The program doesn't go out the next summer. Or the next. In fact, it is only five years later that its first year starts. And even a year after that, Yuuga doesn't see Bakugou on the news or anywhere. No King Explosion Murder or whatever other atrocious names a literal twelve year-old would come up with. But honestly, hearing about a new hero Emperor Detonation Massacre would be better than this nothing.
"I wonder what happened?" Tsu asks.
"I can't imagine anything bad." Uraraka rolls her eyes, "That's illegal apparently."
"No," Mina groans, "It's just physically impossible." Ignoring the last alternate universes, at least.
"Maybe he became an underground hero?" Yamada suggests. Aizawa scoffs at that, knowing the blond only said that to try and include the other teacher.
"Nah, Detonation Massacre is a sucker for attention, even if he denies it." Sero voices calmly before grinning at Bakugou, "Also I am from now on calling you Emperor Detonation Massacre – no changing my mind."
And Bakugou does not, in fact, contact him via texting. Which should have been more expected than it actually felt. But Yuuga has other things to worry about – like his hero work – and leaves his worries for another time.
"Well. What do you think?"
Shouto pokes at his food. "S'nice."
"I'm just sayin'," Ochaco says – as promised – as she chews happily, "That spending this much money on this amount on food is like, hmm. Y'know?"
Yuuga sighs, placing his cheek on his hand as he smiles softly, "If people stopped going to fancy restaurants, then the staff would have no money."
Ochaco pauses wide eyed before placing three fingers on each of her temples. "I… never thought about it like that."
"Ooh! Me! And older! And not about to get flattened!" Uraraka claps.
"I guess we became friends in this one, if you're using my first name." Todoroki mentions matter-of-factly.
"Ah, I guess." Aoyama stammers. Uraraka and Todoroki aren't really a group he thought he'd find himself in.
"I love that haircut, girl!" Mina exclaims, pointing a finger gun to the Uraraka on screen.
"Hehe, thanks." Uraraka blushes and rubs the back of her head. "I guess getting it short would mean it won't get in the way of levitating." She never truly took the time to envision herself with short short hair, and was too scared or uninterested to find out first hand. At least she knows that if something messes her hair up, she has other options.
"It really suits you," Iida declares with a nod from Midorya, while in the meantime Bakugou starts nodding off. He usually goes to bed early and these viewing sessions tend to push his bedtime.
And like.
This is boring as fuck. Why are they talking about haircuts for fuck's sake.
Aoyama smiles at the him presented on screen, still looking young and beautiful as ever. Good.
"Okay, then I lied!" Ochaco exclaims, slamming her chopsticks to the table, gaining a few glances from the tables nearby before they quickly lose interest, "This is," She squirms, "The best thing I've ever eaten!"
Shouto chuckles quietly before shoving some soba into his mouth.
"Did he just… chuckle?!" Jirou exclaims.
"Magnificent," Shinsou declares.
"Adorable!" Hagakure announces.
Todoroki flushes lightly and looks down at his knees to hide his embarrassment before gaining a pat from Shinsou, who Todoroki sends a glare towards, making the other teen wince.
"I know, it's the worst." Midoriya murmurs.
"And you're right, Yuuga. Chefs deserve more love and attention than this! Whenever someone comes up to me to tell me how great of a job I'm doing, I feel like every injury and struggle has been all worth it. So," She proceeds to raise a hand to a server, asking them to speak to the chef personally who was responsible for her amazing steak.
"Alright, I'll see what I can do, ma'am." the waiter replies before leaving.
Yuuga coos, "Over the top and completely unnecessarily flashy? I love it, mon amie!"
"Yeah, you know what? I'm feeling gifty tonight!"
"Aw man," Uraraka heaves, "Now I want that steak."
"I know," Yaomomo says, sounding just as saddened, "It really does look great, doesn't it?"
Kirishima nods enthusiastically.
"It's just steak," Bakugou grumbles.
"How dare you?" Kirishima mutters right back, sounding only half as betrayed as he feels.
Five minutes later and the chef comes strolling to their table, full on chef's coat or whatever it's called – even a chef's hat. Truly, a fancy restaurant. But that wasn't the most surprising thing. "Okay, what the hell is wrong – oh."
