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It's loud. Really loud. Katsuki isn't used to it, not really. He has already been in buses, obviously. But public transportation is always mostly silent except for his own music, most people respecting the unspoken rule and minding your own business and not disturbing others. The most he's had to deal with were assholes who didn't have headphones and decided to make it everyone's problem. Katsuki isn't used to school buses. Everyone is chatting and talking with each other, apparently very excited to work themselves up to quirk exhaustion, go to sleep late and wake up at dawn, because this is not a school camp for the holydays for everyone to have fun, no. This is a training camp and this is UA. But Katsuki isn't sure the extras understood that.
At least they're not all huddled together, everyone has their own seat and so far no one came to sit beside Katsuki's so he's fine. It's been what, a few minutes since they left ? And they still have some way to go, if Aizawa's to be trusted, and he usually is. Maybe Katsuki has the time for a nap, probably the only one he'll be able to afford in the next two weeks. He closes his eyes and lets himself fall asleep.
He's woken up by none other than Aizawa. His teacher doesn't say anything, leaving the bus once he's sure Katsuki won't go back to sleep. Katsuki stretches. The sun is up now, he would say it's around nine in the morning. Huh. The trip wasn't that long after all, or so it seems. Although with Aizawa, it could easily be one of his 'logical ruses'. The only way to find out being heading straight into said ruse, Katsuki doesn't see anything else to do than go out there with the extras he has to call his classmates.
"Bakugou. How nice of you to join us."
"Hey Aizawa-Sensei, are you sure we're at the right place ? There doesn't seem to be anyone there, and this does not look like a rest spot..."
"Well Sero, since you asked-"
"Heeey ! Eraser ! It's been a while !"
Two women, dressed in blue-green costumes with cat tails, paws and matching headsets come to greet Aizawa.
"With sparkling eyes we rock on !"
"Cute, cat, stinger !"
The Wild Wild Pussycats, a team of four rescue heroes, specialized in mountain fields, and apparently those they were going to train with for the next two weeks. Interesting, if not a bit disappointing for Katsuki. Beside their experience in the field, there wasn't much he can learn from them, especially not if the goal of the training camp is to make their quirks stronger. He can no doubt get some tips from them, but based on what he knows of them, that'll be it.
What intrigues Katsuki more is the kid next to the Pussycats, looking every part like he does not want to be here. Suck it up kid, you're not the only one.
Mandalay points towards the place they'll be staying at. Huh. Well bye kid, see you and your sulking face later. Katsuki takes a few steps back, before jumping over the railing around the same time everyone else besides the pros (and the kid, he supposes) was throw off the cliff. Plus Ultra seems like an accurate depiction of this shitshow, somehow.
Katsuki doesn't land. They said something about being there by 12:30, which usually really means somewhere between 12:00 and 12:15, and getting there by foot would definitely take more than three hours. Flying is just more efficient.
He has to take a break half-way through the forest to drink, rest a bit and give his body the time to generate more sweat. After finding a river, he filters the water with his shirt and heats up his palms until it's boiling in his bottle. While it cools, Katsuki finds a tree to rest in, staying under the shade. Ten minutes later, he down half the bottle, fills it repeating the same process and launches himself up into the air once again. He attributes the feeling of being watched to wild animals.
When he finally gets to the camp, the sun indicates that it's around 12:00. No one is here yet. It doesn't really matter, although Katsuki is a bit disappointed because really, if they were going to challenge the students, the least they could do is be there on time.
(Meanwhile, in the bus, and the car leading the way, Aizawa and the Pussycats sneeze. Weird, isn't it summer ?)
(Somewhere else, in the forest, while they are fighting with dirt monsters, Kirishima wonders where Bakugou went. He doesn't get to dwell on it too much unfortunately, because a dirt beast lunges for Kaminari and he has to go help his friend.)
Aizawa, the Pussycats, who are still missing two of their members, and the grumpy kid arrive at the camp around 2pm. Katsuki throws them plates and offers a bit of the stew he made. It ain't much because there was nothing but a rabbit and some roots out there and he couldn't access wherever their food cupboard is, but they still gotta eat.
"Problem Child. What are you doing here."
"You asked to be there before 12:30, I came here before 12:30. Not my fault you slow asses didn't hold up your end of the deal, which I thought was for you to be there when you asked us to be here."
"Oh, but aren't you a clever one ! We just didn't expect you to go through all our obstacles that easily !"
"What fucking obstacles ?"
Ensues having to explain that he flew here using explosions, yes he was safe about it, no, no trees were scorched, yes he is fine. Meanwhile, the kid is eating a plate of stew less grumpily than five minutes ago. Katsuki can and will not hesitate to call it a fucking win.
Okay so this was fucking bullshit. Weren't they supposed to be here to avoid the fucking villains ? Why was there some person in a strait jacket kneeling on the road eating an arm ? Who even did that ? And also the bird quirk guy lost control, because of course he fucking did, I mean what a convenient fucking time right ?
Katsuki needs to calm down, except he can't, because he has to be ready to fight because there are villains here despite the teachers being so confident in the fact that they were safe that they let the students roam free, and now Katsuki's surrounded by extras who want to protect him because apparently he's a target now, on top of everything, and he cannot afford to have a breakdown right now-
Oh. Oh actually that feels nice. He's warm, he's comfortable. He's not sure what's happening, but maybe he can let it happen, he seems to be fine right now...
Okay scratch that. What the hell just happened ? First he was with his so-called escort, then somehow he got all nice and comfy and now Katsuki's pretty sure he's at the other side of the forest, which aren't good news at all and there's someone who's touching him and he can't move, it feels like he's fucking choking-
He's not- he's not in the forest anymore. He doesn't recognize anything but he's inside, and there's still a hand on the back of his neck so Katsuki's gonna guess that it's a bad thing rather than a good one. He doesn't know if he can move, can't bring himself to try and struggle. He sees shapes and colors, but anything beyond that is blurry. He- someone sits him down into a chair. Katsuki still can't breathe, keeps trying to take a breath in and out like he's pretty sure he usually does without problems. There's no- no hands on him anymore, but he still can't see clearly, can't move, and he's pretty sure he's hyperventilating-
Warmth. It's the same than earlier, but the contrast between the panic attack and now make the effects worse. He feels like he can relax. He knows he shouldn't. He tries not to black out. He fails.
