Izuku was on his feet before he even knew it, the screeching of his chair the only sound that pierced through the thick silence that had blanketed the entire room. From the window, Izuku could just barely spot a head of wheaten hair dashing through the school courtyard. He let out a breath – at least Bakugou didn't seem to have gotten hurt from his jump. Cats always do land on their feet, huh?

"Did he – did he just jump out from the third floor?" Izuku turned to see that Kaminari had joined him at the window. There was a sigh from the front of the room from Kayama-sensei, and the sound was enough to jolt most of the class out of shock and into fits of murmurs. Kayama-sensei looked utterly resigned as she aimed a pleading look at Todoroki.

"Todoroki, could you…?" her voice drifted off before she finished her question, though the intent was clear enough. Todoroki looked at her awkwardly for a few moments, as if asking why he had to go find Bakugou. After a few tense moments where Izuku thought Todoroki might refuse, his classmate skulked off his chair and out the door. Izuku didn't miss the irritated look on Todoroki's as the boy walked out just a few moments before the lunch bell rang.

"You're all dismissed for lunch, class. Don't follow his example." Kayama-sensei gathered her belongings and left the classroom without any further words.

Izuku found himself looking out the window in thought, just vaguely registering that Kaminari had slowly backed away to chat with the pink girl at their seats. What had gotten over Bakugou? I mean sure, the class was kind of being jerks, but was that kind of scene really necessary? Would Todoroki be able to find him? What would Todoroki do if he finds Bakugou – there not exactly friendly after all…

He felt a hand gently land on his shoulder, pulling him out of his thoughts. Izuku looked, expecting maybe Uraraka or even Iida to have come to call him, but instead found himself staring at Yaoyorozu.

"Don't worry about him too much."

Izuku wasn't entirely sure if she was referring to Bakugou or Todoroki, though if she knew how they interacted, it wasn't impossible that she was talking about them both. Just the thought of what exactly Todoroki would do when he did find Bakugou gave him shivers.

"Has he – has Bakugou always been like this?"

Yaoyorozu gave him a strange look, raising an eyebrow (why does everyone in their family raise their eyebrows at me?). She sighed, and answered, "As long as I can remember, yeah."

Izuku absently chewed at his bottom lip.

"Hey, Yaoyorozu," Midoriya started, hoping he'd get an answer, "why do those two hate each other?"

Yaoyorozu pulled her hand off Midoriya's shoulder, and moved forward to lean at the window.

"It's complicated…and not my story to tell."

All things considered, Izuku wasn't too shocked that he still wasn't getting answers. Yaoyorozu turned at him, this time with a small smile.

"There's not too much we can do about those two idiots, unfortunately, but I am glad to have gotten a chance to finally speak with you."

Midoriya blushed a bit at that, the realization that this was the first time they've ever talked dawning on him. He would have found it funny - had it not been so embarrassing - how just being reminded about the fact caused him to regress into old nervous habits.

"Ah – ah, right, yes, umm…hello, I'm Izuku, it's nice to m-meet you," he said, trying to return her smile, and wow, up close, she really was pretty.

Yaoyorozu chuckled a bit. "You can call me Yaomomo."

Izuku felt his ears heat up – Yaomomo seemed like too familiar a nickname. He hadn't done a lot of talking to girls before…did they usually let you call them by their nicknames? Well, he always talked to Uraraka, but Uraraka was, well, Uraraka! Does she even count as a girl? Izuku couldn't even get himself to call her Ochaco, and here was Yaoyorozu asking him to call her Yaomomo? Maybe it's a name she preferred? Or maybe –

"Aren't you just precious," she laughed, "Yes, it is the name I prefer."

Izuku rubbed behind his ears, relieved that Yaoyorozu – Yaomomo – didn't seem too put off by his muttering. He perked up as he heard his name being called from the door – Uraraka, most likely – he did have a lunch appointment to keep with his two best friends. Yaomomo seemed to have heard as well.

"Don't let me keep you, but before you leave – " she leaned in closer, and Izuku tried not to get too flustered, "Todoroki asked me to tell you he'd like to walk back to the house with you later. He'll wait at the school gates after classes."

Izuku nodded, not trusting his suddenly dry mouth.

"You've been making a lot of new friends, mister," Uraraka elbowed Izuku as he caught up to her and Iida outside the classroom. "First Todoroki, now Yaomomo!"

Izuku smiled sheepishly at Uraraka. "I only just talked to Yaomomo today."

"Well, I'm sure how exactly that came up is only one of the many things you'll be explaining today," she said sweetly. Izuku wasn't fooled – under that saccharine tone was a core of steel, and he knew she was done letting him off the hook. The walk to the cafeteria was spent with Uraraka restarting her interrogation of Iida and how he knew Midnight, and Izuku was glad to have even just a little more time to gather his thoughts uninterrupted. He felt wholly unprepared for the coming conversation. Would they be mad at him for lying? Would they think he was stupid for his choices? He knew, rationally, that they likely wouldn't want to stop being friends just because he kept his situation from them, but knowing didn't help stop from fearing it.

