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It was Saturday and the whole class was sitting in the dining room in their dorm and eating lunch.
“Hey, Midoriya...?” Todoroki asked as he took a bite of his soba. He, Izuku, Iida, Uraraka and some others were sitting in the same table.
“Yes Todoroki?” Izuku answered and Uraraka and Iida stopped their small conversation, now paying attention to the other two.
“Are you quirkless?” Izuku choked and the other two froze. The few who also heard Todorokis question turned their heads and observed.
“Now that I think about it. I've never seen you use your quirk Midoriya!” Mina exclaimed from another table.
“Is that so? That's weird.” Izuku tried brushing it off.
“Yeah! What is it?! You've never used it? Is it something, like, really minor? Is it something we can’t see like Hagakure? Or are you really quirkless?” Kaminari asked from beside Mina.
“What are your parents quirks?” Uraraka asked. Izuku hesitated before answering.
“Mom can pull small objects towards her and dad apparently breathes fire. Like, he has fire breath.”
“Woah! Like a dragon?!” Kirishima exclaimed and a few laughed.
“I don’t think I would say that my father is a dragon...” Izuku chuckled.
“Yeah! That wouldn’t make sense. You would’ve inherited something dragon like from him in that case.” Mina added.
Izuku almost let out a breath of relief when they forgot about the main subject and started talking about dragons. He wouldn’t want them to know, he didn’t want anyone to know. He didn’t want to go through the trouble of going into deep stuff with his classmates. He wasn’t comfortable yet.
“No, but seriously... what is your quirk?” Sero asked calmly and everyone went quiet. Izuku refused to answer but everyone was waiting, he felt pressured.
“I’m not hungry anymore. Thanks for the food.” he said as he stood up and walked away.
“But you’ve barely eaten!” Iida exclaimed but Izuku didn’t even bother to answer him. Once Izuku walked inside the elevator and the door closed Kaminari turned to Bakugo.
“You’re his childhood friend, right Bakugo? You should know what his quirk is!”
“Shut up dunce face. I don’t have to tell you anything.” Bakugo answered irritated and continued eating.
“If Midoriya doesn’t want to tell us then we shouldn’t have pestered him... and we really shouldn’t ask Bakugo either. It's not his place to tell us.” Tokoyami said and everyone dropped the topic.
¨~¨
“When were we going out again?” Sero asked as he scratched the back of his neck. Mina hit him in the back of the head. The bakusquad and the dekusquad, minus Izuku, were sitting in the common room.
“In half an hour Sero! Go get yourself ready! You're basically the only one that’s not done!” Mina exclaimed.
“Hey! Kaminari isn’t ready either!” Sero pointed out.
“Well, what are you waiting for?! Go get yourselves ready!” Bakugo exclaimed and both Sero and Kaminari ran away.
“Man, why does he have to be so harsh?” Kaminari mumbled as they entered the elevator and pressed the buttons to the third and fifth floor.
“I don’t know...” Sero answered but was cut off by the doors opening. They stopped on the second floor? Why? Izuku appeared in front of them and an idea came to their mind.
“Yo, Midoriya!” Sero said as he blocked the doors from closing.
“Hi...?”
“Hey! We were wondering if you wanted to come with us and a few others! We're going to have some fun! Aizawa has already given us permission!” Kaminari said as he hooked an arm around Izukus shoulders.
“Umm... sure, why not? When are we going?”
“In like... ten or fifteen minutes! Meet us at the common room! Ok? Now go and get yourself ready!” Kaminari twisted Izuku and pushed him away. He looked back with a confused expression but complied, nonetheless. Once the doors closed Kaminari and Sero patted each other on the back.
“Good job bro. I'm surprised we even managed to do that...” Sero said.
“Yeah... that’s crazy...” the doors opened again and Kaminari walked out.
Soon enough Sero was getting ready and meeting up with the others who were already done. Kaminari was there by the time too.
“Come on, let’s go!” Uraraka said happily.
“Nope! Not so soon! Midoriya is tagging along too!” Kaminari exclaimed proudly and Bakugo looked irritated.
“Oh! That's great! Is he coming soon?”
“Yep! He'll be here any minute!” Sero said and, true to his words, the elevator doors pinged and Izuku stepped out. He waved and walked over to them.
“So, where are we going?” he asked as they began walked out from the dorms and towards the main entrance.
