The ride back home was quiet. Mom was unusually silent.
I still remember the slap that she gave me the day before, once we returned from the police station after they found out about my continuous bullying towards D- Izuku. Dad was silent the whole time the police debriefed them on everything, but I could see in his eyes that he was disappointed. Devastated. I could think of so many synonyms for it, and all of them make me want to avoid eye contact with him at all costs. I'm aware of his past with bullying, which only makes me feel much worse looking back on it.
Mom on the other hand was unsurprisingly much worse when she found out. She started off small, with cold words asking me why. Why would I bully my friend, my childhood friend to the point he decided to kill himself. Then once we got home, we were all in the kitchen and it was a blur of shouting, tears, and those damn eyes. Those fucking eyes pierced through my soul, asking me the same question. Why?
I told them my answer of course because I was arrogant like that. I defended myself by saying that he looked down on me, making me out as weak for aiming to become a hero like All Might even though he didn't have a quirk. Back then I thought my answer made complete sense.
The next few seconds went by in silence until a hard slap was sent to my face. I was confused and shocked. I was used to being hit but this time it was different. When I looked back at her, I saw tears in her eyes, looking at me with absolute disgust.
She laughed after a moment, letting out such a broken laugh that soon became sobs. Dad just stood to the side, eyes glazed as he stayed silent. As always.
"Where did I go wrong? Izuku, that poor little ball of sunshine looking down on you? Thinking you're weak? He practically adored you! You were like his favorite person!"
I didn't believe her, however, about to argue with her sentence but she then continued "You do realize that he still sends you gifts on your birthday? You know those All Might figurines and those hearing aids that you use now because of your quirk, all of that came from the kid you bullied!" She said exasperated.
"He didn't want me to tell you since he thought you'd just throw it away" she sniffed "I was confused on why you'd do that at first but listened to his words anyways" she looked at me in the eyes, her eyes rimmed red and tired.
"What kind of hero do you expect to be if you discriminate against quirkless people? Was one of the reasons somebody decided that death was the way to go? Do you realize how unheroic and disgusting your actions so far have been? How do you expect to be better than All Might after this? I just- I'm just so angry and... disappointed" I flinched a bit at that "Sure, I knew you were pretty self-centered and rude, but I thought you inherited that from me you know... but, suicide bating? Physically and emotionally hurting someone? Just because they didn't have some fancy quirk..." She looked at me as though waiting for an answer as to why I turned out this way.
I stood there ashamed and shocked. Only being able to stare at the ground as she continued berating me for my actions. Once she finished, I hesitantly spared a glance at her.
She sighed.
"Go to bed. Just, think. I want you to re-evaluate your life, why you decided to bully a child because he was quirkless, or whatever messed up shit you have going on in that head of yours," she said tiredly. Not thinking about the impact of her words, just exhausted.
All I could do was stiffly nod, still dazed while passing by my father who put a hand on my shoulder. When I looked up at him, his face looked strained but after a second, he gave a small smile and said good night. I nodded not feeling up for talking right now.
But anyways, back to the present.
We were right out of the house, piling out of our car when my father finally decided to speak up.
"Let's all talk in the living room for a moment. I feel like we all need to communicate with each other. After this we can all rest and hope... hope for a change soon," he said, determination in his eyes.
I nodded along with my mother as we continued to enter the house.
Once settled down, we all sat in the living room. It was tense for a moment.
"I think we should all get therapy" My Dad started off.
"What!?" I immediately sat up. Although I now realize that what I did to D- Izuku was stupid, I don't need therapy. I'm not weak. I'm not.
"Sit down," my mother said to me, which led to me stiffly nodding, still angered but deciding to listen to her and sit down.
"Katsuki, you were literally involved in a villain attack and were influenced by those damn teachers at school to think that what you were doing was right, only to find out that it wasn't and suffer a major life crisis."
Both my and mom were surprised at the venom in his voice when talking about the teachers at his school. He was usually calm and laid back.
"Mitsuki, I love you but your ways of parents are not okay" She looked like she was about to retort "Although I understand that tough love is something you thought was normal in your family, that being hit is just their way of showing love but it's not. There's a limit. Going past that limit, there's another word for it which is called abuse."
Mom looked conflicted.
"As for me, I believe that I did a much more terrible job at parenting..." He said, voice becoming gradually quieter as he looked away guiltily.
"I need to work some things out so I'll also be trying to change. I don't want us to turn out to be a broken family, so let's change together."
"As a family," He adds with a small hesitant smile.
There were a few awkward seconds before I broke it "Yeah whatever, I'm not into this sappy shit so don't expect me to be all mushy... but I'll try this therapy I guess" I said a bit reluctantly while looking away with my hands in my pockets. I slumped in my seat at their fond looks.
"Guess it's settled" Mom clapped before getting up to prepare dinner.
time passed and I was heading back to my room.
That night I closed my eyes and dreamt of a green-haired kid with freckles and a wide smile.
Tears streamed down my closed eyes and the next day I woke up confused when finding tear stains on my face. Weird.