"Go fuck yourself, Kirishima," he replies, trying to shake the smiling boy off his trail. He halts in his tracks, however, at the sight of the biggest robot he's seen yet.

"A zero-pointer," Kirishima whispers, staring up at it in terror. Katsuki feels a crazed grin start to spread across his own face. "Fuck yes," he breathes with what's probably far too much excitement, if the concerned look Kirishima gives him is anything to go by. "Hey, man, we don't get any points. We might as well just leave," the red-head says nervously, eyeing the rapidly approaching robot. Katsuki shakes him off, pulling his nunchaku from his belt loop. Finally. Kirishima stops, staring at the nunchaku in disbelief.

"Dude. Dude. I don't know what your quirk is, but that is not gonna put a dent in that robot," he says, slightly hysterically. Katsuki turns to him with a wide smile. "Who said anything about quirks, Shitty-hair?"

Kirishima goes pale.

Katsuki slips his gloves onto his hands, excitement making him clumsy, before pressing the button at the bottom of the metal tool and watching the bright blue pulse spread across it.

Fuck. Yes.

He starts to jog forward, lips twisted in a wide grin as he curls the nunchaku around his wrists to warm up. The robot, bless its soul, lumbers straight towards him, and he clambers up it to wrap the chain of the nunchaku against its exposed wiring at the joint of its finger, pulling and feeling the rush of electricity send a spasm down the robot's entire body. The machine jerks violently, almost sending Katsuki flying, before starting to list sideways. To his utter shock (and slight disappointment), that hit is all it takes for the robot to crumple. For all its looming size, the zero- pointer really is easily felled. Well, Katsuki muses as he hops off it with a small pout and switches off his nunchaku, hooking it back into his belt loop, at least he got a chance to test the damn thing. Kirishima is staring at him, mouth hanging open and eyes wide, as Katsuki walks past him just in time for Present Mic's grating announcement for the end of the exam. Well, he knows he got well over a hundred points for this exam, and he aced the written one too, so he's not too bothered.

And the best thing about it, he thinks as he walks past all the dejected applicants, is that he didn't have to use his quirk once.

Apparently, his mother tells him the next day, Izuku got quite injured during the entrance exam. He snorts, but it's more out of unsurprised bitterness than anything else, and his parents give him a disapproving look. He wants to be pissed, and in a way he is, but more than anything his skin crawls at the thought of Izuku in bandages, all prone and motionless in a hospital, so he decides to go visit the loser anyway. He brings him a convenience store card with a picture of a cat on it, and neatly scrawls on the inside, 'sorry you suck at following my advice', along with Izuku's least favourite chocolate. When he gets there he sees that Izuku really is lying in his hospital bed, covered in bandages like Katsuki imagined. In fact, there's not a single part of his body that isn't bandaged. The dumbass isn't conscious, though, so Katsuki isn't given the satisfaction of laughing in his face. Instead, he obediently hugs Auntie Inko, tells her to get some sleep, and leaves the hospital feeling slightly less pissed than before at the knowledge that the nerd has at least suffered for his stupidity.

He gets his acceptance letter a month later.

He's ranked first, obviously. He scores over 200 villain points, and even an extra 15 rescue points, whatever the fuck those are. He assumes that he earned them from saving Shitty-hair's ass, and muses that maybe the dumbass wasn't completely useless after all. His parents cry (and he's fairly certain Kenjirou-sensei tears up a little bit, too) and it's fucking disgusting so he decides to go to Saki-sensei's studio to practise while the other adults get their shit together. She laughs, hugs him tightly (which is only marginally less disgusting than the crying, but he allows it because he loves her) and they run through fouettes until they're both dizzy and giggling.

"So," she breathes when they're lying flat on their backs and staring up at the high ceiling of the studio.

"You're going to UA, huh."

"Yeah."

"When do you start?"

"Next month."

"You know anyone else who's going?"

"Deku applied."

"You think he got in?"

Katsuki sighs, reaching up to block the light from his eyes.

"Mm. He was always gonna get in. He just needed to try."

And he's honest when he says it, but he just wishes that Izuku didn't need a quirk to believe it too.

Chapter End Notes

you might notice that i modified the weapons a little!! instead of natasha's electroshock batons, i went for electroshock nunchakus - these shouldn't be too different in terms of functionality, but it was just a choice i thought would be fun :-)

four

Chapter Summary

and so their hero academia begins. the two boys talk, and katsuki thinks maybe it's time to stop looking at all might through his rose-coloured glasses.

