This time it was Todoroki pacing the room. Izuku watched him warily, looking for his cue to speak. He was still mesmerized by how beautiful Todoroki was. Dual coloured hair that shone atop that pale face, heterochromatic eyes, a scar blossoming on his left side. He could lose himself in his face and spend forever gazing at it, but he really needed to snap Todoroki out of this mood.

It wasn't a good one.

Not even remotely healthy.

He snapped out of admiring Todoroki when the boy punched the wall.

He stood up and hopped off the bed as he kept at it, and took his hands in his own.

He did not protest, he just sighed and muttered thirteen curses about Endeavor and his entire family situation in general.

Izuku realised that his knuckles were bleeding.

He slowly guided Todoroki to the bed where he sat, blankly staring at his hands. Izuku could feel himself tearing up, but commanded his tear ducts to stop overreacting.

He took out the first aid kit and took his hand again, right one.

It was as cool as he always remembered as he took the disinfectant and cotton out.

(He realised that it would be probably incredibly cheesy of him to say that he fell in love over and over again with Todoroki everytime he saw him.)

(Todoroki felt the same too, and the unspoken message between them was that.)

(Tomura called their relationship "Pizza with too much of cheese")

(He wasn't too wrong there. And the fact that he could still make jokes showed that he was still there, under the years of manipulation All For One had piled on top of his already fragile mental state.)

He finished patching it up and pressed a kiss to the injured knuckles, lingering there for a while, sad eyes tracing the visible and invisible scars on the hands.

He stood up and sat down beside Todoroki on the bed.

"So, basically your eldest sibling decided to become a criminal too?"

This wasn't probably the best way to go about it, judging by how his shoulders tensed.

"Apparently so. He was treated poorly, worse than me if you can imagine."

"Trauma is different for people, Todoroki-kun, there is no measuring stick for it. Pain is always pain, and sorrow is always sorrow."

The heterochromatic eyes softened and his body relaxed slightly. Izuku rubbed a thumb over his hand, prompting him to speak.

"I know that. But he was treated awfully anyways, and if it isn't evident from the multiple scars that he sports and the fact that his skin is literally held together by staples. I never did know him that well, but I remember. Natsuo crying and promising that he will never forgive Endeavor. Fuyumi trying to stay composed and failing. Me being dragged over for training so that he didn't have to deal with his mistakes. And the fact that I shouldn't be grieved either."

A tear rolled down his cheek. He felt like he was getting choked and felt like he was hearing phantom voices.

"Shhh, it's all fine, I understand."

Izuku put his arms around him and Todoroki slumped onto him, shaking. He wasn't crying, his eyes were mostly dry, but that dull pain was still there.

Izuku traced a finger across his cheek, trying his hardest not to start crying himself.

Pressing a kiss to the others' forehead, he spoke softly, trying to offer reassurance,

"It will be all fine. It HAS to be."

Hitoshi Shinso wouldn't admit it, but he was incredibly amused by Bakugo. From his continuous screaming of "DIE" whenever he did something to the fact that he was ridiculously over-sensitive but would hide it by shouting was incredibly hilarious which made him quite a spectacle to watch.

Neito Monoma wouldn't admit it either, but he was entranced by the transfer student into the Hero Course. His stupid purple hair sticking out in all directions, the ever present eyebags and the dead inside look, the sarcastic smile, oh God, he had a crush.

And not on just anyone.

Hitoshi fucking Shinso.

As if his life couldn't get anymore miserable with Kendou knocking him out when he tried to approach 1-A.

Or the fact that the training was ridiculously annoying.

He just felt his cheeks heat up when he saw that face just look at him.

Just fucking look at him.

He swore to never dismiss all those romantic novels but to treat them as sacred texts, forever.

And in the middle of this increasingly awkward and hilarious situation happened to be our not-so friendly neighborhood hothead.

Well, he had calmed down after the existential crisis with the loss of his Quirk and everything and had retained some of his older determination to be the best of the best.

Shinso was just amused.

Kirishima was relieved to see his friend healing.

Monoma felt like his crush was crushing his heart.

Bakugo somehow noticed this and nearly sobbed.

"Sexual tension at its finest," Mina had been whispering dramatically to Sero when they had been making dinner.

Bakugo had nearly not thrown the knife at them.

To him, Shinso was a really sarcastic and annoying human who just seemed to get on his nerves for no reason.

Aizawa had given the best advice he could for making friends, "Try packbonding over cats. It worked for me, anyways, even if I hadn't wanted it."

Tomura in the meanwhile wasn't faring much better either.

Izuku and Todoroki had collapsed on top of each other while laughing.

"It isn't FUNNY," the older man had insisted, but that made the other two just laugh harder.

"Maybe it's the hidden Todoroki sibling charm, passed down from criminal Todoroki to criminal Todoroki," Izuku had spoken which had earned him a playful elbow in the ribs from his boyfriend. He just took his face and kissed him on the lips, leaving him stuttering for a while so Tomura could retain some of his dignity.

"But, of all people, Tomura, really, Dabi?"

"Shaddup."