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"Your secret's safe with me,"
The damn nerd shot him a look — skeptical, face scrunched like he'd smelt something bad — and Katsuki bared his teeth in a snarl, leaning over to ram all his weight into the nerd and squish him into the arm of the sofa. Deku squeaked and yelled, jabbing him in the ticklish spot by his ribs in a dirty trick that had him recoiling and setting off annoyed pops.
"Don't pout at me, Kacchan!" Deku huffed, righting himself. Katsuki was not pouting. "You just… can't keep secrets very well,"
WHAT? He was amazing at keeping secrets! None of the extras in his class knew anything about his private life, and he'd kept it that way for months, he'd continue to keep it that way for years. If anything, stupid Deku was the one that couldn't keep secrets — it was so obvious that something was going on with him and All-Might, even ditsy IcyHot knew about it, even Pikachu had asked about it once over lunch.
"I'm the best at keeping secrets, shithead," he snapped, slouching in his seat and grinding his jaw. "You'll fucking see."
Deku sighed, lips pressed thinly together. "Okay, Kacchan, if you say so…"
Katsuki knew he had an ego, he wasn't fucking oblivious. Despite that ego, though, he could still be the bigger man and (internally) admit that maybe, maybe, he wasn't… superb at keeping secrets. That didn't mean he was bad, though, despite what shitty Deku thought. He hadn't spilt the nerd's secret and told the world about One For All, had he? No, he fucking hadn't.
Even though he really wanted to.
It was just so fucking obvious now that he knew! Deku hadn't had a quirk, then suddenly had one; One For All. Deku's body didn't immediately take to the quirk; One For All. Deku had his quirk listed as some purposefully vague strength-enhancer that he never explicitly named, just as All-Might had done for a large portion of his career before reporters had learnt to just quit asking; fucking One For All. The nerd even ripped-off All-Might's punches, for fucks sake.
And they didn't even try and hide the fact that All-Might and Deku were best buddies! They were constantly having lunch together, private training together, secret meetings together — every time Deku was injured, All-Might was there. They even fucking gossiped during training!
If IcyHot had fucking clocked-on to All-Might's blatant favouritism of Deku, then everyone else sure-as-shit had. The only question was who was going to bring it up first?
The answer was, obviously, Pikachu and Racoon-Eyes. On a good day, those two were curious. On any other day, they were straight-up gossips, bordering on private investigators. Of course they'd take note of the class query and start asking around. Of course he'd been the first person they'd come to, along with Glasses and Round-Face. Of course they chose to interrogate him whilst he was making everyone dinner — sure, his already short-temper was minuscule whilst he was cooking, but at least he was highly unlikely to blow anything up.
"Come on, Blasty," Pikachu pouted, hanging off one of his arms, grip light and ready to run. "What's going on with Midoriya and All-Might?"
Racoon-Eyes was on his other side, sticking her head in his face as he stabbed at the food in the pan with chopsticks. "We know you know, y'know. Midobabe tells you a lot more than he tells other people, especially since you're childhood friends,"
"We're not," he snapped, "I don't know anything about him, and Deku knows nothing about me,"
("You know nothing about me, Deku, just fuck off and mind your shitty business!"
"I know you swear more when you're upset, Kacchan! I know the way Takeuchi-sensei treats you is wrong! She shouldn't touch you, Kacchan, not like that! It's not right—"
"I didn't ask for your opinion, quirkless runt! At least someone wants to touch me, at least they're not scared of catching your disease!")
Raccoon Eyes laughed, poking his nose and moving her hand when he snapped at her. She leant on his shoulder, tone teasing. "Don't lie, Bakubabe! We know you know what's going on!"
("Don't lie, Katsuki. It's okay, I can feel how much you like this. No more tears, now, that's not how big boys make love to a woman,"
"I don't— I don't want to, I don't like this, I don't— please—")
The chopsticks snapped in his grasp, and Racoon-Eyes backed off a bit. Pikachu took the chopsticks off him, giving him a new pair in the hopes of being helpful. The thoughtfulness was lost when he shoved his chin on Katsuki's shoulder, prodding him in the sides. "C'mon, tell us! It's juicy, right?"
