Time to Man Up!

I finally got what Mom said during her long lecture, about needing maturity and humility and all that jazz. And those therapy sessions were just the thing I needed to teach me just that.

Oh, and did I mention that my therapist told me, during my last three sessions, that I needed to take up sports to put out my anger?

Well, friends, I took her advice, and I signed up for D. W. Bell's wrestling and baseball teams. And guess what? I made both the teams!

Go Mustangs!

Anyway, my three required weeks of therapy sessions were finally over, but I'd decided to keep going anyway, just in case. Nonetheless, I was ready to face Hera again and prove to her that I was willing to become a better man.

But this time, she was blocking my locker alongside a tall, hulked-up guy.

"Hey, Hera, who's this?" I asked her, trying to draw in some Mean Girls humor. "He doesn't even go here."

"This is Skyler, one of my best friends," she answered. "You should know that, but you spend all your time obsessing over Todoroki–"

"Hey! Low blow!" I interrupted, a bit pissed at what she had just said. "Just...just introduce him already."

She rolled her eyes and cleared her throat. "Skyler, this is Jason, my boyfriend."

God, this guy was tall as hell! He could definitely take me, in more ways than one...

His eyebrows furrowed. "JJ?" He looked back at Hera. "The one you used to tell me about?"

My heart sank as she nodded, but I shook off the chill that ran down my spine and continued staring at him with a quivering lip. A hot, tough, mysterious quivering lip.

"So you're the idiot who bullied my best friend?" Skyler asked.

That blow only made the whole lip thing worse.

"Used to, Skyler, past tense." I glared at him softly, trying to keep my eyes with his, but those damn brown eyes were too fucking much. "Get it right."

Skyler rolled his eyes. "I saw that little video you were in, you nerd. And tights?" He chuckled. "It was actually pretty funny. Plus, it had one million views!"

"One million views?!" I repeated in a scream. "That fucker...!" I didn't know if I should be angry or proud. A million views? On one hand, holy hell, that's embarrassing. On the other, a million views is a million views.

Hera kept smiling at the hot asshole, not bothering to call him out. Such a supportive girlfriend.

"Ugh, be quiet! I learned my lesson, okay?" I grunted, looking at the dude's somehow chiseled neck instead of his piercing eyes. Wow, Todo had some really tough competition all of a sudden...

"How so?" Skyler asked, cocking his head to the left with a smirk.

"The fuck do you mean? I got humiliated!" I shouted.

"Don't shout at me," Skyler demanded quietly.

"Yes sir." I quickly sputtered, surprising myself and Hera simultaneously. I needed to get away from that dude and fast, he was turning me into some stupid little... Deku or something. And he was the Bakugou.

I turned to Hera. "Hera, I take back what I said about being sculpted by the Gods. Skyler's an absolute fucking masterpiece. How's that even possible?"

She narrowed her eyes at me with a chuckle. "You good?"

No. Absolutely not. I hate to admit it, but I was shaken by this dude...

"I-I'm fine, Miss Kacchan... I'm fine," I lied, which was unlikely for a hot dude bad boy like me.

Hera simply chuckled again.

"Now, can I please just get to my locker?" I said. "I gotta get to class before that second bell rings, and I don't wanna be expelled. Thin ice and all that." Holy fuck, I sounded desperate.

Neither Hera nor Skyler bothered to budge. Oh well.

"I'm not letting you into your locker," Skyler said, "until you apologize to Hera for all the bullshit you put her through! And I don't want any fake ass apologies."

I sighed, knowing I had no other choice.

"Well...?"

I gathered all the big words I could think of. This godly dude was really giving me no other choice at this point. I turned to Hera. "Hera."

"Is there something you wanna tell me, JJ?" Hera asked with a smirk.

"Look, I know what I've done to you throughout the years was totally...wrong," I said as my breaths began to tremble. "And I can't stand to look back at it, Hera, because it really, really hurts to this very day. And it was for the most dumbassed reason: I really did love you, but...but I wanted to keep fitting in with all the cool kids around this Godforsaken school... I wanted to feel like I was superior to everyone else."

Hera rolled her eyes. "Typical," she said.

