#spiderdeku

more than me

pairing: spider-man!midoriya izuku x reaader

synopsis: izuku is a terrible friend. he’s been lying to his best friend, y/n for over two years now. they’ve been friends since they started high school, but izuku can’t bring himself to burden y/n with a secret that could be dangerous for them. and he also hasn’t fully realized his feelings for them, so he’s just full of struggles at this point.

content:superhero stuff, makeout sesh at the end, clueless izuku

word count: 4.1k

3/5 of my 500 follower celebration

“Oh shi—”

“Language, Midoriya!” Izuku contained a scream when he realized this was a livestream and not a pre-recorded video of his mentor talking to him. 

“Sorry!” he squeaked. He adjusted his seat on the rooftop, his legs dangling over the edge. He’d gotten a message from an unknown number to leave his apartment for a while to answer a call, so he’d swung up to one of his favorite rooftops (while wearing his suit to avoid extra attention as some random kid using web shooters to travel from rooftop to rooftop). He was glad he’d kept his suit’s mask on, if only to conceal the way his jaw dropped when he realized it was the one and only All Might who’d called him.

A week after that spider had bitten him two months ago, just as he was starting to adjust to his heightened senses and finally learning to control his “sticky” touch, he’d gotten a single card in the mail, with no return address. It had a number written on it, with the symbol of All Might on the bottom. Izuku had spent that entire day freaking out, contemplating whether this was some government trap to capture him and study him, or whether it was actually his favorite superhero trying to get into contact with him. 

Finally, he’d caved. He’d left his apartment to call the number, afraid that the second he called it someone would trace it to his apartment and kidnap him. 

Someone had picked up on the first ring. 

“Midoriya Izuku!” 

He’d almost fainted right then and there. 

All Might was on the other line, and he spent over an hour explaining to Izuku what exactly had happened to him, and how he could use this new power to help people, if he was willing. Izuku immediately accepted the offer, not entirely sure what he was getting himself into. Two weeks later, his mom told him a package had come for him. It was an otherwise inconspicuous box, with no return address. Izuku opened it in his room, and he was very glad he did. 

It was a suit. His suit. After his call with All Might, and after he’d been recruited on his team (that still felt way too surreal to even think of) he’d started designing a suit, mainly for fun. He’d been a superhero nerd ever since he was little, and he’d had his fair share of old costumes his mom had made him. But none of them matched his new abilities, so Izuku designed his own. He’d sent a picture of it, plus his notes on it, to the number All Might had left him, and now he was looking at it come to life, sitting in a box on his bed. The second he tried it on he knew he hadn’t made a mistake.

Every small detail he’d included in his notes had come alive in the suit. Whoever had made it had even left a note on how to perfect his web formula, and clear instructions on how to tweak the suit to upgrade it if Izuku wanted to. It was perfect.

He was only allowed to use it, and his new abilities, when he got “the phone call.” The call was always from an unknown number, and always from a member of All Mights team, a man who insisted Izuku call Radio. Radio would send him out on small missions, always in the afternoon, which All Might explained was to ensure his work would never interfere with school. It was the summer before he started high school, so this wasn’t a major concern. That, and the missions were always pretty low risk. Capture this bad guy, drop him off at the police station. Take back this dangerous chemical, leave it at the All Mighty lab at HQ. Small stuff.

But not small enough to avoid the internet. Pretty soon he had his fair share of fans, and it flustered him. He was still just a kid, and he’d already been dubbed Spider-Man from countless enthusiastic strangers online. If he were in their shoes, an innocent bystander/hero geek, he would’ve done the same, so Izuku couldn’t really blame them.

Radio had gone silent for a month, which concerned him. All Might’s call had been the first one in a while, and Izuku had assumed it would be Radio when he answered. He started high school in two weeks, which had been a great distraction. He was scrambling to get everything he needed together.

