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When Bakugou Katsuki was twelve and saw his classmates talking about love and romance and that kind of shit, he grimaced without realising it. But as one of the girls glared at him for pulling a dace, something occurred to him: for as long as he could remember, Katsuki has wanted to puke when he sees romantic stuff. The thought of dating and kissing and all that stuff… it made him want to throw up. Yet it wasn’t until that moment when he was twelve that it really hit him.
He was the odd one out for feeling this way. Everyone else enjoyed and wanted this sort of thing.
When Bakugou Katsuki was twelve, he realised there was something wrong with him.
---
When Midoriya Izuku was fourteen, something odd occurred to him. whenever he looked at Kacchan, a boy he had followed around and idolised since they were kids, his heart fluttered and he blushed. Did… did he have a crush on Kacchan?
But that didn’t make sense. He had adored Kacchan his whole life, so why were his feelings only now romantic? When he was a kid, Izuku often saw his classmates talking about how they wanted to marry each other. But when Izuku looked at Kacchan, a boy he was obsessed with to the point the other kids teased him for having a crush on him, marriage and kissing were never on his mind.
So why, so much later, had his feelings changed?
When Midoriya Izuku was fourteen, he wondered if there was something wrong with him.
---
When Uraraka Ochako was fifteen, she joined UA High school and became a Hero in training. It was truly the best achievement in her life, and even her near death experience in the entrance exam didn’t put her off.
But, most peculiarly of all, she couldn’t get that boy out of her mind. Midoriya Izuku, the boy who broke three of his limbs to save her. He… was one of the kindest and strongest people she had ever met.
And that was why this was so frustrating. Because this boy was strong and kind with an amazing Quirk, and all she could think about was how cute he was. Now, that wouldn’t seem strange to most people, but it was for an aromantic person like Ochako.
At least, she thought she was aromantic.
When Uraraka Ochako was fifteen, she wondered if her identity was wrong.
---
So many things have happened in these last few months, so many that Ochako sometimes loses count. She has enrolled at UA and made friends and studied and survived a villain attack and participated in the school festival… it is still difficult to take it all in.
And if all that stuff wasn’t enough, Ochako has to deal with her romantic feelings. It still feels weird to have developed feelings for the first time in her life, which probably explains why she blushes like such a dork around Izuku. At least she has come to terms with her identity; after a brief crisis of realising she isn’t aromantic after all, Ochako calmed down, did some research and found an amazing label. Grey-aromantic, or greyromantic, is a label for people who only feel romantic attraction very rarely, and it seems to fit Ochako well.
So, yeah, she’s used to being greyromantic and having a crush on Deku, but something else has… complicated things.
Is it possible to love two people at once?
---
He loves Kacchan so much, but… Izuku thinks he might love Ochako too. It has taken months of friendship, but Izuku has begun to feel the same way about Ochako as he does Katsuki. As an autistic person, Izuku finds processing his feelings more complicated than most, but he’s sure even a neurotypical person would find falling in love with two people at the same time confusing.
Why is this so awkward? And what should he do?
---
Deku has a crush on him, but that’s nothing new. Despite the fact Katsuki used to treat him like shit (he doesn’t bully Deku anymore, but he’s not sure if he is forgiven), Izuku has idolised Katsuki for over a decade, so for him to start blushing around him isn’t a shock.
But for that Uraraka girl to be acting the same as Deku… is fucking weird. All he really knows about her is that she put up a fucking good fight against him at the sports festival, and she seems to be Deku’s best friend.
Fuck, why is he thinking about her so much? Does he have a fucking crush on her or something?
…No, that’s not it. There’s no desire to kiss her or any shit like that. well, that’s normal for him.
But, for a second there, why did he feel so hopeful? Does… does part of him want him to have a crush? Does he want to be normal?
Of course he fucking does. He hates being broken.
---
One of the problems about being autistic is… wobbly social skills. Combine that with being aro-spec and having no experience with romance, he is setting himself up for disaster. Still, he wants to do it. He wants to ask them out. He needs to find out if Ochako and Katsuki feel the same way. Izuku inhales deeply. He has to do it!
He tracks down Ochako first, wanting to try this with the calmer of the two. Forcing himself to stop biting his fingernails, Izuku clasps his hands and approaches Ochako on campus one lunchtime. His face burning, he mumbles, “Um, Uraraka, can, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Ochako looks up, smiling as her face goes pink. “Sure thing, Deku. What is it?”
He starts rubbing his clasped hands, finding the palms slicked with sweat. “Uh…” Is this supposed to be this awkward? “I uh… do you w-want to go out with me?” And once the words are out of his mouth, anxiety wells up inside of him and Izuku finds himself mumbling. “Sorry, y-you don’t have to answer that and it’s okay if you’re gay or aro our just don’t like me that way and we can still be friends right and have I screwed things up and—”
“Deku?” Ochako’s voice cuts through his strangle words. “It’s okay. I’m not mad or anything. Uh…” Her face goes bright red. “The thing is… I’d like to go out with you too.”
