You might have read this chapter already, but there have been edits made to it.
And for the record, I have no intentions of abandoning this story. I'm not doing that to you guys.
Chapter 4
Katsuki Bakugo had grown quite a bit with the passage of time, as well as matured. At the age of eighteen; the usual age where most would look on with regret at the stupid decisions that they had made, Katsuki had gone through some events which made him decide to take a more… considerate approach to how he would do and see things.
And to do so, he needed a fresh start.
So he moved; went to the more urban areas of Musutafu, places where he would be forced to be around the buzzing city life, where he would need to be patient with people around him (even if most of them were idiots), where he would have to change for the better if he wanted to be seen as someone who could be taken seriously as a hero. Changed schools too. Aldera was a shit-show anyways, with all the stupid fussing over Quirks and the lazy-ass teachers 'digging for gold' instead of actually teaching shit. Made some new friends too, better ones. That's always a plus.
But overall, he wanted to change his viewpoint concerning what the other 20% of the population actually were.
It had been hard at first. Quirkless people were weaklings; couldn't do anything but cower like rats at the first sign of trouble.
That was what he had believed.
But after years of talking and having tea with Quirkless elders, not to mention reading humanitarian articles over the Quirkless and their degradation over time in the eyes of society, he began to understand. Especially when it came to a certain someone's determination.
"I want to be a hero too, Kacchan! A hero just as great as you!"
But if a Quirkless could become a hero, a weakling that would be nothing but a dead man walking if they got into a fight with a Quirked, then what did that say about Katsuki? Katsuki had a powerful Quirk, one that allowed him to ignite his nitroglycerin sweat into explosions that could vary in power. A very versatile tool to have. And even then, Katsuki knew that the road ahead would be nothing short of difficult.
So if someone who couldn't even look through walls could become a hero, then any any old bastard could.
But that wasn't the case.
It was all about the work put into it. Always was, has, and will be. Scientists, doctors, lawyers, cops, firefighters -the Quirkless ones. They weren't undermining everyone else, in fact, they had to put in almost 10 times more work than everyone else did.
Especially in the hierarchy of today's society.
Katsuki began to understand where he had gone wrong.
It all started with how those around you acted, especially towards you. He had been showered with praise since he was four -the age of Quirk Manifestation- and had let it get to his head. It led to him becoming somewhat of a brat.
...Okay, a spoiled little fucker was more like it, but the point still stood. He had become more violent, more egotistical, more power-hungry.
It led to Katsuki destroying the only real friendship he had with the only person he had actually, genuinely appreciated.
Sure, the kid had been rich and well positioned before the whole... alley incident, but it didn't matter. Once they figure out your Quirkless, kids will turn on you like a pack of wild dogs. Katsuki wasn't poor, far from it. But he wasn't no high-class either, like him. Katsuki was around the slightly above middle ground; what with his parents' fashion company and all, they made a decent living.
It was where he currently worked at as well, at least until he got a spot at UA's Hero Course. Then he would ditch the place and focus full time on his training. Where he could become a true hero.
Just like how they had planned when they were kids.
~-*-~
"Have you read the tabloids?" asked his Mitsuki Bakugo over the phone.
"What for? It's all just wasted paper and words anyways," grumbled Katsuki. Why his mother bothered to read that shit, he had no idea. "Besides, you got bigger fish to fry. Mt. Lady requested a custom-tailored dress and makeup kit for some event that'll be coming in a few months. Somethin' about some Sky Egg party."
"Oh that?, It's a farewell party for some American hero. Supposedly he came here as nothing more than a man-whore slash diva before getting bitch-slapped and told to get his act together. It worked, and now he's going back to the States. Oi! Masaru! What's his name again?! Captain Celebrity? Kind of shit-show name is that?!"
"Ma, cut the shouting. I can hear you without the speaker setting at that volume."
