Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Izuku's eyes open with the bright beams of light sneaking into his room trough the window. The morning sun highlights his All might posters, especially the ones above his messy desk, just beside the door, cluttered with random plastic bags and old sweatshirts.

He tries to blink the tiredness away to focus on his phone screen, and it takes a few seconds for him to notice that 06:46am it's incredibly late for someone who has to be in class by 07:00am.

"Oh shoot! Not again!"

Already grabbing his semi-clean uniform, Midorya sprints to bathroom and tries his best to look put together in a hurry, taking his backpack out of the diner table and running out of the building as quick as he could possibly do it being as unathletic as he was.

It's not that Izuku doesn't value his studies, he really does, otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten his scholarship at Yuuei High-school! Coexisting with Kacchan and his careless yelling might have done something to his hearing, but he couldn't be woken up by any alarms recently. Maybe it was just tiredness from working on his school projects and building up his future, but what mattered the most now was getting to class before his teacher.

The subway was always the fastest way to Yuuei, but it also meant being crowded by busy people, including Kacchan. That wasn't his real name, "Kacchan" was a childhood nickname, an abbreviation for Katsuki, Katsuki Bakugo, that is. They've lived in the same building their whole lives, played together everyday as kids, but Katsuki grew into more of a hostile person throughout the years, forcefully distancing himself and dropping insults constantly. Izuku never understood what happened to their, once so natural, friendship, but it was over now and it was better to just ignore the blonds comments.

That didn't mean he didn't wish to be close again. Kacchan was still amazing, beneath the rough personality, there was still a fearless and determined mentality inspiring those around him, something Midorya couldn't help but admire...Of course, there were multiple admirable things about that guy, his intelligence, discipline, strength, focus, the way his angry expression relaxes a bit when he does so, his--

>doors opening<

The sudden stop of the tracks got a gasp out of him, followed by a moving crowd, signaling that this was his stop.

Izuku ran of the subway twords Yuuei, already feeling dizzy from the unusual exercise. He saw a couple of other late students making their way to the school, some not in that much of a hurry, Denki Kaminari, the energetic dude in his class was one of them, accompanied by Sero Hanta, who seemed to be making fun of him for some reason. They were both really nice, from what Midorya knew, but he never got to have that much of a meaningful conversation with them, given that they're Bakugo's friends.

Soon enough, he was in class.

"You are late."

"I-I know sir! I'm sorry, it won't happen--"

"Again? Yeah, it shows."

Aizawa was a great teacher, for that same reason, he was a strict one. He sighed and damended the boy to sit down, which he did immediately, passing trough his classmates Toru and Shoji, as Katsuki opened his mouth, just like he thought he would.

"Hah, what kind of nerd are you if you keep getting late for fucking class, Deku?"

Not nice, but could have been worse.

"Good morning, Kacchan..."

Kaminari and Hanta were kept outside until the next period, and had joined the class right before Aizawa could ask them all to pack their bags and stand up for the oral call, so that they could leave for the field trip. Wait, field trip?! Izuku stood up like the rest of the teens and leand back slightly to see his friends.

"Uraraka-san! Uraraka-san!!"

He whispered, a little louder the second time, trying to get the brunette girl's attention. She side-eyed him as if to say 'stop talking, teacher will kill us!!' , and, well, you can't argue with that.

As soon as they got of the classroom, Izuku went after his friends, Iida Tenya and Ochako Uraraka, who greeted him nicely, like they always did.

"Soo, um, sorry to ask last minute, but where are we going?"

"Midorya, you can't be serious! It's unacceptable for a Yuuei student to not know about such an important field trip until the day it takes place!"

Iida it's a nice guy, but he's also very disciplined. It only makes sense for him, he comes from a very important family. His older brother is a police captain, publicly known as "Ingenium" due to the iconic motocicle he used when chasing criminals back in the day, Izuku was lucky to be friends with someone so classy!

"Yeah, i have to agree on this one Deku-kun, how could you not know about the Yaoyorozu Company excursion? I thought it might be of interest to you."

Ochako it's also pretty nice, she's not as wealthy as their other friend, but surely has a bright future ahead of her! She's funny and reliable, and has just the right amount of energy to ease Izuku's mind, they work great as a group, the three of them, and he couldn't be more grateful for their friendship! But right now, they were scolding him for his lack of attention.

"Oh, the Yaoyorozu field trip! I couldn't possibly forget it! I guess I just forgot it was today, my bad hehe."

He answered while scratching the back of his head awkwardly, diverting his eyes to look at the group of people coming twords them. Bakugo and his friends, the "Bakusquad" as Ashido calls them. Though she usually hangs with the girls, Mina usually accompanies Jirou when they join the boys. They're very different from each other, but seem to get along well, it's amusing, honestly. Both trail of as the remaining members get closer.

"Haaaah? Your dumbass really forgot about the excursion?"

Katsuki said first, leaning forward to tease him.

"Bakugo, don't be so mean to him, we talked about this, bro!"

"Yeah man, chill out!"

"Don't tell me what to do, dumb face!"

Kaminari and Kirshima try their best to get Katsuki to leave Izuku alone, but it never really works, it did one time, Kirishima said something about crushing, he didn't really understand it, probably about crushing him to death, sounds like Kacchan. He did get a lot nicer after a fight they had on Beta Campus, Bakugo got pissed after Izuku passed on a subject and he didn't, and went to confront him on the way home, it didn't get physical, it never did with them, but it seemed to ease the tension between the boys.

"Sorry about mister explosive personality, Midorya! You must be exited about this field trip, you wanted to try for an internship there, didn't you?"

"I bet you could get it, you have one of the highest grades in our class!"

Sero and Sato are such chill guys! Izuku felt his cheeks get warmer with the comments, only to get cut by Bakugo.

"Yeah, if he doesn't forget to apply!"

"Hey, I won't, Kacchan!"

"Tch, whatever."

Kastuki said, before turning away and dragging his friends along. Hah, that almost sounded like a compliment, almost. Also, why was he listening to their conversation anyways? That's embarrassing, but not exactly unusual, even tough Izuku never notices it himself, his friends have mentioned Kacchan staring at him...