Chapter Notes

hello hello hello! this is super late because i've been stuck on this chapter a while (and honestly am still not satisfied with it. at ALL.) but alas here it is! i have a few notes to make before we begin!! first of all, regarding the gender dysphoria - there will not be much of it. i will be having hints of it, but i'm having trouble and as someone who does not have any actual EXPERIENCE with it, i'd rather not portray it at all than misrepresent it. apologies if this bothers any of you :') also, this will not be a deku-bashing fic!! so if you're looking for that i suggest you keep in mind that the two WILL be mending their relationship. this fic is not canon, and their issues are very different from that of canon too. katsuki's problem with izuku comes out of a place of care for him in this fic - he DOES very much care for him. i won't explain too much what their feelings for each other really are, because i don't want to in my notes, but i'd be happy to elaborate it in a comment if anyone is still confused. that being said i'm not saying if you're not the biggest fan of deku, you should stop reading this fic, because it IS a katsuki-centric fic no matter what (and will consequently feature a large amount of katsuki yelling at him by default anyway)!!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

The first thing Katsuki sees when he walks into his new classroom at UA is a middle-aged man curled up in a yellow sleeping bag behind the teacher's podium. The man, who Katsuki recognises moments later as an underground hero called Eraserhead, looks entirely unimpressed by the students chattering away. Moments later, the hero senses Katsuki watching him and he turns to stare back, holding his gaze flatly. Katsuki looks him straight in the eye as he stomps over to his desk and kicks his feet up on the desk, arching a brow in challenge. Eraserhead blinks, a slow acknowledgement of their mutual distaste for life as a whole, and they look away.

Then seconds later, a boy with rectangular glasses and what looks like a sizable stick up his ass materialises to chastise him, arms flailing wildly as he begins to rant about the disrespect of putting one's feet against the tables. Katsuki pins him with a blank stare, and a flat, "Is it against the fucking rules, Four-eyes?" that has the boy freezing in his tracks before turning on his heel to fuck off and reexamine the school rulebook, thoroughly chagrined.

"Oi, oi, it's you!" someone is calling not even a split moment later, and Katsuki's vision is filled with red. Why are there so many of these fuckers, Katsuki bemoans to himself as Shitty-hair bounds up to him.

"Go away."

"I'm Kirishima Eijirou! We met at the entrance exam!" Kirishima says, sticking a hand out happily.

"Go away, Shitty-hair."

At this, Kirishima's expression somehow brightens even more.

"So you do remember me!" he exclaims, grin widening. "I knew it! What's your name?"

"I don't want to be your friend," Katsuki deadpans. "Fuck off."

"That's a long name," Kirishima says cheerfully in response, completely ignoring the murderous aura surrounding the blonde. He opens his mouth to speak again when Eraserhead finally wriggles into a sitting position next to the podium.

"If you're just here to make friends, then leave now," he drawls from the floor, making everyone (sans Katsuki) jump about a foot in the air.

"What the hell?" a girl with pink skin and black eyes says. "Who is that? Since when was he here?"

Katsuki muses absent-mindedly that if these losers are already this unattentive, the future of the hero industry really is doomed. He's more interested in the way Kirishima actually wilts at the pointed look the teacher gives him, finally dropping the hand he'd had outstretched to Katsuki and blushing in embarrassment. It makes the blonde feel somewhat guilty, for some reason, like he's just kicked a puppy. Katsuki groans to himself, pushing his foot off the table to nudge the redhead in the side. "Name's Bakugou," he offers blandly. Kirishima perks all the way up again at this, completely forgetting his previous dejection. Across the room, Izuku is watching them hopefully, trying to make eye contact with Katsuki desperately while the latter ignores him.

Fuck that.

The class is herded off to the grounds after Eraserhead (who has now introduced himself as Aizawa-sensei) throws gym uniforms at them and stalks out.

Apparently he wants them to do an aptitude test. They're missing the orientation assembly for it, Katsuki sighs. How unprofessional. But he throws the softball Aizawa-sensei offers him nonetheless, using his quirk and watching as it sails past the 700-metre mark easily. Behind him, he hears Kirishima make a confused noise.

"What the hell? You have a fire quirk?!"

Katsuki rolls his shoulder, muttering back, "It's an explosion quirk, dickhead," in correction as he walks back out of the circle. Kirishima follows him like a trailing puppy. "No way! Then what was that at the entrance exam?"

"What was what?"

"With the—the nunchakus!"

"Owning nunchakus isn't a quirk, Shitty-hair."

"But—Huh?!"

Half the class is watching them at this point, completely bemused. Izuku stares at them intensely.

"What nunchakus?" he interjects, and Kirishima turns to him with wild eyes.

"Bakugou didn't even use his goddamn quirk, the dude took down a zero-pointer with a pair of nunchakus, bro, it was insane! And the nunchakus were like—" he's cut off by a sharp jab of Katsuki's elbow to his ribs. "Shut up," he mutters heatlessly, turning away and avoiding Izuku's wide eyed gaze.

"K—Kacchan—"

"Shut up."

The loser is looking at him with those stupid sad eyes already, as if he was expecting Katsuki to fucking lie about it or something—like he hadn't already told him he was gonna do it quirkless.

He's saved from having to deal with the dumbass any longer by Kirishima, who decides to instead slowly say, "Did you just call him Kacchan?" which obviously sparks an entire new debate and ends with Izuku blushing like mad and half the class convinced that he and the nerd are dating. The implication makes Katsuki's skin crawl but seeing the way the nerd flails is fucking hilarious, so he doesn't say anything and instead stares at Aizawa-sensei stubbornly, his lack of denial only further spurring them.

