requested by @/prttybitchess_
Inspired by 'I Know The End' by Phoebe Bridgers
(non-canon, war!AU, angst, hurt, Kurutta is herself)
Katsuki had never lost enough to mourn. Never had something ripped from his blistering palms, waved above his head, been taunted, teased or tricked. He was forever atop the dog pile, born with crown anointing his head.
Flowing behind his visage was the image of a king, stood proudly in robes, drowned in rubies and stones, his hometown bowing at his feet. Little boy feared on the streets turned into the tornado that shredded cities apart, a power unmatched, a cower inducing lightning rod, a messenger of torture.
He was all-mighty, and therefore had nothing to lose.
Time had moulded the youngest Bakugou in its hands, moving and adjusting his skin like soft wax, and revealed to the world a resentful boy. A mockery of peace, and mirroring him in exact form was his brother, the embodiment of indomitable spirit.
It seemed the one made in Katsuki's image was the universe's own form of revenge, allowing the stars to chuckle behind radiant hands at his grudge against this other beam of light.
Bakugou M/n was the world's own Golden Bough, the illegitimate taming of every quality that made human beings such fighters. He held everything and everyone dear, therefore causing him the consequence of having much to lose.
While his twin's weakness was hidden by hubris, M/n was transparent, the cracks from his heel forming Achille's greatest shame. As if he were a figurine, M/n's whole transparency could be viewed under harsh lighting, to try and shield his eyes from his truest failings, he was yet to be shown how easy it was to be broken.
Cast back to gentler times, Katsuki swayed like a bowling-pin on its axis as the large truck carried him and a few other kids to the war-zone. His penny-red eyes were strained, unblinking, as he stared past his meshed hands into a memory...
Turned eight years old, two little clones and their friend were playing in the local park, dusk settling in as the top of the sun's head barely peeked above the river. Wavy shimmers illuminated the play park and projected onto their warm skin, the boys so casually sporting fiery souls were coloured blue, and this seemed to douse their turbulent natures.
M/n was making himself dizzy on the roundabout, kicking his leg off the asphalt and gripping the orange poles for dear life. Gravity had hooked his ribs and was pulling his torso off the spinning wheel, yet he fought back with squeals and laughter, the churning speed turning his brain to mush.
A blond blur caught his attention, going round a few more times, streaks of red followed him like tail-lights, an almost neon essence to the blurring lines that whipped around his head like carnival comets Finally, the contraption was slowing down to an eventual stop, his foot stuttered upon the ground until the world became solid once more.
The red streaks materialised steadily behind M/n's wobbly vision to become Katsuki's glaring eyes.
"It's my turn on that. Get off before I throw you in the river." The youngest smirked, arms folded across his chest, sporting the matching vest their mother had dressed them in. They were at the age of wearing the same clothes and swapping identities for pranks.
Summertime had made the metal slippy, so M/n danced off and twirled, feeling his face pulled and caressed by the funny hands of dizziness. The universe cooed at him as his brother shoved him off, and Katsuki settled onto the roundabout. "Well? Push me then."
M/n giggled and set to making Katsuki spin so fast he threw up, but more importantly, he really wanted to make Katsuki's hands be plucked into the air, grabbed from reluctant firmness and tossed carefree, to see his small face be overtaken with a smile turning a hundred miles an hour. "Faster, faster!" M/n would do anything he asked, and he was fulfilled when Kat stumbled off into his twin's arms. The two collapsed into a fit of giggles.
As the boyish laughter subsided, a concerned little boy was peering over the twins, emerald eyes blown wide in concern. "Are you guys okay?" Izuku gasped, stretching out a hand that M/n gratefully took to stand up.
Leaning on his shoulder, Katsuki watched his brother being pulled up by the weakling, the fuzziness leaving him like steam from a doused flame. Glaring at the two, he whacked away Midoriya's other hand which lofted near his chin, and brushed his knees off. Upon the caps was the imprint of the asphalt and wood chips.
It was perhaps nice that this was the only imprint on his skin, unaware that his future frame was warped with burns, twisted like cauterised plastic. For now, the shallow indents of a playground was the best wound to have.
He watched as M/n and Izuku trailed off to the swing-set, the metal above creaking as they sat themselves. M/n's fingers hesitantly grappled the chains, allowing the cool metal to flood his tense nerves.
He and Izuku chatted and chatted, eyes full of stars as they talked about the latest feat of All Might. M/n secretly wasn't a huge fan of the big smiling man, but whatever made Izuku happy, made him inevitably happy too.
Seeing this was blatant mockery, a stab through the chest for Katsuki. Those two, acting like what he and M/n were. Snarling like a puppy, the young Bakugou trudged up behind his friend with braced hands and violently shoved the green-haired boy. "Katsuki!" His brother gasped, aiming to jump off and help their snivelling friend.
"That was really mean, Kachan!" Midoriya wailed, globs of water filling his eyes and dripping down to mingle with his snotty nose. M/n didn't want Mrs Midoriya to be upset about not looking after her son, so swooped down to help.
"Yeah, well he's my brother. Not yours!" The tiny blond yelled back, fists clenched to his sides in rage.
He was met with a swift thwack to the back of the head, reminiscent of his mother. "I'm taking us all home now, c'mon you two." M/n huffed as Izuku and Kat gingerly took his hands. Midoriya wiped his tears on the way home, the vulnerable sight made M/n's frown deepen. "Disappointed in you Kat." The older brother huffed, "Sometimes people who don't have a brother need one. I'm not just 'yours', understand?"
Kat harrumphed, and the unhappy trio wandered off into the night.
That was years ago now. Katsuki found himself jostled from the memory as the truck creaked to a halt.
