I don't own anything except any original characters (including the Reader's concept) and/or any original plot

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Chapter Seventeen - Of Monsters and Men

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"You're going to spend the rest of your days knowing that the teenager you dismissed as inconsequential was the one to reap the benefits of your downfall. I hate you. I want to tear you apart and make the suffering last as I shove dirt and energy that isn't yours into your body so you feel the anguish I did every moment I spent with you. You are nothing but a speck of dust in the winds of time, filth wiped away with a sneer. And that, your tragedy, makes me smile!"

The train was unusually crowded so late at night. When you'd rode the train in the past there was normally only one or two people. Now there was a group of gossiping friends on the other side of the car. It made you uncomfortable, and for a split second, you considered putting your mask on to hide your face. But (Y/n) wasn't recognizable. Energy was.

When the train stopped, you were the first one off. You pulled your hood over your head and started walking. The group of friends stayed on the train which was a relief. They probably had another stop or two to go before they'd get off. That left you alone.

The last thing you said to Overhaul made him cry. It still gave you a sick sense of satisfaction when you thought about the terror on his face. He called you a monster. You were just enacting revenge. He saw the devil in your eyes. You saw normal (E/c).

On the drive back to the base after your confrontation with Overhaul, you drove since Dabi was going to throw up if Spinner was at the wheel again. It was mostly quiet. No one had much to say about the prior events. It wasn't even until you'd all abandoned the truck to continue on foot that Dabi hung back to speak to you.

"What'd you say to him?"

"Nothing much."

"He cried."

You shrugged.

"He called you a monster too."

"Do you think I'm a monster, Dabi?" You looked up at the older villain with a raised brow. There was something familiar about his eyes. He never made eye contact much unless he was challenging someone's authority, so you'd never thought about it before.

"No. I know what monsters are, and you aren't one."

Dabi said you weren't a monster. Tomura called heroes monsters. AFO himself was a monster and admitted it. So where did you fall on that spectrum? Was it really so wrong of you to do everything you did with the Shie Hassakai? You'd killed one of their own for Eri. You'd betrayed them all for the plan. You'd helped the heroes for Eri and the heroes rescuing her. Everything made sense up until that final point with Overhaul.

Staring up at the wall around UA, you sighed and went through your normal routine of going through the chink in the armor and walking through one of the battle zones to get to the dorms while you simultaneously turned off any cameras and bots temporarily.

Then you were looking up at Bakugou's balcony, then you were in his room. He was sitting on his bed, waiting for you to say something.

"Do you think I'm a monster?" You asked, unsure of how long you'd just been staring at each other.

He blinked. Once, twice. Then he finally processed what you said, "No. A dumbass villain, but not a monster. Why the hell would you think that?"

"Just wondering," you shrugged, shaking your head to clear it, "Sorry. That was weird."

"The news said you attacked Overhaul's transport. His arms were gone."

Nodding silently, you pulled off your mask and set it on Bakugou's desk, "You told me not to kill him. Tomura wanted to take his Quirk. I said... some things to him, made sure he'd stay alive until he got treatment. He cried."

"Wimp," Bakugou grunted simply.

Nodding, you looked at your hands. There was a sigh, and you cried out when the desk chair you were resting on nearly toppled. Glaring at Bakugou, you smacked his leg when it raised to kick your chair again.

"I said you aren't a monster. Just drop it. It's weird seeing you all mopey. Usually, you just try to bring me to the dark side."

Grinning, you asked, "Do you want me to go on a rant about why the ranking system allows systematic classism?"

"No," Bakugou rolled his eyes, but sat down and waited expectantly.

"Okay, so the concept of the hero ranking overall is really messed up because despite enabling more competition it also takes attention away from..."

Bakugou piped in sometimes, either arguing or quietly agreeing with a less radical point you were trying to make. It made you smile, knowing that Bakugou was learning something. Ever since his fight with Midoriya, where he finally expelled all the emotions he was holding in, he was growing as a person.

You weren't sure how long you were talking. Going on tangents always made time feel weird because you were so focused on what you wanted to say. It was even worse with Bakugou. You knew he liked to go to bed early, but he stayed up for you. It wasn't like you let him just sleep when you visited.

"So obviously getting rid of the ranking and focusing on widespread reform to promote all heroes would be better," you concluded.

"You sounded like Deku that entire time."

Rolling your eyes at the jab, you asked, "Things still weird with him?"

