Chapter 4: The Compromise "So what do we do?" Deku asked. "I don't know," Maddy said. "I really don't know." The silence stretched out between them. Deku watched Maddy pace back and forth across the roof. She was rubbing her arms like she was cold, but he didn't think temperature was the actual problem. "Maybe we need to dial it back," Maddy said finally. "Dial what back?" Shoto asked. "The public stuff. Group activities. Displays of affection. All the things that make people stare at us and ask questions." She stopped pacing. "If we just act like normal classmates for a while, the attention will die down. People will move on to the next drama." Deku processed that. "You want to put our relationship on pause?" "Not actually on pause. Just publicly. We keep being together in private, but we stop doing things that draw attention. No more sitting together at lunch as a group. No more walking to class together. We spread out during training so nobody can accuse us of favoritism or distraction." Maddy looked at each of them. "We make ourselves boring so people stop watching us." "That's practical," Shoto said. Something about his tone made Deku glance over. Shoto sounded too neutral, which usually meant he was working through complicated emotions and trying not to show them. "It would reduce the stimulus problem," Shoto continued. "Less attention means less stress. You'd be able to function better without constant scrutiny." "Exactly," Maddy said. She sounded relieved that someone understood. "I just need a break from everyone staring and whispering and making assumptions. If we give them nothing to talk about, they'll eventually get bored." Kacchan hadn't said anything yet. Deku looked at him and immediately recognized the warning signs. The way Kacchan was standing too still. The tension in his jaw. The fact that his hands were already sparking slightly. "Kacchan—" "No." "You haven't even heard the full plan," Maddy said. "Don't need to. The answer's no." Kacchan pushed off from the door. "We're not hiding." "It's not hiding, it's just being subtle about it—" "It's hiding." Kacchan's voice was getting louder. "You want us to pretend we're not together so people will stop judging us. That's the definition of hiding." "I want us to have some space to breathe without the entire school treating us like we're circus attractions," Maddy shot back. "Is that really so unreasonable?" "When it means lying about who we are? Yeah, it is." Shoto stepped between them. "Kacchan, she's overwhelmed. The attention is affecting her quirk responses. We need to consider her needs." "Her needs or her fears?" Kacchan looked at Maddy. "Because it sounds like you're scared of what people think and you want us to accommodate that by pretending we don't exist." "That's not fair," Deku said. "Isn't it? We finally stopped hiding yesterday. We made a choice to be honest. And now because some people are assholes about it, we're supposed to go back to pretending?" Kacchan's hands sparked brighter. "Fuck that." "Easy for you to say," Maddy said. Her voice had gone quieter, which was worse than if she'd yelled. "You don't have people accusing you of using your quirk to manipulate your partners. You're not the one everyone's suspicious of." "So we prove them wrong by being together openly. Not by hiding like we're ashamed." "I'm not ashamed! I'm exhausted! There's a difference!" Maddy's voice cracked slightly. "You don't understand what it's like having everyone constantly watching you, questioning everything you do, wondering if you're secretly controlling people—" "Then make them understand! Show them you're not doing anything wrong instead of running away!" "I'm not running away, I'm trying to survive this without having a complete breakdown!" They were both getting louder now. Deku had never heard Maddy yell before. Her quirk usually made her avoid confrontation because the stress of conflict overwhelmed her senses too easily. Shoto was still trying to mediate. "Maybe we could compromise. Reduce public interaction for a week or two, just until things calm down—" "No compromise," Kacchan interrupted. "Either we're together or we're not. I'm not doing this halfway bullshit where we pretend to be friends in public and sneak around in private like we're doing something wrong." "Why does everything have to be so black and white with you?" Maddy demanded. "Why can't you just be flexible for once?" "Because being flexible means letting other people dictate how we live our lives! We already did that by keeping quiet about the relationship for weeks. Now everyone knows anyway, and you want to go back to hiding? That's not flexibility, that's cowardice." "Don't call me a coward." "Then stop acting like one." Maddy flinched like he'd hit her. Deku moved without thinking, putting himself between them. "Kacchan, that's enough." "Is it? Because she's the one who wants to pretend we don't exist in public. She's the one who thinks we should lie about our