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Izuku couldn’t stand it. He loved people but there was still a limit to social interaction. The holidays are a lovely time but in wise words, the noise, noise, noise. While it was a beautiful time, it was also riddled with any chance to fall victim to overstimulations. Izuku loved the lights this time of year. He admired and giggled at how everyone decorated their houses and how even stores put out decorations for the holidays. Christmas isn’t only about lights or decorations but it sure was a flashy holiday.
Apart from home decorations, he loved how the break meant spending time with loved ones. For UA students, there was still some time in the dorms before they could go home for the holidays. class 1-A was resourceful with this extra time and planned an end of the year christmas party. Izuku wasn’t the biggest party animal but he could get behind a fun gathering with friends. Izuku loved his friends and if being there meant spending time with them, why wouldn’t he attend?
While the night was fun, something felt like it was building up in the back of Izuku’s mind. First, his holiday outfit wasn’t right. He thought a christmas sweater that said “christmas sweater” was the perfect thing to wear this year but the fit didn’t sit right to him. It looked perfect, why did it have to feel wrong? The Christmas sweater fabric also scratched him and left him mildly uncomfortable. He sighed because it was too late to change so he headed to the common room anyway.
A lot of people complimented his outfit, it made him feel better. Maybe it just a fluke? I guess tonight won’t be so bad! After Izuku exchanged hellos and happy holidays with some friends, he headed to the sweets table. Nothing a few cookies can’t fix and improve his mood. He had tripped earlier when saying hello which he didn’t mind, he knew he was clumsy but it dumbed his spirits a bit for some reason.
At the dessert table set up by Sato and Yaomomo, he really took his time to admire everything. The table layout itself was enough to awe at for ten minutes. You could tell Yaomomo had arranged everything because of how neatly and dazzling it was. Her upbringing of a rich childhood shined through. Sato really put thought into the desserts too. It was apparent and almost made izuku forgive sato for his crimes against Kacchan.
After much pondering at every dessert option, he settled for a cookie that looked like santa. why not settle for something simple and in the spirit of this holiday. Izuku, being the foodie he was, smiled before he even bit into the cookie, letting his joy consume him. Sadly it went away the moment he began to chew the first bite. The cookie was a sugar cookie and no offense to Sato, was too grainy for Izuku’s taste. He wasn’t a food critic but Izuku was always sensitive to textures, especially in his food.
Sadly Sato came over at the same time to ask how his recipe tasted. Izuku couldn’t bear to be the bearer of bad news, even if he didn’t agree with Sato much so he scarfed it down and pulled out a wobbly smile to say it was delicious. It was a lie. The taste wasn’t bad but the texture was torture for him. He chatted with Sato more in hopes he could get him to forget about the rest of the cookie which Izuku was yet to touch again. Luckily he did and left before Izuku ran out of stamina from forcing a smile for so long.
The second he left he turned around to scarf down some juice from the punch bowl, thankful that Yaomomo was considerate enough to put it close to the cookies. Another fluke but Izuku wasn’t going to let small mere accidents get to his head. The holidays were meant for joy and festivities, who was he if he couldn’t shine a bright smile at his friends. While his morale was a bit low, his social battery still wasn’t. The punch replenished his blood sugar which meant his cheek muscles were ready to smile and laugh once more! This time for real and with his friends.
He headed over towards his closer friends, of which class 1-A was already mostly rounded up talking to each other. Some students were going around talking to other classes as they were popular and friendly. Kirishima went over to greet class 1-B as they arrived and fist bumped Testu. Kaminari also tagged along to say hi to them as well as Fukidashi. Bakugou wasn’t a big socialite but he still tagged along because his classmates begged him as the party was a goodbye until the next school year started.
As Izuku walked up, his friends from class 1-A all greeted him including him in the conversation. They were all playfully arguing over the best holiday/christmas movies. Slowly but surely word spread and now the whole room was invested in the divergent questions as they all presented their own opinions and arguments. Izuku remembered why he loved the holidays, everyone was in a great mood laughing and talking. Eventually the conversation went far off track and with it, fizzled out izuku’s social candle slowly.
Izuku was ready to call it a night. He wasn’t physically tired or sleepy but all the talking eventually picked at his social battery before he could notice. He sat around still listening to his friends but slowly he needed to dissociate. Izuku slipped away from the crowd but knew he couldn’t leave the party just yet. The dorm rooms were closed as by now everyone packed their things and sent them home. Tonight was supposed to be the last night which meant leaving the party would require him to leave the building.
