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Katsuki tightened his jaw, suppressing a thousand questions. He could feel the familiar coil of rage tightening in his gut - the kind of fury that flared when Deku was threatened. He’d seen the shift in during dinner - the way that pilot bastard had controlled the conversation, the way Deku had flinched when the guy placed their order. It had taken everything in Katsuki not to walk over there and deck the guy. Now, seeing the nerd in such a state, he regretted his restraint.
Because now…now they were back in the apartment, and Deku went straight to his room, shutting the door without so much as a “goodnight.”
When Katsuki first took this volunteering job, he hadn’t even expected to be accepted so quickly. The fucking bird asshole knew Dynamight was explosive and non-personable. He was well-known for his shit personality and lack of empathy, but when Katsuki heard that the nerd was in the hospital, almost dead…someone wanting him dead - nah, that wasn’t gonna fly.
He made sure to get this job, and offered to do it for free.
Why?
Well, at first, he actually wasn’t so sure.
At first, he was pissed when the old hag blew up his phone. When he finally answered after patrol, the words that still echoed through him made his body act without hesitation for the first time.
“Izuku almost died, brat. He’s hospitalized - it sounds pretty bad. Apparently someone wants his life.”
The next thing he knew, he had stormed into Hawks’ office, and waited for the man to come back from visiting the nerd. He practically threw himself at the hero the moment he heard there was a need for a bodyguard.
After that, everything went…actually kind of smoothly.
Yeah, that’s what he thought at first. Until he saw the same messy green curls and those bright green eyes looking at him on those damned crutches. But fuck, it was with fear. Like Katsuki was the one who wanted him dead and not some fucking poser hiding in the shadows.
He hated being looked at like that by the nerd. But, if only Deku truly knew how Katsuki felt. What he did for the greenette during the war and everything after.
Katsuki plopped onto the couch, rubbing his face with both hands as he exhaled sharply. “Dammit…”
He took a moment to himself, allowing the silence of the apartment to soak in. It was much smaller than his loft - more lived in and used. Yuki came out of wherever, rubbing against his legs as she purred.
Katsuki hated cats. But for some reason, they were always drawn to him. Looking down at her green eyes, he couldn’t help but compare her to Deku. No matter how much he pushed the nerd away, he always came back.
Until High School happened.
God, he didn’t want to think about that, but when he let his back fall against the couch, the memories started to come, no matter how much he fought them off.
The ash-blond didn’t know why he told the nerd to jump off a roof - he was upset that day after finding out that he wanted to go to the same hero school, even though he didn’t have a quirk. He was sure the nerd had a deathwish.
But the moment those words came out, he felt the same feeling of regret that he’d always felt when bullying him.
The same regret that made him sick to his stomach.
Those asshole extras around Katsuki followed him around just as much, gave him praise, complimented his quirk, but it wasn’t the same. They didn’t actually care about Katsuki - they just used him as a shield for having lameass quirks themselves.
But Deku - he was a constant. No matter how much Katsuki pushed him away, hit him, left bruises, scratches and burns, the idiot still kept coming back. And Katsuki was an idiot for continuing to do what he did.
Yet, something changed after the day he essentially told Deku to off himself. The nerd came back, stating he’d go to some basic school, one that had decent marks and better connections for him to join Law Enforcement. Hearing those words, Katsuki felt immense relief. He no longer had to worry about his old friend killing himself.
Until the war started.
And the fucker didn’t hide out at UA like the rest of the civilians.
The rat who was head of the school had helped to design special bunkers specifically to help anyone in the area hide from the war. Katsuki remembered the day it started, learning that All For One had escaped from the infamous prison, Tartarus, and freed all the other villains with him. They spread like wildfire, causing destruction and mayhem everywhere they went.
City evacuations went as smooth as frozen butter - many were thankful for the school and the heroes within, while others blamed the heroes for the war starting in the first place. He could still remember the feeling he had when he realized no one by the name of Midoriya had entered the UA facility, meaning that even his bitch of a mother never came either.
