Bakugou's P.O.V
Holy Fuck! It's just a name, my name, so why the hell does it sound different when he says it. I've got to stop stopping in the middle of roads, one of these days I'm gonna get run over because I'm not paying attention to my surroundings.
The way he says it is no different than the way the hag says it, or even the teachers. He doesn't stress any specific syllable, nor does he even use a different tone. He just speaks it. I swear, this is never going to make any fucking sense, is it?
If this was some sappy shojo anime, then every time he says my name the pink dreamy background (with roses for flare) would pop up. Since this isn't an anime, but my real fucking life, the only thing that pops up is my embarrassment levels. 'Katsuki' it makes my throat catch on a silent 'oh' as every time I realize how it's making me fucking feel. Butterflies eat at my stomach and my usual self screaming of 'DIGEST THEM!' isn't working as well as it should. A ghost chill travels through my entire body, leaving me thoughtless and breathless.
We got home and I barely remember the journey, I recall the fact that we walked but I couldn't tell you any information about the scenery or what buildings we passed. Sucked into my crashing thoughts, I paid no attention to anything but unconsciously following Todo-Shoto.
"Hey, Katsuki, what are we doing now?" Is what I'm sure he said, but my mind tuned out after 'Katsuki' turning the rest into white noise. I heard him repeat my name multiple times, but I could never focus long enough to hear what he wanted.
I felt something warm brace my shoulder. Brought out of the haze of white noises and fuzzy backgrounds, instinctively I looked at my shoulder, following the hand up to the person it belonged to. Todor-Shoto was standing close enough that almost every single pore on his face was visible, concern stretched across his usually placid face, "Hey, are you alright?" The warmth on my shoulder vanished as he removed his hand, placing the back on my forehead. A new kind of warmth passed through my face, not leaving even when his hand did. "Not a fever," he muttered to himself, backing up, "Are you okay, Katsuki?"
I could barely hear my own thoughts over the frantic beating of my heart working overtime. It wasn't panic, I don't know what the fuck this was, but it wasn't the same fast-paced beating that I felt in the haunting grasp of the pile of sludge a year ago, or even the thrill during the Calvery battle and in my round against Pink Cheeks. This was different, strange, foreign, home. Contradictory.
Praying my heart doesn't leap out of my throat, I spoke, "I'm fine, Idiot." I am. There's not a gosh-damned thing wrong.
"If you say so. What are we doing now?"
"Hell if I know. We could see if we can steal some of the hags' games. Monopoly or Clue?" I am a master of all games, but a champion at those two.
Todoroki had the audacity to ask, "Clue? Monopoly? What's that?" No. No way. He can't be serious. I searched for any sign that he was joking, any glimmer of hope, and found none. He was completely serious.
I knew he had a horrible childhood, but this is worse than I thought. "Were you born under a rock? That's it," I grabbed his arm and started dragging him to the game closet, "I'm educating you on these games, and any other you have been deprived of!" I obediently followed behind me as I led him through the house.
Cracking open the door he stood in, what I think is, awe, scanning up and down, taking in the swell amount of different games taking up such a small space. I reached for the Monopoly box and the Clue box, sliding them out from their piles. Shoving both boxes into Todo-Shoto's arms, "Here hold this." 'What else?' I found the 'Cards Against Humanity' set. 'Oh yeah!'
Leading him back to the Kitchen I instructed him to place them down on the table while I screamed, "HEY HAG, OLD MAN, GET YOUR ASSES DOWN HERE!"
"THE HELL YOU WANT, BRAT?!" I heard back, but I'm not screaming back my answer and never getting her down here. People moving could be heard and I knew that they were on their way. "The hell are you?" Voices getting louder as they moved closer to where we were.
"Game closet!"
They stopped in front of us, the hag only a few steps in front of the old man, "What do you need, Katsuki?" He asked.
"He," I jabbed my thumb in the direction of To-Shoto (You can get it, idiot), "has never played a single game in his life, not even Monopoly."
Eyes widened in horror, they looked at each other shocked, maybe even appalled. They rushed over to him and embraced him in a tight pile which probably was supposed to be a hug. To-Shoto struggled with holding onto the boxes "You poor child," The hag whined, petting the back of his head gently. She looked up at dad, still hugging Shoto, "We have to educate him, teach him what he's been missing out on. You know what this calls for?" They let go of Shoto and I watched as he tried breathing again without constricting airways. The hag grabbed onto the old man's arm and euphorically shouted, "BAKUGOU FAMILY GAME NIGHT!!!"
