Safe and Sound (Katsuki Bakugou AgeRe)

In The Beginning (w/ Auntie Inko)

"Ow!" Katsuki gasps, his butt hitting the ground. His friend laughs, nudging his leg with his foot. "What was that for?!"

"We..." his face falls a little bit. "Have you not been paying attention, dude?"

"H-Huh?" Katsuki questions, standing up on shaky legs. "What? What'd I miss?"

"... Y'know, Tsubasu tripped Mogi, Mogi tripped me, and then I..." he furrows his brow. "Dude, are you... crying?"

Katsuki's hand flies to his face, and he quickly wipes away the stray tear. He yells some half-assed expletive and lets off a blast or two before running away, towards his house.

What. The FUCK. Is wrong with him.

He ignore's Masaru's greeting and storms up to his room, locking the door behind him.

He cries into his pillow for a long while, his mind too distant to do much else. He can't shake this feeling, this... brain fog that makes all of his emotions spill over. He desperately clutches for any grasp of security that he can manage on his own, which makes zero fucking sense, because he's fourteen years old, he doesn't need this shit, he's gonna be the number one hero, he doesn't need comfort-

He's not sure when he drifts off, but it's just before dinner time when he wakes up. His mother is going to chew him out for leaving her to do all the food prep, but he has more pressing matters to deal with at the moment.

Like the fact that he's sucking his thumb.

He rips the appendage out of his mouth like it physically burned him, staring at the wrinkled skin in bewilderment. He's NEVER sucked his thumb before. Not even when he was little!

He doesn't get much time to dwell on it, though, because suddenly Mitsuki is pounding on his door, demanding he come to dinner.

"You're still in your uniform," Mitsuki points out through a mouthful of rice.

"Yeah," he says quietly.

"Why?"

"... I'unno," he shrugs. "Fell asleep."

"Yeah?" She snorts. "What, middle school was so tough for you? You tucker yourself out pulling on girl's pigtails and taking spelling tests?" Masaru touches her arm.

"Love, I know you're upset, but-"

"Yeah, no shit I'm upset, Masa!" She shouts, slamming her chopsticks down on the table. Katsuki flinches, staring down at his food. "Katsuki, when school ends, you have two rules. Two of them. What are they?"

"... C'm h ... an' m ... dinner," he whispers.

"What was that?!"

"C-Come straight home, and... and..!" He squeezes his eyes shut, inhaling shakily.

"... What the Hell," Mitsuki scoffs. "I'm waiting."

"COMESTRAIGHTHOMEANDMAKEDINNER!" He shouts, words stringing together.

He doesn't know why he's being so timid. He's used to this. He WELCOMES this, mouthing off when he's angry so he can scream at his mother until they're both drained.

Mutually assured destruction.

"That's right," she spits. "You didn't do either of those things today. You ignored your father when you finally home. You locked yourself in your room and took a NAP."

He bites the inside of his cheek, opening his eyes so he can stare down at his bowl and blink away the tears gathering in his eyes.

"We just don't want it to happen again," Masaru says softly. "Can you promise that?"