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Izuku knew it would be a bad day when he walked out of his room only to run into Bakugou. The tempered blond had the tendency to explode at anyone who got in his way before he had his morning coffee, and he had the misfortune of being the first person he ran into that morning. Normally Kirishima would make sure he got there first just to make sure that no one was sent to Recovery Girl so early in the morning, but he had gone out at Denki’s request to go pick up some meat buns for everyone to eat.
Tuning back in to present time, Izuku looked up meekly at the blond who was towering over him, reminiscent of the one time in middle school when Bakugou slammed him into a locker, glaring down at him while he trembled on the floor. Well, maybe it was more than once, but he couldn’t bring himself to care as a hand slammed into the wall next to him, Bakugou’s angry shouts to get out the way being overwhelmed by the ringing in his ears. His head was starting to hurt.
He couldn’t even move when he saw the sparking fist heading for his face, and it was thanks to Iida’s speed that the fist was pulled away and into the wall instead, the plaster crumbling around his hands. Izuku fell to his knees, pulling his hair on the side of his head as the ringing in his ears got louder and higher, his headache growing more painfully. He looked up at Bakugou warily, noting the way his mouth moved and the way Iida’s hands moved like they always did when he talked.
The ringing didn’t fade, it only continued at the same rate as before, and his eyes began to fill with fear. He barely registered the way Bakugou slowed down as he stared up at him, and he tried to speak, only to have the ringing get louder. He nearly started crying on the spot.
I can’t hear you, Bakugou.
He said the words, or at least, he thought he said them, but he didn’t know. All he knew was that he finally broke down, his panic attack finally catching up with him, and he curled into the wall, flinching away from Iida when he was touched. His head started flooding with thoughts too fast to make out, only picking out some snippets.
What will All Might think? Will he make me give his quirk back? What will happen to me? Will I be kicked from the hero course? Will Aizawa even care if I’m not his student? Of course not, now you’re back to being a useless deku, and you’ll be even more useless when All Might takes his quirk back. I bet he’ll just give it to Mirio, you wasted so much time on training, All Might will have wasted so much precious time, God knows he doesn’t have enough.
He felt a gentle touch on his shoulder, where Bakugou always used to explode, and he flinched away violently, clawing at the hands that touched him while letting out something akin to a scream. Everyone around him could hear the fear coursing through his voice, but Aizawa just grit his teeth and placed a hand on Izuku’s hair, pulling the boy to his chest while gently carding through the mess of curls. He whispered small words in his ear, guessing from the bleeding that Izuku couldn’t hear him properly, if he could still hear at all. He kept muttering small praises, watching as Izuku calmed at the vibrations coming from him, and he easily swept the small boy into a bridal style hold, tucking his head under his chin so he could glare at Bakugou murderously, before walking out of the building alongside Iida.
Kirishima had appeared around the corner, slowly putting a hand on Bakugou’s shoulder. He hardened his hand the second the blond boy turned, expecting him to try to blow him up, only to see the pure regret and guilt written all over his friend’s face. His expression hardened, and he led the usually pissed boy to the couch, sitting him down to explain exactly what had just happened.
“Care to explain why Izuku is leaving with bleeding ears?”
If he ever knew that Bakugou could flinch, he definitely thought it wouldn’t be like this, Izuku leaving for Recovery Girl while Bakugou turned away, obviously playing a big part in it. He softened up, placing a comforting hand on top of the blond’s, watching while the boy looked on the verge of a mental breakdown.
“I-I think,” Bakugou gulped, eyes flickering from Kirishima’s to the arm of the couch. “I think I just deafened Midoriya. I don’t think he can hear anything anymore.”
Now that was something Kirishima didn’t expect, and he had to physically stop himself from pulling his hand away, not wanting to make the blond feel worse that he already did.
“I thought you two grew up together,” He didn’t miss the way Bakugou flinched slightly when he mentioned their childhood. “Wouldn’t you know if your explosions would hurt his ears? Even Jiro took Present Mic’s quirk dead on but she didn’t go deaf, she only had bleeding ears. Is it not the same for Midoriya? Jiro said it herself, she could probably withstand that happening at least ten more times before her hearing started being affected. I don’t think one explosion near his face could do that, right?”
He knew he should have stopped talking, but watching Bakugou curl into himself at each word he said made him more curious than ever. Why would the blond think that Izuku had gone deaf? And why did he drop the nickname Deku ? His eyes narrowed.
“You are childhood friends , right?”
When Bakugou withdrew his hand, eyes almost looking like they were watering, he knew.