“Oh! I was thinking maybe karaoke! Or an arcade!” Mina exclaimed.
“That sounds like fun! But which one first?” Kirishima asked this time.
“I don’t know... you guys choose.” Mina shrugged.
“We can go to the arcade first and then the karaoke!” Uraraka said as they walked out on the streets towards the mall where the arcade was. They began conversing in small groups of two or three. Izuku was surprisingly talking to Sero and Todoroki. They held a pretty decent conversation.
“I’m sorry about what I said during lunch by the way... I didn’t mean to upset you...” Todoroki said.
“Oh, no! It's alright! I always overreact so it’s no big deal, really!” Izuku waved his hands around and Todoroki nodded “I just... don’t like talking about my quirk...”
“Why not...? If you don’t mind me asking.” Sero said.
“It’s complicated but it brings up unnecessary things from the past that have already been discussed and solved.” Izuku explained “I don’t want there to be misunderstandings... and I don’t think that my quirk is something that’s amazing. If anything, it’s more scary than cool.” Izuku continued.
“Oh... I understand...” Todoroki said as Sero just stayed silent. It was crystal clear that the two had tragic backstories and he didn’t so he really should remain quiet.
“Wait, so where is the nearest arcade?” Kirishima asked and everybody turned to look at him.
“It’s at the mall downtown.” Uraraka said.
“Isn’t that, like, super far away?” Kaminari asked.
“It’s only ten minutes away silly!” Mina answered.
“That’s still a lot...”
“Stop complaining Dunce Face. Either go back to the dorms if you don’t want to come or suck it up.” Bakugo said as he glared at Kaminari.
“Fine! Damn, Kacchan... why you always so grumpy for?” Kaminari responded which earned him a good laugh from the group and a slap to the head by Bakugo.
“Don’t call me that you damn Pikachu brain!”
“Why not?! You let Midoriya call you that!” Kaminari defended himself as the group came to a stop at a red light just before they crossed the road. A gust of wind messed up Midoriyas hair as he waited to hear the answer.
“Deku doesn’t count. It'd be weird if he just stopped calling me that.”
“Fair point...” Kaminari admitted.
¨~¨
“Dude, you suck at singing! Good thing we chose Jirou instead of you!” Kaminari exclaimed as he laughed at Kirishima.
“Oh really? Well, you weren’t any better than me! At least I can admit that I'm not good at singing!” Kirishima said and Sero laughed at both of them. Of course he did, he was actually good at singing. Really flexed his Hispanic heritage in there...
“It’s dark already? What time is it?” Uraraka asked.
“It’s... almost eight thirty I believe...” Iida answered.
“Not that late... at least we’ll be back at the dorms before the assigned time...” Midoriya added, a smile on his face. Todoroki, who was walking beside him, nodded. The duo started a small conversation as they slowly walked behind the group.
“What was it like growing up with someone like Bakugo?” Todoroki suddenly asked. He sure does ask a lot of sudden questions...
“Different to say the least...” Midoriya chuckled. He shouldn’t go into details or else he’d spill tea...
Ouch...
“Different? How so?”
“Well... he was really aggressive I guess...?”
“He still is...” Todoroki said bluntly and Midoriya chuckled.
“Even more aggressive than he is now...”
“He looks like the type to bully people...” Uraraka joined in “Did he?”
“That’s a secret I’ll never tell...” Midoriya said, practically copying Kaminari when he was asked if he had ever cosplayed Pikachu.
“So, he did?” Iida asked. Midoriya was usually easy to read but not now...
“Perhaps...” the latter smiled and Iida shook his head as Todoroki smiled, ever so slightly.
“Look out!” an unknown voice yelled out but the group barely had time to react before a gunshot was heard. They froze in their ground, staring at the scene in front of them.
Midoriya held a hand over his heart and glanced down to see the blood. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and dropped as Todoroki reached out to catch him.
“Midoriya? Midoriya!”
“Put your hands in the air! Now! Give me all of your valuables!” a guy wearing a weird mask exclaimed. He was holding a bag and pointing the gun towards them. Did he really not know who they were?
“Oh my god...” Kaminari whispered as small, uncontrollable zaps circled around him. He slowly got down on his knees next to Midoriya as if trying to take a closer look at the situation before him.
“You bastard!” Bakugo yelled as he launched himself at the robber using his quirk and knocked the gun out of his hand. He twisted his arm and threw him on the ground, making the robber unable to move. Sero assisted him by taping the guy to the ground.
