Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or BNHA and any of its characters.
AN: First things first, this chapter contains some descriptions of sensitive topics such as child abuse and neglect.
Your reviews are all so lovely! Responding to-
Okurdek: Naw fam, I absolutely love it when people say/ imply they like my work. I don't think it's arrogant or anything. Praise of any kind is lovely. Thank you so much for reading! Glad you enjoyed it.
Sometimes, the shitty Eggplant likes to say that people won't believe in his firecracker of a friend's capability to be a thinker with the way he normally acts. The mere jest of it is so ridiculous that Katsuki doesn't even beg to differ.
Afterwards, in a purposeful bout of pettiness, the blond will then take all of Hitoshi's cat themed stationary (which includes the entire pencil case, with the exception of that one pencil) and say, after a good old wrestling match, something along the lines of how those extras are equally blind as they are braindead.
Entertainingly, Izuku will literally be in the middle of the spat, and the boys will mysteriously never touch him with their fists or Quirks. He only loves them more for it.
My grades are shit fucking tons better than yours, Katsuki will argue with new bruises on the expanse of his back and face, with arms crossed cockily over his chest. Why? Because due to their superior genes, a Bakugou will always be at the top with their keen and perceptive mind that is never stupid.
The police incident never truly leaves Katsuki's mind because of said mind. It's been half a year, but the memory simply wiggles about in his mind like a worm stuck in a decaying apple.
Unsaid stories were told in their exchanged words. Repeating and repeating and reappearing.
"Closure."
"… if his family made it to Heaven properly."
"Cause I never get lost, Kacchan."
These lines may not have triggered anything particularly bad, but Katsuki needs to know.
What did Deku mean when he had said all these? What is he missing from the picture perfect painting of his best friend?
In all fairness, the conversation had sounded like Deku would lead the dead into the afterlife for fun! The place of hellfire and pristine gates, where his Gran may be with Mochi-filled plates.
Regardless, its somewhere Katsuki won't be going anytime soon. He'll make the world spin counter-clockwise if push comes to pull, no one even remotely involved in tickling his heart is allowed to leave; Katsuki loathes to admit what'll happen to his fucking soul if they do.
Think, the boy tells himself. What could Deku mean?
To put down the facts, Hitoshi and Katsuki both have realised that the Thestral has a watertight sense of direction- a GPS without the connection error. But it has never struck Katsuki that Deku even knows the route to Heaven.
That can't be a thing. There's nothing even close to make sense with that information. Yet, even if the afterlife is somehow tangled in the yarn-ball known as Midoriya Izuku, Katsuki knows too much about fairy tales and folktales to understand the importance of letting the dead lie.
Being a thinker is partially the reason he calls Hitoshi over. Currently, the boy is braiding the wig of a mannequin head for practice while Katsuki thinks, fingers pinching the sharp jut of his chin.
"Calm down," Einstein Hair idly chides, "Fuck you." Katsuki jabs back with little heat. "And you're doing it fucking wrong, your sections are uneven, that's why it's coming out like shit."
Hitoshi nods, immersed in getting the waterfall braid right. For someone who's eerily skilled in tying the Macramé in 4 different variations, the guy can't braid to save his life. Katsuki eats up the offered soft thanks with a smug smirk, soon continuing to pace back and forth on the plush orange carpet.
It goes on for what feels like too short of a time to think things through, but Hitoshi's irritated grunt tells Katsuki that it's been way longer. 1545 reads the digital clock on the bed-stand next to a standing frame containing a picture with all three of them.
Shit, they'll have to meet Deku for sign language classes soon. For the life of him, Katsuki can barely even remember if he's done the practice-based homework. "FUCK!"
"Your bad." Chuckles the unhelpful Eggplant, apparently reading his mind. "This wouldn't have happened if you stopped riding Izu like a pet horse last year. Taking sign language classes to spite my Brainwash might've been the best thing ever. For us, I mean. Not you. Who would've thought that responding non-verbally could work too?"
"Not me, no shit. But- fuck- you just wouldn't stop bitching about it! Deku already said he didn't mind! And I didn't learn sign to spite your lame ass. I'm going deaf, fuckwit."
"Right," Hitoshi deadpans. "Even though you only realised that after the fifth class."
"I was 10!" groaned the blond. "My Gran told me that children are always stupid at 10."
"You literally just said that Bakugous are never stupid," Hitoshi sighs, and seeing the Firecracker's vexed expression, "Later, then." He waves. "Izu's probably outside already. I can hear Aunty Mitsuki calling for us."
The scowl on Katsuki's face is all bark and no bite. Grabbing their bags, an explosion blows where the blond suddenly hammers his beaten desk. "I got it!" he gasps with an excited breath. Hitoshi jerks his head back, lips twitching.
