"I'm home!" Izuku called into the silent apartment as he entered, Bakugou right on his heels. He couldn't understand why the pro hero thought he needed a babysitter, even inside his own home. Who the fuck was he going to kill here? His best friend? Pass. 

"You dick!" Toga's pissed off shout came from the kitchen, followed by loud stomping as she appeared in the living room and spotted Izuku. "You left me here with two pros! All by my god damn self, while you fucked off to who knows where!" 

"You done?" Izuku asked with a single brow raised in question. It wasn't the first time he'd disappeared and Toga threw a fit, she usually got over it pretty quick. 

Golden eyes flicked from Izuku to Bakugou and back again. "What the hell did you do this time?" she asked, all the bite gone from her voice and exhaustion left in its wake. 

"Wanted to get the shit beaten out of him," Bakugou answered when Izuku remained silent. 

"Privacy, Kacchan," the villain said with a sigh, slipping off his shoes and beelining it for his couch. 

"Iz," Toga said, her voice a worried plea. "We talked about this." 

Bakugou leaned one shoulder against the wall of the living room, watching the two villains with barely concealed interest. "It's not the first time?" 

"No," Toga said back, just as Izuku grumbled about it being none of either blonde's business. 

Toga's brows knitted together in worry as she gazed down at the crumpled form of her best friend on their shared couch. "It's is my business. You went to someone who could actually kill you this time." 

"He can't kill me, poodle. Don't give him too much credit," Izuku mumbled, burying his face in the cushion below him. The day had left him tired, but Kaminari's shock and left him absolutely drained. There was no fight left in him. 

"You need a body, remember?" she snipped, lifting his legs so she could sit down before letting them drop onto her lap. "Last time I checked, getting blown up into a million pieces isn't something Resurrection can fix." 

"Also," Bakugou cut in, looking clearly offended. "I did fucking kill you, so shut up." 

"One time, everyone's killed me one time. You're not special, Kacchan. Actually, dear old dad killed me... like five times? I don't know, I lost count," he sighed, debating flipping around so his head was in Toga's lap rather than his legs. She was already running a hand up and down the back of his calves, and he couldn't help but wish her fingers were running through his hair. 

"How about," Toga started, her movements halting, "you just don't die anymore? I think that sounds like an amazing idea." Her eyes locked onto Bakugou, a challenge shone in them. "Is there a reason you're still here or?..." 

Bakugou's jaw ticked due to her bitchy tone. "He just threatened my parents and a friend. Sorry I wanted to make sure he was done with his rampage before I left him with someone who clearly isn't capable of keeping him in check." 

"Katsuki," Izuku snapped, making the other two in the room freeze. "How many times do I need to tell you to shut your fucking mouth about her?" 

As tense silence filled the room, Izuku huffed and sat up just to immediately lay back down with his head in Toga's lap. He'd given up fighting the urge, he wanted head scratches damn it. 

"Am I the poodle or are you?" the blond woman mused, already knowing exactly what he was after and happily obliging. 

"We're both dogs, remember?" Izuku mumbled back, letting his eyes drift close. He was ready to sleep and never wake up, but that wasn't an option. Sleeping for a few hours would have to suffice. 

"Yeah, yeah," Toga mumbled before letting her eyes drift back to the hero in their living room. "See? No murder spree, just a tired dog who doesn't even have the energy to get to his bed. You can leave now." 

Bakugou didn't look entirely convinced, red eyes looking between the two villains cautiously. "Fine. Stay out of trouble, Deku," he called over his shoulder, already heading for the door. 

"I am trouble, Kacchan." 

Bakugou sighed as he swung the door shut behind and shoved his hands into his pockets to start his walk back to the agency. "I know you are," he grumbled in annoyance. 

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

"What, Bakugou?" Hanta asked in a tired sigh. The two heroes were at different agencies, on different schedules, and patrolled different areas of the city. They rarely saw each other outside of group hangouts, so the explosion hero showing up in Hanta's office was entirely out of the ordinary. Hanta didn't need three guesses to figure out what, or rather who, this was about. 

"You and Deku broke up," he said, short and sweet. 

Hanta's brows furrowed as he finally looked up from the paperwork he had previously been trying to finish. "I don't think we were dating in the first place, but why do you care? How do you even know that? It just happened last night." 

