Hello! This is a much shorter project than my big one "Deku: The Telekinetic Hero". It's something to refresh my writing brain because I'm bored of the other one. Plus this is a more fun story to write in some ways. It's also more dark, but hey...

Any excuse to shit on Bakugo, amirite?

—

Everyone has a breaking point. Everyone knows that, yet somehow they usually just expect that people won't reach that breaking point. But they don't know everything. Nobody can really know everything about anyone else. Those dark spaces beneath the bright mask, the tears of the past plastered over with a new smile, the wrongs of long ago long forgotten. Long forgotten, but never healed.

Even if you forgive someone for doing wrong to you, can you really say that it doesn't affect you? Trust damaged, confidence dented, certainty gone... Someone can't just fix those on their own. The damage builds up, eats away at them, even subconsciously pulls them away from sanity while they are none the wiser. People just trying to honestly live their lives can lose it all in one snap of anger. Letting out their frustrations is the last thing they want to do, but...

Everyone has a breaking point.

—

"Oi Deku, get outta the way!" Kacchan shouted as he shoved his way past in the hall.

"Kacch— Ah, whatever," Izuku sighed. 'Nothing ever changes.'

Izuku had made every effort to prove himself as Kacchan's equal, but the blonde seemed to be dead-set on constantly belittling him. Even after saving him from the League of Villains, he didn't warm to him. And then, after Izuku got his license and Kacchan failed to, things only escalated.

A true hero is someone who smiles no matter how bad a situation is. That's what Izuku believed, at least, so he just put on that smile and followed Kacchan to class.

"Hey Deku!" Uraraka greeted as she fell in line with his step.

"Hey Uraraka," the greenette smiled.

Kacchan looked back at them with narrowed eyes.

Uraraka had been one of Izuku's closest friends since he started attending U.A. She was always so positive and supportive, and she was just easy to get along with. Not to mention, she was also super cute. Being able to talk with her was easily the highlight of many of his days.

Most of the day was a blur to Izuku. It was the same spiel of "Math, History, Literature, Language" that they'd gotten since day 1 of school and it really wasn't too difficult. Besides, midway through the day he overheard something pretty strange.

"Hey, did you hear about Bakugo's plan?" Sero asked.

"Yeah," Kirishima nodded. "You talking about... y'know, Uraraka?"

Apparently, according to their conversation, Kacchan was planning on pulling Uraraka aside during lunch and asking her out.

Kacchan asking Uraraka out... Like, on a date.

Izuku had to repeat it in his head a few times because it made no sense to him. True, it was easy to see that Kacchan respected Uraraka based on what happened at the sports festival, but... But...

Izuku shook his head. It was just a rumor, so he shouldn't put too much thought into it. Besides, why would he care? It wouldn't affect anything between him and Uraraka, and she might even be able to make Kacchan more tolerable. So why... Why was it getting into his head?

The school bell rang, announcing the end of their morning classes, and they all filed out for lunch. Izuku, Uraraka and Iida all sat together, as usual. Uraraka was her bubbly self, and Iida was as stiff as ever, but Izuku felt bad. He wasn't hungry for some reason, so he just absentmindedly picked at his lunch and avoided too much conversation.

"Hey Deku," Uraraka said, "what's wrong?"

"Wrong? What do you mean?" he asked.

"You're acting like something's bothering you," Iida said as Uraraka nodded in agreement.

"It's nothing... Just thinking about the internships," he sighed.

That was a lie. He had already found his most desired internship opportunity, and he was going to go meet the hero over the upcoming weekend.

"Oh yeah," Uraraka nodded. "I was thinking about interning with Ryukyu."

"Ooh, the Dragoon Hero?" Izuku asked.

"Yep! Hado is an intern with her and she offered to introduce me and Tsuyu!"

"That's—"

"Oi," Kacchan got their attention as he walked up to their table.

Oh no...

"Hello Bakugo," Iida greeted. "What brings you here?"

Kacchan glanced up and Izuku, then at Uraraka.

"Uraraka, you have a minute?" he asked.

"Me?" she widened her eyes and tilted her head slightly. "Yeah, I guess so."

"I'd like to talk to you... In private."

"Sure," she nodded her head.

As Uraraka followed Kacchan out of the cafeteria, she looked back at Izuku and Iida to give them a shrug.

"I wonder what that's about," Iida mused.

"Knowing Kacchan, it's probably..." Izuku sighed. 'C'mon Izuku, think of something else it could be! Anything?!' "... Maybe a rematch for the sports festival?"

"That was quite a while ago though," Iida said.

"Yeah," Izuku admitted. 'Maybe he just wants to bad-mouth me.'

He watched the door for a couple of minutes until, finally, his two classmates returned. Kacchan walked in first, wearing the biggest grin Izuku had ever seen on him, and Uraraka followed with a blush covering her whole face. As soon as he saw that, his breath hitched and he broke out in a sweat.

"Welcome back Uraraka," Iida said as the girl sat down at their table. "What did Bakugo want?"

"U-Um, he... W-Well," she stuttered. "H-He asked me out on a d-date."

"A date?! So suddenly?" Iida asked, looking very surprised.

"I know, right?! It's outta nowhere!" Uraraka exclaimed. "It's so unexpected!"

"W-What'd you say?" Izuku asked.

"W-Well... I said yes," she said. "I mean, it's not like I particularly like him or anything, but it might be fun to try it out and see if something works. I-Imean it doesn't hurt anything to try... Right?"

"True," Iida nodded.

"Y-Yeah," Izuku nodded numbly.

What was that feeling in Izuku's chest? Uneasiness? No, it was more violent than that.

Anger?

Jealously?

The feeling faded into white noise, almost numb against the rattle in his head. He didn't know why, but it just didn't make sense. His brain couldn't make sense of it.

He didn't know if his friends continued their conversation without him or if he just participated numbly, but before he knew it he was pulled from his thoughts by the end-of-lunch bell. He went back to class and sat down quietly, only slightly inclining his head in a "hello" to Kacchan as he sat in front of him. Then, all class long, he numbly transferred his teacher's words to the page. Not a thought went through his head, but apparently he heard and understood whatever was happening in class because he had two pages full of notes by the end of the day.

On the way back to Heights Alliance, Deku's ears still registered barely any sound and his cognitive function was mute. He was aware of several taps on either of his shoulders, but couldn't bother to acknowledge them.

"Oi, Deku."

Oh. There it is, that's sound. That was the sound of somebody speaking, and their voice was hitting Izuku's ears.

"Did you hear about me and Uraraka?"

It was... Kacchan. His voice sounded familiar, but it felt different somehow. The texture of the noise against his eardrums was...

"We're gonna go on a date next week"

It was grating.

"Hey Kacchan, could you be quiet?"

Izuku asked that, not because he didn't want to hear what Kacchan had to say, but because the noise was just so...

"Aw, what, you jealous or something? Mad because she likes me better than—?"

UNBEARABLE

There was a loud bang and a sharp pain that felt like it engulfed his whole body. All he wanted was for the pain in his ears to end, but this pain was much worse. He was also sure he heard several screams.

Then, everything went numb and dark.

—

Before you yell at me, yes I know Bakugo is waaaaaay OOC for this point in the story. Yes, Izuku is as well. But that serves to a larger purpose. The OOC-ness isn't the point of this story, but it is a vehicle to reach that point. And, for those that think Bakugo deserves some karma for his early behavior, it'll be a great great payoff.