Chapter Text
Bakugo
Noise. Why is there no noise? Why does my head hurt so fucking much? Why is there such a loud buzzing in my ears? And what the hell are Kirishima and Kaminari trying to say to me...
I stared in confusion at my two 'friends', trying to decipher what they were saying. My ears rang and I had a horrible migraine.
I lifted up my arm, taking a brief moment to admire my gauntlets as I touched my gloved fingertips to my right ear. I pulled it back and looked at my hand. Blood covered my fingers, and my hands trembled slightly as I processed the sight.
I looked back up at the red-head and the blond electric quirk user, my vision blurring slightly. They were both smiling and chatting to each other.
Why I can't I hear them...
I felt my body shut down, my knees buckling and my eyes closing as I crumpled to the ground.
What is wrong with me...
***
I woke up with a jerk in the infirmary. I could feel my heart beating furiously against my chest and I felt my breaths coming in and out in short gasps of air. But, one thing hadn't changed.
I couldn't hear.
I placed a shaking hand on my chest to try and calm myself down as I sat up. I noticed Recovery Girl sitting in her chair, typing something up on her computer.
I waited patiently for her to notice me, and when I had finally run out of patience, I said, "Old woman."
At least, that's what I hope I said. I felt the vibrations in my chest when I spoke, but I don't know if I actually said anything or if I said nothing at all.
She turned around and smiled a little, making her way over to me with her syringe cane. I could see her lips moving, but I couldn't hear what she was saying.
I just stared at her until her lips stopped moving, then I tried to say, "I can't hear."
Her face immediately changed and she grabbed a piece of paper. After about a minute spent writing, she handed me the paper and I read it.
"I'm going to have to run a few tests, so just sit tight, dear. I need to see if this is just an issue with your ears or if you've lost your hearing."
I took a deep, calming breath, then handed the paper back and simply nodded my head.
I sat completely still while she ran a few tests on me; I tried my best on the hearing tests she gave me but I couldn't hear anything she was testing me with. After waiting for about 30 minutes, she wrote out another note with a grim look on her face.
"Bakugo, I'm sorry to say this, but the tests have confirmed that you are, indeed, deaf."
My mind flashed back to before I came to her office—
"—Alright, today you'll be doing rescue training with Cementoss," Mr. Aizawa said, slowly zipping up into his yellow sleeping bag. "Just do what he says, and don't interrupt my nap..."
With that, he zipped himself up completely and laid down on the floor.
"So much for instructions," Todoroki muttered from the back of the class. He was the last person everyone expected to speak out.
"I apologize for the brief instructions," Cementoss said, stepping into the room. "Today you will be gathering into groups of three. I know there are 20 students in this class, but we are also pairing with class 1-B for this training exercise, so I need two volunteers to pair up with the other class."
Two students raised their hands, then Cementoss let us choose our groups.
I sat in my chair with my hands in my pockets, waiting for someone to come over. I wasn't expecting anyone to come over, though, because not many people in this class could tolerate me. And I couldn't tolerate many people in this class either.
"Bakubro, let's team up!" Kirishima exclaimed, coming over to me with a bright smile.
I hated the nickname, but Kirishima was about the only person I could tolerate in class 1-A.
"Fine, shark face," I grumbled.
"Kirishima, pleaseeeeee, can I join your group?" Kaminari whined, dragging his feet as he walked over to us. "Sero won't let me into his group..."
"Sure, bro!" Kirishima said, smiling at him. "I remember in the provisional license exam all of us made a great team!"
I felt a few explosions pop in my hands. I didn't necessarily hate Kaminari, he just got on my very delicate nerves too often.
"Go get changed!" Cementoss said. "You have 5 minutes to get into your hero costumes and meet me out on the field behind gym Gamma!"
Everyone rushed towards the door, but I took my time and walked out of our class more slowly so I didn't get caught in the crowd.
"Always in a rush," I mumbled to myself, sticking my hands in my pockets as I walked to the changing room.
"Always," a voice behind me said.
I looked back and saw Todoroki walking behind me. Finally. We were both silent as we walked into the changing room. After our exam together to get our provisional license exam, I didn't hate Icyhot as much as I used to. We could start and hold a conversation for about 2 minutes before I blew up and tried to kill him.
When we got to the changing room, most of the guys were in the middle of changing, and I tried to advert my eyes away from them as I opened my locker and got out my hero costume.
The one person I tried to keep my eyes off was Kirishima. I had never had a 'crush' before, but I'm pretty sure this is what it felt like. Hot face, racing heartbeat, sweaty hands (although my hands were always sweaty from my quirk, so I guess that didn't count...)
I subconsciously glanced down at the letter on my wrist. E. Too bad it wasn't a K. Kirishima was a fine man.
I got changed and went out to the field behind gym Gamma with the rest of my class.
Cementoss explained the rest of the instructions: we had to save a fake person from debris all while fighting off another team of people.
Kaminari, Kirishima, and I got put on the defending team, where we had to defend the fake person.
"Don't mess this up," I said to Kaminari as the bell rang, signaling the start of the 10 minute timer.
"Why are you saying that to just me!?" he exclaimed, pouting. "I saved you guys last time!"
"Thanks for doing that," Kirishima told him, patting his back. "But for now, bro, we need to focus on the mission at hand. So, yeah, same goes for all of us: don't mess this up."
I rolled my eyes and got in my battle stance when I heard voices approaching. We were put against some extras from class 1-B whose quirks we didn't know, but that didn't matter. All that mattered was if we beat them. And protected the fake person, whatever.
I launched an explosion at them, but they dodged out of the way. Kirishima and Kaminari took the two other people while I was stuck with the blond from their class that I hated the most:
Neito Monama.
I just can't let him touch me, I thought, flying myself into the air with my explosions. If he doesn't touch me, he can't get my quirk and use it against me.
"Come down here and fight me like a man, Katsuki Bakugo," he said.
I growled and launched myself towards the ground. No one was allowed to use my name like that.
When he reached up to touch me, I blew myself to the side, then landed a decent hit on his leg. He finally managed to touch my arm when I dodged away and he activated a huge blast, knocking me backwards.
"Oh, so that's how you wanna play," I said, bracing myself as my hand grew red-hot.
I set off a giant explosion towards him, gritting my teeth as I felt my muscle fibers rip apart. Ever since the fight at the beginning of the year with Deku, the teachers hadn't allowed me to use my gauntlets ever again during training sessions.
When I couldn't hold it any longer, I stopped the blast and looked around. He wasn't there. Had I cremated him?
"Only a fool would keep their attack up and not notice their opponent had moved," a voice behind me said, before a body knocked me to the ground and an explosion was set off near my face.
He pinned my hands down to the ground near my head, facing down so I couldn't explode him. With a small growl, I set off another explosion that made me rise into the air. Monama fell off me, and there was a sudden ringing in my ears. I didn't think much of it, because after a big explosion, sometimes my ears would hurt because of the loud noise.
I flew myself back towards the dazed blond, trying to get a decent hit in before he realized what was going on. Before I hit the ground, I threw my hands in front of myself and set off an explosion towards Monama.
Suddenly, two arms wrapped around my arm pits, holding me back and picking me off the ground. I tried to explode them but they had a tight grip on me.
The person threw me to the ground so that my back was resting against the concrete. Kirishima stood above me in his hardened form, saying something. My ears were ringing so loudly, though, that I couldn't hear him. I felt light headed as he helped me up onto my feet. I stared around at the damage I had done. Scorch marks were everywhere, but it was worth it. The fake person was still in its original place, so we had won.
And so, that's how I ended up in this shitty state of life called 'permanent ear damage.' Also known as, deafness.