kid, you've gone through things most people will never know about, and everyone handles things differently. You've never been shown how to handle emotions other than with anger and violence, but even with dealing with all that, you're still a good kid, Katsuki."

Katsuki lifted his head to argue but apparently his teacher wasn't having it. "No, you're a good kid. You are the one I can always count on to lead the others when I need a hand. You're the one I can count on to think before doing something reckless. I trust you to take care of yourself and others on the battlefield more than I do some pros I know. You've been dealt a bad hand, but it's up to you to fix it, and I know you want to and I know you can and I know you're trying."

Katsuki took a step back and wiped at his face, "I..I don't fuckin know what to do."

He hated being this open and honest, but he knew Aizawa wouldn't judge him. Aizawa was one of the very few adults he truly trusted. Aizawa put a hand on his shoulder. "You already made the first step. You've opened up and you had an appointment with Hound Dog, let's reschedule that and go from there, plus we really need to sit down and talk about your parents. They're not in the picture as of right now which is its own can of worms, but if your mom comes asking for you, my hands are tied unless you tell me to file for protective custody, if that's something you'd like to do."

Katsuki nodded. "I'd like to find time to sit down and talk to you about it. I..I just can't deal with her anymore. If I want to figure my shit out. I can't have her or the old man around me anymore."

Aizawa nodded, "After school tomorrow, come by my class and we'll get started on figuring it out, alright?"

He nodded in agreement. "I'll be there."

That's when they heard commotion out in the hallway and Aizawa sighed. "You should be good to go but we need to wait for Recovery Girl to give the final word. That ruckus is your whole group impatiently waiting for you. They've been there since school ended. Are you feeling up to seeing them right now or would you like to rest a bit more?"

He couldn't help but smile a little. His friends were loyal and they loved him and it was way more than he thought he deserved. "Send them in, if they wait any longer they'll start whining like puppies."

Aizawa made his way towards the door as he went to sit back down in the bed. "If you need anything, come find me or call me. I'll see you tomorrow." He went to open the door but stopped and looked back at him one more time. "You're a good kid, Katsuki. I'm proud of you.”

As soon as Aizawa was out of the door, his friends came rushing into the room and the space cramped up quickly. He was happy to see his friends but Katsuki was unintentionally searching for orange and teal. That's when he saw her walk in the door wearing his hoodie and he just kind of couldn't stop staring.

He was standing before he even realized and met her half way. "I..I'm sorry..I was freaking out and I was in my head and I.. I was just panicking. I'm sorry I said what I said."

He had never outright apologized to anyone before, not so easily, but this felt natural and if felt real, and he meant it.

Kendou smiled at him, her eyes were still red rimmed, she had cried because of him. He made her cry.

She barreled into him and threw her arms around him. "Quit over thinking. I'm fine. You didn't have to apologize, you weren't in the right headspace, but apology accepted anyway. I'm just glad you're as okay as you can be right now."

They separated even though he really didn't want to and by the way she clung to him said she didn't really want to either.

She ran a finger gently across his bandages. “Katsuki..”

He shook his head gently. “I'm alright. Chicks dig scars right?”

She rolled her eyes at him and went to speak but a voice from behind them cut her off. "Come on, please just ki.."

He heard a yelp and looked over to see Mina clamping a hand over Denki's mouth as he rubbed his ribs. Mina just smiled at him and she whispered but Katsuki heard her. "Don't rush them. You can't rush perfection."

Katsuki rolled his eyes. He figured Pinky would be the captain of the ship between him and Kendou. He knew what they all wanted..he just didn't know what he wanted, well he did to a degree. He really liked Kendou as a person, but he just didn't want to fuck up her life. He couldn't be with anyone until he got his shit somewhat under control. He had to be a healthier version of himself so he could be better for whoever he was with.

It's not like he hadn't thought about it. Kendou was amazing and beautiful and sweet and independent. She was just incredible, but she deserved someone who had their shit together. He wanted to be that eventually, but he also wouldn't ask her to wait because that wasn't fair.

If she did, and something happened when it did, they'd go from there.

It was hard though, because he wanted to hold her and pull her close, but he couldn't right now, and that was even if she liked him back. He assumed, but he wasn't certain.

He eventually turned to his friends. He looked at all of them and let his gaze stay on Eijirou. "I'm sorry. I'm just sorry for everything, to all of you."

Eijirou made his way forward and hugged him. Katsuki tucked his face into Eijirou's neck. "We just care about you Kats. We'll always be here for you." He felt Eijirou nuzzle into his hair. "I love you Katsuki. Always will."

Katsuki lightly headbutted the red head's jaw. "Love you too Ei."

The door opened and they all heard Recovery Girl scold them. "Why are there so many of you in here? Come on, out." The small woman made her way up to Katsuki. "You feeling like you can handle moving you arms around right now?"

Katsuki nodded, "Yeah. Arms are sore but I'm fine."

She gently tapped him on the leg. "Come back tomorrow so I can thoroughly clean them and wrap your arms in new bandages, okay young man?"

He nodded again. "I will, thank you."

They all made it out into the hallway and started walking towards the dorms. Denki grinned wide at him. "Dude, Kendou got a couple days house arrest for cracking some girl in the face. She's a badass."

Katsuki looked over at Kendou who was walking right next to him. "You got house arrest?"

Her face was a light pink as she nodded. "Some girl was saying mean things about you and got in my face about it, and I just was tired of hearing about it. I was done with how people talk about you.”

Katsuki felt warmth spread through his chest, but at the same time, he didn't want her to ruin her reputation because of him.

He turned to her, “Tangerine, don't ruin your reputation for me. I've told everyone here the same thing, don't throw away anything for me.”

Kendou completely stopped and turned to him, “I'm not going to ruin my reputation, Suki, but I'm also not going to sit back and let people say things about you that are just wrong.” She grabbed his hand and held it, “You're a good person and you don't deserve to be treated like you're not.”

He held her hand and looked her in the eyes. She really was amazing. He could feel that she actually gave a shit. She was genuine and it flustered him.

He didn't really know how to respond without calling her amazing and sweet and everything else and making himself look like a fool, so he blurted out the thing that was always on his mind. “You have really pretty eyes.”

He could feel his face heat up. Really fucking smooth Katsuki. Real eloquent. He could hear his friends cooing and Kendou giggled. “Thank you, Suki.”

She handed him something that he noticed she had been carrying. It was some kind of hoodie or jacket. He looked up to see her face was slightly pink. “It's probably not going to help with the dating rumors, but I wanted you to have it. It means a lot to me.”

He fully held it out, and it was a hoodie. It was a light lilac of a color, it had a little symbol on the front, but when he turned it around, he understood why Kendou said what she said. “Kendou Family Dojo: Itsuka” was printed across the back.

She was smiling softly as he looked back up at her. “My family means a lot to me. Whether it be family or friends, blood or not.” She gave him a small smirk, “It'll look better on you anyway.”

Katsuki couldn't help but smile back at her. “Thanks, Itsuka.”

-

Shouta was grading papers when there was a knock on the classroom door.

It was nearing seven so the only person he could think it would be would be Hizashi. “It's open.”

It wasn't Hizashi who walked in, it was Midoriya.

Shouta sat down his pen, “Midoriya, what do you need? Curfew is in a little more than an hour. Did something happen?”

Midoriya shook his head. “I came to talk about Kac…I mean K..Katsuki. I..I was at lunch when everything happened. I tried to approach him because he was right next to our table and I wanted to help..but when I called out to him, it seemed to really set him off.”

Shouta could see the kid trying to wipe his eyes so he handed him the box of tissues on his desk. “I..I sat there and watched him retreat into his head and hurt himself and there was nothing I could do. Plus I know he's had a cutting problem before..and he came back to the dorm with bandaged arms. H..He accidentally got the bandages wet while cooking so Yaoyorozu helped him rewrap them. I saw the cuts. I saw them and I've helped push him to this point!”

Shouta went to speak but the kid was on a roll. “I know it's not all my fault. I..I know how bad Mitsuki can be. I've heard her degrade him and I've seen her hit him when she thought I wasn't around, but I didn't help. I made him anxious and I made him feel like he couldn't be safe with me. I helped make him feel like he was worth nothing more than his quirk.”

Green eyes looked up at him and bored into his soul. “I..I want to set up some appointments to see Hound Dog or someone. I..I have to talk to someone about all this. I need to. I want to be in Kac.. Katsuki’s life. I want us to be friends, or at least be able to be heroes who stand side by side. I want that and if I want it, I need to figure stuff out. He's not perfect by any means but I'm starting to see I pushed him into a corner where he felt like he couldn't escape.”

Shouta felt like sighing in relief. This kid was starting to get it. Midoriya had so much potential to be a real great hero. He had the chance to be a symbol for people, he just needed to focus on his goals and not just on Katsuki. It was finally starting to seem like he understood that himself now too.

Shouta cracked a small but genuine smile at the kid. “I’ll talk to Hound Dog and get things figured out. You're a good kid, Midoriya. You've just got to focus on yourself and your goals for a while.”

Midoriya wiped his eyes and nodded. “Thank you, Sensei.”

When he finally went to leave, Shouta cleared his throat so Midoriya would turn around to face him, “I'm proud of you, kid.”

Midoriya smiled wide. “Thank you, sir.”

Aizawa picked up his pen again, “You and Katsuki have the makings of becoming two of the greatest modern heroes Japan will ever see. I don't doubt that that will become a reality.”

Shouta never lied and he wasn't lying now. He truly believed Katsuki and Midoriya would take the hero world by storm by the time they graduated if they could get everything under control.

He knew they would.

He had no doubts about it.

Chapter Text

Katsuki took one last deep breath as he walked down the hall towards Aizawa’s class. He played with the strings of the hoodie Itsuka had given him yesterday. If he was going to really dive into how he felt about his parents, he was going to need all the comfort he could get.

He knocked on the door and waited about three seconds before he heard a gruff, “Come in.”

He opened and closed the door as Aizawa nodded to him. “How are you today? You seemed distracted in class.”

Katsuki took a seat at the desk that sat right in front of Aizawa. He had been distracted, even during training and it was his first day back so he should have been excited but he just couldn't get his mind off things. “I was thinking about this talk and just talking about my parents in general and shit.”

Aizawa nodded, “You can tell me as little as you want, but if you're really wanting me to push for the school to have custody over you and get you in protective custody, you're going to have to be completely honest with me. I know you're always honest, but I just have to warn you anyway. Plus you won't go to a foster home or anything, you'll continue living in the dorms, your parents just won't have a say in your life anymore.”

That was one of Katsuki's biggest hang ups. He didn't want to be under guardianship of the whole school system. “Can you be my main legal guardian?” He felt his face heating up quickly. “I..I’m not asking you to adopt me or anything like Hitoshi, I just trust you. I don't fully trust the school as a whole after some of the shit that's happened, but I trust you. I respect you.”

He could see that his teacher wasn't expecting this, he went to just say to forget what he said but Aizawa was talking first. “Okay, we can do that.”

Katsuki was taken aback, he had a whole speech and everything prepared. “Really?”

Aizawa snorted. “Kid, I'm your first emergency contact. We've seen each other at our weakest, and last week you even called me dad.”

Katsuki rolled his eyes, “That was a dare from Hitoshi and you know it.”

Aizawa grinned at him as his look turned fond and Katsuki shifted uncomfortably. “I know you don't trust a lot of people, especially adults and rightfully so, but I promised you I would do what I could to be there for you and I meant it. I wasn't there once before and I will not make that mistake again.”

