Normalcy

Everyone has gone to swim now, except Izuku, who sits on the shore with his legs outstretched in front of him, ankles crossed as he watches the others in the water. He’s not sure why he doesn’t go join them, though it’s just as nice sitting on the shore instead of being in the water.

His eyes keep traveling over to a spiky blonde man as he swims and he hates it. Hates that he notices how the sun hits Bakugo’s body and highlights his features, hates that he doesn’t mind the blonde’s yelling, and hates that he can’t stop himself from looking at him.

“Hey, Izuku, come swim with us, man!” Kirishima calls from the water, breaking Izuku out of his messy thoughts.

“Alright, I’m coming!” Izuku yells back, getting up from the towel he was sitting on and kicking off his sandals and pulling off his shirt.

“Finally, I thought you were going to stay on the shore all day,” Ochako says to him when he reaches the water, dragging him further into the salty ocean by his arm.

“I had to join the fun eventually,” Izuku comments with a smile, “Oh my gosh, it’s freezing.”

“Just swim around, you’ll get used to it!” Ochako tells him before leaning closer to whisper in his ear, “Are you alright? You seem kind of tense.”

“I’m okay, I promise,” Izuku reassures her with a smile. She accepts this and lets go of his arm to go swim with Mina and Jirou.

Izuku looks around at everyone, unsure of what to do since Ochako is busy with her friends and he doesn’t know anyone else. As he’s looking around, he’s shocked to find Bakugo staring at him, specifically his arm where Ochako was just holding on, with an unreadable expression on his face.

Their eyes meet for a second and Bakugo realizes he was caught looking, his features quickly morphing into a scowl to mask the surprised look on his face.

“The hell you looking at?” Bakugo asks harshly.

Kirishima comes up beside Izuku, throwing an arm around his shoulders and making him stumble a bit in the water.

“Calm down, Bakubro-“

“Don’t call me that, shitty hair-“

“Izuku’s new here, you could at least try and be nice,” Kirishima continues talking, undeterred by the blonde's angry attitude.

“Seems like it might kill him to be nice,” Izuku says quietly to Kirishima who laughs loudly at the comment.

“You want to die, freckles?” Bakugo threatens, splashing a wave of water at Izuku’s face.

Izuku coughs out some of the salty water as he wipes his eye and he can hear Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero all laughing.

After clearing the water from his face, he looks up at Bakugo with a sweet smile before splashing him right back.

“Dude, you might want to start running,” Kaminari warns Izuku, clearly holding in laughter, “That was fucking amazing though!”

“Oh, come on, he seems like the kind of guy to just throw out threats he has no intention of carrying out,” Izuku waves off Kaminari.

“I can’t tell if you’re brave or stupid, but don’t say I didn’t warn you,” Kaminari shrugs and Izuku starts feeling like maybe he should listen to his warning. He lost sight of Bakugo and that can’t be a good sign.

As soon as he starts to try and escape from the ocean, he feels one hand grab his arm, the touch startling him, and another push his head down under the water’s surface. Right before his head is fully submerged, he hears Kaminari yell out, “Tried to warn ya, dude!”

Still startled by the sudden contact, Izuku takes a moment until he comes to his senses and fights to free himself.

Izuku struggles to get out of Bakugo’s hold on him, but after a swift kick to the other’s ankles, he manages to get free and break through the surface, gasping for air. He’s trying so hard to not think about how he can still feel the ghost of Bakugo’s touch on his arm and head.

“You could’ve killed me!” Izuku accuses, though it doesn’t have any impact because he’s laughing as he talks.

“Don’t splash me then, freckles,” Bakugo replies, smirking triumphantly with his arms crossed over his chest, clearly satisfied with himself.

Realizing how close Bakugo is to him, Izuku shakes his head, the water spraying from his curls in droplets. The droplets hit Bakugo’s face and he yells, “Do you have a death wish, idiot? ‘Cause I can help you out with that!”

Screaming, Izuku rushes to try and hide behind Kirishima, who quickly moves out of the way.

“Don’t get me involved, this is your death!” the redhead yells as he moves away from Izuku.

Izuku, having no other options or plans, accepts his fate of being dragged under the water again. He fights his way free, laughing when he emerges from the water again. Deciding to protect himself, Izuku doesn’t retaliate, and from then on, he enjoys himself, no longer nervous being around all these people he doesn’t know.

After swimming for about an hour, the group gets tired and goes to the shore to sit in the sun. They all sit in a somewhat circle, enjoying the sun and chatting with each other. There’s a cooler filled with drinks in the middle of their group that they all pull from.

