Chapter Text
Four little boys run through the woods, giggling and laughing without a care in the world.
They are the best of friends. The boys are practically inseparable; there is barely a second in the day where they aren’t together.
For a bunch of four-year-olds, they have a pretty solid group dynamic.
There is Katsuki, the leader.
The mischief maker, Mei.
Then we have Akito, the one that keeps everyone out of trouble.
And finally, there is tiny little Izuku who acts like an annoying younger brother.
The boys are currently traipsing through the woods catching bugs.
“Kacchan! Look at what I got!” Izuku shouts, waving a pretty beetle in the air.
“Mine is cooler!” Katsuki says smugly, holding out a rhino beetle.
“Whoa Kacchan! That’s so cool!” Akito admires the tiny beetle in Katsuki’s hands, “Can I see?” He holds out his tiny pink hands, hoping to hold the beetle.
Katsuki reluctantly hands over the beetle, but smiles when he sees how Akito’s eyes light up at its tiny form.
“Just don’t smush it…” He grumbles.
Mei watches the scene with a smile and hops out of the bushes from where he was hiding.
“Look! Look at what I found!” Mei hides his hands behind his back and grins mischievously.
He waits until all the boys are in front of him to show them his discovery. He moves his hands out from behind his back but keeps them closed.
“What is it Mei?” Izuku asks, trying to peek inside the cracks in his hands.
“C’mon, let us see!” Akito jumps up and down, practically vibrating out of his skin.
“Whatever it is, it won’t be cooler than my beetle.” Katsuki crosses his arms, not excited at the prospect of someone being cooler than him.
“If you want to see it so bad... here it is!” Mei opens up his hands and out slithers a black garden snake.
Akito screams, clutching onto Katsuki’s arm.
“Mei! That’s mean!” Izuku whines, hating that Mei scared him… again.
Mei just laughs, “You should have seen your faces!” He laughs so hard that his cheeks start to hurt.
“It wasn’t that funny.” Katsuki pouts.
“You’re a meanie, Mei!” Akito says, tears in his eyes.
Mei stops laughing and wraps his arms tightly around Akito, “I’m sorry I scared you Aki!” He says, squeezing the bi-colored boy.
The tiny pink boy hugs him back, “I forgive you, Mei.” He smiles, “ just don’t scare me again!” He says sternly.
Mei nods and they all go back to playing like nothing happened.
These friends that get along so well are about to be pushed apart. They are going to absolutely despise each-other.
And it was all their own doing.
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“Oi, Deku!”
Izuku keeps his head down, trying to become invisible.
“Deku! I fucking know you’re in there!” Katsuki kicks the door of the bathroom stall. “Stop trying to hide!” He kicks the stall again.
Izuku whimpers in fear. “Go away, Kacchan!” He yells, trying so hard to be brave.
Even though this is something of a daily routine for Izuku these days it doesn’t mean that it hurts any less. Katsuki and Izuku used to be best friends along with Mei and Akito, but everything fell apart when their quirks first started to appear.
Katsuki, Mei, and Akito had all gotten their quirks; Izuku was left behind.
They had a fall out the day that Izuku found out he was quirkless. The dreams that they had of being the number one hero team were crushed. And it was all Izuku’s fault.
They are in middle school now, and none of them get along. They hate each other.
Mei became the mysterious loner that every girl wants to date and every guy wants to be. He would just sit in the back of class and sleep, school not being important to him, yet he always gets good marks.
Akito is the cute, friendly boy that everyone loves and no one could hate, besides his 3 ex friends of course.
Katsuki has gone from the cool kid to the bully. He terrorizes Izuku on the daily, not caring about the consequences.
And Izuku? Well… he is the quiet weird kid that no one talks to. Everyone avoids him, besides Katsuki of course.
“Open the damn door, Deku!” Katsuki screams, kicking the door again.
“No!” Deku braces himself for what’s about to come.
“You asked for it you fucking nerd” Katsuki kicks the door in violently. He just stares at Izuku with this evil grin on his face. “Gotcha!”
