Midoriya was in hysterics and Bakugo's blood ran cold. The panicked pounding at his door didn't make things any easier.
"What's wrong?! Open the door Bakugo-san!" Ida's voice boomed. "Don't make me use my key(*)!"
Midoriya's screams hadn't died down, the boy currently on his knees on the floor. The the pressure just wouldn't stop building in his head and he screamed, begging for it to stop. A wave of vertigo hit and he stopped his wails to empty the contents of his stomach onto the floor.
"Fuck!" Bakugo dropped to his knees in front of the greenette and tried to pry the little, scarred hands away from the other boy's ears to assess the damage. "C'mon nerd, let me see!" When he successfully moved those hands he had to fight down his own dread. A yellowish liquid, along with what appeared to be blood was draining from Midoriya's ears.
He cupped the freckled boy's face and forced him to meet his eyes. Midoriya looked so broken in that moment and the blonde's mouth went dry. "Talk to me Deku, what are you feeling?"
"I can't hear you." Midoriya's voice cracked, "I can't hear! I can't hear..Ican'thearIcan'thearIcan't-" Bakugo pulled the small body to his own in an awkward embrace, trying to calm the greenette down.
"Calm down! I can't help you with you screaming like an idiot!" Midoriya continued to flail around in his arms.
"You leave me no choice, Bakugo-san!" The sound of the door unlatching was heard before Ida, Kaminari, Kirishima, and Todoroki rushed into the room while other's remained in the hallway. They all froze at the sight that greeted them and Todoroki was the first to react.
The dual wielder ripped Midoriya from Bakugo's embrace, demanding details of what happened. Ida barked orders for someone to retrieve RecoveryGirl and a teacher while trying to make sense of the situation. Kirishima rested a hand on Bakugo's shoulder, "Dude, what happened?!"
Bakugo's mouth opened and closed, gaping like a fish. He didn't know how to explain what had happened and didn't want to admit to his role in it.
"Midoriya, shhh... Come on buddy, calm down. It's okay." Todoroki held Midoriya's head to his chest while he ran his hand through unruly green locks in an attempt to comfort the boy. The greenette could only give garbled cries, his words incoherent.
"He can't hear you.." Bakugo voiced.
"What do you mean he can't hear us?" Ida demanded, even his patience running thin. He needed details, he needed to know how to deal with the situation.
"I don't know! He just started screaming that he couldn't hear and started balling!" Bakugo's voice hitched.
Todoroki used his hands to force Midoriya to look at him. Those green eyes were glassy but still was able to register the dual wielder's presence.
"..T-Todoroki-san..?" Midoriya's throat felt raw. It burned like hellfire from all his wailing. The other boy gazed down at him with a gentleness, a promise of protection and Midoriya's tears sprung anew. He clung to Todoroki and fisted his hands into the boy's shirt, letting out soft wimpers.
Todoroki's instincts kicked in, telling him that he needed to protect the smaller boy from whatever ailed him. He reciprocated the embrace and held the needy boy, whispering sweet words that the other couldn't hear.
"What did you do?" Todoroki's voiced dripped with venom, cerulean eyes showing nothing but malice towards Bakugo.
"I...I" The ashen blonde pulled at his hair with a pained expression on his face. "I don't know what exactly happened."
"You better explain. Now." A new, deep voice echoed throughout the room. Everyone turned their eyes to the doorway to see Aizawa and RecoveryGirl.
Bakugo felt like he was being backed into a wall and felt his chest tighten. There was no way he'd be getting out of this unpunished, be it an accident or not.
"I...I was arguing with that nerd and-" He swallowed, trying to find the right words. "I lost control."
RecoveryGirl walked over to Midoriya and held his face in her small hands. "My poor boy." She kissed his forehead and the action let out a faint glow. She then turned her attention to Bakugo.
"I need to know what exactly happened in order to treat him properly. I can see that his eardrums are ruptured." Everyone is the room looked grim. "Was it blunt force? Or was it your quirk?"
"...quirk.." His deep voice replied inaudibly.
