A/N/: CONTENT WARNINGS: Graphic depictions of physical abuse. Mentions of past trauma. Please mind the tags. Minor manga spoilers.

Katsuki

"You're late Katsuki."

Kiruka's irritated tone filtered across the living room as Katsuki walked through the front door of their small apartment. He froze upon hearing her tone, his brows furrowing. It was only half past seven. He'd told her that exact time.

"What d'you mean? I'm right only time," he groused as he shucked off his coat.

Kiruka fixed him with a glare. "It's 7:35."

He rolled his eyes at his wife. "It's five minutes. Big fucking deal," he grumbled as he tossed his coat on the hook and toed off his shoes. He walked over to her and pecked a kiss on her cheek. It did little to wipe the pissed off look from her face.

"It's just five minutes?" she asked as soon as he pulled away. "Just five minutes. What happens when I go into labor? Are you going to be five minutes late to your daughter's birth?"

Katsuki glanced down at her swollen belly. She was only a few weeks away from giving birth to their first child. Their daughter. His little Etsuki. He couldn't wait for her arrival. It had been the whole reason he'd gone out in the first place. His coworkers were throwing him an impromptu, dads-only babyshower at one of the local diners. It was the first time he'd gone out since they'd moved to this crime infested, god forsaken city. Fucking sue him for coming home five minutes later than he'd intended.

"Of course fucking not!" he said, clear offense in his tone. "I would never be late for that!"

"And what about when she's born? And we're stressed over taking care of her? Are you going to come home late then, too?"

Katsuki blinked. What the actual fuck was going on? "Kiruka! Stop!" he said quickly, shaking his head at her. "I don't know what's gotten into you! What makes you think I'm gonna do any of that shit?"

"You. Were. Late," she said through gritted teeth.

"So what? It was one time!" he insisted. "Why do you have your fuckin' panties in a twist?"

Katsuki's head suddenly whipped to the side. His cochlear's picked up the sounds of skin hitting skin before he actually registered the sting on his cheek. His fingers fluttered up to his cheek and his jaw dropped as he looked at Kiruka. Her eyes were hard, and her lips were set into a thin line. Her cheeks were flushed a splotchy, ruddy was the first time he'd thought of his beautiful wife as ugly.

"You need to get your priorities straight, Katsuki! How do you expect to have a family if you can't even get home on time?" she roared.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, his fingers still covering the growing welt on his cheek.

"Prove it to me, then. Don't come home fucking late again," she snarled before turning on her heel and stomping off.

Katsuki watched her go, stuck in shock. Ordinarily, he would have exploded after such an encounter. He remembered countless times throughout highschool where he'd gotten into straight out fist fights with Kirishima and Deku and Kaminari for so much as looking at him wrong. But for his wife to actually strike him? He had no idea how to react. How could he raise a fist against her? Sure, they'd sparred together before, but an act of violence against her in return for one against him? He would never. So, how could she do it to him?

It was the first time she'd hit him, and it most certainly wasn't the last.

One of the most notable times was after Etsuki was born. Kiruka didn't breast feed. She didn't want to be bothered with it. She wanted to drink and relax after nine months of carrying 'their brat' around. Katsuki couldn't blame her. It was her body. She could do with it what she wanted.

Kiruka sat in the living room, a glass of wine in her manicured hand. Two empty bottles sat beside her. There was a third half-full one on the table with the cork half-heartedly squished in. Katsuki had just gotten Etsuki off to bed after cooking and cleaning up dinner. And what had Kiruka done? She'd sat there on her arse, staring at him as she gotten completely fucking plastered. He didn't bother saying anything to her. What was the point? She'd just tell him off. She'd complain that she carried their daughter for nine months. He could pick up the slack. It was a battle that wasn't worth fighting with his wife.

Finally, though, he was done. Finally, he could sit down and kick his feet up before going off to work the next day. He looked forward to it.

"Bring me another bottle of wine, Kats," Kiruka's voice garbled from the couch. She sounded fucking plastered.

He raised his brows at her. "Why don't you grab it?"

"Uh, cause you're already up? Duh?" she said, swinging her wine glass around as she spoke. A few drops flew over the lip and onto the white fabric of their couch.

"And I'd like to be sitting down," he said wearily.

"You never do anything for me," she grumbled.

At that, Katsuki quirked a brow. He didn't do anything for her? What the fuck did she mean by that? Last he checked, he was the only one who did anything around the fucking house. Hell, he paid for their fucking house on his own, too. Kiruka had taken an extended maternity leave. Meaning, she left her cushy fucking office job working in hero support technology sit at home on her arse everyday with their daughter. And half the time when he got home, Etsuki's diaper hadn't even been changed!

"Don't you get on my fucking case about what I do around here," he snapped. "You can't even change our kid's diaper!"

Kiruka rolled her eyes. "I carried her for nine mon-"

"I don't want to hear it, Kiruka."

The woman set her glass down on the coffee table in front of her. She stood on wobbly legs and pointed a single finger at him. "You don't appreciate what I do enough," she snarled.

"What do you mean? You don't do shit Kiruka! I cook! I clean! I take care of our daughter! All you do is drink!"

"You don't know what I do all day. You work," she grumbled.

"Oh right. I forgot to add that to my list of shit I do," he added sarcastically.

"You're full of shit," she snapped.

"And you're full of wine. How many bottles have you sucked down, Kiruka?" he asked despite being able to smell the stale scent of alcohol rolling off of her in waves.

She didn't warrant him a response. Instead, she grabbed the bottle of the coffee table and launched it at him. Katsuki only just managed to duck before the wine reached him. And instead of exploding on his head, it exploded against the wall. His head snapped back to look at the wall. Dark red wine poured down the freshly painted, off-white wall, dripping down to the lightly colored carpet. His head whipped back to her.

Kiruka was getting violent. He hated when she got violent because he never knew what to do. He never knew how to calm her down. Asking her to calm down only pissed her off more. It resulted in unwanted pain and trips to the hospital where he'd blamed his injuries on the day's work.

And once again, she was starting on her bullshit.

Her hair came first, sharp and stinging. Katsuki lifted his arms to shield his face as her strikes came relentlessly. He winced at every cut she dug into his skin. He hissed out sharp breaths as she hit more sensitive spots.

