I didn't plan on this but as I was getting ideas for Naruto, this crept up. So yeah. Still don't know anymore about the series than the last time I wrote about this.

My Hero Academia belongs to Kōhei Horikoshi. I am not profiting from this. Thanks for reading.

Part 2

Class 1-A was fun. His classmates were all interesting characters. And he was one of them. They could be friends.

But of course some dipshit from his neighborhood, who was also attending UA, decided to piss him off that morning at the gates. Katsuki held his tongue but dipshit's cronies came and egged him on. Katsuki blew the fuck up and screamed. There were a lot of students around, and they all saw and heard. And those wretched whispers started again. Like every beginning of a school year.

"Who's that?"

Nobody, fuck off.

"That's Bakugou, heard he's got a nasty temper."

Only because people purposefully test his patience.

"He has a really obnoxious quirk."

It ain't his fault.

"I heard he's like a villain."

I'm not I swear I'm not.

But no one listens to Katsuki.

Of course, some students of 1-A saw the commotion and slapped labels and expectations on the back of his head. He felt their eyes and heard their poison. (Katsuki's hearing wasn't great, but those assholes didn't even bother with subtlety.)

"Good morning, kacchan!" It was Izuku, voice wavering, tapering off into uneasy silence. Katsuki put his head down, refusing to look at anything other than the wood grain of the desk. His classmates saw this little bit of interaction. And because he was Katsuki and Izuku was Izuku, the usual whispering started again.

"That's so rude of him"

"How could he be so mean to the poor guy?"

"Tsk, he's not gonna make any friends with that attitude."

Meanwhile, Izuku looked frantically about the room, stuttering out something like a defense for his friend (were they still friends? Katsuki didn't think so but Izuku was pushing for it), but it fell flat and awkward. It made things worse for Katsuki, but he couldn't begrudge the green boy for that. At least he tried.

Katsuki was done trying.

During one of their classes, they had to write an essay on why they wanted to be a hero. Katsuki's answer was simple. He wanted Mitsuki to love him. But they were required to write at least two pages. That evening, he worked late into the night to try and expand on his answer, but by the time he turned in his essay, he had written two pages of lies. But it was okay, because only he knew he lied. No one had to know that.

They had a simulation run in which the class was divided into heroes and villains. It was like those games kids played at the playground, except Katsuki never had such friends to play with.

And of course he's assigned a villain. He tried not to think too much on that and pretended they were playing knights and monsters (and he was the knight defending the village).

Iida was loud and animated. It made Katsuki wary, but they were a team. Then Iida got really into it. Instead of further planning out strategies, he began composing a villainous speech. And it was fun. Iida was so over-the-top and enthusiastic in his role, Katsuki ditched his gloomy mindset to enhance Iida's villainy.

"And you, dear heroes, will meet your grim demise today! MWAHAHAHAHAAA!" Iida yelled across the room. Ochako and Izuku were trying their best to hold their laughter but then Katsuki stepped out from behind Iida with his own bit.

"We are going to kill you, because we are villains! MWAHAHAHAA!" Katsuki's normal speaking voice never held much influctuations so his line was delivered monotonous and strange. It made it even funnier. The heroes couldn't stop laughing as they rolled around on the floor, clutching their stomachs, desperately trying to catch their breaths. That's how the villains won. Katsuki decided that was a fun day.

Katsuki thought they both did well, but for some reason, Iida was still well liked and Katsuki was still an outcast. Sometimes he'd catch Iida looking at him, but the boy would quickly look away. Perhaps even the rule keeping child deemed him a danger to the classroom.

Katsuki didn't want to find out so he'd also look away quickly.

(Unknown to Katsuki, Iida had also grown up with very little friends. The children his age thought him too strict and boring and weird to play with. Iida simply kept his head forward and marched toward his goal so that one day, he could stand next to Ingenium as a hero. When he and Katsuki played villains, Iida had the greatest time of his school career.

And he wished to feel it again.)

Walking through the halls, Katsuki heard a passing conversation about a student in class 1-C with a "villainous" quick. Apparently no one wanted to talk to him. Hope bloomed in Katsuki, that maybe the student was lonely enough to be friends with Katsuki (because Izuku was never an option. The green child had so many new friends here. Bakugou Katsuki would only ruin that).

Shinsou Hitoshi had heard of Bakugou. He was supposed to be loud, explosive, arrogant, and downright nasty. So imagine his surprise when the notorious student of 1-A stood before him with his lunch.

