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Izuku was a little confused.
Okay a LOT confused.
You see, after the war his relationship with Kacchan had been so much stronger, him apologizing and all. They even finally came clean about their mutual feelings for each other, Izuku now being able to call him his boyfriend (younger him was still fanboying about it).
Things have been great, but lately Kacchan has been a little distant, secretive even..
He doesn't want to assume the worst of him, but he wants him to be honest with him about whatever is going on.
Usually they train together after classes end. It’s something they both found to be relaxing– as ironic as that sounds. They never skip, until recently.
Kacchan has been making up excuses to not train.
“Sorry ‘Zuku, Aizawa wanted to talk to me after class-”
“I can’t today babe, shitty hair asked me to help him and dunce face study.”
“I’m really tired, maybe tomorrow.”
Originally he thought that Kacchan was sick, or actually tired from the school day and just wanted some time to himself, but he started to have his doubts when his whereabouts did not match up with his excuse.
During the time he and Kacchan weren’t training, Izuku thought he’d spend more time with his hero analysis hobby. He was looking more into Rock Lock's quirk when he developed a theory on what could be done with a quirk like that, and he wanted to get a second opinion, that opinion being from Kacchan. He’d never admit it but he also loves hero analysis.
But when he went to find him he was nowhere to be found, he wasn't even with Kirishima, the person he ditched training for.
“Bakubro? Uh– no we didn't have any plans, why?” Kirishma told him when he asked about their supposed “plans”, which all turned out to be bullshit. Izuku had so many questions left unanswered. Why did Kacchan lie to him? What is he doing instead? How many more things has he lied about?
He mentally slapped himself, no! Kacchan probably has a reasonable explanation for all of this.
Right?
—---
Okay he can’t take it anymore. Not only has Kacchan not trained with him in over 2 weeks, he has barely spoken to him. He's tried to ask what's been going on but everytime he's shut down or the subject is changed. He thought that after everything they have been through together that they’ve learned to communicate, guess not.
So he came up with a plan.
First, he’d ask him to train like usual, then follow him to wherever has his attention.
Or who.
He’s been trying to not assume the worst of his boyfriend, but it's hard when there's been more than a couple signs.
Class 3-A is sitting in their last class of the day, everyone itching to leave when the bell rings, no one was as restless as Izuku though. He had to be redirected by Aizawa sensei multiple times throughout the hour, even being asked if he needed to go to the nurse.
He might have been a tad bit nervous about going through with his plan..
What if he was overreacting and Kacchan broke up with him for assuming the worst? What if everything he assumed ended up being true??
He needed to go through with this though, he couldn't take the constant doubt anymore.
The second the bell rings he is in front of his boyfriends desk, “Wanna train?” He asked, this being the first time he wasn't disappointed by being blown off.
“Sorry can’t, already made plans” Kacchan said and stood from his desk, grabbing his bag and waving Izuku off as he walked out of class.
Phase one, complete. Now the hard part.
He rushed after him out the door, keeping a healthy distance. Close enough to not lose him but far back enough to not be detected. He didn’t have that much trouble though, he wasn’t exactly quiet but due to Kacchans quirk he had horrible hearing. They ended up in the dorms, which was not anything out of the ordinary. “Maybe he is just tired”.
What was odd is him walking right past his dorm,
Weird..
None of his immediate friends' dorms were down this hall, where could he…
Then he stops and knocks
On Urarakas door.
What could he possibly be doing with Uraraka?? They barely spoke during class, let alone in the dorms.
The door opens and she smiles at him, grabbing his arm and pulling him in, shutting the door.
This is even worse than he thought, and his worse was pretty bad.
But with his best friend?? That's a low he never thought possible. Tears well up in his eyes faster than he can even realize. He slides his back down the wall he was hiding behind.
He doesn't know how long he just sits there, he doesn't know when his tears run out, all he can understand is that his heart aches.
“Midori? What's wrong?”
He finds the strength to look up at the voice, finding it belonged to Mina Ashido.
“Why are you on the floor? Are you okay??” She crouches down next to him and examines him it seems, probably looking for wounds, any cause of the state he’s in.
He can't muster the strength to say anything but “He doesn't love-” he wrenches up as he starts to sob again. She brings him into her arms and just holds him. After a while he notices himself being moved, but he's all of a sudden too tired to really make out anything that's happening. His eyes close and it all goes black.
—---
When he comes back to himself he can hear muffled bickering.
“...worried about him… Where's Baku…” a voice too masculine to be Minas rang.
