Someone I Used to Know (Vigilante Deku)

~chapter 3~

"Are we there yet?" I ask for the hundredth time on the way there, just to annoy him.

"We're not there yet, and can you stop asking?!" He growls angrily.

"Alright," I wait for a bit before asking, "so, can you help me kill myself?"

"For the last time, no! I'm not helping you kill yourself!" he shouts.

"Aw man. But you're my best hope!" I say pleadingly.

"No!" He shouts, again. We reach a certain tall building that we can't get to the roof of, "oh, thank god we're here," eraserhead states.

He jumps off the building and makes his way to the door. I follow him in and get ready to spray some webs. Suddenly the lights turn on and we're surrounded by pro heroes. I look around then understand the situation. "You lied to me…" I say to eraserhead, obviously hurt.

"I didn't know-"

"Cut the crap, eraser!" I shout, trying not to sound like I'm crying and obviously failing. "How could you do this?" I mumble. I feel myself starting to lose control. The voices return, like they always do when I lose control. I can’t hear what the heroes are saying. I can barely think. All I can think to do is to hurt them.

My eyes glow red and can be seen through the eye areas in my suit. I growl at all of them, becoming some sort of feral creature. Spider legs sprout from my back and I start knocking down heroes, only having enough control not to kill them. I try to gain back control, but I still feel the pain of betrayal. The pussycats, Edgeshot, Fatgum, Kamui Woods, Endeavor, and Mt. Lady. They are all knocked out or unable to fight anymore because of me, and I saved the best for last.

I walk up to eraserhead. A psychotic smile, unseen to him, resides on my face. “Deku, you have to listen to me!” a voice breaks through my haze. It’s eraserhead, a small part of me tries to convince the rest of my body, we can’t kill him. HE CARES ABOUT US! DON’T KILL HIM! That one voice gets louder and louder, trying to drown out all the other voices. I realise that what I’m doing is wrong. Kill him kill him killhimkillhimKILLHIMKILLHIMKILLHIM the other voice says.

“Deku! It’s me! Eraserhead. This isn’t you!” The man shouts

The small voice in the back of my mind tries to reach out to him, tries to protect him. I freeze in my tracks, all my voices are clashing together and I don’t know what to do. I listen to the small voice. Stop, the voice says, we don’t want to lose someone else we care about, it speaks truth. My eyes start to dull. I block out the killing voice once again. My eyes return to their normal green colour. I fall forward, right into Eraserhead’s waiting arms. I look up to see him looking down at me with worry.

“What was that?” he asks tentatively. I sit up in his lap and cuddle further into him, feeling safe in his arms.

I whimper, “the-they…” I try to compose myself, “they c-called it in-in-instant ki-kill mode…” I mumble.

“Who’s they?” he asks gently, rubbing soothing circles into my back.

“The bad people,” I answer, “the ones who killed Kacchan,” I try to explain, voice becoming a small whisper.

“Who’s this Kacchan?” he asks kindly.

“My best friend,” I respond in a whisper.

He rubs my back to console me. “I lost a good friend once, too,” he whispers back.

I cuddle into him further, then realise that I should probably leave before the police get here. “I’m sorry, I have to go…” I whisper back, “can’t get caught…”

“I understand,” Eraserhead says before kissing me on the forehead, “be safe, problem child,” he says to me with a soft smile.

I smile back, although he can’t see it, “I will.” I then swing away, leaving Eraserhead to clean up the mess, but before I left, I dropped a sandwich off for all the pro heroes I defeated. They might be hungry when they wake up.

I swing through the city toward my apartment, slipping in through my bedroom window when I get there and peeling myself out of my vigilante costume. And then I realise, that’s the first time I conquered the voices without stabbing myself! I smile at myself dumbly before stripping into my boxers and jumping into bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~eraserhead~~~~~~~~~~~

I was talking to Deku about his money problems when I got a call from the cops telling me that there was a drug cartel to take out, so I did the responsible thing and invited the kid to join me. He was extremely annoying on the way there because that’s just how he is, I guess.

When we got there, I was surprised to see a bunch of pro heroes surrounding us. Why are they here and how did they know I would bring Deku?!

“You lied to me…” I turned to see deku looking down, obviously feeling betrayed.

“I didn’t know-” I tried to defend myself, but he cut me off.

“Cut the crap, Eraser,” he said, voice cracking and shaking, “how could you do this?” I tried to defend myself further, but he didn’t seem to be able to hear me. He looked up and his mask’s eyes started to glow red. Spider legs sprouted from his back as he began to attack mercilessly, taking out every hero in the room except me. He then turns to me and slowly walks toward me, ready to kill.

“Deku, you have to listen to me!” I shouted, trying to get him back to his senses. He began to look extremely conflicted. I took the opportunity to try and get to him, “Deku! It’s me! Eraserhead! This isn’t you!” I shouted at him. He froze. His eyes stopped glowing and he began to fall. I opened my arms and prepared to catch him. When I caught him, I sat down with him in my lap, stroking his back to calm him. I looked down at him, worry seeping onto my normally blank face.

“What was that?” I asked tentatively. I felt him cuddling further into my shoulder

he whimpered uncharacteristically, “the-they…” he stopped for a bit, taking deep breaths, “they c-called it in-in-instant ki-kill mode…” he mumbled to me. What the? Who’s they? I always thought his quirk was weird. Did someone do this to him?

“Who’s they?” I asked, trying to be gentle as I rubbed soothing circles into his back.

“The bad people,” he answered. Bad people? That doesn’t sound good. “the ones who killed Kacchan,” he said in a small whimper, as if I know who Kacchan is.

“Who’s this Kacchan?” I questioned, trying not to pry but really wanting to know who this ‘Kacchan’ is.

“My best friend,” he responded in a whisper.

I rubbed his back more, trying to console him, “I lost a good friend once, too,” I whispered back to the boy somewhat sadly.

“I’m sorry, I have to go…” he whispered back, “can’t get caught…” He continued, sadly, to me.

“I understand,” I said, kissing the boy on the forehead before I have a chance to think about it, “be safe, problem child,” I said to him, using the nickname I give to my students sometimes.

“I will,” the boy said before dropping a sandwich off for all the pro heroes who were down and swinging away through the city, toward wherever he lives. I smiled fondly as I watched him leave.

The police showed up and asked questions to which I answered with mostly the truth, not talking about anything too personal for the boy. After the long encounter, I jumped from roof to roof to get to my own house where my loving husband waited for me. Hisashi kissed me and asked how my day went. I told him about Deku and how I found out more of his past. We both agreed that we wished we could adopt him, but wouldn’t be legally allowed to as he breaks the law nearly every day. We got into bed together after a nice conversation and cuddled until we both fell asleep.