Chapter 8

Izuku watched from under his eyelashes at Katsuki's retreating form. Nerves racked through his entire body as he squeezed his bag tighter against his chest. So many things were crashing down at once that he didn't know what to do. Hell, he even lost control of one of his quirks...and in front of many people! If it wasn't for Katsuki, he would've probably hurt someone...he had to thank the blond for that at least.

The greenette's mind blocked away the thoughts of his parents and the sudden turn of events, now focused on going to Katsuki's dorm room. He nervously walked towards the elevator and pressed the button, waiting for the doors to open. Once the ding was heard and the doors slid open, he stepped inside and pressed Katsuki's floor number, the doors closing not long after. His heart thumped inside his chest furiously as the elevator went up, stopping at Katsuki's floor level.

His feet stayed glued to the ground, hesitating. The doors opened once again and revealed the hallway, and his eyes landed on Katsuki's room door. Taking a deep breath, he slowly walked out of the elevator. His grip on the bag tightened the closer he got to the door, the sound of his own heartbeats resonating through his ears. Why was he so nervous?

Izuku eyed the door longingly, slowly raising a shaking fist and finally knocking on the door. He caught his bottom lip between his teeth, waiting patiently for the explosive blond to open the door. When no answer came, he pondered whether or not to knock again or simply abort mission. However, as he raised his fist to knock again, he froze when Katsuki's face replaced the hard surface of the door.

"K-Kacchan!" Izuku shrieked in surprise, quickly lowering his fist. There in front of him stood his childhood friend with no blazer, part of his shirt untucked, sleeves up to his elbows, and the top four buttons undone.

"Deku?" Katsuki asked, taken aback by the greenette's presence. Although he knew that his other classmates were still taking lessons, he still didn't expect to see Izuku standing in front of his room. "Did you get off the wrong floor or what? What the hell are you doing here?"

"W-Well, you see-uhm," Izuku stuttered out, scratching the back of his neck with his free hand.

"Spit it out already," Katsuki grumbled.

"I just wanted to t-thank you for...earlier," Izuku mumbled, lowering his gaze a little with a small cringe. "If you didn't help me snap out of it, I don't know what would've happened."

Katsuki stared at Izuku's slightly shorter form for a moment, before clicking his tongue in annoyance. He was planning to give the greenette some time to wrap things around his head but seeing said person in front of him made him change his mind. So, without thinking twice about his actions, he grabbed Izuku by the arm and dragged him inside his room. He wanted answers.

The greenette let out a small yelp of surprise, stumbling after the blonde who kicked the door shut right after. Katsuki then pushed Izuku to sit on his bed, letting go of his arm and taking a few steps back to loom over him a little. Confused, Izuku looked up into the narrowed ruby red eyes of the blond. Did he say something wrong? Why has Katsuki not said anything?

"Why have you been avoiding me?" Katsuki asked, staring intently into Izuku's green orbs. The question caught Izuku by surprise-considering that it was out of topic. It was true that he had tried to avoid as much contact with the blond as possible, but he didn't think that Katsuki would catch on. He was always ignoring the greenette...so why did it matter?

"What makes you think that?" Izuku chuckled slightly, trying to cover up his nerves.

"Do you think I'm fucking stupid?" Katsuki sneered. "You are way too jumpy whenever I'm near you and you scurry off every chance you get. Did you think I wouldn't notice, Deku?"

At times, Izuku would underestimate Katsuki's perceptiveness. No matter what he did, the blond would catch on eventually...and that was terrifying. He had been able to maintain his secret for a long time, but he feared that his childhood friend was much closer to finding out the truth than he had anticipated. How long could he keep his act up?

"I-I'm not." He denied, looking away. Katsuki scoffed and forcefully made Izuku face him again, his eyes narrowing in a glare.

"If you're going to lie, at least look me in the eye while fucking doing so." He said, letting go of Izuku's face. The greenette's cheeks flushed as he bit the inside of his right cheek. His heart rate picked up the longer he stared into those ruby red orbs. It felt like his mind was malfunctioning while trying to think of a reasonable excuse to give the blonde. The more he tried to come up with something, the harder Katsuki's glare became.

"I...don't know," Izuku whispered. Of course, he knew, how couldn't he? But he wasn't going to admit those reasons to Katsuki.