“Wait he’s waking up..!!” He finally manages to open his eyes, seeing Mina and Tokoyami sitting on each side of him. “Midoriya, are you alright?” Tokoyami asked him, dark shadow seemingly expressing his worry more than he was.
Izuku groaned and rubbed his eyes, adjusting to the sudden bright lights and his booming headache, “Where am I?” He looked around, the decor shows that this definitely isn't his own room.
“Oh! We’re in Tokoyami’s room. I didn't know what to do once you stopped responding to me so I tried to find someone to help me bring you somewhere more private and Tokoyami happened to be nearby.” Mina explained.
“Yes, I had dark shadow carry you to my room since it was closest. Sorry about the lights by the way, dark shadow has been very worried about you so I turned them on to avoid them going out of control.” he bowed apologetically.
“It’s alright, thank you for helping me.. But I should be on my way” he attempted to sit up and get out of the bed, but he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Oh heck no! You still haven't explained why you were so distraught!” She pointed at him accusingly. “I even searched for possible wounds or bruises and found not-ta! So get to talking.”
I guess there's no avoiding this,
He sighed “Fine, but I don't want you going and starting something with them after i tell you.” he started, she rolled her eyes “Yes sure whatever”
“No you have to promise.” He said more sternly. “Okay, I promise Midoriya, this must be serious then” she nodded her head and waited attentively for whatever he had to say.
“Alright well, um..” ‘where did he even start with this?’ “Kacchan hasn't really been talking to me, he's been skipping our training time after classes for the past 2 weeks and all the things he said he was doing instead turned out to all be lies and he's actually been spending time with Uraraka in her dorm and I reallydontknowwhattodo–” He finally gets it all out and he's panting at the end of it by how fast he was talking.
After no immediate reply, he slowly looks up at his two friends to see their jaws dropped and eyes wide in shock, dark shadow included.
“Um.. guys?”
“WHAT THE FUCK???” Mina finally exclaims.
“Are we sure this is a cheating situation?” Tokoyami reasons.
“Well what other situation could it be?!” She argues. They continue to bicker back and forth, Mina doing most of the arguing and Tokoyami coming in with short little retorts to her claims.
“Guys!” He exclaims louder than he intended, but it seemed to get their attention finally.
“I don't want to assume the worst of him after all that we’ve been through, but I don't think there could be any other reason for this. There have been too many signs.” He admits, “But I do want to hear their explanation, I don't think Ochacho would do this to me behind my back.”
“Ooh you're right! That doesn't seem like her at all!” “I agree”
‘Finally they can agree on something..’
“Okay! What should our next move be?” Mina stands up with her hands on her hips, looking confident.
“Our next move? Huh?” Izuku looks at her cluelessly
“Hell yeah! We aren't just gonna leave you here to deal with this all by yourself! Look at the good that did before” She grabs Tokoyami by the arm, linking theirs together and smiling at him.
“Well, I suppose you're right.” He admits, “I’d probably just drive myself insane thinking about this all by myself anyways” He says, scratching the back of his neck.
“Well then it's settled, sleepover time!! If that's okay with you Tokoyami-” He glances over at him for his reply.
“I have no issues with this, I wish to help Midoriya-” he pauses “.. and dark shadow wouldn't let me say no I think” he admits shivering at the feeling of dark shadow staring at the back of his head intently.
So they all went back to their dorms- well actually it was just Mina because Izuku had still been too exhausted to stand really- and got together overnight bags and cozied up in Tokoyamis dorm.
Now sitting in a circle on the floor, comfy in their PJ’s, they came up with a plan.
Since Mina was in Bakugou's inner circle, she’d be their best bet on talking to him about anything, disguising her overbearing questions as her usual “Annoying self” in the works of Kacchan. She was to try and get answers Kacchan wouldn't easily admit to Izuku if he was doing anything unfaithful.
After that they didn't really have anything planned, I guess it was just a waiting game to see if Kacchan would slip up.
—------------
The day he found him sneaking around had been on a Friday, so they had to go through the weekend before they could do anything, and Izuku had been completely avoiding Bakugou all together.
Today is the day they put their plan in action.
They were to act as if it was a normal day in class, save for Minas questions.
Kacchan had gotten to his seat before class, just as he always did (he called people nerds a lot for someone who went to bed at the same time every night and was never late to wherever he was going). Mina walks up to him and leans on his desk to get his attention “Hey Bakugou!! How ya doin?” She grins at him in her usual manner.
“Bad now that you're bothering me, what the fuck do you want??” He didn't even spare her a glance, trying to focus on his notes and ignore her.
“Well I was just wondering if you wanted to do something with the squad after classes? You haven't hung out with us in a bit and we for some reason miss your negativity” She teased and tried ruffling his hair, but he grabbed her wrist before she could.
