seven
Chapter Summary
hero names and internship offers
Chapter Notes
hello! this one's a bit shorter but it's mainly here to set up for the next chapter (y'all know what that is by now LMAO)
i'd like to clarify something here that i probably should have clarified earlier. katsuki is a male and uses (and will continue to use) he/him pronouns. i know a lot of you were confused about this and i'm sorry if i ever led you to believe i'd be writing it otherwise, but this fic was not written with me imagining katsuki as trans. he's struggling with past memories and experiences as a female and is confused and a little disoriented. i absolutely love the trans katsuki hc but as a cis person i don't really feel informed enough on trans peoples' experiences to accurately depict katsuki as trans here. the lines are blurred with reincarnation and it makes this entire thing a little grey so i'd rather not risk misrepresenting, or making faulty assumptions. apologies again if this is disappointing to any of you.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
They're sent back to their classroom immediately after the sports festival.
"There will be no school for the following two days," Aizawa-sensei says, his deadpan voice still slightly muffled through his bandages.
"Take this break to spend time with your family and friends and recover."
He's being about as much of an asshole as normal, but his voice is softened in a way that suggests even he is slightly sympathetic to the students' exhaustion. The entire group of them are slumped in their seats, covered in an assortment of bandages and bruising. Katsuki thumbs the gold medal in his blazer pocket absentmindedly as he wonders how much of UA's budget is allocated to medical care.
He turns briefly to glance at Iida's empty seat. Katsuki doesn't remember even seeing him in the final rounds of the festival, now that he thinks about it. To his right, Kaminari is avoiding Katsuki's gaze pointedly, with a pained grimace that Katsuki finds deep satisfaction in.
They're dismissed minutes later, Aizawa-sensei finally taking pity on them, and Katsuki is out of the door without another word.
His parents are on him the second the door opens, smothering him in hugs and kisses and other
gross affection that he loudly protests while secretly leaning into.
"Oh, Katsuki, you did amazing!" his dad cries, muffling a sob into his son's shoulder. The teenager grimaces at the feeling of moisture soaking through the fabric of his shirt, and extricates himself from his parents' grip carefully.
"Yeah, yeah, soft shit is over," he announces. "I won, we get it. No surprises there."
His mother smacks him upside the head at the comment, but she's grinning fondly.
"You didn't kill or seriously injure anyone, so I guess you didn't do too bad," she says roughly, ruffling his hair. "I made your favourite curry, hurry up and shower so you can tell us about today while we eat."
"You already saw that shit on the news," he complains. "Why the hell would I have to tell you about it again? Weren't you fucking watching?"
His mother's eyes narrow, and he beelines to his room obediently without another word before she inevitably begins to throw shit.
He collapses onto his bed when he gets out of the shower, huffing a loud sigh. The exhaustion from the day is slowly setting in, and he can feel the tell-tale ache of overused muscles starting to tug at his body.
At his bedside table, his phone has been buzzing insistently for the past few minutes. Groaning loudly, he finally turns over to check it, only to see approximately thirty new messages from Hatsume, all rambling about some new invention idea she's had. He only gave his number to her three hours ago, but it's already proving to be a mistake. Just as he's scrolling through them all, another ten or so come in.
walmart entrapta
hey baku
5:21pm
walmart entrapta
baku baku baku baku
5:21pm
walmart entrapta
do you think i could make like, projectile electroshock things
5:22pm
walmart entrapta
think about it, grenades but make them electric
5:22pm
walmart entrapta
u just flip a switch and throw them at someone and fuckin FRY them
5:22pm
walmart entrapta
ugh my mind…. it amazes me sometimes
5:23pm
walmart entrapta
cmon new bff wya
5:23pm
walmart entrapta
what are friends for if not discussing support gear ideas???
