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Katsuki Bakugou and Izuku Midoriya had a fight a few weeks ago.
Unsurprising to many but not so much to their classmates.
They’d both gotten better since first year. They could talk and hang out without issue and actually seemed to enjoy the other's company sometimes. Although they liked to argue, it rarely ever exploded into something that would last weeks without them even trying to patch things up.
Probably because Katsuki would rather lay down in front of oncoming traffic than take back what he said to the nerd that day. Deku must have felt the same way, as they barely gave the other a passing glance in the hall or during classes. It was a wonder how they still managed to dominate the training battle simulations when paired together without speaking a single word.
At this point, Katsuki was half convinced this was more a competition of wills than a legitimate fight but he knew that wasn’t true.
For too long, Katsuki had let it go. It wasn’t until the nerd had said something so vile that it set off his quirk that he finally understood how big of a fucking problem it actually was. He couldn’t even remember what Deku had said, but he sure as hell remembered what he told Deku in response.
AllMight was a bad teacher. He didn’t know what he was doing and the bullshit he was stuffing into his head was only fucking up his already fucked up sense of self-preservation. Deku had reacted defensively over his mentor, of course, and it kind of devolved from there. Twelve years of built up tension releasing all at once in an explosive argument. Katsuki compared AllMight to a manipulator. Deku said he was jealous. Katsuki told him that was bullshit. Deku said he was a hypocrite. Katsuki said he was an idiot .
They argued about everything . AllMight. Quirks. Friendships and fights. Middle school.
Nothing was left untouched, least of all their combined history littered with Katsuki’s unforgivable mistakes.
They hadn’t gotten physical- hadn’t needed to when the cut of their words stung so much worse- but Katsuki assumed that they would eventually make up. After going through everything they had… even through his anger he couldn't imagine a life without Deku by his side.
But he never imagined their fight would end like this.
“Midoriya Izuku is suspected as the traitor. What do you know, Bakugou?”
Katsuki was standing in the common room, suspiciously devoid of all of their classmates despite it being a Friday night. In front of him stood Aizawa holding the quirk suppressant bindings covering Deku’s wrists next to him while AllMight, and Snipe, surprisingly, stood on the other side.
At first, Katsuki thought it was some sick joke. Or a logical ruse so they'd stop fighting.
Aizawa looked pretty torn up, emotionally, but he looked to be almost putting on some kind of brave face. However, the metaphorical mask was cracked to all hell so Katsuki could see the angry scowl underneath. Without the words, Katsuki knew the anger wasn’t directed at him but the boy he held under his leverage.
Snipe wore a literal mask to cover his actual face but his cool indifference of the situation suffocated Katsuki.
He almost bit his tongue when he grit his teeth behind his lips.
The source of his and Deku’s previous argument stood off to the side farthest from everyone else, the most distance between him and Deku, and face set firm. Not taking up for his successor nor successor looking to him for guidance or support.
Deku was looking at him, bent slightly to accommodate their teacher's steely grip, but he didn’t utter a word. Letting Katsuki distinguish that he had, in some comically cosmic way, both won and lost their little contest in the worst fucking way.
It was obvious that he had missed something big .
Katsuki felt sick.
“Bakugou. Please, tell us.”
Deku’s face twisted into something ugly and tears flowed down his cheek recklessly, as they had since who knew how fucking long at this point. The sadness and frustration on clear display, though it was only when Deku’s eyes met his that Katsuki could see the boiling rage festering inside him.
“Go ahead, Katsuki.” Deku spat. “You’ve waited years to get rid of me, here’s your chance.”
It honestly took him by surprise. Deku’s long-awaited and wholly justified fury at Katsuki to finally make its grand appearance at this moment.
And yet, it didn’t feel like enough.
