"We should talk about what happened this morning," Shoto stated during lunch, gaining the attention of the small group he sat with. He observed their faces and studied their expressions for a few moments before he collected his thoughts. He needed to word this correctly and make it sound like he wasn't defending Bakugo's previous actions. He breathed before saying, "That was entirely unnecessary this morning. We all agreed to ignore him, not make a fool out of him."

Hagakure brushed it off, waving her gloved hand carelessly before poking at her bowl of udon noodles. "It was nothing too bad," she defended, giggling and picking up her chopsticks. "Besides, I didn't even mean to trip him. It was accidental!"

Shoto frowned but said nothing about the issue. He knew there was no point in wasting his breath if no one was going to listen and if they were all going to believe that they were right; he had experienced this once and would not experience it again. Endeavor was cruel and harder to please; he always thought he was correct, even when facts disagreed with his ridiculous arguments.

His classmates weren't his father, and he had no right to compare them to his abuser/genetic contributor, but it was a bad force of habit he was learning to break. Shoto exhaled, taking his trash and tossing it in the garbage. The lunch room felt too stuffy, and he could feel the sweater trickling down his neck and disappearing into the collar of his uniform. The sooner he got fresh air, the better Shoto would feel, so he excused himself from the small friend group and quickly headed to the roof.

It was quiet, and Todoroki could enjoy the delicate breeze that brushed his warm cheek. He felt a bit better, leaning against the railing with a sigh. He had improved at not shutting down immediately and recognizing when he was on the verge of tears or even lashing out at his classmates. Thankfully, he had friends to help keep him grounded, but he still felt awkward opening up about everything he had to endure when he was little.

His mother poured boiling water on his face because he looked too similar to his father. His deceased brother tried to take him out of this world due to sheer jealousy (according to Enji). All the horrific training sessions left Shoto so bruised and swollen he swore he was going to die in his sleep, but Endeavor wouldn't let that happen.

No matter how many times or how loud Shoto begged God just to kill him.

He stopped himself from going down that dark road, standing straight and running a hand through his dual-colored hair. Todoroki was no longer in that empty, cold house but surrounded by loving friends and his dear siblings. Hell, he was getting therapy, much to his father's dismay and angry protests, and making progress. They never judged him for his past, treated him with respect, and allowed him to proceed at his own pace. They never questioned his story and accepted him with open arms after his little altercation with Midoriya during the Sports Festival.

It led to Shoto believing he was too quick to judge Bakugo and dismiss his statement about Midoriya's past behavior. It wasn't fair to compare bullying to abuse—both were horrible and could not be justified, of course—and Todoroki felt as if he was missing the bigger picture or there was information he was missing. Bakugo wouldn't lie about such grave things, and Midoriya said he deserved it for being annoying and a menace to Kacchan. At first, he simply thought that Midioriya was blaming himself for being the object of Katsuki's rage, but now that he added Bakugo's statements to the equation, it was starting to make more sense, but Shoto didn't want to be wrong.

What if Bakugo bullied Midoriya to the point that he thought he was a burden?

He groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose while pivoting on the ball of his foot, pressing his back against the railing. "This is a pain," Shoto grumbled, letting his head fall back. It was a lovely day out, and the sun's warm rays gently beat down on his face, highlighting his cheekbones. The light bathed his body like an ethereal being that descended from the heavens.

Shoto wished things were more direct. A part of him wanted to know why Bakugo was so quick to call Midoriya a stalker and snap at him. Granted, he didn't know their history, but what could have warranted such a response? Midoriya was one of the nicest people Shoto knew—he was one of the reasons Shoto started going to therapy and learning to control his fire quirk better.

Maybe he was making a mistake? Maybe Shoto shouldn't have jumped into the pond if he didn't know how deep it was.

He sighed, carding fingers through his hair before leaning against the railing. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see two students sneaking kisses and giggling. It made his stomach flip, drawn tight as flashes of Bakugo danced in the recesses of his brain. He flushed red and jerked, bewildered with his imagination.

Shoto kissing Bakugo, of all people? It was a ridiculous idea, especially when he disliked the blonde for hurting one of his closest friends. Yet his lips throbbed and burned under his fingers as the thought danced in the forefront of his mind.

He should stop reading those enemies-to-lovers romance manga Ochako let him borrow.

Shaking off the thought, Shoto returned to the lunchroom and sat with his friends. As expected, they were loud and chaotic, especially when the self-proclaimed Bakusquad decided to sit with the rest of the class. Like Bakugo, they all had colorful and loud personalities but were pleasant to be around.

Shoto flushed again, closing his eyes as his lips tingled.

