Izuku had to be stupid to run out of Kacchan's apartment without any second thoughts, just like an immature child not able to face the truth. After all the preaching he had done about friendship, trust and understanding, calling himself immature was an understatement. He had sprinted out into the streets as if he were a villain trying to escaping from a pro hero chasing him, and in his case, the pro hero was Ground Zero. He didn't even bother to check the direction he had ran off to and used his full cowling power to run away faster, oblivious of people who recognised him and took pictures of him with their smartphones as they screamed in excitement his hero name.
When short of breath, Izuku finally stops before making sure Kacchan hadn't ran after him, cheeks flushed and palms on his knees as he tries to regain his regular breathing. His mind races back to Kacchan's words and suddenly an unpleasant feeling of jealousy pinpricks at his heart, hand fast clutching at his chest to subside that weird feeling of pain.
Todoroki was the one Kacchan was in love with, and from the gist of things Izuku had understood that he had been rejected by him. How Todoroki could refuse a worthy and amazing hero like Ground Zero was beyond Izuku's comprehension. The pain in his chest turns into rage, which only increases when his phone beeps again and sees it's another text from Todoroki.
Msg 17:45
We are already waiting in the cafeteria in front of the venue.
Izuku reads the text with a foggy mind, clutching the phone with trembling hands, eyes turning into slits as he bites his lip in anger. As if under the influence of a villain's quirk, Izuku sprints again into a furious run towards the meeting place, adamant to have a word with him and settle things straight. No one could fuck around with his childhood and best friend like that, especially when there was no reason for it. Kacchan's amazingness was a fact nobody could deny, and Izuku was going to give Mr handsome a piece of his mind even though Todoroki was his friend. Making use of his quirk again, he jumps from roof to roof above buildings and houses and reaches his destination in under 20 minutes. Mind still clouded, Izuku enters the café in a rush, stopping at the entrance and allowing his eyes to scan the place until he sees Todoroki standing in front of a table with a tray in his hands and few cups of coffee in it. He briefly takes in the view of some of his ex- high school classmates sitting around the table, waiting for Todoroki to hand them the coffees that he apparently had volunteered to buy for them.
At that very moment Izuku doesn't know which kind of entity has possessed his body, but at the sight of the hot and cold pro hero he can feel the rage swelling up from within his body, like a bolt of electricity coursing from his upper arms straight down to his fists. For the first time in his life Izuku wanted to hit, wanted to punch someone, not for the sake of saving and rescuing, but just out of sheer anger and revenge. It all happens in a blink of an eye, unable to contain the overwhelming feeling of fury and resentment towards the one he considered a friend, Izuku is fast on his feet, lurching forwards like a feral without any inhibitions or restraints. His fist makes contact with Todoroki's face hard and heavy, sending him and the cups of coffee he's holding toppling over the wooden table and crashing down onto the floor soon after. Loud screams of panic and surprise echo through the café as Todoroki whimpers and contorts in pain on the ground, hand holding the left side of his face as he turns around and blanches out upon recognising his assailant.
Midoriya stands before him with a face like a cataclysm, fists still raised and wrath flitting through his entire being. There were only two options Todoroki could think of to explain the state Midoriya was in and the reason that had led the ever so calm pro hero Deku to slash out at him the way he did. He was either hit by a strange villain's quirk and didn't have full control of his mind and body or it was something related to Bakugou. He had known him long enough to assert what exactly had send Midoriya into a crazed frenzy, and indeed, Shouto has confirmation of it when he sees Midoriya menacingly advancing on him, face dark and eyes flashing a murderous red before he bawls at him.
"How dare you do this to Kacchan!" Izuku screams, words dripping with venom but his voice breaking as if he's choking in pain. He prepares to hit Todoroki again when he feels the grip of someone's strong arms wrapping around his waist and holding him in place.
"Stop it Midoriya! What's gotten into you?"