He didn’t doubt, if given the chance, that Deku wouldn’t punch him in the face right now, but it was like the poor guy had just been extinguished. Subdued. The flicker in his eyes was nothing like the fire he saw when Deku’d face a brutal training simulation or a particularly evil villain in a real battle- when it was determined and powerful. The eyes that had screamed at him a few weeks ago to shut up and drop the topic before they said anything they regretted and Katsuki continued anyway. The same eyes that had shone too bright and too overwhelming for Katsuki’s younger self to recognize and fully understand. The light in them that Katsuki could only quietly admit to himself in the middle of the night in his dark room that had always made him feel nervous.
That fire was gone.
In its place lay something far more painful. It hurt Katsuki to look at, a deep seated gut clenching agony that he could just barely understand the surface level of and nothing deeper- it was too much. His fear. His sorrow. His anger. And his resignation.
Too much.
It was just too much .
Katsuki licked his lips, throat suddenly feeling dry as he struggled to form a plan. “I’ve known Deku my entire life.” He said quietly. Almost a whisper, like a confession or a secret.
Deku looked away, taking the green torrent of feelings with him. He breathed haltingly from his nose, head bowed to the floor as if he couldn’t bear to look at anything or anyone else in the room.
Katsuki would have shared that sentiment had he not forced himself to evenly meet his teachers' unnervingly cold gaze.
Aizawa nodded, silently urging him to continue.
“The nerd is smart. Smarter than the tests in school show and smarter than half the extras in this facility give him credit for.” Katsuki said. “He’s also strong.”
He really hoped Deku was listening and not just ignoring his words, he couldn’t tell when the idiot wasn’t looking at him, after all.
Katsuki sighed, crossing his arms. “When we were younger, I wasn’t kind to him.” He still wasn’t, most of the time, “If he defied me or questioned my actions, I would hurt him. If he was too loud one day or too quiet the next it would piss me off. He never got it right but he still tried. He continued to endure my abuse without so much as a complaint, since he learned that he deserved it from the people around him for something that wasn’t his fault... He didn’t understand that it wasn’t what he did that pissed me off but that it was who was doing it.”
Deku choked out a short laugh, obviously starting to lean into hysterics. Aizawa shot Deku a look filled with disgust. Katsuki closed his eyes from the display and breathed in sharply, trying his damndest to stay in control.
He had to keep his temper or else they wouldn’t take him seriously. He needed them to listen.
Katsuki continued. “Even here, in a prestigious school with a strict environment, he wasn’t safe from me.”
AllMight shook his head, “Young Bakugou, I’m sure that your influence had nothing to-”
“I’m not finished.” Katsuki snapped, earning a flinch from Deku and AllMight faltered. Both remained silent.
“The point is,” He said, “after all that bullshit, after everything I put him through, he never broke. He didn’t so much as put a hand on me unless I was literally asking for a fight, let alone do anything deviant . I pushed him again and again and again - until he was nothing but a hollow shell waiting for a stiff breeze to sway him off the side of a building. I did that and have received nothing but praise. He endured that torment and gets jackshit like the unlucky bastard he is.”
Deku still wasn’t looking at him, but it’s fine. It’s been fine for a long time now.
“He was afraid of me.” Katsuki stated, because it was a fact. “I’m strong and smart too, the only difference between us now is that I know something he doesn’t…”
He sighed.
He’d really hoped things would be different for them here- for all of them- but hope was for those that deserved it.
And hadn’t Deku already suffered enough?
“It’s me.” Katsuki said, “I’m the traitor.”
He kept his eyes on Aizawa, even if he knew Deku lifted his head up.
Despite how confidently he’d spoken and his calm exterior, Katsuki was sure he’d just stopped breathing.
This was the only way.
If they were so convinced that Deku was the traitor that they’d asked Katsuki for confirmation, then perhaps they would look a little deeper before putting Katsuki in tartarus after falsely admitting to it himself.
If not?
Well... At least it wouldn’t be that big of a loss.
