A/N: So I'm going to be out in bum fuck nowhere for a week so I'm updating with three chapters at once to accommodate for that. So do enjoy.
TwoRecalling That One Scene in Bambi
The entire night Izuku had tossed and turned. The whole night he'd replayed the awful, awkward scene in his mind: one minute minding his own business by taking care of business, the next frantic knocks on his door followed by Uraraka's voice and then she was there, in his doorway, staring at him…staring at him with his hands in his pants, answering the hormonal call of adolescence.
After the awkward encounter, and once he'd managed to slow his pounding heart, he'd discovered a handful of texts from her. She'd apparently felt embarrassed about the events earlier in the day too, or at least it had been on her mind and she was worried about him…so worried that she felt the need to check on him. Deku had practically started ugly crying when he realized that if he'd just looked at his phone or if it'd been off silent, the whole mishap could've been completely avoided.
Suffice to say, it had been a relatively sleepless night. He was fatigued enough that at breakfast he almost fell asleep at the table, sparking the interest of some of his friends.
"You seem very tired, Midoriya. Did you not sleep well?" Asked a concerned Shoto Todoroki. He looked like his usual calm and collected self. Deku often times both admired and envied his almost unflappable cool composure.
"A full night's rest is critical for good academic performance Midoriya!" Ida added seriously.
Mineta who sat across from Todoroki, Deku, and Ida, glanced up from his food and shot him a devious little smile.
"Spending too much time slapping the sausage eh, Midoriya?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Whaaaa!?" Deku balked and blushed. Mineta wouldn't know the exact situation but the fact that there was some element of truth in his question was enough to turn him a rosy pink.
"That is highly inappropriate breakfast discussion Mineta! And a private matter at that!" Scolded Ida.
"Oh come on," Mineta snorted, apparently completely unbothered by Ida's chastising. "Everybody does it—us and the girls—you just can't do it too much or you end up looking like Midoriya here."
"That seems to be generalizing a bit too much, Mineta. Even if Midoriya is tired because of private self-care or because he was unwell, we don't know. It's unfair to assume," Todoroki added cooly.
"Is that what you call it, Todoroki? Private self-care? Interesting," Mineta mused more to himself than anyone else.
"The necessary manual release of built-up excitement, tension, and hormonal accumulation: private self-care," Todoroki said in a matter-of-fact way.
"How very clinical of you," Mineta said with a pinched nose as if he found the clinical description of masturbation to be offensive.
"Not helpful," Midoriya squeaked and blushed a deeper red.
"I'm sorry Midoriya, I was trying to be helpful, but if you are excessively fatigued because you've been ignoring your own personal self-care and have been suffering too much excitement without release, then I'd recommend you schedule it into your routine. For example, I have scheduled personal self-care time immediately after I wake up and before sleeping for the night. That way my hormonal fluctuation is very regulated and controlled and I am able to focus entirely on my academic performance and hero training," Todoroki explained. He was completely straight faced the entire time, as if it were completely normal to explain one's masturbation habits and to go so far as to recommend times when it was most appropriate to do it.
"That sounds far too routine based and boring, pfft. Self-care as you put it, well it should be done when you're in the mood," replied a rather put out Mineta.
"Mineta! This is a very inappropriate discussion topic! How dare you poke fun at a natural bodily response!" Ida chastised with an angry hand pointing at the little lecher, accusingly.
Ida's chiding of Mineta seemed to attract the attention of Kaminari and Kirishima who were seated further down the table. Much to Deku's growing embarrassment, they scooted down further and appeared to be joining in the conversation.
Great, what would make this even better would be if Kacchan joined in, Deku thought with a knot of worry beginning to form in his stomach.
As if the crimson eyed walking explosion had overheard his thoughts and decided to add to Deku's own personal hell, Bakugo abruptly plopped down next to Kirishima. While he'd joined them, he thankfully didn't seem to have any interest in any conversation they were having. Deku desperately hoped that that would continue to be the case.
