Chapter Text
Looking back, Bakugou Katsuki was pretty sure that he could blame one letter from Tsuyu for every misfortune to befall him from Mayday on until the end of his life.
But we are getting ahead of ourselves. After all, it’s not even Mayday yet!
Let’s set the scene. In the land of Ingary, where such things as seven-league boots and cloaks of invisibility really exist, being an only child is a combination of confusing and infuriating. In most cases, the eldest will fail first and worst, and the youngest will be met with success whenever they try to seek their fortune. An only child doesn’t seem to abide by any such laws, and as such, it’s just about impossible to know what will happen when they finally leave home.
Katsuki was an only child and tended to see the situation as more infuriating than confusing.
See, his parents owned a hat shop. And Katsuki? He was a natural at everything he tried. In school, the only people even close to his level were Yaoyorozu Momo and Todoroki Shouto, who clearly had more advantages in life than Katsuki did since they were both filthy stinking rich, so it wasn’t like they counted. He was always the best, and outshone all of the worthless extras that surrounded him. He was excellent at any sport he tried, he was the best cook around, and he just happened to be a prodigy at making hats.
The hat thing was why the old hag who called herself his mother wanted to keep him around as long as she possibly could; his hats were the best hats in Market Chipping, and she knew it. Luckly, “as long as she possibly could” was less than a year away. He’d be eighteen soon, and he was going to join the army to seek his fortune.
Katsuki could never even bring himself to slack off at the hat shop, despite how much he hated it there. He had tried to once. He made a grand total of one bad hat, and promptly set it on fire to hide the evidence. He knew he wouldn’t be able to stand it if some extra saw the hat and thought he was no good at what he did. They might think they were better than him. And he was always the best.
He somehow ended up working longer and longer hours at the shop, not going out too much. He knew it was because there wasn’t much to interest him in Market Chipping; it was tiny and he’d already done everything there was to do. He wasn’t meant for a small life in a small town. Still, he kept getting letters from Tsuyu yelling at him to actually come out and visit her. He decided to worry about that later. Tsuyu’s bluntness could rival Katsuki’s temper, and she would inevitably chew him out for ignoring her letters this long, which would make him angry, which would make her chew him out more. Rinse and repeat. It was best to put it off.
Despite his long hours, Katsuki didn’t have much to do while the shop was open; after ONE TIME Katsuki attempted to forcibly shove a hat on a FRANKLY INSUFFERABLE customer's head, his parents had expressly forbidden him from talking to customers, EVER, and stuck him in the back room to sew. So he ended up sitting there, quietly bristling and wishing that there was anything that he could do to block out the tinkling, insufferable voices from the storefront. All customers seemed to do was gossip, and Katsuki had could care less about who Tsukishima was going to marry, or the garish wig Hittachiin-san bought, or how many lovers Kuroshita had taken in the last month, or what was going on with the castle.
Well, at least people called it a castle. It didn’t look much like a castle, and it didn’t act much like one, either. It was huge, made of all sorts of different house pieces thrown together every which way with little regard for physics or even a proper sense of balance, and far too many chimneys to count. Oh, and it moved. It walked around on chicken legs, as though that were the sort of behavior any castle were supposed to have.
“Apparently, a witch lives there!” someone said one day, in an overly-excited whisper that was loud enough to make it clear that she wanted to be overheard. Duh. Everyone knew that it was Uraraka’s moving castle, it wasn’t exactly a mystery. Katsuki tried hard not to listen as he sewed a golden silk flower onto a hat.
“The Witch of the Waste?” someone asked. Idiot. Katsuki stabbed his needle at one of the cloth petals with more force than necessary.
“No, a different one, I think,” the first person replied.
“I heard it was the Witch Uraraka,” another person said. Finally.
“Great, just what we need,” the second person griped, “another witch on the edge of town.”
Oh yeah, because people cared about the Witch of the Waste again. Honestly, Katsuki wasn’t entirely sure why. She had been kicking around for who knows how long, and if she hadn’t been a threat in twenty years, she shouldn’t suddenly be a threat now. Something about All for One. He was pretty sure that no one would care if Market Chipping weren’t right on the edge of the Waste, but times were making people paranoid, and they were right on her doorstep.
