Worm is owned by Wildbow. My Hero Academia is owned by Kohei Horikoshi. If I owned either of these series then I would be a better writer.
I decided to tidy this one up after a while. Hope you like it!
She didn't understand him.
This in itself wasn't something particularly unique. There were plenty of things she'd never been able to wrap her mind around; the reason why her 'mother' treated like a criminal, whatever sick, twisted motivation a person might have to put pineapples on their pizza. The important things in life. The teen sat across from her though, he took the cake when it came to things beyond her comprehension.
Their first meeting had been anything but friendly. She'd first learned of his existence after receiving a call from the hospital about Vicky. For all of her recklessness and general disregard for her own safety, Vicky had never once needed a hospital visit after she'd developed her powers, so when Amy heard 'severe burns' through the phone, she'd rushed out in a panic.
Earlier, a call had been made about some ABB thugs causing trouble downtown, and by the time her sister had entered the fray, the random goons were in various states of injury, and an unknown teenager with smoke rising from his palms was in the center of it. Never one to back away from a confrontation, Glory Girl had assumed that he was simply a new parahuman criminal trying to make a name for himself and acted accordingly. As much as Amy loved her, she couldn't deny that her sister tended to lean on the hasty side when it came to conflict.
Also, the fact that the guy hadn't spoken a lick of English hadn't made it any easier for them to communicate.
Naturally, things had escalated, and after an intense fight that had gotten the PRT's attention, Vicky was hurt and the mysterious parahuman had escaped. The PRT had done everything to cover it up the moment things had calmed down. The area had been blocked off, and Glory Girl had been recovered and brought to the hospital immediately. Nobody wanted the news to get out that Glory Girl had been injured by an unknown.
Amy hadn't spared any interest in the details of the fight until after she'd healed her sister, but she'd been unable to hold in her curiosity once Vicky had capable of explaining. Apparently, the guy's power allowed him to ignite his palms to create explosions, and he was good at using them. Like, abruptly changing direction, sudden bursts of speed, creating a personal flashbang level of good. Sparky (her sister's name for the guy) had displayed a level of skill and experience with his powers that would leave the protectorate salivating.
The protectorate might be interested, but Amy had been terrified. Abilities like that meant he'd probably obtained his powers a while ago, and worse, it implied that the guy had gotten lots of practice with them.
The idea that a villain who was capable of hurting Glory Girl had been flying under the radar for this long, and had managed to disappear immediately after a fight was chilling. Glory Girl wasn't your typical young cape; people called her the second coming of Alexandria for a reason. Ever since she'd developed her powers, nobody had beaten her. Yet a no-name parahuman could put her in the hospital on his first try.
She couldn't shake the fear that this guy's presence would mean more injuries, more patients being brought in covered in severe burns, barely clinging to life as they struggled to hold on until she could heal them. Because nobody else would be able to.
What if something went wrong, and she messed up? Call her selfish, but she didn't need that on her conscience.
Whoever this guy was, he was dangerous and she wanted him taken down. So when they'd crossed paths after a month, she hadn't been inclined to say hi.
And yet here she was, playing connect four with him. Irony thy name is Amy.
Somehow, the guy had gotten caught up in another skirmish, this time at the bank with actual villains. The Undersiders were known for being small-time criminals who mainly made a living stealing from smaller, less popular venues. Yet for some reason, they'd chosen to attack one of the most popular locations in the bay in broad daylight. Oh well, she couldn't accuse people who chose a life of crime of being particularly smart.
A few minutes and more explosions than she'd ever seen up close before along with assistance from the Wards, led by Armsmaster himself, and the Undersiders were forced to beat a hasty retreat, with their newest member unconscious, courtesy of a well-placed fire extinguisher to the back of the head.
That had been one of the most intense moments of her life. She'd loathed the idea of working with a villain for any reason, but the guy had scowled and ordered her to assist him in driving the Undersiders away in noticeably mangled English.
She still couldn't figure out why she had listened to him. Maybe it was the utter seriousness in his eyes or the vicious look he threw towards Regent, sauntering back and forth across the foyer in front of the cowering hostages. She'd been on enough patrols with Vicky to understand the violence that expression heralded, and soon enough they'd both caught the criminals by surprise shortly before Vicky herself came bursting through the walls.
At that moment, she'd seen the surprise on her sister's face morph into fury as she spotted the guy. She still couldn't understand why she had interrupted her sister's fury, holding strong in the face of her overwhelming aura to inform her that they were working together. Vicky's confusion had been palpable for a moment, but soon enough she entered the fray, and the Undersiders were fleeing soon afterward.
Then the Wards along with some PRT troops charged inside to secure the hostages. While Vicky checked over her for injuries (and she tried not to allow a pleased blush to show) they'd taken the guy away. Strangely, he hadn't shown much resistance as they herded him away.
She'd thought that would be the end of it, only to learn that after some political bullshit, the guy was being put under house-arrest so to speak. At her house.
