If someone told a ten year old Bakugou Katsuki that he would one day waste his own precious time to train with Midoriya Izuku for the U.A. entrance exams, he would have probably punched them in the face. Hard. With an explosion.
But such was the case for the current Katsuki, now fourteen years of age, and currently yelling at Deku to keep the fuck up.
Now, some might might wonder why exactly Katsuki would willingly spend time helping the stupid Deku get into U.A., which is a very valid question, because sometimes he's not so sure himself. Like right now.
"I said, keep the fuck up, Deku!"
"I-I'm trying, Kacchan!" Deku gasped in between short ragged breaths as he desperately tried to keep up with his former bully and friend's pace.
"Well, fucking try harder! You want to be a goddamn hero, don't you?!"
Upon hearing the word 'hero', Deku took as deep a breath he could manage and jogged up beside Katsuki with newfound determination.
It lasted for about a minute before he began falling behind again. Katsuki tsked in irritation and slowed his own pace—just the tiniest amount.
Rest assured, there was a very good reason for all of this. Two reasons, actually. There had to be, for Katsuki to put up with the shitty annoyance that is Deku.
The first reason was that so long as Deku was with him, Katsuki would be able to keep an eye on the green haired boy. It was very important that the blonde knew of every possible new development of the shitty nerd's quirk, and that would be easier with Deku there at U.A. with him.
The second, and much more important reason, was that Katsuki was no coward (unlike a certain dumb green haired someone else).
Bakugou Katsuki had a dream. A dream to be the strongest, to be Number One. And to prove that he was—indeed—the strongest, he needed to be able to defeat anyone who might get in the way of his dream at their top condition. He wouldn't use any cowardly, underhanded tactics to achieve his victory, because whoever was Number One had to be someone strong enough to win against all odds, no matter who his opponent might be.
If this was the same old useless Deku from before, Katsuki would have never considered helping him. It just wasn't worth it. He wasn't worth it. The old Deku had just been a pebble in Katsuki's path, not even worth a second glance. But the new Deku had transformed from a pebble to a rock, one that you might accidentally trip over if you're not careful. And that would be pretty pathetic.
Katsuki refused to be that pathetic. He would leap over that rock, propelled forward by his quirk's explosions, and then use it as a stepping stone for his victory. To become Number One. If Katsuki truly was to be the strongest, he needed to be able to defeat Deku at his very best.
Which brings us to why Katsuki is here, with Deku, jogging down a concrete path instead of being somewhere else, which didn't include any shitty Dekus. If wasting his own precious time turning the dumb nerd into at least a semi competent fighter was necessary to achieve his life's goal and prove to the world that Bakugou Katsuki is indeed the strongest, then so be it.
He just wished coaching Deku wasn't so annoying. Not that he expected anything less from a whiny crybaby though.
Katsuki paused for a moment to let Deku catch up. They were currently standing in an underpass crossing the road they were currently following; it was the road leading to the street where the boys lived, well traversed but at the moment almost empty. They both breathed heavily from the workout, Deku more so than his blonde companion.
They took a short moment to rest. Katsuki could keep going, but he knew Deku wouldn't last much longer, thus allowed him some time to catch his breath before they continued. Causing the nerd to pass out would be counter productive to Katsuki's goals after all.
The only noise that could be heard for a moment was the harsh breathing of both boys echoing off the grey walls of the tunnel, when it was suddenly interrupted by the sound of metal hitting rock and the wet splashing of liquid.
Before either boy realized what had happened, they were encased in dark green, sticky slime that had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. Katsuki had only time to gasp out a quick "The fuck—" before his mouth and throat was filled with the disgusting taste of trash and rotten fish. The blonde would have threw up, but the slime currently clogging his throat made it impossible, leaving his stomach to churn in revulsion.
It didn't take long for the boys to realize that whatever the slime was, it was alive and had seemingly made them it's prey.
A villain, they realized at once as both teens tried their best to get a handle on the situation they were just forced into. Katsuki was setting off as many explosions as he could possibly manage, lighting up the dark tunnel, which now seemed so much darker with a villain attacking them. The explosions didn't have much effect on the sludge however, much to Katsuki's frustration.
He tried his best to scream at the villain to "Die, die, die!" as more slimy, disgusting liquid was forced down his throat. His attempts were growing more desperate as the slime didn't even seemed faced by Katsuki's explosions, when suddenly he felt soft fingers wrap around his arm.
Deku, he realized and—just like that—they were free. The villain was gone, like it had never even been there in the first place, and Katsuki had experimented with Deku enough to realize that that was exactly what happened.
Deku had used his quirk to turn back time on the world around them, just before the slime villain would emerge from underground and attack. Katsuki didn't need the dweeb's prompting to turn his body around to face the soon-to-be incoming enemy. They watched as it emerged from the sewers, manhole cover launched high in the air and clattering to the ground loudly, before it lunged at the two students.
"The eyes, Kacchan! Aim for the eyes!"
Katsuki followed the nerd's instructions, too busy fighting of murderous sludge to complain about Deku telling what to do. He let his sweat build up to the very last second before he let loose as big an explosion he could muster, aimed straight at the villain's beady eyes. He quickly noted that it was one of the very few parts of the villain that wasn't liquid.
The slime recoiled in pain and let out a roar. "You damn brats!"
"Kacchan!" Deku yelled, grabbing a hold of the blonde's arm. No doubt he was planning on using his quirk so they could make their escape, but Katsuki wasn't done yet.