Maybe a tiny part of him could admit that Bakugo was nice to look at (when he wasn't yelling—okay, he was attractive when angry, but Shoto would never admit that aloud). He got lost in those red eyes when they stood face-to-face, just nodding like an idiot and never retaining anything Bakugo said.

At first, Shoto thought he was just ignoring Bakugo, but now? He wasn't sure how to feel the more he went down the rabbit hole. A good friend would be mad at their friend's bully, but Bakugo had shown change, and Midoriya didn't seem bothered by his past actions.

It also didn't help that Shoto was having an emotional crisis about Bakugo when they collectively agreed to ignore him for Midoriya's sake.

"—roki! Todoroki! Are you even paying attention?" Kaminari asked, waving a hand in front of Shoto's face. "Jesus, man, you spaced out there for a whole minute. You good?"

No, Shoto thought. I am having a realization about Bakugo, and I'm not sure if I want to go down this rabbit hole any further.

He nodded, swallowing the lump in his throat. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just realized I might have made a mistake," Todoroki said.

"About what?" Mina pressed, poking at her vegan katsu-bowl.

"Uh, our last test. I just realized I got one of the answers wrong," Shoto lied, his voice tapering into a quiet mumble. His heart was thrumming against his ribs like a steady drum, and he felt sick to his stomach. It felt utterly ridiculous to have such intense feelings for Bakugo when they weren't speaking to each other, and Shoto made it clear that he was on Midoriya's side.

Mina groaned, hitting her forehead against the table. "I totally forgot about the test. I just know I didn't do well," she complained. "My mom is going to kill me if I bring back home another shoddy score."

"This is what happens when you nap during study hour," Sero chimed in. He ducked when Mina hurled her water bottle at him. "Ah! Do you see this? See how she bullies and attacks me? I'm nothing but an innocent bystander!"

"Innocent, my ass. If anything, you're the real bully here," Mina huffed.

"Sorry, but someone beat me to that job already," Sero joked.

Mina smacked Sero's arm. "Oh my God, you cannot joke about that—too soon!" she chided.

Shoto frowned but said nothing. It wasn't his place to correct their behavior; if they wanted to make jokes to cope with finding out their former friend was a bully, he believed that was well within their right. Everyone had different coping mechanisms, and who was he to judge or stop them if they weren't hurting anyone in the process?

"Horrible jokes aside," Ochako said, sipping her milk tea. "I was thinking we could do a movie night when Deku is out of the hospital," she suggested. "It'll be good for all of us to take a break and relax, especially after our tests."

"Don't we have another test today? It should be the last one," Jirou said.

There was a collective groan.

"And we're taking the test with Class 1-B," Kirishima frowned.

"Class B is fine. It's just..." Yayaorozu said.

"Monoma," they all said.

Every masterpiece has its cheap imitation, and Monoma was quite the copycat. While Bakugo was loud and arrogant to a fault, Monoma was a watered-down version of him. He tried to puff his chest and show everyone how cool he was, but he lacked confidence in his abilities and quirks. He had all the tools for greatness, but everything was a dick-measuring contest, and everyone was annoyed with his inflated ego.

"Well, it's just for the one class, and we don't have to see him until tomorrow," Ochako said. "So it's not that bad."

"Yeah, until he starts up on his usual monologue," Kaminari snickered, standing in the center of the table. "We are all, to the last, merely bit players in the lives of others and the stars of only our own!"

Kirishima tugged on Kaminari's pant leg with a snort. "Get down from there before a teacher yells at you. The last thing you need is detention," he said.

"Speaking of teachers," Ida interrupted. "I believe informing Aizawa-sensei of the news would be our best interest. Surely, there's something he can do to keep Bakugo away from Midoriya."

"I already asked Deku if he wanted to tell Aizawa-sensei, and he begged me not to say anything," Ochako sighed. "Believe me: I want to tell as much as you do, but I don't want to disrespect his wishes."

"But an adult should know. Bakugo hasn't changed at all—he had us all fooled. We thought that he..." Mina trailed off, dismissing it with a vague wave. "The point is that someone else needs to know about Bakugo. It's not fair that he's faced no consequences for this. He hurt Midoriya, and that's unforgivable. How can you expect to be a hero with a track record like that?"

"Well," Hagakure said. "Deku asked that Uraraka not tell Aizawa-sensei. That doesn't mean that we can't tell him ourselves."

It felt deceptive. It wouldn't be right to tell someone else when Midoriya specifically asked that they not tell anyone else, but it wasn't fair that he had to deal with that and be in the same class as his bully. But it wouldn't be right to tell when Bakugo had never harmed them and was somewhat decent. He was brash and loud but had never physically hurt them (outside of training exercises).

