History Fanfic / WereNotFriendsKacchan

* FatalFlaw: Pride. Bakugou knows deep down what he's done is wrong, but his pride continuously drags him back from fully acknowledging this, pushing him to instead double down on his awful behavior instead of change it so he can continue insisting he's the greatest and avoid acknowledging that he has made and continues to make terrible choices.

** Along a similar vein, Aizawa's teaching methods are shown to have cost him the trust of his students. His willingness to [[ILied deliberately deceive]] the whole class, passing off everything he does as 'logical ruses', has left them wary of anything he says and does. They also note that despite his willingness to expel past students at the drop of a hat, he hasn't done anything to address Bakugou's behavior.
* DestroyTheEvidence: The staff at Aldera thought they were being clever by erasing video footage of Bakugou terrorizing Izuku. However, they did this so clumsily that Nezu was able to recover the video files and share them with his team. The fact that Aldera tried to destroy the files just helps to incriminate them further.

* FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence: Ultimately, Izuku can never win. Katsuki will ''always'' interpret his behavior in the most uncharitable fashion possible to 'justify' his cruelty towards him.

* ILetGwenStacyDie: [[spoiler:Kirishima once had a cousin named Kanna who became mean and aggressive because she was Quirkless. Her being bullied by her peers ultimately led to her suicide which Kirishima blames himself to his day. It's because of this that he tried so hard to be Bakugou's friend and help him in any way that he couldn't do for Kanna. It takes learning about how Bakugo treated Izuku (specifically, how he told him to kill himself) for him to get over this]].

** With Bakugou, this is [[spoiler:{{Double Subver|ted}}sion. As his teacher and classmates begin to turn on him after hearing about his history as Izuku's bully, Bakugou refuses to accept responsibility and believes that he was always in the right. And even though he has a little voice inside telling him to listen to reason, the wannabe hero decides to double down on his toxic ideologies of what makes a true hero. Until the final paragraphs where he does realize that his actions did lead up to his downfall as he repeatedly pushed away everyone who wanted to help him and now is a failure who can't achieve his dreams]].
** Played Straight with [[spoiler:Aizawa. Thanks to the revelations of Izuku and Bakugou's past, he realizes just how much he enabled Bakugou by brushing off his past behavior, misjudging Izuku (wrongfully thinking HE was the bully), and how he's been allowing his past to affect his judgment.[[note]]He initially assumed Bakugou was like him: a misunderstood person who was bullied for having a villainous Quirk. However, he quickly corrects himself when he thinks back on it, saying that he was only seeing (and trying to protect) himself in his mind, not Bakugou.[[/note]]]]

* MustMakeAmends: [[spoiler:Aizawa accepts that he's lost his students' trust for his cold "logical" actions and how he's constantly excused Bakugou's heinous actions. It's only after the revelation does he decide to make things right by earning the trust of his class]].

* NeverMyFault: As far as Bakugou is concerned, he's completely justified in terrorizing Izuku, believing that Izuku deserves to suffer for 'annoying him' with his existence. When he starts [[spoiler:failing his assignments during his last months at UA]], he doubles down on this, blaming [[spoiler:his classmates for distracting him and his teachers for being tougher on him]].

** [[spoiler:Aizawa mistakenly believed that this was ''Izuku's'' M.O., pretending to be terrorized by the 'naturally villainous' Katsuki to get him into trouble]].

** Kirishima privately admits that he projected [[spoiler:the behavior of his late cousin Kanna, who was BulliedIntoDepression because she lacked a Quirk and developed serious anger issues in the process]], onto Bakugou's similar actions, thus giving him the benefit of the doubt. He's immediately regretful when it turns out that Bakugou is unambiguously in the wrong and has no FreudianExcuse to speak of.

* SayingTooMuch: The truth comes out when Ochako, furious with Katsuki blatantly harassing Izuku in the middle of their classroom, snaps at him that anyone who can tell someone else to kill themselves without batting an eye is a [[PrecisionFStrike fucking]] monster.

