Chapter Text
It’s finally fucking Wednesday. And it’s not just any old regular-ass Wednesday; this day is important for Katsuki.
You see, he’s been waiting for this moment for a long time, and it’s finally arrived.
He’s finally allowed to participate in hero training.
It’s been three months since the war and All for One was defeated, and it’s been two months since school went back in session.
Essentially, he’s been sidelined for three fucking months, and he has been going fucking crazy about not being able to do any training.
Katsuki was stuck in the hospital for the first month while he healed from open-heart surgery courtesy of Edgeshot sacrificing himself. Katsuki also had to deal with a mangled right arm and shoulder after All for One had countered his attack at full strength, tearing several tendons and muscles within his arm along with several broken bones. The right side of his face has a nasty jagged scar that runs from the bottom of his chin to his nose and eye and branches off towards his ear. He hates looking at it in the mirror as it reminds him of how he was literally on death’s door.
Well, Katsuki shouldn’t say that.
Katsuki went into Death’s house and stole all the food and money while Edgeshot did his magic.
You could say he’s a master at cheating death.
Katsuki was a bit fucked up for a while. He’s still a little messed up, but he would never admit it to anyone. He has a feeling the class already knows.
Recovery Girl did do her magic on him, but because he never had any stamina due to his weak-ass lungs and new heart, she could never heal him all the way.
So yeah, you can say he’s antsy to destroy something in training.
When U.A. reopened, Katsuki was still in the hospital for another week until he was released on doctors’ orders of no training while rehabbing his injuries.
He rehabbed for two months to get back into shape just for this moment.
It killed him to sit on the sidelines and rehab while he watched the rest of the class train. He was falling behind, and if he was going to be Japan’s future number-one hero, he needed to be better than everyone.
And to be better than everyone, he must push away his fears and anxieties from the war. He can’t be thinking about Shigaraki and All for One torturing and killing him when he’s in the middle of fucking training. He can have a breakdown in the privacy of his room fuck you very much.
Once again, the class already knows about his public breakdowns; they even witnessed it after he had returned to the dorms.
After Kamino, he mastered the art of waking up his dorm floor with his nightmares. Shitty Hair frequently had to check in on him if he yelled too loud and his explosions shook the walls.
However, it’s been much different now that he’s returned to the dorms after the war. His nightmares constantly wake him up until he barely sleeps anymore. Anytime he manages to fall asleep, he’s quickly woken up by the sound of people breaking down his door to ensure he’s ok. That’s been the one downside since returning to the dorms, the fact that his quirk now shakes the whole fucking building and wakes up everyone. Glasses’ has calmed him down a few times there.
He can’t help it; it’s not his fault that he imagines he’s back on the battlefield and keeps dying over and over and over again. The dead face of his childhood hero lying next to him while he was in complete agony after he was revived is constantly in his nightmares. He always wakes up afterward. He still hasn’t told anyone in detail how All Might’s death has affected him, but he knows Deku and the rest of the class understand.
That was his hero.
He never got the chance to get his All Might card signed, and his opportunity will never come because the former Symbol of Peace is dead and buried six feet under.
Just like he almost was.
Katsuki knows he will regret not asking for an autograph for the rest of his life.
His chest and arm ache just thinking about it.
And that’s another thing; he will continue to have minor pain flare-ups as he continues to recover. With how destroyed he had been after the war, he’s surprised his arm is still attached to his body with how mangled it looked after waking up.
But it does nothing to dwell on the past. He can’t change what happened to him or everybody else around him, but he can certainly think about how things could have turned out differently if he hadn’t used his Howitzer Impact that changed the course of the war. If he had waited for Deku to return, then he probably would not have died in the first place. Edgeshot would still be alive as well.
But now that he’s allowed to attend training, not just classes but actual physical training, he can finally take that step forward and look toward the future. He’s still alive and still a hero student against all odds. He still aims to become the number one hero; that goal will never change.
As he returns to training, he wants to make an impact. He wants to make it known to everyone that he is Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight and will not be taken down for long. He wants to make the long hours of physical therapy worth it. That the pain, sweat, and tears were worth returning for. For him, just being able to walk out there and begin training meant everything was worth it.
He could have done without dying, however.
Deku had been by his side from when he woke up on the battlefield to now. Deku had helped him in therapy and had been there for his breakdowns. Other people had also helped him in therapy, but they didn’t understand him like Deku did.
