The Greenlight Bar- A BakuDeku fanfiction

End Of An Era (Or So We'd Like To Think)

The time was about 5:00pm.

Bakugou stared out into the crowd, peeking out behind the curtain. His knees shook, a little. He was never any good at public speaking.

He took a deep breath to steel his nerves. It wasn't too big of a deal, he thought. He faced villains on the regular. This wasn't that big of a deal.

But still. He felt like he was not compensated to speak at a quirkless convention. He was a hero known for his quirk, after all.

He heard the announcer walk out on stage, and begin.

"Now, here today to talk about the effect of the quirkless on hero society, it's Ground Zero!"

He could hear the crowd tittering in surprise. That was intentional. He wanted to keep his appearance here a secret for as long as possible.

Slowly, he walked onstage, feeling sweat start to pool up under his fancy dress shirt and tie. Seeing the thousands of eyes trained on him, he froze.

You can do this.

You. Can. Do. This.

He took a deep breath, and began.

Midoriya and the League's day had been going pretty normally, as far as he was concerned. Midoriya had been following the broadcasts of the quirkless convention, an event that, as far as he was concerned, was the best thing that could ever happen to society. But what really caught his attention was when Bakugou strolled up onstage.

Midoriya's heart leapt into his throat. He frantically scrolled through the program he had on his phone. Bakugou wasn't listed as one of the speakers.

Typical Kacchan, always wanting to steal the spotlight. He laughed to himself.

"Hey Midoriya-it's your boyfriend." Yui mumbled playfully to him. He shoved her in the ribs, eyes firmly planted on the TV.

"I'm here today to talk about the quirkless." Bakugou began. The crowd tittered. The mixed response was expected. Bakugou ignored the churning feeling in his gut and continued.

"Quirkless people are underestimated." He said, trying his best to portray confidence. "They are often given the shaft by society. There are even quirkless foster homes, for parents who don't want a quirkless child. It's come to be known even as a disability." He stared out into the crowd, seeing them stare back at him.

"I think that that's bullshit." He stated flatly. "Quirks aren't the most important thing in the world."

"They're not?" Yui snorted. "Sure, try telling yourself that." Midoriya ignored her bitter statements and focused on the TV, confused. Bakugou thought quirks were everything! When did this change?

"Who cares if people can't turn into an animal or punch through a building?!" Bakugou said, letting some of his frustration seep through into his voice. "May I remind everyone here that, for the majority of the time we humans existed, we achieved so much, without quirks?"

Silence. All eyes on him.

"And look at us now. We've had quirks for over two hundred years, and we've hardly made any major scientific discoveries! We've hardly changed at all! Sure, some would argue that quirks made law enforcement better, but did they really?"