Archive of Our Own

Izuku has heard countless times that it was unhealthy to check your smartphone first thing in the morning. But he didn't care about it, none of the researchers that affirmed this were in his place.

Considering that his boyfriend lived in another continent, Izuku was justified in being a little desperate to get in contact with him.

amor: I get it

            I mean, I think I get it

           Any way, I just finished studying now 

           I'm dying because of a headache so I'll go straight to bed

           [image] She forced me to get us a midnight snack

         When you see this it will already be morning…

        Good morning, my dear!

        Since tomorrow will be Saturday I will have time to call you, if you're not busy :)

That silly smile always seemed to draw itself in Izuku's face when Rody was nearby. Well… The nearest they could be for their relationship at least.

At this point Izuku didn't even pay any attention to how much Rody's written language was a contrast between his speaking language, which was very colloquial and even vulgar at times. When questioned, Rody simply answered that he knew how to write grammatically correct and didn't see any reason to not do so. Still if he ever felt the need to write a swear or a slang he would do so, after all, they're part of the language.

 You: Good morning, Rody!!! I hope you are having good dreams!

It's good that Pino is exigent 😁

It wouldn't do any good to sleep hungry right? Good thing you never did this right??? 🤨

Did you take medicine before sleeping by the way??

And yeah!!! 🥺 I will make time for you, call me the moment you wake up please!!

I miss your voice

After a busy day of training and studying, Izuku waited for the call in his bedroom.

All of his friends were on the dormitory's main floor. He felt bad for leaving them behind, but they said they understood, and well, it was true that Izuku had a different priority at the moment.

The only reason why he didn't go crawling up the walls was because of HeroTube. Thank you, technology.

Rody usually wakes up at six or seven in the morning. Translating this to the Japanese timezone it was roughly two or three in the afternoon. As four PM came closer, Izuku's anxiety only rose.

And just as he was ready to bite his phone, a distinctive chime echoed.

"Rody! Good morning!"

"Good morning, love," Rody smiled softly on the other side of the screen. He sprawled while Pino settled on the curve of his neck.

By the scenery, Rody seemed to be laid on the couch. He was dressed in a grayish red shirt that had a few tears, too small for Rody to care about patching, and his hair, long and down, already seemed brushed.

"It's been too long since you woke up?" Too excited to be quiet, Izuku adjusted his position on the bed.

"No." He closed his eyes before the next sentence. "But I went to make breakfast for my siblings first, and brush my hair, of course." He opened his eyes with a lopsided grin to match. "Couldn't go talking with my man with my hair looking like a broom."

With his face flushing, Izuku laughed, "I've seen your hair messy several times!"

"Well, irrelevant." He squinted, but he didn't seem annoyed or upset. Well, at least by Izuku's knowledge.

And obviously Izuku knew his boyfriend! Also he had gotten a lot better at reading body language thanks to his hero training.

And also, after Rody found out about Izuku's difficulties noticing the nuances of facial expressions, he, a boy that already was dramatic, started to dramatize and exaggerate his actions and expressions even more. Just so Izuku wouldn't get confused, or waste unnecessary efforts in trying to decipher what Rody meant.

"I think it's cute." Izuku rolled over on the bed, now onto his back and holding the cellphone above his head.

Rody's reaction took a few seconds, possibly by the signal.

"Shut up," he avoided looking at the screen, suddenly a little shy. Pino, curled up on Rody's long neck, trilled a low and long satisfied chirp while blushing lightly. "Your opinion is questionable."

"What, why?" He rolled over again, laying onto his side.

"Why you moving so much? Did any ant crawled up your ass?"

"Rody!" he chided, though by now he was used to his boyfriend's antics. Izuku ignored the way Pino laughed while Rody looked at him with a teasing smile. "But seriously," he received another squinted look. "I think it's so cute," he smiled softly, doing his best to not move on the bed again. "Makes me feel like I just woke up by your side."

"Gay."

"You? I agree. The gayest, in fact."

"Yeah, sure, Mr. Straight."

"Hey, don't say something like this!"

They both giggled.

"I forgot to ask!" he exclaimed suddenly, with that strong and foreign Otheonian pronunciation. Every time they spent some time without communicating verbally, Rody would go back to his native pronunciation at full force, but a few minutes talking to Izuku in English was all it took for him to go back to pronouncing words in a British type of accent. A real pity, Izuku loved when Rody pronounced English words in his native accent. "How was your day, cutie?"

"Boring." The reply got Rody by surprise, Pino's briefly ruffled feathers confirmed this.

"Boring?" He blinked twice before squinting his eyes.

Izuku shrugged, not fighting the urge to lay onto his belly.

“I mean, it was cool, you know? I trained, studied, spent some time with my friends, browsed the internet, normal…” His eyes trailed through his room before stopping at the screen. “But I was so excited to talk to you, the day seemed to go so slow! It was boring.”

“You’re kind of really gay today.” Pino trilled happily, so Izuku knew that Rody just didn’t know how to answer the affection and avoided doing so.

So Izuku rolled with it, “what about it? Are you homophobic or something?”

“Near ya nobody could be, my prince,” winked.

Izuku let out another shy giggle. Rody squinted again, a soft smile on his face.

“So… Tell me,” Izuku began, suddenly curious. “Why are you always closing your eyes?”

“Closing?” Both boy and bird tilted their heads synchronically, looking confused.

“Um, yeah?” Uncertainty sipped through his voice. Maybe he used the wrong verb? “You know? Like this?” He squinted.

Half a laugh escaped through Rody’s lips.

“Did ya do something? I didn’t see no difference.” Izuku halted, frowning until his eyes narrowed.

“Was, was that a joke because I'm Japanese?” he set his lips in a tight line.

“No,” he answered too fast, while Pino shrunk onto herself in shame. Izuku’s skeptical, judgmental look heaved on him. “Sorry, uh, anyway, “ he changed the topic quickly, and Izuku didn't objected. “I squint my eyes to see you better.”

“Squint,” he repeated, testing the pronunciation of the new word. “Squint, squint…” He pinched his bottom lip, thoughtful about the implications. Why would Rody squint his eyes to see? So randomly? It was good to establish that he wasn’t angry all those times he did that, but it was interesting that he did this to see better. Could it be a problem with the quality of his phone screen? No, that was probably not it. Now that he thought further about the matter he could remember Rody doing it very few times when they were together in Europe. Now the only alternative was an eye vision issue. He gazed at the affectionate look on the other side of the screen. “Rody, are you.. Um. “ He looked for his english dictionary, it was so far away though… “Do you see bad?”   

“See bad…” His grin got wider. “ Yeah, I don’t see very well.” Izuku didn’t knew he was frowning until he frowned harder, making his eyes narrower.

“So you need glasses.” That wasn’t a question. Izuku was just thinking aloud.  The reason why Rody wouldn’t have glasses even though he needed it seemed obvious to someone that knew about his financial condition, Izuku was searching for a way to talk to him without bruising his ego. “The… Um…” Why did he left the dictionary so far away? He could try using blackwhip but he didn't want to risk damaging it… “The doctor… Uh, going to the doctor is too expensive?”

Rody frowned softly for a second, but Pino seemed calm, if not a little confused, so Izuku didn’t worry.

“Oh,” his eyebrows lifted in understanding. “Otheon has a free health system.”

“Oh.”

“Is it too expensive there in Japan?”

“Not really, but I-...” He interrupted himself before they got too far off topic. “What matters is, why don't you go to the doctor, then?”

Rody stayed silent for a while.

“Not worth it.”

Izuku felt something weird on his chest.

“Um?” In the lack of an answer, he went on, keeping his eyes on the little bird. “Why not? Of course it’s worth it to take care of you if you are not feeling fine!”

“It’s not worth to know what the problem is and not getting a solution.” That talk didn’t make any sense.

“That would be the glasses…?”

“Too expensive, it’s not worth spending money on this.” Izuku blinked a few times. “It’s better to keep it in case we need it.”

Izuku mulled it over for a few seconds before speaking.

“Is that why you always have a headache?” He remembered Iida mentioning feeling headaches when he didn't use his glasses for long periods of time.

“Um, that must be it, yeah. My eyes hurt a little.”

“Pi?” Pino raised her eyebrows towards Rody, but he ignored her.

“...So you do need glasses.” 

Rody rolled his eyes, “Yeah, we already established that, Izuku.” He couldn't help but feel bothered by the use of his name, Rody did get him used to the pet names after all.

“Yeah? If that’s something that you need and you know it, then it’s worth spending money on it.” Pino scoffed, rolling her eyes. And Rody seemed to be getting impatient. “Is it really, really expensive?”

“I don’t know.”

“No…” He searched for the right word, and he berated himself internally for taking too long. “No guesses?”

“Some people say it’s really expensive, some others say ya can get it cheaper in the right places…” Pino got a thoughtful look on her face, while Rody squinted his eyes. “Maybe three hundred to five hundred euros?” Pino shrugged. “Not sure, really.”

Izuku blinked, and quickly opened the searching tool to do the coin conversion.

“Rody," he started, already getting ready for the inevitable answer. “If you let me, I can send you the m-...”

“I don’t want it,” even with the transmission delay Rody was able to cut him off.

Izuku understood Rody’s principles, he did it and respected him, but not being able to help him was really frustrating. He really wished his boyfriend could be more collaborative in times like these.

“But Rody…” he tried again. This was more important than Rody’s ego.

“I can buy it with my money, right?” he started as Pino complained. “I would just need to do extra hours with Stan, do a few gigs here and there in the city, and then I could buy cheap glasses.”

“What type of gigs?” He regretted opening his mouth the moment he saw how Pino seemed upset by his words.

“Normal gigs, Izuku,” Rody said seriously.

“Right, I’m sorry,” he muttered, kind of embarrassed. He heard a chirp on the other side of the screen, his annoyance seemed to match Rody’s. “So why don’t you buy it then?”

