Outed
Six
“I… I’m like you, Kacchan.”
“Hah!? You’re nothing like me!”
“N-No I mean– a… a boy!”
“A boy?”
A silence falls between them, Izuku grasping his hands behind his back and scuffing his shoe into the gravel. Head down and refusing to meet his friends' eyes.
“Yeah… Like you?” Izuku confirms meekly, glancing up at Katsuki.
“Of course I’m a boy, dummy! Why are you a boy now?” Katsuki asks curiously, bending his body over and under Izukus head to meet his sight.
“I-I just am!” he squeaks out, lifting his head and looking up at the sky, his small pigtails bouncing on his shoulders.
Katsuki stands back up and looks at Izuku intensely, hands on his hips and leaning into his small friend's space.
“Fine!”
“Huh?”
Their eyes meet.
“I said fine!”
Izuku smiles–
“But!” Katsuki points an accusing finger at the small boy infront of him, “Just ‘cause you’re a boy now doesn’t mean you’re better than me, so….”
“So…?” Izuku leans towards Katsuki, a question coming out of his smile.
“So… go climb that tree with me! First to the top wins!”
“W-Wait, Kacchan! Hold on!”
Fourteen
“You wanna be a man so bad? Well, I got a time-saving idea for you.”
Izuku stares at his classroom floor.
“If you think you’ll have a dick in your next life, then go take a swan dive off the roof!”
He whips his head around, gritting his teeth so tightly they screech horribly as they slide against each other, and wills himself not to cry.
~
Izuku bursts through his front door, forgoing taking off his shoes and rushes past the entryway to find his mother. She’s by the stove in their small kitchen.
“Is that you, Hinata? You sure got home fa–” his mother stops short when she sees his face, and pales slightly, “Honey? What happened?”
He finally lets the floodgates open.
“I-I hate him! He’s- He- su-huch a–” he’s hiccuping through his words and roughly wiping his eyes as his mother makes her way over to him, enveloping him into a tight hug and gently guiding him to sit with her on the floor. She rocks them from side to side, rubbing circles into his back and talking to him quietly.
Eighteen
It’s been four years since his mother comforted him on his kitchen floor. Four years since he last talked to Katsuki as well. Later that year he got on testosterone and decided to change his name, so all's well that ends well he supposes. At least he and Katsuki didn’t go to the same highschool together, Izuku probably wouldn’t have met his best friends if the blonde had been there. Maybe highschool would’ve been different even with Katsuki there, but throughout elementary and middle school people tended to stay away from him and the only missing variable in highschool was his childhood friend. It’s still a part of himself that he needs to forget.
And at times like this, he does forget.
“Deku-kun! Earth to space-man!” Ochaco waves a hand in his face, her brows pulled into each other.
“Wha- Yeah? What's up?” Izuku blinks and playfully shoves her hand away, sending a smile her way. He's sitting in the back of the campus library with his two friends, Ochaco and Tenya, who he met in his first year of highschool.
“You were totally in another world, I should be asking what’s up!”
“It’s nothing! Just lost in thought, s’all.”
He looks down at his textbook, his thin mechanical pencil motionless between his fingers, hovering over his notebook. None of them are studying the same thing, Izuku is majoring in psychotherapy, Ochaco in nursing, and Tenya in kinesiology, but they still all study together anyways.
“If you are feeling unwell we can reschedule our session for another day,” Tenya speaks up from beside Ochaco, his mouth in a tight line.
“I-I’m fine, you guys, really! I was only daydreaming,” he brushes off their concern and looks down at his notebook, reading where he left off.
“Hmm, alrighty, if you say so Deku-kun! Say, do you know what–” Ochaco begins to turn her book around to show him something when a somewhat loud, ” Ah!” and some muted thuds cut her off. They all look over to the source of the sudden noise, only seeing two books laying haphazardly on the ground next to a shelf.
“I’ll get it,” Izuku pushes himself away from their table and walks over to the fallen books, picking them up and looking to see where they go onto the shelf. He looks at the spines of the books on the shelf, all about mystery and crime, and looks back to ones in his hands.
These books are… sports medicine? Why are they all the way over here?
A soft thud and feet scuffing against the carpeted floors on the other side of the shelf alerts him that the person who dropped their books might still be there. He peers through the space between the shelves, trying to see who’s on the other side. He can see a black shirt with white–
“Hey, c’mon, it’s probably just some couple making out between classes. Get over here so we can keep studying!” Ochaco whisper-yells at him, beckoning over with a hand.