Katsuki nodded, “I know.” He then sighed, “It's just that.. are you sure you can win this against my mom? If not, she'll pull me out of school and I can't have that happen.”

He could feel his breaths starting to become shallow just at the thought of being stuck with her again until Aizawa was speaking to him again. “Katsuki, hey, stay with me, with just the little you've told me before, your mother isn't going to win any case against us. With abuse allegations, your scars and records, and the testimony of a couple witnesses, she won't stand a chance. She'll probably want to just sign the rights over and stay out of court if she's smart.”

He snorted, “My mother is smart, but she's also vindictive, arrogant, and manipulative as hell. She won't roll over. She'll fight it the entire way.”

Aizawa nodded, “If that is the route she chooses, she will most definitely lose and will probably see jail time.” He watched as his teacher picked up a pen. “Whatever you tell me today, you're going to have to probably repeat it all in front of officers and officials again, and probably someone with a truth based quirk, is that okay?”

Katsuki took a deep breath, he had pretty much already figured all that out. He believed in his teacher. He believed that when Aizawa said he would never have to go back to her, he meant it. “It's fine, let's just do this. I have an appointment with Hound Dog later I have to get to.”

He sat there for a few minutes in silence, wondering what to say. Katsuki finally ran a hand over his face. “Where the fuck do I even start?”

Aizawa looked over at him, “Anywhere you want, I'm not a therapist, Katsuki. I'm your teacher that's here to help push everything through to the right channels and make sure you're safe.”

He played with the hoodie strings so he had something to fidget with, he had started to notice he did this a lot. “The first time I remember her physically hitting me was when I was five. I had only had my quirk for about two months or so, and I was learning fast on how to control it, because even as a kid I knew it was dangerous.”

He pulled the hood up around his head and tried to focus on the small lingering scent that he easily recognized was Itsuka. “I..I accidentally popped a small explosion and it accidentally caught one of her dresses she had been working on, on fire. I quickly put it out before it spread but it was ruined. She found me as I had just put the fire out. She screamed at me and told me I did it on purpose. I ran to her, trying to tell her it was an accident but instead of being held like I thought she'd do, she smacked me in the face and called me useless.”

Katsuki sighed, “I don't think she ever forgave me because things just got worse. Daily little smacks were natural, but as I got older, she got meaner and hit me harder for everything. Eating too much, missing even a single point on my tests, not finishing my homework on time. Hell, sometime if I just breathed near her it seemed like enough to set her off.”

He could feel the phantom pain from the scars on his back. “She started to use the belt when I was six, almost seven. There was other punishments too, she'd withhold food from me if she thought I was gaining weight. Her and my dad used to put quirk restraining gloves on me when I couldn't always control my quirk or if I had to spark off and she was in a mood.”

Aizawa looked up at him from his notepad, “Spark off?”

Katsuki nodded, “Sometimes my sweat builds up too much if I don't set off a little explosion. Wiping it off with something works but then I'm just carrying around a literal bomb. It's just easier to spark off. I didn't try to use it as an intimidation tactic but people were always scared I was going to hurt them, so it got people to leave me alone.”

The two of them talked for about an hour, and Katsuki went over every gritty detail of his childhood that he could recall, even if he hated absolutely every second of it. His mom's abuse, his dad gaslighting him at every single turn, when he started to self harm, how he felt so fucking lost and alone sometimes.

Katsuki played with his hands, and he hated how soft his voice came out. “I hate myself. I know I portray this egotistical and aggressive asshole, but I really fucking hate myself.”

He couldn't look up to see his teacher's eyes. “Months ago, way back when the dorms were built, I thought about killing myself. I had gotten in a major fight with my mom and she had beat the shit out of me. I was just so fucking tired. I wanted to be done, I wanted everything to just fucking stop. The sports festival and the kidnapping were fresh wounds and people wouldn't stop treating me like a fucking animal.”

He picked at his skin. “I was the cause for All Night's retirement. He says he doesn't blame me, but everyone else does. People still do. I can't even walk to the fucking market down the block by myself without someone calling me something or telling me I should be expelled.”

He tried to growl to hide how vulnerable he was but even he could see through it. “Eijirou found me sitting on the ledge of the roof of the dorms, he knew of my hiding spots and pulled me away from the edge metaphorically and literally.”

Katsuki sighed, “I don't feel like killing myself now, I don't think? Sometimes I still think about it, I fantasize about it. I feel like people would be better off without me a lot of the time, but I don't like, actively think about killing myself now or anything for the most part. So, progress I guess. I just..I have to get better for me, but I also want to be better for the people in my life that matter to me.”

He finally looked up to his teacher who was giving him a particular look he couldn't decipher. He watched as Aizawa unwrapped his scarf from around his neck, and with sitting this close and focusing on just his teacher, Katsuki was easily able to notice a large scar going across his teacher's neck. “I tried when I was sixteen. Hizashi found me and was able to stop the bleeding long enough for help to arrive. Luckily my dumbass didn't cut deep enough.”

Aizawa wrapped the scarf around his neck again. “I was angry and tired and pissed off all the time, but I'm glad I didn't die. I have a husband and two kids we've adopted, and three cats.” Katsuki snorted and Aizawa smiled a small bit.

His teacher sighed. “Things get better, kid and I can tell you want them to, if you didn't, you wouldn't be going to see Hound Dog. You wouldn't admit that you need help. You want to be better, to feel better and you're going to get there. You're already getting there.”

They talked for a little while longer but they finally wrapped it up and Aizawa promised he'd have everything written up and be able to push the papers through by the next day. “You're never going to have to go back with her again, Katsuki.”

Katsuki nodded. “I believe you.” He believed in Aizawa wholeheartedly.

Everything would be fine.

It would.

It had to be.

As he was walking out, he heard his teacher call out to him. “Kendou is a good student. She's smart and can handle herself. I'm glad to see you opening up to more people, Katsuki.”

Katsuki felt his cheeks heat up so he didn't turn around. He could hear the fondness and slight chuckle on his teacher's tone. Katsuki tried to keep the embarrassment out of his voice. “S..She’s really cool. We've been spending more time together.”

He could hear Aizawa slightly laugh, “I know you have. You deserve to be happy, Katsuki.”

Katsuki mumbled and he walked out of the door red faced. “Thanks..or whatever.”

He hated how much Aizawa felt more like a dad who was talking to his son about girls more than his own dad ever did. His dad never even really talked to him to begin with.

He hated how he felt a longing in bones. He wished he had a dad like Aizawa.

-

Kendou was very excited as she walked through the gates of campus and made her way back up the path to the dorm buildings. She had just gotten her hair cut into the wolf cut style she had been thinking about. She loved it and was very excited to show Katsuki.

Katsuki's excitement over the wolf cut style definitely didn't sway her decision in the slightest. Not one tiny bit.

She knew he had his talk with Aizawa and his appointment with Hound Dog so she figured he'd be tired, but when she said she was getting her haircut, he told her he wanted to see when she was done. Plus she was never going to give up being able to spend time with Katsuki.

When she made it to the 1-A dorms, she knocked and waited. Ashido opened the door and immediately squealed. “Oh! My! Gods! You look so hot!” Her grin grew mischievous though and it instantly put Kendou on edge. “I cannot wait for Blasty to see you. He's in the kitchen, come on.”

Ashido grabbed her wrist and they were walking through the common room when the pink girl yelled out, “Blasty! I found a hot babe on the front steps. You know her?”

Kendou immediately felt her face flush as she felt a lot of eyes turn towards her. Then Katsuki came grumbling through the kitchen doorway. “Pinky, what the fuck are you on ab..”

He stopped dead in his tracks and looked at her. His stare and the fact he was wearing her hoodie made her tummy absolutely explode with butterflies.

Kendou could see Katsuki's face flush as he kept staring at her. She was expecting a lot of things. For him to get embarrassed and look away, for him to crack a joke, something. She wasn't expecting him to look her directly in the eyes and call her beautiful. “You're absolutely breathtaking, Itsuka.”

She was at a loss for words. She'd never had someone be so open and raw with her. She could see it in his eyes. The absolute fondness.

She liked him. She couldn't lie to herself anymore, she liked him a lot. He was her friend, but she liked him and..and..she just wanted to kiss him. She'd never kissed anyone before, but she really wanted to kiss him. She wanted to hold him and him hold her and she wanted to go on stupid cheesy dates that he would give her shit for at the end of the day.

Kendou finally stumbled out an answer, “T..Thank you Suki. You really like it?”

He nodded and smiled at her, “Yeah, I do. Come on, dinner is almost ready.”

He held out his hand for her to take in front of everyone, and she heard a few people gasp and she could hear Ashido speak softly, soft enough that she probably wasn't supposed to hear her. “Katsuki, you sweetheart.”

She'd come to learn later why it was such a big moment. The only other person he'd ever reached his hand out for was Kirishima.

She took his hand and let him lead her into the kitchen.

A little while after dinner, the two of them ended up on Katsuki's balcony that was attached to his room. There was soft music playing in the background as they just sat and watched the sunset.

They had maneuvered so he was sitting in between her legs and leaning back against her while she rested her chin on his shoulder and had her arms wrapped around his stomach.

She had successfully stolen another item from his closet. It was a baggy orange and black flannel that she was probably not giving back until he stole it back himself.

She had always felt like she owed it to everyone to be hyper feminine, especially after her first work study, but spending more time with Katsuki and his “fuck gender norms” attitude. She was letting herself relax and be more free.

She'd never felt like herself with being hyper feminine. It just wasn't her. She just wanted to do her own thing, and Katsuki helped feel like she was able to do that.

She pulled him close and nuzzled into his hair as she could feel him rest his arms on hers.

If anyone saw them like this, she couldn't blame them for thinking they're a couple at this point.

There was so much she wanted to say on the tip of her tongue but she didn't want everything to come crumbling down. She didn't want to scare Katsuki off, especially because he was already dealing with so much, but she didn't know how much longer she could be this domestic and not say anything, and she really didn't want to distance herself from Katsuki. She knew that would hurt the both of them.

Kendou tucked her face towards his neck. “Suki?” Her words came out barely above a whisper.

He hummed back gently, “Yeah, Tangerine?”

She took a deep breath in. She had to tell him. It may ruin everything, but she had to tell him to be fair to the both of them. “I really like you. I..I like you way more than a friend should.”

He tensed in her arms for just a split second but then immediately relaxed. Then he was moving out of her arms and her first instinct was to panic, but just as quickly as he moved he was settling again. He had just moved so he could look at her it seemed. “I..I really like you too, Itsuka.”

He smiled gently at her but it fell. “I really like you, but I just can't do anything about it right now. I..I’m broken and fucked up and that's not the version of myself I want to give my partner. I'm probably always going to have some issues, but I want to be healthier for my partner. They deserve that.. You deserve it.”

He gently grabbed her hands, “I'd love for you to stay and wait for me because I really do like you, but I don't know how long it'll take for me to feel like I'm ready, and that's just not fair to you.”

Kendou went through a lot of emotions in the span of Katsuki's explanation, but at the end, she felt content. Katsuki did like her like she liked him. He just wanted to be a better version of himself and that was honestly admirable.

She squeezed his hands. “I think it's amazing that you want to make sure you're healthier for your partner. You really are incredible. W..What if I said I wanted to wait for you though?”

He looked surprised, “You'd honestly do that?”

She smiled and rubbed her thumbs over the back of his hands. “I would, and I will. I like you Katsuki. I think you're amazing and sweet and smart. You make me feel things I've never felt before. You make me really happy.”

