Update: 26/09/21 – spelling/grammar corrections. Made May's quirk more lore-friendly.

My Dear Copycat
Chapter 2
Explosive circumstances

The days following May's admission to Class 1-A were filled with intense training and developing ultimate moves. A lot of the students had the Department of Support create upgrades and extra gear for their costumes. Everyone felt at the top of their game, and truthfully, they were coming a long way and growing their quirks thanks to the UA teacher, particularly Ectoplasm. He had created various clones of himself to help the students develop their quirks, for some it meant combat like Bakugo, for others, it was helping them control their quirk, like Uraraka and May.

The students could not help but notice May, however, as she was the only one whose quirk they did not know and the strength of her abilities. After exploding the clone, he was up against, he decided to watch her instead of calling for another opponent. He knew the extent of everyone's abilities, he kept a mental log of each of his classmates' quirks like Deku's notebook - except for hers and this was something he needed to rectify. Just a few minutes break to assess the competition. She had introduced herself as Copycat and that her quirk was Imitation. Bakugo thought that maybe she would operate similar to Neito Monoma in Class 1-B.

She was down on the ground level of the training arena, focusing on using her quirk to combat a clone. She wasn't alone down there; she had her own clones, all in the same UA training suit as her hero suit wasn't ready yet. There were four of her altogether, so she had created three clones of herself the same way Ectoplasm does with a strange goo. So, she doesn't need contact like that idiot from 1-B. The four Mays mixed themselves up intending to confuse Ectoplasm. Bit of strategy I guess, but it's stupid. What happened next shocked him and some of the other classmates that were watching, including Deku and Uraraka who were on another raised rock together, watching May below. No one could tell which one was the real May as they rushed the Ectoplasm clone until Bakugo noticed that three of them had started to show signs of melting and slowing down. They're getting weaker quickly. The moment the clones were released into a sticky grey goo she touched them. The goo became practically weightless, aiming for Ectoplasm to take him by surprise. What the…?

Bakugo looked to Uraraka, she was watching from the top of one of the many rocks beside Deku. They were both surprised and looked at each other then back to May, they both appeared excited. She switched from using the clones to Uraraka's gravity quirk in an instant. Turning back to the fight, the Ectoplasm clone was stuck in place as May ran forward for an attack. Her movements were sloppy, she could only get close to her opponent because he was stuck in place and then BOOM. A flameless explosion erupted from her outstretched hand and caused the Ectoplasm clone to burst into a pile of grey goo along with her own. Her body relaxed, almost doubled over from being out of breath, combat was not her forte.

"She…used three different quirks?" Midoriya uttered, he could hardly blink as he watched his new classmate, he pulled out his notebook and pen from his back and created a new spread on Copycat. "I'll need to ask a few questions later. I noticed that she was able to change between different quirks instantaneously. Though the clones did not last very long and when she used Bakugo's explosion it did not seem as potent or hot as the original …" he began to trail off in his usual muttering habit.

Uraraka just giggled at him and waved down to May, "hey you did amazing!"

May looked to the students watching her and lifted a shy hand to wave back to Uraraka, "thanks," with a nervous smile that disappeared rather quickly when she caught sight of Bakugo up on his rock, glaring down at her with those insane red eyes. She recoiled, eyes widened, "eeEEee," he looked pissed. Was this truly the same person that saved her the other night?

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING COPYING MY QUIRK YOU WANNABE!" he bellowed with a raised sparking fist. He jumped down and began storming towards her. She kept taking steps back, her hands up showing empty palms going back and forth. She did not want to engage with him, and she was frightened, not even trying to hide it for the sake of her pride in front of everyone. Weakling, pathetic he growled. How could someone so weak make it onto the UA hero course? Especially when it was supposed to be full! Her hands instinctively went to protect her face and head. Something at the back of his mind tried to pull him back, make him see reasoning but his temper and feet had a mind of their own. How dare she use my quirk! Seeing her so fearful of him made something in his chest pang. His heart felt like it was being squeezed but he couldn't stop himself, Bakugo was seeing red.

Just as he reached a few metres from her, another Ectoplasm clone appeared with his back to him. "Well done May, you used three that time. But you need to focus on keeping them stable-"

Ectoplasm was cut off by Bakugo, "GET OUT OF MY WAY!" he roared as he threw an exploding fist through the clone's back, causing it to burst just like all the others he faced.

"Kacchan stop!" Called Deku, Uraraka shouted as well but he droned them out.

Mr Aizawa and Ectoplasm himself had run to the area, they could hear Bakugo's temper from the other side of the arena and knew they had to intervene. But they were too slow. Bakugo reached the small frail girl in his anger. Hand raised for a blow, and instead of defending herself, she cowered more waiting for the strike. May's eyes were shut tight, her head recoiling into her shoulders. She looked as scared as she was that night when he first met her. When those two guys…

The squeezing in his chest became unbearable and overpowered his temper. He blinked, a raised fist above a cowering girl's head, what am I doing? His fist loosened, and instead of coming down on her with force and explosions, a rough palm landed on the top of her head. Her green eyes slowly opened, blinking through her tears to see him glowering at her with those fiery eyes that will give her nightmares for weeks, "you're not worth it," he sneered. He noticed now just how small she was in comparison to him; she was barely over five foot tall - he felt like he was bullying a child. He gritted his teeth with an annoyed grunt, more irritated at himself than her. He took a step back and walked away leaving behind her shaking form, heading towards the exit. It was almost time for them to leave anyway.