Deku is his everything, and he refuses to have it any other way.
And as he looks towards his bedroom door separating him from the outside world, he thinks he’s now ready to take on the world.
His stomach rumbles as he lets out a sigh.
He can’t take on the world if he’s a starving son of a bitch.
Quickly, he puts on his school uniform, grabs his backpack, and opens his door just a crack to ensure that his squad will not pounce on him the instant he leaves.
The hall appears to be clear for the time being.
But that can change at a moment’s notice regarding his squad. They are chaos personified and have a sense of when they need to be as chaotic as possible.
He’ll never tell them that they light up his day because fuck you, Katsuki is terrible at showing appreciation. But he always makes larger portions for them when he’s cooking in the kitchen.
He shows appreciation in his own way, and nobody can force him to do anything else.
Katsuki begins to slip out of his room and sneak down the hall because he does not want to wake up Shitty Hair this early before class.
Oh.
Did he forget to mention that it’s 6 in the goddamn morning?
He’s usually up this early to work out before a full day of classes, but his routine got messed up once the war began.
He hasn’t had a chance yet to go back to his routine since, you know, he fucking died and came back to life and then got slammed with physical therapy for fucking everything.
He’s also anxious because while he has been doing light workouts as a substitute for hero training, it has not given him the adrenaline he craves. Hero training is meant to push you to your limits and go beyond; he can’t do that in his light workouts.
Katsuki has noticed that he’s less muscular than before the war. It’s not hard to fucking miss. Being stuck in a coma for a week and then placed on bed rest for another week will obviously fuck with your body. Katsuki tried to regain his strength to where it was before, but there was only so much he was allowed to do.
Now that he can return to training and begin his hardcore morning workouts, he plans to do just that.
Katsuki doesn’t hear any voices in the common room as he sneaks down the stairs, but that doesn’t mean nobody’s down there. Plenty of times, he went downstairs only to see his idiot squad sleeping on the couches after they had stayed up all night playing video games. It became a habit after the war for the squad to play video games into the early mornings as classes had been suspended.
Even once classes resumed, they continued to sleep in the common room; Katsuki knows because his nightmares would wake him up and force him out of his room to the kitchen to make some tea. The squad always saw him come down and asked if he was ok, and he always responded with a ‘fuck off.’ Katsuki knew they were intelligent enough to know he was not ok, but they never pushed him to talk.
That privilege was for Deku and Deku only.
As he enters the common room, he sees that the squad did have their late-night festivities, but only Sparky has remained on the couch as everyone else appeared to have had the common sense to sleep in their rooms.
Dunce Face is sprawled out on the couch with a blanket thrown haphazardly over him. The TV has been turned off, so either Dunce Face had the wherewithal to turn it off before he crashed on the couch, or someone else did and neglected to take him to his room.
He wonders if Sparky got enough sleep or any at all.
Katsuki thinks it would be fucking hilarious if he woke up Dunce Face right now. As he places a palm next to his ear, he activates his quirk just enough for mini explosions to be produced and for Sparky to launch off the couch with a high-pitched shriek and electricity emanating from his body.
Success.
“Bro, that was so not fair. I’ve only had two hours of sleep after playing Sonic, and I—” Sparky begins to tiredly ramble on about how he was going for that third full hour of sleep even though he is yawning the whole time and looking like he’d fall over and crash to the floor at any moment. He doubts that Sparky would have made it through homeroom.
“You complete idiot, you’re not going to function during hero training today. The others apparently had a brain cell to return to their rooms, but you decided sleeping down here would be the best choice.” Katsuki watches as Sparky’s eyes widen in recognition that the rest of the squad did not sleep down there with them.
Was he honestly expecting them too?
Katsuki only rolls his eyes at Sparky’s dilemma. It’s not his problem that Sparky has no concept of a sleep schedule. While he did get on his and everyone else’s ass about getting at least eight hours of sleep a night before the war, Katsuki’s priorities changed dramatically as he focused on his recovery and less on what everyone else did.
But that’s changing now because Katsuki is returning, and he wants everyone, especially Sparky, to be in top shape so he can destroy them in training.
