In Your Shadow [Chapter 2]

[Chapter 1]

For the first time in his life, Katsuki felt a little intimidated, as he pushed the button on the intercom. The building was huge and looked brand-new despite being at least three years old, with only the latest state-of-the-art technology installed, and an impeccably groomed garden out the front where a few sidekicks were hanging out, eating their lunch.

They’d gotten all the warnings from Aizawa and All Might as they gathered their costumes and packed their bags, before they got on their trains to split off around the country, and they’d both insisted on reiterating the exact same warnings to him personally before they would even let him out the door.

Truth be told, he probably didn’t need the overnight bag. He could easily have commuted from the dorms each day, it would only have taken him an hour, but it was all part of the experience, the teachers had insisted. They were expected to stay with their agencies for two weeks, longer than their initial experiences, and to live in spare company housing or lodge with heroes and sidekicks who volunteered to take them in. If all went to plan, when those two weeks were up, they’d be taking work experience positions right away. Compared to their first two years, it was a lot of pressure, and even Katsuki was feeling the strain.

“Name?” a voice asked through the speaker the moment he hit the intercom, already bored with him before they’d even met face-to-face.

“Bakugou Katsuki.”

The man on the other end didn’t bother to answer, just hit some button or switch to open the massive sliding doors for him, and Katsuki took a deep breath as he stepped inside.

The lobby was a whole different world from what Katsuki was used to. Marble tiles, shining white surfaces, plush armchairs to wait on, even a full bar of coffee and food waiting for people to help themselves. He ignored the faint growl of his stomach when he glanced at it – he knew it was terrible, and he would never say it out loud, but he hadn’t been able to face the idea of breakfast that morning. He’d woken up before his alarm – a real feat, considering it went off at five – and had ended up going for an extra-long run to try and settle his nerves.

As much as Katsuki didn’t tend to care what people thought of him, he knew if he screwed things up with the number one hero, his future was going to be the world’s steepest uphill battle. He was already fighting enough obstacles that the others didn’t have to face, he didn’t need to add an entire freakin’ wall to the mix.

He stepped up to the front desk, duffel bag slung over his shoulder and costume case in his hand, and tried his best not to scowl when the receptionist looked up.

“Name?”

“Bakugou Katsuki,” he repeated through gritted teeth – he was well aware that the voice was the same one he’d heard through the speaker ten seconds ago. “From U.A.”

“ID?”

He pulled out his wallet, handing over both his school ID card and his provisional hero license – hard as that one was to part with, however briefly. He still had the occasional nightmare about people taking it away from him.

“Sign this,” he said finally, when he was satisfied that Katsuki was the same person as the photos on the cards. “I’ll make a call.”

He handed over a piece of paper, riddled with tiny text about them not being responsible if he injured himself on the premises, and him being potentially liable if he damaged anything on-site. He really hoped their offices were built well enough to withstand his quirk anyway, but he supposed he should at least make sure he didn’t blow shit up on purpose.

By the time he handed it over with his signature scrawled at the bottom, a tall, broad-shouldered figure was joining them, his hair a tangle of green curls, his face littered with freckles. Katsuki swallowed hard, eyes raking over the form-fitting jumpsuit that clung to every muscle, before they snapped up to meet his gaze.

“You must be Katsuki,” he grinned. “Welcome.”

“Yeah,” he mumbled. “Thanks, I guess.”

“Come up to my office, I have a few things to go over with you before we get started.”

He couldn’t help but wonder exactly what those words meant. He’d kind of expected to have the afternoon to settle in and learn his way around or whatever, but it sounded like he had other plans for Katsuki.

“You can call me Deku,” the firm voice said, when the doors slid closed. “It’s polite to address heroes by their hero name.”

“I know that.”

“I’ve heard stories about your manners, I’m not taking any chances.”

Katsuki pulled a face, looking away pointedly, but not before he caught a hint of a smirk from the man beside him.

“Fine,” he huffed. “Deku it is.”

He knew all the stories behind the name already, of course. Some shitty kids had dubbed him Deku when his quirk didn’t come, to make fun of him for being so useless. When the time came to choose a hero name, he’d decided to reclaim the word, to make it mean something different after a lifetime of hating it. It was supposed to be inspiring, Katsuki was sure, but he’d always just rolled his eyes at it. Nerd was just asking to be made fun of.

“This is my office,” Deku continued, when they reached the fourth floor. “Come take a seat.”

Katsuki fell into the soft chair without an ounce of grace, slouching as he waited for Deku to round the desk and sit opposite him, opening a folder that must have been laid out in wait for him.

“I’m going to go over your rules,” Deku explained. “If you agree, you can sign the contract, and we’ll get started. If not, you can go back to school and hope someone else still has a space for you. Do you understand?”

