Chapter Text
Izuku bit his cheek, his posture stiffening as he looked up at the giant screen. He felt almost guilty; Was this a mistake? What if he can't "fix" him? And, and, if he goes rogue? Would he be blamed for it? Could he even defeat—
Suddenly, he was pulled out of his trance by a harsh slap to the back of the neck. "A-Ow! Kacchan!" He turned to look at him, rubbing the, probably, bruised spot.
"Don't pretend to be these sheep, Izuku. You're looking like some kinda weakling." Bakugo grumble-shouted(?), putting his arm around Deku.
"You know- I'm glad you care, but you shouldn't call..." His face brightened as he spoke, though quickly being interrupted.
"Yeah, yeah, I know! Don't call plebs, plebs..." He huffed, squinting his eyes at the crowd. "I coulda sworn..." Bakugo trailed off, Izuku sighed, smiling dumbly. "Remember, don't judge a book by its..."
"Hey guys!" Ochako landed smoothly beside them from the sky. "YOU!" Katsuki yelled, grabbing her shoulders. "Oaf! Did I choose a bad time...?" She turned to Deku, a small frown on her face. "Oh- No, not at all!"
"You scared me." Bakugo crossed his arms, furrowing his brows. "I knew I saw you." Uraraka grinned, a twang of nervousness behind her voice. "Hehe! Sorry! I-"
"Don't do it again." She could've sworn she saw steam come off him.
"Yup...!" Ochako raised her eyebrows sarcastically, patting his head. "As I was saying..." She raised a large shopping bag. "I got some goodies!" She began rustling through it, having to flick away Bakugo's peering head. "Food! Don't eat it all, especially the jelly, I promised I'd bring Su some back."
"Cut to the chase!"
"Kacchan..."
"Well, I asked the store clerk what was the spiciest thing they had was, but If you're gonna be like thaaat..." Bakugo nodded, "Hm. Sorry 'bout THAT!" He yelled as if he was some kind of soldier, a smirk on his face.
Uraraka laughed, wiping a tear from her eye, "Hehehe! You know what you — Haha! — want, Huh?" She reached into the bag, pulling out a five pack of spicy pork buns. They were packaged in a to-go box, the steam visibly condensing on the clear, plastic lid.
"Here you go, champ! — Hah! — Don't eat them all at once!" Ochako grinned, passing them to him. "You think I'm some kind of pet?" He squinted at her, the plastic of the box quietly crunching under his grip.
"Aah... Hehe, sorry..." She scratched the back of her neck, before hurriedly pointing at the box in his hand. "Oh! Be careful! You know, those were 1200 yen!"
"And for you..." She turned to Deku, who seemed to be idly watching the news again, picking out a similar kind of box as Bakugos, slightly bigger. "Katsudon!!!"
"Huh? Katsudon?" He looked around, "Katsudon! Wait, how'd you know?" Urarakas face went red, "Oh, I... I asked your mom!" She hopes that didn't seem weird.
"Thank you? Thank you. Uh... Thank you!" Izuku smiled weakly, "Uh... I'm sorry, It's just really warm...—"
"For you it is. This is perfect weather for me." Bakugo retorted, though, even he was starting to sweat.
"That's cause you're always hot!" Deku paused, "Wait... Hot-headed. See! I cant think straight cause of the weather." Katsuki turned away, face turning bright red as he obviously held in a laugh.
Izuku raised his hands. "What?" Ochako covered her mouth, but when Bakugo burst out laughing, so did she.
"I dont... What? Huh?" Deku looked utterly confused. "De-Deku... Ahahaha! You can't... You can't think... What?" Uraraka said between breaths. "What? I can't think... Oh..." He giggled with them, though it didn't last long, he quickly entered back into a trance.
"Uh... Deku?"
"AHAHAH.... CAN'T, CAN'T THINK STRAIGHT!" His laugh was boisterous & loud. "What, you got a crush on me or something, Izuku? Izuku??!! ...Izuku?"
Even Bakugo stopped laughing, looking confused with Uraraka.
"IZUKU!" He flicked his forehead, grabbing his wrist & nodding at Ochako.
Before he knew it, Deku was getting dragged away. "Man... You've gotten so much heavier." Bakugo spoke with strain.
They ended up on a nicely shaded grey bench, thanks to Bakugos threats to the people previously on it. Out of the sun, a little red & white parasol in the middle, even a nice breeze coming in.
"Hey... Deku, are you okay?" Uraraka leaned over from the opposite site of the table as Kacchan held him up.
"Huh? Oh. Uhm..." He averted eye contact, "Honestly...? I just... didn't sleep well last night."
"What? You having nightmares or something?" Bakugo shook him. "Be careful!" Ochako scowled. "You can tell us anything, Deku." Her face softened. "If it's the war, or training, or... Something else. I'm sure everybody would be happy to help!" She shot a glare at Bakugo.
"Yeah, Izuku. We're heroes." He let go of him, letting him slouch over.
Deku seemed lost in thought, biting his lip. "I... He... When... Uh..." He paused, collecting his thoughts. "Tenko, or- Tomura, Shigaraki, It's like... You know when we had that talk about how you felt about Himiko? It's like that. I just, I just feel guilty."
"Shigaraki? Himiko?" Bakugo raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms on the table, resting his head on them. "Oh..." Uraraka nodded, mouthing something like; 'I'll explain later' to him with a rather sheepish smile.
"Everybody is so happy about him dying, but I know who he really is, kind of. I'm sorry, I know I don't really take my own advice sometimes..." He chuckled, the words feeling like poison in his mouth, he wasn't accustomed to lying.
Uraraka nodded. "You know, Deku... You're a good person, a smart one too, you work hard, harder than anybody. I know you've probably thought of this already but, you've got to remember from their point of view, he was practically a monster. And... Unfortunately I just don't think we'd be able to change their perceptions, no matter how hard we try. You know, you're allowed to be..." She bit her tongue.
"You're allowed to angry, Izuku." Bakugo interjected. "Listen, I didn't like the punk, but since you do for some reason, I guess I gotta give 'em a chance. Nobody's ever gonna fully understand what you saw in him, or what you went through back there. It's like, a nice painting, but only you can see the full picture and everybody else can only see a small part of the background. Nobody else sees how nice it is, just 'cause their view of it's too small."
"Well put!" Ochako grinned, "After everything, we'll never be able to broaden their view of the painting, atleast in this case... But, I'm sure anybody who's willing will! I guess for starters... Me and Bakugo!"
Deku looked away, avoiding eye contact "Hey, do you think, if he survived... If they survived, they could've been saved? Redeemed...?"
"Oh, well... For Shigaraki, I dunno. I think I'd need to hear the whole story... For Himiko, I'd say, yeah..."
Izuku nodded, looking over at Bakugo.
"Huh? Oh." He shrugged. "Whatever she said."
Deku swallowed his guilt, smiling softly. "Huh... Okay."
"...By the way, could I have that katsudon?"