He watches as Dunce Face does the slow walk of shame out of the common room and up the stairs to get ready for class. He knows that he wouldn’t dare go back to sleep, or else he’ll sleep through homeroom and morning classes, and Dunce Face is aware that his grades can’t drop any lower. Aizawa would also give him detention if he didn’t show up, and playing video games until four in the morning is not a valid excuse to miss homeroom.
So yeah, Katsuki’s sure Sparky will be there for homeroom; he just won’t be awake.
As he struts into the kitchen to make tamagoyaki, he thinks he will ‘accidentally’ leave some leftovers for the rest of the extras. Usually, he’d only make breakfast for Deku, but since he can train again, forcing the rest of the class to eat a full breakfast so he can kick their ass at full strength would be the best way to show that everything is ok again.
As Katsuki collects the pan and ingredients for the omelets, he hears footsteps quickly plodding down the steps, and he can’t turn around fast enough until a familiar head of red and white hair runs into his kitchen.
“Icyhot, get out of my kitchen before you set something on fire.” The bastard stares at him with mismatched eyes before his lips curl into a smile.
“I’m not touching anything in your kitchen.” Oh, he wants to be a smartass, huh?
God dammit.
Ever since the war, IcyHot has acted completely different.
Almost like he was free.
He guesses that Endeavor being forced to retire after having his quirk stolen by All for One during the war would make anyone happy. While IcyHot had also been forced to fight his brother Dabi, he was able to save him.
Scarface currently resides in Tartarus, with IcyHot visiting him on the weekends.
Katsuki notices that Half n’ Half is holding something behind his back, and as much as he doesn’t want to know what it is because this particular bastard gives the weirdest gifts, he also wants to know.
IcyHot continues to stare at him, and Katsuki finally gives him what he wants.
“Half n’ Half, if you have a cold soba recipe that you want me to make you, I will kill you, and no one will find your body.” His mismatched eyes widen, and he can see the idiot begin to think.
Fuck.
He just gave that bastard an idea for later, and he knows he will be asked to make it for him.
Whatever.
If this gift passes the test, he’ll consider making a disgusting cold soba recipe.
“It’s not that, but I do have a recipe in mind--” he snorts at IcyHot’s admission, “but I had this gift commissioned by a local artist just for you. Because we’re friends.”
He rolls his eyes at that but does not refute his statement. Because honestly, he does enjoy the bastard’s presence.
Katsuki’s just not going to tell him that.
Icyhot brings his hand forward and opens it as the object comes into Katsuki’s view.
“I was waiting for the right time to give this to you, and since you’re returning to training today, I thought now would be perfect. Welcome back, Bakugou; we missed you kicking our ass.”
In his palm sits a necklace with an orange and black X in the center with explosions painted on. He looks closer to see it is engraved with his hero name on the front and the local artist’s signature on the back. He gently takes it and holds it in his hand.
It weighs almost nothing, but his heart becomes heavy with emotion, and his eyes start to burn. He turns his head away from IcyHot before he can see a tear roll down his face.
He is not crying; he just put too many onions into the pan, ok?
Fuck, he’s going to have to make Half n’ Half’s special cold soba, isn’t he?
A warm, comforting hand on his shoulder grounds him, “You don’t have to say anything right now, Bakugou.”
Fuck this bastard to hell.
He musters up a glare that he hopes reaches his eyes before he turns towards IcyHot, “Text me your stupid soba recipe before I kill you.”
The fucker only smiles and nods in return.
~~
As Katsuki waits for homeroom to begin, he notices that the rest of the class is as antsy as him. He had previously told them that his restrictions had been lifted, and Deku tackled him to the ground. Katsuki thought Deku was trying to kill him right then and there with how hard he was hugging him. Four Eyes and Shitty Hair used all their strength to pry him off.
He glances around the classroom and locks eyes with Eyebags. Shinso had managed to join Class A before the war, replacing the creepy purple bastard who now toils away in Class B.
He wonders why Nedzu hasn’t expelled the purple pervert yet, though he must have his reasons.
Shinso earned a spot in Class B after the Sports Festival and replaced the purple balls bastard before the war commenced. During the war, Shinso brainwashed Gigantomachia into attacking All for One. While he could not defeat him with his brainwashing, he had managed to rattle All for One enough that the other heroes successfully prevented him from joining forces with Shigaraki.
