VOID [Katsuki Bakugo x OC]

Rule #21: Hold On

♪

Goodbye, Chicago. Hello, Minneapolis.

The boys had never seen a place so... flat.

Sure, there were trees and buildings—and plenty of farms and cheese factories in Wisconsin to keep them entertained—but there were no mountains. No valleys. No... intrigue. The earth laid bare for all to see, verdant and untamed in between the sprawling cityscapes.

The boys never thought they'd say it, but they missed hills.

The general vibe of the girls' bus slid from tense to relaxed the closer they got to the Twin Cities, with both Cade and Ari changing into cutoff jean shorts and vintage tees, completely makeup-free and, gradually, stress-free.

"I'm so fuckin' ready for a week away from motherfucking Mom and bitch-ass Bryant," Aria sighed, tidying her disheveled bunk and scooping the important things into a nondescript, black leather backpack.

From his spot up front in the passenger seat beside Rocket, Hitoshi snorted and continued reading his novel. Every so often, he'd look up from his pages to send a text or ask Rocket a question, but then it was straight back to his book.

Cade laughed and finished making her bed, scooping Remix into her arms as she stood. "Don't let them hear you say that, but... ditto," she said, scratching between Remix's ears. She flopped down beside Katsuki, who lounged on the vinyl breakfast bench in basketball shorts and a ribbed, black tank top, one leg propped up on the seat. "You'll love dad's place, Kat. Nothing like it in the whole wide world." Anthem bounded up beside her, and she distributed scratchies accordingly.

"If you two hype it up much more, I'll hate it out of spite," he spat without looking up from his phone. Fuckin' Todoroki was kicking his ass at Words With Friends, and there was no goddamn way he'd let him win. Not again.

After letting a restless Remix out of her arms, Cadence draped herself dramatically over Katsuki, squinting up at his oversized phone screen for a minute while Kat frowned at his letters, shuffling and reshuffling them. "Ah! Here. Between that 'E' and that 'S', play..." she said, tapping the letters and dropping them into place, "Envelopes. Aha! Ninety six points. Suck on that, whoever-you-are! Gimme another one, Kat, I'm feeling good."

Stifling a laugh, Katsuki considered telling Cade that she just caught him back up to Japan's number two hero, but he decided it was funnier if he didn't tell her. "Sure thing, Blue," he muttered, adjusting to make them both more comfortable and pulling up his game with Yaomomo... where he was also losing by a considerable amount.

Fuck all of these smart-ass rich kids.

Get wrecked by my genius homeschooled girlfriend.

Without drawing too much attention to them, he leaned down and pecked Cade on the forehead; he hoped that the brevity and whisper-light touch would make the others think maybe it was an accident... because forehead kisses didn't exactly fit the Dynamight brand. Besides, the only person that needed to know it was real was her, and judging from her flushed cheeks, she knew. "Work your magic, Cade," Kat murmured, watching as Cade furrowed her brows and got straight to work.

"Kick all of their sorry asses."

♪

In a suburb of the Twin Cities—fuck if Katsuki remembered the name—the busses pulled off of the highway and into a Perkins parking lot.

"The fuck is a 'Perkins'?" Katsuki asked, squinting up at the sign and then at the restaurant, like the green and white signage would have the entire menu listed somewhere. The dogs' leashes hung off of his arm, pulling in opposite directions.