Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It wasn’t actually Katsuki or Izuku who came up with the idea of a ‘secret language' but rather a friend they used to hang out with before they all went to school. In their three-year-old minds, it was a cool spy language when in actuality it was just calling playground equipment by different names. It did progress slightly but with their friend going to a different primary school than them and Izuku's quirkless diagnosis a secret language fell into the wayside pretty quickly.

However, Inko and Mitsuki were still close friends despite their sons not talking and often had catch-ups in each others house, during which their boys were left to entertain themselves as their mother’s (wrongly let’s be honest) assumed that at eight they were old enough to keep themselves busy for a few hours without causing too much chaos. Katsuki didn’t deal well with silence (as his longest maybe-friend, Deku would say that Katsuki didn’t deal well full stop but that’s a different conversation for another day perhaps.) and after a few ‘catch ups’ spent in silence in the living room of whichever family was hosting he had reached his limit.

It had been a passing comment about the stupid names they had for the swings and suddenly they were working to get the dead language revived – but better and more complex. These conversations were the only times they could talk without starting an argument, they were just Zukie and Kacchan again - getting ready to take the world by storm. By ten they had a fully-fledged sign language based very slightly on JSL signs and what little they knew of the Hero and Military sign languages. When they’ve done they go back to stilted silence in living rooms and this time its Iizuku who breaks the tension, they might not be able to see each other's hands they should make a morse code version and so, suddenly, they’re both learning normal morse code – neither will admit it but they both learn it during their downtime so they can show off to the other when their parents meet up. Taking turns to teach each other the letters they'd learnt since last time. Then they’re adapting it to their own language (if they use it to talk shit about their teachers then that’s no one’s business but their own (and if Izuku smiles a bit more now that Kacchan will be civil with him outside of living rooms and the dojo then no one but Katsuki knows why))– finally in the year before they both try for UA they make a vocal element, essentially it’s just morse code with tongue clicks but they use a short hum as a question mark and a low pitched whistle for an exclamation mark with a short high pitched whistle before a sentence to show it as a warning or of importance.

But then suddenly they are at UA and Izuku has a quirk and when he taps out Eraserhead's hero stats he gets nothing back. At the end of their first day, he tries to tell Kacchan the truth but the other boy walks away. He lasts a week. Izuku spends an entire lesson tapping out in painstaking detail how he met all might – if Kacchan tenses at the part where Izuku was on a roof by himself then he won't mention it (he’d already seen how much the blond had hovered for weeks and weeks, kept up constant streams of taps to try and keep Izuku out of his head after he made that stupid remark, had seen the dark circles the boy wore when sleep evaded him and knew that Kacchan had punished himself for it than Izuku ever could) – how he came to know about the man’s condition, how he got his quirk and his training that he spent all his summer on. he misses the whole lesson but resolves to get the missed lecture from Todoroki or Iida who always have meticulous notes. As the bell goes he hears a tap back. Don’t lie. And hidden to all but one in the chaos of everyone leaving Izuku whistles a high pitched note before clicking his tongue. I'm not. He leaves, he's done his part in trying to keep their friendship, comradeship, whatever it was that they had. The next day when Izuku taps out a remark about how if they could bottle Present Mic’s energy they could run japan forever out of habit he’s taken by surprise a bit that he actually gets a response commenting on the teachers, quite frankly, ridiculous hairstyle. He risks a glance at the explosive ash blond to see him resolutely at his notes but thinks there is a smirk playing at his lips and his pen is twirling around his fingers rather than scribbling in his notebook.

It becomes a thing.

When they are coving content the two of them have already studied, they spend the lesson tapping out comments about their peers and teachers – normally Bakugou talking shit about the rest of the Bakusquad (how he makes morse code sound fond Midoriya will never know) and Izuku talks about his friends and the stats of their Pro Hero teachers.

Shitty Hair dyed his hair in Tape Face’s room and now it fucking stinks.

Eraserhead had a battle recently so that’s why he’s not using his quirk on us.

Pikachu thinks they’re being subtle but they keep staring out the window I think they forgot to take their meds again.

You can set your phone to send text messages at a certain time – you could do it to text them in the morning.

I don’t need your help. Half and half was staring at your All Might figurine when you showed the class last week.

Great thank you Kacchan. His birthday is soon and I had no idea what to get him.

Whatever. did you see Mirko's latest fight?

Yeah, she has a new move when she kicked off of the roof.

Nah that's because she twisted her knee in the fight before last, remember.

Oh yeah, well Hawks definitely has a new technique.

Yeah, his turns are much sharper now, did you see his team up with Present Mic?

Yeah, I wouldn't have paired them together but I got loads of notes like -

- okay let's not tap out your whole notebook, do you think Present Mic styles his hair like that?

I fucking hope not. Do you think support has to give him the hair gel if it falls under his hero costume?

Wait, would they??

“Midoriya, Bakugou I know study periods aren’t the most entertaining but could you both stop tapping you are distracting your classmates.”

Izuku blushed as he stammered apologies at Thirteen whilst Katsuki simply rolled his eyes and continued with the maths worksheet he had been filling in between tap-talking with Deku.

