Chapter 20: Deku's past

Deku and Uraraka somehow managed to make it back to UA with plenty of time to shower and change into their uniform. They were both in really high spirits and couldn't be happier. Or at least Uraraka was until she saw Bakugo sitting in his chair when they arrived for class and all of the emotions she had felt when she spoke to Inko yesterday came flooding back. She felt like bursting into tears again.

No not now we have class. I'll have to talk about it with Deku once all of our classes are finished for the day. For now just keep it together and don't pay any attention to that...that...no stop it before you get angry just take your seat.

Uraraka sat in her chair at the back of the class. However once the lesson started she couldn't focus. Her mind was completely elsewhere and she spent most of the day trying to keep her emotions in check so she didn't breakdown in the middle of class because then Deku would be worried and wouldn't concentrate either. That was how she spent the rest of the day. Doing her best not to breakdown and keep herself together so she could talk to Deku about his childhood and confirm her suspicions. Although they weren't suspicions she knew she was right she just needed to hear it from Deku.

Why am I so upset about something that happened years ago? It's over and done Deku stood up to him and Bakugo hasn't said a word since. Am I really going to dig this issue back up for Deku when I should just leave it buried. I can't help myself I have to know I just have to but why? It was so long ago. Wait a minute no it wasn't so long ago at all because-

"Ochako are you in there?" Deku said waving his hands in front of her eyes.

"Oh Deku hey. How long have you been standing there?" she asked knowing she spaced out.

"Longer than I should have class ended a couple of minutes ago and I noticed you hadn't even packed your stuff into your bag so I came over to see if you were ok and apparently you're not you didn't answer me until the 6th attempt and you've been spacing out and out of focus all day" Deku explained.

"Oh...you noticed?" she asked beginning to pack her things away.

"Kinda hard not to. To be honest I glance at you way too many times during class sometimes I should be focusing on the lesson more if I'm being honest with myself but you haven't seemed yourself since we got to class today. I'm worried Ochako" Deku said softly kneeling down next to her desk and putting his hand on top of hers. She held onto it tightly to give herself some reassurance.

"Honestly Deku you're so sweet" she said smiling a little.

"There's that smile I love so much. I've missed that all day" he said brushing her hair back and tucking it behind her ear. The action made Uraraka blush a bright red swooning at how sweet her boyfriend was being. The smile on her face was more obvious and prevalent now.

"Jeez you're being really romantic right now" she said.

"I know but anyway that's not why I came over here" he said his expression suddenly becoming more serious.

"Then why did you?" she asked as if she didn't already know.

"What's been bothering you all day?" he asked her.

"Actually I've been wanting to talk about it with you all day I've just been waiting for classes to finish before I did but...can we talk about this somewhere else Deku? Somewhere more private?" she asked.

"Sure. You wanna go to one of our dorm rooms?" he offered.

"Yes let's go to my room if that's ok with you?" she said.

"Fine by me. I just wanna know what's going on with you today" he said.

"I'll tell you all about it when we get to my room I promise" she said giving him a quick kiss to reassure him she was ok. He seemed satisfied but the truth is she wasn't ok at all. They held hands all the way to the dorms and Deku informed her about everything she had missed in classes today due to her lack of focus. They eventually arrived at her bedroom door and entered. Deku took his bag off and sat down on her bed patting the space next to him. She took his invitation and sat down next to the boy.

"Take all the time you need" he said grabbing her hand to let her know he was here for her.

"You see Deku...I've been wanting to talk to you about something...that's what's been bothering me all day" she said.

"Ok. What did you want to talk about?" he asked his voice soft and patient.

"Well...I'll be honest with you I forgot about it until we got to class this morning when I remembered... I only realised I wanted to have this conversation with you yesterday...um...I don't really know how to bring it up..." she said getting nervous.

"It's ok Ochako. I'm not going anywhere just take your time" he said easing her through it.

"You know what I'm just gonna tell you straight...your mom told me you got bullied as a kid yesterday" she said looking away as she did. She felt his grip tighten a little.

"Ah. I see. Did she give you any details?" he asked his supportive mood now replaced with guilt.

"No she didn't Deku and she only told me because I begged her to after she slipped up and I put two and two together so please don't feel like your mother has betrayed your trust" she explained.

"No it's ok I don't feel that way. Why did you beg her?" he asked still not looking at her.

"I don't know Deku. I just...I already knew I just...I just needed to hear it" she said.

"Ok. Is that all you wanted to say?" he asked. To her surprise he didn't sound annoyed or upset by the conversation at all he just wasn't looking at her.

"No. I want to know Deku. I have questions and I want to know the truth" she said looking up at him teary eyed.

"Ok. Ask away" he said somewhat reluctantly.

"Didn't you have any friends?" she asked.

"No I didn't. I hung out with Kacchan and his friends since we all lived in the same neighborhood so no not any real friends" he explained.

"Ok. I don't understand that you're so sweet and kind I don't understand why nobody would want to be your friend" she said still confused how nobody seemed to want to be his friend even though he was so nice.

"Are you asking why I didn't have friends?" he questioned.

"Yes" she said.

"Because I was quirkless Ochako. They bullied me because I didn't have a quirk. Everybody else had one. It was just me. Regular plain Deku. Nothing special about him. No quirk. No power. No future. No friends. All I had was my mom. I couldn't tell her it would break her. She found out anyway later on but she never knew how bad it really was" Deku explained still not looking up his voice sounding pained and shaky now. Uraraka could've sworn she saw a tear fall from his face.

I can't do this to him it's not fair. He's clearly upset by it I should just stop now....no I have to keep going and it'll be good for him to get it all out in the open.

"I'm sorry you had to go through that Deku" she said softly squeezing his hand a little to comfort him.

