Chapter 7 - Chakra Exhaustion

The scattered piles of sludge that had blown in every direction from the force of All Might's punch, was gathered and sent off into police custody.

Izuku had found himself being chewed out by the heroes for his reckless behavior.

Katsuki found himself being praised by the other heroes for how tough he was and how impressive his Quirk was.

Haru had fainted from exhaustion, so no one had spoken to him yet.

For the moment, he was laid out on a stretcher as his brother sat by his side. Backdraft was looking him over, checking for any sign of injury. Finally, he stepped back, nodding in satisfaction.

"How's the kid?"

The rescue specialist looked up to see Kamui Woods approaching him after having given Izuku an earful.

"He's fine. He just overused his Quirk," Backdraft explained, "His brother said that his Quirk saps his energy in the long run, but it's not dangerous unless he pushes past the point where he runs dry."

The Arbor Hero eyed the unconscious redhead in wonder, "Did you see how he used his Quirk. It was amazing! He can manipulate paper, but can keep it from burning! Even I can't manage that with my Quirk. I have a mind to have him as an intern if he decides to become a hero."

Backdraft nodded in agreement, "It is an impressive power, but from what I was told understand, it was soaking the paper in enough water to deal with the fire that drained his energy the most."

"Ah, I see. The weight would force him to use more energy," Death Arms agreed from where he had been listening in on the conversation.

Kamui rested his chin in his hand as he looked over the two brothers, "Even so. Both of those boys are going to be terrifyingly powerful if they get into UA."

Backdraft chuckled, "I don't think that'll be a problem for them."

***

Katsuki sat silently by his brother's side, ignoring the praise being heaped on him by the heroes.

Izuku had already left, afraid to approach while Katsuki was looking so forbidding.

All Might had also disappeared, much to the consternation of the media. Only a few reporters lingered around, curious about the victims of the villain attack. The pro heroes kept them a reasonable distance from the two brothers as they finished helping clear some of their mess and make sure the area wouldn't go up in flames again.

After being unconscious for nearly half an hour, Haru finally woke up, his eyelids trembling a little as he slowly regained consciousness.

Katsuki sprang to life, eagerly watching every movement his brother made.

Haru opened his eyes with a groan, "I seriously need caffeine right now."

Katsuki popped a vein and flicked his brother in the forehead, much to everyone's shock. They were even more surprised when Haru shot up in a sitting position, rubbing his forehead with a pissed expression on his face.

"Learn to control your Quirk, dammit!" Katsuki growled.

Haru turned to look at him, about to retort when he remembered what happened, "K-Katsuki?"

The ash-blonde raised an eyebrow, "Eh?"

Haru slammed his face into his brother's ċhėst, winding him as he started crying, "Don't scare me like that ever again."

Katsuki sat awkwardly for a minute, unable to catch his breath. When he did he instantly tried to push Haru away.

"Hey! Stop whimpering on me! You're gonna cover me in your snot!"

Haru sniffed, grabbing on Katsuki's shirt, "No."

Katsuki growled a little before sighing, giving in for once, "You're such a handful..."

Haru choked little as he chuckled, "I'm a handful?"

"No shit, Sherlock!"

Haru thumped his head against Katsuki's ċhėst, "Says the guy who nearly drowned in a slime."

Katsuki messed up Haru's hair, "I'm not the one who was stupid enough to overuse his Quirk."

Haru sat back, giving his brother a laugh, his now messy hair revealing his entire face, "Touche."

"Oh my gosh, you two are so adorable!" Mount Lady squealed. She froze at the glares the other heroes threw at her, "I ruined the moment, didn't I?"

"Now you make it sound creepy," Kamui sighed.

The others nodded agreement as the female hero cringed.

Katsuki pushed Haru away again, this time succeeding to get him off, "I didn't need your help."

Haru sent him a closed-eyed smile, "Your welcome."

"Tch, whatever," he mumbled something else but Haru couldn't make it out.

"What?"

"Nevermind, damn it! I'll tell you later!"

Haru's phone went off in his pocket. He pulled it out and instantly panicked, "Shit, it's Mom!"

Katsuki deadpanned, "Well? See what the old hag wants."

Haru smirked, "She was probably trying to call you but you forgot to turn your phone on again."

"Shut it, brat!"

Still smirking, Haru answered the call in a lively tone, "Hi Mom, what's up?"