Pulling back the tarp roof, he peeked above to witness a blood chilling scene: craters littered the surface, the surroundings turned alien with smoke and fire and ash. No child should have to witness this. Yet here they were, supplied graciously by the YHA and UA. This was what they'd signed up for... but not for it to come so soon.
Murmurs of a war beginning had been dismissed, laughed off as the League's petty grievances... and now students were tossed into the throes of a murderous chorus with tensions boiling and heads rolling. What a horrible time to be a hero.
"Bakugou! We need you on the front line with Deku and yer brother!" An adult reigned him in, strapping a bullet-proof vest to his chest. He and his brother were at the age now when they wore matching bullet-proof vests and tried to hide their identities from enlistment.
Racing to the barricaded lines, muggy sweat pulsed on Katsuki's skin, when the tracker in his ear beeped with crackling comms.
'-Suki? Katsuki?" It was quiet, hushed, a voice not wanting to be answered.
It was his brother, dragged from purgatory into his next fight.
Pressing a finger to the device, he breathed raggedly into it, eyes scanning the dark air for any sign of his mirror image. "Yeah? Lanky Bastard, it's me. Where you at?"
"No, no, no! Why did they bring you here- They promised if I came they'd- make you- stay!" M/n's line was chopped, the agony in his voice like being splashed by hot oil. "Well, I'm here now, I'm sorry. They made me." Katsuki shut his eyes, imagining his brother shoving a fist to his mouth to muffle the broken sobs.
"Just stay far- Tiny! They've captured- they've got- And I need to get him!" His brother sounded fed up with this stupid war, with the broken trust tethered to his back, "Stay where I can find you- I'll get him first!"
"Get who?" Katsuki cried as a large explosion rattled his ribs from afar, many heroes being blown back like dandelion seeds spread in the wind. "Find me first! We'll fight together!" He begged, trying to pull that guilty leash around his brother's neck.
"I need- the both of you- Safe! Have to-get him home to- his mom!" M/n yelled, somewhere out there amongst the ash and bellowing screams, "I'll get him- and find- You! I'll find you- Tiny! Just-"
On the other side of a deep trench, a mushroom cloud billowed like a blinding parachute, stilling the boisterous air for moment, stilling the rush of air in Kat's lungs.
"Get down!" Death Arms roared, grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and pushing his face into the mud. The piece in his ear shattered on impact at the first wave of holy light. A horrible, high-pitched ringing filled his skull.
M/n never found him because he was used as the match to spark the end.
Shigiraki had lured him into a gas cloud and set the world alight.
They never found the body of the seventeen year old soldier.
Bakugou M/n wanted to be buried as a civilian, amongst crowded headstones and familiar people blowing noses into rags. Katsuki and his family were there, alongside battered friends and comrades. Some kid that M/n had looked after at the YHA was there too, hidden behind the leg if his older sibling. The kid looked like he wanted to cuss out the man who promised to return from the war and see him graduate.
In matching black attire; he, Izuku and M/n's other brothers-in-arms carried an empty coffin in the parade. The YHA flag draped over the wood like a dirty napkin to festering wound. Katsuki wanted to rip the offending piece off, as M/n never wanted to be a martyr for the mass child-soldier producing sweatshop.
Masaru had to be dragged from his eldest son's grave, screaming his hoarse lungs out, his pale wife too weak to comfort him. She had pushed him to enlist, the promise that the YHA would hold Katsuki back. To keep one brother safe. She never dreamed it would come to fruition, and it was eating her alive.
As the snivelling procession filtered out, Izuku and Tiny were the only figureheads left, staring at an empty box in the ground.
"It's cruel what they did to his name. They should never have put that." Midoriya's throat was raw, bruised by Shigiraki's fingerprints, "He was a hero, he came to rescue me." His voice the calmest Katsuki had ever heard. It was eerie, that they were no longer playing in the park, fighting for M/n's attention. They looked upon the stone, marked with the solemn words "Born to die a mutt'.
General Kurutta's farewell offering for her favourite chess piece.
Straining his jaw, Tiny looked upward as grey clouds rolled in, soft pitter patters raining down on his suit's shoulder-pads. Hopefully the pour would hide his tears.
"He shoulda never gone after you." He grit out, making Izuku's eyebrows furrow, "He wasted his life protecting you." He spat.
"He wasn't just 'yours', Kachan." Izuku was astounded, an ugly anger rearing it's head, "He was everyone's brother-"
"HE SHOULD HAVE DIED FOR ME!" The rage in Kat's lungs sent a flock of crows flurrying from their perch, melancholy caws dying out above the church spire.
Turning his back on the husk of his childhood friend, Izuku muttered a pained request. "You've always been so selfish with him, Kachan. You knew, you always knew, he would die for anyone. Please, just... let him rest."
Hiccuping the rage the bubbled in his throat, Katsuki sunk to his knees as Izuku's shadow left the graveyard. The green-haired boy wandered off to find his mother whom had berated Mitsuki so harshly until gasping sobs had consumed her small, fragile frame. Two sons had gone to war, and now she could never look at one's favourite flower again.
Head in forlorn hands, Katsuki dry heaved into his withered palms. M/n was supposed to come back and find him. They were real brothers after all.
Now there was no one left to die for him. This was the harshest good-bye; a pure soul abandoning the rotten one. An all consumed darkness, whom the universe had gifted a whisper of light, forever shall he mourn. Turns out his everything was a someone.
A/N: my first request! Tysm,, I hope I did it justice!! I promised fluff in this poor book so please feel free to request any one shot/ headcanons,, they can be angst too I just thought we could lighten the morbid theme lmao 💀 I love writing your guy's ideas!!
If u have a request concerning the Baku-bros,, shoot me a Dm and I'll be happy to give it a go :)
Leicester <33