Again, embarrassing.

They were already inside the building, following the company's tourist guide, Mario? No, it was Mirio, wasn't it? Sounds right. Each one of the students listening closely, or, in Izuku's case, writing down and doodling his surroundings. He ended up drawing his classmates accidentally once or twice, while automatically transferring what he saw to his notebook's paper. Katsuki appeared more than he should've.

Yaoyorozu Company was famous for their researches on multiple fields, biological, medical, mechanical and more recently, "super-human" related, that last part was added due to the recent rise of the Avengers, and other heros popping around the world, All Might was one of the most popular ones, especially in Japan, his homecountry, he's also Izuku's favorite hero ever! His signature moves are consisted of powerful punches named after American states, the most popular one being "Detroit Smash". All Might is registered to have super strength, kind of like a more put together Hulk, but his life-changing smile can't be compared to any other hero! He was said to be the symbol of peace, and Midorya couldn't agree more.

Momo Yaoyorozu is one of his classmates, heir to her family's company legacy. She seems pretty interested in the mathematical portion of science, although her parents think a medical career it's more adequate. It's a shame, really, but she has potential either way, and it's such a sweet person, Izuku wishes he could help her confront the expectations trusted upon her, but it's not like he's doing much better. The pressure to find a job it's crushing him just as much, especially when his family doesn't have that much money.

His dad had died a long time ago, leaving his mother to take care of him by herself, Inko Midorya is surely his number one hero!

"Deku, what are you even doing?"

"Ha-hah?!"

Izuku's trail of thought was quickly wiped away, just like his notebook, now flapping trough Katsuki's hands.

"Ka-Kacchan! Give it back!"

"Heh?You write your secrets in this piece of trash?"

"What? No! I don't have secrets, just give me it!"

"Hey, back off, nerd!"

Izuku desperately reached for his notes, as Bakugo pushed his face away while vaguely analyzing his messily sketched pages on the other hand. A few mechanical parts, notes on the machinery, Todoroki there, Kirishima here, more and more of his classmates silhouettes... And Kacchan, like, multiple times.

"Tsk, these suck."

He said, finally, but it didn't feel honest.

"Whatever you say, Kacchan. Now give me it, please?"

He hesitated for a moment, then pushed the notebook onto Izuku's chest, looking away from the green haired boy, and crossing back his arms. When you live with someone for that long, you kind of learn to interpret their actions, it wasn't different with the two of them. From what Deku could read, he didn't actually hate the drawings, but that wasn't their biggest problem now.

"Um, Kacchan?"

"Ugh, what now?!"

"Where...Where is the rest of the group?"

silence, and a confused frown.

"HAH?! YOU MADE ME LOSE THE GUIDE, DEKU!"

"What?! Y-you were the one distracting me!"

"NOT MY FAULT YOU'RE AN AIR-HEAD!"

"I'm not! And stop yelling, people are looking..."

"Tch, fuck these extras."

He turned around and marched outside the room they were in, not leaving Izuku much of a choice but to follow him. They sprinted around the corridors of the building, looking for their classmates in every door, when a particularly noisy one called their attention. Noise was their classes specially, so it could be an indication of their location.

Katsuki opened the door, holding it open for the other boy, checking the insides quickly before turning twords the corridor again. Despite the noise, this room was practically empty when it comes to people, but crowded with laboratory props and cages, mostly shaped like aquariums. Izuku managed to read one of the labels on the glasses, arachnid gene 143, prototype 15. The only empty one, having it's led lights off, looking off-putting enough to give him a headache. Maybe the headache part was an exaggeration created by his hunger, but it was still strange--

"Ah!"

Midorya let out a gasp, as he slapped the back of his neck.

"What is it, nerd?"

"Nothing just...something bit me?"

"Wow, a mosquito, how tough."

"Didn't feel like a mosquito."

"Yeah yeah, whatever, let's go!"

They've found their class soon after that strange room, joined the group again as smoothly as possible, getting questioned only by their closest friends. Ochako and Iida were worried, Midorya wasn't exactly known for his self preservation skills, and it shows. A great example it's developing itself right now, as he drags himself trough his headache across the halls of the Company's building, walking slowly behind his friends.

"Deku-kun, are you sure everything's okay? You're kind of pale."

Izuku nodded positively, or maybe he didn't, he wasn't quite sure of what he was doing anymore. His ears were buzzing, his throat tightening and overwhelming his senses. He felt like they'd never stop walking, why was it taking so long to get to the bus?

Oh, there they are, bus. He's already sat now, in the front, he's not used to taking the front seat, Iida was talking, adverting him for whatever reason, he was saying a lot of words, none of them were processed.

Awake now, back at Yuuei, that was quick. Something was holding onto him, his arm? There was somebody else talking now.

"Midorya? You understand?"

Nodded again, not sure why.

Something changed everytime he blinked.

He was in a crowded place now, moving fast, the subway? For once he managed to get a seat, half closed eyes captured the vague image of a blonde guy, holding two backpacks, staring at him, was that...? 

Awake again.

In his room.

Alone.

Deep breaths Izuku, in and out.

There was no sunlight this time, just a lot of noise...Cars, footsteps, dripping water, voices, wind-- a lot of noise. Izuku leaned forwards, his head hurting a bit from the sudden movement. He rested his face in his palms, wiping the tiredness out of his eyes, yawning as he tried to scratch his neck. If only his right hand wasn't literally glued to his face.

Jumping to his feat, he stumbled his way to the bathroom, hitting the door nubs and smashing his toothpaste completely! He yanked the hand of his face, thin sticky lines dripping from his cheek, as they got pink from the detach. Raised his head to look in the mirror, he wouldn't have recognized himself, if it weren't for the spooked green eyes and crazy freckles.

Who the fuck was this jacked guy in his bathroom?!

Chapter Text

Katsuki has just gotten home.

