(prefacing this chapter by saying that the way Izuku looks at the bullying in middle school is not my own personal beliefs. it's just how emotionless, detached, villain Izuku sees it. don't come for me in the comments plz)

It was about a week later when the two boys finally found the time to meet back up on their roof. They hadn't been able to see each other since the sports festival and it was slowly driving them both mad.

Sero was getting ready to go off on his work study. He had explained it to Izuku, but the green haired boy still thought they were stupid. The students didn't have their provisional licenses yet, they couldn't use their quirks, they were just liabilities in the field. It made no sense to Izuku for them to have work studies where they can't do anything.

But Sero was extremely excited for the chance to work with a pro hero, even if it was pretty lackluster work. Izuku just smiled and nodded along as he ranted for nearly an hour.

Eventually the two fell into a comfortable silence. It was something that happened often on nights like this. They didn't always need to be talking, especially when they texted every hour of the day. Sometimes they just needed to be in each other's presence.

And sometimes Izuku needed to ruin that.

With the rise in activity with his father's organization, there were things Izuku wanted Sero to know. They might seem like useless pieces of information to an outsider, but they were important to Izuku. They were important to his own story. He wanted to share that with Sero.

"Hey Hanta?" he asked quietly. The pair were laying in opposite directions, the side's of their heads just barely touching, both looking up at the sky.

Sero hummed.

"Can I tell you some stuff? It's not.. it's not, like, important or anything, it's just... stuff." Izuku knew he sounded like an idiot, he was pretty sure he was one, but he felt like he needed to tell Sero these things.

"Of course, lightning bug. You can tell me anything, you know that." Sero's voice was soft, his head nuzzling into Izuku's just a little bit as a sign of reassurance.

Izuku took a deep breath as he started his very long story. "Well I got my quirk when I was three, which everyone knows is really young. I ended up stealing the fire quirk from some random goon in charge of watching me. I didn't mean to, he'd just taken the toy car I had been playing with and I wanted it back. After that my dad went bat shit crazy. I had a little bit of training before, mainly just mental stuff, like how to hide emotions and lie without showing any tells, shit like that. But after my quirk... it was just ridiculous. I barely saw my mom anymore, for nearly two years, because he was so insistent about my training and thought she would just baby me and make me soft. I wasn't even five years old."

Sero reached up and grabbed Izuku's hand, giving it a tight squeeze.

"Eventually my parents got into this huge fight over me. My mom threatened to leave and take me with her. My dad knew it was an empty threat, she'd never be able to actually run from him and get away. But... I think he knew she was at the end of her rope. She was going to do something... drastic, if things went on like they had. He caved, because he'd always been whipped for my mom, it's a little weird actually. He agreed that I'd live with her and go to public school during the week, but I was his to train on the weekends. It was the best she could do for me, and even though pubilc school was hell for someone people thought were quirkless, I'm so fucking grateful she did it. I was able to have a fraction of a normal childhood. Sure, school sucked, but I got to go home to my mom every day. I got to live with her, and be loved by her, and I got to eat her food and actually celebrate my birthdays. It was just... it was normal. I didn't care that I never made any good friends, because I had my mom and that was more than I ever thought I'd get."

Sero knew he was crying, he could tell by the way his intake of breath was slightly hitched. He might have asked Izuku to stop, that sharing this was clearly hurting him, but he knew that the boy needed to get this off his chest. It was tearing him up, had been for years, and he finally had someone he trusted enough to tell.

"When I was first put into school, my mother was terrified for me. I was five and had never been around anyone even close to my own age. She had a high school friend she was still pretty close with, and she had a boy the same age as me. My mom arranged a playdate for us, so that I would at least know someone when I went to school in the fall." Izuku took a deep, shuddering breath, preparing himself for what he was going to admit.

"That was when I first met Katsuki Bakugou."

He felt Sero tense next to him, his entire body still and ready to snap like a rubber band.