"I remember that one time in Junior year, when you were gone from school for a long time," I said as tears were beginning to well up in my eyes. "I hate to even ask, but...did you ever harm yourself or even think about hurting yourself?"

"Wha... Goodness, no!" Hera answered, shocked that I had even asked the question. "I would never do that to myself! Why the actual fuck would you ask that?"

And through my teary eyes, I could see that even Skyler himself was surprised.

"Oh, good..." I said with a sigh of relief. "Good, I was hoping that's what you'd say, Hera. I think I'd rather die than let something bad happen to you because of me..." The pressure in my eyes was so overwhelming, so much that I couldn't hold in my tears anymore; I just let them fall like the true Deku I am.

"I–I just didn't mean for it all to go so far," I continued. "I was just so tied up in being one of the popular jocks in the school, I just didn't realize just how depressed I had made you. And I am so, so sorry for all of it... I–I won't do it again."

Once I had finished, I was already an emotional, teary mess.

"Promise?"

"Promise."

And she came over and hugged me.

I really don't like to dwell on the past, but this time I couldn't stop myself, because I had another sad thought. "Still hard to believe that my ex broke up with me over some stupid shit like this..."

"Who, Julie?" Hera asked. "Jason, you're such a dumbass! You're still holding on to the damn past! Move the fuck on, already!"

"Yeah, I wouldn't bother looking for my sister either, JJ," Skyler told me, a bit calmer than Hera about it, "because that airhead is a scam; I've heard a lot about all the bad shit she's done."

Hang on! That girl is Skyler's sister?! And he dug up some dirt against her before he got here?

No time to think about that, 'cause I was skeptical. "Like what?"

"Like, for example," he continued, "the way she gossips about all the 'nerds' around this institution, and how she wouldn't be caught dead being in a relationship with one. And yes, she means you too, JJ."

Everything Skyler was saying right now was all too farfetched to me. "Not to be too blunt with you, Skyler, but I don't believe it," I said. "I'm going to find Julie, and that's final!"

I tried to race away from him and to my first class, but...

"No, you listen to me, dumbass!" Skyler yelled, grabbing my arm and stopping me in my tracks. Fuck, that dude's strong!

"Hang on, Skyler. I got this," Hera said, causing Skyler to let go before he could destroy me. Then, she told me: "You're not going to find her around these parts anymore, because she got expelled from this school and had to transfer to another district."

"Wait... EXPELLED?!" I repeated. "Hera-babe, why didn't you tell me about this before? And what happened for her to even get expelled in the first place?"

"Trust me, JJ, you don't even wanna know." She then looked at me with questioning eyes. "Anyway, I'll bet you guys never had shit in common with each other, now did you?"

Oof. The critical sting. I couldn't find an answer to that question.

"I knew it, JJ," she said immediately. "I knew that little relationship of yours wasn't gonna work because the only thing you were attracted to that bitch for was her massive—"

"Don't say it, Hera!" I shouted. "Besides, that was not true!"

"Oh, come the hell on, JJ-boy," the nerd oinked. "Skyler and I both know it's true. That girl wasn't truly into you at all. Not to mention she is plastic as hell! I mean, what's wrong with a girl like me? We play video games, we do Video Game Club, and we both cosplay; we're both into all the same things. Do you think that blonde bitch would have been interested in any of that?"

I couldn't find an answer to that one either; she got me.

"Just as we both suspected," Hera gushed with a smirk. "You can't answer because you know she wouldn't be." She stepped forward and grabbed my shoulders. "When will you finally realize in that dumbass gray matter, despite all the bullshit you put me through, that I'm the perfect partner for you?" she asked me. "Do you even KNOW how amazing us nerds would be together?"

Whoa... Did she just call us nerds? My face went totally red.

"Uh..." My mind drew a blank. Now I'm the one who's becoming a complete Deku...

"Honestly, JJ, you can't tell me, after that deal you were stuck in with me," Hera stated, "and after all that time we've spent together, whether you've liked it or not, that being in a relationship with me hasn't crossed your mind once."

"Um, no? Not at first..." I answered. "Especially not before all of this happened."