SUP!
Follower here. How are you guys? Everything good I hope.
So, today I bring a little one shot from Boku no Hero Academia, which is amazing as hell.
This takes place after chapter 166, and as you'll see, presents Bakugou in a quite not murdery way. He's a bit more open to talks.
I know he isn't currently like this, but this is a scenario which I think could happen, seeing as he's still short fused but more mature.
Anyways, roughly 83% of people don't read this, so for those of you who are, I salute you!
On with story!
AVANTI!
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
Izumi was a normal kid.
He had dark, short hair and was just a bit overweight for his age.
He liked sports and games like any other kid in his class, although he didn't excell in either.
His quirk was pretty mundane too.
He had the ability to shoot small jets of water from all his fingers. But the water wasn't potable and it didn't go very far either, he could only shoot it about 30 centimeters away.
It wasn't at all useless, seeing as he helped with his mother's little garden, but it wasn't really something that made him a force to be reckoned with.
And given the fact that he wanted to be a hero, that was a problem.
'Who the hell is going to respect a hero who can, at best, make people slightly moist?', he usually thought.
Yes, his quirk wasn't a point of pride to him.
But still, he kept his goal of being a hero.
Now, Izumi was coming home from class.
He had just received a high grade in a difficult test, so he was skipping a bit, happiness easily perceptible in his features.
He closed his eyes for a bit, revelling in the wind brushing against his face. If only this feeling could last forever.
It didn't.
Izumi ended up running into someone while his eyes were closed.
"What the fuck do you think you are doing, brat?", a voice said.
Izumi looked up to see who was the owner of such colorful language.
A teen with spiky hair, red eyes and a muscular physique was glaring murderously at him.
The teen's name was Bakugou Katsuki. Winner of the U.A. sports festival.
Izumi felt like a deer in the headlights, the harsh glare making him feel really uneasy.
"I-I am very sorry, mister!".
"You better be, you spilled my damn water!".
"I'm really, REALLY sorry!".
Bakugou seemed to be preparing to start a rant, but stopped himself.
"Just look out. Don't you fucking spill my water ever again", he said, in a more even voice.
Izumi nodded fiercely.
"Got it!".
Bakugou only grunted.
Izumi was lightly shoved by the teen, who continued on his way.
Izumi watched him off while thinking only one thing.
'What a jerk'.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
"Wow, you ran into Bakugou?", a kid with blue hair said.
"THAT Bakugou? The one from U.A.?".
"The one from Kamino?".
Bakugou was a star among kids.
His cool and flashy quirk in addition to his cocky, explosive temper made him pretty much a living cartoon, attracting the attention of the younger audience.
Also, he got a lot of time in the spotlight, which made him very well known.
"Yes", Izumi said, deflated.
"How did it go?".
"Not great, I accidentally spilled his drink".
"Wow, really?!".
"Why'd you do that?".
"I didn't mean to, I got distracted!".
"Did he blow you up?".
"No, obviously not!".
"Awww, that's so lame".
"What the hell!".
"Not the part about him not hitting you, Izumi. I just thought he was a complete loose cannon, like me!", the boy puffs his chest, "but I guess he's just not quite at my level".
"Zack, your quirk is to be able to change the taste of stuff".
"Yeah bro, helluva rebel you are".
Everyone laughs as only Izumi stares out the window.
Although his friends were all fired up from his encounter, the boy thought differently.
Sure, he liked Bakugou just as much as his friends, but he was kind of a jerk.
'I know I spilled his drink, but he was too mad. He does have a short temper, though...'.
The teacher walks in and class starts. Izumi let's the teen wander off his mind as he opens his notebook.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/
After school, Izumi went towards the bus stop to catch his transport back home.
He always took the same route: two lefts, one right and through an alley.
This was the quickest route, ending exactly on the bus stop.
His mother didn't like this route because of the alley, which was famous for being full with robbers.
She was right, but Izumi didn't listen. It was another two miles if he wanted to do things his mother's way, so he developed a tactic.