5:23pm
walmart entrapta
bakuuuu
5:23pm
walmart entrapta
this relationship feels very one-sided i want a platonic divorce
5:24pm
walmart entrapta
:((((((((((((((((((((
5:24pm
Me
we're not platonically together stupid bitch
5:26pm
walmart entrapta
yeah we won't be if you keep neglecting me wtf
5:27pm
Against his better judgement, Katsuki chuckles quietly at her antics, shooting her another brief reply before pushing to his feet and shuffling to the living room, his limbs creaking in protest every step of the way. He wonders if this is what Izuku feels like on a daily basis.
He spends the next two days lounging around lazily, even letting his mother massage his calves for once because he doesn't have the willpower to say no when it feels so good on his sore muscles. Kenjirou-sensei visits to congratulate him on his victory the next day, while Saki-sensei blows up his phone with disgustingly cute Line emojis. The two days of reprieve are over cruelly quickly, and soon he's on the morning train to UA again.
"Hey, it's the UA first-year sports festival winner!" someone stage-whispers a few seats down from where he's sitting. He feels about fifteen pairs of eyes turn to him, before the carriage dissolves into whispering.
"Hey, kid, great work!" an old man sitting behind Katsuki says excitedly as he claps a hand on the blonde's shoulder. He's echoed by a few other people who are staring at Katsuki in awe or admiration. The student brushes the hand away wordlessly, muttering out a flat, "thanks," and proceeding to shove his other earphone in his ear and tune out the murmuring.
His mom's probably gonna be on his ass about being rude later, but with the muted clicks of phone cameras going off all around him shamelessly, he can't find it in himself to be sympathetic.
He's swarmed by more people when he gets off the train, and it takes him an extra fifteen minutes to get to school when he ends up having to duck into a side route to avoid the cameras.
Iida is back in his seat again today, a very-much forced smile plastered on his face as he greets
Katsuki.
"You look like you're having a rough day," Katsuki notes dryly, fully aware of the fact that it's not even eight in the morning.
The other huffs a humourless laugh, lip curling downward with something ugly before it's replaced by a formal smile again.
"I assure you, I am fine, Bakugou. I appreciate the concern."
Katsuki blinks, shoving his bag under his desk carelessly.
"Wasn't concerned," he says bluntly, wondering who the fuck pissed off the normally straight- laced student.
He mulls it over for a brief moment, before shrugging to himself when he remembers that it really doesn't concern him in the slightest. The other students start to filter in slowly, all still looking slightly sore but refreshed nonetheless.
Aizawa-sensei enters the classroom at eight o'clock on the dot, bandage-free and weary as always.
"Today we're choosing hero names," he says flatly, and the class proceeds to fall into chaos as they do when receiving any news of slightly importance. It seems their teacher isn't having any of their bullshit today, because his hair begins to float, eyes turning a dangerous red, and the teenagers all settle down immediately.
Midnight enters to handle the hero names, while Aizawa-sensei curls into his sleeping bag and watches listlessly.
They're all given a few minutes to scrawl down their names on the small whiteboards they've been given. Katsuki scrawls his down easily in neat letters, having thought of it long ago in middle school. Ground Zero , an English phrase that he'd mulled over for a while. After he's written it down, he sits back in his chair and waits for everyone to finish with theirs. Midnight, catching sight of his bored expression, clears her throat.
"Please make sure to think carefully about your name!" she says while looking right at Katsuki like the bitch she is. "A lot of hero names used by students become recognised by the public, so even if it is possible to change your hero name down the road, it's important to be sure about what name you pick now."
Katsuki narrows his eyes at her pointed look and the implication that he hasn't spent months making sure his name is fucking perfect. But nonetheless, the mood in the classroom drops at her words, and Katsuki can't help but glancing back at his whiteboard for a split second.
It's fine , he reassures himself after a moment's hesitation. He's thought about this for years, and the name he's chosen is good as hell.
(No matter how much he brushes aside his doubts, there's still a niggling feeling at the back of his mind that screams not right.)
