Chapter Text
Summer break had just ended. Summer break, meant for students to spend time with their families. Summer break, the six months Katsuki had been dreading the most.
Everyone had been waiting anxiously by the doorway that led inside the dormitories for Bakugou and Midoriya to come. They were the only ones who hadn’t returned yet, and people were shifting uncomfortably on the couch. They were mostly worried about Izuku, though. He was clumsy in every way possible. Except class 1-A was missing two key pieces of information: Izuku had a loving household, and Bakugou did not. Izuku had begged his red eyed friend to spend the break at his house, to avoid his family, but both of them knew it wouldn’t work. Ever since Bakugou developed his explosive personality, Izuku’s mother started to distance herself, and try to distance Izuku as well. She knew about the endless bullying aimed at her son, and would no longer allow his former tormentor near her house, despite Izuku’s pleading. Izuku had even tried to tell her it was all an act, which was true.
Katsuki and Izuku decided when they found out the latter was quirkless that they should pretend to dislike each other. Being friends with a quirkless ‘broccoli head’ who went everywhere with a pen and a notebook was starting to attract some unwanted attention toward Katsuki, so the two made an agreement, to keep eachother out of the spotlight. We’ll pretend we hate each other so people won’t be mean to you or bully me as much. Five year old Izuku had signed quickly, so no one would notice (Katsuki did not like the idea of others finding out he was deaf) and that was it. The agreement was made, and there was no further discussion of the topic. But the fact is, they had been so good at acting, despite being inseparable, that even their parents had taken notice, and went along with the whole drama, unknowingly. This led to Izuku’s mother no longer supporting Katsuki, and making a point to stay away from his mother, Mitsuki, who had always had similar behavior, even though the two parents were friends. So Katsuki was stuck with his family for six months.
Andddd back to the poor students of class 1-A were stuck staring worriedly at the door, so much so that their intense gazes could burn a hole through the metal-plastic material. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, the door cracked open. Before falling shut with a loud ‘clang’ that echoed around the common room. Everyone started. Iida hurried to open the door to find Izuku, out of breath, with a sleeping Bakugou on his back. Izuku looked tired and sad, eyebags showing just how many sleepless nights he had gone through. Bakugou, on the other hand, looked almost normal: He was draped in a black hoodie with sleeves almost touching past his knees, and baggy sweatpants, and had one of those disposable masks you can find everywhere in any hospital or pharmacy. In all the oversized wear, Kacchan looked like just a depressed, tired-yet-relaxed version of himself. Iida was oblivious, but Izuku knew. His best friend had been left to rot in that loud, dark house of his for almost all six months. He tried not to cry.