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“W-what? But… surely I can still attend the ceremony?”
Izuku pleaded with Recovery Girl, disbelieving, but she just shook her head in response.
“Midoriya, it may be the truth that you are almost healed, but it’s better to be safe than sorry." The old lady let out a sigh, finishing up his check-up sheet. Izuku frowned at her back in response, utterly crushed... this felt so unfair. "I know you know why, so don't give me that look."
Izuku jumped, grinning sheepishly- he'd forgotten Recovery Girl practically had eyes on the back of her head.
"We simply cannot have the photographers at the awards dinner witness the injuries you have accumulated, it would be detrimental to UA’s reputation. I’m sure you understand.” She made a few last notes on her clipboard, before handing him the paper with a stern expression.
Izuku knew he had no chance of winning the argument, but it just felt so utterly ridiculous to him.
He wouldn’t be able to congratulate his classmates for their achievements if he couldn’t attend the ceremony! He wanted to be there to support them. Izuku reluctantly took the sheet, brows furrowed.
“I understand, b-but…” Then, a thought occurred to him.
He would have the entire 1-A dorms to himself. For hours, likely.
It was fun living with his friends, of course, but he hadn’t had some alone time in a while. Plus, because of the others sharing the alliance he hadn’t been able to indulge in one of his favourite hobbies for a while. He perked up, an excited smile making its way onto his face- maybe this was a blessing in disguise?
“I-I understand, Recovery Girl! Thank you, I will retire to the dorms now.”
Recovery Girl stared after him, surprised that the usually stubborn student had given up so quickly. Then, she shrugged, turning back to her computer with a sigh.
- - -
Izuku waved goodbye to his classmates as they left the dorms, most of them sending sympathetic looks his way. He knew he should be feeling disappointment, but it was a struggle to quell the excitement rising inside him; he couldn't help but wait impatiently for them all to leave before shutting the door, perhaps with a little more force than necessary. Finally!!
He popped into all the rooms open, apologetically- just to close the windows. He was thorough as he combed through the building, until every single door and window was shut.
Now, the stage was set...
With a delighted smile, he connected to his speaker, pressing play on a specific playlist.
One he himself had created, one containing hundreds of songs. A sprinkle of J-rock, some pop songs from America, but primarily... 90% musical theatre.
And the first one that happened to shuffle play was a song called ‘Noel's lament,’ and Izuku didn’t have to hide his slightly giddy grin as he stood up. What a perfect song to start with.
Opening his mouth, he began to sing.
- - -
A few hours later, the rest of 1-A had begun walking back to the dorms, chatting happily about the dinner and congratulating eachother on the awards they'd won. Uraraka expressed guilt at having to leave Mido at the house, Tsuyu and Iiida nodding in unison, because it really was unfair.
Then, from where he'd been leading the pack, Bakugou stopped completely on the path. Kirishima bumped into his back, and the rest of the class glanced at him quizzically.
Bakugou didn't give them an explanation, just- just craning his neck for some unknown reason? But then, a familiar, shark-like smile slowly began to spread across his face that made 1-A take a step back.
“What a liar… I knew the damn nerd never outgrew it.”
“Huh? What do you mean, Bakugou?” Uraraka asks him, decidedly confused.
"Also, can you start walking again? You're kind of blocking the path, ribbit." Tsuyu added from behind her, and Bakugou pointedly ignored both of them.
“Aizawa was right… you guys have a shitty sense of situational awareness. You seriously can’t hear it?” Bakugou grumbled at them, seemingly not bothered to explain, so everyone craned their heads like he had, trying to listen harder. Then, one by one, looks of realization flickered across their faces.
“Is that.. hey, what’s that noise?” Kaminari asks, but nobody provided an answer- Jirou was smiling as she made eye contact with Bakugou, raising her eyebrows- and the blonde nodded with a matching smirk, though it dropped as he turned to the others.
“Tch! If you extras can’t figure it out yourself, I’m sure as hell not gonna tell you.” Bakugou sloped down the path with his hands shoved in his pockets, leaving the rest of his class curiously following after him like ducklings, talking amongst themselves. Was it coming from the dorms? It sounded kind of musical... maybe someone was playing music?
“Hold on…” Mina paused, glancing up at the dorms ahead of them, hearing better now that they were closer. “Is that… I think I hear a voice! Is someone singing?”
“Took you long enough, Pinky- Jirou noticed like ten minutes ago." Bakugou side-eyed her, before turning his focus back to the building in front of them. "And it's not like it's difficult to guess who's making such a goddamn racket... use some critical thinking, will ya?" Rolling his eyes, Bakugou opened the door of Heights Alliance, and a previously muffled voice echoed out through the air, clear as a bell.
“…Midoriya?” The class says as a whole, shocked beyond belief. He was the only person it could be, but since when could he sing?