“Oh!” his eyes widen and he quickly straightens up, heat creeping up his face as he speed walks back to his friends, “I-I’ll just return these to the front later, they don’t even belong on that shelf.”
“Very responsible of you, Midoriya,” Tenya nods stiffly before returning to his work.
Izuku smiles at the praise, placing the mishandled books on the seat beside him.
Wait.
“Do people make-out here often?” he whispers to Ochaco with a ludicrous expression.
“U-Um! Let’s just talk about school!” she deflects and pushes her turned-around textbook towards him, pointing at part of a passage, “I know we have different majors, but could we brainstorm this? I need a second brain right now.”
He lets her strange response go and reads the passage in her book.
~
“ I'm not a perfect person
There's many things I wish I didn't do
But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to you
And so, I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know–
“Shit,” Izuku mumbles and clears his throat, eyebrows scrunched in frustration at his voice crack. He’s hunched over in a chair in his dorm room, clutching his guitar, leg bouncing to dispel his energy. Resetting his fingertips over the strings and pressing down, he flips his guitar pick between his other fingers by the opening of the instrument. He takes a deep breath and begins again.
He finishes the second verse for the fifth time before his stomach growls.
Groaning in frustration, he strums the strings aggressively and tosses his head back, closing his eyes tightly as he abuses his poor guitar. He stops abruptly and slaps the pick onto his desk, heaving a sigh.
Stupid body needing stupid food. Can’t his stomach just eat whatever fat and muscle he’s got lying around in this flesh prison?
Izuku swivels in his desk chair and scoots towards the wall where his guitar case is leaning, placing the crafted wood into it and uses the wall to shoot himself back over to his desk. He heaves himself from his chair and grabs a small cup of microwaveable mac’n’cheese from a small shelf containing other microwave-ready foods, and heads over to his door to pull on a pair of slip-on sneakers. He could just buy a microwave and use bottled water, but where the hell would he even keep a microwave in this small dorm room? He’s just lucky enough that this college doesn’t have communal bathrooms, wearing shoes in the shower just feels wrong and he’s happy enough having his own toilet.
Izuku makes his way through the dorm hallways, heading towards the communal kitchen. It has everything necessary– minus a dishwasher, but having a dishwasher shared between about 150 boys is just asking for someone to take your favorite bowl– including a microwave. On the counter between the microwave and sink there’s hard plastic boxes holding plastic knives, spoons, and forks. He makes his way over and rips the thin plastic sheet from his mac’n’cheese cup, taking out the cheese packet, and fills the cup to the line with water from the sink. Just three minutes in the microwave and he can eat, even though he’d rather be trying to sing in his room. He plucks a spoon from one of the boxes and turns around, leaning back against the counter. He hangs his head and fiddles with the spoon in his hand, maybe he should’ve brought his phone. It’s only three minutes, but three minutes in ADHD years is like…
“Yo, Mido-bro!”
Izuku looks up and smiles at the pseudo-redhead.
“Hey! What’s up, Eiji?”
“Just studying for another one of Mr. Todoroki’s tests, y’know how it is!” Eijiro smiles brightly and crosses his arms over his chest, leaning against the kitchen threshold.
“Oh, shoot, I thought both my neighbors were out of their dorms. I hope I wasn’t a distraction…” Izuku looks away, he doesn’t like to play his guitar if others can hear him through the shared walls.
“Not at all, man! You know how much people like to hear you sing, you’re good at it!” the red-head gestures with a hand, dispelling part of Izuku’s worry, “I heard you stop at some point and thought I’d find you out here.”
“T-Thank you… um did you need something then?” he asks, brushing aside the compliment. He should get better at accepting praise, especially from those who aren’t Ochaco or Tenya, but it’s hard when you get consistently put down for almost fourteen years of your life.
“Yeah! I wanted to make sure you’re coming to the party this weekend, y’know in the rundown frat house?” Eijiro kicks at something from behind the wall separating the kitchen from the hallway, it kicks him back in his heel and so he kicks again.
“Is there someone with you, Ei?” Izuku asks, looking at his friend’s shoes and leaning forward to try to see in the hallway.
“J-Just a transfer! I’m showing him around, but he’s a bit shy,” the person hidden behind the wall pushes at Eijiro’s shoulder, but he pays it no mind and grabs Izuku’s attention by waving a hand, “So! Party! You coming?”