 He went straight to his room, slamming the doors as always, and threw his black backpack beside his bed, something he did only in the craziest days. He really hated being messy, leaving stuff behind like that, but sometimes you just gotta yank that bag, y'know? Today was weird, like, Deku weird. That could mean multiple things, but this time, it was straight up sick, literally. Izuku was acting so off-putting ever since that freakish insect room, he had mentioned getting biten before they left, said it "didn't feel like a mosquitoe", maybe something poisonous bit him? What kind of bug does that to someone? He wasn't just sick, he looked like he was dying, pale, sweeting, couldn't even hear them. Deku always has something going on, but that was...almost scary.

Katsuki wouldn't admit that out loud, but he worried about him, things changed a lot recently, but whenever it came to that boy he would just panic and yell at him. He knows he's not the very best at expressing his feelings, but still, he had been trying to be a little nicer, without that sappy shit, regardless of the circumstances, Deku was still an idiot.

Before jumping into the shower, he quickly texted his teacher:

         Lozer's home already, I'm never doing this again.
                                                            19:23 ✔️

Ugh, why was that stupid nerd so problematic anyways? Everytime he fucks up, Katsuki ends up having to fix it for him, not because he secretly cares, but because he lives closer to him, having to drag him around all the time it's not as easy as it sounds! That guy has been a pain in his ass since forever, no matter how hard Bakugo tries to push him away, he's alway there, smiling like he's better than him! Showing off his dumb freckles like they're some kind of art piece! Stupid Deku and his stupid face. Maybe that was why he couldn't let go of Izuku himself.

Honestly, Izuku didn't deserve whatever the hell Katsuki did to him in middle school, he knew that now, and he had apologized for it! In his own way...But now, they were only getting closer again, very, very slowly, but he could it feel it happening, deep in his guts, there was always this agonizing ich in his stomach, like a warning.
He didn't really know how he felt about that, "angry" was the obvious answer, but it was deeper than that, maybe hatred? Maybe just discomfort? Something along those lines, but like, deeper, get it?

Yeah, Katsuki didn't get it either, that's the problem. He switched of the shower valve, stepping out of the bathroom and dressing quickly to avoid the coldness. There is always a cold breeze coming trough his balcony, enveloping his bed sideways, and sneaking trought to his closet, he hates it.

He goes to the kitchen to heat up the diner he made for himself the day before, just spicy potato soup, avoiding small talk with his parents and coming back to his room soon after. Sitting in his rolling chair, he places the bowl of food on his desk, grabbing back his phone just to see plenty of notifications under the name of  "shitty hair". Texting wasn't really his thing, he always preferred calls, that's why he opened his computer and sent Kirishima and invitation for a face chat.

"Hey, bro! I see you're home already, it's Midoriya okay?"

"I don't know, don't care, for all I know he could rot on that dirty school buss."

Kirishima laughed a bit, rolled his eyes and continued.

"Come on, Bakugo! How did it go?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah right, is he in your house?"

Katsuki's eyeballs almost fell of his face.

"What?! No, in what world would I bring him to my house, shitty hair?!"

"Maybe in world where you totally have a crush on him..."

"SHUT THE FUCK UP, I DON'T HAVE A CRUSH ON STUPID DEKU!!"

Shitty-hair left ou an all knowing smirk.

"Keep telling yourself that buddy, anyway, what happened after I left the buss? I kinda lost you there, man."

"Deku fucking passed out on the front seat and his nerdy friends wouldn't chill out--"

"One of them being you, otherwise you wouldn't have stayed."

"I'm still talking."

"Right, sorry, go on!"

"Like I said, they were probably going to freak him out if he woke up, so Aizawa told them to go the fuck home and I helped him carry the dumbass to the teachers room."

"Ooooh, that's so manly, Bakubro!!"

"Tch, not a big deal, he weights nothing. After that, his mother was still working, so she couldn't pick him up or something, then teach' forced me to take him home myself. By that time he was already half awake, so I just dragged him around until we got here. I hate living in the same neighborhood as him."

"No you don't."

Katsuki sighed and rolled his eyes, ready to hang up on his friend, when another question came up.

"Wait, if his mother wasn't home, did you just leave him by himself in the state he was in?!"

"Ugh...No, obviously not, I'm not fucking stupid."

He answered, like it was the most obvious thing ever. Sometimes he worries about the impression his friends have of him.

"What happened then?"

Katsuki stopped talking.

"Oooooooh what did you do, Katsuki??"

"I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING! I just-  I don't know! Washed his face and...Took him to his room?"

"OOOOH, DUDE!! You washed his face? Why? Was he hot or something?"

"Yeah, he was--"

"You just said he was hot, got you!"

His friend began to laugh uncontrollably, slaping his knee.

"He fucking puked, Kirishima."

The laugh stopped, his jaw dropped.

"ON YOU?!"

"EW, no?! On the floor, I cleaned that shit. "

"Oh, that's so nice of you, bro, I'm proud."

"I'm not nice, shut it."

"Your resistance it's impressive, Bakugo."

Kirishima sounds invasive sometimes, but he's quite the opposite. Even tough he keeps provoking Bakugou, he knows where his friends draw the line, and respects it nonetheless. He was currently under the idea that his bro has a crush on Izuku. That couldn't be true, there was no way he liked him like that. He didn't have the right to do so, just to begin with. The way he acted twords him in middle school was awful and he hadn't made up for it yet. And also, how could he like fucking Deku? In the end, he's just a big nerd with a lack of self preservation. That's why someone needs to keep an eye on him, and the only one capable of doing so, was no other then Katsuki.

"Whatever, I have to go."

"Where are you going Kats?"

"Don't call me that."

"Reactive huh? I got it, take care of him, Romeo!"

"Romeo is fucking dead, and so it's Juliette, so fuck you."

"You're crazy, bye!!"

Closing his computer, Bakugo stood up and grabbed his skull sweatshirt, sliding his phone down it's pockets and taking the empty bowl with him as he left the room. After leaving it on the dishwasher, he left the apartment, fighting the urge to return. Katsuki had decided to go back into the nerd's house, just to check if he was alive, it could hurt, right?

