Deku's Extraordinary Playlist - Chapter 3

“Morning, Midoriya!”

Izuku blinked a couple of times, his brain taking a little too long to come out from the haze of sleep and register what he was hearing. A bright grin was aimed at him from his couch, settled in as if he belonged there, despite Izuku having no clue how he’d gotten there in the first place.

“Oi nerd, sit your ass down. Shitty-Hair, make yourself useful.”

Izuku’s concerns disappeared in an instant, a smile stretching across his face as he raised one hand in an awkward little wave, watching Katsuki fuss around the dining table with pots and plates.

“Hi, Kirishima,” he answered finally. “Hi Kacchan, did you cook? You didn’t have to.”

“Sit down and eat your damn dinner.”

Izuku couldn’t help but giggle as he took a seat at the table, watching Katsuki dish him out a mountain of fried rice. It was loaded with colourful vegetables and delicious smelling chicken, a typical Katsuki meal full of vitamins and nutrients, and when Katsuki moved, he caught a glimpse of paper bags sitting on the kitchen counters. Katsuki grunted at him quietly when he leaned over to look, remembering exactly how long he'd been in the hospital and how quickly his fresh foods tended to spoil.

“Your fridge was empty,” Kirishima explained. “He left me here to keep an eye on you while he went shopping, he never trusts me to get the right vegetables.”

“Because like the idiot you are, you always pick the shitty ones they put on top to trick you into taking them,” Katsuki snapped. “You don’t even consider looking for the freshest ones or the nicest ones, it’s ridiculous.”

“They’re all the same!”

“They’re not.”

Izuku giggled again, reaching for his cutlery to dig in, but not missing the way Kirishima’s smile wobbled a little as he looked over.

“Are you doing okay?” he asked, when Izuku looked up. “You’re not too sore?”

“I’m fine,” Izuku assured him, taking a big bite of rice. “Mm, this is so good!”

“I threw some tonkatsu sauce in it.”

“You made me comfort food?”

“Fuck off.”

“Thanks, Kacchan!”

Izuku shot him a beaming smile, but Katsuki refused to look at him, focussing instead on his own plate of food to avoid it. Izuku was used to that, though – despite his ego, his obsession with being the best at everything, Katsuki was surprisingly bad at taking a compliment. He just got flustered, embarrassed that people were paying attention to him for something other than his fighting, and his only method of dealing with that was to punch something or yell at the person complimenting him.

Izuku shot Kirishima a sheepish smile. He knew his relationship with Katsuki was weird; they’d known each other for so damn long, knew each other inside and out at this point, and sometimes he forgot how weird that was to outsiders. They had a habit of making people feel like the third wheel when they hung out, and even though Izuku felt bad about it, he wasn’t sure how to stop doing it.

Wasn’t sure he wanted to stop it, in all honesty. His friendship with Katsuki was too precious, too perfect, he didn’t want to change a thing.

Kirishima drummed his fingers on the table, apparently not even noticing Izuku’s smile from the way he stared so intently at Katsuki. His taps got a little firmer, marking out a steady beat, and Izuku groaned to himself, dropping his head to rest on the edge of the table. He really wasn't awake enough to deal with more of this shit.

Kirishima was such a ray of sunshine, Izuku was certain it would be something sweet and bubbly that he sang, but instead the voice that came out was so… Rough. It was low, slightly gravelly, and a little… Pained?

Had his friend been in pain this entire time without Izuku even noticing?

“Kirishima?” he asked, even though he knew it was futile. “Is everything okay? Do you want to talk about it? You know, as friends, person to person, instead of… Singing.”

Kirishima sang as if Izuku had never spoken, and Izuku was kind of… Getting used to that, unfortunately. He stared straight at Katsuki as he sang, everything in his face so… Broken. Izuku had never seen him that way before, and he wished he still hadn't. It didn't seem fair to see his friends so vulnerable against their will, if they wanted to share their thoughts with him they were more than welcome to do that, but not like this.

“Here we go again,” Izuku grumbled, squeezing his eyes closed. “I love you Kirishima, but I really hope your taste in music is short.”

It took a moment for him to find the strength to move, but the moment he found it, he was out of his chair. This was definitely not a song that was meant for him to hear, not with the way he talked about chains and one track minds. There was jealousy in Kirishima’s words, a darkness that Izuku had never known he was holding in, and Izuku did not want to know. There was clearly something going on between them, something that made Izuku’s stomach churn.

Even as he walked out of the room, Izuku could still hear the voice echoing through his apartment, and as much as he hated himself for it, he knew exactly what those words meant. He wished he didn’t, because it would have made everything so much easier to deny, but in all honesty he’d had his suspicions for a long time. Ever since back in high school, when the pair had been so close, when Kirishima had put up with so much of Katsuki’s bullshit without ever asking anything in return. He’d treated Katsuki so kindly, even when their other friends had joked and teased.

Kirishima was in love with Kacchan.

