Thank you to milkmankags on AO3 for your lovely comment, you have no idea how much it meant to me!

And of course thank you Day for being the best Beta!

Five years passed, and while Katsuki still remembered the Man and what he said as clear as day, he rarely thought about him anymore. When he did it was only because people said something similar to what the Man said in Hero movies like Painting a Jailhouse, or in Card Queen, or when he was watching the news. It seemed like the term "All Quirks have weaknesses" is a common saying, though each person said it differently, and all the while not looking like they dreamed of stabbing children, thank you very much.

Typically, he just rolled his eyes and ignored the sinking pit in his stomach whenever he heard them say any variation of the phrase. Clearly, none of these "Quirk Scientist '' and "Quirk Researchers" knew what they were talking about. Some Quirks had weaknesses, but not all Quirks. Only lame, pathetic Quirks have weaknesses. At least that's what Katsuki told himself whenever he couldn't get to sleep because his brain wouldn't stop reminding him of the Man from the TV.

Then, it all came crashing down because the Winged-Freak that followed him around like a stupid puppy just had to point out what everyone was truly thinking. It was that idiot's fault for bringing the Man back into his nightmares. If that idiot just kept his mouth shut, if he didn't say anything then maybe Katsuki would have lived the rest of his life in peace.

But no~, Wing-Freak had to be the one to go and ruin Katsuki's damn innocence!

Lunch was in full swing at Katsuki's school: classmates ran around imaginary castles looking for distressed damsels, and dueled in pirate ships over piles of gold. Some of the kids hadn't finished eating, and so between stuffing their faces with bits of food they talked about the latest episode of Odd Future, new toys they wanted, or how much they hated schoolwork. However, Katsuki wasn't doing any of those things. Instead, he was a bit preoccupied with a back massage from a certain Wing-Bastard; who Katsuki never remembered the name of.

It wasn't abnormal for Katsuki to ask—or threaten if you want to get technical— for a back massage from any one of his minions. In fact, he asked for one once every couple of weeks when his muscles tensed after a particularly hard day of Phys. Ed. and Katsuki couldn't bend his arms back enough to do it himself, or his hands started to cramp. It was a very convenient setup for all of them; in exchange for not getting blasted in the face, Katauki got a decent massage every once and awhile.

Yet, the best part, although only in hindsight, was that his minions never bothered to ask why Katsuki needed a massage, and so Katsuki never told them about his weird muscle issue. At the time, it was good because he didn't completely understand it himself. He knew bits and pieces of general knowledge, but understanding how the pieces fit together was very different from just having the pieces.

As far as he knew, the weird muscle thing was a protection mechanism against his Quirk. Made it so his bones wouldn't break, his shoulder wouldn't dislocate, and his arm wouldn't go flying off like a bad action movie from the 1980s, but sometimes the weird muscle 'Locking', as his parents called it, made it painful to move. Hence the massage to soothe his muscles into loosening them back up. Beyond that, Katsuki didn't understand it, and quite frankly, he didn't give a crap to ask more about it, because his Quirk was awesome and that's all that mattered to him.

Anyway, besides the whole massage-muscle-thing, Katsuki's day was the closest thing to perfect he could've asked for; his mother was taking him rock climbing after school, he got a 100% on his history test, and the three extras who followed him around everywhere were quietly in their rightful places. It was nice. It was peaceful. Katsuki could've passed out right then and there, with his chin tucked under his arm, Wing-Freak givings a massage, Deku all the way down at the other end of the table munching on his lunch, and Long-Fingers sitting across the table desperately scribbling in a lame attempt to finish forgotten homework before class. It was perfect.

Then, as it would become standard in Katsuki's life, his perfectly fine day was turned to complete crap in the blink of an eye when Wing-Freak said thoughtfully, "You know, Bakugou, your Quirk kinda sucks."

Katsuki's eyes snapped open rigidly, like a monster in a movie.

He heard wrong. He had been so relaxed and loopy from the peaceful atmosphere that he heard Wing-Freak wrong. That was the only possible explanation because no one ever told him that his Quirk sucked. No one, not even Deku, was that stupid or suicidal to even suggest that his Quirk sucked because they all knew that his Quirk was the best! So he must've misheard.

Katsuki shrugged Wing-Freak off his back and looked him square in the eye. He was determined to not mishear a second time.