Bakugou stepped further into the office, placing his hands on Hanta's desk and leaning closer. "Because the dumbass went out and found me on patrol last night, absolutely itching for a fight." 

Hanta sucked the back of his teeth, but waved off the statement in favor of turning back to his paperwork. "He lashes out when he has to deal with emotions. There were... a lot of those last night." 

Bakugou, always hating being brushed off, slammed his fist down on the desk, making Hanta tear his gaze away from the papers and back to him. "I don't really give a fuck what happened last night. The psychopath sniffed me out like a god damn bloodhound just so I'd beat the shit out of him. When I refused, because fuck playing into his hands, he started threatening my parents. When that didn't work, he tried to kill Sparky." 

"What?" Hanta asked in shock, certain he had to have heard wrong. "Why the fuck would he do that?" 

"I don't know and I don't care," Bakugou hissed, leaning closer with his lips pulled back in a snarl. "The nerd could take over the country in minutes and the only thing that ever seems to stop him is you. I don't give a fuck about what happened last night, but you're gonna fix it before we have a national crisis on our hands, got it?" 

Hanta's mouth went bone dry at the thought, because it was true. If Izuku woke up one day and decided that having a heart was more work than it was worth, the entire world was in danger. The hero shook his head and licked his lips. "He won't," he insisted. "He's leaving, that's why we broke up." Even though we weren't dating in the first place, Hanta reminded himself silently. 

Bakugou seemed genuinely taken aback by the news, pushing himself off of Hanta's desk and crossing his arms. "What about your sister and mom?" 

"He's getting them back, then leaving," Hanta mumbled, trying his hardest to distract himself with his work. He picked up a pile of papers, tapping them on the desk a few times to straighten them out before setting them back down uselessly. 

"Why?" The question was quick and sharp, slicing through Hanta as he thought of the answer. 

Dark eyes glanced up for only a second before breaking contact and returning to the desk and mess of papers in front of him. "I thought you said you didn't care about what happened last night." 

A soft click came from Bakugou and he shifted on his feet. Hanta marveled at how uncomfortable the usually hotheaded and sure hero appeared. "I didn't, but now it sounds like I need to know." 

Hanta cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter. "He- um, he got Emiko back, but... You know, it's actually a really long story, I don't-" 

"We've got time, Sero." 

That stopped the tape hero in his tracks. Bakugou so rarely used anything other than high school nicknames and hero aliases when talking to his friends, for him to pull out Hanta's real name... Well, shit, that meant it was serious. 

Hanta deflated back into his chair, all posturing and pretending officially abandoned. He wasn't talking to number one hero Dynamite anymore, he was talking to one of his oldest friends from high school, one who happened to know Izuku almost as well as himself. If he could talk to anyone about what happened the previous night, it was Bakugou. 

"You know that Shigaraki and Chisaki took my family to get at Izuku, and you know that they're manufacturing quirk erasers," he started, not lifting his eyes to meet his friend's. He didn't think he could. Everything from last night was still so fresh, so raw to him that he wasn't sure if he could properly put it into words. "When he went to get Emiko last night... they made her inject him with a quirk eraser, an old one that only last a few hours, but you know how he is about his quirks." 

"He lost his fucking mind, didn't he?" Bakugou asked when it became clear Hanta wouldn't continue without prodding. The dark haired man was getting lost in his own head. 

"Yeah," he sighed in confirmation. "Made a big deal about not caring about my family as much as his quirks and threw my sister back to them like a toy." Hanta had to take a deep, steadying breath to continue. "Shigaraki used his quirk on her." 

The office went so silent you could hear a pin drop. 

"Is she okay?" Bakugou asked, the question stiff and foreign on his tongue. 

Hanta let his head hit his hands, eyes squeezed shut tight to try and fend off the tears he could feel forming there. Last night was the greatest tribute to how awful of a big brother he was. He couldn't save Emiko from the pain or the fear, could only sit back while Izuku took matters into his own hands, using any means necessary. "She, uh... She died, actually-" 

"What?" Bakugou couldn't help the small and fragile question that had left his lips. He'd known Izuku his entire life, even if he'd disappeared for years at a time. He'd watched the other make mistake after mistake, but always making the right choice in the end. He wasn't a murderer, he wasn't a monster... he was just lost. At least that was what Bakugou had always thought. 

