'What you saw,' Aizawa tells to a shell shocked class after the viewing in a quiet classroom, 'stays with you. If it gets out, I assure you, we will find the person who spread the rumour and expel them. And punish the rest of you for letting it spread. You're all dismissed.'
'What?' A blinking Dunce face states, 'for the rest of the...'
'Did I stutter?' Aizawa repeats, and reluctantly the sounds of scraping chairs and scurrying students resound. They line by the door, slow at first but picking up the pace. Pink cheeks looks to Deku, Deku looks to her then glances at Katsuki, then Katsuki frowns. Upset that Deku noticed him, luckily though he's first at the door, and quick to leave.
'Make sure to spend this time well,' Aizawa reminds. Katsuki opens the door, backpack slung over his shoulder in the rush. People soon stumble out, Katsuki in the lead, marching off to the dorms to seal himself off. At the same time, 1-B's door opens. Students fleeing the room with more urgency than them. Murmuring things that can't be caught, not to spread the rumour, instead dispersing a smog of indecipherable sounds.
Then Deku speeds up to him. Katsuki puts more fury in his step. Deku turns his strides to long lopes, Katsuki is a pinch away from running. Deku tries to reach out to him, and Katsuki finally bolts. Backpack slamming solidly into Deku at his jarring getaway, then he's dashing down the hall. Away from where Deku would be too questioning, too wondering, too confused. A smog of whatever turns to a uprise of confusion.
'Bakugou?-'
'Hey- you hit Deku-kun!'
'Woah, man, you OK?'
'Ooh, Class 1-A Drama!' The last one distinctively the fuckface from 1-B.
Katsuki doesn't need to look back to know how Deku is. Probably gripping his cheek or face or something, and peering at Katsuki with a spark of conquest. Katsuki never thought he'd ever, in a million years, speed away from Deku like that. Katsuki nearly wants to turn around just to punch him to prove that he didn't just do that. To prove he was just... just not running away.
Like a coward.
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He barely makes it to his dorm before he's yanking his jacket off, back against the door as if somebody's might claw it open. Katsuki tears off his clothes and is fast to change into new ones, then dropping on his bed. He knows at once that Deku told Pink Cheeks.
Katsuki knows because of how they stared at each other, how Pink cheek's voice was more enraged than concerned back there. Like she had expected Katsuki's action to come but was only half believing it, there had to be an audience too. A whole one, Class 1-B and Class 1-A were there. Katsuki smacking Deku with his backpack might substitute as a working rumour for people looking to spread one.
Then a knock at the door. It's fast and pressing, as if it might never go. Katsuki tries to wait it out, but then he can catch the muffle of a calling scream outside. Katsuki thanks the heavy set doors of U.A, because he can't catch a word this person is saying. But he can hear the tone even through the sturdy material.
It's... IcyHot.
Somehow his voice, simply yelling, piques Katsuki's interest high enough to sit up from bed. He grips the sheets, letting the sweat of his palms drench the cloth before finally getting up. The voice calls one more time, with another swift knock, then Katsuki's opening the door.
Instantly, he's slammed by a gust of frigid air mingling alongside a faint waft of smoke. IcyHot's eyes uncharacteristically lit up by a kindling flame, 'How did you know? Why did you hit Midoriya? Why did you know?'
The barrage of questions is evidence of everybody else knowing too. Katsuki gulps, it's not a big deal, he tries to say to himself, but even he doesn't believe that lie. And Katsuki's good at making himself believe things, 'You know how I know.'
'Maybe,' IcyHot thinks, voice chilling, 'but I want to hear it from you.'
'Hear what? What you already know?' Katsuki wonders, 'that's stupid.'
IcyHot holds an intense gaze, 'Midoriya didn't tell you. He wouldn't.'
'He wouldn't, no,' Katsuki agrees.
'I didn't want anybody knowing.'
'Except Deku.'
'Because he's my friend!'
'Yeah, but...' Katsuki catches himself abruptly, filling up his sentence with something else, 'I already know that Deku's your friend.'
'Yes,' IcyHot really looks at him, 'now tell me how you know the other thing.'
Does he deserve to hear how I know? It's a ridiculous thought but, 'Everybody knows now. Why does it matter I knew a little before—'
'Because I didn't want anybody to know in the first place!!' IcyHot sheds some of his cool, getting exasperated with this repetitious game, 'have you presented yet?'
Katsuki reins in his anger and unsheathes it, 'Why the hell is that any of your business, dipshit?!'
But his anger is useless with IcyHot, who is infallible to petty things like emotion, 'Why was it any of yours?'
