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Izuku Midoriya has many things. He has one of the best Quirks that Hitoshi knows of, a group of friends that Hitoshi is almost certain would murder anyone who so much as looked at him wrong, and some of the most expressive eyes that Hitoshi has ever seen. He’s strong, and smart, and has all of Yuuei wrapped around his little finger- even Aizawa, no matter how much the man calls him ‘Problem Child’. (If anything, that only proves Hitoshi’s point more.)
Midoriya is Yuuei’s golden boy of their year. Their perfect student, who Yuuei will brag about once he’s made it as a top Pro Hero. Even All Might favors the boy over all of his peers, not even bothering to hide it.
It’s no wonder that Hitoshi can’t stand Midoriya.
Okay, so perhaps Hitoshi is a little bitter. But who can blame him? Midoriya is everything that Hitoshi will never be, that Hitoshi can never be , and that doesn’t even seem to be enough for the 1-A star!
No, Midoriya just can’t be satisfied with all of the praise, attention, hell even the numerous admirers that he’s gained! No, Midoriya wants everyone to be his friend, wants to pretend life is happy and good and perfect.
And Hitoshi? Hitoshi isn’t here to make friends. He’s been in 1-A for a month, now, and he’s known from the start that he only had one goal to focus on: keeping his place and becoming a hero. He doesn’t have time for friends- and he never had them before, so it’s not like he’s missing anything- and made that abundantly clear.
But Midoriya doesn’t listen. The boy just keeps trying, with that wide smile, those bright eyes, and the same hopeful expression every damn time.
“Hey, Shinsou! Want to join us for lunch?”
“Shinsou! I heard you were struggling with English, want to study together?”
“Ah, Shinsou! That move was so cool!”
Hitoshi warded him off every time, more irritated with each passing attempt. It doesn’t help how fake Midoriya clearly is- after all, no one would willingly choose to hang out with the ‘villain kid’ over anyone else in 1-A, especially not someone as blessed as Midoriya.
Midoriya has never known hatred. He’s never known isolation or discrimination. He’s never known bullies and doubts. He’s never had no one to believe in him, no one in his corner to back up his dreams.
Maybe that’s why he says it, the next time Midoriya speaks to him.
Training had been tough, and Hitoshi is tired and done . He’s trailing at the end of the group, too exhausted to keep up, and not caring enough to try. Most of his peers have already made it to the locker rooms, ready to head back to the dorms, or get a snack from the school cafeteria.
But Midoriya spots him, and his eyes light up and he lingers back to speak.
“Shinsou,” he starts, with that same fakely enthusiastic tone that drives Hitoshi up the wall. He’d rather the boy quit trying, his false niceties grating to hear. “I saw how you took down Ojirou! That was amazing, how did you do that kick?”
“Can’t you just leave me alone , already?” Hitoshi snaps, then carries on, temper getting the better of him. “ Kami , what the fuck has to happen for you to leave me alone? It’s more likely that you jump off a roof before I care!”
Midoriya is the golden child, Hitoshi knows this. He’s never had someone say something like that to him, not like Hitoshi has. But when Hitoshi sees Midoriya’s eyes, he’s caught off guard. Because Midoriya…
Midoriya’s eyes are shattered , filled with a sadness and betrayal that Hitoshi didn’t even know the boy could feel . He opens his mouth, then closes it, then nods and...and walks away.
Midoriya walks away . He slips into the locker room, shoulders hunched, head drooping. Hitoshi blinks in surprise.
And then Bakugou storms up to him- and where did he come from?-, hands twitching as he jabs a finger into Hitoshi’s chest.
“What the fuck was that?!” Bakugou shouts, and Hitoshi flinches before narrowing his eyes.
“What’s it to you?” Hitoshi responds, because if he knows one thing, it’s that Bakugou is one of the only ones in this entire school that doesn’t look at Midoriya like he’s going to be the future Number One Hero.
