Work Text:
Katuski Bakugou hustled for nearly ten years to find a way to let Izuku Midoriya be a hero again. He took every call, sleeping with a police radio by his pillow so he would never miss any villain or criminal activity. He spent long hours with Melissa, going over all the training data from before the final battle. He fought with his body to stay up for their voice calls that were many time zones apart. It was the least he could do after everything.
He worked his tail off like no other, not just because he wanted to be number 1. He knew he could easily do that, he wanted to earn the spot of being number one. He knew he would never feel like he was truly number one without Izuku also competing for that spot. Only when he felt like he had someone to compete with, someone who saw him as an equal did he push himself to be better. He barely even recognized when he grew in the ranks because he did not feel like he was truly competing with anyone, like what was he going to do, have more saves than that Washing Machine guy?
“Melissa, please don’t tell me something blew up again. I really can’t afford to replace the exoskeleton of this prototype again,” Bakugou’s gravelly voice spoke, clinging onto his coffee mug for dear life and dark bags under his eyes like his teacher Aizawa had. He wanted to take another sip, hoping this caffeine would keep him awake for the rest of the video call, but was not about to risk spitting coffee all over his 8 year old computer. The fan on it was already preparing for take off. Hearing its quick spinning made him wish he had been a little less agitated in high school so he would not have to think about budgeting for a new laptop now. The poor thing only liked when you faced it in a certain direction and would refuse to turn on if it wasn’t connected to a power source, during meetings he would ask Denki to help him out. The electric hero would always gripe about how Bakugou would be paid so much but still acts so frugal before helping him out.
“No, no. That’s fine. It did well under the stress tests I told you about. A couple of the joints needed repair but that’s easy enough,” she said, her hair pushed back with her headband and her shirt had a couple of bleach stains from whatever chemicals she had mixed together. She had been attempting to recreate the smokescreen effect with minimal toxic effects. One attempt had resulted in a couple weeks of halted process due to an unforeseen reaction and the lab had to be evacuated.
“Well which quirk is the problem then?” Bakugou pushed his hair back, the lights out in his apartment to save a few extra dollars when possible, so only the glow of the laptop screen made him look visible.
“Gearshift. I can’t think of a way to just break the laws of gravity. I mean, we are trying to use science to create a superpower. We are limited by the rules of science!” She gasped, and pulled out her notebook. She continued to ramble about the logic behind the problem and different attempts she had taken and Bakugou’s head was beginning to dip when he spilled the coffee into his lap.
“FUCK!” His loud voice boomed and his neighbors were quick to pound on their shared walls. For as much as he just came to his dinky little apartment to crash, he was not a quiet person. If he went a week without seeing a note on the community bulletin board or slid under his door complaining about his volume, then he would treat himself - in the past seven years, he’s treated himself twelve times.
Melissa paused her rambling and tilted her head. She was so much like that nerd, it was no wonder the two got along when they first met. “I’m guessing that wasn’t for me?” She said, breathing out a laugh. Earlier in this partnership, Bakugou’s outbursts had led to many spats, but Melissa learned that he was truly more bark than bite. He hated how easily she could read him, but aside from work, he hung out with her the most through their calls.
“Not my damn fault you have me calling you at 1 in the morning for me,” He grumbled and she waved her hand dismissively, covering her mouth as she laughed.
“You’re not the only person I work with. Besides, you can barely afford me at my reduced rate. We talk when I can fit you in,” she laughed, and spun her notebook around, “But hear me out, we replicate the effect with lots of different nanobots on the surface. They could modulate the rate of what objects are moving at and we could have them store kinetic energy. We would need it all over the suit, but with some spare ones I had around the lab, I made a glove and they paired well with the exoskeleton.”
Bakugou scribbled on one of the pads of paper he kept nearby during their meetings, the same type the nerd used to do his hero analysis in, “How do they respond to different types of stress? They sound like they do well with compression but what about twists? Are there any risks if they fall off? How much repair would be needed on a daily basis? Deku isn’t known for being cautious of his own well being.” Bakugou was trying to copy the drawing and calculations which Melissa showed him, but they were a lot more sloppy and less organized than what her pages looked like. He made notes on certain aspects of the nanobots, annotating the drawings.
