Flash Fic :: Drowned

𝐈.𝐍𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐃𝐔𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 ━━━━━━

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￣￣  :hearts:   :hearts:   :hearts:   :hearts:   :hearts:   ￣￣

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This fic has a bunch of made-up names, but they're not OCs. This is a writing of the Vinegar Riverside Incident that Deku mentions to Night Eye. Also, my laptop is broken so my consistency with these fics will be even less reliable.

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━━━━━━ 𝐒𝐘𝐍𝐎𝐏.𝐒𝐈𝐒 ━━━━━━

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All Might saves a child from drowning.

➥ 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 1,137

➥ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭: 6,128

”I sent all my applications in,” his friend was saying as the three walked, “even to the schools I’m not super interested in. Beggars can’t be choosers, y’know?”

”Especially when you have such a useless quirk,” another friend mumbled. “What hero school would be interested in somebody who can make technology malfunction?”

”It can be useful!” the young hopeful protested. “Maybe not for combat, but I could make the villains’ gear malfunction.”

”You’d be a sidekick at best,” the other rolled his eyes.

”Aren’t sidekicks still heroes?” the ive listener finally spoke up. “I mean, even if he doesn’t go beyond sidekick, that’ll be way cooler than anything we’ll end up doing.”

”See?” the young boy beamed. “Sukawa gets it! I don’t need to be, like, the number one hero or anything.”

”For the record,” the grumpy friend turned to Sukawa, “my job is gonna be so much cooler than being some nobody’s sidekick. I’m gonna be a professional streamer.”

”You and your thirty followers?” Sukawa teased. “You’ve been streaming for two years, dude. It’s not going anywhere.”

”That’s just because I’m in middle school right now!” his face turned red in a combination of anger and embarrassment. “Of course it isn’t cool to watch a middle schooler unless you’re a middle schooler…or a creep. But once I’m older, you’ll see!”

They both came to a slow stop near the bridge, wanting to continue their conversation before the group split. It was a regular routine for them, to get- caught up in conversation at this exact spot for anywhere from five minutes to half an hour. “I think Yumina can do it,” the optimistic friend said. “He’s really funny, he just needs somebody to find hm.”

”You also think you can be a pro hero. Kibo, as much as I love ya, you’re not exactly…down-to-earth, so your vote of confidence doesn’t mean much,” Yumina smiled bitterly. Kibo just sighed and glanced at his watch.

”I’ve gotta get home to help mom with dinner,” Kibo said. “I’ll see you guys tomorrow.” He waved farewell before turning around and heading home. Sukawa and Yumina continued across the bridge.

”If we’re on the topic of what we’ll be when we grow up, what about you?” Yumina asked. “You never flaunt any crazy dreams.”

”I don’t really have any,” Yukawa shrugged, running his hand along the railing of the bridge. “I still have the entirety of high school before I need to decide. I at least know I don’t want to be a pro hero.”

”Yeah, crazy how pro hero training starts in high school,” Yumina considered. “That means you’d have to know from a crazy young age that you want to be a hero. Think about it — next year, our dear sweet Kibo will be training his quirk.”

”So you do think he’ll get in?” Sukawa raised an eyebrow.

Yukina paused, turning around to make sure Kibo wasn’t in earshot, then leaned against the railing. “He better,” he mumbled. “I’ll beat up whatever issions officer denies him.”

”That’s sweet,” Sukawa chuckled, leaning against the railing next to him. But as he did, he felt the rusted metal groan, bend, and break under his weight in a matter of seconds. All of a sudden, his humor was replaced with panic as he was sent into the river below them.

”Su!” he barely heard his friend call before submerging.

He flailed in a panic, trying to figure out which way was up. The river wasn’t rapid, but it wasn’t lazy, and he didn’t know if the force he felt was gravity or the current. He glanced around wildly, frantically thrashing in the water, hoping he could push himself toward the light. Surely the brightest part had to be the surface?

The tightness in his chest intensified until he was finally afforded a moment to breathe. His head broke the surface, and he inhaled deeply, immediately regretting it as he felt some weird-tasting water splash into his mouth. He didn’t have time to cough or get his bearing, though, for without ground below him, he couldn’t stay up, and his head was soon underwater again.

He fought the urge to cough and wheeze, feeling his lungs burn in pain from the miniscule amount of water that had slipped in, and his eyes were burning too for some reason. There was too much he needed to do. He needed to hold his breath through the pain, find his way to the surface, stay afloat, find his way to safety — it all seemed impossible for a boy who didn’t know how to swim.

Suddenly, there was an arm around his waist, and he could breath. His hair hung over his pained eyes so he couldn’t see, but he at least knew he was no longer in the water. He coughed and hacked, spitting out the weird-tasting water. As he was laid out on the ground, he weakly brushed the hair from his eyes to see a sight he hadn’t expected: All Might stood over him, rubbing his own eyes.

Sukawa tried to speak, but instead he just coughed, still recovering. As he caught his breath, he realized why the water tasted so weird: it wasn’t water. It was vinegar. As odd as it sounds for there to be vinegar in the river, he knew why. He must have accidentally activated his quirk in his panic.

”Thanks,” he finally wheezed out. “All Might…oh my god, my friend will never believe I’ve met you.”

All Might smiled down at him, his eyes red from the vinegar. “Oh my god,” Sukawa’s eyes widened. “You had to, like, swim through the vinegar. Are your eyes all right?”

”I’m better than you, lad,” All Might assured him. “I only had to deal with it for a second or two. You must have been thrashing in it for at least thirty seconds. How do your eyes feel?”

His eyes did hurt, and he realized he had wiped them several times. He assumed the blurriness was from residual water in his eyes, but figured he was probably tearing up. “I can see, at least,” he chuckled. He paused as he heard tires screech on pavement nearby. He looked up to see a news van pulled over on the side of the road further up the riverbank. A reporter and cameraman dashed out, eager to be the first ones to report on All Might’s latest save.

’Cool,’ Sukawa thought. ‘I’ll be on TV. I can brag about this to Kibo until the end of time.’

𝐀𝐔𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐑'𝐒 𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 ━━━━━━

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￣￣  :hearts:   :hearts:   :hearts:   :hearts:   :hearts:   ￣￣

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I literally could think of nothing else.

#HalloweenEvent2024