Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Izuku was sick and tired of all this. He desperately needed something to change and the sooner the better.

He hated where his life had gone so far. He hated that he was stuck in his second year at this stupid high school, with the same stupid people.

The same people who have been torturing him and making him miserable for as long as he could remember. He was hoping that maybe with age everyone would mature and not treat him like human garbage. But surprisingly it had gotten worse.

This is why he was currently trying to get home as quickly as possible, hoping to avoid anyone with negative intent. He was completely exhausted and felt like he could burst out into tears any minute.

Today was particularly bad. From the moment he woke up he felt completely terrible. He didn’t sleep well the night before, which meant he was even more tired than usual today. Causing him quite a few sleep attacks. Which was something that people loved to make fun of him for. And then as the day went on things got worse, his cataplexy was terrible and the other students were mocking him for it, mimicking the facial expression and slurred speech that came along with it.

Thankfully it did seem like his tormentors didn’t follow him home so that they could throw trash (or whatever else they deemed appropriate) at him. Maybe he would finally just get home without any problems and -

And suddenly as he felt something hit his ankle causing him to start falling to the ground, he realized he shouldn’t have gotten his hopes up.

As he heard the laughs of people coming from behind him he accepted his fate and brought his arms out slightly, bracing himself to hit the ground. But just as he thought he was about to hit the ground he saw a flash of blue quickly approaching him. He felt two hands grab his shoulders, bringing him back up to a standing position. He sighed as he regained his balance a bit confused as to what happened, until he heard a loud voice come from in front of him saying, “That was wildly inappropriate behavior”.

He looked up and saw a boy who seemed to be around his age making a hand-chopping motion at the kids behind him who were still laughing. Izuku swore he had seen him somewhere before but he just couldn’t figure out where.

“This isn’t funny”, he continued, “He could have been hurt”!

“He would have been fine”, one of them said with a scoff.

“You don’t know that, what if he would have hit his head”!

“He falls all the time, it isn’t really a big deal”, Another one of them said.

The much taller boy in front of him opened his mouth about to argue back again, but Izuku knew this wasn’t going to go anywhere. His fellow students didn’t give a single shit if he got hurt. If anything they enjoyed it. It was entertaining to them.

“Umm, thank you, but i-it’s fine, really.. I-I’m okay..it’s not a big deal”, Izuku spoke up, nervously wringing his hands together hoping the subject could just be dropped.

The other boy looked at him, seeming a bit conflicted but ended up nodding in response, “Fine, but at least let me walk you home to make sure no one else bothers you”, he put emphasis on the last part as he looked over Izuku and at the boys behind him.

With that the bullies walking away, apparently deciding he wasn’t worth the effort anymore. As they left Izuku looked back up at the boy, “You really don’t have to do that, I’m okay”.

“No, I want to”, The boy said sending an arm-chop Izuku’s way, “It is my responsibility as a future hero to make sure all civilians are safe”.

And that’s when it hit him. This boy was a UA student, he competed in the sports festival. Izuku gasped lightly wracking his brain trying to remember the boy’s name. At the sports festival, Izuku had taken a particular interest in the boy. His quirk fascinated him and he came up with so many ideas of new moves he could come up with (It also didn’t hurt that the boy was very attractive). He quickly pulled his backpack off and started digging through, trying to find his notebook.

“Is everything alright”, The boy asked giving Izuku a puzzled look.

Izuku muttered something under his breath and he flipped through the pages of his notebook trying to find the page that he had dedicated to the boy. And as he found it he finally remembered his name.

“Iida! Iida Tenya”, He said looking back up at him.

“That…. Is my name”, Iida said the confused look still on his face.

“Sorry, that was weird.. Sorry.. I just.. I saw you in the sports festival”, Izuku quickly said.

“Ah”, Iida made a noise of understanding, “I suppose that makes sense. So, shall we start walking”.

“Oh, yeah, I got excited”, Izuku said as he started walking again. Pulling his backpack back on, but kept his notebook out, hoping to somehow find a way to discuss Iida’s quirk. Izuku looked back over to the boy to notice that he was looking over Izuku’s shoulder down at his notebook.

