~Cuts and Smiles~

Izuku woke up cuddled into Katsuki and began to observe his surroundings. He soon realized who's room they were in and that it was only 12am. He slowly got up and began to walk to the bathroom. He walked in and looked into the mirror in front of him then began to cry.

Why? Why did his life have to be so complicated? Why all the hurt and harassment? Why not love and forgiveness? Why must it all be like this?

He went through his pocket to find a tiny, handmade envelope. He opened it carefully not to rip the paper and pulled out a small blade. For every tear he drew a line with the silver pen and they all came out red. He continued till there were 35 cuts on each of his wrists.

He put his blade on the side of the sink before rinsing off the blood from his arms then picked up his stuff to head back into the room. He walked back in to find Katsuki staring with a curious look and he responded that he just had a little breakdown.

Katsuki opened his arms invitingly for the younger boy and held him tight. Izuku soon stopped crying and lay besides Kacchan while trying to think of the best strategy to explode the battle field in their session against their teachers.

"Nerd?" Katsuki asked unsure about his decisions.

"Yeah?"

"..."

"Kacchan?"

"Are you okay?" Katsuki finally asked.

Those words seemed so sincere, so kind. It made Izuku realize that he did have it. He did have love and forgiveness. It was his best friend. It had always been.

"Nerd?"

"Nerd?"

"Deku?"

"Izuku?"

"Izuku answer me."

"I love you Kacchan, you're my best friend."

Katsuki smiled at Izuku then hugged the boy.

"You too nerd. I love you too."

They both fell asleep in comfort and warmth within each other. Katsuki was happy to be forgiven and Izuku was thankful for his friend. At least for a little while they had peace. Peace that would be terribly disturbed during that very Thursday as the sun began to rise.

Izuku woke up to the sound of Bakugo killing his alarm clock. Izuku watched and waited until Katsuki was done murdering the cause of his pain.

"Done yet?" Izuku asked tiredly as his eyes began to slowly close.

"Yeah" Katsuki answered still glaring at the remains of the clock.

Izuku just turned around and pulled the blanket over his head completely Ignoring the angry dog next to him. Katsuki walked over to Izuku and began to shake him.

"You want me to do the same thing to you as you did to that alarm clock?" Izuku mumbled loudly.

Katsuki hesitated before continuing to pester Izuku. The greenette made a sharp turn and quickly jumped on top of Katsuki before pinning him down to the floor to tickle him. Izuku just stayed there while watching Katsuki squirm, laugh, and fight under him with a smile.

"If you let me go we'll have the next hour to discuss our upcoming battle." Katsuki struggled to get it all out clearly and burst back into laughs immediately afterwards.

Izuku slowly got up and sat on the bed waiting for Kat. Katsuki regained his composure before sitting next to Izuku and asking him.

"How we gonna do this?"

He was bought to see the average Deku at work.

"Well for Aizawa sensei we both know his weakness. His quirk gives him dry eyes. But if he doesn't use his quirk at the beginning we wont have an opening. So if that's the case they will look for an opening but we have to make sure they don't find one. So what do you think they do when they don't find one?"

"They make one!" Katsuki answered getting excited.

"Yeah so they will be saving up Aizawa's quirk till the end when they need to face us. They will try to knock us out. Cause each of them has a different range of attack when you put them together they can annihilate a whole field. We must make sure that we are the only things unaffected in that field. Present Mic's quirk will be the first to strike us at the beginning of the match. We will have to deflect his sounds effect if we want to get through. So we will cover our ears to make the first opening."

"Really nerd? Cover our ears?" Katsuki responded thinking the idea was lame.

"Yes we cover our ears to make sure they don't realize we have air-pods." Izuku answered with a smirk.

"I like how you think." Katsuki smiled to his friend.

"The ones we have will only hold out until we're close if Mic is fighting by himself. But he's not and I've noticed how Aizawa detests loud noises. Aizawa wont tolerate it even if he has headphones. That will allow us to get closer therefore that's the second opening." Izuku stated

Katsuki was smiling just like Izuku normally would and that was unusual.

"They have two options now.

AA- Use Aizawa's quirk to get rid of ours

AB- Repeatedly use Mic's quirk against us

Neither of those options are in their advantage. That's exactly why they are in ours.

AA- Engage in hand-to-hand combat leaving Aizawa to me as he fights quirkless more often though both of them have their strengths in that case. Considering Yamada could make someone deaf while torturing their ears is why he doesn't need much physical combat as they would be distracted with their pain. That's why he'll be easier to take down. This battle shouldn't be too easy for us. That's why this afternoon we will train our physical styles. We have them better developed than the rest of the class but we must surpass the current pros to make it to the top. And that's just what we'll do. It should be simple and straightforward.