May was joined by Midoriya and Uraraka, as well as the two teachers. She doesn't belong here, better she learns this now.

"That was really mean man…" Kirishima stated as Bakugo marched through the rest of his classmates.

"This is why people are scared of you!" joined Kaminari. They had all watched what had transpired and how he treated the new girl who had done no wrong. Since day one she tried her best to fit in, she became friendly with everyone and took part in group activities, she would even play board games in the dorm with whoever wanted to play. She was just a closed book about her life outside of UA. Whenever she was asked questions, she would always brush them off or avoid them. Not much different to Bakugo really, her business was her business.

"Shut up…" baring teeth as he stormed past them all, heading straight for the locker room. As he marched his way down the hall, he thought back to what would have been May's first morning at the UA dorm.

It was early morning, and the sky was a mix of vibrant reddish-orange and baby blue as the sun was beginning to rise. Bakugo was the only one up and in the commune area, so he took this opportunity to sort some breakfast out for himself before the rush. He couldn't stand being around so many people first thing in the morning, and thus he relished in the peaceful quiet. He was sat at the table slowly eating his food as he watched the sun breaking over the trees through the window. His trance was broken when he heard a door down the girls' wing click shut, he hoped whoever it was wouldn't come this way. Maybe they just needed to use the bathroom?

The light footsteps grew closer with every passing second. "Damn it," he growled quietly to himself. Can't get any peace in this damn place. It wasn't long before he could see May in the corridor. Her eyes had dark rings under them as if she hadn't slept and her usual straight silky hair was in a messy bun, needing to be brushed. She still wore her nightwear which was a loose cotton two-piece - a short-sleeved cream top and matching bottoms that had a sketch image of a cartoon fawn on the leg. He realised now how bottom-heavy she was, with narrow shoulders and a small, unimpressive torso led to her wide round hips and thick legs that her supposedly loose bottoms clung tightly to. He felt a twitch in his crotch, bloody teenage hormones.

She dragged her feet as she reached the open space and stretching arms upwards as she yawned. May stopped dead in her tracks when she saw him, she looked around the room and noticed that it was just the two of them. "Perfect…stay there," she disappeared back down the corridor. Bakugo blinked, what the hell? After a couple of minutes she returned, something small and purple in her hands. She settled into one of the chairs with a smile trying to hide how exhausted she truly was. "So, I spoke to my dad yesterday and…and mentioned the crazy coincidence that the person who saved me the other night happened to be in my class. He said that I should thank you with a gift. He suggested a bento box or something…" ugh no- she looked down at the purple package in her hand, the writing on it was in English but he could tell it was chocolate of some kind, a pretty well-known brand. "But I thought that was a bit weird and you wouldn't like the attention," she mustered the courage to gaze up at him, a twinkle in her eye and smile on her full lips. She thought right, she catches on fast. She is actually quite pretty for a foreigner and a weakling, he thought. "Besides, I don't know much about Japanese food or well, cooking at all. The last time I tried making any it was pretty bad," she laughed, rubbing the back of her neck, she was obviously nervous but trying her best to be friendly with a guy whose grumpy and uninterested demeanour remained unfazed. "I'm not sure if you like sweet stuff or not, but here, please have this. It's from my home, you can't get it around here but it is one of my favourites." She slid the chocolate across the table, it was just plain chocolate, nothing special. Boring like her.

He slid it back as he stood, grabbing his plate which he still hadn't finished yet. "Keep it then. I don't want it," before May could protest, Bakugo had left and gone to his room. Taking his breakfast with him and leaving his declined gift on the table. He heard her sigh in defeat.

Later that day, when Bakugo returned to the dorms after classes and training he headed to his room. He wanted to change before heading out with Kirishima and Kaminari. He flung his bag on the bed, but it didn't go far enough and it slid off to the floor with a thud, causing some of its contents to spill out. Including a purple chocolate bar with a yellow sticky note attached. He gritted his teeth, "how annoying," she must have sneaked it in there when I wasn't looking. He stood over his spilt things and his curiosity got the better of him. He bent down and picked up the gift, the sticky note read, "keep it" in English with a heart drawn next to it. Thankfully, he was quite adept with the English language, both speaking and written down. But his eyes lingered on the little heart drawn there, he knew it was just a thing that westerner girls did but it still pulled at something in his chest and to his dismay, blush.

"Stupid Hata," he slammed his locker shut, he had already finished getting changed by the time his male classmates entered. With the experiences that the class had encountered with villains over the past school year, how beaten up they had gotten, how serious the situations had been, when he got kidnapped by the League and All for One…she was too weak if something like that was to happen again – which it probably would since the League of Villains seems pretty determined to get what they want - she would just get in the way and probably killed. She doesn't belong here. If no one else will make her see that. Guess I will. She was being set up for a painful failure after all. That's what heroes do…All Might's words echoed in his mind. Got to be cruel to be kind.

"Hey Kacchan…" came a small familiar voice as the others entered, they were all mostly avoiding him and his bad mood, not wanting to be at the receiving end of his temper. But before Deku could say anything else, Bakugo left the locker room, completely ignoring all one of them. He could hear them whispering to each other like little schoolgirls, but he didn't care. He had better things to do.

He entered the hall and started making his way back to the dorm. He was shaking his head, thinking that he needed to control his temper when he felt himself bump into something. Or someone. He reached out instinctively and caught a flailing pale hand to stop whoever it was from falling over. It was May.