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"I'm thinking that we need to step things up a notch." Todoroki said casually as he twirled his pen. He had been studying in the common room, and to his eternal surprise, Bakugou had come to join him. They were sitting far away enough that it was clear to anyone nearby that they were not studying together so much as they were studying in the same general area at the same time. God forbid that anyone assume Bakugou was friends with anyone outside Kirishima and the rest of the self-proclaimed Bakusquad. Really, Todoroki would call Bakugou a friend if pressed – yes, they argued a lot, but they also had their moments; the plan they were concocting this very moment was proof enough of that. Bakugou grunted, glancing up from the physics homework he had been going over.

"Yeah, fucking probably." He muttered. "What should we do, then?" Todoroki bit his lip, thinking as he rolled his pen back and forth through his fingers.

They had been inflicting their 'fuck you' plans on the bane of Class A's existence for about three days now, and they had so far yielded incredible results. Mineta looked at both of them like they had crawled directly out of a pit in hell, and Todoroki had noticed that, even when he wasn't purposefully using his right side to make the other boy uncomfortable, Mineta seemed to shiver and shudder in his presence. Though the furthest extent of their actions had really just been glaring at him, sometimes appearing around corners and unexpectedly T-posing to freak him out, Mineta reacted so much and so frequently that an outsider would honestly mistake things as being more serious than they were. The two of them had managed to make him cry yesterday, which had easily been the highlight of Todoroki's week. It hadn't brought joy to just them, either; he definitely recalled seeing Jirou grin all afternoon, and Mina had filmed the whole thing.

"Well, as satisfying and effective it's been to threaten him in a very subtle way, it hasn't done much to really damage his prospects." Todoroki murmured, propping his chin up in his hands. "We've already brought him fear, so now we need to isolate him. Isolation is the best way of amplifying different emotions." He knew that too well, sadly. Every moment of sadness, fear, anger and self-disgust he had endured over his childhood had only been that much worse than normal after his mother had gone, and he was completely cut off from his siblings.

Bakugou paused where he was scrawling out an equation, shooting him a look. Todoroki turned his gaze back to his own English essay, not needing to look to know that Bakugou probably had his infamous, baby-eating demon smile on his face. There was an odd moment of silence, and Todoroki was surprised to see a flash of some unknown, twisted emotion cross Bakugou's face when he glanced up at him, before the grin he had been expecting finally appeared.

"Alright," Bakugou said, placing his pen down on the table and squinting at Todoroki, "so how the hell do we isolate him? Seems like it would be easy, but if we wanna strike this fucker at the heart, we need to make sure that no-one at this school can stand him."

Todoroki smiled then; it was small, and a little malicious, but a true smile nonetheless. "I think he's dug his own grave in regards to Class 1-A, so why don't we just show the rest of UA what he's already shown us? He's creepy, perverted and incredibly annoying, so we just need to alert everyone else of that fact."

If someone else had walked into the common room at that moment, they probably would have, justifiably, mistaken the looks on Bakugou and Todoroki's faces as those of people who had either committed a murder, were about to, or were planning the grisly details of it.

Even without the terrifying expressions, the passion and wicked glee with which they started to map out a plan was disturbing enough.

"Ugh, I'm so glad it's Friday," Midoriya groaned as he dumped his bag on the floor of his room, slumping onto his bed as Todoroki set his own down more carefully, "this week feels like it's gone on forever." Todoroki nodded in absent agreement as he shucked his shoes off and joined him on top of the futon, maintaining a careful distance so as not to tempt himself into resting his head on Midoriya's shoulder. He didn't want to make the environment between him and his best friend any weirder after the incident on Monday, and he was tired enough to accidentally slip up and relax, so he kept space between them.

"Agreed." Todoroki murmured. "I'm still grappling with the fact that the biggest problem facing our class isn't villains for once." Midoriya groaned, flopping back onto his pillows and shooting Todoroki a pained look. He felt a slight smile twitch at the side of his mouth as Midoriya carded his hands through his own wild green curls. Todoroki's fingers twitched as he resisted the urge to reach over and mimic the motions.

