"So Eiji said he bumped into you the other day and you'd been crying," Ochako says as she and Izuku share a coffee in the staff room one break time. She's giving him a knowing look over the rim of her cup, like she already knows the reason for his meltdown – already knows that it was about Katsuki – but she wants to hear it from him first hand.

Izuku's cheeks heat up and he becomes very focused on his own coffee so that he can avoid her scrutiny. "Yeah that was weird, I'm sorry."

"It's fine," Ochako tells him. "It's all water off a duck's back to Eiji, nothing phases him, he's just happy to help if he can."

"It was helpful to talk to him about things, I will say that," Izuku says.

"He's good like that," Ochako says.

Izuku finally looks up from his drink and gives her a small smile. "And I will go and give him a proper thank you and apology for crying on him when he stops doing shirtless squats in the corner."

Ochako looks over to the corner of the room where Eijirou is indeed doing shirtless squats – part of his usual daily routine that he was unable to do until now – and smiles fondly. "Doesn't he look amazing," she says with a contented sigh.

"Yeah..." Izuku says, elongating the word.

As Ochako continues to stare at Eijirou she teases her bottom lip between her teeth, her cheeks turning a little pink and Izuku can be sure that what is going through her head is not something suitable for a primary school. Clearly she's thinking about what she wants to do with him once they finish work for the day. She shakes herself out of her daydream and turns back to Izuku, her usual smile on her face. "So what happened?"

"I was having a bad day and he was there when I needed to offload," Izuku says with a shrug. Even though he knows that Eijirou probably told Ochako all about their conversation he doesn't really want to get into it here (although he has a sneaking suspicion that he's going to have to before their break is over).

"That's my Eiji," she says smiling, her eyes darting over to him for a brief second. She takes another sip of her coffee, fixing Izuku with another very pointed look over the rim of her mug as she does. "This bad day of yours wouldn't have anything to do with Bakugou by any chance now, would it?"

"No," Izuku lies. He's not sure how much he wants to tell Ochako about the conversation that he and Katsuki had yesterday considering that she told Eijirou what had happened between them over the summer when she said that she'd keep it to herself. If she broke that confidence and told Eijirou then there's no telling how many other people she's told. He shouldn't have said anything in the first place. What is he going to do if it turns out everyone else knows and, even worse, if it gets back to Katsuki – he'll be furious!

She gives him a sympathetic smile. "Sweetie, I haven't known you very long but I know that you're a terrible liar," she says. "Besides Eiji didn't tell me everything, I actually saw the two of you having lunch together before you ran out of here as if you couldn't stand to be anywhere near him any longer."

"And?" Izuku presses knowing that she knows more than she's letting on.

"And Eiji told me that you crying was about Bakugou because of what happened when he came to Takenohama," she says. "Oh don't worry, he hasn't told anyone else," she adds when she sees the frown on Izuku's face.

"Have you?" he asks.

"Have I what?" Ochako asks.

"Have you told anyone else what I told you about the summer?"

"Oh no," she assures him. "You told me not to say anything to anyone so I haven't. I only told Eiji because we tell each other everything and he usually forgets what I tell him anyway so he's not going to spread it around. Seriously though don't worry, neither of us are going to say anything to anyone else about it."

"Okay," Izuku mumbles, a pang of jealousy clutching at his chest. If only he had someone like that: that he could tell everything to and talk to about all of his problems no matter what they are. Eijirou and Ochako are the closest thing he has to that right now so he might as well tell her seeing as he's already told her enough as it is.

"So, seeing as I can work out most of it for myself, what actually happened with Bakugou?" Ochako presses.

Before Izuku has the chance to answer Eijirou comes and sits down beside Ochako, zipping up his tracksuit top. "That's my workout done for the day," he says, turning to press a kiss to Ochako's cheek. "Hey princess, Midobro, what are we talking about?"

"Midoriya and Bakugou," Ochako replies.

"Oh, have you spoken to him since the other day?" Eijirou asks. "I know you said you didn't want to but I think you should."

"No I haven't," Izuku admits. "Honestly, I'm kinda scared to at this point."

Eijirou frowns. "Why?"

"Well he made it clear that he's not interested in me so I don't think we have anything left to talk about," Izuku says with a sigh. "That's what I was so upset about," he adds, speaking more to Ochako now. "I had lunch with him and I stupidly thought I should ask him if me being here had changed his mind about not talking things through. Of course he said they hadn't and he wanted to just forget everything."

"Oh Deku, I'm sorry," Ochako says, reaching over the table and giving his hand a comforting squeeze.

With another heavy sigh Izuku runs a hand over his face. "Maybe he's right; this is all just making things way too complicated so I should just give up, forget about it all and move on before I get hurt."

