Here is part 3 of the Arcade verse!

All of the fics in this mini series use 1-3 lyrics from the original version of Arcade by Duncan Lawrence.

Despite everything, I still love dekumight so much. It's been a while since I've written anything for them. I'm so late to writing anything regarding that scene in chapter 317 so here I am. Making it even sadder.

I still have a ton of fics I need to crosspost to here. *cries* Maybe after I'm finished with the Arcade verse.

Please enjoy!

Tags: chapter 317 spoilers, what should have happened combined with what if Midoriya lowkey pulled an Eren Jaeger, hurt no comfort, angst, unrequited love, dekumight, canon divergent, one sided attraction

My mind feels like a foreign land

Silence ringing inside my head

Toshinori of all people should have detected the change in Izuku. Should have seen it coming. Should have been able to prevent it. They were so close. The closest anyone was to one another. Their bond was so deep. Always so full of understanding. Toshinori was Izuku's right hand and in turn Izuku Toshinori's.

Izuku was just so willing to throw away his education and abandon everyone…abandon him…just for the sake of what he thought was the greater good and to save humanity…

Toshinori's chest ached. He didn't know if it was the ache of abandonment or exhaustion. He coughed a few times, surprised there was no blood. His hand gripped tightly around the makeshift cloth handle covering the bento box he prepared for Izuku. He took in Izuku's tattered, dirty green hero attire and ripped yellow scarf.

"Izuku, wait!" Toshinori called, chest heaving. "You haven't eaten!" He held out the bento toward Izuku—toward his turned back and swallowed hard. Didn't even try to stop the quivering that ran through his arm. He didn't want Izuku to leave. Not without him anyway. It was far too dangerous. All for One was far too dangerous. Not to mention the other villains that were now free.

"I can move at 100% just like you could without hurting myself. I'm fine on my own now," Izuku muttered and started walking away from him.

"Don't say that," Toshinori replied and shook his head furiously, rainwater flying every which way. "Take me with you, please."

"You don't have to follow me around anymore. I don't need you following me around. I'm fine on my own." Izuku clenched his hands into tight fists. He lowered his head for a moment— "I've always hated you."

Toshinori's knees buckled and he nearly collapsed on the rain slicked grass. "You…you don't mean that," Toshinori's voice came softly. His chest felt like a massive weight was dropped upon it. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. His eyes burned as all too familiar tears welled in his eyes. Tears that were nonstop since the day Izuku started shutting him out and became more and more distant. "You… don't."

Izuku hated him. Izuku hated him. Izuku hated him.

Izuku lifted his head and looked ahead for a few heartbeats. Before Toshinori could say anything else, he took off running. Light from One for All danced around Izuku's body while he powered up.

Toshinori's mind fought for all the words he wanted to tell him. Anything that would make him stay. Even if he really did hate him. Just anything… anything… My mind feels like a foreign land. Toshinori's tears mixed with the rainwater that glided down his face. "Wait!" he rasped and reached toward Izuku once more. He chased after him—after the only person he— "I promised to protect you!"

Toshinori just wanted to be close to him. Izuku always left him behind lately. The ache got worse and he held back a sob. There was so much he needed to tell Izuku—that he didn't have to do things alone, that it was okay to take a break, to not push himself so hard—but his mind felt so empty that forming words was next to impossible. Even the three words that weren't important.

Silence ringing inside my head…

The pounding of his heart felt like it entered his head and wracked his brain. Izuku hated him.

"Wait!" Toshinori rasped. The rain and tears blinded him, but he ran anyway. He reached out toward him one last time. He'd do anything to make Izuku not hate him…he didn't want to believe it. Toshinori took one last step before his foot slipped on the wet grass, one last step before the slick ground sent him sprawling forward. Pain rocketed through both knees and the bento box he carried launched from its cloth and clattered open on the ground, spilling its contents. Toshinori reached and gripped the grass and pressed his head into the wet earth.

He let his emotions out. With Izuku somewhere skyward by then, there was no one else around in the area to hear.

Toshinori didn't understand. He couldn't… He shook as his world came crashing down. The only person he had left that he cared about shoved him out of his life permanently.

"I love you," Toshinori whispered. He hiccuped. His body didn't stop quivering as all of their happy memories together flooded his mind. He wondered if he would have told Izuku how he felt before and if that would have made a difference. If Izuku would have felt the same way back then.

He squeezed his eyes shut. The memories made his head ache. "I love you," he said one final time.

Thank you so much for reading! Nice comments are appreciated!

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