splitting the thread, since it was getting long! thank you to leslie (i don't know your twitter!) for commissioning a continuation ^^ here we go!

beginning of the thread is here: https://twitter.com/saekimchisart/status/1269446426305626117?s=20
izuku sits on her bed, knees drawn up to her chest. the borrowed clothes are folded neatly and set atop her dresser, her makeup long since washed off.

she doesn't really know why she's so upset. as far as experiments went, this one had gone exceedingly well.
her friends had been supportive and excited and told her she looked nice. sero had even /flirted/ with her, insincere though it might have been, but it would be a lie to say she hadn't been elated to finally feel noticed, to be beautiful.
but one word from kacchan and shes back where she started, plain-faced and alone in her room. it's pathetic, the way she'd run from her friends, but better to run than to see just how strong a hold kacchan has on her heart and her emotions. she really only has herself to blame.
after all, she'd always known deep down that it wouldn't change anything. kacchan would never see her as anything more than a rival, a pesky childhood friend he couldn't shake. she really wasn't even sure that he saw her as a girl.
and it wasn't like he'd said she was ugly, or that it didn't suit her. kacchan never lied, and he would have told her to her face if she looked bad. but his brusque indifference, as well as the implication that she'd forgotten her goals of being all might's successor, cut deep.
why did he doubt her like that? how could he doubt her still, after all they'd been through, all the effort she'd put in?

she feels more tears welling up in her eyes and scrubs at them angrily. she's already cried so much, how can there be any more left?
she's startled by a soft knock at her door and sits up a little straighter. "wh-who is it?" she calls, wincing when her voice cracks slightly.

"it's sero," he replies, voice muffled by the door. "can i come in? you've got some stuff outside your door, too..."
"y-yes, that's fine! it's unlocked," she says. sero comes in and shuts the door quietly behind him, holding a tote bag that's so pink it's almost blinding. "this was on your doorknob. i'm assuming it's mina's," he says, offering izuku the bag.
she takes it and peers inside; it's full of different kinds of makeup, some which she recognizes from earlier, and accompanied by a note written in uraraka's cramped, neat handwriting.

/dear izuku, please accept these, from us to you! mina also says to keep the outfit.
orange and brown aren't really her style. even if you don't use them every day, it's good to practice and see what kind of makeup you like best! remember: all this is to make you feel good about yourself, not to please anyone else. especially buttfaced boys! love, 1-A ladies/
the last line is in glittery purple ink -- izuku assumes it's mina's handwriting -- and scratched out with uraraka's plain black pen. izuku can't help but laugh at how kind and how silly her friends are and puts the note back into the bag.

"something good, i assume?" asks sero.
she smiles and nods. "the girls gifted me some makeup. said i should keep practicing, find out what i like..."

"that's great. i'm looking forward to seeing it," sero replies, grabbing izuku's desk chair and turning it so he can lean on the headrest while sitting.
izuku shakes her head.

"no, i probably won't wear it outside. there's not really a point, anyway."

"why? just because you're trying to become a hero? i don't think taking an extra ten minutes to put on lipstick in the morning is gonna affect your performance, midoriya."
sero looks izuku in the eye and offers her a gentle smile. "i know that's what bothered you the most, out of everything that bakugou said."

"eehhh...am i that easy to read?"

"kinda.
but also, i'd get offended too if someone told me i was slacking just because i took an afternoon to have fun, especially when i work as hard as you do."

izuku ducks her head at the praise and tugs at a lock of hair. "that's...nice of you to say..."
"i'm the nicest! which is why you should keep wearing makeup."

izuku blinks. "what do those two things have to do with each other?"

sero winks and holds a finger to his lips. "because i'm gonna help you knock some sense into bakugou."