On the moment a cop was passing by, Izumi took three peaks to make sure no one was there. When the cop went away, he threw a rock to see or hear any movement and make sure there wasn't anyone.
It hadn't failed yet.
So he did his routine, and when there were no signs of movement, he advanced.
'I'm amazing', he prided himself.
He was halfway through the alley when a chill went up his spine.
'What is it with this bad feeling all of the sudden?', he thought, tense.
Scared, Izumi made a run for it, aiming at the other end of the alley, where the bus would be arriving shortly.
The first five steps were great, he covered a bit of distance and only heard the sound of his steps and heartbeat.
His sixth and seventh steps gave him hope.
He didn't take an eighth step.
Izumi felt like he slammed into a wall.
'Did I run into mister Bakugou again?', he said, raising a hand to his nose, which had took solid damage.
He opens his eyes and finds there is nothing in front of him. Neither by his sides or back.
"What the hell...?".
He stands up and tries to walk again, this time with his arms in front of him so that he doesn't hit something.
He didn't even take one step, because his arms were already touching something. It was completely transparent, and smooth as glass.
Actually, Izumi thought it most certainly was glass. A really reinforced one, at that.
'Is this a prank?'.
He looks around to see if there's any cameras around.
"All right, show's over! Who's there?", he yells.
A slight breeze is his only answer.
"Really gonna keep this up? It's not fun anymore! I already figured out that this is a prank!", he yells again.
Still nothing.
"Okay, I'm done! I'm going away now!".
So Izumi, enraged, turned on his heels and took a step.
There was another glass there.
Quickly, he turned to his right and tried running, but it was sealed as well. Same for his left.
He notices that he doesn't hear the breeze anymore.
"Stop this, it isn't fun! You're really scaring me!".
"Then my purpose was completed", a voice answers.
Izumi looks back to see a man.
He's wearing a clean white shirt and black pants. He was bald and wore aviator style sunglasses, who were currently reflecting the sunlight, making it impossible to see his eyes.
The boy didn't like that.
"Who are you?", Izumi asks, afraid.
"My name's Bartholomew. Barry, for short".
"Why did you jail me here?".
"Because I don't want my victim to get away, now do I?".
"V-victim?".
"Yes. You, dear boy, will lose your life today".
Izumi paled.
'No...'.
"You must be asking yourself why, right?", he said, and Izumi slowly nodded, "to be honest, I don't really have a reason to have chosen you. I just like this. The feeling of being in complete control just...makes me feel alive".
Izumi tried punching, elbowing and kicking the glass.
But nothing worked.
And Barry did not like him trying to escape.
In a fluid motion from his right arm, he removed all space between Izumi and the rest of his cell, almost crushing the boy.
"HEEEELP! PLEASE! SOMEONE!", he yells, terrified.
"Nice try, kid, but I sealed both of us inside here. No one but me will be able to hear you, no matter how good their hearing is".
Izumi starts to cry.
'It can't end like this! I didn't do so much! I didn't even say goodbye to my parents!'.
"And now I will seal just your space", he smiles, "let's see how long you can hold your breath"
In another motion, the space above Izumi closes.
So, here's the situation: a hyperventilating kid is stuck in a glass coffin with limited oxygen, and this coffin is getting hotter and hotter because of the sun. Also, he can't move.
His quirk gives him no help, other than perhaps cool his temperature down slightly.
It was game over.
Izumi hyperventilated until he couldn't seem to grasp any more air, trying to breathe any atom he could.
He accepts his fate in his mind. This is the end.
He's as good as dead.
"Any last words, kid? Oh, right, you can't speak, can you?", the villain mocks, his glasses still reflecting the light.
Izumi closes his eyes.
All is quiet.
Then suddenly...
He hears an explosion.
Almost instantly, the walls around him disappear, and he falls down, gasping for air. Sweat falls profusely out of him, but he only cares about oxygenating his body.
"Why did you interfere?! I WAS SO CLOSE!", Barry roars.
"You really think I'd let you kill some defenseless brat, you fucker?", a familiar voice rings Izumi's ears.
