Chapter Text
Izuku thinks he knows his classmates pretty well at this point. It’s kind of hard to live, train, and go to school in the same place as the same people for almost two years without getting to know them. So, while he doesn’t like it, Izuku gets why this whole thing became a big deal.
His classmates are all gossips, so of course it spreads past the group of them that were in the kitchen that morning. Izuku had just hoped it wouldn’t, but it’s starting to piss him off.
Partially because he had to explain to an incredibly confused Todoroki that Yes, that’s a horrible thing to say to someone, even if Natsuo is justified in his anger at Endeavor (and Todoroki had looked at him, blank faced and serious, and had asked “So was Bakugou’s anger at you justified?” and Izuku hadn’t known what to say, so he’d just said, “I think most anger is justified, but not all actions taken as a result of that anger are.” and Todoroki had seemed satisfied with that answer), but mostly because Izuku doesn’t want anyone mad at Kacchan.
At least Todoroki’s not mad at Kacchan.
Actually, not as many of their classmates are as mad at Kacchan as Izuku thought would be. Sero and Jirou are still hanging out with him, Kaminari had been hesitant but had gotten over it at what seemed like Jirou and Kirishima’s insistence, Ojiro still invited him to their little quirkless fight club thing, and Iida and Yaoyorozu are still treating Kacchan the exact same.
As for everyone else...
Well, Ochako and Tsu aren’t really being the kindest right now. Neither are Ashido, Aoyama, Hagakure, and Mineta, but—well, Kacchan definitely isn’t bothered by Mineta’s behavior. Everyone else has kind of been avoiding Kacchan.
Izuku still hates it. He knows that not everyone is like Kirishima, but—this is still bullshit. It’s been three days since that fight in the kitchen and no one is listening to Izuku.
It’s been three days of Izuku purposely choosing to work with Kacchan for class assignments, trying to prove to their friends that everything between them is fine and they can just leave all of this alone. Three days of starting conversations with Kacchan every time they’re in the same room. And he knows that Kacchan has figured out what Izuku’s trying to do, but Kacchan hasn’t said or done anything about it.
Aside from Kacchan yelling at Izuku yesterday that he wanted to partner up with his boyfriend for hero training, which had Kirishima giggling as he pulled Kacchan into a hug.
But, for projects that their teachers wouldn’t let them choose their own partners for…it hasn’t really gone the way Izuku had hoped.
Like today.
Ochako had literally refused to work with Kacchan for an assignment in Cementoss’s class and as a result they both got a zero on the assignment and a detention. Izuku knows how Kacchan must feel about that—he's probably already trying to ask Cementoss for something to makeup the credit.
“Ochako, why would you do that?” Izuku asks as soon as they’re out in the hallway, shaking his head. “You just sabotaged yourself and Kacchan! You know how serious Kacchan takes school—why would you do that?”
Ochako shakes her head. “I just didn’t want to work with him! It’s not my fault that Cementoss wouldn’t let us change partners! I didn’t know he’d fail Bakugou for it! I thought he’d just fail me!”
Izuku lets out an annoyed sigh, reaching up to tug at his own hair as they make their way towards the cafeteria. “When are you going to drop this? You don’t need to be mad at him!”
“I’m your girlfriend, Deku! I have a right to be angry with him!” Ochako tells him, crossing her arms and puffing her chest as she stops in the middle of the hallway.
Tsu nods in agreement, ribbiting quietly.
“No, you don’t!” Izuku declares angrily. “You’re my girlfriend and Tsu is my friend, but Kacchan is my friend, too. If I’m not mad at Kacchan, you shouldn’t be either!”
“You should be mad at him, though, kero,” Tsu says, a finger coming to her mouth. “Friends don’t tell their friends to kill themselves.”
“You don’t get to tell me how I should feel!” Izuku nearly yells. “I already told you this! Something that happened between me and Kacchan in middle school isn’t your business! Kacchan and I have already talked about it, a lot actually, not that either of you would know since I told you I didn’t want to talk about it! You guys didn’t even ask Kacchan about it! You two really just took what some random person I knew as a kid said over what I told you? Over Kacchan? Over your classmates? Your friends?”
“Izuku, you’re not really trying to justify him telling you to kill yourself, are you?” Ochako asks, disbelief spreading across her face.