“Because it’s not necessary!” Izuku could identify that tone as that one when people were frustrated at having to explain something very simple. “What if we lack food here at home? What if my siblings need to buy something to use in school urgently? What if any of them get sick and I don’t have money to buy medicine? There’s much more worth than my eyes right now."

So that was it.

“I understand, Rody, all those things are really important. But you’re important too!” he couldn't avoid letting his annoyance go through, he was worried after all. “You shouldn’t be negr-, neglecting your health like this!”

For a few moments Rody’s and Pino’s faces freezed in perplexion, Izuku feared that it was a signal issue — because, jeez, that was an awful time for this! — but his worry was for nothing. Soon Rody looked annoyed, he sat up on the couch, and hid the agitated Pino somewhere.

“Look, in the first place, you don’t have any moral ground to speak this, right?” He carried that sassy tone that Izuku learned to simultaneously dislike and love. The smile planted on his face seemed forced, the frowned eyebrows revealed that his face wanted to make another expression. “Or you’re that hypocrite, Mister I’ll-break-all-my-bones-cuz-of-a-school-event?"

A lot of emotions passed through Izuku’s face, making it hard to identify each one: anger, frustration, shame, guilt.

The new angle was way worse, Rody was more focused in seeing better than in letting the camera get ample vision. But it was enough to notice that he was leaning forward, eyes fixated at the phone's screen, face closer than before. And Pino was still nowhere to see.

“Rody, you know it was different that time!”

“Different how?”

“It was important!” Izuku couldn’t tell all the details, it wasn’t his place to talk about Todoroki’s problems. And without that information Rody would never understand the importance of that fight. He would never understand that Izuku didn’t maimed himself so thoughtlessly. 

And now he felt guilty, Rody got so upset when he found out that the scars that covered Izuku's hand and wrist were caused by himself for a seemingly unnecessary reason.

(It wasn’t. It would never be. And Izuku would never be able to explain it and so Rody would never understand it. It hurt. It felt like a rejection, even though rationally he knew it wasn’t.)

“Maybe it was important to your little head that thinks it's normal to need to go to the hospital every two days! Did you forgot? Just two weeks ago you sent me a message telling me you would talk less cuz you suffered a concussion, and you think I should just accept it as something normal!”

Once again Izuku ignored the worries of someone that loved and cared about him. And once again the consequences of this came to bite him.

“That wasn’t because I wanted it! It was a work accident, I don’t go out there hurting myself on purpose!”

“You sure? You have a record that says otherwise.”

“Well, you will have to accept that I will get hurt at work! I’m a hero, it’s a dangerous work field.”

“I know! I saw it! But it annoys me! Because even the incompetent heroes from here get way less hurt than you!”

Izuku choked a little.

“No, no, wait! I didn’t meant that you were incompetent…!”

“Then what did you mean?” he asked firmly through his wetting eyes, giving the younger boy the benefit of doubt.

“Izuku, I…” his voice was suddenly soft, but Izuku wanted none of it right now.

“I’m crying because I’m angry!” He wiped his face with his arms. “Ignore it. Go! Tell me already what you mean!”

“I just meant that even the incompetents heroes here from Otheon think before they act,” Rody still seemed hesitant to talk, the annoyance from before seemed to have disappeared. Not that Izuku cared now. “I never meant that they’re better than you.”

“Right,” he sniffled, but his voice still sounded firm. “But do you know what I think about all of this?”

“What?” He heard after a small delay of transmission.

“You don’t have any moral ground to talk too!” He didn’t care enough to wipe his tears. “You know something is making bad to you, you know you can fix it, but you don’t do it because you trap yourself in imaginative ‘what-ifs’! All the things you said are valid, but what I said is valid too! It’s ridiculous that you don’t even put yourself as an option! Aren’t you part of your own home?” Rody stayed silent, looking a little surprised with Izuku’s dump of thoughts. “Let me tell you something, my mom used to do the same to me, and this only made me feel awful when I noticed all the things she didn’t do or have because of me! Don’t you think it will be the same for your siblings!? Don’t you think they want the best for you!? I bet they also wish you would stop being a stubborn idiot and would go to the damn hospital if you need it so much!” Rody didn’t answer for a long time, he poked a sensitive topic after all.

“I’m just trying to do what is better for them…”

“And what is better for you!? Why doesn’t this, why don't you think about this?” He wiped his running nose. “You’re not doing enough if you’re not doing what is better for you too.” That was like pouring gasoline on an almost dying fire.

“You shouldn’t have any say in this, you don’t know what it’s like to take care of two children on your own!” He brushed his fingers through his bangs, looking beyond annoyed. He covered his face and breathed hard, for a second Izuku swore he was also going to cry, but all Rody did was exhale and go on. “All this worrying, fear, it’s a lot of responsibility, I have to put them first!”

“It’s true! I don’t know what it’s like! So that would really help if you stopped being so immature and prideful and let me help you!”

“Wha, wait, wait! Did you just called me immature!?” His voice raised, and since they were already speaking a little loud they only got a little closer to screaming. “Did I hear it right!?”

“Yes!! You’re immature all the time!”

“How can you go and just say this, don’t you have any fucking shame!?”

“Rody. Rody.” Izuku gave a deep breath, trying to compose himself. He wiped his eyes with his arms once again and sniffled against the pillow. “Rody, this isn’t working.”

A beat.

“Wh, what isn’t working?”

“This talk. I’m gonna hang up.” He looked at the phone again, he knew wiping his tears did nothing to hide his reddish eyes. “I need some time away from you. I think you need it too. We will talk again later.”

“Fine…” His voice sounded lower, but Izuku didn’t care about the details now.

He hung up, then he turned the Wi-Fi off, and took three deep breaths.

The distance between him and the phone wasn’t enough, so he used blackwip to put it on the desk in the other side of the bedroom.

He sniffled again, feeling new tears welling up in his eyes. He felt anger, but also sadness. And a little bit of fear. He and Rody had never fought before, even when they disagreed about things.

Izuku was always obsessed about the world of heroes. Meanwhile, Rody’s opinion about heroes varied between neutral to negative. That was, probably, the biggest difference between them. But even this never caused a fight to ensue.

So this scares Izuku. What does this mean for the two of them?

He sniffled harder. His heart rattled through his ribcage, full of adrenaline, that cost more emotional effort than what he would have thought. He didn’t know if it was normal, if he was just too sensitive or if it was his emotional dysregulation.

He sat up, inhaling so deeply that he choked briefly with the crying in his throat. Then, he let himself expel all his sadness with a sob that was neither too loud nor silent.

Izuku simultaneously wanted to hide himself from Rody for at least a day and also wanted to immediately run towards his arms to be comforted. The two desires fought against each other like wild furious animals. None of them seemed to lose, but neither of them seemed to win either. And Izuku was left to untie this mess and try to understand where one emotion began and the other ended.

He wiped his nose on his shirt. He held his feet firmly and started a rocking motion softly. This never failed to calm him down, even if just a little.

He tried to think about what to do, but couldn’t reach anything.

Several minutes passed and during them Izuku tried to calm down his breathing.

He took a deep breath, and decided to ask for support from the person he loved the most.

He grabbed the phone without little hesitation and:

“Hello, Izuku?”

“Hi, mom.” And immediately he cursed himself internally, his voice sounded so groggy!

“Izuku? Is everything okay, my baby?” His mother’s excessive concern was strangely a familiar comfort at this point, but also another reason to feel guilty. “Why are you crying?”

He sniffled twice, closing his eyes when more tears threatened to fall.

“It’s not a big deal, mom,” he couldn’t help but try to reassure her.

“Izuku,” the firmness in her voice told him that it didn’t work.

“It’s just that Rody and I fought…” he whispered slowly, the words getting his chest tight once again.

He wasn’t going to lie, he felt kind of like an idiot at the moment. He shouldn’t bother her with something so trivial such as a teenage couple fight.

He wasn’t the type to go running to his mother to tell his problems, even though he was quite communicative with her about some daily things.

But as much of a idiotic thing that it could be, he felt the need to go running and crying into his mother’s arms for comfort, just like he did when he was just a little kid being cruelly pushed to the ground in any playtimes the others kids were having.

He buried the memory as deep as he could.

“Oh, Izuku, what happened?” The voice was all it took for Izuku to be able to visualize the worried expression his mother wore.

“Um…” He was trying to think of a way of explaining, his head was hurting. It was exhausting. “I got angry because he wasn’t taking good care of himself, and then he got angry because I wasn’t careful while working. Then we ended up fighting.”

“I see,” she sounded thoughtful. Izuku briefly wondered if she was going to side with Rody, since she also had an exaggerated worryness about her child's job field. “It seems to me like you both are annoyed by a shared personality trait.”

“Eh?”

“I mean,” her voice never wavered away from a gentle tone. “In the end, didn’t you both get angry at each other because you both mirror a lack of self preservation of sorts?”

At being put in the same level of Rody, Izuku immediately felt the need to defend himself, but he didn’t do so.

"I think so…”

“That’s it then,” she said as if it was really simple, maybe it was, Izuku’s head was too full to reason well now. “I think you two should talk about it. It’s kind of hypocritical if you both complain about a certain thing on the other and then go and do the exact thing you complained about. "

Well, she was right…

Another thought struck him.

“Mom…” he started slowly, hesitating, letting the words go by itself.

“Yes, baby?”

“Do you think Rody doesn’t like it that I’m a hero?”

The reply took a while to come.

“I don’t know, Izuku. You should ask him.” Absolutely not. Now that the question came to haunt Izuku, he feared the answer more than anything. “But I don’t think it’s this," she sounded so sure. "He likes you just the way you are, and you are a hero, my son.” The words actually calmed his nerves down.

Taking a deep breath, he let the thought dissipate.

