Chapter Text
Kirishima stretched his arms high above his head then released it with a sigh. “What a day!! I cannot WAIT to take a shower.” Katsuki grunted in agreement as they made their way back to the school after a long day of patrolling. The sky was quickly fading from baby blue to a mixture of oranges and pinks from the setting sun that cast a golden glow over the neighborhood.
Now that they were second years, Fatgum (Whom Katsuki decided to Intern for when he finally got his Provisional License) had been letting them patrol on their own, which they both had been pretty stoked about. But Kirishima was right, it had been a LONG day.
First, there was that drug store burglary, then they had to chase down some jackass who snagged a ladies purse, THEN they had to contain some quirk happy lunatic in the shopping mall! And it had only been a 4-hour shift! Katsuki wasn't complaining, (This was going to be his future after all, and he was fully aware of what he signed up for.) but that didn’t mean he wasn’t relieved for a day like this one to be over.
Katsuki couldn’t wait to get this musty ass costume off and take a nice hot bath to soothe his sore muscles, then collapse into bed. His stomach rumbled and Katsuki was reminded that he also needed a nice warm meal. “Oi. Shitty-Hair, want to stop by that Chinese place?”
“IT’S LIKE YOU READ MY MIND.” Kirishima cheered and threw his arm over Katsuki’s shoulder, marching towards their favorite spot. He tried to shove him off but the fucker hardened his arm making it extremely difficult to escape his grip. How the fuck does he have the energy to goof off right now?
“Yo, get the FU-”
“WAH MOMMY LOOK IT’S HEROES!”
“HEROES?”
“IT’S THE EXPLODEY ONE AND THE RED ROCK ONE!! MAMA LOOK!”
Suddenly a small hoard of children were racing towards them from a passing playground. Their parents were sitting on benches on the other side of the structure. Some of them taking out their phones, preparing to take pictures. Kirishima released Katsuki and they both straightened as the kids stampeded towards them. Shitty Hair flashed a wide shark-toothed grin and brought his hand up in greeting. “Yo!” But their excited little faces’ faltered and their stride slowed when their eyes landed on Katsuki.
The fuck is their problem? Kirishima nudged him, “Try smiling Baku-bro!” He whispered, “You’re resting bitch face is scaring them.” Then he crouched down and smiled warmly at the children “Hey Guys! Don’t worry about my friend here! He’s nice! He’s just shy!” he chuckled. Katsuki scowled and made a mental note to kick the shitty redhead for that comment later.
Katsuki will begrudgingly admit that he was still really bad at the whole publicity thing, but it was part of the job and if he wants to be the number one hero he has to be someone that people feel safe around. So he tried his best to soften his features to at least look less intimidating, instantly rejecting the idea to smile since last time he did that it looked more like a malicious sneer than a friendly grin.
Though he would never admit it, he was pretty jealous of Kirishima. Katsuki watched as the little brats excitedly chatted and asked questions while Kirishima patiently answered and even asked questions back. Even with his intimidatingly sharp teeth and eyebrow scar, he was so bright and friendly. People loved him.
Katsuki hovered a few feet away from the group, hoping that they would just forget he was there and focus on the bubbly redhead till one of the kids hesitantly approached him. Katsuki stiffened. He had brown curly hair and was a lot smaller than the others. Sweat formed on Katsuki’s temple, he really was not good at this kind of thing and he wasn’t sure he could handle accidentally making the seemingly timid child cry.
“U-um Excuse me! You are G-ground Zero right?” The boy asked, tightly clasping his hands together and a blush dusting his pudgy cheeks.
“Uh Mm.” Katsuki nodded, shuffling awkwardly as he peered down at the child.
“M-my Mommy lets me watch videos of you on the computer! I-I th-think you are really cool!!! A-and I want to be a hero like you one day!” The child was clutching his fist and staring at Katsuki with stars in his eyes now, gaining more confidence the more he spoke and Katsuki couldn’t help the small smile forming on the corner of his lips. This kid reminded him of someone but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it.
