Nonchalant

Chapter 6

It was a day until Izuku's birthday, and he was not looking forward to it.

Most people didn't even remember it, except for Bakugo. He'd always delivered a birthday gift without fail every year.

If punches and kicks counted as a suitable present.

 He hadn't even noticed until he went through his calendar to mark the days left until the summer holidays and check the current date.

He was fairly close to both his birthday and the last day of school. He was and wasn't looking forward to it.

Izuku definitely couldn't wait for the last day of school. Not because he hated learning, but because then Bakugo and his so-called 'friends' wouldn't be able to get to him while he was at home. He could sit in his room and take more notes on the video clips of heroes he found online. He could also go jump off more buildings without having to worry about waking up for school if he was saved.

He wanted his birthday to come and go as fast as possible. Bakugo liked to dish out much more violence than usual, and it was a pain patching up his burns and bruises. 

There was a day left until his 'special day', and he wasn't excited at all.

He decided to set out on the next building on his list. It was fairly far away, an old office building that was partially destroyed by a worker's quirk going haywire. The company had decided that repairing it would be too expensive, so the employees had moved to another building that the shareholders owned.

What a shame to leave such a nice place.

He hope Eraser Head's patrol didn't extend to this district. It'd be much too awkward if he wanted an explanation for the bloody sleeve and for the fact that Izuku hadn't tried to die for a week. On top of all that, he'd finally be able to die properly.

The elevator was obviously out of order, so he went up the emergency stairs out back. A few times, he almost slipped and fell over the side, but by some miracle, he always got back on his feet. It took a while before he could reach the top. 

 The sky was dark and clouded. It looked like it was going to rain soon.

Without stopping, he took off his shoes as usual and put his feet over the edge, praying to whatever deity that existed to allow him into the afterlife.

The deity did not allow it. 

The familiar feeling of a piece of cloth wrapping around his middle before tightening and pulling him back on the roof was there again.

But this was almost an hour away from his home. Why was Eraser Head here? Surely, the pro hero didn't cover the entirety of Musutafu every night, did he?

He almost cried in desperation. He had gotten so close, a few centimeters until his body would hit the pavement.

The moment Eraser Head set him on the solid roof, he didn't let Izuku go. He could feel the stare that was boring through his head, and he kept it down so they wouldn't make eye contact.

What he expected was yelling.

What he didn't expect was a sigh, either of frustration or of relief. Izuku thought frustration was much more likely.

He was just being a bother, wasn't he? 

Izuku didn't blame Eraser Head. He was just doing his job as a pro hero, after all.  

He doesn't care about you, he's just doing his job. He's just doing his job.

Yeah.

Eraser Head loosened his weapon and gently set Izuku on the roof. Winding it around his neck, he sat next to him. 

"Where were you?" he asked. 

"At home," the green-haired boy answered dully, though there was a hint of shame.

They sat quietly for a while, no one talking. Eraser Head was the one who broke the silence, as usual. 

"What happened last week?"

The dreaded question that Izuku didn't want to answer. But what if the pro hero got angry that he didn't answer? He didn't want to risk the companionship of the only person who talked to him.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to." Eraser Head mumbled.

Izuku almost sighed in relief before asking a question. "I was an hour away from home," he whispered. "How did you get to me?" Eraser Head looked over at him.

"I thought you'd went to further buildings, so I extended my patrol time and distance."

There it was. Izuku knew he'd bothered the hero. He'd caused the pro more work and was a nuisance to him.

He really should've fallen down the building faster.

Yet, there was a question in the back of his head nagging at him to ask Eraser Head. 

"Why?"

Stupid, you didn't even ask the entire question. Who just says 'Why' and expects the other person to understand?

"What?"

"Why do you stop me every single night?"

He's going to say he's a hero and this is his job. If he were a civilian he wouldn't care.

  "Why do you talk to me? Why are you still here right now?" Izuku found himself asking. He didn't mean to, but he really needed to know.

Eraser Head seemed to be thinking.

"It's my duty as a pro hero."

Ah. There it was. Izuku could've cried at that answer.

"But I can't just let you throw away your life." 

Izuku raised his head.

"No one in this world is useless or worthless. But I can't just say that once and expect people to believe me, so I try to talk to them to help them feel better." Eraser Head turned to face him. "You're actually the first one I've ever talked to."

Izuku wanted to believe him. Eraser Head made a good point.

But what if he said that to fool him? Just to lead him on, thinking they were friends, before he'd leave him in the dust again.

Like everyone else had. 

Was it bad to think this was normal?

He didn't really know. He wished he didn't care. 

I definitely suck at writing angst scenes and stuff. Did the best I could. I swear.

Forgive my writing skills. I am my username, after all.