And maybe Katsuki was in love with him, too. It was something Izuku had never dared to address before, something that his and Katsuki’s friendship had never really included. They didn’t gossip, didn’t share those sorts of feelings, not even when they’d gotten a few drinks in their systems to loosen up. Katsuki rarely drank anyway, these days. Not since an incident he had grudgingly admitted to with the littlest amount of detail possible – I got drunk and said some stupid shit, so I don’t want to get drunk again. Izuku had been surprised to even get that much out of him, he wasn’t going to push it further, but maybe… Maybe it was all related.

Apparently he talked about those things with Kirishima though, judging by the words Izuku was still overhearing, even as he wrapped a pillow around his head in an attempt to muffle the sound. But then… If Katsuki liked him too, they’d be dating, right? Kirishima wouldn’t be singing about being stuck, remembering the same moments over and over, pouring his heart out and… Well, Izuku wasn’t sure exactly what, but it certainly wasn’t pouring my heart out and ending up in a loving and happy relationship with my best friend, so there was that.

A quiet thump jolted Izuku off his mattress, the voice louder again, and it took him a minute to realise he wasn’t the only one who had moved. Kirishima was at his door, singing through the thin wood, which had to mean one of two things. One: The quirk wasn’t just making him overhear these thought-songs, they were attached to him, and maybe… maybe he was supposed to help somehow? Or Two: Izuku wasn’t as uninvolved in the song as he thought.

The first made more sense. After all, he’d heard Katsuki’s and Shouto’s songs too, which clearly weren’t directed at him. Sadly, that meant he now had to figure out how to help with this romantic bullshit.

Wow, really channeled his inner Katsuki for a moment there.

But really, these people were fighting villains for a living, or saving lives in the case of the doctors and nurses, why were they all so damn caught up on romance?

Reluctantly, Izuku opened the door, finding Kirishima looking straight at him this time. He reached out, putting a hand on Izuku’s shoulder, and Izuku cringed as he gave in and paid attention. His friend was feeling something important, after all. Something that… Started small, and grew inside of him, burned him from the inside out. That certainly sounded painful, and didn’t sound exactly like love the way Izuku had assumed. Unrequited love, maybe, he supposed. A feeling he couldn’t ignore, couldn’t get rid of, that pained him because he couldn’t have that same love in return. He was in love with Katsuki, that much Izuku still believed, but this was… Something more. Something like…

Oh.

Resentment.

So Katsuki liked someone else, just like Shouto’s crush. It was an unending mess of unrequited feelings, apparently. The poor guys.

As if nothing had happened, Kirishima walked back to the table to sit down, and with a quiet sigh of relief in the sudden quiet, Izuku joined him. He reached for his spoon, ready to take another bite, and all at once it was over.

“I’ll leave you the leftovers for lunch,” Katsuki was grumbling, and it took Izuku a moment to even remember where the conversation had paused. “And I’ll come make dinner again tomorrow.”

“You don’t have to do that, Kacchan! I swear I’m okay!”

“You don’t even eat properly when you’re healthy,” Katsuki pointed out, narrowing his eyes. “How do you expect to get better if you don’t even eat a damn vegetable on occasion?”

Izuku laughed, and Katsuki’s eyes widened again when he heard it, the scowl disappearing from his face. Tears pricked at Izuku’s eyes, and he knew Katsuki had seen them, but he made sure to speak up quickly before Katsuki could point it out.

“Thank you, it’s really sweet of you!” he said firmly. “And Kirishima, thank you so much for coming to check on me, I’m so lucky to have friends like you guys!”

“Y-Yeah,” Kirishima stumbled slightly, eyes wide as he nodded. “It’s no problem, Midoriya, I’m sure you’ll be better in no time.”

The rest of the meal was full of a much more peaceful conversation, despite Izuku’s initial awkwardness coming off the song. Kirishima really was such a sweet guy, willing to put aside his feelings about Katsuki not returning his love in favour of being the best friend he could possibly be. Maybe on some level he hoped that Katsuki would come around, Izuku would probably never know for sure, but either way he joked and laughed with them, pushed all Katsuki’s buttons just to get a rise out of him and make Izuku giggle some more, and at the end of the night, he wrapped Izuku in a big, tight hug as they began to part ways.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he whispered, squeezing a little tighter. “We would all be so miserable if we lost you, please take care of yourself.”

“I try my best,” Izuku assured him, closing his eyes for a moment to savour the touch – he needed to hug his friends more often, he’d forgotten how comforting it was. “I’m sorry if I worried you.”

“You did, but I knew you’d pull through,” Kirishima chuckled. “But Katsuki was a mess. It’s good to see him back to normal.”

As they parted, their eyes met, and Izuku knew in an instant that his thoughts were written all over his face. In that one moment, his eyes practically screamed I know, and Kirishima was more than astute enough to pick up on it.

“It’s okay,” he said softly, giving him a slightly pained smile. “We’re good! I just want everyone to be happy.”

“I hope you can be happy too.”

“Thank you.”

Izuku watched the pair walk down to the stairwell, but as Katsuki pushed open the door, Kirishima began to whistle a familiar tune, and every muscle in Izuku’s body seized up. He all but slammed the door closed, clicking the lock into place, and as the whistling faded into the distance he breathed a long sigh of relief.

He really couldn’t handle hearing that song all over again.