795I own nothing. Warning, may contain Out of Character moments.
He was terrified, completely so. His legs gave out beneath him, muscles unable to even tremble before the person that now threatened to thrash him.
Mineta has heard about Bakugou Katsuki, the strongest and meanest kid in all the school, nobody crossed him without getting away with it. And unfortunately, he managed to do just that with a stray water balloon that was intended for a tree in the park he was in. The spiky blonde began to crack his knuckles as the shorter boy finally gained some control over his vocal cords.
"L-Look man, I-I didn't know you–"
"Yeah? Well you should've thought about that before you decided to throw fucking water balloons around!"
Bakugou then released an explosion from the palm of his hand, a show of intimidation with his Quirk. And despite being soaked from head to toe in water, it did nothing to mitigate the intensity of the flash. Mineta felt the chill of the cold sweat rolling down his body, feeling none of the heat from the midday summer sun.
"I-I was just practicing–"
"I don't give a fuck if you were training whatever shit Quirk you have! You shouldn't even be out here doing that anyway!" The raging boy inched closer, his menace becoming much stronger with each centimeter. Mineta's voice froze once more, not that anything he could say now would save him from the wrath of the human grenade. The shorter boy's attacker grinned, one that wouldn't be uncommon on a Villain, as he cracked his knuckles and closed in on his prey.
"Kacchan wait!"
Mineta saw the glee of his aggressor turn to annoyance before a body blocked his view altogether. Someone was putting himself between them, like a Hero emerging to protect the innocent. And despite being short and scrawny, compared to Bakugou since Mineta himself was as small as a child, and was trembling as though he was an earthquake, this curly green haired kid had a back that anyone could rely on.
"Out of the fucking way Deku, I have a stain to clean up." Bakugou said, practically snarling like a wolf. This Deku was shaking eve more, but he held his ground and even managed to shout out a few words.
"You can't just beat up someone for accidents Kacchan! It just happens, leave it at that!"
"That little shit was using his Quirk, which is ILLEGAL. Not that your Quirkless ass would know..." Bakugou said. Mineta's eyes went wide as he continued to stare at the boy who now protected him. Then the aggressive blonde's other words registered in his head and his voice came back in working order.
"But I don't have a water Quirk!"
"I don't give a shit. Last chance Deku, get out of my fucking way or you'll be going home in casts." He replied, his Hellish aura centimeters away from his opponent. The oppressive air caused bristles to shoot up the shorter boy's spine and he quickly tugged at his protector's shirt.
"Hey man, you should go, I'm not worth it." Mineta said as the boy looked back at him. And though the green haired boy was sweating up a storm and shaking like he was getting electrocuted, his wobbly smile and shining green eye radiated hope. That's when Mineta saw it, the stalwart spirit and unyielding courage in this Quirkless kid's body.
Deku turned back to Bakugou, readying an uneasy fighting stance in the process. "Y-You know me Kacchan, I-I'm not going anywhere."
His opponent just gave a dissatisfactory hum… Before grabbing the green haired boy by the collar and slugged him across the face. Mineta quickly scrambled away, not unlike a cockroach, but couldn't bring himself to run away from the scene completely. Weird as it was, he couldn't leave behind this stranger who was getting beat up in his place. So he looked back and paled, Deku was just getting relentlessly thrashed by Bakugou and then some. To call it a fight would be too generous, this was just a one-sided lynching.
"It's still not too late to run…" Mineta heard his mind say. With the way things were going, that would be best… The shorter boy clenched his teeth and gripped the dirt beneath him with all his strength, almost as though he would get swept away if he didn't. "No. If this Quirkless kid didn't run, then neither would I."
Deku finally collapsed onto the ground, unable to stand from the beating he took. Bakugou gave one last kick in the stomach to the green haired boy before turning his sharp eyes to Mineta.
"Huh, thought you ran off like a little bitch." The blonde said. It sounded as though he had a modicum of respect for him, being able to stay when his 'protector' was busy being pummeled. But that was soon replaced with the same bloodlust that had chewed up Deku. Bakugou picked up his prey by the collar with one hand and hoisted him up to eye level effortlessly.
"You're lucky that piss stain Deku came around when he did, I lost interest in you. But don't you dare throw shit at me again, accident or not. Got it?"
Mineta couldn't even speak as his body had already conveyed the answer in the most unceremonious manner possible… The explosive boy's expression turned to disgust as he tossed away the shorter boy and proceeded to distance himself from him. And as luck would have it, Bakugou was finally leaving the park. Though not without one last comment to the soiled Mineta.
"Oh yeah, if you know what's good for you, stay clear of that pathetic excuse of a person over there."
Then he was gone and for a few good minutes, Mineta waited before he hurried to where Deku laid unmoving for quite some time. He didn't know any first aid, but the short boy could at least check on him. "H-Hey man, you okay?" He asked, gently shaking the green haired boy.
Deku stirred and slowly turned his aching body to face the person rousing him. "… Mom?"
"Not quite dude. You okay? You took one Hell of a beating." Mineta asked, helping his protector sit up. The green haired boy just gave a weak nod, almost as though getting his ass kicked was just another Tuesday night.
"I'm fine, nothing some ointment and sleep can't fix. But what about you? Kacchan didn't do anything did he?"
