A Game Of Snakes & Ladders - An American Deku Story

Chapter 1

Narrator's POV:

The game snakes and ladders always mimicked life. The ladders represent the ups and the snakes represent the downs. The ladders represent the blessings in life and the snakes represent the misfortunes. The numbers on the board imitated the hierarchy of life that was determined by rolling your die of luck. But of course, as a kid, Izuku never realized this thought.

As a child, he adored the game snakes and ladders. Whenever he could, he would rummage through their board game collection and bring out the game board. He'd scurry over to either his mother or his childhood best friend, Kacchan and they would play for the rest of the day. He rarely won but that didn't stop him from playing the game over and over again.

It was only in middle school, after succumbing to bakugou's bullying when he realized this thought. After that, he refused to play the game. The many memories attached to the game were too much for him to continue playing.

'Kacchan sugoi! You always win!'

'Hah of course I do nerd!'

Turned into

'K-kacchan please stop I'm begging you!'

'Shut it, you stupid deku!'

All because of their first die roll,

Quirks.

For Izuku it was a stroke of misfortune but for most others, it wasn't and that was how the hierarchy formed. The strongest, flashiest quirks at the top and the weakest, or non-quirked at the bottom.

- -

It was a beautiful fall day at UA High. Currently, Izuku was at lunch with his friends, the Dekusquad (minus Shoto) along with the Bakusquad. After their big fight in Ground Beta, Bakugou and Midoriya's relationship had improved, even if it was by a little bit. Noticing this, the Bakusquad along with the Dekusquad started eating lunch together in hopes of improving their leaders' relationship.

Today, however, Izuku needed to leave early, unfortunately before he got to eat Lunch Rush's delicious Katsudon. You see, his boyfriend, Shoto Todoroki, had passed him a note earlier today asking to meet him behind the school at lunch. He was already a few minutes late and didn't want to make his lover wait any longer.

'I wonder what sho needs?', thought Izuku as he excused himself from his friend group while promising to return after meeting with his boyfriend.

Shoto had been acting very weird today. Even more so after he gave Izuku that note. He wouldn't even look Izuku in the eyes. And ofc this made our little cinnamon roll super worried.

"Sho!", he shouted after spotting his boyfriend. The greenette ran towards his lover while sporting his signature million-dollar smile. The Half and Half man turned to his direction and instead of being met with his usual small yet loving smile, his lover wore a nervous expression.

'This isn't normal....', thought Izuku, slowing himself down to a walk. "Shochan? What's wrong?" He asked, the worry evident in his eyes and tone. This only made it harder for Shoto to say his next words.

"I...", began Todoroki taking a deep breath, "I'm breaking up with you..."

Izuku's eyes widened and he froze. His world came crashing down in seconds, his breath hitching.

"Sh-shoto what are you saying? I'm hearing this wrong right?" He spoke softly, clearly still grasping what was happening. There was no way he heard that correctly. There was no way the love of his life was breaking up with him...