On the Second String

Prolouge

"Get your Head in the game Bakugo!"

"We can't win if you don't pass the damn ball!"

"The Hell Bakugo?! You want to win or not!"

"Midoriya!" Izuku Midoriya's head lifted up. His coach pointed to him.

"In for Bakugo. Now." Midoriya nodded, and checked in at the scorers table. He waited for the next dead ball, which came soon, with Katsuki Bakugo running over a poor player on the other team on his drive to the basket. Bakugo was called for charging.

"WHAT THE FUCK REF! HE WAS IN MY WAY!" The referee started arguing with Bakugo.

"BAKUGO! GET YOUR BUTT OVER HERE AND SIT DOWN!" The coach yelled. Bakugo glared at the referee, then his coach, then walked over to the bench and sat down.

"Izuku Midoriya In for Katsuki Bakugo."

The Power Foward known to him as Fingers threw the ball inbounds to Midoriya. With the score 67-59, and just one minute left, everything looked hopeless. But Midoriya wasn't one to give up. He took the ball up the floor, and quickly found Wings, their center, and he knocked down a three point shot. The other team tried to stall by taking it slow, but Midoriya was having one of that. He stole the ball and put in a layup. The crowd was cheering. A second string player was making plays.

"32 seconds to go." The announcer said. "And a second-stringer is going off!" The only reason announcers and tv networks were here was because of Bakugo. He was the most highly praised middle school basketball player. But it was his turn to shine. 67-64. He forced his opponent into a corner, causing him to throw up a bad shot. It bounced off the rim, and Wings rebounded it. He passed to Midoriya, and he passed to the Small Forward. He put in a mid-range shot with 16 seconds left. The point guard tried to stall it out, but Midoriya stole it again with 4 seconds left.

"He steals the ball again! He's going to take this one to the rack!"

Time ticked down slowly. 3 seconds. 2 seconds. 1 second. At one second, he put up the layup. But he knew as soon as he shot it, that it wasn't going to go in.

It rattled around the rim and fell out.

"Ohhhhh! And he misses the layup! What a horrible player! He just lost the game for them."

Midoriya clutched his head, feeling ashamed. They had just lost the tournament because of him. He felt someone kick him in the back and knock him on the ground. A foot was on his back. It was Bakugo

"You damn Deku! This is all your fault! Go jump off of a building! No one wants you here anyways!" With that Bakugo kicked him in the ribs and walked off, leaving Izuku Midoriya to sob on the floor, as people walked past him with disgusted looks. He laced there for a long time, right where he had missed the shot. People left, the bleachers were put back into place, and the lights were shut off. He didn't care. He heard a voice from near the door, long after everyone had supposedly left.

"Kid, it wasn't your fault." Midoriya looked up. It was a skinny man with long yellow hair. "I'll be honest, you only played during that last minute, and you played fantastic. You played your heart out."

"B-But, I missed that shot..."

"You missed one shot. Yes, it was the last one, but you were the reason that shot was there to take in the first place. Without you, the game would've been much less closer." He held out his hand. "Here kid. Take my hand." Midoriya took it. The man pulled Midoriya up. He then walked towards the exit door.

"W-Wait! Mister, what's your name?" The man turned around, and gave him a light smile.

"Just call me All Might kid." With that, he left Midoriya alone in the gym.