Chapter Text
you rush out of class, haphazardly stuffing in your marked-and-returned assignment without even a glance at your score. your highschool class had organized a get together at eijiro and hanta’s shared apartment, and you were already running late for it. the event had started at 4pm, but your class only ended at 6pm.
it’s close to 7pm by the time you reach their apartment, and even from the other side of the door, you can hear the chaos seeping through in loud yells and barely muffled music. you grin fondly, knocking hard on the door. hopefully someone was standing near enough to hear you over the racket.
not even a few moments later, it swung open, hitoshi’s tired eyes meeting yours.
“hitoshi!” you pull him into a hug. “i thought you said you weren’t coming?”
only two days prior when you were eating lunch with him, he had claimed that he wasn’t planning to go, too socially exhausted to deal with the entirety of the class at one go. and yet here he was, eyebags and all.
“i wasn’t planning on it, but denki,” he glowered in the direction of the kitchen. “appeared in my apartment this afternoon and dragged me over.”
you laugh at his annoyance, patting his arm lightly. “well, we don’t get to meet up like this often, so be a little happier about being here, yeah?”
he shakes his head, face scrunching up into a pout as he leads you further into the apartment.
“i’ll be happier the day i’m not sleep deprived.”
“then you’ll never be happy.” you poke a teasing arm into his side, grinning as he jumps away with a yelp.
“i’m not dealing with you anymore,” he scowls at you, shoving you hard into someone’s arms. “here, take this one away.”
a pair of lips press against your cheeks in an obnoxious smack, strong arms wrapping around you tightly.
“my love! it’s been far too long, i missed you!”
you turn around to face mina, arms wrapping back around her.
“i missed you too!” you squeeze her as hard as you can, but she’s barely phased by you. you appreciate the strength in her grip, the muscles you can definitely feel under your hands. mina teaches pole dancing on the weekends and gyms occasionally with ochako, so it’s no wonder why she’s so strong. “nice muscles, take me for a ride one of these days?”
you waggle your brows at her, and she smirks back flirtatiously.
“we could go right now, babe. hanta has a really nice bathroom.”
“hey, you keep your nasty behavior out of my bathroom!” hanta appears behind mina, tugging her away from you. “as cute as you are, i will never forgive you if you corrupt my sacred space.”
you can see his grin poking through his faux frown, and it breaks through almost immediately as he hugs you too.
“corrupt? nah, hanta, we’d be blessing it.” you wink at him.
he gags jokingly. “you can bless eijiro’s bathroom if you want, i don’t want any blessings from you too. mina has already clogged my toilet up twice this month.”
mina lets out a yell of outrage and hanta merely grins, taking off in a run. mina gives chase, leaving you standing by the kitchen. they’ll never change, still antagonizing each other, still chasing each other like you were fifteen again.
turning towards the living room, you head for the couch where shoto, momo, tenya, and tsuyu watches as izuku and tooru debate. the duo were legendary in your highschool for having fierce debates on something or the other, and a whole voting system had been set up to determine the winner of the debates, courtesy of tenya.
dropping your bag on the floor, you settle down next to tsuyu, who greets you with a gentle side hug.
“who’s winning?” you murmur, stealing tsuyu’s drink out of her hand.
“tooru for now, but izuku’s making some very solid points.” she nabs a bag of open chips over, offering it to you. you take a handful of it gratefully, even though you rarely snacked on such foods.
“what’s the topic this time?” you ask, mouth stuffed with chips.
tenya grimaces at you. “please don’t speak with your mouthful, it’s impolite.”
swallowing quickly, you shoot him an apologetic grin. “sorry prez.”
“you’re forgiven,” he drops a warm hand on your shoulder. “they’re debating whether christmas has been reduced to merely a capitalist scam or whether it still retains its sacred purpose of bringing people together.”
“oooh, that’s a good topic.”
you watch them go back and forth, hands waving animatedly as the debate gets more and more heated. you pity the neighbors, class a’s parties never ended early, and you know from experience that more people would be involved in this discussion later.
your stomach finally grumbles in hunger, and you excuse yourself to find some food. while you don’t see anything substantial in sight, you do spot a particular redhead standing near the main door.
“ejiro!” you throw yourself on the unsuspecting man, wrapping around him like an oversized backpack.
“y/n!” he swings you around to the front, holding you by the thighs. he grins widely at you, canines only reinforcing his bright smile. “what time did you arrive!”
“a while ago, i got caught up in watching izuku and tooru.” you bring your hands up to pinch his cheeks. “do you have food because i think my stomach’s starting to digest itself.”