Chapter Text

Izuku continued to stare at the mirror in disbelief, runing his fingers trought his face where the sticky strings were once glued. Sure, the muscular upgrade was pretty weird, but what the heck were these?! They seemed to be made of some kind of...silk? Like hundreds of little silk wires sticking together, it almost looked like some kind of powered up spider web. Maybe they were spider webs? Did he accidentally kill a spider that just happened to be on his cheek? Still, exploding didn't sound like a natural dying reaction for a arachnid, they usualy just crumbled into themselves. 

Something else had changed too. All of his senses were, somehow, overwhelming? He could see literally EVERYTHING around him in too much detail, the marble, the tini tiny water drops on the sink, some gross wet hairstrands down the drain, the mold between everypiece of furniture, the dust on the corners of the walls, and he could smell them aswell, kind of gross, he could even smell vomit, what was that about? Despite all the visual load, the worst part was the gutwreckin amount of noise. Izuku couldn't even pick out one sound from the others, they all just mixed into eachother's loudness to torment him, as they crowded his mind with a sharp headache. He claped his hands on his ears as an attempt to silence all the busy voices of the street, but quickly pulled them away as he felt that same sticky webs sitck to his hair, tripping over his own feet and bumping onto the walls and wishing the noise would just go away.

Until it did. 

Suddently all Izuku could hear was his name. Well, not his name, his nickname. 

"Deku?! I swear if you don't oppen this fucking door right now Im knocking it down myself!" 

Kacchan? What was he dooing here?

He stood up from the bathroom floor, grabing onto the toilet seat for balance as he rushed to door.

"Please don't! I'm on my way!"

"Yeah, you better be!"

Midoriya opened the door, the sound of his All Might keychains piercing trought his brain reminding him of that headache. Standing just outside his doorstep was Katsuki, wearing his signature black sweatshirt with the huge skull on the center, a pair of dark blue, almost black aswell, loose jeans (almost covering those horrific church shoes of his). With his right hand, he held the strap of the backpack hanging on his shoulder, and with the left one he quickly pointed his finger to Izuku's face, something that caused him to feel a slight tikcle on his forehead (now that's new).

"What the fuck were you doing that kept you from oppening the goddamn door? And what the fuck is that?!"

-he said, as his finger switched from pointing to his face to his messy, web filled, green curls-

"I-these? Um, they're just- ummm I don't know? They're not" - he brushes the strings of, desperately - "They're nothing."

"Yeah, whatever, are you dying?"

"Am I- what? No?" 

"You don't sound so sure."

"Im not diying."

They stared at eachother for a minute there, Katsuki's expression toned out a bit, he looked sort of calm, relaxed even, but it still had that tint of anoyence in his eyes. His hand reached to Izuku's hair, pealing what was left of the webs, while he observed them up close. Only then he noticed Deku's gaze focoused in his face.

POV SWITCH!! (Katsuki)

Deku's eyes were wide, his eyebrows a bit raised as he looked up to Katsuki. Funny enough, those big green eyes were one of his oldest memories, always there, watching over him, in a haunting but not exacly unpleasent way. For a while, that green ghost terrified him, like a constant reminder of his own cruelty, now it just had a wild efect on his brain. As soon as Izuku's gaze fixed onto him, his neurons just panicked and let his body move on it's own, leading to akaward moments. Like this one. 

Bakugou violently brushed of Midoriya's hair in an attempt to mask how caring and -ew- soft he just looked. Turns out that only worsened his situation, cause holy shit how fucking cute that was, literaly disgusting.

"Ouch, Kacchan!" 

-Izuku said, as he laughed. You got that? Laughed. Because of Katsuki, he had made Deku laugh, let that sink in.-

"Shut up, nerd. You better wash that stinky hair of yours."

-Bakugou responded, while pulling back his hand-

"Whaaaat? You think it's stinky?"

"Yeah, wrap it up."

"Don't call me that, I smell fine."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night...If you're not dying, there's nothing for me to do here, I'm out."

- He said, as he turned back to the hallway and began to walk away from the appartment. 

POV CHANGE (yes, again)

But then, as soon as the blonde walked away, he could feel his headache coming back, all of the noises making their way back to his ears, and he really could use some silence right now...Well, here goes nothing.

"Kacchan! Wait, please."

- Katsuki stopped, his gaze turning back to Izuku, a bit surpriesed.-

"What?"

- sudently all of the courage left his body-

"It's just...Thank you."

"Not a big deal."

"That doesn't mater, Im still thankfull, Kacchan."

- he lets out a soft smile-

"Well, you're welcome, Deku"

And with that, Midoriya learned that in order to turn down the noise, he needed to be focoused in something expecific, in this case, a milion questions about his neighboor.

Chapter Text

Izuku couldn't be more thankful for his weirdly powerful senses. For the first time in a few weeks, his alarms actually woke him up and he wasn't late for class! At this moment, he was standing on the subway grabbing onto the metal bars above him trough his gloves, the air was warmer inside the car, Midoriya really hoped he wouldn't start sweating, he probably wouldn't be there long enough to do so. Thankfully the weather was cooler these days, jut enough so it wouldn't be too weird for a kid to be wearing gloves, a sweater and a jacket on top, so yeah, it was pretty cold.

Izuku decided the best thing to do, since he hadn't figured how to control his "webs" yet, was to prevent them from sticking out. He had managed to get ahold of the super-sight and most of the other "supers" with Kacchan's accidental help, apparently, all he had to do was mentally focus on what he wanted to hear or see and he could almost turn of the other stuff, kind of like an amplifier. He tried to visualize it as boiled egg inside a microwave, playing with the buttons just enough so the food won't explode...Could he explode from the overstimulation? It really had felt like he could.

Even though he concluded that all of this should be the effects of the (supposedly) scientifically-altered-insect-that-is-probably-an-arachnid's bite, and that the changes seemed to be permanent, he still didn't quite understand what was that tickling in his forehead. For now, he classified it as "spider instincts", it sounded pretty cool. From what he noticed, the tickling appeared whenever something got too close to him, but not his mother tho, he wasn't sure why, maybe it only sensed it when he wasn't expecting to be touched? That made much more sense. He surely hadn't expect Kacchan to fix his hair yesterday.

