Chapter 8

Damn nerds. How the fuck did they get in?

Bakugo sulked as he walked into the school; no matter what he did, he couldn't figure out how the Midoriya brothers passed the exams.

One's a quirkless wannabe, the other's a science nerd and a foreigner. There's no way they got in fair. They must have cheated!

He grew more and more irritable with every second; finally, he decided to focus on the one thing that he could take genuine comfort in: his exam score. The hologram of All-Might made it clear: Bakugo had received more villain points than any other student since All-Might himself. As he thought, he was the best, the top of the class, the cream of the crop, and there was nothing that could take that away from him—not even the thought of the worthless fake brothers getting in—and he knew that soon enough they'd get found out for cheating and kicked out. He chuckled at all the losers pushing and shoving to gawk at the board listing the exam scores; they'd all look and know he'd beaten them all.

As he wandered the halls in search of the 1-A classroom—the perfect class for me. It's right there in the name—he noticed various students happily chatting with their friends; upon seeing him and his glare, though, the students in question would go silent and edge toward the walls.

He scowled even deeper at that; something about it bothered him, but he didn't know what it was or why. It doesn't matter. I'm better than them...

Upon arriving at the door to the classroom, he shoved it open and walked to the first desk he laid eyes on, ignoring the extras in his class attempting to befriend him. Unfortunately, the damn glasses jerk had to speak up, yelling something about his feet on the desk.

Bakugo responded to the irritation in his usual manner. "You're kidding me, right? Your old school put a stick up your ass, or were you born with it?"

The glasses jerk introduced himself, but Bakugo didn't bother to pay attention to the name. The mention of Somei private academy caught his ear, however. He recalled a moment from his past; the Fake Midoriya had been rather excited about the possibility of trying for that school instead of Aldera Junior High, but Deku insisted on the latter—which meant the Fake stayed as well. Something about the memory irritated Bakugo, but once again the reason slipped his mind. So once again, he responded to the new nerd with a rebellious attitude.

"Somei, huh? So you must think you're better than me! I'm gonna enjoy tearing you a new one!"

Suddenly, who should enter the room but Deku and his fake brother, both of whom began calmly introducing themselves to the class. It was then that Bakugo's entire world was shattered and shaken.

"Wait, 'Midoriya?' Hey, wasn't that the name of the one who got the highest score on the entrance exam?"

No. It was me.

Bakugo froze, looking at the fake brothers.

It was me. I got the highest score. It had to be me.

The fake shrugged. "What can I say? My brother acted like a real hero, that's why he got all those rescue points." The fake then looked at Bakugo... and smiled.

Rescue points?! What the hell are those?! That's not possible! It was supposed to be ME!

Try as he might, Bakugo couldn't think up any response; it was as if his entire body shut down in shock, his mind repeating itself like a broken record.

It was supposed to be me... I had to be the best...

Seeing the rest of Class 1-A and knowing I was a part of it was surreal to say the least. As soon as we were noticed, Iida strode forward in his signature near-robotic manner.

"Hello! My name is Tenya Iida."

A welcome departure from canon occurred as Izuku kept his cool and returned a calm and friendly introduction. "Nice to meet you! I'm Izuku Midoriya, and this is my brother Casey!"

Iida and a few others looked in confusion at that; Kaminari spoke up first. "Brother? Is he adopted?"

No, I just had facial reconstruction to look completely different from him. Just as lovably dense as in canon. Never change, Kaminari. Jiro smacked the electric boy on the back of the head. "Don't be rude. I'm Kyoka Jiro, by the way."

Kaminari started to reply before realizing something else. "Wait, 'Midoriya?' Hey, wasn't that the name of the one who got the highest score on the entrance exam?"

Again, never change, Kaminari. You just made this the perfect day.

The instant I had seen Izuku's score in the acceptance letter, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to get back at Bakugo for making my brother's life hell. 60 rescue points, just as in canon... but with my suggestion that he use the trick with his fingers, he managed to rack up 18 villain points, leading to a total of 78—one more than Bakugo's 77 in canon. Not only that, but it would only drive home just how much more of a hero Izuku was.