But that didn’t matter so much, she wasn’t the interesting witch. No, that was Uraraka. No one knew anything concrete about her. Some people said that she stole people’s magic, like the Witch of the Waste. Others said that she didn’t have to, because she had an army of demons at her beck and call. Yet others said that she was just so powerful in her own right, she could sustain the castle by herself. People couldn’t even decide if she was good or evil, had a heart of gold or no heart at all, so honestly, Katsuki was done with hearing about witches in general.
Katsuki held up the hat that he was working on. It was bright red, with gold lining and a rather attractive golden-silk flower. He couldn’t imagine anyone wearing it. “Honestly, whoever buys you better not be a gossip,” he threatened the hat. “They’d better have a good head on their shoulders, and have better things to talk about. Like, I don’t know, maybe the war that’s about to start with All for One? In what universe are witches more exciting to talk about than a full-on war? I swear to god, if one more person mentions how close the castle has wandered, I’m going to lose it.”
Later that day, a young woman looked out the window and said that she could almost count the chimneys on the castle. Katsuki yelled across the shop for her to shut up and die, and heard her scurry out the door. He gave the hat a significant look. It didn’t look particularly sympathetic.
Days bled together in the Market Chipping, and Katsuki had no intention of trying to keep track of them. That was, until the day before Mayday, when he got a letter from Tsuyu. No, not A letter. THE letter. The life-changing, misfortune-driving one. It was innocuous enough: Tsuyu let him know that the next day was Mayday, and that she knew he had off work, so that if he didn’t come visit her at the bakery she would make sure that he regretted it. Katsuki was certain that she would find a way to torment him if he didn’t visit, so he resigned himself to the inevitable.
And just like that, everything began.
The next day, Katsuki had a quick breakfast, grabbed his hat and headed for the door. His mom, intrusive hag that she was, immediately honed in on that.
“Oh, you’re actually going out today, Katsuki?” she asked, the hint of a jeer in her voice. “I thought you were going to be a shut-in for the rest of your life.”
“NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS, WOMAN!” Katsuki shouted back. “I WOULD BE OUT ALL THE TIME IF YOU LET ME SIGN ON WITH THE ARMY!”
“We are NOT having this conversation again,” his mom said, crossing her arms. “You know that I don’t think that you should, even when you ARE of age.”
“Because you want me to live as some stupid extra like you!”
“BECAUSE I don’t think you’re old enough to make that kind of decision for yourself!”
“C-could you both…” his dad started, but drifted off when both Katsuki and his mom fixed their glares on him.
“SPEAK UP,” they shouted in unison. Katsuki’s dad shrunk in on himself a bit more.
Katsuki rolled his eyes. “I’m going to Asui’s Bakery,” he said, shoving his hat on his head and making for the door again.
The overly-enthusiastic festivities of Mayday were every bit as overwhelming and disingenuous as in years past. Everyone roamed the streets in their best clothes, dancing, partying, singing, flitting in and out of shops, getting their face painted -- it all seemed forced. Like they were celebrating just for the sake of celebrating, when no one had done anything to earn a celebration. This year’s Mayday was flat-out disrespectful, what with them being on the cusp of war. Yet Katsuki seemed to be alone in his vision of the world, as all the strangers on the streets participated with a jubilance verging on manic.
The worst part of it all was that the hat shop was right by the center of town, so any hope of only catching the edges of the commotion were completely squashed. From the instant he stepped out of the door, was thrust right into the center of the celebration, having to swerve to dodge excited (and possibly drunken) extras who blundered their way down the street.
Despite his best efforts, a woman dressed in an expensive-looking silk suit ran into him at a high velocity, sending him off kilter.
“Sorry!” she called, tone airy. She didn’t sound like she meant it.
“OI, WATCH IT!!” he shouted, rounding on her. She had ridiculously deep-set eyes, what looked to be dyed pink hair with horns poking out of its curls. He wasn’t sure if they were real or fake -- if they were real, she had to be a damn powerful magician.
“I said sorry. Jeeze, you need to lighten up.” And with that, she was off, racing into the crowds.
“YEAH, YOU BETTER RUN RACOON EYES!” he shouted after her. She didn’t even pause -- some people were ridiculously rude.
Katsuki thought he saw a thinning part of the crowd, but when he pushed towards it, it turned out that the street had been cleared for a parade of soldiers. They marched in single file, as a band played, keeping their marching in time with the music. Katsuki scoffed and clenched his fists. If he were in the army, he wouldn’t find himself in some stupid parade in Market Chipping. He would be off trying to stop All for One.
He made a decision: he would take the back way to Asui’s. That would at least limit his exposure to the worst aspects of Mayday.
