Katsuki Bakugou is not known for kindness, nor has he ever wanted to be.
Kindness is easily exploited and manipulated. Kindness can be a weakness.
Case in point, Deku is frustratingly, painfully, unfailingly kind, and look where it has gotten him? The laughing stock of the school. An easy target for bullies. A weakling without a Quirk with delusions of grandeur, and a constant thorn in Katsuki's side.
So no, Katsuki is not kind. He takes too much after his mother in that regard; though she has a much better poker face and can at least play nice, it is not in her nature to be kind for kindness' sake.
"Sometimes I wish you took after your father a bit more," she says, brushing his hair as they sit on the sofa. "Your life would be easier if you did."
Katsuki frowns. He loves his father, but even the thought of emulating any part of his mild manner wars against his instincts.
"I don't need my life to be easy. I just need to be the best."
"To me, your dad is the best."
"That's because you're soft, now."
"You've been talking to your grandmother about me again, haven't you?"
"She said you would've been number one if you hadn't given up modeling."
"Maybe. But I don't think I ever would have been satisfied." She puts down the brush and kisses the crown of his head. "I think you'll understand when you find your people, Katsuki. People who won't ask you to be anything but who you are, and people you want to be kind to. Then you'll be soft, too."
Katsuki scoffs, even as he watches his mom turn to his dad like a flower in the sun when he walks through the door.
"Kacchan." Deku walks up to him at the end of the school day, and Katsuki lets him.
Things have shifted between them since the incident with the sludge villain, though it's hard to say if it's for the better. The foundations of who they've been to each other for the past several years shaken by a single moment. Katsuki still isn't nice to him, and Deku still causes his hackles to rise like no one else, but no longer does Katsuki seek him out to assert their roles.
"What do you want?"
"I need your help with something. Can… can we meet up after school?"
"Fuck no."
Deku sputters with a dumb look on his face, and Katsuki walks away.
"What has that man been feeding you?" His grandmother tuts as she pinches his cheeks. "You're so thin, I can wrap my hands around your waist."
She tries to demonstrate this, ignoring the fact that she very much can't do so. With all the hours Katsuki has spent researching and perfecting his food plan, he knows he's more than healthy. Muscles don't grow from nothing, and his father is an excellent (and accommodating) cook.
He still lets his grandmother fuss as she forces him to sit while she makes him a plate, though, all the while complaining about his father.
"Your mother tells me you're applying to UA's Hero Course," she says. "Have you been keeping up with your grades? They only take the best in the country, you know."
"I'm in the top of my class, and I ranked nationally on my mock exams."
"Of course you did! That's my smart boy." She pats his hand and refills his plate. "How's your training going? My friend's nephew is a professional sports trainer. I know athletes and heros are different, but I'm sure he could give you some tips for your workouts at least."
"No need. I've already got a conditioning plan in place to get me ready."
"Of course. You've always been so proactive!"
"There isn't anyone who could distract you from your goal, right? You could tell me if you had a girlfriend, Katsuki, I just hope she isn't-"
"I don't have a girlfriend, and I'm not interested in girls. I'm fully dedicated to UA."
"Good. Remember, Katsuki, love is for idiots and fools." She twists the wedding ring around her finger, and Katsuki averts his eyes. "It tears you down like nothing else."
His grandfather is a taboo subject, one of only two things Katsuki can't talk to his grandmother about. The scar the man left on their family is unforgettable, though. Even now, his mother speaks of him like a monster in folklore. It was Katsuki's father that had to explain why she hates being snuck up on.
"Once you're firmly established as a Hero, though, we can see about setting you up with someone." His grandmother kisses his forehead as she takes his empty plate to be washed. "You'll need a dutiful wife to take care of your household. She'll need to come from an excellent family, and ideally she'll be blonde. I would love it if your children were blond, Katsuki."
Katsuki keeps his mouth shut as his grandmother rambles on. This is the second thing he can't talk to her about, a truth he hasn't even yet dared acknowledge about himself.
He's strong, smart, attractive, and his Quirk is both powerful and versatile. He is prime material for becoming a Hero. It doesn't mean anything that the girls in his class haven't sparked his interest, and the weird thoughts that pop into his head late at night as he's falling asleep don't count. When he lets his gaze linger on the bodies of male Heros on tv, it's simply to compare his own.
Katsuki isn't… like that .
(And if he is, no one else ever needs to know.)
When he dreams that night, it's of the future his grandmother painted. A beautiful woman greets him with a kiss on the cheek, their child resting on her hip. His grandmother sits in the corner, looking on with approval.
"You see, Katsuki? You were never _." The word comes out as static, everything twitching like a computer glitch. "You just needed to find the right woman."
He looks down to see who his wife is, but a black void swallows the features of her face. His body moves on its own, and as he leans forward to kiss her, he tumbles into the void.
Surrounded by nothing but darkness, he falls for an eternity.
"Kacchan."
Another day, and Deku is still trying to talk to him.
Katsuki doesn't even know why the nerd bothers when a simple glare has him cowering, raising his arms in front of his face like a shield. The obvious fear sours Katsuki's already rotten mood further. His fingers spark.
"Speak fast before I blow up your face."
Deku's eyes widen, and he takes a step back while his mouth vomits his stream of consciousness.
