Practice!| bkdk

Chapter 3. Getting Comfortable

Fluttering his eyes open, Izuku finds himself on the floor of his room on top of the mattress he had brought in yesterday. To his dismay, he realized he was woken up by the alarm he set up on his phone: for weekdays.

He gets up to get ready for school only to realize that Katsuki is nowhere to be seen. Assuming he was downstairs, he gets dressed for school and does his morning routine. First, he styles his hair the only way he knows how. Scrunch. Scrunch, scrunch, scrunch. In hopes that maybe that'll define his curls. He brushes his teeth and puts on deodorant, and he's good to go.

Making his way downstairs, he realizes Katsuki isn't there either.

"Mom, where's Kachan?"

"Oh, he woke up early to go get his uniform from home."

"Oh," Izuku voiced his disappointment.

"I'm sorry I had Katsuki stay over, honey."

"No, it's okay; I understand your intentions," Izuku said with a smile, still tired from waking up.

He grabbed his lunch box from the counter, shrugged on his red high tops, and started heading toward his middle school, which was reasonably close.

Admittedly, he was surprised to find that most students were ignoring him more than usual today. They turned their heads away as if turning a blind eye to the boy.

In the corner of his eye, he could see Katsuki with his friends, whom Katsuki was purposefully ignoring. His eyes caught Izuku's, and he briefly stared before turning his eyes back to his phone. Izuku kept walking.

The previous night had been expectantly uneventful, with small talk between Katsuki and Izuku here and there. The small talk consisted of Katsuki mostly teasing Izuku, but Izuku could see behind the facade. He could see the boy's effort to tolerate him, knowing that his mother would make him come over quite often.

And for once in his life, he wasn't complaining about something even with it being out of his control. It was a miracle that Katsuki was finally putting in effort and that Izuku was getting the confidence to reply to those snarky comments. It was like the universe switched on them the moment Katsuki and Izuku found out that Katsuki was no longer allowed to treat Izuku like he did. It was like the both of them didn't know how to act around each other, so they resorted to what felt natural. A mix between sarcastic remarks and playful teasing.

Izuku couldn't believe it. He felt like, for once, maybe he and Katsuki had a chance.

---------

Throughout the entire day, those who normally bullied him were nowhere to be seen. And when they were near, they completely ignored Izuku, going as far as walking away from him at a fast pace.

Everything he thought would happen if his mother found out just never happened. He wasn't teased even more; he wasn't beat up. He was just...left alone in peace. It was godsent.

As he headed home, he wondered if the universe was finally giving him the kindness he deserved.

His All Might key chain jangled against his keys as he opened the front door of his apartment building. Taking the elevator, he hummed to himself the theme song for a new hero series called: Mirko and her Rabbit Adventures. Despite its name, the show is a comedy/action show directed toward adults. He didn't mind the swearing or the subtle sex jokes; he mainly found the action and detective work the most interesting.

The elevator dinged to show the 7th floor where his home was. He stepped out to the right to see that a pair of black sneakers could be seen on the 'welcome' mat. He felt an adrenaline rush in his system, anticipating what tonight would bring. More small talk or maybe a considerable development in their friendship.

Izuku's black and white thinking didn't allow his brain to take things slow. The moment he finds any indication of a change, his brain creates assumptions, exaggerated optimism, if you will.

Izuku pulls the door handle open with an unashamed smile on his face.

"Welcome home, Izuku!" His mother called.

He toed off his shoes and basically skipped through the entrance hall. He saw Katsuki having dinner already, no surprised by his manners of not wanting to wait for him (I mean, this is Katsuki we're talking about).

He smiled at Katsuki fearlessly and grabbed a bowl of his mother's hot wonton soup. He furrowed his eyebrows at the unfamiliar recipe. Sitting in front of Katsuki, he turns around and looks at his mother.

"You don't normally make Chinese food, Mom. Why today?" Izuku curiously asks.

"Katsuki mentioned he liked wonton soup a few years ago, honey. So I thought it would be nice to make him a special dish."

Katsuki grunts in response to what Izuku and his mother can both tell was meant to be thank you.

"Oh. Alright then." Izuku smiles to himself. He figured out what his mom was doing. Inko was an intelligent woman, and she knew emotions like the back of her hand. She knew that if she were to treat Katsuki with respect, he would be more likely to reciprocate it and to fix his behavior than if she were to yell at him. Of course, she wasn't trying to change Katsuki's personality; she just wanted her son to be treated the same way Katsuki treats everyone.

Katsuki finished his soup quickly despite it scalding his tongue. He put his cutlery and plate in the dishwasher and sat on the couch in front of the TV.

Katsuki found that despite being here in the Midoriya household at least 15 times, he hadn't been here in a while and found it difficult to make himself at home. So he sat on the couch, not doing anything aside from staring at his reflection on the black screen of the TV.

He felt a weight next to him and saw in the reflection that it was Izuku, who was staring at his lap.

"So are you gonna sit there in silence, or are you gonna do something with your life?" Katsuki blurts.

Izuku thought to himself.

"Did Auntie Mitsuki yell at you after she found out?" He asked.

"HAH! No way in hell am I answering that. Plus, it's none of your fucking business."

Despite the rude response, Izuku knew that Katsuki had a point. It really was none of his business. So he let it go.

"Okay," Izuku responded. "It's getting late, so I'm heading to my room. I assume you're staying over again like you said, so I kept the mattress out this morning."

"Hmm."

For the next two hours, Katsuki and Izuku spent time in silence as they finished their homework. As dedicated students and aspiring heroes, it was essential to keep track of their studies.

Izuku studied on his desk near the window, and Katsuki took the bed.

That night not much conversation was made, but it was apparent that they were slowly getting comfortable with each other. More than they would like to admit.