Chapter Text
Every year the Bakugo family went on at least one special vacation, it had been their family tradition for as long as Katsuki could remember.
This year, Katsuki, the energetic seven-year-old with the explosion quirk, had begged his parents to go camping for their family vacation, an activity the young boy had never done, but always wanted to do.
So instead of going on an overpriced holiday, the Bakugo family packed their bags, got in their car, and set off to the forest they had picked to camp in.
But the Bakugo's don't do anything half-assed. Oh, no no no.
They weren't going to some nice, peaceful campsite where other people would be camping. No. They planned to hike into the forest and make their own campsite.
The drive was long and by the time they finally got there, after the 6-hour car journey, Katsuki had jumped out of the car and was running around the dirt parking lot as soon as they had parked.
His parents took him to a nearby playground to blow off some energy while they got things ready for the hike into the forest.
He didn't complain. Being stuck in his car seat for so long made him desperate to run around, and the local kids already at the playground were quick to introduce themselves, since they were curious about the blond and wanted to know why they'd never seen him before.
"I'm going camping in the forest with my parents! Mom says that if I'm lucky, I can fight a bear!" Katsuki exclaimed, not realizing that his mom was joking when she had said it.
The other children looked at him with mild shock and horror as Katsuki shouted about camping in the forest.
"You gotta watch out for more than just bears in that forest," One of the slightly older kids replied.
Katsuki raised a skeptical eyebrow at the taller boy, "Why? I can make explosions, nothing can beat me!"
"The forest thing can..." A small girl whispered shyly as if she said it any louder, the 'forest thing' would pop out of nowhere at any moment.
"Yeah, if you get lost in the woods, it'll offer to help you, but if you accept you'll never be seen again!" The taller boy exclaimed, looking even more worried now.
"It'll grab you and drag you to its cave, then it'll eat you alive" The older kid shivered, he looked to be about 11.
"That's stupid. Forest monsters don't exist, those are just stories" Katsuki crossed his arms with a huff. Did they seriously believe in these stories? They were probably made up so kids wouldn't wander into the forest.
A girl with just as much anger issues and sass as Katsuki rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hips. "It killed someone once! He was trying to protect a little girl and The Forest Thing killed him!"
"Yeah, Dude, it'll totally eat you whole" The older boy snickered.
Katsuki was about to protest, but his mother called him, which meant it was time to head into the forest.
With a glare, Katsuki left the group of kids and ran towards his parents.
He's just gonna have to find this 'Forest Thing' himself.
After hiking through the forest for an hour and a half, the Bakugo's found a nice clearing to set up camp in.
This meant that while his parents were busy, Katsuki could go look for the forest monster.
So as the sun prepared to set, the young blond ran off into the forest after telling his parents he was simply "Going to play".
There was a path, but Katsuki didn't care. The kids he met had told him he needed to be lost for the monster to find him, so the path didn't matter.
While wandering through the forest aimlessly, it had crossed his mind that this probably isn't a good idea. Not that he actually believed a monster lived in the forest. His plan was to get lost so he could possibly find it. If he didn't find it, he would just be hopelessly lost.
Katsuki hopped over a tree stump then stopped walking. He already is lost... Uh-oh.
With the sudden realization that getting lost in the forest at sunset on purpose, wasn't a good idea, the panic set in.
He turned in a circle, looking around in every direction as he tried to figure out which way the camp was. Left? Right? No, was it straight ahead? Now was not a good time to be good at getting lost!
His breath starts to quicken as the panic makes his tiny heart race inside his chest.
"Are you lost...?" Came a soft voice from the shadows of the trees. The forest was almost pitch black as the sun dipped below the horizon.
Katsuki turned quickly towards the source of the voice, his eyes landing on the form of a skinny teenager, about 15 years old, wearing ragged and ripped brown pants and a black T-shirt. His pale skin smeared with dirt, with emerald eyes to match his messy green hair, a few leaves and sticks stuck in the curls of viridian.
Katsuki nodded quickly, not questioning the homeless-looking teenager who had appeared out of the trees.
"I'll take you back to your parents," The boy held out his hand with a crooked smile on his face. It was the most friendly smile Katsuki had ever seen.
The blond child slowly took the teenager's hand and they started walking in a direction that Katsuki had assumed was correct.
"What's your name?" Katsuki blurted out, unable to handle the silence as they walked.
"Uh..." The green-haired boy hesitated slightly. "Izuku. You can call me Izuku. And you?"
"I'm Katsuki Bakugo and I'm gonna be the strongest hero, ever!" Katsuki shouted, pumping his fist in the air as a few sparks popped from it.
The enthusiasm of the young kid made Izuku's grin widen.
"Oh, yeah? So what's that quirk you got?"
And with that, Katsuki started to ramble about his quirk to the teenager as he was led back to his parents.
After what could have only been 15 minutes, Katsuki finally stopped talking and turned to look up at Izuku, curiosity sparkling in his red eyes.
"So what's your quirk?" He asked with a slight tilt of his head.
Once again, the older boy hesitated, this time longer than the last.
"Well... I actually don't have a quirk" He answered, his grin getting smaller but never leaving his face.
"Is that why your out here alone in the middle of the night, lookin' like a hobo?" The kid asked with bluntness only a child could have.