“I’m not trying to justify anything! What he said was mean and wrong, but it isn’t your place to be mad at him or try to punish him for something he said to me almost three years ago!” Izuku replies, glancing at Todoroki and Iida. He really isn’t sure that Todoroki has fully grasped why what Kacchan did was bad,
He knows that Iida really doesn’t want to get involved and he’s still not sure that Todoroki really understands why what Kacchan did was bad.
“Maybe we should, if you’re just going to let him get away with treating you like that!” Ochako tells him, glaring at him.
Iida steps forward, getting in between Izuku and Ochako. “I think we should respect Midoriya’s wishes and drop the subject completely. This is between him and Bakugou. We don’t have any part of this.”
Ochako frowns at Iida for a moment, leaning to the side to look at Izuku. “Deku...”
“No! I don’t wanna hear it!” Izuku declares, shaking his head. “I am the only person that’s affected by what happened between Kacchan and me in middle school. I’m the only person who gets to decide if I’m mad at him or not!”
“We all know you have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to him, kero. He’s always treated everyone like garbage, especially you,” Tsu says. “Maybe you’re not the best person to judge this.”
“Stop it!” Izuku repeats. He wants to stomp his foot childishly because they’re not listening to him! Kacchan isn’t like that anymore! It’s not fair! Kacchan has come so far and no one is even acknowledging it! “I know you never liked him and you’re using this as a justification! Kacchan has changed since then. You don’t know him the way I do. I’ve already told you that he and I already worked this out.”
Tsu opens her mouth, but Izuku just shakes his head.
Izuku tugs at his hair again, shaking his head. “You guys aren’t listening to me. You haven’t for the last few days. I’m going to go eat lunch with Kacchan and Kirishima. I don’t want to eat lunch with you guys today.”
Ochako looks startled, her hand reaching out for his arm. “Deku, babe...”
“No, Ochako. We can try to talk about this later but right now I just need some space,” Izuku states, side-stepping her and heading down to the cafeteria by himself.
Why can’t everyone just listen to him? It’s not hard!
He just wants everything to go back to normal!
Are there time travel quirks? Eri’s quirk is kind of like a time travel quirk, right? Just...condensed to one person. So the existence of one is possible. How hard would it be to find someone with that kind of quirk and what would it take for him to get them to bring them back to four days ago?
He’s still stewing over that thought while he goes through Lunch Rush’s line, and he’s so distracted that Lunch Rush just slops some curry and rice onto his plate and sends him away.
Which leaves him with a dilemma. Usually he sits with Ochako, Tsu, Iida, Aoyama, and Todoroki, but...
He catches sight of Kirishima staring down at his phone, sitting at a table by himself with two trays. One is clearly for Kacchan, who’s probably still over in the classroom trying to convince (read: argue with) Cementoss to give him a new assignment. Izuku’s not really sure how well that’s going to go. Kacchan is incredibly stubborn, but he is arguing with an almost-literal wall.
Izuku’s never eaten lunch with Kacchan and Kirishima in school. Not really for any reason, he just always preferred eating lunch with his friends. But he’s not going to do that today. Guess it’s time to sit with them.
He takes a breath and makes his way over to Kirishima, smiling as he sits down across from him. “Hey.”
Kirishima blinks in confusion, but offers a bright grin anyways. “Hey, man! You sitting with Kat and I today?”
“Yeah,” Izuku says, swallowing. “Ochako’s still...well, you know.”
Kirishima’s face darkens for a moment, but he covers it pretty quickly, stuffing a rice ball into his mouth and setting his phone down on the table.
Izuku frowns, glancing down at his food. “I just—it's getting kind of annoying. I know she’s just feeling protective and all, but I’ve told her so many times that she doesn’t need to be.”
“If you’re asking me for relationship advice, I think you know what it would be,” Kirishima says plainly, placing his arms on the table and leaning forward, looking at Izuku seriously.
Yeah, Izuku does know.
“I don’t know if I wanna break up with her over this, Kirishima. Is this really something so...important?” he asks, sighing. He moves his tray to the side, burying his face in his arms.
All of this is so complicated.
“Why wouldn’t it be? She told Tsu about you and Katsuki’s whole thing. That’s a major breach of trust, man.” Kirishima pokes Izuku’s arm with the end of a chopstick, but doesn’t do anything else.
How does he explain this?
“Well, I never told her not to talk about it, and I guess if she’s upset about me not wanting to talk about it, it’s perfectly okay that she wanted to vent about that, right? What happened, everyone being mad at Kacchan, that’s Tsu’s fault, right? Tsu’s the one who brought it up to everyone, wasn’t she?”
