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Katsuki always thought Deku was weird. From being quirkless to always following behind him to suddenly gaining a quirk upon attending UA, Deku always found ways to annoy and surprise him. But during the practice session with those 1-B losers, Deku manifested a new quirk, those black tendrils that seemed to swallow him up before Uraraka and that purple guy calmed him down. That pissed him off — Deku now had a new way of showing up Katsuki. It’s frustrating enough that Deku was showing enough improvement that he was equal to Katsuki most of the time; he wanted to be the best, by a wide margin, and Deku was threatening that throne.
It’s been a while since that training incident happened, and Deku has a better handle on both One for All and Blackwhip. It’s still pathetic, and Katsuki thinks his progress is too slow for his standards, but then again it’s not really his problem. Deku can stay beneath him, for all he cares.
In any case, it started with a normal heroics practical exercise. The class was paired off, having a race with a few teams competing to see who could reach the goal, where All Might was waiting, the quickest. The catch was that each of the pairs had a small leash tied between each others’ wrists, binding them together. It was slightly elastic, but didn’t allow partners to stray more than a couple of feet away from each other. This meant that they had to reign in their quirk usage to avoid either negatively affecting their partners or leaving them behind.
“You better not slow me down, Deku,” Katsuki threatens, stretching while waiting for the start signal.
“Wouldn’t dream of it, Kacchan!” Deku says cheerfully, a determined expression on his face.
The start signal sounds, and Deku leaps off first, staying ahead of Katsuki’s explosions. Katsuki looks around, seeing that they were paired against Sero and Yaoyorozu as well as Ojirou and Tokoyami. He was pretty confident about the fact that they could easily beat the latter pair, but Sero and Yaoyorozu would be a challenge.
Katsuki was nothing if not up for a challenge.
“C’mon, Deku, this way!” Katsuki demands, leading them through some alleys he had determined would get them around faster. The route they took meant they couldn't see the other teams, but he felt like they were ahead by a wide margin.
“Let’s go up, Kacchan,” Deku suggests, tugging on their leash.
Katsuki growls, but acquiesces. “Don’t tell me what to do!” He barks, changing the trajectory of his explosions. He has to agree, at this point it would be better for Deku to be able to jump off the roofs, and being further up meant he could let off bigger explosions to propel himself.
From this height, he could see that both teams were gaining on them, but they were still ahead by an acceptable margin. “Alright, now we’re talkin’!” He laughs, propelling himself faster.
They continue like this for a little bit, Deku oddly quiet, when suddenly his arm is tugged sharply. Deku is standing in the middle of a rooftop, frowning with a glazed expression.
“Deku, c’mon, I told you not to slow me down,” Katsuki yells. “Let’s fucking go!”
“R-Right, got it, okay,” Deku hesitantly replies, before reactivating One for All. He takes a couple of steps back before getting a running start to jumping off the rooftop. It’s oddly slower than their previous pace, but he could attribute it to having stopped before restarting.
“We’re catching up, Bakugou, Midoriya! Watch out!” Sero calls out, laughing. Yayorozu has a smirk on her face, and Katsuki growls.
“Like hell I’d let you get anywhere near me!”
“Wait— Kacchan, slow down—”
“Deku, what—” is all he gets out before he gets yanked down. They begin falling to the pavement below, and Katsuki instinctively lets out a series of explosions, slowing their descent to minimize injury.
Deku looks dazed, having landed particularly ungracefully. “Ow…” he mutters, splayed out on the ground but looking uninjured.
Katsuki hoists him to his feet, pulling him by the mask around his neck. “What the hell was that? Are you trying to make us lose?” He yells, free hand sparking in irritation.
“No, of course not,” Deku retorts. “Why would I want to do that?” Deku grabs Katsuki’s wrist to pull his hand off of his mask. “Let go of me!”
Katsuki tightens his grip. “Oh yeah? Then why are you throwing this race? I thought I told you not to slow me down!”
“I said let go of me!” Deku shouts, manifesting Blackwhip. He doesn’t use it, but it floats around him. It kind of reminds Katsuki of an animal trying to make itself look bigger in an attempt at intimidating an aggressor. Too bad that doesn’t work on Katsuki.
“Not until you explain to me what the hell you’re thinking, asshole!”
“Kacchan, shut up, we’re going to lose if you keep grilling me!”
That snaps Katsuki out of his blind rage; he looks up and sees Tokoyami and Ojiro passing by them. “Shit— goddamnit, this is all your fault shitty Deku!”
“Let’s, let’s just go,” is all Deku says, activating his quirk and setting out without so much as a backwards glance at Katsuki.
Katsuki begins forward again, explosions even bigger than before to try to get ahead. He thinks Deku might be keeping up with him a little better than normal, having to take less breaks to jump off of the ground beneath them. If only they weren’t tethered together; this was such a pain in the ass.
In the end, the race is extremely close, and they barely end up taking first place. Katsuki begrudgingly accepts it, but still feels like they should have had a larger lead. It was all Deku’s fault. He spends the rest of the day stewing in his anger, refusing to speak to Deku.
—i.
There was something to be said about the tranquility of the early morning. Katsuki always preferred getting to bed early and getting up before everyone else was awake; the early bird gets the worm or however the saying went. He has the opportunity to do his morning routine and get started with his day uninterrupted, usually. He was even feeling a bit more refreshed from the disastrous exercise from yesterday.
Usually, apparently, is the key word, because as he rounds the corner of the first floor into the common area, he's greeted with unsettling, glowing green eyes. He tenses ever so slightly, unnerved at the sight. He begins to reach for the light switch, but the illusion is quickly broken by giggles from the figure and he drops his hand, letting out an irritated groan as he realizes who it is.
"You— you jumped," Deku stutters out between laughs. "You were scared!"
"Like hell I was!" Katsuki defensively sneers. "I didn't even move! Besides, what are you doing standing in the kitchen in the dark? Shit's my domain at this time of morning," he questions, brushing past him to begin making his morning protein shake. It was too early to be arguing with Deku, but that was no reason to be wasting time standing around.