So Izuku has a quirk. Huh. Katsuk's not super surprised by it, considering that Izuku had already told Katsuki in middle school and the nerd's never really been in the habit of lying. What is surprising, though, is All Might's poorly concealed figure watching from behind a building anxiously. After the test is revealed to be a ruse (seriously, this guy is so predictable, why are his classmates so surprised?) he spots the number one hero dragging Izuku away behind the building to have a hushed conversation.

Katsuki blinks. So Izuku has suddenly gotten real chummy with All Might, a man with a strength quirk, and has also gotten himself a similar strength quirk after spontaneously informing Katsuki of his alleged new quirk.

Interesting.

He's tempted to follow them and eavesdrop on their conversation, but Kirishima tears his attention away with his insistent tugging on his arm.

"Dude. Dude! What the heck? Your quirk's insane, why wouldn't you use it at the entrance exam? Huh?"

Katsuki shakes him off.

"I had a point to prove."

Kirishima lets go of his arm to stare at him in confusion, examining him for a moment before a slow, awed grin overtakes his face.

"That's super manly!"

"Yeah, whatever."

They meet their teachers over the span of the next few days, and Katsuki despairs as to who the hell let Present Mic teach English. The guy teaches nothing but colloquialisms that make him sound like an underpaid DJ at a frat party. He itches to correct the asshole at moments, but instead chooses to finish his worksheets silently, lacking the energy to open that can of worms.

Then they have their first combat training class with All Might. The losers all turn up in their hero costumes, which are all terrifyingly badly designed. Izuku is in a full-body jumpsuit that would not look out of place in a furry convention, and Endeavour's son is literally half-covered in fucking ice. What a fucking waste.

Katsuki's own hero costume is simple, but at least he knows it fucking works. It's a black ensemble, with a turtleneck and long, panelled sleeves that conceal a number of blades at the forearm gauntlet. There's orange and dark green detailing, a cross at his chest and stripes at his elbows that he'd added begrudgingly after his mother had told him he looked like a wannabe FBI agent. His belt is also orange and green, adorned with a number of grenades filled with his own sweat and various other gases that are probably in varying levels of legality, as well as panelling that holds a further ten or so blades and his beloved Glock (that Kenjirou-sensei regrets gifting him to this day). His nunchakus hang from the side of his belt, positioned in a way that his hand brushes their trigger switch when it's at his side.

And then there's his grenadier bracers. They're fucking huge, and annoyingly clunky if Katsuki's being honest, especially in comparison to the rest of his suit, but they pack a punch and they're fucking intimidating so he loves them.

There's one final addition to his hero costume. He hadn't told his parents about it, or even Kenjirou-sensei. They're wired bracelets at his wrists, sitting light and almost unnoticeable over his gloves. They're electric again, and fucking extra, but he lived for the rush of destroying that zero-pointer at the exam and he couldn't resist the temptation of taking it just one step further. Hopefully his parents aren't too mad about it.

His boots are sturdy but quiet as fuck, and he enjoys watching Kirishima quite literally jump out of his skin when he walks up from behind him and says, "Your costume looks fucking stupid."

"Dude! Where did you even come from?"

Kirishima's not wearing a shirt. Of course he's not. Katsuki ignores his question, and the redhead continues to ramble, staring at his costume in awe.

"Bro, your costume is so cool! Look at your grenade hands!"

"They're bracers."

"Grenade hands," he stresses, poking at the grenadier bracers and earning a sharp jab to the ribs for his efforts.

He's teamed up with the rich kid from their first day, the one with engines in his legs. Apparently his name is Iida, but Katsuki takes to calling him Four-eyes, because it pisses him off. And lo and behold, they're playing the villains against Izuku and the gravity girl. The aim is to protect a huge fake bomb, and they literally don't have to do anything but wait for the other two to come and take

The class watches in silence as Midoriya crumples to the floor. Bakugou shakes out his wrist, and the electric blue lines running down the back of his hand disappear. "Is… is he allowed to do that?" Hagakure asks hesitantly.

"Yes," Aizawa-sensei says flatly. "Yes he is."

"I can't believe Bakugou just killed Midoriya," Kirishima sighs.

Ochako is getting worried. There's less than five minutes until the exercise ends and they automatically lose, and Midoriya still hasn't sent her the signal. "Midoriya?" she ventures into the microphone attached to her costume yet again. "Are you there?"

She receives static in response. She frowns, chewing her lip thoughtfully. If they don't get to the bomb now, they're going to lose by default. Making up her mind, she switches off her microphone and turns around, heading back towards the main room.

When she walks in, Midoriya's unconscious figure is slumped against the wall, mere inches from the bomb they need to touch to win the fight. On one side, leaning against the wall, Iida sits beside him, arguing passionately with Bakugou, who sits against the bomb itself on Midoriya's other side.

"Oh no," she whispers. They both turn to stare at her.

"Hey, she's here," Bakugou says casually. "You can do that weird villain speech you were practising."

Iida's expression lights up and he pushes himself to his feet, pointing a triumphant finger at her.

"I am the personification of villainy, and you, my dear hero, have failed to thwart us! It is better for you to yield now and embrace the evil within you!" he announces.