Kirishima is quiet for a little bit, but Izuku can hear him slurping at his soda. “I’ll give you that, but she specifically vented to someone she knew doesn’t like Kat and she’s still mad at him despite you telling her multiple times that she shouldn’t be. She’s not listening to you, bro. It’s messed up, man.”
Izuku groans, lifting himself up from the table and looking at Kirishima. “Okay, yeah, she could’ve picked anyone else to vent to, but Tsu’s her best friend. If you started to feel like Kacchan didn’t trust you, wouldn’t you go to Tetsu or Kaminari to vent about it?”
“I’d probably go to you if it has something to do with him, honestly,” Kirishima says, leaning back in his chair a bit. “But yeah, I guess I see what you’re saying. I dunno, man, this is your thing. You know how I feel about this, and her right now, but this is all you. Your choice and all that shit.”
Izuku’s about to speak, but he catches sight of Iida making his way over to them and shuts his mouth, watching.
“Would you two mind if I sat with you today?” Iida asks, standing awkwardly at the end of the table with his tray.
Kirishima glances at Izuku before shrugging. “Yeah, man, for sure. I don’t know how Kat’s gonna feel about it, but he can suck it up.”
Iida nods, sliding into the seat next to Izuku. “I will admit that I feel like Uraraka and Asui are being unfair to him,” he says. “I tried talking to them myself, but it hasn’t exactly gone well.”
Again, Izuku laments the fact that he doesn’t know anyone with a time travel quirk. All of this is just reminding him of how nice everything was. Knowing that Kacchan and Ochako actually got along. Sure, Kacchan and Ochako argued all the time, but it was always about stupid things. About makeup or some sport Izuku didn’t watch or some manga they were both reading. Like, things friends would argue about.
Kacchan suddenly throws himself into the seat next to Kirishima with a loud clatter, tossing his bag on the ground. He looks suspiciously at both Izuku and Iida, eyes narrowed.
Izuku swallows, just watching Kacchan.
“The fuck are you doing here, Glasses?” Kacchan demands.
Iida coughs into his hand, adjusting his position. “I’m a bit...angry, I suppose is the word, with Uraraka and Asui at the moment, and I decided I’d like to sit elsewhere today.”
Kacchan just stares at Iida, eyebrow raised and arms crossed over his chest, as he leans back in his chair, ignoring the tray of food Kirishima got him.
“I, ah, personally am very aware of what it feels like to be so angry that I’ve wanted to commit murder, Bakugou, and while I don’t approve of your actions...I understand why you might’ve taken them. I don’t agree with the way those two have been treating you lately,” Iida says, pushing his glasses further up his nose.
Kacchan doesn’t say anything for a long time, face carefully blank as he watches Iida, but eventually he just nods before he learns forward, bumping his shoulder against Kirishima’s, and starts eating.
Izuku guesses that’s it. Kacchan has never really been a talkative person, and Izuku thinks his lack of reaction means he’s accepted Iida’s explanation.
Kirishima just grins, nodding and giving a thumbs up when Iida turns to him with a confused look on his face before the redhead turns back to his food. “Do you guys have any idea what’s happening in training later? Tetsu said Vlad King had them doing some wild game of keep away when they had Ground Gamma yesterday, but he wouldn’t tell me what made it wild. Was wondering if Aizawa’s gonna have us do the same thing today.”
“Maybe, if Ground Gamma’s already set up for it,” Iida responds. “I doubt the classes have much difference in their lesson plans.”
Izuku glances back at Kacchan, who still hasn’t said a word. Is this whole thing bothering him? He really hopes not. This sucks! Why were so many people just ignoring the fact that Kacchan’s better now? Sure, Kacchan’s not nice by any means, and he probably never will be, but he’s better. Nicer. And yeah, none of them knew Kacchan when he was at his absolute worst, but they knew Kacchan back in first year, and if they still thought that he was the same person, well, then they didn’t know Kacchan at all.
A foot collides with Izuku’s shin and he immediately turns to glare at Kacchan across the table, eyes narrowing at the smug look on his face. Izuku throws a balled-up napkin at him, trying to hide his smile when Kirishima, without even looking, swipes it out of the air before it could hit Kacchan.