I can't believe how cruel everybody has been to him growing up. They picked on him because he didn't have a quirk that's so stupid and cowardly.

Uraraka had seen how some kids without quirks had been treated in her own town and could only imagine what Deku had been through. The thought of it was heartbreaking for her.

"All I wanted was to be a hero someday. I watched All Might every day. Every time I almost gave up or lost hope there he was. He kept me going and I never gave up on my dream. That's the real reason I'm here today. Because of him. Even my mother told me I couldn't be a hero without a quirk. It broke me. I was just a little kid. Even if she was lying straight to my face I would've preferred that. I didn't want to hear the truth" he said his voice trembling now. He was definitely starting to cry.

"Deku I know this is hard to talk about but I'm here ok? I want to know about your childhood so is it ok if I ask you some more questions?" she asked. Deku didn't respond for a moment before simply nodding his head.

"Ok thank you for understanding. What did the other kids do to you? What sort of things did they say to you?" she asked.

"Well there's the obvious one 'deku' but they called me all sorts of things like 'useless' 'quirkless loser' 'crybaby' 'delusional' 'weak' 'pathetic' 'hopeless' stuff like that. Of course they were always saying I'd never be a pro hero either spitting it in my face. They told me to give up every day. Sometimes they beat me up. There were times where they'd pick on another kid and I'd come running in trying to protect them and I'd scream for them to stop it but not having a quirk made me defenceless. That was every other day really" Deku explained through tears.

"Deku why didn't you tell anyone?" she asked beginning to cry herself now.

"I couldn't. If I told mom there was no telling what she'd do. I didn't want to leave where I lived already and I was terrified that if I told her we'd move somewhere else where it would just happen all over again. If I told my teachers they would've told my mom so I didn't tell them either. They already knew though. It would happen in the middle of class. They allowed it to happen. I never understood why. Maybe they looked down on people who were quirkless too so they didn't care" he said trying to fight back his tears.

"Deku I'm so sorry that's awful. I have more questions but we can stop if you don't want to talk about this anymore" she offered.

"No it's ok carry on. What do you want to know?" he asked.

"Who bullied you?" she enquired already knowing the answer.

"Everybody" he replied.

"No Deku. Who bullied you? Who was the source of it?" she asked again trying to force it out of him.

"Ochako I'm telling you it was everyone" Deku said crying still not wanting to give her the full truth.

"Deku just say it I already know it was him" she begged him to be honest with her and himself.

"I don't want to" he said pleading with her.

"It was Bakugo wasn't it? Bakugo was the one who picked on you. Bakugo was the one who made you a target for everyone else. Bakugo was the one who beat you up just because he knew he could. Bakugo was the one who told you that you were weak. Bakugo was the one who told you to give up. All the other kids just followed his lead because he was the cool kid with a really powerful quirk. I'm right aren't I Deku?" she asked trying her best not to breakdown. He sat there for a moment in silence clearly thinking or building up the courage to say something before he eventually spoke.

"...yes. Bakugo was my childhood bully" he said. Uraraka couldn't stop herself she began weeping uncontrollably heartbroken to hear the words come from his mouth. Yet again it was something she already knew but wasn't prepared to hear it. She flung herself at him hugging him tightly. He returned her embrace sobbing himself.

"I'm so sorry Deku. I'm so so sorry" she sobbed.

"What for? You didn't do anything" he said through the tears.

"I'm sorry I didn't realise sooner. I'm sorry you felt so alone for all those years. I'm sorry Bakugo put you through all that. I'm sorry you were still being picked on by him when you came to UA. I'm sorry Deku I'm so sorry" she said burying her face in his shoulder.

"I'm not" he said.

"... what are you saying?" she asked.

"I'm saying if my life hadn't of been so tragic as a kid I might not even be here. We might never have met. The truth is I don't care about all that anymore Ochako. I'm here at UA chasing my dream with a quirk I could never have dreamed of. I met you I'm here with you now and we're in love both of us chasing what we've always wanted. It all worked out in the end" he said smiling at her as she lifted her head from his shoulder. The two of them had stopped crying but there were still tears falling from their eyes.

"I guess your right. That doesn't change how pissed I am at Bakugo though" she said.

"He's grown a lot since then" Deku defended.

"Stop protecting him what he did was disgraceful. He claims to want to be a hero and yet he spent his childhood looking down on someone and making their life a living hell which sounds very much like a villain to me. You were just a kid" she said furious that Deku didn't seem mad at him in the slightest.

"Yes you're right I was just a kid but so was he. He didn't know any better" he said.

"So when you came to UA and he was still picking on you he didn't know better?" she asked.

"I'll admit at that point yes he should've known better but he felt like I'd been lying to him his whole life because I suddenly had this really powerful quirk. It doesn't matter now anyway I stood up to him the other night and he's backed off. That and I totally humiliated him on the first day of school" he said laughing a little as he did. Seeing this Uraraka couldn't help but smile that even after everything he had just told her and how painful it had been for him here he was laughing as if nothing ever happened.

"Yeah you really did. You really are over it aren't you?" she asked.

"Yes Ochako I really am over it" he said smiling at her to reassure her he wasn't just saying it so she wouldn't do anything drastic.

"Good. Thank you for telling me all that by the way" she said gazing into his eyes realising how close she was to him still in their embrace.

"I'm glad I did it felt like a huge wait off of my shoulders" he said.

"That's good. Anyway I think it's time we talked about what was bothering you now" Uraraka said letting go and sitting back from him as she wiped the tears from her face.

"Hm? What thing?" he'd completely forgotten about it.

"This morning you said you'd tell me what was bothering you when we left your mother's house" she said.

"Oh right yeah...that..."