Great, the second oldest of the area-famous trio sighs sarcastically.
"We'll tail him! Deku doesn't hang out with us after school on Wednesdays so it's a fucking free pass to see what he's up to. We're gonna find out what the nerd's been hiding from us."
"Isn't that… like, stalking? Y'know, illegal stuff?"
"You using your Quirk on me to buy cat treats is fucking 'illegal stuff'. Suck it up, pussy-lover. And you're a liar with your pants about to catch on a fucking explosion if you tell me you aren't curious too. Not when Izuku's everything."
The thing is, Hitoshi worries while looking into those blazing scarlet eyes, he's not wrong.
The feeling's ugly, hideous beyond compare. Worst still, they both aren't ignorant of it; like how people know that the Earth revolves around the sun, everything's as clear as day: scheming like this behind someone's back is wrong.
They're supposed to be better than this. Especially as each other's personal self-reflection journals.
Deku and Hitoshi know of Katsuki's searing ambition and simmering anger. They burn him until kindness can no longer gauze the wound. They tell him this, so the boy cannot pretend that his temper could not have become something villainous.
Similarly, Katsuki and Deku is also aware of Hitoshi's bottomless anxiety that takes his breath away amidst locked jaws and an anchored tongue. The sight of porcelain represent danger, words that are sharper than broken glass make his reaction dull with compliancy.
It's a constant battle in a dessert of quicksand; he's told them about the first time his mother laid her hands on him. He felt nothing.
Deku too, is aware that he's dangerously kind, but just as sad because of it. Always knowing and understanding, the boy will take on emotional baggage from any person on the street until he's dragging the weight on his knees, shredding up the smoothness of his skinny legs.
They share and tell and show in simple words and scars. Helping and loving and supporting each other in spite of it. Co-dependency draws a thin line if anyone will look deeper into the trio who are together six days a week.
One line can sum it all up. Shinso cries- a terrifying thing- when he's made to go back to his parent's house or if he's not within the presence of either one of his friends for more than a day.
(Bright Katsuki, calm Hitoshi, and selfless Izuku, neither of them know of Inko's intentions to send each of them to a counsellor one day.
Mitsuki agrees, no one had sought help when Katsuki's Gran passed away. Regret stinging a bit too late on her and her husband's conscience.
Hitoshi's case in itself deserves to have an arc of its own for it is no less insignificant and no more significant than the others. The boys may have been born with a shadow's child in their mind, but that's okay. They can learn to cope, together.)
The implicit promise comes true on the following Wednesday. Hitoshi personally feels little guilt when it comes down to it, leaving wondering thoughts on when his moral compass became so warped wherein Izuku is involved.
But that in itself is screwed up too, in a way, because it's like he's blaming his best friend for the subtle change.
The blond is already at the meeting place, ever the over-achiever as punctuality can and will become a competition if a Bakugou declares it so.
The skies look good today, full of azure blue against smears of white that are barely present; there's not even a trickle of warm wind blowing heat waves like nobody's business. The weather's suspiciously nice.
So nice, it's kind of hateful.
Hitoshi breathes out softly when a ray harsh light hits his eyes, forcing a squint. "Yo," he greets, hands tightening on the strap of his cat-eared bag. "Last call now. To go, or not to go? That is the question- cause as much as I am loving the idea on doing illegal things, I don't wanna see Izu cry."
"He won't." the blond scoffs with a roll of his eyes. "The nerd'll understand."
"I sure hope so."
"We're his friends, aren't we?"
"Friends trust each other, last I read."
"Friends don't keep shit from each other too. Update your fucking manual."
"Point." Hitoshi relents. "I'm keeping a secret though, by the way. I haven't told you or Izu cuz I needed time to think about it."
Katsuki cracks his neck, eyebrows scrunching until they almost touched. Piss poor as the blond is at hiding emotions, the cat-lover's heart clenches the moment he sees an ugly kind of sad anger crumple into his second best friend's face.
"Is it about them?" He enunciates at the last word; Hitoshi gets a nod for the glower. "I'll fucking kill them one day. I'll do it, I swear, I fucking will."
It's one hundred percent sincere when Hitoshi says "Thanks,". Unfortunately, they both know Katsuki can't. Not if they want to be Heroes; not if they want to stay by Izuku's side.
The heat gets stronger the longer they stand beneath the clear blues filled unbridled tension. Streams of sweat are pouring down their faces when Katsuki breaks the air by grunting.
"by my side, Shitty Eggplant. We have secrets to dig the fuck up."
Hitoshi follows.