While he and his fellow classmates were allowed out to help wrangle any escaped villains, Katsuki would subconsciously search for messy green hair - alive or dead. It wasn’t until a month in when there were reports about a type of vigilante in Musutafu that was helping survivors and arresting weaker criminals. That vigilante had the exact description he was looking for.
“Fucking idiot,” Katsuki sighed, closing his eyes as his head rested on the head of the couch. He felt Yuki jump onto his lap, digging her claws into his thighs as she circled before laying down. He began to mindlessly pet her, feeling the softness of her white fur. “How do you put up with him?” he asked the cat. “Fuck me, I’m talking to a cat.”
“I think she likes you,” a deep-toned voice said from the hallway.
Katsuki snapped his head up, taking in the indigo-haired man who had his arms crossed as he leaned a shoulder against the wall.
“The fuck you doing out here?”
“I need to talk to you.” Shinsou pushed himself upright, approaching closer before he sat on the coffee table that creaked beneath him. “About Midoriya - what happened?”
“Why, did he go crying to you and spill everything already?”
Shinsou shook his head. “No, as a matter of fact, he didn’t, which is pretty unusual for him at this point.”
“Tch, don’t gotta go rubbing that friendship bullshit all over my face, eyebags.” Katsuki rolled his eyes, adjusting his posture to sit up a bit more while Yuki remained content on his lap.
“Not doing anything of the sort. But considering his silence, I’d like to know what happened.”
“Why is it any of your fucking business?” Katsuki glared at him, taking in his old classmate’s features. He’d loathed the man since his first UA Sports festival, and still did now. Especially with how quickly he seemed to make Deku smile compared to himself.
Fucking prick.
“I’m his other bodyguard, Bakugo. I think it is as much of my business as it is yours. If something happened that was related to the assassin, then -”
“It’s not related,” Katsuki snapped. He was doing his best to keep his voice low, but after what he had to witness from that horrible event called a date to what happened after, he was nearing his breaking point.
Shinsou sighed, letting his shoulders sag. “Then I suppose it has something to do with Rody?”
“The fuck - you know about that asshole?” Katsuki shot up, Yuki hopping off his lap with a deep stretch. “I only learned about that sick fuck today!”
The Underground Hero crossed his arms, tilting his head with a stoic look. “Did you even ask him if he had a boyfriend? Because I did, and he told me quite a bit.”
Katsuki blanched. He recalled asking if the nerd had someone special in his life.
Fuck! His jaw hurt from the tension that boiled in his body - his hands felt hot as little pops began to go off. Shinsou’s eyes looked down at them, making Katsuki clench them into fists on instinct.
“Guess you met him then? Piece of work, I assume?”
“What do you know?” Katsuki seethed.
Shinsou raised a brow. “About?”
“Everything. Tell me about that asshole. Now.”
Shinsou stood up, rubbing the back of his head with a tired expression. He looked off to the side before sighing begrudgingly. “And what? You’re gonna go murder the guy?”
Katsuki stepped closer to the hero, snarling. “Did you fucking see the mark?”
That earned a surprised look from Shinsou - his eyes widened before scowling. “What mark?”
“The fucker bit his fucking neck. Then used Deku’s quirklessness against him like the nerd owes him or some shit.”
“Ah.”
“Ah? The fuck you ah-ing for?” Katsuki hated how calm and nonchalant the hero was and has been. Even in the most dire situations, the man had a knack for downplaying even the most horrific news.
“Let me ask you something first,” Shinsou started, pointing a finger in Katsuki’s direction. “Why do you care so much, Bakugo?"
Katsuki froze. That wasn’t the question he was expecting. He had been gearing up for a fight, ready to demand information, ready to explode - but that single, quiet question threw him off balance.
He lowered his head, his hands finally dropping their internal heat, allowing the tiny crackles of his quirk to cease. He clenched his jaw so tight he thought his teeth might splinter.
Why did he care?
The answer was obvious, but saying it, admitting it to anyone, especially fucking Eyebags, wasn’t something he was willing to do so easily - not even over his dead body. It wasn’t any of his fucking business.
"He’s my fucking responsibility," Katsuki ground out through clenched teeth, sidestepping the truth. "I’m his bodyguard. This Rody bastard is a clear threat to his mental and physical well-being. That makes him my problem."
