Izuku was sitting in class, barely paying attention to the things their teacher Present Mic was writing on the board. As always, Izuku's mind had wandered off, staring at the back of his childhood friend's head.

Katsuki had his head down and was furiously scribbling down in his notebook to keep up. Even though he might look like a bad student to some, always making trouble and never trying to befriend anyone, Katsuki actually tried really hard to keep his grades up. It was one of the small things that Izuku had noticed over the years that nobody else had.

'Midoriya!' Present Mic's voice spoke up. Being abruptly pulled from his thoughts and having completely missed the question, he still stood up as a habit, only to have his face flush red as he had to stutter 'I-I'm sorry.. I didn't catch the question.'

'I expect all of you to pay attention!' Present Mic's voice boomed across the class as Izuku sat down, his heartbeat going up as he felt embarrassed. Iida answered the question in his stead. He kept his head down as he tried to focus more on his school work, vouching to himself not to look up and get distracted.

Izuku wondered why, of all the places in the class he could've had, he was seated behind Katsuki. He had spent years prior to this always sitting behind him, always only able to look at the back of the blonde's head, and read his emotions from his posture rather than his facial expressions.

When the bell rings Izuku finally dares to look up again. Katsuki flexes his neck, feeling a little sore from sitting hunched over for so long. His shoulder blades ache, so he throws his arms back and stretches, grunting a little as his muscles contract. Izuku catches himself staring.

Katsuki can feel eyes drilling into his back and he glances over, seeing Izuku's big green eyes intently fixated on him. 'What're you staring at?' he barks, making Izuku jump and flush red. 'N-nothing, I was just l-lost in thought! Yeah… t-that's all,' he mutters. Katsuki clicks his tongue and averts his gaze.

The door to the classroom slides open and Midnight enters the classroom, smiling as she starts writing exercises down on the board. Izuku lowers his head again, rubbing the back of his neck. Why is his heart pounding so much from Katsuki simply glancing over at him?

He sighs. He really wishes that he would have a different seat.

Izuku sighs in contentment as the heat of the hot bath flows through him. Today had been a stressful day during training – Quirk extension would never not be exhausting – and he had managed to end up face first in the dirt on more than one occasion.

Izuku continues to soak until the heat is starting to get to his head and give him a headache. He slowly pulls himself out of the bath, covering his private parts with his towel as he walks over to the showers and sits down.

The cold water of the showerheads were in complete contrast to the hot water of the bath. It made Izuku perk up from the heat-induced slumbering state he had gone in, making him more alert again as the water ran down his back.

He reached out and grabbed the soap, violently rubbing it all over his body to get rid of the dirt and grime that had accumulated over the course of the day. His fingers ran over his right arm, tracing the scars that were permanently inflicted there. He still remembered every single time he had overdone his Quirk and had received more damage. He doesn't regret a single one of those occasions.

The first time to pass the entrance exam. He had to give it his all to be entered into U.A. and he was not going to go home without having received a single point, but because he had only received All Might's Quirk that morning, he was unable to understand how it worked, gravely injuring himself in the process of saving Uraraka.

The second time it was during the sports festival. He doesn't know why, but he felt the need to prove to Todoroki that all of his Quirk was his, and not his father's. The words that All Might had spoken to him echoed in his head: Meddling in situations that aren't your business; that's what makes you a hero. Proving his point, he had broken several of his fingers multiple times and shattered his entire forearm.

The third time was at the training camp. He had gone beyond, absolutely Plus Ultra, in his quest to protect Kouta. He slightly regrets that, a tinge of pain pulsing in his heart as he thinks about how that was the reason he was unable to save his Kacchan. If only he hadn't damaged his arms that badly – or at all for that matter – maybe he would've been able to save Katsuki from being abducted.

It isn't the fact that Katsuki got abducted that made him regret using his full power against Muscular, but it's the fact how Katsuki has been behaving after returning to school. He had been quiet and distant, his temper not running out of hand anymore as it used to be. It seemed like Izuku had been the only one to notice this change in behavior, but he didn't have the courage to bring it up.

'Oi, are you actually going to clean yourself or are you just going to sit there?'

Izuku's gaze snaps up, looking into those piercing emerald red eyes of his classmate. His mind had wandered off and his body had stopped moving as his brain had gotten occupied with his endless train of thoughts. 'I-I'm sorry,' Izuku mutters, reaching out for the showerhead and finishing up his bathing routine.