Looking at his saviour, he sees none other than Katsuki Bakugou, wearing his school uniform plus two things on his arms that looked like grenades.
"Well then, I'll just have to kill you too!", Barry says, moving his hands.
But the teen jumped, dodging his attack.
The villain continued to move his arms, but all motions were nullified by Bakugou's precise dodges and blasts.
"How can you see through my techniques?!", Barry asks, enraged.
"Like I'd give it away, idiot", is the only answer he gets.
"YOU CANNOT STOP ME! I AM ABOVE EVERYONE! I CANNOT BE DEFEATED!", the man roared again, thrashing his arms wildly, all technique going out the window.
Bakugou's answer to that was simple: he goes up on the air, dodges the glass the villain created and blasts the villain in the face.
Bartholomew fell on his back, knocked out.
"Small fry", the teen sneered.
Izumi could only watch.
He took that guy down quickly, without any property damage and bringing all attention to him, so the villain wouldn't decide to attack Izumi.
The boy knew how strong the teen was.
But still...he made it so easy, so effortless.
So below him.
Izumi lowers his head and cries again, this time not from desperation, but from anger.
"Hey brat, you okay?", Bakugou asks.
Izumi doesn't say a word, remaining with his head down.
A vein in Bakugou's forehead pops.
"I asked you a fucking question, you-".
"...anything", Izumi whispers.
"What?".
"I couldn't do anything".
Bakugou stops talking.
"He...he would have killed me. I had nothing, no plays left. I was sure I would die".
"I didn't have the strength, the mind...nothing! I only waited for my death!".
Izumi punches the ground.
"Do you know how painful it is to be saved like that, especially from someone who took care of everything so quickly?".
Bakugou doesn't even skip a beat.
"Yes".
Izumi looks at the teen in the eyes for the first time since he saved him.
The hero in training had a dead serious look, completely different from the near-cartoonish angry eyes from earlier.
Whatever he was going to say, he meant it by heart.
"I was saved the exact same way. I was also immobilized, I was also choking...I was also afraid".
"I wasn't afraid", Izumi lied, in a small voice.
"Who the fuck are you trying to impress? I couldn't give less of a shit about your ego, and I certainly don't care about your credibility with your friends".
"Take this match to heart and reflect about what you should have done and improve".
"I...my quirk is not strong enough. I can't be a hero like you".
Bakugou sighs.
"What's your quirk?".
"I can shoot water from my fingers. Up to about thirty centimeters far".
"Wow. That's complete shit".
Izumi looks down.
"Right now, at least".
The boy's head shots up.
"If you get custom made apparel, you can make a weapon out of your stored water. Compressed jets can cut even through metal", he starts, showing his grenadier bracers, "it's the same principle from these things".
"If you work with rescue, you can see if there's a machine to purify your water and make it potable. Water is indispensable in rescue situation".
"If you go to a preservation oriented gig, you can help watering the plants or some shit".
Izumi giggled at this last one.
"Point is, you were given a shit quirk with limited use. So make it your own and improve it. Crying about it won't help at all".
Izumi saw Bakugou in a new light.
Sure, he still thought he was brawly and crude, but at the same time he now saw a serious, responsible side of him as well.
Izumi definitely saw someone who would soon be a hero.
"Wow", the boy said, "you're actually very smart, mister".
"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN WITH ACTUALLY, HUH?!", the teen says, shaking the kid rather forcefully
But Izumi just smiles.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
A week later, Bakugou was going to U.A. by a different route.
He took a huge detour to make sure he passed in front of a certain alley, checking for any muggings or the sort.
It was empty.
He remembered the incident last week.
He was coming back from a training session with Kirishima on U.A. when a light seemed to blind him for a second. Pissed off, he turned and saw nothing.
Confused, he took a step back to see if the light was still there, confirming it.
So there was a strange ray of light coming from apparently nowhere.
It didn't add up.
Propelling himself up with his explosions, he took to the skies and saw what seemed to be a whole structure made of a transparent object.