“I-I dunno… I was planning on studying on Sunday. I don’t wanna attempt that with a hangover…” the microwave beeps and he retrieves his food, stirring the bland pasta with his spoon before opening the cheese packet.
“Well it’s on friday night anyways, so there! No hangover on sunday, problem solved?”
“Hah! I think this is the first time you’ve tried to pressure me into going to a party, Ei,” Izuku barks out a laugh, stirring the cheese into the pasta, “What’s the deal? Something crazy gonna happen on friday?” He shoots Eijiro a lopsided grin from over his shoulder.
“Uh, you bet! Totally up the wall and manly!” Eijiro grins and flexes one arm, Izuku flexes back with a giggle.
“Alright, alright, you don’t need to convince me, man. I’ll go. What time?” He picks up his cup and walks toward the entryway, throwing Eijiro a funny look when he shoos his transfer friend away.
“Around ten, but show up whenever! It’s probably gonna run until the AM,” the broad man turns sideways to let Izuku through. He nods and makes his way back to his room, not bothering to take off his shoes once inside and picking up his phone to extend the invitation to his friends.
~
“Come on , Izuku!” Ochaco chides him, holding up a shirt that he felt was one size way too small (even though it wasn’t), “It’s just for one night– actually not even a night! Just a few hours!”
She’s wearing a pair of light washed high waisted jeans that flare out at the bottom, a pink tube top, and a pair of flat white vans with pink laces. Izuku is standing by his bed wearing only a pair of his “iconic” (her words, not his) red sneakers and normal pair of blue jeans.
“You know how I feel about that shirt, ‘Chaco,” he asserts, pointing at the offending item.
“I know, I know, but still! It’s sexy and you look sexy in it, what’s there to argue? Gee, you might even get laid tonight!”
Izuku tries not to blanch at her words, she doesn’t know the real reason why he refuses to put in the work to “get some” and he’s not about to come out while he’s half naked in his room.
“A drunken one-night stand? Gag me with a spoon,” he shakes his head and grabs the shirt from his friend, “I’ll put it on, but only because Tenya will get antsy if we show up later than we already are.”
“Yay!” she throws her fists up, punching the air in victory as he pulls it on, “Let’s go already then!”
Izuku gives her a grin and jabs her in the side as they leave his room, “It’s your fault we’re late in the first place, miss hold-on-I-just-need-to-redo-this-wing-one-more-time-for-the-fiftieth-time-in-a-row.”
“Shut up!” she laughs, lightly slapping his bicep, “It wasn’t that much!”
They meet Tenya in the parking lot, who’s wearing his usual party outfit: black jeans, a light blue button up, and sneakers.
“Alright, let’s go,” Tenya jingles his car keys and begins to make his way over to his car.
“What! You’re being a designated driver again? ” Ochaco balks, throwing out her hands.
“Why are you even surprised?” Izuku chuckles, “You know Tenya isn’t a party guy.”
Ochaco sticks her tongue out at him and he grins before shouting:
“Shotgun!”
And races her to the car.
~
Tenya pulls up to the far side of the abandoned frat house, driving into the “parking lot” (it's mostly loose, sand-like dirt and unevenly spaced out gravel). Izuku hops out of the front passenger seat, which he just barely won in his race to it, and way too loud music from the old house distantly fills his ears.
“Didn’t this start at ten? We are already an hour late,” Tenya grumbles, shutting his car door and clicking the lock button on the fob.
“Hey, it’s okay, Ten! Parties are super awkward when they first start anyways, it’s better to be late,” Izuku tries to unruffle his friends feathers, clapping a hand on his shoulder.
“ Exactly , so in reality we aren’t ‘late’, per se,” Ochaco agrees, coming between the two of them to sling her arms around their backs, a hand gripping each of their shoulders, “we’re right on time!”
Tenya opens his mouth to speak, most likely to argue, but Ochaco beats him to the punch and begins dragging him towards the house by his wrist. Izuku laughs heartily at his friends' antics and jogs to catch up with them.
It’s only been a few months since the semester started, but Izuku practically knows this old-ass house like the back of his hand from the few parties that have been thrown here already. There’s no electricity, but the plumbing still works in most bathrooms… And by most he means the ones that haven’t been absolutely destroyed, whether that be by human intent or nature's duty. To make up for the lack of electricity, several dozen battery powered fairy-lights are strung up and down the whole house, and large coolers of ice are behind the kitchen island to be used to keep drinks fresh or for any drinks that a certain someone might make– if he arrives, or if he feels like it. His small group enters through one of the double doors, the beat of a 90’s folk rock song filling the crowded space, and a familiar face immediately greets them.
