#because he just wanted to test his strength in the entrance exam and doesn't think he has a shot at actually getting in

[bayofalgecirascranes]

Physically incapable of sticking to a single thing when it comes to writing fanfiction, ive finished the kori senman fic and now my brain is fixated on a Wind Breaker x BNHA crossover that i genuinely don't know if I'll write or not

[yisony07]

The other way

Thanks to @greenface94 for the masked pic.

The sound the clock made with each second it ticked was undermined by the gasps Joshua Aarons generated with each repetition he performed on the hammer strength machine. Each drop of sweat ran gracefully over his lightly tanned skin before falling to the floor or staining his gray tank top. He performed the continuous exercise with a side smile, pretending to ignore the gazes of women and men, although he could not help but curl his lips with a side smile from time to time: being admired for his effort, his hard work and, why deny it, because of his attractive physique and his great body, caused him enormous satisfaction that his muscular body, more honest than his mind, demonstrated in the form of a slight erection that, despite being subtle, gave hints to those who spotted it that whatever was hidden under those two layers of clothing was a huge and powerful tool.

He performed those movements, which demanded more and more of his strength and his stamina —as his rhythmic breathing and the concentration in his clear eyes indicated— with a captivating grace until, after about five or ten minutes, he finished. Joshua cleaned the machine a bit, ran a towel over the exposed areas of his body to dry off the sweat, and, after making sure he had everything in his backpack, headed to the gym door.

On the way, he noticed how a few people stared at him and some even ate him with desire with their gaze, so he flexed his muscles, placing his gaze on his arms to feign the innocent desire to see the results of his training instead of just bragging a little more. He didn't bother going to the public bathroom either; he thought that his scent had a pheromonal, arousing component, and he would not give up the opportunity to impress others with his gifts, especially because of what he was going to do later.

When he left the gym, Joshua walked to the apartment where he lived. The sky showed a gradient from orange to purple as the sun set, the wind blew gently, and there was little noise around. The tranquility that reigned in the streets was very seductive and John was not so eager to return to his house yet. His main destination was a party that one of his friends was going to throw, like they did in the old days when they were in high school, but this wouldn't happen until after nightfall.

What better life (Joshua used to think) than exercising, enjoying sports, being sexy with girls, having wild sex, and partying constantly?

Joshua was almost at his apartment when he received a call. He took out his phone and, seeing who was calling, answered smiling.

“Hey, Johnny, what’s up?” Joshua said cheerfully, continuing his walk.

“Not so well, Josh,” John responded. “My parents arrived earlier than expected and I also have to take my siblings to their childish activities, so the party will be held tomorrow.”

"Tomorrow?" Joshua asked, in a mix of confusion and alarm, “But I have to take a boring college entrance exam?!”

“As if you are going to get through it; among all of us, you’ve got more muscles than brains, so whether you do it or not doesn't matter, don't you think?” John replied with a bit of sarcasm.

“It's to get on the football team, which you know is one of the best in the country, nothing else,” Joshua explained, although more to convince himself than his friend. He had arrived at the building and was taking the elevator alone.

“Come on, come here and we'll share some beers, we'll play Play 5… even if you want, I'll invite Monica and Martha.”

The proposal was very, no, incredibly tempting for the young black-haired man. How would he be able to say no?

And to top it off, Monica and Martha could be there... an act that could end in guaranteed chaos, Joshua thought and, if he was honest, he would hardly be able to pass the admission test, in which they would surely ask him more questions about mathematics and physics than about sports and fitness. “Okay, okay, I'll go.”

“Yes, I knew you wouldn't resist! See you tomorrow,” John said and hung up.

Joshua gave a sigh of defeat accompanied by a slight smile. He had already arrived in front of the door of his apartment, but he found a box on the carpet at the entrance. Extremely confused by the presence of it there, he bent down to take it and checked if it had any note indicating what it was or to whom it was addressed, but he found nothing. Joshua looked around him and, after seeing no one else, entered his apartment with the box.

The place was somewhat disorganized, with the “smell of him” filling the room, with a few sweaty clothes here and there. Joshua picked up and cleaned up a bit, left his backpack on the bed and the box on the desk, undressed, revealing his thick asset, and entered the bathroom. As Joshua let the drops of warm water run down his body, getting rid of the sweat, while scrubbing his skin with soap, he began to think about the party and his studies. If he was completely honest, he didn't have the slightest chance of being accepted into the university; he could perfectly live off his parents' money without bothering to interact with academic and nerdy matters, and he could take a gymnastics course or be a coach and go to work in some gym, like the one he went to almost every day. Furthermore, he had a booklet on his desk with a summary of the topics covered in the admission test and he didn't understand anything at all, so why try?

Joshua came out of the bathroom, dressed in an outfit similar to the one he used to go to the gym and, after going to get a can of soda, he took a look at the pages and flipped through them. Derivatives, integrals, trigonometric functions, electrostatics, Newton's laws, history, the literary eras... boring things that some skinny, weirdo, nerd with no social life would find interesting, because anyway, regarding those topics, he was...

