"𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚛𝚎 𝚐𝚎𝚝𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚘𝚗𝚎
𝚠𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚎 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚍𝚎𝚎𝚙 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞,
𝚒𝚜 𝚋𝚞𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚍 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚖 𝚝𝚘𝚘.
𝚒𝚝 𝚏𝚎𝚎𝚕𝚜 𝚕𝚒𝚔𝚎 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚊 𝚜𝚝𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛 𝚢𝚘𝚞'𝚟𝚎 𝚔𝚗𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚢𝚘𝚞𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚘𝚕𝚎 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎."
- 𝙻𝚎𝚊𝚑 𝚁𝚊𝚎𝚍𝚎𝚛
22.
I tried not to bring up the fact that Bakugou definitely told me he loved me. I know what I heard, but I'll let him say it again on his own before I do anything.
We took a much needed nap, but the rest of the day consisted of us staying right where we were on the couch. We spent a lot of time talking and learning things about each other. He's pretty interesting, once you get past his prickly exterior.
What can I say? The guy fascinates me. I love getting to know all the layers that make up Katsuki Bakugou. He's like an onion or something.
I did some snooping while he was rummaging around in the kitchen later that afternoon. I was overjoyed when I found a stack of old yearbooks tucked away on a high shelf.
Jaaackpot!
"Look what I found!" I rejoiced, waving the books around in the air
"Shit..." He grumbled "Whatever. You'd better not laugh at a single damn picture of me!"
"You know I will." I said in a sing-song voice
I picked the one from his freshman year out, eager to see his picture. The U.A. High Yearbooks were so official looking. Deep navy blue, leather-bound and embossed with the famous gold emblem. I opened it carefully, hearing the spine creak. I began to curiously flip through the pages.
"Class 1-A... Katsuki Bakugou. There you are."
Kawaiii...
He looked so young, absolutely fucking adorable. He sported a familiar sly grin and eyes full of mischief. He wore his school uniform, red tie and all. He looks more or less the same now, but his features are sharper—more manly. It seems like he kept his hair longer back then too. His ash-blonde spikes are still super fluffy, his hair is just a tiny bit shorter on the sides now for a more mature look.
"Look at how cute!" I gushed "Chouuu kawaii..."
He returned to the couch with a bright red bag full of extra-spicy, chili flavored potato chips.
Of course. How fitting.
"I'M NOT CUTE! I was a fucking mess back then." He laughed
"What do you think you are now?" I joked
"SHUTUP EXTRA! I'm just saying—If you think I'm crazy now, you should've met 15 year old Katsuki. I was out of my mind."
"I don't know. I think 15 year old Katsuki and 15 year old Rei might've gotten along."
There was a brief silence between us as we had time to think through that phrase.
"...Nah." We said in unison
"Yeah, now that I rethink that, we probably would've just blown each other up."
"Oh, absolutely. Along with our surroundings." He agreed "A fight to the damn death, easily."
I continued to look at the pictures, seeing so many young familiar faces of heroes I know now. Todoroki, Deku, Iida, Denki, Sero... all so young, so wide-eyed and hopeful.
"Kirishima!" I beamed, pointing to his picture. He was wearing his big, typical grin but it was on a baby-faced Kiri. His spikes were so long back then. He still keeps his hair spiky and the same shade of bright red—its just way, way shorter now.
"Mhmm. His hair has gotten better since then, which isn't saying much." Bakugou commented
"You're rude."
I flipped through a few more pages, eventually landing on the class superlatives section.
"Katsuki Bakugou: ANGRIEST?!" I cackled
I spotted a picture of an angsty teenage Bakugou leaning up against a brick wall.
"It wasn't even a real damn category! Those nerds just thought it would be sooo fucking funny to make one up for me."
"I—" I paused to laugh "It is pretty funny."
"This is bullshit, I haven't seen any embarrassing pictures of you."
I rolled my eyes and picked up my phone. I scrolled through the camera roll for a minute before finding the shot I was looking for.
Bakugou's Point of View
"Here." She said as she held the phone up
I yanked the phone out of her hand. A picture of a much younger Reiko appeared onscreen. Something was different. She seemed like a different person compared to the girl in front of me now. She had long bangs, cut straight across, nearly covering her eyes.
"HA! How old were you in this?"
"Maybe about 16?" She guessed
I smirked at her.
"Adorable brat. Nice bangs, loser."
