B-Side (Part 2)

The spring break ended. And as Inko-obaasan promised, Izuku returned back to their dorm acting as if he didn't just try to end his life.

"I'm back," Izuku chirped, sounding awfully enthusiastic as he set his shoes on the side. "Hey there, Kacchan."

He went inside, carrying his luggage. Upon seeing his roommate, Deku offered a sweet smile. Yet, Kacchan noticed that his eyes were utterly dead and empty. Kacchan shifted his gaze, looking at Deku's arm which was now marred with scars that were too many to count.

Kacchan was completely dumbfounded at how casual Deku was acting. It was as if he completely disregarded the fight they had before he left. It was as if he completely disregarded what he just attempted to do because of their fight. It was as if there were no scars on his arm that will mark him forever.

"Hey, Deku." He cleared his throat. "About last time, I'm sorry—"

"What do you mean last time?" Deku tilted his head to the side, feigning innocence. Yet, Kacchan saw the twitching of his eyebrows, a mannerism of his whenever he doesn't want to talk about something. "Sorry, my memory is kinda foggy. I think my vacation haze is yet to leave me."

No, it's because you're high on prescription drugs, Izuku.

"Izuku," Kacchan said, tone turning serious. The last time he called him by his real name was during their last sex, this somehow caused a slight ache in his chest. "You know what I'm talking about."

Izuku gave him an empty, dull smile as he set his luggage down near his bed. "I do. But I'd rather we don't talk about it."

"But we need to—"

"Katsuki!" Deku shouted, calling him as well by his real name which he hadn't done in a long time. "Please, I'm begging you. I'm not in the proper mind space to talk about this right now." Deku sighed after his outburst. "Maybe next time, okay?"

Kacchan wanted to argue but he didn't know what could possibly trigger Deku's hysteria so he needed to be extra cautious with his words and actions. There was always the possibility that it could only cause Deku to act negatively and might cause him to do self-harm again.

Finally, Kacchan accepted his defeat and could only nod in silence.

But sadly, there wasn't any 'next time'. They didn't talk about this fight at all, it just drifted at the back of their mind as more disturbing fights occurred in their relationship.

***

Their classes resumed and Deku continued to act as if there was nothing wrong and appeared to be back to his usual peppy self. But Kacchan knew better.

He hasn't been the same since he returned.

At first, it was just small things.

"Hey, Deku," Kacchan tried to wake his roommate up. It was already 8 in the evening, yet he hasn't gotten out of bed the whole day. "Wake up, idiot. I made you breakfast—Or dinner, whatever."

Deku stirred, groaning as he covered his face with a blanket as if that would send Kacchan away. Kacchan huffed, pulling the blanket off of Deku and unrolling the green-haired man from his blanket burrito. Deku fell down on the floor with a loud thud.

"I said, wake up, you piece of shit." Even though his words were harsh, Kacchan was trying to hide a small smile.

Deku groaned, flailing to get the blanket from Kacchan's hands. "Noooo!"

Kacchan kicked him in the face. "Don't 'noooo' me! Get your ass up here and we'll eat."

After a game of Kacchan-dragging-Deku-on-the-floor-like-a-mop, they're finally at the dining room with a wide-awake, crushed-faced Deku.

Just as they were about to eat, Deku completely stopped moving. He had this blank face as he stared at the wall in a sudden bout of silence.

"Hey, Deku. Earth to Deku." Kacchan waved a hand on his face. "God, stop spacing out! We're eating, you know. Your food is gonna turn cold."

"Oh, sorry." Deku looked down on his with an unreadable expression on his face. Hesitantly, he took a piece of a rice ball.

Kacchan eyed him curiously. Lately, it's either Deku has been overeating or not eating at all. Some days, he caught him vomiting his meal out. Deku would excuse it as hyperacidity, but Kacchan noticed that there was a pattern. He would only vomit if he experienced something stressful that day.

"I think you cooked too much, Kacchan." Deku took a small bite off of his rice ball. "I don't think I could finish any of this."

"That's odd, the other day you were eating too much and now you could barely eat a rice ball?"

Today, it was the latter.

Deku laughed but there was no mirth in it. "I'm sorry, my stomach is acting weird recently. I'll set it aside in the fridge and I promise to eat it during dinner."

"This is dinner."

"What."

"Sheesh, Deku." Kacchan shook his head. "Seriously, don't you think you're oversleeping? You've completely forgotten the concept of time."

"I'm just too tired lately."

"Yeah, 12 hours of sleep of 'too tired'. Stop fooling me."

Deku crossed his arms, pouting. Kacchan couldn't help but stare at his forearms that were filled with scars. It used to be muscular and bulky, now it's just thin. He reasoned in his mind that maybe it's because Deku hadn't been working out lately.

But that doesn't excuse the fact why he seemed to have lost an incredible amount of weight.