He blushed and looked away for a moment. “You make me happy too, you make me feel safe.”

She brought him in close, not to kiss him, but to lightly brush her nose with his. “Do we keep doing what we're doing until then or do we dial it back? People are going to keep talking about us.”

He leaned his forehead against hers and lightly headbutted her. She kept noticing he really was like a cat. “Let them talk. We'll just keep doing what we're doing, what feels right, as long as we're both comfortable, okay?”

Kendou lightly headbutted him back before brushing her nose against his again, “Okay.”

“Hey, you two get a room!”

Kendou looked around as she heard giggling until she found Kaminari and Sero standing out on a balcony from a floor up and a dorm to the right.

She watched as Katsuki lazily flipped them off. “Fuck off, the both of you. We're technically in my room.” She could tell he had absolutely no bite to his words.

Kaminari called out to them, “I got some cute pictures of you two if you want me to send them!”

Katsuki removed his forehead from hers as she could feel her face heating up. “Quit being weird and go away! But send me those pictures first!”

Sero tilted his head back and laughed. “Sure thing bro!”

Kendou looked at Katsuki when he turned back to look at her. A little smile playing on his face. “Send me those pictures?”

He grinned a little wider as they both heard his phone ping. “Sure, Tangerine.”

Later that night as Kendou laid in her bed. She kept staring at the picture Katsuki had sent her that Kaminari had taken. They were sitting with their foreheads pressed together and they were both smiling. One picture showed she had her eyes open and was looking at Katsuki while the other had her eyes closed as she was just enjoying the moment they had been sharing.

It may be one of her new favorite pictures. She made sure to save it as she held her phone to her chest.

She liked Katsuki.

She liked him a lot.

Her phone started to ring and she looked at it, immediately answering when she saw it was Katsuki. “Hey Suki. You okay?”

His voice came through relaxed but sounded tired. “Yeah, I'm alright. I just wanted to call, you free?”

She smiled as she snuggled down into his skull hoodie she wore almost every night for bed now. “Yeah, I'm free.”

She heard him lightly chuckle through the phone. “I miss hearing your voice already.” His voice sounded so soft and free of any anxiety or harshness he carried during the day. It sounded so warm.

She had to stop herself from squealing with happiness. Itsuka Kendou did not squeal, but she sure as hell came close. “I..I miss yours too, Katsuki.”

Chapter Text

With having such an incredible evening with Katsuki, Kendou was not prepared for everything that happened the next morning.

She was sleepily making her way downstairs, engulfed in Katsuki's hoodie and a pair of his shorts she had stolen the previous night. Honestly she had “stolen” quite a few things from his closet at this point. She had his hoodie, his flannel, two of his sweaters, one of them that literally just had the name “Bakugou” across the back, and several pairs of his shorts. She stole a camo pair of his cargo shorts that she was totally wearing later.

As soon as she stepped foot downstairs, she heard Shiozaki yelling at her. “I can't believe you're actually dating that brute!”

Kendou wasn't even close to being fully awake as she sleepily rubbed her eyes. “What are you talking about?”

Shiozaki showed Kendou her phone and it was a picture of her and Katsuki on his balcony last night. It looked to be right before they had their talk about their feelings because she was still sitting behind him and he was sitting between her legs. It was also from a different angle and side than where Kaminari and Sero had been standing. Who would have snuck pictures of them just to send them to people? They weren't doing anything or breaking any rules.

Kendou rolled her eyes. “Who sent that to you? Plus we were just fucking cuddling.” She stopped and almost giggled to herself, she was cursing so much more because of Katsuki. She was going to kick his butt later.

Shiozaki frowned and pulled her out of her thoughts, “It doesn't matter who. He's changing you. You're cursing more, and you just got in trouble for punching a girl over nothing.” She gestured at her, “You've changed your appearance. You're wearing men's clothing and you cut your pretty hair. You were such a pretty and lovely girl.”

Kendou couldn't help but roll her eyes again. “I'm still a girl and I'm still pretty. I know who I am. Katsuki isn't changing me, he's just given me the confidence to do what I want to do and be who I want to be. I'm not some feminine barbie doll, that's never truly been me. I'm doing what I want and he supports me.”

She then shrugged at Shiozaki. “If people don't like it, they can kiss my ass. Plus, I didn't punch that girl over nothing, I punched her for calling Katsuki a villain.”

Awase chimed in from across the room. “Well, he is a..”

Kendou fixed him with a glare and snarled. “Go ahead, finish that sentence.”

Most of the class was down in the common room, either getting breakfast or sitting around. Kendou was putting this to bed, once and for all. “I understand that most of you don't like Katsuki. That's because you judge him over rumors and his temper, which to a point is understandable, but you do not get to call him a villain. You do not get to say anything about him personally that you don't know. You all don't know him. Leave him alone and leave the relationship we have alone. It's nobody's business but ours.”

Kaibara shook his head. “Kendou, we're just trying to protect you. Bakugou isn't good. He's going to hurt you one of these days. Emotionally and physically.”

Kendou crossed her arms. “Katsuki isn't going to hurt me. This is what I mean when I say you don't know him. He's not abusive in any way!”

She then held up four fingers as she counted them out. “Other than me, Tet, Setsuna, and Monoma, who here has even talked to Katsuki for more than ten seconds?”

She waited for any of them to raise their hand because she knew they'd be lying if they did. “That's what I thought.” She sighed, “You all, you don't have to like Katsuki. You don't even have to be his friend. He has a temper, and he has an attitude, but he's nothing like what you hear about. He has reasons for the way he is. I'm not giving him excuses, I'm just simply saying there is more to Katsuki than most of you realize. I'm not asking you to go out of your way to befriend him, I'm just asking you to have enough respect for him and for me to just leave him alone, leave us alone.”

Kendou felt her face heat up as she was standing there. “H..He's not my boyfriend yet, but I really do like him and he likes me. He's trying really hard to fix something right now on his end, and I'm hoping soon I'll be able to call him my boyfriend.”

Kodai raised her hand before speaking in her usual timid voice. “After we all got to see him breakdown in the cafeteria, are the rumors about his parents true?”

Kendou felt herself tense. She wasn't going to give any of Katsuki's secrets away. Those stories were his to tell. “I don't know much about his parents, and even if I did, it wouldn't be my place to talk about them.”

She could tell that not everyone believed her, but they weren't going to get anything about Katsuki's personal life out of her. She wouldn't do that to Katsuki.

Rin spoke up, “What about everything that is said about what he did to Midoriya? Is any of that true?”

Kendou crossed her arms over her chest again. “You can ask Midoriya about that. I'm sure he would be happy to tell you what happened instead of everyone just operating on rumors they heard from someone, that they heard from their friend, that they heard something from their classmate.”

Awase snorted, “So circling back real quick, you want to date him? Are you going to be the boyfriend and he's going to be the girlfriend? We all saw the picture. For someone who acts so tough, he sure acts like a little girl around you. Plus look at you, you're walking around here with your hair cut short and wearing his clothes. He's a pretty boy, all he needs is a skirt and you'd be a great pair of dy..”

Before Kendou could launch herself at him, a large metal hand clamped down on his shoulder. She could hear Tet growl from across the room. “I really, really have to advise you against finishing that sentence or I'll break your jaw..again.”

She could see Awase startle before jumping away from Tet and scrambling out of the room. Tet smiled at her as he made his way over and threw his regular arm around her shoulders. “That's enough from everyone. Suka’s relationship with Katsuki is just that, hers.”

Kendou watched Shiozaki cross her arms. “Well then she needs to keep it to herself. Stop galavanting it in front of all of us.”

Kendou rolled her eyes. “In what way am I galavanting?”

Shiozaki glared at her. “In the photo, you were cuddled and pulled close. You're wearing his clothes. People have seen you two holding hands.”

Kendou threw up her hands and felt Tet trying to squeeze her shoulder to probably calm her down, “And?” She held up several fingers and counted them. “A few things. One, somebody snuck a picture of us for some fucking reason when we were sitting on Katsuki's balcony. That was a personal moment that should have been nobody else's business. Two, I'm allowed to wear whatever the hell I want when I'm not in school or training. Three, so we hold hands! Nobody has ever said shit when Tet has had Kirishima over here. Nobody says anything when Shinsou comes over to pick up Monoma. Again, it's just because it's Katsuki. Finally, four, and this is the most important, it's nobody's fucking business!”

Now she was just seething. This was all just so stupid. She ran her hands over her face and took a breath. “Just from now on, nobody except a select few are allowed to talk to me about Katsuki. I'm simply just done. This is stupid and I'm legitimately pissed off. If you're not Tet, Setsuna, Komori, or Monoma, just don't talk to me about Katsuki. End of fucking discussion.”

She looked over at Tet, “I'm going to get dressed and go see if Katsuki wants to go do something. I'll talk to you later.”

Tet gave her a soft smile, “Go have fun. I'll talk to you later.”

She made her way past everyone else and made sure to stomp up the stairs. She pulled out her phone to message Katsuki to see if wanted to hang out but she already had a message from him. “Classmates are being fucking idiots. Want to go do something?”

It looked like he was having a morning too apparently. She immediately responded. “Sounds good. Meet you in 20 at our spot?”

Her phone vibrated just a few moments later and she checked it. “See you in 20.”

Just talking to him was lifting her spirits and she'd be seeing him in just a few. She got another message that made her face heat up and she had to suppress her need to squeak. “I miss you, Tangerine.”

She replied back with a burning face as she used her heel to shut her door behind her. “I miss you too, Suki. See you in just a few.”

-

Katsuki was actually feeling good so far this morning, even after he found out some nosey asshole took pictures of him and Itsuka for some odd reason. He even tried asking Denki and Hanta if they saw who it was but they didn't know either. It wasn't like him and Itsuka were doing anything wrong. Fucking weirdos.

Other than that annoyance, he was feeling good. Talking with Aizawa and Hound Dog had left him feeling light. Plus Itsuka had admitted she liked him and wanted to wait for him until he was ready. They'd spent hours just being together yesterday and he just felt good. He knew a shit storm was heading his way, but he would enjoy the random and rare good mood while it lasted.

When he felt good, and his brain and thoughts weren't screaming at him that he was a worthless failure, he tended not to care as much about what the others thought of him, so after his run and shower, he decided to dress up a little.

He had never really dressed up outside of his room or one of his friends' rooms before. They were his safe spots to do what he wanted, but today he kind of just didn't give a shit. So he wore skirts sometimes? Why should other people give a fuck. Denki wore skirts sometimes and nobody ever cared.

Katsuki also knew there was a difference between Denki and him though. Denki didn't have the reputation for being a heartless bastard like he did.

Still, he was just in that mood. He just didn't want to care so he just wasn't going to.

He started to get dressed and in the end, he settled on something in the middle of the road so to speak. He wanted to go see Itsuka later so it would probably be too cold for a skirt, so he went with a pair of white, high waisted jeans and a cropped sweater that showed just a smidge of his stomach if he raised his arms. He grabbed a black beanie and tucked his hair into it, his hair was getting longer. He'd have to start tying it up soon.

He stopped to look at himself in the mirror, it was a cute outfit, nothing crazy but still a little feminine. It was a nice change of pace. He wasn't dumb, he knew he had some softer features and wider hips. He used to get mistaken for a girl quite often before he became infamous for the sports festival and Kamino. It had never bothered him. He was who he was.