Katsuki hears Sonic doing his morning lecture about school announcements and events happening around campus, and then the Sleepy Caterpillar slithers in in his yellow sleeping bag. The eyepatch covering his eye makes him more menacing if you don’t know him, but Katsuki knows that The Hobo would die for everyone in the room.
“If you’re not silent in the next five seconds, I will give you detention and house arrest.” Katsuki rolls his eyes at Sensei’s bluff as the class prepares to listen to Aizawa.
The Hobo doesn’t even bother to leave his sleeping bag before he announces class for the day.
“As I’m sure you have noticed, today is Wednesday, which means hero training for the day. However, it’s going to be a bit different this time.” Katsuki watches as the idiot squad lean in their seats.
“You will be training today with Class B in heroes vs. villain matches. You will be randomly paired with someone from this class or class B, and your opponent will also be random.” Katsuki smirks as he hears the idiot squad groan in frustration; he’s sure they wanted to team up together and destroy their opponents.
Katsuki had wanted to team up with Deku for the exercise, and he was sure Deku had the same idea.
“The objective of the exercise is to disarm the bomb within thirty minutes. However, to pass, you must capture the two villains before attempting to disarm the bomb. This forces you to think critically about how you will disarm the bomb while capturing villains while teaming with someone you have probably never worked with.” The classroom erupts with noise as Shitty Hair exclaims that he hopes to team up with Tetsutetsu.
Of course that motherfucker wants to team up with his clone in steel form.
Katsuki knows they would be an unstoppable duo if they teamed up as professional heroes.
“Sensei—” and Four Eyes begins his usual questioning of the rules, “if a team were to hypothetically fail to capture the villain team within the designated time limit, would the bomb detonate at the end?”
“Excellent question Iida. You will be docked points if you fail to capture both villains and do not manage to diffuse the bomb before time expires. If you capture both villains, but the bomb detonates, you will be given half credit. The goal is to capture both villains and diffuse the bomb within the time limit. You will also be graded on teamwork, so make sure you strategize.”
Yep. Katsuki’s going to win this shit no matter what side he’s on.
It doesn’t matter who teams up with him because Katsuki plans to win.
“As for the villain team, your goal is to keep the bomb active. You can use whatever methods you want when fighting the heroes. You can place the bomb anywhere in the building and choose the setting at which the bomb detonates; either a small explosion or something that destroys the whole building and everyone in it.” Several members of the class shriek at possibly being allowed to destroy something, Katsuki also lets out a feral grin.
“I ask that you not choose the highest setting because Recovery Girl is currently on vacation, and you will have to heal the old way, and Cementoss will have to rebuild the building. However, I cannot stop you because you will be villains, and I can’t control you.”
Katsuki laughs as the rest of the class descends into pandemonium.
“To make things more interesting, I will allow the villain team to take up to three bombs with them and hide them wherever. Only one bomb can be active, though; you can activate whichever bomb you want, and it will automatically deactivate the other bomb. The extra bombs are there to keep the heroes on their toes. Now, everyone be ready at Ground Beta in your hero costumes in ten minutes, or you’re expelled.” Another bluff from The Hobo has the class jumping out of their seats and rushing out the door excitedly.
Katsuki also starts to walk out the door before The Hobo stops him, “Bakugou, I want to talk to you.”
Fuck, he knows exactly what this is about. Sensei will tell him to be careful and to know his limits.
He doesn’t want to hear it; he wants to be unleashed.
“Bakugou, I know you have been cleared to begin training as of today—” and yep, Katsuki’s intuition was correct.
He doesn’t want to be fucking coddled.
The Hobo returns his glare with his lone functioning eye, and Katsuki finally yields. “I know what you’re about to say, Sensei; just know I don’t want to hear it.”
The Hobo raises an eyebrow; “I was only going to say that it is ok if you aren’t at your best. I don’t expect you to perform at your best so soon, so know in advance that I will not dock points.” Katsuki winces as he feels a sting of pain race up his arm, and of course, The Hobo picks up on it.
Observant bastard.
“You’ve just been allowed to begin training; go easy on yourself and know your limits. Be careful and don’t strain yourself, or I will not hesitate to give you detention.” Sensei’s one-eyed glare at him has him rolling his eyes before The Hobo lets out a huff.
“Fuck, fine, Sensei. I’ll be careful, but I can’t promise I’ll go easy on anyone.” Katsuki releases his trademark feral grin, which has The Hobo quirking up his eyebrow.
