❝Stars Aligned❞ » Katsuki Bakugou x Fem!Reader

77

The city buzzed beneath your feet as you stood on the edge of the rooftop. It was a crisp morning, the kind where the clouds hung low and the wind carried the scent of something new. A quiet calm before the mission, before the world saw you as a hero again. You weren't a child anymore and even then when you were in UA, there were a lot of citizens that hated you for your quirk and for what Shigaraki made you do. For you letting him take your destructive quirk.

Your hand hovered in front of you, palm open. A soft red glow shimmered beneath your skin along with the slight glow of your eyes. You focused. Inhaled. Exhaled. And then, lava bloomed gently from your fingertips. Controlled. Clean. Focused.

A smile twitched at the corner of your lips. For the first time in what felt like forever, the power in your veins didn't feel like a threat. For once you were happy to have this evil quirk again back in its rightful place. Back with its owner.

"You're getting cocky," Bakugou called out behind you, a smirk in his voice.

You looked over your shoulder. "I'm just getting better again."

He stepped beside you and watched the molten streak you'd carved into the air cool and crack into harmless stone.

"Damn right you are."

But the progress with your lava came at a price. The decay still lingered. And at night, it ruled your mind like nothing. Giving you more nightmares than you've ever had before.

You'd wake up choking on phantom dust, your hands clenched so tightly your nails left crescent moons in your palms even through the leather gloves. You would see everything around you crumble, people screaming, Bakugou disappearing in a blink beneath your fingertips.

And every time you jolted awake drenched in sweat and tears, you swore you felt something twitch under your skin, something foreign. Something waiting.

"I think it's talking to me," you whispered one evening during training. Bakugou stopped mid-lunge and stared at you.

"The decay?" He didn't laugh. Didn't dismiss you. Just walked over and stood close, sweat glistening on his forehead.

"What's it saying?" He asked. And you hesitated.

"Not in words. Just... impulses. Like urges. When I get mad, or scared, it's there. Waiting for me to slip." He reached out, hesitated, then grabbed your gloved hand with his.

"We'll fix it. Or I'll blow up every lab trying to make it right for you." You let out a breath.

"You're gonna give Aizawa a heart attack."

"He'll survive."

-

The day of the mission arrived faster than you expected. A public operation this time, containing a villain with a volatile quirk in a high-traffic metro station. Cameras would be on. Civilians in danger. The real thing and that terrified you.

As you walked through the station, your footsteps heavy, the gloves on your hands felt like weights. Not for protection anymore, but for containment. For control.

Bakugou kept his distance during the mission, he knew you needed to do this on your own this time. And you did.

Lava flowed like silk through your hands, blocking exits, shielding civilians, dissolving the villain's explosives without melting the floor beneath. You didn't overheat. You didn't panic.

For a few shining moments, you were Y/N again. A hero. The girl who trained relentlessly in UA to get to this point. To be someone people looked up to.