“Is..is that my engine”, he asked pointing at the page.

Izuku blushed a bit, trying to not sound weird, but he knew for a fact he would, “Uhh.. yeah”, he said scratching at the back of his neck with his free hand, “When watching the sports festival I took note of a lot of people’s quirks. This one”, He said flipping over to the next page ‘is Yaoyorozu, her quirk seems very useful she just doesn’t seem to have the confidence to use it properly. And this one”, he flipped the page, “Is Todoroki’s, his quirk is absolutely amazing and I think he might be one of the next top heroes, he just seems to not like using his fire for some reason, I have a few theories as to why though unless you know why”.

Iida seemed to hesitate before saying, “honestly I am not sure.. What else did you write in there about me”.

Izuku smiled, as it seemed Iida was genuinely curious instead of weirded out, “Well I have some ways that I think you could use your quirk and also some questions and theories I have about it”.

“If you want I can answer some”.

Izuku flapped his hands in a stim quickly, before stopping, again not wanting Iida to think he weird, “Really, oh my gosh okay. Okay..”, He was about to ask about what fuels his engines but as he started to talk again his face went slack and his head dropped forward. Ugh his stupid cataplexy getting in way of something good for him, as usual.

“Is everything alright”, Iida asked. Izuku couldn’t see his face, but judging by how loud he had suddenly gotten, it was obvious he was concerned.

Izuku tried to respond but he couldn’t, so all that came out was a small hum. Then just as quickly as it happened, it was over, “Yeah, sorry I am okay, it happens”.

He just hoped Iida wouldn’t ask further questions.

“Oh? Okay, so what were your questions”?

“Well, I was wondering, how you fuel your engines.. Or if they even need to be fueled at all”.

“Oh.. actually when I drink orange juice, or really any kind of juice I just prefer orange, it fuels them”, he said.

As they made their way to Izuku’s house they continued to discuss Iida’s quirk and eventually, Izuku gave him some ideas of new moves Iida could come up with. When they finally reached his apartment Izuku was honestly really sad that he would probably never see him again. Iida seemed to be a genuinely nice person who accepted him, no questions asked.

“Well”, Izuku said with a sad sigh, “This is my place”.

“Oh”, Tenya seemed like he might be just as sad about this as Izuku.

“If you want.. You can come inside.. If you want of course.. You don’t have to.. You probably have places to be and..”.

“I would like that”, Tenya said with a smile, “I would love to hear more of your ideas”.

Izuku smiled at him and quickly opened the door to his apartment, “Come on in then”.

Chapter Text

Shouto sighed as he walked next to his best friend (and crush) as they made their way down the sidewalk. Shouto didn’t want to admit it but he was a nervous wreck, not only because he is in a new part of town, meeting a stranger.. But because of a certain fact about this stranger. He was quirkless.

Shouto definitely didn’t have a problem with quirkless people, not at all. He was just so terrified he was going to say something wrong or offensive. To his knowledge, he had never even seen a quirkless person, let alone go over to a quirkless person’s house. But Tenya was insistent on this.

Izuku was Tenya’s other best friend, he talked about him all the time, and he really wanted Shouto to meet him. So, that was exactly what Shouto was going to do (even if it terrified him).

As they walked up to the apartment Shouto looked around a little confused. It’s not that Izuku’s apartment was bad or anything, it was just different from anything Shouto had ever seen before. The only friend that has ever invited him over was Tenya and his house was pretty similar to Shouto’s in size and everything. But this apartment was definitely not.

“Are you alright Shouto”, Tenya asked, apparently noticing the anxious look on his face.

“Oh….”, Shouto said looking over to him, “....Yeah… I’m good”.

Tenya quirked his eyebrow at him, but Shouto didn’t have the heart to tell him that he felt like he could have a panic attack at any moment, so instead, he just said, “I’m fine.. I promise”.

Tenya looked at him still giving him a questioning look but nodded, “If you’re sure”.

Tenya moved his hand up to knock on the door, but just as he did the door opened and a short teen boy, that Shouto knew through looking at Tenya’s Instagram posts was Izuku, excitedly greeted them.