The next time he wakes up he's been strapped to a chair, and there are three extras, most likely villains, sitting in front of him. One of them is the fuck who attacked USJ and sent his big minion to kill Katsuki, the other is the warp gate he exploded and the last one Katsuki isn't familiar with. They don't seem to have noticed him waking up, and Katsuki isn't about to let them know that. They don't move. Are they even awake ?
He sits like that, listening to the sounds of the silence. A pipe dripping somewhere. Something moving, he's betting on a mouse or a rat. His own breathing, matching the villains' own. Katsuki can't hear cars. They either are somewhere far from the road, or they're not in any city. Which would make sense, he's been taken from a forest, and he can only hope they couldn't go that far away from it.
Behind him, a door opens. He has to restrain himself from tensing up.
"We brought back food ! Wake up you idiots !"
Two other guys step inside. The USJ asshole stands up and goes straight to the bar, where the mistfucker offers him a glass. The other one, that Katsuki doesn't know and isn't itching to get closer with, doesn't move, just glances over condescendingly over to the two who woke him up. One is dressed in a spandex full body suit, head included, and the other wears a mask, a top hat, a fucking cape, along with a cane. Fucking clowns.
The mist guy opens something, some sort of portal, and a bottle at the other end of the bar appears right next to him. Teleportation. Bad for Katsuki, very bad. Depending on the range of his quirk, they could be in another country than Japan at this very moment, which would definitely compromise the chance of escape. Fuck.
"It appears we were right on time after all, Twice. Our guest is awake."
Everyone turns to look at Katsuki and this time he can't suppress a flinch. Twice, he keeps the name in mind for later. The USJ asshole (his name, what was his name ?) grins, and drags out one of the bar stools to sit right in front of Katsuki. From the corner of his eye, he sees two other people come in and goddamnit, how many of these fuckers are there ? Katsuki refuses to stop looking in Hand's (that's a perfectly good name for now, seeing as his face is covered by a fucking hand) direction because he knows this guy. This is the man who tried to kill Katsuki and his classmates because All Might didn't show up on his unplanned appointment to get killed. He may be childish as fuck but he is dangerous.
And right now, Katsuki is at his mercy.
Sometimes Shouta thinks being a teacher is not worth the trouble. More often than not, he's right. Teenagers, especially those who want to be heroes, are complete wild cards who will, he is sure of it, give him grey hair early on. But now is not one of those time. Right now, Bakugou Katsuki has been kidnapped, right in front of his classmates and there was nothing that the six pros assigned to protect the students had been able to do. Shouta remembers breaking the arm of a clone before it dissolved right in front of him.
Such a shame, Eraserhead .
Shouta clenches his fists. He looks over at the rescue team they're putting together, the one he was forbidden from being a part of for whatever reason. Somewhere, the rational part of his mind reminds him that as his teacher, he has an emotional connection to his student and thus cannot be part of the rescue team unless certain circumstances, that aren't met right now.
So Shouta has to play along and keep the villains focused on the press conference, make them think that they aren't putting all their effort into getting Bakugou back, that they're waiting for the right moment. He already hopes it not too late. He reassures himself by telling himself that if the villains wanted to kill Bakugou, they would have done it directly at the camp.
Hopefully that stays true long enough, god knows Shouta himself struggles not do murder his student on the daily.
When Katsuki wakes up, two of the losers are back with food. What he did not realize that food means that the walking 'be careful with matches' poster is going to attempt to feed him. Predictably (or maybe not since apparently they thought Katsuki would actually eat what they gave him), Katsuki isn't being cooperative. Surely it's common knowledge that you don't eat what people who kidnapped you give you if you're the only one who has eaten out of the plate/dish/whatever the food is put in. It's been around a day max, Katsuki doesn't need food that badly for now.
"Come on, Kitten... you need to eat !"
Katsuki dreams of telling the somehow still living roasted piece of shit to shove it and stop calling Katsuki 'kitten', but he's pretty sure if he opens his mouth the badly cooked bastard will take the opportunity to force the food down his throat, and Katsuki doesn't want to take any chances.
"Is it because it might be drugged ? I promise you it's not, darling."
Katsuki glares, because the asshole hit the nail dead on. Patchwork grins. Mist Man looks like he might put his face into his hands if he had those instead of just smoky limbs that somehow can get a grip on things.
"Look sweetheart, I'll even eat some, see ? Now be a good boy and eat your dinner."
Katsuki wants to kick his ass into next Friday. Unfortunately he can't, because he's still tied to a fucking chair. Well. He doesn't have the excuse of it being drugged anymore. Reluctantly, because he would rather do anything else than this (and he really hopes the universe doesn't take this as a challenge, seeing as it likes fucking him over), he opens his mouth and lets the Michael Afton x burnt chicken nugget hybrid put food into it. The asshole grins.
"See ? It wasn't that hard, now was it Cat-su-ki."
"Stop calling me that you-"
Another bite of food is pushed into Katsuki's open mouth. This is it. The moment he gets free, he's finishing whoever's shitty job it was of burning the cocky bastard to a crisp.
"Are you done antagonizing him, Dabi ?"
"Well Boss, seeing as your simple presence makes him looks ready to commit murder, I'd say I'm about as done antagonizing him as you are. Right Kitten ?"
"Go die in a ditch where you belong, you walking prevention poster for fire safety."
"Aww, so cute, I'd be happy to be your first go at killing anyday sweetheart."
Katsuki itches to take a knife and burry it in the asshole's chest, because he isn't even worth using his quirk. Is that their strategy ? Pissing him off until he kills someone and becomes a villain ? Are their recruits that expendable ?
"Open wide Kitten." Dabi drawls, already nudging the corner of Katsuki's mouth with a fork. Katsuki glares. Dabi grins even wider (how the hell is that possible, these are fucking staples, not grade A elastics-). Katsuki internally sighs, before opening his mouth. Even the camp, boring as it was, would have been better than whatever this is.
This routine is repeated multiple times over the next day, plus Shigaraki trying to recruit Katsuki with weird speeches about how the heroes failed him in which he didn't say anything else than variations of that.
"I saw you at the sport festival, Katsuki. I saw what the heroes did to you-"
"Pretty sure the entire fucking country did, but go on, I'm not listening."