Way too dumb...

Joshua yawned and dropped the leaves, which fell into the crack of the box. He let out a slight grunt and went to open the damn box. He first saw the sheets, which he carelessly removed, and then noticed a strange object wrapped several times in bubble wrap. That detail caught his interest. He finished the soda, put it in a garbage can that was lying around, and removed the wrapper, finding a mask that he did not remember having ever seen in his life: made of unknown wood, painted in different shades of worn dark green, a bar of with four buttons and a circular inscription above said bar and three holes that, due to the effects of pareidolia, looked like a face completely devoid of emotion.

“What the hell?!” Joshua asked out loud, for he was the most peculiar and downright horrible thing. “For a mask, it doesn't even have a way to hold onto the face… so stupid.”

He continued checking it. He stopped to look at the back, the one that would be in contact with his skin if he decided to try it; it was a smoother and softer surface than the outside. Suddenly, a slight reflection of green light crossed the mask, or so he thought he saw. Confused, Joshua looked through the box to see if it contained any notes regarding its origin, but there was nothing but the unwrapped bubble wrap.

Joshua sat on the edge of the bed so that if he lay down, his head would be on the pillow. Thus, he thought, he could check if the light would appear again; however, there was nothing. He shook his head, set the mask down next to him, and got out of bed.

“Why would I be interested in that crap mask?” he thought out loud with a bit of sarcasm.

The night had fallen. Joshua ordered a pizza, which he left half done ("I'll have breakfast with the rest tomorrow," he thought) and sat on his bed to watch a movie and, if possible, fall asleep. He put anyone and, after settling in, he received two notifications on his phone; there were two emails. The first read:

Dear Mr. Aarons, this is a kind reminder of the admission test that will be held on XX day of XX of this year.

A breath of guilt gnawed at Joshua the moment his gaze fell on the review sheets, which were dangling dangerously on the edge of the desk, in danger of falling into the trash can. As soon as Joshua looked away, both the sensation of his tight chest and his labored breathing vanished. Way too dumb, he repeated to himself mentally.

The movie he had put on was not boring at all, but he didn't feel like changing it. His gaze rested once more on the mask, which was smooth side up before checking the second notification.

A giggle (which could easily have been mistaken for a cough) emerged from his mouth at the sight. It was a promotional porn image that showed two girls and two boys involved in the act. He had seen so many of those that Joshua no longer even bothered to remember the names of the actors and actresses because, to his surprise, any professional was enough for him. For a moment, his gaze focused more on the men, one of them with the stereotypical attire of a “daddy” professor and the other, young, with the stereotype of a “virgin and inexperienced young man.”

Suddenly, another green glow. Joshua blinked and took in the mask, which was lying there next to him as if nothing had happened. When he stopped watching it, he realized that his cock was hard and Joshua wasn't the type of man who saw his little friend as needy and ignored it. He turned off the screen, undressed (he always preferred to do it without clothes), and looked for an adult video with one of his hands.

Joshua played the video and ran his other hand over his chest down his six-pack until he reached his semi-hard cock and began to massage it carefully, letting out deep grunts of pleasure, letting his mind get lost in the ecstasy that those words caused him. moving images. However, he realized that his eyes followed the man's movements more than the woman's. That didn't matter much to him, since he had always identified himself as a female-oriented bisexual, but given the context he was in it wasn't very “convenient” to talk about that other part of him. Joshua stopped the video once he was aware of it, his huge hardened cock surrounded by his hand.

Then, there was another greenish flash, but this time the young man was able to see it directly. Glad that he confirmed that he wasn't going crazy, he put the phone aside and took the mask instead, looking at it. Joshua internally debated whether he would like or hate it if someone saw him in those circumstances: naked on the bed, with his cock hard and straight and with an ugly mask that (he had not noticed until that moment) was very close to his face.

Maybe I'll take a photo like that... he thought lightly while, as he settled himself better, his leg brushed the phone screen.

Joshua turned his attention back to the object. What was it that caused it to shine that intense green, even for a few moments? He wondered if it was because of the type of wood or if he had some chemical that gave it that property. If that was the case, Joshua gave up trying to understand it, since he was…

Way too dumb for it.

Suddenly, the mask jumped from his hands and collided with his face, so that Joshua's handsome face was covered with the cold wood, leaving the man in shock.

“What the…?!” Joshua managed to scream, because in a second the mask began to extend its edges, stretching them like thick tendrils, which adhered to the man's skin like adhesive tape. This caused his head to move from side to side as the tendrils covered more skin. "What the fuck?!" he shouted as he put his hands to his head in an attempt to remove that almost-living wood; however, it resisted, turning into a rubbery mass that, when stretched, returned to him with greater force. "Someone help me!" He screamed again, pulling and pulling at the mask, but he was no match for it and, in a matter of seconds, it covered his head completely.

