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U.A. told them all to go home if they could. The virus was getting pretty bad and didn’t want to risk it spreading to the whole school, especially since pretty much all of the faculty were first responders and needed by the public.
Many of the students in Class 1-A had complained about not being allowed to help, but in the end they knew that there wasn’t much most of them could do. Momo and her family had been paid by the government to make emergency medical equipment, but other than that they were all useless.
So they went home. Well, everyone except Uraraka that is, she got permission to stay in the dorms since it was safer than traveling all the way back home.
They had been off for about a week already and it was driving Izuku crazy. His mom couldn’t come back home since she worked part time as a nurse and had to stay at the hospital to help. He had been keeping up with his exercise the best he could but not being able to go to the gym or see his friends was really taking a toll on him.
He’d been updating his hero notebooks all day. Even though he couldn’t help or observe the heroes directly, the news was still giving tons of information on how heroes were helping and what was going on with hospitals.
He’d started a whole new section of notes for this. “Emergency situations: Pandemic” he titled it.
He’d just started a section to talk about safety equipment for heroes, when he heard the door bell ring.
He wasn’t expecting any visitors, and he didn’t order any food. Maybe his mom ordered a package and forgot to tell him?
Whatever the case the person was pushing the button repeatedly now so he went to go check.
“Hello?- oh. Kacchan, hi.”
“Deku.” He nodded his head and moved the container he was carrying up a bit to draw Izuku’s attention to it. “The old hag said to give this to you. Just because your mom isn’t here to cook for you doesn’t mean you can eat trash, nerd.”
“Thanks, Kacchan,” he smiled, “I’m sure it’ll be delicious. “
“Tch. Whatever. “
“Um. Can I get you something to drink? It’s the least I can do after you brought me food. What would you like? Soda? No, kacchan would never drink something so unhealthy. Water, maybe? Or would you prefer tea? Juice would al-“
“Did you forget we’re social distancing, shitty Deku? Do you want to get sick?”
Izuku hung his head down. Right, they couldn’t hang out. “Right. Sorry, Kacchan. It’s just that Mom’s always at work, because she’s a nurse, you know, so I’ve been all alone and I gues I just got used to having friends around- Cause of the dorms, but Kacchan is right. We aren’t supposed to be in contact with others and even though it would be great to have you stay for a bit, even if we’re sitting far apart, and talk I understand why y-“
“Juice is fine, nerd. “ he said moving past izuku to sit on the couch.
“Right, um, thanks Kacchan,” Izuku said as he went to get the juice. He couldn’t help smiling. He knew that breaking social distancing like this was really horrible and he was risking hurting people, but it was Kacchan. He really really missed Kacchan. For the first time this week he felt really happy.
From the kitchen he could see Katsuki pick up and start flipping through the notebook he had been working on.
“These are good notes,” Katsuki called as Izuku came back into the room, “ Although, you forgot to monitor how criminals behave in times of crisis. You should see if there’s been a rise in crime.”
“Oh you’re right.” Izuku passed him his drink, “ I didn’t even think of that. Thanks Kacchan.”
“It’s whatever.” He said looking away and removing his mask so he could take a sip of juice. “So is adding to your nerd journals all you’ve been doing? You’re never gonna surpass me like that.”
“Ha, well,” he rubbed his neck sheepishly, “ I’ve been keeping up with exercising, but when else am I going to get a chance to study how heroes help in a situation where there is no villian or immediate way to take action?! So many unappreciated heroes have stepped up. Like in India there’s this hero that was able to locat-“
“So I’ll take that as a no then.” Izuku’s eyes locked onto red- Beautiful sparkling, energized red. “You better not start falling behind.”
Izuku smiles, “ I won’t.”
They stay like that for a while. Staring at the other. The news was still paying from the television in front of them, and Izuku’s hero notebook still lay on the couch between them, but neither of them were paying attention to anything but the other's face.
Katsuki looked like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t. His brows furrowed a little and his eyes were open in a way Deku hadn’t seen since their fight at ground beta.
“Deku-“
“I AM HERE I AM HERE I AM-”
Izuku’s phone rang. Katsuki looked away. The moment was broken.
“Sorry, Kacchan. It’s my mom. I have to-“
“Yeah I get it, nerd. Answer the damn phone already.”
“Right, uh, I’ll be right back” He took his phone into the kitchen to answer it. Katsuki stayed on the couch, rummaging through Izuku’s notebook again.
They really were good notes. Helpful. He had taken the time to research the healthcare systems of different countries and try and analyze how that changed how the heroes responded.
Katsuki had just gotten to the section about emergency hospitals when Izuku came back.
“Hey Kacchan, um I’m really sorry about this but you can’t go home.”
“What?”
Izuku stares at the ground. “ Well, you know how my mom works as a nurse? So one of her nurse friends just tested positive for the virus and they had lunch together a few days ago so mom is being quarantined at the hospital so they can make sure that she doesn’t have it as well, but since she came home that day she says I also have to be quarantined, and-“
“OKAY.” Katsuki shouted bringing his hand to his forehead, “ Shit. Fucking Deku. Of course this would happen. I knew I shouldn’t have- but you fucking- UGH. Fine. I get it but why can’t I go home?”
“Um, so, Mom said that since you were here you also have to be quarantined and it would be best if you stay here and didn’t go home so that you don’t pass it onto your parents. There really is a low chance of us having it, because both mom and I have been washing our hands and cleaning the house a lot, but she said that we still need to be careful and-“
“Yeah yeah, I get it, shitty Deku.” He stood up. “Okay, just let me call my parents.”