"..." Hitoshi didn't know what to say.

"..." And apparently neither did Bakugou.

"...What do you want?" Hitoshi asked cautiously. Was this a prank? Did he lose a bet or some shit?

Bakugou said something so quietly, Hitsohi doubted even mice could hear.

"You gotta speak up."

"Can. I…" Bakugou paused, eyes darting, searching for words. "Sit next to you and eat lunch?" Hitoshi's eyebrows shot up in legit bewilderment. Perhaps he was silent for too long, because Bakugou's eyes twitched a couple times before he began to walk away.

"Hey, wait, you can sit," Hitoshi decided to spare the boy of whatever disappointment (shame? embarrassment?).

And that started a strange, awkward, silent lunchtime relationship.

The silent duo somehow turned into a trio when Iida found them and decided to join. It seemed nobody knew what to say, because for the next few days, no one said anything as they ate.

Katsuki loved Masaru. His dad never failed to tell him "I love you, Katsuki" every morning without fail and every night, "I'll see you tomorrow."

Katsuki wondered if dad's love was enough. That it was okay without Mitsuki's love. Because even though he didn't have a mother's love like Izuku, Izuku didn't have Masaru's love.

And he'd keep thinking and thinking about what's enough and not enough. Thought about that broken something in dad's eyes that reached out to him. Connected with him. A strong common factor that only they understood the complete depth of.

Katsuki wondered if Masaru wanted Mitsuki's love too. After all, he'd never heard her say "I love you" to either of them. (And neither had the courage to ask if she did.)

"Katsuki, how is school?" Masaru asked his son. They were hanging out at the mall on a weekend. A nice father-son bonding time, spending the day by sitting on every single bench in the mall. Masaru was not yet prepared to ask for a family outing, but maybe one day soon.

"School is fine. I kicked Mineta the other day, and his head got lodged in the ceiling," said his son.

"That's nice. Did you make any friends?" Masaru knew not to bring up Izuku. He didn't know what happened, but Katsuki got upset whenever the Midoriyas were mentioned.

"I eat next to Iida and Shinsou during lunch. Does that count?"

"It has potential. Why don't you ask them their favorite hero or about their hobbies next time?"

"Okay," Katsuki smiled. It was a small, quivering thing, unsure of itself.

Masaru didn't smile much either. But he tried for Katsuki, and Katsuki tried for him. But when they were away from each other, smiling was a foreign concept. Because why should they smile if they were not happy?

Despite his appearance and surface personality, at the core, Katsuki was more like his father. Soft and vulnerable, hiding beneath a cloak of indifference, unable to understand the puzzles of the world that everyone else seemingly understood from birth.

During one usual awkward lunch, Katsuki cleared his throat. Iida and Shinsou startled at the sudden break from routine, turning wide eyes toward their companion. Katsuki cleared his throat a second time before asking, "Who is your favorite hero?"

After a beat of silence, Iida answered, respectfully and to the point as always, "My older brother, Ingenium! I look up to him very much!" He kept his hand gestures to a minimum.

"That's pretty cool. I like Mirko," Shinsou replied. "It's fun to see her beat the shit out of bad guys." The boys nodded. It really was fun whenever she appeared on TV.

"How about you, Bakugou-kun?" Iida asked.

"I like Present Mic."

"Oh? I heard Midoriya-kun once mention you really like All Might," Iida said, watching as Katsuki's face did a weird thing at the name.

"When we were small. I like Present Mic more right now," he answered.

"What changed?" Shinsou inquired.

"I like his smile better."

From an open window a few floors up, Aizawa was napping under a desk and happened to hear that bit. He decided to look at his students in a new light. Erase all preconceptions that may have clouded his eyes.

The class was running the track with quirks allowed. They were supposed to run for as long as they could before they dropped. Iida looked happy, lapping all the students multiple times as he made weird train noises. Aizawa was watching and recording times from the bench. He realized Bakugou used his quirk very sparingly despite sweat streaming off him with every step (quite frankly, it was kinda gross). Some students who had dropped sat nearby, chatting amongst themselves.

"Tch, Bakugou thinks he's better than everyone. He's not even using his quirk. What's he tryna say?"

There were murmurs of varying agreement.

Aizawa looked back toward the explosive child. There were too many of his classmates around him at any given point to safely use his quirk. He turned to the students sitting next to him, "If you have the energy to gossip, you can run. Go. Now."

