Thank You PastaPatatoes and Spidertape for your amazing reviews! I loved them!
And thank you to Storm for beta'ing this chapter when Day was busy! I appreciated it a lot!
Katsuki liked to believe that everyone used to be a fucking brainless ten-year-old brat, and were embarrassed by all the stupid shit they used to do, or believe, as said brainless ten-year-old brat. It made him feel better about himself whenever he just so happened to think about all of the embarrassing things he used to do as a Little-Shit. Like... his treatment towards Deku, for example... or thinking four out of five shows he used to watch were good, as another... But Katsuki would sooner admit that he used to believe Beauty and the Beast was based on a true story than admit that he once thought not every Quirk had some sort of weakness to it. At least he had an excuse as to why he thought that damn movie was real until his literal slap to the face when he was eleven, even if it was a pretty stupid one. He had no such excuse except his own arrogance and ego in thinking that he, as a ten-year-old moron, was somehow smarter than PhD holding, highly respected scientists with 90+ collective years of experience. So, here's the honest fucking truth: all Quirks have some weakness. Full stop. Period. No ifs, ands, buts or any exceptions. It could be a weakness so small it was hardly noticeable, it could only apply in certain circumstances, hell it could only matter if you use your Quirk to the limit on a continuous basis and not everyone did. But a weakness was a weakness, and if you knew what you were doing, even the most reliable of Quirks could be turned against the user.
Whether Katsuki liked it or not.
Now, that being said, even though Katsuki was no longer a dumbass ten-year-old, and despite him thinking about his Quirk weaknesses way too fucking much to be healthy at all, he still tended to forget that the people around him also struggled with their own weaknesses. And not the obvious ones like how Kirishima couldn't hold his hardened form for very long, or how Dunce-Face turned into a two-month-old if he overused his Quirk. Those were weaknesses that depended entirely on their Quirks' shitty stamina, for one thing, and literally everyone knew about them, for another. No, Katsuki forgot about the hidden built-in weaknesses that everyone had; the ones that lingered and were outlined in perfect fine print from the day a person is born. He forgot about those types of weaknesses because he tended to not think or care about what sort of weaknesses his classmates had.
So, the moral of the story... Kirishima Fucking Eijirou.
Because who the fuck else would it be?
You see, Kirishima tended to twitch a lot. A lot, a lot. To the point where it was actually fucking absurd how no one in the entire goddamn world had brought it up yet at some point. Holy fuck, just thinking for more than a second about how many things Kirishima had dropped because his wrist spontaneously decided it wanted to do the fucking Twist, or how his eye tended to twitch like it had something to say brought up more than a few valid questions. And yet, no one, not even Katsuki, questioned it for a second. Sure, Katsuki himself noticed it, he just didn't give a crap about why Kirishima's leg wagged at random moments like a dog on drugs getting the best ear scratching of its life. To him, they were nothing more than stupid, random, insignificant little moments that didn't concern him so why bother with it? It was probably nothing anyway.
Now, for all the hundreds of times Katsuki had been right, he was shockingly not correct.
There was only one week before the Practical Exams. One week before Summer break. One week before freedom from his friend's stupidity, and Kirishima suddenly started acting like an epileptic all fucking day. His knees had given out more than a dozen times, he almost tore several pages out of multiple class textbooks because of random muscle spasms, and at one point he got frustrated enough from picking up and dropping his pencil he screamed 'Come on, man!' while Midnight was in the middle of a lecture.
Katsuki had never seen anyone so red or terrified in his entire life.
As expected, Midnight flicked her short whip and sadistically demanded Kirishima outside for a little 'talk.' Without much of a choice, and despite looking like he wanted to hurl all over the fucking floor, Kirishima got up and shuffled his way out the door. Then, as soon as Kirishima and Midnight were in the hallway, the classroom burst with noise. Shitty Deku mumbled a mile a minute about how Kirishima had been acting off all day and 'how he oh-so hoped he wouldn't get in trouble'. A few others were already speculating the cold hand of expulsion from Aizawa if he found out, and the rest were asking "Bakugou's group" if they knew why Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes had been acting like a goddamn lunatic all day. Meanwhile, Glasses was yelling for everyone to shut the hell up with the gossip, and to wait for Kirishima to explain himself if they were actually so fucking concerned, but it was clear that everyone had tuned him out completely.
Katsuki pointedly stayed out of the tabloid level bullshit and told everyone where to shove their questions when he was inevitably interrogated for answers he didn't have. He wanted to know what was up with Kirishima too, and he swore on his favorite All Might plushie he was going to get those answers, but at least he had the decency to be fucking patient.
Not even five minutes later, the door slammed open, and the entire class was back to silently sitting in their seats fast enough to give a few people whiplash. The first to enter was Midnight, who looked around and pouted as if upset she didn't catch someone out of their chair —How the fuck did this bitch get her teaching license, again?— and after her came Kirishima. His head held low as he shuffled all the way back to his desk.
Midnight didn't say a thing.
Kirishima didn't say a thing.
No one said a single thing.
They all went back to the lecture like nothing had happened.
What type of fucking bullshit was that?
The atmosphere was thick with tension for the rest of the period, making class un-fucking-bearable for anyone who was actually trying to pay attention to Midnight's lecture. Katsuki didn't even fucking understand why the extras gave a shit about Kirishima so much to begin with. They weren't his goddamn friend. They barely knew him. They were just classmates to him. So why the hell were they itching to jump Kirishima like their shitty lives depended on knowing what was wrong with him?
