He didn't regret the apology, it was the only way to shake Izuku out of the state he was in so he'd come back. He didn't count on him passing out right after. Or that he had to do it front of everyone. Bakugo figured that if he ever apologized formally to Izuku, there would be consequences, but he figured it would be between the two of them. Now he was carrying the dumbass over his shoulder while they all took him back to campus, and he could feel the eyes of his classmates. The most annoying of which was Kirishima. He was sticking close. Waiting. Wanting to talk. He knew Kirishima's story, of course he wanted to talk.

"Spit it out, Shitty Hair." He grumbled, gripping Izuku a bit tighter.

"Okay, so, I know you are pretty abrasive, and you and Midoriya had some bad juju at the start of school, but… when you said 'made your life hell'…" The redhead jogged to catch up, their classmates looking on, curious.

"I meant what I fucking said. Ever since I got my quirk and he didn't get one, I've been bullying him."

"I've met some of your old classmates, and they said you kind of bullied everyone back then."

"They are a bunch of babies. I was a brat in middle school, I treated people poorly, but I didn't bully most people. And of the kids I did bully, none of them near as bad as I treated Izuku. Mostly because whenever I was bullying someone, he'd step in and get what they were getting tenfold."

"Sounds like Midoriya." He nodded. "It's just… you're harsh but you aren't a bad guy. It's hard to imagine-"

"Damnit, Shitty Hair! What do want, details!?" Bakugo felt his blood boil. "I was a bastard. I did everything from verbal harassment to physical beatings. First year of middle school, he left the city for a week because his grandmother was sick, me and a bunch of classmates put money together to get spiderlillies to put on his desk the day he got back. Made a bunch of jokes that we thought he'd finally killed himself. When we were six I convinced our class to pretend he didn't exist for a month. I kicked his ass atleast once a month for a decade. We lived down the street from eachother and always went to the same school, so he had no real escape. And he didn't deserve it, I had issues, and I took it out on him because he made me uncomfortable. And even with all that… you know about the slime villain?"

"You got held hostage, and Mido tried to save you, right?" He scratched the back of his neck and the others seemed confused at the sudden change for subject. "Hearing about what he did… actually inspired me to be hero. I can't believe it took me so long to figure out that was him. Sure was manly of him."

"You have no idea. That day… You how his notebook is all burned and water damaged?" Bakugo felt his eyes glue themselves to the ground, unable to look at anybody. He could fell all the eyes. He deserved it. "The day of the attack, our teacher asked us where we were applying. Izuku and I were the only one who were gunning for UA. After class, me and couple buddies cornered him. We berated him for wanting to be a hero even though he was quirkless. I used me quirk him as a threat, ruining his school jacket's shoulder not for the first time. I blew up his notebook and threw it out the window into the koi pond, and when I went to leave… I told to kill himself, so he could get a quirk in his next life."

"Bakugo-"

"And he still tried to save me. I didn't even thank him for it, I just told him off. I stopped bullying him, everybody else started to calm down soon after too, for different reasons."

"Different reasons?"

"That was also the day All Might picked Izuku to be his successor. He started working out so he could get the quirk and not instantly explode, or so he's told me. When the kid you've all been bullying for years suddenly gets ripped, it's scary. Everyone thought he'd snapped and was going to enact justice on our asses. When was he in class, he did grip excerises with one hand, and beat most of the classes academic scores with the other. A third of the class thought he was going kill them in their sleep."

"Yeah… I can see how they could think that."

"So now you know. I was a jackass, a horrible shit head. It took getting humbled over and over, and getting kidnapped because the villains thought I would join them, for me to start getting my head on straight." Katsuki shook his head. "You don't have to be my friend anymore, if you don't want to. I completely get it."

"I… but you're different now." Kirishima looked like he was going to explode from trying to sort through it all.

"Yeah, but I'm still a mean, loud bastard, just a softer version. And I can't guarantee that I won't slip back into old habits. The first time I wanted to have a heart to heart with Deku, it was also a fist fight."

"That Ground Beta fight?"

"Bingo, dipshit. I figured out about One for All, because he had tried to tell me after the battle trail day two. I was upset that All Might choose him, while I ended his career. So I decided we needed to have a fight about it."

"Yeah, that's not great."

"No kidding."

"But… Deku always seemed so happy that you have been getting along better." Ochaco pipped up, jogging up closer. "It couldn't have been that bad. Surely."

"Have you even met De- Izuku? He's a soft hearted welp, his heart is to big for his own good. It's why I haven't apologized until now, because he'd probably forgive me, and I wouldn't deserve it. I wanted to focus more on atonement. I avoided him pathologically, so now I like… eat near him sometimes. I told him he couldn't be a hero instead of helping him, so I'll help him now, with training. Like that." He couldn't stand to look at anyone anymore.

"If it helps, I'm not surprised at all." Todoroki added in, and boy did that make Bakugo want to break things. Because, yeah, he would know. Dense as he was, he would know.

"Doesn't help, also doesn't surprise me."

"Midoriya always seemed to understand me and my situation. He seemed to know a lot about abuse, and forgiveness. My sister was always too forgiving, my brother too bitter, but Midoriya seemed to really get it. Waiting for the right time to forgive, because you want to be able to do it. When he revealed his quirklessness in his note, I thought that was it. But it was you, that made him understand, wasn't it?" Bakugo could feel Icy Hot's eyes on the back of his head.