Katsuki's eyes softened in the slightest, noticing Izuku's troubled gaze. It bothered him to know that the greenette was keeping things from him, but it wasn't like he was an approachable person. He couldn't really blame Izuku for not relying on him when all he did was push the poor boy away and insult him.

Clicking his tongue, Katsuki ran a hand through his spiky hair. Izuku watched his every movement, not knowing what the blond might do next. Katsuki rummaged through his drawers and pulled some clothes out, putting them aside as he started unbuttoning the rest of his shirt's buttons.

Despite having seen the blond change many times in front of him before, Izuku felt embarrassed as Katsuki started undressing so carelessly. Feeling his cheeks flush in the slightest, he looked away and tried to find something interesting to look at instead. Katsuki's room was pretty simple and clean-only a few posters up on one of the walls and some picture frames sitting on his desk.

He eyed the picture frames a little closer, finally setting his bag down beside Katsuki's bed. His heart skipped a beat when he noticed that one of the pictures was of them both from back when they were kids. They were probably around five years old, Izuku in his All Might onesie and Katsuki holding an All Might figurine. Bright smiles decorated each of their faces, Katsuki missing one of his teeth. It was a very nostalgic picture.

There were two pictures of Katsuki with his parents. In both pictures, he seemed to be bickering with Mitsuki, while Masaru simply looked at the camera with an innocent smile. Katsuki might never admit it, but he loved his parents dearly. They have been there for him when he needed them, and Izuku knew that Katsuki was grateful for them-in his own, stubborn way.

By the time Izuku's eyes caught sight of the last picture, Katsuki had finished changing and was watching the greenette intently. Izuku slowly stood up from the bed, walked over to the desk, and hesitantly picked up the picture. The blond simply watched, a frown forming on his face. He would've snapped at the greenette for snooping around his things, but he let it slide as he watched Izuku's expression.

"I didn't know you also had this picture," Izuku said with a small smile. He had the same picture on his own desk, only without the angry red scribbles over the man known as his father.

His and Katsuki's family had gone to the park for a picnic the day the picture was taken. It was probably about two weeks before they found out about his misfortune. Izuku was smiling brightly at the camera with Katsuki at his side, who was focused on wiping some jelly that had smeared on Izuku's cheek. Their parents were all huddled behind them, Mitsuki with her arms around Masaru and Inko in a tight hug and Hisashi watching the three of them with a lopsided smile.

Unlike the picture that he had at his desk, Katsuki's picture had red devil horns drawn over Hisashi's head. Angry red scribbles covered the rest of his body as if to single him out-take him out of the picture.

Izuku stared at the man under the red scribbles longingly, his scarred hand reaching up to his neck unconsciously. Katsuki, noticing the distant look in the greenette's eyes, grabbed the picture from Izuku's hands and placed it face down on his desk. Izuku looked at the blond, his hand going back down to his side.

"I still remember that day," Katsuki said, referring to the day Hisashi left their lives. "And I'm guessing that what happened earlier with blackwhip was related to that memory."

Izuku ran a hand through his curly hair, letting out a sigh. "I wasn't expecting Tsukauchi to ask me about him."

"Why would he ask about that bastard?" Katsuki scowled, crossing his arms over his chest. "He hasn't shown his face once since he left. How could he possibly be involved?"

"Do you think that what Tsukauchi said is true? That mom was..." Izuku trailed off, feeling a knot form in the back of his throat. He ran his hands down his face, trying to shake off the nagging feeling of dread that rippled up his spine. It didn't make sense. His mother had been clear that it was all Izuku's fault. So how could she have been...killed?

The tension between the two boys grew thicker by the minute. Izuku's mind was spiraling down negative thoughts, and he felt the need to be alone. He cleared his throat and took a deep breath, going back to Katsuki's bed and picking up his bag from the floor. "I guess I'm going to go change. Sorry for taking up your time."

"Whatever," Katsuki grumbled, watching as Izuku offered him a small smile and walked out of his bedroom. He let out a long sigh and fetched for his phone and headphones, grumpily opening his bag and taking out his notebooks, and dumping them on his desk. He needed to distract his mind for a moment, so he placed his headphones on and turned the music up to the max volume.

It had been such a long time since they had a proper conversation without much bickering. It felt...odd yet relaxing. Katsuki liked it, much to his dismay. He hated the fact that the greenette would constantly invade his thoughts, or how his green mess of curls stood out among the mass of people.

What was it that had Katsuki so fixated on the damn nerd?