A/N: Beware of the nasty grape boy. By the way, what's your favorite bottom Baku crack pairing? Thinking of dropping another one-shot today.
Katsuki's had a long day.
Not particularly rough. Just long.
He got up at 5AM so he could go for his morning run and it was particularly humid. He forgot his water bottle, so it turned out to be a bit of a pain in the ass than motivation. But he's okay with that. At least he got to run.
They had an English test today. He didn't get to study the night before like he usually does but he does really well with English. He missed a question or two, so he didn't get as high a score as he's used to. It upset him, but Shouto assured him that he's fine. That he doesn't have to live underneath crushing weight of his own expectations. Katsuki takes a deep breath and counts to ten. Shouto's right. What matters is that he still aced it.
He was supposed to polish up a new special move during quirk training today, but it flopped. That upset him more than anything, mostly because he doesn't understand why it failed. He worked out the calculations. He put in the training and he did the work. So why didn't it work the way it was supposed to?
He takes out his frustration during joint training and nearly kills Monoma---quite literally. It takes both Aizawa and Vlad King to pull him off; he uses his fists if he can't use his quirk. He's sent to detention that evening, still incredibly irate.
Dropping into his space comes easy.
It happens almost as soon as he steps into the common room, sliding his bag from his shoulder just before he drops to his knees. They hit the floor so hard it draws the attention of his classmates---specifically to Fumikage who is lounging on the sofa nearby. He jumps to his feet, Dark Shadow catching Katsuki before he can hit the floor.
"Katsuki? Katsuki!" The bird boy calls to him as he reaches out to pull him up by the shoulders. He sees the faraway look in his eyes, bourbon orbs glazed over and mouth slightly opened as he stares right through his savior. It takes a moment for his eyes to focus on him, a tiny smile pulling at his lips as he finally registers Fumikage and Dark Shadow's worried faces.
"Oh. Hi, Fumi."
It's almost a whisper.
"Is he okay?" Ochako appears at his side and Fumikage mutely wonders where she came from. "I think he might be going under. He's had quite a lot of triggers today." He supplies.
"Katsuki? You okay, hon?"
His gaze floats over to where Ochako is standing as his classmates begin to crowd around him. In lieu of a response, he raises his arms up towards her and wiggles his fingers a bit.
"You want up?"
He nods and she lifts him up using her quirk, allowing him to wrap his legs around her waist. She'd voice aloud how incredibly cute how he clings to her even with his larger stature and physique, but she worries that something is very much wrong and doesn't want to upset or startle him. Izuku and Eijirou aren't around to help her out, after all. She doesn't even have Iida, who has resigned himself to his dorm room to study.
"You wanna go see daddy, pumpkin?"
Another nod.
"Okay sweets, we can go upstairs. Will you all gather his things for him and put them away while I go and take him to Shouto?" She says, directing the last bit at her friends who immediately get up and gather Katsuki's books for him. Shoji briefly stops to pet Katsuki's sweat slicked hair.
"Feel better soon." Is all he says before he moves along but Katsuki seems to understand that he means well as he gives a lopsided smile, waving as Ochako turns to carry him up to the elevator.
#
"So he just collapsed in the doorway, then?"
Ochako confirms with a nod as she passes Katsuki over to his lover who holds a cool hand against Katsuki's burning skin.
"I don't think he's coming down with anything, he just seems tired. Thank you for bringing him, but next time please call me and I'll come down. I don't want you to feel like you have to lug him up here every time."
She rolls her eyes and releases her quirk, giving him a look that says quite clearly that carrying him wasn't an issue for her.
"It's really not an issue, Shouto. We were just worried is all." She assures him, reaching over to pinch one of Katsuki's cheeks. "Are you feeling better now, baby?"
Katsuki nods, still burying his face into the right side of Shouto's neck.
"Do you need a nap, kitty? Are you feeling sick?"
He shakes his head.