“Hey”, he said lightly bouncing on the balls of his feet excitedly and he turned to face Shouto, “You’re Todoroki right? It’s really nice to meet you.. I saw you at the sports festival and your quirk is really fascinating and…….”.

As Izuku kept babbling on Shouto couldn’t help but zone out, focusing on the boy in front of him. He was absolutely beautiful, but in a different way than Tenya. He was soft and dainty, and just gave off a completely different vibe altogether from Tenya, but he could definitely see how they got along and complemented each other well. And his smile was just so sincere and kind, and as he moved his hands around excitedly Shouto couldn’t help the small smile the formed on his face.

But with it came a sinking feeling in his stomach.. Because he knew he was in trouble. Because, the butterflies in his stomach and the stupid dopey grin he already had on his face were things that only one other person caused, and that was Tenya..

And Shouto knew then….. He was in love.

Chapter Text

Shouto had a big problem. Well in reality it probably wasn’t that big of a problem, but right now it definitely felt like a big problem.

This problem was that he was crushing, and he was crushing hard. He’s had a crush on his best friend for awhile now, but now it wasn’t just that. He was also had a crush on his best friend’s best friend.. which was just a whole other level of complicated.

It wasn’t even like he had known him that long. He had just gone over there with Tenya four or five times. But still there was just something about him that Shouto really really liked.

Which was stupid. He was being stupid. It’s not like either of them would ever like him like that anyway.

Being with him would be way too complicated for anyone. He didn’t even fully understand himself and his feelings and how to handle all of the pent up anger inside him, so why would anyone else want to try to figure that out with him?He just wasn’t worth it.

But ugh, he just couldn’t make these feelings go away. How did he even have a crush on two people? Was that okay? Did that make him a bad person? Or was that a normal thing? Ugh, highschool life was way too complicated.. he needed to distract himself before he got stuck in his head about this, again.

He wished he could go hang out with Tenya. Even if the whole time he would be thinking about how stupidly in love with him he was, at least he wouldn’t be alone. But he couldn’t do that, because Tenya went home this weekend to visit his family for his Mom’s birthday.

So, Shouto was stuck in the dorms, alone. Well, not really alone, there obviously were other people there, he just wasn’t super close with any of them. He wasn’t exactly the most social person, so when he spent time with his other classmates, he was mostly just quiet while Tenya talked to them.

Maybe he could go hang out with Sero or Yaomomo. Out of his other fellow students, he was closest with them. But he shouldn’t do that, both of them were probably spending their weekend with their partners.

Maybe he could call Izuku. Would that be weird? Last time he and Tenya visited him he and Shouto exchanged numbers, so that meant he wanted Shouto to talk to him, right? Or was he just doing it to be nice?

Shouto huffed, falling back on his futon, holding his phone in his hands. He clicked Izuku’s contact, contemplating. Now that the idea crossed his mind he wanted to talk to him, really really badly. Just to hear his voice.

He sighed, and clicked the call button. Panic automatically filled him, he considered hanging up. But if he did that Izuku would probably call him back.. or just think he was rude. So instead he held the phone up to his ear, going back and forth between hoping he would answer and hoping he wouldn’t.

“Hello?”, he heard Izuku say over the phone, as the ringing suddenly stopped.

“Uhh hey”, Shouto responded, blushing wildly for some reason, “Are you.. busy?”.

“No, not really. Just reading some manga. Is everything okay?”, he asked.

“Yeah, everything is fine. I’m just kind of bored”, He responded.

“Yeah, I understand that. I hate weekends, when you guys don’t come over… it’s boring”.

“Then do you want to hang out?”, Shouto asked, before he could even think it through.

“Oh”, Izuku said, clearly surprised, but seemingly excited, “Umm.. yeah.. I guess that would be okay. Do you want to just come over, or do you want to meet somewhere?”.

“Either works for me. It’s a nice day, we could go for a walk in the park or something”, Shouto suggested.

“Uh.. I don’t know about a walk. I’m kinda having some bad pain today.. but we could hang out at the park.”

Right, Shouto should have thought about Izuku’s chronic pain before suggesting something like that. Ugh, he was being so inconsiderate.

