Thank You milkmankags and DxmaryoOD From AO3, and timothycrawford3 and KarinStalker24 from , for your reviews! They made me so very happy! Seriously, I know I said this before but they made me tear up! Thank you!

Of course, thank you AshesOfAFallen/ShadeFireDragon, AKA my friend Day, for being my Beta!

Katsuki didn't remember when Kirishima came back, but he knew that the red-haired freak made good on his promise to get his father quickly, because the next thing he knew was waking up.

Katsuki woke up laying down on his stomach with his hands balled up in a blanket tucked up to his chin. He recognized his father's hand gently running through his hair, and the rise and fall of his breathing as he laid on top of Pops' stomach.

The world was completely silent... and it might have been peaceful, too, if he didn't feel like complete and utter shit.

His mouth was dry as sand; his tongue was heavy and swollen; his entire body screamed in agony even though he was completely still. His head throbbed like a fresh, tender bruise, and his chest was tightening in on itself, making his breathing come out in erratic bursts. Katsuki hadn't felt this shitty in years.

Hell. This is what the lowest level of hell feels like, Katsuki thought with a tiny pained whine.

Pops, who had been watching TV in the living room of their house while Katsuki slept on top of him like he always did whenever Katsuki Collapsed, shifted carefully into a more comfortable sitting position. With one hand, Pops reached over for the TV remote to turn down the volume, and with the other, he softly massaged the area at the very top of Katsuki's spine and just below his neck.

A few minutes was all it took for the pain to ease and Katsuki's breathing to slow to a pleasant pace. But, it took half an hour and Pops' singing in order to coax him into drinking some green tea to soothe his throat.

Katsuki didn't hear a damn word that came out of his father's mouth since his hearing aids were out, but he didn't need to hear to know that Pops was singing Katsuki's favorite song, the same American song he loved since he was a little kid. It always managed to calm him down whenever he got a little too pissed or a little too hurt, so Pops learned to sing the lyrics. Despite the fact he couldn't speak proper English to save his life.

Katsuki always appreciated that Pops did that for him...

At some point, Ma came by to urge her husband to dump Katsuki in his room and come to bed, but Pops shook his head, no. Ma rolled her eyes, muttering that he coddled the brat too much before kissing Pops on the cheek and heading up to bed. It was late after all.

If it were any other day, Katsuki would have already gotten up and stumbled mindlessly up to his room where he'd fall into bed and sleep for another twelve hours, but he hadn't. Instead of forcing himself to get up and move, he further relaxed into his father's embrace.

It felt really nice... being in his father's arms, being coddled like a child. It was kind of embarrassing because he was sixteen-years-old but he didn't give a shit. No one was around to see, and he felt safe and loved, and fuck did he need it after his fucking dumpster fire of a day. Oh, and let's not forget that boggling conversation with Kirishima that Katsuki just... didn't even want to think about.

Katsuki buried his nose deeper into the blankets, a clear sign that protested the very idea of getting up any time soon.

Pops blinked down at Katsuki's limp figure for a couple of seconds, before he shifted again on the couch for a new, more comfortable position and went back to watching the TV, this time with the volume too low to hear a word that was being said. If he cared about being stuck to the couch for the foreseeable future, he didn't show it.

Then, completely out of the blue, Katsuki slurred, almost inaudibly, "Heh ahhst trraayyn wit' mi."

He asked to train with me.

He didn't even know what came over him. His mouth just opened and spoke words he hadn't approved of first, and it wouldn't stop.

"Heh wahs niiis tu."

He was nice, too.

Pops' hand momentarily stopped running through Katsuki's hair before continuing.

"Fffffuuuuuukin sshetieee herrr annnn heee stipudd coompleements."

Fucking Shitty-Hair and his stupid compliments.

"Are you talking about the boy with red hair?" Pops asked, but Katsuki didn't hear a damn thing. He just felt Pops' chest rumbling underneath himself.

