Echoes of the Multiverse

Katsuki felt the hair on the back of his neck prickle as the low growl filled the room. It didn't go on for long, but it was enough to make Katsuki's stomach tie itself in knots. It was strange, seeing him act out like this. The Midoriya he'd known wouldn't let his quirk slip so flagrantly, let alone going so far as to growl at his mother. He wasn't scared, not in the way that most Omega would be if there was a growling Alpha in their kid's room, but a different emotion filled him.

Regret.

Regret, for the first time in a long time. It hung heavy in his body, a swirling mass of pain and exhaustion.

Because as much as he hated it, maybe his mother was right. Maybe he had ruined his life. Even if he'd never admit it in front of the blonde haired girl who was slowly but surely inching her hand closer to the wild green sparks that were coming off of Midoriya's body. Trying not to have him notice as her curiosity got the better of her.

He'd never admit it to Mitsuki either, knowing that even the smallest hint of victory would go straight to her head. To her, the one thing had ruined him was his choice to keep a kid as a teenage omega. To her, the only way he could have gotten out of this was to let a doctor take care of the problem before it had time to spiral.

The thought had terrified him then and it still scared him. He understood where she was coming from and he understood that yeah, that probably would have been a solution. But the thought of her not being born in the first place wasn't what chilled him to the core. No, the thought that kept him up was the simulation he'd run over and over in his head. Of the life they could have lived, if he'd been honest from the start. Perfect and saccharine, where they could be both the Doting parents and pro heroes. Where Akashi's very existence wasn't a scandal that would drag them down. Would they be in love, having worked out their bullshit and baggage? Working as heroes while looking after a pup they could actually claim as their own, graduating together and doing their best. Akashi wouldn't have a distant set of parents, wouldn't have to grow up to learn that it had all been a lie.

He dismissed the thought as quickly as he could, letting out a light sigh. He only met Midoriya's eyes briefly, looking away as soon as they made contact. Something about them ate away at him. Or at least that's what it felt like. Pits of darkness, stripping away every wicked lie and pretense Katsuki tried so hard to hold on to even now. The pride and the anger, an old friend. An old protector, keeping his sincere thoughts and feelings hidden away. What was once sincere rage had dulled down into this mask, lies keeping his poker face impeccable.

Akashi cocked her head at the question, completely oblivious to the changed mood or the growing tension between the two. She gave a small smile, putting her thumbs up.
"That's fine, I'll find something else cool to show you when you come back! Oh yeah! Get him to show you his fancy drums he never lets me touch."

Katsuki let out a sigh, trying to keep his tone light and conversational. Appropriate.
"I don't let you touch them because the last time I did you fell face first into the snare."

He let out a hissed sigh, turning to Midoriya for a moment. "Fuck it, fine." Katsuki growled, rolling his eyes as he finally caved. "We'll be back in a minute, tell the hag to fuck off if she comes back." He huffed out to Akashi who gave him a quick nod before he turned on his heel and walked out of his sister's bedroom.

Katsuki led the way down the hall, double checking the hallway was empty before slinking out. He didn't say a word until they were safely in his room, away from the prying eyes and ears of his family members.

He let the door to his room click shut behind them both, running a hand through his hair and letting out a shaky sigh. His room was smaller than Akashi's, and much more sparse. Not lined wall to wall with collected items like her room, instead his hero outfit was hanging up on the closet door and there was a beat up drum kit by the window. Everything else was relatively neat and tidy, hidden from view. Comic books all tucked away into shelves and photo frames set out on his dresser.

"What." He snapped as he turned to the alpha, trying not to let his fear or his anger show through his gritted teeth, instead trying to be as civil as he could, even if it came off somewhat curt.

.....

He didn't even notice the little hand reaching for the crackling energy around him. Thankfully, despite its dramatic appearance, the arcs of what appeared to be green electricity were harmless, a good thing too or everyone he carried during a rescue would be shocked! No, one of the flashiest aspects of his quirk did little more than cause a tingling sensation almost like a static shock that was not quite strong enough to be painful. It seemed it was enough to grab his attention, however, as he looked down at the little girl playing with the brilliant green arcs almost the instant she touched it.

He calmed jarringly fast then, as if the sight of her was enough to wash all his worries away. It didn't, but he couldn't seem to help being gentle with her. He allowed for his quirk to continue to flicker for now, his attention turned back to Bakugou when his answer finally came only to look back down at her, quirk finally dissipating. Dropping into a frog-like squat once again, he smiled to her softly. "I'm sure whatever you find will be really cool! I'll try not to take too long, but I haven't seen your brother in a long, long time so I'm sorry if I get a little distracted. More time to find something to really wow me, right?"

With a final smile he stood himself up and started to follow the other blond out of the room. His tension spiked the moment they entered the hall, looking down the hall and simply standing there for a moment. All that defensiveness was crawling back and like before he wasn't hiding it well. When he was sure it was safe, he entered the other's room looking around curiously out of habit. He shouldn't be surprised that this looked completely different than he remembered, but a part of him was. Strange how the brain works. The last time he'd seen Katsuki's bedroom was in middle school. After that, it had only ever been the dorm back in Yuuei. Even then, he hadn't visited often by the time they were in middle school.

At the same time, it did fit him, from what he could remember. Neat, with only a few personal things left out, such as the drum kit that was simply too large to tuck away. Judging by the condition of the multi-piece instrument, he still worked out his frustrations on it. He was glad he was using a healthy outlet like this, but it didn't make him feel too much better, all things considered. Honestly, the most surprising changes were with Bakugou himself.

There was plenty left to know he was the same person, but he seemed to have matured. At the very least he had better control over his temper. He'd feel more proud of him for that if he wasn't so upset about the situation. He wasn't looking forward to this conversation either... He wasn't sure just how much Katsuki had changed while he was gone, but he had a very strong feeling that he wouldn't like what he had to say. He couldn't let it go unsaid, however, this was too important to keep quiet about for the sake of not stepping on the blond's toes.

"You can't stay here and she sure as hell can't either." Shit. That was not how he should have started this conversation. Quick, keep going before he can have an outburst! "I know you don't like people helping you, but this isn't just about you, it's about your little sister as well. Look, I was planning on moving back to Japan soon anyway. All Might told me that when I was done with my stint in the U.S. that I had a job waiting for me when I got back. I was going to start looking for a place tonight. Originally, I was going to find a two-bedroom place so I could have a room for my collection, but together we can afford a three-bedroom place in Tokyo, I'm sure of it. We'd all have our own rooms and it would also facilitate me being able to watch her if we lived together. If you refuse to do that then..." He hesitated for a moment, looking at the bedroom door.

With a deep sigh, he forced himself to continue. "If you refuse, then I'm going to have to pick her up and take her somewhere else to babysit her. I'm legitimately afraid I might put your mother in the hospital if I don't." Those emerald in obsidian eyes finally trained back onto Bakugou's own rubies and remained. It seemed he was done with his rant and was finally giving the blond a moment to speak, assuming he hadn't interrupted him earlier.

.....

"Okay! I'll see if I can find something real cool..." Akashi grinned, before flitting off to find something new. Small hands brushing over worn old skulls and mismatched books as she went through her shelves. Trying to find something really special.

It soothed the hideous ache in Katsuki's neck to see Midoriya doing so well with his kid. *Their* kid, as he often forgot in the days spent raising her, running to get her to school on time, or making her lunch while he got up to go on patrol. Because to Katsuki... Akashi *wasn't* his. Midoriya hadn't been there, simple as that. Not that he'd had any choice in the matter, but still.

But part of him couldn't help but fawn a little. Not much, but a little.

But then Midoriya had to open his fucking mouth and Katsuki saw *red.*

Over the years, his anger had faded. Pushed down, pent up. Because it didn't help, it didn't change anything. But before he could notice, it had shifted and changed, warping into something potentially more dangerous. Less impossible fury and explosive outbursts and into something more sinister.

Cold and venomous, taking over his body before he could stop it. Ruthless and vile, but *patient* all the same.

He liked to think he'd changed, he'd grown for the better. And in some ways he had, he'd definitely learned a lot since they were kids.

But no matter how much he tried to think he was better, that he'd shaped up? That rage boiled inside him. And it grew closer and closer to boiling over with every word Midoriya uttered. His scar *hurt*, bitter feelings and resentment seeming to throb alongside the sharp pain.

"...You’ve really got some fucking nerve, huh?" Katsuki spat, fists clenched and tone icy.

Sure, he had his fantasies. His stupid 'what if's' of what their lives could be like. But that was fantasy, chances wasted and shit he couldn’t change.

And for him to come barging in, like he mattered and saying shit like that? It felt like a slap in the face. Because it was a joke, it had to be! Some ridiculous pipe dream, silly and childish just like the dreams in his head.