“Yooo! Mido-bro, Iida-kun, Uraraka-kun!” Eijiro greets them, initiating a bro-hug with Izuku– something he still isn’t used to, but Eijiro is probably just being his kind self by not mentioning how clumsy Izuku is on the initial hand-clasp– and shaking Tenya’s hand after they part from their manly embrace.
“You know the drill, drinks are in the kitchen, Shinso’s in by the way,” Eijiro winks at Izuku, causing him to roll his eyes with an exasperated smile, “and weeds out back in the patio, Kami brought like, real , industry stuff this time so I’d strongly suggest not to get cross-faded.”
“Well, that’s all from me! Catch you guys later!” Ei amends with a not so subtle low-five to Ochaco as he passes them by, disappearing into the crowd.
“What was that about?” Izuku questions her as they make their way through the crowd, towards the middle of the house.
“Ohh, y’know…” Ochaco flashes him a sly smile and wiggles her eyebrows, causing him to groan in frustration.
“ Really? Girl, I told you I don’t like ‘Toshi like that,” he reminds her as they stop between the entrance to the kitchen and the hallway to the patio.
“Whaaat? Why are you bringing that up?” she laughs him off, not trying to hide her intent.
“Whatever, just go suck face with Tsu in the smoke room already,” he tries to hold in a smile, shoving her toward the hallway. She blows a raspberry at him before grinning and running off.
And then he remembers that Iida is still there.
“I-I’m so sorry, Tenya! I completely forgot the way you feel–!”
“Don’t be, Midoriya-kun, I do not mind.”
Huh?
“What? You don’t?”
“Not at all. She’s a grown woman, she can do as she pleases,” he straightens up more and pats Izuku on the back, “Now, let’s go greet the man Uraraka is trying to set you up with.”
“ Jesus Christ, ” Izuku laments, sliding a hand down the middle of his face, and walks into the kitchen with Tenya in tow. This is the fourth time one of his friends has tried to get him to hook up with Shinso.
He takes a calming breath before approaching the kitchen island, plastering a pleasant smile on his face. It’s not that he doesn’t like Shinso, he thinks Shinso is great company! He just… doesn’t know how to handle the flirting.
“Hey, Toshi!” he sings out a greeting, leaning forwards on the counter with his hands grasping the edge of the old wood.
“Hey,” Shinso’s replies, slightly monotone, his half-lidded eyes flicker from Izuku’s face to his chest before coming up again, “nice shirt.”
“O-Oh! T-Thanks!” he straightens up slightly and crosses his arms over his chest, flustered. He amends his sudden stiffness by leaning his hip against the counter. “Bartending again tonight?” Shinso nods with a flat “Yeah”, unbothered by Izuku’s response, and turns to grab his shaker and a cup of ice.
“You want your usual?”
Recovering from the flirting, Izuku shakes his head, “Nah, I’m not drinking tonight,” he can see Tenya light up from his peripheral vision and looks at him. He takes two parted fingers and holds them up to his mouth, mimicking smoking, and says a quiet apology to his friend. “Could you make a screwdriver for Ochaco? Sixty percent juice though, please.”
The lean man nods and digs through one of the coolers for the orange juice. It’s a simple drink, so he makes it quickly and soon hands the plastic cup he filled to Izuku. Izuku waves a small goodbye and turns to leave when he speaks up again.
“I got a new piercing a few weeks ago, y’know.”
“Oh?” Izuku looks at his face, searching for it, “Where?”
“Here,” the corner of his mouth ticks up before showing his tongue.
“Woah! That’s awesome, Toshi!” he cheers, admiring the shiny piece of jewelry impaled through his friend's tongue, “Did it hurt?”
“Of course it did. Anyways, listen,” Shinso leans across the counter, “I can tell you’re not interested, so I’ll tell the meddlers to stop getting in your head about this.”
“W-What? No, I–”
“Dude, it’s cool. A guy can take the hint,” he smiles and leans on his forearms.
“I’m sorry, it’s just…” Izuku grimaces slightly and looks down.
“Don’t need to tell me whatever hang-ups you got, Izuku,” he turns to wash out his shaker before drying it off, giving Izuku a sultry smile, “But if you ever have a change of heart, you know where to find me.”
