Chapter Text
Touya thinks he doesn’t really care that it hurts more and more, using the quirk he’d been born with.
It’s just like exercising, isn’t it? No pain, no gain—and his old man doesn’t believe in him anymore to think there’s anything to gain, so who else can he rely on but himself? How else would he make everyone look his way? How else, if he doesn’t do this?
He goes to Sekoto peak thinking this, all while he burns. He has to burn, because if he doesn’t…
Then what else is his use?
“You’re being dumb .”
The words break through his thoughts, freezing him where he stands. As if sensing his shock, the fire in his arms swiftly die out into nothing, leaving only the pulsing ache of fresh burns on his skin. It’s then, when he turns around, that he finds a young, plump-cheeked blond child staring at him.
He’s small, is the thing. He’s not as small as Shouto, but small enough that it’s obvious he’s younger than Touya. He’s wearing a dark shirt and equally dark sweatpants, creating a bigger contrast with his light hair and skin.
He’s small, but he’s glaring at Touya like Touya’s the one who’s being a bother, when he’d just been minding his own business. Unlike this kid.
“ Hah? ” he manages to spit out, torn between confusion and irritation at the gall of this strange child to talk trash at him. He asks, “What’re you talking about?”
“If you’re not dumb, then are you a villain?” the child asks, squinting askance at him.
That undeserved accusation breaks him right out of his confusion. He knows how it feels to be relegated to second best then as nothing at all, but to be seen as a villain? “No way!” he snaps, glaring at the kid who dares to meet his gaze head-on. “Anyway, who are you? Why’s a kid like you even here ?”
“I saw that you were on fire,” the kid says, glaring back at him. Though he doesn’t quite answer Touya’s question on who he is and why he’d been at Sekoto’s peak in the first place, he still manages to get straight to the point on why it was he even bothered to bother Touya as he had. “Just because your quirk is strong doesn’t mean you can be reckless with it. You could’ve started a wildfire!”
Touya gawps at the kid’s audacity to tell him off. As if he knows anything! As if Touya hasn’t been coming here time and again, knowing for sure that it’s safest to train at the peak where his old man won’t follow after him! He says, “What do you know? You’re just a baby!”
“A baby who’s smarter than you,” the kid scoffs. Touya grabs him by the collar-front of his shirt, raising him just enough that he’s on his tiptoes. “Hey!” the kid yelps, gripping both hands onto Touya’s much-larger hand. “Let me go!” the kid cries out.
“You don’t know anything ,” Touya hisses. The corners of his eyes sting with the force of his words, and he thinks: no, not now! He’s not sad, he’s not so pathetic to cry like this because of a baby! This small child who doesn’t even understand Touya’s pain—he doesn’t deserve to see any more weaknesses from him! He won’t cry, damn it!
“Oh yeah?” The kid glares at him with all his might, then—
“Ow!”
Touya yelps and promptly drops the kid when teeth make contact with the flesh of his hand, though the kid seems to expect being released when he quickly regains his footing. “You’re just a bully, that’s what I can see!” the kid yells, pointing a finger at him. “I’m just tryin’ to tell you that you could’ve controlled your quirk better, but you’re the one who got all weird!”
“Damn it,” Touya curses, rubbing at his bitten hand. “You’re just a weird kid too, coming up and tellin’ me I’m dumb when you don’t even know anything! I’m just trying to get stronger!”
“Could’ve been smarter about it,” the kid grumbles. He gives Touya a pensive look, like he’s trying to figure something out through his face, then says with eyes narrowed into a squint, “If you’re that serious ‘bout it, practice with me instead.”
Touya blinks once, then twice.
He blinks a third time too, for good measure.
“…what?”
“Yeah,” the kid says, suddenly looking pumped up even when Touya had just grabbed him by his shirt before, then dropped him. “You got a strong fire, and I don’t have anyone else to train with who won’t just wuss out…let’s do it!” He grins, big eyes growing even wider as he stares up at him. “I’ve never tried to train my quirk with someone who’s got a fire quirk either, so it might work! We’d have to find a good place, though, since we can’t set any accidental fires.”
“Wait wait wait , what’re you suddenly suggesting?” Touya sputters, confused at the sudden turn of events. From being called dumb, to abruptly having this kid insist that they train together—how the hell does he expect Touya to just keep up with his train of thought?
“I mean, your fire’s strong, but it’s obvious that your body can’t take it,” the kid points out, blinking at him. His eyes are a clear red, Touya belatedly notices, staring up at him with absolute certainty. He goes on to add, somehow preventing Touya’s fury from rising again, “Like my explosion quirk,” here, he makes a show of sparks from the palms of his hands, “I have my limits too, and it can get annoying when my fingers go a lil’ numb when I use it too much. Mom’s always naggin’ me about it, but I guess she has a point now that I’ve seen you. So? If your parents don’t wanna, I can convince ‘em!”
“You just called me a bully,” Touya points out. “And you bit me!”
“What, you wanna bite me back?” the kid tells him.
Touya makes a face. That wasn’t even his point at all! “Not really…”
“Good, ‘cause that’s gross,” the kid says with a huff. “And I’m already making it up to you by offering to practice with you, aren’t I? Your parents probably just don’t know how to deal with your quirk since it’s so strong. Mine were the same too, since both of them got quirks that aren’t as cool.”
Touya hesitates for a moment. He can’t seriously be thinking that it feels good to be praised by this weird kid, but.
But, what if he means it? What if his old man just saw him wrong, overlooked his potential too fast?
He asks, to be sure, “You think my quirk’s strong?”
The kid nods with a sense of finality so assuring that Touya feels alive . Never mind the fact that this kid took him on an emotional rollercoaster from the first second to the last, making him feel angry then elated in one fell swoop. For once, someone’s saying he’s strong . This kid doesn’t even know him enough to do it just to humor him, and he’d insulted Touya before for being dumb—but he’d said since the start that his fire was, is , strong. Strong enough to train with, even!
He sniffles, rubbing at his eyes before any tears can fall. He says in a huff, “I could consider training with you. And if you think you can help me figure out a way to use my quirk without it hurting, then we might be able to train at my house since we have a place meant for training there.” He pauses for a bit, then frowns when he remembers something he’d been wondering about since the first time he saw this kid. He asks, “What’s your name, anyway?”
The kid grins up at him.
“Bakugou Katsuki! And I’ll definitely be a hero who surpasses All Might when I grow up!”
Touya stares at him for a beat, then bursts into a laugh.
“What?!” Katsuki says, scowling. “What’s so funny!”
“It’s just,” Touya says, grinning as he rubs at the corners of his eyes with the heel of his hand, “I think it’s amazing, that our dreams aren’t so different.”
“Yeah, well,” Katsuki scoffs, resting both hands on his hips. “Who doesn’t wanna surpass All Might, anyway, when he’s obviously the best there is?”
Touya laughs again. A part of him feels bitter about it, reminded so sharply about his old man’s desperation and failure to surpass All Might, while another part of him…
That other part of him feels lighter , knowing that he has a chance. That he isn’t just his father’s disappointment, but a kid who has potential too. A kid who can dream . Damn what his old man thinks, and damn the idea of giving up so soon just because he wasn’t considered enough!
“You’re right,” he says, grinning back at Katsuki.
“We still have a lot of time to surpass All Might, after all!"
He’ll show his dad—he’ll show them all—
He’s always been good enough to be a hero exactly as he is.