"You don’t get to make that call. You seriously think you can just fucking rock up and uproot everything like it's no big deal? And people call *me* arrogant, *jesus fuck...*"

"It's not *my* fault you can't keep your shit in check." Katsuki snapped, gaze cold. As if Midoriya was nothing but a stranger, no, less than that. Because he couldn’t look at him as anything more. Anything more than some nuisance, intruding in his life yet again.

Because if he didn't, he knew he'd fall apart. Because the life Midoriya had so rudely inserted himself into was nothing but a lie. Lies piled on top of each other, band aids and placebo pills for the sickness hiding beneath. He'd never been one for lying, but over the years he'd gotten better at it. When he was younger he'd been content on hiding from his issues, but now lying was the new flavour of his self destruction.

But despite how much he told himself it was Midoriya who was to blame he knew, ultimately that...

It was *his* fault.

He let out a harsh sigh, running a hand through his hair. Letting his rage fade the best he could, shoving it into the back-seat with the almost jarring admission. This... this wasn't Midoriya's *pity* it was his fucking knotheaded bond.

He moved to sit on the edge of his bed, rubbing at his neck. Putting subtle pressure on the area to ease the pain without alerting suspicion or smearing his makeup.

"Look, I get it. She's a cunt. But she's not going to hurt Akashi, she's too scared to set foot in the damn room. Sure she yells and throws shit, but..." He trailed off, letting out a frustrated huff. He didn't know what to say, how to justify his rage as well as the admittedly fucked up situation in the house. God, he didn't even know if he could explain it without it seeming fucked, not with how much of it would have to be lies. But then he realised... he didn't have to. He didn't owe him a thing.

"It's none of your damn business. If you can't keep your shit under wraps, why should that be my problem?" He sneered, rolling his eyes.

.....

"I'm sure you can find something really amazing!" He assured confidently, as he stood and left her to search around his room. It seemed like she'd be safe in here, but it still made him uncomfortable leaving her on her own. Hopefully, she would stay in there as Mitsuki seemed unwilling to even enter the room. He didn't like having to trust in something like that alone, but he would only be just down the hall. If he needed to run back, he could.

A pity his currently bottled up anger and instincts got the better of him. Dammit... He should have been more careful with his words at the very least. Sure enough, he'd angered the explosive blond like he'd been afraid he would. A fumble of frustration left him, but it lacked the angry fire he'd been displaying before. Despite the fact he was clearly upset about the whole thing, he wasn't starting to posture again either. He remained in what had become his usual hunch, though he didn't seem to be having any trouble holding eye contact unlike when they were younger.

"It isn't your fault I'm having trouble controlling my temper, you're right, but that doesn't change much. You're wrong. This is *literally* my business. I have been asked to come here to make sure Akashi is safe and everyone around her is too. I was selected for this job both because I could survive being at the epicenter of her detonation and also able to quickly get her away from everything to keep collateral damage and injury to a minimum, not to mention keep villians from getting to her." He took a deep, calming breath, reluctantly turning his gaze back to the door.

"Ka-chan... She's learned that what's happening here is normal. She doesn't think there's anything wrong with a mother attacking and harming her own child. She's already learned that. I've watched you on the news whenever I could. I know you're making waves here in Japan. You must be able to afford to move out on your own, but you haven't. You won't abandon her here, but can't afford a place big enough for the both of you because Tokyo is expensive, but your ambitions will settle for nothing less. Is that about right?" He turned his gaze back to his old friend, his look making it clear that one thing hadn't changed between them. Midoriya was no less determined to save everyone he could and he'd set his sights on the curly-haired little blond in the next room.

"I wanted to include you in this because even if you hate me, I care about and respect you. I feel you deserved this much at the very least. If you thought she would be safe here, you would have moved out without a worry. You know, deep down, that you don't think she's safe. Besides... You don't have to lay a finger on a person to hurt them." Shit... Katsuki was not going to like what he had to say, but it seemed inevitable at this point.

"I... I thought we'd finally reached a point where we... No. Nevermind, that doesn't matter, not here." He could feel his throat getting tight at the thought that someone he still cared so much about hated him and he didn't even know why. He wasn't here to fix things with Katsuki, as much as he desperately wanted to. Katsuki wasn't the one he was here for. "If you won't work with me to help that little girl then I'll have to do it without you. I'll speak to Mitsuki about having surrendering custody of Akashi to me for the time being. She can stay in my old room at Mom's till I have a place of my own."

A part of him realized that telling Bakugou his plans would likely blow up in his face, but he couldn't help it. He respected him too much to go behind his back and he knew he cared about Akashi. It would be wrong to leave him in the dark, even if it damaged the tattered remains of a failed friendship. It made his heart ache. A part of him had desperately wanted to raise the little girl together. He still wanted that, but he knew that he couldn't force something like that.

"Fuck..." His head hung as the longing grew worse the more he thought about it. "Please... Please, just... Think about it? You deserve better than this. I want to see you be safe and thrive. I know you could. I-I'd stay in my room. You could ignore me all you want, we don't even have to talk, I just... Please, just think it over? I'll hold off speaking to Mitsuki till tomorrow. You can sleep on it..."

.....

Katsuki didn't say another word, not for a long while. Instead sitting in semi stunned silence. Because as much as he hated to admit it, wanted nothing more than to push Midoriya as far away from him as be could, the alpha was right.

It was his business, even if Katsuki wished to dear god that he could just be allowed to settle things himself. Like that had ever worked before. Not to mention he knew if Akashi ever used her quirk on him, he'd probably end up very dead. So, like it or not, Deku was intent on worming his way into his life.

That he could tolerate, but something about what he said next struck a nerve. He could only scoff and roll his eyes at him as he sneered from his seat on the edge of his bed. "Attacking? She threw a *plate*. Big fucking whoop! What, have the villains in America been that piss weak that throwing plates counts to you? And anyway, if I was faster it wouldn't have even hit me in the first place."


Something about what he'd said had caught him off guard. Because he didn't... *hate* him. Sure, his feelings were very demanding and maybe weren't the most positive, but he didn't hate him. It was complicated. So complicated that Katsuki himself wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, so he didn't quite blame him for coming to that assumption. Katsuki wasn't about to correct him either.


But even so, Midoriya had a point. He didn't trust Mitsuki with Akashi. Not without him in the picture somehow. He could only glare daggers into the floor as he listened to him go on, gripping the fabric of his jeans tightly as he tried to keep his own temper under control. He could feel heat on his legs and smell the slightest tinge of burned fabric. He ignored it.


"Man, you haven't changed a bit, huh?" It wasn't a compliment, that was clear just by the way he said it.

He nearly squared up then and there. But, he had to stop himself. Force himself to stay where he was sitting, ignoring every implication and possible failure. But Midoriya didn't know, couldn't be aware of the hidden tripwires or pressure plates that plagued their conversations. Impossible for him to avoid until he was setting them off and dealing with the ramifications. Because to Katsuki that was a *threat* plain and simple. If anything, he wanted to strengthen his conviction out of pure and utter spite.

But then he mentioned his mother and cold fear gripped him before he could process what had been said properly. He knew if his mother had to even be in the same room as the man, he'd be in the biggest mess of his life. He didn't like the thought, and Midoriya was making a very compelling case. Even if it would mean being a lot more careful to keep everything under wraps.

He let out a heavy sigh, running his hands through his hair before spitting out-

"...No. Don't bother with her, I'll talk to her myself. You've got a deal, but stay the hell out of my way, got that?"

.....

"Oh, for fuck's sake... Assault is an intentional act by one person that creates an apprehension in another of an imminent harmful or offensive contact. Which means you don't even actually have to hit someone for it to count as assault. Battery is the actual intentional striking of someone, with intent to harm, even if the injury is slight. The punishment for either is a fine, imprisonment, or both. Add in the fact that you're a registered pro hero and that's upgraded to a felony. This has been happening all your life so we can add on a count of child abuse. Or has that count gone up to two while I've been gone? The laws are the same in both countries and your tough guy bullshit is putting a very dangerous little girl in a very delicate situation. The fact she doesn't think there's anything wrong with hitting other people is both disturbing and a comfort because that's probably the only thing keeping her stress levels down." He took a deep, calming breath then, running scarred fingers through his deep green curls.

"And don't tell me if she's actually hit her or not. I've never needed to take extra suppressants before so I don't carry them and it's taking everything I have already to keep from doing something I'll regret as it is..." The scent of burning fabric drew his attention and he had mixed feelings about it. Bakugou was extremely angry if his normally perfect control was slipping, but he wasn't actually lashing out. He might not be happy about it, but he was clearly coming to terms with the truths he was laying out for him. Still, that didn't mean he would go along with what was being requested of him. He might just let it happen, though the passive route was one he'd never known Katsuki to take willingly.

