Everything Is Falling Apart ( But At Least I Have You)

He's Not Like Himself

The rest of Izuku's day passed in relative peace aside from the occasional teasing his friends subjected him to. But, that was to be expected. After all, you don't just get caught kissing in Heights' Alliance to not have people ridicule you for it for days after the fact. That was how Kaminari and Jiro got found out, they had been kissing (more passionately than Izuku and Katsuki) in the stairwell and Tokoyami had had the displeasure of walking in on the scene with Koda accompanying him. Really, Kaminari and Jiro should have been glad that one of their more chatty peers didn't walk in on them, the rest of the class only found out because Uraraka overheard Tokoyami mentioning the incident to Shoji. 

"So what was it like?" Uraraka teased Izuku, "Were you so overcome with passion that you simply couldn't bear t-"

Izuku slapped a hand over Uraraka's mouth, his face was burning red as he tried his best not to lose control of his quirk due to sheer embarrassment, "Please, Ochako, you're making everything out to be a bigger deal than it actually is." Izuku whispered harshly. Izuku's tone of voice didn't stop his friends from laughing, though. They chortled and chuckled at his expense, revelling in his awkward distress. 

In an odd sense, Izuku was grateful for the distraction of his and Katsuki's kiss being the talk of the class. Whilst there was still more attention on him than he was comfortable with, at least it was for something as stupid as an innocent kiss and not the bizarre series of events that had been unfolding over the last few months.

 In all honesty, Izuku couldn't deal with any of that at the moment. He didn't want to think of his expulsion, it brought him too much pain. He didn't want to think of the destruction of his childhood home (most likely by the League's hand) and the consequential hospitalisation of his mother, it only stabbed his heart with anguish. He didn't want to think of his three-month-long kidnapping, it was too ambigus. He didn't want to think about his reinstation, it was simply baffling. Izuku didn't want to reflect on any of the events that had occurred over the past months (well, he wouldn't mind dwelling on his first 'I love you' to Katsuki and his first kiss with his boyfriend, but they existed in a realm of their own).

"Stop teasing him, Ochako," Tsu chuckled, "If he turns any more red then I'm afraid we might lose him."

"He could get stuck with a permanently red face." Todoroki deadpanned. It was hard to tell when he was joking, he so rarely had any sort of inflexion in his voice. Izuku was sure he was joking this time, though, there was a slight curve to his lips that hinted at his attempt as a good-natured jest. 

The relentless teasing continued on throughout lunch, even Iida chimed in at one point with a rather humorous comment of his own. Izuku knew that he would sound like a broken record if he were to ever voice all of his thoughts aloud, but he truly did feel like he was where he was meant to be. He was with people that loved him and would do anything for him. He was with his family.

Afternoon classes that day were less about the practicalities of being a hero, and more about staying on the right side of the media. It was a class led by Present Mic, after all, their homeroom teacher wasn't exactly an expert when it came to dealing with the media given his style of hero work. 

Izuku was completely absorbed in the lesson. He listened intently to every word that passed Present Mic's mouth, he hung on to every syllable and scribbled notes at an erratic rate into his notebook. He had to make up for the near four months of content he had missed. 

He could practically see Katsuki roll his eyes at him, despite the fact that Katsuki was sitting in front of him, facing resolutely towards the board. It was par for the course for Katsuki to become exasperated by Izuku's frantic scribbling. Yes, Izuku was with his family.