He ducked into an alleyway, and started making his way through the twists and turns of the backways of Market Chipping. It still started out as frustratingly crowded, the cramped allies of a city built without a plan unsuited for crowds of people. But as he got further from the main attractions, the people thinned out, and Katsuki could finally walk in peace.
Katsuki passed some pub that he probably wouldn’t have noticed if it weren’t for the two men in army uniforms loitering outside, chatting. One of them was broad with a brown mustache, and the other was tall and blonde. Both were too relaxed, Blondie leaning against the wall as he laughed at something Mustache said. Katsuki stared at them and grit his teeth. It was bad enough that there were army people wasting their lives in Market Chipping rather than worrying about the war. These men couldn’t even be assed to do the one thing they were supposed to do.
“Hey, kid,” Mustache one said with a leer. “What do you think you’re staring at?”
“Not much,” Katsuki said, leering right back.
Blondie pushed off the wall. “Hey,” he barked, “watch how you talk to your militia. Your life could be in our hands one day.”
“Doubtful,” Katsuki said, “seeing as you’re in Market Chipping, where they would only send the worst of their officers in the first place, and you decided to ditch the stupid fucking parade. All of the other officers were at least competent enough to march down a street. That makes you the worst of the worst. Frankly, if my life were in your hands, I’d rather just die.”
Blondie clenched his fists. “Why you little--”
“Hey,” Mustache said, “calm down.”
“What, you wanna go old man?!” Katsuki goaded. A grin crept across his face. Maybe today would be fun after all.
“Monoma,” Mustache said, warning in his voice.
Blondie laughed. “You really think you can take a professional? Do you think you’re better than us? You’re delusional, kid. Get going, or else.”
“Or else what?” Katsuki asked.
“Monoma,” Mustache repeated, a little more desperately.
“Or else I’ll show you just how delusional you are!”
Katsuki opened his mouth, but when he tried to respond, he found that he couldn’t. He felt a hand at his right elbow.
“Ah, there you are, darling,” a female voice said. Katsuki started. Darling? What the fuck? He glared down to see… well, a girl. She was cutesie, too, with short, fluffy brown hair, the roundest face he had ever seen, and pink cheeks. “I’m so sorry, officers! I’ve been looking for him everywhere, he tends to get himself into trouble.” She sent the two men a warm smile. “I hope he didn’t cause too much for the two of you.”
Katsuki tried to protest, but found that he still couldn’t speak. Neither of the men spoke, either.
“Well, we’d best be going,” Round Face said, and walked away. Katsuki walked with her, but only because he didn’t have a choice; she was controlling his body. Of course he was going to get kidnapped by some witch before he could go see Tsuyu. Maybe he had the luck of an oldest child after all.
When they were a few blocks away, he felt a shift. He was in control. He shoved Round Face off of him and whirled on her. She crossed her arms. “What the fuck was that?!” he screamed. “You can’t use magic to kidnap someone and then not expect consequences when you let them go! What are you, stupid?!”
Round Face sighed deeply. “Apparently, you’re the stupid one. I wouldn’t have done anything if I hadn’t seen that a fight was about to break out, in the middle of the street, where any number of bystanders could get hurt.” She sounded so put upon. “You were clearly the problem, so I removed you from the picture. And since I let you go, it clearly wasn’t kidnapping.”
She made to leave, but Katsuki grabbed her arm. “You think that I have a problem?! You have no idea what I was trying to do, you don’t know anything! You just get on your high horse and judge people based on--”
“Wait,” she interrupted. She wasn’t even looking at him.
“HEY, are you even--”
She grabbed his arm and started pulling. Katsuki stumbled, and thought for a moment that she was trying to fight him after all… but no, she was pulling him somewhere. He let go of her arm and tried to pull away, but she only held on tighter.
“The fuck?!” Katsuki cried, stumbling slightly, still resisting.
“Sorry, but it seems like you’re involved,” Round Face said. She shot him a look. “Seems like you should have just walked away when you could have, hm?”
“Oi, watch it extra!” Katsuki said, but then looked behind him. There seemed to be a mass of goopy black figures following them. He’d heard reports of things like them working for All for One. He fell into step next to Round Face, who was steadily picking up the pace. As much as Katsuki wanted to be with anyone else, he would rather be stuck with her than just fucking die.
