Work Text:
Mi-do-ri-ya
Mi-do-ri-ya
Mi-do-ri-ya
One, two, three, four.
-
It doesn’t really start long after they’ve met, and Tenya can admit to himself that he finds it a little ridiculous to begin with. Is it weird for a simple name to bring you so much happiness? For four syllables to make you feel this weightless, happy emotion that you can’t put into words? For a word to fill you with such an intense feeling that you relish in saying it because it sounds perfect somehow, that you can’t help smiling every time you write it down? It does sound rather outlandish.
But despite everything, Tenya thinks that his best friend may have one of the nicest names he’s ever heard.
Maybe that’s what made falling in love with him even easier than it was already. Jury’s out.
-
It’s incredibly hard for Tenya to point out when he actually fell in love with Midoriya. It feels like his feelings for his green haired classmate have just intensified over time. That’s really the only way he can describe it: slowly falling down into a helpless pit of overwhelming feelings, caught in a landside of thoughts of things he wants to do with his friend, hold hands (if Tenya is able to keep them still while they’re together), kiss his cheek, run his hands through his soft hair, listen to his voice…
And yet, what’s worse is he can’t do those things right now.
Along with these heavy feelings of affection, there’s also conflict. Part of his brain screams at him, reminding him over and over that Midoriya probably just sees him as a friend. Tenya, in turn, is incredibly scared of ruining that friendship by broadcasting his true feelings. It’s one of the most difficult things Tenya has ever faced, trying not to burst, trying to hold back on telling Midoriya how many emotions he brings out in him, how just his name makes Tenya’s heart beat like a heavy drum in his chest.
Tenya is supposed to be composed. He’s the class president. And yet his feelings towards this boy overwhelm him so much and make him unable to think straight, his thoughts constantly on Midoriya and how amazing he is, how selfless, how brave, how pretty...
It’s embarrassing, he thinks.
But he doesn’t hate it.
And he repeats those four syllables, regardless.
(And he keeps a piece of paper with that name written over and over, close to his heart, in his blazer pocket.)
-
Studying with Midoriya and Uraraka becomes a common thing after a while, and while they’re all very hardworking students who do their best, even they have attention spans, and they need breaks and also sometimes end up veering off topic from their studies. Today is an occasion in which the latter occurred, and Midoriya ended up going through his All Might merchandise at Uraraka’s request. He seems very excited to talk about it, and Tenya finds himself curling a hand into the bedsheet, fingers digging into the soft material as he listens.
At one point, Midoriya takes out a small…stand? With All Might on it, and presses a small switch that causes the stand to glow, and the light illuminating it slowly begins to change colour. “I got this a while ago.” Midoriya explains. “It was pretty cheap, but it’s one of my favourite things.”
Tenya is mesmerized instantly by the changing colours, focusing intently on the stand. It’s purple, then it fades into a blue, followed by a green, and it slowly circles through each colour. Tenya grips onto the sheet tighter, stimming gently with the fabric as he watches it circle over and over.
“You like it, huh?” Tenya is brought out of his trance by Uraraka. “You look like a cat when people use laser pointers. It’s adorable.”
“Ah!” Tenya replies, flustered. “I apologise, I… it’s very nice.” The boy quickly waves his hands in response.
“Oh, you don’t need to apologise! I’m glad you like it as much as I do!” Midoriya reassures him urgently. “I’ll… I need to turn it off, to save battery, if that’s okay with you.” Tenya nods gently. “I’m… glad it made you so happy.” He’s smiling, and Tenya finds himself smiling in response.
After a flustered reminder they’re here to study from Tenya, they go back to their work, and continue revising for quite a few hours. When they all agree they’ve done enough, Midoriya tiredly falls back onto his bed, head on his pillow, his messy green hair splayed out over it. Uraraka laughs.
“Your hair looks so fluffy.” She tells him, moving to sit beside him. Tenya moves to the other side, admiring Midoriya’s hair quietly. People may class him as plain, but Midoriya’s hair is so...pretty. The mix of green and black complimenting each other, how soft it looks, Tenya just wants to run his hand through it-
“You can touch it.” Midoriya tells him.
“Ah-?”
“You can touch it if you want.” He smiles. Tenya doesn’t at first, still processing what his friend just told him, but eventually he moves his hand forward, running fingers over the soft, messy locks and-
Oh.
Tenya likes a lot of materials, but they aren’t anything compared to this. Tenya finds himself gently weaving his fingers in and out gently, being careful not to hurt Midoriya in the process, and his other hand has probably torn a hole into the bed cover by now. He’ll offer to fix that later. This is sensory heaven. This is what that feels like.
“It must really feel nice.” Uraraka notes. “You look so happy.” Tenya just nods. He’s unable to be verbal right now.
“It’s nice to see you happy, Iida-kun.” Izuku adds. He’s smiling. Tenya feels light.
-
Tenya is pretty sure it’s a bad idea for him to be here.
One of Ashido’s friends told her about a party happening, and she essentially invited 1A. They, in turn, encouraged Tenya to go, to ‘let loose’, and that’s far from what he’s doing. He just focuses on the pretty lights and on the clock, ready to head back to the dorms when they need to.
On the upside, the orange juice here isn’t bad. Tastes sweet. Maybe he can put up with this. It’s for his friends, so...