And then Shigaraki. Fucking. Beams. What the actual fuck, nothing Katsuki said could have warranted this kind of reaction. Somewhere on the side, at least nowhere near Katsuki's range of vision, he can hear the badly made skin graft sample cackle.
"Oh shit Kitten, you answered, now there's no getting rid of him. He's kinda like a cat this way, he'll try to kill you at first but once he chose you there's no way he's leaving you. Not like you, you're more of the clawing and biting at every possible moment kind of cat, but you're super soft when you know how to get to you."
"And how, may I ask, would one 'get to me' ?"
"That I have all the time in the world to find out, Kitten."
Shigaraki starts petting Katsuki's hair. Fucking petting. For absolutely no fucking reason. And of course, Dabi snorts and joins in. Katsuki struggles and throws his head around, but it's no use, the two assholes won't budge. He resists the urge to scream.
"Your hair is surprisingly soft, Kitten."
"Get your fucking hand offa me !"
"Pizza delivery !"
"Who the fuck ordered pizza ?"
Handy McFuckface still has his hand on Katsuki's head as he asks this, although not for longer than that, seeing as the wall fucking explodes. Okay. Normal. One explosion of wall, no big deal. Katsuki does that to Deku’s bones on the regular when they have training. He's also pretty sure he has something either broken or fractured, but whatever it is he can't feel it, high on adrenaline as he is.
Katsuki is... confused, to say the least (or is he really, he has got to get used to this at some point). I mean it isn't every day that you get kidnapped (although it might as well be at this point, I mean what is this, the third time ?), and much less to play monopoly of all things. And yet there he is, still chained to a chair that has been moved in front of a table with the board game on it. Every one of the villains who took him are seated around said table, playing when it's their turn to play and throwing the dices for Katsuki when it's his.
"Katsuki, do you want to buy it ?"
"What the actual fuck."
"I'm gonna take that as a yes."
"Why do you keep doing that anyway ? I already told you, I'm not gonna join you losers !"
Hands just stares at Katsuki like he's a child failing to understand something for the third time. He's not, if anything Hands is the child seeing as Katsuki already told him that he isn't going to join him.
"Is it wrong to want to spend time with our future member ?"
"Yes, when it's kidnapping, and I'm not a future member !"
"Give up kid, we already tried. He's delusional."
"Shut up Patchwork ! You're not better and you're enabling him !"
"Maybe." The asshole drawls, looking as if he cannot bother to even attempt at giving a shit. “But don’t you think your pleasant company is worth a few kidnappings ?” This. This is why Katsuki still gets nightmares at night. He throws his head back and screams.
"So do you want to buy the property then ?” asks the vampire chick who’s obsessed with Deku (which Katsuki will judge her for, if she can stab a bitch she can get better taste in men).
Katsuki is so done with this.
“If I say yes will whatever this bullshit is be over faster ?”
“Maybe ! Not a chance !” screams the spandex dude.
“I’ll buy the damn thing then. Patchwork, get your damn hand off my chest before I get your Walmart vampire to stab it.”
And this bitch, who’d been a few layers of clothing away from outright fondling Katsuki, laughs at him. Again.
“Aww, look Boss, he gave me a nickname. I can feel us bonding already.”
Said Boss (Shigaraki, as Katsuki learned via Deku’s latest rant about the risk of Katsuki getting kidnapped again after Stunfish made some bad jokes about Katsuki being a villain magnet, for which he got pummeled into the ground) smiles, and holy shit is it creepy. He looks like a weird cat, what the hell. And then he pats both the badly colored-in purple drawing imitation and Katsuki’s heads.
“That’s good.” he says, and Katsuki feels an urge to scream that is becoming increasingly familiar. “Bonding is important to building a good team.”
“For the last time I am not joining your loser boyband !”
He can see the hematophagous villain perking up. “Neither me nor Big Sis Magne are boys !”
“And neither of you are losers, fuck off.”
The one Katsuki’s pretty sure is Magne, who was sitting on the couch next to the blood drinking girl and brushing her hair, makes an interested noise.
“How so ?”
Katsuki points as well as he can with the giant block of metal restraining his freedom of movement to Shigaraki.
“At least in his twenties, doesn’t understand that kidnapping isn’t a convincing recruitment speech, communicates via video games, most likely cannot use a washing machine.”
Shigaraki, at this incomplete list by Katsuki of why he sucks, absolutely beams, and says something about Katsuki caring enough to notice all of that. Katsuki makes a “see what I mean ?” face at Magne and the vampire, who is currently giggling to herself and whispering to herself “kidnapping isn’t a convincing recruitment speech !” Magne smiles and gestures for him to go on.
The meat jerky cosplayer starts to laugh, and Katsuki turns to him, again awkwardly pointing with his metal box.
“Poster child for not playing with matches, either projecting his daddy issues on Endeavor or Endeavor is his actual father, which knowing his candy-cane in human version son, that’s fucked up, flirts with seventeen year olds as a hobby, cannot do simple stitches and smell like burned up meat if burned up meat could take a shower and used tangerine scented shampoo. Cannot introduce himself correctly.”
The asshole blows him a kiss. “What’s wrong with the way I introduce myself, love ?”
“Starting with the fact that out of your whole group I only know two names, there’s also that you didn’t introduce yourself.”
The girl with bad taste in men fucking wheezes, before speaking up, still giggling in between two words. “I wanna introduce myself ! I’m Toga, but call me Himiko please ! And that’s Magne, she’s very nice !”
She waves her arms around, and Magne has to push her down by the shoulders so she can finish braiding the vampire chick (Himiko ?)’s hair.
“And then there’s Shiggy, he’s the one with the hands, and he’s also nice, but he’s a bit weird sometimes. You just have to get used to him !”
Said bastard is currently pulling Katsuki from the chair he swears he was strapped in a moment ago to his lap and trying to cuddle him, mumbling about Katsuki being warm. Everyone else ignores this along with Katsuki’s attempts to struggle.
“You know Dabi, I think, since you knew he doesn’t like Endeavor at all !”
‘Dabi’ is currently draping himself on Katsuki and Shigaraki like an overgrown cooked cat.
“There’s also Mr Compress and Spinner, but they didn’t want to play Monopoly with us so they went somewhere else.” She lowers her voice. “I think they went to a bar so they could get drunk since Kurogiri won’t let them. And Kurogiri is the one taking care of Shiggy !”