It made sense in a way. He didn't have a costume or mask of any kind, and he was bound to be a target after being seen getting into fights with several local villains and a popular hero. What she hadn't understood is why it had to be their home, but of course, her concerns had been overridden.
'It wasn't like they would ignore similar complaints if they'd come from Vicky instead,' she hid a shiver and ignored the voice. Instead, she dropped a black piece into the slot, blocking what would have been the winning move. His brows furrowed and she smirked at him over the board.
It had only been a week since he'd begun his stay at the Dallon household, but things had finally started to settle. The situation had been beyond tense for the first few days. She did her best to avoid him, but Vicky hadn't backed down for a second. She'd lost track of how many times the two had been glaring at each other over something pointless. After the second week without anyone being blown up in their beds, things had finally cooled down.
The guy was learning English at a surprising pace as well. He missed some words here and there, and he had one of the foulest mouths she had ever listened to, which was saying something considering the countless people she'd encountered in her line of work, but it was extremely impressive to pick up on a foreign language so quickly.
His name was interesting too. Katsuki Bakugou, or Bakugou Katsuki, since in Japan they went with the surname in front of the first name. God, that had been a pain. It wasn't that his name was that hard to pronounce, but it was so out of place, so foreign that it had taken her three full days to stop slipping up. Going from Victoria, Carol, and Mark to Katsuki was disorienting.
Amy refocused on the board, trying to ignore the way her cheeks burned. She'd gotten the hang of it after a while hadn't she? Vicky had given up completely, choosing to call him Bomberman instead, after an old video game she'd played as a kid.
Katsuki hadn't bothered to hide the fact that he hated the nickname, which only spurred her on. Amy had half a mind to make her sister knock it off, for her own sake as much as his, but she knew it would be futile. Vicky was incredibly stubborn, and Bakugou was the exact same way, only with the added quirk of being a monumental asshole.
Her opponent dropped another red piece down, earning a scowl from her. They had been playing for over ten minutes and she hadn't been able to get anything past him. It didn't matter how cleverly she hid her intentions, Bakugou always managed to stop her at the last second. However, he hadn't been able to make his own line of four either. She drew some comfort from that. Despite acting more like a two-bit thug than a teenager, the dude was pretty smart.
It was their fifth game today and she'd only beaten him once. It was as infuriating as it was impressive, and she took mild satisfaction in the fact that it was taking longer to win every time.
It didn't matter how smart he was, she had experience dammit.
His lips twitched upwards at the sign of her irritation, but his laser-like stare never left the board. His eyes were fascinating to look at; harsh crimson that made her think of rubies. They almost burned with an unnatural intensity, like a volcano that was on the verge of erupting. They were bright and attention-grabbing the same way Victoria was, only Katsuki didn't have an aura to make people pay attention. His charming personality and loud voice did that for him.
However, the most interesting thing about him was his complete lack of a corona pollentia. That had managed to grab her attention more than anything else. It didn't make any sense whatsoever. He was a cape. Amy had seen the explosions emanating from his palms with her own eyes during the bank incident. So how was it possible for that he lacked the most basic requirement of being a parahuman?
The fact that she couldn't find it made her nervous. It was unheard of for somebody to trigger without that specific section of their brain becoming active, so why was he different?
She'd decided to keep that piece of information to herself. She wouldn't go so far as to call them friends, but she wasn't naive enough to be ignorant of what would happen to him should the Protectorate learn his secret. He'd be taken away for study immediately, as quietly and quickly as the Protectorate could possibly manage. There, he would be subjected to endless tests where he would be prodded, have his powers tested to exhaustion, and generally spend every waking moment as a lab rat. And then where would they be?
Vicky wouldn't have anybody to get into fights with. She wouldn't have anybody to grumble at when they ran out of Frosted Flakes, because Katsuki liked the cereal as much as she did. Even Carol would miss the opportunity to have another teenager to scold for being too loud when Mark tried to sleep.
She wouldn't have somebody compete against in connect four. Mark could barely get himself out of bed to eat sometimes, Vicky didn't have the patience, and god forbid she actually go out of her way to spend quality time with Carol of all people.
They weren't friends, but she might actually miss having him around if that happened. Sometimes.
A clatter of plastic interrupted her inner monologue, and she focused on the board again, only to blanch as she noticed four red circles pointed in an even, perfectly uninterrupted line going diagonally upwards. How could she have missed him setting that up?
He tilted his head at her shocked expression over the board. "I win," he said in one of the most uninterested voices she'd ever heard. The bastard didn't even look happy about it, looking more like he'd finished his chores for the day. His eyes managed to tell a completely different story, glittering with a smugness like a cat who'd gotten the cream.
Amy rewarded Katsuki with a two-fingered salute. He just grinned like she'd said something funny.
Never mind, she understood him perfectly. KatsukiBakugou was an asshole.
There's no overarching plot written for this one, I just wanted to see these two assholes interact. :)