Katsuki made his way downstairs. He should probably eat something. He had been really trying to eat a decent sized meal at least once a day over the last couple days and he felt good so he was going to eat while he could .

He really was trying.

Katsuki made his way into the Kitchen where Mina and Kyouka already were. Mina smiled wide at him. “You. Look. So. Cute!”

He ducked his head as he felt himself blush. He still wasn't completely used to compliments. He probably never would be. “Thanks. Kind of felt good and I wanted to wear something different.”

Kyouka smirked at him, “You look fucking adorable.”

Katsuki again, felt his face getting hotter. “S..Shut the fuck up Kyo.”

He got to work making a simple breakfast for him and the others. “Where are the rest of the idiots? And Momo.”

Mina dramatically leaned into him. “Blastyyyyy. Why is Momo never lumped in as an idiot like the rest of us?”

Katsuki snorted, “Cause the rest of you are goofy as fuck. Momo is the only one who hasn't gotten in some sort of trouble doing something absolutely idiotic. I'm including myself in this situation so shut the hell up.”

He could see Kyouka grinning from where she was stirring the ingredients he had given her. “My girl is classy but don't let her fool you, she's just as silly and reckless as the rest of us.”

Katsuki laughed gently. “That's fair.”

Kyouka handed him the bowl back and she continued. “Mo is on her way back from seeing her parents, same with Hitoshi. He said last night was family dinner night. Denks and Hanta got permission to run to the store for some snack Denki is after and Eijirou said he had to pick something up in the main building.”

Speaking of the red head, Katsuki heard him come strolling through the front door and Katsuki knew it was him because he could hear him blasting the same awful pop song he had been obsessed with for the last week. “Ei! Turn that shit down, breakfast is almost ready.”

He heard the music stop and his best friend called out to him. “Kat! You in the kitchen?”

Katsuki rolled his eyes. “Yes shark shit! Me, Pinky, and little miss emo.” He got jabbed with an earphone jack in the neck as he heard Mina giggling but it was so worth it.

He could hear Eijirou’s excited footsteps, “Wait until you guys see what my moms sent me!”

He busted into the kitchen wearing a full ass great white shark onesie with the biggest grin on his face. “Look at it!”

He spun around and Katsuki couldn't help but roll his eyes at his best friend. “Fucking goofball.”

Katsuki could tell by the way Eijirou's eyes gleamed, he had picked up on his fondness without him having to really say anything.

Eijirou just grinned wider. “I'm taking that as a compliment. You also look super cute, Kats. Feeling good today?”

Katsuki nodded, “I am. I'm feeling oddly okay.”

The four of them made conversation and eventually Denki and Hanta showed up and some of the others started making their way into the common room and kitchen. Katsuki could feel eyes on him but he didn't let it get to him. Let them stare.

That's when he felt another type of stare. One he had felt for most of his life. He turned to see Deku looking at him. He could tell Deku wanted to say something. He watched as the green haired boy opened and closed his mouth a few times. Katsuki could feel his heart rate picking up and he hated it. In the end though, Deku just nodded at him and kept to himself.

Katsuki immediately felt the tension leaving his body. He gave a stiff nod back and went back to making plates for his friends. That was probably the most civil interaction him and Deku had had for years, and it was almost..nice.

Things were good. He was feeling good. Then someone had to go and piss him off.

“Is that why you bullied Deku? Because you couldn't accept yourself?”

Katsuki turned to look at Uraraka, “What are you on about?”

She put her hands on her hips. “Is that why you bullied Deku? Because you're gay and you couldn't accept yourself. Kendou is going to be so crushed.”

Katsuki couldn't help it, he started cackling. He held his sides while everyone stared at him. After a few moments, he pretended to wipe a tear from his eye. “One, I never bullied Deku. Two, I'm not gay, I'm bi.” He could see his friends smiling at him, this was the first time he had ever admitted it to anyone that wasn't them.

He continued, “The way I dress doesn't mean shit. I can dress however the fuck I want. I know who I am, and who I like. Gender norms are fucking stupid. If I want to wear a skirt, I'm gonna wear a skirt. If I want to wear panties, I'm gonna wear them. Why would I listen to some stupid made up rules about gender and clothing? I do what the fuck I want.”

Katsuki shook his head as he turned away from her. That stupid shit wasn't going to ruin his mood and now he was on a roll. “It's the reason I don't give a shit when Itsuka holds me close, or throws her arm around my waist or shoulders. It's why I don't give a fuck when Mina or Momo want me to go shopping with them and do their makeup. It's why I don't fucking care when Kyo or Hitoshi want to do my nails. I literally just don't care.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “I guess that's what whoever took those pictures of me and Itsuka wanted. I'm not stupid, I know they wanted me to be embarrassed because she was holding me as if I was the ‘girl.’ We don't care about that shit. It's all dumb. I'm a human being, not a fucking feral animal.”

He was getting annoyed but he was not going to let them continue to dig under his skin. He was going to have a good fucking day.

He set the plates on the counter and made sure to set two aside for Momo and Hitoshi as he looked towards his friends. “I'm gonna go see Itsuka.”

Katsuki shouldered past Uraraka and heard her huff. He stopped when Deku looked at him, waiting for the green eyed boy to say something, but again, he just nodded. Katsuki felt relieved, he nodded back and headed towards the stairs, messaging Itsuka on his way.

As he made his way up the stairs, he heard Deku slightly raise his voice, “Uraraka, you need to leave Kacchan..I mean Katsuki, alone.”

Katsuki stopped on the stairs as he almost dropped his phone. There..There just may be hope for him and Deku to be something other than enemies. They'd probably never be friends again, at least not like they were, but maybe they could get to the point where they could talk without Katsuki feeling like he wanted to pass out.

Maybe if Deku was going to try to call him Katsuki, he could call him Izuku.

Maybe there was some kind of hope there.

Chapter Text

Katsuki had just made it to his and Itsuka’s spot. It was a large tree that was on the edge of campus, they usually sat at the base of it or if they were feeling froggy, they climbed up to sit in the branches. Last week he had strung some solar powered lights up in some of the branches so they could sit under it when it got dark.

He pulled the screwdriver out of his pocket and started lightly carving into the tree, probably would have been easier with a knife, but Katsuki was trying to avoid sharp objects as much as possible at the moment unless he was cooking around his friends.

After a few minutes he stood back and examined his work. He let a small smile make its way to his face. It was silly but he couldn't help but feel kind of giddy at the heart with the K+I he had carved in the center.

He liked Itsuka. He liked her a lot. Honestly, he was pretty sure it was more than that, but thinking about that scared him. Every part of him wanted to just ask her to be his girlfriend but he had to get himself in a better place. He had to be healthier for her and everyone else in his life, including himself.

He felt like he was getting there. He knew he'd get there. He just knew it.

“I knew I'd find you here. You know, you'll never be good enough for her.”

Katsuki turned to find the blue and white headband kid from Itsuka's class. Awase. Itsuka had told him plenty about this asshole. “Hah!? What are you sputtering over there about, asshole?”

Awase stepped closer to him, “I said, you'll never be good enough for Kendou.”

Katsuki snarled, “That's what I thought you said. Shut the fuck up and keep her name out of your mouth.”

Awase rolled his eyes, “You're looking like a big fruit basket, you don't scare me.”

He approached Awase and got in his face. “Do you really want me to beat the shit out of you? Huh fucker!?”

Awase just smirked. “Go ahead. Show everyone my point. You're a violent brute and you don't deserve someone as sweet as Kendou in your life. You'll just screw her life up, hell, you're already screwing her life up.”

Katsuki growled, “What the fuck are you talking about, I haven't done anything to mess up Itsuka's life.”

Awase stood a little taller than him and it irked him. It was fine with Itsuka and others but Katsuki hated having to look slightly up at this douchebag. “She's constantly stressed out now and she's closed herself off to most of the class because of you. She's getting into fights and her grades are slipping because you're literally all she thinks and worries about. You're going to ruin her chance at becoming a hero. You're going to ruin her dreams.”

Awase glared at him and continued, “You have a shitty reputation. I don't know everything about you but I do know you're an asshole and people don't like you. You're going to tank anyone's reputation that you're involved with. People already give Kirishima dirty looks when he hangs out with you and he's literally one of the most liked guys on campus. Do you really want to do that to Itsuka? Do you want people throwing drinks on her for being with you? Do you want her hero career to tank for being associated with someone like you?”

Katsuki felt all the fight drain out of him. “I'm…I'm not going..” He wanted to growl and snarl and throw explosions, but everything just left him. He felt empty. He sighed. “Her grades are really slipping because of me?”

Awase sighed and took a step back. “Yeah. She used to be top of the class. She's dropped down to sixth now and I heard the sensei Vladking is thinking about taking away her class rep title. She loves being class rep, she used to take it seriously. You're doing nothing but making her life harder but she's never going see that or say anything because she's so wrapped up in you and she cares about you so much for some fucking reason. You need to just leave her alone.”

Katsuki felt his chest tighten. He wanted to call bullshit, he wanted to say none of it was true, but he thought about how tired Eijirou looked sometimes when he woke his best friend up with his nightmares or how he made Eijirou or the rest of his friends worry about him sometimes. They all probably get tired. Plus Itsuka did just get in trouble because of him. Maybe…Maybe he really was ruining her life.

Katsuki felt his eyes start to sting but he wouldn't cry in front of this asshole. “I..I fucking..I love her.”

Awase looked surprised for a moment. “You..You what?”

He felt utterly defeated. He felt like his chest was caving in. Why the fuck was he feeling like this? It literally felt like he couldn't breathe. “I fucking fell in love with her! I've been trying so fucking hard to be better for her, for everyone, for myself. I..I've been trying..”

He could see Awase open his mouth and close it several times before he sighed. “Just..Just do her a favor and leave her alone. You and I both know she'd be one hell of a hero. She can do so much good out there. That won't happen if she stays distracted.”

Katsuki felt like throwing up. At least he actually had food in his stomach to throw up so it wouldn't just be stomach acid. Small victories or whatever. “Y..Yeah, whatever.”

He looked over to the heart he had just carved into their tree. He'd do anything if it meant Itsuka had a better life. He knew she was going to be an amazing hero. She was going to be incredible, and if he had to remove himself from the picture for her to be great, well, he'd do it. He'd do it for her.

He put his head down and made his way back down the path. Letting tears fall freely once he was out of sight and earshot of anyone else.

He just wished he could have been better for her to begin with.

-

Kendou happily made her way towards her and Katsuki's spot. She was so eager to see him. Just seeing him made everything better. The little smile he would give her when he saw her approaching or the nervous way he'd tuck his face into her neck when he got embarrassed.

She..She thinks she may be in love.

She could feel her face heating up just thinking about him, but she was being honest. She thinks she might be falling in love with him.

She walked along the path to get to their spot. She was wearing Katsuki's black sweater that had his name on the back, a pair of stolen camo cargo shorts, and a pair of high top sneakers she had hidden in the back of her closet. She was feeling good.

Kendou hummed as she walked and as she was walking, she spotted Awase walking her way. Which was weird. Not many people came this far out near this edge of campus.

She planned to just walk past him because she was still furious with him, but he stopped her.

“Kendou, I..” He wouldn't look her in the eyes and Awase never had a problem with that. He was a very proud guy. “I'm..I messed..nevermind. See you later.”

She watched him go and tried to make some kind of sense of the interaction. He seemed sorry and remorseful, probably for the way he acted this morning. Either that or he knows Tet is going to be after him. Either way, progress is progress.