"Don't even remind me. I mean, I know I should try to think the best of everyone in our class, even Mineta, but…" he trailed off, biting his lip before continuing, voice much quieter, "Kirishima was so upset after class on Monday. It was awful." To see even Midoriya – kind, lovely, accepting Midoriya – acknowledging that Mineta's behaviour was completely unacceptable, well, it certainly felt a little like validation for what he and Bakugou were currently doing.

Todoroki winced, nodding as he shoved the thoughts aside. "I can imagine."

"It's just…Kirishima's normally so upbeat and happy! It's like nothing can get him down. It's really upsetting to see how badly Mineta of all people has managed to hurt him." Midoriya was avoiding his gaze, and Todoroki could tell that there was something uncertain hanging in the air, like an odd, surface-level tension that was about to be broken. Todoroki stiffened, unused to feeling anything but completely comfortable in his best friend's presence. He was baffled for a moment before it hit him; this was the first time they had discussed Kirishima being outed. This was, if he cast his mind back and scoured his memories, the very first time they had ever discussed anything to do with sexuality. It could be a touchy and deeply personal topic for some, hence why Midoriya seemed to be so uncertain.

Todoroki bit his lip and looked over at his friend. Midoriya was the most open and endlessly tolerant person he had ever met. It seemed like nothing ever really got to the other boy. Given that Midoriya could still put up with Bakugou, someone who obviously hadn't treated him very well in the past…it was an encouraging sign that Midoriya wouldn't be homophobic, if things came down to it.

Besides, he had just been criticising Mineta's behaviour, which leant even more support to that side. Really, to be certain, one of them would have to take the leap of faith, test the waters and see how the other reacted.

He glanced over at the green-haired boy. Well, Midoriya had taken a leap of faith for Todoroki once. It was only right to return the favour.

Time to make his stance clear.

"I don't know how he gets around with a mindset like that." Todoroki murmured. "Who has the time, in this day and age, to give a shit about someone's sexuality?"

"Exactly!" Midoriya exclaimed as he sat up, the relief in his expression not explicit, but palpable all the same as the tension bled from his shoulders and his smile edged up at the sides. "Given that humans generally tend to be able to accept one another for their different quirks, it just seems bizarre that there are still people out there worried about who's sleeping with who." Todoroki nodded, drawing his legs up to his chest and resting his chin on his knees. The surface tension was gone now, to their joint relief, but Todoroki could tell there was something else hanging around.

Midoriya looked pensive, biting his lip and shooting a sidelong look at him. His stomach flipped over, and he fiddled with his own thumbs, picking at his nails as Midoriya clearly tried to articulate what he wanted to say.

"Uhh, I was going to say, word got around of what Mineta was saying to Kirishima on Monday." He bit his lip and glanced at Todoroki hesitantly again, seeming a little emboldened when he saw no outright discontent on his face. "What he almost said, that is." Todoroki frowns at the reminder. Mineta was a little shit, to be sure, and infuriating in every way, but he had felt incredibly caught off-guard when he had heard the slur preparing to leave the other boy's mouth. It made his stomach curdle, and he shifted his legs so they were crossed instead as he braced his elbows on his thighs. Midoriya was watching him, seeming almost anxious, like he was desperately looking for answers on something.

"Yeah. I was surprised that he would say something like that." Todoroki murmured. Midoriya had somehow shifted a little closer to his side during the course of this short conversation, and Todoroki swallowed as he felt the warmth of his best friend's arm against his side. He saw Midoriya bite his lip, and he felt himself unconsciously angling his body towards the other.

"Kaminari said you looked really angry about it." Midoriya murmured. "I was surprised that you would get so worked up on Kirishima's behalf like that." Seeming to notice how the words came off, Midoriya blushed, waving his hands. "Uhh, not that I'm saying that you should get worked up over everything, of course! I just, uhh, you don't tend to get so involved in things like that."

