At the Core | Bakugo Katsuki | S/H

Udon is a Killer

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     "Why the hell are you awake?"  (Y/N) jumps a bit, whipping around to stare at the boy behind her in the kitchen.  She glances over at the clock on the built-in microwave.  5:07 am.
     "Why are you?" she asks back.  Bakugo cocks an eyebrow before stepping around her to get a glass.
     "I like waking up early to have the house to myself."  She nods her head, the light from the fridge almost blinding her at this hour.
     "Oh.  Sorry to ruin your alone time," she mumbles.  He glances over at her but shrugs.
     "It's not that deep," he grumbles out.  "It's mostly to get away from my parents."  He closes the fridge, casting them both into the darkess again as he takes a sip of his water.  "So why the hell are you awake?"  She chuckles a little, mad he didn't forget his question.
     "Why do you wanna know?" she laughs out gently.
     "Well, now, 'cause I'm pissed you won't answer.  I don't like people who keep secrets."  She shrugs her shoulders.
     "This'll make you mad then," she jokes again.  "It's a thing with my quirk."  She could see him drop his head back as he huffed.
     "Everything with you is about your quirk," he grumbles.
     "It controls my life."
     "Yeah?  What is it?"  She didn't know how to tell him that she could see his grin in the little moonlight coming through the window.  It was playful, but it wasn't aggressive like his expressions usually were.  It was kind of cute.
     "Well, you know, secrets," she laughs.  He grovels out something but she heard his chuckle underneath it.  "It controls my diet, it controls my sleep, it unintentionally controls my body.  I come from a long line of quirks that fuck up your life and it seems like I got half of them at once."  He nods.
     "Yeah," he hums.  "I'm one of those kinda like that.  My mom's quirk is just secreting glycerin and my dad's is the small explosion in his hands.  I'm the perfect love child.  So much that I'm still not fully convinced they actually just met and got married on their own."  (Y/N) hums.
     "Like, you think they might've been a quirk marriage?" she asks to clarify.  He nods.  "Yeah.  Shoto-chan is a child of a quirk marriage.  Tears apart the whole family."
     "Who?" he grumbles.
     "Oh, Todoroki.  I've known him for years."  Bakugo sneers a lip at the mention of the boy.  They had developed quite the rivalry and all he could see was their parallels to pro-heroes in their life, with Todoroki being the son of the now number-one hero Endeavor.
     "I figured something like that.  You got the same split-dye."  He watches her reach up and begin brushing her fingers through the left side of her hair.
     "Yeah.  It's, well," she laughs again, cutting herself off and draping a hand over her eyes.  "You're gonna be pissed, but it's also a thing with my quirk."
     "My gods!" he groans.  There was a hint of playfulness in his exasperation.  A very tiny hint, but one that seemed to bounce off the walls of the empty kitchen and made (Y/N) smile.
     "Right?" she huffs with fake exasperation.  "Tell me about it."

     Their silence continued, conversation dying immediately.  She didn't know if he knew that she could see him, staring at her in the dark as he drank his water.  There was something expectant in his eyes but she didn't know what or if it was even real.  His angry, unemotional cover was so attached to him it was nearly sewn on.
     "Can I be honest with you, Bakugo?" she mumbles, glancing away from him.  He hums—well, grunts—at her sudden statement.
     "Just call me Katsuki while you're here.  Shit's gonna get confusing."  She lets out a breath with a click of her tongue.  "But sure, whatever you want."
     "I just feel like you deserve an explanation," she says timidly.  Her eyes traced the peaks between the blinds as she stared at the shadowed tiles.  "That man back there, he's..."  She pulls her mouth back, a small gesture to silence herself before deciding to continue.  "All for One, he's my great-grandfather."
     "Yeah, I know," Bakugo grumbles.  Her eyes go wide, but he continued casually, playing his cup in the sink.  "You told me while we were there.  You forget that already?"
     "W-What?" she whispers.  He turns back towards her with his arms crossed.  "No, I didn't remember saying that."
     "You mentioned it like 3 times," he laughs.
     "Well, I get a little delusional when I pass out like that," she murmurs as she looks towards the dining room again.  "I didn't recall.  What else did I tell you?"
     "That you had his quirk and uh," he grimaces a little, lips sneering in the moonlight.  "That you were gonna eat him?"  Then he hums, that flittering playful tone tipping back onto his tongue.  "And that you wouldn't let me down."
     "Oh," she breathes.  He cocks an eyebrow as he leaned against the fridge before turning around and walking into the living room behind him.  She silently follows, not really thinking about it as her feet slid across the floor.  "Then why did you ask me what my quirk is?"
     "'Cause it doesn't make sense," he answers.  He fell onto the azure loveseat, sitting sideways but still not looking at her.
     "What doesn't make sense?"
     "All your extra bullshit," he says as he waves his hand in her direction.  "All for One is a simple guy.  He touches you with his palm, he can take or give quirks.  Easy.  So either you're a liar and hiding much more than you lead on or your quirk is a lot different than his.  I don't like liars, either.  But I don't know why you'd lie about having half-n-half's split-dye or filing your teeth to look like Shitty Hair and say it's your quirk."  She frowns as she sits down on the couch, making them finally face each other.  His phone was on, lighting up his face and red eyes that seemed to blaze like real fires in the dark.
     "Oh."
     "Do you know any other letters?" he mocks with a chuckle.  She scoffs as she leans back into the cushions.
     "My quirk is quite a bit different than his; it's a lot more complicated.  But the core concept is the same.  Don't like that you know that, though."  Now it was his turn to grumble out his distain at her mistrust.
     "I've got no one to tell.  Doesn't mean shit to me."
     "No, it doesn't.  That's the problem.  It's easier for you to spout the truth than lie if you were pressed on it, and you will be.  You don't like liars and you don't like secrets.  So it makes me uncomfortable."  He shrugs.
     "I won't talk about it, that make you feel better?"
     "If you're not lying to me."
     "I told you I hate liars."  That made her smile a little bit as her head leaned back.  There was nothing to stare at except the darkness so deep it looked like was swirling.  She swore she could see the atoms that made up the air.  She shivered at the sight, closing her eyes, but it didn't help.  She turns on her phone to see something bright.