Hello, yes, I'm back with another story! This time a multi-chap just so I can whump Deku longer, hehe. This one, interestingly, will be told from Bakugo's POV. I wanted to try from a different angle but sorry if it seems a little awkward at points. ALSO, there will be no slash in this fic as I am a Christian and I do not write it. Instead, it's more of a bonding fic with Bakugo learning how to interact with Deku without tormenting him. Still - BE PREPARED FOR A LOT OF SCREAMING. Deku might be my favorite character but Bakugo's just so fun to write.

It'll be hard keeping him in character without him cursing but, eh, let's see how I do. *cracks knuckles* Enjoy!

Set: After everyone has come back from their internships, right before their end-of-semester practical exams.

Chapter One: Hate

Katsuki Bakugo

I'd always hated Deku.

Wait. No, that was nowhere near enough.

I loathed him. I despised every fiber of his being. Every time I saw his face, smiling, laughing, breathing, something snapped inside me and sparked a rage so deep that I couldn't control it.

I hadn't hated him as much when we were kids. Sure, he was a constant thorn in my side and was useless at everything he did, but I had expected him to get some kind of quirk. A worthless one, most definitely, but at least he'd have one.

But when he was announced quirkless, everything changed. Suddenly, I was the one that was on top, who was going to be the next All Might. Suddenly, Deku - stupid Deku - wasn't going to be in my way.

And yet he kept chasing after me. Wherever I went, whatever I did, he was always there, taking notes on my quirk and nagging me with all kinds of annoying questions.

As we both grew, my quirk improved while he grew even more pathetic. It wouldn't have been so bad if he wasn't so smart. He wasn't physically strong, sure, but he could hold his own longer than I liked.

I soon pushed those thoughts away. Without a quirk, he was a joke- to me and to everyone else. Just another annoying bug I could crush just as easily as anything else.

And then things, with no sort of warning, changed. When he'd tried to rescue me from that sludge villain, not caring if he had a quirk or not, I finally saw something inside him I'd never seen before. Something that made me afraid, however briefly. Because the real fact was that Deku wasn't completely worthless after all.

Of course, if anyone asked me otherwise I wouldn't hesitate to burn them into a crisp.

Because Deku was Deku, and Deku meant weak.

His dreams of applying to U.A. had always been one big joke, as no quirkless loser could ever hope to get in. But when he'd got accepted along with me, I could hardly hold back my rage. For years he'd been keeping secrets from me, telling lies, and hiding that he had a quirk. Suddenly, he was All Might's little pet and his quirk only improved, even if it meant breaking his own limbs.

I was furious. All my work and dreams had been snatched up and destroyed by some stupid nerd who didn't deserve it in the first place. It just wasn't possible.

I took it out on him any way I could. Yelled at him. Taunted him. I even went so far as injuring him in our first training match at U.A. together. Still, the nerd kept getting back up again. Getting back up and showing me that he wasn't the same useless kid anymore.

"For now on, Deku is the name of a hero!"

It never occurred to me that I was doing something wrong. How could I be? I was supposed to be the next number one hero and Deku was just going to be an annoying memory. He didn't matter.

But now, looking down at him as he lay shivering on the ground, I realized that I didn't want him to die. That was the limit. Saying I wanted to kill him might have seemed harmless at first, but in reality, I'd learned it was a much darker thing. Death was cold and ugly and in these last few days, I'd learned the real consequences of it.

Even now, I could feel it in the air, hovering like a storm cloud as it waited to strike. And once it did, I knew there was no turning back. For Deku…

Or for me.

TWO DAYS EARLIER

I hadn't wanted to get paired up with Deku, but it seemed like Aizawa had had other plans when he'd announced the teams. I was brimmed up with anger when Deku was planned to pair up with me. When I'd swiftly refused, Aizawa had only told me that if I didn't agree with him I'd fail the training exercise and be possibly suspended.

No other choice, I angrily obliged.

But no way was I going to make this easy for Deku. We'd pass the exercise, sure, but I was going to make it hell for him along the way.

The training itself was almost laughable, but Aizawa had explained that it was more of a test of skills than strength. We would have to spend two nights out in the woods and be back by noon on the last day. Simple.

Or so I'd thought.