"Other than making me lose some dignity, I'm good." Mineta said nervously, doing his best to ignore the dampness of his shorts. Deku sighed in relief as he laid back down on the dirt, having the courtesy to leave his words at that.
"That's a relief… I was afraid Kacchan would still be upset after he was done with me." The green haired boy then shot up suddenly, realizing something, though he winced in pain as his injuries acted up to such swift movements. "Wait no, you shouldn't be hanging around me. If Kacchan finds out, then–"
"That's a problem for future me to worry about. Because right now, fuck that guy."
Deku's jaw went slack as his eyes widened, clearly not expecting to find someone to say such a thing. Mineta raised and eyebrow in response as if asking why he should listen to that guy's threats. Then again, purposefully painting a target on himself would definitely get the snot kicked out of him in the future. But again, that was something to worry about later. Because right now, the guy in front of him was his only concern.
"I don't want to let a guy like him win, it'll just bloat his ego. Even if I can't beat him in a fight, I can at least prod him with a friendship stick – That was a shitty metaphor…"
"For what exactly?" Deku asked, eyebrow raised and had an expression halfway between curious and grossed out. And Mineta couldn't blame him, his words sounded a bit too dubious for two guys who know nothing about each other. Still, he had to roll with it and get on with his thoughts.
"What I mean is, the two of us should stick it to the man! Show him that he can't break us with fear! We'll be like those two guys who fought the Gothic Impaler!" Mineta explained. Deku seemed to brighten over the name of the horrifying Villain who had a penchant for staking people. In fact, his eyes were shining even more as he easily recalled the names of the Heroes who squared off with the incarnation of Vlad Tepes III.
"You mean Daybreak and Blo-Zone!? They were able to beat the Impaler's Eye of Terror that many fell victim to with literal smoke and mirrors! It was one of the greatest battle plans in Hero history!" Then the implications of Mineta's words hit him, the wonder in Deku's eyes were replaced with a kind of astonishment that would give the word its definition. "You don't mean…?"
"Yeah man, let's partner up and show the world what we're made of! Just think of all the respect and girls we'll get! We'll be the coolest Hero team around! So, what do you say man!?" Mineta replied before holding his hand out. Deku was apprehensive and there was a torrent of emotion and questions in his body. And as the seconds passed, he looked as though he was sinking further and further into despair.
"I won't be much help though… I don't have a Quirk…"
The shorter boy recognized the look that his protector had, the sadness of having the rug swept out from beneath you that you come to expect it. And the offer Mineta had just extended was like dangling a carrot in front of a horse, close enough to tempt but too far to reach. But he wasn't about to give a guy hope only to dust it, God knows how many times that has happened to him.
"Doesn't matter, I know people with great Quirks who don't have the balls to do what you just did. When you showed up, you looked really cool with the way you stood against that guy."
"I was shaking the whole time." Deku argued.
"So was I. But you didn't see me try and fight. So give yourself some credit, there's a Hero in you."
Now that really shook the green haired boy, almost making Mineta feel like he said something wrong. And that feeling doubled when heavy tears began falling from Deku's face. The shorter boy started sweating as his brain was trying to pick out what went wrong. Though that ended when Deku began to wipe away the tears.
"Sorry… I've wanted to hear those words for a while… Do you really think I can be a Hero?"
"You already are dude. I'm Mineta Minoru." He greeted as he held his hand out once more. And this time, with a small smile on his face, the green haired boy took it and gave a gentle shake.
"Midoriya Izuku."
And that has been chapter 1 of this new story. I know what you're thinking, but how could I start a new project when I still have a butt load of other stories to finish.
"Because you're a lazy piece of shit who's uncommitted?"
Shush Eris. It's because my emotions are boiling over and I just want to write about everything I think of. However that doesn't mean I have given up on my other projects. In fact, I'm putting this up because I wish to test the waters with the subject, see how the internet reacts to something like this.
"Bad idea, they'll rip you apart for trying to make the Grapist into an actual character."
Maybe, maybe not. But that's exactly the reason why I started this project to begin with. You see, me and my brother were extremely bothered how the Shit-on-Mineta fest was literally over 9000 and we lament the fact that only a handful of individuals want to do anything productive with him. Horikoshi, still love him for everything he does, has no intentions to make Mineta cool and the fans just want to leave him to drown in the mud, so I said enough was enough.
Here I sit at my desk, willing to put in the effort to make him a person too! And what better way to do that than to have him be friends with One True Hero Midoriya early on!
"I'm pretty sure that discussion with your Bro was just filled with screeching 'I will redeem him!' and the like"
It was. But doing this will present two challenges to overcome. The first is that Mineta's change in this fic will be slow and you guys might not be around to see the struggles of Mineta trying outgrow his old ways. It'll push my writing ability to the very limit. And the next challenge would be how should I change the continuity of the story because Midoriya has a partner to back him up. My original plan was to have events play out the same way but with Mineta present. However, that is problematic as that's just retelling the main story and that's just boring. So I need to figure out what does Mineta's influence change and how it impacts the plot.
I will say, however, that one thing won't change, Midoriya still gets One for All through the same chain of events as canon.
"Wow, spoiler alert."
I know, but I'll do my best to make it interesting since this is from a third person perspective following Mineta. Let me in on your questions, comments, and concerns about any of this and I'll try to get back to you. I have a busy schedule that involves finishing my other stories.
"Get to that nerd!"
Alright! Alright! With that said...
Until Next Time. T1.