Shinsou tilted his head again, his expression unreadable. "A threat to his well-being, huh? You’re awfully protective of someone who you stopped having any form of a friendship with since like, what, four years old?"
The air crackled again, but this time it wasn’t from Katsuki’s quirk. It was from the near snap of the tension that was slowly building between them.
"Don’t you dare," Katsuki hissed, taking another threatening step forward. "You don’t know shit about what happened then, or what’s happening now. We’re talking about the guy who bit him, who’s emotionally manipulating him, and you’re bringing up my past from when we were brats? Fuck off."
Shinsou held his ground, completely unfazed by the threat of the explosive hero. "I know enough. I may not know the physical scars he hides, but I know that all his fidgets - the way he holds himself is from more than just his current relationship. Now, as for Rody…" Shinsou paused, letting the weight of his words settle. "I dug up some information about the guy. Real charmer if you ask me."
Katsuki stared, waiting. "And?"
"He’s a man of many…interests, for one. But, his personality can be summed up as possessive, controlling, manipulative - obviously didn’t have much of that growing up in his own life.” Shinsou sat back down on the coffee table while Katsuki followed suit to sit back on the couch. “Midoriya and him met during their college days, and hit it off pretty quickly. Unfortunately, our soft-hearted Captain fell right into his trap."
Shinsou finally let a piece of genuine concern bleed into his stoic expression. "As I continued reading about the guy, it seems he had a reputation back in his home country, which is why he flies around as much as he can. I haven’t told Midoriya this, but his so-called boyfriend wanted to keep their relationship open before his last flight because of something he fucked up on."
"And what did you find, eyebags?"
"Nothing criminal, which is the infuriating part. Clean record, professional pilot, good reviews. But I found a pattern. He dates people who are, for lack of a better term, vulnerable. People with low self-esteem, or who are financially or emotionally dependent on him. He isolates them and subtly manipulates them until they completely rely on him."
"So he’s a narcissist piece of shit. Get to the point," Katsuki growled, vaguely rotating his hand.
"Exactly. But he’s clever. He never leaves physical marks that are easily explained as abuse. He uses emotional leverage and gaslighting. However, two years ago, him and Midoriya got into a bad fight." The man sighed, letting his elbows rest on his knees while looking down. “Midoriya didn’t release all the details to me himself, but when I was digging, I found that Rody had left some nasty marks on him that sent him to the hospital - and that’s where the seizures started happening.”
Shinsou rubbed the back of his neck again. "I wanted to question Midoriya a bit more, but considering Rody arrived so quickly…"
"So why the hell can’t I beat his fucking ass right now, then?" Katsuki demanded, his voice dangerously low.
"Because even though you’re his bodyguard, you’re still a licensed hero, Bakugo. And, unfortunately, Midoriya still likes him, or at least, he’s still trapped in some sad delusion that he does. He’s not dependent on Rody financially, but emotionally? That’s another story. If you try to aggressively force Rody away, Izuku will most likely resent you, feel isolated, and likely defend Rody, making things worse. We need to wait for Midoriya to admit what is happening and ask for help."
Shinsou looked Katsuki directly in the eyes, the tired purple gaze holding a surprising depth of understanding. "The only person who can end this is Midoriya. Our job is to protect him from the assassin. We can’t protect him from every bad decision, especially if he doesn’t see it as one yet."
"Well, he fucking should now," Katsuki snapped. "That look in his eyes tonight? That wasn’t infatuation, it was terror."
"I can figure." Shinsou sighed. "So, now that you know, what are you going to do, Bakugo?"
Katsuki exhaled audibly, aggressively rubbing his face with both hands before letting his head fall back against the couch once more. He kept his eyes shut, recalling his short conversation in the car with the nerd. Sure, he seemed to be agreeable to simply dumping the fucker, but recalling his expression, now realized how half-hearted it was.
“I think,” he started, his hands fisting in his lap. “I think this is my fault.”
“How so?”
“Seriously?” Katsuki snapped his eyes back to the indigo-haired man. “I’m sure he’s probably rambled to you about our childhood enough for you to know that he was stuck on me like a leech, no matter how much I fucking pushed him away.”