“I don’t expect you to, but I know of a way to rein you in so you don’t hurt yourself. You’re dismissed.” The Hobo zips up the sleeping bag over his face to let him know the conversation is over, and Katsuki is partially glad that The Hobo is watching over him.
He wants to guess that The Hobo has become highly protective over him since the war. Watching the Second Problem Child of the class get brutally tortured and murdered would mess anyone up. Aizawa had watched him grow into the person he is today and was forced to watch as Katsuki was fatally struck in the chest while he and Copycat had to keep their eyes open at a distance to prevent Shigaraki from using decay.
Aizawa had also been right at his side, consoling him after Edgeshot revived him as they carried him off the battlefield. Katsuki had been in absolute agony when he awoke, but he doesn’t remember much of what happened, but he does remember waking up to his hero lying dead right next to him.
He’ll never forget that for as long as he lives.
Katsuki somehow made it to his locker, and his classmates' voices throughout the room allowed him to clear his head.
That’s right; he’s no longer on the battlefield; he’s here, safe at U.A. with his classmates around him.
Nothing can get to him here.
As he pulls his hero costume out, he thinks of himself as a genius for coming up with the design of his winter costume. The same outfit that allows him to hide his wounds of war.
But it’s also the costume that he was murdered in.
His breath hitches at the thought.
It’s ok. Everything is ok.
He’s not on the battlefield anymore; he’s at U.A. getting ready to train again.
Katsuki takes a shaky breath as he slowly calms down and looks over his costume.
Upon his request, his black mask has been styled to resemble the hero that saved him from death. Tails flow from the mask, replacing the flamboyant black and orange headgear.
He’s grown up extremely fast; being forced to fight a war will do that to you. He’s still the arrogant and abrasive kid from before the war, but death changes you. He knows how his life can end instantly, and he was fortunate to have been revived at all.
Because others also died, his hero was among them.
He thinks this small tribute to Edgeshot will allow him to temporarily mentally heal from the thought that another hero sacrificed themselves for Katsuki.
He takes another shuddering breath as his eyes start to burn with unshed tears.
He can’t do this now; he needs to get to Ground Beta to start training.
He places the mask on the bench while he pulls on the top of his hero costume. The giant orange X marks the spot where he was fatally hit; however, it’s no longer covered in blood and torn to shreds. He looks over at his scarred right arm to see it’s covered, a small victory.
Katsuki puts on his baggy cargo pants before putting on his orange and black boots, no longer stained with his blood. His metal knee pads are next, and the smell of clean metal soothes him. Katsuki realizes as he puts on his shoulder braces that he hasn’t done anything strenuous for a while now, and he’s not sure if his arms, especially his right, will hold up from the force of his explosions currently. He lost a lot of strength and muscle in his right arm as it had been immobilized in a cast and sling.
Physical therapy helped him regain strength; he’s just not where he wants to be.
Katsuki pulls his grenade bracers out of his locker and puts his hands through them, the familiar feeling draws a smile out of him, but he also notices that they are heavier than usual.
Fuck. He’ll keep them off until they’re needed.
Maybe the Sleepy Caterpillar was right; he needs to be careful and not overdo anything.
Fuck that observant bastard to hell.
“Bakubro!” Katsuki could hear Sparky yelling outside the locker room, “Hurry up or you’ll be late, and Sensei will give you detention on your first day back!”
Fucking Sparky, Aizawa would never do that. He’s his favorite. “Shut up, Dunce Face; you’re one to talk after sleeping half of homeroom—” a squeal interrupts him, and he grins.
“No need to rub it in, bro.” Katsuki rolls his eyes and only slams his locker in response; another unintelligible yell from Sparky pierces the silence of the locker room.
“Yeah yeah, I’m coming; hold your fucking horses,” Katsuki shouts back to wherever the idiot is. An excited whoop echoes through the room and a warm feeling courses through his body as a small grin forms on his face.
He missed this.
~~
Katsuki had been last to arrive with Sparky at Ground Beta, grenade bracers in tow, and Class B had still not arrived, and The Hobo looked furious.
Deku had caught his eye after he arrived and jogged over to him with a beaming smile. His freckles glistened in the morning light.