His friends wouldn’t let him just leave, especially before the gift exchange but Izuku had tired himself out. His last resort was to charge up a bit so he could make it through the night. He headed towards the dessert table hoping that a change in blood pressure would charge him up like it did before. He was disappointed to find most of the punch was gone by now and so were the desserts. All that remained was a few strawberry cupcakes and more of those sugar cookies Izuku couldn’t stand the texture of.
He sighed loudly but in cherry fashion, saw the good in what happened by at least appreciating no one tried to talk to him while walking across to the dessert table. Yeah. That was good at least. There was still one method that could help soothe Izuku’s uncomfortable situation. Izuku had brought his headphones and while he didn’t touch his phone during the party earlier, he was so glad to have both on him. He whipped them out while still at the dessert table and tried connecting them to his phone, fully ready to indulge in his unique music taste.
Izuku’s heart sank as he realized why they wouldn’t connect to his phone at first. His air buds which he used when he couldn’t carry his headphones were out of juice. That's fine. Things happen all the time. Tonight especially. Seems like everything was happening to Izuku tonight. Normally something small like this wouldn’t hurt someone but tonight.. it was like the last piece of a puzzle. Suddenly it felt like all these little events were strategically placed dominos ready to topple over and ruin Izuku’s life. That's an overstatement right? No one’s life is over after that.
Izuku held it in. As much as he could at least. He calmly put his earbuds down and left them on the desserts table as he started to walk away. He needed fresh air and just some privacy. The moment Izuku reached the balcony and shut the glass door, his tears poured out like a waterfall. It felt immature to cry about such small events but each picked at him slowly. He couldn’t get a word out, he choked on his own attempts to calm himself. Some salty tears found their way in his mouth as he choked on his cry. He crouched to hold himself a bit and get a grasp of his own meltdown.
He was grateful the balcony was far enough that he wouldn’t have to worry about being seen. Still, he felt an anxiousness that someone would come out to the balcony and witness the scene. He tried to calm himself while his mind was still rational but it didn’t stop the flow of his tear ducts. He gave in and just let it all wash over him for a couple minutes. He was alone now, it was okay to let out his frustrations in his sobs over pity things. He spent 15 minutes out there, slowly the endless stream of tears got thinner and eventually ran out. His head was reeling and he somehow still had some tear drops left in him. Sadly his nightmare came true when he heard someone slide open the balcony’s doors. By now, Izuku felt calmer and thought it was easier to walk away from the balcony as someone came in. He picked himself up but before he had the chance to turn around and walk out, he heard a familiar voice.
“Hold it, nerd.” Katsuki huffed out.
“KACCHAN?” Izuku said with a hoarse voice, still aching from crying.
Great. Now not only did Izuku's plan to escape questioning from party guests fail, he now had to look straight into Katsuki’s eyes and try to walk out. He knew the moment he recognized the voice that Kacchan wouldn’t let him leave without a word. It was over. His life was over. He somehow felt his tear ducts start back up again.
“Here” Katsuki reached into his pants pocket.
Izuku cut him off. “Kacchan! it’s not time for the gift exchange yet!!”
“Calm down. Here.” Katsuki tossed something at Izuku. “I had Sparky charge them.” Izuku stared down at the airbud’s in his palm. His shocked expression turned into a gentle smile as he realized what Kacchan had done for him. This meant the other man had been staring at him, and noticed something was off about him. It made him feel queasy in a good way. He clenched the earbuds in his hand softly as he wiped a happy tear from the corner of his eye. “Thank you, Kacchan.”
Katsuki shooked of a small smile of pride before letting it out, “Anyways, I’ll see you later nerd.”
“Kacchan, wait!” Izuku grabbed his wrist as Katsuki walked off. “I wouldn’t mind your company if you decided to stay out here.”
Izuku tried to hide his reddish face. He told himself the pinkness could easily be chopped up to his crying earlier. His stomach felt funny because he knew Kacchan wasn’t dumb enough to fall for that pathetic excuse. His tears almost started up again as he waited for him to respond, to say anything to fill the silence.
“Fine.” Izuku stood in disbelief, genuinely surprised he accepted his invitation to stay. “10 minutes. It’s freezing out.”
Izuku giggled. He was so lucky to have Kacchan. He knew their relationship wasn’t perfect yet but even at their lowest, Katsuki always cared for him in small ways. Moments like this, terrifying so, reminded him even when the world felt dark, Kacchan was always watching him. He’s so blessed.