To Stand by Your Side (DekuBaku)

Chapter 33: ...But You Cant Hide

Disclaimer: plz be mindful that there is (primarily verbal) bullying this chapter, so i just wanna make yall aware in advance. kids are mean
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"...and, with that, class is over for the day. I'll see you all at practice in the morning."

Katsuki let his notebook fall shut, then shoved it back in his bag alongside his pencils and other crap from the earlier classes. With exams approaching again, his classwork had only been growing more and more stressful—but, such was the nature of school.

"Did you want to study in the library for a bit, Katsuki?" Yaoyorozu asked, packing up her own things only a few seats away. "These past couple lessons in history have been giving me some trouble, and I know you wanted some help with this week's science material, too."

"Mhm. Works for me."

"Ooh! Ooh, will you guys tutor me in math if I order a pizza?" Camie bounced towards them. "I might fail the next exam if I don't get some extra lessons in, so..."

"Yeah, yeah. S'fine." Katsuki rolled his eyes. "Make sure you order it with extra sausage, though."

"Midoriya's not even here! C'mon, Kacchan. Get your head out of the gutter."

"Oh my god, I wasn't—"

A light hand patted his shoulder, followed only by Todoroki's familiar form. "There's nothing wrong with wanting dick, but right now may not be the time. Weren't you at Midoriya's a couple days ago anyways?"

Katsuki groaned, shrugging off his friend's hand. "Yeah, maybe I was at his place, but—"

"Came back with a nice new limp, too!" Camie interrupted, bursting with glee. "I'm so proud of you, like, so proud of you, and—"

"Why the hell are we talking about this to begin with!?" He spun around, a sharp scowl carved into his face. "For fuck's sake, I..."

But someone—two, three, four someones—were all staring at him, whispering among themselves and giving him a too-curious, too-suspicious look.

Shit, not again...

"Let's—let's just go." Katsuki grit his teeth, trying to hold back the small explosions threatening to spark in his palms. "Don't have time to be standing around."

He'd been getting the stares, the looks, the side-comments and the hints of gossip all week. No one had had the balls to talk directly to his face, but it wasn't like he was so stupid as to miss it.

Nobody knows about me 'n Deku... s'all just rumors, just gossip, but that doesn't mean that it's... that it makes it better.

Yaoyorozu and Camie crowded in closer to him, and Todoroki reached for his shoulder again—this time, Katsuki didn't shake it off.

"...would you feel more comfortable in the dorms, Katsuki?" Yaoyorozu asked, too soft for his liking. "There's probably a lot of other students in the library right now, and we can use my dorm if you want."

"I'll go grab some ice cream, too—or, um, you were into that one orange sorbet, right?" Camie continued, and while he knew his friend's efforts were put out to make him feel better, they only served to mask his bone-deep discomfort. Katsuki hated letting other people's words get to him, but since the fight when they'd accidentally run into Deku the week before, he'd been hearing whisper upon whisper of Bakugou and Valiant and ...together? Is that who's been doing him?

Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.

"Your room's fine." Katsuki bit out, hands shoved deep in his pockets. "And thanks, Camie."