“Holding up well, my boy?” All Might asked him now. He looked like he was sitting in his office at HQ, which Izuku had only seen in videos posted online. Izuku nodded mutely, still in shock. He hadn’t talked to All Might in a while: since he’d asked Izuku to join his expanding team of emerging superheroes. Izuku wasn’t sure how many members were on the team now, since more and more had been appearing, and they all remained anonymous for safety purposes, and to avoid government intervention. Many of them were thought to just be rumors, because no one had ever seen them in person. But Izuku was fairly confident every single rumor was true. HQ had overflowing resources, he’d come to realize. Much more than they let on. 

“I’m just calling to check in,” All Might continued. “And to let you know you won’t be getting anymore odd calls from Radio.”

“I won’t?” Izuku tried to keep the sadness out of his voice. Hadn’t he been doing a good job? He thought he’d been doing a good job. What had gone wrong? He’d kept his promise of secrecy, telling his mom those afternoons and evenings he disappeared were because he was doing an internship at one of All Might’s tech hubs (which wasn’t technically a lie). 

“We don’t need to coddle you any longer, Radio reports,” All Might said. “We will of course call you for any missions, but for now you’re free to use the suit for hero work, whenever you’d like. Radio told me you chose an internship alibi—very wise, young Midoriya. I’ll have someone leave a paper trail of that in case inquiries are made.” Izuku heard background noise, and All Might’s eyes travelled around the office, looking at things out of camera shot. 

“I have to go now, my boy. Remember to be discrete, don’t do anything too dangerous without calling Radio. His number’s been left in your phone. Goodbye now!” And with that he hung up, leaving Izuku dazed and sitting on a rooftop to contemplate this new burden of freedom.

Izuku started high school soon after. He’d kept up with his workout training, which consisted of walking upside down all over his room, lifting the odd broken down car or two, and regular workouts. And he’d started patrolling the city’s streets every afternoon, after he’d shown his mom the email congratulating him on his acceptance into the daily internship All Might had forged for him. 

Izuku was pretty nervous about starting high school, and his nerves were heightened the second he stepped into his homeroom class. 

“Not this nerd,” he heard the familiar drawl of an old friend. “Get the hell out, Deku.”

Izuku didn’t pay him any attention. Ever since he’d realized he could literally swat Kacchan away like a fly if he really wanted to, his taunts didn’t bother him much. Still, Izuku chose the seat farthest from his corner of the room, where he’d already sat down and was talking with classmates. He sat down in the far corner, near the windows.

“Why’s he say it like that,” he heard someone say from the seat behind him. “Deku,” they breathed, in an over exaggerated but otherwise accurate mocking of Kacchan’s voice.

Izku couldn’t contain his laugh, turning in his seat to glance behind him. 

Apparently his classmate didn’t think they’d be heard—they had a sheepish expression on their face. They offered him a small smile. “Sorry. Just hate jackasses like him.”

“He’s not so bad,” Izuku confided in a low voice, fearful Kacchan would somehow hear them from across the room. “That’s just how he is.”

“Hmm. If you say so. I’m Y/N, by the way.”

“Midoriya Izuku.”

“Nice to meet you,” Y/N beamed, and it made Izuku feel a new kind of warmth. He hadn’t had a lot of friends in middle school, what with being the kid people picked on and all. And here he was, in a new school, with a secret identity, and with a friendly classmate who didn’t hate him. 

Maybe high school wouldn’t treat him as badly as middle school.

“Nice to meet you too, Y/N.”

Sometimes, Izuku felt like his mom knew what he was up to. He’d had to excuse one too many black eyes, and the bruises not hidden by his clothes. He was constantly refraining from blurting out “I’m Spider-Man!” every time they sat down to watch TV together. 

Izuku had been “Spider-Man” for a little over two years now, and he’d managed to keep his identity hidden. He hadn’t been sent on any more missions, and hardly got any phone calls from HQ anymore. Radio still sent him a “keep up the good work” every few weeks, especially if he ever ended up on the local news. But he’d just been patrolling the neighborhoods of the city, and helping the local police out by catching the odd criminal or two. He’d become a familiar friendly face to the city, and he was perfectly happy with how things were going. 

