A/N: Got delayed on my last update for reasons like my idiot sausage dog running around and doing stupid things with her sausage legs. Also, have no fear guys, I have no intention of making this a love triangle. I don't really feel like a triangle would be in character for someone like Bakugo and honestly, I don't feel like him being openly romantic with ANYONE would be in character. Maybe in like 5 or 10 years he could but no for now. He gives me asexual vibes for sure, but sexuality is fluid and liable to change so who knows down the road! Read and enjoy for now and thanks for any reviews and follows!

**I do not own these characters or the world, that belongs to our lovely author of MHA, Kohei Horikoshi. Also, cover art was a commission by me from the artist Krumbs. Follow them on if you'd like! They are extremely talented!

Eighteen
The Morning After Can Be So Awkward

Izuku Midoriya arrived with time to spare on that bright and sunny morning. He and Todoroki had gotten up early, eaten a quick breakfast and then headed back to UA. They'd made excellent time and Izuku had felt exceedingly cheerful that morning with the sun shining cheerfully. It was almost Valentines Day which meant spring was just around the corner so there should be many more bright and sunny days to come!

He was especially excited because he would get to see Kacchan hopefully all healed up! He'd been terribly worried on Saturday when he'd been bitten by a particularly toothy villain. Even though they'd all heard the bone clearly break, Kacchan had seemed more so annoyed than anything else. In typical Kacchan fashion, once he'd been whisked away to UA and Recovery Girl, he failed to answer any texts Deku or Todoroki sent him. The updates they had on him were through Endeavor. Deku didn't find that too worrisome though; it was just typical Kacchan.

The other reason he was extra cheerful was because he would get to see Uraraka today. His desire to see and talk to her had continued to grow all weekend, to the point that when he'd gone to bed the previous night he'd had excited butterflies dancing about in his stomach. They hadn't done much for texting on Sunday since they were both busy with work studies, which had made him all the more eager to talk to her.

Even Todoroki seemed to notice the little spring in Deku's step as they made their way toward classrooms of UA.

"You seem rather upbeat this morning," Todoroki observed. He took in the bounce in Deku's steps and his cheerful expression and was mildly perplexed. Deku was usually upbeat but today he seemed extra bouncy.

"Oh, yeah I guess so," Deku said with a smile.

"I wonder how Bakugo is doing. Endeavor said that Recovery Girl had done a remarkable job healing him. I doubt he was pleased to be grounded here all weekend," Todoroki mused.

Deku nodded his head in agreement. He was fairly certain that Bakugo would be especially grumpy today, but if he was extra cranky that just meant that he was feeling well! "No, I bet he wasn't too happy about that or that Endeavor made Mirko escort him back." Deku recalled his friends furious face when Endeavor had asked for the number five hero to take Bakugo back to UA.

They'd had the situation mostly under control when Mirko had literally hopped onto the scene. She'd almost snagged the robber that had gotten away, but even her speed couldn't keep up with that guy's ability to essentially melt through walls. It was frightening how similar to Lemillion that villain's quirk had been.

"He seemed really angry about that, more so than he should've been," Todoroki remembered as he pulled the doors to their classroom open.

The classroom was mostly quiet as they entered which was a bit odd since usually most of the students were quite chatty when there was this much time to spare before the start of classes. Deku looked toward the left to see if Uraraka was already in her seat but was surprised to see she wasn't there. His eyes roamed over the class to find her but there was no Uraraka. Had she not gotten there yet? Was she running late? Was she sick?

Deku tried to remember if he'd heard his phone buzz during the night. He even pulled it out of his pocket to see if he'd missed anything but there were no new or old messages that he'd missed. Where was Uraraka?

A small feeling of concern began to tickle its way to the back of his mind and he once again scanned the room, but still no Uraraka. He realized that Jiro was also missing which was odd. If she was going to go missing, she'd be much more likely to go missing with someone like Asui than Jiro…but skipping wasn't exactly a quality that Uraraka or any of their classmates seemed prone to.