Chapter Text

Living in dorms was certainly an experience. Everyone had to get used to sharing their space and their food – you could write your name on your food but someone was bound to miss it and eat it anyway. Shopping was even more of an experience. Most people shopped just for themselves but sometimes, if the class decided to have a ‘class dinner’ two people would be randomly picked to go and get ingredients as well as a few basic stuff they all used: like tea, sugar or any cereal they were low in.

It had been a long week of hero classes, filled with practical lessons in the gym and ground beta as well as exams in their standard lessons such as English and history. It had already been decided that to celebrate getting through the week (Mina’s words although even the most academic of them agreed that it had been a bit much.) they were going to have a class night with dinner and Disney movies so they could watch Todoroki see them for the first time. Saturday morning came and, when everyone was up, Denki pulled two names from a small box in the kitchen.

“Kacchan and …. Midoriya – woo boy I hope the shop survives!”

Hanta and Todoroki both snorted into their cereal whilst the rest of class 1a sweatdropped at the idea of the two childhood friends having to shop together.

“For fucks sake Pikachu, that’s not my name.”

“Well, that’s what the paper says man so..” Denki shrugged as he put the papers into the discard box so the two wouldn’t get pulled out again before everyone had had to do a group shop.

Katsuki grabbed his paper, scowling at the handwriting, “Which one of you extras fucking wrote this?” he pointedly ignored Iida's lecture on ‘un-hero like language’, glaring around the room – the handwriting didn’t belong to the nerd or one of his idiots, meaning Katsuki had no idea who it could belong to.

“Meet you by the gate in twenty minutes Kacchan?”

“Yeah yeah, whatever nerd, who wrote this?”

Eijirou plucked the paper out of his hand, “C’mon man just leave it, it was probably Mido.” Katsuki said nothing, unwilling to admit, even to his friends, that he still recognised Midoriya’s handwriting despite it changing as they both grew up and apart. He huffed as everyone else left the kitchen.

“Better get ready Kacchan.”

“You!” Bakugou glared at the peppermint hair as it disappeared up the stairs.

----

Thankfully the shops weren’t exactly busy first thing on a Saturday morning, so both the teens were hoping that this would be an in and out trip.

Bakugou folded their lost in half before ripping it down the seam, “Let's split up, we’ve got maybe half an hour before this place gets busy and I'm not waiting in some shit queue because our classmates wanted a ‘family dinner’.” Midoriya huffed as he stared at his half of the shopping list.

“Is there anything your squad wants that’s near my aisles?” Katsuki hmmed slightly as he thought, looking at his own half and mapping out what to get first.

“Den needs flour for pancake mix and Hanta said he needed more soy sauce, also grab the spices for Auntie Inko’s curry I was gonna make that soon.” Wisely choosing not to mention the lack of nicknames, Izuku nodded and added them to the list in his hand. “And you?” at the green teen’s noise of confusion, the blond scoffed, “tch, do you need anything from my part of the shopping?”

“Oh! Uhm, Todoroki had the last of Uraraka’s soba noodles so them and if you pass by the sweet isle Todoroki ran out yesterday of his so those would be good.”

With that the two split up, each armed with a list and their trolleys to get everything before the shop filled with loud children and grumpy adults doing the weekly shop.

----

Izuku had pretty much done his half when he swung around the next aisle to get Hanta’s soy sauce before looking at the selection and realising he had no idea what to get. The idea of trailing round to find his friend to have to come all the way back was incredibly unappealing. But…the shop was still relatively quiet so perhaps, Izuku cocked his head to the side before clicking his tongue and humming at the end. What brand do I get for Sero? He figured it was just loud enough for Kacchan to hear unless the other boy was somehow still right at the front of the store. Doesn’t matter, just get the shop's own brand. The one for all user scanned the shelves before picking up his item and continuing his shop.

----

It wasn’t long after Zuku had asked after Hanta that Katsuki realised that he too would have to use their language for shopping of all things. Red eyes scanned the shelves once more to make sure he hadn’t missed what he was looking for but, nope, still sold out. Tch. The sweets aren’t here, should I get something else? He rolled his eyes, annoyed at the realisation that he actually wanted to get something for the peppermint teen as he did see them as friends. Huh. Fuck, he was never letting Todoroki know he was right about that. He was broken out of thought when he heard a series of clicks come from a couple of aisles down from where he was, -et fruit pastels if they have them.  The ash-blond grabbed what he needed, and at seeing a crowd enter the store, doubled his pace. (It was only on their way back to the dorms that Izuku realised that he had never told Kacchan what Todoroki would normally have so how would the blond know what to look for- oh my god Shouto is right?! They are..friends, Izuku stifled a laugh as they walked through UA’s gates, holding that information to use against his childhood friend when he next needed blackmail ‘look Kacchan you do do emotions.’ after everything he out of all people had the right to tease the explosive blond, and he would take full advantage of that.)

----

“Aww yesss, pancakes tomorrow Bakusquad, thanks Kacchan” Denki beamed at his friend as he helped put everything away.