"Bakugou?!" Ochaco sputters, "Wait – Bakugou? Wait,"
"Oh, of course you did." Sero laughs. "Of course you'd become a fancy-shmancy chef!"
Bakugou purses his lips. It's certainly no hero, but at least he's not working as a cashier anymore. And yeah – if there was no one to make good food, Bakugou better be there to do the job right.
"Wait, are you really that good at cooking?" Shinsou asks, "How come you didn't cook yesterday then, if you're so great?"
"You wouldn't let us!" Midoriya stammers, "And he makes the food a bunch of other times anyway."
"But it's too spicy to enjoy…"
"Emperor Detonator as a chef…" Mina murmurs, "I love it! The hat suits you perfectly, Blasty!"
"At least he didn't give up on being the best…" Tokoyami says, "But now instead of best hero it's the best cook?"
Bakugou nods to himself. He better be aiming for best chef.
"Uravity?"
"Oh sorry, you just look like someone I used to know—"
"No that's definitely Bakugou." Shouto confirms with awe.
"Hey, you were in my class!" Bakugou points out, looking dazzled, before turning and looking at Yuuga, "Oh, hold on just a sec," he says before scurrying off in a sprint.
"Now you're just somebody that I used to know…" Ojirou murmurs quietly, making Hagakure burst in laughter.
Kirishima snorts, "Awkward Bakugou, amazing."
"He's already awkward," Mina says gleefully.
"Fuck off, I'm not awkward!"
"Responding to everything with shouting is awkward."
"W-was… Wait, does he not remember who I am?" Ochaco asks after a few seconds of the stunned silence.
"Don't take it personally," Yuuga sighs, "Happened to me too."
"You met him already?" Shouto asks.
"I have, a few years ago. He was supposed to contact me, but." He shrugs.
Bakugou comes back with a notebook – ah – handing it to the two heroes.
"B-Bakugou—!"
"Sign this, or you're not getting a discount on the meal."
Ochaco and Shouto stop whatever they were about to ask to sign hastily, one's signature more plain than the other. Yuuga narrows his eyes. He doesn't remembering getting his snacks for free all those years ago. "What happened?" Shouto finally asks.
Bakugou sits with them at the table. "The fuck do you mean 'what happened'? I got kinapped."
"Why aren't you a hero?" Yuuga clarifies, "And why didn't you contact me like you said you would?" he asks, only a little hurt.
"Okay, straight up two days after the whole gas station thing my phone fell to the sewers through the little fuckin'. Gap thing? So I just sat there trying to fish it out for like two hours straight like a loser until apparently the cops got called on me for 'suspicious behavior' so I had to fucking leave and get a new phone."
"Sounds fake." Sero deadpans.
"Why the hell would I lie about that crap? If I didn't want to text Sparkle Belly and you other idiots I would have said that to your face."
"Meaning," Mina infers, "That you did want to text us?"
Bakugou rolls his eyes, "In that universe, I fucking guess."
"Why can't you just admit that you like us?"
"What's happening? What gas station?" Ochaco asks, "Oh and nice cooking, Bakugou."
"Don't worry about it, and thanks."
"So you just decided to be a cook instead?"
"Chef," Bakugou corrects precisely, "And yeah, I guess. Funny story – Not that long ago I met with, what's his face…" he leans back in his seat, gesturing with his hand like all those years ago in that small shop, "Fucking… what? Oh! Fucking Present Mic, duh."
Yamada perks up at the mention of his name, the room becoming a little brighter.
"Mr. Mic?" Yuuga asks.
"Yeah," Bakugou shrugs, "Was like 'Oi Katsuki long time no see, why not try using your Quirk? Might wanna get back to hero work if you blah blah get a taste again, hey remember when you were kidnapped and couldn't do that anymore well here I am!'."
"Is that how I sound like? That has to be an exaggeration." Yamada murmurs sadly.
"Nope," Aizawa denies. "You talk exactly like that."
"You're lying."
"Why would I lie about that stuff?"
"Are you quoting your children?" Kayama asks with a gleeful smile.
"No,"
"Your what?" Tsu tilts her head.
"Nothing. Go back to watching the screen."