He couldn't help the somewhat bitter laugh that left him when the blond finally spoke. "Sure I have. I break my bones less." He countered half-heartedly, though it was true that broken bones were extremely rare nowadays. What had changed little was his almost obsessive need to help others. In Bakugou's experience, he would do this regardless of how the blond felt about it and that seemed to still hold true as well.

He wasn't helping his case by openly admitting that he was going to go right over Katsuki's head and speak with his mother directly. Would it really come to that? Would he sit back and let it happen? As the girl was her daughter, what he was saying was legally sound. If made her legal guardian, he would be allowed to remove her from the house, even if his status as guardian would be temporary. The wait wasn't a long one after he'd literally begged, but the sigh told him all he needed to know. Katsuki was relenting and accepting a situation he didn't like.

What he hadn't expected was for him to only agree if Midoriya stayed away from him. The pain those words brought on was expected, but the degree of said pain was not. He broke eye contact, ducking his head to his the hot tears welling up far too quickly for him to keep up with. He closed his eyes against the pain, throat tight as he forced himself to speak. D-deal... Tonight I'll look up apartments for us. I'll focus on finding ones with an en-suite bathroom. If you'll let me have that, I'll let a little hot plate and mini-fridge, then you won't need to see me at all. I'll go to my mother's if either of us come into season..."

He sounded so very heartbroken and, the truth was, that's exactly what was happening. Bakugou was forcing himself to go along with it for his sister and that was the only reason he could tolerate being in the same space as Midoriya. It must be so hard to willfully live with someone you hate... He must love his little sister very much to subject himself to that. "We should get back before we're missed. Just... Give me a moment. I'm sorry..." He scrubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, but fresh tears replaced the ones he wiped away just as quickly. It seems that's something else that was the same. He was still quick to come to tears.

.....

"Watch yourself, Deku. I get your concerns but you really need to stay in your lane and butt out for once in your goddamn life."

Katsuki wasn't an idiot. Even if 'home calls' weren't his thing and dealing with battered kids wasn't something he was ever really called in for. If the comission wanted a villain dealt with or made to talk, that's when Katsuki was usually brought in. But even do he was aware of the law, even if that fact had never really clicked. Even now, it was hard not to make justifications, excuses. That Midoriya just didn't get it, was just overreacting as always.

He couldn’t accept anything else, because that would mean admitting things were a lot more fucked up than he'd realised. Couldn't accept that yeah... Mitsuki was a little abusive. But he couldn’t just run off with her, it would be a nightmare for all of them. He'd thought about it, but ruled it out quickly. He could apply for custody and it would likely be granted, but the media would know the truth. He didn't know who's name was on the birth certificate, he'd been too drugged out to remember and his mother held onto it for dear life. So, they'd find out, but this could be an opportunity. An opening to slip away.

But even so, he refused to let this opening be some fairytale shit. He knew that was never going to happen, so there was no point even entertaining the idea. No point in getting his hopes up. He didn't hate Midoriya, he just... he couldn’t let himself get close to him.

"Tch, you're seriously struggling? Jesus what kind of hero are you if you can't even keep yourself together without suppressants!" He mocked, rolling his eyes dramatically. Making a point to ignore his own hidden hypocrisy. All the while the gnarled scar on his neck throbbed.

He wondered if maybe his baseline was low. He'd spent years with a grand total of fuckall pheromones and was often pinned as a beta because of it. Which worked very nicely for their little con. So now seeing other people express them so freely was strange to him. Even if he knew it was the bond, it still felt jarring. Suffocating.

He gritted his teeth, trying to keep his composure. Trying not to lash out due to his own frustrations. It was hard not to be paranoid under it all. Because if anybody picked up on the hormonal storm that was a little inappropriate for an 'older brother' he'd be fucked. The plan would go to shit before it could have kicked off. So he'd had to keep everything under wraps, learning to supress a lot of his body language and pheromones to the best degree he could. But even then,it was still a struggle sometimes.

God, he really felt like under it all they were the same garbage people. Idiot kids at UA, fighting against the League and trying to be their very best. Everything had changed and yet nothing had at the same time. But while Midoriya still had that compulsion to help whoever he could, Katsuki still had his cruelty. His sharp tongue and aggressive stance. It had helped him keep the man at a distance before, so it would surely aid him now.

He let out a sigh. He wasn't going to tell a word to his mother, outside of the briefest of snippets that they were all safe. Just out of spite, but he wasn't sure what he was going to tell Akashi. "Works for me. Fuck, now we've gotta explain to Akashi that 'hey, since you're a ticking time bomb and mom's a huge cunt we've gotta move so you don't destroy another city block!' And that's going to end fucking wonderfully."

"Jesus, clean yourself up. For fuck’s sake." He sneered the second he saw his old friend sobbing, getting up from the bed and moving over to the door. Checking the hallway again before walking out, somewhat more casually but still keeping his steps light against the floorboards. He wasn't *scared* of her, he just didn't have time for her shit. Not right now.

Akashi was waiting in the door way for them, holding a jar full of a gruesome yellowed liquid that glittered in the light. She grinned and held it up for Midoriya to see the small chunks of flesh suspended in them. The flesh was degraded, but it was visibly a torn up human finger.

"This, is a human hand!" She beamed and Katsuki let a dry sigh, putting his face in his hands.

"Well, kinda."

"That's part of what was salvaged from Deika city, that Shigaraki freak's hand." Katsuki explained, the chunks of the mans finger had been salvaged. "I got it DNA tested and it's definitely part of his finger, I conned a friend at the station into giving it to me. It was sitting in a freezer for DNA evidence or some shit, but now it's in a jar with glitter." Katsuki sighed, letting out a light snicker.

"Isn't it cool! I knew you would like it! Just make sure not to drop it." Akashi grinned, handing him the jar.

.....

"I butted out about this all our lives and here we are. I feel like I failed you for not saying anything and I'm not going to make the same mistake again. Out of respect for you, I'm not calling the police even though I should. If you won't step up to protect that little girl both physically and mentally, I will. If you want to pretend that you're somehow the exception to the law, you're an adult so that's your problem now, but it won't be hers." He shot right back though the aggression he was displaying ended at his words, never extending into his body language.

What finally got a snarl out of him was the jab at his qualifications of being a good hero. Even then, like before, he made no move on the omega, simply vocalizing his displeasure. "Shut it, Ka-chan! The only time I've ever had a flare-up like this was... Well, when you left school so you didn't get to see it. Once I got on the suppressants I'm on now, I've never once had a problem. Hn... Maybe it's you. I've always cared too much about you, haven't I...?" He lost momentum as he spoke, mumbling more to himself than to Bakugou by the time he'd rolled to a stop.

"I'll keep my suppressants on me from now on. It won't be an issue after today. If they're not enough, I'll see a doctor about booster shots." He added, once again focusing on his breathing to bring himself back down again. He really wasn't used to having to wrestle with himself like this. It was honestly embarrassing. He had always been the emotional type, that was still true too, but he'd learned more control. He could reign himself in to wait for a better opportunity, to move forward safely rather than surge forward recklessly. He had grown past these childish outbursts yet here they were, cropping up again. Why...? Why couldn't they have both grown to a healthier place and actually get along? Or even just be properly civil?

Heh... 'Civil'... He didn't want to be 'civil'. He wanted more than that. So much more than that. For as long as he could remember, his mind had tormented him in his sleep with the life they could have had. Now his imagination would just have an updated appearance for him to love as he slept. Instead, he was having to negotiate to share an apartment with the crush that despised him for the sake of keeping his little sister safe. The blond had always hated him helping, he couldn't honestly be surprised that this wouldn't be an exception.

He knew Katsuki... He would pay half of the rent at least as well as half the utilities. This was assuming he didn't insist on covering 2/3rds out of pride because his sister was occupying one of the rooms as well. Despite his notoriously bad temper, he was almost always fair in matters like these.

"There's no reason to say it like that. You don't have to mention the element of your mother to her. Use me as the scapegoat. If I'm going to be working out of All Might's office, I need to be in Tokyo and you want to work there too. Make her feel special by telling her how much you'd miss her so you got your mom to agree to let her come with you." He offered, though he wasn't sure if the blond would go for the softer lie he was offering, nor was he sure if the two of them were close enough to make him want her to come with them realistically. He was fairly sure they had a close enough bond, but he hadn't seen them interacting enough to be absolutely sure.

Despite his somewhat strained sounding advice, the tears were enough to get Bakugou to want to end their session. "Wah, wai---dammit..." He grabbed the end of his shirt, lifting it up to his eyes to dab them dry. He forced himself under control, something he'd learned to do at this point, but he certainly didn't like doing. Once he'd gotten himself back in check, he straightened his shirt, took a steadying breath, then followed after him.

Sure enough, when out in the hall, he was once again looking down the length of it to make sure the woman stayed away. Thankfully, she was nowhere to be seen. He knew he'd have to cross paths with her again sometime this visit, but he'd rather avoid her as much as he could get away with. At least he was feeling calmer as time dragged on, even if he was still very upset about the situation as a whole. He just hoped the smart little girl didn't pick up on the fact that he was crying only a moment earlier.

