"Okay, I'm super confused now," Sero complained from his spot at the table after getting his food.

Izuku had been introduced to him and Ashido, a bubbly pink-haired girl he couldn't believe actually hung around Katsuki willingly. He was told that they all lived in the house with one other roommate who was out at the moment. They had just all managed to dish up their plates and find spots to sit when Sero had spoken.

"About?" Kaminari asked as he shoved a forkful of food into his mouth.

Sero turned his dark eyes to Izuku with knitted brows. "You're Todoroki's brother, but I thought Deku was Bakugou's brother?"

"Oh, family tree time," Izuku said while clapping his hands together once.

Shoto pushed his food around on his plate absently while resting his chin in his palm. "Why couldn't you have chosen literally any other college to attend?"

Izuku wiggled his brows in the other boy's direction. "Maybe I just wanted the excuse to annoy the shit out of my brothers."

"Natsuo and Touya wouldn't suffice?"

"Shut up, you love me," Izuku chided before glancing back over at Sero. "Our moms have all been friends forever, so we grew up together. Then my mom decided that parenting a kid as awesome as me was too much work and died-"

"Ignore him," Shoto cut in immediately, used to Izuku's dark jokes. "Humor is how he copes."

Izuku waved him off, not finished with the family tree yet. "Anyways, she peaced the fuck out and Sho's mom adopted me. He's technically my brother now and Kacchan is just, like... an honorary sibling."

"Damn," Sero said with a low whistle once Izuku had finished.

"And why are we just meeting him now?" Ashido asked with a pointed look in Katsuki's direction.

The blond scowled, stabbing at his green beans aggressively in retaliation. "Not my fault the little shit wouldn't talk to me for a year."

Izuku let out a dreamy sigh while staring off into space and reminiscing about his Katsuki-free year. "Good times, we should go back to that."

"You showed up at my house."

"Rei pulled the dead mom card," Izuku grumbled, his momentary bliss gone.

"Grow a pair and tell her no for once."

"You're such a dick."

"And you're a whiny little bitch."

"This is why I stopped talking to you!"

Before their fight could dissolve any further, the front door slammed.

"You're late!" Ashido shouted to whoever had just entered the house. Izuku figured it was the final roommate.

"Sorry!"

"Come meet Bakugou and Todoroki's little brother," she called as their footsteps got closer.

A very confused purple-haired man entered the kitchen, eyes searching the table before they landed on Izuku. "How the hell does that work?" he asked in a tired voice as he went to the stove to grab dinner.

"It's complicated," Shoto paraphrased, in no mood for Izuku to do the whole spiel again.

"Alright," he said with a shrug, unbothered by his unanswered question. He looked too tired to be bothered by anything.

"That's Shinsou," Ashido said, pointing a manicured nail in his direction. "He's the resident caffeine addict."

Kaminari shook his head at her. "Weak introduction, Ash."

She scrunched her face up in disgust as she watched him dig into his food like a wild animal. "Well, what'd you want me to call him? He can't be the resident stoner, Sero and him are tied for that position."

"Gasp," Izuku said, clutching a hand to his chest with wide eyes. "You guys do drugs?"

Shinsou's brows furrowed in confusion as he glanced at him, but he didn't comment as he took the empty chair next to Sero.

"Iz, what the hell is that?" Shoto asked with furrowed brows.

"What?" he asked, blinking at his brother innocently. "I'm being a little brother."

Katsuki speared another green bean mercilessly. "You're being annoying."

"It's almost like that's the fucking point," Izuku said, making a face at the other man.

"Definitely siblings," Kirishima said with a laugh.

"So," Ashido cut in with a forced smile. "What were those two like as kids?" she asked, letting her eyes cut to Shoto and Katsuki in turn.

"The same way they are now," Izuku said with a snort of laughter. "They aren't big on the whole change thing."

"Says you," Katsuki said, the fight Ashido had just ended sparking back to life.

Izuku twirled his fork in his hand, not hungry but needing to keep his hands busy, as he leveled the blond with an unamused look. "My mom died, Kacchan. I think I've experienced enough change."

Sero shook his head from across the table, a barely-there smile on his lips. "Taking the 'weaponizing your trauma' thing to a whole new level."

