For the next few days, Katsuki leaves Mina in his apartment as he goes to work. He can't really bring this pink child to his office job – he'd definitely get fired for that. And it seems she likes it in his apartment, sitting in his bathtub all day long and playing with her… acid. He doesn't think about that, much.
"Sometimes when you're all bored and have nothing to play with, it's good to have your Quirk keep you busy." Sero points out. Sometimes he'll tape some of his Quirk to his legs and arms and rip them off when extremely bored. It hurt a little, but it's better than nothing and kind of gave him a thrill, like a spooky house. He hopes that's not as fucked up as it sounds.
"You should be careful, though. Especially at such a young age when your control over your Quirk and body isn't all that great." Aizawa says, gesturing at the small alien on screen.
"Not sure if tape can do any damage. It only fixes things!" replies Sero, beaming and ignoring the thought he had just had. Aizawa puffs.
He makes her food before he leaves – the kind that he liked when he was her age probably – she might be seven-hundred years old, for all he knows – a bunch of vegetables and all that healthy crap. A singer's gotta look good! Is what his mom used to say before shoving salad down his throat.
"I guess that in every universe Bakugou has ambitions and high determination for something that is mostly out of people's league." Yaomomo muses.
"Damn right!" Bakugou says in the most earnest tone, not moving his gaze from the screen.
But apparently Mina wasn't fond of Erath food. Or as it turns out, she will only eat snacks and the literal cash he brought home.
"Cash does kind of look like lettuce, right?" Mina exclaims, face bright as if everyone had already agreed.
"No, you crook!" Bakugou barks.
Mina shakes her head, "You're right. It looks more like seaweed…"
But one day, at least a week after Mina crashed into his life, he comes home to find dishwashing soap poured all over his fucking kitchen floor. The whole bottle. And of course, Mina sitting in the middle innocently, staring blankly of into space before she spots him, "Katsuki!"
"That's rough – kero." Tsu grunts.
Todoroki nods. Multiple times did his father do some strange stuff while being on a temper tantrum. And in the end it was always him or his other siblings cleaning after him. It was not pleasant, if you could guess.
"Wha-" He stares at the yellow mess on the floor, then at the pink girl who's slightly covered by the shade of the kitchen table. "Uhm… Why- you. Wh-." He takes a deep breath. Just a kid, okay okay… "Did you eat any of it?" he asks as softly as a Bakugou Katsuki can.
Uraraka honest to god gasps.
"Are you okay…?" Midoriya asks, making the girl blush lightly in embarrassment.
"Sorry. It just really shocked me that that's the first thing he says after seeing his kitchen getting soaked."
"Fuck off!" Bakugou barks. The kitchen is one of if not the most important corner of the house, and he is – at least at this current universe – absolutely livid he has to bear witness to such atrocities. But obviously not scaring kids is part of the job of being a hero-
Shinsou rolls his eyes, "Killer argument."
"Cool it, Eye Bags."
Mina looks at him curiously, not understanding shit because she's a fucking alien child. He sighs again. He points at the sticky liquid, the intense smell already making him want to puke, then at his mouth. "You, eat?" he puts it lamely. Mina shakes her head furiously. Fucking Christ. Okay so she's just bored out of her mind. "What the fuck then, Mina."
"What the fuck…?"
Okay he should stop talking.
"You better be cleaning this up." Bakugou asserts.
"I am but a small, confused child, Bakun." Mina pouts, placing a finger over her lips innocently.
"No you're not. You're a sly, tiny crook." he hisses.
"You calling me clever?"
"You poured dishwashing soap all over my kitchen floor."
"What's your point."
"I agree!" Kaminari says suddenly, raising a hand as if he was in a class setting.
"What?" Bakugou growls.
"I agree that you should stop talking," He immediately goes to cowards against Sero's side. Bakugou scoffs, rolling his eyes. Fucking dumbass.
"Kaminari, that is rude! I suggest you consider treating your friends with more respect!"
"S-sorry, Iida."
"He's not my friend, Four Eyes!"
"Yet you still share a boyband." Todoroki points out.
"It's not a boyband!"
