My Hero Academia: Ruby and Emerald

Chapter 7: Younger Bakugou Katsuki POV

Katsuki was stuck in that damn hallway with shitty Deku for thirty goddamn minutes. How much could they possibly need to talk about? How dare they drag him here and then kick him out? It was his future self in there! He deserved to be a part of this, damn it!

“Kacchan, calm down… I’m sure they’ll let us back in soon,” Deku said, placatingly.

“Well that’s easy for you to say, isn’t it! You’re used to being left out of things!” Katsuki spat at him. Deku flinched, then looked away. Dumbass.

Dumbass who was tearing up. That… may have been a bit too far.

Like hell would Katsuki admit that, though.

Oh, good, he already stopped.

“That was mean, Kacchan,” Deku whispered. It was loud in the silence of the hallway.

Katsuki didn’t respond.

Another few minutes passed. The door finally opened. The fucking skeleton was holding it open.

“You can come in now, boys,” he said. Katsuki muscled past him. Deku followed after him politely.

“Welcome back, brats,” Old Katsuki grinned.

“Don’t call them brats, Kacchan!” Old Deku chided. Old Deku was so weird. Katsuki couldn’t get over how… different he looked. It wasn’t that he was an adult, or that he was filthy, or even that he was dressed in a hero costume… it was something in his posture. Something Katsuki couldn’t quite place.

“I’ll call them whatever I want, Deku,” Old Katsuki groused.

“We’ve talked about everything we could that required you boys to be out of the room,” Trenchcoat explained. “But we would like the two of you to be here when we discuss family registry and living arrangements.”

“Speaking of the family registry! Though the two of you have chosen hero names, it would be beneficial for you to choose new given names!” the Rat said, cheerily. He gave Katsuki the creeps.

“You chose hero names?” Deku asked, stars in his eyes.

“Yep! But our old ones are secret, ‘kay? We want you to choose for yourselves, when the time comes,” Old Deku explained.

“And it turns out Bakusatsuo isn’t gonna cut it, so start brainstorming now, kid. Nothing with murder or kill in it, though,” Old Katsuki grumbled.

“WHAT?” Katsuki shrieked, outraged. Bakusatsuo was a fucking perfect hero name! It combined explosion and murder with the suffix for king in a brilliant twist of wordplay! He bet no other hero wannabees his age had anything half as clever!

“Yeah, it sucks. It wasn’t my call. Get over it,” Old Katsuki growled.

“We’re getting off topic, boys…” Skeleton said, hesitantly.

“Right!” Old Deku piped up. “Our given names! I think I’m going to choose Mikumo.”

“Mikumo?” Old Katsuki echoed. “Where’d that come from, nerd?”

“Mom said one time that she considered naming me that before she settled on Izuku. And it keeps the ku syllable. So. It’s almost like going back to an old prototype name!” Old Deku—Mikumo?—answered.

“And you, Bakugou-kun?” skeleton asked, addressing Old Katsuki.

“Hmm…” Old Katsuki narrowed his eyes, turning a scrutinizing gaze on Mikumo and looking him up and down. He paced a close circle around Mikumo.

“Uh, Kacchan…?” Mikumo trailed off.

“Heh.” Old Katsuki came to a stop. “My new name’s gonna be Katsuma!”

“Amazing, Kacchan! Just like—wait,” Mikumo stilled abruptly. “Wait, did you choose that name… specifically because you knew I wouldn’t be able to stop calling you Kacchan?”

“HAH?” Katsuki burst out, outraged. As if any version of him would ever make their decisions based on what shitty Deku could do!

“Maybe. Partly. It could be because I just like Katsuma, y’know,” Old Katsuki pouted. He fucking! Pouted! Like some kind of wimp! What the fuck happened in the future?

“Who’s Katsuma?” Deku asked.

“He’s a kid you’ll meet at some point in the future. We don’t get to know each other for very long, but he and his sister are really sweet!” Mikumo enthused.

“Yeah. So my new name is Katsuma,” Old Katsuki—now Katsuma—declared.

“Very well! I’ll make sure to add those names when I alter your family registries!” the rat principal enthused. “Now, about your living arrangements… I can find you an apartment, but you will need a temporary living space in the meantime. It’s possible for you to stay at UA, but if you have a different preference, now would be the time to say so.”

“We’ll stay at my folks’ place,” Katsuma interjected. “They have an empty guest room. They never use it—it shouldn’t be that big of a problem.”

“The hell! I have a problem with it, you fucker!” Katsuki shouted.

“Oh, yeah? Give me a reason that isn’t ‘I don’t want it’ and maybe I won’t dismiss you out-of-hand!” Katsuma fired back.

“Kacchan, don’t fight! You know that, uh… younger? Kacchan has trouble with his emotions!” Mikumo pleaded.

“Like hell! And I don’t need two of you fuckers calling me that kiddy nickname!” Katsuki protested.

“Is he always like this?” Trenchcoat asked Deku in a low tone.

“Pretty much,” Deku said. “That’s just Kacchan.”

“I heard that, dumbass!”

“Actually, nerd, baby-me has a point. We have new names, so we’re basically acknowledging that we’re already different from them. We might as well not call them by the same nicknames we call each other,” Katsuma agreed.

“Hmm. So, what, I call him… Katsuki?” Mikumo asked.

“Yes,” Katsuki said. “Call me Katsuki.”

“Okay! I can do that!” Mikumo agreed, easily. A wicked grin spread across Katsuma’s face.

“So, we call the two of you Katsuki and Izuku. But if we’re your older brothers, according to the family registry… you have to call us Katsuma-nii and Mikumo-nii,” he said.

“Kacchan!” Mikumo squealed, scandalized.

“What? I’m right.”

“Well! You boys are certainly spirited. Is it decided, then, that you’ll use the Bakugou family home as temporary housing until you’re settled?” Nedzu asked.

“Tch. Good as. We have to ask, but they’ll agree.”

“If it doesn’t work out, we’ll stay at UA, Principal Nedzu! If you’ll let us!” Mikumo asked.

“Of course, of course.”

Katsuki couldn’t believe it. There was no way that his parents would say no. He was going to be forced to put up with the two idiots from the future in his house.

“C’mon, Kacchan! We’ll have to catch the next train so we can ask your parents!”

This was torture.

To be continued...