Bakugou put his hands in his pockets. He wore a surly expression across his face, but it soon replaced that with a frown.

Bakugou's gaze lowered to the floor and he stopped walking. He glanced at the first corner in the empty hall he and Izuku decided to have their 'conversation'. The place allowed their voices to echo and thus, it was easy to hear their voices from a distance.

The hall also connected with the other halls, reaching the cafeteria. Albeit, anyone rarely used this path to get to class. It was a convenient shortcut to the teacher's office, however.

"Are you going to keep hiding there?"

Once Katsuki said this, he heard a voice reply immediately. "There's no reason for me. My job is to watch him, after all."

"Sure, seems like you do more than watch him," Bakugou remarked, walking around the corner. And there, leaning on the wall, was Shinso Hitoshi who hadn't bothered to look him in the eye.

"Don't you think you were too harsh?" Shinso questioned, albeit he sounded as if he didn't care for Bakugou's answer.

Instead of answering immediately, Bakugou paused his actions for a brief second. He thought the question over and over again, but all his replies came short. If he were to brush Shinso off as sticking his nose where it shouldn't be, he could easily label himself as a hypocrite.

Katsuki had done the same just minutes ago, albeit he had no idea why.

"Maybe I was, I've always been like that. But he needed to hear that," Bakugou finally answered.

Shinso narrowed his eyes, lifting his gaze to take a look at Bakugou. The state he saw Bakugou in differed greatly from the usual Bakugou he saw on a daily. He appeared more serious, and his eyes were the biggest change.

They were the eyes of a mature person, reliving their grave mistakes in the past. It caught Shinso off guard, but he had more questions.

"About what you were talking about, what was this incident you two keep referring to?" He asked, this time his tone expressed his curiosity in the topic. "What mistake did Midoriya do that was so terrible?"

Was it bad enough that Izuku thought his own mother would hate him? What was that mistake that caused him to turn to villainy? Shinso had too many questions.

"It's not some big secret," Bakugou said after tearing his gaze off of Shinso. "If you look hard enough, you'll find it in some old news article. But it's something I don't know a lot about either."

"Then what is your part in that incident?" Shinso raised an eyebrow. He could guess the minimum, which led to him knowing Katsuki must have bullied Izuku to some extent in the past. However, he just couldn't piece together what this 'incident' was.

"I don't have any part to play in it; I just know more than anyone else that read the newspapers - along with my parents." Katsuki took a step forward, "It's not my story to tell. Ask him yourself, about his scumbag father. With how easily he told All Might, I think he'd tell you."

After that, everything led up to where it was. Ochako Uraraka needed to take a shortcut, because Tooru accidentally spilled curry on her uniform. Unfortunately, lunchtime ended around that time, so she had to hurry to the teacher's office for a spare shirt.

While she was on her way, she ran into Izuku - who stood like a lifeless doll, hanging on a string. It was a disturbing sight. His eyes were dull, casted under a shadow and hiding behind his green locks.

And what caused her to hug him? His lips quivered when she approached him. She got her answer once those held back tears ran down his cheeks. Izuku showed a rarely vulnerable side.

And if it helped him feel better, she willingly comforted him.

"It's alright," she said, patting Izuku's back for the last time.

His tears dried, yet his gaze showed no signs of focus. He hadn't reacted to her taking his hand either, completely detached from the world around him. "Come on, we're late for class," she softly said, "Let's go together."

And so, they went on their way to class. Izuku followed behind Uraraka, while she led him by the hand.

Midoriya's head hung low. Although he couldn't bring himself to say anything or care for anything, he became more aware of the sensation of another's skin touching his own. He gave in, finding his eyes landing on their hands. Then, he snuck a peek of her face.

He pursed his lips, feeling as if something moved his stomach around. Her fingers tickled his skin as she adjusted her grip, and that mere sensation worsened that churning in his stomach.

Izuku looked down again, trying to hide his flushed face with his hair.

Ah, I understand now, why it's so difficult for those shoujo anime characters.

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Author's Note
Our Webtoon, Dragon's Fate, is out! Please do check it out if you're interested in action, fantasy and slight angst.

You can find it on Webtoon. And you can find edits of the Webtoon and more of my art on my YT channel. Search 're-ika' with the @.

https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/dragons-fate/list?title_no=794983

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https://www.youtube.com/@re-ika