Although, whether Katuski could hear or not didn't matter, he was slipping in and out of unconsciousness by that point.

"Heeehhhhaaaayyy Poooohppppppsss, I'm sssstayy heeer."

Hey Pops, I'm going to stay here.

Pops stared down at his once again sleeping son, bewildered. Then, after a bit, he smiled softly, leaned back against the couch armrest, and shifted into a comfortable position to sleep for the night.

"Okay, Katsuki." He whispered gently.

After all the shit luck Katsuki had had the past… year, he was thankful that things went his way for once, as there was no school the following day after the Sports Festival, which meant he was able to sleep until eleven AM without any consequences. He still felt like he'd been run over by a truck… twice, but in comparison to when he woke up the night before he felt fantastic! And the rest of the day after he woke up was pretty good too… kinda. There was the harsh lecture he received from his mother about how much of a psychotic lunatic he acted like in front of millions of people and how embarrassing it was for her and Pops to watch, and that was fun. Although, Katsuki did take the lecture without uttering a word, but only because he was too groggy and exhausted to put up an argument. Then after that lecture that effectively went nowhere, Katsuki spent most of the day numbly rewatching his favorite anime hoping in some vain attempt he would feel better. It somewhat worked but not all that much.

Actually, it wasn't until late afternoon when Pops came and muttered for him to get dressed, they were going for a drive just the two of them, that things started looking up for Katsuki.

At first he grumbled his complaints about going anywhere but 45 minutes later found himself in a humble little family-owned restaurant. Katsuki had never been there before, never even heard of it, but just by the smell alone he had a feeling it would at least be a decent experience, and to be honest, it exceeded his minimal expectations. The food was delicious, the atmosphere light, and he had a good time just being with Pops. To most people, their entire conversation was stilted, awkward, at times one-sided, and at others completely incomprehensible, but to them it was perfect. Pleasant. Comfortable.

It really did make his day, even when his father inevitably brought up the Sports Festival to scold him.

"I understand why you were upset, I thought it was very honorable of you to say what you did. And I am not happy with how the school handled it, at all. But, Katsuki, you also need to understand that it's not about what you say, it's how you act. You can't just act like that… You have to control your temper," Pops had told him gently, and Katsuki had gulped, furious but understanding. He knew, after all. He knew he totally embarrassed himself in front of a lot of people, even if the school was completely in the wrong for tying him up. It was a two way street of fault and blame. He was at fault, the school was to blame. Didn't mean it was any less frustrating. He just got so fucking pissed from All Might's little comment about how 'he kept his word' that he blew a gasket!

"Please, Katsuki," Pops continued. "Promise me you'll work on your temper."

Katsuki numbly nodded, knowing he didn't really have much of a choice. It made Pops smile though, which was good.

That was when dessert came and the two aliens went back to their earlier hoomun conversation.

Despite it all, Katsuki went to bed concluding that it had been a good day.

Besides…. he had bigger shit to deal with on Monday.

Truthfully, Katsuki didn't remember his conversation with Shitty-Hair all that much, only bits of pieces that he'd sooner rather forget than try and make sense of, but he did remember that he agreed to Quirk Training with him.

Somehow..?

Katsuki had no clue how he got him to agree to such a stupid thing, and he didn't know when or where they agreed to meet up. Not that it mattered because he was going to cancel that bullshit plan right after he 'talked' to Shitty-Hair about what he saw in the locker room.

Katuski despised that Shit-Hair —that anyone— saw his Collapsed state, period, but he couldn't do anything about it. Shit-Hair saw. End of the story, and now he had to live with it. But that wasn't the part that gave Katsuki his heart-hammering anxiety as he walked into class that Monday. That right belonged to the possibility that Shitty-Hair would tell everyone in class about his Collapsed state. Even if he simply asked around to see if anyone knew what had happened; people talk, and word travels fast among high schoolers who gossiped like drunk housewives. People get curious. People ask questions. Fuckers like Copy-Freak start mocking him to get answers out of him through his infamous temper.