Kirishima's voice makes Izuku whip his head around so fast that the taller pro hero shivers as he is pierced with ferocious dark green eyes. It's a foreign, unsettling look Kirishima had never seen before on his long time friend's features, and instinctively he relents a bit the hold he has on him.
"Let me go, Kirishima kun." Izuku yells, uncaring of the few people that had crowded them and were now watching amidst fear and curiosity.
"Are you alright Todoroki san?" After the initial shock, Yaoyorozu is at Todoroki's side within seconds, concern clear in her face. "Can you stand up?" She offers him a helping hand and Shouto doesn't hesitate accepting it as he stands back on his feet, his other hand still clutching at his face in an attempt to endure the pain. He looks over at Midoriya who's still fuming with belligerence and hostility, still Shouto couldn't figure out what he was accused of or how Bakugou came into the picture given the two of them hadn't seen much of each other in the last month.
"Midoriya." Shouto utters his name with a low, brazen tone that reveals slight annoyance. Thin lines of bitterness etch around the edges of his mouth. "I figure you have a good enough reason if you've punched me?"
Those words seems to set Izuku further on fire. The urge to assault Todoroki and ruin his pretty face burns him alive, like a blowtorch smouldering deep inside his chest that awaits to be freed. He struggles into Kirishima's devilish clutch so fervently that even Kaminari has to join Kirishima to hold him back from his onslaught.
"Really? Is that the best answer you could come up with?" Izuku retorts as he looks at Todoroki with steady eyes that were filled with bellicosity. If Todoroki wanted to play dumb, Izuku thought, he'd have wasted no time punching him again until he spit out the truth.
"Midoriya kun!" Iida interrupts the heated atmosphere between the two as he walks slowly towards him. He sees Midoriya turn to him with a jerk of his head, a glint of fire still in his green eyes, and even though he's still restrained by both Kirishima and Kaminari, Iida stops at once, heeding the warnings as he puts his arms up in the air to look as unthreatening as he could.
"I don't know what's going on or why you're so upset." Iida says still not moving. "But violence isn't the answer."
"Stay out of it, Iida kun!" Izuku says sharply, turning to Todoroki again, eyeing him as if he was the worst human being in the entire world. Nobody had the right to hurt Kacchan, and Izuku was not about to let it slide. "It's between me and him!" He growls with the ferocity of an animal as he meets Todoroki's eyes dead on.
"Deku kun! You have to calm down!" Uraraka runs in front of him, her face etched with worry and her eyes wrecked with panic.
But Izuku is too preoccupied baring his sharp canines at Todoroki to care about his friend. His mind short circuits as if there were fireworks exploding in his head and Izuku screams, vitriolic words leaving his mouth superbly.
"He turned Kacchan down!" Izuku's hands begin to shake as he finally gets free of Kirishima's and Kaminari's vicious hold. He slightly moves Uraraka aside who was partly hindering his view of Todoroki, but Izuku remains in place this time. "Kacchan confessed to you and you just blew him off. How could you?" Izuku wheezes with a croak in his voice.
Suddenly a set of 6 pair of eyes are on Izuku followed by gasps of pure astonishment. Uraraka is the first one to give in into an exasperated sigh. "You can't be serious, Deku kun?" She says as she drags her hand through her hair. Eyes wide and disbelieving.
"Wow man! That's fucked up. How did you even come up with it?" Kaminari teases, arms crossed on his chest as he gives Midoriya a pointed look.
"So that's what it was, huh?" Kirishima grins, knowing exactly the root of the problem, but at the same time he processes that Bakugou's confession had probably failed again. "There's no way Bakugou is in love with Todoroki." Kirishima clarifies, brows bunching up together as he regards Midoriya with a sorrowful look.
"And even if he was violence is not the answer, Midoriya kun." Iida adds adamant, shaking his head in disapproval.
"Midoriya." Shouto calls to him. He had removed his hand from his face revealing a light bruise in his left cheek, but the annoyance in his voice and the sharp edges around the corners of his mouth were long gone now. "You've got it all wrong."