Bakugou scoffed lightly and looked away, "Not weird. Just different. He's not totally defenseless anymore, and he's proving it."

"Do you feel like you're catching up still?"

Bakugou shrugged, and you didn't push any further. Sometimes it felt like pushing further would be beneficial, other times you knew he was too emotionally exhausted to be able to properly (properly for him) emote. If he really wanted to share then he'd say it without you needing to prompt him.

"I want to fight him all the time, still. Sometimes I want to beat the smile off his stupid face. But... instead, it's like we're fighting with each other to be the best. It's better."

Trust was always shaky between the two of you. Either of you could easily betray the other and both of you knew it. Despite that, what had started as an innocent interest in picking apart Bakugou's brain turned into something more over time. You told each other things that didn't leave Bakugou's room. Maybe it was the knowledge that spilling those secrets would mean revealing the meetings altogether, or maybe it was something else entirely. Either way, trust had built to a point that still shocked you sometimes.

"Good. Working to be better like that puts less pressure on you. That's what started this whole anger thing, right? Knowing that you'd let down every person who ever said you could be a hero if you weren't the best."

"You're creepy when you're like this." You were right, based on Bakugou's reaction.

"Creepy, but not a monster," you chuckled, standing and stretching, "I should head out. The trains will stop running soon and I need to get back."

Nodding, Bakugou watched you step out onto the balcony.

"Hey!" He called you. Humming in acknowledgment, you turned to face him, "Be careful. The League of Villains keeps getting more and more attention. They're gonna get taken down, you with them."

Smiling, you secured your mask over your face, "It'll be hard to arrest a ghost. No name, no face, no one to arrest. But thanks for caring... Katsuki."

~*~

"How's the funding?"

"I can try to make it last as long as possible. What Overhaul initially transferred over is a good amount, but it won't last forever," you told Tomura.

The two of you were having a 'Leader's Meeting'. It was really just the two of you standing outside the warehouse and trying to figure out what the hell you were doing.

Tomura scratched at his neck lightly. You didn't try to stop him. It wasn't hard enough to cause any damage, just the bi-product of his normal tic.

"You'd think AFO would leave us with a credit card," you grumbled, mentally doing calculations in your head, "I think I can stretch the money to last a few weeks, maybe a month and a half if I push it. That's not counting for any back-alley doctor visits or other things that might pop up."

Nodding, Tomura seemed to be thinking. You let him, leaning against the brick wall behind you and crossing your arms. Inside, the others were playing Monopoly. Dabi was off somewhere, apparently meeting with a potential recruit. He'd met with them twice before. You hoped to meet them soon to discern whether they were worth keeping around for yourself.

"We need to look for the Doctor," Tomura stated, "He was one of Master's most trusted allies. He'll have access to money, and know how to proceed further."

"Tomura, we can go to him for money, but not for instruction. You're running the League now, alright?"

"Right."

"Good. I'll talk to Giran and see what he can find. Until then, let's lay low and keep the crimes to a minimum. The news still hasn't stopped reporting on the Shie Hassakai raid."

"Yes. It's a miracle no one has mentioned that you were fighting against Overhaul as well."

Tomura knew bits and pieces of what happened during your time with the Shie Hissakai. You played down how close you'd gotten to Eri, but told him about the breakthrough concerning your Quirk since you'd likely have to use it again someday. Concerning the final battle... well, Tomura knew that you fought against Overhaul and that was it. There was no mention of temporarily teaming up with the heroes or giving Lemillion some of his Quirk back. It'd stay that way. Forever, preferably.

"There's another mission I have for you," Tomura reached into his coat and pulled out the two boxes stolen from the Shie Hassakai. The Quirk erasing bullets and the cure, "These should be hidden somewhere secure. If they were to be lost then the heroes would eventually get their greedy hands on them."

"I understand. I'll hide them somewhere secure," you took the two boxes from Tomura, and left him alone outside the warehouse.

Retrieving a medical mask from your backpack, you pulled a jacket over your long sleeve and passed by the others in the middle of a tense staredown over their Monopoly game.

"Are you going somewhere, (Y/n)?" Himiko asked curiously.

"Tomura is sending me somewhere. I should be back later tonight," you said dismissively.

"Ooo, can I come?" Himi was quick to jump to her feet at the prospect of getting out of the warehouse, "I'll take someone's blood so I won't look suspicious!"

