Chapter 3: Fractured Trust The cafeteria noise hadn't died down. If anything, it got louder as more students processed what Maddy had just said. Deku watched the reactions spread across the room like ripples in water. Some people looked excited about the gossip. Others seemed uncomfortable. A few were clearly judging them. Mineta appeared at their table. Deku had been hoping he'd stay away, but apparently that was too optimious. "So wait, you're telling me you get to date three guys at once?" Mineta's grin was exactly as sleazy as expected. "That's pretty hot. Do you guys all—" Kacchan grabbed him by the collar before he could finish that sentence. "Finish that thought and I'll blast you through the fucking wall." "Kacchan, don't," Deku said, but it was too late. Kacchan had already shoved Mineta backward. Mineta stumbled but recovered quickly. "What? I'm just asking questions! If she gets to have three boyfriends, maybe I could—" Kacchan's explosion lit up the cafeteria. It wasn't a full-power blast, but it was enough to send Mineta flying across several tables. Students scattered. Food went everywhere. Aizawa appeared out of nowhere because apparently he had a sixth sense for when his students were about to do something stupid. "Bakugo. Mineta. Principal's office. Now." "But he started it!" Mineta whined from where he'd landed in someone's curry. "I don't care who started it. You're both going to detention." Aizawa looked at the four of them with that expression that said he'd known this was going to happen. "The rest of you, finish your lunch. Classes resume in twenty minutes." Kacchan left without arguing, which meant he probably thought Mineta deserved worse than what he got. Mineta followed while complaining about unfair treatment and how he was just asking innocent questions. The cafeteria slowly returned to normal volume. Normal being relative, since everyone was still talking about them. Maddy pushed her food around on her plate. She hadn't eaten much. Deku noticed her hands were shaking slightly. Too much attention too fast. This was exactly what they'd been trying to avoid. "You okay?" he asked quietly. "Yeah. Just a lot of people staring." That was an understatement. Pretty much the entire cafeteria was either openly staring or pretending not to stare while obviously listening to their conversation. Mina was still at their table. She seemed genuinely excited rather than judgmental, which was something. "So how does it actually work? Like, do you all go on dates together, or do you do separate dates, or what?" "That's kind of personal," Shoto said. "Oh come on, you can't just drop this bomb and then not give us any details!" Uraraka put a hand on Mina's shoulder. "Maybe give them some space? This is probably overwhelming." "Right. Sorry. I'm just curious!" Mina got up but looked like she had about fifty more questions ready to go. "But seriously, if you want to talk about it, I'm here. This is actually really cool." She wandered off to spread the news to people who hadn't been in the cafeteria. Deku watched her go and wondered how many times this story would get retold today. Each version would probably get more exaggerated. Iida had been quiet this whole time. Now he stood up and gestured for Deku to follow him. "Midoriya, could I speak with you privately?" That didn't sound good. Deku glanced at Maddy and Shoto, who both looked concerned but nodded. He followed Iida to a quieter corner of the cafeteria. "Is everything okay?" Deku asked. Iida adjusted his glasses. He did that when he was thinking about how to phrase something carefully. "I want to be clear that I'm asking this as your friend, not as class representative." "Okay..." "Do you think this relationship is appropriate for aspiring heroes?" Deku blinked. "What?" "Hero work requires complete professionalism and focus. Personal relationships can compromise that, as we saw yesterday when the three of you abandoned your matches. Now that this has become public knowledge, it reflects on Class 1-A as a whole." Iida paused. "I'm concerned that this might violate the spirit of hero conduct, even if it doesn't technically break any rules." Something cold settled in Deku's stomach. "You think we shouldn't be together?" "I think that heroes need to maintain certain standards. What you're doing is unconventional. People will judge you for it. They'll question your judgment and professionalism. Is that really the kind of reputation you want to build?" Deku stared at his friend. Iida looked genuinely concerned, which somehow made this worse. He wasn't being cruel or judgmental. He honestly thought he was giving good advice. "We're not doing anything wrong," Deku said. "We're just dating each other." "In a way that attracts significant attention and raises questions about your priorities. Yesterday you three prioritized Maddy's wellbeing over completing your training exercises. Today you've made your relationship the talk of the entire