"I'm sure you both know why you're here," Aizawa said, staring at the two young men sitting in his office. Midnight, Recovery Girl and Principal Nedzu were also attending the impromptu meeting, since Midnight was directly involved, Recovery Girl was a licensed therapist, and Principal Nedzu was always present for school matters.

"I thought I said we didn't want to talk about it," Kacchan grouched from the seat next to Izuku. The greenet looked to his friend with a frown, tightening his grip on his school pants. He couldn't bring himself to look at anyone but Kacchan, because he was afraid of what expressions might be on their faces. There were only two people in the entire world who knew about his and Kacchan's past, one of them being Kacchan himself.

The other one was Izuku's father, Midoriya Hisashi.

"Well kid, you're still a minor, and since this incident isn't in your records, it's pretty apparent that neither you nor Midoriya-kun have told anyone," Midnight said gently. "We've decided that, for now , we won't contact your parents since we don't have the full story yet. We know that you're both still under the influence of the truth quirk, and while normally we would never do that for something like this, the two of you are rather... stubborn individuals. We think it's best to get this over with."

" Fuck you ," Katsuki snarled. Izuku reached over to grab Katsuki's hand, his own shaking with nerves. Katsuki's hackles dropped immediately as he looked over at Izuku, red eyes searching his own for whatever he was feeling.

"Kacchan," Izuku said, hearing his voice waver with the intensity of his emotions. "I... I'm so tired, Kacchan. Aren't you tired?"

Katsuki opened his mouth to speak before he quickly closed it. He continued to stare at Izuku before the truth quirk forced him to speak again. "Yeah. Yeah, Deku, I'm tired."

"Shouldn't we just tell them?" Izuku coaxed. In all actuality, the last thing Izuku wanted was to tell these people what had happened to him and Kacchan, but he also knew that it would probably help him heal if he got it off of his chest. For so long he and Katsuki had different methods for dealing with it; Katsuki pushed Izuku away and became a cruel, horrible person to cope with it. Izuku allowed himself to fall into a deep depression, hiding behind his quirklessess and his analysis notebooks instead of facing his fears or telling anyone about what had happened. He'd believed for so long that it was all his fault, but he knew better now. Katsuki had told him multiple times since their friendship was rekindled that the blond had blamed Izuku for a while, but that he knew better now.

It was nobody's fault but Hisashi's. "I don't want to," Katsuki answered.

"But we should," Izuku said.

Katsuki sighed heavily, more of a huff than anything else. "Fuckin'- fine . You can fucking tell them."

Izuku nodded, taking a deep, shaky breath to prepare himself. "Kacchan and I have known each other since we were babies. Our mothers were college roommates and have been best friends ever since. Our families used to hang out all the time, and his home was like my second home. His parents loved me and mine loved him. We were inseparable, and we knew each other better than we knew ourselves." Izuku glanced at Katsuki, something in his chest aching at his own words. "Sometimes I think we still do."

Kacchan grunted in acknowledgement of Izuku's words. The tiny gesture was enough to give Izuku the strength to keep going. "Anyway... When I was about three years old, maybe about to turn four, my dad started to get into some... shady things. He was gone all the time, and when he would come back to the house, he would smell like ash and death. He had a fire breathing quirk, but the way he was acting... it was like he was leaving to burn entire houses down." ' Or people,' is what Izuku didn't say. "My mother was in denial about it, but it was pretty obvious. Sometimes I would hear my mom and Auntie arguing about forcing him to leave. God, I wish they'd forced him out." Izuku's eyes began to grow wet, but he was so lost in his own storytelling that the rest of the world began fading away from him. It was like he was merely thinking to himself rather than telling a room full of teachers about what had happened to him and Kacchan.

"Right after I turned four, my father began to... touch me." He didn't hear the sharp gasps from the adults in the room, and maybe it was good that he hadn't. Realizing he still had an audience probably would have made him lose his composure. "I didn't know that what he was doing was wrong, I just knew that it made me feel bad and I didn't like it. It didn't take long for Kacchan to notice that I was acting weird, and he confronted me about it while we were at my house one day. My mother was at work so my dad was watching us. He... he overheard Kacchan and decided to get him 'in' on it.

"Whenever Kacchan would come over and my mom wasn't home from then on, my father would molest the both of us. Kacchan felt weird about it too, but he was a little hero, even back then." Izuku couldn't help but smile ruefully, mourning the loss of the brave little boy who had refused to leave him alone with his monster of a sperm donor. "He didn't want to leave me alone with my dad. He stayed every time. Even... even when he started taking pictures."

"Oh no," a voice whispered, but Izuku didn't bother to place it. He began talking faster, knowing that if he didn't get the rest of it out he would lose his momentum. He was starting to come back to himself instead of continuing his dissociation, the way he usually did when he was forced to

confront what had happened to himself and Kacchan.