He drags Izuku out of the stall, and throws him onto the dirty bathroom floor. “Who said you could fucking tell Auntie about what happens here!? Hah!? Who fucking said!?” He growls, kicking Izuku in the side.
“N-no one” Izuku whimpers, clutching his side
“Then why the fuck did the old hag yell at me about you!?”
“B-because I-I-” Whatever Izuku is about to say is interrupted by the bathroom door bursting open.
Calm red eyes meet furious ones. “Go the fuck away Morimoto” Katsuki barks, kicking Izuku again.
Izuku looks at Mei with begging eyes, just hoping that he will save him this time.
Mei looks down at Izuku with disgust, and walks straight out of the bathroom.
Izuku feels hot tears of betrayal run down his cheeks, why does everyone hate him?
Wait… he knows why… It’s because he’s pathetic. He’s a pathetic quirkless loser who couldn’t be a hero if he tried because he can’t even save himself.
All the kicks and punches and blasts that Katsuki throws at him don’t hurt half as much as the pain that he is feeling on the inside.
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When did Izuku become so damn pathetic?
It’s like he doesn’t even try to fight Katsuki off.
It’s disgusting.
Weak people disgust him. They remind him of his mother. Izuku reminds him so much of his mother that Mei wants to kill him sometimes.
If Mei could, he would avoid all of his childhood friends forever. He can’t bear to see their stupid faces.
Mei stands in front of his house, the structure itself intimidating the crap out of him. He can almost hear his mother screaming inside.
He braces himself and opens the door. The door creaks ominously, house completely silent.
“Mom? Eimi?” He calls them through the door, not trusting such glaring silence. “Haru?” He starts to become a little distressed.
He walks inside, the house is completely bare. No one is home and all the lights are off.
He flicks the light switch but it stays dark. “Is anyone home?” He turns on his phone flashlight and starts to walk through the house.
The kitchen and living room are completely bare. He moves on to the bedrooms. The first three rooms are empty but when he makes it to his mother’s room, he stops.
Mei holds his ear to the door, listening for any sound. His mother is crying.
Mei busts inside and falls backwards in shock at what he sees.
His brother and sister are lying on the floor in pools of their own blood. Their beautiful red eyes are glassy and dull, their black hair is matted with blood, and their skin is almost grey.
His mom is just sitting in her rocking chair, weeping her ugly little eyes out. Her bloody hands are shaking as she scratches her arms raw and bloody.
“Oh… Mei… you’re home…” She rocks back and forth, still scratching her arms. “Your brother and sister just left.”
Mei’s eyes fill with tears as he looks at his brother and sister. He tries so hard to tear his eyes away but he can’t. “What the hell did you do?!” He grits out, digging his nails into his palms, relishing in the slight control that the pain gives him.
“They went to see your father… I knew that they were missing him, so I let them see him. And now they can stay with him.” She laughs, tears still running down her face, and blood still trickling down her arms. “Don’t you want to see your father, Mei?” She smiles, wiping her hands on her face, leaving big bloody streaks on her cheeks.
“My father is dead.” He spits, scrambling to get up and away from his mother.
“Where are you going, Mei? Don’t you want to see your Father and your siblings? They would miss you.” She pouts, before she giggles getting out of her chair, pulling a knife out of the pocket of her dress.
“Come here Mei” She demands, admiring the way her knife glistens with the blood of her children.
“No!” Mei scrambles to his feet and tries to run out the door but realizes that he can’t move. Goddamnit, he forgot about her quirk. “Let. Me. Go.”
“If I let you go we can’t go see your father, so… no!” She giggles in delight as she walks towards him.
Mei’s eyes widen in fear as the blade inches closer to his face.
“I wanted to let you go to your father in a nice way but since you’re being disrespectful, I’ll have to send you in the harder way.” She laughs before dragging the knife over his eye, leaving an X shaped cut behind.
Mei screams in pain as his vision goes red.