relationship so people will stop judging us. How is that not cowardice?" "It's self-preservation," Shoto said. His voice had gone cold. "She's trying to protect herself from stimulus overload. That's not the same as being afraid." "Looks the same from here." "Maybe you need to look harder then." Kacchan turned on Shoto. "You're really taking her side on this?" "There are no sides. We're trying to find a solution that works for everyone." "The solution that works is not hiding. That's it. That's the whole solution." "Even if it makes Maddy's quirk symptoms worse? Even if the constant attention causes her to lose control again?" Shoto stepped closer to Kacchan. "You saw what happened during training. She can't handle this level of stress indefinitely." "Then she gets stronger. We all do. That's the whole point of being heroes." Kacchan was practically vibrating with anger now. "We don't run away from hard situations. We face them and we deal with them." "This isn't a villain fight," Deku said. "This is our relationship. We're allowed to handle it however works best for us." "And I'm saying that hiding doesn't work for me. If you three want to sneak around and pretend we're just classmates, fine. Do whatever you want. But I'm not participating." "So what, you're just going to ignore what Maddy needs?" Deku couldn't believe what he was hearing. "She's literally telling us she's overwhelmed and you're saying she should just deal with it?" "I'm saying she needs to decide if she actually wants this relationship or if she wants to hide from everyone who has a problem with it. Because those are different things." Maddy had gone very quiet. Deku glanced at her and saw tears starting to form. She was shaking harder than before, which meant her quirk was reacting to the emotional stress. "This isn't about wanting the relationship," she said. Her voice was barely above a whisper. "This is about surviving it." "Same thing," Kacchan said. "It's really not." "Then explain it to me. Make me understand why we need to hide after we literally just stopped hiding." "Because everyone's watching us! Because they think I'm manipulating you! Because every time we're together in public someone makes a comment or asks a question or stares at us like we're freaks!" Maddy was crying now. "Because I can't turn off my quirk senses and I can hear every whispered conversation about us and I can smell the judgment coming off people and it's too much input and I can't process it all and I'm going to break if it doesn't stop!" Silence. Deku had never heard her describe her quirk experiences like that before. He'd known it made her more sensitive, but he hadn't really understood what that meant in practical terms. Shoto looked stricken. Even Kacchan seemed taken aback. "I just need it to slow down," Maddy continued. "Just for a little while. Just enough that I can catch my breath and figure out how to handle this without losing control completely. Is that really too much to ask?" "It's not too much," Deku said immediately. "We can do that." "Can we?" Kacchan's voice had dropped back to normal volume. "Because I don't see how pretending we're not together is going to fix anything. People already know. Acting like we're just friends won't make them forget." "Maybe not. But it might make them less interested if we're not giving them anything to watch." "Or it might make them more suspicious because we're suddenly acting different." Kacchan shook his head. "This isn't going to work the way you think it will." "You don't know that," Shoto said. "Yeah, I do. People love drama. The more we try to hide, the more they're going to dig. The only way out is through." "Through what? Through weeks of constant scrutiny while Maddy's quirk makes her more and more unstable?" Shoto's ice was starting to form on the roof surface. "That's not a plan, that's just stubbornness." "It's commitment. To her, to us, to being honest about who we are." "It's easy to talk about commitment when you're not the one being accused of quirk manipulation." "Maybe if we actually acted like a normal couple instead of hiding, people would stop with the manipulation theories." "We're not a normal couple!" Maddy's voice cracked again. "We're four people in a polyamorous relationship at a hero school where everyone already thinks we're weird. There's nothing normal about this situation!" "So we make it normal by not treating it like something shameful." "I don't think it's shameful! I think it's private! There's a difference!" Kacchan laughed, but there was no humor in it. "Private. Right. That's why you confirmed it to the entire cafeteria earlier today." "Because Mina asked directly and we agreed to be honest if asked!" "And now you want to take it back by pretending it didn't happen." "That's not what I'm saying—" "Then what are you saying? Because from here it sounds like you regret going public and you want to undo it by acting like we're not together." Maddy put her face in her