* SelfServingMemory: PlayedWith; when Katsuki's flashbacks are detailed, they seem to accurately depict what occurred, such as his memory of cornering Izuku at his locker and accusing him of avoiding him because he 'thinks [he's] too good for him now'. Yet Katsuki still acts as though they fully support his own skewed perspective.

* TakeThat: The story treats Aizawa's cold-hearted and questionable teaching methods with actual consequences. Particularly with his students having no trust in him along with how one of his students (Bakugou) has allowed their negative qualities to fester because of his negligence.

''"That's the thing...we're not friends Kacchan. I don't think we ever were."''

''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/37298659/chapters/93065764 We're Not Friends Kacchan]]'' is a ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fanfic written by Creator/WindsCarryFar where Izuku decides to start distancing himself from Katsuki and confiding in others, starting with Ochako. This inadvertently leads to the whole class learning the truth about their past together, and about how Katsuki [[SuicideDare told him to take a swan dive off the roof]]. Consequences swiftly follow.

** Played with and subverted with Bakugou, [[spoiler:who gives one to himself while trying to reinforce his own beliefs. While internally narrating his perspective on heroism, about how heroes are people who always win and who "put stupid villains in their place," and how there's "always a hero and always a villain," a small Izuku-like voice in Bakugou's head replies: "So was Deku the villain of the story the whole time? Or was it you?" The question causes him to break out in a cold sweat. However, Bakugou acknowledging the question's point would mean acknowledging he did wrong, and he can't bear that, so he ignores it and doubles down.]]

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Bakugou tries to prove [[spoiler:he's worth keeping at UA]] by proving he's "the best" in the class. During a rescue exercise, he's by far the fastest at rescuing the "victim" (a training dummy). However, that speed came at the cost of his "victim," whom he dragged out of the training ground "practically mangled." As it turns out, the whole point of the exercise was to prevent further injury to the victim, so he gets the worst grade in the class but doesn't even realize he did poorly until he receives his graded evaluation.

* EverybodyKnewAlready: {{Downplayed}} with 1-A regarding Bakugou's personality. They all had a feeling that he was never a good person because of his condescending attitude and need to lash out at others. But it's the open reveal of him being Izuku's bully that finally cements their negative beliefs about the guy. Shouji even claims that it shouldn't surprise them that he told Izuku to kill himself.

* {{Foil}}: Aizawa serves as one to Bakugou; [[spoiler:Both engage in a great deal of PsychologicalProjection that led them to abuse Izuku due to their own misconceptions and personal hang-ups. When the truth comes out, Aizawa is horrified by his actions, admits his mistakes, and acts to rectify them, while also recognizing that it will take time to repair the damage he's done. Bakugou, by contrast, refuses to acknowledge he's done anything wrong, stubbornly doubling down. As a result, Aizawa has a chance to make things better, while Bakugou rejects any opportunity to do the same]].
* FreudianExcuse: Discussed. The entire class, including Aizawa, assumed Bakugou had one of some kind and that, at some point during their "complicated history," Izuku had done something to hurt or antagonize Bakugou. Because they didn't know what the circumstances were, no one in the class felt comfortable stepping in between Bakugou and Izuku, and so took their cues from Aizawa and Kirishima in accepting the behavior as normal, all while tacitly assuming there was some understandable reason for Bakugou to be aggressively upset with Izuku.
* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: What breaks the class' passivity and forces them to reevaluate Bakugou: there ''is'' no FreudianExcuse good enough to justify Bakugou telling Izuku to kill himself. And as they search for answers, they realize there was never a {{Freudian excuse}} at all.

*** He did nothing to stop Bakugou from abusing Izuku. While it's never explicitly stated why Kirishima personally chose not to act, the class as a whole discusses the underlying assumption that, because Izuku and Bakugou have a "complicated history," Izuku was somehow instigating in a way the class didn't understand. It's implied Kirishima shared this underlying sentiment.

