#deku's first fan
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kacchan, you have to drink this!
#i'm not super proud of this but i spent really long on it and it's the first time i drew the third fantasy au iteration digitally ...#deku is holding a healing potion btw! man i wish the fantasy au was an rpg of some sort#bnha#mha#midoriya izuku#bakugou katsuki#bakudeku#bkdk#fan art#becki draws stuff n stuff#tw blood#tw gore#it's very mild and not graphic but just in case
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Inspired by how spotify only plays Lowe's ads when i listen to my toshi playlist
#all might#toshinori yagi#yagi toshinori#deku#izuku midoriya#midoriya izuku#bnha#mha#i think he would enjoy just walking around the gardening section#he doesnt usually go inside he just looks at the plants and 80% of the time he will spontaneously buy one#first thing he shows midoriya after the gardening section is the lighting/ceiling fan aisle with all the displays and switches#hes such a dad#izuku gets distracted by the power tools and toshi has to tell him to put down a pair of shears#alternatively: my friend said she thought they were gonna pull up to chick fil a 😭#if you couldnt tell. i dont draw izuku often and i NEVER draw them digitally so it looks a bit funky
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"America's #1 even has a different art style."
That is so funny they had him break the fourth wall like that.
But also, true, Star and Stripe is drawn in a different art style that references American superhero comics. Same with All Might in his super form. His hero aesthetic is referencing America which he did the rest of his hero training at and where Cathleen, aka Star and Stripe, is from!
Also... they really had a preview for the first episode! Which comes out next Saturday! (May 4th)
#i love that she is drawn in a different art style#so pretty#I'll be honest... deku i love you but when it comes to all might's biggest fans cathleen got this#first AM fan since his SCHOOL DAYS#and he embodies her home country#... fuck everything I want a cathleen spinoff she deserves it#just kiya's thoughts#bnha#mha#boku no hero academia#my hero academia#bnha spoilers#cathleen bate#star and stripe
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Lmao after the epilogue came out suddenly everyone be having beef with Deku 😂😂 y'all, he's NOT winning the global popularity poll
#AND RIGHTFULLY SO#Katsuki you deserve to have the first place after what they have done to you#Even if it's not in hero rankings#Wait now I'm actually kinda suspicious that some Bakugo fan made the fake leaks as a propaganda so he'd win instead of Deku#mha#bnha#my hero academia#boku no hero academia#bakugou katsuki#midoriya izuku#bakugo#deku#mha spoilers
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I have so many fic ideas with like full outlines that I will probably never actually write because my adhd gets bored and I move into the next one. But I wanna read these fics so bad. Should I post the outlines anyways so people can adopt them?
They’re all pretty much Izuku-centric btw because that’s my boy.
#I have a whole folder in my notes app#plus like several docs of full first chapters of other ideas#I’m the idea guy not the follow through guy#bnha#mha#my hero academia#boku no hero academia#fan fic#fanfic prompt#bnha fanfiction#deku#izuku midoriya
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i havent followed the manga in several months and im not interested in catching up again but has bakugo un-died yet. has deku saved him yet with the power of gay love. or is he still getting open heart surgery. has this boy been getting open heart surgery for the past 8 months.
#shut up pandora#bnha#boku no hero academia#katsuki bakugo#izuku midoriya#bakudeku#i guess#the first time bakugo Fucking McDied was pretty romantic#and i guess the second time deku did get pretty mad about it so fuck it im down#its shounen so dekus will they wont they with uraraka is so misogynistic#that his relationship with bakugo has become the greatest love story of all time#i jest ofc#even if they became canon RIGHT NOW the rest of the story is too mid for them to be even a particularly good love story#but its also the only relationship in bnha that i still care about after the disrespect they showed my girl momo#and the direction they went with the todoroki family#and the general plot progression#imma stop talking about that bc this is not a complain about bnha post this is a 'is bakugo still dead' post#but yeah although this is the only bnha ship i still care about i dont think horikoshis brave enough to make them canon#but if all the tjlc-ing from the bakudeku fans come true and they really do pull a fakeout and bkdk gets together#i will stomach the poor plot progression and hatred towards women and start following the manga again#but yeah if hes still dead horikoshi get on it???#it was dramatic the first few chapters but if you drag it out for several months ppl (me) are going to get tired of it and drop the series
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I'M SORRY HORI-WHO? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I DON'T KNOW ANYONE WITH THAT NAME…
Mmhh Boku no Hero Academia? Oh, are you referring to that manga that was cut short just before the end? Yes, it's a shame it wasn't finished!
ah wait you said it's finished? oh wow that's true… what things right? it seems that Hirikoshi kept his promise…
Izuku's father was revealed! what a surprise, is Toshinori, yes because a true father is the one who raises not the one who engenders as we say in Mexico, and Izuku and Kacchan finally held hands! and all the plot holes were covered. I'm so happy, Horikoshi is a great writer… applause
IN CASE YOU HAVEN'T NOTICED I'M BEING FUCKING SARCASTIC!!! I'M SO PISSED OFF!!
First of ALL! In what world is this…
is that a fucking ember? I don't see an ember! To me that's a fucking burning flame!
And This?...
WHAT IS THIS THEN?! A FUCKING PRINTING ERROR?! I don't think so! Those are AFO hole lights! AFO IS IZUKU'S FATHER and no one will ever take that idea away from me!
Let's see what else? Ah, Toshinori like a Good Parent giving Izuku a new suit… let's hope it's not a Mecha-armor like the one he used against All For One…
although I guess there won't be a villain powerful enough to break the armor with Izuku inside....
Yeah, like a damn peanut. 😥
Oh ok I've already seen the last page, thank goodness it's a body armor and not a mecha type armor like All Might.
That's seriously a relief 😩
AND Last but not least… Izu-chan and Kacchan finally held hands!…
Come Deku!
But off-screen!!!! 🤬
Everyone knows that this has always been Deku's dream But in this case the order of the factors does alter the product!
We know from experience that if it is KACCHAN who asks Izuku for something, he will gladly do it! because this is what happens in his head…
And well, who can resist the charm of Bakugou Katsuki? Even I would take his hand 😍
But that's not what I meant, what I meant was that the order of the factors for me does alter the product, because it is Katsuki who must take Izuku's hand and not the other way around, what we expected or at least what I expected was for Izuku-chan to extend his hand towards a fallen Kacchan and for him to take it after hesitating a bit… You know, like the tsundere that he is…
Or rather, what I expected was something like:
They're in a fight with a group of random villains and one of them hits Katsuki's chest right over the scar on his heart, he stumbles out and falls on his back, Izuku sees him and after getting rid of his opponent with a punch to the stomach sending him flying several meters he runs towards Kacchan who is complaining a little while the villain he was fighting approaches mockingly, then Izuku knocks him out with a kick to the head and approaches Katsuki hesitating a little to reach out his hand (due to previous experiences)ias).
"Kacchan, does it hurt a lot? Are you..."
"Don't finish that sentence or I'll kill you, Nerd!"
"O-ok Kacchan"
"So, are you going to help me get up or what?!"
"Of course I do, Kacchan!"
Izuku then takes him by the hand with his bright smile and teary eyes quite happily, Katsuki responds by rolling his eyes with a…
"Tch, you're still a crybaby, nerd" as he stands up and they both walk.
"Ah Kacchan since you're standing you can let go of my hand"
"You're not telling me what to do you fucking nerd!… I'll let go of you whenever I want now hurry up and let's go back to the agency!"
But well, what else is left for us to do, Horikoshi is the creator of the manga and we can only conform and although DFO is not canon for me it is and will always be my headcanon.
Now for 'The more or less good things THAT I found':
The boys had an explosive graduation (thanks Kacchan) as did the Big 3 Mirio, Nejire and Amaijiki.
Izuku learned how to tie a tie properly and now wears formal shoes (bad luck for the quirkless red shoes theory supporters, I thought the same too 😩)
Izuku is a teacher at UA and from what was in his notebook it's possible that he's a Quirk Analysis/Physical Analysis teacher.
Shinsou grew his hair to emulate Aizawa-sensei.
Aizawa-sensei cut his hair and doesn't look like a homeless guy anymore but a 40 year old emo K-poper.
Gran Torino and Chiyo (RG) are still alive despite being very old now.
Kouta-kun goes to UA and still calls Izuku nii-chan.
The kid with the sewn mouth who escaped from the basement of his house is Kouta-kun's classmate and may become a future hero too.
Eri-chan's little horn grew back and she's now in junior high school, I hope that when her horn grew back her quirk also returned to normal (remember that her little horn was like a container for her quirk's power).
Aoyama is back and is also a hero now along with all the ex-1A's.
Izuku is still mumbling his quirk analyses and looking scary doing it.
He still has the heart of a hero and supports kids with weak quirks who are like him (with a hero's heart)
Kacchan continued his physical therapy and it seems that he has fully regained the mobility of his arm.
Kacchan worked hard and saved up for eight years to help fund Izuku's new mech suit and support items so they could be heroes together and follow each other for the rest of their lives! if that's not love then I don't know what is (BKDK CANON BECAUSE I SAY IT YEAH)
Oboro finally rests in peace unless it's Nemuri's grave that the Yama-zawas visit.
Izuku ended up becoming the first Quirkless Hero in history just like he wanted and that makes me happy even though he lost OFA 🥺...
But it still bothers me! SO if a QUIRKLESS wants to be a hero he has to be a billionaire like Batman and Ironman to get a super suit! that was what Horikoshi gave us to understand, QUIRKLESS are still USELESS if they don't use an advanced technology suit! And I know that Izuku will be happy to be able to be a hero again, BUT this is stupid, FUCK YOU HORIKOSI! and it was more than obvious that if the boy keeps training and exercising even without a quirk it's possible that he can lift a car full of people on his head, after all, a Quirk is nothing more than a simple tool, right? If Izuku had continued training his strength and intelligence he would have been unbeatable despite not having a Quirk! If even being a weakling of 14 years without a Quirk he was able to drag a refrigerator with an All Might weighing more than 250 kg on top at the beginning of his training on Dagoba beach.
And I'm also still VERY upset with Horikoshi because I have no idea who Izuku's biological father is (not the adoptive one, I already know it's Toshinori) because he neither confirmed nor denied anything and now I have to imagine everything he left out! And because I didn't see the Baku-Deku holding hands on screen! 😡 SO FOR ME! MY THEORY IS THE TRUE ENDING AND THAT'S IT!
Yeah I know it's been 10 years, the guy must be exhausted and his brain completely fried after all this work, but I'm still upset! and sad! BECAUSE IT'S NOT FAIR! It's not fair what Hirikoshi did to Izuku, the kid didn't need a fucking armor, just a support item maybe, I'm sure if Horikoshi had stayed with Akatani Mikumo 'Yamikumo' the story would have been different and it's possible that he would have been the first quirkless hero with only a support tool…
I wanted to wait for the official release but I saw the spoilers and I couldn't stand it anymore, I'm sorry but I'm not sorry, I had to say I thought about the last chapter of the manga and well this wouldn't be the first time that a mangaka disappoints me (Gosho Aoyama I'm looking at you 😡) And it won't be the last either I guess, and it hurts and I'm torn apart and I just want to have Horikoshi in front of me and punch him or just yell in his face but there's nothing to do but… CREATE TONS OF FANFICTIONS AND SHOW THAT BASTARD HORIKOSHI HOW TO WRITE A TRUE ENDING!!!!!!! but it doesn't matter, as I said, I'm sticking to my own canon 😒 and dedicate myself to writing This critic to vent 😔
#vent post#fan theory#quirkless izuku#hero deku#i'm annoyed#bnha 430#i'm sad#kohei horikoshi#he stinks#hisashi midoriya#where is he#?#deku first quirkless hero#criticism of Horikoshi#expressing my feelings#i still believe#all for one is hisashi#dfo theory#is real#for me#i'm fucking pissed#and i wanna cry#horikoshi kohei#you should regret
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When I tell you ion give a fuck about anyone but Izuku Midoriya.
Story themes, the hero ranking system, loose plot threads.
I don’t give a fuck about none of that shit.
So as long as I get a satisfying ending where Izuku gets to live a happy fulfilling life, doing what he wants, I’m good.
I LITERALLY don’t care about anything else.
#I don’t give a fuck about none of that other shit#I only care about my boy#izuku midoriya#bnha 423#bnha 423 spoilers#midoriya izuku#I’m a Deku fan first and a human second
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Squad in 3/4s and turtlenecks + bonus shouty Shou & getting bullied by lesbians
#more trad sketches#need to adopt all of them and untraumatize them#izuku being described as having curly hair but then he isnt exactly drawn as having curly hair... giving him the curls he deserves forever#Uraraka and Izuku are sooo fun to draw#I don't like how kirishima turned out bc I'm not sure how I wanna draw him#He's actually my first favourite bnha character but I never draw this kid??#Big fan of tenyas dramatic brows#BNHA#Boku No Hero Academia#MHA#My Hero Academia#Todoroki Shouto#Midoriya Izuku#Deku#Bakugo Katsuki#Ida Tenya#Uraraka Ochaco#Asui Tsuyu#Kirishima Eijiro#oo n tiny toga himiko + a CRUMB of togachaco
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i paused my work to draw this
#first i was like heh isn't it crazy how bkdk call each other by specific nicknames (deku and kacchan) to symbolize how close they are#and then forgot that bkg switched to izuku recently. but THEN was like WAIT ISN'T THAT GAYER THOUGH?#i hate having bkdk brain. get me outta here#bnha#mha#original#bakudeku#bkdk#fan art#comic#shitpost#me#personal#becki draws stuff n stuff#becki's ocs
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Deku - Midoriya Izuku
TW: NSFW, noncon, yandere
gn reader
Thinking about being childhood friends with Izuku, who’s always had a bit of a crush on you.
You’ve always known, but you’ve never humored it. He’s your friend – anything else would just be awkward. If you had to put it in any other term, you’d say he felt more like a little brother.
You wish he’d allowed the two of you to grow apart – as normal people do.
There wasn’t really any reason for the two of you to stay friends after middle school. His quirk suddenly manifested, and he got into UA – became a pro-hero – and then the symbol of peace. And you were still… kind of just doing your thing – studying, working, struggling to pay rent – struggling to keep a date…
The two of you never had much in common anyway, and you never really knew what to talk about with him anymore – only knowing to ask him how his mother was. After all, you grew out of your otaku phase a long while ago – and otherwise, you felt out-educated in any and every conversation the two of you had with each other. You swear talking to him makes you feel like a toddler learning your first words – it’s humiliating, and you don’t understand how any of it’s remotely stimulating for him, either.
Still, he’ll text you when he has the time, asking if you’d like to meet up at a café – talk, catch up – and you, not wanting to be rude, always accept.
You’d gone wide-eyed the first time you’d met him after middle school. Jeez Louise – he’d had to have grown twice his size – jacked and scarred to no end. It only got worse over the years. Now, adults – he must be twice your size. Bigger even.
You blush now when he flirts with you. But not so much for the reasons he wants.
Honestly, it’s more uncomfortable than it’s flattering. It was Izuku, after all – Deku – no matter how little he resembled the crybaby from your childhood – he’d always be that same nerdy loser friend who’d chased after you ever since you first met.
He might have grown up, but his crush on you hadn’t.
His doe-eyed look of longing and adoration had always made you feel a little awkward – a little sorry for him. And now that he’s become a man, it’s only become even more… desperate… a little pathetic, actually…
Bedroom eyes that make you laugh nervously, pretending to brush it off as a joke but really wishing he’d just give it a rest already. Surely, as a pro-hero and public figure, he could get a date? One of the many screaming fans that pine for him everywhere he drags that awful golden cape he has on his shoulders. And if not any of them, then maybe a model. A movie star even.
Why is he so hung up on you?
The funny thing is, you’d tried vying him of his crush by telling him about hook-up after hook-up, boyfriend after boyfriend – treating him like a girlfriend you could gossip with.
But it’s almost like he takes it as a challenge – talking and helping you through your relationships, giving his input and advice – just like a real friend would… only… always implementing something… something condescending, something suggestive, something saying you ought to be with him instead – he’d never treat you like that, he’d never do you wrong, you’d be taking good care of with him.
You’d made the mistake of saying you were struggling with a class at university – just to make conversation – just to talk about something trivial. But of course, he’d seen it as an opportunity – quick to offer his help, saying he’d taken that class as an extracurricular – just for a bit of fun, he’d said, light reading material he’d done on the side of his internship.
You don’t know why it’s so hard to tell him no.
Suppose it’s the possibility of being wrong – the guilt of thinking he has impure intentions when he’s supposedly the purest person in the world.
But you should have trusted your instincts.
“Please, Izuku-” You’d immediately restored to begging. Who wouldn’t? He’s a two-meter-tall monster of a man – jacked with muscles fatter than a bear.
Your phone’s been missing since you came back from the bathroom – your lips wet with his unwanted kisses – your neck sore from having his fist wrapped around it when you tried stopping him.
You’d only managed to break free after biting – blood salty in your mouth. You nearly vomited, choking on a mix of bile and fear.
Fuck – your legs are so weak, you might just buckle from the dread alone – feeling like a bunny snagged on fox teeth.
“You used to take me when we’d play wrestle... you remember?”
The comment is pulled out of nowhere.
He stalks you, a fond look on his face as though the two of you were reminiscing good old times. As though his eyes weren’t a nocturnal green like foxfire on the fen. As though he wasn’t radiating black whip – ready to snare you.
“Think you can take me now?”
You had your hands raised apprehensively – but the hopelessness took its toll and made your entire body shake on the spot.