school. How is that maintaining proper hero conduct?" "Because we care about each other! Is that not allowed?" "Of course it's allowed. But you need to consider how this affects your hero career. All of you do." Iida's expression softened slightly. "I'm saying this because I'm your friend, Midoriya. I don't want to see you damage your reputation over something like this." Something like this. As if their relationship was some kind of mistake or phase. "Thanks for the concern," Deku said. He tried to keep his voice level. "But we're fine." He walked back to the table before Iida could say anything else. Maddy looked up when he sat down. "What did he want?" "Just to talk." Deku didn't want to repeat the conversation. Not here, not now, not with half the cafeteria still watching them. Shoto was studying him. "What did he say?" "He's worried about how this affects our hero careers." Maddy's expression went flat. Shoto's eyes narrowed slightly. They both understood what that meant. Lunch ended without any other major incidents. Afternoon combat training was next, which meant changing into hero costumes and trying to act normal while everyone treated them differently. The locker room conversations stopped when Deku entered. People who usually joked around with him suddenly got very focused on getting dressed. Kirishima gave him a supportive nod, which was nice. Kaminari started to say something but then apparently thought better of it. Sero broke the awkward silence. "So that was a pretty big announcement." "Yeah," Deku said. He focused on getting his costume on correctly. "You doing okay with it? Everyone knowing?" "Not really sure yet. It only happened like an hour ago." "Fair. Well, for what it's worth, I think it's cool that you guys are honest about it." Sero grabbed his helmet. "Takes guts to just put it out there like that." "Thanks." But most of the class wasn't being that supportive. They weren't actively hostile, but there was definitely a shift in how people acted around him. More distant. More careful. Like he'd become someone they needed to handle differently. The girls' locker room was probably having similar conversations. Deku wondered how Maddy was handling it. She'd been getting overwhelmed in the cafeteria, and this couldn't be helping. They gathered at Training Ground Beta. All Might was running today's exercise, which involved combat scenarios with rotating partners. Normally Deku would be excited about this. Today he was just trying to get through it. All Might explained the exercise parameters. Standard combat drills, switching partners every ten minutes to practice adapting to different fighting styles. Simple enough. Except people were clearly uncomfortable about potentially partnering with any of the four of them. When All Might called for the first rotation, Deku ended up with Sato, who was professional about it but definitely keeping more distance than usual. They ran through the drill. Sato was holding back more than he needed to. Like he was worried about accidentally doing something that might upset Deku or cause problems. "You can hit harder than that," Deku said. "I'm not going to break." "Yeah, I know. Just being careful." "We've sparred before. You didn't used to be this careful." Sato hesitated. "Yeah, well, things are different now." Different. Everyone kept using that word. Like they'd fundamentally changed somehow just because people knew about their relationship. The rotation switched. Deku got paired with Aoyama next, who sparkled his way through the drill while making absolutely no comments about anything personal. Progress, maybe. Across the training ground, Maddy was sparring with Tsu. Deku tried not to watch too obviously, but he could see that Tsu was being cautious too. Treating Maddy like she might shatter if pushed too hard. Shoto was with Ojiro. That pairing seemed to be going normally, though Ojiro kept glancing at Shoto like he wanted to ask questions but wasn't sure if he should. Kacchan still wasn't back from detention. Probably for the best. He'd be furious about everyone's weird behavior, and that would just make things worse. The whispers were constant. Deku could hear fragments of conversations between drills. People speculating about their relationship, questioning how it worked, wondering if it would last. Some of the comments were supportive. Most were just curious. A few were actively judging them. Monoma showed up halfway through the training session. He wasn't supposed to be here, but apparently he'd decided that spreading rumors was more important than whatever Class 1-B was supposed to be doing. "Afternoon, Class 1-A!" He had that smile that meant he was about to say something terrible. "I've been hearing such interesting things about your little love square. The whole school is talking about it." "Get lost, Monoma," Jiro said. "Oh, I'm just here to share some observations. You see, several students have raised interesting