* {{Hypocrite}}: At the start of the academic year, Aizawa accused All Might of playing favorites by constantly defending Izuku. [[spoiler:He later accepts that he was doing the same thing by defending Bakugou when he performed genuinely harmful actions]].

** With Bakugou, this is [[spoiler:DoubleSubverted. As his teacher and classmates begin to turn on him after hearing about his history as Izuku's bully, Bakugou refuses to accept responsibility and believes that he was always in the right. And even though he has a little voice inside telling him to listen to reason, the wannabe hero decides to double down on his toxic ideologies of what makes a true hero. Until the final paragraphs where he does realize that his actions did lead up to his downfall as he repeatedly pushed away everyone who wanted to help him and now is a failure who can't achieve his dreams]].
** PlayedStraight with [[spoiler:Aizawa. Thanks to the revelations of Izuku and Bakugou's past, he realizes just how much he enabled Bakugou by brushing off his past behavior, misjudging Izuku (wrongfully thinking HE was the bully), and how he's been allowing his past to affect his judgment.[[note]]He initially assumed Bakugou was like him: a misunderstood person who was bullied for having a villainous Quirk. However, he quickly corrects himself when he thinks back on it, saying that he was only seeing (and trying to protect) himself in his mind, not Bakugou.[[/note]]]]

* MortonsFork: One of the ways Katsuki 'justifies' his treatment of Izuku is that he was sick of being 'constantly bothered' by his former friend. Yet in one {{flashback}}, he corners Izuku at the other boy's locker and accuses him of ''avoiding'' him, asking if he thinks he's 'too good for him' now and beating him up.

* PostSupportRegret: Both Kirishima and Aizawa were Bakugo's biggest supporters, as they had believed that Bakugo had a reason for his issues. Once they realize he had bullied Izuku for no real reason and had even gone as far as to tell him to 'take a swan dive off a roof,' they very quickly realize that they were completely wrong and regret not stopping his abuse.

** Kirishima privately admits that he projected [[spoiler:the behavior of his late cousin Kanna, who was BulliedIntoDepression because she lacked a Quirk and developed serious anger issues in the process]], onto Bakugou's similar actions, thus giving him the benefit of the doubt. He's immediately regretful when it turns out that Bakugou is unambiguously in the wrong and has no {{Freudian excuse}} to speak of.

''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/37298659/chapters/93065764 We're Not Friends Kacchan]]'' is a ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fanfic written by [[https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindsCarryFar/pseuds/WindsCarryFar [=WindsCarryFar=]]] where Izuku decides to start distancing himself from Katsuki and confiding in others, starting with Ochako. This inadvertently leads to the whole class learning the truth about their past together, and about how Katsuki [[SuicideDare told him to take a swan dive off the roof]]. Consequences swiftly follow.

A reaction fic written by [[https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greyninja27/pseuds/Greyninja27 GreyNinja27]] can be found [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/45875059/chapters/115457167 here]].

''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/37298659/chapters/93065764 We're Not Friends Kacchan]]'' is a ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'' fanfic written by [[https://archiveofourown.org/users/WindsCarryFar/pseuds/WindsCarryFar [=WindsCarryFar=]]] where Izuku decides to start distancing himself from Katsuki and confiding in others, starting with Ochako. This inadvertently leads to the whole class learning the truth about their past together, and about how Katsuki [[SuicideDare told him to take a swandive off the roof]]. Consequences swiftly follow.

** Ojiro honestly asks Sero, one of Bakugou's "friends", if he's genuinely okay with the blonde cursing him out and calling him an idiot all the time.

** The fic also calls into question the "Bakusquad" dynamic. Bakugou is shown to take their friendships for granted as he only uses them to vent about his problems, snaps at them any time they try to offer an opinion that goes against what he believes is fair and how the others feel exhausted from being insulted by him on a regular basis. It also brings up how Kirishima and Mina, who have a history dealing with bullies in middle school, would feel PostSupportRegret for openly supporting a bully without either of them knowing for so long.