"Oh he would say something like that because he's a grump," Ochako says. "If you like him and you want to be with him then you should tell him and make him understand that this is what you want."

"Yeah," Eijirou agrees, his eyes sparkling and his face lighting up. "Bakubro is really bad at expressing his feelings so if you want something to happen between the two of you then you're going to have to be the one to make the first move."

Izuku thinks this over for a moment before shaking his head. "No, it's fine," he says. "He said that he doesn't want to talk about what happened in the summer and I respect that. If I push it then it will make things difficult at work. I'll get over it." The way he sees it that's the only thing to do. He can't alienate one of his colleagues having not even been at the school a full term yet so he should just agree with what Katsuki wants to make his life easier.

Ochako's eyes widen. "What? No, you can't!"

"This thing with me and Ka... Bakugou: I'll get over it," Izuku says again. "It will suck for a while but I will."

"Do you think you'll be happy with that?" Eijirou asks.

"Maybe not at first," Izuku says with a shrug, "but I think I will be in the long run. What I need is to go out on a date with someone else to get my mind off him."

"Really?" Ochako asks, her face falling somewhat.

Izuku nods, his mood brightening. Now that he's said about going out on a date with someone else out loud he feels much more happy with this plan. If he puts himself out there and finds someone new then he can forget all about his little crush. "Yeah I'll go on a date with someone else and get over Kacchan... I mean Bakugou."

Eijirou beams at him. "Well if that's what you wanna do Midobro and you're happy then go for it man!" This earns him a swift elbow to the ribs from Ochako but she's so tiny and he has so much muscle that he barely notices.

"Problem is though I don't know where I can fine anyone to go on a date with here," Izuku says, his brow creasing in a frown as he begins to mutter to himself. "I've never been good at stuff like that and I don't fancy the idea of trying to pick up someone in a bar so I need to find somewhere I can meet people that isn't a bar or a club. I suppose I could join a gym or something like that, I had a friend once who met her girlfriend at a gym so maybe it could work for me although I tend to get to focused when I go to a gym..."

Before Eijirou can try and give him a helpful answer about which gym would be the best for him to sign up to Ochako jumps in. "How about we set you up with someone?" she offers. "We know plenty of single people."

Eijirou frowns, confused. "Do we?"

"Yes of course we do babe," she says, tone clipped and giving him a pointed look that tells him not to ask any more questions before she turns back to Izuku with a wide smile. "You just leave it to me, I know plenty of single people and I'll find you someone nice that you can go out on a date with."

Izuku chews over this offer. On the one hand there appears to be some kind of scheme going on in Ochako's mind – he can tell by the look on her face – that he knows he shouldn't get involved with but on the other he doesn't know anyone else here, the only new people that he's met are the people that he works with, and it would be great to get to know some new people. If meeting someone new means that he could put Katsuki out of his mind then so much the better. "Okay," he says. "If you wouldn't mind, that would be great."

"Of course not," Ochako says. "I'd love to help."

"Thanks," Izuku says with a grin. He downs the rest of his coffee and gets to his feet. "I've got some stuff I need to do in my classroom before the end of break but I'll talk to you some more about it later."

"Sure thing," Ochako says with a smile.

"Okay, I'll see you both later," Izuku says and leaves the staff room with a new found spring in his step.

"See you Midobro," Eijirou calls after him.

As soon as the door closes behind Izuku Ochako turns to Eijirou, excited determination in her eyes. "We need to set him up with someone absolutely awful," she tells him.

Frowning in confusion once again Eijirou tries to work his head around what she's just said to him. "But I thought we liked Midoriya. He's our friend so why would we want to set him up with someone awful?"

"We do like Midoriya but if we set him up with someone awful then he'll realise that he doesn't want to date someone else, that he wants to try and work things out with Bakugou. If we can convince him to do that the two of them will be really happy together," she says, using the voice she usually reserves for explaining things to the children.

"Okay," Eijirou says even though he's unsure what she's getting at exactly, "but he said he wants to get over Bakubro though."

She gives him a sweet smile and pats his hand. "Yes but he doesn't know what he wants, he's just saying that because he thinks that's what Bakugou wants," she explains.

"Right..." Slowly Eijirou's brain begins to fit all the pieces together in a way that just about makes sense to him. "So what are you going to do then?"

"We are going to make sure that we set him up with someone awful so that he ends up on a really bad date. Hopefully that will make him realise that he wants to try talking to Bakugou about things again. Eventually Bakugou will have to see that he wants to be with Midoriya; I mean how could he not be, he's adorable. So now all we need to do is find someone awful so that we can set all this in motion."

