escordvi | December Catch All

Entry tags:

December Catch All

Who: Katsuki Bakugou
Status: Open, mostly
Where: Wherever each prompt takes place
What: December catch all. Manta board things to begin with.
Warnings: Since it's Katsuki, probably foul language and violence.

Bite Sized Blessings (Open)
Storm of Sneezes (Open)
A Very Beary Night (Open) (Paladin)
The Picture of Dorina Gray (Closed)
Mistletoe Bats (Closed)

((ooc: I match rp styles. And if you want something specific with him, pm me. We can hash things out.))

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Shoto sighs a light sound, just a breath of air that tells he was ready for this kind of confrontation. Not the worst kind where Bakugo is concerned, but here they are. "She's an artist, Bakugo." All artists are weird.

Shoto sits down at any rate.

There are parts of the story that were only ever implied. But he trusts Bakugo to be there to hear it. "I was very young when my mother was taken away." Shoto explains, not so much looking at the artist but at Bakugo. "I mean taken away in the same logical sense of the word..." His eyes turn away, back to the back of the painting as the woman starts to fill in areas of the canvas. "I blame my father, still, for that and essentially they are both to blame. One for doing what they did, and the other for... doing what they did. For what felt like abandonment and forced separation."

He says all of this so robotically, but it's Bakugo, the man who he trusts to not make weird the fact that they bat-kissed and who he in return does not make weird about it. The man who knows his history as well, better than anyone other than Izuku. Equal parts.

"I'm not ashamed of anything. I'm ashamed of my actions growing up, how mean or cruel I could be to people around me. Even if I had to be, I wouldn't be allowed to have them in my life if I wanted them or not anyway. Not until UA where I met my best friends. One of which is standing here, doubting that he could be honest with himself, with you and with me all at once. I'm hoping that showing him the colours of my soul will help him bare his."

Todoroki looks over at the woman who has stopped. This isn't helping her paint, it is helping her, but his current hope for his friend isn't a part of his soul for more than a few strokes.

He heard... bits of this story. Standing in that stadium at the sports festival, eavesdropping on a conversation. As well as sitting in the Todoroki household while the family discussed these things.

It hits different to have Todoroki directly look at him while telling her all of this.

And it's not like Todoroki doesn't know some of what Katsuki will have to share in turn. Their whole class heard it when he made his apology.

But he knows it'll feel different to open himself up to Todoroki this way and a stranger as well.

Jaw tight, he doesn't back down from Todoroki's gaze. If he can do it, Katsuki can too. No way will he allow himself to fall short and not do something his ~~friend~~ rival can do.

"Always knew I was better than everyone else. Even as a brat. Was surrounded by people with lame ass quirks and mine was amazing. Everyone said so."

This is... incredibly uncomfortable.

"Then I got into UA and I realized... nah. Wasn't better than everyone else. I just hadn't ever been given a real challenge. But I could be the best if I just kept getting better. And I will be. I'll be the best."

Starting... light, honestly. But it's a start. His eyes never leave Todoroki.

Shoto doesn't actually care what his painting looks like. His friend needs his support to do something like open up about himself, even if it's just for a painting. But he does need his support. Todoroki sits in a seat across from the one he's in to be the model. He gives him the same kind of support, looking back at him.

"You are incredible." he compliments, "It's hard to think I can even remotely keep up. But I will work daily to."

The artist pauses again. What they're giving isn't nearly enough for this painting. She's getting such small glimpses into two closed off souls.

Katsuki makes a face at Todoroki.

"You fuckin' better. Won't have a repeat of the sports festival where you didn't give your all."

A tiny stroke of the brush for a tiny fragment but she's being patient about it.

Katsuki hasn't realized yet that she's painting them both on the canvas. It makes sense since they sat down and started alternating telling her things. It's not like she's going to paint two separate portraits at one time.

How else would the artist be able to paint. Todoroki smirks at the way Katsuki threatens him about something that seems so far behind them. "One day I will beat you fairly." he offers.