"No, no, I saw it," Deku insists, getting far too close into Katsuki's personal space. "I don’t know why you’re being so obtuse about this. Besides, you're still in the dark, you didn't even turn on the lights!"
At this, Katsuki loudly sets his cup down on the counter, looking at Deku from head to toe contemplatively. Deku may analyze everyone in his life and watch them closely for his stupid notebooks, but he never intentionally broke into their comfort zones over something stupid like riling them up over a silly prank. Now that he thought about it, why would Deku even want to scare Katsuki? What was he trying to prove? Was this about yesterday?
“What’s wrong Kacchan? Nothing to say?”
“What’s your deal,” he finally says, unable to find adequate words. He’s still waking up, too tired to yell like he usually would in situations like these.
“What do you mean?” Deku asks, tilting his head with his eyes still glowing in the dark. The expression doesn’t seem to fit on his face; he looks like he’s trying to feign innocent but the smirk gracing his features is extremely un-Deku-like. This makes Katsuki’s lungs fill with rage.
“Cut the crap!” Katsuki shouts, jabbing a finger into Deku’s chest. Deku doesn’t budge, just looking down at Katsuki’s finger and then back up to his face. “Something’s up with you, ever since yesterday! First you get all spacey and shit during the race, then you try to intimidate me when I’m asking you what the hell it was all about,” Katsuki begins to create sparks from his hand lying by his side. “It’s insulting as hell and I want a goddamn explanation!”
Deku has the audacity to look concerned for a moment, before smoothing his expression back into that smirk that he’s beginning to really hate. “Look, I was just having a bad day, and I thought that having a little bit of fun this morning would cheer me up! Is that so bad?”
“Bullshit!” Katsuki wrinkles his nose. Deku may be a shitty liar, but he’s passable enough to have kept All Might’s secret as well as One For All. This reeked, and Katsuki really didn’t like it. “You’re awful at lying so stop trying that shit with me. You want me to take you seriously? Then tell the truth, because you’re not fooling me. You’re acting like a different person, you damn nerd!”
At this, Deku tenses, turning around to try to cover it.
Katsuki lets out a questioning grunt, grabbing Deku’s shoulder to turn him around.
“A-Ah, I should have known I wouldn’t be able to keep anything from you,” Deku chuckles nervously, his hand rubbing the back of his neck.
It really is too early for this. “Explain. Now.”
“Well, you were kind of right, I am acting like a different person. That is to say, it’s not quite acting, because…” he trails off, clasping his hands together. “Maybe I am not exactly Midoriya?”
Alarmed, Katsuki begins to lunge for Deku, hands sparking more.
“Wait!” Deku yells out, Blackwhip tendrils clumsily holding him just out of reach. “That’s, sorry, I’m not a villain, or even trying to impersonate Midoriya, I really should have worded that better with your class’s history. It’s just, this is hard to explain.”
Katsuki simply glares at him, attempting to wriggle free from his grasp. Goddamn Deku always being a thorn in his side, weird-ass people trying to be him, if it wasn’t for the fact that this obviously wasn’t that Bun Bitch from the League and they didn’t seem to want to hurt him or the other students, he’d be blasting them dead by now.
Deku sighs, putting his hand over his mouth, eyebrows furrowed. He releases Blackwhip, letting Katsuki free.
Katsuki, in turn, clenches his fists, and mentally counts to ten. When he finishes, he unclenches his fists and recaps his knowledge. “You’re not Deku. But you’re not Bun Bitch from the League. You could be another villain, but judging by your behavior and your ability to use Deku’s quirk, you’re probably not. You’re familiar with his quirk, as you haven’t blasted your limbs off yet. You’re Deku, but not.”
Deku nods, eyes shining in surprise. “Astute deductions.”
“Don’t patronize me,” he says grumpily.
“You’re right on the money; to be more accurate, I’m in Midoriya’s body. In truth, I’m… one of the previous holders,” The words “ of One For All” are left unsaid.
What.
“What the fuck,” Katsuki eloquently says. He can already feel a headache forming, if it hadn’t begun already.
“Yeah, it’s new to us as well. Listen, we’re still getting the hang of it. We’re not entirely sure why this is able to happen, but it looks like we can control Midoriya’s body?” Deku — no, should he call them One For All? That’s confusing, he’ll call them Deku still, it’s Deku’s body, after all — looks uncomfortable explaining this. Make that two people, Katsuki was uncomfortable hearing about it.
“So. His quirk’s fucking haunted, is that it?”
They sputter, clearly not expecting that. “What?” they laugh, “I suppose you could say that? Actually, maybe that’s it.”
Katsuki scoffs. “There’s eight of you in there, and none of you were able to come up with a short answer for me? Wasting my time is what you’re doing. Whatever,” he says, picking up his drink and heading to the door, “I’m going to do my morning jog. Go, do whatever you ghosts do, pranking people or some shit when it’s not creative or spooky in the slightest.”
He almost gets all the way out the door, but leans back in. “Oh, and another thing, get better at acting like Deku if you’re going to bother,” he says, before finally slamming the Heights Alliance door and finally beginning his morning routine.
When he returns, most of the class is loitering around the common room. He furrows his brow and checks the time on his phone; he wasn’t out that long was he?
“Oh my god, I thought he was going to soil himself—”
“Honestly who’s to say he didn’t?”
“Haha, yeah, you’re probably right.”
“Bakugou!” A voice calls out, and bright red hair enters his vision.
“What do you want, Shitty Hair,” Katsuki grumbles, “what the hell’s going on?”
“Oh man, you missed it! We heard a loud scream from the common room so of course we all ran in here right? It turns out it was Mineta, he was coming down for something, and he had the shit scared out of him from a monster!”
“A monster?”
“Yeah, you know how sometimes people say places are haunted? Maybe UA is too!”
