【𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐄 • 𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐍 𝐃𝐄𝐊𝐔 𝐗 𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑】

41| Trust Outweighs Fear

The hero puts on a special anti-smoke mask, his bright red hair matching the intensity of the flames in front of him. Despite this, he doesn't cower.

"Don't worry," Red Riot says, his voice void of fear, "I'll save your friend."

And with that, he heads inside the building.

❧

"Come on," you say to Shinimi, "back away from the building. You're going to inhale too much smoke."

He stays in place, eyes stuck on the flames. "B-But Midoriya . . . and Red Riot . . . "

You take his hand, and he's shaking again. You inhale sharply, regretting it when the smoke infiltrates your lungs.

"Th-The fire," he stutters, "it's getting bigger."

You look up at the building, and the flames spreading, breaking walls and windows and creeping through cracks.

"Come on!" You ask him again, screaming over the sound of the crackling fire, "Come on! We have to trust them!"

That seems to snap him out of it, because he looks at you, his eyes full of hope.

You continue. "Don't you think Red Riot has seen worse than a building on fire? Do you seriously not believe that he's strong enough to make it out alive? And Midoriya too! Don't doubt our Symbol of Peace!"

"They're some of . . . ," he mumbles, "some of the strongest."

"Exactly!" You cry, "So we have to trust them!"

He follows you away from the fire, his hand clutching yours like a child.

He's just a child.

Once you're far enough away so as to not smell the flames, you turn around, wrapping your arms around the teenager.

"Trust," you whisper, "outweighs fear. It has to."

He buries his face in your neck. 

"Tell me when they come out."

And so you wait, watching the burning hotel, even as firefighters spray it with hoses, even as the smoke dies down, even as the flames disappear.

You watch and wait.

And you can never answer the shaking teenager in your arms.

Until almost an hour later, when the hotel is a burnt corpse of what it once was.

Red Riot and Midoriya alike emerge from the rubble, covered in ash and dirt.

"I told you," you whisper to Shinimi, choking back a sob, "I told you. We can always trust our heroes."

❧

Midoriya's face is blank, his clothes and skin covered in red. 

"Oh my god,"  you mutter, wiping it off his cheek, "Oh my god, you're bleeding."

"It's not my blood."

His voice is quiet as he wipes his palm against his forehead, smearing the crimson on his face.

"Shit, thank god," you sigh, "I don't care whose it is, as long as it's not yours."

Red Riot stands unharmed beside him, his features free of the red covering Midoriya. Shinimi hovers around his favorite hero, fiddling with his fingers.

"U-Uhm, Mr. Red Riot, sir," he mutters in awe, "are you okay?"

Red Riot smiles. "Of course! You think a simple fire can take me down, kid?"

Shinimi's worried expression melts into one of relief, and a smile breaks across his face. "O-Of course not! You're the manliest hero in the world!"

"Then don't worry, okay?" Red Riot places a hand on his shoulder, "No one was hurt in the fire. We're all okay now."

As Shinimi fist bumps his favorite hero, you glance at Midoriya, who is silent.

"You didn't tell him about Horyo?" You whisper, edging away from the other two. Once you're both alone, he answers. 

"Of course not," he sneers, wiping his hands, "I didn't tell him. He just saw me kill him."

The shadows cast across Midoriya's face make the moment feel all the more surreal. Deku. Deku, the hero who killed someone.

You take a step back. "Wh-What?"

He looks up at you, and you notice that his wig is gone. His disguise, broken. His face is nonchalant.

"I had to. He was hurting Shinimi," Midoriya sighs, "and he would've died anyways. That kid set himself on fire, and he was already melting when I got to him again. I only ended his misery."

"S-So," you start, "So the blood . . . ?"

"The blood of our captive, though now he's long gone," Midoriya answers, "What? Do you hate me now? Are you going to smack me? Is reality too much for you to face?"

You take a step forward, bring a hand up to his bloodied cheek. 

His face, covered in a child's anguish. 

Death on the face of a hero.

"Can I kiss you instead?"

With your question, he brings his face down to yours, a yes on his lips before you can even think. A reaction that makes you suck in a breath before he kisses you, his hands on your cheeks.

You can feel the warm blood on his palms, spreading itself on your own skin, but at the moment you couldn't care less.

He tastes like ash, blood, and smoke—anything but sweet, but his lips moving against yours makes you stay, clinging onto him like moth to a flame.

"I don't care if you killed him," you say, out of breath, "you saved Shinimi. You did what you had to do. I don't care anymore. I'm just glad you're safe."

Midoriya looks down at you, your face covered in Horyo's blood, drawn by his hand.

"I have to say," he smirks, "this is not the reaction I expected. I thought you'd be scared of me, at the very least."

"Trust outweighs fear."

And lips meet again.

And the world falls away, in a mess of shattered glass and piles of ashes. And you just hold your hero.

❧