fear. || { bnha }

thirty four.

a/n: almost 4k votes, i'm ;w;
also i love you guys so have this extra long chapter

-

Hero.

That was what she had always wanted. From the moment she could think for herself; from the moment she had learned what a hero was and what it meant to be one, Valui had wanted to be a hero. Even after learning she had no Quirk and subsequently no chance of ever being one, the desire never went away. She could never be what she wanted to be. That reality had shattered her heart only to rebuild it with a piece missing — a peace that was vital to achieving any level of true happiness that would last a lifetime as opposed to fleeting moments.

Hero.

That word had brought her so much grief and pain for so long. It used to hurt to hear; used to feel like listening to nails on a chalkboard while being stabbed; used to make her want to stop existing. The pain the word brought never stopped, though it did ease over time. The only time it brought something similar to a positive feeling was when she had used it to describe the purple haired boy laying in front of her; the only time the word ever brought her close to the feeling that the hole in her heart had been filled; the only time she felt truly happy.

Hero...

I'm...a hero...?

She was a girl — a regular, boring, Quirkless girl — who had been born into a world that didn't want her; that had no use for her. She had had a dream that could never become a possibility, yet...it had. Quirk or not, she was a hero. Maybe not in the sense she had always longed for, but she was still a hero. It still filled the void in her chest. It still brought her happiness — true happiness; a feeling that replaced all the previous ones of being an outsider and not belonging anywhere.

"Valui?"

Hitoshi's voice brought her mind back to reality, making her realize that she had spaced out the moment his words had registered in her head. She turned her gaze back to him, blinking slowly to bring everything back into focus. He had a weird look on his face — one that made her own mimic it. "What is it?"

"You're crying."

Again?

Valui blinked quickly, suddenly becoming aware of the tears that were streaming gently down her cheeks. A small part of her brain — the part that always seemed to sound like her parents — criticized and mocked her for crying again; "What is this, the third time? Is that all you can do?" The voice went uncharacteristically ignored, the negative feelings it brought being snuffed out by the overwhelming happiness that had rooted itself in Valui's chest.

"I'm...happy," she explained softly, finding it almost weird to say the words out loud and wholeheartedly mean them. "I-I'm...your hero...~"

Saying that felt even weirder.

But she liked it.

Hitoshi's expression — which Valui had recognized as one of worry — faded into something softer; something more relaxed. "You are." He smiled softly at her, carefully pushing himself up so that he was sitting. "You wanna sit next to me?"

Valui nodded, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand and smiling. In the next moment, she had gotten up and switched from being in the uncomfortable recliner to sitting on the equally uncomfortable bed — but she was next to Hitoshi now, so it was tolerable. Once she was at his side, he shifted and leaned his head down onto her shoulder, his eyes shutting contently and his hair brushing against her cheek and neck. Valui blinked softly, looking down at him just as he turned his arm over and opened his hand up to her.