Bakugo went around his room trying to find ways to, although begrudgingly, accommodate his new roommate. He cleared out the bottom two drawers of his dresser, leaving himself the top two. He then went to his closet and shoved boxes of this and that onto the top shelf and forced his hanging clothes to the left side, separating his clothes with a white hanger, indicating that everything on black hangers was his and left Midoriya the white hangers and the remaining closet space.

He pulled out the futon roll from the bottom of his closet that he had often allowed Kirishima to use when he decided to sleep over, and unrolled it onto the floor next to his bed. He grabbed an extra pillow and blanket and dumped them in a heap on the futon. He looked around seeing if there was anything else he should do and noticed Midoriya was still standing at the door, his eyes planted on the carpeted floor. He groaned and raked his hand through his hair.

He pointed to his dresser, "Bottom two are yours." And then pointed to his closet, "Right side is yours. Use the white hangers." With that said he pulled out his phone and gracelessly flopped onto his bed. He used his remote to turn on the TV to some adult cartoons to fill the uncomfortable silence in the room. He scrolled to his contacts on his phone and clicked on Kiri and typed out his message.

[What're you and IcyHot up to tonight?]

Midoriya shifted awkwardly in the doorway and made his way to the dresser. He hesitantly opened the third drawer and deposited his underwear, socks and pajama pants. He closed that drawer and opened the fourth, bottommost drawer, and put his regular pants in there. He then picked out the white hangers that were mixed in with the black, and hung up what little shirts he owned with the white hangers as instructed. He pushed his clothes as far to the right as possible, not wanting to get in Bakugo's way.

All that was left was his school supplies and toiletries, but he left those in his dufflebag and tossed it to the closet floor. He eyes roamed the room, taking in his surroundings. He first noticed the 20 or so inch TV in the corner, placed specifically so that one could see the screen at almost every angle of the room. Beneath it, on the entertainment stand, was a game console and a few game cases scattered about. On top of the dresser was a few action figures and awards.

Next was the small, 4-ish foot tall bookshelf next to the blonde's bed. Midoriya couldn't see too well from where he was standing but he could tell there were mostly books about martial arts, hero autobiographies and manga. And then there was the bed that was red and black themed. The pillows and comforter were black with a few thin lines of red going along them, and the sheet appeared to be solid red. And to the greenettes surprise, a single AllMight poster above the bed.

'He really admires AllMight, huh?..' He remembered a bit fondly of the two bonding over such things as children. But things were different now. Breaking out of his stupor, he realized just how tired he was. He kicked off his shoes and left them by his dufflebag at the bottom of the closet and slowly made his way to the futon the blonde had laid out for him. The pillow and blanket were a dark blue. He moved them around and made himself comfortable and laid down, facing away from Bakugo.

Green eyes gazed at the TV, watching the animated characters make semi-offensive jokes in poor taste. This was definitely Bakugo's sense of humor. His eyes slowly closed and ears tuned out the background noise until his mind finally gave in and welcomed the darkness.

Bakugo's attention was ripped away from the TV to his phone vibrating. He unlocked the device to see Kirishima's reply.

[We're settled in now so probably nothing. Why?]

Bakugo's fingers were quick.

[Come over then.]

[Todoroki is down, what time?]

[After dinner.]

The blonde didn't receive a reply after that but knew that Kirishima would be here. He never turned down a chance to hang out. Bakugo wasn't too thrilled with hanging out with half n half though. He tossed his phone to the side, his attention back on the TV. One of his favorite shows, NorthPark, was on. He loved the show's edgy, satire sense of humor.

His phone vibrated again and just looked at the notifications on his lock screen, not wanting to bother unlocking the damn thing. It was a text from his mom.

