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Izuku was feeling good. Heavy and floaty. Like he was tethered to his spot at one end of the long, plush bench.
It was the lull between Christmas and New Year’s Day, where the green and white decorations were replaced with New Year red and gold. Bakeries ended their advertising for Christmas cakes and began to push their bitter orange-topped mochi. The perfect time for his Pro Hero friends to rent out a Karaoke spot and let out some steam.
The song ended, and everyone cheered when Denki and Kyoka hugged. He wondered if they were about to kiss.
He turned away. His gaze landed on Shouto flipping through a thick songbook, head bent close to Hanta’s. Hanta said something, and Shouto lifted a hand to his mouth, clearly failing to suppress a laugh. Izuku’s heart squeezed when Hanta’s grin softened.
Mina and Ochaco’s voices cut through his thoughts as they heartily welcomed the small army of servers and the platters of vegetable tempura, takoyaki, yakitori, and karaage they carried.
A bout of loneliness came over him. Everyone seemed to have coupled up, even when those couples were just friends.
Izuku wanted to talk. Wanted to talk to him. The person he wanted wasn’t here, and it seemed like he wouldn’t show up. Kacchan rarely attended these parties, but that didn’t stop Izuku from hoping he would.
Not that he could blame Kacchan.
Izuku had spent most of the night declining offers to get on stage.
It was an agreed-upon group-imposed mandatory rule that everyone had to sing at least one song. Most tried to get away with performing in groups to get over their stage fright before delving into solos.
But Izuku was content to watch others belt out track after track.
“Having fun?”
“Yep.”
“Uh, huh,” Mina hummed while studying him. She wasn’t buying it. She’s a great hero, and worse, she knew him well.
“Okay.”
Izuku looked up. “Okay?”
“Yeah, okay, you’re singing next.”
“But–”
“– no buts. You’re singing next.”
“Uh.”
“Relax, I’ll sing with you. Let me go find a songbook.” Mina smoothly danced her way over to the stage.
Izuku searched for a place to hide. Mina couldn’t make him sing if she couldn’t find him.
“Ready?”
Izuku jumped at Hanta’s words. He hadn’t noticed he had even crossed the room.
“Um.”
“We’ve been instructed to make sure you don’t bolt until you’ve sung,” Shouto offered.
“Oh, that’s okay. You don’t have to–”
“I’ve been permitted to use force,” Hanta added.
Shouto frowned. “That won't be necessary. Izuku isn’t going to run.”
It’s Shouto’s faith in him more than Hanta’s threat that made Izuku give in. The room spun a little as he got to his feet, but he quickly recovered.
A chorus of excited yells and whistles of encouragement filled the room as he stiffly made his way over to Mina. Without looking at him, she held out a microphone. Izuku tentatively took it, hoping the mic’s battery was dead.
Mina raised her microphone to her mouth, “All right, everyone, on your feet!”
It didn’t take Izuku long to realize why. The song Mina had picked out for them was the All Might cheer song.
Oh.
He could do this.
It was fun and short. He wouldn’t have to be up here for long.
Izuku grinned, not minding Mina’s smugness at proving she knew him.
They hopped in place to the beat as they sang. Izuku’s voice kept fading in and out of the microphone as he raised and lowered his arms during the dance moves. He ended with a fist in the air in All Might’s pose of victory!
The song ended, and the sound of gagging took over.
Kacchan stood hunched over a small black bottle. It had remained untouched all night. Whatever it was must have been strong.
Izuku abandoned the stage and raced to his side.
“Can you breathe?”
He seemed to struggle to swallow, then, with a shuddering breath, Kacchan looked up to him and blinked. Completely recovered.
“Kacchan, are you okay?”
“Not when you’re close.”
They jolted at that.
“What?”
“How I feel freaks me out. Shit, I didn’t mean to say that.”
“Well, at least we know that it works,” Hanta said.
Izuku looked behind him to see him holding the wine bottle. “What?”
“I don’t look at other people.”
Izuku spun around and locked eyes with Katsuki. “What?”
“I don’t like it. Pay attention to me. Just me. Keep your eyes on me, nerd. I like your eyes. It’s why green’s my favorite color.”
“Someone better explain what’s happening. Now.”
Kacchan answered his demanding tone with a cocky smirk, like he liked the sound of it. A pleasant shiver went down Izuku’s back at the heat in his expression.
“Kacchan just took a shot of Truth Serum.”
“What?”
“I took a shot of Truth Serum,” Kacchan repeated calmly.
Izuku rounded on his friends. “Please tell me you didn’t…That it’s not..”
“Yeah, it is. Sorry, man. It’s quirk-infused to compel the truth. You’re supposed to knowingly take it. Understand what the wine can do and all its possible side effects, and give consent before drinking it.”
“It was unpleasant,” Kacchan commented.
“This is what you get for drinking something unknown to you,” Hanta scolded.
“I read the label,” Kacchan said feebly. “Thought the name was clever marketing bullshit! If I’d known, I wouldn’t have touched the stuff!”
“Oh? Scared to confess your true feelings?”
“Very. Especially to Deku,” Kacchan glared at Hanta. “Fuck you. You know I don’t wanna say shit. This feels like fucking coercion. It’s not fucking cool, Hanta.”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.” Hanta passed the bottle over to Denki. “What can I do to help?”
“Tape my mouth shut before I talk about… the thing.”
