The Subtle Smell Of Fish (D. Kaminari X Reader)

78 - The Fires We Cause

Flames.

Flames all around you as you watched your very world disappear, crushed under rubble. Fire burned and licked, cradling you in its arms gently only to hurt you even more.

Your eyes burned as you screamed for help, smoke entering your lungs, your mother long gone. It wasn't long before the world disappeared at your fingertips, just as someone had entered your line of vision.

'Help,' you whimpered, losing consciousness. 'Please...'

You panted, sitting down for a quick water break before you would continue to spar.

"Spill, Y/N," Midoriya glared. "You don't spar with me, we aren't friends. So why did you ask, especially after you won against my best friend."

"Bakugo bullied you, he isn't your best friend," you scoffed, causing his eyes to widen.

"How did you-" Midoriya began, though you interjected.

"Shoto and I know ASL, you aren't slick," you glared. "We know Morse as well so don't even try communicating in that."

"You knew and never said anything?" Midoriya accused. "Why?"

"How would I start that conversation?" You asked him, getting up.

"Forget it, let's just continue sparring," Midoriya grumbled. "Just one question. You're on first name basis with Kacchan. What changed?"

"Bakugo is similar to Shoto," you sighed. "But I know Shoto for longer and we had time to warm up to each other. Bakugo is just another classmate that I'm scared will die in front of my eyes, when I can't do anything, and I know he feels the same. That's not a friend, and it'll do him good to realise that."

"I will never understand either of you," Midoriya sighed, before jumping up, quirk ready. "But I'll still do anything to become better than both of you!"

You raised up a shield in panic, causing him to kick the shield instead of you, the hologram shattering on impact as you skidded back.

"You're improving," you coughed out, glaring as you materialised two staffs in your hand. "I fight with swords, as you know. But staffs have the same principle, whether they're chained together or not."

"Nighteye wouldn't approve of your stalling," Midoriya scoffed, smirking.

"I see, so you'd rather experience it yourself," you laughed. "Try landing a hit, bet you can't."

That comment added fuel to the fire, making the tiny spark of determination in his eyes glow brightly into a more dangerous wildfire, the greenette jumping up to land a kick from above you.

You instantly held up the staffs, bringing them closer to your face so that you could push him back once the impact hit. Though he suddenly twisted, kicking you from the side instead.

"You're so predictable," Midoriya scoffed out, as soon as the impact landed. "Yet you still want to cut out Kacchan for no reason other than the fact that you don't care about him."

"Leave Bakugo out of this," you snarled, hands crackling as you tried to control your temper. "Sparring is for us, for us to improve. If you're going to bring your Kacchan into this then keep that discussion with him. He treats you like absolute shit, why do you even care?"

The boy stayed silent, gulping, clenching and relaxing his fists. He couldn't meet your eyes, for he knew you were right.

"I've known him since I was a baby," Midoriya stammered. "How can I get rid of someone who's been there all my life? You can't get rid of Todoroki-kun either, can you?"

He was right. Not about Todoroki, you could do without him. But rather about the fact that there were some people whom your entire life would collapse without.

'Are you proud of me, Dad? Are you finally happy?'

Those people were the ones you hated the most. For even after knowing that you trusted them, they broke that trust, repeatedly. They left, they hurt you, they forgot.

And you were dumb enough to return.

Every single fucking time.

"It's late," you rasped out. "Let's go back, ask to borrow the Kitchen Lab or the Gym again tomorrow."

"Y/N-Sama!" Midoriya gasped indignantly, watching as you began packing your things.

"What, Midoriya-San?" You sighed, turning around.

"Will you take Kacchan back if he understands?" Midoriya asked.

"If his personality doesn't contradict mine too much, I'd gladly be his friend again," you shrugged. "He's a powerful ally, but he'd be better if I could actually trust him."

"I see," Midoriya nodded. "Sorry for meddling, I just needed to understand your side. I won't tell Kacchan, I know he won't listen to me. So either you tell Kirishima-kun or leave Kacchan to figure it out for himself."

"I've got Denki and sure, he's an idiot, but he's perceptive," you reminded. "If Kaminari picks up on it he'll tell Bakugo no doubt, so I'm not too worried."

With that, you left the gym and headed to Heights Alliance. You had a quick shower and changed into your pyjamas before sitting down to read for a while. Due to the surge in criminal activity, you hadn't had the time to actually rest and pick up a book, something Iida was always on your back about.

Though when you did eventually get tired, you removed your contacts and collapsed into your futon. Thankfully for you, your eyes were nowhere near as bad as Iida's. However, you still needed prescription glasses or contact lenses since your eyes had been affected a lot that night in the fire.

Doctors said your eyes were only at the stage they were in now due to a surgery you received in the ER, when you were first rescued. The biggest problem though, was that you had gotten this surgery at a young age. Because of this, you needed contacts at age 15, instead of 30 like most who got the surgery at 18.

You sighed as you tossed and turned in your futon, the alarm clock taunting you, as it showed that not even a minute had passed. You knew what the issue was, why you couldn't sleep.

But you refused to address it.

Deciding to get a glass of water instead, you headed out, thoughts about your poor performance during your sparring with Midoriya flooding your brain. Once again, you knew the two main factors.

Of course, the biggest was that you were still getting used to only having half of your mother's quirk. You hadn't gone into the subspace since Hajime left, and Akira didn't reveal anything of his own accord.

But the second factor was that your quirk relied on your clear thinking. You weren't gifted with heat storage like your brothers were, you easily expelled it, often as pure sparks. Constantly sparking was ineffective for both your quirks, as your father's relied on converting heat internally into ATP, and your mother's converted heat externally into potential energy and sometimes kinetic energy.

You sipped at your glass of water, furrowing your eyebrows as you attempted to trace back to the source of your emotional turbulence.

Was it truly best to cut him off?

A/N: any "I've got perfect eyesight" comments will be deleted. Y/N was literally in a fire after which she needed multiple emergency checkups, she was nearly blinded bc of the amount of rubble/ash and got it fixed with laser surgery.

I know laser surgery isn't an emergency surgery, but bear with me, I'll explain eventually why the doctors decided to give it to her (especially at that age).

QOTD: thoughts on Y/N and Midoriya's interaction?

QOTD pt 2: why do you guys think Y/N's second dragon left 👀

Have a great day/night!!