"What?" He deadpanned with a knee-trembling scowl.

Wing-Freak blinked confusedly before his face flushed ruby red, and his pterodactyl wings twitched nervously behind him. He looked terrified, as he should've been.

"Your Quirk?" He squeaked with a nervous chuckle, attracting the attention of Deku and Long-Fingers. "It's powerful and super cool-"

Katsuki steeled his glare. So he misheard, but worse than he originally expected. How does anyone mishear 'powerful and cool' with 'sucks?' Maybe it was time to get another adjustment on his hearing aids, he thought as he reached behind his ears to fiddle with the curved slotted pieces there. He hadn't seen the ear-doctor-person for a hot minute so that probably explained—

"But it still kinda sucks." Wing-Freak finished, sounding more confident than before, much to Katsuki's jaw-dropping horror. He took it back because apparently this bastard was just that suicidal. "Isn't it why you have bad hearing and eyesight?"

"What the crap does that have to do with my Quirk 'sucking?'" Katsuki snapped, eyes set ablaze and his grip on the table tightening to the point his hand started to tremble.

He was going to murder this damn idiot, shove his fat face into the ground and let the dirt take care of the rest because how dare he say that Katsuki Quirk was weak. He wasn't the one who had fragile, hollow bones that broke like wet paper, or the one with fingers that got so stiff it made it impossible to write, or the one without a Quirk at all. They were the ones with the trash Quirks, not him.

And yet, the winged bastard had the audacity to simply shrug, like he didn't just insult Katsuki straight to his face. Then, he fearfully turned to Deku and Long-Fingers with a silent plea to help him out somehow, but both were glancing back and forth between Katsuki and Wing-Freak with concern and confusion.

After a minute or two without a breath of a proper explanation, Katsuki grabbed Wing-Freak by the collar of his cheap blue shirt and pulled him down so they were face to face. It was sort of funny how he yelped and looked ready to crap himself.

"How does my Quirk suck, Freak?" Katsuki seethed between his teeth.

"It-It'll make being a hero harder?" Wing-Freak quickly stuttered in a pathetic attempt to say what Katsuki wanted to hear, not realizing he was just pissing him off more, "If you can't hear that good, villains can sneak behind you! Or you'll miss someone shouting for help!"

Katsuki's pissed snarl slowly fell in confusion.

Wing-Freak relaxed when Katsuki's grip on his shirt loosened, and so he wrongfully decided to continue, "If you can't see, you won't be able to see the other person move while fighting, or see if someone is in danger. It's what my mom said yesterday, I swear."

Katsuki took a second before letting him go, turning slightly away to glare blankly at the ground. His head was racing with multiple trains of thought, but you'd never be able to tell with him having such an empty expression on his face. It was almost scary how he hadn't shouted or blown Wing-Freak away, instead choosing to think and process what he had just heard, and the longer he sat there the scarier the moment became.

"Kacchan?"

"Katsuki?"

Katsuki looked up from the ground, and when he saw Deku and Long-Fingers with their pathetic confused faces staring back something finally snapped into place. His eyes lit up like a bonfire with unhindered rage he had never felt before. His vision actually went red for a couple of seconds while the rest of his senses shut down.

One second he was sitting at the table, the next he was across the schoolyard stomping away and telling anyone who so much as glanced at him to go screw themselves.

He couldn't be around anyone. He needed a place to think, to scream, to tear his damn hair out, to maybe plan a murder. He needed someplace quiet before he actually killed someone if he hadn't done so already, which he was sadly sure he hadn't. So, he went to the only place he could think of that fit the description needed off the top of his head.

Katsuki slammed the bathroom door shut, almost throwing it off its hinges before mindlessly locking it. No one went to the bathroom on the north side of the school during lunch because it was the farthest away from the play area, so no one was going to come knocking. But if by some miserable chance someone did come knocking they'd regret it, because Katsuki was not in the mood to negotiate.

He prowled back and forth and around the bathroom, letting out a few frustrated screams like a starving caged animal. He needed to do something. Something with his twitching outstretched hands. Something like murder. Someone like Wing-Freak, and maybe Deku while he was at it. Just anything to get his mind off being called... weak.

Wing-Freak called him weak.

He was called weak.

He was weak.