"It was."

"Being around my father during our internships must have been weird for you."

"That jackass didn't try to get better until he got want he wanted and it wasn't all that. If anything, it motivated me more. I do not want to be that guy."

"Good."

"You're pretty smart for a punk, Kacchan." Sparky quipped, making Bakugo roll his eyes.

"No shit, Dunce Face. I'm not number three in class for no reason."

"No, that's school stuff, you're like actually smart."

"Did you get hit in the head?"

The walk was less awkward now.

###############################

"Shut the hell up, you morons, you're going to wake up the nerd." Izuku heard Kacchan stage whisper/growl as he edged back into the waking world. Were they all still around after he fell asleep after his bath?

"But it's so gross!"

Ah, Asui must have eaten bugs that had been cleaned out of the lights. They had this fight once a week when Iida would get antsy and deep clean the common room and the frog girl would take the chance for an easy snack. Iida never saw a problem, but some of the others did.

He missed them.

"She's got a frog mutation, it's perfectly natural." He said, words slurring and voice soft with sleep. His eyes opened to most of the class staring at him. Kacchan looked ready to kill Mina where she stood.

"See!"

"You woke me up, Kacchan."

"Ohhhhh." Kaminari cooed in the classic 'you're in so much trouble' best know from when somebody got called to the office.

"Shut up, Dunce Face." The explosion user turned toward him now and Izuku was distinctly reminded of getting lectured by his mother. "You were out for a long time, you need rest if you're going to complete your quirk, D- Izuku. Go back to fucking sleep, nerd."

"I told you, you don't have to call me that." Midoriya lifted himself up on sleep legs, which his childhood friend was visibly displeased by. "Deku is fine, Uraraka calls me Deku, it's my hero name. I don't mind."

"It's different for me, and you know it." Kacchan's rage was quickly tipping from motherly to murderous. "We've known eachother since before we can remember. I can't call someone I probably shared teething toys with by their family name, it's damn weird. Now sit down, you're going to fall over."

"I'm fine, Kacchan." His brain was snapping quickly into awareness, his legs steadying. The class was looking at the pair, being very still and clearly hoping that they would blend in with the furniture somehow. "I need to eat and go to the bathroom, you aren't going to mother hen me through all that, are you?"

"Maybe."

"Kacchan." He sighed in annoyance.

"It's almost dinner time, can you wait till then to eat?"

"I guess. Especially if Kacchan is cooking."

"We just got your dumbass back, it's a special occasion, of course I'm cooking. Who do you think I am?"

"Are you feeling okay, Kacchan? Did you hit your head in the war? You're acting weird."

He really was. The loud blond had been easing up and helping him before the war, but since he'd left, Kacchan was acting different. He apologized, which he appreciated but it was weird. Did he have brain trauma? Did his brain not get enough blood because of blood loss?

"I don't have brain damage you fucking-" Bakugo flew into a screaming rage, before Kirishima came up and put a hand on his shoulder, which stopped him.

"Bakubro was just really worried about you. The last time he saw you before we tracked you down, you were totally dying from whatever Shigaraki did you."

"Okay." Deku walked away.

"And don't worry, I'm helping him with the yelling thing! And the name thing!" The red head called at his back. When he left he could hear the clamor of everybody talking when he left.

When he finished going to the bathroom, he was met with Todoroki.

"Midoriya, I'd like to talk to you."

"I'm sure you do, Todoroki-kun." He found himself smiling. The half and half boy was probably very troubled after everything that had happened.

"Was Bakugo really that bad? For a guy like him to take it so seriously… it must have been. When we were coming back, he told us some details, but it's important that I hear from you." Todoroki looked intense, and he would have been intimidated if he didn't know Todoroki so well.

"He was… pretty bad." He couldn't bring himself to say anything worse. His personal admiration and understanding of Katsuki made it so he couldn't judge him harshly. "But I'm fine, Todoroki. I could handle being beat up, made fun of, I was quirkless. I knew that would happen. The thing that bothered me most was that he wasn't my friend anymore, and now…"

"Just because you were quirkless, doesn't make it okay."

"I know! I know that, it's just…" Midoriya sucked his teeth and his friend nodded.

"Complicated."

"Yeah. Honestly, I'm surprised he apologized at all. I didn't think he ever would. I really should talk to him, but right now we really need to focus on bringing the villains to justice. Saving the ones that can be saved. So it will have to be later." He felt his resolve flare deep in his chest.

"My mother is out of the hospital." Todoroki said and it made him feel like he had been punched in the ribs, wind knocked out of him.

"What?"

"We have decided to deal with Touya- Dabi as a family. Any real reconciliation or talking will come after. I understand what you mean with Bakugo. There's a lot going on, so somethings are getting pushed to the side."

"Yeah. I'm sorry, about your brother, by the way. That sucks." Midoriya cringed internally at his fumbling language. He really needed to get better at that.

"It's not great." Todoroki nodded, making him thank the spirits that the other boy was even more awkward then him. "Just remember, you can always talk to me. About the Bakugo thing, because I get what it's like to be hurt by someone you trust like that."

"Your situation is a lot more severe, Todoroki."

"Maybe. But we can still sort of understand, right?"

"Right."

Author's Note:

Hello! Hope you enjoyed this fic! Reviews make my day, love details, and reviews are always welcome, no matter how old this story is when you run across it. See you, duckies!