"What?" Aizawa asked in terse exasperation.
"I said my quirk!" The blonde's voice boomed in anger. Why the fuck were they all looking at him like a monster?! He was tired of everyone always treating him like a villain in the making! "The nerd was acting suspicious and so I questioned him! So what?! He wouldn't give me an answer and I lost control and used my quirk! He's just as in fault here as me for not answering my damn questions!"
Aizawa gave a loud sigh while pinching the bridge of his nose. "We'll talk about this later. For now-" He looked to Kirishima and Todoroki, "Bakugo will be your responsibility while Midoriya is in the infirmary. And you-" He pointed at the blonde in question. "You will be interrogated tomorrow when Midoriya is in his right mind."
And with that said, Aizawa picked up the now unconscious greenette and left along with RecoveryGirl. The rest of the spectators returned to their dorms as well, leaving the blonde, Kirishima and Todoroki alone.
"Dude...What happened? You guys seemed fine up until we left?" Kirishima tried to pry answers from his best friend to no avail.
"I don't wanna talk about it! Your dumbass will find out tomorrow anyways so lay off!" The redhead was hurt by that comment but he kept quiet. Nothing would be solved with bickering. He rose to his feet and smoothed out the wrinkles in his pajama pants.
"Pack some clothes. You'll be staying with us in my room until things blow over."
"Haaah?!"
"Just shut up and do it. I want to sleep." Todoroki cut in. He crossed his arms and leaned against the doorway. Bakugo 'tch-ed' but did as he was sold for once and followed them to their room.
The memory of Midoriya smiling sweetly from today's dinner, morphing into the freckled boy screaming in agony, was the last thought that ran through his mind as he drifted into sleep. It made his heart ache.
Midoriya was delirious when he awoke the next morning. RecoveryGirl and other members of the UA faculty had tried to get information out of him but he refused to speak. He could only break down in tears every time he was forced to relive last night's traumatic event.
The teachers had tried to coax him to speak with treats and promises that he wouldn't be in trouble. They had his classmates come to him and beg him to relay to them what had happened. They even went so far as to have his mother and AllMight try to pry the words from him. It was overwhelming.
"Please, sweetie." His mother cried, holding his scarred hand to her cheek. "Please.."
AllMight was torn. He didn't want to have to result to disciplinary action in order to get his apprentice to speak. He tapped Midoriya on the shoulder and handed him a notepad and pen. He had written a message on it saying, 'If you can't speak, would you be willing to write it down? Please, we need to know what happened or else Bakugo will receive harsh punishment unless you talk.'
It left a sour taste in his mouth to manipulate the already traumatized child into talking. He was sure there were other ways, but the principal had decided that if Midoriya wouldn't speak that they had to take appropriate action based off suspicion, as Bakugo refused to talk as well. It was obvious the blonde was as fault based off of what Aizawa had said.
Midoriya's eyes widened as he read the note. He scrunched his eyes closed and bit his lip hard. He didn't want to defend what Bakugo did, but he didn't want him to get into serious repercussions either. He knew what the blonde did was awful and inexcusable, but he couldn't bring himself to allow anything bad to happen to Bakugo either. And with a shakey sigh, he wrote down what happened.
His mother was livid. She demanded to speak with Bakugo but Midoriya begged for her to leave things be. He just wanted to focus on recovery and whether he still had a chance at being a hero due to his injury.
"I just want to move on..What's done is done.."
His mother quickly wrote, 'He needs to be punished! You don't want him to get away with what he did, do you?'
"I know he's at fault but I don't want this to become a problem.."
'It's already a problem! He hurt you! He needs to be expelled!'
"Just butt out of it! You don't know anything!" He yelled, effectively silencing everyone in the room. "Just..leave it. Just respect that I don't want to pursue anything legally. Just leave him be."
"Fine." His mother huffed and stormed out of the room, slamming the door on her way out.