While staring at Izuku, waiting for an answer, Katsuki took a moment to really look at his features. The more he looked, the more Izuku didn't look right.
When he smiled, Katsuki could see the odd amount of teeth the teen had and how they looked a bit sharp. He could see his emerald eyes that seemed too big. How the freckles on his cheeks seemed too perfectly placed. It was odd, but even though Katsuki was blunt, he wasn't about to be blatantly rude by asking about his appearance. It was just the lack of light playing tricks on him.
Then his mother's voice caught his attention and he forgot all about the teen's odd appearance as new questions flooded his head.
How did Izuku know where their camp was? He never said anything about where his family was and yet the boy had somehow known where to bring him. The puzzle pieces slowly started to fit together in Katsuki's head.
Oh, shit.
Katsuki turned to confront the teen, only to find that he had completely disappeared.
With a frustrated grunt, Katsuki ran to his mother, both his parents smothering him with hugs upon his return.
The next morning the Bakugo's woke early, around 7am, to get ready for the day, they were going hiking again.
All night Katsuki couldn't stop thinking about Izuku. He argued with himself and tried to deny that he thought the teen was the 'monster' he had been warned about, but eventually, he came to the conclusion that the only way to find out the truth was to find him again. That meant getting lost.
And without thinking it through fully, Katsuki ran off into the forest to get lost again.
It didn't take long for Katsuki to get lost again, and it took even less time for the panic of the situation to set in.
Why didn't he think things through?
He ran off and got lost again without a second thought, and nobody's going to find him, forest monsters don't exist.
Katsuki heard a footstep and spun around to find the source of the noise, and just like the night before, there was Izuku.
The blond took a moment to take in the teens appearance once again. This time the light couldn't trick his eyes into seeing things that weren't there.
But to Katsuki's surprise, his appearance was the same. The more he looked, the more he noticed the boy's odd appearance, just like the night before.
"You're the forest monster!" Katsuki accused, pointing a finger at the green-haired boy.
Izuku took a step back, his expression looking shocked and... a bit sad.
"Is that what they're calling me now?" He asked, and Katsuki could hear the faint sadness in his voice.
"I knew it! You are!" Katsuki exclaimed as he ran towards Izuku and grabbed his hand, just now noticing the teen's nails were sharp.
"So what's the story?" He asked eagerly, "A girl in town said that you killed someone"
Izuku sighed softly as he started to lead Katsuki back to his campsite, where his parents would be worried sick again.
"He was trying to hurt a little girl." Katsuki stared. He wasn't expecting that to be the answer.
Seeing the little boy's mild shock, he continued. "He stole her from her own home and he was going to hurt her. I just got so angry that I lost control and I killed him... " Izuku spoke quietly as he told the story, "I tried changing to a more human form but they're still scared of me"
"Hmm..." Katsuki hummed in thought as he walked alongside the boy everyone thought was a monster.
"Can you change to look however you want?"
"Yes. Why?" Izuku asked, sounding slightly nervous.
"Good, You're my dog now. I've always wanted a dog." Katsuki spoke so nonchalantly as if this was a normal conversation to have with someone.
Izuku stuttered for a moment, at a loss for words, before muttering a simple, "What...?"
"The people here don't like you that much, you scare them. You can pretend to be a dog and come live with me at my house. I've been asking mom to get a dog for a long time."
he couldn't possibly... Well, maybe... having company does sound nice, he's been alone for a long, long time...
As the campsite came into view, the two could hear Katsuki's parents calling his name, they sounded worried.
The young boy looked up at Izuku with wide, red eyes, as if begging him to be his dog.
With a stiff nod, Izuku started to change form. Skin ripping and bones cracking as his once humanoid form changed to look like a stray dog. Grey-ish, brown fur with a few patches missing, the same green eyes, the same to many teeth. He stood as tall, or taller than Katsuki, looking like a dog of an unidentifiable breed, most closely resembling an irish wolfhound.
With a pat on the head and a wide smile, Katsuki ran to the campsite, Izuku following close behind.
"I'm here! Look, look, I found a dog!" Katsuki exclaimed excitedly as he pointed at Izuku. "He's mine now, his name is Izuku"
The Bakugo parents watch, dumbfounded, as their son sat by the campfire with a stray dog that looked like it could eat him whole.
As Katsuki wrapped his arms around the dog in a tight hug, his parents cringed slightly, not knowing if the dog had any diseases or not.
They shared a glance for a moment, knowing what the look meant before going back to what they had been doing before.
The sun was setting once again as Masaru and Mitsuki packed everything into their car, they noticed the mangy-looking dog staring at them, not blinking once.
The longer Masaru looked at the dog, the more he noticed how weird the thing looked. Emerald green, unblinking eyes that seemed to glow, mangy fur that seems to resemble moss, too many sharp teeth poking out of its mouth. The more he looked, the more it didn't look like a dog anymore.
Mitsuki put her sleeping son in his car seat and shut the car door quietly as to not wake him up.
Both parents looked at the 'dog' who was calmly laying on the grass, watching them. Then the adults looked at each other, having a silent conversation before getting into the car and driving off without the dog.
Masaru and Mitsuki watched in shock as they pulled into their driveway, seeing the same mangy dog, sitting on their doorstep.
They won't be able to get rid of it, will they?
The parents sighed in defeat as they brought everything inside, including the strange dog. I guess they have a new member of the family now.