Todoroki looked up, then, and met Midoriya's curious, searching eyes. He smiled ever so slightly. "It's alright, I know what you meant." Midoriya nodded, cheeks flushed with embarrassment as he fixed a searing gaze on Todoroki, waiting for a proper response.

Oh. He was asking something else, here. Todoroki bowed his head slightly. He wished he was selfless enough of a person so have felt so much outrage on someone else's behalf, but at his core, he was just as selfish as his father, he knew that. He did like Kirishima, a lot, but he had reacted so much because it hit close to home. That word was cruel, awful, disgusting…and he had been called it several times before. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

"In all honesty…" he trailed off, sighing, "I wasn't just angry because he was being so mean to Kirishima." Todoroki rolled his shoulders, averting his gaze as he continued. "I've had that word pointed at me before. It's not nice." He felt Midoriya's hand wrap comfortingly around his upper arm, even as the other boy was clearly dying to ask a question. His bright green eyes were wide and curious, even as they simultaneously filled with pity.

"I'm sorry Todoroki." He murmured even as Todoroki shrugged. "That's…it's just an awful thing to say to anyone." He nodded, then sucked up his courage as Midoriya gently ran his hand up and down Todoroki's arm in a comforting gesture.

"Yeah, it…hits close to home, is all. I…well, people have called me that for a reason." He felt Midoriya's hand still, and his grip tighten ever so slightly, and immediately went to backpedal. "Uhh, sorry, I didn't really mean to…" he felt Midoriya prod him slightly, and when he looked up, cheeks flushed, his best friend was smiling, almost shyly. Midoriya looked down as his thumb gently rubbed a circle into Todoroki's skin. Todoroki felt his breathing stutter ever so slightly, though he managed to keep it inaudible as Midoriya finally spoke.

"Thank you for telling me." he murmured. Todoroki felt more heat flood his face. Midoriya bit his lip, averting his eyes. "Umm…" he trailed off as Todoroki looked at him curiously, wondering why his friend was abruptly so anxious, "I…well, uhh, I'm, um, I'm bi." Todoroki blinked, the tension in his shoulders completely dissipating. His heartrate started to pick up as the words registered, and he took in the flush crossing Midoriya's cheeks.

"Ohhh," he murmured, stomach fluttering, "I, uh, I'm just gay." Midoriya looked at him then, smiling warmly. They both probably looked the same; reddened cheeks, wide eyes and flustered expressions.

"Okay." Midoriya said, blushing even more. There was a long, drawn-out moment of incredibly awkward silence before Midoriya giggled, and the oddness drained away. "Oh, wow, we are being weird about this." Midoriya laughed as Todoroki smiled a little. "Let's just go ahead and make this even more awkward while we're at it." he jokingly elbowed Todoroki in the side, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. "Ohoo, got a crush?"

Todoroki was fully intending on straight-up (ha) denying it, but the words stuck in his throat and he ended up releasing an odd, garbled noise, cheeks turning bright red. Midoriya's eyes widened, and Todoroki saw his mouth twitch downwards for a moment before his smile was back in place, though some of the light in his eyes seemed to have dimmed. Todoroki frowned in confusion, but didn't have time to dwell on it before Midoriya was gently nudging him again. "Soooo? Who's the lucky guy?" Todoroki flushed.

Oh, you do not want to know, believe me, Todoroki thought, face burning as he scuttled back on the mattress. "Uhh, doesn't matter?" it came out sounding like a question rather than a statement, and he saw a mischievous light enter his friend's eyes, and immediately knew he had made a mistake. "Oh, no, don't-"

"Come onnnn, tell meeeee!" Midoriya begged, shuffling closer to him with a devious smirk on his face. Todoroki paused, watching him warily.

"Uhhhhh…you know…I think I had some chemistry homework to finish…"

Todoroki was barely even able to start moving before Midoriya had tackled him down onto the bed and pressed him there, giggling in mad delight as Todoroki wriggled hopelessly. He went almost completely still when Midoriya shifted his position so that he was pinning him down, their hips slotted together. A breath escaped him, and he just barely managed to clamp down on the noise that almost escaped with it. Midoriya, blessedly, didn't seem to have noticed, and was still grinning cheekily down at him, with his hands braced on Todoroki's shoulders.