[Be nice to Midori-chan or I'll break your legs]

He was confused at first but then realized that the school probably contacted the student's parents over their 'lockdown'? 'Surveillance'? 'Buddy system'? Whatever the fuck the teachers wanted to call it. Crimson eyes scanned the quiet form near his feet and only then noticed that the greenette must of fallen asleep. Thanking whatever stars that had blessed him, yet again, with an opportunity to ignore the nerd, he continued watching his shows for a few hours.

When the time for dinner came around it was currently 4:15pm. Dinner was served daily from 4:30pm to 5pm if students wanted the prepared food from the school chef, down in the cafeteria. Otherwise students could come and go as they pleased in the communal kitchen. Bakugo looked to the still sleeping figure wondering if he should wake the boy. Bakugo didn't care much for the school's food and usually chose to make his own, but there was no way in hell he'd cook for the greenette.

"Oi." He voiced, nudging Midoriya with his foot. "If ya want dinner ya better wake up." A few minutes had passed and Midoriya still didn't stir, and so the blonde used a bit more force, kicking the other boy's back lightly.

"Oi! I said wake up!"

"...nn..." Came a soft groan and Bakugo stopped his menstruations.

Midoriya rose from the futon groggily and rubbed at his blurry eyes, trying to get rid of the remnants of sleep and the eye crust that came along with it. He turned his head to see Bakugo staring down at him and he looked away from that predatory gaze. He didn't like to admit it but sometimes the blonde's eyes made him uncomfortable. They were like a tiger's eyes, intimidating and unrelenting. Like they'd swallow you whole if you looked at them long enough.

"..Sorry, I fell asleep.."

"Ya want food or what?" Bakugo cut to the chase.

"H-huh?"

Bakugo pointed to the clock on his bedside bookshelf that showed that it was 4:21pm.

"Oh.." Midoriya understood the implication of his words. Bakugo was wanting to know if he had to take him to the cafeteria to eat. "Not really..do you? I can go with if you want."

'He didn't eat lunch and now he's skipping dinner? Better not bitch at me later to go down to get food.' Bakugo hopped to his feet, sliding on his indoor sandles.

"C'mon, I'm hungry."

Midoriya scurried to his feet, slipping on his sandles and almost tripping from getting up too fast. He followed Bakugo out and walked behind him the whole way down from the elevator to the first floor. There was a lot of chatter the moment the doors opened but it soon died down once he stepped off to see some students from other classes looking in his direction. Ignoring them, he trailed behind Bakugo to the kitchen.

The communal kitchen had two refrigerators, two stoves, two dishwashers, a sink, some cupboards that supplied dishes and tupperware, drawers that held silverware, and a large marble topped counter/bar that had 4 stools underneath it. Directly across from the kitchen was a large livingroom that the students referred to as "the commons". The livingroom had a three seat couch, a sectional couch, a couple recliners, a beanbag chair, a glass coffee table, and a wall mounted 40 inch TV. They would be lying if they said they weren't well off at their school. The faculty provided what they needed and then some.

Bakugo pulled out a skillet from one of the bottom cupboards and placed it on the bottom left burner of one of the stoves. The school provided various foods in the fridges and pantry for the children but some things the blonde purchased for himself.

He pulled out the chicken breast that he had moved to the fridge this morning to thaw, reduced sodium soy sauce, hoisin sauce, a few stalks of green onion, two red chili's, two cloves of garlic and an egg. He splayed the ingredients out on the counter and moved to the pantry to grab the container of flour, corn starch, red pepper flakes, sesame seeds, and the box of instant white rice. He deposited the remaining ingredients on the counter and poured enough oil into the skillet to fill it halfway and turned the heat on high.

He grabbed one of the cutting boards hanging above the stove and a chef's knife from the cutting block and turned back to the counter. Midoriya watched in fascination as Bakugo minced the garlic and thinly sliced the green onion while maintaining it's ring shape. In a bowl that was set to the side, the blonde eyeballed the amounts of ingredients and poured in the soy sauce and hoisin sauce, then mixed into the same consistency with his chopsticks. He then added the garlic and the julienned cut red chilis that Midoriya didn't notice him cutting, and the dried, red chili flakes.

