Katsuki kept his head down as he continued to walk across the parking lot outside of Arcadia High. The laces from one of his sneakers flopped and bounced lazily upon the asphalt as he went, though the boy paid the potential hazard no mind. His thoughts were elsewhere, until they were very suddenly interrupted by heavy footfalls and a familiar voice from behind.

"Kacchan!"

Katsuki exhaled sharply and rolled his eyes, though he had the decency to stop to let his friend catch up.

"…Deku," was all the boy said as he eyed up the shorter individual over his shoulder. Izuku Midoriya was wearing a black school uniform identical to Katsuki's own, though his tie was still tightly knotted in contrast to Katsuki's. The blond adolescent had instead chosen to loosen his the moment he walked out of the building, and let it hang down sloppily in a loose ring.

"How was the first day for you?" Izuku asked curiously as the pair began to walk once again.

"…it's school. What do you mean 'how was it'? I didn't have to kick anyone's ass and I'm in the classes I wanted, so fine, I guess?" Katsuki offered with a shrug.

"Good!" Izuku replied with a wide smile. "Most of the teachers seem really nice, especially compared to middle school."

"Don't count on it," Katsuki grumbled. "They're just trying to win you over at the start of the year, before slamming you with work. They don't give a shit about you."

It was Izuku's turn to heave a sigh, before he looked up at Katsuki.

"…do you really have to be so negative all the time?"

"Depends. Do you really have to be so stupid all the time?" Katsuki shot back as the two boys crossed the road together. "They're getting paid to deal with us, and that's the end of it. Most adults don't give a shit about kids, especially their own."

Izuku started to open his mouth to say something, only to close it again as he made a contemplative noise. He wrinkled his nose before running a hand across it and fixing his attention on the sidewalk ahead.

"…some do. All Might gives a shit about us."

Katsuki blinked in surprise before looking down at Izuku.

"…I think that's the first time I've ever heard you curse."

"It got you to listen, didn't it?" Izuku asked, his expression unreadable. "And am I wrong?"

"…no. No, you're not wrong," Katsuki admitted. His typical dour expression upturned into a wistful smirk, and he shook his head as he removed his gaze from Izuku. "That's part of what makes All Might who he is. He cares about everyone, and he always wins. Those two things are probably related."

"Exactly," Izuku agreed with a smile. "That's why All Might is the best. He's what I… he's what a hero should be. I think you could be like him, Kacchan."

"I'll be better than him," Katsuki insisted. "Anyone who thinks otherwise isn't worth my time."

Izuku fell silent and thought for a moment, before giving Katsuki a nod.

"…I think you can do it, Kacchan. No matter what the others s-"

"Fuck the others," Katsuki interrupted. "We're at Arcadia. They're not. I'm not obligated to deal with them anymore. They're just extras in a long list of useless, disappointing people. I saved their asses, and that was the thanks I got? I don't have the time or patience for people who don't appreciate what I do for them."

"No, of course not," Izuku said uneasily as he raised his hands in surrender. "They were… well… what they said on the last day of middle school w-"

"Drop it," Katsuki warned in an icy tone as he glared down at Izuku. The other boy immediately stopped talking and looked away as a bead of sweat rolled down the side of his neck.

"…well, here's my place," Izuku said awkwardly as they came to a side road. "Hey, why don't you come in for a bit? We haven't been to each other's houses yet, and my mom's really nice. I'm sure she wouldn't mind."

Izuku watched with great confusion as Katsuki's neck and shoulders tensed up immediately. Something about the way that Katsuki stared at his home struck Izuku as very odd, and a little frightening. Izuku took a small step to the side to enter his friend's line of sight, only for the other boy to keep staring through him.

"…Kacch-"

"No," Katsuki said quickly before turning on one heel, his movements rigid. "Not today. I have to get home."

"Oh," Izuku replied, crestfallen. Within seconds, the boy's usual enthusiasm bubbled up again, and he called after Katsuki. "Well, maybe tomorrow, then!"

"Not tomorrow, either," Katsuki said as he shook his head and kept walking. "I'll let you know."

"Yeah, sure!" Izuku called as Katsuki began to make his way down the sidewalk at a brisk pace. "No pressure! Uh… bye Kacchan! See you tomorrow!"

Katsuki didn't reply, instead picking up his pace until he broke into a full sprint down the sidewalk.