"Eventually he started taking videos and posting them on the dark web. I'm sure there are still some sickos out there who have videos and Kacchan and I, or even that they're still on the web somewhere. I don't know, and I don't really want to know. Right before we turned five, he... he made us have sex with each other."

Someone let out a choked out sob.

"He only stopped after Kacchan got his quirk the day before his fifth birthday. A few months later, when my own quirk didn't come in, he left my mom a note saying that he couldn't deal with having a 'quirkless fuck' for a son. We haven't seen or heard from him since."

"Midoriya," Aizawa said, speaking for the first time since Izuku began sharing. Izuku looked up, sweeping his eyes over everyone to take in their reactions. Kacchan was staring at his lap, his hands fisted to keep his nitroglycerin under control. Midnight appeared to be the one who was holding back tears, as she had a few wet patches on her face and a hand covering her mouth. Principal Nedzu's expression had darkened to something formidable and scary, and Recovery Girl looked sympathetic.

"Bakugou- Midoriya," Aizawa said again, although it seemed like it was more of a reflex. Katsuki didn't think he'd ever seen his homeroom teacher look so desperate before, not even when they were fighting villains. It was like the man was grasping at straws on what he was supposed to say to them after the admission.

"Guess you fuckin' know why we didn't want to talk about it, huh?" Katsuki snapped. He knew he was being unfair and vicious, but he couldn't bring himself to care. He had warned Aizawa not to ask him, but he had anyway. Sure, he could have worded it better, but the man should have known him by that point.

"I... I sincerely apologize for forcing you to speak in front of your class," Eraserhead said after a few moments of awkward silence. "I should have listened to you when you asked not to speak. I thought that you were simply embarrassed about your answer, I never thought..." he trailed off, his face paling a bit.

Izuku sniffled at Katsuki's side, reaching up to rub at his eyes. "I won't lie and say that it's okay, because it really isn't. And I won't lie and say that I forgive you, because I don't. Not yet. But I also recognize that Kacchan and I needed to tell someone what happened to us some day, and that it was probably best that it was you as opposed to our parents." Izuku's head snapped up, his eyes wide with realization. "Oh god, you're not going to tell our parents, are you?"

Katsuki stiffened right along with him, shooting a menacing glare at all of the adults in the room. "You had better not fucking tell, or I swear to the gods-"

"Boys," Recovery Girl said sternly. "The two of you are still minors. I apologize, but we are legally obligated to tell your parents."

"Oh gods," Deku said, slumping back into his seat. He appeared to be in shock at the news, his gnarled fingers twitching where they grasped at his thighs. "Oh gods, oh gods- I can't let her know, she'll be so sad, what if she-? No, no she wouldn't, not after last time..."

"Oi, Deku," Katsuki hissed, reaching over to tangle his fingers in Deku's mass of curls. He tightened his grip, pulling lightly to get Izuku's attention. It was something he'd been doing for as long as he could remember. Something about lightly tugging on the boy's hair always brought him

back to earth, causing his shoulders to slump into a relaxed, tension-free state. Katsuki didn't like to think about where such a reaction might have originated. "You need to fuckin' breathe, alright? Auntie's not gonna do... that again. She knows better now."

Deku inhaled sharply, exhaling slowly. He nodded, blinking rapidly as if to clear his head. "Y- yeah. Yeah, you're right, I know you're right..."

"What are you boys talking about?" Midnight's voice sounded defensive. "What has your mother done, Midoriya? Has she ever hurt you, as well?"

"W-what? No!" Izuku shot up straight in his chair, forcing Katsuki to let go of his chair. "No, no of course not! She would never hurt me!"

When Deku didn't say anything else but the adults still seemed to be waiting for an answer Katsuki figured it was time for him to step in. Sighing, he began. "After Deku's piece of shit sperm donor left, Auntie Inko was... pretty messed up. She had to get a high-stress job to support them, and she began stress eating. She gained like, fifty pounds in a few months and had a really terrible mental state. When we were about six, she... she tried to kill herself. Deku found her body and called the cops. She hasn't tried anything since then."

Principal Nedzu sat back in his chair, lacing his fingers together. He seemed grim, it was creepy. Katsuki had never seen him without that strange, manic smile on his face.

"I'm sorry you went through that," Recovery Girl said gently. Deku nodded. "It's... it's fine. It was all a long, long time ago."

"Time doesn't heal all wounds," Aizawa recited, like it was a mantra he told himself. "You're allowed to still be upset. Those were very traumatic experiences for you."

"We're fucking fine," Katsuki snarled. "Why can't you just leave it alone? If you tell our parents then it's going to become a big thing , and that's the last thing we need right before midterms."