This was not a good position to be in. Mostly due to the fact that Todoroki was a teenage boy, and his body reacted to…well, just about anything. Midoriya was just about to open his mouth, undoubtedly to jokingly tease Todoroki again, when there was a sharp knock on the door, and, to their joint surprise;

"Oi Deku! Have you seen fucking Icyhot?" they both stiffened in shock as Bakugou's voice filtered through the door. Midoriya looked a little stunned, glancing down at Todoroki before he seemed to realise what position they were in, blushed redder than Todoroki's hair, and scrambled off his lap. Todoroki took several deep breaths, trying to keep himself calm while Midoriya shuffled over to the door to swing it open.

"Um, yeah he's here with me." Midoriya said, still looking a little flushed as Todoroki peered past his friend to eye the scowling blond in the doorway. Bakugou glared at him, jerking his head in the opposite direction.

"Asshole, you coming or not?" he snapped at him. Right, he and Bakugou had decided to continue their crusade against Mineta this afternoon. He'd forgotten about it when Midoriya had asked him to walk back to the dorms with him. Flushing, he nodded, getting to his feet and grabbing his bag.

"Uh, yeah. See you at dinner, Midoriya." Midoriya blinked, but nodded, eyes flickering between the two of them.

"Oh, uhh, gotcha. What are you guys up to?" Bakugou scowled at Midoriya.

"None of your business, shitty Deku." He snarled, grabbing Todoroki by the shirt and dragging him out of the room, slamming the door shut with more force than was strictly necessary. Frowning at the blond, Todoroki freed his shirt from Bakugou's grasp and sighed, following the other down the hallway.

"You don't have to be so abrupt, you know." He said. "I was in the middle of talking to him." Bakugou waved a hand dismissively.

"You can fucking talk to him later." He snapped. "We've got shit to do, remember? Don't shit all over me because you have a terrible fucking memory." Todoroki rolled his eyes but accepted it anyway. Trying to argue with Bakugou would only drag the two of them into an unnecessary conflict, as per usual. As annoyed as he was that Bakugou had so rudely interrupted his time with Midoriya, they did have work to do.

After all, they had a purple-themed rat bastard to make miserable.

"Holy. Fucking. Shit." Mina murmured, voice almost reverent as she and Kaminari wandered down the halls of UA the next morning. Kaminari couldn't even speak, his mouth was hanging open in shock as he surveyed the walls. They had been positively fucking plastered with posters, and, honestly, as much as Kaminari had appreciated the old 'graphic design in my passion' meme, it seemed that graphic design actually was a passion of whoever was responsible for these, as low-quality as they hilariously were.

They were all in black and white, with deep purple writing splayed across them. At first glance, they resembled the 'who's that Pokémon?' screens from TV; there was a shapeless silhouette that dominated the bottom of the posters, with a large question mark in the middle to obviously indicate that the person's identity was a mystery. However, it wasn't the silhouette that drew attention, but the vibrant words surrounding it on the posters.

The whole thing was headed with a vibrant banner;

CLASS 1-A'S RESIDENT RAT BASTARD, BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH BEING A SHITTY HUMAN BEING.

And the mystery silhouette was surrounded by stunning quotes such as;

WHEN SHALL THIS WASTE OF SPACE, MATTER AND OXYGEN FURTHER PROVE THAT NATURAL SELECTION IS A NECESSARY PROCESS?

GIRLS, KEEP YOUR DORM ROOM DOORS LOCKED, BECAUSE THIS LITTLE SHIT WILL TRY TO VIOLATE YOUR PRIVACY AND UNDERMINE YOUR BODILY AUTONOMY!

REASONS WHY ACTS OF VIGILANTE JUSTICE SHOULD BE LEGAL; EXHIBIT A

THE PATRON GOD OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT CALLED – HE WANTS HIS JOB BACK

And, in the middle, plain as day, with an excellent clip-art of three extended middle fingers below it, read;

KINDLY FUCK OFF, YOU USELESS PIECE OF SHIT.