“I’ve used them for other heroes and have no complaints yet. The smaller they are the more force they can apply which will be a fit better for emulating that quirk. The problem is, to have as many nanobots per square centimeter, we would need a lot of start-up funds. It will sew in well to the exoskeleton, but I need to make them at a smaller scale and to each store kinetic energy and then be able to disperse it. With the alloy I use, they shouldn’t fall out,” she said, going into the production process and how she had tested with a similar but different system.
“So another prototype?” Bakugou asked, already feeling the pain in his wallet. One of his blood vessels was rising up on his forehead, pulsing as he tried to figure out how he could pay for it. He was already dipping into his grocery and gear repair funds.
“Yessss,” she drew her words out and forced a sweet smile. Bakugou just stared at the screen, not able to think about the potential risks and how he could never afford anything ever again. Melissa almost thought their call got cut off because Bakugou wasn’t paying his wifi again this month, but his dry voice spoke.
“Can’t you apply to one of those support research grants?” Bakugou said, already logging into his bank. He knew the account to transfer to by heart, typing in the details like he was on autopilot. If he allowed himself to think about how much money he was sending, he would start to dry heave. The first couple times, he had to have a pep talk with himself before he sent the money.
“I need double the usual amount,” Melissa rushed her words out and his jaw dropped open and he mouth was ready to catch flies. His neighbors should be grateful he was speechless or else he was going to wake up the whole block. Still, he typed double the usual amount in, and hit send. His account was overdrawn, but it was fine, he had three weeks until rent was due. Plus, this was all for Izuku so every cent was worth it.
“I swear ‘Lissa, if you ever make any money off of some of the research I’m funding, please just send me some,” he laughed, his hand scraping against his five o’clock shadow, the stubble rough against his calloused hands.
“You’re on track to make a lot of money yourself. Congrats on breaking the top 75.” She smiled, and Bakugou raised an eyebrow.
“That doesn’t come out until the end of the month?”
“Yeah? It is the end of the month,”
“Oh fuck,” Bakugou groaned, closing his laptop, and ending the call with a perplexed Melissa. His eyes looked at the paper calendar that was still set to last month with only five days crossed out. It was the end of the month, and he did not even know how many days he had until his rent was due.
He blinded himself with his bright phone screen and looked at the date at the top - the 27th. Rent was due on the first. He screamed and groaned, his forehead pressed down into the white, foldable card table in his tiny studio. In the silence, with the laptop screen no longer illuminating his face, Bakugou Katsuki tried to catch his breath.
The sharp inhales in his nose as he was surrounded by crappy takeout and newspaper clippings, mostly his accomplishments but a lot of how Izuku was still contributing to hero society. How many of his students were quickly rising in ranks and how he had started a foundation to stop bullying on the basis of quirk status. He had recently extended that movement with a few of their classmates to broaden the scope to help protect individuals with mutant quirks too. He had framed the photo of Izuku, Tsu, and himself from one of the times he had asked their class to come speak to his new students. Sure everyone was busy, but only himself and Tsu came, it was like they were willing to move forward in their careers without him.
He could not wake up without seeing that board and while some days, it was a strong motivation to be the best in his class, to accomplish even more and save one more person or prevent one more person from going down a life of crime, he knew he was like a villain too. If Izuku did not have such a strong will, Bakugou would have been to blame for pushing him down for years. He even tried to bully the nerd once they both got into UA, only when he realized he was not the strongest did he fall apart. In these quiet moments is when he fears what he would be like if reality had not held him to the ground until he understood, would he still be the same brat he was when he entered UA?
When these thoughts catch up to him, he really begins to wonder if he’s really deserving to still have his quirk after defeating All for One. Deku was able to master multiple quirks in much less time, show compassion, and defeat such a strong evil. He was able to work for a month alone, making the country safer after all the criminals had been released. He continued to want to give back to hero society even after he returned to a state where they would see little value in him. Bakugou would not smile, he would grovel and feel robbed from everything he worked at. He would hold a grudge against the world, but not Izuku. Bakugou clutched his shirt in the spot over his heart, where Edgeshot risked it all to save his life and in these dark moments he wondered if it was really the best choice.
