EDIT: Finally added my AO3 notes!
First time writing for this fandom, and of course I'd pick the two emotionally stunted but secretly deep characters. Go figure.
Absolute darkness envelops him, blocking out the sight of his classmates' desperate faces. The moment the light goes out seems to go on forever, arresting the breath in his lungs as freezing cold sweat trails down his spine under his t-shirt. He can feel his pulse pounding against the fingers wrapped around his neck and the heat coming off the villain at his back, reminding him why he hasn't twitched so much as a finger yet. Then the blackness around them gives way to light and air again.
Pressure on his neck makes him shuffle forward, and the flame villain moves forward in step, ushering him into what looks like a dimly lit bar.
There is a cacophony of noise around him - villains congratulating each other, asking where others of their party were, cursing injuries, but the blood pounding in his head is drowning it out. That and the inner monologue of acute fury.
Fuck, fuck, shit, fuck.
The blue-haired guy - Shigaraki? - turns to face them from his bar stool and holds up one of his (many) hands for the others to shut up. Which they do, eventually.
"Thanks for joining us this fine evening," Shigaraki says, probably hoping to sound magnanimous or some shit. All Katsuki can focus on is the fact that the hand somehow doesn't muffle his words. Fucking unfortunate.
Those hot fingers flex on his neck again, directing his gaze down at the chair a couple steps in front of him. Jaw clenching, he takes the unspoken command and moves forward to sit. The lizard-looking fucker with the absolutely ridiculous knife-sword then comes forward with a set of quirk suppressors, which are clapped over his hands with very little fanfare. Same goes for the leather straps and restraints they pull across his chest, legs, and arms.
It's the constant presence of the strong hand on his neck that keeps him from utilizing the sweat gathered on his palms. And kidnapping 101.
"If the situation is not immediately hostile, keep it that way to the best of your ability. Remember your ABC's! Assess, breathe, and cooperate."
So what if Alien Girl said my version would be "attack, berate, and combust"? I can follow instructions.
His (mildly hysteric) thoughts derail slightly when the hand vanishes from his neck. Adrenaline courses through him as relief and terror and pure, undiluted pissed off energy flood his system, almost making him release a freaked out laugh. Instead, he lifts his red eyes up to meet Shigaraki's as the flame villain - who is that guy? - wanders over to the corner.
"So, let's get down to business, wannabe hero Bakugou Katsuki," Shigaraki continues from his seat at the bar. "Won't you join me?"
What.
There is a beat of silence. Then Katsuki's tenuous composure snaps.
"You can shove your offer and go to hell!"
He's too hot and too cold at the same time - is this how half and half bastard felt all the time? what the fuck - and hyper aware of the stiff leather and hard wood digging into his legs, arms and chest; of the sweat making his shirt stick to his back; of the indescribable dryness in his mouth, like he's been chewing on powdered chalk for an hour. Of course he notices the moment Shigaraki's expression goes from laid back to lethal.
"Now, don't be like that," the villain says amiably, tone not matching his eyes at all. "We're just here to have a friendly chat." The other villains in the room shift, almost imperceptibly.
"We've got a bet going, you know," Shigaraki continues. "On how long it will take for the UA teachers to start their groveling to the public for all of this. You know what the public was like after our encounter at USJ? They blamed the heroes then, too." The villain takes a moment to gesture around the room at the others gathered there. "Notice they never give us any grief. We're just doing what's in our nature. Taking what we want, doing what we want. Winning. And I know how much you love winning."
Most of Shigaraki's face is covered, but Katsuki can tell there's a nasty smile happening from his tone. It makes him snort. And open his big, stupid mouth.
"Is that what you call the shit show at USJ? Because I call that getting your asses handed to you." He grins, "Heh, 'handed'."
He sees the spasm that shoots through the villain's two attached hands and feels his heart rate pick up in response.
Shit, shit, shut up, Katsuki.
His stomach lurches as he watched as Shigaraki casually set a hand on the bar top, which immediately starts decomposing, and pushes himself off his stool. Each step the villain takes is countered by three hammers of Katsuki's pulse, and then the villain's crouching down to eye level.
Hyper awareness zeroes down to the man in front of him, who is removing the hand from his face.
Chapped lips spread into an ominous grin. "Not our finest hour, probably," the villain agrees, scratching his neck absently. "We hadn't counted on the kids being a problem - you guys are probably the only reason the "pro heroes" survived. Sorry for underestimating you, I guess.