Kaminari and Mina stared at them, open-mouthed, as Mina pressed a hand to her face, looking stunned before the expression was replaced with delight.

"Well, someone out there doesn't like Mineta." She said, tone cheery. Kaminari nodded unconsciously. Considering what he knew of everyone in their class, there was no way that these posters weren't about the small boy. The purple text only served as a little 'wink-wink nudge-nudge' to anyone in Class 1-A who was familiar with him. He shook his head. If he was a nicer person, he might have moved to take the poster down, but his classmates' behaviour in the last week had been relentlessly unpleasant, and it did bring Kaminari no small amount of satisfaction to see him finally getting called out as publicly as he deserved.

Kaminari was no saint, he knew that, but he never wanted to make his classmates uncomfortable. Where Mineta pushed at every one of the girls' buttons, violated their privacy constantly, and made them all extremely uncomfortable, Kaminari held himself at an arm's length. He liked girls, and he liked looking at girls, but the minute one of them looked like they were irritated, he backed off. Mineta didn't seem to have that same quality. Hence why one of Kaminari's best friends was a girl, whilst Mineta attracted the disgust of all of them. After trying to convince the guy to cool it down and be respectful, and continually being ignored, Kaminari had just about given up.

"My, my, my, I'm surprised to see such low blows from Class A. I thought you were supposed to be so much better than us!" Mina was rolling her eyes before Kaminari could even identify the voice as Monoma's, and he sighed when he turned to come face to face with the arrogant blond.

"Back off Monoma," he said tiredly, "I think this thing is clearly calling out one student, not all twenty of us." He gestured at it loosely. Monoma scoffed, and Kaminari saw Mina huff in his peripheral vision.

"Still, it's things like this that make me wonder why people idolise your class over ours so much." Monoma preened as Kaminari internally groaned and Mina began picking at her sleeves, obviously prepared to roll them up and punch the blond in the face. He was tempted to ask her to punch him in the face instead; if she knocked him out, he wouldn't have to listen to Monoma, and would also get to miss first-period. It was a win-win situation.

"You really think Class 1-B is that much better than Class 1-A?" a new voice inquired. Monoma spun around as Kaminari sought out the source of the voice.

"Of course I-" the other boy abruptly slumped, going completely relaxed. Mina yelped in surprise, and Kaminari felt his eyebrow cocking up his forehead in surprise when a familiar boy with pale purple hair and concerningly dark bags under his eyes appeared by Monoma's side, frowning at him gently.

"Go to your classroom and sit quietly until it starts." The newcomer drawled, as Kaminari finally recognised him. Shinsou Hitoshi, the brainwasher from Gen Ed. Monoma nodded weakly, before turning and going to do just that. Mina was cackling with laughter, grinning widely at Shinsou.

"Damn, thanks! He can be really hard to shut up when he really gets going." She said, looking delighted. "You're Shinsou, right?" at the other boy's nod, she squealed in excitement.

Kaminari grinned. "Oh, that's right! Your quirk is brainwashing, isn't it?" at Shinsou's oddly cautious nod, his grin only widened. "Aww man, that's so cool. I wish I had a useful quirk like that."

Shinsou looked a little taken aback by that, but oddly pleased, as though he wasn't entirely used to being praised.

"Oh, thanks. Yours is plenty useful, though." He said, indicating the phone in Kaminari's hands – Mina's, of course – which he was currently charging. Kaminari forced out a small laugh.

"I mean, kinda, but the minute I go over my limit, I become completely useless." Shinsou shrugged, a sly look in his eyes.

"I mean, you're not completely useless; every hero needs a human shield every now and then."

It was sharp, blunt and designed for a very narrow, moderately cruel sense of humour. Kaminari's sense of humour was nothing like that, but it made him double over laughing anyway, as Mina gasped in shock and immediately went to go on the offensive.

"Oooh, that hurt." He said, though he knew the wide, genuine grin on his face sent a different message. "Why must you hurt me this way?"