"This is all such a mess," Shoto sighed.

"I concur!" Ida said. "I believe we should wait until Midoriya is out of the hospital and has returned to class. If Bakugo bothers Midoirya, then we can report him to Aizawa-sensei. Until then, we just ignore him as best as possible."

They agreed, deciding to drop the discussion of Bakugo and continue with their lunch. Kirishima shared the notes from English, helping Kaminari with the Japanese-to-English translation as Ida and Ochako discussed the plan for when Midoriya returned. It was almost unsettling how they continued their usual routine, launching into loud, entertaining discussions and teasing each other.

Shoto wanted to know how Bakugo fit into their equation. He was unlike the others, but it was evident they enjoyed his company (before discovering his past). Despite their differentiating personalities, they all meshed nicely and were a solid friend group.

"Shoto, we're gonna have a movie night when Midoriya comes back," Ochako said. "Do you think you'd want to join us?"

"I'll join," Shoto said quietly, drumming his fingers on his thigh. "He comes back this Friday, right? Won't that be too soon for him to have a party?"

"It'll be a small gathering. Just you, Ida, Midoriya, and I. We figured it would be best to keep the group small unless Deku invites more people to join us," she said. "It'll be fun, and it's been a while since we all hung out together."

Shoto tongued his cheek, weighing his options. Friday, his father wanted him to come home before they officially settled into their dorms. The old man said that Shoto owed him that much, and Shoto still had issues with saying no to Endeavor. He caved, cracking under pressure, and told Endeavor he would be home that weekend and return to the dorms the following Sunday night.

"My father wants me home this Friday, but I can stay the night. I'll have to catch the early train the next morning," Shoto said. His friends came first, and he would be damned if he didn't get to see Midoriya before going back to that hellhole.

━━━━━ 「𖨠」━━━━━

When Katsuki woke up, his mind was spinning. He felt sick, and he doesn't recall ever falling asleep. Looking around the room, Bakugo concluded he was still in the nurse's office, and his suspicions were confirmed when Recovery Girl called out to him, saying that he slept for a while.

"How long was I out?" he grumbled, scratching his head.

"For quite a while. You missed three classes, but I've already emailed your teachers. They'll have all the notes you've missed," she quickly informed him, swiveling in her chair and approaching the young student. She lifted the ice pack and examined the light-colored bruise and his face. "You'll have a small bruise but look much better than when you first entered my office. Do you think you'll be able to go back to class?"

Katsuki went quiet, clenching his jaw. He did feel better after his nap, but if he missed any more classes, the hag would find out about it, and she would never stop riding his ass about it. Though getting another hour of sleep would be nice, he knew staying in this small office longer would be unwise.

He was starting to feel claustrophobic.

"Yeah, I can head back to class. What period are we in?" Bakugo asked.

"We're at the last ten minutes of lunch. If you hurry, Lunchrush might be able to whip something up for you unless you made lunch," the elderly nurse mused, writing a note for the young man and then sending him on his way.

He grumbled, thanking her for allowing him to nap before trudging out of her office. Now, Katsuki just needed to get the notes from all the classes he missed, but there was no way that his classmates would be so kind, so he was up shit's creek without a paddle. He pinched the bridge of his nose, tipping his head back.

Why couldn't things be more straightforward?

Arriving in the lunchroom, Katsuki took out his bento and sat at one of the empty tables. His old friends were huddled at one table, laughing and chatting to themselves as they occasionally glanced at him before returning to their conversations. He knew that they wanted to say something to him—probably something snarky, but they held their tongues (as they fucking should).

He didn't have time to let them get under his skin.

Thankfully, his lunch was lukewarm, so he ate his rice slowly and kept his eyes to himself. Who cares if other students noticed that his classmate isolated him or if that idiot from Class 1-B was going over to taunt him? He was mature and wouldn't blow Monoma's face off if he kept invading his personal space. Yeah, Bakugo wouldn't pummel the blonde copycat for talking his ear off and talking down about his classmates.

Katsuki tried his best to ignore Monoma, but there was only so much he could take before he got fed up with the copycat. Setting down his chopsticks, Katsuki glared at Monoma before exhaling through his nose. "Can you shut the fuck up? You keep yapping, and you're gonna make my ears fall out."

Monoma grinned, leaning on his arms. "They are right about you. You still have a foul mouth after all these months," he smiled, picking at his lunch and plucking out all the roasted vegetables. Does it bother you? What the other students say about you? They call you a beast, you know? I think it's suiting."

