Too Late

Eight (Bakugo P.O.V)

Bakugo stayed on his knees for a moment, turning his head when he heard footsteps come over to him. It was Kaminari and Kirishima, the two boys each held a worried look and the both had been beaten up pretty bad.

"Dude, are you okay?" Kirishima reached out, putting his hand on Bakugo's shoulder. He quickly pulled it away when he was glared at. "Alright, obviously you're not. Who was that kid anyway?"

Kaminari shifted slightly as he brought a hand to his hair "I think I heard Bakugo call him 'Deku' or something like that. The other villains were calling him that too. So I guess his name is Deku?" He glanced around a bit "Though he did look kinda familiar. I only saw him for a moment before Bakugo attacked."

"Oh I know!" Kirishima turned his head to looked at Kaminari "That kid from the missing posters. He was on the news for a couple days. Apparently he went missing the same day as the Sludge Villain attack" Kaminari's eyes lit up when Kirishima said that, like a light bulb went off in his head.

"Yeah, now I remember!" Kaminari said quickly as he brought a hand to his chin "His mom was a mess when she was being interviewed. I'm guessing she doesn't know he ran off to be a villain..." he suddenly went a bit pale as he turned to look at Bakugo again. He was standing now, but he had a dark look on his face. "Ah wait, the kid.. He lived in your neighborhood, didn't he? Is he the reason you get all moody during this month? Were you friends?"

"Shut up" Bakugo said lightly as he moved passed his classmates. He clinched his fists, gritting his teeth before he spoke again "There's still some small fry villains. I intend to destroy them" he quickly made his way back to the battle. A villain ran up to attack him and Bakugo quickly turned, grabbing the villain's face as he let off a explosion. He turned on his heel and lunged for another villain that was about to attack his floaty classmate. "What the hell!!" Bakugo screamed as he grabbed the villain by the back of her head, pushing her to the ground with an explosion. It went on like this for a couple minutes, his breathing quickened with every attack. He was upset, he was confused but more importantly, he was shocked.

After the battle had been won and all injuries were treated, school was canceled for the day. Students were permitted to go home and rest after everything that had happened. Bakugo walked with a dark look on his face, his hand shoved in his pockets as he grumbled. He stopped as he came up on the shopping market that had been attacked the day before, his eyes scanning the area. It was still blocked off, but some locals were helping out to clean up the mess that had been created. His eyebrows furrowed as he turned away from the scene, and he removed a hand from his pocket. Tangling his fingers into his hair, his mind raced with questions. Why did Midoriya run off to be a villain? What use did they have for a quirkless kid? What was he doing at the market?

"Can I save you, Deku..?" Bakugo heard himself say, his eyes widening as soon as he asked the question. Why did he care what the useless runt did? It's not his fault that Midoriya decided to become a villain. All he ever told him was that he couldn't be a hero. He grumbled slightly as he quickly began walking again. His footsteps slowed slightly once he was far enough away from the market, but he knew he was coming up on the poster. He saw it every single day, twice a day. He knew every word on it by heart, could draw it if he wanted to. Every day he would pass this and think about Midoriya coming home. Every day, he'd look at it and tell himself that if Midoriya ever did come back that he'd apologize for the things he did. The thought of apologizing made him sick, but he realized that he'd swallow his pride and apologize only to one person. He'd apologize only to Midoriya.

His eyes narrowed when he saw the poster, and he reached up to grab it. Crushing it in his hand, he contemplated turning it to ash, but decided against it as he got to his home. He threw open his bedroom door and opened a random drawer on his desk. He moved to shove the crumpled poster in his hand into the drawer but paused. He reached in and pulled another missing poster from it, frowning slightly.

"Where did I get this one..?" He mumbled lightly, thinking back. He remembered where this one was from after a couple minutes. It was the one he tore off a wall nearly a year ago because his friends were laughing at the thought of Midoriya being dead. He glared at the poster in his hands as he shoved both of them into the drawer and slammed it shut, sitting on his bed. He covered his face with his hands as he thought about that day. After he had torn down the poster, he heard a laugh. A boy moved passed him wearing a very suspicious looking outfit. Bakugo remembered why he watched the boy walk passed him. Sticking out from underneath the baseball cap had been little curls of green.

"You've been near me this entire time" Bakugo muttered into his hands "I could have reached out and touched you that day. I could have brought you home" he moved his head away from his face and fell back onto his bed. He stared at his ceiling, wondering if he should just go to sleep and forget this day ever happened. He sighed as he shifted, getting up off of his bed again as he moved to to change from his uniform. He needed to go for a walk. He needed to get out of his room. Maybe then, he could get out of his own head.