Shoto isn't sure what exactly this painting is going to look like, but he's excited to see what it is. He's never been to a portrait painting before. "Can I s--"

No he cannot see, so Shoto just stays by Bakugo. "Bakugo... do you have a favourite memory from when you were younger? You don't have to tell me, it's prying, but I'd like to hear it if you could share it."

Katsuki squints at him suspiciously. Because what?? You want him to share more? You want him to do the very thing he agreed to by coming here today??

He almost fires back that Todoroki should offer something first. But he bites his tongue because... Todoroki probably doesn't have a lot of good childhood memories, let's be real...

"Getting my quirk." Which. Hmmm... no he does have other things that he can think of that are better memories than that. But this process will be a little bit like pulling teeth. "Was in school when it came in and I knew it meant I could be what I wanted when I got older."

That's getting a little closer. But... "Hey, I'm not the only one who's gonna share here. Your turn to give her something."

They had a very different experience with their quirks coming in and what it meant after day one for them... "Hm?" He asks, looking over at Bakugo while he pulls another chair up to sit down next to him instead. "My best memory? Or childhood memory?" This is Bakugo. Realistically there isn't much Shoto won't tell him.

Katsuki is trying to navigate the train wreck that is Todoroki's life. He's trying not to be an insensitive asshole. It's hard for him sometimes. It's been his go-to for so long.

But he doesn't want to hurt people anymore and he's doing his best.

"I don't know. Best memory. Give her something to work with."

"That's a hard decision." he takes a moment and looks down at his hands, folded together in the middle of the gap of his knees as he's sitting. "It's either sitting with my mother before I got my quirk, or the moment I realized I had friends the first year."

Oh.

Okay.

That's kind of wholesome and also sad??

"You're shitty at talking about things. You're just listing things off with no details."

...as if Katsuki is not also doing exactly that too.

The difference is that Shoto won't call him on it. "You're right." It's not much to learn about someone and again since it's only Bakugo... and a woman he's sure doesn't ultimately care passed her painting...

"I used to sit with my mother and watch heroes on TV, I used to want to watch them as often as I could. Sometimes it was my father, sometimes it was All Might, sometimes it was just whoever was on the screen. She would tell me that I could be a hero too, some day." He's summarizing. Summarizing and then going a little quiet, eyebrows coming together. He's reaching his goal of being a hero if not already, but thinking about how happy his mother was, how happy his family was... until she wasn't. Until, essentially his oldest brother was right.

He draws in a good long breath, letting it out slowly. "Then when I came to UA, I used to think you were all unsufferable bastards. Morons who would be useful in a fight and nothing aside that. People I underestimated like Kirishima, or even Sero. Uraraka... Jiro." He is definitely lost in his own thoughts another second or so. "You, even. Midoriya especially... and then the more I came to class, the more you all started including me no matter that I had been almost cruel to everyone. After Midoriya told me that I wasn't the sum of my father, I was the sum of myself..." That tournament changed him, drastically. "I still am going to make it to number one, I never plan on stopping, but it's through the people beside me who deserve the same spot every time we put our life on the line."

Sometimes he says one word. Sometimes he says two thousand.

"Those are happy memories for me."

Katsuki shifts in his seat, eyes fixated on the moving paintbrush. Watching as the stranger paints and Todoroki talks.

"You were an icy prick." He recalls, his eyes narrowing a little, lips a tight thin line before his gaze flickers to Todoroki.

"Were. Past tense."

He wasn't the only one. And he's come a long way. And Katsuki isn't great with words. But he does know Todoroki has made progress. A lot of it.

"...when I got to UA, I thought you were all just extras. Not even worth learning your names. Seeing certain people in action, I realized I had a lot of work to do if I wanted to be the best even just in my class, let alone among pro heroes."

Todoroki. Yaoyarozu.

...Izuku. The amount of progress Izuku made and that loss to him Katsuki faced in the heroes vs villains exercise... yeah.

"Feels like I've faced a lot of challenges. Not just the kinds I anticipated. My whole worldview got turned on it's head. There's things you're ahead of me in." That personal growth. "There's things De--Izuku is ahead of me in. But I'm not gonna let you two stay ahead of me. I'll be the best in every way. No way I'll be beat."

Edited 2023-12-23 02:29 (UTC)

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December Catch All

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