"What's up with you, Midoriya?" Asked Kaminari as he continued to shovel his breakfast into his mouth.
"Oh, I'm just tired. I uh, didn't sleep too well," Deku replied with a forced smile.
"Too busy licking your wounds and crying about me exploding your face because you suck with black whip," muttered Bakugo under his breath.
Mineta snorted. "He's been jerking it a little too much, or maybe not enough. Either way, whatever his routine is, it needs to be revised. Trust me, I'm an expert." Deku shot Mineta a horrified glance. Great, now Kaminari, Kirishima, and Bakugo think I'm some sort of sex pervert.
Both Kaminari and Kirishima shot expressions mixed with shock and outright amusement in Deku's direction. The blush continued to darken over his cheeks. He was never going to live this down.
"Damn Midoriya!" Kaminari laughed.
"This is a hugely inappropriate conversation! Whatever Midoriya does in his private time is his business! I insist we must cease this line of questioning!" Ida declared, standing up and drawing even more attention to them. At that moment, Deku would've been grateful if his quirk had been shrinking or shape shifting—anything to get away from this conversation.
"I'm just here to help you out man," Mineta said softly, leaning back in his chair, his hand up by his cheek, moving in small little circles as if there were some invisible mustache that he could fiddle with when in realty his face was a bald as a babies bottom. "I am an expert on the subject, after all."
At that statement Kirishima laughed. "Really, Mineta? Why are you an expert?"
"Because I am very familiar with the finer sex and the allures of their feminine wiles and what it does to an innocent boy like Midoriya. I too was once like him, a slave to the constant need for a wank, but alas, I have now evolved beyond that," Mineta explained seriously.
This time everyone aside from Deku, Ida, Todoroki, and Bakugo—who looked like he wasn't paying any attention-burst out laughing. Clearly, they did not believe in the wannabe Don Juan's claims.
"Oh come on Mineta, everyone knows you're like the classes resident horn dog. You expect us to really believe that you aren't constantly jacking it?" Kaminari asked, semi seriously.
"Laugh all you want. It's true. I've reached a zen like state where I can spank the monkey whenever I want, regardless of horniness," Mineta replied, leaning back in his chair with an air of superiority radiating from him.
"Regardless of horniness? What? That doesn't even make sense!" Kirishima said.
"Again, I must insist that this kind of conversation is entirely inappropriate for the current setting!" Ida snapped, again trying end the conversation.
"I agree with Ida. This isn't any of our business," Shoto agreed.
There was a grunt from Bakugo who let out an irritated sigh. "Pfft, I'm done with this crap. You're all idiots." He took his food and proceeded to leave the room.
"Really guys, I uh, I'm just tired…we uh, don't need to talk about, uh, well, this stuff," Deku mumbled, feeling another blush rise to his cheeks.
"It's okay Midoriya, I want to help you. I can't ignore someone in need of help." Mineta continued to lean back in his chair, the air of inappropriate confidence entirely perplexing to everyone else around the table.
"Thanks Mineta, but I-" Deku began only to have Kaminari interrupt him.
"Well now I'm curious; how are you so experienced in all this? Are you saying you've gone all the way with someone and that's why you aren't 'a slave to the constant need for a wank'?" He asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Why are we even still discussing this? Shouldn't we be more concerned about how we can help Midoriya get through the day since he didn't sleep well?" Shoto asked, genuinely concerned for Deku.
"As class representative, I really must insist we change topics!" Chided Ida. He was clearly growing more flustered with his continued hand and arm waving.
To Mineta's credit, he continued to seem completely unperturbed by Kaminari's rather blunt question. "Well I'm not one to kiss and tell—"
"Yes you are," Kaminari, Ida, Kirishima, and Shoto all said at the same time.
"—am not! As I was saying, irregardless—"
"It is 'regardless', 'irregardless', isn't a word," corrected Shoto.
"Quit interrupting me! I am trying to help Midoriya guys!" Mineta snapped and rocked forward in his chair to glare at everyone around the table.
