Trace's ears twitched slightly. Todoroki and Mina had opposite reactions.
Todoroki was worried about why his ears were twitching.
Mina was trying to hold in a squeal of adorableness.
Trace looked to the ground for a second, trying to think of the right words. Eventually he just sighed. "I'm just gonna get it over with, I'm part wolf".
"Apologies Trace but we gathered that much", Todoroki put his hands up in defense.
"Noted", Trace began, "Anyway, my being part wolf isn't a quirk, It's actually a very rare breed". Trace put his hood up to cover his ears, becoming uncomfortable with their being seen.
"So you're like an Alpha or an Omega?", Todoroki asked confusedly.
Both Mina and Trace were confused by this.
"Why would he be either", Mina asked.
"If he's part wolf, then he's one of these two", Todoroki said quickly.
Trace began chuckling at this, catching Todoroki and Mina off Guard. "Actually, there are more than just alpha and omega, there are delta's, warriors, hunter's, and so on".
"So which one are you then", Mina was super confused.
"I'm actually a mix between an Omega and a Healer", Trace said meekly, face turning a new shade of red.
"So bottom of the chain", Todoroki asked worriedly
"Todoroki", Mina said sternly.
Trace simply began laughing, "yep, simple as that, i'm bottom of the pack".
Mina turned to Trace, worried of his acceptance of these roles. "How are you okay with being bottom of the pack", she asked.
"Well, you see, since I don't have a pack, Omega takes on a new meaning", Trace began, confidence filling his voice, "Omega can also mean, "individual or on one's own", so that's how I accept it so easily". Trace flashed a smile, steeling himself for what's to come. "But not everyone accepted that", Trace looked at the two listening. "You guys remember why I said I was bullied".
Both people nodded quickly, before simultaneously saying, "Djinn right?".
Trace nodded his head. "That is correct, but it wasn't the real reason I was bullied".
Mina looked at him wide-eyed. "How long has this been bottled up", Mina thought to herself.
"People originally bullied me because I was an Omega, I was bullied before Djinn ever came around". Trace had tears falling from his face. He pressed the buttons on his inhibitors, allowing the chemical to help stabilize him.
Todoroki and Mina stayed silent but were confused beyond imagination.
Trace put his hood down to allow his ears air so as to not overheat himself.
Mina looked at those ears, those beautiful ears, she could stare all day. But she knew she shouldn't. She was about to look away when something caught her eye. On his left ear was a line at the top of his ear going across it.
"Back in first grade, a kid came up behind me with a knife and attempted to saw my ears off, he was jealous of me for being good with girls. He assumed girls liked me for my ears but I never thought anything of them, but I was a damn good listener". Trace put a hand to his hand on his left ear, running a finger up his scar. "He was successful in cutting a small part off before I turned and kicked him, causing everyone to run from me… he got what he wanted that day, cause everyone was now afraid of me since I kicked that kid through a wall".
Mina sat there shocked. He was an innocent little muffin and someone tried to take that away out of petty jealousy. Tears threatened to form in her eyes but she didn't let that happen. She was more pissed off than anything. "How can anyone be so cruel as to take away someone's innocence". She wrapped Trace in a hug, holding him as close as possible. She wouldn't let anyone hurt her little muffin again. She would be there for him.
Todoroki, though not much of a hugger, wrapped Trace in a hug of his own, a small tear falling down his face. "You didn't deserve to have to deal with anyone like that".
Trace gratefully returned both embraces, joyful to have others who truly support him. "Thank you guys, but I need to tell you guys everything, I'm done bottling things up, I need to come clean".
Mina and Toodoroki nodded before breaking the embrace.
Trace began lifting his hood, but was stopped by Mina who looked at him with worry and silent pleas to keep it off. Trace, though hesitant, nodded his head before letting his hood fall back to its original position on his shoulders. "Anyway, a few minutes later, I was in the office with that kid and his parents. I thought maybe they were there to make us both apologize for our actions, but instead", Trace's eyes began glowing yellow, and growing in intensity, "they began to yell at me, berating me, saying how I hurt their "perfect angel" of a kid". Trace was holding his left ear in his head, shuddering at the memories.
"I told them that his kid attempted to cut my ears off, meaning I wouldn't be able to hear, but they brushed it off as he's in 1st grade, so he's not gonna know any better", Trace was doing everything he could to avoid screaming or yelling, "they began pulling on the ear he cut, saying they were fake ears, without thinking, I scratched his father's arm to get him off of me, I backed away from him but he started approaching me with a gun, telling em to either remove the ears, or die".