Kacchan has this smug look on his face, sticking his tongue out in Izuku’s direction before pressing himself against Kirishima’s side. Kirishima seems to automatically lift his arm and drape it over Kacchan’s shoulders, still engrossed in his conversation with Iida.
Cute.
/
Aizawa-sensei asked him to come by his office after training, and Izuku’s not a hundred percent sure why. He hasn’t broken anything lately, he and Kacchan haven’t had an argument lately, and his grades haven’t slipped. There’s really not much else that Aizawa-sensei would want to talk to him about. He’s not really the kind of teacher who does regular check-ins with his students.
It’s just weird.
Izuku settles down onto the couch in Aizawa-sensei's office, glancing around the room. He’s only been in here a couple times since they opened the dorms, but he knows that one of the doors in the room leads to Aizawa-sensei's actual bedroom. Their teacher doesn’t stay in the dorms too often, only on weekend nights. Kacchan spends time in here sometimes, when he doesn’t want to see anyone, including Izuku and Kirishima. Izuku isn’t a hundred percent sure that Kacchan actually has permission to do that, but it’s Aizawa-sensei. He definitely knows about it and would’ve put a stop to it if he actually minded it.
Aizawa-sensei takes a seat in one of the armchairs, placing his thermos down on a side table next to him, leaning back and staring pointedly at Izuku. “Someone came to me and said that there was an issue between you and Bakugou. They said that he was suicide-baiting you.”
“Who told you that?” Izuku says, before he can stop himself. It has to be Tsu, right? She never liked Kacchan and she seems to be the one taking the most offense to finding this out. But then...it could be Ochako, too, because she’s also mad at Kacchan for it, and she’s probably mad at Izuku for their argument before lunch today. She wouldn’t do that, though, right? Because Izuku asked her to keep out of it. Well, then again, she did go and complain to Tsu about it, and that’s why they’re all in this whole mess, anyways.
“Midoriya, stop mumbling. I’m not going to tell you who told me,” Aizawa-sensei interrupts.
Izuku’s face heats. “Sorry, Sensei.”
Aizawa-sensei hums blandly, a clear acknowledgement of Izuku’s apology, then turns serious again. “So it’s true, then?”
Izuku sighs, sinking deeper into the couch, reaching out to the blanket next to him, toying with the frayed hem. “It happened so long ago, Sensei. Almost three years now, I think. Way before we even took the entrance exam.”
“He actually told you to kill yourself? Used those words specifically?” Aizawa-sensei asks. Izuku doesn’t really like the way Aizawa-sensei is looking at him. He’s searching for something when there’s nothing to find.
“It wasn’t like that!” Izuku replies automatically. It wasn’t! He’s so tired of everyone assuming things and not asking for explanations. If he keeps saying that everything’s fine, why doesn’t anyone listen to him? He doesn’t want to explain anything! He and Kacchan fixed it! Why does what anyone else think matter here?
Aizawa-sensei sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose as he picks up his thermos and takes a long sip. “Okay, Midoriya, what was it like?”
“You know that Kacchan doesn’t really know how to communicate. He says one thing but he means another, you know? That’s what happened,” Izuku says, brain already trying to come up with a decent lie. He can’t just admit everything about One for All to Aizawa-sensei. Not that Izuku doesn’t trust his teacher, he just—it's not the right time for this. “At the time—well, I wasn’t really training with my quirk, or without it, actually. Because I was scared of it. It was really dangerous for me to use, and Kacchan was really mad that I kept talking about wanting to be a hero but not actually putting work into becoming one. And he said if I wanted to be a hero so bad, then I might as well throw myself off a roof. It was wrong of him to do, but that’s not—he meant that if I wasn’t training, I would hurt myself. And I did, when we first started school here, a lot. You know that. But that’s what Kacchan meant. It wasn’t him being mean. He was worried about me. He just...didn’t know how to show it properly.”
That’s a good excuse, right? Not training with his quirk because he was scared of it? Aizawa-sensei has to believe that, right? Because Izuku had broken his body so many times before he figured out how to actually use this quirk and Aizawa-sensei had seen it. It’s a good excuse.
Aizawa-sensei is quiet for a long moment, looking him over. He sets his thermos down and adjusts his position, crossing his arms over his chest. “Is that what he meant, or what you wanted him to mean?” he asks eventually.
Izuku blinks, cocking his head to the side in confusion. “That’s what he meant, Sensei, I’m sure of it,” he says honestly. “But...even if it wasn’t, isn’t how I perceived what happened the most important thing?”
