Am I not needed anymore, Deku?

Deku used to consider the Big Three more as his acquaintances rather than his friends. However, after their first close encounter, the group liked him so much that they started hanging out more often. Soon, he was unofficially part of the group, teasingly labeled as The Big Three Izuku, which was coincidentally their trivia group name. It seemed like the name caught up with them. And so was Kacchan's dismay.

2 weeks have passed since their fight and they still haven't spoken a word to each other since then. Kacchan continued hanging out with Shigaraki, and Deku wasn't sure if it was just to spite him like the asshole that he was, while he ended up hanging out with The Big Three, sometimes the ever so persistent Shindo-san, most of the time that nice froggy girl named Asui-san that kept insisting to call her Tsuyu-chan instead. He even got to talk with Iida-san, who he caught staring at his fellow waiter longingly in this swanky café a few miles away from the university. To summarize, he interacted with people he never thought he could be friends with.

"Midoriya…-san," Amajiki-senpai hesitantly called out, awkwardly averting his gaze as soon as he got Deku's attention.

"Amajiki-senpai," Deku greeted back, flashing a dimpled smile. For some reason, to Tamaki, everything around them slowed down. A strong wind blew, scattering sakura blossoms in its wake. The weird thing is, they're in the middle of the library and no sakura tree was in sight. Plus, it was autumn.

Truly, the Midoriya effect was too potent.

"Amajiki-senpai? Your face is a little red…?" Deku innocently tilted his head to the side.

Tamaki felt like he was going to die from being too overwhelmed.

Hiding behind a bookcase, a few feet away from them, peered his two supportive friends. Mirio was visibly giving him a thumbs up, while Nejire was stifling her giggles. They were being stared at by the other library goers. Thank God, Midoriya was too dense or else he would've noticed that they (just Mirio and Nejire) were plotting to hook them up.

"I…" Amajiki trailed off.

"Yes?" He blinked. Damn, those long curled eyelashes!

Amajiki mentally shook his head. There's no time to waste, he was allowed to say his feelings and he will not waste his friends' effort on enabling him to become close to him. "I…!"

"Deku!" A loud guttural voice shouted.

"Kacchan," He would've said that louder if they weren't at their current settings, the majority of the library goers were already staring at them after all. Kacchan, however, didn't care about their attention neither did he care even if the scary librarian was glaring daggers at him. "What do you want?" His words might've sounded harsh, but Deku's face suggested otherwise.

The blond boy's expression didn't change even with Deku's tone as if Kacchan didn't really give a fuck that he was talking to him in such a manner. Which, in all honesty, is off-putting in itself because one higher octave when talking to Kacchan is enough to trigger the King Explosion Murder in him. Deku had mixed feelings concerning this.

Deku also noted that Kacchan's skin was slightly tinted pink, it might be anger or something else. He wasn't really sure. He also noticed that Kacchan was moving languidly, his red crimson eyes were shifting irregularly as if he was unfocused. Or maybe he was just furious.

Instead, Kacchan turned his attention toward Amajiki and glowered down at him. The poor senpai stiffened up at this intimidation. Kacchan then glared at the bookcase behind them as if trying to burn holes out of it.

"I fucking knew it," He said as Hado squeaked in fright while Mirio urgently shushed her. Kacchan directed his gaze towards Deku, his hands twitching a little as if he was planning to take him by the wrist once more but he remembered that they weren't on speaking terms right now. He growled in defeat and spun his heels, disappearing as quickly as he appeared.

"Kacchan, wait!" Deku called out, running after him. He stopped though, realizing belatedly that he was talking with Amajiki before Kacchan's appearance when he was already out of the door. He ran back inside. "Amajiki-senpai—"

"It's alright," Amajiki smiled weakly, waving his hand in defeat. "I've always known that I couldn't compete with Bakugo."

Midoriya bowed deeply in apology before he ran after Kacchan. Amajiki sighed, covering his face with his hand.

"It's okay, Tamaki," Mirio patted him on the back, emerging from behind the bookcase.