Fucking people, Karsuki thought as the bell rang for the beginning of lunch, and watched the entire class stand together to pounce on the unsuspecting redhead with their obnoxious worrying. Never going to understand them.
However, before the piranhas could attack him, Aizawa burst through the door like he was ready to attack an army of villains, but instead hollowly called for everyone to get the hell out of his classroom and for Kirishima to speak to him upfront. It was awkward for a second, as everyone took in Aizawa orders, but once it was all processed, a majority of the class left, only sparing Kirishima a glance on their way out. A few more hesitated to leave, and the last couple of brave morons stayed long enough to ask Kirishima if he was alright, and he assured each and everyone that he was fine with a nervous smile.
It wasn't satisfying, but it was enough for those who asked. That is, except for Katsuki, who overheard the reassuring words because he had planned on dragging Kirishima by his collar to the Interrogation Bathroom™ —coined by Ashido Mina— as soon as he got his hands on him, but now that would now have to wait because Aizawa. What's worse is it was also up in the air how long Kirishima would be stuck inside the shitty classroom. So, with little other choice, Katsuki decided his time would be best spent bitterly grabbing his lunch from the cafeteria... and maybe he could get Kirishima's favorite drink to use as bribery in case his original plan of torture didn't work.
Yeah. That sounded like a good idea.
A few minutes and a couple of spent school coupons later, Katsuki had his food and Kirishima's stupid drink in hand as he attempted to make his way past mobs of extras on his way back to class 1A. Attempted being the keyword there as he was quickly reminded for the second time that day why he hated people, because for every three steps he took, someone bumped into him and almost made him spill his shit. It really started to piss him off, so Katsuki began to look for peopleless paths to the cafeteria entrance... when across the cafeteria, sitting at their normal table, where Katsuki just happened to glance at, was Kirishima: twiddling his thumbs, biting his lip, and starkly pale.
Several questions flashed through Katsuki's mind in his confusion. Like, how the fucking hell did Kirishima get over there so damn fast?! Katsuki had only been in line for four to eight fucking minutes, a record amount of time considering the size of the school's population and the quality of Lunch Rushs' food; which meant Kirishima and Aizawa had finished their conversation as soon as it started. But then why the hell did Aizawa kick the entire class out?! What was the goddamn point?!
Things weren't fucking adding up, and it made Katsuki growl under his breath. He had had it. He once again swore he'd get some fucking answers for all this weird shit one way or another. Yet, once he had furiously stomped over to the red-haired bastard, Kirishima somehow didn't notice him even though he was right in front of him and spitting his name.
Fucker, Katsuki thought. If there was one thing he did not tolerate, it was being completely fucking ignored. So, in childish retaliation, he haphazardly dropped his tray of food onto the table, allowing some of his food to flop onto the table and scaring Kirishima half to hell. Then, before Kirishima could recover from the shock, Katsuki got right in his stupid ugly face.
"What the hell is wrong with you today, Shitty-Hair?" Katsuki spat. "You've been acting like a fucking lunatic all day! And, you were called on by two fucking teachers but they haven't said shit! You haven't said shit! And, you clearly haven't gone to Recovery Girl when you should have. So you better have a good goddamn explanation before I drag you there by your useless fucking tongue!"
Kirishima blinked his widened owl eyes several times, startled. Then, after a beat of silence, the bastard's lips turned up in a shameless grin before suddenly bursting into laughter.
The sound alone boiled Katuski's skin.
"Aww~, Bakubro~," Kirishima giggled. "You care about me!"
"I do not, asshole!" Katsuki shouted whilst flipping off the surrounding tables who no doubt glanced his way. "I just want to know why you kept on disturbing class!"
"Relax, man!" Kirishima dared to snicker. "I was just surprised that you were worried about me so much!"
"What the hell did I just say, Loser?! I wasn't worried about you!"
"But you don't need to scream every time you talk, you know?"
"What have I told you about ignoring me?!"
"I'm just saying it's not very heroic to yell at your friends, even when you are worried about them."
The twisted anger bubbling inside Katsuki instantly popped like a goddamn balloon, but it didn't explode like normal, it leaked out. One second he was fuming angry at the red-headed idiot, and the next he was slumped in his chosen seat and glaring hotly at Kirishima, because fuck this idiot and his illogical fucking friendship.
"I hope you rot in hell," Katsuki sneered, tempted to throw Kirishimas' stupid Peach-Mango-protein-sugary-smoothie-thing at his face.
Kirishima's grin tilted downward into something a bit more bittersweet, "I'm okay, man. I promise, it really isn't a big deal."
Katsuki didn't let up on his glare, because if Kirishima really thought he'd believe that shit then he really was dumber than he thought. No one screams in the middle of class because they couldn't pick up their goddamn pencil and... Katsuki's eyes narrowed as something caught his attention.
"So why the fuck is your arm acting like it wants to go back to sea?" Katsuki snarked while watching Kirishima's left arm spazzed out on the table.
Kirishima drew in a quick gasp, and quickly used his free not-twitching arm to cradle his own eel-like arm away from all prying eyes.
"I swear I'm fine," Kirishima sputtered, flushing a bright red.
It made Katsuki snort humorlessly. Yeah, kiss my ass, too.
"I'm used to it, I promise."
