Chapter Text
L0rd_Dyn4might replied:
Thanks. At least someone recognises my greatness <3
It was a small message, nothing special, but it meant something to Izuku. Probably because he hasn’t had a genuine friend in nine years and looks online to form parasocial connections and pretend he’s liked. Anyway, the message makes Izuku’s heart stutter and then thud harder in his chest, each subsequent beat like a drum caged in his ribs. Maybe because the account holder in question was so rude and horrible to everyone else, only to send Izuku a heart.
It wasn’t flirting. Izuku has seen many movies on the topic—his mum always said his dad was a fan of them. Izuku actually can’t remember what his dad even looked like—and this is not flirting. Plus, they just met! They aren’t even friends! Hearts are not inherently romantic, and to stigmatise them that way would be stupid!!
Even still, Izuku feels his heart stutter and trip over itself. He blames it on the fact that his only positive feedback is from his mum whilst agonising over how to respond. Does he even dare to respond?
Anonymity.
It’s something that randomly sits itself in the forefront of his mind, cutting off his spiralling train of thought.
Wattpad is mostly anonymous. People don’t know it’s Midoriya Izuku behind the screen. People probably don’t even know who Midoriya Izuku is.
Feeling a random boost of confidence, Izuku clicks on L0rd_Dyn4might’s profile picture—Bronze Age All Might, with the black and red suit, ironically also Kacchan’s favourite era—and is brought to the account. He opens a private message with L0rd_Dyn4might, only to sit in place and nervously bite his nails; his confidence has seeped out of his pores and vanished into the ether. Anonymity means nothing when Izuku is still the nervous train wreck he always is.
He takes a deep breath, holds it for four seconds, and then slowly lets it out. He can do this. It’s just a simple message.
He writes a message but deletes it. He writes another draft, but that’s removed, too. He barely gets halfway through writing the third attempt before he deletes it, even having to put his phone down to wipe his sweaty palms on his covers.
Izuku takes a deep breath again. He holds it for four seconds, again, and then slowly breathes it out, again.
It’s just a message.
M1ghty_f4nb0y
Hey!! Hope I’m not bothering you. It’s just nice to see an author on here who knows All Might’s history.
You seem really cool, btw. Wanna be friends?
Izuku sends it, but something seems like it’s missing. He doesn’t know what, just that it is.
The heart.
Izuku flusters, though it doesn’t stop him. L0rd_Dyn4might sent him one first—maybe they just texted like that. Maybe they’d assume Izuku ‘just texted like that’ too.
M1ghty_f4nb0y
<3
It overwhelms him in the best way possible: he feels so daring by sending it, even if it seems like such a trivial thing to anyone else.
Izuku waits, but after an hour has passed with no reply, he leaves his phone open on his bed and instead works on some pages in his Hero Analysis notebooks. It serves him a good excuse to think about heroes without agonising over L0rd_Dyn4might’s response—who, by the way, Izuku has only ‘met’ today and not even someone Izuku was friends with online—or lack thereof. He got so lost in this, however, that he nearly didn’t see L0rd_Dyn4might reply. Nearly.
Izuku’s notebook was practically tossed aisde in favour of scooping up his phone from the mattress. His pillows were pressed up against his headboard, so he leaned back and curled into himself, cradling his phone with both hands in the space between his thighs and sternum.
L0rd_Dyn4might
ur not bothering me, relax. Only assholes that bother me r the ones hating on my story.
Those losers js don’t appreciate literature.
Izuku didn’t particularly like being rude to people who didn’t deserve it, and these people were very right to say L0rd_Dyn4might was rude, meaning Izuku was very much at an impasse as to how he should respond. Any topic change felt too obvious, and then L0rd_Dyn4might might think Izuku was a loser, too, and he’d lose an online friend before he even made one. Luckily, he didn’t have to spiral for long, as L0rd_Dyn4might continued.
L0rd_Dyn4might
You seem cool too, ig, so sure. Let’s be friends <3
The heart again. Izuku was certain, at last, that it was just how L0rd_Dyn4might texted. He typed out a quick reply, his fingers flying across the digital keyboard, and in his haste, he made a spelling mistake (or three).
M1ghty_f4nb0y
RLY?? FHANK YOH SP MUCH!!
He winced slightly; was that coming off as *too* desperate? He hoped not. Should he delete the message and try again? Izuku thinks on it, but he’s pretty sure Wattpad doesn’t have an ‘edit message’ or ‘delete message’. Maybe he could send another message to apologise?
Whatever half-baked plan Izuku was about to try, it was rendered void; L0rd_Dyn4might responded.
L0rd_Dyn4might
Yh, I know, I’m great or whatever.
I gtg to bed now
Talk to you tmr?
