Content Warning: Self injurious behaviors (cutting), Nightmares with graphic descriptions, Mentions of disordered eating
Everything should be alright. Midoriya insisted to himself. Kacchan is back. He's just upset. I can't do this again. The teen thought.
Thoughts or not, he had to take his mind off of the nightmares and the only escape he found was through his skin: small cuts with a pencil sharpener. He disassembled it a week ago and had been making marks across his body since then. It was hard to begin, but he fell into it so easily. Now it was practically an addiction. From his thighs to his hips, and on parts of his pelvis and wrists- Deku cut. Never deep enough to split the skin down to the lower layers, but absolutely enough to make the parted skin weep tears of blood.
"I need to stop." He said, aloud, placing the edged metal in the top drawer of his desk and backing away, pressing on the cotton sock that he used to stop bleeding on his wrist. A knock sounded on the door.
"Breakfast!" Came a cheery voice. Uraraka.
Now that Katsuki was back, Izuku SHOULD be allowing himself to eat. He figured that he would try.
"Coming!" Midoriya returned, lacing up his shoes, after shoving his feet into them.
He fell into step with Ochaco and they talked as they took the stairs down the dorms and out to the dining hall. It was a Tuesday and they would be late for class if they didn't hurry. As they walked, they could hear Bakugo trying to keep his cool on the phone with his mother, behind them.
Some fellow highschoolers stopped to look at him.
"I wish they'd stop doing that." Uraraka whispered.
"Yeah." Midoriya agreed, balling up his fists. He was mad.
Even if Kacchan was a dick, they'd known each other for so long and at this point, they were going to end up at the top of the hero charts in a few years time. They might as well learn to get along.
Bakugo walked alone. He liked it better that way.
An invasive memory haunted him that morning and he rubbed his wrists to ensure that they were not bondaged. He shivered and tried to mentally shake it off. UGH. He'd be fine. He was safe... for now at least. The worst part of being kidnapped isn't the captivity- Katsuki decided. It was the way people LOOKED at him. Yes. He had reached his decision. He wished that he could just run away.
Bakugo got another call from his mother that morning. She explained that she and his father loved him very much and that he could ALWAYS come home if push-came-to-shove. That upset Katsuki. He was FINE. Everyone ELSE was fucked. But him? Right as rain.
The worst part of being kidnapped and surviving is the "looks". And Bakugo was tired of the "looks" he was getting in the cafeteria that morning.
"Hey hey man, wassup?" Denki asked Katsuki, as he sat down.
"Breakfast, you extra." Bakugo said, plopping down and breaking open his chopsticks. He said a quick prayer under his breath and at that point, Kaminari exchanged looks with Kirishima. Jiro kicked her boyfriend under the table.
"Extra?" Denki scoffed. "I'm your supporting actor." He added, before he, too, broke his chopsticks apart and thanked the world for his food.
"Class today's gonna be tough. We're enhancing our finishing moves." Eijirio said. "I have one move: get hard." His statement was somewhere between a whine and a boast.
"Get hard and finish fast!" Kaminari snickered.
"Gross." Kyoka said, rolling her eyes.
A group of kids from the econ class stopped and stared at Bakugo before Midoriya shooed them away. The rest of the BakuSquad hoped that Katsuki hadn't noticed and Sero was quick to change the subject from who couldn't last long during sex...
"So, uh, any idea on your finishing move?" Hanta asked Bakugo.
It was too late, Katsuki was on the move. He stood and knocked over a glass of milk onto Kaminari's lap and Jiro righted the glass. Kirishima stood next to try and grab Bakugo's shoulder, but even he couldn't stop the boy.
Uraraka heard the commotion first and warned her friend. "Explosion King, 6 o'clock. He looks angry. I'll talk to him." She volunteered.
"It's fine, Ochaco." Deku insisted, watching the angry childhood friend grow closer.
"Hey!" Katsuki stalked over to Izuku. He lowered his voice to a growl. "What was that all about?"
Midoriya swallowed his nerves. "Uh, oh yeah, uh, hey Kacchan. How's breakfast-?"