questions. For instance, some people think this might be a publicity stunt. Four hero students in an unconventional relationship? That's certainly newsworthy. Great way to get attention before debut." "It's not a publicity stunt," Maddy said. She sounded tired. "Others have suggested something more concerning. That perhaps your quirk is involved. After all, you have thylacine abilities. What if one of those abilities is some form of manipulation? It would explain why three talented heroes would all suddenly want to share one girl." Shoto moved. Deku barely caught his arm before ice could spread across the training ground. "He's trying to get a reaction. Don't give him one." "That's a serious accusation," Shoto said. His voice had gone cold. "Is it? Because from an outside perspective, it does seem rather suspicious. Three rivals, all competing at the top of their class, suddenly decide to cooperate in sharing a romantic partner? That's not normal behavior." Monoma's grin widened. "Unless someone's quirk is influencing their decision-making." Maddy had gone very still. Deku recognized that expression. She was shutting down. Too much stimulation, too much accusation, too much everything. "My quirk doesn't work like that," she said quietly. "So you say. But how would they even know if it did? Manipulation quirks are notoriously difficult to detect, especially if the person using them is subtle about it." Kendo appeared and immediately chopped Monoma on the head. "Stop spreading rumors and get back to our class." "I'm simply raising legitimate questions that others are asking!" "You're being a jerk. Come on." She dragged him away while apologizing to the group. "Sorry about him. He gets like this when he thinks he's found drama." But the damage was done. Deku could see the speculation in people's eyes now. Wondering if maybe Monoma had a point. Questioning whether Maddy might actually be using her quirk to manipulate them. "That's ridiculous," Deku said loudly enough for nearby students to hear. "Maddy's quirk gives her physical abilities, not mental manipulation." But doubt had been planted. That was the thing about rumors. They didn't need to be true to spread. Training continued but the atmosphere had shifted again. Now people weren't just treating them differently because of the relationship. They were treating Maddy with suspicion. Uraraka approached during a water break. "For what it's worth, I don't believe Monoma's theory. You guys are together because you want to be, not because of any quirk manipulation." "Thanks," Maddy said. But she sounded defeated. "Just ignore him. He loves stirring up trouble, but most people know better than to take him seriously." That should have been reassuring. Except Deku could see students whispering and glancing at Maddy. Some of them were taking Monoma seriously. Or at least seriously enough to question it. The training session finally ended. Deku was exhausted, and not from the physical exercise. Maintaining normalcy while everyone treated them like specimens under glass was draining. Kacchan met them outside the locker rooms. He'd been released from detention but looked furious about everything that had apparently happened while he was gone. "I heard Monoma was here." "Yeah," Shoto said. "He was spreading rumors about Maddy using her quirk to manipulate us." "I'll kill him." "Please don't. We're trying to avoid more incidents." Deku looked around. Students were leaving the training ground, but several were still watching them. "We should talk. Somewhere private." They ended up on the roof again. Seemed like this was becoming their designated crisis location. The sun was setting. Classes were over. Most students would be having dinner or studying or relaxing. The four of them were dealing with the consequences of going public with their relationship. "This is a disaster," Deku said. He sat down against the roof wall. "Everyone's treating us differently. Iida thinks we're violating hero conduct. Monoma's spreading rumors that Maddy is manipulating us with her quirk. People are either avoiding us or staring at us constantly." "We knew it would be difficult," Shoto said. "I didn't expect people to think I was mind-controlling you," Maddy said. She was pacing. Her hands were shaking again. "That's not how my quirk works. It's never worked like that. But now people are going to wonder if maybe it does and I just haven't told anyone." "Nobody who matters actually believes that," Deku said. "Don't they? Because I saw how people were looking at me during training. Like they were trying to figure out if you three were acting normally or if I'd done something to you." She stopped pacing. "Maybe confirming everything in the cafeteria was a mistake." Silence. That was the question Deku had been avoiding thinking about. Whether going public had been the right choice. Kacchan leaned against the roof access door. "You think we should have lied?" "I think maybe we should have