“Thank you Midoriya”

“Hmm, oh, no problem Todoroki.” Izuku turned in time to see Todoroki squirrel the bag of fruit pastels into his hoodie pocket like he thought someone might steal them – although from what he knew of the teens upbringing that might be more accurate than he liked.

“Umm, this is a lot of spice.”

“Oh, right, it's for my mum’s curry recipe,” Izuku passed a bag to Tokoyami for him and Dark Shadow to sort through, “it's gonna be pretty mild unfortunately because they didn’t have everything.”

“Mild?” the green-eyed boy turned to a concerned looking Uraraka who was looking at the spices in question.

“Yeah but Kacchan’s still gonna make it even though we don’t have everything.” Izuku beamed at the brunette, completely missing the point that she was trying to make – with what was in front of her, nothing could be mild if all of this was used. However at the mention of Katsuki, the class as one looked over to the blond, blinking as they took in the fact that he was willingly going to cook for Midoriya.

“Hell yeah I am, mild or not, Auntie Inko’s curry is fucking amazing.”

“Auntie?” the entire class seemed even more confused at this for some reason.

“We grew up together remember.” Midoriya and Bakugou intoned as one, speaking over Izuku tapping gently on the table. Idiots honestly. Kacchan snorted a laugh into the cereal cupboard, nodding his head slightly while sharing a smirk and eye roll with his oldest friend.

Chapter Text

Midoriya would like to preface this with it’s all Kacchan's fault. When Bakugou later tells their parents he will start with Zukie started it. Most of class 1a has no idea what happened just that something did.

Present Mic loved teaching his husband’s class, 1a truly had some good personalities which made all their lessons together unique and interesting, although he did wish that there were a few less problem children. In fact, that was a point to bring up with Nezu next year – for the new students starting next year, let's spread the problem children around rather than concentrating them into one class. Talking of problem children; looking at the students assembled in front of him, he came to the startling realisation that there were two problem children missing – the ultimate problem pair if you will. The bell went and the register filled in and there was still no sight or sound of either Midoriya or Bakugou. It was twenty minutes into the lesson when the two burst into the room – literally. It seemed like Midoriya had gone to open the door and as he put his weight into it, Bakugou had simply kicked it over leading to Midoriya meeting the floor very quickly with a pointed curse in Bakugou's direction. 1a braced for an explosion, ready to duck under tables, set their defences-

“Shut up you damn nerd, it's your fault we’re late.”

“It is not and you know it.”

“Tch whatever stand up you idiot.”

“No I'm fine her- hey hey okay I'm up I'm up” Izuku rolled to avoid the foot Katsuki had kicked in his direction before getting to his feet.

“I’m sure this is an extremely interesting story,” Present Mic was quick to jump in before the two could start a fight – something their rivalry was infamous for, “a story you can tell me in detention after school.” He activated his quirk slightly to talk over the twin groans at his statement, “As much as I like being the cool teacher, you are twenty minutes late, take your seats, boys.”

----

As it turned out Present Mic never got to hear the story, as he passed the detention to his husband when he was needed down at his studio straight after the school day ended. In all honesty, Aizawa didn’t mind being passed detention duty – he now had half an hour not spent doing paperwork and could probably get away with a short nap so long as the problem children behaved. Spoiler alert: they did not.

The teens were sat on opposite sides of the classroom and as Aizawa started the usual spiel of ‘no talking, stay in your seat etcetera’ Midoriya was pulling out one of his notebooks as Bakugou sulked with his feet on the table. Not his problem. It was peaceful, it was quiet. Okay, it wasn’t exactly quiet, what with the two constantly fidgeting, but Shouta could sleep through that. Tapping was not his problem. Black hair covered his face as he leant on his arms, already halfway asleep when -. Oh, those little shits. That, that was morse code. That was definitely morse code. Now he knew what he was listening to, tired eyes were able to pinpoint how Midoriya stopped writing to tap his pen on the table and Bakugou knocked his shoe against the table in reply. But it wasn’t until he really listened in that he realised, he had no fucking clue what they were saying. Whatever morse code they were using it wasn’t standard, hero or military Japanese morse code which meant that- that they had their own language. He was not paid enough for this.

“Are you two really talking right now?” his tired monotone voice echoed around the classroom as equal parts shocked and confused eyes darted to his slumped form.

“I've not said a word since you told us to shut up, what the hell are ya on about?” Bakugou sat in his chair properly – a win- and tapped something out that had Midoriya frowning – perhaps not a win.

“That. I'm not stupid you two. You are communicating.”

“Oh yeah, prove it.” The blond smirked before glaring at whatever Midoriya replied with, “What are we saying then if we ‘are communicating’.”

“I don’t know. You have a code, but I'm not stupid bakugou, so both of you st-”

“You take that back you son of a bitch.” Bakugou slammed his table with his fist, Midoriya had looked smug, before outrage showed on his face.

“Don’t talk about mum like that.” The green head replied before Shouta could even think about stepping in to stop...whatever this was.

"Nuh-uh. Auntie Inko is a delight, I'm talking about your shitty dad."