Your only hope was to talk him out of it. If only you could think past the fear and string a sentence together that wasn’t along the lines of “Please-”
But something about that look on his face told you he wouldn’t listen to reason anymore. Not manic, not like a person who’d finally snapped – but controlled – resolute – and playful even. Nothing like you’d ever seen. Nothing you could understand.
“What’s wrong, hm?” He smiles, head tipped in that charming way that used to make you want to pinch his cheek. Now it just makes you sick to look at – swallowing thickly as you tack another step back away from it. “I’ll go easy – so don’t worry… I know it's not exactly a fair fight anymore…”
Your better judgment failed you – fight-or-flight kicked in, and you made a break for it.
Budging into the couch on your way, it’s a messy scramble for the door – but you manage. Feeling feverish with dread and pumped full of adrenaline, you brush the cold handle with just your fingertips before something wraps around your midriff in a snug grip – pulling you back into the living room.
You’re lifted from the ground, kicking – now screaming – flailing in the air before you’re flipped on your back against the couch.
“Don’t be like that~” He murmurs. “Always so wishy-washy~” Voice in a low purr that makes you feel like coughing up your heart – squirming beneath him and his heavy hands as they paw your thighs – manhandling you like nothing you’d ever imagine him to do.
Raking his fingers through the dough before squeezing your ass greedily – kneading his fat crotch against the thin fabric protecting your sex.
“Complaining about all your weak-dicked boyfriends as if begging me to come fuck you myself – yet such a flighty little slut when it comes down to it.” He sneers, and blackwhip tightens some around your limbs. “Let me help you out.”
One hand tugs your underwear until it rips, whilst the other hand pulls up to grab your face – squeezing your cheeks to keep you still when forcing his kisses on you.
“After all… what are friends for?”
♡ DEKU - MIDORIYA IZUKU masterlist ♡ BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA masterlist
#yandere bnha#yandere boku no hero academia#yandere mha#yandere my hero academia#yandere midoriya x reader#yandere midoriya#yandere midoriya izuku#yandere deku x reader#yandere deku#yandere izuku#yandere deku x y/n#daddy deku#deku x reader#deku x you#yandere izuku x reader#yandere izuku midoriya#izuku x reader#izuku midoria x reader#deku smut#izuku smut#midoriya x reader#izuku midoriya smut#midoriya smut#deku x y/n#yandere
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OKAY IVE BEEN IMAGINING A HAWKS X BAKUGOUS OLDER BROTHER READER?? okay but here me out bro, reader has been dating hawks for a while now, occasional family dinners at readers house with his parents, not brother, due to the fact that he’s training.
reader never brought up the fact that his younger brother goes to ua, and hawks never said anything about teaching 1a gym time-to-time, one day, reader goes to pick up katsuki early from school, and he realizes hawks is teaching, basically how everyone would react to one, finding out bakugou has a brother, and two he’s dating hawks??
(ps, hawks knew of readers last name, but never thought anything of it,)
big bro
keigo takami x male! older bakugou brother! reader
genre: fluff and slight crack oneshot (1,300ish words)
notes: i’m not a massive fan of how i wrote this (i don’t think it’s very good) but it’s been sitting in my drafts for months so here you go
synopsis: reader is katsuki's older brother who is dating hawks -- katsuki doesn't know reader is dating hawks, and hawks doesn't know katsuki is reader's brother. it stays that way until reader has to pick up katsuki from school early while hawks is teaching.
masterlist | make a request
Principal Nezu is shorter than you expect.
You expected him to be a man-sized rat, not a rat-sized man; though you suppose that isn’t an apt description either, given that he’s at least 2 feet tall and most rats aren’t 2 feet tall.
Regardless, he's still pretty intimidating when you run into him in the hall and he starts to ask you what you're doing.
"I'm looking for Bakugou Katsuki -- uh, my little brother. My parents wanted me to pick him up early since we're leaving today to go on a trip." Nezu seriously makes you nervous.
“Bakugou Katsuki is in Hero Training as of right now. You’ll be able to find him in the gym!” He smiles at you, teeth surprisingly white for a rodent. “Make sure to alert his teacher before you leave,” Nezu continues, an unnerving glint in his abyss-like eyes. You decide not to ask why he knows Katsuki’s timetable by heart.
“Sure. Thanks, Principal Nezu,” you smile, offering him a handshake kindly.
“Anytime, Bakugou-san.”
As you step into the gym, the first thing you notice is the smell of sweat. That, and the temperature. Despite the amount of heat emanating from the fire quirks of a select few and the body heat of everyone in the gym, it’s — surprisingly — rather cool. UA's unflinching ability to invest copious amounts of money into air conditioning was impressive. Your eyes trail across the sweeping ceilings and expensive equipment, whistling lowly. I should come here more often.
1-A looks to be split into pairs — sparring, maybe? — each student difficult to view clearly under the thin blanket of steam and smoke that surrounds them. Katsuki, however, is easy to spot among them. His explosions light up the room, the sound of the loud booms only rivalled by his rage-fuelled yelling. You watch, amused. Glad he’s… letting that out.
As much as you didn’t want to interrupt class (the idea of 20 different teenagers having their undivided attention on you was a terrifying thought), the teacher was nowhere in sight and you were running out of time. “Katsuki!” you call, waving at the angry red glare that lands on you. The boy, in response, rolls his eyes snidely and stays rooted on the spot.
You sigh. Little brothers are so goddamn annoying. “Let’s go, dude,” you urge, emphasising your words with a vague ‘hurry up’ gesture. He scowls, but obliges nonetheless, walking slowly over with his hands shoved into his pockets. Once he's in front of you, he stops.
“My teacher isn’t here. I can’t leave yet.”
“Isn’t it their job to, you know, teach? Where the fuck did they go?” You furrow your brows.
“Fuck if I know,” Katsuki responds, matching your curses with equal indifference. “He went with Deku to go and get something.”
“Izuku’s here?”
“Why wouldn’t he be, dumbass? He’s in my class.”
And that’s when you notice the rest of 1-A. 18 pairs of eyes stare at you in utter shock and confusion, burning with questions. Your body stills, awkward under their gazes.
“Is that… your brother?” a red-haired boy with sharp teeth asks, looking between you and Katsuki slowly.
“Yeah,” Katsuki replies nonchalantly.
You take in the other boy's appearance: the insane amount of gel in his weirdly-styled hair, pointed teeth and the fact that he was sparring with Katsuki. Close friend, bad hair?
“You must be Shitty Hair.” you say, prompting half of the class to erupt into giggles. Vaguely, you recall his name is Kirishima, but Katsuki says it so rarely that you barely even associate it with him. ‘Shitty Hair’ blushes at the attention, nodding bashfully with an awkward smile. He rubs the nape of his neck, glancing once again between Katsuki and you.
“I can see how you’re related,” he laughs uncertainly.
“I can see who got the good genes,” a pink-haired girl with horns calls, “clearly not Bakugou.”
“YOU WANNA SAY THAT AGA—”
The doors slam open. You first see Izuku, who pauses at the commotion, and behind him you see… your boyfriend? What the fuck?
“Keigo?”
“[Y/N]?”
“[Y/N]-nii?” Izuku adds.
“Nii?” someone whispers in confusion.
“Hey, Izuku,” you respond weakly.
Silence falls. You take a moment to appreciate Keigo in his hero costume before the dots connect and you turn to Katsuki accusingly.
“He’s your teacher!?”
“He’s your brother!?” Keigo counters.
You turn to your boyfriend. “I told you I have a brother. You know my last name. You’ve literally met my mother and she’s the carbon-copy of Katsuki. Keigo, what even?”
“Er, well, in hindsight, maybe you’re right— but... you’re so nice,” he says, disbelief evident in his wide eyes and confused brows. “And he’s so… not—”
“The fuck did you just say—!?”
“Young man, I will give you a detention if you swear at me again,” Keigo says sternly, schooling his face into something unnaturally serious and crossing his toned arms over his chest. You can see the humour dancing his eyes, prompting you to chuckle quietly.
Katsuki rolls his eyes. “Yes, Hawks-sensei,” he mutters, face contorted into a scowl. He angrily taps his shoe on the ground.
“Stop being a shit,” you chide, grabbing Katsuki by the shoulder roughly and rubbing your knuckles into his skull. The rest of 1-A watches on in absolute disbelief. (Except Izuku. He’s used to this.)
Katsuki groans exasperatedly, “You stop being a shit.”
“Hey!” Hawks gasps dramatically, “don’t call my boyfriend a shit!”
Silence.
You rub a hand over your temple in an attempt to ease your oncoming headache.
“YOUR FUCKING WHAT?!”
“Katsuki—”
The rest of 1-A is left in shock. (Including Izuku, this time). Some start yelling, some look like they’ve turned to stone, the usual. You’re too busy trying to hold back your feral little brother from attacking Keigo — you know he won’t actually, you’re just hoping Keigo knows that too.
“Wait, you’re gay?” A boy who you can recall as Kaminari splutters. Your face crinkles into confusion, nose scrunching like you’ve smelt a bad odour. You can see why Katsuki calls him Dunce Face.
“It runs in the family,” you say, with a pointed look to Katsuki.
His exhaustion must’ve caught up to him since he only offers a middle finger in response. Kaminari bursts into startled and slightly scared laughter.
A warm arm makes its way around your waist and it takes an embarrassing amount of effort for you to suppress a smile. You don’t even have to look at Keigo to know that he’s grinning.
Neither of you are big fans of PDA, but the urge to hug him right now is particularly strong; especially since he’s right there, but there’s also 20 kids right there which sucks and you have to go—
Right. You and Katsuki need to go. That was the point of this whole ordeal.
“Keigo,” you murmur, quiet enough for only him to hear. The rest of the class has ignored the two of you in favour of chatting amongst themselves or questioning Katsuki. Keigo hums, meeting your eyes. He smiles, his golden irises pooling with affection and his arm squeezing gently around your waist, seemingly in a trance. You chuckle, “I need to go.”
He startles. “Right! Right,” he says, clearing his throat. You pretend not to notice the faint tinge of red high on his cheekbones.
“Okay, 1-A. I’m gonna go sort this out quickly,” Keigo says to the class, his voice raised slightly in order to drown out the talking. “So please continue sparring — without quirks — until I’m back. I won’t be long.”
The class answers an affirmative, and then the two of you (plus Katsuki) are out the door. You turn to face Keigo, placing a quick peck on his lips. “I thought I just needed to tell you Katsuki was leaving and then you’d sort it?”
“That’s true… but I missed you,” Keigo sighs wearily, acting like he hadn’t seen you in years. (You spent the night with him literally yesterday.)
“Stop before I tear my fucking eyes out,” Katsuki interrupts. Keigo lifts his head to glare unhappily at him.
“Piss off, Katsuki,” you grumble, placing a slightly longer kiss on Keigo’s lips. You pull away at the realisation that you’re probably late, which means you’ll probably have to face the wrath of Mitsuki Bakugo. “I should— we should go. I’ve stayed way longer than I needed to.”
“Thank fuck,” Katsuki grumbles, occupying himself with his phone. Teenagers.
Keigo groans dejectedly but lets you go nonetheless. He watches you walk away, waving. “Bye, honeybear!”
“Don’t call me that!”
#hawks#hawks x reader#hawks x male reader#keigo takami#x male reader#male reader#reader#keigo x male reader#keigo x reader#keigo takami x male reader#keigo takami x reader#hawks fic#hawks fanfic#keigo takami fic#keigo takami fanfic#masc reader#x masc reader#x reader#katsuki bakugo#bakugo katsuki#katsuki bakugou#bakugou katsuki#bakugo#bakugou#bakugo fic#bnha x reader#bnha x male reader#mha x reader#mha x male reader#mha
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Deku Dating hc!! ୨ৎ
Pairing(s): Izuku Midoriya x Gn!Reader
Creds ~ first divider: @/khaer 2nd divider: @/strangergraphics-archive Art: @/xuune/kaiihuna or @/_kaiihua on twt
HE IS SO FLUSTERED OMG
Not even an exaggeration, the moment you confessed it was like blud went into cardiac arrest
Once he regained his wits he reciprocated your feelings all in a couple of stutters and accidental muttering
How charming
All sarcasm aside, it really is endearing
Yknow how most of the people in class 1-A are unnecessarily weirded out by his muttering
Plus how Deku is more often than not, called names by his own fandom 💀
Well he thinks that way about himself too
Sure you get along more than just fine but seeing him apologize for being more than a little nerdy is shocking to say the least
I mean if anything his “weird” and nerdy self is literally part of his charm and you make this known
Reread that first bullet point for a hint to how he reacted to you telling him that
Anyway
It’s likely you guys met at UA
I mean it’s where he’s made the most friends at (if any) and the only reason he talked to you was either it was inevitable or he absolutely fan boy-ed over your quirk
If you guys had some sort of romantic connotation and you had to fight against each other in the sports festival he’d be pretty conflicted
Although, you’d probably not want him to hold back
If anything he’s just sorry about the whole ordeal 😭
As a boyfriend Deku is shy(?)
I mean just look at how he reacted to technically a none romantic gesture and just interaction - he’s definitely going to be flustered for the majority of you two hanging out
Overall he’s really sweet
Like genuinely it’s surprising that he’s never actually been with someone in a real relationship before
If you disagree… look at him in the beginning of the anime 😭💀)
At most he was probably jokingly asked out or asked out on a dare in the past
I do think that hero life would sort of interfere with romantic relations for you both(assuming ur attending UA)
So there’s times where meeting up or just hanging out would be difficult
But when you two can hang out- it’s really nice
You’re either going to fast food restaurants, going shopping or doing anything really-
These outings are similar in the fact that they all often end in you both fighting some villian 😭
There is this one instance where before the dorms were introduced- you and Izuku had stayed to train or clean- whatever it was at school
He got a call from inko and upon finding out you (someone he does nothing but yap about to her) were around, well, she figured she’d invite you for dinner
Queue you finally meeting Inko and if you’re nervous and want to get a gift of some kind Izuku is kind of laughing but also happy that you want to “impress” her
Even though she loves you already
When you meet inko, she’s is buzzing with as much nervous energy as Izuku is
Funny how similar they are
The dinner goes smoothly and if anything she just approves of you more
Now eventually dorms get introduced and so does sneaking around
Don’t tell me no one in class 1-a wouldn’t sneak around- they’re high schoolers and you can’t tell me they wouldn’t just want to have stereotypical sleepovers
Among those who would sneak around is you
Izuku is less likely to because he’s a bit shy and if he’s ever caught- God kill him now 😭
So ofc you end up sneaking to his room
Which sorta backfires because he loves all might and all might is just staring at you in every direction you look.
The merch is just too excessive
Even then, a sleepover is too much for him and in Izuku fashion- he gets flustered
It takes awhile for him to chill 😭
Holding hands? In the hall way?
If you manage to hold hands for 5 seconds before Iida or Bakugo mention it then you’ve got a personal best!
(Iida because he says no PDA, and bakugo cuz him and his big ass mouth always got something to say)
——————
A/n: hope u liked! ^^
#fanfic#gn reader#male reader#fluff#fanfic fluff#female reader#fluff headcanons#deku#mha deku#bnha deku#deku x reader#izuku midoriya#mha izuku#bnha izuku#izuku x reader#izuku midoria x reader#izuku midoriya x reader#mha#mha x reader#mha x male reader#mha x female reader#bhna x reader#bhna headcanons#mha x you#dating headcanons#relationship headcanons
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SHIGARAKI VS. YUBEL: HOW TO SAVE YOUR VILLAIN
The failure of Deku to save Shigaraki isn’t just a tragic conclusion for Shigaraki’s arc, it’s also My Hero Academia failing as a story. When I say the story failed, I mean the story has failed to answer any of the questions it asked its audience. It’s themes, character arcs, everything that communicates the meaning of the story to the audience is no longer clear.
Saving Shigaraki was the central goal of not only the story itself, but the main character Deku. By failing in its goal you can’t call this a good ending. In order to illustrate why this goal of saving the villain is so important to both Deku’s character and the central idea of MHA, I’m going to provide a positive example in Yu-Gi-Oh GX were the main character Judai successfully saves their villain. One of these stories fails, and the other succeeds. I will illustrate why under the cut.
BROKEN THEMES = BROKEN STORY
When artists draw they have to consider things like perspective, anatomy, shading, light, coloring. Drawing has rules, and it’s hard to produce good art without knowing these rules beforehand. If I draw something that has bad anatomy, you can criticize me for that.
Writing has rules, just like drawing. The rules of storytelling are important because writing is an act of communication. You can write whatever you want, just like how you can draw whatever you want, but if you break the rules the audience won’t understand what you are trying to communicate.
When I refer to MHA as a broken story, I am referring to the fact that it has broken the rules of storytelling. As this youtuber explains.
“I guess we should first define what broke and broken even means in this context. Has the story turned into an unintelligible mess? Not really. Value judgements aside, the narrative is still functional and fulfills the criteria of being a story. So how can a story that still functions be broken? Maybe to you it cannot. But to me a story that is still functional isn’t enough. What I mean when I say MHA is broken is that it’s lost something crucial. A codifying style of structure, pacing and payoff that until a certain point was the core of its identity.”
I could launch into a long-winded explanation of what themes are, but for the sake of simplicity I like to define themes in terms of “Ask, and answer.” The author asks a question to the audience, and then by the end of the story provides an answer. The audience is also invited to come up with their own answer which prompts them to think about the story on a deeper level. The question both MHA and GX are asking both its main characters and the audience is “Can you save the villain?” with the additional complicated question of “Should you save the villain?” This post will detail how both stories go about answering those two questions, and more importantly why those answers matter for the story.