Then they were there and she was holding up a jar. Filled with what he assumed to be formaldehyde or something similar. And what were clearly pieces of a preserved hand. Considering they had gone from a bug collection, to animal skulls, to a jar of teeth, bits of a preserved hand really shouldn't have been that shocking, but he couldn't say he'd expected this one. It was even more shocking to find out who exactly had been the previous owner!

"This was Shigaraki's?!" He looked over at Katsuki in shock, then back at the jar held up by little hands. He reached out and took it from her, sure enough bringing it close to peer at the remains inside. He'd been a working hero since he was 18. This was not the first time he'd seen dismembered human remains. Seeing some in a jar was honestly a lot easier than splattered across the ground in pools of blood, worse if they were fresh enough to still be twitching.

"This was really his? Wow... I would have never imagined something like this would have ended up in your collection. He and I met several times too. I've even talked with him. Like, not yelling across a battlefield or something, like actually just talked. I was only sixteen then. Me and a bunch of friends had gone to the mall to buy some things we would need because we were about to go to a training camp. It was supposed to be fun because we knew how hard it would be, even if we were excited about it. I got separated for a bit and he found me. We didn't fight, he just wanted to talk and ask me some questions." He shifted the jar close to himself, holding it against himself with his left arm to make sure he didn't accidentally drop it.

Right hand free, he brought it up to his own neck, closing his fingers loosely around it though his middle finger remained pointedly raised. "To make sure I didn't call attention to us, he held me by the throat. I was a lot smaller back then so his fingers could reach almost all the way around my neck. By the end, I couldn't breathe because he was squeezing tighter and tighter, but one of my friends found us and Shigaraki excused himself like we were friends and left. It was really scary!" Story finished, he removed his hand and went back to holding the jar securely with the two and even going back to looking at the contents, unable to help to wonder if this had been the hand that had held him hostage.

.....

"Yep! Oh wow! You really talked to him?! That's so cool!" Akashi gasped, starry eyed with her hands clasped tightly in front of her. She wasn't a huge hero buff, but she was grateful for the morbid item all the same. The finger of a famous dead guy? How could she pass up an opportunity like that! But she couldn't help but shiver when she thought about the man Shigaraki was, how scary villains could be.

Katsuki did his best to supress a shiver of his own at the mention of the training camp. It was an old wound, but still tender. Not something he enjoyed thinking about. He was damn glad he'd never have to see Shigaraki's crusty-ass face ever again.

Part of him wanted to rip the band aid off now. He knew for certain there was no way he was telling Mitsuki about this. He didn't have to! Akashi was his kid on those hidden away documents, they hadn't been able to change that. But being a pro hero came with certain connections, meaning that for the most part it didn't really matter what the paperwork said, their plan could go off without a hitch. And even now, he knew Mitsuki probably wouldn't make too much of a fuss. She wanted them out of the house anyway, so what did she care?

He hated to admit it, but Deku had a point about breaking things to Akashi smoothly. But he wanted her to be the first to know, so she knew the gist of the plan and could have a say. Before things got swept up by the bureaucracy.

"Hey, how would you feel about a vacation? Moving up to Tokyo for a while, seeing the city..." He sighed, leaning against the wall. Akashi blinked, thinking for a moment.

"...Is this a you and me vacation like going to the servo at 8:30 so you can buy cigarettes?" She blurted out without a care in the world and Katsuki let out a hissed sigh. Due to his packed schedule most days, especially when Akashi was younger, he'd have to go get cigarettes while babysitting her. It was just an unspoken truce between them. She wouldn't say a word, and he wouldn't say a word when she brought home another dead animal. It worked.

"...Yes."

"Meaning we don't tell Mom. And this would be more than just you waiting in the car for 20 mins. And Deku is coming." He explained, watching her rock on her heels, thinking over his offer for a moment. There was a wicked gleam in her eye as she presented her terms.

"Do I have to go to school?"

"If you're up to it, but you don't have to right now if you don't want to." Katsuki shrugged, speaking pretty plainly. It felt obvious. Considering the situation, she could stay home watching TV all day with Midoriya for all he cared. That was why he showed up, if he had a problem with it he only had himself to blame.

Akashi's eyes lit up and she moved to grab the gorey hand back from Midoriya, making grabby hands at him.

"...Hm... okay!"

.....

"It really wasn't, but I understand what you mean." He smiled awkwardly, thankful that she didn't seem to pick up on his recent crying fit. "It was interesting though... He seemed to be having a bit of a crisis about where his life was and how to move forward. Even villians worry about that kind of stuff, I guess. Even when they seem really evil, these things tend to be more shades of grey than black and white. That doesn't mean they shouldn't be held responsible for what they did though!" He backpedaled a little, not wanting her to think it was okay to do bad things just because it was understandable why you were doing it.

He looked away from the contents of the jar, shocked that the topic of moving was already being broached. Katsuki was also choosing to make it seem less permanent than it actually was. Not that he thought they would stick to this arrangement forever, but it was a 'for the foreseeable future' kind of thing. What caught him off guard was finding out that Bakugou had picked up a rather nasty habit. When had he started smoking cigarettes? He could remember that he was rather opposed to them when they were younger. Then again, he didn't have a school-record to worry about and they were too young to legally get them at the time.

He'd always assumed that his quirk helped his lungs deal with smoke inhalation so it was probably less unhealthy for him to do such a thing than it would be for other people, but there were so many bad things in cigarettes... Surely he wasn't resistant to all of them. Hm... He should make sure their apartment had a balcony so he could go out there to smoke. Regardless of his feelings on the matter, he didn't comment on it for now, though he wasn't exactly hiding his surprise well.

He smiled to her when it was revealed offhandedly that he would be there to, nodding confirmation. Ah, there was school to worry about too, wasn't there? "It's okay to take a little break to adjust to living in Tokyo, but school is important too. Hmmm... Ah! We could do it together! When you're ready, we can enroll you in online classes, then I can help you. Not that I think you need the help, you're so smart! If you finish you class stuff early, maybe we can go out and do fun stuff together too." He offered as an incentive.

"I know school can be boring, but you can learn some really cool things too and you need to go to school for a lot of cool jobs. Like... A forensics expert or an entomologist, or even a mortician. I think you'd really enjoy being an entomologist though. Imagine going to countries around the world to study insects and arachnids. I bet you would even discover new species no one has ever seen before!" He offered, figuring those careers would be of interest to her.

Handing back the jar carefully, he straightened back up to his natural hunch. "Oh! Have you ever been to the Ueno Zoo? We went there on a field trip when we were little, maybe we can go once we're done unpacking?"

Honestly, the while thing was making him anxious, but at least he'd convinced Bakugou to agree that the three of them should move out together. That was easily the hardest part. Now he would just have to find them an apartment. He figured Katsuki would want the final say, but as Midoriya's schedule was much more open than his, it just made sense that he would do the bulk of the apartment hunting. He needed to look up some other things too, but those were less important and could be done between. Shit. There was a snag in this plan...

"Um... Ka-chan? Is your phone number still the same?" He'd texted him from time to time during the years they were apart but had never gotten a response so he couldn't be sure the number was the same. His texts might have just gone ignored and deleted, but he couldn't be sure with the lack of response whenever he tried. Hell, his number may have been simply blocked. He would need to be able to contact Bakugou from now on so he hoped that the grumpy blond would accept that as part of their lives now without too much fuss. Or even with a lot of fuss, so long as he did it, really...

.....

Katsuki looked away at Midoriya's comment, rolling his eyes. But he still got what Midoriya meant, even if he was being bitter about things. Stubborn. Just keeping an eye on things, watching the two of them interact.

He noticed the look on Midoriya's face and only gave him an icy glare back.

It helped calm him down, or at least that's what he'd come to tell himself. It was a soothing ritual in of itself at the end of the day and he wasn't about to let Midoriya take it from him. Either perched on the curb of the servo or when he'd be sitting in hospital beds after getting his ass kicked in the field. He could sit down and have a cigarette and a think.

The deadly aspect of it didn't scare him. He honestly didn't know if his body was at all protected by the cancerous smoke. And he didn't really want to at the end of the day.

Katsuki had done the math and it was more likely he'd get killed during work than by the looming figure of death in a hospital bed with rotting lungs and withered skin. He was dead either way so fuck it. He just had to rise to the top as quickly as he could. He was climbing up the rankings, making a name for himself but he knew his career was struggling. And it hurt, because he needed to get to the number one spot. Every failure in the field felt like the world was ending, that he'd been knocked further away from his goal than he'd ever been.