Shouta sighs and recounts the class one more time, just in case All Might has proven to be more incompetent than he already thought him to be. Midoriya is still here, although he’s vibrating like he wants to bolt after the goddamn teleportation portal, Kirishima doesn’t look far behind, Todoroki looks blank as usual (if Katsuki had been there he’d have said his brows are slightly more furrowed than usual, which is his determined face number #108), Yaoyorozu and Iida are trying to keep each other and most of the class calm. That’s the problem children crew accounted for, at least.
Kaminari is talking to Sero and Ashido like Aizawa can’t see them, looking a mix of worried and amused by the situation. Sero, while he’s listening, is wrapping Mineta up in tape. Ashido looks disgusted and Hagakure is cheering, which paints a pretty good picture of what happened.
Uraraka and Asui are trying to reassure Midoriya that everything is okay and that the pros will take care of it, and Aizawa is thankful. Tokoyami and Mezou are whispering among themselves, unconcerned by whatever is going on around the both of them. Ojiro is sending intrigued glances at the Mineta-wrapping every few seconds but seems calm otherwise. Aoyama is looking somewhere in the distance again.
Sato is now talking with Kirishima, which seems to cheer him up somewhat, and Jirou is making eyes at Yaoyorozu. Kouda is talking with a bug a bit fearfully, but he is working to go beyond that fear, that’s good.
Yep. Everyone but Bakugou is here. Shouta calls Hizashi to tell him to watch the class and leaves to get his hero gear for team missions, which is only coms that can manage more than one connection and a more resistant uniform. And more eyedrops than usual.
“And there’s also Twice !”
“What the hell is he doing ?“
‘Twice’ appears to have been stealing everyone’s monopoly bills and properties, and playing for all of them ever since the focus went from the game to whatever dumb shit led to introductions. Katsuki immediately decides that Twice is his favorite league member.
“I won ! You’re all suckers !”
Nevermind, he needs therapy.
And then the door opens to Sensei, who clearly just picked the lock. Better than All Might, punching the wall was reckless and potentially lethal. Either All Might needs to adjust his brand or he needs to calm the fuck down.
The League of Fuckwads immediately gets up, ready to throw down. A flame appears in Dabi’s hand, Shigaraki outstretches his hands, Himiko gets her knives out. Magne gets out a weird metal rod thing.
Katsuki would like to note that somehow Shigaraki is still holding him in his lap.
“Hi Sensei.”
“Bakugou. Can you move or are you too restrained ?”
“I can move, but my hands are tied up and I can’t use them. And also there’s this asshole keeping me on his lap.”
“We’re not letting you do anything ! You can keep him !” Twice shouts, rushing Sensei, who responds by using his capture weapon to send him into a wall. He doesn’t get up, but seems conscious.
“Should I ask why you’re in Shigaraki’s lap, Problem Child ?” inquires Sensei as he dodges Himiko’s knife throw. His head starts to glow, and suddenly he’s getting dragged to Magne’s weird metal thing. Although he activates his quirk before he can get moved much, the element of surprise allows Himiko to get the drop on him.
“I don’t fucking know either, Sensei, fucking get her offa you before she stabs your ass !”
Sensei follows Katsuki’s advice, and Dabi starts whispering to Shigaraki. Katsuki can hear everything, but he makes sure to keep an eye on the fight. No use not getting dusted if Sensei bleeds out, even if he doesn’t need help right now.
“Boss, we should just let the heroes take him. We can get him back anytime, and killing EraserHead could upset him. He’s your recruit, you don’t want him to be cross with you, right ?”
Sensei kicks at Himiko and rolls out from under her, backing off slightly.
“But we can’t let him go back to the heroes ! They’re bad, and they don’t like him ! They could hurt him !”
“No the fuck they wouldn’t, dumbass. I’m good leaving.”
Shigaraki turns to look at Katsuki strangely, as if he didn’t believe him. Right, completely delusional man child with little to no understanding of social norms. Out of the corner of his eye, Katsuki can see Sensei trying to neutralize Magne and keep Toga at bay simultaneously.
“Look, I promise if I go back to my dorm, where I live, and also I have class, I can come by on the weekends or when I have a free period or something, okay ? I need to finish my education, you know.”
Shigaraki stays silent. Dabi is giving Katsuki a thumbs up from behind him. Katsuki can hear running from the other end of the room, which are most likely Spinner and Mr Compress coming in to help. And he’s right, they barge in a few seconds later.
Thankfully, Shigaraki hold up a hand. “Stop fighting. You too, EraserHead.”
Sensei is looking at him like this is a joke. The rest of the League doesn’t look that different. Dabi is wheezing, Katsuki can hear him, and he’s pretty sure Shigaraki is pretending not to. Katsuki’s restraints get dusted, and then Shigaraki is holding him up, sweeping off the dust off of Katsuki’s clothes and checking him over.
“Katsuki will go back to UA,” he says while Katsuki is trying to shove him off. Sensei sighs in relief, and then tenses all over again when Shigaraki continues. “But Dabi will go with him, at least until the gates of UA, and then we will see what we do after we moved.”
And then he gave Katsuki a hug. Because of course. What a guy. And then Katsuki realizes he basically walked himself into more playdates with him, and he feels like screaming again.
“How did you do that kid ?”
“You think I know, it was all improvised, I did not know what I was doing.”
“Holy shit man.”
“Fucking right ?”
“Do not sympathize with the villain, Bakugou.”
EraserHead looks so tired Dabi might even feel bad for him a little. Might. But for now it’s more fun to test the hero’s limits by getting his arm around Katsuki’s shoulders and pulling him closer. He can see an eye twitch.
“Give me your number, kid.”
“Do not give him your number, Problem Child.”
“Yeah sure, pass me your phone.”
“Problem Child.”
Dabi laughs. This goes on for a bit of time, given that UA was a bit far away from where Kurogiri dropped them off, but it did give him an opportunity to bond with the “new recruit.” And he couldn’t quite resist kissing the brat on the cheek when Kurogiri opened a portal before leaving him.
“Is this necessary, Sensei ?”
“Do not argue with me, Problem Child. You do not get that when you blatantly ignored me whenever I told you not to engage with Dabi. You brought this upon yourself.”
