Chapter 2

Midoriya

Class was uneventful and he found himself fidgeting as he looked around at the others sitting in class, one of these people were writing stories about him and Todoroki, it was odd to think that some of his class mates thought of them like that, and that they visualized them doing… things.

His cheeks began to flair as he thought about the story he and Todoroki had read earlier and he looked over to the half and half boy, surprisingly he met his eyes and he couldn't help but smile, Shoto returned the smile and it only caused his smile to grow a little more, he looked back to his book then, unaware that the interaction had been noticed by a few others in his class, but then he had been looking at Todoroki, so he wouldn't have been able to see it.

Class was let out and instead of going to his usual group of Ururaka and Iida he ended up going to Shoto "I feel like I am being watched all the time now" He said and Shoto nodded to him while placing hands in his pockets. "It is unsettling to think that our interactions might be analyzed and misconstrued at any time, even this might be taken the wrong way" Todoroki remarked and it caused a panic to flood over Midoriya, he hunkered to the floor gripping his hair as he realized that from now on anything he did with his friend might end up being wrote about. Todoroki reached out to touch his shoulder, but before he could do it Izuku stood up and looked at him in a serious manner.

"I don't think it is a good idea for us to be together like this Todoroki-kun" He said without thinking of the wording, and he turned and walked over to Iida and Ururaka, Todoroki was looking at him in shock and Kaminari clapped a hand on his shoulder and said "That's too bad man, I was rooting for you two"

It wasn't until later when Asuyu asked him about the exchange that he realized the damage he had done. Not just that people would now assume that they had been dating and had just broken up, but also how hurtful it must have been to Shoto himself, and a hand went to his face quickly as he groaned at his own stupidity. How could he not realize the implications to his action, he was an idiot! Later that night when Todoroki was meant to come by and read the next story with him, Midoriya noticed he was running late. He sent his friend a message only to receive a reply saying. 'I thought you didn't want to be around me anymore.' Yes, he had definitely hurt him.

A pang of guilt spread over the green haired boy and he got up out of his bed and sighed, this was all his fault, talking without thinking, he had done things like this before, but it bothered him a bit more that he had hurt Todoroki and just texting to apologize was not enough, opening the door to his room as quiet as he could, Midoriya then snuck out into the hall, he didn't want anyone seeing him creeping to Shoto's room at night, bad enough to have people imagining it after all, but actually seeing it? Not a good idea.

He got to the room and gave a light knock. A reply of 'yes?' came and he was about to open the door, but then the story came back to his mind and he stalled. "It's Midoriya" he said, and after a few seconds the door opened, Todoroki stood to the side to let him in and he closed the door behind him with a soft click. The guilt that was building only compounded when he saw how dejected Todoroki looked and Midoriya knew it was his fault, and he had to do something about it. "Todo… Shouto-kun, I am really sorry for how I behaved earlier, I panicked, and I…"

He looked up to see a blush spread brightly across his friends face and he felt a wash of relief flood through him as Todoroki smiled. "It's nice… hearing a friend say my name like that. Thank you Midoriya" just why Deku had used his first name he couldn't tell you, it just felt right, but it also felt a little bit too intimate also, and he frowned a bit as he realized he was not sure just how he was feeling. He sat down on the floor and focused on his hands as he began to talk, maybe if he voiced what was in his mind, Todoroki could help him.

"I just got scared I think, I kept thinking that people were looking at me, and that they would be judging me, and even how I walked away I began thinking, what if they think we were dating and I broke up with you?" Todoroki chose that moment to interject. "Kaminari certainly did, and he was apparently rooting for us." Izuku looked up to find Shoto smiling as he said it, and the half and half boy sat down across from him.

"I can see that people thinking that we might be in a relationship is something that upsets you, I honestly don't care what they think, though I am interested in finding out who has been writing the stories, if it is too upsetting for you to be near me Midoriya, I understand, though I will be sad to lose your friendship."

A pain filled his chest as Todoroki said that, the very idea of losing him as a friend hurt more than he thought it would, and he shook his head to the very notion of it. This was all his fault for acting strangely, he just needed to relax and try to act like he normally would. Though how he normally had led people to believe that they were already dating. He pondered that for a moment, he never thought he had treated Todoroki any differently than his other friends, I mean sure he worried about him a bit more than the others, but there was a good reason for that, and he supposed he trusted him a bit more than the others too, but then there was a good reason for that as well, but for outsiders he supposed that it could be viewed differently.

"I won't lose you as a friend Todoroki. You are… I mean, I know we only know each other less than a year, but you are as important to me as Kaa-chan. I don't ever want to lose you" He was blushing hard as he said it, and he heard Shoto sigh quietly, he was looking down to hide his embarrassment so he hadn't noticed when Todoroki moved to sit beside him till it was too late.

"Well let's find who is writing about us then" Shoto said and Izuku smiled to him and took out his phone. Clicking on the next number, from the start they knew that this one was not written by the same person, as they clearly didn't know their personalities, and so after a short skim, Midoriya moved onto the next link.