Round Face upped the pace to a run, which Katsuki met with ease. He glanced behind them again, to see a tumbling mass of black goop filling the whole alleyway, gaining on them. Katsuki looked forward again -- “Are you trying to get us killed, idiot?!” he screamed.
They were headed straight for a dead end.
“Hold on!” Round Face yelled, unbothered. And then, suddenly, they were shooting into the air.
Katsuki most certainly did not scream, thank you very much.
Their ascent started to slow, and they were surely going to fall, when Round Face said, “Now, extend your legs,” he hadn’t realized that he had curled them up beneath him, “and start walking.”
She was insane. Still, there was nothing else Katsuki could do, so he listened. And they didn’t fall. They walked on the air.
“Why didn’t you just do this in the first place?!” Katsuki griped.
“I was hoping that I could lose them without using too much of my magic,” she said, tone irritated. “Just tell me where to drop you off so we can both be out of each other’s hair.”
“Asui’s Bakery,” Katsuki said. “And I can’t wait for that.”
Round face frowned at him. “I probably saved your life twice just then. You know that, right?”
“I wasn’t gonna lose that fight, and I was only in danger because of you .”
“You really are infuriating, aren’t you?” she asked.
“THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SAY ABOUT ME?!” Katsuki was about to pull away, but glanced down to see the market square below him. That would be a mortifying way to die. Stupid witches.
“That’s Asui’s there, right?” she asked, nodding towards a building.
“DON’T IGNORE ME ROUND FACE!” Katsuki shouted. He looked at the building and added, “Yeah, it is.”
“Good.” They started lowering, and Round Face deposited Katsuki gently on the balcony.
“Well,” Katsuki said, “this sucked.”
“Yeah,” Round Face agreed. “It was awful meeting you.”
And with that, she jumped off the balcony. Katsuki knew that she wouldn’t splat, so he didn’t waste his time worrying. Instead, he charged into the bakery.
The second he opened the door, Katsuki was met with the intoxicating smell of pastries baking and Tsuyu’s little sister staring at him, mouth agape, holding a baking sheet. Well, she wasn’t holding it for long, as it slipped out of her limp hands, clattering to the floor and startling her. She shook her head hard.
“Did you just float onto our balcony?!” Littlest Frog asked, still staring at him.
“I don’t see how that’s any of your business,” Katsuki snapped, and she flinched slightly. “Just tell your sister I’m here.”
She nodded and rushed back to the shopfront, away from the kitchens, baking tray left abandoned on the ground.
Tsuyu came out just as Katsuki began to feel impatient.
When Katsuki first met her when they were six years old, he thought that she looked like a frog. Now, at seventeen years old, she still looked like a frog. She had huge, bugging eyes, big hands with fingers too long for her palms, a green tint to her hair, and a strangely long tongue that she stuck out whenever she concentrated on anything.
When they were six and he told her that she looked like a frog, she took it as a compliment. She did not anymore, and tended to tell Katsuki that he looked like a serial killer whenever he mentioned her frogginess.
That was probably why they still worked as friends.
“So, you actually are back here,” she noted, regarding him. She smirked. “Should I assume that what Satsuki told me about you floating onto the balcony with a mysterious, beautiful witch was true, too?”
“ Beautiful?!” Katsuki cried. “More like fucking evil!”
Tsuyu’s smirk dropped, and her eyes widened. “Wait, Satsuki didn’t make that up?!” She asked, dumbstruck. Oh, that comment had been a joke. Good. That witch hadn't been fucking beautiful. “Katsuki!” Tsuyu said. “Do you know how dangerous witches can be? If you didn't have such a bad personality, she probably would have eaten your heart!”
“WHAT was that about my personality?!”
“Not the important part! Tell me everything that happened.”
And so Katsuki did. He told her the whole story. Tsuyu didn’t interrupt him, but the longer he talked, the deeper her frown got. Once his story was finished, she said, “Let me get this straight. You tried to fight some soldiers, managed to get yourself entirely in some witch’s mercy, got chased by what looked like minions of All for One himself, and proceeded to rely on said witch to get out of the situation? All in one afternoon? And survived? ”
“What, do you think that I’m an idiot?! I can handle some witch!” Katsuki decided to ignore the fact that he’d been entirely at her mercy. “Besides, you’re talking about it like I did it on purpose!” Katsuki glared at Tsuyu, but she didn't flinch. She had never been afraid of him, which was the worst.
“It may not have been on purpose,” she said, crossing her arms, “but you shouldn’t have messed with those soldiers in the first place. You’ll get your chance soon enough.”