Mina was seething with rage, but she managed to keep it under control at the moment.
"I ran for my life, but he shot me through the heart before I got out the door… I learned of my damage displacement quirk that day, I barely saved my own life… but I was forced to deal with that kid everyday, at the school yard, at the lunch room, in every single one of my classes". Trace closed his eyes for a second before saying, "He would cut me in front of teachers who did nothing about it, he would kick me, insult me, stab me, even shoot me", Mina and Todoroki were horrified, "but worst of all, he told everyone about my status as Omega, so now everyone would hurt me, I was a toy for others to break… It wasn't until 3rd grade when I got a real friend, his name was Parker, He was a kid who was confined to a wheelchair", Trace smiled at the memories of Parker, reminiscing the good times with him.
"On the first day of 3rd grade, he found me lying on the ground at the playground, blood running down my head from where someone bashed a rock against my head, He came over and helped me clean and bandage the wound", Trace flashed a smile from ear to ear, "that day on, I knew I had found a real friend, so me and him started hanging out after school, He would help me with bullies, while I helped him with homework and studies, we were like two peas in a pod, He made life worth living", Tears began falling from his face, pain starting to creep into his voice. "Of course, people would try to hurt him, but I would take any wounds that were inflicted on Parker, no one could kill him as long as I was with him… of course, people caught on, eventually they just started hurting Parker so I would take his wounds for him, they would only insult me at that point".
Mina was about to start screaming when Todoroki put a hand on her shoulder, calming her enough to avoid screaming.
"Then, literally a week from 4th grade, they held me down and shot Parker through his head and forced me to look at his dead body for a half-hour before letting me approach him… I kept trying to heal him but his wound wouldn't disappear, turns out, his quirk nullified mine when he was in extreme pain… he held my hand before saying "it's okay" to me, he died in my arms… the one person who kept me alive in those times was gone". Trace had begun to weep but willed himself to continue.
Mina covered her mouth in shock and horror.
"I was about to go hunting for them when a villain came up to me and asked me if I wanted revenge on them, I nodded without a second thought. He then told me he had a quirk that would allow him to control me through emotions if he wanted to and he could do that so I could kill the bullies and have an alibi to killing them, I was about to accept this when he made a huge mistake… he told me I would need to kill everyone in that school to ensure I got the right guys… I wasn't about to kill innocent lives so I flat out refused and turned back to Parker, you know the story from there". Trace was leaning against a wall at this point, hood back up. Pain overtaking his voice.
Mina wrapped him in a bear hug, tears flowing down her own eyes. "I'm so sorry you had to go through all this alone, I'm sorry you lost your best friend, I'm sorry you had to deal with such people". Mina was sobbing at this point.
"How can anyone see you as useless", Todoroki said quietly.
"I truly don't know", Trace said, Tears streaming down his face like a waterfall. He hugged Mina close, glad to have someone to hold onto. "I must protect her", Trace thought, "I must protect my friends, I must be there for them". He felt a hand put his hood down. He didn't make a move to stop her. He missed this. Mina began gently rubbing his ears. He loves his ears being rubbed but he gave that up when Parker died. He wanted this contact for so long. The feeling was amazing for him. He began purring heavily, snuggling up against Mina.
Mina could feel his purring, She took more pride in this than she did when she got the 100 on her finals exam. He was a little angel, but people attempted to corrupt him. But through it all, he managed to become the angel he is today. She snuggled further into him, continuing to rub his ears with her hand.
Todoroki simply sat there smiling, his friend finally came clean and told them. While his emotions won't be back to normal from this alone, it was a step in the right direction.
"Can we let the others know of this secret, I feel bad for hiding it so long", Trace's eyes pleaded, almost like a little kid.
Mina simply chuckled at the display before rubbing his ears one more time. "Get your disguise back on and let's go if you want to show them", Mina said cheerfully.
Trace simply shook his head, "I don't want to hide my past anymore. I don't need the disguise".
Todoroki and Mina were surprised, but warmly smiled at him.
Mina gave him a peck on the lips before responding, "let's go then, we shouldn't keep the others waiting". She took his hand in her own and began leading him out of the alleyway.
Saying Trace was excited was an understatement. He was ECSTATIC. He left his hood down on purpose, he wouldn't let his past hold him back anymore. He would show his ears with pride. They walked for what felt like hours, but in reality it was only 30 minutes. The whole time Trace got stares of excitement, disapproval, and neutral expression. But he wasn't concerned with any of it. He would break his wall down and continue forward.