Katsuki walked on, occasionally looking over a designer's project and giving them some pointers or telling them to remove a piece. Yes, he knew about fashion. No, he was not going around the streets dressed up in designer clothes or giving constant fashion tips, that was just for work.
"-Well? What make-up kits do you think would go? Mt. Lady wears purple, orange, and cream colors right?"
"The hell you askin' me this stuff for, ain't you the eyeliner fanatic?"
Katsuki could practically taste the teasing in his mother's following answer.
"Yeah, so what? Not my fault you decided to dive balls deep into fashion. Besides, it's good to hear you talk about the combinations. Good shit to brag about to the future girlfriend."
Katsuki bristled as he walked to another make-up station, "Ain't got one, ain't need one, ain't want one, and ain't gonna get one."
Mitsuki sighed dramatically over the phone, "Guess you're right… you're too much of an ass to get one anyways."
"The hell is that supposed to mean?!"
Before a retort could be made over the phone, another voice came and interrupted the mother-son roast session.
"Yo! Katsu-babe! Get over here and check out this lit eyeliner, fam!"
"Actually, when it comes to her, you might have a chance."
He rolled his eyes, a small growl of annoyance building in his throat. "What is it, Round-Lips?"
Camie Utsushimi, a beautiful teenager with a curvaceous figure, fawn-colored hair, dark brown eyes, and plump glossy lips waved the ash-blonde over to her station. She had a model fully prepped, complete with a fashionable hairstyle and makeup. Her eyes were decorated with beautiful eyeliner, drawing attention to itself as it went from a chilly white color, faded into a serene ice blue, before darkening into a strong black.
"Hmph, go a little less on the blue, and make sure to shorten and fade the white edges."
"Oh, she trying out the December bundle?" Mitsuki inquired.
Katsuki kept addressing Camie. "And for god's sake, enough with the foundation already. It's a woman."
"How would you know?" sassed Camie with a coy smirk.
"Bitch."
"This is your mother you're talking to, brat!"
"Not you, Ma! Talkin' with swole-lips!" He turned to Camie and pointed at the model, who appeared amused at the situation, "She is a woman, this is the Winter Grace Package. Part of the whole reason you ain't supposed to be drowning her in foundation is because of her 'natural' feminine features. If this was a Cruella-De-Vil then you would have had to asphyxiate her. But it isn't, so you ain't."
Camie 'awed' and hugged the model, who chuckled at her antics. "Look Aiya! He thinks you fine," the fawn-haired girl looked Katsuki up and down, brown eyes tracing his figure before a wolf-whistle parted her lips. "Mm-hm, you gotta get his number babe, he's a real hottie!"
"Piss off, I only said it because it's part of the package we're selling." Ignoring Camie's chatter, Katsuki walked off, "Ma, get Mt. Lady's agency on the phone. If she wants a custom order, she's gonna need to tell you what she wants. We design, not pull off fucking magic tricks."
"So bossy."
"Whatever, just do it."
~-*-~
Mitsuki hung up from her phone call with a fond smirk. Katsuki had lost a lot of his bite.
Not that she wanted it back, it was a pain in the fucking ass to deal with.
'Can't count the number of times I've slapped him back when he was a ticking time bomb.'
"Have you finished your call, dear?" asked a warm male voice.
The ash-blonde turned, a fond smile coming to her face. Masaru Bakugo, her husband, wheeled into the room. "Yeah, just thinkin' about how much Katsuki has changed since high school."
Masaru Bakugo was a man of slightly well-built proportions. With his spiky brown hair and his soft chocolate-colored eyes behind the thick glasses he wore, he cut quite the gentle picture -unlike his wife and son.
The man rolled into the room, his firm arms rolling the wheels of his wheelchair forward towards his wife. "He has gone through a lot. We all have. But on another note, have you finished designing the Autumn Harvest concept? The company needs to have that one on release before we can even think about getting the Winter Grace package out on the drawing board."
"Bah, it's our company. We do what the fuck we want."