"How did you first find out about your quirk?" Iida asked during another semi-awkward lunch session. "Mine was kind of obvious. My legs got really itchy, and Tensei was nearby to help."

Shinsou hummed, "This kid was bothering me and I really wanted him to go away. No one came near me that day." He didn't mention the rest of the year. And the years after that.

"I was walking down the street when a police officer thought I had illegal fireworks and called my parents."

That was pretty funny. The boys had a good chuckle out of that. Shinsou sobered at the topic of quirks. "I don't really like my quirk that much," he admitted.

"Why not?" Iida asked.

"Because it's a villain's quirk."

"There's no such thing as villain's quirk," Katsuki looked just as confused as Shinsou. Iida was confused via mood osmosis.

Katsuki continued, "There's no such thing as hero's quirk either."

"Yes, that makes sense," Iida agreed. "Quirks are merely abilities and tools one can use to achieve a goal. What they're used for defines the users, not the quirks themselves."

Shinsou liked this weird lunch group.

Katsuki didn't want to participate in the sports festival. It was too loud and crowded for him. And to make things worse, reporters and cameras and audience… It was just too much. So he told Aizawa he'd rather sit out, but apparently it was mandatory. Katsuki was about to call bullshit when his teacher suddenly leaned forward as if to tell a secret.

"I'll get you something cool if you get to the top 3," he stated and walked away like an asshole. Katsuki didn't want to participate, but the mysterious promise of "something cool" was alluring.

(Honestly, Aizawa just wanted to show off his top students. He made stupid bets with the other staff members, and he wanted to win.)

Before their match began, Ochako looked Katsuki straight in the eyes and said, "Bakugou-kun! Please fight me with all you have!"

Katsuki saw fire in her eyes and answered with as much seriousness he could muster, "Okay." It was difficult because his anxiety was off the charts, he could barely hear shit, and it's hard to shove much emotion into one word.

Mitsuki once said not everyone has nice skin like her and Katsuki, so he should be careful if he plays rough. He was like, seven years old or something, but for some reason, that was the life advice he decided to take to heart.

He still blew up the damn arena fighting Ochako.

His blood pressure rose with every jeer from the crowd. Katsuki gave it his all too, so why weren't they cheering? It grated on his nerves. He thought it'd be fair to get first place if he fought the audience and won, but Midnight and Cementoss were staring at him, so he just got the hell off the field.

Todoroki left him off-kilter. Katsuki didn't know what to think of his opponent's intentional restraint against him. Todoroki didn't hold back against Izuku. Was this another sick comparison between them? That Izuku was worthy of effort and respect and Katsuki wasn't?

As he was announced champion, Katsuki just wanted to go somewhere quiet. He could feel his body tremble and his eyes tear up. He just wanted to go cry somewhere he could be alone. So he didn't even care it was All Might dragging him to the podium as he screamed and kicked, clawing for his freedom.

And there he was, humiliated on national TV.

A reporter shoved a microphone in his face while yelling "Bakugou Katsuki! Do you have any words on today's event?"

"Kill me now."

No one listened.

Aizawa was grading papers when a somewhat distraught and definitely pissed off Bakugou came marching up to him and held out his hand.

"I was top 3. I want the something cool," he demanded. Aizawa looked blankly at him a moment before putting his own hand in the student's. Because they were both socially inept fools, they stood there holding hands for a few seconds.

Bakugou narrowed his eyes. Aizawa could see the gears churning at the speed of sound, but in the wrong direction.

"I guess you're cool," he muttered.

"Thanks, but it's not me." What the hell is he doing.

Aizawa dragged the kid to the teachers' lounge. Bakugou stared at him suspiciously, like he was trying to get the kid in trouble or something. Hahaha. No.

The door slid open to reveal a mostly empty room. Mostly because there was one person in the room. His headphones were blasting music so loudly, even the two newcomers could hear it.

"Wasssuuuuup~" Present Mic paused his music while twirling his chair around to face them. Bakugou still looked weirded out, and it was time to wipe that stupid expression off his face.

"This is Bakugou Katsuki from my class. He's your number one fan," Aizawa said and fell face flat on the couch. He was out before he even hit the couch. It was an amazing thing to see.

Katsuki wanted to blast the man for manhandling him into this situation.

He got a premium special edition figurine and an autograph though, so yeah. It was pretty fucking cool.