And she kept going. She kept going until he fell down to his knees. He was bleeding all over, but did Kiruka care? No. She never did. He figured that she never would.

She'd made him pass out from the pain on more than one occasion, and this memory was one of those times. The only thing he could remember before that familiar blackness took over was her sneering, ugly face, staring down at him. He couldn't remember the last time he thought his wife was beautiful. It had been such a long time. To him, she'd truly transformed into a monster.

Katsuki sat up quickly in bed, a low scream dying on his lips. His breaths came out labored and fast. His eyes were wide as his hands ran up and down his arms. Phantom pains covered his skin in the post-nightmare haze. His fingers grazed over his bare arms. There were light scars covering them. They were easily mistaken for scars from his job. But he knew what they were from. They were his daily reminder not to get attached again.

This was his first nightmare in months. He'd finally thought he'd been rid of them, and now they were coming back. Why were they coming back? What had he done to trigger this? Was it opening up to Deku? Was it the fact that he'd finally agreed to go on dates with him? What was his subconscious trying to tell him?

He sat there shaking in his bed and trying to recollect himself. It took him well over a minute to realize that there were hands shaking him. That there was someone beside him, attempting to catch his attention. He turned to see Deku in the darkness. Speak of the fucking devil. And speaking of speaking, Katsuki couldn't hear a word that was coming from the freckled man's mouth. He palmed his bedside table for his cochlear's. He snatched one up and jammed it onto his head. Suddenly, he was assaulted with Deku's worried tone coming out in fast mutters.

"Kacchan? Kacchan, what's wrong. Why were you screaming? What happened? Are you hurt?" Deku asked as he pulled Katsuki close. "Please tell me you're okay. Do I need to take you to the hospital?"

The blond didn't fight the green bean as he was pulled into a tight, warm hug. The skin on skin contact worked wonders to calm his beating heart.

"I-I'm fine," he finally stammered out once he'd found his voice. "J-Just a nightmare, Deku. I... I'm good."

He felt Deku's forehead press against the crook of his neck. "You scared the living shit out of me, Kacchan."

"Sorry," he whispered.

The phantom pains in his limbs were finally fading away. He was able to breathe, and it was all because of the broccoli-headed fuck that was holding him. Katsuki couldn't have been more grateful.

"Don't be sorry, Kacchan," Deku whispered. "I'm just glad you're okay."

Katsuki nodded numbly and closed his eyes. He allowed himself to breathe in the scent of pine and earth that was so familiar of Deku. It was soothing. Katsuki allowed his tight muscles to relax completely as he sank into Deku's hold. He felt safe.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked after a few long moments.

The blond immediately shook his head. "Not really. Not yet."

"Whenever you're ready, Kacchan," Deku said. "I'm here. Even if that day never comes, I'll wait for you to be ready."

"Thanks, Izuku," he whispered back, his arms weaving around Deku's waist. He hugged the greenette tightly, and allowed himself to feel cared for for the first time in years.

"You fucked again!" Camie exclaimed gleefully as she jumped around a bit.

Katsuki was quick to slap a hand down over her mouth as he glanced over at his daughter who was busy bugging the shop clerk.

"Not so loud," he hissed. "I don't need Etsuki hearing about any of that."

Camie rolled her eyes at him. "I'm sure you two were loud enough for her to hear."

The blond's eyes narrowed at his friend. "We were not."

"Right," Camie said, as if suddenly remembering something important. "And that's probably because you were too busy choking on Midoriya's dick."

His eyes went wide. "Camie-" he hissed.

"So, I'm not wrong?" she asked. And when he didn't respond with anything more than a deep blush, Camie pumped both of her fists into the air. "I knew it!"

"Knew what, Auntie?" Etsuki asked, appearing out of nowhere.

Katsuki immediately shot Camie a warning glare. She didn't need to reveal any of the bullshit from his sex life to his three year-old. He'd already tainted her young psyche enough with the foul shit that came out of his mouth. She didn't need to hear any other adult conversations from her Auntie Camie.

"That your daddy looks fabulous in the shirt I picked out for him!" Camie said smoothly.

He shot her a grateful look before looking in the mirror at what he'd tried on. It was a long sleeve shirt with a low, v-neck collar. And, like everything that Camie tried to put him in, it was tight. Etsuki wrinkled her nose at him.

"I think it would look better in maroon!" she exclaimed, calling her chubby, little hands together.

"Maroon? I didn't even know you knew that color, Gremlin," he said incredulously.

"Ms. Nakamura taught us that!"

Right. Her new school teacher. Katsuki had finally gotten Etsuki enrolled in a daycare. While he trusted his parents implicitly when watching her, he also wanted to get her an early education. She was his kid, and if there was anything he could do about it, she'd be just as brainy as him. He'd do his best to make sure of it.

Although, he was starting to wonder if sending her to daycare was a smart decision. Considering he'd been called on her second day about the, uh, language coming from her mouth. Well, he couldn't exactly blame them. Kids weren't supposed to be dropping f-bombs. Especially not at three years old.

He'd talked to her teacher and apologized in the most Katsuki way he could. Meaning, he told her he'd talk to his daughter and correct the behavior. The call ended with Ms. Nakamura admonishing him about how much he cursed on his TV appearances and how, as a role model to young children, he should watch his mouth. He'd promptly told her to shove it before hanging up on her. He didn't think she liked him very much.

"What else has she taught you?"

"That the exact color of Mr. Izu-chan's eyes is viridian!"

"The hell did she teach you that for?" he asked.

"I asked," she said with a shrug. Beside him, Camie was chortling.

"Why did you ask?"

"Cause you like Mr. Izu-chan's eyes."

"How do you even know that?"

Maybe sending her to daycare was a bad idea. She was only three, and she knew that he liked both Deku's ass and eyes. At this rate, she'd have enough dirt on him to write an extended biography on him by the age of ten.

"Cause you stare at his eyes just as much as you stare at his butt!" Etsuki shrilled.

A screech of a laugh exploded from Camie. The woman was doubled over, clutching at her stomach as she let loose. He could see tears forming in the corners of her eyes, and if she weren't wearing such a thick layer of makeup, he was sure he'd see her flushed red face.

"You got fucking blessed with this child of yours!" Camie said amidst her laughter. "She's the literal best a. A god sent.. I don't know what I'd do without her!"

