Chapter Text
Internships were coming up and Bakugou had no real reservations on who he was going to apply for. Best Jeanist was obviously the one, he wasn't Number Four for nothing. Bakugou knew he’d definitely come away from that internship with good advice or just good experience.
He was 90% sure Best Jeanist didn’t just sit around looking pretty if he managed to keep his spot for all those years.
Application finished up, he was about to press send when he heard his mother stomping up the stairs like she was on a mission. Bakugou readied himself for whatever was going to happen if she was coming to him and not on her way to punch in electricity.
The footsteps got closer and he readied himself for either good or bad news as his mother burst through the doorway with a concerningly gleeful look on her face.
“Oi Brat! Have you sent out any applications yet?”
“I’ve just finished the first one, why?”
He wasn’t quite sure why she was even bothering to check up on his applications, they went through everything before he started typing it up.
“Because I just found an even better opportunity for you! You know I had a sister who went to live in Australia right? Well she managed to get hitched and reproduce. Her hellion of a son had heard of your exploits-and since he’s a pro hero he wanted to have you as an intern!”
"What? Are you talking about the dude who blew off his fucking leg?”
“An explosion took off his leg, we don't know what happened-”
“It’s obvious he blew it off himself-”
Mistuki shot her son a Look, shutting him up immediately before cheerfully continuing with whatever the conversation was.
“He’d sent in an application to UA, but he also sent me a message in case you didn’t get it. He really wants to meet you and show you how things run in America-”
“Why the fuck is he in America?”
“Don’t ask stupid questions,” his mother rolled her eyes, before completely disregarding his question and continuing on like she was never interrupted.
“So, I told him that I’d talk to you about it! Won’t it be exciting? Going to America instead of staying in stuffy old Japan sounds like an adventure.”
Sure as hell didn’t sound appealing.
“What’s his rank though? I was gonna apply to Best Jeanist because he’s the Number Four hero here. How does he live up to that? I’m not gonna pass up a great chance like that unless he’s damn excellent,” Mistuki rolled her eyes before loudly sighing.
“Brat, he’s Number Six in America and works with the rest of the Top Ten at the Overwatch Agency. Though he’s two levels lower than Jeanist, you would be able to interact with America’s Number Five through One since they’re all in the same building apparently.
What sounds better? Staying with the Number four hero and just him, or interning with a Number six hero and getting to train with the rest of the Top Ten in AMERICA? Come on, it’ll be fun!”
Suffice to say, they argued for the rest of the school week until she made a comment about him not knowing a good deal if it bit him on the ass. He had sent in the application after checking with Aizawa if it was okay.
Then Aizawa had to go check in with Nedzu and the rat just looked over the application and request before giving the okay-on the condition that the Hero keep in contact with the school for the whole duration.
Aizawa was a bit sceptical but was reassured that Nedzu had dealt with the Overwatch agency before and trusted that Bakugou would be kept safe during his stay there.
The last few days were spent finishing up certain subjects in class before the kids were let loose for internships.
“Now, before I let you enjoy the last few minutes before freedom, I want to give you one last talk. Hopefully, your internships will benefit you for the next week and you will take in as much as you can.
Remember that you represent UA and your actions will reflect on the school,” Aizawa sent a look Katsuki’s way, letting him know that Aizawa was mainly talking to him without bringing it up in front of the whole class.
Katsuki snorted-like he didn’t know he had to be a good example for UA since he was going to a whole new different country. He wasn’t stupid.
He knew that it was important to give a good image to the Overwatch Hero Agency so that they’d be more inclined to take in more students from Japan in the future, strengthening their relationship.
Since All Might was currently the only prominent hero affiliated with America that came from Japan this would hopefully encourage international interest and investment from foreign hero agencies if the internship went well.
Both teacher and student were content to just mind their own business for the next ten minutes before the end of the school day amidst the chatter of the class discussing where they were going to intern for the next week.
Until the Dreaded Words were uttered.
“Oh yeah, mom’s happy I’m going to Gran Torino and not out of the country. She’s not sure how Mitsuki is so calm about Kacchan traveling after all that happened this year,” Izuku continued to chatter until he realised that everyone was staring at him in confusion.
“What do you mean out of the country? Bakubro, you're not staying in Japan?” Kirishima turned away from a dumbfounded Kaminari to send a glance to his explosive friend.
“Yeah, what the hell? Where the hell are you even going, you lucky bastard?” Mineta screeched from his desk.
“None of your business shortshit! That goes for the rest of you as well!” Bakugou was not dealing with this right now.
He just wanted the day to end and to never see these idiots for the next week.