Before Katsuki could even respond one of the kid’s barked over Kirishima’s shoulder. “You can’t be a hero like him, Toru-chan! Your quirk is too lame!”
Katsuki jolted at the remark, eye’s narrowing at the brat before he looked back at Toru to see his eyes cast down and a sad wobbly smile on his face, his fists lowered slightly. Pain struck him at the sight and he became very aware of who this kid reminded him of.
“You can never be a hero you quirkless deku!"
Images of a trembling little Izuku entered his mind, fists up and lip wobbling, as he did his best to defend a crying child on the floor. Katsuki remembers knocking him down with his quirk and punching him as his punk ‘friends’ laughed.
Katsuki’s heart ached at the memory, regret and shame washing over him. He was still working on not hating himself so much for his mistakes as a child. If he kept thinking about it, it would eat him alive. Katsuki still hasn’t brought himself to apologize to Deku for the shitty way he’d treated him. He’d already shown him too much of his weakness on that night at ground beta and he wasn’t ready to be so vulnerable in front of the nerd again. So he pushed down his guilt for the crappy things he’d done in the past and focused on the good he could do now by crouching down at eye level with the young boy.
He cleared his throat. “You’re Toru-chan right?” Katsuki spoke as softly as his gravelly voice would let him. He tilted his head a little to try to make eye contact with him. The boy’s gaze was still lowered and his cheeks were red from embarrassment. Fuck, he even has freckles like the nerd too.
The kid looked up slightly to meet Katsuki’s eyes and nodded before looking away again. “Well Toru-chan, I have this friend who wanted to be a hero too, but he was quirkless. And when we were little some real assh-erm I mean jerk faces would make fun of him for it and tell him he couldn’t be.” the boy raised his head slightly to look at Katsuki, “But he worked really, really hard. Harder than anyone I’ve ever met. He believed in himself and never let what people said stop him. Now he’s a really strong hero!” He lowered his voice and leaned in closer, “And can I tell you a secret?”
The boy nodded frantically eyes lighting up again at Katsuki’s little story. He chuckled and cupped his hand around his mouth. “He might even be stronger than me.”
“Stronger than you !? ” The boy gasped.
“Mhm. Yes, I know it’s hard to believe. But you have to pinky promise me that you’ll never tell anyone I said that okay!?”
The boy laced his pinky with Katsuki and nodded firmly.
“So Toru-chan, if my friend, who didn’t even have a quirk to start with can become a hero! You definitely can too. Even if your quirk doesn’t seem strong now, with a lot of hard work and determination you can make it strong. You understand?”
“Yes! Hard work and det-ermen-ni-nation!” The boy clutched his tiny fists again a huge smile on his face.
Katsuki ruffled his brown curls and smiled. “Heh. That’s right. I bet your quirk has potential too! Let’s see what you got kid!”
“Wah! R-really!?”
“Yeah go ahead!” Katsuki was getting the hang of this whole ‘being friendly with the public’ thing if he did say so himself.
The boy grabbed his arm and closed his eyes, hair floating as he activated his quirk and Katsuki stilled a strange feeling creeping up on him, he couldn’t remember where he was or what he was doing, his mind felt blurry, then the world went black.
Kirishima was scratching the back of his head bashfully at all the praise these kids were giving him. Though he wasn’t too fond of the rude comment towards the smallest boy, Katsuki seemed to have been handling it pretty well and Kirishima was proud of him. His best friend wasn’t really the best at dealing with civilians, especially kids, but it looked like he was getting the hang of it from the last time he glanced back to check on him.
“TORU-CHAN! What did you do to Mr. Zero!”
Kirishima turned to see a mother running towards where Katsuki and the little boy were talking. All three of the children gasped looking behind Kirishima and one pointed, “Toru-chan used his quirk on the explodey one!”
Kirishima whipped his head around to see what was going on. His eyes widened and a sweat drop formed on his forehead at the sight. Oh Shit.
“SENSEI!” Aizawa thumped his forehead on his keyboard with a tired groan at the sound of his student barging into the teacher’s offices. What is it this time?
