(OLD) Since I've Been Given Another Chance, Let's Be Heroes! | BNHA x Reader

TWENTY-FIVE

He didn't like her, not really.

She was an ultimatum, the existence of rejection brought forth in human form. Her purpose was nothing short than to deny his being, a very notion that brought him immense trouble with every single passing second they breathed the same air. A purpose so bright, so blinding he had to believe her intentions were only fueled by maliciousness.

Her mouth spoke nothing but pretty pleasantries, each sentence containing white lies that were so easily soaked up with no second thought. It was a pleasant noise, not once ever being considered grating or hoarse. A deception he had concluded, one that had brought him comfort so many nights when he was alone.

"I'm- (he doesn't remember her name anymore). Guess we're classmates now?" She released a small laugh, extending her hand towards him. A grin was painted on her face despite her awkwardness with such a simple greeting. "Let's get along!"

His second encounter with her had been in the club room of the school attic. She had laughed nervously when he found her, a short but simple brightness to her voice. From there, he began to accept her existence as nothing short of passing light, destined to shine somewhere else when the day would turn into night. She was unimportant, nothing but another figure passing through his life and he would go into his quiet world again.

But she continued to stay beside him, asking him odd questions about himself he never had the answer to. She rambled about the things around her, the movies she had watched, the books she was reading, anything that seemed to be remotely interesting to her at the moment. She never once grew impatient with his silence, simply smiling on and carrying the conversation with no problem. He had to wonder how she able to talk so much despite her own hesitance to ever discuss herself.

"O-Oh! It's you!" she had exclaimed. He noticed how her shoulders had lowered and the short breathe she had released. "I guess we came to the same place, huh? Maybe we can sit together."

He wanted that kindness. He wanted the carefree mindset that never once judged him. She was the birth of rejection and yet, that rejection was nothing short of sweetness that filled his very life. He didn't love her, no love was much too strong of a word for their one-sided relationship. But she was a comfort, a piece of a game that stood out with no effort. The introduction of a newfound dependency, one where he could be himself for once.

So slowly but surely, he chipped away at her appreciation. It began slowly but grew with each and every request he made of her. And she just agreed with a smile. She never rejected him nor pushed him away and life was fine.

"Thank you for always sticking around me," she had let out from beside him. She seemed to be anxious. "I...No, it's not important. Why don't you tell me more about yourself?"

She had asked him what he thought about her once, if he actually thought of her as a friend. Her expression was nothing short of pure need, seeming to be waiting for the correct answer. She had been so vulnerable, finally deciding to ask him a single question with a great amount of emotion. She must have thought about it for quite some time too, her body refusing to stay silent. Desperation seeped through the air.

"Please, I need to know."

(He doesn't remember his answer. He wishes he did.)

He once convinced himself that he wouldn't shed a tear if she were to disappear into nothing the next day, that he would not care if she moved on from their small world. He convinced himself that he didn't need her to go on in life.

Yet her death had ended his world within a single moment, the momentary light of his friend no longer there to guide him (that's what they were, she was his friend). He had sobbed, cursing the few people who never once seemed to care that their classmate had died.