“What thing?” Izuku demanded.
Katsuki’s eyes widened with fear. “Sero, I swear if you don’t stop me, I am going to cover my mouth and blow off my tongue so I don’t say shit about Izuku’s-” Kacchan’s words were cut off by a well-placed length of tape. Kacchan’s entire body relaxed, and he sank back against the cushioned wall-length bench.
Izuku knew he ought to empathize with being a victim of a quirk incident. But the night’s events of loneliness and longing for Kacchan, only to have things go like this, made him reckless.
The alcohol probably had something to do with it, too.
Izuku grabbed Truth Serum from Denki, put the lip of the bottle to his own, and took a swig from it. There was no taste. Despite it looking like wine, it didn’t go down easily. It moved slowly as if it needed to coat his throat before sliding down to settle heavily in his stomach. Little tingles coursed through him, and he looked down at Kacchan, who stared at him with wide, pissed-off eyes.
“Oh, shit! Did Midoriya drink it, too?” Denki asked.
“Yes, I did,” Izuku said before he realized he was speaking. “Wow, this works fast.”
“Why?”
“I’m fucking mad and drunk enough to do something about it. I’m pretty sure Kacchan just confessed, but the stupid jerk is so scared I’ll reject him, he’d rather Sero tape his mouth instead of saying anything. As if I haven’t been in love with him since we were fucking babies.” Izuku huffed, irritated. “So I drank it, which is really gross even though it doesn’t have a taste.”
The collective gasps and excited giggling from their friends couldn’t stop the words from tumbling out. Maybe the drinker speaks until they feel they’ve answered the question completely. If that were the case, then Izuku was in trouble.
“Kacchan knows the exact effects of this quirk. He knows I’m saying the truth. This isn’t the way I wanted to say it. I never thought I would say, but that doesn’t mean I am not. In love with him, I mean. Gods, help me when you look at me like that. All cute and sexy. It makes me wanna put my hand over your face and push down. I wanna smash my face into yours. I wanna leave and go to your place and makeout until I stop breathing.”
“Whoa, that was a lot.”
Izuku rounded on Hanta and Denki. “I’m mad at you, too! What made you think leaving a special quirk-infused drink out in the open was a good idea, huh? It’s been just sitting there all night! Is Truth Serum even legal? What kind of irresponsible hero does that? Don’t get me wrong, I’m pleased to know that Kacchan feels–. Wait. Now that I think about it, I don’t think he actually.. I might’ve assumed that because… I’m always looking for clues that he cares. All he has to do is say a few nice things, and I’m a fucking giddy loser…” he paused to take a breath.
Hanta held out a similar length of tape for Izuku to do with what he wanted. Izuku took it.
“How long do the effects last?” he asked and then immediately put the tape over his mouth. He sat heavily on the bench, but jumped when he noticed how close he was to Kacchan. He scooted over to create a polite distance between them.
Denki was studying the bottle. “It doesn’t say. But it’s alcoholic, so let’s assume it works like anything else. Its breakdown’ll depend on your metabolism and the amount taken. Kacchan-”
Izuku jerked, his throat humming like a kicked hornet's nest with all his angry words.
“Wow, I usually only said it to tease Bakugou. If I’d known how much you didn’t like it, I would have stopped ages ago.”
Buried his face in his hands. Embarrassed to have such a childish reaction.
“It’s okay, dude. I get it. On the bright side. I know now. Uh, going back to the whole timing thing, since you took less not long after Kach-Bakugou, you ought to recover a little after him. So we’ll play this by ear. We’ll test whatever compulsion overcomes you to speak the truth.”
Kacchan barked out a single sound, clearly asking, how?
“They probably have a lot they wanna say and clear up, maybe have them sit in a quiet area, and ask each other questions until the compulsion to tell the truth immediately ends.”
Denki raised his hand.
“Through their phones,” Kyoka added.
Denki’s hand went down. “This is why you’re my favorite.”
“Uh, huh, this is why.”
Izuku giggled at their banter. Gaining everyone’s attention. He cleared his throat and stared at his hands.
“Let’s give it a try.”
Izuku eagerly pulled out his phone. Kacchan rolled his eyes and then did the same.
Mina flagged down a manager who escorted Izuku and Kacchan into her office.
They sat, side by side, passing the time messaging each other. Occasionally, they would look at each other, having a silent conversation when their eyes met, before looking back at their phones.
Kacchan was the first to risk tearing off the tape. “Fuck, that hurts.”
Izuku sat up and looked over expectantly at him.
Kacchan stared back, saying nothing. “I think I’m good.” He looked down at Izuku and smirked. “Yeah, I’m good, nerd.”
Izuku tilted his head up at an angle for Kacchan to grab the tape and ripped his off. Izuku clutched his mouth and swore. “That hurts!”
“Yeah, maybe you’ll learn your lesson, Teach.”
Izuku lowered his hand. “My lesson? That means you haven’t learned yours?”
Katsuki shrugged, looking smug. “I don’t know, things seem to turn out okay in the end. Got us talking at least.”
“We’ve done a lot of talking in the last hour.”
“Um, yeah, we have. I don’t know about you, but I wanna try to see if a few of these things are even physically possible.”
“Yeah, me, too.” Izuku sucked in his lower lip into his mouth, lightly chewing on it. “But first…”
“What?”
Izuku released his bottom lip and smiled. “You gotta sing before we can leave.”