Given

16: And Now, Back to our Regularly Scheduled Program

It's been a few days since I got hearing aids - the process was pretty odd. The first thing they had to do was take molds of my ears. When I went, Recovery Girl had come with me and my mom, which had drawn a little bit of attention from the media. Luckily, Recovery Girl was prepared and got All Might to make a public appearance two streets over to take the attention. The hearing aids took about a week and a half to make and be fitted on my ears as well as teaching me how to use them. My glasses arrived the day after them.

And that made today Monday - my first day back to school since getting these hearing aids and my first day with glasses in school. Today would be different, hopefully. Maybe I could hear the lectures properly now! Ever since my left ear decided to up and (mostly) quit on me, I had been having issues hearing from where I sat in class, as well as Kacchan thinking I was ignoring him constantly. The teacher was informed on my situation and did hand me crappy notes at the end of each day. Kacchan didn't know, so he was angrier than ever. To avoid all of this, I had even attempted using a bit of heal-glow on my ear with no luck.

Today was going to be different, though. I would be able to hear in class and take notes accordingly, as well as be able to see the chalkboard as the teacher wrote. It was going to be great day! ....hopefully.

As it turns out, my hearing was damaged before this incident too. Everything was...so loud on my way to school. I had to adjust my hearing on the fly to an easier level for me to handle. My glasses got me some stares, seeing as although they weren't uncommon, they were my only outstanding, noticeable-right-away feature.

Once that was over, I had to turn my hearing aids up slightly to actually hear when Kacchan was coming to pick on me. Luckily in the morning time, he didn't. He just ignored me completely, which was a huge relief.

During class until lunchtime, I was able to see the chalkboard and head the teacher clearly. The hearing part wasn't perfect, but hey, my hearing had been screwed up for a long time without me noticing.

During lunch though, Kacchan approached me.

"What's with the shit in your ears, Deku?"

I had turned off my hearing aids for the time being. I hadn't heard him well enough to realize he was talking to me, and kept on getting my lunch out.

"Are you ignoring me, idiot?!" He yelled. I barely heard him. I thought he might've been yelling at someone else - considering he yells are everyone.

"Do you think you're fucking better than me?!" He yelled, this time adding an explosion to cause me to jump. Which I did, immediately flinching and squeezing my eyes shut.

I didn't want any more damage to my eyes.

I turned my hearing aids back on (lower than during class), after showing him a "one" with my hand. He angrily waited.

"K-Kacchan...what's uh...up?" I said meekly.

"What's with the fucking shit in your ears, Deku?" He asked, probably more pissed than ever.

"Hearing aids." I answered honestly and calmly.

"Why the fuck do you need hearing aids? You deaf or something?"

"Severe hearing loss in one ear, moderate in the other," I said, more analytically than emotionally. I had been working with doctors for years, so speaking about a diagnosis was more in my comfort level, no matter who I was speaking to.

"They look fucking stupid. I can't believe you're more useless than ever! No way you'll be a hero, especially now, you stupid Deku," an explosion sounded, and my instinct became to shut my eyes and cover my ears. No time to turn the aids down. "And those stupid glasses, makes you look more like a idiotic nerd, you piece of shit."

I flinched, half expecting another explosion to fire in my face. Instead, still infuriated with my existence, he turned away and sat at his desk. I decided to take my lunch to the roof and ate cautiously in peace.

Geez Kacchan. You're the one who caused this damage...I wonder if he shouts all the time because he needs hearing aids too. Maybe he's not immune to his explosions in every sense..?