Prince Katsuki

When We were Kids

It's another Wednesday. After his nightmare a few weeks ago, he started having dreams and flashbacks about small single events during the battle. The scenes were usually unpleasant, all bloody and filled with nothing but the voices of innocents dying. It hurt Claude knowing that he couldn't do anything. But now, he's got a second chance, he could make a difference, right?

There wasn't anything in particular that stood out toady as the day went by. Well, at least not until the green head decided to approach him. "Bakugou!" The cheery kid waved and launched himself onto Claude's back, latching off of him. Claude managed to not let a flinch slip but the rough contact between his clothes and the scars - he didn't know where they came from - on his back hurt.

And now, thinking about the green, he realised that the green had been trying to befriend him the past few days. Nothing too bad, nothing like stalking or just staring intently at him like how fucking assassins would. So, Claude concluded, greenette isn't an assassin sent to kill him. At least the kid was safe to be around with. And Claude would admit that the kid was pretty smart himself. Although Quirkless, he knew a lot more about Quirks and even asked questions on how they work. He'd make theories that had helped other students improve with working with their own Quirk. The kid was indeed unique and smart, maybe one day all his knowledge could be put to good use. But in this society, he'd probably still be an outcast for being Quirkless.

Claude being Claude, he wants one to judge so he just lightly brush the kid off him and offered, "Want to sit with me at Lunch?"

•----------•

Lunch rolled around the corner and now, Claude and Green were sitting on the rooftop of the school. It is one of the few restricted areas Claude had managed to break into for the peace and quietness. Green was fascinated by the rooftop, as though he'd never seen one. "The view from up here is so beautiful and different! How did you even break in?" Claude just shrugged and munched into his bento box Mitsuki had prepared for him. "The locks weren't secured, just kicked the god damn door. And if the view is so nice, maybe taking a Swan dive off the roof would be ideal." Oh shit. Was he suicidal or did he just want people dead for doing fucking nothing? Oh fuck, if this kid was oblivious to dark humour-

"Oh, flying does sound nice, maybe I should try sky diving," Thank goodness the kid wasn't some kid that follows every command. The kid bounced in his spot, hands on the railings to prevent himself from 'somehow falling'. Like, Green was short, what could even happen? It's unlikely he'd fall off the edge. Even Claude wouldn't be able to.

"Sit down and don't run around like a dog on a walk," Claude groaned. Okay, Claude wasn't that old but he felt so right now, kids aren't what he wants to deal with although he'd been watching some grow up for his whole life. Still, he doesn't know how his elder brother dealt with him before vanishing. Some said he'd betrayed Obelia, some said he was murdered by the bitchy Queen, but only Claude knew what happened. He was there when it happened. He'd saw his brother get possessed, his fingers turning black. He'd seen how tattoo looking marks formed on his brother's whole body, running through his body, up his neck. The only unmarked area was his left side of his face. Tattoos that looked like vines and thorns. Claude had tried to free his brother from the creatures grasp, the creature that took his brother away. But he couldn't save his brother, all it left was a mark running from Claude's collarbones and down his left sides - hands and chest, to his hips and wrist. The mark wasn't ugly but Claude couldn't even look at it. And sometimes, it was like the tattoo was alive. He'd felt it burn and even move, he didn't know what to think of the mark anymore. Maybe it was a curse of some sort.

The snapping of Green's fingers beside his right ear brought Claude back to reality and he didn't even know his hands were sparking and that he was hyperventilating. "Breathe with me, Bakugou," Green was holding on to one of his wrist and he took the other hand to place it at his heart. Claude felt the thumping of the kid's and tried to copy his breathing rhythm. He breathed in and out to the pattern and finally calmed down. There was a small tapping in his palm of his free hand by a finger of the kid. "Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?" The kid knew the signs of a panic attack and was compassionate. He'd calmed Claude down by himself, a child. Claude liked this kid. If only Claude hadn't been so useless, letting himself break for reasons even he himself didn't know.