“Don't fucking touch me extra- and no, I’m busy.” He answered plainly, releasing her wrist. She pulled her arm back and rubbed her wrist before leaning down so she was eye level with him.
“Busy with what??” she raised a brow at him accusingly. He finally looked up at her and frowned
“none of your goddamn business that's what!” she spat back in her face and then leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs on his desk, deciding he was completely done with the conversation.
“But-” She was cut off by Aizawa sensei walking into class. “To your seats, Bakugou feet off the desk.” He mumbled out, sounding like he had just woken up- which was very likely actually.
Mina scoffed and made her way to her seat, looking over at Izuku with an apologetic smile. He returned it with a nod, understanding that they still have class regardless of his issues.
All through-out class he kept his eye on Kacchan, which wasn't too hard with how the seating chart was. He noticed unusual glances at the clock, he wasn't usually eager to leave but right now he looked like he was gonna jump out of his seat as soon as the bell rang.
Izuku got lost in his thoughts just as he usually did during class, though this time was filled with a load of self doubt,
‘What was really going on? If this was Kacchan being unfaithful, what had he done for this to happen? Or what HADN’T he done-’
“Midoriya.” He was snapped out of his thoughts by Aizawa. “Y-yes?” He looked towards the board for the first time that hour.
“I asked if you were okay, you've been staring into space with an upset look for the past 20 minutes.” He raised his eyebrow at him, waiting for his excuse.
“I’m.. actually could I go to the nurse?” He sighed, he couldn't stand even trying to pretend his brain was riddled with awful thoughts of his supposed to be faithful partner. He got a nod in return and grabbed his bag and left the classroom, not sparing a glance at his boyfriend, “He probably didn’t even notice he left”.
He made it to the nurse and got welcomed in by Recovery girl, and by welcome it was more of a scolding for seeing him in here again, and telling him to stop getting injured as much as he does as she led him to one of the beds to examine whatever his issue may be.
But during her scolding she noticed his gloomy aura, so she took his hand in hers, “What's going on in that head of yours hun?” She smiled up at him awaiting his answer.
His answer.. He didn't really know how to answer actually, so he just sighed and said “I guess I just have some stuff going on that I don't know how to deal with.” He looked down and away from her with a frown. “What kind of stuff? Hero stuff or people stuff?” She asked again and patiently waited for him to gather his thoughts.
He finally looked at her and started tearing up, “People stuff, my partner hasn't really been speaking to me, and I saw him sneaking into my best friend's dorm..” He finally confessed and broke down. She rubbed his hands in a comforting manner, and just let him get his feelings out, he ranted on and on about his absence and how he doesn't know what to do.
As he calmed down she looked at him, “Have you confronted them about your worries?” She inquired.
“I can't get him to talk to me long enough to even talk to me normally, let alone have a serious conversation with him.” He whined and pulled at his own hair in frustration.
“Hmm, I see.. Well, do you have anyone else who knows about this? Any classmates?”
He nodded, “I have two who have been helping me figure this out.” He smiled at that realization, he has two good friends on his side.
“Then I'm sure you'll make it through this eventually.” She smiled and patted his hand, before turning around to retrieve something from her desk.
“I know I didn't actually examine you, but would you like a sucker anyway?” She turned around with a handful of different flavored suckers to choose from. “I’d love one” He grinned and looked for a flavor he liked.
Meanwhile in class
As Izuku got up from his desk and walked out, he didn't notice his boyfriend staring at him in worry. As the lesson continued he couldn't help but think about what had been up with Izuku, usually if he were sick he’d completely shut down any accusations of him being ill, him ASKING to go to the nurse was a huge red flag.
When the bell rang he couldn't even care about his plans afterwards, he needed to know what was wrong with his boyfriend. As he grabbed his things he went to march to the nurse, but he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.
“What the- fucking let go of me pinky!” He snapped at her before seeing the expression on her face, it was serious and tense, something he has never seen from her outside of battle.
“No, I need you to sit here and listen to us.” she grabbed his shoulder harder, bird for brains coming to stand beside her with an equally serious expression.
“Okay..??” he turned around to face them, they were now the only people left in the room.
Mina let go of his shoulder now that she was completely sure he wasn't going to run off, and crossed her arms. “You need to stop whatever it is you've been doing, or WHO you've been doing.” She furrowed her brows.
“What are you talking about???” He was genuinely confused by her behavior and accusations.
“Oh you know, you sneaking into Urarakas room after lying to his face? He's not fucking stupid Katsuki.” She pointed a finger in his face and got uncomfortably close, causing him to back into the wall.
