Chapter 10

I woke up from the beeping of my alarm clock, but I legitimately couldn't move my back. I just lied there like a newborn fuck for a couple of moments, trying to make my body function. When I finally managed to turn the alarm clock off, I noticed I had bandages wound around my torso.

I guessed Deku had done that, for whatever reason. Then I slowly stood up, making my way to the bathroom. I had to take the bandages off for showering and couldn't really put them back on myself, especially because my flexibility was limited in my condition. I left it be, got dressed and went to school. I was more nauseous than hungry and the last thing I wanted now was to puke the hell out of me aswell.

The day was uneventful until my afternoon classes. My fuckers of classmates had already gotten used to my new, more introverted behavior, so nobody questioned my nonexistent raging. I was too drained to be aggressive.

In the Hero training, I had to push myself even harder than normally, or someone would've noticed how fatigued I was and asked stupid fucking questions. I could've fallen asleep on the spot afterwards, but I made myself keep my more-or-less usual attitude. Then I entered the locker room with the others and started changing.

When I had changed into my Hero costume, I had stood with my back to the wall, but now I was facing the lockers. I took my shirt off and heard a few people gasp behind me. Then shitty hair spoke up. "Bakubro, what happened to your back?!" Obviously he was referring to the four fucking cuts on my back that definitely weren't Dekus fault at all. "Extra training." My short explanation didn't convince him.

"A-Are you sure? That looks more like someone… cut you up…" The room was suddenly deadly silent. The other boys around me could watch every single one of my muscles tense up. I let my arms sink to my sides and started speaking with a voice that was almost too gruff to be understood. "Does that… FUCKING… concern you?!" I glared at the redheaded fucker behind me over my shoulder with a hostility even unusual for me. Then I put my shirt on and started buttoning it up.

Kirishima didn't answer for a while. Then he sighed. "I'm your friend. If it concerns anyone here, then me." I was now done changing and picked my things up. Then I turned to him with a calloused expression on my face. "If that means you stick your nose into my business all the fucking time, search someone else to play buddy-buddy with. I'm fucking done with you."

All eyes were on me when I left the room. Then I slammed the door shut and went home. For recording, I didn't fucking mean what I said. Shitty hair was the one closest to what I'd call a friend. Thing was, if he found out about the toxic relationship Deku and I had, he'd try to help me and die from the crossfires. Fucking literally.

When I came home, I slammed the front door of my house shut so hard, the walls were shaking. I tossed my bag into the corner of the entrance and stomped the stairs up to my room. My personal torturer was already waiting for me. "Hi Kacchan! Why so angry?"

I just shot him a glare, then I grabbed some clothes and vanished into the bathroom. I checked thrice if I had locked the door before I actually changed. Then I sat down on the lid of the toilet and leaned my head against the wall.

I had told the least fucker on earth to fuck off and lied to the little shits in my class. All of that for Deku. For talking to the real one. Izuku. At least this had been the last day of school before the holidays. No facing my class until Deku was gone. No questions and no strange glares.

I sat up straight. Wasn't this exactly how Deku must've felt? Whole of our middle school class had despised or at least thought lowly of him. Most of the guys had made fun of him or legitimately bullied him, the girls had ignored him completely. Now, Deku was returning part of the damn favor to me.

While I was still sitting on the toilet's lid, staring at the opposite wall with a disillusioned glare, a certain somebody was picking the lock of the bathroom door. A second later, Deku entered, snapping the knife shut. "Don't leave the key in. Makes picking easier."

When I didn't answer, his expression dropped. "That's the second time today you're giving me this attitude. I'll repeat myself, silence won't save you." I stared into his calloused eyes with a tense expression, still not saying anything. Deku let out a growling sigh and came over to me.

In a split second, his knife was at my throat. "Tell ya something, Kacchan. People turned their back on me one time too often. I won't be ignored. Got it?" I gave him a mirthless, taunting smirk. "Kinda pathetic how you always need your knife to assert dominance. Tell YOU something-"

My expression dropped. "I don't fucking want any business with you until your ass is Izuku." "How cute. You're using my real name for the pathetic loser." Dekus tone of voice was moving below zero. I knew I was raising the stakes too high, but the shit I had to do for him pissed me off more than a little bit. "Careful emo shit, your gay is showing."

Deku removed his knife from my throat and slowly closed it. "Bold move, reminding me why I hate you so much. Well…" His eyelids dropped half-shut, making his ashy green eyes glimmer through the shadow they cast. "Congratulations, you've pissed me off." I stood up. "Who said that wasn't my fucking intention?!"

He turned his back to me, slightly shaking his head. "And here I thought you were smart. Your life and health hang by the thin thread of the patience I still have with you and you wield scissors? Are you picking a fight on purpose?" I chuckled viciously. "So what if I fucking am? What you gonna do, cry?"

"Stop testing me, Kacchan. Your actions didn't allow me to have any kind of dignity or self-respect for the longest part of my life, and I won't let you return me into that state. I don't necessarily have a need to invert your face, so don't make me." His voice was calm and businesslike and it made my blood boil.

"Dignity, huh?! Well you are trashing mine, and I DON'T FUCKING LIKE IT! Did you expect me to resign just like that? I'M KATSUKI FUCKING BAKUGOU, NOT ONE OF THOSE PATHETIC WEAKLINGS FROM MIDDLE SCHOOL!" While I was screaming at Dekus back, he put his knife down on the rim of the bathtub and straightened up to his full height.

I watched him stretch his arms, then he eventually answered. "I see how it is. I get what game you're playing. I'll play along, just this once." He cracked his knuckles, then he churned around to me and punched me square in the face.

It fucking hurt.