By the end of school, Ashido had devised a plan of action. It wasn't necessarily good, but I guess I had no room to talk. 

I had been pacing my room since I got home from school, my phone in hand. Waiting was the worst part of the whole process. Even worse than the actual confrontation. 

I nearly jumped out of my skin when my phone finally buzzed. It's now or never, I thought to myself. Is it too late to decide on never? 

I checked the notification, but it wasn't from Ashido. It was an unknown number. 

Unknown~

Found you, little snitch

My heart dropped to my stomach at the words. I knew exactly who sent that text. How had he found me? I was on the other side of the country for crying out loud. I didn't have long to panic about the new threat before I received a message from Ashido. Fuck, it was actually time. 

I had to pause and think. Shigaraki was back and gunning for me now. Did that change anything? Fuck yes, it did. I destroyed his life and got him thrown in jail. There was no way he was going to let that slide. 

Did I want Eijirou and Katsuki to get pulled into my mess? Did I want Kaminari, Sero, and Ashido on his radar? I knew how his brain ticked, I was actually decent friends with him for a year. I watched from his side as he manipulated everyone around him. His enemy's allies were pawns for him to throw around and watch topple. He used the people closest to you to ensure your destruction. 

"Fuck!" I screamed, throwing my phone against my wall, not caring if it ruined the device. I was a dead man walking now anyway. There was no way I could walk out of this unscathed, my only option was to reduce that collateral damage as much as possible. 

I was back to pacing. I had too much energy and no outlet for it. All I could do was walk back and forth through my room, getting lost in my own swirling thoughts. 

Shigaraki found me. 

If he just found me, then he probably doesn't know about Eijirou and Katsuki. 

I could protect them by keeping my distance, which would be easy considering they hated me. 

I chuckled to myself, shaking my head. "I should have known this plan wouldn't work. The universe hates seeing me happy," I mumbled bitterly. 

The sound of my front doorbell shook me from my thoughts. I froze in place. That bell hadn't been used once since we moved here. My mom never ordered anything, she never had people stopping by, and it's not like I did either. Everyone I knew in this town wouldn't touch that doorbell. 

Call me paranoid, but I was convinced it was it had to be Shigaraki. The timing was too perfect to be anyone else. 

It rang again. 

He knows where I live, where my mom lives, those thoughts were on repeat in my mind. I slowly and steadily made my way from my room. I was careful to avoid all the floorboards that creaked. I took a detour to the kitchen, grabbing a decently sized carving knife. Not too big that it would be awkward to wield, but big enough to do the damage I needed. I took a deep breath and made my way to the front door just as the bell rang again. 

Slowly, I unhitched the deadbolt lock, and then the handle. With one more breath to try and steady my nerves, I swung the door open, my knife up in case I was jumped right away.  

"Whoa, what the fuck are you doing?" Ashido asked, holding her hands up quickly. 

My eyes darted from her to Eijirou and Katsuki standing behind her. Both looked pissed to be there and honestly a little scared of the knife in my hand. I loosened a breath, the lesser of my two evils on my doorstep. I could survive that. 

"What the fuck am I doing?" I cried, finally dropping the hand with the knife to my side as I finally registered that it wasn't Shigaraki on my doorstep. "What the fuck are you doing? When have any of you ever used my front door?" I'm sure I looked terrified when I opened the door, but I was quick to school my features, forming a picture of indifference. 

"Well, put the knife away," she instructed, pointing at the weapon in my hand. I rolled my eyes and headed back to the kitchen. I knew Ashido was planning on sticking around, so I left the door open for them. Trying to get her out of my house would probably be more effort than it was worth. "Now," she called out as she appeared behind me in the kitchen doorway, Eijirou and Katsuki awkwardly shuffling into the entryway and closing the door behind them. "Why didn't you come over? Do you know how much harder it was to drag them over here?" 

"Sorry, I'm full of disappointments," I said lazily to her over my shoulder as I put the knife back in its slot in the knife block. 