'It's not like I told anybody,' Katsuki growls.
IcyHot blinks, then an emotion so fleeting Katsuki almost thinks he imagined it on him. 'OK, but how did you know?'
Katsuki considers, then relents, 'The Sports Festival. I've... known since then.' He can't even look at IcyHot, maybe wondering what he would look like at that response.
IcyHot doesn't look much of anything, Katsuki can sense that from his voice, 'Was that so hard?'
'Fuck off already!' Katsuki shoves IcyHot out, he staggers but squares swiftly. Simply studying him like a haughty stone monument, and Katsuki can't stand it. Or push him now with his fortified stance.
'You shouldn't listen in on people's conversations,' the scold leaves Katsuki's cheeks burning, and then IcyHot leaves as well, on his own volition.
Katsuki really should have punched the fucker. Or something at least. He feels pathetic watching his dwindling back step to the elevator, waiting as the metal doors shield IcyHot from any thought of harm.
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The next morning is an apparent break from the motives class. Only for a day at least, it's the first thing that Aizawa tells them. And while IcyHot is smothered in affection, care, and thought, the amount of irritated stares to Katsuki is no accident. Katsuki had been expecting it, but maybe not the awkwardness between those idiots who talk to him.
Shitty Hair has been glaring at Katsuki when he thinks he is not looking.
Pinky stays by a Pink Cheeks who sours at the sight of Katsuki.
Sparky and Tapey keep talking to Deku who's severely upset at everybody knowing that secret.
It's fine.
At the announcement of a break from motives, Pinky had jokingly said, 'Really? Just a day then we're back to it?'
'It's a trust exercise after all, we can't halt it for long,' Aizawa explained. 'The stupid board...'
'Uh-huh,' a quiet Ponytail remarks, flicking her worried eyes to IcyHot, 'at least it's a break, Mhm?'
IcyHot nods thoughtlessly, and he looks to Katsuki. Who hadn't meant to watch their little interaction, he turns away, face steamy with shame once more. It was just Ponytail talking! What's so secretive about that?
He gets a feeling the class won't be so comfortable with him for a while. Katsuki decides it's well deserved, he really hasn't meant to stay for that deep conversation. He just wanted to hear an idea of what was off with Deku... and he knows what it is now! Goddamnit, he could have been the teeniest bit more patient...
Still—it's horribly unfair because Deku jots everything about everybody in that creepy little notebook nobody else has ever set their eyes on. But when Katsuki accidentally listens to the wrong thing at the right time in the right place, now he's a conniving, little shit?
Katsuki scowls at the idea. But is jarred out of thought with a slam on his desk, Pink cheeks hands flat near the edge, eyes tough and imposing, but it's so funny on her Katsuki would have laughed if she hadn't barked in his face, 'Did you tell anyone?!'
'Hah?'
'Did you tell anybody?'
Goddamn breaks, does she have nothing to do? Katsuki scrolls through his options, a multitude of them. But he chooses to be an asshole, 'Who the fuck would I tell, dumbass?'
'Don't...' her fierceness halts momentarily, then her head twists curiously, unimpressed she shakes her head back to him, 'that's why I'm asking.'
'OK,' Katsuki thinks. Patience stretching thin with her. 'Now screw the hell off!'
Pink Cheeks let our a noise half frustrated and half mad, 'Bakugou! I don't think of you as a gossip, okay?! But—'
'Then FUCK OFF!'
'No!' Pink Cheeks takes the moment to swallow away the rise of her voice, 'I'm just wondering, did you tell anyone?'
'WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK!?' Katsuki suddenly remembers he's in class when he hears a pencil drop.
Pink Cheeks pauses, brows knitting as she remembers her surroundings too.
'You said I'm not a goddamn gossip!' Katsuki loudly recalls.
'Then just give a straight answer!'
'THEN JUST USE YOUR FUCKING HEAD!' Katsuki bellows, hating how she looks down on him at this angle, so he gets up from his seat, towering over her instead. Her eyes pull up, and there's a curl on her lips that's not a smile.
'You don't have to scream,' Glasses. Where was he when all this was happening anyways? He's usually more urgent, Katsuki watches him sidle towards Pink Cheeks, staring at Katsuki expectantly. And when Katsuki doesn't catch on to whatever request he's demanding through a passive gaze, 'you should answer, did you tell anybody?'
'Did I tell anyone?' He repeats, 'who the fuck would I tell?'
'I'm not sure,' Glasses thinks, 'who would you tell? And language, please.'