"You can yammer to someone else who cares," Katsuki grunted, poking at his vegetables. He didn't remember making any roasted vegetables; he raised an eyebrow before looking at Monoma's tray and found his vegetables were gone. "Did you put your greasy food in my bento?"

The copycat shrugged with a grin. "I figured you would appreciate it," Monoma said without a care in the world, plucking some rice from his bento and chewing thoughtfully. "You should be grateful; I could have been rude."

"You're a pain in the ass," Katsuki concluded.

"Oh, I would disagree. I think I'm a delight to be around. You're the pain," Monoma teased, playfully poking Katsuki with his chopsticks.

Again, Katsuki rolled his eyes and continued eating his lunch. While he hadn't admitted it out loud, Monoma wasn't the worst company to spend the rest of his lunch period with. It was much better than hearing that perverted grape ramble on about who has the best tits to squeeze. How he wasn't suspended—or better: expelled—Katsuki would never understand.

"Just the people I was looking for!" Hatsume grinned, sliding next to Katsuki and adjusting her goggles. "So, I need your help with something—"

"Get someone else to be your guinea pig, and fuck off," Katsuki scoffed.

"Oh, come on! I promise it will be worth your time, I swear," Hatsume pleaded, clasping her hands together. "I promise you'll be rewarded for your time and effort! I'll even throw in a few bonuses for the both of you!"

Katsuki raised an eyebrow, leaning forward. "I'm listening," he murmured.

Hatsume grinned, scooting closer and dropping her bag on the table. "Great! Now, neither of you can tell anyone what I'm planning! It's top secret, and I really don't feel like getting expelled for tampering with evidence," she said before taking out a wrapped bag.

They crowded around her as she started to explain. "Sometimes, we get to do fieldwork and investigate crime scenes," she stated, unwrapping the bag and removing the partially destroyed technology. "With the League still active, we got to surveillance a crime scene, and I might have stolen some of the evidence to experiment on."

"You stole evidence?" Monoma questioned. "Now, what if I went and reported you right now? You could get in a lot of trouble, Hatsume."

"I don't think you will, especially if it gives you an edge over Class 1-A," Hatsume grinned. "I mean, if you help me with my project, I can give you better equipment, guaranteed to make you stronger and better than your rivals," she declared in a sing-song voice. "Think about it: the pro-heroes aren't even using this stuff and have no idea what they're looking for. Even if it isn't much to go off of, this is better than nothing. Plus, with our quirks, I'm sure we'll be able to open this case."

"You watch too many crime shows, and it shows," Katsuki snorted.

"Don't judge me for my interests," Hatsume said. "If you two don't want to help me, I'll get rid of it, and we can pretend that none of this happened. We'll continue our boring lives, and the League will keep running around doing who knows what?"

"I'm in," Monoma said, finishing the rest of his lunch. "It would be nice to have the edge over Class 1-A, even if I have to work with Bakugo."

Katsuki clicked his tongue. "Fuck off. I don't want to work with you either," he grumbled.

Hatsume squealed, shoving the destroyed device back into her back and grabbing her stuff. "Perfect! I'll give you my number when we head to the dorms, and we can start our experiment soon."

"Sure. Just stop by our common room after classes are out," Monoma said.

Katsuki nodded, packing his bento as the bell rang. He felt indifferent to sitting with no people, but he could make this work as long as he didn't have to hear Monoma ramble on about how he believed class B was superior to class A. He just might have to strangle that copycat gremlin.

The two then parted ways, heading to their respective classes. Thankfully, it was a training day, so Katsuki could take out some aggression during their sparring match. He hoped he didn't get paired up with someone who couldn't take a hint like Uraraka. Sure, she was strong, and he wouldn't go easy on her simply because she was a girl, but she couldn't take a blast from him in full force. Her quirk wouldn't protect her, nor did it provide good defense unless she could touch him.

Maybe he was overthinking it (that and the fact that the others would think he was more of a monster if he went all out).

All Might instructed the students to change into hero outfits as they entered the class. They would then work on team-building exercises with Class 1-B. They all had mixed reactions; some groaned because they would have to listen to Monoma's constant ranting and boasting, while others cheered, excited to test their quirks against different students. All Might revealed that Shinso would join in, so Kaminari practically bounced off the walls.

Vlad King joined his class, heartily declaring that it was a good day to test their limits and push themselves. All Might agreed, telling the students to gather around as they explained the assignment. The goal of this assignment was to rely on one's partners to trust each other's judgment and to look out for each other. The teachers would pair them into teams of three and randomly select hero and villain teams. Each team would have three flags they would need to defend; if one team managed to retrieve all the opposing team's flags, they were the victors, or whoever had the most flags at the end would be declared the victor.