The mask acted like a mass that melted onto his skin and moved as if it were a sticky creature, simulating and imitating his facial features more and more with each second, contracting when he closed his eyes and stretching when he opened his mouth to let out a growl.

Suddenly, a green electric beam crossed Joshua's entire body and he found himself unable to move his limbs. Against his will, as if he were acting under the control of the mask, his hands began to play with his own body, causing a vibration over the area they touched.

“Fuck!” Joshua moaned when his fingers massaged his nipples, as he was not used to the excitement of those erogenous zones. Then his hands went to his six-pack, went down to his cock, which seemed to be waiting his turn, and began to massage it. Joshua didn't know what the hell was happening or how it was happening, or even how he should be looking, but he liked it, he liked it a lot.

And just when he already felt that a gush... no, a river of cum would soon come out, Joshua felt a pull to the left and his entire body began to spin in a tornado around the room and the house, doing, undoing, and redoing everything. that was out there.

The tornado spun at such speed that when it stopped, Joshua's body continued moving forward, collided with the wall, and fell unconscious onto the bed.

A wave of pleasure brought a moan from his lips. A slight burning in his pecs and the pain induced by an unattended erection made him open his eyes. The first idea he had and the only one he paid attention to was to release all the power that his member could exert. With his huge hand (was it normally this big and strong? he assumed it was), he began massaging it and didn't hide his moans for even a second. There was something about each move that had an inexplicable effect on him as if his mind was paying more attention to internal and external sensations: to the delicious way his balls filled; to the smells that his body gave off; to how warm and pleasant his cock felt; and the detailed way in which he was able to think about it all.

“Almost there…” he whispered with a deep voice. After a few minutes of intense pleasure, a river of cum came out, which shone with a faint iridescent green, such that it stained the nearby floor with his vital liquid. Not only did he moan as loud as he could, but he felt as if he were breaking free from some bondage.

“Phew, nothing better than a morning wood to start the day,” Joshua said, and something in his words seemed strange to himself as if his voice had a comical and, at the same time, attractive touch. He got out of bed and looked at his phone, on which he saw the message from John.

Hey man, where r u? we’re waiting for u

A smile crossed Joshua's lips because he had already agreed to go there to enjoy and not take the exam because he was…

No, it's not true.... he thought suddenly, although in his mind it resonated with a different voice.

His gaze fell on the review sheets. He didn't really feel like standing up to read it so he stretched his own arm out in front of himself. To his surprise, his arm extended, so he grabbed the sheets and then his arm returned to its original size. “Wow,” he exclaimed, happy.

Joshua read them and all the topics in there seemed very clear. The derivative? The tangent line to a curve on a graph; the integral? The area under the curve in the case of a defined one; Newton's laws, the classical authors, the world wars... It was as if a greenish light illuminated his mind and revealed the neurons where all that knowledge was stored. What had once seemed like a useless tome of knowledge was now his natural language. How was it possible for him to despise such sacred information with how useful it has been to build the society in which he lived and enjoy the technology that he used every day?

No, it's not true... I'm not boring... he thought and a sudden disgust arose within him; however, the idea of being recognized for everything he knew, for what he was able to remember, for the new ideas that he could make and that people would want to listen to him instead of admiring his body (or both, he didn’t mind) was much more seductive, and his little great friend down there confirmed.

That sensation made him flex his muscles and, as he did so, he realized that he also knew everything that was on those pages.

At that moment, he looked at his phone and, when he saw the time, his face contorted: his eyes popped out of their sockets and he screamed, his tongue extending, as if from a 3D cartoon before coming back to normal. “Holy shit, I'm late!!” He said and left in a flash of green, but he immediately returned to look at himself in the mirror, noticing that he was still without clothes. “Oh, I'll be in a renowned institution, I should be a little more cautious, right?! HA HA!" He spun on his own axis in a tornado and, when he stopped, he was dressed as he did to go to the gym, with glasses on. It was at that moment that he realized that his face was green, like a second skin that perfectly imitated (and even improved) the original.

(Please ignore the fact that he's in a car)

"What are my eyes seeing? “A sexy, muscular nerd!” he said, pleased by his appearance. “If the teachers aren't impressed by these buddies, surely what's up here is,” he added before leaving quickly.

Masked Joshua showed up to the exam room at such a speed that the exam papers almost flew away as the person in charge of giving them. By the time the man managed to keep the pages in his place, he realized that Joshua was sitting at a desk, and he couldn't help but notice that green face.

“Sir, is something wrong with you? Your face looks…different,” the professor asked apprehensively.

"Oh really?!" Joshua said, out of nowhere he took out a mirror and looked at himself again. “No, I don't notice anything strange,” he answered, throwing the mirror out of the professor's field of vision and a cat screeched in the distance.

The professor had many questions, but he shook his head before speaking. “Well, Mr. Aarons, this is the entrance exam…”

He quickly began to fill out the questions and it was so easy for him to do so that the only sign of idiocy on his part, according to him, was that he felt nervous and incapable. Within minutes, Joshua filled out the paper and handed it to the teacher, who was genuinely surprised, given that he had not even started five minutes.