"wait, what are you talking about?
kacchan doesn't need--"

"he super does. no one ignores a cute girl like you on /my/ watch," he declares bombastically. "not even my friend, even though i'm pretty sure he'd rather pummel me into the ground than call me his friend right now. but that's besides the point."
izuku's head is spinning. "wait, sero. i think you've got the wrong idea," she says, slightly panicky. "i'm not trying to...to.../woo/ kacchan or anything.
i mean, we're barely friends now, and he's /kacchan/, and i don't even think he considers me a girl at all, and, and, i don't even...l-like...him...like that..." izuku trails off and looks to the side, feeling the words catch in her throat.
sero scoots over and takes izuku's face in his hands, forcing her to look at him. "look me in the eyes and tell me you don't like him," he says.

she can't.

sero just smiles and backs away, ruffling izuku's curls.
"see, if bakugou was a normal human being, i would march you over to his room right now, lock you in, and not let you out until you talked out your feelings. unfortunately, bakugou is a tantrum made manifest, so we're gonna have to go about this in a more roundabout way."
"do i want to know what this roundabout way is...?"

"of course! couldn't be easier. you keep wearing makeup. maybe let the girls take you out shopping. i'm sure there's a whole bunch of orange outfits just begging for you to wear them," he teases.
izuku groans and buries her face in her hands, and sero laughs. "honestly, the fact that bakugou didn't realize you wore his color makes me question his intelligence. but anyway, you keep dressing up, and i keep flirting with you."
izuku looks skeptical. "and this is supposed to work?"

"absolutely. it'll drive bakugou crazy, i guarantee it."

"but i don't want to put you out like that, sero," izuku says. she's a bit overwhelmed by all this; it sounds more like the plot of a movie than her actual life.
maybe sero is just trying to prank her; any second he'll break out into laughter and tell her it was all one big joke, wasn't she such a good sport for going along with it, and so on and so forth. but she doesn't think that even sero would come up with such an off-color joke.
he waves a hand carelessly. "are you kidding? this is a dream come true for me. i get to up my flirting game, you get to dress up and have your self-esteem boosted, and bakugou gets to fume silently until he can't take it anymore and steals you away."
"i...i don't think this is going to work, sero..." says izuku doubtfully.

"can't hurt to try!" he replies cheerfully. "although i can see why you're worried. i'm so charming, you might just fall desperately in love with me and beg for my hand in marriage."
izuku can't help but chuckle. "yes, that's exactly what i'm worried about, sero," she teases.

"there's that smile," says sero, and he reaches out to mess up her hair again. "so what do you say? i promise i won't get in the way of your training or anything."
izuku ponders for a long while, worrying at her bottom lip with her teeth before looking up at sero. "c-can i ask you something, sero?"

"ask me anything. i'm an open book."

"why are you doing this? trying to...set up me and kacchan?"
sero blinks at her, looking surprised for just a moment before breaking out into his usual toothy grin. "because you guys are my friends," he says simply. "and you guys are too boneheaded to just kiss and make up, so i've gotta step in and do it for you."
izuku pouts. "that's kind of a mean thing to say..."

"am i wrong?"

izuku refuses to answer, and sero laughs. "don't worry, midoriya. i'm doing this for purely selfish reasons, too. so you don't have to feel guilty or anything."

"selfish reasons?" she asks.
"yep. secret, selfish, nefarious reasons," hes says with a wink. "but valiant nonetheless. i'm a vigilante of love."

izuku rolls her eyes, but can't help smiling all the same. "all right, i get it. you won't tell me."

"sorry, midoriya. i've sworn myself to secrecy."
"fine. okay, we'll...we'll do it, then," she says. she really does have nothing to lose, and she's convinced it won't work anyway. if at the end of it all she's only got a better understanding of how to put on eyeliner and nothing else, that will be enough.
"it's a deal," sero replies, holding out his hand. she laughs, reaching out to grasp it and giving it a firm shake. "now, it's getting late, so i'll get out of your hair. won't want any scandalous gossip now, do we?"