“Well, in that case, keep going.” The two shared a smile – which, Aizawa was a seasoned pro, and underground one even who had certainly seen some shit, but these two smiling at something together terrifying ­– before Bakugou tapped something out. The green-eyed child looked ready to launch himself at his friend? Honestly, Aizawa had no idea and it was not his problem.

“Enough.” Quirk activated, he glared his kids students back into their seats, “You are not about to fight in detention. Understand.” He waited for two nods to be sent his way, “No talking, no leaving and no tapping.” He settled back down, assuming – incorrectly – that he would have his peace and quiet now. And he did. Before he noticed it. It was a low, relatively quiet clicking. Both teens had their heads down and mouths shut so it seemed unlikely that it was coming from one of them. Unlikely until he saw the way that one of them would smirk or frown in the pauses between noises. And those little shits. The two were clicking their tongues at the back of their throats so the noise was quieter – but they were still talking. His head hit his desk and he counted to 10.

“No talking, No leaving, no tapping and no clicking.” He hated that mixed in with exasperation was a hint of awe in his tone – how could it not, the two were just teenagers and had seemingly created a language (not his problem) as well as two ways of communicating it. (Still not his problem.) Actually maybe three ways, he mused as he watched Bakugou’s hands fly through the air as Midoriya watched out of the corner of his eye. “Are you serious?”

“What now?”

“Are you actually signing in a made-up language?" Twin sounds of ire were ignored. He desperately wanted this to be not his problem – unfortunately right now it was. Head back on his desk and hand held up for silence. He counted to ten, questioned his life choices, wondered why the universe hated him, let himself sit in awe for a few seconds and then counted to ten again before lifting his head with a sigh. “No talking in any language, no leaving, no tapping in any language, no clicking in any language and no signing in any language.”

----

It was as the two teens left that dread really hit the black-haired pro. Oh god, how many times had he caught the two tapping, how many times had heard other teachers complaining of a low, infrequent clicking sound and how many times had he seen either of the two teens wave their hands about in what was now obvious sign language? Not his problem, Not his problem, Not his problem, Not his problem.

Wait until he told Hizashi about this.

Chapter Text

People think that Katsukis sports festival was a product of his brash personality. But that’s not the full story. Yes, it’s part of why the ash-blond had stood on the podium to declare that 'he was gonna win' and that’s the end of, but the bigger reason was that he hated, hated speaking in front of a crowd – a crowd that he could see in particular. He’d be alright as a hero – he’d seen the hero charts broadcast and with all those lights on him it’d be unlikely that the crowd would be visible to him and interviews wouldn’t be in front of the masses. But the sports festival was. He could see everyone staring at him – in one respect it helped him; he built up and stored a crazy amount of sweat just from the 10 seconds he was up there – and it was, quite frankly, nauseating. But it was fine, no one knew and that was the most important thing right now – or at least no one but dek-Izuku which was to be expected as they had grown up together (as they so often had to remind their class.)

Correction. It was fine. Right up until Aizawa said they had to give a solo presentation in front of their whole class – he could manage, it wouldn’t be fun but he knew their class – and class 1b – Fuck. He could ask for help, the explosive blond knew he could – hell, how many times had he reminded Denki that having help with his dyslexia or ADHD wasn’t a bad thing (he and Koda often paired up for presentations and they made a surprisingly good team with Koda doing the research and practising talking on Denki who memorised the information read to him and did the presentation from memory.) so he knew that telling Aizawa was an option and his friends would have no problem pairing with him – would welcome it in fact – but he didn’t want to. He wanted to get through this, wanted to prove to himself he could. So he would.

----

He chooses the topic of working abroad as pro heroes, focusing in particular on All Might and his connections to and in America. He spends the two weeks before the presentation practising his lecture over and over, knowing that if it's memorised then those 10 minutes will go by that much faster. He ropes the Bakusquad into practices, citing that he needs his friends to be the best, so he can talk in front of actual faces to prepare himself – he knows Denki and Mina at the very least work out that he wasn’t entirely honest but luckily they trust him to bring it up himself if its an issue, and he will,  he will just not today. Midoriya catches him practising and gives him a knowing look. (In hindsight the nerd definitely knew what he would be doing and had probably barged into his room on purpose so he could offer help without making Katsuki ask for it – normally that would piss him off but, with the plan they come up with, he’s honestly thankful for once. He'll never admit it. Looking at his friend, he knows he doesn’t need to.) He already has an idea, and if nothing else, Katsuki can't wait to see Aizawa's face, neither can Zuku if the gleam in his eyes says anything.

---

Katsuki sticks his hands in his pocket as he enters the hall. He can hide any shaking that way, plus he has a sweat-absorbent stress ball in each pocket so that he can discard the toxic chemical without needing to burn anything afterwards. He takes his seat, subtlely looking around. His friends are sat on his row and the one behind him whilst most of class 1b and a few stray members of 1a separate them from the Dekusquad who were sat at the back with izuku sat in the middle between two very bored looking students of 1b.