"-zuku? Earth to Izuku?"

Izuku blinked at Uraraka's hands waving in front of his face. They were seated at a table, and there was food in front of him. Had he really zoned out that long?

"Izuku, I must express my concern at your current behavior," Iida said as Uraraka deftly ducked under the arm Iida was animatedly swinging around, "are you certain you're not still ill?"

Yes, I'm still ill - as a matter of fact, I think I need to go to the nurse riiiight about now.

No, Izuku decided to himself, he had to face this. It would only get harder and harder to explain the longer he waited. Surely, his best friends would understand, right? It was hardly his fault that his own father never wanted him –

"I-zu-kuuuuun~~~"

Uraraka's sing-song dragged him back to reality for what seemed to be the hundredth time that day.

"No – I'm not – I mean…I feel fine, Iida, thanks."

Okay, honesty was going well so far. Iida spared him a last searching glance before nodding and leaning back into his chair.

"Good, so now you can tell us what's been going on with you," Uraraka's voice was no longer coated in pretend-cuteness, but was instead just pure sincerity. He felt instantly guilty (well, guiltier) for all the lying he'd done to his two friends.

He imagined how simple it would be to just spill his guts about everything that's happened. "So, remember when I told you that I was living with my dad? I was kidding, he never actually replied to my attempts at contacting him. I've been living in a tent for a few weeks now, and recently moved to a forest which apparently was owned by Todoroki! Crazy coincidence, right! One thing led to another and I'm living with him and his cousins now…well at least for the time being."

In his imagined scenario, Iida would laugh good-naturedly, and Uraraka would shake her head with a smile. "Oh, is that all?" she would ask teasingly as she patted his shoulder, "mystery solved, then! Let's all eat!" Izuku would sigh in relief, and smile as he dug into his lunch. It would be such a great way for the whole thing to blow over, rather then –

"Why didn't you tell us? Don't you trust us?" Uraraka would level him a questioning glare. "Yes, Izuku, this is most alarming, and I do not approve in the slightest," Iida would scold him relentlessly. "I-it-it's not that I don't trust you, I just…I didn't want to add to your burdens…" Uraraka would laugh coldly, "Oh please, Izuku, you're already a huge burden, what's a little more – "

No. That wasn't what would happen. They were his best friends – they didn't think he was just a burden, right?

Right?

Izuku swallowed, looking at Uraraka and Iida patiently waiting for him to start speaking. He looked at the concern in their eyes, and in that moment, he knew what he had to do.

"My dad's house was being renovated, and he apparently knew Todoroki's cousin, and I'm staying with them for a while."

BUUUUUUZZZZ. WRONG ANSWER. That was not what Izuku had decided, he berated his traitorous mouth.

His lips didn't show any signs of hesitation as it continued to weave a tale of how his father had ended up sending him to the Todorokis, even as his mind was running its own separate marathon trying to figure out why he wasn't just telling his friends the truth.

What am I doing!? I-I want to tell them the truth! I can't keep running away from things I don't want to face, I can't keep – except…I can run away, at least from this one, right?

Izuku didn't consider himself a coward – sure he was scrawny and wouldn't have put much of a fight in a brawl, but he liked to think he had some tenacity, judging by how often his foot was in his mouth when he talked to Todoroki. He didn't enjoy making up bullshit tales and hoping his best friends would believe it, but what choice did he have when the alternative was possibly making Uraraka and Iida feel like bad friends for not having done more to help him? He couldn't do that to them, they were the most amazing people he'd ever met, he didn't want to just be another burden to them. He just had to suck it up, keep his problems under control (and keep them exclusive his).

His self-rationalizing had allowed him to feel a bit better by the time he had finished his "explanation." Iida's hand was on his chin, while Uraraka mouthed an 'oh,' as if all the secrets of the universe had just been revealed to her. He felt a bit disgusted at himself for all the crap he'd just spouted, but he pinched his thigh and assured himself that this was for the best, they didn't need to know. Knowing would just make them all feel bad.

Uraraka hummed in contemplation. Iida was the first to speak up.

"We must visit, to inspect that your living conditions are acceptable."

Uraraka jumped up. "Yes, absolutely! Let's!"

Izuku's eyes almost popped out of his head.

They wanted to do what!?

Izuku started waving his hands in front of him, hoping he didn't look nearly as panicked as he felt.

"I-I- I don't think that's such a good idea, guys, the house is…um….old! Yeah, it's old! And—"

Uraraka eyed him as she leaned toward his personal space, and Izuku instantly feared whatever she was going to say next.

"Why so nervous, Izuku?" she wagged her eyebrows suggestively, her voice low and husky, "Are you hiding something? What do you and Todoroki get up to in that house, all alone, all by yourselves?"

