The actual saying is "the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb". The meaning of this saying is actually the opposite of the way we use it. The saying actually means that bonds that you've made by choice are more important than the people that you are bound to by the water of the womb.
Everything was fine.
Everything seemed normal until that day.
That day, something felt off.
Off about Deku.
I never had much direct interaction with him throughout the school day despite his seat being right behind mine. He usually kept quiet aside from his annoying rambling during class. Our heroics classes were different though. Whether I interacted with Deku or not depended on the setup and teams. But that day we didn't have any practical classes. No physical exercises to be done. It was a normal day with normal boring classes where we sat at our desks all damn day.
In fact, Deku had been abnormally quiet behind me. I didn't hear him muttering or rambling to himself. He would answer questions if he had the answer, but he wasn't as eager as normal to participate. At first I thought how peaceful the day was without me having to tell him to shut up all the damn time, but by the end of the school day, I missed it. I missed telling him to shut the fuck up and the face he would pull when I snapped at him. I almost found myself trying to find something to snap at him about, but during lunch and at the end of the day, he got straight up and left, smiled and waved bye to his friends, making some excuse as to why he couldn't sit with them during lunch. I didn't see him again until the evening.
I had been lounging on the couches downstairs in the dorm, regretting my decision to try to be more social as Shitty Hair and Dunce Face blabbed on about something uninteresting on either side of me, when Deku walked in. Pink Cheeks called a greeting to him, and he smiled and walked her way, passing the couches as he did. It was then that I saw it. I was watching him as he passed, my glare on him when he looked my way. Usually he would go red or look away uncomfortably or hurry along or look apologetic for daring to be in my line of sight, but not that day, no. That day he smiled to me. Not his usually annoying buddy-buddy smile, but his lips pulled back, showing teeth as he smiled to me, his eyes half closing, but the smile and his eyes didn't match. I had spent enough of my life staring at the damn nerd to know. His eyes were mischievous. They were playful. Like an invitation to push his buttons. They were just wrong.
But I didn't to anything. His smile, his green eyes, that expression, threw me for a loop and I ended up just staring back slack jawed while he turned his head back to talk to the girl. I didn't see him again for the rest of the night, going with Pink Cheeks to study from what I overheard. His smile seemed more natural with her, so it was just me he was fucking with.
Looking back I regretted not doing anything. It unsettled me so much that I should have gotten up. I should have stormed over, grabbed him and held him down and yelled at him till I made him crack, but I didn't. I felt so unsettled that I just sat there and watched him leave.
That day, I fucked up.
The next day seemed normal enough. Everyone bustling around as they got ready for school and headed to the classroom. Only, when class started two people were missing. Pink Cheeks and Pinky were absent and when I thought about it, I hadn't seen them that morning either. The bell rang and Mr. Aizawa didn't show up either which was also odd. The classroom chatter picked up, some speculating why the teacher was late and why the girls were absent, but as they spoke, no one had seen either of the girls that morning and their joking chatter turned to concern.
I glanced over my shoulder at the nerd behind me. He was quiet, looking concerned about his friend's absence. When he caught me looking at him, his cheeks turned pink, and he looked away. Now that was normal. What ever had made the nerd so weird yesterday was over.
"Hey Midoriya," spoke up Dunce Face with his usual idiotic grin as he came over to the desk behind me to bother the nerd, "did you finish last nights math homework? Can I check out your answers?" he grinned.
"You just want to copy his answers" laughed Tape Arms from his seat.
"Na-ah. I just want to see if I'm right" he fired back.
"What homework?" spoke up the nerd and they all looked to him with surprise, even I turned in my seat to look at him and his eyes glanced over all of us.
"Did you not do your homework, seriously?" Spark Plug looked like he was about to pinch himself like it was a weird dream.
"You feeling alright Midoriya, you never forget homework?" smirked Tape Arms
"I-I don't know what you guys are on about," replied Deku looking a little worried and confused himself. I glanced down at his table; at the stack of workbooks he had brought with him for the day. They were wrong.
"Oi nerd, what day do you think it is?" I asked him with narrowed eyes, and he leaned away from me.
"Monday" he replied with more certainty.
"Dude, it's Tuesday," shot Tape Arms, "what's wrong with you today?"