Katsuki threw his hand against the closest wall in his frustration and shouted his first-ever, "FUCK!" As soon as his hand hit the wall he set off an explosion bigger than what he was used to, causing him to lose balance and fall straight on his ass. A shock ran up and down his spine due to the hard landing that snapped him out of his bitter rage and knocked the breath out of his lungs. It forced him to breathe, and to calm down.

After a moment of peace, of contemplation, and quiet pondering, Katsuki completely ruined it by banging his fist against his head as hard as his body let him.

Stupid! He was so fucking stupid! How had he never realized? How had it never crossed his mind? He had thought about his Quirk and weaknesses so many times, how had it never clicked?

His hearing had been worthless since the day he was born, and over time it only grew worse and worse. His eyes were screwed beyond repair, so he couldn't see past his nose without special contacts or glasses. And, it was his stupid shitty Quirk that made his muscles all weird and painful to move sometimes. How had he never thought about it?

Now that he truly thought about it, how had he never realized his 'Collapsed' state was his ultimate weakness? That the weekly occurrence, that thankfully no one important knew about, where his body essentially rebelled against his own senses and made it hard to move, see, and hear, was the definition of weakness? How had he never realized? It meant villains could sneak up on him, attack him long-range, fight him off until his muscles locked, blast sound until he tore his hearing aids out... Or, they could find him: vulnerable and weak in his Collapsed state, and shoot him before he knew which way was up and which way was down.

Damnit! Katsuki's thoughts screamed as he tugged at his hair and curled into a ball on the floor. Damnit, damnit!

He had weaknesses. Weaknesses that fuckers like the Man from the TV could exploit. Weaknesses that he never thought about because he always considered them a part of who he was, and he was the best. He was supposed to be better than All Might, a man without weaknesses, so if Katsuki wanted to be the best he couldn't have weaknesses! But... he did. A lot of them.

So... if he wasn't the best because he couldn't ever be... then what did this mean? If he wasn't the best, then what was he?

Katsuki didn't know, was the honest and only answer he could think of while curled up in a ball and sitting on the disgusting bathroom floor. All he knew was that his Quirk was shitty and there were people out there ready to rip his guts out and display them for all to see. He needed a way to not be so weak, but he had no clue how.

So, what was he supposed to do!?

Lunch ended way too damn soon with the sound of the school bell, only adding to Katsuki's ever-growing fire of frustration with the world.

Of course lunch just had to end at the worst possible time on the worst possible day. Of course! Of fucking course!

With little choice, Katsuki left the bathroom with steam visibly curling into the air around him all the way back to class.

Once back in class, Deku, the asshole, dared to ask if he was alright. As if it wasn't already obvious that Katsuki was possessed with the irrational wrath of a Greek Goddess. Then, the nerd began to mutter fast enough to power an electric car about what had happened in the three seconds Katsuki blacked out during lunch, which didn't involve enough murder for Katsuki's taste.

After that delightful conversation that ended with stupid Deku getting blasted in the face, Katsuki was forced to sit through class after class feeling as if there were fire ants nipping at his skin. It was so irritating, because he wanted to distract himself with mindless classwork, but he didn't want to focus on classwork, he wanted to figure out how to get rid of his weaknesses! Yet, he didn't want to do that either! So, in the end, he wound up doing nothing except making his frazzled mind run in thirty-two different directions.

A few people noticed his distress, and unfocused behavior during class, mainly Deku, the four idiots whose desks were around him, but none said anything about it and left him to his own devices. Except, in the last period of the day, his teacher called him to the front and asked if he was alright. Katsuki didn't have an answer, and the teacher let him walk out the door without receiving one.

Katsuki dodged Deku and the minions, and practically sprinted all the way home. At one point he was almost hit by a car but by a stroke of luck, or stupidity, he managed to cross the street before the car went barreling through where he stood. Even then, he didn't stop to think about the fact he almost died and continued to cross streets without any regard if the crossing sign was on or not. Later he would attempt to suffocate himself under nine layers of pillows and blankets for the reckless behavior, but at that moment he didn't care. He just didn't care. He wanted to get home as quickly as humanly possible because the sooner he got home, the sooner he and Ma left for rock climbing, the sooner he could climb to the top of the hardest wall, the sooner he could forget that his Quirk was complete bullshit.

