Hey, guys! Welcome to this fic! Thank you for clicking on this story and giving it a chance to be read. You've probably read the summary, so I won't go into details about it, but it's a villain Deku AU (as you can see from the title) where Deku commits suicide, having endured to much bullying. However, he (obviously) doesn't die (if he did, how on earth would I write this fic? It's a villain DEKU AU after all) and becomes a villain. If you enjoyed, consider following and maybe even favoriting this fic. The knowledge that people enjoy reading this can motivate me to write more!
TW: mentions of suicide baiting, implied suicide + mentions of it. If you feel uncomfortable reading about these topics, then you should probably stop reading. Also, slight blood.
The first time Shigaraki saw him, he was at the mall.
Shigaraki had gone there to buy a new gaming console after he'd accidentally disintegrated his old one. On his way to the store, he noticed a green-haired kid get shoved to the ground. A curious crowd was starting to gather there, but he ignored it. Probably some insignificant quarrel that's none of my business, he thought. He decided to keep going on and brush it aside.
That was, until he heard the man who shoved the kid snarl "Quirkless trash. We don't serve things like you in our shop!"
That immediately got his attention. Now, Shigaraki wasn't one to care much about bullying, but he had a very strict line when it came to quirk discrimination. Some people were born unlucky and didn't exactly win the quirk lottery, instead ending up with useless, disgusting, or 'villainous' quirks.
(Kinda like how Shigaraki ended up with a quirk that killed his entire family the day he developed it.)
But the most unfortunate were those who didn't have a quirk at all. In a world full of superpowers, those without one were seen as lower beings, a less evolved version of humans that were considered human no longer. It had been compared to Homo sapiens sapiens (humans) and Homo sapiens neanderthalis (Neanderthals).
The man got even angrier and threw a punch at the quirkless kid. Shigaraki stopped him, keeping an iron grip on his wrist while careful not to place his pinkie finger on the wrist too, lest he accidentally decayed the man. He would very much like to do so, but it would cause unnecessary trouble in such a public place. Protruding from the man's knuckles were two-inch long spikes that would've killed the kid if it hit him.
"Well, now, I'd say that's a villainous act. Attacking someone with your quirk is very illegal, especially if you were trying to kill them." Shigaraki had a small smile on his face, but his voice dripped in honeyed venom, red eyes full of malice.
"H-hey, let go of me! That thing's quirkless, it's not against the law! It's only illegal if I attack a person!" The man defended, making Shigaraki grind his teeth, but he kept his extreme desire to just place all five fingers on the man in control.
"Yeah, whatever you say." he scoffed and extended a hand out to the quirkless kid, who stared at him in shock. "Come on, kid. Vermin like these aren't worth your time. Let's go."
"O-okay." The kid sounded a little dumbfounded, but he picked up the contents of his bag, which had spilled all over the floor, and hastily stuffed it back in, then taking Shigaraki's hand and getting up. After exiting the shop, Izuku asked, "Why'd you save me back there?"
"What do you mean?" Shigaraki replied, confused. "I was just helping a guy who got unfairly picked on. You nearly got killed by that guy, and because of what? Your quirk status?"
"I mean... That's completely normal for me." the green-haired boy tilted his head, as if he was genuinely confused. "There are just some places I'm not allowed in. The few stores that even let me shop there up the prices all the time for if I get recognized as 'the quirkless kid', and the kids at school just don't leave me alone. I've even had my classmates tell me to jump off the-" He quickly cut himself off and Shigaraki had a very bad feeling. Although the kid had shut up, he was fairly certain the word "roof" was mouthed. He wanted to kill those kids so bad when he saw the kid's eyes brim with tears that threatened to spill out. Unsure of how to comfort him, Shigaraki reached out a hand and awkwardly ruffled his hair. The kid melted into the touch, and his cold, numb heart almost melted.
Almost.
"What's your name, kid?" he asked, retracting his hand slowly and gently after a while.
"I'm Izuku Midoriya. What about you?"
"Tomura. Tomura Shigaraki. Just call me Tomura."
"I'm sorry, Tomura-kun." Izuku apologized.
"What for?"
"You're going out of your way for me." He flushed red and looked away. Shigaraki sighed.
"Look. What happened may be normal to you, but that doesn't make it okay. And if you're getting bullied or something, I'm gonna help, alright?"
The kid looked up at him, a plethora of emotions swirling in those green eyes. He couldn't even begin to name them all. "Thank you." Izuku said, as tears began to fall. He wordlessly pulled the kid into a hug, letting him cry his eyes out.
As Izuku sobbed, Shigaraki looked around. Now that his focus wasn't on the kid, he noticed the way passersby would glare at Izuku (word must've gotten out about him being quirkless from the commotion earlier). The way people kept a distance from him like he was contagious was absolutely heartbreaking. The kid looked so used to it.
Gradually, the tears subsided, and Izuku said, "S-sorry," as he drew away.
"For what?" Shigaraki asked, letting him go.
"Your clothes," the kid answered quietly.
The young villain let out an amused huff. Of course, the kid would worry about that.
"It's fine. The shirt's black anyways, the tear stains won't be obvious," He said.
Izuku smiled and started to walk away, but suddenly turned back.
"What?"
"I wanted to thank you. Nobody's ever stood up for me like that before. I won't forget it." He sent Shigaraki a small, but happy, smile before running off.
Though he would never admit it if anyone asked, but that moment, his heart felt a dull ache.
It'd been a month and a bit since it happened, but Shigaraki never forgot the quirkless boy that he'd met. Every now and then, he'd wonder what the boy was doing, and the corners of his mouth would always twitch upwards a little whenever he remembered that bright smile. If Kurogiri noticed, he didn't say anything.
He'd decided to go on a walk when the rust-like scent of blood hit his nose. Not particularly concerned, he kept on walking.
