Katsuki paused for a moment as he considered what exactly he wanted to say to set Minoru straight. The nearly naked hero-in-training stood only up to about the center of Katsuki's chest, and he looked like a deer caught in headlights as the taller blond loomed over him with an angry grimace. Minoru said nothing as he waited for the inevitable tongue-lashing to begin. Katsuki knew that he couldn't make any specific threats or cause the other boy physical harm when under the jurisdiction of U.A., and so, his usual gameplan was off the table. In a bid to look for inspiration, he took his eyes off Minoru and briefly scanned the mostly bare dorm room.

Several boxes were scattered about the floor, each a different size and none of them labeled. Only the most basic things had already been unpacked form a single open cardboard box, including a bedside lamp and alarm clock. The drawers to the bedside dresser had been pulled open in preparation for stocking, though no clothing was yet within them. Above the piece of furniture was a single poster of two women in clearly cheap imitation hero costumes in an embrace, their chests smushed together and lips locked as one kept her hands upon the other's butt. The tacky sight was enough to reignite Katsuki's spark of annoyance with Minoru, and so, he launched into a tirade that was anything but planned out.

"Your pervy bullshit needs to stop. Now," Katsuki declared, his neck and shoulders tight. "Are you dense? Or do you just not care that you made… Tsu… uncomfortable enough to leave? We came here on her request to bring you back to where everyone else is gathered, and you decided to sleaze it up so hard and fast that she's content to just leave you here. Tsu might be nice about it, but I won't be. What the hell are you thinking gawking at her and answering the door half naked?"

"…okay, first of all," Minoru began, suddenly looking defiant, "I'm only wearing boxers because I was planning on taking a nap. I had a long night, and I answered the door because I thought it might've been something important. Half-naked people in dorms isn't that weird. I'm sure we're all gonna see much more before the semester's out. Hopefully."

"…what the hell do you mean hopefully?" Katsuki repeated, not sounding anywhere near hopeful.

"You heard me," Minoru said insistently as he folded his arms across his chest. His muscles were small and decidedly average in tone for a hero, which, given his relative size, offered his upper body a twiggy and unimpressive silhouette. "As for creeping out Asui… all I did was look. Come on, Bakugo. Is that such a crime? Once we get our hero suits, most of us are going to be running around in tight, form-fitting material all damned day. Are you seriously gonna try to tell me you won't look at some T&A when you get the chance? The girls are gonna be checking out your package, for sure. This is college. We're supposed to perv it up, to an extent. It's not like I touched her or said anything to her face."

Of all possible responses to his anger, Katsuki had never expected, nor experienced such straight, confident defiance. Minoru appeared to have no shame at all for his actions as he patiently awaited a response, though he was shaking ever so slightly under the taller boy's glare. Katsuki, however, did feel a bit uneasy as he took his classmate's words into consideration.

It wasn't as if he had never found his eyes lingering for a moment on his female classmates' curves. There were a few moments where he couldn't help but notice the way that Kyoka's loose band shirts occasionally creased inward to outline her modest cleavage… and though he hadn't gone specifically looking for those moments, he certainly didn't mind the sight. He had noticed Tsuyu's thighs even before Minoru had said anything. Kan's shirts were a bit too tight on her, and Katsuki couldn't help but think that it was entirely intentional given her personality. Upon running into Momo in the stairwell, the first thing he had noticed was her incredibly large chest. Katsuki hadn't actively thought about any of them in such a way until right then, when he came to a few key realizations about himself.

He was not, in fact, immune to any sort of physical attraction to his classmates, and the thought of being around them in tight hero suits all day long filled him with a sudden rush of panic. The idea that he too would be on display didn't help his onset of anxiety at all.

"That's your excuse? You didn't touch her?" Katsuki asked, suddenly feeling less than confident in his ability to handle the situation. "You were still staring directly at her chest for long enough that she noticed and wanted to leave. It's not that hard to not be a creepy asshole," he insisted. There was a brief pause where Minoru just stared, and so, Katsuki raised his voice to a harsh growl. "And put some damned pants on already!"

Minoru flinched at the sudden increase in volume and turned away to walk over to a duffel bag sitting atop the pile of boxes.

"Alright, alright! Look, if you're so bent out of shape about it, then fine. I'll go with you and apologize to Asui. And I'll try to be less… overt about checkin' out the ladies on our team. Happy?"

Something clicked in Katsuki's mind as though a switch had been flipped. For the entirety of their brief conversation, something had been tugging at the back of his mind and making him frustrated, but he couldn't figure out just what it was. Minoru's question brought it to the forefront, letting that frustration overtake his embarrassment and shame at realizing that he wasn't entirely innocent either.

"No, I'm not happy," Katsuki seethed as he looked away from Minoru, who was putting on a pair of jeans.

