Chapter Text
"They're always going to call you a villain."
"What." Hitoshi sighs, testing his bonds again on instinct as he opened his eyes- and the new villain silently stepped around the chair he was bound to and stood in front of him, shaking their head of white curls. He berated himself for missing the chance to ask a question, but the guy surprised him.
And, really, who could blame him? The room had been silent for hours after the blue haired villain had said his piece, been rudely told to fuck off, and (surprisingly) walked away twitching and muttering about cut-scenes instead of killing him on the spot. He wasn't aware there was even an entrance behind him, until he heard the unorthodox opener.
"They're always going to call you a villain." They- He?- repeats, slower, like Hitoshi is a child, and his surprise was replaced with a familiar resentment. It sounds....sympathetic, understanding, a way that makes him uncomfortable.
"Even if you become a hero- even if you become the number one hero, it's not going to change. You have a villainous quirk and, for some people- for a lot of people, that's all it will ever take. Even with an adoring fanbase, there will always be people that call you a villain, just like they'll always be the select few that call Stain a hero." The villain said, either not noticing or not acknowledging Hitoshi's panic. Hitoshi begrudgingly appreciated it, unsure how he'd handle getting called out by a villain a head shorter then him and looking years younger, and moved his mouth to form a reply.
"Who the hell are you? You got beef with the hero killer or something?" Hitoshi prods, surprised, and also sidestepping the conversation he 100% didn't want to have for a conversation he, like, 60% didn't want to have.
"....We have some fundamental disagreements." was the slightly-awkward answer he got, the boy scratching sheepishly at his cheek and shooting an almost-nervous glance over his shoulder, and only then did Hitoshi notice the blonde girl sitting on the bar and sharpening a knife. She must have been hiding under the bar, before. It made sense that they'd leave someone to watch him. "But you're avoiding the issue . This isn't supposed to be a lecture, Shinsou-san, it's a recruitment. You need to work with me a bit here." The short boy redirected cheekily, giving an impish grin and patting Hitoshi condescendingly on the cheek. It drew a giggle from the shadowed girl, and a shiver from Hitoshi himself.
Not likely Hitoshi rolled his eyes, drawing on his quirk as he quickly drew up an escape plan in his head- he'd have to take out the girl himself, which could be a probl-
Wait.
"And how rude of me- I'm Deku!" The villain introduced, casually, as if he was just a person and not a dark-net villain secret that even Hitoshi barely knew about, bowing a little and putting out his hand for a handshake. He was almost able to hide the sadistic smirk he had as he did so, obviously aware that Hitoshi was too restrained to shake his hand but apologizing anyway. "Oh, whoops. My mistake. Guess you're a little too tied up for social niceties right now, ne?"
His heart skipped a beat, as he realized it wasn't there. He hadn't been able to notice until he tried to use it, but his chest was appallingly, ruthlessly, savagely cold in a way that didn't quite feel like Erasure- less like a switch being turned off and more like it being violently ripped out of a circuit board- and he wasn't sure if that made it better or worse. Wasn't sure if he feared betrayal or completely unknown danger more. It didn't matter, though. Not in comparison to the chilling realization that, quirkless and restrained, he was trapped in a way he'd never really been before. Even muzzled and isolated and ignored-
suddenly, the restraints he was tied up in felt about a million times more constraining, and the guy in front of him seemed about 3 million times more dangerous. What did he do?
"I'm not going to be a villain." He snapped, an instinctual response by now as he tried to regulate his breathing and steamrolled over the prick's introduction. For the first time since entered Yuuei, he was alone.
He was alone, and he was scared.
"And I've told you," Deku sighed, but he wasn't getting angry. He had a small, sad, disarming smile that somehow only made it harder to stay calm. "You already are."
"My quirk doesn't make me evil!" Hitoshi snarled and spat, glaring at the greenette. "And I'm going to be a hero and prove it to you and every other damn person in the world! I've dealt with people hating me on principle for my entire life, just because that won't change doesn't mean nothing else will either!"
"Nobody's quirk makes them evil." Deku says, with absolute finality. Like if there was only one thing in the world he believed, it was that, and Hitoshi almost growled with some primal mix of rage, jealousy, and- and relief.
Hitoshi had been saying it for years, whispering it to himself as a mantra, screaming it at anyone who could hear, but he still never believed it, really. It was more of a hope- a prayer, that he could one day leave the hate behind.
"But it does make you a villain, at least functionally. Being a hero won't change that."
Paradoxically, Deku saying it like that, just once, convinced him more then himself saying it ever had, but it also ripped that little hope away mercilessly.
And the bastard was still smiling. He could faintly hear the girl sigh dreamily.
"What does that even mean?" He growled, though his brain was already tumbling down the rabbit hole Deku was leading him to, to his own increasing annoyance.