"You were brave," Nejire wrapped her arms around his waist.

Due to their height difference, he could only rest his chin on top of Nejire's head. "I did my best,"

He said, his voice quivering a little and his eyesight slightly becoming blurry.

"You did," His friends said in unison, wiping away his tears.

***

Deku was only able to catch up to Kacchan's quick strides once they reached their room.

"Kacchan," Deku huffed breathlessly, his face was a tinge of pink and sweat was dripping off his curly green locks.

"Why did you follow me?" Kacchan crossed his arms, narrowing his eyes at him.

Deku was taken aback by his question. Why did he follow him, he would like to know the answer to that question as well. "Why not," was his weak reply.

Kacchan scoffed. "Did you actually run after me when that Sasuke wannabe was obviously trying to confess to you?"

The curly-haired boy turned flushed a bright shade of red. "You got it wrong…"

"No, I didn't. You have to be a hella level of dense to not realize what's going on. Heck, I just entered the library and I already knew what the fuck he's tryna do when I saw his stupid face staring at you like that."

"We're not like that," Deku whispered, feeling uncomfortable that they were talking about this. He felt even more uncomfortable at the thought of what if he was trying to ask him out and he ran away from him? To make matters worse, he did it before Amajiki could say that he likes him.

"You're the only person who's thinking that you're not like that," Kacchan made the quote-end-quote sign with his fingers. "Every guy that's been trying to hang around with you was obviously trying to ask you out but you're a stupid motherfucker that can't get a hint."

"Can we not talk about this?" Deku groaned as he headed towards the door, face flaring up like a light bulb.

"So you're going back to him?"

"Of course, I am! I just left him to the dust when he—Hypothetically, I assume, that he was t-t-t-t-trying to c-c-c-c-co--"

"What will you say to him?"

"I…" Deku didn't think of that.

"Will you answer him?" Kacchan pressed on, taking a few steps toward Deku until he pinned him to the door. "Or will you let him on, like Shindo? Like me?"

"Kacchan, what are you—" Deku gingerly tried to push him away when he finally processed what Kacchan just said. But something else bothered him, Kacchan's skin was burning against his touch. "Do you—"

"Tell me, Deku, are you doing this on purpose?" Kacchan snarled, leaning closer to his face until his warm breath seemed to latch down on Deku's pores. Too warm. "Are you seriously trying to seduce guys that you know will ruin my ego?"

"I'm not seducing anyone," Deku whimpered.

"What are you even saying, Kacchan? Also, get off of me."

"Sasuke wannabe, Smiley Face, that Vibrator Bastard, heck even that Zombie guy who looks like he's always high on coffee, I saw you studying him on our spot on the café on my seat!"

"I assume you're referring to Shinsou-san," Midoriya was slightly disgusted at himself for knowing who exactly Kacchan was describing because that's a spot-on description of him if he says so himself. "That was the only available space in the café that time since it was hell week! Why are you getting territorial for a fucking chair?!"

"Why do you choose to hang out with guys that are always pitted against me? At first, I thought it was just in my mind, but no. These guys are the same guys people kept comparing me to, telling me that they're better than me and shit, saying that—"

"Kacchan, you're not making any sense…"

"Do you want to replace me that bad?"

Deku sharply inhaled.

His crimson red eyes moistened slightly, and Kacchan's voice was usually filled with anger and bravado morphed into something foreign. Something Deku had never heard from him before.

Weakness.

"Are you finally planning to replace me because you found better people to look up to? Or is it because you finally realized that you're better than me? Am I not needed anymore, Deku?"

"Kacchan…" Deku sighed, "is this about what Shindo said months ago? You know he was—"

"Saying the truth."

As soon as those words escaped his lips, Kacchan's knees buckled and he fell, his forehead slamming against the door with a thud. Deku caught him before he could stumble down the floor. His skin, his skin was too hot even through the pads of Deku's fingers. Deku wanted to punch himself for not noticing it earlier, for not making sense of why Kacchan was acting so weirdly.

He was down with a fever.