Before Eijirou has the chance to ask her any more questions Denki pops up from behind their sofa. "You called," he says with a grin.

Ochako pats him comfortingly on the shoulder. "I didn't mean you sweetie, you'd be a wonderful date."

"Oh no I didn't mean me," Denki laughs. "It would never work between us – we're both bottoms – and besides my heart already belongs to our scrumptious headmaster so I'm saving myself for him."

"Any luck with pursuing Iida?" Ochako asks.

"No," Denki whines, pouting and coming to sit where Izuku was only moments before. "I just want him to notice that I like him and that he likes me back, is that too much to ask?"

Ochako gives him a sympathetic look and a gentle pat on the hand. "It will happen sweetie, eventually he'll see how wonderful you are and then he'll carry you off in his arms for a romantic confession."

"I hope so," Denki sighs, falling into silence as his thoughts turn to Tenya.

"So... you said something about an awful date for Midoriya?" Ochako asks, bringing them back to the topic at hand when it becomes apparent that Denki has become lost in his own thoughts and needs breaking out of them.

Denki frowns. "But I thought you liked Midoriya."

"We do," Ochako says. "It's not because we don't like him, it's because..."

"You can easily cut the sexual tension between him and Bakugou but you need them to realise that they want to be with each other?" Denki finishes for her, his grin suddenly turning cheeky.

"Exactly."

"Then I know the perfect person," Denki says pulling his phone out of his pocket. "He's an absolute nightmare."

"How bad are we talking here?" Ochako asks.

"Even I wouldn't go out with him," Denki replies. "He's arrogant, he only ever talks about himself and his own achievements and he usually expects sex at the end of a date whether the other person has enjoyed themselves or not."

Ochako whistles. "Wow."

"I know right," Denki says, rolling his eyes.

"If he's so awful, how do you know him?" Ochako asks. "You don't usually hang around with people you can't stand."

"He's a friend of a friend," Denki explains. "Actually I say friend 'Toshi only puts up with him because he absolutely has to."

"Will this guy be available to go out with Midoriya tonight?" Ochako asks.

"Probably, he doesn't do a lot outside of work."

"Okay but will he even want to go out with Midoriya?"

"Oh Monoma will go out with anyone willing," Denki replies with a laugh. "He's not picky at all!"

"Perfect," Ochako beams. "Can you set it up for tonight?"

A wicked gleam in his eye Denki pulls his phone out of his pocket and begins tapping away on it. "Give me half an hour and I'll let you know." And like a gust off wind he's gone to work his magic before either Ochako or Eijirou can say anything.

"This is perfect," Ochako says, her eyes gleaming. "We'll set Midoriya up with this guy, he'll go out with him and have an absolutely terrible time and then we can convince him to give things with Bakugou another go. This can't go wrong, can it Eiji?"

Beside her Eijirou is still frowning in confusion, uncharacteristically quiet throughout the whole conversation.

"Eiji?"

Comprehension suddenly dawns on his face. "Oh they're both bottoms, I get it now!" He beams at her, clearly pleased with himself at having worked it out. "Sorry princess, what were you saying?"

Smiling sweetly at him Ochako leans her head against his arm, linking her fingers with his and giving his hand a squeeze. "I can't wait to have your big stupid babies."


Izuku leaves his classroom later that afternoon, about to head to the staff room for lunch (thankful in the knowledge that it's Katsuki's turn to be on playground duty this lunchtime and he won't have to see him) when he hears someone calling his name. Turning he sees Denki coming down the corridor towards him, a huge grin on his face. It's very rare that Denki leaves the confines of Tenya's office, wanting to spend all his time staring at him, so it's quite a surprise to see him coming to find him. This can't be about anything good...

"Hey Midoriya," Denki pants as he reaches him, still with a huge smile on his face. "I'm glad I caught you."

"Hey Kaminari, is everything okay?"

"Yeah everything's fine. Look I hope you don't mind but I overheard you chatting to 'Chako and Kiri in the staffroom earlier and I know someone who is free tonight if you are interested in going out on a date with him," Denki replies.

A little annoyed at being overheard (although he knows that really he shouldn't have been having that conversation in the staff room in the first place if he didn't want other people to hear them talking) Izuku mulls over Denki's offer and realises it's not terrible. After all he was the one who said about going on a date and here is someone he considers a friend offering to set everything up for him. It's an incredibly sweet deal: all Izuku has to do is turn up and enjoy the evening "Yeah okay sure," he says. "I'm free."

Denki beams at him. "Great, I'll tell him to meet you at that ramen place around the corner. You're okay with ramen right? It's super nice there."

"Sure," Izuku says, his irritation leaving. He enjoys good ramen and it would be nice not to have to cook for himself for a night. "Ramen's fine with me."