“The dorms were literally just built for us, dumbass, how could someone be haunting it?”
Kirishima put a hand to his chin in contemplation. “Huh, I guess. But that doesn’t change the fact that there was , like, a cryptid there.”
“A fucking what?”
“Yeah, I saw it too, there was a big thing in here, its body was like. Black and writhing, and its eyes were glowing green! I’ll be honest, it was startling to see first thing in the morning after being woken up by Mineta’s scream,” Kirishima continued.
“Babies,” Katsuki commented.
“It was creepy! Anyway, it escaped out the door after a couple of us got to the common room.”
“Hah, so who’s to say it was even real, dumbass?”
“No, I swear, I saw it, and you know how much we hate when Mineta lies about things,” Kirishima pouted.
“Yeah, yeah, whatever, until I see it myself, I doubt it was even that scary. Probably some prank from a third year or something,” Katsuki shook his head, walking past Kirishima and brushing past shoulder as a gesture of “see you later” as he went to finish his morning routine.
As he’s getting ready, he huffs a laugh. Seems like One for All used Blackwhip to make their prank a bit more convincing. It was a little clever, at any rate. Everyone just about shit themselves when Blackwhip first presented itself during the Joint Training exercise. He bet it was a pretty similar feeling that morning. He wasn’t expecting them to continue the prank at all, or even the same morning; weren’t they adults or something?
Oh well. Not his problem.
He later finds himself in another meeting with All Might and Deku. It looks like this is going to be a regular occurrence with their dumb quirk and their dumb secrets. He grips the tea that All Might offered him between his hands, because while he may be confident enough to speak his mind around the retired hero, he still respects him enough to take what’s offered. He scowls as Deku takes a deep breath, preparing for what he wants to say.
“So, I’ve been told about what happened in the morning, and I’m really sorry!” Deku frets, “Please, Kacchan, can you keep this a secret too? People would think it’s so weird and I really don’t want to have to explain One for All, it’s already hard enough to try to figure out what to say about Blackwhip and honestly it’s a lot for me to wrap my mind around too, like, who would have ever thought about All Might’s quirk having the spirits of the previous holders and that they would be able to speak through me and—”
“Shut the hell up, you damn nerd!” Katsuki shouts, sparking his hand off before shoving his clean hand over Deku’s face to cut off his muttering.
“Young Bakugou!” All Might scolds, but doesn’t make a move to stop him. He seems to know that there was no real malice behind Katsuki’s quirk use, which he’s grateful for; it’s just the way he expresses himself. “I’ll admit, I had no idea this was possible. Looks like this is just another way that you’ve unlocked the potential of One for All, eh Young Midoriya?” he muses with a loud chuckle.
Deku’s eyes light up at All Might’s praise. “Yeah, it’s super interesting, from what you said it’s not a quirk of any of the previous holders,” he begins, opening a notebook and tapping a pen against its pages, “at least that we know about. But honestly I’m not super sure it’s a previous holder’s quirk?”
Katsuki nods. “Yeah, when I confronted them about your weird-ass behavior they seemed nervous and couldn’t explain it themself. Can’t believe anyone was fooled by that weak-ass imitation of you, for over a day,” he grumbled.
“Young Midoriya, do you remember any of the time they were… taking over your body, I suppose we should say?”
“Ah— actually no, I don’t? It’s weird,” Deku wrings his hands, “one moment I was in the race with Kacchan during class and then the next thing I knew I was in the common room hearing about some cryptid?”
“Yeah, and you looked so fucking lost. It was hilarious,” Katsuki laughs, setting his cup down and leaning back in his seat, “So.”
Both All Might and Deku swivel their heads to give their full attention to Katsuki.
“What’re you going to do about this obvious gap in your consciousness and memory? Don’t tell me you called me into this meeting just to reminisce? As great as that is,” he rolls his eyes, “I actually have better things to do than just fucking sit around here.”
Deku’s eyes widened, “You’re right, Kacchan!”
“Damn right I am.”
All Might stands up and begins pacing. “Young Bakugou is right, that does pose a problem… if we do not know the trigger of this phenomenon, nor the length and resolution conditions, it is up to us to cover for Young Midoriya’s odd behavior,” he begins.
Katsuki groans, though he knows that All Might is right.
“When a Swap happens…” Deku mutters, worrying at his lip. Katsuki could hear the emphasis on the word Swap, and it infuriated him as much as it made sense to categorize it as a proper noun.
“When you get possessed, you mean,” Katsuki interjects, folding his arms. Why did he agree to this, again? This was going to be a pain in the ass. Karmic retribution for saying it wasn’t his problem before, probably. “Whatever. Just tell your haunted-ass quirk not to make too much trouble. I’ll kick your ass if I have to put any effort into covering for you,” he declares, standing up and heading out of the meeting room.
“Kacchan!”
“Young Bakugou!”
He turns to see what they want, giving them five seconds before he slams the door.
All Might places a hand on Deku’s shoulder, smiling at Katsuki. “Thank you for agreeing to this. I know it can’t be easy.”
“Tch,” Katsuki vocalizes, gently closing the door.
—ii.
As it turned out, they didn’t have to wait much longer for another Swap to happen.
It was without incident for about a week, but that had to change eventually. Most of the members of 1A are either loitering about in the common room or in the kitchen, bringing out ingredients for dinner, when Deku stumbles over his feet. He catches himself with a hand on the back of the couch, but it was incredibly ungraceful. And loud.
“Woah! Are you okay Midoriya?” Someone asks, but Katsuki doesn’t pay attention to who.
“Yeah… sorry, I just…” Deku stands up, smoothing his shirt, “I just realized how short I am?” he hesitantly says.
Katsuki resists the urge to facepalm. Goddamnit. Hopeless. These ghosts are up to 200 years old and this is the best they could come up with?
Luckily, it seems like the rest of the class is as dumb as the holder is, because they just laugh it off with a “oh Midoriya, so clumsy”.
