Or Maybe

By: Kenny

You know the saying no means no? Well, Izuku Midoriya applied this to almost everything he said no to. Would you like fries with that? No. What would you like on your burger? Cheese, ketchup, mustard, lettuce, onions, no tomatoes. Go to the park with me, Deku. No. There were no fries in his bag, there was no tomatoes on his burger, but here he was walking across a large open field heading for the playground that was around around the corner from his house with the person he never thought he'd ever set foot in a park with again.

Izuku hadn't played with Kacchan since the older boy had gotten his quirk and had become one of Izuku's bullies. So when the blonde 9 year old showed up at his door and asked Inko Midoriya if Izuku could come out and play, he was too shocked to tell his mother that she had probably pushed him outside and into an ass whooping. Kacchan's next words would hunt Izuku for the rest of his life.

"Go to the park with me."

"What?" Izuku had asked when the words fully registered in his head. "No."

"It's just around the corner, Deku. If you get too scared you can easily run home to your mother." Kacchan sneered.

Before Izuku could get out another word, rather it was hell no or don't call me Deku, he was being grabbed tightly around his wrist and dragged in the direction that Kacchan had indicated. Maybe he shouldn't make a huge fuss over any of this. The being forced to go outside with Kacchan, the being dragged down the street by Kacchan, not even the fact that Kacchan's hand had a death grip around his wrist. As if he was daring Izuku to try and pull away.

Looking back on it he doesn't even remember feeling the desire to pull away from the familiar warmth on his wrist. It had been so long since Kacchan had done anything remotely friendly towards him, even if it didn't feel very friendly. Kacchan was just holding on because he didn't want Izuku to run away.

"Kacchan…"

"What?" The boy snapped, glancing over his shoulder at Deku.

"Can we slow down?" Midoriya asked as he stumbled over a crack in the ground. "And can you loosen your grip? We're already here."

Midoriya could feel the hesitation as Kacchan slowed down so that he was walking beside him and let his hands slip from around his wrist, lightly brushing along his fingers before he shoved his own hands in his pockets. If Izuku had thought the first words Kacchan had spoken to him that day would scar him, he had underestimated Kacchan.

"You better not run." Kacchan said lowly, taking one hand out of his pocket and causing small firework like crackles to erupt from his hand. "Or I'll hurt you."

Izuku gasped lightly before gulping and nodding his head.

"I...I wasn't even thinking about it." He stuttered, looking at the empty playground. "What do you wanna do? No one's here…"

"That's the point." Kacchan said, grinning mischievously at him.

Oh no. Izuku thought, his eyes widening. He brought me here so he could kill me! I didn't know he hated me that much! How long will it be before my mom notices that I haven't returned from the park? What time is it anyway?!

"Deku!"

Midoriya looked in the direction that his horrible nickname had been called from. Kacchan was standing by the swings, holding onto one of the chains. He gestured for Deku to come over to him. He didn't know why he didn't hesitate. Maybe it was because for once Kacchan looked cute and innocent like a kid waiting for someone to come push them on the swings.

When Izuku made it over to where Katsuki was standing he made to stand behind the swing, but was stopped.

"Wh-what?" He asked nervously, looking down at the hand on his wrist. It wasn't as tight as it had been the first time he had grabbed him.

"I'm pushing you first."

Izuku had sweated profusely twice in his life. Once when he found out he was quirkless and today when Katsuki Bakugo had offered to push him on the swings. This was definitely a death trap.

"Umm.."

"It's not up for discussion." Kacchan growled, moving his hands to Deku's shoulder's and pushing him down roughly on the swing. "Sit. Stay. Have fun."

Did he think he was a dog?

Midoriya's hands gripped the chain of the swing tightly as Kacchan moved to stand behind him. He couldn't help, but jumping a bit when Bakugo's hands wrapped around his over the chains. Bakugo took a few steps back before pushing the swings forward and letting Deku's hands go. For four seconds Midoriya smiled. Swinging always felt like flying for him, but when he felt the swinging going back down he wasn't sure what was going to come next. Was Kacchan going to stop the swing abruptly and make him fall? Was he going to push him roughly off? Was he going to blast him in the back?