Ochako stares at him, and then at Bakugou, who's snickering behind him quietly. "Oi, Four-eyes," Bakugou wheezes. "Now do the laugh. Trust me, gravity girl, this is the best part."

On cue, Iida throws his head back and lets out the most wicked, movie-villain-style cackle she's ever heard, sending Bakugou into a fit of silent laughter so intense he turns red, falling to the ground against Midoriya's limp body.

Then there's rough crackling echoing through the room, and Aizawa-sensei's staticky voice is calling over the speakers, "Time is now up. The villain team wins."

Katsuki is walking to the locker room when he passes Recovery Girl's office and hears All Might's hushed voice again. He peers in, seeing the hero hunched over Izuku's bed, the two exchanging urgent, whispered words. He catches fragments of the conversation, like only natural to sustain damage and stockpile quirk.

Fucking hell.

He pushes the door open, slamming it shut behind him loudly to accent his entrance as All Might straightens hastily.

"O—oh, Young Bakugou, we were just discussing your recent fight—"

Katsuki raises a hand to silence him, pinning the two with an unimpressed glare.

"If you two dipshits are gonna try and keep your whole quirk exchange schtick a secret, maybe don't have super suspicious conversations in public places."

"Oh my god you just called All Might a dipshit," Izuku says in horror.

"You know about One for All," All Might says in equal horror.

Katsuki blinks at him. "The fuck is One for All? The name of your quirk or something? I don't give a fuck, you two are obvious as hell so stop it. 'S fucking annoying."

They blink at him in tandem, and he throws his hands up in exasperation.

"Did you seriously think you were being smooth? Deku being quirkless his entire life and then suddenly getting a quirk that's literally almost exactly the same as yours, after becoming suspiciously close with you? You two sneaking off to have little father-son lunch dates every day?"

All Might sputters and Izuku falls off his bed, mouth hanging open. Katsuki turns to the adult, rounding on him with a piercing stare.

"If you really feel the obligation to get Deku mixed up in your quirk bullshit, the least you could do is be discreet about it. Because I don't know shit but I have a feeling that villains would do a lot to get their hands on him if they knew. Get your shit together before you get him killed."

All Might's mouth snaps shut and his head bows, a guilty twinge in his eye.

"Kacchan, that's too harsh," Izuku says defensively. "All Might isn't—"

"All Might," Katsuki says venomously. "Seems to have convinced you that your new quirk makes you invincible. Well, news flash, Deku, you're not. You're just as mortal as you were before, if me kicking your ass today without even using my quirk was any indication. So stop making excuses for him, stop thinking that breaking your fucking bones every other day is normal, and for fuck's sake, stop having private conversations in public."

Fixing the hero with one final bitter glare, he turns on his heel and walks out of the infirmary, slamming the door shut behind him.

Chapter End Notes

and thus the widow bites make their appearance :) you may notice i've also made some modifications to katsuki's hero costume! the main changes are that his canon winter costume is now his regular costume in this fic, but his fic costume (very unfortunately) lacks the adorable explosions behind his head and there's a lot more gear hanging off his belt/concealed along the costume!! also, the weird black box shape near his mouth in canon is just a simple turtleneck-type thing, altogether it's made a lot stealthier and lighter!!

five

Chapter Summary

usj but make it vaguely more katsuki-centric

Chapter Notes

what up i'm bunny i'm 18 and i never fuckin learned how to pace my writing

we are here with the USJ arc!!! i am so sorry this took so long!! it's been, like, one and half months??? i've been super busy now that university has started :( whoever told me law school is easy lied lol

this chapter is my longest one yet (6.1k, holy shit??) yet is still largely filler :')

please skip to the end notes to see warnings for this chapter!

See the end of the chapter for more notes

Choosing a class representative is just about the most mundane thing Katsuki has done since setting foot in UA.

It's a relatively smooth process, in which Iida wins with five votes, and Yaoyorozu is elected vice representative with four votes.

Katsuki is utterly disgusted to realise that he himself is a runner-up with two votes despite his repeated expressal of exactly how much he didn't want the position. When he questions this, Izuku and Kirishima avert their eyes sheepishly, suddenly finding the ceiling very interesting. Fuckers.

He stews in his annoyance about this over lunch for all of ten minutes before the school alarms are going off and the entire school falls into chaos. Katsuki, who's sitting on the roof eating lunch as he does his history homework, watches the entire thing with no small amount of amusement.

It's evident from his position that the mess is caused by some shitty journalists, so he doesn't bother moving from his spot, continuing to eat slowly. It's not like he'd be any safer in that stampede of students, anyway.

When he arrives at class, Kirishima is upon him instantly.

"Dude! Where the hell were you?" he demands. "The alarms went off, it was chaos!"

"I know," Katsuki mutters, shrugging the red-head's hand off his shoulders. "I saw."

"What?! How?"

"None of your business," he sighs, shoving his hand away yet again and moving to sit at his seat.

The red-head doesn't look too hurt at his dismissal, but eyes him curiously for the entire class nonetheless.

Katsuki ignores him, staring straight ahead as Aizawa-sensei introduces some new training they're going to be doing off-campus.

The bus trip to the training site is loud as hell.