AllMight sat on the edge of the bed and patted the boy's shoulder. He understood the boy's mother's anger but he also understood why Midoriya didn't want to pursue the issue. He didn't agree on letting Bakugo walk away scott free, however. He would think of an adequate punishment without jeopardizing his career. He looked Midoriya in the eyes snd mouthed the words, "Are you sure?" to which Midoriya nodded in reply. The decision was final.
"Okay." AllMight gave a gentle smile before going to relay the news to the principal.
"We've brought you here today to talk about Midoriya-san." Principal Nezu's voice was devoid of any emotion, making him hard to read. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
Bakugo shifted anxiously in his chair, sitting up properly. He felt bad about what he did, really. He wracked his mind for hours, going over every detail and couldn't understand why he did what he did. "I feel bad. I didn't mean to hurt him"
"But that doesn't excuse the fact that you did." Nezu gave an equally emotionless stare in contrast to his voice, continuing to unnerve the boy. "But Midoriya-san says that he doesn't want to see you severely punished. As much as we don't agree with that statement, we respect that it's his choice whether or not he wants to press charges." The blonde perked up at this.
Nezu turned his office chair around to stare outside the window for a moment, contemplating the right course of action. He still had a school to uphold and had a responsibility to all his students to do the right thing for the well-being of everyone. "However..it's not as though we'll let you off with a slap of the wrist either."
He turned back around to slam his fist on the desk, making Bakugo jump in his chair. "We have already discussed with Midoriya-san about the two options we are about to offer you and he has consented to both." Nezu gets up and walks around his desk to stand in front of the blonde, and leans back against the large piece of furniture.
"You can either, one" He holds up a small finger, "Withdraw and unenroll peacefully from this school." Bakugo's heart drops and Nezu holds up a second finger. "Or...You will be responsible for Midoriya-san until he fully recovers, in whatever capacity that may be. But if you are to harm him again, you will be expelled and will be blacklisted from applying for any hero licensing for the next five years."
He turns his back to the blonde once again, "The choice is yours, Bakugo-san. You can choose to resign right now with no repercussions. Or you can try to redeem yourself by taking responsibility for your actions. What will you choose?"
The air in the room was so thick that it could be cut with a knife. Only the sound of the clock ticking was any indication that time was actually passing, as Bakugo was frozen in place. His mind was reeling. A part of him wanted to say fuck this and walk out, and just apply for an apprenticeship at another hero agency, but the other part couldn't stand the thought of people villianizing him over his actions, even though he did deserve it..
"I'll take responsibility. Just tell me what I need to do."
Bakugo sat on Kirishima's bed while the redhead and Todoroki were playing a zombie rpg. He was reviewing the thick, book-like pamphlet that the principal had given him. He would be returning to his room with Midoriya tomorrow when the greenette was discharged from the school infirmary.
'1) Katsuki Bakugo is to attend Anger Management Therapy with school therapist, Miyazaki Honda, twice a week. Mondays at 3:30pm and Fridays at 4pm in the Guidance Counselor's room.
2) Katsuki Bakugo is to participate in Izuku Midoriya's physical therapy appointments.
3) Katsuki Bakugo is to help Izuku Midoriya with any of his needs if requested.
4) Katsuki Bakugo is not to bully or harm Izuku Midoriya. ANY violations will lead to termination of enrollment.'
The list just went on and on. 'This is going to be hard as fuck. How am I supposed to do half of this shit? And why the fuck do I need to see a therapist?' He mentally groans. He tosses the pamphlet onto Kirishima's bedside table, ignoring it for now. His main concern is how he'd be able to face the nerd after what happened.
'No point in worrying about something that can wait until tomorrow.'
Author's Note:
"Don't make me use my key(*)!"- Since Ida is the class president, he was elected as the 'dorm leader' as well, and was given a key card that gives him access to all rooms in the case of emergency for both the boy's and girl's dorms. Some restrictions apply, and the school's security system logs each time that this card is used to make sure that it isn't being used unjustly.
@rundenlondon: Thank you for your review. I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far. I prefer darker stories and the mental development side of things. I'm not very good at writing and struggle with making things sound less robotic, but I hope that I will get better the more I write. I hope you will enjoy where this story goes :)