Heroes, Vigilantes, and Villains

Chapter two

It wouldn't be hard at all to do what they ask, to be good for something at last. But it would break Mom if I really did. I can't hurt her like that. I can't leave her like that, making her think that it was her fault like she no doubt would. I've already been a bad enough son as it is, I can't do that to her as well.

——

The bell rang loudly, signaling the end of the school day. Everyone in the class shoved their things into their bags and rushed from their seats to the door, eager to be home for the weekend. I was slower than them, less rushed by the idea of freedom. I lagged behind, unsure of what to do with my time. Normally I would go hunting down a hero fight, but that wasn't exactly in the picture right now.

'I need to run by the store and pick up some boxes and stamps... maybe some sheets too' I mumbled to myself quietly. All the hero mercy in my room... I needed it gone. It hurt too much to be so constantly reminded of a dream I could never achieve, something so unrealistic. Just throwing it out would be the easiest choice to make, but that would just be a waste, so selling all of it was the next best option to make.

Walking from the room a hand landed on my shoulder, yanking me back leaving the classroom. The hand was warm, almost unbearably so, the scent of a sweet burning scent followed it. A caramel smell.

Bakugo.

I turned to the boy slowly, unsure of what I would find, but not wanting to cause any more damage to myself. Bakugo had been quiet today, quite possibly the quietest he's ever been in our life. The hand let me turn around, but it stayed there, steadily getting hotter. His eyes, when I looked into them, seemed to burn with a kind of hatred that I couldn't possibly understand.

"Do you think just because I got attacked that you're suddenly better than me?" Bakugo barked, his voice gradually increasing into its normal yell.

There was enough fear in my body that the sick feeling didn't come. It was like it was shoved aside, overridden by the fear gripping at my heart.

"W-what?" I stuttered, not understanding where this was coming from.

How could I possibly think that I'm better than him? He's done almost nothing wrong in his entire life in everyone's eyes. Whereas I am a perpetual screw up.

"Don't play stupid with me Deku," Bakugo yelled. The hand that's been slowly increasing in its heat lifted, moving not to the boy's side like I'd hoped, but to the front of my neck. It was enough to bring out a choking sensation, like I was suffocating despite the fact that there was no weight behind the hand, only a burning sensation. "You've been sitting here quiet all day acting superior and ignoring everyone. But guess what, you're not. You're nothing more than a weak, quirkless, Deku!"

An aggressive popping noise punctuated Bakugo's sentence, sending a flurry of pain through my neck, large enough to send me crumbling to the ground. The smell of burnt flesh drifted through the classroom. A swift kick landed on the small of my back.

"Remember your place, Deku." The sound of footsteps drifted down the hallway.

Remember my place... How could I forget it when the evidence is permanently inscribed on my skin. I've been nothing more than a doll all day, taking whatever pain people decided to throw at me. I gave up on trying to talk my way out, it wouldn't do me any good... and in a way I felt like I deserved the pain. After all, it's my fault that Bakugo was like this today.

Some hero I would've been.

I layed there on the ground, withering from the pain coursing through my body. There were black spots crossing my eyes as I looked around the room. I could see my things scattered on the ground around me.