Chapter Text
Deku’s smile didn’t falter the whole time, not once. The nurses led him to a room similar to the one he first woke up in and his smile remained. One of the nurses pulled out a syringe full of clear liquid and injected him and his smile remained. He was instructed to remain seated by the nurses as they left the room and the boy obliged with a grin plastered to his face. Deku couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this excited, but it was definitely a long time ago.
Eventually he must have fallen asleep because he was woken up by a banging on the door.
‘You’re free to go,’ came a bored voice from the other side, ‘continue your day as normal and return here before curfew tonight.’
Deku stepped out of the unlocked door to see morning light streaming through the grimy windows.
Did I really spend the whole night there?
He wandered to the canteen where he found everyone sitting around eating breakfast. He spotted Kiri sitting in the corner booth, staring down at his plate with a frown.
The chair in front of him scraping against the floor awoke the boy from his trance and he looked up to see his green haired friend had returned.
‘Deku! Where were you last night dude?’ He asked, concern glimmering in his eyes.
‘Oh, uh, they needed me to test something.. I’ll have to go back tonight. Sorry for suddenly disappearing on you,’ Deku admitted.
Kiri scowled, clearly unhappy about the arrangement, but ultimately dropped the subject. Instead, he decided to tell Deku about a funny story he’d heard from one of their roommates.
They spent the whole day combat training but Deku, who’s usually one of the better in their class despite his small frame, was uncharacteristically out of it. His sluggishness worried Kiri, however any attempts at voicing his concern were promptly shut down with an ‘I’m fine.’
That night, Deku disappeared again and re-emerged during breakfast.
‘Something exciting happen?’ Kiri asked when he noticed the younger boy couldn’t keep still while he ate.
‘Look at this!’ Deku grinned and flexed his arm which was covered in slim strands of crackling green electricity.
Kiri stared at his friend, jaw agape.
‘What? I thought you were quirkless, man! How are you doing that?’
Deku looked around suspiciously, making sure nobody was listening, before leaning forward.
‘I’m working on a new drug with the doctor, he said it’ll give me an amazing quirk,’ he whispered, his grin widening. ‘I can finally be a hero.’
Kiri thought back on their late night talks about heroism and their desires to save people. Most people at the institute would scoff at you if you even mentioned heroes, so the boys had bonded over their mutual dreams.
‘When we get out of here, you’ll become a great hero.’
The routine of Deku leaving after evening meals and reappearing during breakfast continued, with the green haired boy showing up with a new quirk every few weeks. Kiri tried his hardest to be a supportive friend, but it was difficult with his concern increasing by the day.
‘When is this going to stop?’ the blue haired boy demanded one morning.
Deku frowned, ‘When is what going to stop?’
‘You disappearing during the night. I don't know what they’re doing to you, but having this many quirks can’t be healthy and you’ve been struggling.’ He replied.
‘Struggling?’ Deku scoffed.
‘You’ve been eating less and you look so tired, Deku. You’re slowing down during training and your quirks are injuring you.’
Deku looked down into his bowl of cereal which he’d just been stirring mindlessly with his spoon rather than eating.
‘I don’t know what you’re trying to say about the doctors’ judgement, but I feel fine.’ he snapped, eating a spoonful of cereal to prove his point.
Kiri stared at his friend sadly, watching as he gagged while trying to stomach the food. ‘See what I mean?’ he asked as Deku spat the food back into his bowl.
The smaller boy huffed and stood up, grabbing his bowl.
‘If you’re so jealous of all my new quirks and just want to criticise me, I’d prefer to sit somewhere else.’
‘You’ve changed, Deku.’ Kiri sighed, turning back to his own food. The sound of smashing cutlery caught his attention, and he saw deku fall to the floor.
‘Deku? DEKU?’ Kiri panicked, running to crouch beside his friend and shaking him awake, not caring that everyone in the dining hall had stopped to watch the commotion.
Deku stood up groggily and walked to the doctors office, completely ignoring his friend’s shouts.
That morning, Deku missed training and Kiri was growing more uneasy by the minute. When it was time for the group to get their lunch, he decided he should probably go and check up on his absent partner.