[DON'T PLAY INNOCENT! I SAW THE NEWS!]

Haru held the phone away from him to avoid the earsplitting yells of his mother.

The redhead glanced at his brother, "I think she saw the news..."

Katsuki smirked, "Oh really? How'd you guess?"

[I HEARD THAT YOU LITTLE SHITS!]

Haru put the phone back to his ear, "Love you too, Mom."

[DON'T CHANGE THE SUBJECT!]

Several of the heroes sweatdropped at the conversation they couldn't help but hear as they kept the media from eavesdropping.

"They seem to have quite an interesting family dynamic," Mount Lady shivered.

Death Arms, couldn't help the grin of amusement growing on his face, "I'll say. These people have crazy bounceback. You'd think they'd be more traumatized by this."

Backdraft shook his head, "This is probably normal for them."

Meanwhile, Haru was calmly listening to his mother rant at him for acting recklessly while at the same time being told how proud she was.

At the end of her yelling, she finally took a deep breath, "Put your brother on. I got a few words for him."

Haru looked up from the phone, knowing Katuski had heard from the neutral expression on his face, "Want me to kill you now?"

Katsuki snatched the phone with a snort, "As if you could!" he held it up to his ear, "What do you want?"

[DON'T USE THAT TONE OF VOICE WITH ME, KATSUKI!]

Katsuki's eyes turned white, "SHUT IT, OLD HAG!"

"I dare you to ground me!"

[GET HOME BEFORE DINNER OR I'M CLEANING YOUR BOY'S ROOMS!]

Katsuki was livid, "Don't. You. Dare."

The only response he got was a faint click as his mother hung up.

Katsuki pulled the phone from his head and glanced at Haru, who was waiting calmly for the 'conversation' to end, "The old hag said she'll clean our rooms if we aren't home by 6:00.

Haru turned pale, "She wouldn't!" he snatched to phone, glancing at the screen, "It's 5:30 now!"

The thought of his mother cleaning his room was something he did not want to experience anytime soon. Let's just say, it was impossible to find anything after she finished. The reasons why always varied, so they could never be sure if they'd ever see some of their personal items again.

Haru scrambled to stand up, only for his knees to buckle beneath him. Katsuki grabbed him before he faceplanted to the ground and let him lean on his shoulder.

"You idiot. Haven't you forgotten you just overused your Quirk? Geez, you're so weak!"

Haru puffed out his cheeks in annoyance, "Fine. Next time I see you dying. I'll just sit and watch. I'll commemorate your death with a bowl of curry."

"Just shut up already!"

A shadow appeared in the two boys' vision, "You boys need help?"

The Bakugo brothers look up to see Kamui Woods standing in front of them.

Katuski refused the offer of help, "Tch. We're fine. I can carry him home."

Haru deadpanned as Katsuki stumbled, almost dropping him, "Yeah, no. You almost drowned, fuzz brain."

"What did you call me?"

Kamui sweatdropped but still held his offer, "I can escort you two home. It's the least we could do for what happened."

Haru spoke up, cutting off Katsuki's retort, "Thank's a lot! We appreciate the help."

"What the hell, Haru!"

The redhead put his mouth close to his brother's ear, "You will let me have this."

Katuski deadpanned, remembering that Haru was a big fan of Kamui Woods. He'd always wanted to speak to him in person, but he had been too shy to initiate a conversation himself. Being helped home by the hero was a perfect opportunity to interact with him.

"Ugh, fine!"

Kamui raised an eyebrow, wondering what the younger Bakugo had said to convince the older one so quickly, but he shrugged it off.

"Ok then."

***

(Roughly 15 minutes later...)

"It's too bad All Might left so quickly. I wanted to thank him too. I also wish I could have spoken to Izu."

The trio slowly walked through the quiet neighborhood where the Bakugos lived.

Haru was being carried piggyback by Kamui, while Katsuki trudged alongside them, with his hands in his pockets. The whole walk, roughly 99.99% of the conversation had been between the younger Bakugo and the pro hero with Katsuki only making the occasional grunt or growl at his brother.

"You know, you are surprisingly light for your size," Kamui remarked, secretly grateful Haru wasn't dead weight.

Haru's cheeks turned pink, not happy with being reminded of one of the things he was secretly embarrassed about. Turning into paper was all and good, but it also made his physique ridiculously lacking in heaviness.

"Yeah, this is one of the few times it's a perk though."