Eventually, they found Toru who immediately jumped on Trace's ears, rubbing them gently but excitedly, trying to embarrass Trace. Trace began purring once more, enjoying the feeling. Toru was taken aback by this before pulling away."Are those ears real?", She asked surprisedly.
Mina flashed a wide grin before replying, "Yep, he's part wolf".
Trace smiled warmly, "It's okay Toru, you can touch them if you wish", Trace wanted to calm her as fast as possible so she didn't break.
Toru slowly reached up to his ears again and began rubbing them once more, inciting purrs from Trace once again. They felt so soft to Toru, she really liked this, it was so calming.
Trace flashed a smile before saying, "I have a lot of explaining to do, so can you help us find everyone", Trace said in between purrs.
Toru said cheerfully, "Of course, let's go find everyone". Toru grabbed Trace by the wrist, and began dragging him toward their meetup point. The fountain at the center of the mall. Waiting there were kirishima, kaminari, tsuyu, and jiro.
"Hey guys", Toru screamed with her usual excitedness.
The others, hearing her, waved back. They saw Trace, Mina, and Todoroki with her but Trace was much more cheerful than normal. They were about to ask why he was so cheerful when they saw ears atop his head.
"What's with the fake ears". Jiro was hoping to catch him off guard.
"These aren't fake actually, they're my real ears, I'm part wolf", Trace said proudly.
Everyone was taken aback. Tsuyu reached up and began rubbing his ears.
Trace began purring, causing Tsuyu to pull away. "Does it hurt to touch them", Tsuyu said.
"Not at all, it's actually a nice feeling", Trace said cheerfully.
It took a second for the others to process this, surprised by Trace's confidence.
"I have a lot of explaining to do, so I'm trying to get class 1-a together so I can come clean, cause I haven't told the full truth to any of you yet". Trace's voice is regretful yet confident.
Toru got her phone out and checked the group chat. "Everyone will be here at 4pm, so it's gonna be about 10 minutes before everyone gets here".
Tsuyu, though hesitant, put her hand on Trace's ears, and began rubbing them, once again inciting purring from Trace.
Eventually Tsuyu moved her hand away, moving back to her list to make sure she has everything.
Trace snuggled up against Mina on the bench, no blush evident on his face. He let out a soft mewl as he laid his head on her shoulder, happy to have someone he could call his girlfriend.
Mina held his hand as she ran a hand through his hair. She loved this Trace. He was so caring, and kind, and loving, but most of all, he was confident. Mina began to smile when a finger tapped hers and Trace's shoulders. They both turned to see the rest of the group, most staring at his ears.
"What's with the ears Trace?", Sero asked confusedly.
"These are my real ears, I had hidden them for a while but I finally decided I wasn't gonna be ashamed of my ears", Trace had a slight blush on his face. He stood to his feet, counting the students here. Once he was certain everyone was here, He began telling them everything he had told Mina and Todoroki, including the whole Omega thing. Trace may have found some confidence, but he was still human and not a good crowd person. Once Trace finished, he put his hands together, waiting for any kind of response. But none came. Trace was beginning to think maybe this was too much to drop on them when Iida spoke up.
"So you went your entire life dealing with bullies and people harming you".
Trace nodded, "Djinn was just another excuse to kick me around, most people still had to worry about the feds at the time but when Djinn was formed, the feds saw me as a villain and allowed people to do whatever they wanted to me".
Everyone sat there bewildered by this. The feds literally turned their backs on a little kid. The police left Trace to rot. A silent rage began forming in the group.
"I can't believe people treated you this way because you were kind, some people are fucking stupid", Jiro was livid.
"How could anyone treat you that way", Kaminari said, holding a handkerchief to his eyes.
"So unmanly, they were cowards to do what they did to you", Kirishima was looking to the ground in anger.
Trace looked to his friends, feeling the rising tension. "There's no point in getting angry over this as what happened those many years ago can't be changed, but I can prove how wrong people were to say I could never be a hero, I will prove to those bullies that I can stand for others, that I can protect those I care about". Determination filled Trace's voice, surprising everyone. "I'm done trying to forget my past, I'm done letting others kick me down, I will be the best hero I can be and show those bullies that I can do it". Trace raised a fist, determination controlling his voice.
Without thought, everyone surrounded Trace in a big group hug.
Trace, though surprised, accepted the hug, feeling the warmth of those around him. He would do his very best for them. He would do everything he could to protect his friends.
"EVERYONE NEEDS TO VACATE THE AREA", a policeman with a microphone was motioning to multiple exits, "THERE IS A VILLAIN IN THE MALL, SO EXIT WITH HASTE".