It was all that mattered, because for the most part he'd played life on speed run. He had about now until he was 40 to make it, and that's if he pushed it. And by the time he was 40... Akashi wouldn't need him anymore, so. What happened after that didn't matter to him. He was jolted out of his thoughts by Akashi's dramatic sigh.

"I don't mind school, I just *hate* my classmates. They're all so dumb! All Baka-shi this Baka-shi that." Akashi huffed, pulling lightly at her hair. Katsuki knew she'd had a pretty hard time at school, and he didn't know what he could do about it. He'd tried to scare the crap out of them a couple of times to no avail, but hopefully this recent disaster would finally get them to back the fuck off.

Akashi seemed to prefer Deku's idea of staying at home to do classes, rocking on her heels as she muttered mostly to herself. "Well... I guess I won't have to worry about them if we do school at home..."

"Man, I could meet some cool bugs in the city too..."

"Or I could probably make some now with my quirk, right? Go into entomology and nuclear science and make a whole new species of my own..." She blinked, snapping back to reality and out of her muttering spell. Intrigued by the capabilities of her quirk and being able to try it out in morbid ways. Katsuki wasn't too phased, he'd seen kids do a lot worse so if she wanted to mutate butterflies and spiders that was better than her making a deformed puppy.

She quickly perked up at the mention of the zoo. "Nope! Usually I just go to the museum or the library, but the zoo sounds fun!"

"Just don't go fucking with any animals okay, they have feelings too remember?" Katsuki huffed, rolling his eyes. He wanted to make the boundary clear from the start, and why it was a bad thing to do otherwise he knew she could easily get way in over her head.

Katsuk let out a hiss between gritted teeth, pulling out his phone. "Yeah, I'll unblock you..." He said it freely, without much of a second thought.

......

He couldn't say he was surprised that his shock when finding out about Bakugou's new smoking habit was met with a I-dare-you-to-say-shit glare. He had no intention of speaking up about it with their relationship in such a bad place, much less in front of Akashi, though he might have to have a talk with her later about how bad cigarettes were for your health, just in case. For now though, he was definitely letting that rest and focusing on the situation at hand.

"Baka---No...! That's not you at all!" Without hesitation, he made sure the jar was set aside where it wouldn't be knocked over then reached out, very gently coaxing her to let go of her pretty blond curls. "You're so smart... Don't listen to them, they're wrong. I know hearing it over and over can make you think it might be true, but just because they say it doesn't make it true, no matter how many times it's repeated." He gave her little hands an affectionate squeeze with his own large, scarred ones then finally let go.

"I understand how you feel though... Here." He pulled out his phone and opened up a memo, typing out his own name before showing it to her. "When I was little, I didn't have a quirk either... This is my name. This character here, it can be read as 'deku'. That's how I got my nickname. Everyone used to tell me that I was useless because I didn't have a quirk. I was made fun of and even beat up a lot. I liked school too, but... I didn't really like going. My mom asked me if I wanted to be transferred or do classes online, but I decided not to. I thought it would be lonely to never see my friends again, even if they all bullied me..." He deleted his name then and put his phone back in his pocket.

"That was my choice to make though and that doesn't mean it was the right one or that it's the right one for you. If you don't want to go to school in person, then you can do it online. If you feel lonely, I can help you find a club to join so you're with other kids that have the same interests as you! No matter what, I'm sure you'll make good friends, even if you might not have them now, I promise." He assured gently, smiling sweetly to the little girl before him.

"Tokyo is a different part of Japan so I'm sure at least some of the bugs will be different there. Uh... I'm not sure that's how radiation works, but... Your quirk is so new that it's hard to say. I'm sure that your radiation could potentially alter the DNA of living things if they're exposed to it long enough, though from what I've been told the halflife of your radiation is extremely short. Not a bad thing as you could make people around you sick if it didn't dissipate fast. I wonder if you could learn to lengthen or shorten the time your radiation lingers with practice... Or weaken and strengthen the explosions! We'll need to take you to specialized facilities for something like that though. It's amazing that you would already need a facility like that! Most kids aren't strong enough for something like that till high school at least, with a few exceptions of course, like your brother or Todoroki-kun. Your quirk is so amazing! I hope we get to train together, I would love to watch how your quirk grows and all the stuff you might be able to do with it! O-Oh! Shoot, I'm rambling... S-sorry! I do that sometimes... It's just I'm really excited! I've never met someone with a quirk quite like yours and I really want to write more about it in my notebook!" And with that, he betrayed a bit of information. Apparently, she was already in one of his hero notebooks. He may have entertained himself while on the flight over for a while...

He gasped dramatically when she revealed to him that she had never been to the zoo. Hilariously, despite how over the top it was, it seemed he wasn't actually faking it. "Never? Not even once? Well, he gotta go now! There's three different bird houses, and a nocturnal animals house, and a small mammals house too! They have a bunch of animals native to Japan, but also a bunch from other countries like giraffes, rhinos, and elephants! You never realize how big they are till they're in front of you! A whole lot bigger than me, that's for sure. Oh! There's a petting zoo too! One of the goats tried to eat my shoelaces... I wonder if he's still alive... I doubt it, he was already big when we visited as kids." He hoped Bakugou wouldn't mention that the same goat also butted him in the stomach and in turn onto his butt for attempting to get him to stop eating said shoelaces.

Some of his excitement was squelched when it was confirmed that his number had indeed been blocked. He wondered how many 'Happy Birthdays' and such had never even reached him... He sent them every year without fail, even if he didn't expect a response. "Thank you, Ka-chan..." He muttered with a sigh. How was he ever going to survive living with him...? "I'll be sure to only text you if it's an emergency. Oh, and to show you what apartments I found, but only emergencies after that."

.....

Katsuki rolled his eyes the second Midoriya started talking. Not out of completely genuine disdain, but a mix of posturing and old habits. Echoes of an old dynamic that felt familiar and foreign all at the same time. He was remorseful, and he understood that this was probably something Akashi needed to hear. But jesus fuck he didn’t. He didn’t need the bitter reminders of a life he’d tried to forget, of the person he’d been.

Akashi on the other hand was pretty much oblivious to Katsuki’s shitty attitude, instead blubbering up to Midoriya’s words in a way that was quite reminiscent of the freckly middle school kid he’d used to be. It made Katsuki’s gut twist with guilt, but he wasn’t about to show it.

Akashi didn’t hesitate to latch onto Midoriya, pulling him in for a hug. Instinctively liking him from day one, it seemed. Getting a honestly slightly gross amount of tears and snot onto his clothes, Katsuki couldn’t help but curl his lip up at the gesture, still caught in the gymnastics and mental spirals of his own fractured memory, trying not to see the echoes of somebody he’d long tried to leave behind. Consumed by a mix of bitter jealousy that Akashi had immediately clung to fucking *Deku* within not long of meeting him, and his own internal hang ups being dragged brutally back to the surface. He didn’t make a move to comfort her like he normally would, instead just lurking in the corner til she calmed down. He didn’t quite know where the boundary was anymore, not with Deku lurking around the house. He couldn’t do the normal shit he did with her because he knew it would just raise more questions. So, he waited for her sniffles to subside and she started to perk up again at Midoriya’s reassurance before letting out a relieved sigh.

“I hope there’s centipedes in the city! I love their legs, there’s so many! Will you come help me find bugs like Kacchan does, Midoriya? He’s really loud so he scares them away…” Akashi muttered, pulling back from the hug to look up at Midoriya with a watery uncovered eye, giving it a wipe on her sleeve.

The mention of one of her brother’s school ‘friends’ had the gears in Akashi’s head turning. Oblivious to Katsuki’s bitterness at the situation and more clicked on to the lightbulb that had gone off in her head. “Do you think we could use Kacchan’s old school uniform to sneak into UA and use the school? I know they have all the good training areas, and I bet he could get me in there if I annoyed him enough!” That seemed to be Akashi’s best move in her toolkit. Emotionally oblivious to everything but nails on a chalkboard.

She cocked her head to the side, giving a little laugh. “No no! It’s fine, I don’t mind it. Just talk faster if you mumble, because it’s easier to listen to that way- and I think Kacchan’s about to throw a tantrum every time you do it and if you talk faster the time will go quicker.” She immediately put her older brother on blast with a subtle jab and an oh so sweet smile, shrugging as Katsuki brooded in the corner.

Katsuki couldn’t help the prickle of bitter jealousy that crept up his spine at the mention of the notebooks. Or more precisely, that he’d already been keeping tabs on his fucking kid. Maybe it was misplaced paranoia, logically he knew Midoriya was here to do a job. But it still creeped him out to think about the man writing god knows what about his kid, that he already had notes on her. He would have thought the habit of burning the books to ashes would have deterred him from writing the creepy things.

