Achilles Heel

I. There's A Girl

There was something about her that drew him toward her. It wasn't like she did anything spectacular that grabbed his attention. No, if anything it was the deafening silence that encompassed her which reeled him in, not like that was her quirk or anything. The entire situation surrounding her was confusing for the young boy who sat rows behind her. Was she a threat, or a hindrance on society? Regardless, he would bully her throughout middle school.

No one knew much about [L/n] [Y/n] besides that she sat alone at lunch and was progressively mute. It was addressed on the very first day of middle school when the teacher had everyone mingle for a good ten minutes or so.

"Class, I would like to make an announcement. This is [L/n] [F/n]. She'll be joining this class from today on out."

"No shit!" Bakugou exclaimed, not seeing a reason why the teacher felt compelled to point out the obvious. Kids bursted out in laughter, amused by their cocky classmate's remark.

Black orbs narrow at the boy, but he ignored the snide comment. "As I was saying," he went on, clicking his tongue against his palate in obvious disapproval. "[L/n] has progressive mutism. She wanted me to address to the class before the year starts. This means it is more severe than selective mutism where she is unable to verbally communicate with her family. She asks that you talk normally with her and she says she'll write in a notebook to communicate."

Of course, everyone started to whisper about that. 'Progressively mute?' 'What the hell does that mean?' 'I know what selective mutism is.' 'What is that?' 'You dumbass it means she's voluntarily mute, chooses not to talk.' 'Wait, that's a thing?' 'Yea, I bet she's doing it on purpose.' 'Do we have to know sign language?' 'Don't deaf people use it?' 'Jesus Christ, this girl is needy.' It didn't matter what the teacher said, that became the talk of the day.

And since then it had become an inside joke. Time and time again, people would act as if they didn't know and test her, seeing if they could push her buttons. In the end, most treated her as if she was deaf, talking behind her back regardless of whether she was present or not, shouting in her ear to get a reaction, etc.

"Hi, my name is Midoriya Izuku. Nice to meet you." [F/n] paused, as if taking a second to process what she had heard. "Ah, I wondered if we could be friends?" No reply. His green hues waited patiently for her to write a response, but one never came. "Um, I'm sorry if I scared you. I..."

She shook her head. At last, her hands moved to grab the notebook she was carrying. Her writing was sloppy, or rather shaky due to anxiety, but Midoriya was somehow able to decipher it.

He mouthed out what she had written. 'It's okay. Nice to meet you too.' "Ah! Nice to meet you too!"

That day would be the first and last time of that school year she would use her notebook to talk to anyone besides Midoriya in middle school. The two's friendship didn't start off all hunky-dory. In fact, it took months for him to convince her to communicate via notebook again.

Over the course of the second school year she gradually opened up to her family and Midoriya. By the start of the second year of middle school, her diagnosis had changed from progressive mutism to selective mutism. She would utilize her notebook more and attend therapy sessions with her parents. For her family, all was becoming bright and better.

Now it was nearing the end of the last year of middle school.

The last he thought he would see of her was when the teacher had assigned partners for everyone to work on a 'last activity project' for the year. And lucky him got paired with the unknown girl and Midoriya Izuku, a quirkless loser that tries and tries to catch up with him. 'What a fucking joke,' he mused, utterly disappointed with his groupmates. The activity wasn't even a sociable one. It was a 'what do you want to be when you grow up' worksheet and why. The only reason it was considered an "activity" was due to the teacher's judgement that this would be the last time the class interacts with one another.

"Kacchan," Midoriya began nervously. "Can you—"

"Can I what?" He snarled. "Not make fun of the two of you? Ha! What's it to you? Does it hurt your feelings? SHE," his finger jabbed into her shoulder as he began. "Doesn't even talk! No matter what I say she will never talk! I can say whatever the hell I want knowing she'll do absolutely nothing about it. Me making fun of her is an entirely different reason why I make fun of you. YOU'RE quirkless. Just because it's the last day of middle school doesn't mean shit." [F/n] could only nod, her expression casted downward.

It wasn't long before the day was over and the 'activity' was to be presented. It wasn't worth any points, just a useless activity before the school year ended. And afterwards, that was that. Middle school was officially over. As everyone cheered, clamored, packed up, [F/n] watched helplessly as Bakugou blew up Midoriya's notebook and threw it out the window. She couldn't move, only watch.

"If you want a quirk so badly then jump out the window and pray you'll get one in the next life," he hollered with his friends telling him he went too far. "Shut up!"

The two waited until they could see Bakugou and his friends out the window before heading out too. The walk down to the entrance was solemn. It was only when they reached the entrance that someone spoke up. "That idiot... If I jumped, he could be charged for bullying me into suicide. He needs to think before he speaks," Midoriya muttered to [F/n] as he fished his notebook out of the school's koi pond.

"I'm sorry I didn't do anything," she whispered, writing what she had said down to show her friend.

"It's... fine. I was helpless too." The green haired boy said somberly.

Bakugou didn't expect to see this girl ever see again. But while he was walking to U.A. he saw her once more. She was walking side by side with Deku. 'Fucking great,' he thought to himself. "Move aside, dipshits!"

"A-ah! Kacchan! L-let's do our... best..." his voice trailed off as the silhouette of his past bully walked off. "..."

At the very least he thought the three of them wouldn't be in the same class, right? Unfortunately, weeks later their assigned home classroom would be given, and soon after the first day of class would begin.