“Yeah, that sounds good. Do you want to meet at the park near UA or..”.

“Yeah, that sounds good”, Izuku responded. He sounded excited. He was actually excited to spend time with him.

A small smile formed on Shouto’s face, “Okay, I’ll see you soon”.

-

An hour or so later Shouto was sitting on the bench at the park, waiting for Izuku to show up. They agreed on meeting at 1:00, and it was now 1:05. Was Izuku okay? Did he secretly not want to hang out with Shouto and was standing him up?

No, he needed to stop thinking like that. He was just being paranoid.

Thankfully at that moment a car pulled up, one that he recognized as Inko’s. The car stopped, right next to the sidewalk near the bench. The passenger door opened, and Izuku started to get out.

“Just call me when you’re ready for me to pick you up, okay?”, Inko said

“Okay, thanks Mom”, Izuku responded.

Inko waved to Shouto through the open car door. Shouto smiled a little bit and waved back, before Izuku shut the door.

Shouto looked up at Izuku, “Hey”.

“Hey”, Izuku responded with a smile.

“Do you uh.. do you want to sit?”, Shouto asked, gesturing to the space on the bench next to him.

“Sure”, Izuku said, before he sat down next to him, scooting close to Shouto. Which made him blush again. What was it about Izuku that made him blush so much?

“So umm..”, Shouto paused, trying to figure out how to have a normal conversation. Why did he have to be so awkward?, “The weather is nice”.

Izuku laughed a tiny bit, “It is.. but you don’t have to try to make small talk with me. It’s awkward and I never know how to respond to it".

“Sorry”, Shouto said, hunching in on himself a little bit, “Do you want to sit by the pond? We can feed the fish, instead of just staring at the parking lot”.

“Sure”, Izuku responded.

Thankfully after that everything got less awkward. The two of them just talked. Izuku kept infodumping about quirks and suggesting new ways for Shouto to use his. Shouto was mostly listening, but it was hard to concentrate on words when Izuku was just so adorable.

He had an amazing smile. And he loved the way he rocked back and forth, adding little flaps when he got excited. Izuku felt comfortable enough with Shouto to let him see this part of him. And Shouto loved it. He loved seeing Izuku genuinely happy. He loved Izuku.

“Shouto?”, Izuku said, looking a concerned, “Sorry, was I talking too much?”.

“What?”, Shouto asked, tilting his head a tiny bit.

“Sorry if I was talking too much”, Izuku said, now wringing his hands together, “You seemed like you were kind of losing interest”.

“No! no, please keep talking”, Shouto said quickly, making Izuku give him a confused look. Shouto anxiously scratched at the back of his neck and looked away, “I just mean.. I like when you talk about this stuff.. I like seeing you happy”.

“Oh, okay”, Izuku responded, still seeming a bit hesitant.

Shouto looked over at him slightly and noticed Izuku was smiling at him. Shouto blushed again, giving him a small smile in return. He could feel butterflies in his stomach.

He noticed Izuku scooting a little closer to him. Shouto looked down, noticing Izuku’s hand was so close to his, and for some reason he felt a little brave at that moment.

He started to move his hand closer to Izuku’s. He looked back up to Izuku’s face, trying to gauge his reaction. He was smiling, so hopefully he was okay with this.

He finally reached all the way over, intertwining their fingers. Izuku gave him another smile, and Shouto gave him one back, before they both turned their attention back to the pond in front of them as they sat in comfortable silence.

Then Izuku spoke up, “I’m really glad you invited me here”.

Shouto blushed again, smiling wider than he may have ever smiled before, “Me too”.

Chapter Text

Tenya smiled, maybe even blushing a little bit as he listened to Izuku infodump, while he stimed happily. He flapped his hands and rocked back and forth as they both sat on his bed.

He was spending this Saturday the same way he had been spending a lot of his Saturdays since he had met Izuku. By spending the night at his house.

Which was fun.. but also raised some.. emotions. Emotions that Tenya was deeply ashamed of. The type of emotions his family had told him were wrong and shameful. But as he looked at Izuku he struggled to believe that these feelings could possibly be bad.

