"i think we should start breaking up," sero announces one day. they're alone in the common room, his head in izuku's lap (at his insistence) and hair in the process of being braided (at izuku's insistence).

even though they're only fake dating, izuku feels a pang of hurt.

"did i do something wrong?" she asks, trying to keep her tone light.

"just the opposite. you're such a good girlfriend that bakugou might actually give you up just so you can be happy. he's stupid honorable like that, you know; a romantic just like you."

izuku can't help but snort. "kacchan wouldn't like it if you called him a romantic. i don't think that anyone's ever even said his name and 'romantic' in the same sentence before."

"i'm serious, midoriya. he basically gave you his blessing to date me."

normally that'd be a dream come true, but...not exactly what we're trying for here," sero says, rolling over and propping himself up on his elbows. some of his braids unravel and izuku pouts at the destruction of her painstaking work.

"so we gotta ease up, pretend to drift apart for a little while," sero continues. "then we can tell everyone that we figured out we worked better as friends. if i'm lucky, the rest of our class won't gut me in my sleep."

izuku fidgets.

"i don't want anyone to be mad at you, though," izuku says. sero just shrugs.

"eh, someone's gotta be the bad guy in a breakup, so it might as well be me. it'll all blow over in a few days anyway, so don't worry your pretty little head about it.

all you've gotta do is pretend to be sad and spend as much time with bakugou as possible."

izuku smiles. "i won't have to pretend, sero. i've had a lot of fun being your fake girlfriend and i'll treasure every moment we spent together. i hope that's not weird?"

sero turns a weird shade of red and turns away quickly to cough and clear his throat. "n-no. not weird. i'll...i'll also remember how much fun we had. especially the sunday you tried to cook breakfast for me and put salt in the pancakes instead of sugar."

"i told you not to eat them," she replies mournfully.

"they weren't too bad once i soaked 'em in syrup. i think you may be onto something special with that recipe, midoriya. the foodies will go wild."

sero grins up at her and izuku thinks it's a waste, a terrible waste that sero should be smiling at her instead of at someone who can really, truly appreciate just what an amazing person he is.

she takes sero's hand in hers and squeezes it gently.

"thank you for everything you've done for me, sero. you didn't have to spend all this time pretending to go on dates and stuff just to try to make me happy. you're such a wonderful friend; to kacchan too, if you're really right about him."

sero squeezes her hand back and chuckles. "haven't you learned by now, midoriya? i'm always right."

(tbc tomorrow, gettin sleepy)

(here we goooo; im updating in between work so tweets might be scattered)

sero and izuku spend the next few weeks carefully, gradually drifting apart -- blowing off dates, shying away from any outward displays of affection, and generally keeping to their own social circles.  izuku didn't expect it, but she feels strangely lonely.

part of it is because she misses sero, of course; he's her friend and she genuinely enjoys spending time with him. but avoiding sero seems to have the unforseen effect of alienating katsuki as well. it's to be expected, she supposes, since they form their own little squad.

maybe due to her sadness, or perhaps just because they're just that perceptive, their friends seem to catch on quick and ochako actually corners izuku one day and demands to know what's going on. izuku has practiced what she should say, but the words still stick in her throat.

it's hard to say that she thinks sero and her just weren't meant to be, that they probably work better as friends but are still trying to figure things out. it's the truth -- a version of it, anyway -- but it makes izuku sad all the same.

the breakup itself comes one evening as izuku is sitting in the common room, leafing absently through a magazine while shinsou and tooru bicker over the tv remote.  she feels a tap on her shoulder and turns to see sero.  "oh, sero!  I didn't know you were here."

"yeah, made it a little before you did, i think.  can we talk for a sec?" he asks quietly.  izuku sees tooru turn their way out of the corner of her eye as she stands up and follows sero to his room.

"whew.  did you see the look shinsou was giving me? i thought my hair was gonna burst into flames.  he definitely knows what's up."  sero closes the door behind them and shudders.

"tooru noticed too, i think.  she'll tell the girls for sure," izuku says.

"good.  saves you having to explain everything to them and blowing our cover."

izuku pouts.  "you think I can't fool them?"

sero just laughs. "no offense, but you're kind of a bad liar...although, those overactive tear ducts of yours could work in our favor.

if you can make yourself cry on cue, maybe they won't press you so hard for answers."

izuku punches sero on the arm, indignant.  "i'm a good actress even without crying, you know!"

"sure, midoriya.  sure you are." 

izuku chuckles and the two of them stand there, the silence stretching awkwardly between them. she fiddles with the frayed cuff of her all might hoodie, unsure of what to say.

it's sero who breaks the silence. "well, i guess this is it."

"i guess so," izuku replies.  she finds herself suddenly unable to look sero in the eyes, an unfamiliar and wholly overwhelming feeling building in her chest.  "we-- we can still be friends after this, right?"

sero groans and puts a hand to his heart in mock horror.  "thats probably the worst thing you can say after a breakup, midoriya. I might never recover."

and she knows, /knows/ sero is only joking, but the fear of losing his friendship is so powerful it overrides all logic.

"so we can't?" izuku says, her voice cracking slightly despite her beat efforts.  sero must realize his mistake because the next thing she knows, she's being enveloped in a warm, strong hug. 

"course we can, midoriya. i didn't mean to make you cry, i'm sorry."