"Dad! I'm home!" Katsuki called down into the cellar staircase after tossed the mail onto the kitchen island. The boy waited for nearly a full minute for any sort of acknowledgement before shaking his head and heading into the kitchen. "Yeah, nice to see you, too…"

Katsuki cursed softly to himself as he opened the refrigerator door and bent low, inspecting what ingredients remained. Most of the shelves were barren, save for a gallon of milk and a head of lettuce. He closed the refrigerator with a grumble and tore a sheet of paper from the notepad affixed to the door before fishing a pen from his pocket and beginning to write. In the middle of his scribbling, he noticed the T.V. remote sitting atop the kitchen island next to the mail and cast a longing glance at its paired device sitting over in the living room.

Slowly, Katsuki lifted the remote and turned on the T.V., his finger heavy atop the volume button to decrease it to nearly inaudible levels. As he began to click through the channels, his phone buzzed in his pocket, and he used his free hand to retrieve the small device and flip it open.

Deku

The Provisional License Exam from yesterday is on Channel 104! They're rebroadcasting it!

Katsuki's heart leapt as he immediately flipped over to the channel, only to find that the event was halfway over. He steadily increased the volume of the T.V. until he could finally make out what was being said as the camera swept over the large circular arena, showing fallen students from schools all over Japan scattered about the area.

Ladies and gentlemen, what an exam! Have the organizers gone too far this year? It's looking like almost no one will manage to pass this time!

Katsuki stole a glance back into the kitchen as he dropped his phone back into his pocket. The boy bit his lip as he noticed the garbage can overflowing once again, with a sticky note atop the lid. He already knew what it would say, and the realization that what he wanted and what he would experience that evening were two very different things caused him to curse once again.

Uttering a litany of profanities, Katsuki stomped over to the trash and lifted the bag from inside of the can. Coffee grounds scattered all over the floor and smeared the lid from the pile that had been hastily deposited atop the heap of unmanaged garbage. Katsuki growled as he hurriedly walked the bag out to the garage, before retrieving cleaning products from beneath the sink and getting to work on scrubbing down the floor.

Oh, no! There goes almost all of U.A.'s Class 2-A, taken down by a combination of Ketsubutsu students and our number five hero, Edgeshot! Those poor students are being eliminated with extreme prejudice!

Katsuki looked up from his spot on his hands and knees, only to watch as Edgeshot's arm extended into a nearly impossible to follow razor thin band that weaved around a U.A. student's projected barrier with ease. The limb reformed a fist at the end, knocking the student with the feathered headdress from her position atop a small rocky hill.

Oh, and there goes another one!

Footsteps upon the cellar stairs caused Katsuki's heart to pause momentarily, and he scrambled to reach the remote and turn the T.V. down before his father appeared in the hallway. The glassy-eyed brunette man walked into the kitchen and looked back and forth between the broadcast and his son without a word. Masaru Bakugo's hair was hanging limply in a series of messy strands, and he wore an olive-green suit, glasses with filth-covered lenses, and an earpiece with the LED switched off. The man sighed heavily before beginning to speak in a disinterested tone, his attention firmly upon the broadcast.

"…oh. You're home. Have you started figuring out dinner?"

"…I'm working on it, sir," Katsuki answered as he gritted his teeth and worked at getting out the stains on the floor around the garbage can.

"Good. Your mother will be home soon. The deal didn't close, so she'll be in a bad mood. Don't push it," Katsuki's father warned. "Just get the place clean, get food on the table, and get started on your homework. Bed by eight."

Katsuki's eye twitched as his father lifted the remote and turned off the T.V. before scratching a hand through his hair.

"…seriously?" Katsuki seethed. "This is the first time ever they're showing the Provisional License Exam to the public. Everyone at school was talking ab-"

"Oh, right. 'The Big Three'," Masaru interrupted with a wave of his hand. "I'm sure you can find clips online this weekend. That Lemillion kid's gonna be making money hand over fist with skills like his. I've got a conference call soon, so don't be making noise. Just leave my food at the top of the steps."

Without another word, Masaru disappeared back into the hallway and began to descend the stairs into the cellar once again.

"Damn it…" Katuski growled.

He tossed the filthy rag that he had used to clean the floor into the open garbage can before narrowing his eyes at the T.V. and mulling over his options. Slowly and carefully, Katsuki tiptoed over to the cellar door and gently pushed it closed before making his way back into the kitchen. He lifted the remote and turned on the T.V. once again before pressing the mute button and trying to make out what was on screen.