"Who were you expecting at the door?" Ashido finally asked the question that had probably been bothering her since I opened the door. 

I shrugged, leaning against my kitchen counter. "Solicitors." 

"Ash," Eijirou called, seeming to remind the pink-haired girl that he and Katsuki were still present. "Why're we here?" He sounded exhausted, wanting to be anywhere else but in my presence. 

"The door hasn't magically moved in the past ten seconds," I pointed out to him. "Feel free to leave whenever." 

"No!" Ashido barked at me just as much as at them. "All of you are going to sit down and talk, Midoriya. You agreed to this." She was pinning me down with a pointed stare and I started to shift in place from the scrutinization. 

"Changed my mind," I said casually, then nodded my head to the door. "There's the door." 

Ashido looked me up and down, searching for something with her eyes. "Why're you being like this? After everything you told me today?" She was confused and sounded almost betrayed by my actions. 

"Maybe it's just fun, Ash." I had tried to sound teasing and manipulative, but the words came out bitter and fragile. I cursed myself for the weak display she saw through instantly. 

"Iz," Eijirou's voice made me flinch every so slightly. It was soft and familiar, instantly making me feel warm. He really did hold too much power over me. Even so, I managed to keep my eyes off him. "What's going on?" 

I kept my lips sealed and my eyes glued to the floor in front of me. I was glaring at it, as if it was the reason for all my heartbreak and anxieties. 

"He didn't cheat on you guys," Ashido said suddenly, tearing my eyes from the floor and back to her. 

"Ashido," I hissed at her, pushing myself off the counter. "Shut up-" 

"No," she snapped, cutting me off. "You guys got into a fight and you crumbled under that pressure. Now, you're just trying to punish yourself for no fucking reason. I'm not going to sit back and watch you do this anymore. Grow up, Midoriya." 

Her words stunned me into silence. I was at a complete and utter lack of words. I couldn't even form thoughts. 

"You... didn't cheat on us?" Eijirou's perplexed voice asked. "But why did..." It seemed he was just as lost for words as I was. 

Ashido was glaring hard at me, her arms crossed. "Shinsou and him lied about everything, to get you guys to leave him alone." 

Katsuki was the next to ask a question for her to answer. They seemed to be bypassing me entirely. "Why?" 

"He should be the one to tell you," she gave me a look that was clear instructions to speak or she'd continue doing it for me. 

I shook my head. I couldn't do it. "Ash, please just leave." 

"No," Katsuki said firmly, stepping into the kitchen. "Tell us why you lied." 

I couldn't stay still anymore, my jumbled nerves taking over once again and I started pacing the length of the counter in my kitchen. I wasn't allowed that piece of comfort for long though, Katsuki grabbed my wrist and halted me in place, looking down at me with a pointed expression. 

"Why?" 

I couldn't take it anymore, I was cracking. "I realized I was in love with you, both of you." 

Silence followed my confession. 

"Welp, I'm going to take that as my cue to leave," Ashido spoke up, breaking the tension as she scurried for the door. 

"Wait," I called to her, making her stop to look back. "Take them with you. You all need to leave." 

"Nope!" Her shout was called over her shoulder, already halfway out the door. 

I deflated as I was left alone with them. "I can't force you out of my house, but you can't force me to talk," I mumbled, pulling my wrist from Katsuki's hold. 

"Why can't you just let yourself be happy?" The question was quiet and I almost missed it, but I didn't. Without my permission, my eyes were locked with Eijirou's. "Why are you running from us?" 

"I tend to destroy everything I touch," I told him with a tired smile. There was no more anger or sass to mask my words. Just the truth. "I couldn't do that to you two." 

"We can make our own decisions, Deku," Katsuki spoke up, his eyes never leaving me. 