“I don't need to know the results to know that I passed so…” Joshua said winking at the teacher “… I hope to receive the orientations by mail… Bye!” he added, he left there as quickly as he arrived and stopped in a park far from the building. “Now it's time to solve another 'math problem',” he said, and what he was referring to came in the form of a message that he immediately read:

Hey, where r u?

I'm on my way, Joshua answered.

“It's time for these men to learn the importance of knowledge,” he thought out loud, and a line of saliva hung from his lips, signaling his excitement: would he also turn them into nerds or give them a taste of his fruit of knowledge?

Even more excited by the last idea, he was off to the party in the blink of an eye, ready to share his wisdom.

[jgnico]

The fact that Geto's motivation as a sorcerer was never something that personally mattered to him really did spell out his downfall. I know that it's been talked about before, but Yaga's decision to make sure that students enroll for selfish reasons rather than broad ideologies was such a good change for how the schools operate, not just in terms of ensuring that another Geto situation never happens, but also for students growth as sorcerers.

Being a sorcerer is always going to be a dangerous job, but having the will and desire to overcome for the sake of yourself will always prevail over the mentality of doing the right thing for the greater good. Sorcerers need to be selfish and ambitious to survive. That's what sets the current students aside from characters like Haibara and Geto and even Nanami.

Geto wanted to protect the weak. Haibara wanted to feel like he was helping. Nanami wanted to keep the students safe. And while, yes, these are objectively good motivations, they're all centered around the happiness and safety of other people and not themselves. Mentalities like that can only bring you so far, both for growth as a sorcerer and a will to live within the demands that jujutsu society places upon you. If the foundation that you build upon can't support you when you need it most, then you'll fall through the cracks; which is something that we see time and time again no matter what era the sorcerer comes from or how strong they are.

I think that the clearest we ever see this concept talked about is in chapter 58, when Gojo is talking to Megumi about what's holding him back. Megumi asked to be trained because he wanted to keep up with Yuuji, who's grown exponentially as a sorcerer in an incredibly short amount of time. But as Gojo points out, training won't help him because Megumi's ability and potential aren't his issues. His mentality is. Instead of being selfish and putting his all toward what he wants, Megumi thinks too much about what would help the people around him or how he measures up against them. Which is exactly the same kind of thinking that Geto had when Gojo surpassed him.

Even on the opposite end of the conflict between Sorcerers and Curses, this sentiment still holds strong. Comparing yourself to others stunts your growth. Lacking true ambition gets you killed. Not being selfish enough to fulfill your desires makes those desires ultimately pointless.

There's so much emphasis placed on motivation throughout jjk, whether that's Maki asking Yuuta why he enrolled, Geto asking Haibara why he's okay with being a sorcerer, Yaga testing Yuuji during his entrance exam, Yuuji asking Nobara why she wants to be a sorcerer, Maki wanting to build a world for Mai vs Mai only enrolling to follow Maki, etc etc, the list goes on.

Strength in terms of the power that you're born with (or aquire in Yuuji and Yuuta's case) will only get you so far. It doesn't matter how strong or weak or complex or simple your technique is if you don't have the will to unlock your full potential.

Gojo becomes stronger in Hidden Inventory because he wants to. Geto stagnates because he's accepted that he can't. Yuuta wins against Geto because losing isn't something that he can accept when it sacrifices the happiness of his friends. Geto loses because he knows that his family will continue to survive even if he doesn't.

Geto's problem when it comes to surviving as a sorcerer was never weakness. It wasn't conviction or morality or ideas. It was that he never learned to be selfish. He held onto the mentality of sacrificing himself for the greater good while changing the definition of what that meant, and it killed him just as surely as faulty foundation will lead to a house collapsing if it isn't fixed.

[pocketramblr]

How about an au where izuku can Telekinetically manipulate small objects for the 5 ask au? But instead of like. Toys or whatever, he uses this to do pseudo hydrokinesis and sandbending, which leads todoroki to think izuku is *also* a quirk marriage baby

1- Izuku's quirk lets him push or pull small objects. As he worked to strengthen his quirk, he realized he just can affect big objects, there's a hard limit on size. However, he can work up to increasing how many objects in his control. He starts with pebbles, then sand.

2- his middle school classes all think he only has the little telekinesis he uses to grab a dropped pencil or coin. When they ask if he can lift bigger things, like a car, he shakes his head. Once, he might have been proud to show off his strength... But then he saw how he was treated without it, and these kids aren't nice. He doesn't want to impress bullies, so he tends to be alone after school, focusing on his own training at the beach where he moves sand, and practices getting small parts out of larger things, like the thrown away washers or cars.

3- Izuku easily scores well in the entrance exam, and makes it into 1A. His ball toss isn't quite infinity, but it's still higher than any other finite score. His quirk doesn't really help with other tests, but it's enough to keep him from the bottom, and he knows he needs to start focusing on physical training as well.