"Have significantly less blackmail material to use against me," he grumbled and he turned and stalked into the dressing room.

He shut the door behind him and tugged the v-neck from over his head before vehemently tossing it into the pile with the rest of the shit he'd had to try on.

"I hate you so much right now," he said.

"Daddy! You can't hate Auntie Camie!" Etsuki whined.

"And why the hell not? I think she's pretty damn easy to hate."

"Because I love her, and you have to love her, too!"

He blinked. Where the fuck was the logic in that? Was he supposed to love every damn boy that came to his doorstep that she proclaimed to love? Hell the fuck no! He'd be standing there ready to blast any mother fucker who so much as tried to date his daughter. So, why did he have to love fucking Camie when she was nothing but a pain in his ass?

Or right. Because Etsuki said so. And she had her father wrapped around her chubby, little fingers. Fucking figures.

With a huff, Katsuki picked up the next shirt. Or rather, the lack there of. It had more fucking holes in it than pores on his skin. It was more of a net than a fucking shirt.

"Camie? What the hell is this?" he asked through the curtain.

The woman poked her head through and looked at what he held in his hands. "Oh!" she said excitedly. "I thought Midoriya would love to see that on you!"

His eyes snapped to hers. "You can hardly call it a fucking shirt! I ain't buying it."

Camie snatched the so-called shirt from his hands. "Well, that's too damn bad. I'm buying it for you."

"I'll burn it."

"You won't see it until the day I pick it for you to wear, then," she said with a shrug before she slipped back out of the fitting room. "This is too good to pass up on, Bakuhoe!"

"You're gonna make me look like a fuckin' hoe in that shirt..." he grumbled.

"That's the point. Gotta get you d-i-c-k-e-d," she spelled out.

"What does that mean?" Etsuki suddenly asked.

"Means your Daddy is gonna have a great time, Etsu," she said.

"With who? Mr. Izu-chan?"

"No," he snapped, and at the same time, Camie chimed in, "Yes!"

"Oooo! A grown up play-date?" she asked with a clap of her hands.

"Adults do not have play-dates, Gremlin," he corrected.

"You're not wrong. They b-a-n-g," Camie said. And Katsuki could literally hear the smirk behind her words, the fucking hag.

By the time they left the shop, Katsuki had lost quite a large chunk of change from his wallet. He'd also taken a solid downgrade in his dignity with what he'd let Camie pick out for him. Not only had he begrudgingly agreed to buy several pairs of holey, tight jeans, some deep-cut v-necks, and fucking fishnet shirts and tights to go under it all. It wasn't his only bad decision of the day, either.

Etsuki was sitting with Kirishima on his break from patrols, a large ice cream cone in her tiny hands. Etsuki, sugar, and Kirishima were altogether a bad mix. That was bad decision number two.

Bad decision number three was allowing Camie to talk him into yet another one of her bullshit plans. The pair of them stood off to the side in the ice cream parlor, waiting for their own respective desserts. When they were away from Etsuki's nosy, little ears, she finally laid it on him.

"You should get your nipples pierced," she said nonchalantly.

If Katsuki had been eating or drinking anything, he was damn certain Camie would be wearing it all over her face. That's how bad he was sputtering.

"You can't fucking be serious!" he whisper-yelled. His fingers found their home in his spiky, blond locks, tugging furiously at them.

"Deadly, babes," she said with a shrug. "Don't you think Midoriya would think it's hot?"

"Camie, what the actual fuck?" he asked in utter fucking disbelief. This broad was fucking crazy. "You've been up my ass about all the shit Deku would like today! I never asked you what you thought Deku would like!"

She shrugged. "Didn't need to, babes. Like, you seem to forget I'm your wing-woman."

"My wing-woman?"

"Self-appointed, of course," she said. "And as your wing-woman, it's my job to ensure you're looking totally hot."

"No, it's not."

"Sure it is, and I think that Midoriya would love it."

"No, he wouldn't."

"I know for a fact that he would, babes," she corrected.

"How the hell would you know that?" he asked.

Camie scratched the back of her head and offered him a totally not fucking innocent at all smile. "I might have sort of texted him?" she said as more of a question than a statement.

"YOU FUCKING WHAT?" he roared, which drew the attention of literally everyone in the ice cream shop, children and all. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he glanced around and death glared at some of the parents. "What the fuck are you looking at?"

"Daddy!" Etsuki whined through her ice cream beard and mustache. "Stop cursing!"

That got him a couple of hums of adoration from those shitfaced mothers. He rolled his eyes with a hefty sigh.

"Sorry, Gremlin," he grumbled before turning back to Camie. "I can't believe you texted him!"

Camie gave him yet another devious smile. "Well, what else was I supposed to do? I knew you would say no if I was the only one who said something!"

"So, you ask the guy I'm going on dates with for his opinion?"

"You're going on dates?" she asked, her eyes growing wide. "You didn't tell me that!"

Katsuki groaned. He had avoided divulging that information thus far because Camie almost always blew shit out of proportion. And with the way that she was jumping up and down in place meant that she was blowing this way out of proportion.

"That's on a need to know fucking basis, hag," he snapped.

"I think I need to know."

The blond rolled his eyes. "We just agreed to go on a few dates. See how shit would work. Nothing fucking crazy."

"I think that's pretty fucking crazy," she insisted. "You've, like, wanted to b-a-n-g him since you were in high school."

"Have not," he corrected even though he totally had. But that wasn't the point.

"Logistics," Camie said with a flippant wave of her hand. "How do you feel about it? Ya know, what with the past trauma all factored in?"

Now that was a sobering thought. Leave it to Camie to be fucking subtle about it. Yeah, sure, he knew she was good for making him have those difficult conversations when he didn't want to, but he also understood that she only did it because she cared enough about him to want to understand his emotional state. He was grateful for her. Not that he'd ever tell the fucking hag that.

"I'm, uh, not sure," he said. "I wouldn't normally give a flying fuck about this sort of attention from anyone, but it's Deku."

"Yeah, and? You have known each other, for like, forever," she pointed out.

"That's what makes everything worse. What happens when he finds out, you fucking know, everything?" Katsuki asked. "You really think he's gonna want a weak fuck like me?"

"I don't think he'd ever think you were weak, Bakubabes," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hell, he'd think you're the exact opposite of weak."

