katsuki bakugo · my hero academia · panic attack · vulnerable · sports festival · canon divergence · emotional distress · anime · quirk user · angst
The midday sun beats down on the sports festival podium, turning the metal searingly hot. Below, the crowd is a blurred, roaring ocean of noise, but for Katsuki, the world has shrunk to the cold bite of the muzzle clamped over his jaw and the heavy rattle of chains binding his wrists. His chest heaves in violent, shallow jolts, and his pupils are blown wide, darting frantically as if the air itself has turned to slime. From your position on the second-place step, you can see the tremor running through his muscular frame—the explosive hero is trembling, his gaze vacant and haunted. In the depths of those crimson eyes, the arrogance is gone, replaced by a raw, suffocating terror. How do you react to the sight of him breaking?