AN: Actually it's at the end this time, please read it!

Warnings: Profanity

Word Count: 1825

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The thing about crushes, I thought as I sat on my balcony, the evening sun barely peeking over the buildings that towered around Alliance Heights. Is that they're horrible.

I looked down, over the edge, to the moderately-sized field that extended outwards from the back of 1A's dormitory. They make you feel nervous. The boy was crouched over a book and, despite being so far away, I could see the frown on his face as he tried to make sense of what he was reading. Even watching him was a dizzying experience.

Sick. His face lit up as he understood, and I felt my stomach drop. The boy stood, glancing down one more time and readying himself, before his phone turned on, a message displaying on the screen. Tilting his head, he knelt down and read it, typing out a reply.

And so, so lonely. A few moments later, the door below me creaked as it opened and a girl ran out, her short brown hair bobbing up and down as she bounded over. I kept my face impassive as she hugged him, the boy wrapping her arms around her in return, saying something in greeting.

It was when she leaned in that I looked away, nausea churning up inside me. I rose from my chair, not wanting to witness their next actions. Sliding open the glass doors, I walked inside with a calmness I definitely was not feeling, pulling it shut behind me. My room was bare, no decorations or personalisations made to it since I had moved in. The desk, the bed, the walls, nothing had changed.

It was on my bed that I lay, the duvet beneath me, adding an extra layer of comfort that I needed. I stared at my ceiling, boring a hole into the plaster, not blinking, moving, diverting my eyes to a different space. Just staring, for hours and hours on end, as I did every night.

When the light was gone and there was no one else around or awake, I moved, sitting up on my mattress and resuming my earlier train of thought. The thing about love is that it's a hundred times worse.

I didn't cry. I wasn't going to cry for him. Not for him.

I pushed myself up, mouth twisting into a scowl, hiding my true emotions even though no one else was around. Since I knew the layout of the room like the back of my hand, I didn't bother turning on the light, trusting my memory to guide me to the door. My fingers brushed against the handle and I twisted, the light from the hallway flooding into the room as the door opened silently. I padded down the hall, heading for the kitchen.

It makes your heart pound against your chest. Them, walking to school in the mornings, fingers intertwined, eyes shining as they gazed at each other.

Your chest so tight you can't breathe. Me, in training, watching her cheer him on, or vice versa, putting myself in her position, wishing I could be the one he fell for.

The crushing feeling when their eyes slide past you. Him, smiling at everyone, but not at me.

I violently shook my head, banishing the feelings that had no place in my mind. They were still there, lurking in the shadows, but at least, for the time being, I could forget about them.

The double doors that lead to the main living area loomed in front of me, and I frowned, wondering how I had gotten here. I replaced the frown with my usual glower, pushing at the doors and entering, turning left into the kitchen. Just as I opened the fridge, intending to get a snack before heading back up to my room, a noise stopped me in my tracks. A gentle snuffling noise, muffled and hard to hear, but still there.

I let go of the handle of the refrigerator and let it swing shut, the sound making whoever was crying quieten for a moment before starting back up again, albeit slightly quieter. My brows furrowed in confusion, wondering who on earth would be up at this time. I abandoned my quest for food, some part of me forgetting that I was Bakugo Katsuki, that I didn't help people, I didn't care about their feelings. Hell, I barely cared about mine. Yet, still, I wandered out of the kitchen, floor beneath my bare feet turning from cool tiles to soft carpet, searching for the source of the noise, the person making it, but when I saw the top of a curly head of hair from just over the top of the sofa, the green not visible in the dim light, I halted in my tracks.

"Deku?" I blurted involuntarily. Why did I say anything? I could have just left, got my food and gone back upstairs, fled back to the safety of my room, not pursue this...thing, that will only hurt me more.

"Wh-who's there?" Izuku stammered, his voice shaky. He sat up, twisting to see me standing there, indifference plastered all over my face. His eyes locked onto mine and he froze. "Kacchan?"

Just leave. Just leave. Just leave. "What the fuck are you crying about, Deku?" Fuck.

For a second, Izuku stayed frozen, body locked in place, then his eyes slid away from mine and he turned away. "It doesn't matter. You probably don't care anyway."

Scowling, I moved forwards, crossing the distance between where I was standing and the couch, going around to the front and standing in front of the boy, glaring at him. "I wouldn't have asked if i didn't want a fucking answer, Deku."

