Tenya felt the muscles of his neck and shoulders bunch with tension as if anticipating a blow while he waited for his response. Bakugou-kun was not always the most careful with his words, and he was braced for his very loud disapproval. Not only because Tenya was attempting to court his childhood friend, but because Tenya was not exactly the most suitable partner for him.
He’d braced for the possibility and accepted it as his due. He would likely face even more difficult obstacles than Bakugou-kun as he pursued this relationship, and for a time, he’d let his fear about such obstacles keep him from acknowledging his deep affection for his friend, but no longer.
Midoriya-kun was worth it.
He dearly hoped it would not come to a drawn out disagreement between himself and Bakugou-kun, though. It would make gaining his approval that much more difficult, and any relationship with Midoriya-kun that lacked Bakugou-kun’s approval was destined to fail. For all his rough edges, however, Tenya did not think he would be cruel, and he held out hope he would earn his approval with time and persistence.
It was with these thoughts bubbling back to the surface of his mind, his muscles wound tight with the anticipation of trouble that he received his answer. And it was…not precisely the answer he was expecting. He blinked, hesitating.
A shamefully overwhelming part of him wanted to quickly accept his answer at face value, to leave before he changed his mind, but he couldn’t help but feel that something was…anti-climactic about his answer. As class president, Tenya made it a point to study his classmates so that he might notice when they were troubled and proactively work to ease those troubles, but he couldn’t quite parse what form of irritation Bakugou-kun’s expression was taking.
“Are you certain?” he asked, internally berating himself for hurting his chances.
Standing there staring at Iida only worsened that feeling. That unpleasant twisting in his gut–his chest–making him nauseated. He didn’t like it. Why did he feel this way? Like something was wrong. Like something was at risk. Anxiety. Fight or flight. His shoulders slowly tensed, his fingers flexing where they rested on his arms folded to his chest. He was already closed-off from his classmate, and the wall was building higher and higher every second that ticked by.
The longer he stood there, the longer they stood there, the less he felt fine with what Iida had requested of him. Why? What did he care if other people were looking at Izuku? Katsuki didn’t own him. The nerd could do whatever he wanted, date whoever he wanted. But the longer he thought on it, the less fine he was. The more I don’t give a shit turned into fuck you. They weren’t even friends, not really, things were… weird, between them. Complicated. Convoluted. Their lives were woven together, connected more than anyone could really understand. If a red thread existed in a platonic sense, if he were sentimental, it might be something like that.
But what did he feel? Why did it matter? Izuku liked girls anyway, and for all his intelligence he was dense as a fucking brick. It was unlikely Iida would get anywhere with his confession, other than maybe a polite and possibly awkward decline, but the what if was apparently enough to have his guts writhing around like horrible little worms.
Bakugou clicked his tongue, a quiet tch that signified his building anger at his own inner turmoil and Iida’s very presence. He didn’t want him in the room anymore, in this shared space. He visibly bristled at the innocent enough question, agitation coming clearer now in fidgeting movements and little snap-crackles of his Quirk popping off. “Fuck off,” he snapped, lashing out. “Take your confession and shove it up your ass with the stick that wedged itself up there. You don’t get my fucking blessing.” Izuku deserves to be happy, a tiny little voice in his head chimed, only adding fuel to the fire. “Get out before I blast your face off.”