“We first knew each other around one or two years old, I stopped knowing him the day he was announced as quirkless,” Bakugou was fiddling with his hands, face looking more dismayed then it ever had been before. “I’ve regretted it since I was saved by him from that slime villain. He did something when all these powerfully quirked heroes couldn’t do a thing, and he was quirkless. He risked his life, for the sake of me, and he did it just to give me a chance at U.A. He fucking lied about bullying, not only because of the teachers treating him like shit on the bottom of their shoe, but just so that I wouldn’t have a single bad mark against me, giving me the best chance to get into U.A. He helped when no one could, and all that happened was he got yelled at for being reckless, and I told him that he didn’t save me, that I could do it myself. I didn’t even give him a thanks that day. Did I even mention it was the day I told him to-”
Kirishima gently patted Bakugou’s back when he choked on his tongue, letting him continue his rant.
“ The day I told him to jump off the roof and pray to get a quirk in the next life. On the same day , he saved my life, when I told him he was worth nothing. That was the day when I realised that I would never understand Izuku the way I used to when we were three,” Bakugou had a few stray tears fall down his face, not noticing the way Kirishima had tensed up, or when others had walked in during the middle of his rant. It seemed that there would be a lot to talk about when Aizawa got back.
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Aizawa kept murmuring sweet nothings into his student’s hair, worry piercing his cold heart when he heard the quiet whimper as his the child curled into his neck, blood dripping onto his capture scarf. Iida was hovering nervously, running circles around him as they made their way to Recovery Girl. He soon stopped cooing at his child and instead settled for talking Iida into calming down, his behaviour reminding him of the way Tensei used to sprint around in circles when at a loss for what to do.
He held out a hand and managed to pat Iida on the head, stopping the robotic boy in his tracks. He sent a weary smile his way before deciding to talk.
“Iida, as much as I appreciate your worry over your friend, I suggest you go back to the dorms to explain why Midoriya is being carried out with a bloody mess on his face, yeah?” Aizawa kept carding his hand through Izuku’s hair, letting the boy cry in his arms. Iida nodded quickly, speeding off to the dorms at speeds that would be illegal, even on roads.
When Problem Child started to wriggle in his arms, he huffed silently, going back to cooing at him softly, feeling awfully a lot like a father. Ah, fuck it, might as well take the fatherly-teacher role the whole way, plus ultra, I guess. He smiled and placed a gentle kiss in Izuku’s hair, watching the way the boy relaxed back into his arms with ease. Continuing to hum to the shaken boy, he kept walking, soon opening the door to Recovery Girl’s office, letting the door hit the wall with a soft thud.
When Recovery Girl came round the corner, her eyes zeroed in on the deafened student and she reached out to take him from Aizawa’s arms. As soon as she touched him though, he let out a distorted shriek, clinging to Aizawa while hiding his face into his capture weapon. Shouta could do nothing but smile down at his student, taking a seat in a chair while RG stood, shocked at the sudden outburst, and the warm smile from a usually stone cold teacher. She sighed heavily, sitting down in her chair too.
“I don’t know how much energy he has, but I reckon I should heal him anyway and let him sleep,” She pointed at Aizawa with her syringe cane, eyes narrowing scarily. “And heaven knows you need to sleep too. With the way he’s clinging to you know, I don’t think he will let you go, even in his sleep, and I know he will definitely need a comforting presence when he awakens, since he seems to not hear anything at the current point in time. Since your son student seems to need sleep as much as you, I’m going to call a substitute in for you, and you are gonna take a nap here with your problem child. Got it?”
Shouta made way to reject it, not wanting to leave his class to some poor subsitute who has no idea how to handle him, but looking down at Izuku, and withering under Recovery Girl’s stern glare, he sighed, nodding at her. He kept stroking Izuku’s hair, the boy still looking at Recovery Girl warily, but he could tell that he recognised her. He slowly beckoned her over, keeping a grounding hand on his arm while the nurse placed a kiss on his hand, the green-head sinking into Aizawa’s chest even more heavily than before.
Recovery Girl poked him with her cane till he stood and dragged him over to a spare bed, ordering him to lay down an nap for as long as he liked. She said to call her if either of them got hungry before she stormed off, hearing the office door open again. Aizawa merely smiled, lulled into a gentle sleep by the even breathing of the student lying on top of him.
There would be a lot to do regarding the future, and he would be having a stern talking to with Bakugou, but for now, he let himself sleep. It was too early to be dealing with this after all.