#what a mess...

I've had my issues with the party for years (mostly because I feel like they don't take enough risks and often ignore places where they can't win easily), but I've considered myself a Democrat since I could vote. Now, though....

I'll be voting blue in November, no matter who's on the ballot. After that, they'll have to earn my vote back. Assuming we even HAVE an election in 2028...

Whoops...

Izuku doesn't hint about OFA after the first hero training because All Might told him beforehand that It's A Secret so Bakugou loses his mind for about three weeks as he is trying to understand how someone quirkless can get a quirk and he gets the beginning of an answer after the USJ and the noumu. He comes to the conclusion that Deku is a traitor working for the urban legend known as AFO.

He goes and sees All Might to warn him because he is the one who knows Izuku the most but All Might gives him a perfectly reasonable explanation about how Izuku's quirk activation was delayed because of how destructive it is. Bakugou doesn't buy it one second and decides to get more proof before he approaches a hero again with his theory. All Might doesn't mention this conversation to Izuku, just reminding him to keep the OFA secret to himself.

From then on, Bakugou keeps an eye on Izuku but he is so focused on his theory that everything Izuku does seem to confirm it. Spending time with All Might? There is no reason why they should hang out except for the nerd developing a very similar quirk in such a way that All Might would feel the need to help him. Izuku sends his location in Hosu? What a coincidence that Iida almost died there. Shigaraki finds Izuku at the mall? Bakugou was there to keep an eye on him and when he saw Shigaraki grabbing Deku, he initially panicked but when he saw them talking, he couldn't help but to think they knew each other and Shigaraki simply pretended to strangle Deku when he saw Uraraka. This is an incredibly stressful situation for him and he alternates between far calmer than canon or even more explosive. Izuku knows that something is wrong but Kacchan doesn't want to talk about it so there isn't much he can do.

Bakugou alternates between being convinced of Izuku's guilt and being "It's too crazy." Ironically enough, the exams when they are teamed up goes far more smoothly in this AU. The boys are exhausted, frustrated but they have a talk and Bakugou realizes that he is suspecting the nerd who cries for nothing and that he has known since... basically, forever. They beat All Might and he can breathe for the first time in months.

What I need at the moment is some time to think.

Of course I hadn’t expected his intentions at the time to be anything else. It only makes sense-- we had no history, then. We were strangers, and I was a powerful asset to acquire. Or a pretty face to keep around, depending on his mood.

I’ve more than gotten over that particular thing. I swore my loyalty to him of my own volition--and I do not regret it. All that I do for him is done out of my own pride. He has never once coerced me, or used my pledge of fealty against me. If he were to, I would end our arrangement immediately....

...

* Lucifer sighs, heavy and long. He leans back in his office chair and massages his eyes with his index finger and thumb. *

It’s salt in a very old wound, and one opened and picked at in front of not only Lilith but the entire devildom as well.