“Words can still hurt, Midoriya. You can rationalize it all day and say that Bakugou meant one thing when he said another, but that doesn’t mean you weren’t affected by it,” Aizawa-sensei tells him. “You do have—”
“Don’t say I have a blind spot for Kacchan,” Izuku interrupts. “Everyone always says that and I don’t. I know that Kacchan can be an asshole sometimes. I know he’s not perfect. I don’t want to excuse his behavior or rationalize it, because I know what he said was wrong. He knows it was wrong. Kacchan and I talked about what he did, Sensei.”
“You two talked about it? I only remember one unsanctioned fight after hours between you two,” Aizawa-sensei says, the look on his face slightly wary.
Izuku nods, biting his lip at the slight barb from his teacher. “Yeah. There’s really nothing else to say or do at this point. What happened is between me and Kacchan, no one else. Not even you, Sensei. But—since it’s you...he apologized and we figured it out ourselves.”
Aizawa-sensei raises an eyebrow. “He apologized? To you?”
“Yeah! Towards the end of last year. It took a long time, because sometimes I got really frustrated and left because he took too long and then sometimes he started yelling at me because I kinda pushed him a little too hard but we got there!” Izuku says, and he can’t help the giddiness in his tone when he talks about it. Because The Conversation means a lot to him. Because Kacchan was finally—metaphorically—reaching out his hand to fix everything between them. “We talked about everything, and—look, Sensei, I’ve known Kacchan for so long, practically as long as we’ve been alive, and he’s improved so much since middle school. I know he has. You know he has.”
“I’m aware of his progress,” Aizawa-sensei drawls. Izuku had watched that press conference Aizawa-sensei gave after Kacchan was kidnapped. Aizawa-sensei knows Kacchan. He understands the way Kacchan’s brain works. He respects him, a hell of a lot more than any of their other teachers ever had. Izuku’s not accusing him of favoritism, but...there is a running joke among his classmates that Aizawa-sensei has a not-so-secret soft spot for Kacchan. As much as Kacchan hates it, the joke still hasn’t gone away.
“Then you know how big of a deal it is that he and Kirishima went on a double date with me and Ochako. He said yes to coming home with me this weekend to have dinner with my mom. You know he wouldn’t have done either of those things if I asked last year,” Izuku insists. “You said that there are a lot of different things that go into being a hero, right? Kacchan has always been amazing at fighting and controlling his quirk, but he’s never really been personable. That’s what U.A. is teaching him and you can’t take that away from him. You can’t!”
Aizawa-sensei looks totally confused. “Expelling him was never on the table, Midoriya,” he says plainly. “As your teacher, I had to talk to you about what was brought to my attention. At most, I would have put him under house arrest again. But, you’ve told me this happened almost three years ago. U.A. has no authority to punish him for something that happened while he wasn’t a student here.”
Izuku lets out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. “So Kacchan’s not getting punished?”
“I think we both know Bakugou well enough to know he’s already punished himself enough for it,” Aizawa-sensei says simply.
Izuku winces. Yeah. Yeah, he does. It’s one of the things he hates about Kacchan. Actually, it’s probably the thing he hates the most about him. Kacchan has an obsession with being the best, and when he isn’t—well, Kacchan never learned how to fail. He just gets so angry with himself sometimes and Izuku has seen firsthand how awfully Kacchan treats himself. Sometimes Izuku just wants to wrap Kacchan in a hug and tell him that he doesn’t need to be perfect all the time, but that’s a surefire way to find himself in Recovery Girl’s office with third degree burns, so Izuku has to rely on Kirishima to do it.
“I just...I don’t want this to be a big deal, Sensei. It was supposed to be just between me and Kacchan. I promised him it would be, and it all got so out of control.” Izuku reaches up to his hair, tugging on the ends of it.
“Okay, Midoriya,” Aizawa-sensei says, nodding. “Thank you for explaining everything to me.”
Izuku places the blanket down next to him and stands, knowing that’s basically a dismissal. “Yeah, of course, Sensei,” he says, nodding.
He silently makes his way out of the office. He’s had enough of all of this—it's time he talks to Ochako about everything. Maybe doing that will help all of this smooth over and they can all go back to normal. He knows his words won’t have any effect on Tsu, but maybe if he explains everything to Ochako, then she’ll listen. Izuku can’t make Tsu like Kacchan or anything, but maybe it’ll help everyone else calm down.