“That’s all the gossip I have for now,” Mina finishes her long rant of gossip about people Izuku doesn’t know, but still found entertaining. The pink haired girl shifts to lay on her back with her arms beneath her head, eyes closed and a satisfied smile on her face.

“Did anyone bring any food? I’m starving,” Sero asks, looking around the group in hopes of finding food.

“No, we only brought drinks, but we could go somewhere and eat if everyone’s down,” Jirou suggests from where she sits next to Kaminari. A loud jumble of agreement rises up from everyone as they start throwing out suggestions for where to eat.

“Why don’t we go the easy way and get pizza?” Kaminari offers and mostly everyone agrees. They decide on where to go and plan to meet up there.

“This was a great idea, Kaminari,” Izuku praises as he takes another bite of the large pizza they’re all sharing.

“A rare occurrence for him,” Bakugo comments, which earns him an elbow to the side from Kaminari. Izuku laughs softly at the interaction and it draws Bakugo’s attention.

When Izuku looks up, their eyes meet for a second before he looks away, trying desperately to ignore the heat invading his face.

His hand comes up to hold his cross necklace. Yet again.

“Hey, Izuku! That girl over there’s looking at you,” Kirishima whispers to him from across the table, pointing not so subtly across the little restaurant.

Izuku looks in the direction Kirishima pointed in and notices a girl with round glasses and honey blonde hair staring right at him.

She’s beautiful and Izuku should feel excited about this. He wants to. But he just doesn’t.

He turns back to the group, shrugs, and continues eating.

“Dude, go talk to her! She’s beautiful,” Kaminari urges him, knocking their shoulders together.

“She is, but I don’t think I’m going to go over there. I’ll probably just be awkward,” Izuku explains with a nervous smile, trying to hide the fact he feels no interest in the girl.

“It’s worth a shot though!” Kaminari continues.

“It’s really okay, I’m not that big on dating right now.”

“I don’t know how you’re not interested in a girl that pretty,” Kaminari says, finally dropping the subject and grabbing another slice of pizza.

Ochako nudges Izuku with her elbow slightly, drawing his attention.

‘Are you okay?’ she mouths to him.

Izuku nods to her, but he doubts she believes him.

Oh well, that’ll be a problem for later.

They finish eating and walk out to the parking lot. Before they all get in their cars and say goodbye, Kaminari stops them.

“Wait, before we all leave, give me your numbers,” he suggested with a smile before continuing, “I’m throwing a little party next weekend and I want to invite you two!”

“That sounds like fun! Here, let me put my number in your phone,” Ochako said, holding out her hand for Kaminari to give her his phone. She typed in her number then handed the phone to Izuku who did the same.

“Thanks guys! I’ll text you both the details later.”

“Alright,” Izuku said as he handed the phone back to Kaminari, “See you all again, then! Today was fun!” He smiled at the group and waved as Ochako said goodbye to everyone and the pair walked to her car.

“Did you really have a good time today?” Ochako asked nervously when they got in the car.

“Yeah, I did,” Izuku replied honestly, looking back to the group that was still talking outside the restaurant, his eyes finding Bakugo among them.

“You’re holding your necklace again,” Ochako pointed out and only then did Izuku feel the cool metal of the cross against his hand. She knew he did this when he got anxious. He forced himself to let it go.

“It’s nothing,” Izuku lied and he didn’t bother looking at Ochako because he knew she could tell he was lying.

After a moment of silence, Ochako started the car and drove Izuku home to his apartment.

“Goodnight, ‘Zuku! Have fun at church tomorrow!” Ochako called as he got out of her car.

“Goodnight, ‘Chako!”

Before unlocking his apartment and going in, he watched as she pulled out of his driveway and drove down the street.

Finally alone, all the thoughts he forgot about at the beach, come rushing back. This time with a spiky haired, angry man accompanying them.

Izuku felt crazy. He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry.

He took a shower and threw himself onto his bed, falling asleep.

__________________________________________

Izuku woke up to his alarm, alerting him that he needed to start getting ready for church.

He groaned into his pillow before rolling over to grab his phone off the nightstand, silencing the alarm. For a moment he just laid there, holding his phone with his face pressed against his pillow. His stomach clenched at the thought of stepping foot into the church building after his panic yesterday.

He felt ashamed for feeling anxious at the thought of going to church.

Quickly, Izuku sat up and said his morning prayer before fully getting out of bed and going to get dressed. Right as he finished buttoning up his shirt, his phone rang with Mom showing as the caller ID.

