Tics and Scratches

Chapter 23

It felt like just yesterday he was trudging to school in the night, darkness surrounding him and lurking in every corner, no parents to care about whether he made it through the treacherous journey alive or not. Yet here he was, just a few weeks later, being driven to school with a bag full of clean clothes and a new but somewhat irritating brother next to him. There were a lot of things to be worried about, such as the huge ass scar that sat diagonally across the length of his face, or the messages and calls from his parents that he was dubiously hiding. But none of it mattered in that moment, because he was currently being hurriedly ushered to his familiar dorm by Shouta, Hizashi doing the same with Hitoshi. They had arrived early, as they apparently normally did, to get the boys settled in without rumours flying. Katsuki appreciated being able to get himself re-familiarised with the building before it was overflowing with idiots. 

"Now remember Katsuki, you call the shots, say as little or as much as you want to. You can tell them you're a Yamada-Aizawa now, or you can tell them to fuck off. Completely up to you." Aizawa stated firmly, helping him put his clothes into drawers and wardrobe. "Hitoshi has said he doesn't care about who knows about him as well so you don't need to hold back."

"You're fussing." Katsuki pointed out, watching his now adoptive father quite literally flap around the room, something rather uncharacteristic for the usually solemn man. 

"I know, I know. I just want this to be as easy as possible for you." He muttered gruffly, hiding the flush that worked its way to his cheeks. 

"You've done enough." Katsuki replied, slightly embarrassed himself. "More than what I deserved. So - wooo - thanks or whatever." 

"What did we say about the negative talk, kiddo?" Katsuki huffed at the reminder, they'd been going on about 'positive mental attitude' or some shit ever since they'd seen his burn marks a couple weeks ago. It wasn't that Katsuki didn't appreciate the help, he just hated being reminded of how fucked up his own brain was. 

"Yeah, yeah, positivity and all that shit. Go set up your classroom, old man. I promise I'll make it to class on time without your supervision." He whined, pushing Aizawa out of his room. They had about 30 minutes until class started, a slighter later start to day in order to let students move anything they took home back into their dorms. Most people didn't bother however, opting to dump stuff in their lockers and walk into class as late as possible. So Katsuki had a blissful half hour of silence, preparing himself for bombardment of questions he was about to get. 

Falling face first onto his bed, he glanced at his phone, eyes automatically skimming the three messages that shone on his screen.

"So excited to see you again soon, Kats!" A classic message from Eijirou, who sent something along these lines nearly every time they were about to see each other.

"Don't forget, I'll beat you up if you suppress your tics in class. Don't think Dad and Pops won't tattle on you, bitch." Katsuki only scoffed at this one, Hitoshi was the definition of aggressively supportive.

But his good mood was instantly ruined upon seeing the third message, his immediate response being to throw his phone across the room, letting it fall to the floor with a dull thunk. The string of colourful slurs and curses that adorned his screen were enough for him to know who the text was from.

*****

His first week back at school after the most eventful break of his life was interesting to say the least. It had started the minute he had walked into class, the other early birds' eyes instantly being glued to his face. It was only when the majority of the class had arrived, miraculously only Denki running late, that the questions started. 

"Woah! What happened to you face?" Hagakure instantly blurted as soon as she caught sight of him, moving swiftly across the room to get a closer look despite the obvious panic that flashed across his face. Katsuki's eyes instantly sweeped across the room looking for an escape. Aizawa hadn't arrived yet and the longer he stayed silent, the more eyes that fixed onto his back. He knew this was going to happen, he had been completely prepared to teach people being a lesson about being invasive by bluntly telling the truth. But he hadn't expected it to happen quite so quickly and with such ferocity.