"Shut up. I thought they were cool." She said "Also—How is it that you know alllll about my parents and my family drama, but I don't know shit about yours?"
She wants to know about my parents?
Weirdo.
"The old hag and the old man?"
"Kacchan, please tell me thats not how you refer to your parents."
"Sorry to disappoint you. Theres not much to tell. I love them, but they're pretty damn boring." I replied with a shrug
"Go on." She insisted
"Ugh... Do we really have to do this?"
"Yes."
"Fine." I groaned
I opened the drawer in my coffee table and pulled out a picture I had thrown on top. Its of my parents holding me when I was little.
"Please don't fucking start about how I'm cu—"
"AHHH! Baby Kacchan!" She beamed "So small! So cute! Such a big head... Yikes."
"SHUT UP YOU IDIOT! I JUST SAID DON'T START! ...Those are my parents. My mom's name is Mitsuki." I pointed to her "Her quirk is Glycerin sweat... As much as I hate to admit it—we're a lot like. Both in looks and personality."
"So pretty..."
Rei was leaning into the conversation. She actually seemed really interested in what I'm saying about my parents, which was odd to me. I guess I'm not used to a girl being interested in my background details.
"And thats my dad—Masaru. He's kind of a pushover, and he's not all that memorable. His quirk is Acid sweat..."
"Huh, and they made you, with your Nitroglycerin sweat. That's pretty amazing."
"I am, aren't I?"
"Meh. You're okay." She shrugged "They seem sweet."
"SHUTUP! Well... Maybe I'll take you to meet them sometime soon."
What the fuck?! I swear to god, the things that come out of my mouth when I'm around this damn girl...
"Really?" She asked, the shock in her voice was as obvious as ever.
"Y-Yeah, whatever." I stuttered, trying desperately to change the subject "...Have you heard anything from either of your brothers?"
Her face fell suddenly and she shook her head.
"No. Nothing. I've been trying to text and call Reiji, but his phones been off since that night. And who the fuck knows where Ichiro is."
Rei turned her gaze to the window, once again becoming mesmerized by the view.
"Tell me about them..."
She took a deep breath.
"...Reiji is only 13. I guess he's pretty much the same as any other 13 year old, but a villain...? He's only my half-brother—his mom was my dads second wife, but I've known him since he was a baby. So, we're close. All he's ever known is being a villain. I used to think that he'd change his mind and want to do something else, maybe go out on his own, or even follow me, but I'm not so sure anymore."
Her expression echoed the fact that she was deep in thought.
"And Ichiro?" I asked
"Ichi is... complicated. When we were little, we were best friends—back when we lived with my mom. There was a lot of drama between her and my dad before they actually split legally, which ended in him getting custody of Ichiro but not me. I didn't see him again until after my mom died, about a year later. He was completely different... his eyes were cold. He never said a nice word to me again."
I was doing some thinking myself. I know being taken away from their mom, which was followed by her death shortly after, definitely had a big effect on him, and given what a fucking prick their dad was...
Anything is possible. Who knows what happened to him during that year they were apart?
"Sorry this is so much to take in, my family is a fucking nightmare."
"Its fine. I'm just thinking." I said "Your family is a shitshow though."
"Thanks." She replied, sarcastically "Okay—craziest thing thats ever happened to you, on three. 1...2...3!"
"I got kidnapped once." We said in unison
We exchanged bewildered expressions.
"Who kidnapped you?!"
"WHO KIDNAPPED YOU?!"
"You first!" She demanded
"The League of fucking Villains." I grimaced
"Wait, that was you?" She asked in disbelief
Hold on...
I squinted at her and put my bag of chips down.
"What exactly do you mean 'that was you'?!" I asked
"Uhh... Well, I was a villain at that time. Everyone knew about that incident. I just can't believe that the kid in the rumor was... you. Thats insane."
"Hmph." I chuckled proudly "Definitely not my best moment, but you know you're good when even the damn villains want you to join."
"And they had really high hopes for you." She said "Trust me. Could you imagine if this was the other way around, and you were approaching me to join the dark side?"
"Tch, like that'd ever happen."
The fact that The League even thought that I'd ever consider joining them still messes with me sometimes.
"You never know. Alternate universes and all that."
"You're such a damn weirdo, Rei."
"This is true... you like me though." She laughed playfully
"Yeah, so what about it?"