In record time, he got home, glowing with fury and pent up aggression ready to be unleashed against a tall unbeatable wall, and instantly Katsuki went on a manhunt for his mother. She should've already been off work by then. The night before, she had promised she would take him rock climbing the second he got home from school. She looked him right in the eyes during dinner, and Katsuki's father teased him about getting 'personal mother-son time' when he was sent up to bed.

Ma had made a blatant, clear promise, and Pops had confirmed it, making Katsuki anticipate the little trip more than he usually did because Ma was the type to say she'd do something 'one of these days' and never follow through. In fact, if Katsuki did anything with his mother, it was his father who planned the trip, and he was typically also there with the both of them. So, in his mind, with this specific, detailed promise, there was no reason not to trust his mother's word.

And yet, instead of Ma, Katsuki found Pops in the kitchen glaring absentmindedly down in disappointment and frustration while he stirred something inside a small pot, with all too recognizable ingredients sitting neatly on the counter not too far away. At the sight, Katsuki clenched his fist.

Katsuki wasn't stupid, he knew the second he saw the ingredients for hot chocolate on the counter where his mother was but he wanted to deny it. Not because he wanted to have faith in his mother —he didn't have much faith in his mother to begin with— but because it would have been the god-fucking-damn cliché cherry on top of his already pisspoor, horrible day. He wanted to believe, just for a second, that he could do something he loved and that his day couldn't get worse.

"Where's the Hag?" Katsuki snapped through gritted teeth. His unsuspecting father jumped three feet high with a minor yelp, and he whipped around to find his son flushed and shaking with barely contained rage.

Pops stuttered a few awkward 'uhh' sounds, caught off guard with clearly no clue how to break it to Katsuki that Ma had... whatever. Katsuki didn't care why she wasn't there, and he didn't want to know the excuse.

So, he ran. Out the kitchen, up the stairs, down the hallway all the way to his room, he ran with his fist stuffed in his mouth to keep his combusting rage from reaching the neighbors. Although, the noise from the door... shutting made a mother four houses down the street jump.

Katsuki immediately fell face-first into the pillows and blankets of his western-style bed, and he screamed as loud as humanly possible for a ten-year-old boy. He thrashed against the Haikyuu! themed sheets, unleashing every vulgar curse word and ugly insult he knew into the covers. And as he threw his temper tantrum, explosions sparked inside his closed palms.

This had to be the worst day he ever had.

Katsuki felt like he was watching his dream crumble before his very eyes because there were still people out there who didn't have weaknesses. He stood by that fact. Not all Quirks came with a bullshit fine print like morons on TV said. So, why, why did his? All Might was still a badass without weaknesses, and so did dozens upon dozens of other heroes. So if he could never be better than those lesser heroes how in the goddamn fucking world could he ever beat the strongest hero that ever existed?

He couldn't. He could never be great because, by definition, he had things wrong with his Quirk.

Worst of all, even though his dream was in tatters, he still couldn't even distract himself from it.

Katsuki thrashed and screamed for who knows how long until finally he tired himself out. Then, he picked his head up from his pillows in order to refill his oxygen-deprived lungs and to mentally take in his physical condition. Without needing a mirror, Katsuki knew his face was beet red, his eyes were puffy despite having not shed a tear, his nose was dripping, and he felt iron on the back of his tongue from all the screaming. To put it simply, he felt about as weak as he actually was.

Katsuki slammed his face back into his pillows and instead of screaming his bitterness away, he attempted to just suffocate. Drown in a sea of failure, disappointment, and pillows.

Sadly, he was saved by a shy knock on his undoubtedly broken door that would be coming out of his piggy bank.

Katsuki picked up his head and screamed hoarsely for Pops to go away before slamming his head back down, but his father only took it as a welcomed invitation.

Pops peaked his head inside Katsuki's room, steaming mug of fresh hot cocoa in hand, and he gingerly stepped inside. He looked around the room as if lost in a foreign country, before anxiously making his way over and sitting down on the bed. His glasses fogged up slightly from the sweat dripping down his face.

Katsuki repeated a bit weaker for his father to go away, but his pathetic plead fell on deaf ears. Instead, his father awkwardly muttered, "Apparently she got her schedule mixed up with a different day. She thought she'd have most of the day off, but she wound up being swamped."

