Izuku
It didn't take very long for Izuku to realize just how hard it would be to live with Bakugou Katsuki. But there was just something about the man that wore down the artist's particularly strong patience. They'd only been living together for two weeks, and Izuku was ready to pull out his curling green hair from his scalp. He was at his wit's end. He had tried so hard - so very hard - not to crack under the intensity that was Bakugou Katsuki, but he couldn't help it. The arguments over petty things just kept coming!
This time, it was because Izuku hadn't done laundry in a little over a week. His basket was overflowing, but with classes in full swing and a portfolio of art pieces to create, he'd hardly had the time to make his way to the dorm building's basement to do his laundry. He'd brought enough clothes with him to college for a reason. He easily had enough graphic t-shirts to get him through a full month if worse came to worse because he knew laundry would never be a priority in his life when it came to school.
But apparently it was to Bakugou Katsuki.
It was a Saturday morning, and Izuku was in the middle of sketching out his latest piece for his portfolio theme when Kacchan had absolutely just gone off.
The door to their dorm slammed open, startling Izuku where he sat. The sudden motion dragged a very stark, dark line across his sketch. Sure, it was fine because it was just a sketch, but it still didn't make him feel great. Especially since he had to turn this in come Monday. No. he'd have to redraw it, which would be a drag. He'd been in the zone. That is, until Kacchan had decided to interrupt him with his grand entrance.
"What the fuck, shitty Deku?" Kacchan yelled. The blond was shucked off his running shoes at the door, leaving them on the mat before he entered the room. His skin was slick with a sheen of sweat. He'd probably been on his morning run.
"What? What did I do this time?" Izuku asked as he leaned his elbows on his desk and cradled his head in his hands.
In Kacchan's eyes, he always did something wrong.
"What you did wrong? It's what you didn't fuckin' do!" he hollered. "I can literally smell your dirty clothes through the door of the dorm. It's fuckin' disgusting!"
Izuku groaned audibly. "I haven't had time. I've been busy."
"Tch! You've had time," Kacchan accused as he slammed the door of their dorm shut. "You just spend all of your time watching fuckin' reruns of the All Might TV show."
The greenette was going to open his mouth to protest, but he couldn't. Kacchan was right. He did spend a lot of his freetime watching reruns of his favorite show, but he also spent a lot of time working on homework and projects for his various art classes. Oil painting and life drawing were taking the life out of him. He really just wanted to draw digitally, but he hadn't gotten the opportunity to take any digital painting classes that semester. So, he'd determined he needed the stress relief. In the form of mindless television to ease his fried brain.
"Go. Do. Your. Fuckin'. Laundry!" Kacchan yelled.
Izuku really didn't want to listen to this. He'd finally pulled himself out of his lack-of-inspiration rut that he'd been in the first two weeks of classes. He'd finally found something to draw. But Kacchan had gone and pulled him out of his artist's headspace, effectively souring his mood.
"I really need to get this sketch done," Izuku implored. "This and four others that are due Monday."
"Maybe if someone had their priorities straight, they'd be on top of their school work," Katsuki snapped as he made his way around the room, gathering his shower stuff.
Izuku's eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me about priorities when it comes to art," he said. "It's a heckuva lot harder than it looks. I can't just pull inspiration out of thin air."
"Must not be a very good artist, then," Kacchan said.
Oh, hell no. He was not dealing with this. Katsuki hadn't even looked at any of his art. He couldn't judge him for lacking inspiration. He couldn't judge him at all! He'd never seen a single piece Izuku had created.
"I'm not talking about this with you, Bakugou," Izuku seethed, his mood immediately shifting.
"Bakugou? You go two weeks callin' me fuckin' Kacchan, and all of a sudden you're actually callin' me by fuckin' name. What the fuck, Deku? Make up your fuckin' mind!"
"You've been demoted."
"Demoted?"
"Everyone's apparently a critic! And, evidently, you're so good that you don't even have to look at the art to criticize it!" Izuku shouted at Katsuki. "So, yes, you've been demoted, oh great critic."
