Fresh Flesh (Bkdk, Dkbk)

- Chapter 36 -

"They ended up changing the schedule!" 

Izuku looks at Todoroki, who gives him a small smile. If he's here with everyone else, then everything must be okay! He was worrying over nothing the whole time. His shoulders relax, and he smiles back at him. 

Iida pushes his glasses up the bridge of his nose, the light gleaming off of them for a second. He makes a swift chopping motion with his arm; the other one being used to hold Uraraka's hand. 

"Which is very irresponsible since it did not only waste our time but also the time of students who could have been doing a lot more with their time!" 

Uraraka smiles at him, and Izuku holds back making a comment about the loving look on her face. 

"Where is Bakugou? I saw you two walking together." 

They all start to walk again, Todoroki walking next to him, Tsuyu on his other side. 

"He had to go see the teachers, so we're meeting back home." 

The moment he says it, he realizes the mistake. But it's too late to take it back, and Uraraka's head whips towards him, a dark look in her eyes despite the smile on her face. 

"What." 

Izuku feels his face heat up and he quickly puts his hands up, gesturing quickly left and right. 

"W-Well, I-I meant we're meeting back at my house! T-To hang out!" 

Todoroki speaks from next to him, his tone flat like always. His dual-colored eyes are focused on him when he speaks. 

"What is your relationship with Bakugou, Midoriya?" 

"We're childhood friends... Um... My mom and his mom are-" 

He quickly comes up with a lie. 

"Best friends." 

Uraraka lets out a frustrated sigh, a slight scowl on her face. 

"I don't know how you could stand him, he's a total jerk!" 

Izuku internally screams. Getting his friends to like Kacchan could have been so easy if he just held back a little. The glares him and Uraraka were giving each other in class definitely didn't help. 

"I agree. The way he refuses to wear the school uniform correctly is just disrespectful to our campus." 

Izuku looks at the couple, firmly saying, 

"Kacchan can be... intense, but he's really nice once you get to know him!" 

Everyone in the group gives him an incredulous look. What he said wasn't a lie! He doesn't mean that Kacchan is the purest person ever, and Izuku could make an entire five-foot long list of the things that Kacchan does that makes him annoyed. 

Like his constant insults, the way he stares at Izuku while he's sleeping just to creep him out, the whole threatening to get souls, the way he laughs when Izuku is stumbling around in the dark, taking his pens from his backpack, using his stuff just to mess with him, flickering the lights on and off on purpose when Izuku is trying to study- 

He cuts himself off before he can go on further. But there are also tons of things that are good about him! If he was so bad, he wouldn't have shown Izuku that haunted house, and wouldn't have tried so hard to make sure he got back safely. 

More importantly, he wouldn't have agreed to not hurt his friends. His laugh isn't that bad either when he isn't laughing at something Izuku does, which is rare, he's fun to be around when Izuku looks past all the insults, his eyes are really bright and Izuku likes looking at them, and- 

 "I think maybe you are seeing him in a different light Midoriya. You might be used to it." 

Izuku looks at Todoroki with a confused expression, his brows furrowed slightly. Out of everyone, he didn't expect Todoroki to say something about Kacchan. Their eyes meet and Izuku catches a glimpse of something he has never seen on Todoroki's face before. 

The glint in his eyes is annoyance, clear, unhidden annoyance. What happened with Todoroki and Kacchan to make the other so upset? 

"Maybe you guys just need to spend more time with him." 

Todoroki frowns slightly and looks away from him. From there, the conversation moves on, though Izuku still feels annoyed about it. A couple of minutes later, he's alone again, almost home after everyone split up to go to their own homes. 

He walks a lot slower than normal. For some reason, he feels like he has been walking forever. His mind dreams of his bed, wanting to just rot there for a bit before his mom gets home. He passes someone and continues walking. 

He's pretty sure there is still left over ice cream in the freezer too, he can take a long nap after eating it all. 

"Young man?" 

He looks behind him. A woman stares at him, her eyes wide like she just saw a ghost. He stops. She looks pale and she's looking at Izuku like she knows him. He has never seen this person before in his life. 

"Are... Are you talking to me?" 

She doesn't say anything, before she starts to walk towards him. She has a bag hung over her shoulder; her light pink cardigan wrapped around her torso. Her hair flows to her hips, and her face as a whole looks soft. 

But the blood draining from her face and the bags under her sunken eyes make Izuku on edge. Was this woman in danger? Did she need Izuku's help? 

"Are you okay miss? Do you need help?" 

She stops walking when she is only about a couple of inches away from him. She looks away, down at her hands that are in front of her, picking at the sleeves of her cardigan. She looks back at him, her expression grim. 

"It's you who needs help..." 

Izuku tightens his grip on his backpack straps. 

"What?" 

The woman looks away again, still picking at her sleeves. 

"I can... I can see it." 

Before Izuku can say anything, she reaches out and grips his hands. Her fingernails dig into his skin, and he winces. She doesn't look calm now, her eyes brimming with unshed tears. 

"Please. You have to get away from it. You have to get away before it takes your soul! Please! Listen!" 

People passing on the sidewalk give them looks as they continue on their way. Izuku looks down at the women, confusion painting his face. 

"What are you talking about?" 

The woman stares at him before slowly letting his hands go, her own falling in front of her again. 

"I-I'm sorry..." 

She turns, quickly walking away. Izuku stares after her, before his vision flickers for a moment. It's a brief second, but once he sees the fleshy creature looming over the women's shoulder, he understands what she was talking about.