Mentally reciting his plan in the forty minutes before his turn made the time fly – he did pull himself out of his head to listen to Denki and Koda's and Icy Hot’s presentations but ignored Edgar Allen Crow's and someone else’s (the hand girl? Maybe?) talk. All too quickly it was his turn. Fuck. Okay. He could do this. He could. He would. Squaring his shoulders the teen made his way up to the podium, flashcards were spread out in front of him so that it minimised any nitroglycerin contact and he looked straight through the middle of the assembled students, slightly lower than usual and started to talk. Whenever he looked about to stumble or had glanced down a couple of times, Izuku would sign his next part. Apart from Aizawa who knew they had a sign language, it would be impossible to tell what the green-haired student was doing and so would be overlooked as him practising his own speech. And it was working. As he got into the content, he found it easier to focus on Izuku's hands rather than the eyes looking at him. At Zuku's smirk halfway through his talk, he realised that Aizawa had realised something was happening and caught the exact moment the raven had seen his helpers hand’s fast movements, scowling slightly – whether at the two ‘breaking’ (more bending) the rules again, the fact that they were seemingly working together (honestly he thought people wanted them to get along) or whether it was that he had no way of deciphering their ways of communicating Katsuki didn’t know or care. The red-eyed child smirked himself and felt himself fall into his work, speeding through his content and being taken by surprise when his remaining five minutes seemed to rush by, but happy to take his seat again at the polite applause from everyone and a rather rambunctious clapping from his friends.

----

Of course, twenty minutes Katsuki repaid the favour. He wasn’t in anyone's debt – but also he found himself wanting to help (he told himself it was to see Aizawa lose it at them so blatantly breaking bending the rules and being unable to call them on it.) Izuku, as everyone knew, had the tendency to mumble. Kacchan was there to keep him on track. The blond couldn’t sign so close to the front but as he was front row, he very, very gently tapped his pen against the table – it was more the movement than the sound that Izuku was watching for – to feed the other his lines to stop him from going on a tangent. Red eyes slid sideways to watch as their homeroom teacher got more exasperated, annoyed and surprisingly awed – which, confident boost right there.

----

“Really you two,” as everyone else filed out, Aizawa stopped Bakugou and Midoriya with a pointed sentence and a roll of dry eyes. “I want to say I can't believe you two would use whatever that is so obviously but as it's you two doing it, I'm unfortunately not.” Aizawa crossed his arms, as impressed as he was, the two really weren’t meant to help(?) each other for this kind of assignment unless they had permission. “However, you did break the rules by-”

“Prove it.”

“Midoriya-”

“Ya go on, prove it, prove we – two teenagers – are using a secret, made-up language.” At Bakugou's smirk and Midoriya’s laugh, Shouta glared at the two, annoyingly it had no effect which was…concerning, only slightly…ahh, nope it was very concerning. He sighed heavily, rubbed the bridge of his nose as if he could force the headache these two gave him away by pure force of will, and when that didn’t work, decided it wasn’t his problem and that he needed more caffeine, jelly pouches and to cuddle either a) a cat or b) his husband – not in that order and all within the next fifteen minutes if he wanted to be at least semi-sane at the end of the day.

“Just leave you two, and don’t break anything – that includes bones Midoriya, your own or otherwise.” Bakugou lost it at that, laughing at the green-eyed teen, messing his curls up despite Midoriya batting at his hands and whining before they separated as they left the hall.

“Thanks Zuku.”

“No problem kacchan, let's fuck with him a bit more yeah?”

“Oh hell yes.”

Chapter Text

Midoriya and Bakugou had spent the past two weeks using their language as much as they could, now that they were aware that Aizawa knew and couldn’t stop them, it had opened the gates of opportunity. Needed to talk about a project, they clicked it out in morse code, one of them didn’t know and answer when picked on, the other tapped it on the table, hell they'd even signed a couple of sentences at each other when Aizawa was looking just to see if they could get a rise out of their teacher. They hadn’t visibly gotten a reaction. Yet. They would, when they put their minds to something, they could be very persistent. But the next few weeks, once again proved that having a secret language was really beneficial in everyday life.

----

If there’s one thing Katsuki's not going to admit to it’ll be; being absolutely terrified of spiders. And not just the big spiders, all the spiders. Growing up Izuku could never be afraid of them as he was the one to move them if the parents weren’t around. So when Katsuki sees movement on the common room walls that belong to one of the 8 legged bastards he’s insanely glad that a) he didn’t scream – it was a close thing he’s not going to lie and b) he has a way to tell Izuku, who’s on the other side of the common room, about the spider without drawing attention to himself.

The one for all user was enjoying spending time with the whole class, the dorms truly were wonderful in getting everyone to loosen up a bit and get to know each other on a deeper level. A critical thing if they were to one day be on the field together. The teen had been listening to Kaminari and Todoroki talk about whether ‘feeling free sha voc a do” was better than ‘feeling Adam’ or not when he heard Kacchan knock his foot against the table three times to get his attention before tap talking. Green curls tilted slightly to show he was listening whilst he moved one of his legs to the side slight allowing him to reply when needed.