You're not helping your argument here, shithead!
"I'm fine."
"I didn't ask if you were fine, you spiky haired bastard," Katsuki finally snapped, slightly banging his fist against the table. "I asked what the hell is wrong with you."
Kirishima arched his left eyebrow disapprovingly, arm still shaking against his chest, "Was banging the table necessary?"
"Does it look like I give a damn?!"
"Not really, but it makes you look like a dick."
"Fucking...! Kirishima!" Katsuki threw his hands in the air. "Stop messing around!"
Kirishima could be so fucking difficult to talk to, even on the best of days. He tended to dance around even the most basic of subjects, and bring up things that seemingly had nothing to do with the original conversation until it suddenly did five minutes later. It was simply how he communicated and it tended to work well for him, like how earlier Katsuki was fuming pissed off but then dramatically calmed down because what the fuck else was he supposed to do? Strangle a potentially ill person? Yeah right, even he wasn't that fucking insane. However, this wasn't the typical 'Ignore the Subject Until Necessary' way that Kirishima tended to talk. No, Kirishima was deflecting Katuski's question, and Katsuki wasn't afraid to say it offended him. Katsuki was well aware he was a shitty friend, but he thought that Kirishima didn't care about that shit and would feel comfortable enough to tell him what was wrong. Or at the very least to give something other than 'i'M fInE, i SwEaR!' But no apparently not!
This is why Katsuki didn't fucking do 'friends'. He should have known-
Katsuki's thoughts died in his head when he noticed Kirishima look sadly down at the table, looking almost... guilty.
"I'm fine," Kirishima muttered once again. "I swear I have a good reason, it's just easier if I tell all you guys at once."
Katsuki stared at Kirishima, who was finally lowering his hand back down onto the table. It was still twitching, but it wasn't as bad anymore.
"So what? You gonna get up in front of the fucking class after lunch or some shit?" Kirishima blanched in horror at the very idea.
"No! I meant the Squad!" Kirishima exclaimed. "I'm not really comfortable telling the whole class."
Katsuki's eyes narrowed, but he wasn't going to be the one to question Kirishima's bold claim that three-quarters of the class didn't need to know why he had been twitching like an epileptic all day. It was none of his business. Instead, Katsuki slid Kirishima's drink over to him from across the table.
"Whatever. I got you this or something," Katsuki said, carefully watching Kirishima's eyes widen with delight.
"Is this a peach-mango-green-tea-smoothie?" Kirishima gaped, hesitantly sliding the tall glass full of light-orange colored smoothie with his not-spazzing hand towards the edge of the table. "I brought extra cash to get one today but forgot to tell Kaminari to get me one! This is so manly of you, Bakubro! Thank you! I swear I'll pay you back!"
Kirishima leaned forward to drink from the straw... still not picking up the cup.
Katsuki's eyebrows furrowed seeing Kirishima do everything in his power to not pick up the damn cup, but he supposed with the inconsistent shaking it made sense. He might drop it and spill it fucking everywhere. It's just... it was the smart thing to do.
To be clear, Kirishima wasn't completely stupid, he was smart, he got into fucking UA Academy for crying out loud! If he went to a normal, boring, everyday high school, not the prestigious private academy, he'd probably be top of his goddamn grade. The problem was the fast pace and advanced curriculum; it tended to overwhelm him, —same with Dunce-Face, honestly— hence the desperate need for a tutor. However, no matter how smart Kirishima was, the fucker was still a complete airhead. The kind of airhead that missed the obvious things waving in front of his face. The type of airhead that forgot what he had for breakfast. The type of airhead that checked to make sure he had his phone four times within a time span of two minutes because he kept forgetting if he had it on him or not.
So, with that being said, Katsuki fully expected Kirishima to try and pick up the cup with his shaking fucking hand and nearly drop it all over his pants because the bastard wanted to take a gulp so badly. But to his surprise, he was careful, slow, and didn't even dare try to lift it off the table. Which meant... Kirishima really was used to this "shaking" thing.
Katsuki's frown deepened.
Another minute or so passed over them, and while Kirishima was whimpering about a brain freeze, Katsuki checked how much longer they had for lunch. At first, he nearly had a heart attack from the confusion seeing as it was way passed the time to be back in class but then he remembered the school's bullshit schedule change due to exams coming up. They had about twenty minutes to eat before the bell. Thank fuck, the Stooges hadn't even shown up yet.
Speaking of which, where the hell are the Stooges? Katsuki pondered.
"KIRISHIMA!"
Speak of the devil and shit.
The sound of lunch trays hitting the table and screeching chairs filled the vicinity as one by one each seat was filled by one of the morons Katsuki for some reason called his friends. Ashido was sitting next to Kirishima and was hugging him tightly to her chest while rambling about how worried she was that Aizawa had killed him or worse, expelled him. Sero had flopped calmly down next to Katsuki and for once in his shitty life he wasn't smiling, which was actually fucking terrifying and Katsuki wasn't prideful enough to admit he scooted away.
Then, of course, there was the newest idiot, Dunce-Face, the moron with the low-stamina-control electric Quirk. He stood between Kirishima and Katsuki, perfectly balancing in his arms multiple plates and bowls of food like an experienced waiter. He set down half the food in front of Kirishima along with some extra change.
"I think I got everything you wanted," Dunce-Face commented out loud, perfectly aware that Kirishima was a bit preoccupied with Ashido crushing his face. "There was some change though!"
