Welcome to chapter 2! :) Enjoy!

Cherry blossoms littered the small sidewalk connecting a local park to UA's dorms, this is where All Might usually jogged. He loved the scenery and since he was weaker now, he knew he was safe running in a heavily patrolled area.

While the scene was beautiful and usually had him feeling hopeful, the sight of the pale boy beside him made his stomach drop in worry. He didn't want to make this awkward, didn't want it to become a lecture, but dammit something had to be done.

All Might had been watching it go down for months now, he was ashamed of himself for not doing anything sooner but he just figured maybe the kid would get over the rough patch himself, he was so resilient in these situations usually. But this was different, something wrong was happening and All Might was determined to help in any way he could.

"Young Midoriya, talk to me kid, what's going on?"

Deku found his whole body shaking, this isn't what he wanted to do today, he just wanted to go back to his room and cut as usual. That was his nightly routine now, eat, cut, studies, training, cut, bed. He didn't care how messed up it was, this is how he got by and it had worked so well so far.

He would be damned if he told anyone about it. But...he DID need to talk, and that didn't mean he had to tell the whole story, he just had to get something out, or else he would surely explode.

"I-I Guess I'm just stressed, school and training, I want to be the best! But I feel like I'm not good enough…"

A sniffle.

"I'm too weak, too slow...everyone is so amazing. Why did I think I stood a chance…"

A tear.

W-why can't i just be normal? ...You probably should have picked someone different."

Midoriya was now sobbing as he stopped mid stride and looked at the ground, his fists tightened at his sides.

He was shocked to find All Might hugging him a second later, "Don't ever say that again young man, It's just not true...you know that, right? I know it has to be a lot, getting a quirk after all of these years, being thrown into one of the top schools of the country. But you have to believe that you are so special and you worked your ass off to get where you are now. Be proud of that... Have I been pushing you too hard young Midoriya?" Worry swirled in All Might's eyes.

"N-no sir! I just...I can handle it, it's fine. This talk helped, I think I just needed assurance, I get in my head sometimes I guess...sorry, i just got caught up in the moment."

All Might smiled a bit, relieved at the hidden lie. To him It looked like the kid would be just fine,he just needed to vent and he would be back on track. As they continued walking the pro hero felt at ease as the emerald haired boy beside him smiled a small, kind smile.

Little did he know the smile was only a weakening defense as Midoriya held back tears.

The two walked for quite some time, mostly talking about future training, how their days went, etc. just small talk really. By the end of the walk Deku really did feel a little bit better, it was nice to have some normalcy in his ever so dimming life.

But it seemed like once he shut the door to his room the same desperation came around, the same God awful drive, the bad thoughts, worthlessness, hopelessness, the old words of a past bullying Bakugo..it was too much.

This was the night Midoryia would cut deep enough for stitches, panic, and put five band aids on the gash in his arm to stop the bleeding. He finished cleaning up, a shaky mess, but he felt better. Like he could live another day.

Deku had a dreamless sleep that night, he found himself late for class the next day as his clock read 9:15AM- class was at 8AM.

"Shit!"

A loud crash echoed throughout the house, a lamp instantly broken as Midoriya raged and grabbed his backpack. He forgot his tie, his hair was a mess, one shoe untied, and yet- he managed to make it to the class room in five minutes from his location at the dorms.

He used his quirk and felt he pushed it too far in his rage- as he finally stopped in front of the classroom he couldn't help but cringe at the pain in his ankle- that when he realized he had sprained his ankle in his attempt to get to class. 'How far did I push one for all?'

He shook his head not realizing the damage that was done and tried to hide his limp as he walked into class, all eyes on him, Bakugo looking especially pissed for some reason. Iida looking disappointed, Ururaka looking concerned as ever and the rest of the class? Rather shocked as the emerald haired boy looked down and made his way to his desk.

He was surprised to find a substitute for Aizawa who was teaching, Midnight. She had ended up giving him detention of all things after class, not once hearing him out. Not that he had a real excuse anyways.

Just before detention started Midoryia slipped into the bathroom stalls and pulled out his blade, he knew he shouldn't reopen it, the gash he had made the night prior but with his new mini first aid kit he had gotten in the mail from a care package his mom sent him- he was in the market for some on the go self harm. And so, he cut deeper, not even cringing, the pain in his ankle distracted him from the pain in his arm. He froze when he heard the bathroom door open.

"Hey Midoriya! You in here?" Kaminari.

Shit.

He had forgotten he wasn't the only one in detention today, Kamanari had accidentally fallen asleep in class prompting a strict punishment from Midnight.

"Y-yea I'm here! I'll be there in a second I-"

No.

Midoriya watched in horror as he tried to bandage his forearm, a single drop of blood fell to the floor of the small stall. It didn't go unnoticed.

Kamanari let out a tiny gasp as he saw the blood drop from his side of the door, "Hey! Are you ok?"

"Yea! Just a bad nose bleed."

Thankfully he took the bait, "oh man that sucks- i'll tell Midnight whats going on, no need to rush!"

With that he was gone as fast as he came, leaving Midoriya to slump against the stalls wall, he finished up bandaging his wound, having to opt for the small gauze roll instead of using all of his bandages.

As he washed his bloody hands he purposely avoided the mirror, he had gotten to where he couldn't stand his reflection, all he saw was a failure after all, nothing worth looking at - ever.

Detention went uneventfully, leaving Kamanari and Midoriya walking back to the dorms at 6pm together.

Of course he had to bring it up, "So you have bad nose bleeds often? I used to get them all the time- but it was only when I overused my power! I've gotten better though!" Kamanari beamed.

It left Deku feeling hollow as he smiled back, "They have gotten bad lately! Must be the weather."

"Makes sense!"

As the two arrived at the dorms, there stood a pissed off Bakugo.

Deku felt his stomach twist as he and Kamanari approached the dorms.

TBC...Please feel free to comment any thoughts!