From what he gathered, the alley entry didn't seem to reflect like it reflected from above.
Whoever did that studied the location.
Bakugou did not like this information.
Checking even further, he saw two people inside, one of them seemingly carefree while the other in a much more panicked state.
Bakugou landed on a nearby roof, put his braces and started planning on sneakily entering the field.
But at that moment, the person with the white shirt made a motion that seemed to incapacitate the other.
'Fuck'.
He forgot his stealthily approach and flew inside the structure like a cannonball.
The man seemed surprised, and the other person, which he now recognized as a kid, fell to his knees and started gasping desperately for air.
The man then tried attacking, but his glass was reflecting just as the structure was, which made Bakugou know exactly where each attack would connect.
'He thought about the perfect place to operate, but never considered that, when attacking from that angle, all his moves are totally perceptible in the sunlight? Did he never use his sunglasses to try and see that? Was he THAT self confident?' Bakugou thought.
From then, it was just a question of timing and he was down.
The teen didn't think much about it, but it actually went to the papers.
Not the usual, massive ones. But more like the one from his neighbourhood.
Which no one read.
Well, no one but...
"Kacchan!", a certain green haired kid yelled for him.
'Shit'.
"Wait up for me!".
"I don't wait, you damn nerd! If you want to talk, keep up with me!", Bakugou yelled back, increasing his rhythm.
To his chagrin, Izuku Midoriya did.
"I read about your rescue, seemed like it went smoothly", he praised.
"It did".
And you helped a kid too".
"I did".
"And all this on your own!".
"Yeah".
Midoriya made a slightly angered face.
"Is that all you have to say?".
Bakugou sighed and stopped.
"We both know you are stalling, Deku. Just ask what you want to know already", the teen said, looking the other dead in his eyes.
The green haired kid smiled.
"Why did you help the little kid?".
"Because that's my job".
"You know what I mean. Not the fight, the pep talk after".
"The fucking brat talked about it?", he yells in anger.
"Yes. Quite a lot, actually. Said you were inspirational and a lot of other cool stuff".
"Why do I even bother saving these assholes", he grumbles.
"Because it's your job?", Midoriya said, a small smile on his face.
Bakugou glares murderously.
"But seriously, why? It's not like you to do stuff like that".
Bakugou looks up.
"Because I ended All Might".
Midoriya makes a sour face.
"You know it wasn't like that...".
"Shut up. We both know it was. I wasn't strong enough, so he had to be", Bakugou says, voice unusually absent of any edge to it.
"All Might is still the biggest wall in the world. It doesn't matter that he's retired. Actually, things might be even worse now that he's retired".
Midoriya only listened.
For all his brute, brawly antics, Katsuki Bakugou was a true genius. He was at the top of his class, he had a great quirk and he knew exactly how to use it.
Wherever he was taking this train of thought, there was surely a logical point for it.
"Losing someone like him is a big blow to all the heroes. We have no one like him to fill his boots. Endeavor doesn't operate like him, and all others have too different quirks to be ideal substitutes".
"Whatever happens from now on, every results, will all be compared to his record. It won't even fucking matter if All Might himself goes against this allegations".
He was right.
Public opinion was a fickle thing.
It would forever fuss about the previous number one hero, and no one would ever be good enough.
"Until Kamino, Japan would settle for any heroes that defeated the villain. From then on, that is not enough. Just beating them down is not enough", he makes fists with his hands.
"Now, we need heroes who save the people, take down the villain and help out with the damn cleanup afterwards. Those idiot fuckers think that everyone will just be perfect overnight".
Midoriya was listening attentively to the teen.
And so far, he agreed with Bakugou's point of view.
Society turned to chaos after Kamino, and no one was able to put it back to how it was yet.
People were scared because the wall that separated the evil from their lives had been removed.
They needed a new wall, but on no place they found a wall just like the one they had guarding them, they all seemed more fragile.
The people became unable to live peacefully without the wall they once had, and their stress and insecurities were breaking their new wall more and more without themselves realizing.
Society was breaking itself. The villains were just speeding it up.