"Fuck, okay. Next worry," he said. "What if I fuck this up? What if I turn into her?"

They both knew who 'her' was. Kiruka. It was one of his biggest fears, turning into his ex wife. He could never do unto Deku what was done to him. How could he ever live with himself if that were the case?

"You won't turn into her," Camie insisted.

"How the fuck do you know that?"

"I see the way you look at Etsuki. I know you could never hurt someone you care about," she said simply.

He sighed. "Thanks Camie."

"Look. If you're really that worried, it's my most humble opinion that getting your nipples pierced will help on the whole banging Midoriya front. He won't be able to resist you!"

"It ain't happening."

"What if I gave you the video of Midoriya dancing on the stripper poles?"

His eyes flashed up to hers, and they widened a fraction. There was no ounce of hesitation in his voice as he made his decision. "Fucking sold."

The third bad decision of the day was allowing Kirishima to watch his kid for an hour while Camie dragged him into some little tattoo and piercing parlor. The nail in the coffin was actually going through with it.

Katsuki had felt a lot of pain in his life, and getting his nipples pierced wasn't very high on the scale. Honestly, he'd hardly felt the entire thing. The worst part of it was the embarrassment Katsuki felt as the piercer stared fucking Pro Hero Dynamight down as he said he'd wanted his nipples pierced. Like, who in their right mind would actually think he'd walk in and ask for that? Of course, he'd sworn high and low to the guy that if he so much as blabbed a word about this, he'd burn his shop to the ground. Full disclosure was promised, and he hoped it stayed that way.

Right behind the embarrassment was the sensitivity he felt every fucking time he felt his freshly pierced nipples brush against the fabric of his shirt. He really fucking hoped that it was all worth it because if it wasn't, he was gonna fucking strangle Camie and stab her with the fucking green, Hero Deku themed barbells that had been pierced through his nipples.

And so what if he went to the bathroom at the parlor and snapped a quick picture to send to Deku? So what if he waited anxiously for his response as he walked back to the ice cream parlor just down the block? And so what if when Deku finally texted him back, it wasn't a compliment about his new body jewelry? So what if he was slightly disappointed?

His disappointment was very quickly overwhelmed by shock when he read Deku's one-word message. Fire.

Katsuki jammed his phone into his pocket and shot his eyes to the sky. He searched and searched until he found it. A plume of dark, gray smoke painting the blue sky. A pit formed in his stomach because fuck. If Deku was telling him about a fire, then it had to be-

"Camie, go get Etsuki, and bring her to the station!" he roared as he blasted himself off into the sky.

There wasn't a second to lose. Not when there was the life of a kid on the line.

Katsuki didn't stop at the agency to grab his hero uniform before he went. There wasn't a second to spare. He had to get there. He wouldn't lose another child to these bastards. He couldn't. They needed to get a leg up on these bastards sooner rather than later - before any other kids got taken.

This fire was by no means small. It was actually hands down the most reckless attack that this Pied Piper had taken on yet. It seems that they'd moved on from fires at family residences. This time, he'd set fire to an orphanage. A fucking orphanage. This guy was fucking insane. He was going to kill more kids than he actually fucking obtained for whatever the fuck he was doing.

Katsuki landed just inside of the police barricade, no more than five feet from Tsukauchi. With the nature of his quirk, his arrival was grand. It drew Tsukauchi's eye almost immediately. The detective seemed to give a sigh of relief.

"Dynamight," he said as Katsuki approached.

"Tsukauchi, give me the details. How long ago did this shit start?"

"The fire has been going for ten minutes, but it's spreading quickly. We haven't been able to tame it. We have speculation that there is a fire quirk user here."

"And the people inside? How many kids? How many adults? How many have you gotten out? I need fucking details, Tsukauchi."

"Thirty children. Ten adults. We've evacuated all of the adults, but there are still thirteen children unaccounted for."

Katsuki nodded, his lips thinning into a line. Thirteen kids that they had unaccounted. An unlucky number. He wasn't a superstitious guy by any means, but the feeling that he got in the pit of his stomach was trying to convince him otherwise. Any missing kids in the blazes was bad news. With the track record this Pied Piper had, he wasn't taking any fucking chances.

"Cool. Thanks," he said as he hopped over the barricade.

"Where are you going?" Tsukauchi asked. "You're not even prepared! You're in civilian clothes!"

He flipped the bird at Tsukauchi before jogging off toward the blazes. And before anyone else could stop him, he was blasting off toward the blaze. A bird's eye view would be the best way to find out where the fuck these asshats were. As soon as he was at the peak of his flight, he saw him. The bright, green streaks of lightning that marked Deku. The bastard was probably doing his best to aid in both the evacuation and fire-dousing efforts.

He was proud of the man he'd grown to care about - even though he was the biggest pain in his ass both figuratively and literally. He knew that Deku could handle this. He could handle getting people to safety and putting out the fire. It would be Katsuki's job to do whatever he could to find the rest of the children.

The fire was blazing, but he looked for the gaps in the flames. These assholes couldn't burn down the entire place if they planned on getting thirteen kids through a police barricade. His only thought was that they were operating with a warp gate user. How else could they spirit these kids the fuck out of here? It was the only viable option.

Katsuki breathed out a steadying breath as he found the gap in the blaze. It was almost dead center of the orphanage campus. It looked as though it was a courtyard of some sort. That was where he was going to start. Katsuki closed his eyes for a moment as he cut off his quirk. There was a moment of weightlessness as he reached the height of flight. And then his stomach dropped as he plummeted to the ground. As he got closer and closer, his eyes focused on the eye of the flames where there were no actual flames at all. From this vantage point, he could very clearly see the glowing, purple gate that marked a warp tunnel.

Fucking bingo.

Once again, Katsuki ignited his quirk, a roar forming in his lungs. He barrelled into the opening and landed on the ground. A crater formed beneath him due to the impact. Dust and dirt and concrete flew into the air, scraping at his unprotected face and arms. He didn't care. It was the sting of hero work that made his heart race and his adrenaline reach unexpected heights.

And as soon as the dust cleared, Katsuki looked around. The warp gate stood tall and imposing before him. It's creator stood just beside it. It was someone he recognized, too. Kurogiri from the Paranormal Liberation Front. Katsuki's brows furrowed for only a moment before his gaze shifted to analyze the rest of his surroundings.