I'll ask Asui, he thought to himself and headed toward Asui who was sitting quietly at her desk. As he made his way over to her, he briefly looked in the direction of Kacchan and was relieved to see his short-fused friend sitting in his seat, leaned back in his chair, no tie, the first few buttons of his shirt unbuttoned. Typical Kacchan. Well, that was at least something, though he perhaps looked a bit more cranky than usual but Deku couldn't be sure of that without actually speaking to him.

"Hey Asu—er I mean, Tsu," Deku bumbled and gave Tsu a lopsided smile.

"Oh, hey Deku," she replied rather sedately. She didn't really seem upset but she seemed maybe a bit less enthusiastic, though she'd never been one that was overtly excitable. Maybe he was seeing things?

"Do you know where Uraraka is this morning? She's normally here by now," Deku asked.

"I don't know, ribbit. She didn't come to breakfast this morning either. Neither did Jiro, ribbit," Tsu admitted concern clear in her dark eyes.

"She didn't? That's not like her or Jiro. Did anything happen at your work studies? Did she get hurt?!" He asked a little too quickly, showing a bit more interest than he wanted to be visible.

"Oh, no, nothing like that, ribbit. We didn't have any issues at our work studies over the weekend. I saw her last night, ribbit, we all watched a video about birth that was, well, it wasn't great. When I left to go to bed she was still on the couch, ribbit. She'd fallen asleep. Jiro was with her and Bakugo was there too," Tsu explained with a quick glance in Bakugo's direction.

Deku's eyebrows raised. Kacchan watching a video about birth? And sitting next to Uraraka? Those all seemed like very odd and unlikely things.

"Oh," he said softly and glanced at his friend curiously.

Bakugo sat in the same stance that Deku had seen him in earlier. He was looking out the window with a particularly nasty scowl on his face. Nothing aside from his scowl being especially heavy that morning seemed different about him. Did Kacchan know where she was?

"I'm getting kind of worried about her, ribbit. It's not like Ochako to be this late," Tsu admitted with a frown.

A pang of worry stabbed at him as he looked back at his frog like friend. She looked genuinely concerned which made him all the more concerned. If anyone were to know where Uraraka might be he'd normally think that Tsu would be the first person to go to, but clearly at least this time, he was wrong about that.

"Maybe I'll ask Kacchan about it," Deku mused softly, looking back over at petulant boy.

"Be careful, he seems especially cranky this morning," Tsu cautioned.

Deku headed over to his desk, set his things down and then faced Bakugo.

"Kacc—" he began but was abruptly cut off by Mr. Aizawa's voice.

The erasure pro hero walked into class looking particularly fatigued that morning. Perhaps he'd not gotten enough sleep, though Deku was beginning to wonder if he ever looked any other way other than exhausted.

"Take your seats class, we're about to begin shortly," Aizawa instructed as he moved to stand at the front of the room.

The class quickly settled into their seats; Deku included albeit reluctantly.

"Okay class, we'll begin in the usual fashion this morn—" Mr. Aizawa began only to have Ida surprise him and stand up at his desk and give an apologetic bow to the teacher.

"Apologies for the interruption Mr. Aizawa, but I think I can speak for everyone when I ask you if you know where our classmates, Uraraka and Jiro, are?"

Aizawa paused for just a moment before sighing and replying, "Your classmates were unwell this morning and are currently resting in the infirmary. They should be joining us for afternoon classes."

"Thank you, Mr. Aizawa," Ida said with another bow, clearly grateful for the information.

As Ida sat back down in his chair, Mr. Aizawa turned back toward the class to address everyone and sighed. "I want to remind you all that you aren't allowed to have any of your classmates in your rooms during designated sleeping hours. I also want to reiterate that it is strictly prohibited to have members of the opposite sex in your room after hours as well. I didn't think that would need to be spelled out with this class, but," he sighed heavily, "I guess it does. Just keep your rooms to yourselves." With that said he turned back toward the chalkboard and began writing down lesson plans.

Izuku stared forward at Mr. Aizawa in confusion. So Uraraka and Jiro were sick, sick enough that they needed to go to the infirmary. He wondered what had happened to them but he also wondered what had prompted Mr. Aizawa's chastising them about keeping others out of their rooms.

