Stay with me!

Chapter 5 - Grape skies - G

The momentum between the two childhood friends having interactions cancelled, becoming motionless. Midoriya justified it to himself by believing that it was the best choice for the moment, to let his friend have enough space to breathe. The increasing encounters might have overwhelmed him, which was entirely understandable, so he could only distance himself to make sure the other was comfortable. The last thing he wants to do is to make Bakugo feel worse. However, he still failed to get his head across the understanding of why Kirishima treated him so differently to before, it was like a country full of only sunshine started raining. Completely unpredictable and confusing to make sense of and very abrupt.

Midoriya wasn't someone that liked to assume things, he preferred knowing the full facts which is why he stood next to Kirishima as the other tried to leave the class. Eventually, - after some back and forth whining - the two stood in a desolate corridor.

Kirishima crossed his arms, listening to the shorter male. "Kirishima-kun, I just want to know if I did anything wrong. If so, we can work through it and I can--."

"I'm not the one you need to work with," he lifted his head so he didn't give Midoriya the satisfaction of his pained expression.

"What do you mean?" Midoriya fidgeted quicker with his fingers, feeling the sensation of nausea swim through his bloodstream.

It was hard to--.

"I don't need to explain shit to you, Midoriya."

The green boy felt his arms curl around himself as Kirishima tried to walk away. He didn't object, lost in his words, unable to calm himself. It's been years since the last time he struggled against one of those panic attacks. Hearing Kirishima swear at him with his fury in his eyes, it terrified him. He couldn't remember how to calm himself or breathe. His back slid against the wall while his whimpers snapped in half. No one noticed him, too hyped about the school day ending. Apart from Mineta, who gawked: "DAMN BOY, HE DESTROYED YOU!" And then proceeded to skip away.

When he accepted that he had to cope on his own, Todoroki called out to him.

"Count to ten with me." His voice kept the usual tranquility and it helped Midoriya to focus.

"One."

"One..." Midoriya gasped through his voice.

"Two."

"Tuh- mm, two..." Midoriya stammered against the word, eventually echoing Todoroki.

"Three."

He took a deep breath and it seemed to help. "Three."

They counted together until they made it to ten. Todoroki helped by putting his arm around his back so Midoriya could stand as he wiped his eyes. The teary boy couldn't keep his gratitude inside, continuing to thank the boy despite being told that he was welcome. Todoroki heard the confrontation before he saw his friend but kept that part to himself. He would first reflect on it and then get involved once a plan was made. Seeing his selfless friend get treated so poorly, grinded his nerves under the usual expression he wore.

-----------------------

Bakugo sat at one of his last family dinners with both of his parents. Mashed potatoes were lumped on top of burnt sausages. The only noise came from the cutlery as it scraped the plates, digging in the mine of potato. Even his mother didn't complain about the poor quality of food. He opened his mouth to mention a random event from his day at school but his vocal chords refused, knowing how awkward it would be.

The salt shaker was only an arm's length away and the mash could definitely use some seasoning to it, one and one made two.

It may have been further than an arm's length so Bakugo leaned against the table to reach further because he refused to give up. His hand shook a little and ended up knocking the shaker onto the table. Well, wasn't that fantastic?

His mother pierced the grains of salt that spilled, nearly cooking them with her damn eyes. "Couldn't you use your fucking brain, Katsuki?"

The boy rested his cheek on his palm, pushing it upward.

"It was just an accident."

"Don't you fucking start on me too."

In a matter of seconds, the dinner table went up in uproar. They shouted back and forth, from the right way to parent to who had better qualifications at University. The plate was left half-empty as Bakugo slid off his chair and left to his room, it would be continuing for a long time... Proven by the fact it was nine at night when they kept arguing. He was awfully tempted to distract himself by joining a video call with Kirishima but the yelling was audible and he couldn't let the redhead pick up on that. The door being shut wasn't enough, the noise would tickle from under the floorboard so he gave up on the idea of calling and pretended that he never noticed it.

The dream he had that night was vivid and realistic, being forgotten once he woke up.

In the middle of an unknown sea, different to others with the greener colour it had. The weight of his body began to sink into the water as it covered him, eventually drowning the noise from his ears. His response was delayed but soon his arms brushed against the water as his legs kicked back and forth. Soon he learnt that it was no use, he continued to sink into the darkness. Looking down, a metal chain was around his ankle which explained it. No matter what he tried, the chain was firm and refused to leave its job of taking the blonde down with him. A sharp thud with the razor sharp sand as it scraped his knees. The chain vanished and he was left at the bottom of the unknown sea. A small fish looked at him for a few seconds and then swam away. Bakugo replied, "yeah, me too."

The fish heard him? Swimming back and facing him once again. "It's quite rude to assume things."

"You can talk? Fuck me, wait, I mean not literally. That would be weird and traumatising."

A grumble of chuckles left the fish in bubbles but Bakugo could register the faint noises encapsulated in this place. He was apparently a bubble translator.
"You're in the sea of truth, those only searching for it can be here. Find the truth."

"You're a talking fish, am I drunk or--?"

"Find the truth."

"Bitchy fish, just because you repeated it doesn't mean it has any significance."

"FIND. THE. TRUTH." Screams wiggled into his eardrums as he shivered in sensitivity, even the sea couldn't soften the noise.