"sero," izuku says dryly, giving him a look.
"okay, okay! i'm leaving. unless...you /want/ to start some scandalous rumors...?"

"sero! go away!" izuku laughs, throwing an all might pillow at him. he salutes and scampers off, and izuku collapses back on her bed with a long sigh.
she wonders if it will work. some part of her is scared that it won't. a larger part, strangely, is scared that it /will/.

but izuku is nothing if not determined. she's fought this long for what she wanted; she wouldn't forgive herself if she didn't fight for kacchan, too.
(tbc...>///<)
izuku wakes up the next morning and wonders if the previous day had been one long, vivid, weirdly coherent dream. but there's no denying the bright pink of mina's tote bag on her desk, chock-full of makeup. she buries her face in her hands and groans.
just what had she gotten herself into? what had she been thinking, going along with one of sero's schemes -- and one that involves her /seducing/ kacchan, no less. there's no way it's going to work. and yet...

her friends joke about her being a glutton for punishment.
maybe the fact that she's actually entertaining the idea is just further confirmation of that, though graduating from breaking her bones to breaking her own heart was certainly nothing to celebrate.

izuku groans and scrubs at her face.
nothing for it, she just has to give it a shot no matter what the consequences might be. and it would be a lie to say that she hasn't been looking forward to trying out makeup again.

with new resolve, izuku jumps out of bed and gets ready for the day.
lipstick is easy enough. izuku tries five times to get eyeliner on, but eventually gives up when the fear of poking herself in the eye actually makes her tear up. she settles for a little mascara and swipes some gloss over her lips, and decides that will have to do.
uraraka sees her as she gets off the elevator and claps her hands excitedly. "oh my gosh, deku! you look so good! did you do your makeup all by yourself this morning?"

"a-ah, yeah," izuku says with a chuckle, mussing her hair. "i couldn't do the eyeliner, though.
it's so scary having it right in front of my eye..."

"you'll get used to it as long as you keep at it. at least you're not really touching your eye. imagine if you had to wear contacts! it makes me shudder just thinking about it." uraraka links arms with izuku and grins.
"does this mean you're gonna wear makeup every day?"

"i'm...going to try," offers izuku.

"good enough for me. oh, the girls are going to /scream/ when they see you! we were all worried that maybe you'd gone off it after yesterday..."
"nothing like that," says izuku. "you didn't have to worry."

"i guess not."

they reach their classroom and, just as uraraka predicted, are met with a chorus of squeals and compliments (mostly from mina and tooru).
mina starts bombarding izuku with questions about her skincare routine, and things quickly turn ugly when izuku makes the mistake of telling the truth.

"what do you /mean/ bar soap?!" mina wails, burying her face in her hands. "deku, why are you /hurting/ me like this?!"
"i-it says it's a gentle formula!" izuku stammers. mina just sobs exaggeratedly into her hands while tsuyu and uraraka comfort her.

"this is even worse than we thought. deku really is a clean slate when it comes to girly stuff, huh?" tooru ponders.
"we'll have to go on a lot of shopping trips just to cover the basics."

"i-i mean...i was going to ask if maybe...you know, if you wouldn't mind, that is..." begins izuku, "if you could help me shop. pick out clothes, maybe...?"
mina's head snaps up so quickly that izuku swears she can hear a vertebra pop. "you want to go shopping?" she says excitedly, all hints of her former anguish completely gone. "hooray! girl's day out! we're gonna pamper the heck outta deku!"
"m-mina, you're too loud..."

"of course i am! listen, deku, your sins against skincare may be great, but that's why you have us to help. trust me, you're going to love picking everything out! half the fun of shopping is trying samples."
"and what's the other half?" izuku asks, unable to stop herself from smiling. mina shakes her finger warningly, though her eyes sparkle with mirth.

"don't get cute with me. i'll let momo and jirou know and ask if they'll want to come too.
although momo might be a little too much for your first shopping trip, since she doesn't spend money like a normal person..."