Shinsou shrugged, expression again becoming sly as he adjusted his position, removing his hands from his pockets and clasping them in front of him. Kaminari, a known meme-lover and prolific Tumblr user, recognised it immediately, and couldn't resist the urge to reach out and smack the other boy in the arm.

"Oh god." Mina said, rolling her eyes, good humour in her voice nonetheless. "Another memer. Like we need more of those." She sighed, but grinned at him. "I'm gonna head to class. See ya there, Kami." He waved at her as she walked off, noticing that the brainwasher was now examining the poster behind them. He quirked an eyebrow, throwing a curious look at Kaminari.

"Damn, is this true?" he asked, pointing at the section of text in the bottom right of the poster, which pertained to Mineta's typical treatment of girls in their class. Kaminari sighed, a long-suffering sound, and Shinsou made a face. "Yikes. Has anyone tried explaining the concept of respect to him?"

"Countless times, but nothing ever gets through to him." Kaminari sighed. "And as much as I do love these posters, they don't even encapsulate the whole of his shittiness." He glanced at the other boy. "It's kinda baffling that someone like him got into the hero course, but you didn't."

Shinsou shrugged, even as the skin around his eyes tightened. Oof, a touchy subject, apparently. "The Entrance Exam is built for physical quirks." He drawled, tone level but undeniably strained. He glanced at Kaminari. "I bet you had it easy. One zap and those robots are down." Kaminari shuffled a little uncomfortably. True, his scores on the Entrance Exam had been good, probably the best score he had gotten at UA thus far, but it was a little blunt to have it thrown in his face like that.

"I mean…yeah, I guess so. They should really fix it." He trailed off awkwardly, before turning back to the poster, keen to change the subject. "I kinda wish this poster had the rest of his terrible deeds on it, though. Says nothing of the homophobia, for one."

Something in Shinsou's eyes became shuttered. "Oh? I hope the rest of Class 1-A isn't like that." Kaminari blinked at him.

"Dude, definitely not. He's an outlier by far." That seemed to relax Shinsou a bit, and Kaminari considered him curiously. Maybe a strong ally…maybe not. He turned back to the poster, unsure of why the thought made his stomach flip a little.

"That's…comforting." Shinsou said simply. Kaminari nodded, before his phone buzzed, and he yanked it out of his pocket, squinting at the screen to try and decipher the text that he had received – judging by the vibrant profile picture – from Mina. The words twisted and shimmered before his eyes and he dismissed it as a lost cause after a few moments. Normally, he just used the text-reading app on his phone, but it would be a pointless move in the loud, crowded hallway. The posters had garnered a lot more attention while he had been standing there talking to Shinsou.

"Well, I should probably get to class, and try decipher whatever the hell it is that Mina's trying to tell me." He said, waving his phone slightly. Shinsou's eyes darted to the screen curiously, and he raised an eyebrow.

"Seems straightforward to me." He said, sounding a little mystified. Kaminari grinned, burying a twinge of embarrassment. His friends had spent a lot of time helping him become more comfortable with his learning disabilities in the last few months, but it could still be embarrassing to talk about at times.

"In this economy? With this dyslexic mess?" he pointed at himself. "No sir." Shinsou nodded, not looking put off at all. He reached out, taking Kaminari's phone and angling it towards himself so he could see the screen.

"'Mineta has been whining and shrieking for ten minutes straight. Get here now if you wanna see Todoroki commit homicide'." He raised an eyebrow, handing the phone back. "Sounds fun." Kaminari flushed a little as he tucked his phone back into his pocket.

"Uhh, thanks." He said, feeling more heat pool in his cheeks when Shinsou smiled ever so slightly, before he angled his body away from Kaminari.

"No worries. Do tell me what that homicide is like." The brainwasher said, lifting a hand in farewell as he vanished into the crowd.

Mood buoyed significantly more than usual, Kaminari returned the gesture, and hurried to class, keen to see his peers throwdown.

"Please just talk to him, Bakugou."