He had done none of that. The gentle push to his back was almost as, if not more, startling than if Kacchan had've pushed him roughly. He smiled again when he realized that maybe...just maybe Kacchan really wanted to play with him again.

As if sensing his hope, Kacchan's hands hesitated before giving him a rough shove and pushing him off of the swing sets.

"It's my turn now, nerd." Bakugo said before circling around the swing and sitting down. "Get up and push me or I'll blow your back!"

Deku made a startled noise as he scrambled to his feet. He moved behind Kacchan and grabbed hold of the swing chains before taking a few steps back and pushing him forward. It wasn't really hard to push the older boy, despite their age differences. Kacchan was actually very light for his height.

First push seemed to be pretty easy. Kacchan swung forward, kicking his legs out to force himself to propel higher. The second push was simple too. When he came back, his knees bent slightly so that he didn't kick Deku. When Deku pushed him forward again he could've sworn he heard Kacchan laugh. No wait, that wasn't what that was. It was more like a giggle.

"Kacchan?"

When he was pushed forward a third time, Bakugo forced himself to push back faster and rougher than was needed, knocking the swing into Deku's chest.

"What?!"

Deku fell back from the impact, his hand coming up to rub his chest instinctively. He sat up with a whimper. The cackle that reached his ears sent chills down his spine. He didn't dare turn around. It's a good thing he didn't. If he had he probably would've lost the brand new set of adult teeth he was just growing in. Instead, he felt the bottom of Kacchan's boots plant firmly into the back of his head, knocking him forward again into the wood chips.

He groaned softly, sitting up to rub at his now aching head.

"Uh-oh! Look out!" Kacchan called out cheerfully.

Deku opened his eyes and screamed, leaning back to avoid being hit with the back of the swing. He was now stuck in a position where his back was arched almost perfectly. Kacchan's shoes scraped against his stomach as he swung forward again. Midoriya didn't know how much longer he would be able to stay like this. Either he was going to fall back and crack his back painfully, or he was going to sit up and risk another head injury.

It took fifteen minutes for Kacchan to get tired of the swings. By then Deku's back was aching badly and his arms were shaking from trying to keep himself up right. Kacchan stopped the swings by jumping off of them, landing on his feet perfectly and holding his hands up as if he had scored a touchdown. He turned to look at Deku with a raised eyebrow.

"How long are you going to stay down there?" He asked annoyed at the boys antics. "I wanna play on the slide!"

"Kacchan, I think it's time for me to-"

Small explosions went off in Bakugo's hands as he raised them so that Deku could see them.

"I. Want. To. Play. On. The. Slide." He growled out.

"Ok!" Deku squeaked.

He stood up and walked over to the slide with Kacchan, rubbing his back. He watched as Kacchan stepped up the small steps and walked over to the monkey bars.

"Come here."

Deku hesitated before climbing up next to him.

"Grab the first bar."

Deku narrowed his eyes before grabbing hold of the first monkey bar. He was about to swing his body when Kacchan grabbed his shirt.

"Wait. I have to explain the rules."

"Rules?"

"Yeah." Bakugo said before grinning. The grin on his face matching the cackle that Deku had heard earlier. "I call this game Drop It Like It's Hot."

"What?"

"You have to swing across the hot monkey bars. Except you don't know which ones I touched with my quirk so I suggest you move quickly so you don't get burned."

"O..k…"

"I'm also going to be throwing small explosions at your ankles!"

"What?!"

"Go!"

Deku screamed when the medal bar in his hand became searing hot. He reached for the other which was also very hot and quickly tried to switch to the other. It seemed like they were all hot, but he couldn't drop down because everytime it seemed like he was about to, he felt a small explosion barely brush past his ankles.