He loved Izuku.

Not like you normally love your best friend though, but in the way where every time he saw him, he just wanted to kiss him. He wanted to hold his hand, and cuddle him, and just fucking kiss him.

He wanted it so badly. And he hated it . He hated how wonderful he felt around Izuku. He hated the way butterflies appeared in his stomach every time they accidentally looked at each other just a little too long or when his hand would accidentally brush against Izuku’s.

No, he didn’t hate it. He loved it. And he hated that he loved it.

“And I just.. I don’t know”, Izuku said as he flapped his hands happily, “I think it’s really cool that Best Jeanist has become such a popular hero, because his quirk isn’t one that is necessarily deadly on its own. But he made it the perfect weapon..”, he said, adding a few happy giggles at the end.

Tenya didn’t say anything. He didn’t know what to say. He loved seeing Izuku stim. Stimming had always been something Tenya got punished for, so the fact that when he was with Izuku it was seen as a good thing, made him so incredibly happy.

Plus seeing Izuku happy was definitely one of Tenya’s favorite things in the world.

“Tenya?”, Izuku said, getting his attention again, he wasn’t stimming anymore and had a slight frown on his face as he looked away from Tenya.

Tenya suddenly became concerned as he tightly gripped the comforter they were sitting on, out of anxiety, “Are you okay?”.

Izuku sighed, “You weren’t listening anymore”.

“No, that’s not it!”, Tenya said quickly, waving his hands in front of him, trying to think of an excuse for why he had stopped listening, “I love listening to you infodump!”, Tenya said quickly before biting his lip, “I just- I-“.

“You got bored”, Izuku said sadly, “It’s okay..”, he looked down sadly, tapping his finger anxiously on his knee.

Tenya looked at him anxiously. That wasn’t it, that wasn’t it at all. How could Tenya explain that the thing Tenya had been thinking about is how much he loved hearing Izuku talk about his special interests. He loved it so much he felt like it was tearing him apart. Torn between living the life his family wanted or the one he wanted so desperately.

“I.. think I’m gonna get some water or something”, Izuku said as he stood up off the bed.

“No, Izuku, please listen to me”, Tenya said as he got off the bed standing next to Izuku, “I want to hear you talk.. I-I mean I could listen to you talk for hours and I just.. I love seeing you happy”.

“Oh?”, Izuku said, looking at him slightly confused and embarrassed. The small blush forming on Izuku’s cheeks, the pink tint now covering his freckles was absolutely adorable.

“Yeah”, Tenya gently took Izuku’s hands in his. Izuku looked up at him with a huge smile, but still seemed unsure, “Seeing you so comfortable and happy around me, makes me happy”.

“Tenya..”, Izuku blushed, looking away from him.

And before Tenya could think it through, he did one of the first impulsive things he had ever done in his life. He gently took Izuku’s chin in his hand, and turned his face so he was looking at him and leaned forward and kissed him.

He felt Izuku’s body go slightly rigid in surprise and Tenya almost pulled away thinking maybe Izuku didn’t want this, but then he felt Izuku melt into the kiss and kiss him back.

Tenya pulled away a little bit, resting his forehead against Izuku’s. His glasses awkwardly pressed against his forehead, and Izuku let out another one of those absolutely amazing giggles.

Gosh, Tenya loved him. He loved him so much.

Suddenly Izuku wrapped his arms around Tenya’s neck so they were lightly laying on his shoulders, standing on his tiptoes, which Tenya was grateful for. Their height difference was making things a little more difficult as Tenya was slightly hunched over before.

But before he knew it Izuku’s lips were back on his and at first Tenya kissed him back.. Until the adrenaline wore off, and Tenya realized what he was doing.

What the fuck was he doing?

He wasn’t gay.

He couldn’t be gay.

Izuku was just his friend.. a really good friend.. his best friend.

But if that was the case then why was kissing him so amazing?

No! No, no, no! This was a terrible idea.

He wasn’t gay!

He quickly pulled away, grabbing Izuku arms and taking them off of him, he could hear the whine that left Izuku’s mouth when he did. And since Izuku was leaning against him, when Tenya moved back, Izuku stumbled a bit.