"Midoriya san." Momo interjects, eyes glinting with subtle irritation. "You should apologise."
Too many explanations, apologies and bows later, Izuku is still too ashamed and flustered to look Todoroki in the eye. The group had now retired into a private area of the café to avoid prying eyes. All that publicity was not good for pro heroes like them, but after all the ruckus Izuku had created he wouldn't be surprised if this affected their careers. Everything had happened because of his clouded and rushed judgment, Izuku was really too mortified and downright embarrassed to look at any of his friends right now. He had explained to them the entire situation, how Kacchan had told him he was in love with someone and how he stupidly got the wrong idea out of it. If he thought about it now Izuku could see how tremendously unlikely the conclusion he had come up with was. Still he wondered who was the person Kacchan was in love with, and the notion that he was in love with a man bothered Izuku more than he'd care to admit.
"I wonder who's Kacchan in love with." Izuku whispers with a sigh, oblivious of the incredulous stares his friends flicker his way.
Kirishima, however, seems unperturbed as he nonchalantly crosses his arms behind his head and opens his chatty mouth. "C'mon dude! Isn't it obvious that Bakugou is in love with y-"
Suddenly two fast but shaking hands clutch around Kirishima's mouth with urgency, and as Iida and Uraraka exchange looks of panic they prompt and plead Kirishima to shut the hell up through muted signals.
Izuku looks at them in mild confusion, eyes muddled but now clear of any ill intent unlike before.
"C-coffee." Uraraka says, face morphing into anxiety. "We couldn't get our dose of caffeine earlier, right Kirishima kun?" She winks at him in hope her friend would catch up, but Kirishima just mumbles in distaste through their sweaty palms.
"Y-yeah! Since you punched Todoroki kun we couldn't drink any." Iida says laughing dramatically, cold sweat prickling at the base of his neck as he attempts to back Uraraka up.
But Izuku doesn't take too well the reminder that he was the cause of the disruption of a fun, quiet evening that was supposed to be enjoyed drinking coffee before the conference.
"I-I'll g-go b-buy them." Izuku mumbles as he shots up in panic from his seat next to Todoroki. "It's my fault, so let me offer you those coffees."
"Midoriya! Just relax!" Todoroki says with a half smile. "You're obviously still on edge."
"B-but.." Izuku tries to protest but Uraraka and Iida are fast on their feet as they drag a very reluctant Kirishima along with them.
"Don't worry Deku kun! We'll be back in a sec." Uraraka says over her shoulder as a way of reassurance, relieved she had gotten them out of a catastrophe. She, as well as Iida, were going to have a word with Kirishima and teach him the art of tact and of minding his own business.
Defeated, Izuku sits back and lowers his gaze as he lets out a wistful sigh. What he didn't understand was why Kacchan had never told him anything, but more than that Izuku was frustrated at himself, frustrated at his own reaction. So what if Kacchan had been rejected? It was not like Kacchan needed his protection. Izuku knew he was not weak and could fend for himself, still his instincts towards his childhood friend had kicked in and Izuku hadn't been able to stop himself.
"I'm not surprised though." Todoroki's calm voice pulls Izuku out of his thoughts. Big green eyes look at him in confusion.
"At your reaction, I mean." Shouto says. Although the bruise on his face was still fresh he didn't wear that sour expression of aggravation he did earlier, and somehow his kindness made Izuku feel guiltier.
"I'm s-so sorry, Todoroki kun!" Izuku's face washes out as he reminisces his earlier foolish action. Jumbled words come out from his mouth in a stuttering mess. "I-I didn't mean it, I just lost my control and-"
"The question is why?" Todoroki interrupts with slight amusement on his face. A tinge of tease in his voice.
"Uh?" Izuku stops wailing as Todoroki's question dawns on him, his expression and facial muscles turn rigid. That was a question Izuku didn't have an answer to, or at least, he believed he didn't.