The next day, Katsuki refuses to neglect this child more than he already has – before she burns down his home – and decides to bring her to work. He could probably find a babysitter or something but, well. He's not exactly wealthy. He's budget is already getting concerning after he buys meals for two,
Bakugou glares at a certain pink girl.
And he doesn't wish to experience more debt than necessary.
His boss wasn't exactly thrilled with him bringing a child to the job, but he let it slide. Probably wanting to get out of the whole 'you're not paying me enough for a babysitter' talk. Bastard.
"It's totally not cool that even with working, some people don't have enough money to live comfortably," Kirishima expresses as if he's in some sort of documentary before turning his head to smile at the explosive blond, "That being said, if you're ever having money problems, I'll totally lend you some, bro!"
"Yeah, us too!" the three other goons say in unison, making Bakugou blink.
"Me too, Kacchan," Midoriya says behind his notebook, leaning over to look at the blond, "If you're ever having any sort problems, I'll gladly help."
"That goes for us as well!" Yamada exclaims, gesturing at the teachers.
"All of us." Aizawa asserts, glaring at the class who in turn all nod and shout agreements.
Bakugou scoffs, "Tsk, I'll be the one to help all you idiots, if anything."
Kaminari coos, touched, "So you will help us?"
"Of course I will! That's what a hero does!"
"He does care!" Mina shouts, pumping her fist in the air as if the class solved their biggest problem.
"Don't think you losers can leach off of me!"
"Of course not, Baku."
"Woah okay." Kaminari says as Bakugou kicks his way into the dressing room, holding the child under the armpits like he's presenting a pet, his necktie hanging off her mouth, still attached to his collar. "So you can bring your child thing but I can't bring my girlfriends?"
"No," he grumbles as he sets Mina down on the couch, giving her his phone so she won't get bored again.
"What a playah!" Hagakure purrs.
"Yeah," Kaminari says nonchalantly, "I got game."
"Yeah," Jirou mocks in the same tone of voice, "He can't hold a relationship." Some students snort at that.
"I can hold… you, though!" He winks.
"No thanks."
Kaminari pouts.
"Are you babysitting?" Kirishima asks as he shoves flashy hair pins against his red hair.
"Relative?" Sero inquires as he compares two pairs of jeans.
Kaminari gasps, "Secret child-!"
"No!" Bakugou shouts as he pulls clothes out of several bags, making the men flinch. Mina not so much. "She's…" He looks at her as she swipes her little pink fingers against his phone's screen. "An alien, I guess? I dunno." He shrugs.
Sero tilts his head, that annoying ass grin plastered on his face. "Alien…"
"Hey! My smile is very handsome!"
"Someone is lying to you."
"My eyes don't lie, Blasty.
Bakugou sucks in a breath through his teeth. "You… need glasses."
Kaminari taps his buddy's shoulder, "Give up, dude."
Sero blinks. "What!?"
Kirishima elbows the ravenette, "She's clearly cosplaying!" he whispers harshly.
"Nah." Bakugou flops a hand around, "Look – Mina!" he calls, making the child look up from the phone to beam at him, "Do your thing!"
She pouts as she eyes him until he points a finger at his own palm, making her grin again as she stretches a palm towards the idiot trio like she's a corny vampire trying to stop a car, a string of acid shooting out accordingly. Kaminari pulls his legs up before the goo can strike him, so it splashes against his chair instead. It sizzles and the metal pole melts, making the blond fall off his chair face first.
The class winces, and Kaminari drags a hand over his face, already used to making a fool of himself in front of everyone.
"Oh, I didn't know she can do that." Katsuki says as Kirishima and Sero gape, Kaminari still planted firmly on the floor.
"You didn't know!?" Kaminari screeches as he flings his head up.
"Save your voice for the show,"
"I don't wanna hear that from you-"
He goes ignored, "I didn't know she can melt shit. Anyways," He tosses the bag he was rummaging through next to Mina, who's idly still fiddling with the small device, "Don't cause any trouble for once." He enters the closet, grumbling something about messing with his makeup.
It takes a quiet moment before either of them reboot, "What?!" Kirishima squawks.