With Great Power… You know the rest.
My Hero Academia and Yu-Gi-Oh Gx are actually similar stories once you get past their superficial differences. MHA is a story with way better worldbuilding, compared to a society where everything revolves around the trading card game, and people go to school to be better at a trading card game.
However, if you get past that. They are both bildungsroman, stories about the main characters growing up into adults. They both have an academy setting where the goal is for the main character to graduate and enter the adult world. They are both shonen manga. GX is the sequel of Yu-Gi-Oh a manga that ran in Shonen Jump the exact same magazine as MHA. The biggest point of comparison is their main characters, who both start out as young and naive who are driven by their admiration of heroes. Deku is a fan of All Might who wants to become a hero despite not having a quirk, because he loves All might who saves everyone with a smile. Judai’s entire deck archetype revolves around “Elemental Heroes’ and later “Neo-Spacians” who are all based on popular sentai heroes like ultraman.
The central arc for both characters is to grow up. Growing up for both of them not only requires figuring out what kind of adult they want to be, but also what kind of hero they want to be.
Now I’m going to drastically oversimplify what a character arc is.
A character arc first starts out with the character being wrong. Being wrong is essential because if the character is right from the beginning, then there’s no point in telling the story. A character often holds the wrong idea about the world, or has some sort of flaw that hinders their growth. The narrative then needs to challenge them on that flaw. It usually sets up some kind of goal or win condition. That flaw gets in the way of a character “winning” or achieving their goal, so they need to fix that flaw first. If their ideals are wrong, then they need to think about what the right ideals are. If they’re too childish, they need to grow up. If they have unhealthy behaviors or coping mechanisms, they need to unlearn it and require better ones. Otherwise, that flaw will keep sabotaging them until the end.
I’m borrowing the word “win condition” from class1akids here because it’s an incredibly appropriate terminology. Midoriya needs to do “x” in order to win, otherwise this victory doesn’t feel earned. The “x” in this case is usually character development. As I said before, a story where the main character hasn’t changed from beginning to end feels pointless. Especially in Deku’s case, he was already a brave, strong hero who would charge right into battle and defeat the bad guys in chapter one, so him defeating Shigaraki in a fist fight doesn’t represent a change.
The story sets up not only “What does the hero need to do to win?” but also “How does the hero need to change in order to win?” A character either meets these requirements before the end of the story, or they don’t and usually this results in a negative ending.
MHA in its first half quite clearly set up both the final conflict of saving the villains, and also that saving the villains is its “win conditions.” The hero shouldn't be allowed to win without first fixing this flaw.
From this panel onward the central question Deku is forced to answer shifts from “Am I strong enough to defeat ShigarakI” to “Can I save Shigaraki?” However, much earlier than that All Might goes on to basically set up the win conditions of what makes the ultimate hero as someone who “Saves by winning, and wins by saving.”
All might: You can become the ultimate heroes. Ones who save by winning, and win by saving.
Therefore the story has set it’s criteria for what kind of hero Deku needs to become. If he wins without saving, then he’s failed to become what the series has set up as the Ultimate Hero.
Shigaraki and Yubel aren’t just narrative obstacles, or boss monsters to be killed like in a video game. They are narrative challenges, which means that the character can’t grow in any way if they don’t answer the challenge presented by the characters. They are villains who actively resist being saved, to provide a challenge for two heroes who define their heroism by saving others. The challenge they pose adds a third question to the story and the main characters.
"Can I save the villain?"
"Should I save the villain?"
"If I don't save the villain, then can I really call myself a hero?"
In other words the decision they make in saving, or not saving their final antagonist defines what kind of hero they are. In Deku’s case it’s even more critical he defines what hero he wants to be because the MHA is also a generational story, and several of the kids are asked to prove how exactly this generation of heroes is going to surpass the last one. The kids growing physically stronger than the last generation isn’t a satisfactory answer, Deku getting strong enough to punch Shigaraki hard is not a satisfactory answer, because we are reading a story and not watching a boxing match.
I’m going to focus on the last two questions though for a moment. Many people who argue against saving villains like Shigaraki argue he is a mass murderer and therefore isn’t worthy of salvation. However, the act of saving Shigaraki isn’t a reflection of Shigaraki himself, but rather the kind of hero Deku wants to be. It all boils down to Spiderman. In the opening issue of Spiderman, teenage Peter Parker is bitten by a radioactive spider and suddenly gains super strength, the ability to stick to walls along with other powers. However, being a teenager he uses these powers selfishly at first. He doesn’t feel the obligation to use his powers for other people, and therefore when he sees a robbery happening right in front of him he lets the robber go. However, because he lets the robber go, the robber then attempts to hijack a car and kills his Uncle Ben in the process. If Spiderman had stopped the robber then he might have prevented that from happening. He had the power to stop the robber, but he didn’t feel responsible or obligated to save other people. As a result Uncle Ben dies. It’s not enough to have power, ti’s how you use that power that reflects who you are, therefore: “with great power comes great responsibility.”
The choice to save Shigaraki actually has little to do with whether or not Shigaraki is redeemable, but rather how Deku chooses to use his power, and what he thinks he is responsible for reflects who Deku is as a person. Deku himself also clearly outlines how he wants to use his power, that One for All is a power for saving, and not killing.
How he uses his power reflects Deku’s ideal in saving others, and therefore if he doesnt use his power to save, then he’s failed to live up to his ideals. It's not whether it's morally right to save a murderer like Shigaraki, but rather the way Deku wants to choose to use his power. It's about whether he feels the responsibility to save others.
Judai explores an incredibly similar arc to Deku. They are basically both asked what kind of responsibilities a hero is supposed to have, which is also a metaphor for growing up to handle the responsibilities of adulthood. As both characters start out with incredibly naive and childish ideas about what a hero is. Therefore realizing what a hero is responsible for is key to them growing as a character. However, Judai is different from Deku. In some ways he’s more like Bakugo. Judai is a prodigy who’s naturally good at dueling. He doesn’t duel to save others, but rather because duels are fun and he’s good at it. He’s very much like Bakugo, who admired All Might as a hero just as much as Deku did, but admired the fact that he was strong and always won rather than he saved others.
However, I would say both Deku and Judai are questioning what a hero is responsible for. They are both asking if they have the responsibility to use their power to save others. If they have to fight for other people, just because they have power. His first big challenge as a character comes from Edo Phoenix, who calls out Judai for not thinking through what it means to be a hero, and what responsibilities heroes carry. Judai duels because he thinks it’s fun. He will show up to duel to help his friends, but that’s because he’s the most powerful person in the group. Even then it’s because he finds fighting strong opponents to be enjoyable. Bakugo will beat up a villain, but for him it’s more about winning then if the action will save someone or not.
Judai is more often than not pushed into the role of being a hero, he doesn’t play the hero because he’s a particularly selfless person, and he’ll often avoid responsibility if not forced. He has power but no sense of responsibility and the narrative calls them out as a problem.
Edo: Can you even fathom that, Judai?
For Judai, he can’t understand the responsibility of being a hero. For Deku, he idealizes heroes so much he can’t understand that there are people out there the heroes have failed to save. These two callouts towards Deku and Judai are discussing similar because they’re both discussing where a hero’s responsibilities lie. Is a hero responsible for saving everyone? Is someone strong like Judai responsible for using their strength to help other people?
Judai’s arc continues into the third season where he’s not shown to just be naive but ignorant. He’s not just childish, he actively resists growing up because he doesn’t want to take on adult responsibilities.
THe same way that Deku just decides not to think about whether or not All Might failed to save people in the panels above. However, in Judai's case he's actively called out for his choice to remain ignorant.
Satou: Now, which one is at fault? Judai: Isn’t it the guy who saw it, but didn’t pick it up. Satou: Not quite. If one is aware of the trash that fell, it may be picked up someday. But there is no possibility fo the unaware one ever picking it up. Judai-kun you are the foolish one unaware of the trash that has fallen. Judai: Are you calling me out for how I am? Satou: Your behavior towards me was atrocious. The worst was attending class only for credit, even if you were there you only slept. Judai: Yeah, I know. I was all bad, but it wasn’t that big a- Satou: It is important. You see, one by one, the students inspired by your attitude were losing their motivation. Now if you were a mediocre duelist, then this would not be an issue. Satou: However, you are the same hero who defeated the three mythic demons. Every single student in the academy admires you. You should have been a model for this academy. Judai: Me, a role model? Are you kidding? I just do whatever I feel like doing. Satou: Great power comes with great responsibility. Yet, as you remain unaware of that, you’ve spread your lethargy and self-indulgence.
seems like a minor issue, but look how Judai responds to the accusations. “I just do whatever I feel like doing.” Satou is arguing that Judai should pay attention to the influence he has on others because of his power, because how he chooses to use that power affects others. However, Judai chooses to actively not look at the consequences of his actions because he doesn’t want to take on that level of responsibility, and therefore he’s looking away from the trash.
While it seems like it doesn’t matter in Satou’s specific example, not thinking of the consequences, or how you use your power can have unexpected consequences. Spiderman doesn’t feel like it’s his responsibility to stop a bank robber, and that bank robber shoots his uncle. You could still argue it’s not Spiderman’s responsibility to stop every crime in the world, and I guess no one owes anyone anything from that point of view - but Spiderman failing to act responsibility had the consequence of directly hurting someone else.
Spiderman has to live with that consequence because it was his own Uncle that was hurt. This is where we really reach the duality of Judai.
In GX, Judai is, symbolically speaking, The Fool of the Tarot Deck, the Novice Alchemist — a person brimming with infinite potential, yet one who is also supremely ignorant, who walks forward with his eyes closed and often unknowingly causes harm in his great ignorance. In this, he is very much the embodiment of the faults we most commonly associate with teenagers — selfishness, recklessness, shallowness, a lack of dedication or empathy when it’s most needed. Like most people, he has good traits that work to balance out some of the above, but his narrative path through GX ends up being that of the flawed hero undone by his faults — and then that of the atoner, the repentant sinner. In his case, the mistakes of his teenage years are the catalyst for his growth from a boy into a man burdened with duty and purpose. Judai is someone with infinite potential, with great power, but also ignorant on how he should use that power, and that makes him an incredibly flawed hero who needs to learn how that power should be used.
Deku similarly exists in a society where heroes deliberately turn a blind eye to the suffering of a certain type of victim. Shigaraki’s speech heavily resmebles Satou’s speech about garbage on the side of the road.
Shigarali: "For generations you pretended not to see those you coudln't protect and swept their pain under the rug. It's tainted everything you've built."
Deku shares Judai’s ignorance, because he’s not only a part of a system that doesn’t even see trash on the side of the road, but he also worships heroes so much that he’s incapable of criticizing them. If Deku saw the flaws of heroes, but at first didn’t have the courage to speak out, but eventually gained the courage that would be one thing. However, if he doesn’t see the flaws of heroes, then the problem will never be fixed.
There are also consequences for both Judai and Deku failing to use their powers responsibly. These consequences take the form of the villains who came about because of all of society’s ignorance to the suffering of victims (Shigaraki) and because of the main character’s ignorance to their suffering (Yubel). Shigaraki and Yubel are also explicitly victims that the heroes failed to save, turned into villains who are active threats to the heroes.
Should I save the villain?
The answer is yes, because the decision to save is reflective of the kind of hero each character wants to be. Each story clearly sets up that Deku and Judai aren’t punisher style heroes who shoot their villains, they are being set up as heroes who save. Deku needs to “save by winning.” As for Judai, a big deal is made of Judai’s admiration for another character Johan who represents a more idealistic kind of hero. Johan unlike Judai is someone who duels with a purpose, something Judai outright says he admires because he’s empty in comparison.
Judai: Johan what have you been dueling for? See, it’s about fun for me… Well, for the surprise and happiness too. I guess I do do it for the fun. Sorry, I guess I put you on the spot by asking out of nowhere. Johan: What’s this about Judai? Judai: It’s nothing. Johan: I suppose there is one goal I have. Johan: Even if someone doesn’t have the power to see spirits, they can still form a bond with a spirit. That’s why I do it for people like him. [...] Johan: I'll fight for everyone who believes in me, and I'll do it with my Duel Monsters. Judai: I'm jealous you've got feelings like those in you.
Becoming a hero who uses their power to help others isn’t just a goal the story sets for Judai, it’s a goal that Judai sets for himself because of his admiration for Johan. Johan represents the idealistic hero Judai wants to be, but is also held back from because of his personality flaws. Johan represents the kind of heroic ideal that Deku is aspiring to be.
Johan’s ultimate goal isn’t punishing the wicked, but to use his power to save others.
Johan: Judai, it was my dream to save everyone through my dueling!
The story sets up the idea that it’s not enough for Judai to simply be strong, he’s also challenged to become a savior who uses his power to help others like Johan. Deku needs to “save by winning” and Judai needs to “Save everyone through his dueling.” However, Johan also adds another condition to what saving means. His idea of saving isn’t to defeat a villain, but rather his dream is to help connect spirits and humans together, even if there are humans who can’t see spirits. Johan doesn’t save people with the power of physical force, but rather the power of human connection.
Should I save the villain?
Here the answer is "Yes", because wants to become more like Johan someone who uses their power to help others not just for themselves. Then we reach the third question
If I don't save the villain, can I really call myself a hero?
It once again comes to power and responsibility. Heroes have great power, and they are responsible in how they use that power, if they use it irresponsibly then there are consequences. Shigaraki wants to destroy hero society, because the heroes irresponsibly use their power to turn a blind eye to everyone’s suffering.
People suffer when heroes fail to live up to their responsibilities. The entire conflict of season 3 is created by Judai failing to save Yubel. If Judai had helped Yubel when they most needed it, instead of abandoning them, then Yubel would never have been twisted by the light of destruction, would never have attempted to teleport the school to another dimension, would never have attacked all of JUdai’s friends.
These consequences matter. Deku can turn his eyes away from Shigaraki’s suffering, but let’s say a hero failed to stop a robbery, or rather he didn’t even try, and because of that his mom was shot and died in the street. Would Deku consider the man who failed to stop a bank robbery a hero? When Spiderman let a bank robber go instead of trying to stop him, was he being a hero in that moment? Both the stories and the characters themselves have defined heroes as people who use their powers to save others, therefore if Judai and Yubel fail to save their villains then they can’t be called heroes by the story’s own definition. Now let’s finally return to the question of "Can I save the villain?"
Was there ever someone you couldn’t save?
m going to start with Yu-Gi-Oh Gx as a positive example of how to save your villain. Gx works for two reasons. One, it’s established from the start that Yubel isn’t beyond salvation, and two, it makes it so Judai can’t win without saving Yubel. The conflict of the story does not end until Judai makes the decision to save Yubel. In some ways the writing is even stronger because Judai is directly responsible for the pain and suffering that Yubel went through that turned them into a villain in the first place. Yubel isn’t just a victim, they’re specifically Judai’s victim.
Yubel is a duel spirit who is also essentially Judai’s childhood friend. A duel spirit just like the kind that Johan wants to save. During their childhood Yubel got too overprotective of Judai, and started to curse his friends for making him cry or upsetting him in any way. Until everyone Judai’s age started avoiding him and Judai became all alone with only Yubel for company. Judai’s decision was to abandon Yubel at that time. He took the yubel card and shot them into space, hoping that being bathed in space rays will somehow “fix” what was wrong with them. I know that’s silly but just go with it. Judai abandoning Yubel had the unintended consequence of Yubel being subjected to the light of destruction, a corrupting light that subjected Yubel to years of pain. This pain literally takes the form of Yubel burning alive.
Yubel connected to his dreams called out for Judai every night, only for Judai’s parents to give him surgery that repressed his memories of Yubel causing him to forget them entirely. Yubel then spent the next ten years alone in space, continuously subjected to painful torture, with their cries for help being ignored.
"I was suffering even as you came to forget about me..."
Yubel is then met with the question of how can Judai treat them this way if they loved him so much? As from Yubel’s perspective, they’ve only ever tried to protect Judai, only for Judai to not only throw them away, but subject them to painful torture and ignore their cries for help. Judai effectively moves on with his life, goes to duel academy, makes friends while Yubel is left to suffer in silence all but forgotten. This is where Judai’s ignorance has serious plot consequences.
It’s not just the pain that Yubel endured that made them snap. It’s that their pain went ignored.
Yubel holds out the faint hope that Judai will answer their calls fro help until they finally burn up upon re-entry into earth’s orbit. At which point they’re left as nothing more than a single hand crawling on the ground. Yubel who cannot fathom why Judai would cause them so much pain, and then forget about them, convinces themselves that Judai must be causing them pain, BECAUSE he loves them.
But you see, I couldn't possibly forget about you in the time that I've suffered...
Judai is allowed to move on with his life, to make friends, to spend the next ten years doing so while Yubel is subjected to ten years of agony. When they finally escape their painful torment, they see all the friends Judai has made while they’re left alone and forgotten. However, Yubel’s goal isn’t revenge. Rather, it’s to make Judai share and recognize their pain. WHich is why I said it’s not the fact that they were made to suffer, but their suffering is ignored. Yubel’s entire philosophy revolves around the idea that sharing pain is an expression of love, and that they and Judai share their love for each other by hurting each other.
"That's why I sought to fill all those linked to you, your world, with both sadness and anguish..."
For Yubel, making all of Judai’s friends suffer and Judai themselves suffer is a way of making them and Judai equals again. They want to show “their love” for Judai, but it’s more about forcing Judai to recognize the pain he’s caused them by forcing him through the same pain. Yubel’s philosophy of sharing pain is actually a twisted form of empathy.
