A Jump Changed Everything

Prove it

Katsuki stalks down the crowded streets, his best friend trotting behind him. It's getting late. Taking the train would be faster than walking, but it's hard to breathe with all those assholes crowding the car. He also thinks the sky is pretty, not that he'd ever say it. The sun is going to set soon. His mom will yell at him for being late as always. All in all, a normal day.

Except it isn't.

He's known that face since the dawn of time, so weak yet condescending. Those bright eyes that stared him down and then disappeared in a flash. His nervous expressions during class. The blood on the street... No, stop thinking about it. It'll get you nowhere. Bakugou looks back up at the sky again. It's turning orange, clouds shaded a soft pink. Kirishima hasn't said a word to him. Perhaps he had taken his comment a little too seriously? Damn.

It's a bit awkward between the two and the crowded street barely helps. 'Shut the fuck up' is something he says too much, and yet his friend still seems surprised by it... The thought is hitting him almost as hard as Deku's quick escape. What a fucking mess!

Clearly lost in thought, Kirishima stumbles. It's not like anyone in class 1-A to be unaware of their surroundings BUT HERE WE ARE I GUESS. He smashes directly into Bakugou who is also critically unaware of everything around him. The redhead is promptly greeted with a, "The fuck do you want!?" to which he jumps back.

"S-sorry bro, I just-"

"Zip it," he snarls. All these ideas are making him even madder than usual. Dinner is approaching and hunger claws at his stomach. Everything exists just to piss me off, he thinks. Rational thought is leaving him and his friend is even more dejected than before. JUST GREAT.

"You're actin' weird, man, I-" he starts again.

"I SAID ZIP IT, SHITTY HAIR!" God what the fuck is he doing. Why is he acting so hostile? Kirishima hadn't really done... anything! And he wants him to come along! Godammit Bakugou, he mentally kicks himself. He's just making this whole thing worse. Some heads turn at his shout. Ugh. Attention...

Shit. Kirishima looks like a sad puppy. Doesn't help that his eyes are kind of feminine. Makes him pitiful, or "not manly" as he would say- unlike the scar on his right lid. Why is Bakugou thinking about Kirishima's eyes? Let's not find out. At this point he realizes he's staring straight at his friend like an idiot and whips back around.

They keep walking.

Soon, the two get to Kirishima's house, which is closer to UA than Bakugou's. At this rate, he'll be home just in time for food. Homework was going to be a bitch... Kirishima stops. "So are you going to tell me what's got you all messed up?"

"Whattaya mean by that," he narrows his eyes. "I don't got time for bullshit." Kirishima sighs in a special type of frustration reserved for the angriest boy on the planet.

"I mean how you got pissed at me even though I didn't even do anything stupid! And I mean, I guess you just do that sometimes, but you were staring into space before I tapped your shoulder! I've never seen you do that, bro."

In that moment, Katsuki realizes, shit, he's right.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I don't really care anymore. Just say something, man," Bakugou's gaze instinctively drags itself up to the little scar on Kirishima's right eye at the word 'man'. Word image association? Who knows.

He turns and heads down the street which lead to his neighborhood. "I'LL TELL YOU LATER, DIPSHIT!"

***

"Deku? Are you serious?" Shouto takes a step back. The atmosphere has now shifted. Todoroki had suspected something like this, yet still! This kid has... killed people. His expression remains somewhat calm, after all, there's a chance he's lying. Deku, however, looks worse than before. His eyes are wide and Shouto can see how they're slightly bloodshot. He barely nods, almost ashamed. "You mean like, that Deku?"

"Yes!" He suddenly outbursts. Why did this feel so terrible? He's telling the truth to a guy he barely knows, but it feels like everything's ending... What if he calls the police! That's the obvious thing to do in this situation! What if he fails, what if Shouto knows everything and doesn't accept it, and then Endeavor gets mad? That would be bad. What is jail like? Would he go to jail? A high confinement building for supervillains? Not like he was actually that strong...

Is there a prison for child villains? "Child villains" is a weird phrase. Deku is totally silent, thoughts dashing through his head left and right, leaving mere seconds after they come. What should he do!?!??! WHY IS HE PANICKING SO MUCH

WAS IT EVEN NECESSARY TO TELL TODOROKI THIS IN THE FIRST PLACE

...

PROBABLY NOT

Uncomfortable radiates down the alleyway. How long have they been there? Five minutes and it's already spiraled into a hole of despair, great. It's still light out, but the shadows of the buildings make it feel dark and dreary. "I kill people! WHATEVER!" he blurts almost angrily. Oh, that sounded bad. Oops.

A look of horror crosses Todoroki's face, much to the green haired boy's dismay. What the hell... He's really pushing it. If he really is who he says he is, then he's a damn good actor when he fights. Or maybe he's acting right now? "Wait, no, that came out wrong, I..." he's already walking away. To do what!?!?! No no no this is bad. "Todoroki! Please! I need to explain myself-"

"What is there to explain? You're a serial killer," he doesn't turn back, yet Deku knows he's glaring. "I'm going to turn you in." Surely, an innocent person would be nervous and beg not to go while the hero killer would threaten him.

"But Endeavor will..."

Shouto freezes (pun intended). It seems he forgot even for a short second that the "killer" is here under his old man's request. Why...? Why would his dad hire a murderer? Doesn't that put him in danger? Of course he isn't the killer, then. "What? What'll he do? Beat me up? For turning in a villain? The media will be all over me! It'd be strange if I suddenly got hurt."

Todoroki whips around and stares through Deku's soul. He meets terrified eyes so green they could rival any valley or forest on the planet. "Please, don't..." He sounds nervous for someone who battles combat certified men and women regularly.

"Why shouldn't I?! Don't those dead heroes deserve some kind of justice?" Deku's awful short for a cold blooded killer, he thinks.

"No! They don't!" he spits out. "They don't and that's why I killed them!" He's near tears now. Todoroki steps back, kind of disgusted. How? How could this baby faced kid have blood on his hands? His build is small and gangly... everything about him is unsuspicious, minus the hair. Come to think of it, he does have the same hair as the kid in the video.

Hm.

"I don't believe you," Shouto finally says. "My old man hiring a killer is ridiculous. He's a pro, for god's sake! Defender of the good, shit like that. He has no business with you of all people." Deku smiles... then he laughs. Todoroki looks confused.

He keeps laughing. Endeavor's son thinks he's crazy. "You are SO right, though. I can't believe the mess I'm in..." he places his face in his hands, still chuckling. "It's so stupid..." Is this triumph?? Has Todoroki done it, gotten this kid to admit that he's not a killer?

"So you're NOT the killer, then," he states.

Deku lifts his head, eyes dead and serious. "No, I am. I wouldn't lie about that." What? He's still at it?

"Then what's with you? All nervous and antsy, having little outbursts over yourself, being all thin and tiny. How could YOU be a killer?" he interrogates him.

"...Sometimes I ask myself the same thing," he sighs sadly. "It's not easy on my head." He slumps his shoulders, shuddering at a faint memory of a body hitting the ground. He doesn't remember whose it was. That's awful... he realizes.

"Cut the bullshit. Show me, PROVE to me that you're the hero killer!" Todoroki shouts a little unexpectedly. Deku grabs his hand and smiles.

(A/N THANK YOU FOR 1K READS! Bless y'all for reading my trashy fic.)