"We were... I think we were friends. For the first year at least. Once we turned six, we had to start telling people I was quirkless, before then we had just said it hadn't manifested yet. Once Kacchan found out... well he was never one for a weak link, even as a kid. He was my biggest bully, all through elementary and middle school. Most of the bullying meant nothing to me, they just said I was weak, powerless, stupid, all these adjectives I knew were completely false. It didn't bother me because I knew that. But Kacchan's taunts... well they actually managed to sting a little. He was my first and only friend until I met you. It sucked when he turned his back on me."

Sero wanted to say something, apologize maybe, he wasn't sure. He just wanted to say something. But he knew Izuku wasn't done, so he stayed quiet.

"The last day of middle school, I was walking home. I came across some low level villain attacking Kacchan, some gross slime quirk. I shouted at the villain, telling him to leave him alone. He knew who I was, most villains in Japan do. He let him go and was apologizing. All Might showed up, ended up capturing the guy. I got out of there as quickly as possible. My father's entire purpose is to take down the symbol of peace, I wasn't about to let him take me in for questioning or something. I was almost home when he found me, just popped up out of nowhere. He was spouting some shit about me helping to take down that villain was the most heroic thing he'd ever seen and then went on and... well he offered me his quirk."

Sero scrambled to sit up at that piece of information. "He did what? He can do that?"

Izuku propped himself up on his elbows and looked over at his boyfriend. "My dad is... well really, really old. Basically as old as quirks are."

Sero blanched.

"He had a brother, someone born quirkless, while he was born with, arguably, the most amazing quirk to ever exist. My dad forced a quirk on him, a stockpiling quirk, only to find out that his brother actually did have a quirk, one that allowed him to pass it on to someone else. That's how All Might's quirk, One For All came to be. It gets passed down from generation to generation, getting stronger as it goes. All Might was the eighth user and I'm the ninth."

"You took the quirk?"

Izuku glared at him, a little offended by his tone. "All my dad has talked about since I was born was getting that quirk back. I thought if I just brought it back to him, he could finally have his dumb fucking revenge and leave me alone."

Sero's expression softened and he grabbed Izuku, pulling him into a hug.

"Turns out it just jump started their plans. I went into hiding after that. To everyone else, Izuku Midoriya is just a missing quirkless kid. Everyone probably thinks I killed myself and they just never found the body. Including Kacchan."

"So that's why you didn't want them to know you were at the sports festival," Sero mumbled as realization finally dawned on him.

Izuku nodded. "Kacchan can't know that you know me. I don't know what he would do, but knowing him, he'd probably tell the police or the pros, just to inconvenience me."

"Yeah, that sounds like Bakugou," Sero admitted in a soft voice. He wasn't best friends with the blond by any means, but he thought they were decent friends by then. It sucked to find out what he had put his boyfriend through in their younger years.

"Do me a favor?" Izuku asked, his voice a little lighter now.

"Anything."

"Don't let my story affect your relationship with him."

"Iz, I can't-"

Izuku quickly cut him off, pushing away just enough to place a hand over Sero's mouth. "You can't blame him for what he did. If he hadn't joined in he would have been in just as bad a place as I was. You can't blame him for self preservation."

Sero wanted to argue with him, but knew he wouldn't win. With a roll of his eyes, he nodded. Only then did Izuku remove his hand.

"Is that all you wanted to tell me?" he asked, musing Izuku's curls absentmindedly.

Izuku thought for a second. There was one other thing he wanted Sero to know. It was probably the most important piece of information.

He wanted Sero to know he loved him.

Izuku shook his head and his boyfriend tilted his head expectantly. "I want you to know... I want... You should know that-"

Clearly seeing that the boy was struggling, Sero reached out and cradled his face. "Iz... I know, okay? I know."

Izuku let out a shaky breath as Sero placed a kiss on his nose, then his cheek, the corner of his mouth, and finally his lips.

Izuku grabbed the back of his neck and pulled him closer, deepening the kiss. Sero let out a muffled chuckle against his lips, but let the shorter boy do as he pleased.

When the two finally pulled away, both panting and out of breath, Sero rested his forehead against Izuku's. "I love you too, lightning bug," he mumbled.

Izuku said nothing, just leaning into Sero, trying to express his feelings through actions.