She just shrugged and kept on walking until she reached their tree. Her smile dropped a little when she didn't see Katsuki, he had texted her just a little bit ago saying he was there. She looked at the tree, she could see something carved in it that wasn't there a couple days ago.

She walked closer and could see it was a heart with her and Katsuki's initials in it. She got that fluttery feeling in her stomach and she smiled to herself. Katsuki really was a sweetheart.

She plopped down and waited for Katsuki, maybe he was grabbing something really quick.

A couple minutes turned to five, five turned to ten, ten turned to thirty, thirty turned into almost an hour. Plus he wasn't answering any of her messages at all now which was weird, and even weirder, it seemed her messages weren't even going through to him. She had service so didn't know what was going on.

Maybe something happened and that thought got her to start freaking out so she hopped up and quickly made her way towards the 1-A dorms.

Kendou made it and jogged up the steps, quickly knocking on the door. She was grateful when Kaminari answered the door. She didn't even hesitate, “Is Katsuki okay? He didn't show up to our spot and he won't answer my messages and I'm kind of freaking out.”

She could see Kaminari give her a sad look. “I wouldn't say he's fine, but he's at least up in his room. He won't talk to anyone and he's blasting his music and just keeps telling us all to fuck off. He came back, and we could tell he had been crying but he just went straight up to his room. Did something happen? He was all excited to go see you.”

Kendou felt a little relief knowing that Katsuki was at least safe, but she was just more confused now. “I don't know what happened. I didn't even get to see him. Something must have happened but I don't know what. Could it be something with his parents? He's never shut me out like this.”

Kaminari nodded. “It's been a while since he's shut us out like this too. Usually you can tell why he's upset and he'll talk to us. He's just being quiet and he won't talk. It's making us all worry. It could be something with his parents, but he usually goes to Eijirou with those things. He won't even talk to Eijirou right now.”

Her eyes flickered into the doorway and towards the direction of the stairs. “C..Could I try talking to him?”

Kaminari opened the door and nodded eagerly. “Hopefully he'll talk to you. He really cares about you.”

She felt her face start to heat up. “H..He cares about you all too.”

Kaminari gave her a small smile. “You and I both know that you're different.”

Kendou played with her hands, “I think..I think I love him.”

Kaminari gently touched her arm and there was a soft smile playing on his lips, “I know. Now go, try to talk to him.”

She made her way up to his room Where she could hear the music from down the hall. Coming from Katsuki's room.

Kendou stood at his door for a moment and tried knocking. She knew it was useless from how loud the music was. So she tried banging on it as hard as she could without breaking it and stood there and waited.

Nothing.

No sign of life except for the blaring music. She then realized it was the first song they listened to together. It was one of the American songs they had listened to that night. She still didn't know all the words, but she really loved that song and so did Katsuki. He had said it became one of his favorites after that night.

What was going through Katsuki's head? What happened?

She waited for a few minutes and there was still nothing. He wasn't answering and something was up with her phone, so she ran to the room that was next to Katsuki's, which she knew was Kirishima's. She tried the door and it was unlocked. She found his desk and then a notebook and pen.

There were so many things she wanted to say, but she also didn't want to overwhelm Katsuki, so she just went with a simple, “I hope you're okay. Talk to me when you're ready. Your Itsuka.”

She made her way back out and slipped the note under Katsuki's door.

Now all she could do was wait, and she hated waiting but she couldn't do much else. She just wanted him to be okay.

Three days. Three long and awful days of Katsuki ignoring her and absolutely everyone else it seemed. Nobody could hardly find him when he wasn't in class and she was told that even in class, he wouldn't raise his hands to answer questions and that just wasn't like him.

She spent those three days worrying, and crying, and then getting mad at herself for crying for becoming this attached. She was here to be a hero, that was always the goal.

But she knew goals changed, and now she had fallen in love.

Kendou was coming down to help make dinner for the night, wearing Katsuki's skull hoodie that she had honestly barely taken off for the last couple days, when she heard screaming as she descended the last few stairs. “What the fuck did you do!?”

She came down to see several members of her class trying to pull a very pissed off and quirk activated Tet off of Awase who was pinned to the wall. “Suna overheard you talking to Rin that you felt guilty for what you did to Bakugou. What did you do? Suka’s been crying for days! What the hell did you do!?”

Kendou stood there stunned for a moment. Awase did something to Katsuki? Is that why Katsuki's been avoiding her and everyone? What could Awase have done to make him go no contact and cut everyone off?

She had to raise her voice to get them all to stop, she was still class representative after all. “Everyone stop!”

Luckily everyone did and they all turned to look at her except for Tet who still had his eyes locked in Awase. “Tet, please let him go so we can get this figured out.”

She heard Tet growl but he eventually shoved Awase away from him and heard him mumble to himself. “I'll get him later.”

She first turned towards Setsuna. “What's happening?”

Setsuna’s glare softened when the taller girl looked at her. “I heard Awase talking to Rin and he said he said something to Bakugou to get him to leave you alone but he felt bad after seeing how much it's affected the both of you.”

Kendou whipped her head around to stare at Awase. “What do you mean to get Katsuki to leave me alone? Why does it matter to you? What did you say to him?”

Awase hadn't looked her in the face in days, and now she knew why. He played with his hands. “I was told from someone in 1-A that despite him having a massive ego, Bakugou actually hates himself, so I told him things that I knew would hurt him the most and get in his head so he'd leave you alone.”

Kendou could feel her hands starting to shake. “W..Why would you do that to him!? I love having Katsuki around and he makes me happy! What did you say to him?”

He was looking absolutely anywhere but at her. “I told him he'd never be good enough for you, and that him and his reputation would ruin your life.”

She was going to kill him.

Chapter Text

“I told him he'd never be good enough for you, and that him and his reputation would ruin your life.”

Kendou was going to kill him.

She marched up to Awase and it took every fiber of her being not to sock him straight in the jaw. She poked him in the chest instead, her hand was trembling. “Why? Why would you say anything like that to him? You saw how much he meant to me. I..I love him, and he makes me happy, and now he won't talk to me because he thinks he's the problem. His self esteem is low enough already! He's probably been spiraling and it's all your fault!”

She was doing her absolute best to keep from angry crying, but she was losing the fight. “What did you say to him? What exact things did you tell him?”

Awase tried to back away but she wouldn't let him. He stuttered, “I..I told him that his reputation would be your downfall. You wouldn't be taken seriously as a hero as long as he stood by you. That he was an absolute asshole and that he's got so many issues that your grades are slipping, you're getting in fights, and that you weren't even going to be class rep anymore because you're just focusing on him.”

She just stared at him for a moment. She honestly couldn't believe him. “You fucking lied!? Absolutely none of that shit is true!”

Kendou had to turn away from him for a moment so she didn't hit him. “The only reason his reputation is as bad as it is, is because of assholes like you. You lie and spread rumors. You make stuff up! I am going to be an amazing hero and I will do it, standing by Katsuki's side. We're both going to be great. My grades are perfectly fine, I'm still number two in the class rankings and Vladking has said no such thing about removing me as class rep. I take care of what I have to take care of. Plus I'm not getting into fights. I hit her once and she went down. There was no fight.”

She seethed as she continued. “Katsuki and I were pretty wrapped up in each other, that's true, but we never neglected our grades, our hero duties, our training. Both of us have been putting that first, to make sure we can have the futures we want. I don't know why everyone thinks I'm sucking his dick every time we're together because that isn't the case at all. We train, we study, we take walks together, we sit and talk about things, or sometimes we just exist together. We literally just sit next to each other with music on in the background and we just exist.”

She had to take a step back and pace for a few moments. “You said you felt bad for what you did. Why? Why'd you feel bad after you went through with it? What changed?”

Awase looked uncomfortably at the ground. “After I said everything. I was expecting him to go berserk. To be selfish and attack me or tell me to go die somewhere because that's who he is. He's a monster..but that's not what happened. He said some things about you and how he felt and he basically walked away. I wasn't expecting him to actually put you first. To give up for you to have an easier time in life. I..I regretted it all as soon as he walked away. He..He just seemed so genuinely hurt and I didn't think that was possible.”

That's it, she swung at him.

Before she could connect though, she felt arms around her waist and she was being picked up by Tet and pulled away as she screamed at Awase through tears. “You asshole! I..I told you and I told you that Katsuki was a human being! He's a teenager who's been through some awful things. He's not a monster and he's not a villain! You tore him down for nothing and don't you dare say it was to protect me! You don't care about me, you just don't like Katsuki!”

She pried her way out of Tet’s arms and wiped at her eyes. “Katsuki made me happy. He made me feel special and I..I think I made him feel that way too. N..Now he won't even talk to me because he thinks he was ruining my life when he was doing nothing but making it better. For the first time in a long time, I felt capable and I felt like me. I felt like I could take on anything. He made me feel invincible and cherished and loved..and you fucking took that from me, from us. I..I hate you. I absolutely hate you.”

Awase looked at her with wide eyes. “I can fix it! I..I can!”

Kendou let out a bitter laugh, “How the hell are you going to do that? Huh? He won't talk to me, he won't talk to his other friends, he won't even talk to Kirishima! I don't even get to have him in my life as a friend now because of you.”

Awase pleaded, “Kendou, I can fix it, I promise I can!”

She waved him off. “I'm going to my room. Nobody fucking bother me.”

She made sure to stomp her way up the stairs and slammed her door as hard as she could. She laid down in bed and curled her knees up to her chest. She took a deep inhale as she buried herself in Katsuki's hoodie. His scent was almost gone completely and that was the last straw for the morning. She broke down and sobbed.

Kendou was so fucking miserable.

She missed Katsuki.

-

Katsuki was so fucking miserable.

He missed Itsuka.

He had hardly been out of his room the last several days except for class, which he didn't even go to class yesterday. It was the first day of school he had purposely skipped in his entire academic career. He didn't want to deal with anyone. Not even his friends, not even Eijirou.

The one person he really wanted to talk to, he couldn't. He had to let her go to make sure she had a good life. He would not be the reason she couldn't be happy.

H..He loved her too much for that.

He had to be the bigger person. He had to do this for someone else.

Except this time he didn't want to. He wanted to finally act like how everyone thought about him. He wanted to be fucking selfish and keep being with Itsuka. He wanted to ask her out and go out with her on silly fucking dates. He wanted to incorporate her into his life plan.

Katsuki just couldn't do it though. He couldn't do that to her. He wouldn't. He knew he was hurting her now, but hopefully she'd grow to hate him and move on so she could focus on her future.

A future that sadly wouldn't have him in it. Even though that's all he really wanted.

He would get over it eventually, he supposed. All of this just made his chest hurt in a way he wasn't used to. Everything just hurt and not physically. He could deal with physical pain. He could even deal with emotional pain for the most part, maybe not in healthy ways, but he still dealt with it. This was different though. Giving up this chance with Itsuka felt life draining.

That was probably a little dramatic, but he just didn't know how else to describe it.

Everything just felt off now. Everything felt empty.

He was still doing his best to be better and think better and he had gone to an appointment with Hound Dog a couple days prior to continue trying to get in a better spot but everything just felt empty now.

It was all good for him, he knew that, but now it just didn't feel the same.

Especially when the only thing going through his mind even when in therapy was how big of a failure he was.

If he had had a better reputation, maybe he'd still have Itsuka in his life.

If he'd been better.

If he listened more.

If he just took it and didn't fight back.

If he wasn't such a fuck up.