"Seeing someone's shocked face is always a delight." Satou snickers.
It's only then that they notice that Bakugou is on the verge of bursting as he claps his mouth, shaking slightly. Only when he catches Kirishima's confused look does he howl. "W-what?" Kirishima whines as the blond thrashes in place and laughs, unintentionally – or maybe not – shoving against Mina.
"What?!" he imitates the other Kirishima with a squeaky voice before dissolving in a fit of chuckles.
"Hey! You're reaction to Mina was also kinda funny!"
That doesn't make Bakugou stop laughing, though, making the redhead frown and flush instead. Kaminari reaches a hand to pat him but Kirishima bats it away mutely.
When Katsuki walks out, he finds that they have not, in fact, not caused trouble. And they messed with their makeup. "What the fuck." He motions at Mina who seems to be applying makeup on Kaminari, who is sitting grumpily on the couch now that his chair was destroyed, side-eying the other blond.
"It seems like she wanted to do your job!" Sero inform cheekily as Kirishima is still stuck in the same shocked state he was left with.
Katsuki scoffs, tilting his head to get a better look at the damage his alien child surely had made on his bandmate,
Mina gasps, "I'm your alien child!"
Kaminari gasps, "I'm your bandmate!"
Bakugou rolls his eyes, ignoring the attention seekers.
He pouts when it doesn't look all that bad. Definitely more tacky and colorful than he would prefer but it certainly looks decent.
"See? My true calling!" Mina points at the screen with a content smile, eerily looking like that one Drake meme. "You would be sooo lucky if I was your makeup artist."
"Maybe you should do our makeup sometime?" Uraraka suggests sheepishly, "Like, in our world."
"Hell yeah! We can do a makeup party and stuff! Everyone gets their own look! Jirou can help me with the more goth stuff,"
"What,"
"And Bakubabe can help, too! Cuz apparently he knows how to." she teases.
Bakugou grimaces. He doesn't actually know how to do makeup – not in his universe, at least. But he's pretty much talented at everything, so he assumes it would be easy to learn. And it's not like he's going to let this pink loser beat him. He sighs. "Fine."
"Yess! Oh, Ms. Midnight can join, too!"
"What? Oh, sure." When's the last time she had fun with some of her students? Oh well.
Katsuki scoffs, "See? She's even better than you."
Sero frowns. "She's making Denki look like a fairy or something. It's not going to work with the songs and outfits."
Kirishima tilts his head, eyes still wide, "Did she shoot acid from her hand?!"
"Well, I for one am proud of her," katsuki informs, "Isn't that right, Mina?" he coos.
Bakugou turns his head towards the pink girl beside him with a glare, daring her to say anything, but pauses when instead he finds her not looking at him, but at the screen fondly, much like his other friends. He presses his lips in a fine line as he feels his face heat. This is somehow even worse.
"Isn't that right, Katsuki!" Mina exclaims right back, and he nods approvingly.
"It is. And besides," he says, walking towards the counter and picking up another makeup bag, "You think anyone gives a shit? They'll probably love it anyways."
"Fine, fine." Sero says as Katsuki grabs a confused Kirishima's face, "But that doesn't mean you get away with bringing random, costume party prepared kids."
"Tsk," He gives Mina another glance before nodding again, "You keep doing your thing, Mina."
She looks at him before looking at a relaxed Kaminari and smiling, placing a palm right in front of his face,
"Wait- no no no!" they exclaim in unison.
"Please don't tell me this wholesome story ends up with my face getting whipped out." Kaminari expresses.
Mina listens and lowers her hand, not whipping Kaminari's face out.
"Oh, thank god."
After the show ends – the makeup thankfully being taken positively by the viewers, Mina walks out with Katsuki, hand in hand – and in her other, a makeup brush, because she wouldn't shut up unless they let her take it with her.
"You cannot keep us apart." Mina mumbles, referencing the pink makeup brush.
"Crook." Bakugou murmurs right back.
He sighs. Well, Erath Home time, he guesses.
Mina yaws a little before looking up at the blond and he raises an eyebrow at her with a little jerk of his head as if to say what do you want? The girl lets go of his hand to point up at the dark, star brimming sky. "Space! Home!"