With his superhero life, that is. His civilian life was a bit different. 

His grades slipped sometimes, because he spent a lot of his free time swinging around skyscrapers and kicking bad guy butt and less time working on homework, but he always managed to catch up and avoid failing out completely. And a lot of that was thanks to his friends.

Izuku didn’t know what he’d do without Iida, Uraraka, and Y/N. Iida was never shy about expressing his disappointment in Izuku and his missing homework assignments. But he always lent him his notes to catch up. Uraraka would fling pencils at him in class if he ever fell asleep, and would help him convince teachers he’d do better next time, since she was well loved by everyone on the staff. And Y/N…

Y/N kept Izuku afloat, and had been doing that ever since they became friends when they started high school. They were put into practically all of the same classes, and they’d bonded over group projects, late study nights, and even bus rides to school since they lived in the same area. If he ever came home late at night, and his mom let him know Y/N had called to check in, he was never too tired to talk to them. Even though he had to cancel plans with them a lot, and they covered for him the few times he skipped afternoon classes to chase a lead, they still stuck by his side.

Every time it was just the two of them hanging out, which was becoming a dishearteningly rare occurrence, he almost blurted out the truth, too. 

But then he remembered the promise he’d made to All Might, and to himself for that matter.

“No one can know who you are, my boy,” All Might had said. “If the truth about you reaches enemy ears, they may get to you before we can. And I do not want the government hunting you, either.”

If Izuku told Y/N, he was sure they wouldn’t tell anyone. But there was the risk of someone finding out that they knew who Spider-Man was, and taking them hostage to lure him out. He’d thought of the possibilities and consequences of his secret getting out too many times, and the dangers outweighed the positives. 

So he lied. To protect everyone around him.

“I’ve got the internship, sorry!” Was probably his most used phrase. His close friends had stopped inviting him out after school, knowing he was more available on weekend mornings. Y/N showed up to his house at night sometimes, around the time he came home. Inko chatted with her until he returned, or went to bed early to get up early for work. Y/N would sleep on the couch in the living room, or on a futon in Izuku’s room whenever they showed up late at night. Inko never minded, and Izuku would always reassure Y/N of that. “I’m pretty sure she likes you more than me,” he’d always joke. 

Now, sitting in Chemistry with Y/N beside him, the irrational urge to whisper his secret returned. Y/N was actually a pretty big Spider-Man fan, and Izuku knew they’d freak out if he told them who he was. They turned slightly to stare back at him, making a funny face before turning back to face their teacher. Izuku breathed out a laugh and went back to his halfhearted note taking. Chemistry was his best subject, and he got along with the teacher very well. So much so that he was allowed to do experiments on his own, as long as he didn’t use anything from the locked up dangerous chemical cabinet in the back of the classroom. So Izuku used what he could to make his webs, making it quickly in between classes or before school and stashing it in his locker. 

The rest of the day crawled by. Izuku was constantly checking the time—he’d come to memorize where every clock in the entire school was placed. He was chasing a breadcrumb trail of some small scale grocery store robberies, and was so close to getting something big enough to call it into Radio, who could compile everything neatly and report it to the appropriate authorities. Spider-Man never got credit for situations like that, but Izuku never cared about the attention. He’d see the arrest story on the news and feel giddy all week, knowing he’d played a role in taking down a bad guy.

The second the end of the day came Izuku was off, waving goodbye to his friends and promising Y/N he’d be done before the sun set, something he was for once confident in.

A few blocks away from school, he stashed his backpack and quickly stripped off his clothes. A few times he’d been caught, half naked, by people who lived nearby, but he hadn’t had an incident like that in a while. He slipped on his suit, stuffed his clothes into his backpack hurriedly. He then put his backpack into a clean trash bag he brought with him, and put it in the dumpster. It wasn’t trash day, no need to worry about that. And he hadn’t seen anyone keen on digging through the dumpsters in this area, so it was safe.

And then he was off. He’d restocked on webs for today, but he still did his best to conserve what he could for emergency uses. Pretty soon he was closing in on what he thought would be the next robbery site, when he got a call. Not on his phone, but through his suit. HQ.