It seems the class doesn't know how to ever shut the fuck up. They flit from conversation topics in a matter of moments, the group of them gossiping like idiots. At some point when he's started zoning out as he stares outside the window, he hears a mention of his name and he tunes in just in time to hear the boy with the electricity quirk snigger, "Bakugou would probably end up scaring the civilians away,"

Katsuki snaps his head up, raising his middle finger wordlessly with a flat glare. This makes his classmates laugh even harder, to his irritation.

"Seriously, though," Black-eyes giggles. "Bakugou's got this really creepy vibe to him, y'know? So quiet and scary. How's he gonna rescue civilians like that?"

She earns a few scattered words of agreement, but Kirishima wraps an arm around Katsuki's shoulder and laughs loudly, making him cringe away with a scowl.

"C'mon, guys, Bakugou's a cool dude!" he says good-naturedly. "Besides, if we're talking about Bakugou, shouldn't we be asking Midoriya? They are, uh, pretty close."

Katsuki decides he very much does not like the suggestive tone Kirishima's voice takes on the final word, and he likes its accompanying eyebrow wiggle even less.

Izuku's cheeks darken when their classmates turn to stare at him with teasing smirks, and he starts to stutter out a weak denial, flailing helplessly.

"You guys are close, right, Bakugou?" Kirishima jeers, nudging Katsuki lightly.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Katsuki mutters evasively, just because it fills him with vindictive satisfaction to see the class in turn start to rib Izuku even more at his non-answer. The green-haired boy shoots Katsuki a baleful glare, which he promptly ignores in favour of staring out of the window pointedly.

The rest of the bus trip is filled with the class taunting a steadily reddening Izuku.

The USJ is huge. UA really doesn't skimp out on spending, Katsuki will give them that. It's large enough to fit an entire new school inside, with specialised zones of different conditions.

The rescue hero Thirteen joins them. Aizawa walks up to Thirteen, and Katsuki strains his ears enough to hear his homeroom teacher faintly mutter, "Isn't All Might meant to be here?" under his breath. In response, the other hero subtly holds up three fingers, and lightly responds, "All Might ran out of time for today, so I'll be joining you."

Ran out of time? Katsuki wonders if this has something to do with Izuku. Evidently, it does, given the way Izuku's eyes widen knowingly at the conversation that he's obviously also heard. Whatever. Aizawa simply nods imperceptibly, and Thirteen turns to greet the class before starting their obligatory motivational speech about saving people. Thirteen is a pretty cool hero, Katsuki admits. Their quirk is badass as hell—but they just don't stop talking.

He takes the time to look around the center, zoning out as he waits for them to finish. There's an actual fucking life-size mountain range, as well as an entire sector of destroyed buildings. There's also an area of water that's bigger than most lakes, waters evidently quite deep even from their distance. The budget for this place is insane, considering how often it probably gets damaged and restored again. He'd actually be quite impressed by it all, if he wasn't immediately hit with a feeling of unease so strong it feels like a punch to the gut.

Something is wrong.

He freezes, causing Kirishima, who's hopping around as he listens to Thirteen, to bump into his shoulder with a yelp.

"Dude!" Kirishima cries, but Katsuki is too busy looking around the centre warily, eyes narrowed and body stiff with tension. "...Bakugou?" Kirishima asks, sounding a little more hesitant.

There's a strong tug in Katsuki's stomach that has his attention tunnelling to the empty centre of the dome, and he feels goosebumps raise on his arms.

"Sensei," he finds himself saying sharply, cutting off Thirteen mid-sentence. The entire class turns to stare at him in a mixture of annoyance and confusion, but his eyes are trained to the empty spot on the training ground. "Something's wrong," he grits out. Aizawa-sensei follows his gaze to the vacant space. "What do you mean?" he asks intently, and Katsuki clenches his jaw.

"Fucking—I don't know. Something."

The class all stare at the area in silence for a moment. "Maybe you're just on edge, Bakug—" Kirishima begins, before his jaw drops open at the wisps of purple that begin to materialise in the very space Katsuki has been watching, twisting to form what looks like a huge vortex.

There's a moment of stunned stillness where the group watches the purple mass expand, an outstretched hand emerging from its midst. The hand is followed by a black-clad body that is covered in fucking severed hands. The body belongs to an electric-blue haired man with another severed hand covering his face. He's flanked by dozens of other people that step out of the vortex, and at his left there's a hulking giant man (or creature, Katsuki honestly doesn't fucking know) with dark blue skin, a gold-tipped beak and the top part of his head missing to expose his brain. He's fucking huge, easily three times the size of All Might. The group, at least a hundred to two hundred people, spreads out over the center of the training ground.

"Whoa," Kirishima mutters next to him, sounding slightly terrified. "This is a pretty intense drill."

This is not a goddamn drill, Katsuki says internally, something oddly familiar inside him twisting at the look in the intruders' eyes that's visible even from his distance. Those are...

"Those are villains," Aizawa-sensei says grimly, as if confirming his fear. "This isn't a drill. Everyone behind me now."

The students all shuffle behind him immediately, suddenly looking a lot more alert.

