ToxicLullaby- Midnight
ThatPunkDJ- Mic
TriggeredSloth- Aizawa
ScaryVacuumCleaner- Thirteen
TasmanianDevil- Nezu
DoctorBeat(s)- Recovery Girl
Japanese007- Snipe
ImmigrantFromTransylvania- Vlad King
MassProductionMaker- Ectoplasm
T-RexHead- Power Loader
BobTheBuilder- Cementoss
LinguiniInAParallelUniverse- Lunch Rush
EmotionalSupportDog- Hound Dog
FourteenthApostle- Izuku

How many/14 did you get right? (⁠✷⁠‿⁠✷⁠)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

UA Staff Chat

Snipe: Well, we tried!

Thirteen: It wasn't that bad.

Power Loader: I didn't expect Aizawa to even try!

Ectoplasm: Yes, what made you do it @Eraserhead?

Eraserhead: You're all making a huge deal out of it like it was a life and death situation. I saved myself an earful from Nezu.

Nezu: You've never been wiser :)

Midnight: You can admit that you're interested too, Sho ~

Eraserhead: All I know is that this is a huge gamble which we might regret sooner or later.

Present Mic: You're so optimistic! (ಠ⁠︵⁠ಠ)

Lunch Rush: I hope the kid says yes.

Cementoss: Nezu revealed that he knows a lot about the kid. If I'm not wrong, he'd stick around just to be sure.

Hound Dog: I agree. Some people tend to comply due to curiosity, fear or doubt. I don't know much about the kid but I think he might stay.

Power Loader: So…. Is no one gonna talk about how we, licensed pro-heroes, just baited a student like petty villains?

Ectoplasm: We have a cause.

Eraserhead: So do villains.
Eraserhead: What's done is done. We know the rules and we will not risk the kid.

Vlad King: I agree. Technically, there is some truth to this though it's not enough to justify our actions.

Midnight: Oh hush, people! We've been really serious for a few days.

Present Mic: Yeah! So let me tell you all about the time Nemuri slipped on a banana peel in front of a group of reporters.

Midnight: I'm going to murder you, Zashi!!

Present Mic: Ohoho! Try it, milady! <⁠(⁠￣⁠︶⁠￣⁠)⁠>

Recovery Girl: You kids will never grow up.

Thirteen: How about the time Chiyo-san chased Nezu with a syringe?

Nezu: Do not poke fun at my trauma.

Power Loader: Oh shit-

Thirteen: I'm so sorry!!

Nezu: How about the time I made a student spill my hibiscus tea all over Chiyo-san’s station?

Recovery Girl: You RAT!

Eraserhead: She yelled at us. Us.

Present Mic: Who’re the kids now
(ಡ⁠ ͜⁠ ⁠ʖ⁠ ⁠ಡ)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next Morning, Bakugo Residence:

Katsuki walked downstairs, still miffed about the Extra’s words. Why did stupid fucking Deku have to throw his sorry quirkless ass into a situation he wasn’t needed in? He could have made it out even without that damn nerd… right?

RIght. RIGHT!

‘I’m strong, I only needed a bit of time but that shitty Deku showed up unnecessarily and now everyone thinks he saved me! They think a quirkless nobody saved me. They think… They think I’m weak. I AM NOT WEAK. I-’ He gulped, ignored his mother’s calls and sat down at the table with a huff. ‘Even the extras think I’m weak. I’ll show them. I’ll show them all that I’m the strongest and I’ll be the No.1 Hero!’

“What’s wrong, Katsuki?”

He refused to meet his father’s eyes and glared at the table instead. “Nothin’”

‘At least dad and that hag know nothing of it. Hah, dad would say the same, that I’m strong enough on my own’

“Your mother was calling your name. Why didn’t you answer her?”

“Didn’t wanna.”

“What was that?” Mitsuki hissed, placing the pot on the table. “Didn’t wanna what?”

“Shut it old hag.” He grumbled.

Masaru glared at Katsuki and put his paper down. “Is that how you speak to your mother?”

“...”

Despite how he was, Katsuki loved his father more than anything in the world. All his life, his father had constantly been so proud and supportive of him, unlike his hag of a mother who kept yelling at him. He rarely ever gave his father the back-talk.