I should have expected that this would happen. These games nights always start out normal, but one time it ended with the huge table being flipped upside down, dents in the wall, and the kitchen having cards all along the ceiling. (I won, so that was a plus).
The hag grabbed the pile in Shoto's arms, ordering me and the old man, "Grab Life, the cribbage board, the Uno cards, and the playing cards." We did as told, and followed her all the way to the kitchen.
We dropped our piles onto the table while Shoto stood silently behind us. "Which one are we playing first? Todoroki do you want to choose first?" the old man asked.
"I don't know, what's easiest?"
"That'd be Uno," The hag moved the piles of games and grabbed the Uno deck. We pulled the chairs out and the hag began to deal us out 7 cards each.
"What do these symbols mean?" Oh yeah, he has as much knowledge as a newborn.
The old man, who was sitting right next to Shoto, began to help. He laid down the skip card, the reverse card, draw four, draw 2, and a regular number card, "This cancels the next person turn, making the next card that will be placed down come from the 2nd person in the round; the reverse card swaps the order of people going from clockwise to counter-clockwise or vise-versa; when this or the draw 2 card is placed down it means that the next person has to draw that amount of cards from the draw pile," he pointed at the giant pile of cards, "And finally, these cards are placed down one a turn by each person. There are 4 different colors; red, blue, yellow, and green. Each time a card is placed down the next person needs to place down a card that either shares the same color, or the same number. If you don't have a card that fits those requirements, or a color changing card, you are supposed to draw from the pile until you can place a card down. The reason it's called uno is because when someone begins to put down their second to last card, leaving one in their hand they shout 'Uno' if the don't say it by the time their hand is off the card and someone else does they have to draw 5 cards from the pile, but if they say 'Uno' and stay at one card by their next turn and can place it down they win and points are collected. Do you understand?"
"I think so, I'm sure I'll learn as we go on."
We went clockwise around the table, making it so Shoto would be last, and able to soak in what was happening. After the old man, it was the hag's turn, then mine.
We went around God knows how many times, everyone got skipped at least once, and there was a battle of reverse between me and the hag that lasted a few rounds- I lost, and Shoto looked like he was enjoying himself.
I got skipped for the tenth turn in a row by the hag, and was pissed, ready to snap, "The hell are you getting all these? You stealing from the pile when we aren't looking?" I accused, fed up with the fact that I was stuck at 30 cards while the hag was down to her last 5.
"I guess I'm just better at this game then you are," she taunted as Shoto took his turn, laying down a yellow 8.
"Reverse!" Dad called. Finally, I can have a turn.
"Skip you, Katsuki." This little fucker, "Also, Uno." That is the final straw!
I threw myself across the table to his side and tossed my giant pile of cards in his general direction. Sitting on the table yelling, "You little bastard!" as I grabbed his shirt collar and began shaking him, he started to laugh, grabbing onto my arms. "You piece of shit, I thought you were on my side, I thought we were friends or some shit!"
"So you finally admit that we're friends?"
"You little butthead! I'm gonna absolutely murder you!" I continued to shake him, unconsciously setting off small bursts, singing his collar.
"Katsuki!" The hag called, "Get off the table and pick up your cards! Just accept the fact that you're a sore loser."
Reluctantly I let my hold on Shoto go. Sliding off the table and turning towards him I stated, "I'm not done here," and grabbed all 31 cards, walking back to my seat.
"It's your turn, Katsuki."
Placing a Skip card down on the pile I called, "Payback, Bitch."
"Oh it's on," she slowly raised herself out of her chair, fully intending on giving me a fight, only to be stopped by the old man.
"Mitsi, not again. You don't want another incident, do you?"
She turned and looked at him. He was practically begging for the hag to sit down, last time we started a war during uno he had to clean chair bits from the kitchen for a week, and the deck was stashed away for a month. Something tells me that he doesn't want to do that again.
("What was the incident?" Shoto asked.
"Simply put, it's the reason one of these chairs is different from the others." He didn't push for a different explanation.)
"Fine Masu, dear, but only because I love you," she sat down and kissed him.