"what are you ladies gossiping about so early in the morning?"

izuku jumps when an arm winds round her shoulders without warning.
she looks up to see sero, grinning back down at her. "am i interrupting some deep, dark, girly secrets?"

"we're planning a shopping trip to get deku some proper clothes and makeup," says uraraka. izuku doesn't miss how her eyes linger on sero's arm in confusion.
"sounds like fun."

"it won't be. she washes her face with /soap/, sero," says mina.

izuku looks at her indignantly. "why are you telling everyone that!"

"to shame you into stopping this atrocity!" mina fires back.

"okay, that's enough, ribit," says tsuyu.
sero just laughs and squeezes izuku's shoulder. "i'm not gonna lie, midoriya. that's pretty bad. even /i/ don't wash my face with soap."

izuku looks up at him and tries her best to glare. "now you're getting on my case, too?"
"absolutely. skincare is my passion," sero deadpans. "and speaking of which, loving the look you've got going on today. is that a different shade of lipstick than yesterday?"

izuku blinks, surprised. "you noticed?"

"even i can tell the difference between orange and red."
izuku blushes and shoves at sero's side. "that's /not/ what i meant."

"it looks good. i think i like this even better than the orange one. no eyeshadow today, though?"

"no. i didn't have time..."

"that's a shame." sero glances to the side, then back at izuku.
"say, you aren't going on this shopping trip today, are you?"

"uhm, no, i don't think so..." izuku looks to her friends for confirmation and they shrug.

"great! so you're free for dinner? i did say that i would treat you, you know, and i'm a man of my word."
mina lets out a little gasp and izuku blushes bright red.

"i-i? i-i mean...that is..."

izuku's stuttering is interrupted when a hand grabs sero's shoulder and all but wrenches him away from her.

"the fuck's going on?" katsuki growls.
sero looks unperturbed by the rough treatment. "ah, morning, bakugou! sleep well?"

"shut up. what are you doing?"

"offering to take midoriya out to eat, of course. since we were so rudely interrupted yesterday. you remember, right?"
katsuki's eyes narrow and he takes a step closer to sero, palms sparking. izuku panics and hastily tries to insert herself between the two boys. "g-good morning, kacchan! u-um, we're still on for sparring tomorrow, right?"
he looks at her as though she's got five heads, then scoffs and shoves his hands in his pockets.

"yeah, we are."

"great! looking forward to it," says izuku, relieved that he's backed off. she can feel the girls staring at the three of them, hardly breathing.
"i think i've finally figured out a foolproof counter for your ap shot."

"hahhh? You're getting cocky already? i'm gonna beat you down extra hard now, nerd."

"we'll see," says izuku. katsuki huffs and turns on his heel to go to his seat.
unexpectedly, though, he stops just as he reaches his desk and looks back at izuku over his shoulder.

"...the other color was better on you," he says, then turns back to the front and takes his seat.

izuku forgets how to breathe for a few seconds.
"bakugou, you coy bastard," sero mutters under his breath, sounding oddly impressed.

izuku can feel a blush creeping up her cheeks and tries to suppress it, probably without much success. she can't quite explain why katsuki's weird, back-handed comment has flustered her so.
maybe because it's simple acknowledgement of what she's done, proof that he paid enough attention to notice the difference between then and now.

paid enough attention to say he thought that she looked nicer in /his/ colors.
she's stupid for getting her hopes up like this -- likely it's just kacchan telling her simply that her makeup doesn't suit her today -- but izuku has always cherished every bit of praise she can get from him, and something like this is no exception.
"i can't tell if that was meant to be a compliment or an insult," uraraka says.

"neither can i," replies mina, face scrunched in thought. "it's bakugou, so...probably an insult?"

"maybe both, ribit," tsuyu chimes in.

izuku tries to respond, but just then aizawa shuffles in.
"all right, get in your seats," he grumbles, swaddled in his usual sleeping bag. sero leans down and whispers in izuku's ear.