Katsuki drops his head back on the table, resigned to follow Aizawa’s lesson on Stranger Danger, eyeing the “Problem Children Chart” on the fridge, that had recently been updated to put Katsuki on the podium, in first place, in front of Deku and Tapeface. Probably because Tapeface tried to imitate Sensei with his tape and ended up gluing himself to a wall a few days ago. Why Deku is in second place is obvious.
Shitty Hair is being more annoying than usual after Katsuki got back from the League of Losers’ old hideout. “Oh Bakubro do you want to come to the arcade with us today ?” this, “Can you help me with my math homework please I really think I’m going to fail no Bakubro don’t close your door I’m begging you I’ll do anything-“ that, you’d have thought someone who goes on and on about being manly would have a little bit more self-respect.
Said dumb red-haired puppy is still waiting in front of Katsuki’s room, begging for the answers to the math homework due tomorrow that was assigned three months ago and is about 40% of their final grade. Katsuki is reading over it as Shitty Hair begs, actually.
Katsuki exhales, done checking over the papers for the fifth time. Everything seems to be alright. Maybe he’ll go help Shitty Hair now, if he really doesn’t leave after… let’s give him ten minutes. He digs out the box of weights from under his bed, ready to get a small workout done, when Shigaraki pokes his head out of the wall.
…
Fucking what now.
“Hi Katsuki. Dabi said you had a math homework due tomorrow ?”
Of fucking course everyone in the League knows it now. Katsuki should never trust a fucking burn victim awareness cosplayer with anything.
“What about it ?”
“Twice said he’s a mathematics major.”
“The Walmart Deadpool who needs more therapy than all of your League of Fuckwads combined ?”
Shigaraki scratches at his neck. Katsuki smacks his hand, he already looks like an open wound in salt, there is no need to do more damage. “…Yes. I think, I’m not good at math.”
“Goddamnit- Okay then, let me take my papers and the notebook.”
“Bakubro ? Are you with someone ? Please, I really need your help !” shouts Shitty Hair from the other side of the door.
“Go ask Ponytail, I’m sure she’ll be more tolerant of your bullshit than I would, now fuck off !” Katsuki shouts as he puts his math notebook into a bag along with the finished homework. He can practically see Shitty Hair drooping. Shigaraki eyes the door, intrigued. “Did he not do the homework ?” he asks.
“Nah, he’s a dumbass and forgot about it until something like yesterday. Anyway, I’m ready, we can go.”
Shigaraki hums, pleased, and ruffles Katsuki’s hair. “Quit touching my fucking hair, you weirdo.”
“You seem to enjoy physical touch, though.”
“What the- how the hell can you tell ?”
Shigaraki shrugs as he steps through the portal, Katsuki following from behind. “You make micro expressions. Whenever I offer physical contact, your brows aren’t as furrowed, you’re a bit less tense, you don’t give off as much of a ‘will blast you at the slightest movement’ vibe. Non-threatening touch seems to turn down your fight or flight instinct, which might be why most of the people you hang out around are touchy.”
Katsuki stares. Most of the League also stares. Shigaraki blinks. Himiko hugs Katsuki’s arm.
“What the fuck Hands ?”
“Yeah, I agree with the brat, what the hell Shiggy ?” asks Dabi. Himiko hugs Katsuki’s arm tighter. Katsuki tries to hug back as well as he can, earning a few chuckles from the discount magician and Magne.
“Sensei taught me how to understand what people like, before All Might put him in a coma, and a bit more after he woke up and before he went to jail.”
“Yeah, I’m kinda glad he’s in there. Speaking of jail, wasn’t Blackberry Smoke over there also in jail ?” inquires Katsuki. He’s finally got Himiko to let go of his arm so he could sit on the couch, and actually hug her properly. He hears the picture noise from somewhere over to his right. The smog butler waves at him from the bar (is a bar a requirement for villains hideout ? Fucking why ?).
“No, we made sure to keep him with us after escaping Kamino. Suitable transportation is needed for villains, if only to survive.” Walmart Street Performer says. Katsuki still isn’t sure if his name is Spinner or Mr Compress.
“So basically you can’t get jobs and need someone to steal food for you because you also suck at villainy is what I’m hearing.” Katsuki clarifies for him. Dabi laughs and sprawls over Katsuki’s lap. Again. “Anyway, I originally came here to check over my math homework with the Two-Face cosplayer.”
“You have math ? Dabi complains. “I hate math. Math is the worst subject ever.”
“Didn’t you drop out of school at, like, fourteen ?” Magne says with a fond smile.
“Oh shut up Magne, you’re not any better.”
“I’ll have you know I was a chemistry major.”
“You were ? When ?” asks Himiko.
“A few years ago.”
“That’s cool. I think if I didn’t want to be a hero I would have studied chemistry.”
“Why ?” Shigaraki asks, sitting down on the couch opposite to the one where Dabi, Himiko and Katsuki are, next to Twice.
“When I was a kid, I wanted to make explosions all the time, to the point where I got nitroglycerin poisoning and had to go to the hospital. So after I looked up how to make explosions without a quirk on my dad’s computer, and turns out there’s a lot of unstable mix in chemistry.”
“Neat. How about we get some actual work done, huh ?” Twice comments, getting up and motioning for Katsuki to follow him. After a bit of a struggle to get both Himiko and Dabi (the asshole grabbed his tits) off of him, Katsuki stands up after him.
“Okay so this isn’t the best. You made a few simple mistakes that I’ve seen my own teachers make, you should be very proud of this work.”
Twice had sat Katsuki down at a table after checking over his work, and had since been trying to tell him that it was okay that he wasn’t perfect and that seasoned mathematicians would have made the same mistakes.
It’s fucking hilarious.
“Bakubro !”
“Don’t call me that you asshat. What do you want ?”
Shitty Hair corners Katsuki at the end of class, right after they were given back their corrected copies for the homework. Katsuki is proud to say he is the only one who got full marks, both for the homework and the final test, putting him at the top of the class for his grades as well as heroic training. He has been sparring quirkless with Himiko every weekend, and clearly it paid off.
“How’d you do to get a perfect score ? Even Yaoyorozu, Iida, Todoroki or Midoriya made mistakes !”
“I had a friend check over it and point out the mistakes I made, then I corrected them. Duh.”
