Chapter 3

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I dutifully ignored Shinsou's texts and calls the entire weekend, until he finally gave up trying. Guess he remembered that I had extensive practice ignoring unwanted messages. 

I had a blissfully normal week after, something I severely needed with the impending roommate situation. My time was mostly spent at the boys' house, either in the garage with our friends or in one of their rooms, just us. The novelty of my life was starting to wear off, something I welcomed with open arms. It felt like everything had started to click into place. 

It was another Friday and I was back in the garage. There was no practice today, just all of us fucking around and being idiots. It felt nice to be able to relax with people again. 

I was laughing as Kaminari attempted to list every time Katsuki had broken a drumstick while not drumming when my phone rang. It cut through the conversation like a sharpened blade. Not completely back to normal, then. 

I fished it out and released a tight breath when I saw my mom's contact flashing across my screen. "Just my mom." I held up the device as proof before hitting accept. 

"Izuku Midoriya, where the hell are you?" 

Whoa, war flashback. 

"Katsuki's and Eijirou's, like I always am." I wasn't entirely sure why she was so upset that I wasn't home. It wasn't unusual for me to be right next door, and my mom didn't feel the need to be over my shoulder with Mitsuki twenty feet away. 

"I told you to come home right after school today. Himari and Shinsou just arrived." She was fuming, so mad I could have sworn my phone started to overheat from the blaze of it. 

My eyes went wide in realization. "Oh, shit." 

"Home, now." She didn't wait for my response before ending the call. 

"Well, I may or may not get grounded," I said with a groan, pushing myself to my feet. 

"What'd you do this time?" Ashido asked with a knowing look in my direction. 

I grimaced at the question. "Forgot it was move-in day and my mother's explicit instructions to head home after school." 

"Damn," Sero shook his head in disbelief. "So, Shinsou's gonna be hanging around from here on out?" 

"No," Katsuki grunted, crossing his arms over his chest in annoyance. 

"Kacchan." His nickname was said as a warning to not be as childish as it implied. 

The blond rolled his crimson eyes. "Whatever. You coming back tonight?" 

"Probably." 

"If you're not here by eleven, we're just gonna show up there," Eijirou said, a little too nonchalantly. 

"Creepy, maybe I should start locking my window," I teased as I exited the garage. 

"Don't you fucking dare!" Katsuki called out as I shut the door behind me. 

I smiled to myself as I walked across my lawn. Leave it to them to somehow cheer me up with threats. 

I opened my front door and was greeted with a pile of boxes that was a foot taller than me. Lovely. I shuffled around it and made my way to the kitchen, following the sound of voices. 

My mother was leaning on the island counter, a cup of steaming tea in her hands. Shinsou and his mother were sitting on stools across from her. All three of them turned their gazes towards me when I entered. 

"Hey," I greeted with an awkward smile. 

Himari smiled at me, her long purple locks tied at the top of her head in a messy bun. Shinsou was basically a carbon copy of his mother except for his eyes, while his were a similar shade to his hair, hers were a dark brown. "Hello, Zuzu." 

I threw my head back with a groan at the stupid nickname that only she and my mother ever called me. "I outgrew that name before I even met you." 

Her eyes held the same mischievous glint that Shinsou's did when he decided to bully the shit out of me. "And then you weren't here to give me a hug and you got demoted to seven years old again." 

I rolled my eyes at her, but stomped over to her stool, letting her pull me into a tight hug. "How've you been holding up here, hm? Your mom told me all about your little boyfriends." She pulled away and wiggled her eyebrows at me. One thing to know about Himari Shinsou was that she was the biggest gossip I knew, putting even Ashido and Uraraka to shame. 

"And then I told her all about their brutish, asshole tendencies," Shinsou spoke up from beside her. 

I sent him a fake smile. "I will put Nair in your shampoo." 

"You wouldn't." He narrowed his violet eyes in my direction, trying to call my bluff. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't a bluff. 

"Oh, I would." 

"Well," Himari cut in, clapping her hands. "This'll be a lovely and quiet few months." 

My mother shook her head at us. "No pranks in the house, please. Izuku," she said, turning to me. "Do you think you could get some boys over here to help move the bigger furniture? The moving company just dumped it at the door." 

"They won't agree to it," I told her honestly, knowing Eijirou and Katsuki would rather die than lift a finger to help Shinsou. 

"They will because I'm asking," she stated simply. "Of course, I can always just go through Mitsuki." 

"Fine, I'll ask." Katsuki would rage enough as is, I didn't want him to be even more pissy after getting his ass chewed out by his mom. 

"Good, good," my mom said with a nod. "While you wait for a response, you can help Shinsou move some of the smaller boxes upstairs." 

"Awesome," I grumbled sarcastically, turning and walking out of the kitchen. I didn't particularly care if the other boy was following or not. 

"You know," he said once we were out in the hall. "You could at least pretend to be happy to see me." 

"You make that kind of hard to do." I didn't spare him a glance, just looked over the boxes in front of me. "What's yours?" 

"So we're back to this?" 

"Which boxes are yours?" I asked again. I didn't want to have this heart-to-heart in my entryway with both our mothers fifteen feet away. 

"What the hell happened?" 

I glanced over my shoulder at the question. Shinsou stood with his arms at his sides, hands balled into fists as he glared daggers at me. "What'd you mean?" 

"We were fine before I left. Why're you acting like you hate me again?" 

I sighed at the question. "I don't hate you." 

"You'll barely look at me." 

I truly didn't hate him, the avoidance didn't stem from that. The thing was, every time I looked at him, all I could think about was that night at the club. The night he'd kissed my hand and promised that it would all be over soon. The night he walked into the private room, knowing he could be injured or killed, and still went. For me. Because he loved me, even after everything I'd done to him. He had still killed someone for me. 

How was I supposed to look him in the eye after that? 

"I don't hate you," I whispered. I reached for a fairly small box, "Yours or your mom's?" 

I could feel him staring at the back of my head. There was no way of knowing what was going through his head and I couldn't even begin to guess. "Mine," he said eventually. 

I nodded and started towards the stairs, leaving him behind with his thoughts. 

bois, strap in, this one's gonna hurt

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