"Don't say things like that, honey."
The woman stood up and sashayed towards her sitting husband, who blushed slightly at the account of her hips moving so smoothly. She knew it was his most favored part of her body, and she used it to great effect in making him go weak at the knees.
That is, if his knees could support anything, let alone feel anything.
Masaru's mental remembrance of the fact did not go unnoticed.
Mitsuki plopped herself right onto her husband's lap, making him sputter in surprise. She wrapped her arms around him, as well as her legs (thank fuck for custom wheelchairs) and stared fiercely into his eyes.
"Stop it."
"H-honey?"
She curled her fingers through his hair, her smirk becoming a gentler smile. "You're still Masaru Bakugo, my husband, my love, my best friend, my confidant, my motherfucker," He blushed furiously and sputtered further at the last comment, but Mitsuki continued, "Yeah, you're in a wheelchair. Yeah, you may never walk again, but you're still the same weak-willed man who couldn't resist a straight-forward woman like me. Still the same man with your chocolate-brown eyes that make me want to fucking grab your face and smother it with my lips. With your stupid blush that turn me on so fuckin' bad I just wanna pin you to the wall. You're still mine, always and forever. So stop with all the sad shit already, got it?"
Masaru stared at her, as if lost, only to smile gently and hug her in return. "Your compliments always make me feel so… so small. Yet at the same time, I feel like I'm at the top of the world. I love you, Mitsuki."
Mitsuki huffed in annoyance, "Damn, and here I was waiting for you to have a little bit of resistance. It really would've given me an 'opportunity'. Thanks, you ruined it with all your romantic shit."
"Weren't you the one being romantic right now?" asked a still-smiling Masaru. She slapped his shoulder, her signature scowl forming into her face, but there was no fire behind it. He chuckled, "You are such a Tsundere, honey."
~-*-~
Camie sat on a stool, idly scrolling through her Insta-feed to see if there were any juicy vids to see while she waited for the models to finish cleaning up. Turns out the Bakubosses wanted to focus on the Autumn Harvest Package before they could move out any other products. Shame, those winter colors were totes cute! Especially the fading white and blue. Hm, maybe they should add snowflakes on the eyelids as well... nah, better on the cheeks or neck.
Ping!
Hold up fam. Something just popped up.
AlienQueen79: Cam-Cam! What's good girl?
Camie perked up at the text. It was one of her followers on the gram, (and yes, of course she followed her back, what kind of person doesn't follow her followers?)
AlienQueen79 was known for her obsession with all that was aliens as well as cute stuff. Oh, and leopard themes, can't forget the leopard themes. Anyway, the two ended up meeting each other through the app, and instantly hit it off, both agreeing to support each other's work through social media. Camie's unique insta-videos with the usage of her Quirk proved to be a massive hit with many viewers, and her friend's Insta-talks over the Alien series -and occasionally, the Predator series- were widely known due to her entertaining and bubbly demeanor. They were both pretty sure that if they ever got the chance to meet in person, they would be the best of besties.
So Camie, with a smile, begun to text back.
Glam-Cat: Yaas girl! What's poppin'?
Not even a few seconds passed by before she was answered.
AlienQueen79: Have someone to introduce to ya! Meet CutieLight16. Awesome makeup artist! We did a collab a few days ago and came up with a super cute look, check it out!
A link popped up right below the text, and seeing as that she still had spare time, Camie clicked on it.
As usual, the video began with very enthusiastic greeting from the pink-skinned girl, whose body seemed to move as much as she talked.
"Wassup Alien Geeks! It's ya girl AlienQueen79 with a brand new video! Today I decided to take a bit of a brake from our usual Alien and Predator talks and decided to give you something fun for today. And if you read the title, then you already know what is about to go doooown! What girl doesn't want it? What girl doesn't have it? Makeup!"
Sparkles and cartoon flowers as well a few alien emojis with lipstick on flew around the screen as the girl excitedly announced their objective.