That's when he saw the body. A familiar head of curly green hair, unmistakably the quirkless boy he met, lying in a pool of blood. Immediately, he rushed over to the body, and his quickened heartbeat relaxed slightly when he saw the weak, but steady rise and fall of Izuku's chest. But, judging by the amount of blood he'd lost, he wouldn't last long. Judging by his position and injuries, the boy had taken his bullies' "advice" and jumped off the roof of some nearby building.
"That fucking idiot," he cursed under his breath and quickly called Kurogiri.
"Shigaraki?"
"Kurogiri. Get to [insert Shigaraki and Izuku's coordinates] right now."
"Alright."
Within seconds, he warped to their location, looking quite shocked. Not at the unconscious boy on the verge of death in front of him-villains see people die all the time-but Shigaraki's reaction. The blue-haired man was gently lifting Izuku into his arms, the panic in his eyes clear to see.
"Kurogiri. Open a portal to the base and take him to the Doctor. Now."
"What? Well... if you wish." Kurogiri seemed rather taken aback, but he obeyed as always. Soon, Shigaraki found himself sitting next to the unconscious boy, wordlessly staring at him as if he would disappear any moment. He recalled the boy's bright smile, the way he casually reacted to the heavy discrimination towards him, and wondered how things had gotten so bad for him that he'd jumped.
But he also remembered the tears, how Izuku had been shocked because he was kind to him, as if he hadn't considered such a possibility.
Perhaps he should've seen this coming.
His anger broiled and bubbled inside as he gritted his teeth. Those damn scum, treating him- no, not just him- terribly because they drew the short straw in the gene lottery. It's all those heroes' fault! It's their fault people idolize those with cool powers and those with weaker ones! The damn system of society, putting those heroes on pedestals and ignoring those that are lower. I'll destroy this corrupt system... by crumbling its strongest pillar- the Symbol of Peace, All Might.
But his train of thoughts derailed when he saw Izuku stir a little. He slowly sat up in confusion, blinking, and asked, "Where am I? Is this heaven? Why does heaven look like a cross between a lab and a hospital? And... Tomura-kun? Is that you? Did you die too?" His confused, slurred speech immediately changed to a tone of panic. "Why are you here? What happened?"
Shigaraki smiled a little and placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "Calm down, Izuku. This isn't heaven. You didn't die. I found you bleeding out on the street and took you to a doctor acquaintance of mine."
"Huh? Why did you save me? I'm not worth saving. I'm just some quirkless loser. You should've left me there to die." the way he said it without a hint of emotion made Shigaraki flinch.
"Who told you that you were worthless?" Shigaraki growled.
"Kacchan. He's really smart, and he's got an amazing quirk, and the teachers praise him all the time." an eerie smile stretched across Izuku's face, so similar yet unlike the smile he'd seen before. "He's my best friend."
Shigaraki frowned. "I don't know about you, but in my dictionary, 'best friend' doesn't mean a person that bullies you and tells you to kill yourself."
Izuku laughed, but it was hollow, with no real happiness behind it. "Kacchan's just teaching me my place. We're childhood friends, so he thinks it's important to show me what I'm worth before I get all silly and get myself killed for chasing unachievable dreams like becoming a hero."
"If he wanted to protect you from getting hurt, why would he tell you to jump off a roof?" Shigaraki argued. Izuku's smile shifted slightly, almost unnoticeably. But he noticed.
"Kacchan's just teaching me." he repeated stubbornly, but something about his demeanor was off. Immediately, Shigaraki knew he'd hit the right spot. Izuku didn't actually believe a single word he had spouted just now, he was just trying to convince himself his "childhood friend" wasn't as bad as he seemed to be, trying to preserve that gilded image of a kind friend who probably turned against him when he was pronounced quirkless. Shigaraki needed to break apart that false, painted reality.
"Izuku." he said gently, placing his other hand on Izuku's head and ruffling his hair. "I get that you care about this 'Kacchan' person, but he hurt you. You need to see that. He wasn't teaching you, he was bullying you. You might love him and idolize him, but look at you right now! You're not the Izuku I saw a month ago. You were treated horribly during that short period of time, badly enough that you turned into this." he gestured at the entirety of Izuku, who tilted his head in bewilderment.
"What are you talking about? Kacchan isn't a bad guy at all. I mean, after meeting you, I was so happy I started being stupidly reckless and applied for U.A., so Kacchan got concerned and gave me a few more lessons, that's all. If you're gonna keep saying bad things about Kacchan like that, I'll get angry."
"You wanted to be a hero?"
Izuku's smile turned bitter.
"No matter how much Kacchan tried, he wasn't able to beat into me the fact that I couldn't become a hero. I was an idiot and stubborn, and I kept going. But I met the number one hero, All Might."
Shigaraki's heart missed a beat when he heard the Symbol of Peace get mentioned. What does he have to do with Izuku?
"I asked him if I could be a hero, and-"
"He said no?"
He silently nodded, tears streaming down his face. Without thinking, Shigaraki pulled him into an embrace.
"I just- I should've known it was impossible, everyone kept saying it, but I-" his tears flooded and he sobbed, his entire body shaking helplessly. "It was a foolish dream, and I just can't- I don't know why I couldn't see that for such a long time."
And they just stayed like that for a while, Izuku sobbing into Shigaraki's shirt while the other silently hugged him, just like when they had first met a month ago.
"Tomura-kun?" Izuku's voice was muffled, his face buried in Shigaraki's shirt.
"Yeah?"
"I'm glad I met you."
"Me too."
A/N: Welp, that's all for now. Not exactly the best written work ever (or the longest), but I wanna save the rest for next chapter. Feel free to leave your thoughts or constructive criticism in a review! Hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you next chapter!