Eventually, teachers catch word and start wondering what the fuss is about. They'll pull him aside and ask what happened because it's their job to know why their student broke down on their campus. Even if Katsuki lied, there was no explanation that would make them not want to look after him closely, both physically and mentally. If he did tell the truth and said he lied on his medical reports and entrance papers and left out that he tended to break down into a living corpse if he overused his Quirk, they, Aizawa in particular, would be livid. They wouldn't kick him out for lying, but they would definitely start watching his training like a hawk and would stop him from going all out. He'd be like Dunce-Face and Deku, and if he couldn't go all out, then he would fall even further behind the other students in the class.

Teachers would stop him. Other students would make fun of him. And those who didn't make fun of him would pity him. And those who didn't pity him would underestimate him. And those who didn't underestimate him would exploit him.

Katsuki's worst nightmare would come to life.

Under no circumstances could Shitty-Hair breathe a word to anyone about what happened in that locker room. All it would take is an itty-bitty promise of an already dug grave, and hopefully, that should keep his lips stapled shut.

To make sure that he caught Shitty-Hair before the bell, Katsuki skipped breakfast and hopped on a slightly earlier train. In the end, he was only early by roughly five minutes but it was more than enough time to wait for him at the door. After all, Shitty-Hair was always, always, one of the last to show up with Dunce-Face and Raccoon-Eyes in tow. And Katsuki only knew that because every morning after he walks into class, Shitty-Hair goes over to him and shouts, 'Morning, man! How'd you sleep?' like an annoying piece of crap, not because he paid attention to the loser.

So, even if he tried to get to class before him to talk to someone about what he saw the other day, Katuski would already be there.

That was the plan, and Katsuki thought it was foolproof.

Katsuki, like always, was wrong.

Katsuki walked into class with the determination to end a small country, only to be stopped dead in his tracks at the door frame when he saw that Shitty-Hair was already in class, talking to Deku of all people with a serious expression on his face and his arms crossed.

Shitty-Hair was never early. He was always one of the last to show up to class so why was he early? What was he talking to Deku about?

Well, it was obvious what the asshat was talking to the nerd about, and Katsuki's eyes lit aflame with the fury of the sun. 'Control your temper' his ass, he was going to murder both of them! Save them all the trouble and his reputation in the process!

Shitty-Hair turned away from stupid Deku to see Katsuki standing in the doorway, who was shaking in a white-hot rage, and his face brightened with a wholesome smile. He did his usual goodbye of bumping arms with Deku and ran over to where Katsuki stood.

A lamb walking itself to the slaughter, perfect.

"Hey, man," Shitty-Hair waved excitedly, ignorant to his fate.

Katsuki glared at him while subtle explosions popped inside his closed fist. He eyed Shitty-Hair up and down, thinking carefully about the best way to mutilate him in the most painful way possible. But, before Katsuki could grab the fucker by the throat and drag him horror movie style to a more private area to kill him, Shitty-Hair said something that completely caught him off guard.

"You're early!" Shitty-Hair exclaimed, his eyes shiny with excitement

Katsuki's rage went from a raging inferno to a spark in the blink of an eye, replacing itself with pure confusion.

He was... what? What in the world was he talking about? He was the early one, not him.

Katsuki blinked owlishly, slack-jawed by what Shit-Hair had just said. Then, he pointed to himself in disbelief, "I'm early, Shit-Head?"

"Yeah! I never see you before I go wait for Kaminari and Mina by the gates." Shitty-Hair explained whilst pointing with his thumb back out the windows in the general direction of the front gates in question. "You didn't know I get here before you? I'm always the first one here!"

"Excuse me?" Katsuki asked, face flushed red.

What the hell happened? This is not how this conversation was supposed to go! He had a list of things to talk about and this was not one of them!

What the hell happened?!

"Don't believe me, ask Iida, man." Shitty-Hair threw his head back and laughed. "But this is good! I'm glad you're early!" I'm the early one? "I wanted to talk to you about what happened the other day."

