↳ bnha one shots || vol. 1

ground zero || katsuki bakugou

no one asked for this but i wrote it anyway :)

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"Why are we here, Katsuki?"

He huffed.

Like hell he knew why.

He couldn't really understand the emotions he felt when he stood there, gaze scanning the destruction still present to this day. The memory of that moment was burned into his mind, and he felt that wave of helplessness wash over him again. Something in him had changed that day, and that something wasn't well received by him - it didn't fit into his life, and it still had yet to make itself clear to him; but whatever it was, he knew it would complete him.

"Babe?"

Your voice drew him out of his thoughts, and he relished in the feeling of your fingers dancing across the small of his back as you can't to step beside him, your own gaze surveying the destruction. He peered down at you, feeling something pinch at his heart as he watched you relive that day, various emotions flashing through your eyes. Your hand snaked around, coming to a rest in the nook of his arm, letting yourself move closer towards him, fingers gripping onto his coat as if you expected him to slip through your grip at any moment. He blew out a sigh, reluctantly tearing his gaze away from you and back to the battle field, eyes eventually finding the All Might statue that had been erected in the middle.

"I thought they would have rebuilt everything that was here," you murmured from beside him. He hummed.

Honestly, he had hoped that they would. What remained was just a brutal reminder of that day, of how useless he had been, how he had needed people to save him. It was a reminder of how far he had to go, even though just days earlier he had been convinced he had improved astronomically to the point where he would be ready to turn Pro after his first year. It was the middle of this third year at U.A. High School now, and whereas he had acquired his Hero Licence, the Hero Name slot remained blank, another brutal reminder of how far he was from actually achieving his dream. In those few days he had been kept hostage, everyone had leapt ahead of him, leaving him in the dust.

He let you lead him to a small information board that had been erected, but he kept his eyes locked on the statue, half listening to you as you read it out to him. "Ground Zero," you said. "Kind of a cool name, don't you think?"

He didn't say anything. A sigh slipped past your lips as you looked up at him, frowning at the sight of his clenched jaw and tense shoulders. You pushed yourself up onto your tiptoes, pressing a lingering kiss to the underside of his jaw, smiling sweetly at him when he arched a brow at you.

"I know what you're thinking," you told him, the way he seemed to tense even more betraying him. "You're a stupid boy, it's a good thing you're good looking, right?"

"Shut up," he grumbled, pulling his arm from yours and instead wrapping it around your waist. He pulled you in front of him, wrapping his arms around your waist and resting his chin on top of your head, front pressed to your back. "You're a pain in my ass."

Silence lingered in the air, and he smiled to himself slightly when he felt you begin to shuffle in your spot - a tell tale sign that you were struggling to form a comeback. When you opened your mouth he half expected some sort of snide remark to come out, but what you said had him furrowing his brow instead as he struggled to come up with a reply. "Ground Zero would make a good Hero name for you, wouldn't it?"

"The hell you mean?" he eventually settled for.

"Well, the name Ground Zero is known for the end of All Might, right? All Might wouldn't want people to come here and think of the end of a Hero, he'd want them to think of the beginning of new ones," you said. "I think that night was the beginning of something special for you, Katsuki."

He snorted. That was ironic. He didn't quite understand what you meant, but he couldn't help but think about that night he had been rescued from the League of Villains. He had been sitting in his hospital bed, shuffling around restlessly as he waited for the all clear, when a knock sounded from the door and you entered cautiously, smiling brightly at him when your eyes met. Before that night, you were just another extra, another person he'd have to destroy to get to his goal, but that night you were his sole support, and for one of the first times in his life he let himself become utterly vulnerable. He remembered the way you sat by his hospital bed, hand creeping closer to his gradually before you eventually grasped onto it and stroked it as his emotions erupted.

That night was the beginning of something special for him - it was the beginning of his relationship with you. His grip on you tightened slightly, and he moved his head to press a kiss to the top of yours, inhaling deeply as he did.

"Today is the day Katsuki," you said firmly, turning in his arms to meet his fiery gaze. He arched a brow at you. "Today is the day that I decided that Katsuki Bakugou, the Hero in Training, is now Ground Zero, the Pro Hero."

He stared at your for a moment, processing your words carefully, before allowing a smirk to slip onto his lips.

"Guess I can't argue with that."

Said Ground Zero.