Chapter Text
Izuku was flung against the wall, then quickly grabbed again by the hem of his uniform. He was pulled right up close to the bully’s face, who was none other than Katsuki Bakugo himself. Izuku sometimes wasn’t sure why he still called him Kacchan, but it had started when he was young and had become a habit now. Kacchan was grinning, a devilish smile on his face as he held Izuku there for a moment.
“You’ll never be a hero, you damn nerd,” Kacchan sneered, dropping Izuku to the ground again. “Why don’t you just give up already?” He stepped forward, crushing Izuku’s hand with his boot.
Izuku whimpered, unable to pull his hand away without giving himself further pain. Kacchan always did this before school. He would corner him behind the school, where Izuku always went to get inside, mostly to avoid bullies at the front entrance. Izuku felt helpless as Katsuki stole his backpack. He pulled out his treasured notebook- in which he scribbled his ramblings about the different quirks he saw, and the heroes in fights he would come across- and then proceeded to drop his backpack, just barely out of Izuku’s reach. Katsuki started flipping through the notes, skimming them as his face contorted to something of disgust as he dropped the notebook on the ground of the alley they were currently in.
“Why are you such a creep, ew,” Katsuki finally stepped away from Izuku, and he scrambled to grab his notebook again, snatching his backpack from where Katsuki had dropped it earlier and stuffing his notebook back inside. “These stupid stalker notes of yours are weird. Why do you even bother writing them? They’re dumb, and they make you look like a creep.”
Katsuki took another step away, then, without warning, set off an explosion in his hand, flinging it at Izuku’s face. He barely managed to dodge the brunt of the explosion, but it still caught on his ear. Izuku immediately winced, his hand flying up to cover his now ringing ear.
This was always what Kacchan did; he threw explosions at Izuku, always hitting the same ear every time. Izuku wondered how he hadn’t gone deaf in that ear yet. He used his other hand to zip up his backpack again, pulling it over his shoulder as Katsuki scoffed.
“You’re weak, Deku. You can’t be a hero,” Katsuki laughed, walking away again. “Oh, and? You’re lucky it’s just me who comes here before school. I can always make this even more of a hell and bring my friends!” He laughed again, growing quieter as he walked away.
Izuku fought back tears as he stood up, pulling his backpack over his shoulder and wiping his eyes. Stupid Kacchan, always putting him in pain. Izuku sighed, slowly making his way to the back entrance of the school. He slipped in, immediately running up the nearby stairs and to his classroom. Izuku slid into his seat, unbothered by the teacher's disapproving glance. He always did, and Izuku couldn’t find it in him to care. Not anymore. He huffed as he tried to blow a curl out of his face, though he was unsuccessful. He pushed his bag under his desk, trying to hide it as best he could from bullies who wanted to dump its contents all over the floor. The classroom was mostly empty as he sat there waiting for the bell to ring, all the desks lined up neatly in rows. The only other people there were the teacher and a girl with brown hair and glasses, reading a book.
The bell finally rang, and students began filing in. Most just sat in their respective seats, but some stood near each other in groups, laughing about a joke. Izuku hated being alone; it reminded him too much of the times when his mother had been too busy, and he had been forced to spend his whole birthday alone. The only good thing about his birthday was that he wasn’t around his classmates, as it was summer. The second bell finally rang, and everyone went back to their assigned seats. The teacher stood and called attendance, his voice flat and bored.
When Izuku heard his name, he squeaked out, “Here!” He groaned when his voice cracked and slid down in his chair. He heard people whispering to each other about how they were surprised Izuku was even still coming to the school. They just snickered after, though, quietly laughing about how that just meant they could torment him more, and that they didn’t actually care. The teacher continued calling attendance, and as always, everyone was there. Of course, they were there. They couldn’t, wouldn’t ever think about letting Izuku have any small amount of peace, not once or ever.
As class progressed, Izuku paid attention, scribbling notes as the teacher talked. Soon enough, lunch had come and gone, Katsuki had beaten up Izuku again, and by the time he knew it, the end of the day had arrived. The teacher had started yapping about the students’ career path forms, but Izuku was mostly tuning him out. He did, however, notice Katsuki jump up on his desk and start- unnecessarily, Izuku thought- yelling about how everyone else there was garbage, and he was the only one who would make it into UA.
Suddenly, the teacher decided that Izuku’s life wasn’t hell enough yet and called out, rather loudly, about Izuku’s thoughts of wanting to go to UA as well. The whole class went silent for a moment, then burst out laughing. Izuku shrank down in his seat, leaning onto his desk and covering his head. Katsuki started yelling at Izuku, and he stood up, trying to defend himself. He desperately explained how they had gotten rid of the rules that a quirkless person couldn’t go to UA, but Katsuki wasn’t having it. He shoved Izuku to the ground, and he scrambled back against the wall as Katsuki lit small explosions in his palm. All Izuku saw were monsters, terrifying him further. Eventually, the class quieted down, and Izuku trudged back to his seat, slumped down, his head down until school was over.
When the bell finally rang, signaling the end of the day, everyone stood and began making their way out the door. Before Izuku had the chance to stand up and rush out the door, Katsuki slammed one hand on his desk and grabbed his notebook with the other, swinging it just out of Izuku’s reach. He laughed at Izuku as he jumped up, trying to grab it back.
“Aww, does the nerd want his notebook back?” Katsuki teased. “Well, the nerd won’t get it!” He laughed, pushing his hands against each other and exploding the notebook. Izuku froze, and Katsuki grinned, throwing it out the window. Katsuki’s friends all laughed at that; they thought it was the most hilarious thing in the world. Izuku panicked slightly, realizing what Katsuki had just done. He scrambled up, racing to the window. He stopped halfway, realizing it was going to be useless. He stood there and simply turned around to face the bullies again.
“Wow, I thought he had at least a little fight left in him,” One of Katsuki’s followers snickered, mocking Izuku as the bullies finally started making their way to the door. Katsuki had paused at the door, turning around slightly with a devilish smile on his face.
“You know if you really want to be a hero, there might actually be another way,” Izuku could hear the hatred from the other side of the room as Katsuki smirked. “Just pray that you’ll be born with a quirk in your next life, and take a swan dive off the roof of the building!” Katsuki laughed at that, and Izuku froze, the words sinking deep into his head. He could hear Katsuki’s cronies laughing hard at that as they walked out of the room, but Izuku simply stood frozen.
His head was screaming a million thoughts at him. They were all different. Until one thought suddenly stuck out, and all others vanished. What if Kacchan was right?