There were several other villains surrounding him, some that he recognized and others that he did not. And what stood out most of all were the kids all standing in a line before the warp gate, their faces devoid of all emotion and their eyes glazed over. Just beside them was the plain man. He had mousy, brown hair and pale cheeks. His eyes were a dull brown color. His clothes were probably the most extravagant thing about him. If you could call puffy, Renaissance pantaloons fucking extravagant. There was no doubting it though. This was the man he'd seen that day carrying the little girl out of the apartment fire. This was his infamous Pied Piper.

His expression shifted into a snarl. This was the fuck that had been nabbing kids. This was the man that he needed to destroy. Katsuki sprang into action before any of the stunned villains could. It took only a millisecond for him to send off blasts toward the extras that weren't guardings kids. And as soon as there was enough smoke to cloud the air, Katsuki started picking off the villains. Crushing noses, scorching eyebrows, and burning off beards. It was honestly really satisfying. Taking out villains with shit ass quirks who couldn't hold their own. And, sure, to the average, lower-ranked hero, these guys would be a pain in the ass. But this was a walk in the park for the Number Four.

He had the surrounding villains incapaciated in a matter of moments. Fucking extras. He was fucking surprised that this was the entrouage that the Pied Piper had brought with him. With how high profile this case had become? What the actual fuck? He couldn't be serious.

A slow clap pulled Katsuki from his planning. His eyes shot to the Piper. The plain man had a small smile on his lips as he stepped in front of the line of children.

"I'm surprised you found us here, Dynamight," he said in a lilting, soft voice. "I figured the heroes would be too dense to get here with any real haste."

Katsuki growled lowly.

"Resorting to growling? So very primitive," the Piper said.

"Resorting to kidnapping? So fucking antediluvian of you," he snarled back.

"Antediluvian! Meaning before the great, biblical flood! So it isn't quite as primitive as I thought," the Piper said enthusiastically. "What a surprise. And here I thought you had a vocabulary limited to both explicatives and growls."

He almost emitted another growl before he thought better of it and sneered instead. "Shut your damn trap and step away from the kids, you fucking moron!"

His words only cause a cheshire grin to spread across the Piper's plain face. "I apologize, Dynamight, but that is something I simply cannot do. You see, the Paranormal Liberation Front really does need the soldiers. And children are just so malleable."

"I thought we got rid of you fucks," he snarled.

"You silly heroes are all so predictable," the Piper said. "You don't know a thing about cancer, do you?"

"What does that have to do with fucking anything?"

"You cut out one piece, and more will grow elsewhere to replace it. It becomes more aggressive than the cancers before, and soon enough, it kills you."

"You're on morbid fuck, aren't you?"

"I prefer to think of it as strategic," he replied.

As he finished the statement, the Piper touched one of the children on the head. It was the oldest child present. A girl who could be no older than nine or ten. She stepped forward toward Katsuki, her little fists raised up into a fighting position. The glaze over her blue eyes was still present though. What the hell?

"Attack," the Piper said. And she did.

The girl's quirk was water based, a perfect foil for his own quirk. Fuck. He hated water quirks. Get him fucking wet and it made it so much more challenging to to ignite his quirk without gear. It diluted his goddamn sweat too much. He was seriously regretting neglecting to grab his hero suit before diving down into this bitch of a situation.

She blasted water at him, and while her quirk was weak, Katsuki was limited, too. He couldn't use his own quirk against her. She was a kid. Some innocent kid who was being fucking mind controlled by this prick. He doubted she had a damn clue as to what she was doing. She couldn't be blamed for this, and therefore, Katsuki would not use his quirk on her. He couldn't risk hurting her

But she was standing in between him and the Pied Piper who was currently sending off the other twelve into the warp gate. Katsuki desperately wanted to go after them. To stop the Piper from getting away, but he couldn't get past this girl. She kept sending blast after blast of water at him. He couldn't bulldoze his way through despite being the stronger, more capable fighter. The Piper had played a dirty fucking trick sending a child in to fight him.

Katsuki blocked off yet another canon of water that the girl sent his way. He skidded back a few feet at the sheer force of her hit. She was strong for a kid, which was exactly what the Paranormal Liberation Front and the Piper Piper seemed to want. Children with strong quirks.

"How long have you been planning this?" he shouted over the sound of water splashing into him.

The Piper paused just as he was about to step into the warp gate. "Too long, Dynamight," he said. "And I really do not have the time to chat, so I'll leave you with this parting knowledge."

Those plain eyes of his bore into Katsuki's own crimson ones, and the hero felt himself chill to his very core.

"I do hope you've heard the phrase 'when thirteen sit at a table together, the first to rise is the first to die' because the same fact stands true when thirteen children stand in a line," the Piper said. "The first to step out is the first to die. Dabi, I do hope you'll take care of this and join us shortly."

"Yeah, yeah. The trash'll be kindling for my flames," the fire user said.

Katsuki's eyes widened a fraction as the Piper's words finally made sense. His eyes flickered to the girl in front of him, then to Dabi just to his left. The fire quirk user's eyes were focused on the girl. Katsuki acted before his thoughts caught up with him. He launched himself at the girl just as bright blue flames reached them. He did his best to block the girl with his entire body. She was small enough to shield from Dabi's onslaught. Fortunately, she was safe. Unfortunately, he was not.

A roar of pain tore from Katsuki's lips as the fire scorched his back, burning away at his civilian clothes. He crashed to the ground with the girl encased in his arms.

"Well, that was predictable," the Piper said with a sigh as he glanced down at Katsuki from where he stood near the portal. "Grab the girl, Dabi. Let's go."

At the mention of the kid in his arms, Katsuki retaliated. He lifted himself onto his forearms and raised a hand weakly. He sent an explosion off at Dabi with all of the energy he could muster. Dabi countered it easily with his own blue flames.

"Pitiful. And they call you the number four hero?" he asked, his scarred lips pulled upward into a sneer. "Pathetic."

Dabi lifted his boot and swung it so that it cracked against Katsuki's jaw. He was flung to the side by the force of the blow, landing directly on his scorched back. The girl tumbled from his arms as soon as he hit the ground and another howl of agony tore through him. His head cracked against the cobbled ground, too, forcing black spots into his already hazy vision. Katsuki tried to move, but his body wouldn't listen to his brain, not that his brain was making much sense with the dizziness that he was feeling. And especially not with the pain of his scorched skin taking precedence over his desire to move. He watched in complete and utter misery as Dabi lifted the girl from the ground and slung her over his shoulder.