"Kaminari, please act appropriately in the kitchen!" Glasses scolded, the rest of the idiots watching the annoying display. "You wouldn't want Bakugo to hurt himself,"
Tape-Face made his way over, resting his obnoxious elbow on Katsuki's head, smile ever-present. "Just tell 'em, dude,"
"Oh, are you asking about Deku?" Round-Face bounced over, trying to tug at his arm. "Tell us!"
Katsuki shrugged her arm off, tossing his head to get Tape-Face away, but their touch just kept on coming back. He felt too crowded, cornered, and at the same time he felt Takeuchi-sensei's possessive grip, her caressing touches, her hands underneath his clothes — and the idiots just kept on asking, kept yanking him every which way, asking about Deku and All-Might, and whatever's in the pan is burning very slightly—
"Maybe they're sleeping together, I don't fucking know!"
…Shit.
Katsuki had never started a rumour before. He'd never been bothered much by gossip, especially not the type of gossip that just seemed underwhelming. Besides, if he had an opinion about someone, he'd just tell them to their shitty face, instead of playing long-winded games.
But this was accidental, so it didn't count, right?
It's not like he'd spread his words around the class. That was Raccoon-Eyes. And Pikachu had been the one to start debating it with Shitty-Hair, both with frowns on their faces. Then there was Round-Face, who'd started analysing his fucking statement like she was Deku himself. At least Glasses and Ponytail had the brains to debate if it was misinformation or not. They'd even asked him if he'd lied… okay, him denying it might have been his fault a little. Maybe.
But if he admitted to lying and blurting out the only thing on his mind, they'd question it. He couldn't deal with that, he didn't fucking want to. It was his business, not theirs. He'd tell them if the situation was dire, or if Deku found out, or worse, All—
"I AM HERE!"
Katsuki jolted in his seat as All-Might burst through the door, eyes blown wide, though he quickly tried to hide it. All-Might wasn't meant to be here, they were training with Aizawa, he was literally standing at the front of the class! He didn't even look surprised, just tired and sort of pissed-off, as usual.
Aizawa sighed like life physically pained him. He rubbed his temple, then cleared his throat. "All-Might will be taking your lesson today. Behave."
Behind him, Katsuki heard Deku audibly brighten at the sight of his bestie. Always so goddamn chipper. Everyone else had the complete opposite reaction; they murmured among themselves, glancing between All-Might and Deku's probably-beaming face. They were… the idiots were glaring at All-Might. Katsuki had managed to turn the majority of the class against All-Might, the fucking Symbol of Peace!
He'd feel smug if he wasn't panicking a little.
The walk to the changing rooms was… painfully quiet. He had Pikachu at his arm, lightly holding his forearm to steady himself (stupid idiot had had another seizure that morning), whilst Deku walked ahead with Glasses and IcyHot, completely oblivious to the looks the extras were shooting him. The silence and the glances continued into the changing room before it was suddenly broken by Shitty Hair.
Deku had taken his shirt off, revealing the few scrapes on his back and the hand-shaped bruising around his wrist. Katsuki knew what the injury was from — Deku had been trying to use more power and sent himself flying. All-Might had panicked and grabbed his wrist, but because All-Might was now as durable as an uncooked noodle, they'd both dropped and Deku fucked-up his back. Didn't help that the idiot was too worried about being lectured by Recovery Girl to go get it healed.
"Midoriya!" Shitty Hair openly gaped at Deku's back, a frown working its way onto his face. "What happened, man?"
Deku floundered for a moment — seriously, and he thought Katsuki was a bad liar? — before he put his hands up in an attempt to placate Shitty Hair's worry. But now the attention was on his wrist. "It's all good!" he said, too loudly. "I was just training with All-Might and I— I tripped! Over a rock!"
Silence. Complete silence.
Glasses frowned, stepping closer, IcyHot lingering behind him. "Midoriya… Izuku, you know you can trust us, right?"