'Idiot will catch a cold like that,' Katsuki mutters under his breath, just soft enough for Izuku hear, but he glances up anyways. Izuku immediately realizes that was a mistake. They haven't been in the dorms for a very long time and it always happened to be that Katsuki and Izuku never bathed at the same time. Now they did, and Izuku realized something very, very prominent.

He had to forcefully restrain himself from looking back at that broad muscled back, those strong arms, those abs he had gained from working out every single night. Heat was rushing to his face – and to other parts of his body – as he noticed that for the first time in years, saw each other naked.

Izuku scrambled to his feet, nearly slipping on the wet tile floor, as he dashed for the changing rooms, praying that nobody else would be there. For once luck was in his favor and he found the changing rooms completely empty.

Izuku dried himself off, as fast as his hands would move, and practically shoved himself into his casual clothes as he made a run for his own room. He crashed down on his bed face first, the pillows and sheets muffling his screaming as he felt his erection throbbing. It was a miracle Katsuki hadn't noticed; at least, Izuku hoped he hadn't noticed. Izuku sighs. Of course Katsuki hadn't noticed. If he had he wouldn't have been lying here right now. He would be dead.

He rolls over, his arm draped across his face as he bites his lip. Izuku has had a crush on Katsuki since… well… forever. He had always admired that courageous act-first-ask-questions-later attitude that Katsuki had put up throughout their entire childhood. He had loved how Katsuki would stand up for him, protecting him from his bullies even though he would hurt himself as well. Izuku would blindly follow him wherever he went, always being able to look past that intimidating aura that Katsuki would give off, and see the soft and protective side Katsuki had within him. Up until middle school.

Izuku didn't know what had changed, but suddenly, everything had. Katsuki went from protecting him to being the one to bully him. The soft side only Izuku could see was slowly fading. The admiration he had was still there, but pushed deep down, overwhelmed by fear of being hurt. Because that's what Katsuki did. He had hurt him.

In those few years their entire dynamic had changed, and so had Izuku's hopes of ever being able to confess to him. Even though Katsuki's behavior towards Izuku had mellowed since they had both entered U.A. High, Izuku was convinced that Katsuki hated him.

Katsuki would avoid Izuku as much as possible, and whenever they would be in the same room Katsuki would only glare at him. It made Izuku feel immensely sad. He had tried so hard to make amends to their friendship, to try to make it go back to the way they used to be, but Katsuki was simply not interested.

Izuku rolled over again, hugging an All Might themed plush to his chest as the butterflies in his stomach were starting to calm down. If Katsuki ever found out about Izuku's true feelings for him… Izuku shivers. He doesn't even want to start to think about that.

'Why?' Izuku blurted out, kicking his legs like a love-sick female protagonist in a romance movie. 'Why did I have to fall in love with him?'

Izuku flops over onto his stomach, the pillow pressed under his chin as he pulls out his phone and starts scrolling through the countless Class 1-A group app messages they're sending each other. Katsuki's name pops up and sends another jolt of electricity through Izuku's heart. Izuku smiles a little as he sees that Katsuki is just barking at the rest of the class to shut up. Upon noticing, he presses his face deeper into his pillow.

He puts his phone away and gets to his feet, settling himself behind his desk to prepare some homework for tomorrow. As he's jotting down the answers his mind keeps wandering. His phone keeps buzzing but he decides to ignore it.

As he tries to solve the math equations in his head, his pen keeps flowing across the paper, unconsciously writing down all of Izuku's thoughts. When he turns to write down the actual answer, he sees that a quarter of his page is already filled. When scanning the words he has written down, he gets flustered once again.

Maybe I should just tell him how I feel, what's the worst that could happen? He'll probably blow me up… Or hate me. More. Still, I'm always too scared to take chances and this is one of the things I should not ignore… How would it be to date Kacchan? Would he be kind? Possessive? Would he distance himself or be jealous? I really wish I knew how he felt about me but… he's so unreadable at times. How would it feel for him to hold me? Probably really good :) Not that I'll ever feel it…

Izuku sighs and tears the page from his notebook, slamming his head against his desk as he crumples up the piece of paper in his hand. This was going to be a very long night…