The journey towards UA was made mostly in silence, neither boy knew what to say. What could you say after such dreadful things had happened? Katsuki's mind was laden with concerns for Izuku, concerns that he didn't know how to express. It was no secret that Katsuki was emotionally stunted, to say the least. He desperately wanted to reassure Izuku as Kirishima could, he wanted to put his mind at ease just like Uraraka could, but Katsuki simply didn't know how to. It was frustrating. What kind of boyfriend was he if he couldn't even cheer up Izuku in his darkest times? 

Izuku's mind was riddled with various thoughts, all swirling together to assault him and confuse his already foggy brain. He was still no closer to being reinstated in the hero course. His mother, the only member of his family, was in the hospital, possibly on her death bed. He had seen two notorious villains at the sight of his mother's injury, suggesting that they were somehow responsible for it. Izuku wanted his mind to go blank, he didn't want to exist if this was the type of mortal pain he was going to constantly be subjected to. 

Just when the two of them were nearing UA, Katsuki coughed awkwardly and hesitantly took Izuku's hand into his, effectively jolting Izuku from his deep thoughts. Izuku peered curiously down at the interlocked hands between them, his confusion was obvious on his face, it was accompanied by a gentle blush that was slowly working its way from his cheeks and up to the points of his ears. 

"Kacchan?" Izuku stuttered in a questioning tone.

"You know that I'm shit at all this emotional shit, I can't reassure people," Katsuki grumbled, "But you know that I'm here to help you, yeah? So... Just tell me if you need me to step away or you need me to get one of your friends. A lot is happening, and I want to help... you." 

Izuku squeezed Katsuki's hand and offered him a paltry smile, "Thank you, Kacchan. But, don't worry too much, your brand of reassurance is just as effective as Ochako's or anybody else's. I like just spending time with you, that's enough."

Katsuki's cheeks warmed and he turned away from Izuku with a muttered: "shut up". He readily accepted praise where his fighting was concerned, but when a moment became a bit too emotionally charged he was reduced to the inexperienced teenage boy he truly was.

"Kacchan..." Izuku whispered, "I just wanted to say..." he hesitated, unable to push the words out of his mouth. He wanted to say that he loved him. He wanted to express that despite their rocky history and the fact that they still had so much to work through together, he truly loved Katsuki from the bottom of his heart. But that was too hard to verbalise. That was too hard to express when his emotional state was already so vulnerable. So, he settled for saying something else.

 "I just wanted to say that I'm really thankful for everything you're doing. I know that you're my friend and boyfriend and, you know, it's sort of common courtesy to help someone out when they're going through something rough, but...thank you, from the bottom of my heart."

Katsuki's face only gained more of a ruddy hue at Izuku's sincere words. They played with his heart making it thump dangerously fast, he wasn't familiar with the uncertainty and warmth that Izuku always inspired in him, but he didn't hate the feelings at all. 

"Shut up nerd," Katsuki muttered somewhat bashfully. He pulled Izuku into his side and planted a quick kiss on the crown of his head. He was much better at showing his emotions physically rather than verbally, that was one of the reasons he sought out fights so often. It was also the primary reason he had landed him and Izuku with house arrest after the provisional license exam. 

"I don't think I will, Kacchan." Izuku hummed as he revelled in his boyfriend's simple affection.

Aizawa didn't look surprised when he opened the door and came face to face with dust and blood covered Izuku standing next to Katsuki. Izuku was sure that very little could shock the man anymore, not after the hellish year 1A had experienced. 

"Midoriya, I'm glad to see that you're safe. Would you like to come and explain why you look like you've just stepped off of a battlefield?" the question was posed in a sarcastic manner, but there was genuine concern in Aizawa's eyes. Despite his gruff personality and reputation that preceded him, Aizawa truly cared about every member of his class, they'd all gone through a lot together.

"My house was destroyed and I went in to save my mum who is severely injured and might die. Also, I think I saw Dabi and Toga." Izuku rushed out. Aizawa raised a singular eyebrow at his word vomit whilst Katsuki whipped around to glare at Izuku.