“Sneaking into- oh my god” His face dawned with the realization, Izuku had seen him go to his bestfriends room, and came to the conclusion he was cheating on him with her.
“Yeah! Now that you've finally realized, will you explain why you're such a huge asshole? Why have you now decided that after everything you two have been through, you go to his BEST FRIEND, and do things together behind his back?? That so-”
“CAN YOU LET ME FUCKING EXPLAIN??” Bakugou shouts back at her, tears in his eyes. She hadn't noticed that he’d been crying, so she shuts her mouth and waits.
He huffs, out of breath from that outburst, “Thank you..” He gathers his thoughts and says “I am not cheating on him, I love him.” He looks at her with a softness she's never seen. “I don't like Uraraka in that way, hell I’m not even attracted to girls” He grips his bangs, frustrated with himself.
“Then why have you been ghosting him? What could you possibly be doing there?” Mina questioned, less angry but you could still tell she was holding back from releasing the wraiths of hell on him.
“I’m.. I’ve-” before he could explain someone came into the room.
“Bakugou? What are you doing we’re not gonna get there in time- AH!” Uraraka exclaimed after being grabbed and slammed against the ceiling.
“Dark shadow! Let her down now!” Tokoyami exclaimed, unable to control the anger of his quirk. Dark shadow grumbled and slowly let her down onto the floor. She wore a confused expression and rubbed her now aching shoulder. “Um.. what's going on?” She pulled herself together to ask.
“We’re trying to figure out what's going on between you and Bakugou.” Tokoyami deadpanned.
“Um?? Nothings going on- "
"Don't even try, he said that you're not fooling around, but then what is it?? What have you been ignoring your fucking boyfriend for?” Mina interrupted, tired of this meaningless back and forth. She looked back at Bakugou, with a look that said ‘Get to talking.’
Bakugou sighed, realizing there was no other option.
“Pink cheeks has been helping me, um..” He all of a sudden grew nervous and stopped.
“Help you what?? Spit it out!” “She's been helping me figure out my identity!” they yelled out, rubbing their eyes.
“She's been helping me figure out what I am, cuz I don't think I'm a boy.” They finally admit, looking at the floor like it's the most interesting thing in the world, scared for their reaction.
“That's it?”
Huh?
“What do you mean ‘That's it’? That's a big thing!” They look at Mina with a confused and pained expression.
“No! It is definitely, it's just better than we thought you were doing.” She let out a breath of air and chuckled. “Wait- why did you go to her and now Izuku??” She questioned, no longer angry but confused.
“I didn’t, she caught me” They frowned.
“I did, I went to return they're notes he lent me and I saw them trying to fit into a dress that was wayy too small for them '' Uraraka finally spoke up and confessed, giggling at the memory.
‘“Hey don't you fucking laugh at me, I can't help how big my arms are.” They frowned.
“I know I know, You just didn't have anything that fit you.”
“So let me get this straight, you've been helping him- I'm sorry what do you go by?” Mina stopped herself trying to respect Bakugou’s new identity.
“They/Them is what I'm most comfortable with, and I haven't changed my name, and um, thanks for caring.” They looked away sheepishly.
“Of course, and it's not a big deal we’ll always support you, even if you are a big meanie most of the time” She giggled and teased them before continuing, “Okay now that we know what's really going on, I think you should tell Midoriya, he's been like really messed up because of this”
“Oh shit.. Yeah I do, I'm sure he’s left the nurse by now” They facepalmed and thought over how to go about this.
“Why not just text him to meet you somewhere? He's been itching for even an ounce of attention from you.” Tokoyami suggested bluntly and shrugged, resulting in Mina smacking his shoulder. Bakugou raised their hand.
“No I deserved that, yeah I think I'll do that.
“Now go get your man back!” Mina hyped them up before pushing them out of the classroom to get on with it.
—--------
Izuku had made it back to his dorm and tried to focus on homework, blue raspberry sucker being absentmindedly chewed on, when he got a ping from his phone. It was Kacchan.
-Kacchan ♡
Come to my room?
He didn't respond for a few minutes, in actual shock that his boyfriend finally wants to speak with him.
-You
Okay.
He usually did not respond that dryly, but he didn't have the energy to act like nothing was wrong and get dumped within the span of 10 minutes. He slowly got his shoes on and made the foreboding walk to his boyfriends room. When he got there he prepared himself for what was to come, for the heartbreak and confirmation of everything he assumed.
He finally knocked on the door, and it opened quickly after, Kacchan standing there with wide eyes and a nervous look. “Hey ‘Zuku” They gave him a small smile and let him in.