And flicks out his tongue.
Oh. Oh.
Izuku’s eyes widen and he looks away. Suddenly his face is very warm! So strange, right?
Tenya politely bids Shinso goodbye as Izuku hurriedly walks away, trying not to jostle the drink in his hand too much. He’s fanning himself by flapping the collar of his shirt when Tenya catches up to him, and begins to help him cool off more by waving a hand on the side of his face.
They enter the patio, smoke swirling in the air, individual wisps visible by the soft fairy lights on the ceiling. Ochaco has her back against a rattan couch armrest, her legs splayed over Tsu’s lap, while Mina and Kaminari sit on a pair of beanbags. There’s two other chairs that match the couch, so Izuku sits in one as he greets the four people in the room. Tenya takes a chair, pulling it far enough not to risk getting a “second-hand high” (he and Ochaco keep trying to tell him that doesn’t happen) but close enough to stay in the conversation.
~~~
It’s been a little over two hours since they’ve joined the party and Izuku is comfortably high at this point, he nurses a bottle of cheap beer. He stands in the main room of the large house, a spacious lounging area, talking to Ochaco and Tenya as they stand side by side in front of him. A popular song by Paramore blasts through large speakers, it seems that whoever is connected to the speakers is either taking requests or is just simply not playing typical party music. Izuku definitely isn’t complaining, “party music” isn’t his thing unless he’s four beers and a shot deep. He softly nods his head to the beat, a pleasant buzz thrumming throughout his body.
Ochaco had brought up him and Shinso, and he was honest. She was torn between being upset that it didn’t work out for him and upset that she might’ve pushed it too far, and Izuku was quick to tell her he wasn’t bothered. He might have also made up some bullshit lie about just wanting to find “the one”, wanting to stray away from meaningless sex, and thankfully she seemed to believe him.
The party was loud and showing no signs of dying down anytime soon. A large group was converging in the middle of the lounge to dance, reveling in the soft indie rock song. Ochaco began scream-singing with the vocalist, causing Izuku to crack up and join her in song.
A loud voice cut through his hearing, barely audible over the loud music.
“–ata! Hey!”
Izuku reached out to Ochaco, grinning widely, ready to drag her off to dance within the crowd.
A hand landed on his shoulder.
“Hinata!”
His head snapped to whoever was clasping his shoulder, and froze.
Fuck. No.
His stomach dropped, his eyes wide and pupils dilated with fear.
“Hey, um, could we talk?” Katsuki asked, and Izuku couldn’t decipher the look on his old friend’s face.
Izuku looked over at his friends, Ochaco's face was written with worry as Tenya’s was with confusion. Her expression quickly morphed into distaste as her eyes flickered back and forth between him and Katsuki. Izuku's eyes began to sting.
Not here, not now! Shit!
He didn’t want to lose the few people who cared about him.
“Hinata?”
“I think you have the wrong per–”
“Um, that’s not his name.” she interrupted Tenya, glaring at the blonde beside Izuku.
“What? When did you change it?”
Izuku glanced at him before coming back to his senses, even if it was only a little, shakily pushing Katsuki’s hand off of him and stepping towards Ochaco.
“Let’s get out of here, guys,” he murmurs as he grabs her hand and begins walking off, barely giving her enough time to yank Tenya by the sleeve to follow.
He makes his way through the crowd, tunnel vision locked onto the front door, hardly registering when he’s bumping into someone as he marches through. He shoves the door open and nearly falls to his knees from the cold air attacking his senses, only being saved by Tenya’s quick reflexes. It’s too much, everything is too much right now. Ochaco slings his arm over her shoulders, helping to keep him up by holding the small of his back, and leads them down the concrete stairs of the entrance. Tenya is keeping him upright while Ochaco holds him steady. His body feels muted, his legs numb as he stumbles and walks.
The door of the frat house slams open again by the time they’re halfway across the front yard.
“Hey, Hinata, hold on!”
“That’s not his name!” Ochaco shouts from over her shoulder, clearly divided between being pissed and worried, “Fuck off, will you?”
“Fuck you, I need to talk to him!”
His friends force him to pick up the pace.
What’s going on?
He risks a look behind them. What the hell? He’s so overwhelmed he can’t even feel surprised. Why are you following me!?
“Please stop following! Midoriya is distressed and we need to leave!”