Spider. Zukie spider by the TV. Spider.

I see it. Don’t worry kacchan.

Now that he looked properly he could see that the blond was one tense line and despite appearances definitely wasn’t listening to Tokoyami and Kirishima talk about their favourite bands as red eyes stared unmoving at the spider.

“Huh, I’ll be right back guys” Izuku stood up, feeling Kacchan's gaze jump from him to the small spider as he made his way over, unfortunately getting Mina's attention who noticed the spider as he reached it.

“Ohmygod is that, that a spider, someone get it, get it – oh, Mido your a lifesaver” whilst Mina panicked and climbed over Kaminari to use the electric boy as a human shield, Izuku had calmly picked up the perpetrator and, going the long way to avoid Kacchan, placed the spider outside. The ash-blond visibly relaxing as the door swung shut, along with Mina who apologised to Denki and Shouto for interrupting.

Thank you.

No problem kacchan.

----

Kacchan Kacchan Kacchan.

What zukie?

There’s a ...

A....?

A thing.

Oh for fucks sake.

Aizawa glared at his problem children who were, once again, tapping away to each other. The raven-haired teacher was fairly sure that they weren’t arguing although Midoriya wasn’t doing any work and was instead staring at the open window. Bakugou stuck his hand up, not waiting to be called on before speaking.

“There’s a wasp in the classroom” without waiting for a reply, Katsuki ripped a page out of his notebook and strode over to the open window and started to guide the wasp to walk to the outside. It buzzed slightly as if to take off – Midoriya tensed – but the explosive teen just placed the paper on its back to stop it before crowding it out of the classroom and shutting the window with a firm bang.

Thank you Kacchan.

No worries Zu.

----

-han Kacchan can you feel this, hey Kacchan can you click back for me.

Wh---what

Hey, its Zukie you're in your room and it’s 9 pm.

Happened?

I’m not sure you were downstairs and then you came up and then I heard you stumble from my room.

Neck.

Huh?

Touched my neck.

And oh that made sense, if anything was going to set the other teen off it was his neck- between the sludge villain, the sports festival, the summer camp and the restraints the villains used, Katsuki didn’t allow anything near his neck unless he was completely aware of it. Whilst it wasn’t something he told anyone explicitly, Izuku was sure that most of the Bakusquad knew at least: as they were always so careful even with wrestling and group hugs.

The two sat in the middle of Katsuki's room, Izuku tapping against his friend's arm to help ground him without making things too loud, whilst Kacchan clicked back answers or just ‘talked’ in general to help clear his mind until the teen was himself again. Midoriya stood and stretched out, turning slightly towards the door.

Stay.

Sure.

Like they used to as kids the two curled up next to each other ignoring the world for once.

----

Inko and Izuku were at the Bakugou residence along with a few members of Mitsuki and Masaru's immediate family for another monthly family dinner. The two teens were serving drinks for the adults, whilst Katsuki's younger cousins plated finger foods up to take round.

2 teas and a coffee.

Bakugou clicked out in the kitchen after talking to one of his aunts, he listened to hear Izuku's reply before moving on to his grandparents.

Need anything from the fridge before I take these out?

Just the milk.

Here.

Thanks save me a seat.

Izuku clicked a yes out before taking his tray out to the living room, snagging Mitsuki and Katsuki's favourite spot – the mid day sun hit just right and honestly both the Midoriyas seriously considered the Bakugous part cat with how much they all like the warmth – and stretched his leg out slightly to keep the space next to him empty for Kacchan.

----

It was Midoriya’s turn to cook and, with the bribe of getting extra of Inko's curry, had roped Bakugou into lending a helping hand. He had thought making something that was normally very spicy through by having one bowl for him and Kacchan as well as those who could deal with the full recipe like Kaminari, Tokoyami and Todoroki who all had quirks that made hot food more bearable and another bowl for the rest of the class that was considerably milder.

You do ours, I'll make the rest.

Got it.

To the confusion of the rest of 1a, Katsuki and Izuku commanded the kitchen in perfect harmony – passing ingredients over and moving out of the way of the other seemingly before the first had started moving. In reality, like in most professional kitchens, they were simply broadcasting their location out to stop any accidents (like Izuku nearly stabbing Katsuki with a knife because he forgot to mention that he was moving forward.)

Left.

Behind.

Right with a knife.

Pass that when you're done.

And on one memorable occasion – catch.

Zuku that is a knife.

You caught it.

Not the fucking point.

They had served up in sync, taking a seat by their respective friends.

“I can actually taste the spice in this, I'm impressed.” Tokoyami was staring at his bowl in awe, having a bird quirk meant that spice didn’t really affect him the way it did everyone else.

“You guys have a different recipe?” Momo was looking down at her own bowl now realising that her own was hardly hot enough for it to make it past Tokoyami’s bird genetics.

“Hmm, ya, you extras couldn’t deal with the full recipe,”

“And you can?”

“Actually yes I can pink cheeks, I was brought up on this like the nerd – and icy hot and pika-pika over there have quirks that allow them to have high levels of spice so they can deal. You can't.”