Katsuki was just a few heads away from him, looking down at his own cellphone, as annoyed as usual, his left hand holding onto another metallic pole while he frowned hard at the screen one more time. What was he watching? Although he looked like he was typing...Who was he talking to? Was it one of his friends? Probably Kirishima, he's his closest friend, isn't he? Kacchan's eyes shook open, his cheeks gained a bit more color, was he...flustered? He shoved his phone harshly back into his pocket, tightening his grip around the metal support and complaining quietly to himself, "fudge you, shitty hair", well, izuku lip-read something more harsh, when Kacchan cursed it was natural, charming even, it didn't matter as much as when someone else did it. Now he looked around, not changing his unpleasant expression, analyzing the crowd as Izuku analyzed him. But then, his gaze shifted to meet the other's stare and an awkward wave washed upon Midoriya.

Oh shoot I have to say something! Wave hello! No, no, that's childish, just pretend you didn't see him! But that's rude, oh gosh he looks surprised, maybe he thinks im following him? But we're going to the same place-- tickling Hmn? Of course someone is close to me, it's crowded-- his trail of thoughts was quickly pulled away by the intensity of the sudden stop of the train. Unlike the day before, he didn't fall, he didn't even trip, but Izuku did more then just stand still.

Before he could think clearly, his hand let go of the pole as he moved forward in a blink of an eye, all the way to his neighbor's personal space. It all happened so fast, Katsuki was struck by the stopping impact and lost his balance, having dropped his hand from the bar when he noticed Izuku, he would surely had fallen on his but, if the green haired boy's body hadn't moved on its own. He grabbed Kacchan by his forearm and pulled him twords himself a little bit harder then he would have wanted, squishing them together, face to face. Katsuki started at him in disbelief, his frown had already disappeared, now he just looked shooked. And oh how well could Izuku see his face, he looked even prettier up close, maybe it's the eyes? The contrast of the colors between his hair and-

"Deku, what the fuck?!"

"Oh! Ah- Im so sorry Kacchan, I didn't mean to grab you! Or, you know, pull you in like- like this! Not that I hate it, maybe you hate It, oh gosh sorry I forgot to let go of you, not you, your arm haha- even tough your arm is technically you right- uhg im sorry, so sorry-"

"Oh my god, shut up."

"Yeah right, im silent, quiet, sorry."

Katsuki looked down at his arm, then at Midoriya again, frowning once again.

"Let go of me."

"Oh! Yeah, of course! Im sor-"

"If you apologize one more time I'll push out of this damn train, got that?"

"Oh um...okay."

Izuku quickly let go of the other's arm, taking a step back, although there wasn't that much space for him to move due to all the people that just entered their wagon. They stood in silence for a bit, Midoriya struggling not to look at him, but Katsuki seemed pretty comfortable with staring shamelessly. Then he finally spoke again.

"So, nerd, are you normal today? No more throwing up and shit?"

"What? I didn't- I don't recall throwing up?"

"Ha, well, you surely did. You should be thankful for not doing it on the fucking bus, you would've paid for that dirty piece of metal's cleaning ."

"I didn't...vomit...on the bus? Where did it happen than?"

"On your apartment, obviously."

"Oh, that's why I smelled it earlier...But, Kacchan, how do you know that when I didn't even know it myself?"

Katsuki finally looked away, apparently very annoyed by that question.

"Cause I fucking cleaned it, idiot."

"You...cleaned it?"

"Yeah! Get over it, stupid Deku, I only did because Aizawa told me to!"

"Alright, alright! Sorry!"

He looked back at Izuku again, cringing at the apology, but he didn't say anything else, the conversation died.

POV SWITCH (Katsuki)

Deku was quiet now, but it wasn't hard for Katsuki to tell how much was going on inside his head. The main indicators of his overthinking were all there, the hand close to mouth, his big green doe eyes squinting and staring downwards, shoulders tensing. They were all there, except for the mumbling, wich was ironically the most common one. Deku had the habit to process his thoughts out loud trough mumbling since they were brats, and even though Bakugo was used to it by now, sometimes the nerd had too many anxious ideas and it eventually started to worry him too. That's why he would tell him to stop most of the time. But even though he didn't want to hear Izuku's messy thoughts, when all the other nerdy-overthinking traits were there, Katsuki couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't verbally expressing them. Was it a secret? Did Deku even have secrets anyway? He's always over-trusting people, believing every single person who gives him the slightest bit of respect. Even when they were in terrible terms he still ended up telling him most things, so what couldn't he know now?

Katsuki turned his gaze towards the other's hands, now holding onto the hanging supports above the metal bar he held.

"Since when you wear gloves?"

"Oh I, um, I just felt cold."

He nodded, not exactly pleased with the answer. Deku never wore gloves, only when it snowed, and even then he wouldn't wear them as much. Ugh he sounded like a stalker, so worried about what stupid Deku wore and did. Maybe Shitty Hair had a point. No, he couldn't possibly be right, he's literally delusional, Katsuki was just making observations, not obsessing or something. He was simply overthinking, nothing was going on, and even if there was, he didn't care.

Just as he was about to pull his phone back from his pocket, they reached their station, this time Katsuki held extra hard onto the pole, just to prevent more embarrassment for the both of them.

Yueei wasn't exactly close to their neighborhood, sure, it was only a few blocks away, but they still couldn't just walk there. He enjoyed walking, as weird as it sounds, but it helped him concentrate on the things he had to focus on, or just space out to the business of the streets, he much preferred walking among nature, like he did when he went hiking, free from people and their sensitive feelings. Walking to school was usually chill, but today, he had to walk besides stupid Deku and his fuckass freckles, and it couldn't be worse. That stupid nerd couldn't bring himself to shutting up, but today, he decided not to talk at all, and how annoying was that. The silence wasn't pleasant in the slightest, it was awkward and confusing, and it left plenty of space for him to wonder what the hell was Izuku thinking about that got him so quiet. Was he annoyed by Katsuki's presence? He had all the reasons to, maybe he finally realized how much of a dick his neighbor had always been and decided to ignore him, sounds fair, and scary. Not scary, he wasn't scared! He wasn't scared of anything, especially not being ignored by Deku of all people...Was he ignoring him tough?

