Chapter Text
Bakugou had been weird in the last few weeks. He had chosen to call him Bakugou, rather than Kacchan, after a few sessions with his new therapist. He was right. The blonde hadn’t been a friend to him in years and he was trying to stick to something a decade in the past.
Bakugou was distant. He didn’t approach Izuku anymore to grandstand or anything like that. There were no attacks or name calling. Just him doing something he never did before. Minding his own business.
Izuku felt happy, but he was also very confused. He didn’t get why Bakugou was suddenly acting like that. He was happy he wasn’t burned anymore. Or punched. Or kicked down the stairs. Then again, the others were acting different too. Not strange and almost scared like Bakugou but rather nice. It made him angry deep down. To them he wasn’t worth less than the dirt under their feet anymore. He got a quirk. Now that he had a quirk he was someone they would hang around with. The teachers weren’t picking on him anymore. His grades did suddenly spike up. All of this just made him angry. It was fake. It was wrong. Just because he got a quirk doesn’t mean that he suddenly was something. He didn’t feel all that useless anymore. But they had been the same people that kicked him down on the daily but now they want to be friends. He doesn’t want this. But he isn’t one to lash out. He rather puts his anger into something productive. Cleaning up the beach.
While All Might wanted to train his body to receive OFA, he did allow him to use the more mental aspects of his quirk to clean up the beach. It made sense to train his own quirk too to have something to rely on. He felt warm when using his telekinesis. While it wasn’t entirely the same, it was still similar to his moms. He felt happy when using it. He moved stuff like TVs and microwaves with his telekinesis and the rest was more with his body strength.
His therapist moved him to a specialist. Something he did for the first time. Quirk counseling. He never got to do that when he was a kid. Well he did. The teacher assigned at school was laughing at him and basically throwing him out of his room. But these memories are long gone. At least, they should be.
It was an elderly lady with long white hair and piercing golden eyes. A bit shrunken with age and hunched over. She was a doctor but preferred to be called Madame Sung. Her workplace did look a bit like a fortune tellers. Weird amulets and paintings on the wall. Was this a real dried hand or just fake? Hopefully as fake as he hoped the eyes in the glass bottle were. Incense in the air. Colorful clothing with strong purple tones. She took his hands into hers and looked him into the eyes. He felt cold.
She told him how it activated first. That the activation has been death. He got that. He was there. Sometimes he still has the taste in his mouth. How the slime was slithering down his throat. How his air was running out and he felt a cold at the same time as he was feeling an intense flame in his body. He felt numb when the slime coursed through his body, yet still felt the pain of hundreds of daggers moving under his skin.
He found out that while he can still eat food he needs less and can also spend time around living things. Like hugging and cuddling to regain his energy. He could probably hug his mom every morning and pack a smaller lunch for the day.
When he got tired he would get a kind of Permeation. He could probably train it. There was a possibility. It would be incredible useful in hero work. Just walks through walls or let a punch go through you.
Flying didn’t take that much energy. At home he now tended to hover around for a bit of training and as it seemed easier.
His fire took the highest percentage of his energy from any of his powers. While it didn’t need fuel like wood or such it was coming from his own energy. Then again. Same goes for most fire users. He probably could train up his limit over time.
His ghost body was strange. When he got a paper cut last time his blood was green and it healed rather fast. A passive regeneration probably. Not something to test out that much. He didn’t see himself as someone to break his bones on the regular.
The quirk counseling was certainly interesting. Even though he now smelled like he fell into a spice rack.
The days went by. It was school. Bakugou was acting as strange as before. Izuku choose not to pry for now. He didn’t want to anger him and let him change back to his more aggressive persona towards him. For now he was going to let it sit. Or so he has thought. It was raining when he walked out of school and he didn’t pack an umbrella today. It was sunny in the morning, so why would he. He heard an umbrella open over on him and when he looked at the person who held it out it was Bakugou.