Izuku looks up at the sound of Tenya’s voice. His mouth is in a tight frown, eyebrows furrowed deeply. He reaches into his pants pocket and yanks out his car fob as they set foot on the gravel parking lot. Ochaco is rubbing his back to calm him, telling him to take deep breaths, that it’s okay and they’re almost to the car. Izuku can hear more yelling from behind them, making out Eijiro’s distressed voice but not what he’s saying.
He’s being settled into the back seat of Tenya’s car, the door slamming shut as Tenya opens the driver side door and practically drops himself into the car. Ochaco runs to the other side of the car, yanking the opposite passenger door open and climbing inside. The car is deafeningly silent compared to outside, the only sounds puncturing the air are his harsh breaths. The car comes to life soon after, melodic humming and vibrations coursing through the vehicle. A hand slaps on the driver side window.
“W-Wait, just hold on!” Katsuki’s muffled voice yells between the glass.
Tenya rolls down the window to tell him to step away from the car as he’s trying to back out of his spot.
“Bro, stop! You’re drunk as hell, let them leave!” Eijiro yells at Katsuki and forces him away from the car.
Tenya peels out of the parking lot, tires squealing as they hit the asphalt road.
“Jesus, Tenya!” Ochaco shouts at him, almost falling out of her seat.
“Apologies, the situation seemed dire!”
The car dwindles to silence. Izuku puts his head into his hands and leans against his knees, no one comments on the quiet “Fuck” that tumbles past his lips. Ochaco scoots over and leans into him, rubbing the palm of her hand up and down his back. Tenya slows down to the speed limit as they travel through the campus.
Izuku is… still considerably freaked out. Why was he there? Izuku has never seen Katsuki around campus, much less at a party. Was he friends with someone at the college and had been invited this time around? Why had Katsuki even approached him? Shit. Katsuki called him Hinata. He fucking outed him to Ochaco and Tenya. Shit!
His face felt wet.
Izuku wiped at his eyes and took in a shuddering breath.
“Hey, it’s okay, Izuku…”
He gasped a soft sob, trembling as he tried to keep in his cries.
“Oh, hey, come here,” Ochaco cooed gently, guiding him to her bare shoulder, “it’s okay, Izuku, don’t hold back.”
He clung to her, his cries only slightly muffled as she held him closer. She runs a hand through his curly locks, petting and scratching at his scalp. The car jostles as they pull into the large dormitory parking, Izuku finally running out of tears to shed and opening his eyes.
And is met with the sight of his friend’s cleavage.
“I-I’m crying all over your tits, man,” he chuckles shakily, his entire body vibrating from the toll of crying so damn much. He sits back to look for something to clean off his tears.
“It’s alright hun,” Ochaco pats his bicep and gives it a small squeeze before leaning over to pop open the center console and rummaging around inside it, “Camie once told me that ‘Men’s tears are, like, totally rejuvenating’.”
Izuku snorts and half rolls his eyes. The console clicks shut after Ochaco retrieves what she was searching for: a travel size pack of tissues. She opens the flimsy plastic packaging and tugs out a few tissues, handing them to him before pulling out some more for herself. Tenya parks in front of Izuku’s dorm as they ball up the tissues. He takes the balled up paper from Ochaco as they exit the car and jogs over to a nearby trash can, despite her insistence that he doesn’t have to. He knows it’s nothing compared to the shitstorm he just made his friend’s go through but he’ll be damned if he doesn’t take simple weights off of their shoulders. It’s the least he can do right now.
“I-I…” he starts as they walk towards the entrance, fumbling to get his keycard out of his pocket and swiping it against the sensor.
“Hey, let’s wait until we get to your room, okay?” Ochaco suggests, grabbing his hand and giving it a small squeeze.
“O-Okay…”
They trudge up the stairs to the second floor and down the hallway to his room. Ochaco is still holding his hand, but for how much longer? Maybe she’s doing this to soften the blow? To make it hurt less when she tells him that she wants nothing to do with him anymore? That she couldn’t stand to be friends with someone who’s lied to her all these years? That she couldn’t be friends with someone who’s–
“Deku-kun? Did you forget your key inside?”
He looks over at her, registering her words a bit late and shakes his head. He takes his key out of his pocket and tries to unlock his door.
Stop shaking, idiot! Just calm down! At least get inside before you break again!
Tenya stops him, carefully taking the key out of his hand and unlocking the door with his own steady ones. Izuku whispers out a thanks and goes inside, Tenya shuts the door behind them with a soft click. He keeps his back to his friends as he speaks up again.
