28. Interlude - Bakugo Katsuki

Humiliation. That's all he had felt for the past day. Utter and absolute humiliation.

And he hated it. He hated the powerlessness he felt.

He hated the frustration that came with it.

It was something he had scant felt before.

From the day his quirk had appeared, he felt, no, he knew he was special.

He was better, superior because his quirk was so. And for all he knew, it was the truth. The papers showed it, the books showed it, hell even his teachers showed it, with great and powerful quirk users held up as gods among men.

And he had a great quirk, explosion. It was predestined, his greatness that is.

Bakugo knew it.

And he made sure everyone else knew it too. Just how much better he was than them.

And by comparison, how inferior they were.

Because that was the social order, the rule of the jungle.

A jungle where he was king.

But there were some people, the kind he really hated, who didn't see it that way.

The ones who from Bakugo's perspective seemed all but blind.

Weak, pathetic and blind!

Deku was one such creature.

Yes, creature. He didn't deserve the dignity of a human being.

From his childhood, Deku had a high opinion of himself, playing hero, acting all righteous and good.

Standing up to him, trying to save him!?

Didn't he understand?

Why couldn't he understand?

Heroes are people with strong quirks!

Not quirkless little shits like him!

Deku had no right to look down on him!

No right!

He didn't need his help. Never did. Never will!

How dare he assume otherwise?!

People like him should know their place.

The world was his stage. He was the protagonist and this was his story. Everyone else was an extra. And extras should know their place.

Or so he thought. In principle, at least.

But in reality, when push came to shove, he was afraid still, of what others thought of him, of how his actions reflected upon him. He was certainly afraid of getting a blotch on his record.

Not that he'd ever admit to it.

And as the years flew by, Bakugo had never had so much a disagreement voiced to him by anyone other than his mother.

This along with the constant societal reinforcement cemented in his mind that he was above reproach. And that anyone who yet attempted it was unequivocally in the wrong.

He was at the top.of the food chain, at the head of the societal pyramid.

Or he was supposed to be.

Until today. Until this goddamned day!

Until that bastard came into his life, like a wrecking ball and tore it all down.

When he first saw the bastard, he thought that it was another extra who didn't know his place, another blind man woth delusions of grandeur.

Ones he would crush soon enough. Put him in his place.

But slowly, it had dawned on Bakugo that the bastard wasn't just blind, he was actively refusing to acknowledge his place in the pecking order, despite knowing all about it. That was what truly brought forth Bakugo's anger.

But it didn't end there as the blows kept coming and they didn't stop coming.

Not only was the bastard the one person above him in rank, he had also surpassed All Might's score in the exam, completely overshadowing Bakugo himself.

Nothing to worry about, Bakugo had thought. I'll overcome him soon enough.

He'd been so overcomewoth rage from it that he'd even chosen to ignore the issue with Deku. He'd deal with that little shit later.

Oh how wrong he had been!

As the day progressed, the smug and disgusting monster hadn't let up the least bit.

First he cheated in the quirk assessment tests. Then he helped Deku pass the test too!

And finally, the monster even threatened and humilited him, in front of everyone.

Brought to tears, debased, and belittled.

Bakugo's eyes twitched, remembering that, his rage drowned by fear, almost instantly, and the tears that had seized, returned, in their complete glory.

Bakugo clenched his jaw, his nails digging into the flesh of his palm, and his chest heaved in hypertension, threatening to collapse under the weight of his terror.

In the corner of his vision at first, then everywhere he couldn't see, they appeared.

The eyes of his tormentor, that stared at him from all sides, as if to spear him, play with him, like a toy in the hand sof a petulant child.

He shook. Shook like a volcano bubbling with magma, and for a moment all sense left him, and with it all pain and inhibition, leaving him with a feeling of calm.

An unsettling, eerie calm, like an ant looking at the vastness of the galaxy, unable to stand it's sheer beauty, beyond comprehension.

Then, like a crack widening on ice, the dam of his emotions burst forth, breaking down the boy into choked sobs and muffled moans, anguished, alone, atrophied.

In his mind though, throughout it all, one thought reigned supreme.

Revenge.