Midnight nodded in understanding, but Aizawa-sensei didn't look convinced. "As we've said before, we're legally obligated to report it. I'm sorry boys, but it's non-negotiable. I suggest that the two of you skip classes for the rest of the day and rest in the dorms. Perhaps come up with a cover story to tell your classmates." He really did look sorry about that, not that it made anything better. Katsuki agreed with Deku about not forgiving the man just yet, no matter his reasoning for what he'd done.

"Fine. We're fucking leaving," Bakugou said. He stood up and didn't wait for Deku before storming out of the office. He wasn't surprised when Deku appeared at his side a moment later, practically jogging to keep up with Katsuki's fast footsteps.

"Kacchan, wait," Deku squeaked. "We need to talk about this!"

"Not until we're in the dorms," Bakugou growled, quickening his pace even more. Deku's legs were a lot shorter than Katsuki's these days, as over the past year Katsuki's height had shot up from 5'8" to nearly 6'0", and Deku had stayed at his 5'5". Luckily, Deku didn't test Katsuki and stayed quiet until they entered the empty dorm's common room. It was too bad there wasn't a door to slam, because it would have been really satisfying to do it.

"Kacchan," Deku said softly, standing near one of the couches as he watched Katsuki pace the floor.

"I can't fucking believe he did that," Bakugou hissed, his anger and hurt rising in his chest like an active volcano. "I fucking told him not to ask, didn't I? I didn't go fucking deaf?"

"You did," Deku agreed.

"Damn right I did!" Katsuki's hands were beginning to spark now. "And now all those fucking extras know. How the fuck are we supposed to explain that shit? There's no reason that two four year-olds would do something like that unless they were forced!"

"Kacchan, we don't have to tell them anything," Deku tried to soothe him. "We can tell them to leave it alone."

"If you really think they'll listen, you're more naive than I thought," Katsuki sneered. The moment he did it he felt bad, especially watching the greenet's face fall. He sighed like it was a great pain, rubbing the heels of his hands over his eyes. "I didn't fucking mean that, alright? I'm fucking pissed."

"I know," Deku sighed. "I'm angry too."

Katsuki couldn't help but snort. "You have a funny way of showing it."

Izuku couldn't help but laugh too. "Just because I don't explode my feelings away doesn't mean I'm not angry." His smile fell into a more serious expression. "Sometimes... Sometimes I get so mad ... it scares me, Kacchan." He took a deep, shuddering breath before he exhaled just as shakily. "I see incidents like when we rescued Eri, where it's just a little kid covered in scars, and it's like I can't help myself. I genuinely tried to kill Overhaul." He seemed ashamed of this admission, but Katsuki wasn't having it.

"As you should have," he said firmly. "Deku, that guy was a piece of shit villain. Are you honestly trying to tell me that if All Might was still alive, he wouldn't track Hisashi down and kill that motherfucker? You and I both know Hisashi would be dead within twenty-four hours."

Deku laughed, although it was more of a strained sound than anything else. "I know. It's not the same thing."

"It is," Katsuki affirmed. "But whatever, that doesn't matter now. We have three hours until lunch, and we both know the entire fucking class is going to come running here the minute that bell rings. So, use that nerdy brain of yours to figure out a cover story."

Deku was quiet for some time. Katsuki combed through his own mind to try thinking of something plausible, but it was pretty much pointless. There was no explanation for what they'd admitted to unless it was the truth.

"We should just tell them," Deku finally said. Katsuki's head snapped up, a scowl already forming. Deku held up a hand placatingly. "Hear me out. I think we should tell them because they're our friends , Kacchan. They would never, ever judge us for the truth and you know it. We all know about Todoroki-kun's story, and no one judged him. We all know about Shinsou-kun's terrible experience in foster care before Aizawa-sensei and Present Mic-sensei adopted him, and everyone supported him. Of course we all know about Eri, too. There's overwhelming evidence that they would care about us and support us, too!"

"Yeah? Well none of them have sex videos of themselves on the internet somewhere," Katsuki hissed. "Do you have any idea what this could do to our career as heroes? If any of them were to slip up and tell someone? We would be crucified. They won't care that we were children, they'll

just care that they have a story."

"They would know better than to tell," Izuku said. Logically Katsuki knew he was right, but he also didn't want any of his peers to know his deepest, darkest secret. ' My biggest failure. The real reason I stopped talking to Deku all those years ago. Because...'

"Fucking- fine ," Katsuki said. "But I'm not saying shit. You're on your own for this one." Despite the threat, Deku still had the nerve to look fucking relieved. "Thank you, Kacchan. Thank

you for trusting me."

The words stung, because even though the two of them had been closer than ever after All Might's death at the beginning of their second year, it was only because he was one of the only living people that knew about One for All. The sad truth was that after everything Katsuki had done to Izuku... he would never trust Katsuki the way Katsuki trusted him.

At least by the time their class barged in from lunch, the truth quirk will have worn off. It was a small consolation.