“Deku!” He calls, tilting his head toward the door as a request for a private conversation. Todoroki sends a questioning glance their way, before shrugging and resuming what he was doing.
Deku follows, physically dragging their feet. “What’s, uh, what’s up Kacchan?”
“I thought I told you to be better,” Katsuki grumbles, intentionally staying vague because while people are allowed to have privacy in these dorms, he also knows that his whole class is full of nosy fucks who would eavesdrop on any conversation they could.
“I, uh, well, just wasn’t expecting to,” Swap, they don’t say, “trip. It’s just difficult, Kacchan! We don’t know why either, you know.”
“Well try, because I’ll kick your ass if you do a shit job! I—”
“Bakugou. Midoriya. We need you in the kitchen,” Todoroki drawls, walking up to the two of them.
“Wh— Icyhot, we’re having a goddamn conversation over here, butt out!”
“No, you’ve skipped out on dinner duty the last three times because of your extracurriculars with All Might, it’s your turn.”
“I, you know what, that’s probably a good idea huh Kacchan?” Deku clasps their hands together in front of their chest. “It wouldn’t be fair to keep skipping out.”
“I don’t need you lecturing me!” Katsuki says, having half a mind to just walk out the front door if he knew both Todoroki and Deku would probably just chase after him to bring him back. Or get Kirishima to do it. All three of them are stubborn fuckers. “Fine. Whatever. I’ll get you back for this later, how many times have I told you to stop interrupting me?”
“Probably not enough,” Todoroki counters, deadpan. Deku laughs. Katsuki resists the urge to blast both of their faces off, punishment be damned. He chases everyone else out of the kitchen, preferring to be as alone as possible when cooking. Having other people to walk around and bump into was just annoying.
“Alright, Deku , you better not get in my fucking way in this kitchen,” Katsuki says, glancing at the ingredients laid out for the dinner that night. Hm. He could probably make some sort of noodle soup with this, maybe ramen? That would probably please most of these freeloaders.
“Hey,” Deku whispers, “why are we cooking this much?”
“It’s for, like, half of us. We agreed to do shifts and cook for multiple people so that we don’t spend all day clogging up the kitchen making individual meals. Makes things easier for the lazy fuckers too, since they don’t have to worry about making food every night,” Katsuki explains, sliding a cutting board and some ingredients their way. “Shouldn’t you know this? Aren’t you watching Deku’s every move, like some weird stalker?”
“I mean, it’s not like we’re watching all the time. As you’ve said, that would be creepy,” they reply, easily taking the offered task. “Don’t be rude.”
Katsuki laughs incredulously. “I told you not to lecture me.”
They work silently for a little while, before Katsuki speaks up, “Hey, is it always the same one of you?”
Deku falters, not having expected a calm question. “No, last time was the First, and I’m the Fourth.” They finish the chopping, and Katsuki takes over the station to start the stovetop portion. “It’s… nice to be able to do domestic tasks like this again,” they admit, beginning on washing the dirtied cookware.
Katsuki hums in acknowledgement. He supposes that the last thing the ghosts would remember would probably be fighting All for One or however they died; he briefly wonders if he would meet a similar fate, as the future number one hero.
They make amicable small talk, finishing the ramen. Katsuki yells out that it’s ready for anyone in the common room, before serving himself. Katsuki loads his bowl with chili oil before pouring in the soup and noodles.
“Oh! What’s that?” Deku excitedly asks, leaning around Katsuki’s arm. Goddamn, does anyone involved with One for All have any concept of personal space?
“The good shit,” he says, turning the jar around so they could see the label. It’s his favorite, the brand with the multitude of fire graphics and caution signs.
“Oh, woah, they still have this kind? I love this!”
“No you don’t, Deku, you can’t handle that much spice. Dumbass.” He gently advises them.
“That’s not fair…” they grumble, their expression falling. They serve their bowl and sit down at the dining table. They dejectedly pick at their ramen, doing that thing where it looks like Deku’s about to cry.
“Don’t look so pathetic, asshole, it’s just chili oil.”
“Yeah, I know, but it’s just, I haven’t had it in so long, and I really miss it…” They let out an overly dramatic sigh, before slurping some noodles.
“Quit your fucking whining, I hate you so much. Have some fucking chili oil if you want it that bad. You’re insufferable,” Katsuki says, taking a big spoonful from the jar and dumping it on Deku’s ramen. “Just don’t blame me if you start crying.”
They instantly light up, grinning wildly. “You mean this won’t ruin anything?”
“I’m telling you to do it, asshole. If anything, it’ll just be really funny to prove that you can’t handle it,” Katsuki explains, grinning.
“Is that a bet? You’re on!” Deku laughs, mixing their noodles.
A few of the girls filter into the common room, laughing loudly, probably having finished a study session.
“Hey Bakugou, you make food tonight?”
“Hi Midoyi— woah! That looks spicy!”
“Huh? Midoriya eating spicy food?”
“No way, doesn’t he always avoid spicy food?”
Deku waves at them in a futile gesture to give them some space. It was their mistake to think that would work; this class was nosy as hell. Soon enough, everyone who was downstairs was crowded around the table to watch this. They slurp a mouthful and wince; was it too spicy for Deku’s body?
“Ah? No backing out now,” Katsuki goads, putting more chili oil into his own bowl.
Deku gains a determined expression, and they vigorously continue eating the noodles. To their credit, they barely started sweating, and only a single tear rolled down their cheek. Did the possession dull Deku’s senses? Or did the holder’s tolerance temporarily transfer to the body? It was mildly interesting, and Katsuki just had to laugh at how silly this was. Here was the fourth holder of One for All, someone who devoted themself to eliminating All for One and passing on their quirk to another heroic soul, taking a bet with a teenager about their ability to ingest hell spice.
Deku sighs in satisfaction, setting their bowl down, polished off. “Done!”
The other students crowding around shout in astonishment.
“You absolute madman!”
“Are we sure this is Midoriya?”
“Madness, absolute madness.”