Kiri slipped out of the canteen and went wandering around the corridors in hopes of stumbling across Deku, however his attempts were unrewarded. By the time the bell signalling lunch was over had rang, Kiri had gotten himself lost in one of the many hallways that contributed to the maze of a building. He considered using his quirk to teleport to the training room, however he decided that he’d already come this far and so he continued.
After another few minutes of walking down hallways and peering into seemingly empty rooms, Kiri was met with a horrific sight. He looked into a room and saw a tube full of weird liquid holding a giant muscled bird looking thingy. Fear pulsed through his veins, the terrifying creature making Kiri want to curl up into a corner and cry. He stepped away from the room and continued his search, however each new room he looked into held an even scarier creature than the last.
Initially, Kiri wondered where the doctor had managed to find such beasts, however his questions were answered when he peered into a room and had the delightful experience of watching how these creatures were made. He watched in horror as a nurse hooked a young boy up to an iv drip and got turned into a nomu.
Cursing, Kiri sped up his search for Deku. With each passing room, he felt his despair grow until it blossomed into a wilting flower. Eventually, he found the green haired boy laying asleep in a room the same as all the other rooms. Unsure how much time he had left before his friend turned, Kiri took a mental note of the room number and teleported back to the training room to think of a plan.
Rather than a knock greeting him to alert that time was up, Deku was woken by a blaring alarm. After taking a moment to gather his senses, he finally heard it.
‘DEKU! DEKU!! GET OUT OF THERE!!’ urged a voice from behind the door, followed by harsh banging.
Kiri?
‘DEKU! HURRY UP!!’
Deku slowly glanced around the bare room.
‘How am I supposed to get out?’ he asked, groggily rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
Kiri groaned and the sound of rattling keys trying a lock was heard from the other side of the door. Eventually, there was a click and the door was opened, enhancing the sound of ringing alarms. Deku winced and covered his ears.
‘Hurry up Deku, we need to leave,’ Kiri grabbed his arm and dragged the boy into the corridor and towards the building’s exit
‘Where are we going? What’s going on?’ Deku demanded, allowing himself to be pulled by his anxious friend.
‘We’re escaping.’
All the previously locked doors had been disabled so leaving the building was a breeze. The boy's escape wasn’t interrupted a single time, presumably because all of the adults were dealing with the cause of the alarm.
The sun was slowly rising and the sky was a warm pink. The cool breeze was heavenly; after months of being confined, the pair had deeply missed the wind. Blaring alarms could still be heard from outside the building, and even though they were muffled by the walls they were still obnoxiously loud. Deku glanced around the courtyard and decided that hopping the fence seemed the best course of action.
He graciously accepted the leg up for support from his friend and climbed over the fence with ease. His taller counterpart grasped the edges of the metal with the tips of his fingers and walked them along the curved fencetop, reaching for a hold to pull himself up properly. A moment later, the alarms stopped and Kiri turned his head in curiosity.
‘Hurry up,’ Deku hissed, concerned lines forming on his face from worry that they’d get caught.
Finally finding a grip, Kiri hoisted himself over the wall. Instead of touching the ground, though, he got flung backwards.
‘KIRI??’ Deku called out, lacing his fingers between the chains of the fence and shaking it.
‘I-i’m fine..’ Kiri sat up from the ground and cursed under his breath, ‘but we have a problem,’
‘What is it?’
‘It’s the worst case scenario, Deku; they’ve installed a device to stop me from leaving.’
‘W-what? But I was able to jump the fence just fine! I-is it because they’ve stopped the alarms? Is it because I took too long? We-’
‘It’s because of my quirk,’ Kiri interrupted the boy’s rambling with a sigh, ‘They obviously don’t want us to leave, and so teleportation quirks are an issue. Deku, I promise i’ll find a way out of here, but-’
‘No, don’t say that, you’re coming with me right now,’ the younger boy shakes the fence again for emphasis.
Kiri smiled and put his hand forward.
‘Deku, promise me you’ll become a hero’
‘Kiri, you don’t have to do this, there’ll be a way for…’ Deku glanced back and saw armed guards rushing out of the doorways
‘Deku, go!’
Lost for words, Deku called out an apology before sprinting as far away as he could.