"Sorry," Shoto apologized.
"Thank you…as I was saying, regardlessof having gone all the way or not, I have reached a point where I can summon or dismiss the horniness required to rub one out on command. It's just something I've developed over time. I'm always ready at a moment's notice. Soft or hard from one second to the next. Bet you get where I'm coming from, Kirishima." His explanation made no real sense to anyone else at the table and even Izuku shot him a confused glance. Had he actually sought help from Mineta, he wasn't actually sure how that explanation was supposed to help him.
"Okay, on that note I'm gonna go catch up with Bakugo," Kirishima said with a wrinkled nose and swiftly left the table.
Mineta let out a pitying sigh. "Even with his hardening quirk he can't get to my level. What a shame." Shoto and Kaminari shot a disbelieving look at him.
"None of that makes any sense! Let's change this discussion to something else, please!" Pleaded Ida, still desperate to fulfill his class rep role and smooth out the disorderly nature of the conversation.
"Okay, assuming you can just get a whack off on command…how does that work? What is your secret? Like everybody needs some time between sessions," Kaminari asked, seeking clarification. Even though Mineta's bizarre explanation really didn't answer make sense in any context, it did make Izuku wonder about the petite pervert's sexual stamina.
Leaning onto his elbows and getting closer to the group of boys, Mineta said softly, "that's just it, I'm always horny."
Kaminari snorted. "Really? You're going to quote the Incredible Hulk now? Yeah, I'm out." He also got up and left.
"But it's true!" Persisted Mineta.
Shoto rolled his eyes, Ida continued to chide Mineta for starting and continuing such a lewd conversation, and Mineta continued to defend himself but Deku was lost in his own thoughts. He didn't really think too much about Mineta's claims. Any other day, he'd probably be horribly embarrassed by this conversation and be right there with Ida trying to redirect it, but right now he was too tired. Too tired and anxious about going to class and seeing Uraraka. He'd lucked out in that she hadn't been in the common room when he'd come down from his room but he knew he'd see her in class. That much was a guarantee.
Just as he'd feared, Deku felt intense anxiety when he made it to homeroom and spotted Uraraka in class. She looked like her normal self. She was standing at Tsu's desk, a smile on her face, her cheeks their usual cheerful pink. As he looked at her, he was somehow struck by her appearance in a way he'd not been previously. It vaguely reminded him of when he'd first seen her in her hero costume. He took in her smile, the gentle fall of her hair like falling autumn leaves, the stockings that hid her milky white skin from view. She was truly lovely, a proper beauty.
The thought hit him like a slap in the face. Why was he thinking about her beauty? Why did that even matter? Pretty or not, she was his friend and aesthetics didn't matter, so why was he fixating on them now? Was it because he'd been so entranced by her bare belly that he'd felt the need to masturbate with her on his mind?
As that realization hit, he felt a horrible face wide blush color his face. Perhaps because fate is cruel, or just because he was having bad luck, at that very same moment Uraraka turned her gaze in his direction. As their eyes met, a similar redness started to dust Uraraka's already rosy cheeks.
Great, now she's seen me and is embarrassed! How could this be any worse? Deku thought to himself.
"Sit your ass down nerd! Class is about to start!" Snapped Bakugo as he brushed by and shoulder checked Izuku on the way to his own chair. "Quit creep staring." Deku swore that if he could blush harder he might burst into flames.
"Uh, yeah, I, gotta go to the bathroom!" He mumbled and half sprinted out of the room. He knew that there were only a few minutes remaining before Mr. Aizawa would arrive and then he'd have to go to class and sit in there, painfully aware of Uraraka's presence.
As he fled the classroom, he briefly heard Mineta murmur, "poor bastard."
Rather than go to the bathroom, Deku just sat outside the classroom on one of the benches against the windows opposite the door. He plopped his head into his hands and let out a tired sigh. What a terrible start to the morning. If only he'd seen his text messages from Uraraka. If only, if only.