“Kaminari?”

“Huh, oh I just use my electricity to numb my nerves  – I can taste the flavour but can't feel the pain or burn that you guys would.”

“Oh, can I try?” Apparently, Uraraka wanted death today.

“Ah, umm, I, I don't think that’s a good idea Uraraka, it can be a bit…much.”

Fuck that let her try.

Kacchan no.

Kacchan yes.

Smirking at his green-haired friend, Bakugou pushed his bowl towards the anti-gravity teen.

“Oooh Bakubro’s sharing food, things are getting seriooous!” Mina lent forward, using Hanta’s shoulder to balance as she tried to get a closer look at blasty’s food as if it might look different.

As the brunette took a bite, immediately regret it and ran for the milk carton Izuku just sighed and finished his mouthful. Well, might as well go all in.

“There's some spare of mine and Kacchan’s spice level if you guys want to try it.”

When Aizawa walked into the dorms to check on his kids students he didn’t expect all of them but the problem children, Todoroki, Tokoyami and Kaminari to be crying? and drinking milk? What. The. Fuck. An exasperated gaze fell on the five unaffected.

“Problem children, I assume this is somehow your fault?”

“Of course not sir,” Midoriya reached behind him to grab the half-empty spare curry bowl, “do you want some curry? We have some spare.”

Chapter Text

Their ‘language’ ends up being of more use than just talking in lessons when they already know the content – it's well known that the two of them are massive nerds (even if Katsuki doesn’t seem it at first) and study ahead of the lessons – when they are given a brief for one of their hero training practical lessons.

 It's right as the bell is about to go to signal the end of the day when Aizawa enters Midnight’s classroom to give them a briefing for the next morning.

"Tomorrow you are to go straight to Ground Beta as the whole morning will be a practical lesson on talking strategies in front of an enemy. It will be done in pairs which have already been selected," Aizawa cut off the excited whispers trying to get their friends to pair with them before they even properly began, "your class and 1b will be taking part, although you will be working with a classmate the idea is to learn from the other students, whilst you have undoubtedly had experiences they haven’t, they have had lessons you haven’t as a result, your real-life experiences are invaluable but that doesn’t mean that you haven’t missed anything because of them." Aizawa moved towards the board and picked up a piece of chalk so that he could illustrate their future task whilst he spoke – students like Mina and Denki with ADHD did better with more than one source of information.

"you will have an earpiece connected to your partner as well as a pair from 1b. 1b will go first as the heroes and then you will have a turn. When you are the villains the aim is to separate, one of you will be lead to a dead-end eventually but you will get points for how long you last. Then when one is apprehended it is up to your partner to get information, free you and stop the heroes. When it’s your turn, you will choose one of your opponents to capture and take to your base, in front of them in the hearing range of the earpiece, you will discuss your plan. It is up to you to then carry out the plan to keep the first and capture the second villain without being sabotaged. The only rules for discussing your plan is that you can not remove any earpiece and that you, your partner and both your 1b opposition must hear your entire conversation. No severe injuries to your opposition or yourself" Aizawa spared Midoriya a glare, before noticing that Bakugou had also given the green teen a pointed stare.

----

The day before...

Aizawa was getting pissed off. In all honesty, he rarely got truly angry, his job meant that it was a nightly occurrence for him to see and hear a lot of really awful things that required him to keep a logical head if he wanted to stick to his, admittedly wonky, morals but Vlad King was testing him. If he had to listen to the other teacher talk about how 1b would be better than 1a if his kids hadn’t.. wait his students, (that’s better) hadn’t lived through extremely traumatic experiences, he would not be liable for responsibility for his actions. Temporary insanity was a plea for a reason. A reason Vlad king was looking to prove.

“Let's put it to the test.” Aizawa snapped. Understandably, but still. The raven-haired teacher felt the eyes of the staff room fall on him but it was too late to stop now. “We normally teach the third years how to talk freely about plans without being foiled, neither classes have had any kind of lesson or experience in this. If 1b is truly naturally better, then this should show it.” His eyes locked onto Vlad's as he watched the man shift in his chair, clearly not expecting Aizawa to throw down the gauntlet.

“Um well, I guess-” “C’mon King you always say that your class doesn’t get the spotlight, so this is your chance man!” Honestly, God bless Aizawa's loud blond.

“Of course. Let's get this planned out then.”

“Yes, lets.” Aizawa hid his smile in his scarf. This would be fun.

----

1a as the villains was relatively uneventful. 1b was admittedly very good and proved their worth as heroes, but class 1a was, simply put, better at adapting. How many times had they been put into shit situations to have to work on the fly, wing every plan just to escape? In this scenario they had their opponents plan - already they were better off than the USJ and the summer camp - and knew how each and every one of their classmates acted in a crisis so didn’t necessarily need to plan out their escapes so much as work how their partner would work in this scenario. 1b was good but 1a weren’t worried about being better.

The first 1a hero partners to figure out the purposeful loophole was Todoroki and Kaminari. They were right in the middle of 1a’s turn at being heroes and after watching the matches before them, Kaminari had had a light bulb moment.