The thought made a lot of sense at first, Rody wasn’t fond of heroes, he was never shy to make it clear. But also, if he loathed that Izuku was a hero, he wouldn’t know what to do. He didn’t know which to choose, or maybe he was afraid of which one he would choose. The love of his life or the dream of his life, it seemed like a cruel question to make.

Izuku was happy to rip it out of his brain. Rody never seemed upset when Izuku infodumped at him with hero facts, only when Izuku got hurt.

“Right, thank you…” he sniffled again.

“Do you want to come back home?”

“No, no, it’s fine.” He absently poked his long pinky toe with his free hand. “I’ll stay here, thank you, mom.”

“Right. Talk with Rody-kun, okay?”

“Okay,” he repeated, and way calmer but also tired of talking he said his goodbyes.

“I see you later, my baby. Take care.”

He hung up and laid onto his back. He inhaled, too tired to do anything but keep lying on the bed.

He took a look at his phone, rolling on his side before opening his boyfriend’s contact info. It had a picture of the boy with his hair down, a few flowers were stuck in it in an almost organized way, the worn down clothes were proof of the situation’s informality, it was noticeable that Rody was sitting in his house’s opening step. The ground didn’t had pavement and a bit of grass already made it through the earth, the wall besides the door had a colorful drawing, at first Izuku thought that Rody was the one to graffiti it, until he noticed the material used in the art was chalk and then it was obvious who the little artists were. 

Izuku remembers that Rody told him his little sister was the one to decorate his hair in the picture, and the picture, slightly trembled by inexperience, was also taken by her. Pino didn’t shown, but it was easy to guess she was with one of the children.

Rody sent him this picture full of pride, a smile certainly as big as the one shown in the picture. It wasn’t an impressive hairdo, neither was the picture. Actually, it was impressive. It was impressive how a simple picture could illustrate all the genuine happiness of a little family.

…He had to talk to him.

Unfortunately, still tired and scared of what could happen, he only let himself gaze at the picture with a soft look.

A vibration close to his head made him wake up in a daze.

Then adrenaline forced Izuku to get up quickly. Where was he? When did he fell asleep? What was that noise?

He easily reoriented himself. He sighed, he wasn’t in danger. He was only in his bedroom.

And his phone was vibrating as a result of a call.

He picked it up and frowned, confused. He glanced at the window and winced at the darkness outside. Immediately he answered the call.

“Todoroki-kun? What happened?”

“Where are you?” The gravelly voice didn’t sound alarmed, so Izuku didn’t worry.

“In my room…? Why?”

“Your voice is rough. Were you sleeping?”

“Yeah,” he replied, already giving up on finding out what this was all about.

“I thought so. You didn’t come down to dinner. But it’s already getting late, it’s better if you come to eat something. Iida kept food in the fridge for you. And Uraraka was worried that you lost the notion of time while training.” The voice was as monotonous as always, but Izuku was able to identify the slight worryness of one of his best friends.

“Thank you for the care,” he smiled awkwardly. He heard a brief confirmation from the older boy and the call ended.

Izuku looked at his phone’s notifications. To his immense disappointment there wasn’t any. Seeing that Rody didn’t even bother to send one message made a bitter feeling emerge. Izuku buried it along with the sadness.

He shouldn’t think about things that would only make the situation worse. He had to speak to him.

But well, now that he noticed the time — eight and thirty PM — the abdominal discomfort made sense. He was really hungry.

Sighing, he left the phone there and went out. He wouldn’t be able to talk well on an empty stomach anyway.

Going down the stairs he found a few of his friends along the way and said hi. Uraraka and Todoroki, who were in the main room, were a few of them and opted for not finishing the movie with Ashido, Aoyama and Koda to follow him. On the floor, besides the couch, Tokoyami, Mineta, Kaminari, Jirou and Hagakure played some card game that Izuku didn’t recognize.

In the kitchen, Izuku got a surprise.

“Oh, Iida-kun! You’re still awake?” It was a stupid question, Izuku didn’t expect to actually be answered. He was only expressing his surprise.

“Good night, Midoriya-kun!” he talked with his typical rigidness that was also enthusiastic. “In fact, I’m only brewing a cup of tea before going to bed!” He put the mentioned cup of tea on the desk, and Izuku noticed he already wore his pajamas. “It’s already getting late, well,” he chuckled. ”Maybe not to you since you like to browse the internet at two AM.” Izuku only gave a crooked smile, there was no use in trying to defend himself. "I request that you do not do it anymore, it is bad for your health." Iida opened the fridge, getting a plate out and giving it to Izuku. “Here is your food. I suppose you came to eat it.”

“Yes.” He went to microwave it.

“I called him down.” Todoroki sat on one of the table’s chairs, Uraraka by his side.

“Were you sleeping?” Iida got near the smaller boy, analyzing him. “Your eyes are a little red.” His hand went through Izuku’s curls. “And your hair is messier than usual.” Apparently only now noticing the fact, Uraraka and Todoroki watched him closer. 

“Yes.” He took the food out of the microwave and sat by Uraraka’s side, muttering a brief thank you for the food before devouring it. Iida sat by his other side, Izuku didn’t stop to wonder why his best friend didn’t go straight to bed.

The rice with cabbage and tonkatsu was too good.

“Is there miso soup?”

“Not anymore,” Uraraka replied, examining him carefully. Izuku pretended not to notice.

“I apologize, I did not remember to keep you a little on time and Kaminari-kun and Kirishima-kun ended up getting extra portions.” Iida seemed embarrassed by his lack of thoughtfulness.

“It's fine, Iida,” he said earnestly. Todoroki seemed content to just enjoy the silence in his friends’ company. Iida took his glasses off and put them on the desk before scratching softly his eyes.

Izuku stared at the glasses on the desk. It was technically the catalyst between his and Rody’s fight.

His humor dropped once again — not that it was any better before, he was just too distracted by his hunger.

Well, being messaged or not, the moment he got back to his room he would talk to Rody. This was more important than his pride.

He wondered how he was doing now. It was midday and… forty minutes? In Otheon. Would he be having lunch now? Or maybe making lunch? Maybe he already had lunch…

Was he still steaming with rage? But now that he thought better, Rody seemed a little down when they finished their call. His voice sounded a little submissive. Izuku didn’t stop to pay it attention at the time, too distracted in his anger. But now he remembered it crystal clear.

The worst was, for sure, imagining that Rody was as sad as him right now. But that probably was exactly what was happening.

(And still, egotistically, he felt much better thinking that Rody felt the same as him. Was hurting just like him. That meant he cared … )

“Deku-kun!” The voice was firm, but not imposing nor loud.

Izuku blinked a few times, and to his relief there weren’t any tears in his eyes.

“What?” He looked at his friends, confused. They stared at him. Was he muttering his thoughts out loud again? His mouth was full of food so that seemed unlikely. Maybe he was creepily staring at his food again… People told him he did it sometimes.

“Is everything okay?” Uraraka asked, while Iida squinted his eyes in Izuku's direction.

“Huh?”

“You’ve been acting out of it ever since you left your room,” she stated. “ And now it seems worse,” she sounded gentle.

Not knowing what to do, Izuku stared at the wall.

“Ah…”

“Don’t even think about saying it’s because you just woke up.” She softly punched his shoulder, a playful smile gracing her face. “You always wake up just like Kaminari-kun does, full of energy.” Todoroki and Iida shared soft smiles. 

Izuku looked over his shoulder, checking his friends in the main room before talking.

“Well…” he started. In truth, he didn’t feel like repeating this story all the time, but he also didn’t want to worry his friends. “Don’t speak loud,” he warned. As much as Izuku loved all of his friends, he considered this something too intimate and the others too… intense. He had already gotten too overwhelmed for today, thank you. “Rody and I fought earlier,” he whispered, setting his lips in a thin line. “That was it.” He got back to filling his mouth with food.

“Oh.” He heard from Todoroki, and Uraraka frowned.

“Was it a serious fight?” Iida's voice was low, something rare by itself. “If that is not indelicate of me to ask, of course.”

“No, no!” He swallowed fast. “Well, I think it wasn’t,” his voice took an uncertain edge. “We just had a discussion. But since we had never fought before, I ended up feeling down.” He was sure that Jirou could hear him talking. That was fine though, she knew how to be discreet and Izuku trusted her to not say a peep to anybody.

“I think it’s normal to feel down after fighting with your boyfriend.” Uraraka rested her head on her hands.

“For a moment I thought you guys had broken up.” Like always, Todoroki’s raw and brutal honesty made itself heard. Izuku almost choked.

“NO!” he couldn’t help but raise his voice, then wince. “No!” he repeated, lower. “We didn’t even come close to this! I, I wouldn’t know what to do if that happened…”

“Well, it didn’t happen, so let’s not think about it,” Uraraka said firmly. “Isn’t that right, Todoroki-kun?” she smiled at the boy.

“Of course,” he answered simply.

“I suppose you two still didn’t reconcile, right?” Iida asked gently, putting his glasses back on.

“No. I’m gonna talk to him when I finish dinner.”

“That explains why you’re in such a hurry,” Uraraka giggled, while Izuku chewed with his squirrel cheeks.

“In that case, we are not going to bother you anymore, Midoriya-kun,” Iida gave a kind smile. He raised his hand and, with Izuku affirmation, gave him friendly pats on the shoulder. “Good luck talking with your boyfriend.”

“Thank you.” He swallowed the food before talking. And after putting his cup on the sink, Iida left the kitchen.

Promptly Todoroki and Uraraka got up too.

“We're gonna go back to watch the movie.” Todoroki nodded at Uraraka's words. “Good luck, Deku-kun! I hope you two reconcile quickly and fill each other's faces with kisses!” she giggled, and Izuku felt his face get warmer at his best friend’s transparency. 

“Later, Midoriya.” The boy in question gave a low wave with his free hand.