As Deku and I slipped our backpacks on as we exited the bus, I shoved myself past him and was glad to see when he stumbled. "Oh, h-hey, Kacchan!" he squeaked out, rubbing his shoulder as he ran back up to me.

I rolled my eyes. "What?" I held out my sparking hand. "You want to die?"

"What? N-no!" He bit his lip. "I was just, uh, going to say that I'm happy you're my partner and that we should both do our best!"

I glowered with a new hatred, making him stop in his tracks. "Don't think I want to do this with you, Deku," I said. "Just don't go and try to mess me up. I don't want to hear any of your useless ideas, got it?"

"Y-yeah! Sure! No problem!"

"Then shut up." Without looking back, I continued forward.

Aizawa called us all over by the edge of the forest before he started to talk about the exercise more. I couldn't care less; my mind was only on that bastard Deku and in what ways I was going to make him suffer. If we hadn't had to finish as a team, I would have planned to leave him behind from the very beginning. Instead, we had to spend two nights camping out together. The definition of hell itself.

I looked around irritably and my eyes fell on Pink Cheeks who was smiling happily at Deku. I couldn't hold back my scoff when Deku returned her grin. The two couldn't be more obvious and it made me sick.

"...so get into your pairs and be back by noon in two days," Aizawa finally finished, looking bored as he watched us all. "Whichever team gets back last fails, and any foul play will get you disqualified." He sighed and waved tiredly. "You're dismissed."

Instantly, I was turning towards the woods but was stopped when Deku starting waving goodbye to Pink Cheeks and Emergency Exit. What the heck was he up to now? Half of the other teams had already left and I was stuck with the one who hadn't.

"DEKU!" I roared. "GET YOUR LAZY BUTT OVER HERE ALREADY!"

Deku flinched as he turned away from the others and started running over to me, looking embarrassed. "Are we going now?"

I snapped towards him and could barely hold back the explosions from my hands. "FREAKING RIGHT WE'RE GOING NOW! GET YOUR USELESS STUFF TOGETHER AND LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!"

"Right! Well, I have it all." He gestured to his backpack. "There's my notebook, my pencils, my tent, my canteens of water, some food-"

"SHUT UP!" I hissed before starting to stomp towards the woods. "Don't slow me down."

"I won't!"

I could hear him following me as I stormed away, and for a moment it felt like when we were kids, with him always chasing after me. These next few days were going to be absolute torture for the both of us, but all I could do was promise to myself that no matter what happened, I wouldn't give Deku the satisfaction of being right.

Because he didn't matter.

And nothing… nothing… was ever going to change that.

"Hey, I saw some berries back there, Kacchan!" Deku offered from behind me, and I was startled to hear his voice after an hour of strained silence. "Maybe we should go back and see if they're good to eat? I know we have food, but I'm not sure it will last long enough."

"DON'T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!"

"I wa-"

"JUST SHUT YOUR MOUTH AND DON'T SAY ANYTHING ELSE! I DON'T WANT TO HEAR ANY OF YOUR IDEAS!" I shouted. "I don't care what you saw back there. To get through this forest, we're going to keep walking and we're not going to stop until it gets dark."

Even though I wasn't looking at Deku, I could tell he was disappointed. "Okay. Let's just make sure to work together, though."

I didn't respond.

We remained in the same uneasy silence as I marched forward, pushing branches and bundles of leaves out of the way angrily. So blinded by my irritation, it was only when Deku called me to stop did I realize he wasn't following me anymore.

I swerved around and my eyes narrowed when I saw him taking a gulp of water out of his canteen, leaning heavily against a tree.

He was taking a... break?

"What the heck do you think you're doing, Deku?" I huffed, storming up to him with a new fury. "There's no place for any of your nap-times here."

Seeming surprised, he carefully put his canteen back in his backpack before looking up at me. "I was just getting some water, Kacchan. "We've been walking for hours and it's pretty hot-"

"I DON'T CARE IF WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DESERT AND YOU'RE ABOUT TO HAVE HEAT STROKE, YOU STUPID NERD! UNTIL WE GET TO A PLACE TO CAMP, YOU'RE NOT TAKING ANY BREAKS!"

Deku put his hands up in defense. "Kacchan, it was just a little water. You should have some too- you look tired."