"You saw Toga and Dabi? Why didn't you tell me, asshole?" Katsuki fumed. He grabbed Izuku by the shoulders and started shaking him violently, possibly attempting to shake some sense into his boyfriend. 

"I wasn't completely sure!" Izuku screeched as he was shaken, "I didn't want to worry you over nothing. You've already gone out of your way for me!"

"I've done fuck all!" Katsuki retaliated, he finally stopped shaking Izuku, leaving the boy with a dazed look on his face, "If you saw Dabi and Toga there then it most likely means that The League is aware that you've been temporarily removed from the hero course, they're probably going to target you!"

"Whilst I agree with you, Bakugo, I would appreciate it if you didn't shake Midoriya like that." Aizawa intoned in a bored tone, "Now, please return back to the dorms, don't argue with me. Midoriya and I will sit down and talk about what's going to happen next."

With great reluctance, Katsuki turned around and shuffled out of the doorway to the teachers' living quarters, though not before he squeezed Izuku's hand very briefly. Izuku watched his boyfriend sulk away with his head down for a minute before he turned back to Aizawa.

"Come on in, Midoriya. Most of the other teachers are out at the moment, I think only Present Mic and Thirteen are here," Aizawa gestured for Izuku to enter the building and take a seat on one of the burgundy sofas. Izuku did so with only slight reluctance, he had never been in the teachers' living quarters before, the entire experience was rather daunting.

As soon as Izuku had sunk into the surprisingly soft cushions of the sofa, Aizawa took a seat on the coffee table opposite him. He peered at Izuku over the top of his steepled fingers and sighed heavily, "You just can't stay out of trouble can you?" He sounded only slightly exasperated, too used to Izuku being the centre of some plot or other. 

"It seems that way, sorry, Sir." Izuku chuckled weakly.

"Don't worry," Aizawa sighed, "What we need to focus on is what you'll be doing now. You mentioned that your mother was injured, how severely? How long do you think she'll be in hospital for?"

"Umm... Well, obviously I'm not a doctor, but she lost a lot of blood and her spine felt sort of crooked. Also, she wasn't breathing correctly, probably a pierced lung. Also, her leg was impaled with a rusty pole, the wound didn't look like it was going to heal very quickly. Provided she doesn't fall into a coma, she'll probably be in hospital for a few weeks." Izuku analysed. 

It was times like this, in retrospect of handling a situation, that his mind separated traumatic events into two camps. There was the one that he subconsciously suppressed, the one that handled his emotions. The other camp was the emotionally detached one, the one that was solely analytical, this was the one that Izuku most often allowed to remain at the forefront of his mind. He knew it was unhealthy, but what else could he do?

"Ok. Do you have any other relatives that can take you in for the time being?" Aizawa asked.

Izuku shook his head, "No. My maternal grandparents are dead and my paternal grandparents want nothing to do with me. My dad calls sometimes, but he's in America and I doubt he would come back to take me with him or to look after me." 

"How often is sometimes?"

"Once or twice every two years, maybe. Sometimes he'll call on Christmas, well, it's not Christmas here but it is in America when he calls." Izuku shrugged. 

"Ok... I guess you'll have to stay here then, technically UA hasn't yet given up its partial custody of you yet, the paperwork normally takes three to four weeks to go through, so we can legally look after you until your mother is better and you have somewhere new to live." Aizawa hummed, he ran a hand through his hair and let out a huff of air.

"Oh, ok," Izuku chirped. he had not even been aware that UA had any sort of custody rights over its students, perhaps it was only in the case of Hero Course and Support Course students, they were the most likely to get injured, after all, and you needed some legal rights concerning a minor when it came to hospitals and healthcare. 

"You can return to the dorms, you're room isn't vacant anymore since Shinso moved into it not long ago. We'll sort something out, don't cause any more problems, got it, Problem Child?" Aizawa glared at Izuku, it was a glare comprised of exhaustion and disbelief. 

"Ok. I won't. Thank you Aizawa Sensei," Izuku jumped up and made to leave the room, but he was stopped by Aizawa speaking.

"We're still doing everything we can to help you get your place back, we haven't given up hope yet. Just lay low and don't get into any trouble, ok?" Aizawa muttered wearily, to which Izuku silently nodded. He could stay out of trouble, how hard could it possibly be?