It was a game of capture the flag but with quirks.

As long as Katsuki got a good workout out of it, he didn't fucking care. The only problem was the other classmates; everyone hated him for a situation they knew nothing about, and none were playing fair. No matter who he was against, they would just sit there and target him over and over again. He knew how dirty they all could play when they hated someone; two weeks ago, they all got the jump on Mineta because of a dumb ass comment he made after Kirishima came out to them all as bisexual. Granted, Mineta deserved all the hate for the homophobic comment, but Katsuki knew that they were treating him harsher for "bullying" their friend.

Well, it was a good thing Katsuki enjoyed a challenge.

Vlad King rattled off the pairings, instructing the students to group up. Some groups consisted of just students from Class 1-A or students from Class 1-B, while others combined the two classes. Katsuki, unfortunately, was paired with Monoma and Komori. He wasn't fond of either student, especially the copycat fucker. He had some respect for Komori since she could pull her weight and manage on her own, but Monoma was the biggest pain in his side. Monona needed someone else's quirk for his quirk to work, and he didn't want to hear the blonde gremlin rant again.

It was better than Todoroki's group. They had to work with Mineta.

"Fate brings us together again, Beast," Monoma grinned, walking with Komori.

Bakugo rolled his eyes, fighting the urge to shoot off a snarky remark. Instead, he spat out, "I don't want to hear your dumb ass ranting. You did enough of that shit during lunch."

Komori chimed in, "I agree. I wouldn't care any other day, but not today, Monoma."

"No ranting, I swear," he promised, holding his pinkie finger. After all, we're going to be a team, so we ought to play nicely—as long as you're capable of such a feat, Bakugo."

Fate must be testing Katsuki because he really wanted to punch Monoma in the face, but that damn voice in the back of his head just mocked him, saying that he was proving everyone's point. He displayed villainous behavior and wasn't suited to be a hero, but destined to destroy the hero society. That he had no rhyme or reason to be in UA—that his spot could have gone to someone truly deserving of the coveted title.

Katsuki didn't want to prove his mother right.

He ignored Monoma's comments and now focused on what All Might said. He listened to him divide the teams, and to his displeasure, his team was declared the hero. Immediately, Bakugo could feel the burning eyes on him, but he pretended not to notice their hateful glances. Let them stare; they were in the presence of glory, after all. He was going to shake this world up and prove everyone wrong. He was going to be the best goddamn hero this fucking world has ever seen; he was going to defy the odds and come out on top.

He would rise from the ashes like a phoenix and tear this fucking world asunder.

"The first groups up are team BakuMonoMori and team TodoAsuiNeta," All Might boomed, ushering the children into the training grounds and ensuring the teams were on opposite ends. Once settled, he flipped on the viewing screens and tapped the mic to ensure everyone could hear him. "You all have fifteen minutes to capture the other team's flags. You will hear your evaluation once the exercise is over."

Katsuki was more than ready to begin. He could hardly contain his excitement while small explosions danced in his open pals; he couldn't even feel the heavy gauntlets on his wrists, and he knew he had more than enough sweat built up to create a powerful explosion. If they launched a front assault and he could shoot them at point range, it would be enough to stun them temporarily unless Todoroki set up a layer of ice faster than he could shoot off attacks.

"It would be foolish to rush in since Todoroki and Asui's attacks cover long-range and short-range attacks," Komori declared. "It's not much, but I asked Hatsume to make a new support item. I can make fungi bombs to catch them off guard. It's not too strong but just enough to sun them," she added.

"If both of you idiots do that, we can force them to come our way," Katsuki muttered, chewing his bottom lip. The problem would be Asui since she could camouflage, and it would be a bitch to catch her if she managed to scamper off with one of their flags. That and Mineta's stupid balls. He was annoying, but if he applied his brain, he had a strong (and equally annoying) quirk.

Monoma was beaming, adjusting his four pocket watches. "Well, I may be able to help on both offense and defense. Just before we began, I touched Shinso, Ashido, and your one electrical friend. He has an energetic personality—sparking, I dare say." He smirked.

"Monoma, I usually enjoy your jokes, but I will strangle you if you make another one," Komori said.

Katsuki silently agreed with her.

All Might's voice then cut in, loud and commanding attention. "Alright, students! Your time starts now; collect as many flags as you can! Good luck!" He reminded them before he handed the mic to Vlad King. With a tweet of a whistle, the two teams launched into gear and searched for their opposite team's flag.

Victory was not an option; Katsuki needed to win.