He turns the board face-down on his desk and fishes his phone out of his desk to occupy himself, deciding to finally reply to the fifteen texts Hatsume has sent him since the beginning of the lesson. Midnight blinks at the sight of him using his phone, before turning to Aizawa-sensei unsurely. The
other teacher shrugs at her, and she seems to let it go hesitantly. Katsuki has long-since learned that Aizawa-sensei doesn't give a fuck about students being on their phones in class, as long as they're not slacking on work. It's an unspoken agreement between him and Katsuki that Iida tends to strongly disapprove of.
"Well, who wants to go first?" Midnight asks after a few more minutes, making Katsuki put his phone down. The students all go up one by one, some nervous and others far too confident considering how shitty their choices are.
Izuku chooses fucking Deku, and Iida goes with his first name. When Katsuki's name is called, he stalks to the front of the classroom to stand at the podium with a sigh.
"My hero name…" he starts, raising his whiteboard to turn it to face the class. The class seems to hold their breath in anticipation, and Katsuki's words stick in his throat. All of a sudden, the feeling that was previously just a niggling voice in the back of his mind is now screaming at him, his entire body thrumming with this foreign feeling of NOT RIGHT. It's fucking stupid, and probably vaguely concerning, but he can't bring himself to announce the perfectly good and planned hero name he has written. His mouth snaps shut.
"I don't know," he says finally, voice a lot quieter than before.
The class is silent for a long moment, before they start to shout at once.
"What the hell, what was all the hype for, then?" Kaminari demands loudly. Katsuki raises an eyebrow at him.
"I didn't hype anything. If you're getting excited over mundane shit then that's your problem."
At this, Kaminari starts to whine.
Midnight is watching Katsuki curiously, and Aizawa-sensei's eyes are narrowed from behind her, where he's suddenly sitting a little straighter.
"I recall you writing something with quite a lot of confidence at the start of the lesson, so I'm sure you had something..?" the female pro hero presses carefully.
Katsuki shrugs.
"I changed my mind."
Midnight stares at him for a long moment, before her expression changes to one of pity, as if she's staring at a kicked puppy.
"Bakugou, there's no need to feel pressured. I'm sure the name you picked is wonderful, and your class will support you no matter what you choose!" she assures passionately, suddenly looking very invested in this entire mess.
Katsuki levels a flat look at her.
"I literally could not care less about what these losers think of my choices. I just changed my mind," he deadpans, earning offended looks from most of his class who had just been giving him cheers of support.
Midnight pouts.
"Can we at least see what you wrote?" she implores, leaning closer to catch a glimpse of his board. He clutches it to his chest instantly, snarling at her, and she leans back with her pout deepened.
"That's enough," Aizawa-sensei finally says, squirming out of his sleeping bag reluctantly.
"Bakugou, you can take more time to decide. Get back in your seat."
As he heads back between the aisles, he catches sight of Ashido and a few others eyeing his board curiously, and he quickly uses his sleeve to erase the writing on it before anyone can snatch it from his grip. He smirks at the loud groans this action gains, slipping back to his seat and handing the blank board back to Midnight smugly.
Aizawa-sensei shuffles to the podium to lean against it wearily.
"Now that the hero names have been discussed for now, we can talk about internships. The offers have come in based on the sports festival."
He presses a button on his remote and a horizontal bar graph is projected onto the blackboard behind him.
At the top, Katsuki sits with a bar that's longer than most of his classmates combined, and a bright white '5047'.
Below him, Todoroki has received 2604 offers and Uraraka has received 1859, their bars significantly shorter than Katsuki's but still far larger than anyone else in the class. After the three of them, most of their classmates sit around the same number, receiving offers in the hundreds and below. Izuku has a whopping zero votes.
"Damn," Kaminari whistles. "As expected, Bakugou makes us all look pathetic."
There's muttering of agreement around the classroom, and Katsuki mutters a snide, "You don't need my help for that," which obviously wasn't quiet enough considering Kaminari's exaggerated huff.