Returning to Heights' Alliance was like taking a sip of a cold beverage on a scorching hot day. It was relieving. Izuku felt like he had returned home after an especially long day full of aggravating obstacles. Upon opening the door to the building, Izuku was hit with a wall of sound.

"What do you mean? I explicitly stated that the curry was mine! It had a note on it!"

"Kaminari, fuck off!"

"Momo! Tell our girlfriend to stop being mean to me! She's hurting my feelings!"

"Existence is pointless, we're all going to die anyway."

"I couldn't agree more."

All of the various conversations came to a grinding halt when Izuku entered the common room. Twenty sets of eyes swivelled around to stare at him, all was silent for a minute before Uraraka jumped up from the floor with an excited shriek of "Deku!"

Immediately, a tide of bodies slammed down upon Izuku. He struggled fruitlessly to breathe under the torrent of arms hugging him, but it was pointless. He decided to simply give in to his classmates' affection, it would ebb away soon enough. 

When everyone backed away, the only person left holding Izuku was Uraraka. She was grasping Izuku's arms firmly, it was like she was afraid to let go lest he escapes from her grasp yet again, her face was alight with joy at the sight of Izuku's unruly curls and freckled cheeks. 

"Deku! You're back! Why are you back? Did they change their mind?" Uraraka queried.

"Ah... No. Something happened to my mum and I had nowhere to go so... I have to stay here. I'm glad to see you all though, sorry for ignoring all of you for that first week..." Izuku muttered bashfully.

"That's ok, my dude!" Kirishima piped up, "We're just glad that you're relatively alright. Though, you should probably have a shower to get rid of all of that dust and blood."

"Yeah... I'll go and do that now." Izuku hummed, "Oh, but I need clothes. I only have my phone, everything else was..." Izuku didn't finish his sentence, he was sure that his classmates could understand what he was getting at. 

"I'll go and get you some clothes, nerd," Katsuki muttered, he turned around to do just that but he was brought to an abrupt stop by Todoroki speaking up.

"Don't trouble yourself, Bakugo, I'll get him some clothes, you seem rather reluctant, we know how possessive you can get about your belongings." 

Everyone nodded along, none of them noticed the scowl that was growing more prominent on Katsuki's face or the way that Izuku sent him an apologetic look. 

"Whatever," Katsuki scoffed. 

With that matter settled, Izuku was pushed into the showers by his peers and told that they would get the clothes to him as soon as possible. 

Freshly showered and feeling rather refreshed, Izuku stepped out of the shower room. Todoroki's clothes were ever so slightly too big for him, especially the trousers, but there wasn't much he could do aside from roll his sleeves and trouser legs up and hope that his bottoms didn't fall down, that would be extremely embarrassing. In all honesty, he would much rather be wearing Katsuki's clothes, during their so-far brief relationship, he'd only gotten the chance to wear Katsuki's clothes once, and that was when he had been too tired to go back to his room to sleep so he had simply borrowed some of Katsuki's clothes and stayed with his boyfriend for the night. Wearing your significant other's clothes was a staple of a relationship, or so Izuu had been told by various class members and online sources. 

Upon exiting the shower room, Izuku was immediately accosted by Ashido and Hagakure, the two girls appeared to have been lying in wait for him, waiting for their opportunity to spring onto him like coiled snakes. 

"Midoriya," Ashido started in a friendly tone, "We were just wondering if you could help us with something, all you have to do is answer a few questions."

"What type of questions?" Izuku was weary of the devious look in Ashido's eyes, a look that was no doubt in Hagakure's eyes, but Izuku couldn't see her. 

"Just some relationship questions. Specifically concerning you and Ochako..." Hagakure giggled. Her high pitched tittering was accompanied by Ashido. Izuku's nerves were mounting by the second. 

"Oh," Izuku stuttered, "I really don't think there's much to tell... We're just really good friends, she's probably one of my best friends."

"Mhm," Ashido hummed, "But you did date her for a month, right?"

Izuku's face went red faster than one would anticipate, the sudden rush of blood to his cheeks couldn't have been healthy for the boy. "I mean... Yeah, we dated for a month, but we quickly realised that we weren't compatible in that way," Izuku muttered.

