Luckless. The game of life is a gambling game, and Bakugou's misfortune carries everywhere. The rising spikes of rewards amounted to nothing, reigning down so the people who rigged it in their favour could win. Because Bakugou is luckless! He goes to the dream of his school as the high on that spike, then finds out that everybody else is better than him. And he's chasing after them to be quicker. But that's okay.
But Deku's there too. The quirkless nerd got it. What's going on?
Bakugou gets sent to a facility to learn for the first time, the first field trip of the year. He's high on happiness that he manages to keep down, but he smirks anyways. The bus was alright, even though Kaminari called him out for being an ass, it wasn't too big. That's okay.
The thing that wasn't, was the attack. Bakugou goes to a field trip to enjoy himself but gets attacked. But it boosted his image when he had kneed the villain's windpipe. What should have been an unlabelled thing, the visit, was in every pore of the internet, with the recognizable name of "The USJ attack" on every news article in the world it seems. He only realizes how blinding U.A's spotlight is then.
But he doesn't falter from the bright light, nor does he welcome it. He just stands there, figuring out what to do when the whole world is watching you. He's been eyed with scrutiny ever since he was a kid, this is just a little more. A grain more. The falling spike has shifted him down in life, again.
He's against Uraraka, it's a climax of power, resistance, and stamina to win. It was jarring in its own way, stunning. Bakugou surely was stunned, especially when the screams ruled out through the stadium indignantly, loud judging voices roared. The light fixed on him turns harsher within a second, but he doesn't let it slow him down. Uraraka's eyes widen, then she scowls. Bakugou's not sure what side she's on but he's not sure it's his.
But Aizawa stood up for him. The spike was trudging up again, and the voices screaming were quieted.
That doesn't mean they don't think you're some goddamn woman beater.
You can't change their mind so easily, Eraserhead just did the minimum. You're still going to be labelled as an abuser.
Even though this match was fair?
Yes. Even though this match was fair.
Oh.
But that's OK?
That's OK.
Then rocks tumble, Bakugou hears their warning crumbles hovering above him like the grey of an upcoming storm. His hand shoots up before they even graze against him. In a steadied, well-aimed blast, they burst to nothing but sand and sediments. The look of dismay on Uraraka's face, as Bakugou had destroyed the culmination of her touches over the period of their dragged out fight, was also a look of pain. Like a father with his dying son or something, hidden due to the false whispers of keeping a stoic tone for your family, but having that morose sorrow crack through the stern features of ones face. Uraraka didn't have stern features though, so it was more like they sifted out from the soft of her skin.
One last blast sent an off guard Uraraka tumbling to the ground with the last of her perseverance tucking out of her. Bakugou hears more angry words from the crowd, but it doesn't matter anymore. He won. The spike growls upwards.
But there's a voice.
'Woman beater!'
He can ignore it.
As he comes up the stairs, Mineta pokes at his sexuality: 'I didn't know you swung that way.' Just for giving a girl a fair fight. Bakugou snapped at him to shut up, and he had with no problems.
He confronted Midoriya about it.
'I don't know what you're talking about, Kacchan!' He says, waving his hands hurriedly. Looking at the blond with a pressured gaze, flinching as his frown grew incredulous, then somewhat adoring. 'She made that plan on her own!'
Uraraka's a good opponent.
Unlike Todoroki.
He heard of the boy's trauma, but Bakugou had no way to communicate to him. Bakugou just wanted his utmost best, not the pity of a boy with two quirks that made Bakugou self conscious about his own, to look down on him. Why? Why couldn't he do more?
Todoroki just shot ice, which was futile against a volatile, teeth shattering quirk like Bakugou's. Bakugou burst, frayed, and churned any of the ice that was shot at him.
Urging Todoroki to do better was impossible.
He didn't listen.
Because Bakugou didn't know how to speak. His words didn't get through, they were too rough, too rigid, too much. Bakugou knows what Todoroki saw him as, the begging of him to use that other side. It only made Todoroki more strong to it.
Todoroki sees Bakugou as his father.
Those were his fleeting thoughts as he grabbed the boy's collar, trying to shake him to life. Just before he was dazed by the fumes of sleep, Bakugou wanted to withstand the aroma, coercing him to submissive rest. But he couldn't. So much, so much, so much. His head was dropping, plopped against Todoroki's chest begrudgingly. There he clenched his hand closed, forcing strength to be held within the confines of his fist.
His hands rolled back out.
The strength to stay up was gone.
But the strength to writhe and pull from... chains. Chains. No, confines. A box even. It's closed, he can't escape. He's back to the attack. Trying to slither up from the sludge monster, trying not to be killed in its treacherous grasp. Blocking out his sensors. He had an adult wrap around him on national TV, in front of a crowd, that goddamn villain. It used his quirk, forced him to attack the heroes. And the heroes said his quirks were great after.
There was not a sliver of pride in him though.
Molest:
To touch somebody indecently or inappropriately.
To inflict sever physical pain on...