But here Bakugou is, shouting in his face.
“What the fuck has you in such a bad mood that you’d tell him to jump off of a goddamned roof ?”
“That’s not what I said,” Hitoshi starts, and Bakugou lets out a single laugh, the sound disbelieving and grating.
“Sure as hell sounded like it!”
“-and besides,” Hitoshi continues, rage flaring the more the angry pomeranian yells at him, “it’s not a big deal. He’ll get over it- it’s not like he’s had to really deal with that kind of talk before. It won’t phase him.”
“ What .” If Bakugou was fire and explosions before, he’s frigid ice now, his voice oddly chilled as he utters the single word.
It’s infuriating.
“Look at him!” Hitoshi snarks, head tilting in the direction Midoriya went. “He’s the boy with the golden Quirk and the perfect life. I bet his old school made an icon out of him. He wasn’t bullied and isolated over something that he couldn’t even control.”
Bakugou’s eyes light up with fury, and Hitoshi wonders why until the boy shouts, “He was Quirkless, you insensitive fuck!”
What.
Bakugou continues to shout, unaware of how every word turns Hitoshi’s irritation into a freezing pit of guilt and shame. “He was Quirkless ! Until the goddamn motherfucking Entrance Exams, Deku had no Quirk. No magical power, no ice, no strength, and definitely not something as cool as explosions! Deku didn’t even know he had a Quirk until that day- and we sure as hell didn’t either! You think that you had it bad? Deku’s been isolated since four years old, bullied since six, and suicide-baited since seven ! The teachers kept bets on whether he’d show his face the next year, or if he’d finally call it quits and show up in the news as another statistic! So don’t you dare tell me that Deku had a perfect childhood, when I was the one ruining it!”
Hitoshi stares at Bakugou, mouth agape. Quirkless? Until he was, what, fourteen ?
Hitoshi isn’t naive, he knows that the bottom of the social hierarchy doesn’t end at villainous Quirks, or even pointless ones.
No, it ends at Quirklessness .
And that’s where Midoriya stood. Not at the top, as Hitoshi had presumed.
Izuku Midoriya was at the lowest rung.
Oh, kami, Hitoshi fucked up.
“I- fuck,” Hitoshi murmurs. “I- I didn’t know.”
“Gee, I wonder why,” Bakugou retorts, voice dripping with sarcasm. “It’s not like Deku would be afraid of telling people, because Quirkless people are always bullied and told to jump off of rooftops for trying to be nice and make friends .”
“He-” Hitoshi feels like he’s choking, the words hard to ask. “He...he really wanted to be my friend, didn’t he? He wasn’t joking, or trying to trick me?”
“No.” Bakugou says, his face turning into something almost regretful . “Deku doesn’t do that stuff. He just wants to have friends, always have.”
“I need to apologize,” Hitoshi realizes, and Bakugou huffs.
“You fucking better.” His tone leaves no room for argument, but Hitoshi picks one, anyways.
“What did you do, huh?” He lets accusation seep into his tone, because Bakugou admitted it, admitted that he bullied Midoriya for years.
And Hitoshi is just as bad, even if not on the same scale. He jumped to conclusions, made false assumptions, and shoved Midoriya away with cruelty instead of seeing the boy’s earnestness.
“Bold of you to assume I’m done making up for it,” Bakugou mutters, and then he scoffs. “I’m not telling you how to fix it. I’m just saying you better , cause I’m not watching him go through the same shit twice.”
Bakugou storms into the locker room, and Hitoshi follows.
Most of the boys are still in there, talking away. They don’t bother Hitoshi when he walks in, which makes it all the more awkward when Hitoshi realizes why it’s so silent.
Because Midoriya was the one who would speak to him while changing...but the boy isn’t even in the room.
“Where’s Midoriya?” Hitoshi asks, and the room falls silent and cold.