"Can you tell daddy what's wrong?"
Katsuki's eyes open and he looks Shouto in the eye as if he's searching for something, a mix of desperation and absolute lovestruck swirling in his own. After a while he just tightens his arms arms around him tucks his head back under his chin.
"Just need y-you."
Ochako blushes at hearing such a declaration and as if Katsuki can hear the lewd thoughts in her head, he groans.
"N-Not like that!"
Ochako sighs in relief, fanning herself a bit and smiling wearily when Shouto chuckles at her.
"Poor baby, you just need cuddles and kisses don't you?"
He wants to be spoiled, pampered, coddled and loved on. He wants the attention---needs it. Ochako understands now.
"Okay, baby. Daddy can definitely help you with that. Let's go get you bathed and we can put on your favorite jammies, get your favorite toys, cook your favorite meal and you get as many cuddles and kisses as you want. How does that sound?"
He smiles the absolute sweetest smile that Ochako has ever seen and nods, a little more enthusiastic this time.
#
Katsuki is silent throughout the entirety of his bath. Shouto asks him if anything is wrong as he's washing his hair and the blonde boy shakes his head before telling him that he just doesn't have much to say. Shouto decides to leave him be. If he wants to tell him anything, he knows that he'll have his daddy's utmost attention.
After he towels him off and rubs him down in baby lotion, Shouto dresses him in an All Might themed short jumper and his favorite All Might slippers that have All Might's face on the front. He carries him back into the common room where Tsuyu is waiting for him with blankets, pillows and an assortment of paper and crayons simply because he voiced that he'd much rather color than play with his toys.
"Daddy, can I have my markers?"
Shouto thinks it over, but declines. "Sorry, darling but your markers bleed through sometimes and make a mess. We don't want a mess, do we?"
Katsuki is disappointed, but he shakes his head as he decides that he doesn't want to make a mess of any of the carpet or furniture.
"Here, he can use these!"
Yaomomo pops a little packet of markers from her arm and hands them over to Katsuki as he oggles then with wide, glittering eyes. He turns to Shouto for approval.
"They're made with ink that doesn't stain anything that isn't paper." She explains, turning to face Shouto with a blush as he clears his throat next to her.
"N-Not to, ah, undermine you or anything, I just figured---"
He sighs with a shake of his head. "It's fine, Momo, really. If he can have it without making a mess then by all means, do it up." He gives her an encouraging pat to her shoulder before he leans down to make eyes contact with Katsuki.
"What would you like for dinner, kitty?"
"A-Anything?"
"Absolutely, baby boy."
Katsuki thinks it over.
"Soba, please!"
Shouto's eyes widen a bit.
"Really? You want soba?"
The boy nods. "Cold soba!"
There's a squeezing feeling in Shouto's chest.
"Precious baby boy. I'll come get you when it's ready, okay?"
"Okay Papa!"
Katsuki pops his thumb into his mouth as he begins to empty out the markers onto the coffee table when Yuga comes and sits next to him.
"What're you going to draw, sweetie?"
Katsuki pauses, shrugs. He seems a little conflicted now.
"I...I d-dint think 'bout it."
Yuga smiles.
"Why don't you draw something special to you and give it to daddy when you're done, hm? I'm sure he'd love it."
Katsuki perks up, smiling around the thumb in his mouth as newfound enthusiasm and excitement strikes him.
"I'm gonna make the prettiest picture ever!"
Yuga leans down to press a kiss to his forehead. "You already do, darling~ Prettiest picture I've ever seen." Katsuki takes his thumb out of his mouth and closes his eyes, puckering his lips.
"Oh, what's this?"
Katsuki cracks an eye open.
"A kiss for Yu-chan!"
Before Aoyama can respond, he's being pulled down and a kiss being pressed against the corner of his mouth. It's completely innocent but it still leaves him a blushing mess.
"O-Oh, that's so sweet of you, mon amour but you didn't have to."