They’re not entirely wrong either, that even people who love each other can cause each other pain, and that if one person is suffering alone in a relationship or the suffering is one-sided then there’s something wrong with that relationship.
Yubel: I get it now… You weren’t in love, with Echo. Yubel: No.. you may have loved her just enough to clear the conditions in palace for you to control Exodia, but the you didn’t truly love each other. Yubel: You were only unfairly hurting her, while you stayed unharmed. You wouldn’t suffer. You wouldn’t suffer. You wouldn’t be in pain. Amon: What are you getting at? Yubel: I’ve been hurt! I’ve suffered! I’ve been in pain. That’s why I’m making JUdai feel the same things I did!
Yubel’s twisted theory of love, is a pretty thinly veiled cry for empathy.
They break out into tears when talking to Amon about the way they’ve hurt and suffered. They clearly state upfront that their goal is for Judai to recognize their love. One of the first things they say to Judai is a plea for Judai to remember them.
Yubel is presented as a very human character suffering through a lot of pain throughout their entire villai arc, they break down into tears multiple times, they cry out in agony, they're visibly suffering and you see their mental walls begin to break down when Judai denies them any empathy.
Yubel is actually incredibly clear and straightforward about their desire to be saved by Judai. However, Judai doesn’t lift a single finger to help Yubel the entire arc, even though they themselves admit they are directly responsible for Yubel’s suffering but they helped create who they are today.
Judai plunges into a different dimension and gives up everything to save someone, but it’s Johan, not Yubel they try to save. You have Johan, the perfect friend, and perfect victim that Judai gets obsessed over and will not stop at anything to save, and then you have Yubel, the imperfect victim that is actively harming Judai and all of his friends that Judai chooses to ignore. The whole season Judai only focuses on saving the perfect victim Johan, and this is clearly shown to be a flaw. Judai doesn’t just ignore Yubel to save Johan, he also ignores every single one of his friends.
Judai only caring about saving Johan, and deliberately ignoring and abandoning the friends who came with him to help, essentially abandoning them the way he did Yubel leads to another consequence. After he abandons them they get captured, rounded up, and actually die and become human sacrifices.
Losing his friends, causes Judai to snap. Judai becomes the supreme king and decides power is all that matters; he starts killing duel spirits en masse in order to forge the super polymerization card. Which means being left alone, suffering alone, being abandoned by everyone causes Judai to snap the exact same way that Yubel did.
In fact Judai is only saved from his darkest moment, because two of his friends sacrifice their lives, trying to get through to him and appeal to his humanity. At that point Judai’s friends could have just chosen to put him down like a mad dog, to punish him for the amount of people he’s killed, but instead they try to save him because of their friendship.
I just want to save my friend. That is all.
By the time Judai is facing Yubel in their final fight, Judai doesn’t have the moral highground against Yubel in any way whatsoever. They’ve both lashed out because of the pain they endured and killed countless people in the process of lashing out. The only real difference between them is that Judai is lucky. He had friends to support him at his lowest point, while Yubel didn’t. Does Judai learn from Jim’s example, and go out of their way to save Yubel the same way they were saved because Yubel is still a friend? Nope, Judai tries to kill Yubel at this point.
I made a lot of friends... And they all taught me something… real love is wide enough, large enough and deep enough to fill the universe. Your so-called love is only a conceited delusion.
Like, Judai, sweetie baby honey darling. How was Yubel supposed to make friends when they were floating in the empty void of space?
Judai hasn’t learned, they are still ignorant, and still turn a blind eye to Yubel’s suffering. After all if his love is wide enough, large enough,and deep enough to fill the universe then why don’t thy have any room in their heart whatsoever for empathizing with Yubel?
Judai making friends while Yubel was trapped in space doesn’t make Judai a better person than Yubel, it makes Judai lucky. Judai doesn’t even appreciate that luck, because he treats his friends like garbage. It’s not about whether Yubel is worthy of salvation, because Judai is a mass murderer and his friends still went to great lengths to save them anyway. It’s that Judai doesn’t want to empathize with Yubel, because they still want to remain ignorant and irresponsible. Judai wants to continue playing hero, with a very black and white definition of what a hero is. By this point Judai’s killed lots of people, but if he makes Yubel the villain in the situation, he can keep playing hero. He doesn’t have to look at himself and what he’s done, because blaming everything that happened on Yubel and then putting Yubel down like a mad dog allows Judai to absolve his own guilt. Judai practically ignores Yubel’s cries for help, even when Yubel spells it out for them.
I couldn't have lived with the heartache unless I felt that I was being loved...
At this point Yubel themselves acknowledges that their love was just a delusion. That it was a coping mechanism, because they couldn’t live with all the pain otherwise. WIthout it they would have just died, which makes Judai unmoved. The implication here is that Judai thinks yes, Yubel should have just died in that crater. It would have been easier for Yubel to die a perfect victim, then for Yubel to crawl out of that crater and go on to hurt other people. While that may be true the same can be said for Judai - it would have been better if Judai died rather than become the Supreme King. His friends could have put him down like a mad dog, you could have even called that justice - but they didn’t. Judai making no attempt to save Yubel isn’t because he thinks it’s morally wrong to save someone who’s killed as many people as Yubel has, or because he thinks he can’t forgive Yubel, it’s because Judai is taking the easy way out. Johan is a nice, easy victim to save, because he’s Judai’s perfect boyfriend, while Yubel is a complex victim that requires Judai to understand their suffering. Even the act of saving Johan isn’t about Johan himself, it’s about the fact that Judai feels guilt over Johan’s disappearance. What Judai wants isn’t really to save a friend, but to stop feeling guilty over that friend. Judai isn’t just disgusted by Yubel’s actions towards his friend, he also wants to avoid the guilt he feels over causing all of Yubel’s suffering, because it requires acknowledging the complex reality that he is both victim and perpretrator in this case, just as Yubel is both victim and perpetrator.
So how can an arc where Judai doesn’t try to save Yubel until the last possible minute, be better than an arc where Deku makes it his goal for the final act of the manga to save the crying boy in Shigaraki?
It’s because the story does not let Judai get away with his continual refusal to empathize with Yubel. Yubel’s entire character revolves around empathy, in the form of sharing pain. As a duel monster, Yubel’s effect is that they are a 0/0 attack monster who is immune to all damage, but when you attack them they deal all the damage back to you. Which means that Yubel will respond to all the pain they feel, by causing you just as much pain in return. Yubel is not a character who can be defeated in a fight, or a duel. In fact they’re the only Yu-Gi-Oh villain who never loses a duel once. The most Judai can do is duel them to a draw, and they draw three times. Yubel wins against everyone else who challenges them. In a way Yubel is like Shigaraki, the ultimate, unkillable enemy that can’t be done away with violence. Judai’s refusal to empathize with Yubel or attempt communication also makes them worse, every time Yubel is hurt they escalate. THe more Judai hurts them, the more they will hurt in return, it’s a cycle that will never be broken simply by killing Yubel, because Yubel is unkillable.
Not only that but the story has gone to great lengths to show that saving Yubel is the correct course of action. If Judai doesn’t save Yubel, he’s basically spitting on the selflessness Jim showed in saving him. In fact if he doesn’t save Yubel, Judai is contradicting his own words on what makes a good friend. Sho once asks Judai after witnessing his brother change, what he should do if a person you lov ehas changed into an entirely different person. What if they're a person you don't even recognize any more? A person you don’t even necessarily like anymore?
That's why if it were me. I'd probably just be looking after him until the very end, even if I didn't like him. I'd do it cause I think it'd prove that I care about him.
Judai doesn't even say that Sho is obligated to save his brother or morally redeem him, just that he has to keep looking at him instead of turning away or ignoring him.
Judai is being a bad friend, by his own definition. By choosing to deliberately look away from Yubel, Judai’s not living up to his advice for Sho for how you treat people you care about.
Which is why the resolution for Judai and Yubel’s arc is so important, because it’s done by Judai finally acknowledging Yubel’s pain, and promising to watch over them from now on, words that are followed by the action of physically fusing their souls together so they’ll never be alone again. Judai doesn’t just say pretty words about how they won’t ignore the crying child inside of Yubel, but instead he makes a sacrifice to save Yubel at risk to themselves to show their words are backed up by actions. Judai says Yubel will never be alone again, and then he commits.
"And even if that means I won't exist anymore... I don't care."
Judai has resolved his character arc by this action, because Judai is finally taking on responsibility and that responsibility is watching over Yubel, so the two of them can atone together. Judai even says himself this isn’t an act of sacrifice on his part, but rather him finally accepting adult responsibilities.
Judai: I wouldn't sacrifice myself for you guys. I'm just going on a journey to grow from a kid into a man.
Judai needed to save Yubel to complete his character arc and grow as a person. If Judai hadn’t saved Yubel, he would have still remained an ignorant child. By learning not to turn a blind eye to Yubel’s pain, and also smacking sacrifices and physically doing something to atone for the way they ignored Yubel up until this point they’ve not only saved Yubel they’ve also done something to address their wrongs. This also continues into the fourth season where Judai’s personal growth results in him learning what kind of hero he wants to be as in Season 4 in order to atone for the spirits that Judai slaughtered, he decides to leave his friends behind and walk the earth with Yubel helping spirits and humans get along with each other. In fact Judai’s final speech as a character isn’t even about how strong he is as a hero, but how weak he is as a person.
And I put my friends through some rough times. Form that, I figured a few things out... all I can do is believe in them.
The lesson Judai learned is because he’s weak, he needs to empathize and believe in other people the same way that his friends once believed in him when he was at his lowest point. Judai’s not the strongest hero, he’s the weakest one, but that gives him the ability to empathize with people who were lost just like he was, and guide them back from the darkness.
The story of how Deku became the worst hero.
I’m going to say this right now it might turn out next week that Shigaraki is just fine, and he’ll use the overhaul quirk to reconstruct his body. However, even if that happens Deku has completely failed at his goal of saving Shigaraki for the reasons I’ll illustrate below. In theory, Deku’s arc of saving Shigaraki, and therefore winning by saving should be much easier for the story to accomplish and also much less frustrating to watch. After all, Shigaraki has been around since the beginning of the manga, he’s literally the first villain that Deku faces. He’s also the first villain that Deku talks to, where he brings up the idea that there were some people All Might failed to save. There’s also many intentional parallels between the two characters, the entire manga is about their parallel journeys of becoming the next generation hero and the next generation villain. Shigaraki even directly quotes the line at one point that all he wanted was for someone in his house to tell him he could still be a hero, the same line Deku said in the first chapter was that he wanted his mom to tell him to be a hero instead of apoalogizing to him for being quirkless.
Not only is the setup for Shigaraki and Deku made obvious (Deku can redeem Shigaraki by telling him that he can still be a hero too), but Deku himself states out loud that he wants to save the crying child inside of Shigaraki.
Judai runs away from Yubel the whole time, whereas Deku is running towards Shigaraki and actively makes it his goal to understand Shigaraki and continue to see him as a human being rather than a villain. The story also makes it clear that saving Shigaraki is necessary to saving hero society as a whole. After all Yubel is just Judai’s victim. Whereas Shigaraki is the victim of all of society. He’s the crying child who was ignored. The cycle won’t be broken if heroes continue choosing to ignore people like Shigaraki, because more victims will grow up to replace him.
Shigaraki: Everything I've witnessed, this whole system you've built has always rejected me. Now I'm ready to reject it. That's why I destroy. That's why I took this power formyself? Simple enough, yeah? I don't care if you don't understand. That's what makes us heroes and villains.
Shigaraki rejects the world because the world continues to reject him. THe solution to this problem is not rejecting Shigaraki, because Shigaraki won’t go away, the system will just continue to reject people like Shigaraki. As long as heroes and villains don’t understand each other, they’ll keep being forced to fight and the conflict won’t end, because hero society is what engineers it’s own villains.
clear as day by the story itself. If the objective of saving Shigaraki is clear, then how exactly did the story fail in this objective? What went wrong? In this case it’s a failure of framing, and breaking the rules of “show don’t tell.” Stories are all about actions and consequences. When a character makes a certain action in a story, the way other characters around them, the world, and whatever consequences that action frames that action in a certain light. It provides context for how we are supposed to interpret that character in that moment.
For example, when a character does something wrong and another character directly confronts them over what they did wrong, that frames them as in the wrong. The story is criticizing the character for what they did wrong. Context is everything in a story. Stories are just ideas, so they require framing and context to communicate those ideas for the audience. Certain character attributes can be strengths or flaws depending on the context. My go to example is that if you put Othello in Hamlet, the conflict would be resolved in five seconds because Othello’s straightforward personality and determination would have him kill Hamlet’s uncle without questioning things. Whereas, Hamlet constantly questioning and second guessing himself would lead to the worst ending possible. However, if you put Hamlet in Othello, then Hamlet wouldn’t fall prey to Iago’s manipulations, because Othello doubts and questions everything so he wouldn’t believe Iago the way Othello did.
Hamlet’s contemplative and introverted nature can be a strength in one situation, and a flaw in another. Othello’s tendency to act without thinking things through can be a strength in one situation, and a flaw in another. Context matters, because context tells you how you’re supposed to interpret a certain characters actions, and therefore tells you more about that character. This is why people repeat “Show don’t tell” as the golden rule of storytelling, it’s one thing to say something about a character, it’s another to us the characters actions in the story itself to show them something about the character.
What’s even worse then breaking the rules of show don’t tell however, is telling the audience one thing, and then going onto show in the narrative something completely different. In that case the narrative becomes muddled and confusing to read. If I the narrator say “Hamlet is someone who overthinks everything” and then in the story Hamlet walks up to his uncle and kills him with no hesitation, then the narrator is straight up unreliable. It becomes impossible to tell as an author what message I’m trying to get across about these characters, because I’m telling you one thing and showing another.
This is why the writing fails in the second half of My Hero Academia because we are constantly told one thing, but then the story shows something entirely different and sometimes even contradictory to the thing we are being told.
Judai is a much worse hero than Deku, he always runs away from Yubel, and we’re never directly told that he’s supposed to save Yubel either. However, the narrative is incredibly consistent. Judai’s behavior of running away is consistent with his character. All the other character call Judai selfish for abandoning his friends (and they’re not even talking about Yubel). Judai is never painted in any positive light for his actions, therefore we as the audience understand Judai’s behavior is wrong and he needs to fix it. The narrative makes it clear that Judai needs to grow up, and Judai is never rewarded for his refusal to grow up, he’s ruthlessly chewed out, not by his enemies but also by his own friends. However, the narrative isn’t merciless on him either. Season 3 of GX is dark, but it’s not grimdark. Even when Judai loses his way, he’s still shown love and compassion by those same friends who go to great lengths for his sake. The narrative criticize Judai but it never insists that he’s beyond redemption and needs to be put down like a mad dog.
The message is very clear, that not only does Judai need to grow up, but he also deserves the chance to grow and change, which is why he should give Yubel a similar chance. In comparison the story sets out this clear narrative arc for Deku of understanding Shigaraki, but it never challenges him for failing to understand Shigaraki. If you listen to what the narrative says, how other characters describe Deku, and what Deku himself says and only read it on a surface level then yes, Deku’s goal is to save Shigaraki. If you analyze actions however, he is in effect just like Judai he never takes any meaningful action or steps towards Shigaraki, nor does he think of what saving Shigaraki might look like or entail.
The story describes Deku as someone who is possessed by a drive to save others that eclipses all common understanding, but does the story give us any examples of that behavior?
Judai is characterized as a selfish, irresponsible child, and the story gives us countless examples of his immaturity and how it hurts others. Does the story of MHA do the same for Deku's purported virtues? Let’s run through Deku’s actions, step by step, the actions themselves and how they are framed in order to find any evidence that Deku possesses this drive to save others. Does Deku reflect at all on the question of:
Can Shigaraki be Saved?
Deku leaves on a journey to try to understand villains. When he makes a perfunctory attempt to understand and empathize with Muscle, and Muscle replies that some people are just evil does Deku keep trying to reach his heart? Nope, he just punches him.
Well, if he’s failed in his goal of understanding a villain then does the story call him out on his failure? Does Deku face any sort of narrative consequence for that failure? Is he framed negatively for failing to understand Muscle, the same way that Judai is framed for abandoning Yubel? Nope. Deku doesn’t express any frustration at all over is inability to reason with Muscle. There’s also no negative consequence for Deku just choosing to punch muscle, it turns out that there was no reasoning with Muscle and some people are just bad eggs so Deku was right. It’s okay for characters to fail, but if a character fails and it’s not framed by the story as a failure then the writing itself as failed. Why even bother to include this scene in the first place if it doesn’t advance Deku’s character in any way? This scene in spite of showing Deku failing to understand someone actively paints Deku in a positive light, because of how much stronger he is ow that he can OHKO a guy that gave him trouble all the way back in the camp arc.
This scene doesn’t tell anything about Deku as a character, it just makes him look cool. In fact that’s precisely the problem, Deku isn’t adequately challenged as a character, because he’s never allowed to fail. Even when he does obviously fail at the things the narrative set out for him to do, he’s never challenged on those failures, because the priority isn’t to make Deku grow, it’s to make Deku look good. As I said before, Judai is the hero because he’s the weakest. Deku is the hero because he’s the strongest. Well, next a big flaw on Deku’s part is that he worshippd the same heroes that were making the world corrupt. Heroes like Endeavor who created people like Dabi. So, does Deku take action to either criticize the older generation of heroes, or separate himself from them in order to try to be better than them? Nope, he teams up with them. Not only that, Deku can’t do something as simple as tell Gran Torino out loud about his plans to save Shigaraki. If Deku feels that Shigaraki is worthy of salvation then he should at least try to make an argument here about his ideal of saving others.