“Hey, Brat! You can’t just go kicking open doors your gonna break- oh shit… Eraser you need to see this!”
Aizawa raised his head at Midnight’s stunned tone. Ah shit. If it’s enough to throw her off then it has to be really bad. “Sensei!!” Aizawa finally swiveled around to assess whatever damage Kirishima and most likely others caused.
“I swear to god if another fucking person got their foot stuck in the- oh shit. Is that-?”
“Yes!”
At first glance, it looked as if Kirishima had Katsuki’s hero costume gathered in his arms and slung over his shoulder but with closer inspection, Aizawa could see a small little body bundled in the now oversized clothing and blonde spikes brushing the bottom of Kirishima’s chin. Aizawa stood abruptly to get a better look at the child. He was sleeping peacefully his head burrowed in the crook of Kirishima’s neck. From what he could see it was undoubtedly Katsuki. Including the obvious blonde hair and tan skin tone, his features were almost identical if not a softer version of the grumpy sixteen-year-old's.
“How?- Wait scratch that I can very well guess HOW. But who?”
Aizawa felt a headache forming as Kirishima explained the situation. He pinched the bridge of his nose, his legs crossed as he leaned back on his desk chair. “Why the HELL would he let a CHILD use their quirk on him?”
“I- I mean. Some kids were making fun of him, saying that his quirk was lame so maybe Bakugou didn’t think it’d be that bad? I don’t know! I was talking to the other kids!” Kirishima was seated across from him the blonde still sleeping in his arms. “All I know was one minute he’s crouched down talking to the kid and the next I turn around and he’s passed out on the floor like.. Like THIS,” he says gesturing at the child with his free hand.
“Did you talk to the mother at all? Did you get her contact information.”
“I did talk to her and-uh. No. I didn’t.” Aizawa sighed exasperatedly, “BUT I did get some information about the quirk from her?” Kirishima smiled sheepishly as he continued. “She said he has a de-aging quirk and how much younger the recipient of the quirk gets and how long it lasts depends on the boy’s level of excitement. She said he could be like this anywhere from 48 hours to a week.”
“A WEE-” Aizawa quickly lowered his voice, mindful of the sleeping toddler. “A week?”
“OR 48 hours!” Kirishima repeated trying to bring light to the situation.
Aizawa groaned and dragged a hand down his face. “Tomorrow I need you to go back to that park. See if you can find the mother and get her contact information so I can get more details.”
“Yes, Sensei!” Kirishima straightened and nodded his head at the order.
“Eraser, We need to call his parents.” Midnight intervened, who had been quietly leaning on her desk, arms crossed as she listened to the ordeal.
“I know.” Aizawa grumbled. He opened his desk drawer to pull out Katsuki’s emergency contact file when a door slammed open with a loud thud.
“YO!” Present Mic's voice boomed. “WHAT’S POPPIN MY FELLOW ASSO-” All three of them shushed harshly at the boisterous teacher before he could yell anymore. Aizawa didn’t know what to expect when Katsuki woke up and he wasn’t in a hurry to find out.
“Oh. Sorry!” Mic scratched the back of his head sheepishly when he saw the sleeping child. “I didn’t realize there was a kid here! Who is this? Is that your little brother Kirishi- HOLY CRAP IS THAT BAK-”
Midnight slapped her hand over Mic’s mouth. “Shut the fuck up Mic!” She whispered sharply, but it was too late they heard a small groan and the child started to stir in Kirishima’s arms. He’s awake.
Kirishima looked down as the kid wiggled around and rubbed at his eyes before blinking them open sleepily. For a moment it seemed that his mind was still hazy from his nap but slowly the fog cleared and his ruby red eyes widened. He whipped his head around in confusion before looking up at the person holding him. Kirishima flashed him a nervous smile and a small wave. “Good morning Baku-bro!” Confusion turned to panic and Katsuki started thrashing and pushing to get off the stranger.