Katsuki nods. "I knows. But I love Yu-chan." He says it casually and Yuga feels like the world has just been yanked from beneath his feet, hand clutching at his chest as a floating feeling fills him.
"I-I'll be right back!" He said, holding in a happy sob as he darts off in the opposite direction. Katsuki seems utterly confused as he watches him go, but shrugs and turns his attention back to his drawing.
Or at least, he tries. There's a tiny purple man obscuring his vision.
Katsuki yelps at how close he is and curls away from the table.
"Wow, I actually scared Bakugou! Oh, how the tables have turned." The boy says with a laugh, a devious smirk and twiddling fingers that give Katsuki anxiety. The purple boy moves a little closer into Katsuki's personal space and the blonde scoots back a little, clutching a green marker in his hand. When the purple blob doesn't move or say anything else, he continues to color. Just ignore him, he thinks. Maybe he'll go away.
"What'cha drawing?"
Katsuki eyes him wearily.
"Zuzu and Eiji-nii."
The purple boy peers over onto the paper to see what looks like a drawing of Izuku and Eijirou. They're pretty much just floating heads, but they're detailed to the best of Katsuki's current ability. It's pretty well drawn.
"Oh, Deku and Kirishima, huh. Pretty cool."
Katsuki doesn't respond as he dots the drawing of Izuku with green freckles before moving on to grab the red and black markers. It looks as if he's drawing Shouto's hair, outlining the white half with a black marker.
"Why're you drawing them?"
"Cause I love them."
"Do you love me?"
Katsuki makes a face and shifts. It's obvious he's uncomfortable.
"P-Please go away."
He gets closer, poking at Katsuki's cheek.
"And what's with that stutter? Are you retarded or something?"
Katsuki's hands go slack at the word, dropping the markers onto the floor and dropping his head down. He doesn't know what it means, but he's heard people laugh and say it to him before and he definitely knows it isn't nice. Eiji-nii always covers his ears and tells him that they're just telling him that he's pretty, but Katsuki knows better.
"I-I-I'm n-not---"
"I mean, I really use to think you were super cool and scary but now I know you're just a big baby and it's not so bad anymore. I could probably do whatever I want to you like this and you'd just sit there, right?"
The other boy is rambling, not making a lot of sense to Katsuki but still saying some fairly hurtful things.
"Honestly, I was still shocked to see that you preferred dudes over boobs. I knew you were weird but this is like being in the twilight zone. Do you wear a diaper? Do you wet the bed?"
"I-I-I d-don't w-want to---" Katsuki can feel tears threatening his waterline, bottom lip wobbling in an attempt to keep them at bay. He doesn't like being made fun of. He hasn't done anything wrong to anyone.
"Do you guys still do it like this? Isn't it illegal to do that to someone while they're brain is all weird? It's gotta be mental retardation, right?"
Finally, Katsuki let's out a gut wrenching sob that sounds like it hurts, breaking into a fit of tears that has several others running into the room.
"What is it?!"
"Katsuki?!"
"Did you hurt yourself, baby?!"
The culprit suddenly shrinks in on himself, not having expected for Katsuki to start crying and certainly not for the entire class to stampede their way to them when he did. He's suddenly being snatched up by the purple little balls on his, coming eye to eye with one angry papa.
"Mineta. What. Did. You. Do."
"I-I-I-I don't know what you mean, Todoro---KI!" The half-and-half boy squeezes Mineta's head in a threat to crush him and he begs for mercy, insisting that he really hadn't done anything wrong.
Yuga, Tsuyu, Ochako and Fumikage are crowding Katsuki in an attempt to calm him, petting and kissing and hugging him until his sobs are reduced to whimpers.
"Oh, baby, are you okay? Did that mongrel put his hands on you?" Ochako asks, still pressing kisses to his forehead as Fumikage and Tsuyu alternate petting his soft hair. Yuga has his arms wrapped around the boy, gently shushing him. Katsuki shakes his head, lip still quivering.