Ochako’s in the kitchen, sitting on one of the stools at the island, watching as Satou mixes a bunch of ingredients in a bowl, chatting with Tsu and Ashido, but everything seems to stop once Izuku walks into the room.
Ashido’s mouth snaps shut and she elbows Ochako pointedly, nodding in Izuku’s direction. “Your boy’s here.”
Ochako glances up, swallowing. “Deku.”
Izuku rubs the back of his neck awkwardly, glancing at Satou for a second, but the other boy is too busy pretending to be engrossed in whatever he’s doing. He turns his attention back to Ochako, taking a breath to steady himself. “Ochako, can we talk? Just us?”
“Yeah, of course, Deku,” Ochako says, softly, standing up.
/
It’s a nice night. The sky is clear and there’s a light breeze. Not too hot, not too cold, just...nice. Izuku swallows again as he sits down on one of the benches, Ochako silently sitting down next to him, settling her hands in her lap. He takes a breath, trying to figure out how to start this conversation.
It takes a while before anyone speaks.
“Is this you breaking up with me?” Ochako whispers.
Izuku steadies himself by grabbing onto the metal arm of the bench. “No,” he says honestly, staring forward at the lamp post across the path, “it’s not.”
“Okay.”
And suddenly they’re sitting in silence again. Not total silence—the cicadas are chirping, and there’s indistinguishable, muffled heavy bass flowing from one of the third-year dorms. They must be having a party or something.
He’s never really talked to Ochako about his relationship with Kacchan. She’s never asked about it, even when it was clear that she wanted to, and it’s kind of hard to explain exactly what he and Kacchan have. He knows that everything between the two of them is so incredibly complicated and messed up, and Kirishima, while he knew more than anyone else, still didn’t know everything.
Okay. He just needs to start with explaining it. That’s all.
“I realized that you and I have never talked about Kacchan and me,” Izuku says eventually, his eyes following a moth fluttering around the yellowed light of the street lamp.
“No, we haven’t,” Ochako agrees.
Izuku takes a deep breath. “Kacchan’s dad went to school with my mom, and…well, we were always together. He’d spend time with Mom and me when his parents were traveling. Sometimes we’d get to go along, too. We were always in the same classes at school. He’s always just been right there. He means so much to me, because he’s not just my best friend. I’ve always considered him family. He’s my brother, Ochako.”
Ochako’s hand lands on his knee. “Izuku...”
“Wait a second, please,” he says, placing his hand on her wrist and gently wrapping his fingers around her. He doesn’t push her away, just adjusts his fingers to rest against her pulse point. Maybe that’ll help him calm down. “I should’ve been more open and honest with you, back at the mall when you found out. I didn’t tell you much of anything, I just kind of brushed you off, and what you heard…I get why you were upset and worried about me. I don’t blame you for getting frustrated and wanting to vent to someone about me treating you like that, but—that was something really serious, between Kacchan and me, and I didn’t want anyone to know about it. And I know you’re not responsible for Tsu’s actions, but her spreading that around really hurt me.”
Ochako stays quiet, frowning at him as she drags her thumb back and forth over his denim-covered thigh, tapping her fingers to an off-beat rhythm.
Izuku takes a breath. “I just—look, I know that when Kacchan and I argue, we both can get really rough. Especially him. But I just want to be able to work out our issues between us. I’m glad that you wanted to take my side in this, but next time something like this happens, can you…” He coughs into his hand. “Can we talk about it first? Together? Because this time, when you tried to take my side, you were just...on your own side, I guess, because I was on Kacchan’s.”
Getting to explain everything to her is nice. It feels the same way it felt when Izuku told Kirishima about it. Okay, yes, he knew that talking about things is generally a good thing, but talking about this subject in particular has always been really difficult for him.
Maybe Aizawa-sensei did have a point, about words still hurting.
“Of course, Deku,” Ochako says eventually, then lets out a breath. “I’m sorry, Izuku. I guess I was just…I really care about you, Izuku, and hearing that someone said something like that to you… Hearing that it was Bakugou who told you to kill yourself? I got upset. You don’t deserve that. Especially not from someone you care about so much.”
Izuku swallows, counting Ochako’s pulse where it rests under his fingers. She gave him time to speak uninterrupted, so he’s going to give her the same thing. Healthy communication is an important thing in a relationship, and he and Ochako haven’t had a lot of that these past few days.