hands. "I regret how it happened. I regret not thinking it through. I regret that we didn't plan for how to handle the aftermath." "Yeah, well, regret doesn't change anything. Everyone knows now. We deal with that reality or we don't, but we can't pretend it away." "I'm not trying to pretend it away! I'm trying to survive it!" Maddy looked up. Tears were streaming down her face now. "Why can't you understand that?" "I understand that you're scared. I get it. But hiding isn't the answer." "And forcing yourself to be visible when it's destroying you isn't brave, it's just stupid!" "Better stupid than cowardly." "Stop calling me a coward!" "Then stop acting like one!" "Enough!" Shoto's ice spread across the roof in a sharp burst. "Both of you stop." Kacchan rounded on him. "Stay out of this." "No. You're both too worked up to think clearly. We need to take a break from this conversation before someone says something they can't take back." "Maybe things need to be said," Kacchan shot back. "Maybe we need to actually address the fact that Maddy wants to hide our relationship because she's embarrassed about it." "I'm not embarrassed!" Maddy practically screamed it. "I'm overwhelmed! How many times do I have to say that before you believe me?" "I'd believe you if you weren't trying to make us hide!" "It's not hiding, it's reducing stimulus—" "It's the same thing!" Deku tried to step in. "Maybe we should all calm down—" "Don't tell me to calm down," Kacchan snapped. "This is bullshit and you know it. We finally stopped hiding and now she wants to go back to it because some people are assholes. That's not how relationships work." "You don't get to decide how our relationship works," Maddy said. "None of us do individually. We're supposed to make decisions together." "Then let's decide together. Right now. Vote on it." Kacchan looked at each of them. "Who thinks we should hide our relationship in public?" "That's not fair," Shoto said. "Why not? Democracy in action. Let's see where everyone actually stands." "Because you're framing it in the worst possible way. Maddy's not asking us to hide, she's asking for space to process everything that's happened." "Same thing." "It's really not." Kacchan ignored him and looked at Deku. "What about you? You think we should pretend we're just friends in public?" Deku didn't want to answer. Either option felt wrong. Supporting Maddy meant agreeing to something that made him uncomfortable. Supporting Kacchan meant ignoring Maddy's legitimate needs. "I think we should do whatever helps Maddy handle the stimulus problem," he said finally. "That's not an answer." "Yes it is. Her quirk is making this harder for her than it is for us. We need to accommodate that." "By hiding." "By being flexible about how we present ourselves publicly." Deku hated how diplomatic he sounded. "If that means being less obvious about the relationship for a while, then that's what we do." Kacchan stared at him. "You're serious." "Yeah." "You really think hiding is the answer." "I think supporting Maddy is the answer. If she needs us to be subtle about things for a while, then we can do that." "Unbelievable." Kacchan's hands were sparking again. "You're both taking her side." "There are no sides," Shoto repeated. "Bullshit. It's three against one. You all want to hide, I don't. That's sides." "We're not against you," Maddy said. She sounded exhausted. "We're just trying to find a solution that doesn't make me lose control of my quirk." "The solution is getting stronger. Not running away." "I can't just will myself to be less sensitive to stimulus! That's not how quirks work!" "Then learn to manage it better!" "I'm trying! But I can't do that while everyone in school is staring at us and whispering about us and making up theories about my quirk!" They were going in circles. Deku could see it happening but couldn't figure out how to stop it. Kacchan wouldn't back down because he saw compromise as weakness. Maddy couldn't back down because she was genuinely reaching her breaking point. Shoto was trying to mediate but that was just making Kacchan angrier. "I'm not doing this," Kacchan said suddenly. "Not doing what?" Shoto asked. "This. Any of this." Kacchan gestured at all of them. "You want to hide? Fine. Hide. Pretend we're just classmates. Act like nothing's happening between us. Do whatever makes you feel better about people judging us." "Kacchan—" "But I'm not participating. You three can figure out your subtle public relationship bullshit without me." He moved toward the roof access door. Deku grabbed his arm. "Wait. Where are you going?" "Somewhere I can destroy things without being told I'm too aggressive about it." "We're not done talking about this." "Yeah, we are. You made your choice. You're taking her side. That's fine. But don't expect me to go along with it." Kacchan pulled his arm free and yanked open the roof access door. Deku started to follow but Shoto stopped him. "Let him go. He needs to