Deku shrugged, and laid it out for him anyway.
"Hero, Villain- they're both just labels. Ones that, like any other label, are all but entirely dependent on perception. If you're perceived as a villain then, functionally, you are one." Hitoshi sneered, lost somewhere between annoyed and confused by the logic. Deku gave him a startlingly patient look, shook his head, and changed tactics before Hitoshi could try to get a word in. "Gosh. What do you plan to do as a hero, Shinsou-san? There's a villainous-stigma to being an underground hero in the first place; Eraserhead is feared as much as many low-mid-tier villains, and he's the most popular Underground hero. All that good publicity on Present-Mic's show and at the damn rat's school, and people still call him a villain. What more could the man do?"
"He doesn't like publicity. He doesn't care what people think of him." Shinsou defends his teacher immediately, easily.
"Ah, maybe. I guess you'd know better then me, ne?" The villain huffs a laugh, and he sounds so normal for a second that Shinsou's brain buffers. "But the real issue is that you do. You need the good attention and the praise, the reaffirmation that you aren't what everyone thought you would be. I'm sure you want to save people too- doesn't everyone, really?-but you can't be an underground hero if you want that."
"Then I'll be a regular hero!" He snapped, and Deku's sadness was starting to mix with...bemusement. The villain giggled, and it sounded decidedly less normal. He couldn't tell if that was a good sign or a bad sign either. The blonde's dreamy sigh got a little bit louder, though, so he leaned towards the latter.
"Validation is your primary motivation. You think you'll get that being a hero?"
"People love heroes."
"Sure, sure. I mean, I sure do! But people hate heroes, too." Deku declared, throwing his hands up dramatically, and clenched one into a harsh fist. "Envy them. Blame them for everything wrong in the world. Heroes have to endear the public to them; make themselves out to be something admired and-or respected, so that people don't bother thinking about how All Might could destroy Tokyo with a flick of his wrist. It's a system built on fear- really, heroes and villains aren't all that different, if you think about it enough. The only real difference is heroes go through the effort of hiding this fundamental truth with smoke and mirrors." The villain shrugged.
"You're entering a race with both of your feet tied together, Shinsou-san. To be a hero, you need the public to not bother fearing you- just by nature of your quirk, they will. You'll never get a word in! The moment you step outside of the law, you'll be crucified by the media for being a dangerous loose cannon. And if you follow the law to a T, you'll be shammed as a government dog that only care about the money! Especially with Stain's cancerous beleifs spreading like wild fire. Pick you fucking poison, Shinsou-san."
"Well what would you have me do then? Give up? Become a villain to everyone, live up to all my own worst nightmares? What, almighty all knowing Deku, is your wisdom? Work for someone like you?" Was his hissed response.
Hitoshi's breathing was heavy, by now, but he didn't really care. He kind of wanted to throw up, but didn't want Deku to see him being unable to finish the conversation as the little bastard winning it, so he didn't.
The room is almost silent, for a while, full of nothing but the girl giggling and sharpening a new knife, the first one stabbed upright into the bar. Even then, Hitoshi barely heard her. He was too focused on keeping his cool and staring down the villain in front of him.
Deku was chewing on his lips, blatantly biting down on words before they could escape his mouth, even though he clearly had something to say.
"....Not exactly." Deku finally answered, not nervous but not confident like he just had been. "Really, I'd recommend taking a step away from everything. You're already a villain in the common eye, but that doesn't mean you have to turn to villainy- and it doesn't mean you can't also be a hero. It just means that you have to accept that, before you do either." He said cautiously, brow furrowing a bit. "I definitely don't want you working for anyone like me, though- they'd eat your psyche for breakfast and keep your angry husk and powerful quirk on their staff, and that's it'd be it's own headache and a half."
"..I thought this was supposed to be a recruitment." Hitoshi challenged, and Deku giggled.
"Well, yeah, technically, but really that was just a convient framing device. Though, just to be clear, I'd be more then happy to work with you, if that's the choice you made. We could do great things together, I'm sure." He smiled, snarky but sincere at the same time.
Hitoshi almost considered the offer. For a terrifying, morbidly curious and vindictive moment, he almost considered it.
Then he blinked. The thought was shoved into the depths of his unconsciousness where it belonged, and he rolled his eyes.
"No thanks." He says, and tries to say I'm not a villain after that, but the words get caught in his mouth and he almost chokes on them.
The girl is still giggling. She throws a knife at him and he flinches, but when he looks down she just cut the ropes on one of his hands and gave him a knife. He cut himself free, and neither of them stopped him.
"Well, it was worth a shot." Deku says, but there's a degree of victory in his mostly-disappointed tone that makes Hitoshi want to throw up again. He tries to say the words, It wasn't worth a try because I'm not a villain and never would be you deranged freak, and instead just coughs.