The next day rolls around, and based on the short interactions Katsuki observes with his classmates, Deku seems to be back. He doesn’t have a chance to catch him up on the events of the previous night, though he does see Deku drinking more water than usual and sticking his tongue out when he thinks no one is looking.
Kirishima, Ashido, and Sero all have the bright idea of sitting with Deku and his friends for lunch today. He grumbles about it but follows them to the table. He focuses on eating his lunch, when he sees a plate being brought to the middle of the table. He looks up and sees Uraraka arriving.
“Oh Deku! Since you were being adventurous with your food last night, Ashido and I got you this to try!” Uraraka says, holding the plate to show some assorted peppers on it.
“What… are these, Uraraka?” Deku asks cautiously, “I don’t recognize them?”
“They’re peppers,” Ashido says excitedly, “of varying spice levels! Wouldn’t it be so fun to do a roulette with them?” She asks, nudging Sero, who agrees, taking a pepper.
Deku looks panicked, stuttering, glancing to Katsuki for help as if he was trying to figure out how to turn it down without having any knowledge of what happened the night before.
Katsuki huffs as he observes the scene. He has to do everything around here, he supposes.
“Deku was just trying to make himself seem strong by eating spicy shit last night,” he lies, grabbing a pepper for himself, “He doesn’t even like it; if you couldn’t tell how much he was crying on the inside, you’re even more naive than I thought.”
Uraraka withdraws her offered plate, staring straight at Katsuki. He stares right back at her, raising an eyebrow in challenge. After a few tense moments, she sighs. “You should have just said so, Deku! We wouldn’t have been so forceful if we knew,” she says, popping a pepper into her mouth and coughing at the spice assaulting her senses.
Katsuki rolls his eyes as Deku nervously chuckles and stumbles out an apology and an excuse to the table. “Idiot. Told you that you wouldn’t be able to handle it.”
“S-Sorry Kacchan! I guess you were right, again,” Deku admits, seeming grateful for Katsuki’s intervention.
“Oh, to be childhood friends,” Uraraka muses, running a finger around the rim of her water bottle.
“Oi! What the hell is that supposed to mean!”
—iii.
“Alright class,” Aizawa says, “your next assignment is going to be solo. This is going to be simple: all you have to do is not break any rules. For some of you, this will be easy,” he says, sweeping his gaze around the classroom, “for others, this will be difficult.”
What the hell is that supposed to mean? Why the hell would his gaze land on him longer? Maybe he was looking at Deku.
“For those of you who have read through the student handbook, you’ll notice infractions currently displayed in this classroom. You’ll be judged by even your minor infractions starting tomorrow. We usually let these slide, but we need to know that you have the ability to look critically for details on your own. This will be a crucial skill both as a hero, and as a member of society,” he explains.
That was going to be annoying. Katsuki is very diligent, so of course he’s read the student handbook. He’ll just have to be extra careful about the tricky archaic rules that were left in that no one usually follows, such as that rule about how in the first two minutes of class were reserved for the teachers’ uninterrupted role call, and any unauthorized speaking or physical disruption during this time would result in a detention. Shouldn’t be too hard, but he knew a lot of his classmates would fuck up rules like that.
“So, Bakugou, any tricky things we should know about, huh?” Kaminari asks as soon as the students were able to mingle.
“Read it yourself, Sparky! Stop being a lazy asshole,” Katsuki refuses.
“It’s alright, Kaminari, we can just review it tonight during dinner! We were going to meet to go over that math homework Ectoplasm assigned, so it’ll be perfect,” Kirishima suggests.
Katsuki rolls his eyes. Kirishima might have enough brain power to pass this assignment, but he doesn’t always pay close attention to the details. He might have to help them. At least it would be an excuse to review the handbook again for his own knowledge.
Katsuki arrives in the classroom the next day, early like usual. His uniform is immaculate. It was annoying, but the dress code was outlined very clearly in the handbook. Unless a student had documentation on file, they had to wear the standard uniform of a dress shirt, tie, and jacket if applicable. Katsuki had no such exceptions filed, so unfortunately, he has to wear the tie. He has to resist the urge to pull at it every few minutes. Stifling, is what it is.
”Hi Bakugou!” Deku greets Katsuki as he walks into the classroom threshold.
Katsuki immediately grabs Deku by the front of the shirt, pulling him closer. “Which one are you,” he hisses.
“Whatever could you mean, Bakugou?” Deku innocently questions, holding up three fingers.
“The Third,” Katsuki begins, hand sparking, then remembers that they were going to be monitored for the assignment. It wouldn’t be worth it to get into a fight right now. “This will be the third time I’ll show you up in a contest like this, got it?”
“Bakugou.” Aizawa’s voice rings out. He rises from behind the teacher’s desk, still half clad in his sleeping bag.
“When did—” he begins, immediately dropping Deku’s shirt.
“Section IV rule C: no roughhousing outside of UA sanctioned spars. You’ve failed.”
“Failed?” Katsuki asks, despair seeping into his voice. Sure, he’s gotten into a few mishaps since attending UA, but only enough to get him detention; his grades were perfect, and a failing mark… How was he ever going to live this down?
Deku poorly hides a snicker behind their hand.
“Deku! This is your fault! I’m going to kick your ass!” Katsuki whispers, Aizawa already activating his quirk.
“Bakugou,” he warns.
“I’m not going to do anything to him about this,” he promises. Though, of course, that promise only lasts to Deku. The Third One for All holder, though? All bets were off there.
—iv.
“…and that’s why we should all be sparkling ,” Aoyama concludes with a flourish. Katsuki felt an urge to jeer; he was a professional, damnit, and no matter how much the sparkling fucker annoyed him he would never show it. He instead opted to ignore him completely. What Midnight was thinking, assigning them speeches based on any subject they wanted, was beyond him.
“Very enthusiastic!” Midnight compliments, sounding completely genuine. He does not know how she can stand encouraging all of his classmates, but she seems to be able to do it effortlessly. “And last but not least, let’s do Midoriya’s!” she decides, gesturing for him to step up and present his speech.