He sent a scathing look towards the loudmouth who just couldn’t keep his mouth shut. Izuku sheepishly smiled before melting into his seat. The little shit should learn to stop spewing personal information about Katsuki to his friends. They weren’t his things to tell.
“Aww come ooon! Where are you even going? I didn’t know you could go out of the freakin country for our internships! Why is it that you’re the only one traveling? You gotta tell meeee!” Kaminari shuffled forward so he could beg without raising his voice.
He also kept Kirishima in between him and Bakugou in a move that showed he was more aware of the atmosphere than was previously thought.
Interesting.
“He’s allowed out of the country because he was scouted by a Hero Agency that is known for their safety protocols. They contacted UA and had only been allowed to take him on as an intern after discussing details with Nedzu and the rest of the staff.
The principal saw this as a chance to strengthen Japan’s relationship with America-since All Might is our only real connection at the moment. So we’ve taken this chance to hopefully garner more notoriety with them, hopefully enough to have some heroes-training or pro-travel here in return in the future,” Aizawa-the traitor-answered from his spot on the floor.
“Wait. But who in America would even want Bakugou?” Jirou asked.
“Fuck off! I don’t see you traveling to America, so shut your trap!” Katsuki was not taking her shit, ever.
“Damn dude, so manly!” Kirishima gave him a look of awe, somewhat distracting him from the internal burning of anger.
“Who are you interning with there?” Shoji piped up, presumably asking for the quiet Kouda who was sitting nervously off to the side.
“None of your business-”
“Overwatch Hero Agency,” the Traitor spoke once again.
A few sounds of awe before Tokoyami decided to bite the bullet.
“Who are they?” Other students nodded along, not really knowing what the hell it was.
“A well-known Hero Agency that hosts the Top Ten heroes in America, one of the heroes saw the sports festival and was likely impressed with Bakugou’s performance,” Yaoyorozu spoke to the class.
‘Oohs’ and ‘Aahs’ followed the explanation.
The Traitor thankfully said nothing more of him being related to one of the heroes from Ponytail’s explanation and Katsuki thanked his lucky stars.
He didn’t want the conversation to continue any more. He only had five more minutes to go and he really just wanted to stare out the window and pretend that this never happened.
“Oh! Kacchan’s cousin works there. Junkrat the Explosion hero if I remember correctly! Aunty was talking about it last night…..” Izuku’s muttering slowly petered out as he became aware of the most disturbing aura manifesting from the blond.
He definitely stuck his foot in his mouth this time, if the way even Kaminari was sidling away from his friend.
“So you got the internship because of nepotism?” Mineta quipped, “Cool!”
“Is his cousin as ferocious as Bakugou?” Shoji wondered out loud to Ojiro.
“Probably,” came the response.
“Hey, let’s make a group chat so we can all stay in contact and talk about how everything is going,” Sero butted in, trying to diffuse the situation.
The air was tense as the ending bell suddenly tolled. No one wanted to move in fear of setting either teen off. All was quiet until a scraping of metal on tile interrupted the moment.
Todoroki, not caring at all about what was happening, simply picked up his school bag and walked out of the door after bowing goodbye to Aizawa.
No one moved an inch before Izuku just awkwardly waved at everyone before bolting from the room as well-followed by Uraraka. When Bakugou didn’t immediately give chase, everyone untensed and slowly went about getting their things together.
As everyone trickled out, Kirishima managed to weasel out Bakugou’s number so that they could keep in touch for the following week.
The commute home was uneventful and Bakugou was happy that nothing eventful happened for the rest of the day. He got home, ate dinner, and started getting his shit together for his traveling.
His mind went back to his classmate’s quip about his cousin, was Junkrat like his mom? Or was he oddly calm like his dad? Not like Katsuki had anything to go off of, he knew OF his cousin Jamison, but didn’t really know him that well.
He seemed a bit of a loose cannon from what little he heard from his mother, but he didn’t really doubt his cousin’s capabilities since he was Number Six in America apparently.
He just hoped this wasn’t going to be a mistake of his to go to intern at his cousin instead of going with Best Jeanist like he originally wanted to. He hoped his mother was right in getting him to go, hoped he’d get some good experience over there.
He'd heard the villains were a bit more ridiculous than Japan’s own, he’d finally get to know if that was true or not.
After making sure he had all the essentials, Bakugou spent the next day spending some time with his parents until he had to go to the airport and suffer an eleven hour flight to Overwatch HQ.
He wasn’t looking forward to that, but he guessed it would be worth it.
When the day of the flight came, his mother ruffled his hair, his father gave him a hug and they drove him to the airport. He was told that Jamison would be picking him up in person like a Responsible Adult.