"Why the fuck should I?" he snapped, glaring up at Mina from where she was standing in front of his desk. He had opted to stay and study in the classroom during lunch rather than join his idiotic friends out in the dining hall. He'd done so to get some peace and quiet, since the normal tranquillity in the time before school had been punctuated by Mineta's screaming (a wonderful sound) and Todoroki's increasingly serious threats to punt him out the window.

But, it seemed he couldn't even study in peace for an hour, because here Mina was, trying to force him to have a conversation with Kirishima, the one person he was dead-set on avoiding today. His scowl deepened, and he pointedly turned his eyes away from her and back to his books. Mina sighed.

"Baku, please, he's been down all week-"

"Well that's not my fucking fault!" he snapped, even as the information made the unwelcome feeling of concern slice through him. "I can't control other people's fucking emotions." Mina was frowning at him, her arms folded.

"You know, refusing to talk to him now is making you look kinda…bad." Mina said, voice a little less harsh as she clearly went for a different route. Bakugou scowled.

"Well, considering that he didn't bother to tell me his fucking sexuality the same day as the rest of you extras, he clearly thinks I'm homophobic anyway, so what fucking difference does it make?"

"Because you aren't homophobic, right?!" an odd look crossed Mina's face, and she abruptly looked uncertain. "Wait, are-"

"If you honest to god finish that sentence I will boil you alive." He said, tone dangerous. She closed her mouth with an audible click, and silence reigned for a moment, broken as Bakugou continued to scrawl down notes, trying to ignore her presence.

"He thinks you hate him, Bakugou." Mina murmured. The words made him stiffen, and he ceased writing.

Hate Kirishima? He only wished he was still capable of that.

I can't hate you, his fingers murmured when they itched to hold Kirishima's. I can't hate you, his stomach declared, when it traitorously flipped and tumbled when he heard the redhead laugh. I can't hate you, his cheeks told him, when they flooded with colour at the compliments that the other boy was so willing to hand him.

I could never hate you, his eyes whispered, when they continuously sought the other out in crowded rooms, drinking in the sight of his classmate.

I don't even dislike you, his mouth told him, when it twitched up at the sides at the stupid messages he found waiting for him on his phone at night.

I might actually like you, the warmth in his chest admitted, whenever he found the other trying to drag him into activities, inviting him out to go to the mall and grab lunch together.

I do like you, his heart said, landing the final blow. I like you far more than I've ever liked anyone else, far more than I should.

I like you. And you don't trust me.

Bakugou scowled again, bending his head to his notebooks.

"Then that's his problem." He spat, not meaning a word of it. "He can come clear things up with me himself, rather than sending you as an envoy." Mina sniffed.

"He didn't send me, Bakugou, I came by myself."

He groaned. "Why the fuck do you care so much?"

"Because I've known Kiri for years! He's one of my best friends, and whether you feel the same or not, you are too! I hate seeing you two fight, especially over something like this. I know your pride has been fucking wounded, but can you try to get over yourself for once in your life and think about how he's feeling right now?"

Bakugou froze, staring at her. He'd never heard Mina so riled up, and it was clear that she was far from done.

"He got his sexuality spilled to the entire school," she continued, "and his best friend, someone he trusts and cares about a hell of a lot, is refusing to even speak to him. I understand that you're hurt he didn't tell you he was gay, Bakugou, but right now, he thinks you're disgusted with him, when I'm pretty damn certain that's not the case."

"I…" he trailed off, clenching his fists and falling silent. Mina watched him for a long moment, before sighing and stepping away.

"Suit yourself, but I just want you to know that I'm taking Kiri's side in this. You're one of my closest friends, Baku, and you know I love you, but right now, Kiri needs me more than you do." With her words ringing in the air, Mina turned and stormed away, not giving Bakugou a chance to respond as the door shut behind her.

Bakugou cursed, a string of words so foul it would turn stomachs, and buried his head in his hands.

Well, he was a little fucked, wasn't he?

Please drop a review if you can! I promise it will not take you nearly as long as it did me to write this story ;)