When he finished dinner and cleaned his plate, he got back to his room. On the way he had to deny Aoyama and Ashido’s invitation to watch the movie with them all, and eventually he got to the elevator. 

When he picked his phone up, he got disappointed again at the lack of notifications. He checked the hours, it was nine and seven PM, so it means… one and seven PM to his boyfriend and…

Obviously, of course, for sure, and undoubtedly Izuku wouldn’t receive any messages. The Wi-Fi was still off.

“Idiot,” he hissed, annoyed at himself. When he turned the Wi-Fi on again he got surprised at the number of notifications.

Uraraka asked about his whereabouts and told him he had to come help them make dinner. Kacchan questioned if he wasn’t coming to train today. And more important, several messages from Rody.

amor: Izuku, love?

           I know that you want some time now, you can ignore this message if you want and answer larer

          Later ^

          I just wanted to apologise again for making that "joke" about your ethnicity. I feel like you got very upset.

         Understandably so, that was really idiotic of me, I'm so sorry. 

         And also wanted to apologise for sticking my nose in your way of work. Especially to complain about things that happened several months ago, much before you even had met me.

        I get really worried about you. Didn’t want you to always get hurt. 

        …You already know about this, I guess.

        I still think a lot about what happened in the forest, when we were close to Klayd’s border. 

         It hurts to think it wasn’t the first time something like that happened to you. It Worries me to think it would not be the last.

         I think I never got to apologise about that, huh? It was totally my fault for putting us in that mess, I’m sorry.

        And I really shouldn’t have opened my mouth about any of this today.

        Actually, I shouldn't ever open my mouth about this in any case, haha. After all, I would have died if that wasn’t for you.

         I’m sorry if I hurt your feelings, that I made you cry. It was never my intention, and it never would be, I hope you know it.

         I love you a lot. You’re the best friend and the best boyfriend I could ever have.

        Good night, I hope you have good dreams. 💖

Izuku’s heart got warmer with the declaration, but he also got worried.

As beautiful as the declaration could be, it wasn’t usual for Rody to express his feelings in such a vulnerable way. Even though he trusted Izuku, he avoided heart-to-heart conversations. The comments about what happened in Otheon also alarmed him.

It certainly was a hard day, to both of them.

Considering everything, Izuku decide the best way to cheer Rody up would be:

You: [Audio: Hello, love. You’re so cute! I accept your apologies, of course! I also wanted to apologize for being so insensitive. It was unfair of me to call you immature. Even though you’re dramatic and playful in a goofy way that looks like immaturity, you’re actually very responsible and I know you do your all to take care of your siblings. You had to grow up really quickly, I think I hurt your feelings when I said those things… Pause Ah! And I’m sorry for asking you what type of gigs you were going to do. I know you changed. I’m very proud of you, by the way! And I don’t judge you for the things you had to do to take care of your family. I think it’s admirable, actually! But, um, don’t go back to being a criminal just because I said that… And about the arrow I took… You don’t have to apologize, Rody. I know it wasn’t your intention to cause problems, and I noticed you regretted it. Have you been thinking about this? I don’t want you to feel guilty, R- love. I don’t blame you for what happened. Pause Ah! Wow! This audio is, I mean has, already gotten so big! Or would it be long…? As always, I open my mouth and forget how to close it, haha! So… I love you too, Rody. Much more than I ever thought I could love a man or a woman in my life. Answer me as soon as you can! Kiss sound Bye!]

He frowned.

“Why did I do this?” his voice dripped with horror. “Why did I kiss the phone?” He ended up dropping it as if the smartphone burned his hand. “This is so weird!” He got up and started to walk in circles, anxious. “He’s gonna make fun of me forever!” He covered his face. “We’re gonna be old, in our seventies, and he will still look at my face and laugh remembering this day! Ugh!!"

Before he could throw himself to the floor, a buzzing sound on his phone caught his attention and Izuku jumped at it like a wolf catching its prey.

amor : Did you kiss your phone or something like that? Haha, that distracted me 100%. I’m gonna have to listen to everything again to remember what you said.  

Izuku made a sound at the deep of his throat, getting ready to sob. But before he could write walls of text to explain himself his phone vibrated, a call catching him out of guard.

“Rody?”

“Hey, love…” The voice was so soft, totally lacking the furious fervor from earlier. This quietness was different from Rody's usual personality. If he was going to guess it, Izuku would say he was still feeling a little sad. Pino chirped softly, sounding gloomy and Izuku’s suspicions were proved right.

A protective feeling spread through Izuku’s chest.

“My love…”

He heard a soft laugh on the other side and the sound of a singing bird.

“Say hi to your fan, Pino’s hugging the phone here.” It was only an audio call, so Izuku really appreciated the unexpected narration.

“How are you doing, Pino?” Izuku cooed, he didn’t know how to interpret the light chirp he got as an answer. Rody probably would know.

“My angel?”

He felt his whole body get warm at the affectionate way the pet name was said.

“Yes?”

“Call me love again…”

“Your wish is an order, love.” Yeah, and maybe his voice sounded more affectionate than playful but he couldn’t avoid it. He was so happy.

There was a beat of silence before Rody spoke again.

“I called cuz I saw you online… I really needed to hear your voice.”

“I also wanted to hear your voice.” He sighed, laying on his bed and getting comfy on the sheets. “I’m really sorry about today.”

“Let’s not talk about it anymore, ‘kay?” It seemed more like a beg than a question. “And I’m sorry too,” he added, paradoxically.

“Hm…” And they spent a few seconds like this, just listening to each other's breaths. “Where are your siblings?”

“Playing outside. They had lunch, rested while I watched the news and then went outside.”

“And you? Did you have lunch?”

“Yeah. Now I’m here laying on the floor next to the door. What a European doesn’t do to escape the heat, right,” he laughed. “Did you have dinner? You disappeared for a little while…” he added, lower.

“I ended up napping,” he admitted. “And I already had dinner. Actually, I just came back from dinner.”

“That’s good.”

A few more seconds.

“Rody, my dear?” He heard a hum as an answer. “I know you said to not talk about it, but about what happened in Otheon…”

“So many things…” He heard Pino get a little agitated while Rody chuckled, his voice sounding a little gruff. “What do ya wan’ talk about? About how we lied together under the beautiful light of the stars? Or about how we slept in each other's arms to expel the night’s cold? Or about travelling through the immense field of flowers? Or about the way you looked at me in the airport before you put your arms arou-...”

“Rody…” he gently interrupted his boyfriend’s attempt to charm him out of the topic. His heart burned by the sensation the memories brought him. “While all of these are great topics of conversation, I just wanted to make sure you don’t feel guilty by what happened. It’s fine, love.” He used the pet name to guarantee a few extra points.

Rody laughed a little, no humor in his voice.

“I’m glad you don’t resent me over this. Even if I feel like you wouldn’t be capable of feeling this.” Izuku laughed a little internally, he was totally capable of feeling resentful toward people. He was also very capable of suppressing this very, very deep inside. “But I’ll always feel guilty for this…” His voice dropped in some emotion Izuku couldn’t identify at first. “Damn, how couldn’t I feel like a dick seeing the scar you got because of me?”

“Well, in that case…” he started, a rare provoking tone surging. It was mainly an attempt of getting the blame out of the younger boy’s voice. “I guess I’ll have to just never show you my naked chest ever again, you know, so you don’t feel bad.” Izuku heard Pino shriek, and a few seconds later Rody cleared his throat.

“Hey, so, haha! Of course you can show it! I’m sure that I wouldn’t feel bad for it.” God, Izuku could hear the smirk in Rody’s voice, and he laughed.

He really felt so happy right now! Simply being able to talk casually with the other boy. No worries. He was afraid they would need some time before things got back to normal, but that didn’t happen. As always, the chemistry between them was an instantaneous reaction.

“I love you.”

“Haha, you’re not usually this affectionate. Calling me love? Declaring yourself to me? Be careful or I’ll end up falling in love, huh!”

“That’s my plan!” he said instead of pointing out how Rody himself acted all mushier now, besides being so open about his feelings of guilt.

“It’s working,” he swooned, as if he really was falling in love all over again. “It’s so good to talk to you.” Another rare vulnerable comment. “Now I won’t go to the bar anymore.” Izuku blinked, suddenly confused.

“Were you going to work today? I thought it was your free day.”

“No,” he slurred. “I was going to drink beer.”

“Oh.”

It didn’t matter how many times he heard it, he always felt a faint alarm going through his body when Rody mentioned drinking anything alcoholic. 

He remembers the first time his boyfriend mentioned that he was having a drink of beer, Izuku started a lecture worth of paragraphs. Only to get confusion as an answer. He also remembers the shock he felt when Rody explained the legal age of drinking alcohol in Otheon was 16. At least, Rody seemed as much in shock when Izuku told him the drinking age in Japan was 20.

However, Izuku wasn’t naive nor an idiot and knew very well that the law wasn’t going to deter Rody if he ever felt like drinking before being 16 — and something told him his boyfriend didn’t taste alcohol for the first time a few weeks after they met.

“I swear that if when I go over there to visit you, if you smell like alcohol I’m not getting even a centimeter close to you, much less your lips.”

“That’s what we gon’ see,” he dared. “I’ve heard from a certain shortie hero that I’m irresistible.” Izuku rolled his eyes, he didn’t even need to have the video on to know that Rody winked after his line. It was simply a must for him to do it.

“Haha,” he said, with no emotion in his voice. ”I’ve heard that this short hero will tie you on some airplane wing if you come to receive him at the airport smelling like beer.”

“Hey, that’s actually much better than that time you told me we could use my nose as a bridge to cross the oceans between Otheon and Japan.” Remembering the fact, Izuku exploded in laughter. “Hey, don’t laugh! That’s something very cruel for a hero student to say, ya know I wonder who has been teaching ya these things!”