“of course i do! i even got katsuki to cook something, it’s all in the kitch-” he cuts off abruptly, lips pressing together tightly.
perking up in delight, you hop off him. “katsuki cooked? i definitely need to get some then.”
“no!” he blurts out, moving to block you. “i’ll get it for you! stay right here!”
you frown at his odd behavior, waving him off. “it’s okay ejiro, i can get it myself. go entertain!”
when you try to move past ejiro, you find yourself intercepted by kyoka.
“hey babe,” she smiles at you. “let ejiro get you food, i’ve got some new tracks i wanna get your opinion on.”
“there’s no need for that, i can get my own food, and then i’ll come find you, yeah?” why were they being so suspicious for?
“no, really, i insist. i think you’ll really like them, and i can’t wait a second longer for you to hear them!” kyoka’s voice rises in pitch. your eyes narrow at that. while kyoka still had her moments of insecurity on her music, she had never once been so insistent on someone listening to her works.
“okay, you guys are being weird. just wait here, and i’ll be back asap, kay?” your tone leaves no room for argument, and you watch them exchange helpless glances as you push past them.
just before you reach the kitchen, hitoshi slides right into you, knocking you back a few steps. he reaches out to steady you, but stands firmly in your way as you try to get into the kitchen.
“hitoshi!” you exclaim, now extremely annoyed by your friends’ strange behaviors.
“sorry, but you don’t want to go in there.” he stands uncharacteristically tall, towering over you as he tries to block your view.
throwing your hands out in exasperation, you sigh. “and why would i not want to, especially if the food’s in there?”
hitoshi grimaces. “trust me, you don’t.”
“i’ll decide that for myself, thanks.” tired of talking and being stopped, you jab hitoshi in the side, ducking under his arm and he jerks away to reveal…
a girl you had never seen before leaning against katsuki.
oh. so that’s what they were trying to protect you from.
your hunger dies in an instant, replaced by an uncomfortable rolling in your stomach that travels up and lodges in your throat. you watch as they talk to sato and denki, his right arm wrapped around her shoulder. he’s smiling, you realize, bile rising up your throat.
you take a step forward almost subconsciously, and only hitoshi’s firm grip on your shoulder pulls you back to reality. you meet his lilac eyes, and swallow down the hurt that bubbles within you.
“hey-”
“i think i’m gonna go.” you smile weakly at him. “i just remembered that i have an assignment due at midnight that i haven’t finished yet.”
lie. you always finished your assignment two days before they were due.
hitoshi’s brows furrow. “are you-”
you cut him off once more. “i’ll see you next week for lunch!”
it’s almost all a blur, the escape you make from the gettogether. you barely remember saying goodbye to your friends, barely remember the worried looks on their faces. you only remember how they looked together, him smiling, her against him. together.
you don’t know how you end up at a familiar cafe, one you know is nowhere near ejiro and hanta’s home. your stomach reminds you that you’ve yet to eat. thankfully, it’s a twenty four hours cafe, having spent one too many nights cramming for an exam there.
pushing into the cafe, you nod at the cashier. you’re familiar with each other, considering how frequent you come in here. settling down in your usual seat, you head up to place your order.
“hey,” he smiles at you. “the usual?”
the smile you give him is fragile, held up by pride and the unwillingness to acknowledge your feelings. “yeah, but change the croissant to a chicken sandwich please.”
he nods cheerfully, and you make your payment before returning to your seat.
now that you’re settled down, there’s nothing to distract you from what you saw.
it’s been a couple months since you’ve met katsuki, and your interactions had been sporadic lately, but you had chalked all that up to college life taking over. not… that . your chest tightens at the memory, nails digging into the flesh of your palm. when had he, why didn’t he-
your order is set in front of you, alongside a strawberry cake that you don’t recall being on display. you look up at your server.
“you look like you needed it.” he shrugs before going back to his post.
tears pinprick your eyes. god, you were pathetic, tearing up at the slightest gesture of kindness. digging to your food, you try to focus on it, but your mind keeps wandering back to the kitchen. katsuki had seemed happy. and the girl, she had to be a great person if he liked her. after all, he’s always had high standards and expectations, not only for himself, but for others too.
it’s one of the many reasons you like him.
not that you should anymore. he’s taken now, by someone who’s definitely better than you if he had decided to ask her out. it’s nothing new to you, to have someone else chosen over you. you should’ve expected it, honestly. katsuki will probably be happier with her than he could ever be with you.
the thought leaves a bitter taste in your mouth, the chicken sandwich feeling more like cardboard than a sandwich. you set it back down, your appetite receding once more.
you need to stop thinking about this. about him. the cafe door swings open once more, and your distraction comes walking in. perfect.