(Authors note: hi, it's been another long break, almost half a month, and I'm sorry. I did try to get it done quick, but my brain just went, fuck you. This chapter is around 4,400 words, i think. things are getting more and more suspenseful! Ahahah! trigger warning for the usual, a bit more overworking, or being forced to over work, and big time zoning out as an escape after the overworking. Enjoy! (p.s i did try to add a little fluff at the end, and the start is a bit flavorless, but I'm working with what I've got!))
It had been a week or two since Deku had finally established that he needed to make a plan, and he had most of the pieces of the puzzle sorted already.
He decided that weekend would be a good time to start the plan, as he had just learnt Kacchan had extra training, along with some of his other classmates, each weekend, and it was the perfect opportunity to snoop around in the blonde's room. Obviously, he hadn't got EVERYTHING sorted out just yet, but he was pretty close to having things sorted.
He made up his mind that he would involve Mei and Todoroki. Both of them were capable enough, and he trusted that he could invite them in the plan. He was 90% sure they would both agree. But that lingering 10% was like the clouds covering the sun. The sun being; everything going as planned, and them fleeing the crime scene knowing a bit more about the Kacchan situation.
Everything would hopefully go as planned, but if not, he needed a backup plan... And that back up plan had not yet been figured out yet... ok, ok, change of plans, he would tell Todoroki and Mei about his plan that weekend, and would go through with the plan the week after, if possible.
He didn't want to have to wait a decade to go through with the plan, but he didn't want to rush in unprepared.
You got to do what you got to do, right?
And that was exactly was Izuku was telling himself as he sat down next to Todoroki and Mei, who were eating brunch, preparing himself for the spilling of his plan.
"Hello, Midoriya!" Todoroki greeted. Mei looked up from her beans, bacon and hash browns and greeted Deku with a muffled 'hello', her mouth being stuffed with food.
"Hey you guys," Deku started out, "Would you two be interested in being involved in a ....... stealth mission of mine...?"
Izuku had a look of unsureness written all over his face, and it intrigued the two he had proposed the idea to.
"Hmm, well, it depends Midoriya. It can't be anything that would get you in trouble with school again... is it?"
Mei listened intently as the dual haired boy worked out the terms and conditions with Deku.
"It's not anything to do with villains, or anything that would get our butts in trouble with Mr Aizawa."
Todoroki almost looked surprised.
"If it's not to do with villains, what is it?"
"It's to do with a classmate I'm suspicious of."
This made the unusually silent pink haired girl (who was only quiet due to the food she was so fixated on) speak up, "Well, I think if it won't get us in trouble and it's going to be a stealth mission, it would be a great time to test out some of my babies!"
Izuku was glad to hear that Mei was enthusiastic, even if it was only her, he could still make this work!
"Is it a classmate you suspect to be the traitor?"
Izuku had to think very carefully to the answer of that question.
If he said no, Todoroki would want to know what it was about, and he couldn't just blurt out he wanted to see if Kacchan was starving himself or not, but if he said yes, that would buffer Todoroki's and Kacchan's relationship as classmates. He wasn't worried about Mei, he knew she wouldn't really care that much, but it would cause Todoroki to lose trust in Kacchan, something that is very valuable. What if Todoroki found out he was lying about Kacchan being the traitor? If he said yes to Todoroki's previously asked question, there was no doubt things would go to shit. Not to mention the aspect that Todoroki could possibly tell a teacher, and get Kacchan and himself into very serious trouble.
"Erm- no. It's something different, I can't really say explicitly, but I do need your help with my plan."
"Ok, can you tell me more about this plan before I consent to another reckless dumb idea of yours."
"Sure, it's to do with Kacchan, basically, there's a lot I've been thinking of, and because of Kacchan reasons, I can't really ask him about it, so my plan is to snoop around his room whilst he is out on a training session to find out more about the situation."
"What?! Midoriya, don't you think it would be wrong to do that?"
"Wow! This looks like it could be a great social experiment... hehe!" Mei thought aloud, intrigued by the morals of her schoolmates and how it would play out into Izuku's plan.
"Well, Todoroki, you have to understand I have all the right intentions."