She lets out a frustrated noise. “I just…you didn’t want to talk to me about it and I didn’t understand why. It just felt like you didn’t trust me. I mean, jeez, Deku, I’m your girlfriend and I found out about all of this from some stranger at a mall. I get that I shouldn’t have told Tsu everything, but I just—I was frustrated and mad and confused. I had no information, and the way you just kept saying you didn’t want to talk about it just seemed like there was no apology from him.”
“I know,” he says, turning to look at her. She’s not looking at him. “I should’ve explained everything to you, but Kacchan and I had already talked. We worked it out and I didn’t really feel like reliving it, you know? I just wanted…I wanted to move on. And Kacchan—he didn’t deserve any of this. I’ve known him for so long, and he genuinely used to be a much, much worse person before we started here. He apologized, to me, by choice, and I chose to forgive him.”
Ochako takes another breath, staring down at her hands. It’s clear she wants to talk about something else, but there’s something stopping her.
Izuku waits, slipping his hand down her arm to tangle their fingers together. They need to talk about this, all of it. Whatever she has to say is important.
“I guess I was also kind of jealous of Kirishima once I found out that he already knew, and I used that as an excuse to be mad at Bakugou,” she says, softly.
“What do you mean?”
Ochako glances down at their hands as she reaches up with her free hand to run her fingers through her hair, sighing. “Like…knowing that Bakugou had trusted Kirishima that much, enough that he willingly told him about all the awful things he did in the past, but my boyfriend seemingly didn’t trust me enough to talk to me about something he was a victim of? And you had talked to him about it? It’s just…I guess the word to use would be insecure? I felt really insecure about this whole thing, us dating, I mean, and then we had that fight earlier, and I just…”
Oh.
Izuku swallows, trying to think of his words before he says them. “I never—I didn’t mean to make you feel that way. I’m sorry. I love you, Ochako, I do,” he tells her, honestly, because he does. Sometimes it feels like he could spend forever just staring at her and he’d never get bored. He can sometimes just glance over at her and see her doing nothing, just talking to someone, and he hears her laugh, and he chokes on the emotions in his throat.
“I love you, too, Izuku.” Ochako leans over, pressing a kiss to his cheek, before she makes the move to stand up. Izuku copies her automatically, before he can even think about it.
Huh.
Ochako turns to face him, tangling her fingers with his. “We’ll talk about everything, next time something like this happens, right?” she asks.
“Right,” Izuku agrees. He glances down at their fingers, smiling to himself. He’s glad they were able to work this whole thing out.
“I’m gonna talk to Tsu and Mina about all of this, you know,” she says. “I don’t know how much help I'll be, but...you said Bakugou doesn’t deserve what they’re doing and I trust you.”
Izuku can’t help but grin, leaning forward and kissing her. “Thank you, Ochako, it really does mean a lot to me,” he tells her. “Let’s go see what Satou was making, yeah?”
Ochako nods, smiling up at him as she starts tugging him forward, back towards their dorm.
Things are going to get better from here, right? They have to. Ochako’s going to talk to Tsu and Ashido and they’ll stop treating Kacchan the way they have. This is a good thing. Everyone’s going to move on and go back to normal.
Izuku lets go of Ochako’s hand as he reaches for the building’s front door, opening it for her and following her inside.
Ochako walks right up to Kacchan, who seems to have just come downstairs from his room, standing directly in front of him and staring him down. He scowls down at her, the same way he has been for the past few days.
What? What’s going on?
“I want to apologize to you,” Ochako states, glancing up to look Kacchan in the eyes. “I talked to Deku, and he told me about what happened between you two and I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have assumed the worst of you, and I shouldn’t have refused to work with you in class today.”
Kacchan blinks in what looks like surprise, eyebrows furrowing in confusion as he just stares at her. Kirishima drops the controller of his video game in shock, whipping his head around to stare at them.
Izuku can’t breathe, staring between them. How is this going to play out? He has no idea how Kacchan will react to any of this. This doesn’t seem like something that Kacchan will respond well to.
The entire room—their entire class, really—is just watching the two of them. Kacchan and Ochako—they're just staring at each other at this point, neither of them moving at all.
What’s happening? What’s going on?
What is Kacchan doing?
“Okay,” Kacchan says slowly, still looking confused. He glances past Ochako in Kirishima’s direction, but doesn’t seem to get the response he wants, turning back to look at her.
