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Going to school was hard. Everyday was a fighr with his own body, that desperately wanted him to stay in bed. His body ached, burns and bruises all over his body.
He rubbed his eyea with the palms of his hands. The bed was pulling him in. It's gentle embrace felt too good to just... abandon it like that.
He finally stood up, even if it was a grueling process. As he opened the door, he went straight to the kitchen.
His mom left a note on the countertop, a simple sandwich with jam right next to it.
Left for a dayshift, have a good day at school! Love you, Izuku :-)
The boy smiled softly at the messege. Even in his darkest moments, his mother's words made him feel a certain feeling deep down inside his chest.
He quickly falls back into his morning routine. Eat, barely tating anything, putting the least damaged uniform he has on, brushing his teeth and attempting to brush his hair enough to be presentable.
He thought that maybe, just maybe, this would be his day.
He left for school, takimg his usual route. For some reason, he felt way more cheerful than usually.
School was like always. People pulling away from him and distancing themselves so they won't catch the "quirkless disease". Everyone knew that the it wasn't contagious. They just liked to make fun of him that way.
Teachers targetting him but in a way that they have plausible deniability. A harder question to anwser, a harsher tone, a "harmless" joke.
Nothing's new. It will never be different, because he'll always be quirkless.
Wait.
Exactly.
He'll always be quirkless.
Then why should he feel bothered?
Why should he think about what he does, how he behaves, he'll always be Deku. It's all pointless. Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas.
He smiled. He smiled at school.
The lunch period started. He stood up and headed to his usual place, the small, empty part of the school next to the teacher's bathroom. No one came there except him.
"Hey, Deku!"
...and them.
The blonde stood over hin like a Greek statue, sparks already coming out of his hands. Those goons, nobodies standing behind him.
"What's with yer attitude today? Saw ya smilin' like a maniac in class." His fake "tough" accent was... funny. He found it funny.
A smile formed on his face.
"The fake accent doesn't suit you, Kachhan." He was even able to snort a little. "You should stol doing that."
His brows furrowed, bigger explosions already forming.
"Ya think yer funny, eh?" He snarled. "Useless deku like you-"
"You should find a new nickname. It's getting old."
"Shut up ya quirkless freak-"
"How orginal... haven't heard that before.."
"When did ya get so forthcomin', huh?! Yer askin' for a beatin'!"
"The accent really isn't as cool as you think it is, Kacchan."
The blonde swung at him.
-
The group left him alone after a while. More burns to the collection. Oh well. He woukd end up like this even if he just shup like he usually did.
His nose was bleeding and his cheek was akready swelling. His uniform had new additional holes. His leg was hurting slightly more than usual.
He looked at the clock. He had a couple more minutes.
He headed to the bathroom to apply bandages to his face and stop the bleeding, a long with quickly stitching the uniform back, just enough so teachers don't notice it's not up to code.
Even so, he felt happy. He slightly broke his daiy cycle. Did he get beaten anyways? Yes. Was the beating worse? Slightly.
It didn't matter in the end.
Vanitas vanitatum et omnia vanitas