He slammed his sketchbook closed and gathered up his pencils and a few other materials, including both his personal sketchbook and class sketchbook. He tossed them all carelessly into his rucksack. He then snatched up his travel case for his hearing aids before he made his way to the door of the dorm.
"Oi! Deku! Where the fuck are you going?" Kastuki snapped. "Do your fuckin-"
Before Katsuki could finish his sentence, Izuku very deliberately looked him in the eyes and pulled his hearing aids from his ears. He thumbed the switch to turn them off before pointedly sticking them inside of their travel case and into his rucksack. He saw the other's lips moving, but he couldn't hear a word he was saying. After a moment or two of yelling, Katsuki realized just exactly what Izuku had done. His mouth dropped open.
Izuku gave a smug smile before he toed on his worn, red sneakers and stormed out of the dorm. A little bit of quiet seriously went a long way.
"-And he gets up at the crack of dawn to go running! Like, I'm all for running, but I'm not going to get up before the sun is up just to get a run in, Ocha," Izuku exclaimed in frustration as he sat at his best friend's desk. "He yelled at me about my laundry today."
"When was the last time you did laundry, Izu?" Ochako asked, his brown raised high.
"Uh. Ah - yeah. It's been a little over a week and a half," Izuku said quickly. "But that's beside the point!"
"You could probably stand to put a dent in the pile," Shouto chimed in from his perch on the end of Ochako's bed.
Izuku groaned. He'd come here to have his friends side with him on all of this. Not for them to get on his case about doing laundry, too. He hadn't even bothered to text Ochako before he'd stormed over there. He was too pissed off. Katsuki really had a way of grinding at nerves no one else seemed to hit. Well, maybe except that short, pervy kid, Mineta, in his life drawing class that said he was in the class solely for the purpose of seeing 'naked ladies', as he'd put it. But still. He only saw Mineta once a week for class. Katsuki had managed to wear away at his patience more times than he was proud to admit in one week.
Lucky for him, Ochako had been in the middle of working on an essay for her introduction to secondary education course. Great procrastinators thought alike. She'd very easily put aside the essay in favor of listening to Izuku's latest tea. She'd even texted Shouto to come over to her dorm to listen in. So, with two out of his three best friends at his side - Tenya had track practice, so he hadn't declined their invite - he told all of his latest Bakugou Katsuki drama.
"Honestly, sometimes, he isn't all that bad, but there are just these certain things," Izuku explained. "These certain grating qualities that he has."
"Like what?" Shouto asked.
"He's got the most foul mouth! He's a neat freak. I can't even leave a sock on the floor unless I want to hear about it for the rest of the day," he provided, his anger from earlier still feuling him. "And if, God forbid, I'm not out of bed by eleven a.m. - which is the break in his schedule for the day - he'll wake me up by chucking pillows at me!"
Ochako and Shouto gave him an amused look at this.
"I'm an art student," he lamented. "We have afternoon classes for a reason. We stay up late to paint and draw, sleep in late, and survive off of TV reruns and stale coffee. Artists are moody and emotional for a reason!"
"Yeah, that isn't exactly healthy, Izu," Ochako said.
"We're not here to question my habits, Ochako," Izuku whined. "We're here to discuss my evil, blond gremlin of a roommate. I don't know what to do!"
"Switch dorms?" Shouto suggested.
"And give up those snazzy dorms of his? I doubt he'd do that," Ochako interrupted with a vehement shake of her head. "He's staying in the nicest dorm building at Yueii. There's no way he'll move anywhere else."
"She's right," Izuku conceded. "They're way too nice to give up. Ochako's place is a dump compared to the new building. Ah-ha. No offense Ochako."
"Maybe talk to him?" Shouto suggested, although it seemed more like a question than a solution. "I'm sure you can come to a compromise."
Ochako snorted. "Based on what you've told us, I somehow think that won't exactly work," she said.