“Is that it?” Ochako asks, hands on her hips.
Kacchan just shrugs. “The fuckin’ dork needs someone to watch out for him. He’ll let people walk all over him if he doesn’t.”
Was...was Kacchan not mad at her?
Oh my god. Kacchan wasn’t mad at her.
Kacchan thought he deserved it.
No! Kacchan couldn’t think that, could he?
Izuku hates the thought. It’s the worst thing he thinks he could’ve found out.
Ochako just stares at him for a few moments longer, then nods. “C’mon, Deku, let’s go get dinner.”
Kacchan nods back at her and doesn’t say another word, turning and making his way over to Kirishima, dropping onto the couch next to him.
Izuku just stares at Kacchan, utterly confused. He’s always kind of confused at Kacchan’s actions, but this...this is especially confusing. He has no idea what’s going through Kacchan’s head anymore. Does Ochako know? Why would Ochako know if Izuku doesn’t? And Kirishima looks just as confused as Izuku feels, so he’s not going to be any help.
Ochako just smiles, grabbing Izuku’s wrist and tugging him towards the kitchen. Izuku can’t do anything, just lets her drag him away from the common room before he can ask what just happened.
“Ochako, what was that? Do you know what Kacchan meant by that?” Izuku asks, a million questions running through his head. “What happened?”
She stops in the middle of the hallway, turning to face him, amusement on her face. “I mean, I don’t know what he meant by it, but I think I got the gist of it,” she says, tapping her finger against her lip. “He’s not mad at me, I don’t think. I’m pretty sure he meant that I didn’t need to apologize, because I was just looking out for you. I think your brother is basically saying that he approves of me.”
Izuku blinks. Could that be it? What was it that Kacchan said?
“The fuckin’ dork needs someone to watch out for him. He’ll let people walk all over him if he doesn’t.”
Kacchan was just saying he approved of Ochako? Didn’t he already get along with her? They went and sparred together all the time!
Look, Izuku knows, theoretically, that there’s probably things Kacchan says and does that he’ll never understand, but in practice... It’s still hard to accept.
“Hey, Deku, you know you don’t have to overthink it, right?” Ochako asks, placing her hand on his shoulder. “Let’s just go eat. I’m sure if Bakugou wants you to know, he’ll tell you.”
So that means Izuku’s never going to know.
He guesses that’s fine. Let Kacchan and Ochako have their secrets.
/
Izuku glares across the room at his oldest friend. “Go jump off a bridge, Kacchan!” he yells, throwing a couch pillow at him.
Why is Kacchan like this? He knows Kacchan is annoying most of the time, but every single day Izuku just gets more proof that he’s somehow capable of becoming even more insufferable every single day.
“Go play in traffic, dipshit!” Kacchan yells back, batting the pillow away and picking up one of Iida’s textbooks.
Kirishima barely manages to grab Kacchan’s arm before he can throw it at Izuku, tugging the book out of Kacchan’s hands. “Nope, we’re not doing that today, babe!” he says, handing the book over to Yaoyorozu with a grin.
“Oh, get fucked, Kacchan!”
“If you find a dick for me to use I will!”
Izuku can’t help the offended gasp that escapes his lips. “Kacchan!” he says, then glances behind his friend as a slow grin spreads across his face. “Well, Kacchan, if you’re that tired of your boyfriend, then in theory Shouji could make a few, if you’d let him, and he is right over in the kitchen, you know—”
Kirishima slaps a hand over his mouth, unable to hold back his surprised laughter at Izuku’s words. He’s shaking in suppressed laughter, clearly trying to keep it together so he doesn’t piss Kacchan off.
Shouji just stares blankly back at Izuku. “Um, not that you’re not pretty and all, Bakugou, but I’m not into boys,” he says.
“Oh my God,” Kaminari says, barely even pretending to suppress the smile on his face as he hits Sero’s shoulder in amusement. Sero and Ashido both seem to be giggling like mad, watching everything happen.
Kacchan’s face goes through what looks like seven different emotions, cheeks reddening, as he stares across the room. “Izuku.”
Izuku’s stomach drops, the smile on his face slipping off. Oh, no. He lets go of the cup in his hand, already activating his quirk as he bolts out of the dorm, giggling to himself as he hears Kacchan chasing behind him, yelling incoherent obscenities.
He missed this Kacchan.