"So I was like 'ight," Bakugou continues to recall, "And he brought me to like a gym and I ripped the biggest blast I could and, you know, I was – am – kind of rusty but whatever, was pretty big and Mic was like 'well, well?' and I thought," Bakugou shrugs, pouting with his lower lip poking outwards beyond the natural amount, "This sucks ass,"
"Sucks ass?!" Kirishima shouts suddenly before coughing, leading himself to a coughing fit and earning himself a very pathetic-fitting glare from Bakugou.
"Never in my life had I thought that Bakugou would call his Quirk sucky." Mina says.
"All of you are making such big deals out of this," Jirou sighs, "People change."
"I think it's great that this Bakugou prefers not using his Quirk," says Yaomomo, intertwining her fingers calmly.
"What are you talking about?" Bakugou grunts. Is she trying to say it's better he won't be a hero?
"Well, not great," she huffs, "But it's safer being a civilian and honestly, wanting to be a pro hero is a little overhyped, don't you think? There are a lot of pros but there are also a lot of cons."
Bakugou sighs, "Whatever."
"My arm hurts now, my ears are ringing, I'm all fucking sweaty and this smoke smells like shit. But you know what doesn't smell bad?" Bakugou asks, looking intently at the three heroes.
All three lean their head forward in anticipation until Shouto speaks earnestly, "Flowers."
Bakugou points a patient finger at him, face not wavering. "Cooking."
"You like flowers, Todoroki?" Shinsou asks nicely.
"They're pretty, I guess, but I don't really stop to smell them."
"You should," Midoriya says softly, "It's nice."
Ochaco smiles gently and places a hand over her chest. "That's great, Bakugou, that you found a passion you can work at. And you're really good at it, too."
"It's nice to see how your goals and aspiration have changed, and you as a whole, too." says Shouto, "I know the circumstances weren't the best, but it's good that you decided to become something great, even if you… had a rough time early on." He smiles softly. "It's good you didn't give up, even if you just changed your destination."
"Uhm, thanks?" Bakugou flushes lightly and rubs the back of his head, at this point sitting next to the table since the start of his rambling. "If this is your way of getting a free meal, it's not working."
Yuuga ignores him, "And, your old friends would love to see you again, too. I still have the numbers to all our old classmates. They'd love to tell you all about—"
"Nah, no thanks."
Yuuga sputters, getting major déjà vu, "Wha- no?!"
"God dammit Bakugou, let us cherish you," Mina cries.
"What am I even gonna tell them? I thought I'd talk to them after I became the best pro hero but alas, I am only the best chef. I can't just come empty handed to them. And besides," he sighs, "They're probably pissed at me and I don't wanna deal with that!" he says as if that's a really good excuse, "And they'll probably cry and be all emotional and I don't know what to do in those circumstances!"
"We don't care that you're not a hero, Bakugou." Ochaco says just as Shouto deadpans, "Are we acting emotional?" and turns to the girl to remind her, "He didn't even remember you were in our class." Making Ochaco frown.
"It's never too late to apologize, Bakugou." Yuuga informs, looking at Bakugou earnestly.
"What do I have to apologize for? I got kidnapped!"
"Tell them that, then."
"But they already know."
"Don't you miss them?"
"What?" Bakugou scoffs, "Just watching them on the news makes me feel like shit, I don't need to actually see them."
"Sounds like missing to me." Shouto pipes up.
"Aww we miss you too!" Mina says to the Bakugou onscreen, ignoring the real one that doesn't say 'like' in every other sentence.
"Emperor Massacre to my heart," Sero sighs, placing a hand over his chest.
Bakugou gives him a look. "What?"
"Like, cure? To my heart."
Bakugou flattens his gaze.
"Well, usually Kami is the one to make these puns but he isn't saying anything!" he whines.
They all look to Kaminari who is sound asleep next to Bakugou in their bean. The spiky blond groans, "Ugh."
"Nah," Bakugou yawns, "I think I'm fine dying with regrets,
Kirishima frowns. That's not chivalrous at all.
"They don't need to see me after all the pain and hurt I put them through." he says with sarcastic dramatics, making Ochaco growl,
"Gosh you're so stubborn, just tell them you're sorry and make them a meal or something. And if they don't wanna see you they'll just tell you to bump off."
"Or they'll beat the shit out of you," Shouto provides unhelpfully.
"They won't." Yuuga sends him a glare, "There's nothing wrong with trying. What are you," he asks, "Scared?"
"I'm not scared."
"Sounds pretty scared to me." Ochaco informs, nodding.
