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He’s not jealous, and he’s never been jealous.
How many times has he told himself that lately? All these things he never thought he’d care about, and now he’s sitting on the sidelines, wondering when the hell he did start caring. If he’s going to tell the truth, which he sees no point in doing, Katsuki knows that it probably started a while back, with Deku.
Not like that means anything.
Anyway, he starts dating, and he doesn’t just start dating one person, but two of their classmates, like that makes any sense at all, and it seems like every time Katsuki blinks, they add someone else. Or, at least, Deku ends up dating four of their classmates, and four of the weirder ones at that, and there’s something just... off , after that.
Katsuki has never cared about having a romantic relationship, and so he’s certain that he’s not jealous of the closeness the five of them have, but he’s also getting pretty good at lying to himself. He watches the five of them together and he scoffs, but even his friends express a little bit of jealousy, wanting something like that for themselves.
“Maybe not just like that,” says Kaminari. “I’d probably be fine with just...you know…”
“You and Jiro,” Kirishima teases. “We all know. I don’t know, I don’t think I’d mind? If I met more than one person I really liked, and they could get along. It could be nice.”
“Whatever,” Katsuki mutters. “Sounds stupid to me. But, then again, it’s Deku .”
“You know it’s not just him, right?”
“And we weren’t even specifically talking about him, right?”
So maybe, in the beginning, Katsuki is a little jealous.
~X~
It’s only in the beginning, though, as he gets used to the idea of Deku being the center of attention in yet another way. Their past is complicated, a part of him thought that, as long as he was saddled with the other boy, he’d have him to himself, whether he pushed him away or not. But he did push him away, so he tells himself he has no right to stare after him and wonder why the hell he’s still jealous.
Jealousy isn’t worth his time, he thinks, and it’s not like he needs a relationship, or that he particularly cares about having one. Besides Kaminari’s helpless on-and-off fling with the earphone girl, Katsuki is hardly alone in being single.
Until Kirishima starts dating his doppleganger, that it.
At first, all he has to say, “Who the hell is that?”
“Come on, you seriously forgot him? He’s pretty memorable, if you ask me,” says Kirishima with a grin, and Katsuki nearly gags.
“Oh, spare me,” he snaps. “I’m just saying, what the hell kind of name…”
“See? I don’t see how you could forget him like that.”
They bicker back and forth for a little bit, and Katsuki almost forgets why he's pissed, then Kirishima is finally able to get him to remember who this Tetsutetsu guy is, and he remembers why. At least, he remembers that he’s pissed because Kirishima is talking about his new boyfriend, but why Kirishima having a boyfriend pisses him off, Katsuki still doesn’t know. He isn’t jealous , not this time, not again. It’s not like he thought that there was some kind of solidarity with both of them being single, or that he thought maybe there was something more between them, and they weren’t going to be single for long.
Well, Kirishima isn’t anymore, and Katsuki still is, and no matter what his feelings may suggest, he doesn’t care.
~X~
He doesn’t hang out with his friends very often, because he’s not so eager to even go so far as to call them his friends, but there are times when he gets talked into doing things with them. Lately, however, Kirishima always has Tetsutetsu with him, and even though Kaminari doesn’t seem to care either way, it pisses Katsuki off even more. Not because he’s jealous, just because...well, he doesn’t know.
For the most part, it’s like having a second Kirishima around, except this one is a little louder, and smiles a little less, and, by all means, they should get along just fine. In fact, Tetsutetsu doesn’t seem to dislike him, but Katsuki is so perpetually irritated that he can’t return the favor. It’s not even worth trying to hang out with Kirishima anymore, if it’s always going to be like this, but for whatever reason, he doesn’t stop, as if he’s afraid of being left out, or something.
Which is ridiculous .
~X~
Kaminari ditches them at the last second one day, and Katsuki finds himself playing third wheel to the annoyingly happy couple. He considers fucking off and leaving them to each other, but again, he doesn’t; why should he have to give up on his plans just so Tetsutetsu can cuddle up to Kirishima when he isn’t looking?
Alright, so maybe, just maybe, he might be a little bit jealous. Maybe he’s latched onto Kirishima more than he realized, and maybe he appreciates their friendship more than he’s realized, and maybe he doesn’t want to lose him to someone else, and can’t bring himself to give that someone else a chance. He isn’t used to caring about anyone like this, or facing his feelings like this, and he is, for the most part, at a complete loss.
“We should actually go do something,” Kirishima says. “You know, instead of just hanging around.”
“Like what?” asks Tetsutetsu.
“Like an amusement park! Come on, what do you guys say?” He’s so excited about the idea, and Tetsutetsu agrees to it immediately, and when Katsuki says that he doesn’t feel like spending money, the two of them insist on paying for him, and somehow, he gets roped into going with them.
“Shouldn’t this just be a date?” he mutters, when he finds himself walking in between the two of them, probably looking very out of place as they are both the picture of excitement.
“Why? Did you want it to be a date?” Kirishima teases, and he doesn’t know why his face goes so red.
“What the hell?! Don’t ask something weird like that!” he snaps. The two of them just laugh, which only serves to piss him off further. That’s how the rest of the day passes, with Katsuki often shoved between the two of them, getting more and more irritated in ways that he can’t articulate, while they seem to be having a lot of fun laughing at his expense.
They ride rides together, and he is shoved in the middle; they get lunch together, and he is shoved in the middle. Everything they do, they put so much effort into including him, and he supposes they think they’re being such good friends, not acting too much like a couple and acting more like a group of friends, but that doesn’t change the truth. The two of them are dating, and he’s just a third wheel, and he’s jealous, and that’s all there is to it.
By the end of the day, he’s managed to get through the whole experience without having a bit of fun, despite their best efforts. At this point, he wants to just go home and put this day behind him, but, before he can escape, Kirishima waves Tetsutetsu on and asks, “Mind if I walk with you for a bit?”
“Yeah, I do, get lost.”
“Okay, cool, so, about today.”
“I just told you to get lost, didn’t I?!”
Kirishima continues to ignore him. “I was really hoping all three of us could hang out more often, but you didn’t seem like you were having any fun.”
“Well, why the fuck would I? I was just a third wheel anyway.”
“Is that really how it felt?” The other boy frowns, and sighs. “We were trying to make you feel more included.”
“That’s just weird.”
“Well, you’re the one who’s been acting jealous all the time. I thought you’d like it, if we showed you there was enough room.”
“But it’s different !” Katsuki protests, so annoyed that he has to explain this that he could honestly punch Kirishima.
“But it doesn’t have to be!” his friend argues, and then gives him a half of a smile. “Do you get it yet?”
“Unless you’re trying to ask me out or some bullshit, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He doesn’t mean it seriously, because he doesn’t seriously think that that’s what it is.
“I really like you,” Kirishima says, and it barely even sounds like a confession. “I thought maybe you were acting jealous cos you liked me too, and I wanted to see how it worked out. I mean, Tetsutetsu wants to give it a shot, and maybe you two might end up liking each other too, I don’t know. Either way, we were just-”
“Wait, you are trying to ask me out?!”
Kirishima has the decency to blush, to finally act sheepish about this exchange, while Katsuki scowls at him, in disbelief, in anger, in whatever the hell it is he’s feeling right now. “I guess I am, huh? I mean, those five are dating each other without any trouble, so why not give it a shot?”
It takes Katsuki a while to calm down enough to actually coherently explain to Kirishima how much of an idiot he is, and how fucking ridiculous the entire proposition is, and by Monday afternoon, it seems like everyone in their class and Tetsutetsu’s knows that they’re dating.