Bed? But—Izuku checked the time—it was only nearly eight thirty! He was about to point this out before he remembered time zones existed; maybe L0rd_Dyn4might was in a part of the world where Izuku’s eight-thirty was actually really late?
M1ghty_f4nb0y
Yeah!! sounds good!
Izuku turns his phone off right as another message appears. He scrambles to open it again, bug-eyed and panicked that L0rd_Dyn4might would somehow know and stop being friends. It was a nonsense thought, but a very real threat to a friendless Izuku.
L0rd_Dyn4might
Gn <3
Oh.
Izuku smiled, holding his phone close to his face as if he could absorb the message into his bloodstream and live off of it, for no reason except the fact it was sweet and it made Izuku feel seen.
M1ghty_f4nb0y
Goodnight, sleep well! <3
Was that stupid? His mum says it often enough that it’s Izuku’s first response, but maybe he should be more careful to not repeat the stuff his mum says to his cool, new, internet friend L0rd_Dyn4might.
Sighing, Izuku turns his phone off. He turns his attention back to his notebooks; he’s drafting up another page to analyse Kacchan.
Izuku and L0rd_Dyn4might message every day after that: in the morning, at school (when Izuku manages to sneak his phone), after school, before bed.. in that time, Izuku’s bullying only gets more severe—shoving had become punching, and nudging him had turned to tripping him—and the teacher’s negligence to prevent it is highlighted further—telling Izuku to tie his laces when they saw him purposely being tripped, lightly scolding whoever was punching him (whoever was following Kacchan) and teasing them about being ‘too rough’ on their friends—but now, Izuku had something to look forward to.
After a particularly bad day, Izuku’s curled on his bed again, in the midst of telling L0rd_Dyn4might—who had agreed to let Izuku call him ‘Kat’ as a nickname—what happened.
M1ghty_f4nb0y
They tripped me, then ripped up my notes!!
And then, they made fun of me :((
Izuku dries his eyes on his sleeve, feeling sour. He knew that his and Kacchan’s friendship had fractured once Izuku was diagnosed Quirkless, but he’d held hope for them being friends again. Lately, though, he’d been meaner than usual. It broke Izuku inside.
Kat responded quickly, which helped to lift Izuku’s mood.
L0rd_Dyn4might
Those losers are stupid!!
Don’t let them get u down.
You’re gonna become a hero and those extras will beg u for ur autograph!!
M1ghty_f4nb0y
Thx Kat <3
L0rd_Dyn4might
u don’t need to thank me for being right. It’s common sense.
But ur welcome <3
Izuku sniffled, sitting up in bed. He felt lighter already. He looked around his room. He’d tossed his bag to the ground; some of the items inside were now spilling out onto the floor. He was still his uniform, too, due to being so upset and only wanting to talk to Kat about it. His first mission would be tidying up, and then changing, and then.. well, he’s probably going to apologise to his mum. He totally blanked her when he entered, and his mum must’ve seen that Izuku wasn’t in the right headspace to greet her properly since she hadn’t followed him.
He looked back toward his phone and nearly flinched when he saw that he had multiple messages from Kat left unanswered, as he’d been too deep in his head to even notice when they were sent.
L0rd_Dyn4might
I mean, like.
If ur still upset, we could play a game together?
Or whatever.
Yh, ur right, it was a stupid idea anyway.
Izuku nearly dropped his phone in his haste to pick it back up.
M1ghty_f4nb0y
NO NO I WANNA PLAY A GWME W U!!
Sry, i jus had to clean my room, itd not stuid at all!!
He figured the spelling mistakes could be excused, so long as Kat understood what he was saying. Kat, thankfully, did understand, which was how he and Kat ended up playing Animal Crossing: New Horizons for a few hours. Afterwards, Izuku asked when Kat had gotten the game.
L0rd_Dyn4might
Some nerd from my childhood gifted it to me.
I don’t play it since I usually have better shit to do.
Ironically, Izuku remembers gifting Kacchan the same game, but it was right before Kacchan changed for the worse—he doubts Kacchan ever played it. Afterwards, Izuku feels immense guilt for even comparing Kat to Kacchan. Kacchan was not Kat and Kat was not Kacchan. He shook it off to respond.
M1ghty_f4nb0y
Well, I had fun!
Thank you for playing it with me, Kat!
“Izuku, it’s late, and you have an early start tomorrow, hon!” Inko called from beyond the door, gently reminding Izuku that he did have to get up earlier tomorrow. Quickly, he turned back to his phone.
M1ghty_f4nb0y
Oh, I have to go!!*
Bye, Kat! Sleep well, love you! <3
Izuku, thinking nothing of his message—in truth, he was thinking about saying goodnight to his mum in person, and probably also apologising for storming past her a few hours ago—turned off his phone and put it on the bedside table where he could charge it.