VOID [Katsuki Bakugo x OC]

Rule #26: No Fun

♪

 Mitsuki Bakugo picked her son up from the airport.

Something was clearly wrong, and his brief call the day before hadn't explained anything. Worried about their only child, Masaru convinced Mitsuki to pick up their beloved son, mostly because they resonated on the same frequency; he worried that his gentle brand of parenting wouldn't be what would get Katsuki to open up. Besides their natural curiosity, his tone and brevity meant they needed to know what happened. They knew something was wrong... but what?

So Mitsuki went, waited, and found their son. Katsuki stomped across the sidewalk in front of his terminal, slammed his suitcase into the trunk, and dumped himself into the passenger seat, staring out the window with a furrow in his brow and a scowl permanently fixed on his face, one Mitsuki hadn't seen in a long time. Silence wasn't unusual for Katsuki, especially if he was avoiding a fight with his mom, but this was something else... something uncharacteristic.

Mitsuki started the long drive home and wished her husband was there to cut the tension or to navigate Katsuki's emotions for her. The two of them always burned with the same tenacity, the same fire, both screaming their emotions at the top of their lungs, wishing desperately to be heard and seen and understood. But this moment, right now, called for tact, patience, and... listening. Ugh.

"What the fuck is wrong with you," Mitsuki blurted. She winced and wished her words would come out more gentle or something, but it was too late.

Or maybe not, Masaru's voice said in her mind, the little version of him that she tended to believe was her conscience. Try again.

So, with her conscience-slash-husband's push, she tried again. "Sorry, I uh... something's wrong with you. I can tell. You should... mmm, tell me about it? Or something?"

Better.

Katsuki stared skeptically at his mother. "What the fuck is wrong with you, old hag? Since when do you give a shit?"

"I've always given a shit, you twerp," Mitsuki fired back with an elbow to his ribs. "I just... don't... always know how to tell you. So now... fess up or whatever, punk."

With a sigh and a roll of his eyes, Katsuki said, "Fine. Whatever." He ran a hand through his spiky hair, realizing for the first time how long it had gotten in the past few months. Months. All of his memories of Cadence rumbled around in his brain, cascading into one another on an endless loop, months and months of her smiling, her teasing, her laughing. Her. "I don't know where to start," he confessed. There was too much.

"Why'd you leave the tour so suddenly?" Mitsuki said, prompting her son. Yeah, she was curious, and she wanted answers... no need to be subtle about it. "Start there."

He rolled his eyes and said the words before he could even think about toning it down or filtering it for his mother. "I got framed for murder," he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"YOU FUCKING WHAT?!"

♪

Without Kat, the cities blurred together.

Singing when told to, going where she was led, putting on clothes her mother picked out for her, following all instructions, Cadence went through the motions of being coherent and alive. She didn't bother smiling for the paparazzi or interviews or even her siblings, because she never forced it before... Why start now? Why pretend?

Kat's pro-hero best friend, Red Riot, joined them on tour and slipped seamlessly into the group. No one mentioned that he was there to replace Katsuki. No one said anything about Rocket's murder. No one said a word about the sudden change at all. He simply stepped into the bodyguard lineup without issue, integrating himself into the tour family like it was no big deal, like he'd been there all along.