“Look, I… I can’t make you guys unhear what was– what was said, back there. A-And I completely understand if you’re upset, upset that I lied for so long, upset that I-I’m… that I’m…” his voice quivers and he hugs his arms around himself, unable to finish.
“That you’re transgender?” Tenya unhelpfully supplies, and earns what sounds like a smack to his arm from Ochaco in retaliation for his bluntness.
Izuku tenses up at his question but nods slowly. A hand rests on his shoulder and he turns to look.
“We’re not upset, Izuku,” she smiles softly, “not that you’re trans, and certainly not because you didn’t tell us. It wasn’t for us to know unless you wanted us to know, it wasn’t our business no matter how long we’ve known each other or how close we are.”
She turns him by his shoulders so that they are face to face.
“We lov–”
“We have been lying to you too, anyways.”
Both of their heads snap to look at Tenya.
“ Dude! Now’s not the time!” she groans, an incredulous look on her face, “This isn’t about us, th-this is about Izuku and we need to be there for him! That guy was a total dick and drunk as a skunk!”
“Wait wait wait, now you gotta tell me,” Izuku grins at Ochaco, who pointedly does not meet his gaze, and enjoys the way the spotlight has shifted away from himself.
“Well, um, you see, Deku-kun, u-um… we… awhile ago– we, um,” Izuku stares at her intently as she stutters and fumbles her words, raising his eyebrows in what he hopes comes off as encouraging.
“Ochaco and I have begun dating, as of two months ago that is.”
“ What!? ” Izuku shouts, surprised.
Someone from above stomps on their floor, Izuku’s ceiling, as a way to say “stop fucking yelling it’s two in the morning”, and everyone stays silent for a few minutes.
“You guys are dating? Have been dating for two months?” he whispers, looking between his two friends with a raised eyebrow, “What about you and Tsu?” He directed the question at Ochaco.
“Uh, yeah, we fool around sometimes,” she shrugs, “Tenya doesn’t care either, if you were wondering, so don’t worry.”
“Oh, I know that,” Izuku amends, remembering what happened soon after they had entered the party.
“Huh? How?” Ochaco cocks an eyebrow.
“Uhh well, you see…”
“You dick! We could have started dating years ago!” Ochaco scolds him from the floor, where they had ended up after Izuku explained what happened at the party, digging her fingers into his sides.
“Ack! S-Stop! Stop– Wai– CHACO!” he gasped through fits of laughter, “You neh -ever said anyth- hing! Mercy! Mercy!”
She relents and sits up on her knees, allowing him to breathe, and crosses her arms.
“Yes I did! I told you like two years ago! At Mina’s house party over the summer? Remember?”
He thinks back, but if he’s honest he doesn’t remember a damn thing from that night aside from arriving, having a few drinks, and then waking up in the middle of the day with a massive hangover. His mother was not happy that day.
He shakes his head and Ochaco heaves a sigh. The person living above him pounds against the ceiling separating their rooms, causing the three of them to jump at the sudden noise.
“Okay, inside voices from now on. I do not feel like getting chewed out by whoever lives above me tonight,” he breathes out and sits up, crossing his legs over and under each other.
He motions for Tenya to join them on the floor and he sits in perfect seiza, forming a small talking circle between the three young adults.
Tenya clears his throat before speaking up in a hushed voice.
“Who was that man that approached you?”
“Yeah, and why the hell did he call you by your deadname?” Ochaco pipes up, annoyance coating her tone.
“He’s someone I knew from my childhood, we…” he takes in a sharp breath and continues quickly, “we stopped talking during our last year of middle school because he told me to kill myself.”
“He wha–!” Tenya covers her mouth before she has the chance to shout, removing his hand after a moment for her to say, “Sorry, sorry.”
“It’s okay,” he giggles, “uh, yeah. He said something along the lines of, ‘if you wanna be a man so bad, then jump off the roof and hope you have a dick in the next life’, or something like that. I’m honestly still trying to forget about it…”
“Well, that was incredibly fucked up.” Tenya grumbles from beside them.
Both their eyes snap to him and widen almost comically.
“Oh my gooood,” Ochaco awes, “baby’s first swear word!”
Izuku snorts loudly from behind his hand, shaking from holding in his laughter.
“And it will never happen again,” he looks up at the ceiling, embarrassment coloring his face.