"Yes, I guess, but Midoriya, I'm still a bit unsure. Can you give me a bit to think it over?"
"Of course, Todoroki."
Ok. He had one in the bag, and he was sure it'd be ok if Todoroki decided against doing it. No need to worry. He also had a whole week to prepare!
Before he got too excited, there was a lot for him to think over, many different scenarios that all had a chance, small or big, of being more than just a scenario his brain had come up with.
Deku rushed to his dorm room to get a bit of privacy to think things over.
With his hand exercising tool in one hand, he let his mind fall into a deep hole of thoughts and ideas. It was at times like this where he could let his creative and analytical skills flourish to their best.
Ok, so there were a few main different things that were crossing his mind: Todoroki joining, Todoroki not and the possibility his plan would be for nothing.
The main worry with his plan being for nothing was that he wouldn't be able to find any evidence, or that Kacchan wasn't purposely starving himself, and it was due to stress that he had lost such a dramatic bit of weight.
If he couldn't find any evidence, he would've put Todoroki and Mei through that for nothing, but chances were that he would at least find something to do with Kacchan's well-being, like... a piece of paper with his weight written each week or something? Or maybe a diary that had some form of reason to Kacchan's behaviour? Hopefully he would find something, but if not...
Then there is the chance he is losing weight for another reason. If he was losing weight due to excessive studying, or too much training, stress, and the list of other unhealthy habits go on, that is still equally as bad, and he would have to learn not to put his body through such high amounts of stress and pressure.
He would also make sure Aizawa would hear about it if Kacchan was resorting to such damaging things. And sure, training and studying were good things, but not if Kacchan was doing it to the extent of dramatic weight loss.
In the case where Todoroki doesn't join, he was sure things would be ok. In the performance of the plan, if he was involved, he would not be a hindrance to the plan, most likely, he would be very valuable to the outcome of it all. He was intelligent, and he could communicate his worries or ideas to the group, which had the potential to help big time. Considering this, it could be a bad idea to not involve him, Todoroki not being involved in the plan could be a problem.
You see, Mei was an amazing girl, she had a high IQ, and was very intelligent, many of her 'babies' able to help big time with the plan. Where things would fault, would most likely be communication. She is very bright and intuitive, but the problems lie in whether she could communicate her ideas and thoughts as well as Todoroki could. She didn't speak up that often, usually liking to absorb the wonders of 'human interaction', as she likes to put it, so Deku was concerned that she wouldn't be involved in the plan when it came to the actual planning. He had no doubt that she had the best ideas, but he was worried if they would get across, and sometimes you can't get things done as well with only one person's perspective and ideas.
Over all, with Todoroki and Mei, the plan was sure to go smoothly, without Todoroki, he was sure it would be ok, but things could end up buffering slightly.
Switching his hand exercising tool to his other hand, he continued to work the tool whilst he silently prayed that both of them would agree to the plan.
Meanwhile...
---------------------------------------------------
Bakugou swept blonde hair out of his eyes with a quivering hand as he panted harshly.
Gosh, the 2 hours had barely begun half an hour ago and he was already wishing to be let out of the hell that was the training.
Aizawa was making the four kids run back and forth on a massive field with a rope attached to 60 pounds of weight.
As soon as the scruffy man saw any of the kids' buffer in their training, he would threaten to add half an hour onto all of their training. Obviously, no one wanted that, so they stuck to dragging their heavy weight across a long field until they could no longer feel their limbs.
Koda, the animal kid was close to snapping in half despite his massive build. Mina was cringing at the sweat that was clinging to her clothes and her forehead. Although Katsuki couldn't see the invisible girl's face, he was sure she wasn't smiling about the situation.
"Ten more minutes then you lot are moving to pushing the weight."
Ten more fucking minutes of that shit was going to kill Katsuki!
He was already aware of his training that day, so in the morning he ate an apple for energy, but now he was fucking sure it wasn't enough to sustain him for the whole 2 hours.
Sometimes he would see white sparks floating in his vision, and it wasn't fucking fun.
His legs were practically vibrating and he was sore all over, but he couldn't stop. He wasn't about to pass out in front of others. Not like the first school day that week when he was so sure he was going to go through with his dumb suicide idea, in front of everyone no less.