He stumbled onto a rooftop, almost failing to stop his momentum and tumbling over the edge. He sat down hard to answer the call.

“Hey kid,” Radio’s voice sounded from inside his suit, as though Izuku was wearing headphones. 

“Hi,” Izuku replied. “I was in the middle of—”

“Yeah, I read your texts,” Radio yawned. “No worries kid, what you had was enough. Cops already got them.”

“Really?” Izuku let out a sigh of relief. “I was a bit scared it happened while I was in school. Thank you, Radio!”

“Good job on it, spidey boy. Keep it up.” And with that he hung up. Izuku smiled, letting out a loud shout of happiness on the rooftop where no one would hear him. He decided to call it an early day—Radio would have told him to keep patrolling if he had something pressing for him to do, but he hadn’t. And Izuku could easily slip on his suit again at home and swing out into the night. It was Friday, which meant he could stay out as long as he wanted to (without his mom knowing, of course).

On his way home, he made small stops to help a few people after getting his backpack back. Helping a dog walker get untangled from a hoard of leashes, giving a tourist directions, and helping shut off an old lady’s car alarm. By the time his apartment building was in view, he felt he’d done his part in helping the city out today.

He quietly opened up his window, afraid his mom might be home, although she usually went out to visit Mitsuki on Fridays, and rolled onto his bedroom floor with ease, landing in a crouch facing his bed.

He wasn’t sure who was more surprised to see who—Y/N to see their favorite superhero, here in their best friend’s room, or Izuku to see them, crying on the floor of his bedroom. 

For a second they both froze. Izuku was glad he hadn’t slipped off his mask yet. At this distance, there would be no way Y/N didn’t recognize him.

“Wrong room!” he said, willing his voice to sound a bit deeper than what it actually was so Y/N wouldn’t recognize it. He didn’t move from his position. “So sorry for intruding but… are you okay?”

Y/N was still frozen, staring. “Wrong room?” they repeated.

“Yeah, my place is near here and this is actually the second time I’ve messed up on the window entrance,” he said quickly. “Sorry for barging into your room like this.”

“It’s okay, not my room,” Y/N wiped the tears off their cheeks. “It’s my friend’s.” A few more tears slipped down their cheeks as they spoke. 

He went from his crouching position to sitting with his legs crossed, scooching a bit closer to Y/N. “What’s your name?”

“Y/N,” they replied, giving him a watery smile. “I’m actually a big fan of yours. Didn’t expect to meet you like this.” They laughed quietly. 

Izuku had never wanted to hug someone more. Just wrap them up in his arms, tell them everything was okay. 

“I’m here now,” he said, as cheerfully as he could. “Are you okay? Do you want to talk about it?”

Y/N sniffled and eyed him suspiciously, as though just now realizing there was a strange arachnid man in their best friend’s room.

“Thank you,” they said. “That’s really nice of you, everyones right when they call you the friendly neighborhood superhero.” They took a deep, shuddering breath. “I’m just a bit confused, that’s all.”

“Confused?” 

“Mhmm,” Y/N said, reaching up to place a hand on their chest. “About my feelings.”

“How so?” He hoped he didn’t slip up and use his real tone of voice. Y/N would recognize it, even in the state they were in now. 

“I think I’m in love with my best friend.”

Izuku froze. Y/N was too busy staring down at their feet to notice, and he quickly composed himself, hoping his heart didn’t beat out of his chest in shock.

“Really? Isn’t that a happy topic, love?”

“I guess,” Y/N let out another quiet laugh. “But I think this love is more one-sided. And besides, he deserves way more than me.’

“Don’t say that!” He couldn’t help himself. Y/N stared at him with wide eyes. “Look, I don’t know you, but you seem really nice and you’re really cute, and if your best friend doesn’t see that then that’s on him!” Wow, way to fix the fact that your best friend probably hates you and your cluelessness, Izuku. 

Y/N smiled, tears no longer flowing. “Thanks, Spider-Man.”

