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Izuku settles into his relationship with Tsuyu and Tokoyami a bit more quickly than expected, and it isn’t long before everyone has something of an idea of what’s going on between the three of them. They get strange looks from time to time, but, for the most part, they’re met with acceptance and life goes on like always.
But one day, with Izuku is talking to Mineta, the topic of the relationship comes up, and he says, “I don’t wanna sound like a jerk or anything, but, like How does it work? Sharing a girl, I mean?”
“Oh, we don’t...I mean, we’re not just sharing her, we’re kind of...sharing each other?” Izuku isn’t sure if he’s explaining it properly, but he can’t say that he’s surprised that someone thinks that’s what’s going on.
“Yeah, but still...is she weird about it?”
“Not really, no. Why?”
Mineta is quiet for a minute before he says, “Because I kinda like Asui...I’m really not trying to sound like a jerk!”
Well, Izuku really can’t say that he’s surprised to hear that. Mineta has a reputation where any of the girls in their class are concerned, and his fascination with Yaoyorozu may run the deepest, but anyone could see that his interactions with Tsuyu are different. If Izuku had been made to guess who Mineta was interested, she would have been the first to come along.
“You don’t sound like a jerk,” he says. “I mean, with things being like they are between us...it especially doesn’t sound that bad! So I’m glad you told me.”
Besides Uraraka and Iida, and Tsuyu herself, Mineta was one of the first good friend Izuku made in high school, and the fact that they still spend so much time together is a testament to that. He’s happy that Mineta trusts him so much, and a part of him wonders what it would be like if Mineta were a part of things. There’s no way to know how Tsuyu would feel about that, and Tokoyami is another matter entirely, but if he could help a friend out, Izuku would at least want to try.
He’s not really thinking that much about himself at first.
~X~
“I guess we’re all going to go to the dance together,” says Tsuyu, once said event is officially announced. Secretly Izuku is relieved that she brought it up first, because he isn’t sure who is supposed to ask who in a situation like theirs, and he was afraid things might drag out for too long if he tried to figure it out for himself.
“That sounds good to me,” replies Tokoyami. Izuku is also relieved that Tokoyami even wants to go, since he wasn’t sure whether an event like that would interest him in the first place. Not that he would have minded taking Tsuyu by herself, but he’s gotten so used to it being the three of them that it would feel weird without him.
“Yeah, that sounds great!” he agrees with a smile. While everyone else worries about asking people, and who they're going to go with, it feels nice to have something already figured out. While Iida tries to get up the nerve to ask Hatsume and Uraraka lands a date with Ashido, Izuku can only think of one person who might be having trouble finding someone to go with.
“No, probably not,” says Mineta, when he asks him if he's asking anyone. “What's the point? They're gonna say no either way, right? Plus I think all the girls in our class are taken now, right?”
It's true that Jiro is going with Kaminari, and Yaoyorozu with a girl from another class, and Hagakure with Ojiro. Izuku hadn't really thought of that. “That's true, I guess. Are you still going? I mean, even if you're alone?”
Mineta looks kind of sad when he asks that, and he wishes that he could have come up with a better way of phrasing it. “Yeah, I guess. I'll probably just hang out by myself all night, though. I won't get any pity dances, not considering...you know.” He gestures above his head, and Izuku nods.
“Yeah I get it. But, hey, you never know!” he says, trying to be optimistic.
“Either way, I bet all the girls are gonna have nice dresses!” Mineta says, brightening. “Maybe with short skirts, so I can-”
“It'll be a lot of fun!” Izuku interrupts, not really wanting to hear the rest of that sentence.
~X~
Preparations for the dance make time go by quickly, and before he knows it, the night is upon them. He’s had a hard time getting Mineta off his mind, and he hopes that his friend does show up, so that he can try to make the night better for him, though he still isn't sure if he can do that or not.
Figuring out dancing between three people isn’t very easy, and for the most part, they look ridiculous before they decide to just take shifts. It’s while Tokoyami is dancing close with Tsuyu that Izuku finally decides to hunt for Mineta, who he finds standing by the wall with Shoji.
“Hey!” he says, waving as he approaches. “How’s it going?”
“It’s going,” says Mineta. “Me and Shoji were just talking about what we thought was gonna happen between Yaoyorozu and Kendo after this.”
“He was talking about it,” Shoji clarifies. “That’s not really my topic of choice.”
Izuku hangs out with them until it’s his turn to dance with Tsuyu, and Tokoyami comes over to find him, taking his place and saving Shoji from another awkward conversation regarding any of their female classmates. He hasn’t been able to brighten Mineta’s night on his own, but he’s got an idea now, and when he takes Tsuyu’s hand, he says, “After this, do you want to dance with someone else?”
“What are you getting at?”
“What do you think about, um...Mineta?”
“I thought that was what you were up to,” she replies. “That’s not really an easy question to answer. He can be very troublesome, and you know that.”
“I know that very well,” says Izuku, “but I don’t dislike him. And I don’t think you do either, right?”
“We’re friends,” she says. “If he could learn a little more control, and how to talk to girls better, it could be more than that.”
“Seriously?” This comes as a bit of a surprise. He knew that they got along rather well, but he hadn’t expected her to admit that she might be interested in him.
“He’s really not that bad, once you get past the obvious.”
“He’d take a lot of work.”
“I'd need someone just as serious about him to keep him in line,” she replies, giving him a look, and he knows that she's seen right through him. “But I definitely don't think he's a lost cause.”
“It's worth a try,” Izuku finally says, not commenting on her observation. “Maybe just start with offering him a dance? I know he's kind of bummed cos he doesn't think anyone will dance with him.”
“Yeah, that’ll be fine.” When the song comes to an end, the two of them walk over to where the others are. Not for the first time, Izuku is a little thrown by how calmly Tsuyu reacts to the situation, and how easily she’s concealed the fact that she’s at least considered giving Mineta a chance.
When they back over to them, Tokoyami and Shoji are talking, and Mineta once again seems pretty down. Tokoyami, when he sees them, saying, “Alright, Midoriya, I guess it’s our turn now, right?”
“Uh, yeah! But that’s not all we were…” He trails off, deciding to leave it to Tsuyu.
“Mineta, would you like to dance with me?” she asks, and his eyes widen and his jaw nearly hits the floor.
“S-seriously?!” he asks.
“Yeah. Only if you want to.”
“If I want to?!”
“We should probably go on,” Izuku says softly, and Tokoyami nods, the two of them walking off.
‘We did leave Shoji there, so they weren’t exactly alone,” he says.
“Oh, yeah! You two were talking a lot,” replies Izuku, more making an observation than anything else, but Tokoyami glances off to the side.
“I may ask him to dance after this,” he confesses.
“Really?” He hadn’t even thought of Shoji as a possibility, but now, it seems kind of obvious. Tokoyami gets along very well with him, and, as far as Izuku knows, he and Tsuyu have gotten close in the past. “I think you should!”
“Is your goal tonight to set me and Asui up with other people?”
“The more the merrier!” says Izuku, and Tokoyami gives a small laugh at that.
“Well, it certainly wouldn’t be that strange for us, at least.”
While the two of them dance together, he can see Tsuyu, leaning down a bit with Mineta, and after he and Tokoyami split up, he watches the awkward exchange between him and Shoji. He went into the night with no idea what to do for his friend, but now, things have turned out even better than he could have planned.