Viridian: The Green Guide

Chapter 55: Connections

Katsuki really couldn't tell how he had ended up here. If someone had told that little punk from his second year of middle school that not only would he be hanging out with people on a regular basis that didn't think he was the greatest thing since sliced bread, but that he would actually know their names? He'd have laughed in their faces and probably called them idiot extras to boot, so it was just hard to wrap his head around the fact that a ragtag group of former villains had not only managed to pull him off his high horse, but actually managed to make him genuinely enjoy spending time with them.

It made Katsuki sorta happy, not that he'd ever admit that out loud.

Ogawa pulled him into a headlock and ruffled his hair as he led the group down another alley, "Hey Bakugo! What's going on in that crazy head of yours?"

"Bold of you to assume there's anything happening at all!" Akiko laughed.

"Come on, Akiko, go easy on him, he's just a kid." Maki said.

"Hey!" Katsuki shoved Ogawa off of him. "Who are you calling kid?"

"You are literally still in middle school, Bakugo." Maki laughed. "That's the definition of kid."

Katsuki ran his fingers through his hair to fix whatever Ogawa had done to it and scowled, "Shut up."

He was getting surprisingly good at navigating the back alleys of the city now that he'd taken to hanging out with Ogawa and the others outside of group. He could find his way to most of the popular hangouts on his own and even knew which bars were theoretically the best for finding people like info brokers or dealers who would be able to help him once he became a hero. That was how he knew Ogawa was leading them to one particular bar that was popular with people like vigilantes, minor villains, and even civilians who were a little more lax about things like legality.

The place they were going, along with most other bars like it, was what was known as a grey space. Akiko had explained that they were like informal neutral spaces where people of all... moral stances could come together without being at each other's throats for once. Katsuki still hadn't seen any underground heroes like Eraserhead in any of the ones he'd visited so far, but he figured that was probably because he showed up in the afternoon, not the middle of the night like that hobo.

"Hey! Drill Girl!" The bartender grinned as they got to the bottom of the stairs, which looked super creepy, considering that half his face was held on with staples. "Come to give me your number?"

"You wish, Dabi!" Akiko laughed. "First off, aren't you gay? And second off, you know I've sworn off dating deadbeats like you!"

"Ouch!" Dabi clutched his heart dramatically, but his smirk ruined his little show. "I'll have you know I'm an upstanding member of society with a real job!"

"Uh huh." Ogawa smirked. "Because being a bartender for a grey space is a completely upstanding career."

"You know, I could kick you out for that." Dabi threatened, not that there was any real heat behind it. "And for bringing the kid! Come on, Ogawa, this is a bar, not a daycare."

"Yeah, yeah, as if you actually care." Ogawa rolled his eyes and sat down at the bar. "You know Bakugo here is getting to know the grey spaces for when he's a hero."

"Sure..." Dabi looked him up and down, "I'm guessing you want a juice box, don't you kid?"

Katsuki glared at him and slumped down into one of the bar stools, "Fuck you."

"If only my kid brother had half your backbone." Dabi drawled. "Orange juice it is!"

Katsuki rolled his eyes, but accepted the glass. He didn't get why the bartenders at these places enjoyed giving him juice so much, but for some reason they thought it was funny to rub his age in his face. Yeah, he knew middle schoolers didn't typically get dragged to places like this, but he was having to accept that he wasn't really a typical kid. Most kids, for example, weren't actively trying to take advantage of their former role as a bully to be a better hero, so Katsuki figured he could take a few jokes about his age.