Now here’s the thing, if Deku hadn’t directly looked at the camera and told us he wanted to save Shgiaraki, would we be able to deduce his intentions from his actions? If you took away all of Deku’s internal monologue, and just showed him punching Muscular and saying nothing when Gran Torino says he may have no choice but to kill Shigaraki would anything about Deku’s actions indicate that he wants to save Shigaraki? Let me use avatar the last airbender as a positive example for a moment. People say that Aang’s desire to spare Ozai’s life comes out of left field, but like if you analyze Aang as a character down to their bending, and the way they react in situations they always prefer de-escalation, or taking a third option as opposed to confronting things head on. It’s literally why Toph says Aang has trouble learning earth bending, because as an airbender, he always tries to look for some other way to solve the problem, instead of a direct confrontation with force. As early as season one, Aang tells Zuko someone who has tried to kill him several times that he was friends with someone from the fire nation one hundred years ago and in a different situation they could be friends. Aang’s desire to save the Firelord may not have been told to us until the last possible minute, but Aang’s aversion to violence has always been a part of his character from the beginning. However, Deku never shows any similar aversion to violence. There’s basically no example where he ever tries to de-escalate a situation, or he avoids a conflict by seeking a third option.
Anyway, let’s move onto the next example. In the confrontation where Lady Nagant fights Deku, when Deku learns the fact that the heroes were employing government hitmen to attack people for uhh… exercising free speech does Deku give any reaction to this information? When Lady Nagant says that Deku is only going to bring back the status quo, does he show her any meaningful evidence that he won’t do that.
Deku’s response is because the world is so grey, he needs to extend a helping hand to others. Which you know what thay could be a response. Deku saying that his response to the corruption of the hero world is that he now understands that society led some people down the wrong path, so his way of addressing the wrongs of that society is lending a helping hand to as many people as possible even people he used to think was irredeemable.
I will give Deku the benefit of the doubt, I think this is an acceptable answer. I can’t save everyone, but that’s not going to stop me from trying to save as many people as possible and maybe I can save people who were this society’s victims on the way too. However, does Deku demonstrate his resolve to extend a helping hand in any meaningful way.
Deku is met with an armless, insane Overhaul who’s begging for someone to help heal his father figure in the Yakuza from his coma. This isn’t like Muscular who insists that there’s no helping him, Deku is met face by face with someone asking him for help. Deku’s gotta extend a helping arm whenever he can, because he knows some people were abandoned and led astray by this society… Unless that person is someone he doesn’t like personally. At which point he only helps them on a conditional basis. We are told Deku will save anyone and everyone, but Deku is met face to face with an armless man who is begging for help and Deku’s does nothing to help him. Deku’s not criticized for refusing to help overhaul either, it’s never brought up again. When Deku begins to experience a mental breakdown because of all the people he’s trying to help in the Dark Deku arc, we are told this is the result of Deku trying to save everyone, but we do not see Deku attempting to save a single villain after Muscular and Nagant.
He exhausts himself beating up villains that AFO sends after him, and only helping innocent civilians. Which would be fine if this arc were about how Deku is running away from his real responsibilities the same way that Judai was running, but that’s not what we’re being told. We are told that this is all part of an arc of Deku learning to understand villains and be a hero.
Deku is asked “Can you save Shigaraki?” by the story, but Deku never at any point has to deliberate on that question. Judai doesn’t deliberate on that question either, but him choosing not to think about things and stay ignorant is the point.
It’s actually fine to make Deku stagnate as a character. It’s fine to have him take the easy way out by just punching villains and giving up on them after one conversation. It’s fine for him to be empathetic to other people’s suffering, or even self-righteous. It’s fine for him to be ignorant.
He could be all of those things if it was a part of a narrative teaching him to unlearn his behavior. In fact the narrative might have been better if Deku started out by saying he didn’t want to save Shigaraki, that there was no choice but to kill him, because then at least his actions would be consistent with his words. Then his lack of empathy and his tendency to resort to violently beating up villains instead of avoiding violence would be character flaws he could work on. Deku however, is presented to us as this empathic hero who is always willing to give others a second chance though he never actually sticks his neck out in order to do so. Continuing on with our slow crawl through MHA, one of Deku’s friends is revealed as the traitor. Deku has a heartwarming scene fo saying that Aoyama can still be a hero, but look at his actions. He lets the adults in the room physically tie Aoyama in a straightjacket and imprison him, for the crime of… doing bad things while he was in a hostage situation. Apparently, if a bank teller helps the bank robber by giving them money when the robber has a gun to his head, the swat team should just snipe the bank teller. Not only does he not defend Aoyama against the adults, or stand up for him, or tell the adults they’re wrong to treat Aoyama a clear cut victim who had a gun to his head and was bing held hostage like he’s a villain - he also lets the adults use Aoyama an innocent victim as bait in order to lure out AFO. Deku tells Aoyama he can still be a hero, but he doesn’t defend Aoyama as a victim of being taken hostage, nor does he stop the adults from further taking advantage of him and throwing him right into danger. Some people are just led the wrong way that’s why they need to be extended a helping hand, but fuck Aoyama I guess. He needs to earn the right to be sympathized with by physically putting his life in danger.
Deku can’t even go out of his way to save a friend who he’s known for the better part of a year, when that friend is a complex victim forced to do bad things.
Then Deku and Uraraka have a conversation where they both, kind of ruminate on the idea that maybe the villains are human beings who are worthy of sympathy.
In fact Uraraka is actively trying to dehumanize Toga by looking at the destroyed city, so she won't have to think of Togaas a person.
The language here is also a major fault of this arc. It focuses far too hard on “forgiveness” over and over again. As I said before, saving Shigaraki isn’t about Shigaraki at all, it’s about Deku, and how he wants to use his power as a hero. Deku has even stated himself that he doesn’t believe that OFA is a power that should be used for killing people. So why does whether Toga or Shigaraki are forgivable or not even matter? It’s the same with Deku refusing Overhaul any sympathy. If he’s so morally opposed to abusers, then why does he work with Endeavor and defend him at every visible opportunity, even in front of his victims? Whether or not Deku can forgive Shigaraki doesn’t matter, because Deku is not the moral arbitrator or right and wrong. In fact Deku doesn’t even have any morals, so how is this a moral debate? Is there any point where Deku gives a clear definition of what he thinks right and wrong is? Does he quot Immanuel Kant to the audience?
Batman doesn’t kill people, not because he thinks that every last person on earth can be saved, but because Bruce Wayne an incredibly rich white man thinks that maybe he shouldn’t have the authority to decide who lives and who dies. When Bruce doesn’t kill the joker, it doesn’t mean he thinks the Jokers actions are forgivable, it’s because Bruce thinks it’s not his place to determine whether someone has the right to live.
The whole conflict that MHA presents us is that heroes pick and choose who to save, and only save the ones they deem as innocent. So, how does Deku saying repeatedly they can’t forgive Shigaraki contribute to that theme in any way? In fact by focusing on forgiveness, rather than whether or not he personally has the right to pick and choose who lives and who dies Deku is ignoring the elephant in the room. The question isn’t about whether Shigaraki’s redeemable or if his deeds should ever be forgiven. The question is whether Deku has the right to decide who gets saved and who doesn’t.
We are told that Deku as a character is someone who wants to save everyone no matter what, so Deku shouldn’t be focusing on whether or not Shigaraki is worthy of forgiveness, he should be making an idealistic argument like Xavier does in this panel. Why doesn’t Deku talk out loud with Uraraka on how he believes his power is for saving others, and not killing? If he’s meant to represent some idealistic hero, then why doesn’t he even talk about his ideals? Why don’t I as the reader know what those ideals are?
I think Xavier’s ideals of forcing the X-men to provide a good example to the mutant community, in order to try to earn the respect of other human beings is wrong, but at least he has ideals. He tries to inspire the other people around him to live up to those ideals. The story can criticize him for his ideals and point out how they’re wrong, while it can also uplift parts of his idelogy like where he believes there are no evil mutants. Deku has a chance to do the same to Uraraka, to tell her clearly, “I don’t think we as heroes have the right to pick and choose who we help…?” but he waffles. Not only does he waffle, but this moment is meant to be read as an indication that both Deku and Uraraka are sympathetic individuals who want to save their villains. They are supposed to look good and idealistic here and they don’t. For Deku it just seems like a repeat of his behavior with Overhaul. The only villains that are worthy of sympathy, are the ones that he personally decides are forgivable.
The story isn’t about whether or not it’s moral to save someone who’s killed as many as Shigaraki has. The story never seriously discusses any sort of complex morality or moral philosophy. Once again to bring up avatar, yes you can argue Aang sparing the life of a war crimminal is bad, but Aang mentions on multiple occasions that he wants to retain the cultural values of the airbending people. Aang has a morality, a consistent morality, it might not be a morality you personally agree with but at least he has one. Deku hates abusers, unless he’s next to Endeavor then he thinks abusers should be given the chance to atone. Deku doesn’t believe that One for All is a power for killing, but he never stands up to any of the adults who are blatantly trying to kill Shigaraki, he doesn’t even express out loud to Uraraka that he doesn’t think heroes have the right to decide who lives and who dies. In fact he’s given the perfect opportunity to, when Hawks kills a villain and it’s broadcast live on the news in font of everyone, but Deku never has anything to say about that. The reason Deku and Uraraka both put such an emphasis on “forgiving” their villains has nothing to do with the story itself. It’s because the author Horikoshi, is afraid that some people will misinterpret his story as saying that he actually thinks that saving a villain like Shigaraki means that he condones mass murder, so he has to have the characters talk about not forgiving Shigaraki.
Judai doesn’t have any consistent morals either, but once again that’s the point and something the story relentlessly calls him out on.
Cobra: Fortune would never smile on a fool like you who fights while prattling on about enjoying duels. Cobra: You are certainly a talented duelist. But you have one fatal flaw. Judai: A fatal flaw? Cobra: Yes, your duels are superficial. Someone who fights with nothing on his shoulders, cannot recover once he loses his enjoyment. What a duelist carries on his shoulders will become the power that supports him when he's up against the wall! Cobra: But you have nothing like that! Those who go through life without anything like that cannot possibly seize victory. Cobra: But I know that nothing I say will resonate with you... because you have nothing to lose but the match. Judai: I... Cobra: Afraid aren't you? Right now, you have nothing to support you.
Judai’s regularly called out for his superficiality. Judai is only a hero because he’s strong and wins fight, he doesn’t feel any responsibility towards other people, and in fact he loathes having to feel responsible for others. Judai isn’t just naive, he deliberately chooses to remain ignorant. Since he’s ignorant of his own faults, he makes awful decisions when it comes time for him to lead, and his friends die because of choices he made. We are told that Deku doesn’t want to remain ignorant, that he wants to understand villains, but Deku’s actual actions are him continuing to ignore society’s ills and the suffering of victims. In fact if you take away Deku’s internal monologue and the narration, Deku’s actions almost exactly mirror Judai’s.
Deku is just as superficial as Judai, and he also doesn't want to spend any time thinking about what kind of hero he wants to be, but the narrative never punishes him for it.
Judai is asked what burdens he has to bear and he has to meaningfull answer that question, Deku is allowed to get away with not having to think about anything. Deku remains superficial. Both Judai and Deku spend the entire arc running away from their villain rather than confronting them in any meaningful way. They both never express out loud any sympathy for their villain, or try to empathize. THey both never step down from the role of hero, and only confront their villain as a hero, because they don’t want to think about themselves as complicit or in the wrong. Shigaraki and Deku’s final confrontation mirrors Judai and Yubel’s but without the same clear framing. THe entire time Yubel is trying to get Judai to empathize with them, and Judai only responds with physical violence, because they don’t want to stop being the hero and because they can’t see Yubel as anything other than the villain. As soon as Deku arrives on the battlefield (by the way everyone else and their mom pointed this out, but Deku who doesn’t think OFA is a power for killing, is completely okay with a plan called the “Sky coffin plan” where every other hero was clearly trying to murder Shigaraki).
When Deku arrives he asks if Shigaraki is still in there, but he doesn’t do anything to try to reach Shigaraki, he jumps right to punching him. In fact he never tries anything besides punching him as hard as possible. How is punching Shigaraki with the force of a thousand suns saving him exactly? How is that different from how he tried to defeat Shigaraki the last war arc, before he saw the image of the crying child that made him want to try a different approach in saving Shigaraki? In Judai’s final fight with Yubel, it’s made explicitly clear that Judai is not trying to save Yubel, and that’s a fault on his part. In fact Judai gives the traditional “I have friends, and you don’t” speech to Yubel but it’s a subversion of how that speech is usually used. Usually that speech is used to show that the protagonist won because of they valued friendship,while the villain treated their friends poorly and only cared about power. However, it’s ironic in this case because Judai got all of his friends killed. Judai treats his friends like garbage. This speech isn’t used to show that Judai is winning because he values his friends more than Yubel does, it shows that Judai is a hypocrite, playing the hero in this situation where they are just as bad as Yubel. Judai’s not morally superior, he’s just lucky that he has good friends. Friends that were willing to save him. The only connection Yubel has to anyone else, Yubel’s only friend is Judai and Judai is a shit friend.
In fact, Mirio tries to give a version of the “You don’t have any friends” speech to Shigarkai, only for Shigaraki to get mad and tell Mirio that he does have friends and people he wants to protect.
This fact is also something that is blatantly ignored by Deku, even though Mirio tells him about it… even though we are told that Deku is trying his best to see the humanity in Shigaraki.
Judai blatantly admits they’re trying to kill Yubel. Which makes them a worse person, but a better character than Deku, because their actions are clearly framed by the narrative and consistent.
On the other hand we are told that Deku doesn’t want to kill Shigaraki, and yet everything Deku does makes it look like he’s just trying to kill Shigaraki and put him out of its misery. If we didn’t have Deku stating out loud that he wants to save Shigaraki and wants to see him as a human, there’d be nothing in his actions to indicate that he’s trying to avoid killing Shigaraki. Deku says he can’t pretend he didn’t see Shigaraki crying, but like, does he ever hesitate to punch Shigaraki, does he ever think that causing Shigaraki more harm is wrong when he’s already suffered so much? Deku says that Shigaraki is a person but does he treat him like a person? Does he try to talk to him like a person? To use avatar again, Aang does talk to Zuko pretty early on. Deku doesn’t even give the classic “We could have been friends under different circumstances” speech. When Shigaraki resists Deku’s attempts to see him as a person or emapthize with him, Deku’s response is to just resort to punching harder.
Which is in effect the same thing Judai does to Yubel, just kill them as a villain so they don’t hurt anybody else, but framed in an entirely different light. Judai is shown to be ruthless, and cold in his attempt to only settle the conflict with Yubel by violently putting them down. On the other hand we’re being told that Deku is compassionate and empathic while he punches Shigaraki with the force of a thousand suns.
There’s another eerie similarity between both of these final confrontations. At the climax of the confrontation, both Judai and Deku have a psychic vision where they see events from Yubel and Shigaraki’s childhood. This vision is supposed to help both characters understand the good in the villain they’re facing.
Let’s see the contents of this vision and how the visions change each character. Judai is shown a vision of his past life where Yubel sacrifices their entire body, and even their humanity to go through painful surgery to turn into an ugly dragon, all for the sake of protecting Judai in a previous life.
Judai is then forced to witness the good side of Yubel they’ve been ignoring all along to paint them as a villain. Yubel is simultaneously extremely selfish and willing to hurt people Judai cares about, but they’re also extremely selfless and will do anything to protect Judai and have made great sacrifices in the past for Judai’s sake. Deku gives lip service to not ignoring the humanity in Shigaraki, but Judai is literally forced to acknowledge the humanity in Yubel. Not only that, but Judai changes his behavior immediately after learning this new information. After seing the sacrifice that Yubel made for him in the past, Judai responds with a sacrifice of his own. A sacrifice that perfectly mirrors the sacrifice that Yubel once made for him. Yubel gave up their humanity for Judai, so Judai fuses his spirit to Yubel’s, becoming a human / spirit hybrid so Yubel no longer has to be alone.
Judai also doesn’t just fuse their soul with Yubel’s in order to stop Yubel from destroying everything, it’s because both of them at this point need to atone together, and Judai is fulfilling his responsibility of watching over his friend until the end to prove that you care about them - as he said to Sho. Judai’s also fulfilling Johan’s dream of helping repair the bonds between spirits and humans, by reconciling with Yubel and repairing their bond. It’s also Judai atoning for his previous behavior of abandoning Yubel, by choosing to stay alongside them as they both atone together. Deku does sacrifice OFA during the fight against Shigaraki, but their sacrifice isn’t to help Shigaraki, but rather doing psychic damage to Shigaraki by using OFA is the only way to defeat them. He transfers OFA in order to break Shigaraki’s brain so he’ll stop reissting and Deku can beat him down. Judai fuses their soul together with Yubel out of empathy and a responsibility they feel to help their friend fater abandoning them, Deku transfers One for All to Shigaraki in order to hurt him and make him easier to punch. It's funny that Deku doesn't travel to Shigaraki's mind to learn more about him, but instead with the specific intent of harming him.
Once he's inside Shigaraki's mind, he doesn't take time to reflect on how Shigaraki used to stand up for bullied kids, or how he wants to be a hero to villains because no one else will stick up for the outcasts in society. No, he only care about Shigaraki when he takes the form of a child crying for help.