At my words, Izuku's head jerked up, surprised. "Oh...okay." He sighed, clutching his legs to his chest and choking back another sob, unable to stop the single tear that slid down his cheek, following the path it's brethren had set, collecting on his jaw and dripping onto his shirt, the sodden material soaking it up. "I...I broke up with Uraraka-chan today." He hesitated, wiping away another stream of tears.

As bad as it was, even though Izuku was clearly upset, my heart lifted ever-so-slightly, mind racing with possibilities. Even so, I crossed my arms. "If you broke up with her, why are you crying, stupid nerd?"

Izuku's face crumpled. "Because..." When he didn't continue, my body betrayed my brain, which was screaming at it to GO, GET AWAY, and I sat down next to him, sinking into the sofa cushions, gratefully resting my back against the back and staring at Izuku out of the corner of my eye. He wasn't looking at me.

"Get on with it, Deku," I demanded.

Izuku groaned with frustration, hands leaving their position - wrapped around his knees - to cover his face, arching his neck back. "Because I don't love her! Because I know she's not the one! She makes me nervous, and sick, and sometimes when she's not there I feel so alone, but she doesn't make my heart beat fast, doesn't make me unable to breathe, she doesn't make me feel that, if she were to leave me, that I wouldn't be able to live, and...and...because I'm in love with someone else!" Izuku was breathing heavily, like admitting all of that had taken a physical toll on him. On the other hand, I was completely still, my mind struggling to process what he had just said.

"Is it..." I paused, trying to think of her actual name. "Asui-chan?"

Izuku stared at me for a moment, then his face changed and he was laughing. Well, sort of. A mixture of giggles and sobs emitted from him, and his face displayed amusement despite having a steady flow of tears running down it. "A...Asui-chan?" Izuku laughed, stuttering simply from the hysterics. "It's not Asui-chan!" His laughs turned, once again, into cries, then into silence, his body still shaky slightly.

If I had been in my right mindset, the one I prepared myself for every morning, I would have yelled something along the lines of, "DON'T FUCKING LAUGH AT ME SHITTY NERD!" As it was, I didn't, intend opting to watch as the boy buried his head in his arms, hiding his face.

"Hey," a gentle voice said, and I realised it was mine, my voice, and I had placed my hand on Izuku's trembling shoulder. It broke my heart that he flinched away from me, away from my touch. I withdrew my hand, hardening my resolve, shifting away from him. "Well, who is it then?" I asked, my voice demanding but low.

Without looking up, Izuku mumbled something, his obviously covered by his sleeve or something because I didn't hear a word of what he said.

"Speak up, nerd."

Lifting his head slightly, he didn't repeat what he said, instead going on a spiel I didn't quite understand. "I th-thought that, if...if I ignored it, the. it would go away, so I ignored it, but it didn't. So then I distracted myself, getting into UA, training to become a hero, then, eventually, dating Uraraka-chan. That worked for a little while, but the feelings were still there, and they weren't going away. Uraraka became someone for me to use." Izuku curled back into himself, crying audibly again. "I've been using someone. What does that make me?"

He never loved her. I blinked. He loves someone else. "I'm not going to ask again, Deku," I said threateningly. "Who is it?"

"Kacchan, it really doesn't-"

"Tell me."

"-matter, you wouldn't-"

"Tell me, Deku."

"-care, it's stupid, they'll never love me-"

"Tell me!"

"It's you!" he cried, unfurling and staring me i. the eyes with a fierceness I couldn't remember seeing in so long. "It's always been you."

Oh. Oh. What?

Taking my silence as some kind of an answer, Izuku scrambled to his feet, fingers covering his face, intent on fleeing to somewhere else, but he bolted backwards when I grabbed his arm. Pulling him back, the force caused him to turn to face me. I was taller than him, so he had to look up. When his eyes met mine, gazing at me with an emotion he had tried to keep hidden all these years, I realised that I had been an idiot. Why hadn't I seen it? Why hadn't I noticed?

"Kacchan?" Izuku whispered, keeping his unblinking gaze on me.

I chuckled softly, touching a hand to his cheek. "Stupid Deku," I mumbled, tracing a finger of his many freckles. "Whoever said I wouldn't love you back?"

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AN: I was just wondering, do you prefer shorter ones like this, or long ones and possibly two part ones like It Was Just A Prank? And do you want some real smut as well *wink wink*