"Am not." he hisses, scowling. A moment of silence and then, "Ugh, fine! Give me their stupid numbers."
The class cheers. Of course that's how they would be able to convince Bakugou. "I'm getting emotional just thinking of the reunion." Kirishima says, "I really hope other Eijirou and Bakugou can be friends again!"
"We all need to be friends in every universe, understood?" Sero asks.
Kirishima and Mina nod eagerly.
Midoriya slumps in his seat, looking at the doodles on his notebook – of the older versions of his classmates and some of the food he sees on the menu at Bakugou's restaurant. He wonders what he would say or do if he saw Bakugou after more than half a decade of not talking, and at the point where they weren't really friends anymore. He would definitely cry a lot, even if he was an adult pro hero and he would probably be really angry as well.
Just imagining all the drama Midoriya's mind would force him into in that reunion when that's the opposite of what Bakugou wants kind of makes him nauseous. To be fair, Chef Bakugou kind of deserves it. And Midoriya knows they'll make it out okay in the end.
Kirishima thinks of the reunion. Other him would probably crush Bakugou in a hug the moment he sees him, accidently activating his hardening Quirk until Bakugou would jeer at him to turn it off to not sound nervous instead of starting an actual conversation. Current Kirishima smiles at the thought of knowing his best friend so well. And then older Kirishima would apologize and cry into Bakugou's shoulder and he imagines that this other Bakugou would hug back and then after a five minute hug Kirishima would yell at him a lot for not contacting him. And then they would talk about how've they been in the past years and then Kirishima would probably be too emotional to think clearly and would ask Bakugou to move in with him or something and of course Bakugou would refuse, likely confused.
Just thinking about it all makes Kirishima blush and, yes, emotional. He can't imagine a world were the two of them aren't friends. Bakugou means so much to him! He's always someone to look up to – if it's because he's a great hero or great at not giving up or at being a chef or because he's literally on a spaceship at the sky so you'd have to look up to see him. Kirishima kind of wants to hug him now and make him promise to not abandon them but he doesn't want to wake Kaminari up.
Sero thinks of the reunion. He would probably tape Bakugou to himself so he wouldn't be able to make him leave again. And he would probably force Bakugou to make them all their meals for like a week as an apology.
Mina thinks of the reunion. She would probably screech upon seeing him and run up to him to give him a big ol' hug and make him topple over, and he would scream at her to get off but she wouldn't, of course.
Kaminari is asleep right now, but if he was thinking of their reunion he would think that older Kaminari would probably punch Bakugou harshly in the arms and then proceed to tease him to eternity as a punishment.
"And don't drop your phone in a sink this time or something." Yuuga warns with a sharp smile.
"Yeah, yeah." Bakugou rolls his eyes as he types the other blond's number in so he can send him the other numbers later. "You assholes are keeping me from doing my damn job, so if we're done here," He places his hat back in place, pocketing his phone, "I'll be off. Enjoy your fucking meal."
Before he leaves, he flashes a grin at the trio, who all smile back. "Bye, Bakugou!" Ochaco calls.
"Farewell." Yuuga says.
"We know where you work."
"Yeah, I get it. Bye fucking bye." He walks off and pushes through the doors to the restaurant's kitchen, leaving their sight once again.
The screen fades to black.
Bakugou groans loudly.
"That was really nice!" Uraraka announces. Midoriya nods.
"So now there's no excuse for you to not make dinner with us." Sero tells Bakugou, who just eyes him irritatingly.
They wake up Hatada, Kaminari and some of the other students who fell asleep and they walk back to the dorms.
"Aoyama." Someone calls his name and the blond turns around to see Todoroki, Uraraka and the rest of their little squad awkwardly walking behind him, "Would you like to eat with us,"
"Ah," Aoyama chuckles nervously, "You don't have to just because—"
"What you said earlier was really inspiring," the split student cuts him off, "So… uhm. I would like for us to hang some time? And with my other friends."
"Yeah!" Uraraka cheers, "You seem like a really swell guy, Aoyama! Hang out with us."
"I actually have some questions about your Quirk?" Midoriya says.
"We always see you alone," Tsu says, frowning a little, "We're sorry we didn't ask you sooner – kero."
"We'd love it if you could spare us your company!" Iida chops.
Shinsou raises a thumb up.