"Seriously? I said I'd ap-"

"I'm not happy because this isn't about me," Katsuki interrupted. "I'm not the one you should be apologizing for, and the fact that I had to hang back and call you out is pathetic. If you're gonna say something to Tsu, say it because you actually give a shit and feel bad about what happened. Not because I forced you into doing it. I'm here on her behalf- not for myself. We're supposed to be a team, and you're already poisoning the well by creeping her out. If you don't care about fixing your relationship with her, then you don't belong here."

Minoru turned around as he pulled a simple purple t-shirt down over his head. His expression was intense enough to rival Katsuki's, and neither boy blinked as they stared each other down.

"I belong here," Minoru growled. "And you don't know me. Maybe I could've phrased it better, but I'll apologize to her. For her. Alright?"

"Why?" Katsuki asked, folding his arms over his chest. "In hopes you have a shot at sleeping with her later?"

Minoru drew in a sharp breath through his nostrils. To his credit, he didn't flinch, nor did he blink as he addressed the question.

"No, because we're supposed to be heroes, and she shouldn't feel like she has to hide from me. Do you actually think I want that to be how things go around here? Look, you're right, alright? If I don't fix this now, she's gonna talk to the other girls, and the whole team and probably Class 1-B is going to treat me like I'm diseased. I'll talk to her, and for what it's worth… sorry for taking up your time with this. I would've come around eventually and said something on my own, but I'm exhausted and not thinking straight."

The urge to ask "would you?" was absolutely overpowering, but Katsuki resisted and instead opted to just make a dismissive noise.

"Whatever. I don't care what you get up to in your dorm or when you're talking to the other guys, but cut it the fuck out in public… and don't bring it up with me, either," Katsuki commanded as his eyes wandered to the pinup poster for the briefest of moments. "And another thing- your roommate, Aki? He's not huge on talking about sex all the damned time, either. Keep that in mind for the future. He doesn't want to hear it."

"What, is he gay?" Minoru asked, following Katsuki's line of sight up to the poster.

"What? How the hell should I know?" Katuski snapped. "Does it matter? Leave him the hell alone with your bullshit, too. Keep it in your pants unless you're with people that are comfortable with that kind of shit. You didn't even bother to get to know Tsu before undressing her in your head, and she's not the only girl on the floor. If you come with us to Tsu's dorm and start up with the others, I won't hold back when I chew you out again."

Minoru let out a sigh and shook his head before walking back to the pile of boxes and unfolding the top of another one.

"…alright, that's fair. I didn't mean anything by it, but you're right. I get it. You've gotta admit, though, she's pretty hot."

"I don't have to admit a damned thing," Katsuki warned. "Drop it. We're going to go see if Jiro's in, and then you're going to talk to Tsu. Let's go."

"Wait," Minoru said as he pulled several rolls of thick paper from inside of the box. "I was serious about those posters. Can you help?"

"…you're seriously going to ask me that after the conversation we just had?" Katsuki asked. "I'm not helping you cover your walls with jerk off fuel, and I just told you Aki doesn't seem too into that kind of crap."

"Which is all the more reason you should put these up instead of him," Minoru tried. "Besides, it's not all like that. Most of it isn't. I swear. Please?"

Katsuki grumbled as he walked forward and snatched the rolls of paper from Minoru's outstretched hand. He tossed all of them save one atop the bed and began to unroll the glossy paper, only to find a tall poster of the hero Mt. Lady flashing her backside, the white spandex material hugging her curves leaving almost nothing to the viewer's imagination.

"…alright, bad first pick…" Minoru said with an apologetic smile.

Katsuki let go of the poster, letting it fall to the sheets before picking up another and beginning to unroll it.

"I'm not putting that up. What the hell is this?"

The poster was a bright, flashy design of orange and blue rays centering around a purple oval with gold text inside of it. Each of the letters was done up in a flowy cursive font, coming together to read Shiketsu High School Math League: #1 in Japan.

"I can think with more than my dick, you know," Minoru said proudly as he offered Katsuki a small packet of adhesive poster squares. "We got those made in my senior year after our big win. I've got a few others like that for other clubs, too."

Katsuki said nothing as he took the little packet and began peeling off the protective film in order to affix the squares to the back of the poster. Slowly and carefully, he lined the paper up and applied it to the wall, doing his best to keep it centered.

"…you know, I thought we worked together pretty well back at the entrance exam," Minoru said sheepishly. "You, me, and Aki. Can we not like… start off this year hating each other? It'd be cool if we could get along."

Katsuki took a moment to run his hands over the poster, flattening it to the wall and making sure there were no creases.

"…maybe. I'm not the type to just hang out with people all the time. Don't be a pain in the ass and don't make me have to beat your ass for messing with the girls again, and… maybe."

"Fine. I'll be a little more careful," Minoru declared. "Everybody says dumb shit now and then that they regret. I guess… thanks for standing up to me, in a weird way? You did it for the right reasons."

Again, Katsuki didn't bother to reply as he was handed the next poster.

Author's Note:

There's a lot more here than it might seem… and this conversation certainly isn't over, even if it's over for now.

-RD