cool off." "He's going to do something stupid." "Probably. But trying to stop him right now will just make it worse." The door slammed shut. Deku stared at it, trying to figure out if he should follow anyway. Kacchan in a rage was never good. Kacchan in a rage with access to the training facilities was potentially disastrous. But Shoto was right. Following would just escalate things. Deku turned back to Maddy. She had collapsed against the roof wall and was crying harder than before. Not loud, dramatic sobs, but quiet tears that somehow seemed worse. "I messed this up," she said. "You didn't," Shoto said. He sat down next to her. "This was always going to be difficult." "But I made it worse. I suggested hiding and Kacchan's right, that's basically admitting we're ashamed of the relationship." "That's not what you meant." "Doesn't matter what I meant. That's how he took it." Maddy wiped at her tears but they kept coming. "Now he's angry and he thinks we're all against him and this whole thing is falling apart." Deku sat down on her other side. The roof was cold against his back. The city lights were starting to come on below them because somehow it had gotten dark while they were fighting. "He'll calm down eventually," Deku said. "Will he? Because he seemed pretty certain about not participating in any kind of compromise." "He was angry. People say things they don't mean when they're angry." "He meant it." Maddy put her head on her knees. "He thinks I'm a coward. And maybe he's right." "You're not a coward," Shoto said firmly. "You're dealing with a legitimate quirk limitation. That's not the same thing." "Then why does it feel like running away?" Neither Deku nor Shoto had an answer for that. They sat there in silence while Maddy cried. Deku wanted to fix this. He wanted to find some solution that would make everyone happy and bring them back together. But he couldn't see one. Every option seemed to make someone miserable. Supporting Maddy's need for space meant losing Kacchan, at least temporarily. Supporting Kacchan's insistence on visibility meant pushing Maddy past her limits. There wasn't a middle ground that satisfied both positions. "I don't think I can do this," Maddy said quietly. "Can't do what?" Deku asked, though he was afraid he already knew. "This. The relationship. All of it." She looked up at them. Her eyes were red from crying. "I thought I could handle it. I really did. But everyone knowing makes it too complicated. There are too many opinions and too much judgment and too much stimulation and I can't process it all. And now we're fighting with each other about how to handle it and Kacchan hates me and—" "He doesn't hate you," Shoto interrupted. "He called me a coward. Multiple times." "Because he's hurt and angry. Not because he actually thinks that." "How do you know?" Shoto didn't have an answer for that either. Maddy pulled her knees closer to her chest. "Maybe we should have kept it secret. Maybe going public was a mistake." "It was going to come out eventually," Deku said. "Monoma was already spreading rumors." "But at least then we could have denied it. Now everyone knows and everyone's watching and I don't know how to make it stop." She was spiraling. Deku recognized the signs from previous times when her quirk had gotten overwhelmed. The racing thoughts, the catastrophizing, the inability to see any positive outcomes. "We'll figure it out," he said. "How? Kacchan won't compromise. I can't handle the attention. You two are stuck in the middle trying to make everyone happy. This isn't sustainable." "Maybe not right now. But we can work on it." "Can we? Because it feels like we're falling apart after one day of being public. What's going to happen after a week? A month? How long before this completely destroys us?" Deku didn't know what to say to that. The honest answer was that he didn't know if they could survive this. Going public had revealed problems he hadn't anticipated. The external pressure was bad enough, but the internal conflict was worse. Shoto was being quiet. Deku glanced over and saw that he'd gone into his analytical mode. Processing information, working through scenarios, trying to find the logical solution. "We need to give this time," Shoto said finally. "Everyone's emotional right now. We're reacting instead of thinking clearly. Tomorrow we'll all feel differently." "Will we?" Maddy asked. "Or will tomorrow just be more of the same? More staring, more whispers, more judgment, more fighting about how to handle it?" "We don't know until we try." "I'm tired of trying. I'm tired of fighting. I'm tired of feeling like I'm failing at this." More tears. "I'm tired of being the weak link who can't handle what everyone else seems fine with." "You're not the weak link," Deku said. "Then why am I the only one who wants to hide? Why am I the only one who can't deal with the attention? Kacchan's right, I am being a coward about this." "Stop," Shoto said. His voice had gone