Katsuki decides to tune out. Deku’s subject is something about hero statistics and the way different heroing styles affected them; now normally this would interest Katsuki but he heard way too much of Deku’s disjointed muttering about it when he was researching to even care at this point. He idly wonders when the next Swap was going to be; maybe he’d finally have a chance to kick the Third’s ass for showing him up last time. It didn’t matter that it didn't end up even being for a grade, he needed to prove that he was better than any of the One for All holders. They may have inherited a powerful quirk, All Might’s quirk, but he had the potential to be better than Deku.
“And that’s all for today!” Midnight’s voice rings out, “All riveting speeches you made today, I’ll be back with the feedback next week! Enjoy your Heroics class with All Might, kids!” She says with a wink, walking out the door just in time for All Might to walk in.
“I am here, to start class!” he announces, like he does every class. He can hear Deku squeal under his breath behind him. Damn nerd fanboys over All Might every class, acting surprised, as if he hadn’t been personally scouted and trained by the hero.
“Alright everyone, today we’re going to be evaluating your performance from the last few practical exercises you’ve done, arrange yourselves into your assigned groups,” All Might instructs, waving his hands around to indicate he was done talking. They group into fours, pressing the desks together to face each other. His group mates this month were Deku, Uraraka, and Kirishima. He would have gladly engaged in banter with them, but All Might decides to come to them first. They all turn their attention to the hero, which meant they missed whatever action led to All Might’s expression turning concerned. “Are you alright, Young Midoriya?”
All three students turn back to observe Deku, his confused expression quickly morphing into a bright smile. “No, everything’s all right here, Yagi,” they say, pausing before realizing, “Yagi-sensei!”
“Yes, that’s good. Okay, let’s get started, shall we?” All Might clears his throat, exchanging a quick glance with Katsuki. Katsuki nods in agreement — a Swap happened. Deku wouldn’t call All Might by his name, he was too awestruck for that still. “I can’t believe she’s here…” All Might mutters, clearly meant to be to himself.
They run down their performances in the last few classes, critiquing each others’ performance, surprisingly objectively. The One for All vestige even seems to be keeping up; perhaps she was a more observant spirit, at least compared to the Fourth’s knowledge.
After All Might leaves to tend to the other groups, they engage in mindless small talk, Katsuki barely even remembering what they talked about. Most of the students filter out of the classroom for a break, Katsuki, Deku, and All Might staying behind.
“Shishou, oh my god, is it really you?” All Might asks hopefully.
“Of course, my boy!” She says, placing her hands on her hips. “Look at you, you’ve grown so tall! I always knew you would do good things, you know,” she praises, floating up into the air to be tall enough to effortlessly ruffle All Might’s hair.
Katsuki makes a gagging noise. “Ugh, this is so gross, get a fucking room if you’re going to have a sappy reunion.”
Both his and Deku’s phones ping, and Katsuki looks at it. It’s a series of messages in the class group chat.
Hagakure: Hey look at this! LOL!
Hagakure: [image attached]
Ashido: OMG is that Midoriya?? Patting All Might on the head???
Todoroki: You guys keep telling me my lineage theories are stupid, but look, even Hagakure sees it.
Hagakure: Hey, Midoriya, so are you really All Might’s son?
Katsuki sighs. “Hey! You! Uh, whatever number you are,” he calls out toward Deku, “You’re causing a stir in the group chat! Check his phone.”
She grabs the phone out of her pocket, unlocking it with a little bit of difficulty. “Oh. Oops.”
“This is what happens when you fuck around! You’re making too much trouble for us,” he scolds, not caring that she was technically his elder.
“Young Bakugou! You can’t speak to her like that,” All Might says, frantically glancing between Deku and Katsuki.
“It’s Deku, right now, obviously! I can speak to her however I damn well please!” He insists, typing out a response to the active class group chat.
Midoriya: Well, actually, if anyone’s a son around here…
She stops typing for dramatic effect. “I should tell them that Toshinori’s more my son, huh?”
“Shishou!”
“Oh my god, please don’t,” Katsuki begs, quickly typing a response before she gets the chance to continue. The chat is already pinging away, way too fast to keep up.
Bakugou: They’re still not related, half-and-half. It is a stupid theory.
Bakugou: I was there the whole time, they had an exercise going on if Deku could tap All Might on the head as part of their special training.
Hagakure: That’s still not fair that he gets extra training!
Bakugou: Just ask any of the teachers for tutoring, dumbass.
Yaoyorozu: He’s right, ask me later and I’ll email you the forms and the teacher availability.
“Crisis averted!” Deku cheerfully says, doing a flip in the air before dropping back to the ground.
“Too carefree, I swear…” Katsuki mutters, and their classmates start arriving back into the classroom.
After classes, Deku bumps his shoulder as they walk toward the dorms.
“Hey, watch where you’re walking,” Katsuki starts, before trailing off at seeing Deku’s genuinely grateful expression.
“Thanks for what you said in the group chat, Kacchan!” She says with a smile, before turning away to go join Uraraka and Iida.
“Don’t mention it, asshole!” Katsuki calls after her, shoving his hands in his pants pockets.
Why was he doing this again? Was it because he respects All Might too much to say no? That this secret was worth too much to let out, even though the whole two — now three or more — quirks thing was already a pain to cover up for? Having the damn nerd be in his debt and thank him wasn’t an unpleasant feeling, he supposes. Damnit. UA was making Katsuki too sappy. Just a few months earlier all he wanted to do was blast Deku into hell for being anywhere near him in this school. Now he was able to tolerate his presence.
"Hey, Bakugou, you alright there?" Kirishima asks, placing a hand on his shoulder and startling him out of his thoughts.
"Yeah, yeah, just peachy," Katsuki says, "We still on for sparring later tonight?"
