Bloodthirst | BNHA x Vampire!Reader

40. confrontation

The Sports Festival was over. Well, almost over.

"Mmph! Mmmmph!"

You clenched your fists and made a conscious effort to look anywhere but beside you, lest you make eye contact with a furious Katsuki. He was chained up and muzzled, the poor, deranged thing. Although you supposed it was necessary, considering the way he kept screaming and thrashing about.

You were currently standing on a podium. A second-place podium, to be more exact. To wrap up the Sports Festival, a small awards ceremony was being held. Naturally, Katsuki was in first place-even though he wasn't happy about it-you were in second, and lastly, Tokoyami was in third. Shouto could just as easily have been standing there too, but he was still in the infirmary recovering from blood loss. You felt even guiltier knowing that you were the reason he couldn't accept his medal in front of an audience.

Seriously, though, Katsuki was fucking livid. At first you thought maybe the muzzle was perhaps too extreme, but now it felt like it was the only thing preventing him from biting your damn head off.

The medals would be awarded by All Might himself, and you watched as he came jumping down (quite literally out of nowhere), then stopped in front of the podiums.

"Tokoyami, my boy, you did well!" All Might praised, handing him a bronze medal. "But in order to deal with the issue of unfavorable matchups, you can't keep relying solely on your Quirk. If you train your own strength some more, your potential is sure to be limitless!"

"Yes, sir," Tokoyami nodded, and you didn't miss the way his eyes twinkled as he gazed upon his medal from close up.

All Might then turned towards you, and instinctively, you stiffened.

"Young [Name]," he said, assuming a slightly gentler tone. "Congratulations on advancing all the way to the finals. You did well, and you certainly proved that you could put up a fight against worthy opponents. But... I understand why you weren't able to give it your all. It seems like your match against Young Todoroki is still weighing rather heavily on you. I won't overstep, but just know that you have no reason to feel ashamed. What matters is how you push forward and move past this incident, and I believe that you're strong enough to overcome any hardship."

He placed the silver medal around your neck, even though you felt like you didn't deserve such a thing. There was no cause for celebration. You'd nearly killed someone, and to top it all off, you'd forfeited your final match like a goddamn coward.

"I'm sorry," you mumbled.

All Might frowned. "What reason do you have to apologize to me? Please, lift your head."

"I just... I feel like I've made a mess of things. I wish I was better than this."

"Well, it's a good thing we don't expect you kids to be perfect," he chuckled. "I can't tell you how to feel. It's up to you to decide how you want to tackle these emotions. But I can promise you that the situation isn't as dire as you think. You will get better. So long as you have the willingness to improve, that's all that matters."

He wrapped his arms around you and pulled you close, then held you in a warm hug. It took all your willpower not to start crying again. You'd already done plenty of that today.

Apart from Izuku and Inko, All Might was the only other person who knew the truth about you. He must have understood that what happened back there was out of your control, and perhaps he'd already pieced together why you'd been banished from your world, even without you telling him.

And just like Izuku, he still accepted you, despite all your flaws.

Having the support of the Number One Hero had to count for something, at least.