"Thanks, Kami!" Kirishima shouted, struggling to get out of Ashidos chokehold. "Give the change to Bakugou, please!"
Katsuki took the money without a second thought. All the while, he glared at Dunce-Face, now sitting between himself and Kirishima.
Typically, Dunce-Face sat with whoever asked him first, and for a long time, that person was always Ponytail. But after what Sero called "a full-fledged corruption" —involving a few joint tutoring sessions, the promise of ice cream, and a lunch period that invoked way too much screaming— Dunce-Face slowly started sitting with Katsuki's group more and more. He still sat with Ponytail sometimes, but he was definitely no longer a 'Neutral' class member.
'Neutral', referring to all classmates who weren't particularly 'close' with either Deku or Katsuki.
Dunce-Face certainly fit in with the rag-tag group of blundering idiots, and he also had several passionate and... unique arguments about the 'Chicken and Road' joke, and he definitely knew which strings he wanted to pull in Katsuki's chest... However, Katsuki himself wasn't quite ready to mentally admit he was friends with the fucker just yet. He still had trouble having three friends, a fourth idiot to care about was the last thing he needed.
Not that it stopped Sero, Ashido, and Kirishima from accepting Dunce-Face with open arms.
Anyway, Katsuki rolled his eyes when Dunce-Face asked why the hell he was getting Kirishima's change.
"Because he got me a smoothie!" Kirishima finally unhooked Ashido's death grip and pushed her away from him. "Mina, I said I was sorry!"
"But I waited for you to stop talking with Aizawa, carried you to the table, and got you your food! Don't I deserve compensation?" Dunce-Face fluttered his eyes greedily, and somehow that's how all hell broke loose.
"I know, and I totally owe you for it, but he used his own money," Kirishima explained, or more like shouted, over everyone else who was also screaming.
"You carried Kiri?" Sero banged the table, his entire body shaking from his belly laugh. "You can't carry me!"
"I was super worried! Can you blame me for being a bit crazy!? How the hell did Bakugou even get here before us anyway, we had to wait in line forever!?" Ashido yelled over the other boys.
"Bro, I could totally pick you up!"
"I'd like to see you try! You'd probably break your spine!"
"I think he used a lunch pass, and Mina I already said I'm really sorry for making you worry! I'm okay, I swear!"
"Don't give me that BS! You got called on by two teachers and you've been all twitchy. You don't have like... brain damage or anything right?"
"Kiri has brain damage?!"
"What!? No!"
"He does hit his head a lot for training..."
"Guys, I don't have brain damage!"
"Would you all shut up!" Katsuki shouted at the top of his lungs, effectively shutting up both the table and half of the cafeteria for nearly two whole seconds.
Katsuki huffed, seething with annoyance fueled rage that had his table mates shivering in their shoes. He continued, "Now listen here you fuckwits, we've got less than twenty minutes left to talk and Shitty-Hair said he'd only tell us why he's been having seizures all day if we're all here. So shut your shit-spewing mouths and let him talk because I am not putting up with this crap anymore!"
By the end of Katsuki's little rant, all his tablemates were either leaning away from him or clinging to Kirishima, as if it would save them, but they weren't scared anymore, they only seemed surprised. Pleasantly surprised. The very opposite of what Katsuki was going for.
"Holy shit," Sero muttered in awe. "He has a heart! That's just adorable."
Dunce-Face covered a snort, while Ashido and Kirishima breathed sighs of relief.
"Don't you dare test me today, Sero!" Katsuki snarled.
Katsuki got it. He understood that jokes and humor was how every last moron at the Stooges coped in stressful situations. It was their normal, and in a way, the familiar jab quelled inside Katsuki just right to put him a little at ease, but he seriously wasn't in the mood. In fact, he was gonna blow a goddamn gasket if Kirishima didn't start talking in the next minute and a half, and he would not take responsibility for what happened.
Maybe he was a little worried about the redhead.
Shut the fuck up.
"You're too easy though, dude," Sero admitted with a slight chuckle. "But you're right, we're wasting precious Kiri time." Sero's smile went from lazy-and-high to serious-and-downbeat in the blink of an eye. Then, he turned his unreadable, rock-solid eyes to Kirishima, who immediately shrunk his abnormally shaky self away.
"So, Kirishima," Sero started off with a neutral tone that'd make demons shit their pants. "Anything you care to explain to your best friends."
Kirishima cringed. Suddenly, with no one pestering, or yelling at him, all eyes were quietly glaring at him for answers, and since there was no possible way he could deflect their questions without getting smacked by a cross-armed Ashido, there was only one answer to give. If the red-haired bastard knew what was good for his shitty self.
Kirishima sucked in a hesitant breath, then said three words that Katsuki stupidly didn't expect. Three words that had his eyes growing wide, and his spine becoming straighter than the stick-up Glasses' ass.
"It's my Quirk," Kirishima finally blurted out. Instantly, the admission had him relaxing like a spring wound too tight finally being undone. However, as he rubbed his now twitching forearm in a way that suddenly reminded Katsuki way too much of how he dealt with his own overused muscles, the rest of the table blinked, looking completely lost.
Katsuki was the only one who understood.
"Your... Quirk?" Ashido furrowed an eyebrow, almost like she didn't believe him. Kirishima nodded awkwardly, his neck now acting up. "What does your Quirk have to do with this?"
