Captain Oblivious

~"Stupid! You're a first grader! You apologize when you bump into someone older!" The kid with big ears yelled while pointing at him, tears in his eyes and explosion marks on his face.

"Yeah! We're gonna tell Yocchan! You'll pay for this tomorrow!" The other kid yelled, fists clenched and in a similar state as his buddy.

A younger Katsuki raised his scratched up fist threateningly, and the two older boys gasped and started backing away.

"You're gonna regret this!" The taller one yelled, and they turned around as they ran away.

Katsuki sniffled, "Ha, I didn't bump into you losers. You were the ones that bumped into me!" He yelled after them, voice wavering slightly.

Two of his followers came out of hiding, jumping excitedly around him. "Wow Kacchan! You fought against two big fourth graders and won!"

Katsuki's face was also roughed up, and a red mark stood out clearly on his cheek. As he sniffled, he wiped the unshed tears away with his small hands proudly. "The most amazing hero always wins. In the end, they come out on top, no matter what!"

And he believed it.~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The text tone interrupted the music aggressively and a sudden 'bang!' followed, waking Katsuki Bakugo up. He was annoyed to find that his nap hadn't gotten rid of the stiffness in his shoulder after Red's sleeping mind had decided it would make a great pillow. He conveniently ignored the fact that he could've woken her up or moved her, and instead focused on what the noise had been from.

Cracking an eye open, he was unsurprised to see the slightly red mark on her forehead, and snickered at her flustered state. It was obvious she had hit the window in her surprise. Probably from the text notification. Speaking of…

He glanced down at the phone only long enough to see 'Hitoshi' before she quickly swiped it away from him. Clicking his tongue in irritation, he watched as she turned her back to him and quickly typed out a response to Brainiac. The phone went off again, and her face flushed as she read whatever was on the screen, causing Katsuki to scowl. Leaning in over her shoulder, he saw something about beds and jealousy, and felt an uncomfortable feeling in his chest.

"What's got your panties in a twist, Red?"

She jumped slightly as he spoke next to her ear, and he felt a little better as her flush deepened.

"Nothing!" She squeaked, voice raising in pitch.

Well, there went whatever good mood he had left. Was she red because of that purple extra? What had the loser said that made her blush from a measly text? Katsuki felt the uncomfortable feeling in his chest rise and as her expression changed, he focused on his walls and leaned away with a 'tch'. He let his thoughts from earlier and the dream and what Hawks had said in parting swirl around his mind like a barrier. Thoughts and replays like that were always going on in the background of his mind. He had trained it to be that way so that he could process multiple things at once during combat. It was just a theory, but from what she had said during her concussion at the USJ, it might be a start.

"Stop doing that." She complained suddenly, her nose wrinkling. It was a cute expression, especially with her fading strawberry splashed cheeks. He took that to mean he didn't have to worry about what he had just thought, and that at least for the moment, his thoughts were secure.

Feeling proud that he was starting to crack her quirk, he smirked. "Is it working?"

To his annoyance, instead of indulging his sense of pride, she leaned away to continue texting. Her and that damn phone! It was like the first night they met! He felt the uncomfortable feeling in his chest again as he bitterly wondered what they were talking about now that beds and jealousy had been mentioned. As he focused on the thought and leaned forward, she again moved the phone out of his sight, this time putting it into her pocket. Irritation flooded him as he realized that either she focused harder, he had slipped up, or it hadn't been blocked in the first place. Back to square fucking one...

"You're never going to completely block me off, Katsuki. Especially if I'm ever completely sober." Her musical voice reminded him. Tch, it's not like he would ever block her out completely. Being understood without having to explain himself to idiots was damn nice. There were just… certain things that she didn't need to be hearing.

As the train stopped, he picked up the two bags effortlessly, not wanting their fight to be delayed any longer. That was also part of his motivation to master this damn wall thing. When they finally get to fight… Katsuki smirked, feeling the usual fire in his veins as he thought about the chance to prove he could beat her, even with her new quirk abilities.

"Tch, we'll see about that."

Katsuki walked ahead of her slightly with both bags on his shoulders, her soft hand now firmly in his rough one as he navigated through the crowded platform easily with his height. He ignored how intimate it probably looked in favor of making it to their driver in one piece. 'Cuz honestly, he didn't trust her to make it through crowds like this alone anymore. Not after that time at lunch with the damn alarm. Trying to spot the short woman in the crowd had been near impossible, and it was only her drunken yells that alerted him to where she was. So as they walked, he ignored the pleasant tingly feeling in his hand that felt similar to when he was activating his quirk. Instead, he glared at anyone who dared come near them, making the crowd part as he stormed forward.

"I'm not broken, I can carry my own bag!" She insisted, trying to make a grab for it.

"Tch, I never said you were." Katsuki looked down at her in slight annoyance at having been misunderstood. He was well aware she could handle it. If she could handle being a psychopath's personal knife block, she could handle a damn bag. Of course that wasn't why he was doing it. Did she think he was blind? The chick wasn't exactly fragile. "If your damn wound opens again you won't be at your best when I finally get to kick your ass."

She winced a bit, and he belatedly realized she probably wasn't loving having physical contact with him while he mentally compared Stain stabbing her to a chef putting knives away. "Humph. You're just excited that it might be an even match now."

The competitive smirk that crossed his face left no space for misinterpretation. At least she understood that part. "Damn right I am."

And he was. It wasn't like they hadn't fought before. In fact, that was the best part of training. Not that he'd ever admit it. Sure, she wasn't Icyhot or Deku. But she had her own outside knowledge, and had relied on that instead of her quirk. It was like they were opposites in the ring. Him with his advanced handle on his quirk, and her with her advanced handle on fighting without a quirk. It had been perfect for training at the time, but like hell he'd call it a fair match. Now that she had more of a handle on her quirk and he had more of a handle on his movement, the idea of having an official match hadn't left his mind all week.

His thoughts were interrupted as their progress towards the outside street suddenly stopped. Feeling resistance on his hand, Katsuki turned around with a 'what the hell' on the tip of his tongue. It never came out though. The shocked expression on Red's face seemed to wipe his brain blank, and he couldn't for the life of him remember what he was going to say. His palms felt sweaty as he looked around for danger, trying to follow her line of sight. Hell, what could she even be seeing at… her… height… His thoughts evaporated from the front of his mind as he found what she was looking at.

Standing tall above the crowd was a very broad shouldered, well-built middle aged man with what looked like the ideal features for a male model. The giant grin above his cleft chin and chiseled jaw was the first thing Bakugo noticed since the perfect teeth behind it seemed to sparkle despite the lack of lights. A mohawk of blonde hair swept back along the top of his head, and Bakugo didn't miss that the eyes he was looking into were the exact same as the electric blue eyes widened in shock at his side.

It was almost a whisper, but he still heard it.

"D-dad?"