"Y/N!? Y/N!" Deku's frantic calls of your name muffled through your locked door. He wrestled with the door handle for several long seconds. His mind became clouded with panicked breaths as he began pushing against the door with his shoulder and side of his body. He backed up for a moment before winding up and delivering a powerful punch through the door right next to the handle. He reached through the gap and unlocked the door from the inside before bursting into your dorm. He took a moment to place his hands on his knees and catch his breath while he scanned your room. Nothing was out of place or out of the ordinary and it seemed too peaceful. Aside from the near perfect scenery of your room, a tension was holding space. A sense of emergency hung over the room that Deku couldn't quite place. He looked around the room again and saw a light on under your closed bathroom door. He didn't hear anything on the other side of the door but approached and knocked anyway.

"Y/n? It's Deku. I didn't see you earlier and I was just wondering if you were ok."

No response.

"I'm coming in." Deku expected the door to be locked, but it wasn't and opened with a soft creak. He was hit by a wave of shower steam and the air smelled metallic in a sense. He saw you sitting on your shower floor in a loose shirt and some old shorts. He didn't open the shower door and he sat down and leaned his back against the glass.

"Everything ok in there?" He asked through the barrier. He didn't hear you say anything but heard you softly crying and shuffle around against the wet shower floor. He wasn't sure what to ask next and before he opened his mouth so speak, he heard the shower door open and you sat next to it, just poking your head out. He turned to look at your tear-streaked face and puffy red eyes.

"Hey." His voice softened as he cupped your face with his hand and stared into your pained eyes. "You ok?" His compassionate gaze searched yours for a lingering moment. You got out of the shower the rest of the way, and Deku thought he was going to cry. You sat on the floor in front of him, your baggy shirt and shorts soaked through with water. He tried not to look, but his gaze kept falling to your legs. Deep gashes marred your skin from the top of your legs to below your knees. He covered his mouth with his hands as a slight gasp escaped his lips. You observed his reaction and reached into the shower to pull out a shiny razor blade.

"Please." You said quietly. "Just get this away from me." You dropped your head as your salty tears fell to the cold bathroom floor. He took the blade from you and tossed it across the floor before wrapping his arms around your shoulders and using one hand to cradle your head to his chest

"I'm sorry." He whispered with a slightly teary hiccup as he placed his chin on the top of your head. "I never wanted to cause you to do this." His tone dropped at the end of his sentence as he continued to hold you on the bathroom floor. You took a slow breath and said to him,

"Don't go. I don't want to be alone."

"Don't worry." He planted a soft kiss on the top of your head. "I wasn't planning in going anywhere." A few minutes of silence went by before Deku took a breath. "Y'know, I have a story for you. Wanna hear it?" You nodded lightly. "Ok, so there were these two friends, and they ended up saving each other. It was in different ways though. One of them was gonna get seriously hurt, and the other one was blinded by his pride and jealousy. The two friends ended up fighting when one didn't want to be saved anymore and the other one didn't think he was doing anything wrong." He sighed slightly at his weak attempt at admitting he was wrong in why he did what he did. "In the end, they both saved each other. The one in danger was saved, and the prideful one admitted he was wrong and owned up to what he did. The moral of the story is: I'm sorry." At his apology, he dropped his hands to his sides and gave you a reverent bow where his head was on the ground. The Japanese bow reserved for the worst offenses.

"Get up, you big dummy." You laughed slightly through the tears still lingering in your voice. "If anything, I'M sorr-" Deku put his finger to your lips.

"No. No apologies." He lightly held your chin with his fingers, and held your gaze with a teary and compassionate stare. "I thought was helping you, but I didn't see that I changed in a way that hurt you." He took a deep breath before continuing. "I realized I wanted to take advantage of how close we were getting. I saw you interact with the guys when I asked them to help you, and I got jealous." He swallowed thickly at his acknowledgement. "I was pushing you further away by being a prick and I want to make up for that." His hand released your chin as he continued to steadily hold your gaze. You leaned forward and wrapped your arms around his ribs and whispered,

"I forgive you." Deku returned the hug before pulling back and staring back your wounded legs. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but we really need to take care of these." The longer he looked, the sadness in his eyes became deeper and more defined.

"Here, let me grab some stuff." You tried to stand up, but searing pain flooded your skin and your muscles were actively shaking as you attempted to stand fully.

