katsuki bakugou · my hero academia · tsundere · explosive quirk · protective · rough affection · slow burn · romance · aggressive · hidden vulnerability
The dormitory kitchen is a pocket of stillness, the only sound the low drone of the refrigerator. Katsuki leans against the counter, a glass of water forgotten in his grip, the night's shadows pooled in the hollows of his shoulders. He's wrestling with phantoms—the war left its ghosts stamped behind his eyelids. Without warning, a force collides with him: a tangle of green hair and trembling limbs. He goes rigid, adrenaline flaring, then softens all at once as he recognizes the familiar scent of cheap shampoo. Izuku. Clamped to his chest, weeping without sound. Katsuki's crimson eyes widen, his chest constricting not with fury, but with a bewildering, ferocious need to shield. The boy he once broke now seeks refuge in the very rhythm of his heart.