"Yeah, yeah, I know."
She shakes her head before pointing again, more urgently, and he looks at the direction of her finger, where a massive cloud floats aimlessly, blending with the night sky. Suddenly, the cloud whooshes away, revealing a giant spaceship, the large windows lit, coloring the sky in soft, dark blues and he blinks.
"Wouldn't we all want to live in a spaceship?" Hagakure muses.
Yaomomo looks at her, deadpan.
"What? It's so big!"
Mina chuckles, "It's because I'm the alien queen, of course!"
"More like a princess, for now." Kirishima exclaims cheerily.
"So you're already rich, yet you still steal?" Bakugou sneers. Mina scoffs,
"Get over it."
Katsuki blinks more for a few good seconds before looking frantically at the street he's on, trying to see if anyone else is seeing this shit. Alas, they're all alone. He whips his gaze down when small hands grab his wrists, the brush pressing against his hand. "Katsuki! Do your thing!"
The blond's head flings from side to side, up and down, blinking rapidly as if he's been told this is all just a dream before he looks back down at Mina's beaming face, head still refusing to stay still, "H-hah? Do- hmm?!"
"See?!" Kirishima says in accusatory tone, pointing at Bakugou, "That's funny, right?"
The room remains quiet as the blond gives him a quick, flat, unimpressed look. Kirishima pouts as he feels his cheeks burn and he crosses his arms, looking back at the screen, "Jerks…"
Mina giggles, tightening her grip on Katsuki before she shakes her head again. Her palms glow against his arms much like when he first met her and instead of blinking rapidly again, he just blinks one, long time tightly. He would probably rub his eyes or pinch his nose if he could use his hands. "Katsuki! Do, your, thing!" she calls again enthusiastically and he forces himself to breathe.
"I can't-" His palms glow now, directed at the concrete below, but instead of a fair pink like Mina, it glows orange, yellow. And then a loud noise assaults his ears. He gasps and it takes him a moment to realize he's in the air.
"Okay," Yamada says, flopping his wrist as his other hand clutches a notebook, "So Quirks are a gift from the aliens,"
Aizawa flicks the blond in the back of his head with a hiss, "No. Don't give them any stupid ideas."
"Do you have any proof, Mr. Aizawa?" Kaminari asks.
"There are no such things as aliens."
"That's exactly what Kacchan said!" the electric blond retorts.
"Don't call me-"
"And Ashido isn't an alien. Clearly, these universes are far, far away from ours."
"Isn't she though?" Sero wonders and the room looks back at the pink girl, who is acting unusually quiet. Aizawa takes a deep breath.
"I, I think we shouldn't assume things without concrete proof," Iida stutters, "I think we should listen to Mr. Aizawa."
He shrieks as more explosions blast from his palms, Mina clinging to his middle now. At some point, they stop spinning in midair and he notices their distance to the spaceship before he notices their distance to the ground and he blasts a few more bursts towards the opposite direction of the ship, flinging the pair towards it because if they fall now, they're dead. Holy shit.
I'm glad to know there's a world where Bakugou isn't naturally great at everything." Sero commentates.
Bakugou shrugs, acting nonchalant, "It's probably just the shock. When I got my Quirk, I learned to handle it just fine, and I was four years old."
"You didn't handle Emotion Vision 'just fine'" Ojirou points out, "So I think-"
"Emotion Vision can suck my-"
"Okay!" Iida interrupts abruptly, "Please no interrupting the episode!"
Bakugou grimaces, "But you just fucking interrupted-"
"If we're going with the theory that Quirks relate to personality," Todoroki cuts him off, making the blond slap a palm against his forehead and Iida's hovering hand to tense further and freeze, "Then in the last universe, Bakugou might not have had the best grasp on his Quirk because his explosive personality was still the same, and they didn't match." he murmurs, monotone. It would also go with Midoriya's Quirk harming him at the start of the year, seeing that the whole… beating people up doesn't suit him at first glance, he thinks.
"Who's to say that in most universes Kacchan's Quirk isn't Emotion Vison? We've only seen one other world with Quirks." Midoriya informs kindly, not fully believing what he's implying though.
