Chapter Text
The story that I am about to tell you takes place in the year 2020, yes, the year of the pandemic, everyone's favourite year!
People like to hate on quarantine, whining about how they didn't get to see their friends or whatever, but personally, it had fit me pretty well. I didn't have to hang out with any damn extras and no one was there to bother me when I was studying or training. Except for my mother of course, but she worked during the day, and the rest of the time she would mostly leave me alone if I just told her that I was studying - mostly.
I have to be honest, my mother wasn't the best parent I the world and in hindsight, I hate her with a passion, she was emotionally and - occasionally - physically abusive and she was the root of all of my self-esteem issues, anger issues, god-complex, you get the point. While I can't blame her for my actions, I sure as hell do blame her for pushing me to become that person.
Anyways, this story isn't about that, it's about my childhood friend Izuku Midoryia, or as I used to call him - Deku.
Deku and I had grown up together, we were friends for years until he was diagnosed as quirkless and my mother poisoned my mind with how worthless he was. Even after I started bullying him, I still cared about him a great deal. I knew him better than anyone, possibly even better than he knew himself. That is why I dropped the act that day.
*
- Monday, May 18th 2020 -
I was in between classes, our first lesson of the day - English with Present Mic - had just ended and I had ten minutes to get ready for maths with Ectoplasm. I made sure to refill my glass with water and rearrange so that I had the right books and equipment, putting my English stuff in a pile on the desk to work on later.
I hadn't been able to concentrate very well during English because Deku hadn't shown up. At first, I just figured that he had overslept and would show up a little late - very unlike him, but still possible - but he never showed up and it worried me, what if something had happened?
When maths class started, Deku still hadn't shown up and the only texts I had gotten were from the 'bakusquad' group chat, why they decided to name it that I have no idea, it's a stupid name.
Twenty minutes into the lesson, Deku's smiling face finally appeared on my screen, nothing seemingly wrong with him. He might have looked a bit more tired than normal, but that was it. I wanted to punch him in the face for worrying me like that.
Even though he looked fine when he joined the Zoom meeting, I still couldn't help but keep an eye on him, and it's a good thing I did because only minutes after he joined, his eyes widened and I could see him flinching slightly, so slightly that most people wouldn't notice. His eyes flicked over to look at something to his right and after knowing him for all these years, I could - even though he tried his best to hide it - see him start to panic. Something was wrong.
I unmuted my mic, interrupting the teacher.
"Hey Deku!" I said, slightly less aggressive than normal. He flinched, a lot more visibly this time. "What the fuck is going on?" His eyes widened slightly again and I could almost see his brain working to produce an answer. He unmuted himself and answered shortly.
"Everything's fine Kaccchan." He smiled and shook his head, chuckling a little even after he muted himself again. Something was wrong, something was very wrong. I had seen this before, when had I seen this before?
"Bakugou, I ask that you not interrupt the lesson," Ectoplasm's voice was stern. Aizawa - who had decided to join to supervise us and make sure that we behaved - looked like he just wanted to crawl into his sleeping bag.
I didn't listen to what the teacher had said, but grumbled a quiet 'I'm sorry'. My brain was working to figure out what was wrong with Deku. My eyes were fixated on his face.
When Deku's head snapped to the side, his eyes blown wide open and hands shaking I couldn't take it anymore. Something was wrong and I needed to find out what it was. I once again unmuted myself and interrupted.
"Izuku, tell me what the fuck is wrong and don't give me the fucking 'everything's fine, Kacchan' again." I tried to imitate Deku's voice as I said it. He immediately looked back to the screen. He tried a smile, but his eyes were constantly flickering off to the side. He looked scared and seemed to be contemplating what to do.
It seemed that he had decided when he signed at the camera.
"He is back." I was frozen in place for a second before my blood started boiling.
"That bastard! I'm on my way," I half-yelled. I didn't give Deku a chance to even process what I said before I left the meeting.
I grabbed my phone as I stormed out of my room. I didn't even bother to say goodbye to my mother before I ran out the door.
I didn't live far from Deku, but during the short run to his house, I texted Aizawa.
10.03
You:
'Izu's father is a real piece of shit. He's been gone for a long time, but now he's back and both Izu and his mom are in danger.'
I didn't even think through what I wrote before I sent it. If Aizawa noticed me using a different nickname - which, come on, he did - he didn't comment on it. Aizawa responded quickly.