"Hell yeah! I got the room reserved and everything. You know, there was this thing I wanted to try out and…”
—v.
“First up will be… Young Bakugou versus Young Midoriya!”
“Oh come on, again? Bakugou always gets paired up with Midoriya!” Kaminari groans, “I’m getting tired of watching it, honestly,”
“No,” Jirou corrects him, “you just remember it the most because they always go too plus ultra in their matches.”
“Shut up, idiots, so we can hear what guidelines he has for us,” Katsuki says, punching sparking fist into his hand, pumping himself up. He would never get tired of kicking Deku’s ass in class; he pointedly doesn’t think about the times Deku’s tied or beaten him in matchups.
All Might clears his throat to grab their attention, pulling out his cheatsheet for the guidelines. He still needs that? How long has he been teaching and doing these exercises at this point? “Each participant will have three balloons tied on their person, and the first person to pop all three balloons on the opponent will win,” he explains. “Quirk usage is allowed, so you can strategize based on that.”
Katsuki and Deku are handed their balloons and twine to secure them, he ties one on his chest, another to his hip, and the last one to his bicep. Deku puts balloons on both of his forearms, and one behind his head. He thinks that putting the balloon on his chest might be a little risky, since Deku has been using his Air Force bullets more often lately, but Katsuki thinks he might be able to bait him into focusing on the opening and then in turn create an opportunity to take out Deku’s balloons. They take their places on either side of the clearing.
As soon as the start signal is called, Katsuki rockets forward, aiming some explosions near Deku’s feet. As expected, he jumps sideways to avoid the attack. Katsuki quickly follows, trying not to give Deku any space or time to maneuver. Katsuki does best when he doesn’t give Deku time to think through his actions, though he’s certainly been getting better at keeping up than during their big fight after Kamino.
Katsuki growls thinking about it, and launches himself in the air to try to propel himself back down at Deku. Deku responds by dodging, shooting some Air Force bullets at where he expects Katsuki to land. Katsuki nullifies them with an explosion aimed outward, landing to the ground, trying to listen to figure out where Deku is.
The balloon at his hip is popped, and he swivels his head, spotting Deku on his right — shit when did he get there? “Get back here, coward!” he yells, leaping forward and swiping at his arm. Deku twists his body to avoid the attack, raising his leg to prepare a kick to Katsuki’s chest, trying to pop the balloon. Katsuki blocks the attack with his arms, retaliating with a series of explosions.
“Is that all you’ve got?” Deku taunts, eyes glowing. What was up with that, was that new? Deku leaps straight up into the air, and hovers there for a couple moments, folding his arms.
“Are you mocking me?” Katsuki shouts, “Don’t underestimate me, fucker!” He pumps up his explosion output, appearing before Deku in a flash. He feints an attempt at reaching the balloons on his arm, before pressing his hands together to create a Stun Grenade.
“Ah, shit!” Deku exclaims, falling to the floor in surprise. As he tries to recover, he shields the balloons on his arms, but Katsuki is able to pop the balloon on the back of his head with a well-aimed AP Shot round.
Katsuki begins to grab Deku by the back of his gym uniform shirt, when he sees Blackwhip manifest and reach to wrap around his waist. Katsuki blasts himself back into the air, the whips closely following him. His eyes scan the formation of the whips, and he grabs the closest whip, yanking himself toward Deku.
Deku retracts the whips, doing a flip to prepare a St. Louis Smash. Katsuki reacts faster, grabbing the leg that wasn’t wound up to throw off his balance. It works, Deku flailing around, before aiming a low-powered punch at Katsuki. Katsuki takes this opportunity to slam both hands together on a balloon on Deku’s arm, popping it.
Deku adopts a feral expression, growling uncharacteristically. “Alright, all bets are off now, Bakugou,” he says quietly, as if just between the two of them, eyes glowing brighter.
“So it’s not you in there, huh, Deku?” Katsuki says under his breath, “Fine by me, I’ll kick your ass either way!” He begins bouncing himself back and forth with his explosions, preparing a Howitzer Impact.
“I wouldn’t count on that!” They say, aiming a large punch in Katsuki’s direction. The blast nullifies Katsuki’s momentum, and they both fall to the ground.
“How did you—” he starts as he lands on the ground, but stops as he sees Deku. “What the hell did you do?”
Deku lays on the floor, one of their arms a broken mess. “Haha… oops?” they say, before passing out.
“Young Bakugou, Young Midoriya, what happened?” All Might questions, running up to them.
“They couldn’t handle it, I guess,” Katsuki mutters with a frown.
“They…?” All Might questions, confused.
Katsuki makes a vague hand gesture, before pointing between All Might and Deku. All Might realizes he’s trying to refer to One for All.
“Ah… that’s a problem, isn’t it?” He clears his throat, projecting his voice so the whole class could hear, “The match is a tie! Young Bakugou, could you please take Young Midoriya’s belongings to the infirmary for us?”
“Tie?” He shouts incredulously. He looks down at Deku being loaded on the stretcher by the medical bots, then to himself. All of the balloons have been popped; Deku’s balloon popped when they prepared the punch, and Katsuki’s must have popped in the ensuing blast. That was annoying. He had that in the bag.
“I can take his belongings,” Iida offers, but All Might shakes his head.
“That’s all right, Young Iida, you still have a match to participate in! There’s no harm in letting him do it.”
Katsuki rolls his eyes. Did he not trust him to grab his stuff without rifling through it or messing with it? He’s not a middle school brat anymore, he wouldn’t destroy Deku’s belongings. He follows the medical bots to the infirmary, hearing All Might try to explain Deku’s accident to his nosy classmates.
“Oh dear, what happened now?” Recovery Girl questions with a frown.
Checking that the infirmary was empty of prying ears, Katsuki explains simply, “One for All.”
Recovery Girl clicks her tongue. “Hm. I guess I can’t punish the boy for destroying himself this time, can I?” She begins preparing her supplies to treat Deku.