Speaking of that, he had, at some point, decided if he was going to kill himself, he would not do it in the company of anyone, or in a place where people would see him before he was dead, he wasn't sure he would be able to handle it if they did.
Suicide didn't sound so bad at that moment, not with his body and limbs yelling at him to fucking stop it.
God the sweating he was doing started to feel like the kind of cold sweat you get when you wake up from a nightmare, it felt terrible.
"gnn, mmmu."
His throat was releasing pathetic little winging noises that he wished he could stop.
"Ok, now come back here students!"
The order to turn around, obviously with the weight too, seemed like torture with the way he had barely even managed to get half way across the field.
His eyes drooped as he began the struggle of pulling the rope back to where Aizawa was waiting patiently on the other side of the field. He was so far away that Katsuki was surprised he was able to hear Aizawa's command to go back.
He felt like he was a dog, having the strong urge to loll his tongue out and pant like a bitch. Jesus.
The way back was painful, but he persevered, refusing to acknowledge he was one of the last ones to reach Aizawa, just in front of invisible girl.
"Ok, problem children, now, remove the rope from the weight."
The group of four all did as told, Katsuki almost falling on his face when bending over to untie the rope from the weight. His thighs burned with a passion as his knees had to stay bent for longer than he would've liked.
When the rope was untied from all the weights, Aizawa collected in the ropes and continued with his instructions. "Now prepare yourself for another long 40 minutes of pushing that weight around."
Fuck. This. Shit.
The universe wanted him to suffer. And badly at that.
Pushing was a bit easier than pulling, but the small bit of relief never lasted long. His back arched to the point he looked like a hunchback. He didn't even have the willpower to hold his neck up properly any more, head hanging down as his hands were pushing at the weight on the ground (0r at least attempting to).
Blood went down to his hung head and his previous dizziness came back harshly, but he felt too dizzy and tired to keep his head up properly, which lead to a vicious cycle of discomfort.
It was the goddamn weekend! Why was he stuck here doing this shit! Ugh!
His ever-coming anger gave him a small burst of power to keep pushing at the hunk of metal until his legs legitimately buckled, and he was kneeled on the ground.
"Bakugou! Get up! I never saw you as the lazy type!" Aizawa screamed from his spot near where they started the pushing.
The blonde got onto his quaking legs yet again and almost let a few tears spill as everything became too much.
He was hungry, thirsty, tired, sore and he felt unbearable defeated. What did Aizawa want from him. Was this not e-fucking-nough?
The others also stuck pushing at their 60-pound hunk of metal looked over at Bakugou with sympathy. It didn't make him feel better in the slightest though. Pity was one of the worst things to experience, so he thought to himself, I'll take their pitying looks and shove it so far up their arses they won't know what hit them!
He spent the last 10 minutes of that exercise trying and slightly failing to show his classmates their pity was unappreciated and definitely unneeded.
Finally, the last 40-minute task came, and Katsuki was SO fucking ready to die. It was running. Shit. It was simple, but horrible.
Can you imagine running after 1 hour and 20 minutes of putting your body through hell? Well, Katsuki and the three other classmates didn't have to imagine. They were fucking doing it.
When they passed each other, running around the perimeter of the field, they could clearly hear each other's panting. (If you could even call their feet dragging running.)
The soles of Katsuki's feet were sore, and his lungs felt deeply violated, breaths raggedy and uncomfortable.
He miraculously got through the last 40 minutes of running, and he felt so dizzy and hazy at that point in time, that he could barely take in the information given by his teacher to go the locker rooms to shower and change into casual clothes. Despite his hazy state of mind, he managed to stumble over to the locker rooms flipping off the animal kid that followed behind that asked if he was alright.
He didn't want to respond verbally in case his tongue gave up on him and he sounded like a fucking wuss.
He stumbled over undressing, flinging his clothes in front of a shower stall before climbing into said shower stall, still wearing his undergarments, then he turned the water all the way to cold.
It was true that the cold could stop him from producing the maximum amount of sweat, but he was showering for fucks sake anyways, so it's pointless to worry about sweat and his quirk when he was washing any sweat off his body.