In the aftermath of the psychic vision Deku’s behavior doesn’t change towards Shigaraki in any way either. You could say he sacrificed his own arms in order to try to comfort Shigaraki within the depths of his own mind - but that’s not a real sacrifice either because his arms immediately come back. When Judai learns about the sacrifice that Yubel made in a previous life towards him, he stops seeing Yubel as an enemy and finds a way to resolve things peacefully between them. When Deku lanterns that Shigaraki’s a victim of All for One, and that his entire life was a lie, when he sees Shigaraki’s suffering first hand does his beavior twoards Shigaraki change in any way?
When he sees Afo has taken over Shigaraki’s body again, does he try to shout for Shigaraki, to tell Shigaraki to fight from the inside, to reassure Shigaraki that he’s still in there that there’s still good in him? Nope. He just punches Shigaraki some more.
What Deku needed to tell Shigaraki is so obviously set up by the narrative too. Shigaraki wanted just one person in that house to tell him he could be a hero. Deku wanted his mother to tell him he could be a hero if he was quirkless. Deku sees that Shigaraki started out as a boy who wanted to be a hero, and who was manipulated into being a villain but does he try to appeal to the boy inside of Shigaraki by telling him he can still be a hero? Does he now see the good in Shigaraki? Nope, he just tries to kill him by punching him really hard.
I purposefully chose the images for the banner of this post, because it shows how differently MHA and GX treated its villains in the end. Yubel is embraced by Judai in the end, Shigaraki evaporates into dust.
"Judai, now that our souls have become one we will never be separated again. I have now been filled with your love and power. Let us fight together, against the wave of light leading this universe to destruction!"
Shigaraki could so easily have been given the love and empathy that Yubel was shown, but instead their life ends with no show of empathy from Deku, and with them dying believing that their long life of tragedy meant nothing in the end. Shigaraki realizes he's a crying kid, but he's never comforted.
Shigaraki: I only stole my body back from Master, and I didn't destroy anything. "In the end, I was just as you said... A crying kid, huh?"
Yubel is embraced and comforted, Shigaraki disintegrates into nothing.
One of these stories is apparently an optimistic story about heroes saving people, but it ends with the lifelong victim being killed in the most nihilistic manner possible, never receiving comfort, and never achieving anything with his long life.
The other story is a silly anime about card games, shows that when people are alone and suffering they can lash out and do terrible things. That all people are weak especially when they're alone, but the solution isn't to abandon them, or condemn them for their faults, but to believe in them and help uplift them the same way that Judai decides to uplift Yubel so they can atone together.
Which is why Deku gets an F in being a hero. Go directly to summer school. Do not pass Go. Do not collect $100.
#mha meta#ygo meta#mha 423#bnha 423#mha 423 spoilers#bnha 423 spoilers#izuku midoriya#deku#shigaraki tomura#tenko shimura#judai yuki#yubel#soulshipping#yu gi oh gx#yu gi oh
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Trust Issues
[Katsuki Bakugo x Female!Reader]
Synopsis: Some friendly advice: don’t ever go to the rival of your spar partner for help.
WC: 4893
Category: Fluff, Slight Angst,
This blog is a MHA fan page at this point HAHAHA
But since you guys REALLY liked the first oneshot of him, I felt inclined to write another one. So, here you go! 💞
『••✎••』
You didn’t think it would come to this.
In all honesty, you had never intended to hurt your friend.
All you had wanted was a fair fight. After all, that was why you were training, wasn't it?
So you could become a hero?
Now, granted, it was not a secret that Izuku Midoriya had always been on the… opposing end of Katsuki Bakugo's wrath ever since childhood. The boy was a spitfire; you had known that from the moment he had first stepped into class.
The Sports Festival only proved it. He was strong, powerful, and unafraid to let anyone who stood in his way know. It was that sort of determination that you had hoped to one day achieve, the will to succeed and not allow anything to hold you back.
It wasn't that you were star-struck or even jealous when he had been crowned first place at the festival. It was just inspiring, in a sense. He had fought tooth and nail to win, and in the end, he had come out on top.
However, his victory did not mean he could rest easy.
After the Sports Festival, Bakugo had taken a sort of… interest in you. You supposed he liked the way he fought against you, or maybe it was because he saw potential in you as a rival, but when class was over the next day, and the blonde had approached you, telling you to meet him out back, you were overjoyed.
Until he started to beat the ever-living crap out of you, that is.
And he still was, even now.
Every time you believe to be gaining more and more strength, he only proves to have become stronger. It was quite disheartening, actually.
Still, you did your best to keep up with him. It was no surprise to you, though, that he was better at you in almost everything.
That's why it seemed like a great idea for you to start sparring with Deku, right? Maybe the green-haired could teach you a few things and help you gain a bit of an advantage over the hothead.
But, as pure intentions would have it, the choice you made that day had landed you here.
You were at your locker, picking up books for Aizawa’s lesson when a hand rested atop the door of your locker. He didn’t close it, only using it as a resting place for his arm, so you didn't immediately look up to see him, instead pretending that you hadn't noticed him.
"Hey,"
Not a voice you were familiar with. You glanced around the area before looking over at the source—a tall boy with short black hair and dark brown eyes.
You blinked a couple of times. "Hi…?"
He flashed a grin and leaned a bit closer to you, his voice dropping low. "Nice weather we're having, don't you think?"
"Uhm… sure, I guess." The confusion was obvious on your face, and he laughed at your expression. "It's nice, yeah."
"Well, the weather seems a lot nicer on the roof, I think." His words were slow, and his smile was growing a bit too much for you to be comfortable with. "I could take you there, show you the view. What do you—"
He was caught off by the large hand that suddenly slammed down on the top of your locker, shutting it. You were about to tell the person that the door had hit your head when you looked up at those glaring crimson eyes and felt your stomach drop.
Katsuki Bakugo.
"Hey, what the hell?!" The boy exclaimed. "What's the big deal?!"
Bakugo didn't seem to acknowledge the other, simply glaring down at you only. You were frozen in place. You had never seen the boy this angry, not even at the USJ attack.
"You." His voice was quiet, unnervingly calm, but the undertone was filled with enough venom to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. "You lied."
"Uh—" You began but were cut off.
"You told me you had to bail yesterday. That you had homework to do." He was staring right through you, and you felt a cold shiver run down your spine.
You swallowed, and his eyes flickered to your throat for a split second. "I did, though."
"You didn't," He hissed, teeth gritting together. "You were with him."
"With who—"
You had no chance to react before he slammed his fist against the lockers again, right beside your face, and the boy who had been trying to talk to you only watched as you were cornered.
"Don't lie to me, damnit!" He was snarling, eyes alight with fury. His hand moved from the lockers and back to his side. "You were with that shitty nerd. Don't you fucking deny it."
"I—" You tried, but your voice was shaking, and he interrupted you before you could say anything.
"Do you think I'm a fucking idiot?" He leaned down to your level, his red eyes burning into yours. "Do you really think I wouldn't find out about your little play date with Deku?"
"Play date?" Your eyebrows furrowed. "I was just training, Bakugo. It's not that big a deal."
He scoffed, pulling his hands into his pockets. The rage was still in his eyes, but he didn't appear to want to act on it, instead turning his head to the side.
And despite it not being a good time, the dude beside you was still here, and he had a comment.
"Hey, I was here first, dude." He said, stepping forward. "It’s clear you two have a problem, but this chick isn’t yours. Beat it."
You were honestly expecting Bakugo to explode on him, maybe even punch the guy. He was always so aggressive.
Instead, he simply stared at him for a long moment, blinking at his audacity, only to roll his eyes and turn back to you.
"If you think Deku can help you, then go ahead." He shrugged, taking a step back. "We’ll see how good his teaching is if it can get you to stand a chance against me."
"You think—"
He interrupted you, not even giving you the chance to finish.
"Five o’clock, gymnasium." He smirked, but his eyes were hard. "Don't make me wait."
"But, you said—"
He had already turned his back and began to walk away, the other boy watching him with a dumbfounded expression.
Bakugo only nudged him aside with his shoulder, not giving him a glance as he left the hallway. He might’ve called over his shoulder, calling the kid an extra.
You weren't sure, and frankly, you didn't care. The only thing you cared about at that moment was what just happened, what was going to happen, and kicking the ever-loving shit out of the tattletale who just ruined everything.
The guy was still staring at the hallway Bakugo had disappeared in, his eyebrows scrunched together.
"Did he just—"
"Don’t." You held up a hand, and his mouth shut immediately. "Just don't."
The boy didn't say anything after that. You left him as he was, not caring if he was confused or not. He shouldn't have interrupted in the first place.
You walked to the classroom, immediately hunting down the other blonde, who happened to be your betrayer. He was sitting down, talking to Sero and Kirishima, but you didn't hesitate to grab him by the ear and drag him away.
"Hey!" He cried out, struggling to escape. "What the hell?! Lemme go!"
"Why'd you do that?!" You demanded, turning to him and letting him go. "You ratted me out!"
He blinked, not understanding. "What are you talking about?"
"Don't play dumb, Denks!" You pointed at him accusingly, glaring at him. "You told Bakugo that I was training with Midoriya."
"I… was under a lot of pressure, okay?" He raised his hands defensively, leaning back. "Bakugo came to me after school and demanded where you were. He threatened to blow my face off!"
"Oh, yeah, real mature." You rolled your eyes. "Do you have any idea what you’ve done to me?! He’s going to actually blow my face off."
"He didn't seem that mad," He mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Maybe it'll be okay."
"He talked like a regular person," You crossed your arms. "He was terrifyingly calm, Kaminari! And now he wants to meet me in the gym at five o'clock."
"Dude,” Sero extended the vowel, sitting forward in his seat as he had heard the conversation. "You’re so screwed."
You couldn’t help the glare you threw at him.
"You're not helping."
Kirishima also turned, frowning. "No, dude, he's right. You are screwed. I mean, you were sparring with Midobro behind his back." He shook his head. "He probably wouldn’t have cared much if it was me or anyone else, but—"
"You picked his mortal enemy." Sero finished, raising an eyebrow. "Like, seriously, dude. What did you expect?"
"Kaminari not to snitch on me?" You threw a look at the yellow-haired boy. "So much for being friends, huh?"
"Hey, I warned you," Kaminari huffed, crossing his arms. "But no, you wanted to hang out with his rival. If I didn’t tell him, I'm pretty sure he would've killed me. Like, literally, he would've killed me. No doubt."
"But you're fine with me dying?" You asked, a teasing smile pulling at your lips. "I see how it is."
"I thought I would have until after lunch to warn you," He defended himself, shrugging. "Guess he warned you instead, huh?"
You sighed, shaking your head.
"You guys aren't helping," You turned, running a hand through your hair. "I'm dead. So dead. Oh my god."
"Alright, who pissed off the chihuahua?"
You spun around at the sound of Mina's voice, seeing her, Jiro, and Hagakure all standing together.
How wonderful. The gang's all here.
"What are you talking about, Ashido?" Kirishima questioned, tilting his head.
"Bakugo's pissed," Jiro explained, pointing a thumb in his direction. "He’s storming through the hallways like someone just took a dump in his cereal."
"And it's not like he was in a good mood this morning, either," Hagakure added, bouncing on her toes. "Did something happen?"
You groaned and flopped down into a chair, hiding your face in your hands.
"Idiocy happened," Sero answered, shrugging. "That's what happened."
"Shut it, Tape Boy."
"You should probably tell us," Mina advised, sitting down next to you. She pulled you into a side hug, patting your shoulder. "What's up? Talk to me."
"Bakugo found out that I've been training with Midoriya," You mumbled, and the three girls nodded. "I’m dead. Aizawa can’t even save me."
"Aw, c'mon, it's not that bad." Jiro rolled her eyes, walking over to join the group. "Bakugo's all bark and no bite."
"He's not… all bark." You muttered, not meeting her eyes.
"I can vouch for that." Kaminari grinned, but the glare you shot him made him falter. "But uh, no, yeah, he's definitely more bite than bark."
"Oh, you poor baby." Hagakure cooed, leaning forward to ruffle your hair. You couldn't see her face, obviously, but you had a feeling she was smiling. "You can do it, though. It can't be that bad."
"You know what you should do?" Kirishima suggested a bright smile on his face. "Talk to him."
"I think that would make things worse, dude." You rubbed your eyes, sighing.
"I mean, tell him why you were doing it." He shrugged. "He’s feeling all types of betrayed right now, I bet. If you just explain your reasoning, he might let it slide."
"Doubtful."
"But it's worth a shot, isn't it?" He raised an eyebrow, his smile still intact. "Plus, you’d be showing him that you aren't afraid to take the initiative. Maybe he'll be a bit nicer."
"Do it at lunch so that if he tries to kill you, there'll be teachers nearby." Sero grinned.
"You're really not helping." You glared at him, but the group just laughed, leaving you to your sulking.
Mina was about to say something when the door to the classroom opened, and the very loved and grumpy Aizawa walked in. He didn't say a word; instead, he just shot a look at the group before sitting down to wait for the last few minutes before class started.
As much as you wanted to believe it, the only thing the group's conversation managed to do was make you more worried. You spent the entire class staring off into space, staring at the blonde boy who sat two seats in front of you.
His shoulders were tense, and his pencil was practically snapping in half as he scribbled notes on the paper. Every once in a while, his eyes would flicker back and forth, his teeth gritted, and his pencil would move a bit faster.
You couldn’t focus on what Aizawa was saying, too distracted by the blonde's behavior.
The class seemed to go on forever, but eventually, the bell rang, and the class began to shuffle out, chatting and laughing with their friends.
"Hey, Bakubro!" Kirishima walked over to the hothead, who had stayed behind to pack up his things. "You okay, man?"
He was a real one, that Kirishima.
"Peachy." He replied, throwing his bag over his shoulder. His tone was dry, and his eyes were tired, but there was a hint of anger in them.
"You sure? You seem a bit—"
"I'm fine, Shitty Hair." He hissed, his patience wearing thin. "Back off."
The redhead only nodded and backed away, holding his hands up. "Alright, man. Whatever you say."
He looked over at you, his eyes flickering between you and Bakugo.
He didn't need to say a word. You understood. You slowly approached the blonde, your heart in your throat.
"Uhm," You started, your voice cracking. You cleared your throat, trying to seem as unthreatening as possible. "Can we talk? I'll buy lunch."
He glanced at you, his jaw clenching. His eyes flickered down to the floor before meeting yours again.
"What makes you think I need you to buy me lunch?" He huffed, his grip on his bag tightening.
"It's an offer, dude," You shrugged, trying to sound more casual than you felt. It didn’t work. "I just want to talk, okay?"
He stared at you for a long moment, the gears in his head working. He looked over at Kirishima and Kaminari, who had been watching, before rolling his eyes and huffing.
"Fine. Whatever."
He pushed past you and made his way to the door, not bothering to check if you were following. You gave the other two a small, awkward smile and hurried after him, following close behind as he stomped his way through the hall.
You kept a bit of distance but stayed close enough so that he knew you were still there. He didn't speak, didn't even look at you, and his shoulders were still tense.
This was not going to end well.
But he hadn’t said no, so maybe there was a chance.
"So," You began, breaking the silence. "I—"
"Why?" He cut you off, not slowing his pace. His eyes were forward. "I already know your damn reasoning, so don't give me some bullshit excuse. Just tell me the truth."
He had stopped walking, now turning to face you. There were students milling about the hallway, and a couple were giving the two of you strange looks. You tried to ignore them.
You focused on the blonde's gaze.
"You're strong," You confessed, your voice wavering. "I want to be stronger."
His eyes narrowed at that.
"You could've asked," He growled. "You didn't have to sneak around and hide shit."
"Asked to… what? To kick my ass harder during our spars?" You huffed. "Because, as much as I hate to say it, I'm not winning in those."
He paused, his eyebrows furrowing.
"Is that what this is about?" He asked. "You wanted me to go easier on you? Are you kidding me?"
"No, that's not—"
"If you think villains are gonna hold back," He cut you off again, and the volume of his voice was getting higher. "You're out of your damn mind. You can't always depend on some shitty extra to bail your ass out."
"That's not—"
"Then what the fuck do you want from me, huh?!" He demanded, throwing his hands up. "You want me to hold your hand through heroics?! Is that what it is?!"
"I'm not asking you to do anything," You defended yourself, glaring. "All I wanted was a different perspective, damn."
"Yeah, what a nice perspective you got." He scoffed, rolling his eyes. "Get perspective off the kid who can’t even use his quirk without breaking his fucking body. What a brilliant idea."
"Oh, come on!" You crossed your arms. "There is no reason for you to be so petty. I did this for you, and for me. What's the problem?"
"For me? " He echoed, his eyes widening. "The hell do you mean, 'for me'? Going behind my back and training with the nerd is not doing something for me."
"I did it to be a better opponent to you!" You raised your voice, ignoring the stares of your classmates. "I'm tired of losing all the time! You're my friend, and I don't want to constantly have my ass handed to me!"
"We're not friends," He hissed. "Friends don't do this kind of shit."
You faltered, taken aback.
"I'm— You're—"
"Save it," He snapped, not meeting your gaze. "I'm done. Fuck this. Fuck you. Go find someone else to train with."
He pushed past you, shoving his hands into his pockets as he stomped away. You stood there, gaping, unable to understand what just happened.
"Bakugo," You tried, your voice cracking. You didn't turn, too busy staring at the tile floor.
"Fuck off, idiot." He spat, not bothering to look back. "You can forget about the sparring later."
He didn't wait for you to respond. Instead, he shoved his way past the crowd, disappearing from sight.
You were still frozen, and you couldn't tell if the tears welling up in your eyes were from frustration or sadness.
