Archive of Our Own ^beta

The first few weeks of living in the dorms were nice. There were a few instances, of course: Kirishima managed to burn water, Kaminari set the microwave on fire, and Sero made it worse while trying to put it out.

Needless to say, they were banned from using kitchen appliances. Mina was banned from the kitchen entirely because it was her distracting the others when it happened.

But aside from those occurrences, all was peaceful. They slowly learned new things they might not have otherwise, such as how Tokoyami likes classical music, or Uraraka loves to watch the night sky before going to bed.

Until it wasn't. Peaceful, that is.

It was a normal night. Everyone's doing their own thing. The Bakusquad were in the living room playing Mario Kart, Sato was baking in the kitchen with Yaoyorozu and Koda helping, and everyone else was either in their room or not in the dorms at all. Everyone was having fun and enjoying themselves, even with Bakugo yelling at the tv and Mina's loud cheering.

Then, for seemingly no reason, Katsuki's yelling stopped mid-sentence and he started exploding instead - literally.

His quirk activated, his hands poised in front of himself to propel himself into an upper corner.

"GET THAT FUCKING THING AWAY FROM ME!!" He screams, propping himself up with his hands and feet on the walls. Everyone immediately turns to him, if they hadn't already. Several heads even poke out of the stairwell.

"Bakugo, what's wrong?" Sero questions. Bakugo doesn't say anything, just stares at the couch. He tries again to no avail, no one else having any luck either. Not even Aizawa can get through to him, when he arrives.

"Really, Kacchan?" Izuku's voice chimes in about ten minutes later, coming in from his evening run. He lets out a sigh, asking, "Where is it?"

"Under the couch," The explosive all but whispers. Izuku causally lifts the couch and holds it for a second before reaching a hand under and scooping something off of the floor. He sets the couch down gently, mindful of his classmates sitting on it, and reveals what he's holding: a tiny spider, barely a centimetre across. Bakugo somehow manages to press even further into the wall.

Izuku heads to the front door, opening it and bending down for several seconds. He returns with his hands at his sides and the spider was gone. Bakugo finally drops from the ceiling.

"You are such a wimp, Kacchan," Izuku states calmly, no trace of his usual fear. Bakugo doesn't say anything for a few seconds.

"Thanks, Icchan," He finally mutters. Izuku comes closer and, with the hand that didn't touch the spider, pats Katsuki's head. To everyone's surprise, the blond leans into it.

"Always, Kacchan, you know this. I made a promise, didn't I?" Izuku answers, smiling softly. Katsuki nods his head once, then turns and heads for the elevator. Izuku moves to the sink, washes his hands, then goes to the stairwell. He's stopped by Mina's hand grabbing his wrist.

"Nu-uh, you aren't getting out of here so easily. What the hell was that?" She demands. Izuku blinks.

"I can't tell you," He responds, face and body language radiating innocence. Mina narrows her eyes suspiciously.

"And why not?" She pries.

"I promised not to," Izuku answers. "Do you want me to break a promise I made as a child and have held ever since?"

"Fine. I'll let you go, this time," Mina relents, releasing her grip. Izuku beams at her.

"Thanks, Mina! See you guys later!" And with that, the green-haired cinnamon roll dashes up the stairs. Mina looks at the others.

"We're following him, right?" She inquires, though it's not much of a question. Everyone in her immediate friend group, Jiro, and Asui nod in agreement. They all follow Izuku up the stairs, though at a much more sedate pace. Hard to move fast as a large-ish group in a tight space, after all.

Jiro, once they reach the correct floor, points to the third room in the left wing: Bakugo's room. The group of six sneak over there as quietly as possible, crowding around the door and thankful it's not completely closed. They peak in as best they can. They can't see much, of course, but it seems like Bakugo is curled up on the bed and Izuku is sitting on the edge.

"-kay, Kacchan. It's gone now, it can't hurt you." Izuku's voice soothes. Bakugo lets out a whimper.

"It came from nowhere, Icchan. I was just playing Mario Cart. That's all. It ran across my foot and ran under the couch. Scared the fuck out of me." Baukgo replies, voice shakier than the others have ever heard it before. Midoriya makes some shushing noises.

"It's gone now, remember? It's just us here, no spiders, no ants, just the two of us."

"Everyone saw me freak out over it, too. They're all gonna think I'm fucking weak or something."

"Everybody has things they're afraid of, Kacchan. No one is going to think any differently, I promise."

The others decide that they should probably stop listening to this highly private conversation, so they begin to creep away from the door and head back downstairs. About 2 hours later, Midoriya comes back downstairs to see everyone relaxed in the living room.

"Hey, can we please never mention this again? Kacchan is, well, you know how Kacchan is. Can you just treat him the same as before tonight happened?" He asks, eyes wide and begging. Everyone in the room looks up.

"Yeah, dude, no problem! Everyone's scared of something, right? So what if Bakugo is afraid of spiders? I think I speak for all of us when I say it doesn't matter!" Kaminari pipes up. The others all nod in agreement, a few people saying things along the same lines. Izuku smiles at them.

"Thank you so much, guys. Anyway, it's late and I'm tired, so I'm going to head to bed. Good night!"

A chorus of good nights follows him as he heads to the elevator, the students going back to what they were doing right after. Slowly, over the next hour or so, they begin filtering to their rooms for the night, ready for sleep. The next day, no one mentions anything about the night before and everything continues as normal, much to Bakugo and Midoriya's combined relief.

If there's a thank you note on a folded-up piece of paper on Izuku's desk, well, that's something for him and Katsuki to know.