"Whoa, buddy." Deku quickly stood and set you on the edge of the counter. "Maybe don't do too much just yet, kay?" You nodded. "Ok where is whatever you needed?" He began rummaging through the medicine cabinet beside the mirror. You pointed to a small box labeled with a red cross and he brought it down from the shelf. Digging through the supplies, he pulled out a bottle of disinfectant, cotton swabs, gauze, and a small roll of medical tape.

"May I?" He gestured to your legs and you nodded as he set to work. He apologized profusely any time that you flinched or hissed in pain as the disinfectant cleaned the edged of the cuts. He finished the left and moved to be standing between your legs when he set to work on the right. He seemed completely unaware of his position as he worked diligently. One of his hands gripped the side of your hip semi tightly as he worked on one of the inner thigh wounds. You couldn't stop the small gasps that escaped your lips as he adjusted his grip unknowingly. He finished securing the tape on the other leg and stood up straight, wiping his brow with his free hand.

"I guess we're all...good? You ok? You look a little flushed?" He scanned the hazy glaze on your eyes and the slight blush speckling your cheeks. He looked to find his hands on your hips, and him still standing between your legs and the realization dawned on him. He wasn't sure what to do as he also blushed a deep shade of red, but wasn't quite aware enough to remove his hands from your hips.

"Um...thank you for helping me wit-" Your statement on gratitude had been cut off by Deku's soft lips brushing yours without warning. One of his hands remained on your hip while the other went to cradling your cheek and adjust the angle of the kiss. As the kiss deepened, you arms instinctively draped his shoulders, and he pulled you closer to be flush against him. Your pelvises resting against one another increased the heat in the moment, and Deku pulled back briefly. You had never seen anything more attractive than Deku flushed and slightly panting as he ran a hand through his hair, dampened from the shower steam. As the green locks fell back over his face, he looked at you with a look you had never seen in him before. Desire? Need? Nah, there was no way he was thinking that. Without another word, his hands securely gripped your waist and pulled you off the counter to stand in front of him.

"F-feel b-b-be-better?" He stammered through his flustered state.

"Mmm hmmm." You nodded and stared at the ground as you steadied your stance.

"Good." He mumbled before scratching the back of his neck and opening the bathroom door again. He kept a hand on your lower back as he guided you to your bed, making sure you could stand steady. You sat down gingerly onto your bed and Deku sat down next to you.

"Sorry if that was...sudden. I just-"

"It's ok." You cut him off and stared at your hands. "I liked it." Your cheeks returned to their rosy state as you confessed to enjoying the kiss.

"You look a little red." Deku tilted his head to study your expression. "You should probably put on some dry clothes."

"Yeah." You tried to stand to walk over to your dresser, but felt a hand on your shoulder pushing you lightly back down.

"Not yet. I'll get them." Deku stood and rummaged through the drawer labeled 'pj's' and quickly returned with a large shirt and a pair of shorts. "Here." He handed them to you with a soft smile but didn't move.

"Um.." You looked at his awkwardly.

"Oh right!" He face palmed his forehead and turned to stand in the bathroom and close the door. "Don't worry! I can't see through the door." He said slightly muffled through the door. You giggled at the reassuring statement from the other side of the door. You changed into your new clothes and said it was ok to come out now. Deku opened the door and kept his hand over his eyes as he wanted to be sure it was ok to open them.

"Dude, it's ok."

"Ok. Just making sure. I kinda punched a hole in your door earlier, so I can at least be a little more respectful of your privacy now." He ran a hand through his mussed hair before looking at the hole in your door. "I promise I'll take care of it!"

"That's sweet. I'll let Aizawa know it needs some patch work. No biggie." You shrugged as you yawned, coming down from your adrenaline high.

"Rest." Deku said softly as he noticed your sleepy state. He helped you get into a position that made resting a little easier and draped a soft blanket over you. He pulled your desk chair in front of the door and sat down.

"What are you doing?" You asked as your eyelids felt heavier by the second.

"I punched the hole in the door, so I'm covering it while you rest." He gave you a goofy grin as he leaned back in the chair. You laughed slightly before sighing a soft 'thank you' and letting yourself drift off peacefully.

Deku sat in the chair for the hours you rested. Suddenly, it dawned on him: He kissed you. He rested his head in his hands and thought long and hard about it in the desk chair. He leaned back and stared at the dark ceiling. "They liked it?" He whispered to himself repeatedly before drifting off to sleep in the desk chair.