Can't Choose

Chapter Seven

Izuku showered thoroughly, knowing he'd worked up quite the sweat during practice. He changed into fresh clothes, the feeling of cleanliness making him very relaxed. He stretched out, smiling to himself. Dinner was in about 10 minutes, so he could rest for a few minutes. (He tried not to think about how sore his legs were going to be the next day.)

When it was about 6:25, he hurried downstairs, his instinct to be punctual, even to dinner, urging him on. He knew he would be a little early, just a tiny bit, but that meant he wouldn't have to wait in the long lines for food. Hopefully, Kirishima had thought the same thing, so that they would actually be able to work according to their schedule.

He smiled, relieved as he entered the cafeteria and found Kirishima to be waiting for him. The green-haired teen walked over. Perfect! This should go really well then, so long as they don't get distracted by talking to their friends, or no accidents happen... Got to be extra careful eating, so that nothing throws them off...

"Midoriya? You're sorta mumbling," Kirishima interjected, snapping Izuku out of his musing. The shorter boy immediately went bright red. "Um, sorry, Kirishima! I do that sometimes, I don't know why, it's weird, right? A lot of people think it's wei一"

Kirishima laughed. "Midoriya, it's fine! You just keep doing what you do, bro! It's not all that weird."

Izuku rubbed the back of his neck, embarrassed, then gave a small laugh. "I'm glad you think that," he said, before glancing over at the cafeteria doors. "We should get in line, other people are getting here." Kirishima nodded in agreement, and the two quickly moved over to see what they were going to be eating today.

As they grabbed their food, Izuku asked, "Where's Kacchan? You guys are together most of the time, right?"

"Oh, he'll probably be down soon. I think he was...stretching? He said something about needing to keep himself in peak condition."

Izuku smiled, amused. Seems like something the blonde would say, definitely. But now it made Izuku realize that he probably should have stretched after practice, too... He mentally shook himself. That was not what needed his focus right now.

The two boys stepped out of the line, now holding trays of food and sat down at a table. They ate for a few minutes, just idly chatting, until Kirishima glanced up and called, "Hey, Katsuki! Hurry and grab your food!" Even from this distance, with Bakugou at the other end of the large cafeteria, Izuku could see the eye roll. Kirishima just grinned that bright grin of his and returned to his food.

Izuku tensed up a little when Bakugou dropped himself down next to Kirishima. When the blonde didn't explode at him or anything, he let himself relax. The trio simply ate in slightly awkward silence for a short while, until Bakugou's voice broke through the silence.

"I can make way better food than this garbage," he muttered, though Izuku noticed he still kept scarfing it down.

"Your cooking is really good, Kacchan," Izuku said, not really sure why he thought Bakugou would appreciate his input; the words just decided to come out of his mouth.

"It's not like I need you to tell me what I already know, Deku. I'm the best at everything."

"Katsuki, how many times do I gotta tell you? Don't be rude!"

"Tch," was Bakugou's only response. Kirishima shook his head, saying something to Bakugou that Izuku couldn't quite pick up. He didn't want to be rude, since he was sure he wasn't meant to hear it in the first place, so he didn't ask. All three boys resumed eating, Kirishima notably eating the fastest out of all of them. He was almost just pouring the food into his mouth.

"Kirishima, please don't choke..." Izuku warned, a little bemused. "You don't need to rush."

"This is normal, shit nerd," Bakugou said. The insult in that sentence came loud and clear, but Izuku thought that perhaps he'd heard some amusement under it, too? A strange, light feeling unfurled in his chest, but he couldn't quite figure out just what it was.

Izuku opened his mouth to say something, but Bakugou didn't let him.

"Just eat, damn it. You start working at 7, remember, nerd? So quit your shitty talking!"

Izuku clamped his mouth shut and nodded, lowering his head to hide his smile. He quickened his eating pace, not eating as fast as the red-haired boy sitting across from him, of course.

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When the boys finished, Bakugou stood up. "See you losers, have fun working," he said sassily, stalking off towards the exit with hands in pockets.

"Katsuki?"

Izuku almost didn't think the blonde would stop when Kirishima called his name.

"You sure you don't want to help us out? After all, you're the smartest guy I know..."

"No damn way!" Bakugou responded. "Do your own work, shitty hair! Not my fault you can't work as fast as me." With that, he walked out the door. Kirishima chuckled. "I don't know what I expected from that. Come on, Midoriya let's go."

"Are we going to your room?" Izuku asked curiously.

"Yep! Unless you'd rather go to yours"

"Yours is fine," Izuku replied, satisfied to follow Kirishima upstairs to wherever his dorm was located. Besides, Izuku's room was just about covered in merchandise for his favorite movie superhero, All Might.

Kirishima pushed open the door to his room. "Sorry, man, it's a bit messy."

"It's okay," Izuku said, looking around. Yeah, it was a bit messy, but it wasn't going to affect their productivity. They set up an area in the middle of the floor, sitting with legs crossed in front of them.

"Okay, so what materials are we going to need?" Kirishima started them off.

"Probably cardboard... hot glue, definitely! Plastic, maybe?"

Kirishima nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, the hot glue is really important. Hang on, we should write this down." The spiky-haired teen pushed himself off the ground and walked over to the desk in the corner, snatching up a pen and a few sheets of paper.

"So, cardboard...plastic...hot glue..." he said the materials to himself as he scribbled them down.

"We'll need tape, too," Izuku added thoughtfully after a few moments. "We won't need hot glue for everything, right? And definitely lots of markers and construction paper, for the key, so we can differentiate our structures."

"You're good at this, Midoriya! Good ideas," Kirishima said while he added the things Izuku listed onto the paper. "What do you think the base should be made of? Cardboard, or what?"

"Cardboard might bend," Izuku began, pondering the question. "Then again, it won't... We could layer it? Oooh, then we could slope it down at one end, too, to simulate the shore!" His already bright green eyes lit up as he imagined it.

"Woah, that's perfect!" Kirishima grabbed a different sheet of paper and started to rapidly and messily sketch something. "Like this?"

Izuku nodded quickly. 'Yeah, that's it."

"I take back what I said earlier, Midoriya. You are, in fact, great at this."

Izuku blushed lightly at the praise, and Kirishima laughed.

"Okay, let's keep going. We might even be able to get ahead at this rate!"

Izuku felt the corner of his lips turn up with a smile, and he bobbed his head quickly in agreement, beginning to search his mind for any materials they could have forgotten about. Soon, they'd be able to get started. This project was much more exciting than Izuku'd thought it would be.

A/N: Hey, guys! I don't have too much to say, just that hopefully next chapter will get posted before two weeks go by, haha. I'm just very bad with time and remembering things. (Great example: I finished this chapter today, then, minutes later, forgot about posting it. Thankfully, I remembered.) But, anyway, hope you enjoy this chapter!

-Lavender