"Thirteen, get the students out of here. I'll handle this," he instructs, hair starting to rise as he snaps

his goggles over his face briskly.

Katsuki watches with a lump forming in his stomach as Aizawa-sensei sprints over towards the huge group of villains. He's not stupid enough to think his teacher weak, but Aizawa-sensei is still an underground hero, and his quirk and fighting style are poorly matched here. There's adrenaline coursing through Katsuki's veins as his homeroom teacher wraps his scarves around three villains at once and sends them flying into each other, and he wants nothing more than to join him and fight. But Thirteen is already turning around and ushering them towards the entrance discreetly.

It's futile. Moments later, another purple portal is opening in front of the doorway and blocking their exit.

A man in a suit steps out of it, shrouded in more purple wispy shit that's so dense Katsuki can't see any of him. He's the one making the portals, Katsuki realises.

"Nice to meet you," he announces weirdly formally. "We are the League of Villains."

And then, as if Thirteen's damn speech wasn't enough, the asshole starts monologuing.

Fucking hell.

The bottom line, apparently, is that they're here to kill All Might.

Now, Katsuki hasn't been the biggest fan of All Might as of late. However, like hell is he gonna let the asshole die, because then Izuku would probably also die because he'd have no one to teach him how to use his stupid quirk.

Damn it.

He contemplates attacking the asshole now, but before he can make any impulsive decisions, Kirishima is making one for him. The idiot is surging forward with his arms hardened into jagged rock and an excited grin on his face, and Katsuki groans internally, following him with no small amount of reluctance.

Katsuki sends dual explosions into the villain's face, easily hard enough to knock out a normal person. But something inside him is telling him it's useless. And lo and behold, when the smoke clears the man is still standing, misty form scattering and reforming unnaturally. The bulk of the mist seems to float around one mass, and Katsuki catches sight of the glint of metal as the mist shifts back into place.

"Oh dear," the villain rumbles in his unsettlingly polite tone. "That's dangerous."

Thirteen cries out from behind them, instructing them to get back, but the villain is already drawing closer to a frozen Katsuki and Kirishima.

"My job," he sighs lowly, "Is to scatter you all and torture you to death."

And before Katsuki can even blink, they're all enveloped in purple.

Yeah, in hindsight, maybe they shouldn't have attacked the villain.

Oops.

There's a tug in the bottom of his stomach, and he only has time to reach over and latch onto

Kirishima's bicep before they're being sucked into the vortex and hurled into nothingness.

Moments later, he's falling in a heap onto hard cement, surrounded by dust and grey. It's warmer and darker; some kind of room. He realises with a jolt as he stares outside the window that they're in one of the destroyed buildings he'd glimpsed earlier on the training field.

By the time Kirishima sits up to rub at the back of his head with a groan, Katsuki is already on his feet and staring at the eight villains that surround them in the tiny room.

"Shitty-hair," he mutters. "Get up."

"In a minute, man," the red-head whines, eyes still half-closed. Katsuki wants to dropkick the idiot out of the goddamn window.

"Kirishima," he grits out, dangerously low this time. "Get up before I fucking kill you."

The other pushes to his feet with another groan, promptly making eye contact with the villain standing right in front of him, and blanches.

"Oh shit," he says, and then the villain punches him in the face.

Katsuki turns to the villains facing him and they charge him at once. By the time he's knocked two of them out and thrown the third out of the window, Kirishima has finally got the drop on the one that hit him.

"I'm gonna fuckin' kill you," the villain spits at Kirishima, barely dodging a blow.

"C'mon, man, you already punched me in the face! Isn't that enough?" the red-head wails as he flails out of the way of a kick, hardened arms denting the wall upon impact.

"You deserved that punch for being an idiot," Katsuki says absent-mindedly as he fires an explosion in the face of the fourth villain, who crumples instantly. Kirishima whines in the background, and the villain snorts in agreement.

"Dude!" he cries. "Are you seriously teaming up on me with a villain right now?"

"Yes," Katsuki deadpans, punching the fifth guy in the face and throwing the final two into the wall with an explosion.

It's kind of pathetic that it's taking Kirishima this long to kick one guy's ass, but Katsuki takes pity on him and doesn't mention it. To be fair, the villain's quirk seems to allow him to absorb blows, skin shifting and sinking on impact and rendering Kirishima pretty much useless. He's only just started to slow down, quirk weakening as the student wears him out. Finally, the villain falters and Kirishima gets a solid hit in, sending the man sprawling, and he doesn't get back up.

Kirishima straightens to grin at him widely, eyes widening at the unconscious bodies surrounding Katsuki.

"You took out so many of them, what the hell?" he breathes in awe. Katsuki, who's too busy trying to feel out the invisible presence creeping up behind him, doesn't respond. When the person is right next to his shoulder, he reaches backward and grabs them, spinning to slam his elbow into their face with an audible crack. Just like that, the invisibility quirk wears off to reveal a weird chameleon-looking guy, slumped in his grasp.

"These villains are too weak," Katsuki mutters to himself. "They're distracting us."

Kirishima is just gaping at him, muttering something about crazy reaction times.