Bakugou was worried since they had enunciated those two words, but he didn’t waste too much time worrying over that fact.
Once through customs and onto the plane he didn’t really do much. He read a book he had brought along with him; it was an action novel about some kid spy that he bought from a bargain bin when he was running out of books to read.
It was engaging but a bit cheesy, not a terrible waste of money if he said so himself. Though he did snort at how the enemy adults would sometimes lose all brain function when face to face with the protagonist. It was amusing but stupid.
He hoped it wouldn’t be like that for the whole book or he would reconsider his opinion.
Five hours into the flight Bakugou had given up trying to concentrate on the book. Words were starting to swirl around, and he was getting quite tired just sitting doing nothing, so he decided that taking a nap was a better use of his time than rereading the same paragraph four times in a row.
It was a good decision looking back, he wouldn’t be as tired when he finally hit the ground, jet lag notwithstanding. His sleep was honestly a bit uncomfortable, since he was stuck in a seated position and couldn’t really recline, but he made do.
Waking up a few times due to turbulence and the odd pang of hunger were the only things that interrupted his sleep.
He woke when the plane was half an hour away from landing. Grumpy at the odd sleeping position that led to his leg falling asleep, Bakugou cracked his neck and got ready to finally be off this flight. He was officially done with sitting in one spot for eleven hours thank you very much.
Finally, the plane had reached its destination and the teen was relieved that this was over for now-dreading having to do the same thing at the end of the week. Now he knew how his parents felt when they had to go out of the country for shoots and other work-related things.
He wouldn’t mock them for complaining about it again.
Finally getting off the plane, he followed the line of people to customs. After making sure that yes, he was here legally and that he didn’t bring anything life threatening in his luggage except his hero gear for his internship, he was pointed to the door where he would be swamped by people and gain the task of trying to find his cousin.
He was almost vibrating with excitement that this was over with. Hefting his luggage, Bakugou followed the line of half dead people towards the exit, hoping that nothing exciting would be happening that moment. He wasn’t in the mood.
He wasn’t really surprised at what greeted him in all honesty.
Standing amidst the crowd was a tall lanky blond that looked like a scuffed gremlin. Hair on fire, lanky as anything, flailing arms and hair that was... Perpetually on fire?
Blinking again to make sure he wasn’t hallucinating, Bakugou realised that yes-his hair was actually on fire. He had a leg that was similar to Ectoplasm’s own hero prosthetics. Though it looked like it was stolen from some poor civilian since Jamison looked like he crawled out of the trash.
Had the same wild eyes as his mother though, even if they weren’t the same colour.
Standing next to him was just a huge person that was holding the “Katsuki Bakugou” sign. He wore some pig themed mask that hid his eyes but seemed to just give off the most dangerous feeling that Bakugou only really felt from Aizawa sensei and that villain from the USJ fiasco. The jarring thing was the little piggy keychain hanging from a belt buckle, it seemed so out of place on the large man it was bizarre. He was rethinking coming here in all honesty.
“KATSUKI! Over here! Look at ‘im Roady, such a small thing he is! Ooh Kats this is just gonna be the best thing ever, you won’t regret coming I promise!” Jamison hobbled over to him before just leaning down and encasing the smaller blond in a sudden hug.
Guess he figured Bakugou knew English to some extent or was just a maniac talking to a stranger.
Thank fuck he took English as a second language and stuck with it.
A bit jarred, Bakugou didn’t put up much of a fuss when the giant came up and took his bags from him, all in one hand like a monster. Jamison continued to ramble on about the Agency and about what he had in store for the teen along with plans to get to know each other better.
‘We’re family and we hardly know each other, such a sad thing that is, don't ya think?’ Jamison rambled on as the hulking monstrosity ambled behind them and grunted whenever he was addressed, Bakugou guessed he either didn’t talk at all or was just really sick of being awake at six am in the morning.
Katsuki related to him on a spiritual level.
Though he didn’t know why both of them didn’t wear shirts, it was cold this early after all.
Well, all was going well until they got outside, where waiting for them was an old Harley with a sidecar attached to it. No sign of an actual car in sight. No holder for his luggage. Jamison let out a happy snigger and flourished an arm in the vehicle’s direction.
“Whaddaya think?” He asked with a tinge of pride, puffing out his chest.
Bakugou had no opinion in all honesty. Bakugou.exe had stopped working.
He stared at the motorcycle for a bit before his jet lagged brain came up with the only thought he could muster.
“Where’s the roof?”
His cousin let out a huge snort before giggling like a madman. The hulking beast behind him let out a long, low groan of pain.
“I told you he was gonna have my sense of humour!”
More upset warbling came from Roady.
He really regretted getting on that plane.