TW for bullying, violence/injury, panic attacks, swearing

Third POV

Kei gasped for air, his back being slammed harshly into the cement wall. His head hit the wall hard just after, sending his headphones flying to the side and leaving his sensitive ears vulnerable. A chorus of whirring thoughts were accompanied by his ragged breathing, the wind having been knocked out of him by the impact. He struggled to focus his thoughts as he sensed the same hands which had just thrown him, reach for him again menacingly. It had only been a second or two since the initial attack, but Kei could already tell his back was going to be black and blue by the end of the incident- if he got out of it at all.

Admittedly it wasn't too hard to identify the violent figure, spiky hair and the constantly angry aura of Katsuki Bakugo easily recognisable even to a blind kid. What Kei couldn't see, however, was the vivid crimson of his eyes, or the way his teeth ground against each other as he approached. The blonde stepped in front of Kei, who had slid down the wall after the collision, and was now slumped in a heap on the floor, struggling to move or get away, still reeling from the shock. Just as Kei began to push himself up, using the wall for support, the hands found their intended target.

Bakugo grasped Kei's collar with his left hand, hoisting the new student up, high enough that his feet weren't in contact with the ground. Kei couldn't breathe, he couldn't think, and he couldn't respond to the way Bakugo was lifting him as if he was nothing. Too many thoughts and possibilities raced around his mind, his focus on reality was slipping, but he still focussed all his attention on getting through the fog of anxious thoughts, running on adrenaline and putting the thoughts to the back of his mind as quickly as possible. He clenched his fists, preparing to fight back if need be, but still feeling slow and heavy from already overusing his quirk earlier in the day.

Bakugo's pure rage was evident from his facial expressions, and he was close enough for Kei to sense it too. The newer student was tense and scared- but waiting for Bakugo to make his next move.

"Who the fuck do you think you are, damn extra!" Bakugo spat out, shaking his fist and slamming Kei's head into the wall in the process. "You can't just come into MY class and think you're better than the rest of us! Acting damn nervous when you secretly think you're better than the rest of us!" Bakugo's fist had tightened around Kei's collar, and he was slowly pushing his fist into the other boy's neck, making it even harder for Kei to breathe through the situation.

Bakugo was sweating in exertion, probably from trying not to rip the new student to shreds, and his words were more like growling shouts, making Kei flinch with every word, his hearing too sensitive for the louder boy's anger. The flinches coming from his victim only seemed to further enrage Bakugo, who seemed to think that Kei's shy and anxious introduction to the class was a facade for him to break through.

Kei, meanwhile, was clenching his fists to stop his hands shaking, and trying his best to steady his breathing. Bakugo's threats were nothing new, but the direct confrontation was definitely a lot rarer. He could feel his mind being overrun by the anxious thoughts that were so familiar to him, and made the decision not to respond to the Pomeranian-looking boy. Anything he said would further aggravate him, and he couldn't deal with anything more than this.

The blonde was unsatisfied by the silence he got in response, so took the conflict a step further. He pulled his right fist back, and aimed a hard right hook at Kei's cheek, yet again slamming the boy into the wall and inflicting more pain and bruises. Bakugo leant his slightly stinging right hand on the wall, pulling Kei closer with his left hand, growling in his face.

Kei was in utter shock, the silence no longer such an act. His head stung, the back of it ringing and wetness beginning to coat his scalp. His left cheek pulsed with waves of pain, and his nose felt displaced. The dull ache throughout the entirety of his face brought his spiralling thoughts back, at least momentarily, and he felt more wetness drip from his nose, finding its way over his upper lip. He could feel Bakugos breath on his face, and it made him far more uncomfortable than any punch he could have thrown. Kei found himself shrinking down subconsciously, hearing the strained voice of his attacker.

"If you pull a stunt like that again, I swear... I won't be going this easy on you then." He left the undeniable threat hanging for a minute before pulling his face away and exclaiming in his usual rage-filled shout, "I'll fucking kill you myself I swear!". Kei flinched away at the loud noise, his ears already ringing just from the volume of Bakugo's shouting. Unfortunately he couldn't escape from the powerful explosion Bakugo released to punctuate his death threat. The heat from the explosion left the smell of burning in the air, and the sheer volume of the noise nearly made Kei black out.

Mouth agape, Kei could only blankly stare as his only way of getting around without his sight was taken away with one blast. The explosion was so close to his sensitive ears that the ringing in itself was overwhelming. He couldn't feel the left side of his head, and as the numbness receded it was replaced with burning pain. Kei found himself frozen entirely, unable to see what was happening and incapable of hearing anything at all. It was a sensation that Kei had only felt once, when he'd first woken after the incident which took his sight. The sense of utter helplessness which accompanied the sensation was crippling, and Kei barely registered the grip on his collar loosening, and his own plummet to the ground, as his legs gave in under him and he sunk to the floor, curling up.