"It's okay, Midoriya san." Yaoyorozu intervenes without hesitation. She exudes a certain aura about her with which she's able to dissolve the weird atmosphere lingering in the room instantly. "As long as you know what you did was wrong." She says, jabbing a finger into Todoroki's ribs as a warning, inducing him to say no more.
"Still though," Kaminari says from his seat opposite them, "to think you thought Bakugou was in love with Todoroki is hilarious."
"T-that was an honest mistake." Izuku snivels, his face turning ominously red and his lips trembling with shame.
"Midoriya!" Shouto"s features soften as he brings one hand on top of Izuku's head to pat him in a reassuring way, to console him. "It's fine really. You don't need to feel so dejected." Those words were soothing to Izuku in a way he didn't think it was possible, and in the heat of the moment he closes his eyes letting Todoroki's fingers brush through his locks as Izuku inclines his chin on his neck and relaxes at the gentle touch.
"Steaming cups of coffee coming up, guys!" Izuku hears Uraraka say. However, when he slowly opens his eyes and turns towards Uraraka, Iida and Kirishima who stand in front of the table with cups of coffee on hand, Izuku's attention is stolen away from another sight. Eyes widening, he tenses immediately, causing Todoroki to stop patting him and follow the direction to which Izuku is looking. Although his hand remains put on top of Izuku's head, unmoving.
"K-Kacchan!?" Izuku says, the tone of his voice barely carries through the tiny space, but it's clear enough to make everyone look at the incriminating spot Izuku has his eyes fixed on.
Their jaws drop when they see a rather pissed and outraged Bakugou Katsuki with a face like the personification of the apocalypse itself.
When all the ruckus was happening earlier, Kirishima had, smartly, texted him to tell him what was going on, but like the hot headed shit Katsuki was, he hadn't even bothered to read the message properly. All he had seen were just the words 'fighting, shouting' and 'Midoriya and Todoroki's' names, which, in Katsuki's messed up mind, were too close to each other even though their names were only in a text. With his brain halting all of its gears, Katsuki had gushed out of his apartment in a jiffy. The thought of changing out of his baggy jeans and sweater to look presentable for the conference hadn't even crossed his mind as he had slipped on his parka and sprinted off as fast as he could.
Now he was there in front of Deku and Todoroki witnessing a display Katsuki wished he'd never see. Todoroki's hand on Izuku's head is like a car door slowly shutting on his soul, enough to make Katsuki lose his sense of control. A deep growl reverberates inside his chest like a distant explosion, his features tighten and his jaw clenches as his dire red eyes travel from the hand resting on Izuku's head to Todoroki's face. When their eyes lock together sharp as steel, Katsuki rocks forward, pushing his way between Kirishima, Uraraka and Iida, sending the fuming cups of coffee in their hands flying up in the air as the three of them swivel around and grumble at the harsh contact. Uncaring of his friends left behind, Katsuki grabs a dumbfounded Todoroki by the collar of his shirt with one hand, disregarding Izuku who looks at him in horror. He pulls Todoroki off of his chair and towards him from across the table, teeth bared. "Fucking son of a bitch." Katsuki bellows inches from Todoroki's face. His teeth snaps together in a silent snarl as his other hand lifts above him and quickly closes into a fist, hitting Todoroki at full force. It happens too fast for Shouto to try evading his fist, and for the second time that night the hot and cold pro hero is unable to avoid getting punched in the face as he finds himself toppling over his chair and on the floor again.
Even though the area they were in was partially secluded from the public, murmurs of distaste could still be heard through the cafeteria. Their friends watch in disbelief at the scene before them as Katsuki towers over an helpless Todoroki who covers the left side of his face in pain for the umpteenth time.
Tension fills the air like a sharp edge razor and nobody dares to make a move.
On the other end, Kaminari looks at them dejectedly and sighs loudly as he whispers to himself.
"I guess no coffee today, uh!?"