A lot, Katsuki distantly thought to himself, his Quirk could have a lot to do with this...
"It's... complicated, man. I don't think I really understand it, either," Kirishima set his head in his hands with a soft groan. "Something about how my Quirk hardening my skin completely wrecks my nervous system, I think? Sometimes it goes hire wire and causes little spasms or cramps like these. The more I use my Quirk the worse it gets but I've been doing special stretches and things to help! It hasn't been this bad since I was in primary school, I just don't get it, man!"
As Kirishima glared down at his still shivering arms in shame and embarrassment, and the other Stooges blinked at him in surprise, Katsuki stared at him in silent, horrific awe. He was utterly speechless, and his heart was beating against his rib cage like it wanted to escape.
He never ever expected anyone to tell him their Quirks weaknesses, and especially not at UA Academy. But then again... Kirishima was nothing if not a fucking bastard who turned people's worlds on their heads.
"Dude, it's totally okay!" Dunce-Face patted Kirishima encouragingly on the back.
"Yeah, Kiri! It's not your fault!" Ashido exclaimed as she leaned over to give him a gentle side hug. "It's just how your Quirk is, you know! Maybe you're just experiencing some stress since practical exams are so close!"
"Yeah, it really isn't all that big a deal, right?" Sero added with a lazy grin and shrug. "I mean, you could have told us earlier instead of making us worried but I guess I can't blame you all that much."
"You guys!" Kirishima whined, turning redder with each passing second. "You're all being so manly! Thank you!"
Katsuki forced down a gulp and rubbed his sweaty palms against his pants as he watched the Stooges try to make Kirishima feel better.
"Besides," Sero continued, "you're not the only one with a shitty Quirk. Mine's got problems too."
All eyes instantly turned to Sero. Even Katsuki broke out of his frozen trance to look at the idiot on his right, who seemed like he already regretted what he said.
"What?" "Seriously!?" "You do?" Ashido, Dunce-Face, and Kirishima said together.
"Uhh... yeah?" Was Sero's stilted reply, as if anyone was supposed to understand just from that alone. After a beat, he sighed, "my Quirk allows me to produce 'endless' amounts of tape, right? Well that shit doesn't come from nowhere, so basically all my nutrients from food go straight to my elbows," Sero patted his arm for emphasis. "Which leaves very little if anything for the rest of my body. It's not pretty, but I managed to work my way around it."
Another few moments of tense silence, so quiet you'd be able to hear a pin drop if it weren't for the chattering cafeteria hall around them. Then, Dunce Face leaned forward, and stage-whispered, "Bro... how in the world are you able to walk?"
How the fuck is this bastard even alive, Katsuki thought, indirectly agreeing with Drunce-Face. It wasn't unheard of that a person's Quirk caused such a backlash to their own body it literally killed them, or at the very least made it difficult to lead a successful life independently. So what Sero was able to do was... it was practically a fucking miracle!
Sero reached up to rub the back of his neck awkwardly, and shrugged, "Well, it's not like Yaomomo's Quirk where her nutrition is instantly gone. My elbows store all the stuff needed to make the tape and use it when needed. I can go a few days without eating like everyone else, but unlike everyone else, I'd be dead in a week because I have like... no fat on my bones." Sero sighed dejectedly, thinking distantly about all the shit he probably had to go through with such a fucked nutrition system, "I don't know, guys. My parents are saints or something. They somehow figured out ways to feed me when I was a kid, and when I told them I wanted to be a hero they helped me figure out a diet plan to keep me at a healthy weight while doing heavy training. They're the best, I swear."
Katsuki's stomach churned uncomfortably the more Sero talked about his weakness. First Kirishima and now Sero? And to make matters worse his story hit a little closer to home than Kirishima's story. It was sickening how similar his and Sero's situations were. Although the one with the shittier Quirk was Sero hands down, but the appreciation and admiration oozing from Sero's lips as he talked about how his parents spent time learning how to deal with their son's crap, Katsuki got that. He understood that.
"Sucks that I'm still dropping weight," Sero muttered to himself under his breath with a shake of his head. "Anyways, we got off-topic-"
Sero had spoken so fast and so quietly under his breath that the others were almost compelled to just ignore it, forcing themselves to believe they hadn't heard a thing. Luckily, however, Dunce-Face always had above average hearing —that Katsuki wasn't jealous of, fuck off—, so before Sero could continue, the sparky-fucker interrupted him with a shout, "Woah! Woah! Woah! Time out!" Allowing the others a few extra seconds to process what Sero had muttered.
"You're dropping weight!?" They all asked at various levels of loud and pissed.
Yet, in response to his friend's combination of wide eyes, glares, and concerned expressions, Sero had the gall to simply look uncomfortable.
"It's no big deal, guys," He stated slowly. "Just haven't been eating enough, I guess."
Ashido squeaked loudly, sounding angry, downright insulted, while Kirishima and Dunce-Face shouted, "Dude!" together as loudly as they possibly could, utterly appalled.
Finally snapping out of whatever haze he'd had been in, Katsuki snarled bitterly, "You do realize the fucking school offers unlimited lunch for those who need it right, you shitfaced moron?"
In that moment, if Sero was to argue that he indeed was not suicidal like the others feared, he might have won the argument successfully, but he threw those chances straight through the closest window when he reached inside the pocket of his uniform jacket and pulled out his wallet. From his wallet emerged a green card with light green outlines of vegetables, fruits, and chopsticks on the front, and the UA symbol in the corner.