“I guess.”

“Rule number one, you answer all my questions with ‘yes’ or ‘no’ only, unless I ask you for more. Do you understand?”

Katsuki glared, but nodded all the same, huffing when Deku waited pointedly.

“Yes.”

“Good. Rule two: if you want to ask a question, you first ask permission to do so.”

Katsuki narrowed his eyes, but Deku still kept that infuriating look of calm and control on his face.

“You say ‘excuse me Deku, may I please ask a question?’ and wait for me to allow it. If you want to save face and not ask, that’s well within your rights, but you’ll only be hurting yourself by not taking every opportunity to learn. Understand?”

“Yes,” Katsuki answered, through gritted teeth. “I understand.”

“If I tell you to do something, you say ‘yes, Deku’ and do whatever it is I’ve asked of you. Understood?”

“No.”

“No?”

“What if-”

“You missed a step,” Deku smirked. “What do you say if you want to ask a question, Katsuki?”

“Ugh. Forget it, whatever, I understand.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Alright,” Deku humoured him. “And finally, you will be polite and respectful at all times while under my employment. Your behaviour reflects on me, after all.”

Katsuki hesitated, at that one, and Deku’s smile stretched a little wider.

“I don’t expect you to be all formal and sweet with your friends, I’m sure you insult each other constantly, like every other teenage boy on the planet. But I do expect you to use your manners, to treat your seniors with respect, and to keep your temper under control. I will help you with that, as long as you are making an effort. Understood?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Here’s a print-out of everything we just discussed, I want you to sign it to show me you’re willing to follow my rules. I’ll also give you a copy to refer back to whenever you might need.”

Katsuki accepted the pen he offered, scrawling his name on both copies, and Deku slid one into his top drawer for safe-keeping. The second, he tucked back into the folder, this time sliding it across the table to Katsuki.

“This has some reading material about our agency values, code of conduct, your duties, and so on. I expect you to read it all tonight, and in the morning I want you to bring me an essay about our agency ethos and how you fit in with our group. I’m told you’re a smart kid, so I’m sure that won’t be any trouble for you, will it?”

“No.”

“Did you bring a laptop with you?”

“No.”

“I’ll get one sent up to your room later, you can borrow it for two weeks. I’m sure you don’t want to write an essay on your phone.”

Katsuki nodded faintly, and once again Deku just waited.

“Thank you,” he choked out finally, sarcastic sounding even to his own ears.

“You’re welcome,” Deku grinned, ignoring the tone. “When you’ve finished, I’ll read it and decide if we want to keep you on as an intern.”

“Haaah?”

“Manners, Katsuki.”

Katsuki gritted his teeth, hands balled into fists as he seethed. All that shit about pulling strings to get him in, recommending he accept it, signing liability waivers – and now his essay was going to decide his fate?

Well, Katsuki would show him.

“Understood,” he said finally, his voice carefully level.

“I’m glad. Now, your timetable for the rest of the day.” He picked up one final piece of paper, turning it for Katsuki to see. “Have you eaten lunch yet?”

“No.”

“Alright. After we part here, you’re going to go back down to the lobby and get some lunch. It’s all on the agency, don’t worry about money. Make sure there’s plenty of protein, don’t just load up on carbs. And when you’ve eaten, you’re going to let one of the receptionists know, politely, that you’re ready to go to your apartment. They will get someone to take you there and show you where to find everything.”

Katsuki nodded faintly, eyes locked on the printed timetable, on that same green letterhead his invitation had come on.

“After that you can get settled in, unpack your things if you think you’ll be staying, and start on your reading. At six o’clock you’ll meet in the lobby in workout gear to go on a run with some of the sidekicks. There will be no quirk use, you do not need your costume. When you return, there will be food in the lobby for dinner. If you remain here after tomorrow the agency will supply lunches, but you’ll be expected to make your breakfast and dinner yourself. Occasionally there will be other meals available, if there are a lot of people working late or starting early for a certain case, and you are welcome to partake in those if you’re available, but usually it will just be lunches. You will get an allowance to buy yourself food outside of that, and anything else you might need along the way or have forgotten to bring with you. Then you have the rest of the night off to do as you please, before meeting me back here, in this office, at six o’clock tomorrow morning. Can you handle that?”

“Yes.”

“There’s a copy of this timetable in your folder, please refer back to it to ensure you don’t miss anything. Do you have any questions?”

“No.”

“Good. Off you go, then. Eat a decent meal, you’ll need it.”

“I will.” Katsuki tucked the folder of paperwork into his bag, shrugging it back over his shoulder and picking up his costume case again. “Um… Thank you.”