“Hey.” he sat on their bed, looking down at the carpet.
“Okay well um..” Kacchan started, pausing to seemingly collect their thoughts before starting again. “I’m not cheating on you.” Izuku rolls his eyes and scoffs, “Okay thanks for the convincing story! If that's all you have to say then I'm leaving-” Izuku says sarcastically then stands but gets grabbed by the shoulders and pushed back on the bed.
“Just let me talk! Fuck..” they whined uncharacteristically.
“Fine, go on, explain.” He crossed his arms and frowned up at his boyfriend, waiting for whatever excuse they had.
“As I said, I'm not cheating on you with floaty bitch, I don't even like girls Izuku '' They paused for any kind of reaction but was still met with his boyfriends unimpressed expression. “Can you fucking say something??”
“I don't know what you want me to say, I haven't been told anything I think I can actually believe” Izuku snapped back.
Fed up with being the bad guy, they finally snap “Okay you wanna know what we’ve been doing?! Playing dress up! Yeah you heard me, I've been wearing girl clothes because I'm a fucking freak okay!?” They break down, tears falling due to their frustration, hands coming up to pull at their own hair.
Izuku has never been more confused in his life, “Wait, what's going on? What do you mean you're a freak?” He stood up and grabbed Kacchans hands to stop them from pulling their own hair out.
“I'm not a boy and I like wearing dresses, I'm not the man you want I’m a fucking freak imsorryimsorry-” they barely get out between the gasping, falling into a panic attack.
“Nono you're not a freak, shhh it's alright honey, I need you to take some deep breaths for me, let's calm down.” he lowered them both onto the bed.
After a couple minutes of deep breaths and reassuring cooing, Kacchan finally calmed down enough to speak.
“You okay?” Izuku pushed Kacchans hair back to see more of their face, making sure they were okay.
They nodded, “Yeah, I’m okay now” They still seemed shaken but a lot better.
“Now, please explain to me what you meant, I'm not here to judge, I just.. I need to know what's going on.” He held his lover's hands in his, worry displayed across his face.
Katsuki took one more deep breath and nodded, sitting up more. “I um, Uraraka has been helping me figure out if I'm a boy, and I'm not..” They said, finally looking up at their partner.
“If you're not a boy then are you trans? Are you a girl?”
“No, no I'm not a girl, I don't feel like I fit in with either gender.” they squeezed their eyes shut, scared for the rejection that might come.
“So you're Nonbinary?”
Katsuki looked up at him and nodded, surprised that there was no backlash, “U-um yeah, that's what I think..” They wiped the tears from their eyes with their palm.
“So this is why you've been avoiding me?”
“You're not mad?”
Izuku smiled and shook his head, chuckling a bit “Of course not, you could identify as a fish and I’d still be head over heels for you. I’m more upset about you not thinking you could talk to me about this.” He placed a hand on their shoulder and looked at them expectantly.
“I wasn't sure how’d you react, I didn't want you to be disgusted and then dump me” they put a hand on the others, “and now I feel stupid for even thinking you'd react that way” they looked down in guilt.
“Hey, it's okay, I can only imagine how hard this has been for you. I just wish I could have helped in some way” he placed a sweet peck on the other's shoulder.
“So, have you changed your name at all? What has changed” He smiled up at them, getting a smile back.
“Well, I haven't changed my name because I still like it, and it doesn't feel too masculine, and I go by they/them now.”
“Are you okay with being called my boyfriend still? Or would you prefer something else?” He asks and gets a nod in return,
“Yeah that's all fine still, all the masculine terms are fine, I just like androgynous and feminine terms to be used too now..” They look away sheepishly.
“Soo.. do you like it when I call you pretty?” He looked at the other with a smirk, who was now red in the face, nodding shyly, “y-yeah..”
“Well you are, you are the prettiest thing I've ever seen” He leaned up to kiss them, but ended up getting pushed away because of his boyfriend's embarrassment.
“Stop nerd I can't-” they cover their face.
“Whaatt? You can’t handle your boyfriend telling you how gorgeous you are?” He stands up and barrels into the other, hugging them and smothering them with kisses to the face. Kacchan can’t control their laughter during, making a horrible effort at pushing the other away.
When Izuku finally decides to let up on the streams of affection, they are both cuddled together on their sides, smiles on their faces that express nothing but their undying affection for one another.
Izuku raises a hand to the others cheek, lightly tracing the scars that live there. “I meant what I said, you are beautiful, and I’m not letting you go for anything.” he gets a smile and tears in return,
“Thanks, love you nerd.”
“I love you too, Kacchan, forever and always.”