"Ok...But would you consider getting back with her, after all of this is over," Hagakure gestured vaguely around them, she was no doubt referencing both of the misfortunes that Izuku had experienced as of late. 

"Umm, no? As I said, I just don't think we'd do well as a couple, but she is really sweet. I just prefer her as my friend," Izuku whispered. Over his ducked head, Ashdio raised an eyebrow at Hagakure, to which Hagakure procured a pen from her pocket and imitated Ashido's expression by hastily drawing on her own face. 

"Ok. Well, if you change your mind, we'd be more than happy to help. Right after we get Bakugo and Kiri together, though." Ashido shrugged. She couldn't see it, but Izuku's expression pinched ever so slightly and his heart ached painfully. 

"Right... well I'll see you later guys, bye!" Izuku rushed to extract himself from the situation he had found himself in. The girls were extremely intimidating at times.

When Izuku walked into the lounge, he was immediately pulled down onto one of the sofas by Kaminari, he practically fell on top of Koda. "Oh my gosh, sorry Koda! Are you ok?" Izuku asked.

"I'm fine, I'm just glad you're back Midoriya," Koda whispered, Izuku had to strain his ears to hear the shy boy. Koda was one of the classmates that Izuku found himself gravitating towards when he simply needed somewhere quiet to stay but being alone for long expanses of time was hard, Izuku's mind tended to remind him of things he would rather forget. 

"Ok, if you're really ok..." Izuku muttered as he climbed off of Koda and sat between him and Kaminari.

"So... Midobro, what have you been up to in the time we've been apart?" Kaminari hummed, he threw his arms around Izuku's shoulder, pulling him into his side and smiling up at him.

"Denki, dear, I think that you might be making Midoriya uncomfortable," Yaoyorozu hummed to her boyfriend as she passed the sofa. The relationship between Yaoyorozu, Jiro and Kaminari was a surprise to the vast majority of the class. That's not to say that the class didn't support them, they were very supportive, it was simply a shock. 

"Oh, sorry bro!" Kaminari smiled and pulled away from Midoriya, rubbing his neck awkwardly as he did so.

"It's fine, Kaminari," Izuku reassured, "I haven't been doing a lot, mostly just staying in my room. I sometimes look up old laws concerning the expulsion of heroes from their positions, such circumstances would definitely apply to my current predicament, but I can't find any loopholes worth using. Aside from that, I've been studying, reading, exercising, there's not much to do."

"Well, you're here now!" Kaminari cheered, "Even if you can't come to class with us, we're glad that you're here! But, where are you going to be sleeping, dude? Shinso took your old room."

"I'm not sure yet, I'll probably just sleep on a futon in here," Izuku hummed dismissively. He knew where he wanted to sleep, he wanted to sleep in Katsuki's room. After years of discourse between them, an emotional apology that evoked tears from both boys, and the two starting to date, Izuku was desperate to relive some of his fond childhood memories. And one of those memories just so happened to be spending the night together.

"Any one of us would let you sleep in our room," Sero chimed in, "All you have to do is ask!"

"Thanks, guys, I'll think about it," Izuku smiled at all of his present companions. 

"Let's not sit here doing nothing, before you left you promised me a game of Hero Fighter, and I intend to collect!" Kirishima shouted as he jumped over the back of the sofa to hand Izuku a controller. 

"Be careful with the furniture, dumbass!" Katsuki shouted from the kitchen, "If you break anything I'll break you!"

Chortles and chuckles echoed around the room. Izuku thought it felt rather good to be back where he belonged.

After hanging out with his classmates, having dinner and forcing himself to stay awake for a film, it's sufficient to say that Izuku was dead on his feet. Every few seconds his head would fall onto his chest before he was jolted awake again. Izuku wanted nothing more than to sleep, but he was scared that once he closed his eyes and let slumber take him, he would wake up to find that this was all a dream. He was afraid to wake up and learn that he had simply passed out next to the rubble of his childhood home, that he had dreamt about seeing all of his friends again. 