* TheDogBitesBack: In Chapter 5, [[spoiler:a mentally healthier Izuku is able to stand up to his tormentor and ordering him to stay away from him and his friends]].

* DramaticallyMissingThePoint: Bakugou tries to prove [[spoiler:he's worth keeping at UA]] by proving he's "the best" in the class. During a rescue exercise, he's by far the fastest at rescuing the "victim" (a training dummy). However, that speed came at the cost of his "victim," whom he dragged out of the training ground "practically mangled." As it turns out, the whole point of the exercise was to prevent further injury to the victim, so he gets the worst grade in the class, but doesn't even realize he did poorly until he receives his graded evaluation.

* IdentityBreakdown: All his life Bakugou has been told he was meant to be a hero. When confronted with his wrongs from the past he struggles to come to terms of them due to his established world views. Much of his problems stem from this.

** Part of Bakugous's [[ItsAllAboutMe self aggrandizing]] [[FeelingOppressedByTheirExistence delusion about and completely unjustified hatred for Midoriya]] is the fact that he [[InsaneTrollLogic feels that Midoriya is somehow looking down on him]] and that drives him to his feral anger and brutal bullying of his former friend. During their last confrontation in the epilogue, where Izuku ''is'' [[NotAfraidOfYouAnymore utterly coldly dismissive and stoically uncaring of Bakugou's ranting]], Bakugou so unnerved and even intimidated by Izuku's cold DeathGlare and utterly uncaring attitude to show any of his traditional anger at the idea of Izuku looking down on him.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: InUniverse example. After learning how Bakugou made Izuku's life a living hell just because he was Quirkless, Ochako sincerely considers him to be worse then Shigaraki or Overhaul.

* PositiveFriendInfluence: Ochako, Tenya, Tsuyu, and Shouto do their parts as Izuku's closest friends to help him after his dark history with Bakugou is revealed. They shower him with unconditional love, remind him of his positive attributes and assure him that he's not responsible for Bakugou's poor behavior.
* PostSupportRegret: Both Kirishima and Aizawa were Bakugo’s biggest supporters, as they had believed that Bakugo had a reason for his issues. Once they realize he had bullied Izuku for no real reason and had even gone as far to tell him to 'take a swan dive off a roof,' they very quickly realize that they were completely wrong and regret not stopping his abuse.

* RewindReplayRepeat: [[spoiler:Aizawa replays Bakugou's SuicideDare as he comes to term with his hypocritical manner of defending the boy]].

* RunningAwayToCry: Kirishima does this after he accidentally hit Mina when she tried to stop him from beating up Bakugou.

* ShadowArchetype: Toshinori uses his lifetime of hardships, ruined friendships and declining health to warn Izuku into making better choices as the next holder while also encouraging him to have faith in his friends.

** The reason that Kirishima was so defensive of Bakugou was because he reminded him of a cousin who was Quirkless and lashed out at others for her frustrated existence.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: After learning how Bakugou made Izuku's life a living hell just because he was Quirkless, Ochako sincerely considers him to be worse then Shigaraki or Overhaul.

* DoubleStandard: Discussed. When wondering whether to trust Aizawa, the class mentions that Aizawa was much tougher on Izuku than Bakugou after the Heroes vs. Villains exercise, despite Bakugou having openly gone after Izuku with lethal force.

** The fic also picks apart the friendship dynamic of the "Bakusquad". Bakugou is shown to take their friendships for granted as he only uses them to vent about his problems, snaps at them any time they try to offer an opinion that goes against what he believes is fair and how the others feel exhausted from being insulted by him on a regular basis. It also calls into question how Kirishima and Mina, who have a history dealing with bullies in middle school, would feel PostSupportRegret for openly supporting a bully without either of them knowing for so long.

* WeUsedToBeFriends: The premise involves Izuku cutting Bakugou from his life while accepting that his childhood friend transformed into an arrogant, violent bully. [[spoiler:The last chapter even has his renouncing their relationship while retiring the childhood nickname he gave him]].