A soft voice speaking to him made him snap his head up fast enough that it had a regular person done it, they'd likely have gotten whiplash. Before him stood Uraraka. She had a deeper red across her cheeks, so he knew that she at the very least was feeling shy. Her eyes wouldn't quite meet his, instead seeming to have locked on to his chin or perhaps his poorly tied tie.
"Hey Deku…sorry, I know this is, awkward, but I wanted to talk to you," she began nervously, still not meeting his gaze.
"Oh, okay…what did you want to talk about?" Deku asked, his voice so high he thought it might shatter the glass of the window behind him. Great. She must've heard him say he needed to go the bathroom—assumed he was going to masturbate again—and probably now thought he was a sexual deviant. His thoughts moved all on their own and he quietly started to panic that perhaps she now thought any time he'd left to use the restroom or had vanished that that had happened because he was in fact, masturbating. But if she thought those things, why was she here? Was she about to call him out and reveal him for being a sexual deviant? But that didn't seem very Uraraka like…
"Well, about yesterday and, uh, well, last night." The statement made Deku break out in a body wide sweat.
Not good! She wants to talk about that, I mean of course she wants to talk about it, I just didn't think she'd actually approach me. What do I do? Deku thought in a panic. How was he supposed to respond to her? For the second time that morning, he wished his quirk was shrinking or shape shifting.
"Uraraka…" he began and trailed off. He didn't know what to say. What could he say? Sorry you inadvertently flashed me and you later saw me masturbating? No, he couldn't say that. "I'm sorry, Uraraka. Sorry about, well, about—"
"No Deku, it's okay! The whole thing is just an embarrassing little, no, not uh little, what I mean is," the blush on her cheeks was now darkening to a scarlet, "what I mean is that it is okay!" She huffed as if that entire sentence had taken great effort to get out.
Deku blinked, confused but also possibly relieved? He wasn't sure.
"Uraraka," he said softly, the blush on his cheeks growing. Despite his embarrassment, he intentionally made eye contact with her, "thank you."
This time, Uaraka met his gaze. It was just for a moment and then she was sitting at his side. Close enough that if he'd wanted to, he could've leaned over and bumped shoulders with her, but he stayed where he was; fearful of physical contact. She began speaking.
"I shouldn't have made such a big deal over Mina pulling up my shirt yesterday. If I'd just brushed it off then we never would have, er, well we never would have to be having this conversation! Not that I don't like talking to you, but well you know."
"I'm sorry you had to…see that," he chuckled softly, "should've locked my door."
Uraraka turned to look at him then, though he didn't turn his head to face her as she spoke. "But Deku what I saw—err, well what happened was a completely normal thing to do! It's a natural part of growing up, exploring and uh, doing that," she paused briefly, searching for the right words, "everyone does it! Like everyone! It's part of growing up—I said that already, sorry," her pace had increased but she continued anyway,"—exploring your body and what it likes and all that. It's just learning what you like and everyone does it! Like I'm sure all the boys do it, I know it! The girls too, like I've done it—eek, uh, er, forget that, um but yes, everyone does it!" The blush had begun to blossom down her face and onto her neck but still she pressed on. "You know the adults do it too! Like, just imagine! They were young like us once too and you know, Miss Midnight—that one's obvious—but like I'm sure even people like Mr. Aizawa do it—"
"Shouldn't you two be in your seats already?" Interrupted a painfully familiar dry, deep voice.
Both Uraraka and Deku's heads turned stiffly toward the voice only to be greeted by Aizawa's bored and tired face. If they'd possessed Bakugo's explosion quirk, they most definitely would've exploded out of pure embarrassment at Aizawa's appearance.
"Mr. Aizawa!" They both exclaimed in unison and horror.
"You've got exactly two minutes to get into the classroom and into your seats," he warned and nodded down the hall, "I've got to give Cementoss some paperwork but by the time I get back from that, I expect you both seated and ready to start." Aizawa spared them once last glance and then proceeded to shuffle down the hall.