His studying eyes makes Katsuki's skin feel like it's been doused in gasoline. A fatality with an explosive like him, 'FINE! I DIDN'T TELL ANYONE! There, happy?! Happy that I had to spell it out for you!!'
And just as expected, there's incredulity written all over their faces. Nobody would have believed him either way. But they relent, Pink Cheeks taking a step back, her eyes never losing heat once, 'Sure.'
'I'm not a fucking gossip,' Katsuki recites. All Pink Cheeks does is give him a nasty glare before walking off. Everybody else giving a variation of their own glowers at him for about the rest of the morning. The spat ended, but on which side, Katsuki's not sure. They'll leave him alone for sure, but everything they can't say will show in their eyes.
Katsuki's not even the creepiest shit in 1-A. Maybe they just weren't expecting it to be Katsuki that would know.
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Momo Yaoyorozu doesn't get jealous often, it's simply not in her nature to envy others. She acknowledges their smarts and strives towards their qualities, not jealousy.
Yet Shouto Todoroki manages to produce different results for her each time, making her conscious, and even festering gloom in her peace. She closes her eyes, and counts silently as Midoriya retells what happens upset, when Bakugou's in his dorm. Sleeping away perhaps, and she's riddled by a current of emotions as black as midnight water.
Momo can't stand it, all the anguish Todoroki had felt, and he never thought to talk to her. To come to her, maybe just to vent, but to say something was wrong. Does she not look comforting enough? She knows she can't force friendship so she doesn't let anybody know how she feels about this, the shame she feels for thinking these things alone is already unbearable. Momo wishes she had been Todoroki's pillar of support somewhere, but she can't place an exact location or time where she had been close.
Whilst Todoroki is as blank a slate as ever, but maybe just maybe, he trusts her. Momo can't tell. Does he even know what trust is? Well, something about Midoriya made him trustworthy, something warm and bright and fiddly. She wishes she could operate such a thing, evoke trust with a simple glare, does she do that? She doesn't think she does. Not to the degree Midoriya does. Momo wishes she has whatever Midoriya has.
Momo wishes she had been there instead of Bakugou.
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It's obvious Bakugou didn't mention it to anybody, so the event from this morning was startling, Bakugou wasn't a gossip. Did the class really need affirmation? But unlike Bakugou, Momo would have talked to Todoroki. Comforted him, and done something about his horrid father. Not go all out in a fight and nearly kill him at the end match so mercilessly, maybe it's that memory that made people doubt Bakugou.
It's fine. Momo will linger around Bakugou or Midoriya, until she attains their luck or trustworthiness. Bakugou is a really lucky guy, isn't he?
Uraraka storms close to Momo, she wonders why she's approaching with such a gait, but her walk mellows as she nears. Instead, steering to Todoroki, beside.
Relieved that it didn't have anything to do with her, Uraraka's voice is easy and light, 'That's the same thing he told you, right?'
'With some extra steps,' Todoroki adds, 'yes.'
Uraraka gives a honey-sweet smile, leaning close as if to transmit a smile on Todoroki's face as well. Momo watches, and she finds herself smiling, as if whatever Uraraka was trying backfired and Momo had been the victim. But then, Todoroki does something off. He smiles too.
Whether it's Momo or Uraraka that made him do that, or the both of them, Momo's satisfied to be apart of it. Maybe she's got the luck of Bakugou alongside the warmth of Midoriya. Or maybe she's just Momo... She barely gets time to etch the happy look on Todoroki's face into her mind forever before the bell rings.
'Good,' Uraraka says hurriedly, 'it's really fun grating on Bakugou-kun's nerves.'
'Oh! Uraraka you little devil,' Momo gasps before switching to a light tease, 'and I thought you were actually angry.'
'Nope~ he's so fun to mess around with,' Uraraka's eyes are bright and devious, 'ah! That came out wrong. But really, no point in getting angry, right? I mean... he didn't tell anyone.'
Momo nods, 'But maybe you shouldn't have done that, a little excessive.'
Uraraka shrugs, taking it into consideration then shrugs again, before releasing a genuine smile, 'Bakugou's not a gossip! I clarified, didn't I? Eh, and you know Bakugou: it doesn't get to him.'
'It's impressive,' Todoroki notes, 'he's already over it,' and sure enough, Bakugou's back to normal. Seated and well comported. Looking straight ahead at Aizawa- oh! Aizawa, right, break's over. Uraraka nods then scurries off to her seat.
'Bye,' Todoroki calls after her.