His phone buzzed, over and over, interrupting him from his loathing. It did not feel right that every year less and less kids would be clamoring about how cool ‘Deku’ is and spoke about him in the past tense. Finally his phone started ringing, and he slid to answer without looking at the caller ID,
“Gadammit, I am going to blast myself all the way to Timbuktu if that’s what it takes for me to kick your ass for calling at this hour!!” He shouted into the phone, his voice thick as he realized his eyes were extremely watery.
“I know how to set off your gauntlets in your face at your next press conference, try me,” the mocking feminine voice said. It was too confident for Melissa, and seemed to also enjoy the thought of pulling off a student like that, so it only could be, “I can hear the gears in your head struggling to think Boom-Boom Boy.” Hatsume quickly said as you heard metallic rustling in the background, so he was definitely on speaker as she continued to work, classic.
“And you just call in the middle of the night Nuts-and-Bolts?” He snapped back, though it wasn’t out of malice, it was more their dynamic.
“Not my fault you answered,” She said, almost like it was obvious she would be awake at any hour. After going to her for repairs for so long and having one of her manufacturing company’s reward punch cards where every 11th repair is free, he knew he could drop in at any hour and know she would be ready with a new improvement or to repair his support items. Only once she wasn’t at her workstation, and Bakugou sent the entire building’s security to search for her, only to find out she had gone off to a business meeting. It was a long time before he could live that down.
“Just tell me why you called,” He groaned, staring at his bed longingly as he wanted to at least lay down as he took this one last call but he knew he would fall asleep.
“Melissa shared her latest test data and asked if I had materials to test something out. She sent the schematic over too so I’m whipping it up but what is this. She said it’s an order from you, but you haven’t mentioned anything? I mean for the past few years we’ve been working back and forth on different ideas and have really made some functional improvement to your equipment so I was a little shocked to-”
“It’s not for me!” He said quickly, like he had to force the words from his lips and his grip tightened on the phone. “It’s for Izuku. I don’t wanna get his hopes up, but he deserves more than anyone to be a top five hero.” His voice was lower yet calm, his eyes up on the ceilings, his head hanging back. He was tired, exhausted, and felt guilty all at once and just wanted to lay down and let his overworked body get at least five hours of sleep.
Hatsume was quiet, which said even more since she could never shut up. “I was about to yell at you for working with another lab, but now I’m gonna yell at you for not calling me in sooner,” Her bouncy voice was clear and he knew she was smiling at the idea of a new project. “C’mon, we’re always at the same industry events and competing for support equipment awards. I would love to team up with her!” Hatsume said, and the clacking in the background told him plenty.
“You can’t tell anyone though. And I can’t pay you the total amount of what this project and your time is worth,” Bakugou said, his tone more reserved wondering if now she would refuse. He would not blame her, she was among the best of the field and deserved to be paid like it. He rubbed at his eyes, the exhaustion creeping in and his eyes started to go in and out of focus.
“The Hero Public Safety Commission has me on retainer for their classified projects. I can keep this one quiet Lord Explosion,” She mocked, sending him an email, causing his phone to buzz. “We’ll just make a contract that for your entire career you work with my lab, when you open an agency the support equipment will be through us, and I’ll do this project and give you free repairs.” She said, jumping on the opportunity. He almost felt preyed upon, but knew this deal was much in his favor as he already was one of their clients. This contract was another reason he had to make it big, more pressure on his childhood dream.
“Thank you,” he said, plopping down onto the edge of his mattress, leaning over his knees. As much as Hatsume was a quick thinker for her gadgets, she clearly was also a natural business woman because she did not hesitate to come up with a solution.
“Legal will send you some documents to sign by the afternoon, and we’ll schedule you a press conference as well,” She said, tapping away at her keyboard, going through the steps without even having to think it through. Bakugou could barely process any information as he was going to crash, his eyelids growing heavy as he struggled to hold the phone up to his ear.
“Thank you Hatsume,” he yawned loudly, “I gotta crash or I’m gonna fall asleep on the line,” he said, yawning again.
“Yeah, rest up. I don’t want you to look sleep deprived at the press conference, that’s not good for either of us.” He did not have to be told twice as his heavy fingers pressed at the phone and ended the call.
He laid back on his bed and sighed out, he would dedicate his life to make sure Deku would get to stand there next to him, fighting to be the next Number 1 hero. He didn’t care how old they became, he would make up for his wrongs and make sure Japan got to see what an amazing hero Deku was again.