Katsuki scoffed into the pillows, unconvinced. Not only did he just plain not care, but Pops was one of the worst liars in human history. He was just lying to spare his feelings. Boo-fucking-Hoo.

Pops then tried to continue from that starting point for about a minute; stuttering and stopping every sentence half a word in, then starting his sentence all over again only to repeat the process. If Ma were there she would have already told Pops to shut the hell up and changed the topic to something he didn't have to talk much about. But, Katsuki's father had always been like this: awkward and emotionally stunted as fuck, though he certainly tried. And, Katsuki would be lying if he said that even at the stupid age of ten he didn't sympathize with it. Actually, it was quite possibly the only thing Katsuki inherited from his father: social and emotional ineptitude. Which was why they understood each other so well but sucked ass when it came to people. They might as well have been aliens from outer space attempting to learn the complex nature of hoomun communication.

However, while Pops remained silent and simply buried his murky emotions six feet underground, Katsuki got pissed off and exploded. People always, always, assumed that Katsuki got his emotional constipation from his goddamn mother, but no, he got it from his father. Ma didn't have a problem understanding or saying what she thought or how she felt. She really was just that strict, just that harsh, that critical, and sometimes even just that violent.

... You know what? Why did Katsuki even want to spend time with Ma again? All she ever did was yell at him, look down on him with bitter, annoyed eyes, or pull his ear. If Katsuki was in a bad mood she always found a way to make him feel worse.

At the thought that maybe rock climbing would have been hell if he went, multiple explosions went off inside Katsuki's clenched fist. And, his lungs started to burn, whether from lack of oxygen or from pent up fury it didn't matter.

What matters is Pops noticed Katsuki's distress, and instead of floundering with no idea what to do like with most other people, he quickly set the mug of hot chocolate down on the wooden bedroom floor, and scooted as close to Katsuki's trembling figure as possible without losing a limb. Then, with one hand, Pops massaged the spot at the top of his spine just below the neck, and, with the other hand, he gently rubbed Katsuki's right hand opened so he could massage the palm. It was a very brave thing to do, considering Katsuki could do some serious damage to his thumb if he ever felt like it.

In a way, it was Pops' way of saying he trusted him.

Katsuki heard every heavenly word.

For the first time since lunch, Katsuki relaxed into his dumbass sheets for a minute—or maybe ten— like a damn cat getting a scratching behind the ears. Katsuki's head lolled to the side, finally allowing actual fresh air into his aching lungs.

Pops' smiled warmly, if not bittersweetly, down at his fucking mess of a child, then pulled his gentle hands back into his lap. Katsuki's muscles and nerves were basically goo by that point; melted, moldable, hot goo.

"You-" Pops started before stopping his sentence. Hesitating. Thinking his words through carefully. He took a deep breath and finally continued, "I didn't expect you to get... This upset... It's just—... it's just not like you, I don't think... So—..."

Katsuki watched his struggling father curse himself for not being able to say what he wanted to say as he reached down to grab the mug of liquid chocolate and stiffly hold it out for him to take.

Katsuki groaned at the very thought of moving, but he sat up anyway and bitterly accepted the hot cocoa without question.

Today, it seemed like simple, bland, homemade hot chocolate. No chocolate or caramel syrup, no whipped cream, no mint or chili spice to be smelled, not even half-melted marshmallows floated at the top. Just, plain, boring hot chocolate.

Katsuki grumbled, feeling oddly angry for some unknown reason before taking a tiny sip.

Instant. Fucking. Bliss.

Katsuki's eyes fluttered shut as every muscle in his body lost its tension and he slumped forward. There were still remnants of anger, bitterness, and annoyance rolling around in his stomach, and his head was still turning with thoughts of his weakness, but for a single moment, it all melted away.

There was nothing, nothing special about this drink, it was as plain and boring as hot chocolate could possibly be, and Katsuki knew his father could make something a million times better with a lot of punch and flavor. And yet, maybe something simple, almost bland, was what he really needed.

Pops, for a moment, stopped his struggle of putting his thoughts into verbal sentences to watch Katsuki sip a few more gulps from the steaming mug. He breathed a grateful sigh of relief when Katsuki seemed to take to the drink well.