AB- We over come Mic's quirk using our own but being ready to switch to plan AA in a moments notice which also mean restricting air-time. Mostly for you as long as you can jump down safely. In this case our best means of capturing them is if we knock them out. Close range combat would be the best considering we need to touch them to finish them. Because of that we will put out one of our signature moves to allow a distraction. Best if cause an explosion over a wide area. That will require you to release one at maximum capacity while I spread the damage over a longer range with air-force. We can also use it to give your explosion more area to cover with extra destructive potential. We'll play those moves until they get the pattern. When that happens we'll catch them by surprise by sending out several of my black whip. I need to store up energy in order to release that much so try to cover me as much as possible. A second of having my quirk erased will make me obliged to start over. Estimating how much they will be able to dodge and the amount of time it would take me to create that many multiplied by 3 to be safe..... I need 20 minutes. So with this strategy we should have it all wrapped up within 30 mins."

All while Izuku had been talking he never asked for paper to write anything down. That surprised Katsuki as Izuku was known for taking notes at the best and worst moments no matter the situation.

"Alright that's normal but why aren't you taking notes or some shit." Katsuki asked the boy.

"Oh I already made plans A-F in my notebook." Izuku responded considering the trajectory that would be best suited to expand the frame of the explosion.

"WHEN!? We got back, beat the living shit out of that psycho bastard, came here, had depression, then fell asleep, woke up in the middle of the night, and now we're here! when the fuck did you have time to do that?" Katsuki was completely confused at how the nerd managed to pull it off.

Izuku giggled at his friends confusion before whispering calmly, "I wake up multiple times during the night and always have my notebooks on me no matter what."

Izuku pointed to the near by desk which had his notebook and pencil on it. Katsuki only then remembered how Izuku had that habit since they were kids. Neither of them nor their parents could understand why it happened.

"So I guess you also made me a copy?" Bakugo asked knowing if Izuku didn't then he would get the original version.

"Yeah." Izuku nodded.

"If you had already brainstormed everything and written it why did you agree to the deal?"

Izuku thought for a moment and shrugged. "Dunno. I guess I just had my share of fun."

Then a smirk found his way onto the boy's face and Katsuki looked confused.

"Why are you-" Kat asked only to be interrupted by Izuku jumping atop him.

Izuku Midoriya was now on top of Katsuki Bakugo. If you had told a single one of their classmates this then they would have sent you to a mental hospital. Yet here we are.

Katsuki's face flushed pink then turned red as he noticed the sly smirk on the other's face. Izu looked at the boy under him and lightly chuckled. He slowly leaned closer towards Bakugo making the other question if he was about to be kissed by his childhood best friend.

Izuku inched closer and closer then lightly tilted his head to whisper in Katsuki's ear.

"My, my, is Kacchan flustered? Don't go shy on me Katsuki."

The name sounded so wrong as Izuku only ever called him Kacchan. But then again it sounded so right as if he was the only one who could make the name sound the way it did when he said it.

"I- I w-won't" Katsuki shakily replied.

"Yeah." Was all Izuku answered before letting out a chuckle at Bakugo's odd state.

It wasn't the first time Izuku had done this but every single time Katsuki had become this way. It was cute the way he'd just stay there blushing like crazy till he came back to reality and acted as if nothing had ever happened.

"Imma go change." Katsuki said before going into his bathroom to run a quick shower leaving Izuku to his thoughts.

The boy glanced to the remains of the alarm clock and then pulled out his phone.

6:00

Kacchan thought this out well. He gave us 30 minutes to mess around then they would each take a 15 minute shower bringing them to 6:30. Afterwards it would take 10 minutes to eat a simple breakfast. We'll then have an hour and 45 minutes before class.

He smiled at the thought of how caring Kacchan really was. He was then pulled out of his thoughts by the bathroom door opening to reveal a shirtless Katsuki. Izuku blushed 50 shades of red but all of them went unnoticed with the darkness of the room.

"Your turn nerd."

As he said that Izuku went into the bathroom his blush faded. His flustered look turned into one of sadness as he pulled off his shirt looking at his torso then arms. His eyes were pained as he pushed off his pants looking to all the cut marks left on it. Surprisingly Mr Aizawa was yet to confront him on those not considering the first time he saw them.

He looked into the full body mirror then turned around in disgust as he began his shower. He ran the water as hot as it would go despite the burning sensation continued. A few tears fell as he yelled at himself.

