"People change,

and forget to tell each other."

-Lillian Hellman

His hand laid limply on his shoulder, still sparkling with electricity, as his voice - soft, solemn, and quiet - reached out with a hint of urgency. Only Bakugo's ears could hear it. It was like it was embedded with a magical spell, preventing others from listening with sheer will.

"No matter what happens, you can't let them know that we know each other. I'll find some way to get you out of this, but for now..."

Electricity spread like a wildfire, further cementing him in place. Let alone an arm, he couldn't move his body at all now.

"...Sorry."

Deku stepped away from him, face indifferent as he fell to the floor, limbs twitching and spasming erratically. Bakugo felt his anger burn, but he shoved it aside ruthlessly. There were too many questions that needed to be answered. How could he get out of here? What were these idiotic harassers - they were villains, his survival instinct whispered. He shoved it aside. He would just win. - planning on doing to him? Most importantly...

Why did Izuku not want to let these phonies know that they knew each other?

"Deku, why did you get close to him? A simple lightning bolt should be enough... Right?"

'...Looks like Shigaraki is back to normal, trying to poke holes in everything I say or do. Unfortunately, you're going to have to do better than that if you want to trip me up. I'll have to spill a weakness of mine, however... Shigaraki, you truly are like an annoying fly. Constantly slipping out of my grasp, to the point where I have to resort to overboard methods to squash you.'

Deku lightly smiled, a gesture that was somehow even more horrific than his indifferent stare.

"It's slightly embarrassing, but my control likes to slip after long periods of use outside my body. I was simply taking extra precautions to ensure I didn't accidentally roast our... friend here into crisps. Enough talk about me; you should tell our little friend why he's here, no?"

(Bakugo felt several veins rise in his forehead, the moment he heard himself being called 'little friend'.)

Shigaraki nodded, irritated at not being able to get a rise out of Deku, but aware of his priorities. He wasn't expecting anything to come out of it anyway. He had long been forced to come to terms with the fact that Deku was a slimy, slippery eel that was incredibly hard to pin down. He walked up to the paralyzed prisoner, blankly realizing that it wasn't the best idea to restrain a potential new recruit. Many people had high pride, or at least, quite a lot of villains did. Generally, it wasn't the best idea to leave them crumpled on the floor if he wished to willingly recruit them. Which he did, in this case. Of course, this wasn't your normal situation.

Common sense stated that it wasn't best to set your former enemy free, but Shigaraki Tomura didn't do common sense.

That was for noobs and weak players.

"Deku, release Bakugo here from your lightning. We're here to recruit him, not to hold him captive."

(They wanted to recruit him?! What the hell, just what drugs were they on... He needed to get Izuku out of this place, and quickly.)

'...He wants me to... What? I mean, this will make it easier for Bakugo to escape, but... Really?'

"...Uh, sure, why not? It's not on me if he escapes though."

"Just do it."

"Yes, yes, I'll do it immediately."

He ignored the hostile look from Shigaraki with the ease of practice, before ordering the lightning to leave Bakugo's body.

"You should feel a bit numb for a while, but it shouldn't be a major impediment. The floor is yours, Shigaraki."

Bakugo was irritated, to say the least. The dumbass in front of him was going on and on about how they have been 'restricted' or have suffered because of heroes and rules and all that crap. The occasional extra would chime out from the back saying that they weren't an uncivilized mob or something like that. It was all a load of crap. They just had some bad, unfortunate circumstances and wanted to take it out on everybody else.

It made him sick.

...Did Izuku go into this knowing that? No, it was probably... just because of him.

No matter how much he had changed, he wasn't the type to harass people just for the hell of it.

If that was the case, his reaction when he saw him didn't make any sense. There was no hint of bitterness or hatred or anger. It wasn't like he needed to hide it, so why? Besides telling him to be quiet about their 'relationship' (he still didn't know why), his actions looked like he wanted to save him. It didn't make any sense. Izuku Midoriya had changed again, without him noticing, without any obvious reason. He thought he knew what he was like now, but...

There were so many unknowns. Why did it look like he has a grudge the white-haired, chapstick needing, villain? Why did... Wait.

Did they not know what his real identity was?

That was the only thing that Bakugo could think of, that could explain all of this. From an outside perspective, Bakugo Katsuki was... admittedly not all that special when looking through Izuku Midoriya's past. He was simply a childhood bully that had made his life hell, nothing more, nothing less. Although he didn't understand why these villains wanted to recruit him, if Izuku really wanted to do something to him, his influence should be more than enough. But he was doing nothing instead, even warning him not to say a word... Those were not the actions of someone who had a grudge to settle.

But that was the catch; Izuku did have a grudge.

If he was just suppressing himself... Not wanting that villain to figure out his real identity... (He realized that he had never heard Izuku's real name leave the mouths of any of the bastards here. Just... Deku. That accursed nickname that he had given him in childhood. He felt sick.)

It made sense.

Anger boiled beneath his skin. (It was anger at himself, anger at the person who dared to hope it would be okay again just like that.) He channeled that anger through his newly mobile limbs and flung an explosion in the face of the villain in front of him. Instinctively, he spouted a few words out that he really didn't care enough about to mean. They were true, but he had other things on his mind. His, at times praiseworthy and other times loathsome, sense of pride prevented him from saying what he truly felt. (It was a pity too; this misunderstanding would persist for a long time coming.)

"Basically, you're mean, 'We wanna harass people, so please join us', right? Sorry, but I wanna win like All Might. That will never change."

His red eyes darkened in color, like a pool of blood drying out.

"I'll become a hero and beat up bastards like you."