4- he shows the full power of his quirk at the battle trial, and this leads to Bakugou flipping out because Izuku's dinky telekinesis wasn't supposed to be this strong! Why was he hiding this from him, was he not good enough to know?? Shoto hums thoughtfully as he watches Izuku avoid the explosion and say that it's not his fault Bakugou and the others weren't interested in giving a quirk they misunderstood as well a second chance, that he's been training too.

5- at the SF, Todoroki asks outright if Izuku's parents had a quirk marriage. Izuku is stunned, and Todoroki takes it as confirmation and shock that it wasn't as hidden as he tried, but he only recognized it because he's the product of one himself. Izuku says no, repeatedly, and Todoroki goes "... Ok if you say so" and seems distracted telling Izuku his traffic backstory, but honestly Todoroki still half suspects that Izuku's parents had a quirk marriage, but when it seemed to not work and his quirk was thought to be weak his parents broke it off and his kind mother never burdened him with the truth- or sent word to his father that it worked after all, to protect Izuku from those expectations.

[candlecoo]

Au where izuku trains with all might, but doesn't get ofa just yet. He manages to get through the entrance exam, saving uraraka by pushing the debris up and carrying her to safety, and gets into the hero course. He's still quirkless though, and maybe aizawa takes this into account with the quirkless apprehension test.

Maybe izuku gets ofa at some point before the USJ maybe? I just think it would be a neat idea if izuku got ofa a bit later, and suddenly the quirkless kid has a super op quirk. Maybe bc of his late blooming, he's given extra training or smth, after school.

Izuku can then be a bit more open with his class mates, bc they'd know he got his quirk late n stuff.

- cleaning the beach was only a part of the American Dream Plan not the final step.

- All Might had also planned for combat training and understanding young Midoriya's new strength without Afo so he could adjust to the strength of the quirk.

- but unfortunately that would take longer then the ten months they were alotted.

- so on the day of the exam when the beach is cleaned All Might does not pass on Ofa.

- he explains to young Midoriya that he's just not ready for the quirk yet and that he wants the boy to see that it's not the quirk that'll allow him to pass the exam.

- but instead his brilliant mind and his heroic heart. All he has to do is go out there and be a hero and he'll surely pass.

- at first Izuku doesn't understand. It's the beginning of the practical and the only thing he can think of is to take out as many villain bots.

- but as he watches the other examinees carelessly throwing around their quirk heedless of those around him he realizes, heroes don't only fight villains, they save people.

- even if it doesn't give him any points at least he'd have saved someone else from injury. So that's exactly what he does.

- he keeps others out of the path of debris they hadn't noticed, he uses said debris to take out a bit if he can, he helps people suffering from side effects of their quirks, he helps others strategize.

- he does everything he can to help others.

- and when the zero pointer appears and that nice girl is trapped underneath he runs to save her too.

- with his own strength he is able to lift the debris off of her(a bit of concrete has nothing on lifting All Might in his buff form!) And carries her to safety.

- maybe he didn't get enough points to make it into the hero course, but he was proud of himself anyway.

- he did more than he could've even a year ago, and it was all because of his hard work. Not a quirk. Not to say he didn't want Ofa, he absolutely did. But it was nice knowing that he could still make a difference without it.

- a week passes and low and behold Izuku made it into the hero course with the top score!

- he gets extra lessons with both All Might and Eraserhead, though the two teachers don't know that. They have different times and different days.

- maybe he gets support weapon training from Aizawa.

- he would definitely get it at the USJ but was told not to use it, but he ends up having to and I just looks like his quirk manifested due to stress!

- the entire class is on some level part of the Deku protection squad.

[fluffyferalkacchan]

Kacchan & Deku: Win to Save and Save to Win - A circular path of parallels (part 1)

Okay so it had probably already been talked to death by now, but i'd like to write a detailed list of how Midoriya and Bakugou's respective paths are and had always been paralleled since the beginning. And it's not just with the whole "save to win and win to save" thing, which is the most obvious textual part of it, but there are a lot of more subtle hints along the way too. I mean in nearly every single arcs, for each of Midoriya development, Bakugou had one too (albeit in a completely opposite direction).

This post is also partly in response to some anime-only fans who complained about Bakugou's development in the Joint Training Arc coming from the left field... Which actually isn't? Like Kirishima said it had never been as obvious before but there were definite hints about it and I'll try to show them as thoroughly as possible in this post.

Warning ! This post will be quite long and will contain Manga Spoilers up to chapter 317 in part 3!

¤ From the Pre-UA era To Deku vs Kacchan: their starting lines

(more under the cut)

When I said that the parallel started early, I really meant early. In fact, it started as early as the very first panel they were in.

I think it is very telling that the first time we saw them, Midoriya is trying to defend another kid, while Bakugou is seen using his quirk (and actually introducing the reader/viewer to the whole concept of quirk in the first place). It tells us right here, right then on the very first second, that Midoriya Izuku is physically weak but a savior at heart and Bakugou Katsuki has a strong quirk but is a bully asserting his dominance.