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Hey Ba-ku-go-kun!' Neito turns his head to get a better look at him, he had been waiting for Bakugou as he finished up in the stall, just to shove him back no warning over the low hanging toilet. He pins him against the wall, a meeting that both of them had been expecting with all the silent glares they had been receiving and giving. The smell of smoke crawling through the gaps of Neito's planted fingers. 'how's your day been going?'
'WHAT THE FUCK SLANTY!' Bakugou's so loud, Neito hurriedly shuts the stall door behind them, in disbelief he forgot to. Enclosing them in a tiny metal box with a toilet; a stall that couldn't blot out any sound if it tried, yet manages to be so claustrophobic. Being this close to Bakugou leaves him in proximity to his breath. Sigh, the things Neito does for the safety and well being of his classmates!
Classmates which are actually everywhere in the male changerooms but somehow don't question Bakugou's yelling, well it's not that uncommon anyways.
'Yeah, I've been having a wonderful day too!' Neito grins, 'thanks for asking, how considerate!'
'I'LL GIVE YOU THREE FUCKING SECONDS AND IF YOU DON'T-'
'Shh- shh- shh,' Neito cautions, his grin shrinking to a coy twist, finger balanced in the middle of Bakugou's scowling lips. Neito worries he might gnaw his finger off so he pulls it away fast, and Bakugou looks so disoriented, as if torn between drowning Neito in the toilet behind or pummeling him to death right here right now. 'don't bother with niceties, I'd like to get straight to the point.'
'Three...' Bakugou counts, breaths shallow and mad.
'Alright, alright,' Neito yields, and he bites his lip, can't believe he's saying this, but Bakugou doesn't look like he'll stop counting any time soon. And Neito doesn't want to wait around to taste toilet water or blood, 'I need help and you're the only one who can do something about it. And it has something for you too!'
The words aren't as enticing as he had thought them, and Bakugou raises a brow, glowering at him then letting out an awful sound of contempt. Like a breath or a giggle, whatever, it sounds like a no, or a yes, or a I've been waiting for this day. Then his face falls, he rechecks his surroundings and his eyebrows knit in disgust, 'What the fuck?'
'Are you willing to listen-'
'Look, I'm not...' he's steaming red with fury, 'I'm not going to fucking - fucking- do that with you!'
'Hm?' Neito blinks, lost.
'You trapped me in a fucking stall to-' Bakugou cringes, as if the idea was too gross to verbalize.
'Yes! To talk about a matter of urgency.'
'I don't think you fucking get it. I'm not that type of person.'
'What? You haven't even heard me out!'
'Yeah? I don't needa! Move out the fucking way ya weirdo!'
'Plus you're exactly that type of person!'
'I... FUCK OFF ALREADY!'
'Just hear me out! So arrogant, you won't even give me a chance?'
'Look I- couldn't you get your fucking redhead girlfriend to get you off? This is real fucking-' Bakugou gulps, and Neito realizes Bakugou's not red because of fury, 's-so goddamn- fucking- weird. I don't-'
'NO!' Neito practically screams.
'LOOK, COULD YOU JUST FUCK OFF?!' Bakugou suggests. Neito actually wants to, but then Bakugou will go through the rest of his life thinking Neito Monoma tried to hook up with him in a tiny bathroom stall, somewhere in a busy U.A males changeroom right before training class some day they weren't having motives.
Which is actually horrendous. Neito doesn't want to play that type of role in anybody's head! Even Bakugou's, where it would probably stay there because of pride. 'I- I WASN'T... I wasn't trying anything, I'm being honest.' His voice dips an octave lower. 'I was going to suggest we tinker with both our classes.'
Bakugou frowns not believing a single word, so Neito laughs, trying to cool it off, 'You'd think I'd sleep with you? And you think I'm gay?' he cocks his head, then motions to some pencil engravings on the wall that haven't been washed off yet. A rare sight, the stalls are usually very clean, but it says something utterly obscene. 'Even if you were my type--you don't come close--not in a place like this.'
'Just fuck off.'
'Yeah, we can talk business later,' Neito nods, letting Bakugou pass through and he's so eager to leave he doesn't even shove Neito. When he's gone, Neito lets himself melt on the wall, dying of shame. Did he really say not in a place like this? Or anything else.
He pushed Bakugou in a bathroom stall! Of course he'd get the wrong idea with words like plan and proposition and matter of urgency.
This is a loss that will never repeat. Neito swears to never confront somebody in a bathroom stall. Or pin them over a toilet using their quirk. He feels like such a creep, shuddering off the feeling, he soon strides out. Going to flush this memory away forever.
Then try again.
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