“Isn’t that cheating ?” Tapeface inquires, looking worried. Katsuki is more willing to talk to him than Shitty Hair, because while Tapeface asked for Katsuki’s help, he started the homework about two months before it was due and had a relatively good grade. Shitty Hair has once again proven he couldn’t organize himself for shit and barely got a passing grade.
Maybe Katsuki will give him some tips on their next training session, to boost his moral, but right now Shitty Hair can go complain about his grade with Pinky and Stunfish like he usually does.
A few months later, when Katsuki gets to the hideout, he isn’t greeted by the usual comfortable mood, but something more tense. Spinner throws him a hoodie and he’s told that they’re contacting another villain group, more specifically the yakuza, and that Shigaraki wants him to come with them.
And Katsuki doesn’t know what to do. He’s not supposed to get involved that much. He wants to be a hero. He can’t do that and commit crimes at the same time, he can’t know that much about what the League is planning. There’s no getting out of it if he accepts to go along with them today.
Dabi puts his arm across his shoulders and drags him out of the living room/meeting room. Katsuki sits down on a bed, probably Dabi’s, who knows.
“Hey, kid, calm down. If you don’t wanna go, then don’t fucking go. We’ll give Shigaraki some bullshit excuse, and you can go back to your dorm. Okay ?” He helps Katsuki put on the hoodie as he’s speaking. “No one here is going to force you to go if you don’t want to, there’s not paycheck we can hold over your head, remember ?”
Katsuki nods.
“That’s good. We’re not leaving right away, you can just hang out if you want. And you’ll have time to think it over.”
Then Dabi leaves Katsuki alone, tossing him a “come back down whenever” before closing the door behind him. Katsuki lets himself breathe, for a bit. He isn’t panicking, but he still doesn’t know what to do. Can he still become a hero if he goes with the League to negotiate a partnership with the fucking yakuza ? Shouldn’t he just go back to UA and tell them what the League is planning ? Why doesn’t he want to do that ?
Someone knocks on the door. “Kats ? Dabi told me you were here.”
Katsuki tells Himiko to come in. She sits down next to him, leaning into him with a sigh. “I hope you come with us.” She tells him. “Shiggy assured us that he’d keep us safe, but I have a bad feeling, and I trust you.”
And then Katsuki knows what to do.
He’s still not sure of what the fuck he’s doing as he steps out of the portal into an empty warehouse, but Himiko is happily speaking with Magne and seems a lot more relaxed than she was a few hours ago. He itches a bit due to the temporary dye Dabi rushed to coat his hair with. (“It’ll wash out doll, no worries. And now we match !”)
“It’ll be a bit of time before our guest joins us. Twice is the one who contacted him, and he’ll accompany him here.”
So basically get comfortable until the newest fuckwad gets here. Nice. Magne props herself up on one of the big boxes sitting around and pats the space next to her. Katsuki sits next to her. Dabi is leaning against the wall, looking every bit of the mysterious emo villain he is. Himiko is chatting with Mr Compress on the other box, and Shigaraki is just standing there, in full uniform, aka the 12 severed hands.
“Hey Katsuki.” Magne nudges him with her shoulder, smiling at him. “If whoever ‘he’ is discovers who you are, I’ll make sure to brain him, okay ?”
Katsuki nods, chuckling. Magne isn’t joking, he knows. Maybe he is becoming a bit desensitized. But, worse comes to worse, Kurogiri is on standby.
“Pardon me. It’s rather dusty here… I think I might get sick.”
“No worries. The folks inside are especially sick.”
So this is the big fish that could be a worthy alliance. He doesn’t look thrilled to be here, that’s for sure, and Katsuki doesn’t like the way his eyes sweep over the lot of them like they’re insignificant. Not worth his time of the day.
Shigaraki introduces him. “The so-called yakuza, the young leader of the Shie Hassaikai.”
It’s only after a short history lesson that Mr Plague Doctor starts to take things seriously. Katsuki can see his blatant attempts to rile up Shigaraki with all of his plans based on the fact that All for One is no longer on the board. Too bad for him, Shigaraki has to be immune to those, given all the jabs Katsuki made at the obvious grooming from Shigaraki’s “sensei.”
“Do you have a plan ?”
Oh. So he’s just there to antagonize them then. Why come here at all if that’s the case ? What is he trying to do ?
Oh. Oh. He came here to get pawns, not to ally himself with Shigaraki. That’s a very bold move, especially given that he’s just insulted Shigaraki and his cause so far. It almost reminds him of Shigaraki back in USJ. Maybe a lot more self-centered.
One look at Shigaraki tells someone that tearing apart his ideals isn’t the way to go about recruiting him, and the same is true for the rest of the League. But then he feels Magne move to unwrap her magnet.
“Don’t.” Katsuki whispers, grasping her shoulder. “You don’t know his quirk, he might be dangerous. I’ll take care of it.”
“What ? No, you know you can’t get discovered !”
“I’ll be fine. I know how to fight people like him, that’s literally what I’m trained to do. Plus, I’m not going to charge him, don’t worry.”
Katsuki ignores the rest of Magne’s concerns and jumps off the crate, glancing over at the Bird-Beak Dumbass. He’s also looking at Katsuki, still with that fucking stare, still underestimating Katsuki. Good.
“You talk a lot of crap for somebody who’s here alone. Unless you’re not, I suppose. I’d say you brought back-up with you, didn’t you Plague Face ?”
“It’s Overhaul.”
“Don’t care, fuckwad. You do know no one will ever want to join you if you insult them and their cause to their face right ? None of us came here to go under the command of whatever hotshot who wants to take the spot now that the boogeyman’s gone.”
The guy’s eyebrows twitch, and he takes off his glove. Quirk comes from his hands then, or it’s just a scare tactic.
“If ya really want to do business with us, then you’ll treat our boss as an equal, or you’ll fuck off. If you can’t do that right now, then leave us a card and get the fuck out.”
Then, to really get the message across, Katsuki turns his back on Overhaul, facing Shigaraki. “Call Kurogiri, we’re getting out of here.” Maybe that’s what pushes Overhaul over the edge, or maybe he was on the brink of attacking the whole time. Anyway, he charges at Katsuki, and suddenly Katsuki can feel a lot more people in the room with them.