Aoyama clears his throat, "Ah well, why not I supposer." The other him seemed to have a nice time with them, so why not? He'll have to get used to Midoriya and Iida a little bit more, maybe, but well. Never too late to try, right?
"How are you feeling, Kami-Mami?" Mina asks as they walk in the cool air of the evening.
Kaminari blinks at her. "What happened?"
"You fell asleep?" Sero provides.
"Bakugou became a chef and is possibly going to reunite with the rest of his old friends." Kirishima actually helpfully provides.
"It was really boring." Bakugou comments.
"No!" Mina retorts, "It was sweet and emotional and insightful and very lovely and you better not leave us ever forever, understand?!"
"Don't tell me what to do!"
As they bicker, Kirishima turns to the electric blond, "You good, man?"
Kaminari chuckles, "I'm just a little tired, is all." And as if to prove his point, he yawns.
Hatada walks to her dorm lazily. See? She's not really hungry and she managed to eat all her food and she's only a little nauseous! Which means that her plan had worked, thank you very much.
As the class made dinner, they mostly watched Bakugou cook as if he was preforming magic tricks, making him complain that they aren't helping in the slightest. They eat around the tables, Bakugou sitting between a sleepy Kaminari and a Kirishima who keeps giving him glances whenever they laugh from a joke or something. Bakugou just eats in silence, like he did half of the time when he wasn't yelling at the others to lay off his back.
"For what it's worth," the redhead announces, snapping the spiky blond from his thoughts, "Even if it's really nice that you became a chef in that other universe, I'm really glad you're here now, bro." He smiles brightly at Bakugou, nudging him in the arm and sending tingles from the point of contact to the rest of Bakugou's body, heat spreading to his face and he huffs, looking away. He doesn't think about it. He's just not used to all that sappy bull is all.
Mina chuckles slyly as Sero coos, "Yeah, now you can hang around us and make us food."
"And be the number one hero." Bakugou adds before taking a bite of his food.
"Right, that too."
Bakugou wakes up at one am when there's shuffling outside his door. He groans into the pillow form how late it is but is too lazy to get up and open the door. "What is it?" he calls, not loud enough to wake Kirishima in the room next-door – if the redhead isn't his visitor.
"Bakugou?" he faintly hears Kaminari mumble. God fucking damn it.
He sits up with a grunt, walking to his door to unlock it before immediately turning back to his bed because he refuses to leave it for over five seconds and he flops belly first back on it. Kaminari gingerly opens the door, his silhouette against the faint light of the night coming from the windows in the hallway is all Bakugou can see of him as the shorter fiddles with his fingers.
"I didn't mean to wake you…" he admits.
"Then what the fuck are you doing outside my door?"
"Uhm," Kaminari stammers, "Remember yesterday, when we watched that universe where you, uh. Died?"
"That was two days ago."
Kaminari looks at the clock, "Not literally!" he closes his mouth, remembering to be quiet when Bakugou aggressively shushes him. "But uhm, yeah. I think that kind of affected me more than I thought?" he chuckles quietly, "I couldn't sleep yesterday – or, two days ago – you know what I mean. I know it's not real and won't happen, I know, but it got me thinking…
"I don't want to lose you, or Mina or Kiri or Sero or Jirou or anyone! And I just, I know I'll get over it shortly and this… concern will happen a few more times but I'm just… a little scared. I really hope you guys are being careful and all." He shifts his weight on his feet. "That nap was the only time I really slept these past two days?"
"We have school tomorrow, you idiot."
"I know! Haha, I'm sorry."
Bakugou tsks, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Is it because you were next to me?"
Kaminari flushes lightly – now that Bakugou's eyes have adjusted to the dark a little more he can see that – and he snickers again, "Yeah, I think."
Bakugou sighs heavily, feeling the sheer embarrassment of the other blond radiating from way over there. "Fine," he groans, scooting back in his bed and pets the space next to him. "Com'ere." Kaminari's massive smile immediately lights up the room and he rushes to close the door and stumble to the bed.
"No hands or snoring. If you tell anyone about this I won't hesitate to knock you silly and never make you food again."
"Yes sir!" Kaminari agrees as he settles under the covers.
"And refrain from drooling on my bed." Bakugou adds as he closes his eyes.
The electric blond only hums, already fast-asleep.