He let out a light sigh, trying to calm himself down. Just because Midoriya had a weird hobby didn’t mean it was fair of him to be an asshole about it, he told himself as he tried to stuff the sickly rage back down inside of him where it wouldn’t be an issue. Weird hobbies were fine, he couldn’t judge Midoriya for it because look at the weird shit Akashi loved. It was a difficult balancing act, logic and pure emotional garbage thought. He couldn’t play too much into the other without disastrous consequences, either he’d be cut off or uncontrollable. And even if severing the violent rage was good in the short term, he knew it would only bubble up to the surface eventually.

But that was future Katsuki’s problem.

He was snapped back to the conversation by Akashi nudging him harshly with her elbow, and he blinked back into reality and out of his thoughts.

“Woah! Kacchan- why have you never taken me! The zoo sounds fucking awesome, why am I only hearing about it now!” Akashi grinned, rocking on her heels once she’d fully scrubbed the tear tracks from her face. Eyes lit up at the thought of the mishmash of wild animals she’d only really seen in books. Katsuki huffed, rolling his eyes and explaining it up front- “It’s in the opposite direction to UA, if it was on the route we’d have gone sooner. But I guess now we can borrow the car and go…” He mused, trailing off before the mention of the goat drew a light snort out of him.

“Oh that fucker better be alive. That goat was fucking awesome.” Katsuki quipped, snapped out of his spell by the memory. While Midoriya had a very bad run in with the beast, it had loved Katsuki like no tomorrow. He hoped Akashi would have a similar experience, and that the goat wouldn’t pick up on the genetic mashup and decide to kick her ass too. Not that she couldn’t handle it, quite on the contrary- he was afraid of her more getting frustrated and nuking the poor thing. Kids were volatile and kids with quirks like that could be even more so, he knew that much. He wasn’t sure if it was nature or nurture, but to him that hardly mattered. The results were the same. Or that’s what he told himself.

The spiral of denial was an awful thing to cope with these days. Stuffing down parts of himself, his emotions, everything just to get through the day. Running away from his thoughts and problems. He didn’t think about things because he knew if he did, things would just spiral out of control. So, he lived in this bubble of thought. Of infuriating paradoxes in order to maintain the status quo. In his eyes, as long as his kid was provided for somehow and wasn’t in harm’s way, he was happy. Deku just wouldn’t fucking get it. Get what that felt like, knew how hard this had been. He didn’t want to think about Mitsuki because the more he thought about it, the more fucked up it all seemed. And he wasn’t prepared for that particular realisation, not yet anyway.

“Good, keep me updated on details so I can work shit out on my end…” Katsuki huffed, doing nothing to hide the snide edge to his tone, the annoyance and frustration and lack of regard for Midoriya’s feelings. He didn’t care, or he told himself that and took sadistic glee in the action. The self fulfilling prophecy, hurting others to detract from the gaping wounds he squirreled away. He glanced around the room before letting out a little groan, muttering mostly to himself about the plan for things he was constructing alongside the self deprecating bullshit thought train. “...I’m gonna need to start getting all of this into boxes fuck me…”

.....

Too focused on the little girl before him, he didn't notice the inner turmoil the older blond was struggling with. His heart broke at the way her eyes welled up with tears, intimately familiar with how good it could feel to have your sadness validated, not to mention defended against those that have hurt you. Though he'd always been a rather awkward individual, physical touch was surprisingly something he'd always been comfortable with, despite how much he was bullied as a child. He didn't hesitate to not only hug back, but actually scoop her up into his arms for a cuddle. The greenette even went so far as to gently rock her as she cried out her feelings.

He couldn't say he was surprised that Katsuki didn't tease her about crying despite the fact that his own teary upset had been scoffed at and forced to be cut short meer minutes ago. In his experience, this was par for the course. Even when they were in high school, Katsuki had always treated him differently, harsher than he would everyone else. Well... At least up till nearly the end. They'd grown so much and he had been so sure they were going to be proper friends again! His long-standing crush had even been hoping for more... Then everything had suddenly and without warning taken a turn for the worse and he had no idea why.

"Shhhh... It's okay. It'll all be okay... Sometimes life can be really hard or even unfair, but if you do your best and keep reaching for something better, it'll work out in the end. It'll get better, you'll see. You don't even have to do it alone! Your big brother loves you very much and I'm sure he'll always have your back." The greenette meant every word too. He continued to hold and rock her till she'd calmed down. Leaning in without thinking, he pressed a gentle kiss to her temple before setting her down on her feet again, oblivious to the jealously he was inducing in the older blond.

It seemed she'd bounced back quite well, as children tended to. "Centipedes? Those are venomous so I don't know if I would want to be near one aside from catching them in a cup to put outside. Do you like millipedes too? More legs, less dangerous." He chuckled softly at her enthusiasm. "Of course I will! Ka-chan and I used to catch bugs together when we were little too! We used to catch horned beetles in the forest near where we lived. He was a lot better at it than I was though so usually I carried the bug cages for us and he did the catching. It feels like forever since I've gone bug hunting... I look forward to doing it with you! I hope I'm better at it now and if not, I'll carry the cages for you like I used to."

"Eh? N-no, no! The security at Yuuei is super tight, we could get in a lot of trouble for trying to sneak in! There are places you can rent that we can use. Pros have to practice too and they can't all be going to a high school to do that in, right? Besides, they're stronger than high schoolers so there are places with even better facilities. They can get kinda expensive depending on the place and the destruction your quirk can cause, but they're good places to let loose in as well as work on precise control. That second one is more important so we'll probably be focusing on that with you till you get the hang of your quirk. My quirk was super late and came at me with a vengeance so I know first hand how important it is to learn how to control a destructive quirk as quickly as possible." He explained, hoping that offering himself up as an example would help her feel better about the whole thing.

"I... Don't know if that would help. I don't think he likes it when I talk. Like... At all." He smiled weakly and gave an awkward shrug of his broad shoulders. Another pang of pain made his heartache at the thought that one of the conditions for them living together was the fact that they wouldn't speak to one another. Hell, he was expected to stay in his room as much as humanly possible. He wasn't even sure how well that would work, but for Akashi's sake at the very least, he had to make it work.

He sighed, though he couldn't be surprised that Bakugou hoped the grumpy goat he'd befriended as a child was still alive. Not to say that he hoped the nippy beast was dead, but he would rather not have another incident with him. "If he is, I hope he's mellowed with age... He'd be ancient for a goat by now," he pointed out though he couldn't seem to help but to smile. Sure, he hadn't had a very good experience with the goat but the field trip, in general, was a fond memory. Sure Bakugou had bullied him there like he always did, but there were a few points where he was having enough fun to forget he was supposed to. He cherished those little moments when they acted like proper friends.

"I'm sure you guys will have lots of fun together when you go! I hope you'll have fun with me too when we go." And there it was. Already he was trying to keep himself out of activities that involved Katsuki himself, assuming that he wouldn't want the greenette there. Even these actions hurt, but he'd made it more than clear that he wasn't welcome in his life and only tolerated him out of necessity. "He's right though, be nice to the animals while you're there, even if they're mean to you. They can't talk like us so they can't tell us how they feel which is why they bite and scratch sometimes. Or headbutt..." He added, once again thinking back on the billy goat.

Emerald in obsidian eyes flicked up to meet annoyed ruby ones, finally picking up the glittery jar and standing back up to his hunch. "I will... I'll do my best to find something nice for us," he turned his attention to the little girl again then. "Would you like to help me, Akashi-chan? I'll be with you mostly while Ka-chan is at work after all." He offered the jar back then with care. "Here... Better put this away so nothing happens to it."

The greenette chuckled softly at his old friend's words, looking at the things in the room himself. "Yeah... I came here with only as many clothes as I could fit in a couple of suitcases. I'll have to hire some movers to pack all my things so they can be shipped to my mom's. I'm gonna have to get shelves for my collection or something..." He figured Bakugou wouldn't be particularly interested in what he had to say, but he couldn't seem to help wanting to include him in his life as well as be included. He was going to have to figure out how to kick this habit really fast if they were going to be living together with no contact. He was going to be such a mess and he knew it...

Clearing his throat he spoke again, this time to Akashi. "You have a lot of stuff in your collection! This is your chance to reorganize it and even rediscover stuff you may have forgotten you have. Is there anything you've always wanted in your collection, but haven't managed to acquire?" He was just trying to keep the conversation going and wondering how long it would take before he'd overstayed his welcome and was forced to leave. He didn't want to leave her here, but he also didn't know if it was a good idea to take her to the hotel with him. Katsuki would be here with her, surely that would be enough to keep her safe.

.....

“Millipedes are alright, but centipedes like me better. They’ve got such nicer colors too, I know it’s part of signalling to other creatures that they aren’t good to eat but they’re so pretty and creepy!” She grinned, unaware that their proclivity towards her was likely just aggression. Despite her ability to bounce back, she still rubbed at her eyes, scrubbing the tear-tracks from her cheeks with a frustrated huff after she’d been put down. She didn’t like crying, she found it unbecoming and stupid. So she tried her hardest to swing back into the conversation at hand. “Yess! You’ve gotta come bug hunting with me then! Do you think your spot would still have bugs? Unless it’s been turned into a car-park...”