"You're about to eat my fist if anything!" Bakugo threatened. He grabbed the green-haired teen's tie.
Deku was forced to think...
"Let's step outside." Izuku said, calmly, eyeing Snipe across the cafeteria. "We don't need this being public."
Katsuki thrust his frienemy back and walked away, hands jammed in his pockets.
Midoriya assured Uraraka that it'd be alright and she promised to keep an eye out for Iida or Yaoyurozu, who were meeting with Mr. Aizawa.
Finally, the two boys settled outside of the dining hall and around by the recycling dumpsters.
"I did you a favor, Kacchan-" Midoriya began.
"Yeah right! SOME FAVOR!" Bakugo spat before he did so, literally. He ran the toe of his shoe over the spit and pointed. "I'll squash you like that." He said, snapping in front of Izuku's face.
Think Deku. Midoriya thought. He wondered how to calm his friend down. Apologizing was an option... if he wanted to be a punching bag forever...
Instead, Izuku raised his chin and looked at his bully in the eye. "Do you know what people think about you?"
"I don't CARE about EXTRAS." Katsuki said, narrowing his eyes.
Midoriya carried on. "That you're mean. A BULLY. And you know what? They're RIGHT. You can be a bully FOREVER because of your stupidly good quirk- because when everything comes down to the essential truth- you got everything: two loving parents, a goddamn offensive quirk, and brains. You're SMART, Kacchan, but being a hero means you can't JUST be a bully."
A smirk. Bakugo didn't want to TALK anymore. "Put up or shut up, asshole." He said, igniting his fist.
"We. Can't. Fight." Izuku insisted.
Katsuki didn't care. Why should he? He reached for Midoriya but was instantly stopped by a now-familiar-defensive-measure against him: Aizawa's scarf.
The Explosion King's face dropped. Captured.
Shota was far away. He didn't know if he had enough scarf length, even, to stop Bakugo, but apparently he had enough to grab the boy's fist.
"That's enough." Aizawa said, walking towards them, still. His hair was raised and eyes bright red, canceling their quirks.
BOTH boys didn't make gym that day. Instead, they sat atop cushions in front of All Might and Principal Nezu. BOTH boys had received discipline of the corporal kind and their bottom smarted from it. In fact, Katsuki had double what Midoriya got, but it was Izuku who still had a bright red face and a bright red bottom, as he sat, humiliated and thinking, on what had just happened.
"Well, this is unfortunate." Pricipal Nezu began. "Though not unexpected." He sighed. "Top students leaving to fight."
"With all due respect, Principal Nezu." Izuku said, voice wavering. "We never fought."
Katsuki shifted, uncomfortably.
"Fights don't always have to be physical, Young Midoriya. I'm sure you know that. And Bakugo- you must be under strain."
The blonde shrugged. "I'm fine." He insisted, looking away.
Nezu glanced and nodded to All Might, signaling that it was time the news was broken.
Toshinori cleared his throat. "Boys."
To this, both teens looked up.
Izuku spoke. "Yes, Sensei?"
All Might turned to see the door open. Aizawa arrived. "You're both going away for a bit. Leaving U.A. For a treatment program. It's a residential center for trauma. You will have to pack up your things. It's only two weeks."
"ARE YOU INSANE?!" Katsuki stood, abruptly. "I SAID I was FINE. Take him away if ANYBODY. I'm staying. It;s bad enough I missed classes today. I'm not missing two fucking weeks."
"It's your parents, Bakugo. They opted to send you for your mental health." Eraserhead said, passing over two folders to the boys.
"I... I wasn't kidnapped. Why am I going?" Midoriya asked, blinking back confused tears.
"Your classmates warned us about your destructive behaviors while Bakugo was captured." Aizawa said. "The nightmares, the self injury, the weight loss. It's been a struggle watching you as close we could. We didn't do everything to watch you since we had a whole League of Villains crisis on our hands. The school volunteered to cover the expenses."
"When do we pack?" Izuku asked, knowing he was guilty, as Katsuki shouted angrily that he wasn't going.
"Now." All of the educators chorused.
And so did the games begin.