Bakugo tried his damnest to ignore it.

Everybody's quirks caused wear and tear on their physical bodies. Either that, or caused some sort of mental instability.

Bakugo had never thought he would be one of those to fall victim to his own quirk.

He first noticed the ringing in his ears around the time of the provisional license exams.

He hadn't thought anything of it. He would go see Recovery Girl if it got worse, he thought. He didn't realize it was a sign that he was beginning to go deaf. He never once thought that maybe he should have ear plugs with his hero costume.

He had been using his quirk his entire life, why should it affect him now?

He had gotten used to training for long periods of time, ultimately causing him to be subjected to the loud noises of his quirk for extended periods of time.

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He first noticed it had gotten worse when he had to sit closer to the front of class in order to even be able to decipher what his teachers were saying. He was too stubborn to get help. Like hell he would wear hearing aids! He could read lips just fine.

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Midoriya was the first one to notice. He noticed how his childhood friend was quieter than normal, and how it had gradually gotten worse over the months to the point where the blond was almost mute.

Within the last month, Midoriya had noticed that, whenever anybody directed a question at the blond, he would yell, "what?!" And the question would have to be repeated several times, until the blond stormed off in frustrated. After the third or fourth occurance, he started piecing ut together.

The final piece of the puzzle fell into place when Midoriya found Bakugo asleep at the kitchen table in the dorms one night, seemingly while studying.

Curious, Midoriya quietly inched forward, until he could see what book it was, since it didn't look like any of their textbooks.

Everything clicked into place when he saw what it was: A sign language book.

"Oh." He let out a sigh that was almost silent, then began formulating a plan. It was risky, mainly due to the blonds notoriously explosive anger, but it was worth the risk.

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About a month later, Bakugo was sitting with his classmates in the dorm common area. He was desperately trying to contribute to the conversation. He normally wouldn't bother, but it had been weeks since he heard any sort of casual conversation, and it was starting to get lonely. It wasn't that he was totally deaf, he just had to strain to hear anything anybody said at a normal speaking volume, and it took so much time and energy that he usually didn't bother.

He sat on the couch, desperately trying to hear what was being said without making it look like he couldn't in the first place. After about fifteen minutes, he was about to give up and go to his room when he noticed something.

It was subtle, but it was definite.

Midoriya was signing. It was low, right at his side, almost unnoticeable. In fact, it would probably look like the nerd was just fidgeting if Bakugo hadn't spent countless hours of his free time with his nose in that damned sign language book he had bought on a whim.

He was about to blow up at how Midoriya was pitying him, as usual, when he noticed three more things:

One: He had not told anybody that he was having trouble hearing, so how could he possibly know?

Two: The damn nerd hadn't said anything directly to him about his predicament, and wasn't watching him for a reaction.

Three: There were a few others also signing, just as subtly as Midoriya, but also not looking at Bakugo.

Todoroki, Kirishima, and Yaoyorozu were among those signing. As far as Bakugo could tell, either nobody else had noticed, or they had decided not to react to it.

Bakugo began realizing that whoever was speaking would sign their part, and whoever wasn't would translate if the person talking wasn't one of the ones signing.

Bakugo felt a string of different emotions at his realization. He felt angry. Angry that his classmates thought he needed help. He felt scared. Scared because he knew this was a vulnerability of his. He felt hopeless. Hopeless because he knew that eventually, he would need hearing aides. And the most confusing emotions he felt were gratitude. Gratitude and relief washed over him.

Even though they hadn't so much as looked his direction, these extras knew him and had his back.

Bakugo wasn't the sentimental type, but he knew he would never forget this.

Even if he knew that it had to have been that damn nerd's idea.

Maybe, just maybe, this would help him come to terms with his newfound obstacle