"Why not? Talking usually works," Shouto said.
"From what it sounds like, this guy has two settings irritated and pissed off."
It was now Izuku's turn to snort. "Sounds exactly like Kacchan."
"Kacchan?" Ochako interrupted. "You go on and on about how much this guy pushes your buttons, Izu, yet you give him a cute nickname?"
Izuku's face flushed at the sudden use of the nickname he'd given his roommate. At first, it was just supposed to be playful. He had genuinely misheard his name. But his continually growing physical attraction for his roommate had solidified in his mind that the nickname should stick. Barring today, of course, seeing as Kacchan had been temporarily demoted from the pedestal Izuku held him on in his head.
"I-I had a hard time hearing his name, alright? B-Besides, I think Kacchan makes him seem so much friendlier," Izuku said quickly, attempting to hide his raging embarrassment.
His attempts may have gotten past Shouto, but they most certainly did not fool Ochako. She had her 'there has to be more to this story' face on.
"He's hot, isn't he?" she asked.
"N-No!" Izuku stammered out immediately. A pause, a knowing look from Ochako, and then, "Okay. Yes. He's... Cute. Attractive. He's really hot."
Ochako sent him an excited smile. She did a little clap. He could practically hear her brain working. Izuku hadn't had any form of relationship since Shindo Yo his third year.
"But that doesn't make up for his terrible personality!" he said before he buried his face in his hands.
"No. Rather, I think it makes him seem all that much more unfavorable," Shouto said in his monotone.
A groan erupted from Ochako. "He sounds almost like Yaorashi! Loud, brash, and rude."
Izuku groaned. They were getting too, too deep with this conversation. He was going to die. He thought he was dying on move-in day. Nope. Ochako and Shouto were going to kill him now by feeding him to Kacchan, the evil, blond gremlin.
"I can already tell that they're much different," Shouto said. "Inasa is unintentionally rude, but he's also incredibly sweet-"
"Yeah! To you! You've been dating for how long?"
"Two years, but that's beside the point," Shouto said, waving her off. "From what Izuku says about him, this guy is intentionally rude."
"That's an understatement," Izuku said.
"Do you need me to threaten him?" Ochako asked.
Izuku's head shot up, and he fixed his viridian eyes on Ochako. An inhuman sounded in his chest. "Ochako! First you wanted to set me up with him, and now you want to threaten him?"
"Do you want me to set you up with him?" she asked.
"N-No!" he stammered, his face flaring that same brilliant crimson color. He could feel his entire body getting warm with embarrassment. Why did his friends have to do this to him? "I don't even know if he's gay or bi or whatever! He could be a raging homophobe!"
"So threaten him it is," Shouto said simply.
Izuku groaned. This was not how visiting his friends was supposed to play out. He had come over to vent. Maybe get them to vent with him. He should have known by now, though, that anytime his friends felt that he was threatened, they were up in arms to protect him. It was never just a simple venting session.
"Guys, that's really not necessary. I promise," he said. "I think I have a way to deal with him, anyhow."
"You do?" Ochako asked.
And at the same time from Shouto, "You could have led with that. You would have saved Ochako the breath."
Izuku looked at them both while twiddling his thumbs in his lap. "It was actually pretty funny. I'm proud of myself for thinking of it," he said, smiling at the thought of his grand exit earlier that morning. "He was yelling at me, like always. And I just took out my hearing aids."
"You just took them out? That seems a little lackluster, Izu. I don't see how that would bother him," Ochako pointed out.
Izuku snorted. "I might have made a show of taking them out and putting them away."
A pause. Then a roar of laughter came from Ochako.
"O-Oh my God!" she exclaimed through her laughter.
Her hands were wrapped around her waist to grip her sides. She hadn't even been laughing that long, but he could already see the tears in the corners of her eyes. Not only that - her laughter was also contagious. It only took a few moments before Izuku's laughter was mirroring her own. They even got a few hearty chuckles out of Shouto. It took a while for them to settle down. The girls in the room next door had to pound on the wall dividing the two dorms to get them to bring their obnoxious laughter down to gentle peals.