He wiggled free from Kirishima’s grasp and landed on the floor, the black tank top draped over him like a dress. “WHO ARE YOU! WHERE AM I? WHERE’S THE HAG?” Small sparks escaped from the fists clenched tightly in front of his chest. He stared at the people around him without a hint of recognition on his face. Aizawa was about to walk over and try to calm the child but Kirishima beat him to it, crouching down and putting on his friendliest smile.
“Hey. Hey. It’s okay bud! Remember me it’s your best friend Kiri- OOmph” Katsuki rammed his tiny foot into Kirishima’s nether regions before he could harden to protect himself. The three bystanders cringed at the painful sight.
“Ooo! Right in the testies,” Mic winced.
“GET AWAY FROM ME SHARK FACE. I DON’T KNOW YOU!” Katsuki screamed. Fear and confusion clouded his features. Tears were threatening to spill down his pudgy cheeks and he clenched his fists tighter as he backed away from the tall strangers.
Kirishima cupped his crotch and toppled to the floor with a pathetic groan. The color drained from his face as it scrunched up in pain. “That was SO unmanly.” he whimpered weakly.
Aizawa approached the distressed child cautiously. “Katsuki. I am your teacher,” he spoke softly. “You are safe here okay? I’m gonna call your mom now. Can you be good and sit down so I can let you talk to her?”
Katsuki continued to back away without replying, his tiny fists still held up in front of him. His eyes were narrowed but Aizawa could tell by his wobbling lip and teary gaze that the boy was trying to mask his fear.
“Hey, Katsuki!” Midnight piped up sweetly. “If you sit down and behave, I’ll go get you a cookie from the teacher’s lounge! Does that sound good?”
The boy snapped his head towards the, uncharacteristically gentle, woman. His shoulders relaxed a bit and he nodded once. “Good! I’ll go get you your cookie! Now, do you want chocolate chip or cinnamon?”
Katsuki looked down at his toes, surprisingly shy, and grumbled quietly. “Cinn-min.”
“All right! I’ll be right back!” Midnight smiled warmly at the child then nodded to Aizawa before leaving to the teacher’s lounge. Who knew she was so good with kids?
“So you’re telling me that Katsuki got turned into a little brat by some other little brat’s quirk?”
“Erm.” Aizawa glanced at said little brat seated on a bench against the wall with his arms crossed and cookie crumbs dusting his pouting lips. He hadn’t talked since Midnight left for his snack and refused to answer anyone. Kirishima was sulking on the far end of the bench with an ice pack over his groin. “Yes.”
The line went silent for a moment and Aizawa wondered if the signal dropped till he heard a small snort through the speaker. The snort turned into a fit of giggles until the woman was full on cackling. Aizawa yanked the phone away from his ear and peered at it questioningly. How is this funny?
“PFFTTT... HAHA Oh Boy” Aizawa imagined Mrs. Bakugou wiping away a tear.
“You guys are in for a fucking NIGHTMARE.”
“Uh- Well. We were actually hoping you could take him back into your care. He doesn’t seem to remember anyone here and it would probably be best if he’s in a familiar environment until he recovers.”
“I’m sorry Sensei, but Masaru and I are in Paris right now for Fashion Week and we won’t be back for another two weeks.” Her voice was still light from laughter and Aizawa groaned internally.
“Mrs. Bakugou this is your son we’re talking about. There has to be some way-”
"Listen Aizawa Sensei, I pay this school good money to watch after and teach my son. Now I love him dearly but this is the busiest week of the year in my husband and I’s field of work. I cannot take him.” Mitsuki voiced sternly.
“Okay.” he sighed pressing his forehead to the desk as he talked. Fuck I need a nap. “Then I at least need to know if there’s anything important to keep in mind when watching him? Anything you remember from when he was actually four years old.”
Mitsuki went over a list of things to remember, no scary movies, no drinks too close to bedtime or else he’ll wet the bed, no he didn't have any allergies, be mindful of his quirk when he gets super upset. Etc. etc. “Thank you Mrs. Bakugou. I-”
Something tugged at Aizawa’s shirt and he turned to see Katsuki looking up at him red eye’s wide and pleading. “I think he wants to talk to you now.” He passed Katsuki the phone and he brought it to his ear with two chubby hands.