“Ow”, Izuku said softly as he looked up at Tenya confused, “what? Did I do something wrong? I know I’m probably not a good kisser but I have never really kissed anyone before and-“.

As Izuku rambled Tenya could feel anxiety rise in his chest. He had hurt Izuku. He hurt him, because of his stupid impulsive decision.

But why should he care? He didn’t care about Izuku.

He wasn’t gay! He couldn’t be gay.

“I’m not gay”, Tenya said taking a couple steps back.

Izuku blinked at him confused, “But you kissed me , Tenya”.

Tenya shook his head, tears forming in the corner of his eyes. No! He couldn’t cry! He kept backing up, away from Izuku, who looked completely devastated, “No! You kissed me!”, Tenya said.. and he knew that wasn’t true, but he didn’t know what else to say, “I’m not gay!”.

“Tenya, let’s just talk about this..”, Izuku said, taking a step towards him. Tenya took another step back, bumping into Izuku’s computer desk.

“No”, Tenya said, moving quickly so that he was now by the door of Izuku’s room, “I think I need to leave”.

“Tenya it’s 10:30 at night you can’t walk home right now”, Izuku said, “It-it’s okay we don’t have to-“.

“I’m not gay”, Tenya said again. At this point he knew he was trying to convince himself, more than he was trying to convince Izuku, “Why did you kiss me?”.

“Because you kissed me!”, Izuku said, as tears started to roll down his cheeks, and the pitch of his voice raised slightly as he yelled.

“No I didn’t!”, Tenya said, “I’m going home”.

“Tenya, please.. at least let my mom take you”, Izuku said desperately, as he continued to cry, “it’s not safe.. please just.. I don’t know.. we can talk about this. Just don’t leave”.

Tenya couldn't hold it back anymore and he finally started to cry, “I’m sorry, Izuku”, he said quickly leaving the room, before Izuku could stop him. Thankfully Inko was already asleep so Tenya could just quickly walk out the front door.

He walked down the stairs of the apartment complex and as he got outside he realIzed it was dark and raining. But he didn’t care. How could he care after all of that had happened? He ruined everything. He was such a fuck up just like his dad said. He quickly wiped away his tears as he walked down the sidewalk, he held his arms tight against his chest, as he tried to bring himself comfort.

Why did he do that? He was such an idiot. He had kissed Izuku, when he still had so many things to figure out. He played with Izuku emotions. It wasn’t fair to him to be pulled into the mess of emotions he had.

“Stupid”, Tenya said as he hit himself on the head, “You’re such a stupid fuck up! Your dad was right”.

Suddenly Tenya felt a buzz come from his pocket. He sighed, pulling his phone out, seeing that Izuku was the one calling.

Tenya quickly pressed ignore, still feeling guilty.

Almost immediately Izuku was calling again.

There was no way he was getting out of this was there?

He accepted the call and put his phone up to his ear, “Hello?”, Tenya said, his voice cracking in the middle of it.

“Tenya! Please come back”, Tenya heard Izuku say through the phone. He sounded desperate and scared.. really scared, “We don’t have to talk about it. We don’t even have to be in the same room, just please come back”, he could hear Izuku sigh through the phone, “please, Tenya. You’re my best friend and I care about you.. and it’s not safe out there”.

Tenya sighed, pushing his wet bangs out of his face, “I suppose..”.

“Thank you”, Izuku said.

“Yeah.. I will be there in a moment”.

Tenya hung up the phone before Izuku could say anything else and stuffed it back in his pocket, hoping that even though all of his clothes were soaked from the heavy rainfall, that it still wouldn’t get too damaged.

He turned back around and started walking back to Izuku’s apartment, trying to figure out how to handle this. Should he confess his stupid, dumb, disgusting feelings to Izuku? Should he even talk to Izuku? Would their friendship ever be the same after this?

He got to Izuku’s apartment and was about to knock but before he even could the door opened quickly, showing Izuku, his face red and stained with tears.

“Izuku..”, Tenya said anxiously, biting his lip anxiously, “I-“.