"N-nothings wrong with me" replied Deku, but his confidence wasn't there. He looked down at his desk with confusion as to how he missed a whole day's worth of memory. Before anyone could pick on the bastard more, the door slid open, and Mr. Aizawa stepped in. Five minutes late. The room fell silent, and Dunce Face jumped back to sit at his desk as our teacher's gaze racked across the room, settling on Deku.
"Midoriya, a word" he said with his usual monotone, but his eyes looked sterner than usual, like the nerd had done something wrong. Deku picked that up too and slowly got up from his desk to walk to the teacher, who lead him out the door. There were a pair of men waiting in the hall. Mr. Aizawa closed the door behind him.
The room erupted into whispers, guessing what was going on. Students missing, teacher late, Deku in trouble. Something was going on and they wanted to get to the bottom of it. Hell, even I wanted to know what the hell was going on.
The door opened a couple of minutes later and the room fell silent again. Mr. Aizawa waited at the door while Deku stepped back in, reached his desk, picked up his books and turned to leave.
"Deku," I hissed to him, just to make him turn. Just to make him look at me. After staring at his face my whole life I felt like seeing his face alone would help figure out what the hell was going on and when he turned his face back to me my stomach dropped. He looked terrified. His eyes were wide, his pupils small and he looked pale. He looked like he was going to be sick.
"What the hells going on?" I hissed in question, and he opened his mouth before closing it again.
"Midoriya" called Mr. Aizawa firmly and Deku turned away to leave the room. Those two men were still standing outside, waiting for him.
We were left along for another ten minutes or so before Mr. Aizawa came back. Alone. During his absence the class tried to ask me what was going on, thinking the nerd had spilled something to me, but he hadn't and there was nothing to tell. Not like I would anyway for the sake of gossip. Mr. Aizawa tried to make class go on as usual, but everyone was distracted. They wanted answers.
"Mr. Aizawa," spoke up Four Eyes loudly, throwing a hand straight into the air. Our teacher nodded to him, and he stood as he spoke, "as class president, I fell I must ask on behalf of our entire class as to what is going on," he charged on, "Uraraka and Ashido are both missing from class and now Midoriya has been removed as well. May we please have some sort of explanation so we can understand as a class and therefore focus all of our attention back on today's classes" he sat when he was done, and Mr. Aizawa closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose with a long tired sigh. It was obvious he didn't want to discuss anything with us.
"Unfortunately, this is not something I can discuss" he replied which only made everyone in the room more attentive.
"But, sir" spoke up Ponytail only to be shot a glare from the teacher.
"I cannot discuss these subjects with you. Got it?" he hissed, and the class nodded in unison, "Good, now focus" and he went back to teaching, but I couldn't focus. Everything felt off. Something felt wrong and it just wasn't adding up. No-one saw Deku again for the rest of the day.
The next day, Deku was back in class, but he was quiet. Uncomfortably quiet. Not like he had been on the Monday, that day he had been attentive while quiet. Today, he kept his head down and seemed to be avoiding everyone. He wouldn't look at anyone and he wouldn't speak to them unless they approached him first. When he did speak he was quiet, his answers short without being rude.
If anyone asked what yesterday was about, he wouldn't say anything.
Pink Cheeks was still absent, but Pinky was back in class and for someone else who never shut up with her need to gossip and practically bounced with energy, she was quiet too, but her quiet was different again. She was angry, but she wouldn't say what her problem was. It wasn't till lunch time that I started to piece it together.
Lunch time came and majority of the class moved to the dining hall. Deku had tried to slink away, but Four Eyes had practically herded him down the hall along with Icy Hot until the nerd ended up joining them at their usual table. Only now a seat was left empty.
The table I usually say at wasn't far from Deku's. It was across the narrow walkway from his and two tables up. Nobody set designated seats, but we all had a spot and mine was closest to the walkway, facing Deku. From my seat I could see his face perfectly. He had picked his favorite, Katsudon, for lunch, but only poked at it with a gloomy expression
It was only now that I noticed how Pinky, who sat with her back to Deku's table, kept glancing over his way, her eyes narrowed, brows drawn and a frown on her face. Kirishima on my right seemed oblivious and so did Dunce Face and Tape Arms as the chatted away beside her. I didn't ask what her problem with Deku was, but she kept glaring his way and he didn't look our way at all, which again, was odd. Most days I would catch him glancing our way at least once. He hadn't shown any interest in eating until Four Eyes encouraged him to eat, and he did.