“Kacchan, you must be so excited for this; you’ve worked so hard to get to this point, andIcan’twait—” Katsuki gazes into Deku’s mesmerizing green eyes as the nerd starts to ramble.
Katsuki pushes his mask to his neck and places a hand on Deku’s soft hair and ruffles it to shut him up; his face blushes red.
He doesn’t know why he just did that.
He’s so gone for the nerd that he’s embarrassing himself in front of everyone.
Oh well, Deku is worth it.
The nerd lifts a hand and begins to trace the scar on Katsuki’s face; the light touch sends shivers down his spine.
The sound of booing and gagging off to the side has him flipping the class off; Deku giggles.
That giggle did not get his heart racing. Shut the fuck up.
“I see the Beast of Class A has returned and is flirting with a bunny, I—” Katsuki snarls as fucking Copycat and the rest of Class B finally fucking show up but also ruin his moment.
“Fuck off, Copycat; I haven’t seen you doing anything of note recently.” Katsuki would never admit that he missed bantering with the Copycat bastard. He kept him on his toes whenever Class B was around.
“You haven’t seen me because you were stuck in the hospital for so long that I thought you had made yourself at home.” And yeah, that’s fair; Katsuki hasn’t interacted with him since the war, last seeing him on the platform with The Hobo above the ground while they desperately attempted to prevent Shigaraki from using decay.
Before Katsuki can retort in the only way he knows how, Monoma’s next words knock the air straight out of his lungs.
“Tell me, Beast, how did it feel getting your face ravaged and arm deformed by the king of villains? Wasn’t pleasant, huh? Will you keel over and die today if someone lightly hits you square in the chest? Maybe I—” and Copycat’s interrupted by Kendo’s swipe to the head; everyone in Class A looks ready to commit murder while Class B seems upset. Deku had activated One for All with Blackwhip hovering protectively in front of Katsuki.
Katsuki’s breath catches in his throat, and he thinks his heart skips a beat. Katsuki believes that walking away would be for the best, and that’s precisely what he does. He turns to leave, and Deku follows closely behind him.
He can hear the Class’s outrage directed toward Monoma, but he no longer has the energy to confront him.
Katsuki thinks that Copycat can be extreme sometimes, but he never expected him to say something like that.
However, he didn’t want the class to defend him from everything.
“Monoma, I can’t believe—Bakugou, I am so sorry about him; welcome back by the way; training against your class just hasn’t been the same without you.” Katsuki watches from a distance as Kendo focuses her rage on Monoma while dragging him away and continues to karate chop his head as he tries to explain.
“Kacchan, are you ok? Monoma was completely out of line there.” Deku looked murderous as Blackwhip still hovered protectively around him.
“I’m fine, nerd, don’t worry about it.”
It was a complete lie.
He had wanted to banter back with the Copycat bastard, but he didn’t think Monoma’s words would get to him; he had even been ready to shout something back before his brain completely shut down.
Katsuki feels a firm hand on his back and turns his head to see Four Eyes with a determined glint in his eyes, “We’ll take care of him, Bakugou.”
Katsuki would rather everyone worry about themselves and not worry about him. He can fight his own battles.
He can’t blame them, though; the war took a toll on all of them.
Especially him.
Aizawa clears his throat, and all the eyes that were on Katsuki turn to The Hobo. “Vlad, control your class before I forget to watch my class, and they go after one of your students, no matter how in jest it was.” And The Hobo is glaring daggers at Vlad King, who puts his hands up in surrender and begins to sweat.
“Aizawa, I had—” The Hobo interrupts him to call all the students to gather around him to explain the rules.
“As I’m sure Vlad explained to you earlier, today’s joint training is Class A vs. Class B. However, you may be assigned a partner from a different class to learn how to strategize with someone you’ve never worked with in a high-stakes environment. Your partner and opponents will be shuffled after everyone has gone once. Like I told my class earlier, the points system is based on if you can capture the two villains and then disarm the bomb within the designated time limit. I trust that Vlad King had the decency to tell you that much.” Vlad begins to sputter in disbelief as The Hobo glares at him with one eye.
Katsuki watches the sight in amusement while the students of class B shift nervously on their feet.
“Your match will be recorded so you can watch your match later and think about where you succeeded and what you need to improve on. All the hallways and rooms within the designated building have cameras so I, Vlad and your peers can watch here. Afterward, your fellow students will give their observations on what you did right and what you did wrong.”