Izuku laughed until his belly hurt, sticking his face on the pillow so the sounds wouldn’t come as loud. (The last thing he needed was that a recently woken up Kacchan exploded the wall screaming. Again.)

While they both played around and laughed, Izuku was sure there wasn’t any better sensation than this.

And yet, when they eventually hung up, he felt like something was missing.

“Midoriya.” The boy in question lifted his face attentively. "Your response time has gotten lower. Act faster next time, disasters won’t wait for you to decide what to do,” Aizawa-sensei sounded almost bored.

He could see Kaminari, Kirishima and Shouji looking at him curiously. Kacchan, on the other side, simply looked at him for a few seconds. 

“Yes, sensei.”

Aizawa let them go. This wednesday was a special training session of apprehension and rescue, monitored by All Might, Aizawa-sensei and Cementoss-sensei. The other two teachers were orienting a few of his classmates before the class would be officially over.

He saw Uraraka and Asui holding each other's hands and jumping in celebration, then they went outside the training field. His eyes briefly found Todoroki's and he immediately avoided eye contact, the older boy indicated the exit, where Iida already was, with his thumb.

He did a motion of wait with his hand, Todoroki arched one eyebrow almost imperceptibly and nodded, pointing at himself and the exit again. Izuku understood that as a I'm going anyway, mainly because Todoroki really left without expecting an answer…

With his attention back to the teachers, he saw Sero finishing his talk with Cementoss-sensei. As Izuku got closer he noticed All Might looking at him, both eyebrows raised in maybe surprise, Izuku smiled softly at him but waved dismissively before getting near Aizawa-sensei.

"Sensei." The man in question grunted his acknowledgement. "About, um, about my response time…" Anxiety forced him to fidget, touching finger to finger upon the rubber texture of his glove.

"Is there something wrong?" He lifted one eyebrow, not entirely looking interested in the answer. Izuku knew it wasn't true, but Aizawa complicated it! He was as good as Rody at hiding his feelings (not that his boyfriend did too much of this nowadays).

"I've gotten slower because first I try to think of ways to do things and not get hurt." At this Aizawa couldn't hide his surprise.

"Have you been feeling pain in your bones?" he frowned. "You know that if you feel any pain you should go to Recovery Girl."

"No, no! It's nothing like this," he explained, waving his hands as if he could shoo away his teacher's disapproval. "It's just…" he stopped, trying to sort a way of explaining. "I know I have a tendency of getting hurt, so I tried to stop first and think things through so I wouldn't put myself at unnecessary risk. My, uh, my friend was complaining about my constant injuries a few days ago, and I didn't want to worry him further. " He scratched the back of his head. It wasn't exactly a secret that he and Rody were dating (his Mom and All Might knew about it, just as his whole class did, and he suspected the neighboring class had a rumor surrounding it), but it wasn't something he felt comfortable spreading to everyone just yet. Especially to adults that, maybe, didn't have the same comprehension about the current society as them. He hoped one day he would be comfortable enough to publicly announce his relationship with another guy. 

"I also don't want to worry anyone else, I know everybody gets anxious about the things I get into all the time." He gave a sympathetic look to Aizawa, he could swear that if he searched he would be able to find gray hair somewhere along the black locks. "But I'm not able to equilibrate both things…" he finally got to the point. "The hesitation slows me. And I know it's normal for heroes to get hurt, it happens all the time. And it's normal, expected even, that heroes sacrifice themselves for others. But it's hard for me to distinguish the line between putting someone well being above mine or just being reckless. How do I do that?"

Aizawa didn't remember to hide his surprise in time.

Suddenly he closed his eyes, a strong frown on his face, he heaved a deep sigh, lowering his hand from his forehead to his chin, it was possible to feel the tiredness waving around him.

Izuku's anxiety spiked up. Maybe coming here was a mistake. He should have stayed quiet, if he had so much doubt then he should have tried to search it up on books, not only the internet, and then work through it by himself, instead of bothering his teacher. It was probably what Aizawa would tell him to do… He wasn't trying enough if he didn't went to get help only after trying the last thing possible, and then three days later to guarantee there was nothing else he could do and one more week to mentally prepare himself for talking. He probably annoyed Aizawa with his stupid questions that, now that he thought about it, were not normal things to ask about. Izuku surely was just finding difficulties in places where it didn't exist, while everyone looked and wondered why is that boy so weird , why does he keep complicating things up and making everyone's lives harder. Once again he was the idiot questioning something ordinary that everyone understood since birth and they, obviously, would mock him for not having got the life's manual instructions when he was born, and Izuku wouldn't even realize how everybody felt about him because he wasn't capable of even this.

Then it was comprehensible why everyone felt the need to show it in his face, on his shoulders, on his skin…

"Midoriya," the firm and grave voice grounded him. "You only caught me off guard," he sighed after the explanation. Why would he explain himself? Was Izuku mumbling again? (he had toned this habit down lately.) Was his worryness this noticeable? It made sense, his expressions were always an open book.

He was surprised when Aizawa kneeled down to get on his vision field.

"Uh!" Even more uncomfortable, he looked the other way. But as he remembered it could be seen as impolite, he forced himself to look forward, gaze down.

"You don't need to look at me," he clarified, to Izuku's relief. It seemed like Aizawa really heard All Might's advices regarding Izuku's disorder. When his mentor asked if he could talk about this with Aizawa Izuku got embarrassed, but now he was glad that his idol cared enough to report this to his homeroom teacher, and that he let him do it. "I just wanted us to stand at the same level."

"Right." He nodded, and his eyes didn't left his teacher's shoes.

"Midoriya, I saw you grow so much ever since the first day of class. It's good to see the boy that recklessly broke several bones just on the first week of class without caring about the consequences, stop now to take things into consideration." He sighed. "As I said, you've developed. And compared to before, it's rare for you to get yourself hurt now. Also, it's obvious that you understand the consequences of not being careful now."

Aizawa paused briefly, Izuku used the opportunity to look at his teacher's face with his peripheral vision.

"You already are careful, you already try every strategy possible to avoid getting hurt," his voice was calm, if it was anyone else Izuku would dare to say it was gentle . "You're strong, kid, very smart too. It's impossible for a hero to never get hurt while working, that's a fact. And all of us, all ," he emphasized. "step on the line of self sacrifice all the time. It's not an easy task to tell how to do or not do this, there will come a moment where you'll see yourself in front of this choice, and of course, you choose to get hurt to help someone else, it's what any of us would do… But especially you…" There was a weird inclination in his voice, Izuku noticed it was a tone of voice that he didn't recognize in his teacher.

Curious, Izuku lifted his head, analyzing his face. As always, it was hard to get an answer out of Aizawa's expression. But he was smiling, just a little.

"You're instinctual, Midoriya. You strategize, you analyze, you attack, all of this by instinct. Sometimes," he sighed, something that weirdly enough sounded like a laugh. "I think you were born with the instinct to be a hero. I think this is part of the problem."

Izuku waited for a few moments, but without a continuation, he supposed it was at this moment of the dialogue in which he should ask the other to keep talking.

"What problem?"

"You have to be instinctual about not hurting yourself," he says. Izuku frowned, not understanding. "You save others by instinct, and it's instinctual to you to get hurt in the process. I am starting to guess the reason is exactly what you said before. You don't want others to get worried about you."

Then he got up, and for a moment Izuku felt panic. It meant that the talk was over but he still didn't understand.

"But how…" Aizawa interrupted him.

"Think about this, kid. I said you're a smart boy, didn't I? Don't make me take my words back," he mock threatened.

He swallowed, "yes, sir!"

Well, he didn't got all the answers. But what Aizawa said was useful. He just needed some time to reflect about this.

It was naive of him to expect his teacher to give him all the answers on a silver plate.

There was a reason for Izuku to go ask help from Aizawa-sensei instead of All Might on that day.

Izuku loved the guy, it wasn't a secret to anybody, but he also knew it would be useless to ask him about this matter. He has heard several times from Gran Torino and even Recovery Girl that Izuku was "as reckless and irresponsible as Toshinori", so Izuku assumed that it wasn't a good idea to ask how to clean himself to someone who was dirty.

But well, drastic situations take you to drastic actions.

"You don't usually come to visit me at home," All Might noted, bordering the stove of his apartment in UA.

Izuku took his eyes away from his phone — no new messages from Rody, but he kept checking anyway. He was upset that Rody was busy on a Sunday (!), but he understood him, he had a life, he couldn't dedicate every second of his free day to his boyfriend. Izuku wouldn't be so insensitive to the point of asking this of him, but well, he still missed him and felt upset by it.

He put his phone away and looked at All Might over his shoulder.

"Well…" He held the couch pillow, rubbing his hands through the soft fabric. "I thought I wouldn't bother…" he gave space for the other one to say otherwise. 

"You don't," he immediately assured. Izuku heard him turn off the stove, but he didn't look anymore to know what he was doing, he only heard it a little. "I only ever call this place home when you're here," he laughed a little. Izuku smiled softly, embarrassed by the happiness that he felt at that.

All Might appeared in front of him, putting a bowl of food on the center table.

"Oh!" Izuku bit his tongue before saying he didn't have to do this (he had a slight sensation that he would be answered with a frown). He thanked him for the food and started eating. The food his mentor made was as good as always. All Might used to prepare a bento for Izuku when they went training, it was a habit maintained ever since the days of training on the beach. Those days seemed so far away now. Izuku always got impressed at his master's culinary ability, especially since he didn't have a stomach. Which remembered him… "Aren't you going to eat anything?"

"This is enough for me." He showed a cup that was probably filled with tea. "It will help me with the muscular pains."

"Hm, a cup would be good then…" He muttered thoughtfully, rubbing his fingers through the pillow.

"Have you been feeling pain?" He put the cup on the table, getting up with a slight frown on his forehead. 

