(Posting a little earlier!)

I FOUND THE PERFECT THEME SONG FOR QUIRKED! IT'S CALLED "View" by Luck Life AND OH MY GOD THE LYRICS FIT PERFECTLY FOR IZUKU AND SO DOES THE VIBE. GO LISTEN TO IT AND READ THE ENGLISH LYRICS PLS I BEG OF YOU. AHHHHHHH!

Do you guys know how hard it is to find songs that fit an entire fic concept?! Ugh, thank you Luck Life! They're also the band that did a lot of the songs for Bungo Stray Dogs if you're into that anime too! Go check them out 3

Summer vacation for Katsuki Bakugou had always meant an opportunity to study more. Not that he needed to, he had the best grades in all of Aldera and had only ever been second to Deku— emphasis on had— and while Katsuki was more than happy to take the nerd's place, it didn't feel deserved. Not when Deku's grades had been tanking lately.

Okay, well, maybe not fucking tanking exactly, but Katsuki just had high standards. He needed to have them if he and the nerd were ever going to get into UA in the first place which had never seemed to be a problem until now.

Plus, if Katsuki was going to beat his best friend, he wanted to do it in a way that made him feel like he was the best. But seeing Deku fail test after test didn't make him feel better about himself, it made him pity the damn nerd and he didn't like that either.

Deku was a smart kid. Katsuki respected him because he had always been able to keep up with him. But lately, his friend seemed to have changed. Ever since the accident, he was different. Distracted, even. Like he was waiting for someone to pop out from the corner and scare him. Like he was going to be attacked or caught for something he wasn't supposed to do. Deku had practically turned into a completely different person seemingly overnight.

And it was seriously fucking pissing Katsuki off.

The two had been best friends since childhood and always told each other stuff. From the most embarrassing things to the dumbest, most unimportant details about their lives. They shared everything.

Katsuki was there when Deku stopped wetting the bed. Deku was the only one who had ever seen him cry. They knew things about each other that no one else did.

So when Deku lied to him about the bruise earlier in the year, Katsuki felt betrayed. But he still didn't push it. Deku had never been one to establish boundaries between them, even when Katsuki hurt him. Maybe he was simply growing up, learning how to keep things to himself.

It would've made Katsuki proud to see his best friend mature, but not if it meant he was getting beat up by people after school. And as much as it made him rage that someone was potentially hurting him, Katsuki tried to respect Deku's privacy, telling himself he would only step in if the nerd couldn't handle it. And Katsuki firmly believed Deku could. Katsuki even found himself relaxing a little bit when Deku took his advice and started taking those self-defense courses they saw in the gym (the nerd was smart but self-preservation had never been one of his skills).

But the more time Katsuki spent around him, the more he started noticing all the other discrepancies in Deku's behavior. Like how he always seemed to have a new kind of injury on his body and never seemed to be getting any sleep. Deku had also gotten addicted to caffeine— which he had been trying to hide but was definitely fucking obvious— an issue concerning in itself.

Katsuki didn't believe in the necessity to force your body to stay awake. He was diligent enough to get his work done and be in bed by eight. That's why he had no problem waking up for their five a.m. sessions at the gym.

But Deku was a different story. He had lost all his discipline in the past five months and a half. Katsuki would tell him stuff and he would forget about them the next day. Study time had become nap time for the nerd if Katsuki could even call him that anymore.

Why?

Because his friend no longer gushed about All Might like he used to. At all. That should've been the first indication that something was wrong besides the bruise. Deku hadn't even reached peak levels of fanboy when Katsuki gave him the watch. The same one his friend had been talking about since it was released for the New Year. He didn't even comment on the way the hands were designed to look like All Might's stupid hair or how the twelve p.m. beeping synchronized with the stupid theme song he loved so much.

Katsuki felt like reminding him that they were family at his birthday party would be enough, but he had been wrong and it was clear based on the way his friend was acting that something was going on. And Katsuki was determined to find out what it was. Bruises and swollen ankles were one thing, but a broken arm? That was where the blonde drew the line.

Except now Katsuki was even more confused.

At first, he believed Deku was being harassed by someone. He would've suspected one of his family members, but Inko was incapable of hurting a fly and loved her son too much. Hell, she would probably pass out if she found out Katsuki was thinking about her that way.

But now, based on the way Deku was acting around the police who were sitting across from them, Katsuki wasn't sure anymore. They had been studying fine in the cafe until the three officers arrived and ever since then, Deku had been on edge.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes at him and shifted a little in his seat.

Was Izuku Midoriya capable of doing something that went against the law? Had Katsuki been wrong about him all along? Was Deku actually the one causing trouble and not the other way around?

Five months ago, Katsuki would have laughed at himself for even considering something like that. But now, the more he looked at the freckled-faced boy who was cowering behind the bulk of a potted plant and hiding his broken arm, the more Katsuki realized he didn't really know who Izuku was anymore.

And that bothered him. It bothered him a lot.

So, naturally, Katsuki decided he had had enough and was going to take matters into his own hands. If Deku didn't want to tell him anything, he would find out himself.

"Uh, Kacchan, I need to use the restroom," the nerd mumbled predictably after five minutes had passed. He wouldn't meet Katsuki's gaze and kept glancing back at the other table over his shoulder.

Katsuki couldn't help himself. "Of course you fucking do," he said under his breath with a slight eye roll.

Deku blinked, finally looking at him with his annoying ass green eyes.

"What?"

Katsuki waved him off and pretended to go back to focusing on his book. When in reality, he had solved all of the math problems on the page already. "Go ahead. I'll be here when you get back."

Deku nodded quickly and took off.

And then Katsuki got up and approached the officers' table.

I've been considering doing slightly shorter chapters every now and then because I feel like my writing style is so rambly, meh. I don't even know how to describe it. I'm just afraid of boring everyone with unnecessary information and if I keep things short I will avoid that? Also, faster uploads. Ugh, idk. Let me know what you think!

This chapter was the long-awaited Bakugou POV and uh, sorry not sorry about the cliff at the end ;)

✩ Next update: 7/9 ✩