"Kacchan! This isn't funny!" He screamed.

He didn't have to look back to know that Bakugo was laughing up a storm.

Eventually Deku made it to the other side, but not without having to dive out of the way of the explosion that Kacchan had sent at him last minute. Kacchan swung across the now cooled down monkey bars and landed next to where Deku was laying.

"You were good at that game, loser." He said, huffing in annoyance. "My friends usually end up going to tell their mom's they got burned pretty badly."

Deku looked at his reddening hands. Maybe he should go tell his mom. Except. His mom was back home safe and sound while he was at the park fending for his life against his old best friend. His mother had betrayed him.

"Come on. Let's go to the big slide!" Kacchan said, jumping off the platform. "Go up and wait until I tell you to slide down."

Midoriya wanted to say no, but he knew that would only result in Katsuki threatening him, so he did that next best thing. He prayed to All Might that nothing bad would come of this next activitiy.

Izuku sat on top of the slide for what felt like forever. It wasn't until he heard Kacchan calling his name that he stood up to look over the bars.

"Slide down, Deku!"

The smile on Kacchan's face seemed sincere. Maybe that's why Izuku shouldn't have trusted it. He sat on the edge of the slide before pushing forward and sliding down at full speed. He could feel and hear the vibrations of Bakugo's laughter the closer he got to the bottom. And the closer he got to the bottom the nervouser he got. Which made sense, since at the bottom of the slide was a flaming pile of woodchips.

Deku screamed, turning on his stomach to try and climb back up, but the friction was terrible and only caused him to slide down a little slower, pushing his shirt up and giving him stomach rope burn. Or whatever he was going to call this when he had to explain it to the doctors.

Still, he didn't know how he was going to explain that the back side of him was completely charred because he slide through a pile of flaming wood chips.

"Kacchan! Please!"

Kacchan huffed before pushing Deku over the side of the slide before he reached the edge.

"You're such a baby." Bakugo said, rolling his eyes. "Let's go play on the seesaw."

Deku was tired of playing, but he knew saying no wasn't an option. All Might had betrayed him as well.

The seesaw had always been one of Deku's favorite things to play on. There was no way in hell that Kacchan could blow this one. They sat on opposite ends of the seesaw before Kacchan spoke.

"This is the last game. Then I wanna go get ice cream."

That sound like a great deal to Midoriya. He pushed off the ground lifting his side up happily. He grinned. For about thirty seconds before he was coming back and saw an explosion coming directly towards his head.

"Think fast!" Bakugo called out.

"Noooo!" Deku screamed, forcing his side to go down sooner than Bakugo wanted him to.

"Cut it out, Deku!"

"No you cut it out!"

They went back and forth for about two minutes. Bakugo sending Deku up and leaving behind balls of explosions for him to face and Deku quickly forcing himself back down to avoid it. The only reason this stopped so soon was because they got dizzy. They were leaning on their respective handles trying to collect themselves. Unfortunately for Midoriya, Kacchan had recovered rather quickly. He stood up on the bars before plopping down roughly, sending Deku high into the air and causing him to come back down on the seesaw roughly.

Deku let out a low groan of pain before rolling off the seesaw and grabbing at his crotch area.

"What happened to you?" Bakugo asked, innocently.

"My...balls.."

Bakugo snorted before running over to the ice cream truck and leaving Midoriya to suffer in pain.

When Midoriya sat up Bakugo was returning with two ice cream cones.

"Hey, Deku." He said, grinning. "I got some strawberry ice cream for me." he held up an half eaten cone. "And this Strawberry, chocoloate, and mint ice cream is...fooooooooooooor…:

There was a brief pause before He grinned wider and much more eviller than he had earlier today.

"That pile of dog shit over there!" He said cheefully, pointing to the ground and dropping the cone ice cream first into a steaming hot pile of dog shit.

"Anyway. See you at school! I hope we play together real soon."

The end of his sentence would be what actually scared Izuku Midoriya for the rest of his life.