"But see, that's why we wanted to recruit you. You've got a destructive quirk. A bunch of us here knows what that feels like. You had people booing you in the stands for going all out against that little gravity girl. What happens the first time you go all out against a villain and someone gets hurt?" He lets that hang for just a second, rocking back on his heels. "You can't really think you'll be content with all the suffocating rules, regulations, and squeamishness of hero society, you know?"
Katsuki's teeth grind at the underlying smugness and certainty in the guy's voice.
"You watch who ends up taking the worst shit from tonight's stunt," the villain says, nodding toward the tv playing in the background, "I guarantee you it won't be us. And I figure, if you're going to be treated like a villain anyway, why worry about stepping on toes and fragile egos? Why take the blame when you can do what you want, your way," he gestures toward the rest of the villains occupying the room. "That's what we're all doing here. Going all out for our own goals."
Katsuki just barely manages to keep from pointing out that a bunch of adults going all out should be able to handle a bunch of kids, and yet. Something in his expression must show though, because Shigaraki sighs and stands up.
"Think on it, Bakugou, and watch the news while you're at it. I think you'll find it very… educational." He throws a glance at the flame quirk guy, "Dabi. Untie him."
Katsuki's heart leaps. Holy shit, can it be that easy…?
"He'll go wild, for sure," says flame quirk - Dabi? - entirely unimpressed. Katsuki's eye twitches.
"It's okay," Shigaraki says, all smug-sounding again. "We gotta treat him as an equal. We're scouting him, after all. And before he throws a tantrum, our little U.A. student should be smart enough to know he can't win. Not alone."
The absolute asshole.
"Yeah? Bring a few more guys and it might actually be a fair fucking fight."
Aaaggghhh, fuck.
Shigaraki cocks his head, scratching at his neck, "Oh?"
Fuck, fuck, let them at least get the fucking cuffs off before you run your damned mouth you idiot.
Katsuki swallows despite his dry mouth, and forces a smirk, "Can't talk big about always winning and then tell me I can't. Sends mixed messages, you know?"
Shigaraki's smile is no less fake, "I suppose not. Still wouldn't push your luck tonight, if I were you."
Dabi huffs loudly, "Twice, you untie him."
"Huh, me?" cries the guy in the black body suit. Then in a completely different tone, "No thanks."
Dabi's glare is impressive. The body suit guy - Twice - moves to do as he was told.
Katsuki holds his breath as the straps are removed. The guy seems kind of spastic, switching between one strap and another without finishing unbuckling and then going back to release another. Katsuki almost screams at him to hurry the fuck up before the last buckle around his ankles comes undone.
When Twice reaches for the suppressants though, Shigaraki holds out a hand to stop him. The other hand shoots forward and grips Katsuki's wrists where they disappear into the cuffs.
One finger is barely suspended above his skin.
Pressure under his chin drags his eyes away from that awful inch that stands between him and gruesome amputation. Shigaraki has the index of his other hand hooked under his jaw - another silent threat.
The threat in his eyes, however, is loud and clear.
"You're not planning on sitting quietly, are you?"
Katsuki's nostrils flare, trying very hard to pull in air without opening his mouth. Without getting any closer to those blight-ridden fucking hands.
That's when he sees that the lethal edge in the villain's eyes has never left.
Fuck, he wants to kill me.
Fear raises the hair on his scalp. Especially as Shigaraki slips the hand holding his chin around his shoulder in a facsimile of companionship.
"Such a shame," the villain mutters. "You could have been really useful to our cause. I guess we'll just see if we can make you useful in other ways." He doesn't look like this bothers him at all. In fact, he looks delighted that Katsuki isn't planning to cooperate.
"The hell are you talking about?" Bakugou hisses, forcing the question past clenched teeth. His thoughts were racing.
Dammit, I thought - they put in so much fucking effort - why the fuck would they - they could have just killed me at the fucking camp!
Shigaraki leans in close, his elbow digging into Katsuki's deltoid. His hand settled between Bakugou's shoulder blades, pinning the sweaty t-shirt to the teen's back. Katsuki swallows, feeling four of the fingers making distinct contact. With the hand around his wrists and the hand at his back, he lets the plans of biting, spitting, head butting fall away. They'd just get him dead faster.
(Because, while he might not know everything about Shigaraki's quirk, he knows that the villain had only touched Aizawa-sensei for roughly a second.)
"Do you know why I really picked you?" Shigaraki asks, breaking Katsuki's thoughts. The villain pushes his forehead against Katsuki's, invading his space further, as if daring him to react.