The students rushing around you began to slow, staring at you with pity, confusion, or both.
But you didn’t have time to care because, at that moment, you couldn’t think of anything else.
Your stomach twisted. Your head throbbed. Your heart broke.
And you felt like you were going to throw up.
"Dude," Kaminari said, appearing next to you. "That was rough."
You didn't reply. You couldn't.
"Shut up, man," Kirishima said, placing a hand on your shoulder. He was frowning, his eyes full of worry. "She doesn't need that right now."
"This is some B-lister movie shit right here," Sero commented, shaking his head. "Seriously, what a drama queen."
Bakugo… he was… hurt. You could see it in his eyes. He was angry, obviously, but there was something else. Something that you had never seen before.
"He’s…"
"An idiot?" Sero guessed.
"A jerk?" Kaminari added.
"Emotionally constipated?"
At that, Kirishima punched Sero in the shoulder, causing him to groan and rub the spot.
"Ow, what was that for?!"
"He's just mad," Kirishima ignored the question, turning to face you. "Just give him some space. He'll come around."
"This is different," You argued, your throat burning. "I've never seen him like that. Never. It’s like he’s— I don't know."
"He's an asshole," Kaminari muttered, glaring down the hallway. "Don't waste your time on him."
"You didn't see the look in his eyes," You shook your head. "It was so different. He was almost… dejected."
"Hurt?" Sero repeated, raising an eyebrow. "The guy didn't look like he was in pain. He looked pissed."
"I… did this," You said, and the three boys frowned. "He said we weren't friends because I went behind his back. I didn’t realize he saw us as friends, and I— I ruined it."
"Hey, man, you didn't ruin anything." Kirishima shook his head, his voice firm. "He’ll realize the things he said and—"
You needed to apologize. You needed to go to him, and apologize, and explain in a way that doesn’t leave room for questions.
"I'm sorry," You spoke, interrupting the redhead. "I just— I gotta— I'm gonna go."
"Wait, I wouldn’t—"
But it was too late. You were already pushing your way through the crowd, not caring about the future consequences.
You were on a mission, and you were going to get shit done.
It was easy enough to find him. The Pomeranian hair was a dead giveaway. He never made it to the cafeteria and was instead standing off to the side, staring out the window.
He didn’t look up when you approached him, but you could see the tension in his shoulders.
"I'm sorry."
You didn’t beat around the bush or try to ease him into the conversation. You just came out and said it because there was no point in hiding it.
"Just…" He sighed, not bothering to look at you. "Just leave me alone, alright? We're done."
"Look, I didn’t—"
"Why can't you just listen?!" He yelled, whipping around to glare at you. Despite his angry expression, though, you could see the hesitation.
He wasn't as confident as usual.
"You're not listening to me," You argued. "I'm apologizing. Why can't you—"
"Because I don't need you to apologize," He snarled, his eyes narrowing. "I don't want your fucking apologies. You did what you did, and I'm over it."
"It's obvious that you aren't over it."
"What, and you are?"
"No, not at all," You shrugged, trying not to flinch. "I’m trying to fix the problem."
"Well, don't." He huffed, turning back towards the window. "There is no problem."
"You were going to take your anger out on me," You said, not daring to step any closer. "How the hell is there no problem?"
"I told you," He turned to face you. "I don't care. I don't give a shit anymore. I'm not going to spar with you. Not anymore."
"You can't—"
"I can't, or I won't?" He raised an eyebrow.
"Neither," You said. "I didn't— I didn't train with Midoriya because I didn't trust you."
He laughed. Actually, genuinely laughed, his eyes crinkling in amusement. You thought the most terrifying moment of his was when he spoke calmly, but that?
That, right there?
That was the scariest moment of your life.
"Are you joking?" He snorted, the smile disappearing just as fast as it had come. "You think that’s why I'm pissed?"
"It's— it's part of it, right?"
"Oh, no," He shook his head. "No, you don't get it, do you? Do I have to spell it out for you, dumbass? Do you want me to fucking say it?"
You hesitated, the hairs on the back of your neck standing up.
"Say what?"
He sighed, rubbing his face with his hands.
"I was fine with the spars," He explained, his voice quiet. "I was fine with the competition. It was fun. You were a good match, and it made me a better fighter. I liked it."
He stopped, taking a deep breath.
"But when you went behind my back," He continued, his voice tight. "And when you didn't bother to tell me and instead told Dunce Face? Of all people?! That's where I had a problem."
"What does—"
"It means you're a coward."
You felt as if you'd been punched in the stomach, the air being knocked out of your lungs.
"You couldn't even look me in the eye and tell me, so instead, you went behind my back." He continued, and the volume of his voice was increasing. "You were too scared to face me, and you ran off and hid like a child."
"That's not true—"
"It is," He growled. "You know it, I know it, and the rest of the class knows it."
"So, you're telling me you're pissed because I'm a coward?" You asked, trying to keep the quiver from your voice.
"Partly," He replied, and the look in his eyes made you flinch.
"Partly," You repeated, your eyebrows furrowing. "So, what's the other part?"
"That I trusted you."
The words stung. They burned through your skin and pierced through your heart, making you feel as if you were the one with the explosion quirk.
He didn’t let you respond and instead walked up to you, his eyes dark.
"I trusted you," He repeated, his voice low. "I trusted you to come to me if you needed something, and I trusted that you would be honest with me. I thought we were at least close enough for that, but it turns out I was wrong."
"You— you weren't wrong—"
"If I was wrong, then why the hell did I go to Deku?! Why not me?! Why did you not trust me?!"
"I did trust you!" You cried, your eyes stinging.
"You went to the one person who could break his body with every punch," He snapped, his hands curling into fists. "You went to the kid who can’t control his damn quirk, and you went to the one person that I—"
He stopped himself, his face twisting in anger.
"What?" You pressed, taking a small step forward. "What were you going to say?"
"Nothing." He spat, turning his head. "Forget it. It's none of your damn business."
"Tell me."
"No."
"Bakugo," You pressed, trying to sound more demanding.
"Fuck off."
"Bakugo!"
He didn't answer and, instead, began to walk away.
"Damn it," You hissed, running up and grabbing his arm.
"Let go." He warned, not meeting your gaze.
"I'm sorry." You pleaded. "Okay? I'm sorry."
"Yeah, you already said that."
"I do trust you," You said. "You're an ass, and you're annoying, and you can be a bit too hardheaded, but I still trust you."
He paused, not looking at you.
"Then why didn't you go to me first?" He asked, his voice wavering. "You were my damn partner, and yet you—"
"I didn’t want you to make me feel bad," You answered. "I wanted to surprise you and prove myself. I know I can do it. I'm strong, and I'm fast, and I can be better than what I am now, and I wanted to show you that."
He was silent, but he still didn’t pull his arm from your grasp.
"I couldn’t ask for your help," You continued. "Because I didn’t want you to treat me any differently. I wanted you to see what I could do without any outside influence."
"What a stupid reason."
"You don't have to agree," You muttered. "But it was my reasoning, nonetheless."
He didn't say anything, and you sighed, letting go of his arm.
"I'm sorry," You apologized again, trying not to cringe. "I should have told you sooner, and I should have come to you. I should have trusted the way you'd react and not predicted how you would act. I was being selfish, and I should have considered you."
He turned his head, his eyes still narrowed. But it wasn't angry. No, it wasn't anger at all anymore. It was pure curiosity.
"What were you trying to prove?"
"Huh?"
"To me," He said, his eyebrows furrowing. "If you were training with me, then what were you trying to prove?"
You bit the inside of your cheek.
"I'm not sure." You answered, not daring to meet his gaze. "I guess I just wanted to impress you."
"Impress me?" He scoffed again, rolling his eyes. "You really are an idiot."
"What's that supposed to mean?!"
"It means I don't need to be impressed," He explained, his voice softer than before. "I don't give a shit about being impressed. I just want you to be stronger."
"So you can still kick my ass? But be more proud of it?" You guessed, smiling.
"Something like that," He shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets. "I want to be able to fight you without holding back."
"Oh, come on," You complained, rolling your eyes. "That's a load of crap, and you know it. You wouldn't have to hold back against me."
"Oh, yeah?" He asked, his voice lowering. "An hour with the nerd, and you think you're on my level now? You're delusional."
"You underestimate me."
"I'm not underestimating shit." He scoffed, leaning down slightly. "I can tell you, right here, right now, two minutes. I'd give it two minutes, tops, and then your ass would be on the floor."
"Really?"
"Really," He nodded, smirking. "Two minutes. That's it."
"Five o'clock?"
"Tch, fine," He agreed, taking a step back. "Don't be late, idiot."
"I won't." You assured, turning to leave. "I'll see you then, Bakugo."
"You'll see my foot up your ass."
And, just like that, the two of you were back to normal.
Did you win? Hell no. But your plan with Deku did come in handy, and you were able to put up a pretty good fight.
He did still beat you, of course, and the time was 4:57 when he finally got you on the floor.
But, it wasn't as humiliating as the previous spars, and you weren't nearly as embarrassed.
Instead, he just grinned, pulling you up by your hand and offering some tips.
And, honestly, they were better than the ones Midoriya had given you.
So, maybe going to the firecracker wasn't a terrible idea after all.
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How To Care for Your Stray Hero
Izuku Midoriya x Reader
Japan's #1 hero finds himself on your fire escape, again, needing some TLC from his favorite girl.
tags: vigilante!deku, aged up midoriya, romance, domestic fluff, smut, finger sucking, dry humping, clothed sex, lap sex, praise kink, two emotionally constipated idiots in love
5.7k words
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
A slight rattle could be heard as he landed on your fire escape. You wasted no time padding over to the window, pulling your curtains aside to reveal your hero.
Your tired hero.
The vigilante hunched over, breathing slow and heavy. His costume was tattered and torn. Even more so than when he last saw you. It was caked with dirt. Possibly blood? His own, you couldn't be entirely sure. Darkness hid his eyes. The mask he wore gave a metallic ring to his breath.
Midoriya looked downright terrifying.
You pushed your window open, leaning through the frame to get a better look. The hero didn't move away from you. Not even when you reached out to him. Or when you gently pushed back his hood.
His verdant curls are what you see first—soft waves and ringlets draped over his forehead. Then his eyes.
Oh, those eyes.
Dark circles had been painted under them, exhaustion rooted deep into the orbs. Midoriya appeared to struggle to meet your gaze. Almost shamefully, he settles to stare at the floor. Your hand pauses for a moment—but only a moment—before you gently cup his cheek and guide his head upward.
No words were spoken. They didn't need to be. He worked so hard to push everyone away. He knew the dangers and risks of coming here to be with you—even if it's for a single night. Midoriya couldn't help but be selfish.
You were his little secret and his alone.
He tried not to take advantage of your kindness. Every visit, the time between when he would see you again just got longer. Some form of self-punishment. You knew he was a stubborn man. He knew it, too. You pushed him just enough without making him feel guilty, though.
The warm light of your apartment surrounded you. It practically begged the worn vigilante to come in. You looked like an angel, a goddess showing kindness to a weak and tired man. The pilgrimage to see you was wrought with pain, villains, and isolation—a path he had no regrets walking down.
"Come inside." You say softly.
His chest flutters at the sound of your voice. Your hand moves from his cheek down to the yellow scarf wrapped around him. With a gentle tug, you guide him into your living room.
He follows you wordlessly—obediently.
He shuffles into the living room, which looks to be too small for him. Midoriya's towering frame has become the centerpiece in your rather homely and tiny apartment. It was almost amusing. You shut the window as he idly stands by.
You take a few silent steps towards him. Now that he is standing, there is no doubt that he is much taller than you. His figure oozes strength and power, although his crestfallen expression tells you just the opposite.
You stand on your tip-toes to unclasp his mask. But you can't quite reach around to undo it completely. The vigilante dipped forward–-his face coming close to yours. He could have just as easily taken it off himself, but he wanted you to do it.
His green curls tickled your cheek, and you could hear his tinny sigh in your ear. With a simple click, you pulled it off of him. Midoriya's warm breath fanned against your skin.
Tossing the mask to the side, you begin unraveling the yellow cloth. Your hands roam down the expanse of his strong arms, which feel tough and firm under your fingertips even in this relaxed state. They keep traveling until they meet his hands. You hold them up to your eyes as you pull one glove off—finger by finger—and again with the other.
Despite how injured his limbs are, Midoriya can still feel the softness of your skin against his. You hold the large and calloused hands. Without much thought, you press your lips to his scars. His body stiffened at the feeling. His heartbeat thrummed in his ears as you placed tender kisses on his healed-over wounds.
You always found his hands attractive. That was not a secret between either of you. Midoriya couldn't wrap his mind around it, no matter how often you explained it…
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
"Can I see them again?" You asked.
He looked at you with a slightly bewildered expression. But he obliged you anyway. Midoriya always had a hard time denying your requests. He offered you his hand, palm face up. You eagerly took it within your own, holding it delicately.
The crooked fingers and mangled skin were evidence enough that he could withstand a bit of mishandling. Yet, with everything you did, it was always gentle. As though he might break under your touch.
"I've been learning how to read palms, you know." You confide in him.
His brows raise in interest. It wasn't so much as a fun fact you thought to let him know. Moreover, you implied you would read his palms—whether he liked it or not. Not that he would complain.
"Really?" He says, watching you intently. "What do mine say?"
"Well, this line right here. See how it's long and curves this way? I can tell that means you are someone who overthinks. You get a bit in your head, but you are methodical. It's deep, so that means you must have a great memory." He tenses as your fingers drag along his palm.
Midoriya wonders if it's true. If just by looking at a line on his hand, you can tell all of that.
"What else?" He urges you to continue. Truthfully, he didn't particularly believe in stuff like this. He had his ulterior motives—mainly to keep your hands on him.
"This one is your heart line. And it says—oh my," Your brows furrow as you look closer. A tone of concern laces your voice. Midoriya leans forward, too, wanting to know what you see.
"What? What does it say?" He asks. You look up at him and smile a little.
"It says you are loved by many. You're really popular with the ladies. You must leave a trail of broken hearts wherever you go, huh?" You tease.
His cheeks redden, mostly from embarrassment. Almost no one would describe him as a lady's man. Flirting wasn't exactly his forte. Even though he tried to do it with you, he was pretty hopeless. He was lucky enough that you found his attempts endearing.
"Ok, I think that's enough palm-reading for tonight." He says, trying to pull his hands away.
Your grip tightens around him, unwilling to let go quite yet. His eyes widen just a tad at your strength.
"I'm not done with your hands yet. I'm still admiring them." You say matter-of-factly.
He says nothing in response. Midoriya watches as you continue to fiddle with them. Kissing every fingertip, every knuckle, every scar. They were strong, firm, and rough. And yes, while his fingers were crooked and his skin was defaced, you only found them all the more attractive.
He pulls away to cup your cheek. The warmth of his calloused hand practically envelopes the side of your face. You lean into his touch, placing your hand over his own. Midoriya runs his thumb across your lips.
Without thinking, you part them and bring his finger into your mouth. The sudden warmth and wetness make him pause; all he can do is watch you. Your tongue drags along the pad of his thumb before curling around it. The vigilante is keenly aware of your every movement.
His mouth slightly parted. A blush dusts his cheeks, and he instinctively licks his lips as he studies the sight before him. The heat and softness your muscle offered made his cock stir. He couldn't help but imagine you on your knees. Midoriya relished the eager and lust-filled look you had on your face. You took pleasure in the flustered expression he had donned himself…
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
You moved on from his gloves to the red compression tape that wrapped around his arms, slowly unwinding it and letting it fall to the floor. Following that were his belt, his leg braces, and his shoes.
One by one, you peeled them off until only his suit remained. He watched you from the corner of his eye, primarily focused on the painting you had hung up behind you. You fiddled with the hidden zipper, looking up at him with doe-like eyes.
"May I?" You inquired.
You always sought permission when taking off the final piece of his costume. He nodded his head, turning around to give you better access. Midoriya loved it when you asked. He couldn't place why. But hearing the question made his body flush with heat. It didn't go as smoothly the first time you tried to remove his suit.
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
There was blood everywhere. You knew it before you could see it. The bitter smell hung heavy in the air, the metallic taste ruminating on your tongue. The green suit became dark with the ichor that gushed out of him. With all these layers, you couldn't possibly tell where the wound was.
He lay barely conscious on your couch. The only sounds coming from him were groans of pain. You didn't ask. Midoriya didn't seem coherent enough to answer anyway. Plus, why else would he stumble into your living room if not for your help?
Wasting no time, you fingered around for the zipper. You began to pull down until a firm hand gripped your wrist. With a jump, you looked into his eyes. The moans had stopped, and he stared straight into your soul.
Clearly, he didn't want you to continue with what you were doing. Right now, it was a battle of wills. And you were willing to bet you could take on the badly injured hero.
"Let me help you." You asserted.
Midoriya paused for a moment as though he were deciding whether to let you or not. Now wasn't the time for the brooding, self-righteous attitude. It was no secret that he was stubborn. Thankfully, you were equally so. He winces as another wave of pain courses through him. His grip loosens on you just enough for you to get to work.
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
The suit rolls off of him. The fabric folds on itself as you bring it down. It reveals a masterpiece of pale, bruised, and freckled skin. It's pulled tight around his muscles, revealing a body sculpted from marble.
Now he's standing in your living room except for his underwear. Piece by piece, you had taken off his costume. Chipping away at the vigilante Deku until all that was left was a man underneath.
That was the rule when he came over. The outside world didn't matter. His names, titles, responsibilities, everything. It got left behind on that fire escape. It would still be waiting for him by the time he leaves in the morning. But at least for a few hours—for now, he could be a normal person seeking the comfort of another human being.