"Seriously, hag, I'm sitting right here!" Please, someone, kill me.
"I don't care, brat!"
Dad put down a draw 4, stopping Shoto from winning, and changed the color to Red, which - in all my luck - was the color I had least of. "I hate you all!" I shouted as I placed down the only compatible card I had, ending my turn.
Eyeing the remaining 2 cards in the hags' hand, I silently prayed that either something would force her to draw more cards, or a meteorite would hit our house knocking everyone else out and crowning me winner by default (which is a highly unlikely scenario, but still a possibility).
The old man put down another blood colored card, and if someone doesn't do something soon all the cards are going to be blood covered, and there might be a few dead bodies!
Ok, so, If I didn't have a lot of self control I would have full-on kissed Shoto right then and there. His turn changed the laydown color to Blue, my main color, and when I looked around the table I could see the hag wince. 'Yes, that's probably not a color she has!'
I slammed down one of my Draw 2, preventing her from winning and from doing a turn, "You better sleep with one eye open," she threatened as she reached for the deck, drawing the two cards.
Leaning back in my seat, I waited for my next turn and saw the smirk on Shoto's face. 'I'm gonna kiss that smirk off his fucking cute face!'oh hell.'
"Katsuki, it's your turn,"
"Huh?" 'When did they take their turns, what went on?' Checking the pile, Green 5. Once more, a draw 2 was placed, and the hag drew.
The game kept like that. I prevented the hag from getting less than 2 cards, death threats were given (and received), I got lost in my thoughts a few more times, and I almost blew up the table when Shoto skipped me causing the hag to play a reverse. Deliberate, now I can't use my weapons against her, and I can't risk putting down a reverse too.
Every turn I glanced at the hag, watching as her dumb face twists. Which colors she reacted harshly with, which numbers tugged at a smile. I think I've got the pattern.
Me, Shoto, and the old man placed regular number cards down, ending with a Red 7. 'Oh hell yes!' If I'm right, she doesn't have a red at all.
She placed down a Blue 7, "Uno!" I mean, I wasn't fucking wrong.
Once again the round ended with Red, 'This is it.' I inwardly squealed, yeah you heard right.
Silence surrounded us as we waited for her to draw half the deck for the right card. The clock loudly ticking as we waited for a few long seconds wondering what she was doing. The sweltering silence was finally broken when she slammed her hand down on the stack with a sufficient amount of force to dent the table. In horror I watched as she removed her hand, uncovering her secret weapon.
"You piece of shit!" I threw my cards on the floor and cleared all the cards off the table with one big swing of my arms, sending them flying everywhere as I lunged for the hag, "You're dead! You hear me? DEAD!"
The old man stood in front of the hag, blocking me, while Shoto held me back with his arms. Trapped in his arms would've been fucking amazing, if I didn't have someone I needed to murder. Kicking in his grasp I tried to wrangle myself out of his hold, " Let me go, Bastard!"
"Not until you calm down," was whispered in my ear, and it was almost enough for me to stop. Almost.
"Let me at her, she cheated!"
He held tighter, "I don't know much about this game, but I doubt using a Draw 4 as your uno card is an illegal move. As far as it's concerned, she won fair and square."
The hag laughed from behind the old man, so I glared in her direction. Shoto continued, "Calm down, Katsuki. It's not a big deal."
'Not a big deal'? 'NOT A BIG DEAL'!
I stopped squirming and tilted my head back to look at this complete idiot. "You may be incomprehensibly pretty, but I will not hesitate to throw down if you do not let me go."
I was promptly thrown into the floor.
Rubbing the back of my head, wincing as my hand passed the now sore section of my skull, "The hell was that for, couldn't you have let me down a bit more gently?" Still haven't looked up, I couldn't tell why he hadn't answered me. Seconds passed, and the only recognizable sounds were the gasps of the hag and the old man, and there was a faint smell of smoke (but one of the old neighbors could be trying to cook again). "What's going on-" finally looking up to see… well, to see Shoto on fire.
"Crap!" Dad muttered. Light stomping created as he ran to the faucet, filling something up. Shoto was completely unresponsive, we called his name, snapped our fingers in his face, but nothing.
The old man came back with a bowl of water and tossed the water on Shoto's burning left side, extinguishing his flames, and bringing him back to the real world.
All 3 of us Bakugou's shouted, "What the hell was that?!"