Katsuki had to act. He couldn't just lie there on the fucking ground and watch her got through that damn portal. He couldn't let thirteen fucking kids get away from him. He had to follow them. He had to-

As soon as he peeled himself from the cobbles, pain tore through him once more. His raw skin pulling away from the harsh stone was excruciating. His vision spotted over again as he tried to climb to his feet.

"That was boring, number four," Dabi said in that low rasp of his as he walked off to the portal. "Hopefully the fire will kill you slowly."

Katsuki mustered up any strength he could and blasted himself after Dabi, after the girl. But it was too late. Kurogiri stepped through the warp gate and it closed behind him. The blond tumbled to his knees where the gate had just been moments again, a roar of fury loosing itself from his lips.

His body ached. His jaw was probably dislocated. His back was going fucking numb. But the part that hurt the most was watching those kids walk off unknowingly to whatever fate lay beyond that fucking gate because he failed to save them. A failed fucking rescue of this caliber… How the hell could he call himself a hero?

Katsuki pounded his fists into the cobblestone, another scream tearing from his chest. He wasn't sure when he started crying, but tears were streaming down his face at full fucking force. There was no stopping the monsoon of emotions that followed because he'd fucked up. Thirteen children were just gone because he'd failed.

He let out a shuddering breath and attempted to get himself to his feet. He couldn't sit there uselessly as the rest of the heroes searched. It would only put them at risk and waste their time. Time they could be using searching for the kids. His decision was made. Katsuki managed to stand tall enough to get some bearings. Be activated his quirk one last time and blasted himself out of the courtyard and back toward the police barricade.

Using his quirk on an already injured body was fucking exhausting. He was in mid flight, and his eyelids were fluttering closed as his consciousness faded in and out. It wasn't until he was in complete free fall, plummeting to his goddamn death that he realized he shouldn't have attempted this. He was a fucking dumbass for trying to fucking fly his anywhere. When he tried to activate his quirk, though, he got nothing but a few small pops and some burst caramel scented wisps of smoke.

Aaaand he was fucked. Katsuki was fully prepared to become a pancake when strong fucking arms caught him. The familiar scent of pine and earth overwhelmed him. Katsuki looked up into the shining, worried eyes of Deku.

"Kacchan! What the hell are you doing here? You're not even wearing your gear!" Deku stammered out as they landed. "Where's Etsuki? You two were supposed to be together today! Did they get her? Please tell me they didn't, Kacchan!"

Katsuki weakly shook his head. "Agency," he muttered. "But they got them. The thirteen. They got them…"

Those were the last words that Katsuki got out before the black spots that had been crowding his vision completely took over and he lost consciousness. The last thing he heard was Deku and his worried voice trying to bring him back.

Katsuki had always hated hospitals. They were too sterile. Too impersonal. The doctors were bossy. They liked to tell him what the fuck to do, which he fucking hated. He had issues with just about anyone telling him what to do. Why the fuck would he let a doctor do it? Stay in bed. Stop pushing yourself. Relax. You can't get up to take a piss on your own. He hate fucking dealing with it.

At the height of his marital issues with Kiruka, he'd spent a lot of time in and out of the hospital with Etsuki glued to his hip. He was constantly getting bossed around by doctors. It had actually been a long time since he'd gotten injured because of work. You know, outside of the stuff that recovery quirks could handle on the scene.

So, imagine his surprise when he woke up to the sound of beeping monitors. He was less than pleased. He hated monitors such as these because they always picked up fucking awfully through his cochlears. The noise was high pitched and caused his already damaged ears to ring. His eyes were still closed, and honestly, he'd much rather just keep them that way. Falling back to sleep sounded like a much better idea than waking up and dealing with doctors. But there was a nagging itch across his skin that was probably from whatever injuries had hospitalized him that he needed to deal with lest it drive him insane. On top of that, he felt as though he'd been hit by a goddamn truck. His body ached. Every muscle felt like fucking lead was weighing them down. On top of that, his head throbbed.

There was no way in hell he was gonna sit here and just deal with this shit. He was at the hospital. They had to have some good fucking pain killers to take the edge off of whatever the fuck he was feeling.

Katsuki opened his eyes-

And was immediately met with red-ringed blue ones and a mop of messy, blond hair.

Etsuki. The little girl had been leaning over him, her nose only inches from his. She was precariously balanced on the edge of the bed as she stared down at him.

Katsuki smiled groggily. "Hey firecracker," he said gently.

Immediately, the little girl's face crumpled. Tears poured down her cheeks, and he threw her arms around his neck. Katsuki lifted his own heavy arms around her. He pulled her close, resting his chin on the crest of her head. He completely ignored all of the pain that ran through him because, quite frankly, hugging his daughter close was the best pain killer he'd ever receive. Fuck, it felt so damn good to hold her close.

"D-Daddy," she sobbed into his chest. "The- The TV lady said y-you were h-hurt."

"I'm here, Gremlin," he said softly. "I'm here. I'm okay. I promise."

"B-But you don't look okay," she cried.

"Well, I don't know what I look like. You're gonna have to give me those details, Etsu."

"Y-You look l-like you g-got b-beat up!"

He grinned against her head before kissing it tenderly. "Well, I did, but I'm okay now that you're here."

"Y-You are?"

"Mhmm. You make everything better."

Etsuki didn't respond. She only hugged him tighter. Katsuki let out a long breath. Everything was so much calmer with his daughter around. Her presence helped keep him from the dark thoughts that were just at the edges of his mind. They were thoughts that he just knew would overwhelm him as soon as he was alone. So for now, before the hospital staff kicked his daughter out of her to go stay with her grandparents, he'd savor his moments with her. He never wanted to let her go.

"You're lucky Midoriya caught you, Bakugou," Aizawa's familiar voice droned from the corner of the room.

Katsuki's head snapped up, and his eyes narrowed in on his former teacher. He couldn't help but feel exposed due to the witness to his intimate moment with his daughter. Not that Aizawa hadn't seen some of his vulnerable moments back in school. But he didn't need to see all of the ones he had in adulthood, too.

