Broken Clocks

𝐓𝐰𝐨

This was ridiculous.

The last thing that Katsuki wanted was for the entire town to know that he'd come back home—mostly in part because he was almost certain that no one would care, especially with someone like Deku around. He certainly wasn't expecting for the entire block of his childhood home to be packed out with people there to attend this stupid party that his mother was throwing on his behalf. He was under the impression that it would be just a few relatives and his own personal group of close friends in attendance but this? It was like the entire town was cramped into his parents' yard.

Leave it up to Mitsuki Bakugou to take a small occasion and make it larger than life.

He wonders just how many people she'd invited as he notes the several dozens of cars cluttering the usually quiet streets of his neighborhood, parking his own at the end of the road because he didn't have the patience to spend twenty minutes of his life looking for a closer parking spot. He meanders into the front yard with a sigh, going around the side of the house and entering the backyard through the gate as it seems that this is where the party is being held. He wonders just how long this little kickback has been going on for. Deku had mentioned that people were waiting for him. Had his parents been entertaining these people all day? Just when were they expecting him? Don't they know that it's a twenty hour drive from Los Angeles?

Although everything had felt so foreign to Katsuki upon his return, nothing much seems to have changed at all. The roads were all the same; they hadn't bothered to replace that old dingy street lamp at the end of their block. Even the hanging plants on his parents' front porch were exactly the same as he remembered, down to the raggedy screen door and splentered front steps that he'd scraped himself on at least a thousand times in his childhood. As many bad memories as he had in this place...there were just as many happy ones.

It felt so good to be home again.

"Welcome home, Katsuki!"

"Hey guys, it's Bakugou!"

"Homeboy's back, y'all!"

A cacophony of loud whooping and wolf whistles sounded off as he entered the gate and Katsuki couldn't stop the grin that plastered itself on his face even if he wanted to, bracing himself as he was glomped and tackled by several welcomed and familiar faces.

His friends. He'd never admit it out loud but man did he miss those assholes.

Eijirou had been the first to get a hold of him, wrapping Katsuki in a bone-crushing embrace with that trademark smile of his beaming right into Katsuki's eyes.

He missed his best friend most of all.

"Kats! You have no idea how stoked we were to find out that you were coming home! We missed you like crazy, man!" Katsuki allows himself to be held a moment longer before he eventually wriggles himself loose, still grinning at the sight of the redheaded beta as he pulls away.

"Well, fuck, Shitty Hair. You sprouted like a goddamn tree." He greets him and Eijirou sheepishly rubs the back of his head as his cheeks bloom bloody red at the comment. Eijirou's always been a bit of a gym rat but he's put on quite a bit of muscle in Katsuki's absence. Meanwhile, Katsuki had made it a habit of hitting the gym every single day while he was away at University and all he had to show for it was toned glutes and a flat stomach. He's almost a little jealous.

"Aww! Dude, was that a compliment? You must have really missed me, too!"

"Fuck off, bitch, I'll take it back."

"Your tsundere is showing."

His smile widens as Hanta and Denki appear at his side wearing grins of their own, a cold beer seemingly manifesting itself in Hanta's hand as the tall beta offers it to him. Katsuki takes it with no objections, receiving a pat on the back.