Everyone around them began scrambling toward the exits. The class was about to follow suit when a police officer approached them. "Did any of you witness the villain at any point today".
Trace quickly raised his hand to his hood, putting it over his ears, "I was interrogated for info by him".
The officer quickly motioned to the tent behind him, "perhaps you could give us a statement or two sir".
Trace followed the officer to the tent, entering without hesitation.
All his friends could do is wait outside. Worry filling them.
"How did a villain get the jump on Trace", Kaminari said.
Jiro quickly jabbed him in the rib with her ear jack. "Not really an appropriate question bud".
Kaminari began scratching his head, "right, sorry, I wasn't really thinking there".
After a few minutes of silence, Todoroki finally spoke up, "so everyone's okay with Trace coming clean right, no minds processing?".
Everyone gave a thumbs up except for Mineta.
"Is there an issue Mineta", Todoroki said sternly.
Mineta sighed before saying, "the way I acted toward him, how am I any better than his 1st grade bully".
Everyone turned to Mineta, surprised taking the place of anger.
Mineta continued. "I mean, all i did was kick him down for being good with the ladies, how am I any better than the kid who tried to cut his ears off, why should I be forgiven for being a jackass to him".
"Because", Trace began, surprising everyone, "you realized your mistake and honestly, I don't see a good reason to hold a grudge against you Mineta, I was angry when you insulted my friends, but you realized you were kind of a jerk, so I can't be mad at you now that you've seen the error".
Everyone sat there frozen, by no one was more stunned than Mineta. "He was willing to forgive me despite everything I did, he truly is too kind to see the negative for long". Mineta turned to face Trace before saying, "Thank you, I probably don't deserve your forgiveness, but I'll do my best to keep earning it".
Trace simply smiled. "You are a friend Mineta, don't ever forget that".
His friends began to approach him when he put a hand up to stop them. "I know you want to approach me, but I want to say first before this is, thank you all for helping me, and thank you for reminding me that I have reasons to live for". Then Trace began to turn somber, "but when I went into the tent, they had given me antidepressants due to my condition, but the antidepressants they used have a side effect that makes me emotionless for 2 hours once they take effect, which will be in about 2 minutes, so while I still have emotions, thank you". Trace dropped his hands to his sides, smiling.
Mina was the first to hug him, holding him very closely while kissing him passionately. Then a very random question came to her mind. She broke the kiss and quietly whispered into his ear, "if you're part wolf, does that mean you fall into heat at some point", Mina said, worried she would have an issue on her hands.
Trace blushed heavily before responding quietly, "I go into heat through the start of fall toward the end of winter, but I'm on a medication that suppresses that quite well". Trace started putting his hands to his face but was stopped halfway by Mina who looked at him with a warm smile.
"You shouldn't be so embarrassed about that, I mean, you seem to be under control right now", Mina wrapped him in a stronger embrace, emphasizing her caring for him. "And it wouldn't be a problem either way". Mina's cheeks are a slight lilac.
They embraced each other for what felt like hours, soon joined by every class 1-a student. They all watched as Trace's pupils began disappearing, leaving a large brown circle in its place. They began walking to their homes, some separating immediately, some separating later. Eventually, it was just Mina and Trace left. They had walked in silence for about an hour, just the sound of cars passing by to fill the silence. They made it to Mina's house after another hour, reaching her door quickly.
"Here it is", Trace said deadpan. "There you go". Trace was about to turn but he felt a hand grab his arm. He turned to see Mina looking at him with a huge grin. Trace was about to question her when he realized what she was happy about. He began grinning from ear to ear. His emotions were back.
They embraced each other, passionately kissing each other, neither wanted to let go. They eventually broke the kiss after a few minutes, each taking in huge breaths of oxygen. They were so happy together. Their tender moment was interrupted by Mina's dad.
"I shouldn't be expecting grandkids should I?".
Both Mina and Trace began blushing heavily, but neither breaking the embrace.
Mr. Ashido began laughing heavily, "sorry, sorry, though you should see your faces right now". Mr. Ashido was about to continue teasing them when he noticed Trace's ears. "Where did those come from now".
Trace began laughing before saying, "can I come inside for a minute, cause it's a long story".
Mr.Ashido smiled before gesturing to inside his house.
Trace and Mina entered quickly, taking a seat on one of two couches in the house. They enjoyed each other's company so much. They were inseparable after everything. They would be the other's shield.
Trace couldn't help but smile when he was around her. He couldn't help but feel proud. He found his confidence, he had many friends, even a girlfriend, and he was proving those who doubted him wrong everyday. He was truly happy.