“Please, just come inside, Tenya”, Izuku said as he gently took Tenya’s hand and brought him inside the apartment and into his room.

Once they got in there, Izuku let out a choked sob. In that moment he realized there was almost nothing Tenya hated more than seeing Izuku cry.. especially when he was the one who caused it.

“You can sit down on the bed..”, Izuku said awkwardly as he let go of Tenya’s hand.

“But, my clothes are wet..”, Tenya said awkwardly.

“It’s okay..”, Izuku said before he walked over to his closet and pulled out a few beach towels, before walking over to Tenya. He handed one towel to Tenya before getting on the bed behind him.

“What are you doing?”, Tenya asked.

“Your hair is wet, silly”, Izuku said, obviously trying to fake his normal goofy and happy tone.

“Right”, Tenya said sadly before he felt Izuku bring the towel up to his head and dry his hair, until his movements stopped suddenly. Tenya turned around a little to see what had happened and when he did he saw that Izuku was crying again.

“Do you want to talk about it?”, Izuku asked.

“No..”, Tenya said, “Or.. well.. kind of”.

“What does that mean”, Izuku asked as he moved, sitting next to Tenya.

He reached his hand out, and started to grab Tenya’s, this was something that was normal for them. They had never been uncomfortable with platonic affection, but Izuku seemed hesitant now.

“It’s okay”, Tenya said and interlocked their fingers, trying to ignore the way it made his heart skip a beat when Izuku squeezed his hand tightly, “I don’t want things to be awkward between us.. but I don’t think I’m ready to have this conversation”.

Izuku nodded, “I understand”, he said, “And we don’t have to talk about our feelings or what our relationship actually is.. but I just want to say”, Izuku took a deep shaky breath, “This is the longest anyone has ever really stuck around.. and I love you Tenya.. not just in the romantic sense, but I love you so much.. even if we just stay friends.. I don’t want it to sound like I’m guilting you into staying.. but just.. I don’t know what I would do without you”.

Tenya sighed, “I’m not going anywhere”, he said.

And that was definitely something he was sure of. Even through his sexuality crisis he never once wanted to not be around Izuku. Honestly he wanted to be around him all the time, to spend the rest of his life with him and-.. Ugh, no he couldn’t think that kind of thing.

Izuku was his friend, nothing else.

Izuku nodded, “Do.. you love me?”.

Tenya froze. He wasn’t sure if it was romantic or platonic or something in between but he knew the answer.

“Yes”, Tenya said, “I love you Izuku.. but I just don’t know if.. I love you.. like that”.

“That’s okay”, Izuku said, “You don’t have to love me that way.. being friends is good enough for me.. just as long as you're in my life”.

“Thank you for understanding”, Tenya said, “I’m sorry about earlier”.

“It's okay”, Izuku said, “You.. did kiss me though right? I just.. I don’t know.. it all happened so fast and-”.

Tenya let out a small grumble, “Yes…. I.. did.. kiss you”.

“Okay”, Izuku said softly, “I just wanted to make sure, I remembered it correctly”, He paused, “You left some clothes here last time you spent the night, why don’t you change out of your wet clothes and then we can sleep”.

Tenya grabbed the clothes and quickly changed before walking back into Izuku’s bedroom. He was laying down on his bed under the covers. Tenya walked over to the bed, and laid next to him, and wrapped his arm over his shoulders. Izuku smiled, resting his head on Tenya’s chest as he closed his eyes.

Tenya gently started to rub Izuku’s shoulder, playing with the soft fabric of his shirt, he leaned over a little, kissing the top of Izuku’s head, it felt wrong.. but also right, “I do love you, Izuku.. I just.. I’m sorry that I don’t understand my feelings.. it’s complicated”.

Izuku snuggled closer to him,”You don’t have to be sorry. Like I said, I don't care if you don’t want to be anything besides friends. I just love being around you, Tenya. You really are my best friend”.

Tenya nodded, “Thank you”, he said as he closed his eyes.

Emotions were exhausting and he desperately needed sleep. He felt Izuku snuggle even closer to him, and he was somehow able to go to sleep. Because even though he was anxious and confused he knew it would be okay, because Izuku was here with him.