Izuku really wanted to talk to Kacchan. He wanted to know why their friendship fell apart. Why Katsuki always looked so sad. Why he didn't smile. Why he didn't bother defending himself against nonsensical accusations. What happened to the fiery child from before?

But high school was a rush everyday. Izuku made so many friends! And they all had a common goal and it was amazing! And And And!

He rarely saw Katsuki at the cafeteria. Katsuki was always out the classroom before him. He had no opportunity to chat.

So one day he decided he needed to get off his ass and do some investigation. Through said investigation, he found Katsuki, Iida, and some unidentified student. Izuku brightened up and stepped toward the boys, a greeting on his tongue, when he caught a glimpse of their expressions. There was murder in their eyes.

Izuku did an impressive 180 turn and made a strategic retreat.

(The boys were caught in an intense staring competition.)

So Izuku came back the next day. The boys were in a heated argument about something or other, and Izuku didn't want to get caught in the crossfire. It looked dangerous. Perhaps another time...

(The boys were animatedly discussing the ultimate Iida, which was Tenya and Tensei combined together to activate full engine mode.)

'Finally!' Izuku cried with relief. 'Finally I can talk with Kacchan!'

The location, however, was far from ideal. The moment class was dismissed, Izuku literally launched himself to his victim, trapping him to his seat. Of course, to do that, Izuku had to contort to an awkward and uncomfortable position. Their classmates were startled and were staring. Kacchan was sweating from discomfort. Izuku felt bad, but this was his God given chance.

"KACCHAN, CAN WE PLEASE TALK PLEASE!?" he didn't mean to be so loud. His nerves were shot and he wanted to make sure Katsuki heard him. Good thing he did, because repeating that would just make him self-conscious. Katsuki very stiffly nodded his head up and down while his hands crackled from the sweat.

"OKAY, I'LL SEE YOU AFTER SCHOOL, OKAY?!" Another stiff nod, and Izuku set him free to dart out the room.

Izuku and Katsuki stood six feet apart, keeping a socially acceptable distance. It was far for friends, but Izuku would take what he could get. They just stood and stared at each other. Katsuki was waiting for Izuku to make a move. Izuku was revelling at this situation.

(And of course, some classmates were eavesdropping from various hiding spots. Iida even dragged Shinsou into it (because they were friends, he claimed). Izuku had made such a big deal out of this that curiosity strangled them.)

"Kacchan," Izuku started and stopped.

"Izuku," Katsuki replied.

"Kacchan, what happened?"

"I don't understand."

"We used to be such good friends, and now we're like strangers. What happened?"

"Oh. That."

"Yes. That."

"I figured it to be the best solution." His answer broke Izuku.

"What do you mean by solution? What was the problem?" Izuku's voice was increasing in volume.

"I feel bad when I'm with you," Katsuki stated with such conviction, Izuku was about to shatter into a million sad pieces.

"What?" A whisper. As if all the air in his body had abandoned him.

"What?" Katsuki couldn't hear him. And all of a sudden, the fight in Izuku burst. He was desperate for answers and a long ago friendship. He took large steps toward his childhood friend, grasping him by the shoulders.

"What? I don't understand either!" Izuku cried. He could feel tears forming already. "Please explain so I can understand! I want to know why you're hurt! I want to know you! I want to know how to fix this!" His yelling and crying and shaking was getting to Katsuki. His friend was beginning to shake from restrained energy. Another shake would undo him completely.

"Kacchan, you were my everything back then, so please, just let me back in!"

And the carefully built dam of indifference that cocooned Katsuki cracked.

"BECAUSE I'M NOT YOU!" he screamed. Izuku was momentarily taken aback.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE NOT ME!?"

"EVERYONE WANTS ME TO BE YOU! YOU'RE PERFECT! YOU'RE GOOD! YOU'RE A HERO! I'M NOT! I'M FUCKING DISGUSTING AND BAD AND A FUCKING VILLAIN!" Katsuki was full on sobbing now. "I wanted to be like you, but I was never good enough. Whenever I'm with you, people start comparing us and I hate that. So I thought you wouldn't want someone like me getting compared to you and left you alone."

Izuku looked… well, for a lack of better word, he looked angry. Not at Katsuki, of course not. But at himself. At the world. At the traitorous words that cut his friend down to nothing.

Katsuki had one more thing to say.

"Why won't people love me?"

Izuku wondered where he'd gone wrong for this to happen.

Note: cool cool cool. I didn't know what the write after this point so here it is.