Broken Mask

1

Trigger warnings: Strong language, suicide attempt

Izuku Midoriya sat at his desk after class, gathering his belongings as quickly as possible to try to avoid Bakugou and his lackeys' bullying. The small boy had been hoping that his years at junior high would be better, and that he'd maybe make some friends, but he never did. Nobody wanted to be friends with a quirkless nobody, let alone one that was bullied by Katsuki Bakugou himself.

He had fallen into a depression, crying and cutting behind closed doors. When he was in front of people, he put on a mask, but it was going to crack any day now.

"Hey Shitty Deku!" The boy winced at the sound of crackling that accompanied the shout. "You really think you can still be a hero? No fucking way you quirkless loser."

"Well.. Kacchan I- um.." Midoriya started, using the last of his courage to try to stand up to Bakugou. Before he could continue, Bakugou grabbed the notebook he was holding out of his hand and exploded the cover before throwing it out the window.

"Hey! That's my notebook! You can't..."

"I can't what?" The taller boy said his palms crackling again as he turned over his shoulder to see Midoriya. "You know, if you want a quirk that badly why don't you take a swan dive off the roof and hope you get one in the next life?" He snickered and walked out of the room past the statue-still Midoriya.

The green haired boy stared at the ground tears welling up, but feeling nothing but rage. The mask cracked. Maybe I damn well will Kacchan. See how you feel about it then. He left the room after a couple minutes, making sure that Bakugou was long gone. He collected his notebook from the koi fish pond and opened it to see that most of the pages were somehow still intact.

He opened it and scribbled down a quick note before making his way home. Of course, he didn't actually intend to go there, but the place he did want to go to was in the same direction. It was a quiet place that almost no-one knew about.

As he was walking, something slimy grabbed his leg. He tried to pull away, but before he knew it, his entire body had been swallowed by the slimy creature. Well, at least Kacchan will get what he wanted, I'll finally be gone from his life. He closed his eyes and passed out, accepting that this was his death.

"Kid! Hey, kid! Wake up!" A voice called out, slapping Midoriya's face, causing him to wake up.

"A-All Might!?" He cried out, scooting away from the hero. On a different day he would've been fanboying and asking for a signature and pestering the hero with questions, but today he only had one.

"Glad to see you're okay, I've got to go now, take care!" He jumped off before the small boy could say a word, but at least he had time to cling onto All Might's leg. The hero noticed and landed on a building, letting Midoriya off safely.

"I'm sorry, I just have a really important question." He said, much calmer than usual. He looked up again, and stared for a second at the skinny, very much not All Might, person standing in front of him. "What the? Who are you? What happened to All Might?"

"Look kid, I am All Might. It's a very long story, so I'll make it quick. I was in a fight a few years back and got injured very badly. I can only sustain my muscle form for a small amount of time now."

"How does that even work?"

"You know those guys at the swimming pool who suck air into their chest to look like they have muscles? I'm like that."

"Okay, I just have one more question please."

"Fine kid, one question, and make it fast, I need to get this villain to the police."