Without even intending to, Deku felt a blush rise to his cheeks as he recalled Thursday evening and Friday morning and the fact that he'd very much had a member of the opposite sex in his room. He lowered his head in embarrassment and pressed his hands to his cheeks. Hopefully nobody was paying too much attention to him and seeing his furious blush.

Was what Mr. Aizawa said about Uraraka's venture into his room? Had someone found out? Was that somehow involved in her absence? No, that seemed unlikely, but still…why would he bring up the room thing unless someone had found out about the two of them sharing his room for a night.

Unless somebody else got caught in someone's room that they shouldn't have been in, whispered a tiny little voice in the back of his mind. That thought sent a little shiver down his spine. Who would be creeping around in each other's rooms? His mind briefly pictured Mineta but he swiftly banished that thought, disturbed by the thought. Mineta might be off color sure, but he wasn't an outright bad guy. He wouldn't go sneaking into one of the girls' rooms; not without their permission. Deku was fairly certain of that. His gaze briefly shifted toward Kacchan in front of him and then toward the empty desks of Uraraka and Jiro.

Was there some connection…?

No, no, that's just coincidence, he reassured himself as he looked ahead at the chalkboard. It was just a coincidence, wasn't it?

The morning seemed to drag on much to Izuku's frustration. He was eager for lunch to roll around so that he could go straight to the infirmary. He knew that Mr. Aizawa had said that Uraraka and Jiro would return for afternoon classes but he wasn't sure if that meant that they'd be there for lunch or for their first afternoon class.

Midoirya didn't plan to wait around to find out.

Finally, their afternoon class ended and they were released to lunch. Instead of heading to the cafeteria though, Deku made a beeline for their class cubbies, where they kept their coats, bags, and shoes. As he made his way in that direction, he heard Todoroki call after him.

"Midoriya where are you going? It's lunchtime," Todoroki asked as he jogged to catch up with the quickly moving Deku.

"I'll eat in a little bit, I wanted to go to the infirmary to check on Uraraka and Jiro," Deku explained as he continued moving toward his cubby, not slowing down for his friend.

"But Mr. Aizawa said they'd be joining us for the afternoon, shouldn't we let them rest if they are unwell?" Ever logical, Deku couldn't argue with Todoroki's statement, but it didn't change the fact that he wanted to see Uraraka. He needed to know she was okay.

"I still want to check on them," Deku replied as he at last arrived at his cubby. Just as he started to grab his shoes, he heard Mr. Aizawa's voice calling out to him.

"Midoriya the cafeteria is in the opposite direction. Where are you going?" He asked from down the hall, hands in his pockets, hair messily tussled over his shoulders.

"Sorry Mr. Aizawa, I just wanted to go to the infirmary to check on Ur—"

"They've already been released. They should be joining you in the cafeteria," Aizawa interrupted.

"What?" Deku asked softly, confused.

"Recovery girl released them just a little while ago so they should already be with your fellow classmates or they might be collecting the assignments from the classes they missed," explained Aizawa casually.

"Oh…I guess I'll, I'll just head into lunch then, I guess," Midoriya replied, somewhat deflated.

Here he'd been ready to miss any lunchtime to charge off toward the infirmary to check on Uraraka. And Jiro. Both of them. Apparently, that wasn't necessary, though. If Recovery Girl had released them, well that meant that they hadn't just been sick or had been sick enough that they needed her quirk to stimulate their bodies natural immune response. Weird.

Deku put his shoes back and slowly started to head back toward the cafeteria, Todoroki hot on his heels. There was silence between the two as they walked, which Deku didn't feel all that bothered by. He was deep in his own thoughts wondering what had happened yesterday that had led Uraraka and Jiro to a trip to Recovery Girl.

"I wonder what happened," Todoroki mused softly from Deku's side.

"Me too," murmured Izuku.

After the short walk, both Todoroki and Deku arrived at the cafeteria. They selected their food and then went to take their usual seats. Todoroki seemed to settle into the usual afternoon lunch routine though Midoriya anxiously looked around the room, not touching his food. He still didn't see Uraraka.