Deku exhaled loudly. Talk about embarrassing! He turned to Uraraka who was probably as red as he was.
"We'd better get to our seats," he said quietly but added, "but uh, thank you Uraraka. I don't want you to be embarrassed and thanks for what you said. I didn't want there to be any weirdness or embarrassment because you're my friend and I like spending time and talking to you." I like looking at you, I like listening to you, I like your smile, I like all of you, a small little voice whispered in the back of his head. Deku tried to squash that line of thinking down, it would do no good going down that path.
Uraraka nervously scratched the back of her head and gave Deku a full-face smile. "I want that too, which is why I said what I said. So yeah, let's move on!"
"Okay!" Deku agreed, smiled and held out a closed fist. His goal was to repeat when they'd playfully bumped fists all those months ago. It was an innocuous gesture that he hoped would reassure that there was no lingering embarrassment between them.
However, in that moment when he held out his fist and Uraraka saw it, she was seized by a different compulsion. Her thoughts briefly danced back to the previous day when she'd seen those big green eyes glued to her stomach and the look in them, a curiosity mixed with something else she wasn't certain of. What she did know was that she secretly liked the look he'd given her; she liked it when he looked at her. Of course, Uraraka wasn't completely conscious of this, but these unconscious thoughts caused her to pause before interacting with Deku's extended fist.
Those same thoughts compelled her to grab his extended fist into a hand hold. The gesture clearly surprised Deku, since the smile dropped from his face and another blush found its way onto his cheeks. Without really thinking that deeply about it—unusual for him—Deku unfurled his fist and entwined his hand with hers.
To anyone crossing by in the hallway, the gesture would've been innocent enough and easily overlooked. It merely looked like two classmates were shaking hands, but to Deku and Uraraka, it was so much bigger.
Uraraka stared at him, a similar blush coloring her cheeks.
"Deku…?" She murmured. She hadn't expected him to actually take her hand but for that matter, she didn't even know what had compelled her to change the nature of the original gesture.
Deku wasn't entirely sure what had possessed him to entwine hands with her but he was aware of the time, time that was swiftly passing. "We'd better get into class…we can uh, talk, or something later if you want." He said and using their linked hands, pulled her to her feet. When he looked back at her, she was rosy cheeked and staring at him with wide, sparkling eyes. It was a look he'd never seen from her before and for a moment his heart seemed to sputter in his chest. A distant memory of the Disney movie Bambi came to mind and the lines of long forgotten dialogue filled his head.
"Well, what's wrong with them?" A cutesy Disney skunk asked in response to two birds feverishly flying around each other.
"Why are they acting that way?" A rabbit added.
"Well don't you know? They're twitterpated," answered an old knowing owl.
His eyes locked onto those warm hazel browns again and knowing suddenly dawned on him. You're twitterpated Deku, a tiny voice whispered inside him.
He pulled his hand away from her as if she were a caustic chemical that was burning him and with speed to rival Ida's engine quirk, he turned toward their class and raced forward. "Gotta get to our seats!" He spoke a little too loudly and quickly before vanishing into the classroom, leaving Uraraka slowly following behind.
She moved to follow, her mind feeling slow, her limbs somehow heavy. It must have been mere seconds after Deku had gotten into class and his seat that Uraraka followed. There were a few side glances at the two entering the room right around the same time and even more questioning glances when they took note of the blushes on both of their faces.
Uraraka took her seat and numbly looked forward, her mind still slow and somehow empty. "We can uh, talk, or something later if you want," the words repeated in her head. If I want. Did she want to? She shot a nervous glance in Deku's direction. He was looking straight ahead but there was a blush all across his freckled face.
Aizawa entered the room a moment later and briefly shot both of them narrowed eyes before beginning on the days lesson plan. Uraraka reluctantly focused her attention on Mr. Aizawa.
Across the room, Deku sat rigid as a pole in his seat, the term twitterpated repeating in his head over and over again.