Bakugo let the wet mixture sit while he chopped the chicken breast into bite sized pieces. He dumped some flour onto a plate, and whisked the egg in a separate bowl. From there he breaded the pieces of chicken and tested the oil before attempting to fry them.

With the oil ready, he put in a few pieces of chicken at a time, frying them to his preferred crispness before removing them to a new plate that was lined with a paper towel to absorb the excess oil. He repeated the steps until all the chicken was fried. Removing that skillet from the heat, he pulled out another, smaller skillet and poured the sauce mixure into the pan and put it on the same burner, keeping the heat on high.

The heavenly smells that wafted through the room made everyone salivate. Midoriya had been having trouble keeping down food for a while but even he longed to taste whatever dish Bakugo was creating.

"Can I have some Baku-Bro? Pleeeeease?" Kaminari appeared out of nowhere with Tokoyami in tow. The electricity user leaned over the bar, sniffing at whatever smelled so delicious.

"Cram it car battery, I'm not sharing." Something about cooking was therapeutic to the ashen blonde, he found it hard to get angry while cooking.

He made sure the chilis and and garlic was fully cooked before adding about a 1/4 teaspoon of cornstarch into sauce, mixing quickly and thoroughly with his chopsticks, not letting it get the chance to clump up. The sauce began to slowly thicken and the sauce became a lighter, honey brown due to the corn starch.

When the sauce became thick enough to coat the chopsticks in it's stickiness, he added the fried chicken, turned off the burner and moved the skillet to the lower right burner so that he could thoroughly coat the bits of chicken without burning the sauce. He then dusted the top with sesame seeds and chopped green onion. During this process he had already cooked the rice and plated some and dumped the delicious chicken on top.

Happy with himself and the food's presentation, he finally sat down to eat. General Tso Chicken was one of his favorites but rarely got the chance to spoil himself with delicious food while living at the dormitory. He really needed it after today. He ignored the glorified Pikachu's pleas and took his first bite and he was in heaven.

He was halfway through his plate when be noticed a gurgling sound and turned his attention to the direction of the noise. Midoriya sat hunched over the bar, elbow on the counter top with a his hand propping his head up while also covering his mouth, with his other arm wrapped around his stomach. The growling started up again but louder this time. Green eyes met red and the greenette looked away in embarrassment.

"This is why I asked if you wanted food shitnerd." Bakugo commented in annoyance.

"..Sorry.."

'Why does he always apologize?! Every fuckin word outta his mouth is "sorry". So fuckin annoying.' He rolled his eyes and sat in contemplation for a moment.

"Fuck it." He muttered and slid the plate of remaining food over to the other boy, who yelped when the plate collided with his arm.

"Wha-"

"Just eat it."

"B-but.."

Bakugo slammed his hand on the table, "I said. Eat. It."

A few moments passed before Midoriya picked up the chopsticks and took a hesitant bite. His eyes grew wide and he relished in the spicy but savory flavor. He couldn't hold back the tears that came to his eyes.

"T-Thank you." His voice shook. He didn't know why he was crying and felt like an idiot, but he couldn't help it. It felt good to let out the tears he's held in for so long. He couldn't understand why or how Bakugo's cooking brought this reaction out of him but all he knew is that it made him feel warm inside, a stark difference from how he had been feeling these past few months.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever ner-"

'...The fuck..?' The blonde internally panicked at the sight of the tears streaming down freckled cheeks. 'Crying? He's really crying? Over food? Why the fuck is he crying?!'

Midoriya inhaled the rest of the food and wiped his eyes of the remaining tears, finally calming down from whatever it was that riled him up. He looked sheepishly at Bakugo, who was still staring at him and blushed.

'Ughhhh, I can't believe I just did that...' The greenette internally groaned. 'This is so embarrassing...'