Katsuki meets red eyes with his jaw clenched. Shigaraki grins.
"My sensei told me there are very few ways we could hurt All Might. He'd already killed All Might's most precious person, and All Might doesn't have a family, to our knowledge. Random citizens are common enough casualties that even the number one hero wouldn't be broken up about them for too long…." The villain trails off, and his eyes seem to harden.
Katsuki's heart jolts, All Might lost someone..? Then, What "sensei?" Who is he talking about?
Shigaraki shakes his head, "But then All Might decided to become a teacher, and he already proved at USJ that targeting his students caused him quite a bit of pain.
So, I knew how I wanted to do this - grab a kid while All Might was napping. Make him watch as we either converted or killed them. Wouldn't really matter which, at the end of the day - it'd still crush him."
"What is your fucking deal with All Might?" Katsuki grits out, red at the edges of his vision. To be used against All Might is almost more than his self-control can manage. It gets harder when Shigaraki snorts.
"Did you know it was your friend Midoriya who made me realize I wanted to focus on All Might?" The villain shakes his head, "Ah, but that's a story for another time."
Shigaraki's clammy grip readjusts on Katsuki's wrists, dipping the hovering finger closer to the vulnerable skin.
"I had to pick a student. My sensei's people did some digging for me, and most of 'em were pretty boring," Shigaraki smirks. "But then there was you."
Katsuki's eyes snap up from watching the finger to the uncomfortably close gaze of the villain.
"Angry and wanting to be number one at any cost," Shigaraki continues, "Those were some good traits in your favor. But it took a little more prying for us to get the whole story of the little bully kid. Poor Midoriya, huh?"
How the fuck did they - ? They picked me for that? Katsuki's teeth hurt with how hard he's clenching them. Then his stomach drops, remembering Deku's warning transmitted through Mandalay.
"They're after a student named 'Kacchan'!"
Shigaraki seems not to mind Katsuki's world being shaken to its roots. The villain blithely continues his monologue, "Sensei thought it'd be a great starting point. Get you in, remind you of your roots. Show you how much you could do without getting in trouble for it. Hell, someone could be walking too slow and you could off 'em, just like that."
The villain makes a great show of looking around at the others in the room before crowding Katsuki's space again with a frighteningly cold smile, "We could really use that kind of killer instinct around here, you know."
Katsuki takes that brief moment to glance at the other villains gathered in the room. Other than the flame quirk one glancing over from his new spot at the bar, most of the others seem to be content watching the little confrontation unfold. A few are even suppressing yawns from the couch. No help from them, then.
Not that he needed help, but he really didn't like that smile and the look still hasn't left the villain's eyes.
"You're so quiet, Bakugou. No comment?"
Assess, breathe, cooperate. Don't think it's going to cut it this time. Still… keep him talking as long as possible.
"If you think I've got what it take to make a good scumbag, what makes you think All Might would come after me?"
The villain laughs. "Man, I'm going to enjoy this. You've met All Might, right? Even if it wouldn't ruin his image to leave a kid to villains, he'd do it anyway. It's the reason I hate him so much. He thinks he can save anyone - even a villain - with a fucking smile on his face."
Katsuki's mouth gets away from him, "Hah? That's what this is about? Did All Might not fucking come running to save your ass? And - what, you're holding a grudge against him? Get fucking real - he's just one guy."
All signs of laughter disappear from the villain's expression and alarms go off in Katsuki's brain. He suppresses a grunt as the villain leans in, elbow digging deeper into his shoulder.
"You know what? I'm going to be honest with you, Bakugou Katsuki," Shigaraki says slowly. "When sensei talked about you joining us, it just didn't sit right. Here's this arrogant kid who's been given everything on a platter, and we're just there to sweeten the pot for him? Forget that."
The villain's smile returns, and it's even more ugly and unforgiving. Katsuki finds himself unable to speak. Because if it's not conversion Shigaraki's going for, then it's…
"So, yeah, I told everyone we were here to recruit you. But like I said, there are two ways to hurt All Might like I want. It's just a pity you're so unlikable."
Katsuki feels all five fingers at his back dig in.
Lot's of talking in this one, but I really wanted to get across how that conversation derailed from what happened in the manga. Next one is from Dabi's pov, and he's far less chatty.
Let me know what you guys think! It's been a hot minute since I've written a fanfic, and I've never written in present tense, so I'm totally here for the feedback.
Also, I'll mention this now - the first few chapters are really rough on Bakugou. Sorry in advance?
