Journey For Trust (Vigilante Deku)

Chapter Eight: Mother

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"Sorry kid, it's not gonna happen."

Those were the words that ended so many of his friendships. Words that society told him to give up. Words that told him no matter how hard he tried, it would never be enough. Words that told him he was worthless. Words that... ended his life.

Those words didn't really process through him until his classmates started giving him judging looks and stopped talking to him. That itself didn't really bother him much since he was always a little anti-social. It wasn't that he didn't like talking to people, it was just that he never had the confidence to approach someone himself, so he always had to rely on someone approaching him. But that was fine. His best friend, Katsuki Bakugo, or as he called him, "Kacchan," stuck to him like glue. Nothing could separate the two. Not even the news of Izuku's quirklessness could. Kacchan never leaving his side, his friendship, is what kept his dream of becoming a hero alive, even through Izuku's growing doubts. And that's all that mattered. For the little time it lasted.

"K-kacchan, why do you still talk with me," Izuku asked, fumbling with the paper in his hands, "even though I'm quirkless?" Katsuki chuckled. Though he didn't think much of why Izuku had asked that question, it was a question that replayed like a broken record in Izuku's mind. Taunting him. But it was a question Katsuki didn't know the answer to. No. He knew the answer, but he selfishly threw it away. Tearing apart the world of bliss the friends created along with it. "Huh? What's that have to do with anything? O-Only losers think someone's quirk is who they are!" Izuku's lips curved upwards. "Yeah! What do they know?" The pair laughed, posing to throw their carefully crafted paper airplanes. Izuku's throw was relatively weak, the airplane only flew a couple meters. "Hah! That'll be easy to beat!" Katsuki teased. He blasted the airplane with his quirk to send it flying; overheated sparks burned away the paper, causing a strong throw to fall straight down. "I win!" Izuku triumpty teased back. "What! No! That's not fair! I get another shot!" A world of pure bliss and satisfaction the two kids wished they never ran away from.

"Why are you hanging out with him?" Katsuki's other friends snickered behind them. "Huh? 'Cause I can. Got a problem?" Izuku stared at Kacchan in awe. It wasn't only the fact that he stood up for him (he did that pretty often), but it was that he stood up for himself. He didn't become a fumbling and stuttering mess. He held his head high and stood his ground. Something Izuku strived to someday be able to do. But his admiration for his friend blocked out how distant his words actually were. How far away he actually was. Or was that he was running away? "I thought you of all people would want to spill some guts!" Izuku stepped back. Spill guts? Were they going to hurt him?! "Or are you that much of a wimp, Kac-chan!" The kid dragged out the name "kacchan," exposing the childish nickname to the rest of the playground, followed by countless laughs and taunts from the growing group surrounding them. Izuku could take being made of himself, but someone making fun of his friend didn't sit right with him. His heart defied his common sense for the first time. This time, his heart was going to ignore his anxiety and stand up for his friend. "H-hey, K-Kacchan's a lot braver than y-"

A fist rammed into his cheek bone. Izuku fell to the ground. Kacchan stood above him. "K-Kacchan...?" It wasn't Katsuki that hit him. No. It couldn't have been, right? They were happy. He said quirks don't define who people are, right?

Right?

"As if I wouldn't spill some guts! Especially quirkless guts, Deku!" Izuku didn't want to believe it. He couldn't believe it. But, as unfair as the world is, that was the first of many beatings. Betrayals.