"No, no!" he assured his mentor. "I just trained earlier and got tired," explained, getting his phone for a second to look at the hours (and if he couldn't avoid a look at his notifications, then it was nobody's business but his), it was five and fifteen PM.

"Right." All Might have one of his soft, gentle smiles. "Don't forget to eat, again," he says before going to the kitchen.

Without needing more incentive, Izuku held the bowl of shougayaki and went back to eating.

A few moments later All Might came back, he put another cup at the table and sat on the couch opposed to Izuku. The boy thanked him for the cup of tea.

"Well, do you wanna talk about something?" he said after taking a sip of his tea. "I suppose you didn't come here just to see this old man."

"You're not old, All Might." Came the instinctual response, he was more focused on the guilt he felt considering he really just came to visit his mentor because he needed something…

All Might laughed a little, but then he got a more serious expression. "Did something happen with One for All? Did any of the past heirs said something to you?" He clasped his hands.

Izuku swallowed his food. "Nothing like this. I just… Well, you were there the day I talked with Aizawa-sensei, right?"

"Yes."

"Did you hear what he and I talked about?"

"Not really."

"Not at all? Not even the last part?"

"No… Where do you wanna get to, young Midoriya?"

Izuku sighed, putting the bowl — that was almost empty wow — on the table.

"I was asking Aizawa-sensei how I could hurt myself less on missions." All Might nodded, motivating him to keep going. "And he told me the problem was that it was my instinct to act like a hero"— his mentor frowned lightly —" and that getting hurt was part of this instinct. He said the reason was that I didn't want other people to get worried about me. I didn't get what he wanted to say."

All Might got thoughtful for a few moments, drinking his tea, Izuku waited patiently. 

"Oh! I get it!"

"What is it?" Izuku leaned forward eagerly.

"Hm…" He seemed hesitant.

"All Might!" he exclaimed, frustrated. "I know that I should find out by myself. But I tried to think about this for four days and nothing came to mind! I can't wait anymore! I want to know the answer," he complained. All Might rested his chin on his hands, thinking. 

"Hm…"

A beat. Izuku sneaked a glance at his phone.

All Might's voice returned, "I have been eating at the right times," he commented suddenly, putting his cup on the table to get his whole attention on the adolescent in front of him.

"...I'm really glad, Al-...!"

"I sleep on schedule, I've even been practicing exercises so I could keep my health in check." Izuku kept quiet, looking at All Might with rapt attention. "Until a few months ago, I didn't care about any of this. I had accepted that in front of me there was nothing but death." Izuku's eyes widened, a sudden nervousness running through his body at the approximation of that talk again. "But!" exclaimed, possibly having noticed Izuku's discomfort. "I saw a reason to keep alive." For a moment the eyes bathed by blackness dabbed with a little blue filled with affection, and Izuku didn't avoid looking at them, even if only for a few seconds. "I kept alive, even with everything telling me to do otherwise."

He inhaled deeply and his body, too fragile to deal with such effort, protested with wet coughs.

Without a thought, Izuku landed him a handkerchief from his pocket. All Might accepted it absently to clean the blood off his lips.

"Thank you." He put the handkerchief in his pocket, and he would give it back once he cleaned it. "As I was saying… I found a reason to stop being so self destructive. It wasn't about me, and I'm not going to lie, it still isn't about me. But I'm on the way for it to be, maybe… It's little steps, but each day that passes it convinces me more and more that I still have a reason to be alive for myself."

Izuku digested that for a while, feeling a little emotional.

"Then… You're saying the reason you…" All Might interrupted him.

"Why did you decide to ask how to get hurt less now?"

"Hm…" He processed the question before opening his mouth. "Well, telling it short… Rody always worried a lot about me, and after understanding how he felt since he's also not very careful with himself, I decided to make an effort to get better… Maybe that's gonna be an example for him to follow," he mumbled the last part.

"I see, your boyfriend…" The words coming from his idol made Izuku feel a little shy.

(He still remembered when he told All Might that he was dating, a little nervous when he revealed it was another boy he met during a mission. To his — not surprise — satisfaction All Might was totally comprehensible and supported him, content and even a little emotional by his protegee's news.

Izuku commented about his worries in equilibrating his duty as a hero and heir of the One for All legacy and his duty as a boyfriend — in the end he only wanted All Might to assure that there would be no problem — only to be surprised when his teacher answered with "I don't know, I think you'll have to try your best to make things work out and see". Confused, Izuku asked if All Might had ever dated after he got One for All and got shocked again when his mentor said "never".

Izuku didn't know what expression was on his face, but he was a little scared and embarrassed to find out since it made All Might feel like he had to explain that he was aromantic asexual.)

"Just as I thought," he continued after a few seconds of reflection. "Do you know how to correlate your situation to mine?"

Izuku looked at him, eyebrows knit by concentration. Words randomly got out of his mouth as he followed a line of thought.

His eyes widened.

"Oh! You started to take care of yourself because of someone else, but you will start to do it for yourself. I want to take better care of myself for someone else, but I should take better care of me for myself." He gave a light punch on his other hand. "If I take care of me for me then it will be instinctual for me to save people while not getting hurt!"

"Exactly, my boy!" All Might's tone of voice rose with enthusiasm, and he extended his palm so Izuku could high five it.

"Please don't tell Aizawa-sensei that I needed your help to understand what he meant."

"Well… Please don't tell Aizawa-kun that I helped you to understand what he meant.

Izuku smiled brightly, "right!" And they both shook hands.

All Might laughed in amusement and went back to enjoying his tea, Izuku went back to rubbing the pillow while he thought about their talk.

"All Might…" his voice was softer. "How do I do this?"

Even with the lack of explaining, All Might understood. 

"It's not an easy task, but you get there." He looked at his successor, who looked back at him sideways. "You have worth, Young Midoriya. Your mother sees this, your friends sees this, your boyfriend sees this… I see this. I speak for everyone when I say that we all wish you could see it too."

Instantaneously averse to this topic, Izuku decided he didn't want to poke it, not even with a stick of 20 meters.

…But it made sense for him to do it so he could get himself less hurt…

"Thank you, All Might." He smiled, weirdly tired.

All Might nodded.

…

"You forgot to finish eating, didn't you?"

"Oh! Yeah, sorry!"

It was only on the next Saturday that Izuku finally had the chance to call Rody again.

He wished he could call the other boy at the end of the afternoon on Friday, but their time zones collided a lot. In the morning for Rody, it would be an afternoon of school for Izuku. The beginning of the night for Izuku would be afternoon for Rody so he would be at work and stay there until the early night, and then it would be too late at night for Izuku.

Well, he wasn't against spending the night awake — in fact, he frequently did that before getting into UA — but he was exhausted by all the training he had.

Too excited to wait for Rody, he called him at exactly four PM — that was enough time for the boy to be done waking up, making breakfast and being ready for the day!

It didn't take much for the phone to be answered. 

He heard at a certain distance Rody's voice saying something in another language and his heart started beating faster.

"Hello, Izuku!" A feminine voice greeted him. 

"Lala-chan!!" he replied with the same enthusiasm. "How are you doing?" He asked slowly so the little girl could understand each word.

"Good! You?"

"I am better now!"

"What's the meaning of this, Izuku?" He heard Rody's voice again, still a little far away.

"He had said to Lala not to answer the phone," another voice reported.

"Roro!"

"Roro-kun, how are you doing?" he ignored Rody on purpose.

"I'm doing good. Monday I have a science exam."

"You're gonna do well! I'm sure."

Lala asked something in her native language, repeating one of the words said by Roro, and he answered, once again repeating the word.

"Ooh! I have exam Monday too, Izuku!"

"You'll do well, I know!" Maybe he should start saying more complex sentences to her, perhaps she would learn it then. "Good luck on your exam on Monday!"

He heard a few chirps and was able to deduce that Pino came closer.

"Oh, Pino, hello!" The whole Soul family was reunited it seems. "Hey, Roro-kun, why didn't Rody want you to answer the phone?"

"He is brushing the hair now," he explained. Roro's English was better than Lala's English, certainly because he was older and had more educational experience. Izuku remembered that Rody mentioned, when they both were still in Otheon, that his little brother liked to study and was intelligent. The little boy still committed a mistake here and there occasionally, or hummed in confusion and turned to his brother when he heard a new word, or would stop mid sentence to ask his brother to translate a specific word for him.

Izuku was faithful that soon enough Lala wouldn't be behind. Rody mentioned that his little sister was much more invested in learning English lately, because she wanted, in her own words, to talk to her brother-in-law. Izuku cried a little, unsurprisingly.

"Ah, really?" he contained his smile.

"Yes!" Lala affirmed. "Want see?"

"Lala!" the oldest boy in Otheon complained.

"Sure!" Izuku stared at his phone screen, waiting. For a few moments Rody's image appeared. He was brushing his hair next to a mirror, without a shirt and wearing colorful polyester shorts. Izuku was grateful that his own camera wasn't on, considering that his face flushed considerably before the casual vision of his boyfriend's skinny chest, slightly lighter than the rest of tanned skin.

"¡Ustedes dos! Dejen de bromear." Izuku couldn't understand a single word that Rody said, but by the tone he was complaining about something, nothing serious though considering that his siblings just laughed. Whatever it was, the last thing Izuku needed now was to hear Rody speaking in his (beautiful) native tongue. The image was turned off, Izuku kind of lamented that. "And you", now in English. "stop trying to corrupt my little siblings."

Izuku swallowed, "but I'm not doing anything!"

"Yes you are!"

"No I'm not!"

"No he's not!" Roro rushed to his defense, and even without understanding the situation very well Lala stood by his side too.

Rody gasped so loud you would have assumed someone had stepped, kicked and sent Pino flying by the amount of drama the boy made.

"I will not accept this betrayal in my house! You two, get out!" he exaggerated the playful words, with a thick accent. Izuku guessed it was purposeful so the children could understand it better.