Izuku’s eyes widen and he stumbles backwards. “R-Really?”
She smiles that adorable smile of hers. “Yeah, really. But… there are a couple of things I need to tell you.”
The anxiety that had faded returns, kicking him in the stomach. “Oh?”
Ochako shifts in her seat, her face still burning. “Yeah. First is… I’m polyamorous. So… is that all right with you?”
“Of course! And, well, I am too,” Izuku says, grinning.
“You are?”
“Yeah. So… that’s not a problem.”
She smiles. “That’s good. And the other thing is… I don’t have any experience in dating. Until a couple of months ago, I thought I was aromantic.”
Izuku stares at her, amazed. “Uraraka, this… this so cool. That’s how it was for me too. I thought I was aro, but it turns out I’m demi. We’ve got so much in common. This is amazing!”
Ochako grins. “It sure is.”
---
Deku and Uraraka’s lingering stares in this direction are getting worse, like they’re totally obsessed with him. And the worst part is that the bastards are clearly dating each other, but they keep looking at Katsuki. Shit, people like them (normal people, a part of him thinks) confuse him and piss him off.
But when he sees them together, it isn’t just confusion and anger he feels. What the fuck is it? Sadness? Jealousy? He doesn’t fucking know.
Why does he even care?
---
Not long after they all move into the dorms, Katsuki awakes from a nap (he was supposed to be studying but fell asleep) when someone knocks on his door. He drags himself to his feet and opens it, resisting the urge to yell for them to fuck off and go back to sleep.
“Hi, Kacchan!”
Uraraka and Deku stand in the doorway, holding hands.
“What the fuck d’you want?” he grumbles.
“Can we talk to you about something?” Uraraka asks.
He doesn’t really want to, but Katsuki can’t think of an excuse to get out of this. so he sighs and mutters, “Come in, then.”
The pair smile (somewhat anxiously) and walk into his bedroom. They hover by the closed door, glancing around the room. Deku fiddles with his hair, a nervous habit he has had for as long as Katsuki can remember.
“So what’s this all about, then?” he says, sitting on his bed and folding his arms.
Uraraka and Deku glance at each other, Uraraka nods and Deku mumbles the weirdest thing Katsuki has ever heard in his fucking life.
“Kacchan… we were wondering if, if you would like to date us.”
As Deku blushes a spectacular shade of red and Uraraka does much the same, Katsuki stares at them. They sound sincere, so this can’t be some kind of joke. But that means they’re serious. They really want to date him.
“Sorry to put you on the spot like this,” Uraraka says. “We just wanted to tell you how we feel about you.”
Katsuki sighs. “Good for you. Even if I didn’t find you two painfully annoying, I wouldn’t date you. I can’t date you.” Despite his attempt to just sound pissy and usher them out of the room, some sort of lump lodges in his throat. “I can’t fall in love even if I want to, which I don’t. So that’s the end of that.”
Uraraka and Midoriya look at him, an infuriating amount of pity hidden in their expressions, and Katsuki wants to scream. But when he gets to his feet, the pair apologise and dart out of the room before he has a chance to say anything else.
Why does his chest hurt so much?
---
“Poor Kacchan,” Izuku mumbles, hugging his knees to his chest.
He and Ochako sit beside each other on the bed in her room, and Ochako isn’t the only one whose thoughts lead back to yesterday. She had to see herself and Izuku get turned down by the boy they both have a crush on, and she had to hear Bakugou tell them he doesn’t fall in love. He must mean he is aro, but why did he sound so sad? Does he hate himself for being aro?”
“Yeah, poor Bakugou,” she says, resting her head on his shoulder.
“He’s aro, right?” Izuku says. “That must be what he means. But why does he hate himself?”
A thought flickers into Ochako’s head, and her chest hurts. “Maybe… he doesn’t know he’s aro. What if he thinks he’s broken?”
Izuku glances at her, and he looks like he might cry. “Poor, poor Kacchan. We have to tell him, don’t we?”
Ochako sighs, but nods. “Yeah, I think we should.”
---
Izuku runs his fingers through his messy green hair, wishing his stomach would stop lurching about. Kacchan hasn’t bullied him in the months since they joined UA, and he honestly believes Katsuki has changed. And… and he really isn’t scared of Kacchan anymore. So that really has nothing to do with the anxiety tying knots in his stomach as he knocks on Kacchan’s door. He… he’s not scared of getting bullied. He’s just scared of seeing that look of self-hatred of Kacchan’s face again.
Ochako squeezes his free hand and whispers, “It’ll be fine. Have you got the info?”
Izuku nods, holding up his phone, where he has all the data about being aromantic bookmarked. He knocks again, and the door swings open.
Kacchan looks between him and Ochako, and sighs. “Fuck off, you two.”
He goes to slam the door, but Izuku jams his foot in the way. Pain shoots up his leg and he yelps; they never show the pain it causes in the movies, do they?