"God, I love sassy Izu," Ocha said as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "I would pay to see the look on his face."
"It looked a lot like this," Izuku said before he made his facial expression match that of Kacchan's from that morning.
His mouth hung open. His eyes were wide. His brows were furrowed. He couldn't see himself, but by way of Ochako's reaction, he figured he looked hilarious. It took another fifteen minutes and some more wall pounding for them to get over their next fit of laughter. By then, Ochako was too sore to talk, and Shouto had a permanent smirk fixed on his lips.
"He was more stunned that I wasn't listening to him than anything, I think," Izuku supplied when the conversation fell quiet. He leaned back in the Ochako's desk chair. His legs were curled up beneath him in a comfortable sort of way. "Hopefully I didn't upset him too much. I just didn't want to listen to him yelling at me anymore."
"Well, you know we're always here for you, Izuku," Shouto said.
"Yeah, if you ever need us to threaten him-" Ochako chimed in.
"Or have Tenya write a strongly-worded letter-"
"Hey! Be nice!" Ochako said in defense of her boyfriend.
"Regardless, we'll always be here to back you up if your roommate - what did you call him again?"
"His name is Bakugou Katuski, but I call him Kacchan," Izuku said, that same bright blush from before rising to his cheeks.
"Or the evil, blond gremlin," Ochako reminded.
"We'll be here if Bakugou gives you any problems, Izuku. You won't ever have to worry about that.
Izuku felt tears springing to his eyes already. He was such a crybaby, but how couldn't he be when he had such amazing friends? He loved them so, so much, more than words could describe. He'd do anything for them, and he was sure by their words right now that they'd do the same for him. He couldn't have found anyone else more supportive to be in his life - aside from his mom, that is.
"Thanks, guys," Izuku said, sniffling a little bit. He wiped at his tears with the backs of his hands. "Honestly, it means the world to me."
Izuku made it back to his dorm around eleven a.m., and by then, Katsuki was just laying down for his midday nap. Apparently, the nap helped him with his creative process as a culinary student. But Izuku couldn't have his own creative process, which involved staying up and sleeping late. That was another thing about the guy. He could come in and sleep in the middle of the day, but Izuku wasn't allowed to sleep past eleven himself. It had only taken Izuku oversleeping and waking the gremlin from his nap one time and suddenly, it was a taboo for him to sleep during Katsuki's daily nap. And that didn't even change when Izuku had class!
He was finding it increasingly difficult to wrap his head around the enigma that was Bakugou Katsuki.
Izuku was careful not to wake him as he gathered up his basket of laundry and made his way down to the basement. It was pretty full down there, considering it was a Saturday. So he was only able to snag one washing machine. After setting a timer on his phone, he made his way back to his dorm.
Kacchan was still asleep, and as Izuku came into the room, he couldn't help but stare at the blond. Somehow, while he was sleeping, he looked a little less scary. A little less angry. His features were soft and gentle and relaxed while he let sleep overtake him. His shocks of blond spikes sat limp against his forehead because there wasn't any product in it yet. His brow wasn't furrowed over his eyes. His lips were set naturally rather than pursed. In this position, he could see the full cupid's bow that made up Katsuki's pink lips. He was stunning.
Izuku could feel the itch in his fingers to reach out and touch Kacchan, to brush his hair away from his eyes, but he resisted. Kacchan wasn't awake. He couldn't invade his personal space like that, not without him being away. That wasn't right. So, Izuku put his itching fingers to better use. He dug his personal sketchbook and pencils out of his rucksack, settled himself onto his bed, and began to draw. The tip of his pencil found the paper and began to work out the outlines of Kacchan's sleeping form.
Izuku could easily keep this to himself. He wouldn't turn this sketch in for class. He could keep this one for himself where no one else would see. What the blond didn't know wouldn't hurt him, right?