"n-no, i'm sorry, i didn't mean--" izuku stammers. "i just...you're important to me, sero. i know we didn't hang out a lot before all this, and now that it's over i don't want to go back to not being friends again. I don't know why i'm crying, it's fine, really."

"midoriya, you weirdo," sero says affectionately. "trust me, you'll be begging for me to leave you alone soon enough. i'm gonna tease the hell outta bakugou once he gets his head out of his ass and finally makes a move on you. i'm already writing my toast for your wedding."

izuku lets out a watery laugh and shakes her head, blushing despite herself at the thought of marrying kacchan. "you have such an overactive imagination, sero."

"i have big aspirations, what can i say."

"well in that case, i look forward to hearing that toast someday."

sero's arms tighten around her, and she can hear his heart speed up from where she's pressed against his chest. just as quickly, though, he straightens up and ruffles her hair, grinning his usual cheshire-cat grin. "it was really nice being your boyfriend, midoriya," he says.

"it was really nice being your girlfriend," she replies, smiling back. "have a good night, sero."

she leaves and heads back to her room, feeling oddly unsettled.

after that, though...things start to go back to normal, slowly but surely.

shopping trips with ochako and aoyama, tea with momo, face masks and makeovers with mina. she spars with jirou and shinsou and attends study groups with assorted members of class 1-A and 1-B both.

but kacchan is...complicated.

on the surface, everything seems normal; he's not avoiding her or anything.  but /something/ has shifted between them. she's sure of it.  there's a certain nervous energy about him whenever they're together and kacchan seems...gentler somehow.  more caring, more careful.

"you're crazy," ochako says without hesitation when izuku asks her if she's noticed the change.  "bakugou, gentle?  He nearly dislocated your shoulder during training today."

"yeah, exactly," izuku replies earnestly, and ochako sighs and shakes her head.

"i'll never understand you.  next you're gonna tell me that when he cursed you out afterwards /that/ was him being gentle too."

"i mean, his tone was kind of different than usual--"

ochako throws her hands up in frustration and leaves, muttering the whole way.

maybe ochako is right, izuku thinks to herself later.  maybe she's just kidding herself; looking for meaning where there is none.  kacchan is kacchan, and he isn't about to change for anyone.

she passes through the common room and takes the elevator up to her floor, lost in thought, and is just about to unlock her door when a gruff voice interrupts her.

"oi!  You're just gonna ignore me now, deku?"

izuku's heart leaps into her throat and she turns to face katsuki, only to let out a startled /eep/ when he slams his open palm on the door and cages her in.  "k-kacchan!  i'm sorry, i didn't see you there!  i was kinda in my thoughts, um, you know, and i--"

"yeah, yeah, i get it," he says shortly.  they stand in silence for a few moments, just staring at each other, and izuku becomes acutely, embarrassingly aware of just how much body heat katsuki radiates. 

"um--"

"tomorrow is a holiday," katsuki suddenly says.

"...yes?" izuku replies hesitantly.

"you got plans?"

"i was going to try to beat my personal record for deadlifting."

the corner of katsuki's mouth twitches.  "anything else?"

"um...no, I don't think so.  i was maybe thinking of rewatching some recent battle footage so I could make notes, but it's not my top priority.  why?"

"do you--" katsuki stops, then grits his teeth and soldiers on.

"do you wanna go to that hero cafe that opened last month?  you wouldn't shut up about it."

izuku blinks.  "thats two prefectures over."

"i'm not stupid.  do you wanna go or not?" katsuki grumbles.

"y-yeah!  yeah, I wanna go!"

"good.  just text me when you finish up with your training in the morning and we'll meet up outside the school."

"okay!  ah, w-who else is coming?"

katsuki looks at izuku incredulously.

she can see the tips of his ears turning red.  "do you see anyone else in this hallway, stupid deku?!"

"oh.  /oh!/" izuku stammers, feeling her own face heat up in response.  "right.  um.  okay.  i'll...i'll see you tomorrow, kacchan!"

katsuki turns abruptly on his heel and stalks away; izuku watches him until he's out of sight and shakily attempts to unlock her door. it takes four tries, but finally she gets inside and immediately launches herself into bed and squeals into her pillow.

kacchan asked her out! not for training or for homework, but to hang out, to have fun, to walk around in public!

she doesn't even care if it's a romantic date or simply an outing between friends; she gets to be with kacchan in the hero cafe she's been longing to see for weeks.

after she's quite done rolling around excitedly in her bed, she grabs her phone and texts sero.

/don't tell anyone but me and kacchan are going to a hero cafe tomorrow!/

/oho? how'd u convince him to go?/

/he asked me!!!/

it takes a while for sero to text her back, but her phone finally pings with a reply while she's busy rummaging through her closet.

/told ya so! now go get ur man!/

izuku laughs.

/it's not a date, but he still asked me to go somewhere with him! that's good right??/

/its a date, midoriya.. ur not going with anyone else right just him?/

/yeah!/

/thats a date for sure, bakugou's making his move pretty quick. told u i was always right ;)/

/no one likes a know-it-all, sero :P i gotta pick out an outfit now have a good night!/

/g'night!/

izuku smiles and puts down her phone. tomorrow can't come fast enough.

(that's a wrap for now! sorry for such sporadic updating >w< next part coming soonish)

(next part this-a-way!) --> https://twitter.com/saekimchisart/status/1353889624222035968?s=20