Orange Juice from Hell (Part 1)

Author's Notes: This chapter (and the next) is still part of Midoriya's backstory, so expect heavy BakuDeku scenes. There are usage homophobic slurs.

Be warned.

***

Due to the influx of parents dropping off their children at their new college dormitory, the lobby of Aoi dormitory was cramped and too noisy under normal circumstances. Today, it was a rather common sight to see a parent (or two) being emotional about their child's inevitable departure.

Midoriya Inko was no exemption to that.

She tightly hugged her son, sobbing incoherently advising Izuku. He was unsure what exactly did she say but it mostly consisted of "keep safe", "eat three times a day", "study well", "don't forget to call", and the likes.

"I'm going to be fine, Okaa-san." Midoriya Izuku soothingly rubbed his mom's back as she continued crying on his shirt. "I promise to call and text you every night."

"Okay," She finally stopped (much to Izuku's relief) but the damage was already done and his shirt was damp with tears and nasal mucus. "If you ever feel lonely, don't forget that Katsuki is on the same campus as you are."

"Okaa-san," He blushed, for a reason he himself does not know as well.

"The only reason why I'm confident in letting you stay in a dorm is that I know you have someone to run to in case you're getting pressured by school works." She sighed, wiping her tears away with a handkerchief. "I know more than anyone that you treat yourself too hard even if I'm not some tiger mom forcing you to have Latin honors or something."

"I don't even know what dorm he stays in, and there are a lot of dorms here and Yuuei is huge." Izuku looked away, not wanting his mom to question his questionable and unhealthy study ethics.

"Still," The Midoriya matriarch insisted. "It's better to have a familiar face around when you find yourself in completely foreign surroundings."

That Midoriya can't argue with.

"Are you sure you don't want me to help you unpack?" She offered, just in case.

"Mom," he whined. God, he can't believe that in this time and age he still had the audacity to whine. "I don't want my roommate to think like I'm some mama's boy--"

"But you are a mama's boy."

Izuku sighed exasperatedly. "Okaa-san, please."

Inko raised her hands up, feigning surrender. "If that's what you want, honey. I'll be heading to the train station right now." The look on her son's face made her pause. "What, did you honestly expect that I would just stay here until you finish settling in? I have a job to keep, Izuku."

"I mean," Izuku cleared his throat, slightly red-faced for being caught wearing his heart on his sleeves. "I could at least walk you to the--"

"No need," She waved her hand dismissively. "You have a dozen boxes to take care of. I don't want your roommate to think that I didn't raise you right."

He scratched the back of his neck, finding it annoying yet amusing at the same time to have his words fired back at him.

"I'll be going now, Izuku." She turned her back, waving. "Take care of yourself, alright?"

Those were the last words he heard

from his mother, disappearing soon after in the sea of busy college students and overly emotional parents.

Surely, he'll have quite some time to adjust. But for now, he had a couple of boxes to unpack and he can't afford to be emotional. Izuku turned his heels while carrying a container of his things and headed straight toward the third floor. He stopped in front of a faded wooden door with a metal plate that has the number 314 inscribed on it.

With a deep sigh, he shifted the weight of the box to his dominant hand and turned the knob with the other.

… Red. He immediately found himself staring at an intense pair of scarlet red eyes.

Those red irises stared right back at him, blinking a couple of times for good measures.

"Deku?"

Izuku took a step back, slamming the door shut. He took a deep breath before turning the knob once more.

But he was still there.

Bakugo Katsuki was still there.

He was crouching down on the floor, taking his clothes from a couple of containers. From the looks of it, he was almost done. And Izuku couldn't help but notice that the things they shopped together yesterday were already properly placed inside the room.

It filled him with an odd sense of glee.

"Kacchan," He croaked. "So you're my roommate."

"Obviously," Kacchan snarked. "Unless you entered the wrong room."

Midoriya peeked at the room number outside. "No, no, I'm sure this is the right room."

"Relax, I was just joking." Kacchan stood up, patting himself clean from imaginary dust. He looked at Izuku, grinning. "Glad it was you. I wouldn't know what to do if I got roomed with a weirdo."

"Yeah, same." Izuku laughed awkwardly. Even though they made up yesterday, he still had some difficulty interacting with his old friend. Or maybe that's the exact reason why he didn't know what to do with himself.

He'll figure it out soon enough.

"Well?" The blond boy asked. Izuku stupidly blinked. "Are you just going to stand there and ogle at my sweaty tank top outlining my muscular body?"

"You're gross," Deku made a face of disgust, but he was laughing. He shuffled out of the entrance and began placing his boxes on the other bed frame, which he assumed was his side since it was completely bare. He began removing his mattress and pillow from its boxes and began placing them on the bed frame.

"Where's Obaa-san?" Kacchan asked out of nowhere, in such a nice friendly tone it was making Deku nervous.

"She went to the train station already," Izuku answered as cooly as possible, not wanting him to know that his changed behavior was freaking him out. "She said that if I don't let her help unpack, she might as well go back home already."

"Typical of her," Kacchan laughed. It sounded so forced, he wanted to punch him right there and there. "She didn't change at all since the last time I saw her."

"Yeah." Deku nodded, wanting to drop the conversation already since he wasn't fond of small talk.

But his roommate didn't. "I'm almost done here," Kacchan said. "Want me to help you--"

"Stop that." Izuku found himself blurting out.

Bakugo looked completely taken aback, and so was himself.

"What do you mean?" Bakugo enunciated each word carefully as if he wanted to make sure that each word was heavily guarded.

"That." Izuku pointed out, timidly avoiding eye contact as he continued unpacking. "You don't need to choose your words carefully like I'm some ticking time bomb that might get triggered at any possible implication."

"I don't want to offend you." He answered, honestly. That itself was a big shock.

"You always offended people no matter what you do." Izuku sighed.

"I don't care about what other people think, I only care about yours." Katsuki glared at the back of Izuku's head, his red eyes seemed to pierce right through Deku's soul. "I don't want you to think that my apology yesterday was insincere."

"I don't care about what other people think, I only care about yours." Deku imitated, with the same sharp tone enough to cut the tension in the air. "Wow, Kacchan, that sounded so gay."

"Oh shut the fuck up, asshole," Kacchan shouted.

There was a pregnant pause.

Upon realizing what he had just done, he covered his face with his palms, suppressing the urge to groan exasperatedly, and swore continuously instead.

"Better," Deku chuckled.

He looked up to meet his gaze. "You fucking shit, go die."

"I like this Kacchan better." He insisted.

"Fuck you," He growled, earning a guffaw from his childhood friend. "I take back what I just said, I won't help you. In fact, when you leave this room, I'm gonna burn all your things and whoop your ass you--"

"Please take care of me for the duration of my stay here in Yuuei, Kacchan."

Kacchan continued to glare at him. "Yeah, go fuck yourself." He shoved his last pair of socks inside a cabinet before storming off their room.

But Izuku knew that it was his very Kacchan version of, "I'm counting on you, too."