painless.

CHAPTER 009.

"sometimes i lie, okay? you may remember, i already checked your blood pressure." dr. bakugou says when izuku enters the room and takes a seat.

"uh, nope. i don't really pay attention during these check-up things." izuku admits. "but, then, why am i in here still?"

"well, i went out there to tell you that i could contact your mother myself, but when i saw katsuki dragging you into the bathroom, i had to investigate." mitsuki answers. "is he still hurting you?"

"no, i swear to god, he just wanted to surprise me, because i haven't seen him in a week."

"you don't have to cover up for him. i want to know if he has a problem."

"no! really, he doesn't. just, he was excited to see me." izuku insists. "i actually hurt him; i gave him a bloody nose." izuku tries to take the spotlight off katsuki and onto himself.

"i would've, too, if he was hurting me like that."

it didn't work.

"okay, well, can i go? honestly, i'd rather spend as little time as possible here." izuku says, bluntly.

"you're kind of sassy, you know." mitsuki flicks her wrist, signifying that izuku can leave. it's about time.

izuku walks out the door, being cautious this time, to make sure he doesn't get dragged into a bathroom, nor spotted by his doctor. katsuki's no where to be seen, however, so izuku just starts his walk home. as he walks, he thinks about how mitsuki called him 'sassy'. the last time he could remember being called that was when he was five and he ate all the marshmellows that his mother had stocked in the cabinet. sassy was not a word that izuku had ever really associated with himself. blunt, maybe. annoying, probably. sassy? he's not too sure.

( okay, maybe he is sassy, but he doesn't want to admit it. it makes him seem a bit less nineteen-year-old and a bit more five-year-old. )

when izuku finally stumbles his way home, he checks the mail. like normal, there's bills and scam mail, but izuku is surprised to see a letter addressed to him. like, who would write a letter to izuku? there's no one he can think of, because almost everyone he knows owns a cellphone and has his number.

but, nonetheless, there's this letter in his hand; it's for him, and damn well he's going to read it, so let's cut to the chase.

sure enough, it's from the idiot a mile over. ( katsuki; and izuku doesn't really think he's an idiot. )

izuku tears open the envelope, because, who's he kidding, he sucks at opening envelopes. can anyone really open them up right?

anyway, izuku reads the letter, and it's basically just a ton of things katsuki had already been telling izuku over the phone. ( ex. how he got a ninety on his math test. ) izuku can't help but wonder who the hell besides katsuki would write a letter and hand deliver it to izuku's house just to tell him that he did good on a test? okay, so there was more than just about a test, but you get the gist of it.

izuku just smiles to himself and tucks the letter in his pocket, continuing on his way to the door. when he gets inside, he texts his mother to go meet with dr. bakugou after she's done with work. she replies that dr. bakugou had already told her they needed to talk. oh.

izuku proceeds to go into the living room and switches on the television, absentmindedly wondering what katsuki's doing. then, he shoots a text over to shoto, whom says they should get together soon. shoto invites izuku over, so after telling his mom he's leaving, izuku is on his way.

what katsuki's doing while izuku is with shoto, is meeting up with neito-who insisted that katsuki had to meet his eight trillion other friends. like, really, neito is super popular and katsuki wouldn't be surprised if he was friend with everyone on earth and beyond-if there is anyone beyond.

also, neito didn't tell katsuki how many people he was to be meeting, so katsuki just expected the worst; the worst being too many people to count. katsuki's surprised when he gets to neito's house that there are only four boys sitting on his couch, playing fifa.

"okay, so here is tomura, touya, hitoshi, and hanta." neito introduces, but katsuki cannot break his eye contact with hanta.

"hanta?" katsuki squeaks.

hanta can't break out of the trance either, because, holy shit, that's his ex-boyfriend standing right in front of him. the boyfriend that he broke up with to go out with denki; the boyfriend that he never properly broke up with-it was over text message; the boyfriend that hanta still thinks is goddamn hot. but, no, he can't be here, in musutafu.

as they stare at each other, the other three boys just glance around awkwardly, wondering what's going on.

"guys, are you alright?" neito's voice rings through the room and katsuki blinks once before looking at neito.

"uh, yeah, but i don't think i can stay here. i'll just, go home, i guess." katsuki mumbles, but hanta grabs his wrist before he can move.

"no, stay." hanta demands.

it hurts katsuki to even look in those black eyes, so he doesn't. he adverts his gaze over to the television.

"hanta," katsuki warns, shaking his wrist free. "i don't want to talk to you." or see you, or hear you, or think about you, for that matter, katsuki thinks.

"uhm, alright, just-i'm sorry, okay?" hanta says desperately, but katsuki shakes his head, walking right back out the door and leaving hanta to explain the dilemma to his now-curious friends.