"Perfect," Denki sings, typing out something on his phone, "I'll tell him seven, if that's okay with you."

"Okay great."

As is usual for him when he's set his mind to something Denki disappears before Izuku can say anything else. With a shake of his head and a grin Izuku closes his classroom door and heads off to the staff room to eat his lunch, that spring in his step from before is back. This might actually turn out to be quite a good night.

Unseen by either him or Denki, Katsuki has been hiding in the doorway of his classroom, fuming at the conversation he's just overheard. Of course he has no reason or right to be so angry – he was the one who said that he and Izuku shouldn't carry on their relationship – but the idea of Izuku going on a date with someone else makes his blood boil. He keeps thinking about it all night and well into the morning. Just thinking about his first date with Izuku, about how they tumbled into his hotel room and into each other's arms by the end of the day, makes him sick to his stomach when he thinks Izuku might do the same thing with this other guy. Trying to be reasonable he rationalises that just because Izuku had sex with him the day they met doesn't mean that he will with this other guy. Still he can't get it out of his mind and by the time he sees Izuku the following morning he finally snaps.

"Oi Deku," he growls, practically cornering Izuku in front of his classroom.

"Kacchan!" Izuku gasps in surprise. "Is everything okay?"

"You mind telling me what you were doing going out on a date with one of Pikachu's random friends?" he demands, letting his anger get the better of him.

For a brief second Izuku is clearly too stunned to say anything in response but then he collects himself and glares up at him. "What I do outside of school is absolutely none of your business," he snaps. "You made that very clear when you said you didn't want to talk about what happened over the summer."

"You shouldn't go out with random strangers," Katsuki tells him.

"I went out with you," Izuku hits back.

"Exactly and look how that turned out."

The glare hardens and Katsuki has never seen Izuku looking so fierce before. "You don't get to decide who I go out with Kacchan," he hisses. "It's none of your business what I do so just leave me alone! I'm sorry you're in a bad mood about this but that really is not my problem. You didn't want to carry things on and I respected that so you don't now get to tell me what I can and can't do and who I can and can't date!"

Katsuki, red faced and about to explode, is unsure what to say in response because deep down he knows that he is in the wrong but thankfully he doesn't have to worry about responding as Ochako suddenly appears beside them. "Is everything okay?" she asks looking between the two of them. "I could hear shouting."

"Yes," Izuku snaps again but at Katsuki rather than Ochako. "We're done here." He takes Ochako's arm and drags her away, leading her in the direction of the staff room and leaving Katsuki staring after them.

"What was all that about?" Ochako asks when they're far enough away that she thinks Katsuki won't hear and Izuku will give her a proper answer.

Sighing Izuku rolls his eyes. "Nothing, he's just in a mood because he somehow found out about that date I went on last night. You didn't say anything to him did you?"

Ochako shakes her head as they enter the staff room. "No, I only mentioned it to Kaminari because he overheard and said he knew someone."

"He must have overheard too then," Izuku grumbles as the two of them head to the coffee machine, making their way over to a couple of empty chairs in the corner once they both have a cup.

"How was the date in the end?" Ochako asks tentatively once they sit down, now that Izuku has calmed down a little.

"Oh my god it was awful!" he cries, his irritation suddenly returning but shifting from Katsuki to his previous night's date. "Monoma talked about himself the entire evening, he barely let me get a word in edgeways. I think I said a grand total of fifteen words, most of which were to the waiter!"

"Oh that's a shame," Ochako says, feigning sympathy. "I'm sorry."

"How does Kaminari even think he's a nice guy?" Izuku asks.

"To be fair to Denki he is just a friend of a friend," Ochako says, feeling a little guilty that she's tarred Denki with the same brush as this guy in Izuku's estimation. "I don't think he's actually met him."

"Either way there's no way in hell I'm ever seeing him again!" Izuku exclaims. "You know what's even worse about the whole experience is that Monoma actually expected me to have sex with him after dinner even after talking at me all night! Between him and Ka... Bakugou being so weird about me going out with him in the first place even though he has no right to I'm totally done with men!"

"Oh don't say that," Ochako gasps. " You can't give up on men just after one bad date. Monoma is clearly an asshole who isn't worth your time and Bakugou is just jealous because he really does want to go out with you but can't say that now after being a jerk before. I'm sure he'll stop being like that eventually and come around. Trust me, everything is going to work out as planned."

Izuku narrows his eyes suspiciously at her; that's a very strange way to phrase things. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Oh it's nothing," Ochako giggles, waving him off. "Don't worry about anything I say, I'm just talking nonsense."

"Okay..." Sure you are... doesn't seem like you're planning anything at all...