“You’re learning already,” Deku smiled, this one much brighter than his previous ones. “Maybe there’s hope for you after all.”

─────

The apartment was surprisingly spacious for something that was just nestled on the upper floors of a hero agency. There were only about ten in total, he’d learned – usually for heroes who moved to the area for work and needed somewhere to stay until they found their own place, or heroes visiting from out of town to work on a case with them, so that they didn’t have to deal with hotels. Katsuki felt he could have been pretty happy there permanently if he was entirely honest, he really didn’t need more, but he supposed it might get exhausting to never leave work, let alone if you wanted to live with a partner or have kids and all that old-people-shit.

Still, as far as he was concerned, it was a pretty great set-up for an internship. He had a comfortable bed, big enough for two people – or for Katsuki to sprawl out like a starfish, which seemed much more exciting than sharing with someone – right beside a massive window, giving him a view out over the city.

Within a few steps sat an equally comfortable couch with a matching footstool, a decent TV aimed at them in case he felt like watching the news or something, and plenty of drawer and closet space around them even though he’d only brought a few changes of clothes with him since he’d be in costume half the time anyway.

Finally there was a desk and chair, with the promised laptop waiting for him on top, and his own little kitchen and bathroom off the entryway. More than enough to live with, and certainly more than he had in the dorms.

The only thing he didn’t have, he quickly discovered, was a printer. How the hell was he supposed to print off his essay for Deku if he didn’t have one? He supposed he was going to have to venture out to find one, but stores would be closed by the time he finished – was there one in the office somewhere that he could gain access to? There had to be one somewhere in the massive agency building, surely.

He folded and hung all his clothes, laid out his toiletries in the bathroom, and changed out of his school uniform in the first ten minutes after he was shown to the apartment, leaving him plenty of time to make a start on his essay before he was expected for the group run – what a weird concept, running as a group. They’d probably all just slow him down.

He grabbed his pencil case from his school supplies, pointedly ignoring the fact that he’d need to find time for schoolwork in his schedule too, and set to work at the desk with a fistful of neon highlighters and his paperwork from Deku. It wasn’t hard to pick out the keywords, all the things Deku considered so important, and with the laptop beside him that was already connected to the internet, he had no trouble hunting down some old articles and interviews, too.

Deku was going to wish he’d never given Katsuki the assignment.

When his alarm sounded for quarter to six, he set his pens down and stretched, changing one more time into a pair of leggings and a tank top. He hated the clingy spandex, but he’d learned a long time ago that sweatpants were not only hot and inconvenient during a long run, but they weren’t considered professional either. Running tights made him look athletic, sweatpants made him look like a slob. He hated the fact that he even knew that, and hated more that he was actually taking heed of it, but if that was what it took to intern with the top hero in the country, he was willing to suck it up and deal with it.

With his sneakers in hand he headed for the elevator, arriving a few minutes early to the meeting in the lobby – he refused to be late at the best of times, let alone when his internship was riding on this shit.

“You must be Katsuki,” a familiar-looking young man greeted him, smiling widely and waving him over to a little cluster of people already gathered. “I think I missed out on meeting you, last time.”

“Lemillion,” Katsuki mumbled awkwardly. “Nice to meet you properly.”

“Just Mirio is fine! Deku was kind enough to give me a job here, but I’m not a hero anymore.”

“How did you and Deku meet?”

He realised too late that he wasn’t supposed to be asking questions, let alone that he didn’t usually want to, but Mirio didn’t seem to take offence.

“I was working under Sir Nighteye last year, Deku was working on a case with us.”

“Was that…?”

“Yeah,” Mirio smiled, surprisingly genuine considering how painful the whole ordeal must have been for him. “When I couldn’t be a hero anymore, Deku asked me to come on board and help do some teaching and things for him. He’s a great guy, I’m really happy to work with him!”

“So it’s not… Coming back?”

“Who knows,” Mirio shrugged, still smiling peacefully. “We have a few ideas that we’re still working on. If we figure something out, maybe Deku will let me work as a sidekick.”

“He’d be stupid not to.”

“Thank you!” Mirio laughed, only growing louder when Katsuki blushed. “You’re gonna love it here, you’ll learn so much from everyone.”

“Whatever,” he grumbled. “If he even lets me stay.”

“Are you planning to antagonise him?”

“Probably.”

“Then just hold out as long as you can,” Mirio suggested, shrugging. “Learn what you can while you have the chance, and try to hold out for something worth arguing about. And if you need anything, come find me! I live on the floor above you, so you can just drop by whenever.”

“Oh. Okay. Um, thanks.”

“No problem! Look at those impeccable manners, Deku is gonna love you!”

“Ugh.”