This of course led to diametrical beliefs on what a hero is and should be and we've got those two very iconic moments to illustrate:

And of course it reflected into their behaviors, even as kids.

What I find really interesting in the way those flashbacks were presented is that Midoriya's saving moment was told through Bakugou's POV, while Bakugou's winning side was seen through Midoriya's eyes.

Those moments were deemed important because they deeply impacted the witnessing party and not actually the "wining/saving" one.

(I think someone commented once that while the river scene was highly pivotal for Bakugou, Midoriya probably doesn't even remember it. And likewise Bakugou probably doesn't remember fighting and winning against some random older kids, but Midoriya definitively does. And I totally agree!)

At those moment both Bakugou and Midoriya saw in the other something that they were clearly lacking and their reactions to this realization were wildly different as well.

"He doesn't take himself into account, you know. Something doesn't feel right. It makes me wanna keep him at arm's length. Back then, I ignored my own weakness, so I ended up bullying him" - Bakugou Katsuki

"You who had so many things I didn't have... To me, you were an amazing person much closer than All Might! That's why I keep chasing after you!!" - Midoriya Izuku

Midoriya saw this amazing kid kicking ass with his strong quirks and his first reaction was admiration and wanting to get as close as possible to this person, because he was all too aware of his own weakness and shortcoming.

Bakugou saw this selfless kid trying to help him and displaying qualities that he didn't have and his first reaction was to lash out and push that kid as far away as possible because he didn't want to recognize his own weaknesses and shortcomings.

Which, you know, probably describes their entire childhood dynamics haha...

... and then the sludge villain happened.

And it brought with it the iconic "My legs moved on their own" and "Your eyes were begging for help" moments which we all know about of course, but this scene also had another more immediate parallel that I'd like to talk about.

Bakugou tried to fight the sludge villain on his own but ultimately failed to win.

Midoriya tried to rescue Bakugou on his own from the sludge villain but ultimately failed to save him.

The sludge villain was a reality check for both of them, in a "Nope kiddos, you might aspire to be heroes, but you still have a very long way to go. Here let's insert an All Might to show you just how far away your goal is," kind of way?

Anyway fast-forward 10 months of intense training to prepare for the UA entrance exam.... and really do I even have to mention this?

I mean the only way it could have been even more textually obvious is if Midoriya had been ranked sixth instead of seventh so that his name would be right next to Bakugou's... like there's even this panel explicitly pointing everything out.

So yeah... nothing to add there, *shrugs*

After that came the Quirk Assessment Test:

I'm going to come back to this later on in a more detailed way, but regarding their personal development; Midoriya's development is external while Bakugou's is internal. And I don't quite consider the quirk assessment test as "progress" for any of them yet because both of them sort of completely miss the point.

Aizawa told Midoriya "How can you save anyone if you can't move after one hit?" which had the underlying message of "It's not okay to hurt yourself"... But Midoriya totally went like, "Okay then I'll just hurt myself in a way in which I can still move afterward!" So yeah he is just sidestepping the problem here, but well there probably wasn't anything else he could do here.

As for Bakugou, he had always feel threatened by Midoriya's presence, but not in a fighting skills context. They are not really competing on the same field and it had never occurred to Bakugou that Midoriya could really beat him in a one-to-one fight.

As hilarious as the thought of Bakugou truly believing that somehow Deku had managed to take head on building-high robots quirkless is, I think what really happened is... Bakugou saw his own 0 rescue points and thought "Oh... so that's how Deku got in. Damn nerd probably went and save shitty extras left and right!". Which is a more realistic feat to manage quirkless. Anyway my point is, Bakugou realizing Midoriya isn't quirkless should have been a "Shit! He's leveling the field and standing on my playground now!" moment...

But no, what overpowered him here is the thought that the whole time Midoriya had been hiding his quirk from him and went like "What? Am I not good enough for you to use your quirk on me?! STOP LOOKING DOWN ON ME!!! EXPLAIN YOURSELF RIGHT THE FUCK NOW, SHITTY DEKU!!"

So yeah... kind of missing the point too.

Which is why the quirk assessment test wasn't really their starting point but more like them trying to look for it but missing it?

Speaking of starting lines... Let's move on to the Deku vs. Kacchan first round.

B"From watching the match, it appears Bakugou acted n to surpass Bakugou, All Might pointed that those were the first passionate emotions Midoriya had shown other than "I want to be a hero!". This was the very first moment where Midoriya's desire to win was stronger than his desire to save.

As for Bakugou, this was the moment where he truly he realized that Deku is a threat and not just through his natural heroic/saving disposition like before but on the battlefield which used to be 100% Bakugou's area of expertise. And if even with his non-existent control of quirk Deku had managed to win to such extent, what would happen when Deku managed to truly master his own quirk? Total defeat?! Bakugou is self-aware enough to realize that while his own fighting skills and quirk mastery could still progress, they were already near the top with a not wide enough margin for improvement.