"Wh- what?" Izuku stammered in the moments before he realized what Uraraka was trying to imply. He felt the blush on his face reach down to his neck – no, his hips – as he covered his face with his hands. Uraraka's laughter felt far too loud to his hot, ringing ears. Iida seemed to have caught on to what Uraraka had said too.

"Uraraka, that-that's-th-that's- you've been reading far too much Midnight!"

He could hear Uraraka heaving for breath in between her laughs. "Well, it would explain why Todoroki's seemed a lot glare-y and more relaxed, wouldn't it! Those glares were sex eyes all this time!"

How had she gone from point A to point B – had Uraraka always been this…this…crass? Those novels were a bad influence on her! Izuku paused, eyes wide in horror as the last part of Uraraka's declaration went into his mind. Todoroki said he's never glared at me – could it be that…were those his…sex eyes?

If he could, Izuku was sure he would have combusted already. His life was already far too complicated to even consider the completely insane notion of Todoroki's sex-eyes. He'd never even thought about the boy that way, and he wasn't sure he ever wanted to.

An indeterminate amount of blushing later, Izuku heard Uraraka's laughter and Iida's stammering dying down. There was a poke at his arm, no doubt Uraraka trying to get his attention. He raised his head slowly, helpless to the thankfully small blush that he still wore.

"It's-it's not like that, okay," he said, voice rougher than he wanted. "I'm still not even sure if Todoroki and I are friends."

Uraraka's expression softened at that, and Izuku appreciated the visible effort she exerted to keep from teasing him about his new housemate.

"Okay, you know I was just kidding. But we're serious," she said, looking briefly at Iida, "we want to visit soon to check how you're doing."

Izuku wondered if he could weave another story to keep them from visiting, but knew better than to add to the growing pile of lies he had to keep track to when it came to his best friends.

"I'll ask about it."

Uraraka squealed, and Iida started listing things he wanted to ensure were present in Izuku's current abode. They chatted some more after that, Iida still vehemently denying that he ever read the Nedzu series, while Uraraka exclaimed how difficult it was to believe that Bakugou, Todoroki, and Yaomomo were related.

Izuku looked wistfully at his best friends. What did he do to deserve them? They deserved a lot better than the Izuku that just kept lying to them.

["Paging Midoriya Izuku, Paging Midoriya Izuku. Please report to the faculty lounge in the second floor, please report to the faculty lounge in the second floor. Paging Midoriya Izuku – "]

Izuku tinkered with his chopsticks for a few seconds before realizing that it was his name being called on the PA system. He looked up to find similarly surprise looks from his two friends.

"They're calling you, right?"

"Yes, that is his name, if I'm hearing it correctly."

Izuku knitted his brow, trying to think if he'd done anything worth being called to the faculty lounge for. The only thing he could think of was missing school the previous day, but he somehow doubted that was big enough an issue for it to be announced on the PA system. He shrugged at his friends.

"I'll see you in class in a bit, I guess," he muttered, gathering his tray and walking away from the table as his friends nodded.

Izuku played through some possible scenarios of what this could have been all about as he made his way to the second-floor faculty room. This was very strange – the last time he'd been called to the room was when his – well, the last time he was called to the room, they hadn't used the announcement system. It was in the middle exam week, and a teacher had just entered their room with a slip. What could it be that it seemed the school couldn't wait for class to start again so they could discreetly pull him out?

In what felt like almost too little time, he found himself in front of the unimposing door to the faculty lounge. Well, at least face one thing head on today, Izuku.

He opened the door slightly, sticking his head in to check if there was anybody inside. He could hear fingers typing on keyboards across the different cubicles in the room. Someone from a cubicle near the door stood up – Kayama-sensei – and she smiled at him in recognition.

"Midoriya," she said, as she gestured toward a hallway to the left, "your homeroom advisor is waiting for you in the room at the end of that hall. Look for the door labeled 'Yagi.'"

Izuku nodded, pushing down the desire to ask her if she'd heard from Todoroki or Bakugou at all throughout the lunch period. He walked quietly, not wanting to disturb the teachers who were working inside as he looked for his homeroom advisor's office. It thankful wasn't too difficult to find, having been at the very end of the hall, just as Kayama-sensei described. After a moment of hesitation, he gently knocked at the door, and asked if he could come in.

"Ah Midoriya, the door is open, please come in," he heard Yagi-sensei's voice muffled by the door.

With a last long breath, he reached for the door handle and gently swung it open. Yagi-sensei smiled at him from his desk, facing the doorway. There was someone who sat across his advisor, who also turned toward him as Izuku peaked inside. His stomach dropped, and he knew there was no way he could be mistaken – he'd seen the pictures – and he knew that the man was none other than –

"Dad?"

The Letter (The Arbors): watch?v=q6gpzBBuKpk