"Yeah, yeah. Same shit, different day, old man," Katsuki said with a shrug.

That shrug caused pain to shoot across the entirety of his back. He winced, and Aizawa fixed him with an unconvinced stare.

"Seems that way, doesn't it?" Aizawa asked sarcastically.

Katsuki glared back at him over Etsuki's shoulder. So maybe he was a little more hurt than he'd initially thought. Aizawa didn't need to rub it in his damn face. Like, for fuck's sake. He was the one that had to deal with the injury.

"Hey, firecracker. Are grandma and grandpa here?" he asked.

The little girl nodded stiffly. "You're gonna make me go so you can have big people time, aren't you?" she asked.

He rubbed circles into her back as he nodded. "Sorry, sweetheart."

Etsuki sniffed dramatically but nodded anyway. She slipped off the bed and Aizawa walked her to the door. The man was gone for only a few moments before returning, shutting the door behind him.

"What the hell were you thinking going in there without your gear?" Aizawa hissed. "Are you so ready to throw away your life that you've forgone gear?"

Katsuki snorted and shook his head. "'Course fuckin' not. I'm not trying to get myself killed-"

"Well, Bakugou, it doesn't look that way here. You have third degree burns all over your back. A concussion. Bone bruising all over the place. And to top it off, your arms are in horrible shape from using your quirk without support gear."

With each added injury, Katsuki winced. So maybe he'd been reckless in skipping over his gear. But that hadn't been the intention. He just wanted to save those kids. The kids that he'd failed to save.

"There wasn't time," he gritted out.

"Bullshit. You had enough time to suit up. You're just an idiot!"

"The lives of kids are on the line here, Aizawa! I wasn't going to waste time!"

"And the time you saved got you injured," Aizawa snapped. "Honestly, I think this whole case has gotten too personal for you."

"Personal?" he roared. "How the hell is it personal?!"

"They're taking children with powerful quirks. You want to stop them before they get to your own child," Aizawa provided. "Look. I get why you want to stop them, but you can't let your emotions get in the way of sane decisions. You don't think when the League took you your first year I didn't want to raise hell? One of my students had been taken, and I was prepared to go to war. But I wasn't reckless-"

"No," he drawled. "You didn't do shit. You offered some lame ass apology on TV while All Might risked everything. Hell, my classmates did more than you."

"Your classmates could have gotten themselves killed. All of you could have."

"We're alive, ain't we?"

Aizawa sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's not the point, Bakugou."

"Then what's the damn point here?"

"How do you expect to save people when you can't even protect yourself? You're no use to the people that you're trying to save if you can't move by the end of it," Aizawa said. "If you keep at this, you'll end up like Midoriya - with more scars than you can count."

At the mention of scars, Katsuki stiffened. He looked away from Aizawa and focused his crimson gaze out the window. He refused to look at his former teacher as he said his next words.

"I already have more scars than fucking Deku, and it's not because of hero work," he said quietly, his words devoid of all the intensity and crassness he was known for.

There was a long pause where neither of them spoke. But Katsuki could feel the old man's eyes on him. He could feel his piercing stare. Aizawa was good for that. Staring people down until they cracked under pressure. Getting answers that he wanted. It was why he couldn't look at him. He couldn't risk telling his former teacher how he'd failed at not only this rescue, but also his own sad excuse for a damn life.

"What happened to you, Bakugou?"

"A lot of shit that I don't want to talk about," he replied.

When Aizawa didn't reply right away, Katsuki looked at him. His brows were furrowed down over his eyes, and he looked pensive. Katsuki didn't like that look on him. It meant that he was thinking - thinking of a way to get Katsuki to reveal all of the trauma that he had bottled up inside of him. Well, jokes on him, Katsuki wasn't gonna fucking budge. Evidently, the old man knew that, too.

"If you won't talk to me, then you should talk to someone else. You're close to Midoriya-"

"I ain't tellin' Deku shit," he interjected. And then silently added 'not until I'm ready'.

"Bakugou-"

"Look, Aizawa. I'm dealing with my shit my own way. I don't need anyone else tellin' me how to fuck up my already fucked life."

Aizawa sighed heavily. "Consider seeing a professional, then. For your own sake and the sake of your daughter."

For the sake of Etsuki? Katsuki gritted his teeth. Of course Aizawa would use his own kid against him. It was one of the few ways he could get the blond to do something he particularly did not want to do. For example, seeing a fucking shrink. That was on the bottom of the fucking list. Having people analyze his problems and his, er, trauma wasn't what he wanted or needed. But as he often was, Aizawa was right, and that was something he couldn't ignore. All he wanted was to protect and raise his kid, and if he needed to work on himself to do it, well, he'd just fucking swallow his damn pride.

Katsuki was quiet for several long moments before he lifted his chin at the man and quietly said, "I'll consider it."

As soon as the words left his mouth, there was a knock on the door. Moments later, a familiar, graying woman entered. Recovery Girl. When she saw that Katsuki was awake, a shocked expression crossed her face.

"Well, I'm pleasantly surprised," she said as she closed the door behind her and stepped into the room.. "I thought you'd be out at least a day. But you and Midoriya have always been resilient kids. I don't know why I thought differently of you."

"How long has it been?" he asked.

"Eighteen hours, dear," she said.

Katsuki nodded. Not terrible. He would have figured he'd been out longer all things considered. But, hey, he wasn't gonna complain about less than a day lost. He didn't think he needed anymore rest despite the vehement protests his aching body was putting up.

"Aizawa, you best be on your way back to UA. You've been here long enough," the older woman suggested.

His former teacher pushed himself off the wall where he was leaning and gave a curt nod. He walked to the door and opened it. Before he stepped out, however, he turned to Katsuki, and said, "Consider what I said."

And then he was gone.

"You're quite lucky you got here when you did. The lasting damage could have been much worse," Recovery Girl said, wasting no time. "When you got to us, we found third degree burns across your back, and both first and second degree surrounding that. Any pain you feel right now are from those seeing as the third degree destroyed your nerve endings."

"Fucking great. You got any good news to give me or is it just more shit?"

"Well, you're alive."

He rolled his eyes. "Obviously."