So fucking dumb.
The freezing water made his hands shake and his knees weak (once again) so he gave into the weakness and sat down on the disgusting floor.
Goodness sake people have probably rubbed one out onto this floor or picked arse hair out and left it to circle the drain.
He didn't have the energy to fucking care at that point. He was tired, and it felt semi-nice to sit under a freezing stream of water. He didn't really want to go back to his dorm, it would take too much energy, and he was already tired as shit.
Sitting in the silence, eyes shut, but not sleeping, Katsuki let his mind slip out of his hands, and his brain went completely blank. So blank, empty and unfocused, that he didn't hear the banging of the door opening.
Whoever had entered shuffled awkwardly, getting undressed, and getting a towel to cover their bits, until they passed the particular stall Katsuki had left his clothes outside of.
Katsuki still had his knees up to his chest, arms wrapped around his slender legs as he rested his sore neck on his knees, and he didn't hear whoever had entered at all, that's why he seemed to jump so high in the air as someone called out, "Bakugou? Are you in there?"
Red eyes widened in shock until Bakugou got his composure back enough to reply, "Who the fuck is asking?"
His voice was gruff and cracking like a teen boy, and he sounded bad, well, worse than he usually did.
"Bro, it's Kirishima. Are you ok? Can I come in?"
Who did Kirishima think he was, asking to enter the shower with?! He wasn't the red heads lover...
"No, the fuck?"
"C'mon, bro. You don't sound too well."
"I'm fucking peachy."
Yikes, his voice was clearly portraying a different story, but didn't matter to the grumpy and upset Katsuki.
The blonde soon heard a soft plopping noise and realised it was the sound of Kirishima sitting down outside of the stall, patiently waiting for Katsuki to speak up and/or open his stall door (still half naked by the way).
Katsuki buried his head seemingly deeper into his knees as he came to the realisation Kirishima wasn't going to let up on waiting for him. As he always has, it seemed.
Kirishima being patient with the anger issued, loud kid was apparently his favourite hobby or some shit, because he would never let up on it.
"Tch, why are you still here?" the sound of his voice was muffled by his knees as he asked the question.
"I just want to know why my best bro is upset, that's all."
Best bro, huh?
"I'm not fucking upset, so you can leave."
"Didn't your parents ever teach you that lying can make people lose trust in you? C'mon, just spill. I want to help you is all."
Why does Kirishima have to be like this? So nice, and pretty, and amazing, and strong, and- gosh he could go on forever. But none of it mattered because Kirishima viewed him as a friend, and if he wanted to be a good friend, fuck it, because it was the closest thing Katsuki was getting to a relationship with the red head.
Maybe... Maybe one day Katsuki would return the favour of being a good friend, but-
"I had a shit training session is all."
"Oh, how was it bad?"
"I did a lousy job. I was all out of energy and it was too much. I kept running out of breath too! I don't know why though. Usually, I'm the best at everything. Today was different, I guess."
Kirishima sat in silence listening until Katsuki was done with his small rant, then thought about something to say back.
"Have you ever considered, that maybe, just maybe, it's not you that did lousy, it's the quality you take care of yourself that burdened you today? Because you are the manliest person I know, and I KNOW that you wouldn't let such a minor thing as training do that to you."
Katsuki sat in silence because, Kirishima just proved his point. He was doing everything he could to be the best: dieting, training in free time, keeping up with his sleep schedule (or trying), reading an hour a day and doing all homework when he got it.
Was that not taking care of himself? Wasn't that enough? Wasn't he supposed to be ok? Wasn't he supposed to be the best? What had happened?
Involuntarily, sniffles escaped his nose and he started softly crying.
Kirishima on the other side of the door panicked at hearing the crying, thinking what he had said had maybe hit too close to home, when it in fact had the opposite effect on Katsuki's tranced mind.
Katsuki got to his feet, and like a child sought comfort. He didn't want to think anymore. Could someone take away his ability to have thoughts? Please, anyone, anyone at all?
Like a winging 4-year-old, his cries got more vocal, and he didn't even have the energy to care at that point, he was sick of holding things in.
