Below The Surface

A Bakudeku College AU | 29 Chapters | Slow Burn | Hurt/Comfort | Enemies to Lovers

Izuku Midoriya didn't come to Shizuoka University to tutor the football team's golden boy.
He came to survive-on scholarships, caffeine, and sheer willpower. Between late-night study sessions, phone calls from a struggling mom, and the weight of a past he can't outrun, Izuku's barely holding it together.

But when Katsuki Bakugou-loud, cruel, and aggressively gifted-starts failing his classes, the university makes one thing clear: if Izuku doesn't tutor him, Katsuki's off the team. And if Izuku refuses? He loses his scholarship.

Neither of them want this.

Katsuki remembers Izuku all too well-small, soft-spoken, the same kid he bullied in middle school. Izuku remembers even more.

What starts as mutual hatred becomes a slow, reluctant partnership. Tension builds. Tempers flare. Old wounds resurface. And somewhere between textbook pages and long, aching glances, something else sparks to life: understanding. Maybe even something close to love.

But nothing is simple when you've both been raised in the wreckage of broken homes and broken expectations.

This is a story about anger, guilt, healing, and the kind of love that grows in the dark-quiet, bruised, and burning.