Deku x Shaggy: Confused Love

Acquiring Trust

As Shaggy followed the mass of fluffy green hair to a different towering brick building, who knew how he mixed the buildings up, he realized that he still had time to reconsider, to walk away. He almost wanted to hit himself for that thought; who the hell did he think he was? This was his only goal, and he had nothing else to pursue or live for. To give up on his plan would be to completely give up on himself, and that idea was already too tempting.

Walking into their reprieve from the now downpour, Shaggy tossed the ball to Deku to put away, no point in wasting time in trying to find its place himself. His target disappeared in a storage closet, but a quick peek inside revealed that it was no mere closet and was, in fact, the size of a classroom.

It nearly made him scoff aloud, disbelieving of how rich some of these hero schools were. His training course back in America would have been lucky to even have a gym in the first place.

The boy's return pulled him from his cynical musings, surprised to have a towel tossed at him.

"To dry off." Deku prompted, taking his own towel and rubbing it on his head.

Shaggy glared down at it, not quite sure what was making him pause before electing to accept the gesture and running the towel over his face, "Thanks, man."

Deku smiled back, another gesture that confused Shaggy more than it should have. How often was he smiled at?

"So," Deku hummed, laying his towel flat on a bench before facing Shaggy with a posture that held an innate confidence to it, a stark contrast against his own tired posture, "Have any tips? I bet you have a ton of unique experience to share!"

Shaggy cracked a surprised smile; this kid already thought so highly of him, certainly naive, "I mean, yeah, like, I guess we kinda had a unique way of fighting crime and all that." He paused to think; what had differentiated his old group from the rest? "You should always pay attention to your surroundings whenever you're on duty."

Deku tilted his head, brow furrowing, "Isn't that kind of... obvious?"

"You'd be surprised, man." Shaggy huffed, already thinking of quite a few UA incidents that could have been avoided, "But, I'm not just talking about, like, being aware. I mean you gotta be, like, aware man. You need to be actively looking for things that might not be there."

Deku seemed to be lost, not surprising since talking had never been Shaggy's strong suit. With a sigh, he decided that perhaps an example would be best, "So, take Freddy, right? His quirk was 'Analysis'; he could look at any room and see all of the details. It was how he made his traps so well. It was crazy, man, like, he'd be in a barn and find a way to use rope and pitchforks to create a trap using the cross beams on the roof and the rusty hinges of the doors."

"Wow..." the reverence in the boy's tone was almost palpable, "But... that was his quirk."

"We can all do it, man." Shaggy shrugged, "We might not be able to make awesome machines and traps from our surroundings, but any person can map out escape routes, entryways, and any objects in the room that might be used as weapons or obstacles. You always need to be aware." He smiled nostalgically, "We caught a lot of bad guys that way... and stayed out of a lot of trouble."

Deku nodded, notebook in hand. Shaggy let out an amused laugh at that, and Deku frowned a little self-consciously, "What?"

"What's that thing for?"

"Notes?" Deku shrunk back a little, and Shaggy couldn't help but laugh more.

"Those won't help you, man. Experience will." he walked out into the middle of the gym, "How about we spar?"

With an uncertain glance down at his notebook, Deku sighed, setting it on the bench before jogging over. Shaggy beckoned him to throw a punch, and, after a moment's hesitation, Deku obliged, swinging with his right to be countered by Shaggy. Using his left arm to redirect the punch, Shaggy jabbed for his chest, requiring the boy to step back.

"Whoa." Deku huffed in surprise, "I guess I didn't expect you to be as adept."

"I'll choose not to take that as an insult." Shaggy smirked, "All of us had physical training; you never know what you'll run into out there. Although, Daphne was the only combat heavy member."

"Daphne?" Deku repeated in disbelief as they resumed their sparring.

"Right?" he shook his head, scared of just how nostalgic he was getting, "You never want to make assumptions about a person; you never know just what they're capable of." That made Shaggy pause, and he gave his 'trainee' a much more scrutinizing look, "Speaking of which, you were, like, kinda eager to talk to me."

Deku's smile dropped a little in confusion, "I don't know. I wasn't uncomfortable around you."

This kid was funnier than he knew as Shaggy almost found himself laughing again. Him: not uncomfortable? Yeah right, "The point I'm trying to make, man, is, like, you might be a little too trusting."

Deku frowned, "But you're a retired hero."

"Heroes can be bad people." Shaggy said in a tone that was a tad more grave than he intended, sighing before forcing his mood to lighten a tad, "Look, man, Velma revealed a lot of bad people who wore the mask of an everyday good person."

"'Conscience', that quirk reveals if someone has done anything bad in the past or is planning to, right?" Deku asked, and Shaggy nodded in confirmation.

"You'd be surprised how many heroes have had skeletons in their closet." Shaggy hummed, "Literally in one case."

Deku laughed at the surprise morbid joke, expression a mixture of discomfort and confusion, "Wow... I guess I never thought of it like that."

"I thought that, like, you'd understand that with all the stuff that's happened to you, man."

"I... I guess I'm just an optimist then." Deku admitted, "I don't like to let those things ruin my perspective."

Interesting concept, Shaggy couldn't help but reflect on that, "Speaking of which, why do you want to be a hero?"

"I want to give people hope." Deku responded simply.

Shaggy dropped his arms, Deku doing the same in bewilderment, "What?"

"I, uh," Deku shifted awkwardly, not entirely understanding why the mood had just changed, "I want to give people hope. I want to show them that I will always be there, always smiling, always doing my best."

No way, AllMight really had indoctrinated him. Shaggy was... disgusted; was this really what hero society had turned into? Had they really been reduced into turning children into objects for the public's entertainment?

Deku might have been naive, but he could tell that something wasn't quite right, "Shaggy, are you okay?"

"Y-yeah." Shaggy forced out, "Sorry, man, I... I just realized I have something I need to do. Wanna, like, train another day?"

"Um, yeah, this was cool." Deku smiled slightly, "It'd be awesome to train with you more."

With that, Shaggy turned on his heel and moved for the door, only sparing a glance back to offer a small wave before heading back out into weather that perfectly matched his mood.

Woody was more accurate than he could've ever thought, and this kid really was shaping up to be the new head of hero society.

It appalled Shaggy to his core. How could the public be so manipulative without realizing it? How could AllMight be so goddamn stupid and not see what cycle he was feeding into? If Deku came to replace AllMight, society would never change, the way things were would continue on and nobody would be any the wiser for it.

Like hell he was going to let that happen.