Akashi didn’t look convinced by his explanation about why sneaking in would be a terrible idea, even if his anecdotal evidence did help to sway her in the right direction. “I guess you’re right. Pro’s do have to train too… I dunno, I bet it’d be easier just going to UA. I’m small enough to fit in the vents, too. Auntie Mina started working there didn’t she? I bet she could sneak me in, and then I could give the hero students a run for their money!” Akashi cackled, and Katsuki rolled her eyes. Agreeing with Midoriya, but not wanting to make that overt.

“Yeah, dunno if she still is now. But no fucking way, we can’t trouble her like that jesus.” He wasn’t wrong, he wasn’t about to cause problems for her like that. Although he couldn’t help but think of how it could serve as an example for UA to increase their goddamn security, if a little kid could just wander in.

Katsuki just snorted, glad they were on the same page there. “Not in the fucking slightest. It’s like a cheese grater on my eardrums. Thanks for trying though kid.” Katsuki ruffled Akashi’s hair, tone softening as he addressed her. He didn’t want to control what Midoriya did exactly, it was his house too but at the same time he wanted things to go smoothly. Which meant as much isolation from him as humanly possible, hell the man should be happy he didn’t have to be around his shit attitude. He hadn’t missed the hurt behind that wobbly smile, but that didn’t mean he actually cared.

But, even if he didn’t care in the slightest about what Midoriya felt, he was quick to catch onto Midoriya’s sentiment with the zoo. The distance was expected, something he understood and something part of him honestly did want. But on the other side of the coin, Katsuki didn’t want to deprive him from shit like that. Even if he was the only person who knew, Midoriya should at least get to take his kid to the zoo, no matter his own petty feelings about him. So, he bottled down that angry, possessive part of himself and just shrugged.

“...She’s off from school for a while longer, take her if you really want to. You’re on babysitting duty so you can do what you like while I’m at work, go to the zoo, aquarium, whatever.”

“The hag’s not gonna be bothered to take her and I’ve got shit to do, if you’re going to be hanging around you may as well make yourself useful.” He finished the sentiment with a harsh, backhanded jab, as usual because he refused to talk to the man in any way that wasn’t utter garbage. He needed to keep his facade up and strong, with no room for doubt in it or this just wasn’t going to work, he’d… get too attached himself or Deku would actually think he was warming up to him. Bleh.

Katsuki tried his best to suppress a shiver when their eyes met. Those weren’t the eyes he remembered from his childhood, he honestly found it kinda creepy. He knew it was likely to do with his ‘borrowed quirk’, a side effect that came with really making it his own. But that didn’t mean it didn’t give him the heebie jeebies, enough to make him quiet down while he zoned out.

“Okay!” Akashi took the jar, hiding it back away in the crevices of her room before saying- “Ooo what if we got a big mansion, with tons of rooms! And a butler to take care of all those rooms too!”

“You both get paid enough to get us a butler, right?” She cocked her head and Katsuki tried to suppress a laugh as she continued, “Oh who am I kidding, of course you do! You’re heroes!”

Katsuki was snapped out of his stupor by the offhand comment about his things, riling up his hackles. “And you were supposed to be staying here for how long? Jesus, I thought you’d at least have the sense to pack more.” He sneered, not genuinely having a go at him. In all honesty, he didn’t really give a shit. But any opportunity to rag on him he would take without a second thought, even if it wasn’t genuine. He almost felt flattered that Deku still bothered to tell him shit at all, he knew if it were him he wouldn’t give himself the time of day. They would be a mess indeed, fuelled by attempts at communication that fell flat on their face, subtle things that would probably just add to the fire in the long run. “I’ve got some shelves I’m probably not going to use once I move out, if you want to use those. Better than buying brand new shelves for your fucking nerd shrine.” Katsuki rolled his eyes, pretending that he didn’t have his own ‘nerd shrine’ at the top of his closet. The lot of them really were just a big group of nerds, huh? That much was made evident when Midoriya started asking the little girl about her collection and she replied avidly.

“Hm… I guess that is true, tons of stuff gets lost in here… and prolly the Necro… shit. Ne-cro-nom-i-con.” Akashi huffed, struggling with the world for a moment before sounding out the syllables. Katsuki snorted, flicking her forehead lightly.

“The Necronomicon isn't a real book, you know that right?”

“Nuh uh! It is so! Imagine all the forbidden knowledge it contains!” Akashi huffed and Katsuki just rolled his eyes, not wanting to argue with her on that one. She thought for a moment, fictional books full of eldritch novels aside, she had a few dream items in mind… “But… either that or a piece of the elephant’s foot in chernobyl. In most people it kills you just by going near it, but I should be fine because of my quirk! Hopefully!”

“Or… If Kacchan wasn’t such a prick, I’d be able to fish through the pounds dumpster and get myself a kitty cat… But that’ll have to remain a dream because someone is a party pooper and a snitch!” She huffed, putting her hands on her hips and sticking her tongue out at her older brother.

“Oh I’m sorry I won’t let you fish through the trash for dead animals, how fucking terrible of me.” Katsuki growled, rolling his eyes and doing nothing to mask the sarcasm in his tone. He knew he couldn’t stop her tirade for bits of dead animals, her indignant cries of ‘you’re not my mom’ had him stumped there, but he drew the line at dumpster diving. They were better than that.

Katsuki didn’t like to agree with Midoriya on anything, but he had a point in not wanting to leave, even if he’d eventually had to kick him to the curb. Katsuki knew if Mitsuki was going to go off, she would go off at him, he could keep Akashi out of it the best he could and manage the situation without an over-emotional, so called ‘hero’ loitering around in his business. It wasn’t great, but it was the best he could do for now. The thought of Midoriya running off with the kid made his fucking blood boil, he knew it was entirely petty jealously and not actually anything warranted but that knowledge didn’t change the fact that that’s what he was feeling. But, he allowed it. It was convenient to get her out of the firing line and his own insistence on driving her to meet with him allowed him to cut the contact between Deku and the hag.

In the meantime Katsuki just did his best to re-direct Mitsuki’s anger. Any arguments were with him, and he wasn’t going to let it spill out and affect his kid while he got everything in order on his end.

The move-out was a secretive operation that Katsuki had made sure Midoriya had nothing to do with when it came to things at the Bakugou household. Lest the man get involved with any dirty laundry his mother wanted to air out, hell he’d gladly use Midoriya’s distaste for the woman to keep them as far away from each other as was humanly possible. Better than the hag letting something slip and causing problems later, ‘playdates’ were done at the park or at Midoriya’s hotel room. Going through properties together to find something affordable, Katsuki really didn’t give a shit so he barely kept in contact with the man about that side of things. As long as there was enough room for all three of them to live there, aircon and it was in his patrol range, he was happy. He’d just been sent a property and had agreed to it without much thought, too stressed out by goings on to really look at what he was signing on.

Akashi’s room was cleared out and sorted into boxes discreetly at first, rearranged so Mitsuki wouldn’t even notice they’d started packing. Katsuki had kept the girl quiet by buying rare candy from the foreign food store in town, and when Midoriya gave him the move in date he really got to work. All her stuff was loaded into the back of the car and all the furniture would be picked up by the movers in the coming days, provided his mother didn’t hold onto that shit out of spite. (He’d made sure to dismantle his shelves and pack them under the seats of the car, Midoriya on his mind, even if he wasn’t about to admit it.) He left his mother a snide, facetious note. A note full of bullshit just to keep her off their trail, something about moving out with Midoriya in a way that heavily implied they’d ‘worked things out’ and now Mitsuki wouldn’t be burdened with his kid anymore. The man made a point to stress that, taking the birth certificates and doctors notes with him as well- so Mitsuki didn’t have anything she could go public with. The plan was flawless, if somewhat dickish.

Katsuki didn’t like it at all, even if he took initiative in it’s construction. The thought of being stuck with Midoriya all the time made his skin crawl, less out of genuine hatred and more the tepid feelings any close interaction with the alpha dragged out of him, difficult to bear in the moment. It would be difficult to keep his baggage hidden and under wraps, the only way he’d managed to make it work the first time was cutting him off cold turkey because he knew Deku would know something was up. Maybe this time he could pull some bullshit (Claim the distance over the last few years had removed any right for Deku to make assessments on his behaviour) to keep him off the scent of the truth, but it wasn’t exactly going to be easy. He didn’t like lying or cheating or any of that shit, but right now there was more at stake then some hurt feelings.

They both pulled up to the property early that morning, before the sun had risen, if only to slink out of the house before his parents could wake up and cause a scene. He’d gotten fast food on the way in to keep Akashi quiet about things and the girl was munching on a hash brown in the passenger seat as Katsuki got parking sorted.

