Chapter Text
"Eraser, are you sure about this?" Shota Aizawa had never been more sure of anything, actually.
"All Might, how are they supposed to solve other people's problems if they can't even solve their own?" His globally famous students of Class 3-A (read: problem children) had just graduated U.A. High. He knew they were all eager to begin working as pros- and they would.
But not until they... matured a little.
"They may see this as meddling, Shota. I'm all for a little drama, but this could go badly." Aizawa sighed.
"That's why you'll be overseeing them, Hizashi. You can intervene if things take a turn for the worse." Aizawa looked at All Might, who was still clearly hesitant about the whole idea.
"C'mon, don't tell me you don't want those two to figure things out." That sparked All Might's interest.
"And Present Mic, you'll be hosting this for sure?" Hizashi nodded. Deep down, Aizawa knew his husband loved watching drama unfold, and would enjoy this immensely.
"One last thing...." Aizawa started, "I will not be the one to tell them."
All Might groaned. He knew this wouldn't go well.
It indeed was not going well.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Kacchan exclaimed (for at least the fifth time already).
"No, Young Bakugo, I am not."
"This is bullshit!" Izuku sighed. While Kacchan was being vulgar, the sentiments of his yelling were shared by the entire class.
Love Island? For promotional purposes?
"All Might, I still don't quite understand the technical details of this event," Iida said. Similar thoughts echoed from various Class 3-A students.
The former top Hero sighed. "Like I said, the public is eagerly anticipating the arrival of your class to the professional scene. But ever since the defeat of All For One, we've done our best as teachers to keep you safe- and out of the public eye. You were only students at the time of his demise. But you are now the newest generation of Heroes. You will quickly rise to the top of the charts- and you need to become favorable with the public as Heroes. Not as U.A. High students."
"But sir... this was the best option they came up with?" That came from Uraraka, who looked like she was doing her best not to throw up.
"Yes. The show itself is ridiculous in nature- but it humanizes its contestants. The public needs to love and trust you, because you are going to hold their lives in your hands. The current class of Heroes is reaching the end of their professional careers. So you will be the public's saving grace."
Love Island. The name was still a foreign entity to Izuku. While he understood the logistical reasons for this, the personal part of him was uneasy.
He and his classmates would be on a ten day limited version of a reality dating show.
With each other.
In a month.
Fuck.
That was the one word reverberating through Katsuki's head. He and the side characters (they'd graduated from extras after the defeat of AFO) were being forced into a stupid smushy dating show stunt.
It was the dumbest fucking thing Katsuki had ever heard.
He looked over at Deku, who of-fucking-course looked like he was analyzing the situation from all angles.
"Hey, nerd. This isn't a test! There is no positive outcome of this!" Frog Girl made an affirmative noise.
"I hate to agree with Bakugo but... this isn't the most ideal situation." Before he could open his mouth to argue at the insult, an intense chill ran through him.
Aizawa was standing in front of them, hair raised and eyes blazing red.
"Shut it, all of you. You will go on this Love Island, you will stop complaining about it, and you will. Take it. Seriously." He used the tone that reminded Katsuki of his mother, and an instinctive "Yes, sir" fluttered from all of them. Aizawa gestured to a plain-looking man behind him.
"This is Kobayashi-san. He is the Executive Produce of this mini-series, and is here to explain to you how the preliminary preparations for this will work. Give him your respect."
It looked like Katsuki wasn't getting out of this shit anytime soon.
He glanced at Deku again, nothing the way the nerd's cheeks were flushed from thought.
Katsuki, that was a weird ass observation. Enough.
To stop his brain from that insane thought trail, he attempted to pay attention to the Producer guy.
"You will not have access to phones, except for the ones we give you. They will only have the camera feature, and work for the texts we send you. You will not have access to social media, books, magazines, television, or any other recreational activity that is not socializing. You will be allowed to work out each morning, from 7:30 to 10:00, and will spend the rest of the day in each others presence."
"During the day, you will wear swimwear, and at night you will wear formal attire. If we catch you with any of the banned items, you risk legal action against you."
"But, sir- these are our classmates. How are we supposed to view them... that way?" For once in his life, Katsuki agreed with Kirishima. Dunce Face raised his hand.
"Yeah, what Kiribro said. These are our friends. We don't see each other romantically."
"This conversation is fucking dumb," Katsuki muttered. More statements aligning with Kirishima arose from everyone. Producer guy sighed.
"So you all are telling me, that after three years of being around each other 24/7, there's never been any tension... or unresolved feelings."
Multiple people opened their mouths to reply, but closed them, to Katsuki's surprise. Have the side characters really had non-platonic feelings for one another throughout the years? He sure as hell hadn't.
Shit, he barely even considered all of these people his friends. Sure, the few of them that for some dumb reason called themselves his 'squad' were okay, and Deku was always fun to poke at.
They'd gotten better, Katsuki and Deku. Katsuki would never go as far as to call them friends. Friends was too simple a word to describe it. Katsuki no longer hated the freckle-faced nerd, and understood there was a layer of respect there. But he also always felt on edge around Deku, his heart rate and awareness jumping. They no longer had malicious screaming matches, but they still bickered.
So no, Katsuki wouldn't call them friends.
"Judging by your lack of answers, it seems my question has been confirmed. I'll leave you guys to prepare, and I'll see you in a month!" The second the guy was walking away, Katsuki turned to Kirishima.
"Kirishima. What that guy said about tension or whatever? Have you felt that, or is what he said just complete bullshit?" Kirishima flushed almost the same color as his ridiculous hair.
"No way, Bakubro. Definitely not. Kobayashi-san didn't know what he was talking ab-"
"Eijiro! Can you come here for a second?" Kirishima's head snapped towards Pinky right away.
"Sure thing, Mina!" Katsuki raised an eyebrow.
"What was that you said a second ago?"
"Gahh, I don't know what you're talking about Bakubro." He walked rather quickly to Pinky, and gave her his full attention. That little bit was certainly news to Katsuki.
The only bit of feelings among them that he knew about were Round Face's for Deku. Practically everyone (except Deku) knew about them.
Dear fucking God, this was going to be unbearable.
"Kacchan!" Katsuki had about 0.3 seconds to prepare himself before Deku launched into one of his ramblings."What do you think about the logistical reasons All Might listed for us doing this? I mean I can understand the reasoning, but the execution might be a little-"
"Deku, are you stupid? This is the dumbest goddamn thing I've ever been forced to do." It astounded Katsuki sometimes, that Deku still valued his opinion after everything they'd been through.
"You mean you've never crushed on anyone during our time at U.A?" The question alone made Katsuki's face heat.
"Fuck no!" He shouted. He'd never seen anyone that way. Ever. But... "Wait, have you, you freckle-faced nerd?" Deku sputtered.
"Well- I, um"
"Go home! All of you. We'll discuss more tomorrow," Aizawa yelled. Katsuki groaned in frustration, and resisted the urge to punch the nearest person.
And so began the recently graduated Class 3-As journey on Love Island.