Katsuki had already been accused of villainy- even before UA and before being broadcasted on live TV and before some schmucks in a dumbass bar kidnapped his ass - so he didn’t think it would be so unbelievable. More fucking believable than the fucking hero nerd, at least.
Despite that line of thinking, everyone remained frozen. Aizawa’s firm grip remained.
Katsuki uncrossed his arms and put his wrists together in front of him. “Let the nerd go and I’ll come willingly.”
“Kacchan…” Deku breathed.
Katsuki didn’t look at him, he couldn’t- not when it would do more harm than good.
“Arrest me.” He repeated with a whisper, no challenge in his voice and the softest hint of encouragement.
Snipe stirred from his daze and roughly pushed Aizawa. Katsuki’s teacher numbly removed the restraints from Deku, who was too shocked to protest. Aizawa stepped forward, watching him carefully as if he might self-destruct at any moment as he walked closer.
An understandable but completely unwarranted fear. Even with the increased tension Katsuki kept a strong hold over the leash of his quirk, willing himself to be as unthreatening as possible as he stood obediently still.
Didn’t the guy have a fucking erasing quirk for these situations? Was he honestly so shocked he’d forgotten? Good thing he wasn’t an actual traitor or he'd have already made it halfway through the campus. He could actually still do that, but what was to stop them from going after Deku a second time? If they wanted someone to blame, he’d just have to let them do that...
They put the bindings on him. A cold chill washed over the palm of his hands where the restraints met skin and it crawled through the rest of him, but he didn’t let it show on his face. He wouldn’t give anyon the satisfaction of knowing how fucking terrified he was.
“ Meddling when you don’t need to is the essence of being a true hero. ” He recalled AllMight saying something like that to Deku.
And what kind of hero would he be to let the one time he needed to meddle slip between his fingers? A real shitty one- almost as shitty as the actual official pro heroes in the room.
Aizawa tried to wrap his hand around his arm above the restraints, like he’d done with Deku, but Katsuki ripped it away, glaring at the man.
“I said willingly , didn’t I?” He hissed at the one adult he thought he could trust.
Aizawa was likely thinking something similar.
Katsuki scoffed, false bravado covering for the waver in his voice. “At least let me walk out the damn place with some dignity.”
Aizawa's expression shifted to something completely unreadable and Katsuki had to wonder what exactly was going through their teacher's mind. Aizawa dropped his hand and nodded towards the door to while AllMight and Snipe exited, expecting Katsuki to follow.
He walked forward, but before he left the room he stopped. Right next to Deku. He could feel Aizawa tense behind him, but everyone remained silent. Waiting for Katsuki to make his move or something.
“Become number one.” He muttered, turning to Deku.
Now seeing the nerd, he realized Deku looked like shit. Tear stained cheeks and red rimmed eyes. Those stupid ass freckles - a bruise just under his eye - and dumb green hair - that was too roughed up to be natural . His round face and hunched posture that used to make him look so small… Round green irises holding a flurry of confusing feelings. Body shaking like a leaf and his lips twitching around his open mouth, unfamiliar with forming the horrified expression.
Katsuki distantly realized he was cataloging Deku’s image to memory, in case this was the last time they saw each other.
Without words or actions from him, Katsuki knew what true emotion Deku was exhibiting.
Mourning.
Deku was mourning him. After everything they’d been through and worked towards, this was never how it should have ended. The fight between them and their many differences seemed so small now.
Katsuki ignored the slight pang of grief in his heart and smiled. Something soft just for the two of them.
The light wasn’t back just yet but, with time, Katsuki knew it would return.
“Don’t make me regret this, Izuku.”
Deku dropped to his knees, shaking hands covering his mouth as he cried.
Katsuki left the room, followed by Aizawa. Snipe led him outside of the dorms and Katsuki tried to block out the wails he heard from inside the building. Putting one foot in front of the other and being handled into a black vehicle. They exited the UA gate.
He didn’t look back.