Katsuki pushes Shigaraki back, and throws a condensed explosion at Mc Birdfucker. He doesn’t have much time to charge it, so it’s weak, but it does push the asshole away enough to catch his breath.
“Himiko ! Knife !”
Just as she throws him one of her knives, Dabi jumps off the box along with Magne, extending his hand to throw fire. Meanwhile, a whole gang of plague themed underlings show up by busting through the wall.
Compress helps Shigaraki up. Himiko is mumbling about stabbing the Birdfucker. A portal starts to form behind them, at the ready.
“Boss,” Katsuki calls. “Do we leave now or do we hear him out ?”
“Things would have been easier if you just did that from the start.” Shigaraki grumbles. “How do you explain this, Overhaul ?”
“I should apologize.” the slimy bastard says, scratching at his arm. “I acted rashly, and now you won’t discuss with me. Call me when you’re ready to talk.”
And then the stupid asshole throws a piece of paper over his shoulder as he walks away. It lands about halfway, and all of them are stuck looking at it like a bunch of idiots. Thank goodness for Kurogiri, who picks it up with a portal. Seriously, did Overhaul think it was going to land next to Shigaraki or some shit ?
“Goodbye then.” he says, walking away.
“You’re the one fixing the busted wall !” Katsuki calls as he steps through the portal. He really hopes he’s not imagining Overhaul’s cry of rage.
Going back to the dorms after that feels like an impossible task. Katsuki is exhausted, and he doesn’t want to leave the League right now. Thankfully, no one says anything, besides Shigaraki who pulls him into a hug and says he’s happy Katsuki is blending in well. Katsuki lets himself get manhandled into the couch and dozes off.
He'll go back to his room in the morning.
Katsuki isn’t sure why he even agreed to come here. He’s supposed to be on an internship again, brushing up his skills as a hero, not helping villains. He doesn’t know why he agreed, it just… made sense, at the time, when Shigaraki told him Overhaul wanted him, Toga and Twice.
He’d accepted almost immediately, and he still doesn’t know why !
It doesn’t matter, Katsuki tells himself. He can’t afford to think about it now, as the heroes are invading the yakuza’s base. He’s not on their side, right now. He’s with the League. He’s here to gain Overhaul’s trust.
“Himiko, Twice, you go help with distracting the heroes. Stay in contact with Kurogiri at all times, get out if you feel you’re in too much danger. I’ll go with Overhaul and the brat.”
“I don’t believe I told you to come with me, Satsujin.”
“I’ll be more useful protecting you and the brat and we both know it. And, wouldn’t you rather have the option to use Kurogiri ?”
Katsuki is bluffing, of course. Overhaul has Chronostasis protecting him, which is more than enough. But, over the last few weeks, Overhaul’s kid has shown she felt safe with Katsuki, who caught her once as she was trying to escape. Although Overhaul didn’t appreciate Katsuki telling him to use anesthetics on the girl, because “how the hell do you expect her not to try to escape if she’s in pain ? Absolute fucking idiot, goddamnit,” Katsuki didn’t appreciate seeing an underling get blown to bits in front of him either. And then the blue-haired brat started seeking Katsuki out for some reason.
Overhaul sighs. “Come along then.”
Chronostasis takes the opportunity to give Katsuki the brat, and there they go, escaping the premises.
“I’ll be taking that child into custody.”
Of course. Of course. Katsuki wanted to avoid the heroes, and now there’s one right in front of him now. Fuck his luck. At least this one is spitting out all of his weaknesses at the simple prompt of one of Overhaul’s underlings.
“Come on kiddo, it’s time to leave.”
“Why aren’t we staying with them, mister ?” The kid whispers to him as he starts to walk ahead, leaving Overhaul behind to taunt the hero. It’s not too long before he hears him following.
“This guy here ? He’s a hero. I can’t let heroes see me.”
“Satsujin ! Why did you leave without me ?”
“You can’t waste time talking to heroes. We’re not in a book, focus on yourself !”
The hero is coming towards them, again. Katsuki doesn’t have the time to berate Overhaul. He runs, trying to call Kurogiri as fast as possible. He needs to get the hero as far away as possible.
“You called for me ?” A small cloud of smoke appears next to Katsuki’s head, just as the hero catches up.
“Take this guy back to UA !”
And suddenly, all of the tension slips out of the air as Blondie is sucked into a portal right as he was going to kick Katsuki’s head. Overhaul doesn’t take long to catch up, Chronostasis and the truth guy right behind him.
“Hope it ain’t too much trouble that I decided to get rid of the hero.”
“No. Let’s mo-”
That’s when Deku and Sensei bust through the wall with a few other guys. Katsuki hears Deku scream “A girl ?” but everyone else is focused on Overhaul and his minions. Overhaul slams his palms to the ground, but his quirk is most likely erased, given that nothing happens. Katsuki takes his chance and throws a rock at Sensei just as Chronostasis pierces through him with his weird clock hair.
“Sir ? What should we do with the girl in the picture ?” he hears Deku ask Sir Nighteye before Overhaul activates his quirk and changes everything in the room.
“Focus on Overhaul, but don’t let the one holding her escape !”
Shit. He’s been spotted.
“Kurogiri, try to contact Himiko and Twice. Tell them that of they’re ready, we’re getting out of here.”
“Understood.”
Kurogiri disappears again, teleporting his eyes, mouth and ears to Himiko and Twice’s location. Deku’s eyes snap to Katsuki, looking over at the brat, likely checking her over for injuries.
“Satsujin ! Come on and help me !”
Goddamnit, and now heroes know his code name. It was temporary anyway, but it still disturbs Katsuki.
“I can’t take care of your brat and fight the heroes at the same time, asshole ! I thought you were all powerful, huh ?”
He just needs to hold on for a bit. Kurogiri will check in with his teammates, and then they’ll come to get Katsuki back to the hideout. Just a few more minutes.
Overhaul is holding back the two heroes pretty well, throwing spikes at them from every angle. Katsuki can see Deku hopping from spike to spike to avoid being touched, but Nighteye… Katsuki can’t say he’s faring well.
Finally, just as a dozen of other heroes fall in from the ceiling, Kurogiri swoops in, taking Katsuki and the brat with him.
“Which one of you losers has a legal identity that isn’t wanted and wouldn’t be recognized by the heroes ?”