This was the moment where Bakugou realized where he truly stood compared to everyone else around him and that if he wanted to reach the very top again, then only relying on his fighting skills and his quirk control would never be enough. This is what prompted out his feelings of "I have to change or I'll be left in the dust".

And since Deku went and encroached on Bakugou's playground and beat him in the process, there's no way in hell Mr Complete and Irrefutable Win over there wouldn't aim to do exactly the same at some point.

Anyway the two gifs above showed us their motivation to reach their respective Win/Save side of the spectrum, but they both have big issues they need to work on in order to do so.

"From watching the match, it appears Bakugou-san acted on his own because of an obviously personal grudge. As as All Might-sensei said previously, it is foolish to launch a large-scale attack indoors.

In the same way, taking into consideration the damage he received, Midoriya-san's plan was also rash." - Yaoyorozu Momo

Yaoyorozu's analysis was super spot on and hit straight where their weaknesses lie: Bakugou needs to stop acting on his own and learn to cooperate with/trust his teammates and Midoriya needs to stop hurting himself/self-sacrifice and learn to properly control his quirk.

Both of them also have these super heavy shackles that keep pulling them down and impeding their progress at every turn:

Bakugou's complex feelings and emotionally explosive baggage towards Midoriya that makes him go feral and irrational at the drop of a hat and clearly prevents him from properly considering Midoriya as the rival that would keep pulling him up

Midoriya's total and utter idolization of All Might that gives him a tendency to imitate his idol and clearly prevents him from properly realizing and unlocking the potential of his own quirk

And at that point, they clearly don't realize how cumbersome those shackles could be if left unaddressed too long.

Anyway... this episode/chapter was called "Bakugou Katsuki: Starting line", but I think it can be considered both their starting lines, because this is when they were made aware of what they are lacking and showed their resolve to change.

Midoriya's progress and development is intrinsically linked to his quirk mastery and fighting style, which are inherently physical skills (which is where Bakugou's excels in). It stands to reason then that his progress would therefore be very flashy, hard to miss, and highly praised due to the external aspect of his development.

On the other hand Bakugou's progress and development hinges on him properly getting in touch with his emotions and connecting to other people in healthy way, which are inherently inner-strength qualities (which Midoriya has no shortage of) . It stands to reason then that his progress would therefore be very subtle, mostly unnoticed, and hardly taken into account due to the internal aspect of his development. (Like it'd probably only takes him having a full meltdown or throwing himself in front of someone else for other people to notice how far he had gone!)

[a-crimson-lion]

Further Discussion On Katsuki Bakugo

[Original Post Here]

@homez18

...I seem to have stumbled upon a rabbit hole which my hubris continues to lure me towards.

Because I genuinely want to have a discussion over your points (and I don't want to bog down my original post with too many reblogs), I'll move the discussions here.

[This isn't necessarily to flaunt my nonexistent superiority. I honestly think that you have a good argument going for Katsuki. I'm just seeing how my own analysis stacks on top of that. I'm no expert, but I'll give it my best shot. Also, spoilers for anyone else reading.]

Let's start with "I don't think Bakugo overestimates himself." This is an interesting point, which I believe does hold water. When I think about it, I realize that Katsuki actually suffers from a different problem, which I'll get back to later. As for "He's never shown to overestimate himself," that's... not entirely correct. As of late, I can think of at least TWO examples in the series where Katsuki could legitimately be overestimating himself. But first, let's address the basic issue.

9 times out of 10, Katsuki will UNDERESTIMATE his opponents.

This isn't without reason. Katsuki's strong, and he knows it. He's been strong since even before his quirk manifested, at least mentally. When his quirk kicked in, his strengths shifted to primarily physical, though he's still an intelligent person. However, even if he can gauge his own strength, he does an admittably horrible job of gauging others' strengths. Since he's been praised for nigh over a decade for having such a strong quirk, Katsuki's got the idea that he's among the best of the best. He might not be #1 yet, but he knows he's gonna get there eventually. The problem starts when he decides that everyone else is beneath him by default.

Don't tell me he doesn't underestimate others either when he tends to call everyone "extras" or just a crappy nickname (at least until he acknowledges them).

One instance where Katsuki distinctly underestimates his opponent is during the Battle Trial with Izuku. Granted, this is more of a hubris case than anything, considering Katsuki's absolute hatred for Izuku (that later does mellow out into begruding respect). The thing is, Katsuki knows Izuku has a quirk now. He knows his quirk is super strong (it beat his ball throw by 0.1 meters, after all) but there's still a part of Katsuki that believes Izuku is still a bug. He's still a worthless Deku, and to top it all off, Katsuki is convinced that Izuku hid his quirk from him since the start.

While his absurd self-centered persona is not the main focus, one must admit that Katsuki's hubris is a certain level of concerning.

