Chapter 17
This is completely unedited, there's probably a lot of mistakes lolz.
"You can talk, can't promise I'll actually listen," Izuku grumbled as he was pulled from the apartment with the door shut soundly behind them. "I'm a high-functioning sociopath, remember?"
"Yeah," Hanta said with a sigh, dragging a hand through his hair, "you are."
Izuku flashed him a sarcastic smile that neither could pretend held any warmth. "Great, we're both on the same page. You can leave at any time."
"I'm not going anywhere," Hanta exclaimed, his calm demeanor shattering in the blink of an eye. "I freaked out because it's my sister, okay? If I showed up carrying Toga's dead body, how would you feel?"
Izuku didn't have an answer to that question. Losing any more loved ones was a thought he pushed far, far away. He wasn't sure what he'd do if he ever lost her, so he kept his lips sealed, saying nothing in response.
"Exactly," Hanta sighed, ready to have a constructive conversation and move on from the situation.
Izuku had a different plan, though. "I'm getting them all out and then I'm leaving," he said in a rush, ripping off the bandaid as fast as possible.
The idea of leaving had always hung around in the back of his mind. He'd gone through with it a few times, leaving the city, country, getting as far from home as possible. Toga had always been a companion though, tagging along wherever he went. This time was different.
He was leaving on his own and never coming back. Everyone he cared about lived in the city and the longer he stuck around, the more danger he inadvertently put them in. He could no longer justify staying.
Izuku's eyes lifted just in time to watch Hanta swallow. "For how long?" the pro asked, but they both knew the answer.
"Indefinitely."
Hanta nodded, expecting it. "Well, that's... that," he mumbled, running a hand down his face and shifting on his feet, "Seven years."
He shook his head, a smile that held no warmth or humor on his lips. "I lived without you for seven years, what's the rest of my life, right?"
Izuku reached for him, but stopped short. His hand hung in the air between them for a moment. "Hanta, I..."
"It's fine, Iz," the pro said, taking a minuscule step back, but to Izuku it felt as if he'd jumped. "I know why you're going, I get it. I'm not going to beg you to stay, I've already tried that and it didn't stop you."
It felt like the words had been stabbed directly into Izuku's chest, the familiar burn of a blade was a welcomed pain. He absently wished it was a physical wound rather than this phantom sting, but it was deserved regardless. "I'm sorry," he croaked in a weak voice. Couldn't Hanta see that Izuku disappearing was the safest thing for him and his family?
"I know you are, lightning bug," Hanta whispered before turning back to the door and ducking into the apartment. He didn't even look back.
Izuku faintly heard him calling for his sister, telling her that it was time to go, but it felt as if he was under water. He couldn't see clearly, noise was muffled, and he'd never been so cold before. He'd rarely ever been cold. He didn't know what was happening, but thought it felt close to dying, something he was well versed in.
He was dying, that had to be it. There was no other explanation for it.
The front door opened again, Emiko and her brother shuffling into the hallway. Air forced its way into Izuku's lungs, kick starting his senses and halting the death he'd been so sure of. The teen stopped short at the sight of Izuku, looking as if she was going to say something but stopped herself, tucking her chin and speeding down the hall.
"Goodbye, lightning bug," Hanta said softly once Emiko had reached the stairs.
Izuku tried to get his genius brain to come up with something to say, some grand apology or promise or pledge, just anything to offer the hero who's heart he'd broken more times than he could count. He's brain wasn't much help, fried from overheating physically and mentally, and all he could muster was a weak, "Goodbye, tape boy."
Hanta jerked his head to the side quickly, a sad sort of smile slipping onto his face. "Just glad I got a proper goodbye this time."
Izuku was left fumbling for something to say as the hero wasted no time in following after his sister. "Fuck," is what he finally landed on, but only after both Sero siblings had left his sight.
"Fuck!" he cried, throwing a fist at the hallway wall without any thought.
"What the hell?" The tenant across the hall from his apartment sounded more scared than angry as Izuku's dust covered fist appeared in their kitchen.
He just needed to hit something. He just needed to be hit.
"There's a hole in my wall," the man said in shock, like his brain wouldn't allow him to process what had just happened.
Izuku lowered his head to peek through the hole, a hard set to his jaw. It had already been a long night and he was reaching the end of his patience. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I own the building, it's my wall. It'll be fixed by tomorrow."
He didn't wait for the stuttered response and headed for the front door of the complex. He needed to get out, to get away from all this. His life had become domestic. Izuku couldn't exactly pin point the shift, maybe when he killed his father? When he bought the building? When he'd made the mistake of talking to Hanta again?...
It didn't matter when it happened, he couldn't stay. This life was never meant for him. He was bred and built for destruction, not family life. God, what had he even been thinking? He was a super villain without any emotions, he wouldn't know love if it smacked him across the face.
Then why does it hurt so bad to leave?
He didn't dwell on the thought, shaking it off as he headed into the city, into the cold dark night that would provide him with the one thing he truly needed in that moment.
But he wouldn't get it, not until he trailed Hanta and Emiko and made sure they made it back to the hero's apartment safely.
Maybe he did feel love, but as he thought about it he couldn't help but feel as if it wasn't right. It wasn't the love that Hanta or even Toga experienced, he thought it was something similar to.... a dog. It was blind loyalty, admiration, not love. Love was something just beyond his reach, something his father must have stomped out of him a long, long time ago.
He felt it before, on the soft couch in his childhood home. When his mother would sit him down with a couple of cookies and demand to know exactly how his day had been. When she would tuck him in at night, even though the scariest thing in their neighborhood was always him. Izuku absently wondered if he'd ever feel that love again, now that she was gone.
He violently shook his head, taking a sharp left to head deeper into the city. It didn't matter, it never had before and it never would again. He'd be leaving soon and love didn't have a place in the heart of a villain on the run.
"Come on," Izuku mumbled to himself, searching and scanning the streets for what he was looking for. "I know you're out here, you love night shifts. Less people to deal with."
He retreated into an alley, eyes drifting up to roof tops. "This is your block, I know you're here. Don't make me cause a scene, Kacchan."
A dull thunk sounded from behind Izuku, making one side of his mouth quirk up in a sort of smile. He could always count on Bakugou to be predictable.
Here you go, ya'll only got an update on this one because I wanted to write angst and this is objectively my angstiest story :)
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