"What can I say? My brother acted like a real hero, that's why he got all those rescue points."

Izuku frowned at me a bit there; I wasn't sure why.

"Yes," Iida said with a nod. "I was meaning to speak with you concerning that very matter, Midoriya Izuku. You managed to realize something about the exam that I, and many others, did not: that there was something more to the exam than simply destroying villains! I must admit, you are superior to me as a student in every way, and your score only serves to highlight your brilliance!"

And yes, Iida did that weird thing with his arms the entire time he spoke. More importantly, Bakugo looked like he was about to have a stroke.

"Heheh... it wasn't anything special, really. And you don't have to use my full name, just call me Izuku—"

"Hey! I recognize that messed-up hair!"

Ochaco entered the room, and this time canon didn't change, because my brother turned redder than a tomato. As he babbled out a response, I took one last look at Bakugo.

The day's not done yet, jerk. By the end of it, you'll wish you never applied.

Aizawa showed up not long after that, going through his canon spiel before leading us to the sports field for the Quirk assessment test; As per canon, Bakugo got a little over 700 meters out of the softball pitch, but didn't look near as smug as he did in canon. The instant Aizawa mentioned that the lowest score would have to leave, though, Izuku began to panic.

"Oh man... I'm toast..."

"Hey, don't worry, bro," I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. "We've gone through a lot of training since the exam and you're already starting to get a better handle on your quirk."

I took another glance at Bakugo, who looked even more shook up; this time he had to speak up. "Quirk?! That's not possible! He didn't have one before!"

Everyone turned to the blonde bully in confusion. "What? That makes no sense," Iida said; "I saw what he did to the zero-pointer in the exam. He demolished it with a single punch! Certainly, it was at the cost of his arm and legs, but—"

"He's right," I interrupted, putting my arm around my brother's shoulder. "Turns out, Izuku here is a bit of a medical marvel; his quirk didn't show up until the end of Junior High last year. He's a real late bloomer! It's super-rare apparently, but there's some precedent."

I smiled at Bakugo again. That's right, jerk. You spent your whole life thinking your quirk alone made you perfect, and then my brother ends up outscoring you with a quirk he's had for about a year.

Izuku frowned at me a bit. "Bro, you don't have to—"

Before he could finish the sentence, Aizawa interrupted. "If I could continue the explanation... we'll start off with the 50-meter dash. Line up when I call your names."

When Izuku and I were called up, I briefly focused on my own quirk; here was the opportunity to show off a trick I'd learned while experimenting with it. I took a few deep breaths, then shoved a bit of kinetic energy into pushing off the ground with my feet. With the next step, I absorbed the energy of my foot hitting the ground; the step after that, I pushed off with my quirk again. The result was that I got faster with every other step, and absorbing just enough via the other steps to keep it going. As a result, I got just under Iida in terms of the time. Izuku did a lot better in canon thanks to our increased training, and he actually beat Ochaco with his time.

At last, the moment of truth arrived: the softball throw. I thought for sure Aizawa would take Izuku's finger trick into account here and give him a chance to show off without trying to stop him, but unfortunately Eraserhead was just as unimpressed as in canon.

"The instructors in the exam were not rational," he said as he used his quirk. "At least your brother could use his quirk without hurting himself so long as he doesn't act like a moron the way he did in the exam. You, on the other hand... your quirk is worthless if it injures you whenever you use it. Someone like you should never have been allowed to attend."

I froze at that last part; unlike Momo, I knew Aizawa wasn't bluffing when he threatened to expel the person who came in last. It took an impressive development in canon to convince him not to do it, but here Izuku had already figured out the finger trick and so couldn't take Aizawa by surprise with it... which meant I would likely have to think of something to avoid my brother going home. Thinking quickly, I stepped forward.

"Mr. Aizawa, please let him try."