The trance Katsuki was under snapped like a twig and the inferno came back as quickly as it left. Next thing he knew, he grabbed Shitty-Hair by the collar and dragged him out of the classroom passed several people.

Shitty-Hair yelped loudly and protested being dragged the entire way to the closest male bathroom. The one next to the main gym that no one used in the morning because the volleyball team randomly hit balls against the shared wall sometimes as practice or on accident and gave anyone in the bathroom a goddamn heart attack.

Katsuki threw Shitty-Hair inside the bathroom in perfect sync with a loud BANG that rang throughout the room, a ball undoubtedly hitting the wall. Just to be sure, Katsuki checked the stalls to see if anyone was in them before turning towards Shitty-Hair…. Who was frowning at himself in the mirror.

Shitty-Hair looked back at him over his shoulder, pouting, and then gestured to his wrinkled shirt and broken tie, "You didn't have to ruin my uniform to get me here, you know?" He stated rhetorically.

"I don't give a shit," Katsuki snapped, fuming. He crossed his arms. "Why were you talking to Deku?"

Shitty-Hair's only response was to shrug as he undid his tie, and then set it on one of the sinks so he could fix his shirt. All the while, looking completely indifferent to the situation he found himself in.

It made Katsuki snarl.

Shitty-Hair should be trembling in fear, but like always he seemed fully aware of his impeccable abilities to control the conversation. He decided the pace, the topic, the flow, the tone, and everything in between! Any form of control Katsuki thought he had was fake as he was just a puppet on strings at the mercy of a bastard with a bad haircut. No matter how many times Katsuki tried to take control, Shitty-Hair took everything in stride and a smile as he worked his magic in Katsuki's mind like it was second nature. He forced him to feel things, forced him to agree to things, and made it seem like Katsuki was calling the shots when in hindsight he didn't decide crap.

Shitty-Hair was dangerous.

Well, this time Katsuki was aware of what the hell was going on, and he wouldn't let Shitty-Hair grab that thing inside Katsuki that made him feel a third time!

"I was asking him about my Quirk," Shitty-Hair finally explained, sounding way too casual for Katsuki's taste. "I wanted to know what he thought I could do to improve it since he's always writing notes about everyone's Quirk. I know I asked you the other day to help me with that but I thought his notes could help too!"

Katsuki growled, with literal smoke curling into the air off his shoulders.

He was lying. He had to be. What idiot wouldn't ask Deku about what happened the other day? Everyone knew they grew up together for better or worse —mostly worse— so Deku should be the first person to ask about anything to do with Katsuki. No matter how much Katsuki despised Deku, it's investigation skills 101!

"Don't you dare lie to—"

"I'm not lying!" Shitty-Hair interrupted before Katsuki even finished his accusation, still looking at himself in the mirror. "It's true! Midoriya had some real good notes, too, it was so manly of him to share his ideas!"

Katsuki snapped his jaw shut and glared at Shitty-Hair who was now tying his red tie around his neck, not a care in the world.

Goddamn, this fucker.

"Anyway," Shitty-Hair drawled once he finished fixing his tie, looking far too proud of himself. "About the other day…"

Katsuki raised his finger to finally lash out—

"You're okay, right?"

—only to freeze in place.

BANG! A stray ball in the gym next door hits the wall and rang throughout the bathroom, affecting neither.

Shitty-Hair crossed his arms and leaned back against one of the sinks, "I mean, you looked pretty wrecked. I guess I can't blame you, though. You had a rough day and probably got overwhelmed and me bugging you probably didn't help. So I'm really sorry about that... but... we are still on for after school right? The training thing?"

Katsuki struggled to find his own words, struggled for an ounce of control in this metaphorical fistfight.

"... So… you… didn't tell anyone…" Katsuki trailed off.

It pissed him off.