Why the fuck are you crying?

You can't even stand your scars how are you gonna save others?

Crybaby.

The words rang through his head as he got dressed in the bathroom. He gave himself a last look and couldn't even be bothered to try putting the tie on.

He walked out of the bathroom with a dull expression. It was familiar. Kat knew it all too well so he settled on trying to cheer Izu instead of pointing it out.

"Come on Zuku we need to eat." Katsuki said.

He was then dragged through the hall by his best friend then down the stairs. He was then dragged into the kitchen and sat on the counter before Bakugo went to start the coffee machine. As it was on he began heating a pan and beating eggs together before frying them.

Izuku smiled slightly at how his friend was being so careful to take care of him. Katsuki noticed this and smiled. He felt proud of his nerd as well as himself.

"Here. Eat what you can." He commanded to the boy with a large grin on his face.

"Yeah yeah." Izuku agreed with a small smile on his face.

Izuku quickly finished half his food before downing his coffee quickly leaving Katsuki in awe.

"Are you sure you're not Aizawa's biological son?"

Izuku burst out laughing. He was addicted to coffee but nowhere near as much as their homeroom teacher. Katsuki soon followed into the loud, joyous laughs.

They eventually calmed down and Izuku pushed away his food signaling he had reached his limit. Katsuki took the rest of the meal and practically inhaled it. Izuku smiled as he started doing the dishes. Katsuki stood next to him in a peaceful silence.

They left the dishes in the rack not being bothered enough to dry them. They then began their walk a cross campus. They were going to go to the beach till Izuku stopped and dragged Katsuki through a different path. Katsuki didn't fight nor question it. He trusted Izuku blindly no matter what had happened before.

He was confused as they reached an area he had never seen before. Izuku continued to drag him till they reached a thick forest obviously then end of the property. They continued to navigate the area till they made it to any area with a small light shining between the trees before them.

Izuku smiled from ear to ear and said joyfully, yet with a soft tranquil voice, "Look what I found"

He then walked a bit closer till they were out of the forest and standing near the edge of a cliff. The sun was rising painting the sky various shades of orange, pink, blue, and yellow. It blissfully shone upon the city below, a few glimpses of light shining off tall building, some spots blocked off of view by lush trees. A few cars passed here and there. A lake shone brightly in the distance with the sun's light reflecting upon it's surface. The place looked like something from a fairy tale. It was absolutely gorgeous.

Katsuki felt peaceful upon taking in the view. Both of them sat studying the beautiful view before them. Then Izuku decided to lay his head on Katsuki's lap.

"Thank you Kacchan."

"What for?"

"For making me feel safe."

...

"No problem Izuku."

They both looked upon the sky and smiled. Not the fake ones. Not the forced ones. Not the hurt ones. Not the cocky ones. Not those of humor which would only last as long as the situation that came with them. The real smile.

Their real smiles.

--------------Time Skip--------------

The two had made it to class mere seconds before the bell rung. Katsuki was currently staring out the window while Izuku was scribbling notes until suddenly Kat burst out laughing. The whole class fell silent as Aizawa looked to the blond.

"Katsuki why don't you share the joke with the class since I can't seem to find anything funny about what I just said." Aizawa said thinking Kat would just give in to embarrassment.

Boy he was wrong.

"I'm just imagining the look on you and Present Mic's faces as I beat you two." He said with the slyest smirk.

Aizawa pulled out a grin of his own and said.

"Well, well, WELL, who would I be to turn down such an enthusiastic offer!" He said with sarcastic encouragement.

"Well don't go easy on us just because he's your son." Katsuki said with determination.

Aizawa's face changed into one of pure shock.

"How did you know that?" He asked clearly desperate for an answer, "It isn't even official yet?!"

Katsuki's smile twisted into a sinister grin and he looked Aizawa dead in the eye.

"That my dear sensei is a secret." He said before his voice began to deepen, "But I'll tell you this, Shota Aizawa, nothing happens to the boy that I don't know of. He gave you vague description while I was there. I witnessed it all trust me. Everyone from his father to his mother to his bullies. I know everything."

Aizawa froze.

Hold up. WHAT.

"Okay moving on."

Aizawa tried to continue the class to not show how disrupted his mind actually was. He managed to fool the curious children into thinking it was nothing serious but hell it was. What did Bakugo mean by a vague description? If he witnessed it why didn't he say anything? Who were Izuku's bullies?

Despite all the questions ringing in his head he continued the lesson as if the weren't there but Katsuki was going to pay for leaving him on such a cliffhanger.