“No problem,” he responded, getting to his feet. “I should get going. Tell him how you feel, Y/N.” He walked back over to the window, climbing halfway out before turning around to say one last thing. “He might feel the same way.” He waved and then swung out of view, landing onto the rooftop. He quickly stripped off his clothes, not really caring if anyone saw him. He changed back into his regular clothes and hurried down the rooftop stares, desperately trying to get to his apartment before Y/N decided to take Spider-Man’s advice literally and leave Izuku behind for being a love blind idiot.

“Y/N?” He burst into his apartment, panting slightly. 

“Yeah?” Y/N’s voice came from his room, sounding way less nasally. “You’re back early.”

He walked into his room to find Y/N sitting on his bed, not looking at all like they’d been crying. He must’ve been in here not five minutes ago, and they already looked so composed. 

“Yeah, finished up early today!” Izuku chirped, setting his stuff down in the corner of his room, kicking his backpack into his closet so Y/N wouldn’t study it closely and realize it was the exact same one Spider-Man had been wearing. “My mom’s going to have dinner with Mitsuki today, want to go out and grab some food?”

“Sure,” Y/N responded. “Your turn to pick.”

Izuku ended up not confessing his feelings for Y/N that afternoon. They’d run into Iida, who was buying a new set of No. 2 pencils for testing season, and the three of them had gone out to get dinner. Izuku had asked Y/N if they wanted to sleep over that day, but they declined, saying they hadn’t given their parents the heads up. So the three parted ways after they ate, and Izuku was left alone with his thoughts.

He’d stepped into the doorway of the apartment before deciding that no, he wasn’t about to chicken out and let Y/N think they weren’t good enough for him for a second longer. He slammed the door shut, much harder than necessary, and hurried down the stairs, dialing Y/N’s number as he did. 

“Hello?” 

“Where are you?” Izuku asked, bursting out of the building and running towards Y/N’s address at full speed. 

“You just walked me home you dweeb. I’m in my room,” Y/N replied. “Why?”

“Stay there!” Izuku yelped and narrowly avoided running into someone. “I have to tell you something.”

“Are you running?” Y/N asked, hiding a laugh. “What is it, did you finally realize I stole your All Might shirt? You have plenty, and I wanted to see how long I’d get away with it!”

He was flying up the stairs to Y/N apartment, and finally reached their door. He knocked before letting himself in, knowing Y/N was bad at locking it after they got home. 

“What—”

He dropped his phone onto Y/N’s bed, where they were staring at him in confusion, and, before he could talk himself out of it, took their face into his hands, and leaned down to kiss them.

If his entire body had been buzzing before, it was on fire now. Y/N’s lips felt so nice against his, they felt so warm. He hated himself for waiting so long to kiss them.

When he broke away he was panting slightly, running his tongue over his lips. Y/N opened their eyes to stare into his, and touched their lips with their fingertips.

“I’ve wanted to do that for a year now,” Izuku breathed, still standing over them and still holding onto their face. “I like you a whole lot, Y/N, and I—”

They tugged him down to kiss him again, hands gripping onto his shirt before pulling him onto the bed on top of them, never once letting go of him.

“Y/N,” Izuku broke away for a second, unable to hide his smile. He was carefully hovering above them, hands on either side of their face, not wanting to rest his entire body weight on them “Sorry for not telling you sooner.”

“Hmm, that’s okay now,” Y/N said, running their fingers through his hair and tugging at it lightly. “Especially now. You’re a great kisser, Izuku.”

He smiled and leaned down to kiss them again.

He’d never been more grateful for being Spider-Man—to think he was going to keep these feelings all to himself before today. He felt guilty about making Y/N feel that way, and he made a mental note to find a way to make it up to them. But right now, he was focused on the present, the way their lips felt against his, the way their hands were in his hair and then underneath his shirt. 

Sure, swinging from building to building and getting that feel of freedom was nice, but this feeling was a thousand times better. Incomparable, really. 

“So does this make Iida a cockblo—”

“Y/N!” 

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