He had gone to class today, even though he didn't want to. He just didn't need Aizawa asking any questions, even though he could tell his teacher wanted to anyway.

Custody paperwork has been sent out to his mother, so they were waiting for the whole mess to either conclude or implode, so he stayed in pretty constant contact with Aizawa even outside of school. Aizawa knew something was up, but Katsuki continuously told him it was fine.

It was lunch time but Katsuki never planned on going back into the cafeteria, he didn't want to deal with anyone, and Eijirou knew all of his hiding spots, so he had found a new one.

Was it embarrassing to basically hide away in a utility closet for an hour? Fucking yes, but it was worth it. It was an hour where people weren't staring at him or whispering about him. It was a place where he could just sit and just exist. He could just… “Awase, what do you want? If it's such an emergency, why don't you go tell a teacher? I told you I didn't want anything to do with..you..”

Katsuki whipped his head around to see Itsuka and the headband kid from 1-B. Itsuka's eyes were wide. “K..Katsuki..”

His hand twitched at his side. He wanted to grab her hand, cradle her face, something. He wanted to comfort her when he started to see the tears well up in her eyes. His voice came out barely above a whisper. “I..Itsuka.”

Awase stood by them and was looking at him. Katsuki could see him staring out of the corner of his eye, but he was focused on Itsuka. He heard Awase talking though. “I’ve been following you the last couple days, Bakugou. Trying to find the best time so I could fix things. I..I lied about almost everything I said. Kendou isn't failing any classes, she hasn't lost her class representative position, she hasn't gotten into any more fights. She's still a star student.”

Katsuki finally let his eyes travel from Itsuka to Awase. “W..What?”

Awase looked away from him immediately. “I just didn't like you. At first, I thought you were this massive asshole who was going to eventually snap and hurt Kendou. Then it just turned into, I just didn't like you. It wasn't about protecting Kendou, it was about disliking you.”

Katsuki could feel so many things hitting him at once, but the main thing was rage as Awase continued to talk. “I purposely hurt you, and when I thought you would go berserk, you simply walked away because you thought it would be better for Kendou in the end. I hurt you, which is honestly whatever, but I also hurt Kendou. I watched her cry for days because I was a selfish asshole and I stuck my nose into business that wasn't mine. I still don't know how to feel about you, but I know now it's just none of my business. Kendou said she was happy, I should have just respected that.”

Katsuki could feel the itch, the itch to lose his temper. To put all of his pain into hurting this asshole, but Itsuka speaking drained it all out of him. “I..I didn't know what was going on. Awase said he needed help with an emergency and I was the closest to help. Katsuki..Tsuki.. I've missed you.”

Katsuki wanted to reach out and hold her, but he held back. “Itsuka, I've missed you too. This asshole is right about some things though, people are going to give you sideways glances for being with me. At least until I can really show the world who I am and leave these stigmas behind.”

She shook her head. “I don't care! I don't care about what anyone else thinks. I know you, I know how kind and amazing and wonderful you are. I'm not worried about anyone else. I want to stand right next to you. I want to be with you. I..I love you!”

It was spoken through tears and Katsuki was moving across the room instantly. He cradled her chin in his hands, and he gave her a moment to back out before he kissed her.

He put absolutely everything he could into the kiss. His feelings, his pain, his love. As they separated, he leaned his head against hers, “I love you too. Gods do I love you, Itsuka.”

He wiped away her tears. “I'm sorry I walked away. I..I didn't know what to do. I didn't want you to fail because of me. I didn't want your life to be tough because of me. I wanted the best outcome for you, and if that didn't include me, it hurt but I had to do it.”

He brought her into a tight embrace as he held her as she spoke. “Katsuki, you have made my life better, not harder. You make me smile and you make me laugh and it feels authentic. You have brought a light to my life that I didn't know I was missing until I got to know you.”

He felt her cradle his face and looked him in the eyes. His instincts told him to look away, but he didn't as she spoke to him. “Don't do that to me again, please? Don't ever think my life will be better without you around. Even if in the end, we're nothing more than friends, don't leave my life again Katsuki. Promise me. Promise me if you ever start thinking I'd be better off without you around, promise me you'll come to me and we'll talk about it.”

Katsuki was vaguely aware that he heard Awase leave as he leaned in to kiss Itsuka again. When they separated, he brushed her nose gently with hers, just like they had done on his balcony. “I promise, Itsuka.”

Chapter Text

Katsuki was snuggled into Itsuka's embrace as the two of them snuggled in her bed. The two of them had come back to her dorm, skipping the rest of their classes after their talk. (Katsuki had been sure to message Aizawa that he wasn't feeling well and he messaged Eijirou as well to make sure he wasn't hunted down for missing class.)

They talked some more, they cried a bunch, kissed some more and Katsuki asked her to be his girlfriend before they laid down for a nap together.

Katsuki had made the decision to ask her out. He was tired of waiting. He was feeling better and Hound Dog, Aizawa, and so many others were helping him learn how to manage his feelings better.

It was clear that Itsuka loved him and that he loved her.

He felt Itsuka rotate slowly and he moved so he could hold her for now. He felt her lightly kiss his arm and whisper, “I love you.”

He kissed her shoulder gently. “I love you too.”

That's when they heard the sound of class 1-B come thundering through the common room through several floors below. Katsuki grumbled as he propped himself up on his elbow. “Shit. I didn't realize it was that late. Now we're going to have to deal with these assholes.”

Itsuka nuzzled further down into him. “Just forget them for a little while longer. I'm not ready to give up my time with you yet.”

He sighed as he sank back down into bed. “I just don't want them to give you a hard time.”

Itsuka began to move so he let her rotate until she was looking at him. “I do not care what they think, okay? You shouldn't either. I am your girlfriend and you are my boyfriend. I love you and I don't give a damn who knows it.”

Katsuki couldn't help but smile a little bit at her feisty tone. “Okay, okay, Tangerine.” He kissed her softly. “I love you too by the way.”

The two of them laid there together for a little bit longer, but eventually Katsuki knew he was going to have to go back to the dorms and find Momo to get the homework he missed. He loved Eijirou and the others but he didn't trust any of them but Momo to actually take decent notes that he could actually read.

He eventually got up and stretched. He had changed into one of his tanks and a pair of sweats that Itsuka had “borrowed” from him months prior.

Itsuka then threw his old skull hoodie at him. He looked up at her as he caught it. He could see her blushing. “That's my favorite thing of yours to wear and..it just doesn't smell like you anymore. C..Can you wear it for a while again so I can steal it back when it smells like you again? It comforts me when you're not here.”

He wanted to be a jackass and coo at her, but he didn't really want to embarrass her further. Plus the fact that she wanted it to continue to smell like him because it comforted her made him feel warm all over. He felt loved and cherished. “I can do that, sweetheart.”

The sweet pet name was rolling off his tongue before he even realized it. Katsuki felt his own face heat up. He had never thought he would use a sickeningly sweet name like that for anyone before.

Itsuka's face was also bright pink, but she was absolutely beaming at him. He heard her mumble, “S..Sweetheart? I like that.”

He blushed even harder. “W..Well good.”

The two of them eventually made their way downstairs and through the common room, and you could hear a pin drop from how quiet it got when they must have noticed Katsuki was there.

He felt Itsuka grab his hand so he walked through like he owned the place. He wouldn't let them make him or Itsuka feel like shit again.

They almost made it to the door when Awase cut them off, now sporting a pretty dark black eye.

Itsuka tilted her head, “Did Tet get you again?”

Awase shook his head. “One of.. Bakugou's friends, I think.”

That piqued Katsuki's interest. The only one he had told about the situation was Eijirou and he knew Eijirou wouldn't tell the others without asking him first. “Did Eijirou clock you? You didn't rat him out did you?”

Again Awase shook his head. “It wasn't Kirishima either, I don't think. They caught me as I walked around the corner. All I saw was a flash of green and they weren't as tall as him so I really don't think it was Kirishima.”

Awase shrugged and continued, “Doesn't really matter, I deserved it anyway. I just wanted to apologize again and that I'm going to keep my mouth shut from now on. I was wrong and stupid.”

Katsuki was still stuck on the color green. He only knew one person with a quirk that would flash green. Why the hell was De..Izuku getting into his business? He'd have to figure that out later.

Katsuki then heard someone clear their throat behind him. He turned to find the ivy haired girl staring at him. “What do you want? Ya knock off Poison Ivy. If you're going to make Itsuka upset again, I don't suggest it.”

Shiozaki looked away from him for a moment but then looked back, “I am not here to make trouble. I am here to apologize to the both of you on behalf of class B.”

Katsuki heard Monoma pipe up from the kitchen. “Hah! Speak for yourself, some of us here actually respect Itsuka and her choices and always have.”

Katsuki couldn't help but snort at his smugness as Shiozaki sighed and continued. “I would like to apologize on behalf of the rest of class B. We made a lot of mistakes. We still don't know what's true and what's not, but what we do know is that we really upset Kendou last time. We hurt her when we should have kept our noses out of her business. It's our job as heroes to help, but it's also our job to understand the facts and know not to label someone as something that they are not.”

Katsuki looked at her, he stared at her, scrutinizing her until he could see she was becoming uncomfortable. He could tell she was being honest.

Itsuka spoke up before he did. “Thank you Shiozaki. I'm still highly upset, but thank you for finally understanding that Katsuki and I just want to be left alone, and hopefully one day you all can really see how amazing he is.”

Katsuki grinned as he looked over at Itsuka as she smiled back at him. He held his hand at his side and she grabbed it, holding it tight.

He was still extremely just pissed and tired about a lot of things, but if Shiozaki and the class were being genuine, he would take it because hopefully that meant they'd leave Itsuka alone.

Katsuki looked back at Shiozaki. “As long as you all leave Itsuka alone and treat her right, I don't give a fuck about anything else.”

A quiet girl with white hair softly spoke up from one of the couches. “Bakugou, while you're here, can we ask you some questions?”

He raised an eyebrow, and was instantly on edge. “Depends. What kind of questions?”

The white haired girl fiddled with her hands, “Well, umm, the rumors about your parents..umm.. are they true?”

He felt himself bristle. He wasn't stupid, he knew the rumors that went around about his parents and his upbringing. People always sought out answers for why he was so angry and mean, and they were right in a way. He was angry and mean on a basic level, but under that, he was scared and he never really had the answers. His base persona was just that, a persona to hide behind. These last few breakdowns had only fueled everyone's speculation.

Katsuki could easily tell this girl to fuck off, but he didn't. He just kind of shrugged his shoulders. What was the point of lying anymore? Everyone already spread every single lie underneath the sun about him. “The rumors that my parents, the fashion royalty that are the Bakugous, are the rumors true that they beat the absolute shit out of me? Yeah, they do. Well my mom does, my dad's more of a manipulative rat that sells me out every chance he gets. Been that way since I was like five.”

He could feel the air get sucked out of the room. Usually talking about his parents upset him and made him anxious, but as he watched shame and pity spread across most of their faces, he got pissed. “What? That don't fit y'all's narrative about me? I'm easier to hate when I'm just some monstrous asshole, aren't I?”

Katsuki didn't give any of them time to answer. He just snorted and shook his head. “Don't get me wrong, I'm a crude and foul mouthed shithead, but most of the shit you've heard about me, the little images you've all painted about me are all bullshit.”

Kaibara spoke up, “Why not defend yourself though? Why not tell everyone they're wrong?”

Katsuki rolled his eyes. “What fucking difference would it make? Would anyone have listened or given a shit?”