The corner of my lip curled upward in a growl. "Look, Deku, you might be used to having the easy life, but out here we're playing by my rules. Understand?"

For once, Deku didn't immediately say yes. Something flashed in his eyes, something new. He looked back up at me. "Remember what Aizawa said? We're supposed to be a team. That means I have an equal share in the decisions."

I gritted my teeth together, feeling my hands sparking with fire. "What did you just say...?"

"You can't keep telling me what to do anymore. Why don't we just start camp here? We don't have to keep walking. We have two days and it's not going to take us that long to reach-"

"SHUT… UP!"

Deku barely dodged my attack as I lunged towards him, chest heaving with anger. I could hardly think straight anymore, mind muddled in aggravation.

"GET BACK HERE, YOU LITTLE BASTARD!"

Whichever team gets back last fails, and any foul play will get you disqualified, Aizawa's words rang in my ears. I only shoved them aside.

"BY THE TIME I'M FINISHED WITH YOU, YOU'LL REGRET THE DAY YOU EVER APPLIED TO U.A.!"

"Kacchan, stop! Stop!" Deku yelled, maneuvering around my swings as I started to corner him against a grove of trees. "We can't keep fighting like this! You'll make us fail the exercise!"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT THE STUPID EXERCISE! I'D RATHER FAIL IT THAN WORK WITH YOU!" I roared, blowing up part of a tree as he ducked under my fist. "YOU ALWAYS THOUGHT YOU WERE BETTER THAN ME, DEKU, EVER SINCE WE WERE LITTLE KIDS! AND THAT'S WHERE YOU THOUGHT WRONG!"

"I never said that! I just-" He didn't have time to finish his sentence before I blasted him yards away with another explosion, and watched him slam against a tree before rolling violently away.

I scowled, finally pulling to a stop as I watched him lay there, heaving. "Give up yet, Deku?"

He didn't respond.

"What are you doing now, ignoring me?" I snarled. "Get up!"

This time, I could hear him groan from where he laid. For a moment, I wondered if I'd actually managed to do any serious damage.

I could only stare as he slowly lifted his head up from the ground, looking confused and disoriented as he looked around. He looked up at me slowly. "K- oww," he hissed, a hand suddenly flying to his side as his sentence was cut off.

My glare deepened. "What's wrong, Deku? Being pathetic again?"

"I…" Deku trailed off, pulling his hand away from his side. Even from where I stood, I could see the blood that stained his fingers. He blinked in slow surprise. "I'm... bleeding."

I stiffened and fought the urge to explode something in anger. It wasn't like I'd meant to draw blood, although I wasn't opposed to it. I knew I'd give him a few scratches, sure, but if Aizawa found out about this-

"K-Kacchan?" Deku's voice said. I slowly looked back over at him and watched as he pushed himself up from the ground. He swayed on his feet for a moment and the color drained from his face. "Hey… did you get the, uh… the medical supply kit from the bus before we left?"

Medical supply kid? What the heck was he talking about now? "What supply kit, nerd?" I retorted.

His gaze lowered. "I'll take that as a no, then." He winced when he took a step forward, covering his side with a hand. "I-I just think I need something to cover it up with…"

"It can't be that bad," I hissed. "I only clipped you."

"You attacked me!"

"Same thing! What's your point?"

He pressed a hand to his forward, leaning slightly against a tree in support. "N-nevermind… just give me a minute to catch up."

Something stirred inside of me. I didn't like it. Was it guilt? Maybe a little concern? I had been the one to hurt him.

No. You promised that you wouldn't give him the satisfaction of being right and that's just what he's trying to do right now.

I tightened my jaw and allowed anger to flow freely again. No way was I going to feel sorry for that bastard now, even if my life depended on it. He might have been injured but it couldn't have been that bad, seeing how he was able to stand. He was just being dramatic.

"Fine. You have two minutes," I growled, turning away with my hands shoved into my pockets. "And don't waste any more of my time."

But as I marched away, a dark feeling settled down onto my shoulders- and suddenly, I got the sense that things were about to go very wrong.

I really hope no one's OOC in here (namely Bakugo) but I've been sick for the last week and my editing skills are not at their finest! Whoops. Anyhoo, hope you liked chapter one and drop a review below if you can! :)