"There's always that one person who pisses you off,

no matter what they do or say."

-Unknown

Deku remembered this place very vividly; it was the place where Bakugo first beat him up, once upon a time. At that stage in his life, he still had his absurd sense of heroic justice. Because of that justice, he limped home with several tiny bruises and burns, all relatively minute in size, but excruciating to bear considering his small, fragile frame. (Justice only has meaning when you have enough power to enforce it; he learned that lesson well that day). But more than the pain of the burns, it was the pain of betrayal that stung his tiny little heart the most.

It was a sting that had grown and accumulated over the years, eventually transforming into bitter hate for the one named Bakugo Katsuki.

It had dulled, slightly, throughout his varying experiences as a villain, eventually becoming something that he could view objectively. There were much worse things in this world, and he himself had committed some of these sins. Gradually, the hatred he felt for Bakugo Katsuki faded to the background, since his mind had found a much better target to yell and scream at: itself. Most recently, he had been able to admit to himself that he probably didn't have the right to take revenge on the blonde teen anymore. He could admit that he wasn't sure.

But the playground... It brought up so many memories of hurt and pain where there once was friendship and comradery, and he... Despite his best efforts, he felt anger, and pain, and the remains of a young, naive child who thought that they 'Were gonna be the bestest friends, forever! Promise~!' (with a distant echoing of the same replay, but that wasn't a promise, it was a LiE-), festering underneath his skin and trying to break free.

He lightly turned toward Kurogiri, the movement of his physical body laughably different from the storm inside his head.

"Kurogiri, would you mind leaving for a little bit. There's something... rather private I have to discuss with him," The fog-like form of Kurogiri drifted and danced in, what seemed to be, worry. "Don't worry, he won't try to kill me. I don't think so, anyway. Despite all of his stupidity and general unpleasantness, he still wants to be a hero, more than anything else. Although the hypocrisy of that hurts me."

He patted where Kurogiri's shoulder would be if he was a regular human.

(It was surprisingly soft... How fog was supposed to be soft, he didn't know exactly.)

"Anyway, I'll be fine. I know the area, so I can walk back. Oh, and if you wouldn't mind, don't breathe a word of this to Shigaraki. God knows what he'd try to pull with this information. Just say I had an errand to do for Al-, Sensei. That should do the trick."

Kurogiri nodded his head silently and acted like he was going to go through a portal, only to pull out a drink. The drink that helped with his headaches, to be precise. He hadn't had any ever since he had arrived at U.A., and after extensive use of his quirk, it was a godsend.

"...I was going to give it to you upon your return, but it looks like you rather need it," His eyes shone with greed and gratefulness, as some underlying tension fled his body. "There's no need for you to walk back either; it's no trouble to pick you up after this... Whatever this is. Just give me your word that you will not purposefully escalate tensions with this boy and get yourself injured as you seem to always do when you have that look in your eye. I'd rather not cart back a bleeding person. My suit would get ruined, you see."

He paused, before continuing on.

"It doesn't even have to be to that degree. Just... don't start the fight. His quirk was one of the more dangerous ones, from what I remember."

Deku's eyes widened as he silently pondered why everyone seemed to be able to read him as of late, before putting the thought behind him.

He felt that Kurogiri deserved an answer. Although he was trying it hide it, he could tell Kurogiri was more worried about him than his suit. He was weirdly warm, and a little confused, as he always was when facing genuine concern for his wellbeing. He couldn't quite understand how the other person came around to the like of good wishes for him of all people, but if he could help it, he wouldn't squander it.

"I won't."

His eyes flashed a bright, luminescent yellow.

"...I promise."

All he got was a single muted 'Good' that seemed to dissipate into the world around it, and Kurogiri was gone from the park. Kacchan had just watched from the sidelines, an indecipherable look in his eyes that even Deku found hard to pin meaning to. He ignored him for a minute, preferring to instead down the entire bottle. As it slid down his esophagus, the migraine he had been nursing and battling this whole day dissipated. He didn't know how Kurogiri did it (He said it was a secret recipe passed down through his family), but it was a miracle worker. He didn't even realize how overworked his head was, or how much it had hurt until it was finally gone.

His mind felt incredibly clear and refreshed. It also gave him that extra bit of willpower necessary to interact with Kacchan.

Although he had a feeling that wasn't going to be the case for long. Kacchan had always eaily riled him up...

