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It was the end of the academic year and class 1-A was busy preparing for finals. Between studying and training there wasn’t a single relaxed student in the school— but no one was more busy than Izuku Midoriya. Whether it was lifting weights in the training room, jogging laps around the school, or staying up late into the night bent over a book, Izuku didn’t rest for a single moment. Every minute was spent in preparation for the upcoming exams.
Though his willpower was at first inspiring to his classmates, it soon began to concern them how little rest he was getting. Ururaka found him in the training room at three a.m. Kirishima spotted him in the library at two p.m., only for Koda to later find him there again at nearly midnight. Jiro bumped into him in the common room at five-thirty a.m., reading a book while pumping a weight in his other hand. Aoyama could hear him up in his room at all hours of the night. After about a week serious concern was raised for his health.
“What should we do?” Ururaka’s voice was hushed so he wouldn’t overhear them. “Deku’s going to kill himself at this rate!”
“Perhaps if we just kindly pointed out to him that he may be overworked he might take a break?” Iida suggested, being shushed by Jiro for speaking too loudly.
“I dunno,” Kaminari interjected, “Midoriya isn’t really the sort to take a break, you know? He’s such a hard worker, he’d sooner fall over dead than pause to take care of himself.”
“Unfortunately, I think he’s right,” Aoyama added, waving a dismissive hand through the air beside him.
“What if we knocked him out? Then he would sleep,” Todoroki suggested, face straight. Nobody could tell if he was joking or not.
“UGHHH!!” Kirishima ran two hands aggressively through his hair. “This is so frustrating! How do we convince him to take a break?!”
The door to the training room swung open hard behind them, startling the group. Bakugou stood in the entrance, already looking annoyed at the sight of them. “What are you losers doing standing there?! This is the training room, not your damn hang out. If you’re not gonna train then get out!”
They all immediately hushed him, rushing to surround him before he could get a step further into the room. Before he could open his mouth to yell at them Jiro slapped a hand over his face, effectively shutting him up, but also serving to piss him off even further.
“We’re worried about Deku,” Ururaka explained quietly. “He’s been really overworking himself in preparation for exams.”
“Yeah, I really admire his manly spirit,” Kirishima added, “But dude’s gonna pass out. He hasn’t been eating or sleeping, just working out and studying.”
Kaminari wiped a fake tear from his eye. “We’re real worried, man. Midoriya might die.”
Finally ripping Jiro’s hand off his mouth, Bakugou glared at them, teeth gnashing. “All the better then! Let the nerd die!”
“Bakugou!” Kirishima admonished him but was ignored. Bakugou was already pushing past them, stomping into the training room.
Izuku was over by the weight machines against the back wall, sitting up on a bench with a heavy weight in either hand. His face was red from exertion and deep purple bags decorated the underside of his eyes. Hair clung in tight curls to his forehead, shirt sticking to his skin from sweat. Even from a distance he looked past his limit.
“DEKU!!!”
Izuku turned, wiping sweat from his eyes, and watched as Bakugou drew rapidly toward him. “Kacchan?”
Without any warning Izuku’s feet left the ground. Grunting as he was thrown over Bakugou’s shoulder, he stared at the floor directly below him, bewildered. They were already on the move by the time he could react, twisting around in a vain attempt to look at Bakugou.
“Ah- Kacchan? Where are we going?”
“SHUT UP, NERD!!”
With a sigh, Izuku fell limp, allowing himself to be carried away to who knew where. Sometimes it was better not to ask questions.
They passed the group standing by the door who watched on with wide stares and dropped jaws. Izuku waved nervously at them, wincing at the sound of Bakugou kicking the door open as he carried him out into the hall. He continued to bounce along on Bakugou’s shoulder, not entirely sure where they were headed. It was hard to see where they were going with his view being mostly of the ground. After a minute, though, they entered what he recognized as the shower room.
There was the sound of a faucet being turned on and then suddenly he was tossed to the floor, directly under the hot spray of a shower. Spluttering, he struggled to his feet, wiping water from his face and looking down at his soaked through clothes.
