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Neito slinks out of the 1-B classroom as soon as the bell rings, bento in hand, and stalks out to the luscious UA school grounds.
Normally, he would be sitting with Kendo, Awase, and his other classmates but the comments of ‘ Monoma, stop antagonizing 1-A and focus on your studies! ’ and ‘ Try harder, Monoma! You can’t survive out there like this! ’ was hitting a little too hard today so he opts out of it.
While heading towards the many picnic tables dotting about UA’s ridiculously large… front yard?, he spots 1-A’s prized top student Midoriya Izuku sitting under a tree, staring at his notebook while picking on a bento.
Normally, he would know better than hang out with anyone during days like this, more so with someone from 1-A, but he was nothing short of vindictive. So, filled with spite and frustration, he trots to the green haired boy and plops himself right beside the organized clutter that is the shorter boy’s analysis notebooks.
This isn’t the first time he’s hung out with Izuku (ha! first name basis), contrary to very popular belief. Spontaneous card game matches are played between them when time gives them nothing better to do. Neito doesn’t know when or how it started, it just… did. Not that he’s ungrateful for it.
The green haired boy is pleasant company, though he’ll forever deny admitting it to another soul. They share a mutual interest in quirk analysis, surprisingly. Neito’s reason is very obvious; with his quirk comes the urge to jot down notes about all the quirks he could copy, but when he asked Izuku about his reason for it, all the boy did was grin and say, ‘ grind for more exp and you’ll unlock my story. ’
Neito liked to think that every day, he’s getting nearer and nearer to hearing it.
Setting down his lunch, the blond blinks at the unusual lack of sunshine Izuku normally has, shimmering around him. Waving a hand in front of the boy, Neito brings the boy back to the real world.
“Earth to Izuku?” he drawls out.
Said boy nearly jumps out of skin, which Neito narrows his eyes at. “A-ah, Neito-kun? Wait, Neito-kun ?”
Like he said. First name basis.
Neito rolls his eyes at him. “No, it’s icy boy Todoroki here.” The laugh he gets from that shouldn’t make him feel that better, but it does. “Yeah, it’s me. Mind telling a fella why a school sweetheart like you is sitting all alone in the courtyard?”
Izuku's shoulders relax at that as he lets out a faint giggle, which makes Neito feel more accomplished than with anything he did that day.
“Really, Neito-kun? School sweetheart?”
“What, you denying it?”
They keep up this banter as Izuku cleans up his spot to make space beside him for the 1-B student. After a few minutes they sit shoulder to shoulder, Neito eating his packed lunch as the green haired boy thumbs through his notebooks.
Carefully, Neito breaks their companionable silence by asking, “But for real, Izuku. What are you doing out here?”
He feels the boy beside him tense minutely before forcibly relaxing, setting alarm bells ringing in the blond’s head. “Nothing serious, Neito-kun. Today’s just a bad day,” he replies.
Neito frowns at him, “We both know that’s not it.”
They sit in silence again, paired with the taller’s clink of chopsticks and the faint bustling of the cafeteria a few yards away. The pair knows better than to make it more fragile.
“Just…” Izuku starts, laying his head on Neito's shoulders, “It’s just I heard some of my classmates comment that my notebooks are creepy, and it hurts. I really thought UA was gonna be different, but I guess not.”
The boy beside him just hums and says, “More reasons to beat your class to the ground then, yeah?” Neito smirks.
He gets an elbow to his ribs for that. “No, Neito-kun! Stop being so mean to 1-A!” Neito doesn’t need to look to know Izuku’s pouting at him.
“Ugh, fine. But why are you believing them, anyways? Your notes are an honest godsend to me, Izuku. You have great analytic skill, better than the professional stuff my parents paid for, for me,” He replies, biting on a cherry tomato.
“I was quirkless before UA.”
Neito might’ve just choked on his lunch from the whiplash he got.
Izuku ignores him and his dying dignity as he continues, “I got it on the day of the entrance exams ‘cause the doctors said my quirk was too powerful for my twig body before UA. You know how quirkless people are treated, right? I’d assume so with your quirk. Nearly gave up on my dreams of being a hero.” How does he say this like he’s talking about the weather?
“Analysis was the only thing I had as the ‘weak, worthless, quirkless ’ kid like me; stuck on my dreams of being any type of hero despite my lack of quirk. So, you know… those comments really stick and sting.”
The bitterness from Izuku’s voice hangs in the atmosphere, awfully all-encompassing and familiar to Neito. It sparks memories of taunts and names and wounds from his childhood, filling him with unrivaled rage and empathy for the boy beside him.
He sets down his bento and faces the green haired boy face-to-face, grasping at his shoulders.
“Listen, Izuku,” Neito begins, tone devoid of his usual cocky tone. “You are not what they say. Your talents are not defined by their comments. Your skills are beyond amazing and will never be creepy, you just have a refined eye for studying abilities. Fuck them, you hear me?”
Viridian eyes meet blue gray as they fill with tears and determination alike, boosting Neito and making him forget about his embarrassing heartfelt speech to his self-proclaimed enemy.
“Yeah. Yeah, thanks Neito-kun.” He smiles, but it takes a mischievous edge at the end. “You’re so kind to your rival , huh? How outrageous!”
Neito lets go of his shoulders and scowls, eating his bento again. “I always forget you have a bratty streak a mile wide. See if I ever give you a motivational pep-talk ever again.” He huffs through a bite of rice.
He’s replied with a melodic laugh and Neito just hides his satisfaction and slight blush behind his bento box.
He just hopes that no one can see him hanging out with one Midoriya Izuku because, well. How do you explain him, Monoma Neito, avid hater of 1-A, lending his shoulder as a pillow for 1-A’s poster boy?
He’ll never admit to liking the other boy’s company, after all.