"So rude," the other boy whines dramatically. "How are you gonna become a hero with that attitude, Bakugou-sama?"
Katsuki kicks his legs up onto his desk and leans back in his chair so he can look past Jirou to level Kaminari a smug look.
"I don't know, Sparky, ask the five thousand heroes who want me as an intern."
Kaminari sputters, and Jirou and Kirishima snort loudly along with a few other students.
"Remind me not to mess with Bakugou, geez," Ashido coughs, making Katsuki's smirk widen.
Aizawa-sensei takes advantage of the students' chatter to pass around their internship offer papers. Katsuki accepts his silently, unsure if he should be proud or apprehensive of the intimidatingly thick stack of papers.
At the very top of the list, 'Endeavour Agency' is printed neatly. Katsuki does a double take at the offer, blinking at it in confusion. He knew that he'd performed well at the festival, but he'd never entertained the idea of receiving an offer from Endeavour of all people.
He shrugs to himself, tucking the paper into his bag after a long moment's appraisal. He's received offers from quite a few other notable heroes, like Edgeshot, Kamui Woods, and, for some reason, Uwabami.
Nonetheless, he knows that giving up an opportunity to intern with the number two hero would be silly, even if he doesn't know why the fuck the guy would be interested in him. From what he knows, Endeavour doesn't take on interns, like, ever.
They're dismissed after the lists are handed out, and Katsuki packs his bag silently.
"Dude, what kind of offers did you get?" Kirishima asks curiously, trying to peek into his bag.
"None of your business," he mutters, and Kirishima wilts, frowning at him.
"Don't be like that, man, you've got to have some cool offers!"
Katsuki sighs, before digging the papers out of his bag and shoving them into the redhead's chest in the hopes that it'll shut him up. Kirishima accepts them with a beam and is silent for five beautiful seconds, before his eyes grow to the size of saucers.
"Dude! Dude! You got an offer from Endeavour! "
Katsuki sighs, snatching the paper back and elbowing the other in the ribs.
"I know , asshole, I can read. Why don't you just get a fucking microphone while you're at it?"
Kirishima flushes, rubbing at the back of his neck sheepishly.
"Sorry, man, I just got excited," he offers with a laugh. Katsuki sighs, but the damage is done; Todoroki is glaring holes into the back of his head.
A few other classmates give Katsuki awed or jealous looks. "Wow, Uraraka, you got an offer from Edgeshot! Your stealth attack must have really impressed the number five hero!" he hears Ashido exclaim as he hikes his bag onto his back and trudges past them to the door.
Uraraka laughs sheepishly, cheeks pinkening further at the attention.
"Ah, I think I might take my offer with Miruko, actually."
Katsuki pauses briefly at the mention, thinking back to the mentioned hero. Miruko is relatively new, and as a result she hasn't made much of a dent in the hero rankings as of yet. All that people seem to know about her is that she's fierce, and very fucking confrontational. She's rabbit-themed, and as a result specialises in kicks and leg-based attacks. All-in-all, she's an absolute powerhouse and the epitome of hand-to-hand specialisation. He nods approvingly at her choice, almost unconsciously, but she notices it anyway and flushes slightly. Her friends all follow her gaze to Katsuki before starting to jeer. The blonde grimaces, pushing his way out of the classroom as Uraraka starts to flail.
He eats lunch up on the roof again, not having the energy to put up with Kirishima's excitement today. Hatsume finds him within minutes, plopping down next to him and stealing an onigirazu from him happily.
"Did you put a fucking tracker in my phone or something?" he demands curiously, not protesting as she invades his lunch. She shrugs, winking at him playfully.
"Who knows?" she mumbles around a mouthful of rice and karaage. "This is good, by the way. Make me some next time!"
Katsuki sighs, turning to his phone as he decides not to question her weird antics. He goes to scroll through the news, only to stop in his tracks at the top headline.
