Smoke And Mirrors (BNHA x Male OC)

16: Off Vibes

"Where the fuck do you think you're going?!" A voice shouted. 

Taiya turned to see Bakugou standing in the doorway of his waiting room. The actor had obviously walked right past it without realizing it. 

"What's your problem?" He asked, wrinkling his nose. Bakugou gritted his teeth. 

"You think I'm just gonna fucking let what you just did go?!" The explosive teen bellowed. "Why the fuck did you do that?!". 

"Do what? What are you talking about?". Taiya was confused. What he he done this time? 

"Throwing the match, you fucking idiot." Bakugou all but growled. 

"Oh, is that it?" The actor laughed and started walking away again. Bakugou grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled him backwards forcefully. 

"Hey asshole get off of me-" "Answer my questions, pretty boy. Why'd you throw the match?". 

Realization dawned on Taiya. "Why are you even asking that?" He replied simply, moving away from Bakugou. 

His classmates responded by grabbing him again, this time by the shoulder, and slamming him into the wall. 

Bakugou practically punched the wall right next to Taiya and left his hand there, smoking from his quirk. "Answer me fucker." He gritted out. "You talk so much shit, and then you go and loose to four eyes. What's your fucking plan? What are you trying to do?!". 

"Nothing." Taiya lied, sounding as convincing as if that was truth. "I just...lost.". 

"Like I believe that from you, you vain bastard." Bakugou spat. The actor tried not to recoil. They were right up against each other now. The blond didn't really have the ability to tower over Taiya, he was shorter, but his build allowed him to cage him in at least a little bit. 

"Answer me. What the fuck happened to your ambition? Don't you wanna be the best or did you just get lazy?!". 

Their eyes locked and Taiya did his best to look disaffected. This, like most interactions with Bakugou, would end in them shouting at each other. 

"This has nothing to do with you. Get off my dick, Bakugou." He replied, shoving the boy away with a little too much strength. 

Bakugou looked outraged. "Hey, don't ignore me extra!" He shouted. 

Taiya turned around and smirked. "Like anyone would ever think I was an extra." He laughed, before sauntering away. 

Surprisingly Bakugou didn't follow him, and some pushing and shoving was the full extent of their physical altercation. Taiya fully expected that this would eventually happen again. 

Next time though, he hoped it would be socially acceptable to just bite the fucker's head off. 

He didn't understand what that was even about. Why was Bakugou so upset to have one easier opponent? It didn't make sense. 

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'He's going to throw the match, Zashi' 

Those were the words Aizawa first said when he noticed Tachibana suddenly go slightly limper. When both his stance and attacks got lazy. 

And he had been right. He'd had a clear view of the fight from the monitors in the announcer's booth and he watched as Tachibana mouthed the words 'hit me', like he was choreographing the fight. 

It had worked, and the crowd fully believed Iida just won. Aizawa wasn't happy with that. He wasn't happy with that at all. 

So when Tachibana returned, he told him to head back to the hallway. The student turned around quickly and waited patiently, not looking that worried about whatever confrontation was about to occur. 

The teacher followed him and gestured for him to sit down on a bench across the small space. They both took their seats and Aizawa placed a bag down in the boy's lap. "Eat." He ordered. 

"Pardon?" Tachibana said, clearly confused. 

"You said you would eat after your match." Aizawa explained, "Eat now.". The student laughed a little, as if in disbelief. 

He opened the bag and observed the contents of the lunch U.A provided to every student. Aizawa waited patiently for him to pick something and begin eating so he could move on to the next part of their conversation. 

Tachibana chose the apple. An alright place to start, Aizawa supposed. 

"Why'd you throw the match?". 

The student didn't even flinch, just chewed his singular bite of apple and stared at his teacher. "You're not going to shout at me, are you?" He asked, half joking. 

"That would be highly illogical. Why would I shout at you?" Aizawa asked, confused. 

"You wouldn't. I just already got the shouting thing from Bakugou, wasn't willing to do it again." He laughed. "And I didn't throw the match.". 

"I don't believe that for a second.". He could have sworn he saw Tachibana's eye twitch. "You told Iida to hit you and then you pretended to pass out. Why?". 

"I wasn't pretending." The student pouted. "He really did hit me super hard.". 

"Don't you think its a little unfair?" Aizawa tried instead. "To Iida, because now he's moved on despite knowing it wasn't because he beat you fair and square, and to yourself. You denied yourself a chance to get into one of Japan's top agencies for your internship.".

Okay, maybe his teacher was right. Maybe it was unfair, although only to Iida. 

"I don't want attention." He replied simply, essentially confirming that he threw the match. "They wouldn't just let me step down, so I did what I had to.". 

"You're selling yourself short, kid. Overlooking the attitude problem-" Aizawa continued even after he got a quick 'what attitude problem?' from his student, "you have a lot of potential. Your quirk is good, you've got a good head on your shoulders. It could all work out for you. But you lack the motivation.". 

'Why would I need motivation for hero work?' Taiya wondered to himself. 

"I guess I just have a lot going on." He lied. 

"Dedication is paramount in this career. You need to know that this is what you want to dedicate your life to.". 

"Do you normally ask 15 year old what they want to dedicate their lives to?" Taiya asked in a shocking moment of honesty. Then he mumbled "Never mind they asked me at four." as an afterthought. 

"Could you repeat that last bit?" Aizawa asked. 

"Its not important." Taiya said with a smile. There was a beat of silence before the crowd started cheering again. "Can I go see the match?" He asked, widening his eyes just enough to see eager. 

Aizawa nodded and Tachibana got up. 

Yeah, he had totally heard the last bit. He didn't know exactly what it meant in this context, and he sincerely 

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Woo another chapter 😊

I love getting to actually include Taiya's really personality. Its way more fun that way. He's the definition of 'my depression is chronic but this ass is iconic', you know? 

Also getting to call a chapter 'off vibes' is so much more fun. I don't have to spend too much time thinking about what best describes the chapter I can just sit there and go 'oh yeah that makes sense'. 

Does it make sense to other people? No fucking clue, but hey its fun. 

So you know, stay tuned. Lots more fun stuff going on in this fic soon 👌