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It happened so fast.
One minute, you were sitting criss-cross on your bed jotting down notes about your new ultimate move, and the next, everything went completely dark. At first, you assumed it was only your lights that had gone out, but when you heard Mina curse loudly in the room next door, you could only assume it was the whole building. For others, it would be as easy as turning their phone flashlight on and peaking their head out of their room to see what was going on. But for you, it wasn't that simple.
As you sat in the dark, you could feel your hands getting clammy, and your breath begin to catch. It has always been like this, ever since you were little. Whenever it got too dark or the lights went out unexpectedly, your body would go into a panic. Luckily for you, this only happens when things go completely dark, so having at least one light on at a time always helps to soothe any discomfort. The only problem is that now that it was completely dark, you were paralyzed, not even able to reach out and grab your phone sitting idle on your desk.
You tried to think of a solution, maybe you could call out for Mina. By this point, she was probably gathering her things and heading down to the common area to meet up with anyone else who was gathered there. Or maybe it's as simple as just grabbing one of the flashlights you kept in your bedside table drawer for times like this. But, it was no use as you could already feel yourself slipping closer and closer into a panic attack. Your breathing was becoming erratic as the grip on your pen, paused mid-word in your notebook, tightened more and more.
Just as your vision began to blur, your room feeling like it was slowly closing in and swallowing you whole, you hear a harsh pounding at your door, too impatient and distinct to be anyone but one person. Anyone else in class 2A would have knocked a few times, maybe even called out your name to get your attention, but this person clearly decided against all of that. Instead, knocking like they are trying to take down your door, and everyone else’s on this side of the wall.
“Did you hear me? Or am I just talking to myself out here?”
Your eyes moved to the sound of the voice, shifting to the corner of the room where your door usually is. It was hard to hear over the ringing in your ears, but you could tell of all people, it was definitely Bakugou. And he was clearly growing more annoyed the longer he waited for a reply.
“I’m not leaving until you open the stupid door. Aizawa wants us all to meet downstairs.” He growled, immediately resuming his pounding on your innocent door.
Downstairs? Oh yeah, you were still in your room, in the dark, probably had been for a while. It's hard to tell how much time has passed since the lights first went out; all you know is that everything is quieter, well, besides one person and their frustrated protests. You were trying to find a way to calm down, repeating It’s gonna be okay, over and over again in your head, but to no avail.
Before you could continue with your futile self-soothing tactics, you heard the door swing open, so aggressively in fact that you’re surprised it managed to stay attached to its hinges.
“Oi… how many times do I fucking need to–” He started, storming into the room.
You couldn't even look up at him, still trying to control your breathing and recovering from flinching at the loud sound of the door being forced open. Heavy footsteps headed in your direction, slowly stopping next to you, where you sit still frozen. Setting his phone on the bed with the flashlight pointed up, you first hear him scoff, and then his voice. Softer than you’ve ever heard it before.
“What's going on?” He asked in an aggressive, almost whisper.
You hadn't noticed before, but he was closer than you thought, so close you could pinpoint his subtly smoky scent. He was kneeling down in front of you, the fiery eyes you were so used to seeing, now completely gone and replaced with ones surprisingly full of worry. Or maybe discomfort? It was hard to tell. You and Bakugou were not close, not at all, if anyone were to ask for his opinion. But you were friends with Mina and Kirishima, so you found yourself hanging out with them pretty often. He usually never gave you a second look, just referring to you as Houseplant because of your quirk. But now, his sharp gaze was locked onto you, searching for answers in your facial expressions and anxious body language.
“Shit… okay, try to match my breathing, alright?”
He must have noticed how aggressively your hands were trembling because he reached over and moved your notebook out of the way, taking the pen from your desperate grasp and setting both items on the table next to your bed. You were grateful as you moved your hands to clench the bedsheets sprawled around you instead. The room felt a little too frigid, and you could feel the sweat cooling on your forehead, contributing to your distress.
At least there was a bit of light now, not only Bakugou’s phone emitting a pale glow from where it sat in the darkness, but he also subtly activated his quirk, so now there was a fiery orange hue radiating from one of his palms. The only sounds you could identify were the faint popping of explosions and your ragged breaths. It reminded you of the training camp from your first year, when Bakugou and Todororoki had calmed down Tokoyami and brought an end to Dark Shadow’s seemingly endless rampage through the forest.
You tried your best to follow his instructions; the longer his gaze remained absolute on your face, the more you could match his breathing. His hands stuttered in front of his chest a bit, looking like he wanted to reach out and touch you a few times, but ultimately decided against it. You could tell he was trying to be quieter, with faint curses and mumblings under his breath. It was funny, really. Bakugou never stayed still long enough to allow you to really examine his features, but sitting next to you with only a dim orange glow between you, he looked almost serene.
After a few minutes of focusing on his breathing and calming down ever so slowly, you were finally able to speak out.
“I’m sorry.” You whispered suddenly.
Although you were still struggling to gather your thoughts, you couldn’t help but feel a bit guilty. Apologizing was always your first instinct, a way to ensure you could quell anyone's bad thoughts about you before they could have them. It was something you learned as a kid: that it was best to smooth things over before a situation could escalate, and with a person like Bakugou, the situation usually does.
“What are you even talking about?” He replied.
His usual scowl was back, so quick that you had forgotten what he looked like a few minutes ago without it. It was hard to hold his gaze for long, so instead, you started picking at your cuticles, resisting the urge to grab your notebook and start furiously writing more notes to ground yourself.
“I’m sorry.” You repeated, before you could give it another thought. He scoffed.
“Yeah, I heard you the first time.”
It was clear he was still trying to speak quieter, be more gentle, so as not to scare you. While you appreciated the gesture, you were calmer now and already starting to wish you could just put this whole situation behind you. To start, maybe explaining to him could relieve some of the tension, or it would just make you even more anxious.
“I don’t really like the dark.” You said matter-of-factly. Suddenly, everywhere else in the room seemed more interesting.
“No shit.” He replied, rolling his eyes.
Looking out the window, you finally realized just how hard it was raining. Throughout the day, the rain had been on and off, but now you could hear it forcefully hitting the window. Why isn't there an automatic generator or something? The last thing this building should be affected by is a little bit– or a lot of rain.
“...Is everyone else already downstairs?” You mumbled, unable to pry your eyes away from the window.
“Besides you and Half-And-Half, yeah. They sent me up to come get you.” You could tell just how annoyed he was at that. Usually, if anyone was sent up to gather everyone, it would've been Iida; hell, they probably would've sent anyone else before the explosive blonde.
“Why you?” You questioned under your breath, finally turning back to meet his gaze.
“How the fuck should I know?” He shot back.
You shrugged, an uncomfortable silence falling between the two of you. Normally, you would have Kirishima or even Kaminari in the middle to instigate, so having to keep up a conversation when he clearly didn't want to seemed futile.
As you yawn, you realize just how late it has gotten. Your earlier panic had taken the little energy you had left, especially after today’s long and intensive training session in Gym Gamma. Before you could give it another thought, Bakugou was getting up, stalking around your room, and grabbing your stuff. First, he grabbed your phone, then your bag, and finally the ID and keys sitting on your desk.
“What are you doing?” You asked, your exhaustion not so subtly creeping into your voice.
Instead of answering, he just grabbed one of your hands that had been fiddling with the corner of your duvet.
“Let's go.” He stated, instantly heading for the door.
You managed to push yourself up and follow after him, the grip on your hand a little tighter than necessary. You barely had time to step into your slippers before he was tugging your arm and making you stumble after him. Despite the events of tonight, you could only bite back a smile.