"You're practically asleep already, Nerd," Katsuki grumbled quietly so that only Izuku could hear him. He too looked exhausted, it was far past the usual time that he would usually retreat to his room and go to bed. 

"Mhm," Izuku murmured sleepily, he let his head fall into Katsuki's lap, "Comfy."

Even in the darkness of the lounge room, the red of Katsuki's face was prominent, the TVs light danced over his features, bathing him in white, orange and red. 

"I'm taking the nerd to my room to sleep. He can't sleep here with all you idiots jumping around and screaming." Katsuki announced to the class. He stood up from the floor and scooped Izuku into his arms, carrying him over his shoulder.

"That's not a very elegant way to carry him, Bakubro," Kirishima chuckled. 

"Are you sure that you don't mind having him in your room? I'd be willing to house him." Iida asked.

"Stop getting your knickers in a twist, Glasses. I don't care about keeping him in my room. It's not like I'm gonna attack him in his sleep!" Katsuki scoffed. Just when Iida was about to say something about him not intending to offend, Katsuki got a firmer hold on Izuku and started marching towards the lift. "See you losers in the morning, or whatever."

The rest of the class was left staring at the silver doors of the lift wondering when Izuku and Katsuki got so close.

"I know that they, like, became proper friends and stuff after Bakugo apologised, but when were they ever that close?" Ashido asked.

"Who's to say, the world is a mysterious place." Tokoyami mused. 

In his room, Katsuki gently laid Izuku out on his bed before he started rummaging around his room for the futon that his mother had packed when he had first moved into the dorms. At the time, he had yelled at her and said that it was useless, but he was glad for it now. He didn't want to put Izuku in his bed without his consent. 

After laying out the futon and quickly changing into his pyjamas, Katsuki turned around moved Izuku from his bed to the futon on the floor. He placed his boyfriend down with careful reverence, he knew that Izuku's bones tended to ache due to his recklessness in the past, he had numerous amounts of pressure sleeves to ensure that his arm remained in peak condition. 

"Kacchan..." Izuku hummed sleepily, he reached up a hand and grabbed onto Katsuki's hair. Katsuki hadn't expected the abrupt movement, so as he moved to stand up his hair was yanked.

"Ah! Shit!" Katsuki cursed, "What the fuck Deku?"  

"Mm... Thank you," Izuku muttered, still half asleep.

"For what?"Katsuki grumbled.

"There for me." Izuku sleepily replied, "Kacchan I want to get my hero course place back."

"I know, we're gonna do everything we can," Katsuki didn't know why he was carrying out a conversation with his half-conscious boyfriend. Izuku most likely wouldn't remember it in the morning anyway. 

"I'm gonna go out and prove that they set me up... Won't get away with it. Suspicious. League of Villains." Izuku babbled incoherently. It was like he was trying to string together sentences that made any semblance of sense, but he was too tired to do so.

"Ok, why don't you tell me about it in the morning? Goodnight, Nerd." Katsuki grunted as softly as he dared. 

"Night, Kacchan. Love you," Izuku hummed. His breathing steadied out indicating that he had fallen back to sleep. 

Katsuki sat in stunned silence. He'd heard Izuku say that he loved him plenty of times during their childhood when they had been playing mummies and daddies with their friends, or when they were playing heroes and the hero saved the damsel in distress, or even just casually, in the way children tend to do. But the words hadn't passed Izuku's lips in ten years, and certainly never in this context. 

Katsuki was always closed off about his emotions, he never let anyone see him cry (Izuku seemed to be the exception), he kept his emotions sealed away in the deep vault in his chest. He didn't think he would ever let as many people as close to him as he had. Kirishima. Kaminari. Sero. Ashido. Hell, even Izuku's friends. He never thought he'd let Izuku in, he never thought Izuku would accept his apology, but here he was. Katsuki was thankful that he had all of his friends (not that he would admit that they were his friends), and he was glad that he had Izuku.

"Tch, I love you, too, Nerd," Katuski muttered. Even if izuku couldn't hear him, it felt nice to get it off of his chest. He really did love Izuku, and one day he was going to prove it. 

Thank you for reading, the next update will most likely be around the 15th or 16th of this month. I hope you have a wonderful day wherever you are.