"I'm really sorry to bother you, Kacchan, you know I wouldn't do this if it wasn't important, especially when you've been so angry all day, and I've been trying to think of a way to ask you about this without actually talking to you but I figured you'd burn any notes I left without reading them, and it'd be rude to give your phone number to a stranger without your permission, so I was thinking of asking my mom if she could ask your mom to ask you, but-"
"SPIT IT OUT!"
"I know someone who really wants to meet you! Do you have time today after school?!"
"What the hell?!" Katsuki shoves Deku against the wall with his foot. "Who do you know I don't? You don't have any friends!"
Deku flinches and swallows, but doesn't back down.
"We're not… friends, per se. I just met him over the break. He actually says he met you a few years ago. His name is Syo."
It doesn't ring any bells.
"And? What made him think to ask you about talking to me?"
"He saw an article about the Sludge Villain."
Katsuki suppresses the shiver the name elicits. Sometimes, he still dreams about the smothering slime forced down his throat. He wakes up gagging on those days.
This isn't the first time someone has wanted to meet him since those articles came out. Normally, though, it's a girl wanting to confess, or a journalist snooping around for some dirt. Never has someone claimed to have met him before.
He'd be lying if he said it didn't intrigue him.
"Fine."
"I'm really sorry Kacchan, I'll let him know it's impossi-"
Katsuki shoots off an explosion next to Deku's face to shut him up.
"DO YOU NEED YOUR EARS CHECKED?! I SAID I'D MEET HIM YOU DAMN NERD!"
Deku waits for him at the front gate after school, fidgeting with an All Might keychain and constantly checking his phone. Katsuki instantly regrets agreeing to this, but he's not one to go back on his commitments. It's laughably easy to ditch the extras that like to cling to him; they treat his word like law more often than not. It's pathetic, really, but convenient, and come Spring, he'll never have to deal with them again.
People whisper and stare as he stomps up to Deku. Katsuki ignores him, but Deku shrinks into himself more at the attention, and flinches when Katsuki stops in front of him. He rolls his eyes. He grips Deku by the collar, and drags him away from the school. Once they've made enough progress to create a buffer between them and the gossips, Katsuki releases him.
"So, where are we meeting this guy?" He asks.
"I'm not sure. He just sent me an address." Deku holds up his phone to show the map he brought up. It looks like they're heading to the middle of nowhere.
They weave through piles of trash and cracks in the concrete. This is a part of the city Katsuki's never been to before, having no reason to. Most of the buildings are abandoned or decaying, windows boarded up and every available surface tagged with graffiti. The only open shops are a shitty, small convenience store, and a McDonald's, of all things. A couple of elementary school kids barrel past, running towards the miniscule playground next to an apartment building.
"Your destination is ahead on the left." Deku's phone declares.
"You've gotta be kidding me," Katsuki says. They're standing in front of an empty lot. The bones of what might have been a house litter the property, a blackened foundation that looks like it burned to the ground years ago.
"Syo must have given me the wrong address," Deku says, texting away on his phone.
This was a waste of time, Katsuki thinks. Someone must've been trying to mess with me, and they roped Deku into it.
He's just decided to leave when he notices a person running up to them from a nearby alley. They're dressed in all black, from their long-sleeve compression shirt to their cargo pants and combat boots. Most striking is the mask that completely hides their face. Katsuki tenses automatically, his body prepping for battle.
Deku, however, waves at the possible criminal.
"Over here, Syo-kun!"
So this is who wanted to meet Katsuki so badly. He stays in his fighting stance.
"I'm glad you made it," the boy says, his voice muffled by the mask. "I was worried my instructions might have been too vague."
"No problem at all! We were actually able to find it pretty quickly."
"Enough chitchat!" Katsuki steps up to the stranger, crowding into their personal space. "Who the hell are you, and what do you want with me?"
The boy holds his hands up and takes a step back.
"I understand that this is a little jarring. It'd be easier to show you rather than explain, although I'd prefer not to do so out in the open." He points back at the alley with his thumb. "If you come with me for a second, I'm sure you'll understand."
"How do I know you're not leading me into some kind of ambush?"
"I suppose you don't." Suddenly, he grabs Katsuki's hand, raising it against his throat. "We can stay like this, and if you don't like what happens, you can blow me up."
Katsuki curls his fingers around the soft flesh, warmth radiating into his palm. He feels the boy swallow, and he can't help but tighten his grip a little.
"Alright. Let's go."
"H-hold on!" Deku tries to step between them, but neither budges. "Is this really necessary?"
"It'll be alright, Midoriya-kun." The boy slowly walks backwards towards the alley. "Though I must ask that you remain here for the moment. I will call you over soon."
For a second, Deku opens his mouth as if to protest, but he shuts it just as fast. His eyes bounce between Katsuki and the other boy before he simply nods.
The walk to the alley can't be more than a couple minutes, but it stretches to feel like hours. Katsuki can feel the boy's pulse beating steadily against his thumb. It speeds up if he presses against it, but only by a fraction.
Katsuki shoves the boy against the rough bricks of the alley wall, feeling the air it forces out of his lungs.
"You've got ten seconds to show me what you wanted to," he says.
Hands creeping slowly, always in Katsuki's line of sight, the boy slides the mask off of his face. Only his right eye is visible, the left covered by an eye patch taking up nearly a quarter of his face. The steel gray is a shade he was sure he imagined, after years of not seeing it. His mouth curves in a gentle smile.
"It really is you," Syo says, his voice a reverent whisper. "Do you… remember me?"
Of course Katsuki remembers him.
This is the boy that ruined his life, after all.