As his eyes roamed around the room, he caught sight of Jiro who sat at the table across from his. She looked totally normal, no worse for the wear. She was sitting next to Ashido, Yaoyorozu, and Hagakure and she was smiling at them, chatting away. So nothing really looked out of place there, but where was Uraraka?!

Finally, he spotted her just walking into the cafeteria, her eyes downcast and her cheeks especially rosy.

Deku practically flew out of his seat and away from the table. He paid no mind to the confused and surprised faces of Todoroki, Ida, and Mineta who'd all been seated nearby him. All he cared about was getting across the room to talk to the girl with the auburn hair and rosy cheeks.

"Uraraka! I'm glad to see you!" He exclaimed a little too loudly as he got close enough to really look at her. She'd clearly been surprised by him since she now looked at him with wide eyes. Deku opened his mouth to say something else but stopped when he saw the full extent of her face.

While Uraraka looked fine for the most part, there was a small bandage on her right cheekbone and what looked like remnants of what would've been a nasty black eye. Without even realizing he was doing it, Deku reached out as if to touch her bandaged cheek. His hand was nearly touching her when he realized what he was doing and promptly dropped it back to his side.

"Deku!" Uraraka said with a mixture of surprise and embarrassment, her cheeks darkening to an exquisite scarlet.

"Oh Uraraka, what happened? You look like you got hurt?!" He asked worriedly, again feeling his hand spring up of its own accord to touch her face. He practically had to slap it back down.

"Oh," her cheeks darkened even further, "I kind of fell and hurt myself doing something really stupid." She looked away from him, clearly embarrassed.

"It looks like it hurts. Are you okay?" Deku asked with concern, unconsciously taking a step closer to her. She made no move to step away from him.

"Yeah, I'm okay. I saw Recovery Girl and now I'm lots better. I promise," Uraraka reassured with an embarrassed smile.

"What happen—" he was unable to finish his sentence when a deeper and crankier voice cut in over his.

"You get your head sorted out?" Asked Bakugo who also haphazardly tossed a pair of blue headphones at the surprised Uraraka. She barely managed to catch them in time. Izuku blinked in surprise at both the arrival of Kacchan and the blue headphones that clearly belonged to Jiro.

"Kacchan?" Deku asked completely bewildered at his random appearance.

"Can it nerd," snapped Bakugo with a glare at Deku before turning his moody gaze back toward Uraraka. "Looks like the old bag fixed you up. Don't come up with stupid half thought out plans again, okay? Clearly planning isn't your strong suit."

Uraraka stared at him with wide, and clearly embarrassed eyes. Deku had a similar shocked expression.

"Uh, yeah, guess not. Thank you for helping," she said swiftly, her whole face red, her eyes anywhere but Bakugo's face.

"Good. Give those to ears," Bakugo gave one last petulant look at Uraraka and wrinkled his nose. "Try to be less of an idiot." After he grumbled that last bit he huffed in irritation and then trudged off toward where Kirishima was sitting. Kirishima had been unabashedly observing the interaction though the second Bakugo turned to face him, he immediately redirected his gaze and began having a loud conversation about cell phone charges with Kaminari who sat next to him.

Deku watched Kacchan leave and then turned his gaze back to the very red Uraraka. What exactly had he missed? What had that even been about?

"Uraraka…?" Deku asked confused.

Uraraka met Deku's eyes briefly and looked away, clearly still embarrassed. "It's really dumb, really dumb and when I tell you you're definitely going to think it's stupid."

A small smile found its way to Deku's lips as he thought about what she'd just said. When I tell you, that meant she was going to fill him in on everything that had happened. It meant that she planned on having some-possibly even long-lasting conversation-with him! He liked that idea.

"I won't think it's dumb," he countered with a smile. Uraraka looked back at him, saw him smiling, and an all-new blush just for him found its way to her cheeks.

"I've got to get these to Jiro and have to eat lunch, but I'll talk to you later, after class, okay?" She said in a rush.

"Okay, but Uraraka," Deku began softly all the while looking at her.

"Yes?"

"I'm going to hold you to that."

This time she did look back at him and gave him the tiniest shy smile of her own and said, "Okay."