Only, he shouldn't have.
After only two mouthfuls, he froze. His chopsticks fell from his fingers. Four Eyes stood and yelled something about chocking, but he wasn't chocking. At first it looked that way as he sat and opened and closed his mouth like something was wrong and a moment later, blood came out. It came out in a rush, coating his chin and dripping on his food. Icy Hot was on his feet too now. Everyone's eyes turned to Deku as he slowly stood, clutching at his throat and more blood came up and he was left gasping like a fish out of water. Four Eyes practically scooped him up and disappeared at almost full speed to the infirmary.
My eyes turned to Pinky. She had been glaring at him all of lunch, but her eyes were wide. She looked shocked and a little upset. She looked like she was about to cry.
I was sick of not knowing what was going on so after classes, when Deku hadn't returned, I marched to the nurse's office to find out what the fuck was going on this week. He was in there, but he wasn't alone, and I froze in the doorway. The room was full. Recovery Girl was there of course with Mr. Aizawa, All Might, Principle Nezu and a pair of uniformed police officers with notepads in their hands. I had interrupted some kind of important conversation and didn't know whether to step forward or back. They all looked to me.
"Anything else?" asked Mr. Aizawa with a tired sigh, taking the room's attention away from me.
"I think that's all we can do for now" replied one of the officers, "do you mind if we take a look" he trailed away.
"Of course, of course" smiled the principle, "I will show you to the cafeteria. Our cook has set aside the dish for you both to inspect" he told them as the tiny mouse-thing lead the two officers out and with the room less full, I stepped in. Mr. Aizawa shot an exhausted sigh my way. He looked like he wanted to say something to me, but instead turned to face All Might. He pointed a finger at the taller man in warning and All Might nodded with a frown before Mr. Aizawa left.
Recovery Girl was at her desk minding her own business, so I stomped closer to face them both. Deku sitting on the edge of the bed looking miserable and gloomy as shit and All Might standing beside him with a concerned frown.
"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?" I barked at them both, "the damn nerd has been weird since Monday, and now this. What the fuck" I waved a hand at the nerd like I didn't care that I was talking about him right in front of him.
"I apologize young Bakugo, but I cannot discuss it" replied All Might with an apologetic look. I sneered at him with annoyance before turning my glare to the nerd. He didn't flinch away or look flushed or nervous. He just looked back at me with gloomy eyes like the world was against him.
"You better fucking tell me right now you damn nerd" I barked, reaching for him when a giant syringe cane whacked the back of my hand away and I hissed down at the tiny old hag who had joined us.
"You will leave my patient alone," she scolded, "and no swearing in my office!" I glared down at her.
"Midoriya couldn't tell you even if he wanted to," she spoke more calmly and lowered her cane, "his throat is too damaged to talk," she added.
"Well can't you fix that?" I rolled my eyes. That was her damn job. Her only job.
"I cannot," she returned her own glare at my attitude, "I've done what I can, but it will take time to heal" and with that she turned away to return to her desk. I shot both All Might and Deku another hard glare and stomped out.
Back at the dorms that night, I cornered Pinky in the corner of the kitchen.
"What the fuck is going on?" I hissed at her as she backed against the cabinets, "why the fuck were you glaring at Deku all fucking day. What did he do?" she looked uncomfortable under my burning gaze. Good.
"I-I can't say" she tried to sound strong but failed.
"So you know and you're just not telling me?" I hissed and she winced.
"I'm not allowed to tell anyone anything. It's the teachers' rules" she explained, and I gave her a long hard stare. Something was going on between Deku, Pinky and Pink Cheeks, where ever the fuck she was, and it was annoying the shit out of me that I didn't know. Usually I wouldn't give a fuck about the nerd's business, but this was something big. I could tell.
I didn't know how to make her talk. Even if I threatened her the same was I would Deku or some other pissy extra, I knew she wouldn't budge. The matter seemed personal. Her personal life was the only thing she didn't blab about at random. Time to move onto my next target. Deku.
He was back in his room, avoiding everyone again for some unknown, annoying reason. I didn't even knock, I just barged in and slammed his door behind me and he turned to face me in his desk chair with surprise.