"S-Sad..."
"Aw, baby, what's the matter, huh?"
"H-He c-called m-m-me a b-bad word..."
A collective glare is thrown in Mineta's direction and the grape boy realizes how much trouble he's gotten himself into.
"What word, baby?"
"I can expla---AH!" Shouto silences him with another harsh squeeze, keeping his eyes on Katsuki to let him know that it was okay to tell.
"T-The mean word. R...re..."
He doesn't want to say it---even saying it hurts.
But Shouto is quick to pick it up.
"You called him retarded?"
He's appalled. Mortified. Angry.
Bloodthirsty.
The entirety of the room stares at Mineta in a mix of disgust and anger.
"Not cool, dude."
"You're one to call anyone a retard, rapey-grapey."
"How could you even muster up the gall to say something so hurtful?!"
"I hope he blasts you into next year when he comes back up again."
Shouto switches his hold to grip Mineta around his scrawny throat.
"I'm going to squish you into juice."
The purple boy squeaks. "W-Wait!"
"I'm going to unzip your skin and wear you like a coat." His grip becomes tighter.
"I'm didn't mean to!"
"I'm going to pop your head off like a cork."
"I wasn't trying to hurt his feelings, I swear!"
Shouto loosens his grip a bit, eyes narrowed and sharp enough to cut.
"And what in the great blue fuck makes you think you could call a toddler a retard and it not hurt their feelings?!"
"I---I was just trying to treat him the same, like you said!"
"I also said to be nice to him or not to approach him at all! Am I a joke to you? Do you think I won't kill you?!"
The hand Shouto is holding him with is getting awfully hot.
"I don't know how to be like that, okay? But I still wanna be friends with everyone! I'm trying!"
It's gets really silent, save for Katsuki's whimpering.
"I felt like I wasn't able to have fun and be friends with everyone because you all automatically shut me out when we found he was like this...and...it hurt. I wasn't trying to hurt his feelings. I was just trying to joke and laugh with Bakugou too, so maybe you all would accept me too. I'm sorry."
It's a genuine apology; he even stopped struggling in Shouto's hand. He looks sad---dejected. Shouto almost feels bad for him.
Almost.
He sighs, releasing Mineta and dropping him onto the floor where his head bounces like a basketball.
"Apologize to him. Quickly, before I change my mind and barbecue you."
Minoru scrambles to his feet.
"I'm sorry I hurt your feelings, Bakugou! I guess I was just expecting you to call me names back or something like you usually do but I get that I can't treat you that way when you're like this. Can we...can we be friends?"
Katsuki doesn't think he wants to be friends with someone who thinks it's okay to call him names. He looks up to Shouto for guidance.
"You don't have to forgive him if you don't want to, kitten. Until he can prove that he's worthy of being called a friend, you don't have to deal with him at all."
That seems to crush Minoru's spirit a bit, even more so when he sees Katsuki continue to contemplate just ignoring him altogether.
"Y-You won't...say mean things? Call me names?"
"I'll try my best, honest."
Katsuki looks up at Shouto and shrugs, still very unsure.
"He was already weary of you and you've given him just that much more of a reason not to trust you. You'll have to earn this one. Show him you mean what you say."
"I can totally do that!"
He moves to sit next to Katsuki again when his feet become frozen to the ground. Shouto looks absolutely done with his shit.
"Respect his personal space. Five feet apart at all times and if he doesn't want to talk to you then you give him his space. Are we clear?"
"Crystal." Mineta assures him.
"Good. I'm going to check on his cold soba. If anyone tells me you even thought about making him uncomfortable I'm going to gut you." Shouto says casually as he meanders back into the kitchen. It's amazing how easy it's become for him to make death threats now.
Mina sighs from the other side of the sofa.
"Okay, but like, Todoroki going cold blooded killer over Kacchan is my medicine."
"Same."