"Nope," Shitty-Hair shook his head and put his hand up in a solemn oath. "I promise that I won't, either. I just know you had some sort of episode and your dad got you and that's all I need to know. But I still wanted to make sure you're okay."

"Since when do you act so calm and rational? Usually, you're all like 'DIE! DIE! DIE!'"

"Ten million, bring it."

"How long did it take you to master that move, Bakugou?"

"You're okay, right?"

Katsuki hated this man. Hated him and his stupid ability to touch that thing inside of him. Hated how he could make him dance to his tune. Hated how he made Katsuki more vulnerable than a rabbit with a broken leg. Hated how Shitty-Hair did it all without a hint of effort. He just did it.

Katuski clenched his fist, nails digging into his skin hard enough to leave marks.

"Yeah… I'm fine... just..." He stopped himself with a curse. "Just... overdid it."

Shitty-Hair nodded, "Yeah, I get that, man." Awkwardly, he reached up and scratched the back of his head, "So… after school?"

Katsuki's chest cringed in on itself.

So that stupid Quirk Training shit was supposed to be today?

"I don't break promises, idiot."

Except he wanted to not even ten minutes ago.

Shitty-Hair lit up like a Christmas tree.

"Great! Thank you so much, Bakugou!"

Katsuki hesitated, "Yeah... whatever."

Shitty-Hair gleamed and went to say something when, BANG! Another ball hits the wall, finally startling both out of their skins.

Shitty-Hair turned to glare at the wall behind him with tight lips, "Do you think it's the coaches forcing them all to train right up to the bell, or just really passionate students?"

"Like I give a fuck." Speaking of the bell, Katsuki checked his phone. "We have two minutes, let's get the hell out of here."

"Right!" Shitty-Hair exclaimed as he jumped for joy and headed to the door, but paused right as his hand touched the handle. "...Crap…"

"What now?"

"I forgot Mina and Kaminari..." Katsuki stared, waited for the reason why that was such a big deal, except Shitty-Hair only turned to him with a sheepish look on his face. "I hope they're not too mad at me."

"They're not babies, moron, they can walk themselves to class."

"Yeah, but I still feel bad! I always wait for them, man!"

Katsuki scowled, rolling his eyes.

He really, really, truly hated this Shitty-Haired bastard.

A shorter chapter this time, but I hope you enjoyed it regardless. Me, myself, I am both equal parts happy with the chapter and nervous about it. I like it, I really really like this chapter, not as much as the others but I still think it's good. I'm nervous, though, because I'm afraid people are gonna write this chapter off as mindless filler, and are not gonna enjoy it. This is not filler! It's slower, more chilled out, and not much happened but it's still important!

Anyway! Time for... Random Notes: I can finally talk about the Ma/Pops thing sense I don't really have anything to say about this chapter *ahem*.

So, awhile ago I did a thought experiment where I came up with where the MHA characters would be from if they were not Japanese. And it led me to... interesting conclusions, to say the least. Ojirou and Hagukure are Canadian. I can't decide if Kirishima is Hawaiian/Samoan or Mexican, for some reason I don't know. Kaminari is 100% from Southern California. Iida is German. Todoroki and Momo are British. Etc etc you get the point. (You don't need to agree with any of these btw) Anywhooo, for Bakugou I decided there is no way in hell anyone can convince me he doesn't have "Texan Pride" written all over his forehead. So I made this idiot southern, Texan, at least in my head, and I made him call his parents "Ma and Pops" all stereotypical like. And sense then I can't imagine Bakugou calling his parents anything else. Except Old Man and Hag, obviously, but like out of all the variations of mom dad etc etc etc, I cant see him thinking anything but "Ma and Pop". I tried. I really did but I am weak.

That's it. That's my explanation. God I'm stupid. XD

That's it for now! Thank you all for reading! As always feedback/reviews would be much appreciated, but don't feel pressured to do so. And again, thank you Day for being my Beta.

Next Update Will Be On: Saturday - October 10th, American Time

-Kayla