Chapter 26: I remember
The sun shines through a bedroom window. Slim hues of light filtering through the transparent drapes that hung on its frame. Two boys sit on the floor of the room. Posters of the number one hero All Might, in all his smiling, muscular glory resides on every wall in the bedroom.
"Kacchan" the shorter one exclaims excitedly to the blonde in front of him. "Let's play heroes. I will be hero and you will be villain" His green hair sway as he bounce on his heels, eyes shining with innocent enthusiasm.
It's been three weeks since that fateful day in the doctor's office. The day he was diagnosed as Quirkless. As if it was some sort of disease to be different. To not be part of the 95% who had quirks. The 95% who had powers and therefore were on the top.
Instead he belonged to the 5% who didn't have quirks. The worthless minority. A waste of space and provision. Nothing but a burden. Since then, everyone treated him differently. Including me. Yet hope still gleamed brightly in his wide eyes - a dangerous, foolish hope that I was about to crush.
"No" the blonde boy shouted angrily. "I don't want to play with you anymore. So don't come over to my house either."
"But I want to play with your new All Might figurine" The green haired boy says pleadingly. His eyes filled with tears as he clutch the blonde boy's arm. "Please, Kacchan? You can take mine. Or you can be the hero and I will be the villain. Let's Play?"
"No" the blonde boy shouts as he free his arm and sweeps it on his shirt as if it is dirty. "I told you, I don't want to be anywhere near you." He picks his brand new All Might merchandise which his father had bought him after a long period of persuasion and threatening. He toss the toy towards the green boy and says "Here, its yours now. Take it and don't come back ever again"
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His words hit me like a punch to the gut, knocking the wind out of me. That figurine...I had completely buried that memory, shoved it down deep where I wouldn't have to face it. But now it all comes rushing back in painful clarity.
I gaze at Deku, taking in the raw desperation etched across his face, the way he trembles against me. That cheap little toy...it really means that much to him? After all this time, after every horrible thing I've done to push him away, he still clings to it? A foreign feeling stirs in my chest, an ache I can't quite name. Do I even deserve this kind of unwavering loyalty? Have I done a single thing to earn it?
Deku tries to pull away from me, disappointment weighing down his shoulders as he staggers forward. But his strength gives out after just a couple steps. His legs buckle and he pitches forward, hacking out painful coughs as he collapses to the ground.
"Shit," I curse under my breath, lunging to catch him before he face-plants into the dirt. I ease him back into a sitting position, hands gripping his shoulders to steady him.
"Use your head for once, you idiot nerd," I grind out. "Was it truly a lucky charm at all?" I recall his scream when the wolf's jaw was clamped shut around his arm. When I found him hugging a tree, a branch protruding out of him. His voice filled with pain as I stitched him up.
"After all we survived, after all the near escapes, you really believe that some dumb piece of plastic is what saved us? That we were just lucky? You almost..." Died. My voice wavers traitorously as the enormity of how close I came to losing him truly sinks in. I swallow hard against the lump forming in my throat.
Damn it...Damn you Deku...damn you and your unwavering loyalty, your heart that's too big for your own good. Damn you for still believing in me, even when I've given you every reason not to. Damn you for making me feel things I had long buried. Damn you for making me question everything I thought I knew.
He flinches at my words but doesn't back down, those big green eyes of his boring into mine with a fire I haven't seen in years. "It's not just some dumb piece of plastic, Kacchan," he whispers, his voice hoarse and ragged. "It's...it's a symbol. Of our friendship. Of everything we used to be."
"Deku," I say, my voice softening just a fraction. "That figurine...it's not some magic talisman, okay? It's not what's been keeping you alive out here. That's all you. Your strength, your determination, your annoyingly persistent will to survive."
He blinks up at me, tears welling up in those ridiculous eyes of his, and I have to look away before I do something stupid like hug him or some shit. "But Kacchan," he protests weakly, "I...I need that right now."