Katsuki sighs and heads out to the window. They're quite far off from the entrance, and he can see a few of their classmates scattered around in different places.

In the centre of the ground, Aizawa-sensei is fighting the blue-haired hands guy. They grapple for a moment, and then the villain wraps his fingers around the teacher's elbow, and Katsuki stares in dread as the hero's skin begins to crumble, visible cracks spider-webbing up the skin even from Katsuki's distance.

"Fuck," he breathes. Kirishima joins him at the window just in time to watch as the huge dark blue creature grabs Aizawa-sensei by the back of the head and slams him face-first into the concrete hard enough that it cracks. Katsuki and Kirishima flinch at the sight, and the sickening sound of the impact that echoes around the dome. Blood begins to pool under Aizawa-sensei's body slowly, spreading across the cracked floor. Then the creature hunches over their limp teacher and takes his wrist, snapping it with one hand and earning a strangled cry that makes Katsuki feel vaguely ill.

He's jumping out of the window moments later, bile bitter at the back of his throat, and he registers Kirishima next to him. They land on the floor two stories down and start to sprint towards the fight. Aizawa-sensei is unmoving, now, and Katsuki prays to any deity in existence that he's not dead.

The creature is lumbering towards three tiny figures that float in the water sector. Izuku, Katsuki realises as he nears them, his heart dropping into his stomach. Izuku's in the water. The blue-haired villain is striding up to Izuku and the two other students with him, and Katsuki is so damn close. The villain is reaching a hand forward towards the frog-girl's face, and Izuku is frozen in terror, staring at the approaching hand with wide eyes. All Katsuki can see in his head is the way Aizawa- sensei's arm had disintegrated under that hand, and from the look on Izuku's face he's seeing the same thing.

Just as the villain's palm is closing over her face, Katsuki is bursting forward with an explosion, knocking the hand away and shoving the girl and Izuku the other way a split-second before the villain's fingers make contact.

He lands in a roll, but when he's pushing to his feet the hand villain is already staring at him with narrowed eyes.

"You're annoying," he whispers, scratching at his cheek with a dry, grating sound that sets Katsuki's teeth on edge. Then he raises a hand to point directly at Katsuki.

"Noumu. Kill him."

The hulking blue creature straightens, turning to face Katsuki, and he swallows thickly.

Fuck.

It steps towards him slowly, each second it draws nearer making Katsuki shrink back slightly. It's even bigger up close, beady eyes glinting with something dull that makes Katsuki confirm that it's really not so human after all.

He lets loose an explosion that leaves absolutely no mark on the thing's rock-hard muscled skin, and he doesn't have to try to know his knife will be useless. There's eerie silence as the Noumu approaches him, his blows bouncing off of it like they're nothing. Even the wired electric bracelets

don't even earn a flinch.

Fuuuuck.

It's reaching toward him with a hand the size of his body, and he's backing away but not fast enough. Just as the fingers wrap around him, his eyes squeezing shut of their own accord, there's a resounding crash from the entrance, and their gazes all snap to the explosion of dust and smoke that billows out from the doorway. And then All Might is walking out of the haze, and the Noumu's grip loosens.

The sheer relief that floods Katsuki at the sight of the hero is enough to make him want to cry, his entire body sagging.

"It's fine, now," All Might says lowly, voice echoing around the building. "I am here."

His smile is more of a grimace than anything else, but Katsuki feels actual tears form at the corners of his eyes at the familiar quote.

Within moments, All Might has sent four villains flying, Aizawa-sensei nestled in his arms gently. And then Katsuki's body is jerking and he finds himself on the floor next to an equally-dazed Izuku, a distance away from where the Noumu now stands with an outstretched empty hand. He blinks, swaying unsteadily at the change of position. All Might stands in front of them with set shoulders.

How had All Might moved him, Aizawa-sensei, and three other students faster than they could even blink?

His speed… Katsuki marvels with silent awe, suddenly feeling like a kid watching television again. He's really no joke. They're saved.

"Everyone, go to the entrance," All Might says quietly. "I'm leaving Aizawa to you."

Katsuki is already hauling Aizawa-sensei's body up with the other two students, but he pauses when he realises Izuku is still staring at All Might with wide eyes. "All Might," the green-haired boy breathes. "You can't, your time limit."

It's quiet enough that no one else seems to pick up on it except Katsuki, but All Might turns to flash Izuku a reassuring smile. "It's fine!" he booms, grinning as he flashes Izuku a peace sign.

It's a testament to how shaken Katsuki is by the whole situation that he doesn't roll his eyes at the dorky gesture.

Izuku swallows, before nodding once and reluctantly shifting to help Katsuki heave up Aizawa- sensei.

They awkwardly carry their teacher's unconscious body back to the entrance, but Katsuki and Izuku can't help from glancing back at the fight behind them every few moments. All Might's blows seem to have absolutely no impact on the Noumu, the creature taking blow after blow unflinchingly. Finally, after what feels like forever, All Might wraps his arms around the Noumu's midsection from behind and fucking suplexes it into the ground, sending dust and rubble flying in a huge explosion. The group all relax slightly, more tension bleeding from their bodies.