Todoroki set Midoriya down as Uraraka immediately began looking for signs to see if he was alive. Was he really shot in the heart? Maybe it was near and he just freaked out when he saw the blood so he passed away?
“Iida, will you be able to get Aizawa here in time?” Mina asked frantically. Passer-by's has stopped by to look at the scene in front of them. Most of them were horrified.
“Yes, but I think it would be best if we brought him to the hospital immediately.” Iida said calmly, it wouldn’t do them any good if they freaked out now.
A loud gasp was heard from the – presumably – dead boy.
“There’s no need for that...” everyone looked down and saw Midoriya trying to get up “I’m fine, just a scratch...”
“He’s alive?!” Kaminari yelled; an even more horrified expression laced his face “How the hell did you survive that?!”
“Perks of my quirk...” Midoriya chuckled as his friends helped him stand up “Ouch... that did hurt a lot more than I expected...” he continued as he rubbed his chest in the place where he was shot.
“What do you mean hurt a lot more than expected?” Iida asked, the panic in his voice was clear.
“What do you mean perks of your quirk?” Uraraka asked.
“Immortality, Round Face.” Bakugo grumbled as he kept the robber in place “Will someone call the damn police already?!”
“I’m on the phone, shut up!” Sero exclaimed as he frowned, covering the speaker of the phone with one hand “They’re on their way right now...”
“Wait, your quirk is immortality?! So, you’re like hundreds of years old or what?” Mina asked curiously. That calmed her down in a way. At the very least he wasn’t dead...
“No... I wasn’t born with it, it manifested just like everyone else...” he said with a frown, the sirens of an ambulance and began echoing around the neighborhood.
“Then how did you know that your quirk was immortality?” Todoroki asked “Unless...”
Midoriya looked at him but then looked away without answering.
“They sure are taking their sweet time coming here, huh Kacchan?” Midoriya said with a chuckle after a while.
“Yeah...” Bakugo mumbled quietly and Midoriya sighed. A heavy silence fell on them afterwards.
~~~
“Why don’t you take a swan dive off the roof and see if you’ll get born with a quirk in your next life?!” Bakugo sneered as his, presumably, friends laughed alongside him.
Midoriya just kept looking at the floor beneath his feet, as if it was more interesting. He was tired off all of this... his eyes began watering as Bakugo threw one last insult before all of them began walking away. Midoriya cursed himself for being like this.
“What if I did it?” he whispered to himself as he wiped his tears and began walking out of the classroom, on his way to retrieve the burned notebook that was being eaten by fish.
“This isn’t food you dummy...” he sniffed as the tears kept coming. He glanced up. What if he actually did it? But wouldn’t that get Bakugo in trouble? Well... he wouldn’t do it... he just wanted to see how far away the ground was... right? And so, he walked all the way back to the school building and up the stairs to the roof.
They weren’t allowed to be there... this door was supposed to be locked... so why isn’t it locked? Why is he here? Why is he walking all the way to the railing? Why is he leaning beyond the railing with no fear?
His eyes began watering again, successfully blocking his vision. Slowly, they made their way down his cheeks and all the way down to the ground. The cold, empty ground beside the pond where he just got his book. He probably looked really pitiful, burn marks as he held a burnt book, crying his eyes out at the school rooftop.
No one had noticed him... not until it was too late at least. His shoes were put above the neatly folded school jacket. Beside them he put his backpack and the burned notebook. No need for a goodbye note, right? No one would care...
No one would care.
No one cares.
No. One. Cares...
He took a breath. One last... deep breath. He savoured it. He exhaled slowly and climbed on the railing. He was only looking... right?
No...
What if he did it?
Do it...
What if he slipped?
It wouldn’t be an accident...
What if someone found him?
No one cares...
No one cares?
No one.
No one cares... huh?
Midoriya closed his eyes and leaned forward, slowly extending his arms out. At least he got to know what it’s like to fly...
~~~
Midoriyas eyes began watering, the light of the ambulance and the police car were now visible at a distance.
“At least they found me faster this time... right Kacchan?” the tears began running down his cheeks as his body trembled. Todoroki put his hand on the crying teens shoulder.
“Yeah...” Bakugos eyes began watering as he slowly turned to look at his childhood friend in the eyes “I’m sorry...”
“I know...” Midoriya whispered, biting his lip to prevent him from crying “I know...”