“What nooo, come on! I could totally get used to you saying fuck,” Izuku jests, leaning his chin on the palm of his hand and smiling at his very flustered friend.
~
Ochaco and Tenya decided to spend the night in his room that night, leading Izuku to get scolded by his dorm's hall director, Mr. Aizawa, for letting a female student stay the night in his room. Izuku tried reminding him that he was “completely gay for men”, which Aizawa countered with a “if I let you do it then I have to let everyone do it”. Which, well, yeah he supposes that’s a good point but they’re all adults anyways. Not that Mr. Aizawa makes them feel like adults, choosing to end their interaction by calling Izuku a “problem child”.
Izuku poured himself into studying on Sunday, he had a midterm with his psychology professor Dr. Yagi in a little over a month and he absolutely could not fail it. Yeah, it wasn’t a final but he’d be damned if he didn't pass the class with flying colors. A good chunk of the students taking the class weren’t in it for the same reasons he was, which had been made glaringly obvious when the first group project was assigned after the first month of class.
By the time Monday rolled around Izuku had pretty much forgotten the fiasco that happened days prior.
Until Eijiro flagged him down in the hallway.
“Yo, Mido-bro, wait up!”
“Oh, hey! What’s up, Ei? I thought you had Language studies right now,” he greets, slowing down his pace to let Eijiro catch up.
“Yeah but Mic won’t care if I’m a bit late!”
“ Mic? ”
“Just what everyone calls him, he’s a loud guy– Anyways, not the point, could we talk about Friday?”
“What about Friday?” Izuku tilted his head at the man walking beside him.
“Uh, a-about what happened with Bakugo…” he said gently.
Izuku faltered before he quickened his stride. Right, Ei had been there to stop Katsuki in the parking lot.
“There’s nothing to talk about then. I’ll see you later, Ei.” he murmured.
“Izuku, wait! He just wanted–”
“ Later, Kirishima,” he gritted out, ducking into his classroom.
He heaved a sigh and walked down to his seat, thankful that Eijiro didn’t follow him inside. The room was built like a stadium, rows of long desks on each wide step, and a speaking area down at the bottom for his professor to teach. There were twelve rows and four columns of seats, only less than half of them being occupied by someone. Izuku sits down in the fifth row from the top and begins unpacking his things, biding some time before class starts.
The classroom door opens a few more times before Dr. Yagi enters, looking a bit disheveled as he hurries down the steps.
“Good morning! Sorry I’m so late, I got caught up in a meeting,” he greets the class, a few good mornings said in return, and busies himself with setting up his laptop. “Today we’ll be discussing the practical application of psychological sciences and a bit of theory.”
About fifteen minutes had passed and professor Yagi was in the middle of rambling about psychodynamic perspectives when something hit Izuku’s shoulder and landed on his notebook. He looked down at… a folded piece of paper? He raised an eyebrow. What are we still in highschool? He rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder.
Of-fucking-course.
He quickly turns back to the front of the room and clenches his fists in his lap, glaring down at the folded piece of paper.
Was Katsuki stalking him now? Jesus Christ.
He closes his eyes and takes in a quiet, deep breath, slowly letting it out through his nose after a moment. Okay. Okay! It’s just a note. What’s the worst it could say? He reminds himself, picking up the note and unfolding it.
Hey.
…
“Hey”? “Hey”!?
Honestly, he doesn’t know what he was expecting but this is some bullshit. He crumples the paper and makes a bit of a show of putting it as far away from himself as possible on the long table, just to be petty.
Throughout the next fifteen minutes more notes either land on the table or on Izuku himself. He shoves them all to the side, joining them with the original note. He was missing out on vital information and was a little more than ticked about it. He swears if one more goddamn note hits him in the back of the head he’s gonna–
Tap!
Okay, that’s it.
He closes his books as calmly as possible and scoops them up along with his various pens, slinging his backpack over a shoulder as he stands. He makes it to the end of his row when his professor calls him out.
“Leaving already, young Midoriya?”
“O-Oh, no! No, I was just going to sit closer. I’ve been a bit distracted so I thought it might help,” he smiles at his teacher and begins walking down to the third row closest to the lesson.
“Alright! Come on down, we’d love to have you in the front rows!” Dr. Yagi laughs heartily, earning a few chuckles from other students.
Izuku settles down in his seat, plopping his bag down beside him and opening his books to the pages he left off on.
Hopefully that got the message across.