Shakily he brought himself to his feet, as he had heard Kirishima do on the other side of the door, fumbled with the lock of the door (due to the blurriness of his vision), then finally unlocked it to fall into Kirishima's unsuspecting arms.
The red head was shocked. In no way, did he expect to hug a sopping wet, cold, shirtless Katsuki when being dry, decently warm and also shirtless. He wasn't even anticipating the hug, but he embraced the blonde all the same.
The red head was semi proud of his best friend to accept the comfort, when usually, he would go to all lengths to avoid confrontation of his emotions.
But what the red head was not understanding, was that Bakugou wasn't opening up, he was giving up. Giving up on most of the things he stood for. He viewed himself as a lowly beggar at that point, he wanted nothing but to be ok, and he was trying everything, but it wasn't working.
The blonde's figure was shaking and trembling, with gasping sobbing noises emanating from his mouth. He had his eyes scrunched tight, and he was trying to grind his teeth together to try and at least preserve some of his dignity, but, at that point, he was sure he had thrown all of it out the window. He was grasping tight at Kirishima's back, Kirishima fully reciprocating the hug.
Kirishima was too busy with his swarming thoughts to realise the bones he could feel when he held Katsuki by his waist, close to each other's torsos.
"Bakugou... Calm down, and then I can get showered too, and then we can go to my dorm and watch any movie or series you want. Ok? Do you want to do that?"
The harsh grasp on Kirishima's back loosened as Katsuki nodded against Kirishima's neck, rubbing his face against the comforting warmth of the others flesh.
Soon enough, he found himself guided to his own locker to get changed whilst Kirishima headed off to a showering stall.
Whilst the other was washing off his body after his workout, Katsuki gathered his clothes he had strewn across the floor and put them in a bag he would empty later to wash the contents.
He was grateful that his past-self had thought ahead to leave casual clothes in the locker as a spare outfit, just in case.
He found himself having to discard any form of underwear due to showering in underwear, he didn't really care though, Kirishima wasn't going to see under his sweats anytime soon.
Eventually, he was decked in a comfy black t-shirt with black (borderline navy) joggers, and was turning the other direction, so he wouldn't be caught staring at his best friend changing into his own pair of casual clothes.
When walking out, it had been awkward, not to mention the way Bakugou was a little bit conscious of how he would look after crying his eyes out. But after long enough of silence, Kirishima casually wrapped one arm around the other's shoulders, and kept it there whilst they walked to Kirishima's dorm room.
Katsuki didn't know exactly why the red head decided to stretch an arm around his shoulders (maybe it was for comfort? Reassurance? Support?) but he was not complaining. The small touch seemed to sooth him, if only a bit.
Once reaching Kirishima's room, it was barely 5 in the evening, and dinner had not yet been announced, but he was ready to pass the fuck out.
His eyes drooped and he found himself leaning more and more into Kirishima's muscular arms.
"You can get on the bed if you want, Haha. I'm not gonna force you to stand, bro!"
Katsuki looked Eijirō in the eyes for a few seconds, wanting to get on the bed, but not wanting to leave the arm around his frame, before letting go and dropping on the bed as if he was desperate to do so his entire life.
Kirishima watched with an affectionate look in his eyes, before announcing, "Budge up Bakugou, I'll get my laptop open and we can watch something!"
Staying non-vocal, Bakugou rolled over a bit to the end of the bed near the wall, and let his eyes roll back into his head, giving into sleep.
Surprised slightly, Kirishima's eyes widened slightly, before settling to smiling softy and climbing into bed with the blond.
Not even attempting to lie to himself, he didn't know if this was considered too much of a couple-y thing for friends to do, but it didn't matter that much, he had always wanted to find out what it would be like to sleep I the same bed as his crush anyways.
Maybe he would settle for a nap and then get food. He didn't know what Bakugou would want to eat, but then again, he might not want to eat, being as tired as he is now.
It felt so nice to just snuggle with Bakugou under warm covers that his mind didn't get too much of a chance to overthink, falling into unconsciousness pretty much a minute or two after climbing in with Bakugou.
How calm. Well, not for long anyways.