10.04
Mr Aizawa:
'Understood, I will be there.'
I didn't answer. I was relieved that he would help, but at that moment my main focus was getting Deku to safety.
I could hear the yelling through the door, and with my terrible hearing, that was saying something. I tried to open the door but it was locked. Without a second thought, I destroyed the lock with a small explosion, I couldn't have cared less about 'causing property damage'.
The yelling was coming from the living room, Deku had been in his bedroom, which just so happened to be connected to the living room. I somehow managed to get there without his father noticing me.
When I got there, my stomach twisted at what I saw. Deku was staring at me - no, not at me, through me. His eyes were glossy and red, tears threatening to fall. His whole body was shaking. He was so scared, trying his very best to not start crying, to not make any noise.
After a second or so, he saw me. I walked towards him and he held his hands up defensively. He looked as though he was scared that I would hurt him - I, unfortunately, couldn't blame him.
I glanced over my shoulder quickly to make sure his father wasn't there before putting a finger to my lips, asking him to stay quiet.
"I'm not gonna hurt you," I signed. He shakily put his hands down. I went to hug him and he clutched onto the back of my shirt, afraid that I would leave him.
I saw the laptop on his desk, he hadn't left the zoom meeting. I looked into the camera and waved before leaving and shutting the laptop carefully.
"Ssh Izu, I'm here, you're gonna be fine," I whispered in his ear as he was shaking in my arms. "Aizawa is on his way. Is your mom home?" He shook his head and I let out a sigh of relief.
"He's on the phone with her, that's why he's yelling," He forced out. His voice broke several times and he spoke so quietly that I could barely hear him.
"For now, I just have to keep you safe while we wait for Aizawa. Do you have any hiding places in here?" I asked. He shook his head and began crying even more.
I hated seeing him this way. The last time had been two years ago, before UA. These situations would be the only time when I would forget about what anyone would think because Izu - my best friend - needed me and that was so much more important. Last time I couldn't do anything, I wasn't legally allowed to do anything except be there for him, to take care of him and help him cover up before school. This time I had my provisional licence. I would fight if I had to.
Maybe you're wondering why I hadn't yet, I was Katsuki Bakugou after all! I never backed down from a fight. But with Deku here, in this condition, I would help him much more by just staying with him.
"Ssh, that's okay, you're okay, I won't let him touch you, alright. Everything's gonna be fine." I kept my voice down as much as I could and pressed his face even more into my chest in an attempt to muffle his crying. My heart was racing, with my bad hearing, I probably wouldn't be able to hear if his father were to come in.
I stood up and Izu wrapped his legs around my torso, refusing to let go of me. I moved us to his bed and sat down so that he was sitting in my lap and I could see the door, but anyone coming in wouldn't immediately notice us.
We sat there for a while with me just whispering calming things to him as he cried. When the yelling came to an abrupt stop the hands holding onto my shirt impossibly tightened and Izu's crying stopped, he froze up completely. He tried to lift his head but I held it still against my chest.
When I saw someone enter the room I almost exploded hem, but I didn't have the chance as my quirk was erased. I let out a breath that I didn't know I'd been holding. It was Aizawa.
"The situation is under control. Hisashi Midoriya is being taken to the police station for questioning, it would help if you could let the police ask you some questions, Midoriya." Izu didn't say anything, just nuzzled into me even more. I loosened my grip a little to give him room to breathe.
I shook my head.
"He's not ready, Sensei," I answered in this place. "I am willing to do it though." Aizawa nodded, he looked confused as hell though. He wasn't exactly used to seeing the two of us hugging, or hear me talking without yelling.
"Let's go outside then, Present Mic is here, he can look after Midoriya while he waits for his mother to come back." I shook my head no.
"I'm not leaving him," I said. "You don't understand how he gets, you don't understand how Aun- how his mom gets. Leaving the two of them here is a bad idea."
"I understand." Aizawa nodded. He didn't understand anything. "I'll go get someone then."
Answering the policewoman's questions was hard, I didn't know all the details and just thinking about the situation made me want to scream, but I couldn't, not with Izu in my lap, not when he was like this. The policewoman who talked to me seemed satisfied enough with the information that I gave her and thanked me when she left the room.
After she left, Aizawa asked me where he should take us.
"Izu shouldn't be around his mom for a few days at least, I know it doesn't make any sense, but trust me on this, it wouldn't do either of them any good. Besides, I did kinda destroy their lock," I told Aizawa and he let out a tired sigh.