Deku blinked very rapidly, then nodded. He was a little confused, though, Katsuki could tell. The confusion only increased when IcyHot stepped forwards to hug him, Pikachu jumping in a moment later. Shitty Hair and Glasses joined in, too, and Katsuki rolled his eyes, turning back to his locker.
Not before he caught a glimpse of Dark Shadow glaring angrily at the injuries.
"That was a… uh… an interesting class!" All-Might smiled at the class, the friendly gesture only being received by Deku. The rest of the class glared, forming a subtle protective barricade around Deku.
Interesting was a fucking understatement.
At the start of the class, Glasses informed Ponytail about the injuries and the obvious excuse, whilst Tape-Face told literally everyone else. Fucking gossip. The problems started with Raccoon-Eyes accidentally blasting acid at All-Might's feet when he got within five feet of Deku. Then IcyHot froze All-Might's feet and blasted a plume of fire, shrugging his apology. Then Dark Shadow roared and charged at the ex-pro whilst Bird-Brain stood there and said 'Dark Shadow, stop' in the blandest, most uninterested voice known to man. It ended with Invisibitch straight-up slapping All-Might's teaching guide out of his hand and claiming she'd tripped.
The extras had no idea what subtlety meant, clearly.
Katsuki felt his stomach drop when the door opened, stony-faced Aizawa stepping in. He raised an eyebrow at all the glares, then turned on All-Might. "What happened?"
All-Might floundered slightly. Glasses stepped forwards, and Katsuki's stomach somehow dropped further, probably imploded.
"Aizawa-sensei," Glasses started, tone severe as he coaxed Deku forwards. "I and the rest of the class have concerns about the intimacy of Midoriya and All-Might's relationship. I've observed certain behaviours, and believe that their relationship is inappropriate for a school environment, and that All-Might is abusing his role as an authority figure to groom Midoriya."
Aizawa stiffened. All-Might's eyes bulged. Deku's jaw dropped.
"It's true, Aizawa-sensei," Ponytail spoke up, hand on Deku's shoulder. "We've all noticed. All-Might shows a clear interest in Midoriya, often asking him to stay behind class. He also has private meetings with him, along with private training-sessions and occasionally lunch together. Whenever we ask Midoriya about it, he either brushes it off, lies, or says that it's secret,"
Aizawa's usual scowl was darkening with every word.
"He also has injuries from All-Might that he lied about," IcyHot piped up, as frustratingly deadpan as usual. "Scrapes on his back and a bruise shaped like a hand-print on his wrist,"
IcyHot pulled Midoriya's sleeve up, showing the bruising. Aizawa looked down at it, silently. His scowl was lethal, entire body stiff Katsuki wasn't even sure if he was breathing.
Then he punched All-Might.
Katsuki had always respected Aizawa. He was decent-enough and didn't take shit from people, not even him. His fighting-style and quirk were kick-ass, too. That respect only skyrocketed when he decked the former Number One Hero in the face, before lashing his capture weapon at him, wrapping him up tightly. Deku squeaked and tried to intervene, but Glasses gently stopped him.
"Explain. Now." Aizawa all-but-growled, yanking All-Might closer to pin him to the floor with his foot. "You better not have touched one of my kids, Toshinori."
"I— I can explain—!"
"Then do it." All-Might had no quirk, but the flash of Aizawa's red-eyes still made him flinch. "Explain, old-man, before I end your career and your life."
All-Might floundered. Aizawa raised his boot to most-likely obliterate any desire All-Might had for a family.
"He's— he's adopting me!"
It took Katsuki a minute to process what the fucking idiot had said. Then he whipped 'round to stare at Deku's teary face as he insisted that All-Might was adopting him. Aizawa loosened the bindings a little, glare more confused now. Katsuki was confused, too. He almost wondered if his hearing-aids had spontaneously died and now he'd started hallucinating dumbass words.
This was the lie they were going for? They could've said anything, and instead they chose impromptu adoption? His confusion only deepened when IcyHot pumped his fists in the air, grin a little maniacal.
"I KNEW IT!"