Can't Choose

Chapter Ten

Izuku smiled slightly when he walked towards what he assumed must be Kirishima's usual lunch spot. Kirishima had invited him to eat lunch with him again, just to hang out. And it wasn't like Izuku had anywhere better to be. (He also couldn't resist that grin that he was coming to know so well.)

Apparently, though, it was also Bakugou's lunch spot. Of course, Izuku had known that; the two seemed to be best friends, even if Bakugou most likely despised the term. When Izuku sat down next to Kirishima, the blonde didn't react all that badly, considering exactly who he is.

"The hell are you doing here, Deku?" he asked, glaring as if he was trying to burn straight through the shorter teen.

"I, um, well, Kirishima asked me to eat with him?" He didn't mean for it to come out as a question, but Bakugou always made him nervous. It wasn't Izuku's fault.

"Don't give him trouble today, Katsuki," Kirishima said before Bakugou could even open his mouth. "Please?" The blonde's searing red eyes turned their focus to Kirishima, which allowed Izuku to properly breathe again.

"Nerd better not be here tomorrow," he heard Bakugou growl out, seeming oddly like some territorial animal.

Izuku watched as Kirishima stared Bakugou down with a confidence he was sure was inhumanly possible when faced with the blonde. Bakugou glared back and it was red against red, until, finally, something in Bakugou seemed to snap.

"Whatever, shitty hair. Do what you want," he muttered. Kirishima rolled his eyes in response, then smiled apologetically, and a little sheepishly, at Izuku. "Really sorry 'bout that," he said, but Izuku only shook his head.

"It's fine! I'm used to it." He thought he saw Kirishima's smile waver a bit, but he wasn't sure. "A-anyway, let's just eat," he said, not wanting to start dwelling on his past with Bakugou.

Maybe about a minute of silence passed, all three boys eating, until Kirishima started to talk. "So, Midoriya, how do you like it here?"

"Oh! It's really great here,everyone is really nice! It is a lot bigger than my old school, though..." he said, trailing off when he realized Bakugou was staring at him rather intently, which unsettled him quite a bit. There was no particular annoyance, or fury. Just those red eyes. Then the blonde spoke.

"Just which shitty school did you end up going to, Deku?"

"Northview," Izuku mumbled. "I...I doubt you even know it, you were so determined to get into U.A. that you didn't look into any other schools..."

"Sounds like Bakugou," Kirishima said, amused.

"Shut up, shitty hair. I wasn't going to settle for less than U.A."

"Clearly," Kirishima responded, poking at him. Then he blinked, and looked over to Izuku. "Why'd you transfer here, then? If you hadn't planned on going to U.A. before?"

Izuku smiled fondly, just a little, remembering what got him here. "Well, um, I had been a bit discouraged from even looking at U.A..." he started off. "So I went to Northview. But my old homeroom teacher knew that I had really wanted to go there. He told me I was definitely smart enough to pass the entrance exams.

"And somehow, I still don't know how he did it... he convinced the school to let me take the exam. Since I passed, I could transfer in. Sort of like a miracle to me, I guess."

Kirishima's were wide. "That's awesome! Sounds like you had a pretty great teacher."

Izuku nodded, grinning. "The best."

Bakugou, in the midst of all this, was silent. He had resumed his staring, but instead of the blank red eyes, some unrecognizable emotion flitted through them. Then he blinked, and it was gone. Izuku would like nothing more than to ask him what he was thinking about, but knew the blonde would not take well to that. At all.

"Hey, Katsuki, if you hadn't gotten into U.A., where would you have gone?" Kirishima said, the blonde noticeably startling a bit, as if he had been deep in thought. However, both Izuku and Kirishima didn't say anything.

"What the fuck kind of a question is that, shitty hair? There was no damn chance of me not getting into U.A!"

"It's hypothetical," Kirishima said. "Come on!"

"The hypothetical doesn't exist! There was a 0% chance of that happening!"

"Fine, fine. Have it your way. If it were me, I'd probably go for Shiketsu."

Izuku nodded thoughtfully. "Shiketsu is pretty nice," he said. "I know a few people there from track meets." He glanced at Bakugou. "Um, Kacchan, Northview and U.A. have been at track meets together before, right?"

"Never saw you there, nerd."

"You could've run different events?" Kirishima said. "Or run in different heats, whatever they're called?"

"You're probably right," Izuku mumbled, though he couldn't stop trying to come up with other possibilities. Bakugou also did sprinting, so maybe he only sprinted at meets? No, that wouldn't make sense, he's too good at distance to not also run that...

"Quit it, Deku. It doesn't matter."

"W-what, Kacchan?"

"I can hear your brain fucking whirring from over here! And you're mumbling!"

"S-sorry," Izuku said, face heating up. He really needed to figure out how to rid himself of that habit. He heard Bakugou mutter something along the lines of 'damn nerd,' at which Kirishima sighed, lightly flicking Bakugou's forehead.

"The hell, shitty hair?"

"I told you to stop being rude."

"You're not my damn mom, you can't tell me what to do."

Izuku had to laugh at that point, he couldn't help it. "Kacchan, you don't even let your mom tell you what to do." He barely managed to stop his hands from coming up to cover his mouth after he said it. Bakugou was probably going to curse him out or something.

Kirishima laughed. "That's probably true. Hey, who do you think he gets his personality from?"

"Auntie Mitsuki, definitely," Izuku said, throwing away all of his caution, not caring whether Bakugou was going to kill him for this afterwards. The aforementioned blonde was now seething beside Kirishima.

"Oh my god, is that what you call his mom? That's adorable!"

Izuku blushed. "I mean, she was basically like an aunt to me..."

"Okay, we're done with this fucking conversation!" Bakugou interrupted loudly. Kirishima snorted, and Izuku laughed. Just a tiny bit more. Of course, now the fear was starting to settle back in, but, surprisingly, he wasn't dead yet. Maybe there was some hope that his life wasn't about to end right here.

"Lunch is almost over, so just fucking eat, got it? I don't want to hear any more of this bullshit."

"Fine, fine," Kirishima said, grinning before finishing off his food. Izuku relaxed, absolutely relieved that he got to live one more day. He had to admit, he'd been living rather dangerously, being bolder with Bakugou than he'd ever dared to for years. It was a little bit refreshing, to tell the truth.

Izuku was also finding that hanging around Kirishima was pretty fun. He was so much more open than anyone else he'd ever known, and he just seemed to make everyone else around him happy. He was like the sun, smiling and helping people wherever he went. He had to wonder how anyone so perfect would have come to want to become friends with him. He was grateful for it, of course.

He exhaled softly and started to eat the last of his lunch, feeling that nothing could go wrong in this moment.

A/n: Okay, I think we have the start of a little Kirideku here... Anyways, this is the last chapter I'm posting before my trip, which might last for a little under a month. Still not quite sure about Wattpad access. If I get any, I'll definitely post some more. I'm going take some time, though, to plot out all the ideas I have floating around my head, like how the Dekusquad gets formed here, or how Deku figures out Kiri and Baku are dating.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

-Lavender