Bakugou felt bad. He felt angry. Which was something rather normal for him. He only knew angry. Angry made his quirk stronger and avoided stupid things. Held the shitty extras on some distance. But for the first time he felt angry at himself. For the first time he didn’t feel angry at Midoriya. He was slowly realizing through his therapists session how much he fucked up. But also how much others fucked up. How he acted basically like a villain towards Midoriya. He didn’t want to be a Villain. He didn’t want to hit him and explode him. He knew it was bad what he did. He knew it was bad what others did. The teachers did nothing when Midoriya was quirkless. They sometimes even joined in the bullying and even encouraged him and the shitty extras. How they praised him for his so heroic quirk. A hero wouldn’t do this. They now were acting different. But he knew those smiles. Those were fake. The same smile the old hag has when she tries to get a new rich client for her business. They didn’t mean their change. Why would they? They didn’t know what happened. They didn’t know what Bakugou did.
Bakugou wanted to change. He didn’t want to be a villain anymore. The nerd wasn’t that bad. He never had been. He was seen as a pebble on the road but he had always been someone that would hold his hand, and accompany him down the it. He should have taken the hand sooner. When he fell in the water. Now the hand was most likely gone. It was understandable. After all he did. He did want him to hold his hand out again.
He stopped the bullying. He stopped the name calling. He took his distance from him… from Izuku. The nerd hasn’t been lashing out at him. Or attacking him. That was a positive. Then again the other never did that to anyone. He always was smiling. He always was nice. The opposite, really, of himself.
It was raining and he held out his umbrella for the green haired boy. The boy didn’t say anything. He was just walking with him. Not saying anything. Silence was okay. The other didn’t see angry. Bakugou could tell anger. It had been all his world. Angry shouting. Angry explosions. Angry burns.
Izuku stopped and he turns to look at Bakugou. “Why? Why are you doing this?”. Bakugou blinks. Something was in that voice. He couldn’t really make it out. “Because it’s raini-” He was cut off by the green haired boy. “No. Why are you suddenly being nice to me. Is this some weird prank? Did you lose a bet?” Bakugou felt the anger in the nerds voice. The assertiveness. Something he never heard from him before. A bit of excitement was there, mixed in with the surprise. Then the feeling changed to dread. Did the other forget what he told him. Was Izuku now the one playing tricks and pranks. He shakes a bit and his voice never sounded this afraid. This small. “I… I killed you.”
Now Izuku was surprised. “What do you mean?”. Bakugou narrows his eyes. Was the nerd now playing a prank on him. Did he want him to spell it out. “I… I told you… to jump… and then… you jumped, and you died.” His voice was strange. Full of remorse, guilt, and fear. Emotions Izuku never heard from him. It was strange in a way. Izuku’s eyes widen. So that’s what he believed happened. “No… you… While I did consider it that day…. You weren’t the one…. I was attacked before you. By the sludge villain.” Izuku states with an unsteady voice. He doesn’t want to recall the memories.
Bakugou slumps against a wall and slides down. “So… I didn’t do that?” Now, if one wants to be nit-picky, they could argue that Izuku only takes this route to avoid the bullying. “No… you did not” Izuku was ready to run. If that was the reason Bakugou was nice to him and the reason now gone. He readies himself for the incoming explosion. Maybe he could fly away. A wall of fire as distraction. He shouldn’t use his quirk for that.
The gears were turning in the blondes head. While he did not cause a jump he made him consider. He did make his life before worse. He still did those things. The burning of flesh. The screams. The crying. They ring into his ears. He looks up and makes Izuku flinch. “I… I am sorry.”
Izuku raises his brows at him and looks down. “What did… you say?”
Bakugou was tearing up. “I said I was sorry… I am sorry for what I did to you… I am sorry for hurting you… for calling you useless, for calling you Deku… I am sorry for being your bully… I am sorry for being a villain in your life… I never acted like a hero… unlike you.”
Izuku was many things in the last few days and weeks. He imagined many things. How he would be a hero without a quirk. How he would be a hero with his new quirk. How he would save people with All Mights quirk. How he saw Bakugou flying on a friendly red dragon while he was helping some prince. The last dream did seem more realistic than Bakugou ever being sorry. Ever wanting not to hurt him anymore.
Bakugou looks down. “I know what I did was the worst… I know I am a bad person… I was hurting you every day… I know you will not forgive me… You don’t need to… I just don’t want to hurt you anymore.” When he looks up he can see it. Izuku had a smile on his face. Tears were running down his face. His hand was reached out. For him to take. But this time instead of slapping it away he grabs it. He lets himself be helped out. Izuku was stronger than he expected.
A single sentence escapes the blonde boys mouth.
“Thank you… for saving me.”