"We're safe," the frog-girl croaks in relief. Katsuki just hefts Aizawa-sensei higher, tightening his

grip.

"We need to get out of here first," he grunts. "If they take us hostage we'll do more harm than help."

The other three nod, but then Izuku glances back furtively and freezes, the blood draining from his face instantly. Katsuki turns around to see All Might bent backwards, the Noumu's lower half planted in the ground and its upper half protruding from a portal under All Might to grip his abdomen hard enough that blood starts to seep through the fabric of his shirt. All Might twists to pry the hands away, but they simply dig deeper, and the hero's smile twists into a grimace.

"Asui," Izuku mumbles quietly. "Can you take my place here for a second?"

The frog-girl nods, looking slightly confused as she takes over where he's been holding up half of Aizawa-sensei's limp body.

But then Izuku is sprinting back, straight towards the fight like an idiot.

Katsuki curses out loud, dropping Aizawa-sensei and following after him with a groan.

Something bad's gonna happen, he just knows it—

And as if to prove his point, Izuku lunges forward and a portal materialises right in front of his face, his hand sinking into it in slow-motion. Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Using his explosions to propel himself the rest of the way, Katsuki slams himself into the warp gate villain, reaching for where he's almost entirely sure he should hit a—bingo. His hand closes around a metal cylinder, the one he had seen when he and Kirishima had attacked the villain earlier. He detonates an explosion straight into the metal, slamming it into the ground, and the warp gate around the Noumu flickers.

"Kacchan," Izuku breathes from behind him. Oh, Katsuki is so gonna kick his suicidal ass when this is over.

Moments later, ice is creeping up towards them, wrapping itself around the Noumu's body quickly and signalling the arrival of Endeavour's brat. All Might takes advantage of the distraction and pries himself from the Noumu's hands, jumping backwards and clutching his bleeding abdomen. Steam is starting to rise from his body lightly, and Katsuki wonders absently if it's a side effect of his quirk. Weird. He's cut out of his musing by the stirring of the portal villain underneath him, and he sets off another explosion callously, eyes narrowed.

"Try to move again and I'll fucking kill you," he spits poisonously, earning a weak look of disapproval from Izuku.

The blue haired villain, on the other hand, perks up at this, turning to watch Katsuki with curious eyes.

"Interesting," he hums, hand raising to absent-mindedly scratch at his jaw. "Very interesting. That's quite the threat."

Katsuki's lips curl into a snarl and he detonates a particularly large explosion against the villain's metal body out of spite.

"You wanna fucking test it, dickhead?" he hisses, making the blue-haired villain's eyes light up.

"Shi… garaki…" the portal guy rasps from under Katsuki's grasp.

"Quiet, Kurogiri," the other villain snaps, before turning his attention back to Katsuki.

"You… very interesting. You're very interesting, indeed."

Katsuki growls, pressing the metal cylinder further into the rubble menacingly.

"The fuck do you fuckers want, huh? You got a death wish?"

Shigaraki shrugs his shoulders lightly, rolling them out and rubbing at the flaky skin on his neck.

"It's our job to rid the world of you so-called heroes. Making the rules, pretending you're better than everyone else," his voice takes on a passionate, almost petulant tone at the end, scratching growing agitated. Kurogiri's portals are still wavering, flickering lightly as Katsuki sets off another detonation against the metal.

"So you're like Stain..." he mutters under his breath without thinking. But he's evidently not as quiet as he'd thought, because Shigaraki and Kurogiri rapidly turn to stare at him intently.

"You… you follow Stain?" Shigaraki breathes. "You… a hero student…"

Katsuki feels vaguely uncomfortable at the fervent light that comes into Shigaraki's eyes as he ambles closer, and he raises another hand threateningly.

"I don't follow shit," he corrects harshly. "You're just saying the same shit as him, sounding like fucking broken tape recorders."

"So you've met him," Shigaraki says. Katsuki doesn't answer, suddenly feeling like he's made a mistake in mentioning the other. Is Stain fucking famous, or something? Katsuki had thought he was just some random guy he'd met in a conbini.

"What did you think of him?" Shigaraki asks after a moment's pause. Katsuki scowls, eyes narrowing.

Stain was… interesting, Katsuki admits. He'd only talked to him once, and from the looks of it, Stain is a villain, but if Katsuki is honest with himself he kind of understands the guy's perspective. He mulls over the question cautiously for a moment.

All Might is still hanging back, watching the exchange with a mixture of wariness and curiosity.

"That's none of your fucking business," he spits finally, hoping his lack of vitriol isn't too obvious. It might fall short, though, because Shigaraki hums, muttering under his breath in a way that's morbidly similar to Izuku.

"I changed my mind. I want you alive," he says finally, eyeing Katsuki with something so intense that a shiver runs down his spine. "Very interesting, indeed."

Katsuki, feeling greatly unsettled, is about to spit back something sharp when he's cut off by the sound of cracking behind him.

"Bakugou!" Kirishima calls, and he spins to see the ice encasing the Noumu begin to splinter away.

The half of the creature that's covered in ice breaks away, leaving the Noumu with one arm and one leg.