"Better?" Pops asked anxiously, then nodded when Katsuki grunted a quick 'yes.' "Good... so... uhh, care to explain... what happened?"

'No', Katsuki was tempted to say. 'No,' before going back to being lost in his own head. 'No', he'd say even more stubbornly than Pops' 'Yes'. 'No', as he fought to bury the urge to vent deep underground the same way Pops buried every clumsy thought and confused emotion until they didn't matter.

It didn't take long for Katsuki to crack.

Red-faced, lips twisted in a snarl, anger clawing at his lungs, and teeth grinding each other into powder, Katsuki said, "My Quirk is weak."

Pops' back snapped ramrod straight, and his breath caught itself inside his throat. He stared down at Katsuki for a good solid minute, reeling with surprise and for the first time in a long time, clearly having no clue what to say to his child.

Katsuki's grip around the mug tightened. He hated that look. He hated it even more on Pops, because when even he didn't know what to say to him then no one ever would.

Katsuki downed the rest of the hot cocoa in a desperate attempt to cool his boiling anger. In the end, it only half-worked and burned his tongue, so he threw the mug across the bed silently hoping it'd fall over the edge and shatter.

It didn't.

Pops looked around, for some desperate hint on what to do, before his attention was drawn toward the tiny firecracker sounds coming from tiny, enclosed fists.

Pops reached forward and, like earlier, gently rubbed and soothed Katsuki's fingers open to reveal the calloused, red palm. The sparks came to a stop the minute Pops began to work the tension out of Katsuki's right palm.

The two sat in shit-awkward silence for a minute, Katsuki having no goddamn clue what to say, and Pops every couple seconds attempting to say something before deciding against it. Then, Pops took a deep breath, and finally said, "What makes you think that?"

Katsuki turned away to glare at the floor like it had stolen his knitted All Might plushie. He huffed, "My ears and eyes are crap. And if I use my Quirk too much I just... I just..." Katsuki briefly wondered if he was being boiled by witches, and that was the real reason he felt so hot. Why it was suddenly hard to breathe normally. Why his stomach was twisting into french knots.

Katsuki's head was so full, and it was screaming at him a hundred different things, most of which involved the death of, preferably, another living being. Anything as long as it meant he would stop feeling so irritated.

His father let go of his right hand and lifted Katsuki's chin up to look him in the eyes, grounding him back to fucking reality, before moving onto the trembling left fist.

Katsuki, still shaken with uncontrollable wrath, gulped, "My Quirk sucks because if I use it too much I Collapse. It's just... weak. And I can't be the greatest hero if I'm weak, Old Man!" Pops stopped Katsuki's right arm from attempting to push him off without looking up, then continued to massage the left palm like it never happened.

Katsuki fumed, displeased that he couldn't get his father to fuck off, "How can I compete against heroes without weaknesses if mine is garbage?! What about villains?! They can exploit me!"

Pops set a hand on his seething child's shoulder and waited patiently for Katsuki to steady himself.

Tears prick at the corner of Katsuki's eyes.

His father...

Katsuki was...

Pops...

Katsuki hated his father.

He hated how they understood each other. He hated how patient Pops was. He hated how gentle he was. He hated how he learned how to make literally dozens of different versions of the same damn diabetes-in-a-cup just to please him.

He really hated that he was really glad he didn't go rock climbing with Ma. She undoubtedly would've only made him feel worse about himself.

Katsuki for what must have been the millionth time in the past few hours, eased up on his anger and whipped away the stray tears at the corner of his eyes.

Pops hesitantly let go, and started his little massage session again, this time focusing on Katsuki's wrist and forearm.

"Katsuki..." Pops began, and to Katsuki's stunned ears, he said it with confidence. "Firstly, there are many heroes who are hard of hearing, or deaf. It's not as rare as you probably think." Katsuki sniffed, fighting the urge to protest. "Secondly, people with glasses aren't uncommon, so you won't be the only one who needs them, I'm sure." Katsuki flushed red. "And lastly, your muscles stiffen and 'Lock' until they're essentially bomb-proof, but only for a brief moment in time when you set off an explosion. It's so you won't hurt yourself. But it's a defense mechanism that is, honestly, very weak. Your Collapsed state happens because your defenses against your Quirk have worn out and need to be strengthened." Pops looked up at the same time Katsuki did. They stared at each other in the eyes, and distantly, Katsuki was amazed at how kindly his father looked at him, completely unlike his mother who always seemed irked at his very fucking existence. "The more you use your Quirk, the stronger your explosions get. The stronger your explosions, the stronger your defenses need to be. Understand?"