“Mama.” He croaked, eye’s getting wet again.
“Hi Honey! I know you’re really confused right now but Aizawa Sensei is gonna take good care of you!”
Tears escaped and dribbled down his cheeks. “But Mama! I don’t like it here!” He cried. “I wanna be with you!”
“I know. I’m so sorry Baby, I wish I could be with you too but I can’t! Me and Papa are on a very important business trip! You gotta be brave for me okay! I promise everything will be back to normal soon.”
Katsuki’s lip wobbled again at his mother’s words before his eyes narrowed and he grit his teeth. “WHY DID YOU LEAVE ME HERE HAG? I WANNA GO HOME.” He stomped his feet and small agitated sparks escaped his palms again. Aizawa worried he might break the phone. “I WANNA GO HOME.” He repeated hot, angry tears running down his face.
"HEY. I didn’t leave you anywhe-” Mitsuki stopped and took a deep breath. “I know your upset, and confused right now Honey but you need to calm down. Do you know where you are right now?”
“No.” He snapped.
“You’re at UA High School! Remember the one that All Might went to?”
The tears stopped immediately and Katsuki gasped, his eyes wide as saucers. “UA!!!!????” He snapped his head to Kirishima who instinctively hardened, shielding his crotch. “ARE WE AT UA?” The redhead nodded and Katsuki gasped again. “HOLY… HOLY FUCK.”
“KATSUKI. WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE.” Mitsuki barked then chuckled. “See, you’re in a really cool place right now and people are gonna be really nice to you! So I need you to try to be a good boy for them! You might even get to meet All Might if you’re really good!”
Katsuki squeaked at his idol’s name. “Okay, Mama! Okay! I’ll be really really REALLY good!”
“That’s my boy! Now give the phone back to Aizawa so I can talk to him a little more and then I have to go. Bye, sweetie! I love you so much!”
“Love you Mama.” Katsuki pouted slightly. “Can I talk to Papa first?”
“Papa’s not here right now but I promise we’ll call tomorrow so you can talk to him!”
“Okay...” He pouted further but gave the phone back to Aizawa.
“God, I miss when he was that cute. I can NOT WAIT to tell Masaru! But Sensei! I think I know someone who could help you watch over him.”
Aizawa’s eyes widened slightly at Mitsuki’s following words. How did I not think of him before? “Ah. Of course! Thank you Mrs. Bakugou... Yes… Good night.” He hung up the phone and turned to the fidgeting toddler.
He was bouncing on the balls of his feet, sizzling with excitement. “IS ALL MIGHT REALLY HERE?”
“Umm. Not at the moment but he usually is.”
“DO I REALLY GET TO MEET HIM?”
“Sure. If you’re good.” Aizawa shrugged. He’s really gonna shit his pants when he finds out Toshinori’s his teacher.
The boy whooped and hollered jumping around in excitement and pumping his fist in the air. All the movement made the shirt, that was already barely clinging to him, fall to his ankles. The boy froze then quickly grabbed the shirt to cover himself. He snapped his head to Midnight, who was seated at her desk across from Aizawa, and pointed at her accusingly. “DON’T LOOK AT MY PEEPEE OLD HAG!” He scowled, face red from embarrassment.
A vein bulged on her forehead and she glared back. “OLD HAG?? I BROUGHT YOU A COOKIE! AND I DIDN’T LOOK ANYWHERE NEAR YOUR JUNK BRAT!” Okay, maybe she wasn’t that great with kids.
“Okay. First things first. We need to get this kid some suitable clothes.” Aizawa pondered about sending Kirishima to get some from the store down the street, when suddenly a memory came to his mind and his face lit up. “Actually I think I have something that will fit him.”
Midnight, Kirishima, and Present Mic grimaced at the articles of clothing Aizawa held up. Katsuki currently wasn’t paying attention, choosing instead to pout on the bench again. He was probably still embarrassed that the whole room saw his willy. "Ummm. Sensei! Quick question! DO YOU WANT US ALL TO DIE?"