They’d captured their opponent – a girl Kaminari vaguely recognised as the one he’d lost to at the festival – when he suddenly interrupted Todoroki trying and explain a plan vague enough for their listeners to not understand but for Denki to get what he was talking about.

“Hello and welcome to chilli’s.” It was their standard greeting at this point – that or they just T posed at each other in the common room either worked – “dude, we could just talk in another language, it's not against the rules.” As Shouto translated the English in his head, he got hit with the same light bulb moment as his friend.

They completed the rest of their plan with an honestly terrifying efficiency considering they talked only in vine quotes, memes, English, Russian and French to the confusion of their captive and her partner who was easily caught when he was found staring in confusion at a wall wondering – rightfully so – what the actual fuck just happened. To those not in class 1a, it was fairly easy to see Todoroki as a quiet, stoic boy and whilst that was true, most of 1a had seen him and Denki have full conversations in vines and knew that the two both owned six-foot-long worms on strings. Basically, the two were the only ones who got close to the pure chaotic vibes that Midoriya and Bakugou radiated.

It was Kaminari's lightbulb moment that got Katsuki and Izuku to realise that they had the biggest advantage ever. Although after sharing a look with Aizawa they had the sneaky suspicion that being paired together was perhaps not as coincidental as everyone else thought. Sharing a smirk, they knew this would be good. it wasn’t. It was fucking amazing.

----

Midoriya and Bakugou with their opposition of Monoma and Kendo were last. By silent agreement, Izuku and Katsuki had decided that speaking was not going to happen at any point, let alone when they were discussing their plans. Talking was out. Clicking was in.

Copy is the bigger threat.

Right, let's get him then Kacchan, I wanna watch as he realises he has no chance.

You got it Zu.

Monoma cursed mentally when he realised he was being chased to the dead-end he had got Midoriya down on his turn to be the hero – he cursed verbally when the capture tape went around his wrist without any contact from either teens. Part of his and Kendo's plan relied on him having one of their quirks but it seemed like they were being very careful in the distance they kept from him all the way from the dead-end to the ‘hero’ base. Nevermind. 1b was so much better and…and what the fuck?

“You can't do that!”

“Shut it you copy cat extra.”

“You have to discuss your plan, this is against the rules – 1a is no better if they only win through cheating you know ahahah, I know your secret now -”

“Oh shut it-” the copy quirk owner made an affronted noise a being told to shut up by the 1a cinnamon roll, “its morse code you motherfucker.” Izuku sighed and turned back to his partner.

We need to get hands to that blue building we passed.

She was last seen at the red one.

That’s not bad.

Exactly, once we get her there if we get her inside her quirk is less useful as she limits her field of vision.

If we get her hands to expand it'll be easier to get the tape on her.

True, so whether she’s inside or not we need her to activate her quirk. If you use yours she should activate hers to protect herself from the explosion giving me the opening to tape her up.

As they walked out of the ‘base’ they heard confused talking come through their earpiece and shared a smirk before setting their plan into motion.

----

“This was meant to be equal.”

“Neither classes have had this kind of lesson, we both agreed that this was fair.”

“Then WHAT WAS THAT?”

“Be more specific, King.” Aizawa stared his coworker in the eye whilst the other fumed.

“That, they cheated.”

“That was morse code.”

“It was not.”

"It sounded like morse code.”

“It was coded,” at Aizawa's huff of amusement Vlad King narrowed his eyes. “You knew. That’s why you were so quick to give this practice as the test.”

Aizawa, done with the other man's shit, had already started to walk away but stopped to turn his head in the other man's direction.

“Prove it.”

----

Back in the common room, class 1a was trying to wrap their heads around the video of Midoriaya and Bakugou a) working seamlessly together and b) having their own fucking language.

“What the fuck?” It was a testament to the confusion when Iida didn’t lecture Kirishima on his language. “You guys know morse code that well?”

“That wasn’t morse code” Shouto was staring at the two with his head tilted like a puppy focusing on a tennis ball from where he was squished onto an armchair with Denki, “I know bits of morse code, hero and civilian and that wasn’t it, was it?”

“I mean it kinda is,” Izuku tilted his head back slightly as he thought how to explain without giving it away – it was their language after all – whining slightly when, to 1as amusement and horror, Kacchan ruffled his curls with a huff.

“It’s a mix of all Japanese morse codes and then it's coded itself on top of that in a way only we know. That’s all you extras are getting so leave it.”

That just set them off even more, Denki's hands flailing around as he talked until Shouto stuck his foot into the other's ribs when he was nearly hit with a stay arm. The two childhood friends shared a smile at the chaos they had caused, revelling in the fact that they were in the centre of all the confusion.

“Midoriya, Bakugou I have to ask, were you two talking throughout all those lessons you were tapping in because I must say that that is very un hero-like behaviour and I thought you two at least were taking our education seriously.”

Izuku looked at Kacchan before leaning forward slightly, catching 1a’s attention once again causing a lull in conversation as everyone waited for his answer.

“Prove it.”