I shook my head at him. "I seriously don't think you know what you're getting into with me. I-" 

"We've already made this bet before," Katsuki said, cutting me off. He took a step closer to me, trapping me between the counter and his body. "We know exactly what we're getting into." 

"Shigaraki found me," I blurted. They didn't know, and they needed to. They needed to know everything before they continued going down that path. 

"What?" Eijirou asked, his voice full of concern as he was by my side in an instant. 

I sighed, pushing them both out of the way so I could walk past them. I pushed myself onto the counter a few feet away, needing the separation. "Ashido found me after the fight with Kaminari today. I was a mess and couldn't deal with all the lies anymore, so I told her the truth, that I never cheated on you guys, that I'm in love with you, all of it. She made this stupid plan for me to go over there and ambush you guys, force you to listen to me, and then let you decide what to do. She was going to shoot me a text to let me know when to head over. But I got a different text before that." I pulled out my phone, opened the chat with the unknown number, and tossed it to them. 

"This is why you didn't come over?" Eijirou asked, reading over the message, holding my phone in a way that Katsuki could easily read it from beside him. 

I nodded in confirmation. "Shigaraki's favorite way to fuck with people that have wronged him, is to hurt the people they care about." 

"You thought it was him at the front door," Katsuki said. It wasn't a question, he'd already figured that much out. 

I shrugged and scratched the back of my neck. "The timing was too perfect. I'm a little paranoid," I explained with an awkward laugh. 

"If you hadn't gotten this text, would you have come over and talked to us?" Eijirou asked, placing my phone on the counter next to me. They were close again, but now I was stuck in my spot on the counter. 

"Yeah." It came out soft and breathy, so different than my usual responses lately. 

"Nothing happened between you and Shinsou?" he asked next, a hand resting against the counter so close to my leg I could almost feel the heat of his body. 

I had to take a shaky breath to try and steady my racing heart, but it was useless. "Nothing." 

"You're in love with us?" This time it was Katsuki who asked, shoulder to shoulder with the redhead. They were crowding me, ensuring that I had nowhere to run this time. 

"Yes." My answer was barely audible. I was so scared that if I spoke too loudly, I'd wake up and realize this was all just a dream. 

Eijirou finally cracked a smile and it felt like some part of me was able to relax for the first time in two weeks. "Then stop running from us. Let us help you figure out this Shigaraki bullshit and let yourself be happy." 

My eyes were already filling up with tears. I couldn't help it, the stress from the past two weeks had finally caught up with me and I was no longer in control of my tear ducts. "What if I fuck up again?" 

Katsuki reached a hand out, letting it trace the curve of my jaw. "You won't if you stop running." 

I released a small chuckle, a few tears breaking loose with it, but he was quick to wipe them away. "I've been doing it for seventeen years, it might be a little hard to get used to." 

"Run to us then," Eijirou pleaded in front of me. "It doesn't matter how big or small the problem is, just come to us. We'll figure it out together. Please, Iz." I'd never seen him so scared of losing something, of losing me. "We love you and these past few weeks have been literal hell without you." 

My breath hitched at the confession. My eyes darted between them, thinking I must have heard him wrong. 

"He's telling the truth, nerd," Katsuki confirmed, making me freeze in place. "So do us all a favor and give up. You're not winning this one." His smug smirk was on his lips, teasing me. 

"Are you sure?" I asked, my voice desperate. "I have crazy baggage. People trying to kill me, a drug addiction, self-destructive tendencies, the list goes on." 

Eijirou gently tucked a curl behind my ear, a soft smile on his face. "You're stuck with us, darlin'." 

Just like that, the dam broke. I threw myself into their arms, sobbing into their shoulders. 'I love you's and apologies spilling from my mouth almost as often as tears fell from my eyes. I was hugged back tightly, warm hands rubbing circles on my back and soft whispers shushing my cries. 

I felt whole for the first time since I'd closed my window. 

Final act time, updates will probably be a lot slower now because I'm so much less interested in the main plot than I am in the drama, won't even lie.