"Get out? Rude!" Lala exclaimed.

"True!" Izuku agreed. "Wait by the door, kids, I'll go pick you up."

"You said it last time!" Lala remembered, frustrated. "Still didn't come, Izuku!"

"I'll get there eventually, Lala!"

He heard Lala repeat eventually to her brother, confused. Then Roro spoke in their language, possibly telling her what the word meant.

"But really, Izuku…" Roro started. "When will you come visit us?"

"I want to go when I'm at school break. Maybe two to three months from now," he answered earnestly, Roro grumbled in annoyance.

"Está muy lejano…"

"That would be it's too far away , Roro." Rody's voice came closer. "Anyway, I think you two should go take a walk now."

"Why?" Even though it was a question, Lala's voice emanated annoyance. 

From there Izuku couldn't understand the dialogue (95% composed by Rody) anymore, since they were talking in Spanish.

God, Izuku really needed to learn Rody's language.

Rody's voice was gentle when talking to the kids, he really was good at this — though sometimes he seemed to forget that he was their caretaker and would annoy them like an old brother would.

Suddenly Roro made a sound of disgust, which got Izuku curious. Lala laughed and Rody resumed his talk, audibly smiling.

Then finally someone proffered words that Izuku could understand. 

"Bye bye Izuku!" Lala exclaimed happily. "Roro and I are going out!"

"Bye, Izuku! We'll see you later," Roro also seemed enthusiastic.

He heard their steps fading even before he could say bye.

Curious, Izuku asked, "what did you told them?" He sprawled, deciding to get up from the desk chair and go sit on the bed.

"Told 'em to go on a stroll." It was still possible to hear the sound of the brush slipping through Rody's auburn hair.

"Yeah, I thought so… Why?"

"Told 'em to go out cuz we wanted some alone time to talk about adult stuff." Izuku perked up slightly, interested. "I even gave 'em two coins so they could buy ice cream. But for real, I just didn't want them to bother you." It was amazing how a simple phrase could make Izuku weak on the knees. He loved his boyfriend's accent, loved the way every R pronounced was strong and sharp. In Japan the R was either sharp or too soft, so much that sometimes Izuku himself would slip up and pronunciate Rody's name too softly.

Maybe he should do it more often, just to see the way Rody would smirk, and let his accent go all out to teach him the correct way of saying Rró-di.

"They don't bother me," he says after what he hoped wasn't a long pause. Izuku forced his head to expel all those thoughts before the warmth on his belly got just a little more down .

"That's good. But I still wanna be alone with ya."

"Yeah?"

"Yep."

"And, and what do you wanna talk about?" Izuku hoped it would be about the lack of shirt on the other boy.

"Man, the price of the meat is shit now, ya know." Izuku blinked several times, confused and, as much embarrassed he was to admit it, disappointed.

"And the water is wet, Rody?"

"But get it!" Pino chirped enthusiastically, as if she was the one trying to prove a point. "The meat here used to be a little bit cheaper. I know that meat over there is like gold or somethin'..."

"I wouldn't say exactly that."

"But things were better here…" he kept talking as if he didn't hear Izuku, the brush movements sounding rough.

"Be careful with your hair," he warned. Apparently dealing with passionate talks about the economy was one of the consequences of having an at-home boyfriend. "What else, dear? Were the pans on discount? Fifty percent off?"

"Just wanted to tell ya that your tone of voice is kinda flat and I dunno if you talking serious or making fun of me," he says. It actually was a mix of both, but Izuku didn't felt like explaining, it was more funny if Rody was confused. "And no, they weren't," he answered. "But talking about discounts, the fruits over there are fucking expensive, huh?"

"Huh?"

"I saw a video on the internet about the price of some foods over there in Japan, and everything is so damn expensive," he says indignantly. "If I went to the supermarket and they asked like, dunno, 25 euros for a bunch of bananas, I would just grab the bunch and make a run for it."

"Rody!" but still he laughed.

"What? They would be trying to steal me first! If fruits are all expensive like this then it's no wonder y'all so ripped, you must replace the veggies for anabolics supplements."

"Rody, for the love of…" He covered his face. "Not everyone here is strong."

"Every Japanese I've seen was strong."

"And which Japanese people you've seen?"

"You and your friends."

"And we study in a great hero school. Coincidence, right?"

"Tiny detail, rich boy." Izuku chuckled.

"I'm not rich."

"I have my doubts." The sound of the brush stopped. "But I don't have any problems with you, I agree when they say 'eat the rich' , but you get a free pass."

Izuku felt like punching himself when he had to contain himself so the words "I don't have any problem with that actually" wouldn't get out.

"I'm not rich," he opted to repeat, lamely.

"Sure, but to me you are," he finished. "Anyway, I didn't even ask you how your day was. I've been forgetting this lately, huh."

"It's okay, your siblings ended up distracting us… By the way, I still don't like that you didn't wanted to answer my call just because you were brushing your hair!"

"Back off, brat."

"I'm older than you!"

"Fuck off? I'm taller than you."

Izuku barely contained his smile, Rody's presence had this effect on him. Their bantering was always this spontaneous, this fun, there was never any bite in their words.

"Get off. I'm stronger than you."

"A fistfight with me would lower your attitude in a sec."

"I cordially invite you for a fistfight, then. You can buy an one-way ticket to Japan and find me here in Musutafu."

"One way ticket?" he paused, sounding confused.

"Aren't we going to fight?" he smiled widely. "All it takes is one kick and then the fight would be over and you would go back flying to your house."

A beat, maybe because of Rody's surprise, or maybe the signal delay — something plenty common with the distance between them.

Then a serie of chirpings that sounded too much like laughing echoed, Rody didn't take long to join his bird.

"Ooh, feeling confident aren't ya?" A flush got up to the tip of Izuku's ears, but he couldn't stop smiling.

"Of course. Look." He turned his camera on for a moment, just enough to flex his bicep.

Rody whistled, and as Izuku's face got redder he felt glad that the camera was already off. It would be embarrassing to let it be obvious the delight he felt when receiving this attention from his boyfriend.

"Carajo," he laughed gravelly, then cleared his throat for some reason. "Your arm is thicker than my neck."

"You're so exaggerated!" he commented, as if he didn't love hearing that.

"I mean, the only way to confirm it would be to check in person," he hummed. "I already saw you without your shirt, but it's not like I measured your arm, so I dunno…"

The shiver that went through Izuku's body freezes him. Memories of the nights he spent without a shirt, having Rody delicately treating his wound, occasionally letting his long and lean fingers brush against his skin.

He remembers longing for these accidental touches. He remembers holding his breath everytime Rody's face got too close when examining his injured chest, seeing the long and slim nose up close, the gray eyes that resembled a stormy sad sky — that was probably how Rody felt — concentrated on the task performed by his calloused hands…

No, no no. What was wrong with him today? Geez, it was about time to keep those thoughts away before something embarrassing happens.

"Are you finished with your hair?" he changed topics.

"There's only a few little knots left." And the sound of the brush was back.

"Where's Pino?" Izuku asked, still looking for topics. "She's been quiet today."

"She's eating. Wait, I'll turn on the camera so you can see her." Come on, don't throw all my efforts in the trash . Movement sounded through the call, and finally the image was on. The phone was supported on some surface, getting Pino's full picture, she was eating rice with some veggies on a little plate, and Rody readjusted the camera. "There she is! I'm gonna get a shirt, wait a sec."

Izuku didn't knew if he felt relief or disappointment at not being able to stare at his boyfriend's dark nipples anymore.

"Stop being a pervert, your mom didn't raise you for this," he hissed in Japanese, slapping himself on the cheek to get himself in check.

"Did ya hit yourself?" He saw Rody coming back, wearing a faded blue loose shirt. "What was that? Intrusive thought? Stimming?"

"Uh yeah. It was a stim." Well, it wasn't exactly a lie.

"Be careful," Rody frowned slightly, worried. "Why don't you fold and unfold your legs? Or flap your arms? It would hurt less, right?"

"I'm not sure about the arms…" he muttered. He laid onto his belly and started to sway his legs up and down, it really felt good…

"Right…" His frown deepened, and he averted his gaze. Pino seemed a little down for a moment.

Before Izuku could open his mouth to say something else, Rody started to talk. 

"Hey, come on," a sly grin appeared on his face. "It's not fair that you're the only one that has the privilege of seeing your boyfriend's pretty face!" Pino went back to eating calmly, letting content chirps escape. "Turn the camera on so I can see ya, hero."

Chuckling, Izuku did as told; his image soon appeared on the screen corner, his face and shoulders predominated the picture, it was also possible to see his legs swaying.

Rody's grin got larger, Pino seemed satisfied too, stopping to admire him.

"There he is my boy! You're so handsome!" Izuku giggled, his face blushing in pleasure from the attention received. "Wish I could kiss your cheek! Mwah!" He made a kiss sound and Izuku's face turned bright red.

"Forget about it!!" He stuffed his face on the bed, while Rody and Pino laughed.

Two weeks had passed since that disaster, but just as Izuku expected, Rody didn't forget.

"Ahh, why?" The mockery on his voice was tangible . "Can't I think that your web kisses are cute?"

"How I wish I could punch you, for God's sake…!" the words came out muffled so he could only hope he was being understood.

"Wow!! A heroics student saying something like this!? Scandalous!" Even Izuku noticed he tried not to laugh. "And to your future partner no less! Boy, that would go viral on the internet…"

"You can go and cancel me on Twitter to see if I care," he teased back, lifting his face so Rody could see his smile.

"Cancel you? I'm gonna call the authorities. Imagine if you bring these tendencies to our marriage."

Izuku gasped, feeling his face getting warm. Suddenly the use of the words future partner made more sense.