"No, Himi. I've got to do this on my own-" Himi immediately tried to argue, "But if you're careful, then you can go out later tonight for a walk- with supervision. Atsuhiro can take you if he's feeling up to it."

"It'd be my pleasure," Compress nodded.

"See? You can get out of the warehouse without coming with me. Like I said, I'll be back later. You know how to get a hold of me if you need something."

With that, you made your way out of the warehouse and back to the more populated city. It'd only take an hour by train to get where you needed to go, but you'd spend the day away to pretend like you were searching for a good place.

Your greatest kept secret wasn't your meeting with Bakugou. It was a small apartment, paid for upfront in cash, the facilities paid for by a series of off-shore accounts you'd set up years ago. The accounts themselves skimmed money off the top of large company earnings, small amounts they wouldn't miss.

The train was busy since it was the middle of the day. You either texted the league group chat or Bakugou most of the way there. When you stepped off, you stopped for a quick and cheap snack and moved along.

Stepping into the apartment felt like coming to an empty home. There was no love in it, no personalization. Even the warehouse the league was staying in gave you more comfort, still, it was a safe place and that was all that mattered.

Wandering into the main bedroom, you tucked the boxes under a board on the bedspring. Tomura didn't know which was which. You did, and it would stay that way for the time being. There. Your super important mission was completed in an hour and a half. That gave you the rest of the day to yourself. Completely alone.

Despite having time to be alone with Overhaul, or sometimes with the league, you were never truly by yourself. There was always the looming sense of being potentially watched or summoned. There was none of that here.

Opening up the small storage closet in the hallway, you pushed aside all of the barely-used cleaning supplies to reveal a small, colorful backpack.

Pulling it out of the closet, you took it with you to the couch. Settling, you slowly pulled open the zipper and started pulling out the items inside.

A small water bottle, a pair of child-sized sunglasses, a well-loved Japanese dictionary, and a digital camera. Disregarding everything except the camera, you pressed the power button and waited for it to power up.

Instead of taking any new pictures, you went to the photo library to view what the camera had captured in the past. Hesitating for only a moment, you started scrolling through the camera roll.

It was just you and your parents in Japan that fateful vacation. Your siblings were staying with your grandparents. So at first, all that was there were pictures of you and your parents. Sometimes one or two out of the three of you was missing, sometimes there were none of you there and it was a picture of the Japanese scenery.

The farther back you went, the more memories resurfaced. There were pictures of your last summer with your siblings. Of swimming at the beach and eating lunch on the beach. There was Christmas and Halloween, presents and costumes. You got to relieve your childhood- the best parts of it. The parts that you hated to think about even more than the endless torment you faced.

Sniffling, you reached up and wiped your eyes. You reached the end of the camera roll and shut the camera off. Putting it back in the backpack, you covered your face with your hands and sobbed loudly.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry," you whispered like a broken record.

Your family couldn't hear you. They weren't anywhere near you. They probably thought you were dead, too. They had no idea what your life was like now, and what it could still be.

The world broke you, and you picked up the shards of yourself with bloody hands. But before there were one too many cracks for you to be considered whole, your family was there with glue. The crappy kind that didn't really work, but glue nonetheless.

On the really bad days, the days where insults were written on your desk in sharpie and your skin was tender with forming bruises, your siblings would settle with you on the couch so the three of you could watch a movie together.

If you closed your eyes you could hear your mother humming along to the radio, and your father laughing at something on TV. If you wrapped your arms around yourself you could imagine it was your big sister giving you a tight hug. If you breathed in deeply you could smell your brother's shampoo.

You opened your eyes, dropped your hands to your sides, and breathed through your mouth.

They all tried their best. But they had no idea what they were doing. All of their encouraging words couldn't make up for the hate you faced in the outside world. No matter how warm and loving your home was, it couldn't protect you forever.

You loved your family for loving you.

You hated your family for loving you.

It couldn't be both. But it was.

You left them to pursue a future of villainy. You took a Quirk to help the quirkless. You let the world destroy who you were, and you let your resentment form who you would be.

"I'm such a monster," you whispered, feeling more and more nauseous the longer you stared at the colorful back.

Ping!

SparkySparkyBoomBoomMan: Aizawa wasn't in class today. Deku said it was because he was with Eri at the hospital. He also said that Energy helped save her and the news wasn't reporting it

"A dumbass villain maybe, but not a monster."

Breathing out slowly, you knew why Bakugou had texted you that and responded immediately.

Thank you Katsuki