Boosts & Blood (Experimented Bakugou/BakuBowl/Bakuharem)

Chapter 5: Loudly

The door smacks open, crashing on the wall. A demon in front of it, screaming with the anger of a beast. 'KATSUKI!'

Katsuki's mother. A glaring reflection of him except ten times angrier and gripping her phone like a steel pole ready to pop someone's head in. Maybe she'll find a way to do it, she huffs with the power of a dragon and crosses her leg as she struts over to the bed. Placing her manicured hand on his shoulder, and tugging him near. Drawing the phone to his ear, Katsuki can catch Inko's confused voice on the other line.

'He's here, Inko. Ask him this time.' His mom says, eyebrows deep and angered.

'What?' Katsuki asks, staring at the phone. A circle of Aunty Inko's profile and a time of three minutes and ticking seconds.

Slowly, auntie makes sense, 'Izuku told me something today. Something about a heart. He's crying now.'

Katsuki knows Deku's crying, he can hear the soft sniffling in the background. Inko hushes him softly, probably stroking his hair too. 'I'm sorry Kacchan,' he wails after a moment or two.

'I told you not to tell any— ow!' He looks up at his mother, but all he sees is the offending hand swooping away.

'Katsuki, don't,' she scolds.

'A forced heart transplant. Katsuki, dearie,' Inko says, voice infused with at least six cubes of sugar, 'are you scared of the special program?'

Katsuki blinks.

'It's nothing to be scared of,' mom growls, 'he was just scaring Izuku.'

'Let him talk, Mitsuki.'

'Okay.' She sounds like she doesn't want to though. 

'I'm not scared of anything!' Katsuki shouts, his mom doesn't hit him this time, but she glares. 'Even the silly man there, I'm not scared of him. I just don't like him!' Maybe this is Katsuki's chance, he realizes, if he can prove to Inko he's absolutely petrified, she'll have to talk sense into mom, 'I hate him. His eyes are kind of creepy too but—'

'Honey, it's alright to be scared,' Inko coos, just as Katsuki expects, 'the special program isn't anything to be afraid of. Izuku told me those nasty rumors so I can only understand, me and your mom will call the school and—'

'No! You can't do that.'

'Why not?'

'Because... you just can't.'

'Katsuki!' Mom warns.

Katsuki doesn't heed her warning, 'You can't tell the school because then I'll be in trouble—'

'You already are in trouble!' barks Mom.

'—and I don't want that.'

Inko pauses on the line, until, 'Alright. How do you plan to resolve this then?'

'Take me out of the program.'

'No,' mom says.

'What do you mean no? The man there kills children!'

'No Katsuki! And quit saying that rubbish!'

'IT'S NOT RUBBISH IF IT'S TRUE! HE KILLS CHILDREN!'

'KATSUKI!'

Inko's saying something, but her voice gets lost in his mom's tantrum, 'YOU'RE GOING THERE AND THAT'S FINAL! I THOUGHT THIS ENDED A WEEK AGO! WHY ARE YOU STILL TRYING TO WEASEL YOUR WAY OUT OF THIS?'

'BECAUSE—'

'You know what you're acting like?' Mom inhales deeply, nose wrinkling as she dives to his level. Her flavored breath rolling on his lips, every word sharper than they needed to be, 'you're acting like a wimp. And know, wimps don't get through life easy, Katsuki. 

'I get you're scared and all,' she says, not getting anything, 'but if you don't get through with this right now, you'll never get through with it. So you're going! To get over this silly fear, maybe they'll even teach you the sense you're lacking.'

'No!' Katsuki says, but she's already standing up. A look of hardened resolve on her face. 'NO! No!' She doesn't even reply to his objections as she goes out the door, faster than she came in. Slamming it behind her.

Suddenly, Katsuki realizes the grave mistake of trying to persuade Inko. Of course it backfires on his mom. He rolls on the bed, squeezing his fists and pummeling them into the sheets until his dad peeks in through the door. Always tailing his mother.

'Hey little buddy.'

'GO AWAY!'

'What's got you down?'

'LEAAAAAVE!'

'The special program, right? But you shouldn't have said that to Izuku, you know,' dad says, too nerdish for his own good. Surpringly, Katsuki doesn't shout, because he's convinced one day dad's rationale will get him seriously hurt by the wrong crowd. 'Izuku listens to everything you say and doesn't question it. It's not fair if you're lying to him.'

'I didn't lie. He actually dates his cousin and needs a young kid to help heal her heart.'

'...Romantic, but anyways, how?'

'How what?'

'How are you sure?'

'Because,' says Katsuki, 'I've heard it from five different people.'

'Well, maybe you shouldn't trust five different people.'

'Fine. Seven.'

'Still not a good number, Katsuki. Well, the point is,' his dad sighs, finding his words, 'it's alright to be scared.'

Katsuki scowls.

'You know, when I was your age, I was scared. A lot.'

'I know.' They've had this conversation a billion times, it was heartwarming at first, but got dull by the third relay.

'Well, have I told you about how I got sent to boarding school?'

'You got sent to where?' Katsuki perks up.

'Boarding school. I was terrified.'

'And you knew how bad it was! Now look at you! Grown and sending me off to hell!'

'Katsuki, just listen.'

'Fine.'

'Well, the boarding school,' his dad strolls to his bed, sitting beside him, 'was nice. I made many friends there, and it inspired me to enter fashion. You know, if I think of it, that boarding school made me. If I hadn't gone there, I wouldn't have been able to meet your mom.'

'You met her in the boarding school?'

'No, I met her in fashion,' dad chuckles, 'it was the boarding school that inspired me to go into fashion.'

'I thought it was your sister that inspired you.'

'Her too, but the point is, you might find something you really love.'

'I've already done that. Heroics.' 

Dad has an odd twinkle in his eyes as he speaks, 'What if you find something better?'

Katsuki squints, trying to think up something better than heroics, but there's not a single thing he can dredge up within him. Cooking maybe. He likes being in the kitchen with his mom, but there's no way he's making a reputable life by wasting away his days in onion burn and stove heat.

No way. 

Still, the idea is a fantasy he entertains long enough that his dad's smile broadens to a grin. Obviously thinking it's his golden ticket to continue chattering. 

When dad finishes the rest of his pep talk, he leaves his room. With Katsuki feeling oddly better, as if there was a fear he was refusing to confront before. 

Still, there's no type of better that will make him accept going there completely. As his dad said just minutes ago:

'The dread is part of it.'

Words: 1103