The hero chuckled.

Katsuki suddenly jerked to a stop and turned off in a different direction.

Haru called out after the blonde, "Hey, Katsuki! Home is this way!"

"I'll meet up with you at home."

The monotone statement left the redhead in confusion as he watched his brother run off down the street towards... Izuku's house?

He decided not to question it.

Kamui sent Haru a confused look over his shoulder, "What's he doing?"

Haru shrugged, "Beats me."

The hero shook his head and continued to carry Haru home, "I must say, you two have an interesting relationship as brothers."

Haru laughed, "We get that a lot."

The hero gently shifted Haru's weight into a more comfortable position, "So let me get this straight. You two are twins or something?"

Haru shook his head, "We're a few weeks apart. I'm adopted."

Kamui stopped, "Adopted?" his tone was incredulous.

Haru blinked, "We get that a lot too."

"The way you two interact, most people would never guess. Even if you do look like complete opposites."

Haru rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, we grew up together. You can call it a special case. My adopted parents found me with my mom before she died from a villain attack. I was only a few weeks old, I think. My dad had passed away only a few months before."

He'd gone with the story that had been agreed upon by his parents. It saved a lot of trouble and questioning than if he told everyone the specific details of what had happened that fateful night all those years ago.

Kamui sent the boy an apologetic looked over his shoulder, "That must have been rough. Sorry if I brought up any bad memories."

Haru shook his head, "It's fine. My parents would have wanted me to remember them without getting myself down about it. The Bakugos have been really good to me. I never even suspected I was adopted until they told me."

Kamui couldn't help but ask, "Do you at least know what your birth parents looked like?"

Haru nodded, undoing a simple silver locket from around his neck, "My mom had a picture on her when she died," he handed the hero the piece, "We guess it was taken when they were younger."

Kamui looked at a small photo of three people. A young man, the spitting image of Haru was smiling as he bumped fists with a taller man with orange hair, who was laughing in return. Next to them stood a young woman with a rose in her purple hair. She was also laughing along with her two companions.

"I'm guessing the man with red hair is your father," Kamui mused, handing the locket back to Haru, "Who's the other man?"

Haru shrugged, "We don't know. The police weren't able to find any record of him. We guess he was a friend of theirs," he looked up, realizing they were walking by his house, "Wait! this is where I live."

Kamui looked over at the modern style house, "Quite a place you people got," he said as he walked up the front entrance.

Before he could ring the bell, the door flew open to reveal an imposing middle-aged blonde.

"Haru! Are you ok?"

Kamui was confused for a moment. The tone of voice she used was far different than what he had heard during that more than interesting phonecall.

Mitsuki Bakugo, now well into her thirties still looked that exact same as she did fifteen years ago. This was partly due to her Glycerin Quirk that gave her smooth skin, but mostly to the fact that she kept herself slim as the years passed. To those who didn't know her, they'd have thought she was bȧrėly in her early twenties.

The ash woman looked around, noting a missing presence, "Where's your brother?"

Haru sighed, "He said he had to go somewhere really quick."

Mitsuki bristled, "I told him to come right home!"

Kamui finally saw the connection. It was clear where the temper of the family most likely came from.

The angry woman looked at the hero as if just noticing him, "Oh my goodness, where are my manners." She held open to the door invitingly, "Come inside. We'll be serving dinner soon. Why don't you join us? Haru's such a big fan of yours!"

The hero perked up a little, "Really?"

Haru's face burned in embarrassment as he whɨnėd, "Mom!"

Kamui chuckled as Mitsuki led them into the house where he set Haru down on the living room couch as instructed.

Again, Mitsuki insisted on the hero staying for dinner, but he declined, saying he had other plans. Haru was a little disappointed at this, but he was also happy his parents wouldn't be embarrassing him in front of the hero the whole evening.

He did get his hero poster signed though.

As Kamui started to leave, Mistuki gave him a bow of gratitude, "Thank you for helping rescue my sons and bringing my youngest home. Our family appreciates your work."

The pro hero stepped back a little in surprise, "No, no! It was my fault for letting him get in danger in the first place."

Mitsuki waved it off, "Oh you did an amazing job making him compromise right there. He's way too stubborn for his own good sometimes."

Haru lowered his head, hiding his eyes behind his hair.

Kamui sent the boy a wave as he walked out the door, "If you ever need a place to intern at, give me a call! We could use someone like you at the agency."