"Marriage?" he breathed. Never had they ever broached the subject, so Izuku got a little surprised. "Wow." He crossed his legs, running a finger through the mattress shyly.

"Yes!" Rody smiled widely, raising his shoulders to his ears. All the action was so genuine that Izuku wondered if he feigned feeling timid for funsies or not. He preferred to not ask. "Anyway, my hair is all done."

"You're beautiful, my love," he complimented with a soft smile.

"Like always," he said cheekily as if his ears weren't getting red.

"Pfft, shut up, stop acting so gay." was the only retort Izuku could think of quickly.

"Impossible, I am gay. You're not?" He got up. "I'm back in a sec." He got out of the camera's reach. "Where did I left…"

Unbothered, Izuku waited for his boyfriend to get his headband.

All the air left his lungs when Rody came back.

"Rody…" he whispered. "When did you buy those glasses?"

"Ah…" Now undeniably shy, he rubbed the back of his neck. "I bought it this week… I'm still not used to using it, to be honest."

"Hm…" Izuku susurrated, completely stunned. "Come closer."

Promptly Rody obeyed, picking up the phone from wherever he put it and getting it closer to his face.

Rody's light brown bangs didn't cover up the glasses that, differently from the sunglasses that he wore in Otheon, was more squared, with a yellow metal frame with white details. The gray in his eyes seemed stronger than ever, intense. Izuku fought the discomfort trembling in his chest so he could stare at those dazzling, gorgeous eyes. 

He observed up and down, appreciating every detail of the symmetrical face — opposed to the hair, that was so asymmetrical and still so beautiful — of his boyfriend. More than ever Izuku felt the urge to slide his finger along his boyfriend's pointed nose, and then let it caress his cheek when both their lips met.

How cruel could life be for not permitting that Izuku could cup delicately Rody's jaw with both hands and cherish him? He supposes he should be grateful enough that they met despite the oceans that separated them, however he was still upset, he wanted to fight each of these oceans, frontiers and kilometers that dared to impede him from pulling Rody's face against his. To impede him from touching his shoulders, from burying his face on the tanned neck, from hugging his hips, from pushing locks of auburn hair behind his ear while he made himself observe gray irises. 

Oh he was capable of anything, anything in this world for just one touch . If it didn't cost having to stop admiring the perfect renascentist picture that was his boyfriend's face, Izuku would jump at the sea at this right instant and swim for how many days, weeks, months were necessary so he could reach the European littoral coast where Rody lived.

He didn't proffer a single word; perhaps by pure petrification, perhaps by fear that he would end up moaning if he opened his mouth.

In the end Rody was the one that spoke, without breaking the intense eye contact. 

"You're much more handsome than what I thought," he admitted, awed. Izuku felt like crying. He was handsome? How could he be handsome when Rody was over there, being the prettiest guy alive? "The quality of my phone doesn't help, but seeing you like this so…" he seemed at a loss of words. Pino was now perched on her owner's shoulders, he didn't notice when she went there, she also seemed hypnotized by the phone screen. By Izuku, he noticed. 

Izuku recognizes that look. That look of pure enthrall. That's the way Rody looked at him on that night, when they both sheltered at the cave, only the soft light of the fire revealing their images to each other while they showed their hearts to one another in tearful confessions they wouldn't want to share with anybody else. 

Izuku's heartbeat increased, and for half a second he worried about how idiot his smile must have looked at that moment.

" You are perfect," emphasized, as if he mentioned the blueness of the sky, something so obvious. "It's like staring at a Greek God."

Rody's soft smile turned into a grin, dangerously close to his classic smirk. The redness on his cheeks did nothing to deter his sly attitude.

"Well, we could have something of an ancient Greek friendship, you and I, ya know?"

Arching one eyebrow in confusion, Izuku asked, "What do you mean? Don't we already? We're more than friends!" he added.

Rody's loud laugh came through.

"Yeah, isn't this a wonderful thing?" Pino chirped lightly, blushing. Izuku looked curiously at her. "But anyway! As I was saying, " he changed the topic and Izuku didn't oppose this. "you're much prettier when I can see you clearly… I can see a few freckles there that I hadn't noticed before," he touched the phone screen, and Izuku lightly touched his own cheek, as if he could truly feel his boyfriend's touch. "I wish I could see you in person…" he confessed, his face was a picture of affection itself. "It would be better to see you… Wish I could count every freckle on your face, kiss each one of 'em." His flush spread, getting to the tip of his ears, and Pino tried to shyly hide herself behind her wings. 

Izuku took a deep breath.

"Don't do this to me," he said somewhat breathlessly.

Rody's look slowly turned into something more teasing, as beautiful as always.

"Do what?" he mocked. "Admit that I want to feel my boyfriend's skin?"

Shoot.

Izuku closed his eyes tightly. He inhaled deeply a few times, hoping that each breath would cool down his body and expel the redness out of his skin. At the moment, he wished he hadn't laid onto his belly.

A low and nervous laugh came through the phone.

"Anyway!" he changed topics again, to Izuku's confusion. "Have I mentioned that I am still not used to my glasses? My eyes hurt a little. It's bizarre cuz you put the glasses to help your eye and they decide to be a little bitch until they get used to the lens, that sucks."

"Oh, I didn't know that. Interesting," he observed. "But tell me, was it too expensive?" He was impressed that he didn't ask it before, but he assumed everything was fine since Rody casually gave money to his siblings earlier.

"No no," when Izuku didn't answer he went on. "A while after our discussion I talked with the old man, told him I wanted some extra shifts cuz I needed the money. " Izuku nodded. "He accepted and asked why I needed it. Ya know, being the snoopy asshole that he is."

Izuku stifled a laugh, "Rody!"

"Don't Rody at me, you know I'm right." Izuku rolled his eyes good naturally, Rody pretended that he didn't saw but Pino blew a raspberry to Izuku. He couldn't avoid laughing at that. "Anyway," he started, smiling as his boyfriend slowed his laugh to a stop. "I said I needed to go to the optometrist and would need the money to buy glasses. So he looked at me funny 'n said 'you blind, brat ?' " he did his best to imitate the gruff rough voice of his employer. " ' Take this shit, buy some cheap glasses and don't risk fucking up some order cuz you can't see shit ', and just like that he gave me three hundred euros, for free!" he smiled wildly, happy beyond words.

"That was really cool of him," Izuku said earnestly. 

He suspected that Stan, the owner of the rundown bar where Rody worked, actually liked and cared a lot for his teenage employee.

Despite the things Stan has done — Rody admitted it was from him that he bought information of criminal gigs which he could participate — he went beyond to try to take care of Rody, even if minimally. On Lala's birthday, he gave extra money to his employee so he could buy something for her. Rody ended up buying a gift for Roro too, so he wouldn't feel excluded, he said.

Lala got a little watering can, Roro got satisfied with a comic book. They still had money to buy a box of legos. Izuku remembers the smiles both children wore when showing him the things they constructed with the legos. And a little tearful with pride, Izuku asked them to explain their creations further and suggested other things for them to do.

So yeah, even with everything Stan did, Izuku still believed he was a good person. He wasn't going to commit the (same) mistake of thinking that just because someone made or makes something wrong it means this person is a monster. People were more complex than "good" or "bad", his experiences since entering UA taught him that — Gentle Criminal, Rody… It was a mistake to assume everyone that lived in the same slums as Rody were evil, even if a few of them had already committed an illegal act.

After all, Rody himself did illegal things and he wasn't a bad person. He was one of the kindest people Izuku had ever met, just in a different way from everybody else in his life.

"When I went to work wearing glasses for the first time he laughed and said ' what's up, four eyes, how many fingers do I got here? '."

…Yeah. Stan was a good person that cared about Rody in an asshole way, as his boyfriend would say. 

"I answered ' one, this right here ' while showing him the middle finger.

…Rody was also…

Izuku gave him a crooked smile.

"You're very cute, ya know this?" Rody smiled back.

"Stop," Izuku slurred, glancing at some other point in his room, shy. "Will you spend the whole night saying this?"

"Shut up and accept my compliments." He took his glasses off, Izuku almost whined about the loss. However, Rody only ended up wearing his headband, that way his bangs wouldn't go onto his forehead, and just like that the glasses were back.

"You're so pretty with glasses, Rody!" he exclaimed, with a silly smile.

"Will you spend the whole morning saying this?" he talked back, a teasing smile forming at full force on his face. How dare him use Izuku's argument? Izuku had to bit back so he wouldn't offend his boyfriend with every bad word he knew in English (most of them he learnt with Rody himself, honestly).

After the teasing, they spent a few moments in a comfortable silence, observing, or better yet, admiring each other through their respective phone screens.

Staring at Rody attentively, Izuku curled his hand, then opened it just so he could curl it again, then again, and again.

"Are you anxious?" Rody asked, noticing the stim. "Hm, or happy?"

"Happy." He went back to the gentle swaying of his legs. "I'm so happy that you listened to me."

"I see," he closed his eyes, resting. Pino gave a low trill, Rody covered her before Izuku could take a look at her.

He had a guess of why Pino made that little sad noise. "I talked with my teachers." Rody hummed. "I asked them for advice so I could hurt myself less."

That made Rody perk up, jaw dropping. Pino shoved his hand away so she could look at Izuku too.

"And…?"

"They gave me a few… directions," he smiled, making his own eyes a little narrower. "I have a path to try now."

As Rody processed the information, a small, sincere smile drew itself on his face.

Pino started to literally jump up and down on her little talons, small happy trills and chirping sounding through the whole room.

"I'm happy that you listened to me too, my angel," he said earnestly, softly, with no intention of pretending aloofness in sight.

"Thank you for worrying about me…"

"I would say the same."

If Izuku searched the word love in a dictionary, surely a picture of Rody's expression at that moment would be there. That was enough to make his chest feel warmer.

That was enough for him to ignore the pain on his cheeks from smiling so much.