Only Compress raises his hand. Magne pipes up. “I mean, I don’t use my real name when fighting, but my face is pretty recognizable, so…”
Katsuki looks over at Eri (she finally told him her name, at least), sitting on the table and munching on some chocolate. Himiko is chattering at her while Dabi is changing her bandages.
“I have a plan so we can get Eri some actual schooling and shit. But for that, we need a legal name without too big of a record, a good apartment that social services would consider good for a child, and a lot of patience.”
Compress, Magne and Shigaraki, the only ones who are listening to Katsuki plan at the moment, look at him questioningly.
“Listen up, losers…”
Katsuki is sleeping on the couch when Dabi shakes him awake. The idiot is grinning like a maniac, and his skin is hotter to the touch than usual. Behind him, Shigaraki is putting on a long coat than makes him look a bit more intimidating, somehow.
“Come on, ‘Satsujin’, let’s go get revenge on Chisaki Kai.”
“Who the fuck is that ?”
Dabi grins wider. “Overhaul, the one and only.”
Katsuki mimics Dabi’s grin. He gets up and snags his new “villain hoodie,” which is really just a black, simple hoodie with a mask covering half of his face sewn in.
“We’re going with Spinner, because he’s the only one who can drive, Shigaraki, and maybe Mr Compress. He said he might join but we still haven’t seen him, so…”
Right as he says that, Compress suddenly appears from behind him.
“What the fuck !” Dabi screeches. Katsuki laughs.
“What are we waiting for, let’s go.”
“Why are you on the roof ?”
Shigaraki doesn’t answer. He looks quite happy to be sitting here, looking menacingly at people on the highway. They must look so fucking suspicious right now, goddamnit. Thankfully, the police car escorting the truck holding Overhaul’s immobilized body isn’t far in view.
“Spinner, slow it down.” orders Shigaraki, and Dabi raises his arm to release a flame at the car. Only, it doesn’t do any damage to the car, as the hero escorting the transfer shows up, protecting the car. Snatch, the sand hero.
“Turn him into glass, Dabi !”
“That’s not how this works !” Katsuki shouts back at Shigaraki before Snatch shoots sand at them and Shigaraki jumps on the hood of the other car. It’s a bad matchup for him, but that’s what Katsuki’s here for.
He propels himself with an explosion and sends a blast into Snatch’s face at the same moment Compress sends the police car rolling with a marbled rock.
Shigaraki jumps at the truck and dusts the windshield. Katsuki doesn’t see much more before he’s falling back toward the fight between Dabi and Snatch. He lands right as Compress marbles what’s left of the guy.
“He’s probably dead.” Dabi says, and suddenly Katsuki can’t breathe. Dabi notices him lying down and helps him up. Katsuki lets him. “Sorry sweetheart, shouldn’t have let you see that. Breathe with me.”
Katsuki exhales, roughly. “It’s fine. Let’s go before Shigaraki steals all the fun.”
Dabi grins at him. “That’s the spirit, doll.”
They get back to Shigaraki as he’s kicking the contraception holding Overhaul. “Who’s the next leader now ?” he asks, smiling with glee. He has no excuse to look that much like a smug child.
“Did you come to kill me ?”
“Nah.” Katsuki answers for Shigaraki, right as Compress crouches down and marbles most of his arm. And yet the asshole still looks up at them condescendingly. Meanwhile, Shigaraki is showing off the bullets they stole right before bailing with the child he used to make them. Overhaul screams at him to give them back.
“Listen Overhaul,” Shigaraki crouches down too, reaching down to touch Overhaul’s other arm. “a guy spouting off about getting rid of all quirks shouldn’t be relying on quirks at all… right ?”
It shouldn’t be this satisfying to watch the horror grow on Overhaul’s face as the cracks run up his arm. “Let me slice that off for you, unless you want to fall to pieces.” Shigaraki continues, slicing down in the middle of the upper arm, leaving Overhaul completely armless.
“There we go,” Shigaraki says as Katsuki crouches down to have a bit of fun, too. “You’re a useless, helpless, quirkless wonder.”
Katsuki isn’t sure if it’s due to Shigaraki’s taunting or the cauterizing or his wounds that Overhaul screams. Either way, he revels in hearing his suffering.
As a portal opens towards their hideout (so the truck really was for dramatics, then) Dabi kisses Katsuki on the cheek.
The moment they step into the living room, Katsuki slams him into the walls and kisses him, to the joy of Himiko (and maybe Twice, from the shouts he’s hearing) and the fascination of Eri.
“Okay, Eri you’re ready ? Keep in mind, we’re not giving you away, we’re doing this so we can legally keep you.”
The little girl nods, pressing herself into Katsuki’s side. They’re nearing the orphanage that they chose to send her to so Compress could adopt her. After a thorough background check, it was established it was a good place for her to go. Katsuki knocks on the door. A middle aged man opens the door.
“Um, hi, I uh- I found this child, she was- she was wandering in the streets alone. She told me she didn’t have parents, or uh, anyone really, and so I brought her here ?”
Katsuki plays up the fumbling, awkward teenager to the max, and it clearly works. The man asks Eri to say goodbye to the nice man who brought her here and to follow him, smiling gently.
Hook, line and sinker.
Finally, after a few months and many, many visits from child protective services to make sure Eri would be safe in Compress’ home, Eri is officially Sako Eri. Toga and Spinner go steal juice to celebrate, and all of the League reunites in the apartment they found for Sako.
Everyone is gathered on the couch, in the middle of the third movie of the night, My Neighbor Totoro. They couldn’t let Eri miss out on the classics, after all. So far she’s been fascinated by Castle in the Sky and Howl’s Moving Castle, broadly declaring that Sophie is her favorite character ever.
A phone rings in the kitchen. “I’ll go get it, I remember this scene.” Katsuki tells everyone after the collective wave of groans.
The caller ID is Dr Garaki (Sensei). After a few moments of thinking (and a call from the living room telling him to hurry up), Katsuki remembers why “Garaki” seems so familiar.
That was the name of their doctor back when they were brats. Why the hell is he calling Shigaraki of all people ? That and the “Sensei” added in parenthesis lead Katsuki to hang up, open the phone (he’s seen Shigaraki do the code often enough) and block the contact. If he’s really that important, Shigaraki will unblock him later.