"And with the use of my quirk, I was able to advance the healing of the burns across your back. You still have a lot of healing to do, but you're past the worst of it. You'll have some patches of scarring, but because we were able to get to you so quickly, I think they'll be minor."

"Kay, well that doesn't explain why I feel like I've been hit by a goddamn truck," Katsuki said with raised brows.

"You had some muscle damage to your arms, but I was able to fix those up good as new. You'll be sore for a few days yet. You also have a concussion, but only time can heal that."

Katsuki groaned and allowed his head to dip back against his pillow. "Explains a lot."

"You'll be off-duty until further notice."

His eyes narrowed on the older woman. "You got a better time range than that?"

"Afraid not. Your back sustained a lot of damage, albeit fixable damage, but there's only so much that I'm capable of. The rest you'll have to do on your own."

He groaned. "This is bullshit! First, Aizawa lectures me like I'm a student, and now you can't get me back to work!"

The older woman, Chiyo as Katsuki very faintly recalled, offered him an empathetic smile. "You'll heal soon enough, dear. Take some time to breathe. Spend some time with your family."

Katsuki nodded curtly. And maybe that nod was a bit crabby, too. But he'd just been told he was on medical leave for the foreseeable future. How could anyone blame him for being fucking pissed?

"Yeah, yeah. Don't lecture me on self care. I already know the drill," he grumbled.

"Well, if that's the case, then I'll just be going. You have several visitors who would like to see you, and I don't want to take any more of their time."

The first to enter after Chiyo left we're his parents and his daughter. Etsuki was immediately back in his laps with her arms woven around his neck like a vice grip.

"It's only been ten minutes, Gremlin," he said as he rubbed small circles into her back.

Etsuki didn't respond, and when he looked up to his mother, she looked almost guilty.

"She wouldn't leave the hospital last night. I guess when Camie brought her to the agency, the TVs were on. She watched a lot of the fights because you know how she is," the hag said softly.

Her eyes were red-ringed too, which meant that she'd been crying alongside his daughter. He felt a pit of dread build in his stomach. If she was worried, then…

"She saw you crashland out of nowhere. Camie said she couldn't get her away. She had an absolute meltdown. Aizawa was the only one who could get her quirk under control."

His mother's words hit him like a motherfucking bombshell. Etsuki had seen all of that. She'd seen his fucking mess of a burn. He already knew that that would be traumatic and damaging to her little, three year-old psyche. He was lucky she didn't remember the majority of what her mother had done to him. She could recall bits and pieces, and she obviously had this ingrained fear and hatred for her mother, but this event would likely stick with her for a long time.

And Aizawa had to be the one to calm her down after seeing him hurt. Etsuki never liked to see him get so much as a papercut. And with the hazards of his job, he often came home banged up. Etsuki never liked it. He could only imagine the word vomit she spewed to Aizawa when he'd come to intervene. It would explain why he obviously thought something was wrong beyond what Katsuki had said. Christ, this shit was fucked up.

"How do you feel?" his father asked after Katsuki's prolonged silence.

He looked up at his father. While he hadn't been crying like his mother and daughter, his pops looked stressed. He had dark rings under his eyes, and there was a visible crease between his brows from where he'd been furrowing them.

"I'm okay," Katsuki answered.

He chose to sugarcoat it. If Etsuki was worried, he didn't want to worry her further. Explaining that he felt like he'd had his ass handed to him on a silver platter would undoubtedly spike anxiety in the girl.

He and his parents talked while he held Etsuki close. She'd actually passed the fuck out after three short minutes in his arms. Considering she'd been up the entire night waiting for him to come out of surgery, he was certain she was exhausted. Quite frankly, he was, too. And he wanted her close. Even though he hadn't allowed himself to dwell on what happened at the scene of the rescue the day before, his subconscious was making up for it. He didn't want to let Etsuki out of his sight. She was safe if she was in his arms. He wouldn't so much as let anyone take her from him.

His parents didn't even bother to make an attempt when they finally left to allow him some time to rest. And when the hospital staff came in to try and remove her, well, he was lucky they didn't just sedate him.

"You so much as try to remove her, and we'll both flip fucking shit," he growled at the nurse.

"Mr. Dynamight, sir, you need to rest," she said.

"And I'm resting just fine with my kid. So, fuck off."

"But sir-"

"I'm sure you've seen me on TV. You know how I am," he stated lowly. "I will flip fucking shit if you touch her. And if you wake her up and try to make her leave, she'll flip shit, too."

"Sir, the doctor will sedate you if you're being uncooperative," she said,

"And then what will you do about my kid, hah?!" he asked. "Cause legally, you can't touch her. She's not a patient. If you so much as put a needle near her, I'll sue your asses. And Aizawa is all the way back at UA. So, if you really want to wait for him to get back while my kid blows shit sky high, then be my fucking guest. Otherwise, don't fucking touch her."

The nurse swallowed, and ultimately, the hospital staff conceded. He and Etsuki settled down to a much needed rest. He had to say, it was comforting to know that she was close and that she was safe. He didn't sleep amazingly, but it was still pretty damn good.

When he woke up, Etsuki was still out cold. There was a pretty damn large pile of drool on his chest, too, but she was cute, so he didn't give a damn. He rubbed his hand up and down her back gently. It was in these moments, with his daughter safely tucked into his arms, that Katsuki finally allowed some of his fears to seep through.

He could have died yesterday. Katsuki had never once feared dying as a hero. He knew that one day, his job would likely be the means to his end. It happened with some of the best heroes. Sir Night Eye. Midnight. Hell, All Might had nearly gotten killed on countless occasions after his retirement. Katsuki knew it was the mostly likely way for him to go. He wanted a warrior's death. Not some weak ass dying-in-his-sleep-at-an-old-age bullshit. But he suddenly realized what dying a hero's death could do to the person he cared about most. His usual reckless abandon would only leave Etsuki behind, alone and without a father. She'd already lost her mother. She couldn't - no, wouldn't - lose him, too.

"I promise you that," he whispered to her softly. "I'll be right here. Always."

A/N/: Beta: He should get his nipples pierced.

Author: He's not getting his nipples pierced. No. It would be awkward to fit in.

Beta: He could get GREEN BARBELLS!

Author: SOLD. *rapid typing* He's getting them pierced right now. All hail the bad decisions club.

Beta: YESSSSSSSSSS. MY IDEAS ARE SUPREME