“Anyway, how are your preparations?”

Katsuki shrugged. “Fine.”

“Are other kids from your class applying for the exam as well?”

“Dunno. Don’t care.”

Masaru really wanted to take it slow. He never was serious with his son but this was just taxing beyond his imagination.

“How’s Izuku, by the way? Did you remember to thank him properly for helping you?”

The teen stiffened. How did his father know?

“One of the neighbors happened to be there.”

No, more importantly–

“What is wrong with everyone?” Katsuki grumbled, his hair shadowing his eyes. “First that damn nerd, then the extra and now you too, dad?”

Masaru alternated his gaze between a concerned Mitsuki and an eerily calm Katsuki who exuded an aura of immense rage and hurt.

“It’s like none of you have faith in me.”

“Katsuki, that is not-”

The blond stood up, slamming his hands on the table. “WHY IS EVERYONE HELL BENT ON MAKING ME SAY THAT IT WAS THAT DAMN QUIRKLESS NERD THAT SAVED ME, HUH? DO YOU THINK I’M NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO SAVE MYSELF?! WHY THE FUCK DID YOU ALWAYS PRAISE ME SO DAMN MUCH IF THIS IS WHAT YOU REALLY THINK OF ME, HAH?!?!”

Masaru did not like this. He had never seen this look on his son’s face.

Katsuki’s face was flushed red with anger untamed, sweat beading on his forehead and tears dripping down his cheeks– tears of pent-up frustration.

“FOR THE LAST FUCKING TIME, STOP BRINIGING UP THAT DEKU’S NAME! HE DIDN’T SAVE ME! HE’S QUIRKLESS FOR FUCK’S SAKE! WOULD IT HURT TO BELIEVE ME?!”

As Katsuki stormed off to his room, his parents were left slack-jawed at the table. Whatever direction Masaru expected this conversation, this was not that. Mitsuki, now snapped out of her stupor, rose from her chair, growling and gearing up to give Katsuki an earful.

Masaru stopped her by grabbing her arm.

“What?! Are we just gonna let that brat mouth off whatever he wants to?!”

Masaru shook his head. “Do you even realize how insecure he is under that facade? One small word and his whole ego collapses. Scolding him isn’t going to make him listen to us. At this rate, having a conversation with him is the last thing we can imagine.”

“What do you want me to do, then? Let him do and speak as he wishes?!”

“Raising your voice isn’t going to solve anything, Mistuki. He is at the point of his life where he’s the most mentally vulnerable and where everything seems wrong.” Masaru asserted firmly, “We talked about this. Change begins with us first, so stop yelling at your son. I’m going to talk to him later…. He needs therapy whether he likes it or not.”

Mitsuki sighed and nodded in agreement. They couldn’t sleep the previous night and had talked for a long time about where  things went wrong. Mitsuki had always been abrasive and snappy while Masaru had been too soft and too proud of his kid. Both of them had ignored the fact that they unintentionally instilled a fear in Katsuki that without his quirk or academic prowess, so often praised by his parents, he would be a nobody. Thus, every word that threatened his belief would deal a blow to his already fragile ego.

The irrational fear that he was being equated to or seen as anything less than someone ‘quirkless’ was infuriating to him.

‘If this is what we get for asking him something this innocent, I can’t imagine what he has been doing to Izuku all this time.’ Masaru thought to himself, arranging breakfast on a tray to take it upstairs. ‘Izuku has always had the best intentions in heart but that would be offensive to Katsuki…. No wonder he was traumatized…’

Mitsuki took a deep breath as she watched her husband leave to talk to their son. She only hoped it would go well. She had unwavering trust in her husband.

‘I really have been too hard on both my boys…’

(A/N: I really wanted to try and capture the way overthinking makes us act. Sorry for the late update, though. Hope you enjoyed it.

To my new readers, please do check out my other chatfics "Uh...Hello (UA Staff Chat)" , "Izuku's Pro Hero Family" -both completed and an ongoing chatfic "To Accidentally Stir A Hornet's Nest"

(⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)⁠❤)