'What was he thinking, shitty nerd! Going to all that trouble, coming up with that shitty plan, making Kirishima help, fuck! FUCK! Bakagou was pissed, he was super pissed! All he wanted to do was push that fucking freckly bastard out of his mind, but no, fucking nerd had to pull some shit like that! And why?! Why did he fight for him, why did he push so hard? They grew up together, that was all, they weren't friends, he was just a stupid annoyance that pissed him off to no end!

("this is about you and Bakagou" Todoroki said, and Midoriya nodded "Yes, but they know about us being friends, so it has to be the same writer" Izuku reasoned)

The explosive blond sat on the grass and thumped the ground in frustration, he knew himself what this was really about, he knew just why he was so pissed off, He had grown to like Izuku more than he ever thought he would, and he had been fighting against the feelings for a long time now. It usually came out as screams or threats, sometimes it would be actually fighting, but now that he had been saved by him again, he was running out of excuses to fight. He sat on the grass and stared at it, as though willing it to fight him, and after what felt like hours of sitting there, he heard the words he knew he would eventually hear. "KaaChan, what are you doing here?"

Deku finally showed, he knew the damn nerd had been studying out here for a while on his own, and so he decided it was the best place to ambush him. He needed to get this out of his system, and he needed to get it out now. Standing up he turned to his childhood friend "Deku." He said with a low grumble in his voice, as Izuku flinched a bit, just like always, he stomped forward and took a hold of his arm, dragging him along as he ignored the questions and complaints of the smaller boy. When he finally got him to a secluded place, he turned to face him.

Large innocent eyes seemed so nervous and he furrowed his brow before pushing Izuku against the wall "Ka-Kaachan what are you?" words were silenced by lips crashing down, Bakagou kissed him hard and hungrily, and it took a moment for Izuku to respond, but when he did, it was by wrapping strong arms around his neck and leaning into the kiss, and for a moment he felt content, happy even, they deepened the kiss and Bakagou ground his hips against his friend. Damn did it feel good!'

Midoriya put the phone down, his face was pale and he looked at Todoroki. "They think I… with KaaChan?" Todoroki picked up the phone and skimmed through the rest of the story "Yes it would seem that way, though they do not have you in a relationship with him, they only have it as some sort of tryst, having Bakagou threaten you after to keep it a secret"

Izuku blanched further and went back to the menu, it was worrying him now, as he knew that anyone could be mentioned in these links, not just Todoroki, after all, the second one was a girl. He frowned and looked back to Todoroki once more. "How are we meant to catch them?" he asked, and his friend gave a thoughtful look to the question. After a moment he spoke softly. "Well, the writer seems to take things that have happened to us, or interactions we have and use them to make these stories more believable right?"

"Yes" Izuku replied

"Well perhaps we can use that to our advantage?" he said and Izuku seemed a bit lost. But Todoroki just smiled his small smile. "Do you trust me?" he asked, and the freckled boy nodded "Alright, well I propose we begin to act more familiar with each other in public. We can do little things in front of our classmates, and then begin to check to see if they are wrote about. If they are, then we take note of the people who could have seen it. And eventually we should be able to determine who out culprit is"

"It was a good plan, but it meant… "You mean… I should actually pretend to be your boyfriend?" Midoriya said and Todoroki nodded "Only if you are comfortable with that. I do not want to have you do anything you don't feel okay with" he said and to this Midoriya blushed harder than he thought he could, but he eventually nodded.

"I-It's a good plan… w-w-we s-should d-d-do it. AH I mean, no not do it! Like do 'it' but the plan, we should do that! Well as long as the plan doesn't mean doing that! I mean, I figure we would have to do some of the things, I supposed that couples do? Hold hands? No do boys hold hands? I don't know, I don't know anyone who is gay, I should do some research on this? How do you even research that?!" a chuckle broke him out of his rant and it made him jump a bit "Try not to over think it. We can start small and you can let me do the first part okay?"

Midoriya nodded and stood up, it was late and he knew that they had class in the morning, so after giving span a short goodnight, he snuck out and back to his room un-noticed.

Once back in his room Midoriya wondered a bit about what Todoroki said. To pretend to be his boyfriend, but to act naturally about it? How do you even do that? He took out his phone and stared at it, the thought of the last story flashed back into his head, they wrote Kaa-chan saying, 'damn nerd' only his class knew about that, he was always saying it in class, but never outside. Besides, other than those in his class and who grew up with him, no one even knew they were friends, and if that was the case, then who could be writing this, and why?

He opened the story again and looked at it.

'Large innocent eyes seemed so nervous and he furrowed his brow before pushing Izuku against the wall "Ka-Kaachan what are you?" words were silenced by lips crashing down, Bakagou kissed him hard and hungrily, and it took a moment for Izuku to respond, but when he did, it was by wrapping strong arms around his neck and leaning into the kiss, and for a moment he felt content, happy even, they deepened the kiss and Bakagou ground his hips against his friend. Damn did it feel good!