"All Might's flaw was that he didn't think he'd ever fall. That he could be Atlas. That was fucking stupid of him".
Midoriya could see his point, but still got slightly angry at seeing someone talking about All Might like that.
"So, does that mean that you'll be the new All Might, Kacchan?".
"Of course not. That's what you are trying to be, aren't you, chosen one?".
Chosen one.
Bakugou had called Midoriya like that before, after their fight.
"I won't be a copy of anyone, and no one will ever be able to copy me. I'll be the number one hero my own way, public opinion can eat shit for all I care".
Izuku laughed a bit at that last remark. Kacchan was finally talking like he does normally.
"But wait", Midoriya said, "if what you are saying is true, then I still don't get why you helped that boy out".
Bakugou started walking again, not looking at the green haired kid.
"Wait, Kacchan! Why did you help then?".
"You're so fucking annoying, Deku! Leave me alone!".
The explosive teen started to sprint to get some ground on the green haired one, but Midoriya activated Full Cowl and continued following him.
Bakugou would never say it, but he knew he had to change his approach a bit.
He needed to be more than just strong, he had to be a leader. Someone who inspires others.
Society would crumble if no one with the will to lead appeared soon, and he would be that person.
That way, he could still be as destructive as he wanted and at the same time would start to build the wall back, stronger than ever.
He'd win completely. In a way not even All Might could.
If that meant helping out a kid or two, so be it.
"Come on, you don't expect me to believe that you did it and not once thought of it as just helping a kid, only a long term plan, right?".
"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME BEFORE I BLOW YOU UP!".
"Okay, okay, sorry", Midoriya laughs.
Okay, maybe it wasn't all just because of Bakugou's plan.
Maybe he had wanted to help the kid out.
Maybe Midoriya was too perceptible for his own good.
There was no way in hell Bakugou would ever say that.
So the two soon to be heroes went on with their day, the first of them smiling at the seconds's change in character and the second thinking about how much damage he could cause to first one.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
In a different part of the city, a boy was on his class, waiting for classes to start.
"Hey Izumi, what's that on your wrist?".
The black haired kid looked down and smiled.
On his wrist, there was a black rubber band with the words blow them away written in white with a small drawing of an yellow and red explosion on it's side.
He wanted to get the one written explosive, but his mother was adamant on how that was not a nice thing to have on yourself.
So he got one that was similar in meaning and in context.
"This? This is something to make sure I never go back on my dreams again".
His friends laughed, thinking it was cheesy, but Izumi didn't care.
He'd be a hero, and he would be the best.
Maybe not on the battlefield, but in rescue sites, hospitals, gardens...
After all, as he came to know recently, heroes came in many shapes.
Though he'd be a little less rude than his idol. His mother wasn't at all thrilled with his language when he put the band on.
As the day went on, Izumi scribbled on his notebook about his quirk and what he could do better.
"How about you Izumi? Where do you see yourself in a few years?", his teacher asked him at some point in that day.
"A hero school".
"Really? Which one?".
Izumi smiles.
"Shiketsu".
"Why not U.A.? Isn't it closer?".
He touches the rubber band on his hand.
"Because I have to make my own story, I can't be copying others".
He wouldn't do what Bakugou did. He'd be number one on the other best school around.
"Oh. Okay", the teacher says, not really understanding.
"You're giving really cheesy answers today, Izumi".
"Shut up!".
And so the day went on, and at two completely different parts of the city, two completely different individuals continued towards their common goals.
But each with his own ways.
-/-/-/-/-/-/-/-
HEY THERE!
Hoped you liked the read! Here are a few considerations:
1 - I tried to continue with the author's constant play on words with each character's names. Izumi (fountain) has that name because of his quirk, and so does Barry (he makes barriers).
2 - I do know that Midoriya and Bakugou are too amicable in this story, but that's just how I imagine a conversation between them could go if Bakugou didn't just lose his temper in the first seconds.
3 - Yes, this story was meant to be a parallel to Kota and Izuku.
Thanks for reading!