“Kacchan, what the—”
“Shut up and clean off, you nerd,” he said, still aggressively but less loud than earlier. “You stink like a pig!”
With that he turned around, stomping away, and Izuku was left standing, fully clothed, in the far too hot stream of water, a bewildered look on his face.
It was a half hour later when Izuku came out of the shower room, rubbing his hair dry with a towel. After turning the heat down a bit, and stripping out of his clothes, the shower had actually been pretty enjoyable. And admittedly, probably needed. He hated to say it but he had been neglecting his hygiene a bit for the last week or so.
He was just beginning to think of what to study when he got back to his room when he was rudely interrupted by a piece of bread being jammed into his mouth. Coughing, he had to pound his own chest to avoid choking, chewing the bread as quickly as possible and swallowing heavily. Looking up, he opened his mouth to say something just in time for Bakugou to shove half an orange down his throat.
“Eat,” he said, already shoving another piece of bread towards him.
Izuku waved his hands frantically in front of him, trying rapidly to chew and swallow the orange before it was joined by the bread. “K-Kacchan, wait!” He had to hold his friend’s wrists away from him to avoid being force fed the bread. “Slow down, I’m going to choke!”
A wicked grin spread across Bakugou’s face. “Good, all the better then!” He successfully shoved the bread into Izuku’s mouth, forcing him to chew.
The next ten minutes were spent mostly with Izuku trying to dodge Bakugou’s attempts to shove various foods into his mouth. He finally put his foot down when the water bottle came out, snatching it away and drinking it himself before Bakugou could quite literally drown him with it. By the time he had finally relented Izuku was exhausted and beyond confused.
“Alright,” Bakugou said, glancing at the clock on the wall behind them, “it’s bedtime. Get your ass to bed.”
“Wha- No, I have some studying to do still. I was going to—”
“DOES IT LOOK LIKE I CARE?!” Bakugou came quickly at him, once more scooping him up and throwing him over his shoulder. This time Izuku attempted to struggle, growing increasingly annoyed with his friend’s strange behavior. Bakugou kept his arm hooked tightly over him, though, and it wasn’t an easy position to break free from. Before he knew it Bakugou was kicking open the door to his room, throwing Izuku onto the bed, and rummaging through his desk.
“Kacchan, what are you doing?!” Izuku snapped, watching as he grabbed up an armful of books and various desk supplies.
“Confiscating your nerd shit,” he sneered. “You can have it back in the morning after you get some damn sleep!” He marched towards the still open door, practically slamming the light switch down as he passed it and plunging the room into darkness. Just before he left he turned, furious glare locked onto Izuku. “And don’t leave your damn room or try to fucking study! If you stay up I’ll know!” Then the door slammed shut and Izuku was left alone.
The next morning came and Izuku didn’t come down for breakfast. In fact, it wasn’t until lunch that anyone saw him. He at last stumbled out of his room yawning, hair sticking up every which way. Aoyama was passing by and escorted him down to the cafeteria where everyone greeted him cheerily. When asked he said he had slept like a log and didn’t hear his alarm. A couple glances were thrown Bakugou’s way but nobody said anything and Bakugou himself ignored them all entirely, staring moodily out the window and chewing his spicy noodles.
Later that evening Izuku found himself once more in the library, pouring over a textbook on first aid, when a book slammed onto the table across from him. Looking up, he met Bakugou’s carefully stern eyes glaring down at him.
“Damn nerd. Finally got some fucking sleep, huh? Bout damn time.” He dropped into the chair, whipping the book open and rapidly flipping through the pages.
Izuku stared hard at him for a moment, then nodded, a grin breaking out over his freckled face. “Yeah, thanks for that, Kacchan!”
Bakugou’s face instantly scrunched in disgust. “Huh?! The hell are you thanking me for?!”
Izuku laughed, shaking his head. “You’re a good friend, Kacchan.”
“DIE!”