They politely wait outside the door (not wanting to interrupt, because damn, he was good) as the song came to an end. The voice stopped for a few seconds, as a second song's intro started to play.
See, here's the thing... everyone in the class knew they should probably just go inside, but they were all too curious to bring the music to an end. So they waited, becoming puzzled again when the voice started once more.
“Is he.. talking to himself?” Uraraka questions, and is quickly answered by Jirou.
“It might be a musical theatre song, they often have speaking parts in the lyrics.” She explained to everyone, looking thoughtful- the song sounded familiar, but she couldn't place it. She had noticed earlier while walking to the dorms that he had been singing along to "Teenagers" by MCR though, which was hilariously out of the blue. Izuku had always seemed like more of a J-pop-and-indie guy.
"Hmm, I never would've thought Midoriya was into musical theatre, kero-"
Tsuyu's observation was interrupted by a powerful voice and the sound of an electric guitar.
“All is forgiven baby, come on out and get dressed! You’re my date to the pep rally tonight!’ 1-A once again stood in varying degrees of shock, as although they knew it was Midoriya, the confidence and arrogance in the voice sounded like a whole other person altogether. They didn’t notice Bakugou silently mouthing the words, ‘What? Why?’ with the unnerving smirk still present on his face.
“Our class may have thought they were signing a petition, you gotta come out here and see what they really signed!’ Midoriya scoffed with clear amusement in his voice.
The class noiselessly traipsed in through the door, beginning to search for their friend. Although none of them outright said it, they all wanted to see this other side of the shy, stuttering Izuku they knew.
“You chucked me out like I was trash, for that you should be dead BUT, but BUT!’ Midoriya said the terrifying sentence far too cheerfully, with a sick sense of glee, sending shivers down the group’s spines. This felt... off.
“Then it hit me like a flash, what if high school went away instead?!” 1-A silently checked the kitchen and dining area; it was completely deserted.
“Those assholes are the key! They’re keeping you away from me!” The tone of Midoriya’s voice unsettled the entire class, they’d never heard him speak in such an uncomfortably… obsessive tone.
“They made you blind, messed up your mind but I can set you free…” 1-A checked in the bathrooms; no one.
“You left me and I fell apart.. I punched the wall and cried, BAM BAM BAM!” The class collectively jumped as a whole at Midoriya screaming the words so aggressively. Uraraka glanced at Bakugou, swiftly realising with some confusion that he was mouthing all the words in time with the song. How... how did he know the lyrics?
“Then I found you changed my heart, and set loose all this truthful shit inside!” This sentence was the most shocking yet, and made most of the class stop in their tracks . No one in 1-A had ever heard Izuku Midoriya swear, not even when he had gone through the agony of shattering his arms multiple times.
“And so I built a bomb, tonight our school is Vietnam!” A few students winced at this messed-up joke, and Iida already looked as though he was about to blow a fuse.
“It is not appropriate to make such a cruel and horrible comparison on UA premises!” He whispered, chopping his arms about in the air furiously.
The rest of the class barely spared a glance at him, completely captivated by Midoriya’s voice.
“Let’s guarantee, they never see, their senior prom!”
The class had well and truly stopped searching now, all of them standing stock still and listening to Izuku sing with no small amount of surprise.
How had they never witnessed this part of him before, not even once?
The sole exception was Bakugou , who had settled on the couch and was bobbing his head slightly in time with the beat. The fact that he was entirely unsurprised did not go unnoticed by the rest of the class. Mina folded her arms, smile growing as she trained her gaze on Bakugou- she could practically smell gossip in the air, exchanging a knowing glance with Hagakure. How come he knew all the lyrics to Izuku's song?
“I was meant to be yours, we were meant to be one…” This sudden transition from aggressively cheerful to slow and angelic was more than the class could handle, and several of them were looking increasingly unnerved.
“Don’t give up on me now, finish what we’ve begun!” Bakugou rolled his eyes exasperatedly as he saw a couple of the girls looking oddly swayed by the lyrics. That was JD for you… god knows Veronica had fallen for it, he honestly couldn't blame 'em. The lyrics were pretty romantic, after all.
“I was, meant to be yours…” Izuku sang sweetly, before his tone abruptly changed to one of childish excitement, except it was somewhat…
“-So when the high school gym goes, BOOM! With everyone inside, PCHW PCHW PCHW!”
…Deranged. 1-A visibly flinched at the enthusiastic sound effects. Such childlike lyrics for such a dark song… Yaoyorozu and Uraraka had visible looks of concern on their faces. Sure, they knew it was probably just acting, but it sounded so real.
On the couch, Bakugou made finger guns in time with the explosions, and Kaminari, noticing, struggled to rein in a snigger, disturbed as he was. He hadn't seen Bakugou have this much fun in ages.