Deku gives a painfully knowing grin and finally sits back, giving Hitoshi some much needed breathing room. He didn't start panting, knows better then to show show blatant weakness, but it's an embarrassingly near thing.
He kind of really wants to ask what Deku's angle is here, ask if the handy and misty bastard are ok with him just...leaving, like this, ask- ask a million things, really. The Villain was, somehow, dangerously, a charismatic conversationalist. He couldn't risk platforming the guy, even when his ear was the only one lended.
The problem, really, was that Hitoshi was trained in getting people to talk, not the opposite.
"I really don't know why you bothered." He hissed, trying to be dismissive to make it less obvious exactly how much the words were effecting him. He must have messed up, because it sounded a but too curious, and Deku eagerly kept talking instead of stopping. Damn.
"Well, Assholes have to help assholes, right?" Deku grinned, throwing his arms wide like a showman. Hitoshi gave him a deadpan expression, and he...
Huh.
He dropped the act. For a minute, just for a minute, he realized how small Deku was. How young- the boy couldn't be older then he was.
Christ, he looked 14. Kid had a zit on his forehead, though it was hard to see amongst his freckles and under his unbrushed mop of green hair. He had dimples, and baby cheeks, and was sporting All Might merch for god's sake- how hadn't he noticed that?- so obviously out of place that Hitoshi silently wondered if he was having a stroke, because-
Because for a minute, just for a minute, the shadowy, infamously charlatan Deku was just....a kid. A very, very tired kid.
"I'll be frank with you, Shinsou-san." He sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "The hero system is being held up single-handedly by All-Might, and every villain with a brain knows he's only getting weaker. All Might is going to fall soon, and then a lot of this faux-utopia is going to fall like dominoes behind him." The kid took a deep breath, and Hitoshi, inexplicably, leaned in to hear him as he got quieter. On top of everything else, Hitoshi hadn't even notice the boy's voice echoing in the small room until it wasn't anymore. It was barely even a whisper.
"I'm just. I'm doing damage control, okay? It's not fair, but the way things are going a lot is going to hinge on your year not being full of publicly perceived 'fake heroes' or assholes. You'll have to be the best year UA has ever produced, or at least close to it. I need you guys to play your parts perfectly, disillusioned enough to let the system fall but heroic enough to not let people fall with it. I need to know that I'm leaving the public in good hands when I really start taking out the trash. And that means that you, while harboring the potential to be one of my greatest assets, are nothing but a liability until you think some things through." The kid sighed, and shook his head.
His curly hair bounced back out of his eyes, and before Hitoshi could even blink Deku was back. He saw Hitoshi leaning in, and instantly Hitoshi's hands were trapped in one of Deku's. His fingers started to tingle, and he thought, frenzied, shit.
He didn't know what Deku's quirk was and, at this point, he was too afraid to find out.
"Naw, don't look so scared Shinsou-san! I just told you I believed in you- I even got you a spot in the class! I pulled some favors with Tomura to talk to you! Why would I go through all that trouble just to- to what? Kill you?" He scoffed, sounding almost actually offended, and Hitoshi found it in himself to stiffen.
"That means...Mineta-?" Hitoshi asks, not bothering to finish the question. Not with the way Deku grinned, satisfied, somehow cutesy with his predatory eyes hidden in a closed-eyed smile that was more then answer enough.
And especially not with the way he suddenly he felt a sharp prick and then his quirk snap back into place. He heaved a breath, shoving away from Deku's hold, and somehow the villain let him.
"Quirk suppressants?" He heaved, glaring at the boy- and, more specifically, the syringe needle that caught a glint of light as he put it back away. It wasn't really a question- not one he didn't know the answer to, at least, because they obviously were, but it was the principal of the matter. "The League has Fucking Quirk suppressant?" He growled when he didn't get an answer, and Deku didn't even look at him.
"Oi, I'm done. Let's get out of here, before-" The greenette called over his shoulder, looking at the girl just as the building shook and she fell off the counter with a squeak. "That. Before that happens again. Damn shame, too. I wanted to at least see our other guest." He continued, only sounding a little worried. The girl popped up and nodded, waving goodbye to Hitoshi. She giggled at whatever expression he was wearing.
"For what it's worth, the League doesn't have shit. I do." Deku answered off-handedly as he left, and his partner took her knife and cut a line down his arm the moment Hitoshi's quirk took effect. Deku barely faltered in his step, as they slipped out of the exit that was apparently behind him, as quiet as he came.
The building continued to shake, the sound of a fight breaking out, and Hitoshi was still shaking with fear, frozen in place, unsure if it was his own fault or the Villain's fault.