"Yeah, I have a card," Sero turned the card around to show them the back, which had the year they graduated on it, and a barcode.
Once again, Kirishima and Dunce-Face yelled even louder, "DUDE!" While Ashido squealed angrily once again.
Normally Katsuki didn't care about what other people did unless it directly involved him, but this motherfucker was just begging to drop from malnutrition, and it royally pissed him off. How was he supposed to best this idiot fairly if he set a ball and chain around his own fucking ankle!? At UA, they put their students through hell; hours of Quirk training, competitions, exercises, running, and drills. The typical UA student needed a larger diet than the normal high schooler to stay healthy, not at all mentioning the idiots like Sero whose Quirk required large amounts of energy and nutrients to maintain! He might as well be taking a razor to his wrist!
"What the fuck is wrong with you!? Why don't you use it!?" Katsuki shouted, no longer caring if people stared in their direction or not.
"I don't know!" Sero flushed, looking increasingly uncomfortable and defensive. "It's embarrassing."
"Embarrassing?!" They all shouted, Ashido undoubtedly being the loudest and angriest. She continued for the rest, "You're already a twig! You can't afford to lose weight!"
"Weren't we supposed to be helping Kirishima?" Sero huffed.
"Oh, trust me, we'll get back to him, but right now he isn't the one killing himself!" Ashido threw her hands in the air, completely exasperated that they were actually having this conversation.
"I'm not-"
"Hey, man, I'm just twitching a lot, you're actually hurting yourself," Kirishima replied darkly. Then as if to prove his own point, his left eye began to twitch.
"You're overreact-"
"You know what!?" Ashido had enough and stole Sero's green card right from out of his hand. As she stomped her way towards the abandoned lunch line, all Sero could do was watch.
Katsuki wasn't sure she would be able to get any food. The school likely had the card registered under Sero's name and picture. If she didn't get an automatic detention for theft then she'd be questioned for why she had another student's refill-nutrition-food-green card thing. But he gave her this, the bitch had guts, and the look Sero gave them, like the fact Ashido stole his card and ran off was their fault, was priceless. It made Katsuki's slowly growing heart cackle with mirth.
To Katsuki's surprise, Ashido came back with an arm full of food. There were food trays piled high with rice, fish, meat, vegetables, fruit salad, and she was juggling two bowls of noodles and soup. She might as well have brought the entire buffet with her, Katsuki thought, as she set all the food down in front of Sero.
"Eat." Ashido snapped and flopped back into her seat with a thump. "All of it."
Sero gawked at the pile of food.
"What the hell, Mina! I don't have time-"
"Guys! Guys, look how cute he's totally being. Thinking that I care."
Any will Sero had to argue quickly deflated, and he weakly set his hand in the air in mock surrender.
"Alright, alright. Fine, mom," he muttered and moved to start picking at the food before him.
As Sero began to munch on his food, and much to the amusement of Katsuki and the stop-light duo, Ashido pulled out her own mini wallet from her uniform jacket and slid Sero's card into one of the folds. When Sero went to weakly protest she got up and leaned over the table to press her middle finger to his lips, and told him to shush with the nastiest glare she could muster up.
It was the funniest fucking thing Katsuki had ever seen in his entire life, and he couldn't hold back his ugly snorts and evil cackles. Kirishima mumbled under his breath a future reminder to never piss Ashido off. Meanwhile, Dunce-Face wondered aloud how Ashido, not Katsuki, was the first one to do something like that. In the end, the two quickly followed Katsuki's lead and began howling with laughter. Don't get them wrong, they still wanted to strangle a certain twig-thin brunet, but they couldn't help themselves.
Sero huffed indignantly, glaring at every last one of them, and turning a permanent shade of ruby red.
"Seriously, guys, I'm okay," Sero grumbled one last time after all the laughter died. "...but thanks." He then proceeded to shovel spoonfuls of noodles into his mouth.
Ashido cheeks puffed up angrily while she set her hands on her hips, as she was the only one unaffected by the earlier laughing fits. She seemed to be looking for any excuse to just slap him right across the face.
"Embarrassing, embarrassing," Ashido mocked. "It'll be even more embarrassing if you passed out in the middle of class!"
"She's got a point, bro," Kaminari grinned, sober from the hysterical laughing but still giggling like a madman. Meanwhile, Kirishima nodded his agreement.
Sero once again shrugged half-heartedly, "I was just proving a point that Kirishima's Quirk shit isn't nearly as bad as mine."
Now over his initial shock from earlier, Katsuki bitterly rolled his eyes and scoffed.
Fucking moron...
"It isn't a fucking competition, asshole. Everyone got shit with their Quirks," Katsuki said bluntly, as it was a hard fact. However, as Katsuki expected, the Stooges looked at him with doubt on their faces.
Kirishima titled his head back and forth, the same way someone did when weighing their options. Or, maybe he was just twitching again, who fucking knows.
"Well... Not everyone," Kirishima began, but it didn't matter, because Katsuki quickly shut the redhead up with a wave of his hand.
"Everyones got shit wrong with their Quirks." He repeated, slower but firmer. "Might not be as crappy as Soy-Sauce, inconvenient like yours, or stupid like Dunce-Face—"
"Hey! My Quirk doesn't have a weakness!"