“In the rubble of their tomb, we’ll plant this note explaining why they died!” Fear half-forgotten, Uraraka was now trying and failing not to giggle, as a few people in the class still hadn’t caught on to the lyrics yet. Really, it was too hilarious watching Mineta shudder in terror, contrasting with how Koda bobbed happily along to a song about mass murder.
“We, the students of Westerberg high, will die. Our burnt bodies may finally get through, to you.” Humour dissipating, the entire class, excepting Bakugou, were entirely and wholeheartedly unsettled by the playful yet deadly serious tone in Midoriya’s voice. He just sounded so psychopathic..
Almost, well, almost like..
‘Like a villain.’ A voice hissed in their heads, and once again a shiver ran down their spines.
“Your society churns out slaves and blanks! No thanks.” He scoffed, disgusted. “Signed, the students of Wes-tur-burg-high! Goodbye!” He spoke with a sense of self-satisfied smugness in his voice once more, dripping in condescension.
“We’ll watch the smoke pour out the doors, bring marshmallows, we’ll make s’mores!” Midoriya sang, happiness ringing in all his words once more. The class could practically hear the bright smile in his voice.
“We can smile and cuddle while the fire roars!” Kirishima winced at the lyrics.
“Bro, that’s so messed up…” He whispered to no one in particular.
“I was, meant to be yours! We were, meant to be one! I can’t make it alone, finish, what we’ve begun!”
Bakugou grinned viciously in anticipation for the coming lines.
“You were, MEANT TO BE MINE!" Half the class jumped at the abrupt volume change, disturbed. "I am, ALL that you NEED! YOU CARVED OPEN MY HEART, CAN’T JUST LEAVE ME TO BLEED!” His voice rasped aggressively, sounding truly deranged, much to the horror of the students.
Mineta was a quivering mess on the floor.
“VERONICA!” Izuku screamed furiously, and all of the females in the class flinched.
“Open the, open the door please, Veronica open the door…” They all wilted slightly at Midoriya’s soft, gentle, pleading tone. Bakugou nodded, grudgingly impressed. He hated to say it, but the nerd made a half-decent JD- that subtle manipulation in his voice was top tier.
“Veronica, can we not fight anymore please? Can we not fight anymore…?” His voice cracked slightly and the girls all felt guilt stirring deep inside them, their knees weakening for a reason they couldn’t explain.
“Veronica, sure you’re scared, I’ve been there! I can set you free…” Midoriya sang slightly desperately, the gentle tone fading fast.
“Veronica, DON’T MAKE ME COME IN THERE!” Midoriya bellowed angrily all of sudden, and even Bakugou jumped slightly (not that he’d ever admit it.)
“I’M GONNA COUNT TO THREE!” He yelled furiously.
“ONE…”
“TWO…”
1-A felt an increasing sense of dread.
“FUCK IT!” He yelled, and collectively the entire class felt unsteady as electric guitar rang out through the air, some leaning on walls or falling to their knees. They could almost hear the frustration and impatience in Midoriya’s voice ringing throughout the air, and it terrified them more than they would like to admit.
All of a sudden, they heard choked sobbing.
“No… god, no, Veronica…” Midoriya’s voice shook unsteadily as he sniffed back tears, and everyone’s terror and fear was instantaneously replaced with pity.
“Please, don’t, leave me alone…” His voice wavered, his grief and desperation echoing throughout the building.
“You, were… all I could trust…” His voice cracks, and the class all felt an inexplicable urge to go and comfort Izuku, completely forgetting this was still all just an act.
“I can’t…do this alone…” He sobbed, and Bakugou paused.
“STILL, I, WILL IF I MUST!” Izuku’s powerful voice rang out resignedly through the air, and Bakugou makes an impulsive decision.
“Veronica?” Another, different voice rang out through the air, and everyone turned to stare at Bakugou in surprise.
“I made you a snack.” Bakugou said kindly, a tone of voice no one had ever heard him speak in. They all heard a shocked gasp from the direction of Izuku’s room.
“Veronica?” Bakugou questioned, before taking a deep breath.
Suddenly, a girlish shriek echoed throughout the building, making some students flinch violently.
There was a brief silence, where the class heard footsteps rattling down the stairs, before the boy himself skidded into the living area, looking sweaty and dishevelled. Midoriya’s eyes widened as he took in the entirety of 1-A, looking more than a little surprised, before a sheepish grin made its way onto his face.
“Thanks for playing the other part, Kacchan…” He smiled nervously, but Bakugou’s smirk had already disappeared, features contorted back into his regular scowl.
"It's not like I did it for you, Deku.” He huffed, shoving past Izuku to his room.
Izuku was then swarmed by curious classmates peppering him with questions about his newly-discovered musical skill, and was only too happy to oblige.
No one paid any mind to Mineta who was still curled up in a ball on the floor, shivering violently.