The problem comes when it gets progressively louder, too loud for him. It gets crowded and Tenya can barely move around. And as if it can’t get any worse than that, he loses his glasses and that’s when his brain decides it’s downtime. He fights back tears, trying to head outside, but it’s not much better out there. He can feel eyes on him as he sits down on the stair. They’re all supposed to be leaving soon but he can’t find out what the time is. Everything is too much. It’s too much. There’s’ too much noise, too many people, and he can’t process, they need to leave before they get in trouble but he doesn’t know where anyone is and even if he finds them, they’ll probably call him stuck up and say he’s ruining their fun with rules-
“Hey. Are these yours? I’ve been asking around and you look kinda lost, so-.” He barely processes his words, but a girl with a floral dress sits on the stair with him, her eyes widening. “Oh, you’re crying. Oh… Hey, what’s wrong?” He can’t get any words out. He just bursts, sobbing. “It’s okay. It’s okay. Do you know anyone here? Is there anyone who can get you home?”
And his brain just short circuits. Something clicks. And in his state of meltdown, he thinks she understands what he means, because she speaks to her friend, but he can’t hear what she’s saying, can’t process it. He focuses on one word, repeats four syllables. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.
“Mi-do-ri-ya.”
He repeats it like a lifelline.
-
[Uraraka sent you a gif!]
[Uraraka sent you a gif!]
[Uraraka] u like pretty lights right? i hope this will help !!
[Uraraka] deku is coming 2 see u
[Uraraka] i hope ur ok !!
----
[tensei] shou told me u were having a bad time
[tensei sent a video!]
[tensei] im at masakis rn heres a video of mochi bc i know u miss her
[tensei] hope ur ok baby bro
[you] I’m not melting down anymore.
[tensei] rad
[you] I embarrassed myself.
[tensei] no u went somewhere bc u thought ppl would b upset if u didnt and u had a meltdown it isnt ur fault
[you] I embarrassed my friend. I kept repeating his name.
[tensei] again if u r in a panic thats normal
[tensei] u r typing for a long time
[you] I feel like I’m ruining my friendship with my friend. I feel like I’m being weird
[tensei] elaborate
[you] I keep repeating his name and I like how it sounds and he let me play with his hair once and I can’t stop thinking about it, I stim so much around him.
[tensei] ok ok ok first of all the name thing is normal thats echolalia u used 2 repeat this annoying fuckin jingle from a commerical when u were like three its the same kinda thing
[tensei] secondly do u. like this friend.
[tensei] ur typing long again tenya i wont hate u
[you] Yes.
[tensei] okokokokokok
[tensei] tenya ur not being weird u just have a crush theyre overwhelming n ur stimming so much around him bc he makes u happy that is not bad
[tensei] u need 2 take ur time
[you] What if he hates me?
[tensei] this is green hair boy correct
[you] Yes
[tensei] i do not know him as well as u but i dont think hell hate u
[tensei] tho u need 2 do this at ur pace when u feel ready 2 tell him
[tensei] unless he talks 2 u first
[you] Okay.
[tensei] rad
[tensei] im going 2 go hug masaki
[you] Valid.
[tensei] thank u i feel validated
-
There’s a knock on the door and Tenya sits up. “Come in.” He may be post meltdown but he’ rather stay sat here right now.
The door opens, and in comes Midoriya, just as expected. causing Tenya to drop his gaze to the floor again. Midoriya sits beside him on the bed. There’s a silence between them, neither of them sure what to say, until the green haired boy breaks the silence.
“Are you okay?” Midoriya asks. “I...really wanted to talk to you. About yesterday. But I was wondering if you wanted to talk first.”
Tenya takes a deep breath. In, out. In out.
“...I feel like I embarrassed you.” He admits. “I feel like a bad friend. I’m too serious. And stuck up. And weird. And I feel like I embarrassed you.”
“You’re not.” Midoriya reassures him. “Tenya, you’re not a bad friend.” Ten-ya. It sounds nice in Midoriya’s voice. Comforting. ” You are far from a bad friend. And you didn’t embarrass me. I’m glad you trust me enough that I’m the first person you call for when you’re in trouble.” He runs a hand over his arm. “I care about you a lot, okay? A whole lot. You’re really special.” Tenya smiles at that. “Do.... you wanna hug?” Tenya nods, and Midoriya pulls him into a hug. Tenya gently rests his head against Midoriya’s shoulder.
“Mi-do-ri-ya.” He doesn’t initially mean to say it aloud, but he does.
“Hm?”
Tenya takes another few deep breaths, wondering if he should just take Tensei’s advice or take the leap. After a few minutes of contemplation, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out the piece of paper, gently sliding it into Midoriya’s hands.
‘mi-do-ri-ya’ sits in the center of the paper, surrounded by the name repeated along with different things that Tenya adores about the green haired boy, his voice, his selflessness, his smile. It’s a messy love confession in Tenya’s own way. He watches, his heart hammering in his chest, as his friend reads the note, waiting for a response with bated breath.
There’s silence, for about a minute, and then-
“Tenya, give me your hand.” Midoriya takes a pen out of his pocket. Tenya, confused, lets his friend go over his hand with the pen, trying to stay still despite the soft bumps going over his skin. When Midoriya is done, Tenya looks at the message on his hand.
And he tries and fails to hold back tears.
Midoriya gently kisses his head with a big smile, and Tenya in turn kisses his cheek, and then kisses him properly while running a hand through that soft hair that he could sit and caress for hours. He could sit and hold Midoriya for hours, stimming gently in his arms. And that’s what he wants to do right now, not wanting to be anywhere else in the world.
As they’re curled up, Tenya looks back to his hand at the two words that sound perfect together.
ten-ya mi-do-ri-ya