"If I had to live through it, might as well use it as a tactical advantage," Izuku said with a small shrug. There weren't a lot of pros to having a dead mom, but using it to shut up Katsuki was definitely one of them.

"Tactical advantage my ass," Katsuki snapped, pointing his fork at Izuku in a threatening manner. Not that Izuku felt very threatened by the action, but the intent was clear. "It's emotional manipulation and you know it."

Izuku's face pinched in distaste at his words. "Says the guy who's called me Deku my entire life."

"That's not emotional manipulation, it's bullying. Completely fucking different," the blond said with a scoff.

"Did you just openly admit to bullying him his entire life?" Ashido asked with a pointed look Izuku had only ever seen a mother wear when catching her kid in a lie.

Oh, he thought to himself, that's how she puts up with him.

"He's my little brother! Of fucking course I bullied him."

The pink-haired girl didn't seem convinced, instead turning her attention to Sero. "Sero, you're a big brother. What're your thoughts?"

Oh, that's a trick question.

From the way Sero's eyes went comically wide, Izuku knew he'd had the same thought. His eyes darted between Katsuki and Ashido before painfully swallowing the bite of food in his mouth. "Um... I just have younger sisters, so I don't know if I'm really the best person to ask."

Katsuki chuckled at the answer, his red eyes locking onto Izuku once again. "Deku's close enough to a sister."

Izuku slammed his hands on the table as he shot to his feet, his chair scraping against the hardwood floors in protest. "I will rip the fucking heads off of every last one of your limited edition All Might figurines."

Katsuki was on his feet seconds later, looking posed to jump over the table and tackle him to the ground. "You wouldn't fucking dare," he hissed.

"Now it's a real family dinner," Shoto said nonchalantly, sitting back in his chair to watch the two argue.

Kaminari held a hand tightly against his mouth, his shoulders shaking from the force of the laughter he was trying to squash. "You... Y-you collect superhero action figures?"

"I will fucking kill you, sparky!" Katsuki shouted as he abandoned any effort to keep his voice at a reasonable volume.

Shoto let out a sigh, finally stepping in before the fight got too out of hand. "Iz, sit down."

"No, he's-"

"You're eighteen and it would be really pathetic if I had to threaten to call mom."

Izuku nearly threw himself back into his chair, crossing his arms with a scowl. "Didn't want to fucking come here in the first place, but does anyone ever listen to me? No! Why would we listen to the smartest person in the family about shit that pertains to him? That's ridiculous. Obviously, we should just keep treating him like a child his whole life, because, heaven forbid, he tries to make decisions about his own life-"

"Ignore him," Shoto said while turning back to his food. "He'll run out of things to bitch about eventually."

The stream of word vomit leaving Izuku's lips didn't halt or falter, just remained steady as if he hadn't heard Shoto speaking.

"-I'm not made of glass, Jesus Christ. You go off the deep end for a few months and people lose all trust. How about your mom gets cancer and dies and we'll see how you deal with the aftermath-"

"Does he even realize we're still in the room?" Kaminari asked in a whisper-like voice, not wanting to disturb whatever was going on with the green-haired boy.

"Not really. He kind of just zones out," Shoto explained while reaching for his glass. "Said something about it being like dissociating out loud."

Katsuki sat back in his chair with an annoyed groan. "Been doing it since he could talk."

Shoto raised his cup in a cheers motion. "Except it's worse now," he said before taking a drink.

"Fucking great," Katsuki grumbled before pushing himself forward and bracing his forearms on the table. "Nerd!"

"Huh?" Izuku asked, blinking owlishly as he looked around the table. It only took a second before he was smacking Shoto's arm and causing him to spill water down the front of his shirt.

"Hey!"

"You're not supposed to let me do that in front of people," Izuku whined, the tips of his ears turning bright red from his embarrassment.

"Actually," Shoto scowled as he set his cup on the table and looked down at his wet clothes, "I was told not to snap you out of it and let it run its course."

"Well, it's embarrassing and that therapist didn't know what she was talking about anyway," Izuku said with his nose turned up, quickly turning his back to the other man.

"Whatever you say, Iz."