sharp. "You're not a coward. You have different neurological responses because of your quirk. That's biology, not character flaw." "Doesn't change the outcome. I'm still the one who can't handle this." Deku wanted to argue, but he was running out of reassurances that didn't sound empty. Maddy was right that she was struggling more than the rest of them. Her quirk made the attention harder to process. That was just fact. But calling her a coward for it seemed cruel. His phone buzzed. He pulled it out and saw a message from Kaminari: "Dude, what's Bakugo doing in the gym? He's been blowing up training equipment for like ten minutes straight." Deku showed the message to Shoto, who grimaced. "I should probably check on him," Deku said. "Let him destroy things," Shoto replied. "He needs to work through the anger." "What if he hurts himself?" "He won't. He's controlled even when he's furious." Maddy hadn't reacted to the news about Kacchan. She was staring at nothing, still crying quietly. Deku hated seeing her like this. She'd gone from overwhelmed to breaking down completely in the span of a single conversation. "Do you want to go back to the dorms?" Deku asked her. She shook her head. "Everyone will want to talk about what happened. I can't deal with more questions right now." "Then we stay here until you're ready." "What if I'm never ready?" That question hung in the air between them. Deku didn't have a good answer. Neither did Shoto based on his silence. They sat there on the roof while Maddy cried and Kacchan destroyed training equipment somewhere below them. The four of them had been together for weeks. They'd navigated the early stages of the relationship carefully, learning each other's boundaries and building something that felt solid. One day of being public had fractured that. Deku leaned his head back against the wall. The metal was cold against his skull. His breath came out in small clouds because it was getting colder. Winter was coming soon, which meant more time inside, more opportunities for people to corner them with questions. More chances for things to fall apart. Maddy's crying had slowed down to occasional hiccups. She was leaning against Shoto now, who had his arm around her shoulders. Deku reached over and took her hand. She squeezed it weakly. "I'm sorry," she said. "For what?" Deku asked. "For all of this. For causing problems. For not being strong enough to handle the attention. For making Kacchan angry. For suggesting we hide. For being a mess about everything." "You didn't cause any of this," Shoto said. "Going public was always going to be complicated." "But I made it worse." "No. The situation made it worse. People made it worse with their judgment and suspicion. You just reacted to an impossible situation in a way that made sense for your quirk limitations." Maddy didn't look convinced. She pulled her hand away from Deku and wrapped her arms around herself again. "I think I need to be alone for a while," she said. "Are you sure?" Deku asked. "Yeah. I just need some space to process everything without worrying about what anyone else thinks or needs." She stood up slowly. "I'll be in my room if you need me. But please don't need me tonight. I can't handle anything else." She left through the roof access door without looking back. Deku watched her go, wanting to follow but understanding that she'd asked for space. Then it was just him and Shoto on the roof. "This is bad," Deku said. "Yes." "Kacchan's alone destroying things. Maddy's alone crying in her room. We're up here trying to figure out how this went wrong so fast." "We knew it would be difficult." "I didn't think it would be this difficult. Not on day one of being public." Deku ran his hands through his hair. "What are we supposed to do now?" Shoto was quiet for a long time. When he spoke, his voice was carefully controlled. "I think we give everyone space tonight. Let emotions settle. Tomorrow we try again." "And if tomorrow is just as bad?" "Then we figure it out. Together." But they weren't together right now. They were physically separated for the first time since going public. Kacchan alone in the gym working through his rage. Maddy alone in her room questioning whether she could handle this relationship at all. Shoto and Deku alone on the roof trying to process what had just happened. Four people who were supposed to be in a relationship, all dealing with the aftermath separately. Deku's phone buzzed again. Another message from Kaminari: "Seriously, someone should probably stop him before he breaks something expensive." "I should check on him," Deku said. "He won't want to talk." "I know. But I should try anyway." Shoto nodded. "I'll stay here for a while. Clear my head." "Are you okay?" "No. But I will be." Deku left Shoto on the roof and made his way down to the gym. He could hear explosions before he even opened the door. Inside, Kacchan was systematically destroying training dummies with increasingly powerful blasts.