It was eating at him.

'Are we just friends? Is this all this is? I want to help but is there more I could do? Do I want to be more than friends? Would that be taking advantage of the situation?'

On the quiet nights in the dorms, the questions burned in Deku's mind. He'd go for walks, train alone, watch movies, and read books all night until he could think about something else but he just couldn't. He'd barely stay awake during class, couldn't keep up in sparring, and seemed overall distracted. During one of your lunches, he wasn't talking and just stared into his bowl of ramen.

"You good, dude?" You said through the bite of food you just took. "You look like the bowl of soup is telling you the secrets of the universe or some shit." You leaned back while taking a sip of your drink.

He lulled his head back and sighed. "Look, I was thinking abou- hey your hair is standing up!" He pointed to the vertical strands of frizzing hair.

"Yours too." You said with a slight laugh as you poked his forehead, giving his skin a light zap.

"Ow." He said flatly as he moved back. "This is weird. No rain clouds or anything."

"Was that an entrance or what?" Denki turned the corner of the roof and clapped at his own display of mischief. "Pretty ominous, huh?" He said with jazz hands while he sat down on the bench with the both of you.

"Hilarious." Deku mumbled to himself as he smoothed his hair down from its electrified state.

"Nice control." You complimented with a slight smile. "Practicing?"

"Yup!" He gave a big smile while sparking his fingers slightly. "Maybe Midoriya should take some notes. No offense but bro's been lacking."

"Do you need something?" Deku whipped his head around at Denki's insult. "Last I checked, you weren't invited here for commentary." You and Denki both had wide eyes at Deku's quick and angry response.

"Whoa, dude. I didn't mean anything by it." Denki held up his hands and looked away. Deku rolled his eyes slightly and leaned his elbows onto his lap.

"Just do what you're here for." He sighed and rested his forehead in his hands.

"Right..." He looked at you, slightly nervous due to Deku's attitude. "So I was filled in a bit on what was going on."

"Yeah." You said quietly to yourself, slightly ashamed that more people are aware now.

"Hey, there's no judgement here. Feelings are rough shit sometimes." He rested a hand on your thigh and gave a quick glance at Deku as if expecting a comment. Deku just glanced at his hand and went back to staring at the wall with a straight face. Denki cleared his throat.

"I mean, I've never gone to any extremes, but we can probably relate on some level. Wanna give it a try?" He looked at you with big eyes full of question awaiting an answer.

"Sure. Watcha got?

"Did you ever feel like no one ever liked you? Like you were just there for their entertainment? I know it's specific but at least that was the case with me. My quirk literally makes me dumb. Sure, it makes people laugh," he shrugged a bit "but what if I'm not funny anymore? They can just leave and find someone funnier to laugh at."

"Damn, dude. I didn't know it felt that way for you." You looked at his calm expression.

"It doesn't have to be how I feel about this situation, but how you deal with feeling like that. Y'know, feeling like you're a joke or that no one really values you as a person." He stole a small cookie off of your lunch tray. "But hey, I gave those negative feelings a run for their money so they don't have to get to me anymore." He chomped on the cookie and giggled to himself. "It doesn't always have to hurt. It doesn't matter how people look at you as long as you know you're better than that." He gave you a look of compassion while you thought about what he just said.

"Wow. That's a lot to think about." You took one of your cookies and munched on it softly.

"The point is: You know what you can really do. You know who you really are. If people don't realize how amazing, smart, beautiful, and kind you are,and I could keep going," he chuckled lightly. "It doesn't have to get to you. You gotta find the people who know you for who really are. That makes everything great!" He gave you a goofy wink and put his hands on your shoulders. "You know I see you that way, right?"

"I do now!" You laugh happily and bring him into a hug. "Thanks for that. I never thought about those things that way but it really means a lot."

He shot some finger guns and flashed a flirty smile at you. "Anytime!" He looked over at Deku who still hadn't moved but just gave Denki a little side-eye. "Ok, I should probably go...um...Shoot! I still need to get my lunch and here I am eating yours!" He face-palmed his forehead and stood quickly to leave. He turned around briefly and snagged another mini cookie from your tray. "For the road." He stuck out his tongue before downing it in one bite and racing through the door.

You giggled slightly before leaning back and working on what remained of your lunch. "Y'know, if you don't start eating your food, I'm eating it for you." You elbowed Deku in the ribs for some kind of reaction.

"Huh? Oh yeah, right." His blank stare turned to his tray and he poked at his food for the remaining time you spent together and only took bites when you reminded him to. After several long minutes, you slammed your tray down next to him on the bench and stood up in front of him.

"Alright, I don't know what's going on with you, but what the hell's your problem?" You put your hands on your hips and gave him a look that said you're not letting this go.

"Does it matter?" He mumbled and took a sip of his drink, avoiding eye contact.

"Why are you suddenly being so mean to everyone? Don't think I didn't notice the way you looked at Kirishima, and why did you snap at Kaminari so much?" You gestured to where Denki was sitting earlier for emphasis. Deku looked at the empty space on the bench.

"He's a prick. I don't even know why I asked him to do this." He sighed and went back to slouching over his food."

"Well, you need to stop. I don't care how you feel about how he acts or what he said, but it's not ok! If I acted like that when you stopped me from jumping would you have treated me that way?" He sat up slightly at your accusation and opened his mouth to speak but didn't say anything. You picked up your tray and threw your bag over your shoulder.

"Hang on! Y/n! Where are you going?" Deku reached out slightly but you pulled away.

"I'm not gonna watch you play favorites. I know you're jealous and it's my choice what I do and it isn't your job to influence my choices or protect me." You faced him with an aggressive posture. "I don't know what your motive was when you decided to help me, but it changed. And I don't like it." Deku looked at you blankly. He had never seen you be so blunt with anger towards anyone. Let alone him.

"Get it together before you mess something up." You turned with your belongings and left him on the roof.

He sat on the bench for several minutes and missed the bell. He didn't feel like going to class. At the end of the day, he lugged himself back to his dorm and sat at his dimly lit desk. He began writing out an apology letter to Denki and one to you. He felt like he should take responsiblity for anything that happens to either of you for the way he acted. He was getting emotional writing his letter to you as he thought about the personal offense he caused you by how he was treating others. He was signing the letter for you when he heard something slam a few dorms down. He stood abruptly and opened his door to see the others gather in the hall before shrugging it off and dispersing. He scanned the scene but didn't see you arrive or leave. He walked the few doors down to your dorm and knocked.

"Y/n?" He said somewhat softly. No response. He knocked a little more urgently and tried to open the door. It was locked. "Y/N!" He said louder as he tried to push through the locked door.