"And better yet, I have someone very special... drumroll please!" The girl proceeded to tap-tappity-tap her fists on the table, a firm slap on the surface ending her drumroll and initiating her introduction, "Ta-da! It's none other than CutieLight16, here to work her magic!"
A floating set of clothes popped into the camera's view, 'Is she invisible? That's so hella dope!'
Said invisible girl seemed to wave at the screen, as well as blow a kiss. "Hello Instaworld! I am here... with a brand new make-up kit from Nitro-Glamour Beauty Products! Let's see, I got Emerald-Green, Star-Yellow, Ash-Red, Sweet-Pink..."
The girl continued to list off her products, all ranging from máscara to lipstick to eye shadow and blush. All from the Bakubosses' company!
'This is sooo gonna spread our name, but Imma have hit the woah on this vid, the models are back.'
Clicking away from the video and letting her contact know what she thought of it so far, Camie prepared to sign off and get back to the models.
Ping!
AlienQueen79: That's cool, go on get back to work then. We can chat later!
AlienQueen79: Oh, and check out this hottie! He just came from overseas from a world-wide trip and is establishing a support company here! Got him on a magazine cover!
Camie took a quick look at the picture of the article her pink-skinned friend sent her. Long black hair tied back into a ponytail -a few bangs on the far left side, faint freckles splotched across his cheeks, green eyes that held a powerful mix of emotions, a small but confident grin, and clothed but visiblydefined arms resting along armrests of an exquisite chair. And when Camie zoomed in, she was able to find the smallest hint of a scar peeking out from his turtleneck.
Rising Star: Izuku Midori-Wayne
Quirkless Entrepreneur already hitting the billboards in terms of success. Support items and technology sales skyrocketing after only four months!
Tensei Iida, Pro Hero Ingenium says: "Mr. Wayne's equipment has provided me great flexibility in the use of my Quirk, offered great protection, and gave me access to resources that allowed me to do my job more effectively. Not to mention his business methods are clear and direct, a quality many other corporations don't have these days."
Well, AlienQueen79 wasn't wrong, he definitely had the sizzling snack factor. Let's see if the internet has some more pics she could download-
"Oi! Camie! The hell are you doing standing there, the models ain't getting any damn younger!"
She pocketed her phone, a sheepish grin coming into her features, "Sorry toots! Just looking at a hunk on the phone. And how can someone mix cute and sexy in the same bod?"
Katsuki rolled his eyes, an annoyed growl rising from his throat, "Don't know, don't care. Now get back to work... and don't call me that, we ain't an item."
"Not yet we ain't~" came the coy comment.
"Fuck off."
"If not to you, maybe to this guy~" came the taunt.
Okay, that seemed to officially piss him off. Before she knew it, Camie was giggling gleefully as a pissed-off Katsuki tried to wrestle her phone away with s mumbled string of profanities. He was eventually successful, and managed to pry the device off of her slender hands.
"Awww! Come on Katsu-babe! I was only playing!" she laughed as she hopped to reclaim her property.
"That's the problem, swole-lips. You play too damn much!" Katsuki snarled back, "Fucking losing brain cells over this shit!"
The blonde looked at the phone, "And for what? A fucki-"
He froze.
Taking the opportunity, Camie snatched back her phone with a victorious cry. She backed up quickly, and put a hand on her hip. "You saw him, huh?" the fawn-haired girl gave him a cocky grin, "Looks like you've got some exotic kinks in you huh? Sweet."
"Give me that phone." Katsuki said.
"Oh yeah, he's got you good."
"Fucking. Give me. The phone." he ground out.
Camie, confident in her speculation, did so. Snatching the phone with a wide-eyed glare, the blonde unlocked the lock screen and came to the tab opened.
Emerald eyes, diamonds made up of freckled, curly-wavy locks of hair, albeit black.
It was unmistakable, he had returned.
"What... the FUCK?!"
End of Chapter 4