"i'll see you after school, then?" he asks. izuku nods and he walks off with a grin. izuku wanders over to her seat, slightly dazed.
she ends up being distracted for much of the day, and a quick glance at her notes confirms that her already scritchy handwriting has definitely suffered for it. if she isn't sneaking looks at kacchan when no one is looking, she's wondering about her plans with sero.
does it count as a date if he's only taking her out to make kacchan -- for lack of a better word -- jealous? surely not. they're just friends going out to eat; no need to complicate her life any further than she already is.

she almost wants to laugh.
who would have thought that short, plain deku would end up wondering about the attentions of one, let alone two boys?

she smiles a bit to herself and fiddles with the cuff of her blazer. it's true that izuku wants to be a hero more than anything; a lifelong dream.
nothing can ever overshadow that, or get in the way. but sometimes -- and especially now that she has friends -- she just wants to relax, to be /normal/, even if only for an afternoon. it's almost exhausting, the feeling that she's trying to claw back so much wasted time.
time she never got to spend /being/ normal, hanging out, having a life outside of hero studies...

...but then again, would she have taken advantage of that even back then? back when her singular goal was simply to follow kacchan to greatness? she isn't sure.
izuku groans in frustration and smacks her cheeks with both hands to snap herself out of it. dwelling on the past won't change a thing, she scolds herself. stay in the present! stay focused!
"oi, nerd. get up already." izuku yelps as her desk is kicked, and looks up to see katsuki glaring down at her. "class is over. you just gonna sit there all night or something?"

"no! th-thank you, kacchan," izuku stutters, haphazardly collecting her things.
just by glancing around she can see that mostly everyone has left the classroom, with only a few stragglers still comparing notes or exchanging gossip. she zips up her backpack and hoists it over her shoulders, smiling widely at katsuki. "see you tomorrow, kacchan!"
"...yeah. whatever," he says, an odd look on his face that she can't quite decipher. "you better not be so spacey tomorrow, deku. i'm gonna be fuckin' pissed if you don't give me a proper fight."

izuku straightens up and faces katsuki with determination.
"you'll get my best, kacchan. you always do."

"tch." katsuki scoffs and pushes past her, leaving her staring after his retreating form -- a sight she's always seen, but that now means much more.

hope. a promise. a future.

she smiles and walks out with a spring in her step.
(tbc of course! ^^)
(big batch incoming! here we goooooo)
"sero, is this a date?"

sero looks up from his bowl of ramen, noodles halfway to his mouth. they'd stayed close to the school, enough so that making it back before curfew wouldn't be a problem. sero had recommended the restaurant, a favorite of his.
"depends on your definition of a date, midoriya," he says with an easy grin. "are you asking because you want it to be?"

izuku blushes and ducks her head. "i-- well, that is--"

honestly, she isn't sure what she should classify this as.
sero is her friend, albeit technically closer to katsuki than herself; usually this would be considered a simple outing with said friend, hanging out as she would do with uraraka or mina or iida.
but sero is also taking her out with a motive, an endgame in mind -- even if that endgame is supposedly to get her together with another man. he's keeping up his gentle, prodding flirtation and she's noticed that his arm finds its way round her shoulders much more than before.
there would only be one reason for him to be so blatant with his affections, but...

"i guess i'm just...confused. why you're doing all of this when kacchan isn't even here to see it," she explains. "given that, i don't see how doing all of this to make him jealous works out."
sero hums and twirls his chopsticks. "he probably has a pretty vivid imagination," he replies. "kind of like you in that regard. he obsesses over what he doesn't know or doesn't understand. him not being here probably drives him nuts much more than having him third-wheeling."
izuku chews thoughtfully on a bamboo shoot. "that only answers part of my question, though."