He looked at me with a tired expression. "What, and let him break a finger or three? You're wasting your breath—"

"HE'LL GET BETTER!" I flinched a bit once I realized I had just shouted and interrupted our teacher. Taking a breath to calm myself, I continued. "Like I said earlier, my brother hasn't had his quirk for very long, and his body isn't used to it. But we've both been training, and trust me when I say he's getting better every day. So please, just give him a chance, and I swear he'll get a handle on his quirk and surpass every expectation you have. He's got the makings of a real hero—not a fame-seeker, not a glory-hound, a real hero, a symbol of peace that inspires others. If you expel him now... you'll never get to see it. Give him a chance, and I promise you: one day, he'll amaze you... the way he's always amazed me."

A silence hung in the air; Aizawa was stone-faced, and for a moment I wondered if I had failed, even when he let Izuku do the throw. As in canon, Izuku managed to get one decimal point higher than Bakugo, who had to be restrained by our teacher; in the end, he managed to stay in. When Aizawa revealed that no one was going home, I knew exactly what I was going to do and say:

"'Pray you'll get a quirk in your next life, and take a swan dive off the roof of the building.' 'Gonna say something, science nerd? Go kill yourself along with your fake brother.'"

Off of everyone's reactions, I'd continue. "That's what you told us back in Junior high when we said we wanted to apply for this school. You told me and Izuku to kill ourselves, and you did it purely for the sake of being cruel."

The reaction would be immediate: the entire class would be shocked and horrified. They'd see him as a villain, unworthy of the school. Every good feeling Bakugo had about getting in would be taken away in an instant, he'd be humiliated and condemned by everyone around him, and he'd know exactly why. I moved to speak... only to feel Izuku's hand on my shoulder as he whispered in my ear.

"Brother, don't."

I stomped forward and tried to ignore him, and this time I heard something that genuinely shocked me: Izuku snapped at me.

"CASEY, STOP!"

Looking back at him, I saw a stern look on his face—not just a look of worry, but also a look of disappointment. It stopped me in my tracks; I had never, in all the time I had known him, seen that look on his face. Not with me. Something similar to shame filled me, and I didn't speak for the rest of the class. It wasn't until we were walking home that we started speaking again.

"Izuku... why did you stop me?"

"Because he doesn't deserve it."

I looked at him in shock. "Doesn't deserve it?! He's done nothing but give you hell since he's known you! He even told you to kill yourself that day! He's closer to being a villain than he'll ever be to being a hero! Why are you defending him? How can you defend him? Don't tell me you admire him—"

"I don't admire him, I PITY him!"

He had snapped at me again. I shut my mouth and let him speak, still in shock.

"You bait and insult him so much, and I know you mean well. But... you haven' t seen what's behind his eyes. He hates us, but the reason he hates us is that deep down... he hates himself. As much as he brags and tries to prove his worth, it's all to hide that he knows exactly how far he is from the ideal hero; I've been kind to him even when he wasn't kind to me, and every time I do that it ends up reminding him of what he lacks. Then he looks at us, at our bond as brothers, at how we're able to make friends, and it all becomes so much worse because he know that his temper means the only people who will bother hanging out with him do it out of fear of him—and that's only if they're not objectively awful people. And when that happens, he sees exactly how much closer his is to being them than he is to being a hero."

Every word Izuku said shook me. Did you really see all of this in him? How?

Izuku continued, looking at me with genuine worry and regret. "Don't you see? He doesn't deserve hate... he feels too much of that himself. He genuinely wants to be a hero, and in time he'll learn from his mistakes. But if you keep on hating him, if you bully him back... he really will become a villain. I don't want that. Not for him, not for anyone."

As soon as he finished talking, I felt a crushing sense of guilt come over me. "Dammit..." I stopped you from being in awe of him... so instead, you want to save him. The one person who has done nothing but hurt you your whole life, and you still want to save him...

For once in our lives, Izuku's eyes were tear-free, and I was the one starting to break down. I didn't know why. "You really are a hero, Izuku. You really are..."

This is my idea of what Bakugo's issues are, and I'm fully aware that it doesn't 100% fit the bill in canon. That being said, I'm trying to expand his character beyond what Horikoshi wrote him as, because it never made sense to me for the asshole to redeem himself so quickly with such limited reasons for being an asshole as were revealed in canon.