"Hey, Kacchan?"

So he was not ignoring him, good.

"What?"

"Have you- Did you feel anything different after yesterday?"

Yesterday? He means that talk on his doorstep? Did he think that was weird?

"No? Why would I."

"Oh, I don't know, just curious...You're different."

Oh shit, was he onto him? Did Kirishima say anything to him? Well he didn't even actually like him, okay? So there's not a flying fuck to be worried about.

"Im the fucking same I've always been, you're the weird one, shut up."

"Pffft what? I never said you were weird Kacchan!"

Izuku covered his mouth as he left out a suppressed laughter

"And change is not a bad thing...You just seem...Oh forget it, it's fine."

What was Deku talking about? This had to be about him coming back to check on him the night before. Did he like that? He looked happy now, didn't he? Was he making fun of him?!

"Change is good."

He relaxed his eyes and smiled almost to softly to be seen. That answered the question.

"Whatever."

'It's not like im constantly trying my best not to be a dick and actually changing my world views just for you. ' he totally was though.

POV SWICH (Izuku)

They got to their class earlier than other students, so it was just the two of them for now. Izuku wondered if it was always empty like this when Kacchan got there , since this was his normal time of arrival. The desks were all cleaned and organized, no messy sketches from his classmates yet, no left over trash, not even their colorful backpacks.

He couldn't help but find the tidy-ness of it all a bit off putting. Thankfully, his punctuality driven best-friend would soon enter the awkward classroom, his footsteps were steady and consistent, as if the boy had every movement calculated, but Izuku could tell his pace was slower than usual, he must be focused on something else, someone else. As hard as it was to keep one sound from mixing with the other, his senses captured another set of footsteps: light, delicate, still struggling a bit to catch up to Iida. Judging by the heaviness and posture, that must be a girl, her shoes clack with every footstep, so no sneakers...That should be... Yaoyorozu? His guess was confirmed by a voice, echoing all the way from the hallway to Midoriya's recently improved ears.

"Thank you very much for the ride to school, Tenya. My father was very distressed this morning and couldn't be bothered to reserve me a car, like he usually does..."

"It's no big deal, Yaoyorozu! We've been friends for a long time after all, it's only natural we help each other out once in a while, but I must ask, what could have possibly disturbed your father this much?"

The hallway was dead silent for a few seconds, no footsteps, no response.

"You have no obligation to answer my question, It wasn't polite of me to ask such thing."

"No, no, it's okay, you mean no harm...It's just... He refused to tell me."

Izuku left out a curious eyebrow raise.

"He seemed so unhappy this morning, I tried reaching for him, but he pushed me away. It felt so strange, we used to be so close, but he feels so tense and...well, different?"

"Im truly sorry about that Momo, maybe he's just facing work related issues that could be to complicated to share!"

"No. He was...scared."

"What could he possibly be scared of?"

"I heard his assistant say something about a missing number, it could be a numbered experiment...Whatever's missing, was valuable to him."

"Im sure he'll find it, there's no need to worry ourselves over our parents private situations, you will be fine, Yaoyorozu!"

"I hope so, thanks Iida..."

steps start once again, but the hallway noise is quickly turned off by the sudden sound of Kacchan's voice.

"What's that fucking face for?"

Izuku gained conscience over his facial expressions again, he looked completely crazy. Frowed eyebrows, wide open eyes and bottom lip entirely under his teeth. He fixed his face the best he could.

"Wha-what face? Im not making faces!"

"Tch, yeah, and that spooked look was completely natural, nice job covering it ,have you considered acting?"

Katsuki almost smiled, sarcastically obviously, but the door was soon opened by their two classmates who's conversation Izuku had just eavesdropped. Momo had a pensitive expression, while Iida generously held the door for her.

The rest of the class arrived sporadically, some of them commented on Midoriya's early arrival, not much happened, he took notes, theorized about the "missing experiment" for most of the time, everything seemed as normal as it could be ...until the ride back home.

Chapter Text

Ochako and Iida seemed to have tons of questions about yesterday: how was he feeling? What medication did he take? Was Katsuki nice him?  Most of them were easy to answer, sometimes he just responded with nods or "I don't really remember", the interrogation only got suffocating when the topic focused on the cause of his sickness. Izuku tried dogging the subject, but his friends were too insistent, he managed to come up with a plausible excuse: he hadn't eaten anything for breakfast or lunch due to the excursion. Ochako didn't look like she fully believed in him, but Iida just focused on Midoriya's eating habits.

His taller friend kept preaching about the importance of a sustained diet, at this point it was more of a background noise than anything else. They always walk together to the school gates, where they part ways. Ochako lives a bit far, she comes from a humble family downtown, it's cheaper if she takes the bus since her parents are friends with the driver, so she says. Iida always has a car waiting for him in front of Yuuei, he had offered a ride to his friends before, but they all lived in different directions.
They waved their goodbyes and Izuku walked calmly towards the subway.

Their classes ended on the afternoon, just before the sunset, the streets weren't super crowded yet, the sidewalks occupied mostly with students...He noticed a strange feeling blooming inside his stomach, looked around, the yellow lighting painting over the city streets while the dark blue shadows cast in the alleys reminded him of the night that would shortly come. Then he heard something, and even though he couldn't put his finger on what that was, he found his body moving on its own.
Izuku marched inside one of the many dark alleyways only to find an elderly woman, clinging onto her purse, trying desperately to keep it out of the other person's hands. An adult man, not very big from what he could tell from his silhouette , but surely taller than him, pulled the purse as he whispered yelled at the old lady. They didn't seem to notice him, both wrapped up in their own efforts to keep the bag.
Midoriya took off his gloves and extended his right arm, shooting one of his webs towards the object the two strangers fought for and pulled his hand back as soon as the strings hit the leather fabric.

Now he had their attention, and the purse.