Shinsou remained quiet, staring at him with his continuously, underwhelmingly, infuriating, unreadable expression.
“He…didn’t tell you?”
“All I know was that you got your quirk, he didn’t, and you guys stopped being friends.”
Katsuki’s breath caught. All this time…does anyone know about how much the explosive hero bullied him? How much he hurt him just to push him away.
“Fuck me!” Katsuki shot up off the couch, pacing from the living room to the dining room. “Fucking asshole with his annoying tolerance for pricks like me, and his stupid fucking insatiable need to be so goddamn limited in his self-preservastion skills!” He turned on his heel to scowl at Shinsou. “You know that he still tried to follow me to UA when he didn’t have a quirk? He literally had a fucking deathwish pulling that shit!”
“But, he didn’t. So what changed?”
Frozen. Katsuki was fucking frozen in his spot - colder than his quirk normally allowed.
“Swan dive off of the roof.” That fucking sentence still haunted him to this day.
He hadn’t meant to say it - he was just pissed. Pissed off at the fact that the nerd wanted to go to UA High like Katsuki. To go to a prestigious school where anyone learned how to use their quirk to fight fucking villains.
Deku had mentioned the school removed the rule about needing a quirk to try, but considering how the entrance exams were, there was no way he would have been accepted anyways. Yet, the simple fucking thought that he was still willing to try - that set off the explosive teen at the time.
Not because the nerd thought he could become a hero. No, nothing simply stupid like that.
But because he would have fucking died trying to be one on the first day.
That was something Katsuki never admitted to anyone. Even to this day, after growing to learn how to handle his anger better, try to regulate his emotions, and learned how to express how he felt (sometimes), he never told anyone how much he actually cared about him.
But now, after the nerd’s near-death from an amateur assassination attempt, it was getting harder to hide those feelings. Along with the ones he couldn’t label during Junior High. Those unlabeled ones are getting harder and harder to keep at bay.
Especially since the nerd had the fucking gall to call the hero by his first-fucking-name.
“Kat-su-ki.”
Fuck.
Never in his life had Deku said his name. Especially not like that. No, the hero tolerated the god-awful nickname the nerd used since they were brats (even though he knew it was because Deku was illiterate and couldn’t just fucking say his name properly).
Yup, so those feelings that started becoming more and more rampant during Junior High continued to be shoved way down in the never-fucking-worry-about-it-ever-again box way far back in his mindset.
Until now.
Looking at the indigo-haired man, and having this conversation about Deku’s asshole boyfriend before it turned against Katsuki kept him silent enough for the underground hero to give him a questioning look.
Right, he had asked what changed.
“You good?” Shinsou asked, lifting an eyebrow.
Katsuki clicked his tongue, averting his eyes to look at Yuki who was slowly making her way down the hall to stop and sit in front of Deku’s bedroom door. He swiped his tongue across his teeth before saying, “Nothing’s changed.”
“Uh huh.”
“What? You didn’t fucking know us when we were brats, and you didn’t know us before we split off during our High School years. He’s still a goddamn nerd and I’m still -”
“An asshat?”
“HAH?! You wanna say that again, cabbage patch?!” Katsuki snarled, taking a step closer to the Underground Hero.
Shinsou simply smirked, a rare expression that only seemed to surface when he was successfully pushing Katsuki’s buttons. "You’re deflecting. You said, ‘Nothing’s changed,’ but something clearly did. You don’t have to admit it to me if you don’t want, but right now, you and I are both guarding the same person. And that same person clearly needs us. Needs you. So if nothing has changed, then why did you take the initiative to be his bodyguard first?"
Katsuki felt a cold wave wash over the remnants of his anger. The smirk vanished from Shinsou’s face, replaced by a serious, contemplative gaze.
"I…I just…" Katsuki, for the first time in a very long time, was at a loss for words. He walked back to the couch, sinking into the cushion and running a hand roughly through his ash-blond hair. "I swear to fuck, if you say anything to anyone, I will personally see to it that you are 6 feet in the ground.”
Shinsou had the fucking nerve to look slightly surprised before giving a curt nod. He remained standing where he was, but looked attentively at Katsuki.