Frustrated, I get up and pace a bit, ruffling my hair. Finally I decide to face him as I crouch in front of him. I close my eyes, taking a deep breath to steady myself before I meet his gaze again. "Then I'll get you a new one, a better one." I tell him gruffly, trying to keep the storm of anger and frustration at bay.
"Really?" He stares at me for a long moment, his expression unreadable, before a small, tentative smile tugs at the corners of his mouth. "Thanks, Kacchan," he murmurs.
"What the hell are you thanking me for?" I let out a sigh.
"For being a good friend"
It's been second time in a day that I was speechless. Deku had called me that for years, and each time I heard it, I laughed in his face or did something worse. Because how could I be friends with someone so pathetic? Someone who was so unworthy of being with me, that irritated me with every look?
But when I look at him now, I don't know what to call him anymore.
"If you say anything like that again, you're dead," I breathed. "And if you are so refreshed as you say, then you will have to stay awake. I don't want to get bored along the way. Now Hop on. We have an assignment to complete." I said as I turn around and position myself to grab him.
"Actually, I have a better idea"
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"Ready?" I grunted, shifting my stance to brace for the extra weight. Deku's strapped to my back in some complicated rope harness he rigged up, crisscrossing around his legs and my chest. His arms are free at least, draped over my shoulders.
He presses a hand to his injured side and taps my shoulder, signaling he's good to go. "As ready as I can be," he says, sounding way more confident than he has any right to be in his condition. Typical Deku.
I ignite my quirk, powerful blasts firing from my hands to lift us into the air. The ropes securing Deku to my back pulled taut as we flew, the wind whipping past us. The force rattles him and I can hear him let out a pained hiss against my ear. It took a few tries to get the timing right, to find that balance between staying airborne and not jostling the nerd around too much.
This whole thing was Deku's bright idea - using my quirk to fly us down the mountain faster without aggravating my sprained ankle. I wanted to tell him where he could shove his bright ideas, but damn it all if he wasn't right. Again. Deku has always been like this, coming up with clever plans. It seriously pissed me off sometimes, him being right. But I guess that big brain of his had to be good for something.
The first attempt almost had him hurling his guts out. His face went ghostly white as he stared at the ground, taking gulping breaths. I was ready to call it quits right then, but the stubborn dork insisted we try again. Idiot said he made the mistake of looking at the ground whizzing by below us. So of course he comes up with another 'strategy' - stare at the back of my head instead. Anything to avoid admitting defeat.
Every jerky landing jostles him like a ragdoll, eliciting pained hisses and gasps that he tries unsuccessfully to stifle. Even feverish and bleeding, he was analyzing every variable, trying to solve the equation.
My bag was throwing off our balance? He'd carry it, injury be damned. We argued about it, but I could never win against Deku's annoyingly sound logic. I swear, he never knows when to quit. It's infuriating. Almost as infuriating as the fact that his solutions keep working, bit by bit.
We soar above the trees, the wind whipping past us as I do my best to keep us steady. I can feel him trembling against me, his skin scorching hot even through our clothes. His breathing is ragged and shallow and I'm pretty sure I hear him retch a few times, but he never complains, the self-sacrificing idiot.
My arms are starting to ache from the strain and I'm sweating bullets, but it's nothing compared to the tremors I can feel coursing through Deku's body as he clings to me, his grip growing weaker by the minute. I'm pushing my quirk to its limits, fighting to keep us stable and airborne while making record time. But hearing Deku's ragged breathing and muffled groans, I know I need to dial it back before the nerd passes out or worse.
I just need to find Aizawa and be done with this. I'm following the stream for quite some time and I can see the base of the hill in distance. We're almost there. Suddenly, Deku shifts and lets out an agonized cry, throwing off my balance.
"Shit!" I curse, quickly firing off some powerful explosions to keep us from tumbling out of the sky. "What the fuck, Deku?" I yell over my shoulder, ready to tear him a new one, but the hoarse, feeble sound of his voice stops me cold.
"Ka..Kacchan, c-can we please...t-take a break?"