“Goodmorning, mom!” He said happily into the phone.

“G’morning, are you almost ready? I’m waiting for you to come get me,” Inko’s voice filtered through the speaker.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m just finishing getting dressed and then I’ll be on my way to get you.”

“Okay, don’t be late! I love you!”

“I love you too, mom!”

After hanging up with his mom, Izuku finished getting ready, grabbed his keys and went to pick her up before going to church.

His anxiety must show on his face because when Izuku’s mom gets into his car, she regards him for a moment before asking,

“Is everything okay, baby?” in that worried, loving voice.

“Yeah, I just didn’t sleep well last night,” Izuku hated lying to his mom, but he had no other choice. She accepted this and reached over to ruffle Izuku’s hair, even as he swatted her hand away.

The car ride to the church was short and quiet with only the radio filling the silence of the car. Izuku couldn’t talk past the lump in his throat from nerves and his mom didn’t push a conversation.

As they stepped out of the car in the church parking lot, Izuku took a deep breath, filling his lungs with the warm summer air.

It’ll be okay. He told himself as he and his mom walked into the church.

Except that it wouldn’t be okay.

His stomach clenched as he took his seat in one of the pews in the chapel and listened to the choir sing as more and more people started filtering into the church building. Izuku had to force himself to not reach for his necklace so his mother wouldn’t pick up on his anxious mood.

The pianist stopped playing and the choir’s last notes rang out into the echoey chapel before the pastor took his place at the front of the room. He began talking in a calm voice as the sermon started, but Izuku could only hear a buzzing in his head.

The air felt thick and Izuku struggled to breathe. He pinched his leg to focus on the slight sting of it to distract himself. Slowly, Izuku took deep breaths to even out his wonky breathing and soothe his nerves.

It worked a little bit, though it didn’t completely stop the oppressive feeling weighing on his chest, but at last he could hear the pastor’s voice.

He leaned his head on his mother’s shoulder, the warm weight of her body at his side calming him further. She patted his knee softly and Izuku felt like he could breathe for the first time since stepping into the church.

He hated himself for feeling out of place in his church. He hated that he knew exactly why the air in the building felt thick with oppression. He hated that he wanted to just go home.

He forced himself to focus on the pastor standing at the front of the chapel and the words he was saying. When he finished his sermon, the choir started singing a hymn and all the church members stood to sing with them.

As he sung, each word felt heavy on his tongue, holding a weight they never did before.

The rest of church passed in a haze, everything and everyone blurring together in a confusing memory. It felt like years before Izuku and his mom left, but finally they were back in his car and Izuku felt like he could breathe freely.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Izuku? You seem so tense, I’m worried about my boy,” Inko fretted over him with a worried look on her face, her mouth pulling into a frown.

“Yes, mom, I’m okay! I just need some more sleep,” Izuku lied as he gave Inko a small smile before starting the car.

“Bye, my boy, go home and get some rest please and don’t forget to eat!” Inko reminded him as she climbed out of his car when they arrived at his mother’s house.

“I will, mom! Don’t worry!” He called back to her as he pulled out of the small driveway and started towards his apartment.

When he got to his apartment, he quickly changed out of the stiff suit he wore every Sunday and into sweats and whatever clean shirt he could find.

As he made some food, Izuku checked his phone for any notifications he could’ve missed during church.

There were a few texts from Ochako, which he would look at later, but there was one text from an unknown number.

Izuku opened it out of curiosity and knew it was Kaminari’s number.

Hey man, the party I told you and Ochako about is this saturday at my place!

Here’s the address

Attached to the texts was Kaminari’s address and the time for the party. Izuku typed out a quick reply.

Thanks for the invite, I’ll try to make it :)

After sending the text, Izuku finished making his food and sat down to eat on his couch, trying to forget about the way church felt.

Despite his efforts, the shame still crept up his neck and felt like it was choking him. The shame felt heaviest around the silver chain adorning Izuku’s neck, which held a cross at the bottom.

He called Ochako to distract himself.

“Hellooooo,” her cheery voice crackled through the speaker of his phone, filling the silence of Izuku’s apartment.

“Hey, I need a distraction, can we go out?” Izuku asked nervously.

“Of course! I’ll be there soon!” Ochako happily agreed and didn’t ask what was wrong because she just knew that Izuku wouldn’t want to talk about it.

In about fifteen minutes Ochako was in Izuku’s driveway and in five more minutes, he felt ten times lighter being with his best friend, talking about nothing and everything.