He broke the kiss and latched lips hungrily to his neck and Deku moaned softly before he pushed him back roughly. Large green eyes seemed heavy and he was panting, but he resolutely held the blond back. Red eyes narrowed slightly and he moved to close the distance again, but Izuku stopped him with just one hand, he was so strong now, and that was without his quirk, he shook his head and stepped away from him. "Kaa-chan, this isn't right. You- you hate me, you don't… this isn't fair"

Katsuki frowned and looked down, it was hard for him to express his feelings, he didn't know how, he just wanted to… he wanted to… if he was honest he didn't even know what he wanted, he turned away from Midoriya and screamed while he punched the wall. It was always like this with him, when he was frustrated or couldn't understand his own feelings he would just vent it in anger. He felt a hand touch his back and he was about to slap it off but then another joined it and Midoriya hugged him from behind.

"Kaachan. You… you're very important to me okay? And if… if you want to do this with me, it has to mean something. I don't want you to just use me and ignore me after" he said and lay his head against the blonds back. Bakugou could feel the tears spilling down his back and he shook his head, it wasn't the first time he had made the short boy cry, but this time it hurt, it felt like those words would rip him apart "D.. Izuku… I won't ignore you, but… it's difficult for me" He turned in his friends arms and rested his back against the wall. Deku looked up at him with puffy eyes and he shook his head with a small smile. It was always the same with this damn nerd, he wore all his emotions on his face, so easy to read.

Katsuki brushed back some of his curly hair and he lent in for a softer kiss. "I just… can I just have this, just this moment tonight?" he asked and though he could see the reluctance in this shorter boys eyes he eventually nodded.'

Midoriya furrowed his brow as he skimmed the rest of the story, it was graphic, just like the one with Todoroki, but in this one he was shy and retiring, let Kaa-chan take control. It seemed almost real, and Izuku pondered that, from an outsiders point of view this seemed like a true account, and even now, when you saw how him and Kaa-chan now interacted it seemed scarily plausible.

He let out a sigh, he was supposed to be thinking of something to make it seem like he and Todoroki were together now, but the writer thought that he was also with Kaa-chan? Or did they? As he thought about it, they had wrote about him with more than one person now. Perhaps it was more than them thinking he was with others, but it was that they liked the idea of it, that whoever was writing these stories, they were doing it because they wanted to see them to come true.

That was when it occurred to him, if this was what they wanted, then the best thing to do was to read more of the stories and act the way they were writing him. He pressed back and began to read through the named stories, these ones were not as crude and more focused on a relationship rather than anything lude. The majority seemed to be with him and one of the boys in his class, there were one or two with him and Ururaka, a few with him and Asuyu, and a rather funny one of him with him and Mina. A lot of them had him being shy and stuttering, which was easy for him as he would most likely be that was anyway.

And with Shoto… well, it wasn't like he actually thought about his friend like that, but when he actually thought about it, Todoroki was special, he was more than just a normal friend, and it was like that with Kaa-chan, if anything happened to Shoto, Izuku knew that he would do whatever it took to save him. When he actually thought about it, he only felt that way about a few people. Kaa-chan, Shoto, Iida, Ururaka, Mirio and Eri. And of course his Mom and All Might.

The rest of the class, he cared for them yes, but he was not sure he would have gone to the same lengths he went to, to save Kaa-chan. So perhaps there was a grain of truth to it? Perhaps he did have some kind of feelings for these people, though whatever they were were still up for debate and of course Eri, All Might and his Mom were not in the field of romantic endeavours.

He didn't really think of Kaa-chan like that either. He had always looked up to him after all, like some goal he had to reach, but Todoroki and Iida were different, They were strong yes, but Shoto was fragile and he wanted to protect him. Iida however was different too, he looked up to him because of how responsible he was, how together he seemed. That was why it hurt so much that he hadn't noticed the hurt his friend was going through a hard time. When he thought about Ururaka he blushed a bit, she was always so nice to him, and she was strong too.

He thought of each of them in different ways, not ever romantically if he really was honest about it. He had been working too hard on becoming a hero, living up to All mights expectations of him, thinking of dating had not been on the cards at all really.

But now he was going to pretend it was, and with a boy no less, he thought about it, what he had said yesterday in public would make it easier he supposed, but he wanted to be low key all the same. But maybe he could make it work for him.

The next morning Deku came down late for breakfast, he had stayed up most of the night reading and hadn't realized just how late if had become. When he made it to the cafeteria most of the class where there, he gave a weak smile to Iida and made a beeline for Todoroki who was sitting two seats down, he blushed a bit and took a hold of Shoto's hand as he led him to the back of the hall, he didn't say anything, but he knew that people were watching. "Midoriya? Are you okay? You seem tired." Todoroki said and Izuku nodded and flushed harder, the thoughts of what he was about to say making him nervous "T-t-t-todoroki-kun… I… yesterday… I said that to you and…" Todoroki pulled him forward and pressed his forehead to his "I forgive you Midoriya, it's okay" he said and game a small smile before returning to his breakfast.

Izuku could not process what had happened, he was going to make a big deal about how he messed up and was freaked, and how he still wanted to be his boyfriend, but in that small moment, with that slight movement his world melted around him and he felt like the world was moving in slow motion, at least until.