He could see Kaibara look away and Katsuki continued. “Thought so. Besides, I've spent so fucking long thinking I’ve deserved everything that's come my way. I thought I deserved to be beat fucking senseless almost every day of my fucking life because I'm nothing but a worthless, bad, failure of a kid.”

He felt Itsuka squeeze his hand tightly. He looked over at her and smiled slightly. “Thanks to Tangerine here, Eijirou, and some others, I've figured out that I didn't, I don't, and never will deserve to be treated like I have been.”

Katsuki felt his phone vibrating in his pocket, he didn't want to miss anything important from Aizawa so he answered it, and luckily he did. It was Aizawa. “Katsuki, you have your mother and father's numbers blocked, correct?”

Katsuki felt himself tense up at the mention of his parents. “Y..Yeah.” He cleared his throat. He didn't like stuttering in front of anyone, especially people that weren't close to him, and he wasn't really close to anyone in class B except Itsuka and he was on good terms with Tokage and Monoma. “I mean, yes sensei.”

He could hear his teacher sigh. “Good. I was just left a very colorful voicemail from your mother and I wanted to make sure you weren't having to deal with it. She got the custody papers in the mail, we need to talk about our next move. Everything is going to be fine, we just need to discuss things. Can you come to my class? You can bring Kendou along as well.”

Katsuki felt kind of nauseous at the thought of dealing with his parents, but then he caught on to what his teacher had said. Aizawa knew he was with Itsuka and wasn't in his dorm sick? “How..How did you know I was with Itsuka?”

He felt his face heat up slightly, it was embarrassing getting caught fibbing. He really didn't feel good earlier, that wasn't a lie, but he had gone with Itsuka so they could talk and not to lie down in his dorm like he had said. It was still embarrassing to get caught either way.

He heard his teacher chuckle lightly, “I know you way more than you think I do, Katsuki. I pay attention. I'm glad you two seemed to have worked things out. I'll see you in a few minutes?”

Katsuki nodded even though Aizawa couldn't see him. “Yeah, I'll be there. T..Thanks sensei.” The warm feeling of an adult actually paying attention to him because they cared about him was enough to mask the embarrassment he was feeling and the absolute dread he could feel starting to pool in his stomach because of his parents, at least for a little bit anyway.

He was going to hold onto that warm feeling as long as he could.

Katsuki squeezed Itsuka's hand, he knew she had been close enough to hear the conversation. “Come with me?”

She smiled and squeezed his hand back. “Of course, Katsuki.”

Chapter Text

Katsuki and Itsuka walked to Aizawa’s class, and Katsuki knocked on the door before entering. He was expecting Aizawa, he wasn't expecting principal Nezu or a detective to be in the class as well. Katsuki immediately tensed, “D..Did I do something wrong?”

Aizawa smiled warmly at him but Katsuki could tell something was bothering his teacher. “You did nothing wrong Katsuki. I wasn't aware Nezu had called a detective or I would have told you when I called, my apologies.”

The detective smiled at Katsuki, it didn't help ease his nerves at all though. “Katsuki, I'm detective Nakamura. I was called because I've been told your mother sent a very threatening voicemail to your teacher where she threatened to harm you and the others in your life.”

Katsuki's eyebrows hit his hairline. “She did what?”

Aizawa sighed, “She called me seven different times but I didn't have my phone on me, so she resorted to leaving very aggressive voicemails. I am going to play them for the detective because she just left us key evidence if she does decide to take the custody case to court.”

That honestly made a lot of sense to Katsuki. His mother was smart and she was manipulative, but if she got to the point that she really lost her temper, she exploded and tried to destroy everything around her. He knew that very well.

Aizawa looked over at him, “I called you here because I wanted to give you the chance to hear the voicemails because they do pertain to you, but if you feel like you can't or don't want to, you do not have to. I just wanted to give you the option. Just know, she's very angry and she says some very heinous things.”

Katsuki nodded. “I appreciate it, but play them. I want to hear, and I guarantee I've probably heard most of it before.”

Aizawa nodded back to him, “Alright. Here we go.”

His teacher hit play on his phone that was sitting on his desk. His mother's voice filled the air and Katsuki instantly felt his body tense. “Pick up the phone, you punk mother fucker. Custody rights!? You want me to sign over my custody rights to my own brat? We just got back from a hectic month long fashion design and instead of coming home and relaxing, I see this bullshit. I don't..”

The first voicemail was cut off because of the time limit and Aizawa played the second one. “Know what that fucking brat has been saying, but he's not abused. He's a no good punk who gets punished accordingly. He's a lying little shit and he always has been. If you see Katsuki, because he's not answering his phone..”

It went on to the next one, and he felt Itsuka rubbing the back of his hand with her thumb. He was starting to tremble slightly. He mumbled, mainly to himself. “She's really drunk.”

“But I want you to tell him that he's worried his poor father sick, so I hope he's happy. That fucking kid is nothing but trouble. He's dangerous and trouble and not worth any of it. I almost want to sign the papers just so we don't have to deal with him anymore, but I don't play that way. We're taking..”

Katsuki ducked his head as the next voicemail played. “This to court and we're going to win. We own a fashion empire and have the best lawyers money can buy. I will be pulling Katsuki out of that shitty school and I'll show him what it's like to really be beaten. I'm going to beat him black and blue. That school..”

“Was supposed to teach him how to act right. You were supposed to set him straight, but I should have known better. You're nothing but a worthless failure just like Katsuki. I've done my research. I know what you are, Eraser. A failure of a hero and a faggot. I'm coming for Katsuki. There's nothing you or anyone else can do to stop me, and honestly I'd like to see you try.”

Katsuki could feel himself start to hyperventilate, but Itsuka's presence right next to him kept him from fully having a panic attack. It was an improvement over several months ago where his mother's threats and slurred voice would have basically paralyzed him with fear, expecting to be beaten at any moment. Now though, it was more of a slight panic instead of a full on disaster. Honestly, he was still scared, but nowhere near as much as he had been, and now he didn't feel the need to hide it.

Even still, there was still a part of him that feared she would get her hands on him again. She would hurt him or make his life hell.

His mother was going to take him out of school. She was going to ruin his life. She was going to torture him and beat him, hell she may actually kill him because he told people.

He did his best to keep his breathing in check. “Aizawa..I..I can't go back with her. I..I told people, if I go back with her..she'll..”

His teacher stood up and came over to him, resting a hand on his shoulder, “Katsuki, I promised you that you wouldn't have to go back with her and I meant it. That call right there just sealed her fate. She's never going to have custody of you again, again, I promise.”

Katsuki looked up into his teacher's eyes, “You truly promise?”

Aizawa nodded and gave his shoulder a light squeeze. “I promise. You won't have to go back with her, ever again.”

Katsuki decided to believe his teacher. He was deciding to fully trust the only adult in his life that hadn't fully left him for metaphorical death. “I trust you.”

They all talked for a while longer and it was decided that the detective was going to try for jail time if his mother decided to push for a court hearing. Katsuki honestly just hoped she would give up and let him go, but he just couldn't see her doing that.

Plans were in motion but there wasn't much else to do than wait, so Katsuki was free to go back to the dorms.

His walk with Itsuka was at least calm, and it helped his heart rate come down and walking while holding her hand always made him feel grounded.

They walked to the 1A dorms and through the doors where Katsuki was immediately plowed into by a pink blur. “Katsuki! We were so worried about you. You've been so quiet and distant and then you disappeared from class!”

Katsuki couldn't help but snort as Itsuka giggled and he patted Mina on the head. “There's a lot going on but I'll explain later. Where are the others?”

She held onto him, completely latched to his side and he knew there was no shaking her off. Mina smiled at him, “Eijirou, Denki, and Hanta ran to the convenience store for snacks, Momo and Jirou are at the library, and Hitoshi is taking a nap.”

Katsuki nodded, “Go ahead and update the group chat. I know you want to.”

Mina squealed, “Thank you!” The pinkette then looked over to Itsuka. “And yay! I'm so happy to see you!”

Mina released him and plowed into his girlfriend, almost knocking her over and Itsuka giggled along with Mina.

Katsuki couldn't help but grin. “Oi. Don't knock my girlfriend over.”

He watched and waited for it to register on Mina's face. He watched her eyebrows scrunch together before a wide grin split her face. “You're finally dating!? About time!”

Katsuki couldn't help but grin, “Yeah, we are. For some reason she's crazy enough to actually go out with me.”

He watched as Itsuka's eyes narrowed. “Don't you even start that, Kat.”

He held his hands up in surrender. “Alright, alright.” He let a smile fall into place. The genuine smile he seemed to only really have around Itsuka and his friends. “I love you, ya know?”

She pulled herself away from Mina and walked over to him. He watched her walk over to him and he let her slip an arm around his waist.

She asked permission with her eyes and he readily accepted as she leaned in and kissed him softly but quickly before breaking away and smiling, “I love you too.”

Katsuki had never been much for pda, seeing it or really doing it, but it was just different with Itsuka. He would still never be the type of person to be too gross in public, but simple kisses and touches like that, it felt right when it came to Itsuka.

They were also making points, two different points but still making points. He had a feeling what she was doing, staking a claim so to speak. She was showing everyone that was watching that she was his partner and he was hers. He knew Itsuka was protective and he was letting her actually be protective over him.

Katsuki was showing them, the people who thought they knew him and had him figured out, the ones that thought he was nothing more than a messed up delinquent, that he was so much more than they knew. He was letting himself be vulnerable and letting someone else take charge.

It was also a subtle brag that he had officially started dating someone so incredible and beautiful and handsome as Itsuka.

Later that night after Itsuka had gone back to her dorm, Katsuki went over everything that had happened the last couple days with his close friends. Everything that had happened with Awase and how that whole thing affected him, to him and Itsuka getting together, and then about his meeting with Aizawa and the voicemails. They were all upset in different ways and about different things, but at the end they were happy for him, that he was feeling better and he had gotten together with Itsuka. He also promised them that he would try his best not to ever shut them all out like that again.

After they had all left, he still had one more person to talk to. Izuku. He had to know why he had gone after Awase. He had to know. So for the first time in many years, Katsuki went searching for Izuku.

He eventually found him in the gym, looking like he was cleaning the equipment from a workout session. “Izuku.” Green eyes immediately found red ones. “We need to talk.”

Chapter Text

“Izuku.” Katsuki felt somewhat content when Izuku didn't jump or look skittish when he called out to him. He didn't look too eager either which was good because that always made Katsuki uncomfortable. Izuku just looked at him with a knowing look, Katsuki could deal with this version of Izuku. “We need to talk, and I know you know what it's about.”

He figured Izuku would deny it. Try to run him around in circles and mutter a bunch of nonsense, but Katsuki was happily relieved that Izuku just sighed and nodded. “Awase?”

Katsuki simply nodded back and confirmed. “Awase.”

Izuku turned to fully look at him. “I wasn't trying to get in your business or anything this time, I promise.” Izuku was great at reading him, but Katsuki was also great at reading Izuku, and he could tell he wasn't lying as he continued. “I was coming out of the bathroom when I heard him talking to someone about what he did. He sounded remorseful and I could tell he probably meant it, but it still upset me. Those days were some of the worst I've seen. It was like you just weren't there, and it was honestly terrifying. I’ve never seen you affected by something like that before. You know how it is though, my body moved on its own and before I knew it, I came around the corner and hit him.”