The lady cried out for him:

 
 
"No, please, don't take my money! I-I need to pay for my groceries and I don't have any economies left!"

"Don't worry miss, I don't plan on keeping It."
 

 
Izuku faced the man, standing still seven feet ahead of him.

 
 
"That's fucking cute, now why won't you give that back, weirdo?" 

"Im afraid I can't do that."

"Oh, yeah? Well Im afraid you don't have much of a choice here you nosy asswhole."

 
 
The man's words quickly turned into actions as he ran towards Midoriya, his spider sense thing ringing in his head, the man's arms already reaching forward, that should slow him down. Izuku remembered one of the videos he had saved to his "coolest simple hero combat moves": Hawkeye had an important object in his hands, he threw it against a wall and kept it hanging with a quickly fired arrow. Could he do that? the webs should work, but how would he fight the guy? Maybe a punch would do, he was stronger now!
He threw the purse towards the alley wall and stuck it im place by immediately shooting a web at it, the man hesitated a bit, opening a gap for Midoriya to reach for his face and land a strong punch to the side of his jaw. It must have been stronger than he'd plan, It surely hurt more than he had expected. The thief fell to his knees, spitting a mix of saliva and blood, Izuku, scared to let him react, landed another set of webs to his hands, as well as his eyes and mouth.

 
"You know, if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say it at all, 'asswhole'."
 

 
He needed to get the elder women out of there, but how could he do that without showing his face, the darkness wouldn't help him outside the alley. Most heros have masks right? The boy covered his own face with webs, gluing the forehead piece with the fabric of his hood to hide his very recognizable green hair. He covered everything except for the eyes and nostrils, that should be enough. Just as he finished his masterpiece of a mask, he took the purse back from the wall and held the lady's hands as he led her out of the alley. 

Izuku walked her home, she hadn't asked many things. Surprisingly, all she did was tie their arms together as they walked. She was still scared, but his presence seemed to calm her nerves, so he stayed. At one point she asked him if he needed anything, offering to pay him for his help, but he had heard her earlier, she was tight on money. Midoriya politely denied, waving goodbye as she opened her building's door.
 

 
"Thank you for your kindness... Spider-man?"

"Oh, it's fine, really, Im just your friendly neighbor...Spiderman."
 
 

He smiled under all the webs, and hopped she could see it.
 
 

 
 
Izuku couldn't measure his excitement, he had just stopped a thief from stealing an old lady's purse, him, Izuku Midoriya! Well, not him, Spiderman. That's a cool name, huh? Sounds like a real hero! Could he be a hero? He had to use his new powers for something good, and he knew so much about the preexisting heros, he was the biggest hero fan he could name! Except for maybe...Kacchan. Should he tell him? Was he even a hero fan anymore? They weren't exactly good friends, but he was with him when he got bit, and basically took care of him when the side effects were acting up!This was too serious though, what if he revealed his identity? Katsuki wasn't the type to spill secrets, but still, was it safe to tell him? Maybe not yet...
Could he tell anyone? In most movies knowing the hero's identity had put their loved ones in serious danger, not just in movies, Ms.Pepper was kidnapped before, not that its Ironman's fault in any way, but being close to superheroes isn't safe. He wasn't even a superhero in the first place, for now he was just a kid with spider-like abilities. He would work this out, he would be a hero.
 

 
Izuku got home around 8pm, he had taken most of the webs of his face in one of the alleys close to that lady's house, but he hadn't managed to get it out off his hair yet. He took his sweater off, staring at his reflection again, he was significantly stronger and not in a way you could hide so easily! Even though he got away with all the layers of clothing today, wearing jackets on top of sweaters wasn't likely of him, his friends would eventually notice the change in his clothing style... He had been wearing hoodies for a long time now, he could just tell them he had been working out at home and that they didn't notice it because of the hoodies! There's no reason to doubt him, after all, what's wrong with a teenager wanting to get stronger? Yeah, it made sense. 

Izuku put his best efforts into washing the last webs of his hair while pondering his new hero persona. He would need a hero suit, it shouldn't be that hard for him to make one, his mother had taught him to sew and he was studying mechanical engineering pretty hard! Izuku planned his suit in his mind, but what mostly came up was all might references and knockoffs. His thoughts were suddenly lost to the sound of his doorbell ringing, was his mom already home? No, she would only arrive past 10 today, who else could it be? Then he remembered the conversation he had with his neighbor the past week, she said she would come over by his house sometime to return their big pasta tupperware! 
 

 
" I'll be there in a minute!" 
 
 

He got out of the shower, not worrying much about his looks, Miss Kinjonohito had seen him in deplorable condition multiple times before, she lived next to them since forever! Izuku grabbed a pair of sweatpants and quickly pulled them over his boxers, leaving his torso bear while he pulled the tips off the towel hanging on his neck to dry his curls. 
Midoriya rushed to the door and unlocked it, already bringing his hands back to his face, pressing the towel against his eyes and cheeks.
 

 
"Sorry I took so long auntie Kin! You kind of got me off guard here, you don't have to worry about our tupperware, it's not like the two of us use such a big one anyway!" 

 
 
There was no response.

 
 
"How was the family dinner at your place? Did you get to meet your daughter in law-"

 
 
Finally, he removed the towel from his eyes and opened them for once. In front of him stood Katsuki Bakugou, with the most spooked incredulous expression you could possibly imagine.

 
 
"WHAAAh KACCHAN!? WHAT ARE YOU- WHY!?" 

 
 
Izuku slammed the door hard, too hard. Had he just come out his house shirtless shamelessly talking about family diners and tupperwares to Kacchan out off all people? Oh god, that's so embarrassing! WAIT HE JUST SMASHED THE DOOR TO HIS FACE--

 
 
"Kacchan! Hey, sorry! You- um, what are you doing here?"

 
 
Katsuki looked at his face, then down at his chest and back at his face again, opening his eyes even more in the process. Kacchan shook his head right away while his eyes darted everywhere but in Izuku's direction.
 
 
"You forgot your stupid fucking back ab- PACK. BACK PACK. Seriously, what kind of idiot forgets their full backpack, what were you thinking?!" 
 