A lashing tentacle sprouted from Tamaki Amajiki's hand as he spun into a crouched stance, his face full of fierce determination as he stood before one of his fallen comrades. A rabbit-eared woman in a white leotard that Katsuki recognized as the professional hero Mirko flipped backward through the air, just barely managing to get clear of the lashing appendage before flashing the white-hooded boy a wicked grin. She said something that was lost on Katsuki due to the lack of volume, and he watched the crowd silently go wild as Tamaki reeled his tentacle back in and whipped his hand downward to dispel the odd protrusion back into human fingers.

On a billboard far behind Tamaki was a giant display reading 5:00, which began counting down. Nejire Hado gently floated to land on the rocky ground next to Tamaki, and Mirio Togata rose from the floor, phasing through the sun-baked stone as Edgeshot appeared next to Mirko, first as a series of spiraling ribbons, and then a man clad in ninja gear.

A painful sensation pulsed through Katsuki's shoulder as he took an unexpected punch from behind, and then a hard, speedy slap to the back of the head.

"Hey!" an authoritative feminine voice called from directly behind him. "What the hell are you doing, exactly? And what's all this shit in the living room?"

Katsuki hissed and rubbed at his shoulder as he turned to face his mother, both of them glaring daggers at each other. Mitsuki Bakugo wore a deep purple suit of crushed velvet, and her blonde hair was styled in a spiky, explosion-like pattern similar to her son's. The woman was seemingly furious, her hands on her hips and her expression turned a weighty scowl.

"…trying to see what the other kids at school have been talking about all day," Katsuki replied, his voice a barely contained calm. "I already missed it yesterday, a-"

"And you can see it when everything else has been taken care of," Mitsuki warned as she narrowed her eyes. "You know the rules on weekdays! Get moving, kid. I don't have time to deal with your slacking off. I've got a whole shitshow at work that I need to figure out, now, so don't make any noise, either!"

Katsuki bristled as his mother snatched the remote from his hand and turned off the screen just as Tamaki and Mirko began to charge at each other. He took a long, shuddering breath in through his nose as he balled a fist and exhaled calmly as he felt his hand begin to shake.

"…yes, ma'am."

Mitsuki rolled her eyes as she grabbed Katsuki's injured shoulder in a painful grip and spun him to face the living room. An open pizza box was on the coffee table next to a filled ash tray with a partially-spent cigarette resting upon the edge, a styrofoam cup was partially wedged between the couch cushions, and an empty plastic wrapper full of crumbs was sitting upon one of the armrests of the sofa.

"Get that shit cleaned up. Your father's smoking again?"

"I don't know, I was at sch-"

"Great," Mitsuki interrupted as she stomped to the top of the cellar stairs. "Another thing I have to deal with. Masaru! What the hell are you doing!?" the woman shrieked down the stairwell.

"Trying to work, woman!" came the call back.

Katsuki let out a growl as he stomped into the living room and began to clean his father's mess while the argument continued. He heard something in the cellar hit the wall with great force, before stomping footsteps rang out from the stairs and the two adults' voices began to escalate even more. Katsuki did his best to avoid his parents as he folded the pizza box down and deposited it into the garbage. He took a steady breath to try to calm himself as he watched Mitsuki whirl on him, her eyes blazing with anger as she advanced.

"Well? Are you just going to stand there and do nothing like that useless pile of shit in the basement, or are you going to start cooking?"

"…we barely have anything in the house to cook with," Katsuki countered.

"…so get to the store, dumbass," Mitsuki instructed while pointed to the door. "What do I look like to you?"

"My mother, supposedly," Katsuki shot back as his anger finally boiled over. "Why is this shit always my problem!? Why can't y-"

A hard slap impacted Katsuki's face, causing his head to whip to the side.

"Because you look like you live here for free, and you do what I say. Shut your mouth, get to the store, and get cooking. Your father and I both have work outside of work to get done this evening, so do your job, and then get to your room. Mid-term exams are this week, and I don't want to hear any excuses if you don't pull straight A's. Is that clear?" Mitsuki asked, raising her voice with the last word.

"…crystal, ma'am…" Katsuki answered as he looked away. He didn't bother to look back before making his way out the door and onto the pavement, cursing all the while.

Author's Note:

Fun times. More coming either at the end of this week, or early next week.

-RD