Katsuki ends up staying until Deku wakes up, which honestly didn’t take as long as he thought. Deku’s eyes snap open, still glowing. “What—”
Katsuki slaps Deku upside the head. “Dumbass!”
“Bakugou! Stop assaulting my patient!” Recovery Girl shouts from across the room, though she makes no move to actually stop him.
“Shut up, I’ll do what I want!” Katsuki sasses back.
“Ugh, sorry Bakugou, I didn’t mean to go overboard,” they say genuinely, “I guess I just got excited to be sparring in a non-life-or-death setting?”
“What,” is all Katsuki can think to say.
“Yeah, I’m not used to having two arms,” they say, looking down at the cast their arm is in.
Katsuki just stares at them.
“Anyway, if you ever have the misfortune of fighting All for One, don’t fight him up close; he’ll blow your arms off.”
“Oh my god,” Katsuki mutters, “I hate all you.”
—+1.
Aizawa lets the class do whatever they want when he’s too tired to teach, which happens surprisingly less often than one would expect considering he always carries around his sleeping bag for impromptu naps. Today is one of those days, and the class collectively decides to spend the rest of the class time mindlessly chatting.
“Hey, Kacchan ,” Kaminari teases, putting an arm on his desk, “Let us ask you a few questions, yeah?”
“You’re already asking me, like whatever I say could stop your annoying ass, Sparky.”
“That’s the spirit,” Kaminari chuckles, before lacing his fingers together with a comically serious expression, “Now, you’re going to tell us everything you know about Midoriya’s weird quirk.”
“Yeah, Bakugou, tell us!” Ashido insists, eagerly nodding.
“Why the hell would I do that?”
“Well, you obviously know him best, plus you’re always telling us about things from your childhoods together! You must have learned all the weird stuff that happens when he’s involved,” Sero says, trying to convince him with a wide-eyed expression.
Katsuki rolls his eyes. If only they knew the half of it. “That’s none of your business, and besides, we didn’t have a childhood together, he just happened to be there.”
“Nuh-uh! Mere acquaintances wouldn’t get along nearly as well as you two do,” Ashido counters.
“You call that getting along?” Kaminari questions.
Ashido waves her hand in the air. “Details, details.”
“Anyway!” Sero says loudly, “I think he just basically said it’s fine to ask him questions.”
“In what world do you hear me say ‘yes’ out of ‘that’s none of your business’?” Katsuki asks, running a hand through his hair. Hanging out with these people was going to drive him mad some day.
“Okay, first question! How do you explain his Blackwhip?” Kaminari asks, both hands on the desk and leaning closer. “I heard him tell Todoroki it’s just another application of his quirk when he asked Midoriya if he had two quirks, but that doesn’t seem right, because it was super strength, right?”
Katsuki rolls his eyes. Looks like he wasn’t getting out of this line of questioning. “Dumbasses, the whips were in his arms the whole time,” he says without a hint of humor in his voice. That takes a lot of willpower and he's pretty proud of himself. At their confused glances, he continues, flapping an arm for effect, "that's why he kept breaking his arms at the beginning of the year."
"Oh shit! No wonder!" Kaminari breathes, one hand flying to his mouth. Gullible idiot.
Sero doesn't waste any time asking the next question, as if he paused Katsuki might stop answering them. He still might, Katsuki thinks, depending on what they ask. "Okay, that's weird, but what about when he floats? How is he able to do that?"
Katsuki pauses for a moment, but only a short one. "How do you think he moves the whips, Plain Face?" Katsuki sits back in his seat, folding his arms. The more nonchalant he seems, the more they'll probably believe him. Though at this point, he feels like they would believe anything he pulls out of his ass.
Sero appears contemplative, but doesn't counter Katsuki's claim. He cradles an elbow, likely thinking about the logistics of his tape versus Deku’s Blackwhip.
"Oh, what about the glowy eyes?" Mina chimes in.
Katsuki doesn't have anything to say about that.
Deku happens to take this moment to walk back over to his desk to grab a notebook from his backpack, and Ashido’s eyes dart over with a predatory look.
Fuck it , he decides. He’s tired of this shit, for once he wanted to stop covering for Deku’s weird-ass quirk.
So he leans as far back as he can, propping his legs up on his desk, and gestures for the group to bother Deku with their questions. Mina wastes no time scrambling over and bombarding him with her rambling. Deku is caught incredibly off guard, stuttering and stumbling over his words. “I, uh, I mean, there’s not much I can say, it’s still new to me too—”
When Deku is able to catch Katsuki's eye, he gives him the most distraught, betrayed look he could muster. Katsuki snorts, flipping him the bird. It's what he gets for putting him through hell. Katsuki and All Might have been covering for his Swaps this whole time, so it’s only fair for Deku to have a turn covering his own ass.
“C’mon, tell us!” Ashido insists, flapping her arms in excitement.
“Well, uh, you see,” Deku stammers. Oh, this was so entertaining. What was it Katsuki said earlier about Deku being a decent liar? He might have to apologize to that vestige at this point. “The— the Second, I mean, my… second uncle? He had an, um, eye quirk! It made his eyes glow,” he pauses, looking at Katsuki, as if begging for assistance with completing the lie.
Katsuki just raises his eyebrows, expectantly. He’s not helping Deku any more today.
Deku buries his face in his hands, flushed with embarrassment. “And, uh, my cousin, no I think it was my grandfather, inherited that quirk and I guess it manifested in my quirk too? So, my eyes glow sometimes?” he offers weakly, his voice getting higher with each addition.
Ashido looks unconvinced. Luckily, he’s saved by Present Mic loudly announcing his presence in the classroom. The students scramble to their proper seating arrangements.
“Alrighty, listeners, who’s ready for some English? Can I get an ‘oh yeah!’” he shouts, to weak responses. Undeterred he continues, “Today, we’re going to be learning how to explain our quirks in English! Midoriya! You’re up first.”
Katsuki chuckles. Deku groans behind Katsuki, his head slamming on his desk.