Chapter Text
"And the seventh member of One for All, Japan's number one J-pop group," Izuku held his breath as Present Mic paused. Izuku had no idea he would come this far, but to be cut off here... his career would be over before it even started. He was prepared to lose, or so he thought.
"Ojiro Mashirao! Congrats kid! You're a star!" His heart dripped. But... he tried so hard. He tried so hard to make it into the pop group. He wanted so badly to be their seventh member. But he lost to the blonde dude with the long tail, Ojiro, was it? He knew it was a long shot, just an unreachable dream too far off in the distance... but he was so close, just one man away from being in Japan's #1 pop group. If he had just been a little better than that one person, them he would have been IN!
Midoriya mechanically turned to his rival and smiled. It was a fake one, he already had little trouble pulling off a facade since he was an actor. And for... other reasons. He shook his hand, and if you asked Izuku what words he used to congratulate the tailed-man... he would tell you he can't remember. Waving behind his back, Izuku walked away from the stage and into the changing rooms, completely numb. This was unusual, normally he'd be crying over something this big. But just... nothing happened. The grenette grabbed his bag and left the building, walking around the back to avoid the news reporters. He felt something change in him. He knew what it was, it was his motivation.
It was gone.
The tears finally made it out of his eyes that night when he was at home in his bed.
---------------
3 Months later
"Hey Yuga!" I shouted as I leaned over in the mirror, fixing my eye shadow.
"Oui?" The frenchie asked.
"Should I do black or red under eye?"
"I personally prefer purple, but you should do black under eye, and red over mon ami" I took his advice and applied black eye shadow under my eye and red over. Placing my ear rings in, I turned to my brightly colored friend. I oddly enough didn't enjoy hanging out with too many goth people, and rather enjoyed my regular friends.
"C'mon Deku kun! Hurry up!" I heard Uraraka shout from outside the boys restroom. I laughed and walked out with Aoyama. I had discovered goth culture during my self loathing period after the audition and went with it. I liked it a lot, the aesthetic and culture filled community greatly suited me. I met Uraraka and Tsu-chan, as well as Aoyama, when I started going to U.A. school of the performing arts. Singing wasn't something I did often, since it wasn't my main focus anymore. I preferred dancing over anything nowadays, even though singing was always going to hold a special place in my heart. Dancing just brought less pain, it didn't constantly remind me of the fact that my dreams were crushed by that blonde bitch.
"Oh look One for All's new song came out. This one features Ojiro!" Uraraka jumped excitedly as she shoved an earphone into my ear. The pop music filled my ear and made me cringe. Only she knew the real reason I hated their music, but she did forget sometimes. Listening only for a moment, I yanked the earphone out.
"You know I hate that hip hop bull shit!" I told her. She momentarily curled in on herself and I instantly felt terrible. Ochako smiled quickly and laughed.
"Oh I'm sorry mister 'I listen to only American, heavy metal, emo, and sad music! Not all of us are super pessimistic!" she cracked. Cackling, I began my retort.
"Oooh look at you using the big girl words!" Uraraka feigned offense.
"I'll have you know that I am two months older than you!" she shot back.
"Oh you two!" Yuga piped in, "we all know that we're better singers than those 7 nitwits combiné!" Uraraka nodded.
"But Deku would have to be a backup dancer or something because he doesn't sing." She added. I tsked at her comment.
"I do sing, Uraraka san! I just know that my voice sounds like an elephant crashing into a mound of horse shit." They both laughed as we entered a cafe. Uraraka ordered our lunches, which mainly consisted of muffins and coffee, and sat down at our table. The barista had green hair and looked like she took fondly to Uraraka san. I eyed her carefully as they conversed. I was deciding to call her 'mold girl' because she reminded me of a frog. Don't question it. She looked at me and said something that caused Uraraka to laugh and blush slightly. I know that reaction anywhere, which means either Uraraka was asked out on a date and wasn't interested, or mold girl asked if I was her boyfriend. Which was impossible, because I am gay.
Uraraka took our orders, which I noticed mold girl slipped a note on one. Oh my fuck, either mold girl is hitting on the pansexual shithead behind me, or she just gave my innocent BFF her number! I thought, well shit I might have to kill a bitch. Well shit. Uraraka handed each of us our coffees.
"Black coffee-" I interrupted her to fit in a quip.
"Like my soul."
"Oh haha, it also has one cream, which means your soul isn't completely blackened."
"Yet." Aoyama laughed at my comment. Aoyama and I had tried dating a couple times, actually. It never really worked out. I was the 'depressed goth kid' in the school, which kinda ruined his image. And vice versa. Don't worry, we weren't that shallow, we really did like each other. It wasn't the only reason, our personalities clashed too much in a relationship standard, so we agreed to keep it strictly friendly. That's why we're still good friends.
"A french vanilla frappe, extra whip cream and caramel." She placed it in front of him. She placed her overly sweet coffee in front of her chair. "Oh! the muffins!"
"There she is!" Yuga piped.
"Dark chocolate chips for our little sad boi"
"White chocolate chips for the frenchie"
"And double chocolate chunk for me!" We all smiled as she remembered our favorite things. She sat down and noticed the little card on top of her little cup. It had 10 very clear numbers on it. "Oh lord I think I have a crush." I choked on my bitter coffee.
"Oh no. Ooooh no you don't" Uraraka and Yuga looked at me. "Um, no! It's that weird frog girl isn't it? I do not approve!" I interjected. The other two laughed at my concern. "I'm serious!"
"Aww come on Deku kun, I actually know her from the singing course in U.A.. She's really nice and has a great voice." I shook my head.
"On the subject of singing, mon ami. Remember what we wanted to talk about?" Yuga said to her. Her entire demeanor shifted. My brows furrowed and my head cocked to the side in curiosity.
"What did you guys wanna talk about? Does it concern me?" They both nodded their heads.
"Listen, Deku. I know your history, and the reason why you refuse to do some things." Uraraka said.
"And I don't" Aoyama continued. "But I'm not gonna pry, I just want you to keep an open mind."
"I have a feeling I'm not gonna like where this is going." I remarked. Uraraka sighed loudly with a slight groan.
"Trust me, you're not."
"Mon ami, we started a pop group." I almost spit out the coffee in my mouth.
"There it is." The brunette sighed. "And look, you don't even have to do anything, we just wanted you to... umm... consider! Yeah, consider is the word! Consider joining!" I looked at her in shock. A million questions flew through my head. She knows how much I hate singing, so why would she even tell me? She trusts me, that's why. I shook my head clear of the thoughts and tried to speak.
"You know how much I hate pop groups, and why." I said, sighing. "Who all is in it?"
"That was... a better reaction than I thought you would have..." Uraraka stated with surprise.
"Answer the question" I reminded her.
"Okay okay, so far. Momo Yaoyorozu, Hanta Sero, Kyoka Jiro, and me!" she answered. I cocked my head.
"Aoyama? What will you be doing?" the french blonde laughed. He winked and posed in his seat.
"I want to do the makeup mon ami! It'll give me the chance to fix your...ehm..." he gestured to my entire body.
"Oh my fuck Yuga" I responded easily. It was no secret that Aoyama didn't like my style very much. He hated the fact that I didn't wear any color. I wore red, so I couldn't understand why he wouldn't get off my dick about it. "Listen, it's unlikely that I'll join-"
"Just- consider it. For us?" Uraraka asked with a look that said everything. I groaned.
"Alriiiiight." I heard a quiet 'yesssss' come from Aoyama and rolled my eyes, standing up. "I gotta head out to meet with my mom. I need to go get groceries." Grabbing my bag and walking away, I left them to their things.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------