"Are you blind?" Bakugou gestures at the screen where adult him is kicking at the air frantically before landing on the top of the roundish spaceship, "Clearly, the fucking alien gods themselves have blessed me with the Explosion Quirk like they should have. They fucked up big time last universe. That dumb Quirk was probably meant for you."
"T-thanks?" Midoriya mumbles before freezing and looking at his notebook with wide eyes as Mina smiles proudly at Bakugou with a pleased palm on his shoulder that he promptly slaps away,
"Don't act like you did shit, Pinky."
Mina hops off of a horrified Katsuki and onto the roof of the ship, steeping backwards with a kind smile until she reaches a small square of a door that opens when she's close enough, returning the pink of her skin when it's dark outside. It takes him a moment to realize what's happening since he's gone to kneeling and clutching at the metal ship so he wouldn't, y'know, fall and fucking die.
"I guess this is goodbye, Bkuguy." says Mina.
"Get me off of this fucking ship first, you ass!"
Before she jumps in into the fucking light or something, though, she twirls her little makeup brush at him like a wand, making him huff as a pastel gas-light thingy flies towards him slowly and gently. She smiles broadly as she waves at him in big motions and he blinks, bringing a hand to the air awkwardly as a goodbye of his own, still somewhat gawking.
"Bye, Katsuki!" Mina says, colorful makeup in bright lime and yellow she managed to apply on herself when the boys where performing still vibrant on her face.
"Uh, bye. Mina." Katsuki says right back, eyeshadow purple and pink like his lipstick for tonight, less visible in this hour of the day.
She giggles and gives one more big wave before hopping in, the door slamming shut behind her in a loud bang, making Katsuki flinch. The small motion of his body making him start sliding off the roof as he courses aloud, clawing at the metal.
"Please don't tell me this wholesome story ends up with Bakugou getting whipped out." Kaminari expresses for the second time. Bakugou curtly nods.
The floating magic specs or whatever the hell reach him finally just as he loses grip and falls straight into the night sky, gasping as he flops through a cloud. The possibly just leftover makeup dust engulfs him suddenly, and his departure slows down as he levitates gently down, making him sigh in relief before sneezing. Maybe that was leftover makeup dust?
"Your… sneezes aren't as… strong as I envisagé." Aoyama muses.
"At least I don't shoot a deadly laser out of my stomach when I do it!" Bakugou barks.
"Touché. Though I wouldn't be caught dead sneezing."
"Good," Shouji mumbles in concern.
He floats gently to the ground, kicking and flailing his arms before getting set down completely and safely, another sigh easing out of him as the magic aroma floats away from him and up instead – into space, probably. A few lost souls that are there where he lands witness him, gaping. But he just rolls his eyes. Give him a break. Like please. What the fuck.
The weight of everything that happened that week wash over him fully at last as he takes deep breaths on his walk back to the apartment, feeling faintly as if he's drowning.
Mina clings a little tighter onto Bakugou, he doesn't mention it, though he frowns.
Also because he almost fell to his death. He shakes his head. He's gonna need to ask his bandmates next time he sees them to confirm this whole thing isn't some illusion. As he finishes crossing a road, ignoring the looks he's getting for his over the top makeup, he looks down at his palms in the middle of the street before looking around until there isn't anyone watching him.
He brings a hand a little gingerly up, leaning backwards so the distance between his palm and face would be… larger. And tenses his muscles, curling and uncurling his finger and lightly bounces his arm.
"That's not how you flex your arm, bro!" Kirishima says, sounding genuinely concerned as he looks at Bakugou, brows knitted with a pout and flexing his own arm as some sort of example, presumably, making the blond purse his lips, leaning away from the redhead's direction, dragging the clinging girl with him.
"No shit, really?" Bakugou barks after a moment, raising his eyebrows, unimpressed.
Kirishima just chuckles, resting back on his beanbag and Bakugou huffs in return.
So he guess he can't make those blast anymore, he frowns before shoving his hands into his pockets and sighs once more, glad to still feel his keys, phone and all his other shit there as his cheeks grow slightly pink in hope no one saw him do that. Okay.