' Breaking News: Pro Hero Ingenium Hospitalised After New Attack by Hero Killer Stain' , the trending title reads. Katsuki chokes on his rice, making Hatsume smack his back roughly.
He bats her away, turning his attention back to his phone hastily. Stain… he repeats to himself. There's no way… It couldn't be that Stain, right? He opens the article that details a recent attack in Hosu, skimming through it only to find blurry images of a figure clad in very familiar spiked boots and scarves. A pit forms in his stomach as he reads on about the 17 people Stain has killed, and the 23 more he's injured beyond recovery. Ingenium, Iida's older brother, is currently hospitalised, and apparently his prospects for continuing hero work aren't great. Suddenly, Iida's mood in class makes a lot more sense, and a small part of Katsuki feels guilty at not asking him about it that morning.
"What's wrong?" Hatsume asks curiously around her second stolen onigirazu, looking away from her current fixation to peer over his shoulder at the screen curiously.
"Oh, hey, I've heard of that guy!" she mutters absentmindedly. "He's the vigilante, right?"
Katsuki turns to face her slowly.
"Vigilante?" he echoes. She blinks at him, continuing to talk with her mouth full like it isn't fucking disgusting.
"I mean, I don't know if he can be classified as a vigilante considering that he literally kills heroes, but, like… he has this whole philosophy, you know? People are talking about it, he's going on about reforming hero society by, like, culling fake heroes or something."
Katsuki processes the information wordlessly, realising with slight nausea that his brief conversation with Stain suddenly makes a lot more sense.
"I don't know if I hate it," Hatsume continues on, unaware of Katsuki's inner turmoil. "Like, his methods are completely wrong, obviously, and murder is never justifiable, but… his philosophy isn't fundamentally flawed. Hero society is… kinda messed up."
She takes another mouthful of rice and chicken, chewing it thoughtfully. "He's a little confused, but he's got the spirit, y'know?"
Katsuki nods hollowly, still staring at his screen. Hatsume finishes the rest of his onigirazu when she realises he's lost his appetite. As they leave, she claps him on the shoulder lightly.
"Don't overthink it, Baku. Villains like these come up every few months, if you lost sleep over every single one you'd run yourself ragged."
He mumbles something half hearted back, and they part ways to head to their lessons.
Their final class is hero training with All Might. The pro looks vaguely terrified at the sight of Katsuki, obviously still shaken from their exchange at the sports festival, but Katsuki can't find it in himself to be smug about it, mind still on Stain.
When Katsuki returns home, he stays up the entire night reading up on Stain. The other is described by his fanatics (yes, apparently this guy has fanatics ) as a 'necessary evil', or someone to be idolised. It makes Katsuki vaguely uncomfortable, and this feeling is only increased with every new image he sees of Stain.
There's very little information on Stain's identity, though, past blurry photographs and his villain name.
He thinks back to their meeting, and the way the other had introduced himself as Chizome Akaguro. Not his code name, but an actual name. He had known Katsuki for all of two minutes, but felt comfortable enough to give him what could very well be his real name. Something about Katsuki feels nauseous at the fact, and the implication that someone like Stain could be interested in Katsuki enough to trust him with that information.
Because what the hell does that say about Katsuki?
He doesn't sleep well that night, tossing and turning with the new information.
When the day for internships arrives, the class meets at the train station in the morning so that Aizawa-sensei can see them off.
"You've chosen to intern with Endeavour, correct?" the teacher asks him. Katsuki nods, feeling Todoroki's eyes on him, and Aizawa-sensei ticks something off on his clipboard before nodding curtly. They repeat the process with all of the students in the class. Ashido is bouncing nervously and a few of the teenagers are a little paler than usual.
Finally, with a few more goodbyes, all the students trudge off to their respective trains.
Katsuki steps onto his platform with Todoroki's gaze still burning into the back of his head.
Chapter End Notes
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