Chapter 20 - The Burden of Survival

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"Holy f*ck, (Y/N). That was amazing," Jackson said as he reached to twirl a strand of your hair in his hand.

You and him were standing quite close, so you took a step back, stopping him from being able to play with your hair.

You took a deep breath, swallowing whatever guilt you felt.

No strings attached was the promise. You could only hope he kept it, even though you knew how your quirk, and human emotions in general, might've made that close to impossible.

"Jackson, I think we should stop seeing each other like this," you said, glancing away from him.

"What do you mean?" Jackson asked, his smile disappearing. If you had saw this, you wouldn't have been able to keep your composure.

You weren't romantically attracted to him, but you did see him as a friend, even though it went against the "no strings attached" rule.

"We can't do this anymore," you said with a sigh.

"What— Why?" Jackson asked, his voice cracking.

You felt Jackson's eyes glued on you, and couldn't resist the urge to look at him.

Jackson was wide eyed. Due to the unusual shine in his eyes, you could see he had begun to tear up.

"Because we can't, okay?" you said with a sigh, tightly shutting your eyes,"It's for the best."

Jackson took a step closer to you without you noticing. He gently grabbed your wrists and held them against his chest.

"Please, I care about you. I need you," Jackson whimpered.

'I always feel so bad when this happens. God damn my f*cking quirk.'

You pulled your hands away from him, keeping your composure.

"No strings attached. You promised," you responded, little to no emotion in your voice.

"I know, but I couldn't help it. I fell for more than just your looks," Jackson explained.

'I know it's not you're fault, it's mine. F*ck.'

"I— I need you!" Jackson cried out.

'You'll get over this once I'm out of your life. I just need to rip off the bandaid.'

"You're a great guy. You're kind, caring, sweet, very attractive, smart, determined, and understanding guy. Im sorry, but please, understand we can't do this anymore," you responded, turning away from Jackson, walking back to where the rest of your class were sitting.

"(Y/N)! Please!" Jackson begged. You could hear his rushed footsteps as they got closer to you.

"Don't follow me," you hissed, guilt building up inside of you.

"(Y/N)!" Jackson called to you as you only got farther away from him. Tears filled his eyes as he watched you go.

'I get it's best for survival, but I wish my quirk wouldn't mess with emotions.'

"I'm sorry," you whispered, a weight falling upon your shoulders.

'He's going to be okay. Just two days away from me, that's all he needs.'

Time skip

You entered the box your class sat in, taking a seat beside Bakugou, right where you were sitting previously sitting.

"What the f*ck took you so long, Kitten?" Bakugou growled,"You missed the whole match."

"I'm sorry, I was busy," you sighed in response. Your guilt had built up during the walk over to the box, only adding onto the guilt you felt by just thinking about Hiyami.

"What the hell is up with you?" Bakugou asked, raising a brow at you. You weren't being as snarky, sarcastic, and flirtatious as you were not even thirty minutes ago.

"Nothing, just thinking," you responded with a forced, small smile, turning your head to look at Bakugou.

"You're lying," Bakugou said, his voice low.

"I'm not," you softly responded, sending him a slightly more convincing smile, but he saw through it. The guilt felt as if it were stabbing at your chest.

"Don't you dare f*cking lie to me again, Kitten," Bakugou growled, his face showing his clear anger.

You sighed and looked away from him, your eyes on the arena.

"Fine. I just don't want to talk about it, okay?" you responded, your agitation evident in your tone.

Bakugou clicked his tongue, moving in his seat. He was clearly upset that you wouldn't tell him anything, but he didn't seem to care all that much either.

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath.

'It's out of my control now. I can't change what I did, and I did what I know is best for him. I stopped him from just getting hurt more in the future.'

'It'll do no good to stress about it.'

You sighed, and moved around in your seat so that you felt more comfortable. You didn't want to be bothered by some part of the chair stabbing you in the side while you watched the next battle.

Todoroki versus Midoriya.

The arena was being prepared, but due to how it was looking, you knew the battle would begin shortly.

You and Bakugou sat in silence while you waited for the arena to be prepared. The extreme awkwardness between you and Bakugou in that moment was felt by the rest of your class that sat in the box.

No one talked.

'They never shut up, but now they're quiet?'

You sighed, noticing the flames on the large torches in the arena ignite. The match was about to begin.

Heyo! Sorry for the shorter chapter, I've just been extremely tired lately, so I haven't had the stamina to focus on writing for the amount of time that I normally do.

I'm also sorry for hardly updating! I'll try to do better by (hopefully) creating enjoyable and longer chapters at a faster pace.

Thank you all SOO much for 8,000 views! I can't believe we hit that much in such a short amount of time! Really, it means the world to me! <3<3<3

I'm trying to get to all your comments, but it's kind of hard to go through my notifications since I get a decently large amount... owo

Thank you all SO much for reading! I hope you all have an AMAZING night/day! I love you all SOOOO much!
Byyyyyyyyyeeeeeeee!

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