Bakugou had been __ed on live TV. And the heroes could hardly do anything, not until All Might came, but All Might was lagging behind. He could have died. Deku saved his life. Bakugou had been relieved then angered, this weak boy had took him away from the black corners surrounding his fading vision, something even he was tearing apart. This tearful Deku clawed at the villain angrily, like it would help. It didn't. It didn't help. No wait. Yes, yes it did.
Deku saved his life and Bakugou hates him for it.
He would rather have died than be saved by the person he had promised to rescue.
But he's back now.
Wait.
No,
he isn't.
He's trying to run away from these chains, but they're too constricting. Tokoyami's voice calls him an animal, as he tries to escape. Bakugou recognizes the field and relief comes back in a small dose that wouldn't do anything to abate the rising consternation in his pattering heart.
But then he sees All Might.
Has he come to save him?
All Might's large hands take the muzzle off, and Bakugo eyes him, hopeful.
There's a medal in his hands. Perplexed, then realization.
'I don't want the shitty medal!'
He's being indignant, screaming angrily about how much he would rather die than wear a relic of a match he didn't even truly win.
But the medal nears him, it's gold glimmering before him. But not all that glitters is gold.
The hands that should have untied him, participate, draping the medal over him. Bakugou yells for All Might to stop, but before the word even gets out, the stupid necklace is on his tongue, fastened in his mouth.
In front of national television.
He's been __ed again, in front of national television. Bakugou spent hours looking on countless definitions for the word, and this fits into it. It's what it is. Does All Might not get it? It takes everything for Bakugou not to tear up, and his eyes are bulging at the teacher. Waiting. Hoping he'd see. That he'd understand. But All Might's cowering away from his stare, murmuring about how scary teenagers are nowadays.
How am I the scary one?
Please just stop this.
Untie me!
The spike is at a very low point.
But Bakugou, back at home. He's washing the dishes, the sound of TV runs in the background. He looks at the sink and breathes in, trying to recollect his thoughts. Trying to really wonder what happened there. Bakugou's already seen the clip a thousand times, but the comments underneath all those videos label him a monster, woman beater, abuser, and unheroic. Some say it in one word.
Others elaborate in paragraphs.
But in retrospect, It makes sense. I get why they'd think I was going to hurt them. They chained me so I wasn't a risk. In front of everybody. They chained me up in front of everybody so I wasn't a risk to anyone.
That makes sense.
That's okay.
There's a finger at his neck, he's being led into the wondrous dimension of whatever a purple portal could lead him to. He sees Midoriya's desperate face, but doesn't read it as arrogance. He sees it for what it truly is, concern, worry, and pain so raw it causes the blond to flinch.
He reassures him as he is led into the dark, unfeeling portal. Like a hole in the midst of the earth.
.
They tied him up again. But he's more cognizant about his surroundings, so he doesn't panic.
The cracked one speaks, but the second they invite Bakugou to join their twisted band of broken kids, the blonde's pulling himself from the conversation. It's not worth it to spend one's limited hearing on this.
'No.'
'What?'
Confused tones, Bakugou's more adamant on being a hero than he is of being a villain.
Younger him had been stupid, thinking there was such a thing as bad and good. Like those were real things, viable, and even easy to touch, that he'd win virtue over by becoming a hero. But he was wrong. Bakugou was wrong. The bad and the good are merely just theorized ideas, nothing alludes to the fact of their reality except a few solid rules in place that society is lulled in. Killing a human is seen as inhumane, but in other cultures, it isn't a big deal. For some, it's their ideology as good. A sacrificial one.
The thing is, good and bad were ideas made by people unable to protect themselves or people wearing a sheath of bravado. Then they enlightened others and formed what really is modern society. The unprotected need to be shielded by the people that wield strength, Bakugou later found he had no problem conforming to that. Although he'd rather be cracking villain skulls and snapping their goddamn spines like a righteous motherfucker, protecting others is part of what's seen as the populated good.
If killing people was more widely accepted for some atrocious reason, would Bakugou do it?
Is his soul that malleable? He likes to imagine he'd be fixed on this path, because he truly has no other choice.
The line between bad and good is perceived as thick and easy to see, but that's just a facade of washable marker. And god, both squares get cleaned and reimagined quite easily.
But Bakugou's sticking to the former in heroes and villains.
Bakugou's not becoming what he hates.
Bakugou's already that.
But each shred of dignity would go away if he were to join the band of broken kids. Bakugou doesn't want that.
.
His hand.
It's reaching out for him.
Did they really come for him? Bakugou looks at All Might, knowing he's backing down for the safety of the blond. And he holds his breath, taking in a shuddery sigh. Watching the hand drag further away, he finally lets himself be carried away by it.
The stupid shitty hair smiles at him, watching him power himself to the sky to meet them. Deku's there.
But he's accepting Kirishima's help, Bakugou tells himself, not Deku's.
Does that make Kirishima equal to me?
I think.
That's okay.
.
A/N: This is more like a writing test! Any tips?