So Izuku and Katsuki have a big showdown, and to Katsuki's surprise, Izuku pulls something else entirely. He manages to wreck the building above them, taking the explosion and allowing his team to pass. Katsuki thinks Izuku is looking down on him, but Izuku simply states that he wouldn't have used his quirk if he could have thought of someone else. And as Izuku collapses and the trial comes to a close, Katsuki is shaken by the fact that Izuku beat him. Worthless Deku beat Katsuki Bakugo, and he wonders if Izuku could beat him in other ways. Katsuki underestimated Izuku.

I've talked about Katsuki's obsession with strength previously, but the same idea applies here. If Katsuki wasn't so gun-ho on taking out the enemy (specifically Izuku) for the hell of it and actually tried to win the exercise, he might have been able to beat Izuku. But he's so caught up in his definitions of strength and victory that he ultimately falls flat, underestimating his opponent's capabilities to win, even indirectly. This dame idea comes back to bite Katsuki when Neito Monoma briefly takes possesion of Katsuki's headbands (granted, he does get them back later) because Katsuki didn't even bother paying attention to him, once again underestimating him.

Now, as I've stated before, Katsuki has overestimated himself at least twice. The first time was with All Might during the Final Exams. When All Might brings up his handicap weights, Katsuki has the gall to say that All Might's handicapping is "insulting." Katsuki knows that All Might is strong, he knows that All Might is the NUMBER ONE HERO, and suddenly handicapping himself is insulting? Granted, that's the same attitude he had against Shoto at the end of the Sports Festival, but just to put this scenario into perspective:

Katsuki is a 15 year old hero in training with a powerful quirk, a few months of experience, and versatile experience with his quirk among other strengths (including Battle Tactics).

All Might is an adult (age unknown) Pro Hero with a powerful quirk, years of experience, and, as a Young Katsuki once said: "No matter how bad things look, he always wins in the end!"

To put it simply, Katsuki is a Level 15 going against All Might, a Level 200 (whose handicap probably brings him down to Level 100).

Combined with Izuku (a Level 10 on his own), they might be a Level 30 (50 if I'm being generous) but All Might is still twice their skill combined, and Izuku and Katsuki's troublesome dynamic make it even more of a hinderance to fight against him. Katsuki even tries attacking All Might multiple times, even though he fails consistently each time, doing virtually nothing to change his strategy. It gets to the point where Katsuki gets straight up KO'd because he can't acknowledge that All Might truly is leagues ahead of him. Objectively, Katsuki knows that All Might is on another level, but subjectively? Shouldn't be too hard to beat him.

How would he have passed without Izuku again?

The second time Katsuki overestimates himself is actually fairly recent. Before Izuku and Katsuki head off to intern under Endeavor, they have a meeting with All Might. During that meeting, Katsuki remarks that he's be able to use all of One for All's quirks right then and there, whereas Izuku has only learned to *bloop* with his first new quirk.

Again, Katsuki is only focusing in the physical aspect of things, in this case OFA. We don't know exactly what All Might and Izuku told him about it, but I'd like to think they'd at least cover the basics of OFA's sentience. That, and the fact that since Katsuki is in on the All Might Tea Parties now, wouldn't he at least hear about Izuku's vision when he was undergoing the Black Whip episode? It's already been established that Katsuki has a strong quirk and is physically strong to an extent, but we've seen time and time again that his emotional strength needs some growing time. Plus, it has also been established that OFA gets a boost when it's motivated to save people. Katsuki has no such motives unless it benefits him. He's giving himself too much credit claiming he'd master OFA at that point.

Phew, that was long.

Otherwise, the rest of your argument is fair, homez18. Katsuki does fight to prove himself. He fights (and succeeds) to prove himself during the Entrance Exam. He fights to prove himself during the Quirk Apprehension Test (getting 3rd place and "losing" to Izuku in the ball toss, which pisses him off). He fights to prove himself in the Battle Trial (which is why he's so torn when Izuku wins). He fights to prove himself during all the events after that, like the Sports Festival or the Villain Attack at Camp. He does all that to prove himself.

The problem arises when he shuts out virtually everything else.

Yes, he should be mad at Shoto for not going all out at Katsuki during the Sports Festival, but he heard Shoto's backstory. He KNOWS Shoto hated his fire side, and saw how adamantly he refused to use it. He might not have heard what Izuku said to him in their fight, but Katsuki is so stubborn that he refuses to realize that people have issues beyond Katsuki. Not going all out against him is a personal slight. Being too weak is a personal slight. No one wins.

During the Villain Attack at Camp, Katsuki has every right to defend himself. But he's not defending himself. He's seeking out conflict because to him, fighting is the best part of being a hero. If he was truly defending himself, he'd have headed back to camp with Shoto, even begrudgingly so. Instead, he ignores Mandalay's warnings just because she brought up something about Izuku, and then narrowly avoids getting cut immediately afterwards, foreshadowing his poor choices.

TL;DR Katsuki tends to underestimate others more than he overestimates himself, and while he does fight with a warped sense of honor, it doesn't make his actions any more "noble."

Thanks for reading, homez18. I hope you enjoyed, and if you didn't? Well, that's on me I guess...

-Crimson Lion (24 September 2019)