I glance back at him, ready to snap at him, tell him to suck it up, but the words die in my throat when I see how pale and sickly he looks, his eyes squeezed shut. His face is all scrunched up, contorted in obvious agony, and there's this greenish tinge to his skin that makes my stomach lurch uncomfortably just looking at him. He looks like death warmed over.
"Damn it, Deku, don't you dare puke on me." I scan the landscape below for a relatively flat stretch to set us down, trying to ignore the way Deku sags against me, his face pressed into my shoulder blade. "Just hang on a little longer," I mutter, unsure if he can even hear me over the wind rushing past. Don't you dare die on me now, Deku.
I let off a controlled burst, slowing our descent until my feet hit the ground. As gently as I could, I lower Deku off my back, easing him down to sit propped up against a large boulder. A strangled cry of agony tears from his throat at the movement and I wince. One trembling hand pressed against the blood-soaked fabric of his shirt, his nails turning blue.
"Shit," I hiss under my breath, trying to ignore the way my hands are shaking as I dig through my pack untill I find the almost empty water bottle. Holding it to his cracked lips, I help him take a few sips before a weak coughing fit overtakes him, water dribbling down his chin. I use my sleeve to wipe it away. I wave the bottles of Aravac and Actortium extracts, silently asking him if he will be able to keep them down. He shakes his head, fearing that he might vomit if he opens his mouth. I don't force him too. Just rest next to him
I kept my eyes averted from him. I don't have to be an expert to know how sick he is feeling. With his eyes blurred over as they are, it won't be long before he fainted.
I'll have to keep his mind off the pain. Except, I'm not very good at making conversations. Most of them end up me torching the other person. But with Deku, I have to keep his attention on me. So, I said the first thing on my mind.
"Do you have the latest limited edition All Might figurine fighting with Skrimpo?"
"What? Yes. Yes, I have." he said as the question slowly sunk in. "Purchased it last week. It nearly cost me my kidneys. Hehe. cough" he quickly put his hand on his mouth and turns away, trying to stifle it.
"Hmm" Now what? God! I really suck at this.
I was thinking about what to say next when he asks "Do you ... have it?" hesitatingly
"No. I don't collect figurines. I'm not a kid anymore." I instantly regretted saying it as I saw the hurt look on his face. "But I do collect his flash cards. It's a hobby of grown ups."
"Really?" he asked excitedly. "How many have you collected so far? I have fifty six"
"Hah. I have eighty two. I beat you" I said, my chest puffing out with pride.
"Would you show them to me?"
"No way I'm going to let your filthy hands touch them" I say, his face fall, all the excitement leaving his body in an instant like a switch. Why do I become a dick in front of him?
"But I'll let you see them" trying to fix what I broke.
"Thanks Kacchan" He smiles at me, looking away, but it doesn't reach his eyes.
I was thinking of damage control when I see his shoulders shaking. Is he crying? But i said I'll let him see my flash cards. Ugh.
I went around and saw him covering his mouth with a cloth, trying to stifle yet another coughing bout. The coughs came in quick succession, shallow and breathless as he fought to suppress them.
"Don't stifle it" I urged.
He gave a muffled whine that sounded like, hurts.
"I know but you need to let it out" I said as I placed a hand on his back, feeling the strained, contorted muscles beneath my fingertips.
He relents as he let the cough loose. It emerged from deep inside his chest, wet and harsh and painful as he doubles over by the force of spasm. It wracked his entire body, leaving him with hardly the strength to draw a breath of air. He coughed and coughed and coughed with no repose, until I felt panic rise within me.
Unsure of what else to do, I thumped his back. When that achieved nothing, I repeated the action, each strike more forceful than the last. Finally, after a tense few minutes, the congestion in his chest worked itself loose. The storm of coughs died down. He did not move from where he lay, limp and devoid of energy.
"Deku?" I give his shoulder a shake. When he made no effort to speak, I roll him on his back. I pull away the cloth he is still pressing to his mouth. The inner surface of the cloth is splattered with dark, inky red.
"Fuck"