"Spill it you damn nerd" I barked, and his eyes went even wider. He pointed to his throat, and I rolled my fucking eyes at him. Yeah, I already knew his throat was fucked. I came up behind him in the chair and he tensed. I grabbed the back of it with smoking hands and rolled him in his chair back to face the desk and tucked him on. I walked to his side and rifled through his shit till a slapped a pencil and paper in front of him.
"Tell me" I told him with a twisted smirk. I was tired of everyone denying me.
His green eyes looked to the paper then back to me and he shook his head, his expression changing from surprise to the same gloom is had been all day. I slapped my hand on his desk on the paper, hard enough to make him jump in his seat.
"I'm not playing nerd, tell me what the fuck is going on" I hissed close to his ear, and he looked uncomfortable. He shook his head again and stared down at the paper. I lifted my hand, leaving a scorched hand print behind and moved to sit down heavily on his bed with an irritated sigh. I tilted my head back and took in his All Might fan boy room as he turned his chair around to face me.
"Can you at least tell me what the fuck happened with you today?" I asked with a weaker glare and less angry voice. Believe it or not, my anger was giving away to tiredness. I felt like a dog chasing it's tail. He looked away with that fucking gloomy face.
"Someone poisoned you?" I pushed gently. He didn't do anything for a while and then, without looking to me, he finally gave me something. He gave me a fucking tiny ass nod and I leaned forward on his bed, my eyes narrowing.
"You know who?" I asked and I couldn't hide the growl in my voice. Me picking on the nerd was one thing, but someone else…. Not that I would ever go as far as poisoning him.
He shook his head, still not looking at me.
"Who were those men in the hallway yesterday?" I asked, trying my luck. He didn't respond, "were they police too?" I added and he nodded very slightly again.
"Did they come to see you because they knew someone was after you?" I asked. This was turning into a game of twenty fucking questions, but I would take it over nothing.
He shook his head no.
"Do you know why it was you?"
He narrowed his eyes in thought.
"Do you have an idea why?" I rephrased.
Nod.
"But, let me guess, you can't tell me?"
Shake.
"Are you in some kind of trouble?"
Nod.
"Does it have anything to do with Pink Cheeks and Pinky?"
Nothing. I took that for a yes. I could see that being a dead end and changed topic.
"Do you remember Monday at all?" I asked and he finally turned his head to look at me.
Shake.
"Sunday?"
Nod.
My hand came up to my face in thought. I had seen him with Pink Cheeks Monday night. He doesn't remember that day and the next day Pink Cheeks was gone. They hadn't announced her dead or missing so it was an absence that the school was at least aware of. Being sick was always a possibility, but someone would have heard something about it if it was the case. She would still be at the dorms. And then there was Deku on Monday. He had been off that day.
"Is there anything I can do?" I asked and looked to him seriously. No scowl. No glare. Even I surprised myself with the level of sincerity held in that one question. His green brows lowered, and his lips went wonky. I knew him well enough to know that that expression was a blend of appreciation and an apology.
It translated to: I appreciate your offer to help, but you can't help me. I'm sorry.
He lowered his head and turned the chair around, so his back was too me, signaling that he was done with the conversation and that I wasn't going to get anything more from him. Without another word I got up and let myself out.
Thursday came and whispers started spreading. Whispers that the police were after him. That he was wanted for assault. That he had hurt another student. That he was dangerous. That girls needed to stay away from him. That he was a predator. An abuser. A rapist.
The chatter and rumors varied. I already knew they weren't true. Wimpy Deku could hardly look a girl in the eye, let along attack one. The damn nerd couldn't even defend himself. He had no voice to speak up. Outsiders avoided him in the hallways, stared as he passed, whispered behind his back and it was getting to him. He started to avoid people like the plague. As soon as classes were done he was in his dorm room. He wouldn't even come out for our usual training sessions with All Might. His fucking idol.
When the rumors first started spreading our class had stood up for him, but that started to fall apart too as even inside the classroom questions were raised.
Deku had admitted that he didn't recall Monday.
Pink Cheeks had been gone since then.
And Pinky had been pulled out of the class by the teachers, only to come back in tears when the rumors started.
