Once Again From Better Days

Aizawa puts up the rankings in the morning. The final ranks for the week were based on both the academics and their practical skills. To help get data, they'd been given several quizzes over the week, and Katsuki knows he f.u.c.k.e.d up at least half of those, which probably f.u.c.k.e.d up his overall score.

Since it's Saturday, school is only a half-day, and seems to finish almost too quickly. Mineta is kicked out unceremoniously. He's also told that it's possible that he'll be allowed to return to class A if he stops spending all his time reading magazines and spends more time working on practical skills. In some ways Katsuki wishes it was 20th getting kicked out, but in other ways he doesn't. In another class, she'd be farther away from Izuku, but she'd also be harder to observe.

Over the weekend, Katsuki tries to research the girl that Toga is impersonating–he finally paid enough attention to learn what it was. A quick internet search doesn't turn up anything suspicious. Her social media profiles are all private, but that's hardly uncommon. He even finds some article about her winning some tournament in middle school, but there's nothing that tells him much of anything about her or indicates that something happened.

He goes into school on Monday morning still frustrated over his fruitless research and his shitty rank. He's determined to do better and still try to catch any slip-ups that 20th might make. But even before homeroom is over, he has another thing to worry about: internsh.i.p.s. Determining who to kick out set the schedule back, which means that Aizawa gives them all of two days to submit their applications instead of a week. He also posts the number of internship offers all of them received. Todoroki leads by a solid 2.5k. 

From the seat behind him, he hears Izuku. "That's amazing, Todoroki!" Katsuki grits his teeth. "Getting more than a thousand is amazing, too, Kacchan."

"I should have gotten at least twice that," Katsuki complains.

"It's because they're scared of you," Sero says from the seat next to him.

"What kind of weakass heroes are they?"

Aizawa lets them chatter for a minute before he quiets them. Katsuki eyes trace down the board to the line with Izuku's name. He has just over 400 which puts him in third, but only slightly ahead of Tokoyami.

"You'll also need to decide your hero names," Aizawa informs them. "You'll announce them tomorrow," he adds with a yawn.

Katsuki spends most of the morning trying to bully his brain into paying attention to the lessons. Their new seating arrangement puts 20th right in front of him, but it still makes him nervous to have her in the same room as Izuku. It would be stupid of her to do anything in class with 19 students and a teacher as witnesses. He taps his pencil against his notebook in an absent minded effort to rid himself of some of the nervous energy. At lunch, Izuku tries to ask him if something happened again and then tries rewording when Katsuki tries to evade the question.

"Nothing's going on," he snaps.

Izuku stares at him for a full second. "Kacchan, clearly something is going on. You're losing focus in class, and if this keeps going, your grades are going to drop."

"What're you, my mom?"

Izuku kicks him under the table. "I'm being serious."

Katsuki kicks back (harder). "So am I."

They exchange a few more kicks before Izuku stops returning them.

"Ow, ow–you're going to re-break my leg." Oh right. Shit.

"I thought it was healed."

"It is–mostly."

"What the f.u.c.k, if you're lying, I am going to re-break it, and then you won't have a choice."

"I'll tell you if you tell me what's bothering you," Izuku says.

"Nothing's bothering me. What kind of shitty exchange is that anyway?"

Izuku shrugs and goes back to eating his lunch. His chopsticks are gripped steadily in his right hand which still bears no scars. While he definitely did significant damage to it during the one-one-one matches, it wasn't enough to put his bones out of alignment. Katsuki turns his gaze elsewhere before Izuku catches him staring. He feels a bit guilty to keep his suspicions to himself, since Izuku is the one who is in the most danger. But just like the I love you that's always hovering on his lips, it's not something he needs to know about. So for the sake of Izuku's peace of mind, and a few more-selfish reasons, Katsuki keeps his mouth shut.

"I'll tell you later," Katsuki says. "So quit asking."

Izuku smiles, though Katsuki can tell it's one of the ones he's learned to fake. "Okay," he says. "I'm sorry I pushed–I'm just worried is all."

Katsuki brushes off the apology. He has to do a better job of acting not bothered-by-something. At least during the practical activities, it's easier to track Toga's actions without being obvious. By the end of the day, he's more tired than usual. It's difficult to split his attention so many ways.

It's a relief to change back out of his gym uniform. He can go home and maybe get some sleep–and hope he doesn't have anymore nightmares. But as they reach the door of the school building, Izuku halts suddenly.

"Ah, I forgot–I was supposed to meet with Togata-senpai today." He turns to Katsuki. "You don't have to wait for me."

Izuku is gone in a flash, and Katsuki stares after him. Well f.u.c.k . While he is tired, he goes to wait by the front gate anyway. He leans against the wall to the side of the actual gate. The air is cool for May, but at least it's sunny. Five minutes pass. Then ten. Then twenty. He looks up at the sound of footsteps, but it's not Izuku.

Togata comes to a halt in front of him. "He's not with you?"

"No." 

Katsuki stares at the third-year and sees a look of concern on his face. Then he thinks of 20th. Has she left yet? In the hundreds of UA students, he might not have noticed her, but if she really hasn't left, then–"F.u.c.k," he says aloud.