"Iz gave her his resurrection quirk in time," Hanta added, knowing exactly where his friend's thoughts had gone. "She's physically fine now, not even a scar left, but... she died. She knows she died, experienced it first hand, remembers everything, and... That would destroy anyone's mind, let alone a teenage girl's." 

Bakugou let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding. Izuku wasn't a murderer, wasn't a monster, but every day he seemed to be treading closer and closer to that very thin line. "Well, shit." 

Hanta shook his head, as if he could clear the thoughts of his dead sister from his mind that easily. "Yeah. After we left I guess he just wanted to blow of steam or something, probably why he went to find you." 

"He wasn't there for a fight," Bakugou said, the corners of his lips turned down in a frown, but not a scowl. Hanta thought he looked incredibly tame for the topic at hand. 

"What'd you mean?" 

"He didn't want to fight me, he wanted to let me beat him," the hero explained, looking more and more disturbed the longer he thought about it. "Kaminari got to him first, few million volts at point blank range and the fucker laughed about it, asked him to do it again. I dragged his ass home after that." 

Hanta's face pinched as his eyes scanned his desk wildly, like he would find the answers he was looking for buried under all his paperwork. "You took him home? Did you talk to Toga?" 

The blond gave a small snort at the question, some of the tension leaving him. "More like exchanged insults, but she knows what happened. Didn't seem all that surprised or happy about it, though. Apparently, that wasn't the first time he'd done something like that." 

Hanta scrubbed his hands over his face, trying to wash away the years of hardships and worry that rested there. It was unsuccessful and instead he let the heels of his palms dig into his eye sockets, finding the pressure reassuring somehow. "Doesn't surprise me, wouldn't surprise you either if you knew what his dad used to do to him. I used to sit by my phone for days after one of his dad's lessons, he was so mangled he couldn't even text me back. Fuck, I should have found him after the prison break. I should have tried harder-" 

"Don't be an idiot," Bakugou snapped, the bite behind his words familiar and comforting in a way Hanta hadn't expected. "You were still a first year hero student then, you would have gotten both of you killed. What happened to him and what he's done are not your fucking fault, got it?" 

Hanta hesitantly nodded his head, still unused to Bakugou's rare moments of caring, even after all the years of knowing him. 

"Good," Bakugou mumbled shaking off the nagging feeling of worry for both of his friends. Ew, Deku is not a friend. "How're we gonna fix this?" 

"Fix what?" 

"Whatever the fuck you were doing to keep Deku from going on a murdering rampage," he responded like it was obvious. He certainly thought it was. 

Hanta let his chin rest in the palm of his hand, suddenly looking years older than he was. "He won't, that isn't Iz's style." 

"Sure seemed like it last night when he went on and on about doing it." 

"You said it yourself, he just wanted to get you to hurt him. He won't do anything other than get my sister and mom back," Hanta sighed, ready to head home early and lay in bed. He knew sleep would elude him, but he could at least pretend to rest. 

"And if that involves a massacre?" Bakugou pressed, his foot starting to tap on the hardwood floor as a physical manifestation of his own anxieties. 

Hanta pushed his chair back and rose to his feet. "Then a massacre it'll be." 

Bakugou blinked as he watched Hanta head for the door. "You can't seriously mean that." 

He shrugged, too tired to care about anything but his family anymore. "I didn't become a hero for glory, or fame, or even to help people. I became a hero for them. If others have to die so they survive.... I guess I can live with that." 

"You sound just like him." 

"What did you expect?" Hanta asked quietly, looking over his shoulder. "I've been in love with him since I was fifteen. You start imitating the people you hold on such a high pedestal." 

"Are you going to follow him when he leaves?" Bakugou accused, a hard edge to his voice that let Hanta know he had legitimately worried the other man. "Take off and become a villain at his side?" 

"No," Hanta said with a quiet laugh. "You don't have to worry about that, Bakugou. I don't think he'd let me even if I tried." 

Repeat after me: MORALLY GREY CHARACTERS ARE JUST BETTER. 

Thank you for coming to my ted talk.