He could see Izuku playing with his fingers, a nervous tic they both seemed to have. “I'm still sorry for getting in your business again. I've been doing my best to steer clear even if I was extremely worried about you. You go quiet but you usually don't go as quiet as you did this time and I was worried. Still, I'm sorry.”

Katsuki took in Izuku's words. He wanted to be aggravated that Izuku was once again in his business, and he was slightly, but he could also tell Izuku was genuine and wasn't just trying to play hero or follow him around this time. He sighed, “I'm kind of annoyed, but it's whatever. It sounds like you weren't looking to get in my business, it just happened, and you've been doing well about leaving me alone when I asked. So, we're cool. Just don't make a habit of it again.”

There was a small smile playing on Izuku's face. “Noted.” His smile soon vanished though. “I want to tell you I'm fully sorry about everything between us. I should have listened to your boundaries when we were growing up, it would have saved us a lot of trouble.”

Katsuki nodded along. “Yeah, it would have, but I know I wasn't always the easiest to get along with even if a lot of things between us got extremely exaggerated. I felt cornered and I attacked you. I don't apologize for lashing out because I had the right to because you or anyone else wouldn't listen but I am sorry that I let it get to that level of physicality. Living with the old hag would also give anyone a temper, but I shouldn't have let it all boil up like I did.”

Izuku extended a hand slowly towards him. “I don't know if we'll ever be friends again, and I won't blame you if we don't, but I want you to know I'm going to keep trying my best to respect your boundaries and hopefully we can work together down the line. We're both going to be heroes after all.”

Katsuki didn't think they'd ever really be friends again, but they would probably end up working together as heroes at some point and they needed to have a working relationship.

Katsuki grabbed Izuku's hand and shook it and grinned. “We are going to be heroes, but I'm going to be number one.”

Izuku grinned at him, and it had the fire behind it that he hadn't seen since they were kids and they got a long still. It was competitive and eager, but in a healthy way, it no longer felt like it was an eagerness that made Katsuki's skin crawl.

“We'll see about that.”

For the next week, things were good. Everything started to settle down and Katsuki was starting to feel like most things in his life were under control for once.

Him and Itsuka were doing great, they had even gone on a date, their first real date, and it was exciting and awkward but in a good way. He loved spending time with Itsuka.

Things with Izuku were improving. They still didn't talk much, which was for the best, but they could finally be within three meters of each other and it didn't feel like Katsuki was drowning.

Katsuki was also getting his grades back up. He hadn't let them slip far but they did slip enough for it to bother him and people were basically leaving him alone, the people outside of his normal group that is.

Everything was weirdly going well, but he still had the looming fear of whatever his mother was up to. He knew it was coming, something had to be happening and he hated not knowing what or when, but then one week turned into two and two weeks turned into a month. Katsuki thought maybe somehow he had gotten lucky, maybe she did just give up her rights to him.

Maybe things would actually work out this time.

Then he got called to stay after class with Aizawa one day. “Katsuki, can I see you for a minute?”

Katsuki could feel Eijirou and his other friend’s looks, but he nodded to them he would be fine. He'd be just fine. Probably.

Once everyone was out of the class, Katsuki approached his teacher's desk. Aizawa laid out a stack of papers. “I was informed during class that your parents have signed over their rights. They're not even in the country anymore. I've been informed that they're in Russia and probably not coming back from the looks of it. I asked Best Jeanist to drop by the house and the whole house is empty except for your room which was trashed. Jeanist saved what he could and he's going to bring it all here. I'm sorry, kid.”

Katsuki felt his whole world shift. In one hand, he felt relieved that he just wouldn't have to deal with them anymore, mainly HER, but on the flip side of that, he felt completely abandoned all over again. They were his birth parents even if they detested him, they still gave birth to him. Did they really not care about him at all? Did they really hate him that much?

That's when two things dawned on him. One, It was one last dig at him, to show him that they really thought he was this unlovable monstrosity of a kid. Then two, she was running because she had absolutely no way of winning this time. She must have realized that she had overplayed her hand and there was no judge in Japan that would take her side after the voicemails she had left, so she left Japan to go back home.

Katsuki was a quarter Russian. He had been born in Japan but his mother had not been. She had been born in Russia and most of her family was still there, plus the second place where the Bakugou fashion empire was the biggest was in Moscow, Russia. No accidents there.

Katsuki didn't really know what to do, so he looked to his teacher for help. The one man that had never purposely wronged him. The one adult he fully trusted to protect him and steer him in the right direction. “What do I do now?”

Katsuki watched as his teacher split the stack of papers into several stacks. He pointed to the first stack. “These are the custody papers that your parents signed over. They legally can never contact you again and if they do, they're going to jail.” He pointed to the second stack. “These are the papers that basically say that the school has custody over you and that I will watch over you as your guardian and take care of you until you're eighteen.”

He watched as Aizawa gently tapped the third stack. “This stack is all up to you. It's your choice, but I've got it worked out that if you would like, Hizashi and I would legally like to adopt you.”

For the second time in the last five minutes, Katsuki's world completely shifted but in a different way this time. He couldn't have heard that right. “Y..You want to adopt me?”

He looked up to meet his teacher's eyes and they were soft, way softer than Katsuki had ever seen before. “Yes Katsuki, we'd absolutely want to adopt you. We've already got plans for you to have a spot at the apartment with us, Eri, and Hitoshi, if you ever don't want to stay at the dorms, and whether you decide that you want us to adopt you, that offer will always stand regardless.”

This didn't make any sense. Why would they want to adopt him? Katsuki had made a lot of improvement in the idea of his self worth in the last few months but he still had his doubts, and he knew he wasn't easy to take care of. “W..Why?”

Aizawa sighed gently, “Katsuki, you're a great kid, and you deserve a chance to finally get to be a kid. You deserve to have someone in your corner that you can come to when you need to. You deserve to have a set of adults that you trust and that love you.”

He continued as Katsuki stared at him, still confused. “And don't think this is out of pity or spur of the moment. If we didn't want to do this, we wouldn't offer, we want to because we care and we want to help you work towards the future you want, and this has been on my mind since you woke up in Recovery girl's office after your stunt at Ground Beta.”

Aizawa looked from him back to the stack of papers. “Feel free to marinate on it, you don't have to answer right..”

Katsuki couldn't help but interrupt his teacher, well not just his teacher anymore. “I don't have to wait to know what I want.”

Katsuki could see Aizawa’s lock onto his. There was hesitation there. Did he think that Katsuki was going to say no? “Do you have a pen for me to sign them?”

He had spent so long wishing for a family that actually gave a fuck about him. Yeah, he had Eijirou's moms and Mina’s parents, but he had always craved parents of his own that actually loved him.

Aizawa smiled, it was small but Katsuki could see it as he handed him a pen. “Here, Katsuki.”

Katsuki took the pen and eagerly signed the papers. Katsuki Aizawa-Yamada, signed right along the dotted line.

Chapter Text

Katsuki sighed as he sat across from his dads. Hitoshi was on his right and Eri was on his left. It was their regular Thursday evening dinner that they did once a month.

Katsuki loved these dinners and he had for the last six years, and usually he had Itsuka right next to him, but tonight she had been called out on a late night patrol and couldn't make it.

That was part of the reason for Katsuki's sour mood, but there was a larger part, he was internally panicking and he had for the last two weeks since he had found out.

Itsuka was pregnant.

And Katsuki was losing his sanity.

It wasn't that he didn't want a baby, he did, him and Itsuka had been working on starting a family for the last year, but now that it was happening. He was too far in his head.

Would he be a good parent? Would he fuck up his kid’s life like his birth parents did his? He was so fucking scared right now.

“Katsuki? You okay, kid?”

Katsuki looked up from his bowl to look his dad in the face. “Got a lot on my mind. Itsuka’s pregnant and..”

His eyes blew wide at the realization of what he had just done. Itsuka was going to kill him. They were supposed to tell people together, that was the original plan for tonight.

All eating at the table had ceased before Eri started cheering and everyone started to congratulate him. Katsuki bowed his head for a second. “Please none of you tell Itsuka you know. We were supposed to tell you all together.”

Hizashi smiled at him. “We're very happy for the both of you. I can't wait for her to come by so you both can officially tell us together. You must be so excited!”

Katsuki smiled, but it fell shortly after. He had stopped hiding his emotions long ago. “Thanks Papa. We are..but..”

He could see Shouta looking at him. “What's wrong, Katsuki?”

Katsuki fully set his chopsticks down and just slumped in his chair. “I'm fuc..freaking terrified. I thought I was ready to be a parent, but now that it's real, I'm scared. What if..What if I end up like my birth parents?” His voice dropped to a whisper. “What if I mess up my kid’s life just like they did mine? What if I turn out just like the hag?”

Katsuki hadn't heard anything from his birth parents in over six years and he was fortunate for that. He had spent years in therapy trying to unlearn everything they had taught him and trying to be the best he could be, but there was still that chance. What if he got pushed past his breaking point and hit his kid like his mom hit him? He'd like to think that would never happen in a million years, but what if it did? He'd never be able to live with himself.

He watched as his dad put his chopsticks down as well. He had his long black hair pulled up into a ponytail so Katsuki could see his dad's eye soften when he looked at him. “You're never going to be like that woman in a million years. You never will be. You'll never lay a hand on your child, I know that for a fact, and so do you.”

Katsuki ran a hand through his hair, “How do you..” He stopped. He knew exactly how Shouta knew. Like his dad had said way back in his first year of Yuuei. The two of them were very similar. He knew what his dad was saying but it was still terrifying. He whispered quietly. “I just want to be the best I can. I don't want to fuck anything up. I want to be there for Itsuka and this kid.”

Katsuki watched as Hizashi reached across the table and Katsuki let him take his left hand in his. “You're going to be a wonderful parent. You both are. You're not going to be perfect because no parent is perfect but you're going to be loving and caring and nurturing like any parent should. You're not giving yourself enough credit for all the work you've put in and how kind you truly are.”

Hizashi smiled at him. “You're a good person, Katsuki. You always have been.”

Katsuki wanted to argue but he was having a hard time finding the words. They just didn't understand! He..He knew he was good. He knew he was a good person, but what if the extreme happened? What if he was pushed too far and he turned into a monster? He had done his best to unlearn everything he went through, but nothing could be a hundred percent fixed.

He could feel his dad's stern gaze. “Katsuki, have you ever, even for a split second thought about putting your hands on Itsuka? Even in your worst moments, have you ever thought about hurting her?”

Katsuki’s eyes widened. “I would never harm her, ever. It's never even crossed my mind.”

Shouta gave him a gentle smile, “Then you have your answer. Whether it be with Itsuka or your upcoming child, you're not violent by nature, Katsuki. It's how you evolved at one point but you've evolved even further from there. You're not violent. It's not in you. No matter what your birth mother did to you, violence doesn't live in your heart. You understand?”

Katsuki nodded slowly. Maybe his dads were right.

Maybe he really wasn't giving himself enough credit. He couldn't help but snort. It definitely wouldn't have been the first time he's done that.

A little over eight and a half months later, Hana Kendou was born. (Yeah Katsuki took Kendou’s last name. Fight him.) As soon as he held Hana in his arms for the first time, she gripped onto the end of his index finger, Katsuki knew he would never hurt her in a million years.

He'd never be the perfect parent, and he wasn't the perfect partner but he was going to spend his life doing his best for Itsuka and now Hana as well.

Katsuki had spent a majority of his life feeling like he was drowning, but now it finally felt like he wasn't just treading water, but peacefully floating on top of gentle waves.