“What the fuck, Deku?” Kacchan says, scowling as Izuku hops about, grabbing at his throbbing foot. He rolls his eyes. “Are you that desperate to see me or something? Don’t you remember I won’t date you?”
“No, we remember that,” Ochako says, helping Izuku stay balanced as he rubs his sore foot. “We want to talk about something different.”
“Go on then.”
Izuku tentatively puts weight on his aching foot, reaching for his phone again. He brings up the page he wants and says, “Kacchan, you said you don’t fall in love, right? So… we think you should look at this.”
“What, wanna fix me or some shit?” Kacchan spits, and Ochako shakes her head.
“No, just read it. We don’t want to do anything like that.”
Eyebrows raised in confusion, Katsuki takes the phone and stares at the page. Izuku and Ochako watch his expression change from a scowl to one of suppressed amazement as he reads, and when Katsuki shoves the phone back at him, he doesn’t look pissed off in the slightest.
“You’re not taking the piss, right?” he says.
“No, that’s a real webpage,” Ochako says. “And being aromantic is a real thing. Bakugou, you’re not broken.”
“Yeah, Kacchan, this is a thing. You’re just aro, not damaged or anything like that,” Izuku says. “It’s okay.”
“Sentimental bastards,” Kacchan mutters, but there’s not as much venom in his voice as normal.
And just before he shuts the door on them, Izuku swears he sees him smile. Kacchan never smiles.
---
What the fuck is this? He stares at the Google results on his cell phone, scrolling past endless pages about this aromantic thing. So they were right. It’s really a thing. There’s a name for people who have never felt romantic attraction. There’s a name for people like him.
But why does he even care? Since when has Katsuki ever cared about labels?
But… but…
Fuck, what is going on?
He’s aromantic, right? So… that’s a good thing, right?
He doesn’t…
Why does he feel so happy?
Why does he feel anything?
He is aromantic.
He isn’t broken.
When he is sixteen years old, Bakugou Katsuki realises that there is nothing wrong with him.
---
After that encounter with Deku and Uraraka, Katsuki can’t stop thinking about his label. He keeps Googling about it, and learns there are loads of people like him. And he keeps smiling like a fucking idiot.
But during his search, he finds something that makes his stomach clench instead. There’s an aromantic thing called a ‘squish’, a term for a kind of non-romantic crush if that makes any fucking sense. And aro people who get squishes on people and want to be with them have ‘queerplatonic’ relationship, relationships that aren’t romantic but also are different from friendship. It all makes sense when he thinks about it, but why does his stomach clench like that?
Is it because…?
Oh fuck.
If he can’t stop thinking about someone, does that mean he is squishing on them, wanting to be closer to them but in an aromantic way?
But if that’s the case…
Does he have a squish on Deku and Ochako? Does he want to have a queerplatonic relationship with the two people who made him stop hating a part of himself?
He thinks about it despite feeling like an idiot, and Katsuki comes to a conclusion.
He wants a queerplatonic relationship with those two dorks. And as they both have crushes on him, they won’t turn him down.
This is going to work, isn’t it?
---
Ochako sits beside Deku in her bedroom, helping him with his English homework, when someone knocks on the door. Deku jumps and Ochako nearly drops her pen, and they both giggle.
Still, she gets up and answers the door – and stands there, amazed, when she finds Katsuki in the doorway.
With his hands shoved into his pockets, Katsuki stares down at the floor with a look of humiliation on his face. “I wanna talk to you two.”
“Oh, uh, okay,” Ochako says. “Come in.”
“Hey, Kacchan,” Izuku says, smiling. “Why do you look so embarrassed?”
“I’m not fucking embarrassed,” he mutters, fooling nobody.
Deciding to change the subject, Ochako says, “So, what’s up?”
“I, uh… heard of queerplatonic relationships?”
Ochako looks at Deku, her eyes widening. Of course she knows about queerplatonic relationships; they’re an important part of aromantic culture. But why is he bringing this up? Unless…
It hits her, and Ochako tries not to go red.
“Um, yeah, we have,” she says. “Why do you ask?”
Katsuki sighs, and Ochako realises this boy has absolutely no clue how to deal with any emotions other than anger. “I, fuck… join the dots, okay! I… I want one with you two.”
“Kacchan?” Izuku whispers, blushing as Katsuki’s face seems to burn.
“But I’m not a fucking boyfriend and I’d rather die than kiss someone and I know you two are into that lovey shit but I’m not so—”
“W get it, Katsuki,” Ochako says, and they all flinch at her use of his given name for the first time. “We understand. You’re romance repulsed. And… we can sort out our boundaries later on. But, right now, I’d love to be in a queerplatonic relationship with you.”
Izuku grins, literally bouncing up and down. “Kacchan, this is so amazing. Of course I want to!”
Katsuki scoffs, but grabs them both by the hand. He stares at them, his palms clammy. “Listen. I… holding hands like this is okay. But… not in public. I dunno. I’m not used to any of this shit. Just… can we do this?”
Izuku looks at Ochako and then at Katsuki, beaming. “We sure can.”