handled it differently. More carefully. Instead of just announcing it to the entire cafeteria during lunch." Maddy wrapped her arms around herself. "Now everyone knows and everyone has opinions and everyone's treating us weird and I can't..." She trailed off. Deku stood up and moved closer to her, though he wasn't sure if touching her right now would help or make things worse. "Can't what?" Shoto asked quietly. "I can't handle all the attention. It's too much. Too many people staring and asking questions and making assumptions. My quirk already makes me sensitive to stimulus and now there's this constant pressure of everyone watching us and I just..." She took a breath. "I'm getting overwhelmed." Deku hadn't thought about that aspect. Maddy's thylacine quirk gave her enhanced senses and instincts, but it also made her more reactive to stress and overstimulation. Having the entire school focused on her would be significantly harder for her than for the rest of them. "What do you need?" he asked. "I don't know. Space, maybe? Except I can't get space because everyone wants to talk about this and ask questions and share their opinions about our relationship." She looked at the three of them. "Did I mess this up? By confirming everything?" "No," Shoto said immediately. "You were honest. That's what we agreed to do if asked directly." "But maybe we should have thought it through more first. Talked about the timing, the location, how to handle the follow-up. Instead I just said yes in the middle of the cafeteria and created this whole situation." Kacchan pushed off from the door. "People would have figured it out anyway. Monoma was already spreading rumors. At least this way we controlled the narrative instead of letting gossip do it for us." "Except now the gossip is even worse. Now they're saying I'm manipulating you with my quirk." "And we'll deal with that. We'll tell people it's bullshit and eventually they'll move on to the next drama." Kacchan sounded confident, but Deku could see the tension in his posture. He was angry about the whole situation. "But what if they don't?" Maddy asked. "What if this follows us for the rest of our time at U.A.? What if every time we do something together, people question whether it's real or if I'm controlling you? What if this affects our hero careers because people think we're unprofessional or inappropriate?" Those were all valid concerns. Deku didn't have good answers for any of them. "Iida thinks we're violating the spirit of hero conduct," he said quietly. "He's worried about our reputations." "Of course he is," Kacchan muttered. "Iida's always worried about following the rules perfectly." "But he has a point. Heroes are supposed to be professional. We abandoned our matches yesterday. We made our relationship the talk of the school today. We're getting detention because of it. Maybe people have legitimate reasons to question our judgment." Shoto had been quiet for a while. Now he spoke up. "So what are you saying? That we should break up because it's inconvenient for our hero careers?" "No! I'm just... trying to understand how we got here. Yesterday we were keeping things quiet. Today the whole school knows and everyone's treating us differently and we're questioning whether going public was even the right choice." Deku ran his hand through his hair. "I don't know what I'm saying." "I know what I'm saying," Maddy said. "I'm saying that I made a decision without thinking it through completely and now we're all dealing with consequences that maybe we weren't ready for." "Stop," Kacchan said. "You're spiraling. We all agreed to be honest if asked directly. You followed through on that. Don't start second-guessing it now." "But look at what happened! Mineta made inappropriate comments and you attacked him and got detention. Monoma spread rumors about my quirk. Iida thinks we're being unprofessional. Our classmates are avoiding us or treating us like we're different. This is exactly what we were trying to avoid!" She was right. This was the nightmare scenario they'd been worried about. Too much attention, too many questions, too much judgment, everything happening too fast. Deku looked at the other two. Shoto's expression was carefully neutral, which meant he was probably processing about fifteen different emotions simultaneously. Kacchan looked ready to explode something, but he was holding back. "So what do we do?" Deku asked. "I don't know," Maddy said. "I really don't know." The sun had nearly set completely. The roof was getting cold. The four of them stood there in the gathering dark, trying to figure out how to navigate a situation that had gotten away from them. Going public had cost them their comfortable anonymity. Everyone knew now. Everyone had opinions. Everyone was watching to see what would happen next. And they were realizing, maybe for the first time, just how much they'd lost when Maddy had confirmed their relationship in that cafeteria.