Before he enters his apartment, hand on the handle, he looks back at the night sky, biting his lip. He can barely see any of the clouds, definitely no alien airship in sight, just the stars and the endless void. He smiles a little, his face contorting to something he doesn't express often. Something squeezing warmly in his chest and he lowers his head, still not being able to hide the undoubtedly stupid look on his face from his Earth Home before turning back to his door and stepping into his apartment.
The screen fades to black.
Mina gasps, clutching harder to Bakugou's arm before sniffling, not actually crying. "Beautiful! Beautiful!" she cries as a few students clap their hands in appreciation to the episode.
Bakugou shakes his hand and roughly pushes the girl away from him as the class's teacher rises up with a groan. "Since you need time to study and do all your other duties as growing heroes, we won't continue tomorrow, but next week. Now go eat dinner and get ready for bed."
Some of the students groan and whine but comply nonetheless, seeing the reasoning of their teacher valid. Some kids are woken up from slumber while others stay a little for some snacks. Hatada is woken up by Kayama and with a little extra effort, starts waddling away towards the door, taking her backpack and a single popsicle with her.
"So…" Kaminari says as the Bakusquad lazily walk back towards their dorms, a little ways ahead from the other 1-A students. They look at Bakugou expectantly as if he was the one to start speaking, making him growl uncomfortably,
"What!?" he hisses.
"So are you gonna ever smile at us like that? Here, I mean?" Kaminari asks.
"Give him time-" Kirishima speaks carefully before getting cut off by the explosive blond,
"What the hell are you talking about."
"That last scene," Sero informs, "When you did that little smile at the thought of Mina."
"Yeah!" the aforementioned girl announces, "It was really sweet!"
Bakugou scoffs, "How are you so sure that was a 'sweet smile'? It looks to me like I was trying to hold myself from puking, possibly because I fell from an extremely high place without a Quirk." But the darkening of his cheeks says he knows otherwise.
The group coos before they shriek as the blasts start up, Kirishima the only one still laughing.
A little distance from the chaotic group, Midoriya watches, walking with his own friends. He smiles something probably resembling the last scene from the universe they observed, glad that Bakugou was warming up to… people, in general. He looks to his right, then, as the students can spot their building and where Todoroki is walking next to him.
That reminds him, it was the taller boy's theory that Quirk correlates to personality, wasn't it? And now that he thinks of it… his Half and Half Quirk kind of is like his personality. He looks at his other friends, trying to see if that whole approach works on everyone.
But Midoriya used to be Quirkless. And he still had a personality back then, of course. And Bakugou was really Bakugou-ish before he got his Quirk, too. But maybe the Quirk everyone gets is decided before they actually manifest them? But it wouldn't make sense that he got Emotion Vision that one time, then. Maybe it was reserved for Midoriya, after all?
No, no. Maybe he's being farfetched. This theory is just one more of Todoroki's weird thoughts. Not to mention people had personalities before Quirks, either way. Like, Tsu, for example, doesn't have the personality of the characteristics of a frog.
Right?
How do frogs act?
Someone elbows him and Midoriya snaps out of his thoughts, only now realizing that they arrived at the Heights Alliance and he's just uselessly standing in the middle of the lounge, mumbling to himself. Oh. How much of that did they hear? He raises his gaze to the person who disturbed him, Shinsou, who seems grumpy and tired as always, but not shocked or suspicious.
"S-sorry," Midoriya says before he heads with the other teen to make themselves some dinner. And maybe to discuss with Todoroki about this theory of his more.
At a different building, a redheaded girl stares blearily at the meal her friend made her. "What? Seriously not hungry?" Ikki asks her as he shoves the meat he cooked for himself down his throat.
"Probably ate too much snacks." Chizu says with a roll of her eyes.
"Yeah," Hatada huffs absentmindedly. She actually didn't eat all that much snacks and candy. She mostly just spent time doing homework and sleeping. But she's still not that hungry. Maybe it's because she's super tired. She doesn't realize she almost flopped her head onto her plate before Chizu grabs her and helps her walk to her room, chuckling.