You walk around him, a hand dragging along his torso as you observe the damage. It looked like he had a few more scars than when you saw him last—mainly bruising, though. It brought a strange relief to you.
Midoriya instinctively wraps his hand tightly around yours when you offer it. You guide him towards your bathroom, opening the door and standing beside the frame. You offer him the privacy of showering alone. However, more recently, he has gotten into the habit of dragging you along with him.
He stands in the doorway, looking into the sandy-themed bathroom. There is a pause. You can see the gears in his head twisting as he tries to decide. His green eyes flick to you, who is already staring him down to see what he would like to do.
"Clean up. I'll make some dinner for us." You suggested.
He almost looked pained at the offer. Like you had kicked a puppy. Midoriya must have really wanted to shower together.
"Don't give me those eyes!" You couldn't help but laugh.
There was no doubt he was intentionally pulling at your heartstrings when a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. It was barely noticeable. Unlike the swell of your heart, which demanded your attention when you caught sight of the smirk.
"Katsudon?" He spoke finally.
Oh, his voice.
You grinned and pushed him into the bathroom. "Coming right up!"
You shut the door, giving him some much-needed privacy. Walking into the kitchen, you began your endeavor to make dinner for the both of you. It wasn't quite dinner per se, considering it was almost midnight. But a warm bowl of pork cutlets, eggs, and rice was always welcome. Just as you began to slice up the fried pork, you heard the soft padding of feet behind you.
Midoriya's lumbering frame stood close. The warmth of his body pressed against you, the smell of soap clung to his skin—your soap. His arms wrapped around your waist, and he leaned forward to look at your handiwork. It was now that you realized he was still in his towel, which was tied loosely around his hips. His green hair held a much softer curl while wet. It dripped onto your shoulder, and you squirmed.
"Hey! You're gonna get the food all wet." You tried to reprimand.
Your body wiggled, trying to push him away. It only served to have him hold onto you tighter. His hand sneaked past to grab a strip of meat and pop it in his mouth. Midoriya moaned softly at the crispy texture and savory flavors that coated his tongue.
"So good." He complimented, resting his chin on your shoulder.
The hairs on the back of your neck stood up. You felt the heat rise to your cheeks. It was such a slight sound that had a resounding effect on you. Clearing your throat, you tried to refocus on the task at hand.
"I left some clothes on the bed for you. Go get warmed up. Dinner will be ready in a minute." You suggested.
Midoriya hummed in response, giving you a tight squeeze before departing to the bedroom. You let out a breath you didn't even realize you had been holding. Your heart felt like it was going to beat out of your chest. If only he knew the full extent of his effect on you. You served up the bowls and moved over to the couch. Your apartment was too small for a dining table.
"When did you get these?!" He exclaimed from your room.
Midoriya came trotting out wearing cotton All Might pants. You twisted around to see him positively beaming at the sight. His green eyes brightened in a way you only saw when he was stuffed deep inside—
Your cheeks flared up, and you turned around to face the TV. "Just a few weeks ago. It's nothing—I just wanted you to have something comfy to wear when you were here." You stuffed your face with rice, failing at getting the inappropriate images out of your mind.
Midoriya smiled at the thought of you going about your day and picking out something for him. Thinking of him. The image made a warmth spread across his chest. His rough hands tenderly rubbed over his heart, hoping it might help it slow down. He walked over and stood before you, waiting for your undivided attention.
You peeked at him through your lashes, hastily swallowing your bite to speak. But before you could even get the words out, he bent over, bringing his face close to yours. His thumb swiped across your lips to brush away a grain of rice as he gave you a soft smile.
"Thank you." The gesture made you swoon, catching a glimpse of the confident and heroic Deku in the moment.
It made you suddenly nervous and hyper-aware that you didn't have just any man in your apartment. You had Japan's greatest hero. Deku. Who had millions who adored and feared him. Who single-handedly protected the nation. It had been a long time since you felt…nervous around him.
These secret rendezvous have been a part of your life for some time now. You had gotten over yourself long ago and had grown to see him as more than his costume. But rare moments like these seemed to bring it all to the front of your mind.
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
Deku rushed towards you. Your body trembled, your feet welded to the concrete. And despite how much you yelled at yourself to look away, move, and run…all you could do was helplessly stare at the defeated villain crumpled to the ground.
Death was so close. So close you could still feel his cold hand on your shoulder, primed to take you at a moment's notice. An eternal and unforgiving nothingness waiting to greet you. Memories, feelings, life…all snuffed out by the whim of a selfish villain.
"Hey…look at me," Midoriya's metallic voice commanded.
You couldn't even do that much. Stuck in a repeating loop of torture. It pained him to see you this way. That he had come so close to losing you. That he couldn't protect you. And if he had come even a second later—
He tried not to think about it. Instead, he reached out and gripped your shoulders before pulling you tightly to his chest. The motion snaps you out of your daze. His broad body practically enveloped you as though he could shield you from any danger. His hand rested on the back of your head, and you buried yourself into his chest.
"You did good. Lasting as long as you did until I could get there. I'm sorry I kept you waiting."
─── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──
You had stopped watching the show a while ago. Old superhero cartoons the two of you had repeatedly seen were much less interesting than the actual hero sitting beside you.
He sat with his legs splayed wide, taking up a good portion of your loveseat. His muscled arm draped over the back of the sofa, lifting his tee to show a hint of a v-line. His other held you firm to his side, drawing lazy circles on your arm. And his eyes. The forest held within them seemed to sparkle with amusement.
This was him. Izuku Midoriya.
Not the hero holding Japan together. Not the vigilante striking fear into villains. Just…Izuku. And he was all yours. For the few hours you had him tonight, at least.
He noticed you staring and tilted his head to look at you. His heart skipped under your curious gaze, but he nevertheless swallowed his nerves to speak.
"Do you want to watch something else?" He asked.
The hero studied you as you moved to sit on his lap. His heart began to buzz against his chest, making itself known. Almost like a dog excitedly wagging its tail.
Your oversized shirt lifted to reveal your soft thighs to him. And it was now he realized that you weren't wearing any shorts underneath. Not because he couldn't see them. But because he could feel your warmth through the thin fabric of your panties.
The hero swallowed thickly, deciding to look up instead of down. But he found himself caught in your inquisitive gaze. He tried to maintain his composure but still felt a familiar heat flush up to his cheeks. Midoriya clenched his hands, the blunt nail digging into his calloused palms.
Being intimate with you was nothing new, but the way you looked right now was sinful. Your head tilted curiously to the side. He noted how your hair cascaded with the movement. His eyes flicked to your lips, which had been parted and curled almost into a smile.
Don't look at the lips. Don't look at the lips.
He tried to resolve. So he ambled up over your rosy cheeks to meet your eyes. Which held nothing but absolute adoration for him. He reached up to the collar of his shirt and tugged at it, a poor attempt to cool his warm face. Midoriya relented and let his head fall back, unable to keep his eyes on you anymore.
Truthfully, it didn't matter where he looked. Every part of you served to be the object of his desires. From his innocent daydreams to the most salacious thoughts. It was not that long ago that Midoriya had taken a hit square to the jaw as he inconveniently remembered just how beautiful you looked sprawled out underneath him.
"Earth to Izuku." Your voice pulled him out of his thoughts.
His ears twinged pink at the realization he had gotten lost in thought.
"Sorry, did you say something?"
"Welcome back, Space Cadet." You teased, poking his forehead with a playful smile. Something about you was so infectious that he could hardly suppress his own. "There's that million-dollar smile. I was wondering if I'd get to see it tonight."
He rolled his eyes, leaning back into the softness of the couch and letting his hands rest along your thighs. You admired his casual look: how his hair curled around his face, how his eyes observed you, the flash of his pink tongue as it swiped across his lips, or the endless freckles that dotted his cheeks.
Izuku was incomparable. And it was any wonder why he picked you to spend the occasional quiet evening with.
You leaned in close, cradling his face. He felt his skin go hot at the sudden intimacy. But he still refused to pull away.
"W-what are you—"
"Shh, I'm counting your freckles." You interrupted.
Midoriya blinked. You were so cute; it practically pained him. The hero quickly became pliant under you.
"Can I kiss you?" He asked.
Your brain seemed to go haywire at the question, and your cheeks blossomed upon realization. You flitted your gaze between his green eyes and his lips. And then you nodded—not before completely melting his heart.
"Pretty please?" You replied.
His scarred hand reached up to the curve of your face, guiding you towards him. Your heart thrummed in your chest, and you leaned in to kiss his lips chaste. Izuku peered at your lips. And before you could ask for another, he was already pressed to kiss you again.
And again.
And again.
He noted how soft your lips felt—even as you hungrily took everything you wanted from him. Midoriya was happy to let you get away with it. So long as he got to have you just a bit longer.
Your hands ran up the expanse of his chest, fisting the cotton underneath as you desperately yearned to be closer. His hand came up to your neck, fingertips brushing against your jaw as his thumb rested against the column of your throat.
Your tongue dragged across his lower lip, teeth gently biting and pulling at it for entry to the rest of him. He sighed at the feeling, letting you take all of him and more.
He brought the hand resting along your neck down your front, gently pawing at your chest. He murmured into your mouth at the plushness of it. His finger dragged over the fabric of your shirt, firmly swiping over your nipple, which elicited a sharp inhale from you.
His fingers expertly teased you. Thumbs rolling across the sensitive buds, pinching and pulling at them over your clothes.
He loved nothing more than drawing out your whines and moans, learning the way your body reacted to him. Midoriya nearly whined himself as you pulled away from the kiss. But it was quickly swallowed as he watched your fingers hook around the hemline of your shirt, pulling it over your head to reveal yourself to him.
He practically drooled. Exercising every bit of self-control not to defile your chest, which sat so pretty in front of him. No. He wanted to admire them first before he lavished them.
Izuku cupped your breasts, enjoying how they seemed to bounce with every movement. His fingers sunk into the plush skin, giving you a tender squeeze. The pads of his digits rolled over your nipple. He noted how it pebbled with the movement, perking up just for him. Instinctively, he wrapped his lips around and swept his tongue across it. You inhaled sharply. And he could tell just how much you had enjoyed it when your back arched into his mouth.
"Just like that~" You praised.
Your fingers tangled in his mess of green curls. Izuku hummed against you, the vibrations suddenly making you whine for more. His cock steadily stiffened, twitching up to your clothed heat. The hardness pressed against you, mixed with the attention of Midoriya's mouth, hazed all of your senses with lust.
You raised off of his lap, and he almost seemed to frown. He wasn't done with you. Nevertheless, he rested his hands on your waist, waiting to see what you would do. His shaft bulged against the loose fabric of his pants. Midoriya's cock pressed up against his abdomen. You would surely see his pink tip if the waistline had been tugged down even a little.
Before he could ask what you were doing, you aligned yourself with his thick member and sat happily on it.
The thinness of your clothes did little to hide how you felt to each other. His shaft placed neatly between your lips, making your panties soak up your wetness. Midoriya groaned and shifted his hips to give you a better angle to grind against him. He watched as you rolled back and forth. His tip occasionally peeked out at the movement.
You bit on your lower lip to stifle your moans. His breathing was heavy as he held onto your hips, holding you down to apply just the right amount of pressure to his dick. Izuku was beginning to wonder if this was pleasure or punishment.
He gripped you strong enough to hold you still, lifting you up so he could tug down the waistband of his pants. The vigilante sighed and let you rest yourself back on him. You slid up and down his shaft. His tip nestled neatly between your clothed lips and pushed against your clit as you rubbed against him.
Midoriya eagerly watched you, committing the sight of you to his memory. Everything you did seemed to take his breath away. The hero had accepted long ago that his heart was yours and that he would continue to make Japan safer for you.
You lifted up ever so slightly, pushing your panties to the side. His cock eagerly twitched at the realization he'd finally get to be inside of you. The blunt head rolled between your lips before pressing towards your hole.
Midoriya sighed at feeling the entrance happily wrap around the leaky tip. The sigh quickly turned into a choked groan as you suddenly sank down on him.
He nearly bottomed out from under you, a gasp as his hands flew to your hips to hold you steady. Midoriya was too embarrassed to admit he'd almost met his early demise. You whined at the fullness of him, his shaft thoroughly stretching you in a familiar burn you hadn't felt for quite some time.
"S-so good," he mumbled with a hoarse voice. "So good, my pretty girl," Midoriya praised.
Your walls seemed to flutter around him at the sweet name he called you.
"Say that again." You breathed, slowly moving up and down on his lap.
He groaned at the sensation, enjoying how wet and warm you felt around him. Whatever control he thought he had quickly melted away under the indulgence of you.
"J-just like that. My pretty girl," He voiced again, his hand shifting to place the pad of his thumb on your clit.
A jolt of electricity shot through you, making your soft walls clamp tighter around him. He groaned at the tightness wrapped around him. At the same time, you whimpered at the pleasure of his thumb lazily stroking you. You continued to ride him, touching his shoulders to keep yourself steady.
The slow and languid pace was borderline torture for him. The way your pussy squeezed his cock as you lifted your hips. As though your own body didn't want to let him go. You took your sweet time fucking him. As if you had all the time in the world.
His head fell back, soft moans escaping from his parted lips. Meanwhile, you rode the vigilante at your own happy pace. You enjoyed seeing him like this. Relaxed and at ease. Lost in his own lust. Having forgotten about everything else. Completely enraptured by you.
He felt your movements quicken, becoming sloppier as you tried to get closer to your own end. Midoriya adored the sight of you drunk off of him, using his cock for your pleasure. He couldn't stop himself from reaching forward and pulling your face into his for a desperate kiss. You could feel him smile against your lips. And he drank up the moans you spilled into his mouth.
The hero gripped the back of your thighs, holding you steady as he turned the both of you over so he could be on top. The ease with which he carried you turned you on much more than you wanted to admit. You knew he was strong. But in small moments like that, he made you realize just how capable he is.
Your legs spread for him in response, eager to have him back inside of you again. He couldn't help but grin, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing it to the side. Midoriya untied the drawstring of his pants, kicking them off before moving to slide your ruined underwear down your legs.
"So wet for me. All for me." He sighed, unable to keep himself from you anymore.
His lips crashed into yours as his cock plunged into your core. Midoriya set a relentless pace into you that made you whine and cry. The hero was never rough with you. But he would happily drown under the riptide of pleasure you gave him--bringing you down with him.
"F-Fuck," Izuku staggered out, his hips rolling into you. "Y-you feel so good." He admired.
This was his favorite part. Seeing you come undone by him. Lost to your own desires, only able to see him. Think of him. He loved how his name sounded when it came from your lips. Midoirya didn't know if he liked it more when you were begging for or praising him.
Your mewls only served to push him closer to his climax. So, he angled his hips in a way he knew would finish you. His hot tip pressed to your g-spot with every thrust. A cry tumbled from your lips. And you desperately grasped at him as your body became weak against the overstimulating pleasure he pushed into you.
"W-wait, Izu--fuck," You stammered, your body begging for a reprieve.
You whined, an electrifying heat pooling in your abdomen. The words could barely come out before he happily drew out your orgasm for him. Your walls clamped down on him, keeping his cock firmly stuffed deep inside of you. He moaned at the feeling. His head fell forward, his curled hair covering his eyes.
He wanted to pull out. He tried, but your cunt just felt so warm he never wanted to leave. And like you could read his mind, you permitted him. Not only that, you had practically begged him to do so.
"I-inside…I need it inside," You pleaded, your legs pulling him into you. Midoriya groaned, practically falling on top of you as his final thrust sputtered inside you. It was better than seeing you painted with his cum. The way your walls milked every drop from him. Claiming you in a much more intimate way.
"Fuck." He grumbled, which sent shivers down your spine. His heavy body seemed to relax against you, resting his forehead on yours as you both tried to catch your breath. Midoriya's green eyes had fluttered closed, the curl of his lashes brushing against his freckled cheeks.
And you had to bite your tongue from telling him you loved him right then and there.
The relationship, if you could even call it that, was a delicate dance the two of you tip-toed around. Never quite saying what you meant. You knew that his country, his work, being a hero--came first. And he feared that saying the obvious part out loud only solidified putting you in danger.
The simple truth was that when you two were intertwined as you were now, holding on tightly--afraid to let go. The words didn't need to be said. Two hearts that beat in sync knew the truth.
You gently kissed his cheek and smiled as he returned the gesture, delicately pressing his mouth to your face and neck. With your arms encircling his shoulders, he carried you tenderly towards your room. And as he lay down beside you, he drew you close. There was little you could do about how your heart fluttered at having your hero beside you again, even if it was for a single night.
"Izuku?" You mumbled, pressing your face to the crook of his neck.
"Hmm?" He hummed, eyes already closed as he drew lazy circles on your arm.
"I missed you."
Midoriya's heart buzzed from your affectionate words. And there was a pause in the air as he thought of what to say next. Miss was too simple. He didn't just miss you. He ached for you.
He loved you.
Your soft snores interrupted his thoughts. He pulled you in closer, holding you tightly.
"I missed you too," Midoriya smiled. As much as he didn't want to admit it, as much as he felt he didn't deserve you, he enjoyed these moments of domesticity—a peek at a different life—one where the fate of Japan didn't rest on his shoulders.
When you woke up, you knew the bed would be much colder without him in it. A note would have been left for you on your nightstand, the dishes from last night's dinner would have been cleaned up, and the clothes he wore would have been folded neatly.
He'd be long gone.
And you would happily wait forever for the return of your stray hero.
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