𝙸'𝚖 𝚂𝚌𝚊𝚛𝚎𝚍.

~3~

He was taught to be the best of the best. To always be top. To always be first place. Ever since he got his quirk at the age of four in his elementary school, people's expectations grew. He was known to be the one with good grades, the one with good looks, the one who had the strongest quirk and who was meant to be the greatest hero. The one who was looked at as if he was royalty. The one who looked everyone down.

The one and only Katsuki Bakugou.

This was how he was supposed to be.

And he had grown up to beat everyone's expectations. He went above and beyond. But everything came at a cost.

Even if that cost was something he didn't intend to pay.
Looking down on everyone. That was the cost.

Even his childhood best friend was apart of that price. The one who was one of a few who was deemed quirkless. The one that was called weak, who couldn't be apart of the fight because that's what the tag he had on his forehead said.

"Deku."

The name he had given him. That stood for useless. That meant that he couldn't be anything in this world because he wasn't a part of it.

And it slowly progressed. It went from name calling to punches and cries of pain. It went from calling the boy useless to proving his point and punching him. One fist after another, taking advantage because of course. Izuku was quirkless.

All the fame. All the expectations. All the pride. It sort of...consumed him.
To the point Katsuki didn't even notice.

But Katsuki knew one thing. He didn't bully Izuku with no mercy just because. He did it because he was scared. Scared that his best friend would be the one person that would look down on him. Sure, it was just one person's opinion so why bother. But Izuku was his best friend. And that opinion mattered and still matters the most. And even though Katsuki was a gifted child, he had flaws. Flaws that he wished he didn't have.

He knew that he didn't have what Izuku had.

The purity of a soul. The kindness of a heart. The helpful hands. Nothing could compare to that. Not even Katsuki.

Because you can only have one thing and learn to deal without the other.

And that infuriated Katsuki. So, he put all the anger out on the younger. Made sure that Izuku could stand no where near as to look down on him. He did that countless of times, too much to the point the childhood memories faded, replacing with haunted photographs of a broken friendship.

And a sentence he would never forget saying.

"If you think you'll have a quirk in your next life...go take a swan dive off the roof!!"

He fucked up. He crossed the line. But for a split second, he meant every word he said. He really did.

Or maybe that was his inner demon. His pride that forced him to say that and make himself believe he meant that. He hoped that Izuku didn't actually...take that to heart. He hoped Izuku didn't actually do it. But he knew the sad truth. The chances were slim. Maybe Izuku wouldn't actually do it, but he would hold a grudge that not even a bullet would be able to go through it.

Yeah, that was more likely.

As Katsuki walked home with his so called 'friends', he made the mistake in kicking a random bottle that was on the ground. A bottle that contained the villain that had almost killed Izuku a few moments ago. The villain grabbed Katsuki and pulled him away. The sludge knew the kid wouldn't be able to get out of his grasp because... well he was liquid!