"It was delicious.." Green eyes met Bakugo's. "Thank you." Midoriya gave the first genuine smile he had given in weeks and it made his still teary eyes sparkle.

Bakugo's heart skipped a beat and he looked away flustered, muttering a, "Better be grateful you damn nerd" under his breath.

The boys returned to their room and not long after Kirishima and Todoroki showed up to visit. Midoriya sat on the sidelines, absorbed in his own thoughts while the other three argued about manliness. Midoriya's thoughts had taken a turn since dinner and he found it increasingly hard to be around people, but it wasn't as if he could leave either due to the lockdown. He was trapped physically and mentally.

The dark nature of his thoughts continued to terrify him, as they have only been getting worse over time. His mind even began to entertain the thought of harming himself. A part of him found this entirely unacceptable while another goaded him on, daring him to do it. He wanted to hurt himself, he craved it, he deserved it, he wanted it.

He craved ripping open his own flesh and allowing the filthiness inside him to spill free, freeing him of whatever convinced him that made him so dirty. But how would he do it? He fantasized about stealing one of Kirishima's razors, breaking it apart in order to get to that thin blade that could lead him towards salvation. He had also considered scissors, even the bent open aluminum tabs of soda cans.

His descent into madness started with denying himself food, which turned into agonizing hunger pangs and then turned into deep intestinal pain and nausea when he actually decided to eat. Then came the insomnia paired with the nightmares that plagued his dreams every other night.

Villains would come to him in his dreams, even his friends, family and mentors. They would tell him that he was unworthy. That he should give up on being a hero. On life. They would encourage him with manipulative words to take that final plunge and effectively ridding this world of the stain that he was upon it. He even remembered the occasions that his bullies, and even Kacchan telling him to go jump of a building or bridge.

He grew antsy sitting off to the side as his friends made casual conversation while he drove himself mad, with none the wiser. What would they think if they knew what went through his head as he sat right next to them? Would they be concerned? Sad? No. They would probably feel disappointed. They would look upon him with disgust. He was a parasite after all. And parasites needed to be eradicated.

Midoriya never noticed that he had been biting his nails from anxiety and had begun drawing blood from trimming the nail bed too short. He stopped once he felt the blood start to dribble down before his peers could see the pitiful display. He nearly jumped out of his skin when Todoroki called out his name.

'H-he didn't notice did he..?'

"Y-yes?"

"We were wanting to know if you wanted to come with us to the bathhouse?" Cerulean eyes bore into him.

"Sure!" He plastered on the best smile he could.

They all rose and Bakugo grabbed his shower basket from atop of the closet and looked to Midoriya expectantly. The greenette gave a little yelp and grabbed some clothes and toiletries as fast as he could, not wanting to waste their time further.

"We need to stop by our room but we can meet you there if you want?" Kirishima said to Bakugo and the blonde nodded with a grunt.

"C'mon nerd, we don't got all night." Bakugo led the way and the greenette followed in their usual fashion. Green eyes kept to the floor while they weaved their way through the halls to get to their destination. The second floor of the building was home to the boy's dormitory and bathhouse and the third floor belonged to the girls.

The entrance to the bathhouse almost resembled a steam room. It had lockers that you could lock with a key, as well as a large shelf of bath supplies and towels if needed. Moving to the lockers, the boys began to strip themselves of their clothes, wrapping their towels around their waists tightly before relieving themselves of their underwear. Afterwards they went to the shower room, built with eight shower stalls to wash themselves before deciding to get into the open baths.

Midoriya turned the water on the hottest setting, seething a bit as the steamy liquid left red splotches on his skin. He spent a good five minutes lathering and scrubbing at his hair.

"I'll be in the bath." Bakugo's voice echoed off the tiles, startling the freckled boy, causing him to get soap in his eyes.

"O-Okay." He rinsed his hair quickly and gave a quick scrub to the rest of his body with a luffa, washing off the rest of the suds after. The faucets released a whiny squeak when turned off and he stepped out. By this time Kirishima and Todoroki had arrived, taking over a couple available stalls.