Katsuki begins to hear grumblings from the students around him at having their classmates also judging them. “I’m going to be killed; Class A is going to kill me.” He hears Monoma frantically whisper at Kendo, who swipes at his head again.
“All of you will also have earpieces to communicate with your teammate. We won’t hear your strategies from this room, so anything goes. Just stay professional. I ask that you not contact me or the room for assistance unless someone is dying.” The Hobo says it in such a deadpan voice that half of Class A starts snickering.
“Before I forget, I should also mention that you may have multiple bombs. However, you can only activate one at a time, so choose wisely where you place them. You can choose the setting at which they explode, either a mini explosion or one that brings down the whole building. I do ask that the villain teams not choose that setting. However, I am unable to stop you. Just know that you may have to be healed, and Recovery Girl is on vacation. And she will not end her vacation to heal students who made stupid decisions; it’s completely up to you. Cementoss is on standby if you do decide to be destructive.” Katsuki can see several students pondering that choice.
“Now, listen because I will only announce your team and opponent once. Everything will also be randomized in the next round as well.” The students standing around perk their ears up in anticipation. Katsuki wonders who he’ll be paired with.
It better be someone who’s fucking competent.
“Toru Hagakure and Pony Tsunotori, you are the hero team; your opponents are Minoru Mineta and Kinoko Komori. A word of warning, Mineta, I’ve heard from Vlad that your behavior is still as abhorrent as ever. If you don’t behave during this training, I will go to Nezdu, and you will not like what happens next.” Aizawa levels a steely glare at the purple pervert, who shakes in fear. Everyone’s eyes are on Mineta as the purple pervert begins to glow red in embarrassment after being called out in front of the class.
Heh. Serves that shithead right.
Why is the school still giving that fucker chances, though?
“Izuku Midoriya, you will be teaming with Hitoshi Shinso..” Katsuki watches Deku vibrate in place in excitement; he can’t blame him. Eyebags has gotten significantly better in hand-to-hand combat and has become a difficult opponent to beat when his brainwashing quirk and capture weapon come into play.
The Hobo didn’t train him for nothing.
“—you are the hero team; your opponents are Eijiro Kirishima and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu.” At that, Shitty Hair starts hooting and hollering at getting to team up with his steel clone.
Damn, Katsuki wanted to team up with at least one of them. He and Shitty Hair would have been unstoppable, and a team with Deku would have everyone else shaking in their boots in fear of fighting against the Wonder Duo.
Oh well, there’s always the next round.
As The Hobo begins to call off names and assignments, Katsuki’s mind wanders.
Katsuki knows he’s ready; he’s been cleared for action, for fucks sake.
But he can’t help the nervousness that begins to fester in his stomach that something will go wrong when it’s his turn.
A twinge of pain lances through his arm, and he suppresses a wince.
“Katsuki Bakugou—” The Hobo’s voice pierces his thoughts and brings him back to reality to see everyone staring at him with wide eyes, Shitty Hair sporting a toothy grin while Deku gives him a blinding smile.
“—you will be teaming with Shoto Todoroki as the hero team—” Katsuki loves this arrangement because even when he teams with the IcyHot bastard, their opponents usually run away in fear.
“—your opponents are Tenya Iida and Neito Monoma.”
Wait.
What?
Is he facing off against the Copycat bastard?
He looks over to see Copycat staring bug-eyed at The Hobo while Kendo tells him that ‘he had it coming.’ Katsuki watches Sonic sigh and lowers his head to glare at the ground. The rest of Class A begin snickering at Copycat’s predicament.
“Beat his ass, Blasty,” he hears Pinky yell from across the room, “show him who’s boss.” Katsuki can’t help but grin at Pinky’s enthusiasm.
The Hobo’s hair stands on end as his eye glares at all of them; the room quickly quiets down. “I will allow all of you fifteen minutes to strategize with your partners; the first group up will be Midoriya and Shinso; you may begin strategizing. Eijiro and Tetsutetsu, you may enter the building and strategize where to place your bombs. Remember, only one can be active at the setting you prefer.” Katsuki watches as the nerd and Eyebags begin conversing, the nerd throwing his arms exaggeratedly while Eyebag listens.
Katsuki can’t wait to begin as the IcyHot bastard calls him over to start planning.
He’s ready to kick some ass.