“I was an angry, spoiled brat who thought he was hot shit,” Katsuki started.
“Was?”
The ash-blond glared at him. “Fuck you, I’m done!”
“Wait, wait,” Shinsou sighed, raising both hands up. “My bad, couldn’t help it. Continue.”
With one more glare, Katsuki exhaled, letting his gaze drop to the ground.
“The nerd wanted to go to UA without a quirk. I told him to go jump off a roof.”
Pause.
“What?” Shinsou deadpanned. “Wait, I’m just confused.”
“I’m fucking trying -”
“I know, just, hold on.” Shinsou sat on the coffee table, really staring at Katsuki now with furrowed brows. “Ok, say it again, but with, like, a little more context. Why did you tell him that?”
“Tsk, I never thought he’d actually, I don’t know, do it. I just was so fucking pissed off that he was willing to risk his life as a quirkless hero than just have some self-preservation skills for fucking once in his life. But, it was mostly because I knew he was going because I was going. So, I said whatever came to mind so he’d finally leave me alone and stop following me.”
Katsuki lifted his head, meeting Shinsou’s gaze with a vulnerability he hadn’t shown anyone since he was a kid. "But the relief I felt when he showed up the next day, stating he was going to a school so he could become a police officer - it was a hell of a relief. I was scared I’d actually killed him with my stupid mouth."
Shinsou nodded slowly. "So you realized the weight of your words. You realized that even though you pushed him away, you didn’t want him gone forever. That you didn’t want him dead," he clarified.
And, damn, if that didn’t hit straight home.
Katsuki let out a humorless laugh. "No shit, eyebags. I just didn’t want to be the reason he got hurt. Which, ironically, is what I ended up doing for years. So, to answer your original question: I care now because I should have cared then. I care because this Rody prick is doing the same psychological damage I used to inflict, just with a charming smile and pilot uniform instead of explosions and a snarl."
He leaned forward, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, as if the walls were paper thin. "And if I have to watch him crumble again because of some piece of trash, I’ll fucking kill him myself. And then I’ll deal with the assassin."
Yuki meandered back to the couch, hopping onto the ash-blond’s lap and rubbing her cheek against Katsuki’s tightly fisted hands. He opened his palm and stroked the cat’s head.
"Hm, it’s strange," Shinsou murmured. "It seems Midoriya seeks out people who are intense, who challenge him, who perhaps even hurt him, because that’s what he grew up with. You created a pattern of behavior, Bakugo, and Rody is the result of that pattern."
Katsuki glared. "Don’t go pulling that shrink bullshit on me."
"It’s not shrink bullshit, it’s an observation," Shinsou countered calmly. "Look, I get it. You want to save him. You want a do-over. But you can’t just walk in and demand he leave Rody, as much as I would like to say something as well. It has to come from him. You need to be the alternative to the pattern, not just another intense, controlling force."
"And how the hell am I supposed to do that?" Katsuki snarked. "I don’t know how to be anything but what I am."
Shinsou shrugged, standing up and stretching. "Try being a friend, Bakugo. A genuine one. The kind he thinks he has in me, but the kind he needs from you. Focus on the assassin, yes, but also focus on being consistently decent. Rody will self-destruct eventually. When he does, Midoriya needs to have a safe landing spot. And right now, he only sees me as that safe spot, not you."
He walked toward the hallway, pausing at the entrance to Deku’s room.
"One more thing," Shinsou said, looking back at Katsuki. "He didn’t tell me about your childhood bullying because he cherishes you. He protects the memory of the person he believes you were and the hero he knows you are. He keeps your secrets, Bakugo. Maybe try returning the favor, and keep his confidence."
With that, Shinsou opened his door and stepped inside, leaving Katsuki alone in the quiet apartment with the purring cat and the crushing weight of their conversation.
Katsuki looked down at Yuki, his hand still stroking her soft fur.
Protect him.
He sighed, the tension finally easing from his shoulders. Maybe Shinsou wasn’t such a fucking annoying extra after all.
Katsuki had a job to do - protect Izuku Midoriya. From assassins, and from asshole pilots. And maybe, just maybe, from himself.