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How did he get roped into this?
Midoriya sighs as he sits in a circle on the floor, the rest of the circle being made up of everyone else in Class 1-A. Someone, probably Kirishima, Ashido or Kaminari (although, given how Bakugou is here, it was probably Kirishima’s idea, because Bakugou will only do what his boyfriend says, listening to no one else) has decided to force everyone to sit on the floor of the common room and play irritating games.
But Midoriya only really gets annoyed when Ashido jumps to her feet and says, “Truth or dare!”
And he isn’t the only one who groans. He played this game once as a kid and it’s always embarrassing.
Kaminari grabs the spinner from the Twister box and places it on the floor in the middle of the room. “Whoever it lands on, pick on a person of your choice and say—”
“Truth or dare?” Bakugou spits, eyebrows raised.
Kaminari blushes and nods. “Um… yeah. Kirishima, you go first.”
Grinning, Kirishima flicks the spinner and Midoriya watches it spin around and around, thinking, please don’t land on me. Thankfully, it doesn’t. It lands on Iida instead.
Sat on his left, Iida bristles when it points at him and adjusts his glasses. “Okay.”
“Truth or dare!?” Kirishima bellows, and Bakugou rolls his eyes.
Midoriya knows there is no way Iida will pick ‘dare’. So it isn’t a surprise when Iida says, “I’ll take truth.”
“Cool! So… have you got a crush on anyone?”
Iida flinches slightly, and Midoriya sympathises as everyone stares at him.
“Uh… no, I don’t,” Iida says.
“Really?” Ashido says.
“Are you sure?” Sero says, winking at him.
“Yes I’m sure,” Iida says, staring at a fixed point on the floor. On Iida’s other side, Uraraka is also staring at him, her expression much like Midoriya’s own feelings.
“Have you ever had a crush?” Kirishima asks. “Come on, I need a juicy answer, man.”
Iida shakes his head. “No.”
“Well, do you think anyone in this class is fit? Baring in mind that if you pick my boyfriend, I’ll have to challenge you to a dual.”
Beside him, Bakugou rolls his eye and swears.
Iida glances around the circle of students, his face starting to go red. “Um… genuinely, no. I apologise, though, because I don’t want it to appear that I find you all ugly or anything like that. I just genuinely don’t think any of you are, uh, ‘fit’.”
The poor thing looks so embarrassed. Uraraka pats his hand and Midoriya tries to think of ways to change the subject.
Eventually, he stands up and says, “Can I go next?”
And as the spinner lands on Kouda, who surprises everyone by picking ‘dare’, the focus slides off of Iida and his non-existent love life. But Midoriya can’t stop thinking about what happened and, judging from the way Iida sits too stiffly and the blush never leaves his cheeks, neither can he.
---
When Aizawa-sensei eventually tells everyone to go to bed, Iida is the first to wander off.
“Deku?” Uraraka says, holding his sleeve. “We should talk to him.”
Midoriya nods. “Yeah, we should. Come on, let’s go.”
And the two friends rush off to find Iida. They try his bedroom and knock on the door.
“Iida? Can we come in?” he calls.
They don’t get an answer, but the door opens and Iida looks at them. “Hello.”
“Are you okay?” Uraraka asks. “You’ve been acting weird ever since we played truth or dare.”
“Yeah, you can tell us what’s wrong, can’t you?” Midoriya says.
Iida sighs. “Very well. Come in.”
Iida leads them into his incredibly tidy dorm room, and they both sit on the bed.
“So… you’ve never dated anyone? Or had a crush on anyone?” Uraraka says.
Iida shakes his head, bowing it at the same time and clasping his hands together. “Never. So it was very awkward to… be put on the spot like that.”
Midoriya looks at his friend, thinking about something he learned when he was researching being bisexual. “Iida, are you aromantic?”
Iida’s head snaps up. “What?”
“You know, it’s the word for people who’ve never had… romantic feelings for each other. It’s like asexual but for romance… and… are you asexual as well?”
Iida nods. “Yes, I’m asexual. But… I didn’t know… what aromantic means. It explains a lot.”
Iida is going red. Uraraka pats his arm. “Hey, you don’t need to get embarrassed. It’s okay. And… well… I’m trans.”
Now it’s her turn to go bright red. She giggles awkwardly.
“You’re trans?” Iida says.
Uraraka nods, her face bright red. “I… I thought it might help you feel less awkward if I came out too. Um… did it work?”
Iida smiles slightly. “A bit.”
Midoriya puts his arms around his friends. “Well I’m bi. We can be queer buddies together.”
Iida laughs weakly and leans against him. Midoriya hugs them both tightly, grinning.
“You’re aro and there’s nothing wrong with that,” Uraraka says. “You don’t need romance to be happy. You’ve got us, Tenya.”
And Midoriya smiles, so glad they solved the mystery.