"If you fucking use your Quirk too much you get even more brain-dead than you already are."
"... oh yeah, huh?"
"Fucking moron," Katsuki growled.
Truthfully, Dunce-Faces' supposed 'weakness' wasn't the exact type of 'weakness' they were talking about, but it would do to shut the fucker up for now.
Katsuki huffed a sigh, then turned back to Kirishima, "As I was saying, there's a weakness somewhere in every Quirk. All—"
Katsuki paused for a brief moment, the words he was about to say dying upon his lips. His stomach churned anxiously as if daring him to finish his own statement and face the consequences. But when he glanced at Kirishima's confused wide eyes, he knew he had to say the exact version of words that he hated most in order for his speech to really mean anything.
"All Quirks have weaknesses, Shitty Hair."
A shiver ran up his spine. He felt gross. He could practically feel the dirt-digging into his skin.
Quirk Deduction: that's what the Man from the TV was talking about. That was what he did for a living. A subcategory of Quirk Theory that used a combination of Quirk Relativity and Quirk Definition to theorize Quirk's drawbacks or 'weaknesses' for exploitative purposes. It was a morally grey job, and people who pursued it almost always became numb to seeing powerful people become crumbled versions of themselves because of their research. And some others wind up finding a sick pride in it.
Katsuki did his research on it. He understood it. In some ways, he could even see himself pursuing it as it was a very interesting, and highly sought after profession. But that's the thing, even though he was no longer a stupid ten-year-old and he knew all about it, he still hated it with his very being.
All Quirks have weaknesses.
Kirishima's eyes had gone soft and misty as if he'd just seen heaven itself. Dunce-Face still looked like a puppy who finally caught its tail. Sero didn't look convinced, just uncomfortable. And Ashido had her head in her hand and a glare on her face as she pondered something unknown to the rest.
Katsuki pulled out his phone from his pocket to check the time. Then grumbled under his breath when he saw there were still three minutes give or take of lunch left. He was fucking tired of thinking about Quirk's weaknesses and whatnot. Done being reminded of the hearing aids behind his ear, the contacts in his eyes, and the slight ache in his hand.
He did appreciate, but he needed a few days to process and figure his shit feelings out... or a few weeks. A few weeks sounded perfect.
A flurry blur of a waving hand across the table caught Katsuki's attention from the corner of his eye, and he glanced back up to see Ashido jumping in her seat and coming dangerously close to smacking Kirishima across the face.
"Guys!" Ashido called a few times. demanding for their undivided attention. "I have something wrong with my Quirk too! My eyes!" She then made several exaggerated gestures to her solid black, moth-like eyes.
The males of the table blinked in perfect unison.
"What does your Quirk have to do with your eyes?" Sero asked, rightfully confused.
"The doc said my Quirk is the reason why I look like an alien!" Mina threw her hands out to show off her immaculate beauty, or some shit like that. "The acid is made in my horns like blood, then stored throughout the body! So in order for my body to handle the acidity it had to change to be completely resistant! Tada! That's why I look the way I do, and why my eyes are black!"
"Okay, but what's wrong with your eyes?" Dunce Face questioned.
"Shush! I'm getting there! Anyway, so because my eyes are black or something, I don't really remember, my eyes are ultra-sensitive to light! When I was little I had to wear these goggles to see! It took me six years of special Quirk therapy to upgrade to sunglasses, and another three to see without them. But~, bright lights like from flashlights and car headlights still hurt my eyes." Mina covered her eyes to dramatize her point.
Katsuki raised an eyebrow, then hummed passively. He never thought about it, but it made perfect sense to his crappy ears.
"Damn, Mina," Kirishima said, then winced when he felt his own eye begin to twitch again. "That must've sucked."
"Meh, it wasn't so bad, I was used to it, y'know?" Mina shrugged. "Oh! I'm also color blind."
Unable to help themselves, Katsuki and Sero snorted.
"That explains a lot," Sero snickered under his breath, earning him a hard kick in the shins from Kirishima.
"Not manly, bro," Kirishima scowled, but his reaction wasn't nearly as bad as the offended Ashido.
"What did you say, Sero!?" She shrieked and bounced out of her seat for the nth time that lunch period. "Got something to say?"
Sero cackled, not the least bit ashamed of himself, "I was just kidding!"
"I'm not, your sense of color and fashion is shit, Racoon eyes."
"Bro!" Kirishima and Dunce-Face exclaimed, despite their smiles and bubbling laughter.
Sero put his hands up in the air, "He said it, not me!"
"I'll show you shit, Blasty!" Mina set her knee on the table, ready to attack when the bell rang throughout the cafeteria, earning a chorus of groans and whines from all across the room.
Katsuki smirked, having dodged that raging bull of a bullet. He went to stand so he could go throw away his half-eaten tray of freezing cold food but Sero stopped him halfway, motioning quickly to Ashido, who had her arms crossed.
"Really quick before we leave," She said, motioning her head to Katsuki. "So it's confirmed, we all have something wrong with our Quirks, what about you?"
Katsuki's heart stopped beating. He should have expected this but he had hoped they wouldn't have time to ask, and would eventually just forget about it.
Goddamnit, He thought as he forced down a gulp.
"What about me?" He asked, trying to sound passive but coming across as defensive.
"Well you're Mister 'All Quirks have a weakness,'" Katsuki tried not to flinch at the words being thrown back in his face. "what's the issue with your Quirk?"