“Well, here we are sprog.” He sighed, turning off the ignition and getting out to grab a box of Akashi’s stuff from the back of the car. He’d gotten rid of most of his own shit just to conserve space, so he didn’t have as much stuff to lug with him here- especially considering he wasn’t sure how much space he’d be working with.

“Oooo can I get the room with the balcony?” Akashi grinned, looking up and spotting a large window on one of the bedrooms.

“I think that was the plan… means I don’t have to interact with the bastard, so I’m happy.” He shrugged, trudging through the carpark and up inside the building. Checking his phone for the unit number and floor, he let out a sigh. God he wasn’t looking forwards to carrying all his shit up those goddamn stairs, but even so he made his way up them. Akashi huffing up the climb behind him. When they finally got to the door, he banged loudly on it with his boot- yelling out,

“OI! DEKU! You in there?” He gave a click of his tongue, rubbing the back of his neck. “Jesus, probably sleeping in, if he’s even here yet…” Thinking fast, he set down the box and looked around the hallway. There had to be a key here somewhere right? Didn’t most people keep spares, under the doormat or some shit? Maybe at the front desk? Goddamn it, maybe he shouldn’t have avoided Deku so feverantly else he’d likely already have the key to his own damn apartment.

.....

"They do come in a lot of bright colors..." He relented reluctantly, knowing very well exactly why they were that colorful. "Please don't go playing with them though, they can make you really sick or worse!" He warned, seriously hoping she didn't actually go around playing with highly venomous insects.

"Oh, hey, hey... Not so hard. It's okay to cry when you're sad. Or even when you're not sad. Tears are just... Well, your body can only hold so much emotion, right? So when you feel a whole lot they just spill over. There's nothing wrong with feeling how you feel. Cry when you need to and when you feel better, get back up and keep moving forward with your life. Keeping it in all the time isn't healthy. Keeping all those bad tears in, sometimes they can turn to poison and make us really sick." He murmured, worried that she was already teaching herself not to cry.

"I'm sure it's still a park! I'll take you there soon, you'll see!" Though he worried about her bottling things up, he also found himself in the position of wanting to cheer her up too. Ugh... Emotions were so complicated. "I'm sure we'll find really big beetles then we can take pictures so you can show everyone before we let them go."

He bit the inside of his cheek when she insisted it wouldn't be hard to sneak into U.A. and worse that she was going to try to get Ashido involved. Thankfully, her brother was quick to step in and discourage her half baked plan. "H-he's right. Ashido could get into a lot of trouble for something like that and there aren't any vents in the perimeter wall anyway. That's also trespassing which is against the law!" He insisted, a touch panicked. He really hoped that Mina wouldn't actually agree to try and help her, that could only end badly. "B-besides, you shouldn't be fighting with the students there either. You don't have control over your quick yet. Even if some of them are strong, you could seriously hurt someone or even yourself if you don't have control of your quirk. That's exactly why you and I have to train in places specifically for quirks like ours."

He sighed softly, figuring he'd been right about that. Each new confirmation made his heart ache more too. He wanted desperately to fix things between them and even more desperately wanted Katsuki to be happy. Sadly, those two things seemed directly opposed to one another and as had always been the case, he was willing to sacrifice himself for the happiness and well-being of others, this fact particularly true of those he cared deeply about. Like it or not, his childhood friend and bully was at the top of that list. "Sorry, Ka-chan..."

His eyes widened and snapped up to stare when he was actually encouraged to spend time with her, nodding dumbly, that wobbly little smile he donned when he felt like he was getting more than he deserved spreading pulling at his lips. "O-of course! I will! We'll have lots of fun together, right, Akashi-chan?" His smile was brighter and more natural when he looked at her, honestly beaming with excitement at the thought of going to places like that with her.

His smile did faulter when she made assumptions about their incomes, however. "Uh... Well... Some heroes can afford stuff like that, but... That's mostly the really high ranking heroes. I got pretty high up there in the U.S., but my rank is pretty low here." He failed to mention that he'd never actually planned to live more than comfortably. The thought of living in a huge and lavish estate like the Todoroki's had was kind of intimidating to be honest. He would rather live modestly and donate whatever he didn't need.

He jumped when scolded for the amount he packed, bowing his head. "I-It was an emergency! I only had a few hours to get everything sorted before I was on a plane here. I haven't even gone to sleep yet!" He defended, still more willing to talk back than when he was much younger, but he was having a little trouble making eye contact due to his embarrassment. "When I found out it was your little sister I couldn't waste any time..." He added, more of a mutter now than before.

He was startled back to looking at him properly when offered some shelves. "W-what?! Y-y-y-you don't have to do that! Don't you need them?! I-I can just get myself when my next paycheck comes in!" He insisted, unable to help flushing at the generous offer, not to mention the fact that there was still that damn crush he couldn't shake. Despite his words, Ka-chan was being unusually nice, all things considered. Maybe it wasn't too much to hope they could be friends again, at least? Maybe it was a long shot, but he could hope...

Attention turned back to the girl, he blinked lightly. "You want the Book of the Dead...?" He really shouldn't be surprised that he'd heard of such a thing already. Considering her collection, it was right up her alley. "Uh, th-that's not a good idea! The radiation has gone down a lot, but anything taken from there would get people around it sick even if it didn't get you sick. What's more, the radiation is different from yours so you would get other people sick with the radiation from it alone." He reasoned quickly, really wanting to get that idea out of her head really quick. That was not happening. She wanted to find a cat from a dumpster? He didn't know what he had expected, but none of these things were even close to it. "You're brother's right... Please don't go dumpster diving in general. You could get sick." He muttered, still trying to recover from the information he'd admittedly asked for.



In the end, he drew out his stay as long as he could, but he of course had to leave eventually, if reluctantly. When he'd gotten back to the hotel, he passed out on the bed in his clothes, barely toeing off his shoes before doing so. Come the next morning at the sound of his alarm, he started to look for apartments before going over to do his first shift of actual babysitting. His time was spent like this for the next couple of weeks, scrambling to find a place that fit all of their needs while also being within a budget they could manage between the two of them. In the end, he found a place that wasn't terribly expensive, but it sure as hell wasn't cheap. It had everything they needed, was more spacious than he had expected they would be able to get, and had the bonus of a balcony that connected two of the rooms, a feature he had a feeling Bakugou would like. Sure enough, of the several he'd deemed good enough to show to the grumpy blond, that's the one he went for.

He arranged for the movers to pack his things, cancel his lease back in the U.S., rented the apartment, and was there to receive everything in the morning. He worked frantically for the rest of the day, trying to get everything done only to do the same the next morning. It was during this mad scramble that he was jarred out of his almost panicked work when the door was kicked only to roll his eyes when the door abuser announced himself. There was a doorbell... Why couldn't Katsuki do anything like a normal person? All the same, he rushed to the door to open it so that he wouldn't keep making so much noise. "Ka-chan! We have neighbors!" He scolded as he stepped aside to let them in. Sadly it was true. On such short notice, it was the best he could find and he honestly thought they were very lucky to have gotten it. 22nd floor out of 27 so they had people both above and below them. They had gotten exceptionally lucky that this building was set up in such a way that the apartments like theirs had no side neighbors. Small blessings... Still, there were other people on the same floor and Bakugou was shouting in the hallway.

"I've gotten most of my stuff settled here, but my apartment was a lot smaller than this one so... It's kinda empty looking. We have the basics at least though." Sure enough, there was a couch, a TV, a table that looked too small for the area it was in that could sit four people with the appropriate amount of chairs, a kotatsu because like hell was he getting rid of that in the move, and a cubby to put shoes in a closet by the door. Just next to the door on the wall was a little plaque of key hooks. There were two sets of keys hanging there, one which had many keys and a little All Might key chain attached to it while the other was only the one key and had a flat but slightly domed pendant that was black with a familiar orange 'X' on it. He was very much correct that the place looked rather bare... Most of his own things had been placed inside his own room so none of his collection was out here.

"I made extra for breakfast this morning if you guys are hungry. Just some eggs and toast." He added, noting how little they had with them. "Is there more downstairs?" He hesitated then, but figured it was only polite to offer, even if he would probably be turned down. "I could help you bring everything up. Oh! Uh, quick tour! That door is a toilet, through there is the living room, past that is the kitchen. The hallway on the right goes to the utility room then another toilet and ends in a bath. To the right is my room and to the left are both of your rooms." He brought his babble to an end, knowing that if Akashi didn't remember it all, Katsuki would. There was also an entrance to the balcony by the living room and what could be considered a dining room which was were the table with chairs were, but he didn't think that detail was important for right now.

(( In case we need it for later!

www.realestate-tokyo.com/rent/B0011133/ ... /R0044064/

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/ ... 3767_1.png ))