"Oh, I didn't even notice it was gone, thanks Kacchan!"
 
"You're fucking welcome. Take it."
 

 
Katsuki threw the bag inside the apartment without looking away from the wall he decided to focus on. Izuku bent down to pick it up, not letting go of the door nub.

 
 
"I must have been distracted with Ochako and Iida, sorry you had to carry it all the way here!"

 
 
No answer, just awkward silence. Katsuki was staring at him now though.

 
 
"So um, you wanna come in?"

"No need, you were probably busy with your tupperware anyway."

"No, not at all, im not obsessed with tupperwares or anything, my neighbor has it."

"I know who Kinjonohito is, Deku."

"Really? You remember her?"

"Obviously, she would watch over you and me whenever our parents got too lazy to do it themselves."

"That's not what happened, but yeah, her and my family are still pretty close!"

"Is that why you weren't invited to her family dinner?"

"Ugh, Kacchan! It's not like I live inside her house!"

"Bet you'd love to though, her cooking was good as hell."

"It still is, she brings me diner sometimes."

"Why? Cause you have no food?"

 
 
Katsuki intended that to be sarcasm, but it was just the truth. Izuku laughed awkwardly.

 
 
"No fucking way, let me in."

"W-what!? Sure--"
 

 
He made space for the other boy to enter, and he did, taking off his sneakers.

 
 
"There's no way aunt Inko would let you stay hungry, what do you have?"

"Uh, I don't know, we don't really buy groceries."

 
 
Katsuki just turned around and frowned at him.

 
 
"My mother works almost the whole day so she eats out."

"And you?"

"I eat at the school cafeteria."

"Lunch."

"Yeah, lunch."

" 'yeah, lunch!', and dinner?"

"I don't talk like that..."

"And you also don't eat dinners!"

"Stop, I do eat, it's not like im starving or anything!"

"Oh too bad! We're eating katsudon."

 
 
The blond said, right as he picked his phone from his pocket and began searching through the screen.
 

 
"What?"

 
 
No answer, again. Izuku just stood there in silence, suddenly hit by the cold weather.

 
 
"Kacchan, I don't know what you're doing, but Im gonna put on a shirt, be right back."

"Thank goodness, just because you're suddenly fucking jacked doesn't mean you should walk around shirtless!"

"Thanks?"

"NOT A COMPLIMENT."
 
   

 
When Izuku came back, Katsuki was standing awkwardly in the middle of the apartment, messing with his phone.
 

 
"Uh, Kacchan? You know, you could've sat down if you wanted to, you still can."
 
 

Kacchan rolled his eyes at the other boy, but made his way to the same couch Izuku had just sat on anyway. He looked around the room, a sense of familiar surroundings might have gotten him. 
 
 

"Do you want to...watch anything or...?"

"Whatever, it's your house."

"You are the guest tonight, Kacchan!"

"Oh, how good of a host are you."

"Stop making fun of me, im a great host."

"Sure, do great hosts always welcome their guests shirtless with nonsense talk?"

 
 
The boy smirked, tightening his eyebrows as he lowered his a head a bit. Izuku absolutely hated that.

 
 
"Oh you- shut it!"

"Im never dropping the fucking tupperware talk."

"Kacchan! Stop, please!"

 
 
He just looked away in response, looking at the TV screen. His light blonde hair looked almost white in the living room light, making his eyes pop even more again his paler skin. Damn, maybe it was the eyes.
 
 

"Are you gonna turn on the TV or should I just fucking leave?"

"Sure! Sorry!"
 
 

 
Their food came in about 30 minutes, they settled on watching one of the golden age All Might movies. Izuku wanted to pay for his own meal, but Katsuki wouldn't let him, said he ordered it by himself. He left shortly after they finished eating, he had to study.

Now lets face the elephant in the room: WHAT THE FRICK WAS THAT!? Him and  Katsuki Kacchan Bakugou just ordered food and watched a movie together, in his house, just the two of them, by their own free will! And it was really enjoyable, the talk was light and...almost easy? It was all just really comforting, plus, now he knew Kacchan was still a hero nerd, he just hid it better. 

Wow, that was quite a day, wasn't it? Maybe he should just lay down and get some rest now, he had big plans for tomorrow.
 
 

POV CHANGE (Katsuki)

 
 
"SHITTY HAIR PICK UP THE GODDAMN PHONE WHEN I CALL YOU!"

"Shit dude, sorry, whats up!?"

"Maybe, just fucking maybe, you were right."
 
 

Katsuki whispered the last part.
 

 
"Gotta be more specific dude, Im right about lots of things."

"The...Deku thing."

"What Izuku thin-oooh. OOOOOOH SHIT!"

"SHUT UP!"

"I mean, I always knew It but I didn't expect you to admit it! Waaaait, what happened?"

"I went to his house to return his stupid backpack."

"Oh yeah, I forgot, aaand?"

"And he was there."

"You lost me, where's the plot twist ?"

"He was there, and he thought I was one of our neighbors, and he was shirtless, and he keept talking about some tupperware shit but I didn't listen at all cause he changed, shitty hair!" 

"Okay, so he was shirtless? But what do you mean he changed?"

"Changed like: changed."

"You're not helping."

"He is jacked now Kiri-fucking-shima!"

"Duuuude no way! It's hard to imagine him like that! He had always been so tiny and friendly!"

"He is still a friendly loser, just...changed."

"I see your mental capabilities have been reduced by the shock of Mido-packs."

"Never say that again."

"What? Mido-packs?"

"Fuck you, goodnight."

"Aw come on, what happened then?"

"He invited me in, and we ordered food, we also watched this movie we used to like when we were brats."

"Aww, that's really manly bro! Don't tell me you ordered his favorite food."

"Yeah, we got katsudon."

"His favorite food is katsudon?

"Yeah?"

"Interesting..."

"How is that interesting? It's a pretty boring dish."

"Nothing...just...Katsudon, Katsu, Katsuki..."

"You are delusional, im hanging up."

"Bye bro!! Glad we made progress!"

"bye."