He was entirely alone.

The anxious thoughts which he'd kept at bay with reminders of the present overran his mind, reminding him of how much of a failure his first day at UA had been, and how he'd already made enemies with one of the strongest students in the school, and how right now he was stuck in an alley, curled up next to a bin, totally unaware to anything that might be happening outside of his roaring mind.

Yet again his breathing sped up, trying to catch up with his thoughts- what happened? Where did Bakugo go? Is he still here? Is he going to hit me again? Where-? When-?

Unbeknownst to Kei, Bakugo had quickly left the alley after letting off the explosion. Although he had meant to let off a loud warning blast, he'd underestimated his anger and sweat, and the blast had been a lot bigger than he'd anticipated. He was sure someone else would have heard it, so left the alley with his hands in his pockets, doing his best to ignore the curled up student on the floor, rocking backwards and forwards and mumbling quietly. He turned back once, just as he left the alley, clicking his tongue as he saw the pitiful mess he'd left behind. There was no way the kid would have the confidence to challenge him again after this. Bakugo had reduced the quiet-yet-powerful student to a shaking mess, and in his eyes had successfully defended his position as soon to be number one hero.

To Kei, the situation was overwhelming in an entirely new way. Not only had he been beaten up on his first day, the ringing in his ears was overpowering. Almost worse than the incessant ringing was the utter silence behind it, pure nothingness. No buzz of electrics or water flowing through pipes or rustling fabric or footsteps or air current- nothing. He could barely even hear his own heartbeat. Kei was drowning in his own misery and helplessness, feeling like his mind was going so fast he might just explode.

Outside of Kei's frantic thoughts, someone had heard Bakugo's screams of anger and the explosion that followed. Shouto Todoroki had been walking out of the UA building late after visiting the support students, and had turned a corner after hearing the shouts in time to see Bakugo leaving a small alley, hands in his pockets, and glancing behind him. Even from a fair distance away, Todoroki could faintly smell the smoke left over from the other student's quirk.

After a moments hesitation, Todoroki headed cautiously towards the alley that Bakugo had left, expecting to find some general studies or support student picking up a burnt book or bag. The sight that greeted him, however, was entirely different- and unexpected. The new student in his class, Kei Takada, was curled up in the floor, his head buried in his arms.

Todoroki paused at the entrance to the shallow alley, wondering if Kei would even want him to intervene, but when the student showed no signs of acknowledging his presence, and continued to lightly rock back and forth, Todoroki stepped forwards. It was only then that he noticed the student was sniffling and possibly crying.

Todoroki had no clue what to do, he'd decided to try and help but he'd never been in this situation before, and it would be cruel to awkwardly walk away now. He stopped for a few seconds, looking down at Kei, pondering his actions.

By this point, it had been a few minutes since the explosion that Bakugo had let off, and although Kei was still stuck in a loop of anxious thoughts, his head was clearing a little, and the ringing in his ears had subsided. He tried to focus on his breathing to calm himself down, and found he could now faintly hear his own heartbeat. He allowed himself to feel momentary relief, realising his hearing was returning slowly.

Todoroki hesitantly slid his backpack down his shoulder, dropping it on the floor. It made a louder noise than he expected when it hit the ground, and he winced slightly.

To Kei, the noise was a lifeline he didn't realise he'd needed. It was quiet, but distinguished enough for Kei to pick out the shifting noise as multiple items moved, and he figured it was a bag of some kind. When he heard the sudden noise, his head had shot up, facing the direction of the sound, his ears keenly listening for more clues. When he realised it was a bag, he made a connection and realised there must be someone there. His heart tightened in his chest and his head ducked back down, tucked into his chest by his knees. Although his heart rate had risen considerably, his ears had seemed to perk up, trying to ignore the ringing and focus on any others sounds. As Todoroki took a nervous step forward, his gentle footstep reassured Kei that it wasn't Bakugo coming back for a second beating. That relief allowed the flood of thoughts to come rushing back, reminding him of the disaster he'd caused. Questions rushed through his mind, who was it? Why were they in school? Is it a teacher? What if it is actually Bakugo? What are they going to do?

--Authors Note--

Finally some proper action! I hope you enjoyed this :) I keep forgetting to update this, so if you notice it's been more than a week since the latest chapter feel free to message me or review and remind me!

Happy pride month! It's officially June so I'm feeling extra gay, unfortunately my local pride parade isn't until late august (I don't know why, probably so that there's as little covid risk as possible) but please feel free to message me about anything lgbtq, I'd happily answer any questions, please know that you are valid and important no matter your gender or sexuality! It took me a while to figure out that I'm queer and nonbinary, and in that time I amassed quite a lot of knowledge about different labels.

Thanks for reading, please review if you liked it :)

Data published: Tuesday 8th June