Unsent Messages

Dabi met Bunny at the front of the mall with a plastic bag around his scarred and stapled wrist. He looked over to the arcade where Midoriya had been, then moved his eyes to follow the teen slightly ahead of him. He didn't say anything about the showdown after he left.

So Dabi had figured it went well… or didn't.

"Let's head home, kid. It's already getting late and I bet Kurogiri wouldn't like it if I kept you out past curfew," Dabi had chuckled, pushing Midoriya to walk with him.

He looked at the other man curiously. Dabi caught him staring and smirked, his teeth showing from the corner of his upturned lips. "Yeah, yeah. You'll tell me what you bought when we get back, right? Knowing you its probably not suitable to be shown in public."

Dabi snorted, "Hell yeah, Bunny. You know me too well."

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Todoroki sat on his bed. The walk back from the mall felt longer than any other journey in his life. It usually is a short walking distance, but it felt like every step he took forward physically made him go backwards two more.

When he finally made it home, his father was out and his sister was in her room. He beelined straight to his bed and flopped down, his stomach curling and his head swimming. He couldn't believe any of what had happened was real. He didn't want to face the facts that were presented in front of him, but the thoughts wouldn't leave his mind.

First and foremost: Izuku-kun and Bakugou know each other. Not only that, they were childhood friends. How did they jump from childhood friends to hero and villain rivalry? Izuku-kun had mentioned that Bakugou had told him to kill himself because he was quirkless, but how did it even get to that point?

Why did being quirkless have anything to do with it?

Second: Izuku-kun is a villain. He actively does villain things. He probably kills people or steals or regularly hunts heroes. He hangs out with his older brother, who is also a villain. Who kills people regularly. And enjoys it. Todoroki couldn't imagine Izuku killing anyone, except maybe an annoying bug. Even then he doesn't think it would be a quick squish from a bug swatter.

Third, and probably the most important one: Shouto Todoroki likes Izuku Midoriya. A villain.

At the realization he throws his pillow over his face and groans into it. He holds it to his face a bit too long. He can't breathe as he's now gasping for air around the pillow case. He feels tears prick at his closed eyes.

He allows a small sliver of air pass as his pillow dampens with tears.

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Dabi and Midoriya cracked open the alley door to the pub. Midoriya slipped off his shoes and slid inside, turning on the lights near the door so he doesn't fall. Dabi followed close behind, locking the door and throwing his shopping bag on the counter. Kurogiri warped himself to the counter, looked at the bag, looked at Dabi and narrowed his eyes.

Before Dabi could tell him anything about the contents in the bag, Kurogiri interrupted him quickly as he saw the mischievous villain's mouth open. "I don't want to be in any part or room of whatever stupid plan you're thinking of! Count me out!" He quickly warped himself out of the room as an escape to further prove his point of not wanting to be involved.

Toga heard Kurogiri announce loudly that he himself is "not being part of the plan!!" and Toga was curious as ever, so she jumped off half of the staircase and skipped towards the two boys. Bunny had smiled sheepishly at her, probably from her outfit. She smiled brighter at his embarrassment.

A huge faded shirt hung over her small feminine body, her light pink panties showing as she hopped around to Dabi and Midoriya. Dabi scoffed when he saw her—his— shirt.

"That's my shirt, Toga. Buy your own oversized shirts."

Toga frowned. "But Dabi~ Don't I look super kawaii? Lookie! Even Bunny agrees!" She pulled in Midoriya in a death grip of a hug.

Midoriya tried his best to push off the girl, which didn't work because she only held on tighter. She was also proving how strong she can be when she wants to be. "Toga… Please! I-I can't! Breathe!" He tried to form a sentence while gasping and choking from lack of airflow

She let go quickly. "Oops! Sorry Bunny!" Her attention quickly went from him to the dark bag on the counter, and she squealed. "Did you buy more toys? I wanna play with you!"

"Ah, no. Not for you," Dabi swatted her hand away. "It's not stabby toys either. It's for Mr. Touchy Feely." With a minute silence dragged over he added quietly, "It might be stabby to his ass though."

Toga squealed louder. "Oh! So you're going to play with Mr. Shaggy! How fun!"

Midoriya groaned loudly.

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His house was quiet when he got back from the mall late afternoon. He had no appetite for food or for talking to his parents whenever they showed up, so he made his way upstairs and to his room. He grabbed clean boxers and a tank top and sped up his pace to the bathroom, locking the door behind him. He felt ugly and dirty, and he needed to shower to get rid of the feeling.

He stripped quickly and went into the shower, turning it on and shivering at the shock of cold water hitting his overly heated skin. He held back another violent shiver as the water gradually got hotter. The temperature difference woke him up from feeling anxious, but it wasn't enough.

He grabbed his sponge and drenched it in soap. He started scrubbing his chest and waist, then moving to scrub more violently his arms where he saw the sliver of scars on Deku's arms. His skin was pale and red and scratched from his "cleansing" himself of the image of Deku. He moved back to his chest and repeated his actions until he felt tears run freely under the shower head.

He started thinking about after Deku left. Todoroki had frozen up completely and left quietly, Mina trying to see if he wanted to talk, to which he brushed her off quietly. Bakugou could've sworn he saw tears running down his face. Sero and Kaminari decided to go to the other side of the mall, physically dragging Mina along with them. Mina didn't argue after watching Todoroki walk away. Kirishima just looked at Bakugou, crimson eyes glaring holes into his own crimson eyes.

It was unsettling. Kirishima didn't even ask Bakugou if he was okay after the outburst, he just met his eyes last then left, leaving Bakugou alone in the arcade.

He scrubbed harder and harder until his pale skin was raw.

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Midoriya looked over his text message again. And again. And—

…Again.

He sighed. It shouldn't be this hard to compose a text message.

It didn't make sense. What was he apologizing for? Nothing was his fault. Bakugou shouldn't be friends with Todoroki in the first place. The whole message itself was missing a vital piece. What was it? He couldn't quite place the puzzle piece together. Was it missing a word? Was the grammar okay? Was the whole message too formal?

Unknowingly to him, Todoroki was having the same problems trying to compose a message to Midoriya…