Katsuki pulled his arms away from Pops' grip and glared at his palms as little sparks danced across them.

The stronger his Quirk gets... the stronger his 'defenses' gets. The stronger his defenses get, the less likely his Collapsed state, his weakest suck ass state, is going to happen.

Katsuki reiterated his thoughts to his father, and Pops slowly nodded, "But it's not just something that happens, Katsuki, it'll take a lot of hard work. It probably will be painful, too."

Katsuki didn't care, because after a minute of pondering, it finally hit him.

He could get rid of his shitty weaknesses.

Katsuki, if he worked really hard, could make his Quirk so strong that it would overtake his weaknesses. Like they were never there in the first place, and if he just hid his terrible hearing and eyesight...

He needed to make sure that no one knew his weaknesses, that's all it would take! There'd be nothing to exploit if no one knew what his weaknesses were! He could still be the greatest hero that ever lived!

Katsuki's eyes sparkled with excitement for the first time in years.

"How do I make my Quirk stronger!" Katsuki asked his Pops desperately, causing him to fearfully sputter.

"Y-You... You're... Are...?" Pop's face fell, almost sadly. "... You're really serious about being a hero..."

Katsuki turned his head, confused as a dog, "What the heck are you talking about?"

Pops bit his lip and shook his head, "Nothing... how about this... tomorrow we'll do some research... and see what... we can do?"

Katsuki nodded, bursting with images of him being praised as the greatest hero in the world while he stood on a pile of bad guys. It was still possible. His dream would simply take a bit more work than he had always thought, but that's okay. Anything to achieve his mission.

Katsuki paused his inner celebration. Then, he rammed into his father for an overly uncomfortable, forceful, and awkward hug. In Katsuki's opinion... they were the best kind, and judging by Pops' soft smile, maybe it was his favorite kind too.

This day sucked. But if it meant getting rid of these pathetic weaknesses, so no one could exploit him in the future...

So fucking be it.

Authors Note:

Hello, again! As promised, this chapter is significantly longer than the last one, and they will only grow in length from here. Except for maybe one or two odd chapters that are a bit on the shorter side. So, if you wish to consider this the 'true' first chapter and the previous a prologue, feel free.

Overall, I am absurdly happy with how this chapter turned out. I am tempted to say it might be my personal best but I don't want you guys to think the writing will only get worse from here on out. I'm just really proud of the chapter and I hope you guys liked it as much as I did writing it.

But like the last chapter, before I leave, some random notes I thought I'd address. In regards to Bakugou's Mother... She is not abusive. In this fic, she will not purposely or blatantly be depicted as such. If you, the reader, wish to say she is, I won't argue against it. However, just because I am not depicting her as abusive does not mean she is a good parent. In this fanfic, Mitsuki Bakugou is not a good parent. Nor will she get any form of 'redemption' or even screen time beyond name dropping.

Originally, two scenes with Masaru were supposed to be Mitsuki but I changed it while I did my rewrites. The reason I chose this is because I didn't like how in other fics, it's either BOTH of Bakugou's parents are abusive/neglectful/bad parents, or they're BOTH good parents, and typically Bakugou and Masaru aren't close. (Sometimes Masaru is nicer but that typically ends with the parents looking for some form of redemption/forgiveness and that doesn't count in my eyes). He's just kinda thrown to the wayside, and I just want the poor guy to get some appreciation. So I changed Bakugou's relationship with his parents around a little and I think it wound up working in my favor. So if you were wondering why Masaru over Mitsuki, that's why.

I don't think I have any other notes except the Ma/Pop thing but that can be for a later chapter...

Oh... next chapter will take 3 weeks instead of 2 because the next chapter is undergoing a heavy last minute rewrite and I don't want to miss the date so I want extra time, thank you for the patience!

And, I think that's it for now. Thank you once again for reading, I hope this is better than the last chapter. I would love any feedback from you guys, I would appreciate it a lot. Thank you Day for beta-ing!

Next Update Will Be On: Saturday - September 12th, American Time

-Kayla