"this, midoriya, is what we call 'the long con,'" says sero. "or exposure therapy. one or the other. or both."

"you've lost me again."
sero leans forward a little and looks at izuku with a serious expression. "you're not used to this, are you? getting attention for something other than how well you can fight."

izuku chuckles, a hint of bitterness creeping in.
"i mean...you didn't ask me out to get food before i started to wear makeup, so..."

"would you have wanted me to?"

izuku blinks. "what?"

"did you want me to ask you out before this?"

"no, i mean, not that i don't appreciate you doing it now, but--"
"did you want it to be bakugou?"

izuku's mouth snaps shut and she looks down at her bowl.

"...sorry, that was mean," sero says with a sigh. he leans back in his chair and takes another bite of ramen. "my point is...you're not used to being treated gently.
you get all blushy and flustered every time i say something nice or touch your hand. i'm trying to get you used to that. partly because this has to be convincing if we're gonna sell it to him."

"and the other part?"

sero grins and slurps up some more noodles.
"because i want you to feel what it's like to be taken care of," he says.

izuku's cheeks heat up and sero laughs.

"and, to answer your very first question, this doesn't have to be a date if you want your first one to be with bakugou."
"sero!" izuku buries her face in her hands. she's mortified both by how right sero is and how transparent /she/ is. "how can you--why would you--ugh!"

"i know i'm right. there's nothing wrong with that, you know; i should have known you'd be a romantic at heart."
"it's stupid," she mutters. "this isn't going to work anyway, kacchan would never..."

"you think it's not gonna work, but you're out here with me anyway. that's one of the things i like about you, midoriya. you're adorably optimistic, not to mention persistent.
you resolve to do something and you stick with it even when the odds are against you." sero smiles. "not that i'd say the odds are against you on this one."

izuku cocks her head to the side. "why are you so sure that this is going to work?
i don't know if you've noticed, but even the best-laid plans tend to fail when kacchan isn't actively involved in hatching them."

"i have a personal investment in this plan working. and so do you. that's all the reason i need," sero replies, then returns to eating his food.
izuku decides not to push it and follows suit.

after they've finished -- and after izuku has thoroughly scolded sero for paying without even giving her a fair chance at swiping the check -- they browse some of the shops surrounding the restaurant.
they spend the most time in a cosmetics store and a shop selling handmade accessories. izuku is overwhelmed by the sheer volume of items on the shelves in the former, but is entranced by the wares of the latter.
she finds herself gravitating towards some hairpins made to look like a small spray of flowers surrounded by leaves, each set done in a different color palette.

"want me to buy em for you?" sero asks, startling her into putting them back in the tray.
"n-no, that's okay. thank you, though," she says.

they continue browsing, and izuku loses sight of sero for a while until he reappears holding a brown paper bag. "what did you buy?" she asks, suspicious.
sero reaches in and pulls out a carved wooden figure of a rabbit surrounded by flowers, painted in the same warm tones as the ones adorning his dorm room. "thought it'd look nice on my desk, it fits pretty much exactly with my decor. what, thought i'd gotten the pins?"
"i had my suspicions," says izuku with a slight smile, putting a delicate box made of shells back on the shelf. "should we head back?"

"yeah, probably. people will be asking questions by now, i imagine," sero replies, holding out his arm for izuku to take.
she turns red, but places her hand at the crook of his elbow and allows him to lead the way back to their dorm.

as soon as they enter the common room, all hell breaks loose.

"so it's true!! you really did go on a date!" mina yells, bouncing up and down on the couch.
"why didn't you answer your phone? i've been texting you the whole time!" adds uraraka.

"it's rude to be on your phone during a date!" iida says authoritatively.

"were all of you /lying in wait/ for us?" sero asks exasperatedly.
izuku is so embarrassed that she wishes, not for the first time, that she shared tooru's invisibility quirk; failing that, she settles instead for hiding her face in her arms and trying to ignore the chorus of voices around her.
"tell us, how did it go? was sero a gentleman, ribit?" asks tsuyu.