He left the shower room and turned the corner and entered the bathhouse. His eyes scanned the steamy room for his companion and set sights on the lone figure on the far left side of the room. He didn't know where he should sit and found it weird to go sit directly next to the blonde and so he settled near the back end, in the middle so that he wasn't too close nor far.

He sunk down into the near boiling yet relaxing water and gazed at his companion. Bakugo was laying back, with both arms spread out on the sides of the bath with a rag over his eyes. He heard footsteps approaching and tore his eyes away before he could study more of the blonde's appearance. Frankly, he was jealous of how well built Bakugo's body was. He wasn't much taller than Midoriya but his body mass was on a different level.

'I should train more' He thought and pinched at the little stomach flab he had.

All of a sudden, Kirishima cannon balled into the large bath, swallowing up Bakugo and Midoriya with a large splash of water. In the matter of seconds the blonde was on the red head, threatening death in his usual fashion. Todoroki sat on the ledge of the entrance of the bath, just letting the skin below his knees and down to his feet soak in the water.

'I wonder if fire or ice types don't like baths..' Midoriya thought. It wasn't uncommon for those with certain affinities to avoid situations that may inhibit them from using their quirks. One example was that Bakugo avoided going swimming unless he really wanted to because he relied on his flammable sweat to allow him to ignite his explosions.

After about 20 minutes had passed and they were all pruney, the boys all got dressed and returned to their respective dorms. Midoriya put his belongings back into his duffle bag and turned around, nearly having a heart attack to see the blonde standing directly behind him, staring him down. A tense silence filled the room.

"Umm...Do..you need something Kacchan?"

He got no reply, just a continued, hard stare. Anxiety starting to fill him, he walked past Bakugo only to have him yanked back by his shoulder and flung against the wall.

"W-what? D-Did I do something wrong?" Tonight seemed to be going smoothly, what could possibly be the problem?!

"What are you planning?" Bakugo's voice was rough, likely from yelling at Kirishima in the bath.

Midoriya was at a loss for words. "W-What do you mean?" He received another shove back into the wall.

"You're too quiet." Red eyes glared daggers into him. "It's not like you."

With an exasperated sigh and a pinch to the brige of his nose, the freckled boy tried to keep his nerves from overtaking him. He really didn't need this right now. "I'm not planning anything, I'm just tired."

"Bullshit!"

"My life's sole purpose isn't to have my head planted up your ass! I'm not planning anything, I haven't been bothering you! What's your issue?!" Bakugo was taken aback by the snarky comment. His eyebrows rose in surprise but found their way back into a scowl. 'How dare he speak to me like that! He's just a weak nerd!'

"My issue? My issue is that you've always been a pain in my ass!" Bakugo stalked forward, making the greenette press back into the wall. "You're always following me, stalking me, writing about me in those damn notes of yours!" He shoved a finger to the other boys chest. "What are you plotting against me?!"

"You've been so quiet lately! You've been ignoring everyone! It's creepy as fuck man!"

"WELL?!"

"I've been researching stuff to help you, okay?" Midoriya felt like he was on fire, his anxiety peaking. He felt overly sensitive and numb at the same time, he couldn't take it. He fought back the tears of frustration that threatened to fall. Things were going so well up until now. It hadn't even been a day since they were paired together! It was foolish for Aizawa to pair them together in the first place.

"I don't need your damn help! Do you think I'd stoop so low as to accept help from you of all people?" He waved his arms around frantically, "Really??"

"I-I was just trying to be a good friend! If you don't want my help then I'll stop!" Midoriya had been researching ways to help Bakugo's explosions take less of a toll on his body with the help of Hatsume. They were researching how the could help regulate and maximize the use of his quirk, while also shielding the blonde's body from the physical recoil and blast damage of his explosions.