This time when I cornered the pink girl again, she still wouldn't tell me what was going on, but I got from her that she was upset because the teachers thought she was the one who had started the rumors and even thought she had something to do with poisoning Deku. I didn't believe that either. She had looked genuinely upset when she had seen Deku bleeding, but she did end up giving me something. Whatever it was that Deku was in trouble with, she was a part of it.
When I barged into Deku's room Friday night after the rumors had made it full circle around the school, Deku didn't even lift his head from his desk in surprise when I let myself in aggressively. His green eyes looked to me without lifting his head and I could see the nerd had been crying. I stood in front of him to speak and he finally lifted his head slightly to reply to my next round of twenty questions.
"Are any of the rumors true?" I asked. I didn't believe them, but I had to ask. He looked hurt that I had.
Shake.
"Do you know what happened to Pink Cheeks?"
Shake.
"Do you know what's going on with Pinky?"
Another shake.
"Have you heard from Pink Cheeks at all since Monday?" in his mind, he wouldn't have seen her since the Sunday.
Shake.
"Have you tried to contact her?"
Nod. A teary nod.
"Show me" he reached into his pocket and held out his phone. Idiot didn't even password protect it, but I flicked through his one sided messages. He had spent Tuesday and Wednesday messaging her, asking if she was okay, what was wrong, where she was. But she had ignored them all. At first you could see the 'read' stamp on his messages and then she stopped even looking at them. Come Thursday, he hadn't bothered trying anymore. Just to be nosey I scrolled down to check his messages with Pinky, but they hadn't messaged since last week before whatever happened, happened. I handed his phone back to him with an irritated frown.
"Any word yet on when your throat will get better?"
Shake.
"Have you been seeing the old hag every day?"
Nod. Well shit. It must have been really bad then,
"You don't have to avoid everyone you know" I said, and he turned his face away to look off to the side of the room, "you don't have to avoid me at least" I added. He didn't look to me. Icy Hot and Four Eyes had been sticking with him during classes and making an effort to not listen to the rumors, but as soon as classes were over, Deku would leave them and disappear back to him room. The damn nerd was isolating himself.
Part of me wanted to hug the damn nerd, and that's saying a lot coming from me, but I could just feel that if he could feel that kind of support, a shoulder to cry on, someone to rely on, then he wouldn't be so damn gloomy and miserable. But that would make me look….soft.
I shook the thought away. Reaffirming to myself that I wasn't here because I cared for the damn nerd. No. I didn't give a shit about him. But this classroom drama was getting in the way of our daily classes, and it was becoming unbearable to sit in the classroom when the whole damn room felt heavy thanks to all the idiots who couldn't decide if they believed the rumors or not.
No. I was here to feed my own curiosity.
I turned to leave. Nothing left to say to the miserable as fuck nerd.
I would later regret that too.
The weekend came and I didn't even recall seeing Deku come downstairs for food. I was this fucking close to marching into his room and shoving rice down his fucking throat when I glimpsed him. It was Saturday evening already and dark outside when I saw him leaving through the front door. He didn't pause to look at anyone as he passed, and no one paid him any attention, but his face, his expression, was hard. He looked pissed. Like he was on a personal mission of vengeance. I didn't call out to him, but once the front door shut behind him, I moved to follow, only for Shitty Hair to call to me and I paused to look back at him. Did he see Deku too? Was he worried and wanted to come with?
Most of those closest to me had been alright around Deku once I had told them all to shut the fuck up and that Deku couldn't do any of the shit the rumors were saying about him, excluding Pinky. They would try to chat to him, to make him laugh or at least smile, but he just looked to them like he could see right through them. All of the girls in class avoided him like he was contagious and some of the guys kept their distance too and I knew it was eating away at the nerd.
But no, Shitty Hair just wanted to waste my time with a damn question about sparring. I spat at him to leave me the fuck alone and he stopped. It was more anger than I should have thrown at him, but I was going to go after the nerd, and he was wasting my time. By the time I made it through the doors the nerd was already out of sight. He must have used his damn quirk to move so fast. I gritted my teeth and marched back inside; my mood worse than it was a second before.
In that one week, I had piled up so many regrets. If I had stood up, if I had taken action, If I had done things differently. Things wouldn't have turned out the way they did.
It wasn't my fault. I knew that, but if I had only done something, anything, then Deku would have opened up to me. He would have stayed.