"Let go, Deku!" he shouted at the nerd, readying his hands for another round of explosions. If this damn villainous sludge thought it could just interrupt his an Deku's training for the U.A. entrance exams, it had another thing coming! Bakugou Katsuki doesn't stand for that kind of shit.
As it turned out, neither Katsuki's explosions nor Deku's time manipulation was necessary in the end, when both young teens heard a very familiar voice coming from the tunnel's entrance.
"TEXAS," it began, and both Deku and Katsuki knew what would come next. The blonde saw the other boy mouthing the next word silently to himself, and they both braced themselves. "SMASH!"
Green goo splattered and covered the walls of the underpass, along with the boys' clothing. Katsuki grimaces. His mother was going to be pissed when he gets home.
Standing before them—in the middle of what was once a formidable villain—was a man, his golden blonde hair billowing gently in the breeze as the sun lit it up from behind like a halo. Everything was silent for a moment, and then—
"It's fine now. Why?" the man let out a hearty laugh, an unforgettable smile adorning his face. "Because I am here!"
Deku was yelling the last part just as All Might said it. He covered his mouth with his hands in embarrassment and Katsuki punches him in the shoulder. All Might just laughs louder.
"I can see that you are a big fan of me, my boy!" he says as he walks up to them to put large, comforting hands on each boys' shoulder. "It was a mighty fine fight you boys put up! Are you two planning to become heroes?"
Deku nodded enthusiastically. Katsuki gave the hero a more subtle, shorter nod.
"We were just training for the U.A. entrance exam, when this fucker attacked," the blonde informed, gesturing with his thumb towards the green goo still surrounding them. "Too bad his opponents were me and Deku. Fucker didn't stand a chance."
All Might laughed again. "Well, you certainly have spirit!"
"A-All Might!" Deku squeaked out, thrusting his most recent hero notebook—number thirteen, if Katsuki remembered correctly—which he had pulled out of his bag at some point during the exchange toward the Symbol of Hope, opened to a blank page. "I-I'm your biggest fan! Could… could you please sign my notebook? I-if you don't mind, of course…"
The Number One Hero produced a sharpie from somewhere—considering how famous All Might was, it's no wonder he was carrying one really, he probably gave out signatures to fans all the time—and covered two whole empty pages of the notebook with his handwriting, much to Deku's delight.
"T-thank you, All Might!" he stuttered, a big stupid grin in his face.
"It is no problem, young man!" All Might reassured, clapping the green haired boy on the shoulder good naturedly. "However, as nice as it was to meet such young, aspiring heroes as yourself, I am afraid that I have a duty which I must fulfill! I need capture this villain and bring him to the police station."
"O-of course!" Deku bowed before his idol. He yelped in surprise when his action earned him a kick in the shin from Katsuki.
"You don't need to fucking bow. It's embarrassing," he hissed quietly.
"S-sorry!" Deku gave Katsuki an apologetic look. The blonde just rolled his eyes in response.
They both left the Number One Hero to do his job in peace, though Katsuki could tell Deku would rather stay and watch. If the explosive teen was honest with himself, he might have—just a little bit—kinda, sorta wanted All Might's signature too, but he didn't want to be mistaken for stupid Deku over here. That'd be way too embarrassing, so he refrained from asking.
As they left, he debated for a moment whether they should just end their training early and return home for the day so they could change out of their ruined clothes. In the end he decided that, fuck it, he wasn't going to let some shitty fuckmunch of a villain ruin his workout and chances to get into U.A., so instead they continued running, slimy clothes. If any passerby looked at them weirdly, Katsuki just glared back, promising death to any who would bother them. People quickly looked away after that.
Deku was still gushing over All Might and the signature he received. The blonde did his best to tune him out so that he could concentrate on his own thoughts, still reeling after the encounter.
Whenever Bakugou Katsuki thought of his future career as a hero, he always imagined that he would work alone, much like the current pro heroes at the top does. He wasn't exactly a team player, as anyone who'd spent more than ten seconds with Katsuki could tell you.
But thinking back to what just happened, to his and Deku's encounter with the sludge villain… Katsuki may have been the one to hold the fucker off, but it was thanks to the shitty nerd's quirk that they managed to escape from the villain's slimy grasp in the first place—as annoying as that was to admit.
Of course, the strongest hero wouldn't need sidekicks. But on his way there, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad to have Deku and his quirk on Katsuki's side after all.
AN: Katsuki, why you gotta be so mean to Deku. :(
Anyways, here I am with chapter 2! Or technically chapter 1, since the first chapter was just the prologue. Yup, no One For All this time around. It would really make sense in this timeline, not to mention that One For All + Time Manipulation is just WAY too OP, and I'm not looking to make Izuku OP. Hm, I wonder who will get One For All now? Probably SPOILER Mirio, since he the top candidate for OFA to begin with. END SPOILER
Also, I finally have some ideas on where the story should go. I think you'll like it. Hopefully. Not sure how I want the story to end though. I have two ideas for an ending; one would be a happy ending, the other would be a not-really-sad-but-not-really-happy-either-but-I-do-kinda-like-it-and-would-open-up-the-possibility-of-a-sequel-but-might-possibly-be-unsatisfying-maybe-maybe-not-and-I-probably-wouldn't-write-a-sequel-anyways-but-still kind of ending.
I'm pretty stoked for the next chapter. Nothing big really happens I guess, but I'm excited anyways. :) See ya then!