Soon a small group was gathered around them, and at six o’clock on the dot, Mirio led the way out through the front doors, to a street that was surprisingly quiet considering people should have been on their evening commutes. He clapped Katsuki on the shoulder, shooting him one final grin as he stepped out onto the footpath.

“Stick with me, kid! Try to keep up!”

“Damn right I will.”

He paced himself at Mirio’s side, ignoring the delighted laughter and encouraging words that Mirio spouted through the whole thing, but quickly realised he had no idea where they were actually going, let alone how far it was. It would have been smart to pace himself, to fall back into the group of sidekicks that spread a decent distance down the street and find a comfortable speed, but he couldn’t resist the urge to stay at the front with Mirio, matching him stride for stride, even though Mirio’s legs were a lot longer than his own.

It took longer than he’d expected, in the end – longer than his morning run had been, even though he’d taken the extra-long one that day. His legs were aching by the time he got back, and he quickly resolved to stick to once a day. If he was going to get stuck in lame group stuff, he was going to have to skip his personal runs.

The moment they got back through the doors, he was dragged straight into an awkward meet-up with all the sidekicks, introducing himself two dozen times and letting all their names go in one ear and out the other in return. Mirio even dragged him out to dinner at a lame chain restaurant with a few of the others – walking there, to Katsuki’s dismay – all still clad in their sweaty gym gear like it didn’t matter at all.

Admittedly, over the course of the meal he picked up a few good tips for what to write about when he got back, and one of the sidekicks even paid for his meal before he even had a chance to object, which he supposed was a nice gesture too.

He was beyond ready for bed by the time they got back, let alone by the time he finished writing the stupid essay, finally climbing the stairs to the floor above his own, laptop clutched in his hands as he began his hunt for the right door. Thankfully he quickly found they all had nameplates outside, just like his own – considering the doors all looked the same, it was probably a necessity. It was only his own exhaustion that made it take a little effort to find the right one and knock, gnawing on his thumbnail as he listened to the footsteps approach from inside.

Mirio beamed at Katsuki when he pulled the door open, despite the awkward scowl that Katsuki wore, and adamantly refused to consider might look more like a pout to onlookers. He held up the laptop in explanation, taking a moment to find words, but Mirio just waited patiently.

“I need to print an essay for Deku,” he explained. “But I don’t have a printer. Um, is there somewhere I can use one?”

“Oh! Of course, yes. There’s one at the front desk, they won’t mind letting you use it if you ask!”

“Okay. Um, and they’re still working?”

“There’s always someone at the front desk, we have night shift workers. Someone needs to handle the night patrols, after all!”

“Right, yeah. Okay, I’ll… Go down there, then. Uh, thanks.”

“Any time!” Mirio assured him, glancing down the hallway as if he might be expecting to see someone waiting there. “A word of warning, Deku will absolutely ask after you when he comes in tomorrow morning.”

“Ask after me?”

“Anyone you might have interacted with. To make sure you’re being good.”

“Ugh. Is he always like this?”

“Only with the people who need it,” Mirio grinned, ruffling Katsuki’s hair and making his scowl deepen. “I told him you did well on our run, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Even though I asked questions?”

“You’re still learning,” Mirio laughed. “I’d rather you ask than just sulk and not learn anything.”

“Alright,” Katsuki sighed. “I’d better go print this thing and get some sleep. Uh, thank you.”

“You’re very welcome!”

He watched to make sure Katsuki got to the stairs safely, shooting him a last wave as he disappeared, and then it was just Katsuki and his heavy footsteps, echoing off the walls. The agency was eerily quiet, which Katsuki probably should have expected at ten p.m., but somehow it still felt… Weird. He didn’t like it.

“Excuse me,” he began, when he reached the front desk. “I need- Um, I… Ugh. Please can I borrow the printer?”

“Of course,” the young lady smiled knowingly. “One moment.”

The desk was tall – honestly a little taller than Katsuki was comfortable with, he felt oddly short behind it – in the typical professional style where all the paperwork and personal items were hidden from his view unless he tried to peer over the top. From somewhere in there, though, the receptionist produced a dark cable, handing it up to him at the top. He set the laptop down and plugged it in, pulling his document up again, and with one last glance to check his page numbers and citations, he hit the print button.

The machine whirred to life, spitting out pages, and it took around seven for the receptionist to finally take notice, glancing toward it with a hint of surprise in her face as it continued. He only offered a little twitch of a smirk when she glanced up at him, not saying a word until the printer slowed to a stop.

“Is that everything?” she asked with a smile, handing the stack of pages across the counter.

“Yes. Thank you.”

“Happy to help.”

With the thick pile of papers in hand and the laptop tucked back under his arm, he stepped into an elevator, punching the button for the sixth floor and finally letting his smirk come out.

[Chapter 3]