"Well, spit it out. What did you feel was so important that you not only jumped through a space-time portal to an unknown destination, you also jumped through an enemy one? Because of you, Kurogiri had to abruptly change the destination, and while quirks sure as hell are not scientific," He crushed the bottle in his hand. "The ocean is. We could have been meat splatters at the bottom of the ocean, crushed to death by the weight of the water above us and the force it exerts on our lungs-"

"You really are a nerd."

The bottle was crushed further.

"...Care to elaborate on that?"

The question seemed to snap Bakugo out of his complicated haze of emotions and caught him off guard.

"Ah, er, that came out wrong... Shit, what I'm saying is, uh, you... haven't changed. From middle school. Nerd."

Crickets chirped.

"...Ah. O-Okay?"

Silence was the dominant force between the two of them, as they stood awkwardly across from each other. Eventually, Bakugo broke eye contact and wandered over to the tree in the middle of the clearing, effectively breaking a spell that never existed. As Bakugo sat down beneath the tree, Deku finally managed to gather his voice enough to ask a single question. (And a little bit more than that, but who's counting?)

"So why did you do it? Jump into the portal, I mean. I'm of the belief that even you aren't that stupid."

Silence reigned supreme for yet another moment, only to have its crown stolen from it.

"...I couldn't have you running away like a damn scardey cat, could I? And well, Uraraka and Half-n'-Half showed up pretty early. I couldn't even get a damn word in. I had no other choice but to jump into the portal, so I could-"

"What, so you could try and punch me in the face? It sounds like a rather effective therapy, indeed."

He looked up at Deku with a pissed off glare, but it lacked the bite it had in middle school. The constant need to hurt and maim.

"Why the hell would I do that? It's damn common sense that you can't punch out depression, or suicidal tendencies, or whatever the hell is wrong with your fucking head. I was going to talk to you, you moron! I even looked all those terms up! I never realized all the ways people could be messed up before then... But..."

Kacchan had a self-deprecating smile on his face. Deku had never once seen such an expression on his face.

"You're real sappy with those villain friends of yours, huh?"

Something inside Deku snapped with those words, and he remembered all over again why he had hated this guy in the first place. For all of his changes and developments from middle school, deep down he was just a rotten scumbag playing at being a hero, not because he wanted to save people, not because he wanted to help the world be a better place, but because he wanted to win. And have the sole ownership of a person's every feeling and friendship, it seemed.

"Listen here, Bakugo Katsuki... I will only say this once. I do not condone the actions of villains. They are vile, disgusting, and downright soul-shattering at times. Some of them are truly the impression that you have of them. The others are not." He stared directly at Bakugo, the full depth of his disdain and anger broadcasting down directly at him. "Most importantly, this little... whim of yours, where you pretend to be the hero you are not... I don't care for it because I do not care for you. In fact, it's remarkably close to hate. Do you really think that I, the person you bullied, will get better with a few insincere, comforting words that originate in guilt? You're only doing this because somehow that little poisonous, frozen-cold heart of yours feels guilty now that reality has hit you in the face. You don't care about my well-being at all."

He stepped back, no longer bothering with looking at him. It only made him angry.

Naturally, he didn't see the desperate, no-I-didn't-mean-that-please-don't-go look on the figure behind him either.

As he slowly walked away, he signaled Kurogiri through the earpiece to come and pick him up. They were done here. Faintly, his ear caught the faint buzzing of a mobile phone, ringing sporadically from where he remembered Bakugo was located.

'It must be the U.A. students.'

Without turning around, he said, "I would pick that up if I were you. Unlike you, from what I've observed, they seem to be actual heroes. They beat the grunts and yes-man who hung around you in middle school, I suppose. I'm sure they'll all come running. I'll have to take my leave as well. I hope you have a nice day, Bakugo. Goodbye."

He disappeared into a portal a moment later, leaving Bakugo alone by the tree he had once beaten Deku by.

The significance of the tree was not lost on him.

"Damn it all! Fucking hell!" He punched the tree in his frustration. "I'm so damn stupid! I told myself I wasn't going to let my temper get the better of me, and what do I fucking do?!" Soon, it wasn't enough, and he began to use his quirk. "Why? Why? Why?! It was such a good opportunity, we were talking, and, and..."

He collapsed to his knees, only the tree keeping him from falling to the ground.

"...I swear, I just wanted to make you better. That's all it was. R-Right?"

Bakugo was later found laying on the ground with no tree in sight.