If Ashido saw how frighteningly guarded Katsuki was, she didn't care.
Kirishima's eyes nervously fluttered between the two like a stupid child caught in the middle of their parents' argument, but when his eyes lingered on Katsuki, they looked curious. As for Dunce-Face and Sero, they cocked their heads to the side, also curious. They all wanted to know if Katuski had any weaknesses.
It made him sick.
It made him feel physically sick.
"Like hell, I'm telling you." he snarked, still trying and failing to seem like he didn't really care.
"Why not? The rest of us did!"
That they did, and he really was fucking grateful, but it also didn't change a fucking thing. He couldn't. Even if he was maybe tempted to say something... he just couldn't.
Even if he wanted to pull his hair to the side and show them the hearing aids carved directly into the flesh behind his ears... Even if he wanted to show them how little devices popped in and out like a USB drive, and talk about how his ear canals were completely shut to work as natural mufflers to his explosions...
Even if he did, he couldn't.
Even if he wanted to go into full detail and explain there was this shit wrong with his eyes that caused them to reflect light out and it made everything really fucking dark because light wasn't hitting his retinas properly, which meant he couldn't see very well... So he had to wear these shitty thick contacts that forced the light to hit his retinas... The problem being that the extra light needed for him to see sometimes fucking burned his eyes...
Even if he did, he couldn't.
Even if he wanted to explain how his skin hardened in much the same vein Kirishima's did except it was only for milliseconds at a time and in a much subtler way... Even if he could tell Kirishima directly that they had something in common because the "hardening" twisted and knotted his muscles until they were agonizingly painful...
Even if he did, he couldn't do it.
Because no matter how much he wanted to tell them every painful detail, his fear kept his tongue limp behind his lips.
He had spent his entire life trying to push them down so no one would ever find out, and he... he just couldn't.
But some part of him wished he could.
Ashido's eyes softened seeing Katsuki shrink in on himself. She glanced at the other Stooges, slightly pouting when they glared at her. She sighed and stood up, the scraping sound of her chair snapping Katsuki out of it.
"Nevermind, Bakugou," She said with an apologetic tone. "It's not that big of a deal, but I'm totally kicking your butt during training for the little comment about my 'shit fashion sense'." Her face brightened dramatically after that, going back to her happy-go-lucky self. She threw her hands in the air, "Anyway! Hurry up, slowpokes! We're gonna have to run if we don't wanna be late again!"
Dunce-Face stood first with a groan, "I don't wanna go back to class, guys! Can't we just ditch or something!?"
"Dude, I can't afford another detention!" Sero shouted as he scrambled to get all his plates, trays, and bowls stacked together.
Ashido took Katsuki's and Kirishima's plate and ran off to put it away with Dunce-Face and Sero nipping at her heels.
Katsuki blinked after them, not understanding how or why they suddenly were acting all normal like they weren't just trying to get him to reveal his deepest, darkest fear. However, he was eager to simply ignore it as well. Not willing to tempt fate or whatever...
He shook his head, forcing himself to drop it like the rest of them before standing and going over to help a wobbly Kirishima.
Katsuki grumbled to Kirishima that he would be their excuse for being late, causing the redhead to laugh as he looped his arm around his shoulder for support.
"Today was a good day," the bastard said with a small but genuinely happy smile.
Katsuki simply nodded, not wanting to admit that he had no idea at all how he felt.
You have no idea how absurdly painful this chapter was to get out, and it's entirely FFN's fault. I had the chapter read and set to go, I got this chapter up on time (Halloween) on AO3 and Wattpad but for some reason the chapter would not, would not, show up on the website, and all links to it (mainly my link) wouldn't work. I spent the better part of 3 days emailing FFN and trying and trying to get this chapter uploaded and it *wouldnt.* I was, no I AM so frustrated with this, and I apologize this was late. It was not my fault.
ANYWAY. Random Notes:
Matter doesn't pop into existence, I know Hori knows this because of Momo. So Sero has to get his tape from somewhere, and unless he gets it from like... the air? I have no idea how his tape can be 'endless' by any means unless he eats an army's worth a food every day. He also seems to have gotten skinnier as the show progresses but that might be because of the animation. Idk.
You can't convince me that Ashido isn't color blind. I am not a fashionista or anything but there is no way her outfit doesn't look stupid to everyone but me. colorblindness is the only explanation. (sorry if I offended any color blind people) The alien thing just makes sense to me. The sensitive to light thing is just something I made up for flavor.
I was unable to reasonably work this in but Denki's 'hidden' weakness is that if he does not release his electricity consistently enough then he can electrocute himself. He will live, but it is unpleasant. (also i told you he'll show up soon)
And finally, Kirishima. So... fun fact... I don't know when. I don't know how, but muscle spasm was supposed to be a Bakugous quirk thing. And painful, tense knotted muscles were supposed to go to Kirishima. but I switched it. and I didn't even realize it until I stumbled across some original notes. I have no idea if this has made my story better or worse, but hey... it's interesting?
Anyway, I don't have much to say and now I'm just wasting your time. Thank you all for reading, I appreciate it as always. And if my assumptions about this chapter being awful were correct feel free to tell me all about it with a review. Thank you! I hope you had a Happy Halloween!
Next Update Will Be On: Saturday - November 21st, American Time
- Kayla