"he better have been," shinsou says.

sero rolls his eyes and tugs izuku against his side. "midoriya, tell them how much of a gentleman i was before shinsou strings me up in the courtyard as an example."
"i-i had a great time," izuku stammers. "a-and sero was a perfect gentleman."

"see? so you guys can stop glaring at me now."
izuku peeks through her arms and sees where sero is looking; katsuki and kaminari, the former looking as angry as ever and the latter looking concerned and slightly disappointed.
"now, if you'll excuse me, i must keep up my reputation of being a gentleman and walk midoriya back to her room," says sero. he ignores the shouts and calls for him to come back and steers izuku towards the elevators, and she only relaxes when the doors close.
"oh my gosh. that was the worst," she laments. "are they going to do that /all/ the time?"

sero shakes his head. "i'm sure they'll lay off if you ask them to, and i'll ask them as well. i know i joked about them causing a ruckus but i didn't think it would be an ambush."
"i guess not." they get off the elevator and stop just outside her door. "why did kaminari look so upset with you back there?" she asks.

sero shrugs. "dunno. maybe he's pissed that i'm making bakugou so cranky; we all know he makes a great punching bag.
or maybe he's in love with you too and he's mad at me for stealing you first."

izuku shakes her head fondly. "if you don't know, you can just say so."

"my lips are sealed." sero takes his rabbit carving out of it's wrapping and presses the bag into izuku's hand.
"did you...want me to throw this away?" izuku asks.

"you can. after you take out what's inside."

"sero!" she exclaims. "i thought you said--"

"technically, all i asked was if you thought i bought the hairpins. i never said i /didn't/ buy them," he says with a wide grin.
"please let me pay you back."

"absolutely not. they're gifts. i'll be very offended if you try to give me money for them."

izuku holds the paper bag to her chest, still pouting a bit. "th-thank you, sero..."

"don't mention it.
thanks for humoring me." he takes her hand in his and squeezes. "have a good night, midoriya."

"you too," she says.

once she's inside her room, izuku tips the hairpins carefully out on her bed.
one set is the one she'd been looking at, orange and red flowers surrounded by green leaves. the other pair has the same design, but with yellow and white flowers and glittering black leaves instead.

izuku turns red. "oh, sero," she mutters under her breath.
she picks them up and arranges them carefully on her dresser, letting her fingertips linger over the carefully burnished metal.

they're the first gifts she's ever received from a boy.
she wonders if she shouldn't be happier, if she's ungrateful for wishing they'd come from someone else. she likes sero well enough, but...well. he's not kacchan. not that she thinks he'd waste his money on hairpins for her anyway, but...
she sighs and plops down onto her bed; she should really take off her makeup, but she wants to check her phone first. there's a few missed calls, a good night text from her mother.
a whole mess of texts from the girls asking how the date was going and one from shinsou offering to quirk sero into humiliating himself should he do anything untoward. she smiles as she goes through the messages, deleting some, answering others.
her phone pings with another incoming text while she types and she almost drops her phone in surprise.

kacchan.

after a moment she shakes herself and actually reads the text.

/he didn't split the bill, did he?/

well. izuku hadn't been expecting that.
/no! sero paid for everything. i didn't even get a chance to look at the check./

/good. now i get to beat his lying ass for saying he's broke all the time./

izuku laughs and types out a reply.

/please don't. now i feel even worse that he paid./
/don't waste your time worrying about him. worry about me beating you to a pulp tomorrow, stupid deku./

/looking forward to it, kacchan. ^^/

izuku waits for twenty minutes, but katsuki doesn't text her back.
she smiles, turns off her phone, and gets up to wash her face, feeling simultaneously lighter and yet full of dread.

yeah.

she's got it bad.
(tbc and i promise kacchan is going to show up more dkajga)
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