"Could he stay with you then?" He asked before yawning. I shook my head.
"That wouldn't be a good idea, the old hag wouldn't like that. It would put both Izu and me in danger." Aizawa didn't ask any questions, he probably realized that now wasn't the place or time for that conversation. "Could we please go back to the dorms?" I never say please, I didn't use that word. Aizawa knew that. "I know that there's quarantine and whatever, but I am not letting him out of my fucking sight." I ran my fingers through Izu's fluffy hair.
Aizawa looked to be done with everything as he picked his phone out of his pocket to make a call. I could hear him talking about Izu's father and the dorms and something about Shinsou. What did that purple-haired extra have to do with any of this? Finally, he put the phone down and I could hear him muttering something along the lines of 'I promised Hizashi, no more children' before he turned around to look at me.
"You're good the stay at the dorms, but my family and I will be there as well, we're not letting you stay there alone." I huffed. "Let's go to my car. Present Mic will be getting your things for you."
"Can you walk?" I asked Izu, making sure to keep my voice down. Instead of a response, he once again cuddled closer to me. I let out a soft laugh and carefully ruffled his hair. "I guess that's a no then." I stood up with him clinging to me and carried him out to Aizawa's car.
He couldn't sit in my lap in the car, but he stayed as close as he could, hugging my arm and burying his face in my shoulder.
Somewhere along the way, he fell asleep and when we arrived at the dorms I found getting him out of the car to be quite the challenge. I waved goodbye to Aizawa who went to fix something, probably get his things.
I put Izu down on the couch and put a blanket over him before going to the kitchen to see what food was left.
I reheated some chicken stew and cooked some rice, it was the only thing that I could find since no one had been shopping for groceries for months.
I carefully woke Izu up and helped him sit up. When I sat down next to him, he immediately snuggled up to me. I grabbed his plate of the table and handed it to him. He eyed the small portion of food uncomfortably.
"It's okay if you don't eat all of it, but it would be very good if you could at least eat a little bit." I smiled at him as he bit his lip and nodded.
I grabbed my plate and started eating. It was really good, of course, it was, I was the one who had cooked it all those months ago. When I put my plate down, Izu still had barely touched his food.
"No appetite?" His head jerked up to look at me, pupils dilated. Fuck, I'd scared him! "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you." He managed a small smile and put his fork down.
"It's okay." He still wasn't talking. We'd both started learning sign language because of my hearing loss, but it had proved useful in other situations as well.
"I know it's hard, but could you please try to eat a little more? I think it would be good for you," I told him with a smile. He looked down, brows furrowed. He was frustrated with himself. I took his plate from him and put it on the table.
"Wait here, I'll be back in a second." He watched me as I stood up, hand coming to grab my wrist, keeping me in place. "Don't worry Izu, I'm just getting something from the kitchen," I assured him and he reluctantly let go of me.
I opened the pantry and scanned the shelves when I found what I was looking for I grabbed it and rushed back to the couch.
I opened the chocolate and broke off a piece, giving it to Izu. He hesitantly took it and started nibbling on it. I smiled at him.
"Chocolate is good for everything," I said softly.
That's when the door was opened and the mind-control kid from 1C entered the dorms.
"What are you doing here?" I asked, remembering to keep my voice polite and quiet to not upset Izu.
"My dad drove me, apparently I'm gonna be staying here for a while," He answered flatly.
"Tsh." Piecing together what Aizawa and Shinsou had said, I guessed that he must be Aizawa's son. To be honest I wasn't all that surprised.
"I'm interested in what this is, doesn't seem like you mister I-hate-everyone-and-especially-Deku. You're too quiet and cuddly." Shinsou smirked. Izu tensed up and shuffled closer so that he was practically sitting in my lap. No matter how angry I was at Shinsou, Izu was more important.
"Be careful, he's sensitive right now and I don't want to upset him." 'even more,' I added in my mind. Shinsou looked at Izu more properly and hi face dropped - didn't know his face could do that - with realisation.
"I apologize," He said. "Hey, Midoriya, just tell me if you need anything, okay?" Izu didn't answer.
"He's not exactly speaking right now, just give him some time, he should be speaking again quite soon. However, it will take some time until he gets back to his usual self, have patience with him, yeah?"
"I get it. I won't ask any questions either, don't worry about that. I'm guessing this is none of my business."
"Right."