“Stop worrying about it,” Katsuki complained. “I’m here. I’m alive. None of that other stuff fucking matters, so drop it!”
“Fine,” she said, “but at least promise me that you'll be trying to take care of yourself.”
“Of course I will! What are you trying to get at?”
Tsuyu looked unconvinced. “Your plan is to rush head-first into danger the moment that you can. If I weren’t worried, I’d be insane.”
“Why are you bringing the army into this?! You think that I can’t take care of myself?!” Katsuki tried his hardest not to yell, but he definitely couldn’t keep the anger out of his voice.
“You know that’s not true,” Tsuyu said.
“Do I?! Because you’re doing a damn good job acting like it is!”
“It’s just-”
“Just what?!”
“It’s just that I can’t come with you.” Tsuyu said it with a tone so matter-of-fact that Katsuki almost forgot how stupid her point was. “I can’t come with you, and it’ll be the first time that we’re apart since we were kids, back when I still thought that I’d join the army, or become a sorcerer, or do anything to live an exciting life. But I know now that I’m going to stay here, and run the bakery, and just live a normal life. I don’t want to stop you from living your dreams but I’m worried about when you leave because you’ll change and you’ll grow , even if you are an ass. And you won’t want to come back to normal.” Tsuyu’s voice broke on the last word, and she glared at Katsuki, daring him to call her emotional or stupid.
“Shit,” Katsuki said, staring at Tsuyu. “Stop that,” he said, gesturing to her face, and his tone still sounded aggressive, but she tended to understand when he didn’t mean for it to. “The only reason for you not to join the army, or be a sorcerer, or whatever is because you’re too scared to go for it!”
“You don’t understand,” she said, rolling her eyes. “You’re not an oldest child.”
“Well, fuck that!” Bakugou said. He grabbed her by both of her shoulders and shook her a little. “Why the fuck would you just give in to a life that you don’t want!? What are you, stupid?!”
She took a deep breath. “I’d rather be stupid than a hothead.” She said it with a smirk.
“I’M NOT THAT HOT-HEADED!!” Katsuki shouted, which made Tsuyu’s smirk soften into a genuine, fond smile. “God, you’re such a stupid little frog!”
“And you’re a hot-headed serial killer.”
“But that’s not the point! The point is, you should come with me.”
Tsuyu tilted her head to the side and placed her index finger on her chin. “Where would I be going during my shift?”
“Not right NOW. In a few MONTHS. When I join the ARMY. You should come with me. We can enroll together.”
Tsuyu’s eyebrows pulled together. “I can’t,” she said.
“Why the fuck not?! What’s stopping you?!”
“My family,” Tsuyu started, “my siblings, the bakery, the fact that I’m an oldest, but mostly? If we both disappeared together, people would say that we’d eloped, and I honestly could not think of anything worse than that.” She said it like it was common knowledge. Katsuki wondered how she could be this ridiculous.
“What would be so bad about people thinking we’re eloping? It’s not like we’re actually eloping.” Katsuki couldn’t help making a face at that thought. Actually eloping with this idiot frog was not a pleasant thought.
“While that may be true, I’d like my loved ones to know that I have better taste than that.”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN BETTER TASTE?!” Bakugou shouted, baring his teeth at her.
“That,” Tsuyu said, pointing at his face. “That is exactly what I meant.”
“I’m a FUCKING DELIGHT, and anyone would be LUCKY to elope with me!” Tsuyu laughed at that, making Katsuki fume even more. “WHAT’S SO FUNNY?!”
“Tsuyu!” Tsuyu’s dad shouted from the kitchen portion of the bakery. “Can you help with the jelly cakes?!”
“Can you get Samidare to do it?!” she shouted back. “I’m with Katsuki right now!”
“Good!” her dad replied. “Bakugou can help, too!”
Katsuki and Tsuyu made eye contact. “Sorry,” she said. “You up for being roped into work?”
Katsuki shrugged. “You better make it worth my time.”
“You can have your pick of any one item in the shop.”
“Two,” Katsuki replied, crossing his arms.
Tsuyu crossed her arms right back. “One baked good and a hard candy.”
Katsuki considered it. He honestly liked cooking of any kind, baking included, and baking with Tsuyu was better than baking alone. Plus, this was a pretty good deal. “Fine,” he said.
Tsuyu smiled and lead the way to the kitchens.