Midoriya even requested that she look into making eye shields that wouldn't get in the way of Bakugo's vision while also helping prevent flash damage and potential flash attacks(*) in the future. He even asked her to develop special hearing equipment that would help prevent or lessen the severity of hearing issues in the future, as Bakugo's quirk would likely cause hearing damage later in his life. He even went as far as to teach himself sign language if Bakugo ever came to need to communicate by it if he ever lost his hearing! Midoriya was doing this out of concern for the blonde's wellbeing and future as a hero!

"Friend?" The blonde slammed his hands against the wall, an arm on both sides of Midoriya's head, pinning the smaller boy to the wall. "You're still on that?" He let out a growl.

"How many times do I have to beat it into that thick skull of yours? I. am. not. your friend. I don't even see you as a rival." Midoriya's eyes widened and his tears threatened to fall. His throat spasmed, trying to hold back.

"The sight of you disgusts me. You are so weak that you had to borrow someone else's power!" He punches the wall on the right side of Midoriya's head and his quirk let out a low sizzling sound. "You get these ideas in your head that you are on equal terms with the rest of us when you're not! You're not even on our radar!" Bakugo's eyes were like flames, burning into Midoriya's own, but the greenette couldn't rip his away.

"Let's get this straight once and for all." His hands began to fizzle, letting out a little smoke. "I am not, and would never be, friends with the likes of you." His voice was low, almost feral.

"You're weak!" Bakugo's hands let out explosions on each side of Midoriya's head to further express his point. Midoriya's tears fell, unable to hold them back anymore, and be knawed on his bottom lip so hard that it began to bleed.

"Insignificant!" Another, larger explosion. The ends of Midoriya's hair were singed, bits of the skin on his neck and ears were scorched. Midoriya's ears began to ring, his vision blurred.

"Disgusting." The roar ripped itself from the blonde's throat almost desperately, as if Bakugo were even trying to convince himself that the words he spoke were true, followed by an even bigger, louder explosion. And those were the last words that Midoriya heard.

The ringing in Midoriya's ears was excruciating, getting higher and higher in pitch, near driving him mad before they stopped altogether. Bakugo huffed, trying to catch his breath from the outburst and excessive use of his quirk, staring into the other boy's eyes, daring the greenette to speak up.

All Midoriya could do was cry, staring back into those swirling pools of crimson. A few moments passed and neither had yet to move. Midoriya began to hyperventilate, clawing at his chest and pulling at his hair. Bakugo watched on dumbstruck unsure how to react to the pathetic display.

Midoriya covered his ears, begging not to listen to anymore words when he felt the other start shaking him by the shoulders with a still angry expression. He pulled his hands away from his ears in order to push the blonde away but stopped when he noticed something. There was blood on his hands. He frantically searched his hands and arms for any sight of wounds and then brought his hands back to his hair, face and ears, until he touched something wet coming out of his ears.

He stared down at his hands in horror and then realized something else. He couldn't hear. He watched on in horror at Bakugo's frantic expression.

"C'mon Deku, say something!"

Midoriya opened his mouth to speak but couldn't bring himself to let the words out.

"Midoriya!" The blonde shook at his shoulders.

"K-Kacchan..." Tears flowed anew from jade eyes. "I c-can't hear y-you." The anxiety became too much. He couldn't hear. He couldn't breathe. He opened his mouth but no words came out, only wheezes.

"Shit, Deku." Bakugo kept shaking at Midoriya, losing himself, unsure of what to do. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"

Midoriya couldn't take it anymore.

He screamed.

Author's Note:

Flash attacks(*) - Flash attacks are common in those who work around extremely bright flashes of light or fire. It is extremely common in the welding profession, for instance. Flash attacks are attacks of the eyes where the eyes still feel the residual flash light and pangs of pain, moments, hours, or even days later form being exposed to bright light. It can cause eye damage and can even cause impairments or even permanent blindness with excessive exposure to those bright flashes of light.