Disclaimer: I don't own My Hero Academia.

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Flesh Wounds
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It was late in the afternoon when the sun was close to setting down that Bakugou Katsuki came to visit Midoriya Izuku. The blond teenager plopped himself down and began talking.

"You fucking failure."

Most people wouldn't have opened with that, but let it never be said that Bakugou was one to care about manners or propriety. If anything, he was already showing great restraint by speaking his words instead of shouting them.

"Seriously, what the fuck were you thinking. There were like half a dozen pro-Heroes on the scene and more were on their way. What the fuck made you think you could make a difference there?"

Predictably, there was no answer. Deku was in no condition to talk.

"Let me make something clear, shitstain. I didn't need your fucking help. All Might was literally seconds away. I had already lasted half a fucking hour against that slimy piece of shit. I sure as hell could have lasted a couple more seconds without your sorry ass butting in."

The teen growled. He ran a hand through his hair and gripped it tightly. The urge to pull it was strong.

"Do you want to know why I hate your guts so much?" Bakugou asked. "It's shit like this. Every. Damn. Time. Always acting like you fucking matter or something. Have you even looked in a mirror? You're fucking Deku! You've never succeeded at anything in your whole miserable life! But nooo. Ignore all that shit. Try to stand up for others even though you're weak as balls. Apply to UA even though you have no fucking Quirk."

Someone without a Quirk trying to get into UA's Hero Course was ridiculous. It was so ridiculous it couldn't even be called a joke.

"I used to think you were looking down on us. Looking down on me. I've busted my ass to prepare for UA. Everyone who wants to get in has. It's the top hero school in the country. It doesn't give fucking handouts, but there you are wanting to take the entrance exam, acting like you've got a chance. Do you have any fucking idea how fucking deluded you came across? How disrespectful that is? How fucking arrogant?"

Bakugou snorted and looked away. "Of course, you fucking don't."

"But I think I get you now," he said after a while. "I had plenty of time to think about this shit while I was in the hospital. The truth is you never really thought you could get in, right? You never thought you were better at all. 'Won't know until you try,' my ass. You knew exactly what your odds were. You were just too fucking scared to accept you were worthless. That's your fucking deal, ain't it? That's why you kept going through the motions, writing on those stupid notebooks again and again, obsessed with what you couldn't be in a fucking million years! You knew. You couldn't not have known. You just wanted everyone else to crush your dream for you, 'cause you couldn't do it on your own!"

Bakugou sighed. At once, the tension seemed to drain away from his body. He let his body fall back to the grass behind him.

"If you knew that, then why the fuck did you try to save me?"

No one answered him. It was only to be expected.

"I ain't saying thanks, by the way," Bakugou added. "Let's face it, you sure as hell didn't save me. The doctors tell me I'll be lucky if I am ready for the entrance exam, but what the fuck do they know? I'll be back in top shape in a month."

A rare moment of silence followed as Bakugou found he had nothing else to say to Deku. He wasn't even angry anymore. Ever since that day, the whole thing was…

"What a fucking waste," Bakugou said as he moved to a sitting position. With great effort, he managed to stand up. He probably shouldn't have come to this place alone in his condition.

"This won't stop me," He said, gesturing to the stump that had been his right arm. "I am still going to be the Top Hero, and when that happens… when that happens, I'm making damn sure not a single stupid shithead like you gets killed because the heroes were stuck watching!"

With those parting words that were neither friendly nor warm, Bakugou slowly moved away from the grave of Midoriya Izuku.

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AN: For anyone confused, the idea here is Deku dies in chapter 1. No resurrection. No respawning. Just the world going forward and people dealing with it. The first chapters are going to be a bit dark, but not overly so.