“Why do you want to know?” Todoroki asks, voice as icy as his Quirk. He’s protective of Midoriya, and Hitoshi is eighty percent sure that the two are either together or in some stupid circle of mutual pining, and Hitoshi’s inquiry is clearly putting him on edge.
“I need to talk to him about something,” Hitoshi says, keeping his explanation purposely vague because shit, man, he doesn’t want everyone to know how much of an asshole he just was.
Todoroki’s eyes narrow, and he looks away. Hitoshi looks around the room, where most of them give vague shrugs and noncommittal answers.
It’s Iida who speaks up, likely for his duty as class representative.
“Midoriya changed rather quickly, then slipped out. He said he was heading for the dorms, but he seemed rather upset.” The question is clear in the taller boy’s eyes: did Hitoshi have something to do with his friend’s mood?
Absolutely, and that’s the problem.
“Right. Thanks.” Hitoshi makes quick work of changing, then speed walks out of the locker rooms, all but running to the 1-A dorms. He slips into the elevator, and it takes a moment but he finds Midoriya’s room. The door is closed, so he knocks.
There’s no answer. He can’t even hear a yelp, or footsteps, or the sound of pencil scratching on paper that might as well be Midoriya’s background music, only second to his infamous muttering habit. The message is clear, Midoriya isn’t in his room.
But Midoriya doesn’t lie . He told Iida he was going to the dorms, but he’s not in his room. Nor was he in the common room or kitchen, because Hitoshi checked there first just in case. So where is he?
Oh.
Hitoshi thinks he knows, but he doesn’t like it.
Wordlessly, he races up the steps.
And onto the roof.
Midoriya is there, of course he is, and Hitoshi’s heart leaps to his throat when he sees how the boy clutches the railing, head tilted down like he’s looking over the edge. Hitoshi wants to hope that Midoriya is just lost in his thoughts, and that’s why he didn’t react when Hitoshi practically slammed the door open...but another part is looping Bakugou’s words over and over again.
“Suicide-baited since seven !”
Kami, how many times does Midoriya remember hearing the phrase ‘jump off a roof’ directed at him? Does he remember all of the times?
Are there too many?
Was this the final straw?
“Midoriya,” Hitoshi calls, and Midoriya startles, but doesn’t react as normal. He doesn’t whirl around to greet him, doesn’t look at him with those wide eyes and that bright smile that Hitoshi had assumed were fake and manipulative, doesn’t even respond.
He just...slumps over, further, as if he’s being condemned.
“I- I’m sorry,” Hitoshi says, taking a step closer, then another. Just in case, just in case.
But what can he even do? His capture weapon is in his locker, Midoriya would be able to break out of his hold, Quirkwise or physical. What can Hitoshi do, except speak?
Nothing. So Hitoshi lets a distance remain between them as he continues.
“I shouldn’t have said that. Even if I was annoyed, making a reference like that…”
“It’s okay,” Midoriya whispers, sounding defeated, resigned. “It’s my fault. I always forget.”
“Forget?” He can’t help the question that slips off of his lips, but Midoriya answers anyway.
“I always like to forget that Yuuei has been the exception.” Midoriya looks at him, lips quirked into a smile- and Hitoshi feels like a fool, for thinking that the sunshine beams Midoriya used to grant him were fake.
Because this , this is a fake smile. It’s stretched, and forced, and Midoriya’s eyes are dark and dull.
“I’m sorry for being a bother, Shinsou,” Midoriya says, and then he gives a small bow. “I’ll leave you alone from now on, I promise. You don’t have to worry, I won’t try to be your friend anymore.”
Midoriya walks away, for the second time in the very same day, leaving Shinsou staring at his retreating back, unable to speak.
It’s funny, how a few short hours ago, Shinsou would have been relieved to hear Midoriya say that to him.
Now, it feels like he’s made one of the biggest mistakes of his life.
And he can’t talk his way out of this.
But when has he ever been able to do that, anyways?
He really is just as bad as a villain, isn’t he?